The Wisdom & Authority of Christ | Mark 11:27-33 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Series)

Before we begin, and Mark, I wanna turn your attention to something and just share a few truths here in preparation for the main message. And so don't turn to Mark just yet, but meet me in Romans chapter one very quickly. And these thoughts that I am going to share with you bless me tremendously, and prayerfully, I hope they will bless you equally, if not more. I want you to see what Paul says to these believers that he's never met before. It's here in verse eight.

He says, first, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. That's powerful. Paul traveled to many ancient cities, Rome being obviously the capital of the world really at that time. And wherever Paul went among the believers, they were talking about these Roman Christians. Their faith was shared.

Their faith was recognized. Their faith was celebrated even by other believers. It inspired them. And how could it not? You're talking about a collection of Christ followers in the heathen city of Rome where church history would tell us just in a few years after this would be great persecution against believers in Jesus Christ.

And despite all of that, these Roman Christians and their piety was providing strength to other believers. And Paul here commends that. He celebrates that. You know, it's good from time to time to encourage other believers about their influence on other believers, even if that's you. Paul didn't neglect that concept of encouragement, of actually telling another believer, you inspire me.

You inspire others. I hear from others about your walk with the Lord, your devotion to the Lord, your service to the church. It's a blessing. Paul is doing that here right at the outset of his letter. But interestingly, in commending their faith, he repeats it in a similar way at the end of this very same epistle.

So go to Romans 16, and notice something with me. In verse 19 of Romans 16, isn't that an awesome sound that you're hearing right now? Do you hear that? You know, somebody called us because we get calls from time to time who watch us online. And one of the things that they observed in watching our live services is that they hear the bible pages flipping.

And they said, he hasn't heard that in such a long time. So I just had to share that. There you go. I'm incur I'm doing what Paul is doing. Be encouraged.

But look at Romans sixteen nineteen now. For your obedience is known to all so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. So he almost echoes what he says in Romans one eight, but he says something different now. He says, for your not your faith, your obedience. Your obedience is known to all.

Is he speaking about something different here? I think indirectly Paul is teaching us about what true faith looks like. Obedience is inseparable from true saving faith. If you have true saving faith, you're going to walk in obedience. So the faith that was praised by these neighboring churches was not a praise about their mere confession or their profession, but their practice.

How they lived as a result of their faith is what inspired the other believers. And here's the thing that's important to keep in mind. True saving faith not only leads to and produces a life of obedience, but it's a life of obedience that should be recognized by others. He says your faith is known across the world. Your obedience is known to all.

True saving faith will produce obedience. And that obedience will be so evident and obvious. Maybe not to the whole world, but to your world. This is a true believer in Jesus Christ. Now that's not even my main point.

I bring that to your attention because think about what kind of lives these believers lived for it to bless other assemblies and congregations. What kind of steadfastness? What kind of boldness and courage? What kind of purity was there for it to shine so bright in this ancient world for the Christian world to be able to say, those Roman believers are something? With all of that being said, go back to Romans one now.

And notice what Paul says after he tells these people that their faith is made known to all. Look at verse nine. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son, that without ceasing, I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you. So Paul's Paul's saying, I pray for you all the time. But he doesn't just say that.

Look at verse 11. For I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you. So not only am I praying for you unceasingly, but I long my prayers that I would come to you in person that I may in part into you something else that you may be further strengthened. You know what that tells me? This is what I wanna drive into your heart because it was driven into mine.

That though these believers had a world renowned class of faith, they still needed to be prayed for. And there was still more for them to experience in God. Despite their influence, despite the lives that they have touched, Paul believed there's still more for God through my ministry to impart into you. And I open this message in this way to inspire you and to encourage you. There should never be a moment in your life no matter how much you graduate in your sanctification where you feel like there isn't more.

There is always more. There is always more for you to know, there is more for you to grow. And what's so fascinating about these inspiring believers is not just that they needed to be prayed for. It's not that they had more to experience by Paul's imparting gifts. Look at verse 15.

So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. These believers who are inspiring other believers to live with greater intensity and devotion to the gospel, Paul says, I can't wait to preach to you about the gospel. You can never outgrow your need to hear about the gospel. You need it. I need it.

