referenced as the wedding at Cana story that immediately precedes John's account of the temple cleansing
1 The third day, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there.
2 Jesus also was invited, with his disciples, to the marriage.
3 When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine.”
4 Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with you and me? My hour has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever he says to you, do it.”
6 Now there were six water pots of stone set there after the Jews’ way of purifying, containing two or three metretes apiece.
7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water.” They filled them up to the brim.
8 He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the ruler of the feast.” So they took it.
9 When the ruler of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and didn’t know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the ruler of the feast called the bridegroom,
10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when the guests have drunk freely, then that which is worse. You have kept the good wine until now!”
11 This beginning of his signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
quoted to describe the early temple cleansing, including Jesus making a whip and overturning tables
13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
14 He found in the temple those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting.
15 He made a whip of cords, and threw all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew their tables.
16 To those who sold the doves, he said, “Take these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace!”
17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will eat me up.”
quoted where Jesus says destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up, explained as referring to his body
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
20 The Jews therefore said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple! Will you raise it up in three days?”
21 But he spoke of the temple of his body.
22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this, and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
quoted to describe Jesus as a refiner's fire and purifier who comes suddenly to his temple
1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!” says Yahweh of Armies.
2 “But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderers’ soap;
3 and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to Yahweh offerings in righteousness.
quoted as the source of my house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations
7 I will bring these to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
quoted in larger context about guarding justice, welcoming foreigners and eunuchs, and God gathering all peoples to his holy mountain
1 Yahweh says, “Maintain justice, and do what is right; for my salvation is near, and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
2 Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast; who keeps the Sabbath without profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
3 Let no foreigner, who has joined himself to Yahweh, speak, saying, “Yahweh will surely separate me from his people.” Do not let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”
4 For Yahweh says, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and hold fast to my covenant:
5 I will give them in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters. I will give them an everlasting name, that will not be cut off.
6 Also the foreigners who join themselves to Yahweh, to serve him, and to love Yahweh’s name, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast my covenant;
7 I will bring these to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
quoted in larger context calling out hypocrisy, warning against trusting in deceptive words while practicing injustice
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,
2 “Stand in the gate of Yahweh’s house, and proclaim this word there, and say, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word, all you of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship Yahweh.’”
3 Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says, “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
4 Don’t trust in lying words, saying, ‘Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, Yahweh’s temple, are these.’
5 For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor;
6 if you don’t oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don’t shed innocent blood in this place, and don’t walk after other gods to your own hurt;
7 then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forever more.
8 Behold, you trust in lying words that can’t profit.
9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known,
10 then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered;’ that you may do all these abominations?
11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it,” says Yahweh.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Nathan opened Holy Monday, the day after the triumphal entry, by placing Jesus' cleansing of the temple inside the larger story of what Jesus came to do: purify. The sermon moved through the gospel accounts of that day, the cursed fig tree and the overturned tables, and pressed the question of what Jesus might want to drive out of our own lives.
What was said
Pastor Nathan began by acknowledging that there is a scholarly debate over whether Jesus cleared the temple once or twice. He made the case that John chapter two records an early clearing, at the beginning of Jesus' ministry when only five disciples were with him, while the synoptic gospels record a second one within a week of the crucifixion. He said he holds that it happened twice, but noted that if someone believes it happened once, John's account is simply the more thorough description.
The Malachi passage came next, not as a tithing text but as a prophetic frame for the whole event. The messenger who clears the way, the Lord who suddenly comes to his temple, the refiner's fire and launderer's soap, all of it pointed forward to what Jesus was doing that Monday. Pastor Nathan said the prophet's words, "he will purify the sons of Levi," describe exactly what Jesus was after.
When Jesus entered the temple courts, he drove out the buyers and sellers, overturned the money changers' tables, knocked over the seats of the dove sellers, and refused to let anyone use the courts as a shortcut for carrying merchandise. Pastor Nathan noted that Mark alone records that last detail, and it mattered: people were treating the approach to God as a convenience, a corridor for ordinary commerce.
