He is the Merciful, Judging, Pure-Worshipping Messiah

[0:00] If you would take your Bibles and turn to the Gospel of Luke, Luke chapter 19. If you're visiting with us, go in the chair in front of you, or next to that chair, pull out that black Bible, you see the black Bible there.

[0:20] Go towards the back and find page 64. You'll find Luke chapter 19. We're going to start in verse 28. Verse 28.

[0:33] And we're going to go to the end of the chapter. 28 to 48. 28 to 48. Of Luke chapter 19. Let me read the text and then we'll exposit God's Word.

[1:00] And after he had said these things, he was going on ahead, ascending to Jerusalem. And it came about that when he approached Bethpage and Bethany, near the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, Go into the village opposite, in which as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one yet has ever sat.

[1:22] Untie it and bring it here. And if anyone asks you, why are you untying it? Thus you shall speak. The Lord has need of it. 32. And those who were sent went away and found it just as he told them.

[1:38] And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, Why are you untying the colt? And they said, The Lord has need of it. And they brought it to Jesus. And they threw their garments on the colt and put Jesus on it.

[1:50] And as he was going, they were spreading their garments in the road. And as he was now approaching near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, saying, Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.

[2:12] Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to him, Teacher, rebuke your disciples.

[2:22] And he answered and said, I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out. 41. And when he approached, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, If you had known in this day even you the things which make for peace, but now they have been hidden from your eyes.

[2:48] For the days shall come upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank, before you and surround you and hem you in on every side and will level you to the ground and your children within you and they will not leave in you one stone upon another because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.

[3:06] 45. And he entered the temple and began to cast out those who were selling, saying to them, It is written that my house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a robber's den.

[3:22] And he was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people were trying to destroy him. And they could not find anything that they might do.

[3:33] For all the people were hanging upon his words. I still remember sitting on this side of the church building in San Jose.

[3:53] Not quite sure how old I was. 18, 19 years old. At that time, it would be a long story to explain, the pastor had left and the youth pastor, Doug Shiplett, was possibly going to become the pastor of the church at that time.

[4:11] He was considering, they were considering making him the pastor of the church. And I distinctly remember sitting on this side of the large auditorium of the church building. And I sat on this side as Doug Shiplett preached through the very passage I'm going to preach through.

[4:29] And the reason why I remember it distinctly is because he was preaching the sermon. And it was actually the very next Sunday that he shared with the congregation that there was a woman there visiting who was there for the first time.

[4:46] And she was a Jew. And she came to Christ that morning. From the passage that he gave. I still remember that. Because this passage focuses upon Jesus the Messiah.

[5:06] What kind of Messiah is he though? Not the kind the Jews expected. Come follow Jesus.

[5:18] He's the Messiah. You will find forgiveness of your sins. What kind of Messiah is he? Merciful. Judging. Pure worshipping.

[5:31] Death destined Messiah. That's the type of Messiah that he was. That's the type of Messiah that he is. He was destined to die. He was committed to pure worship.

[5:46] He was merciful. He was merciful. He was merciful. He was merciful. But he was merciful. That's the kind of king. That's the kind of Messiah that he is.

[5:58] The merciful judging. Pure worshipping. Death destined Messiah. It's like almost the title of like one of those Puritan sermons. You know. The big old long Puritan titles.

[6:11] You know. Sort of reminds me of. To all outcasts. Come follow Jesus. The Messiah. Find forgiveness of your sins. What kind of Messiah is he?

[6:22] The merciful judging. Pure worshipping. Death destined Messiah. I'll put it on the screen in the statement. What kind of Messiah was he? Jesus was or is the Messiah.

[6:33] The king of Israel. Who is full of mercy. He proclaimed judgment. Committed to pure worship. And destined to die. In order to bring peace with God. To the Jew first.

[6:44] And then to the world. To the Jew first. And then to the world. Three major events.

[6:56] Are going to take place. Passover week. Jesus' controversial approach to Jerusalem. His weeping over the city. And then he's cleaning out the temple.

[7:07] These three we see at the beginning of Passover week. But in all of this. The emphasis. Is on Jesus' coming rejection. That will be the highlight of the events.

[7:18] When he will be crucified. He will do his father's will. It begins to unfold. How much his citizens hated him.

[7:29] Remember last week. They did not want him to rule over them. Their master. Their king had come. But they would totally miss this day of visitation.

