 So let's open our Bibles. We're going to be in Mark chapter 11. We're going to look at verses 27 through 33. And I, I really am, I have my alarm set to tell me to stop. It is, it is warm, you know, no denying that. And so I will do everything I can to show consideration to you. And I know that you can only hear to the point of your discomfort. But you know, it reminds me of different things, opportunities the Lord has given to me. I remember being in India in a house that had been kind of gutted. The front room had been opened up and it sat about altogether about 100 people. And it had no air conditioning at all. We're in India and the men will sit on one side. The women sit on the other. And in that particular church facility, the fans were put on the men. As a matter of fact, the men all sat in one section. The women were behind them. So the fans were put on the men and the women suffered in the heat as they should. And so, anyway, so I'm just teasing obviously. But this kind of reminds me of that. It was like 110, 115 degrees in the house. And so I won't keep you much longer than just telling you. It reminded me of that as we came here, how warm it was. But you know what, bless the Lord, you guys came to fellowship today. And I love you for that. Thank you for having a heart to hear from the Lord through His Word. We love and appreciate you very, very much. Well, I'm going to begin reading here at verse 27, Mark chapter 11. We're going to look at verses 27 through 33 today. So I'll begin at verse 27 and read to verse 33 and we'll get into our study. Beginning at verse 27, Mark chapter 11. Then they came again to Jerusalem. 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? And who gave you this authority to do these things? 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. The baptism of John. Was it from heaven or from men? Answer me. And 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 they answered and said to Jesus, we do not know. And Jesus answered and said to them, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. And so as we begin, I was asked a question concerning verse 26, the last time we were together. And so I'm going to introduce our study by actually touching on verse 26 for a moment, because in chapter 11 verse 26, we close that passage where Jesus said, if you do not forgive, neither will your father in heaven forgive your trespasses. So somebody asked me in one of my, I have a mentoring class that I do every other week. And somebody asked me in that particular class, is this referring to salvation? Was Jesus saying that you could lose your salvation because it seems at first reading that he could be saying that? And so let me touch on that subject for a moment. I mentioned this last time we were together, but I'll say it again, a little expanded version of that. The forgiveness that is being referred to is not forgiveness that refers to salvation. This is something similar to what Jesus had said in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 6, 14 and 15, Jesus said, if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. So when Jesus was teaching this, he was not speaking of eternal salvation. He was speaking of forgiveness and how it is worked out in human relationships. You see, forgiveness is not condoning, excusing or forgetting something that's been done to you. Forgiveness, as I mentioned last time, speaks of the releasing of a debt that has been owed to you. The Greek word forgiveness means to send away or to yield up. So if my brother offends me and I forgive him, then I send away the offense from myself and from him. So that it is never brought up again. If a person keeps bringing up the same offense, they have never really sent it away. They haven't really truly forgiven. So Christians are to be in the habit of forgiving others because it is a way of life for us. This forgiveness is actually an expression of love for other people. In 1 Corinthians 13, verses 4 and 5, Paul said, love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast. It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. So believers are to be merciful and forgiving. The Christian is not allowed. The Christian is not to allow his ability to forgive to be surpassed by his brother's sin. Salvation isn't based on good works. Salvation is based on grace. Titus 3.4-7 says it like this, When the kindness and love of God our Savior toward men appeared not by works of righteousness, which we've done, but according to His mercy, He saved us through the washing of regeneration, renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. That having been justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So the forgiveness that is spoken of here is speaking of the sins that are part of our daily lives. These sins disrupt fellowship with God, and these sins should be dealt with daily. It is not necessary for a believer to be born again every day. So salvation was accomplished when we came to faith in Christ, and we were what the Scripture calls regenerated or born again. In 1 Peter 3.18 it says, Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit. He suffered once for sin. Salvation is a one-time thing when we receive it. In 1 Corinthians 6.11, such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. And so what Jesus is speaking of is the breaking of fellowship with God because of sin. Though our sins have been forgiven, our fellowship is maintained through confession. Psalm 66.18 says it like this, Now when Peter at first had refused to allow Jesus to wash his feet, remember how that Jesus rebuked him. It's found in John 13. Jesus made it clear that if he wanted fellowship with Christ, that this was necessary, that Jesus was to wash his feet. And in John 13.9, Peter said, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus, wash my hands, purify my works. Wash my head, purify my thoughts. As my works