Malachi chapter 3. Malachi is the last prophecy
in the Old Testament, the last word from God until the Word is made flesh. The last word was this, Malachi
3, verses 1 and 2. Behold, I will send my messenger,
and 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. But who may abide the day of
his coming? Who shall stand when he appeareth?"
He's like a refiner's fire, like Fuller's soap. Four hundred years of silence
after this was recorded. God didn't speak again through
any prophets. Four hundred years of silence,
then suddenly, come riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, was the
Lord of glory. Come to his temple. Came riding
into Jerusalem. The Lord, messenger of the covenant. God come to earth. But the people
who didn't know God said they did, but they didn't. The religious leaders who did
what they did in the name of God, they didn't know God. It was all a show. A lot of just garbage going on. And when he came, he was not
who they thought would come. And he did not come in the way
that they thought he would come, on a donkey. They were ignorant
of Scripture. Scripture said that he would.
And he did not come to do what they thought he came to do. Set
up Israel as the greatest nation on earth again. Oh, he set up
Israel all right. It's just not the nation of Israel. It's spiritual. And you know,
it's that way now. Things haven't changed. God hasn't
changed. The Lord hasn't changed. He said
that in verse 6 of Malachi 3, I am the Lord, I change not.
Right before the New Testament, the Lord said, and one of the
last things He said was, I change not. And yet, nowadays, modern religion
has said, literally, that God is different. He's not the same
as He was in the Old Testament. Right? No, He is the same. It's just
that men have perverted His way. But when he comes again, when
the Lord Jesus Christ came and he's coming again, when he comes
again, it will be suddenly also, the Lord shall suddenly come
to his temple. It will be suddenly again. Our Lord said that in
a time when they think not, when they say peace and safety. Suddenly. Suddenly. Scripture says, every
eye shall behold him. No secret rapture. Every eye
like the lightning from the east to the west shall behold him.
And Revelation 1 says they'll all wail, the kindred of the
earth shall wail because of him of whom they fear. And they'll all say the same
as they did then, this is not the Jesus that we thought he
was. But he will come again to his
temple. His temple. Not a building, because
he said, we're going to see, not one stone will be left standing.
You can build it, you can build it, go over there and build it
again, he's going to tear it down. Every time they built it,
the Lord tore it down. Not going to be one stone left
standing, except the chief cornerstone. Everything that has to do with
man is coming down. The Lord alone will be exalted
in that day. But he comes to his temple, spiritual
Israel, his people, the temple of God. Paul wrote many times,
you're the temple of God, the church of the living God. He
comes for them. He came the first time for them.
He's coming the second time for them. Purge them. Purify the sons of Levi. Purge
them. Take them to himself to be his
eternal bride, and yes, destroy the world. That's the Christ
of Scripture. That's the Christ. Because he's
the Lord, he changes not. And if men knew the Scripture,
and our Lord said that, they do err not knowing the Scripture,
nor the power of God. Because he's the Lord, he changes
not. What he said in Genesis still holds true. What the Lord
said in Malachi hasn't changed in Matthew. What he said in Genesis,
he said it again in Revelation. Same thing. I want you to look
with me. Now go over to Mark's Gospel.
The Gospel of Mark. We read there where it said that
This is the beginning of the gospel as it is written, as Malachi
said. Four hundred years later, after
Malachi's prophecy, he came. I want you to look with me and
listen to what the Lord did and said, the Lord who came to his
temple, his temple. Literally, he came to that building
when he was thirty-some years old. And I didn't know this,
this is something I learned in lying down and reading all week,
but he went there every year. I didn't know that. I remember
he came, they brought him as an eight-day-old. There was someone
there he had to meet. He was eight days old. They brought
him there. Why? The Lord told them to. Why?
There's a man waiting, Simeon. He's not going to die until he
sees you. And you know, he came every year after that. It says
there in that same chapter that his parents went up every year
to Jerusalem. Every year. And he went with
them. Twelve years old, he was there. Remember, he stayed behind. Like Joshua in the tabernacle.
