And the Common People Heard Him Gladly is a sermon teaching us that we must not allow people or things to keep us from following Jesus. We must not be confused by religious tradition or other things that would distract us from the truth.
Key verses:
Mark 12:35-40
Matthew 18:1-4
Luke 18:10-14
Philippians 3:4-7, 9
I encourage you to take your Bible and turn with me now, if you will, to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 12. What we’re going to do, Lord willing, between now and a couple of Sundays from now, when it is Resurrection Sunday, we’re going to talk about things that lead up to that event.
The week that began on what we call traditional Palm Sunday, we’ll talk about what happened on that date, Lord willing, next week but during the week in between, Jesus didn’t stay in Jerusalem He stayed outside of Jerusalem there were reasons for that. But He went into the city each day and each day He went in and taught in the temple. So, in Mark 12, that’s where we find Him and let’s read beginning at verse 35.
Mark 12:35: “And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the Son of David?”
Mark 12:36: “For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.”
Mark 12:37: “David therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly.”
We’re going to look at some more verses before we finish this morning, but I call your attention to that last phrase of verse 37, “The common people heard him gladly.” It’s a very important statement.
Lunatic or Living God?
I’m going to talk to you for a pretty good while before we get into the scripture, so please keep your Bible open and stay ready. I’m going to share with you some things from a blog that was written back in 2016 by a fellow named Justin Taylor. I do not know Justin Taylor, but I want to give him credit. He shares some things that I thought were very pertinent to what we’re reading here in this passage. So, listen carefully, if you will.
He said that in the mid-19th century, the Scottish preacher John Duncan, who lived from 1796 to 1870, formulated what he called a “trilemma.” Now, we often talk about a dilemma, something you have to choose a problem; you have to choose one side or the other.
He said there’s a trilemma. He said number one, Christ is either deceiving mankind by conscious fraud, in other words, He was a deceiver. He didn’t tell the truth. Or number two, He himself was deluded and self-deceived. He didn’t teach what was true, but He thought it was true. So, the first case scenario is the possibility that what He taught wasn’t true at all and He knew it. The second case scenario is what He taught wasn’t true, but He didn’t know it, He thought it was true. Or the third possibility, He was divine. He was God. He was who He claimed to be. There’s no getting out of this trilemma, he said, except to admit one of those three possibilities. That was in the mid-19th century.
In 1736, Watchman Nee, a Chinese preacher who was martyred for his faith in Christ, made a similar argument. He said a person who claims to be God must belong to one of three categories. First, if he claims to be God and yet in fact is not, he has to be a madman or lunatic. Secondly, if he is neither God nor a lunatic, then he has to be a liar deceiving others. Third, if he is neither of these, he must be God. You can only choose one of these three possibilities. If you do not believe that he is God, you have to consider him a madman. If you cannot take him for either of the two, you have to take him for a liar. There is no need for us to prove if Jesus of Nazareth is God or not. All we have to do is find out if he is a lunatic or a liar. If he is neither, then he must be the Son of God.
The third example – was from 1936 in China, the first example was in Scotland – now we go to England. Clive Staples Lewis, better known as C.S. Lewis, speaking in 1942, said this: He gave the argument in a most memorable formulation. Listen carefully, this is Lewis’s words. He said, “I’m trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him (him being Jesus). I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher.” This is the foolish thing Lewis said that people say. “I’m willing to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.” You know there are people who take that stand. They say, “Well, Jesus was a great teacher, a great moral teacher. We can learn a lot from his moral teachings, but he certainly was not God.”
Lewis goes on. He says, “That is one thing that we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.” Think about that. Let me read that to you again, “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg.” Now, I know you think that’s absolutely absurd. Nobody says they’re a poached egg. No man’s going to say he’s a poached egg. There’s a lot of difference between a man and a poached egg.
I’m not trying to pick on anybody. I’m not trying to be unkind or cruel to anybody, please understand that. But a lot of people today are claiming to be things that they are not and there are different reasons for that. They don’t all do it with the same motivation. Some do it because they are what we call “confidence artists.” They purposely misrepresent themselves with the idea of getting some gain but not everybody falls into that category. There are other possibilities.
“He would either be a lunatic – on the level with the man who says he’s a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else he’s the madman or something worse. You can shut him up as a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about him being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to…. Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God.”
