When the Man Comes Around -- Mark 11:1-33 (January 15, 2023)

We are continuing our series going through the book of Mark, back in it this week after a number of weeks off over the holidays, so we're back to the gospel of Mark, or some have called it the victory of Mark, or excuse me, the victory of Jesus according to Mark.

And we're going to see that victory in part today, as we see the triumphal entry of Jesus.

The King Jesus into Jerusalem, Mark chapter 11 is where we are today, we're going to read through the whole chapter, we're going to really focus in on verses 1 through 26, but read through the whole chapter.

And this is what the word of the Lord says to us today, Mark chapter 11, beginning in verse 1. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethpage and Bethany, at the

Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, go into the village in front of you.

And immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat.

Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, why are you doing this? Say, the

Lord has need of it, and will send it back here immediately. And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it.

And some of those standing there said to them, what are you doing untying the colt? And they said to them what Jesus had said, and they let them go.

And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it.

And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.

And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the

Lord, blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David, Hosanna in the highest.

And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

And on the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it.

And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it,

May no one ever eat fruit from you again. And the disciples heard it.

And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple.

And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.

And he was teaching them and saying to them, Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a den of robbers.

And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.

And when evening came, they went out of the city. And as they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.

And Peter remembered and said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you cursed has withered. And Jesus answered them,

Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.

And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also, who is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses.

And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him.

And they said to him, By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them?

And Jesus said to them, I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority

I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.

And they discussed it with one another, saying, If we say from heaven, he will say, Why then did you not believe him?

But shall we say from man? They were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet.

So they answered Jesus, We do not know. And Jesus said to them, Neither will I tell you by what authority

I do these things. Amen. This is the word of the living God to us this morning.

I don't normally give titles to my sermons, but if I did,

I would steal the title for today's sermon from that great theologian and preacher,

Johnny Cash. A year before he died, Johnny Cash released the song,

When the Man Comes Around, about the coming of Christ and of judgment. We see a foretaste of that in Mark chapter 11.

The man comes around, and he enters the holy city on his kingly steed.

He inspects the temple, the center of religious life in Israel, and he finds it lacking, and he pronounces judgments.

And he asserts his authority, keeping discussions with the chief priests and with the scribes on his own terms.

Now, what happened in Mark 11 is a microcosm of what would soon happen in the year

AD 70 in Jerusalem. And those both are microcosms of the final coming of Jesus and the great judgment that will come at that time.

Let's begin with Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. You see, for some nine months,

Jesus has been zigzagging and making his way toward Jerusalem, and now he enters.

Often in the Gospels, we read about Jesus withdrawing. When there's one uproar or another in a city, he withdraws, or he withdraws and doesn't go to Jerusalem at Passover because, quote, his time had not yet come.

Well, now, his time had come. The moment that was planned in eternity past, before the foundations of the earth were laid, that moment had come.

And with calculated purpose, Jesus makes his move, a move that will set things in motion that could never be stopped.

It was time to save the world. And he comes entering the city riding on a donkey.

Now this was not some unassuming mode of transportation for him. No, this was meticulously chosen, chosen on purpose.

For you see, in the Old Testament, donkeys were associated with kingship in Israel.

For example, when God chose Saul to be king of Israel, Saul was out searching for his father's donkeys.

And when Samuel came to anoint him, he assured him that the donkeys had been found. You go back to Genesis 49, which talks about how the scepter, the rule, the kingly rule shall not depart from Judah, and it talks about unbinding his donkey's coat to the choice vine.

We see a donkey tied there, talking about the rule of the coming king. In the book of Judges, we see the judges who ruled

Israel had multitudes of donkeys. We see in 2 Samuel chapter 16, that mentions that donkeys were for the king's household to ride on.

And when Solomon was anointed king, David gave instructions that Solomon was to come riding on David's mule.

And at the end of Mark 10, we have blind Bartimaeus calling Jesus the son of David.

One of the few times in the book where he's called the son of David. And like David's son, Solomon, Jesus would come riding on a colt.

He entered Jerusalem as the greater Saul, the greater David, and the greater son of David. He is the fulfillment of the hopes of Israel.

We see in Zechariah chapter 9 verse 9, Rejoice greatly,

O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation as he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

You see, donkeys are associated with kingship in Israel, and Jesus is knowingly, purposefully entering

Jerusalem as king. And the people rejoice. Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the

Lord, blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest! Verses 9 and 10.

They rejoice in their king. They rejoice in their deliverer. And he goes, he enters into the city, he goes to the temple first.

He takes it all in, he looks around, it's late, and so he retreats to Bethany with the disciples for the night.

And the next day, on the way from Bethany, we're told that he sees a fig tree, in leaf, in the distance.

But when he got to it, though the fig tree had leaves on it, there were no figs, there was no fruit.

