The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
John 2:13-22first temple cleansing, Jesus drives out sellers and money changers, disciples remember Psalm 69, Jesus speaks of raising the temple in three days
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.”
18 The Jews therefore answered him, “What sign do you show us, seeing that you do these things?”
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.
disciples remembered it was written, zeal for your house will consume me
1 Save me, God, for the waters have come up to my neck!
2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
3 I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail, looking for my God.
4 Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. I have to restore what I didn’t take away.
5 God, you know my foolishness. My sins aren’t hidden from you.
6 Don’t let those who wait for you be shamed through me, Lord Yahweh of Armies. Don’t let those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, God of Israel.
7 Because for your sake, I have borne reproach. Shame has covered my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s children.
9 For the zeal of your house consumes me. The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
10 When I wept and I fasted, that was to my reproach.
11 When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.
12 Those who sit in the gate talk about me. I am the song of the drunkards.
13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, Yahweh, in an acceptable time. God, in the abundance of your loving kindness, answer me in the truth of your salvation.
14 Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink. Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.
15 Don’t let the flood waters overwhelm me, neither let the deep swallow me up. Don’t let the pit shut its mouth on me.
16 Answer me, Yahweh, for your loving kindness is good. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, turn to me.
17 Don’t hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me speedily!
18 Draw near to my soul, and redeem it. Ransom me because of my enemies.
19 You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor. My adversaries are all before you.
20 Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found none.
21 They also gave me gall for my food. In my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.
22 Let their table before them become a snare. May it become a retribution and a trap.
23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see. Let their backs be continually bent.
24 Pour out your indignation on them. Let the fierceness of your anger overtake them.
25 Let their habitation be desolate. Let no one dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute him whom you have wounded. They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt.
27 Charge them with crime upon crime. Don’t let them come into your righteousness.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous.
29 But I am in pain and distress. Let your salvation, God, protect me.
30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 It will please Yahweh better than an ox, or a bull that has horns and hoofs.
32 The humble have seen it, and are glad. You who seek after God, let your heart live.
33 For Yahweh hears the needy, and doesn’t despise his captive people.
34 Let heaven and earth praise him; the seas, and everything that moves therein!
35 For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah. They shall settle there, and own it.
36 The children also of his servants shall inherit it. Those who love his name shall dwell therein.
messenger prepares the way, Lord comes suddenly to his temple, he is like a refiner's fire and will purify the sons of Levi
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.
Jesus finds a fig tree in leaf but no fruit, it was not the season for figs
12 The next day, when they had come out from Bethany, he was hungry.
13 Seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came to see if perhaps he might find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
Jesus quotes 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.”
God promises to bring foreigners and eunuchs to his holy mountain, his house a house of prayer for all peoples
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.”
8 The Lord Yahweh, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, “I will yet gather others to him, besides his own who are gathered.”
God warns Judah to amend their ways, asks has this house become a den of robbers, which Jesus quotes against the chief priests and scribes
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.
This message came from the "Harmony of the Gospels" series and covered Jesus cleansing the temple and cursing the fig tree, the events of Holy Monday, the day after the triumphal entry. Pastor Carl argued that Jesus is a purifier, and that what he did in the temple that week was exactly what the prophet Malachi said he would do. The sermon pressed the congregation to ask what Jesus might want to drive out of their own lives, and what habits of religiosity might be blocking others from coming to God.
What was said
Pastor Carl opened by explaining that he believes the temple cleansing happened twice, once early in Jesus' ministry as recorded in John 2, and once during the final week before the cross as recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The accounts differ enough in detail, including the type of animals mentioned, the whip of cords, and what the disciples remembered afterward, to support that reading. Most Christian commentators, he noted, reach the same conclusion.
The Malachi 3 passage set the theological frame for everything that followed. Malachi wrote that the Lord would suddenly come to his temple like a refiner's fire and launderer's soap, sitting as a smelter and purifier of silver, specifically to purify the sons of Levi, the ones responsible for temple service. Pastor Carl placed Jesus walking into the temple complex directly inside that prophecy: this is what purification looks like when it arrives in person.
When Jesus drove out the buyers, sellers, and money changers and overturned the tables and the seats of the dove sellers, he was quoting Isaiah 56, which promises that foreigners and outsiders who join themselves to the Lord will be welcomed on God's holy mountain and made joyful in his house of prayer. The Court of the Gentiles, the very space being used for commerce, was the space set aside for those outsiders to approach God. The people running the operation had turned the one place meant for everyone into a toll booth.
