The Great Oversight

Mark 12:18-34 · 2025-02-09 · Jason Wolin · Gospel of Mark | Cross and Crown

Mark 12:18-34 · Wisdom. The Great Oversight — sermon from Cypress Bible Church on BibleSlides.

The Great Oversight Slideshow for this message PDF Message Download Introduction: The Danger of Smart People Becoming Foolish It���s easy to think that intelligence prevents foolishness. After all, we kind of intuitively think, that smart people should make wise choices, right? Yet, Scripture warns us that being intelligence or even wise is no guarantee for wise living. For example, Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived. But even a wise man can be a fool. Solomon in acts of complete foolishness: married foreign wives and turned to idolatry. accumulated wealth and horses in direct disobedience to God overtaxed and enslaved his people. Being super smart or even super wise doesn’t always equal wise living. Even in our day, some very, very, very smart people have destroyed their entire family, broke down a lifetime of trust by looking at pornography or having an affair. No rational person would say that was worth it. That’s foolish. Some very smart, very wealthy people have squandered everything through high risk investments, or gambling or tried to take ethical shortcuts and got thrown in jail and lost it all. No rational person would say that was worth it. That’s foolish. Some very smart people have ruined their life through drugs or alcohol or some sort of substance abuse. Very smart people. That’s not worth it. That’s foolish. In fact, what we see in the gospel of Mark with the religious leaders is probably the premiere example of wise people acting like complete fools. Of all the things you could classify as foolish, I think this might be at the top of the list: going into full time ministry, studying the Bible and memorizing so that you can be a religious leader, teaching about how we ought to be longing for and anticipating the Messiah and then murdering him when he comes. I mean how does that happen? What this illustrates is that there must be more to the equation for godly living then mere wisdom or intelligence. Today, we will look at three ways smart people become foolish—by ignoring the power, the Word, and the love of God. So let’s start with the first. Now remember we are in the book of Mark and we are in the last week of Jesus life. Let’s rehearse the events. Sunday was triumphal entry. Given the reception on Sunday, why the rejection on Friday? The answer was Monday and Tuesday. Monday, Jesus cleansed the temple and cursed the fig tree. Tuesday Jesus is in the temple and the crowds are everywhere and Jesus enters into public debate with the religious rulers. First they ask him by what authority he does these things and he asks them a question, “John the Baptist – was he from heaven or from men?” And they can’t answer. Then Jesus tells a parable about them comparing them to wicked tenants who murder the son of the landowner. Then…

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