WEBVTT 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:03.359 This is really a phenomenal passage of scripture. 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:11.279 It's one of those passages that reveals Jesus is not a person that any ordinary human could have possibly made up. 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:16.640 Jesus is inescapably who he says he is. 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:17.760 He is the Son of God. 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:19.519 And it's on display in this chapter. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:24.480 And I think the best thing that we can do is to read the section that we're going to study this mor this evening. 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:31.280 It begins in chapter 2 in verse 12 and then runs through verse 22. 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:36.079 So let's read this passage of scripture together, and then we'll look at it in some detail. 00:00:36.399 --> 00:00:39.600 John in chapter 2, look down at your Bibles with me at verse 12. 00:00:39.759 --> 00:00:41.439 God's word says this. 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:52.479 And after this, he that's Jesus, he went down to Capernaum with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days. 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:56.880 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 00:00:57.119 --> 00:01:02.719 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and money changers sitting there. 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:16.799 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and oxen, and he poured out the coins and the money changers, and overturned their tables, and he told those who sold the pigeons, Take these things away. 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:20.640 Do not make my father's house a house of trade. 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:26.640 His disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for your house will consume me. 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:31.280 So the Jews said to him, What sign do you show us for doing these things? 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:36.959 And Jesus answered them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:43.280 The Jews then said, It's taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you'll raise it up in three days. 00:01:44.239 --> 00:01:46.400 But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:56.400 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:01.920 It is an inescapable fact of human nature that we are worshippers. 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:11.759 There is something in your life that will occupy your chief attention, will occupy your affections, will occupy your emotions, and to which you will make sacrifices. 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:15.840 You will make sacrifices of time and relationships and effort. 00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:19.599 There's something in your life that you will worship. 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:22.879 It's an inescapable reality of human nature. 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:28.639 It's also a inescapable reality of human nature that we become like what we worship. 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:39.520 That whatever occupies priority in our affections, whatever occupies priority in our minds, will transform even our very nature. 00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:41.840 We will become like what we worship. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:50.879 This is why Paul, in this appeal that we have all of our wanted kids memorize, in Romans in chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, this is exactly what the principle that Paul teaches us. 00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:58.319 In Romans 12, Paul says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. 00:02:58.639 --> 00:03:02.800 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:06.159 In other words, Paul is saying there's no neutrality in spiritual life. 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:10.240 There is no such thing as neutral ground in your spiritual life. 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:21.120 You are either in the process of becoming more like the world if you worship the world, or becoming more like Jesus Christ if you worship Jesus Christ. 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:25.840 This is fundamental to biblical teaching about human nature, about worship. 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:29.280 It undergirds Paul's introductory teaching to the letters of the Romans. 00:03:29.439 --> 00:03:42.240 And in that text, he describes all humankind as those who claiming to be wise became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:45.439 This is the exchange that every human heart naturally makes. 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:50.560 We exchange the glory of the immortal God and worship creation rather than creator. 00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:53.919 And do you see the result of that? 00:03:54.159 --> 00:03:56.800 The result of that is spelled out in the rest of the chapter. 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:01.680 Where Paul says that therefore God gave them up to the lust of their hearts and to impurity. 00:04:01.840 --> 00:04:04.800 Therefore, God gave them over to dishonorable passions. 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:11.439 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, verse 28, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:20.800 They're filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice, they're full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, gossip, slanders, etc., etc. 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:22.240 On down this list. 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:35.759 When you worship anything that's in the world, when anything that's in the world becomes the place where you find your primary source of security, of identity, of hope, of meaning, you will become like the fallen world that you worship. 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:38.879 You will become as corrupted as the fallen world. 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:45.199 There's only one alternative because there's no option not to worship. 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:54.720 Even secular folks, like the late novelist David Foster Wallace in his little essay, This Is Water, writes, there is no alternative everybody worships. 