Not to say that we just stay there in those elementary doctrines. No. But we never fail to revisit it and discover greater depths of it, and seeing how the scriptures and places that we might have missed points to it. And so even if you are a believer here who has vast influence online in your circles, you need to be prayed for. And you need to believe that there is more that God wants to impart into your life.

And you can never outgrow your need to know and grow and be reminded of the grace of God. Lord, we open this message with these truths so that we can be humble before you as we explore this text that you have prepared for us to discover together. We are eager, Lord. And though we may stand, we we take heed lest we fall. Help us remain hungry and humble that we may know all that you have for us, not just today, but until we meet you face to face.

Be with us now as we look at your son, Jesus Christ, in a new light. In Jesus' name, amen. With that being said, Mark 11 with me, please, in verse 27. I wanna speak to you today about the wisdom and authority of Jesus Christ. Let's read together beginning in verse 27 down to verse 33.

And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him. And they said to him, by what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them? Jesus said to them, I will ask you one question.

Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me. And they discussed it with one another saying, if we say from heaven, he will say, why then did you not believe him? But shall we say from man?

They were afraid of the people for they all held that John really was a prophet. So they answered Jesus, we do not know. And Jesus said to them, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. I love Jesus. Here we find our Lord in the temple yet again.

Earlier that day, Jesus was standing with his disciples by a withered, dry, lifeless fig tree while sharing these life giving truths about mountain moving prayer. And from there now, Mark by the Spirit transports us to Jesus in the temple in Jerusalem once more. And this is during Passover week, so you can imagine just how packed the plazas were. And we find here Christ in verse 27 walking in the temple, but he wouldn't be able to walk too long before he would be ambushed. And he was attacked by three groups of people according to verse 27, the chief priest, the scribes, and the elders.

They came to him. Now these three groups are the three main components of the main religious Jewish body of the time known as the Sanhedrin. These are top figures. These are the authority heads of the spiritual and religious life and regulations for the Jewish people at this time. And as we would suspect, here are these men who come pouncing on the opportunity that Jesus is in close proximity to to them, and they are armed with a new scheme.

A set of questions that they believe will cause Christ to stumble, and to expose his foolishness, and his inconsistency, and perhaps even some sin in his life. So with aggression, they asked these two questions. By what authority do you do these things? Or who gave you this authority to do it? Now, before we even look at to those questions, we have to first establish that these requests were not prompted by sincere curiosity.

It was motivated by murderous animosity. Let me remind you the last that we heard of these groups of people. Go to Mark 11 verse 18. We're told here in verse 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.

So with this in mind, we have every reason to believe that the motive behind this question and these questions is to find a reason, to find some kind of evidence to condemn the Lord Jesus to death. And for these twisted men, it would be this type of interrogation that would be the way to gather the necessary proof to justify their evil ploy. Who gave you this authority? Now why would this put Jesus in the dilemma? Why would this specific type of approach place him in a dangerous place?

It's very easy. Because if Jesus said that it was with his own authority that he did these things, then he could be easily dismissed as a self appointing prophet. He could be discredited in the public eye. But if he did claim what he said over and over and over before this moment, that he was in fact sent by God, that he did even come from heaven, then that would be fresh grounds for them to accuse him of blasphemy. And so they think that they have him in a corner here.

So they say, what authority do you have to do these things? What are these things that they are talking about? Surely, it is what we learned not too long ago when Jesus went into the temple and cleansed it and drove out the money changers. We learned that in verse 18 there. Right?

They heard about this. They learned, though they weren't there, that Jesus came in and bulldozed all the corruption out of the house of God. But there's something else that Jesus was doing at this moment that also caused them to ask this question. You won't find it in Mark though, you're gonna find it in Luke. In Luke 20 verse one.

Mark tells us that Jesus was in the temple walking. Luke says something else. In Luke 20 verse one, one day this is the same account. One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, The chief priest and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, tell us by what authority you do these things or who is it that gave you this authority? So it wasn't just about the news of how he came in, as we learned, fulfilling his role as a priest to purge out all the corruption.