Jesus then quoted Isaiah 56, "my house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations," and set it directly against what was happening: "but you have made it a den of robbers." Pastor Nathan read the larger Isaiah 56 context, which promises that foreigners and outsiders who seek the Lord will be welcomed, their offerings acceptable. The money changers' tables stood precisely in the court of the Gentiles, the one space designated for those outside Israel to approach God. The commercial system, licensed by the chief priests, was blocking the very people Isaiah said God was gathering.
The den of robbers phrase comes from Jeremiah 7, and Pastor Nathan read that passage at length too. Jeremiah stood at the temple gate and called out people who believed that simply being at the temple kept them safe while they oppressed strangers, orphans and widows outside it. Pastor Nathan named that pattern as "us-only-ism," the habit of dividing into factions and assuming our group alone is right. He said it showed up in the strange alliance of chief priests, scribes and Pharisees who all wanted Jesus dead despite disagreeing with each other about nearly everything.
The fig tree, which frames the temple account in Mark, came back at the end of the sermon as a picture of religious showiness with no fruit. The tree had all its leaves and looked the part, but there was nothing on it. Pastor Nathan set it alongside the triumphal entry crowd that shouted Hosanna and would be shouting crucify him by the end of the week.
The closing application was personal and pointed inward. The New Testament says the body of the believer is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and Pastor Nathan asked the congregation to sit with the question of what Jesus might want to forcibly drive out of their own lives. The theme he kept returning to was access: everything that makes it harder for people to come to God, whether it is financial exploitation, theological gatekeeping, or a Christianity that only ever complains, runs against what Jesus was protecting that Monday.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
The pastor mentioned that the money changers and sellers in the temple were running a normal, profitable business, yet Jesus drove them out because they were blocking people's access to God. What are some ways we might unintentionally put obstacles in front of people who are trying to draw near to God?
The pastor read from Isaiah 56, where God says He will bring foreigners and outsiders to His holy mountain and make them joyful in His house of prayer. How does that vision sit alongside the 'us only ism' the pastor described, and where do you see that tendency show up in church life today?
Alright. Good morning, everybody. How we doing? Hey. Would you stand with me, and we'll worship together?
Here's a good word from Psalm eight to lead us into worship. It's when I consider your heavens and the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you set in place. The psalmist is saying, well, who are we that you are mindful of us and that you care for us? Little old us. Lord, our lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.
Shall we sing
of it? Amen. A light of darkness oh your name is a word of truth oh your name oh your name oh
Amen. Y'all can have a seat. There are few announcements. Here they are. There are Bible studies that are happening and there are others that are forming.
There should be out there in the back representation of some of the Bible studies that are going right now. You can look and see if you can find a spot, contact a leader from there or you can get in touch with us in the church office and we'll try to find you a small group. Youth group, I think that the no youth group tonight is wrong. I think that was last week. There is youth group tonight.
Okay. Thank you very much. Good. So, youth group tonight is happening three to five here at the church. That is for middle school and high school for first B right here three to five here at the church and then high school which is sort of an association of all churches in the Valley is meeting at the tribe ministry center 06:30 to eight on Thursday evenings.
Awana, what's happening with Awana?
Yep. So, tomorrow's costume night. So costumes, fun over scary is what we're we're kinda shooting for there and Jordans are going to be feeding our volunteers at 05:15. So 05:45 to 07:30, I wanna.
Alright. Thank you. Sewing Peace Conference. It's happening this week. So, the staff of the church is going to be going.
A few additional folks are going to be going along too. November second through the fifth. So, we will all head out on Thursday. So, the the office will be pretty much closed. You can still call us and we'll try to interact and do what we can from there, but Thursday and Friday, there won't be the normal presence around here.
So if you wanna get in touch with us before that. Sow in Peace Conference is up in Billings, Ken Samby, and Relational Wisdom. Operation Christmas Child is upon us. It's happening. Amy Jordan, would you stand?
There she is. Amy Jordan is playing the role of KC this year in that she is helping out with Operation Christmas Child. She's sort of the coordinator. She volunteered. We said thank you for volunteering.
She that's her, Amy Jordan. That's her name. Boxes are available in the back of church back there. The packed boxes are due on the November 19. You can see our website for the packing restrictions and the packing suggestions, if you would.
We will have a packing party closer to the event. We'll announce when that's gonna be. So November 19 is the time frame. Grab your box today and get it filled. Oh my goodness.
