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And if you would like to, take up a Bible and turn to March chapter 11, and looking at verse 12 to 25.

That's on page 1 0 1 6 in those bibles on the tables. And Jerusalem is going to come and read that for us. The next day, as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry, seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves because it was not the season for fix. Then he said to the tree, may no 1 ever eat fruit from you again? And his disciples heard him say it.

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changes and the benches of those selling doves and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, He said, is it not written? My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of robbers. The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him for they feared him because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city. In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, rabbi, look, the fig tree you cursed has withered. Have faith in god Jesus answered. Truly, I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, go throw yourself into the sea and does not doubt in their heart, but believes that what they say will happen it will be done for them.

Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them so that your father in heaven may forgive you your sins. Yeah. Well, please keep the passage open in front of you, and, let's pray. Heavenly father, we thank you that we can come to your word.

We can read it and that in itself is a great privilege to have the words of the living god in front of us. And so we pray now as we come to this passage, open our eyes to understand it and open our minds, father, that we would really get it and open our hearts to be changed by you. And then through that, change our lives, we pray. It is a great joy to be with you this evening, lovely to be back, and particularly, yeah, having launched Hope Church a few months ago. In the build up to Easter, we are doing a little series at Hopechurch called Easter Riddles.

Which is going through some of the strange things that happened in the build up to Jesus' death and resurrection. Some of the strange things in that last week. So the first 1 in the series was the riddle of the donkey. And Then the second 1, which we did last week, Ashley, was the riddle of the fig tree, and it's that 1 that we're gonna focus on. And with all of these riddles, as we understand them, as we unpack them, what we find is that they take us to the very heart of what Easter is really all about.

So the riddle of the fig tree it is a strange 1, this it's a strange miracle Jesus did it's been said, this is the 1 miracle Jesus did, which is purely destructive and achieves no useful purpose. Jesus we're told is hungry. And he sees a fig tree, and goes to it. But there are no figs on this fig tree, and we're told, that it wasn't the season for figs. Some commentators, think that maybe to to make it sort of seem reasonable that maybe Jesus was going there hoping that there would be the early figs, the the the little figs that that maybe were a particular delicacy at the time.

But that clearly is not Mark's point. Mark just says it wasn't the season for figs. So you wouldn't expect there to be any figs there. And yet, Jesus curses the fig tree. And when they come back to it, it is withered from the roots.

It is dead. Now on the surface, this just looks like Jesus is having a bad debt. He's got out of bed the wrong side. Sees this fig tree. There's no fruit on it, curses it.

I'd stay out of his way that day. But clearly, there's more going on here. We need to unpack this. We need to realize that What's going on here is, Mark is using a particular construction. He uses this elsewhere in his gospel as well.

It's a sandwich construction. You you might have seen it before, if you've read Mark's gospel. But what Mark does is he he he refers to 1 thing then talks about something else, and then comes back to the first thing. It's a sandwich. And the thing in the middle relates to the things on the outside.

So Jesus talks about the fig tree, and then does something else, and then comes back to the fig tree, and the thing in the middle helps you understand the thing on the outside. So what's the thing in the middle? Well, it's that Jesus goes to the temple Now the temple is all about access to god. That's what it's there for. It represents god's presence amongst his people.

And was the means by which god's people could come to him? So what goes on there? Verse 15. Let's see the bit in the middle of the sandwich. First 15.

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changes and the benches of those selling doves. So he goes in there and he drives people out overturns the tables, stops people coming through who've got merchandise. Now as I say, the temple represents god's presence. The temple represents god's presence.

And the old testament law told you that you needed to have in order to have access to god, you needed the sacrificial system. You needed to sacrifice animals to get into god's presence. But if you were traveling to Jerusalem, You might not wanna bring an animal with you. That would be a lot of hassle to bring animals with you all the way, depending on how far you were going. You gotta look after the animal.

You gotta bring it. You gotta take it there. You know, you do much better actually just buying it in Jerusalem when you when you arrive. Bit like if you go on holiday, you you know, you order the Tesco shop or whatever it is to arrive there when you arrive. This is much easier than taking it with you.

So for them, they would go and buy the animal in Jerusalem. There was quite a trade in Jerusalem of people going and buying, selling animals. And the money changes that it talks about were there, so that if you had other currency, you could take it and you could change it so that you could then pay the temple tax in a currency that they would accept. So you had all this going on. And in the past, this trade happened outside the temple, but in recent years, just before this, the high priest had said actually it could happen in the temple.