and thoughts are washed, my walk will be pure. Well, Jesus responded in this way in John 13.10. He said, he who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean. So this speaks of our thoughts and works that make up our walks and that those have been cleansed by the blood of Christ. And because we sin daily, confession is made daily and our fellowship with God is preserved. And this is seen very clearly in our relationship with other people. So if we understand the full forgiveness of God, we'll also extend full forgiveness to other people. And so that's what that verse is referring in context to. And with that said, we can pick up today in our study here in Mark chapter 11. Now this passage records a confrontation that Jesus had with Jewish religious leaders. And as I was preparing the study, I began to think about how often there was confrontation in the ministry of Jesus Christ from the very beginning of his ministry. It seems that Jesus dealt with conflict. And I find that interesting because many think that Christianity is essentially to be conflict free. Many think that arguing confrontation is always bad and should be always avoided. Part of the reason they may think this is because of the spirit of this age. You see, when I was a young hippie a long time ago now, I didn't think anything was worth arguing over. I just say, you know, whatever, do your own thing. Doesn't matter to me. I didn't like argumentation. I still don't. But I didn't think there was anything worth arguing over. I believe that we should let people just live as they wanted and we'd all get along. But when I got saved and began to read the Bible, I began to see that Jesus often was involved in confrontation. So I began praying. I said, Lord, and I still remember this. I was in the army. I still remember there were things that I would pray often, especially as I got saved. The first thing in the army I remember praying all the time was God helped me to learn the love of the people. And secondly, give me a spiritual spine. Lord, I want to have the ability to stand up for what is true. I don't want to be a hippie Christian. I don't want to be, well, you know, live and let live. There's nothing worth arguing over. God, give me an awareness that there are certain things you have to hold fast to and not show any kind of compromising. Help me to hold fast to the essential things and be willing to navigate through the disputations and confrontations, argumentations, and the various things that I'll encounter. I want to have a spiritual spine. And I began to pray that because, you see, from the beginning of his ministry, Jesus was often confronted and confronted religious leaders. In John 2, for example, in verses 13-22 through 22, that portion records the first cleansing of the temple and the problem that the cleansing of the temple actually caused. Jesus made a whip of cords. He drove out those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves. He also drove out the money changers who were conducting their business there. We all know that story. And that caused the religious authorities to ask him where he got his authority to do this. In response to their question, he predicted his resurrection. As we look in Mark and began our study in Mark, chapter 2 records that Jesus healed a paralytic and also forgave the man of his sins. And it caused the religious authorities to once again question his authority. In chapter 2, verses 23 through 25, that portion records how Jesus allowed his men to pluck heads of grain on the Sabbath and how he was questioned and considered to be a violator of the Sabbath. Jesus ate a meal at Matthew's house and scribes and Pharisees questioned his disciples how he could eat with tax collectors and sinners. There was a confrontation there in chapter 2, verse 16. In Mark 3, 1 through 6, Jesus healed a man with a withered hand in the synagogue and they plotted to destroy him. Once again, it was a point of contention. So on many occasions, Jesus became very pointed in things that he said to the leaders. Mark 7 records that he confronted Pharisees. He spoke very directly to these religious leaders. They were upset because his disciples did not wash their hands before eating. In Mark 7, verse 6, he answered and said to them, While did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites as it is written? This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain, they worship me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. So as you read your Bible, you're going to see Jesus was involved in debate, confrontation, arguments and attacks. He exposed sin, spoke clearly about it, exposed error quite often. It provoked the religious authorities to debate with him, to try to ensnare him because they considered him dangerous. People were following after him. In John 12, 11, it says on account of him, speaking of Lazarus who had been raised from the dead, many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him. When he said we're going over, that means to desert. They were abandoning, departing from the Pharisee teachers and they were believing which means to entrust or place total faith in him. They were abandoning the Pharisees and entrusting themselves to Christ because of the miracle and they were upset. And so the Jewish authorities argued with Christ often and especially now at the end of his ministry. They began to question him because what he's done. And this time they're arguing with him because he cleansed the temple. Now after cleansing the temple, he administered to the people. We saw that he was teaching, that he was healing. In Matthew 21, 14, it says the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. So after sharing with the man about faith in God and the power of prayer, the man he enters now once again into the city, verse 27 tells us that. It says that they came again to Jerusalem and he was walking