This was a necessary consequence of his action in the cleansing of the temple. By so doing he claimed to be the Judge of things religious and sacred, and to direct the conscience of man.
I. THE ULTIMATE QUESTION BETWEEN CHRIST AND THE RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS AND INSTITUTIONS OF MEN IS ONE OF AUTHORITY. Only direct Divine sanction, or a higher truth vindicating itself at the bar of reason and conscience, or in the field of experience, can justify the attitude of Christ and his religion towards the religions and superstitions of men. Arbitrary assumption will soon belay itself, and the spiritual nature of man must be satisfied. This question of authority is sure to be raised sooner or later by the upholders of the systems and beliefs Christianity impugns. And Christians are counselled to "give a reason of the hope that is in" them.
II. TO ALL GENUINE INQUIRERS CHRISTIANITY PRESENTS A SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE,
1. The life and works of Christ are his justification. They prove him "sent from God." The evidence upon which our belief in these is based is as strong, at least, as for any other historic matter.
2. The experience of the operation of Christian doctrine and practice in the ages subsequent to the Cross.
3. The immediate witness of the conscience and the heart. With the first and the third of these the temple authorities were already conversant.
III. HYPOCRITICAL AND ILLEGITIMATE INQUIRIES INTO ThE AUTHORITY OF CHRIST OR HIS SERVANTS MAY BE RESISTED AND EXPOSED.
1. Christ knew the motives of his inquisitors.
2. He placed them in a false position in order to expose these to themselves and others.
3. All Divine revelations have similar evidence, and stand or fall together. Had they believed John, they would have believed Jesus. As they believed neither, it must have been because they hated the truth. It was for the interests of true religion that this fact should be made evident. He proceeded to prove the traditional unrighteousness of the Jewish people and their leaders in a series of "parables" or similitudes, which were at the same time so many appeals to conscience. (It would be well for the preacher to remark upon the unbroken consecution of ch. 11 and 12 in the spoken discourse of Christ.) - M.
Say ye that the Lord hath need of him.
I. HE WANTS YOU FOR HIMSELF. Jesus loves you; you are to be the compensation to Him for all He suffered. Christ feels incomplete without you.
II. HE WANTS YOU FOR HIS CHURCH. The Church is a building; you can never tell what stone the Great Master Builder may require next. It is a family — you complete the circle.
III. HE WANTS YOU FOR HIS WORK.
IV. HE WANTS YOU FOR HIS GLORY. When the Lord wants anything you will let Him have it.
1. Your money. If He takes it you will know that He had need of it.
2. Death. He has need of those dear to us. There is great comfort in the fact that when Christ sent to appropriate what was indeed His own, He sent also the constraining power of His own grace to overrule that it might consent to the surrender.
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The two disciples, without any questioning, proceeded upon their Master's mission.
I. THE PRINCIPLE WE HAVE STATED APPLIES TO ALL NEW UNDERTAKINGS IN WHICH WE ENGAGE AS SERVANTS OF OUR SAVIOUR, ACTING UNDER HIS DIRECTION. It was a new thing He asked them to do when He sent them to bring to Him the colt. Our Lord often asks us to do unlikely and unexpected things. God told Moses to go to Egypt. God asked Jonah to do a new thing. If God asks us to take a new departure, His hand will guide us.
II. THE PRINCIPLE ILLUSTRATED HERE APPLIES TO UNDERTAKINGS WHICH ARE DIFFICULT AND MYSTERIOUS, TO WHICH OUR LORD CALLS US. What right had they to the colt? There was a touch of mystery — why such a beast of burden? God often calls His people to difficult and mysterious duties. Try to do it and all is well ordered.
III. THE PRINCIPLE HERE ILLUSTRATED APPLIES TO ALL UNDERTAKINGS IN WHICH CHRIST'S SERVANTS ENGAGE DIRECTLY FOR HIS SAKE. "The Lord hath need of him."
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People
David,
Jesus,
John,
PeterPlaces
Bethany,
Bethphage,
Jerusalem,
Mount of OlivesTopics
Argued, Believe, Believed, Debated, Didn't, Faith, Heaven, Heavenly, Matter, Reasoned, Reasoning, Saying, Suppose, Themselves, WhereforeOutline
1. Jesus rides with triumph into Jerusalem;12. curses the fruitless fig tree;15. purges the temple;20. exhorts his disciples to steadfastness of faith, and to forgive their enemies;27. and defends his actions by the witness of John, who was a man sent of God.Dictionary of Bible Themes
Mark 11:27-33 2012 Christ, authority
7464 teachers of the law
Mark 11:29-33
7552 Pharisees, attitudes to Christ
Library
December 20 Evening
If the Lord would make windows in heaven might this thing be?--II KGS. 7:2. Have faith in God.--Without faith it is impossible to please God.--With God all things are possible. Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.--Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily PathJuly 24 Evening
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.--ROM. 4:20. Have faith in God. Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.--Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path
The Prayer of Faith. October 7.
