Men, the title of my sermon tonight is the Jewish Messiah versus Jesus Christ.
The Jewish Messiah versus Jesus Christ.
You say, well, you know, Jesus is the Messiah.
Of course Jesus is the Messiah.
But when I talk about the Jewish Messiah, basically what I'm talking about is what the
Jews' religion, the false religion of Judaism is looking for in a Messiah versus the reality
of the Messiah that came, Jesus Christ, okay?
And even the name Jesus Christ is a bit of a slap in the face to the Jews.
Why is that?
Because Christ is not Hebrew.
The word Christ is a Greek word, right?
Jesus Christ, notice he's not called Jesus Messiah.
Now Christ and Messiah are the exact same word.
Christ means Messiah, Messiah means Christ.
But just the fact that it's Jesus Christ is showing the fact that it's in Greek.
The New Testament was written in Greek.
All of it was written in Greek and primarily Christianity is made up of Gentile believers
and has always been so the apostle Paul in the book of Acts tried to reach the Jews but
he shook off the dust of his feet and said, I'm going to the Gentiles.
Three times he makes that pronouncement in the book of Acts, I'm going to take this to
the Gentiles and they will hear it.
A lot of the other apostles made the mistake of trying to continue to reach Jews after
the resurrection of Christ until finally they realize, hey, we're supposed to go into all
the world and preach the gospel.
We're supposed to teach all nations.
So Christianity is a Gentile religion.
Don't let the Hebrew roots crowd try to Judaize you and try to get you to believe that we
need to be more Jewish or Hebraic or whatever.
Hey, we got a Greek New Testament.
We've got Jesus Christ and the reality is that who Jesus Christ was was not what the
Jews wanted.
That's why they rejected Him.
That's why they crucified Him and that's why the kingdom of God was taken from them and
given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof, that nation being made up of believers
from all different nationalities, red, yellow, black and white.
Those who believe on Jesus Christ are the spiritual nation.
As opposed to the physical nation of Israel.
So when we say the Jewish Messiah in the title of the sermon, we're talking about what they
were looking for in a Messiah and what even Judaism today would be looking for in a Messiah.
Now it's not wrong to use the word Jewish that way because even the apostle Paul in
Galatians 1 talked about how before he was saved, he profited very much in the Jews religion.
Notice he didn't say in the Old Testament religion.
Notice he didn't say in the Lord's religion.
He said it's in the Jews religion.
Why?
Because the Jews, even at the time of Christ, had a false religion, many of them.
The Pharisees were a false religion, the Sadducees were a false religion, the scribes had a lot
of wicked doctrines and false teachings and so they represented a false religion then
and they represent a false religion now.
Judaism is not the religion of the Old Testament.
Christianity is the religion of the Old Testament.
The Old Testament points us to Christ at every phase.
Genesis points us to Christ, Exodus points us to Christ, Leviticus points to Christ.
The Old Testament is a Christian book, not a Jewish book because the Jews rejected it
and don't believe in it.
You say, well the Jews believe in the first five books, really because Jesus said if you
would have believed Moses, you would have believed me.
I believe Moses and I believe Christ because I'm a Christian.
If you are a Christian, you believe Moses and Christ.
According to Jesus himself, the Jews believe neither Moses nor Christ.
So let's just get that out of the way.
That's not what the sermon's about but I just want to lay that foundation.
There's a difference between the expectation of what the Jews were looking for in a Messiah
and the Messiah who actually came or the Christ who actually came and what he did.
Two different things, right?
They were expecting one thing, something else showed up.
They rejected something that was even better than what they expected.
Now this morning, this is a continuation of my sermon this morning.
This morning we went through the first eight chapters of the book of Mark.
And tonight we're going to go through chapters eight through 16 and look at the second half
of the book of Mark.
Don't worry if you weren't here this morning.
It's not necessary to have heard this morning's sermon although I would encourage you to go
back and listen to it if you get a chance online.
You don't need this morning's sermon.
This is its own sermon.
So when we talk about the second half of the Gospel of Mark, the way that I decided to
break this down for tonight's sermon is into three sets of three chapters.
Now the reason I'm talking about chapter eight twice is because chapter eight is sort of
the pivotal point or the turning point in the book of Mark, right?
This key event here where Jesus begins in chapter eight, if you remember, to teach about
his death, burial, and resurrection starting in chapter eight.
That's when he begins to teach that and that's a major shift in the book of Mark.
So that's why this morning we talked about chapters one through eight and tonight we're
going to talk about chapters eight through 16.
And chapter eight gets that overlap because it's the turning point.
So I broke this up tonight into three sets of three chapters to help you to be able to
remember this and to understand this.
So the first set of three chapters would be chapters eight through 10, okay?
And in chapters eight, nine, and 10, we have three pronouncements by Christ or three prophecies
by Christ where he explains that he is going to die and he's going to be buried and three
days later he's going to rise again and he's explaining them the concept that even though
he's the Messiah, even though he's the Christ, he's going to suffer and be killed and rise
again.
See, that's not what they expected.
They expect the Messiah to come and liberate them politically and he's going to restore
again the kingdom to Israel.
Remember they're still asking this even in Acts chapter one, Lord will thou at this time
restore again the kingdom to Israel?
That's what's on their mind even in Acts chapter one.
So the apostles are even heavily influenced by this Jewish expectation of what the Messiah
is supposed to be and then they have to learn over the course of the book of Mark and even
over the course of the book of Acts what it really means to be the Messiah, what the Christ
is really about, right?
So in chapters eight through 10, these three chapters form a trio because in each chapter
we have Jesus making this pronouncement to his disciples about the fact that he's going
to suffer, he's going to die, he's going to be resurrected, he starts to roll that out
and then each time he follows that up with a lesson on humility and a lesson on what
it means for him to be the Messiah, what it means to follow Christ.
What does it mean to follow Christ?
Does it mean glory in an earthly kingdom or does it mean suffering and service, right?
So those are chapters eight through 10 and then in chapters 11 through 13, you have another
trilogy there, 11, 12 and 13 deal with the temple, okay?
In chapter 11, you've got the fig tree and the temple, back and forth between the fig
tree and the temple and I'm going to go over that in a moment but basically the fig tree
is cursed, the temple is corrupted so he's flipping over the tables and everything like
that.
