[0:00] If you have your Bibles, if you could open up to John chapter 2, verses 13 through 25. And the Jews' Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money setting.
[0:32] And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables, and said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence, make not my Father's house a house of merchandise.
[1:01] And his disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, What sign sowest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
[1:21] Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
[1:44] 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.
[1:55] 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.
[2:13] But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men. And needed not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man.
[2:30] A most highly exalted, majestic and perfect Jehovah God. We come before thee today, in adoration, of thy name, in awe, of thy power, and thy authority.
[2:54] Heavenly Father, as we look at this text today, we look upon a Christ, clothed with power from on high, filled with the full measure of divine authority, we see a Christ zealous for thine honor, for thine glory, and for thy majesty.
[3:27] who would not allow thy holy name to be blasphemed among any man.
[3:41] Heavenly Father, I ask that thou would give us a zeal for thine house, and a zeal for thy glory, and a zeal for thy name.
[3:54] for, O Lord God, we have such a mighty, and beautiful, and powerful Savior in the person of Jesus Christ, of whom we thank thee eternally.
[4:16] Amen. before I get into the text today, if you could turn to John chapter 1, and looking at the first few verses there, and the reason I want to start here in prologue with the beginning of John, is that the evangelist heralds forth the gospel, and he defends the divinity and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[4:58] This was the reason why he wrote his book, so that the reader would know of the work of Christ, and therein believe that Christ is the Son of God.
[5:20] John affirms three times that Jesus is God in those early verses of the first chapter.
[5:33] For he was before and at creation. He was with his Father actively participating in creation.
[5:46] And he, the Word incarnate, was God and remains God forever. He has neither beginning nor end.
[6:00] For in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. and the Word was God.
[6:14] And the Father is Lord and Author of all creation. And so too is Jesus Christ being truly God. For all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made.
[6:33] You see, John reveals Christ to be divine. And that in him was life.
[6:45] And the life was the light of men. What lives apart from Christ? What is independent and sovereign in its own right?
[7:01] light? Where is light to be found apart from his life? Men only need two things in this life.
[7:18] They need to know of the divinity of Jesus Christ. And in knowing of that divinity, they need to submit themselves to his authority so that they may glorify him.
[7:37] And now we come to our text. John chapter 2 verses 13 through 25. So in the opening verses, verses 13 and 14, it says that the Jews' Passover was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves.
[8:00] And the changers of the money were there. And we find our Lord coming to Jerusalem, coming to the temple in Jesus Christ as Lord and King is Lord and King in the temple.
[8:25] The temple is his earthly throne room as it were. The Passover that Jesus Christ came to celebrate was to honor and to remember the great workings of God for his covenant people.
[8:50] And so in verse 14, Christ is at the temple. And he finds these money changers defiling the temple with false worship, impure motives, and desiring money over the glory of God.
[9:14] In their zeal, the money changers lusted after coin and comfort. They desired the things of the world rather than the things of God.
[9:33] In that ancient time, it was a common practice for people traveling to the temple to purchase an animal for sacrifice.
[9:45] many of the people that came to the temple had to journey a long way. And in that span of time, the animals that were going to be used for sacrifice would have oftentimes become defiled.
[10:03] These animals that were going to be used for sacrifice had to be kept pure, completely pure and holy to be acceptable before God.
[10:17] So therefore, the practice of the money changers was not wrong in and of itself. However, these money changers were gathered in the temple.
[10:32] They were gathered in the most outer layer of the temple called the court of the Gentiles where the Gentiles could come and worship God.
[10:46] And that was what was offensive to God. That these money changers would come in to the temple, even to the outermost layer of the temple.
[11:01] And because of their love of profit, they could without any stain upon their conscience, without feeling guilty, they could make a profit and interrupt people worshiping God.
[11:30] And therefore, they defiled the temple. Here it is in verse 15 now, that Jesus Christ shows himself to be divine to those gathered in the temple.
[11:49] His exclamation that he says, make not my father's house a house of merchandise. Our Lord is claiming God as his father.
[12:04] He is claiming to be the son of God. Now to the Jews, this was blasphemy. No man could claim God as his father.
[12:19] Because to claim God as one's father meant to take on the attributes of God. It meant to accept God's goodness and mercy and wrath and justice and love and apply that to one's own person.
[12:44] That Christ does this shows him to be divine. And therefore, since the father hath given Christ all authority to execute judgment, because he's the son of God.
[13:03] He's the son of man. He has the right to exercise discipline in the house of God without being able to cast judgment upon him. The authority of Jesus Christ is such that he can drive the money changers away.