It was also the fact that he, with authority, was teaching within the temple. And not just teaching, he was preaching the gospel to them. You know where my mind went when I read this the other day? About how Mark began in his gospel account. You remember Mark one fourteen to 15, where we're told that Jesus preached the gospel of God.

And then now we come to the end of the book, near the end of the book at least. Obviously, near the end of his ministry on earth. And what do you find Jesus doing? Preaching the gospel. You know, this is the beauty of studying a book in its entirety.

Going from chapter to chapter, verse by verse, because what we see here is a tracing of Jesus and his duty being unwavering in his determination. Laser focused, unmoved, unfazed, completely committed to his father as a servant, and he is our model to serve the father with the same steadfast resolve. When we're introduced to Jesus, we find him preaching the gospel. When we're coming to the close of Jesus' life on earth, he's preaching the gospel. And he's our model.

He's our example for today. And I can't help but be moved seeing the Lord pouring out his heart, serving in this way. He told us that he was sent to preach. Yes, to die, but to also preach leading up to his death. And a few days before he is ready to be nailed on a cross, he's still serving in what he was called to do.

I think of the words of the apostle Paul who imitated the zeal and the devotion of his master. You know, you're asked sometimes, what's your life verse? It's hard to say what my life verse is. I can tell you, like, the top 10, I guess. But whenever people do ask me that question, it's always been this, at least one of them, in terms of my walk with the Lord, not necessarily what Christ has done for me, but what I can do for Christ for years.

This is this has been the one for years, and I think it'll stay that way for years. In Acts twenty twenty four, you have to see it. Turn, turn, turn. Let's hear that sound again in the Bible's flipping. You gotta see it with your eyes.

Acts twenty twenty four. And I know I said that's my life verse. It can be yours too if you want it to be. Acts twenty twenty four. Memorize it.

Write it on your doorpost. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself. If only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. That's a good life verse. There is no value to my life.

It's not in my job. It's not in my bank account. It's not in my family, as wonderful as my family is. It's not about my gifting. It's not about world records that I've broken.

My life has zero value to it apart from me serving the master. In regards to the specific tailor made calling that he has given to me. Can you say that? Can you actually say that? My life has no value.

Like, I'm ready to go home if I can no longer serve Jesus in the way that he's called me to serve Jesus. This is radical Christianity. No. It's Christianity. It's not radical Christianity.

Well, that's Paul. Well, Paul says imitate me. So now you're in trouble. I do not account my life of any value. It's not even precious to me.

Meaning, life is identified. Life is in correspondence to my service to the master. That's what life is. You remove serving the master, you remove serving his purposes, advancing his gospel, I don't live. That can be possible for you.

Ask God to do it in you. But notice what he says about ministry. If only I may finish my course. A lot of people start out serving God. He says, I wanna finish.

Finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus. Do you hear his language? Not the ministry that I put myself in. Not the ministry that I invented for myself that I received. That I received from God gives you ministry.

God opens doors for you to serve in ministry. God fashions you and furnishes you for ministry. You know why that's important to know? For many reasons, it helps you see the mundane as majestic. Because if you're serving the Lord in any capacity, if you see it as it being something given by the Lord, then you're gonna appreciate it much more.

I've received this from the Lord and in his wisdom he gave me this kind of ministry. So I'm gonna serve him in this way, because this is what providence has brought to my plate. And so I will enjoy it and faithfully observe it. I received it. But then notice the end of this verse, the message that he wants to leave with the world.

The one thing that he wants to leave behind with the world when he departs from the world, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. You know what Paul wanted to leave with the world? Out of all the attributes, out of all the truths, I want people to know about grace. I want people to know about grace. I want my life, my ministry to leave in people's mouths the taste of his mercy.

What a man this was. Surely he walked in the paths and the steps of his master. And we're invited to do the same. Jesus starts out serving and preaching the gospel. We find him here a few days before he would be crucified preaching the gospel.

And if you're gonna live to serve Christ in this way, where you can say with Paul, my life has no value. Yeah. I know I I need to work and I need to provide for my family. That's important. I'm not neglecting that.

