Second Cleansing of Temple
The Story - "An Interwoven Gospel" • Sermon • Submitted
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· 156 viewsClearing the temple to free for worship; hanging on the words of Jesus to mature in our worship
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Introduction a week long journey has begun
Introduction a week long journey has begun
We are now in the final week of Jesus life.
(slide) He has made a parade for Himself (LK19:21-40)
(slide) He has made a prediction for the non-believing Jews (Lk19:41-44)
(slide) He has gone and looked around (Mk11:11)
(slide) He has cursed the fig tree (Mk11:12-14)
So as they journeyed from Bethany the night before.
And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.
They had come and the cursing of the tree happened and now we get to today’s story when Jesus reaches the temple.
Temple mount was approximately 1600 x 1000 (sq) and consisted of
(slide) Holy of Holies this was the smallest area and only the High Priest could enter here once a year on the day of Atonement
Holy area
(slide) Holy area Only the Levite Priests could enter here for the handling of the daily sacrifices
(slide) Court of Israelites Only Jewish men could enter this area
(slide) Court of the Women Only Jewish women could enter this areas
(slide) Court of the Gentiles This is where our story is set today for this is the only place that the Gentiles could worship, but there are booths and tables set up there; Jesus is going to deal with this issue shortly.
I want to give a little more background. Each year the men were required to pay temple tax of half of a shekel. This would amount to about 2 days wages for the common man. There would be booths set up in all the towns in the area so people could pay their tax, or they would pay them when they came to the temple at Passover. Though it had to be paid in exact half shekels of the sanctuary or in ordinary Galilaean shekels. Hence why the money changers were there. It was a money making program that they charged the people to change their money into the proper currency that was acceptable. These booths were known in the temple area as booths of Annas and they were property of the high priest family.
(slide) OK, how about the animals? what do you know about the animals that were to be sacrificed?
The animals had to be perfect without spot or blemish, now something to think about, people were coming from all over Palestine to the temple, travelling great distances and it was not easy to bring, transport perfect animals especially since they would be inspected by before entering the temple and many would be turned away and they would have to buy animals from the booths.
Now that brings us to Jesus grand entrance.
(slide) Turn to Lk19:45-48 and pg. 117 in The Story - hold off on the question on what do you see, what do you notice until you get to passage below.
Jesus Clears the Temple
Jesus Clears the Temple
45 Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘And My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a robbers’ den.”
(slide) What do you see, what do you notice in these couple of verses?
There are a few things that you can notice behind the actions here. Evangelism was not a concern, money was. Here are all these Gentiles coming to worship and they are not trying to teach them to become Jews (Proselyte). The spiritual condition in Jerusalem was bad and that is what was going to be judged as stated in LK19:41-44
Looking at the words of Jesus he uses a quote from Prophet Jeremiah
Jer
11 “Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the Lord.
Jesus is pointing out the fulfillment of this.
(slide) So the den of thieves I mentioned in the intro about the exchange of money and the purchasing of the animals, wasn’t it needed?
It was needed but they were charging exorbitant amount to pilgrims coming from all over Palestine to worship. So the rich were getting richer and the poor getting poorer. -
But if there are 10’s of thousands coming into Jerusalem for Passover and they are all passing through the Court of the Gentiles what else is happening? - worship place, worship atmosphere was being disrupted.
Profit more than prayer was happening there and it was to be a house of prayer. Wealth was more important than worship, so Jesus needed to purify His Fathers house.
So exit commerce enter the king! And this leads us to next section.
7 Even those I will bring to My holy mountain And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”
Isa
Teaching in the Temple
Teaching in the Temple
Remember that the promise given was through the Jews not just for the Jews, all nations were going to be blessed, Gentiles would come to the house of prayer
Lk19:4
47 And He was teaching daily in the temple; but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people were trying to destroy Him, 48 and they could not find anything that they might do, for all the people were hanging on to every word He said.
(slide) What do you see, what do you notice?
(slide) Teaching daily - more will follow on this as the journey with Luke goes on, there will be lots of the teaching he does shared
(slide) Looking to destroy - they were looking for a way to do it without causing a scene, but in just a few days Judas would be God’s tool (Lk22:47f)
(slide) People were listening - Jesus was taking His life in His hands by going and teaching daily, He knew they wanted to kill Him, but he still controlled the time table, he was to the the Passover lamb and that was still days away so in the interim he taught the apostles and the crowds and everyone was listening.
