John: The Word Became Flesh - John 2:12-25

[0:00] If you are a guest with us today, we have been looking at the book of John. And we are in chapter 2 as Steve just read, beginning in verse 12, chapter 2 verse 12.

[0:15] And we have been looking at, John tells us why he has written his Gospel. And he concludes his Gospel with these verses toward the end of the Gospel.

[0:29] He says, Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of the disciples that are not written in this book. But these were written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.

[0:45] We saw last week how Jesus at the wedding at Cana, how He turns water into wine and we reread the verse immediately preceding our text today in verse 11, chapter 2 verse 11.

[0:57] We can read that with me. And this was the first of his signs. Jesus did at Cana in Galilee and manifested His glory and the disciples believed in Him. And so we can see that John is on point and he will continue to be on point writing about the things that Jesus did and people believing in His name.

[1:16] We're going to get to this later, but look with me in verse 22. We can see that in verse 22 of our text today, 222, when therefore He raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this and they believed.

[1:28] The Scriptures are at the word that Jesus had spoken. And so we're going to see that John continues to write and people are believing in His name and affirming what they believe in the case of the disciples.

[1:43] So we come to this text today and I want us to orient ourselves. So I have a little confession. I cannot read a Bible without the helpful maps in the back of the Bible because every time I read a location, I think, well, where is that?

[1:58] I want to find where this is and know what the journeys were and such. So I want us to look in verse 12, our first verse. It says, and now after this, after the wedding at Cana of Galilee, and you can see up at the Sea of Galilee, just to the east of there, west rather, you can see a little red dot in its Cana.

[2:18] And I know it's hard to read from where you may be seated. But there's Cana and then He went to Capernaum and we see that in verse 12. And He went down to Capernaum with His brother and mother. So He goes from Cana up to the top of the Sea of Galilee at the top of the screen there, top of the map, on the top of the Sea of Galilee.

[2:36] That's where Capernaum is. That's where His hometown of ministry will be, His home base of ministry. We know that He was born in Bethlehem. He was raised in Nazareth. But as for His public ministry, Capernaum becomes His home base of ministry.

[2:49] He goes in and out of that place often. And that's where He finds Himself. But then we notice in verse 13, and the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

[3:01] And the reason why it's up to Jerusalem, now we know Jerusalem is at the bottom in the hill country there of our map, just to the top of this dead sea at the bottom there, up in the hill country.

[3:13] And so that's why it says up to Jerusalem, because everywhere you go, you have to go up to Jerusalem, no matter where you are. Jerusalem is up in elevation, and so they come down from Capernaum to Jerusalem.

[3:25] And John tells us the occasion why they make this journey. It says the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to the Jerusalem. And the temple was in verse 14, and the temple He found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and money changers were sitting there.

[3:45] John tells us the occasion, what brought Him to Jerusalem? Well, Passover. Now what was so special about Passover is in Exodus 12, it is prescribed that every male who was Jewish was to make pilgrimage once a year to Passover.

[4:01] Actually, there were three pilgrimage feasts, but this is one of the three pilgrimage feasts where you would have to go to Jerusalem for every male who was over 20 years of old.

[4:13] And this was written in Exodus 12, and Passover was the event where God had spared Israel, where by faith the Jewish people took the appropriate blood, and they put it on the posts of their door and on the lentil of their door, and the death angel went over Egypt and killed all who did not do that act of faith.

[4:36] The firstborn of every family, firstborn of every animal in Egypt, and there was a great, and all the Israel was spared of this, because by faith they did this act.

[4:48] And so to commemorate this event called Passover, they would go to Jerusalem and have this great festival of God's deliverance and salvation for them, for not being spared of God's judgment.

[5:05] And Jesus will become the Passover lamb later, about two years from this occasion that we read here in John, where he will become the Passover lamb and die for the sins of many.

[5:20] But there in Jerusalem, he is there, and on the temple compound, I want to, if you were to go to Jerusalem today, you can go to the museum, and on the roof top of the museum is this model of the first century Jerusalem with the temple mount.

