If you'll take your Bibles, turn to Mark 11, beginning in verse 12. Mark 11, beginning in verse 12, and if you will, in this time, at this time, stand in honor of God's Word as I read. Mark 11, beginning in verse 12, On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves. For it was not the season for figs. But he said to it, May no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples heard it. And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple. And he began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple. And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for the nations, but you have made it a den of robbers. And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him for they feared him because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came, they went out of the city. Father, I pray this morning that you would bless the study of your word. God, I just ask that you would help us to see the humanity of Christ, that he really was the God-man who was hungry. And Father, I also pray that you would reveal to us, help us to see if there's any perversion of spiritual celebration in our own lives. God, even during this season, I just ask that you would reveal anything, flip over the tables in our lives, Lord, anything that would detract from Christ's glory during this Christmas season. Remove it. Cleanse us, Lord. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You can be seated. So you might be wondering today, what's the connection? What's the connection between between Christmas and the Passion Week and Jesus cursing the fig tree and then cleansing the temple. There's probably somebody here today thinking, can't Pastor Chris, you know, like for one week, take a break from the Gospel of Mark and just give us a nice little nativity story. Are we really going to cleanse the temple today? And is Jesus really gonna kill a tree? Well, first I would want to draw your attention to the close connection to Christmas and how appropriate the passage really is for us. One is, you really clearly see the humanity of Christ, which is what we celebrate at Christmas, is the incarnation, God with flesh on. You see it through the expression of Jesus was hungry. You also see his deity on display today as he goes into the temple and pronounces judgment over this temple, showing his divine authority. You also, though, in our passage today, are going to see the danger of hypocrisy. In other words, the danger that can come at times of religious celebration, that they oftentimes can be commercialized and pretty soon really lose their substance in the meaning they can be a lot of activity and yet very little substance. We saw that in the temple there, tons of spiritual activity but no spirituality. The same thing can happen to us. at Christmas time. Maybe some of you are thinking, okay, that's fine. That justifies why you would do a sermon on the Passion Week and this cleansing of the temple and the killing of the fig tree. But still, as you look at the passage, you might think, this just seems so incredibly unfair to the tree. What did the tree ever do? It actually reminds me of a time I was with my son, CJ, years ago now. We were at Palmdale Boulevard. He was probably 10, 11 years old. And we drove by this old tanning salon. And maybe some of you know the name. Obviously, nobody's ever accused me of going to a tanning salon. But it was called Hang Tan. I think it's a good name for a tanning salon. It's better than bronze buns. Whatever. Just kidding. So we drove by Hang Tan, and my son looks at me and he goes, Hang Tan? Dad, why should we Hang Tan? What did Tan ever do to us? That's a good point. What did this fig tree ever do to Jesus? I was tempted today to title this sermon, instead of Jesus Cursing and Cleansing, I was going to title it Jesus Curses the Christmas Tree, but then I thought, no, I would be stepping on far too many toes. And this ultimately isn't about how you celebrate Christmas with a tree, without a tree, with gifts, without a gift. The point would be, though, are we people of substance when we celebrate? Christmas you you also can't understand this passage in Mark chapter 11 if you don't connect the two together in other words the cursing of the fig tree is explains, and is a commentary on the cleansing of the temple. And the cleansing of the temple explains the cursing of the fig tree. You see, both the curse of the fig tree and the clearing of the temple depict God's judgment against the nation of Israel who has rejected her Messiah and defiled His temple. It's ironic, because if you've been studying with us through the Gospel of Mark, you know that even the disciples believed that the Messiah was going to be this king who would come, this king of Israel who would come and attack Rome, but instead, Jesus comes as the king of righteousness and attacks the temple. And so Jesus here isn't just clearing the temple, he's actually condemning the temple and the religious activities going on in that temple, and he's in fact condemning the whole system of