This is the town Capernaum where
the Lord seemed to spend most of his time. During his earthly
ministry. And we read in verse 13 after
he left Capernaum to go back to Jerusalem that the Jews Passover
was at hand. And Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
I think it's very interesting to notice that John calls this
the Jews Passover. Now this. ordinance was ordained
by God. And what a wonderful illustration
of the gospel we have in the Passover. I don't know of a verse
of scripture that means more to me personally than that verse
where God says, when I see the blood, when I see it, when I
see the blood, what was God looking for? He was looking for the blood.
And he said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Isn't there comfort in that?
God looking for the blood of his son, and he says, when I
see the blood of my son, I will pass over you in mercy. But the
Jews had corrupted this ordinance, and therefore, John doesn't call
it the ordinance of God. He calls it the Jews Passover. The Jews Passover was at hand
and Jesus went up to Jerusalem in obedience to the law. The
Lord went to Jerusalem to observe it. You might remember when he
was a boy in Luke chapter two, he traveled several days in order
to get up to Jerusalem to observe the Passover. This was required.
Every Jew was to go to Jerusalem to observe the Passover. And
the Lord did that during his earthly ministry, during his
time here on Earth. He observed the Passover knowing that it
pointed to him. And then we read in verse 14 that when he had
arrived at Jerusalem, he found in the temple Those that sold
oxen and sheep and doves and the changes of the money sitting.
Now, what's this all about? This is not talking about inside
of the temple, but in the outer courts of the temple. Our Lord
saw people selling animals for sacrifice and he saw men there
who were going to exchange money Perhaps people had foreign currency
and they didn't have the currency of Jerusalem to be able to give
the silver atonement money that was required at this time, the
half a shekel of the temple. And so there were people there
who would exchange their currency so they could have the proper
money to give. Now, all the Jews were required
by the law to come to Jerusalem for the Passover, and some had
to travel many days in order to get there. And they would
travel with their sacrifices. They knew they had to offer up
a sacrifice, so they'd bring their own lamb, or their own
ox, or their own turtledoves, whatever it was they could afford
that they were going to sacrifice. And you can imagine how inconvenient
it was to have to bring those animals with you on this long
trip. And they also knew that they were going to have to take
their money and exchange it for the currency to Pay the atonement
money, which every Jew was required to do. He was required to give
a half a shekel for atonement. Everybody gave the same thing,
and this was a requirement. Well, somebody came up with a
brilliant idea. Let's sell them the animals for
sacrifice right there. That way they won't have to bring
them from home. They won't have to travel all this distance with
these animals. We can sell them the sacrifice
right there and make it more convenient for them. and make
it easier for them. And we can also exchange the
foreign currency for them so they can have the half shekel
of the temple. Now, we'll make a small profit
on this. Just a small profit. I mean, anybody can expect that.
But we'll make worship more convenient and we'll make worship accessible
for the people. And we'll make it easier. And
as a matter of fact, probably more people will worship as a
result of this because they don't have to go to all the trouble
of bringing an animal sacrifice. And we'll make it easy for them
to pay the half shekel of the temple with just a small profit
involved. We're actually doing them a service.
We're actually helping in the worship of God. Does this remind
you of anything? This reminds me of the contemporary
religion of our day, the seeker churches and so on. They market
the worship services to make them more appealing to the flesh,
more convenient, easier, with less trouble in worship. They
use means that are more appealing to men. Let's have music that
is more appealing to men, that they can enjoy more and they
feel more comfortable with. Let's have a worship service
that's less formal and more casual. Let's use skits and plays and
so on instead of preaching, and that will be more appealing to
people. People will feel more comfortable with this. We're
making it so more people will hear the word. We've got to market
this to make it more appealing and more Easy. People will be
more attracted to this. It's big business. It's marketing. It's seeking to gain the consumer. And this whole way of thinking
in the name of religion is evil. It's ungodly. And Christ hates
it, as he will demonstrate to us. The foolishness that goes on
under his name is a mockery. And I'll tell you what, I personally
am ashamed to be identified with most of what people call Christianity
in this day. You are too, aren't you? I don't
want to be identified with it. I'm ashamed of it. Now, this
seemed to be a good idea, these people thought. Let's make things
easier. Let's make it more convenient, easier to worship. Well, we'll
get more people involved this way. And this is a mockery, and
I want us to look at what the Lord did about this kind of thinking
all under the name of helping people and doing good to people.
