Triumphal Entry to Judgment: Jesus Cleanses the Temple (Mark 11:11-18)

Good morning, and welcome to our Palm Sunday service here at the Dillingham

Moravian Church. My name is Pastor Simon Flynn.

It is our privilege to be able to help lead you in the study of God's Word today.

This last week, my boys and I were walking back from picking up my six-year-old Paul at the bus stop.

And as we were walking up to the hill that goes past the old church in the parsonage,

I noticed that the road was a sheet of ice.

I then asked little Paul to hold my hand since I had cleats on and Paul would

be more secure on the ice that way.

However, Paul, being Paul, responded, I don't need help. I can walk myself.

He did not get more than 10 feet when his legs went out from under him and down he went.

Of course, Paul, also being Paul, said, I'm okay, Daddy, and then proceeded

to slide happily and very loudly down the hill.

This concept of being on slippery ground is similar to what was happening with the Jews.

They were focused on their own desires and their needs, and they would not surrender

to what God wanted them to do in His Word.

And because they would not surrender and live by faith in God and obey Him,

they were on slippery ground, and it caused them to turn their back on God's

plan for salvation and on the Savior himself.

Let's pray. Oh, Heavenly Father, it is a wonderful privilege and joy that we

get to be saved by your grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

Thank you for this opportunity to be able to hear the events from Palm Sunday

all the way to the resurrection.

What a blessing it is to be able to study and know you and know your heart and

mind and the events that are surrounding just what took Jesus Christ to the

cross to pay the blood debt that we owed and could not pay. Thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Lord, for him rising from the dead. And Lord, we pray that as we

hear this message that your Holy Spirit would open up a hunger for your word, for your truth.

Would you revitalize our hearts and our minds so that we can live with your

life, not our own, but your life, that Jesus Christ would be the one that was

operating us and controlling us. Thank you, Father.

Use us and work in this message today. In your precious son's name,

Jesus Christ, I pray, amen.

Today, we are celebrating Palm Sunday where we remember how Jesus rode into

Jerusalem in humility on a donkey as a sign that he really was the heir of David, the Messiah.

Jesus had just fed thousands of people, and Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead.

And when people saw Jesus coming, they spread palm branches and cloaks for Jesus

to ride over, and they chanted a messianic psalm to welcome the Messiah.

The people wanted to make Jesus king over Israel and to overthrow the Romans

right then and give them physical freedom, power, and prosperity.

In his first coming, Jesus came not to bring physical freedom from human slavery

and oppression, but spiritual freedom through his own sacrificial slaughter.

Jesus would not give them what they wanted, and so they crucified him three days later.

This morning, I'd like to study

a little bit what happened after Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Please turn with me this morning to Mark 11, verse 11 through 18, where Mark recorded,

Mark 11:11–18

Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple, and after looking around at

everything, he left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.

On the next day, when they had left Bethany, he became hungry.

Seeing at a distance a fig tree and leaf, he went to see if perhaps he would find anything on it.

And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

He said to it, May no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples were listening.

Then they came to Jerusalem, and he entered the temple,

and they began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple

and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were

selling doves, and he would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple.

And he began to teach and say 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 robber's den.

The chief priests and scribes heard this and began seeking how to destroy him,

for they were afraid of him.

The whole crowd was astonished at his teaching.

There are three fundamental truths I want to bring to your attention today.

The first principle that God is showing us in this passage is that there are

times when we as disciples of Christ are to wait before acting.

One summer, when Paul was a baby, my wife Abigail took our son Jonathan and

our former foster girl Charlotte for a walk around Snag Point by the bay while

Abigail pushed baby Paul in the stroller.

Paul and Charlotte were whining. They were screaming. Jonathan was getting so

frustrated with their fussing that he was nearly crying.

And instead of getting mad at Charlotte and Paul, Jonathan declared out loud to himself, Time out!

And immediately sat down on the side of the road, halfway down the hill.

Then when Abigail and the other kids got to the bottom of the hill,

Jonathan declared, "Okay!"

Jonathan took himself out of timeout and ran down the hill to catch up with mommy and the others.

As far as Abigail could tell, Jonathan was waiting until he calmed down before acting.

And I believe this was similar to what Jesus was doing in verse 11,

although Jesus did not put himself in timeout.

As Jesus entered into Jerusalem, the people were chanting, Hosanna,

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Blessed is the coming kingdom

of our father David Hosanna in the highest.