Now on the one hand, it was not the time for figs, and so it shouldn't have been a surprise that there was no fruit on the tree.

But on the other hand, it wasn't the time for leaves either, and yet it had leaves. And so it was reasonable to expect fruit, or at least the buds of fruit, but there were none.

And so Jesus cursed the fig tree, may no one ever eat fruit from you again, he said to the tree. Now, what's the deal with this?

I mean, is Jesus, is he being kind of petulant? A bit angry, a little bit petty?

Because he didn't get fruit, he curses the tree? No, that's not the case at all. This wasn't actually about the figs.

You see, Jesus was using the fig tree as an object lesson, as a symbol, as a representation.

The cursing of the fig tree represented the judgment of something else. So what was that something else?

Oftentimes in Scripture, a writer will highlight something by placing it in between two similar themes, or two similar objects.

Might call it a sandwich story, where he sandwiches something in between. And so what we see here in this passage is that sandwiched in between the passing of the fig tree in verse 13 and the passing of the fig tree in verse 20, you have the story of Jesus going and cleansing the temple.

The fig tree was a symbol of Israel. Israel is often compared to a fig tree in Scripture, and so the cursing of the fig tree was an object lesson about the coming judgment against the temple, against Jerusalem, and against her leaders.

Now why, when the man comes around, would he judge the temple, Jerusalem, and her leaders?

Well for the same reason that he cursed the fig tree. There was no fruit. They had the temple building, they had the prophecies, they had the law, they had the sacrifices, they had the scribes, they had all the trappings of religiosity.

They had the leaves, but they had no fruit. They did not bear the fruit of righteousness. They did not have what

God wanted, justice, mercy, and contrite hearts. There was financial exploitation going on in the court of the

Gentiles. And although it was expressly prohibited, the court of the Gentiles was being used as a thoroughfare, a shortcut, from one side of the city to the other, clogging up the place where the

Gentiles, where the nations were to come and worship God. It had become a place of trade instead of a place of prayer.

Holy ground was being desecrated. And the Gentiles, who had always been welcomed to worship on this mountain, they were being prevented from access to God.

The temple was to be a house of prayer for all nations, and yet the Gentiles were being stifled and exploited and prevented from coming before God.

The temple was supposed to be a house of prayer for all nations, but they had made it, what

Jesus said, a den of robbers. Now that's a telling phrase, den of robbers.

It comes from Jeremiah chapter 7. In that passage,

God warns Israel for her evil deeds, and He foretells the temple's destruction.

He tells them to amend their ways, and He will let them continue to dwell in the land. He says, do not trust in these deceptive words, this is the temple of the

Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. For Israel was, what they were doing, they were treating the temple as a safe haven to protect them while they kept on sinning.

Like robbers who would retreat to their den after committing a crime in order to be safe,

Israel would sin grievously and then retreat to the temple, believing that their religiosity would save them.

They treated the worship rituals like a talisman to ward off the judgment of God.

Jeremiah 7 verse 8 and following says this, Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail.

Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house which is called by my name and say, we are delivered, only to go on doing all of these abominations?

Has this house which is called by my name become a den of robbers in your eyes?

Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord. Will you keep on doing these abominations and then come here as if that's going to protect you?

That's what he says through Jeremiah before they were exiled for their sins.

He then warned them to go to Shiloh and see where God had destroyed the tabernacle because of the evil of the people of Israel and the wickedness of Eli's sons.

Verses 13 through 15 of Jeremiah 7. And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord. And when

I spoke to you persistently, you did not listen. And when I called you, you did not answer.

Therefore, I will do to the house that is called by my name and in which you trust and to the place that I gave you and to your fathers as I did at Shiloh.

And I will cast you out of my sight as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim.

So when Jesus says that they have made the temple a den of robbers, he is invoking the judgment that befell at Shiloh against the tabernacle and the judgment that came on Solomon's temple before Israel was exiled and that temple was destroyed.

So this is not so much a cleansing of the temple as it is a prophecy of the temple's judgment.

Jesus is going to bring the whole thing down. Jesus is going to restore and reform the worship of Israel.

The man comes around and he's going to put everything back in order. He begins by driving out the money changers in fulfillment of Zechariah 14, 21, which says,

And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to the Lord of Hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come.

They won't be hindered like the Gentiles have been hindered. All who sacrifice may come and take of them and bowl the meat of the sacrifice in them.

And there shall no longer be a traitor in the house of the Lord of Hosts on that day.

The traitors, the money changers. He drives them out in fulfillment of Zechariah 14. But that's just the beginning.

It's a prophecy of what is coming because ultimately God will destroy the temple. In the year A .D.

70, by means of the Roman army, God brought down the temple in Jerusalem. You see, there had been this overlap of time from the resurrection of Jesus until A .D.

