Christ Cleansing His Temple

Q: What does the Bible say about Christ cleansing the temple?

The Bible describes Christ cleansing the temple in Matthew 21:12-13, where He drives out those selling and buying, declaring it to be a house of prayer. In Matthew 21:12-13, we see Jesus entering the temple and cleansing it by driving out the merchandisers and money changers. He declares, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.' This act was not only a fulfillment of prophecy but also a demonstration of His authority over false worship and a call to restore true worship to God. The temple, designed for worship, had become a place of commerce, which grieved the Lord. Throughout Scripture, Christ's actions reveal His zeal for pure worship and the integrity of God's house.

Q: Why is the concept of prayer important for Christians?

Prayer is crucial for Christians as it is the primary means of communicating with God, expressing gratitude and seeking guidance. Prayer is essential for Christians as it embodies a relationship with God, allowing believers to communicate, express gratitude, and seek God's intervention in their lives. In Matthew 21, Jesus emphasizes that His house is to be a house of prayer, illustrating how worship and prayer should be at the center of congregational life. Prayer reaches beyond mere requests; it is about acknowledging God's sovereignty, expressing dependence on Him, and aligning our hearts with His will. By prioritizing prayer, Christians deepen their relationship with God and cultivate a spirit of dependence and reverence.

Q: How do we know that Jesus is the true Messiah?

We know Jesus is the true Messiah through prophetic fulfillment, His life, and works as recorded in Scripture. The assurance of Jesus as the true Messiah is grounded in His fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, His miraculous deeds, and the authority with which He teaches. As described in Matthew 21, Jesus' entry into Jerusalem was prophesied, fulfilling passages like Zechariah 9:9. His cleansing of the temple, along with His teachings and miracles, attest to His divine identity and mission to save. Furthermore, the Gospel accounts, while not exhaustive, provide a coherent narrative that consistently identifies Him as the promised Savior who would take away the sins of His people. This corroborative evidence invites believers to trust in Jesus as the true Messiah.

Q: What is the significance of Jesus cleansing the temple for Christians today?

Jesus cleansing the temple signifies the call to purify worship and ensure that our lives are aligned with God's purpose. The significance of Jesus cleansing the temple resonates with Christians today as it serves as a reminder that God desires purity in worship and the prioritization of His glory. In a time when many distractions and idols vie for our attention, Jesus' action underscores the importance of maintaining a focus on genuine worship of God. As noted in 2 Corinthians 6:16-17, believers are called to separate themselves from idols and to allow God to dwell within them. This cleansing illustrates the necessary work of God in purifying our hearts and ensuring that our worship is sincere and directed towards Him alone. Therefore, Christians are called to consider what might need to be cleansed in their own lives to align with God's intent for holiness.

