Reformation Sunday

Is Jesus about blessings and grace or about curses and judgment?  Well, the answer is “yes.”  Jesus came talking about both.  Many churches want to emphasize the blessings and grace of Jesus.  That’s actually right.  That’s the right emphasis.  I’ll talk a little bit about that today.  But in this passage, Jesus’ focus is primarily on curses and judgment.  The emphasis in today’s passage is about judgment.

We see Jesus illustrate judgment in this incident with the fig tree.  We see Jesus issue judgment as he cleanses the temple.  And I think we even see him predict future judgment against the temple and Jerusalem in this passage.  And so today we’ll be looking at Jesus talking about judgment.  Of course we can’t help but think about Christ’s grace when we think of his judgment.  But I want us to really reckon today with judgment.  Jesus is holding out the threat of judgment to the Israelites.  Let’s really understand and wrestle with that.  And as we do that, we’ll see how the judgment applied to Israel is also an ongoing warning to us to remain steadfast in faith in God.

Passage: Mark 11:12-26
Author: Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
Sermon originally preached during the Morning Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 10/26/2008 in Novato, CA.

Click here for the manuscript.

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