I would like you to turn in your Bibles this morning to John chapter 2.
John chapter 2, and I want you to follow with me as I begin reading there in verse 13 in your own Bible.
I'll take a minute and let you get squared out in the passage.
John chapter 2, verse 13.
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
In the temple, he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons,
and the money changers sitting there and making a whip of cords.
He drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and oxen,
and he poured out the coins of the money changers and 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.
Father God,
we're very thankful that in your
infinite mercy,
you graciously have given to us your word,
which is the complete revelation
provided by you,
whereby we may,
as it says in 2 Timothy,
have all that we need for life and godliness.
We want to be a people that rely upon the word this morning to govern not only what we sing about,
but also what we think about and what we say.
And we ask that our time in the scriptures,
enabled by the Spirit,
helps us grow in our love for the Lord Jesus Christ and our sincere desire to be more like him.
Pray for those that are here this morning that do not know Christ as their personal Savior,
that this morning would be the hour of their salvation and the day of their deliverance from the bondage and the burden of their sin,
and also the uncertainty of their eternal destiny.
We ask that you would be a people,
that you would help us be a people that have our hearts focused by your Spirit
on your glory
and your truth.
And we ask this in
the name of Jesus.
Amen.
Well, let me kind of frame the background of what we're looking at this morning.
And so, if you would think with me just for a moment,
this passage in chapter 2 of John
is the second little picture that we have
of John the Baptist after that lengthy introduction that we found
that explained to us in brief
how the book of John was going to play out.
I remind you that John is different than the other Gospels
in that it uses very, very few actual illustrations
of the things that Jesus was engaged in doing publicly.
The first thing that we saw in John chapter 2,
you'll remember,
was that he was at a wedding
and his mother came to him
and asked him about the problem that they had
with the lack of wine,
and Jesus turned the water into wine,
did a miracle,
and we understand that not many people actually
were affected by that.
We know that five of his disciples knew what had happened.
We know that the servants knew what had happened.
And maybe a few other people kind of heard about what that was
and were affected by the reality of the power of Christ
displayed over natural things.
And so, here we have that little picture of Jesus
doing something relatively quiet,
and then we have this picture of Jesus
walking into Jerusalem
and kind of dropping an atomic bomb
over Nagasaki, over Hiroshima.
Do you follow me?
What he did in the temple
was an absolute blast
in comparison to that little quiet miracle
that he did at the wedding.
We tend to think about Jesus
either as a relatively quiet,
little kind of milk toast kind of guy
going around and, you know,
putting flowers in people's hair
or something like that.
Particularly if you rely upon
the liberal picture of Jesus.
He's kind of some soft little guy
that goes around saying sweet things
and, you know,
just kind of love everybody.
And it's important to love people,
but I want you to understand
that the picture we have in the Bible
is far more complex than that.
And as we come to this passage,
the background of the Lamb
dealing with the wedding feast
now comes face to face
with the Lion of Judah
and the judge of the whole earth.
And so I want you to begin
by first of all recognizing
that Jesus steps into a situation
where glory was corrupted.
After spending a few days,
and that's what we find there
in verse 13,
the Passover of the Jews was at hand
and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
What had happened earlier
in verse 12,
it says that he spent a couple days
with his family
and now it's time
to go up to Jerusalem
to be part of that holy celebration.
It was a requirement.
The law stipulated
that the Jews were to gather in Jerusalem
on a regular basis annually
and they were to remember the Passover.
The Passover was a very special,
a moment in the life of God's people
in particular
because it was that day
when God had delivered them
from the land of Egypt
where they had been enslaved
by the Egyptians.
And how did God do that?
Remember?
He came to them and said,
I want to tell you something
that this night
is going to be absolutely unique.
And in order to protect your family,
you are to kill the sacrificial,
the Passover lamb,
and you are to put the blood of that lamb
on the lentil over the top
and on both sides on the doorposts.
And when I send death
through the nation of Egypt
to kill every one of the firstborn
where the mark of the blood is seen,
death will not enter.
And so every year,
God had ordained
that the nation of Israel
was to remember the Passover
and it was a time
when the people gathered
to make sacrifice.
