I invite you this morning to
turn with me to Mark chapter 11. I'm not going to be able to cover the entire contents of
these verses, so we'll come back next week, Lord willing, and
recap a little bit. But the lesson this morning is
about corrupt religion. Empty, hollow religion. Religion that's all show and
no go. Worldly religion. And here it's
being pictured by our Lord in a fig tree with nothing but leaves. It's not my favorite subject.
I'd rather talk about Christ true religion, and we will bring
that into the study, but the study primarily, this is the
subject of these verses. And it's necessary. It's necessary
for us to know and be able to identify these things. In Mark
11, 11, if you'll look with me here, Jesus entered into Jerusalem. Now, I don't know if you really
think a lot. I've been studying the Bible
for years, just almost second knowledge for me when I talk
about Jerusalem, I realize the importance of this city. This
city was the very center of the Jewish religion. This is where
the temple was. This is where the center of worship,
when they had their feast days and everything, they journeyed
from wherever they lived, they journeyed to Jerusalem to worship.
All true worship centered in Jerusalem. And so this is when
our Lord came to Jerusalem. He was coming right in to the
center of false religion. And he entered into Jerusalem
and into the temple. And when he looked round about
upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out
into Bethany with the 12. I find that amazing that everybody
concerned with the Jewish religion lived in Jerusalem and our Lord
preferred to go out to Bethany for his fellowship and his rest.
Don't you find that amazing? Now on the morrow when they were
come from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree afar off
having leaves, he came, if happily he might find anything thereof.
When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for the time
of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto
it, no man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever. And his disciples
heard it. And they came to Jerusalem, and
Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold
and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers,
and the seats of them that sold doves, and would not suffer that
any man should carry any vessel through the temple, and taught,
saying unto them, Is it not written, my house shall be called of all
nations the house of prayer? But you have made it a den of
thieves. And the scribes and the chief
priests heard it and sought how they might destroy him. For they
feared him because all the people was astonished at his doctrine. And when even was come, he went
out of the city. Now, I wanna remind you again
and myself that this passage is not just an expression of
Mark's opinion, but this is the inspired writing of the Holy
Ghost. These men wrote, and they wrote
what was on their heart and they wrote what was on their mind,
but overall, it was inspired by the Holy Ghost, and it is
to be considered without question the Word of God and the testimony
of God. We're told in the Bible all Scripture
is given by inspiration of God. Everything that's stapled or
glued between these two covers is inspired of God. All Scripture,
all Scripture inspired of God. Peter said prophecy came not
in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And according to this and many
other passages, Jerusalem had become the very center of all
things. Now the narrative begins with
our Lord coming into the very heart of the camp of the enemies
of God. You wouldn't think that the very
center of worship, Old Testament worship, that which had thousands
and thousands of years, not just hundreds, but thousands, You
know, we look at this King James Bible and we think, boy, that's
the ancient transcript. It's only 400 years old. The prophecy of the Old Testament
prophets goes back thousands of years, not hundreds, thousands
of years. And all through the All through the
Old Testament, Jerusalem was the very center, the focal point
of worship. God made it so. He made it that
way. And he required that they come
there in his law. You're going to come to the place
of my choosing. Now people today, they wanna
fight over that, Dr. Russell. They wanna fight. Are
you saying we have to come there to worship? No, I'm saying God
said you have to come where the gospels preach to worship. You
write it down. Look it up. He says it time and
time and time again. Where two or more are gathered
in my name, that's where I'll be in a minute, in my name. Not
in the name of religion. And that's what these Jews were
doing in the name of religion, in the name of their traditions,
in the name of their loved ones, their fathers and grandfathers
and so on. He came to the very heart. And
this had become the camp of the enemies of God. This is the last
thing in the world you would expect for the very center of
worship, which God had decreed, now had become a camp of the
enemies. And that's pretty much what our
Lord said. My house, he said. He didn't
say somebody else's house, my house. With that phrase, he declares
the church, himself to be head of the church and that church
to be his possession. My house, he said it was written,
my house should be called a house of prayer. But you've made it
a den of thieves. He walked right into the very
camp of the enemies of God and he surmised it and never said
a word. He never said a word. Just that
one phrase. And he didn't say that then.
On his first encounter of it, he just looked at all things.
He looked at all over. He went inside the temple, and
he saw everything, how it was set up, and the tables for the
money changers, and the tables for those who sold doves. It
looked like a flea market inside the temple. But he didn't say
a word. And having summed it all up,
he left that Whole outfit, and went out to Bethany. As God, and that's Jesus Christ
is God, isn't he? Isn't that what scripture says?
