As we come now to the preaching of the Word, I ask you to turn with me to Matthew Chapter 21. Matthew Chapter 21, this morning we'll be looking at verses 12 to 17. Matthew Chapter 21, verses 12 to 17. This follows immediately after what's called the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. And here we have recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 21, verses 12 to 17, the word of the Lord. And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple. And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers. And the blind and lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, Hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant. And they said to him, Do you hear what these are saying? And Jesus said to them, Yes, Have you never read, out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise? And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there." Let us bow in prayer. Our great Lord, we thank you for these words and we pray that as we look at these that you would take your truth by your spirit and inscribe it upon our hearts. and give us eyes to see and ears to hear. And once again, Lord, we do pray that you would bless my mind and my mouth that I may think and speak clearly. In the name of Jesus we do pray. Amen. The title of this sermon is Zealous for His House. And we consider the word zeal And what that means, I think we as a city can understand it pretty quickly. All we have to do is consider the number 12. And the image of a zealous fan base clearly pops into our mind, especially this time of year in the NFL playoff season. Century Link is one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL because of a zealous fan base. They even have registered earthquakes at certain points in games. It's a good, vivid picture for us of what it means to be zealous about something. And what we see here in these pages is something that Jesus is zealous about. His zeal overflows Him, and His zeal shines through for His house. or His house. That is what Jesus is zealous for. And as we go through the text today, what I'm going to be pointing to, and Lord willing, leaving us all with today, is that when we say the word house, it's not a building of brick and mortar. His house is you and me. His house is His people. And what we see in this text is the zeal which Jesus has for his house, for his people. Now, as we look at this text, Jesus clears his house in verses 12 to 13. He also then receives those who were once put out of his house in verse 14. And then lastly, the weakest of us all, the infants, rejoice at His coming to His house in verses 15 to 17. So as we begin this text in verse 12 and 13, Jesus clears His house. Jesus gets angry in these verses. As He enters the temple, He drives out all who sold and bought in the temple And he overturned the tables of money changers in the seats of those who sold pigeons. The Gospel of John gives us another little glimpse into what's going on here. He says that Jesus actually made a whip. And so not only was he tossing and overturning these tables, not the convenient fold-out tables that we have downstairs, but these were heavy, sturdy tables. And he was going through this portion of the temple, and he was overturning them. And he had a whip in his hand. And you could visually see him whipping people, getting them out, those that were selling and buying in his temple. Now, when we consider this display of Jesus, we have to ask the question, which naturally led to, is why? Why did he react this way to the situation? And as we consider that question, first of all, I want you to think about the possible reason why these money changers were there. Possible reason why they had set up their tables. Consider this is the Passover season, so you've got not only those in Jerusalem who would be bringing sacrifices to the temple, but you've also got Israelites from all over Israel coming, and that is the crowd that Jesus came in with, to offer sacrifices. Now it's possible that people couldn't bring animals along with them. It would have been a hard, long journey. So they're here. You can imagine the meetings. OK, how can we provide a way for people to still have animal sacrifices but not have to bring them with them? Well, where are we going to put up these tables where people can buy animals to sacrifice or maybe change their money so that they can pay the temple tax that was also required? It's like, well, we have this large area here. We can set up tables here. It's nice and convenient. It's an open area. We can set up all these tables. We can have merchants here, and people can come, and they can buy their animal right here as they prepare to offer sacrifices to God. And there's nothing wrong with that. The error here is not so much the possible reasons why of maybe providing a means for people to fulfill the requirement of offering a sacrifice. But it was where, it was where they put it. The area that they had set this up was called the Court of the Gentiles. In Mark's account, kind of makes it even clearer in chapter 11, verse 17, when Jesus scolds these people of saying, my house shall be called a house of prayer, he adds the phrase of the nations. You see, as those who were not Jews, that was as far as they could get into the temple was this area. That was where they were to come to God's house to pray and to meet with him. But instead, it had been taken up with the business of trade in a matter of convenience. Now, it's important to note here that Jesus isn't just driving out those who are selling. Matthew makes it very clear that he's also driving out those who are buying. This area was not to be an area of trade. It was for where the people could come and worship God. And it says, you've made it into a den of robbers. Now, regardless of how sincere maybe the initial thoughts were of setting up this system, no doubt, as with anything, it's oftentimes taken advantage of. So you have here, you know, supply and demand. Oh, you need something to sacrifice. Well, here's the price. Well, that's outrageous. I can't buy a goat for that. Well, what are you going to sacrifice? There is a maybe advantage being taken of here of those in need. And so Jesus gets angry. It had become an obstacle. Preventing people from coming and worshiping God. Now as Jesus, when he scolds him, says, it is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer. Now prayer very simply can be defined as communication with God. It is where we pray, we speak to God through faith, faith in Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we speak directly to our God and our Savior, the creator of heaven and earth. He actually hears and listens to what we are