Bump pause with someone and greet somebody. Would you stand? We'll bring them back together with a song.
Before the world was made, before you spoke it to be. You were the king of kings. Yeah. You were. Yeah.
You were. And now you're reigning still, enthroned above all things. Angels when saints cry out we join them as we sing glory to God glory to God glory to God forever glory to God glory to God glory to God forever forever Creator God, you gave me breath so I could praise you great and matchless name all my days all my days so let my life go a blazing offering a life that shouts and sings the greatness of our king glory to God glory to God glory to God forever glory to God glory to God glory to God forever take my life and let it be all for you and for your glory take my life and let it be yours take my life and let it be all for you and for your glory take my life and let it be yours we sing glory to God glory to God glory to God forever glory to God glory to God glory to God forever forever one who paid my debt and raised his life paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow
from Colossians and we're not making this up when we sing this this is real stuff Colossians that he cancelled the record of the charges against it. And how did he do that? He took it away by nailing it to the cross. That is that is what he's done with our our sin. Jesus' perfect life, his sacrificial death, and his resurrection.
And there's victory. Let's keep singing the gospel here in Glorious Day.
Me buried he carried my sins far away he rising he justified freely forever one day he's coming oh glorious day oh glorious day buried he carried my sins far away rising he justified freely forever one day he coming oh glorious day oh glorious day risingly justified freely forever one day he's coming oh glorious day my oh glorious day
You can have a seat here for a moment. This is the worship through giving part of the service and we'll invite the ushers to come on forward and we're going to sing the song, nothing I hold on to. Familiar verse from Proverbs three and a good reminder for us daily. We're encouraged to trust the Lord with all of our heart and lean not on our own understanding but in all of our ways to acknowledge him and he will make our path straight. Before we sing, Ray,
would you pray? Sure. God, thank you for this morning, for
this
beautiful, brisk morning, lord. Gathered in your name to sing your praises. Lord, I ask that you would take a portion of what you've given to us, lord. We we we're saying we trust you to do what you want done in this valley, in our hearts, in the uttermost parts of the earth. Lord, may we be a part of what it is that you're doing.
Would you bless, lord, the gift and the giver this morning to do your kingdom's work here in this body but spreading out from here all over the whole world. We ask that you would do your will and your way. Lord, that it would never lack your supply. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
I'll I lean not on my own understanding my life is in the hands of the maker of heaven I give it all to you, God. Trust in natural makes something beautiful out of me. I give it all to you, God. Trust in natural makes something beautiful out of me. I'll lean not on my own understanding.
My life is in the hands of the maker of heaven. I lean not on my own understanding. My life is in the hands of the maker of heaven. I give it all to you, Trust in that you'll make something beautiful out of me. I give worthy the with
wide I this mountain with my wide open. My
I will will climb this mountain with my hands. There's nothing I hold on to. There's nothing I hold on to. There's nothing I hold on to. There's nothing I hold on to.
There's nothing I hold on to. There's nothing I hold on There's nothing I hold on to. I give you my own understanding. My life is in the hands of the maker of heaven. I lean not on my own understanding.
My life is in the hands of the maker of heaven. I give it all to you, God. Trusting that you'll make something beautiful out of me.
Amen. Amen. It's time for children's church downstairs. Start now. There they go.
How are you all this morning? Fully awake? Alive? We were talking before the service in Spanish. You say, how did you wake up this morning?
That's a normal way to greet one another. How did you wake up this morning? Like, I don't even know. Yeah. Bright eyed and bushy tail.
Here we are. Jesus purifies. Period. Last week, we talked about the triumphal entry that was on Sunday. And today, we're going to be talking about Holy Monday.
So Jesus purifies. I just want to start with that. Harmony of the gospels, this is what we're going to be looking into today. So there's not a whole lot in Matthew. There's not a whole lot in Luke.
Mark adds another section Matthew will get to next week. But there's not a whole lot up here if you were kind of trying to classify it, squinting your eyes and read it, I can just say it's about cursing figs and flipping tables. Okay? It's that part. Jesus curses a fig tree, and Mark says the disciples were listening.
