Luke 19:45-48 - Temple Cleanse

Introduction

Please turn with me to Luke 19:45-48.

As we come to the end of Luke 19, we arrive at the second day of the last week of Jesus’ life before He is crucified and resurrected.

He has made His triumphant entry to Jerusalem to shouts of, “Blessed is the King who comes in the Name of the Lord.”

He has wept for the city because it did not recognize the time of Messiah’s—i.e., Jesus’s—visitation.

And in these few verses that we’ll study this morning, Jesus cleanses the temple.

Follow along in Luke 19:45-48...

[READING - Luke 19:45-48]

Luke 19:45–48 NASB95

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.” 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.

[PRAYER]

Someone has recently remarked that the evangelical church in America is in greater need of reformation today than the Catholic church was in Germany during the time of Martin Luther.

Martin Luther was a Catholic monk who saw that salvation was by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone as he taught through the book of Romans.

He quickly found himself at odds with the Roman Catholic church because it taught that salvation was by works; through the purchase of indulgences or the offering of penance in one form or another a person could buy their salvation or buy it for someone else even if they were already dead.

Essentially, the Roman Catholic church was selling a fake salvation, but Martin Luther discovered in the pages of the Bible that salvation had already been purchased by Christ on the cross and the only way to access that salvation was through faith alone in Christ alone.

That someone who said that the evangelical church in American is in greater need of reform today than the Catholic church in Martin Luther’s day is absolutely correct.

The largest and fastest growing churches in our nation are those that sell a false salvation. It’s the salvation of good health or financial success or relational happiness “if you’ll only release the blessings of God in your life by giving all you can today.”

These false teachers are just as wicked as those of Martin Luther’s day—but there’s so many more of them today.

The evangelical church in America is in greater need of reform today than the Catholic church in Martin Luther’s day.

What the church needs today is a cleanse.

We love the word ‘cleanse’ today.

People go on a juice cleanses where I guess they drink nothing but fruit juices for so many days. People do the same thing with a water cleanse.

But people also go on sugar cleanses—and this is confusing because it sounds like all you’d do is eat sugar if the sugar cleanse was anything like the juice or water cleanse—but the sugar cleanse is actually where a person does not eat or drink anything with sugar in it. This is also known as the unhappy cleanse or grumpy cleanse.

But the protestant church in America is in need of a spiritual cleanse—and that spiritual cleanse we need only comes about through prayer in the name of Jesus and instruction in the teachings of Jesus.

That’s what see in the temple cleanse that Jesus gives us here at the end of Luke 19.

[TS] Take a look at vv. 45-46 again…

Major Ideas

The Lord’s house should be a house of prayer (Lk. 19:45-46).

Luke 19:45–46 NASB95

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.”

[Exp] One thing we need more of in the protestant church in America today is prayer. We need a prayer cleanse!

As God’s people gathered together to worship Him in the temple, it was to be a worship filled with prayer.

As the church—those redeemed by God through faith in Jesus Christ—gathers together for worship today, it is to be a worship filled with prayer.

When Jesus said, “And my house shall be a house of prayer,” He was quoting from Isaiah 56.

In that chapter, God spoke of the foreigners—the Gentiles—who joined themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him, to love His name, and to be His servants (Isa. 56:6).

God said that He would bring them to His holy mountain and make them joyful in His house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices would be acceptable on His altar. And His house would be called a house of prayer for—not just Israel—but all nations (Isa. 56:7).

But in the Court of the Gentiles—the very place where God had gathered the nations to His holy mountain—instead of prayer, Jesus found a marketplace.

Remember that all of this is taking place during Passover.

As travelers came to Jerusalem from great distances, they would have found it convenient to travel without their sacrificial animals and to just purchase them once they arrived in Jerusalem.

What they wouldn’t have liked was the price gouging that took place as they purchased those animals.

They wouldn’t have liked exchanging their money to pay the temple tax only to find that—rather than being fair—the exchange benefited the temple.

This place that was supposed to be a place of prayer wasn’t just a marketplace, it was den of robbers.

That ‘den of robbers’ language comes from Jeremiah 7.

In that chapter, God called the people who gathered in the temple for worship to repent. The people of Judah during that time believed that they could commit whatever sins they wanted and that they would be protected because the temple was the temple of God.

But God said to them in Jeremiah 7:9-11...

Jeremiah 7:9–11 NASB95

9 “Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known, 10 then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—that you may do all these abominations? 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.

The people of Judah could not hide their sins—especially their sins in His house—from God. He had seen it, and called them to repent.

That’s what Jesus is doing as He cleanses the temple in Luke 19—He is calling the robbers to repent; He is calling for the Court of the Gentiles to be restored to the place of prayer that it was meant to be.

[Illus] The story goes that five college students were in London on a Sunday waiting to hear Charles Spurgeon preach.

While waiting, Charles Spurgeon himself greeted them and offered to show them around. Excitedly they followed the famed prince of preachers and after seeing the various sites of the church, Spurgeon asked, “Would you like to see the heating plant of this church?”

Down a stairway they followed where eventually Spurgeon quietly opened a door and whispered, “This is our heating plant.”

In that room were hundreds of people in prayer, asking God to bless the service that was about to take place.

Any church that experiences the true blessing of God will be a church that doesn’t sinfully profit off of one another but genuinely prays for and with one another.

In Luke’s gospel, prayer is an important theme.