The second half of the quote Jesus used, calling it a den of robbers, comes from Jeremiah 7, where God confronts Israel for using the temple as a kind of religious cover while practicing injustice outside its walls. D. A. Carson's note on that passage was read aloud: the words warn against superstitious reverence for the temple while at the same time holding wickedness that dishonors it. The chief priests and scribes, who had authorized the whole commercial arrangement, heard themselves addressed directly, and that is when they began looking for a way to kill him.
Pastor Carl then turned to the cursing of the fig tree, which bracketed the temple cleansing in Mark's account. The tree was putting out a full show of leaves but bore no fruit, since it was not yet fig season. He connected that image to the triumphal entry itself, a massive and jubilant display that would curdle into "crucify him" before the week was out. The tree, he suggested, is a picture of showy religious performance with nothing behind it, and Jesus' words over it are a word against fruitless religious exercise of any kind.
The application came back to the temple image in a different direction. Because Jesus said his disciples' bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, the question the passage puts to each person is not "was Jesus justified in getting angry" but rather "what might Jesus want to drive out of my own life." Pastor Carl also identified a pattern in what makes Jesus angry across the Gospels: religiosity that blocks people's access to God, whether by turning the temple into a market, keeping children away, or the kind of "us only" thinking that makes the church unapproachable to outsiders. Whatever hinders people from coming to Jesus, he said, is the problem this passage is addressing.
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 said he believes Jesus cleansed the temple twice, once early in his ministry and once in the final week before the cross. What details from the two accounts struck you as different, and does the distinction change how you read either story?
Isaiah 56 describes God welcoming foreigners and eunuchs, people who would have felt like outsiders, into his house of prayer. Who are the people today who might feel like they are on the outside looking in, and what does that passage say to them?
Hey, here we are. Would you stand? We're gonna sing. I'm gonna invite Emily Feasor up here to sing along with me in leading love lifted me and it's lifting all y'all too. Glad that you're here.
Amen. Now, this one ought to be a fun one. Wonderful grace of Jesus. If you know your part, sing at it. Not all of the words will be on the screen.
The words that will be on the screen are going be the words that I'm singing. Sorry for you, Emily but if you want if you want a hymnal, they're up here and it's hymn number three thirty eight. This ought to be fun. Amen. It felt like I might yodel at the end.
Yeah, that is fun. Y'all can have a seat. I've got a few announcements. We'll see what they are. There are Bible studies that happen and if you're keeping up, they're about three to one on women's Bible studies to men's Bible studies.
So, fellas, step it up. Come on. There are seriously a lot of Bible studies on the back bulletin board out there. If you're looking for one, if you want to get involved in a small group of people that are looking to God's word, you can find one on that board back there and if sincerely, if you felt like, you know what? I think God might be moving in my heart to have me start studying something.
And I'd love to have other people study with me. Then let us know. We'd love love love to help you with that. Youth group. Don't pay any attention to the no youth group tonight.
Just look at the raccoon for a moment. Okay? There is youth group tonight. It does, it is happening. This is last week's slide.
Youth group is, oh, goodness. It is happening three to five here. Three to five here. High school, middle school, first B folks, high school, middle school, three to five here And then on Thursday, the high schoolers from all the different churches around town is sort of the Jackson Hole Youth Association is meeting at the tribe ministry center, thirty to eight. And that is a very well attended group of teenagers who trying to be the salt and light in the high school, in the classical school, in the community school, and in their own homes.
So, if you would be praying for that Thursday night gathering, 06:30 to eight, Tribe Ministry Center High School and there is youth group tonight, high schoolers, middle schoolers from first B, three to five tonight. Awana is a kids club. It's happened Mondays for years it's happened. Twenty eight or twenty nine years we've been doing this, it seems. 05:45, we will gather up and register out here and then come in, start off in this room.
And we're having upwards of 65 kids coming and we've got lots of volunteers. Tomorrow night is costume night for Awana. Costume night tomorrow night, kids club, 05:45 right here. The sewing peace conference is happening in Billings, Montana. That's happening on November second through the fifth, which is this week.
So, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Carl and I plan on coming back and being here for church next week But just to let you know, the church office staff, we're all going to be in Billings, Montana for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and we'll come back on Sunday, most everybody else will hang around. So if you would be praying about that. This is from Relational Wisdom three sixty. Ken Sandy is leading but there are lots of different speakers.
And what the world needs now is love sweet love. Yeah, that's true. But peace. Peace. Peace is what we need.
And we need to know how to sow peace. So that's helping. We have a few of you all are going with us too. So that's good. Boxes are available in entryway.
I see that that stack is shrinking but we have more. We can fold more. We'll get them out there. Operation Christmas Child, the due date for these is the November 19. It is upon us.
It's just three weeks away. Right? So November 19, packed boxes. We will have a packing party just before that here at the church at some point. Amy Jordan is the gal that is in charge of it this year.
KC has handed that over to Amy Jordan. So if you would, grab a box on your way out and you can start to fill it. If you're looking for a a potential packing list or even some packing restrictions, things that you probably should not include, that should all be on our website and on Samaritan's Purse's website. Hey, this says, oh my goodness, Nick. Hit pause on the service and greet someone.
Would you stand up and y'all can greet one another? Thank you, Emily. Thank you. And Judy and all of you. Why should he love me so?
Thank you. Y'all can have a seat. I'm going invite the ushers to come forward. Thank you, him. Thank you, Judy.
This is worship through giving or the operatory time. I ask you to pray with me there silently while I pray aloud. Lord, God almighty, you are so good to us, lord. On this brisk morning, awaken with breath in our lungs. We're thankful.
Lord, just thankful for all that you have given for the cycles, the sun, moon, and stars, and their courses above. Lord God, I'm overwhelmed by your goodness and your grace. I just ask lord that I would be a carrier of that. That we would be carriers of that goodness and grace that people would see you when they interact with us. In Jesus name, we want for people to know that you are God.
We want for your name to be worshiped in among the nations. So, lord, would you take a portion of that which you've entrusted to us back and do with it as you will. We say, lord, we trust you. Show us your way. Give us the power to walk it out.
In Jesus name, we ask your blessing, your will, lord, done in your way. Amen. Amen. Wow. Sermon title, Jesus Purifies.
Jesus Purifies. God help us to understand. Maybe lord in a different light than we ever have understood before. How this is true. Amen.
Jesus purifies. So, last week, we were talking through the triumphal entry of Jesus. And the triumphal entry, all of us have heard the story before. We know before the end of the week, there's gonna be crucify him, crucify him. Right?
So it's hard to hear about that triumphal entry and to see Jesus literally crying as he looks down over the city of Jerusalem. This this week, I'm looking at Jesus purifying. So, this is the this is all we're we're covering as far as the text of the harmony of the gospels. If you don't know, I had somebody ask between service, is this part of a series? Yeah.
It's like a twelve year long, eleven year long series. It's a series of the New Testament in chronological order. And then we came back and we picked up the chronological life of Jesus in the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. I will read a little bit from John today. But I am of the opinion that this happened twice.
And I'll tell you what it is. If you're looking at these and you're trying squint your eyes to see what it's about, it's about cursing figs and flipping tables, okay? Cursing fig trees and flipping tables is the passage that's in front of us in the synoptics. And so if you look at it in John, it's in John two. That's early, right?
Now I know John may not be absolutely chronologically arranged. To my way of thinking, that's the easiest way to understand. That's why I've been on this for so long. And these are all in the week. It is the day after the triumphal entry in all three of these.
John doesn't mention that. And it's a sufficiently different narrative to believe that it happened twice. And honestly, if you read a lot of commentators, if they're Christian commentators, most of them say, It looks like it happened twice. If you look at Bible scholars, a lot of Bible scholars say, It looks like it happened once. Why would it have done it twice?
Well, but consider this. In John, I'll read it here. The Passover of the Jews was at hand. Then Jesus went up to Jerusalem. That's his normal manner, of course.
That's what people do. Three, four times a year, they're gonna go to Jerusalem. Passover is the big one. You're definitely gonna do that one. So Jesus goes up to Jerusalem.
In the temple, he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons. All of those are three different animals I mentioned in any of the other synoptics, even though they may have been there. And the money changers were sitting there and making a whip of cords, not mentioned anywhere in the Synoptics. He drove them all out of the temple with the sheep in the oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money changers and he overturned their tables.