00:04:54.879 --> 00:04:57.519 The only choice is what you will worship. 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:01.759 You will find security and meaning and value in something in this world. 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:13.199 The one caveat that the Bible would add to this astute observation by David Foster Wallace is that apart from the supernatural miracle of the new birth, all you can choose is to worship something in the created world. 00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:20.240 Because all your heart can perceive, all your taste, your spiritual taste buds can taste is a corrupted fallen world. 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:33.360 But the scripture declares in texts like Ephesians chapter 2 that we've been studying on Sunday mornings, God, because of He was rich in mercy, even while we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. 00:05:33.519 --> 00:05:34.879 So that by grace we've been saved. 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:41.600 God does this work in the life of the people that he redeems, where he awakens them to the reality of his son Jesus Christ. 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:48.480 He awakens them to the reality of the gospel, he opens the eyes of their heart to perceive the glory of Christ and to put their faith in him. 00:05:49.360 --> 00:06:04.079 So all of Christian life then is lived in this process by which we choose not to be conformed to this world by worshiping and idolizing the things of the world, but be transformed by the renewal of our mind. 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:06.240 And that that's a one-way street. 00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:13.680 The one way by which we have the ability to be transformed is by beholding the glory of Jesus Christ. 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:29.360 So this is Paul's teaching in 2 Corinthians in chapter 3, where he says that we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, and this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:44.160 It's the Spirit that enables us, as our redeemed hearts perceive the glory of Jesus Christ, to undergo a process of being transformed into the same image, into the image of our Creator, into the image of Jesus. 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:50.319 In other words, all of Christian life is a process of beholding the glory of Jesus Christ. 00:06:50.480 --> 00:06:57.279 And as you behold the glory of Christ, the Spirit transforms you to reflect the glory of Christ in your life. 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:14.240 This is why we need the Gospels, not just as an introduction to our spiritual life, but we need the four Gospels as wells that have no bottom to continue to draw spiritual nourishment, to continue to draw from again and again and again and again. 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:25.360 And as you go back to the Gospels again and again in the course of your spiritual life, you'll find that they are a spring that never runs dry, that there is more of Christ and more of Christ and more of Christ and more of Christ to behold. 00:07:25.519 --> 00:07:30.000 And you will never, ever, ever exhaust the glories of Jesus Christ. 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:40.639 And it's only as by the Holy Spirit your eyes are open to perceive the glory of Jesus Christ that you can be transformed into the image of this glorious Jesus. 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:49.360 What we're looking at this evening in John and chapter 2 is, as I said this morning, this is Jesus' introduction to public ministry. 00:07:49.439 --> 00:07:58.160 And in these two episodes in John and chapter 2, there's something really at the heart of who Jesus is that's put on display for us. 00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:05.040 There's something at the heart of who Jesus is as this unique Son of God, Son of Man that's on display in this text for us. 00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:11.920 And it's as we perceive this glory, I pray that the Lord would enable us by his Spirit to be more conformed to his image. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:24.480 In particular, before we dive in, I just I'll say explicitly what is so incredible about this text is what Jonathan Edwards has once called, the diverse excellencies of Jesus Christ. 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:33.200 There is no one like Jesus, who is both the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world, and is the lion of the tribe of Judah who has conquered and overcome. 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:41.440 There is no one like Jesus who unites diverse perfections, diverse glories in one solitary person. 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:46.559 He's infinite in his majesty and intimate in his meekness. 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:50.960 He's perfect in his power and in his patience with you. 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:53.519 There is nobody like Jesus. 00:08:53.679 --> 00:09:08.639 And the very first thing that Jesus displays for his disciples so that they can know who he is, know the truth about him, put their trust in him, and have eternal life in his name, the first thing that he does in this, these two episodes in John 2 is he reveals something of the diverse excellencies of his person. 00:09:08.960 --> 00:09:22.879 So the very first miracle he does is he turns water into wine and fills up the lack, the lack of joy, the shame, takes it away, and he supplies his friends and his family with joy, with intimacy, and with love at a wedding celebration. 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:34.240 And the very next scene, Jesus reveals himself as the mighty and blazingly holy Lord with a whip in his hand, who is zealous for pure worship. 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:43.519 He is both united in a single, perfect person, totally, absolutely deserving of all of your worship and affection. 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:49.440 Let's walk through this passage in which Jesus displays for us something of his diverse excellencies. 00:09:49.759 --> 00:09:59.600 What Jesus is going to show us is the way that he views worship in this text, the way that he views worship, not just corporately for his church as a body, but individually for his people. 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:02.159 How Jesus views worship. 