[5:36] So this is where Jesus goes up to, and it says on there, there was selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and changing money sitting there. And then we read, and why are these people there?

[5:51] Well, it's a matter of convenience, really, but instead of the temple mount looking like this place of worship, it looks like a place of market.

[6:03] If we look at what Jesus says in verses 15 and 16, if you would look there with me real quick, and it says, making a whip of cords, he drove them out of the temple with sheep and oxen, and he poured the coins of the money changers and overturned tables.

[6:20] It's quite a scene, and then he told those who sold pigeons, so take these things away. Do not make my father's house a house of trade.

[6:34] Why were they there? Why were these oxen? And so instead of this nice pristine temple mount that we have pictured here, imagine more of animals, livestock up there and pins, Captain Pins, Josephus writes that up to a quarter of a million lambs were sacrificed over Passover.

[6:59] Quarter of a million. Now, we know oftentimes in the Kidron Valley, the valley that is just in front of this eastern wall here, is where often they would keep a lot of these pins for sheep and oxen and all of this, but if you knew the right person or had a little money on the side, perhaps you could get the temple mount location where you have pristine location for the selling of these, because you have to have the perfect lamb to be sacrificed as a family, perhaps in the temple.

[7:29] And so all of these animals that were there were appropriate. They were there to make sacrifice and people came from far to do this. So why do I say it's a matter of convenience?

[7:40] Because as we saw earlier, if we were in Capernaum, that's about 70 miles from Jerusalem. And so can you imagine bringing your appropriate sacrifice for 70 miles?

[7:51] You'd have to feed and water. And by the time it got there, the animal would be inspected and perhaps someone would say, this is not without spot and blemish because of this long journey.

[8:03] And so you would say, okay, I'll leave my animal that I'm going to sacrifice at home. I have this long journey ahead of me. And so I'll just bring money and surely I can buy something there.

[8:14] And so that's why all of these animals were there because people were making long pilgrimages to make the appropriate sacrifice. And so that's why the oxen and the sheep and the pigeons were there.

[8:25] And so they were making the appropriate sacrifice for the animals to be made on behalf of a family over Passover. And the money changers, what were they there for you? Well, every year you would have to pay a half shekel for a temple service.

[8:41] Every year you would have to make that donation and then also, and you know, and only certain currency was used here. And so at every money changer, you would exchange your money, but they would take their fair share of cut and then some.

[8:58] And the lamb that you could have brought from home would have been far cheaper than what you would have paid because of supply and demand. And people would be taking advantage of people.

[9:09] And so that's why it says, you've made my father's house a house of trade. Your profit, this is a racketeering effort here. Unconscionable what you're doing to your fellow man.

[9:29] And so Jesus makes this whip of cords and I see in that a great patience of the Lord. He did not demonstrate unbridled anger. He took time to make a whip.

[9:43] Then with his righteous anger for the glory of God, he cleansed the temple and the whip was for animals to get them to drive them away, not to be used on people and to remove them from the temple mount.

[10:00] And I think what do we learn here? What are some things that we can learn that we witness here? Jesus' passion for his father's glory.

[10:15] In fact, the disciples note his passion when they say, his disciples remembered it was written after he had demonstrated this driving out of all of these wicked men who are profiting unjustly from all of this, taking advantage of their fellow man to provide an appropriate sacrifice.

[10:38] His disciples remembered that it was written, zeal for your house will consume me. And so what do we observe here?

[10:50] That worship of God must not be diminished to a form. And let me try to explain that. Notice what Jesus said in verse 16.

[11:03] Take these things away, do not make my house a house of trade or a house of market. In other words, they had gotten the formal details right, but they had forgotten that God is to be worshiped.

[11:16] The money changers, as already mentioned, were providing a service for their worshiper. Herdsmen were providing an appropriate sacrificial animal. Everyone was providing an appropriate service.

[11:29] But what's the problem? And we will see this in John chapter four, that there is going to be a time that's coming, that neither in Jerusalem or in Samaria, that worshipers should worship in spirit and in truth.

