The Gospel Of Mark | The Showdown (October 28th, 2018) - Mike Armstrong

Well you can grab your Bibles now and uh get them opened with me to uh Mark's gospel, to uh to chapter 12.

And uh as you're uh finding your way and and finding that, um by the way, if you don't have a Bible, we do have some Bibles uh at the back.

We sometimes don't mention that every single week, but we do have some Bibles at the back, and Usher would love to get one to you.

So uh if you need one, you don't have one, uh that's our gift to you.

Enjoy it uh for sure.

But we uh we open up God's Word every single week here and we uh seek to understand it and to apply it to our lives, and so we're excited to do that here today through uh working through uh the Gospel of Mark and uh in chapter 12 uh this morning.

Now, um I think this is true.

I think uh we love a good showdown, don't we?

We love uh we love a battle.

We we we love to see like who's the best or or what's better.

Okay, we got a couple examples here uh of this.

You want to throw the first one up there?

Uh the first one's coke versus versus Pepsi.

Right?

I think uh you know a lot of people have an opinion of on this.

I'm not a pop guy at all, or they're both gross.

That's kind of how I feel uh about that personally, but but Coke versus Pepsi, that's a big thing, the taste test challenge kind of thing, all of that.

Um so there's that one.

How about this one here?

Apple versus PC.

Apple versus PC.

We've got uh people with strong opinions uh about that, about that type of thing.

Apple versus PC.

Next one here is uh yeah, yeah, McDavid versus Matthews.

McDavid versus Matthews.

People are feeling uh big time about uh, well, you know what, Matthews got hurt.

I will just keep moving on here.

He got hurt last night.

Let's move on to this uh final one.

Uh Chevy versus Ford.

Yay for what?

For for Ford.

Okay.

Okay, I don't know.

We're like you know driving a wedge of disunity into the church here through this, so uh we'll just keep moving here.

But um I love it.

Love it.

But listen, with with with most of these examples, and and there are all kinds of other ones uh as well, you know, most of you are thinking like no contest, right?

About about one or the other.

It's it's Ford, it's sorry, we didn't even mention dodge, but um, it's you know one of these things, you are you're feeling strong.

You you you side with it in terms of uh of maybe it's personal preference, or for you it's like, no, it's it's verifiable data.

You know, this is you know objectively better than the other.

Well, listen, listen, Mark 12 presents us with a showdown, okay?

It's a showdown of really its epic proportions, right?

The the Jewish religious leaders now, uh they had been, we know that's we they they've been trying to trap Jesus and and and trick Jesus and cause him to stumble, basically since his ministry first started, his public uh ministry.

Now all of that, okay, all of that comes to a head now in chapter 12.

They take uh another run at him, uh a concentrated effort, but but Jesus he he confronts them, he exposes those ugly roots of of pride that's kept them from uh knowing the Lord truly and and has as has actually led them to leading an entire nation uh away from God.

And just as how Christ goes goes after the pride of these of these leaders, listen, he goes after ours as well, doesn't he?

He does.

Okay, so so the question really is will we let him?

Right?

Are are we gonna let the Lord do what he does?

Is he are are we gonna let him in to expose those roots of of pride in us?

Are we gonna let him come in and bring conviction?

Are we gonna are we gonna bow to that?

Are we gonna, again, like we said before, are we gonna bend the knee and and have soft hearts here?

Are we gonna do that?

Or are we gonna fight back?

Are we gonna are we gonna harden our hearts?

Are we gonna close ourselves out to the Lord's working, his sanctification, maybe even his salvation in our lives?

Listen, none of that, none of that is a good plan.

None of it at all.

Okay, because as we're gonna see here, in a showdown with my pride, Jesus wins.

Okay, he wins.

He wins that battle, he wins it every time.

So listen, this is what we're gonna be talking about here today.

Let me pray now.

Join with me.

Pray along with me in your hearts here that the Lord would have his way as he confronts our pride.

Lord, we um again, as your church, we know that we are um we are proud, we are arrogant, we we have plenty of moments of hypocrisy.

Uh Lord, we are self-righteous people.

We we tend to think that we're better than others, we compare ourselves to other people.

We we do all of these things, God.

And I pray that um in those different ways, every person is a little bit different.

Lord, I pray that in those ways you would do a work today.

