I want you to turn in your Bibles
today to the book of Matthew, chapter 21. I'm going to read
verse 12 and 13. Matthew 21, verse 12 and 13. Now, the title of this message
is, My house shall be called a house of prayer. The Scripture
says in Matthew 21, 12, And Jesus went into the temple of God.
and cast out all them that bought and sold in the temple, and overthrew
the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold
doves, and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be
called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves."
Now, the Lord Jesus Christ had come to Jerusalem He told his
disciples to suffer and to die. He said the Son of Man must go
to Jerusalem and suffer and die. He would rise again the third
day. And in fulfillment of a scripture in Zechariah 9, verse 9, he rode
into Jerusalem on a donkey. That scripture in Zechariah 9,
verse 9, says this, Behold, the King cometh. The King cometh
unto thee meek and lowly. sitting upon an ass, and a coat,
the foal of an ass. And the Lord Jesus Christ rode
into Jerusalem on this donkey, and the people began to cry,
Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is he that cometh
in the name of the Lord! Hosanna to the Son of David!
And they began to put their clothes in front of him, and they began
to cast palm branches on the street in front of the donkey
he was riding. And as he rode into town, the
town, the scripture says, was stirred and moved, and the people
began to cry, Who is this? Who is this? And they said, This
is Jesus, the prophet of Galilee. Now the next verse says, And
Jesus went into the temple of God. When he came into Jerusalem,
and all the people began to cry, to the Son of David, and blessed
is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. And the whole city
was moved and stirred. One would think that the Lord
Jesus Christ would go to the Tower of David, to the stronghold
of Zion, and set up some kind of kingdom. This is what the
Jews wanted. This is what his disciples wanted.
This is what many people wanted. But our Lord's kingdom is not
of this world. Our Lord's kingdom is not meat
and drink. It's righteousness and peace.
Christ sets up his reign in the hearts of men. He did not go
to the Tower of David. He did not go to the stronghold
of Israel. He did not come to set up an
earthly kingdom. Our Lord, the Scripture says,
went to the temple of God. Someone else says, well, why
didn't he go to the headquarters of the Roman government and demand
what is his? He has all authority in heaven
and earth. Every man is under his lordship.
Everything belongs to God. I hear a lot of that today. Everything
belongs to Christ. Let's Christians rise up and
take what belongs to our Lord. But our master did not come to
set up an earthly kingdom. It did not say he went to the
Tower of David. It did not say he went to the
Roman government headquarters. It says he went to the temple
of God. They that worship God worship
him in spirit and truth. God is a spirit. And God will
be worshiped by those who worship him in spirit and truth. David
said, I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house
of the Lord. And again he said, I'd rather
be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than to dwell in
the tents of the wicked. So the other master is coming
into Jerusalem. His mission is to purchase a
people by way of the cross. His mission is to set up a kingdom.
But that kingdom is set up by way of a cross. Our Lord came
to the crown by way of the cross. And he comes into Jerusalem,
and the people cry, Hosanna! Blessed is he that cometh in
the name of the Lord! And the city is moved and stirred,
and all the people cry, Who is this? Who is this? But Christ
dismounted and walked over to the temple of God. And as he
came into the temple of God, he stood and surveyed all that
he saw. And when I read this scripture,
I thought of our day, 1980. The master comes into the temple,
and he stands and surveys all of the activities. It was the
Passover feast. It was a special religious ceremony. It was a special time when people
were there from everywhere. And our Lord looked over the
people there and looked over the activities, and he saw over
here those, the scripture says, who bought and sold. In other
words, during this special religious feast, the Passover, they had
set up booths. They had booths all over the
Temple of God, and there they sold trinkets, and there they
sold souvenirs, and there they sold sheep, and goats, and lambs,
and all manner of things. It was a special time. It was
a time of ceremony. It was a time of much religious
activity. And these men bought and sold.