speaking. Even if we don't utter a word and we treasure it in our innermost being, we lift up a prayer to Him, He hears it and He knows it. Prayer is communication with God. And what Jesus' anger stems from is the fact that His house, which was to be a place where people met God, where instead people were being kept from this right of His people. Obstacles had been set up and blockades. Now, as we consider this, I want us to think about our own lives and ways in which blockades might come up in our life that hinder us and to keep us from coming to our Father. As I mentioned, this area of the temple was called the, what was it? A court of the Gentiles. And that was as far as the Gentiles could get into the temple, but we in Christ have immediate access directly to God, far greater than anything the God's people of old had, or even in this court of the Gentiles. So we have a greater freedom, a greater access directly to God in his throne of grace. So as we seek to apply these verses to our own lives, what are things that keep us from coming to Him in prayer? You know, oftentimes the road that leads to sin is filled with seemingly innocent steps. A small step here, a small step there. But we need to provide sacrifices for people here. Well, where should we put it? And so on and so down. Well, in our own lives, as we consider what is an obstacle to us, let us think about those small steps, which may be seemingly innocent steps, that would lead us and block us in our communication with God. Maybe it's an extra few minutes of sleep, or whatever it may be. And so let us strive then, brothers and sisters, to keep wide and open the lines of communication with God. This is a means of grace that God has given us, prayer. A line of communication directly with the infinite and eternal God. So let us examine our own hearts and our lives and let us strive to keep wide the lines of communication with God. Now after Jesus overturns the tables, He overturns the seats of the money changers and those selling animals for sacrifice, and He scolds them and says, My house shall be called a house of prayer. You make it a den of robbers. We have an interesting sentence here that, And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. Now what's interesting about this as The crowds have been shouting, Hosanna, son of David, as he made that triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And even here, later on in the next verse, the children are crying out the same thing, Hosanna, son of David. A very clear connection to David and Jesus as the fulfilling of that prophecy and that promise of old of the son of David coming and reigning forever. Interestingly enough, David in 2 Samuel 5, verses six to eight, this is before Jerusalem was a part of the Israelite nation. One of the nations we read about in Judges had control of the city of Jerusalem, the Jebusites. And it was a strong city, it was hard to penetrate in, it was hard to conquer this city. And so as David set his sights on Jerusalem to conquer it, The Jebusites insulted him and were teasing him and saying, basically, that the lame and the blind will be able to keep you out of our city. In 2 Samuel 5, verses 6-8, you can read about David's conquering of Jerusalem. And it's said in those verses that the lame and the blind will not be allowed in the house because of this taunting that the Jebusites gave against David. for whatever reason, despised the lame and the blind, and he said, they will not enter the house." Now here, in verse 14, we have this group of people, and I think Matthew is mentioning this group of people specifically, the lame and the blind, and they're coming to Jesus in the temple. And what we see here is that Jesus, he is a fulfillment of what David pointed to in the great king of Israel. He is far greater than David could ever hope to be. We've talked about before the idea of types and anti-types. A type in the Old Testament is a person or a building or a land that then points to something yet to come. And that is called the anti-type. So David, as king, was a type of Christ. He pointed to Jesus Christ and the coming king of Israel. Now, the relationship between type and anti-type is this, is that the anti-type is always far greater than the type. And the type itself is always in some way flawed. Now, even though David was a type of Christ, the fact that he made that rule, that the blind and lame will not enter this house, he is flawed. And Jesus is showing us that the anti-type, the fulfillment, is far greater. He welcomes, he receives the lame and the blind, and he heals them. We are all blind and lame apart from Christ. We all need healing. We all need the touch of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We all need his command to be healed so that we can see, so we can get up and walk for him. And although we are blind and lame, God receives us in Jesus. Galatians 2, verse 20 says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, who loved me and gave himself up for me. The life that we have apart from Christ is spiritual death, spiritual blindness, and spiritual lameness. But through God's grace, by faith in Christ, we are crucified with Him. And now we see. And now we live. Because it is not we who live, but Jesus who lives in us. And this is how God receives us. This is how God accepts us. Not that we are walking and seeing and hearing on our own strength and our own power, but it is our Lord Jesus Christ. Elsewhere, it says that if we are in Christ, we are new creations. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come." We are in Christ, brothers and sisters. We now have eyes to see and legs to walk all through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And as we consider this passage, we've seen in the first few verses the necessity of access to God and coming to Him. Let us not fall into the trap of thinking, well, if I'm not doing such and such enough, or I'm not doing this, this, that enough, that somehow God has cut me off. Brothers and sisters, God cannot love us any more than He already does. And I've said this before. He cannot love us any more than He already does. And He cannot love us any less than He does, because when He looks at us, He sees Christ. He sees what His Son has done. And that righteousness of Christ has been given to us. So as we strive to keep wide open the lines of communication with God, let us remember our acceptance in Jesus. May that be the motivation to pursue greater holiness and communion with our Heavenly Father. The fact that He has already paid the price and penalty for our sins and what stands in our way. He has already made the path open, and let us pursue it all the more