Lord, I pray that there would be a showdown in every single person uh here.

Lord, I pray that for for those who don't know Christ, Lord, and and and the reality is their pride keeping them from a relationship with you, Lord.

I pray that you would crack through that.

Lord, I pray for Christians who have come in here today and and they've got the mask on and they've got the smile on and they've got the the firm handshake and they've got the the externals is all clicking around, but inside, Lord, they are they're hard-hearted, Lord, they are being stiff-necked, they're stubborn.

Lord, their their pride is going against you, Lord.

And as we're gonna see here, that's that that's never, never good.

And so, God, I pray that you would soften us here today.

Lord, I pray that we would be, you know, willing to let you in and do your work, Lord.

I pray that if need be, Lord, you would you would discipline those who you love here today.

Lord, I pray that you would break through the pride where we are unable to see it.

Lord, we are where we are unable to confess it and repent of it.

Lord, I pray that we would see that it's so, so worth it in Jesus Christ.

Lord, I pray that that we would see that that there is new joy, that there is new life, that there is new hope and and new purpose and meaning in life and all of these things as as we as we surrender.

So, God, I pray that as we have sung, I pray that that would be our hearts.

I pray that we would you would open our eyes now to your word.

We pray this all in Christ's name.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, here's the first thing uh this morning if you're a note taker and uh you're following along in that, all right, in a showdown with my pride, Jesus wins.

Okay, he wins.

Okay, even when it seems like I've won, I've actually lost.

All right, we see this starting in in verse one here.

Take a look at this.

It says, uh, and he began to speak to them, okay, them being the religious leaders.

If you remember just last week in uh in chapter 11, uh they had just questioned his authority.

But you know, by what authority do you do these things?

He's like, What authority?

He's like, What got what authority do you even ask me those questions?

Right?

He's like, My authority is is clear.

And so he's he's got this kind of confrontation happening here, and it just gets full blown.

Okay, so it says he began to speak to them in parables, the religious leaders.

And he says this, he tells a story.

He says, A man planted a vineyard, and he put a fence around it, and dug a pit for the wine press and and built a tower.

And he leased it to tenants, tenants or managers.

Okay, and the owner, the man, he went into another country, and the season came, and or when the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.

And they took him and they beat him, and they sent him away empty-handed.

Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully.

And he sent another and him they killed.

And so with many others, some they beat, and some they killed.

He had still one other, a beloved son.

Finally, he sent him to them, saying, They will respect my son.

But those tenants said to one another, This is the heir.

Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.

And they took him and killed him, and they threw him out of the vineyard.

Now, what's Jesus doing here by by sharing this story, this parable uh with the leaders?

Well, he's essentially telling the story of the history of Israel's pride.

Right?

The the the vineyard there is is a way that that God has has often referred uh to the Jews.

Right?

They the the vineyard represents the Jewish nation.

We actually it mentions that uh straight up in Isaiah chapter 5, verses 1 and 2.

Isaiah 5:1

All right, so so as the man plants you know, planted this vineyard, so had God chosen Israel to be his people.

All right, and as the man had put tenants or or or managers in place as overseers over his vineyard, over his property, so God had placed uh judges and and priests and kings as as leaders over his people, Israel.

And as man had, as the man had sent his servants to the vineyard who were beaten and killed by the tenants, the managers, God had sent prophets, right, who would go and speak to the nation of Israel, and they suffered a you know similar fates.

Listen, all of that is is Israel's history.

All of that is their their past, that's their story.

Okay, then Jesus goes on here in this parable to explain what's happening now in their in their present situation, uh, you know, as Jesus explains it.

And then what would happen in the very near future here, okay, as as the vineyard owner sent his beloved son to the tenants, hoping that they'll respect him, they'll they'll listen to him, but but they but they kill him, right, in the in this attempt to gain control and and to gain power, thinking that you know all of the proceeds of all this, that they'll become ours if we kill him.

Listen, the same thing.

God would send his son, right?

He would send his son as uh you know, who would be treated shamefully, who, of course, we know would be would be killed.

And and so Jesus is is telling them this, he's sharing all of this with them as as a foreshadowing of what would happen very, very soon.

Right?

He would be led away, he would be crucified.

