Let us pray together. We praise Thee, O God, for the reality of Thy eternal Word, that it is Thy Word that brings to the remembrance these great hymns. And Lord, we know that what we have been singing is truth about those that are oppressed. And Lord, we do pray, especially today, For Evelyn, our hearts go out to her today. Please be with her, minister comfort to her heart. We pray that thou will take care of her very young son. And Lord, we pray that thou will open to us thy word today. For it is the entrance of thy word that giveth light. O Lord, cause the light to shine into our hearts today. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. We are going to the Gospel of John and the second chapter there. And we considered the first half of the chapter last Lord's Day. And there are basically two events that take place in this chapter. And it is that of turning the water into wine at the wedding feast, and then the cleansing of the temple. And it's most interesting that these two particular accounts are given by John, as John sometimes gives things that the other gospel historians do not record. And many of our forefathers believed, as I tend to believe, that they were actually two cleansings of the temple, that this one is not at all out of order, but it is an actual cleansing that took place long before the one took place just before our Savior's crosswork. So we're going to begin our reading of God's word today in John chapter 2 and verse 12. Let us hear the word of God. After this, he went down to Capernaum, he and his mother and his brethren and his disciples. And they continued there not many days. And the Jews Passover was at hand. It sounds just like it was. very ceremonious. It's actually the Lord's Passover, what it was originally called, but it had become so ceremonious that it's now called the Jews Passover was at hand. And Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple, in the temple, those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money, civic. And when he had made a scourge or whip of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen and poured out their changers money and overthrew the tables. and said unto them that sold doves, take these things hence, make not my father's house an house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Then answered the Jews and said to him, unto him, what sign showeth thou unto us? Seeing that thou doest these things, Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty-six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body, When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them. And they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them. because he knew all men and needed not that any man should testify of man for he knew. what was in man. Amen. We end our reading at the close of the chapter and we trust that the Lord, the Holy Spirit, who gave this to the Apostle John, just as we have it here, that he would come and minister to our hearts today for our Savior's namesake. Of all the historians of Jesus' life, only John records these two events of chapter two. All the inspired gospel writers, though, take up history with Christ leaving Nazareth and taking up his residence in Capernaum. Why would he do that? You may remember that he left his hometown of Nazareth after the Jews tried to kill him for preaching in their synagogue, the first sermon he ever preached in his hometown. They tried to run him off a cliff, kill him. He just walked away. So Capernaum became his center place of rest and refreshment. Christ did many miracles there. in Capernaum, yet only a few people there in Capernaum truly believed on him. And because of that, he uttered a terrible condemnation of Capernaum, recorded in Matthew 11, 23, and thou Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven. How could they be exalted unto heaven? because heaven had come down in the person of God himself and had done a bunch of mighty miracles there. He said, though you're exalted unto heaven, you shall be brought down to hell. For if the mighty works, meaning miracles, which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained unto this day. You ever ask a question then? Why didn't the Lord do such mighty miracles in Sodom? He chose not to. In his sovereign providence, he let them perish. And you know, the Lord can leave you to perish unless he does something mighty in your life. At that time, Christ did not stay long in Capernaum because the Jews' Passover was at hand or soon to begin. So Jesus took his disciples and he went to the Passover in Jerusalem. When he arrived, the way was somewhat blocked as he ascended the temple mound. Because when you got in Jerusalem, you had to go up to get up to the temple. And going up the mound from below, it was sort of a bizarre, A market atmosphere as you got nearer to the temple. Jewish men were loudly arguing over the prices of doves and sheep and oxen for sacrifices. Others were bargaining for the Hebrew shekel in exchange for so many of the pagan coins of the empire that they brought in exchange because they would not offer those coins of the empire with that pagan Gentile Caesar's image engraved on them. It would only, by each family, provide that shekel as a gift to the priesthood as their duty. As we see our Savior's response to this massive sacrilege of all this, the word in the original, you turn my house into a house, a father's house into a house of merchandise. Very interesting word, into an emporium. That's the very word, an emporium. It made the house of God. As we see our Savior's response to this, I want you to note three things. Number one, what he did. Number two, what he said. And number three, what does it mean to us? First of all, what he did. Our Lord simply picked up some small cords, braided them together into an impressive whip. And then he stepped into the midst of the commercial activity, and with a whip, he drove out the sheep, the oxen, and the money changers. And he took hold of the tables of the money changers, turned them over, poured out all their money. Not a hand was raised in defense. Not a hand was raised to oppose the almighty prophet. The obvious sense of guilt had so shamed them all of their corruption and their abuse of the sacred precincts. The practice had become a new normal of a backslidden religion and a backslidden nation. Most of the attenders of the Passover came chiefly out of mere habit. and tradition. They were lacking a real love for God and obviously lacking a reverence for him and for his worship and his house. The setting up of the market so close to the altar of sacrifice had been allowed because Jews coming great distances from other countries needed sacrifices. And this practice meant that the people didn't have to travel extra slowly, burdened by bringing their own animals with them. Over the years, the salesmen had got bolder and bolder