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:06.399 The first thing we see in the text is what Jesus calls a problem with worship. 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:10.799 The problem with worship, or we could call it a problem with religion. 00:10:10.879 --> 00:10:12.399 It's in verses 12 through 14. 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:13.840 So look down at verse 12. 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:15.919 Verse 12 sets the scene with these words. 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:26.399 After this, after the miracle in Cana and Galilee, he went down to Capernaum, that's about 16 miles northeast of Cana, and it became something of a home base for some of his later ministry. 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:30.960 And he stays there with his mother and his brothers and his disciples for a few days. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:39.679 We won't linger on this, but I trust many of you are already well aware of the fact, the simple fact that the scriptures tell us that Jesus had brothers. 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:41.840 Mary and Joseph had other children. 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:52.799 One of them, they are named in Matthew in chapter 13, when Jesus begins to do miracles in his hometown, and many are incredulous, they respond with these words. 00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:54.559 Is this not the carpenter's son? 00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:56.240 Is not his mother called Mary? 00:10:56.480 --> 00:10:59.519 Are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:01.840 And are not all of his sisters with us? 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:11.840 It is a simple fact the scripture attests that Jesus had brothers, and those brothers, upon his resurrection, came to worship him. 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:15.120 I said I won't linger, so I won't linger. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:16.639 So let's go on to verse 13. 00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:21.360 Verse 13 begins the scene, and it starts with this great feast. 00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:30.799 So Jesus is going to leave his tiny village, and he's going to go to Judea because verse 13 says the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:45.600 Of course, the Passover celebration is instituted in Exodus in chapter 12 because of the historical event of the Passover, wherein the tenth plague in Egypt, God sends the plagues upon Pharaoh into Egypt in order to redeem the people Israel out of Egypt to bring them to the promised land. 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:59.519 The final plague is that God strikes down the firstborn of each home, except for every home where the Israelites had slaughtered a lamb, had painted the blood over the doorposts of their door, and in seeing the blood, the angel, the destroyer, passed them over. 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:15.360 God in Exodus chapter 12 prescribes for the people of Israel every year to celebrate the Passover and lays out a ritual, including sacrifice, to remember the reality that through the sacrifice, through the blood of the Lamb, the destroyer passed them over. 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:18.799 And Jesus celebrates the Passover. 00:12:19.039 --> 00:12:22.080 Every year of his life, he celebrates the Passover. 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:36.080 John mentions three distinct Passovers here, chapter six, and finally in chapter 11, where he stays in Judea and fulfills the Passover in his own death as the final sacrificial lamb to remove the wrath of God. 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:39.279 So Jesus celebrates the Passover. 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:44.960 And as he's heading down to Jerusalem, we need to have something of the scene in our mind because this is a really big event. 00:12:45.200 --> 00:12:51.840 It's not just the people in Judea or the surrounding regions around Israel who are traveling to Jerusalem for the Passover. 00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:55.759 It's Jews from all over the world, from the far from corners of the world. 00:12:55.840 --> 00:13:01.200 They're coming from Babylon and Egypt and North Africa, all throughout Europe and Syria. 00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:05.120 They are flying down to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. 00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:12.799 There are swarms of people making the trek up the hill to the Temple Mount to celebrate the Passover. 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:18.159 One of the only contemporary accounts we have of these events comes from the Jewish historian Josephus. 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:20.159 Josephus is born in the 30s. 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:24.639 He's from a priestly line just after the time of Jesus. 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:27.600 He's involved in the rebellion against Rome in the late 60s. 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:30.720 He's in charge of the troops in the region of Galilee. 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:38.159 He then surrenders to the Romans and comes under the employment of Vespasian when he becomes the emperor, becomes employed by the emperors to write a history of the Jews. 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:43.200 And so from his histories of the war with the Jews, we find this little detail. 00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:51.440 He tells us that Passover, and he says he's speaking from experience, as a priest who participated in the sacrifices, that it was a big deal. 00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:58.320 That there were 256,500 sacrifices made in the temple at Passover. 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:05.759 He says that the sacrifices were then enjoyed with groups of no less than 10 per sacrifice. 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:07.440 Some groups were bigger. 00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:19.440 And so he estimates that there were 2,700,200 persons in Jerusalem during the Passover, plus the people who were excluded from participating in the rite because of ritual impurity. 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:23.600 Now, it is certainly possible that he's expanding the numbers a little bit. 00:14:23.759 --> 00:14:26.320 But let's just be extra, extra conservative. 