false worship that's going on in Israel. And so let's look at our passage together. First, you see the cursing of the fig tree. Look at it in verse 12. On the following day, when they came to Bethany, he was hungry. So the following day, this is the following day from the triumphal entry. Jesus came in to Jerusalem with shouts of hosanna on Sunday of the Passion Week. He'll be crucified by Friday. This is Monday. In fact, if you draw your attention back up to our last verse, verse 11, it says, when he had looked around at everything in the temple, As it was already late, he went back to Bethany, which was a couple miles over the east side of the Mount of Olives. And so he goes back to Mary and Martha's house, where no doubt they were caring for him with Lazarus, their brother. And that was the place he was staying at night. And then he would come back the next morning. But believe me, when he went that night, he looked around and he's trying to find, as he goes into his temple, is there any real worship going on here? Actually, it's a little convicting to think that in Revelation 2 and 3, where we'll end up today, Jesus goes into his church and asks really the same question. Is there any real worship that goes on here? And he goes into that temple and he finds none. He finds a total perversion of worship. They've commercialized it. There's nothing there really about God any longer. And so he is going to come back the next day for the second time to clear the temple. He did it the first time at the beginning of his ministry. It's recorded in John chapter 2 and he does this at the end. And notice it says that he was hungry. I think there's great significance to that little tiny phrase. Because Jesus indeed was God and he proved it through his miracles but he also was man. Jesus got hungry. He felt the things that you feel. He was tempted. He was tired. That's why he was earlier in Mark chapter 3 sleeping on the boat. Remember when the storm comes? And it says he was weary and tired and he had to rest. So therefore, we have a high priest who's able to relate to us in our own lives. Jesus was hungry, evidence of the incarnation, divinity and humanity all in one person. You might say, well, why didn't he have breakfast? Probably he was out doing what he was customarily doing. He would go out and pray early in the morning. And so his hunger drives him to this tree. Now, some of you, as he's driven to this tree, it says, this is in verse 13, And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves. For it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, May no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples heard it. So Jesus comes and he curses. You say, well, is this really a curse? Look at verse 21. And Peter remembered and said to him, Rabbi, look, the tree that you cursed has withered. Jesus killed the tree. And I know you're thinking right now, man, Jesus, some of the ladies in the room, Jesus is just like my husband. He's really grouchy when he's hungry. You know what I'm saying? Like you kind of, like I can relate to that. My husband wanted to kill the lady in drive-thru the other day because the order to, you know what I'm saying? Like, ah, this isn't grumpy Jesus that's mad at the tree because it didn't have food on it for him. In fact, this is the only negative miracle in the Gospels. This isn't Jesus sort of just using his power willy-nilly, his divine power, just because he's angry because he's grumpy. We know what it's like to be hungry, but the great thing about Jesus is, is he didn't allow his physical appetites to control his behavior. That's often where we sin. when we allow our physical appetites to control it. Philippians chapter three, verse 19 says, there are some people whose God is their stomach. If their stomach ain't happy, they ain't happy. Jesus felt hunger, but this wasn't sort of a burst of outrage. I don't know about you guys, but it seems to me like it's not a fair thing at the DMV when you wait in a line a mile long to get a new driver's license, and it's at the end of that mile long line, in the midst of chaos and craziness, that they take your picture that goes on your license for the next 20 years. Does that seem fair to you? I mean, you're not in a good spirit by the time you get up there. You just look grouchy. In fact, I actually heard about a guy who did just that, and then when he saw the picture, he was so disappointed with it, he went back and said, I want to get a new picture. I look so grumpy in this picture. And the lady, the clerk just looked at him and said, hey, listen, when the cop pulls you over, that's exactly what you're going to look like. So it'll be fine. This isn't Jesus sort of being a, you know, finicky, easily angered man. In fact, actually, as you look at this, you have to understand something about fig trees to even understand the passage. You've got to know a little bit of trees and fig trees to get this even at all. And the good news for you guys is, I took horticulture in high school. So I have some great inside