[11:48] There's coming a time, two years from today, in our account of our passage today, when they will worship God and it will be not this worship of God will not be localized when the inauguration of the new covenant comes, that Jesus inaugurates in his death and resurrection.

[12:11] Worship will not be relegated to a localized environment like the temple. We will worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. And this has some bearing on the local church for today.

[12:25] I want us to consider what Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians 11 about the Lord's Supper and I'll get to that in a moment. But in 1 Corinthians, beginning in verse, throughout the whole chapter, or whole book of the Bible, but beginning in verse chapter seven, you see that Paul is addressing some problems in the church, one right after another.

[12:46] And Paul speaks to different factions in the church, and this is Scott's paraphrased version. And he has this way of reasoning.

[12:57] It'll be yes, but, yes, but. And so yes, he will say in chapter seven, it is good for a man not to touch a woman or not to commit adultery or immorality, but it is good, but it is good for a man to marry.

[13:11] Yes, later, it is good for not to eat meat offered to an idol, but on the other hand, an idol is nothing. And there is nothing wrong with eating meat to an idol, and nothing is contaminated in any way if you eat meat offered to an idol.

[13:26] So yes, it's okay, but even when Paul gets to the subject matter of tongues, he says, yes, I acknowledge that I speak tongues more than all of you, but in the church I'd rather speak five words in a known language or known tongue in 10,000 words than 10,000 words in an unknown language or tongue.

[13:48] It becomes part of the whole argument, yes, but, yes, but. And then we get to 1 Corinthians chapter 11 about the Lord's Supper. As I mentioned earlier, we read this verse, but in the following instructions, I do not commend you, because when you come together, it is not for the better, but for the worse.

[14:10] There is no yes in this passage. There is only, there is no commendation, there is only condemnation, there is only a rebuke.

[14:22] He only has a but, and the verse begins with it, but the following instructions about what she's going to say about the Lord's Supper, I don't commend you. He has nothing positive to say, but because you come together, it is for everyone's worse, it's not for the better.

[14:40] There is no commendation. Can you imagine the act of celebrating the Lord's Supper together as a church, and there is no commendation from the Lord and only a rebuke?

[14:52] He has that for the church at Corinth. Paul can't find anything good to say about the way in which they're conducting themselves when they receive the Lord's Supper. In other words, it is possible in our corporate worship to pull down the condemnation of God on ourselves as we meet and we do more damage than good.

[15:17] And this is what was occurring on the Temple Mount. Said another way, the worship of God must not be diminished to a form.

[15:36] How do these things define worship? It is not an activity that is only, worship is not an activity that is only relegated to one hour on Sunday mornings at 10.30 at 4th Memorial Church.

[15:52] Worship is bound up in all of life. We, we, I want us to read Romans chapter 12, especially verse one for today.

[16:03] I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, we're learning what is worship. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

[16:23] Presenting our entire self to God as a total surrender of one's life to God is worship. It's to be, we are to present ourselves holy. That is pure, acceptable, that is well pleasing to God.

[16:36] We find in Hebrews 13 that when we offer a sacrifice of praise, this is giving thanks to God as worship. We find in Romans 15 that worship is tied to evangelism.

[16:48] Sharing the gospel is worship. What is worship? Presenting one's entire self to God that constitutes worship. It is a spiritual service to the Lord.

[16:59] My mind, my will, my emotions, my mouth, my motives, my relationships are all enjoyed and should be expressions of my total surrender to God.

[17:13] Is every facet of our life a reflection of one's total surrender to Christ? Does your every word that you speak reflect one being surrendered to Christ?

[17:24] Does your every relationship and response to every relationship reflect one being surrendered to Christ? Does your work ethic reflect one as surrendered to Christ?

[17:36] Does your every motive and intention of one's heart reflect one being surrendered to Christ? Does every action, even when no one is looking, reflect one as surrendered to Christ?

[17:51] Worship of God must not be diminished to a form. It is your very life and every aspect of it is worshipful to the Lord.

