Rejection that leads to Condemnation

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For the last several weeks, we have seen the happenings of Jesus around the authorities in the temple. This has all happened in the same day. The day started off in 11:20 when Jesus explained to his disciples about the withered fig tree. So a lot has happened. This is what a lot of people might refer to as the “temple controversies”.

Just in this one day, Jesus has had his authority challenged, he gave the parable of the tenants, they have questioned him about taxes, the resurrection, and about which commandment is the greatest. So he has been bombarded by questions from people who were trying to trick him and implicate him.

Our passage today now makes a shift. We go from Jesus being the one who is being questioned to the one who asks the question.

Mark 12:35–40 ESV

35 And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? 36 David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.” ’ 37 David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?” And the great throng heard him gladly. 38 And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces 39 and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 40 who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

Prayer

Each and every one of us have an identity. I am David. My father is Jimmy, my mother is Susan. Without them, I would not be David. But you know, there are people out there who might be like me. Maybe they have a similar personality. Maybe there is another David who is married to a Brittany and has a daughter named Peighton. Maybe there is a pastor out there named David Blalock. Maybe there is a guy who looks a lot like me that when you see him, you have to do a double take because you aren’t sure if it is me or not. But, there is only one of me, praise God.

Our identities are unique. You have specific DNA in you that comes from your biological parents that makes you who you are. You have a fully unique impression on your finger that no one else has that separates you from everyone else in this world. We are unique.

But at the same time, we all fall into certain categories that help us to identify with other people. For instance, I am a pastor. This means that when I meet other pastors, there are things that we can bond over because of similar experiences. In our town, there have been certain industries of employment that can help us to bond with one another like the cotton or spinning mills, the mobile home industry, or Michelin. There are big categories as well like being a Christian that bonds us together.

As we look at our text today, we will see how identity is important. Who you identify with is important. Because it impacts us more than we often realize. I have heard it said before that you are the sum of your 5 closest friends. So, as a Christian, if your closest friends are unbelievers who live debaucherous lives, then at some place in your life, there will be very blurred lines in who you are.

Main Point: Our sinfulness will always lead to condemnation while the divinity of Jesus will lead to righteousness.

We are all in motion. You are either going towards the righteousness of Christ or away. You are either going towards condemnation or away from it. This journey is the most important journey you will ever have on this earth. If you claim to be a follower of Christ, then you must be headed in the direction of righteousness.

Question: Am I living a life that identifies as a follower of Jesus?

As we go through our text, your bible may have this divided into 2 natural sections. So we are going to take this in two parts and have them as subpoints of our main point.

Jesus’ Nature is Divine

While we have a sinful nature, which we will get to in a little bit, the nature of Jesus is divine. To be divine means that you are from God. Jesus is both fully man and fully God. We believe what the bible teaches that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary. This means that God supernaturally gave Mary a child, no man was needed for the conception. This is also a picture of Jesus being fully God and fully man. Because he was not physically born of the seed of Adam, he did not inherit mans sinfulness. While at the same time, being the son of God the Father, he has full divinity. We believe that this is literal truth from scripture.

The identity of Jesus is a very important part of our passage today. Where Jesus came from plays an important role in him being the messiah. We believe that he possesses humanity and divinity. If you want to think of it like this, he is the perfect human. He is the greater Adam. Adam was sinless until he took the fruit and ate. Jesus is the greater Adam because he never sins. Even when tempted, he never wavered. This was a display of his divinity. But we must not overlook his humanity.

This is where the question of our passage comes into play. We know that the messiah must come from God. But he is also human. So what about his family lineage?

Mark 12:35 ESV

35 And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?

This would have been a very common belief in the time. That the messiah, the Christ would come from the lineage of David. This was prophesied quite a bit when we look at the Old Testament.

2 Samuel 7:16 ESV

16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ”

Jeremiah 23:5–6 ESV

5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

Hosea 3:5 ESV

5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.

Amos 9:11 ESV

11 “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old,

Just to name a few. The fact that the messiah would be a descendant of David was something that they could all agree on. The ones who would be opposed to this would be the ones who did not recognized scripture or denied parts of scripture. So, when Jesus asks this question, what is he implying? The question is how can they say that the messiah, the Christ is the son of David. Why would he ask a question like this? Jesus digs deeper.