And then the flipping over of the table. So let's get to it. Now there is a debate among scholars, among believers, among people as to how many times did Jesus do this. In John, it's in John two. It is the next story immediately following, and there was a wedding in Cana.
Do you remember that story? The wedding in Cana where Jesus does this sneaky little miracle. The very end of that story says, and his first disciples came to believe in him there. And then it goes into this story. Now, the Passover Jews was at hand, and so he's going probably from Capernaum down towards Cana and goes on down for the Passover to Jerusalem.
And it says, Jesus went up to Jerusalem in the temple. He found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and money changers sitting there and making a whip of cords. It's it's a little bit more thorough. And to me, I believe that he did this twice. I believe he did it early in his ministry.
Of course, it's early in his ministry. He only has five disciples with him at that point. How much of a ruckus can a guy with five disciples make? He's been doing this every year and, oh, yeah, I remember he did that later on. But what we're going to talk about today is within a week of the crucifixion.
And so I believe it happened twice. If you believe it happened once, that's fine. John's a more thorough descriptor than the others if that's the case. Poured out the coins and money changers, overturned their tables and told thee those who sold these, take these things away. Don't make my father's house a house of trade.
His disciples remembered that it was written, zeal for your house will consume me. That is a quote from the Old Testament. Psalm 69. For zeal for your house has consumed me and the taunts of those who taunt you, Lord, have fallen on me. Messianic psalm.
So the Jews said to him, what sign do you show us for doing these things? What what what's your authority? What how do you how what what's going on? Why do you get to say so? We are the chief priests.
We're the ones who get to say so. Now this is in John. We're gonna come back to Matthew, Mark, and Luke. What sign do you do for showing us about doing these things? Jesus answered, destroy this temple and in three days, I will raise it up.
And the Jew says, scoffing already early in his ministry. It's taken forty six years to build this temple and you're going to raise it up in three days? That's ridiculous. John adds, but he was speaking about the temple of his body. And when therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
Oh, if you hadn't read John lately, go back and read it again. These things were written so that you may believe and in believing have life in Jesus' name. All about belief. The gospel of belief. But we're going to get to the synoptics here.
John wrote later than the rest of these. And he had probably, certainly, read and heard all of the stories. But John added some things to help. Some connective tissue, okay? I believe it happened twice.
We're going into this next. Now this is a collage. I try to use art whenever I can. This one is a collage made by Pascal McDaniel, illustrious artist. I don't know what the assignment was, but I kind of cracked up seeing her cutting out a bunch of pieces out of magazines, home wares magazines.
So there are tables in there And there's a little Jesus approaching and a bigger Jesus and a bigger Jesus. And he's carrying the cross right there, but these tables are all upside down. Yeah. Jesus flipping tables. On the next day.
So this is the next day after the triumphal entry. We covered triumphal entry thoroughly last week. On the next day, Holy Monday, when they had left Bethany, he became hungry. So Jesus' hunger was the occasion for this next unusual miracle. Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf, and that is the proper thing for this time of year.
It was normal for them to be very leafy and showing off. Very bright, big, huge, fig leaves are huge. Seeing from a distance a fig tree and leaf, he went to see if perhaps he would find anything on it. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves. For it was not the season for figs.
Thanks, Mark, for telling us since we're not all fig farmers like Amos. It was not the season for figs. Well, why would he look for figs on it then? Because it was leafy and it looked like it ought to have figs on it. He said, may no one ever eat fruit from you again.
And his disciples were listening. Okay. Let's come back to this. I've got this at the end of the sermon too. Malachi three:one through three.
Usually, if you hear a preacher preaching about Malachi, either he's doing expository and just hid it or he's preaching about tithing. This is not about either of those things, okay? Listen to this. Behold, I'm sending my messenger. This is the last authoritative word from the prophets before an intertestamental silence.
Four hundred years between the Old and New Testament. And the last of these prophets, most people agree was Malachi. And in his book, he says, behold, I'm sending my messenger. And I think about the New Testament. Where does it start?
Ministry of John the Baptist, the messenger. Right? It's like pieces of a plate that has been broken, put back together. So good. Behold, I'm sending my messenger.
He'll clear away before me and the Lord whom you are seeking will suddenly come to his temple and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of armies. But who can endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire.