[7:43] They would miss the ministry of Jesus. And then his passion would begin. Actually starting with the temple cleansing. Because he was the Messiah.

[7:56] The kind of Messiah they didn't expect him to be. But through it all. Jesus. Was in absolute control.

[8:09] Over all the events that were tied to his death. He was directing everything in order to accomplish. His father's will. By having a people for whom he would die for.

[8:21] A people who would proclaim God's great grace. Receiving God's kindness. And then they would pass it on to others. They would proclaim this kindness.

[8:32] And display this kindness towards others. That's what they would do. That was God's intent. To the Jew first. And then to the world. As his events began to unfold.

[8:47] The appeal would be. The fulfillment of scripture. Even to the very rejection by the religious leaders. The stone which the builders rejected. He's the cornerstone.

[9:00] These religious leaders. Who were supposed to be lean. And saying yes. This is our Messiah. Yes he's right here. Actually they're protesting. They're telling Jesus' disciples.

[9:12] Shut your mouths. Jesus shut their mouths. And then Jesus would say. If they didn't speak the creation word. We'll see that in a moment.

[9:25] We'll see how Jesus acted in three different ways in our passage. The first Jesus would weep over Jerusalem. Because she followed her leaders. Who kept her from responding to Jesus in faith.

[9:36] To reject God's messenger. That would bring the consequence of national judgment. They would fall. Second he would cleanse.

[9:49] Also cleanse the temple. As a prophetic messianic act. That showed how sick the nation's religious system was. That's all it was. It was just a system.

[10:00] A condition. A condition. And. We would find out later. Much of the money that was. Coming in from the temple. It was going right to the high priest family.

[10:12] Going right over to them. These leaders were endorsing this. They were endorsing highway robbery. God was offended.

[10:24] Jesus was offended. Last. Jesus was teaching in the temple daily. Which would bring even more of a sting to the religious leaders. They wanted him dead.

[10:37] But they couldn't do a thing about it. Because the people loved to hear Jesus. Hanging on his word. Listening to him. And there's some positive points.

[10:48] That we'll see in the text. But as I said to you a couple weeks ago. It's going to begin to spiral downward. Lord. Chapter 19. Verses 1 through 10. Was like the great news.

[10:58] The good news. Of the past. Because at that point. Things will begin to spiral downward. And there will not be good news. Until the resurrection of Christ. Because it's all leading to the head.

[11:10] The climax. Which is the death of the Messiah. The truth of who he was. And yet that was hidden from them. It was hidden from the leaders. It was hidden from the city.

[11:21] They could not see it. And really they would not see it. Would not see. Because it was according to the predetermined plan. And foreknowledge of God.

[11:31] That they would crucify their Messiah. And yet because they were responsible to Jesus. Responsible to respond to Jesus that is.

[11:41] But they rejected him. They and the people would be besieged. And they would be destroyed. Make no mistake about it.

[11:53] Israel was. Israel is God's chosen people. Bearing the covenants of promise. But being an Israeli.

[12:04] It does not give one automatic citizenship in God's kingdom. Does that make sense? Jesus must be embraced.

[12:16] Jesus must be embraced. So someone who walks according to the way of Jesus. To walk in Jesus' way means you love like he loved. You're generous like he was generous.

[12:28] And you face rejection and suffering like he was rejected and he suffered. That's what it means. Look. If anyone wishes to follow Jesus. She or he must deny himself.

[12:40] Take up the cross and follow Jesus. It means you respond in great joy and delight. Giving to others. Because Jesus has given so much to you. Given so much for you.

[12:51] You're just overflowing. You're just flowing out. Bubbling out. This love and grace. Because that's been given to you.

[13:01] Grace and peace has been given to me. I'm going to display that to others. And this message of forgiveness.

[13:12] This message of grace. Is for the Jew first. And then to Gentiles. It's for everyone. Anyone can come.

[13:23] And you will find forgiveness of sins. So let's go through our passage now. Let's look through it. And first. As we see as a first point.

[13:34] First point we'll see is. Jesus is the Messiah. The King of Israel. That's the emphasis in verses 28-40. 28-29.

[13:46] He said these saints in. Which is the parable. In verses 11-27. He's going on ahead. Ascending to Jerusalem. Going up to Jerusalem. Because it's on a hill.