In fact, prayer occurs at every major point in Jesus’ life in Luke’s gospel.

When Jesus was baptized, He prayed.

When He selected the twelve Apostles, He prayed.

When Peter confessed Him as the Christ the Son of the Living God, Jesus prayed.

On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus prayed.

When He taught on the Lord’s prayer, He was teaching us how to pray.

And here in Luke 19, Jesus is calling His people to pray.

The NT tells us that we are—the church is—the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16, 17; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16) and that temple is to be a house of prayer rather than a den of robbers.

[TS] The Lord’s house should be a house of prayer. And…

The Lord’s house should be a house of instruction (Lk. 19:47-48).

Luke 19:47–48 NASB95

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.

[Exp] Jesus was much more than just a good teacher, but He was most certainly a good teacher—and He taught at all times. He taught by His example, by His priorities, by what He didn’t say, and of course by what He did say.

During the last week of His life before the cross, He spent many hours teaching.

He taught with questions like, “Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?”

He taught with parables like the one about the vine-growers.

He taught using object lessons like Caesar’s coin that must rendered to Caesar.

He taught by explaining Scriptures like Exodus 3:6 and Psalm 110:1.

And those are just the ways that He taught in Luke 20, which we will study in the upcoming weeks.

Now, some people hung on every word He said.

In Luke 19:48, it says…

Luke 19:48 NASB95

48 and they could not find anything that they might do, for all the people were hanging on to every word He said.

Some were confused by His teaching (Lk. 20:7).

Some were alarmed (Lk. 20:16).

Even His enemies were amazed into silence.

In Luke 20:26, it says…

Luke 20:26 NASB95

26 And they were unable to catch Him in a saying in the presence of the people; and being amazed at His answer, they became silent.

And His disciples were warned by His teaching (Lk. 20:45-47).

Again, that’s just how people responded to His teaching in Luke 20.

During the last week of His life before the cross, Jesus filled the temple with His teaching.

Likewise, the church out to be filled with the teaching of Jesus.

What is the teaching of Jesus?

The teaching of Jesus is the God-breathed, Holy Spirit-inspired 66 books of the Bible interpreted through the work and teaching of Jesus Christ.

When I say the work of Jesus, I mean His life, death, resurrection, ascension, intercession, and return.

The whole Bible must be understood in light of what Jesus has done for us and what He will do for us.

When I say the teaching of Jesus, I mean everything He explicitly taught in the pages of the NT.

I typically don’t like referring to “the red letters of Jesus” because Jesus didn’t speak in red letters, those red letters were invented as a marketing ploy to sell Bibles, and the whole Bible was inspired by the Spirit of Christ—but in this case, it’ll help us understand better if I say…

… everything we teach from any part of the Bible has to line up with those red letters of Jesus.

If our understanding of some part of the Bible doesn’t line up with what Jesus taught, then we don’t understand that part of the Bible as well as we think.

[Illus] Are you hanging on His every word?

Have you ever been engrossed in watching the news or some movie, something really has you’re attention, and you are about to get some key piece of information, some key point in the storyline, when suddenly your husband or wife or one of your children, speak over the audio of your TV at the same time the key information is given, asking, “WHAT’RE THEY SAYING?”

I don’t usually respond well in those moments.

I’m hanging on every word, and I hate to miss an important word.

If only I felt that passionately about Jesus’ words.

If only we all did.

If only we all hung on His words. How different would the church be?

[TS]

Conclusion

The church gathers to worship in prayer in the name of Jesus and the church gathers to be instructed with the teachings of Jesus.

The church ought to be filled with prayer in the name of Jesus.

The church ought to be filled with instruction in the teachings of Jesus.

But what if it isn’t?

Think again about Isaiah 56 and Jeremiah 7…

In Isaiah 56 when God was talking about the Gentiles who would be gathered to His house for prayer, God also mentioned some who who would see that gathering as an opportunity for unjust gain. God referred to them as beasts of the field ready to eat (Isa. 56:9), as greedy dogs that were not satisfied (Isa. 56:11). God said, “They have all turned to their own way, Each one to his unjust gain, to the last one,” (Isa. 56:11).

And this is what they planned to keep doing. In Isaiah 56:12 they say…

Isaiah 56:12 NASB95

12 “Come,” they say, “let us get wine, and let us drink heavily of strong drink; And tomorrow will be like today, only more so.”

In Jeremiah 7 God called His people to repent of their wickedness, but He knew that they wouldn’t repent. He said to His prophet, Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 7:27…

Jeremiah 7:27 NASB95

27 “You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will not answer you.

So what will happen to the church that refuses to repent—that refuses to stop profiting off of people and start praying for and with people in the name of Jesus and start instructing people in the teachings of Jesus?

Well, that so-called church will experience the judgment of God just as the Jewish temple did.

Let me ask you, what was the worst judgment that ever came upon the temple because of the wickedness of God’s people?

It wasn’t the toppling of the temple stones.

It wasn’t the burning of the wooden structures.

It wasn’t the confiscation of the temple treasures.

It was the Spirit of God leaving the temple never to return long before any of those other things happened.

The so-called ‘church’ that takes advantage of its people will experience the judgment of God.

The so-called ‘church’ that takes advantage of its people will not have the Spirit of God.

If the Spirit of God is among us, we will be a church given to prayer in the name of Jesus and given instruction in the teachings of Jesus.

Indeed, we will fill this house with prayer.

And we will hang on His every word.