Then in chapter 12, we have Jesus versus the Jewish leadership at the temple sort of spiritually
sparring or mentally sparring and he basically just makes them look stupid in Mark chapter
12.
In Mark chapter 13, we have the prophecy about the temple being destroyed which also pictures
obviously an end to their Jewish system.
It's going to be over because it has been a failure, okay?
And then in chapters 14, 15 and 16, we have the obvious final trilogy of Christ's denial
and betrayal in chapter 14, his crucifixion in chapter 15 and his resurrection in chapter
16.
So that might help you to kind of just wrap your mind around the second half of the book
of Mark as we go through this.
So let's start out with chapter 8 and understand the first pronouncement that Christ makes
here.
And remember, the title of the sermon is the Jewish Messiah versus Jesus Christ, expectation
versus reality, okay?
Look what it says in Mark chapter 8 verse 29, and he saith unto them, But whom say ye
that I am?
And Peter answered and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ, and he charged them that they
should tell no man of him.
And he began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected
of the elders and of the chief priests and scribes and be killed, and after three days
rise again.
And he spake that saying openly, and Peter took him and began to rebuke him.
And when he had turned about and looked on his disciples and rebuked Peter, or he rebuked
Peter saying, Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savourest not the things that be of God,
but the things that be of men.
And I already covered that in great detail this morning, but I just want to point out
a few things here.
He's telling Peter, Get thee behind me.
He's not telling Satan to get behind him.
He's telling Peter to get behind him, and he's calling him Satan.
Big difference, okay?
Now, another term for getting behind him is used right after this, okay?
He says, If any man will come after me, right?
And that's the same thing as getting behind me.
What he's telling Peter is, You're not the boss here.
Don't tell me how to be the Messiah.
Don't tell me how to be the Christ.
You need to get behind me.
And you know what?
If you're a person who is going to force their expectation of the Messiah over the reality
of who Christ is, basically you're Satan at that point.
Satan wants man's version of the Messiah, the things that be of man, not the things
that be of God.
That's why the Bible says, Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?
Which basically means, Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Messiah?
He's anti-Christ, who denies the Father and the Son.
And if you deny the reality of what Christ is, you're called Satan at that point, right?
Even Peter is called Satan when he rebukes Jesus about his death, burial, and resurrection
here.
So he says, Hey, get behind me, Satan.
You're savoring the things that are of men.
You don't savor the things that are of God, right?
God's version of Christ is better than man's version of Christ.
The Jewish version of the Messiah is the guy who's going to come and he's going to put
money in our pockets and he's going to give us political liberation and we're going to
have the ascendancy over those darn Gentiles.
The real Christ comes to bring forgiveness of sins, salvation, eternal life, to die on
the cross for us.
Which one's better?
Take the world and give me Jesus.
And so we see here that he's told, get behind me.
Okay, well, in the next moments, Christ is going to explain to him how to get behind
him.
Okay?
He says in verse number 34, when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also.
So he doesn't want to just give this answer to just the disciples.
He wants to give them more teaching, but he says, first, let's call everybody, right?
Because certain things were given just to the disciples, others are given to everybody.
So he brings everybody over and his disciples, and he said unto them, whosoever will come
after me in verse 34, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for
my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.
So what does it mean to be Christ?
It means to die and be buried and rise again.
That's God's view of who Christ is, the death, burial, and resurrection, right?
What's man's view of Christ?
What's the Jewish Messiah?
Oh, he's going to come and just liberate us politically and so forth.
Okay, what does it mean to follow Christ now?
So if Christ means he's going to die for our sins, if that's who the real Messiah is and
who the real Christ is, what does it mean to follow Christ?
It doesn't mean to have personal glory, but rather it means denying yourself and just
like Christ dies on the cross, we take up our cross and follow him.
We deny self, take up the cross, and follow him.
We live a life of humility, not a life filled with pride and self-aggrandizement, even as
Jesus himself.
We're going to get to that in the next mention.
Go to chapter 9.
So remember this is a trilogy, right?
Verse 8, 9, and 10, and I'm going quickly for sake of time because I want to give you
kind of an overview of the whole second half of the book of Mark and really drive this
in.
Obviously, you can sit down and read the whole book of Mark in your own time and you'll see
a lot more than what I'm showing you in these brief moments, but look at Mark chapter 9.
Early in chapter 9, they still don't get it, so Jesus breaks it down to them, but they
still don't get it because look what it says in verse number 9, and as they came down from
the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen till
the Son of Man were risen from the dead, and they kept that saying with themselves, questioning
one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.
Now, there really wasn't anything unclear about what Jesus taught.
I mean, Jesus said it pretty clear in chapter 8, didn't he?
He said he's going to be rejected of the elders, he's going to be killed, and after three days,
rise again.
Is that hard to understand?
Rejected, killed, three days later, rise again from the dead.
Then later, he mentions the resurrection from the dead, and they're like, what is that?
What does that mean, rising from the dead?
It should be obvious, but because it didn't match their expectation, they can't process
it.
Okay, and this is how it is when we get a preconceived idea stuck in our head, we just
can't process something that's different than that, right?
It reminds me of when Joseph shows himself to his brother and it says, I'm Joseph.
Is my father yet alive?
And they just look at him like, what are you talking about?
Even though there's nothing unclear about, I'm Joseph, but because it didn't match their
expectation, they can't process it, right?
And that's what we see here.
They're not processing it because they just have this deeply ingrained idea of this Jewish
version of the Messiah, what the Pharisees are looking for in a Messiah, what the Sadducees
are looking for in a Messiah, what Judaism is looking for in a Messiah.
They're struggling to understand and process just plainly spoken words out of the mouth
of Christ.
It's like when you're watching Beyond Jordan, well, I don't want to spoil the movie for
people who haven't seen it yet, but you get to that point where we kind of drop that bomb
halfway through the movie and it's like, that's why we had to say it like five times because
it takes people to process it.
What have I been watching for the last hour, right?
Anyway, don't want to spoil it.
Do we have the DVDs on the back shelf?
Yeah, the DVDs are back there by the way.
Everything's free.
We refuse to sell things in the house of God.
Everything back there is free.
Grab one of those DVDs if you haven't seen it.
But anyway, this message has been brought to you in part by Beyond Jordan.
It's free folks.
Grab one.
Take it.
But anyway, the expectation is different than the reality.