[13:58] Came about. And when he approached Bethpage. Bethany. Did the mount. It's called Olivet. He sent two of the disciples. Verse 30. Going to the village opposite. In which as you enter. You'll find a colt tied.

[14:10] No one has yet ever sat. Untie it. Bring it here. He arrived east of the city. Near Olivet. It was directly across from the temple.

[14:23] A place where Christ would come. And defend. According to Zachariah chapter 14. So people are just ecstatic. His disciples are. They're excited.

[14:33] Yeah. Yeah. This is awesome. Look at Jesus. He's coming. Yeah. He's the King. What's going to happen? And so he sends his disciples. Get the animal. A colt. No one has sat on it.

[14:45] Untie it. Bring it here. 31. If someone asks you why you're untying it. Speak. The Lord has needed it. Verse 32. They were sent away.

[14:55] They went and found you. Just like he said. 33. As they're untying the colt. This owner said. Why are you untying it? They said. The Lord has needed it. Okay. Okay. There you go. I mean that's right.

[15:06] Yeah. There you go. Here you see Jesus' knowledge and his control. Knowing when, where, why, how. Here you see God's divine right and power.

[15:20] Jesus' absolute control was confirmed. He orchestrated all his events which would end up leading to him going to the cross. He's in control of his own death.

[15:35] 35. They brought the colt. They threw their garments on it. They put Jesus on it. 36. He was going. They're spreading their garments on the road. They placed Jesus on the colt.

[15:48] The idea that they're thinking is in 1 Kings chapter 1 verse 33. David the son. David the king said to his servants. Take Solomon my son and put him on a donkey.

[16:01] And ride him in and say. Here is your king Israel. That's what they're thinking. A way to endorse Solomon's kingship. At that time they would use a donkey that meant kingship.

[16:12] That meant royalty. Now they use horses. But this is what they're thinking. They're thinking is. This is the son of David. He's on a colt. He's on a donkey. As well as alluding to Zechariah chapter 9 verse 9.

[16:27] Here comes your king. Gentle. Riding on the colt of a donkey. Jesus' choice.

[16:38] The colt showed his concern for prophecy. As well as showing who he was. He was a humble messiah. The king, yes. But a humble king.

[16:49] One writer says. Quote. Just a meek and lowly man. Riding upon the foal. Notice 36 and 37.

[17:03] He's going. They're spreading their garments. 37. He's approaching near the descent of the Mount of Olives. A whole multitude of disciples. They began to praise God joyfully. With a loud voice. For all the miracles they've seen.

[17:15] Saying. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. The disciples. They're spreading their garments on the road.

[17:27] This is a way to give Jesus the red carpet entrance. Red carpet treatment. It indicated their reverence.

[17:38] Along with their willingness. For him to take everything that they had. Really. And as they entered. As Jesus entered. They gave praise. And testified.

[17:49] What God was doing through Jesus. Again. You have to understand the idea. Because when you're seeing the Mount of Olives. A lot of eschatological value. To the Mount of Olives.

[18:00] Jesus coming upon that. His descent upon the Mount of Olives. Coming up. Up into Jerusalem. And then they're just shouting. Now. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. This is the king.

[18:14] They're praising the Lord. A loud voice. A loud voice. Megaphone. Megaphone. Megaphone. Where we get the word megaphone. Because of God's miraculous works through Jesus. What did he do? The deaf hear.

[18:26] The blind see. The lame walk. The dead are raised. The poor have the gospel preached to them. This is an amazing time. They're excited. Jesus had truly come from God.

[18:39] It was an exciting time. A unique time to watch God work through Jesus. To whom they gave their praise. Which is why they quoted from Psalm 18. They confessed Jesus as God's messenger.

[18:53] The coming king who would have God's authority to rule. Why Psalm 118? Which is. We read part of that this morning.

[19:04] Why? Psalm 118. It was read as a psalm for the king. Leading pilgrims to the temple. And receiving a welcome greeting from you.

[19:16] The religious leaders. The priests. They would welcome the king. It should have been the same thing here. It should have had.

[19:27] Jesus coming in. And religious leaders saying. Yes. Here's our messiah. Here he is. They should welcome God's leader. God's agent.

[19:38] God's messiah. The cry was hopeful. Because. God's messiah. His king was finally here. And usually. Right.

[19:49] Jesus would tell them to be quiet. Shh. Don't say anything. Right. The whole time in the gospel of Luke. When Jesus does something. He would tell them. Shh. Just be quiet.

