Jesus Christ's Last Public Message

Each year during the Passover service we read much of Christ's last private words, his last private words, and instructions to his twelve disciples.

But what were his last public words to the multitudes? What were Christ's last public words to the multitudes? Of course, he said things while on the cross. But I'm speaking of what was his last discourse? What was the last instruction? Did he leave with the multitudes to both friends and foe?

Today we're going to consider Jesus Christ's last public message to learn what thoughts filled his heart and mind in his final days. Now we have records of his final discourse in three of the four Gospels. They're found in Matthew 21-23 and Luke 20 and Mark 11-12. And since Mark's account is the most concise and also most scholars consider to be the oldest of the four, we'll read Mark's account to glean some vital lessons Jesus impressed upon the multitude with the approach of Passover in the days of Unleavened Bread in his final days. And what we will find is that the message of his last message still resonates very much so today. And so the title of today's sermon is Jesus Christ's Last Public Message. Jesus Christ's Last Public Message. So let's turn to Mark 11.

Let's turn to Mark 11. And what I'll do first is to help set the back story, the background, the setting of his final discourse. And so in Mark 11, what we find, based on scriptural evidence, we know that Jesus Christ died late Wednesday afternoon, the 14th of Nissen. And four days earlier, Jesus cleansed the temple. We can read about that in verses 15-19. So let's go there in Mark 11, verses 15-19. And again, this is setting up the back story for what we'll be spending more time with here.

Mark 11, verse 15.

Notice the response of the Jewish leaders in verse 18. Verse 18 now.

The NIV gets a little more direct. It interprets this, translates it as how they might kill him. How they might kill him. It's a little more blunt than destroy him. And why was that? Continuing in verse 18, For they feared him. They did not love him. They feared him. Why? Because all the people were astonished at his teaching. He was telling them something that they had not heard, something they knew they needed to hear.

Verse 19, When evening had come, he went out of the city. Now on the next day, Jesus and the disciples returned to the temple. It is here that he gave his final public teaching, his final public discourse. And here the Jewish leaders confronted him. We see this in verses 27 through 28, still in Mark 11. Mark 11, verse 27. Then they came again to Jerusalem, Jesus and his disciples. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him. And they said to him, By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do these things? Well, let's understand.

Who were these leaders? Who are these people? Well, they represent the three groups that comprise the Sanhedrin. They represented the three groups that comprise the Sanhedrin. The chief priest consisted of the high priest, or at that time, priest. They took turns, some family members. The chief priest consisted of the high priest and his family, mainly Sadducees. The scribes were primarily Pharisees. They were primarily Pharisees who transcribed, studied, and taught the law. And the elders. The elders were leaders of the tribes. They were the tribal leaders. These men were responsible for overseeing the temple and religious life.

And so, they demanded to know by whose authority Jesus did these things. These things, according to context, most immediately would suggest cleansing the temple. Who gave the authority to do that? And by publicly demanding to know Jesus's authority, it seemed their intent was... Well, it seemed they intended to humiliate him before the multitude. It seems they intended to humiliate him before the multitude. They meant to contrast his lack of authority. You didn't have any credentials, you see.

They wanted to contrast his lack of authority with their obvious authority as being highly respected members of the Sanhedrin. So they were going to make this a showdown of sorts. But things did not go as they had planned. Instead, Jesus skillfully took control and required answers from them first. And he subtly, subtly revealing his higher authority from God. So let's look verses 29 through 33 now. Still in Mark 11. Mark 11, 29. But Jesus answered and said to them, I also will ask you one question.

Then answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Here's his question, verse 30. The baptism of John. Was it from heaven or from men? From heaven or from men? Answer me. Verse 31. And these leaders, these highly respected leaders, the Sanhedrin, they reasoned among themselves, saying, if we say from heaven, he will say, why then did you not believe him? But if we say from men, they feared the people.

For all counted John to have been a prophet indeed. So neither answer is going to work for them. We might say politically. So they answered and said to Jesus, we do not know. We do not know. And Jesus answered and said to them, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. Seems he could... he played that game better than they did. The leaders... maybe I shouldn't say this, but the leaders lamely dodged Jesus's question. They dodged it. They refused to admit the truth, that John the Baptist was sent from God. And instead of heeding John's testimony, repenting of their sins, and accepting the evidence also that Jesus truly was the Lamb of God, and instead of believing the evidence of their own ears and eyes, including the recent resurrection of Lazarus, who'd been four days in the tomb.