With the prayer of faith we can do anything. Look at Mark xi. 24--a text that has saved more than one soul from madness in the hour of sorrow; and it is so simple and wide--wide as eternity, simple as light, true as God Himself. If we are to do great things it must be in the spirit of that text. Verily, when the Son of God cometh shall He find faith in the earth? Letters and Memories. 1843. …
Charles Kingsley—Daily Thoughts,
August 19. "Have Faith in God" (Mark xi. 22).
"Have faith in God" (Mark xi. 22). He requires of us a perfect faith, and He tells us that if we believe and doubt not, we shall have whatsoever we ask. The faintest touch of unbelief will neutralize our trust. But how shall we have such perfect faith? Is it possible for human nature? Nay, but it is possible to the Divine nature, it is possible to the Christ within us. It is possible for God to give it; and God does give it. But Christ is the Author and Finisher of our faith, and He bids us have …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth
March 31. "What Things Soever Ye Desire when Ye Pray, Believe that Ye Receive them and Ye Shall have Them" (Mark xi. 24).
"What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them" (Mark xi. 24). Faith is not working up by will power a sort of certainty that something is coming to pass, but it is seeing as an actual fact that God has said that this thing shall come to pass, and that it is true, and then rejoicing to know that it is true, and just resting and entering into it because God has said it. Faith turns the promise into a prophecy. While it is merely a promise it is contingent …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth
July 12. "When Ye Pray, Believe that Ye Receive" (Mark xi. 24).
"When ye pray, believe that ye receive" (Mark xi. 24). Consecration is entered by an act of faith. You are to take the gift from God, believe you have, and confess that you have it. Step out on it firmly, and let the devil know you have it as well as the Lord. When once you say to Him boldly, "I am Thine," He answers back from the heavenly heights, "Thou art Mine," and the echoes go ringing down through all your life, "Mine! Thine!" If you dare confess Christ as your Saviour and Sanctifier He has …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth
A Royal Progress
'... Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him.'--Mark xi. 2. Two considerations help us to appreciate this remarkable incident of our Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The first of these is its date. It apparently occurred on the Sunday of the Passion Week. The Friday saw the crosses on Calvary. The night before, Jesus had sat at the modest feast that was prepared in Bethany, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
Christ's Need of us and Ours
'... Say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither.'--Mark xi. 3. You will remember that Jesus Christ sent two of His disciples into the village that looked down on the road from Bethany to Jerusalem, with minute instructions and information as to what they were to do and find there. The instructions may have one of two explanations--they suggest either superhuman knowledge or a previous arrangement. Perhaps, although it is less familiar to our thoughts, the latter …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
Nothing but Leaves
'And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, He came, if haply He might find any thing thereon: and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves; ... 14. And Jesus ... said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever.'--Mark xi. 13, 14. The date of this miracle has an important bearing on its meaning and purpose. It occurred on the Monday morning of the last week of Christ's ministry. That week saw His last coming to Israel, 'if haply He might find any thing thereon.' And if you remember …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture
Nothing but Leaves
"Thine hands, dear Jesus, were not arm'd With an avenging rod, No hard commission to perform The vengeance of a God. But all was mercy, all was mild, And wrath forsook the throne, When Christ on his kind errand came And brought salvation down." Let us rejoice that God commendeth his love towards us, because in "due time Christ died for the ungodly." Yet, as if to show that Jesus the Savior is also Jesus the Judge, one gleam of justice must dart forth. Where shall mercy direct its fall? See, my brethren, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 10: 1864
True Prayer --True Power!
