I've entitled the message for
tonight, Overthrowing the Tables. Once again, this is the Lord's
last week on Earth. It was a Monday, and He was going
to be crucified that Friday, and He knew it. He knew His hour
was come. And I want you to try to picture
this in your mind. He walks into the temple, the
place of worship, and what does he see? He sees sacrificial animals being
sold and bought. Profit was being made from what
was sold and what was bought, and those who sold and those
who bought were equally condemned. You see, personal gain and personal
convenience was involved, and that's never right, with those
that sold and with those that bought. Personal gain and personal
convenience was involved with both. And the Lord was angry. He walked into the temple, and
what he saw angered him. The money changers were people
who were selling the Hebrew silver piece of atonement for profit. They were taking foreign currency
and adding it up and making good money out of this. THE LORD TURNED OVER THEIR TABLES
IN ANGER. Picture that in your mind. They
didn't know what was going on. Those that sold doves, I read
one fellow that said that they sold them for 20 times higher
than it would have been if you would have bought them outside
of the temple, and doves were for poor people anyway, and the
prices were just exorbitant. Verse 16, he would not suffer
that any should carry any vessel through the temple. Not only
were they buying and selling, there were people, now this temple
was a large courtyard, and you'd have to walk way around to get
out of the way, and for convenience, for convenience, there were people
that were taking shortcuts through the temple to get where they
wanted, carrying their vessels of goods. Verse 17, And he taught them." The Lord's
always teaching, always, under every circumstance. And he taught
them, these people, his disciples, yes, but these people that he
cast out and overthrew their money changers table, he taught,
saying unto them, is it not written, my house shall be called of all
nations, Jew and Gentile, the house of prayer. Now that's a quotation from Isaiah
chapter 56 verse 7. Let me read it to you. Even then
will I bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house
of prayer, and their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be
accepted upon mine altar, for mine house shall be called a
house of prayer. for all people, all nations. Now, obviously the Pharisees
were upset about this. Verse 18, the scribes and chief
Pharisees heard and they sought how they might destroy him. This
was the last straw. They were going to put him to
death for they feared him because all the people were astonished
at his doctrine. Now let's go back about three
years before, at the beginning of the Lord's public ministry,
and would you turn to John's account? This was in the last
week of the Lord's life, but this took place at the very beginning
and the opening of the Lord's public ministry. John chapter
two, verse 13, and the Jews pass over was at
hand. I think that's interesting the
way John calls it, the Jews Passover. He says that quite often. This
is not the Lord's Passover. This is their desecration of
the Passover. And he calls it the Jews Passover. You know, when the Lord speaks
of the Passover in Exodus 12, he says, this is the Lord's Passover,
but not here. This is the Jews Passover. And the Jews Passover was at
hand. And you know, something that
I need to bring out is the Lord knew he was the Passover. When
he went into the temple in that time of the year of the Passover,
he knew he was the Passover. Turn back, hold your finger there
and turn back to Exodus chapter 12. Verse one. And the LORD spake unto Moses
and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto
you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of
the year for you. You see, the calendar was changed.