Look at verse 30 and we'll get his second pronouncement.
And they departed thence and passed through Galilee and he would not that any man should
know it for he taught his disciples and said unto them, the Son of Man is delivered into
the hands of men and they shall kill him and after that he's killed, he shall rise
the third day.
Is this clear or what?
You know, so he's teaching it the second time, right?
So he explains that and then it says in verse 32, but they understood not that saying and
were afraid to ask him.
Now, the reason they're afraid to ask is because they've already gotten chewed out a few times
for not getting this and for, you know, asking dumb questions.
And so they're like, we better just stop asking.
We still don't get it, but we're not going to ask.
And then what is this followed up by?
Okay.
It's followed up by a lesson in humility, right?
Because what did we see in chapter 8?
The lesson in humility.
Hey, deny self.
Take up the cross.
Follow him.
It's not about you.
It's about suffering, doing things for others, right?
Now look at this lesson in humility.
Verse 33, and he came to Capernaum and being in the house, he asked them, what was it that
you disputed among yourselves, by the way?
But they held their peace for, by the way, they had disputed among themselves who should
be the greatest.
So basically, you know, they're talking on the road, they're having a dumb conversation
and Jesus asked them when they get there, so what were you guys talking about?
And they're all just like, oh, you know, stuff.
They don't want to talk about it because it was so dumb what they were talking about who
should be the greatest, but Jesus knew what they were talking about.
That's why he asked them, but now they're embarrassed.
And it says in verse 35, he sat down and called the 12 and sayeth unto them, if any man desire
to be first, the same shall be last of all and servant of all.
And he took a child and set him in the midst of them and when he had taken him in his arms,
he said unto them, whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name receiveth
me.
And whosoever shall receive me receiveth not me, but him that sent me.
So go to chapter 10, let's see if they finally got it.
You know, here's Jesus, he's teaching them, he's making things clear.
There's the lesson in humility, right?
Receive Christ as you receive a little child.
Look at chapter 10 verse 13, let's see if they got that message of that lesson in humility.
And they brought young children to him that he should touch them and his disciples rebuked
those that brought them.
So how are they doing on receiving the little children?
You know, not very well.
But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased and said unto them, suffer the little children
to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of God.
Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child,
he shall not enter therein.
And he took them up in his arms and put his hands upon them and blessed them.
Now we get to the third pronouncement, look at verse 32.
And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem and Jesus went before them and they were amazed.
And as they followed, they were afraid.
And he took again the 12 and began to tell them what things should happen unto him, saying,
behold, we go up to Jerusalem and the son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests
and unto the scribes and they shall condemn him to death.
Notice he's giving more details each time, this is the most detailed, right?
And they shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him to the Gentiles and they shall
mock him and shall scourge him and shall spit upon him and shall kill him and the third
day he shall rise again.
So it keeps getting more clear, more detailed for the third time he's explaining it to them.
Verse 35, and James and John the sons of Zebedee come unto him saying, master, we would that
thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire.
And he said unto them, what would ye that I should do for you?
They said unto him, grant us that we may sit one on thy right hand and the other on thy
left hand and thy glory.
But Jesus said unto them, you know not what you ask.
Can you drink of the cup that I drink of and be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized
with?
Notice he keeps bringing it back to his suffering.
I'm going to be scourged.
I'm going to be beaten.
I'm going to be killed.
I'm going to die.
Three days later, I'm going to rise again.
Right?
So he's saying, look, if you want to be like me, if you want to be seated on my right hand
and the left hand, are you willing to go through that suffering?
You want to drink of the cup that I'm going to drink of?
And they said unto him, they said unto him, we can.
And Jesus said unto them, basically, well, good, because you're going to.
He says, you shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of.
And with the baptism that I'm baptized with all, shall you be baptized?
But the bad news is you don't get to sit on my right hand on my left hand, but you still
get to do all that suffering is basically what he explains because he says, but to sit
on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them
for whom it is prepared.
Of course, elsewhere, Jesus explains, it's the father who's going to decide that it's
not up to him.
That's going to be the father that makes that decision.
And when the 10 heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John, but Jesus
called them to him.
Here comes the lesson on humility and say unto them, you know, that they, which are
counted to rule over the Gentiles, exercise lordship over them and their great ones exercise
authority upon them.
But so shall it not be among you, but whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister
and whosoever of you will be the cheapest shall be servant of all.
For even the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life
a ransom for many.
So the Jewish Messiah idea, what they're expecting is something that has to do with pride.
Jesus Christ teaches humility and meekness.
And think about today.
Judaism is the most proud, arrogant religion that there is that says, hey, we're better
than everybody else.
We're the chosen people.
The Gentiles are our dogs.
The Gentiles are like cattle, right?
I mean, that's basically the attitude.
And so we see here that Jesus Christ is meek and lowly of heart and teaches humility.
He teaches his followers humility, not an attitude that says, hey, we're going to take
over the whole world.
We're going to run the world.
We're going to be the elites.
We're going to have the power.
We're going to have the riches.
We're going to rule over the Gentiles, right?
It's a totally different attitude.
So there we see chapters 8, 9, and 10 where Christ is teaching what it means to be the
Messiah, which is to die for the sins of mankind.
And what does it mean to be a follower of Christ, which means to take up the cross,
to deny self, to become as a little child to receive the kingdom of God.
And it's not to exercise lordship and authority, but it's to be a servant.
It's to be a minister.
Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your servant, right?
And so it's not about having power over people.
It's about serving other people.
And even positions of authority in the church, the Bible says, he that desireth the office
of a bishop desireth a good work.
And even pastors are called ministers or what does minister mean?
Servant.
The deacon is called servant, right?
The pastor is called a minister or a servant.
Go to chapter 11.
So now we're going to enter a new phase here.
We talked about chapters 8, 9, and 10 dealing with Christ explaining the fact that he's
going to die and be buried and rise again, followed by the disciples not grasping it
and seeking for earthly glory or vain glory.
And then he has to school them in humility and explain to them why they're wrong.
So in chapter 11, we get into these three chapters that I broke down as being kind of
the three chapters that deal with the temple, okay?
So at this point, Jesus Christ is going to basically confront Judaism head on in chapters
11 through 13.
He's confronting the temple head on.
He's confronting the Pharisees, the scribes, the rulers of the temple, the elders.
