Now for our message today, we're
turning to Matthew 21. I'm taking the title
for the message from verse 13, what is said in verse 13. The
Lord said to those money changers who were buying and selling in
the house of God, in the temple of God, He said unto them, verse
13, it is written, my house, shall be called a house of prayer,
a house of prayer. But you have made it, you have
made it into, you have made it, you have made it. God didn't
make it, you made it. The den, the den of thieves,
thieves. My house shall be called a house
of prayer, that's the title. a house of prayer, God's house,
a place set aside, dedicated for the preaching of the gospel,
for the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what a true ministry
is about. It's about preaching the gospel
and worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ. But these self-serving
religious Jews had turned the worship service into a place
of thievery. You made it, he said, a den of
thieves, a den of iniquity, a den of abuse, a den of extortion
and excess. What a sharp, critical judgment
the Lord pronounces upon these people. He has a right to do
so because He is the Judge. He judges all things righteously. Now this is not the first time
the Lord went into His temple. to cast out those who were hucksters. In fact, the first time the Lord
Jesus did this, in the beginning of His ministry, we read earlier
in John chapter 2, He went and did the same thing. He made Him
a whip. And He went about whipping and
driving all them out. And He said, you've made My Father's
house a place of merchandise. And here again, They didn't learn
anything that time. And here again, three years later,
the Lord Jesus Christ is back in his temple, back in a place
that was dedicated and set aside originally for the worship of
God. And he finds these people again
in the temple in Jerusalem. He finds them doing the same
thing, the corruption and perversion of religion. He finds them doing
the same thing. Don't we see the same thing in
our day? This is what has become the normal in our day. Much religious
excitement, but no true preaching. No true preaching of the gospel
of Christ. No true worship. For where the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is denied, that is, how God saves
sinners only through Christ and Him crucified by His grace alone,
By the gift of faith alone, through his blood and righteousness,
for where the gospel is denied, there can be no true worship. Where the gospel is denied, there
cannot be any true worship. The Father seeketh such to worship
him in spirit and truth. The truth of who he is, the truth
of who we are, he's holy, we're sinners, and the truth about
salvation by his grace in Christ. So we worship him in spirit and
in truth. Now we find in this passage of
scripture two remarkable events of the Lord's last week upon
this earth as the man crushed Jesus. These are the last days
of his earthly ministry. We see in this portion of scripture,
we see his wrath, his righteous judgment against sin, don't we? We see that. And yet we see his
mercy displayed towards sinners. As it says there in verse 14,
when he drove out all the money hucksters, the blind and the
lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. Isn't that
tender? Isn't that sweet? We see his wrath and righteous
judgment against sin, and we see his mercy displayed towards
sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ not only
came to save his people from their sin and to display his
mercy, love, and grace, and he does so. Call his name Jesus. He shall save his people from
their sin. The Lord Jesus Christ, this is
a true and faithful saying, he came to save sinners. Paul said,
I'm the chief one. So the Lord came to save his
people, but also to righteously judge the wicked and cast them
out. The prophet Habakkuk said, O Lord, in your wrath, remember
mercy. He does. He is both a just God
and Savior. He said, I am God, beside me
there is no other. He is a just and righteous God.
Thank God He's also a Savior. He said, look unto me and be
ye saved. All the ends of the earth. I'm
God. Beside me there is no other.
Now, let's take a look at some of the details here in verse
12. And Jesus, the Savior, God our Savior, the Mediator, the
Advocate, went into the temple of God. He owns this place. It's His. He went into the temple
of God and He cast out all them. that sold and bought in the temple,
overthrew their tables. They were money changers, selling
different things in the name of God, promoting false idolatry,
promoting false worship and idolatry. And the seats of them that sold
and said, it is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer.
But you've made it into a den of thieves. The Lord Jesus Christ
go to the house of God. When he comes to Jerusalem, he
goes to the temple of God, to the house of God. He did not
go to the palace of men. He did not go to the place of
the Roman government, to the seat of the Roman government,
to take control of Jerusalem. He could have. He could have
kicked Rome, the Roman government, out of Jerusalem. But he didn't
do so. He didn't do, it wasn't his purpose.
He could have set up an earthly kingdom at this time, but it
wasn't his purpose. That wasn't God's eternal purpose
at that time. He came to set up a spiritual
kingdom. Remember he said, my kingdom
is not of this world or my servants would fight. They would fight.