Now, if you if you take just that part of the story from from one angle, that angle, the the pride of of Israel, the pride of the the religious leaders here, um seems to win the showdown with God, doesn't it?

This doesn't go very well.

Jesus would in fact die.

And all of that, again, on one hand, that seems that seems pretty bleak, right?

That's that's dark.

Okay, but notice what it says here next in verse 9.

Okay, it's not over.

It says, What will the owner of the vineyard do?

He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others.

Meaning that their pride and their arrogance, their sin, it will be crushed.

Right?

Like God, God's coming to deal with this.

There will be justice.

Okay, giving the the vineyard to others meaning it means that that salvation will be offered to the Gentiles.

If if my own people, if my nation, if Israel will is gonna reject me, fine, we'll go, we'll go to the nations and and they will receive me.

Okay, so even though optically, okay, from a for a moment there, it seems like pride wins out.

Right?

The you know, Israel and the leaders, they they crucify Christ.

Jesus dies, he you know, he lost.

We we know that it wasn't actually over.

Okay, not at all.

God would conquer pride, God would defeat sin, his plan to save, it would not be stopped.

It wouldn't.

All of this is really happening according to God's plan.

Okay, in verse 10, even even shows us that.

Take a look at that.

Jesus says, have you not have you not read the scripture?

Okay, and in what he's about to say, it's a reference to Psalm 118.

He says, the stone that the builders rejected, okay, the stone being Jesus, the builders being the leaders of Israel, the the the the stone that the builders have rejected has become the cornerstone.

Okay, Jesus has become the the foundation, the very foundation of the messianic kingdom.

He's the foundation of the gospel and the plan of salvation for all.

And it says there that this was the Lord's doing.

How awesome is that?

He's in control, he's sovereign, he's got this.

None of this is catching him off guard.

And it says this, isn't it it is marvelous in our eyes?

Okay, through this parable here, okay, Jesus is saying, listen, your your pride has blinded you.

You can't see, and and it kind of looks like you're getting the upper hand here through these confrontations, through these showdowns, through through these, these battles and and and all of that that we're having.

And and it's even gonna look like that, what's gonna happen here uh very quickly as I am led away to to Galgotha.

Okay, but listen, listen, this is all falling into place exactly, exactly as I drew it up.

Right, how good is that?

From the very beginning, this is it was all going according to plan.

Okay, but note their response.

Okay, rather than kind of seeing this clearly and and realizing their pride and and falling in in repentance and brokenness before God, it says this, verse 12.

It says, and they were seeking to arrest him.

They're like, we don't like this, you know, we're we're gonna come after you even harder.

They were seeking to arrest him, but but feared the people.

They're afraid of losing power, they're afraid of a revolt.

For they perceived, yeah, I love this, they perceived that he had told the parable against them.

Yeah, I guess so.

Right?

They and that's the purpose of parables.

Parables are to blind the the eyes of the hard-hearted and to open the eyes of the soft-hearted.

These leaders were were obviously stuck in their pride.

They were they were hard-hearted, and so they they kind of had some kind of inkling that Jesus was saying this uh against them, but they didn't really get it, they didn't understand.

And so it says there that they they left him and and they went away.

They went away to scheme and come up with a new plan and all of that.

But listen, the the point of this here for us today isn't to tee off on the pride of Israel.

It's not to shame them, it's not to be hard on them.

Rather, it's to look at ourselves, right?

To look inward here.

You know, what are the what are those areas of pride and you know in in your heart, in my heart, and in our behavior that that are causing a showdown between us and the Lord.

And maybe it's something that, you know, even as we've been talking, you know, just the last couple of minutes and opening up God's word, maybe the Lord's starting to point something out in you.

Yeah, that that that's something there.

That's that's an area of pride that that that needs to be confessed before me.

Maybe it's something you've been wrestling with throughout this this this past week.

Or it's been months and it's it's maybe been years for you in your walk, and and and you know that that something's not right between you and the Lord, but you've justified yourself to the point where you're like, no, like I'm I'm still gonna do what I want to do.

I still want my way.

I I'm not I'm not gonna allow the Lord in the way that I can sense that He wants to work.

Maybe you've even gotten to the point where you're you're you're so hard-hearted and and you're so blind, and you convinced yourself that you're right, and this is better for me, and this is for better for everybody involved.