He's just confronting them head on.
I mean, he gets in their face and he goes toe to toe with them and he basically spars
with them in chapter 12 back and forth.
And he just completely just destroys them, okay, as far as just exposing their fallacies,
how wrong they are.
He shuts them up.
He puts them to silence and he confounds them.
And of course, this angers them even more and ultimately is going to lead to his arrest
and crucifixion.
So in chapter 11, first of all, this is really interesting though, the subject of the fig
tree and the temple, okay?
Now you've got to notice here how these two things are connected because he goes back
and forth talking about the fig tree and the temple.
Watch this.
Look at verse 11.
It says, and Jesus entered into Jerusalem and into the temple.
And when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he
went out onto Bethany with the 12.
So isn't this interesting how Jesus, he shows up at the temple and the first time he doesn't
really do anything.
He just observes everything.
He just looks around on everything, checks everything out, and then it's evening.
He takes off.
He goes home for the night.
Now one thing that's interesting about this is to show how when Jesus Christ goes in the
temple and he flips over the tables, how premeditated that was.
So we don't want to get the wrong idea that Jesus has a temper or that he just blows his
top or something or can't control himself.
In the book of John, it talks about in chapter two, the first time that he cleanses the temple,
which is at the beginning of his ministry.
This is when he cleanses it at the end of his ministry.
And if you remember in John chapter two, he sits outside the temple making a scourge out
of cords, which obviously took a long time.
So that shows Jesus didn't just blow his top.
He's sitting out there making a whip and spending time on that.
So that shows premeditation.
Here we see the premeditation of Jesus looking around, obviously being upset by it, but then
going and sleeping on it.
And he's going to come back the next day and clean house.
So notice in verse 11, he checks out everything in the temple.
He observes everything that's going on and he sees bad things, bad teaching, false doctrine,
selling things in the house of God, buying things in the house of God.
The house of prayer has become a den of thieves and just a den of vipers.
So then look at verse 12.
So we roll right from that in verse 11, talking about checking out the temple, then boom,
verse 12.
And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry.
And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find anything there
on.
And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for the time of figs was not yet.
And Jesus answered and said unto it, no man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever.
And his disciples heard it.
So he sees this fig tree with no fruit and he curses it.
Well, you know what this pictures?
He went and saw the temple and what did he find?
No fruit.
He went to the temple, he found no fruit.
Then he goes and sees a physical fig tree, which represents basically Israel, which represents
the Jews, represents the Jewish religion, represents the temple, which is basically
the focal point of their religion.
And he finds no fruit.
They didn't bring forth fruit.
And so he curses the fig tree and says, let no fruit grow on you from henceforth forever.
Now look at verse 15.
We're back to it.
So we went temple, fig tree.
We're going to go temple, fig tree, temple, fig tree.
Okay.
So now we're back to the temple and they come to Jerusalem, verse 15, and Jesus went into
the temple and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple and overthrew
the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold doves and would not
suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
And he taught saying unto them, is it not written?
My house shall be called of all nations, the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den
of thieves.
And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy him for
they feared him because all the people were astonished at his doctrine.
And when even was come, he went out of the city.
So again, what's the title of sermon?
Jewish Messiah versus Jesus Christ.
They think that the Jewish Messiah is going to come and just affirm their system, right?
And just, oh man, you guys are great.
Let's put you in charge of the whole world.
Folks, the Jewish Messiah comes and he's not what they expect.
He's Jesus Christ.
And the Jesus Christ isn't interested in the Jews temporal prosperity.
He's talking about God's house being a house of prayer for what?
All nations, all nations, right?
That's Jesus Christ versus the Jewish Messiah.
Jesus Christ comes and he says, hey, this is supposed to be a house of prayer for all
nations.
And instead of affirming them, congratulating them, rewarding them, blessing them, he curses
them and rebukes them.
So they're waiting for, oh man, we can't wait for the Messiah to get here.
Yeah.
And tell you how wicked you are.
Oh, we can't wait for the Messiah to come here.
Yeah.
And flip over your tables, dump out your money and rebuke your wickedness and false doctrine.
So here are the Jews are, they're just looking for that Messiah, right?
But they're looking for the wrong guy.
When Jesus Christ shows up, he doesn't pat them on the back, okay?
So watch this.
Verse 20.
And in the morning as they pass by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots, okay?
And Peter, calling to remember it, sayeth unto him, master, behold the fig tree which
thou cursest is withered away.
And Jesus answering sayeth unto them, have faith in God.
So anyway, we see here that the fig tree and the temple are related, right?
No fruit, cursed, destroyed, wiped out, say, wow, it's coming back.
No fruit will ever grow on you again, he said, it's over for you, you're done.
So in chapter 12, so that was chapter 11, right?
So the first part of this kind of temple trilogy you could call it is this idea of he goes,
he checks it out, it's garbage, he curses it, he flips over the tables, he rebukes it
and that's parallel between the temple and the fig tree, right?
So the end of chapter 11 is where this actually starts, this what I call the spiritual sparring,
okay?
Where Jesus basically battles with them, not a physical battle, but a battle of doctrine,
you know, a battle of the word of God, a battle of the truth.
And so he starts out at the end of chapter 11 and then this goes all the way through
chapter 12.
So at the end of chapter 11, and first let me just give you the overview of what does
he go back and forth with them on or what does he spar with them on?
The first one is the question of, hey, the baptism of John, whence was it, right?
So basically, they come to him, you know, by what authority doest thou these things
and who gave thee this authority?
And Jesus says, well, I'll ask you something, the baptism of John, was it from heaven or
was it of men?
Of course, he stumps them, then he gets into a parable about the husband men in the vineyard
and he goes into the fact that, you know, basically they're the bad husband men who
kill the son of the owner of the vineyard, again, foreshadowing his death.
Then they come and try to tempt him by asking him about giving tribute to Caesar and then
the Sadducees come to him and try to school him on the resurrection and he completely
defeats them.
And then once the Pharisees hear that the Sadducees got schooled, which they like that
because they don't like the Sadducees, then the Pharisees come and they ask him what's
the greatest commandment and then after Jesus has such wisdom in his dealing with the Pharisees
and the Sadducees, he puts them both to silence.
So then after that, the Bible says everybody was afraid to ask him another question after
that.
