I've entitled this message, Simon
the Zealot. Now this is the ninth of the
apostles that we've considered, and he's one of two that we don't
have one thing recorded, what he ever had to say. That's interesting,
isn't it? We only have a small amount of
biographical information about him. among the 10 who were so
offended when James and John wanted to be at the right hand
and the left of the Lord. And he was one of the 10 that
the scripture says he was moved with indignation. He was angry
at this. Now, you'll notice it says in
our text in Luke chapter six, verse 15, Simon called Zelotis,
which means a zealot. Simon the Zealot. Now just about
everybody I read speculates that he'd been a part of a right-winged
political organization called the Zealots. And it is a fact
that Jerusalem at that time was like our country at this time. It was greatly divided by political
sects. There were the Pharisees, there
were the Sadducees, there were the Herodians, There were the
Essenes, there were the scribes, but we don't read anything in
the scripture about a group called the Zealots. There's nothing in the scripture
to support that he was in this right-wing organization. There
was a right-wing organization that was against the Roman government,
was against paying taxes, and would even perform acts of terrorism.
There was a group called that, but there's nothing in the scripture
to support that Simon was part of that. And this is very important.
We never are to look outside the scripture to find an interpretation
of the scripture. The scripture is complete in
itself. And we don't have to go outside of the Bible to find
out what something means. So it would be wrong, positively
wrong to say, Simon was a part of this political organization,
although maybe he was, but it would be wrong to say that. And
what we're going to consider is this thing of Simon being
a zealot. We're going to consider this
thing of zeal. Now you've probably noticed in
reading the accounts of the apostles. There's one in Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and the first chapter of the book of Acts. In two of those
accounts, he's called Simon the Canaanite. Now, A Canaanite is
not the land of Cana or the land of Canaan. It is the Greek translation
of the Hebrew word, which is only used with reference to God
being a jealous God. That's the word, jealous, zealous. The other two times it's translated
zealotus. Now the Lord, is a jealous God. He says that about himself. He's
jealous. He's zealous of his own honor
and his own glory. And it ought to be that way. Amen. It ought to be that way. Turn with me to Exodus chapter
20 for a moment in this commandment with regard to idolatry. Verse four, this is the second commandment. Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image or any likeness of anything that's in heaven
above or that's in the earth beneath or that's in the water
under the earth. No religious images of any kind
that are supposed to represent something heavenly. Thou shalt
not bow down thyself to them. If you have them, you will. You
can write that down. If you have them, you will. Nor
serve them for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God. This is said six times in the
Old Testament. Visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation
of them that hate me." Now, any kind of idolatry has as its foundation
hatred for God as he is. God said in Deuteronomy 4, verse
24, concerning himself, for the Lord thy God is a consuming fire,
even a jealous God. He is utterly intolerant of that
which is in competition to him. He's utterly intolerant of rivals. He is utterly intolerant of any
attempt of a likeness to him. Who are you like unto God? Who
can be compared to him? Who could you say God's like
this? You can't say it. Now, what would you think of
a spouse that did not become jealous and was okay with their
spouse being intimate with somebody else. You'd say, well, somebody
doesn't love their spouse if that's the case. Well, God is
jealous of his own honor. And every believer is jealous
or zealous of his honor because they love his person. Now there is a zeal that's not
good. And I'm afraid I've got plenty
of that. There is a zeal that is not good. That's not founded
on love for Christ. You remember Jehu in the book
of second Kings. He said, come see my zeal for
the Lord of hosts. Now he didn't have any love for
Christ. He loved being an instrument
to punish people. He enjoyed that, but he told
everybody come see my zeal. for the Lord of hosts, not come
see the glory of the Lord of hosts, but come see my zeal. We're zealous for ourselves,
aren't we? We're zealous for our own interests. You know,
it's kind of a shame when people demonstrate more zeal for their
political convictions or their sports teams than the Lord of
glory. Paul said, concerning his zeal
before the Lord saved him, he said, concerning zeal, persecuting
the church. I was so zealous about what I
believed that I felt it to be my moral obligation to persecute
and to put to death anybody that didn't believe as I did. I think
of what Paul said of Israel in Romans chapter 10, verse one,
brethren, My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that
they might be saved for I bear them record. They have a zeal
for God, for the God of the Bible, but not according to knowledge. It's an ignorant zeal, not according
to knowledge for 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, any zeal that's
not according to knowledge is not good. You think of what Paul
said to the Galatians in Galatians 4 with regard to the worksmongers
and the Judaizers. He said, they zealously affect
you, but not well. You become zealous, all right,
but it's not a good kind of zeal. It's a zeal that's actually anti-Christ
in this works mongering. Now, Simon was a man full of
zeal. That's what we know about him,