in the temple. Now both Matthew and Luke tell us he was teaching and preaching in the temple courts. So as he's walking, the people are following and he's sharing with them. That's the way many rabbis during the day of Christ. And to this day, that's the way many people continue to teach. Very often here on this very campus, I'll be walking with someone and they're asking questions of the Lord or ministry or whatever. Very often as we're walking, I'm talking to them about ministry. I'll point things out. I'll point out where I'm standing right now. There used to be a barn here. Right over to my right, your left, right over in that direction. There used to be a stable there. That stable was removed. The barn obviously was removed and the stable became one of our first bookstores. Our first bookstore was actually in the chapel over there. And then we moved it here and I'll point that out and I'll say, look at what the Lord has done over the years. This is how he did that. We had someone build that patio cover there. Then somebody else built another patio cover over there. This taco bell that we have off to my right that we call the high school department bookstore. You know, it's a taco bell. We built that and I'll go through that and I'll say, this is how the Lord did it. Everything around here, if you look and I'm walking with you and you ask questions, I will say this is how he did it. This is why I see he did it. So Jesus would do that. He'd go through the temple courts as he did so. People would follow him. He would speak to them. They would ask questions and that's what's taking place here. He's walking in the temple. Luke 20 verse one says he was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel. The chief priests and the teachers of the law together with the elders came up to him. So they actually come up to confront him. There he is walking. He's teaching. He's sharing. And here come these men. Now when you see those three categories presented to us, when you see them together, the chief priests, the scribes and the elders. That represents what was called the great Sanhedrin. The great Sanhedrin is actually what we would today refer to as the religious supreme court. They were the ones who made decisions concerning the religious life of the children of Israel. You see, under Moses in 1445 BC, Israel developed a religious council. In Numbers 1116, God said bring me 70 of Israel's elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting that they may stand there with you. So these were men who were to help Moses as he governed the nation. Later on in 500 BC, during the time of Ezra the priest, the system evolved into a more formal council which helped the exiles returning home to get situated in the nation of Israel. During Jesus's time, the Sanhedrin wielded great social and religious authority. They had power and they enjoyed it and had become concerned with Jesus's popularity. In John 11, 47 and 48, it says, then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees, a council, and said, what do we do? For this man does many miracles. If we let him, thus alone, all men will believe on him and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. So there were the chief priests. This would refer to the present ruling high priests, the men in Caiaphas and those who formerly held the position of high priests such as his father-in-law Anas and a select group of dignitaries. So that's the chief priests. The scribes are the teachers of the law. They were experts on Jewish religion. And then they had the elders who were the key leaders from various villages and towns in Israel. And they were the final authority on decisions affecting the religious and political lives of the Jews. They're challenging Jesus to show them his credentials. They said to him, notice verse 28, by what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority? Now I want to build on that for just a moment because that question is not necessarily bad. It's not necessarily an improper question. It's a question that should be asked of any moral leader, religious leader. When you read your Bible, and there's so many scriptures I could point to, but I'm only going to point to a couple of them. In the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy chapter 13 verses one through three, it says, or one who foretells by dreams appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder. And if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place and the prophet says, let us follow other gods, gods you have not known, let us worship them. You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. In the New Testament, first John chapter four verse one, John writes, beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. Old Testament, New Testament, you were to test the teachers. You were to ask them, where did you get this authority? You were to ask them about their doctrine. You see the way to test is comparing what is said to what God has said in the Bible. It's never your emotion. It's never your feeling. It's never what you have made up. It's always scripture in Galatians one, eight and nine, Paul said, even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preach to you, let them be under God's curse. As we have already said, so now I say again, if anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God's curse. That's how serious it is. So the question they're asking is very important by what authority they're asking and also who gave you this authority? Why are you asking that kind of question, especially this late in his ministry? Well, you've never been recognized by approved means. What is the source of your authority? Ordination occurred after serving an apprenticeship under a recognized rabbi. And because of abuses, the Sanhedrin had taken over the process of ordination. You didn't complete the necessary requirements to become a