No man durst ask him any more questions.
So then he starts asking them some questions and he says, you know, well, whose son is
Christ?
Right?
And then he schools them on that.
We'll get that in a moment.
And then he warns them about the scribes.
And then he also criticizes the rich people who are putting a bunch of money in and praises
the widow who throws in the widow's mind and so forth.
So we see that this is just a back and forth, what did I just list?
You know, eight points where basically there's eight points of contention between Jesus and
the rulers of the Jews' religion, just back to back eight points of contention where Jesus
takes them to school, makes them look stupid.
So let's just go through these quickly because I don't have a lot of time, but let's start
out with the first one.
You know, the baptism of John in chapter 11, whence was it?
They all, the people that is, they all regarded John the Baptist as a great prophet, even
though he didn't do any miracles just because his preaching was so powerful.
They regarded him as a prophet.
So basically what Jesus does right there is he puts the Jewish leadership in a lose-lose
situation.
Because if they say, oh yeah, John the Baptist, that wasn't of God, that was of men, the people
might even stone them because people were so loyal to John the Baptist or they were
so sure that John the Baptist was a prophet.
They're going to look bad if they say that he wasn't.
But if they say that it was from heaven, then Jesus is going to say to them, well, why didn't
you believe him then?
Why didn't you get baptized, you know, and so forth.
And then, so puts them in a catch 22.
So they say, well, we can't say.
And then Jesus says, well, neither then will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
So he kind of just turns that around, makes them look dumb, right?
Then he really makes them look bad by preaching this parable at the beginning of chapter 12
where he tells this parable about the husband men and the vineyard.
And of course, what it is is the owner, he plants a vineyard.
Then he goes off into a far country and he leaves people in charge of the vineyard to
take care of it while he's gone.
And then he sends servants to go get the fruit from the vineyard.
And of course, they treat them wrong.
So then eventually he sends his son.
Look what the Bible says in verse 6.
Having yet therefore one son, his well-beloved, he sent him also last unto them saying they
will reverence my son.
But those husband men said among themselves, this is the heir.
Come let us kill him and the inheritance shall be ours.
And they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.
What shall therefore the Lord of the vineyard do?
He will come and destroy the husband men and will give the vineyard unto others.
And have you not read this scripture?
The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corn.
And look at verse 12.
And they sought to lay hold on him but feared the people for they knew that he had spoken
the parable against them.
And they left him and went their way.
You know what's funny is that they knew that it was against them.
But Christians today don't understand that this parable is against the Jews at Judaism.
They got it loud and clear.
Because who are the husband men?
According to the Bible, the husband men are the Jews.
He left them in charge.
He committed unto them the oracles of God and said here, you know, you guys are going
to bring forth the fruit from this vineyard.
He goes away.
And then when he sends his son to them, what do they do?
They kill the son.
What shall therefore the Lord of the vineyard do in verse 9?
He will come and destroy the husband men and will give the vineyard unto others.
He will destroy the husband men and give the vineyard unto others.
Now is this what they're expecting?
Well, we can't wait for the Jewish Messiah to come so he can destroy our vineyard and
give it to someone else.
No, what they're expecting is what?
Oh, he's just going to affirm us and he's going to put us in charge and the Jews are
going to be on top once again.
It's going to be the kingdom of David all over again.
It's going to be the days of Solomon all over again.
It's going to be.
No, no, no.
You will be destroyed because you're wicked.
You have been a bad steward of the vineyard.
You have not followed the commands of the Lord of the vineyard and so you're going to
be destroyed.
And notice what he says.
He says he's going to give the vineyard unto others.
Who did he give the vineyard to?
The Gentiles.
Who did he give the vineyard to?
Believers, Christians, red, yellow, black, and white believers are the new custodians
of the vineyard.
The kingdom of God has been taken from them and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits
thereof.
Taken from the Jews who were a bad steward of it and given to the Gentiles.
And then they understood that he'd spoken against them and so they sought to lay hold
on them but they feared the people.
So Jesus wins that round for sure.
So then they come to him and try to trip him up, you know, is it lawful to give tribute
to Caesar.
He says there, you know, hand me the coin.
Well whose face is this?
Oh well Caesar.
Well why don't you give it to Caesar then?
Oh well, render to Caesar the things that be Caesar's and render to God the things that
be God's.
But you know what?
It's not about, you know, they're so worried about money.
He says look whose face is on the money.
It's Caesar.
This is of the world.
Let the world have their money.
Let the kings of the earth take their tribute and whatever.
That's not what it's really about.
So of course he wins that argument.
The Sadducees come and say, you know, well there was this guy and, you know, he marries
a wife and then he dies and then she marries his brother and then he dies.
You know, there were seven brothers.
She ends up marrying all seven brothers and doesn't have any kids with any of them and
then dies and then last of all the woman dies all just this crazy hypothetical.
So in the resurrection therefore whose wife shall she be of the seven for they all had
her.
And of course he says to them, you know, you've been listening to Joseph Smith and Brigham
Young too much and that's why you err not knowing the scriptures and neither the power
of God because they in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but
as the angels in heaven.
But today what do we have the Mormon Church telling people, oh you're married for all
eternity.
Isn't that what they teach?
It's garbage.
That's not what Christ taught.
Christ made it crystal clear that in the resurrection they neither marry nor are they
given in marriage.
So well which of the seven is she going to be married to?
Well I guess the one that she was sealed to in the Masonic ceremony down in Salt Lake
City Temple, that's the one she's going to be married to, you know, whichever one did
the handshake through the curtain, you know, with the satanic apron on in the Masonic lodge,
I mean, excuse me, the Salt Lake City Mormon Temple.
No he said guess what, she's not going to be married to any of them in the resurrection
because in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given to marriage but they're
like the angels in heaven.
They're like the angels of God.
So he shuts up the Sadducees because then he doesn't just answer their questions and
then he turns around them and says, but you know as touching the dead that they that rise,
he says what about in the burning bush when he said I'm the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac and the God of Jacob.
God's not the God of the dead.
God's the God of the living.
He didn't say I was the God of Abraham.
I was the God of, he said I am the God of Abraham.
I am the God of Isaac.
And so he shuts them up.
The Pharisees like that.
So then they come to him tempting him, testing him and they say what's the greatest commandment?
Of course the greatest commandment is to love God.
