September 10, 2025 • 13 mins
We're approaching the climax of Mark's Gospel as Jesus enters Jerusalem during his final week before crucifixion. This chapter reveals Jesus as both humble servant and powerful king who won't tolerate exploitation of his people or hypocrisy in worship.
• Jesus orchestrates his entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, fulfilling Messianic prophecy
• The crowds welcome him with palm branches and shouts of "Hosanna!"
• Jesus curses a fruitless fig tree as a prophetic action symbolizing judgment
• He cleanses the temple by driving out merchants who were exploiting worshippers
• Jesus teaches about faith that moves mountains and the importance of forgiveness in prayer
• Religious leaders challenge Jesus' authority but are silenced by his wisdom
• The central message: Don't mess with the King – take your relationship with God seriously
Make sure you take just a moment to like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Leave us a five-star review on the podcast—it really does help! Join the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook, and you can get all that information at thebiblebreakdown.com.
We’d love to hear from you. (For questions, use the links above.)
Contact us-
Ask a Question
Send Encouragement
Take a Next Step-
SOAP Bible Study Method.
Bible Reading Plan.
Free Weekly Newsletter.
Socials-
Facebook.
Instagram.
X.
YouTube.
The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello everybody .
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your host
, pastor Brandon.
Today, mark, chapter 11, andtoday's title is Don't Mess with
the King.
Don't Mess with the King.
This reminds me I told you guysa few days ago a story about
Michael Jordan and him being aHall of Fame.
Well, I was another MichaelJordan story.
(00:21):
I don't know why, I'm not thatbig a basketball fan, but it
just comes to mind.
Another Michael Jordan story Idon't know why, I'm not that big
a basketball fan, but it justcomes to mind.
And that is I heard a storyabout a guy who was a fellow
Hall of Famer and he said thatwhile they were both still
playing one day, he was having areally good game.
This guy was, and he saidMichael Jordan on the other team
was not having a very good game.
He was missing a lot of hisshots, whatever.
(00:42):
And so he said he started kindof talking to him, just kind of
having some fun with him, and hesaid you know, michael, looks
like you're getting a little old, looks like you don't really
got it anymore, that kind ofthing.
And he said Michael Jordanlooked at him and just said okay
, and he said over the next fewminutes he scored more points
than the other guy had scoredthe entire game.
And as he was leaving, he saiddon't mess with the king.
(01:09):
And it just reminded me of thischapter, because Jesus is
awesome.
Jesus is humble and gentle inso many ways, but if you push
the king, the king's going toshow how powerful he actually is
.
And we're going to get intothat in just a moment.
And once again, don't read intoit too much.
I'm not calling Michael Jordanand Jesus anywhere on the same
playing field.
You get it Okay, but make sureyou get your Bibles open.
(01:30):
Open them up because we'regoing to dive right into God's
Word.
While you're doing that, makesure you take just a moment to
like, share and subscribe to theYouTube channel and the podcast
.
Make sure you leave us afive-star review on the podcast
it really does help and makesure you're going to the Bible
Breakdown Discussion on Facebook.
I do a great job there everysingle day.
It's always a joy to read thoseand you can get all of that
information atthebiblebreakdowncom.
(01:53):
Well, if you've been with us, weare getting close to the end of
the Gospel of Mark and we havecalled the Gospel of Mark the
Gospel in Motion, because, youknow, in Matthew and in Luke you
open up with the birthnarrative of Jesus.
John starts with you know, thebeginning was the word.
The word was with God.
Mark is like, and then one dayJesus did this, you know, just
(02:15):
jumps right in, which is justawesome, because he just covers
so much in one chapter.
And today is no different.
He covers so many things in onechapter, but we are getting
into where Mark is rushingtoward.
He is rushing straight to thecross and we are going to get to
the place, to where it is now,about a week before the
(02:36):
crucifixion of Jesus, he's goingto enter into Jerusalem.
It's not the first time Jesushas been in Jerusalem.
He would have went at leastonce a year, his entire adult
life at least, and so he hasbeen been in Jerusalem.