And he told those who sold the pigeons, take these things away. Do not make my father's house a house of trade. His disciples remembered that it was written, zeal for your house will consume me. So everything about this is slightly different than the version told in the synoptics. Not because it was just they're making it up as they go along.
You'll see in the synoptics, it's very much lockstep. They're saying it's exactly as it is. I believe it happened early in Jesus' ministry. But Jesus by this time has gained quite a crowd. I mean, he came in yesterday, triumphant century style.
But it doesn't preclude this from having happened three years ago. Does that make sense to you? He came in, he cleansed the temple, and the disciples saw it and thought, wow, zeal for your house has consumed me. That's a quote from Psalm 69. For zeal for your house has consumed me and the taunts of those who fell on you, Lord, have fallen on me.
So that's what his disciples were reminded of. John writes. And then in John, he continues here and says, so the Jews said to him, what sign do you show us for doing these things? I mean, you've made quite a stir here driving people out with a whip. Why is it that we should listen to anything you say?
And Jesus answered them and said, well, this is the sign. Destroy this temple. He's at the temple, by the way, but he's saying destroy this temple and in three days I will rise it up raise it up. And the Jews then said, well, it's taken forty six years to build this temple. You're going to raise it up in three days?
That's ridiculous. They didn't get it. But it says, 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. His disciples remembered this incident and said this.
And they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. This last part is really important. In the Gospel of John, John twenty thirty one says, all of these things, I could have written a lot more. But all of these things, these things have been written so that you may believe and believing have life in Jesus' name. So if you look at where this is in the Gospel of John, it is immediately after the wedding at Cana.
Yeah, that's way back. It says, as a matter of fact, in the story about the wedding at Cana where he does this sneaky little miracle, turning water to wine. And he didn't do it for show for the whole crowd. It wasn't for everybody to see. His disciples, it says in verse 11, and his first disciples came to believe in him there.
There were five of them at the time. Right? It's early. And they remembered this and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. I think that happened earlier and then this happens really late.
This is the last week before the cross. This is I try to include art whenever I can. If I talk to Tanya about the sermon and she says, Did you put any art in it? When I say, It feels like it's just not popping. She says, Well, put some art in it.
This is by an illustrious collage maker. This is an artwork by Pascal McDaniel. And I don't know what the assignment was for this one, but if you can see little Jesus approaching and bigger Jesus here. And then the full grown Jesus with a cross already in hand is flipping tables. I don't see any figs.
But he has flipped tables, obviously. She had a lot of little things cut out of house magazines. And I don't know what the assignment was, but I like it. On the next day. On the next day.
So this is right after the triumphal entry. On the next day, Holy Monday, when they had left Bethany. Bethany is where Mary and Martha live. It's where Lazarus was raised from the dead. On the next day when they had left Bethany, he became hungry.
And seeing from a distance a fig tree in 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. Well, thanks Mark for telling us because we don't know anything about I don't know anything about figs. Some of you all do, I'm sure. But I'm not Amos.
I don't take care of sycamore figs. It's not the season for figs right around Passover time. That would be up around June is when the figs are ready. Well, why would Jesus go to it if it wasn't fig season? Because it was showing off a lot of leaves and he was just going to go see.
And he said, may no one eat ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples were listening. I love that he says, and his disciples were listening. John had said that earlier and his disciples heard this. Let's come back to this though.
I'll put these a couple of slides at the end to come back to this because I want to get to something else. Malachi. Usually if you hear a sermon on Malachi, it is going to be about tithing. That's the most normal sermon that you're going to hear about Malachi. But I want you to think for a minute.
Malachi was the last of the Old Testament prophets. It's the last authoritative voice for God. He was speaking for the Lord until we see the New Testament start and John the Baptist picks up. Right? I mean, in the gospels.
But John the Baptist picks up there. Malachi three one through three says this, behold, I am sending my messenger and he will clear away before me. I think that's John the Baptist. And the Lord whom you are seeking will suddenly come into 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. He is like launderers' soap and he will sit as a smelter and a purifier of silver. I mentioned Jesus purifies. That's what he does.
He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver And he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Specifically Levi, Levites. They were the ones in charge of temple service. Right? He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness.
Amen. Now, after the figs, then they come to Jerusalem. That asterisk means it's a historical present. They came to Jerusalem, then they're coming to Jerusalem. And on Holy Monday, they approach from Bethany.