Listen, our pride is it's not to be played with.

It is a sneaky thing.

It's a slippery, slippery slope.

It you know, our pride is so deceptive.

We can come, we can become so fooled by it and so callous by it.

And the point, again, where where we're just like, no, I'm I'm I'm fine.

I I'm good.

My way is the best way.

You know, what I'm doing right now by by following my own pride and giving into that is is good, right?

It is it is correct.

I'm winning, right?

That's how we feel sometimes.

But listen, when you and I entrench ourselves in in pride and we put up those those walls, and it's that that that barrier that that's there between us and and the Lord.

Listen, we never win.

We only lose.

You might be thinking, well, well, how do I lose?

Because it doesn't really feel like it at this point, or I don't really sense the ways that I that I lose.

What kind of things do I lose?

Well, you can jot these down.

Four four things we lose when we give into pride.

Okay, four things.

Here's the first one intimacy with God.

Guess what?

That's a big deal.

Right?

As followers of Christ who have given our hearts to Him and have confessed our sin and our pride, this should devastate us.

Intimacy with God, that's all we've got going for us.

Do you know that?

All the other things that we think we have, it's it's nothing.

We lose intimacy with God, we've lost everything.

Now, that's not to say that we we lose our salvation.

I don't believe that the scriptures teach that.

I really don't.

I I love what I believe John MacArthur said.

He said, he said, if if you could lose your salvation, you would.

Because we're we're sinful, we're broken, we can't do enough to keep that up.

God gives that to us, He He grants that to us.

We are sealed in the Holy Spirit.

I wouldn't say that you can lose your salvation, but I can't say that you can lose your intimacy, you can lose that closeness with Him.

I heard someone else say this week, or I read this somewhere, that you cannot hold on to your pride and intimacy with God.

You hold on to pride, you lose that intimacy with God.

You can't have both.

That's a huge, huge, huge thing that we lose when we give in to pride.

Here's a second one we lose intimacy with the church.

Okay, this is a big one as well, and I think so many of us are like, nah, don't care.

I'm good.

I'm good with that one.

I'm fine to just go about life the way that I want to go about it, and and I don't need to you know have relationships.

That sounds soft.

Right?

I I don't need people.

Listen, the reality is you do.

And and that that in that attitude suggests pride.

If you didn't have that, that proud attitude in your heart, you would realize and you would see how much we need each other.

Right?

Because if you if you think you don't need the church, it means that that you're on the throne.

And when you're on the throne and you're giving into pride and all of these things, you you automatically think that other people exist to serve you instead of the opposite, which the gospel uh makes real clear to us.

If you give into pride, you lose intimacy with the church.

You're though these relationships that we're to have with each other will just never be what they're intended to be.

Pride's the problem.

Here's another thing that we lose when we give into pride soul level satisfaction.

Soul level satisfaction.

This is a this is big.

Maybe you're giving into pride right now and you're following your own agenda and you're doing what you want and all of these things, and the Lord's in you, you know, you've left him in your dust, and you're like, you know what, I feel pretty satisfied right now.

I feel fine.

What are you talking about?

No, I wouldn't say you're satisfied, I would say you're happy.

Okay, happy is so temporary.

Happiness depends on our circumstances.

Life is going pretty good right now, I'm happy.

Life's not going real great right now, I'm unhappy.

Happiness is a low bar to be aiming for.

Do you know that?

Soul level satisfaction, it's joy, that's what we should be going for.

Pride always, eventually, ultimately, turns to misery.

That satisfaction, that happiness that you you you feel like you have right now, it will slowly leak out of you.

It will be gone, and it will be bitterness, it will be it will be misery.

And when we confess our pride and we give in to humility and the Lord is working, that's when that satisfaction comes on a deep soul level.

That listen, the whole world's looking for that.

Here's the last thing.

Here are four things we lose when we give into pride.

Fourth one, mission success.

Hey, mission success.

What's the mission of the church?

Glorify God.

Right?

In the making of disciples.

That's that's the mission.

That's what we're here to do.

If you give into pride, all of that just grinds to a halt.

Far too many Christians, far too many churches are fine with that.

That's fine.

