After the services, some of the
men could help set up the tables in the back for a shower that
we're going to have this Saturday. The Lord described himself as
meek and lowly in heart. What a description. The God man humble. How ugly
is pride if the Lord Jesus. Is meek. And lowly. And he. The meek and lowly one. Makes a whip. And he comes into the temple.
And he sees those there who are selling sacrificial animals and exchanging money so people could
have the silver shekel of the temple for the atonement. And
he takes that whip and he drives them out. He, I believe, not only drove
the animals out with the whip, he drove people out with that
whip. I don't think it was a burst
of anger. I think that he saw what was going on in the temple
and he made a whip and he drove those people out. It wasn't a burst of anger. I
think it was him demonstrating his authority over all things. And when the disciples. Witness
this we read in verse 17 and his disciples remembered that
it was written How many times in the new testament
do we read it's written This is the only authority it is written
The disciples remembered That it was written The zeal of thine
house hath eaten me up." I've entitled this message, Eaten
with Zeal. This was the conclusion that
they came to when they witnessed the Lord Jesus making this whip. and driving these people out
of the temple, saying, get these things out of here. He actually
overturned the tables of the money changers. Can you imagine
seeing that? His righteous indignation and
him overturning the tables of the money exchangers, driving
everybody out. Don't you make my father's house
a house of merchandise. Eaten up. with zeal. Verse 13, and the Jews Passover
was at hand. Now this is something unique
with John. He always, uh, says the Jews
Passover was at hand. It wasn't the Lord's Passover.
It was the Jews Passover. Um, in Exodus chapter 12, verse
11, uh, after Moses had given instruction as to how the Passover
should be sacrificed and eaten. He said, listen to these words
carefully. It's the Lord's Passover. It's
the Lord's Passover. And I don't believe the gospel
is seen any more clearly. Then in these words, God said,
when I see the blood, I will pass over you. What was God looking
for? He didn't say, when I see your
faith, he didn't say, when I see your intentions, he didn't say,
when I see your sincerity, He said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And that is seen so clearly in
the gospel. God says, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. That's all God has to see when
he sees the blood of his son. Here's the promise. I will. Pass
over you. If Jesus Christ died for you,
you must be saved. You can't be anything but saved. If Jesus Christ died for you,
hear God's promise. And notice he said, when I see
the blood, not when you see it. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. That's the Lord's Passover. But
here is the Jews Passover. When you see my giving attention to the details
of the Passover and I see it and I do it right, I sacrifice
right, I do all the things right. When I, then you'll pass over
me. It's salvation by works. Salvation
by works. If any, if anything, if there's
anything, anything that you need to do in order to cause God to
pass over you, you believe in salvation by works. Is that clear? God said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. The Jews Passover was not like
that. The Jews had turned it into a
work. When I see your works, I'll pass over you. And they,
when I see the way you observe this ceremony, I'll pass over
you earning God's favor. Hence the Jews Passover, not
the Lord's Passover, the Jews Passover and Jesus. Went up to Jerusalem. Now this
is the first of four different Passovers that he observed during
his earthly ministry in the public ministry. This and three years
later, a day before he died, he would be observing the Passover.
And you remember how he said to his disciples with desire,
have I desired to eat this Passover with you. But this is the first
of those four Passovers that he observed during his earthly
ministry. He went up to Jerusalem in obedience
to the law for the Passover. And here's what he found, look
at verse 14. And he found in the temple those
that sold oxen and sheep and doves. Those were the sacrificial
animals. Oxen and sheep and doves. And the changers of money. Now,
on the Passover, everyone was required to give the half shekel
of the temple. If you were rich, you gave a
half shekel. If you were poor, you gave a
half shekel. Everybody gave the same. There's only one way me
and you can be saved, and it's the same way, the blood of Christ,
the blood of atonement, the atonement shekel. Now, there were people
here who had a brilliant idea. we're going to do is make this
easier. We're going to make it more convenient.
We're going to make it more simple for people to be able to worship
instead of them having to bring oxen and sheep and doves in order
to sacrifice They can bring nothing and buy them here. We'll sell
them to them a handsome profit, albeit, but we'll sell it to
them. And they will not have to give the same effort. They
won't have to go through the trouble of bringing these animals.