They had turned the temple of God into a regular place of merchandise. And then over here in another
place, our Lord saw the money changers. If you read the book
of Exodus, you'll find that every Israelite over 20 years of age,
every male Israelite, I believe, over 20 years of age, was required
to bring to the temple every year at the Passover a half shekel. Now, these people were from different
countries. They had different types of money. They had different
exchanges. So when they came to the temple,
they didn't have, most of them, a half shekel. That's what was
required. And so these money changers saw an opportunity to
make some money by exchanging money, and they always exchanged
it so that they could get a cut. You see, everything about their
religious activity had something to do with profit, had something
to do with gain. Paul called them making merchandise
of the souls of men. He called them religious hucksters. And here they were, sitting around
in their boots, and they were changing money. People would
come to their booths and give them a certain amount of money,
and they'd exchange for the shekels, but they'd keep back a little
bit for themselves. They were prosperous hucksters. And then there were those who
sold doves. There were those who bought and sold. They had
souvenirs and gimmicks and trinkets and all manner of paraphernalia. They had all manner of religious
things representing the Passover and all of these things, the
money changers. And then there were those who bought and sold
doves. The dove was the poor man's sacrifice. The dove was the sacrifice of
the poor people. In other words, women in certain
times of their lives had to bring a sacrifice, and the poor women
brought doves. And then when a child was born,
they'd bring doves, turtle doves. And this was the poor person's
sacrifice. And these religious hucksters,
they had an eye to everybody. And they raised these doves and
brought them into the temple of God in cages, and they had
them there waiting for these poor people who came in with
their little mite, their small amount of money, they had to
have a dove, and these fellows had it ready to sell to them.
And as our Lord stood and looked over this activity, this religious
activity, he grew angry. And he stood there and plaited
a whip out of small cords, the Scripture says, as he looked
at the money changers and those who bought and sold doves. and
those who bought and sold trinkets and souvenirs and had commercialized
the house of God, and made it a place of frivolity, and made
it a place of profit, and made it a place of nothing but gain. And as he planted that whip,
Our Lord Jesus Christ eyes pierced the activities of these people
and then he came among them and the scripture says he turned
over the tables of the money changers he acted the cages of
the doves and Drove out the sheep and the goats and drove out those
that bought and sold and cried out my house Shall be called
a house of prayer But you've made it a den of thieves My house
shall be called a house of prayer. You have made it a den of thieves. You've commercialized the house
of God. My friends, is this not 1980? Is this not true of the day in
which we live? Have we not commercialized the
house of God? Is the church today truly a house
of prayer and preaching and worship? Or is the church today a place
of big business? entertainment, profiting, and
frivolity. You know that this is true. Can you imagine the Apostle Paul,
Peter, James, or John, after the evening service, meeting
in the church recreation hall and playing a game of musical
chairs, or perhaps a game of charades, or any type of activity
or entertainment like that in the house of the Lord. Can you
imagine that, the Apostles? Can you imagine the early church
bringing into the church a ventriloquist? Or perhaps a puppet show to entertain
the people? Can you, in your wildest imagination,
can you even think that the Apostle Paul or Peter, James, or John,
or our Master, would have anything to do with this type of activity?
Can you imagine the apostles giving prizes to people for attending
the house of God? Can you imagine them giving prizes
to people who brought the most folks to hear the gospel? Or
perhaps a prize to the person who wins the most souls to Jesus? Can you in your wildest dreams
even conceive of such a thing? You say, well, I'm afraid I can't.
I can't either. But that's what's going on today.
That's what we've turned the house of God into. Commercialization,
profiting, big business, entertainment, frivolity, all of this foolishness.
Let me ask you this. Can you imagine the early church
building a gym to play basketball games against other churches
or perhaps challenging the Roman soldiers to a game of ball? Can
you imagine the apostles calling in a bonding company? Peter,
James, and John realize that the church needs a building to
worship, in which to worship, in which to preach the gospel.
Can you imagine them calling in a bonding company from Rome?
A group of businessmen from the city of Rome to help them raise
money to build a temple for the glory of God? Can you imagine
such a thing? That's what we do today. Can you imagine Paul
preaching the gospel and offering to the people? If they'll send
him an offering of ten dollars, he'll send them a record of John
Mark singing religious songs. Or perhaps Paul will send them
his life story. Now that's, that's, can you imagine
him doing that? Or maybe an eight by ten photograph
of himself. Can you imagine the Apostle Paul
selling candy door to door to support the gospel? Or perhaps
having a chariot wash? Or perhaps playing bingo down
in the church basement to support the house of God? Can you imagine
that? Can you imagine these men of God trying to have a record
attendance some Sunday in competition with other churches to show that
we're getting the job done? Let's see if we can have a little
more Sunday than we had last Sunday, a little more this Sunday
than we had a Sunday a year ago. That's what's going on today.
And our Master, our Lord Jesus Christ, came into the temple.
And this is what he saw. He saw business being transacted. He saw buying and selling. He
saw entertainment. He saw frivolity. He saw souvenirs
and gimmicks and trinkets and all manner of things. He saw
men taking advantage of other men for gain. And you think religion
today is not big business? You think men aren't building
monuments to themselves? I'll tell you, this ambition
for recognition, this ambition for numbers, this ambition for
praise, this ambition for fame has led to entertainment. And
entertainment has led to sensationalism. Someone asked me the other day,
what on earth are they going to do next? And this sensationalism
leads to the outrageous. That's where we are, the outrageous.