Jesus purifies. He is like launderers' soap. He purifies. He will sit as a smelter and a purifier of silver, dragging the dross off the top. And he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver so that they may present to the Lord offerings in actual righteousness.
I love that. Now they came to Jerusalem. So Mark just said it was the next day. So they come to Jerusalem on Holy Monday. And as they're approaching from Bethany, this is sort of the view that they would be seeing.
See how much that temple takes up of Old Jerusalem? Coming from Bethany, that looks like your best access point, doesn't it? And he entered the temple area. The area is all around. I mean the temple proper is right there in the middle, but all this exterior is the court of the Gentiles, the court of the nations.
The court is where he was, the temple area. And he began to drive out those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds. Matthew says, and Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds. Luke says, and Jesus entered the temple grounds area and began to drive out those who were selling. He doesn't mention the buying at this point.
Luke doesn't have much to say about this. He overturned the tables of the money changers. And he overturned the tables of the money changers. The seats of those who were selling doves. Does anybody else remember this?
I remember the tables. He's flipping over tables. Oh, that's such a dramatic thing. It's like I lost at Monopoly. You cheated.
Flipping over tables, I have a reference for. Knocking over the seats of those selling doves just seems a little I didn't remember that. And Matthew says the same thing, and the seats of those who are selling doves. So if you were to go to Jerusalem right now, actually, I was talking to Nick about this. We went to Israel a while back.
And when you step off of a bus near Old Town Jerusalem, there are money changers. Are pretty much everywhere you get off of a bus or airplane. There are people who are wanting to sell you the local currency. The local currency that was accepted in the temple was not the Roman currency. So they had to change because they wouldn't accept filthy Roman coins.
But those money changers would and they would make you quite a deal with a little bit of profit for themselves, take care of their family, of course. Normal business. When Jesus walks into the temple grounds, he overturned the tables and the money changers and the seats of those who were selling to us. Oh, Pascal. Was Pascal listening?
Was she reading her Bible? Let's see. There are tables. I see them. Oh, but there's a chair.
There's a chair. There's a chair. She did read it apparently. Mark has one little extra note that Matthew and Luke don't mention. And Jesus would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple grounds.
When I said it looks like an access point where you're wandering down the hill and you just go, man, I hate to walk around this big old thing. I'm just going to go through and carry my stuff through there. And Jesus is like, that's not what this place is for. I also imagine Blake. I don't know if you all know Blake very well, but one of his favorite things to do is knock things out of people's hands.
When you're carrying something along, Blake just likes to walk by and knock it out of your hands. I don't see Jesus doing exactly that, but I couldn't get the image out of my mind, so I'm sharing it with you. Jesus wouldn't allow people to carry merchandise through the temple grounds. Zeal, John said earlier, zeal for the Lord's house consumed Jesus because he knew what the temple represented. He also knew that his body was the same representation.
It is God coming down to man. The temple, the holy of holies was a place that they had that was where heaven and earth touched. And Jesus said, tear down this temple talking about his body. This is where heaven and earth touch. I'll rebuild it in three days.
This is within a week of that happening. He wouldn't allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple grounds. Normal orders of business. That's not what this place is for. And he began to teach and to say to them, is it not written?
And Mark and Matthew. And he said to them, it is written. Luke saying to them, it is written. Now it's setting up a quote, obviously. What's written matters.
Jesus knew its Bible. Application point. Know your Bible. Know what it says. It really helps to have a pool to draw from, you know.
He knew Malachi. He knew Psalms. My house will be called a house of prayer. Where is that? Oh, my house will be called a house of prayer.
And my house will
be called a house of prayer
for all the nations, Mark adds, and I like that. That's the closer to the original quote. So where is this written? It's written in Isaiah. Isaiah 50 six:seven says, even those I will bring to my holy mountain.
I'll go back and catch up context in a minute. And I will make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar. For my house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples or all of the nations. That's Isaiah 50 six:seven.
May I share just a larger context? Prayer is communicating with God and it costs nothing. Okay? So Jesus is saying by running these money changers out, It doesn't cost anything to approach God. It doesn't cost anything at all.