00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:30.320 We're still looking at a million people swarming Jerusalem. 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:33.679 This place is densely packed. 00:14:33.919 --> 00:14:37.120 There's fervor and excitement in Jerusalem. 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:46.320 And so Jesus, as he always did, makes a track to Jerusalem, walks to the temple, and then verse 14, he finds something that displeases him. 00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:48.159 So verse 14. 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:54.399 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and money changers sitting there. 00:14:55.200 --> 00:15:01.519 He arrives to worship the holy God of the universe, and he finds a business. 00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:02.960 A business. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:04.080 This is what's happening. 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:12.559 The those who are selling in verse 14, those who are selling oxen, sheep, and pigeons, well, that's in some ways a very reasonable thing to do. 00:15:12.720 --> 00:15:16.240 After all, you're required to offer a sacrifice at Passover. 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:19.039 And there are people who are coming from Libya. 00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:20.000 What are you gonna do? 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:23.840 Put a sheep on the boat and drag it thousands of miles? 00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:32.480 Easily, a more prudent thing to do would be to purchase an animal to sacrifice in Jerusalem. 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:36.559 And so, in some ways, you could say, well, these priests are just doing what makes sense. 00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:40.639 They are selling sacrifices right where the sacrifices need to happen. 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:42.559 It's just reasonable, right? 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:49.120 And then there are these money exchangers, and the money exchangers are performing a duty for those who have come to offer their temple tax. 00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:56.799 Every Jew, every male 20 years and up would offer a temple tax, and they're coming from all around different empires, and they have different currencies with them. 00:15:56.960 --> 00:15:59.440 But the priests only wanted one particular currency. 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:04.799 Tyrion's silver was the particular currency that they wanted, and so these money exchangers were offering a service. 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:09.600 We'll exchange your currency for the only one that's accepted in the temple for a small fee. 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:15.519 In some ways, this is just kind of reasonable, but not to Jesus. 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:26.480 Jesus is to these to these priests making these transactions, Jesus is just a random nobody from Galilee who looks like everybody else. 00:16:27.679 --> 00:16:31.440 But Jesus isn't just a random nobody from Galilee who looks like everybody else. 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:32.639 Jesus is the Lord. 00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:35.279 Jesus is the Lord of the temple. 00:16:35.919 --> 00:16:38.639 Jesus is the one who prescribed the building of the temple. 00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:44.399 Jesus is the one that articulated what worship of the holy God of the universe is to look like in the temple. 00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:52.320 And Jesus sees through the business to the hearts, and he sees the apathy towards the holy God evident in these transactions. 00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:57.519 It's hard not to hear the echoes of the prophet Isaiah in what's happening in the temple in this text. 00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:01.039 And so I invite you to flip up back in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah. 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:03.519 You can keep your place in John, because we will come back. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:17.519 But I think it is worth traversing back in our Bibles to the book of Isaiah because it's hard for me to think that Jesus doesn't have something like this in his mind as he confronts these religious leaders. 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:25.680 In Isaiah in chapter 1, you have something of a courtroom scene where the Lord of Israel brings Israel before the court and confronts them for their false worship. 00:17:25.920 --> 00:17:34.240 And listen to the echoes between the way he condemns false worship in Israel to the way worship was being conducted in the fur the first century in Jerusalem. 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:42.559 Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 12, the Lord says, When you come appear before me, who's required of you this trampling of my courts? 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:44.960 Bring no more vain offerings. 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:46.960 Incense is an abomination to me. 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:52.960 New boon is Sabbath and the calling of convocations, I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:57.359 Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hates. 00:17:57.680 --> 00:17:59.440 They've become a burden to me. 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:01.680 I'm weary of bearing them. 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:04.640 When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:07.039 Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:09.119 Your hands are full of blood. 00:18:09.359 --> 00:18:22.319 Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. 00:18:22.559 --> 00:18:23.440 Come now. 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:26.400 Let us reason together, says the Lord. 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:29.839 Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:33.039 Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:43.599 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land, but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:46.000 Corrupt worship. 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:57.359 Let's become apathetic towards the holiness of God and more concerned with the pragmatics of a business transaction and the logistics of conducting all of this crowdfair in a peaceful and orderly manner. 