[18:04] So we are here gathered for worship, but if we are in fact nurturing bitterness toward one another, if we can't talk to someone else in the room, if we are stingy or unwilling to give to the Lord at others, if we are steeped in unbridled lust, if we cheated on our last year's taxes, if our speech sounds more like a sailor than a saint, if our speech lacks kindness and charity and love and truthfulness, when we lose our cool with regard to our spouse or your kids, when we have no integrity with our family relationships, when we share lies over truth, we excuse our sin by saying, well, that's just the way I am.

[18:54] Perhaps we are not a worshipful people, and we too are buying into the lie that worship takes a form like what they were doing on the Temple Mount.

[19:06] And we have lost the heart of worship. Perhaps Jesus would chase a few of us out of the room as he did on the Temple Mount.

[19:18] God is not interested in forms, he is interested in reality is my second point. Reality of a true worshiper as those who live lives express gratitude to God, who seek to live accountably, who gather together in corporate worship for instruction and mutual edification, who keep short accounts of his fellow man and with God, and whose life is not perfect but is surrendered to God.

[19:51] The way we worship with our whole life reveals what we think about God. The way we worship reflects what we and reveals what we think about God.

[20:05] Before I move on to the other sections of our text, I find it interesting that the disciples remember that Jesus, after he removed from the marketplace the place of worship, they say in verse 17, and the disciples remembered in verse 17 that it is written, zeal for your house will consume him.

[20:25] This is a text from Psalm 69 verse 9, and in that Psalm, the Davidic king is suffering. He is being betrayed by his friends, he is made to suffer because those who he trusted proved to be untrustworthy in Psalm 69.

[20:44] And in Psalm 69, the Davidic king has a zeal for the Lord that cost him the allegiance and the support of friends, and it consumed him, it devoured him, if you will.

[20:56] And Jesus is this Davidic king who suffers and his zeal for the Lord costs him allegiances and the support of others. Zeal for the Lord does not win popularity polls in a fallen world.

[21:11] There is a desire in all of us to be liked. We want the approval of others, we do all kinds of things to hopefully gain the approval of others.

[21:26] We buy clothes, we purchase certain brands, we try to fit in, we avoid being thought of as odd.

[21:41] Yet throughout history, zeal for the Lord does not win popularity polls with a fallen world. And what did the disciples observe here in this text?

[21:54] They heard Jesus say, take away these things, do not make my father's house a house of trade. Notice Jesus does not say our father house, but he says my father's house.

[22:10] Here Jesus is claiming God is his father, that Jesus has this zeal for God's glory that is tied to the temple.

[22:21] Jesus' desire is that the people of God would radiate with the glory of God. We can see that in Isaiah 62, but he is zealous for God's glory.

[22:32] He is fiery for God's glory because Jesus has zeal, therefore he will be destroyed by it. So a couple of application points and questions for us to consider.

[22:47] Does God being glorified in every aspect of our life consume you? If we were to take a poll of your friends and family and ask them, what is the zeal that has consumed you?

[23:02] How would your friends respond? What is always on your tongue? What consumes your search history? What do you daydream about?

[23:13] What do you research continually? What is it that you set your mind upon? On Thursday, the pastoral staff had the privilege to go to Indian Trail Church and attend something that is called Spurgeon Fellowship.

[23:32] It's a place where elders and pastors can gather and be encouraged in God's Word. And this Thursday we heard from a man, his name was Andy Davis.

[23:43] He's a pastor at First Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina, and he flew out. He's probably the man who has memorized more Scripture than I know of anyone else.

[23:58] He, over the course of his life, has memorized 46 books of the 66 books of the Bible. And when he spoke, just God's Word fell out of his tongue, out of his mouth.

[24:14] And as he encouraged the pastors, and I thought, boy, here is a man who wants to know the Lord and knows no other way than to know his Word by which God has revealed himself, and he has a zeal for the Lord.

[24:39] Jesus has a passion for his Father's glory, and so it should be also for us. Secondly, what I want us to see is that Jesus' promise is to resurrect from the dead.