You know what? Three different men living in three different countries, living in different periods of history – they all came to the same conclusion. Isn’t that something? They all came to the idea either Jesus is who he claimed to be, or he isn’t. If he isn’t who he claimed to be, then his teachings aren’t worth reading. If he is who he claimed to be then his teachings are absolutely necessary.
So, somebody said, “Is this a good argument?” Taylor, the man who wrote the blog, he’s saying this. He says the argument can be formulated as follows. One, if Jesus were not Lord, he would be a liar or lunatic; two, if he’s neither liar nor lunatic; three, He is God. I’m going to tell you that the answer to that isn’t difficult at all. The answer is He is God. Plain and simple, that’s who He claimed to be.
Now, there are people who come along, they say, “Well, Jesus never claimed to be God.” I wonder what Bible they’re reading. Jesus not only claimed to be God, He did so repeatedly. And not only did He do so repeatedly, but on at least two occasions people were going to stone Him because He made that claim and He never said, “Stop, wait, wait, you misunderstood. I know what you think I’ve said, but that’s not what I meant.” That did not happen. He stood by it. He stood by it for one simple reason. It’s true. That’s true.
Why We Gather
So, we’re gathered together here this morning to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, to fellowship in his name, and to learn from His Word. That’s why we gather on Sunday mornings. We are here to allow Him to speak to us through His Word and allow Him to teach us and equip us to do His will.
As we read the four Gospels in the New Testament we see many things, and we learn many things. And one of the things we see is, and follow me on this, that there were thousands of people who heard Jesus teaching in person.
I was in a store not long ago and went to the counter to check out. A young lady at the register, who I’ve never seen before and I probably won’t ever see again, just said to me out of nowhere, “If you could go back in time, and live in another period of history, where would you go?” She caught me off guard with that I admitted. I said “Well, I don’t know. I hadn’t given that a lot of thought.” Before I could go any farther, she said, Well, I’ve thought about it.” She’s a very young lady, and she said, “I’d go back and live in the 1970s.” I said, “You would, why?” She said, “Oh, it was great back then, great music, great everything.”
I said, “Well, I lived in the 1970s. I’m not sure it’s as great as you think it was, but there were some good things about it, but not sure that everything was as nice as you think.” But honestly, I thought about her question a little later. I am content to be living in the time where God has placed me. I don’t go to any effort to try to live in another time. First of all, I don’t think it’s possible, and secondly, it’s certainly not necessary. But if I could, I would want to go and hear Jesus in person. That’s what I’d want to do.
So, some of the thousands of people who heard Him listened with open ears and open hearts, while others were trying to find points of controversy. We looked at that in our Sunday School class this morning. There were people who came to Jesus, and they tried to ask Him these gotcha questions that they thought He just couldn’t possibly answer. Therefore, they’d prove that His claims were false because He didn’t know the answer, or He gave the wrong answer.
The problem with their strategy was He had the right answer every time. Why? Because His claims were true. So, there are those who were listening with open ears and open hearts. And others were listening to try to find points of controversy so that they could argue with Him and perhaps prove at least to their own satisfaction that He was not who He claimed to be.
Missing the Truth
I want to share with you some thoughts this morning and I hope you’ll stay with me. Great scholars sometimes miss the truth. This is something we were saying in Sunday School. It’s not that they aren’t great scholars, it’s not that they haven’t studied, it’s not that they haven’t been taught, it’s not that they aren’t learned individuals, but sometimes in all their studies, they miss the truth.
Jesus said that we are to come to Him with a simple childlike faith and trust Him to be saved. Let me share a couple of passages of scripture with you and listen carefully. I want you to contrast these two in your thinking. The first one is Matthew 18 verses 1 to 4, where it says:
Matthew 18:1: “At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
Matthew 18:2: “And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,”
Matthew 18:3: “And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 18:4: “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
“At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus saying who is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven?” I don’t know if that’s chief on your mind, it’s not mine, but it was in their mind. Why was it? Well, Matthew doesn’t tell us this, but we learn it elsewhere. There were a couple of them that were hoping He would say, well you of course, you’re going to be the greatest.
I saw this on television many, many years ago. I can’t tell you what year it was. I think it was in the 1980s, might have been the 1990s, I don’t know. But there was a fellow at that time who was very famous, and I would say, a world-famous dancer. I’m not going to mention his name, it’s not important to the story. He was being interviewed on television, and the interviewer asked him said, “Who would you say is the greatest dancer of all time?” And without a second hesitation, he said to the interviewer, “Why me of course.”