00:18:58.079 --> 00:19:04.160 But no love for Christ, no love for holiness, no love for the Lord of the temple. 00:19:05.119 --> 00:19:10.559 Now you could ask yourself, is Jesus here condemning the religious system in Israel? 00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:13.759 Is Jesus condemning the religious system in Israel? 00:19:13.920 --> 00:19:18.559 It's a frequent thing to hear that Jesus came to condemn a religious system. 00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:20.720 And there's a sense in which that's right. 00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:24.400 I mean, the religious system often was perverted in the history of Israel. 00:19:24.559 --> 00:19:26.400 It was often corrupted. 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:29.519 But the system itself was perfect. 00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:30.880 God made it. 00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:34.079 God gave Israel a perfect religious system. 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:43.440 The way to approach God, all of the sacrificial system, all of the ordinances, all of the rituals that are prescribed in the Torah come down from heaven. 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:46.880 They're given by God Himself on Mount Sinai. 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:50.480 They're revelation of the perfect religious system. 00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:53.519 So it's not the system in itself that's the problem. 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:56.799 And it's not the system that's the problem in the book of Isaiah. 00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:02.480 The problem with religion is not the system, it's the sinners. 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:05.440 It's the people that are involved. 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:08.079 It's not the religion, it's the religious. 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:13.200 And even Isaiah says this the beginning of this condemnation of Israel in verse 4. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:15.759 He points that it's the heart that's the problem. 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:26.720 Isaiah 1 and verse 4, the prophet says, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly, they have forsaken the Lord. 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:30.079 They've despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:32.000 Why will you still be struck down? 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:34.079 Why will you continue to rebel? 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:36.640 Here's Isaiah's diagnosis. 00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:40.000 The whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint. 00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:45.680 From the sole of the foot even up to the head, there's no soundness in it, but bruises, sores, and raw wounds. 00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:48.160 They're not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil. 00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:50.640 The problem is the person, the inner man. 00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:54.880 From the sole of the foot to the top of the head, the entire person is corrupted by their sin. 00:20:54.960 --> 00:20:59.119 And so any religious system that God gives to sinners, they will corrupt. 00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:10.160 So Jesus walks into the temple, the Lord of the temple, you can go back to John in chapter two, and the very first thing he sees is what inevitably happens when God gives sinful people a good system. 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:11.680 They corrupt it. 00:21:13.920 --> 00:21:19.039 The system, if it's flawed, it's flawed because of the sinners that are in it. 00:21:19.119 --> 00:21:25.359 They don't need a new system, they don't just need a restoration of the system either, because that's happened over and over and over in Israel. 00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:28.480 They don't need a system, they need a savior. 00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:30.160 They need a savior. 00:21:30.319 --> 00:21:33.519 The problem with religion is the sinners, and it's so clear in this text. 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:37.279 And so the next thing that we see is Jesus' solution. 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:44.079 Jesus' solution is his holy worship. 00:21:44.559 --> 00:21:46.160 That's the solution, is holy worship. 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:50.720 And we see something of the person of Jesus in the next stage of this passage. 00:21:50.960 --> 00:21:53.200 We see Jesus' zeal for holy worship. 00:21:53.680 --> 00:21:54.880 So look down at verse 15. 00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:56.559 This is the way that Jesus responds. 00:21:57.039 --> 00:22:04.960 Verse 15 Jesus making a whip of Cords, he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and oxen. 00:22:05.279 --> 00:22:09.279 He poured out the coins and the money changers and turned over their tables. 00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:12.960 I mean, this is just unbelievable. 00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:21.279 Now, Jesus, when he makes this whip, it's not like there is some kind of really intimidating weapon available. 00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:33.759 It says that making a whip of cords, that is, he grabbed whatever rope was available, so he cut off some rope from one of the stalls that was housing the animals, and he made a quickly contrived, I mean, Jesus is a professional blue-collar worker after all. 00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:35.359 It probably was pretty well made. 00:22:35.599 --> 00:22:38.400 But he makes this quickly contrived whip. 00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:46.559 And he immediately, in this absolutely massive cathedral that is the temple, begins to drive everyone out. 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:51.039 And he he succeeds with apparently no pushback. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:53.759 He drives everyone out of the temple. 00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:55.680 That's unbelievable. 00:22:56.079 --> 00:23:04.240 Jesus is a nobody who looks like any ordinary backwoods Galilean who's betrayed by his podunk accent. 