If you would, please turn to
Mark chapter 11. Mark chapter 11. And I wanna
begin reading in verse 15. Mark chapter 11. And they come to Jerusalem. And Jesus went into the temple
and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple,
and overthrow the tables of the money changers, and the seats
of them that sold doves, and would not suffer that any man
should carry any vessel through the temple. And he taught, saying
unto them, is it not written, My house shall be called of all
nations the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of
thieves. And the scribes and the chief
priests heard it and sought how they might destroy him, for they
feared him because all the people was astonished at his doctrine. And when even was come, Went
out of the city I'm gonna entitle this Jesus
cast them out Now with a title like that we
might get a reaction I Doubt it, but we might Because I've
been studying going through mark here lately as you may have noticed
I And I'm still continuously amazed at what I've been reading.
That basically goes for anywhere I read in the scriptures nowadays.
It's not anything new, but every time I read a passage
or a book or a section, I see something that I must have missed
before. I don't remember it. I remember
this incident, but then there are parts of it that are things
there that I had never seen before. And that's the way it goes. And
here in Mark, this is another instance where we see the Lord
of glory enforcing, enforcing, not creating, not starting, not
envisioning. He's enforcing a separation. That's what he's doing here. Saw it earlier when he went to
that, those folks house that had the daughter that was sick
and he put them out. We saw another one when he met
the blind man and he took the blind man out of the town. Well
here, now we're here headed for the temple. And one of the interesting
things about this is this is recorded in all three gospels,
the synoptic gospels they call them, Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
But there's also a section in John chapter two. Now they say
that one happened even earlier than this one. I don't know.
It could very well be. They're usually pretty good about
dating stuff like that. But even if it is two separate
events, all four writers of the gospels Record an account where
Jesus Christ was casting out people of the temple So therefore
I think it's even more important than most people would Because
this is one thing that you won't hear Really in any other kind
of place than a gospel grace preaching assembly I don't know how any other way
to put it. Everybody loves little Jesus
meek and mild. Look upon a little child. You
know, the one that said, no, no, suffer the little children
to come unto me and forbid them not. But when you get to stuff
like this, they don't want to talk about it. They don't want
to know about it. But this is as much a part of
the gospel as suffer the little children to come unto me. This
is as much a part of the gospel as for God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son. Because they don't know
the rest of that verse, or the rest of those verses after that
where he says that, you know, he that believeth not is condemned
already. But it starts here in verse 15
is where I'm starting. And they came to Jerusalem, they
come to Jerusalem. They came to Jerusalem from Bethany. They met a fig tree along the
way. This is what's called foreshadowing. I didn't know this. Because you'll
see, actually before this incident, he met the fig tree. It was full
of leaf, but it had no figs. And Christ said, nobody's gonna
eat nothing off of you. After this incident, he goes
back that way toward Bethany. Guess what? They see that fig
tree, and it's all dried up. So what does that have to do
with this? Well, he's going to Jerusalem to the temple. And
he's not going to like what he finds. He already knows that. Well, supposedly, and it makes
really good sense to me, that fig tree is almost like
Israel. It's full of leaves and everything else, but there ain't
no fruit. And if there's not any fruit, when he wants fruit,
it's gonna drive him to be nothing. Anyhow, but he went to the temple. Jesus went into the temple. Hey, it's his father's house. He calls it that in John 2. He
calls it my father's house. That upset him too. So, when
he went to Jerusalem, the Son of God went into his father's
house. And this is just the amazing
thing here, because we go directly from Jesus coming to Jerusalem,
going into the temple, and bam, the next statement is, he began
and began to cast out them that sold and bought. Understand there's
there's no message. There's no preaching mention.
There's no words mention He goes in and he starts casting out.
I Mean, it sounds like it's bang bang And This is most clear Jesus
does the casting out and Began to cast them out and began to cast them out. Jesus
does the casting out. You understand? So we have here,
step one, go into the temple. Step two, start casting out.