this ninth disciple. He was a man full of zeal. And Paul said, it's always good
to be zealously affected by a good thing. Zeal's a good thing if
it's zeal for the glory of the Lord. Now, what I want us to
consider is this thing of zeal. Simon was a zealot. He was a
zealous man. I want to be a zealot, don't
you? I want to be a zealot with regard to the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I want to be a fanatic. I want
to be a zealot. Now, the first thing that came
to my mind in thinking about this thing of zeal is John chapter
two, if you turn with me there. John, the second chapter. Beginning in verse 12. After this, He went down to Capernaum,
he and his mother and his brethren and his disciples, and they continued
there not many days and the Jews Passover was at hand. And Jesus
went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple those that sold
oxen and sheep and doves and changers of money sitting. Now, these people were trying
to make worship more convenient. You don't have to bring a sheep
or a dove from your homeland. You can get it here. We'll sell
it to you, no doubt for a profit. And we can exchange the silver
shekel of the sanctuary, the atonement money, which is all
that can be accepted. We'll take your money and we'll
give you that back, no doubt for a profit, for gain. That's
what was going on. These men were using the temple
for profit. Now, the temple represents the
Lord Jesus Christ. It took the place of the tabernacle,
and I love to think of the furniture. Same furniture. In order to enter
in, you had to come through the altar of sacrifice. You had to
come through the blood of Christ. And that laver with water that
you'd wash in, that represents the continual washing of the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what I need. The blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. You have the
golden candlesticks. Christ our light. He's the light. It's how God can embrace me and
love me and accept me. The table of showbread. Christ
our sustenance. We feed upon Him. The altar of
incense. Christ representing me before
the Fathers. His prayers coming before me
and making me acceptable. You go into the Holy of Holies.
You have the ark and the mercy seat covering the ark that the
priest would go in once a day or once a year with that blood.
Nobody else was allowed to come, but the high priest only he'd
come with that blood and God's people would be accepted through
what he did. Now that's what the temple is
all about. It's not about profit. You know, a lot of folks, religion
is about personal gain. If you're, if you're a Christian,
you'll have more money. You'll be happier. You'll have
a better marriage. You'll have a better life. You'll
have more health and also on a religion of personal gain.
Well, that's what was going on here. Now let's go and read. And when he had made a scourge
of small cords, a whip, he drove them all out of the temple and
the sheep and the oxen. And he poured out the changers
money and overthrew the tables. Did you know he did this at the
end of his public ministry too? This is the second time. He began
his public ministry doing this, and he did this again at the
end. And he said unto them that sold
doves, take these things hence. Make not my father's house a
house of merchandise. Somebody said, did he really
use that whip? I believe he did. He wasn't doing this for show. Verse 17, and his disciples remembered
that it was written, and this is a quotation from Psalm 69.9,
that great messianic psalm, and that psalm is contained, they
gave me gall to drink and vinegar to drink. They're all messianic,
I realize that, but Psalm 69 is special. And in that ninth
verse, he said, concerning thyself, the zeal of thine house, hath
eaten me up. Now, the Lord Jesus was consumed
with a zeal for his father's house because of his love to
his father. That's all you can say about it. He loved his father
and how grieved he was to see this going on in his father's
house for this one reason. He loved his father. And so when
he saw this going on, he drove him out. because the zeal of
his house has eaten him up, eaten him alive. Lack of zeal has as its roots
no love. Key behind true zeal, I'm not
talking about zeal for myself or I'm self-promoting and all
that kind of stuff. I'm talking about zeal for the glory of God
is love to his person. We just sang that song, O Sacred
Head Now Wounded. I love that last verse. What language shall I borrow
to make thee dearest friend? For this thy dying sorrow, thy
pity without end, O make me thine forever. And should I fainting
be, Lord, let me never, never outlive my love for thee. What beauty we see in the Son
of God, in his zeal for his Father's house. Now, Paul said in Romans
chapter 12, verse 11, to not be slothful in business or diligence. There's a lot of people who are
not slothful in their business, but they're slothful in diligence.
That's not talking about the way you make a living. It's talking
about your diligence and seeking the Lord and serving him. Be
not slothful in diligence, but fervent in spirit. That's the
word, zealous. Here it's translated fervent
in spirit, serving the Lord. Now may that describe you and
I. fervent in spirit, serving the
Lord. Now, I've made this statement
many times over the years, but I want to make it again. The
gospel of truth is of infinite importance. If false, it's of
no importance. The one thing it cannot be is
moderately important. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 11. 2 Corinthians 11, verse one. Would
to God you could bear with me a little in my folly. He'd been
touting himself because of their rejection of him. And he's saying,
this is foolishness. Bear with me a little in my folly.
He goes on this chapter to tell him what all he had done by the
grace of God for Christ. I was beaten with rods. I was
stoned and so on. But he said, all this is folly.
