Hypocrisy
Notes
Transcript
Good Morning
I was thinking the other day, and I never have to worry about if I get sent to jail. My wife will bail me out! She never lets me finish a sentence!
Kyle and I had a great time at the Men’s Retreat this weekend. God moved this weekend! There were around 1300 men at the retreat. It was the first time that we had enough men to move into the Tabernacle.
Have Kyle come down. Saturday night, at the end of the message, Kyle rededicated his life to God! He also told me that he feels the call to preach and teach. We are going to start meeting together and I want to give him the opportunity to teach on a Wednesday night and when he feels ready to preach one Sunday. Praise God for what He is doing in Kyle’s life and thank you Kyle for being obedient to His call on you life.
Have the Servants come down and pray for Kyle
Have congregation come down and pray for Kyle
I am going to be starting a men’s bible study. It will be on Tuesday nights. We are going to go through the book of Titus. The book we are going to use is called the Titus 10 by J. Josh Smith. We are going to start on May 13th. We will meet at 6:30. We will meet at my house.
Today we are going to be in Mark 11:12-21.
Two weeks ago, when we were last in Mark, we talked about the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We saw how the people were excited and they were throwing down there coats and palm branches for Jesus to ride on. They were shouting Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! They were ready to make Him King! We ended by Jesus going to the Temple and looking around, it was late and He went back to Bethany. He was inspecting His fathers Temple.
Today we are going to look at 2 different events that are about the same thing. We are going to talk about the cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple. We are going to see a fig tree that had all the signs of having fruit, but had none. This miracle of the cursing of the fig tree is the only negative miracle in the Bible. We are going to see the Temple that was supposed to be the house of God, that it was actually a house for thieves and dishonesty. Jesus is going to call out these things just as we should also.
Please stand as we read God’s word.
12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.
15 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. 16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 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.” 18 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. 19 And when evening came they went out of the city.
20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”
The next morning Jesus and the group are heading back to Jerusalem. As they are coming back, Jesus is hungry. This shows that He is fully man. God never gets hungry. Jesus being hungry, sees a fig tree in the distance that is covered in leaves. This is important detail about the fig tree. Jesus gets up to the tree and checks for figs and did not find any. We are also told that it is not fig season. It was still too early for the fig trees to have figs, but it was also to early for them to have leaves also. Figs are different than other fruit trees. The fruit is set before the leave come in and the fruit grows with the leaves. Thus a fig tree that is fully leafed out, would have figs on it to be harvested. So this trees was deceiving those who were walking by it. It had the appearance of fruit but actually had none. It looked good, but was not. Now Jesus seeing that it showed signs of fruit but not actually having fruit, He cursed the tree for its misleading appearance that suggested productivity without actually providing any! This tree should have been full of fruit, but was barren. Jesus used this tree as an object lesson concerning Israel’s spiritual hypocrisy and fruitlessness. Jesus called the Pharisee’s and other religious leaders white washed tombs. They looked clean on the out side, but inside they were dead. They cared more about what people thought, than they did about actually serving God. They wanted the appearance of righteousness, but didn’t want to actually have to give up what they loved. They did what was right in public, but behind closed doors, they were dead, they loved their sin in private! They were exactly like this fig tree. From a distance it looked healthy and productive. But when you got close it was worthless. It had no fruit, just like the religious leaders in Jerusalem. It would have been better for that tree to have no leaves and figs on it! Even though we are still sinners, we should be producing fruit for our King. Since this tree was fruitless when it showed signs of having fruit, Jesus cursed it. He said to it, “ may no one ever eat fruit from you again.” Jesus cursed the tree because of it hypocrisy. It appeared to be full of fruit, but actually had none.
Next we see Jesus enter the temple. He was not happy with what he saw. He had already driven out the traders and the money exchangers once before. We can see that in John 1:14-16. They were back and even worse than before. He was angry with what was happening in His Father’s house. They were robbing the people who had come to worship God. This was more than likely in the court of the Gentiles. This is the place that the Jews should have been busy doing serious missions work! This was the only area that the Gentile was allowed into. Instead of doing missionary work, they were robbing their own people. This was a huge area. It was 500 x 350 yards! It was 35 acres and it was only a quarter of the temple grounds. These people who were selling animals had a deal set up with the priests. Every animal that came in to be sacrificed had to be inspected by a priest to make sure that it was spotless and worthy to be a sacrifice to our God. They would reject the animal and since so many of the people were from out of town, they had no choice but to by an animal from the temple. They were charging way more than the animal was worth, but the people had no choice but to buy the animal. It was quite the gig they had! Mark specifically calls out the ones who were selling doves. This was the animal that the poor could sacrifice. If you couldn’t afford a lamb, you could sacrifice a dove.(Lev. 14:22)
22 also two turtledoves or two pigeons, whichever he can afford. The one shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering.
This is what Mary and Joseph brought to sacrifice when they dedicated Jesus in the temple (Luke 2:24)
24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”
These priests and merchants didn’t care who you were. They were robbing the rich and the poor. They had no shame. This probably especially made Jesus made. He was always sensitive to the poor. We can see that in the story about the widow and her mites that she put in the offering plate.