Give me than your attention while I beg you, first, to look at the text; secondly to look about you; and the, to look above you. I. First, LOOK AT THE TEXT. If you look at it carefully, I think you will perceive the essential qualities which are necessary to any great success and prevalence in prayer. According to our Saviour's description of prayer, there should always be some definite objects for which we should plead. He speaks of things--"what things soever ye desire." It seems then that he did …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 6: 1860
The Secret of Effectual Prayer
"What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them."--MARK xi. 24. Here we have a summary of the teaching of our Lord Jesus on prayer. Nothing will so much help to convince us of the sin of our remissness in prayer, to discover its causes, and to give us courage to expect entire deliverance, as the careful study and then the believing acceptance of that teaching. The more heartily we enter into the mind of our blessed Lord, and set ourselves simply …
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession
To his Praise!
"They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness." THIS chapter is written more than seven years later than the foregoing, in further testimony and praise. Returning to Canada at the time of the Great War, we came face to face with a serious financial crisis. Only two ways seemed open to us. One was to lay our affairs frankly before the Board, showing that our salary was quite insufficient, with war conditions and prices, to meet our requirements. The other course was to just go forward, …
Rosalind Goforth—How I Know God Answers Prayer
The Prayer of Faith.
Text.--"Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."--Mark xi. 24. THESE words have been by some supposed to refer exclusively to the faith of miracles. But there is not the least evidence of this. That the text was not designed by our Saviour to refer exclusively to the faith of miracles, is proved by the connection in which it stands. If you read the chapter, you will see that Christ and his apostles were at this time …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion
The Fourth Rule of Prayer Is, that Notwithstanding of Our Being Thus Abased and Truly...
The fourth rule of prayer is, that notwithstanding of our being thus abased and truly humbled, we should be animated to pray with the sure hope of succeeding. There is, indeed, an appearance of contradiction between the two things, between a sense of the just vengeance of God and firm confidence in his favour, and yet they are perfectly accordant, if it is the mere goodness of God that raises up those who are overwhelmed by their own sins. For, as we have formerly shown (chap. iii. sec. 1, 2) that …
John Calvin—Of Prayer--A Perpetual Exercise of Faith
Praying Without Doubting
PRAYING WITHOUT DOUBTING ". . . And shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith." -- Mark 11:23 These interesting words are a part of the Saviour's discourse on the power of faith. The disciples were greatly astonished by the power manifested in the Master's words which dried up the fruitless tree from the roots. When Jesus arrested the attention of His disciples by this unusual miracle, He obviously intended …
T. M. Anderson—Prayer Availeth Much
Praying with Desire
PRAYING WITH DESIRE ". . . What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." -- Mark 11:24. These inspiring words of Jesus disclose that He has obligated Himself to satisfy the incessant and insistent desires of His praying people. His words leave no doubt in our minds regarding His willingness to answer our requests. He makes it plain that whatsoever things are required to satisfy our spiritual and temporal needs shall be granted according to the …
T. M. Anderson—Prayer Availeth Much
Prayer and Faith (Continued)
"The guests at a certain hotel were being rendered uncomfortable by repeated strumming on a piano, done by a little girl who possessed no knowledge of music. They complained to the proprietor with a view to having the annoyance stopped. 'I am sorry you are annoyed,' he said. 'But the girl is the child of one of my very best guests. I can scarcely ask her not to touch the piano. But her father, who is away for a day or so, will return tomorrow. You can then approach him, and have the matter set right.' …
Edward M. Bounds—The Necessity of Prayer
May one Know that He is Filled?
The question is often asked--How am I to know when I am filled with the Holy Ghost? 1. You may know it from the testimony of the written Word. "All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them" (Mark xi. 24). From this you know, that if you have, up to your light, fulfilled the conditions necessary to the filling of the Holy Ghost, on praying and asking for the Fullness, it is your privilege to believe that you have received what you have …
John MacNeil—The Spirit-Filled Life
Eleventh Lesson. Believe that Ye have Received;'
Believe that ye have received;' Or, The Faith that Takes. Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them.'--Mark xi. 24 WHAT a promise! so large, so Divine, that our little hearts cannot take it in, and in every possible way seek to limit it to what we think safe or probable; instead of allowing it, in its quickening power and energy, just as He gave it, to enter in, and to enlarge our hearts to the measure of what …
Andrew Murray—With Christ in the School of Prayer
Fourteenth Lesson. When Ye Stand Praying, Forgive;'
When ye stand praying, forgive;' Or, Prayer and Love. And whensoever ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any one; that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.'--Mark xi. 25. THESE words follow immediately on the great prayer-promise, All things whatsoever ye pray, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them.' We have already seen how the words that preceded that promise, Have faith in God,' taught us that in prayer all depends …
Andrew Murray—With Christ in the School of Prayer
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