[24:56] We witness here in this text, Jesus promises to resurrect from the dead. Look with me in verse 18. And the Jews said to him, what sign do you show us for doing these things?

[25:09] And Jesus answered him, destroy this temple, and in three days I'll rise it up. And the Jews then said, it has taken 46 years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in three days?

[25:22] But he was speaking about the temple of his body. And therefore when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed.

[25:33] And the scriptures, the word that Jesus had spoken. On one hand, the question that they have in verse 18 is legitimate. And the Jews, give us a sign and show us what for doing these things.

[25:49] They're questioning what in tarnations gives you the right to do what you just did on the temple mount. What gives you the right to do that? And in fact, they had good reason to do this.

[26:03] They shouldn't just allow the temple authorities, they should not just allow anyone to do what Jesus just did. But they heard Jesus say something that maybe gives them an inclination.

[26:14] This is not some ordinary man. They heard Jesus say, do not make my father's house a house of trade. So he just said, that temple that is sitting here is, and so God is my father.

[26:32] And so they have an inkling, maybe he's just not some ordinary person. And there just seems to be some moral authority by which this man is operating by. And so they're giving, so they ask an interesting question, give us a sign.

[26:46] So they're asking, give us a miracle, Jesus, by which we will know you have authority to do what you just did. Because we wouldn't allow just anyone else to do this.

[26:57] And we're questioning whether we should allow you to do this as well. So they're asking him for a sign and he responds, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.

[27:10] Now, Jesus is not responding like many politicians who just don't like the topic and they'll just change the subject and answer their own subject that matter.

[27:22] He's not doing that in this text. He's answering their question very specifically. Give us, what sign do you show us for you doing these things? And Jesus says, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.

[27:41] Now, they're thinking physical temple and so they reply with, well, it's taken 46 years. In fact, in 2019 or 2020 AD, Herod the Great began the construction of the Temple Mount.

[27:55] And so that's when he began this massive construction project and it took 46 years. So think of this, when Jesus was a toddler, this was under construction. When Jesus was in his teenage years, this was under construction.

[28:08] When Jesus was entering his 20s, this was just beginning to be finished. So Jesus says, destroy this temple and in three days I'll raise it up.

[28:19] That would be like saying to us, destroy the North-South freeway. And in three days I'm going to raise it up. We're never going to see the end of that thing being built.

[28:30] And so it's asinine to think someone's going to do this in three days. So we get it, right? Still going to be another 46 years.

[28:45] But Jesus wasn't speaking of the physical temple. He was speaking of himself. Destroy this temple and in three days we raise it up.

[28:58] Because John gives us an editorial comment. We see in verse 21, John helps us see what Jesus was speaking about. But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

[29:11] So Jesus says, destroy this temple. You will destroy me. I will not only offer my own life up, nobody's going to take it from him. But in three days I will raise from the dead.

[29:24] So notice this. Jesus is banking his authority to cleanse the temple on a future event of his resurrection.

[29:41] If you will, he's saying to those temple authorities, what gives me the right to do what I just did to cleanse this temple mount? And this is to be a place of worship.

[29:53] You've turned it into a trade, a marketplace, a place of treachery with one another. What gives me the right? What gives me the authority? Is an empty tomb.

[30:07] When you hear a report after I am killed and die on the cross, when you hear that report and then I'm going to come back to earth and I'm going to be with people and many are going to see me.

[30:20] You're going to hear reports. Jesus rose from the grave. Jesus rose from the grave. And when you hear that report and you see that empty tomb, that will give you the evidence that I have the authority.

[30:32] God is indeed my father and I am the Messiah and I will pay the penalty for sin. That will be your evidence. He's answering their question very specifically.

[30:45] He's not changing the subject. He dares to rest some measure of his authority on the death and resurrection that it will be witnessed by hundreds and yet is still to take place in the future from the day he is speaking.

[31:07] If you will, Jesus is communicating, you want to sign when you see me hanging on the tree, that is the temple is being destroyed. And in three days you will see an empty tomb giving proof of my resurrection, the temple of himself being lifted up.

