In this sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia begins examining John 2:12-25 and Jesus’ first visit to Jerusalem during Passover in his public ministry. The apostle John presents Jesus’ cleansing visit so that you will not present God with corrupted worship but instead believe in Jesus. In Part 1, Pastor Dave looks at John 2:12-17 and how Jesus demonstrates zeal for God’s house.
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thank you once again musicians let’s pray God as Moses prayed we pray again now as we look to your word show us your glory show us even the beauty of your holiness even in the Zeal of your son and show us the beauty of the Gospel and God saving us from the anger of God in Jesus name amen as you can maybe tell from my prayer in preparation for the message this week I have been thinking a little bit about anger we all probably recognize times when we shouldn’t have gotten angry over something it wasn’t worthy of our anger we got angry but we shouldn’t have done that for example we shouldn’t get angry when a piece of technology suddenly stops working I’m sure you’ve experienced this maybe the printer jams right before you need to turn in your assignment or your phone won’t connect to the internet right when you need to give that person at the counter your information and there’s a temptation to get angry when technology doesn’t work the way we want even to believe that that piece of tech is evil and it’s trying to spite us but in our sober moments we realize these things are inanimate they don’t have intelligence they don’t will to hurt us I have to actually they often malfunction because we are not using them properly it’s really our fault but even when that’s not the case imperfections in technology imperfections in this world should be expected anger over inconvenient technology is really just a manifestation of pride of valuing your own way and desires too much and of a lack of faith in God who is actually caring for you even through the trials and is teaching you through the trials of Technology or another example I think we all know this but you shouldn’t get angry when you suffer inconveniences while driving thank you if you ever unexpectedly hit traffic and you’ve got somewhere important to be or maybe that person you’re driving behind doesn’t know how to use turn signals or that person pulls out onto the road in an extremely slow pace so that if you don’t break hard you’re going to hit that person counter these types of things on the road there’s a temptation to get angry even to rage against all those bad drivers but you know what we need to realize what we really know is that we aren’t perfect drivers ourselves we’re causing inconveniences to other people on the road and remember you’re never stuck in traffic you are the traffic you’re contributing to the problem and as naive or Reckless or sinful someone might be on the road and you can drive in a sinful way whatever others might do you have done far worse to Jesus Christ and he has forgiven you he has been patient with you so rather than getting angry with others you are to be humble you are to be forgiving as you trust God and drive these are just two examples we can multiply examples like these situations where our passions get aroused we become angrily zealous really for ourselves or for things that are not worthy of such passion but have you ever recognized situations of the opposite problem where you should have become zealously angry over something but you did not we are probably used to the idea that anger is always sinful and that makes sense because in the vast majority of cases anger is the Bible says the anger of man does not accomplish the righteousness of God but we should realize at the same time that not all anger is sinful because really who is the most angry person in the Bible who is said to be angry the most often it’s God himself Psalm 7 11 says Psalm 7 11 God is a righteous judge and a God who has indignation every day indignation is another word for anger God is a god of love this is not contradicting that but at the same time God is a god of anger and certainly God is Not sinful he who is the light cannot have any darkness in him at all so that means that God’s anger is Holy God gets angry over the right things and he gets angry in the right way his anger is Holy and in making us in His image God designed us to reflect the kind of holy anger that he has that anger even motivating us to take right action to rectify or to fix that which is truly wrong and what is it that makes God angry also ought to make us angry even motivated to change it Injustice oppression abuse the mistreatment of those who are made in God’s image even the killing of those persons sin of any kind makes God angry in order to move us as well even the great evils of our day that are often in the headlines abortion immorality greed we are not to just shrug our shoulders at these things we are to care we’re to be even moved to respond because that reflects the heart of God but more specifically there is something that makes God angry that ought to arouse our zeal related to our text today and that is corrupted worship many times in the Old Testament God tells Israel that he is a jealous God and not jealous in a petty or needy way but jealous to receive the glory receive the worship receive the honor that he is due as the only true God as the Creator God gets angry when people worship other gods instead of him and worship the things of the world God gets angry when people attempt to worship him in a way that he did not command that goes against his Bible and God gets angry when people pretend to worship him when they are actually walking in sin and what that means is that God even gets angry when you and I don’t get angry as we should and then I mean that in this way when there is ongoing sin idolatry or worldliness in our lives and we’re not zealous to repent or change when we think to ourselves I’ve got this thing it’s not right but nobody else knows God doesn’t seem to care I’ll just keep worshiping God like everything’s fine really this sin is no big deal I’m not even sure it’s a sin I mean I don’t want to parade it in front of people but there’s no need to get upset about this if anything it’s only slightly corrupted worship in our next passage in the Gospel of John we will see afresh how God feels about corrupted worship and this revelation will come by this speech and deeds of the word made flesh of the god-man Jesus and we will not only see again that Jesus really is the Christ but we’re also going to see that God Jesus as God is zealous for true worship true belief in him and he will not accept anything less please take your Bibles and open to John 2 verses 12 to 25.