We'll just gather here, we'll just try and like build our bank account, we'll just you know, try and fill the room with a bunch of bodies, we'll we'll try and do all of those things, but but because of pride and because of arrogance, and because of all of these things, the actual mission that God has given us to do stops happening.

Mission failure, that's what it is.

And and maybe.

Making disciples, listen, I would never say that that that stops entirely.

God is way greater than that.

He is greater than our pride, He is greater than our foolishness.

But the whole making disciples thing, the you know, that whole operation that the church is supposed to be all about, it just slows to a crawl.

And we're not as effective as we could be if we were humble, godly people.

Listen, let God have the upper hand today.

Right?

In that showdown with your with your pride, trying to try to stop trying to stand up to him in all of this.

Fight that that lie that you somehow win that fight.

You don't.

You only lose.

Here's the next thing.

In a showdown with my pride, Jesus wins by dismantling my hypocrisy, my arrogance, and self-righteousness.

Now just watch this here, these next bunch of verses.

Actually, we're gonna go through a large section here as Jesus interacts with some of the key uh leadership uh in Israel here, and and he absolutely takes these guys apart, right?

He just puts on a clinic here, and it's almost entertaining if it weren't so sad.

But this is the this is that long-awaited showdown here that's been that's been building, and it's and it's with the with the Sanhedrin.

Okay, the the the Sanhedrin was what was the kind of the word or or the term for the for the religious council of of leaders uh over Israel.

So it was made up of um of the Pharisees, okay?

We've talked about them a lot.

It was made up of the of the Sadducees as well and uh and the scribes.

Okay, these these people came together, they made up this this council known as the Sanhedrin.

Okay, take a look at verse 13, here we go.

It says, and they sent to him, this is the Sanhedrin, they sent to him some of the of the Pharisees.

Okay, well, so we'll start with those guys.

Okay, now these would have been considered like the religious progressives of the day.

Okay, so they send the Pharisees, you guys have your first crack at them, okay, and and on top of that it continues, and some of the Herodians, you know, who were those guys?

They weren't they weren't necessarily part of, they weren't part of the Sanhedrin, but but they were rather a political party, okay, who wanted uh Herod the Great to be their ruler.

Now, the interesting thing about all of this is that the Pharisees and the Herodians, they didn't even get along.

Okay, this was like a super awkward alliance of sorts.

But it was one of those like the the enemy of my enemy is my friend, right, type situations.

And like we hate each other, but you know, we'll gang up for you know for the sake of you know trying to go after Jesus, and so that's that's what they do here.

It says that they try to trap him in his talk.

Keep going.

And they came to him, they came and said to him, Teacher, okay, we know that that you are true, and you do not care about anyone's opinion.

For you not swayed, you're not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God.

Okay, now is that true what they're saying there?

Yeah, yeah, it is.

But do you kind of sense that they're maybe not so sincere about it?

They're buttering them up.

Totally.

That's what they're doing.

They're, you know, it's it's insincere flattery.

But then they ask him this question, keep going.

It says, is it is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?

Should we pay them or or should we not?

Okay, what's up with all of that?

Well, well, listen, the intent here uh of this trap is to force Jesus into a lose-lose situation.

Okay, where if he you know comes down on the side of pro-taxation, okay, then then the people, the crowds that were won over to him would would turn on him.

That's what they're hoping for.

Because the the crowds, of course, they felt they felt oppressed by by the Roman authorities.

Okay, so they're they're trying to hope, they're hoping that he'll you know go in that direction, or okay, or they're they're they're hoping that maybe he'll go the other direction.

If he's anti-taxation, it will appear as though he's he's anti-government.

Okay, he's anti- you know, Roman rule, and now those authorities will be chasing him down.

So they don't really care about the answer to all of this.

They just want him to answer one or the other because both of them uh means trouble for him.

Okay, but for verse 15, look at this.

Okay, but but but knowing their hypocrisy, okay, you see the word there, it's a form of pride, right?

Knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, Why put me to the test?

Bring me a denarius.

Okay, a denarius was was a day's wage.

Okay, and and he says, Let me look at it.

And so they they brought one.

And he said to them, Whose likeness and inscription is this?

Whose picture is is it on this?

And they said to him, It's Caesar's.

Right?

And Jesus said to them, uh, render to Caesar the thing that are Caesar's.

Okay, so he's showing right there, what?