rabbi. And that caused problems. You see, in John 7.15, the Jews marveled at Jesus saying, how does this man know letters having never studied? How does this man know the scriptures? How does this man know the writings? Jesus never received rabbinic training. How can he know the traditions in scripture? How can he apply that to us? What gives you the right to do and say the things that you've recently said and done? Again, he had entered Jerusalem to an emotional welcome. He had entered into the temple and cleansed it. He'd been teaching and preaching. He'd been healing the sick. And when he had cleansed that temple, he railed against the abuse of power that had been displayed. He told the leaders that the temple had become a den of thieves instead of a house of prayer. And that caused great anger and provoked the question that they're asking. Whenever people's actions are called into question, there will always be the possibility of an attack. And very often the attack will come from those who are rejecting the true authority of scripture. They had done personal research on Jesus. And what they had done is they had formed what we would today refer to as a smear campaign. That's what they were doing. And that particular tactic, by the way, continues to this day, smear tactics. They're called, in our day, ad hominem attacks where you're not attacking the argument or a position of somebody. You're attacking the person himself. You don't like him. You don't like his orange hair. You don't like the person. And so you attack. Not what's being done, but the mean tweets. And I'm not saying that as a political statement. It's just current. And we all are aware of that. We all have seen that. I received, as all of you did, I'm sure, in my home, I received different ads recently because of the recent election cycle that we have here. And the ads that were sent to me were not telling me what this particular person was going to do. The ads that I read, the majority of not all of them, were ads telling me how bad this person is. And those attacks weren't simply coming from the other opposing party. Those ads were coming from that person's party itself by the opponent who was running against them. And I was telling my wife, I said, you know, I'm tired of this. I'm tired of somebody wanting me to vote because this other person is so bad. That's called ad hominem attacks. It's not presenting to me an actual position that I can think through. It's presenting to me somebody's opinion on how bad that person is. And that was taking place during the time of Christ. And it's very irritating when you encounter that. Proverbs 16, 27 and 28 says it like this, an ungodly man digs up evil. And it is on his lips like a burning fire, a perverse man so strife. A whisperer separates the best of friends. And that's ad hominem. That's taking something personal and attacking. Well, they questioned Christ in that way. They questioned his birth. When you read your Bible, you'll see that in John 841. He was speaking to his opponents and he said to them, you do the deeds of your father. They said to him, we're not born a fornication. We have one father, even God. Well, part of that comment that was being made was really just hearkening back to the fact that Jesus Christ's mother Mary had been unmarried when she became pregnant. And so they considered Jesus to be born a fornication. And that was well known for the 30 plus years that he walked the face of the earth. And so we weren't born a fornication, inference, you are. So they questioned his birth. They questioned his friends in Luke 15 and 1 and 2. All the tax collectors and sinners drew near to him to hear him. And the Pharisees inscribed complaints saying this man receives sinners and eats with them. So they attacked those who listened to him. They attacked his personal habits. Luke 734, the son of man has come eating and drinking. You say, behold, a gluttonous man and a wine-biber, a friend of publicans and sinners. They questioned his spirituality. In Matthew 934, the Pharisees said he casts out devils through the prince of the devils. They questioned him keeping the law. He was called a Sabbath breaker because he healed on Sabbath. John 518, the Jews sought all the more to kill him because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also said God was his father making himself equal with God. So they questioned him constantly. They did their background. They did their checking, his birth, his friends, his habits, his spirituality, his keeping of the law. And they spoke this with conviction as if it's common knowledge. And this is how a person's character is attacked, smeared, and destroyed. And that's their desire to destroy his ministry, the effectiveness of it, and to undermine him. You see, if Jesus admitted to having no credentials, the people could lose respect for him. And these men wanted to embarrass him to undermine his ministry. So they asked him, who gave you the right to do what you've done? Who gave Jesus the right to do what he was doing? He had the authority of heaven. He didn't need recognition from them. Remember at his baptism, his father openly bore witness of him. Mark 111, the father said, you are my beloved son. In you I am well pleased. And as transfiguration, we've seen this as we've gone through Mark. His father again openly confirmed him. Mark 9, verse 7, a voice came out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved son. Hear him. Jesus himself spoke on his own authority and the authority he had received. In John 1249, he said, I have not spoken on my own authority. But the father who sent me gave me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. So they were rejecting heaven's authority as Jesus was speaking. You see, if the Bible says something they disagree with, they simply reject the Bible. That happens to this day. In this reading on this, there's a cultural research center in Arizona Christian University who was studied on. And it says their findings were, belief amongst American adults, churched or un-churched, is eroding in all segments. They found those professing belief in the Bible are not much different than non-Christians. 