He would have went at leastonce a year, his entire adult
life at least, and so he hasbeen going to Jerusalem.
But this one's differentbecause this is the year.
It's the year that he is goingto be crucified and is getting
ready for the Passover ceremony,or Passover feast, rather, and
(03:01):
it is right here at it.
And so we're going to jumpright into God's word and we're
going to see what it has to sayto us today.
Here we go.
Don't mess with the king.
Chapter 11, verse 1.
As Jesus and his disciplesapproached Jerusalem, they came
to the towns of Bethpage andBethany, on the Mount of Olives,
and Jesus sent two of them togo on ahead.
Go into the village over there,he told them, and as soon as
(03:21):
you enter it you will see ayoung donkey tied there with no
one who has ever ridden it.
Untie it and bring it here.
If anyone asks what are youdoing, just say the Lord needs
it and will return it soon.
The two disciples left andfound the colt standing in the
street, tied outside the frontdoor.
As they were untying it, somebystanders demanded what are you
(03:44):
doing untying that colt?
They said Jesus had told themto say and they permitted it to
be taken.
Then they brought the colt toJesus and threw their garments
over it and he sat on it.
Many in the crowd spread theirgarments on the road ahead of
him and others spread leafy palmbranches that they had cut in
the fields.
And others spread leafy palmbranches that they had cut in
the fields.
Jesus was in the center of theprocession and the people all
(04:09):
around him were shouting PraiseGod.
Blessed is the one in whomcomes in the name of the Lord.
Blessings on the kingdom of ourancestor David.
Praise God in the highestheaven.
So Jesus came to Jerusalem andwent to the temple.
Looking around carefully ateverything, he left because it
was late in the afternoon.
Then he returned to Bethanywith his 12 disciples.
(04:32):
The next morning after leavingBethany, jesus was hungry, and
so he noticed a fig tree in fullleaf a little way off.
So he went over to see if hecould find any figs, but there
were only leaves, because it wastoo early in the season for
fruit.
But then Jesus said to the treemay no one ever eat fruit from
you again.
(04:52):
And his disciples heard him sayit.
When they arrived back inJerusalem, jesus entered the
temple and began to drive outpeople buying and selling
animals for sacrifices.
He knocked over the tables ofthe money changers and the
chairs of those selling doves,and he stopped everyone from
using the temple as amarketplace.
Then he said that evening Jesusand disciples left the city.
(05:36):
The next morning, as they passedby the fig tree that he had
cursed, the disciples noticed ithad withered from the roots up.
Peter remembered what Jesus hadsaid to the fig tree on the
previous day and exclaimed Look,rabbi, the fig tree you cursed
has withered and died.
Then Jesus said to thedisciples.
Then Jesus said to thedisciples have faith in God.
I tell you the truth.
(05:57):
You can say to this mountainmay you be lifted up and thrown
into the sea, and it will happen.
But you must really believe itwill happen and not have any
doubt in your heart.
I tell you, you can pray foranything and if you believe that
you will receive it, it will beyours.
But when you are praying, firstforgive anyone you are holding
(06:18):
a grudge against, so that yourFather in heaven will forgive
your sins too.
Again they enter Jerusalem asJesus was walking through the
temple area.
You know pause.
You know Jesus is walkingthrough that temple area and
there's a lot of folks kind oflooking at him a little
different.
Hey, hey, hey, jesus.
Hey, I wasn't, I wouldn't doanything wrong this time.
(06:39):
You know that little gun shyjesus.
This time the leading priest andteachers, religious law and the
elders came up to him and theydemanded by what authority are
you doing all these things?
Who gave you the right to dothem.
So I almost have this thoughtin my head they're still
cleaning up from the mess that jmade.
You know what I mean.
They're still fixing stuff andthey're going.
You see this mess.
What gave you the authority todo this?
(07:01):
Verse 29, I'll tell you aboutwhat authority I do these things
, if you will answer onequestion.
Jesus replied Did John'sauthority to baptize come from
heaven or was it merely human?
Answer me.
He talked it over amongstthemselves.
(07:27):
If so, they finally replied Idon't know, we don't know.