But the desires of my heart, my ambitions are 100% dedicated to serving the Lord. If you're gonna live that way, you can expect what Jesus experienced in the temple on this day. Here he is preaching the gospel and that would not happen while the enemies of the gospel sat by idly. Here are these agents of Satan ready to interrupt what Christ is doing. You can expect warfare in your life when you live with this kind of ambition.

But there's nothing to be feared because as we're about to discover whatever ploy, whatever plot these men have, the tables are gonna be turned very quickly. So let's come back. Verse 29 of Mark 11, Jesus said to them, I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven over a man?

Answer me. You can tell the tone here is is strong and for good reason. Because Jesus can see right through their insincere phony interest. These are not men who are authentically inquiring about his authority. They are challenging it.

Here's how you can translate what the Pharisees are saying. Who do you think you are? That's what they're saying. Who do you think you are doing this? Who do you think you are to teach here?

Who do you think you are to come in here move things around? Who do you think you are? And this is a good place to remember that ever since Christ's first advent from every age since then, and it will always be until he comes back again, men have resisted the authority of Jesus Christ. Men have fought. Men have rebelled.

Men have raised their fist against the authority of Jesus Christ and that was prophesied in the Bible. It was prophesied in the book of Psalms and one of the most quoted Psalms in the New Testament, Psalm chapter two. And in Psalm chapter two, we read here of Jesus. In fact, in Acts four twenty five to 27, the apostles point to this Psalm as a fulfillment of it connecting to Christ through the rejection of Pontius Pilate, and Herod when they crucified Christ. But let me remind you that what's happening here in some small measure was foretold and you can expect it too until he comes and sets up his rule and reign whether people like it or not.

In Psalm two we read, why do the nations rage, verse one, and the peoples plot in vain? That's how he opens a Psalm. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? David writes here in absolute astonishment and perplexity. Here's how he's really getting what he's really getting at.

I don't get it. Why are people so angry at God? Why are so why are people so hostile towards their creator who has dispensed common grace in so many ways, and he ultimately manifested his grace in the greatest demonstration of love possible in sending his son? Why would rulers and leaders rebel against their maker? Why?

And And you probably can echo that sentiment as you look to the world today, as you even look to some loved ones. I just don't get it. Why would you reject such good news? Why would you reject forgiveness? Why would you reject freedom?

Let me ask you that. Why would you? Why like, tell me what it is about following Jesus, surrendering to Jesus that's so off putting and so offensive to you. This is what David is saying. But this universal hatred is not a random theoretical tension that people feel about the concept of God.

It's about someone specifically. And that's in verse two. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. That's Jesus, the Christ. Against his anointed saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.

You know, there are a lot of people who claim that they love God, even a lot of religions that claim that they love God. But in first John two twenty three, John says, he who denies the son, denies the father. If you don't receive Jesus as he is revealed, you don't have God. You don't have God. And I've had this discussion with many confused people who think that just some who hold to some of the text that we have in this book, they might be in the right place with God.

No. It's what you do with Jesus that determines where you stand with God. And so these individuals here, these leaders of the world, they're against the Lord and against his anointed and they say something now. The spirit records how they think and how they express themselves. In verse three, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.

What are they saying here? What are these cords? What are these bonds speaking of? It speaks of authority. It speaks of moral restraints and its commands that are yoked to our wills.

These cords and these bonds, these men wanted to break free from such a thing. We will not be held captive by this anointed one. We will not allow him to drive us. We will not allow him to determine anything for us. We will shake ourselves free from this.

And we see here that they want their independence and are willing to go to war with God instead of submitting to his lordship. And on a larger scale, they don't want the Lord and his anointed to rule the world. They want to govern the world. And even in the Psalm, though we read right after that, the Lord laughs at their scheming and their thinking. He makes a plea with his very same people.

Even in this, you see the mercy of God. Look at verse 10. Now therefore, oh kings be wise. Be warned, oh rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.

And here's the invitation, kiss the son. Where is the son of God? Where is the second person of the trinity in the old testament? Here's a good place. Kiss the son.

Kiss the son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Kiss the son. A kiss in this context is a physical expression of adoration and allegiance to a monarch. But not just to a physical human king, we even see instances where kissing something or someone was to pay homage to deity.