That's what we got. And the word actually does mean
forced out. Eject, expel, thrust out, put
forth, whatever you want to say. Sweet little Jesus, meek and
mild, was casting people out of the temple. The second thing, he didn't ask
anybody for any help. As far as we see here, and you
can look at all three of them, the disciples did nothing but
watch. They went with him. And even
in John's account, the other one, Jesus Christ did all of
this. Why? It's his father's house. And he is the only begotten,
well-beloved son of God. Because he didn't just tell him
to leave. He cast him out. There's lots of people who go,
oh, you shouldn't be doing this. No, Jesus Christ just said, casted
him out. Forcibly, whatever, Whatever
means was necessary The one in John he he he made a scourge
a Whip he platted it. He played it He braided it from
cords and he went in with a whip and was clearing out the temple.
I Don't think this was any different He cast them out You understand? This is what our Lord did. And this is as much a part of
the gospel as calling Matthew at the publican's table, saying,
follow me. Now, how could one man do this?
Well, he's God. He's God. He's the God man. What's that mean? Well, that
means exactly this. He does whatsoever he pleases
to do. So now, who did he cast out?
Very clear here. Them that sold and bought, what? In the temple. First of all,
them that sold. Yes, Jesus Christ is against
business in the temple. These men sold in the temple. They're not outside, they're
inside. And guess what? I hate to say
it, but that's almost a beautiful picture of the religion we have
around us. It's not a pretty picture, but
it's a real picture. It's a true one, because there
are those who go to what they call God's house, and the reason
they are there is to make a profit. And I'm gonna tell you something,
that's up in the pulpit, and it's also out in the pews. I
know people, I've known people in my life. I am old now, older,
okay? But I have known people who will
tell me and have told me, I go there because of the business
contacts. I go there because I meet people that later on I
can profit off of. And they'll talk in the back
before the service, maybe during the service, I don't know. It's
like, it's the same, going to church, the same thing for them
as playing golf with somebody trying to make a business deal.
That's wrong. That's wrong. That's wrong. They're
selling in the temple, Jesus Christ cast them out. There's
a reason it's called filthy lucre. It's because it's filthy. What is that statement about
the love of money? It's the root of all evil, isn't
that it? Yeah, yeah. Guess what? Jesus cast them out. Well, I can hear them. I mean,
I'm serious, I'm serious. I know these kind of people,
let's just put it that way. We're providing a service. Really, that's your excuse. It doesn't matter what your excuse
is, Jesus is gonna cast out. Jesus was casting out. But I
can tell you this, because really, if you're providing a service,
good, do it for free. I'm not against the service to
the people of God. but don't be there looking for
a profit and say you're providing a service in the temple of God. This is what we had there. These
people were running a business of religion in God's temple,
in the place of sacrifice where everything in that temple is
to be a picture of Christ. Listen them guys out there selling
goats and calves and doves and everything else and making change
for other people Who came from other countries or whatever? That's not a picture of Christ And that is one of the people
he was casting out now the other thing It says he cast out them
that sold and Bought. Bought. What? Why? I mean, I can understand
why you throw out them dirty businessmen for trying to make
a profit in God's house, but why would you throw out worshipers?
People are there to worship. Surely they're not as bad as
the sellers. Well, according to Jesus Christ, they are. According
to Jesus Christ, they are. Because understand, these are
those who were buying in the temple. Not outside, inside. I can tell you this about true
worshipers. True worshipers come into God's
house already prepared because worshipers do not come to God's
house to get prepared. They're there to worship. My
father's house is a house of prayer. I add this, if you want. It's
a place of singing, of praying, of praising, and it's a place
of worship. It's not to be a place where
things are sold, and it's not to be a place where anything
is what bought. There's no money to be taken,
changing hands, inside the temple, inside God's house. These people,
these people, these are all Jews, okay? We're not talking about
being in the court of the Gentiles. We're actually talking about
being in the temple, and these people are Jews. They're there.
They know what goes on at the temple. They're supposed to bring
a sacrifice. The word now, and that's what
I was scribbling down here right before, the word here I was looking
for, and I finally remembered it, The word is what these people
are, are enablers. That's the word they use nowadays.
You're enabling them. You understand? There wouldn't
be anybody selling in the temple if there wasn't somebody buying
in the temple. They're the same thing. Paul
gives us a warning later on in his epistles when he says, They
heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. And they've got
itching ears themselves. They don't want to hear the gospel.