How were the people listening? They were hanging on every word. And Jesus was just a few days away from hanging for all the people.
Jesus is bravely facing His enemies and courageously went to the Cross for us, we in turn should be courageous. Some of the ways we can be courageous is by how we hang on every word of Jesus and that is our last point for this lesson.
Hanging on every word of Jesus
Hanging on every word of Jesus
People, the common people, loved to hear Jesus and to learn from Him, this phrase “hanging on every word” is similar to other phrases used.
Listened with joy
37 “David himself calls Him ‘Lord’; so in what sense is He his son?” And the large crowd enjoyed listening to Him.
Listened with wonder
22 And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
And listening with amazement
22 They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
M
Jesus captivated people with His preaching then and the way he lived out his teaching. God’s word can captivate us as you study God’s Word.
So I want to take the rest of today’s Bible class to discuss some ways to hang on Jesus words,so you can be filled with joy, wonder and amazement of our Lord. This is all relational and not religious. He is a personal God. Makes me think of
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
He wants us to have that personal relationship with Him and that starts prayerfully and might it be suggested conversationally.
39 “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;
The Scripture leads you to Jesus, as you are reading the Word you can converse in prayer with the Lord.
(slide) Feel convicted by a passage, pray thanking Him and repent.
(slide) Feel comfort by a passage, pray thanking him for the reminder
(slide)Even here when we study together if your eyes, ears,heart have been opened to something that helps you, pray and say thank you.
(Ah Ha Moments, don’t we all have them)
Bible study is never boring when we come prayerfully and conversationally to the Lord through His Word. For just studying the bible gives us knowledge but prayer unlocks the doors for wisdom.
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
Bible study can motivate you Christian life, where prayer activates it. So pray when you study, pray when you participate in class, pray when there is preaching and you are listening.
This leads me to next item. Study Expectantly
6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
Do we come to study expecting to get something out of it? Do we come expecting to meet with Jesus through His Word? If I don’t come expecting they why bother?
A good example is from Prophet Habakkuk
1 I will stand on my guard post And station myself on the rampart; And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, And how I may reply when I am reproved.
He expected God to speak to him! We too should expect to have the Word speak to us.
12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
It is alive, it is living and we need to expect it to change us. So when you open your bible, when you are doing your devotionals, come expectingly
Grab a highlighter or a pen, if you think it is OK to write in your bible and mark out passages that mean something to you, or a notebook (expand on this)
When you come expecting, you will leave more full and it will help you to hang on the words of Jesus even that much more!
Next come Obediently
Hey if we come to the word to learn and do not apply it, then it is just knowledge, it is not wisdom. This was a problem with in Hebrews, wasn’t it?
12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
They were not putting into practice what they were being taught so they could not move onto meat.
24 And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. 25 “For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”
Take what you hear, take what you read, what you study and put it into action and more will be given to you!
Bring prayer in here to for the Lord to help you to listen, watch for instructions and the obedience to put into action for His purpose and His glory.
Come to study the Bible not to fulfill a of duty or to fulfill a curiosity or to stimulate your intelligence; do it to come to a a place of doing the Lord’s will as laid out in the scripture. Doing his will, brings His blessings.
Next is do it Consistently
Too many feel Sunday/Wednesday Bible study is enough, but that is really just scratching the surface. Try a habit daily, even if you don’t understand a passage you can write questions to learn about now or in the future, to inquire about, but you are still gaining more of God’s Word in you. Let you focus be on what you do understand, God will help through His word and as you continue to study to gain understanding of the bigger picture. You may never understand everything this side of heaven, heaven knows I don’t. but you will grow
Even if the material, like Deuteronomy, Leviticus or Numbers may seem dry you will still come to passages you know and mean something to you, and you will be filled.
The water of the Word will fill those dry ditches, dry times.
20 It happened in the morning about the time of offering the sacrifice, that behold, water came by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.
In 2Kngs3 previous to this verse Elisha told Jehoshaphat to dig ditches in the sand, Jehoshaphat protested at first for it made no sense but then the next morning they come out and the ditches were filled with water.
So dig in, pray, be expecting and be consistent and you will be filled with the Living Water and you will love to hang on the words of Jesus.