And so we remember the words of Elijah when he was depressed and God spoke to him about there being a remnant who have not kissed Baal. And so how we understand this here is, figuratively speaking, to kiss the the son is to express your desire to be reconciled and friends with the son. In essence, when you put your faith in Christ, you kiss the son. And that was your token of partnership and allegiance and surrender to him. And this is what the psalmist saying, you do that.

Kiss the sun. Because unlike the heathen, we do not want him to burst his bonds or his cords over us. We invite them. Why? Because he said, my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

The only thing that we should expect in terms of bonds and cords being broken is him breaking sin off of your life when he becomes Lord. And so you have to make a choice. Either you deny his lordship and his authority and you get to keep your bondage and sin, or you receive his lordship and authority and he sets you free. This is the invitation. Kiss the sun and know true freedom and watch the shackles fall and watch you being able to now know this empowerment from above where you're able to resist not his authority, but that which had authority over you.

You see, you're really one of two things in this life. You're either a slave to sin or you're a slave to righteousness. There's nothing in between. You're either a master to yourself, which ultimately your flesh is a master over you, or Jesus becomes your master. So make your choice.

Some people think that they can just be in this limbo. There's no such thing. The Bible at least tells us that that is not the case. And so the Psalms told us about this. Jesus here is demonstrating how it was true in his day and it will be true with the people you know that don't believe and it will only become more aggressive, more obvious, more blatant as we approach the second coming of Christ.

But guess what? He's gonna rule and reign regardless. So he sees through it and then he asked him this question. He gives him a counter question, the Lord. And this is not an evasion.

This is not him trying to escape their little plot. This is a brilliant response to expose the dishonesty of this panel. But why this question? What is the baptism of John in verse 30 have to do with Jesus' authority? Why does answering this on their part bring clarity to what they're asking about originally?

It's very easy. Whatever conclusion that these religious leaders would make about John would determine their conclusion about the nature of Christ. Whatever they would determine about who John is, will ultimately determine who Christ is. Because John in his ministry pointed to Jesus Christ. John's baptism wasn't the only thing that he did.

It was his message and he pointed at Jesus as behold the lamb of God who has and who will take away the sin of the world. So whatever you determine about this man, this prophet will ultimately lead you to a conclusion about the essence and the nature and the authority of Jesus Christ. And guess what? They understood this. They understood that to accept John's baptism being from heaven, his ministry coming from above, automatically means that they accept Jesus also coming from heaven.

And so what do they do? They have their own little huddle. So they peel back a little bit and they get in a little circle, and thankfully the Holy Spirit allows us to sneak in and peer into their little conversation. And they are freaking out. Because verse 31 tells us what they're discussing.

And they discussed it with one another saying, if we say from heaven, he will say, why then did you not believe him? Brilliant. So if you do agree that John was a real prophet, then why didn't you believe him about what he said about me? Who's in the hot seat now? If you do believe that John was legitimate, then you also have to accept me as being legitimate.

And they were not willing to do that. And so they think about the alternative. Verse 32. But shall we say from man? And then they paused.

And I wonder if some of them looked over their shoulder and saw the crowds waiting for their answer. For they all held that John was a prophet. He really was a prophet. When you go to Luke Luke's account, which you don't have to in Luke 20 verse six, you read that they believe that they would be stoned on the spot if they made the claim that John was not a real prophet. That's how much they he was highly esteemed by the public.

And so stroking their beards, one of the Pharisees speaks up and he says, why don't we just, appeal to ignorance? Oh, yeah. That's probably the best option. Let's appeal to ignorance. And it seems like this is the best way.

It seems like, you know, if I was one of them, that probably the way I would go too. That's the best way to be unscathed in the situation. But think about it. How humiliating is this for these guys who boasted about their superior knowledge and their spirituality and their insight? These are the guys who determine and enforce these traditions that came from oral tradition and their freedom to add things to that.

These are guys that were looked up to for instruction and guidance. And here they are. This isn't a private meeting with the Lord Jesus. This is at the most public place you can be. And they are ready now to confess in front of everybody, oh, you don't know.

And so no matter where you go, these men are gonna pay a price for approaching Jesus in this way. There are two things I wanna bring to your attention from this verse. There are two lessons that you can draw from this. Number one, the Lord is always able and he always will humble the proud. Always.