What you need is humility. Nothing in my hands I bring. Right? It doesn't cost anything to approach God. And if we are putting steps in the way that are not that are that are hindering people from coming to God, that's not a good thing.
And I'm afraid that we do that. I'm afraid that we do that. So I want to back up and grab larger context for Isaiah 50 six:one. It says, this is what the Lord says, guard justice and do righteousness. Live it out.
Live it out. Pay attention to what is good and just and righteous. Guard justice and do righteousness. Put it into practice. So it sounds sort of like Micah six:eight.
He's told you, mortal one, what is good and what is it that the law requires of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God. For my salvation is about to come. Isaiah the prophet. Seven hundred and nine hundred, seven hundred years beforehand. For my salvation is about to come and my righteousness is about to be revealed.
Blessed is a man who does this. And blessed is a son of man who takes hold of this to guard justice and do righteousness. Who keeps from profane in the Sabbath and keeps his hand from evil. This is someone who's walking circumspectly, paying attention. Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord.
This is other peoples. This is not from the line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. This is not from one of the tribes of Israel. This is outsiders, foreigners. Let not any outsider, foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, the Lord will certainly separate me from his people.
I'm only a junior varsity member of this family. The Lord will certainly separate me from his people. Or don't even let the eunuch say, behold, I'm a dry tree. For this is what the Lord says, to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths and choose what pleases me and hold firmly to my covenant. To them, I will give my house and within my walls I will give them a memorial, and I will give them a name that's better than that of my sons and daughters.
And I will give them an everlasting name which will not be eliminated. Also, for the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to attend to his service and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants. Everyone who keeps the Sabbath so as not to profane it. People who take care with God's commands and hold firmly to my covenant, even those I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer, their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar. Now, I can just see the people selling in the temple.
Get your sacrifices right here. Come on in people. Get your sacrifices right here. These are the best of the best of the bleeding sheep all around. Come on in.
Get this perfect one. I'll make a deal on this one over here. Yeah. He's saying if they come with a humble heart, I don't care where they come from. If they're coming with a humble heart and they are seeking after me, their offerings will be acceptable on my altar.
For my house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples. The Lord God, the one who gathers the dispersed of Israel declares, I yet will gather others to them, to those that are already gathered. I'm going to be adding to my people. Isaiah sounds so much like Jesus. He says, I'm going to build my church.
Be sure of that. Oh, it's written, my house will be called a house of prayer, but you, you are making a den of robbers. Oh my goodness. Is that called fronting somebody where you just fronting and put them out there? Jesus just put them out there.
Who is the you? We'll see in a minute. My house will be
called a house of prayer for
all the nations, but you, you people, they just ran off some of those you. But the the people who were there and selling couldn't do that without permission. And where do they get permission? From the chief priests and the scribes. The I started to say Christian industrial complex.
That was pre Christian industrial complex. That's Jewish industrial complex maybe. They had made a business out of this. My house will be
called a house of prayer for all
the nations, but you, you have made it a den of robbers. Luke says, it's written, my house will be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers. The you stood out to me. The den of robbers did too, but the you stood out to me is that's a confrontational statement. That's saying, you're supposed to be the ones in charge.
And what you have allowed in is really reprehensible. It's not anything like its original intent. And you did it for your own gain. A den of robbers. Here, Jeremiah seven eleven is the quote on this one.
I may go full on larger context on this one too, but Jeremiah seven eleven is where you find this. Has this house which is called by my name become a den of robbers in your oversight or in your sight, in your time here, in your tenure here? Has my house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers because of you? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord. That's Jeremiah speaking through his faithful weeping prophet.
So in the larger context, listen to this. One through 11 says this, The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, stand at the gate of the Lord's house, the temple, right? Stand at the gate of the Lord's house and proclaim there this word and say, hear the word of the Lord all of you Judah who enter by these gates to worship the Lord. Everybody coming in, listen up. This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says, amend your ways and your deeds and I will let you live in this place.
Do not trust in deceptive words saying, this is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a person and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place nor follow other gods to your own ruin, then I'll let you live in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. Behold, now he's going to tell them what's happening. You are trusting in deceptive words to no avail. You're believing false prophets.