And the outrageous leads to blasphemy. And that's the next step. We
have gone from unbridled ambition for recognition, to get ahead
of the other fellow, to appear to be a little bigger, a little
more important, to reach more numbers. We've gone from this
evil ambition to sensationalism, and from sensationalism we've
gone to the outrageous, and we're right on the verge of sheer blasphemy. Preachers today have become foolish
promoters, and the church today, to most men, is nothing in the
world but a laughingstock. And I'll tell you what's happened.
The gospel's gone out the window, but it always does. When frivolity
comes in, the gospel goes out. When entertainment comes in,
the gospel goes out. When our motive becomes anything
other than the glory of God, the gospel goes out the window.
And our Lord stands today and surveys the church as we know
it. And I believe he's plaiting a
cord, a whip of cords, and he is saying, as he will say in
that day, you've made my house a den of thieves. My house shall
be called a house of prayer, but you've turned it into a place
of merchandise, a place of entertainment, a place of commercialism. You've
made it a den of thieves. What shall we do, preacher? Well,
let me give you five things. It's time, it's high time, number
one, to rid the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ of thieves,
money changers, souvenir sellers, and hucksters. And if you can't
drive them out, the thing for you to do is get out yourself.
Someone said, when the old well becomes choked and you can't
clean it out, then go dig another well. That's what Peter said
on Pentecost. He cried out, men and brethren,
save yourselves from this perverse generation. They have departed
from the living God. Deliver yourself from this perverse
generation. Paul wrote in Ephesians 5.11,
have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather
reprove them. Those who promote and keep company
with, and support religious thieves and hooksters and merchandisers
of men sold, will share their condemnation." Charles Spurgeon,
for many years, was pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in
London, England, almost 38 years. He had one of the greatest ministries
of the gospel of any man of my knowledge, clear back to the
Apostle Paul. I suppose Spurgeon was one of
the greatest preachers since Paul the Apostle. And he had
this to say even 120 years ago. This is what he said. He said,
I do not hope to reform the world or the church. I do not expect
to convert the world to righteousness or the church to orthodoxy. This
is beyond me. It's too late. It's gone too
far. But I will use my power and my
influence for some object within my own reach. If I cannot destroy
all the thorns that curse the earth, and I can't, perhaps I
can cleanse my own garden. If I cannot transform the desert
into a pasture, and I can't, perhaps I can make two blades
of grass to grow where only one grow before. Come ye out from
among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not
the unclean thing. What fellowship hath darkness
with light? What fellowship hath veil with
the temple of God? Our Lord Jesus Christ looks at
this generation, and I'm sure that he looks at it just like
he was looking at that religious generation when he was here on
this earth. and watching all of their frivolities
in entertainment and commercialism, and they're making merchandise
of the souls of men. And he said, you've perverted
my house. You've made it a den of thieves.
My house shall be called the house of prayer. And he drove
them out, and turned over their money tables, and released their
sheep, goats, and doves. Here's the second thing. Let's
read. the church of the thieves and
hucksters. Secondly, it's time to rediscover
the Bible. There's an interesting story
I'd like for you to read over in 2 Kings chapter 22. Israel
had been in darkness and idolatry so long under pagan evil kings. The temple of God had grown up
with weeds and dirt. The ceremonies had been forgotten. The preaching of the word, forgotten.
The reading of the word, forgotten. The offering of sacrifices, forgotten.
The temple was broken down in ruins. King Josiah came to power. And King Josiah ordered the priest,
Hilkiah, and Shaphan the scribe to get some men and clean out
the temple of God. He said it's time to restore
the worship of the Lord. It's time to get back to God.
It's time to return to seeking after the Lord. Clean out the
temple and restore the worship. So they began to clean out the
temple. You need to read this. 2 Kings, it's chapter 22. They
began to clean out the temple and while they cleaned out the
temple, Hilkiah the priest found a book. It was the book of Moses. It was the writings of Moses.
It was the word of God. And Hilkiah read this book. He'd
never read it before. He was the priest, but he'd never
read the Bible. Shapin, the scribe, hadn't seen
a copy of Moses' writing. And he read it, and he was so
alarmed. He took it to Shapin, and Shapin took it to the King
Josiah and read it to him. This is what Josiah said as he
read his clothing. And as he wept before the scribe,
Shapin, he said this, Go ye and inquire of the Lord for me and
for the people. Concerning the words of this
book, for great is the wrath of the Lord that's kindled against
us, because our fathers have departed from this book. They
have not hearkened unto the words of this book. Is that not our
day? Oh, we know all the little religious
clichés. We know all the fundamentalism
and the prophecies and all of the things, you know, of that
sort. But people, they are so ignorant. of the word of God,
what God's word says about himself, the attributes of God, the glory
of God, the redemptive glory of God. They know so little about
the fall, about righteousness. They know so little about substitution
and redemption. They know so little about God's
sovereignty. They know so little about the word of God or the
facts of the Bible. Many men know, but the mystery
and the truth and the way of redemption, they know so little.