I thought, well, that’s a little bit egotistical, don’t you think? You know I don’t go around rating dancers, that’s not the point of the story. But the point is, he thought he was the greatest of all time. Well, a couple of the apostles thought they are to be the greatest. Actually, when Jesus came into his kingdom one of them wanted to sit on his right hand, the other one on his left, and they probably would have fought over which one got which side.
In answer to the question, “Jesus called a little child unto him and set him in the midst of them and said verily I say unto you’” and listen carefully, “except ye be converted,” – some people don’t like that word “converted.”
There used to be a famous furniture store down in Fort Lauderdale, when I was young, growing up and it was there for many, many years it was called Castro Convertibles. As a little kid, I saw that sign, and I thought the Cuban dictator was selling cars in the U.S. It had nothing to do with that, had nothing to do with that at all. It had to do with a family named Castro, who made convertible furniture. What’s convertible? Well, that’s a car, the top goes on… yeah, that’s what I thought. That wasn’t what the furniture was. It’s furniture that could be a couch but could be turned into something else, or it could be a chair but could be turned into something else, and therefore have more uses.
So, what does it mean to be converted? It means to be turned into something else. Some people don’t like that word. I don’t like to be turned into something else. Okay, let’s take the idea of being converted and let’s put it in a different term, still a biblical term, the different term is born again. That’s what Jesus is saying so when He says, “Except you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same as the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven.” Now, do you get what he’s saying? The greatest in Heaven is a humble person who comes with the simple faith of a child and just believes and trusts.
Again, we have to come before the Lord Jesus, recognizing our sinfulness. We need to recognize our need. It’s popular today and I’ve heard it recently, how recently? Oh, as recently as this morning and I’m not saying this is a terrible term and don’t ever use it. I don’t want you to think that. But the popular term in Christian circles today says, “I’m broken.” Well, there’s truth in that, there is.
I don’t think that’s the best way to say it. I’m not saying it’s not true. I’m not saying it’s not real. I’m saying I think there’s a better way of saying it. What’s a better way of saying it? Well, it’s better to say I’m a sinner. Why am I broken? Because I’ve sinned. It’s nobody’s fault but mine. Do I need repair? Oh, I need repair. I need much more than repair; I need to be born again. I do need repair. No question about it, but I need a whole new start. Again, if somebody’s using that term, I’m not saying, “Oh, you can’t say that. It’s not right.” I don’t want you getting out of here thinking that. I just think there’s a better way of expressing it.
The Pharisee and the Publican
See, our attitude should be like that of Isaiah when he saw the Lord on His throne in Heaven. You know what? Isaiah came, and he saw the Lord on His throne in Heaven. Isaiah had a vision. Do you know what he didn’t do? He didn’t jump up and shout. I’m not saying it’s terrible to do that, but he didn’t. He didn’t do a lot of things that we think we would do. Here’s what he did:
Isaiah 6:5: “Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”
You know what Isaiah said? He said I can’t be here. He is holy, and I am sinful. We must be like the old publican who came before the Lord. Jesus told us about him in Luke 18, verses 10 to 14:
Luke 18:10: “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.”
He said, “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee,” let’s pause right there. Most of you know who that is, a Pharisee. But in case if there’s somebody who doesn’t, let me tell you. The Pharisees were a religious sect, actually in the time and place where Jesus lived, particularly in Jerusalem. But throughout the country of Israel, they were the largest religious sect, and they were primarily the leaders. There were other people in leadership, but they were the primary leaders of religious life in the country.
They were very strict at keeping the law the law of Moses – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. But they also had other books about their traditions and the traditions of the Israeli people. They held those traditions as being equal to and even, in many cases, superior to the written scriptures.
Now, what’s important about that is this: They prided themselves on the knowledge of the scriptures. They prided themselves on their knowledge of the traditions. And in order to become a leader of the Pharisees they had to have memorized the Mosaic law. That’s quite an accomplishment. Now, if you’re sitting there thinking, “Preacher, have you done that?” To tell you the truth, no, I have not, not even close. I do work at memorizing portions of scripture, but I certainly have not memorized the entire Mosaic law.
So, Jesus said:
Luke 18:10: “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.”
