Well, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, at this time we'll have the reading of God's word and I'll ask you to remain standing. It's a little bit of a passage here, but we'll be reading from Mark chapter 11, verses 11 through 24. So hear now the word of God. And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when he had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, he went to see if perhaps he would find something on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. In response, Jesus said to it, let no one eat fruit from you ever again. And his disciples heard it. So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And he would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. Then he taught, saying to them, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of thieves. And the scribes and the chief priests heard it, and they sought how they might destroy him. For they feared him, because all the people were astonished at his teaching. When evening had come, he went out of the city. Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed has withered away. So Jesus answered and said to them, have faith in God, for assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore, I say to you, whatsoever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them. Congregation, this is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let us pray. Our gracious heavenly Father, as we come here today, we do in fact come into the very temple of the living God. In fact, your word even tells us that we are living stones who are built into that holy temple so that we might form a habitation of God through the Holy Spirit. And so as we come here today, we recognize that this passage speaks to us in a very practical way. As Jesus enters the temple and he sees all of the things that are going on, he gives a prophetic and messianic evaluation. So Lord, as we come here to worship, lifting up our hands, lifting up our voices, praising you, getting down on our knees, confessing our sins, oh, Father, we pray that our worship would be done in sincerity and in truth. Lord, search our hearts. Show us if there be any evil way in us. Guard us against the sin of hypocrisy. and help us to learn to strive for greater holiness and truth as a result of hearing your word today. Father, we love you and we thank you, and we ask you this in Jesus' name, amen. Congregation, you may be seated. As I've said so many times before, all you have to do is listen to that first opening pastoral prayer and you'll get a good idea of what the sermon is going to be about. Because I'm praying that the lesson of this message will be applied by the Holy Spirit and also be applied by God's people in their lives. As we get started today, I want to say something just at the outset. We need to do some apologetic work. I won't take long on this section, but it's very important as we get started that we address some apologetic concerns. Jesus in this passage does something very unique. It's very puzzling, and it has caused a number of questions and concerns from those who are professing Christians in the church. What does he do? Jesus curses a fig tree for not producing figs, even though Mark explicitly tells us that figs were at this time out of season. Now, figs were out of season. The fig tree was not supposed to produce fruit in this season, and yet when Jesus sees that the fig tree is not producing its fruit, he returns and answers that situation with a curse. So people are sensitive about this particular event. They're puzzled, they're confused, and some people are just, to be honest, quite outraged at the fact that Jesus would do something of this nature. And there's all kinds of different responses to what Jesus does here. I just want to list off a few and show you that this is a real concern. And I want to speak to it briefly before we get into the actual interpretation of the passage. Those who identify themselves more on the environmentalist side of things, they come to a passage like this, they read it, and what they do is they personalize the tree. They act as if a tree is equal to a human person. One commentator refers to Jesus's actions as a gross injustice on a tree which was guilty of no wrong and had but performed its natural function. Now other commentators in a different category like to put Jesus himself on the hot seat. One man said that this story is a tale of miraculous power wasted in the service of ill temper. Without question, congregation, these reactions are coming from a place of compromise. They come from a place of total unbelief. The people who make these kinds of comments do not believe in the truth of God's Word because they say that this story is nothing but a tale. You just heard it. These people have no reverence for our Lord Jesus Christ because they're accusing Him of getting caught up in a moment of unjustified anger. Ill-tempered, they call it. Jesus should have known that figs were not in season, and yet he lashes out at the tree for not doing what it was never supposed to do in the first place. So we know just at the outset that this is a puzzling passage, but it does not allow us to veer off the path of a sound Christian and biblical worldview about the Lord Jesus Christ. Whoever's saying things like this, well, they're operating according to a completely different worldview. People who come to the Bible like this need to learn how to think like a Christian. And as Christians, one thing we don't do is exalt the creature or any part of the creation over and above the creator