[13:20] That he can be completely justified in his action. You see in verse 16, that Jesus Christ, I'm sorry, verse 17, that Jesus Christ has a zeal for his house.
[13:45] He says, the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. His father's house was so precious to him, so important to him, because he was the incarnation and the manifestation of the temple.
[14:12] And to see his father's house being defiled was no different than if he himself were being defiled.
[14:23] Because it was his honor and his glory and his majesty that were being defiled. In verse 18, the Jews come along and they question the authority with which he has to drive away the changers of the money.
[14:50] And they tell him, what sign sowest thou unto us seeing that thou doest these things? How dare they?
[15:05] How dare they question the authority of God? God just to show you an example of what the proper response to the person of Jesus Christ would be.
[15:22] Let's look at the example of John the Baptist. John the Baptist sees Jesus Christ coming toward him and he saith, behold the Lamb of God which take away the sin of the world.
[15:39] Behold the Lamb of God. So what's the difference between John the Baptist and his response and the unbelieving Jews?
[15:53] John the Baptist said, he must increase but I must decrease. He cometh from above and is above all. He that is earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth.
[16:08] He that cometh from heaven is above all. He, like the disciples, doubted not the divinity and authority of Christ.
[16:21] But the Jews, however, they commanded a sign. Can you imagine that? Commanding God of anything.
[16:32] They command him to work a miracle, a proof. By what authority do you have to do this thing?
[16:49] And Jesus said unto them who doubt, he that hath seen me hath seen the Father. How sayest thou, so is the Father. he told them that he was one with the Father.
[17:12] And furthermore, in responding to them in verse 19, Jesus answered and said unto them, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. And then he said, and then said the Jews to him, forty and six years this temple was in building.
[17:38] How wilt thou rear it up again in three days? You see, Jesus Christ is speaking of the body of his temple. He was speaking in a parable.
[17:59] You see, their mistake was not in taking him literally when he spoke, but their mistake was in questioning his power and his authority to do such a thing.
[18:12] He is the creator of all things, and he gave divine instruction for the building of the temple. he created the temple in which they worship.
[18:27] And still the Jews do not understand the person of Jesus Christ as the second person of the Godhead. The Jews for all their mockery of the things of God and his prescribed worship for them even though they blasphemed and did not obey God.
[18:56] They idolized the temple. God was not Jehovah to them. He was not father to them because the traditions of the Pharisees and the commandments of men was their hope and their salvation and their grand deity.
[19:24] So when Jesus spake of the temple of his body the Jews could not recognize it. And when he said that in three days he would raise it up again they did not understand him to mean that he would raise himself from the dead.
[19:47] And in speaking of the temple of his body he was speaking of his rising again.
[20:06] 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.
[20:22] And therefore he was risen from the dead. Perhaps the most magnificent and evident way in which Jesus Christ revealed himself to be God was in laying down his life voluntarily and then raising it back up again of his own free will of his own accord.
[20:53] Lord. In verse 22 we also see the hallmarks of a Christian in looking at the actions of the disciples.
[21:19] First the disciples remembered his words. they believed the scripture and they believed his word. Nowhere in verse 22 do we find any questioning by the disciples.
[21:37] There is no doubt for they knew that Jesus Christ was clothed with power from on high. They saw him as he truly was.
[21:51] They saw him as the son of God who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire. They saw him as the purest purity and the holiest holiness.
[22:09] They saw that the full measure and the full weight of the glory of God was his grace for the taking. That is Christ.
[22:24] That is your Savior. By his power in the workings of the Holy Spirit men remember his words believe the scripture and trust and believe in the words of Christ.
[22:45] Apart from that there is no remembering or believing. It is only through his power that anyone may believe.
[23:03] Apart from that there is only what the Jews felt. in their heart and in their mind.
[23:17] They questioned the divine authority. They blasphemed and they did not believe. But Christ is a mighty, mighty Savior.
[23:32] He is a champion. He is a conqueror and a king. And when he was risen from the dead it was he who did the raising.
[23:45] For he laid down his life and no man took it from him. Sovereign and all powerful is the God man Jesus Christ.
[24:03] In verse 23 now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover and the feast day many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which he did.
[24:23] Many believed in his name. What a great and glorious thing it is for the Christian to find that so many are believing in his name.
[24:40] To win souls to Christ. To see men and women snatched from hell by the hand of Jesus Christ.
[24:56] So beautiful and so lovely to them. know how I wish it were that this verse ended there.
[25:15] But yet it continues when they saw the miracles which he did. What a great wickedness it is to qualify that statement that many would believe in him only for the benefit of his miracles.