And right after this, Jesus entered the temple, looked around,

inspected everything, and then left for the night to go to Bethany,

presumably to visit Lazarus and come back the next day.

The question we need to ask is, why did Jesus inspect the temple, then choose to wait?

Yes, it was late, but I think there was more going on than just it was late.

Jesus went into the temple to inspect and to measure the nation's heart towards

God, and the heart of the nation was the temple.

Jesus was preparing to make the huge decision to bring judgment on Israel.

But Jesus didn't make this decision impulsively. Rather, he waited and most

likely prayed because that's what he always did.

Though Jesus is God and he had righteous anger against his people, he was also human.

And so the urge to act out in unrighteous anger and frustration against Israel

when Jesus saw the evil ways the Jews were using the temple must have been very tempting.

Jesus waited so that his actions were God's actions and not from his human side.

What can we as disciples of Christ learn from this truth?

As believers, it is so tempting for us to act impulsively and make decisions rashly,

whether it's to lash out verbally or physically in anger, or to make an important

life decision too quickly and unwisely.

The principle we can garnish from Jesus' action here is that before we act or

speak in anger or rash manner, we are to wait and pray about the situation and go to God's Word.

This will save us a whole mess of trouble and cause us to be a godly witness for Christ.

The next point that I want you to see from our Mark passage today is that as

Christians, we are to bear godly fruit for God.

Last spring, we planted fingerling potatoes in our garden at our new land.

At harvest time, we went to dig them up. We found a lot of potatoes.

They were small since they were fingerlings, but they were prolific.

On the other hand, from the same garden, our carrots were pitiful.

They were so small, you could hardly call them carrots, more like stringy roots.

My point is that the potatoes bore fruit, but the carrots did not.

Jesus pronounced judgment or a curse on Israel because even though God lovingly

poured so much time and effort and sacrifice into Israel, they did not bear fruit.

Mark continued in Mark 11, verse 12 to 14.

Mark 11:12–14

On the next day, when they had left Bethany, he became hungry.

Seeing at a distance a fig tree and leaf, he went to see if perhaps he would find anything on it.

And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

He said to it, May no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples were listening.

At first glance, this action of Jesus seems petty and is completely unlike Jesus.

The question is, what was Jesus doing by cursing the fig tree?

On the night before, Jesus inspected the temple. The fig tree had leaves during

a time when other trees had barren branches, and because it leaves,

it was capable of bearing fruit, but it did not.

And Jesus' mind, the fig tree, was an illustration of Israel.

And just like Israel, the fig tree did not bear fruit.

Let's look at Micah 7, verses 1-4, where Micah prophesied.

Micah 7:1–4

In verse 1, Woe is me, for I am like the fruit pickers, like the grape gatherers.

Pay attention to this. There is not a cluster of grapes to eat,

or a first ripe fig, which I crave.

The godly person has perished from the land, and there is no upright person among men.

All of them lie in wait for bloodshed. Each of them hunts the other with a net.

Concerning evil, both hands do it well. The prince asks also the judge for a

bribe, and a great man speaks the desire of his soul so that they weave it together.

The best of them is like a briar, the upright like a thorn hedge.

The day when you post your watchman, your punishment will come.

Then their confusion will occur. What God was foretelling was the spiritual

state of Israel where God would come to gather his grapes or his first ripe fig.

Which would be the spiritual and physical fruit of his people's labor of faith in God.

You see, God craves to see his people bear fruit.

Where when God actually arrived, not only was there not fruit produced by his

people, but the godly had perished from the land.

Those who were supposed to be the best and most upright of Israel were like

thorns, and not like fertile grapevines or figs.

The hearts and actions of God's people had gone over to evil.

Thus God, through Micah, was pronouncing judgment upon Israel.

Back in Mark 11, verses 12-14, Jesus was fulfilling this prophecy.

Mark 11:12–14

The fig tree represented Israel who was not producing fruit for God,

culminating in their rejection of Jesus and putting them to death.

And thus Israel was cursed for it.

Israel would no longer be the primary instrument of God's salvation to the world.

Now, does this not mean that salvation was completely withheld from the nation of Israel?

Turn with me to Romans 11, verse 1 through 6, where Paul wrote,

Romans 11:1–6

I say then, God has not rejected his people, has he? May it never be!

For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.

Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah,

how he pleads with God against Israel?

Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have torn down your altars,

and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.

But what is the divine response to him? I have kept for myself 7,000 men who

have not bowed the knee to Baal.

In the same way, then, there also has come to be at the present time a remnant

according to God's gracious choice.

But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works.

Otherwise, grace is no longer grace.

Let's continue down to verse 15 to 22. For if there, meaning Israel's rejection,

is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

If the first piece of the dough is holy, the lump is also. And if the root is

holy, the branches are too.

But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive,

were grafted in among them, and become a partaker with them of the rich root

of the olive tree, Do not be arrogant towards the branches But if you are arrogant.

Remember that it's not you who supports the root But the root supports you,

You will say then Branches were broken off so that I may be grafted in Quite

right They were broken off for their unbelief But here's what I want you to hear.

But you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear.

For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

Behold then the kindness and severity of God. To those who fell, severity.

But to you, God's kindness. If you continue in his kindness,

otherwise you will also be cut off.

The root and the trunk of tree of God is God in Jesus Christ.

And the branches were Israel.

And due to Israel's lack of fruit and the rejection of Jesus,

some of the branches were cut off, but not all.

The wild olive shoot is the church which is made up of the non-Jews and Jews

who believe in Jesus Christ, who have now been grafted into the tree of God.

Israel still has a part to play in the end times, but it is now the church that

is being given the primary job of being the messenger of the gospel of God's reconciliation.

Paul's point was that Christians must not become arrogant or proud because the

fact that both Israel and the church are part of God's tree in the first place,

and for both the church and Israel,

we are there solely based upon the grace of God.

We have never, ever deserved God's love. It has always been lavished upon us. Moreover.

If God did not withhold discipline upon his own people, God can discipline us as well.

How can we apply this truth to our lives as Christ followers?

The truth is that Jesus removed the privilege of being the primary vehicle of the gospel from Israel.

And he's given that wonderful opportunity and responsibility to us, his church.

And what that means for us is that corporately and individually,

we are to bear fruit for God by being God's messenger of reconciliation to the world.

How are we to do that? It's by living by faith in Christ.

We're also not to become conceited or arrogant about our position with God because

God can discipline us as he did Israel.

So far in Mark's gospel, we have learned that Jesus cursed the fig tree as a

symbol of Israel because they did not bear the fruit of believing in him as their Yahweh Lord.

And in Christ, the church has been grafted into the tree of God and given the

privilege of being God's vessel of salvation to the world.

For the church is God's temple, who is to lead all nations to God.

Mark continued recording in Mark 11, 15-18.

Let's look at verse 15 with me, please. Then they came to Jerusalem,

and he entered into the temple, and he began to drive out those who were buying

and selling the temple, and overturned the tables of the money chambers,

and the seats of those who were selling doves.

And he would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple.

And they began to teach and say to them, Is it not written, My house should

be called a house of prayers for all nations?

But you have made of the robber's den. The chief priests and scribes heard this

and they began seeking how to destroy him, for they were afraid of him,

for the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching.

The Jews were required by law to make sin offering during the Passover,

and because most people did not have the animals to offer,

or rather than bringing animals hundreds or thousands of miles to Jerusalem,

the Jewish priests had merchants working for them, selling these animals with

an extra markup for the priests, but the merchants were also extorting extra money for themselves.

Additionally, all Jewish males over 20 were required by Exodus 30,

Exodus 30:12–16

verse 12 through 16, to pay a half-shekel temple tax.

But both the animals and the temple tax had to be paid for in Jewish coinage,

and people were coming from all over the known world, and they had many different

currencies which needed to be changed.

And thus the Jewish priests had money changers who also extorted extra for the

priests and for themselves.

These things were bad enough, but that was not the full extent of the corruption.

The temple was being used as a highway to get out of Jerusalem.

There were thousands of people bringing all their merchandise right to the temple.

Screaming, yelling, noisy, stinky, and no respect or fear of the Lord.

And when Jesus saw this corruption, he was filled with righteous anger of God,

and he started to clean his house by getting rid of the garbage and the junk that was in there.

And that is why he whipped the moneylenders and overturned tables.

But I also want you to notice something else.

Jesus quoted from Isaiah 56, verse 7, when he says, For my house will be called

Isaiah 56:7

a house of prayer for all the peoples.