Not anti-government.

Okay, so render to thing uh to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.

And it says there that they they marveled at him.

Okay, they they they marveled at him, but but notice that it doesn't say that they were humbled by what he said.

They they they were not humbled.

See, they they missed the point of what Jesus uh was saying here, the point he was trying to make.

Okay, the coin it bears Caesar's image.

So give to him what is his.

Yeah, you need to pay taxes, right?

The Old Testament talked about that.

But listen, who bears God's image?

They do.

Right?

Meaning, humble yourself and render to God the things that are God's.

Yourselves.

Give yourselves to him, stop resisting him through the pride of your hypocrisy.

Masterful, the way that he handles that and points out their pride through it.

Okay, but he's not done, and and neither are they.

Take a look at verse 18 now, and we we see the Sadducees come to Tangle.

It says, and the Sadducees came to him.

So the Sadducees were like the religious conservatives of this group, okay, and and they come and they say that there is no resurrection.

So they didn't believe in the afterlife, they didn't believe in heaven.

Okay, and so they ask him a question, saying, Teacher, Moses wrote for us, okay, and now they're referring to, if you want to jot this down, they're referring down to Genesis 38 and Deuteronomy 25.

Okay, so they're referring to this.

Moses wrote for us in those two chapters in the law, okay, that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, so they don't have any children together, then the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.

Okay, so they're referring to what the Old Testament talked about uh in terms of uh leverett marriage, it was called, okay?

Uh and the idea was if if a man was married to a woman and and they don't have kids and the man dies, it was the man's brother's responsibility to take the widow as his wife and provide children for her.

The idea was to care for uh the widow, all right, and also at the same time to extend and to continue uh the family line uh of the brother.

All right, now verse 20.

Take a look.

It says, There there were seven brothers, okay.

So you see how they're trying to make this complicated now.

The first one took a wife, and when he died, left no offspring.

And the second took her and died, leaving no offspring.

And the third likewise.

And the seven, okay, so all seven brothers marry this woman.

They all none of them left any offspring.

And it says, last of all, the woman also died.

In the resurrection, they say, so heaven, which again they don't believe in, when they rise again, whose wife will she be?

Right?

They were all married to her.

Which one of them gets to be married to the woman?

For the seven had her as wife.

So you see here they're trying to trap Jesus through blowing up the idea that the resurrection and the afterlife is real by presenting Jesus with kind of the impossible task, this very difficult task of trying to decide which of these seven guys would be given to this woman in marriage in heaven and and right, but look how he just dismantles again their their flawed logic.

Verse 24.

Jesus said to them, Is this not the reason you are wrong?

Because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.

For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

Meaning that that heaven is a completely new and different reality for those of faith, those in a relationship with God.

You can't simply say that just because there are some important laws around marriage here on earth, that all of it applies in the exact same way in heaven.

Jesus is saying that marriage doesn't even exist in heaven.

And then verse 26.

And as for the dead being raised, have you not read the book of Moses?

Okay, that's a shot right there.

Because again, Sadducees claim to be um experts, right?

We we know the scriptures inside and out.

They they prided themselves in this, right?

We we know the law, we've we've studied it, we're the authority on all of this.

And he's like, Have you not even read the book of Moses?

Right?

And in the passage about the bush, right?

The burning bush.

How God spoke to him saying, This I am, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.

He is not the God of the dead, or he's not God of the dead, but of the living.

You are quite wrong, he says.

It's to say that God is the God of these men.

Right?

God was saying this to Moses after these guys had had died, but he's saying, I am their God, present tense.

Okay, in other words, resurrection, it's not a false concept.

It's it's a reality actually taught in the law.

Granted, it's not fully, you know, fully fleshed out in the Old Testament.

We understand all of that, but it's it's taught in the in the very scriptures that you guys seem to, you know, claim to be prose in knowing.

Right?

You you think you know the Bible, you think you know the law, but you do not.

Okay, they tempted to trap Jesus and and expose what they believed was false doctrine of resurrection, but once again, Jesus just reveals the pride that's oozing out of them in all of this and in the form of their arrogance.

You don't know the scriptures.

Right?

It was like telling Tiger Woods, you don't know golf.

Okay, or or or Michelangelo, you don't you don't understand art.