information on trees. Actually, I did take it, but it was only because it was an easy A. And I did my English homework every day in the class. So I don't know anything about horticulture. But the good news is, the only thing I really know about figs are fig newtons. I don't know about you guys, that's about my experience with fig trees is newtons. So I don't necessarily fully understand fig trees but you can read experts who do and what they tell us about fig trees is when they have leaves When their leaves come, they get the new leaves, that the fruit has already begun to sort of blossom on the tree as well. So in other words, when a fig tree would have leaves, it would already have some small fruit that was very much edible. We know that this is in the spring. This is April, May, Easter, Passover. It happens then. It's in the spring. The full fruit, the figs wouldn't be on really until June to August time frame. That's when it would be fully ripe. But we do know that they ate these small buds, these little figs, and if you saw the leaves, there should be fruit. But this tree was deceptive, because while it looked like it had fruit from a distance because the leaves were there, when you got up close to it, there was no fruit. And it was just like the nation of Israel. It was deceptive. It resembled even the temple. It appeared fruitful, lots of activity, but it was barren spiritually, the temple was. And so this is a visible parable that Jesus is giving. So you might say, you might say, well, I still feel really bad for this tree. Don't feel bad for this tree. This tree made it in the Bible. How many fig trees make it in the Bible? All the other fig trees are gone. In fact, You know, this passage teaches us not only that Jesus wasn't a grumpy guy, but it also teaches us that, I don't know, some of you are going to really be bothered by this. I'm not particularly bothered by it. But Jesus wasn't a tree hugger. I'm so sorry. For the tree huggers, I love you. I'll hug you as you hug your tree. I'll wrap my arms around you. I'm just not, you know, I'm just not one of those guys. I mean, I care about you. Well, I drive a Prius, so it's not totally like I'm not somewhat of a tree hugger. I get it. Some people have questioned my political allegiances because I drive a Prius, which I never fully understand that, but I just like good gas mileage. But nonetheless, Jesus here isn't primarily concerned about a tree, because to God, people are more important than plants. Do you remember Jonah? Remember Jonah? Remember the story of Jonah? He says, you know, you go warn these people, and then God relents and pulls his anger away and his wrath away. And then remember Jonah's mad because he goes, this is why I didn't want to come in the first place. I knew you were a gracious God and you were going to be nice to these people. And I wanted you to torch them. And then God gives him the little tree, right? The little plant that grows up and the plant withers. And here's the irony of the book of Jonah. The plant withers, but Jonah is undone by the fact that someone took his shade, but it could care less what happened to the thousands of people. The whole point of Jonah, if you were to ask me to boil down a sentence, is people are more important than plants. The point of this is that this tree does an excellent job communicating an important message, and therefore it was used in great ways for God's glory. You don't need to feel bad for the tree. But Jesus does speak to the tree, and Jesus says, you know what? You're never ever going to bear fruit again. The message is really to Israel. The importance here is, notice this, the disciples heard it. What happens to the tree is about to happen to this nation of Israel. because they have rejected their Messiah. It's a visible parable of the event that is about to follow. Look at verses 15 to 18, the cleansing of the temple. And they came to Jerusalem and he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple. And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And so Jesus comes into the temple. Now remember the temple is the very center of all Jewish life. Like, you can even trace the history of Israel by the tabernacle and the temple and what happened there. Right? And so the temple is the center of Jewish life spiritually, politically, historically. And Jesus confronts that very center of Jewish life and combats it. And notice what does he do? He goes into the temple and he drives out those who sold and those who bought. Like, why were they buying and selling in the temple? Here's what they did. The people would bring, at Passover time, their animals that they had raised to offer to God. They would bring those to the Lord. pure animals that they had put a lot of thought into, whatever, and they go to offer to God, and the priest would have to sort of give his stamp of approval, yes, this meets the standard or it doesn't. If it didn't meet the standard and was rejected, they would say, well, we're so sorry, your little lamby isn't gonna do the job, but