as they crept up the temple mound, setting their tents and their tables up, getting closer and closer to the outer court. And they were able to do that because they were giving a percentage of their profits to the corrupt liberal majority of the Sanhedrin composed of Sadducees who didn't believe the Bible anyway, who didn't even believe there was a life after death. had become to most of them, the majority being Sadducees. But the zealous young Messiah would not tolerate the desecration. Fired with holy zeal for the sanctity of his father's house, he cleared the whole area of the greedy, thoughtless sinners. That's what he did. What did he say? Notice what he said. He ordered the merchants to take away the cages of the doves. Notice he didn't open the cages and let the doves out. He ordered them to get them out of here. He commanded, make not my father's house a house of merchandise. He was just fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies. That's all he was doing. Those of them who knew the Old Testament, they shouldn't have questioned him because he was doing exactly what the prophets said he would do. Malachi chapter three, verse one, the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple. Boy, he suddenly came that day. Even the messenger of the covenant whom you delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. Verse two, but who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? Boy, they didn't stand. They got up and they ran. And he turned those tables over. For as a refiner's fire, he shall purify and purge the sons of Levi. And who were the sons of Levi but those priests? Christ was cleaning up what the backslidden priests, the sons of Levi, had allowed to accumulate. And his disciples noted as he did it. Psalm 69, verse nine, that the zeal of his father's house was eating him up. Consuming, it was a consuming thing. Glorifying his father in heaven was Christ's consuming passion. John 6, 38, I came not to do mine own will, but to do the will of him that sent me. And when the swift storm of Christ's righteous indignation had set, The timid Jews came asking, and I changed my voice because I believed they were wimpy little squirts. They said, what sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Rather than accepting the fulfillment of these Old Testament scriptures and taking the rebuke for their sin, The Jews sought an explanation for their financial upset. But Christ answered the fools according to their folly. Proverbs 26 verse five. He spoke parabolically to them. He spoke directly to them. But he spoke exactly the way he said to his disciples that he spoke to the non-elect. He spoke parabolically to them, destroy this temple. And in three days I will raise it up. In their utter spiritual blindness, the Jews thought that Christ spoke of the literal temple. But you remember when he told his disciples in Matthew 13, 11, he said, to you, it is given to understand the mysteries of the kingdom. But to them, it is not given. Verse 13, Therefore I speak to them in parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, new to do they understand. When Jesus rose up from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, that if his body, the temple of his body was destroyed as it was in death, In three days, he raised it up and he did. It was all the fulfillment of scripture the whole time. As the chapter closes, we're told that Jesus did miracles at that Passover and many believed on him as a result of seeing the miracles. But Christ Notice that verse 24, but Jesus did not commit himself unto them. That verb commit is very interesting. It's simply he did not trust himself to them because he knew how fickle they were and that they only believed him and followed him for the show. That's all they were there for, to see the miracles. Now, thirdly and finally, how does this temple cleansing apply to us? Just as the sellers of sacrificial animals got closer and closer to the temple, gradually, imperceptibly, and almost legitimately, even so we do gradually, insensibly. Let coldness, formality, and corruption creep into our practice of worship so that we worship God just out of routine, just out of habit, without any effort, to stir up ourselves, to really desire the Lord, to want him, God himself, to come and to minister to our hearts, to draw us out in love to him in response to his great love to us. You know how we need to follow Jesus' example to cleanse even our own temple, and to cleanse our minds and to prepare our minds to seek the Lord and to worship him truly with all of our being. As we behold our Lord at work in this cleansing, all hell we need is zeal. His zeal is manifest, but also his wisdom is seen. He drove the sellers and their animals away without hurting any of them. All the animals could be retrieved in the city. All the money could be picked up from where it was fallen. I know how we need to be zealous about cleansing our own temple and preparing our own hearts to seek the Lord. Making the Father's house a house of merchandise is still a reality. Because we come together, whether it's coming before the Lord each day, all these thoughts rush in to crowd our minds. Secular thoughts of business creep into what should be our holiest times of devotion and worship. This is easily the case. in our public worship as well as our private worship. Thoughts of commerce, in the business of the week, the things that I've done last week, the things that are coming, they rush in to take us away from the secret place of the most high. Oh, how we must daily be zealous about cleansing our temple. regarding the Father's house. And think about that. Even though Christ is God and deserves more respect than a building does, yet Christ in the New Testament still demands that a proper respect be paid even in regard to the building where God meets with his people. Let us remember, there is a balance in the Bible. There's too much respect that can be shown to the place of worship. But there's also that matter of disrespect. Augustine wrote, let the zeal for God's house really consume you. This is what the early church father said. Let the zeal for God's house really consume you. Do you see a brother rushing to the theater? Stop him, warn him, and be grieved for him if the zeal of God's house is eating you. Augustine goes on. Do you see others running to drink themselves drunk? Stop them if you can. Hold them, frighten them, win them with gentleness. But do not in any wise Just sit back and do nothing. End of Augustine's quote. May the zeal of God's house be a consuming thing to us as it was to Jesus. Let us pray together. Oh God, we thank thee for thy word. We praise thee for what our Savior did and for what our Savior said. And O Spirit of God we pray that thou will take these things and instruct us duly. Teach us thy way. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.