So they're still seeing the same view that I showed last week. This is the temple complex, the temple grounds or temple area. And you see the temple proper is there in the middle of it, but there's plenty of space. And on these spaces, the colonnade is a place where there's a lot of teaching going on. But also the mid spot there around on both sides of the temple is the Court Of The Gentiles.
Court Of The Gentiles was supposed to be a place for everyone to be able to approach the temple. And I don't know if we think of the temple in exactly the same terms, but the temple is the place where heaven meets earth. It's where divine meets earth. Right? And approaching that meant approaching God.
And they come to Jerusalem and he entered the temple area and began to drive out those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds. Selling and buying on the temple grounds. Matthew says, Jesus entered the temple area, the grounds, and drove out all those who were selling and buying on temple grounds. That's pointing towards it being the court of the Gentiles. And Jesus entered the temple grounds and began to drive out those who were selling.
Luke doesn't mention the buyers, but just the sellers in this case. Jesus entered the temple grounds, began to drive out those who were selling. And it says, and he overturned the tables of the money changers. Matthew. And he overturned the tables of the money changers.
Then Mark says something that I honestly didn't remember. And the seats of those who were selling doves. The flipping tables, I think, is such a dramatic move that we can all see. We have always, we have all at some point played a board game with somebody who just went, I quit. You cheated.
And you see a flipping over of a table and that's a major thing. But I've never considered the flipped over the tables of money changers and then kicked over the seats of those who were selling doves. I didn't remember that being in there. And it's in both Mark and Matthew, the seats of those who were selling doves. Doves were being sold for a sacrifice.
And people that were making a long journey, you can look at it and say, well, all they were doing was just providing a service. Yeah, Americans. Yes. We're used to that. We'll pay $6 for a Pepsi or whatever, a bottle of water if we're at an event.
Yeah, they're providing it. But what they were doing was limiting people's access to God. They were hindering people's access to God. The money changers. If you were to drive up to Jerusalem now just outside the old town, you step off the bus, you're going to find yourself several rows of banks that will change your money for you from whatever you want to trade with them and they'll give you.
It still happens. It's the way of the world. Jesus is saying the temple should not be like the way of the world. It shouldn't just be normal every day. Well, this is the way we do things.
No. This is not the same as everywhere else. This is the place. Actually, I got to thinking about this whole flipping over the tables and knocking over the seats. And I was wondering, did Pascal pay attention to what she had read?
And so I examined her artwork and you know what? There's a seat and there's a seat and there's a seat. She was paying attention after all. So not just tables but some chairs. Mark says this.
Nobody else mentions it. But Mark says this. And he wouldn't even allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple grounds. When I showed you the image there, we had this is Jerusalem. It's huge.
There's a wall around the city. And this side of that wall, the temple, is the access point. But if you're coming in, it's like, man, I hate to go around that big old thing into one of those other gates. I'm just going to carry this right through there. And for Jesus, he was saying, this is a special place and it should not be that way.
Where he wouldn't even allow anyone, no, that's not this is not the place for that. This is not the time or the place for that. He wouldn't allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple grounds. Now when he was in John, I believe earlier on, yeah, him making a whip and kind of driving him out, that would have been a stir. But for him to come in with the power of a triumphal entry the day before and a group of people around him, a huge group of people around him, instead of it just being him and his first five disciples.
I'm just saying. He wouldn't allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple grounds. And he began to teach and to say to them, is it not written? Matthew tells it affirmatively. And he said to them, it is written.
Luke says, say unto them, it is written. You know, there's a little application point right here. And Jesus, when he was being tempted by the devil early in his ministry, what did he use? It is written. It is written.
Is it not written? What is written matters. Knowing your Bible helps. Knowing your Bible helps. Knowing what it says.
It can give you confidence that God is in charge. That it's not a duality where good and evil both exist in equal measure. God is almighty. The devil is a created being. He is on a leash as it were.
What is written matters. So Jesus is going back to what it says. It is written, my house will be called a house of prayer. Luke. And my house will be a house of prayer.
Mark. And my house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations. That's a more ample understanding. It's a more full quote. It's a quote from all of them, but it's more full.
So where is this written? It's written in Isaiah 50 six:seven. Isaiah 50 six:seven says this, even those, and it's talking about a group of people. I'll go back and give you a little context in a minute. Even those, most unlikely ones, I will bring into my holy mountain 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 the house of prayer for all the peoples. That's the quote that Jesus was saying. That's what it's supposed to be. It's a house of prayer.