we have one for sale for you out back. And they would charge him double the price. So they're literally just making money off of the worship of God. And they're doing this, they're perverting the whole system of worship at the expense of innocent people. They're literally fleecing the flock. And then notice it says he overturned the tables of the money changers. In Exodus chapter 30, 11 to 16, it says that you used to have to pay a temple tax. That was something God had prescribed. It's how he paid to keep the temple up. And so the people would come from foreign lands, Jewish people come from foreign lands, and they would go to offer this up. And they'd get there and they'd say, no, that money's corrupted. You have to exchange your money with our money. And what they would do in the exchange is they would make it uneven, unfair. It's kind of what you feel like when you go to airports in foreign countries. They never, listen, you never get a fair exchange in foreign. You always want to exchange your money here before you go there. This is never, it's never going to be fair. And in fact, you buy the money there at a certain rate, and then you sell it back at a much lower rate. That's what they're doing here. But this is happening in God's temple. And then it says, and he went over and he went to the seats of those who sold pigeons. He's flipping over these tables. This is a violent activity. And why are they selling pigeons? Because for the poor, God had made provision that if you couldn't bring an offering of a lamb, you could bring a pigeon, which was cheap. It was, I mean, yeah, we know that. We love pigeons, don't we? I just love them. If you ever want a pigeon to offer to God, come to my house, I'll provide one for you, and you can offer it. But they were inexpensive, but yet they were charging exorbitant fees to buy these pigeons, and they're ripping off the poor now. Verse 17, and he was teaching them and saying to them, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer, here it is, for the nations. Now what's amazing to me, all right, has anybody in here ever lost their cool? Has anybody ever just, were you just, your anger got the best of you and you were out of control? Anybody in here ever lost your cool? Seriously. Okay, so I appreciate some of you just being transparent, honest about that. I raise my hand too, there's times where I've lost my cool, my anger's gotten the best of me, it's not a righteous anger, it's, The rest of you, you struggle with lying, so that's okay too, it's good. We all sin, so some of us anger, some lying, no integrity, deceptive people. We love you as well. We love the anger, we love the lying. I know you're like, no, I mean, I'm not, I wasn't lying. Okay. We love the lazy too. You didn't have enough energy to raise your arm. We love the, we love the, the angry people, the liars and the lazy. We love all of you. Jesus died for you too. So have you ever had this happen though where you totally lose your cool? And then it takes you a while to land the angry plane. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, you don't just go from like, I'm exploding out of the car and coming here. Okay, I'm here today to teach you from Mark chapter 11. You know what I mean? It's like, no, it takes you a while to come down from that. The adrenaline, the anger, the you're fired up. This is, I'm only speaking out to the, to the angry people. So, so you know, like I've, I've been there. Like, how do you, how do I preach now? Have you guys ever gotten in a fight on the way to church before in your family? I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hands, but I mean, listen, when I grew up, my family, we only lived a quarter of a mile to the church, and we still at times accomplished a fight. You ever say like, how did that happen? I can tell you as your pastor, I have not in 16 years, the joy of being your pastor, I've never once gotten in a fight with my family on the way to church. And that's because I haven't ridden with them to church in 16 years. It's just not safe. How do you get a peer pre, right? Plus, they're never awake by the time I leave for church, so that's okay too. So here's my point. How does Jesus flip over tables? It says he also wouldn't allow people to pass through. Verse 16, he wouldn't let anyone carry anything through the temple. Listen, what they were doing was they were taking a shortcut. Those who were in the business were taking shortcuts through the temple. Now, how could Jesus go from flipping over all these tables? And by the way, this was a huge area. This is in the court of the Gentiles that this is happening and the court of the Gentiles was an area that was the size of 35 football fields It would fit hundreds of thousands of people. There's people everywhere and Jesus single-handedly flipping over tables He's he's angry He's he's in fact stopping merchants from passing through. I don't know if he's popping their tires. What's he doing? You know what I'm saying? Like what in the world? This is a huge scene And