These men are proud. Proud of their false antipiety, proud of their knowledge, proud of their self righteousness in comparison to other sinners. And we see that by way of example here that Jesus will find a way to bring low those who place themselves high. And he will do so in this life in many ways, and he will finally do it on that day according to Isaiah two eleven where he alone will be exalted. You know, there's an interesting way that the Bible describes God's attitude towards sin.

And not just sin in general, because he feels a certain way about sin, but specifically with the sin of pride. There's something unique about how the Lord feels about arrogance. And it's told in two places, but let me quote you one. In James four six, and you don't have to turn there, we're told that God opposes the proud. He opposes the proud.

That's very unique into how he feels about sin. When it comes to this, he opposes. The Greek word is to range battle against. In other words, in the original, when you read that if you read that in the Greek, you would read a military term. Here's how you translate it.

God goes to war with the proud. He goes to war with those who are arrogant. Arrogant about what? Anything. He can't stand it.

And here's the thing, when God chooses to set up his ranks and to fight against the proud, he always wins. Always. He will find a way to humble them. And so for God to oppose the proud says something about how he feels about it. So I'm meditating on this last time thinking, okay, Lord, if that's how you feel about pride.

Pride, what? Just about spiritual things? No. Proud about how you look. Proud about how you know so much.

Proud about your, yes, your performance in any area of life. Anything that you think you've achieved in your own strength, anything that you think makes you feel better and more significant to someone else is what the God of heaven looks down on and says, I'm gonna go to war with that person. I'm gonna go to war. So here I am thinking, I already go to war with this flesh. I'm already at war with Satan and the kingdom of darkness.

This world is at war with me. I don't want to go to war with God. Because I can go to war with everything else. All the demons, all the people, all the evil politicians, all whatever. I can go to war as long as God is with me, I'm gonna be victorious.

But if even I have all of those guys with me and I'm at war with God, I'm not gonna win. What is the secret to humility? There are many places to go. Let me give you one from what we're talking about, so why not? John Baptist.

John the Baptist, the first Baptist. John the Baptist, when he was told that Jesus now and his ministry are baptizing more people and people are going to him to get baptized, you know what his response was? It's brilliant. It's amazing. This fire breathing prophet who brought the nation of Israel to its knees is now seeing a shift in popularity.

What do you do when now a new church comes on the scene and people wanna go to that church? What do you do when you have a conference and people are now going to a different conference And not your conference. People are no longer going to your bible study because there's another bible study. What do you do? This is essentially what John is being told.

People are not coming to your meetings as much John, they're going to Jesus. And here's what John says in John three twenty seven. John answered, a person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. Unbothered by that. You know why?

Because John had a revelation. Anything I have, my preaching ability, the size of my ministry, the reach of my influence, not one thing that I have has not been given. It came from heaven. It came from heaven. Meaning, I'm not in charge of this ultimately.

The essence of humility is recognizing everything that you have, everything that you own, everything that you do has been authorized by God. That's the essence of humility. And as long as you train yourself to believe that and to see everything through that lens, you will know perpetual humility. And even when it comes to something like this that challenges your life, that challenges probably your sense of purpose and the exciting things that you enjoy, even if you do it for God, you can actually, like John in the same context, rejoice. Especially when Jesus is glorified in it.

God, and we see here with Jesus, will always find a way to humble the proud. You know what he did with Nebuchadnezzar? He turned his brain to mush. And overnight, you had Nebuchadnezzar, this high and lofty king who believed that he was the one who established his kingdom on the earth, became like a beast now eating grass with his mouth on his four legs. But here's the second thing from Jesus in dealing with these Pharisees that we can draw a lesson from.

Notice here in verse 32, but shall we say from man, they were afraid of the people for they all held that John really was a prophet. The fear of man is a deadly snare. They were afraid. You know what's so strange? When you go to a text like John 12, you read about some of the authorities who believed on Jesus but were afraid to confess it because of the Pharisees, and they didn't wanna be kicked out of the synagogues.

Like, how weird is this? You have these religious leaders that are afraid of the opinions of the people, and you have the people who are afraid of the opinions of the religious leaders. Everybody's scared of each other. And no matter what side you're looking at it from, the consequence of the fear man is the same. It paralyzes you.

