Let's turn together this evening
to Mark chapter 11. Mark chapter 11. In this passage of scripture,
God the Holy Spirit uses a cursed fig tree and corrupt religion,
the corrupt religion of the Jews specifically, to teach us very,
very important spiritual lessons. I want to show you three things
as we move through this passage of scripture and I ask you to
give me your attention very carefully. Number one, the Lord Jesus Christ
is just exactly the Savior and friend we need. The Lord Jesus Christ is just
exactly the Savior and friend you need and I need. And Jesus
entered into Jerusalem and into the temple And when he had looked
round about on all things, and now eventide was come, and he
went to Bethany with the twelve. After riding into Jerusalem,
the Lord Jesus Christ made himself known as the Messiah, the Prince,
the King, the Son of David. And he was announced as such,
the children singing, Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord. And thus the scriptures were
fulfilled. But he didn't stay in Jerusalem.
He left the city that night and went out to a little town called
Bethany. And in that little town called
Bethany, our Lord Jesus found a blessed, blessed place of lodging
for himself and his disciples. The scriptures often speak of
Bethany. I would think you'd do us good,
any of us, to spend a little time looking at how this town
was blessed with God, blessed above most any town in its day. And indeed, there's a reason
for that. There was an elect family in Bethany, a family loved
and chosen of God. Mary and Martha and their brother
Lazarus lived in Bethany. It seems that the Lord Jesus
never missed an opportunity to stop by Bethany. Every time he
was in the general vicinity, he went to Bethany. Apparently,
he had spent the night in the house of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Oh, how blessed, indescribably
blessed. Eternally blessed is that home
where the Son of God and his disciples are at home. Blessed
is that home that entertains and feeds and gives rest to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now maybe you think to yourself,
well, Brother Don, how can anyone do that today? Let me tell you.
This book plainly tells us exactly how you and I can do that today.
That which is done for the Lord's children is done for Him. He said, In the Day of Judgment
when He comes again, He will say to those on His left hand,
those self-righteous religious Pharisees and hypocrites who
claimed they had done so much for Him. He said, I was hungry
and thirsty and in prison and sick and you didn't visit me,
you didn't comfort me, you didn't give me anything to drink, you
didn't give me anything to eat. And they said, when did we do that?
He said, when you refused to do it to the least of these,
my disciples, my brethren. And He says to those on His right
hand, those who truly worship Him, those who are truly born
of His Spirit. You see, those who truly walk with God, those
who are born of God's Spirit, who know the experience of God's
grace, never talk about what they do. They just don't. Religious folks talk all the
time about what they used to do, what they're going to do,
and sometimes about what they're doing. But those who know the
Lord, Don't talk about what they do. They recognize their works
are nothing their works are their works are utterly insignificant
But good works always have to do with doing good to god's people
And our lord said in as much as you gave a cup of cold water
in the name of a disciple You'll not lose your reward In as much
as you came and visited my brother when he was in prison, my sister
when she was sick, my mother, my father, when they were hungry,
when they were thirsty, you've done that to me. Come, blessed
is my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. We would be wise to learn that
that which is done to and for the Lord's children is done to
and for Him. Same thing. We really are one
with Christ. Believers really are His body. He really is our head. And the
Lord Jesus considers that which is done to and for His people
as being done to and for Him. And on the other hand, that which
is done against the Lord's people is done against Him. God told
Samuel, they didn't reject you, they rejected me. They didn't
persecute you, they persecuted me. Saul came persecuting the
Lord Jesus Christ. He couldn't get to him, he was
already in glory, but he got to his body and he persecuted
his church. And our Lord considers it the
same thing. Wherever there is an open door then, a room provided,
a chair, a spare plate, a bed, a welcome sign for God's people
in this world, the Lord Jesus Christ is there, present, to
bless. Bethany was a blessed, blessed
place because Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, this elect family lived
there. Just as God's elect are the salt
of the earth, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were the salt of Bethany. The name Bethany means house
of sheep, and it was certainly that. Here were three sheep chosen
of God. The name Bethany also means house
of obedience, and it was certainly that. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus
were obedient disciples to the Savior, and the name Bethany
means house of affliction. It was that too. Martha and Mary
sent word to the Lord Jesus that their brother Lazarus was sick,
and then Lazarus died, and they wept in pain because of Lazarus'
sickness and his death. And the Lord Jesus teaches us
thus, that wherever his people are, wherever there is obedience
to him, wherever his sheep are found, affliction will also be
found. The three things always go hand
in hand. There's no possibility of a believer
walking in this world, walking before God in the steps of Jesus
Christ without suffering affliction in this world to one degree or
another. And as we make our pilgrimage
through this world, the more we experience of God's grace
in this world, the greater the afflictions are. They are given
to wean us from the world. They're given to take our hearts
away from this present world and to set our hearts upon the
Son of God. Now then, look at this sentence here. The scripture
tells us that the Lord Jesus was hungry. Back here in this
text again in verse 12. And on the morrow when they were
come from Bethany, he was hungry. Hungry. Imagine that. Now there's
more to be learned from that than I'm going to get said this
evening. But I want you to understand that our Lord Jesus Christ is
both God and man. He really is a man. He really
is a man. In verse 17, when he speaks of
the temple in Jerusalem, the house of God, he calls it my
house. And thus he plainly declares
his divinity. He could not have stated his
divinity more precisely, more clearly, or more frankly, if
he had stood up in front of the temple and said, everybody look
here, I, this man in this body of flesh, Jesus of Nazareth,
am God Almighty. He couldn't have said it any
plainer. He said, this house is my house. And thus he stated
his divinity. And yet this great God really
did assume our nature. He took into union with himself
humanity. We read that he was hungry. While
he lived upon this earth, our blessed Lord Jesus had a nature
exactly like ours, except for sin. I know I haven't begun to grasp
that yet, and I'm sure you haven't. He assumed humanity unto himself. God did not become a man, but
God took into union with himself an everlasting, indivisible union
with himself. Humanity. Jesus Christ walked
on this earth as a man. That means that he felt and experienced
everything we feel and experience, sin alone excepted. He wept. He rejoiced. He felt pain. He felt gladness. He got tired
and needed rest. He got thirsty and needed a drink.
He got hungry and needed something to eat. Now these wonderful,
amazing things, we ought to meditate on with reverence constantly.
He who is God, the eternal God, the creator, sustainer, and disposer
of all things. He who feeds every sparrow. who clothes every lily heath,
who holds in the palm of his hand. Now, that's, it's just
too much. The infinite God who holds in
the palm of his hand every beast of the field, every fowl of the
air, every fish in the sea, and every creature on the earth.
That God stood on this earth as a man, hungry. Hungry. He from whom all things came
and to whom all things go, when he came to save his people from
their sins, so perfectly assumed our nature that he walked on
this earth hungry. And yet, that doesn't begin to
tell the story. The Son of God condescended to
become a man. He condescended to every weakness
of humanity. He who thought it not robbery
to be equal with God made himself of no reputation and took on
him the form of a servant and still continued to humble himself. Our Lord Jesus Christ, this man
who is God, though he knew no sin, though he was and is holy,
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, in order to redeem
and save our souls, was made to be sin. I won't say this carefully, but
say it, I must. Even that which is felt and experienced
in the bitterness of our souls, of what sin is, when he was made
to be sin for us, he felt and experienced in the bitterness
of his soul as none of us ever have. Jesus Christ, then, is
God mighty to save. Preacher, can he really save
me? Oh, yeah. He is able to save unto the uttermost all then that
come unto God by him. He is a man like us, able to
suffer, bleed, and die, that which God could never do, the
God-man has done. He suffered for us and died for
us, this God-man. who has redeemed us by the sacrifice
of himself, made a sacrifice unto God of infinite worth and
merit and efficacy. He who died at Calvary is more
than a man, more than a great man, more than a holy man, more
than an angel and a man. He who died at Calvary is the
infinite God. That means his sacrifice is of
infinite value and can never fall to the ground and be wasted.
His blood obtained eternal redemption for us. And though he is exalted
to heaven's highest glory, he sets you under at the right hand
of the majesty on high. He has in his hands the reins
of the He controls the thoughts of every man's heart. He controls
the imagination of every man, every angel, every demon in hell.
He controls everything. Yet still, bless his name, he's
a man. A man touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. Now, this is what that means.