We read in verse 15. Now, the Lord observed all this.
And when he made a whip. Now, I want you to think about
this. This is drastic. He made a scourge. He made a
whip of small cords. And I think it's interesting.
I read several different men on this, and they seem to think
that he didn't hit anybody with that whip. I kind of think he
did. I think he did. And if he did
it, it was right, wasn't it? Whatever he does is right. He
made a whip. Now that's drastic. He made a
whip of small cords. And he drove them all out of
the temple and the sheep and the oxen and he poured out the
changers money and he overthrew the tables. He was so angry over what took
place. He was righteously indicted. He was mad. You know, we read
in the scripture the wrath of the Lamb, don't we? That scares
me. The wrath of the Lamb. He was so angry over what had
taken place that he made a whip and drove those people out, drove
the animals out, overthrew. They had the money all laid out.
He'd come in and overthrow it, turn the table, everything would
spill on the floor. Get out of here. Now, these are the words
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is how he reacted to this
mentality, this type of thinking. And look what it says in verse
16. He said unto them that sold doves, take these things hence.
Make not my father's house and house of merchandise. You know,
he did this three years later at the end of his ministry. You'll
read about that both in Matthew, Mark and Luke. He did the exact
same thing in the temple and said the same thing. And he said,
it's to be said of all nations, my house is a house of prayer
and you've made it. A den of thieves. Professional religion. A place
of personal profit. You've made my father's house
a house of merchandise, a house of buying and selling, of trading,
of getting gain, of benefit and enrichment, where people come
not to worship, but to see how they can be benefited in some
way. A place to bargain, a place to buy and sell favor rather
than a place to receive grace. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
angry with this. Can you imagine what would happen
today if this happened in our day, if he made a whip? And drove
these people out, can you imagine how indignant people would be
toward him? Where does he get off on this? What gives him the
right to do this? People would look at this as
this judgmental, harsh, critical spirit. He's judging other people's
religion. He's being mean to people. How
in the world does he get off? These people are just trying
to help. They're trying to aid in worship. And he takes a whip
and drives them out. Where does he get off on this?
What a judgmental, critical, harsh spirit he's demonstrating. Verse 17. And his disciples remembered
that it was written, the zeal of thine house hath eaten me
up. Now, here's his reason for acting
the way he did, though many people no doubt criticized him for this
and thought he was being harsh and judgmental. We read the zeal
of thine house. Now this is a quotation from
Psalm 69. Would you turn there for a moment?
Psalm 69. You would find this interesting
in reading this 69th Psalm, that it is quoted seven different
times in the New Testament. Very important Psalm. They're
all important, but this is the Psalm of the Lord Jesus, as they
all are. But in Psalm 69, verse 8, we
read, Look at verse 21 first. This
tells you this is the Lord speaking, because verse 21 says, They gave
me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar
to drink. These are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ as he
was speaking from the cross. But he says in verse 8 of Psalm
69, I am become a stranger unto my brethren. an alien unto my
mother's children. They don't understand. I've become
a stranger to them. They see my actions and they're
offended. They don't understand why I'm
acting. Where is he getting off on this?