[25:55] that many would use him like that. He is no mere magician.
[26:10] this is just even beyond what the Jews did to him.
[26:28] This goes further than unbelief. This says of God, I think so lowly of you that I am going to pretend to believe in you, to pay lip service to you.
[26:54] But I'm never going to love you. And I have no interest in exalting and glorifying thy name. but please won't you bless me with a miracle.
[27:11] Won't you heal my body from disease or raise my loved one from the dead. For I only acknowledge you because of what you can do for me.
[27:27] What wickedness is that? How despicable is that? That any man could stoop so low as to treat God as some kind of a genie, as some kind of a fountain of miracles that he could just come to whenever he pleases without proper reverence or acknowledgement for his being and person.
[28:01] And just use God. Do you understand here that people who do this are doing exactly what Israel of old did?
[28:15] Think of Hosea whose story tells us of the Israelites committing adultery with idols and not loving God.
[28:36] They had no interest in that. They just wanted God for what He could provide for them. They wanted protection from their enemies. They wanted health and wealth and prosperity and happiness and joy and all the comforts of the world.
[28:52] And they didn't care at all for the glory and honor of God. They didn't care at all.
[29:14] In verse 24, but Jesus did not commit Himself unto them because He knew all men. He didn't commit Himself unto them.
[29:32] He has no interest in those who would use Him, who would prostitute the being of God.
[29:46] He has no desire to tarry with them, to hear their praises of Him.
[30:02] Any praise that a man gives to Jesus Christ when he is only after His miracles and doesn't care for His person.
[30:14] He sounds like profanity in the ears of God. It is so despicable and disgusting and it violates His ears.
[30:31] It's disgusting. To put this into words is just difficult. You understand because this is such a sinful thing to do to a God who is altogether lovely and good and glorious and kind and magnificent.
[31:00] He is the Lamb of God, the Redeemer of all mankind and yet the people would treat Him like this. Jesus did not commit Himself unto them because He knew all men.
[31:17] You see, Jesus Christ knows all men. He knows their heart and their mind. He knows that every man is wicked and that the intentions of His heart is only evil continually apart from the working of the Spirit of God in the life of man.
[31:37] Jesus Christ will not deal kindly with those who flatter Him only to gain something from Him.
[31:57] Verse 25 continues in that same vein. It says, and needed not that any should testify of man, but that He knew what was in man.
[32:13] Here again, Jesus Christ reveals and exalts His authority and divinity. Who can know the heart of man but God alone?
[32:27] it is only He who knows the mind and the heart. So therefore, He once again testifies that He is the Son of God.
[32:48] God to the believer I would ask you several things.
[33:05] Do you remember His words? Do you believe in Scripture and do you believe in His word? And also do you worship Him as He has commanded to be worshipped?
[33:33] First, I would urge you to worship God as He has commanded in His word and only as He has commanded in His word. And that doesn't just mean following a list of commands.
[33:50] Do this, don't do that, and worship. And even though we need those commands to worship God properly, understand that He is not worshipped with all glory, laud, and honor if He is not worshipped with spirit and truth.
[34:09] The motivations of the heart must be pure. The hands must be clean. the mind undefiled.
[34:25] When you worship Him, are you like these money changers? Are you like them who when other people are worshipping God, God, your mind is on anything but God?
[34:46] Is that you? You see, it isn't just going through the motions of worship.
[35:01] It isn't just singing hymns and standing up when you're supposed to and doing all these other things. the heart, the heart must be tied to God.
[35:23] The mind must be consumed with God. Secondly, I would urge you to accept His authority and I would do more than that.
[35:42] I would command you and I do command you accept His authority. You must accept His authority.
[35:56] You're obligated to accept it. Hasn't Jesus Christ revealed Himself? Hasn't He revealed Himself in the Scripture clearly and evidently on every page from Genesis to Revelation.
[36:15] In every verse, He reveals Himself to be Jehovah God, Yahweh, the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega.
[36:29] He is everything. And He is revealed in every verse of this Word. So, accept His authority.
[36:45] Believe the Scriptures. what did the disciples do when they saw Christ in the temple?
[36:58] They believed the Scriptures. They believed in the words of Christ because they remembered the words of Christ.
[37:14] Remember the words of Christ. Do everything you can to remember His Word. And pray that the Holy Spirit would help you along with that.
[37:31] Believe His Word. Do not doubt it. There is no room for doubt of God's Word.
[37:43] Doubt is always from the devil. He created it. He is creating it still. So when you read a verse in here and perhaps you are struggling right now with the text I have read.