So in the courtyards of the temple, you had all this trade going on. And at this time of year, it would have been really busy. It would have been like, you know, Kingston market, but but busier. You know, and the guy there shouting about, you know, his fruit and veg and all that kind of thing. You'd have had all that kind of noise, but even more so because you had loads of people in Jerusalem at this time.

All them coming into the temple needing to buy animals and change their money, and Jesus turns up. And he's deeply moved by it. He sees what's going on, and he starts driving people out, turning over tables. Those who picture Jesus as mild mannered and someone who never gets passionate or never confronts anyone needs to see this. Jesus is in full rampage mode.

Why? Verse 17. As he taught them, he said, is it not written? My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you've made it a den of robbers. Now Jesus is quoting from 2 Old Testament passages, 1 in Isaiah and 1 in Jeremiah.

The Isaiah passage, which describes the temple as a place of prayer for all nations. That's what it was to be there for. A place where people could come, not just people from Israel, but people from all nations could come from anywhere and everywhere could come and pray to the lord, seeking god. Which probably indicates the the courtyard that Jesus was in, that it would have been the courtyard of the gentiles, because that was the only bit that the gentiles could come into, that people from other nations could come into. That would have been the bit that he was in.

But how could they possibly pray to the lord in that courtyard with all this business going on, with all this buying and selling going on? How could they seek the lord? And the Jeremiah passage helps us too because in that passage, the people of Israel were doing all the temple activities, but they were also going off and worshiping false gods. And were being immoral, stealing, committing adultery, murdering, but they assumed they'd be alright because they had the temple, and were doing the temple activities. They'd be okay with god because of the temple.

Where Jesus is saying that the people of the temple in his day are no better. Doing the activity of the temple Doing lots of religious activity, but fundamentally failing in the very thing the temple was there for. So people could come, and pray to the lord. This was god's means. The temple was god's means for people to come to him and their trading was stopping people.

Now do you see how that relates to the fig tree? The fig tree is a picture of the temple. Lots of leaves, but no fruit. The temple was fruitless, fruitless religion. Well, I'm way behind on this.

There you go. Fruitless religion hinders access to god. They're doing lots of religious activity, and they'd have said they were doing it for the lord. But actually preventing people from coming to the lord. Now we need to apply this to ourselves.

Think about this for yourself. Is it possible that for you religious activity could be a substitute for actually coming humbly to the lord. We busy ourselves. In this life, don't we? When you go and talk to someone, you normally say, you know, how you're doing it?

It doesn't seem right to say, yeah, life's easy. Everything's good. You've gotta say, I'm busy. And generally, we are. We're very busy.

Busy with work, busy with family, and we can busy ourselves with Christianity as well. We can be very busy. We come to church, serve on the rotors, and we can think, well, I'm doing lots of things for the lord, isn't that enough. But the very thing at the heart of Christianity, knowing god gets pushed to the periphery and pretty much gets lost. I wonder if you've ever been around to someone's house when, for a meal, and, they very kindly put lots of preparation in, but you don't see them really during the meal.

They're just in the kitchen the whole time. And at the end of the evening, you've had a lovely meal, but you're not actually spent time with them. Could religious activity sometimes be a substitute for you spending time with the lord god. And we need to apply this to church life as well. You may be able to think of churches which have clearly gone wrong on this.

Churches that are supposed to proclaim that through Jesus we can come to God, we'll think about that more in a minute. But churches can fail to do this by not proclaiming the gospel. They may have lots of great activities going on, but not have the priority of calling people into relationship with god. Maybe you know of churches like that. Lots of ritual, maybe, lots of activity, lots of social activity, so the social action, maybe, but calling people to repent and come to god through Jesus is just missing.

But that's too easy on applications, isn't it? Because that's them out there. What about us? We need to apply this to our own church life as well. Because we can, and we were thinking about this for hope, Jesse.

We can have so much activity going on that we actually lose sight of god. Because there's so much to do, isn't there? There's so much to get done. On a Sunday, your services, there's just so much to do. If you're on a road at this, you know, you gotta get there early, you've gotta do this and the other.

If you're there in the morning, you've gotta get there so early to get set up. It's 1 of the things we've had to get used to is that you've gotta get up early and you've gotta get there, actually others do the getting ready early, but, I'm not preparing the sermon, but others get on-site early to get set up. There's just so much to do. You've gotta get there early. You've got brand.

