The Supreme Sign of Christ's Office

I would like you to turn in your Bibles this morning to John chapter 2.

John 2 · chapter mention

John chapter 2, and I want you to follow with me as I begin reading there in verse 13 in your own Bible.

John 2 · chapter mention

I'll take a minute and let you get squared out in the passage.

John chapter 2, verse 13.

John 2:13

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

In the temple, he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons,

and the money changers sitting there and making a whip of cords.

He drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and oxen,

and he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.

And he told those who sold the pigeons,

Take these things away. Do not make my father's house a house of trade.

Father God,

we're very thankful that in your

infinite mercy,

you graciously have given to us your word,

which is the complete revelation

provided by you,

whereby we may,

as it says in 2 Timothy,

have all that we need for life and godliness.

We want to be a people that rely upon the word this morning to govern not only what we sing about,

but also what we think about and what we say.

And we ask that our time in the scriptures,

enabled by the Spirit,

helps us grow in our love for the Lord Jesus Christ and our sincere desire to be more like him.

Pray for those that are here this morning that do not know Christ as their personal Savior,

that this morning would be the hour of their salvation and the day of their deliverance from the bondage and the burden of their sin,

and also the uncertainty of their eternal destiny.

We ask that you would be a people,

that you would help us be a people that have our hearts focused by your Spirit

on your glory

and your truth.

And we ask this in

the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Well, let me kind of frame the background of what we're looking at this morning.

And so, if you would think with me just for a moment,

this passage in chapter 2 of John

is the second little picture that we have

of John the Baptist after that lengthy introduction that we found

that explained to us in brief

how the book of John was going to play out.

I remind you that John is different than the other Gospels

in that it uses very, very few actual illustrations

of the things that Jesus was engaged in doing publicly.

The first thing that we saw in John chapter 2,

John 2 · chapter mention

you'll remember,

was that he was at a wedding

and his mother came to him

and asked him about the problem that they had

with the lack of wine,

and Jesus turned the water into wine,

did a miracle,

and we understand that not many people actually

were affected by that.

We know that five of his disciples knew what had happened.

We know that the servants knew what had happened.

And maybe a few other people kind of heard about what that was

and were affected by the reality of the power of Christ

displayed over natural things.

And so, here we have that little picture of Jesus

doing something relatively quiet,

and then we have this picture of Jesus

walking into Jerusalem

and kind of dropping an atomic bomb

over Nagasaki, over Hiroshima.

Do you follow me?

What he did in the temple

was an absolute blast

in comparison to that little quiet miracle

that he did at the wedding.

We tend to think about Jesus

either as a relatively quiet,

little kind of milk toast kind of guy

going around and, you know,

putting flowers in people's hair

or something like that.

Particularly if you rely upon

the liberal picture of Jesus.

He's kind of some soft little guy

that goes around saying sweet things

and, you know,

just kind of love everybody.

And it's important to love people,

but I want you to understand

that the picture we have in the Bible

is far more complex than that.

And as we come to this passage,

the background of the Lamb

dealing with the wedding feast

now comes face to face

with the Lion of Judah

and the judge of the whole earth.

And so I want you to begin

by first of all recognizing

that Jesus steps into a situation

where glory was corrupted.

After spending a few days,

and that's what we find there

in verse 13,

the Passover of the Jews was at hand

and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

What had happened earlier

in verse 12,

it says that he spent a couple days

with his family

and now it's time

to go up to Jerusalem

to be part of that holy celebration.

It was a requirement.

The law stipulated

that the Jews were to gather in Jerusalem

on a regular basis annually

and they were to remember the Passover.

The Passover was a very special,

a moment in the life of God's people

in particular

because it was that day

when God had delivered them

from the land of Egypt

where they had been enslaved

by the Egyptians.

And how did God do that?

Remember?

He came to them and said,

I want to tell you something

that this night

is going to be absolutely unique.

And in order to protect your family,

you are to kill the sacrificial,

the Passover lamb,

and you are to put the blood of that lamb

on the lentil over the top

and on both sides on the doorposts.

And when I send death

through the nation of Egypt

to kill every one of the firstborn

where the mark of the blood is seen,

death will not enter.

And so every year,

God had ordained

that the nation of Israel

was to remember the Passover

and it was a time

when the people gathered

to make sacrifice.

They were required to do that.

