of money sitting, and when he
had made a scourge of small cords, a whip, he drove them all out
of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen, and poured out
the changers' money, and overthrew the tables, and said unto them
that sold doves, Take these things hence, Make not my father's house
a house of merchandise." And his disciples remembered that
it was written in Psalm 69, "'The zeal of thine house hath eaten
me up.'" We saw in verse 12 how the Lord went down to Capernaum. Wednesday night we looked at
that. something up. We saw something, a little bit
of our Lord's condescension of just how far He came down to
this earth. When He left glory, He left heaven
to come to this place He calls this present evil world. He came
down. But now it says He went up to
Jerusalem, verse 13. He went up to Jerusalem, not
only Geographically, was it situated on a hill? That's what Scripture
always says. How beautiful is Mount Zion for
situation? It's up on a hill. The city of
Jerusalem, the city of David is actually set on a hill to
where if you go there, you're going to go up. And that's by
design. Our Lord is telling us that that
when we come to worship God, we're coming out of this muck
and this miry clay and out of this sinful world. We're rising
above these things to come to where our God is. And certainly
when we go to that heavenly city, New Jerusalem, we're going to
leave this place and ascend to glory. And our Lord went up,
and He went up further. When He left Jerusalem, He went
out of town, and He went up to be crucified on Mount Calvary. Our Lord was ascending ever since
He came down to this place, the lower parts of the earth, born
of a woman in the lowest of the low. He's been ascending ever
since. In another place, we preached
a message on it. It says He was going up to Jerusalem. The whole time, from the cradle
to the grave, He was going up. So He went up to Jerusalem. He went up to Mount Calvary.
He went higher than that. After Mount Calvary, that was
His glory, that was His honor, that was His ascension to His
throne. of mercy and of grace, the throne
of the cross, where God is honored, where God is glorified, where
sinners are forgiven, where sins are paid for. And then when he
did that, it says God took him higher still. After he put away
our sins by the sacrifice of himself, it says he went up and
sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High. He can't
get any higher now. Can't get any higher. So He went
up. Every word, every verse is significant. He went up to Jerusalem. Now it says in verse 13, the
Jews' Passover was at hand. Do you see anything wrong with
that? The Jews' Passover. Now in Exodus
chapter 12, the first mention of the Passover. Most of you
in here know that. By the grace of God, by the mercy
of God, you know, you understand. And flesh and blood didn't reveal
it to you. But my Father which is in heaven
revealed to you the Passover Lamb, caused you to behold the
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of His people. And it
says in Exodus 12, 11, this is the Lord's Passover. The Lord's Passover. But it had
degenerated so, the abomination of desolation, which our Lord
warned about, had begun. For all manner of abominable
things had entered into His temple. The things of man, and not the
things of God. particularly Deuteronomy chapter
12 all the way through chapter 17. The Lord said this countless
times. I wrote it down one time. He
said, I have a place that I have chosen to put my name there. I have a place, He said, that
I have chosen to put my name there. He was speaking of the
temple. And that temple speaks of the church of God. Paul wrote, he said, you're the
temple of the living God. God doesn't dwell in buildings
made with hands. He never did, and He never will. But He is in His people. He is
where His people are. That's where you'll find God.
Not out in nature. You'll find Him where two or
three are gathered in His name. You'll find Him in the temple.
You will find the Lord Jesus Christ always. in the synagogues,
in the tabernacle, and in the temple. If you wanted to find
Him, if you wanted to be close to the Lord God, the Creator
of heaven, you'd go into His temple. That's where He is. That's where He dwells. That's
where He lives, in the hearts and with His people who are gathered
together in His name. He said, the place that I've
chosen to put my name there, it's called the Church of God.