But here's how he begins this thought. For I am jealous. And that's the same word translated
jealous. Same word. Zeal is jealousy. I am jealous
over you with a godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one
husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ,
to look nowhere outside of the covenant for assurance, for pleasure,
for rest, to be a chaste virgin to Christ, to look nowhere outside
the covenant with him. Verse three, but I fear, and
this is my fear for myself, this is my fear for you, but I fear
lest by any means As the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety,
through his plausible arguments, and they were plausible arguments.
Don't you want to be like God? If you eat this fruit, it'll
make you like God. You'll have a free will. You'll
be like him. You'll be able to choose the good over the bad. That's what's going to make you
like him. It sounded plausible. It made sense. But I fear less
by any means as the serpent beguiled, deceived Eve through his subtlety,
through his false wisdom. So your minds should be corrupted
from the simplicity that's in Christ. The onlyness of Christ. Now to commit adultery, that's
what he was worried about. To commit adultery is to be corrupted
from the simplicity, the onlyness of Jesus Christ. Now, I fear this for myself and for
you. I believe more than anything
else. Being corrupted, in its spiritual adultery, being corrupted
from the onlyness of Jesus Christ. Now, what in the world does that
mean, the simplicity or the onlyness of Christ? Christ only is all that me and
you will ever see of God. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Christ only is all me and you
will ever see of God. Christ only is all the Bible
has to say. You believe that? Well, if you don't,
you've been corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ.
Christ only is all. that the Bible has to say, I
love what Paul said, I determine not to know anything among you
save Jesus Christ and him crucified. He's the only message of the
scripture. He's not the most important message. He's not the
central message. He's the only message. And if
I don't see that, I have been corrupted by Satan himself from
the simplicity that's in Christ Jesus. Christ is the only meaning. Christ's onlyness is the only
meaning of all of our doctrine. It's not our doctrine, it's God's
doctrine. I realize that that might not be a good way to say
it. It's the doctrine of God. But what's election without Jesus
Christ? It's meaningless. It's some arbitrary choice on
God's part. What's redemption without Jesus
Christ? We've been redeemed by His blood. What's justification
without Christ? I'm justified by his righteousness. Every doctrine has as its sum
and substance. I don't care what it is. It has
as its sum and substance the onlyness of Jesus Christ. And if that's not the way I see
it, I have been corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ
Jesus. The onlyness of Christ is the
only way of salvation. And I love it being that way.
Takes all the pressure off me. Christ only. What does God require
of me? Christ only. What is the object
of my faith? Christ only. What is the ground
of my assurance that makes me know God will accept me? You're
a preacher? No, no. Christ only. Christ only is all in my salvation. How is it that I persevere in
the faith? Christ only. I mean, you can't take that too
far, the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. And without the
simplicity of Christ, there's no zeal for Christ. Not really. The only way you're zealous for
his glory is if you believe in the simplicity, the onlyness
of Jesus Christ. And when there's no love for
Christ, There will not be zeal. I fear being corrupted from the
simplicity of Christ. And I don't want to take this
for granted. May the Lord deliver us from this. Turn with me to first Corinthians
12. Last verse. But covet earnestly, be zealous. It's the same word here, it's
translated covet earnestly. To be zealous, to be jealous
is to covet earnestly. But covet earnestly, the best
gifts, to be able to preach the gospel or some other gift. And yet show unto you a more
excellent way, something that's better than any gift. Here's
what to covet earnestly. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and angels and have not charity, I'm become as a sounding
brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of
prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though
I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not
charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned and have
not charity, it profits me nothing. Charity suffers long and is kind. You know, you could put Christ
in every way you put, say charity, but charity is what the Holy
Spirit uses. Charity envies not. You're not
envious of somebody that you have charity toward. Charity vaunteth not itself.
It doesn't push itself. It's not puffed up with pride.
It doesn't behave itself unseemly or rudely. It seeks not her own,
is not easily provoked, touchy and offended, thinketh no evil. It doesn't keep records of wrongs
is what that means. It rejoices not in iniquity,
but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things. That means
covers with silence all things, believes all things, hopes all
things, Endures all things, charity never fails. Look at chapter
14, verse one, follow after charity. Be zealous of charity. There's no difference between
being zealous of Christ and being zealous of charity, is there?
There's no difference between being desirous of the simplicity
of Christ and being zealous of charity. They go together. Look
in Titus chapter two. Titus chapter two, verse 14. Let's look at verse
13. Looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God, our savior, Jesus
Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from
all iniquity. And beloved, that's what he did.
When he said it is finished, Every one of the elect were redeemed
from all iniquity. I love thinking of that. I don't
have anything to feel guilty about. It's been put away by
the blood of Christ. And look what it says next. And
to purify unto himself a peculiar and that word actually is a purchased
people. When we use the word peculiar,
we usually use peculiar, he's weird. Well, that would describe
a lot of God's people, no doubt. I reckon beginning right here,
but that's not what it means. It means a purchased people. And look what it said about them.