that’s page 1016 the Pew Bible titled the message today is Jesus confronts corrupted worship part one a little different from the bulletin but similar Jesus confronts corrupted worship part one we’re really just going to focus on verses 12 to 17 today because there’s a lot of background that I want to give to you I don’t think we can get through the whole section but I do want to read the whole section to give you the context John 2 verses 12 to 25 please follow along as I read the word of God after this he that’s Jesus went down to Capernaum he and his mother and his brothers and his disciples and they stayed there a few days the pastor of the Passover of the Jews was near and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and he found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves and the money changers seated at their tables and he made a scourge of cords and drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and The Oxen and he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables and to those who are selling the dubs he said take these things away stop making my father’s house a place of business his disciples remembered that it was written Zeal for your house will consume me the Jews then said to him what sign do you show us as your Authority for doing these things Jesus answered them destroyed this Temple and in three days I will raise it up the Jews then said it took 46 years to build this Temple and will you raise it up in three days but he was speaking of the Temple of his body so when he was raised from the dead his disciples remembered that he had said this and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast many believed in his name observing his signs which he was doing but Jesus on his part was not entrusting himself to them for he knew all men and because he did not need anyone to testify concerning man for he himself knew what was in man In this passage we see Jesus cleansing the temple in Jerusalem at Passover and if you are familiar with the other gospels this text will remind you of accounts that we see in Matthew 21 Mark 11 and Luke 19 where Jesus also is said to cleanse the temple at Passover there are differences between those accounts though and this one and the biggest difference is when they occur those other gospels what are often called the synoptics they record Jesus cleansing The Temple at the end of his three and a half year Ministry at the Passover before his crucifixion but here clearly John presents our author John the Apostle presents the cleansing of the temple at the beginning of Jesus ministry why this difference well many Bible scholars think that there must have been only one Temple cleansing and so either John or the other gospel writers has moved whenever it actually occurred to a different spot in their gospel because it was for a thematic reason it just kind of fit some thematic purpose that they wanted to show however as reasonable that might sound in each of the accounts both here and in the other gospels there are time details around the explanation of Jesus cleansing in the temple that are clear enough to show that these events have not been moved around rather the only acceptable conclusion for someone who actually believes the Bible is that there were two cleansings of the temple there was a temple cleansing at the beginning of Jesus ministry and at the end which partly explains the different reactions that Jesus gets in the first temple cleansing Jesus is not yet well known and the Jewish leaders don’t quite know how to react to Jesus but in the second temple cleansing Jesus has already been heralded as Messiah and the Jewish leaders conclude that they must kill him it is therefore a sad testimony though not altogether surprising considering Israel’s history that even two dramatic full cleansings of Israel’s Central worship site does not result in lasting change cleanses it at the beginning has to do it at the end and when he does it at the end it doesn’t result in change this shows why this is another piece of evidence why the nation of Israel was ripe for judgment why God even destroyed the temple in a permanent way so that it has not been rebuilt even to this day it’s also an indication of why something better than the old Covenant needed to arrive which is really what Jesus brings now our passage verses 12 to 25 divides into three parts each having something to do with Jesus confronting corrupted worship here’s the main idea of the whole section in John 2 12-25 John presents Jesus cleansing visit to Jerusalem on Passover so that you will not present god with corrupted worship but instead believe in Jesus John presents Jesus cleansing visit to Jerusalem on Passover so that you will not present god with corrupted worship but instead believe truly believe in Jesus now as I said today we’re just focusing on the first part of the passage and here’s the heading for verses 12 to 17.
number one Jesus demonstrates zeal God’s house Jesus demonstrates Zeal for God’s house and let’s start by looking at verse 12.
after this he went down to Capernaum he and his mother and his brothers and his disciples and they stayed there a few days now this verse provides transition between the previous account and the one that we’re about to look at it starts with after this that’s a reference to what we looked at previously the beginning of Jesus signs that is his sign Miracles and that took place at the little town of Cana in Galilee Jesus turned water miraculously into good wine at a wedding and that Miracle symbolizing what Jesus messiahship really represents in the calendar of God’s dealings with the world and sending his son God saved the best Grace for last just like the good wine was saved for last well after that event we read here that Jesus went down to Capernaum now Capernaum was a bustling town on the north western coast of the Sea of Galilee and it sat on a major trade route so this is very different from where Jesus was living before Nazareth kind of Backwater nobody goes there now this is this is a happening place at least in Galilee it’s more cosmopolitan this would be east of Cana but it says he went down because capronium is by the Sea it’s lower in elevation so that’s why we have that description Capernaum will later become Jesus primary residence his base of operations as he does his ministry in and around the Galilee area doesn’t look like he’s setting up shop there just yet we read here that he’s just stopping there for a few days in route to another city notice it comes with Jesus to Capernaum we have his mother his brothers and his disciples now this is the first time that Jesus brothers are mentioned these would be Jesus half-brothers that Mary bought Joseph after Jesus was born Joseph has very likely passed away by this point but the brothers are still there and Jesus also had some half-sisters according to Matthew 13 56 so he does have some siblings not much to say about these brothers right now except that we are going to see them again in the Gospel of John but anyways they go down with him to compernium now why does the group only stay there a few days well because there’s a big event that’s about to take place somewhere else that all those brothers and Jesus are going to want to go to and we learn about that event in verse 13.