So in the last and dreadful day Okay, thank you Sherry. Go back to Matthew 21 which we
read. This is a wonderful and powerful
portion of Scripture. This story is recorded in all
four Gospels. It is the story of the Lord Jesus
Christ cleansing the temple from all of the idolatry and merchandise
that it was so full of. The Lord is at the end of His
earthly ministry at this point. And he has come into Jerusalem
as prophesied. Now Jerusalem is the capital
of Israel. It's the heart of Israel. It's
geographically located in the very center of Israel. So it is the very heart of Israel
by design. Jerusalem is where the temple
is or was. And it's where the yearly sacrifices
were made. Jerusalem is where the Lord has
come to do His great, chief, and final work, that great work
of salvation. To this end came He into the
world, to this cause, this purpose. to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. And you and I have rejoiced in
seeing how that Christ started lowly in a manger, and from there
His face was set to go to Jerusalem to go and be put on that cross. And we saw how that Christ, though
He started as low as one can get yet began to go higher and
higher and higher until he ascended that cross, and then he went
even much higher than that, went on into glory where he sat down.
But he came into Jerusalem to do that final work, the work
to end all work, putting away sin by the sacrifice of himself. As prophesied by Zechariah, we
read it, In verse 5, "...tell ye the daughter of Zion, behold,
thy king cometh unto thee." Thy king comes riding upon an ass,
a coat, the foal of an ass. The Lord Jesus Christ, King of
glory, came riding into town on this coat. And we rejoiced
in seeing that as a picture of salvation, didn't we? I would
love to go over that again. how the ass is a picture of how
Christ subdues every unbroken and unridden sinner and makes
them willing in the day of his power for him to be their master. And the sole purpose of that
ass or that colt was to glorify the Lord, to exalt or raise him
up, lift him up. And what a picture that is of
so great a salvation Christ has done upon all of His people in
breaking them and becoming their master. Are you with me? I'd
like to go over that again. I just did. But as much as I'd
like to dwell on that. And now the Lord comes into town,
and the multitude began shouting as prophesied in Psalm 118. Everything our Lord did and everything
our Lord said was prophesied. Now, as you know, Scripture says
all that he said and did was not recorded, or the world couldn't
contain the books, but all that is necessary for us to read and
know about him was recorded. And everything that is recorded
was prophesied of in the Old Testament, proving that he is
the very Christ. Proving beyond shadow of a doubt
that he is the very Christ. And he comes into town and the
multitude began shouting what David wrote in Psalm 118. Hosanna,
O save us, our God. Blessed is he that comes in the
name of the Lord. And so, as prophesied, the king
has come riding into Jerusalem. The first time the king of kings
came, he came meek and lowly. As Paul the Apostle, I believe,
wrote, Hebrews, wrote, we see Jesus made a little lower than
the angels for the purpose of suffering death. Our Lord came
the first time as a substitute, as a meek and lowly man, submissive
to the will of the Father and a substitute for his people to
suffer death in their stead. But Paul said, now we see Him
high and lifted up. He's no longer, as some call
Him, gentle Jesus, meek and mild. But now He's the Lord of glory
seated on the throne. He's not meek and lowly anymore.
But He's high and lifted up. And that's how we need to see
Him, as He is. But He came the first time on
this coat, the King, the captain of our salvation riding into
Jerusalem. And he rides straight into the
heart of town where the temple was. He rides right up to the
temple. And look at verses 12 and 13.
Now Jesus went into the temple of God and cast out all them
that sold and bought in the temple. and overthrew the tables of the
money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and
said unto them, and I am sure I know that he did not say this
in a meek and mild voice, but in a strong, powerful, and judgmental
voice of authority, it is written, My house shall be called the
house of prayer. But ye have made it a den of
thieves." Prophecy, what he said there, is taken from Jeremiah
7, verse 11. So our Lord comes, as prophesied,
into His temple, which Malachi wrote. You want to turn there,
Malachi 3. Look at this with me. Malachi
3. I won't have you turn to too many passages, but this one needs
to be looked at. Malachi 3. As I said, everything
our Lord did and said, or what is recorded that he did and said,
was preordained by God and prophesied of in Scripture, proving him
to be the Christ. Look at Malachi 3, verses 1 through
6. Behold, I will send my messenger,
and he shall prepare the way before me. Now you know who that
is. That's John. 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 hope. But who may abide the day of