himself. This is key, and we have to remember this. Jesus is the one who made all trees, plants and shrubs. Jesus is the one who made all things. And if he wants to use this tree as an object lesson for his disciples, then he can do just that. This is the sovereign Lord. And we have to make sure that we come to the text of God's word with a reverence for Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you what, when you do that, it really liberates you. It puts your worldview to the side and it allows you to enter into the worldview that we find in the Bible. And when you open your mind and you open your heart and you come to the Lord with sincerity and humility, well, guess what? The meaning of the word of God unfolds. It opens up to you. And now you can begin to see what's really going on in this puzzling event. So let me begin today then by moving on to what the real interpretation of this passage should be. It's not that Jesus lost his temper. It's not that he was so hungry and disappointed that there were no figs, that he somehow did something wrong. That's not it. A very basic interpretation, and the right one, is that this fig tree is simply an object lesson for the disciples. It's a prophetic picture that Jesus is giving them so that they can see the significance of what he's getting ready to do when he enters into the temple. Now let me break that down for you. I'm gonna break it down just to show you that this is the right interpretation and then we'll move to some application for ourselves. Well, first of all, you need to know that the heart of this passage is not about the fig tree at all. The heart of this passage is about the religious and the political hypocrisy of apostate Israel. The way you can see that is by noticing, first and foremost, the structure of the story. Do you know that when you read the Bible, you have to pay attention to the structure, the literary structure of the text? The writers are under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and even the structure of the passage itself is often telling us something about what we're supposed to learn. Now the way you can see the structure here, notice that Mark is using a certain structure that we can call the sandwich technique. Everyone knows what a sandwich is? Yeah, a sandwich is basically two slices of bread and then you put something in the middle and you close it up and you take a bite. It's a sandwich, right? So, in the same way, Mark is sandwiching the story of the cleansing of the temple right here in the middle, but on the outside of that story, on both sides, you have the surrounding story of the fig tree. Okay, and I wanna show you that, and it's a lot better if you have the Bible open and you're able to walk through this passage with me so I can show you the exact verses. You need to see it with your eyes. So if your eyes are on your page, we're in Mark chapter 11, I want you to look at how the structure is. First of all, in verses 12 through 14, you see Mark introduces this puzzling story of the fig tree. That's verses 12 through 14. But then in verses 15 through 19, he puts the story of the cleansing of the temple. And then in verses 20 and 21, he returns to the story of the fig tree. So by structuring the passage like this, Mark wants us to see that the fig tree is an object lesson that Jesus is giving to the disciples so they can understand the significance of what's going on in the temple. Now, something else that you might want to consider is that Jesus in this passage is acting in his prophetic office. Now, we all know that Jesus is prophet, priest, and king. Is that true? All right, just checking. Jesus is prophet, priest, and king. But in this passage, he's acting in his prophetic office, also his priestly, but right here he's being a prophet. Okay? And you can see that because a lot of times in the Old Testament and even in the New Testament, when a prophet came to deliver the message, that he received from God, he would deliver that message in dramatic form. It wouldn't just be words, but there would be a picture, there would be an acted-out parable that would go along with his prophetic message. And that's exactly what Jesus is doing on many different levels in our text. Let me give you some examples for that. I want you to think about this as we go through these examples, and you'll be able to see very clearly what Jesus is doing. Now sometimes when a prophet comes to God's people, he's coming to bring good news. And we find such an example in Jeremiah chapter 28, where the message is about the deliverance of God's people. Right now they're in exile, but Jeremiah's coming together with another prophet, and he's giving the people a promise about their deliverance. And so in Jeremiah 28, verses 10 and 11, here's what the Bible says. Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke off of the prophet Jeremiah's neck and he broke it. So Jeremiah was wearing a yoke on his neck. And that yoke represented the slavery and the exile that the people were living in. But Hananiah came and took it off of Jeremiah's neck, and he broke it into pieces. And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, thus says the Lord, even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way. So you can see how it wasn't just a verbal message, but it came with a prophetic picture. Now sometimes it was good news, but other times it was news that was not so good. Like we find in Acts chapter 21, where the message was about Paul and how he would be persecuted and imprisoned when he went to Jerusalem. So in Acts chapter 21, verses 10 and 11, The Bible says this, and as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And when he had come to us, he took Paul's belt. He bound his own hands and feet. And he said, thus says the Holy Spirit, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. So again, you have a prophetic picture that's sort of paralleling the message that's being declared by the prophet. So when you understand that context, that background, it becomes clear what Jesus is doing in our text. But what he's doing in our text is slightly different. It's not like either one of these two other examples. Instead, what he's doing is the same thing that Isaiah and Ezekiel and Jeremiah did when they came to pronounce judgment. So judgment, not persecution of God's people, not the deliverance of God's people, but on this occasion, Jesus is delivering a message of judgment upon the people of God. In Jeremiah chapter 19, verses one through 15, you have a big passage that sort of shows a parallel here. It's a perfect example, but the passage is long. I'm not gonna read the whole thing. I'll just read the verses that help you see the point. In verses one through three, Jeremiah says, thus says the Lord, go and get a potter's earthen flask. That's a clay pot. and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the potsherd gate and proclaim there the words that I will tell you and say. Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I will bring such a catastrophe on this place that whoever hears of it, his ears will tingle. So here, Jeremiah is supposed to take a clay pot. He's supposed to carry it out to the gates, and he's supposed to proclaim this prophetic judgment against the people. If you skip down to verses 10 and 11, listen to the instructions. The Lord says, then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you and say to them, thus says the Lord of hosts, even so I will break this people and this city as one breaks a potter's vessel, which cannot be made whole again. And they shall bury them in Topheth till there is no place to bury. So you can see here, let me just back up exactly what's going on. And when we come to the pages of God's word, we have to come with a panoramic view. We have to understand all the context of scripture before we pull a passage out of context and place judgment upon a very puzzling activity of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to have reverence for Christ. We need to have reverence for the word of God. We need to patiently study God's word so that we don't commit the errors that these compromising commentators often commit. This passage is a passage that warns us. It's a passage where we see the Lord Jesus Christ as the sovereign Lord, as the great high priest of his people, as the prophet who comes to us from God, goes into the temple, looks around and sees the spiritual condition of his people. And like a prophet, he pronounces the message of judgment that he received from his father. So right here is a perfect place, if I could just fit it in, to stop and to begin to think about how this passage might apply to our lives as well. Because you see, when Jesus shows up at the temple on this day, he's functioning in these two offices that I keep mentioning, but his appearance is for the purpose of examining the people. His appearance is for the purpose of bringing judgment against their sins. That's the reason, in fact, if you noticed, I began our reading today, not with verse 12, like it says in your bulletin, but actually I backed up and I began the reading in verse 11 and not verse 12. Because in verse 11, we're given just a little bit more of the context. It tells us that the day before this event Jesus came into Jerusalem and he took a good look around he walked into Jerusalem and Into the temple and he looked around at all things that were taking place in the temple And the text says it was already late. So he got up he left the temple and he went to Bethany and What is this little glimpse of Jesus coming into the temple and looking around at all the things that are taking place? The day before this event, Jesus already knew what he was going to do. No one else knew. No one else was prepared for what Jesus was going to do. The people were just carrying on business as usual, but Jesus came in among them and he stood there quietly and he looked around at all things. He was conducting a deep and thorough and careful examination of his people. So the question of application I wanna give to you is this. If the Lord Jesus Christ came in here today and you didn't even notice him. Here you are conducting business as usual. I'm up here preaching, you're listening, or maybe you're singing or praying or lifting up your hands. But Jesus comes into this place and he looks around at all things. The question is, what exactly will he see? We need to remember that when Jesus appeared that day, it was a shock to the people of God. When he appeared that next day, when he showed up and did what he did, flipping tables, doing all that, it was a shock to the people. But he already knew because he saw them the day before. But the people didn't expect him to come, and that was part of the surprise. That's the element of surprise. And this is reflected in the prophet Malachi, who gives a prediction of this very thing. In Malachi chapter three, and verses one and two, the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ in his temple is foretold. There the Lord himself is speaking through the prophet Malachi and he says, behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord, but