Now, that is quite a contrast. You have here one of the religious leaders of the day, a member of the largest religious sect in the country, and you have a publican. The publican was an Israeli man who went to work for the Roman government. So, first of all, the other Israelis, the Romans were oppressing. They controlled Israel at that time. They were oppressing the people of Israel. So, he was looked on by his neighbors as a traitor because he went to work for the Roman government.
But not only that, the Roman government didn’t pay the publican a salary, and didn’t get any money directly from the Roman government because he was a tax collector for the Roman government. So, what he would do, he kept accurate records, and whatever money that was owed in taxes to the Roman government, he would collect. When you came to pay your taxes, he would add on to that, and whatever he could get over and above the legal tax was his.
So, if you came in to pay your taxes and he said, “Well, you owe 200 in taxes.” He sees that in the book. He doesn’t tell you that he sees that in the book, and he says to you that it’ll be three hundred dollars. You can look down at the book, and you could say, “Well, I’m not paying that. The law says I owe 200.” Well, your argument wouldn’t go far. Why? Because as he was sitting at the seat of custom, as called in the New Testament, at the table where you’d pay your taxes, there would be two Roman soldiers standing beside him. You didn’t argue. You paid.
So, he’s looked on by his peers as a traitor because he went to work with the Romans, and he’s looked on by them as a crook because he took more than was owed and he pocketed the difference. Most of them became very wealthy at that.
How’d they get along in society? Well, they got along fine because of their wealth. They didn’t have many friends. In many cases, their family didn’t even like them, but they had money like many people today. I’m not saying everybody who has money is bad, don’t get the wrong idea, but a lot like many people today. So, it says:
Luke 18:11: “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.”
“The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,” – I think it’s interesting he says he prayed with himself. “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are,” – there’s a comma there, so let’s pause for a minute. Do you hear him right off the bat, “God, I thank you that I’m not like other men”? Hmm, does that sound a little prideful to you? Yeah, it does, doesn’t it? “God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.”
Now, I don’t know where they were in relation to each other. I have always pictured in my mind the Pharisee standing there and the publican being on his right. He may not have been on the right he may have been on the left. He may have been behind him. He may have been just ahead of him. I don’t know how they were standing. I’ve always pictured him as being on the right.
So, he says, “God, I thank thee that I am not like other men.” Boy, I am better than other people, hmm. I’m not like other men. I just picture this man doing this, he may not have actually done it, but I think in his mind he did it. I thank God I’m not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, even as this publican. That’s some way to pray, isn’t it?
Luke 18:12: “I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.”
“I fast twice a week. That’s how spiritual I am. I fast twice a week. I give up eating twice a week to devote myself to prayer.” Okay. “I give tithes of all that I possess. Well, you talk about giving in the offering, I give big time.” And In fairness, he probably did. He’s telling God what a great guy he is.
God, Be Merciful
Listen to the contrast. Jesus said:
Luke 18:13: “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.”
When he prayed, he wouldn’t look up to Heaven and pray. Is it wrong to do that? No, I don’t think it’s wrong to do that. Well, don’t most people bow their heads and pray? Most people do, but not everybody. “Do you ever know anybody, preacher, pray with our eyes open?” Yes. Is it wrong to do that?” It’s not, but this fellow didn’t do that. He wouldn’t look up to Heaven when he prayed. “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast,” – what does that have to do with this?
In Bible times, there were many ways people displayed their mourning. Sometimes, they would tear their clothing to show that they were in mourning or distress. Sometimes, they would put ashes or dirt on their head and that showed that they were in distress. Another thing they did was what he said, hit their chest like that. So, he “would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.”
I heard Bob Jones tell this story many years ago. I didn’t hear him in person. I heard him in a recording. But he said there was a man back in the Depression days. He’d been trying to get to work, and he’d finally found a factory that would hire him. So, he came to that town where the factory was hiring, and he got a room in a rooming house. Some of you don’t know what a rooming house is. I’ve stayed in one not lately, but I have, and my grandmother used to own one. But he got a room in a rooming house, and on his first day on the job, he told the lady that ran the rooming house, he says, “I don’t want to be late on my first day on the job. I just got this job; I need it so badly. I don’t want to be late. Could you help me be sure to get up on time?”
