Okay, my glasses here. Okay, good morning. It's good to see everybody starting the day giving God the first fruits of their morning. I'll be covering the events of Jesus's day on Monday of the Passion Week, and let us begin by reading the passage for this morning, which is, please turn your Bibles to Mark chapter 11, verse 12 through 19.

I'll give you a little time to find the passage. Okay, so I'll go ahead and read and just follow along. On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry, and seeing in the distance a fig tree and leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it.

When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again, and his disciples heard it. And they came to Jerusalem, and he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple.

And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations?

But you have made it a den of robbers. 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. And when evening came, they went out of the city. Let us pray.

(silence) Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you Lord for this morning. We thank you for everyone who is gathered here, Lord God. We are here this morning because this week is so important in our own Christian walk, Lord God, because what it stands for, that the son of God humbled himself, made himself nothing, and became a servant for our sake.

Lived among us, Lord, so lovingly and sacrificially. And eventually died on the cross for our sake. Those you came for rejected you, and you sacrificed. Lord, I pray that as we listen to your word and your passage, Father, your word in the events of this week is powerful in themselves, Father.

And I pray that we would put it into proper context of importance in their lives, and that you would help us, Lord God, as we start this day meditating on your word and what you did on Monday. That you would continue it on through the day, continue it on throughout the week, Lord, so that we can remember what Christ has done.

We could remember all that we have received in Christ, and we could rejoice for what we have in Christ, with the hope that we have, Lord God. We thank you, pray all this in Jesus' name, amen. Okay, so let me set the stage for events of Monday. It is morning time, Jesus is walking towards Jerusalem from Bethany, and Bethany was Jesus' base station.

So during this time in Jerusalem, there are, Pastor Peter mentioned yesterday that over a million people would come to Jerusalem, so the place was very crowded, so even if the Jesus and disciples wanted to find housing there, probably there was no housing, so they stayed in a nearby city, Bethany, house of Martha, Mary, (microphone feedback) See, okay, so we see what's happening here is that that morning, so Jesus is walking with his disciples, coming from Bethany, all right, okay, is that okay?

All right, so we see Jesus and his disciples are coming from Bethany, and Jesus sees a fig tree, and a strange thing happens, and in Mark's account, this is what it says, on the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry, and seeing in the distance a fig tree and leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it.

When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs, and he said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again, and his disciples heard it. In Matthew 21, 19, it says the fig tree withered at once. This is a relative term, as far as at once, the tree may have died at once, but in Mark's account, 11, 14, suggests that the withering and the visible image of the withering actually happened the next day, so we see that as they were coming back on Tuesday to Jerusalem, the disciples saw the withered tree.

Often, the Old Testament refers to the nation of Israel as a fig tree, so we see that Jesus pronounces judgment upon the fig tree, and says, may no one ever eat fruit from you again. The withering of the tree is a foreshadow of the judgment that is to come upon Israel in AD 70.

We know what happened in AD 70, right? The Romans came and completely destroyed Israel. As from time of AD 70, there was no nation of Israel, and all the genealogy that dates back to who is from the Levitical tribe, who is from this tribe, and all that was destroyed, 'cause they completely destroyed it, they took it away, and they took captive the Israelites, so we see the pronouncement of the judgment, and we see that this judgment that is pronounced, Jesus was looking, and it was pronouncing, this was symbolic of what was gonna happen to Israel, and we know that as he was doing this, Jesus' heart was very heavy, and we know that because in Luke's account in chapter 13, 41 to 44, and Pastor Peter mentioned it yesterday, and I'll read, just follow along, and when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, "Would that you, even you, "had known on this day the things that make for peace, "but now they are hidden from your eyes, "for the days will come upon you when your enemies "will set up a barricade around you, and surround you, "and hem you in on every side, "and tear you down to the ground.

"You and your children within you, "and they will not leave one stone upon another in you, "because you did not know the time of your visitation." And Pastor Peter mentioned how Jesus wept, and this is not one tear, but rather, he was weeping inside because he foreshadowed and knew what was gonna happen.

So Jesus pronounces this curse upon the fig tree, and then from there, Jesus and the disciples enter the city of Jerusalem, and Jesus enters the temple, and as he is entering the temple, his emotions are aroused by what he sees. And this is what Mark says, "And they came to Jerusalem, "and he entered the temple, and began to drive out "those who sold, and those who bought in the temple, "and he overturned the tables of the money changers, "and the seats of those who sold pigeons.

"And he was teaching them, and saying to them, "Is it not written, my house shall be called "the house of prayer for all nations, "but you have made it a den of robbers." First, I don't see a man who is out of control with anger. I don't see Jesus losing control of himself and going around and doing all this, but rather, I see a zealous person, but I also see one who's perfectly in control of the situation and is intentionally, intentional in what he's doing.

This passage says that he tells us that Jesus was teaching them and quoting scripture. He was doing this, but he was teaching them, and he was quoting scripture. So I believe Jesus was trying to open up their eyes to see what the temple had become. It should have been a house of prayer for all nations, but it had become a den of robbers.

The temple was to be a place where nations were to come pray, Jews and Gentiles, and God's plan from the beginning was to save all nations. In Genesis 12, God makes a promise to Abraham, and that promise says, "I will bless you. "I will make you into a great nation, "and I'm gonna bless all nations through you." Other passages in the Old Testament reiterate this, that God was going to bless all nations to the seed of Abraham.

However, it had become a place of exclusion and not what it was intended to be. So what was happening is you have the court of Gentiles, and that's where all the money changers, and they were doing all the transaction. See, so the only place in the temple where the Gentiles could come and pray and worship God was the court of Gentiles.