The second is like unto it to love your neighbor.
He puts them to silence.
They're afraid to ask him any more questions.
So then he decides to ask a question.
He says, you know, whose son is Christ?
And this is fascinating.
So if you would, let me turn to this one here in chapter 12 verse 35.
Let me get there myself.
In Mark chapter 12, and again, this goes to the heart of the message tonight, the Jewish
Messiah versus Jesus Christ, the expectation versus the reality, okay?
What are they expecting versus who's really coming?
Look at Mark chapter 12 verse 35, and Jesus answered and said while he taught in the temple,
how say the scribes that Christ is the son of David?
For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, the Lord said to my Lord, sit thou on my right
hand till I make thy enemies thy footstool.
David therefore calleth him Lord, whence is he then his son?
Now he's able to answer everything they hit him with.
They can't answer this one.
How is the Messiah the son of David?
How is Christ the son of David?
When David calls him Lord, you don't call your son Lord.
You see, what they're looking for is just an earthly son of David, a mortal man who's
going to live, bring them their political liberation, bring a great kingdom like David
or Solomon and then die.
What they're not understanding is that Jesus, the real Christ, was actually existed before
David and is easily called the Lord of David because before Abraham was, he says, I am.
He was in the beginning with God and he was God.
But do the Jews understand that?
Is that what they're looking for?
Is that what they're after?
No.
That's not what they're after.
So he puts them to silence with that point right there.
And then of course he also deals with the subject of the rich people putting a bunch
of money in the offering plate and the widow just casting in the two mites.
And again, this goes back to the covetousness of the Jews, their carnal nature, their respect
for the rich and disdain for the poor and how it's all about wealth and money and personal
glory and power and authority on this earth instead of humility, righteousness, all the
things they should have been thinking about.
All right.
So then chapter number 13.
So remember this is like the trilogy about the temple, 11, 12, 13.
We have the fig tree and the temple in chapter 11.
Then in chapter 12, we have this battle between the leaders of the temple versus Jesus.
Then in chapter 13, Jesus is prophesying the destruction of the temple, the final destruction.
Just like that fig tree withered up, this temple is going to be completely wiped out.
Look what it says in verse one.
And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, master, see what
manner of stones and what buildings are here.
And Jesus answering said unto him, see as thou these great buildings, there shall not
be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.
And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John
and Andrew asked him privately, tell us when shall these things be?
When shall what things be?
That the temple would be destroyed.
And what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?
And then Jesus Christ, of course, goes into the great Olivet Discourse, what we know from
Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, which is the strongest and most powerful end times
teaching, the most detailed end times teaching that Christ does in the Gospels.
And it basically points out in verse 14, if you look at verse 14, the abomination of desolation.
And I'm just giving you just the quick version here.
But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing
where it ought not, let him that readeth understand, meaning if you read the book of Daniel, you'll
need to understand that, then let them that be in Judea flee to the mountains and so forth.
Now I don't have time to go into Mark 13 because obviously that's a whole sermon, okay.
But I will say this, if you're interested in this, go back and listen to my Daniel series.
I believe it was especially the sermons on Chapter 7 and 8, and then I did another sermon
called Rightly Dividing the Book of Daniel, where I go into the fact that the abomination
of desolation prophecy in Daniel has three fulfillments, three fulfillments, okay.
Number one, there was the fulfillment during the Greek Empire when Antiochus Epiphanes went
in and desecrated the temple.
The second fulfillment is in 70 AD, there was a seven-year war called the Jewish-Roman
War that went from 66 to 73, and in the midst of the week, okay, basically the daily sacrifice
is caused to cease because the temple is destroyed in 70 AD.
But there is also a future fulfillment that's still coming.
I am not a preterist.
Preterism is a false doctrine that says that Christ has already returned, or Christ is
already reigning, and they're all different flavors of preterism, and I don't really care
which flavor it is because I'm against all of it.
I'm a futurist because if you look at the Book of Revelation, it's crystal clear that
many of those things, the vast majority of those things have not happened yet.
And even many things in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 have not fully happened yet.
It's still coming.
This is very common in the Bible where prophecy will have an immediate fulfillment and then
a distant, more fully realized fulfillment.
Let me give you examples.
And this is all the way back to the very beginning of the Bible, and if you reject the idea of
dual fulfillment of prophecy, or even in this case with the abomination, triple fulfillment,
because it's actually fulfilled three times, and I proved that beyond any shadow of a doubt
in my Daniel series, but you're never going to understand anything about Bible prophecy
if you don't understand the concept of dual fulfillment.
You might as well just pack up your prophecy bag and go home and just never think about
prophecy again if you can't understand this concept of dual fulfillment, because you will
literally understand none of it.
You just don't even think about end times, don't even think about prophecy if you don't
get this.
This goes all the way back to literally the very beginning of the Bible when they eat
of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and he says, in the day
that you eat thereof, thou shalt surely die.
That's a prophecy, isn't it?
He's telling them what's going to happen in the future.
In the day that you eat thereof, you will surely die.
Now, what happened in the day that they ate it?
Did they actually physically fall over dead?
Did they eat it and just die?
No.
But was God telling the truth when he said, in the day that you eat thereof, you shall
surely die?
Yes.
For two reasons though.
Dual fulfillment, friend, the shadow fulfillment, and then the fully realized fulfillment.
The shadow fulfillment was that the day that they ate that fruit, the moment that they
ate that forbidden fruit, their spirit died.
The spirit died.
They didn't physically die, but their spirit immediately died.
That's when they saw that they were naked and everything had changed, and now they don't
have a right relationship with God, and they're separated and so forth because of a spiritual
death there.
But what about the literal fully realized fulfillment?
Did they eventually die in every sense of the word as a result of eating that fruit?
Yeah, they did, right?
Because 900 some years later, they died.
But we know that both deaths were a fulfillment of the prophecy because the first death had
to happen that day.
The day that you eat thereof, you'll die, the shadow fulfillment, and then the more
fully realized fulfillment when they actually died.
And folks, I could literally spend the next few hours just giving you example after example.
That's the beginning, and it's just all through the Bible.
And just to give you another quick example, how about Babylon?
In Jeremiah 50 and 51, he prophesies that Babylon is going to be completely wiped out.
It's never going to be inhabited again.
In one hour, it's wiped out.