verse 13 the Passover of the Jews was near and Jesus went up to Jerusalem all right so it’s the Passover one of the three great yearly feasts in Israel and to which according to the law of Moses all Jewish males 12 years and older were required were required to travel to Jerusalem so that they could celebrate the feasts there now you remember what the Passover commemorates we’re going all the way back to the Book of Exodus for that during the tenth and final plague that God Unleashed on Egypt in which God slew the firstborn of every family in Egypt God passed over the Israelites and why well he had commanded them you were going to kill a lamb and you’re going to put its Blood on the door frames of your houses and when my angel sees that he will not strike down your firstborn the plague will pass over you Israel did that and it was also on that night that Israel had to eat a certain meal in haste because once Pharaoh had seen the effect of this last plague he immediately sent to Moses and he said get out all of you get out of the land the Israelites were previously enslaved and oppressed they were finally set free on the night of this last plague God wanted Israel to commemorate not only the passing over of judgment on them but also their rescue from Egypt this double Deliverance so Israel was commanded on a certain date each year to celebrate a Passover meal a meal that was commemorative that was reflective of the original meal that they had to eat quickly so we would include a slain lamb and unleavened bread because there was no time to have 11 work in the bread to make it rise so they would eat they would eat a lamb and unleavened bread and Passover was really the first day of a seven day Feast the Feast of unleavened bread and Passover was one of the most important if not the most important Feast for Israel and actually our author John is very keen to mention the Passover in his gospels three times he specifically refers to Jesus going up to Jerusalem for the Passover and there’s another reference where he just talks about a feast which could have been fourth Passover Jesus three and a half year Ministry could have been four or just three anyways John wants us to be thinking about the Passover and this first one he definitely wants us to pay attention to because something really significant happened when Jesus went up to Jerusalem for Passover now notice specifically in verse 13 it says not just the Passover but the Passover of the Jews why the next descriptor of the Jews well some think that phrase is an indicator of John’s audience being Gentiles they don’t really know about the Passover they’re not familiar with this holiday so John has to explain oh this is the Passover of the Jews but I’ve presented with you before with evidence that John’s primary audience are actually Jews Hellenistic Jews Greek speaking Greek culture Jews who don’t live in Palestine so I don’t think that’s the reason for this more likely the inclusion of this phrase is part of that overall purpose of John to those Jews to show that they really need to cross over from the old to the new the Passover was part of the old system now fulfilled in Jesus Jesus is our Passover Lamb this Passover is not really a Christian holiday anymore it’s of the Jews and believing in Jesus means standing with your Messiah which can result probably will result in the same kind of rejection in your life as a Jew as Jesus experienced himself the Jews rejected their Messiah if you stand with Jesus they’re going to reject you too but don’t be afraid of that John is indicating throughout his gospel a true Jew a true lover of God he will cross over all the way to stand with Jesus he will suffer the misunderstanding and rejection of his own kin need be so there is a difference the old way even the holidays associated with it is of the Jews Jesus is the completion of that way anyways I think that’s why that phrase is there but regardless verse 13 tells us that the Passover was near so Jesus who must perfectly fulfill all righteousness must totally keep the law as given to Israel he makes his way to Jerusalem every Jewish male has to go like a good Jew Jesus shows up to Jerusalem for the feast now going up to Jerusalem is the proper phrasing because even though it’s south of Galilee it’s much higher in elevation and it’s the capital city so they always talked about going up to Jerusalem regardless of where they’re coming from now Jesus is going to encounter something in Jerusalem on this Passover which is really going to fire him up but not in a happy way and we see it in verse 14.