Well, he didn’t get up on time, and he was running late, and the lady had made him a lunch to take with him, and she gave it to him. And he says, “I’ve got to be there on time. I can’t afford to be late. I don’t want to lose my job.” She said, “You know, there’s a shortcut that might save you some time. You might still make it on time if you go this way. It took him across the railroad track. He tried to do that, but a train was coming. He was struck by the train. He survived that initially, but he was hurt very badly, and an ambulance came, and others were trying to help the man. They loaded him in the ambulance.
And a bystander who saw what happened just tried to help the man, and he rode in the ambulance with him. As they were in the ambulance on the way to the hospital the injured man said to this stranger, “Mister, I feel like I don’t have much time.” He was right. He says, “I think I need to pray. I’ve never prayed. Can you help me to pray?” The stranger who stopped to help, he wasn’t a praying man either.
He said, “Well, I don’t know much about praying, but I heard a prayer once.” He said, “Let’s try it.” So, he said to the man, he says the prayer is, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.” And the injured man riding in the ambulance on the way to the hospital prayed, and he said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner,” and he added, “For Jesus’ sake.”
And then he looked at the bystander, and said, “Mister, that’s a good prayer. You pray that too.” He didn’t make it to the hospital. As they got there and they unloaded the body from the ambulance, the stranger stopped, got out, and standing by the ambulance, he prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner, for Jesus’ sake.”
He That Humbleth Himself
Jesus said regarding the publican:
Luke 18:14: “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
Now listen, there are so many testimonies of people. Listen to the testimony of a man who was known as Saul of Tarsus. He was a young man. He was intelligent. He was well-educated, and known as a scholar with great understanding. He is known for his great religious zeal. Surely, he was going to be one of the great leaders of Israel. But listen to his own words. He said:
Philippians 3:4: “Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:”
I’ve got more reason to trust in myself than others. Really? What were his reasons? He said:
Philippians 3:5: “Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;”
We’ve already told you about the Pharisee.
Philippians 3:6: “Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.”
Philippians 3:7: “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.”
That’s Philippians 3:4-7. Listen to him again two verses later. He says:
Philippians 3:9: “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:”
See, we can be educated, and there’s nothing wrong with being educated. I might surprise you, but I have a little bit of education myself. “Well, you could use some more.” And I’m sure you’re right.
But Saul was young, educated, intelligent, zealous, hard-working, and dedicated. He was all of that. We say all those are good qualities. He was the kind of man who you’d probably consider to be the ideal minister. But he was trusting in his own education. He was trusting in his own intelligence, zeal, hard work, and dedication.
He, like the old Pharisee who said, “God, I thank you I’m not like these other men,” – he didn’t see anything wrong with himself. He could see things wrong like the old Pharisee could see things wrong with other people. He didn’t see anything wrong with himself. He was good, he was very good, and if he believed that if anybody on earth would be acceptable to God, it’d be him. It’d be him.
But do you know what the problem was? Young Saul was lost. For all his education, all his dedication, all of his scholarly studies, being a young up-and-coming man, he was lost. His sin had separated between his soul and the God of the universe. Had he died at this point, no doubt he would have heard the Lord say:
Matthew 25:41: “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:”
“Jesus said that?” He certainly did. “I thought Jesus was love.” You thought right. “Well, how could He say something like that?” Because He’s telling us not to get into that situation. The day came when Saul of Tarsus met the resurrected Christ. When Saul met Jesus, he immediately believed. He believed in Jesus to forgive his sins and to save his soul. And Saul of Tarsus put away his pride and his selfishness and surrendered his heart and his soul and his mind and his life to Jesus and live for him the rest of his life. And today we are reading his words and they’ve been read now for over 2,000 years. We call him Paul the Apostle.
In Philippians chapter 1 verse 21, he’d write:
Philippians 1:21: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
So, those who would come to Jesus need to understand that all the good we have done cannot cancel out the wrong that we have done. And when we put our faith in Jesus 1 John 1:7 says:
1 John 1:7: “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
How much sin? All sin. Yeah, but what about…” There’s no “what about,” all sin.
How Say the Scribes?
Now, look, if you will. I know it’s taken a long time, but look at verse 35. We’ll go quickly:
Mark 12:35: “And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the Son of David?”
“While he taught in the temple,” – as we’ve already told you, this was His last week before the cross, and He went into the temple every day of that week and taught. He would leave the city each night because there was an actual plot out to kill him. If you watch modern-day movies, you’d say there was a hit put out on him, and there was. There was a plot to murder Jesus Christ.