You're trusting in deceptive words to no avail. Will you really steal and murder and commit adultery and swear falsely and offer sacrifices to Baal and follow other gods that you have not known? And then come and stand before me in this house which is called by my name and say, we're saved. We're good. We're saved.
So that you may do all of these abominations? Has this house which is called by my name become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord. Calling out hypocrisy hundreds of years before Jesus was saying this and he's calling out the hypocrisy in it. And he's calling out a little bit of us only ism.
Right? Each one of the factions believed they were the ones that were right like the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the chief priests. We're complicit with the government, it's better not having anything at all. You know, they can justify themselves that way. Us only ism is very human thing.
Dividing up into teams. We want to do that. Have a story. Don't know if I've ever mentioned it here. Carl and I, being the good old strapping American boys that we are, went on a mission trip to Africa, tried to get a school full of school children to play Red Rover, Red Rover, send so and so right over, right?
And when we were trying to do that, we were, all right, all of you stand in line, hold hands on this side and then another team stand over there and hold hands on that side. And then you're going to run like this. And if we can hold you back, we get you on our team and then we get stronger and stronger and they get weaker and weaker. And when everybody is off of the other team, we have won. And when they started holding hands, they kept on going towards each other and they'd say, let's make a circle, a big, big circle.
We couldn't make them play. These kids knew that they were together. They knew that they were together and they knew there's nothing that we could do to stop them from being together. I was like, let's make a circle. A big, big circle.
It's written, My house will be a prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers. D. A. Carson's commentary, this word just jumped out at me for this sentence jumped out at me for some reason. Have first first first first time So the chief priest and the scribes heard this.
What did they hear? You did this. That's what they heard loud and clear. You're the one who said they could be here. And, yeah, I'm running them off.
Now in Matthew, there is gonna be a question about Jesus' authority. We'll get to it next week. The chief priest and the scribes heard this and they began seeking how to put him to death. We gotta stop this guy. He's messing up our racket.
For they were afraid of him because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. All those things we couldn't make sense of in the Old Testament and he's making sense of them. It's making so much sense that the people are listening to him and we're losing ground. And he was teaching daily in the temple, Luke says. Daily.
This is that's what he does. In wide open at the temple, but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among them. The leading men among them very likely were Pharisees. It doesn't say that. But that's what they like to be known as, the leading men among them.
We're not complicit with the government. We believe thus and so. We believe in the resurrection. Those people, the leading men among so that's strange bedfellows. Chief priests and scraps, they usually go together.
But the leading men among the people is the Pharisees, and that's a different faction. What we're trying they were all trying to put him to death. And yet, they couldn't find anything that they might do. Why? Because he was surrounded by people who were listening to what he was saying.
All people were hanging on every word he said. Kind of hard to murder somebody when he's surrounded by people that love him and are listening to him. So application and self reflection. What might Jesus be trying to forcibly drive out of my temple? Me?
And I'd ask you to ask yourself. You read that question. So it is about your own life. I think that a lot of times we read this, actually online I read this a lot where it says, Jesus flipped over the tables in the temple. Yeah.
You know what else he did? He was willing to die right outside that gate for the people that would put their trust in him then and now. I the the plan for this sermon, I thought there's nothing there. It's just a couple of verses, was share everything Jesus had done for the three years of ministry we know about. All of the goodness, all of the grace, all of the mercy, all of exhortation and rebuke, and all of the knowing their thoughts.
He said this, to bring them into the family of God. And then get to that and say, you know, let's don't be so quick to justify our own behaviors by saying Jesus did it. Jesus did it very, very righteously at the right time because zeal for God's house zeal for the approach to God. That's at that time, the approach to God was the temple. And, of course, it was Jesus.
Now what does the New Testament say about us? It says, Do you not know that your bodies are the temple? It is the place where the spirit of God touches earth. It is the place. And within our temple, we can allow things in that we should not allow in.
What is it that Jesus might be trying to forcibly drive out of my own life?
He
is like a refiner's fire and like launderers' soap. And he will sit as a smelter and a purifier of silver. And he will purify the sons of Levi. He will refine them like gold and silver. He will do it so that they may present their offerings to the Lord in righteousness.