Why is he acting this way? We don't claim this. This didn't
come from us. He says, I've become a stranger
unto my brethren and an alien unto my mother's children, for
the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Now that's quoted. as the reason why our Lord took
that whip and drove those people out of the temple, the zeal of
thine house hath eaten me up. Now, men seldom understand zeal. They misinterpret it as self-righteousness
and an overly critical spirit and intolerant My way is the
highway mentality. But the reason given for Christ's
actions at this time was zeal. The word zeal is usually translated
jealousy. He was jealous. Of his father's
house. He was jealous. of his father's
glory, he was zealous of his father's house and he could not
tolerate that which was contrary to his father's glory. Now, one of the things that is
so strikingly absent from this religious generation in which
we live. Is zeal. A zeal for the glory
of God. Now, I find that absent, missing
in this generation in which we live. A zeal for the glory of
God, a zeal that will not allow one to tolerate that which is
contrary to God's glory. Now, there's plenty of zeal for
personal enrichment. There's plenty of zeal for success
and growth in the church and all that. Everybody's interested
in that. It's not saying religious people don't have zeal. They
do. Paul said regarding religious people in Romans 10, he said,
I bear good record. They have a zeal. They have a
zeal of God, but it's not according to knowledge. What there is absent
in this day is a zeal for the glory of God. The one thing this age of tolerance
will not tolerate is an intolerance for that which
is false. That's the one thing this tolerating
age will not tolerate. It's an intolerance for that
which is contrary to the glory of God. David said, I esteem
all thy precepts in all things to be right, and I hate Every
false way. And understand this, that individual
that does not hate the false, does not love the true. Would you turn with me to Numbers
chapter 25. You learn something about zeal
in this passage of Scripture. Now, the Lord refers to this
event in Revelation, Chapter three, when he talks about the
doctrine of Balaam, and he says Balaam, through his influence,
caused this to happen. Now, Balaam is the chief false
prophet. He's the great type of a false
prophet. He's mentioned in Jude, in 2
Peter, and in Revelation, in the New Testament. And if you
want to know what a false prophet is, study Balaam. Now, what is
interesting about Balaam, you read Numbers chapters 22 through
24, and you won't find one thing he says that you disagree with. This false prophet is identified
not from what he says, but what he doesn't say. And through what
he didn't say, he influenced the children of Israel to be
guilty of what was going on right here. They're mixing with the
Moabites. Now, let's read this passage together. Beginning in
Numbers, chapter 25, verse 1. And Israel abode in Shittim,
and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of
Moab. And the Lord himself tells us
this was through Balaam's counsel. He tells that in Revelation,
chapter 3, to the church of Pergamos. And they called the people under
the sacrifice of their God. These are the Israelites. And
the people did eat and bowed down to their gods. And Israel
joined himself under 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. You see, the Lord is jealous.
He tells us that the Lord God is a jealous God. And Moses said
unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one of his men that
were joined unto Baal Peor, verse 6. And behold, one of the children
of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman
in the sight of Moses, a non-Israelite, and in the sight of all the congregation
of the children of Israel. They were brazen about this,
who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
And when Phinehas The son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron, the
priest, saw it. 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 the plague was
stayed from the children of Israel, and those that died in the plague
were twenty and four thousand, and the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Phinehas, the son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron, the
priest, hath turned away my wrath from the children of Israel,
while he was zealous for my sake among men, that I consume not
the children of Israel in my jealousy." Now, I'm not advocating
throwing a javelin at somebody. But the Lord commended Phineas
for this. It stopped the plague because
of this zeal. He said he was zealous for my
sake, he could not tolerate that which was against me. God is
a jealous God, he will not tolerate rivals and his people are jealous
or zealous of his glory. Now, why does God do what he
does? The Lord does a lot of stuff. He controls everything. I mean, nothing happens without
him. Why does God do what he does? There's only one reason. Everything he does, he does for
his own glory. You know why he saves men? For his own glory. And it's right that it should
be that way. Now what if I'm seeking my own
glory? What is it? It's evil. It's sinful. But if
he seeks his glory, it's the only right way of doing it, because
he deserves all glory. God saves men. Would you turn
with me to Ephesians chapter one for a moment? Ephesians chapter
one. You want to find out why the
Lord does what he does. Ephesians chapter one. Verse five says he predestinated
us. unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.
That's why I did it. According to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace. Now, that's why God
does what he does. He does what he does to the praise
of the glory of his grace, zeal Real zeal. Oh, would to God that
you and I will be zealous individuals. Not lukewarm, half-hearted people,
but zealous. Zealous for the glory of God.
