Mark 11:27-12:12 & 12:35-44
March 12, 2017
preached by Doug Cooper
Download

Time of Reflection Quotations

“The very word authority has within it the word author. An author is someone who creates and possesses a particular work. Insofar as God is the foundation of all authority, He exercises that foundation because He is the author and the owner of His creation. He is the foundation upon which all other authority stands or falls.”

~ R.C. Sproul (1939-present), American theologian, author, and pastor

“When people are right with God, they are apt to be hard on themselves and easy on other people. But when they are not right with God, they are easy on themselves and hard on others.”

~ John Newton (1725-1807), English Anglican clergyman

“Jesus produced mainly three effects: hatred, terror, adoration. There was no trace of people expressing mild approval.”

~ C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), British writer and Christian apologist

“It is better to be the accused than the accuser. So much better! Christ Himself took the place of the accused, that hellish place where fingers are pointed, that heartbreaking place of rejection and exclusion. He went there, and He saved us from there. And now, if He leads us to that same place, we are not alone. He comes to us there, with a deeper purpose of redemption which will, sooner or later, win the day.”

~ Ray Ortlund, contemporary author and pastor of Immanuel Church in Nashville, TN

“As an actor, there’s no autonomy, unless you’re prepared to risk the possibility of starving.”

~ Ben Kingsley (1943-present), English actor

“I am no longer my own, but Yours. Put me to what You will, rank me with whom You will; put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me be employed for You or laid aside for You, exalted for You or brought low for You; let me be full, let me be empty; let me have all things, let me have nothing; I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal.”

~ John Wesley (1703-1791), Anglican cleric and theologian

Sermon Passage

Mark 11:27-12:12 & 12:35-44 (ESV)

²⁷ And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, ²⁸ and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” ²⁹ Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰ Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.” ³¹ And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ³² But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet. ³³ So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Chapter 12

¹ And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. ² When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. ³ And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴ Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵ And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed.⁶ He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸ And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹ What will the owner of the

vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Have you not read this Scripture:

 “‘The stone that the builders rejected

    has become the cornerstone;

¹¹           this was the Lord’s doing,

    and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

¹² And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away…

³⁵ And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? ³⁶ David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord,

   “Sit at my right hand,

   until I put your enemies under your feet.”’

³⁷ David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?” And the great throng heard him gladly.

³⁸ And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces ³⁹ and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, ⁴⁰ who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

⁴¹ And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. ⁴² And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. ⁴³ And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. ⁴⁴ For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”