They want to hear what they want to hear. And that's who they
enable to say what they want to say. They go, the people go,
where they hear what they want to hear. And these people went
and bought inside the temple because that's what they wanted
to do. The buyers and the sellers were
both cast out. And it says he overthrew the
money changers table. Again, these men were here to
profit. They weren't there out of the goodness of their own
heart. And they were bankers in the temple. He overthrew them
that sold doves It doesn't matter what you're selling It doesn't matter what you're
selling there's to be no selling inside the temple Trying to make money on the house
of the Lord is not allowed by the Christ of God And Jesus cast
them all out Why? because they didn't belong there.
They were not acceptable. Who gets to decide who's acceptable? He does. He does. Understand, Jesus Christ brings
in many sons to glory and he casts out whoever he casts out. the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, the Father judgeth no man, he
has committed all judgment, what? Unto the Son. Amen, that's right.
Unto the Son. And he cast him out. He cast
them out. I realize this is not the most
cheerful, upbeat message in the world, but this is the truth
of God. This is in here just as well
as everything else. Then it says this, and would
not suffer any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
No one is exempted. The temple, my father's house,
is not a place for work of any kind. It's a place of sacrifice. The only ones who do anything
in the temple, are supposed to do anything in the temple, are
the priests, and on one day a year, the high priests. Because God's
house is a place of prayer and worship, and that is all. And he says this, and he taught,
saying unto them, and he taught. His actions were not all. And
he taught by word after his actions were done. Those that sold and bought and
changed money are gone, cast out. And you want to know why? Here it is. Is it not written? Is it not written? My house shall
be called of all nations the house of prayer, but ye have
made it a den of thieves They were cast out guess what
according to the scripture It is written It is written My
house shall be called and he does of all nations He's quoting
the Old Testament the house of prayer. I of all nations. Salvation is of the Jews, but
salvation is not to the Jews only. For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believe it. Not for God so loved Israel,
he said the world, the cosmos. Now that doesn't mean everybody
in it, but it does mean the whole world. out of every tribe, nation, kindred,
blood, family under heaven. It's a house of prayer. It's a house of prayer. We are to pray to God, to praise
his holy name. It's not a place of buying or
selling anything. I'm not here to sell you anything.
I don't want you to buy anything. I try to preach and proclaim
the very word of God from the scriptures. And I want you to
believe it. And I want you to praise Him.
Because He's the one that does it all. He's the one in charge of the
temple. He's the one that the son rules his father's house
by his father's command. My house shall be called of all
nations, the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of
thieves. See, God already said that in
the old Testament, guess what? These men went ahead and did
it. But we're not stealing, we're
not thieves. Yes, you are. You know why? God said so. Jesus Christ cast
you out. We're running an honest business. There's a lot of people I'd like
to say this to, but won't ever hear it. Business is no excuse. And I mean that. There are people
who think, seriously, I'm not joking. They have told me to
my face. When I asked them, I said, you
know, aren't you supposed to be a Christian? Don't you believe?
And here's how you deal with people. And he said, oh, God
will understand that. That's just business. And they were
serious when they said it to me. And it took everything I say,
everything I can, not to say, Good Lord, don't you read anything?
No, they don't. It's just business. Everything
is just business. Business is no excuse. And there is no honest business
to run, wait a minute, not in God's house. Period. Exclamation point. Stop right
there. I don't need to say anything
else. there is to be no selling and no buying in God's house. So what's the result of all this
that Jesus did and all that Jesus said? Quoting the scriptures
in the temple. How is this seen by the religious
world? And the scribes and chief priests
heard. They heard. And they rejoiced and gave God
all the praise. No, no. The scribes and the chief
priests heard, and they worried and pondered the meaning of their
traditions. No. They heard it. They searched the scriptures
to see if these things be so. No, they didn't do that either.
They sought how they might destroy him. You understand? Jesus cast these
people out of the temple. He told them why he cast them
out. Because you've taken my father's house and made it into
a den of thieves. It was full of thieves, which
I have just cast out. And these religious leaders,
this is scribes and the chief priests. Not just the plain priests,
the chief priests. And guess what the result is?