his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire
that is consuming, and like fuller's soap cleansing. And he shall
sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify
the sons of Levi, the priests, and purge them as gold and silver,
that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah
and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old,
and as in the former year. And I will come near to you to
judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerer,
and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against
those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and
the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right. And fear not me, saith the Lord
of hope, for I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob
are not concerned." So the first thing the Lord does,
he comes to his temple as prophesied. And upon entering this temple,
he begins to cleanse it from all the merchandise, religious
merchandise and idolatry that it was so full of, the temple,
which God Almighty Himself ordained, which God Almighty set up. As
you know, it was first a tabernacle or a tent, a temporary place. that was set up in Shiloh. Remember
that? Samuel, or Eli was there. And
Samuel. Shiloh was where the tent, the
tabernacle was. Now this permanent temple is
in Jerusalem. Solomon was the builder of it.
Remember? The temple was ordained by God
for one purpose. For one reason. It had one function.
The worship of God. The worship of God. Our Lord
said here in this text, He said, My house shall be called a house
of prayer. Prayer is calling upon God. Prayer
is basically two things, thanks and petition. thanking God, praising
God for all that He is and all that He has done. That's prayer.
And prayer is bringing our petitions to Him, which are mostly asking
for mercy and grace and forgiveness of sins and things that we need.
The one thing we need. He said, My house shall be called
a house of prayer. So the temple was set up for
this purpose. Prayer and praise. And on down,
we won't get to it, But the children were crying out words of praise. And our Lord said, out of the
mouths of babes. He's perfected praise. We're
going to dwell on that Sunday morning. But once again, the
temple of God, the temple, because of evil religious leaders, it
had degenerated into a place of merchandise and commercial
gain. A house of merchandise operated
by men for hire, or hirelings, with a salvation for sale. Does all that sound familiar?
Things haven't changed. God says, I haven't changed,
and neither has man. Old Brother Barnard used to say
that men are trying to sell Jesus. And if they can't get a dollar,
they'll take a dime. They've cheapened them so much.
Cheapened the message of salvation. But this place was operated by
hirelings with a salvation for sale. And this happened time
and time again through the history of Israel in the tabernacle and
the temple. Evil men, covetous men with BDs. You remember what that means,
don't you? Six, I believe it is. Dumb dog. Well, these evil,
covetous men and seducers, false prophets, came in and introduced
all manner of idolatry and abomination. And this is exactly what Daniel
is speaking of when he says the abomination of desolation in
the temple. In other words, the temple is
desolate of that for which it was ordained. Worship of God.
You won't find any true worship there. And then the literal temple.
And it's an abomination. That which is highly esteemed
among men, what does God say? It's an abomination to Him. And our Lord came in, much to
the shock and dismay of this religious crowd, and purged it. And as I said, throughout the
history of the tabernacle and temple, This happened time and
time again, that it became idolatrous. And yet, every time, every time
that the temple or the tabernacle became defiled, God in mercy,
for His elect's sake, God had a remnant according to the election
of grace, and God had not left Himself without a witness in
every generation, and every single time God raised up a prophet
a faithful man with the truth to come to the people. And the
first thing he did, the first thing he did was warn them to
flee from idolatry. And God used those men to free
people from their idolatry and turn them to the living and true
God and begin to worship God in spirit and in truth. Men like
Josiah. You remember that story of Josiah?
Oh, I love that story. Back to the book. Josiah said,
we've got to get back to the book. You remember they found
the book? It had been hidden all those
years and nobody had been reading it. And Josiah, when he heard
it read, he rent his garments and said, we haven't been seeking
the Lord through His Word. Do you remember that story? God
raised up that faithful man. They began to sacrifice. The
blood was brought back in and the Lord was well pleased again,
as we read, with the sacrifice. Isaiah. Read Isaiah and you'll
see the woe that he pronounced on his generation. Jeremiah. Go over there. Jeremiah 7. Look
over here. Jeremiah 7. You'll see a plain declaration of God through Jeremiah