That had just happened recently. Instead of admitting all that and recognizing it, they faked ignorance. They faked ignorance to avoid condemning themselves, and perhaps even more importantly in their minds, to save face before the multitude. It's all about maintaining their appearances, their reputation. They hated Jesus. They had many reasons. They absolutely hated the man. And they hated his threat to their authority and power. And so they wanted him dead. They wanted him dead. Now, Jesus knew their hearts and minds. He knew. He knew. And he more or less told them so in the parable he next told.

This parable is a clear warning about the rebellious tenets of a vineyard. And we read that now in Mark 12, verse 1 through 9. This is continuing his discourse now. There they're asking him, but there's this large group of people listening in.

Mark 12, verse 1 through 9. And then he, Jesus, began to speak to them in parables. A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it. He dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower. And he leased it to the vine dressers and went into a far country. At a vintage time, he sent a servant to the vine dressers. That he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vine dressers. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. That wasn't right, was it? Verse 4. Again he sent them another servant.

And at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. Verse 5. And again he sent another. And him they killed, and many others beating some and killing some. Therefore, still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying to himself, They will respect my son. Surely they would respect my own son. Verse 7. But those vine dressers said among themselves, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. And so they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. Now, so we understand, this is referring, symbolizing the total rejection of the son.

This is referring to Christ being executed. It would seem now, understanding, Christ being executed outside Jerusalem. That's how most scholars, how most of us see this. Verse 9. Therefore, the question is, Therefore, what will the owner of the vineyard do? Will he come? The answer is, he will come and destroy the vine dressers and give the vineyard to others. And then Jesus continued, verse 10. Have you not even read this scripture? Now, this scripture comes from Psalm 118. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in her eyes.

He says, don't you know this? Of course, they should have known that. Verse 12. And they, and they, the leaders, sought to lay hands on him. They are just so wanting to throttle him, it seems, and take him, throw him in prison. But again, but they feared the multitude, for they knew he had spoken the parable against them. This parable, apparently, was a little easier for them to understand, to pierce through the meaning. And so they left him and went away. They left him and went away.

Now, how much of the parable did the leaders understand? Well, enough to enrage them. Enough to enrage them. They grasp that the owner denotes God, the vineyard denotes Israel, the greedy and murderous tenant, vine dressers, or Israel's leaders, them, and the servants, God's prophets. And then, of course, reference to God's son. They likely understood his meaning, that Israel, their forefathers, their ancestors, had insolently rejected God's servants, the prophets. And so they, the present generation, were so they were doing the same. They may have grasped the insinuation that they, the present leaders, would reject and kill God's son, although that may have caused some consternation.

In any case, they knew, it seems, they knew that Jesus knew their intent to kill him. He knew what was in their hearts.

But did they grasp the point that the owner's forbearance, God's forbearance, is not limitless? Did they grasp that God will destroy them, remove them, as indicated by Jesus's reference to Psalm 118? It seems doubtful that they understood that. Or perhaps they didn't care, because despite the warning of Christ's parable, they still, it says, they still sought to lay hands on him. They still sought, we would say, to kill the son. It was only their fear of rousing the wrath of the people that restrained them. It's where they were so terribly wrong. You see, they feared man, not God. They feared man, not God. They didn't fully accept and believe that it's God that would ultimately hold them accountable, not the people.

So, what have we learned so far? So far, what we've learned so far is that Jesus's final public message, this is him referring, talking to the Sanhedrin, I may have said this was his final discourse at this point. This is the lead-up to it. We have learned so far that this is Jesus's final public, that his final public message arose from this confrontation with the Jewish leaders. They were eager to kill him, and Jesus knew his appointed time had come. It's coming closer and closer. And he now had no reason it would seem to withhold his sharp condemnation of their ways. So, what happens next is a rather public battle of words and authority between the Jewish leaders and Jesus Christ. Now, the leaders were anxious, as we can understand, to maintain their authority as well as their appearance. It's all about appearances. They had to maintain their authority as well as their appearance of righteousness before the people. And so, they next attempted to catch Jesus in his words. If they could entrap him with his own words, so they might charge him with rebellion, or sedition, or even heresy, then they'd have him. Then they could destroy him. They could also destroy his reputation among the people. And so, it seems they arrayed their very best scholars against him.