It's called the Church of Christ. What is it called now? Look around you. The Lutheran
Church. The Wesleyan Church. The Church of St. Mary's. It's not St. Mary's Church. And don't ever put St. in front
of a person's name as a title. No. That's a privilege. It's not St. Mary's Church. It's
not St. Francis of Assisi. It's not the
Free Will Baptist Church. Anybody who puts names like that
in front of God's church, the names of men upon God's church,
it's an abomination. The Jews pass them. Look at Malachi 3 with me. Malachi
3. Now who is this that came to
his temple? He called the house, my house,
didn't he? He said, this is my house and
you've made it a den of thieves, he said. My house shall be called
the house of prayer. The Lord God of glory came to
his temple that day. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
who is none other than God manifest in the flesh. A virgin shall conceive and bear
a son, and thou shalt call his name," what? Emmanuel, which
is being interpreted, God is with us. God is with us. Wonderful counselor, the mighty
God, the everlasting Father. That's what you call his name.
And he came to his temple this day. Malachi 3, they didn't know
the Lord back then. They didn't know who he was.
They just thought of him as Jesus. And that's why men refer to Him
as such today. That's why they call Him that
today. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. His enemies
called Him Jesus. The Pharisees called Him Jesus. The devils, we know who they
are, Jesus. But God's people call Him Lord. That's what the Lord said to
call Him. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ said to call him.
He said, you call me Lord to His disciples. You call me Lord
and Master. You say well, for so I am. I
want to say well, don't you? I want to give Him all the glory
He deserves, don't you? I want to honor Him with the
honor that He's due. Then call Him Lord. At the name
of Jesus, bow your knee and with your mouth you call Him Lord. Lord Jesus. Now this is the Lord
who has come to His temple. Malachi 3, you have it? Verse
1, Behold, I will send my messenger. He shall prepare the way before
me. Who's that? John the Baptist. We just saw
that. We just read where John the Baptist said, This is He. When he pointed at Christ. That's
Him. That's the one I said. He's before me because He was
before me. He it is, He said. That's the
Lamb of God. Lamb of God. Read on. Verse 1,
"...he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom
ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
of the covenant whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts." Now look at his coming. But who may abide
the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he's like a refiner's fire.
Our Lord said that, which very few people today have ever read. He said, thinkest I am come to
bring peace on the earth? Nay, but rather a sword. He said,
I am come to bring fire on earth. Read on. He said, like fuller's
soap. Oh, nothing more purifying, cleansing. He shall sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver. He shall purify the sons of Levi
and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the
Lord an offering in righteousness. Verse 4, "...then shall the offering
of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days
of old, as in former years. And I will come near to you in
judgment. I will be a swift witness against
the sorcerer, against the adulterers, against false swearers, against
those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the
fatherless, that turn aside the stranger from his right. And
fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts, for I am the Lord, I change
not." Therefore, you sons of Jacob, are not consumed." How
did the Lord Jesus Christ first show forth Himself, manifest
His glory here as a man? His first public appearance,
well, it was at the wedding. It was where He showed privately. He hid Himself to everyone else,
but showed Himself to the servants and to His disciples. But how
did He show Himself? How did He appear? How did He
come the first time publicly before all men? Right here, as a fire in judgment. And He comes into His temple
to let it known, first of all, that this is no mere man who
has come here. It's not gentle Jesus, meek and
mild. This is the Lord of glory. This
is the Lord who came first to His temple, and the first thing
He did was show forth His anger and His wrath and His judgment. He said, I'll come near to you
in judgment. I'm going to purge my temple.
He had to do that. And people, we're all full of
sin, we're all full of idolatry, we're all full of covetous, we're
all His temple, and the Lord must first come to us as a fire,
and burn away, burn it all away, as a fuller's soap. That's not
my text. It is my text. Go back to the
text. John chapter 2. Alright? They don't know who the Lord
Jesus Christ is. They didn't know Him then, and
they don't know Him now. Most don't know Him. Some do.