Now, I've got to go on. But anyway, I want you to look
And listen to what our Lord did and said in and around the temple. We're just going to do a running
account of this, okay? And I hope the Lord will bless
it. Chapter 10. Mark's Gospel, chapter 10. Go
over there. Verse 32. And oh, we've looked
at this one verse by itself before, and it's amazing. It says, they
were in the way, that is, he and his disciples, going up to
Jerusalem. I don't know if you remember
that or not. They were going up to Jerusalem. Our Lord, from
the cradle, was headed to Jerusalem to accomplish His great work.
Kind of like the sun of righteousness that begins low, you know, starts
coming up. And you can look on it when it
starts coming up. But boy, when it finally gets
to its peak, it blinds you to the glory of it. Christ was headed
up, headed up to Jerusalem where He would ascend to His throne,
the throne of Calvary, where He would complete His glorious
redemptive work, victory over sin, death, and hell, the redemption
of the souls of His people, thereby purifying and purging all the
sons of Levi by His own precious blood. The sun in all its glory
shining. Briefly put in the grave, as
Scripture said, and then he ascended even higher to the right hand
of the majesty on high where the sun himself right now reigns
over all. In the heavens he set a tabernacle
for that sun to the praise of the glory of his word. He's on
his way up to Jerusalem. I was afraid of that. I was afraid
I'd get stuck there. On his way up, it says he went
before them. Oh, my. He always did. He always
has. He's the lamb slain before the
foundation of the world. He was always before us. Always
went out before them. The forerunner. Lord, the captain. And they were amazed. His disciples
who knew him were amazed by him. amazed by his every word, his
every move. They feared him. They followed
him. Verse 32, he didn't follow them. They followed him. He's
the shepherd. Shepherd doesn't follow the sheep.
Sheep follow the shepherd. Shepherd doesn't do what the
sheep tell him. What a foolish thing that is. Sheep do what the shepherd tells
them. They followed him. That's how you know they're sheep.
And were afraid. Afraid of what? Afraid of Him. That's right. Ron, when He told
that ocean to be still, they were afraid. What manner of man
is this? The Lord is showing them who
He is. Jesus? A man? God. God, the Lord. This is the Lord
who'd come to his temple like a refiner's fire. Remember when
our Lord said, do you think that I've come to send peace on the
earth? And there's not one in a thousand who knows this verse.
Our Lord said, do you think I've come to send peace on this earth?
Nay, but rather a sword. I've come to set a man at burial.
I've come to divide and separate. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
said. He said, I've come to build a fire, to bring a fire. And
he said, it's already begun. I'm going to consume. I'm going
to destroy. I'm going to purge away all the
trash to what's left. The dross to
what's left is gold and silver and precious stone. That's what's
redounded to my glory. Everything wood, hay, and stubble
has to do with man. I'm going to burn that. The Lord alone. It says they
were afraid. They were afraid for their lives
going up to Jerusalem. And it says, verse 32, He took
again the twelve. Again. He's going to tell them
again. He's already told them time and
time again. But He's going to tell them again,
and he tells them, and others don't know this because he didn't
tell them. They said, tell us plainly, are
you the Christ? He said, I told you. And you
believe not because you're not my sheep. As I said unto you,
my sheep hear my voice. They know me and they follow
me. What he said. He that is of God,
heareth God's word. You don't hear them, all you
do is argue about them. All you do is backtalk. All you
do is want to question. My sheep don't do that. They
believe me. They follow me. They know who I am. They know
who I am. And he began to tell them again
the things that should happen unto him, things that must happen
unto him. Verse 33, he went on, Behold,
we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be delivered
unto the chief priest. Who delivered him? Well, Judas
did. Yes, according to the will and
purpose of God, God chose him to do that. Judas did exactly what his evil
heart wanted to do, but God chose him to do that. He chose twelve disciples and
one of them was the devil and the son of perdition from the
beginning. Who knew that? Christ knew that. He chose him
to do that. This is the Lord. This is the
Lord. I will do as I will. And he chose
him to do that. Judas got what he deserved, but
he did what God purposed for him to do. Who delivered him up? God did. He that delivered up his son.