46% reject the Bible as absolute moral truth. 48% accept it as absolute truth. Only 43% of those self-identifying as born again still believe in absolute truth. Today people trust inner certainty, scientific proof, traditions or public consensus. I see that as a pastor and I've seen that over the last 50 plus years as faith has eroded. When I got saved back in 1970, there was not a question that the Bible was God's word. Today people say it's just a book amongst other books. And even believers, even those professing to have a relationship with Christ and to trust His word, half of them are saying, well, if I disagree with that, I'm going to go with my opinions. I'm going to go with my emotions. Well, these people believed in a biblical truth, but they rejected it when it was revealed. And so Jesus is speaking to them. Notice verse 29, 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. The baptism of John. Was it from heaven or from men? Answer me. Now, asking the question. Let me touch that for just a moment. Asking the question. Asking questions is a what is called a rabbinic method. Again, it's just typical. What you do is if you're teaching somebody as a rabbi, you ask them a question to see what's within them so that they can spontaneously respond to the question. And so when they respond to the question, you can begin to correct or to encourage their conclusions. It was a very typical thing then. It's still seen that way to this day. One author pointed out that in the Gospels, Jesus asked around 339 questions. So again, the person who's being asked is going to consider why they believe what they believe. So when Jesus asked the question, he's not evading theirs. He had already answered it several times in the past. The point of his question is simple. Are you willing to recognize heavenly authority? So verse 30, John's baptism. Was it from heaven or of human origin? Was John's ministry of God or was John's ministry of man? And he drove him into a corner. For verse 31 says, a reasoned among themselves saying, if we say from heaven, he will say, why then did you not believe him? They were driven into a corner. What was John's message? Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. To receive John's message is to receive Jesus Christ. So when you say the baptism of John, was it from heaven or from men? Answer me. We can't do that because if we admit it was from heaven, then he's going to question us. And so he will say to us, verse 31, why then didn't you believe him? But if we say from man, they feared the people for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed. So they answered and said to Jesus, we don't know. And Jesus answered and said to them, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. You aren't willing to answer. You don't receive an answer to my question. I don't have to answer yours if you don't answer mine. Luke 20, verse 6 said that they said, if we say from men, all the people will stone us because they are persuaded that John was a prophet. They wouldn't answer him. So he refuses to answer them. They're guilty of rejecting the light and he didn't continue giving them opportunity. They refused to receive the truth. The only thing left of them was judgment for rejecting it. Everything that you learn, if you're a visitor here, or perhaps you'll watch this later on, and you're not a believer, everything you hear, you owe an explanation to God about a judgment. You may or may not realize that, but it's true. Everything you hear, Jesus said it like this, the one who has been given much owes much. When you receive, you are now responsible for what you've received. If you've heard the message of the gospel and refused it, there's no answer. There's nothing that comes after the gospel. There's nothing that comes after the gospel or nothing in the judgment of God. For these people to refuse to receive what was being said, they were bringing upon themselves judgment for rejecting it. The more you know, the more you owe. And that's what the Lord is saying here. He who rejects me and does not receive my words has that which judges him. The word that I have spoken will judge him the last day. So if we go up to the Lord and say, I never knew that, the Lord would be able to say, No, on this particular day, that hot June morning, you heard, but you refused. No, you heard, but you reject it. And that's why Jesus says, I'm not going to answer your question until you answer mine. Was John from God or was he not? When John went out and said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, Jesus could say, am I that lamb and do I take away the sin? Because if you see that I am, why have you not responded? If you reject me, there's nothing but judgment coming afterwards. And that's a fact. So, you know, somebody says facts don't care about your feelings. There's truth to that because facts are just that. They're just facts. You have to deal with the facts. And so with the gospel, is Jesus the Lamb of God or is he not? And when somebody comes and questions his authority, where did you get that authority? Jesus had already said, I don't say things on my own, but my father commanded me to say these are the things I'm telling you. My message is from above. You're rejecting God's only witness for your salvation. Very strong words. Confrontation when done in the proper spirit of caring and loving and dealing with error is actually a proper thing to do. And again, I asked the Lord 50 plus years ago, give me a spiritual spine. May I believe what your word says and may I live as if it's true. I'd encourage you to the same. And so Father we ask.