Life begins right here. That's what he's saying. And
your spiritual life and my spiritual life, if I have life before God,
if he's done something for me, it begins right here. Now, somebody
says, when were you saved? Well, let me give you three answers
to that. Number one, before the foundation of the world. Number two, when he said it is
finished. You see, God said, when I see
the blood, I'll pass over you. And when he saw the blood of
his son, he passed over me, I was saved. And I'm saved when I believe
the gospel. I have no right to even suspect
that I'm saved if I myself do not believe the gospel. Now, this is so significant,
the calendar was changed. Let's go on reading. This month
shall be unto you the beginning of months. It shall be the first
month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation
of Israel, saying in the 10th day of this month, they shall
take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their
fathers, a lamb for an house. And if the household be too little
for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house
take it according to the number of the souls. Every man according
to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb
shall be without blemish. a male of the first year. You should take it out from the
sheep or from the goats and you shall keep it into the 14th day
of the same month. This speaks of the sinlessness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He never sinned. I hope we're always astonished
when we think of that. He never sinned. Not that he
had the potential to sin. You know, I've heard people say,
Well, where's the merit in his obedience if he didn't have the
potential to sin? That's ridiculous. That's ridiculous. That's all
I can say about that. That's ridiculous. If he COULD sin,
he would not be God. If he COULD sin, he would not
be immutable. If he even had the potential
to sin, he could change. We can't say that about the Lord
Jesus Christ. He could not sin. And oh, how we admire and bow
before his sinlessness. He kept God's law perfectly. The sinlessness of Christ. And
what were they to do with the lamb? The whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. Notice he says the whole congregation,
you know, he died for all the elect, all the assembly, they're
going to kill it. Verse seven, and they shall take
of the blood and strike it on the two side posts. And on the
upper door posts of the house wherein they shall eat it. Now
they were to take the blood of that lamb without blemish, strike
it over the door posts and the side posts. And then they were
going to the house and they were to eat that lamb that had been
slain. Verse eight, and they shall eat
the flesh in the night, roast with fire. Christ crucified,
roasting under the wrath of God. And unleavened bread, there's
to be no leaven of works. And with bitter herbs they shall
eat it, knowing the bitterness of your sin. Eat not of it raw. Don't eat of it. It's to be roasted,
not raw, nor sodden at all with water. Don't water this down.
In your thoughts of it, do not water this down. roast with fire his head with
his legs and with the pertinence thereof, and you shall let nothing
of it remain into the morning." You're to eat all of it. You're
to believe and chew up and swallow every doctrine of the gospel.
There's nothing that is to be left out. You're to eat all of
it. And that, let nothing of it remain
into the morning. And that which remaineth of it
into the morning, you shall burn with fire, And thus shall ye
eat it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and
your staff in your hand, and usually eat it in haste. Don't
wait to believe. Now this thing of eating of the
Passover has to do with faith. Don't wait for anything. Right
now, listen to me, don't wait to believe. Don't wait till you
feel better to where you feel more fit to. Don't wait till
you think you've got whatever it takes to believe. Eat in haste,
don't wait on anything. And here's where it said, it's
the Lord's Passover, not the Jews Passover, the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land
of Egypt this night, will smite all the firstborn in the land
of Egypt, both man and beast against all the gods of Egypt,
I'll execute judgment. I am the Lord and the blood shall
be to you. for a token upon the houses where
you are. Here's the gospel. Here's the
gospel. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. He's not looking for anything
else. When I see the blood, I will, not maybe I will, not I will
if, I will pass over you. Now this time is the time of
the Passover, the Lord knows He's the Passover, and then He
walks into this building, turn back to John chapter 2, the temple, the place of the
sacrifice, and what does He see? Verse 14, And he found in the
temple those that sold oxen, and sheep, and doves, and changers
of money, sitting. And when he had made a scourge
of small cords, he made a whip. He made a whip. Now, he was angry. He made a whip. And I don't have
any doubt, I don't know if he, I don't know, did he hit people?
I'd say he did. It needed to be done. He made a whip. And what's it
say? And when he had made a scourge
of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple and the
sheep and the oxen and poured out the changer's money and overthrew
the tables. You see what had took place at
the end of his earthly ministry. It began there too. He was overthrowing
tables at that time, driving people out of the temple. Now,
evidently it didn't have that much of effect on them because
they're doing it again three years later. But here they get
out and look what he says. He says in verse 16, and he said
unto them that sold doves, take these things hence, make not
my father's house. Oh, I think of how he loved,
how he loves his father. And he saw his father's house
desecrated and he saw the Passover just changed. It became the Jews
Passover rather than the Lord's Passover. And he drives them
out. He says, take these things hence,
make not my father's house and house of merchandise, buying
and selling, making profit. And his disciples remembered
that it was written, the zeal of thine house hath eaten me
up. This is a quotation from Psalm
69, white, hot zeal. Now you've seen, I've seen, perhaps
I've been zealous about things that like my church, my doctrine,
my beliefs, my philosophy, my way of life. Uh, people can be
zealous about things and it's not necessarily a good zeal.