They sent first a group of Pharisees and Herodians. It's an unusual mix. The Pharisees prided themselves on being faithful to God and being meticulous in keeping his law. Now, the Herodians, the Herodians, on the other hand, were followers of King Herod and his family. They loved pleasure-seeking, humanism. They loved the Greek culture. These two factions did not usually get along. You can understand why. But they got along in this instance because they now had a common enemy, Jesus Christ.

Mark 12, verse 14-17, we read how these men, Pharisees and Herodians, began their attack by trying to put Jesus off guard with what we might read as an oily flattery. Kind of oily flattery to him. Mark 12, 14, when they had come, they said to him, Teacher, we know that you are true and care about no one, for you do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth. Coming from then, this had to be a little bit of flattery, a little bit of untruth, but they said it. For them, it was untruth. And then they hit him with a question that they thought would entrap him and drive away his followers. The question is, is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Shall we pay or shall we not pay? Either or. Which is it? But he, Jesus, knowing their hypocrisy, you see, he sees through this easily. Knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, Why do you test me? Bring me a denarius that I may see it. So they brought it, and he said to them, Whose image and inscription is this?

And they said to him, Caesar's. And Jesus answered and said to them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. And to God the things that are God's.

And they marveled at him. I can imagine their mouths dropped open, because they had already formulated one of two answers he could give. And it was not either of them. Jesus's answer was totally unexpected and flawless. It was absolutely brilliant, you understand.

But there's more to his render unto Caesar answer than we may expect. There's a little bit more than maybe we've heard of before, because we've heard it said so many times. Render unto Caesar, under Caesar, but there's more. There's more insight to Jesus's answer than why they were wondering this question. I'm going to quote from the New Testament study Bible about this coin. Quote, The coin used to pay the tax bore an image of the emperor. That's what we saw, Caesar. On one side of the current coin was the stamp of Tiberius's head. He was Caesar at that time. On the reverse, he was shown on a throne, clothed as a high priest. That's interesting. An inscription read, Tiberius Caesar Augustus, son of the divine Augustus, high priest. Both the image and the inscription constituted a claim to divine honors according to the Roman imperial cult. I had not heard of that before. I thought that was interesting. I wanted to share that with you. So it may be then that the Pharisees were concerned that somehow paying their tax would be akin to idol worship of Caesar.

Whereas the Herodians would support paying the tax in order to stay in good favor with the Romans. They were friends with the Romans in many ways. Now again from the study Bible, Jesus wanted them, though, this according study Bible, Jesus wanted them to consider the coin as only a piece of metal. It's only a medium of exchange with no inherent spiritual significance. But the divine honor claimed by Caesar was not his due. That belongs only to God. Jesus made clear that one's duty is to give all that one truly is to God, your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength. Deuteronomy 6, verse 5. That was a New English translation. And so a point. A point for us. Jesus' teaching certainly applies to us, doesn't it? We also must give to Caesar our Caesar today government, what powers that be. We must also give to Caesar the bit of metal he wants and give to God what's most valuable, our reverence, our faith, our absolute and total submission and obedience. God wants our hearts. He wants our hearts and he wants our minds and he wants them to be impressed with his image, with his mind in ways. It would seem then that we would be wise not to be preoccupied with Caesar today and Caesar's world today, but to keep God first. And the question for us then is do we truly and sincerely do so? It was a time of self-examination prior to Passover. Do we truly keep ourselves focused on God? Are we striving harder to give all we are to God?

That was the first group. They failed. After that group failed, a second group, a group of Sadducees, tried to catch Jesus with an unsolvable spiritual dilemma, a spiritual enigma. But Jesus proved it unsolvable only to the Sadducees who did not know or even believe much of the Scripture. Certainly not much of the Scripture of the Old Testament at the time. You see, though they were the ruling aristocratic class of Jewish society, they did not even believe in the resurrection or in angels. There's a lot they didn't believe in. Now the Sadducees skipped the flattery and cut straight to their question. No flattery. They're serious. Mark 12, 19-27. Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies and leaves his wife behind and leaves no children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. That's true. That's what it says. We'll get to that in a bit. Now, there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and dying he left no offspring. No kids, no children. Verse 21, and the second took her, and he died, nor did he leave any offspring. And the third likewise. And so the seven had her and left no offspring. It gets kind of silly. Last of all, the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be? For all seven had her as wife. And the scholars have talked about this. This was an unsolvable spiritual enigma for them. Well, the law they're talking about is the Levirate law. Levi, R-A-T-E, law. You can find it mentioned in Deuteronomy 25, verse 5-6. The Levirate law held that if a wife lost her husband before they had a son, a brother of that husband, or else the nearest of kin, must marry the widow. The first child born of this marriage was to be counted as a child of the deceased, so the latter's line not die out in Israel. That was the law. Now, by citing the Levirate law in their bizarre hypothetical case, the Sadducees intended to show off their expertise with Scripture, and, it seems, to show the ridiculousness of the belief in the resurrection. They intended to belittle this Jesus of Galilee.