[19:59] Don't say anything. He would tell them to be quiet. He would withdraw from crowds. But here. He openly. Publicly. Showed. Himself to be Israel's messiah.

[20:10] Her savior. Who would bring peace in heaven. Notice that? What peace? Peace. Peace from the Romans.

[20:25] Salvation comes in the king. So peace and joy can now be proclaimed. Similar to Jesus' birth. Remember the angels? Glory to God in the highest and on earth.

[20:38] Peace. Peace. It will be through this one. God's messiah. That God will reconcile humanity to himself.

[20:49] And through whom he will reassert his rule over fallen creation. It's a type of peace. But wait a minute.

[21:00] I don't think they realize something. Yet what they didn't realize was that the way to reconcile evil humanity would be through crucifixion.

[21:16] Facing the onslaught of God's fierce just wrath upon sinners. For sinners. They didn't expect that, did they? The cries of joy and gladness would change to tears and pain and despair in just five days.

[21:45] Six days. Jesus entered the city. Presenting himself as Israel's king.

[21:55] Who brought hope to the nation and to the world. Yet it was not the hope that they expected. Yet. So we will see how the leaders, they had already rejected Jesus.

[22:10] They already rejected him. And now they're going to go even far. They want him killed. Because he was an imposter. An imposter. Why? Because the people were expecting a coup.

[22:21] A military coup to come. Awesome. The Romans are going to be gone. And now they're going to be gone. Even though Jesus, on numerous, numerous occasions, he spoke contrary to that.

[22:36] Didn't he? He spoke contrary to a military coup. He spoke contrary to taking power and authority like that. He said things like, be merciful as your heavenly father is merciful.

[22:50] Well, that's weird. What was he doing? I don't know. Maybe he didn't get enough sleep that night. Just don't listen to that. So here, a king riding on a donkey.

[23:09] Later, a criminal bearing a cross. Their deliverer, yes. But not from the slavery of Rome. But be from the slavery of sin.

[23:25] So here he's coming. A whole multitude of disciples are, yeah. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And the religious leaders say, yes, here's a Messiah. No.

[23:38] 39. So the phrase of the religious teacher. Shut those disciples up. What are you doing? Don't bother their mouth like that. Maliciously told Jesus to rebuke his disciples because they were offended by their messianic confession.

[24:00] Jesus, they should not be saying such things. That's not right. Just a little side note to you. In your evangelism, be ready.

[24:15] You will face opposition. Antagonism. From others as you preach Christ Jesus and him crucified. They will tell you to be quiet.

[24:28] They'll try to silence you. And who does Jesus? If they're quiet, these become silent.

[24:39] The stones will cry out. The rocks will cry out as a testimony to who I am. So what's Jesus saying? I am the Messiah.

[24:49] That's just what he means by this. If they say, Solomon, creation is going to cry out. Even rocks are going to start shouting out with their little mouths going, blah, blah, blah. You know, that would be kind of weird. Like rocks, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[25:00] You know, big rocks. I don't know. How would they sound? That would be kind of odd. But that's what happened. So Jesus is saying, I am the Messiah. You know, it's ironic.

[25:13] Is that what the creation of who he was? They were religious leaders. Their hearts were hardened to the truth. It was a tragic, stinging charge for their lack of insight.

[25:28] So here's Jesus. He presents himself as the King of Israel. I am the King. I am the Messiah. I am your deliverer. I am the one that the Old Testament spoke of. Yes, it's me. Right here.

[25:39] I am. Point. But then things get different here. He's the King of Israel, but then we come to the next point. He's merciful. 41 to 42.

[25:55] And when he approached, he saw the city and wept over it. The only place you'll see this in the Gospels is here in the Gospel of Luke.

[26:09] Saying, if you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace, but now they've been hidden from your eyes. Proced of the city, Jesus began to weep.

[26:22] Not just simply cry. Not just, you know, wipe a few tears. The word actually means to sob, wailing. Because the people would turn their backs on him and endorse his crucifixion.

[26:37] Boy, mobs can be fickle, can't they? The religious leaders would not allow Jesus to gather these people in like a hen gathers in the chicks.

[26:50] Chapter 13, verse 34, and Matthew chapter 23. They would not let him do that, the religious leaders. Others. They wanted him dead.

[27:02] And yet here you see Jesus expressing such mercy and brokenness over the fact that they missed the opportunity for peace. If you only knew.