Mark 12:36 ESV

36 David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.” ’

To further his point, Jesus quotes scripture. Psalm 110:1 “1 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”” The ones that Jesus was questioning would have been very familiar with this text. He is getting their wheels turning here. He is making them question their beliefs to be able to point them to truth. In essence, Jesus is saying, “David, who is currently King when he wrote this, is declaring someone else to be king, the messiah”.

Mark 12:37 ESV

37 David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?” And the great throng heard him gladly.

You may think that this is insignificant. I pray that you see past that right now. What is being called into question is not the humanity of the messiah, but the divinity of the messiah. In the reference to Psalm 110, David makes the statement that ‘The Lord said to my Lord’. He uses the same title here twice, but he is not referencing one being. At the time, David was king. He was the highest authority in the land, yet he calls someone his Lord. When we look at what David says, we have the Lord and my Lord. So who are they?

The Lord would be Yahweh. This was the name in the Old Testament that was ascribed to God. So, if Yahweh is the Lord, then who is my Lord? Who would have been over the King? Who would be seated at the right hand of God? Who would be the one to use their enemies as footstools? This would be the only divine Lord. This would be the messiah.

The messiah would be the Lord of David. But also, the messiah would be the son of David. This is what Jesus was teaching them. They fully believed that the messiah would come from the earthly lineage of David. But what they also needed to understand is that he would be the divine Lord of David.

Our view of Jesus as the divine messiah is of utmost importance. We can all understand that there are people who we must view in a certain way. If we have to go into a court room, the judge must be viewed as the authority. In a marriage you must view your spouse as the most important person of the opposite sex. As a parent, the children must view you as the law maker, law enforcer, and the judge, jury, and executioner.

How we view Jesus so important. A.W. Tozer famously said, “What comes to our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us”. Scripture will always point us to the divinity of Jesus. Whether you are reading about the miracles that he performed, or you are reading about his brutal execution, death, burial, and resurrection. Whether you are reading about Jacob wrestling with the angel of the Lord in Genesis or you are reading about the one called faithful and true coming on the white horse in Revelation, God’s word will always point you to the divinity of the messiah, the Christ. The one who is Jesus. Jesus’s nature is divine.

That is a stark contrast to us though.

Our Nature is Sinful

This is at the heart of the gospel of Jesus. Without a recognition that we have a sinful nature, there will never be a reason for us to think we need saving.

Gospel presentation with focus on sin

There are places in scripture where it points us to certain groups of people for us to learn how to be or sometimes how not to be. And Jesus does that here.

Mark 12:38–40 ESV

38 And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces 39 and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 40 who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

I wanted to read it all together because it is one overarching thought but then I want to take it apart because there are different things that Jesus tackles here.

He starts off his teaching by warning people of the scribes. To paint the scene here, this was not just Jesus talking to his immediate disciples. This is everyone around. In verse 37, it describes it as a “great throng”.

I can remember when I was younger, Walmart started this thing called “Black Friday”. Of course we all know what it is now, but at the time, people would show up to Walmart early in the morning on the Friday after Thanksgiving. People would be standing in the parking lot at 3 in the morning waiting on the doors to open so that they could saved $5 on washcloths. But then when you made it inside, you would be bumping into people because it was so packed in there. The crowds that would be shopping for Black Friday would be a throng of people

So just imagine this large group of people, packed in to hear Jesus, and he tells them to beware of the scribes. These were the religious teachers of the time. They were theologians. They were well read and educated. And Jesus, the unassuming son of a carpenter has come into the temple, caught everyones attention, and told them to beware of the teachers. Why? As we examine this, we will see that it has more to do with their character than anything.

As we went through our text last week of the great commandment, we see the point being made that devotion is greater than doing. Jesus tackles that here with the description of the scribes. He begins by talking about how they dress. They wore long robes. The reason for this would be to draw attention to themselves. They wanted people to notice them for the things on the outside rather than the inside. The dress would make people notice them and then want to approach them. They wanted to be noticed. They wanted to be “greeted” in the marketplace.

It was all about this image of prominence. They wanted to be seen as something they truly weren’t. They were imposters. Let’s back this up just a little bit though. Because if you remember, Jesus just had this encounter with a scribe and told him that what he said was really good and that he was really close to the kingdom. So, Jesus isn’t writing all the scribes off. He is saying that these men, as a whole and as a position, have lost their way.