And Jesus responded Well then,I won't tell you by what
authority I do these things.
So, in other words, jesus issaying today ain't the day, my
friends, don't challenge theking, don't mess with the king.
If you're going to challengethe king, you're going to have
(07:48):
to bring that same energy.
You're going to have to bringsome receipts for what you got.
Don't mess with the king.
So let's break down what Jesusdid, first of all, when he came
into the city of Jerusalem.
They are there and they arecelebrating the king.
They're celebrating him for whohe is and he goes and he sees
the temple, and what he sees issomething that, if we're not
(08:08):
careful, we can misunderstand itunintentionally and by
misunderstanding it, we can endup not really understanding
what's going on.
So here's what would happen is,during that time, the Jewish
nation had been just dispersedall over the world because of
being conquered you know all thedifferent things and so it was
a really rough situation.
(08:29):
And so when people were comingback to Jerusalem and coming to
the temple for worship, theywere in situations where, a lot
of times, they were having totravel long distances, and so
what was happening was peoplewere getting opportunities where
they could buy the differentsheep that they were going to
sacrifice.
They could buy different things.
It was a service to the people.
That was not.
(08:49):
The problem was going on.
The problem was is that it hadbecome a business where no
longer were they trying toprovide a service, but they were
gouging people, something thatwould have cost, let's say, a
hundred dollars.
They were charging a thousand,because what can you do?
You can't get anything elsethat will make it work anywhere
else.
Literally, you can only getwhat you need here, and so we
(09:12):
can charge whatever, and thereis no competition.
And so that's what Jesus isseeing is.
He is seeing a gouging of thepeople, and he is going no, no,
no.
This is supposed to be a placeof prayer and worship, not a
place for you to gouge my people.
This is not right.
And so he just destroys all ofthat, because the king will not
stand for his people, when theyare trying to worship, to be
(09:32):
taken advantage of, likeeventually he'll take care of
business, right.
And then afterward they come upand they're like why, why can
you call the shots?
Why do you get to do this?
And he's saying well, how aboutthis?
You answer me this question.
Why haven't you noticed what'sbeen going on, like?
In other words, he's saying youknow very well that you have
(09:53):
your skeletons, that you're notdoing what you're supposed to be
doing because, see, john cameand he was telling them very
directly that you need toprepare the way for the, for the
king, you need to repent ofyour sins, all this stuff.
And they didn't believe him.
And so Jesus is calling him outon that and he is saying hey,
listen you, you want, you wantto talk real.
Let's talk real.
That's what he's doing.
He was trying to draw out whothey really were and they didn't
want to go there.
(10:13):
And so the answer to this or ornot the answer, but the point
of all this is don't mess withthe king.
Don't mess with the king, andcan I tell you that is both an
encouragement and a challengefor all of us today.
Here's the challenge Don't messwith the king.
Make sure that we take ourrelationship with God seriously,
(10:34):
because God does.
God takes very seriously thecommitment that he made to us.
He takes it so seriously.
He came to the earth, lived asinless life, died on a cross,
rose again and offers ussalvation.
It doesn't get any more seriousand his commitment doesn't get
any greater than that right.
So let's make sure we matchthat same energy with God and we
(10:55):
say God, you gave us your life.
I'm not going to give you myweekend, I'm going to give you
everything.
Make sure we don't mess withthe king.
On the other side, we trust thatwe don't mess with the king
because he's got us.
You know what that means, then?
Is that means that in this life, you know he said at one point
he said hey, you're going toreceive blessing along with
persecution, but to realizeGod's big enough to take care of
(11:17):
things.
I love this phrase.
One time I think it was CharlesSpurgeon that said this he said
God's word does not need to bedefended, no more than a lion
needs to be defended.
You just need to open the cageand he'll take care of himself.
And so we need to not worryabout our king being able to
take care of himself.
Just open the gate and let himout.
(11:38):
And so we're encouraged by wetake God seriously and we take
God seriously that he knows howto take care of himself and
don't worry about the rest.
Keep living for God, you keeptrusting in him and you keep
moving forward and watch whatGod will do.
Let's pray together right now.