He's God our Savior. He's every way God. The word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. He's God, and as God, he knew
the very thoughts and intents of men's hearts. As a man, he
must see with his own eyes. But as God, he knew all things. He come into the heart of Jerusalem,
even into the temple, and looked around about on all things. And
it's a solemn and fearful thought to think that the Lord sees and
knows everything we think and do. Huh? It wouldn't be so quick to open
our mouth if we really thought about that. He knows the very
thoughts and intents of your heart. He knows all that we say, all
that we think, and the reasons why we think and do them. And
how ignorant, self-righteous, and pompous it is for men to
act and accept applause from others and play the part of a
righteous man based on their own selves. Paraded around in
gowns designed to call attention to themselves. Marked out with
special colors and special designs. They made broad deflectories
of their gowns. They wanted to be set apart and
recognized as higher up, distinct from other men. They wore certain ornaments,
religious paraphernalia, And I see it today, hats and gowns
and rings and whatever else an ungodly mind can think up. Necklaces with religious jewelry
hanging at the end of them. Statues in your car and all that
kind of nonsense. And to wear these things in recognition
that they're to be recognized as elevated, elevated above others,
special among men. That's an abomination to God. There's no difference in men
except such differences that God himself has made, such distinctions
as God makes. Men are the same. Religious or
heathen, they're the same. But we tend to look at some and
say, boy, I'm glad I'm not like him. By the grace of God, you're
not like him. But you are like him in your
nature. It's the restraining hand of God that kept you from
manifesting that nature the same as them. No difference in men. The righteousness of God, recognized
by his saints, considered by his saints, is a righteousness,
it says, without the law. It's a righteousness that has
no consideration of their works whatsoever. It is the righteousness
of God according to the faithfulness of Christ and it's unto all and
upon all that believe because there's no difference for all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Jew or Gentile,
didn't make any difference. Our natures are the same. Our
potentials to evil are the same. And my friend, any man who tries
to set himself based on his knowledge or his accomplishments or his
obedience above others, turn away from him. Turn away from
him. Ignore him. He's a fraud. Paul
held the highest office in the church, an apostle. No higher
office in the church except for its head, the Lord Jesus Christ.
But an apostle under him is the highest office. And listen to
what this apostle said. Under me, who am less than the
least of all saints, is this grace given. Huh? That don't
sound like something about uppity up, does it? Sound like a sinner
saved by grace. Not even the angels of God would
accept praise or be worshiped of men. Angels have appeared
to men, and even Abraham. And Abraham fell down and was
gonna worship those angels. They said, don't you worship
us, worship God. We're sinners, you and I, saved
by grace. But Jerusalem, which was a holy
city in the center of Old Testament worship, is now filled with ungodly
pretenders and filled with all corruption, all that stuff that
follows them everywhere they go. And then secondly, I want
you to see this. I want you to see a delightful
scene right in the middle of this. Being late in the day and having
seen firsthand the corruption of this place, he called to himself
at 12 and he said, let's go to Bethany. You know who lived in
Bethany? Mary and Martha and Lazarus. And our Lord went to Bethany
often, often. Anytime he wanted to rest, anytime
he wanted to relax, anytime he wanted to be at ease, he went
to Bethany. He went to Bethany. Somebody said one time, blessed
is the house where Christ and his disciples are at home. That is home, isn't it? That's home. That's the true
home. What a delightful thought that
the Son of God would want to visit my house. Think about it. All the houses in the world,
Walter, the Lord comes to your house. Isn't that so? They had no cell phones. They
had no quick means of communication back then. More than likely,
they just showed up, all 13 of them. And we're talking about
poor people. What would you do if 13 people
showed up at your house? I'll just come in one evening
while we're here. Well, come on in. Come on in. We'll see what we got. All 13
of them showed up shortly after Kathy and I had
first moved here. And most of you, some of you
haven't, but most of you seen my house before we did some work
on it. When you walked in the bathroom,
the door would only open about this much. It hit the vanity.
They put the vanity down that wall. You couldn't even get into
it. And then it had a tub in the back, and they crowded the
commode into a little area about this wide on the end of the tub. It was a mess, in short. And
we just moved in. Whoever was in there liked to
cook fish, and he cooked them in the house with no exhaust
fan. And there was grease all over everything, all over the
ceilings. The clear light fixtures looked like carnival glass. They were kind of brown and orange,
that type of thing. And then they turned the air
off after I bought the house. So when I got down here, there
was mold growing on the walls. So we were in there scrubbing
everything down. All the ceilings, all the fixtures,
everything in there had to be scrubbed down with bleach and
then scrubbed down again with ammonia to get all that grease
up. And I get a call, and five ladies
from Danville are coming to spend the night with me. And they're
already en route, so they're going to be there in about five
hours. I said, come on. Come on. Hope y'all don't mind sleeping
on the floor and on the couch, because that's all we got. But it was a pleasure, I looked
forward to it all afternoon, Kathy and I did, to see these
folks and to think that they thought enough of us to come
by and see us. I just can't imagine what it
must have been like to open that door and see the Lord and His
disciples standing outside. And it's nothing but unbelief
that keeps us from acknowledging his fellowship with us today.
