Mark 11:23-12:11
Authority Questioned

V.23 Options
1. Mountain could mean difficult circumstance

Zech 4:6 So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty. 7 "What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of 'God bless it! God bless it!'"

2. Jesus is giving a sort of carte blanche to believers

3. May be using hyperbole to emphasize the need for faith in prayer
(Didn’t see the apostles going around moving mountains or having them thrown into bodies of water

V.24 Hindrances to prayer
Wrong motives
Unconfessed sin
Doubt; lack of faith
Inconsiderate to wives (1 Peter 3)
Not the LORD’s will

V.25 “forgive him so that your Father in heaven may forgiver your sins.”

This is what Jesus taught in the LORD’s Prayer

Matt 6:12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Two verses later Jesus said...

Matt 6:14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Luke 6:37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

The absolute necessity of forgiveness

Matt 18:32 "Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34 In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

V.27-28
See 11:18

“These things”

•Riding into Jerusalem on a donkey
•The cleansing of the temple
•but may have also included the whole of Jesus’ teaching and healing ministry

V.29-30

Jesus was popular with the people.
So they hoped that He would say something that would bring Him into disrepute with them

•Jesus would not fall into their trap so He sets His own
V.31-33
If they admitted that John’s baptism was from God then they would have to admit that Jesus was from the Father as well.

If they denied that John was from God then they would be in an unfavorable position with men

V.12:1-11
Vineyard = Israel
Owner = God the Father
Tenants = Jewish religious leaders
Servants = OT prophets and John the Baptist
Son = Jesus

V.10-11
Jesus quotes Psalm 118:22

Ironic!
See 11:9

•Did they understand the allegory?
See V.12

Will these religious leaders be any different than their forefathers?

Jer 7:25 From the time your forefathers left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. 26 But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their forefathers.'

Will it cause them to repent?

V.12
•How do we respond when we’re confronted with wrongdoing?

I think the reason we question the authority of others is because we question the authority of the Bible

Illus: Homosexuality: Is it really wrong? Or is the notion simply outdated?

Jesus did what He did by the authority of what the Bible had foretold and unless we do what we do on the authority of the Bible our whole life becomes relevant