He goes into all this stuff about how Babylon's going to be destroyed and completely uninhabited.
There was an immediate in their lifetime fulfillment of that because what do we see less than 70
years after that's being preached, what do we see?
We see that the Medes and the Persians come, and they defeat Babylon.
So Babylon falls.
The Babylonian Empire falls.
But let me ask you this.
Was it immediately wiped out with no inhabitant?
No.
Now they're still destroyed, fulfillment of prophecy.
Babylon gets destroyed.
But it was not completely uninhabited for many more centuries.
Centuries and centuries later, it became totally uninhabited.
Then we have in the Book of Revelation, Chapter 18, where he talks about a future destruction
of Babylon.
And it can't be about the literal Babylon because the literal Babylon isn't even there.
It's gone.
It doesn't exist.
It's buried in the sand.
Saddam Hussein tried to excavate it, and he couldn't finish because of the Gulf War.
So the point is that all these things have a dual fulfillment.
Just like...
And we were just talking about this the other day with Isaiah Chapter 7.
Brother Barron and I were talking about how in Isaiah 7, where he talked about behold,
a virgin shall conceive and be with child, shall bring forth a son.
And this and that.
He'll call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted as God with us.
And before the child knows to receive the...
And I'm doing this off the cuff, so I'm quoting it slightly wrong.
But before he even knows to choose the good and refuse the evil, the land shall be forsaken
of both her kings.
Look, that's a prophecy of something that was going on back then.
Basically a woman who was a virgin at that time is going to basically be with a man and
have a child.
And by the time that child knows the difference between good and evil, right and wrong, the
land is going to be forsaken of both its kings.
But what's the real point?
What's the real fulfillment is the virgin birth of Jesus in Matthew Chapter 1.
That's the real fulfillment.
Look at all the places in the Old Testament where it's like, the day of the Lord's at
hand.
The day of the Lord's about to happen.
There was a minor day of the Lord for them in that generation.
Those prophets are preaching about destruction that's coming now, but isn't there a big day
of the Lord that's still coming?
So again, I don't want to spend the whole night on that.
That's prophecy 101.
From Genesis to Revelation, dual fulfillment, okay, where there's the immediate.
So basically in Mark 13, you have the immediate fulfillment that's going to happen literally
in their lifetimes.
The temple is going to be destroyed in 70 AD.
But where the preterists make the mistake is they say, oh, that's it.
It's all over.
Nothing to see here, folks.
It's done.
They don't recognize the future events of Revelation, which was written after 70 AD
and still telling us that it's coming in the future, okay?
But then the futurists will sometimes make the mistake of just denying that 70 AD had
any significance.
I go, oh, nothing to see here, folks, in 70 AD.
70 AD is pretty hard to ignore, friend.
What it is is that there's the shadow fulfillment in 70 AD, the ultimate fulfillment in the
end times.
And you say, well, Revelation is all about 70 AD.
Really, that's funny because the whole book of Revelation is about global events, right?
The whole world, one third part of the earth, a quarter of the earth, one third of the oceans,
one third.
70 AD wasn't even a blip on most people in the world's radar.
If you're living in Israel, 70 AD is a big deal when you're there in 70 AD, but what
if you're living in India in 70 AD?
Do you even care?
It's not even a thing.
You understand what I'm saying?
So look at Revelation and tell me it's all about Israel in 70 AD.
Yeah, right.
It's about the whole planet.
You have to be blind not to see that, folks.
So anyway, I went off on that a little bit too far on a tangent, but it's important just
to point out, and if you would go to verse 32 of chapter 13, is to understand that even
though we are futurists and do believe that the tribulation is still coming, that the
second coming of Christ is still coming, and that the millennial reign of Christ is still
coming, we're premillennial, we believe in the rapture.
It's not a pretrib rapture, but we do believe in the rapture after the tribulation, before
the wrath, and on and on.
Don't miss, though, that there is a historical element to Mark 13 that already happened where
Jesus is prophesying the destruction of that temple.
Because what was the question at the beginning of the chapter?
Oh, man, look at these stones.
Look at how cool the temple is.
Oh, really?
Because it's all going to get thrown down.
Well, when's that going to happen?
And then Jesus begins to teach them about when the temple is going to be destroyed,
but then he's also teaching them about the end times.
You see how it's both, the shadow and the full culmination.
Look what happens in verse 32, but of that day and hour, knoweth no man, know not the
angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, sorry, modalists, but the Father.
Take ye heed, watch, and pray, for ye know not when the time is.
For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority
to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.
Watch ye therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at
midnight, or at the cock crowing, or in the morning.
Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping, and when I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch.
So I'm out of time tonight, okay, so I'm just going to just quickly, in a matter of just
moments, give you the last three chapters, okay, 14, 15, and 16.
We've entered the speed round, and here's what I want to point out about chapters 14,
15, and 16.
What are we talking about?
The Jewish Messiah versus Jesus Christ, the expectation versus the reality.
Eight through 10, we saw pride versus humility.
We saw a suffering Messiah versus a Messiah who just comes in and, you know, takes over
for his own glory or something, right, instead of being humble and meek and his servant.
Then in this temple trilogy in chapters 11, 12, and 13, we saw the expectation versus
reality.
The Jews expect him to come in, pat them on the back, affirm them, bring the temple to
more greatness.
They probably expect them to put another gold plating on it, right?
Let's add another gold plating.
Let's add some precious stones, and let's bring the Jewish temple and the Jews' religion
and the Jewish authority to take over the world in a messianic age, right?
That's what they expect.
Was that the reality?
No.
Jesus comes in.
He rebukes it in chapter 11.
He rebukes it in chapter 12.
He dooms it in chapter 13, and then in 14, 15, and 16, obviously, we have the final saga
of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, which is obviously what they did not expect,
not what the Jewish messiah is picturing.
That's why when you try to tell the Jews today, Jesus is the messiah, you know what they'll
say?
That's not what the messiah is like.
It's because they have the wrong messiah.
Oh, no, the messiah, he, well, if he's a messiah, he's a failed messiah.
You're a failed Jew.
You're a failed child of Israel.
You're a failed Old Testament practitioner.
You're the failure.
You know who failed?
It wasn't Jesus that failed.
It was the Jews that failed.
That's why they had to get kicked to the curb, and the kingdom of God had to be given to
someone else.