I've gotta practice. And then gotta think about the services so much that you put into a service. You go from this to that to the other. And if you're involved in that, you're generally thinking about what's next? What's my next thing that I've gotta do?

That's the thing I'm net I'm I'm worried about. And then at the end of the service, you gotta pack away. So you've gotta you've just gotta get it all done, and you gotta get it done by a certain time. So we better get on with it. And the 1 person that maybe you can forget all about is the lord god.

That maybe he's got something to say to you and to do in your heart. Religious activity can get in the way of the very thing that we're supposed to be about. Somebody challenged me on this or challenged us on this, for for Hope Church. When they said, you know, at the end of the service, do we have to pack away immediately that we finish? Does it have to be the moment we finish?

And that was a really good challenge, actually, because and there are various reasons why it was good, but but but they said, can't we just pause for 10 minutes, 15 minutes just to have a have a little bit of time? And I thought, actually, because then we came to this passage, and I thought, actually, no, that's really important. That we're not just so into the business of of right. Let's get packed away, that we're ignoring the fact that maybe actually the lord is answering our prayers and is doing something in the hearts of those who are gathered and they need a bit of time to think about it and apply what they've heard to their hearts. So the first point, fruitless religion hinders access to god But there's more going on here than that.

Isn't it interesting that Jesus, the way that he deals with the fig tree, that he curses the fig tree. You see, he could have said May everyone have lots of fruit from you from now on? And when they came back to it, it was abundant with with loads of fruit, but it wasn't. He cursed it and it died. Why?

Second point, the cursed fig tree. What does it mean? Well, when Peter sees the fig tree withered, verse 21, Peter remembered and said to Jesus, rabbi look The fig tree you cursed has withered. Have faith in god Jesus answered. Truly, I tell you.

If anyone says to this mountain, go throw yourself into the heart of the sea and does not doubt in their heart, but believes what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Now, some have taken it that Jesus here is going off on a tangent, that he's talking about something different, that he's just now talking about the power of prayer. And that may be a point that that Jesus is making. But I go with those who say that Jesus is still staying on topic here. I don't think Jesus is talking about any mountain here.

Because it does say if anyone says to this mountain. Now what's this mountain? I think it's the mountain right in front of him. The mountain that is Jerusalem, and particularly with the temple on top of it. I think he's looking across the valley and he's seeing that that mountain he's saying, if anyone says, may this mountain be thrown into the heart of the sea and believes and doesn't doubt it will be done for them.

In other words, Jesus is saying, if you believe that you don't need the temple anymore to have access to god, then that will be done for you. And that is a staggering claim. Because the temple wasn't just a convenient place to meet with god. It made access to god possible. Many may assume if there is a god.

Of course, I can have access to him. Of course, I can come into god's presence. I I could come in, but Can you really? Why would we assume that we can just stroll into the presence of the god of the universe who created all things? Why would we assume we can just stroll into his presence?

And a major thread running through the Bible is the question of how can we possibly come into the presence of god? And as you go through the old testament, to summarize it far too succinctly, at 1 point, god says, we set up the temple. And you've gotta make it exactly the way god says you, you've gotta make it. Because the problem with us coming into the presence of god is our sin, our wrongdoing, and thinking, and speaking, means we can't get in, so the temple was there to provide a way. And the careful instructions showed you how you could have access to god.

Because as you went to the temple, fewer and fewer people could get to the middle of it. And outside the main temple building, you had the courtyards, and then the building. And outside the main building, you had that altar. On which the animals were sacrificed, to take your sin and die in your place. And the only place you could do this was Jerusalem at the temple They couldn't do it anywhere else, just the temple.

And therefore, the temple was everything to the people. You needed the temple for access to god's Even when they were in exile, the Jews prayed towards Jerusalem. You see this in the book of Daniel, that he prayed with windows open towards Jerusalem because that's where the temple was. And so verse 23, do you see, is utterly shocking? Truly, I tell you if anyone says to this mountain, go throw yourself into the heart of the sea.

And does not doubt in their heart, but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Utterly shocking. And he consistently teaches over the coming days before his crucifixion, that the temple will become redundant, will be destroyed. And you can imagine how that would have felt to the disciples. I think that's why Jesus says, in verse 22, have faith in God.