00:23:06.160 --> 00:23:28.240 If anyone else had made a whip and had begun beating these prestigious officers' animals, they would have sent the temple guard to them, they would have put their arms around him, there would have been a swarm of the security of the temple around Jesus, and they would have said, Hey buddy, we have ways of dealing with you, but not Jesus. 00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:40.160 Jesus drives everyone out of the temple, gone, turns over the tables, throws out their money, throws out those carrying the pigeons. 00:23:40.240 --> 00:23:52.079 I mean, can you imagine these men who are selling their pigeons and they're imagining what they're gonna do with their new retirement investments, tucking their cages under their arms and hightailing it down the stairs? 00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:56.720 Because Jesus got a little bit of rope. 00:23:58.640 --> 00:24:03.519 How is Jesus possibly able to manage this? 00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:17.599 And if you're reading the text with just kind of an imagination of what the scene would have looked like historically, there's absolutely no way there can be a doubt in your mind that what happens here is another divine miracle. 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:21.920 This is another display of Jesus' supernatural power. 00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:36.319 There is no other explanation for the way that one single human could drive this crowd, including armed temple guard officers, out unless there was some divine reality of Jesus unfolded before them. 00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:48.160 There's something of Jesus' absolute, supreme, burning desire for holiness and his power to achieve it that's put on display and turns everyone away from him. 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:55.680 This is a display of Jesus' person, unlike that in the first half of the Gospel of John. 00:24:55.839 --> 00:25:04.799 This is a display very much unlike the calm and loving and patient Jesus who puts his arms around his friends and supplies their joy. 00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:12.000 This is a Jesus with a whip in his hand and with fire in his eyes, who is zealous for holy worship. 00:25:12.240 --> 00:25:16.319 It's a display unlike anything his disciples have ever seen, and they know it. 00:25:16.480 --> 00:25:19.039 And you see their reaction in verse 16. 00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:26.720 Jesus tells those who stole the pigeons, take these things away, do not make my father's house a house of trade. 00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:33.440 His disciples remember that it was written, zeal for your house will consume me. 00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:38.079 They know who this Jesus is, and they know he's unlike anything they have ever seen. 00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:47.279 And they are seeing something of the diverse excellencies of Jesus that they never could have imagined on their own. 00:25:47.519 --> 00:25:50.640 This is a Jesus unlike anybody's creation. 00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:54.160 This is a person unlike anyone's creative ability. 00:25:54.319 --> 00:25:55.759 This is a Jesus all his own. 00:25:55.839 --> 00:26:00.160 This is a Jesus of patience and of pure burning zeal for God. 00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:06.559 As I mentioned at the beginning of our worship service, Psalm 69 is the text that the disciples remember. 00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:16.480 And that's a text that's all about David as a servant of the Lord, the representative of the Lord, as the king of Israel, who has a passion for the Lord's holiness and is afflicted for it. 00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:25.759 And it's interesting that that text ends with David saying, I will praise the name of God with a song, I will magnify him with thanksgiving. 00:26:26.079 --> 00:26:32.240 This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns or hooves. 00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:35.359 That's what a genuine worshiper of the Lord understands. 00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:38.240 It's the same thing that God told Saul. 00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:41.039 I desire obedience more than sacrifice. 00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:43.200 Jesus is the one who said that. 00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:12.400 And I just would like to make a note in passing before we go any further. 00:27:13.200 --> 00:27:16.400 Zeal is one of these very dangerous emotions, isn't it? 00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:30.319 Zeal is uh one of these one of these realities, human emotions, that in and of itself is perfectly neutral. 00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:35.759 What matters when it comes to zeal is the object of your zeal. 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:46.799 There have been some that have said that in this text it's revealed that Jesus was nothing more than one of the other zealots of the time, these political revolutionaries who wanted to overthrow the Romans and take back power for the people. 00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:55.759 But you'll see in this text that Jesus is in no way resembling the zealots who would kill and exploit in order to obtain power. 00:27:55.839 --> 00:28:00.880 And Jesus, as we'll see through the rest of this gospel, chooses to die rather than to kill. 00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:02.480 He came into the world in chapter 3. 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:05.359 He will say not to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. 00:28:05.599 --> 00:28:07.200 He's nothing like the zealots. 00:28:09.519 --> 00:28:12.319 His zeal is not directed towards a political cause. 00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:15.279 His zeal is directed towards the holiness of God. 00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:19.680 His zeal is for the God of the universe, for the triune God. 00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:26.000 That's where his zeal is entirely, solely, perfectly laser-like focused directed is towards the Lord. 00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:35.039 And as we behold this Jesus, I think it's helpful just for us to begin to reflect on how unlike Jesus we really are. 00:28:35.759 --> 00:28:38.640 How radically unlike Jesus you and I are. 00:28:41.359 --> 00:28:48.240 If you poke Jesus, you see what's inside of him, what you find is burning passionate love for God. 00:28:49.359 --> 00:28:52.240 Burning, unbroken, eternal love for God. 00:28:53.200 --> 00:29:00.799 And that flame of love for God radiates in this heat of zeal for pure worship of this God that he loves. 