It is written in Isaiah 56, verse 6 through 8,

Isaiah 56:6–8

Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord to minister to him and love the name of the Lord,

to be his servants, everyone who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and holds fast my covenant,

Even those I will bring to my holy mountain And make them joyful in my house

of prayer Their burnt offerings,

their sacrifices Will be acceptable on my altar For my house will be called

And here it is A house of prayer for all the peoples The Lord God who gathers

the dispersed of Israel declares Yet others I will gather to them To those already gathered.

God's temple was meant to be a place where God dwelled, and people from the

entire world were to come to know and seek God in the temple.

It was also where people came to have their sins forgiven by God.

Moreover, the nations were to be drawn to God because of the holy witness of Israel.

But the Jews did not really want the Gentiles to worship God because they put

the marketplace in the Gentile court.

Israel was not being the witness they were called to be.

God was drawing people from all around the world to his temple to seek God.

And yet the witness of the Jews in the temple is one of greed,

corruption, robbery, and a lack of faith.

The Jews themselves were the reason why the world wasn't coming to know and fear the Lord.

And what was the response for Jesus clearing the temple?

The last main straw to have Jesus crucified. How can we apply this to us as

Christ's worldwide church?

Paul in Ephesians 2, verse 19-22 taught, So then you are no longer strangers

Ephesians 2:19–22

and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and of God's household.

Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,

Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone on whom the whole building being

fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, on whom you also

are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

As the Church of Christ, we have been given the immense privilege to be the

very temple of God here on earth.

The Spirit of God dwells within the Church and within each of us.

Thus, our purpose is to lead the world to Christ through the witness of our actions and our words.

However, there's a warning to us as well. If we're not careful to worship Christ

in all we do, we can end up in the same boat.

In one way or another, all of us here in North America are affected by materialism

and consumerism, which is the desire to have whatever we want, whenever we want it.

The temptation for all of us is to be self-focused, greedy, lacking in faith.

The very important question we need to ask ourselves is, are there things in

our lives and our hearts that need to be cleaned and gotten rid of in order

for Christ to shine through us to those around us?

Because it's the temple of God. It is through us that people will come to know Jesus Christ.

It is through us that God's salvation is to be made known to the ends of the earth.

God implores each of us, myself included, to clean our spiritual houses,

to get rid of the things in our lives that are preventing us from being a witness for Christ.

Because there is a world out there that desperately needs Jesus,

and they are hindered from knowing God if we are not letting Christ operate us.

What is it that God is trying to tell us today? As disciples of Christ,

the first truth that we have been taught is that we are called to act wisely,

to wait upon God, to spend time thinking and praying through his word before acting as Jesus did.

The second truth we learned was that since Israel did not bear the fruit of

faith in Christ, God has removed much of Israel as part of God's tree and grafted in the church.

As the Church of God, we, you and I, are called to bear fruit on the salvation

God has given us and be the means in which the wonderful news of salvation is spread to the world.

And lastly, as the Church of Christ, God implores each of us,

myself included, to clean our spiritual houses, to get rid of the things in

our lives that are preventing us from being a witness for Christ so that the

nations will come to know and worship God in Jesus Christ.

I encourage all of us that if

there are things in our hearts that's preventing us from being a witness,

a witness that God has called us to be, then I urge each of us,

myself included, to give over control to God and let him clean us, his temple.

And if you're here this morning or if you're listening,

and you have not quit your faith and trust in Jesus Christ or you wish to do

so, So I implore you to commit your life to Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior,

even right now as I'm speaking.

If you need help or guidance, you're welcome to leave a message.

Our Dillingham Arabian Church Facebook page or on the website,

there's a place for you to do that.

And we'd love to be able to pray for you and help you in that process.

Let's pray. Father, we are grateful that you are our God,

and that you loved us so much that you sent your only begotten Son,

the only one that was like him, to the cross so that we could be saved from your wrath,

that we would no longer be held accountable for the sins that condemn us.

Thank you, Lord. Use us, Lord. And Lord, as we go out this week,

may we be lights to those around us,

lights to the nations of your great glory and your love and your truth.

May we speak about you and your gospel to those around us.

But may we also act in your love and in your holiness and the truth of your word.

In our precious son's name, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

I'll leave you with this blessing from Psalm 67, verse 1 through 2.

Psalms 67:1–2

May God be gracious to us and bless us and cause His face to shine upon us,

that your way be known on the earth and your salvation amongst all the nations. Amen.

Have a wonderful Sunday, and may the Lord be with you all.