Untitled Sermon (2)

Luke 19:45–48 (NASB95)

Zeal For His Temple

Good morning! If you would go ahead and open your Bibles to the 19th Chapter of Luke and we’ll be in verse 45-48 this morning. (MENTION HANDOUT)

Now, if you were a fly on the wall in our home, over just the past few weeks, you would…mostly likely see an array of emotions.

You’d see laughter…you’d see tears…you’d see anger…you’d see rage…you’d joy…you’d see love…you’d see passion…you’d see fear….anxiety…grumpiness…excitement…

That’s JUST looking at me!

The thing about emotions…is that they are VERY telling…they always speak very loudly what is in the heart. That which makes us sad or joyful tells us what we love…what we are passionate about.

That which makes us angry reveals what’s in the heart…it reveals our desires…

The Word of God…it is a look into the heart of God….Into the heart of the creator…what makes Him happy…what grieves Him…and what ENRAGES Him…

Today we look at a passage that reveals God’s desire for true worship…and we see into the Heart of Jesus, and we see what it is that TRULY angers the heart of God. Namely…false worship.

Which is our Main Point this Morning - God’s Temple MUST Be A Place Of Right Worship

Let’s pray as we go to His word this morning…That He would reveal His heart to us and aling our desires with His.

45Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling,

46saying to them, “It is written, ‘AND MY HOUSE SHALL BE A HOUSE OF PRAYER,’ but you have made it a ROBBERS’ DEN.”

47And 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,

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

If you remember, back in Luke 9 - Luke tells us that Jesus had set His face towards Jerusalem…

Meaning…He was determined to go to Jerusalem…His intent and purpose for coming was in Jerusalem…Meaning…His death…Atonement for sin.

And as we saw last week, Jesus finally made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem…He fulfilled old testament prophecy…and His very own prophecy of Luke 18:32 will start to take place event by event…

……

It was passover and the passover lamb had arrived and the crowd was crowing him as king…as the coming Messiah…

The one who could feed 5,000…the one who could heal…the one who could raise the dead…Who could stop our armies if we have Jesus? Finally! We have our PEACE…

But as Doug said last week…Jesus’ response is…there is no peace without a cross…

In fact…We are days away from His crucifixion…

But they and the leaders of Israel…ultimately reject Him as the way of Peace with God…And Jesus proclaims God’s Judgment on them and their Temple…

Just as Isiah and Jeremiah prophecy that God would destroy their temple and they would be taken captive due to false worship and sacrifice to other gods…

Jesus would proclaim a judgment and prophecy that THIS temple and THESE people would have the same fate as their fathers…

Why? Vs 44… “YOU did not recognize the time of your visitation”

They didn’t understand or comprehend the time or the season…The season of EMMANUEL…God with us…

Why didn’t they recognize it? What blinded them from seeing God in the flesh?

Idolatry… They had spent so much time worshiping false gods…that they couldn’t and WOULDN’T recognize the REAL and ONE TRUE God, right in front of them…

So what does Jesus do about this? In the last few days He has left before He goes to the cross…

He Confronts the idolatry in the Temple…

Point 1 - The Glory of God Returns In Righteous Wrath against false worship.

Vs 45 begins with, “Jesus Entered the Temple”…

Now, All three synoptic gospels give account to this event… and John gives account to an event much like it happening early on in Jesus’ ministry. So this is widely considered to be the SECOND time Jesus has entered the temple and cleared it…

In John, the language is that Jesus went to the temple and found commerce happening in the temple… while Matthew, Mark, and LUKE indicate a purposeful and intentional entering…

And we should not miss this….God entered the temple…

The temple was to be the dwelling place of the ark of the covenant and of God. It is in the temple where the shekinah Glory of God would manifest, symbolizing His presence with them in the Temple….It is where He was to be REVERED and WORSHIPED…It is where HIS Law was kept - a law that was to be LOVED, CHERISHED, and OBEYED because they loved the LAW giver.

Ezekiel 10:4 tells us that this glory departed from the temple..…Due to heinous disobedience…the Glory of God had not been in the Temple since its destruction by Babylon, roughly 600 years earlier…

Today…During Passover…God entered the Temple… Col 2:9 tells us that in Christ …the fullness of Deity or the glory of God dwells in him bodily.

The God who left the temple…has come to His temple today…and He’s come with a purpose..