God, thank you so much for today.
Thank you, god, that in thischapter it reminds us that,
(11:59):
jesus, you are humble, you aregentle, but you're not weak.
You are powerful and you arestrong and you are mighty.
You're above all we can ask,think or imagine, and we're so
very thankful for you.
Thank you, god, for loving usthe way you do.
We're thankful for you in allthings.
In Jesus' name we pray Amen.
(12:19):
And what God's word says inMark 8, verse 34, if anyone
would come after me, let himdeny himself, take up his cross
and follow me.
I'm so thankful that we have aGod worth following.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow for Mark,chapter 12.
Well, hello everybody .
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your host
, pastor Brandon.
Today, mark, chapter 11, andtoday's title is Don't Mess with
the King.
Don't Mess with the King.
This reminds me I told you guysa few days ago a story about
Michael Jordan and him being aHall of Fame.
Well, I was another MichaelJordan story.
(00:21):
I don't know why, I'm not thatbig a basketball fan, but it
just comes to mind.
Another Michael Jordan story Idon't know why, I'm not that big
a basketball fan, but it justcomes to mind.
And that is I heard a storyabout a guy who was a fellow
Hall of Famer and he said thatwhile they were both still
playing one day, he was having areally good game.
This guy was, and he saidMichael Jordan on the other team
was not having a very good game.
He was missing a lot of hisshots, whatever.
(00:42):
And so he said he started kindof talking to him, just kind of
having some fun with him, and hesaid you know, michael, looks
like you're getting a little old, looks like you don't really
got it anymore, that kind ofthing.
And he said Michael Jordanlooked at him and just said okay
, and he said over the next fewminutes he scored more points
than the other guy had scoredthe entire game.
And as he was leaving, he saiddon't mess with the king.
(01:09):
And it just reminded me of thischapter, because Jesus is
awesome.
Jesus is humble and gentle inso many ways, but if you push
the king, the king's going toshow how powerful he actually is
.
And we're going to get intothat in just a moment.
And once again, don't read intoit too much.
I'm not calling Michael Jordanand Jesus anywhere on the same
playing field.
You get it Okay, but make sureyou get your Bibles open.
(01:30):
Open them up because we'regoing to dive right into God's
Word.
While you're doing that, makesure you take just a moment to
like, share and subscribe to theYouTube channel and the podcast
.
Make sure you leave us afive-star review on the podcast
it really does help and makesure you're going to the Bible
Breakdown Discussion on Facebook.
I do a great job there everysingle day.
It's always a joy to read thoseand you can get all of that
information atthebiblebreakdowncom.
(01:53):
Well, if you've been with us, weare getting close to the end of
the Gospel of Mark and we havecalled the Gospel of Mark the
Gospel in Motion, because, youknow, in Matthew and in Luke you
open up with the birthnarrative of Jesus.
John starts with you know, thebeginning was the word.
The word was with God.
Mark is like, and then one dayJesus did this, you know, just
(02:15):
jumps right in, which is justawesome, because he just covers
so much in one chapter.
And today is no different.
He covers so many things in onechapter, but we are getting
into where Mark is rushingtoward.
He is rushing straight to thecross and we are going to get to
the place, to where it is now,about a week before the
(02:36):
crucifixion of Jesus, he's goingto enter into Jerusalem.
It's not the first time Jesushas been in Jerusalem.
He would have went at leastonce a year, his entire adult
life at least, and so he hasbeen been in Jerusalem.
He would have went at leastonce a year, his entire adult
life at least, and so he hasbeen going to Jerusalem.
But this one's differentbecause this is the year.
It's the year that he is goingto be crucified and is getting
ready for the Passover ceremony,or Passover feast, rather, and
(03:01):
it is right here at it.
And so we're going to jumpright into God's word and we're
going to see what it has to sayto us today.
Here we go.
Don't mess with the king.
Chapter 11, verse 1.
As Jesus and his disciplesapproached Jerusalem, they came
to the towns of Bethpage andBethany, on the Mount of Olives,
and Jesus sent two of them togo on ahead.