to his generation. It sounds like ours. Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, other men like that. Malachi. They weren't men that
were loved by the people of the world, but God's people sure
loved them. They were men that the people
of the world said troubled Israel. Remember that? Was it Elijah
that the king said, Are you he that troubleth Israel? Was that
Isaiah? I forget. But they all, that's
what they said about them all. You remember that story of that
prophet named Micaiah, who Ahab and Jehoshaphat sent for? You remember that story? If you
want good reading, read that sometime. Oh, Ahab got the blessings
of all his false prophets to go and do what he wanted to do,
but Jehoshaphat said, we better call a true prophet. And Ahab
said, is there one? And Jehoshaphat said, there sure
is. His name is Micaiah. And Ahab said, don't sin for
him, I don't like him. He said, he never says anything
good to me. Read it someday. He never says
anything good. He always says something evil. Or what he thought
was evil. But it was good. You see, you
can't hear the good news until you've heard the bad news. The
first thing that God Almighty does to every one of us is kill
our God. Cast out of this heart. All the
idolatry and all the false worship. Like Paul when he came to Mars
Hill. Remember that? He said, I perceive that in all
things you're just too religious. And I'm going to tell you about
the true God, whom you ignorantly worship. He's not like you think
he is. He's not like the God you've
been worshiping. He's a different God. And isn't this the message
that God brought home to you when you first heard the truth?
A God who's not like the God you used to know. And this is
eternal life to know the true God. who was manifest in the flesh,
the Christ that was sent. But look at Jeremiah 7 in verses
9 and following. Verse 8, Behold, ye trust in
lying words that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit
adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal? Verse
10, And come and stand before me in this house which is called
by my name? Verse 11, Is this house which
is called by my name become a den of robbers? You see, that's what
Jeremiah said to his generation. And so God, go back to the text.
So God raised up in every generation true men who decried the idolatry
of their day. And things haven't changed. It
hasn't changed a bit. It's worse than it's ever been.
Worse than it's ever been. Men in whom the zeal of God's
house That's what John wrote about when Christ purged the
temple. They remembered that it was written, the zeal of thine
house hath eaten me up. Someone once commented about
your preacher. They said he sounds like he's
mad. Sometimes. I hope I don't always
sound like that. But you better believe I'm mad
at times. Aren't you? Aren't you mad at
what they say about God? How they pervert God's Word?
prostituted God's truth? Aren't you mad? Doesn't it make
you mad? Doesn't it make you fighting mad when you see God's
name plastered everywhere? That name which is to be exalted
and lifted up, put down on a bumper sticker for people to just use
and abuse as they will. Doesn't that make you mad? All
the lies they're telling on God, doesn't that make you mad? And
I say with David, is there not a cause? Now more than ever. The zeal of God's house is eaten
up. These men, these prophets, and still does. Men whose hearts,
Jeremiah said, my heart is sick. And now, comes to the temple
that prophet, to end all prophets, of whom Moses wrote. That prophet. And buddy, he's going to cleanse
it as never before. That prophet. to cleanse His
temple. He said, My house, this is My
house. The Lord cleans His house. And
He does it with His power, that is, with His Word. I want you
to notice throughout, as we study, how Christ uses His Word. Everything He says, it is written.
It is written. See, it's the Word of His power.
This is what God, it's the Word of His power. That's what God
uses. Always has and always will. Christ
is the Word. And though Christ could have
used physical power, He used His Word. Scripture says, out
of His mouth a sharp two-edged sword that would both slay and
heal. And He used His Word. And I love
how He confronted all the Pharisees who prided themselves in knowing
or thinking that they knew God's Word, and you note as you read,
how many times the Lord says, have you never read? And it made
them fighting mad. Have you never read? He said
this to them time and again. Have you never read? They said,
do you hear what these children are saying? He said, yes. Have
you never read? Haven't you read it? And he cast them out with a word. John said he had a whip, though,
a scourge. And that's fine. But he cast and drove them out.
He said, My house, this is my house, and it shall be called
a house of prayer. And you made it a den of thieves.
And then verse 14 says, And the blind and the lame came to him
in the temple, and he healed them. And you're going to see
in a minute how this goes together. So the Lord cast out all the
merchandisers and idolatry from His temple and He healed the
blind and the lame. Now I want you to look at this