The money exchangers were not any better. The money that was given at the temple had to be the right coin. This is no different than today. If we were to travel overseas, we would have to exchange our money for their money. Many of these Jews were coming from far away and from different countries. They needed to change their money for the temple money. These money exchangers were taking advantage just like the animal sellers. They were charging high rates and robbing these people who came from so far away to worship and be obedient to what God told them to do. The money exchangers and animals sellers thought they were doing them a favor by providing a service and a convenience for them. It would have been difficult for a lot of these people to travel as far as they did with an animal. It was easier to just buy one at the temple. It was easier to exchange the money at the temple. They were doing themselves a favor and ripping off all these people and the priests were in on it. They got a cut of the profits. I am sure that there were several animals that were spotless that got rejected and were later sold as sacrifice animals. These people were in God’s house robbing people!
The Jewish historian Josephus records that in 66 AD, more than 250,000 lambs were sacrificed that year at the passover. Just think about that. That is a lot of sheep. A large number of them would have come from the courtyard and the animal sellers. They were making a lot of money off these people.
Mark tells us that Jesus was not allowing anyone to carry anything through the temple. Those who came to Jerusalem from the east, it would have been much easier to just enter through the east temple gate and cut through the temple to get to town. There was no reverence for the house of God. It had lost its holiness. It had become just another building. It had become a short cut to town.
Jesus quoted 2 scriptures to back up what He was doing. Isaiah 56:7
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.”
and Jer 7:11
11 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.
While defending what He was doing, he exposed what the priests were doing. He exposed their sins. The Jews saw the temple as a place of sacrifice, but Jesus saw it as a place of prayer. True prayer is in itself a sacrifice to God (Ps. 141:1-2)
1 O Lord, I call upon you; hasten to me!
Give ear to my voice when I call to you!
2 Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
Our prayers are a sweet aroma to our God. He loves to hear our prayers.
Think about a den of thieves. That is a place where they are comfortable, they run there to be safe! The temple was full of hypocrisy. It was supposed to be a safe place for the people to come and worship our God, instead it was a safe place for robbers taking the money of the people. The thieves were more comfortable in the temple than the people. This was their home! Their den.
This made the chief priests and scribes mad. Jesus was cutting into and taking away what they really loved, money and power. They wanted to kill Jesus. They wanted to destroy Him, but they were afraid of him and the people. The crowd was amazed at what Jesus was teaching. He taught like no one else. He stood up to the religious leaders. He exposed them and the people liked it. As long as the people were around, Jesus was safe from the priests and scribes. Evening came and they went back to Bethany.
Now we are back to the fig tree. The next morning, they pass by the fig tree on the way back to Jerusalem. The tree had withered away to its roots! In 1 day this fig tree had gone from looking like it was loaded with figs, to dead. All trees decay and rot away, just not that fast. This was not some twig of a tree either. It took up to 3 years for a fig tree to get to size that it would produce fruit. So this tree was at least 3 years old, probably much older. It was visible from a distance. It was a big tree and it withered away to its roots in one day. Normally it would years for that much decay to happen. When Jesus cursed it, it dies instantly. This showed Jesus’ Godly nature. Earlier He showed He was fully man by getting hungry, now He shows He is fully God by what happened to this fig tree.
The main idea that I want to talk about is that hypocrisy is an especially dangerous sin. All sin is bad and dangerous, but hypocrisy effects so many others!
One of the main reasons people give for not coming to church is that there are so many hypocrites in church. There are so many people that watch believers outside of church and what they see is a completely different person with a completely different attitude. That can’t be! We are going to sin, but we should be the same outside of this building as we are while we are in this building. We can’t be secret agents for God. We can’t be like that fig tree or the temple. From far away, it look great. It looked promising. But when you get close, there is nothing there. It was a lie. A deception. That fig tree should have been full of figs because it was full of leaves. It had none! The court of the Gentiles should have been a place for praying, but it was instead a place for preying and paying!
Our actions have to match our words or we will never expand the kingdom. We will be called hypocrites. We can not set the expectation that a church member is sinless. It is too common that that happens today. When people see us sin, they also need to see us repent. They need to know that sin has no home in us. We may sin, but we will not be happy in sin. We are broken when we realize our sin. We have to try and live above reproach. In Titus 1:16
16 They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.
Paul is talking about the defiled and unbelieving. If we say we know God, if we say we are a Christian, but we have no good deeds to prove our words, we are not Christians! We are the fig tree who looks good from a distance and gives a promise of production, but when we get close, there is nothing but desception. A true believer will have good works. Our good works do not save us, on repentance and faith in Jesus Christ can save us! Our good works prove that we know God and Jesus Christ.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Outside of Christ, we can do no good! That fig tree is an example of the majority of Christian in the church today. They claim Christ, but have no fruit in their lives. They do no good works, they are completely different when they think no one is looking. They are like the Pharisee’s and Scribes. They are white washed tombs! They are beautiful from a distance. When we get close, there is nothing, no fruit. It is only the one who abides, dwells in Christ that can produce the good fruit of the Holy Spirit. If Christ is the center of our lives, we will have the evidence of it by the fruit in our lives. Abiding in Christ is a choice that we have to make everyday. We must chose Him daily to be a fruit producer!
We have to be the same out of church as we are in church. The stakes are too high! Eternity for some is on the line. Just as much as our sin breaks us, we must be broken when we think about the lost. How we act can’t save anyone, but it can lead them to know about our King , the one who can save! We may be the only Jesus that they every see. I hope that when they get close, we are full of fruit and not barren!
Let’s pray