Go into the village over there,he told them, and as soon as
(03:21):
you enter it you will see ayoung donkey tied there with no
one who has ever ridden it.
Untie it and bring it here.
If anyone asks what are youdoing, just say the Lord needs
it and will return it soon.
The two disciples left andfound the colt standing in the
street, tied outside the frontdoor.
As they were untying it, somebystanders demanded what are you
(03:44):
doing untying that colt?
They said Jesus had told themto say and they permitted it to
be taken.
Then they brought the colt toJesus and threw their garments
over it and he sat on it.
Many in the crowd spread theirgarments on the road ahead of
him and others spread leafy palmbranches that they had cut in
the fields.
And others spread leafy palmbranches that they had cut in
the fields.
Jesus was in the center of theprocession and the people all
(04:09):
around him were shouting PraiseGod.
Blessed is the one in whomcomes in the name of the Lord.
Blessings on the kingdom of ourancestor David.
Praise God in the highestheaven.
So Jesus came to Jerusalem andwent to the temple.
Looking around carefully ateverything, he left because it
was late in the afternoon.
Then he returned to Bethanywith his 12 disciples.
(04:32):
The next morning after leavingBethany, jesus was hungry, and
so he noticed a fig tree in fullleaf a little way off.
So he went over to see if hecould find any figs, but there
were only leaves, because it wastoo early in the season for
fruit.
But then Jesus said to the treemay no one ever eat fruit from
you again.
(04:52):
And his disciples heard him sayit.
When they arrived back inJerusalem, jesus entered the
temple and began to drive outpeople buying and selling
animals for sacrifices.
He knocked over the tables ofthe money changers and the
chairs of those selling doves,and he stopped everyone from
using the temple as amarketplace.
Then he said that evening Jesusand disciples left the city.
(05:36):
The next morning, as they passedby the fig tree that he had
cursed, the disciples noticed ithad withered from the roots up.
Peter remembered what Jesus hadsaid to the fig tree on the
previous day and exclaimed Look,rabbi, the fig tree you cursed
has withered and died.
Then Jesus said to thedisciples.
Then Jesus said to thedisciples have faith in God.
I tell you the truth.
(05:57):
You can say to this mountainmay you be lifted up and thrown
into the sea, and it will happen.
But you must really believe itwill happen and not have any
doubt in your heart.
I tell you, you can pray foranything and if you believe that
you will receive it, it will beyours.
But when you are praying, firstforgive anyone you are holding
(06:18):
a grudge against, so that yourFather in heaven will forgive
your sins too.
Again they enter Jerusalem asJesus was walking through the
temple area.
You know pause.
You know Jesus is walkingthrough that temple area and
there's a lot of folks kind oflooking at him a little
different.
Hey, hey, hey, jesus.
Hey, I wasn't, I wouldn't doanything wrong this time.
(06:39):
You know that little gun shyjesus.
This time the leading priest andteachers, religious law and the
elders came up to him and theydemanded by what authority are
you doing all these things?
Who gave you the right to dothem.
So I almost have this thoughtin my head they're still
cleaning up from the mess that jmade.
You know what I mean.
They're still fixing stuff andthey're going.
You see this mess.
What gave you the authority todo this?
(07:01):
Verse 29, I'll tell you aboutwhat authority I do these things
, if you will answer onequestion.
Jesus replied Did John'sauthority to baptize come from
heaven or was it merely human?
Answer me.
He talked it over amongstthemselves.
(07:27):
If so, they finally replied Idon't know, we don't know.
And Jesus responded Well then,I won't tell you by what
authority I do these things.
So, in other words, jesus issaying today ain't the day, my
friends, don't challenge theking, don't mess with the king.
If you're going to challengethe king, you're going to have
(07:48):
to bring that same energy.
You're going to have to bringsome receipts for what you got.
Don't mess with the king.
So let's break down what Jesusdid, first of all, when he came
into the city of Jerusalem.
They are there and they arecelebrating the king.
They're celebrating him for whohe is and he goes and he sees
the temple, and what he sees issomething that, if we're not
(08:08):
careful, we can misunderstand itunintentionally and by
misunderstanding it, we can endup not really understanding
what's going on.