by the way, you might say, this just doesn't seem like the Jesus who said of himself, I'm humble among you and gentle. Was this okay? It was okay, because there's a thing called righteous indignation. In fact, in John 2, when Jesus cleared out the temple, his disciples were watching, going, you know, it does say in Psalm 69 9, zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults that fall upon you fall upon me. Jesus is so zealous for the worship of his Father that he has righteous indignation. But you still might ask the question, okay, fine, his anger was okay, then how does he go from that to teaching? How do you just go, oh, okay, turn your Bibles to Mark chapter 11. How do you do that? Pastor Pat, this morning as we were praying together, made an excellent observation that I thought was helpful. And he said the way that he could do that is that his anger was totally righteous. And ours just about never is totally righteous. See, a lot of the recovery time it takes from your anger involves the sin that is committed while we're angry. And so the guilt and the shame and the recovery that has to happen, the confession before the Lord, none of that had to happen with Jesus. Jesus was totally in the right, he's acting in faith, he's acting righteously. And so he just comes into that place, he flips over the tables, and then he finds it necessary to explain it, and in fact, to justify his behavior based on scripture. Wouldn't that be interesting every time we got angry if we went back and like, okay, let me explain to you why I did what I just did and why I lost my cool biblically. That would be a good test. What does he do? Look at verse 17. says this and he was teaching them and saying to them is it not written my house shall be called a house of prayer for the nations that's Isaiah 56 7 but you have made it a den of robbers Jeremiah chapter 7 verse 11 I want you to notice in particular the word their nations a house of prayer for the nations you see see the amazing thing is is Jesus comes and he doesn't do what the Jewish people probably thought he would do and clear the temple of the Gentiles. He actually clears the temple for the Gentiles. Turn to your Bibles to 1 Kings 8. Remember I told you that the temple was such a big part of Jewish life? 1 Kings 8. In 1 Kings 8, you see the dedication of the temple from Solomon. Remember Solomon built the first temple, they had the tabernacle. David wanted to build the temple. By the way, where does David build the temple? Where does Solomon build the temple? On the land that David had purchased, right? Which is Mount Moriah. Where 1,000 years earlier did Abraham offer Isaac on the altar? mount moriah where will jesus christ be crucified same mount the temples on that place you can see why this is such an important place to the nation of israel and in first kings chapter 8 verse 41 in the fifth petition Solomon says this, and it relates to how foreigners would be treated in the temple. Notice this. Likewise, when a foreigner who is not of your people, Israel, comes from a far country for your name's sake, and so he's praying now for Gentiles. Verse 42. For they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand and of your outstretched arm when he comes and prays toward this house. Talking to Gentiles, verse 43. Here in heaven, dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you as do your people Israel and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name it is true that the temple's primary purpose was worship But it's also true that a secondary and vital important part of this temple was a testimony to the nations. That the nations would come into this temple and just go, yes, this is the God of the universe who dwells here. Look at his people. Look at how godly they are. Look at their faith in him. You might say, well, where's the temple today? Where are people to go to see the greatness of God played out in the lives of people? The temple today, is the heart of the believer. You are God's temple. In fact, not only individually are we God's temple, but collectively we are God's temple. So we have to ask ourselves the question, what testimony are we having to the world around us? This temple was never meant to be exclusively for the Jewish nation. It was also supposed to be a place for the world to come and be one to the God of the universe. And so Jesus comes in great zeal in his anger. He did not sin as it says in Ephesians chapter four, verse 26, because ultimately what's at stake is the witness and testimony of the world about this great and awesome God of Israel. And so Jesus comes clearing out that temple. This was to be a temple for the nations and they've perverted it. Verse 18, back in Mark chapter 11. Verse 18 of Mark chapter 11, this prompts something, this prompts something, there's no turning back now, look at verse 18, and the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him for they feared him because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. One commentator said this, the clearing of