It's like you say, it's gonna be alright, but you're not gonna need that temple anymore. And because they won't need the temple, that means they can through Jesus have direct access to god unhindered access to god. Because Jesus is saying that fruitless victory of the temple is not gonna be reformed, but removed. It's gonna be done away with. Now, Jesus isn't saying The temple was never needed, but rather he's saying, from now on, it isn't needed.

Why not? Because everything that the temple was about was fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus himself is the fulfillment of the temple. He is the place to meet god. He is the fulfillment of the priesthood standing between us and god and the fulfillment of the sacrifice.

The temple said you can only have access to god if sacrifice is made, but Jesus himself is the perfect sacrifice. When he died on the cross, He bore our wrongdoing and died in our place, and therefore no further sacrifices needed because the sacrifice was made. And so any who come through him can have unhindered access to god without the need of the temple. And so it is no small thing. For us to be able to say today, come before god through Jesus.

It must be through Jesus and faith in him. We can't just come into god's presence on our own merit, but through Jesus, we can come. If you've ever been to Jerusalem, I went quite a few years ago. You'll have seen that the temple isn't there. It was destroyed, in AD 70.

The la it was destroyed as Jesus prophesied it would be. But there is 1 wall left of that original temple. And, certainly, when I went, I presume you can still go up to it, but you you could go right up to it. And, in the wall, in between the stones, there are thousands and thousands of little bits of paper that have been crammed in with prayers on them because the people writing those prayers are hoping that their prayers will be heard because that wall maybe, still, is in connection with god's presence. And the great news is, for us, we don't need that wall.

We don't need the temple. Because through Jesus, we have unhindered access to God. We can enter his presence as, was read earlier That passage in Hebrews. Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way open for us through the curtain. That is his body.

And since we have a great priest, Over the house of god, let us draw near to god with a sincere heart and with full assurance that brings that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience. And having our bodies washed with pure water. Are you timid to come into the presence of god? God urges you to come in. The father wants you to come in.

That's why he sent Jesus. Are you frightened to come into the presence of God? Don't be. Jesus' sacrifice has covered all your sin. There is nothing to fear.

You ashamed. Jesus took your shame for you. Come into god through Jesus. Come before him. Asking for forgiveness, knowing the cleansing of Jesus' sacrifice, but come in.

Maybe for you, for some, maybe it's been quite a long time since you've actually come before god. Well, things have happened that make you question whether you really can come before god. Maybe you became a Christian. Maybe you've done something. You just I just can't come before him.

Bring your sin to Jesus, and it is covered, and you can come in. That's why Jesus came. So there's individual application we need to come to god. He's done all that's needed for you to come in. But there's also church application as well.

We are to come into his presence together. When Jesus says, therefore, whatever you ask in prayer, we don't notice it in the English, but, in the original, he's gone to the plural there. So you're saying when you ask for things in prayer. And therefore, Arti France, the scholar, bible scholar. No.

I didn't include it on, obviously, in the powerpoint, said this is what he said. The Jerusalem Temple is condemned and replaced by the praying community. You might have thought he would say the temple's been replaced by Jesus, which it has. But it's also true in the new testament that the church is the replacement for the 10 not a church building, but the people of god gathering together to pray. So Jesus calls us into access with god through him, which results in a praying community and a forgiving community.

I mean, just touch on this first 25. And when you stand praying, if if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them so that your father in heaven may forgive you your sins. Because if we're not forgiving others, it shows we don't really know the forgiveness of god. It means, it must mean we're relating to god on the basis of something other than his grace. We must think we somehow deserve to have access to god, more than others who we won't forgive.

So the people of god who come to god through Jesus will be a forgiving community. So here's the riddle of the fig tree We can summarize it as being about access to god. Fruitless religion gets in the way of access to god, but through Jesus, and through the symbolism of that cursed fig tree. It means we have unhindered access to god. So you and I, through him, come come into the presence of god.

Let's pray. Heavenly father, we praise you that you call us to come into your presence through Jesus. Father, thank you that we have unhindered access. Thank you. We don't need the temple.

We don't need the priests. We don't need the sacrifices because Jesus fulfills them all and calls us to come in to your presence. Father they help us all to come in humbly, but yet with confidence in Jesus. Father, if there are those here this evening, who are struggling with that who who are timid, who are frightened, father draw them in. In Jesus' name, we pray.

Ah, man.