And why do you know who He is? Why do you know that He is this
Lord of glory that came to His temple? Why do you know? Why
do you know and the people you work with don't? Why do you know
and your brother, your sister, your husband, your wife don't
know Him? Just think of Him as poor Jesus? Because God said in Isaiah 43,
this people have I chosen for Myself that they might know Me
that I am. And they're going to know. I've
chosen them. He said, I've created them. That's
our morning text. Alright, look at this. It says
in verse 14, He found in the temple those that sold oxen and
sheep and doves and changers of money. They were selling things. Go back to Isaiah 55 with me. Isaiah 55. They were selling
things in the name of God. Everything that was going on
in that temple at that time was in the name of God. In the name
of God. They were selling things. Why
do you sell things? Why do you sell things? Why do
you sell anything? To raise money. Right? You're
raising money. For what? Why were they selling
these things? Who got this money? What were
they doing with this money? You know what they were doing
with this money. It's for their evil selves. They were selling
banks. Now listen to me. Nothing should
ever be bought or sold in the house of God. Nothing should
ever be bought or sold in the church of God, in the name of
God. That's idolatry. That's covetousness. The root of all evil is the love
of money. Religion is the worst offender.
Listen to me. The church of God, the house
of God is where all things are free. All things are freely given,
not sold. Look at Isaiah 55. Ho, everyone
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. He that hath no money,
come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine. What kind
of wine? The best wine. And milk, what's
that? The Word of God. Without money
and without price. See, salvation is by grace. It's free. Free grace. Look at the names of all of our
sister churches. What's on their name? A man's
name? No sir. What's in there? Grace. God's true church is a
place where the free grace of God is preached. where salvation
is not for sale, but salvation is given. Where salvation is
not earned, but salvation is given. And he said, why do you spend
money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfieth not? He said, hearken diligently unto
me, eat ye that which is good, let your soul delight itself
in fatness, incline your ear, come unto me. Here and your soul
shall live. What's it going to cost me, preacher?
Nothing. In my hands, no price I bring. Without money, without price.
Every true church of God preaches a salvation by the grace of God. Salvation that's free. Salvation 100% by grace, but
not religion. And this is how you know. They
charge admission to their so-called worship. They charge admission
to their so-called praise and gospel gatherings. Yes they do,
you know it's so. I get these brochures, I get
these flyers in the mail, I get this junk in the mail all the
time from all of these so-called churches. What's the name of it? Thomas
Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, where Jerry Falwell
was. Sends out trash all the time. It is trash. And every single event they have,
these so-called gospel sings, and they look like rock concerts.
The people that are singing look like rock concerts. Why? Because
that's what it is. Roanoke, First Baptist Church
of Roanoke sent me a flyer just recently, and on it is a great
big picture of this woman named Sandy Patti. She's the most famous,
now listen to this, you listen to this. She's the most famous
so-called gospel singer in the United States today. They call
her, they say her voice is so pure, they call her The Voice. Did that make you shiver? Psalm 29 speaks about the voice,
all the way through, the voice of the Lord, the voice of the
Lord, the voice of the Lord. Alright, First Baptist Church,
she's coming to town. I've got this flyer that says,
tickets are, if you want a VIP seat and get your picture made
with her, $100. Or, you can go a little lower. If you don't want the chief seat,
go a little lower, it'll cost you $45, but general admission
is $25. If there's 1,000 seats or 2,000,
if there's 5,000 seats, they're going to gross several hundred
thousand dollars. For what? To hear her sing the
gospel. It's an abomination. It's wicked. Our Lord's going to burn it all
up. Franklin Heights sends out brochures all the time,
big signs. Spring Women's Conference. Come
to this Spring Women's Conference, but it'll cost you $25. I'm sorry, poor widow, if all
you've got is a mite, you can't come. If that's all you've got,
you can't come. It's wicked. It's an abomination. It's evil. It's for money. Our
Lord went in the temple that day. Somebody says, you shouldn't
call names. Hold on now. That's what a watchman
does. If they've come in sheep's clothing,
you've got to remove the clothing, don't you? You've got to remove
the covering. Our Lord said of the Pharisees, scribes, Pharisees,
and hypocrites, He said, if I hadn't come, you'd have no covering.
But now you do. And our Lord pointed at him and
says, that's a hypocrite. He went into the temple that
day, all right? Verse 15, it says, he made a scourge of small
courts. Listen to the difference between
the Lord Jesus Christ and this gentle Jesus that men talk about.