I could use many different illustrations to make this point. I thought about movies that I have watched where someone is an imposter or trying to show people characteristics that truly do not represent them. I have used the illustration of spies before. But what better illustration for us than ourselves. How often do we put on a face that does not truly represent who we are? Are we doing it right now? When we go to our daily life tomorrow, will the true person come out? Are you like the scribes?

The people looked up to the scribes. They had great influence on people. They would have been seen as religious superstars. But Jesus here points out that what they have made important is not important at all. The scribes have been consumed by their image. They want to be looked up to by the people. If they are looked up to, then they can feel this sense of pride and feel like people need them. How often do we do that?

We can be guilty of this. Putting on an image to gain recognition from other people. Even going to the extreme of lying about things to impress others. I have a friend whose kid went to school and told all of his friends that he had an Iphone 16 to try to impress them. The issue is that he could not prove to them that he really had one. How often do we do this with who we are in Christ? We put on this image to impress others but it does not reflect who we are.

Let’s get real. I do it at times. I get around my friends who are pastors and they begin to talk about their churches. So the conversation comes to me and I want to say that we had 200 people come last Sunday and we baptized 300. But they would know that is a lie. But if I add 5 or 10 to the number, they wouldn’t know and it would make me feel like I am better than I actually am. Or maybe I go to the doctor and they ask me how my diet and exercise has been. So I say it is great. I am carb free and eating less than 2000 calories a day and exercising 8 days a week. But when they examine me, they know it is a lie.

Jesus points out that when you examine the scribes, the outside doesn’t match the inside. You see, the things that they were doing were not coming from a heart of service to God, but from a heart of service to self. They played dress up to get prominent seats and to be recognized while they took advantage of widows.

It isn’t as prominent today, but most of us will remember the televangelist from back in the 90’s. Their biggest contributors were the elderly people that they scammed into sending them money. This is the scribes. Jesus even uses a very descriptive word here, devour. They take advantage. The things that will help the widows to actually live, the scribes are taking from them willingly. We will get to look at this on a deeper level next week when we get to the widows offering.

He also addresses their prayers. The issue is not with praying publicly. We should never shy away from praying around others. The issue is the correlation between praying privately and praying publicly. They would pray big prayers around others to grab attention while the private prayers are nonexistent. Their devotion to God was nearly nonexistent while their public “doing” was grand, they put on a show.

But when that happens, Jesus gives us a warning. Because of their actions and their lack of devotion to God, they will receive a greater condemnation. What that will actually look like, I cannot tell you. What I can tell you is that scripture gives many warnings about what we do with our knowledge of the truth vs. how we will be judged. The more you know, the more accountable you will be.

I read in a commentary this week on this passage, that in terms of judgement, going to a church that preaches theologically deep sermons is very dangerous. Because when we know God’s revelation we are held accountable. Don’t think you are getting out of this because you avoid knowledge of God’s word. Because we are also held accountable for our lack of devotion.

It is very good for us to read this passage and be encouraged. But don’t try to look at this and think you are so much better than the scribes. In doing that, you are no better than the scribes. No. Read this and realize that you are like the scribes. You have this sinful nature in you that desires to be made great. But realize that the only way to actually be made great is to humble yourself before the Lord. Do not be devoted to self but be devoted to God. Do not reject God, reject self.

Conclusion

This all comes down to who Jesus is versus who we are. If you are a Christian, you admit that you are a sinner and that Jesus is holy. But what about after this? I talk to people all the time where I have a very short amount of time where I can share the gospel with them. I can tell you with assurance that I have never had one to think that they were perfect. I can get each of us to admit that we are sinners. But what about after that?

Have you lived a life that shows your pursuit of holiness found only in Jesus, or do look like a scribe? Have you truly changed by the power of the Holy Spirit or are you putting on a show around others so that they think you are something that you aren’t?

God does not save us for us to put on a show. God saves us so that we put off our old selves and put on Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

This week, as you meditate on God’s word, let it shape you to be more and more like Jesus. Spend more time in prayer, more time in God’s word, more time in fellowship with other believers. These are the things that God often uses to water the seed in us. Be changed by God.