Romans 8 verse 32. God delivered him. You with wicked
hands have taken and crucified the Lord of glory, but you did,
Peter preached at Pentecost, you did what God determined before
to be done. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He delivered. He shall be. Notice
these shalls. shall, no maybes, no ifs, ands,
buts, but all shall, shall be delivered. Now the chief priests
have described, they shall condemn him to death, they shall deliver
him to the Gentiles, they shall mock him. According to the scripture,
every jot and tittle will be fulfilled concerning the Christ.
They shall mock him, shall scourge him, they shall spit upon him,
they shall kill him, and the third day he shall rise again. And let me add this, and I'm
not adding it because it's already written in Isaiah 42, he shall
not fail nor be discouraged till he has set judgment in the isles,
till he has established the people, till he has justified his people.
He will save every single person he hung on that cross to save.
Every single person that God gave him to save, he came to
save them and he saved them all. Why? Because he's the Lord. The Lord has come to his temple,
his people. As with everything in the universe,
every word, every gesture, every step taken by everything down
to the smallest ant in the anthill is ordered by the Lord of glory. Don't believe that? That's the
way it is. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. The world and the dwellers thereof. This is the Lord. Come to his
earth, come to his temple. His temple. Creator, controller. He's orchestrating. This is the
Lord who came to orchestrate everything. from his birth to
his death, to orchestrate everything and watch, and I want you to
watch with me as he maneuvers everything and everyone to do
his will, from the animals that carry him in town, to the animals
that nail him on the cross, to the praise of the glory of
his power. Well, we've already read that.
Chapter 11. Look at this. He's coming into
town, into Jerusalem. Coming into town. And the way
that he comes into town was already written in Zechariah 9. The Lord
wrote this down. He wrote how he would come into
town. So here in Mark's Gospel, chapter
11, he came into town, and before he comes, he tells his disciples
to go into Bethany, and a village over there. And he says, you'll
find a colt tied up. There's a colt waiting there,
tied up. A wild ass's colt. That means
his mother was wild and he's worse. Wild asses, Colt. Nobody's ever ridden on that
ass. You see, you'll find him tied
up because he's so wild, that's all they can do with him, tie
him up. Get him, he belongs to somebody else, but you tell the
man, I said, let him loose. You get him and you bring him
to me and I'm going to get on him and I'm going to ride him
into Jerusalem. Why? Because the scripture said
so. Behold, thy king cometh unto
thee. He is just and having salvation,
lowly and riding upon an ass, a coat to fold upon an ass. Scripture
said he would. They expected the Lord, the King,
to come down from heaven. Well, he did. But they expected
him to come out of the clouds. He's coming that way the next
time. But they didn't expect him to come riding in on a donkey.
Well, they didn't know the Scripture did. But that's what it said
he would do. And here he came. Well, and another
reason why he chose that wild ass's coat is a marvelous picture,
if I'm not careful. I'll stay here too long. A marvelous
picture, a gospel picture of how the Lord alone can and must
ride every wild ass's coat. Every single person whom the
Lord Jesus Christ saves is as that wild ass's coat, a wild
son of Adam, dead in trespass and sin. A rebel against God. The carnal man, Romans 8, 7,
is against God. Enmity against God. God must
bring down that enmity. God must ride every one of them.
He and he alone is able, and he does just that. Those held
captive by Satan at his will, like this donkey was tied up.
We're all held captive by Satan at his will. We don't have free
will. We're held captive by Satan at
his will. That's what the Scripture said.
That's what God said. Bet God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
sends the Word, sends the command, gives the command, go and untie
that fellow and bring him to me. You can't get on him. Nobody's ever ridden him. Right!
Nobody's ever ridden him. I will. You can't tame him. I will. You watch. And that wild-ass is just settled
down like a Like a dead, broke, 14-year-old gal tonight. While
the Lord got on him and carried him into town, and that head
hung low, lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ. That was his purpose
in life. The Lord had him waiting right
there. Oh, what a picture that is, huh?