who can endure the day of his coming and who can stand when he appears? Now, let me help you just a little bit here, because I just read Malachi 3. Maybe some of you are going, well, that was Old Testament, and that was fulfilled in the passage we're looking at today. But don't just assume that there's no continuing application for each and every single one of us here. There really is a continuing application of this principle because the fact of the matter is that right now, even now, and especially so, Jesus Christ is still prophet, he is still priest, and he is still king of the church. And in Revelation chapter one, what we find is a glorious picture that is just as intimidating. as anything that we see in our text. In Revelation 1, we see the Lord Jesus as the great high priest of his people. He's decked out like a priest and a king, but he's walking among the seven golden lampstands, the candlesticks. And those seven candlesticks are an emblem, a picture that represents the whole of the Christian church. And so there's something here for us to consider as Jesus examines the people of this congregation. What is it that he sees? Does he see a people who love his word? Does he see a people who are willing and eager to come to worship and offer up praise and thanksgiving from the sincerity of their hearts? Does he see a body of people who love one another and serve one another? And when they look around at the empty pews, they think of their brothers and sisters who are missing and they get on their phone after church, call them up and say, brother, sister, I noticed you weren't in service today. How are you doing? Can I pray for you? You need a meal. Are you down sick? When Jesus looks at this congregation, does he see a body of faithful men, faithful women, faithful children, Or does he see us come in on Sundays, week after week, gather together and put on a show of righteousness? I'm not gonna press you on that, but that's the application. That's how we need to be thinking as we read through God's word. We are to say, Lord, what do you have to say to me? So I won't press you on this, but as you think about these questions, there is something I want you to know and understand about the passage we're looking at, so let's develop this a little bit, because it'll help you with this application that you need to make to your own life. You see, so often when we read this passage, we refer to it as the cleansing of the temple. I mean, I just said it like twice in this message. The cleansing of the temple, however, the main thing that's going on here is not the cleansing of the temple. And let me explain. We often assume that when Jesus comes in, the thing that he sees and does not like is the fact that people are buying and selling and doing commerce in the house of God. That's what we assume is actually going on. But the truth is, that's only a very, very small part of the real problem. This problem is real, Because in one place, Jesus does say, stop making my father's house into a marketplace. That's a real concern. But the problem is much more pervasive than that. The problem was that all the people were going out and living lives that were full of sin and great hypocrisy. That's the real problem. And then what they would do is they would run back to the temple where they thought they could take refuge from the consequences of their sins. The people didn't really want to change their lives. They loved their sins, sins of lying and stealing and killing and engaging in all manner of sexual sins. But you see, the people had everything wrong. They had everything backwards. They saw the temple as a safe hiding place where they could go, they could get washed up, they could get cleaned up, they could be protected from the natural and divine consequences of the sins that they kept on doing in their lives. And maybe congregation, as I'm saying this, you're thinking to yourself, I have never heard that interpretation of this text. You're going way beyond the details of the text. I can assure you, I am not. So maybe you thought that this passage was simply about buying and selling in the temple, that's only part of it, but again, there's a lot more that's going on. Let me show you why I would say such a thing. First of all, let me go with the easy one, then we'll get with something a little deeper. I want you to think about this term den, den, a den of thieves. In verse 17 of our passage, Jesus is talking to the people and he says, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of thieves. Well, I would submit to you that the thieves that Jesus is talking about are not businessmen, but instead they're robbers, they're thieves, they're bandits. Okay? And if you think about it, robbers never do their robbing in their own den. The den here is the place where the robbers run to and retreat. when? After they commit their crimes. So the den is like a hideout. It's a place of security and refuge. It's not the place where the people do their dirtiest work. It's just not. And from this perspective, when Jesus refers to the temple as a den of thieves, he's not complaining about the dishonest business practices that were taking place in the temple. Jesus is condemning the fact that all the people are treating the temple like it's a safe place to come, to be forgiven, have fellowship with God regardless, regardless of how they continue to live their lives on the outside. So the real issue here is about religious hypocrisy that had so pervasively infected the whole nation of Israel, all of God's covenant