It's time to rediscover the book. It's time not only to clean out
the house of God, but to restore the Bible to its rightful place.
It's time to lay aside tradition and ceremonies and human literature. It's time to lay aside the programs
and promotions and get out of the numbers business and the
numbers racket and return to preaching the word of God. Thirdly,
it's time to restore preaching to its proper place. I was listening
to a man not long ago. And he had an hour program, and
he went through about 40 minutes. And he said, my, my, as he looked
at his watch, he said, we've had so much fun, and we've had
so much good singing, and we've had so much good entertainment
and testimonies, we don't have time to preach. My friend, let
me tell you something. That's what's happened to us.
We need to return to the preaching of the Word of God. That's what
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is built on, the preaching
of the word. When our Lord began his public ministry, what does
the Bible say? He began to preach. He began
to preach. John the Baptist, what does the
scripture say about him? He came preaching. Preaching. John the Baptist came preaching.
And when our Lord went back to glory, ascended back to the Father,
to the right hand of God, and left the commission with his
disciples, what did he say to them? Go into all the world.
Get your quartet or choir and entertain people. No, he said,
go and preach the gospel. Preach the gospel. God hath chosen
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. I
tell you, my friends, it's time to turn again to the preaching
of the word of God. You cannot build a church on
Sunday school. You cannot build a church on
singing. You cannot build a church on
social activities. You can only build the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ on the preaching of the Word of God.
Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Growth
in grace comes by hearing the Word of God. Desire the sincere
milk of the Word, that you may grow, thereby Christ is revealed
in the Word. Sin is revealed in the Word.
God's grace is revealed in the word. Everything in the word
of God. God says, I'll bless my word. My word will not return
unto me void. It shall accomplish that whereunto
I have sent it. We've departed from preaching
the word of God. And then here, the fourth thing,
it's time to recover the gospel of God's grace. A French king
called in one of his servants one day to inquire about a certain
preacher in the village. And when he called him in, he
says, why is Why is this pastor so popular? And the servant replied,
My Lord, he preaches the gospel. That's a rare thing in France. A rare thing. I hear people talking
all the time about organizing these different programs and
getting all this money to send the gospel around the world.
I never hear these fellas preach the gospel. I hear them talking
all the time about healing, but healing is not the gospel. I
hear them all the time talking about God blessing you financially,
but that's not the gospel. My friends, I can be healthy
of body and be damned in my soul. I can be rich in finances and
poor in spirit. I need salvation. I need the
forgiveness of sin. I heard someone the other day
talking about how God's blessed us. They said we've got houses
and cars and washers and dryers and telephones and bank accounts
and all. Not one time did this person
mention the forgiveness of sin. The Apostle Paul says, I know
how to be abased and I know how to abound. He says, I have learned
to be content in whatsoever state God puts me. It doesn't matter
whether I have prosperity or poverty. I need Christ. I need
forgiveness. I need mercy. I need my sins
pardoned. I need eternal life. I need salvation. That's what men need. The gospel,
it's time to return to preaching the gospel. Let's quit preaching
health and wealth and finances and happiness and these things
in the flesh. We need to preach what God does
for a sinner through Christ. The gospel of his grace, the
gospel of his righteousness, the gospel of his glory, the
gospel of his dear son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness
of sin through the blood of his cross. The Apostle Paul said,
brethren, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of
God and the salvation to everyone that believes it, to the Jew
first and also to the Greek. I'll tell you, God's purpose
for this world is not just to make us healthy and wealthy and
wise. God's purpose through Jesus Christ
is to save a people for his glory. This is a faithful saving. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I'm cheating.
And you'd be better off with patches on your pants and the
joy of Christ in your heart than living in a mansion with all
of the blessings of the flesh and Miss Christ Jesus. You'd
be better off if men never knew you and your name was never mentioned
among men, if your name was mentioned in heaven. Christ said, don't
rejoice that the demons are subject unto you, rejoice that your names
are written in the book of life. It's time to return them to the
Lord. It's time to return them to the Lord. And Joshua said,
Choose you this day whom you will serve. The gods which your
father served on the other side of the river are the gods of
the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house,
we'll serve the Lord God."