They were required to do that.
And incidentally,
when you made sacrifice,
you didn't just bring
any old whatever you had.
You had to bring a lamb
that was spotless,
that was pure.
Over time,
it had kind of developed
into the fact that the lamb,
how many of you know
what the word kosher is?
How many of you ever see it?
A kosher salt, right?
Kosher dill pickles.
What does kosher mean?
Does anybody know?
Does anybody know
what kosher means?
It means that it has actually
been approved
for consumption by Jewish people.
And who has approved it?
Is it Pillsbury?
Or is it Heinz?
Who approves kosher?
Kosher.
There has to be a priest
who's involved in determining
that those pickles
really are kosher.
I'm going to tell you something.
You don't have kosher on there
without somebody involved
in saying that it's kosher.
Do you understand that?
And so, over time,
this idea of bringing
your own lamb
and just whatever you wanted to do
into the temple
to have sacrifice,
it kind of moved over
to the side of,
if you really want to bring
a lamb in to have it
sacrificed in the temple,
you had to have a priest
sign off on it.
And so, I want you to understand
that this beautiful area,
the temple,
and the word that is used there
in the Greek communicates
that it was the larger part.
There was a court of the Gentiles,
a very large area.
And that large area
had actually been turned
into a bazaar
where the pilgrims
were being cheated.
You see,
here's how it plays out.
One commentator,
doing some research
on ancient history,
discovered that
a five-cent dove,
when it became kosher
and was carried into the temple
for sacrifice,
became a four-dollar option.
Now, if a five-cent dove
became a four-dollar option,
guess what it costs you
to buy a kosher lamb?
You got it?
Way up the food chain.
Not only that,
there was another thing
that was required
of a good Jewish man.
He had to pay a temple tax.
And when he would come in,
he would pay his half shekel.
Now, a shekel
is a piece of Jewish money.
And the high priest,
I mean,
outside of the temple,
you could use any kind of money
that you had in your pocket.
But when you went into the temple,
if you wanted to pay
your tax at the temple,
you had to have a half shekel.
And guess what there were provided
or was provided for you?
There were very kind,
congenial businessmen
that were sitting there
that had half shekels in abundance.
But guess what happened
to the translation of the fees?
How many of you
have traveled around the world
or somewhere where you've had
to have your money changed
from good old U.S. dollars
into rubles
or into rupees
or into yen
or whatever?
What happens at the money changer?
Does anybody know?
Tom, what happens?
There's a little bit of profit.
Well, I want you to know
that the money changers
were not into
a little bit of profit.
I mean,
how many of you
have been to an OSU game
and noticed what happens
to bottles of water there?
I've been once in my life.
And I remember going in
and I got thirsty
and I was sitting way up there
in nosebleed.
I was having to suck oxygen
to make it through the day.
But anyway,
I was way up there
and I thought,
well, I think I'll go
get a bottle of water.
I mean,
there are a lot of people
sitting around drinking water
and drinks
and having hot dogs.
And I remember
when I walked in
that they wanted me to,
you know,
do you have anything
in your coat?
You know,
no, I'm clean.
So I thought I'd walk down
to concession stand
and get myself
a bottle of water
and a couple hot dogs
or something like that.
I changed my mind.
I mean,
what you can buy
at Meijer or Walmart
for pennies
was a $4 option.
And hot dogs,
forget it.
There was no way
in the world
that I was going
to indulge
those thieves
for the price
that they were asking for.
Now,
I want you to imagine
that you can't worship
without buying in
to the lamb
and to the temple tax.
Do you follow that?
It was an option
for me to say no
to the $4 bottle of water
and no to the,
I think it was like $6
or $8 for a hot dog.
It was like,
I can't do this.
And they had a monopoly.
By the way,
it was the high priest
and his family
that were the beneficiaries
of this legislation
that meant that
in the temple
only those lambs
and goats
and doves
and whatever else
that had been koshered,
right, kosher,
were allowed to be sold.
And so here we find
in verse 15,
Jesus comes in,
he makes a whip
of cords
and he drove them
all out of the temple.
Do you get the picture?