people, and the fig tree is a perfect picture of that hypocrisy. Why? Because this fig tree was beautiful. This fig tree was full of leaves. It had the appearance of being good and healthy and fruitful and useful to Jesus Christ. But on closer examination, it was proven to be a fruitless tree. It had external beauty, but that beauty was superficial. It was deceptive. On the inside of the tree, underneath all of the leaves, the tree was barren. The tree was sick and not producing any fruit. Now let me dig down a little bit deeper here. I wanna show you this is exactly what's going on. And I also wanna show you that this is exactly what Jesus has in mind when he uses this little phrase, den of thieves. And the reason I say that is that he's taking this phrase directly from Jeremiah. Jesus is actually reenacting the judgment that Jeremiah gave to Israel in his own day. And this phrase, Jesus is taking directly from a prophetic passage of the Old Testament. So we have Jesus, he's acting in his prophetic capacity and he's reenacting Jeremiah's judgment. Look at Jeremiah chapter seven in verses one through 15. And this time, I'm not gonna shorten it up. I'm gonna read the entire 15 verses because I want you guys to really grab a hold of this I think it's very important for us to hear this and to see it with our own eyes, especially as we consider our own ways before the Lord. Jeremiah chapter seven, verses one through 15. the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, stand in the gate of the Lord's house and proclaim this word and say, hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Do not trust in these lying words, saying the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these. For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place or walk after other gods to your own hurt, then I will cause you to dwell in this place and in the land that I gave your fathers to dwell forever and ever. But behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, we are delivered to do all of these abominations? Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I have seen it, says the Lord. But go now to my place, which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. And now, Because you have done all these works, says the Lord. And I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear. And I called you, but you did not answer. Therefore, I will do to this house, which is called by my name, in which you trust, and to this place, which I gave to you and your fathers, just as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of my sight. as I have cast out all your brethren, the whole posterity of Ephraim. I almost feel like I have nothing to say after reading a passage like that. But this passage is a direct parallel to the text that we're looking at. You notice that den of thieves. It's a den of thieves because it became the hideout for all the religious people who were coming into the temple day by day, week by week, year by year, and yet on the outside, they were living in open and unrepentant sin. So when Jesus comes into the temple, he's not just upset simply because there's commerce in the temple. That's part of it, but in fact, if you consider how the commercial system of the temple actually developed, you would know that it was originally born out of a real need for the people who were traveling to the temple from long distances. Instead of bringing their sacrificial animals from afar, it was a lot easier to purchase their sacrificial animals when they got to the temple. And the money changers were there to provide a seemingly justifiable service. They were there so that the purchases could be made in the currency that was accepted by the Jews. And they were coming from all types of different nations. They would come to the temple, they would change their money to the common currency, and then they would purchase their sacrificial animals, and they would offer those animals unto the Lord as an act of worship. So it's not to say that there wasn't some corruption going on. I'm sure there was corruption going on, political corruption, economic corruption, crooked business was taking place. It was questionable the location they decided to do these things on the grounds of God's temple. But this is to say that the specific concern that Jesus is mentioning in this text is about the spiritual condition of the people as a whole. That's what this passage is about. They were living in the world in utter disregard for the word of God. Then they were coming to church like it was no big deal. And because it wasn't just one or two or even 200 or 2,000 people that were living like that, but the whole nation was corrupted, The time had come for the Lord to show up and judge his people. And here, I also want you to get the right picture about the temple cleansing as well. I keep saying the cleansing of the temple, but I'm gonna change that now so you understand what's really going on. So often we refer to this event as Jesus cleansing the temple. as if he simply wants to come in and clean up the grounds, he wants to come in and purify the worship of God's people, but the picture is way more comprehensive. It is way more comprehensive than that. Jesus is giving us a prophetic demonstration that symbolically puts an end to the entire system of the temple ministry. And he does that by focusing on some very foundational aspects of that ministry. And verses 15 and 16, here's what the text says. Then Jesus went into the temple. He began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves, and he would