He went into the temple, he looked around and saw everything. He
knew what was there before he got there. But he went out and
made a scourge, a whip. A whip. He went out and took
cords of leather like they... A little while later, people, he's
going to allow them to take a whip. and beat him on the back with
it. Now, they deserve this. And so
do we. We were in that mess. You were in that mess, weren't
you? But God. A little while later, He's going
to allow them to plait a whip, to plait a crown of thorns, and
shove it down His head in the name of God. and whip his back
in the name of God to cover up their wickedness, cover up their
sin, their abominable practices, because he came to expose all
that. But right now, he's the one doing
the scourging. He's the one doing the whipping.
And he made this whip calmly, silently, but he's full of anger. He's full of wrath. He doesn't love these people.
God doesn't love everybody. This is God. And He took, went
in that temple with this whip, and He first beat these people
over the back with this whip. Get out, He said. You see, people need to know
the true Lord of glory, don't we? Look with me in Isaiah 13. Maybe you haven't seen this before. This is astonishing. This is
the dreadful God. This is the terrible God. Isaiah
13. Look at this. So few people have
read this. Oh, how blessed you are if you
do. Why? Because the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord. Isaiah
13. Look at it. Verse 6. How ye, for the day of the Lord
is at hand. It shall come as a destruction
from the Almighty. All hands shall be faint. Every
man's heart shall melt. They shall be afraid. Pangs and
sorrows shall take hold of them. Be in pain as a woman that travaileth. They shall be amazed, astonished,
afraid of one another. Their faces as a flame. Behold,
the day of the Lord cometh, cruel, both with wrath and fierce anger,
to lay the land desolate. He shall destroy the sinners
thereof out of it." Who is he talking about? The Lord Jesus Christ. Does this
make you uneasy? Should I not say this? Should
I not preach this? Should I not read this? You see, our Lord was made a
little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, Scripture
says. Read all of that for yourself.
Read the rest of Isaiah 13 for yourself later on. When our Lord
said in Psalm chapter 2, He said, Oh, the heathen rage and the
people imagine a vain thing. In Isaiah chapter 2, he said,
I've set my King on my holy hill of Zion. I've exalted Him and
given Him a name above every name. And he said, when you come
to worship Him, here's how you do it. He said, you worship the
Lord with fear. He said, rejoice with trembling. The next message is, there is
forgiveness with thee. Why? That thou mayest be feared. He said, kiss the son, lest he
be angry. Lest he be angry. Kiss him where? His feet. Kiss him where? Not on his cheek like Judah,
but kiss his feet like Mary. And this is the Lord of glory. Now
listen, all who fear him, Clear about this, the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. And our Lord first came in Revelation,
you'll see, Revelation 5, He's first called the Lion of the
tribe of Judah. And then thereafter, He's called
the Lamb. The fear of the Lord. Now listen
to this, for all who fear Him, that all who bow, All who, like
Mary Magdalene, come and fall at His feet, as unworthy, undeserving,
hell-deserving sinners. But all who fear Him, all who
see something of His glory and His majesty, all whom He has
taken afire and burned all their draught and the fuller soap and
washed them white as snow, all of them who have had their great
sins forgiven by a great salvation, all of them, the Scripture says,
the Lord is with them that fear Him. Scripture says there is
no want of them that fear Him. Scripture says there's no evil
shall befall them that fear Him. Scripture says He'll show them
His covenant, them that fear Him. To all who fear Him, He
says, fear not. Our Lord said here in our text,
in Matthew and Mark's Gospel, He said, My house shall be called
a house of prayer. And you've made it a den of thieves.
In verse 16, he said, take these things out of here. My father's
house is not a house of merchandise. What belongs in God's house?
What should go on in God's house? Not the buying and selling of
anything, but the free declaration of the gospel of God's free grace.
The declaration of a salvation that's free through the Lord
Jesus Christ to sinners who bow before Him. to repentant sinners,
to those who come unworthy. Worthy is His Lamb. Unworthy
is everyone that worships Him. And they come before Him. What
should be found in God's house? What did they do in the true
temple of God years ago? What was to be found in the temple
of God years ago? Three things. Three things. There was to be a high priest. a sacrifice, and a mercy seat,
an ark. Do you know what those three
things are? Sure you do. Christ is the high priest. What is to be found in the Church
of God, what should be going on there? A man standing up preaching
Christ and Him crucified. A sacrifice, that's Christ. The
Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb. A man preaching
Christ and Him crucified. A mercy seat where that blood
is poured out. That there is mercy with God.