Now stop just for a minute
because I want to correct
what may be happening
in your mind.
You might be thinking
that Jesus made
this great big bull whip,
you know,
out the door they went.
The Greek word
talks about
a whip
that was made out
of just the normal cordage.
How many of you
have ever baled hay?
Hay balers.
Basically,
that is the word
that is used.
It's just the common string
that was used
for kind of
keeping the animal
in check
when you were taking it in
to where it was going
to have its throat cut,
you know.
Now by the way,
the animal did not know
what was coming
so it was like
just lead it along
with a little string
and you'll get it there.
Jesus took some
of these strings,
picked them up,
probably just walking around
just kind of stewing,
you know,
picking them up,
grabbing this one,
grabbing that one
and he kind of
put them together
and he let people know
that this was not
going to do.
We sometimes have
this picture
of Jesus MMA
walking in
to the temple
and just putting
the smack down
on everybody
and terrifying them
with his physical presence.
That's not true.
What is it
that frightened people?
It was the holy righteousness
of God himself
indignant
with the sin
that he saw.
I have to confess
that
we are all
far too careless
with sin,
aren't we?
All of us.
And when you
look here
at Jesus
in verse 15,
it says that
he drove them
all out of the temple
with the sheep
and the oxen
and he poured out
the coins
with the money changers
and he overturned
their tables
and he told them
who sold the pigeons,
get them
out of here.
You have made
my father's house
a house of trade.
By the way,
in the synoptics,
Jesus referred
to the temple
a different way
and I think
it's instructive.
He said that
my father's house
is a house of prayer.
Listen to me carefully.
When people
that profess
to know Christ
diminish the significance
and the priority
of prayer,
there's something
serious going on
in their lives
spiritually.
Jesus walks in here
and says,
in essence,
you guys have made
a horrible mess
of this situation.
So why did Jesus
do that?
That's a fair question.
How many of you
figured that out?
When you're trying
to understand
what the Bible
is saying,
one of the first
questions to ask
is what?
Why?
Why is this here?
Well,
when we think about it,
I want you to turn
back in your Bible.
You are there in John,
but just go back
a little bit.
Don't have to go
very far.
Go to Malachi chapter 3.
Malachi chapter 3.
In Malachi chapter 3,
verse 1 and 2,
we find
prophetic utterance
about Christ's coming.
Behold,
I send my messenger,
that's John the Baptist,
and he will prepare
the way before me.
And the Lord
whom you seek
will suddenly come
to his,
what?
Underline it in your Bible.
Temple.
And the messenger
of the covenant
in whom you delight,
behold,
he is coming,
says the Lord.
But who can endure
the day of his coming
and who can stand
when he appears?
For he is like
a refiner's fire
and like fuller's soap.
You know what I'm saying?
When Christ comes
in his righteousness
and his holiness,
all will be
profoundly humbled
because of the darkness
and the wickedness
of their heart.
we'll eventually get
to John chapter 8
and there are going
to be some
who may dispute
whether or not
that is in the earliest
manuscripts.
I fully accept it,
but you'll remember
that when Jesus
had the Pharisees
and the priests
bring up the woman
who was caught
in adultery
and said,
shall we stone her?
Remember how they all
scattered when he said,
hey,
the one that's without sin
can throw the first stone
and they all scattered.
Beloved,
when the convicting power
of the Holy Spirit
is at work,
we understand
that there is an effect
upon the life
of those who are sinful.
And so,
when you think
about Jesus coming,
we have two little
kind of pictures.
We have Jesus
at the wedding feast
and he's doing
this little thing
on the side
with wine.
But now,
we have Jesus
in the temple
and I want you
to understand
that as he walks
into the temple,
there was no little
soft syrupy
little voice saying,
I hope you guys
are getting along
and making a good profit.
It was like clean house.
He came to confront sin
and fulfill prophecy.
How did Jesus
do this?
How did he clean up?
I mean,
stop and think with me
just for a moment.
If you kind of
think forward
into the book of Acts,
you'll remember
that all it took
was an accusation
that Paul the Apostle
had brought Gentiles
into the inner part
of the temple
and they had a riot
that brought in
Roman soldiers.