with me as we looked at our Lord riding into Jerusalem on that
coat as a picture of salvation. I want you to look at this, Him
cleansing the temple as the picture of His salvation, what He did
to you. That's what it's all about. The Lord does this to
every single person that he saves, that he has mercy on. Look at
2 Corinthians 6. What the Lord did in his temple,
he did to you. Look at it, 2 Corinthians 6.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul writes, Know ye not that you are the
temple of God? and that the Spirit of God dwelleth
in you." Do you remember that verse? No, you're not. You are
the temple of God, the true church, the chosen people of God, the
true Israel. And He is a Jew, which is one
in one. Do you remember I gave you a little geography lesson
of Jews in Jerusalem being at the very heart of Israel? Are
you with me? Why did I have to tell you all
that? Because where Christ does his
work is where? It's in the heart. It's in the
heart. The true church, the chosen people
of God, the spiritual Israel of God, into whose heart the
King of Israel comes riding. Every single person, out of the
heart of the issues of life. And when the King of Israel,
the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords comes in, he comes straight
to the heart with his work. I love that story John Bunyan
wrote of the Holy War. You remember that? Anybody that
read that story, how that the devil had talked his way into
that town, the town of Mansoul. Remember that? Anybody read that?
Anybody? I need to read this. But anyway,
the town of Mansoul, an allegory of man's heart, the soul of man.
came to this town, and there were two gates, the ear gate
and the eye gate. And Bunyan wrote that the devil
talked his way in, that he had a smooth tongue and a fair speech,
and the people of the town just opened the gates to him. And
he came right in. Do you know where he went? The
first place he went was straight to the castle in the middle of
the town, and set up right in the heart. Entered in. And one
of the first things he did was quiet a man called the Recorder,
which was the conscience. It's a great book. Quiet a devil. Anyway, that devil
set up his reign in the heart of the castle in the town of
Mansoul. But by God's mercy and grace, the people began to realize
they were in bondage to this diablos, this devil, this evil
one. And they begin to send out messengers
to Immanuel, the king's son. Would you come and save us? That's
what hosanna means. Oh, save us. And they send out
messengers. Come save us. We're in captivity. And Immanuel comes. And he comes
to the gate. And no matter what he says, they
won't open the door. You know this silly saying, Christ is
on the outside of the door knocking, won't you let him in, all that?
Bunyan got it right. Bunyan said, the Son of Man,
bolt down the door. He wouldn't open it freely. But
he broke down the ear gate and the eye gate. And he came riding
into town. And the first place he went was
straight to the castle and bound that devil in chains and led
him through the middle of town, led captivity captive. And then
he set up his reign and rule in the heart of the town of Mansoul,
never to leave again. Isn't that a great story? Know ye not that ye are the temple
of God, in whom the Spirit of God dwells? And this is what
the Son of God does. First thing He does is He cleanses
your heart from all of its idols and turns you from your idols
to serve the living and true God. Look at 2 Corinthians 6,
verses 16 and 17 with me. What agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God. As God hath said, I will dwell
in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they
shall be My people. Wherefore, come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing, and I will receive you." What agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? What concourse or fellowship
hath Christ with Baal? Huh? Light with darkness. Huh?
Long ago they ceased to invite me to their ministerial breakfasts
and so forth, and their citywide meetings. How about you? So be
it. That's fine. Our Lord said, Marvel
not, brethren, if the world hates you. You know that it hated Me
before it hated you. If you are of the world, the
world will love its own, since you are not of the world and
the world hates you. You know that it hated Me before it hated
you. And rejoice when they say all manner of evil falsely against
you for My name's sake. What's this all about? His name's
sake. His name's sake. Now more than
ever, we need to make mention that God's name is exalted when
the name of God is on everybody's lips more than it ever has been
before. This is proof, final proof to me that these are the
very last of the last days. The name of God is upon the lips
of small children as an oath. And men don't think anything
about it. It tells me that God is removing his hand. Unite our
hearts to fear thy name, David said. Huh? Don't grow used to
that. I know you don't. And scripture
says, and such were some of you. Such were some of you. Idolaters,
weren't you? Such were some of you idolaters.