Here's the only zeal that's a good zeal, zeal for God. And the zeal of thine house hath
eaten me up. Christ was consumed, is consumed
with a zeal for his father's honor and for his father's glory. Now let's go back to Mark chapter
11. This is three years later. He'll
be crucified four days later. Beginning in verse 12, And on the morrow, when they
were come from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree
afar off, having leaves, he came, if happily he might find anything
thereon. Now what I see here is the humanity of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He saw the fig tree had fallen
off. He saw leaves. And as man, he didn't know if
it had fruit. Now somebody says, explain that to me. I can't.
I can't. He had the limitations of the
flesh. And he's fully God. He's the God-man. All I can do
is worship and all and just can't explain it, don't feel the need
to. You know, as a matter of fact, when I was writing out
the notes to this message, I was looking over this morning, I
said, You're saved before the foundation of the world, when
Christ died, and when you understand. And I thought about that word,
understanding, and I thought, I want to say this carefully, but I
believe everything I believe, but as far as I understand it,
no, no. It's above me. It's beyond me,
but I believe. I believe. And the Lord sees this fig tree with
leaves and Then it says, when he came to it, he found nothing
but leaves. For the time of figs was not yet, and Jesus answered
and said unto them, no man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever. And his disciples heard. And
we know that the fruit ended up withering and the tree dried
up. And I don't have any question
that this is a reference to the Jews' religion, leaves. It's a reference to man's religion. leaves, no fruit at all. So verse 15, And they came to Jerusalem, and Jesus went into the temple,
and began to cast out, same thing that happened in John 2, them
that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the
moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves. Now, people were using the things
of God, the Passover, for personal profit. These are the men that
the Apostle Paul called men of corrupt minds, destitute of the
truth, supposing that gain is godliness. Now, to seek anything
other than mercy and grace, I want to say this right. I want to
have a reasonable amount of health. I want my family, I want you
to have health. I would like for us all to have
good marriages, prosperous times. I would like for us to be able
to pay our bills. I would like for us to have happy
lives, whatever that means. I'm all for a happy life. But if what I'm seeking for the
Lord is for a happier life, I'm wrong. I'm just wrong. You know, I've got a book in
my study called The Pleasures of Knowing God. The Pleasures
of Knowing God. And in this book, this fellow
would say he believes grace. But in this book, he's letting
you know that if you are a Christian, you'll have a better marriage,
you'll have better finances, He talks about how this could
be, what if our government was a Christian government? Can you
imagine the influence that would have on the culture and Christian
economics and Christian this and Christian that? That's nothing more than an appeal
to the flesh. That's all it is. And that is
what these fellas were wanting. Better this, better that. I can
use this religion. You know, it's amazing how many
times when people have marriage problems, first thing they do
is get religious. You know, that'll help. That'll help. I'll be,
you know, she'll be better to me, or I'll be better to her
through, you know, it's just, it's, I want to be good to my
wife. I want her to be good to me.
You all want that. I want to have a good life as
far, whatever that is, but to use the things of God in order
to further my agenda for personal profit is always dead wrong. It's nothing but an appeal to
the flesh. If I use the things of God for
personal profit, there is no worship in that kind of thinking. You see, if I think I can manipulate
God in order to get this or that, I am not worshiping God. You only worship, and I mean
worship, spiritual worship, the worship God recognizes. You only worship when you worship
an absolute sovereign God that you can't manipulate, that you
can't negotiate with, that you can't get Him to do what you
want Him to do. He's God. He's always good. Whatever
He does, He's always good, but we worship Him for who He is. Verse 15, And they came to Jerusalem,
and Jesus went into the 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. And
he would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through
the temple. They were using the temple and
the courtyard for a shortcut. There are no shortcuts in the
gospel. There's no buying and selling.