[38:06] Perhaps you don't like this authoritative Christ, God. This all powerful God. Don't take it up with me.
[38:23] Take it up with the text. It is in the text. You need to obey it and believe it and not doubt and not question.
[38:36] because believing in the words of Christ and in the Bible isn't just an intellectual matter.
[38:48] It isn't just affirming yes I believe this, yes I believe this, yes I believe this, right down the line of orthodox doctrine. Truly believing it evidences that you understand the person and work of Jesus Christ.
[39:11] The Jews did the exact opposite. They didn't understand the person and work of Christ. So believer I would command you to believe in him and in his word and doubt not.
[39:30] to the unbeliever. To the unbeliever I would tell you to not question his authority.
[39:51] You may look at this text unbeliever. You may look at this text and say what kind of Christ is this?
[40:02] I've been hearing of Christ and the only Christ I've heard of is one that's loving and kind and gentle and genteel.
[40:14] What kind of Christ is this? Who makes a whip and scourges the money changers and drives them out?
[40:24] I'll tell you what kind of Christ he is. He is a Christ who is zealous for his house and for his honor and for his glory and for his majesty.
[40:38] And do you not understand that he is zealous for his name and the glory thereof? He is worthy of all honor and glory and majesty and he will have it.
[40:59] You may question his authority. You may think if there is a God he hasn't treated me well. He hasn't dealt kindly with me in my life.
[41:18] well apart from making one of the most heretical and idiotic statements you could ever make you need to understand that you don't understand who God is if you believe that.
[41:39] Because don't you understand that every day of your life Jesus Christ has only been good to you. Only been kind.
[41:51] Only been loving. And therefore you are obligated to submit to his authority. And it isn't only just because he has been all those great things to you that you must submit to his authority.
[42:07] It is because of who he is. Who he is. Because if you worship him, for any other reason or love him for any other reason other than for who he is, then you're just committing idolatry.
[42:26] You're no better than the Jews and the money changers. Secondly, I would tell you, do not just believe in him for what he can do, but believe in him for who he is.
[42:50] And I know I have brought this up several times, but it needs to be brought up again and again and again. how can I submit to his authority?
[43:10] How can I believe in him as you're telling me to believe in him? You will note, if you read the scriptures, that God does not give man a step-by-step detailed instruction on how to stop sinning and how to obey his authority.
[43:36] He simply tells you, believe and obey. And likewise, I command you from the authority of the Word of God, stop your unbelief.
[43:49] I would even go farther than that. Damn your unbeliefs to the darkest pit of hell and leave them there.
[44:02] Do not stoop down to pick them up again. Leave them there. Flee from unbelief. Cry out to God, O help thou my unbelief.
[44:17] Great and mighty Jesus, cry out to him for that. The Bible says that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
[44:47] Do that and cry out to him. for salvation. Believe him to be Christ who died for you on Calvary.
[45:00] Believe him to be Christ the Son of God and love him for that. Lastly, I would just caution you both unbeliever and believer to be very, very careful in how you think of Christ.
[45:27] You see, many men have gone to hell even though they thought highly of Jesus Christ. many have thought of him as a great teacher, a thinker, a rabbi, a revolutionary, a miracle worker.
[45:47] and yet, they never thought of him as Lord of Lord.
[46:00] They never thought of him as highly exalted at the right hand of God. They never thought of him as the Son of God.
[46:11] They just thought of him as some great ancient philosopher. Don't ever dishonor God in the name of Jesus Christ by doing that.
[46:31] You see, he can never, he can never be too highly exalted. Isn't that amazing? that his name can never be too highly exalted.
[46:47] You can never think too highly of him. He can never be lavished with too much praise and honor. And I would submit to you, and this may be very radical to some of you, but I would submit to you that if every thought is not captivated by him, by his beauty, by who he is and what he has done.
[47:26] that is a grievous sin and a terrible offense to God.
[47:42] You see, every beat of her heart was designed to give worship to him. Every thought of the mind was designed to exalt him higher and higher and higher.
[48:03] Why do we live and move and have our being? So that we may greatly exalt Jesus Christ. Not for being a miracle worker, but for being the Son of God.
[48:18] God, we are to serve him, to live for him, to obtain glory for him, to love him.
[48:35] Worthy, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.
[48:55] Says Revelation 5.12. To the unbeliever and to the believer, I would leave you with this statement.
[49:11] Whether you honor him and glorify him and exalt him on this earth or whether you blaspheme his name every day of your life, you will in eternity only be able to bow the knee to him, to submit to his authority and to sing praises his, to him for all eternity.
[49:50] Amen.