And incidentally,

when you made sacrifice,

you didn't just bring

any old whatever you had.

You had to bring a lamb

that was spotless,

that was pure.

Over time,

it had kind of developed

into the fact that the lamb,

how many of you know

what the word kosher is?

How many of you ever see it?

A kosher salt, right?

Kosher dill pickles.

What does kosher mean?

Does anybody know?

Does anybody know

what kosher means?

It means that it has actually

been approved

for consumption by Jewish people.

And who has approved it?

Is it Pillsbury?

Or is it Heinz?

Who approves kosher?

Kosher.

There has to be a priest

who's involved in determining

that those pickles

really are kosher.

I'm going to tell you something.

You don't have kosher on there

without somebody involved

in saying that it's kosher.

Do you understand that?

And so, over time,

this idea of bringing

your own lamb

and just whatever you wanted to do

into the temple

to have sacrifice,

it kind of moved over

to the side of,

if you really want to bring

a lamb in to have it

sacrificed in the temple,

you had to have a priest

sign off on it.

And so, I want you to understand

that this beautiful area,

the temple,

and the word that is used there

in the Greek communicates

that it was the larger part.

There was a court of the Gentiles,

a very large area.

And that large area

had actually been turned

into a bazaar

where the pilgrims

were being cheated.

You see,

here's how it plays out.

One commentator,

doing some research

on ancient history,

discovered that

a five-cent dove,

when it became kosher

and was carried into the temple

for sacrifice,

became a four-dollar option.

Now, if a five-cent dove

became a four-dollar option,

guess what it costs you

to buy a kosher lamb?

You got it?

Way up the food chain.

Not only that,

there was another thing

that was required

of a good Jewish man.

He had to pay a temple tax.

And when he would come in,

he would pay his half shekel.

Now, a shekel

is a piece of Jewish money.

And the high priest,

I mean,

outside of the temple,

you could use any kind of money

that you had in your pocket.

But when you went into the temple,

if you wanted to pay

your tax at the temple,

you had to have a half shekel.

And guess what there were provided

or was provided for you?

There were very kind,

congenial businessmen

that were sitting there

that had half shekels in abundance.

But guess what happened

to the translation of the fees?

How many of you

have traveled around the world

or somewhere where you've had

to have your money changed

from good old U.S. dollars

into rubles

or into rupees

or into yen

or whatever?

What happens at the money changer?

Does anybody know?

Tom, what happens?

There's a little bit of profit.

Well, I want you to know

that the money changers

were not into

a little bit of profit.

I mean,

how many of you

have been to an OSU game

and noticed what happens

to bottles of water there?

I've been once in my life.

And I remember going in

and I got thirsty

and I was sitting way up there

in nosebleed.

I was having to suck oxygen

to make it through the day.

But anyway,

I was way up there

and I thought,

well, I think I'll go

get a bottle of water.

I mean,

there are a lot of people

sitting around drinking water

and drinks

and having hot dogs.

And I remember

when I walked in

that they wanted me to,

you know,

do you have anything

in your coat?

You know,

no, I'm clean.

So I thought I'd walk down

to concession stand

and get myself

a bottle of water

and a couple hot dogs

or something like that.

I changed my mind.

I mean,

what you can buy

at Meijer or Walmart

for pennies

was a $4 option.

And hot dogs,

forget it.

There was no way

in the world

that I was going

to indulge

those thieves

for the price

that they were asking for.

Now,

I want you to imagine

that you can't worship

without buying in

to the lamb

and to the temple tax.

Do you follow that?

It was an option

for me to say no

to the $4 bottle of water

and no to the,

I think it was like $6

or $8 for a hot dog.

It was like,

I can't do this.

And they had a monopoly.

By the way,

it was the high priest

and his family

that were the beneficiaries

of this legislation

that meant that

in the temple

only those lambs

and goats

and doves

and whatever else

that had been koshered,

right, kosher,

were allowed to be sold.

And so here we find

in verse 15,

Jesus comes in,

he makes a whip

of cords

and he drove them

all out of the temple.

Do you get the picture?

Now stop just for a minute

because I want to correct

what may be happening

in your mind.

You might be thinking

that Jesus made

this great big bull whip,

you know,

you know,

out the door they went.

The Greek word

talks about

a whip

that was made out

of just the normal cordage.

How many of you

have ever baled hay?

Hay balers.