So, in this verse, He asked a question as he taught in the temple, “How say the scribes that Christ is the Son of David?” Now, who are the scribes? The scribes were very important people. We owe something of a debt to the scribes because the scribes were the copyists. They were the people; it was their job to copy the scriptures, and they did it by hand. That printing press wouldn’t be invented for a long time. They did it by hand, and they copied it, not just idea by idea or sentence by sentence. They copied it letter by letter, punctuation mark by punctuation mark.
They were meticulous at their work, and they were professionals. Why? Because they did know that they were copying the very Word of God. They were copying it by hand, they wrote on scrolls, it wasn’t as you have it in your hand today. They wrote upon scrolls. As they wrote, if they made a mistake, they would stop, they would destroy that scroll, and start over. They had other rituals and routines that they went through that made being a scribe a very exact science.
The debt we owe to them is that’s how we have accurate copies of God’s Word to this day. “Well, preacher, don’t you think other people over these thousands of years have copied the Word of God?” Of course, they have, but if these men hadn’t done their work, we wouldn’t have an accurate recording of the Word to copy. I hope that makes sense to you. So, these scribes, again, they’re not uneducated people.
Jesus’ question is, “How say the scribes that Christ is the Son of David?” Why does he even bring up that question? Jesus is asking how is it that in Psalm 110 verse 1 – these scribes would have copied Psalm 110 verse 1:
Psalm 110:1: “The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.”
How is it that David wrote the LORD (the Lord Jehovah God) said unto my Lord (not the same Jehovah God, Lord in all capital letters), said unto my Lord (only the L is capitalized)? “The LORD (Jehovah God) said unto my Lord (my master, my king), Sit down on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.”
Look at what Jesus says in verse 36:
Mark 12:36: “For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.”
That’s very important. David said this by the Holy Ghost. Do you know what he’s saying? The words of David here were inspired by the Spirit of God himself who said that. Jesus said it, don’t take my word for it, look at it, verse 36:
Mark 12:36: “For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.”
Psalm 110 verse 1. Your saying that Psalm 110, verse 1 was inspired by the Spirit of God himself? Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. Actually, it’s not what I’m saying, it’s what Jesus said.
Mark 12:37: “David therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly.”
“I’m asking you scribes, if David writing on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit called him Lord, the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior, if he called him Lord, if he’s David’s Lord, how can he be David’s son?” You know what? The scribes had a problem with that. These educated men and they were, these intelligent men and they were. These weren’t a group of people that were just selected at random and didn’t know much about anything and certainly didn’t know what… That wasn’t like that at all. Again, educated, intelligent men, thinkers. And Jesus asked them this question, and they can’t answer it. How does David who calls the Messiah his Lord, how is the Messiah David’s son?
The Common People
Now, there’s an answer to this. We’re going to come to it, but notice the last phrase in verse 37. I pointed this out to you earlier, “The common people heard him gladly.” Isn’t that something? The scribes, the educated, intelligent scribes, had trouble with that, but the common people didn’t. They heard him gladly. The everyday people understood what Jesus meant. That, to me, speaks volumes.
Now, I’m not against education. I’m not saying that all educated people are wrong. I’m not saying that. That’d be a foolish thing to say. But I am saying that sometimes we get to the point where we think we know so much that we hear the truth and don’t recognize it.
David wrote more than a thousand years before Jesus spoke to those people in the temple. And in that thousand years, the Messiah, the Christ, had not come. Yet here, He is presenting himself as that very one, the one who had been promised since the Garden of Eden, would come and be a Redeemer and be a Savior to save mankind from their sin and bring them to righteousness before God. A much simpler way of saying that is to have them be born again.
So, what did David mean by calling the Messiah his son and his Lord? How could it be both? Well, David himself said by the Holy Ghost, as Jesus pointed out. He said, “the LORD said to my Lord.” An honest study of the scriptures will lead a person to conclude that there is such a unity in the scriptures that if David’s Psalm 110 verse 1 written by the Holy Ghost, what do you think? Maybe the rest of the Bible was inspired by the Holy Ghost? That would make sense, wouldn’t it?
“Well, preacher, you’re going to base all that on this one verse?” Well, you could, but no. There are many other places where we are told that all the scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact, Paul writes to Timothy in his second to the last letter that he ever wrote, he says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” Isn’t that something? All scripture is given by inspiration. How much? All of it, all of it.