But Jesus swiftly exposed their ignorance and deflated their pride. Verse 24. Jesus answered, said to them, Are you not therefore mistaken? Because you do not know, Jesus himself told them, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God? You're wrong. For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven. But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken. He kind of corrects them gently, nicely in some ways. Now, if the Sadducees had truly understood Scripture, they would have known that in the resurrection, the final resurrection, there will be spirit, not physical, ultimately, especially talking about the first resurrection. And then Jesus recited from, he's referring to Exodus 3.6, to show that God is the God of the living, because God said, I am, not I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

God considered them as living. They slept in death and will awake through the resurrection. Before all the multitude, Jesus told these, this is my words, pompous experts, that they were greatly mistaken. They were mistaken. Now, we certainly do not want to be like the Sadducees, and that's a point we can take away from this. We do not want to be like the Sadducees. We do not want to be full of pride. We don't want to be arrogant and puffed up with so-called truth, so-called true knowledge, that we do not understand, or true knowledge that is being twisted and misunderstood.

We need to believe what the Scripture actually says. We must know God's word, study it, believe it, and then more than that, we have to live it. We have to live it. The question we need to ask ourselves, in this case, is do we truly do these things? Do we believe God's word? Do we live it?

After the Sadducees left him, a scribe approached. A scribe approached and tried to catch Jesus with another question, one that had divided Jewish teachers into rival schools of thought. That's according to James and Fawcett Brown. He's going to ask him a question that had divided Jewish teachers into rival schools of thought. We read this in Mark 12, verse 28 through 34.

Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, he's been listening to all these back and forth, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that Jesus had answered them well, he asked him, which is the first commandment of all? Now, what he's meaning is we would say, what is the commandment that's very first in importance? That's what he's asking. And Jesus answered him, the first of all the commandments is, Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment, and the second, like it, is this. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.

And that's true. They're powerful, powerful truth. And so, verse 32, the scribe said to him, Well said, teacher, you have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but he. And to love him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself is more, more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. That's a really great leap of thought. Now, when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, the scribe answered wisely, Jesus said to him, You, you are not far from the kingdom of God. Meaning, I think you're getting it, and perhaps that's what he means, huh? But it's interesting. Look at the next sentence. But after that, no one dared question him.

And so Jesus' answer was perfect, and it certainly pleased the scribe. In turn, the way the scribe spoke, the spiritual ramifications of keeping God's law also pleased Jesus. The scribe, it seems, was beginning to understand things, as few of the others in that group that he was with were understanding, were getting. It could be that Jesus' answers, it could be that Jesus' answers were leading some who challenged him to see and understand God's Word in a way they hadn't seen and understood it before. Could he be winning some people over from this crowd? But of course, for any of them to have admitted it, including the scribe, that would have been very dangerous for them. That would have been dangerous for anyone whose peers demanded that Jesus be killed.

So then why after that did no one dare ask more questions? Well, from what we've seen, it seems the obvious reason would be that no one could match Jesus. If this was the best they had, they were failing. They could not compete with his wisdom, with his understanding of Scriptures, with his authority. They could not beat his answers. And secondly, why did they not dare any more questions? It seems that instead of diminishing Jesus' authority, what had they actually done? They magnified it. They increased his authority. They showed him that he was dumbfounding the otherwise so-called intellectuals of the time, intellectuals in the Word of God. They dared not show any more of their ignorance. And third reason, it seems that they'd asked no more questions. It seems some of them were actually beginning to turn to Jesus. It seems that's quite possible. Some are beginning to understand, sympathize with him, sympathize, grasp his instruction more than they had before.

This may beg the question of us. A point here.

Do we ever ignore God's laws? Do we ever disregard God's instructions to go ahead and do what we really want to do?

Do we ever ignore God's laws or disregard God's instruction in order to do what we want to do? Would we ever give in to peer pressure, for example, to save face, to save our reputation, rather than doing those things that please God?