and he found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves and the money changers seated at their tables now we’re gonna need a fair amount of historical background to fully appreciate this verse so let me try and provide that for you a necessary part of the Passover feast was going up to the temple to offer an unblemished male year-old glamor Goat as a sacrifice the meat of this slain animal this sacrificed animal was to form a key part of the Passover meal in commemoration in obedience to the law now in addition to this prescribed sacrifice specifically commanded sacrifice for Passover Jewish pilgrims may have needed or wanted to present other animal sacrifices perhaps Bulls perhaps birds doves or pigeons and this is part of worshiping God and they would do this at the temple however by this point in history the Jews have really spread out in terms of where they live they’re not just all over Palestine but they are also all over the Roman Empire and even beyond the Roman Empire Babylon and such so if the Jew is seeking to be obedient to law he still has to make his way all the way to Jerusalem but bringing an acceptable animal all that way just wasn’t practical it’s very expensive and there’s no guarantee the animal would survive such a journey so a business develops or a service if you want to call that in which pilgrims could simply bring money with them to Jerusalem forever from wherever they were coming from and they could just buy an acceptable animal once they got there and not only this the Passover was one of the accepted times for Jews to pay the temple tax for Jewish males specifically now where does Temple tax come from well drawing on the census tax that God originally commanded Moses to conduct in Exodus 30 to 11 30 verses 11 to 16. this is when God was separating the Levites and the line of Aaron from the rest of the tribes for Priestly Temple Tabernacle service he originally commanded that there be a tax based on the census well it became customary in Israel after that time that as part of doing what God commanded supporting the priests the Levites and his house the Tabernacle later Temple that every male 20 years old and older would pay a yearly money amount specifically a half shekel tax so every Jewish male 20 years old noted they have to pay a half shekel tax to support the temple and its Ministry but there were two challenges to paying this tax one there are many different coinages in the world at this time made of different materials made of different levels of purity of that material so who’s shackle were you supposed to use and the other problem is not every culture had a half shekel coin so how do you pay a half shekel if there’s only whole shekel coins well the latter problem was usually dealt with by the Jews by two Jews paying the tax together they kind of go in together we’re going to pay the tax together by presenting one coin which is why by the way in Matthew 17 27 when Peter maxley catches a fish with a coin in its mouth what does Jesus tell him go take that coin and pay your tax and mine it’s the way the Jews did it two males they paired up to pay the tax and it just so happened to be a shackle the coin amount that was needed for the tax now as for the first problem whose shekel do you use the Jewish religious leaders eventually decided that they would only accept one coin type for the temple tax and that is the Tyrion shekel or the shackle that comes from the city of tire that was minted from the city of Tire now why they choice that why they chose that coin is not abundantly clear because after all tire was a pagan City and they even featured images of their gods on the coins you think that would kind of wrinkle the Jews a little bit but likely the reason they went for that is that these Tyrion coins were especially pure in silver 94 or higher purity of silver that’s good for using that money but settling that coin problem resulted in a new problem and that is well we’ve got Jews living all over the world they’ve got all kinds of coins how do those Jews get their hands specifically on the required Tyrion shekel well this is where another business or service developed that of money changing during the Feast of Jerusalem the different feasts Passover concluded there would be those who for a fee would exchange whatever coins you had from wherever you’re coming from for the specifically required coin to pay the temple tax it’s kind of like the currency exchanges you see today when you’re traveling to another country you say oh I need Euros or I need Yen or whatever kind of currency you need there were money changers back then who would do the same thing so that you could pay the temple tax now is there anything wrong with having these businesses with having these Services people to provide animals who are coming from far away or people to help you exchange the coins that you can pay for the temple tax is there anything wrong with that in and of itself not at all in fact that seems like a very necessary service how on Earth are these Jews going to be able to fulfill the law without these sellers and these money changers to help them do so this was actually a great benefit except that two problems emerged with these services and one is price gouging as those offering these Services pretty much have a monopoly on it they’re able if they want to to take advantage of the people coming from far away they have to get an animal for this Passover sacrifice they have to exchange their money to pay the temple tax so who’s to say you can’t rack up the price for that animal or for that money exchange and the other problem is where these Services end up being offered according to the ancient Jewish Roman historian Josephus originally animal selling these acceptable animals for offering and money changing Services were not set up in Jerusalem itself they were set up just outside of Jerusalem specifically east across the Kidron Valley towards the Mount of Olives many pilgrims will be coming over the mount evolves down into the Kindred Valley and then into Jerusalem as they came into the feast so it’s kind of like on the way into Jerusalem there’s the people who can offer you the animals or the money exchanging Services if you need it that’s where they originally set up but over time these businesses got closer and closer to where they would be needed to the temple itself and verse 14 tells us by the time of Jesus by the time of this first Passover of his public Ministry where are these services they are in the temple itself of course when you read that phrase in the temple you should understand it as in the temple complex we’re not talking about in the Holy place in the holy of holies of the actual building this would be the whole area the whole Court area around that special building it would all be referred to as the temple so we’re talking when it says in the temple we’re probably talking about the outer Court of the Temple I understand that by Jesus time the temple area has grown considerably since the time that Solomon originally constructed the temple on a portion of Mount Moriah Mount Moriah is the Eastern Hill of the ancient city of Jerusalem originally that’s all it covered but it was expanded into Hezekiah it was destroyed and then rebuilt and then when the Maccabees took over they wanted to expand the area and then when Herod the Great took over he really wanted to expand the area so now the Temple really covers almost the entirety of Mount Moriah and if you visit Israel today that Temple Mount area that raised platform on which Herod constructed or rather beautified the reconstructed Temple it still exists and it’s a huge area it’s one statistic at my Professor who led us on the Israel trip told us is that the temple complex area is the equivalent to 25 to 30 American football fields so it’s large and I’ve stood on the Temple mount and you can walk around it it is it is quite large and it was designed by Herod and others to not just feature the temple building itself but have a whole bunch of auxiliary buildings and and porticos and beautification pieces that are meant to point to the glory of God to honor God by the Majesty of these buildings and also to serve practical functions to assist in the needs of the worshipers it was really supposed to be a worshipful expansion of this Temple area and you’ve got thousands of people coming in each Feast to do these sacrifices it’s helpful to have a big area now the outer Court was also known as the court of the Gentiles because it was as far as non-jews could go and getting close to God’s dwelling place or offering Him worship which it’s a little rough right you would as a gentile would want to go as far as the Jews could go but hey you’ll take what you can get God has chosen the Jews as a special people but you can still go to the outer Court you can still pray you can still praise you can still have an amazing experience of worshiping the Lord right at the place of a special dwelling that was this is not the design of this outer court and Herod and others have provided for that that’s wonderful right well verse 14 again tells us that in this outer Court area which should be the main worship side of the Gentiles in fulfillment of Isaiah 56 7 my house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations well this outer court is now filled with animals and animal Sellers and money changers and they are conducting their business and perhaps even ripping off thousands of worshipers of God and with tens of thousands of Jews in total coming to Jerusalem for this one Feast they’re all trying to get to the temple they all need to get animals to offer a sacrifice and present worship to God just how crowded and maybe even chaotic did this court area become and you can just imagine the sound of it rather than prayer and praise being heard throughout this Temple complex what you hear is bleating and moving and shouting and haggling this is what Jesus sees this is what Jesus hears when he comes up to the Temple You’ve got all these Merchants they’ve specifically rented out space from the chief priests for their little stalls and they’re applying their trade of animals selling these animals or offering these money-changing services to people right in the temple now Jesus surely has seen this before he’s been going up to the Jerusalem feasts throughout his approximately 30 years of life but it’s now once Jesus public Ministry has officially begun that he’s going to do something and we see what he does in verses 15 to 16.