Now prayer is communication with God and it costs nothing. If you put yourself in between someone and God and you for a profit are saying, well, if he's going to listen to your prayer, you need one of these doves. Hey, check out this sheep right here. Great deal on this little sheep. I've got this.
Go ahead. Take it for a drive. It's good, right? The point of carrying in your unblemished animal, whatever it is that you had, he just said, their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar. A humble heart before God is what he's looking for.
But if people set themselves up between folks who don't know him and access to God, the temple in this case, the temple Jesus, I'll rebuild this temple. If we're hindering people's access to Jesus for whatever reason, that's a problem. Let me give you in the larger context where this comes from in Isaiah 56. I'll just read the first eight verses of Isaiah 56. So this is what the Lord says, Guard justice and do righteousness.
When I read that, it immediately reminds me of Micah six eight. There's a big plywood a little plywood sign on the way to my seminary. I had to ride past every every day on the way in. There's a yellow plywood sign with blue hand lettered. And it said, he has told you, mortal one, what is good and what it is that the Lord requires of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.
That's what he's saying. This is what the Lord says. Guard justice. Don't take advantage of people. Guard justice and do righteousness.
It's not just about being right in the argument. Guard justice and do righteousness for my salvation is about to come and my righteousness to be revealed. Isaiah writing seven hundred years before Christ. My salvation is about to come. My righteousness is about to be revealed.
Blessed is a man who does this. Blessed is a son of man who takes hold of this. Garden justice, doing righteousness. Who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and keeps his hand from doing any evil. Someone who walks circumspectly before the Lord.
Blessed is he. Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, oh, wait a second. This says the foreigner, the outsider. This is somebody who didn't have the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, any of the 12 tribes of Israel. This is for an outsider.
Let not the outsider who has joined himself to the Lord say, the Lord will certainly separate me from his people. Woe is me. I'm a junior varsity follower and can never be a varsity. I don't fit. Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, the Lord will certainly separate me from his people.
Nor let the eunuch say, behold, I'm just a dry tree. For this is what the Lord says to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, the ones who are walking circumspectly, and choose what pleases me and hold firmly to my covenant. To them I will give in my house and within my walls a memorial, and I will give to them a name better than that of the sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name which will not be eliminated. They're mine, he's saying.
Also, to 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 and holds firmly to my covenant, even to those I will bring them up onto my holy mountain. And I will make them joyful in my house of prayer. And 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. Is anybody excluded from that?
Nobody is excluded from that. Every tribe, tongue, and nation, we are reaching out to them. If we are hindering them from coming to know Jesus, shame on us. The Lord God who gathers the dispersed of Israel declares, I will yet gather others to them, to those who are already gathered. I know who my people are and I'm reaching out.
And I know who they are and I'm adding to their number. So Jesus quotes, my house will be called a house of prayer. And it brings to the fore all of that song of Isaiah 56. It's written, my house will be called a house of prayer, but you Oh my goodness. Did he just say that?
You. Y'all actually technically. My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but y'all have made it a den of robbers. He's direct in Luke and in Mark and in Matthew. It is written, and my house will be a house of prayer.
But you, y'all, have made it a den of robbers. That is a very direct. So he's driven out the money changers. He's driven out the people selling doves. He's driven them out.
And then when he sits to teach, he's teaching the people who gave them permission to be there. Yeah, you all go ahead. Set up right there. It's just the Gentiles. This is a problem.
When he points and actually, I can tell you from the text who it is. Let's keep going. But you all, the chief priests and the scribes made the determination of who got to do what and where. You all are making it a den of robbers. Now den of robbers.
A den of robbers is also a quote. It's a quote from Jeremiah. And Jeremiah seven eleven says this, Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers under your oversight or in your eyes, in your sight, since you were the ones in charge, has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I myself, God says, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord. So that's Jeremiah seven eleven.
But I want to give you a larger context for that too because I think it matters to the story. They had a lot more residual biblical memory than I think most of us do and the world does. Jeremiah seven eleven start seven one through 11 starts like this. And the word came to Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. Forty years of faithful proclamation of what the Lord said, very little fruit before the exile.
Jeremiah seven eleven, the word came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, stand at the gate of the Lord's house. That's the temple. Stand at the gate of the Lord's house and proclaim there this word and say, hear the word of the Lord all you of Judah who enter by the gates to worship the Lord. Hear it. Everybody coming and going.