[27:14] If you only knew who I truly was. If you only knew who I am. He would repent.

[27:26] He would trust me. Is that interesting? He says, the things which make for peace.

[27:37] What were the disciples just crying? Peace in heaven. The essence of the gospel message is peace.

[27:51] Peace with God. Peace through Jesus. The opportunity came for them and was gone. You know, it's ironic.

[28:05] Part of the meaning of the word Jerusalem is peace, isn't it? Ironic that the people who live in the city of peace, they know no, no peace.

[28:28] He says, these things were hidden from their eyes. Well, that's odd. Hidden from their eyes, the nation, even more specifically, the religious leaders.

[28:42] But hidden, why? God sovereignly hid from them who Jesus really was. So that according to his sovereign plan, what would they do?

[28:53] It would kill him. Facing God's wrath for sinners. Kind of like what happened with the disciples. This was hidden from their eyes.

[29:03] They didn't get what Jesus was going to do. They didn't get who he really was. It was the type of Messiah that he really was. It was hidden from their eyes and yet, at the same time, they were culpable for their lack of sight.

[29:22] They would be judged because they did not recognize the visit of their Messiah. They had the revelation of the Old Testament. They had God's revelation right there.

[29:33] They could see oh, this is who he is. Oh, yeah. They could see what's happening just connected together, right? They would be able to understand that. observe it. They had the ministry of Jesus and what he was doing.

[29:45] They had absolutely no excuse. This is what we see as willful ignorance. But he's merciful. He's weeping over the fact that they don't see who he really was.

[30:03] Which leads us to the next point. He proclaims judgment. He's the merciful judging Messiah. Instead of peace, there would be death and darkness as a result of God's judgment upon them.

[30:17] Notice 43. For the days shall come upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank before you and surround you and hem you in on every side and will level you to the ground and your children within you.

[30:29] They will not leave in you one stone upon another. They will become objects of a fierce siege by the Romans. as payment for the leader's rejection and the rejection of the city.

[30:46] As they went into exile for their disobedience in 586, 722, the northern kingdom. 586, 586, the southern kingdom. So they would go into exile again for their disobedience.

[31:00] I mean, it's all this joy and this excitement that's taking place. I mean, everyone just, can you imagine, here's the scene, everyone's shouting, yeah, and then other gospels are throwing palm branches down, and here's Jesus weeping and then he's proclaiming judgment upon them.

[31:27] Can you imagine the scene, they think, is he talking to himself? It looks weird, he's like talking. He's talking. And it's all this joy and excitement, it's all a charade because of what was going to happen.

[31:48] Barricades, earthen mounds around the city, the enemy pressing its attack upon Jerusalem, it would be totally destroyed. Standard Roman procedure, would build a siege.

[32:04] The people, particularly their children, would die. Literally, dash the people to the ground. Wonderful sights. Wonderful picture Jesus is painting for us.

[32:14] Thank you, Jesus. The picture was dead bodies everywhere. The defeat would be total, nothing would stand. Rome would leave the city for dead.

[32:26] There would be peace, right? No, from peace to horror. From safety to danger. That's what happened in 70 A.D.

[32:39] 70 A.D., the Romans, Jews took back Jerusalem. The Romans came, they built a siege around the city preventing anybody from coming or going. No food, no water.

[32:51] Remember I said earlier, which we'll see it again in a little bit, it's about the temple and how the money would get kicked back to the high priest, his family. It was said that the high priest's wife who once basked in luxury, she scavenged the city streets for crumbs.

[33:10] That's how bad the famine was. The Romans eventually breached the first, the second, and then the third walls. the Jews, they withdrew to the temple mound, which was burned to the ground, not on purpose.

[33:30] What's recorded, what is said, is that because it was burned, the gold that was in the temple, it was melting, and it was melting to the cracks upon the stones. And so what the Romans did, they would tie the stones from off of each other so they could get to the gold so that one stone was not left upon the other.

[33:54] And as Josephus says, one million Jews were slaughtered, another 97,000 were captured and enslaved. Now there was Masada that took place, another Jewish church that took place later on in the 100s.

[34:10] But in terms of this thing that took place in 70 AD, this was the end of the Jewish state until 1948. Almost 2,000 years.

[34:25] That's judgment, isn't it? Why? They missed the opportunity to respond to the visit from their Messiah.