The Lord orchestrated that. What if they say you can't have
him? What? Go tell them. And he did
that. Somebody said, who said you could
lose that animal? The fellow that owned him. Who
said you could do that? He said, the Lord did. He said,
oh, oh, oh, yes, take him, please. This is the Lord! You haven't
asked anybody anything. Aren't you glad? Stan, aren't you glad? You wild-ass
as gold, aren't you glad? Boy, this man here, this prodigal
son is sure glad. I told myself I wasn't going to
get... You know, you can't get the flesh
out of a person. You can't. I'm a flesh and blood
man. I can't help it. You're not going
to get past this. This is as good as you're going
to get. And it's not much. But I'm telling you, this makes
me happy. It makes me happy. And I wish
I could get a hold of this religious generation and tell them, you
think He's Jesus. You think you just don't know
Him. You think He's in your hand.
You think you need to accept Him. You have accepted Him. You
think you've done this and done that. You just don't understand,
do you? Oh, Lord, open their eyes! Every
one of His disciples knew this! Every one of His disciples knew!
to a man. This is no man. This is the Lord. And bless the Lord He came and
showed us that. Unless we'd be like the rest
of them. The Lord came to his temple,
chapter 11, Mark's Gospel. Nine, they came into town. Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord. Blessed be the kingdom of our
father David. He that cometh in the name of
the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Verse 11. Now these are the same
people that crucified Him later. They drew near with their lips,
you know, as they do now. Jesus this and Jesus that. In
verse 11 it says, Jesus entered into Jerusalem, into the temple.
He came into the temple. The first place he went, he came
into the temple. It says he looked around. He looked around. This was in the evening. There
was nobody there. He came in to the temple. He
came right into town. The first place he went was the
temple. He walked in. Nobody, very few anyway, there.
It says he looked around and everything. And he walked out. He walked out. Verse 11, he went
out unto Bethany. He left. He went out of town.
Back out of town. Bethany. Where did he stay? There
were three blessed, beloved, couple of sisters and a brother
that he loved to stay with. He went there to stay with them. But this is the Lord, you see.
He'd come to His temple. It's His temple. He came to His temple and he
looked around, just looking on everything, purposed what he
was going to do the next day. He looked at all the trinkets
and looked around, all the stuff. He went out and dwelt with his
people. Then the morning, look at this,
the next day, verse 12, he came to Bethany. From Bethany he was
hungry. He saw a fig tree on the way into town to the temple.
He saw a fig tree having leaves. He came, if happily he might
find anything there. When he came, he found nothing
but leaves, fig leaves. But the time of the figs was
not yet. There was not supposed to be any fruit there. Doesn't
matter. And he said, no man eat fruit
of thee forever after. He cursed that fig tree on the
way into town to the temple. He cursed that fig tree. Well,
it wasn't supposed to have any fruit. He cursed it. The leaves,
it just has leaves. Die. Shrivel up. Why did he do that? Was he disappointed? Was he hungry and agitated and
aggravated? Oh, no. He purposed this from
the Garden of Eden. The Lord came after man fell,
according to his purpose. And man had sewn him up a little
apron of fig leaves. He was naked. And man was so
ignorant, he thought he could hide behind his little fig leaves,
turn over a new leaf. He sold him a little fig leaf,
manned his wife, and thought this will cover us from the all-seeing
eye of God who looks on the heart. Yeah, this will cover us, these
little fig leaves. And God said from there, fig
leaves will never cover anybody. Cursed was the fig tree. That's
the reason I believe the tree they ate from was a fig tree. Well, he cursed it. Cursed it. Most people still trying to cover
themselves in their fig leaves of righteousness, and there's
only one covering. Christ came to be a covering
for his people. And people sew on their little
patches of good work. and Sunday school attendance,
and souls they've won for Jesus and all that, you know, merit
badges and pens and good works. And look what I've done all my
life. I've lived a good life. Surely God thinks I look like
a good person. God looks on the heart. And He
said, you've done it for your name's sake. You've done it for
your own honor and your own glory. In my name, yeah. But it's, I
know. God says, I know. I see right
through you. They don't know. They can't see
through it. I do. and cursed our fig leaves. Cursed
them. This is the Lord coming in. Every
move he made was purposed. Coming to his temple, okay? Alright,
then he came into the temple. Verse 15. Stay with me. Verse 15. He came to Jerusalem.