Zeal. True zeal. That zeal that comes
from God refuses to compromise that which gives God all the
glory. There's a refusal. There's an
intolerance. of that which compromises the
glory of God. Now, you think of the whole scheme
of salvation. I'm interested in being saved,
aren't you? I want to be saved from my sins. I want to be accepted
by God. I don't want to go to hell. I
want to go to heaven. I've got a desperate desire for that. Why does God do all this saving?
We're all interested in our own salvation, but why would God
save you? Does He save you because you ask Him to? Did He save you because
He felt sorry for you? God saves to glorify His own
grace. That's His purpose. That's why He does what He does.
And it's right that it should be that way. Now, we benefit
from it. I'm thankful. He saves by His grace, aren't
you? I'm so thankful for that. But His purpose, His reason for
doing what He does is His own glory. You know, when we talk
about the sovereignty of God, I love to talk about the sovereignty
of God. I mean, God's in control of everything. It means He's
the first cause of Everything. It means he's in control. It
means he's running the show. Everything is under his hand.
Everything's under his thumb. Nothing happens without him.
That's what we're talking about when we're talking about the
sovereignty of God. You know what that means? That means he
gets all the glory. He did it. And he gets all the
glory. When we talk about the state
of man or when the Scripture does, you know what the Scripture
says concerning men? It says in Ephesians 2,1 that
we're dead in trespasses and sins. Dead. What can a dead man
do? A dead man can't do anything
but stink. He certainly can't save himself. He can't contribute
to his own salvation. He's dead. Spiritually dead. Now, if man is spiritually dead,
you know what that means? That means if he's saved, you
know who gets all the glory in it? God gets all the glory in a man's
salvation. That's why I cannot compromise
in any way man's deadness in trespasses and sins. To compromise
that is to open up the door for man to get some of the glory.
Now, if you love God, you find that offensive. If you don't
love God, you think, what's the big deal? That's nitpicking.
You know, that's splitting hairs. But if you love God, that's essential
that God get all the glory. You talk about God electing a
people. Before time began, let me be
as clear as I know how to be. You see election in the Bible.
Before time began, God picked out who He was going to save,
and He passed by the rest. That's what Scripture teaches.
And it's best that it is that way, because that's the way the
Lord did it. It's best. But you know, in this way, God
gets all the glory. You didn't choose Him. He chose
you. And He gets all the glory. When
we talk about the work of Christ on the cross, Jesus Christ, the
Lord, when he was hanging on Calvary's tree, he was representing
the elect. He wasn't dying for all men,
without exception, he was dying for his people and he accomplished
their salvation when he bowed his mighty head and said, it
is finished, my salvation was accomplished. Outside of my works. He did it. He died for the elect. He accomplished their salvation.
And here's the issue here. Do you know that means that He
gets all the glory in their salvation? He gets every bit of it. None
goes to man. It all goes to Him. God the Holy
Spirit. In His work in salvation. His grace towards God's elect,
the people that God elected and Christ died for, is irresistible. It's invincible. Everybody he
intends to save, he saves. He creates life in them. He gives
them life. He gives them a new heart. He
gives them a new nature. He saves them. God, the Holy Spirit, gets
all the glory in this, doesn't he? He gets all the glory. So we see when we preach salvations
of the Lord, we just read that in Jonah chapter two. It means
he gets all the glory. It's of the Lord. It's not of
man. It's not of man's works. It's of God. And he gets all
the glory. That's what a zeal for his glory.
It will not tolerate anything that is contrary to that. And listen to this. Listen real
carefully, I want you to hear what I'm saying. Somebody that does not preach
what I'm preaching. Is not preaching gospel. They're not seeking God's glory. Somebody says, well, you're taking
that too far. Well, if you if you say that, if you think that.
Could it be that perhaps the reason you say that is you really
have no zeal for his glory? I believe that's what's behind
that kind of thinking. No zeal for his glory, which
really is no love for his person. You see, if you love the Lord,
You are zealous for His glory. And you really, in your heart,
cannot bear that which is contrary to Him getting all the glory.
The only way you can understand that is if you love the Lord.