So, how can the Messiah be the Christ, be David’s son, and be the Son of David well? The scholars, again, didn’t get it, and I’m going to prove to you they didn’t get it before we’re finished here, but they didn’t get it. The common people heard him gladly.
Abraham Lincoln said this. He said, “The Lord must love the common people. He made so many of them.” Think that through a little bit, and you’ll get it. Don’t misunderstand, don’t misunderstand. As I said before, I’m not against education. I’m for it. But education by itself cannot save a person. We have to understand this: that it’s simply trusting, childlike faith that saves the person. The scholar, the wealthy person, and the popular person have to come to the Lord on the same terms, in the same way, that the common people come.
Beware the Scribes
Look at verse 38: “And He said unto them in his doctrine.” That’s another important statement “in his doctrine.” Jesus taught doctrine, and the phrase “in his doctrine” occurs in other places in scripture. Jesus taught in ways that people had not heard before.
They sent some folks out to arrest Him on one occasion. I told you there was a plot against Jesus. They sent some folks out to arrest him. On one occasion, they came back without him, and they said to the officers, “Why haven’t you brought Him?” Do you know what those officers said? They said, “Never a man speak like this man.” Never heard anybody like him, there’s nobody else like Him. 38 again:
Mark 12:38: “And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces,”
Now, they’re right there as He’s saying, “Beware of the scribes.”
“Why, preacher, you just told us what important work these men did.” They did. They did important work, and there’s no question about that. Do they deserve credit for that work? They do. But Jesus isn’t addressing the quality of their work. He’s addressing the condition of their heart. I said this in the Sunday School hour, and I’m going to say it again now. I certainly don’t mean this as an attack on everybody, and I don’t mean it as an attack on particular individuals. I mean it as a general statement of truth.
There are many religious leaders who have studied and have worked hard and have dedicated themselves to their work who don’t even know God. I’m sorry to say that, but it’s true. “How do you get that?” Well, I read this verse again 38, “And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware the scribes which love to go in long clothing.” What does that mean? They love to dress so that everybody knows who they are. Their robes and their clothing showed who they were and what their position was. “And they love salutations in marketplaces,” – they like to be recognized in public when they come in. “Oh, wow, you see him. He’s one of the scribes. Oh, welcome sir, what can we do for you, sir?”
You know what? We all like that. We all like that. This isn’t true anymore, it was true for years, but I don’t go into the bank very much anymore. “Oh, why not?” Well, it’s nothing against the bank. It’s I do my business online or at the ATM or whatever. I just don’t go into the bank much anymore. But when I used to go in there pretty regular, you know what I liked about the bank I went into? As soon as I walked in the door, somebody in the bank would say, “Hello, Mr. McClure, how are you?” You know what? That made me feel good, and I like that, you know. I go in there now, and they say, “Your first time here?” You know? But that’s more my fault than it is theirs.
But people like to be recognized. They like that, and they appreciate it. That’s not the problem. The problem is pride. Look at verse 39:
Mark 12:39: “And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts:”
“And the chief seats in the synagogue,” – when they went in the synagogue to worship, they wanted to sit in the most prominent seat. “What do you mean, like the front row?” No, I mean like up here “the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at the feasts,” – one of the uppermost rooms that’s where the important guests sit when they came together for the feast. “What feast?” The feasts of Israel – Passover, unleavened bread, first fruits, all of them. They love that place of honor. I mean after all, they are part of the religious elite. Verse 40, and we’re finished. Jesus says something else about them that goes far beyond pride. He says they are:
Mark 12:40: “Which devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.”
They “which devour widows houses,” what does that mean? It means a widow owes some money and she can’t pay it. They foreclose and put her out. They could do that. They could. “And for a pretense make long prayers.” – Now, look, I’m not against praying. I’m not against praying for a long time. Jesus prayed all night on more than one occasion. I would not at all suggest that you don’t do that.
Most of us don’t pray enough. And Jesus wasn’t saying don’t pray. He says, “For a pretense they make long prayers.” In other words, their prayers weren’t real. They just acted religiously and said words. You know, saying words, even religious words, is not a prayer. Prayer is your heart talking to God. We don’t have to make it a long prayer.