Jesus did not just, kind of wander into the temple…Not this time…this was no accidental meeting….No..just like the woman at the well and Zaccheus….Jesus was on a mission…

Marks account would tell us that Jesus saw what was happening in the Temple right after His triumphant entry into Jerusalem.…Mark 11:11

It says that He left for Bethany, because it was late…and then on the NEXT DAY…Jesus Entered the Temple..

This means that Jesus saw what was going on in the temple the day before…Nothing had changed since the FIRST time he cleared the temple early on in His ministry…

So…He was on a mission… To display His authority as KING and as one in charge of what happens in the temple…As GOD who demands true worship…

and as Messiah who will RESTORE …. Restore proper worship to the Temple of God…

PAUSE

Vs 45 Continues…

It says that He began to DRIVE OUT…this literally means to THROW out…

Jesus, began kicking EVERYONE out of the temple…

Matthew and Mark’s account explains that Jesus began overturning tables of money changers and seats of those selling doves…

This was no peaceful protest…this was RAGE…Righteous…God Honoring…Wrath on display.

Just to give this some context…Jesus didn’t kick out a handful of sheepish old men who couldn’t defend themselves..

This event took place in the gentile courts of the temple…

This was the portion of the temple that was MOST inclusive…meaning gentile converts could come and worship in the temple, but only in these quarters…So it suffices to say that this portion of the temple held the most people…

Seems like a good place for some booths…There would need to be A LOT of booths…

There are estimates over over 200,000 people in Jerusalem during Passover at this time…and EACH and EVERY person would need to have an offering…and if you couldn’t provide a sufficient and spotless offering, one would be provided for you… Of course for a not so small fee..

The Temple was run by the High Priest…which at the time were Annas and Ciaphais…This was their business…and I can assure you..that almost NO ONE had a sacrifice of their own that would “PASS” as worthy… almost every person would have to buy or purchase a sacrifice to offer…and many were coming from out of town..with different currency…so they would naturally need the right currency to purchase…so there were money changers there as well..

That wasn’t cheap either…

So there were probably masses and masses of people and therefore masses of tables…

I believe that this was a MIRACULOUS event…I don’t know if Jesus put on display superhuman strength to get ALL of these men to leave their tables and not be able to fight back… OR if His words were just SO piercing and authoritative that they couldn't’ help but listen and leave out of shere fear…

Like a bunch of wolves with their tails between their legs…

I don't know…but I know this…JESUS CLEARED THAT HOUSE…He did it with ABSOLUTE authority.

What is it that enraged Jesus? - God was DIShonored…UN-glorified as He was being DISobeyed and MIS represented..

This is what RIGHTEOUS anger looks like… If emotions represent what we want and anger is an emotion rooted in “WHAT SHOULD BE…but isn’t”...

than we can see that JESUS is angered in that God SHOULD be worshiped and revered and obeyed and therefore GLORIFIED…

But He isn’t…

Righteous anger is rooted in God’s glory…not ours. Injustice against HIM..not just us.

This is the heart of Jesus…This is the Heart of our God…PASSION for His own glory and for His TEMPLE to be a place where God’s Holiness is revered AND put on display.

I’m pushing this point..the heart of Jesus..because we all say we want to be Like Jesus…

The heart that loves as Jesus loves…

Loves God and His Glory above all things…THIS is what it means to be conformed into HIS image…TO have your heart conformed into HIS heart..Your desires become HIS desires…Your WILL conforms to HIS will…

This is why we desire to know GOD’S HEART…His loves…HIS passions…HIS desires…because we want to have our hearts and our loves and our passion and our desires CHANGED..to be like His…

(Pause)

Look at vs 46….Look at what He was saying as He cleared the temple…He is quoting scripture..

By what authority do you do these things?? BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD…which happens to be His very own words…so of course what other authority would He appeal to??

And what does He quote?

Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11

“My House shall be a house of prayer and you’ve made it a ROBBERS DEN!”

This is what Jesus is saying, with all authority as He throws out the money changer and the sellers..

My House…My Temple…It is to be a HOUSE OF PRAYER…the original passage says, “For ALL people” In other words for ALL nations..all people groups.

This is the context of Is 56, which is quoted here.. That the temple of God would be a place of PRAYER for ALL People…no more outcast…no distinctions…Just contrite, and broken and forgiven People…Praying and worshiping God.

This was the PURPOSE of the Temple.

PRAYER..

At the very heart of prayer is fellowship with God…a desire to commune with God. Prayer IS worship…Crying out to God, praising God, Confessing to God, and Seeking closeness and finding satisfaction in His love for you.