So by doing this, that they were frustrating the worship of the Gentiles. The priest would not accept. So what was going on is that the priest would not accept the sacrifices. So if you brought the sacrifice from outside of the temple and not buy it from the court of temple, what was going on, then the priest would not accept it.

So you could kind of see what would happen. Then if the priest don't accept it, then these exchangers and purchasers, they're gonna be jacking up the price because that's the only place that you could buy a sacrifice to give to the priest that is acceptable. So Jesus says that they had turned the temple into den of robbers, that instead of a place that people could come and worship, now they have turned it into a place of business, of robbing people.

I believe the state of the temple was indicative of what was happening to the nation of Israel. They had lost their way and have gone so far from God that they made the temple not a place where all nations could gather, but instead it was a place people stayed away from, at least if they wanted to find God.

One thing that I've been thinking about and meditating on for a while, and a big question mark in my head is, when the gospels begin telling the gospel story, it opens up with all the people, Jerusalem and Judea, going out to the wilderness to seek John, John the Baptist.

And this was, they're going out and they're seeking a baptism of repentance. So this is what, I'll read from Mark 1, 4 to 5 about this. So John appeared baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him, were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

So we have a picture of them going out to John the Baptist for the sake of repenting. So I was thinking to myself, for the Jews, where are you supposed to go? Where are you supposed to go to find atonement for sacrifice for your sins? If you ask for forgiveness, where are you supposed to go?

I'm thinking they're supposed to go to the temple, but instead of going to the temple, you see them in droves going out to John the Baptist in the wilderness. Why would they go there when you have a nice temple, great temple, temple of, you know, Herod's Temple, which is beautiful, great, big, but instead they choose to go out to the wilderness.

And I don't know about you, when I think about wilderness, one of the imagery I have is the wilderness of the nation of Israel when they were wandering in the desert in the wilderness for 40 years. Another imagery that is spoken of in the wilderness, it talks about in the day of atonement, right?

The high priest would make sacrifice of a bull for his own sin, put the blood on the mercy seat and cleanses it, and then they have two goats. And of the two goats, they would go ahead and do lots to decide which one is gonna be sacrificed and which one will be the goat that is sent out, representative of the imputed sin of Israel and sent out into the wilderness.

So the imagery there is in the wilderness, they are sending this goat, ceremonial goat, where the sins of Israel is placed on this goat and sent out to the wilderness. So wilderness is not an imagery of, oh, it's a great place to go. But instead, we still see them going in droves to John the Baptist instead of going to the temple.

So you see that there was something not right. So this is an odd scene. Where were the Jews supposed to go if they wanted forgiveness of sins? Was it not the temple? Instead of the temple, they were going out to the desert, seeking John the Baptist in the wilderness.

So we see a sick temple, a temple that lost its purpose. So this morning, as we consider and meditate on what happened this morning, what happened on Monday, so what is our takeaway from this passage? We see, first, we see the cursing of the fig tree, which is symbolic of the judgment that is coming upon Israel.

Then we see the temple that was to be a place of prayer for all nations, but it become a corrupt marketplace. So we further see the people not going to the temple, but away from it into wilderness to find forgiveness. The nation of Israel had become so much like the world that there was no distinction such that it became no more.

So the purpose of the nation of Israel was to glorify God. The purpose of the temple was to house the presence of God. But we see both the temple and the nation of Israel no longer became distinct. Instead, they became like the world. So therefore, there was no purpose for it.

So the takeaway as I finish this, let's all turn to Hebrews chapter 13, verse 12 to 14, and then I will end with this. And the challenge to us this morning, as we have read this passage and meditating on what Jesus did on Monday, and Hebrews chapter 13, 12 to 14 says, so Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.

Therefore, let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. This morning, let us examine our heart and our lives. Are we willing to go outside the camp, outside our comfort zone, and go to him outside the camp?

So we see in this Hebrews passage, in Hebrews it's all about the supremacy of Christ. Christ is greater than the angels. He is greater than the Old Testament sacrificial system. He is greater than the high priest. He is greater than all things, the supremacy of Christ. And in chapter 13, the Hebrew writer is challenging us, just like the people were going in droves to the wilderness to seek repentance in John the Baptist.

Hebrew writer is telling us, look, Jesus was crucified outside the camp, outside the city, and he was crucified there. And then he says, go to him where he is. Go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. So the call to that is for us to go to a place that is not comfortable, that has persecution, 'cause Jesus was crucified outside the camp.

So as we meditate this week, I mean, this week, people just talk, I mean, it's just in the air about Easter. You're gonna hear Easter eggs, Easter Jesus. These things are gonna be mentioned, and there are gonna be people very open to at least the discussion. So it is uncomfortable sometimes to bring up a topic about the gospel at a workplace, but this is the best week to do it.

And the call for us is that, to go outside the camp and do the things that are sometimes uncomfortable. Maybe we will get persecuted for it, but it's to glorify God and his kingdom. So I challenge you and I challenge myself that this week to really think about an opportunity to share the gospel, share the good news that we have heard and the blessing that we have received, his mercy and grace, and that we share that with others.

So let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we just thank you, Lord God. We are so blessed in America. We are gathered together as believers, all with one heart in unison this morning to be able to come and worship you and think of you, Lord God. And you said where we are gathered together in a group where two or three are gathered, that you are there.

So we know, Father, there is power in the gathering, Lord. I pray that this morning that we would've been challenged, we would have been just blessed, Lord, and Lord God, that you would use this morning, Lord, to focus our mind for this day, also focus our mind throughout the week.

And Father, we pray that you will be glorified through just people talking about Easter and what it means, that you will be glorified. You will be glorified in how we speak, how we spend our time this week, how we think in our minds, that it will be a sacrifice, a pleasing sacrifice unto you.

I thank you and I pray all this in Jesus' name, amen. And that's it, right? Okay, so that's it.