00:29:01.279 --> 00:29:03.200 That is not like you and me. 00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:15.119 When you confront Jesus with false worship, Jesus burns with a desire for holiness, for righteousness, for justice, for goodness, for truth, for mercy. 00:29:15.440 --> 00:29:26.480 If you poke us, what you would typically find comes out is love for self, it's love for our reputation, it's love for a million things in the place of God. 00:29:30.319 --> 00:29:35.359 The zeal of Jesus exposes how unlike Jesus we really are. 00:29:35.599 --> 00:29:37.599 I mean, just ask yourself some questions. 00:29:38.720 --> 00:29:44.079 How often do you actually get indignant about the sin in your heart? 00:29:45.680 --> 00:29:54.000 How often are you frustrated with the holy frustration about the absence of love for God you see in your own heart? 00:29:57.200 --> 00:30:03.039 This is the kind of zeal that if we really are beholding the glory of Christ, we'll grow into more and more. 00:30:03.279 --> 00:30:08.319 But I think it's also helpful to remind ourselves that there is a kind of faux religious zeal. 00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:10.880 That it's a real danger for us, isn't it? 00:30:12.319 --> 00:30:19.119 That kind of zeal that pours itself out in frustration and indignation on others when they are wrong. 00:30:21.759 --> 00:30:23.759 And we blame it on Jesus. 00:30:23.920 --> 00:30:28.400 We say, Jesus, overturn the tables! Can't I type something? 00:30:31.759 --> 00:30:37.039 And yet, how unlike Jesus are we in that Jesus has no flaw in him. 00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:38.640 Jesus has no sin. 00:30:39.200 --> 00:30:40.480 Jesus has no corruption. 00:30:40.640 --> 00:30:48.000 There's nowhere else for his zeal to be directed except outward in order to bring other people into his holy love for God. 00:30:48.319 --> 00:30:50.000 But we are not like that. 00:30:51.279 --> 00:30:58.319 In order to be zealous, in order for our zeal to extend towards other people, we have to skip over all the corruptions in our heart. 00:31:00.720 --> 00:31:06.000 I think it's helpful for us to just ask the simple question. 00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:08.960 We are to be conformed into the image of Jesus. 00:31:09.039 --> 00:31:22.160 That includes we are to have a zeal for God, but I think it's helpful for us to ask the question Do we find in our own lives that we are more indignant about the sin and the errors of others or ourselves? 00:31:22.400 --> 00:31:25.200 Are we more indignant about the flaws we see in others? 00:31:25.359 --> 00:31:33.519 Are we more indignant about our own corruption, about our own lack of love for the Lord, about our own conformity to his image? 00:31:33.759 --> 00:31:35.839 What sparks more holy zeal? 00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:38.079 What sparks more frustration? 00:31:41.839 --> 00:31:48.000 One of those zeals is conformity to the Lord, and one of those is really just exalting ourselves. 00:31:49.119 --> 00:31:55.440 Now we've seen the problem with religion is, well, it's the sinners who are involved in religion. 00:31:55.599 --> 00:32:00.079 And we've seen that Jesus in his person is burning with this flame of love for God. 00:32:00.240 --> 00:32:02.319 He is zealous for pure worship. 00:32:02.480 --> 00:32:05.279 And the final thing we see in this text is Jesus' solution. 00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:07.279 Jesus' solution for pure worship. 00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:11.440 How he's going to get pure worship is that he's going to create a new temple. 00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:15.440 The solution to false worship is a new temple. 00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:17.440 And that's what we see in the rest of the passage. 00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:18.960 So look down at verse 18. 00:32:19.359 --> 00:32:20.240 Verse 18. 00:32:32.480 --> 00:32:36.240 And Jesus responds in the way only Jesus can, verse 19. 00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:41.359 He answered them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 00:32:41.759 --> 00:32:48.559 And the Jews said, It's taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it in three days? 00:32:50.319 --> 00:32:51.279 Forty-six years. 00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:53.039 This is Herod's temple, of course. 00:32:53.119 --> 00:32:57.599 It's add-on's additions to the second temple that we see built in Ezra and Nehemiah. 00:32:57.839 --> 00:32:59.839 And it was under construction for decades. 00:33:00.079 --> 00:33:07.119 Herod's been dead for decades already, and yet it's going to continue, even past the time of this scene, for a couple more decades. 00:33:07.200 --> 00:33:15.920 It won't be completed, all the renovations to the temple until 63 AD, just in time for the Jewish revolt and destruction by the Romans in AD 70. 00:33:17.119 --> 00:33:22.400 And Jesus says, This temple is not the solution to your problem. 00:33:22.720 --> 00:33:24.640 I have a better solution. 00:33:24.880 --> 00:33:28.960 Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 00:33:29.359 --> 00:33:34.079 But of course, Jesus' authority here is not about bricks and stone, it's about a new temple. 00:33:34.160 --> 00:33:37.920 So, verse 21, John adds this addition. 00:33:38.160 --> 00:33:40.640 He was speaking about the temple of his body. 00:33:40.799 --> 00:33:48.880 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. 00:33:49.039 --> 00:33:52.160 That's Jesus' solution, is a new temple. 