Jerusalem was a hotbed
of rebellion.
and anything
that you know
about the ancient world
in particular
there in Jerusalem
is that they could
get pretty fired up
in a moment
and really go ballistic
about almost anything
and for one man
to clean house
in the temple,
it's worthy for us
to ask
just what was it
that Jesus did?
I want you to understand
that he and his
absolute holiness
and righteousness
brought the issue
of the personal sin
of those who were involved
in what was going on
to the forefront
and that wave
of shame and guilt
swept through the crowd
and they were all quieted
in the presence
of Christ.
I want to assure you
there will be a day
when the brassiest
of liar,
the most arrogant fool
and the angriest
of men
will be utterly overwhelmed
at the holy presence
of Jesus
the judge
of the whole earth.
And as you think
about this setting
I think it's appropriate
for us as believers
those who know Christ
to recognize
that while Jesus
loves us unconditionally
and we are so blessed
by the richness
of his grace
we who have been
so richly forgiven
should not be a people
that are careless
with sin.
Would you agree with that?
Well I want you
to recognize
glory challenged.
I love what comes next.
Look at that part
if you will.
there in verse 18
so the Jews
said to him
what sign
do you show us
for doing these things?
I can't help
but think about
the pastor
and the princess bride
at this moment
it's like
what a jerk.
Okay
forgive me
I know
some of you
have not watched
that classic
and go home
and do it
but anyway
here are the priests
and the rabbis
that kind of come up
you know
waddling up
you know
and there they are
in their regalia
you know what I'm talking about?
I mean
they had their robes on
and by the way
something about the priest's robes
were pretty spectacular
I mean
it showed your rank
I mean
oh
that's the high priest
how can you tell?
well look
you know
the average yokel
over there
is wearing something
that just costs
$3,000
but the high priest
he's decked out
in jewels
and blah blah blah
and here they come
kind of waddling out
in the front of you
we gave you the right
to do this
and who are they
standing in front of?
Jesus
now remember
our idea of Jesus
is ill informed
we either have this idea
of a wuss
or we have this idea
of Mr. Smackdown MMA
you know
it depends
and I have to tell you
if you read the book
of Isaiah
it tells us
that he was nothing
spectacular
just ordinary
there he was
standing in
ordinary clothes
by the way
it's no accident
that evangelical
preachers
are not all about
finery
Connie
where are you Connie
there you are
Connie throws away
a magazine
periodically
that talks about
robes for pastors
right
throw it in the trash
I don't need one
the one thing
I want you to remember
is the authority
and the sufficiency
of the word of God
and there is Jesus
standing with simplicity
and he announces
to those
who ask him
what authority
do you have
to do what you've done
in cleansing
the temple
he'd exposed
sin for what it is
and what sign
did he give them
let's look
let's pick up on this
because it's glory
confirmed
you look there
in the passage
and Jesus answered
them
verse 19
and he said
destroy this temple
and in three days
I will raise it up
the truth of the matter
is that the Jewish leaders
would end up
having Jesus crucified
and we understand
that in this
declaration
what he is saying
is that
you're going to kill me
and three days after that
I'm going to come out
of the grave
in the face
of what Jesus
had prophesied
I am struck
when I turn over
and I want you to look at it
just for a moment
Matthew chapter 27
go back
for a second
Matthew chapter 27
verse 63
in this passage
we find that Jesus
is already dead
and buried
and those people
who were involved
in putting him to death
have some anxiety
the next day
that is after
the day of the preparation
the chief priests
and the Pharisees
gather before Pilate
you can hear them again
with that little whiny voice
sir
we remember how
that imposter said
which he was still
when he was still alive
after three days
I will rise
you know
you can hear that
right
no stop
and so
by the way
they're the ones
who paid attention
to the prophecy
the disciples
what were they doing
hey
he's coming back
three days
it's alright
he'll be out of the grave
it's good news
no
but the Jews
were a little bit nervous
now
they
were having
all kinds of trouble
with the absolute reality
of Jesus'
miracles
do you follow that
remember
when he raised
Lazarus
from the dead
do you know
what they were thinking
about doing
with Lazarus
who knows