and he and as Jesus made a scourge of cords and drove them all out of the temple with the Sheep In The Oxen and he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables and to those who were selling the doves he said take these things away stop making my father’s house a place of business and this is amazing and this is very different than the popular conception of Jesus that we sometimes hear Jesus is so Meek mild you’ve never upset anybody that’s not the Jesus we see in the scripture notice verse 15 says that Jesus made a scourge of cords that is a whip of rope and he starts driving out the merchandisers from the Temple area all the sellers all the animals that whip no doubt primarily intended for the animal so that they can get a move on get out of the area it’s not just about clearing the space of animals notice Jesus also flips over the tables and the money changers he pours out their coins which is going to make it kind of hard for them to recover those coins interestingly Jesus does not release the birds doves or pigeons so they just fly away but he does directly address the sellers of those birds and says take these things away get your birds out of here and then Jesus gives the reason that’s driving all his action at the end of verse 16.
stop making my father’s house a place of business see this is the main problem that is so gone to Jesus it’s not that there are these businesses or even that these businesses are charging high prices though later on when he cleanses the temple a second time he will say that the Jews have made it a robber’s den which probably does point to the price gouging problem but the main problem here is the fact that these Merchants have brought their businesses right into God’s chosen area of worship and they’ve carried on like there’s no issue at all there’s a problem what problem Jesus has to confront them he has to say to them don’t you know what this place is don’t you know what complex you’re sitting in as you are applying your trades this is God’s house this is the place he’s chosen to put his special presence how dare you think so lowly of God’s holiness that you’re going to take his house and turn it into a market house literally House of business is the Greek you notice the particular way that Jesus identifies this Temple not simply God’s house but my father’s house now that’s profound because that means Jesus is not representing himself just as a Pious Jew concerned about the temple sanctity as a worship site no he is a son concerned about what belongs to his Heavenly Father how dare you turn my father’s house into your business Emporium now no Jew even in the Old Testament ever address God in such a personal way sometimes Israelites Jews might refer to God as our father when talking about God but they would never address God as our father and certainly not my father no Jew would talk about God as my father or to speak to God as my father Jesus does Jesus calls God my father here and his explanation for why those corrupting the temple area better get themselves and their goods out of the place in other words Jesus statement my father’s house it is a declaration of messiah’s ship and even deity and the Jews will remark about this eventually and he talks about I do whatever I see my father doing they will accuse him of blasphemy because they know that is a claim of deity now I think you can understand by this point that what we see Jesus doing this is not some stone-faced dispassionate display from the Son of God this is Jesus clearly in passion he is indignant he is moved he is raising his voice he is disgusted he is angry with this blatant disregard for his father’s honor because he loves the father thus Jesus is passionate to set things right in the temple this is righteous anger this is Holy anger on display in Jesus our lord and Jesus disciples notice which is why we read verse 17.