He's no different. He said, I'm the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He hasn't changed. He hasn't
changed a bit. It's nothing in the world but
unbelief that keeps us from acknowledging his presence and fellowship with
us. And he said, I'll come and my
father will come, and we'll take up our abode with you. Think
about that. Jude said to the Lord, he said,
how is it thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto
the world? And the Lord said, if a man love
me, he'll keep my words, and my father will love him. Now
listen. And we'll come unto Him and make
our abode with Him. We'll dwell in His house. Think about that. John said, truly our fellowship
is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And on the
outside, when men could see Jerusalem, and it appeared to to be the
capital of religion and the centerpiece of true religion, and all the
priests abode there, and the high council abode there, and
the Pharisees were centered there, but not the Son of God. His abode was in the house of
chosen sinners. Oh, blessed thought. And then thirdly, our Lord arranged
in His providence a picture of what was going on in Jerusalem,
and what would surely be their end. Matthew, I mean in Mark chapter 11, verses
12 and 14, he tells us that there was a fig tree that promised
fruit. He looked at it, he was hungry,
and he looked at it, and man, it was covered with these leaves. But when he came to eat, There
was nothing but leaves. Now, chosen sinners are made
hungry. This is an act of God. I've often
said this to folks. What I'm looking for when a man
comes here to visit is an appetite. God'll give him an appetite.
If he gives him an interest in Christ, he'll give him an appetite.
He can no more stay away than he can fly. He has an appetite. He's hungry. And they're made
hungry. It's an act of God. And it's
not anything that they can produce in themselves. It's an act of
grace and an act of love and an act of the Holy Ghost. We're
His workmanship, he said. And speaking from my own experience,
I saw in religion the promise of fruit. I knew something had
to change in my life, didn't know what, I just knew that I
had a need. And religion seemed to promise
fruit, and so that's where I went. But there was nothing there but
leaves. Nothing but leaves. They promised godly fellowship
and worship and love. And what more could a sinner
ask for than that? But when I got there, I didn't
find it. I didn't find it. Just leaves, leaves, everywhere
leaves. That's all you're gonna find
in religion. And I'll tell you something else. Of course, y'all
ought to know. They're native to here. But fig trees have big
leaves. So does religion. They have big
leaves. Big league. When I got there, there was no
fruit. Lots of music and lots of pageantry and lots of ceremonies
and lots of speculation about the future and lots of critics. Every one of them got a soapbox
and they got an issue and they climb on that soapbox and they
make remarks about things they know nothing about. Lots of ignorant sayings. The
Lord helps those who help themselves. No, He helps the helpless. He's not willing that any should
perish, then why are people perishing? He doeth according to His will
in the armies of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth.
None can stay His hand or question what He does. Why are people
perishing? because they misquote and misunderstand
the scriptures. God wants everybody to be saved.
If he did, they'd all be saved. He got us, didn't he? And one of the most ignorant things
I ever heard in my life came from an evangelist down here
in Louisiana. Famous, I won't even speak his
name, He said, God voted for you, and Satan voted against
you, and you cast the deciding vote. It ain't up for vote. Huh? God's sovereign. He don't do
things because we vote on them. There's no voting to it. And then they say things like,
you take the first step, he'll take the rest. Well, go out here
to any cemetery, any cemetery you find, and stand there and
tell them folks, you take the first step, and God'll take the
rest. They're dead. They're incapable of taking any
kind of a step. God must intervene. It's just leaves, leaves, and
more leaves, no fruit. Seeing no fruit to feed hungry
souls, the Lord said, no man eat fruit of thee forever. Forever. And the next day they
came back to Jerusalem and they saw that cursed fig tree dried
up from the roots. I don't know if you really know
it or not, but a mark of reprobation is when men and women swallow
Satan's lies and glory in them, and find satisfaction in them,
and promote them, support them, and declare them to others. You
can read about it in 2 Thessalonians chapter two. For this cause,
God gave them up to strong delusion, to believe a lie and be damned
for believing it. That's reprobation. Just like
he did that fig tree. My friend, false religion has
no fruit for hungry sinners. And being cursed of God, it never
shall. There's only one thing that Jerusalem
offered to the Son of God, and that was the means by which he'd
be offered up to God. Now you can read that over in
Acts chapter four. He said, Pilate and the Gentiles
and all the Pharisees and the priests and everybody gathered
together in Jerusalem for to do what God's hand and God's
counsel determined before to be done. That's what Jerusalem
offered to the Son of God. In Acts chapter two, verse 23,
it said, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain. You killed the Lord of glory
and you did it by God's decree. Now, Lord willing, next week
we'll recap this lesson and we'll go into a little more depth about
what he did inside that temple when he overturned the money
tables and run out these men selling doves. A dove was an
offering that only the poor were to bring. They couldn't afford
a lamb. They couldn't bring what the law required. So the law
made allowances for them and told them they could bring a
pigeon or a dove. And here's these thieves, these
merchandisers of men's souls, and they're setting up a little
table in there like a flea market, and they're selling doves to
the poor. Money changers. Some of them didn't have the
currency that they needed, so they charged them interest on
the money, so they changed it. Oh, my soul. Religion. Religion. That's why the Lord said it's
an abomination to men. away with it. All right, thank you.