And we're going to do the same thing with the atonement money,
the half shekel, the silver atonement, we're going to make it to where
we're not going to exchange, we're going to sell them a silver
half shekel for a profit. And thus, we have done two good
things. We've made money for ourselves,
we're just trying to make a living, and we've made worship more convenient,
more easy. Not as much effort has to be
taken in this thing. What an idea! I couldn't help but think of
the sin of Jeroboam. Now if you read beginning in 1 Kings chapter
12 and through 1 Kings and 2 Kings, something we read mentioned over
and over and over again is the sin of Jeroboam. It was the measuring
stick of other sins. When they talked about a king,
they'd say he did after the manner of Jeroboam. And if they talked
about a good king, they'd say he did after the manner of David.
Now, what was the sin of Jeroboam? Really, it was the same thing.
Jeroboam was the king of Israel when the kingdom first became
divided. Rehoboam, the son of Solomon,
was in Jerusalem. And Jeroboam was over Israel. And there was only one place
where you could observe the Passover, Jerusalem. And if you lived in
Israel, you were required to travel to Jerusalem in order
to keep the Passover. Now, Jeroboam, he was the man
that was over Israel. He thought, here's what's going
to happen. They're going to come to Jerusalem
and all of a sudden their heart's going to be turned toward Rehoboam.
And what they're going to do is kill me. So here's what I'm
going to do. I'm going to make a new Passover.
And it's going to be easier. You don't have to go to Jerusalem
for this Passover. Dan and Beersheba. These are the two places. They're
very easy to get to. And he actually said to the children
of Israel, it's too much for you to go all the way to Jerusalem.
Now remember, there's a reason why it was just one place you
could observe the Passover. There's one way of salvation.
Christ alone. Not two ways. one way. And what did they do? They decided,
well, that's not necessary. We can go to this place and that
place. And that's precisely what they did in observing the Passover. They made it easier. And his
motive was bad, but he said, you don't have to do, you don't
have to go through all this trouble to get all the way to Jerusalem.
And his motive was to keep him from going to Jerusalem. He's
afraid they'd kill him. The sin of Jeroboam, making worship
easier and more convenient. Isn't that pretty much what most
of this seeker-friendly religion is? Making worship easier and
more convenient. And that is very similar to what
is going on here. Now, verse 15. And when he had made a scourge
of small cords. Now, like I said, I don't believe
this was a sudden outburst of anger. I think he looked at this
and calmly made a whip, a scourge of small cords. And what did
he do? He drove them all out of the
temple and the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changers
money and overthrew the tables. Now, can you imagine this scene?
I can, I think it's glorious. Our Lord, everything he does
is glorious, isn't it? And when he does this, it's glorious. If I did it, it would be glorious. I would have some kind of other
motive going on in it. But when he does it, it's perfect,
isn't it? Everything he does is perfect. And he said unto them that sold
doves, take these things hence. Make not my father's house an
house of merchandise. Now three years later, right
before his death, he would do the same thing. This is the first
time he did it, and he did it once again right before his death. And then he said, you've made
my father's house a den of thieves. But here he says, you've made
my father's house a house of merchandise, a place to gain
profit and loss. Now, in verse 18, Then answered
the Jews and said unto him, what sign showest thou unto us seeing
you do these things? Who gave you the authority to
do this? What makes you think you have the right to come in
here and just upset everything? Who do you think you are? What gives you the right to do
this? Well, it's answered. This is my father's house. And if it's my father's house,
it's my house. This is my house you're doing
this in. Now, a house over on 2380 Millbrook, I'm thankful
for that house. And I want things to go as they
should in that house. I want it conducted in the right
way. But if you start telling me how to do things in my house,
I'm going to say it's none of your business. It's none of your business
how I do things in my house. It's my house. I don't answer
to you. I don't have to do things the
way you want me to do. It's my house. And you'd say
the same thing to me. If I came into your house and
started saying, here's what you need to do, you'd be offended. This is my house. You don't have
any business telling me what to do. Well, the Lord feels this
way infinitely more. This is his father's house. This
is his house. He is demonstrating His authority
and His righteous indignation. Religion for profit and personal
gain is evil. That's all you can call it. And
that is what is going on here. And Christ wouldn't have it.
Buying and selling. Making my house a house of merchandise. Now here's not only is this demonstrating
the wickedness of using the things of God and religion to make a
profit. This is what salvation by works is all about. If I do
this, God will pay me that. If I stop doing this, God will
respond and do that. If I quit doing this, God will
respond and He'll pay me that. Paul put it this way, to Him
that worketh is the reward, not reckoned of grace. but of debt. If I do anything that I think
obligates God to save me, I did this, now he needs to do, he
needs to respond to me. I'm way out of line. This is
God, the holy God, the glorious God. To him that worketh and
thinks that he can do something to earn God's favor. Paul put
it this way in Romans chapter 10, verses 1 through 3. He said,
brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that
they might be saved. They're not. I pray that they
will be. I want them to know the Lord.