[31:24] His resurrection, his death and resurrection establishes the authority, not only to remove sheep and goats and birds and evil men from the temple mount, but also establishes his authority in our life as well.

[31:40] Not just the temple mount. Who else could have lived a sinless life and provided a perfect sacrifice acceptable to God? Who else can pay the penalty of sin and die for sin?

[31:52] Who else can satisfy God's justice and took the wrath of God upon himself? Who else can forgive sin? Who else can adopt us as sons and daughters into the family of God?

[32:03] Who else can cleanse us from sin? No other name. Can men name that can save them other than Jesus Christ?

[32:18] And he says that my resurrection is what gives me the authority to cleanse the temple as I just did.

[32:35] I want us to read, or I'm going to read 1 Corinthians 6 to us, because this truth and reality is made clear in these verses. 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20 says, do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?

[32:54] You are not with your own. You are not your own. For you have been bought with a price, so glorify God with your body.

[33:05] We are not our own. What gives him the right to have authority in our lives? Well, he is the one who has done all these things. We are not our own.

[33:16] He purchased us with his blood. He bought you with a price, so glorify God in your body. He not only has authority on the temple mount, he has authority in each of our lives.

[33:32] I am going to go to the third point. Sorry.

[33:44] I zoomed ahead and I apologize for not getting to those finer poem points specifically.

[33:57] What is interesting is Jesus is misunderstood. Notice in verse 23, this last point, Jesus does not believe the crowd's belief. And that's a funny statement, but I want to share with you why.

[34:09] In verses 23 and 24, now when he was in Jerusalem at Passover Feast, many believed in his name when he saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them because he knew all men, all people, and needed no one to bear witness about man.

[34:31] But he himself knew what was in man. So that word in verse 24, when Jesus on his part did not entrust himself, and the word believe in the previous verse, when it says, now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name.

[34:46] So that word for believed in his name, and it says, when Jesus on his part did not entrust himself, those are the two of the same words. So the root is the same. So they believed in his name, but Jesus did not believe them.

[35:00] And so that's why I framed the wording this way. Jesus does not believe the crowds believe. So what are we observing here?

[35:11] Think with me what the crowds have just observed. The crowds observed somebody who is a unique individual having the authority to cleanse the Temple Mount.

[35:23] Then we see in verse 23, not only did he cleanse the Temple Mount, but while he was in Jerusalem for the Passover Feast, it says, many believed in his mind, when they saw the signs that he was doing.

[35:35] So not only did he see the Temple Mount being cleansed, but then they saw Jesus doing other miracles. He was healing people. He was doing other miracles that he was doing, and people were believing in him.

[35:46] Now think of who they may be believing in. So perhaps they're connecting the dots. They're thinking this is the Messiah, and so this is some power figure. I mean, he is putting these religious leaders in check.

[36:00] He's checking their authority. He has the power to heal, and so I am believing in this power figure of some kind. So who it is that they're actually placing their faith in isn't necessarily Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, the Messiah who will suffer and die to forgive sin.

[36:22] They're believing in a revolutionary figure, and so Jesus knows what kind of faith they are having and in whom they are having it in, and so in verse 24, Jesus says on his part, he does not entrust himself to them because he knew all people.

[36:44] He knew exactly who they were putting their belief in, and it wasn't who he was. It was who he came to be, who he was, and his purposes that he came to fulfill.

[36:58] Messiahs don't die in the Jews' mind. Messiah is triumph, and this is going to be a suffering servant Messiah.

[37:14] The Jews witnessed a powerful figure, perhaps a figure who overthrew the religious leaders who had exploited them for some time. These individuals were fascinated by the signs of Jesus, but they too did not understand he had to be the temple who would be destroyed, and in three days raised it up.

[37:39] They did not come to grips with the suffering servant yet. So individuals follow Christ for incomplete and wrongful reasons still to this day.

[37:54] There are those who believe in Christ, come to Christ without a full or complete understanding of who he is and for his purposes that he has come, what he has done to forgive sin and fully understand his ways.