They are zealous of good works. They're white hot, boiling over. with a zeal for good works. Now, what's that mean? Now, you
know as well as I do that this zealousness being spoken of is
not a zealousness of works that we think are gonna save us. I hope everybody knows better
than that. Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to his mercy, he saved us. You know that. So what is this
zeal of good works? Well, I think the best way to
illustrate that is it's not think, well, I need to perform this
good work and that good work in order to glorify God. What
is the one work that the Lord Jesus called good? It's when that woman took that
very costly alabaster box filled with precious ointment and broke
it and poured it upon the feet of our Lord, anointing his body
and wiping his feet with the hairs of her head. Now the disciples
said, why this waste? They didn't see anything good
about it. But the Lord said, why trouble ye her? She hath
worked, she hath performed a good work upon me. This is what the
Lord called a good work. So we know that was a good work,
don't we? You know what? I guarantee you she didn't think,
I'm gonna perform a good work on him. Never came into her mind. And if it did, it would have
made it no good. She wouldn't think, well, this is a good work,
so I'm going to do it. Never came into her mind. She
loved the Redeemer. And she found it a great privilege
to do that. Just like that woman who was
a sinner in Luke chapter 7 did the same. Now turn to Revelation
chapter three. This is the last time the word
zealous is used in scriptures. Verse 19, as many as I love,
I rebuke and chase it. You know,
I don't want to be rebuked and chastened, but I want to be rebuked
and chastened because the Lord says everybody he loves, he rebukes
and he chastens. Well, I don't want to be rebuked
and chastened for being rebuked and chastened sake. Nobody likes
that. I want to be somebody he loves, don't you? Well, let's
see what led to this statement. Look in verse 14. And to the angel of the church
of the Laticeans write, these things say of the amen, the faithful
and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. Now this
is his letter to the seventh church. There are seven churches
in Asia. You remember how I said to the
church at Ephesus, you've left your first love. Well, I don't
want to do that to you. You remember how he said to the
church at Pergamos, you have them there that hold the doctrine
of Balaam, the doctrine of compromise, and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans,
above the people. Clergy lady, I don't want to
do that either. You remember how he said to the church at
Thyatira, you have that woman Jezebel there, and you suffer
her to teach. She teaches my servants to commit adultery and
to eat food sacrificed to idols. Now, she wasn't teaching them
to literally commit adultery. That might have been going on.
But the fact of the matter is she was teaching spiritual adultery
and to gain nourishment from idolatry, that which is sacrifice
to idols, that which is contrary to the gospel. And then you have
the church at Sardis. He said that you've got a name
that you live, and you're dead. You're living off the past. You're
living off past experience, past. Faith is never from the past.
It's are you looking to Christ right now? That's the only issue. And then he says to this church
at Laodicea, verse 15, I know thy works, that thou art neither
cold nor hot. Oh, it's miserable to be cold
hearted, isn't it? To hear the gospel and just be unmoved and
cold, miserable, that's a horrible feeling. You hate yourself. Hot. It's uncomfortable. It's uncomfortable
to be hot. There's something about it that's
uncomfortable, but he said you're neither one. I would that thou were cold or
hot, so then because you're lukewarm. Now that's the opposite of zeal.
You want to know what lukewarmness is? It's the opposite of zeal. Lukewarm. I let my coffee get
cold this morning, tried to drink it, it was disgusting. Lukewarm. I would that you were cold or
hot. Verse 16, so then because thou art lukewarm and neither
cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I'm rich. I'm increased with goods and
have need of nothing. Nobody worry about me. I'm just
fine. I'm okay. Don't worry about me. I'm doing
just fine. I'm great. 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. and that the shame
of thy nakedness does not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eye
salve, so you can see that thou mayest see as many as I love,
I rebuke and I chasten, be zealous therefore and repent. Now we
want to have a zeal that comes from love to his person. A zeal
with regard to the simplicity of Christ. A zeal with regard
to charity. A zeal for good works. A zeal that delivers us from
lukewarmness. Simon, the zealot. May that be
our name, whatever our name is, Simon, the zealot. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that we might be
eaten up with a zeal for thy house. We ask that it might be
born of love to thy person. We ask for deliverance from being
corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ. Lord, we ask that we might have
a zeal for good works, for your glory. Lord, deliver us from lukewarmness
because that's the way we'll be apart from your grace. Lord, how we thank you for the
zeal of our Redeemer, who is so zealous that he wouldn't let
any of his sheep perish. We're so thankful for His zeal. Bless this message for Christ's
sake, in His name we pray, amen. Matt, come listen, closing hymn,
please.