That can be a hard thing to do for any of us. That's what we need to be willing to do, and we must do if that's necessary. Would we ever resist seeking God's truth because we're afraid of what the answer might be we will find?

Sometimes we may not want to delve deeply because we may already suspect the answer, and we'd rather enjoy our not needing to do what we know we should do. Or, do we seek to believe God and obey God no matter what is required of us? That is the right thing we should do. To seek to believe and obey God no matter what is required of us. Total submission, total faith and obedience. Well, the Jewish leaders, it seems, had no more challengers to send.

But having silenced his enemies, Jesus was not yet finished speaking. The end of his earthly ministry is quickly approaching, so it seems he took one more opportunity to press those who had an ear to hear to understand more about who he was and what God expected of them. So Jesus then answered the question that yet lingered. There is a question, it seems, that yet lingered that no one had dared to ask.

And that question they seemed to want to know but didn't want to ask was, was he the Messiah? Are you the Messiah? Jesus did not directly answer that question to these people, but he did answer it indirectly with a question about David's words that we can find in Psalm 110. So let's read verse 35. Then Jesus answered, now he's asking the questions. Jesus answered and said while he taught in the temple, How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David?

He's broaching that topic directly about the Messiah, the Christ. For David himself said by the Holy Spirit, The Lord said to my Lord, Set at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. Therefore David himself calls him Lord. How is he then his Son? And the common people heard him gladly. Now we understand that David was writing these words from Psalms. We understand that David was writing prophetically about the two members of the divine family, the Father and the Son.

His words make sense when we realize that the one who would be born as David's descendant was already existent as David's divine Lord, who was himself subject to God, God the Father. Let's turn and hold your place here and look at Acts 2. Acts 2, verses 34-36. Acts 2, verses 34-36. Peter confirms the identity of these two beings. Please hold your place. Acts 2, verse 34. Peter, speaking, For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, The Lord said to my Lord, Set at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. Jesus had just recited that. Therefore, Peter says, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, God the Father, has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.

The word who came as Jesus of Nazareth was Christ, the anointed one, David's Lord and his descendant. Now, turning back to Mark 12, verse 37, that final sentence. Mark 12, verse 37 again. In the common people heard him gladly. The multitude understand would have been common people. It means they're primarily comprised of the poor, the powerless, the less than significant, powerful people. They were gladdened by Jesus' words. Jesus' words were suggesting that many grasped the implication of the words he spoke, the implication that he was Christ, the anointed one.

And they were glad. They were glad. And that made me pause and think. As years go by for each of us, and as we again approach the spring holy days, we need to ask ourselves whether we are deepening our understanding and our profound gratitude and appreciation for all that the Father has done. Do these words of truth, do these words we remember, we read year after year in remembrance, do these words of God still gladden our hearts and minds?

They certainly should. My experiences of years go by, these words mean more and more to me. As we get older, I think the reality of these things make our anticipation of the kingdom in Christ's return even more profound, more gladdening. So the common people you see were glad, but not everyone was made glad by Christ's words, neither then nor now. The Jewish leaders, for the most part, refused and rejected Jesus. And regarding them in their pompous and deceitful ways, Jesus had more choice instruction. He wasn't done with his discourse. He had more choice instruction and actually stern words for them and for the multitude as he would now begin to end his message.

In verses 38 through 40, Jesus warned that they will be held accountable for their hypocrisy. Then he said to them in his teaching, all these people, beware of the scribes who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues in the best places at feast, who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense they're pretending, for a pretense make long prayers.

These will receive greater condemnation. And so Jesus is condemning, correcting, hoping, I'm sure, that they would get it and repent. But Jesus condemned these leaders because they neither served God, you see, and neither were they serving God's people. Whom were they serving? Themselves. They were serving themselves, their own vain glory, their own little lives. Now, at this point, let's also turn to Matthew 23. Matthew 23, again, it's part of this Christ's last discourse, composed as part of his last message.

I want to turn here because we get more of the more detailed description of Christ's statements. For instance, Matthew 23, verse 1 through 3.