Ezekiel, you know that story in Ezekiel chapter 36 where God
says He'll do all these things to them, cleanse them and give
them a new heart and purge them and so forth, give them a new
spirit and all that? And one of the things He said, John,
was I'll cleanse them from all their idols. And now, you who were once in
the midst of that, Robin, and others, It makes you sick, doesn't
it? You see the corruption that's
there. And you were in the midst of that. And bless God, He removed
you from it and it from you. And set up His reign in your
heart. Set up the fear of God in your heart. And made your
heart a house of prayer. And put upon your lips and in
your heart, little child, hallelujahs and praise to God. Hosannas to
the Son of God. That's what it's all about. Is
that why you come here? That's why you come here, not to see
or be seen, but to hear God's Word and praise Him with your
mouth. Well, what about the blind and
the lame here? I told you they go together. Some of you have seen this before
with me. Turn to 2 Samuel 5, in closing. 2 Samuel 5. What about the blind and the
lame in the temple? This goes along with, in context,
the Lord removing this idolatry. The blind and the lame were in
the temple. Now, without a doubt, this is
a picture of how the Lord, we once were blind, but now we see.
We once were blind to His glory, to His fear, but now we see.
We once were lame, couldn't walk in paths of righteousness, but
now He has set our feet. on solid rock and in the path
which is Christ Himself. Christ is the path, and Christ
is the prize. And now we walk by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We once were blind, and we once were lame, and He's healed us.
The Son of God has come and healed us. But in context, 2 Samuel
5, in the context with this idolatry. Now prepare to get a blessing
here. Look at this. David in this story. King David,
of whom Christ is called the Son of David. It's all by design,
you see. The Lord wrote this. You remember
they said, Hosanna to the Son of David. This is the Son of
David, the Christ, who's come into town. The King of kings.
The one that's born king. The one whom God said, I've set
my king on my holy hill of Zion. Alright, he's come into town,
of whom David is a type and a picture. David has come into Jerusalem. David is now the king. over Israel. David now reigns. He's crowned
king over all, everybody. They once were divided, Israel
and Judah, remember? But now they're all together
in knowing that David is king. You with me? Say with me. I'm
going to close this out with a bang. David is now king over
all Israel, a united people. They all know he's king. But
some don't know it yet. They're going to. There's some
people called Jebusites. And these were idolaters that
were living in the heart of Jerusalem. They had control of Jerusalem,
the walled city. The Jebusites were a bunch of
idolaters. And they were in Jerusalem, and here David comes back in
to claim what's his. These Jebusites don't know that
he's king yet. All right? You got the picture?
Verse 6, And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the
Jebusite, the inhabitants of the land. And they spake, these
men spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind
and the lame, thou shalt not come in here, thinking, or saying
to themselves, David can't come in here. He can't come in here. Now what is this blind and these
lame? These were idols. This is what
every writer ever read on this said. These were idols of whom
David later wrote in Psalm 115 saying they have, these were
idols that they sat on the wall, all around the wall to protect
them from evil and so forth. It still goes on today. But these
Jebusites put these idols all around the walls to protect them
from all the evil spirits and so forth. And David later wrote
of these idols, they have eyes but they can't see. And he says
they have feet but they can't walk. Now how many times in your religious
history, those of you who grew up in religion, did you hear
some evangelist, I'd like to call him what they ought to be
called, but some so-called evangelist stand up and tell a big crowd,
Jesus has no hands but your hands, no feet but your hands. And won't
you let him into your heart? And so on and so forth. How many
times have you heard that? How many times did they say that
when you were growing up? And they're still saying it today. And you were right in the middle
of that, weren't you? Huh? That's what you thought
of him. You thought God can't have his way unless I let him.
Didn't you? Jesus can't come into my heart unless I let him.
And these Jebusites, John said, David can't come in here. We've
got our gods out there. Look at the next verse. Verse
7, Nevertheless, David took it. He came in anyway. He can't come
in here. Watch me. And he came right in. And then from then on, all the
Jebusites and everybody all together, all of Israel, even those former
idolaters, they knew. He does as He will with whom
He wills, doesn't He? He's sovereign, isn't He? He
doesn't do what we let Him. He does what we do, what He lets
us do. He is God, isn't He? Like Pharaoh