verse 17 notes his disciples remembered that it was written Zeal for your house will consume me and this is intriguing according to John Jesus display of righteous anger holy Zeal on behalf of God it caused the disciples apparently right then and there to remember a certain Old Testament Song Psalm 69 and we read this Psalm earlier in the service not going to go back and reread the whole thing now but recall that Psalm 69 is a Psalm of David Psalm of King David in which David laments to God about people persecuting him for his Devotion to God and even his Devotion to God’s house and he petitions God for personal deliverance and he also petitions God to bring judgment angry judgment on those persecutors in Psalm 69 9 specifically says Psalm 69 9 for Zeal for your house has consumed me and the reproaches of those who approach you have fallen on me now it makes sense why they would think of this Psalm because it does specifically mention that phrase Zeal for God’s house David had that Jesus has that too as the disciples can see but is that the only Connection in this Psalm Jesus just so happens to fulfill a particular phrase just one phrase of the psalm is that the only reason why the disciples think of it and that John brings it up for us here in this passage I don’t think so there’s definitely something more here I believe the disciples are making a connection that many others who are watching Jesus are probably also making or at least considering perhaps one of the questions that comes to your mind as you hear me talk about this passage or as you think about these passages how did Jesus get away with this and our brother Greg preached to this passage uh not too long ago he raised this same question and it’s a good question how does one guy with a whip drive out scores of merchants from the temple grounds along with their animals while scattering the precious money of all the money changers why didn’t anybody intervene to stop him we don’t see any indication of that in the text why not why didn’t any of the temple guards there were guards around here that was the chief function of the Levites at this time why didn’t any of the temple guards intervene to stop what would have looked like a disruption of normal Temple operations why didn’t any of the Roman soldiers intervene there was actually a fortress right next to kind of attached to the Temple Mount area the Antonia Fortress Roman legionaries could Overlook the temple they could keep a check on any sort of unrest that was brewing over there why didn’t any Roman soldiers start coming into the to the temple area once Jesus got going how Jesus got away with his zealous Act is not an easy question to answer but there are several possibilities one possibility is that Jesus was forceful but not disorderly in his removing the sellers from the temple that is he didn’t actually create chaos so the guards whether Jewish or Roman didn’t feel the need to intervene and perhaps the Jewish guards in particular along with the merchants they felt conviction that somebody was finally doing what really should have been done long ago so they didn’t offer any real resistance they knew that what they were doing was not right maybe that’s why another possibility is that this is simply Jesus Supernatural power at work people didn’t intervene to stop Jesus because there was something about his zealous Fury that stopped them in their tracks even the Romans we know Revelation describes Jesus as one whose eyes are a flame of fire perhaps those in the temple when they saw Jesus doing what he was doing they glimpsed this kind of look from Jesus and they became afraid I want to get in a way of that Force and this would be consistent with what we see later on in the Book of John as another instance where the Jewish leaders will say you know what Jesus is preaching and the Temple area go arrest him they send the guards but the guards come back without arresting Jesus and they say why didn’t you arrest him and they said nobody talks like this man does they recognize there’s something Supernatural about him and they couldn’t stop him and when we get to Gethsemane even when the mob is there with their weapons to arrest Jesus John’s going to show us that this whole group will draw back and fall to the ground when Jesus just says you’re looking for Jesus I am he I just fall over at that declaration again that’s because of the supernatural power of Jesus maybe that’s what’s operating here a third possibility is that Jesus was not acting alone but he actually gained popular support and it was with him if he just glance down to verse 23 we learned that Jesus was doing signs in Jerusalem remember signs John uses that word to indicate sign miracles he was doing miracles and these Miracles were causing people even to believe in his name now John doesn’t tell us when during the Passover Jesus was doing those Miracles was he doing them before was he doing them after was he doing it during if before then Jesus might have already accrued some supporters who were quite excited about this miracle worker and so perhaps they follow him into the temple and they are both cheering him on and assisting him as he clears out these Sellers and their goods that don’t belong in the temple you can understand if you’re a temple guard or you’re even a chief priest and you see this popular surge to cleanse the temple maybe they thought for themselves we don’t want to try and shut this down because that might just provoke a riot so we’ll just let him get away with it maybe that is the reason why I think each of these is possible and I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive it could be multiple of these things we’re operating at the same time but I believe the main reason that nobody moved to stop Jesus at least as far as We Know is because they saw in the Zeal that Jesus displayed the expected Behavior of the long-awaited Messiah after all who else would have the courage and conviction to just step up to the temple and without consulting the chief priest or anyone just start cleansing out the merchants who shouldn’t be there that’s the action of someone who has power zeal Authority that’s a messiah Type move remember Israel was in a high state of Messianic expectation at this time you’ve got people waiting for the Messiah looking for the Messiah that’s even how Jesus gained some of his first disciples so the onlookers were probably thinking to themselves could this one who’s cleansing the temple be the one that we’ve been waiting for add to it certain verses of the scriptures that point to this kind of expectation Malachi 3 1-3 Malachi 3 1-3 talks about the Lord’s messenger of the Covenant suddenly coming into his Temple and purifying it and its Personnel so there might be pure worship offered to God that kind of sounds like what this guy is doing and Zechariah 14 21 Zechariah 14 21 it further Associates the Lord’s eschatological coming is long-awaited coming to Israel as being what clears out the Canaanites or what could be translated clears out the merchants from the house of the Lord of hosts again that sounds like what Jesus is doing even Psalm 69 the remembrance of