It goes back to that pretense, that appearances. Now, Christ's description, or rather we could call it the definition of hypocrisy, is so basic, so fundamental, that we can teach it to our children. Our children can understand this very easily. We need to help our children understand this. We need to make sure we understand it. Hypocrisy means saying but not doing. For they say and do not do. Though here Jesus was condemning the Pharisees and the scribes specifically, we should be assured that he's also warning every person. For everyone is susceptible to what Jesus elsewhere calls the leaven of hypocrisy, a spiritual leaven which spreads throughout the heart, mind, and puffs up. Puffs up one's pride, one's arrogance, one's self-importance, one's self-centeredness. Let's hold here. We're going to come back to Matthew. I got us holding two places now. Let's go to Luke 12. Luke 12 for that reference of the leaven in hypocrisy. Luke 12 verse 1. Here it describes—this is a different setting—a different setting time. In meantime, when the numeral multitude of people had gathered together so that they trampled one another, Jesus began to say to his disciples first of all. So his disciples had heard this part of the message before, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Their hypocrisy is leavening. It's spiritual, being spiritually puffed up. It's dangerous stuff. So, hypocrites, hypocrisy. Hypocrites—we're going to go back to Matthew 23 now—hypocrites, we should understand because we don't want to be one. Hypocrites delight in pretense. They delight in falsehood and outward appearances. They have a form of righteousness and even godliness. They look—they can be that convincing, but they lack true substance. We've heard that form without the substance. It's in this last public teaching and message that Jesus soundly condemns in strong and clear terms the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of his day. But again, the principles he talks about we should take warning from as well. So let's look again at Matthew 23. Let's look at a few more examples. Verse 5. Speaking of the Pharisees again, and scribes Pharisees.

The best seats in the synagogues. Greetings in the marketplaces. And to be called by men. Rabbi! Rabbi! They love the accolade. They love the honorific. Let's look at verse 14. There's more you can read. Verse 14.

This is Jesus saying this.

That's what Mark had said in his Gospel account.

And by the way, if you're wondering what woe means, in other words, you could put there is condemnation. In other words, I condemn you. Condemnation to you. Scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites.

For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin. You ever see how small that is? They're very particular. And have neglected the weightier matters of the law. It's the heart and core of the law. Justice, mercy, and faith. These you ought to have done, the tithing, without leaving the others undone. You have to do it all.

Verse 27. One more here. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you are like white-washed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so. Even so, you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside, your hearts, your very core, you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. The absolute opposite. The absolute opposite of what they're trying to display to people.

As we consider Jesus' last public message, one that so strongly condemned hypocrisy, false faith, falsehood in general, and as we look forward to pass over in the days of Unleavened Bread, we must evaluate ourselves with God's Word, as Dr. Ward told us last Sabbath, by God's spiritual mirror. Do we find within ourselves any sin that we need to put out?

Anything Jesus said here? Any of that make us wince a little bit? Of course, we may not have shown that outwardly. Maybe inwardly our conscience winced a bit.

And if we do wince, perhaps discover our own hypocrisy, what do we do?

What we always do, or should do, when we find sin, we need to repent. We need to repent of it.

Admit what we have done. Go to God for help, and ask God for his forgiveness. Don't ask God to excuse us. Ask for him to forgive us. We don't go to God with excuses for why we did this or why we didn't do that. We just say, I did not do what I knew to do. Please forgive me. Any promises, he will, if we ask in faith, if we trust in the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

And so, with these stern, rather stern and sober warnings against hypocrisy, which stands against hypocrisy, you have to understand, hypocrisy is so opposed to God's way of sincerity and truth. With these words, then, Jesus concluded his last public message in the temple three days before he was crucified. That's what was on his mind. That's what he felt he had to impress upon the multitudes. Of course, Jesus would have much more to say privately to his closest disciples. And we read about that again in Passover. But we have no scriptural record here that he spoke to such a large multitude again.

Mark's gospel, then, gives us an understanding of what weighed on Jesus' heart and mind in his final days. And he easily rebuffed the questions by the Jewish leaders, their tricks, and he chastised them for their hypocrisy. He warned them and all people to beware of the ways of rebellion, beware of falsehood, of lies, beware of false appearances, pretending to be something you are not. And he urges them to turn in submission to God, giving unto God what is his due, God our Father, to practice his ways of love and righteousness, faith, and sincerity and truth. We each should be putting to heart these things into daily action, Christ's instruction. Not just now, not just as we approach the Holy Days. And we know this. We know this. But do we do this? Do we do this? We must do this every single day. Every single day that our Heavenly Father allows to us. And so, I encourage us all. I encourage us all. Let's help each other. You help me and I'll help you. Allow God to help us all as a family in unity. Let us practice sincerity and truth as we together continue our life's journey onward to salvation, onward to the kingdom, the kingdom of God.