If you love the Lord, you feel that way. And if you don't, you
think this is hair splitting. You think it's just taking it
too far. It's a self-righteous, critical,
my-way-or-the-highway mentality. This view comes from actually
believing who he is. Now, notice that he says to these
people, he says, you've made my father's house a house of
merchandise, meaning a place of trade and exchange, bargaining
with God. If you do this, I'll do that.
If you do this, if you give me this, I'll do this for you. If
you forgive me of my sins, I'll look for you forever and I'll
do all these things for you and I'll witness and I'll give and
I'll pray. Bargaining, bargaining, a place of exchange, a house
of merchandise. Now, I think it's interesting
if you look three years later when the Lord did this again
at the end of his public ministry, he said my house should be called
a house of prayer. and you've made it a den of thieves. What is prayer? Do you know how few people have
ever prayed? Very few. The only people who
have ever prayed are people who believe. Now, I know that everybody,
when they get in trouble, goes through some kind of form of
what they call prayer. If you get me out of this mess,
I'll dedicate my life to you. If you give me what I'm asking
for, then I'll start living for you and all that kind of stuff.
But that's not prayer. That's bargaining. That's seeking
to pay God. If you do this, I'll do that.
It's trying to get God to respond to what you'll pay. Or perhaps
somebody else thinks, well, I don't have anything to pay. Therefore,
there's no point in praying. I've never really prayed because
I don't have anything to offer God. And you think, well, if
I did, if I had the works, I'd offer it, but I don't have it.
And that's just another form of self-righteousness. You still
think you could come up with something that he would accept. It's bargaining
with God. A house of merchandise. But you
know what prayer is? Prayer is asking the Lord for
things. It's not making some kind of
promise. I'll pay you this if you do this for me. It's asking
that He'll do something for you by His grace. For Christ's sake. By His mercy, it's asking the
Lord. You have not because you have
not. When I pray, I'm asking the Lord
to give me what I cannot pay for. I can't come up with the
goods. When I pray, I'm asking the Lord,
Lord, give me faith. I can't come up with faith. Lord,
give me repentance. Give me a true repentant heart.
Lord, give me a new heart. I can't change my old one. Give
me a new one. You're asking the Lord for mercy.
You're asking the Lord for grace. You're asking the Lord for forgiveness.
You're asking the Lord to do something for you. And you're
not making any promises in return. It's the beggar seeking charity.
That's what true prayer is. You're asking the Lord to give
you what you can't come up with on your own. You're asking the
Lord to give you righteousness, aren't you? I can't come up with it. You're asking the Lord to give
you things. And he said, you've taken my
house, which is a house of prayer, where we ask for the Lord to
do something for us. And you've made it a den of thieves. Have you ever asked the Lord
to have mercy on you? Have you ever asked the Lord
to give you a new heart? Have you ever asked the Lord
to give you faith? Repentance. You have not because
you ask not. My house is a house of prayer,
a house where the Lord's people ask for things, and our great
father delights in giving. He said, but you've made it a
den of thieves. What that is talking about is salvation by
works, salvation by bargaining. If you do this, I'll do that.
But you know what this also teaches us? This teaches us this story
of John chapter two, where the Lord comes in and takes a whip
and drives out people in the temple who were trying to make
merchandise of men's souls. This also teaches what God does
when he cleanses a sinner's heart. Now, what is a temple? A temple
is the dwelling place of God, isn't it? What is the temple
of God? You are the temple of God. Every
believer is the dwelling place of God. And you know what the
Lord Jesus Christ does when He enters in a man's heart? He comes
in with a whip. And He drives out that which
is contrary to His glory. And you know, it's a whip that
as long as we have the flesh, we're going to get whipped. As
long as we have the flesh, we need his whip in that sense.
But he drives out that which is contrary to his glory. He causes us, and this is something
that happens to every believer. He causes us to serve him with
the only right motive. His glory. There are no other
good motives. But every believer, now anything
I do, don't misunderstand me. Anything I do, as long as I have
flesh with me, it's going to have an element of flesh in it.