[38:08] One of the, there's a Psalm, I forget the exact verse at this time that says, the Jews saw his deeds, but Moses understood his ways or something like this.

[38:25] And one of the things I love about Moses is he understood the ways of God. There are some perhaps even in this room who envision Christ as a God who can fix my marriage, who can bring back a wayward child, who can give me a six or seven-figure job, who can heal me, who can provide me meaningful relationships, who can provide a godly spouse on my timetable, who can get me out of debt, who can and you can fill in the blank.

[38:52] And God can do all those things, but if he chooses not to, or not in the way that you envision, do you still believe?

[39:04] Do you still believe? Who is a disciple? Later we will read, John says it this way, so Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.

[39:24] This is the kind of discipleship that is persevering, the kind of disciple who follows Jesus, not only Jesus' king, Jesus' provider, Jesus' healer, but the kind of disciple of Christ who follows Jesus, the suffering servant, the one who dies on our behalf, who calls us to take up the cross and follow him, whose lives are surrendered to him.

[39:54] I want to leave us with this. This is not the final biblical allusion to Jesus as the temple of God. The final allusion that we will find is written by the same author, John.

[40:06] He wrote the book of Revelation and we see him in chapters 21 and 22. And he is writing about the new heaven and new earth and there's all kinds of things that we see are not in the new heaven and new earth.

[40:20] And you could preach a whole sermon on what is not in the new heaven and new earth. There's no sin, there's no sea, no more crying, no more tears. There's a lot of things that are no longer in the new heaven and new earth.

[40:34] And one of the things that is not in the new heaven and new earth in the eternal state is there is no temple and for we read for the Lord God and the Lamb are its temple.

[40:45] Isn't that wonderful? In other words, there is no longer at any point a covenantal structure like a temple or some mediating way that is necessary like sacrifices or a priest to mediate between you and God.

[41:02] Among other things, no temple, no priesthood, no continual sacrifice to exist. There's no neccess, it's not necessary anymore.

[41:14] Jesus himself is the temple and now in the new heaven and new earth, he himself is the temple unveiled, accompanied by his unshielded glory.

[41:26] And now we do not see God face to face but then we will. And we will enjoy an unblemished, untarnished, unshielded enjoyment of the transcendent glory of God forevermore.

[41:42] We will know God personally and fully. One last concept that I loved about this text is this.

[41:57] Jesus is foretelling a little bit. The old covenant is passing away. Behold, the new covenant is coming. I am going to inaugurate that in his death and resurrection.

[42:10] So this temple that is there, one needs to have access to God. But he says, you destroy this temple, I will raise it up and then it is through me you can have access to God.

[42:23] He is the way, the truth and the life. No one goes to the Father but through him. So there are two individuals in this room, two kinds of individuals.

[42:43] There are those who have never placed their faith in Christ, who may not know him. And if today you feel like the Lord drawing you unto himself, I would say believe in him.

[42:56] And what is it that you have to believe in his person and his work? You have to have the right person. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, co-equal with the Father, who condescended to earth, born of a virgin, living a sinless life, died a death for sin, and rose three days later and all who placed their faith in Jesus Christ and him alone and trust him for the forgiveness of sin, may have a relationship with Christ.

[43:27] And then there are all those of us in this room perhaps who have trusted Christ. May we grow in our faith that we possess, may we not be guilty of following Jesus for what he can do for us.

[43:39] May our faith weather disappointments and be like John who later said, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.

[43:50] May we be those kinds of disciples who abide in his word. May we grow as disciples, mature in our understanding, possess a zeal for the Lord that would consume us.

[44:03] May we be those kinds of people. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this text. Lord, thank you for...

[44:25] Lord, thank you for declaring that day that what gives you the authority to cleanse the temple is the fact that you will die in three days, the rays from the grave.

[44:40] That's what gives you the authority. And I pray that those of us who have believed in you, Lord, you would have a total authority in our lives and a zeal for you would consume us as well.

[44:55] For your Father's glory, may we live for you. May you grow us into strong disciples for your namesake.

[45:07] May every aspect of our life be yielded and surrendered to you for your namesake. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.