[34:41] You did not recognize the time of your visitation. They did not see the sign of the times that Messiah had come. They followed their leaders who were clueless. They were culpable.

[34:56] Yet truth was hidden from them according to God's purpose. Yet they would experience judgment while Jesus would be resurrected, be vindicated by God. Forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed to everyone so that the world can have salvation.

[35:09] And yet the Jews, even to this day, even to this day, their hearts are hardened to the truth. The hearts of Jews are hardened to the gospel.

[35:27] They refuse to embrace the Messiah. They can't stand the fact that Jews come up to them and tell them about the Messiah.

[35:41] Some can become so angry they would want to kill you. Talk to me about this Jesus imposter. Jesus knew destruction would come because he rejected him as their Messiah.

[35:58] It was all predicted. Jesus is saying, I'm not your enemy. And yet because of the rejection, an enemy would come.

[36:13] This was the point. The point is this. The cost is high if you reject Jesus. Repent, else you will face the destruction of God's judgment.

[36:25] Heed the call. Don't miss this visitation of grace. You're here, you're sitting here and you're going to hear me speak the gospel to you once again.

[36:43] You're going to hear me speak that God is your creator and demands that you worship him. The standard is perfection and you will not ever meet that standard.

[36:54] His love is conditional. You will never meet those conditions because you are a rebellious sinner. And yet, the Father sent his eternal Son who lived where you failed miserably.

[37:12] who was put on the cross and all of God's anger against sinners was poured out upon Jesus and God was so satisfied with what he did he brought him back to life and he did that for anyone who turns away from their sin turns away from a life of living in sin and puts all their trust all their hope in Jesus you will be saved.

[37:38] There's the gospel. will you miss this time of visitation? Will you miss it as your heart become hardened?

[37:55] What about us as Christians? What's the point for us as believers as followers of Jesus? As followers of Jesus we should be known as those are lives of humility before God.

[38:09] as those who humble ourselves join you to God in his terms and as those who show humble faithfulness to a merciful gracious loving God faithful because he's been so merciful and gracious to us in his son God loves to save sinners he loves to show his loving mercy when they humble themselves before him and that's what we as Christians we are people of humility because we realize that God didn't need to do any of this and yet he did and so we should be people of humility and of grace we will show the same love and grace to others because of what God has done for us our lives become the stage by which we show mercy by which we show mercy and compassion to others to stage our lives ready to face rejection and ready to suffer for Christ the king of Israel yes he was merciful he proclaims judgment and third he's committed to pure worship committed to pure worship how sick were these religious leaders how sick was their understanding of worship 45 into the temple and began to cast out of those who were selling saying to them it is written that my house will be a house of prayer but you have made it a cave of robbers the religious leaders built and endorsed a robber's den smack dab in the middle of the temple a place of worship a place of prayer and I told you earlier extra money the money that was coming in all this extra money was flowing right into the high priest family right into his wallet their worship in the temple was corrupt it was nothing but ritual nothing but just a service that you come to you do this you go blah blah blah go home blah blah blah well Jesus he condemned their usage of his temple in this way

[40:36] God was offended so Jesus physically acted against these robbers by casting them out an act that was considered blasphemous in and of itself Jesus threatened the peace how did Jesus threaten the peace because he's threatening their wallets they don't like that the problem was not the availability of the sacrifices but how they did it and how the leadership endures such an evil practice in God's house they're exchanging the money others are selling the sacrifices and guess where they were doing it right in the court of the Gentiles so then the Gentiles were able to come in and worship God because all the stuff is there all the selling is there all the ripping off is there one writer says with prophetic and messianic authority Jesus declares his moral indignation over the nation's worship which is led by the chief priest scribes and leading men of the people the gang of three and notice his reason he says my house shall be called the house of prayer he quotes from Isaiah 56 7

[41:51] God's house will be a house of prayer for the nations even says Isaiah people come from around the world to give glory to the God of Israel this is what is here for the temple it's here so people can give glory to God it's the way that they can see who God is see how God is worked in his people and the nation and they would give praise to him this is what is supposed to be called one of Jeremiah's most scathing messages to Judah why because in that time Judah as a nation they were unfaithful idolatrous they lived unjustly adulterers robbers thieves and yet all the while they're going to the temple Jeremiah says we go to the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord we go to the temple or that thing or that thing or that stuff but we're coming to the temple everybody's happy the righteous