I bear them record. They have a zeal for God, but
not according to knowledge. for they being ignorant of God's
righteousness. And this is where everyone who
is unsaved, who doesn't really know the Lord, this is where
they're ignorant. God's righteousness, his absolute righteousness. They being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness.
thinking this will recommend me to God. This will obligate
God to do something for me. Going about to establish their
own righteousness. I did this, now God's gotta respond.
He's gotta pay me. They might not put it in those
words, but it's the same principle through. They being ignorant
of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own
righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness
of God. Now what does it mean to submit
yourself to the righteousness of God? Number one, it means
to submit yourself to His righteous character. He's altogether righteous.
It's to submit yourself to His righteousness in your condemnation. You don't find fault with God
in that sense. You submit yourself to his righteousness
and your condemnation. You're a sinner, he's holy. And
you submit yourself to the only righteousness that can make you
acceptable before God, the righteousness and merits of Jesus Christ. Now,
they had made his father's house a house of merchandise, gain
and profit. If I do this, God needs to respond
to me. God paying you for what? You've
done. Now, think of this graphic scene
with the whip driving men and animals out, overthrowing the
tables. And we read that this was their
conclusion of what they had seen in verse 17. And his disciples
remembered that it was written, and this is a quotation from
Psalm 69, eight. The zeal of thine house hath
eaten me. What a powerful statement. The
zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Now we read in the Old
Testament of him being clad with zeal. Now zeal is also translated
jealousy and it is produced from a love to the Lord. Therefore zeal comes from, it's
a love to the Lord where you can't bear that which is contrary
to Him. You can't bear who is contrary
to Him. That's what zeal is. It's born of a love to God, a
love to His house, a love to His way of saving. Zeal for God. This is what made Him make that
whip and drive these people out. A zeal for the Lord God. We read several times, the zeal
of the Lord of hosts shall perform this. You know every moment of
the Lord's life while he was here on earth was a life filled
with zeal for God's glory, zeal for God's house, zeal for God's
people. It was born from an intense and
a perfect love for his father and his father's house. Now this
is what led him to say in Psalm 139 verses 21 and 22. Why don't
you go ahead and turn there with me. Hold your finger on John
chapter two. Psalm 139. Verse thirteen says, For thou
hast possessed my reins, thou hast covered me in my mother's
womb. I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully
made, marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right
well. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in
secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect. And in thy
book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned,
when as yet there was none of them. Now I have no doubt that's
speaking of the Lord himself. Yes, it could apply to us, but
this chiefly applies to the Lord speaking of himself. Now look
what he says in verse 19. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked,
O God. Depart from me therefore, ye
bloody men, for they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies
take thy name in vain. Now look at these words. Do not
I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? And am I not grieved with
those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies. Now
that's the words of the Lord Jesus. hates those who hate his father. He counts them his enemies. Why? Because of his love to his father.
Because of his zeal for his father's glory and because of his zeal
for his father's health. There's nothing unclean about
this. There's nothing wrong about this. This is his zeal for his
father because he loved his father with such intense, passionate
love. Now zeal is born from love. Now you think about how you love
your spouse. You think about how you love
your children. If somebody comes up and starts trashing your spouse
or trashing your children and you treat that with indifference,
that's a lack of love, isn't it? The zeal of thine house has
eaten me up. The Lord loved His Father. When
He sees this going on, He is eaten up with zeal. That's why
He made this whip. This was a zeal for His Father,
for His Father's house, and for His Father's glory, and a zeal
against anything contrary to His Father and His Father's house
and His Father's glory. His life was a life of continuous,
non-stop zeal. born from love to his father,
to where he took any affront at his father personal. That's what zeal does. Zeal takes
things personally because of the love it bears. Now, like
our Redeemer, we should be eaten up with zeal. Isn't he worthy
of that? eaten up with zeal. Of course we should. I think
of the hymns we sing. Were the whole realm of nature
mine, that were a present far too small. Love, so amazing,
so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. But drops of grief
can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe. Here, Lord, I give myself
to Thee. It is all that I can do. Zeal. Now, there's a kind of
zeal that is not good. You remember when Jehu said,
come see my zeal for the Lord? He wanted everybody to see it.
That's not good. I've already quoted that passage
of Scripture in Romans chapter 10. He says, I bear them record.