There is forgiveness with God. How? One way. The blood of Jesus
Christ. But it's free. It's free. Matthew and Mark's Gospel, right
after the Lord did this, it says after He drove out those people
playing games, playing church, making money, earning money,
fundraising, all this fundraising, after He drove all those out,
it says He healed many blind and deaf and lame and tough. All those who came to Him for
the purpose of salvation. That's it. It's freely given. It's freely given to all who
ask for it. He said, my house is a house
of prayer. It's a place where a man stands
up and preaches, where people call upon the Lord, and where
God's people read His Word, that's it, and sing His praise. A house
of prayer where God's people call on the name of the Lord.
Why? Because whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be saved. A place where the preacher preaches Him who
prays for us. He who intercedes for His people. A house of prayer. Whose prayers
are we talking about? Whose prayers get the glory? Whose prayers? I don't stand
and read a book of prayers. Oh, wait a minute. Yes, I do. I read His prayers. Because the
effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, availeth everything. We preach John 17. I can't wait
to get to that. But we're going to have to. A
house of prayer. He said, you've made it a den
of thieves, robbing God of His glory, stealing God's Word from
the people, teaching everyone, like our Lord said in the parable
of the thief and the robber who climbed up another way. He said, a thief and a robber
doesn't go in through the door. But he climbs up another way.
Billy Graham said it, and you heard him with your own ears
and saw him with your own eyes on a video one day. I put it
in front of you. He said there's another way,
didn't he? You were here. He said it, didn't
he? He said, there's another one.
He said, even those who have never heard the name of Jesus,
never heard the gospel preached, God is merciful. And he says,
I'll see them in heaven someday without Jesus Christ, without
knowing Jesus Christ, without believing on the Lord Jesus Christ,
without hearing the gospel. That's what Billy Graham said.
He's a liar. He's a thief and he's a robber
and that's anti-Christ. Is that too strong? It's not
strong enough. For many, our Lord said, will
say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, we've done many wonderful
works. We've won thousands of souls to you. And he said, depart
from me, you workers of iniquity. You did this in your own names.
Our Lord said, let another come in his own name, and him he will
receive. And he said, I come in my Father's name. And they
despised him, and they rejected him. And all we like sheep have
gone astray. We all did this. Everyone in
here, if you were in religion, you were in false religion. But
God came to you through preaching
just like this and revealed to you the true Christ, the true
Jesus Christ, the true Lord of glory. You saw something of His
glory. You saw something of your own
sinfulness and worthlessness. You saw something of your ignorance.
You saw, I don't know this God. I don't know this Christ. I don't
know this Jesus at all. I know another Jesus. And the
Lord reveals a true Christ Jesus. And you fall before Him as a
hell-deserving sinner. And God in great mercy says,
He heals your blindness. He heals your deaf ears. He raises
you up to walk by faith in Him. He gives you repentance. The
goodness of God leads you to repent. He gives you faith. He makes Himself known to you.
He reveals the Lamb of God to you. The righteousness of Christ
to you. He does it all. And He does it free. Freely. And He forgives you all your
sin. And that's my next message. All your sins are forgiven. Not
for your sake. Not for your sincerity. Not for
your works. Not for your turning over a new
leaf. Not for you doing anything. But because Christ did it all. And from there on, throughout
eternity, you're praising the Lord of glory. You're praising
for tearing up your religious house. You're praising for breaking
down your false God. You're praising for setting you
free from delivering you from these false preachers. and showing you His true self. This is what Jesus Christ does
first. You see that? He first came to
His temple and it was full of money making in the name of God. And He cleaned it out. He said,
My temple, My people, is going to be a house of prayer, a house
of worship. A house where the Lord of glory
reigns and rules. And where nothing is done but
one thing, they worship God. They worship the Lord Jesus Christ. Hey buddy, nice to see you.