Jesus went into the temple. The other Gospels say before
he went in, he planted a whip. He made a whip outside and came
into that temple and began to cast out them that sold and bought
in the temple and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers and
the seats of them that sold doves. He came in and purged his temple. of all the trash that was in
it. It was full of trash. All they
were doing at this time was selling and buying all sorts of money-making,
fund-raising programs. Going on in the temple
of God. The temple of God. Fundraising. The temple of God was set up
for one reason. Set up and purposed by God for
one thing. Not fun. Not games. Not activities. Not programs. not family gatherings,
not bake sales, spaghetti dinners, fashion shows, golf tournaments,
yard sales, and raise money to build us a gymnasium, but for worship. A man standing up with the Bible
and a bunch of guilty sinners coming in, in need of mercy. And a man standing up declaring
Jesus Christ, the glory of God, and the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And the people praying unto God,
asking Him for mercy, asking Him for His forgiveness of sin. and singing his praises, that's
all. That's all. That's all. That's what the temple was set
up for. But it had so degenerated into
such a mess that what it was known for was making money. Does that sound familiar? This is the abomination of desolation. Let him that readeth understand. And our Lord said He would come
when you see the abomination of desolation set up in the temple.
Let him that readeth understand. What is it? And they're looking
for it. It's been here a long time. Abominable practices going
on. Abominable. And he said, look at verse 16,
he would not suffer any man to carry any vessel through the
temple. Don't bring one thing in here. Our Lord Jesus Christ came into
that town and took a whip and started beating all those wicked,
money-making religious leaders, kicking tables over, throwing
their money out the window. Jesus? Sweet Jesus? Yes, Sam. The Lord. This is the Lord Jesus. They
desecrated His temple. He'd come to His temple and set
up for His worship. They weren't worshiping Him.
They were worshiping money. And so He kicked out everything,
threw it all out, purged His temple, and said, don't bring
anything in here. Don't anybody bring anything
in here whatsoever. Not one thing. Not one artifact.
Not one emblem. Not one thing. Don't bring one
thing in here. We don't worship with flesh.
Are you with me? This is the Lord come to his
temple. He said, My house, verse 17, shall be called a house of
prayer. He made it a den of thieves. Thieves. Will a man rob God? Yes, and I'll tell you what the
worst robbery of all is. The greatest thefts being perpetrated
today are robbing His glory. Robbing his glory in his name.
Do it in his name. Say it's for God when it's over
their pocket. Right? God sees it. And our Lord
did this. He did this. He came in the temple.
I'm not mad at him. I'm just showing you what the
Lord Jesus Christ did. And when he comes back, he'll
do the same thing. He hasn't changed. He hasn't
changed. He's doing that now. He's purging the sons of Levi.
His true people are priests under him. They worship God in spirit
and truth. Priests of God. He made us kings
and priests. And they're being purged. The
disciples are standing back watching all that. They're all standing
back watching all this, observing. They're learning who this is. He's showing them who he is.
And they're becoming more and more. And they're not saying
much. They're just watching. They're
learning. House of Prayer. And he went out. The Lord went
out of the temple. Stay with me a few more minutes, okay?
I've got six, seven more minutes. Stay with me. Okay? Watch with
me. Six minutes. Alright, he went
out. First time he came, he looked
around and he left. Second time he came, he purged
the temple. Okay? Now he's coming back. That's
exactly what the Lord is going to do. He came. His delights
were with the sons of men. He came. He dwelled in the habitable
parts of the earth for many years. He left. He was watching. He
was hurting. He came as a man, purchased his temple. He's coming
again. He's not coming into a temple.