70, about 40 years or so. They were living between the times of the old covenant era and the new covenant era.

They overlapped there for 40 years or so. But in A .D.

70, that was the end of the old covenant era. When God's judgment fell on Israel in final form.

I want you to notice the pattern here though. When the tabernacle that was at Shiloh, that Jeremiah referenced.

When the tabernacle that was at Shiloh, where God's presence dwelt, was destroyed. It was replaced by a greater sanctuary.

The temple. And when Solomon's temple was destroyed, when Israel was sent into exile.

It was replaced by another sanctuary. Even if this sanctuary was physically less glorious as we see in Nehemiah.

The book of Haggai tells us that God's presence still dwelt there. And we have this vision that God gives to Ezekiel in Ezekiel chapter 40 of this even greater temple.

And so we have this pattern of God destroys and then God replaces with something even more glorious.

And so when this temple is destroyed in A .D. 70, what should we expect by pattern?

An even greater temple. Now, you might say, ah, if you go to Jerusalem today, you will not see a temple.

But I would say unto you the words of Jesus in John chapter 2 verse 19. Destroy this temple and in three days

I will raise it up. And John tells us, and he was referring to the temple of his body. What else is known as the body of Christ?

Church. And what is another image of the church found in the New Testament?

The temple of the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians 3 .16 tells us, do you not know that you are

God's temple? And that God's spirit dwells in you? Now the you there that Paul uses, it's the plural form of you.

He had been, you know, from southern Israel. Y 'all, y 'all are the temple. He's talking to the church.

He's talking to the church. We together, the church, is the temple. We are the new temple.

We are the greater sanctuary. You see, God goes from tabernacle to temple to rebuilt temple to the church.

From the finest marbled stone in the Middle East to living stones all throughout the world.

From one degree of glory to another. The church is now the temple of the

Holy Spirit. The place where God dwells on earth is within His people. And God's temple,

First Corinthians chapter 3 verse 17 says, God's temple is holy and you are that temple.

And so be holy as the Lord is holy. And the problem with the temple was that it was like that barren fig tree that Jesus cursed.

Covered in fig leaves but bearing no fruit. They tried to cover their sins with the external trappings of religiosity.

But fig leaves didn't work to cover Adam's sin in the garden. And fig leaves didn't work to cover

Israel's sin in the time of Jesus. And fig leaves won't work to cover your sin either.

I had Muslim friends in Turkey. They had a misunderstanding of our doctrine of forgiveness. They thought it was just this convenient thing to hide behind.

That we can just keep on sinning because we believe that God forgives us of our sins. So we can just hide behind the doctrine of forgiveness that enables us to keep on sinning.

And that reminds me of times I've stood outside the abortion clinic over on Grove Road. Had conversations with mothers and fathers who were about to kill their babies.

And I'm pleading with them to stop. Don't do this. And I've heard them say, you know me and God we've got an understanding.

You know God forgives and so I can do this. As if we can hide behind religiosity to enable us to do whatever we want to do.

To do whatever is right in our own eyes. I think about people who think they can keep their pet sins just because they show up to church regularly.

Or maybe if they just show up on occasion. Or because they give money. Or because they walked an aisle at VBS when they were a kid.

Or maybe they even go to Sunday school and Wednesday nights. As if that could cover up their sin.

It's fig leaves. Without Christ it's all fig leaves.

The only thing that can cover your sin is the blood of Christ. And if you're washed in the blood of Christ you don't dare to presume upon it.

You don't go on sinning as if your profession gives you some sort of hellfire insurance. That gives you immunity so that you can continue to sin with no repercussions.

Now look, I don't know of any specific instances of this in our church. And so I'm not preaching at anyone, at least not on purpose.

And I praise God for that. But a couple of things. One is when someone is using

Christian religion as a fig leaf cover for sin it's almost always secret for a time.

And so we wouldn't know about it. And so if that's you, repent now before it blows up and gets a lot worse.

You need Christ, not fig leaves. Second thing is,

I know human nature. And it's human nature, fallen human nature to try to cover up things for ourselves.

It's what Adam and Eve tried doing in the garden. They tried to cover themselves with what? Fig leaves. It's just human nature.

Fallen. And so hear the warnings. And that even in the little things, turn to Christ.

Forsake the sin, turn to Christ. We don't cover it up with our religiosity.

Then there's Romans chapter 6. Speaks to this. I want to read a little bit longer passage because this passage is so good.

Paul says it better than I could. He says, What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

By no means. How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

We're buried therefore with Him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the

Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.

We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.

We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over Him.

For the death He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life He lives, He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

For sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law but under grace.

It's the word of the Lord to us. You've been baptized. You've been raised to new life.