But rather the Lord came here to cleanse his temple of these
corruptors of religion, and that's the story of man beginning all
the way back in Adam in the garden. Look what he did. He cast them
all out. He cast them out. He cast all
them out of the temple that were there for the purpose of buying
and selling in the name of God. Now, there's nothing wrong with
buying and selling. We go to Walmart all the time.
And we buy things down there at Walmart. There's nothing wrong
with buying and selling. But what is wrong is when you
bring that economy of buying and selling into the house of
God and try to make merchandise of the gospel of the grace of
God in Christ Jesus. Nothing wrong with buying and
selling at the store, but not in the house of God. The gospel
of God is not up for sale. We don't sell the gospel. Not
in the house of God, they had turned the house of God into
a place of merchandise instead of a place of prayer, preaching,
and worship. Our Lord said in John 2, take
these things hence and make not my Father's house the house of
merchandise. And his disciples remembered
that it was written, the zeal of God's house hath eaten him
up. I was listening to a message
this morning, and the preacher was preaching from, a gospel
preacher, was preaching from 1 Timothy 3. He said, Paul writes,
but if I tarry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest
to behave thyself in the house of God, the pillar and ground
of the truth. The house of God, the church
of God, is about declaring the truth of God. We also see in
this a clear and vivid display of what the Lord does here in
His temple of His Lordship, of His absolute authority as God. We see His deity displayed. How can one man walk into this
vast, huge temple and drive everybody out? He's no mere man. He's the God-man, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He rides into Jerusalem, meek
and lowly, riding on a wild ass's coat. You remember verse 5? Tell ye the daughters of Zion,
behold the King cometh unto thee, meek, sitting upon an ass, upon
a coat, the fold of an ass. We see his humility, his humanity
displayed, but let us never forget who this man is. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Remember the question here the
multitude asked in verse 10, Matthew 21, verse 10, when he
was coming to Jerusalem, all the city was moved saying, who
is this? Who is this one? You know, this
question was asked before. Hold your place there. Turn back
over here to Matthew 16. You remember? Matthew 16, 13. Matthew 16, 13. Who is this one? What think ye of Christ? Matthew
16, 13. When Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, whom do
men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, well, some
think you're John. John the Baptist, the last Old
Testament prophet, or Elias, or Jeremias, Elijah, or Jeremiah,
one of the other prophets, but he saith unto them, but whom
do you say? Whom say ye that I am? Simon
Peter answered and said, thou art the Christ, the son of the
living God. And the Lord said, you're a blessed
man, Simon. Son of Jonah, for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven."
Who is this? He's the Christ of God. He's
anointed prophet, priest, and king. Who is this? He's God over
all, blessed forever. We see his mighty, sovereign
power over the wills of men. How does one man do this? He's
no ordinary man. He's no ordinary man. The Lord
Jesus Christ possesses all power in heaven and in earth. You remember
the last words in the last chapter, the book of Matthew? Turn over
there. Matthew 28. The risen Lord declared in verse
18, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore,
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. Matthew 28. 19 verse 20, teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you, and lo, I'm
with you always, even to the end of the earth. All power is
given unto me in heaven and on earth. He prayed in John 17,
Father, I thank you. You've given me power over all
flesh. so I should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given to me. Now look at verse 13,
he said to justify what he did, to condemn them, he said, he
goes right to the word of God, it is written. What a safe place
to go, isn't it? That's a safe source. It's written. Who wrote that? He did. He did. My house shall be called the
house of prayer. If you've made it, you've made
it into a den of thieves. He uses a powerful weapon of
the word of God and said it is written. It is written. You remember
the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged
sword. He quotes from Isaiah 56. Verse
seven, where it says, my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all people. And then he also quotes Jeremiah
chapter seven, verse 11, where it says, in this house, which
is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes. Behold, even I have seen it,
saith the Lord. The Lord knew that that would
happen because he decreed that it would happen. Now, a good
example for us, in this to make much use of the Word of God,
make much use of the Scripture of God. All Scripture is given
by inspiration of God, and it is profitable for us to use the
Word of God, to preach the Word of God, to feed the sheep. What
do we feed the sheep with? Thus saith the Lord. Peter, do
you love me? Yes, Lord. Feed my sheep, feed
my lambs. And the sheep food is the word
of God, the gospel of God concerning Christ. So we use the word of
God to feed the sheep. and to defeat the enemies of
the gospel with the sword of the Spirit, which is called the
Word of God." The Word of God. When Paul writes in Ephesians
6 about putting on the whole armor of God, he said, take the
helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word
of God. It's the Word of God that quickens.