Whatever it is, Bob Pottser, that touches you right now, touches
his heart. who rules everything for you. Now that ought to float your
little boat. That ought to get us through
some troubled waters. He who is our God is just exactly the
savior and friend we need. He knows all the experiences
of humanity, all of them. He knows what pain, weakness,
weariness, and hunger are. He knows the feeling of abandonment,
isolation, betrayal and slander. He knows what it is to visit
the sick room of one who is dearly beloved. He knows what it is
to stand beside the grave and weep. He knows everything that
you know. He's touched with everything
that touches you. When we speak to the Lord Jesus Christ, our
God, about these things, we're not talking to a stranger. When we speak to him about these
things, we're not talking to someone who doesn't understand. We're not talking to someone
who doesn't know what we feel, who doesn't know what we experience.
We're talking to one who knows exactly what we feel, exactly
what we experience. He's no stranger to trouble and
sorrow. What a friend we have in Jesus. all our sins and griefs to bear. Oh, what a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer. Now secondly, look at verses
13 and 14. And Jesus, seeing a fig tree
afar off having leaves, he came, if happily he might find anything
thereon, 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 the fruit of thee hereafter forever. And the disciples heard it. Nothing
in all the world is so disgusting to the Son of God and so surely
damning to our souls. as religious hypocrisy that will
bear repetition. Nothing in all the world is so
disgusting to the Son of God and so surely damning to our
souls as religious hypocrisy, fruitless, formal religion that
has nothing to do with life. Our Lord Jesus and his disciples
were walking along and were hungry and it's time to eat And they
were walking nearby some fig trees. The time of figs wasn't
come yet. Most of the fig trees were just
beginning to shoot out their buds. There was one fig tree
standing over there, just waving in the wind, saying, look at
me. Look at, look at me. Look, I
got leaves all over me. Kind of like that pear sitting
out in our orchard. Everything else is barren and
got frostbitten last night, but he's standing there full of leaves.
And our Lord Jesus walked over the fig tree deliberately to
teach a lesson. It wasn't as though he did not
know the fig tree didn't have any figs on it. He's the one
who puts figs on trees. He went over there and approached
the tree as if to take something from it because it had the pretense
and show of life and fruit. And when he got there, the scripture
says he found nothing but leaves. And I'll be honest with you,
that's about all there is. to most everybody's religion.
Nothing but leaves. Nothing but leaves. This is certainly
a word of warning that our Lord gave to apostate Judaism. The
Jews were rich in religious ceremony, religious tradition, religious
creed, religious orthodoxy, religious custom, religious punctuality. They observed their feasts, they
observed their holy days, they observed their new moons, they
observed their Sabbath days, and didn't have the least slight
knowledge of God Almighty. Their religion had become a snare
to them. Their religion was nothing but
a show, just a sham pretense. And therefore the Lord Jesus
spoke plainly and said concerning that nation, henceforth shall
no man eat fruit of this tree forever. And he said, your house
is left to you desolate. And thus Judaism was forever
abandoned by God. Jews as a nation, not the Jews
individually. Please don't suggest or think
that there's somehow something about this that's anti-Semitic.
Nothing could be further from the truth. But the Jews as a
nation, the Jews as a people have been forever cut off by
God. They are no longer the special
objects of God's favor and the special objects of His goodness,
but rather God has sent His grace to the Gentile nations of the
world out of which He gathers the true Israel of God. There
is here a warning, for this fig tree clearly represents every
apostate church, every apostate religious denomination in all
the world. Would to God I could get the
ear of religious people in the churches of our day, churches
in this town. I'm not talking about liberal
folks, I'm not talking about folks who deny the word of God
and the virgin birth and all that stuff, duh. Everybody knows
they're going to hell except them. I'm talking about Folks
who claim to believe the book, the blood, and the blessed hope.
Folks who stand for the things of God. Stand against pornography,
and abortion, and liberal politics, and all that stuff. Religious
folks stand against. We're for America, and apple
pie, and religion. I'm telling you, the greatest
missionary field in this world are the churches of this town
and this nation. The greatest missionary field
there is. If I could speak to every man,
woman, and child in the churches of this day, where the word of
God is despised, the truth of God is despised, the glory of
God is despised, the will of God is despised, I would say,
escape for your life. Get out of Sodom, God's fixin'
to burn it. Get out of Babylon, God's curse
is upon it. Flee for your life. People say
to me all the time, I get so, I bite my tongue. You wouldn't
believe how pleasant I am. I just, I get upset and I try
my best to avoid saying anything out of turn before saying to
me, well, you know, I feel like I ought to go to church somewhere.