This is what the Lord of armies says. The God of Israel says, amend your ways and your deeds and I will let you live in this place. Now he had been proclaiming coming captivity. He'd been proclaiming coming exile. But 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. This is the temple of the Lord. This is the temple of the Lord. This is our place. 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 or the orphan or the widow, and if you 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.
Now what happened? They were exiled. Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail. There are a lot of false prophets in Jeremiah's day and they were saying, no, don't worry about it. It's a good time for us.
Everything's good for us. Everything's fine. Don't worry about it. But this is what the Lord says. Behold, you're trusting in deceptive words to no avail.
Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, 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. So that you may do all of these abominations. And then here is the quote.
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. What have we turned it into? What have we made it into? For those who are in charge, Jesus says directly, chief priests and scribes, you have made it into a den of robbers.
I like D. A. Carson's commentaries and I like his writing. I really like his writing. This sentence stood out to me, thought, from his commentary on Matthew.
Says, The words come from Jeremiah seven eleven which warns against the futility of superstitious reverence for the temple compound while at once holding wickedness that dishonors it. You can't have it both ways. And the chief priest and the scribes heard this. This is where I said from scripture, we know that he was speaking to them. Chief priests and scribes heard, you have made it a den of robbers.
When they heard that, they began seeking how to put him to death. Because he was threatening their livelihood. He was threatening their system where they were on the top. And they didn't like being threatened. They were actually afraid of him because all of the crowd was astonished at his teaching.
And it was upsetting their apple cart and their money changers and their dove sellers. Luke doesn't say as much about it as Mark does, but he was teaching daily in the temple. Jesus did everything that he did in the open, right? This last week, we'll see him going back every day to the temple. And and later on in the week, he will say, listen, I've been here every day.
You could've asked me any of this stuff at any time. He was teaching daily in the temple, but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people. So chief priests and scribes, I usually describe them as left wing folks that are complicit with the Roman government. But the leading men among the people, usually that's a reference to Pharisees. So these are strange bedfellows.
Chief priests and scribes usually don't get along with the leading people. Pharisees and Sadducees and chief priests and scribes. Later on in the week, we'll see Herodians even enter the crowd, another faction. The chief priests and scribes and the leading men among the people were all trying to put him to death, Luke says. And yet, they couldn't find anything that they might do.
Why? Because all the people were hanging on to every word he said. He had all those folks with him that had seen the miracles, were recognizing the message probably, most of them, recognizing Messiah. And they were the mighty throngs surrounding them. So the guys in charge were like, how are we going to do this?
How are we going to get rid of him? What do we need to do? Application and self reflection. So I mentioned, actually, I mentioned that the temple is the place where heaven and earth meet. And I mentioned that Jesus said that destroyed this temple and I will raise it back up in three days.
And that's his body. And at the time, he was for sure the place where heaven and earth meet. Fully God, fully man. You know what? He says to us, just like God's, the father sent me, I'm sending you.
He says your bodies are a temple. The temple of the Holy Spirit. If you are a believer in Jesus, your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit. And so I think a lot of times when we look at this passage Actually, I see this passage come up a lot on comments, online stuff. Jesus flipped over the temples.
It's fine if we if we get upset every once in while and show off. It's fine. Jesus did it. We can do it because Jesus did it. I'm like, I think you're missing the point.
What might Jesus be trying to forcibly drive out of my temple? If if you all read that, what what is it that Jesus might be trying to forcibly drive out that you are that you need driven out? Jesus purifies. That's what he does. What might Jesus be trying to drive out of my own life?
Wow. Lord. I I think the words are fairly it's probably 30 years old now, but I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it. It's all about you, Jesus. It's all about you, Jesus.
I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it. I also think of David when confronted by Nathan when he figured out that, oh, that's a grave sin. That he knew it was a sin when he got into it. But he was able to play it off like it wasn't a big deal until he sees how big a deal it was. And then his immediate prayer, he he runs toward God instead of away from him.
And he wants it to be purified. I'm going go back to Malachi three one through three here for a second. And get to this where it says, who can endure the day of Jesus' coming? Who can stand when he appears? Jesus is like a refiner's fire because Jesus purifies.
If you want for your life to be purified, the only way it's going to happen is by Christ doing it. Through Christ. His word. He is the word and his word will help. He is like a refiner's fire.