The Word of God, of His own will beget He us with the Word of
truth. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of the Lord. Let us make much of the Scripture.
Let us make much of the Scripture, the Word of God. Look at verse
14. When He drove them all out, we
see the Lord showing mercy. Verse 14. The blind and the lame
came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. He healed all
them that had need of healing. We see the Lord in His judgment
upon some, and then He sovereignly shows mercy to others in need.
The blind and the lame, they came to Him, and He never cast
them out. He cast the others out, but He
said, come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden. I'll
give you rest. Come unto the throne of grace
that you may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of
need. He drove out the hucksters, but
he said to the mercy beggars, you come, you come, there's mercy
in the Lord. We've seen this repeated over
and over again, haven't we, in our study in Matthew. For example,
Matthew 9, when the multitudes, when he saw the multitudes, he
was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and
were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd, and then
in another place it says, He healed all them that had need
of healing. He healed them all. He healed
them all. The Lord has not changed. He
is the same today, yesterday, and forever. He said, I'm the
Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob,
you're not consumed. The Lord has not changed. All
who come to Him for mercy shall receive mercy freely. given by the Lord Jesus Christ. He delights to show it, to justify
sinners freely by His grace, to bless them with all spiritual
blessing in the heavenlies in Christ, by rights, not by works
of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy,
He saved us. According to His what? According
to our merit, according to our work. No, according to His mercy,
He saved us. Jeremiah writes about it this
way in Jeremiah 3. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed because His compassions fail not. They're
new every morning. They're new every morning. This
should encourage all of us to seek mercy where mercy is found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse 15. When the
chief priests and scribes, these were the top dogs, This was the
chief priest and all his men, the chief priest and the scribes saw the wonderful
things that he did. Now they didn't think it was
wonderful, but the Lord, everything he does is wonderful because
his name is Wonderful Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father. When they saw the wonderful things that He did in healing
all those who were in need, the blind, their seeing, the lame,
their walking, they were healed. This was no sham, this was real. And when they saw those things,
those sinners being healed, and the children crying in the temple
saying, Hosanna, you see verse 15 again, saying, Hosanna to
the Son of David. They were sore displeased. Now you think they'd give thanks.
Here's a blind man, been blind all his life, and God's given
him sight. Here's a poor cripple who could
not walk, and now he's walking and leaping and praising God,
and they got mad? How wicked. How wicked is that? How wicked is that? We see these
religious Pharisees got very angry with him. They were sore
displeased. It says in Luke 19 and in Mark
11 where this is given, it says they sought to destroy him. They were so displeased they
went out and helped counsel how they might destroy him. You know
what they were doing? They were plotting his murder.
They were actively plotting his murder. Nothing so angers the self-righteous
than giving Christ all the honor and glory for the salvation of
sinners. Nothing so blesses the sinner
than to glorify Christ in the salvation of sinners. You reckon
those who were healed, those who were blind and lame, you
reckon their families were displeased? Oh no, they're giving glory to
God in the highest. Hosanna, they said. Hosanna to
the son of David. giving God all the honor and
glory. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name do
we give glory. It's unto him that loved us and
washed us from our sin in his own blood. To him be all the
honor and glory, both now and forever. God forbid we should
glory, save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse
16, Matthew 21. said this unto him, and they
were so displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these
say? Sure he heard them. And the Lord said to them, Have
you never heard? Have you never read? Out of the
mouths and babes and suckling, thou hast perfected praise. And
the reference there is Psalm 8 verse 2. When the Pharisees
were quick to accuse and condemn the children who were healed
for saying, Hosanna, God has saved us to the anointed Messiah. O Lord, save us. The Lord was
quick to defend them. And again, what does he use?
The Word of God. The Lord Jesus goes right back
to the Word of God. Quotes from Psalm 8 verse 2. And let me read that to you.
Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained
strength, because of thine enemy, that thou mightest steal the
enemy and the avenger, that is, the scribes and Pharisees, who
were the enemies of the gospel. The Lord has ordained out of
the mouth of babes and sucklings that he might still the enemy
and the avenger. And here's the point, the Lord
is pleased to use weak vessels of clay to honor him. Weak vessels of clay, these babes,
turn back to Matthew 11, remember in the reference there is given
on verse 16, Matthew 11, 25, turn back over there, remember out of the mouths of these babes
who have been taught of God. Matthew 11, 25, at that time,
Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, because You have hid these things from the wise and
prudent and revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so
it seems good in Thy sight. All things are delivered unto
Me and My Father, and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father
save the Son, and He to Whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." Sovereign
revelation under these babes, these babes in Christ. We have
this treasure of the Gospel in earthen vessels, that the ecstasy
of the power may be of God, not of us. He's given us the Gospel. Poor, weak, frail creatures,
and He uses poor, weak, frail creatures that He might get all
the honor and glory in saving sinners. Now, look at verse 17. Here's a sad note. A note of
judgment. Verse 17. He left them. The worst
thing that can happen to any sinner is for the Lord to leave
them to Himself. That's all that has to happen
for eternal condemnation. The Lord just leave me to myself. I don't want to be left to myself.
Lord, don't leave me. He left them and went out of
the city into Bethany, and there he lodged there. He left those
self-serving, self-righteous people to their own wicked heart.
No greater condemnation to any sinner than to be left to his
own wicked self. God has promised his children
that he will never leave them. He'll never forsake them. He
said, lo, I'm with you always. Now on his way to Jerusalem,
in Matthew 21 verse 1, it says here, when he drew near to Jerusalem,
he came to Bethage and to Bethany, it says in Mark 11 and Luke 19,
and to the Mount of Olives. On his way to Jerusalem, he stopped
there at Bethany. And now he goes back after having
done the father's business, after having done the father's will,
he goes back to Bethany and he lodged there. You remember
who lived in Bethany? Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Lazarus had been raised from
the dead. And he lodged there with them. He took up his abode.
Why did He do that? Because He loved them with an
everlasting love. What a blessing for any sinner
to have the Lord abide with them in your heart. The Lord to abide
with us? And He most certainly does. For
the Lord does abide in the hearts of His covenant children. He
dwells in their hearts by faith. He dwells in their hearts by
the Holy Spirit. Christ in you, the hope of glory. He abides
in us. He'll never leave us. He'll never
forsake us. Christ is in His people. Now,
the last part of this, in the morning, verse 18, down through
verse 22, in the morning, He comes back to the temple. In
the morning, He comes back to the city. And you see what it says there?
In the morning, as He returned into the city, He hungered. He
hungered. What does that tell us? He was
a real man. This man who was God is also
a real man. Not a phony man. Not a fake man. Not a phantom man. He was a real
man. And yet God Almighty. The God-Man
Mediator. The God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. We see something amazing here.
It says He hungered. We've seen a clear display of
His deity and power. Now we see the clear display
of his humanity. His human body had need of food
just like us. He identified with us, didn't
He? He was tempted and tested in all points like as we are,
yet without sin. Hebrews 4, verse 15. He had no sin, He did no sin,
and He knew no sin. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Remember where it says in Scripture,
John 4, where it says, He must needs go through Samaria? Remember? And it says there, He sat on
the well, needing a drink of water, and it says there that
he wearied in body. He was a real man, bone of our
bone and flesh of our flesh. This is the one who represents
us before God. He was a real man. And yet, totally
God. Fully and totally man, fully
and totally God in one blessed person. I can't explain that. I believe it. God was manifest
in the flesh. And then he comes to this fig
tree in the way. He came to it because he was
hungry. He was looking for some, I'm
going to pluck up some figs off that fig tree. And he comes to
the fig tree and finds out there's no figs. There's no fruit. Nothing
but leaves. Leaves only. You see that? And said unto it, let no fruit
grow on thee henceforth for ever. And presently the fig tree withered
away. When the disciples saw it, they
marveled, saying, how soon is that fig tree withered away? The fig tree was full of leaves
but had no fruit, and the Lord pronounced a righteous judgment
upon it. Now what can we learn from this
picture here? That fruitless tree is a picture
and symbol of religion without Christ. religion without Christ. It pictures these Pharisees,
a true picture of those who are full of religious leaves, but
no fruit of the Holy Spirit, no life given in regeneration. They have a form of godliness,
but denying the power thereof. The picture of this religious
lost nation we know as Israel. It's interesting to note You
remember what fallen Adam in the garden tried to use to hide
himself from God? Fig leaves. Didn't work, did
it? It won't work now either. It's
also interesting to note that believers are called trees of
righteousness, the planting of the Lord, Isaiah 61, to appoint
unto them that morn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the
spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord. He's planted us by the rivers
of the water of life that shall bring forth fruit in due season. I like this Psalm 92. It talks
about the righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, those who are
righteous in Christ. He shall grow like a cedar in
Lebanon. Those that be planted in the
house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They
shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat. They shall be flourishing to
show that the Lord is upright. He is my rock, and there's no
unrighteousness in him. The fruit of the Spirit is what?
Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, temperance,
faith. The Lord curses this fruitless fig tree, and it withers to the
ground. There is a certain and sure judgment
will fall on all those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember
in John chapter 1, it says, He came unto His own, His own received
Him not. A certain and sure judgment upon
those who reject the gospel, who are nothing before God, but
leaves full of profession with no fruit of Christ. They are
tares among the wheat, goats, among the sheep that the Lord
will separate in due time. The disciples, verse 20, marveled
at the power of God. This tree just withers in the
judgment of God. What would the judgment of God
be like in that last day when he pronounced his judgment upon
this wicked world? It's going to wither away. It's
going to wither away. And when the disciples saw it,
they marveled, saying, how soon, how soon that fig tree, how soon
that fig tree withered away. Now, it's interesting that the
Lord says over here in Matthew 21, the same chapter
we're in. Verse 43, therefore I say unto
you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to
a nation that bringeth forth fruit thereof. Talking about
God's elect among the Gentile nation. Judgment will come, just
as it did in that day on the temple, on the city, and the
people. We're going to read about that
in Matthew 24. It's appointed unto men once
to die, and after that, judgment. Judgment's coming. Now, in closing,
let me give you this. Here's a lesson about prayer.
And the Lord answered, verse 21, and said unto them, Verily
I say unto you, if you have faith, and doubt not, Believing, you
shall not only do this which is done to this fig tree, but
also if you say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast
into the sea, it shall be done. All things whatsoever you shall
ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive. Now that's a big
wide promise, is it not? Here's a Lesson about prayer. This promise immediately is given
to the apostles. They were sent out to preach
the gospel, believing all that God had promised he was able
to perform, being persuaded that all that God had promised he's
able to do, They preached, how shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation, which at first began to be spoken by the
Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him. God also
bearing them witnessed both with signs and wonders and divers
miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will. Now that promise was given to
them, the apostles, as they went out and preached the gospel,
but it's also for us. It's a promise for us. True prayer,
It's a promise for us. True prayer is not trying to
change the will of God, listen, but rather seeking the will of
God and submitting unto it. It's not seeking what we want,
but rather seeking the blessings of God that He has promised us
in the Gospel. All grace now and glory forever. Prayer involves faith in Christ
and confidence in Him, not in us. He says there, ask, ask. Let your request be made known
unto God. Remember we read in the book
of James, you have not because you ask not, remember? Now this
asking, turn over here to Matthew 7, you can find that easily,
can't you? Matthew 7. about asking and receiving. Ask in faith. Remember Matthew
7. Turn over Matthew 7 verse 7. Matthew 7 verse 7. Ask, and it
shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock,
and it shall be opened. For everyone that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth. And to him that knocketh it shall
be opened. Or what man is there of you, of whom, if his son ask
him bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he
give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall
your heavenly Father, which is in heaven, give good things to
them that ask him? Would it be wise to ask the Lord
for mercy? Couldn't it be wise? And then
believing. Ask, back to the text. He said,
all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, and then what?
Believing. Believing. Believing. You shall receive. You shall
receive. What is believing? Looking to
the Lord Jesus Christ, who's the author and finisher of faith.
You shall receive by faith the blessings of Christ through the
gospel. Through the gospel. You remember
our Lord said to that person who had that demon-possessed child, If thou
canst believe, all things are possible to them that believe.
You remember what was said, Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief. Prayer is one of the means the
Lord has ordained to accomplish His purpose. Now you think about
that. Prayer is one of the means the Lord has ordained to accomplish
His purpose. Just like preaching the gospel.
He's ordained that to call out His people. God has an eternal
purpose which He purposed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse
22 again, I'll quit. All things That's pretty wide promise, is
it not? All things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer. We don't demand, we ask, Lord,
if it's your will. Ask believing, believing God
is able to do all things. Anything too hard for God? Nope.
And you shall receive. How do we receive it? By faith,
by believing God.