Don't go to church anywhere if you can't go where God's worshipped.
I'm dead serious. Don't even think about gathering
with Babylonian worshippers of free will, works, religion. Don't
even think about it. Where can you find a church this
day where the word of God is faithfully free? I'm not talking
about once in a while somebody refers to it. I'm not talking
about once in a while somebody gets up and reads a passage of
scripture and then they start talking about something that
might as well be written out of the book of Koran. Where do
you find a church where the word of God is faithfully preached?
Where can you find a place where the glory of God is paramount? I'm not talking about just talking
about God's glory. I'm talking about a congregation
of men and women devoted to the glory of God. Where can you find
a congregation where the will of God is ruled. The whole revealed
will of God. When you can find such a church,
you found the house of God. When you can find such a people,
you found the people of God. And until you do, you're walking
in the roads of Babylon. But above all else, this barren
fig tree represents religious hypocrisy. the destructiveness of religious
hypocrisy. All carnal, half-hearted, hypocritical
religious professors, men and women who profess to be Christians,
are represented in this fig tree. Would to God, you who are content
with the name that you live, though you're dead, you who content
yourself with A religious name. Wouldn't a God you could read
this text description while you lay on your bed tonight? It might
stand as a mirror over your bed. You'll see your face right here
in the book. Unless God snatches you from your religious self-righteous
hypocrisy, it will take you to hell. Those things that impress you,
your leaves. Oh, look here at my leaves. I
got leaves no other tree in the woods has got. I've got marvelous,
look how shiny they are. Look how they blow in the wind.
They impress you, and they might even impress me. But I'm gonna
tell you something, they don't even think about impressing God. Mean nothing to God. They stink
in his nostrils. Most of the religions of this
world, James, stinks before God. It stinks. It's not, you know,
you oughtn't to be so judgmental. I'm not. I'm just telling you
what this book says. God says, you're a smoke in my nostrils.
I abhor it. Your great experiences. I know I'm saved. I was there
when it happened. Your emotional delights, your displays of religion,
your precise doctrine, your showy sacrifices. I see folks make a little gift
and they want you to know what they did. You know, I'm going
to give God a ten-cent tip. Get up and pop the check and
waive their money and look at what I did. And if they can't
get you to look that way, they'll pull you aside and tell you,
you know, I helped out with that. Your showy sacrifices. Your comforting
ceremonies. Go to church and say your little
prayer and sing your little song Listen to your little sermon
and go home and say, well, I've done good now. I've done good
now. I'll take comfort in this refuge
of lies. Oh, your religion is a damning delusion if your religion
is without fruit. Fruitless religion is lifeless
religion. And I'm not talking about the kind of fruit that
impresses me and those things I've just discussed, what men look
at. Those things I've just discussed what men look at and applaud
support looking here. He's a fine Christian. She she's
a fine upstanding Spiritual woman, you know, she reads 30 chapters
a day What kind of fruit you talking
about preaching life Spiritual life life that comes from God
Produces a thing called faith in Jesus Christ. Thank you And
I'm not talking about saying I have faith. The just shall
live by faith. It produces something called
hope in Jesus Christ the Lord. What's your hope before God? I wonder what first thing went
through your mind when I said that. I mean the very first thing.
That's what your hope is, I'll guarantee you. I'll guarantee
you. What's your hope before God?
Paul, preacher, when I was a boy, yesterday, or 20 years ago, or
this morning, you missed it. You missed it. I'm talking about
a hope, Rex, that'll stand you in good stead when you think
about standing before God Almighty naked before the eyes of His
omniscient justice. Now, what's your hope? The blood
and righteousness of God's Son, that's all. And that's enough.
That's enough. This thing of life causes men
and women to love Jesus Christ the Lord. If any man loves not
the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be damned, because the Lord's
coming. Now examine yourselves. Examine yourselves. Not examine
your works, not examine your feelings, not examine your experiences. Examine yourself, whether you
be in lest you prove to be reprobate like most everybody around you.
All right, now one last thing. In verses 15 through 19, our
Lord came to Jerusalem into the temple. And He began to cast
out those that bought in the temple and overthrew the tables
of the money changers and the seats of them that sold doves
and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through
the temple. He threw them all out, cleaned house. And he talked,
saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all
nations the house of prayer? But you've made it a den of thieves.