He's not coming into a building made with hands. He said this
in a minute. He said, not one stone is going
to be left standing on another. But every stone in my temple
will be standing. Did you hear that? Every stone
in my temple will be standing, I laid it. I'm the foundation
they stand on. Well, they came to him, verse
27. He came back, and verse 27, they came to him. This is the
Pharisees and scribes and all that. And they said, Pharisees,
verse 27, I hope you're looking. He's walking into the temple
again. And the scribes and priests said
to him, by what authority? Verse 28, by whose authority? Who said you could do these things? Who said you could come in here? And our Lord, he said, I'll ask
you a question. I'll ask you a question. If you
can answer it, then I'll answer you. And Dan, he asked him a
question they couldn't answer, and he said, I'm not telling
you. Everybody that questions his
sovereignty. Are you with me? Everybody that
questions his sovereignty. You don't have a right to this.
Tell us who gave you this right. If you can answer this question,
then I'll answer yours. Like the question, if he's David's
son, why did David call him Lord? If he's the son of God, Why did
God call him God? I can't answer that. I'm not answering you. My disciples know all authority
is given unto me in heaven and earth. Who gave me the authority?
I did. This is my temple. You're trespassing
in my temple. As God says to all his disciples,
This is my earth. You've been trespassing for years. And it's not up to you to ask
me or accept me. I'm not the trespasser. It's
up to me to forgive you. You're the trespasser here. You're
the one on trial here. I'm God. Not you. I'm the judge. Not you. I'm the
offended one. Not you. But if you ask me for mercy,
I will show mercy because I'm merciful and gracious. But if you question my authority,
if you demand of me, if you tell me what you're going to do with
me and allow me to do, I won't answer you. I won't reveal the
truth to you. I'll just deal hardly with you
because you're trespassing on my earth. You're usurping my
authority. You're taking away from my glory
and my honor for your namesake. And it's all about me. It's not
about you. Right? About what authority? The Lord came to his temple.
They challenged him. They asked him. Mark 12, quickly. They asked him many questions.
Oh, I love this. First, the Pharisees asked him
a question. And he answered them and says,
they marveled. They quit talking. Then the Sadducees, verse 18,
they asked him a question. They thought they could trip
him up. See, they were all trying to catch him. They didn't believe
him. They were arguing. They were arguing with him. They
didn't believe him. They argued with him. arguing against the
truth, not bowing to it and believing, arguing against the truth. And
he answered them, and they shut up. And then the scribes, verse
28, scribes are Bible scholars, you know. They're the experts,
Bible experts. And they're asking the one that
wrote it. They're questioning the one that
wrote it. God is so merciful, isn't He?
It's very long-suffering, isn't it? How long would you put up
with that? And they asked him questions,
and finally when it was all over, nobody asked him any more questions.
Then he asked a question. They all quit talking. Oh, I
love verse 37. It says, the common people heard
him gladly. Common people didn't think they
knew much. Oh, they heard him gladly. He
knew everything. The people who thought they were
nothing, oh, they heard him gladly because to them he was everything.
The people who were great sinners, oh, they heard him gladly because
he's a great Savior. The people who were unrighteous,
they heard him gladly because he's their righteousness. The
people who needed a Savior, who were lost, who were dead, who
were depraved, didn't argue with him. They were thankful that
he came to save such depraved sinners of them. You don't have
to. Oh, God shows a man his depravity,
he'll quit arguing depravity. Common people heard him gladly.
And the Lord said, you beware of these, look at verse 38, you
beware of these scribes and their long clothing. A fellow wears
a robe, watch out. That's what our Lord said. A
fellow's wearing a long robe and has a title, Bishop, Reverend,
so and so, mark him down. He's doing that so you'll think
he's the reverend So-and-so. But he's full of extortion and
excess. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
said. Those fellas that wear collars, watch out. They're dogs, dumb dogs. What'd
He say? Long robes, long prayers, like
to be seen and heard praying. He says they're doing it for
a pretense. Verse 40. A pretense. And then he sat over against
the treasury, verse 41, look at that. He sat over against
the treasury and watched people bring money in. Some of them
sounded the trumpet. We're making a donation to the
church. Put it in paper. We want to see
how we're giving. Yeah. Who's getting the glory
here? Why are you doing that? To be
seen of men. They have their reward. And our Lord watched a woman,
a widow woman, come over and cast two mites, two mites, about
a dollar in the plate. And he called his disciples.
His disciples said, you come here and I'll teach you something.
I'm going to teach you something. He said, this woman has given
more than all the rest of them. They gave in their abundance.