You know, what they were doing was no different than Jeroboam. That's the sin by which all other
sins are measured in the Old Testament. The sin of Jeroboam,
that comes up 17 or 18 times in of second Kings, or first Kings,
what was the sin of Jeroboam? Well, he said, listen, it's too
difficult for you all to go all the way to Jerusalem. We're going
to put up two new Passover meals, one in Dan and one in Beersheba,
and it'll be a lot easier for you to go to them. And he bypassed
everything else for convenience sake. And that's what's going
on here. They were, you don't have to,
you can just come right here into the temple. This would be
so much more convenient. Buy your sacrifice. You can buy
the atonement money. We'll make profit on it. Verse 17, and he talked, saying
unto them, isn't it a mercy that he taught them? I'm just amazed
by that. The Lord's always teaching. He
taught it. Is it not written, that quotation
from Isaiah 56, seven, my house shall be called of all nations,
the house of prayer. But you have made it a den of
thieves. My house shall be called of all
nations a house of prayer." Now, these people no doubt had
done something that they had called prayer before. The first thing I thought about
was Paul had done something that he called prayer, but he'd never
prayed. He'd gone through some kind of
form of religion, but he'd never truly prayed to God because when
God met him on the road to Damascus and knocked him off his horse,
he gave us the evidence that the Lord had done something for
him. He said, behold, he prayeth. He'd never prayed before. He
is now. Behold, he prayeth. You think
of the Pharisee. He prayed thus with himself.
That isn't prayer, is it? He prayed thus with himself,
God, I thank Thee that I'm not as other men are. He had a religion
of comparison. He thought, well, at least I'm
better than this person. God can see this. And God will recognize
how I'm better than this person. God, I thank Thee that I'm not
as other men are. It's a total ignorance of the
character of God. He didn't have any idea who God
was when he was making that prayer. You see, these prayers are not
prayers for at least these two reasons. One, they're not praying
to the living God. They're praying to a God they
think they can please. They're not praying to the living God.
And whatever it is that's going on, it's not prayer anyway. It's
trying to bargain and strike a deal with God. If you do this,
I'll do that. If I start doing that, you need
to do this for me. And what that is, is negotiating
with God. My dear friends, God doesn't
negotiate with sinners. He just doesn't do it. But this is the
attempt these people were trying to make. Now, what is prayer?
Listen carefully. This was helpful to me. Prayer
is asking God to do for you what you cannot possibly do for yourself. And you're not offering something
you'll do to pay for it in return. If you have anything to offer,
It's not prayer. I love the prayer of the publican.
God, be merciful. Be a sin removing sacrifice for
me. Do something about my sin. I
can't do anything about my sin. There's nothing I can do to please
you. Do something about my sin for Christ's sake. Jesus, Thou
Son of David, have mercy on me. Now, if you're asking for mercy,
you're saying my sin's all my fault. You don't owe me anything,
but would you be pleased to have mercy on me? If you don't have
mercy on me, I won't be saved. What about the leper? Lord, if
you will, you can make me clean. I can't make myself clean, and
the only hope I have is for you to make me clean. That's prayer. You're asking God to do for you
what you cannot possibly do for yourself and what you can't obtain
unless he does it for you. When you ask for forgiveness,
the only way I'll be forgiven is if you forgive me. If you
leave me to myself, I'm done. There's no hope for me. YOU'RE
ASKING FOR FAITH. IF YOU DON'T GIVE ME FAITH, I
WON'T BELIEVE. IF YOU DON'T GIVE ME A NEW HEART, I WON'T BELIEVE.
IF YOU DON'T GIVE ME GRACE TO RECEIVE YOU, I WON'T RECEIVE
YOU. IF YOU DON'T GRANT ME REPENTANCE, I WON'T REPENT. I'M ASKING YOU
TO DO FOR ME WHAT I CAN'T DO FOR MYSELF. AND I WON'T HAVE
IT UNLESS YOU GIVE IT TO ME. THAT, MY DEAR FRIENDS, IS PRAYER. ALL THAT OTHER STUFF THAT GOES
ON UNDER THE NAME OF PRAYER, You know, I really believe that
every book ever written about prayer ought to be burned. It's
no good. Prayer comes from the heart.
When God does something for you, you don't have to have somebody
say, pray this prayer after me, and say this, and say, no, nothing
like that. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. I love Peter's prayer. Lord,
save me. Save me. Now that, my dear friends,
is prayer. And you know, when you pray,
you know the only reason you would be heard is for Christ's
sake. You come in his name. You wouldn't dare come any other
way. And the Lord says, this is not
written, my house should be called of all nations, the house of
prayer, but you have made it. This is how much they desecrated
the Passover. You have made it a den of thieves. Now, would you turn to Matthew
chapter 21 for a moment? I want us to look at Matthew's
account because Matthew tells us something that neither Mark
nor Luke tell us anything about. Matthew chapter 21. Verse 13. And he said unto them, It is
written. Oh, look at the emphasis the
Lord put on the scriptures. It is written. You know, that
is enough to satisfy any believer. I don't need anything else. It
is written. You know, I don't need to prove
things. It's written. It's written, that's enough.