Psalm 69 points to messiahship because Psalm 69 is written by David it articulates the attitude of Israel’s Messiah King his ancient Messiah King and if the the Messiah he’s the son of David well shouldn’t we expect that that Messiah would have the same attitude as David and even more so if Zeal for the house of God consumed David certainly that will be evident in the Messiah who comes from David so the Jews are thinking themselves who is this fellow who is doing something just like what the prophets foretold could he be the Messiah and if he is I don’t want to be the one to try and stop him and be found to be opposing God himself well for this reason and maybe others I think nobody moves to stop Jesus from cleansing the temple instead the disciples note how appropriately Jesus fulfills scripture even the specific mexianic expectation from Psalm 69 and the Jewish leaders they prepare to ask Jesus for a further confirmation Verse 18 they’re going to ask Jesus for a Monumental sign a dramatic miracle can you prove to us that you really are the Messiah because you sure are acting like one they won’t be prepared for Jesus response which is what we’ll explore together next time sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger a little bit there but I think we need to pause in our progress of the passage so we can give enough time to each for now though let’s appreciate what we’re seeing just from this first part of Jesus confrontation of corrupted corrupted worship what Jesus cleansing of the temple means for us today we first need to understand that Jesus cleansing of the temple is indeed proof of his messiahship just as the people were suspecting at that time God’s true Messiah would indeed not only be concerned about the corruption of worship in God’s house but would act in Zeal to rectify the situation which is exactly what Jesus Does and the way he did it in his righteous anger not sinning but zealously acting on God’s behalf and even declaring that the temple was his father’s own house it was his own father’s house this testifies this is for the testimony that Jesus is the true Christ and then believing in him and him alone you find eternal life don’t stop short this is again telling his audience and us don’t stop short with anyone or anything else go all the way to Jesus as his true disciple he is the messiah he is the son of God we wouldn’t appreciate that first of all but second we need to see that Jesus passion for Holy worship of the father even to the point of zealous anger is still true today I mean after all do you think that this was really just a one-time thing for Jesus he just had to let off some steam he saw this thing kind of made him upset but he dealt with it and he’s like okay I’m good don’t worry back to my calm self I’m not so concerned about that anymore obviously not Jesus Is God and God declares about himself that he does not change his expectations of Holiness his Zeal for his own Glory they do not change not in the father not in the son and not in the Holy Spirit Jesus is just as much committed to Purity and worship today as when he unleashed the whip in the temple and Revelation gives further support of this The Book of Revelation if you ever look at the first three chapters specifically chapters two and three Jesus sends seven messages basically seven letters to seven churches that existed in that time so we’re talking late first century sends them a message and in five of those messages he confronts sin in the churches and he warns that if the people who are doing those sins do not repent that he is going to chasten them even to the point of ending their lives that’s sobering that’s proof that Jesus is still zealous for Pure worship today so consider what that means for you personally ask yourselves even this morning are you in some way doing the equivalent of the Jews in this passage letting the merchants letting the money changers into the temple area where they do not belong and even carrying out further sin by taking advantage of the worshipers is there something like that going on in your life does God need to confront you about corrupted worship are you aware of sin something you want to hide from other people but somehow you don’t feel like it’s a big deal if only God knows and you just keep on proceeding you bring it right into our church Gathering and just people ask what’s going on how they can pray for you you never mention it you don’t want to look bad you don’t want to burden other people you’ll just pretend everything’s fine and Carry On In corrupted worship before God you have problems in your relationships you have people who are things against you you have a broken relationship with your spouse or your kids or another member of this church but you just keep on going keep on praying to God keep on praising God like no big deal do you remember what Jesus says in Matthew 5 . if you remember your brother as something gets you even if you right at the altar to give your animal and worship to God and remember we’re probably talking about one of the feasts so you got to wait a long time you you travel all that way you’ve gotten in the big line there are thousands of other people who want to offer a sacrifice to you you get out of line maybe a long time before you get back in line he says leave your offering there go be reconciled with your brother or think of that other verse in the New Testament that says specifically when it comes to husbands and their wives that the husbands are to treat their wives in an understanding way because otherwise their prayers will be hindered you know the psalm that says if I regard iniquity in my heart God will not hear do you think you can offer praise to God in this church do you think that you can pray to God in your own private space while you are regarding sin while you are living a worldly life and you think that God is okay with that look at how God actually feels as displayed in Jesus you know what he would say to you about those things in your life get these things out of here stop making my father’s house stop trying to bring right into the presence of God that which is unclean personally we need to appreciate that God says I require pure worship don’t hide your sin from God don’t hide your sin from other people in the church you’ll probably need them to gain the instruction and encouragement and accountability to overcome that sin don’t just hide from people withdraw from people God knows God sees so be open with him and say God I repent God you know all things I mean that’s what he says in the end of this passage right Jesus knows what is in man he doesn’t need somebody to testify about you to God he already knows so be open with him confess your sin express your sorrow over it and commit to Turning from it even by using the help of your brethren that’s repentance repent of your sin and then you can be accepted in your worship to God and that’s not just you personally it’s true corporately it’s true corporately as well and many interpreters of this passage they see a parallel between Jesus Zeal for the physical Temple that existed at that time and Jesus Zeal for the temple that is the