Hey, you you go up against the Lord in pride and arrogance, you're gonna lose.

Now, verse 28, it's not done yet.

Okay, we've got the Pharisees there laying in a crumpled heap somewhere, and the Sadducees, them too.

And then it says this, verse 28, and one of the scribes now, okay, the third member there of the Sanhedrin, came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked them, here he asked him, which commandment is the most important of all?

Now, if you were like in the crowd, right, and you saw all this go down, would you kind of like try and get behind this guy and you know, behind Jesus and this guy, and be like, don't ask him.

Like, it has not gone well for these guys.

But but listen, actually, this guy's a little bit different, okay, than the first two.

Okay, he is.

He's he's actually just genuinely asking a question.

He's not quite in the same position of pride and arrogance and hypocrisy as the first two guys, which again I think is a really good reminder for us to not just kind of universally write off all of the Pharisees, all of the religious leaders, all of the scribes, all of the Sadducees.

Right?

There were some that had soft hearts.

Right?

You remember Nicodemus, right?

He came and he genuinely wanted to know what it means to be born again.

He was a Pharisee.

Joseph of Arimathea, the one who provided the tomb for Jesus' body to be to be laid in.

He was a member of this council uh himself.

And and so again, it shows us we should be we should be gracious, and it's it's so easy again.

And I've done it many times, just you know, to kind of rip on these guys and to point out that they're their folly and their fallacies here, but but some did show that a humility and a genuine desire to know and understand.

You know, keep going.

Okay, Jesus answered the scribe.

Okay, the most important is this hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.

The second is this you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

There is no other commandment greater than these.

And the scribe said to him, You're right, teacher.

You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him.

And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding, with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself is is much more than than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

Pretty, pretty insightful response there.

And it says, when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, You are not far from the kingdom of God.

Okay, this this scribe, he he gets it a lot better than than the others do, but but listen, he's still yet to recognize that Jesus is Lord.

He he still hasn't put it all together.

There's there's still some self-righteousness there in him, right?

Keeping him from a relationship with Christ.

But it says there in that, in verse 34, it says, and after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Yeah, I guess so.

But then verse 35.

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

As in, why do the why do the scribes say that the Messiah is is merely a physical descendant of David in his line?

Why are they saying that's it?

Keep going.

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

David himself calls him, that is the Messiah, Lord.

So how is he his son, or merely his son?

And the great throng heard him gladly.

This is to say that the Messiah is the Lord of David, not just his descendant.

And God has given the Messiah a position of honor, right?

It says at the right hand of uh of God to overcome his enemies, which is exactly what Jesus is doing here in this absolute, again, dismantling uh of the Sanhedrin's pride.

These guys just leave, you know, licking their wounds and limping away.

But again, let's recognize that that the scribe who shows genuine desire here to know and understand is is dealt with far less severely.

Which should encourage you and I, I think, to bring our pride.

Right?

In the form of maybe it's it's it's it's a hypocrisy.

Right?

All the ways that you know you you claim to be a Christian, and and and on in one sense you you kind of look like one, but in another very real sense, you you behave and act and think and are all about the world.

You look more like the world than you do like like Jesus.

You look more like the world than unlike it.

That's the that's the pride of hypocrisy.

We should be bringing that.

We should be bringing our our arrogance, right?

That that kind of overbearing demeanor that we can sometimes have, or that that that self-assuredness, and I'm right, and you know, I'm maybe better than somebody else, that inflated sense of our own, of our own kind of self-importance, right?

That that pride or our self-righteousness, you know, where we fail to see our sin for for what it really is, and and we we look at others and they're in a worse place than than we are, and truly I'm I'm fine.

But it should encourage us to bring that pride and that all of it, all of it to the Lord, right?

Right of our own volition, will willingly just again place it at the feet of Christ.

God, here's who I am, here's my brokenness, here are the here are the ugly stains.

He here's the mess.

God, here all the pride.

I want I want to bring it before you, Lord.

Would you begin to untie those knots?

Would you begin to convict?

Would you begin to heal and transform me and and and and and work in me?

Lord, forgive me.

God, change my heart.

Right?

Better to bring to come with that attitude and and and and that that position then and have him dismantle it that way than have him come in a disciplinary type way.

Right?