He is like launderers' soap. He purifies. He will sit as a smelter and a purifier of silver and he will purify the sons of his people and he will refine them like gold and like silver so that they may present to the Lord offerings and righteousness. We looked at a few weeks ago, what makes Jesus angry? I think that today we can say flipping tables, he was probably angry.
We can say that, right? When people refuse to help a man with a shriveled hand for religious reasons. Remember, was the Sabbath. He's in a little synagogue just passing through town. And they get so upset because he healed this man on the Sabbath.
And they wouldn't have done it. They wouldn't have even prayed for it on the Sabbath. Right? That made Jesus angry. Hindering children from coming to him.
Keeping children from coming to Jesus was what his disciples were doing. Tell this man to be quiet. Don't bother the master. Right? He says, no, calm down.
Bring them to me. I want to bless them, hindering children from coming to him. There's a theme emerging here, religiosity, thinking we know best. Blocking people's access to God for gain. If we block people's access to God, especially for our gain, that makes Jesus angry.
That's upsetting to him. And then I get down to it in the hardness of the human heart, just pride. Pride is very upsetting because God resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble. It's very hard, very, very hard, the hardness of the human heart. And I think that's what Jesus was crying about above Jerusalem.
He says as much that if only you had recognized the time of your visitation, but you'd have none of it. Us only ism. As far as an application slide goes, it's out. We cannot do that. We cannot do that.
Anything that hinders people from coming to Jesus, if you ask folks what's keeping them back, it's like, which one? Why would I go to church? What kind of church? Which one? All they do is fight.
They all argue over stuff that doesn't make any sense to me anyway. Why would I just pick a team and go for that? Us only ism is out. We cannot keep on separating. We must come together as the body of Christ.
Now, figs. On the next day, when they had left from Bethany, he became hungry. Seeing from a distance a fig tree and leaf, that looks like that would be good. It's all showy. It looks wonderful.
Look at how healthy those leaves are, showing off. The disciples were with him and he knew that. He went to see if perhaps he'd find anything on it. And when he came to it, he found nothing on it but leaves for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again.
And his disciples were listening. Considering the triumphal entry was just a huge show. Just a huge big deal. Hosanna, save us now. We know you're the one to whoop these Romans.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. This is all great and wonderful. Let's go into the temple and start there. Have a big rally. That's a big show.
But it didn't have any fruit. Before the end of the week, they're going to be screaming the crucifying. May no one ever just be showy ever again. May there never be pointless or fruitless religious exercise. There's a time that's coming when those who worship me must do it in spirit and in truth.
That's what Jesus is praying for and his disciples were listening. Is there anything else up there, Blake? Oh, yeah. Would you stand with me? We don't do a whole lot of responsorial reading, but we're going do one right now.
I would like for you to join in in Psalm 67 with me. We have this great Psalm of the spreading circle of God's kingdom. And so when he says, even to the foreigner, even to the eunuch, even to them, I will accept them, their sacrifices. I will accept them. My salvation is about to appear.
Would you read this with me? This is a prayer for God to bless so that we may be a blessing. For God to reveal to us so that others may know him. Would you just read along with me? This is from the New King James version.
God be merciful to us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us. Selah. That your way, Lord, may be known on the 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. Hold on a second. Selah means let it ring.
Let that ring out. Think about this. Why we can just be loving and worrying about our own selves instead of worrying about everybody else. Because God shall judge people righteously. We don't have to do that.
That's not up to us. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy for you shall judge the people righteously and you, Lord, shall govern the nations of earth. Selah. Let the peoples praise you, O God. 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 revere him. They shall hold him in awe and revere him because they see the purity in his people. If they see anything other than that, we are hindering them from coming to God.
In Jesus' name, Lord, I pray that you would cleanse us, purify us. Amen. As a matter of fact, we're going to sing Cleanse Me. It's a very plaintive prayer. Psalm one thirty nine, search me, oh God, and know my heart today.
We'll sing all four verses and pay attention to the progression as the verses go. The first one is forgive me. Search me, show me, forgive me, and then we move on forward from there. Amen. As a as a benediction today, Matthew five sixteen says this, and in just the same way and I think it kinda goes with the sermon.
And in just the same way, y'all be letting your light shine before others so that they may see your good deeds and be glorifying your father who is in heaven. Lord God, may it be so in Jesus name, amen.