Listen, God desired that they Love and trust His word and IN THAT love and trust, obedience would naturally follow…

But when they fail to obey, or trust in God…God provided for them a way of atonement…Through the sacrificial system…

So the purpose of the Temple was for fellowship with God Through Prayer and Sacrifice…

What kind of prayers do you think were being offered up as sacrifices were given?

These were prayers of repentance…prayers of men and women who desired fellowship with God and are trusting in God's forgiveness that He promised He would give THROUGH the sacrifices..

Jesus SAW no prayers of repentance - no praise for the forgiveness offered - no pleas of mercy - no desire for changed hearts - no desires for hearts that are aligned with God’s will..

No He saw NONE of this…but OH He did see worship…

He saw people worshiping the false gods of money, power, prestige, and possession.

One aspect of worship is to ascribe worth to something or someone BY seeking satisfaction or peace or comfort in it or them.

All issues are worship issues…All sin is the fruit of misappropriated worship…

Abortion - Worship issue

Theft - Worship Issue

Homosexuality - Worship Issue

Sex outside of marriage - Worship issue

Nominal or apathetic Christianity - WORSHIP issue

All of it!..Idolatry…

All of it Is the worship of gods that make all kinds of promises of satisfaction but ALWAYS leave them and us empty and wanting more…

This is why they were willing to break God’s law and steal and extort and rob people because they LOVED and Worshiped all that money could give them..

You become…what you worship.. If vain, empty,unfulfilling, and dead gods…then you will be vain, empty, unfulfilled, and dead…leading to all kinds of temptations to get FILLED… or satisfied.

He saw people worshiping a FALSE YHWH…

A YHWY that was content to see people running through the motions…just trying to appease God with their sacrifices, but have zero concern for sin or fellowship with Him.

This is the Context of Jeremiah 7- Namely that God saw people offering sacrifices with NO desire of reconciliation and He saw people who steal…kill…and commit adultery and then with ZERO repentance in their heart offer sacrifices to God…

No love for Him…NO FEAR or REVERENCE OF HIM…just…in every practical way…wanting to bribe him with their expensive goats and sheep and good works…

Again..No repentance in their heart at all…no grief over sin…no desire for changed hearts to be like God…Just running through the motions…

This is where the shepherds of Israel were leading the people of israel…to FALSE worship of a FALSE YHWH…To lives that can look how ever they want, do whatever they want, live however they want - JUST SO LONG AS YOU PAY GOD OFF WITH YOU SACRIFICES YOU’LL BE OK!

PAUSE

Point 2 - Jesus is the true Shepherd that leads true worship in the Temple.

Ultimately, Jesus would demonstrate that He is the TRUE Shepherd…the better shepherd…and He would cleans the house of God of Idolatry and restore proper worship to the temple..

Vs. 47

47And 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,

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

Sound teaching…back in the temple again…people clinging to God…hanging on to and TREASURING His word in the Temple again…

Jesus did, what the good kings of old had done…though there were few…when they were raised up…they would remove the idols…remove the false worship…and restore the reading of the WORD back to the temple and prayer and confession would come back to the temple…

And where there was true worship…REFORM happened..people changed..

And as we saw with Babylon and with Rome…where there is False worship…ONLY destruction follows..

Which is exactly what would happen in 70AD…Yes Jesus restored it here in THIS temple…but after His ascension…things went back to the way there were…and Judgment came..

Point 3 - Jesus builds a NEW Temple that worships in Spirit and Truth

In Jesus’ Death and Resurrection…HE would make… ONCE AND FOR ALL.. supplication for SIN…and make available… for those who put their trust in HIM… Fellowship with God…

No longer will THIS temple be needed to fellowship with God…and NO Longer will sacrifices need to be made to have forgiveness with God…

Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4…that a day is coming and is NOW here, that we will neither worship in THIS mountain or THAT mountain…

But we will worship IN SPIRIT and IN TRUTH…In the heart and in the mind.. EMOTION rooted in TRUTH illuminated by the Spirit…

He would put an end to THIS temple and build a new one…

One Where the Dividing wall of JEW and GENTILE would be destroyed and the TWO would become one new man in CHRIST..

Ephesians 2:13–22 (NASB95)

13But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

14For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,

…..

19So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,

20having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone,

21in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,

22in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

The Church would be the new temple…

The temple - made without hands…that would be a PEOPLE - filled with the Spirit of GOD and be a people OF PRAYER AND WORSHIP for both JEW and Gentile..