Some of us, though, that's the only way we learn, it seems.

You ever been to that?

Uh through that?

I know that you have, I have too.

And you're like, no, I'm gonna, I'm still gonna do my thing, I'm still gonna hold on.

And the Lord's like, okay, right?

You asked for it.

And and and we we we deal with the consequences, we suffer the consequences, we suffer greater pain than if we had just brought this to him.

It's it's this super uncomfortable process when we feel the heavy hand of the Lord on our lives.

But again, and again, it's it's that's it's that showdown that you and I we can't we can't ever hope to win.

Not ever.

So we might as well bring it to him now before it gets even more difficult.

And here's the last thing.

Okay, in a showdown with my pride, Jesus wins, enabling me to truly surrender my all to him.

Okay, verse uh 38.

He says, and in his teaching, he said, Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces, and like to have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers, they will receive the greater condemnation.

Okay, so he uses the scribes here as an example of how pride causes them to really be all about themselves.

They wear this ornate clothing to get attention and to be shown some kind of respect, right?

To stand out from the crowd.

They love to be fond over and told how great they are and and have the seat of honor, and you know they're harsh and they're demanding of other people, and they pray, but it's all showy and it's for pretense, and there's no humble surrender to the Lord.

Right?

For them, it's just it's me, me, me.

That's what they care about.

Right?

It's it's self-advancement.

Right, and Jesus says that they'll be condemned for it.

But then verse 41 look at the opposite of that now.

Many rich people put in large sums, and a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny.

And he called his disciples to him and he said to them, Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering blocks.

For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, has put in everything she had, all that she had to live on.

Okay, okay, Jesus' point here is that this woman in her her poverty poverty, in her extreme need, you know, gives absolutely everything.

Right?

She gives her her all.

The scribes were not at all interested in that kind of surrender, right?

Not even a bit.

They were there again about about themselves and how can I advance you know in the eyes of people and you know, kind of climb that ladder.

All the pride, right?

That's all that that is.

But this woman's humility, right?

Her faith, to trust the Lord would provide her, her surrender of everything that she's got.

She gives everything to the Lord.

Here is the act that the Lord is is pleased with that He makes much of.

Don't you read that and you're like, man, I want to be like that woman.

Right?

I want from the heart.

To be that desperate, I want to have the kind of humility to just Lord, I'm willing to give you my own entire life.

All of my plans, all of my schemes, all of my desires, Lord, it is it is yours.

And beyond being like this, like this woman, she's such a great model for us.

The ultimate model for us is Christ, right?

That's what he did.

He gave it all, he didn't spare his own life.

He he but he gave it all at the cross.

He was willing to surrender everything for us.

Listen, that becomes the motivation for us to surrender everything to him.

But understand this, this only happens, it only happens.

The only way that we are enabled to truly surrender like this woman, right?

Surrender our lives to the Lord, give everything to him is when you and I let Christ win the showdown with our pride.

Right?

That's it.

Our pride's the only thing standing in the way.

So, hey, the question was presented to us at the beginning here, and I'll ask it again.

Will you let him?

You're gonna let him do that today.

Not later.

Not we'll see.

Do it.

For some of you, the battle right now is is over your soul.

And you're like, I've been coming to this church for a little bit, and I've got this friend that's been inviting me, and you know, I kind of understand the gospel, and you know, I'm not sure that I'm willing to give up that control yet.

I'm not sure that I want to surrender my life to Jesus Christ.

I'm not sure that I want him to be my savior.

I'm not sure if you know, confessing all of that to him and confessing my sin and being forgiven, I'm not sure that it's worth it.

Listen, understand that there's there's pride that you've got that you're battling right now with the Lord on.

The showdown's taking place right now in this moment.

Confess it to him.

Lord, help me in this.

Give your life to him.

Surrender your sin.

Surrender your brokenness.

Ask him to be your Lord and your savior.

Become a Christ follower today.

For the rest of us, it's, you know, we've done that.

But then again, as we know, the rest of our lives, it's just this constant kind of battle and this tension that we feel with our pride.

It doesn't all just immediately go and we never deal with our pride ever again.

No, it's this constant, everyday, you know, kind of battle of this showdown, right?

Where we we we want things and give it to the Lord.

Will you surrender it?

Will you do it right now?