Cleansing Of The Temple

Mark 11:15-18

This account is given in Matthew and Luke........John speaks of another time Jesus clears the temple, at the beginning of His earthly ministry, 3 years earlier.

The worship at the temple had grown more corrupt than the first time Jesus cleared it.

Mark basically translates Peter’s account........some of the old writers call Mark’s account “Peter’s memoirs.

This time was after the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, it seems Jesus went straight way into the temple after His entry.

It was Passover time and folks would have been preparing for the sacrifices. It would of been a busy time.

The sacrifices had to be according to the prescribed way from God.… animals were needed.......

A prescribed animal that fit a prescribed description......they would of been inspected to see if it might the criteria.

Some of those coming to worship, it would be more convenient for them to buy animals for sacrifice, rather than trying to have one ready and travel a distance with it.

There were some occasions, probably often, that if those that had a sacrifice, the high-priest would disqualify it and sell them one.

The sellers would either be brought in by the high priest or they would pay the priests a large fee to be able to sell.

The money-changers would exchange the money from Roman money to Jewish coins.....10-12% was added to the exchange.....folks was using the Passover as a money making event.

As Jesus comes in He turns the tables over and the seats of those that sold doves........doves were cheaper and is a sacrifice that the poor could make...........He threw out everybody.

This would of all been in the court of the Gentiles and Jesus also blocked the way, because they were using this court as a shortcut into Jerusalem.

Jesus stopped everything and threw all of them out! He cleared the temple.....It is referred to as cleansing the temple.

The Messiah was popularly expected to purge Jerusalem and the temple of Gentiles, aliens, and foreigners. Jesus’ action, however, is exactly the reverse. He does not clear the temple of Gentiles, but for them.

Jesus tells them and Mark makes sure to note what is said in Isaiah 56:7 “Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, And make them joyful in my house of prayer: Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; For mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.” ....… “The nations” is all people..........

What they had done was made it a den of robbers, thieves.

The temple was where they met with God..................

This was much like when Moses encountered God in the burning bush, it was holy ground, he had to remove his shoes.......In Exodus 3.......

When you meet with God, it is holy, reverent.......

When Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, it was no small thing....Isaiah 6:1–5 “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: The whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”

Jesus’ Holy indignation was a true sign of how the Jews and all the folks had profaned the temple.

They turned the temple into a commercial enterprise.

The human condition and the world system had replaced reverence for God.

Their hearts had drifted from true worship and it became a formality rather than worship!

Again, the temple was a house of prayer, a place where they met God.......

Ephesians 2:21–22 “In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

Now believers are that temple, it is the place where God meets us, we meet God!

1 Corinthians 6:12-20.....Paul is discussing fornication.....if this fits you then take it, I also want to make sure we know this about anything in life that is sinful......Anything that you might delight in that is not of the Lord........

The key phrases in this passage......1 Corinthians 6:15 “Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.” ..........& 1 Corinthians 6:19 “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”

Paul is discussing this with believers, how can you, that house the Holy Spirit of God, be involved with a harlot?

Earlier in this chapter Paul states 1 Corinthians 6:9–11 “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”

Washed, sanctified, justified...........the cleansing, the removal of all the profane.....you are a dwelling place of God!

Worldliness does not fit in true worship.....

True love and worship of God is hatred of sin and hatred of false worship, such as Jesus when He drove everyone out of the temple and blocked their way.

God’s creation was treating God as nothing and they were short cutting, extorting, and it just became a formality, it meant nothing to them.

Isaiah 1:11–15 “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; And I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, Who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; The new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; It is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: They are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: Yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: Your hands are full of blood.”

It was all hypocritical, their sacrifices had no meaning to them, no heart! No realization of their sin and Who it is they sinned against.

The way Jesus acted in John 2, the first time and the second time, gives us the indication that meeting with God is holy, it is reverent!

It should mean something!

If you say you are believers then you body is the temple of God the Spirit.........How does that affect our walk?

If it doesn’t in any way, I challenge what you know about God......It might be a time to go back to the drawing board....

James 4:1-10.......We strive a lot for this world and have nothing......we are never filled......

Verse 5 is a difficult verse and it could have 2 different major interpretations:

James is referring to God’s jealousy for his people: “God yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us” (NRSV).21

James is referring to the human tendency to be envious: the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely (NIV).22

Either way it goes a long with the text.....God jealously yearns for the Spirit to dwell in us or the human conditions yearns for the worldly (bent on evil)

We must humble.....submit to God......quit warring around with what you have fighting so hard to keep it or quit trying so hard to gain those things.....they will come and go, but submit........This is a cleansing......submit to the Way of God through Jesus Christ.....

The idea of submitting is humbling ourselves and all that we think we are and reside in Christ.......quit fighting, be His.......The Greek word is a military term “hypotasso”.......meaning to arrange yourself under the command of the leader.

John 15:5 “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”

For without Jesus you can do nothing!.......Arrange yourself under Christ because He is the way, truth, and the life.

Fashion our lives around Him......

I am reminded of the demon that Jesus told us was cast out of a man and that demon found no rest and come back to that man and found what was inside swept clean and garnished.…that inner man was empty, nothing there, 7 demons more wicked than the first came into him and the last state of that man was worse than the first.

Swept and clean sounds good, but empty does not.......Submit yourselves to Christ......Not by just saying His Name, but by walking it out, anybody can say His Name but do you know Him, do you trust Him, then follow Him! Submit to His Way as a slave would his master!

The devil will flee, he is no match for Jesus!

Humble yourselves!

Draw near to God?????? How, In His Word!

Paul Washer said that sin is a predator and that men do not like God’s will because it is not theirs and so that is what we want to flee from us......How do we do that? Draw near to God? How do we do that.......To get to know Him....We do so through Christ and His Word.

Washer also said that we study God’s Word, we apply God’s Word, and we pray as Jesus taught us to pray......Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

Cleanse your hands.......desire to follow Christ outwardly and purify your hearts......desire to follow Christ inwardly

Sin is a predator, the devil is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.........I heard it said that the believer is behind enemy lines

Draw near to God, He will draw near to you........Drawing near to Him is a severe choice, it is the desire more than the act......the inward urging to be in Him.....

In this act of drawing near, we cannot bring our other trinkets with us, it is a narrow way, it is only you and Him!

You cannot bring anything to Him to impress God, only Christ, what is Christ known for?

Doing the Father’s will, paying our debt for sin, being raised to life.....2 Corinthians 5:21 “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Nothing else, no other desire, just to be with God.......

Mourn and weep, gloom.........Repentance.......this the idea of submitting........Basically, I do not have the power, I do not have the good

Humble yourselves in the sight of God and He will exalt you!