I just want to point out a couple of highlights from the book of Mark chapters 14, 15, and
16.
What did Jesus say at the end of chapter 13?
What do I say unto you?
I say unto all.
Watch.
Watch, therefore.
Watch.
He says that repeatedly.
What does watch mean?
It literally means stay awake.
Remember it talks about in the Bible the third watch of the night, the second watch?
Watch and pray.
It means stay up, be awake.
That's why he says in 1 Thessalonians 5, day that sleep, sleep in the night.
Day that are drunk are drunk in the night, but let us that are of the day be sober.
He's saying we need to watch.
Don't be in ignorance.
Pay attention.
Be awake.
Watch.
What happens in chapter 14?
The disciples fall asleep.
So Mark is not very kind to the disciples.
If you're here this morning and here tonight, you notice that.
But anyway, he's like, just watch, watch, watch.
And then he's like, all right, guys, we're in the Garden of Gethsemane.
I'm troubled.
I'm sorrowing.
I'm very heavy.
Stay awake, guys.
Watch.
He used the same word.
Watch.
I'm going to go pray.
You guys watch.
He comes back, finds him asleep, wakes him up.
All right, guys, watch.
He used to pray, comes back, finds him sleeping.
Finally he just says, just keep sleeping, guys.
Just sleep on.
Take your rest.
He says in verse number 41, he cometh a third time and saith unto them, sleep on now, guys.
Just stay asleep then.
Take your rest.
It is enough.
The hour has come.
Behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Now, quickly, in chapter 14, what's the big accusation made against Jesus?
Because they're going to kill him.
They're going to crucify him.
What are the charges?
What's Jesus being charged with?
They have all these false witnesses and they can't get him to agree.
They can't get him to get their story straight.
So finally the charge that is brought that they finally get, look at verse 58 of chapter
14.
He heard him say, I'll destroy this temple that's made with hands and within three days
I'll build another made without hands.
That's the final accusation.
But guess what?
In a sense, that's what he does.
Not in the way that they're expecting though.
He spake of the temple of his body.
Destroy this temple in three days, I'll raise it up.
And obviously he is going to ultimately destroy the temple in 70 AD using the Roman army.
And he is ultimately going to create another temple not made with hands.
And so, anyway, that's the big accusation.
One thing I want to point out in chapter 15, if you would, is in verse 34 of chapter 15,
at the ninth hour, this is when Jesus is on the cross, Jesus cried with a loud voice saying,
Eloi, Eloi, lama sabach tonight, which is being interpreted, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me?
Now, of course, these are the words of Psalm 22, verse 1.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Of course, it's not Jesus quoting Psalm 22, it's Psalm 22 quoting Jesus.
But that's another sermon.
Now, who should have known at that moment, if you're a Jew and you're there and you hear
Jesus yell out those words, shouldn't your wheels be turning?
Wow, Psalm 22.
And if they actually looked up Psalm 22 in their Bible or went back in their memory to
Psalm 22, you know what describes everything that's happening?
They pierced my hands and my feet.
Read Psalm 22, it describes the crucifixion.
They're casting lots on his garments, they're piercing his hands, it's all happening.
But do the Jews, when they hear Jesus scream out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me?
Do they understand, oh no, this is the Messiah, this truly was the Son of God.
They don't get it.
You know what they say?
They say, behold, look at the end of verse 35, he's calling Elias.
They hear Eloi, they hear Elia, Elijah, Elias.
They don't get it.
Right?
They don't even know their own Bible.
They don't even know their own Psalm.
They don't even know that they're fulfilling Psalm 22.
Everything in Psalm 22 is happening around them.
Jesus is screaming out basically the first words of Psalm 22 and they don't get it.
But look who does get it and I'll close on this.
So here the Jews are saying, here, let's give him a sponge full of vinegar and see if Elias
will come help him.
Look at the end of verse 36.
Let's see whether Elias will come to take him down, fools, blind, right?
They can't even see what's happening.
They can't even hear the word of God.
But then look who does get it.
Verse 39 of all people, the Roman centurion, a centurion is a man who's over a hundred
soldiers, right?
Century means a hundred years.
Centurion is a guy who has a hundred soldiers.
And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out and
gave up the ghost, he said, truly, this man was the son of God.
Isn't that what the Jews should have been saying?
Oh man, Psalm 22, truly this man was the son of God.
They're like, oh, maybe Elijah is going to come and help him.
And then the Roman centurion of all people says, well, this is the son of God.
I can see that.
I'm a Gentile and I can see that.
And guess what?
In the sixth chapter, chapter 16, he says, go into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature.
Why?
Because it's the Gentiles who have received Christ.
It's the Gentiles that have received Christ.
That's why we don't call him Yeshua Mashiach.
You know why we don't call him Yeshua Mashiach is because we call him Jesus Christ because
he's not just a Jewish Messiah.
He's the savior of the whole world.
He's Jesus Christ.
And the reason people don't like that word Christ is because it's a Greek word and they
want it to be all about the Jews, the Hebrews, chak, chak, chalab, chak, phlegm.
It's about the world folks.
It's a house of prayer for all nations.
So anyway, I hope that this sermon helped you to appreciate the book of Mark.
It's a powerful book, powerful truths in the book of Mark.
I hope that this morning's sermon and tonight's sermon will make you want to read the book
of Mark and study the book of Mark and to have an understanding of what it means to
follow Christ is not what the Jews think.
It's not about your prosperity, Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Meyer.
It's not about filling up your bank account.
It's not about your personal glory.
It's not about living your best life now.
That Peter wanted Jesus to live his best life now and he said, get behind me, Satan.
Become a servant.
Become a minister.
Make up the cross.
Follow me.
I am meek and lowly of heart.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, he's saying.
Be like me.
Be like Christ.
Follow Christ.
That's why I'm a Christian, not a Jew.
Amen?
All right.
Let's have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and we thank you for this powerful book,
the Gospel of Mark, Lord, and help us to just study to show ourselves approved, help us
to meditate upon these things and to give ourselves holy to them that our profiting
may appear to all.
Not profit in our bank account or 401K, but the spiritual profit of righteousness and
love and faith and peace and all the things that you've given us, the spiritual blessings
in Jesus Christ, not the carnal blessings that the Jews are expecting in their so-called
Messiah.
And in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.