[43:04] Jesus are not there robbers are there so Jesus applied this to first century Jews particularly the religious leaders who endorsed his wickedness the leaders had turned the temple into the exact opposite of what it was meant to be now it was a moneymaker they took advantage of the worshipers they kept gentiles from worshiping in that section because of all that robbing Jesus changed all that clean them out notice the first part of verse 47 and he was teaching daily in the temple he changed all that now the temple is doing what it's supposed to be doing now it is what he wanted it to be teaching and praying Jesus upheld God's honor keeping the worship of him pure without people benefiting financially from it if there's one thing that God hates absolutely hates is illicit financial profit through the truth which is exactly what the prosperity gospel preachers are doing today just flip on TBN and you'll see exactly what I mean send me 50 bucks and God's going to prosper you that's nonsense

[44:22] God hates that in essence Jesus was calling for repentance condemning this current temple practice by which people are being ripped off and the religious leaders are making a handsome prophet he rebuked the leadership for their evil commercialism in the temple so what do we take away from this has Cottonwood Bible church become more of a place where we want to entertain people or we entertain ourselves instead of us being a reflection of the glory of God the body of Jesus who care for each other serving and loving each other in a relationship this service is only one aspect let's not give this place or just being part of a church the thought that we have the

[45:37] Lord's blessing we have the Lord's blessing because of it not necessarily it's about having a relationship with the living Jesus in repentant faith not just about the ritual the sacrament of I'm going to come to church it's about a living active personal relationship with Jesus and with each other here's the church here's the people open it up and here's the people you know we laugh about that and everything but really keep in mind this is not a church this is not church that's not church that light that piano thing I don't know what it's called I'm a guy the wall plants those aren't church it's not church these are buildings people are the church people are the body of Jesus

[46:47] Christians that come together are the new temple we reflect God's community to the community to the world we reflect God's glory to this community to the world we are the church people church is just a Latin word for the Greek word ecclesia which means assembly the gathering people of church don't get wrapped up in this thought process that you come to church you come to service that's not church that's just one aspect of it these people come to a church service every day and they're going to hell it's people because now people are the temple you have all these people we are the temple and we're built together this is the reason why membership in a church is so important because membership the whole idea of membership is you're connected you're part of the lives of people there's devotion there's accountability that's what membership is all about it's interconnected that's what church means that's pure worship but when we come and we think it's a service that we come to and this is what we do then you know what you're just like the

[48:18] Jewish leaders you are he's the king he's merciful he proclaims judgment he's committed to pure worship unless he's destined to die the gang of three I didn't like what was going on they didn't like it in the very beginning now even more they really don't like it chief prescribes leading men among the people throwing to the temple as proper use hello they didn't like that they wanted an excuse to get rid of Jesus they wanted to eradicate Jesus because he threatened their authority their interest their reputation and their financial earnings he said they had to go they wanted to destroy him he's ruining us Jesus

[49:22] I said Jesus is calling him to repentance remember I said that earlier though Jesus called him to repentance it fell on deaf ears it fell on hard hearts nothing would change the rejection of Jesus they were trying to destroy him it says they would take different ways for which to get rid of him and yet notice 48 they couldn't find anything that he could do for people hanging upon literally they were hanging upon him listening they were powerless because of his popularity his teaching was drawing the people to him the crowds and yet what they will do is the leaders will end up corrupting the crowds and the people and that's how popular how popular was Jesus teaching on every word he had gripping power so powerful that the leaders knew they couldn't do a thing about it it would have to be under the table they would have to make it look like

[50:27] Jesus is really a bad guy they would have to make Jesus look really bad in front of the people and they'll do that Jesus confronted the leaders in the nation what choice would they make with Jesus leadership had already made its decision and they would use the people's false expectations to show that Jesus was not the Messiah that they wanted this merciful guy proclaiming judgment pure worship blah so they'll kill him but that's the kind of Messiah that he was he is he's the king he's a merciful king his arms are wide open to you he's a king proclaiming his judgment though he doesn't mess around he's a king who's committed to pure worship of him and he's a king where we will sing for eternity he was the one who died for sinners right let's take a few moments let you think and ponder and ponder and pray for God to take his word and to penetrate your heart think about what we've seen in his word and his truth you can pray of things he needs to repent of confess give praise for take a few moments to do that and then we'll do our time of giving our last two songs and our closing prayer just take a few moments and do that from to to