And the scribes and chief priests heard it. They said, This fellow's
fixing to upset the God. He's fixing to change what's
going on. He's talking about us changing the way we've always
done things. And they sought how they might destroy him. For
they feared him, because all the people were astonished at
his doctrine. And when evening was come, he
went out of the city. Now, the temple of God was typical
and representative of the church, which is the house of God. Now,
when I say it was typical and representative of the church,
which is the house of God, I don't mean that it was typical and
representative of this material building. This is not a holy
house of God. This is not the church. It's
just a building where we meet. This is not a holy sanctuary.
It's just a good-sized room where we all sit together. This is
not a holy desk. It's just a pulpit behind which
I stand to preach the gospel. It's just handy to lay my Bible
over so I can preach to you. But we don't look at any material
thing and call it holy. There's no such thing as the
holy land, that ground over there in Israel, no more holy than
the ground on your farm. There's no such thing as holy
material things in this world. We worship God in the Spirit.
And yet, having said that, I want you to understand, this is God's
house. When God's people come together,
the scripture tells us that we are the temple of the living
God. The house of God is the assembled saints of God for worship. When we come together, two or
three, gathered in His name, Jesus Christ is in the midst
of them, and the Holy Spirit dwells in them. The church does
not belong to you and me. It is not our church. It belongs
to Christ. is purchased with his blood.
That means that Christ alone makes the rules, enforces the
rules, and exercises the rules. Jesus Christ is the only ruler
in Zion. His word is our only creed. His revealed will, the whole
revealed will of God, Genesis to Revelation, is our rule. His
glory, our guiding principle. The primary function and business
of the house of God Our Lord says it's prayer. Prayer. Worship. Worship. And it's utterly
abhorrent that anyone should make the house of God a place
of trade, commerce, or entertainment. When we come into the house of
God, then let us be aware that we're coming to the house of
a living God. We ought also always to do so
regularly. When you get ready to come to
the house of God, remember, Where are you going and why? And try
to prepare yourself and your heart to do so. We ought certainly
never to be less precise about our worship than Aaron and his
sons were in the Old Testament when they went to the temple
of God, when they went into the tabernacle. Boy, they knew their
lives were at stake. You think there's less at stake
here? Those men, when it came time, to go to God's house? They
were there on time. They were there on time. How
come? We've come to God's house. We've
come to God's house. Well, you know, I just can't
get it together. I guarantee you'd get it together
if somebody called you and said, now, Bobby, one of the Rockefellers
died yesterday. and he named you in his will,
they're gonna read it tomorrow morning at 5 o'clock I bet if you went
to bed at 4.30, you'd be there at 5 o'clock guarantee it, cause
it's important, means something man, anybody left me a dollar
or two it might just be God Almighty has appointed you a place right
here where he will drop into your heart and soul his everlasting
grace when those fellows came to the
house of God They took great notice of their attention and
their attitude so that when they came, they put aside other things. And they came appropriately attired. They've come into God's house. Now, I'm going to spend a minute
here because it needs to be spent. There are, in our society in
our day, most people, I feel, Decided that you come to church
if you want to wear hot pants or swimming suit, whatever you
are I've been in church where they wear swimming suits, right? Shake my head and
wonder what on earth is going on. But when you come to God's
house You ought to clean up a little bit. You ought to dress appropriately. You ought to you ought to act
like you come to meet Some things are just appropriate some are
not I Get a little disturbed at things
being too casual I get a little disturbed if I get disturbed
at folks overdressing, you know, you put on your richest stuff
and say, look at me. That's nonsense. But you ought
to act like you come to God's house and dress accordingly.
You come somewhere where there's respect to be had and honor to
be given to the living God. And you ought to be careful about
your altar as well. There's only one altar. Only
one sacrifice, only one way to God. Be sure you come to God
that way, trusting Jesus Christ, coming to God, gathering His
name, and take care of your actions. Let us ever beware of the fact
that the Son of God takes notice of things which go on in His
house. Profanity, irreverence, and indifference
are an affront to Him. We ought to prepare ourselves
for the house of God and the worship of God. My soul, beware
of empty religious formality when you come to God's house.
Bring your heart with you. Don't leave it in the world.
Leave your business and your money and your affairs at home
and come here to worship God. For Christ's sake, I pray it
shall be so in our hearts. Amen.