Remember the main point?

God’s Temple must be a place of RIGHT worship…

I want us to see… that God is JUST as serious about THIS temple as he was the temple in Jerusalem..

I hope you know… I”m not talking about our building…this building..this place..these walls are NOT the church…

WE are the church…We don’t GO to church..we WORSHIP Jesus as THE Church.

We are the Temple of God…You are, if you are in CHRIST…a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit as an individual and we corporately make up the temple of God.

1 Peter 2 would put it this way:

1 Peter 2:5 (NASB95)

5you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Meaning that individually…you are a chosen and placed stone in this house…and PROPER worship is to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God…

What are spiritual Sacrifices?

Psalm 141:1–2 (NASB95)

1O LORD, I call upon You; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to You!

2May my prayer be counted as incense before You; The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.

Again..Prayer…this is to be an active part and walk of the Christian as a STONE in this Temple. Our prayers, both individually and together are an incense offering to God..a fragrant aroma to Him as we display our dependence and neediness and gratefulness to HIM as God.

Psalm 51:17 (NASB95)

17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

Sacrifices that GOD is truly pleased with is a broken spirit…a believer that is broken over sin..confessing their sin..and TRUSTING in God to deliver on His promise that the sacrifice of HIS SON HAS PAID IT!

No more bulls and goats..Just a people who long to fellowship with God and are dependent on HIM for atonement and forgiveness found ONLY in Jesus Christ.

Romans 11:36–12:1 (NASB95)

36For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

1Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Rooted in the TRUTH that ALL THINGs are From God..THrough GOD and TO GOD…and that ALL Glory is DUE to HIM…

We..as a Kingdom of priests are to recognize that OUR BODIES are included in the ALL THINGS..

We belong to HIM…we BELONG to HIS purposes…The giving of our bodies and our minds to HIM and HIS purposes IS our spiritual service of Worship..

Pause..

So..we are to be a Temple of Prayer…A Temple of confession.. And a Temple that is Trusting in God and therefore - JOYFULLY and Sacrificially conforming our minds to know and obey the WILL OF GOD…

So…

What is it that is happening here on Sundays in YOUR heart? Or Wednessday..or Thursday…or Tuesdays…or whenever we gather together to worship and to go before God’s word?

Is it worship? Do you come with a heart ready to revere..know…and grow in its love for Christ? Do you come ready to receive correction …ready to be encouraged to do the Work of the ministry? Ready to OBEY where we haven’t been obedient?

Or

Are you here just handing God your weekly lamb… running through the motions…doing what you need to do..but NO real desire to repent…or change..or grow in your walk or zeal..no desire to be in greater fellowship with God…

Are we just…running through the motions?

Question…How would Jesus respond to our worship? Would He be pleased or angered? Would He be grieved or would he receive it as a fragrant aroma?

IF Jesus were here…physically…Sitting on stage as we sang and as we prayed and as we listened to HIS word preached…

What kind of worship would He see?

How would Him being here affect our time this morning? Would we sing louder?

Would we still chat with our neighbor as the congregation sang in praises to Jesus? Would we be on phones…checking our messages? Updating our news feeds? Falling asleep as HIS word is taught?

I can tell you…Jesus IS here…HIS SPIRIT is here…He has purchased you and desires for you to GROW in your likeness to Him…He demands TRUE worship…

And NOT just on Sunday mornings…but ALL week..

Let me submit to you…that YOUR sanctification is His utmost priority…More than your job satisfaction, more than your comfort…more than ANYTHING…He is concerned for your growing in Holiness and you being a temple that is growing in RIGHT worship…

How’s your personal prayer life? How much are you confessing sin to God and one another? How are you growing in your love of Christ and the Gospel and in Obedience to all that He has commanded? How are you growing in your desire and in your efforts to MAKE DISCIPLES?

Also…if you are a Temple of the Holy Spirit and you are a stone in the temple or household of God….

Then your personal sanctification is FOR the edification of the Body…your personal worship has a corporate effect…

As a member of THIS body…we are depending on one another to disciple one another…

Like a team…dependent on one another to do their individual workouts so that we as a team can accomplish our goals together…

May we take time today…right now as we go to God in prayer and communion…to confess where we need to confess and praise and honor and worship Him as we are created to do. He is ABSOLUTELY Worthy of our worship..Is He not?

Let’s pray.