They gave excess. They're not going to miss one
dime of that. She gave this sacrificially. It will hurt her to give that.
She needed every mite, and she gave it though, as unto the Lord,
and the Lord accepted it. And you fellows remember this.
It's people like that I'm going to use to support you. And these fellows are going to
devour widows' houses. without a conscience for it.
And you learn something. These are the ones like Elijah
of old that I supported by that widow. They're going to support
you. The world's not. They're not going to pour money
into your pocket. But the poor people, the common people that
hear the gospel gladly, they're going to gladly give, sacrificially
give because they love this gospel. You're not going to have great
money. No, you're going to have enough. It's going to be from people
like this. You mark that down. You mark it well. And they learned
it. They learned it. They learned it. So they acknowledged the bank
president when he came. The bank president came in. Oh, we're glad. We need his money.
No, we don't. No, we don't. This is the Lord. Come to his
temple. I love this. Don't you? I love
this. And then chapter 13, and I close,
as he went out of the temple, he's walking out of the temple,
one of his disciples said unto him, Master, I believe it was
probably Peter, they're walking out. And the temple was an elaborate
complex of buildings, grand and glorious, the most glorious buildings
ever made by man. And they were something, a sight
to behold. Architecture, the beauty of it,
the technology went into it, you know. And one of them said,
Master, would you look at these buildings, look at this, look
at this. And our Lord, in one last listen
to them, He said, now you listen to me. Do you see these great
buildings? Verse 2, there shall not be left
one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. He walked away and sat down on
the other side of the street. The Lord had come to his temple.
He said, I'm going to tear it all down. Tear it all down. Not one stone left standing on
another. The Lord rebuked his disciples
and us, and we need it, for being impressed with anyone, anything
that has to do with man. Any man, what he says or he does,
it's all going to come to nothing, including me. It's all going
to come to nothing. It's all going to come crashing
down. And only what the Lord does will stand in that. All that man has accomplished,
thinks he has, is going to turn out to be an abject, utter failure. All that man has built will be
in absolute ruins. Technology, medicines, all coming
crashing down. Man thinks he's a god. All that
man glories in will turn out to be his shame. modern man,
science, medicine, technology, modern religion that gets louder
and prouder, bigger and more boisterous, more belligerent
and more blasphemous than ever in the history of mankind, building
bigger and bigger and bigger monuments to man's pride and
glory. God says, it's coming out. It's coming out. It says, in that day, to his
people, and I read Isaiah 2, enter into the rock and hide
in the dust for fear of the Lord. For the glory of his majesty,
the lofty looks of man shall be humbled. The haughtiness of
man shall be bowed down. And the Lord alone will be exalted
in that day. Well, the day of the Lord of
hosts is upon everyone that is proud and lofty and everyone
that is lifted up, he'll bring low. Cedars, he'll bring down. High mountains, bring them down.
Every high tower, bring it down. Ships, they're all going to sink.
The loftiness of man, we bowed down. Hardiness of men, made
low. The Lord alone will be exalted in that day. Idols will be abolished. They'll go into the holes of
the rocks and caves for fear of the Lord, the glory of his
majesty. And that day a man will cast his idols to the bats and
to the moles. They couldn't save him. And go
into the cliffs of the rock and the ragged rocks for fear of
the Lord and the glory of his majesty when he ariseth to shake
terribly the earth. Now the disciples were watching
all this. Those poor fishermen. They weren't arguing with Him.
They were just listening. They were just watching. And
He just keeps revealing to them. Revealing to them who He is.
Who He is. Who He is. Showing them His glory. And His majesty. And His power. And the wonders. His Word. Is it all fulfilled. How He came for them. To have
mercy upon them. My, my. My, my. The Lord whom you seek shall
suddenly come to his temple. Who will abide the day of his
coming? He's like a refiner's fire and a fuller's soap. That's
the Jesus who came, and that's the one who's coming again. Okay. The Lord used that for His glory.
Brother Gabe, let's sing. What is it? The Lord is King,
number 16, in closing. Hymn number 16. Bow to Him ye must. The Lord
is King.