The result is hatred. Active hatred, not passive. I mean, they didn't just grumble
and go home. They sought what? How they might destroy him. Welcome to religion, especially
organized religion. Or as Earl used to call them,
welcome to religious societies. What is the result of the son
of God clearing out his father's house? Cleaning out his father's
house? I mean, I don't want to be negative
in my outlook. But as far as religion is concerned,
I got nothing but negative. That's all I got, because that's
all they are, to the truth of God. Now you understand, they
might feed the poor. They might do some really nice
things. They might have a clothes thing
where they give clothes and coats to kids who can't do it. They
may feed school children, and that's wonderful stuff. It is. I don't have anything against
that. But in the temple of God, there's no buying and there's
no selling. And there's only the truth of Jesus Christ. And that's the part they hate. These men hated the doctrine
of the son of God and men still hate the doctrine of the son
of God. You can ask Martin Luther. You
can ask John Knox, you can ask Charles Spurgeon, you can ask
Walter Pendleton. You can ask me. You can ask any
gospel preacher. And they'll tell you, if you
don't already know, that men hate the light. No, not only
that, they love darkness rather than light. What's that mean?
They got them in their ears. And they'll heap to themselves
teachers having itching ears who's going to scratch their
little ear with what they want to hear and nothing but. And
if you say something they don't want to hear, they will turn
and rend you after they trample underfoot what you said. And because they hated the doctrine
of the Son of God, they wanted to destroy him. And that word
is destroy him fully, completely. That's the meaning of it. And
this is the way the religious are about the truth of God as
revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. And this is also the way the
religious are about whosoever speaks the truth of God. That
includes you. Not just me, not just preachers.
I was hated long before I ever stood behind a pulpit. Why? Because I said it out loud. I
thought we were talking about the same gospel, Walter. Turned
out I was wrong. I thought we were talking about
the same Jesus Christ, but they knew a different Jesus than the
one that's in this book. They knew a different Jesus than the
one I was talking about, because they didn't believe none of the
stuff I said. Understand when you stand and when you are you
sit and you're talking with somebody and you give Jesus Christ all
the glory for your salvation That he actually redeemed you
he called you he brought you in and you had nothing to do
with it Other than he showed you you were an ungodly sinner People hate that because they
realize if they're religious people, they realize what that
means. That means they can't do anything to get saved. And
that's exactly right. You can't do anything to get
saved. You need to be saved by who? The Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And men hate that worse than
anything. They don't wanna be told they're without strength,
even though the scriptures say they are. Now, it's fashionable
nowadays to say, you can get away with saying sinners. Well,
we're all sinners, brother. We're all sinners. And they think
that means I make mistakes every now and then. Well, that's all
right. I've decided to quit using sinners as a word anymore for
that. I'm gonna say you're ungodly. That's what we are. But don't
worry, Christ came to save the ungodly. If you know you're ungodly,
it's because he showed it to you. The religious world doesn't
like to think they're ungodly, even though they are. And they sought to destroy this
man, the son of God, who had just spoken according to the
scriptures. That's what Christ did. Understand
this prophecy from the Old Testament was fulfilled There it is and he cast them
out and told them what had happened and They sought to destroy him
when they heard what he said hmm How bad is religion? How bad is religion? Well, it's
bad. I Horribly bad. They love darkness rather than
the light. They hear it and they hate it. And they want to kill the source. They can't. You can't kill the
good news, Walter. God keeps His good news alive. You understand that this book
that we have been given here is all about, and it contains
the Word of God, it is the Word of God, but it's all about the
Son. The one person nearest and dearest
to the heart of the Father. You think you can stop that?
the news of his son and his son's work and his son's redemption
and his son's salvation, where he is bringing many sons into
glory. We are the beloved chosen before
the foundation of the world. What? In the beloved, in him,
we are brought into him in time. And we are given this good news.
And the good news is not going anywhere. People are going to get cast
out, but the gospel is not going anywhere. There's people who
won't hear it, or when they hear it, they'll hate it and want
to destroy it. But guess what? They've been
trying for years, decades, centuries. It ain't worked. It's never worked. They'll ridicule it. They'll
belittle it. They'll deny it. They'll just
say it's all junk. But it's still here. His word
is eternal as he is himself. And Walter said it perfectly.