I'm doing this to make myself look better. I'm doing this to
impress you. I'm doing this to somehow... That's always involved
in everything we do. I wish it wasn't. But it's there.
As long as we have the flesh, it's there. It's going to be
wonderful not to have this flesh anymore. I'm looking forward
to that. I won't have to deal with that
anymore. But it's also true that in every believer with this new
nature, this new heart, There is a genuine desire for the glory
of God, and they cannot bear that which is contrary to the
glory of God. This actually serves to teach
us what the Lord does when he enters somebody's heart and makes
it his temple, his dwelling place. He's going to overthrow the money
changers tables, isn't he? He's going to drive out that
which is contrary to his glory. Now, I'd like to conclude this
message by considering the reaction of the people to the Lord doing
this. I want us to consider both this event and the event at the
end of his ministry. Now, this is the event that made
people so angry that they plotted his destruction. They wanted
to kill him over this. They were so angry. that they
wanted to kill him over this. As a matter of fact, Mark 11,
18 says the chief priests and scribes sought how they might
destroy him. That's how offended they were.
Who does he think he is raining on our parade like this? This
is not right. He doesn't have the right to do this. I mean,
we're trying to serve God. We're trying to aid people in
worship. And here he is. They were upset
with it. They were angry over it. And they wanted to kill him
over this. You know, religious people, The Lord hates religion. He really
does. He hates man's religion. And
religious people always hate what the Lord does. We have an
example of that in this passage of Scripture. But there were
others who were astonished at his doctrine, the Scripture says.
When they saw this, they were astonished at his doctrine. Luke
19, 48 says the people were very attentive to hear him. They hung
on those words. There's some people who are impressed
with our Lord's action. They like what he did. And it
made him listen all that much more carefully. But would you
turn with me to Matthew Chapter 21? I think this is so interesting. And before I read this passage
of Scripture, let me remind you that the reason our Lord was
zealous, the reason he drove these people out is because he
was zealous of his father's glory and in the salvation of the sinner.
God gives all the glory. There's no contribution that
any sinner can make where they can say, well, at least I did
that. You can't say, well, at least I know it all. All glory
goes to God. Now, that's the teaching of this
passage of Scripture. That's why he drove everybody
out. Zealous of his glory. Now, look, look in verse 12. Matthew 21, verse 12. And Jesus went into the temple
of God and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple
and overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats
of them that sold doves. This is a duplication of what
took place in John 2 three years later. And he said unto them,
It's written, My house shall be called the house of prayer,
but you've made it a den of thieves. Now here's a curious verse, verse
14. And the blind and the lame came
to him in the temple, and he healed them. The blind, folks who couldn't see, Folks
who truly before God could not see why God would look in favor
on them. That's the typical meaning of
this. There are people who find fault
with God. How is it that he says something and doesn't say it?
Finding fault. How is it? What about that person
who sees themselves to be so sinful? that they cannot see any reason
why God would look in favor on them. They're blind. And then he says, the lame, those
who cannot walk, they feel like they can't walk in God's commandments. Their walk is lame. They're unable to walk. They're
sinful. That's the people that were drawn
to him. The blind and the lame, what
do they do? Do they get all upset and plot
its destruction? No, this is good news to them. You see, the
year of the salvation that is absolutely free. A sovereign
gift of God. He gives it freely. You don't
have to earn it. You don't have to pay for it.
There's nothing in need you can pay. It's free. The blind and
the lame. Am I one of these people? I'm
not asking if you are. I'm asking myself if I'm one
of these people. Blind? I truly can't see any reason
in myself that would draw God's favor toward me. Can't see. Lame, unable to walk. Unable. That's the person who came to
the Lord in the temple after he did this. They liked it. They
liked it. And he healed them there. They
could not bargain. They had nothing for which to
trade. Their only hope was to go to the house of prayer, where
God gives freely. Not sales. They had nothing to
bargain or trade with. The blind and the lame. They
come to Him, they find salvation in the message of free grace. I hope we have a room full of
blind, lame people this morning. Those are the people that find
mercy. May God enable us all so to be. Let's pray together.