I heard this story. I’m not old enough to have been there. I want to clarify that before I tell it. They said D.L. Moody was preaching in a place and one brother had been called on to open the service in prayer. They said the fella, I don’t know who he was, came to the pulpit, and he was praying and praying and praying and praying and praying. It had gotten exceeding long, and Mr. Moody came up beside him, put his arm on his shoulder, and said, “While our brother continues this prayer, we’ll go on with the service.” That’s the kind of thing Jesus was talking about. They devour widows’ houses, for pretense make long prayers.”
Listen to the last phrase of verse 40, “These shall receive greater damnation.” Wow, why? Because they copied the Word of God letter by letter, punctuation point by punctuation point. They knew, or they should have known the truth, and they rejected it. They should have known who He was, and they rejected Him.
John chapter one, John writes:
John 1:11: “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”
He says, “He (Jesus) came unto his own,” meaning His own people, “and his own received him not,” that’s verse 11. Verse 12 says”
John 1:12: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”
So, these men were great actors. They love to be heard by the people. They professed to be people of God, men of God, but they had rejected the Savior, and because of that, they received the greater damnation.
Focus on Jesus
Our thoughts and our minds need to be focused on Jesus. We must realize that we, you and me. People here, I don’t know anything about you, but we, you and I, are the common people. We are, all of us. Those scribes were, too. They just didn’t know it.
We must not allow people or things to keep us from following Jesus. We must not be confused by religious tradition or other things that would get us away from the truth. We have to just simply place our faith in Jesus alone.
We talked about Paul a while ago and told this story, I think, last Sunday, and I won’t tell it again. Acts chapter 16, Paul and Silas at that time were in jail at Philippi. What was their crime? Preaching. They were in jail in Philippi, and at midnight they sang psalms and hymns and praised God. There was an earthquake. The doors of the prison were open, and the jailer was going to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. Paul calls out and says, “Do thyself no harm; we’re all here.” He jumped down into where they were, fell before them, and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
They said, “Well, you must go to synagogue regularly or go to church regularly, you have to give in the offering, you have to perform certain rituals.” Did they say that? They didn’t say any of that, none of it, not even close. What’d they say? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” – that’s what they said, and that’s what it is.
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Let’s pray. Father, thank you so much for blessing us. Thank you for your Word so clear and so plain. Lord, let us not be like the old Pharisee but let us be like the old publican who comes knowing that he’s a sinner and prays, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” We call on your mercy, we call on your grace we ask you, Lord, to speak to us. We need to hear from you, Lord.
It may be that everybody who’s listening today already knows you as their Savior. I see the people; I see wonderful-looking people. You see the hearts. You know those things that no man can know.
Lord, on the possibility that someone may be listening today or who will hear later electronically, that one person who may not know that their sins are forgiven, they may not know for sure that they have a home in heaven. They hope so. They want to, but they’re not certain about it. Lord, on the possibility there’s even one like that, I pray that you would help that person to open their heart and to put their faith in you, and to call on you and say, “Lord Jesus, I believe. I believe that you love me, and though I am a sinner, I ask you to be merciful to me. I believe that you paid for my sins on the cross. I believe that you rose from the grave and I’m trusting you right now, right here, my living savior, to forgive me, to save me, and to give me everlasting life. Thank you, Lord Jesus.”
Now, maybe you prayed that prayer with me, maybe you didn’t. But if God’s spoken to your heart and you know that you need to be saved, we’re going to sing a hymn of invitation. I’m going to leave the platform; I’m going to stand down front if you need somebody to help you to know how to be saved. You come while we sing. We’ll help you.
Maybe you’re here this morning, and you say, “Preacher, that’s not me. I’m saved. I know it. If I needed to, I could tell you about the time, and I can show you the place where the Lord saved me.” That’s wonderful. Thank God for it. But God’s speaking to you. There’s a spiritual need in your life. It’s not salvation. You’ve already been saved, but God’s speaking to you, and there’s a spiritual need in your life, there’s a decision you need to make, or maybe you just need prayer. “I wish somebody would pray with me.” Will you come while we sing?
However, God’s speaking to you, however He’s leading you; this is your opportunity to come. Father, bless and move this invitation time. We do pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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About the Speaker
Dr. Michael L. McClure
Senior Pastor
Dr. Michael L. McClure, our lead pastor, is known for his in-depth knowledge and effective teaching style of biblical truths applicable to everyday living.