It's written. It is written, my house should
be called the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of
thieves. Now look at this verse. I love
this. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and
he healed them. You know who came to him in the
temple? The people who couldn't. Blind,
can't see. Lame, can't get there. With regard to this thing of
coming to Christ, if you can, you can't. And if you can't,
you can. That's who came to him, the blind,
those who could not see any reason in themselves why God would have
mercy on them. The lame, like Mephibosheth,
lame on both of their feet, can't get to him. They all got to him. How come? Because all that the
Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out. Now let's go back to Mark 11.
Verse 18. And the scribes and the chief
priests heard it. And they sought how they might
destroy him. Later on, they're gonna say,
who gave you the authority to do these things? And they said
that in John chapter two as well. Who gave you the authority? Who
do you think you are? They sought to destroy him, for they feared him. Of course
they feared him. Not in a good way, but they feared
him. I would have been afraid of him
too. They feared him. because all the people were astonished
at his doctrine. They were afraid because all
of the people were astonished at his doctrine. Now, one thing I would love for
us to never speak of is dry, dead doctrine. His doctrine is
never dry. It's never dead. If it feels
that way, the problem's with us, not with His doctrine. Now, in closing, turn to 2 John
chapter, well, there's only one chapter in 2 John, so it's just
2 John, verse 7. I hope me and you are going to
be astonished by this. For many deceivers are entered
into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves that we lose
not those things which we've wrought, but that we receive
a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God." Now, we see from
that passage of scripture that the doctrine of Christ, and this
covers everything, is that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. He was before He ever came, that's
speaking of His eternal Godhead, His absolute sovereignty, His
eternality. He never had a beginning. He
never began to be. He was never created. He's the
uncreated creator. He's the one who spaked the world
into existence. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in
the beginning with God. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made. I love it
when he says to the Pharisees, I came down from heaven. I just
love to think about what they must have been thinking. What?
How are you saying that? You came down from heaven? Because
if I said I came down from heaven, you'd have every reason to think
I was crazy. Well, they thought he was too. But he was before he came. Are you astonished by that? the
glorious person of Jesus Christ. He was eternal God. He was eternal
Son. He's the child that was born,
but the Son that was given. He's the one who's called Wonderful
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. He WAS before he came, the same
was, oh, I love the way. Now, when we read that, the same
was in the beginning with God, let's don't read it that way.
The same was, the same eternally was, infinitely was in the beginning
with God. This eternal God came in the
flesh. God manifest in the flesh. The infinite became an infant. He had all the limitations of
the flesh. He was a baby. He was a seed in his mother's
womb. He had all the way. He couldn't
talk. He couldn't, you know, I don't understand that. How,
how it is he grew in wisdom and stature and, and favor with God
and man. I don't understand all that.
I just believe it. He came in the flesh. The word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. Are you astonished by that? Oh,
they were astonished at His doctrine. And don't miss this. Yes, He
was before He came. Yes, He came in the flesh. And
He did exactly, precisely what He came to do. Whatever Christ's
intention was, that's what He did. And in the flesh, he came
to save his people from their sins. And in the flesh, he accomplished
the full salvation of his people. And in the flesh, he died. And
in the flesh, he was raised again. And right now there's a man in
glory representing his people. Oh, I'm astonished. by the doctrine
of Christ. Now, were these people savingly
astonished? I don't know. I hope so. I hope so. But I am astonished. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for our
Redeemer. Lord, He's altogether lovely. He's altogether glorious. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Lord, we know how pleased you
are with him. You said in your word, this is
my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And Lord, we are so
pleased with him. We're not pleased with ourselves,
but we're pleased with him and the salvation that's in him. We give thanks for him. In his
name we pray, amen. Drew, come lay some clothes in
here.