00:33:52.640 --> 00:33:56.000 Of course, the temple is the meeting point between God and man. 00:33:56.079 --> 00:33:57.359 That's what the temple is designed to be. 00:33:57.440 --> 00:34:05.279 It's the place where God will reside, it's a place where God will meet with his people, where they can relate to him, where they can worship him, where they can know him, where they can enjoy him. 00:34:05.599 --> 00:34:21.920 And so when the temple, the first temple in the Old Testament is completed by Solomon in the book of 1 Kings, at the conclusion of that building, 1 Kings chapter 8 says that they complete it, they dedicate it, and when the priests come out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord. 00:34:22.079 --> 00:34:28.400 God's glory manifested itself in the temple to demonstrate the temple would be the meeting place between God and man. 00:34:28.559 --> 00:34:30.159 That's what the temple is for. 00:34:33.519 --> 00:34:37.840 But Jesus constitutes a new temple in his resurrection from the dead. 00:34:38.079 --> 00:34:53.679 Jesus, who is fully God and fully man in his incarnation, his death and his resurrection, upon the destruction of the temple, and even before that, the rending of the veil that separates the Holy of Holies from the sinful worshipper, Jesus becomes the new meeting point between God and man. 00:34:53.840 --> 00:34:57.519 He becomes the one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 00:34:57.679 --> 00:35:08.960 Jesus, who is the word become flesh, who's dwelt among us to reveal the glory of God, who is the fullness of God, becomes the only way to the Father, so that no one comes to God but by him. 00:35:09.440 --> 00:35:38.800 But if you believe the gospel that Jesus died in your place for your sins and resurrected from the dead and is alive at God's right hand right now, and if you turn from your sin and you put your trust in Jesus, God unites you to his son, constitutes you as a member of his church, gives you his spirit, and you are so joined to Jesus Christ, God's new temple, the new meeting point between God and man, that in fact the scripture goes on through the rest of the New Testament to say, you become the temple. 00:35:39.840 --> 00:35:48.719 You, in your union with Jesus Christ, and by the filling of the Holy Spirit, you become a part of the temple. 00:35:48.960 --> 00:35:52.480 You become in your body the meeting point between God and man. 00:35:53.760 --> 00:36:01.440 So Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 16, do you not know that you are God's temple? 00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:05.760 God's Spirit dwells in you. 00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:07.360 What is a temple? 00:36:07.519 --> 00:36:09.840 It's the meeting place of God and man. 00:36:10.159 --> 00:36:14.639 And if you have repented of your sins and embraced Jesus Christ, then what are you? 00:36:16.239 --> 00:36:25.440 You are joined to the God man by faith, you are indwelt by his very spirit, you are the meeting point between God and man. 00:36:25.679 --> 00:36:27.280 You are the temple. 00:36:30.960 --> 00:36:41.199 That comes with some pretty serious, significant, amazing implications, just one of which would be what Paul says just a couple chapters later in 1 Corinthians. 00:36:41.440 --> 00:36:49.920 If you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, then you must know that you're not your own. 00:36:50.559 --> 00:36:59.679 For you were bought with a price, and your body, the meeting point between God and man, is now not a vessel for dishonorable use, but for honorable use. 00:36:59.840 --> 00:37:03.039 You are commanded to glorify God with your body. 00:37:03.360 --> 00:37:27.199 You're commanded to use the temple well, not to clog it up with the 10 million things that were in the temple in Jesus' day, not to prioritize things of the world, not to prioritize the passing world that will fade away, but to prioritize the pure worship of the God with whom you now meet in your very body. 00:37:28.000 --> 00:37:30.639 You are the temple of the Lord. 00:37:31.440 --> 00:37:33.360 So we've come full circle here. 00:37:33.679 --> 00:37:36.639 Jesus says that the problem with religion is what? 00:37:37.280 --> 00:37:46.719 I am, I'm the problem, my sin, my heart, the way that I would corrupt any religious system that was given to me, even if it came down from heaven on tablets. 00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:55.599 But Jesus is burning with love for God, and he's zealous for holy worship, and so he comes up with the perfect solution: new temple. 00:37:55.760 --> 00:37:59.679 In his death and resurrection, he is the meeting point between God and man. 00:37:59.920 --> 00:38:10.559 And by the proclamation of the gospel and by the repentance and faith, we are joined to Jesus, and we are joined to God, and we are indwelt with the Spirit, and we become his temples on earth. 00:38:11.280 --> 00:38:21.440 Now, all of Christian life then, because we're not seeking a new temple, we're not making a journey to Jerusalem, but Christian life then is a process of cleansing God's temple. 00:38:21.679 --> 00:38:31.440 It's a process of getting everything out of your life that is just earth, corrupt, and fallen. 00:38:32.320 --> 00:38:38.079 Everything that gets in the way of pure love for the God that indwells you. 00:38:38.320 --> 00:38:45.280 It's beholding the glory of the Lord and becoming more and more like Jesus, who is zealous for pure worship. 00:38:45.440 --> 00:38:51.679 And I think the right way to conclude this little section of scripture is to flip over to the book of Titus. 00:38:52.239 --> 00:38:53.280 The book of Titus. 00:38:53.760 --> 00:38:56.320 You can leave, John, because we're not coming back now. 00:38:56.639 --> 00:39:18.800 Titus in chapter 2, Paul actually says that just as Jesus is zealous for pure worship, he has redeemed you, he has indwelt you with his spirit, he has joined you to himself, he has made you his temple in order to conform you to his image, and if you're being conformed to his image, it will reflect in true zeal. 00:39:19.360 --> 00:39:21.440 And that's shown to us in this little text in Titus. 00:39:21.679 --> 00:39:22.800 This is where we will close tonight. 00:39:23.039 --> 00:40:10.960 Titus in chapter 2, verse 11 says, The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness, worldly passion, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, a people who he will even indwell himself by his spirit, who are now zealous for good works, the flame of whose heart burns with love for God, and who express their love for God in a zeal for good works, in a zeal for pure worship, and a zeal to be used by God. 00:40:12.400 --> 00:40:26.639 This is the way that we reflect the glory of God is by reflecting the very zeal of our Lord Jesus, not on others, but primarily in our zeal, in our hearts to love God and express it in good works. 00:40:26.880 --> 00:40:33.280 Lord, we thank you for this picture of who you are, in your diverse excellencies, your holiness and your compassion. 00:40:33.519 --> 00:41:35.440 Lord, we could behold you forevermore, and we will.church. 00:41:35.679 --> 00:41:39.199 If you want information about the Master Seminary and their Washington, D.C. 00:41:39.360 --> 00:41:42.400 location, go to tms.edu. 00:41:42.880 --> 00:41:53.440 I hope this resource has been an encouragement to you and it helps you seek the Lord daily, serve others around you, and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with boldness. 00:41:53.599 --> 00:41:55.199 May the Lord bless you.