in Jesus Christ. This brings us to our final point. Infants rejoice the Lord coming to His temple. Now, after verse 14, in verse 15, we see that the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that Jesus did, and the children crying out, Hosanna to the Son of David! And they were indignant. They were angry. They were furious. Now, why? Because they understood what Jesus was doing here. I mean, they had here, it's not just the fact that the children and what they're crying out, although that's a question they asked Jesus and they put to him, do you hear what these are saying? It also says, because of the wonders that he did, the wonderful things that he had done. So the great power and authority that Jesus was displaying in healing these blind and lame individuals, coupled with the fact that children were running around this area crying out, Hosanna, Son of David. They knew full well what this meant. That this was pointing to the fact that this was the Messiah. So they're asking Jesus, Aren't you going to do anything about it? Is basically what they're saying. Are you actually going to receive this praise? Jesus responds very simply, yes. I hear what they're saying. He knew full well what it meant too. And as last week, as I mentioned, Entry into Jerusalem on a donkey and people crying out, Hosanna son of David. It was a very deliberate announcement and proclamation by Jesus that I am the Messiah and I am coming to Jerusalem. And so now here too at the temple, Jesus is healing the lame and the blind and these children are crying out, Hosanna to the son of David. And he does nothing to stop them. He instead, when he is pressed about it, why aren't you doing anything to stop them? This is blasphemy, if you are not God. He receives it, and he instead quotes Psalm 8, and he says, out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise. This comes from Psalm 8, verses 1 and 2. And in those verses, in Psalm 8, what is going on there is that God is being vindicated in the face of his enemies. And so the message is clear. Jesus doesn't even, He doesn't not only say yes, but then He goes on to quote Psalm 8, which these scribes, these chief priests would have known. And He is claiming then that the vindication that would be coming forth from the mouths of children that was given to God there in Psalm 8 is His. He is being vindicated by these children. Hosanna, save us now, O son of David. This picture is for us, in essence, these verses are a fulfillment of Malachi chapter three, verse one. Although it's not explicitly stated in our text, these point to this prophecy. where God says, behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. That sentence is used to show how John the Baptist fulfills this prophecy. Then what comes after John the Baptist, but in the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. In Matthew's Gospel, it's all been building up to this point. Matthew's been laying down his evidence that Jesus is the Messiah. He's shown his authoritative teaching, he's shown his miraculous works and his wonders, his control over nature itself, and he's making this trek from Galilee down to Jerusalem, and he comes in, people shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David, and then he comes to his temple. The Lord Yahweh has come to his house. Jesus is truly Emmanuel. He is God with us. And I want you to consider these passages. First of all, 1 Peter 2, verse 5. You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house. to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 6.19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your bodies. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 20 to 22. Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. You and I, brothers and sisters, are the temple of the living God. That is what those passages say to us. The Holy Spirit dwells within us. Paul, in that 1 Corinthians passage, he's teaching the Corinthians to abstain from sexual immorality. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is dwelling in you. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. It is not your own, it is His. So treat it with respect and do not sin. So when we see this passage, we see the zealousness of Jesus for his house. I want to conclude a couple applications. Let us remember that by God's grace in faith in Christ, that we are accepted through him. That is how God views us, through the righteousness of Christ. We were once blind and lame, but Christ has healed us. Jesus comes here to his house. The Lord comes to his house. He, through the grace of God, by the work of the Holy Spirit, has softened our hearts, and we are told in Scripture that we are indwelt by this Holy Spirit, and we are the temple of God, living stones being built up. into his house. Let us then consider the zealousness of God for this house. When Jesus comes into the temple and he sees these sinful obstacles that are blocking the way of the nations coming to Him, of His people coming to Him to worship Him. His response is a righteous and zealous anger. Now apply to each and every one of our lives as each and every one of us. We are the temple of God. Let us see here the zealousness that God has for you. And notice Christ's anger here is not at His house or His people who are truly His. His anger is directed towards that which comes between He and His people. That is the anger that our Lord Jesus Christ has for each and every one of our sins this morning. I find great encouragement in that. That Jesus is not sitting just cold and idly by, while his people are stumbling and falling. But he is filled with a righteous and holy zealous anger towards that which continually blocks us from coming to him and hinders us in our walks with him. So, brothers and sisters, in closing, remember that you are the temple of the Most High God, living stones, as God calls us. And know that Jesus, our God, is zealous for you, His house. Amen. Our gracious Father, we thank you that you are not a cold, separate, and far off God. But you are the only living God. And you, Lord, are zealous for your house. You are zealous for your people. And we praise you, Father, that we are not alone in our battles with sin and temptation. But the great God of the universe, the creator of heaven and earth and everything that is in them, he who sustains every facet of his creation, despises and hates that which hinders us and keeps us from coming to you. Lord, we pray that you would unleash your zealous anger and reveal to us what keeps us from you. And so give us victory and give us strength through your holy, righteous power. In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we do pray, Amen.