came to the conclusion, Moses God is God. Like Nebuchadnezzar
came to the conclusion, the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of
men, giveth it to whomsoever He will. Or old Jairus said,
if Daniel's God is God, There is no God but Daniel's God. And
I submit there is no God but our God. Our God is God, isn't
He, Barbara? Through it as He will, with whom
He will, because He will. And none can stay His hand or
say unto Him, what doest thou? He can't come in here. That's
what we all say. He can't. Nevertheless. He came in. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad this King of
Kings and Lord of Lords came into your idolatrous heart and
cleansed it from all that iniquity? And made your temple a house
of prayer and praise? And put praise on your lips?
Aren't you glad? You've got reason to say, Hosanna, don't you? That's
the right reason. Oh, save us! Peter said, oh,
save us from this untoward generation. Untoward. Doing all they do in
the name of God. But they missed God. Let me give you a true story,
an illustration in closing. Brother Walter Groover told this
story of a young Mayan Indian boy whom the Lord
revealed the true God to and the true Christ to. You know,
the Mayan Indians have a history of idolatry going way back thousands
of years. You saw those temples that they
used to sacrifice young virgins to and so forth. And it's still
full of idolatry, except it goes by the name of Catholicism now.
But still, you go in those places and they're full of idols, the
lame and the blind. Well, this young boy, the Lord,
through the preaching of the gospel, opened this young man's
eyes No, the true God and the true Christ. And he lived in
a family where they had all these idols, actual little idols that
they would burn candles to and so forth. And the young man tried
to tell his father, Dad, these idols can't save you. But there's
one true God. And God became a man. His name
is Jesus Christ. And he and he only are to worship.
He's the only Savior. He's the only Redeemer. He's
the only way to God. He's the truth, the life. I tried
to tell you the truth. These idols are just clay. They
can't save you. Don't pray unto these gods that
can't save. And his father grew increasingly
mad at him and said, I don't want to hear any more about it. Well, one day the father went
off to work or somewhere. And the young boy took a hammer.
And there were about eight or nine of these little gods, and
he took a hammer and busted eight of them. Just busted them to
pieces. And left one of them whole. And laid the hammer down beside
that one. And the father came home, and
he came in and saw all his gods busted up. And he flew into a
rage, he said, who busted my gods? Nobody said anything. They had
a bunch of children. He said, who busted my gods?
And the little boy, the young man, said to his father, that
idol right there did it. The hammer is right beside him.
And his father said, silly boy, idols can't do things like that. And he said, Dad, that's exactly
what I've been trying to tell you. True story. There's only one that can bust
up our idols and kill our gods that we trust in and cleanse
these hearts and cause us to worship right in spirit and truth. is worshipped in spirit and in
truth, the Word. The other way, no confidence
in the flesh, we worship God in spirit, rejoice in Christ
and Christ alone, His salvation, and put no confidence anything
has to do with the flesh. And God's the only one that can
do that. And aren't you thankful He did that? Okay, stand with
me. Our Lord and our God, thank You
for so great salvation that You have this great work which you've
wrought in the hearts of your people. Thank you, Lord, for
leading captivity captive and delivering us from the evil one
and from this untoward generation. Lord, we thank You for all that
You are and all that You've revealed unto us. And Lord, as things
grow increasingly worse, may we decry the idolatry in our
day And yet, from the heart and with our lips, crying to Thee
more fervently than ever, Hosanna, O Savior. Thank You, Lord. Thank
You for blessing us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly
things in Christ Jesus our Lord. And it's in His name we have
met here tonight to worship, to praise, to give thanks for
so great salvation. Amen. You're dismissed. Thank you.

Christ Cleansing His Temple

What does the Bible say about Christ cleansing the temple?

Why is the concept of prayer important for Christians?

How do we know that Jesus is the true Messiah?

What is the significance of Jesus cleansing the temple for Christians today?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

Christ Cleansing His Temple

What does the Bible say about Christ cleansing the temple?

Why is the concept of prayer important for Christians?

How do we know that Jesus is the true Messiah?

What is the significance of Jesus cleansing the temple for Christians today?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

More from Paul Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Paul Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book