Therefore present your lives as instruments for righteousness. So let me ask you, when the man comes around, what will he find?

When he inspects your life as an individual or our life together as a church, what will he find?

Fig leaves or fruit? Fig leaves or fruit?

What is the fruit that God wants to find? Righteousness, justice, mercy, forgiveness, worship, evangelism, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self -control.

He wants to see us positively productive in this world and whatever domain and station that he has placed us in at this time in our lives.

He wants us to take what he has given us and not bury it in the ground, but to work it and turn a profit on it for his glory.

Church attendance and tithing and serving and externally culturally Christian behaviors are all good things and we ought to do them.

But they can never be substitutes for the fruit of the Spirit. They grow out of the fruit of the

Spirit. They don't replace them. We do not divorce our external religious practice from our inward religious affections and dispositions, nor from our treatment of other people, nor from our actions and work in life.

And so we need to be careful that we don't use Christianity as a talisman, nor to use church as a robber's safe house that protects us, protects us, in air quotes there, while we keep on sinning.

The church is not a safe house for practicing sinners. It is a hospital for repenting ones.

So another question we need to ask. First one is, are we bearing fruit?

What fruit will God find when he comes around? The second one is this, are we zealous for good works?

Now good works save no one, but those who are saved do good works. Paul in Ephesians 2 .10,

after outlining how we are saved by grace alone, says gift from God. It says that we're created in Christ Jesus for good works.

He has created us beforehand to walk in them. And so when the man comes around, will he find the fruit of good works in your life?

And then the third question, are we zealous for holiness? Are we zealous for holiness?

You see, 1 Corinthians 3 .17 says God's temple is holy and you are that temple. So personally, are you ruthless with your own sin?

Or do you coddle it like a pet? Together, in humility and gentleness, are we willing to hold one another to the standard of God's word?

Even if that means risking an awkward conversation. Here's the thing, here's why

I ask. Because 2 Corinthians 5 tells us that one day every last one of us will appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

So that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

You see, Jesus came and he inspected the temple. And he's going to do the same to us.

He came and inspected the temple and passed judgment. And he will do the same to us. And it is not the case that Jesus doesn't care how we live.

Nor is it the case that just abstaining from the bad things is all there is to a righteous and holy life.

With no regard for positive obedience to God's instructions for our way of life. God expects to find the fruit of righteousness and holiness in our lives.

Now, there's a way that this message could land wrongly. I want to anticipate that for just a moment. Especially for those of us with maybe over scrupulous consciences.

We could feel like we're not doing enough and that there's no way we could do enough. And we can have this kind of morbid self introspection.

We might be tempted to feel like the Israelites when Pharaoh demanded more bricks but with less straw.

But I want you to remember that God is God and God is not Pharaoh. And what God requires,

God enables, God gives, God provides. And I think John 15 helps us here where it says that Jesus is the true vine and we are the branches.

And it is true that John 15 tells us that those branches that don't bear fruit will cut off and toss into the fire.

This is the judgment that befell Jerusalem. But it also says that whoever abides in Christ, he it is who bears much fruit.

The one who abides in Christ. And so I tell you, don't morbidly self introspectively look within yourself for this ability to bear fruit.

But look to Christ and abide in Christ and walk with Christ. Walk according to the

Spirit. Walk in obedience to God's Word. And the Spirit and the Son will produce the fruit in and through you to the glory of the

Father. Look to Christ. Abide in Christ. Walk with Christ.

And bear fruit. For He enables it. He provides it. And when the man comes around, he will say, well done my good and faithful servant.

You have been faithful over little, I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.

Let's pray. Our Father in heaven,

I pray that we would hear the warning in this story of Jesus going into the temple.

We would hear the warning that we will one day appear before you. That we will give an account of our lives and you will inspect our lives.

What fruit will you find? Father, I also pray that we will hear the promise.

That there is mercy and forgiveness for our sins. That we don't have to try to cover up our sins with our own fig leaves.

In fact we can't, but you cover it with the blood of Christ. You give us the righteousness of Jesus. His perfect obedience in our place.

Credited to us as if we perfectly obeyed. His death in our place. Paying the due and just penalty for our sin.

The resurrection of Jesus. That we are baptized into His death and raised to newness of life with Christ.

Let us hear this promise. Let's hear the promise of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit that produces fruit in our lives.

The Spirit who leads us and guides us into all righteousness. Father, I pray that if there is anyone here that is convicted of their sin.

And their pattern of life this morning. I pray that they would not let this moment pass. That they would deal with you.

They would deal with their sin this morning. May they not delay. May they not put it off any longer.

Father, if there is anyone who is here who is troubled and heavy laden by their sins. May they find rest in their souls in Christ.

May they find rest for their souls in Christ. Father, I pray that you would lead us in this time of response.