the temple more than any other act Jesus ever committed precipitates the death of Jesus. This clearing of the temple means Jesus is going to die. And he knew it. They were angry. They were looking for a time to secretly kill him because they feared the crowd. You say, why did, if he was out in the temple, why didn't they just arrest him there? Because they feared the people. And so what they wanted to do, and what they did, is they wanted to approach Jesus in a place where it was secret at night, and that's where they paid Judas to say, hey, where is he going at night? Tell us his location. And so that they could go find him and arrest him and kill him. And so they were cowards. They were only interested in preserving their own kingdom. They were not interested in the King of Kings. And verse 19, And when the evening came, they went out of the city. And so I just want to close today with two thoughts, and then we're going to sing. Two closing thoughts that I hope will be an encouragement and also maybe be convicting. Number one, I want you to see in our passage today, at this Christmas season, the humanity of Jesus Christ. You say, well, what's the big significance of that? We know he was human, but he was God, so that's the, no, his deity and his humanity, are critical, all in one person. It's called the hypostatic union, the joining together of the deity and humanity of Christ into one person. Jesus became a man. He was God. He took on flesh. We know that and understand that, so what's the significance of that? There's so much to that, but one thing I want to point out to you is it makes him a perfect high priest. Turn to Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15. Hebrews chapter 4, turn your Bibles there, it's a great passage, you're going to want to see it. Hebrews 4, we'll start with verse 14. It says this, since then we have a great high priest who passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. Verse 15, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. In other words, Jesus had similar, even the same experiences that we have had. So he can relate to our humanity. I think oftentimes we think, yeah, I want to be like Christ, but after all, he was God. That kind of thinking wouldn't be biblical. That would be saying that it was easier for him. The reality of it is, is he was God, but he was fully, man, we saw in our past today, he got hungry. Some of you right now are praying, Lord, I'm glad you can sympathize with my hunger because I'm hungry and this guy won't stop talking. And then just pray, Lord, move him on. I don't know that he's sympathetic with you in that moment, but nonetheless, he knew what it was to be hungry. The only difference was, Jesus didn't let his hunger control him. He didn't let it make him... be out of sorts, and be demanding. In fact, in John chapter four, there's this really interesting passage. Remember right after Jesus meets with the woman at the well, his disciples knew it had been a long day of ministry, the crowds are coming to him, and then it says they're trying to sneak him food, which is thoughtful of them, right? I mean, he's like, we gotta feed the master, we gotta feed him. So they're trying to get him food, and Jesus goes, oh, I've already eaten. And they go, he's already eaten? Did you guys see him eat? I didn't see him eat. Who snuck him the Snickers bar? You know, to whatever. And he goes, no, no, no, you don't understand. My food is to do the will of Him who sent me. And notice for Jesus, it's like, man, that food is good, but the food that comes from being faithful and serving the Father is better. This morning, Pastor Felipe shared this verse with us, and I thought I would share it with you. It's Job 23, 12. It says this, I have treasured the words of His mouth more than the portion of my food. In other words, God's word, I think of Jeremiah 15 where he says, your words came to me and I ate them for they were my heart's delight. What satisfies me, right, is the word of God, obedience to his will, that's what Jesus says satisfies him. And so he knows what it is, he sympathizes, he's had similar experience. Here's one of the tricks that the devil will play on a lot of people, he'll make you feel like you're all alone, that you're going through an experience that nobody else in human history has ever gone through. And so you feel isolated, and you feel overwhelmed by that. Can I just tell you something? You will never go through anything that nobody else has ever gone through, because Jesus went through it all. But isn't it true that when somebody's been through something specifically that you've been through, it makes them a better sort of counselor and sympathizer? Don't you think, I mean, listen, maybe you've gone through some hard things, maybe there's some things that you go through, and people say, has anybody ever said to you the wrong thing at the wrong time? Right, you're just like, that wasn't incredibly helpful. I had somebody last week come up to me and they said, I think it was at church, I can't