church the new Dwelling Place of God and I think that parallel is Justified we see the same kind of excitation in other passages in the New Testament speaking to the Corinthians Paul says don’t you know that you are the temple of God you Corinthians and that individually your bodies are part of that Temple therefore don’t corrupt the temple of God what do you think God will think of that individually we have a responsibility and should be our desire to live holy before the Lord present pure worship before him but that also is a corporate responsibility we are to be watching out for one another if you see a brother or sister who’s struggling in sin and maybe they ask you for help maybe they don’t you cannot pull a cane and just say am I My Brother’s Keeper or you can’t uphold what James talks about and in chapter 2 you see a brother in need you say be warmed be filled and then just move on and don’t actually help no we are to display the same kind of zeal for God’s house that Jesus does here we are to help that brother and sister even if it costs us cost Jesus we’ll talk about more about that when we come back to this passage it consumed him in a way it’s going to consume you too you might suffer in showing your Zeal for the Lord but you know what God is pleased with that and he will reward that help your brother and sister don’t say oh I sure hope that somebody talks to him about that sin maybe nobody else knows maybe God has arranged providentially that you know so that you can address that brother privately or you can address that sister privately and say hey I’m concerned see this thing am I really understanding the situation appropriately because I know that you testify you love Jesus Jesus wouldn’t want you to Walk This Way you’ve got to turn brother you’ve got to turn sister can I help you do that and James encourages us at the end of his letter by saying no that a person who sees one of his brother going astray and brings him back he covers a multitude of sins he saves his soul from death there might be people in this congregation who are carrying on a corrupt worship because they don’t really know God by you reaching out to that person you will save that person’s soul from death we’ll just wait around for somebody else to do it pray about it and then do as Jesus stood do as Jesus commands love your brother love your sister enough to talk to them about their sin deal with your own sin first come on don’t have the plank in your own eye when you’re trying to take a speck out of your brother’s eye but help your brethren show Zeal for God and for his house if you want to do that not just individually but corporately and of course today is a good day to be thinking about that right because we’re looking at the Lord’s table the Lord’s table is another Avenue for us thinking about the purity of our worship both individually and corporately but you shouldn’t have to wait to the Lord’s table to deal with that kind of thing it should be every time you become aware of it especially before you come to Worship On Any Sunday so it’s a day to be thinking about it again repenting and believing as God would actually have you to do now one last thing I want to address before we finish today I’ve talked a lot about the anger of God about impure worship but perhaps some of you are thinking but I thought in Jesus I don’t have to worry about the anger of God anymore I thought I’d been saved from God’s Wrath which is another word for anger so that I only experience God’s love well praise God that you have been saved from the Eternal wrath of God if you are in Jesus Christ your corrupt worship has already been suffered by Jesus the penalty of your corrupt worship has already been suffered by Jesus once and for all you will not be punished you will not be condemned for the condemnation that Jesus has already suffered for you praise the Lord for that because I need that and you need that but do not use the grace of the Lord as a license to sin because God loves you he will still discipline you you will arouse his fatherly displeasure when you continue in worldliness and unrepentant sin in a sense that’s the anger of God now it’s not going to destroy you but paired with his love it is going to result in your discipline Jesus says in Revelation he whom I love I reprove and discipline therefore be zealous and repent that’s what we want to do individually and as a congregation because then where do we get to arrive we get to arrive in that place of worship that God always meant for us to be with joy with a clean conscience not trusting in our record trusting in Christ and yet having no hindrance no barrier between us and God beholding his Beauty and enjoying his Fellowship that’s what the Lord wants for you and for me so may we remember the Zeal of the Lord and respond with proper Zeal in our own lives and in our church let’s pray God You Are Holy and your Holiness is beautiful if you were not holy how could we worship you if you were not just if you were not good if you were not brightness and all of your essence how could we give you praise but we must recognize what that Holiness means your word declares we are to be holy because you are holy we cannot be holy in ourselves there’s no way we could attain the record that is needed to be acceptable to you but we have that in Jesus and we praise you yet because we’ve received that salvation we are to seek you in holiness your scriptures say without Holiness no one will see the Lord or that if we profess to have faith but we do not have works we lie our faith is empty God I pray if there are any here who have been hiding from you their corrupted worship which you already know about that they would repent they would repent truly and come to believe for real what they have previously professed that Jesus is the Christ Jesus is the Lord Jesus Is My Savior and my true treasure I will give up all for him no matter what it cost me because I want him and I want eternal life for any who have never done that I pray that they would repent and believe today and for those who have done that but have gone astray Lord who have been deceived by sin who have been caught in the trespass and are not sure how to get out Lord I pray that they too would come to this place of fundamental repentance and that they would get the help of their Brethren say brother sister I need help I don’t know how to get out of this sin I don’t know how to stop this sin habit God you gave us the church for precisely that reason it would help us not to be afraid to help one another in this but to be bold for your sake to be zealous for your sake that is appropriate based on the Salvation that we have received Lord as we go to your table now I pray Lord that this would be a sober time but truly joyful time because you have saved us you have made it so that we can come right into your holy of holies without hindrance that is an astounding privilege I would mean maybe we enjoy worship with you as we seek you obey you love you may we just enjoy you continually may your joy be our strength as the scripture says and so that we cling to you and Don’t Stray Don’t Stray to idols in Jesus name amen