So here's what would happen is,during that time, the Jewish
nation had been just dispersedall over the world because of
being conquered you know all thedifferent things and so it was
a really rough situation.
(08:29):
And so when people were comingback to Jerusalem and coming to
the temple for worship, theywere in situations where, a lot
of times, they were having totravel long distances, and so
what was happening was peoplewere getting opportunities where
they could buy the differentsheep that they were going to
sacrifice.
They could buy different things.
It was a service to the people.
That was not.
(08:49):
The problem was going on.
The problem was is that it hadbecome a business where no
longer were they trying toprovide a service, but they were
gouging people, something thatwould have cost, let's say, a
hundred dollars.
They were charging a thousand,because what can you do?
You can't get anything elsethat will make it work anywhere
else.
Literally, you can only getwhat you need here, and so we
(09:12):
can charge whatever, and thereis no competition.
And so that's what Jesus isseeing is.
He is seeing a gouging of thepeople, and he is going no, no,
no.
This is supposed to be a placeof prayer and worship, not a
place for you to gouge my people.
This is not right.
And so he just destroys all ofthat, because the king will not
stand for his people, when theyare trying to worship, to be
(09:32):
taken advantage of, likeeventually he'll take care of
business, right.
And then afterward they come upand they're like why, why can
you call the shots?
Why do you get to do this?
And he's saying well, how aboutthis?
You answer me this question.
Why haven't you noticed what'sbeen going on, like?
In other words, he's saying youknow very well that you have
(09:53):
your skeletons, that you're notdoing what you're supposed to be
doing because, see, john cameand he was telling them very
directly that you need toprepare the way for the, for the
king, you need to repent ofyour sins, all this stuff.
And they didn't believe him.
And so Jesus is calling him outon that and he is saying hey,
listen you, you want, you wantto talk real.
Let's talk real.
That's what he's doing.
He was trying to draw out whothey really were and they didn't
want to go there.
(10:13):
And so the answer to this or ornot the answer, but the point
of all this is don't mess withthe king.
Don't mess with the king, andcan I tell you that is both an
encouragement and a challengefor all of us today.
Here's the challenge Don't messwith the king.
Make sure that we take ourrelationship with God seriously,
(10:34):
because God does.
God takes very seriously thecommitment that he made to us.
He takes it so seriously.
He came to the earth, lived asinless life, died on a cross,
rose again and offers ussalvation.
It doesn't get any more seriousand his commitment doesn't get
any greater than that right.
So let's make sure we matchthat same energy with God and we
(10:55):
say God, you gave us your life.
I'm not going to give you myweekend, I'm going to give you
everything.
Make sure we don't mess withthe king.
On the other side, we trust thatwe don't mess with the king
because he's got us.
You know what that means, then?
Is that means that in this life, you know he said at one point
he said hey, you're going toreceive blessing along with
persecution, but to realizeGod's big enough to take care of
(11:17):
things.
I love this phrase.
One time I think it was CharlesSpurgeon that said this he said
God's word does not need to bedefended, no more than a lion
needs to be defended.
You just need to open the cageand he'll take care of himself.
And so we need to not worryabout our king being able to
take care of himself.
Just open the gate and let himout.
(11:38):
And so we're encouraged by wetake God seriously and we take
God seriously that he knows howto take care of himself and
don't worry about the rest.
Keep living for God, you keeptrusting in him and you keep
moving forward and watch whatGod will do.
Let's pray together right now.
God, thank you so much for today.
Thank you, god, that in thischapter it reminds us that,
(11:59):
jesus, you are humble, you aregentle, but you're not weak.
You are powerful and you arestrong and you are mighty.
You're above all we can ask,think or imagine, and we're so
very thankful for you.
Thank you, god, for loving usthe way you do.
We're thankful for you in allthings.
In Jesus' name we pray Amen.
(12:19):
And what God's word says inMark 8, verse 34, if anyone
would come after me, let himdeny himself, take up his cross
and follow me.
I'm so thankful that we have aGod worth following.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow for Mark,chapter 12.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.