It cripples you. And the worst outcome of the fear of man is when it calls you to not obey the Lord Jesus because you want the approval of someone else. To live for the approval of men guarantees a defeated life. And based on what we just learned here, this illegitimate ungodly fear where you're constantly wondering every step of the way what so and so will think, what so and so will do. Now let me pause and say that there's a legitimate concern that you should have for people in what you do.

But always with the motivation of will this glorify Christ? Is this gonna put a is this gonna put a bad testimony on my name ultimately to the name of Christ? You should think that way, but that's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about fear of those who would stand in the way of you living the way you're supposed to live for the glory of God. This illegitimate fear knows no discrimination.

It can infect anybody. Here we see it infecting leadership. So you have leadership here who are scared by the opinions of the people that they lead. And then you have the people who are being led afraid of the verdict of their leaders. It's a scary thing to live this way and nobody's out of reach of its clutches.

You have Peter. Peter, listen. Post in filling of the Holy Spirit, Peter being forgiven by Jesus Christ. This is Peter in Galatians two, who when he was in a meeting with Gentiles, learned that the circumcision party was coming over for fellowship and he refused to be with the Gentiles because he feared the circumcision party. So even an apostle, a man of God who's seen miracles, who's been restored by Christ, who knew knew the empowering work of the Holy Spirit fell into this trap of being fearful what man would say if he obeyed the Lord.

That's why the Bible says in Proverbs 29 verse 25, the fear of man lays a snare. But just like the idea of pride, how do I assure that I can avoid these booby traps? How can I dodge every mind on the path of obedience that would try to keep me away from knowing the fullness of pleasing my master? It's in the same verse. The fear of men lays a snare, but whoever trust in the Lord is safe.

The way you overcome what you might be afraid man will say or do to you is to trust that as you obey God, he'll take care of everything. He'll take care of your reputation. He'll take care of your resources. He'll take care of absolutely everything. I trust you, Lord.

I know this is the right thing to say. I know this is the right thing to do. I know that this is the right thing. I must commit in order to keep your heart pleased with me, And I trust that you're gonna take care of me when I do it. That's a man, that's a woman who is free from the snare of the fear of man.

Here are these men afraid of the people. You have the people afraid of them. And Jesus stands out. In verse 33 as we close, so they answered Jesus, we do not know. And Jesus said to them, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

Notice it's not that Jesus didn't know, he made a choice to not let them know. I'm not gonna tell you. You're not gonna tell me, I'm not gonna tell you. It's fair game. Right?

Let me give you a practical point and a theological point in closing. Jesus and Mark, tell me, what's Mark trying to portray Jesus as? As the perfect what? Servant. Good.

The perfect servant of God. I see something here that I can learn from Jesus about dealing with people who have questions about the truth. You've met those people. There are some people that no matter how much you walk them through, no matter how many arguments you give them, no no matter how many, apologetic, things that you do in their presence and send them resources this or that, they will not accept the truth. Not because they don't understand, but because they don't want to understand.

And what I see the Lord doing here is something exemplary for you and I. There's some situations and some individuals where you have to say enough is enough. I've done my part. I've said all that I could say. I've argued all that I can argue.

I've attended enough debates with you. But I've discerned now that no matter what light you have, you will not accept the truth. That's what the Lord's doing here. He's walking away from the situation. May God give you and I the discretion and wisdom to know how to do the same.

Because there are so many people who are more willing and more open. And and the wisdom behind this is that if you keep fighting and if you keep resisting their resistance and trying to make a way to crow open their hearts, you might be wasting time and energy and you're casting your pearls before swine. Jesus says, alright, I tried you. I said all that I could say. But I see another thing too here.

Jesus can only go so far as long as you are honest. You know, in discipleship, people ask about counsel, people ask about discipleship. Personally, this is what I've experienced and this is something that has kept me in many ways. I can't disciple anybody nor can I counsel you my friend as long as you are dishonest? You need to be truthful about this situation.