It never returns unto him void. It accomplishes what he has sent
it forth for. Whatever purpose he sent it forth
for. For these scribes and Pharisees, that word went forth and they
hated it. But that's not void. It didn't
return to God void. It accomplished that which he
wanted it to do. Oh, I like that. And then Jesus left the city
that evening. He came, he cast out, he preached,
They wanted to kill him and he left. He's coming back later. This is Jerusalem. He can't stay
away from Jerusalem. And I said, I don't want to be
negative. Okay. I don't want to be an angry
preacher. Uh, there have been people who
have made careers out of that being against things. Okay. I don't want to be against anything.
Although I am against this. But the thing is, the reason
I'm against this is I want to be for Christ. I want to be positive
toward Christ, not just negative toward things. Earl used to talk
about people preaching for years against a pack of cigarettes
and a six pack of beer. He wasn't joking. He wasn't joking. I don't hear it so much anymore
because I don't listen to it. And I'm not around people that
much that listen to it. And I'm planning on keeping it
that way if I can. But I don't wanna be an angry
preacher. And people see this, religious
people, even maybe some believing people, see this as a negative
event. Christ cast them out. He did.
But that ain't negative. That's positive. You understand,
our Lord Jesus Christ never did a negative work in his life.
He don't do any negative works now. You understand it's just
as important to bring in many sons to glory as it is to cast
out of the temple those that need to be cast out of the temple. I came not to bring peace, but
a sword. That's what he said. And I think
that's what he meant. I came not to bring peace, but
division. This act here by Jesus Christ
is positive in the fact that, see, these people had turned
his father's house into a den of thieves, and he cleared it
of thieves, outward thieves. He did it himself. He didn't ask for the disciples
to help him out. He didn't stir up the crowds
and call for action. He did it himself. And he did
it because it is his business what goes on in his father's
house. Like I said the other day, there's
some things God's not gonna have. He may put up with them for a
while, but he's not gonna have it. And you're not gonna turn
his house into a house of thieves. He's not gonna have it. He may
put up with it for a while. I've seen big, big, big television
preachers come and go. People who controlled hundreds
of millions of dollars and have yachts and private airplanes
and Rolls Royces and all that other stuff. Jim Baker was on
television the other day. They were talking about the 80s
on CNN. So you had Jim and Tammy Faye. Oh my gosh. I've seen them come and I've
seen them go. But we're still here preaching
the gospel and listening to the gospel. What Jesus Christ did here was
a positive event, not negative. Some people think he was maybe
a little unduly harsh, and that ain't even possible. Some people
think it's a wrong thing to cast out anyone for any reason, and
that's just wrong. Because here it is. If Jesus
Christ did it, that alone, all by itself, means that it's right. You understand? We don't define
what is right or wrong by our thoughts of the matter. Whatever
Jesus Christ did, it was right. Whatever Jesus Christ is doing
is right. He's the definition of righteousness,
not us. I've actually explained this
literally to unbelievers, to people who don't know the truth.
I tell them to think of it as performing a community service.
He made the temple a better place to worship. Because there's a valuable lesson
here. He takes care of his people. He has promised to take care
of his people. Don Fortner preached on TV this
morning. All things work together for good to them that love God,
to them that are the called according to his purpose. That includes
casting some people out of the temple. He's promised to take care of
his people and sometimes he He takes care of his people by casting
out some people who need to be cast out. Some people don't even
know they've been cast out. They think they got out of their
own free will, Walter. That's right. They get mad and
leave because of something I've said or something Walter said.
No, they're mad at the gospel. They're mad at the Christ of
the gospel. They're mad at the one who gave us the gospel. They're
mad at the man who is the gospel, Jesus Christ. But there's a valuable lesson
here. Some people don't belong in the
house of God, and two, Jesus will cast them out. That's just the way it is. There comes a time when the thieves
must go. And he'll cast them out. He will
cast them out. He will cast them out. And while
he's doing that, he's still bringing in many sons to glory. There are those who believe the
son of God. because of the Son of God, His
work, His will, His life, His faith. It's all the gospel. It's all
the good news of God. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for this time. Most of all, thank you for Jesus
Christ, our Lord, without whom we have nothing. and with whom,
in whom we have everything. Be with Walter as he comes to
preach today. Give him the words to say and
us the ears and the heart to hear and understand. And we'll
praise you in his name. Amen.