raise your hand
if you do
they were going
to put him
to death
I mean hey
if you don't like
the information
get out
get rid of it
pretend that you lost it
or that you shredded it
you know
it's like gone
Lazarus
who's he
and they
the unbelieving Jews
were a little more sensitive
to the power
that he had
well I want you to know
that Jesus would indeed
rise on the third day
and his resurrection
would be the central sign
to all the world
that salvation
was in his name
and work alone
I want you to turn
in your Bible
to Romans chapter 1
verse 4
as we wrap things up
this morning
and pay attention
to the clarity
of what Jesus
tells us
about his resurrection
Romans chapter 1
verse 4
how do we know
that Jesus
is the son of God
remember
John chapter 20
verse 31
where Ethan recited
last week
right
these things are written
that you might believe
that Jesus is the son of God
and believing
that you might have
life everlasting
eternal life
and was declared
to be
the son of God
in power
according to the spirit
of holiness
by his resurrection
from the dead
Jesus Christ
our Lord
how do you know
Jesus is coming back
he rose from the dead
how do I know
that my sins
are completely forgiven
because he rose
from the dead
how do I know
that he is going
to be the judge
of the whole earth
he rose from the dead
how do I know
that he is going
to be the Lord
and sovereign
of all of creation
and every knee
shall bow
and worship him
with glory
and adoration
or spend eternity
in the absolute
horror of hell
because of the resurrection
so let's think
what we learned
from this passage
this morning
I want you to recognize
that Christ's love
involves
confronting sin
one of the troubles
that we have today
is that we have
a tendency
of calling sin
by all different
kinds of names
other than what it
really is
hey
do you realize
there are probably
people making a living
trying to figure out
new ways to justify
what you're doing
but sin is still sin
and there is no remedy
for sin
except for the finished
work of Christ
I want you to understand
also that Christ's
zeal
is for his father's
glory alone
you know
there are some things
that we all get
worked up about
that really don't amount
to a hill of beans
in eternity
and we do well
to remind ourselves
of that
finally I want you
to understand
that Christ's
resurrection
is a declaration
of victory
over sin
and also the certainty
of judgment
and so we
who are believers
look to the empty tomb
and we say
hey listen
it is finished
and my salvation
is settled
and I have confidence
because Christ Jesus
rose again
from the dead
and if you are here
this morning
and you don't know
Christ
I want to assure you
that judgment
will come
and the one
who died
and paid the penalty
for your sins
will also be the one
who judges you
for your willing
rejection
of the clear
gospel truth
that Christ came
into the world
to let people know
the desperate condition
of their soul
is personal sin
and the satisfaction
for that penalty
of debt
that my sin
has created
is the blood
of Christ
shed for me
you know
here's something
I want you to understand
the Jews
knew exactly
who they were
dealing with
and they rejected
do you understand that
and I want to appeal
to you this morning
if you are sitting here
and you do not know Christ
that you plead
with the Holy Spirit
to give you a broken heart
to trust in Christ
and if you're here
this morning
and you know Christ
as your Savior
I would appeal
to you this morning
that what you do
what you do
is that you cry out
and say
Lord give me a desire
for holiness
and purity
and my life
makes a difference
let's bow our heads
in prayer
and as we're praying
we'd ask John
to come up with the band
and I'm going to ask
that the candidate
for baptism
come forward this morning
so we can celebrate
the joy of Christ
in baptism
you pray with me
with your heads bowed
gracious Father
I am thankful
this morning
for the glory of Christ
that he indeed
is the Savior
of the world
thank you for the clarity
with which
this little reminder
in scripture
lets us know
that Christ Jesus
came into the world
to save sinners
but it also involves
telling people
there's a problem
in your life
and you can't solve
it yourself
Jesus came
to pay the penalty
for our sins
that as it says
in the scripture
whosoever believeth
in him
shall not be ashamed
I pray for those
who are here today
that need Christ
as their Savior
that this morning
where they sit
their heart
would be drawn
to the cross
and they would believe
in him
I ask this
in your precious name
Amen
Thank you Gary
Stand together