not allow anyone to carry wares, articles, utensils through the temple. So here's how it works. If currency can't be exchanged, then no animals could be purchased. If no animals could be purchased, then no sacrifices could be made. And also no vessels were allowed to be carried through the temple. And that means that all the other ceremonial and ritualistic activities also had to stop. So Jesus did this briefly. He did it just in a slice of time. But the picture then is not one of reform, cleaning things up, fixing things up. The picture here is one of shutting this whole place down. Just absolutely shutting the entire place down in symbolic form. Jesus, you remember, did not go out to that fig tree to fertilize the tree. He didn't prune it, he didn't fertilize it. What did he do? He came and he cursed the tree. And the next day it withered up and it died. And his words to the fig tree had a sense of finality. They had a sense of permanence. When Jesus spoke to the tree, he said, let no one eat fruit from you ever again. So it's not like he's going into the temple just to fix a few things up. You know, put the building under new management. Instead, he shows that the temple would be destroyed the entire temple ministry would be removed, and the whole of the ceremonial law would be abolished. Now, just like in Revelation chapters two and three, when Jesus gives his evaluation of the churches of the New Testament, he warns them that if they do not also repent of the sins that they were living in, it wouldn't matter that they came back to church every week to sing and pray. Jesus said, if they did not repent, he would remove their entire candlestick. That means if things got bad enough in a particular church, Jesus would shut that church down. So now as you think about how you might apply this passage to your life, the answer becomes clear. And no, it's not about how we should think about the nation of Israel even though they're in the news right now. It's not about whether or not the Jewish people still have a place in the eschatological purposes of God. We could talk about all of that theology at a different time. The application here is about how you and I need to make sure that we come to the Lord Jesus Christ with true and sincere hearts. That's the application for us. In this passage, the Lord is calling all of us to be a people who come to him and leave our sins behind. We cannot come to church every week and simply go through the motions. We cannot come and serve the Lord and then go back out and serve all of the idols of our hearts and lives. Jesus died so that we might be saved and cleansed from all our sins that we've committed, but he didn't die so that we can have a perpetual excuse to keep on sinning. When you were baptized into Christ, you were washed and cleansed. That's what the Bible says. And because of that, you cannot return to the mud. You cannot be like that dog who returns to his own vomit. In Romans chapter six, verses one through four, the Bible says, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Here, the Lord who washed you and cleansed you and forgave you is calling you to walk in newness of life. That means that you put away the sins of your past life and you take up the new life that you now have in Christ. And the good news is that Jesus promises to provide you with all of the grace, all of the mercy, all of the strength that you need if you simply go to him. If you need strength, go to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you need grace to endure and resist the temptation of sin, go to the Lord Jesus Christ. Our job is to look to him as the one who gives us and indeed continues to give us everything that we need, but he gives it to us in himself. You know, so often you go to church And the pastor gets up there and he's really excited about the doctrine that's in this text, whether it's justification by faith alone or predestination. But let me just tell you that the job of the minister here is to exalt the person and work of Jesus Christ so that you can see where your hope really lies. This message, if it's not about Christ, is not about anything. Christ must be exalted. and you are to be exhorted week in and week out to look to Jesus Christ so you don't come into this place with a heart that's unrenewed, with a lack of reverence for the Lord, and go through the motions. As we close, I wanna read a passage from 2 Peter 1, verses three through 11. This will summarize the entire exhortation I'm giving you right now. Second Peter chapter one, verses three through 11, this is the whole message. Peter says, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ. as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who has called us by glory and virtue, by which we have been given exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these we might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. but also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are in you and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Let us pray. Our gracious Father, we thank you that sometimes your word is sharp. Sometimes your word is designed to sober us up and cause us to turn, even run from our life of sin, and to lay hold on that eternal life which you have placed in your son, Jesus Christ. Oh Lord, may every one of us here be moved to repent of whatever sins we've committed and to lay hold once again on Jesus Christ and find in him everything that pertains to life and godliness. Father, we love you, we thank you, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.