You need to be you need to be open. If I see the son of God not willing to go far with those who are willing to not be honest, then who am I to think that I can be successful with the same? So as long as you're untruthful, this isn't gonna go anywhere. We can have 10,000 counseling meetings. What's gonna what's gonna ensure that this is gonna actually have some kind of fruit is is if you're willing to say, I'm honest.

I'm honest about myself. I'm honest about the situation. I'm honest about my past. You don't want to be honest Pharisees, chief priests, elders? Okay.

You have I have nothing to offer you. May we learn from the master. Here's a theological point. The grace of God, the patience of Jesus has limits. Here these Pharisees over and over coming to Jesus, coming to Jesus and Jesus is willing to engage in conversation, but you can see now that his patience is wearing thin.

Even the way he originally counter asked the question. Right? He says, I'll ask you in verse 29, I'll ask you a question. Answer me. And I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

Was the baptism of John from heaven or from a man? Answer me. That's not the tone that you see regularly with Jesus when he deals with sinners. He's very patient with sinners. You read in John chapter four how he leads that woman at the well patiently as her revelation of the Messiah grows.

You see it in John chapter nine with a man who was born blind. Jesus being patient with him as he also is growing in the same awareness of who's standing before him and who healed him. But when it comes to these guys at this point in Jesus' ministry, it's like just let's just get straight to the point. Answer me. Come on.

Let's get to it. And then when they wouldn't admit it, when they wouldn't be honest, he says, it's done. You want to be willfully ignorant? You don't want to be honest? Then stay in your darkness.

And the truth that about this universally in the scriptures is that the Lord at some point can retreat and pull away and no longer persuade you of the thing that you've heard so many times already. When that happens, every case is different. But that's why the scripture says, today is the day of salvation. If you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. Because you never know at one point, you so harden your heart that it will be never feeling again.

And that's not God's fault. That would be ours. So he begs you, don't harden your heart. Maybe there's even, maybe there's even one person here today who is not yet fully surrendered to Jesus Christ. I wanna tell you something.

He has all authority. And whatever authority you have in your autonomy, whatever you think you have in terms of control of your life and your future will prove to be false, especially when you stand before him. And the appeal of the master is not a power struggle with you. The appeal is that he longs to befriend you and forgive you and restore you and know his gentle leadership that would give you life and give him glory. And so can I ask you today, have you given yourself to the full authority of Jesus Christ?

Is he really your Lord? Is he? And I invite you today to bend your knee and to confess with your mouth, Jesus Christ, you are Lord of my life. I choose to kiss the son today. Why would you kiss the son?

Because he embraced you at the cross. And he came into this world and he shed his blood and he extended his arms, yes, to be crucified but also to invite you into his heart and to receive you and to restore you and to give you eternal life. But that can't happen unless you get off the throne of your will and you give him that seat. He say it belongs to you, Lord. You're my savior, yes, but be my Lord as well.

And know this, whether you choose to do so or not, he will be Lord. And every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is such. Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for establishing and for many of us reinforcing the truth of your authority. We believe that you are who you say you are.

And Lord, we ask that at this time, we would rejoice to know that you have all authority in heaven and on earth, and that you will never leave us nor forsake us. And that with that authority, you also commission us to go into the world and make disciples of all nations. Help us be wise in seeking to make disciples. Help us be fearless and not concerned with the fear of man. Help us be courageous in knowing that, you will reward our obedience.

And help us do what Paul said he did. Help us do what you and your son exemplified finishing well. That wherever we started we bring it to a close in faithfulness. So Lord, strengthen us. Strengthen even those whose faith is so inspirational already.

As the Romans needed, we recognize our need for a fresh impartation of joy, of wisdom, of mercy. Lord, we just open our hearts at the close of the service asking that you do what you will with our hearts. And Lord, lastly, for the person here who's sitting, visiting, and who's heard maybe for the first or the tenth or the hundredth time about what Christ has done, may the decision be made today. May your Holy Spirit and his perfect power and grace grip the hearts of those who are still intention wanting to keep their own authority, being the lords of their own lives, may may that be no more and may you win them to repentance. We now sing to you, Lord, thanking you for this meal that you've given us for our souls.

And with this fresh strength, we give you a fresh song. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Why don't we stand? A praise team will come up and they'll help us in these last songs.