They have a zeal for God. The God of the Bible, they have
a zeal for God, but it's not according to knowledge. Remember
when Paul said to the Galatians regarding the lawmongers, they
zealously affect you, but not well. You're being zealous about
something that you shouldn't be zealous about is what he's
saying. You've been affected, but not well. And he went on to say in that
same chapter, it's always good to be zealously affected in good
thing. I want to give you some scriptures
with regard to this thing of zeal. And let me repeat true
zeal come from one source, love, love. If that's not the source,
it's not good. It's self-promotion. Everybody,
look how zealous I am. Look how religious I am. Look how committed I am. Look
at my courage. Look at my strength. That's not
zeal. That's not zeal for God's glory.
That's zeal to promote yourself when it comes right down to it.
True zeal comes from love to God. Paul said in Romans 12,
11, be fervent in spirit. And that's the word zealous.
be white hot in Spirit, be boiling over in Spirit, serving the Lord. Is there any other way to serve
them than that? Paul said to the Corinthians, I'm jealous
over you with a godly jealousy. And it's the same word, I'm zealous
over you with a godly zeal. For I presented you to be a chaste
virgin to Christ, to look to him only. But I fear, lest by
any means of Satan corrupted Eve by subtlety, so your mind
should be corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ. I've got a zeal. That I never,
that you never be corrupted from the onlyness of Christ. He only
is my salvation. If I love him, I'm zealous with
regard to that. I don't want anyone looking anywhere
but him. And that's what Paul said to
the Corinthians. He said in 2 Corinthians 7, 1, when he talked about godly
sorrow that leadeth to repentance not to be repented of, one of
the marks he gives of it is how zealous you are. There's not
true repentance without zeal. Now turn with me to Titus chapter
two. When Paul spoke of the grace
of God, look what he said in Titus chapter two. Let's begin reading in verse
nine. Exhort servants. to be obedient
unto their own masters. And that's slaves. That's slaves. Slavery is not right. There's
no justification for slavery under any condition, but that
was the case in that day. And he doesn't tell slaves to
rebel. He says, exhort servants to be
obedient unto their own masters and to please them well in all
things, not answering again, not talking back. Your job is
to please your employer well in all things. That's what you're
called upon to do. That's what Paul says. Not purloining,
verse 10, not loafing, but showing all good fidelity, faithfulness
that they may adorn the doctrine of God, our savior in all things. In my speech, in my conduct,
in the way I walk in this world, I'm called upon to adorn, to
make beautiful the doctrine of God, our savior in all things. Now he tells us what that looks
like in verse 11. For the grace of God. that bringeth
salvation. That's what God's grace does,
it brings salvation. It doesn't offer salvation, it
doesn't make salvation available, it brings salvation. God's grace
is saving grace. That's the only kind of grace
there is. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared
to all men, teaching us, here's the teaching of grace, that denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts. We should live soberly, righteously,
and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem
us from all iniquity. and purify unto himself a peculiar
people. Now that word means they purchase
people. Look what it says next. Zealous, zealous of good works. Now what in the world does that
mean? I want to honor my Redeemer in
my life. I want my life, my conduct, my
character to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. Now when it says to be zealous
of good works, I want to live in such a way as adorns the doctrine
of God our Savior in all things, in good works or any works done
out of love for Christ. That's the definition of a good
work. Anything done out of love for Christ, for His honor, for
His glory. I want to be zealous of good
works. That doesn't mean I'm trying
to show everybody my good works, but I want people to see, by
the way I treat them, you know there's nothing that adorns the
doctrine of grace like gracious conduct. Amen? It is so adorning
to the doctrine of God, our Savior. And every believer is called
upon to be zealous of good works. Now, the only way you can be
zealous of good works is if you understand that you're not saved
by good works, but you're saved by the grace of God. And when
you know you're saved by the grace of God, you want to be
zealous of good works, to honor him in all ways, in all respects,
zealous of good works. Look in Revelation 3. Verse 19, this is the Lord speaking
and he says, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. I am all for not being rebuked
and I'm all for not being chastened. But if I'm not, that means I
don't belong to the Lord. I've heard of some kids that
would come up and confess to their parents, you need to whip
me because of what I've done. I've never done that. I'd rather
get out of it. But the point is, I want to be somebody the
Lord loves. You don't rebuke other people's
children. You rebuke your own. You don't
chase other people's children. You're chasing your own. I want
to be somebody he loves now that passage of scripture right there
tells us he doesn't love everybody he loves his people he says as
many as I love I rebuke and I chasten and what's he say next be zealous
therefore and repent evidently these people were not being zealous
now remember zeal is comes from love to the Redeemer. It's not
just trying to show everybody how zealous you are. That's not
zeal. That's self-promotion. But if
I love Him, I want to be zealous of His honor and of His glory. Now let's look at these people
that He says this to, beginning in verse 14. And unto the angel
of the church of the Lad, the See and the Write, these things
saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning
of the creation of God, I know thy works. Now he said that to
all seven of these churches. I know thy works. That thou art
neither cold nor hot. Now coldness and hotness, if
that's a word, are both uncomfortable, aren't they? If I'm cold, I'm
uncomfortable. And there's being uncomfortable
and being hot too. And look what the Lord says,
I would thou were cold or hot, so then because thou art lukewarm,
and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth, because
thou sayest, here's what lukewarmness looks like, thou sayest, I'm
rich. I'm increased with goods and
have need of nothing. Everything's fine. I just look
warm. And knowest not that thou art
wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I counsel
thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest
be rich. And white raiment, my righteousness,
that thou mayest be clothed, that the shame of thy nakedness
do not appear. And anoint thine eyes with eyesalve
that thou mayest see, see things as they are. As many as I love,
I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore and repent. Now one other scripture with
regard to this, turn to Numbers 25. Numbers 25. Now, the setting
of this is right after Balaam. Chapters 22 through 24 are about
Balaam. Balaam is the arch-false prophet. If you want to know what a false
prophet is, he's mentioned three times in the Scriptures as the
false prophet. We even read where the Lord said,
you have them there that hold the doctrine of Balaam, and we
see what the doctrine of Balaam is right here. Now, before I
read this, we know from Numbers 31-16 that the reason the children
of Israel did this is because Balaam advised them to. Remember
how Balak was saying to Balaam, curse Israel, I can't do it,
God won't let me. You read that passage of scripture
in Numbers 22-24, there's the makings of a false prophet. He said, I'm not going to curse
them, but I'm going to advise them to do what will bring about
God's displeasure on them. And so look what happened. And
Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom
with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto
the sacrifices of their gods, and the people did eat. and bowed
down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto
Baal Peor. And the anger of the Lord was
kindled against Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord
against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned
away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges
of Israel, Slay ye every one his man that were joined to Baal
Peor. behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto
his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in
the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who
were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Now, this was one of the women that they were forbidden to,
and when Phinehas one of the Moabites, and when Phinehas,
the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw, he rose
up from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand,
and he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust
both of them through the man of Israel, and the woman through
her belly, so that the plague was stayed from the children
of Israel." And those that died in the plague were 20 and 4,000.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of
Eleazar, the son of Aram, the priest, hath turned away my wrath
from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake
among them. I consumed off the children of
Israel in my jealousy. Wherefore, say, behold, I give
unto him my covenant of peace, and he shall have it in his seat
after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood,
because he was zealous for his God and made an atonement for
the children of Israel." Now, the name of the Israelite that
was slain, even the slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri. His name means music. The son
of Salu, a prince of chief among the Simeonites, and the name
of the Midianite woman that was slain was Cosby. That word means
lie. That would summarize most religion,
the emphasis on music. You know, the worship leaders
are the song leaders, rather than the preaching of the gospel,
and it's all a lie. Now, somebody, you know, we read
this and we think, man, that seemed harsh. No. He was moved by zeal for
the glory of God. And that's why he did this. This
represented them leaving the covenant. It represented them
following other gods. And he said, this man was zealous
for my sake. And that's what I want for myself. That's what I want for you. Zeal
for his sake. Is he not worthy? of zeal. Zeal for His glory. Now when the Lord made this scourge
and drove these people out, you know, not many preachers deal
with that, do they? Not many at all. But it was because
they'd made His Father's house a house of merchandise. buying
and selling, salvation by works. And if I love the Lord by His
grace, I want to be zealous for His glory. Now, it's interesting,
the disciples didn't do this, the Lord did it. but the disciples
were all behind it because they saw that passage of scripture,
the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. And I pray that
the Lord would cause the zeal of his house to eat up each one
of us. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that we might be found in him, how thankful we are for his zeal
that would drive out salvation by works out of the temple. His
love for you and his love for his people. Lord, enable us all
to be zealous of good works for the glory of your son. Enable us to be zealous, to adorn
the doctrine of God, our savior in all things. And Lord, let
our zeal be from love to thy person and love to thy gospel. Deliver us from a zeal without
knowledge. Deliver us from a man made zeal,
a zeal of human religion. but give us that zeal that comes
from a love to thy person. Bless this message for Christ's
sake, in his name we pray, amen.