I mentioned a couple weeks ago what was it that made Jesus angry. And I think we can say, well, first off, chronologically speaking, was when people refused to help a man with a shriveled hand for religious reasons. He noticed that a guy had a shriveled hand in church. And when Jesus was setting him free from that difficulty, they had a fit about it because it was a a Sabbath. Hindering children from coming to him.
There's a theme here. Hindering people's access to God. Hindering children from coming to him made him indignant. Blocking people's access to God, for gain. I mean, it's always bad, but when there is a financial motive like there is in this case, he drove them out in the hardness of the human heart, pride.
But what conquers that is his absolute humility. Oftentimes when you're arguing with somebody and it's just loggerheads, you're bumping heads and you feel like nothing's ever going to there's no peace that can ever come out of this situation. If one person will relent and humble themselves and begin to apologize. Oftentimes, not every time, oftentimes the other person will back down too because everything else is one upping the other, right? It's the old thing from the untouchables.
He brings a knife, you bring a gun. He puts one of yours in the hospital, you put one of his in the morgue. That's the solution is be willing to humble yourself and lay down your life for them. I think from this passage, us only ism is just out. We can't keep on doing that, people.
That is one of the biggest hindrances for people coming to God. There are so many denominations. There are so many big arguments. There are so many theological arguments. I know a bunch of Christians and all they do is complain about the world all the time.
If that's all they do, how is that attractive in any way? B, changing by doing what it is you feel God leading you to do. Not just pointing out how they're wrong, but asking God to show you how is it that I'm wrong. God, would you drive out all of those things out of my life that are hindering people from coming to you. Mark, on the next day, back to the figs.
When they had left Bethany, he became hungry. Seeing from a distance a fig tree and leaf, he went to see if perhaps he would find anything on it. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves. It was showy. It was really showy.
Now considering last week's triumphal entry and this week's cleansing of the temple, this is right between those in Mark. This is right there. And this is a very showy event, the triumphal entry. The crowd, Hosanna, save us now. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
By the end of the week, we're going be saying, crucify him. Crucify him. Judas betraying him, hoping to start the ruckus, the fight. And he said to him, may no one ever eat fruit from you again. Just religious showiness is worthless.
And the disciples were listening. Now, we'll get back to this next week when Matthew mentions it, but it doesn't say anything about what happened in Mark right there. It will in a minute. It will the next morning. May I end with Psalm 67?
I'm taking a deep breath. I love Psalm 67. This is a New King James version of it. That's because that's the one I have in my head, and I like it. Psalm 67.
Would you stand with me? We didn't say the Lord's prayer today, but we can't say Psalm 67 together. How about that? Would you pray this with me? It is a prayer that God would be blessing us so that others would know him.
Okay? It's the spreading circle that begins with the people who already know God and their willingness to be praising him amidst the storm so that others may know. Would you would you just recite with me? I'll flip when we get to the next slide. God, be merciful to us and bless us and cause your face to shine upon us.
Selah. That your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, oh God. Let all the peoples praise you. Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy for you shall judge the people righteously and govern the nations on earth.
Selah. Let the peoples praise you, oh God, and let all the peoples praise you. And then the earth shall yield her increase. God, our own God shall bless us. God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.
That fear is an awesome reverence because it's deserved. Lord God Almighty, I pray that you would hold absolute sway as the old song says, over our being hold absolute sway so that we can see, Lord, when we are about to make a colossal mistake. So that we can see when we're about to to slip down a slippery slope. So that we can see what it is that you're trying to drive out of our lives. May we be humble before you and one another and help each other on the way.
In Jesus name, amen. Since you're standing, would you just sing with us? One thing remains.
Never runs out Your love never fails, never gives up, never runs out on me. Your love. And I'll never ever have to be afraid because one thing remains. One thing remains. Your love never fails and never gives up, never runs out on me.
Your love never fails and never gives up, My debt is paid. There's nothing that can separate my heart from your great love. Your love never fails and never gives up, never runs out on me. Your love never fails and never gives up, never runs out on me. Your love never fails and never gives up,
Amen. And as a benediction, Matthew five sixteen says, just in that same way, be letting your light shine before others so that they may see your good deeds and be glorified, your father, who's in heaven. May it be so in Jesus name, amen.