remember who it is and I apologize for that, but they were telling me a story of just, they had gone through miscarriages. Many of you know my wife and I, that's something that she suffered through and we did together years ago, three miscarriages. The disappointment that comes, some of you know. And they were just saying how oftentimes people would say the wrong things. And that was our experience too, especially to my wife, just saying the wrong things, but they had never been through it before. So it's kind of like, oh, they mean, you just have to give them the benefit of the doubt. You can't just become angry at everybody. Although a couple of times I felt like flipping over someone's table for things they'd say. And this person said to me, yeah, somebody one time said to me, because they had a miscarriage in the summer, well, at least it won't be as hot for you this summer. Ah, that's not helpful. We've all done that, right? I mean, all of us had times where something's coming out of our mouth and we just want to get it. Like you, you hear it coming. You just want to grab it and take it back. You know, you're like, no, you know what? You've all done that before. I've done that. But the funny thing is it doesn't come back, does it? Can't get it back. But, but those people who have been through it before just seem to know better what to say, right? Maybe that's good for us to remember that if we haven't been through something, we should be a little more careful with our words when we're trying to consult somebody. Here's what the Bible's saying. Jesus, in every way that you're tempted, experiencing in your life, he can sympathize with you, he's your great high priest, because he's been through it. There's no temptation that isn't common to man that Jesus didn't say no to. And so he can sympathize. Now listen to the rest of this. With our weakness, he was hungry too. But one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Jesus lived in sinless perfection. Therefore he is the appropriate lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world He was impeccable and remember that sin is not an essential element of humanity It doesn't the reason that's point because Adam and Eve Were human before they sinned So Jesus was fully human, and yet he never sinned, and he was tempted everywhere he went. And I know right now you're thinking, yeah, but he doesn't know the temptation I go through. No, actually, we don't know the temptation he went through. You say, well, why is that? Because we have all caved in to sinful lusts and desires, haven't we? All of us have, right? We know what that's like. We know what it's like to give in. But when you give in in that moment, isn't there a bit of relief that comes? I mean, you feel guilty, you feel shame, you wanna confess to the Lord, but you're not necessarily tempted to sin in that area right away again. You're like, okay, the temptation was satisfied, at least for a time, because it never permanently satisfies, right? Let's use this in a dietary example. Let's say somebody here is on a diet, which you've got to seriously question your wisdom to go on a diet this month. But nonetheless, let's say you go on a diet, and you decide you're not going to have any sweets. You made this commitment, but there was still a full container of Rite Aid thrifty mint and chip ice cream in your freezer, which is the best food in the history of the world. I mean, that's what's going to be for dessert at the marriage supper of the lamb. Thrifty mint and chip ice cream. I love that stuff. I brought some home last night after church. I think it made me think of it, this sermon. And I was like, oh, I'm going to go. OK, so let's say you're on a diet, and you're feeling tempted. So you go over there, and you go, what could it hurt if I just pop off the lid and smell it? You know what I mean? You just smell it. You can't gain weight from that. Put it back on. You're like, OK, I smelled it. I feel good. What would be the big deal? I mean, what's really, what's the calorie count if I have a plastic spoonful of it? You know what I'm saying? And so you go over with your plastic spoon and you take one little bit and you're like, what's a second? And then pretty soon there's like a heaping scoop on the, you know what I mean? Next thing you know, you're walking, watching a Hallmark Christmas movie with the whole container on your lap and you're just eating the thing. You know what I'm saying? You're probably not, after eating the whole entire container of ice cream, a half an hour later, going to go back to Rite Aid and get another container. Because at that moment, you're like, I've had all the mint and chip ice cream. I can handle. Jesus never gave in to the temptation, not even once. Never. So he resisted more completely than any of us have ever resisted temptation. He knows it better than any of us know it, how to say no to sin. Look at verse 16. He's going to help us in our weakness because he knows what it was like to be weak and yet to never sin. The second thing that I want to conclude with today is a warning. First is to draw attention to the humanity of Christ and what that means in our lives, the incarnation. Secondly, a warning concerning hypocrisy, especially at Christmastime. Here's what I mean by that. And here's a connection I would draw. Okay, so in our passage today, we saw that Jesus goes to the temple. The temple was like a fig tree that didn't have any real fruit on it. From a distance, it looked like it was a lot of religious activity going on, but when you got close to it, there was no substance, there was no fruit on that tree. And even though there's not a direct parallel, because even as we come and celebrate the birth of Jesus, it's not commanded in scripture, there's not a place in scripture that says, you shall celebrate Christmas on December 25th. but it is a religious holiday that we've identified. Yeah, we're gonna celebrate the birth of Christ. We're doing that through music, poinsettias, everything, right? Presents. Could it be that if Jesus were to approach, I'm gonna call it our Christmas tree, our Christmas fig tree. I'm not trying to pick on your Christmas tree. I guess we have some in here, so whatever. What would he really find? Is there substance there or is it just a bunch of activity? Hang on a second. What ruined the worship at the temple? Hang with me now for a second. It was the commercialization of worship. Do you not see that we could have a danger also as we come to worship Jesus, the incarnate one? that it could be so commercialized that it would lose all of its substance that, now hang with me, that our Christmas could be like a fig tree with no fruit. This isn't about telling you how to celebrate Christmas or if you should have Santa or a tree or this or lights or whatever. I mean, after all, I'm the guy that a couple years ago wanted to spoil my family so I bought all new Christmas lights. I didn't know. I mean, I'm just a faithful Dodger fan. I got all blue lights. The whole house, blue lights out front. I had no idea that's what Jewish people do to celebrate Hanukkah. I don't care about your lights. I don't care about your tree. I don't care what you give to each other. That's not what I'm saying. Because after all, what you could do is say, we're not gonna have a tree anymore, we're not gonna do gifts anymore, and you can become self-righteous, and that wouldn't be about Jesus either. That's not the point. Don't leave here thinking that. The point is, are you really worshiping Jesus this Christmas? As we have the, I was gonna say the band, it's the orchestra, and the handbells, and the choir, as we do all of this stuff, is this really, honestly, these people, when you're sitting here playing and tonight, are you really worshiping Jesus? Turn to Revelation chapter three. If you're not convicted enough yet, some of you are looking at me like, okay, whatever, fine, I'm pulling out the club now. Here it is, we're going to Revelation. Revelation chapter three, you might say, well, does Jesus actually, he visited the temple, does he visit the church? He does. He's here, and he evaluates it. And what did he say to the church at Sardis? Now we know, now this was the church at Sardis. There were seven churches, and I think they're representative of the church. And here's a warning against being spurious or phony or hypocrites, having leaves but no fruit. Revelation 3.1, and to the angel at the church at Sardis write, the words of him who has the seven spirits and the seven stars. That's Jesus. If you want to study the book of Revelation more fully, we might just do that next summer, but you'll understand that that is clearly Jesus that's speaking here. And he says this, I know your works. Here it is. You have the reputation of being alive. Could I say it this way? You have leaves on the tree, but you are dead. But there is no fruit. As soon as you draw closer, it's just a big deception. And so if we're the temple of the Holy Spirit individually, collectively, if we're the ones that are to be the testimony of God's goodness to this world around us, what will the world find? What does Jesus find? I want to just close with his words. In Mark chapter 11, actually the words of Mark describing the tree, It says, as Jesus approached the tree, it says, he found nothing but leaves. What will he find in our lives in this church? Not only this Christmas time, but all the time. Let me pray. Father, thank you for your word. And I just pray that through your spirit's work in our lives, there would be fruit, fruit of the spirit. I pray that we would be authentic worshipers, that it wouldn't be all about outward activity. I pray that you would help us to evaluate our lives, to see if there's fruit there, or if there's not, to come to a place of repentance. Ultimately, Lord, we want to be worshipers this Christmas. We want to do everything we can to exalt the name of Jesus, who is the God-man who humbled himself, came to this earth, became obedient to death, even death on a cross. So we exalt him today in Jesus' name. Amen.