Basically,

that is the word

that is used.

It's just the common string

that was used

for kind of

keeping the animal

in check

when you were taking it in

to where it was going

to have its throat cut,

you know.

Now by the way,

the animal did not know

what was coming

so it was like

just lead it along

with a little string

and you'll get it there.

Jesus took some

of these strings,

picked them up,

probably just walking around

just kind of stewing,

you know,

picking them up,

grabbing this one,

grabbing that one

and he kind of

put them together

and he let people know

that this was not

going to do.

We sometimes have

this picture

of Jesus MMA

walking in

to the temple

and just putting

the smack down

on everybody

and terrifying them

with his physical presence.

That's not true.

What is it

that frightened people?

It was the holy righteousness

of God himself

indignant

with the sin

that he saw.

I have to confess

that

we are all

far too careless

with sin,

aren't we?

All of us.

And when you

look here

at Jesus

in verse 15,

it says that

he drove them

all out of the temple

with the sheep

and the oxen

and he poured out

the coins

with the money changers

and he overturned

their tables

and he told them

who sold the pigeons,

get them

out of here.

You have made

my father's house

a house of trade.

By the way,

in the synoptics,

Jesus referred

to the temple

a different way

and I think

it's instructive.

He said that

my father's house

is a house of prayer.

Listen to me carefully.

When people

that profess

to know Christ

diminish the significance

and the priority

of prayer,

there's something

serious going on

in their lives

spiritually.

Jesus walks in here

and says,

in essence,

you guys have made

a horrible mess

of this situation.

So why did Jesus

do that?

That's a fair question.

How many of you

figured that out?

When you're trying

to understand

what the Bible

is saying,

one of the first

questions to ask

is what?

Why?

Why is this here?

Well,

when we think about it,

I want you to turn

back in your Bible.

You are there in John,

but just go back

a little bit.

Don't have to go

very far.

Go to Malachi chapter 3.

Malachi 3 · chapter mention

Malachi chapter 3.

Malachi 3 · chapter mention

In Malachi chapter 3,

Malachi 3:1

verse 1 and 2,

we find

prophetic utterance

about Christ's coming.

Behold,

I send my messenger,

that's John the Baptist,

and he will prepare

the way before me.

And the Lord

whom you seek

will suddenly come

to his,

what?

Underline it in your Bible.

Temple.

And the messenger

of the covenant

in whom you delight,

behold,

he is coming,

says the Lord.

But who can endure

the day of his coming

and who can stand

when he appears?

For he is like

a refiner's fire

and like fuller's soap.

You know what I'm saying?

When Christ comes

in his righteousness

and his holiness,

all will be

profoundly humbled

because of the darkness

and the wickedness

of their heart.

we'll eventually get

to John chapter 8

John 8 · chapter mention

and there are going

to be some

who may dispute

whether or not

that is in the earliest

manuscripts.

I fully accept it,

but you'll remember

that when Jesus

had the Pharisees

and the priests

bring up the woman

who was caught

in adultery

and said,

shall we stone her?

Remember how they all

scattered when he said,

hey,

the one that's without sin

can throw the first stone

and they all scattered.

Beloved,

when the convicting power

of the Holy Spirit

is at work,

we understand

that there is an effect

upon the life

of those who are sinful.

And so,

when you think

about Jesus coming,

we have two little

kind of pictures.

We have Jesus

at the wedding feast

and he's doing

this little thing

on the side

with wine.

But now,

we have Jesus

in the temple

and I want you

to understand

that as he walks

into the temple,

there was no little

soft syrupy

little voice saying,

I hope you guys

are getting along

and making a good profit.

It was like clean house.

He came to confront sin

and fulfill prophecy.

How did Jesus

do this?

How did he clean up?

I mean,

stop and think with me

just for a moment.

If you kind of

think forward

into the book of Acts,

you'll remember

that all it took

was an accusation

that Paul the Apostle

had brought Gentiles

into the inner part

of the temple

and they had a riot

that brought in

Roman soldiers.

Jerusalem was a hotbed

of rebellion.

and anything

that you know

about the ancient world

in particular

there in Jerusalem

is that they could

get pretty fired up

in a moment

and really go ballistic

about almost anything

and for one man

to clean house

in the temple,

it's worthy for us

to ask

just what was it

that Jesus did?

I want you to understand

that he and his

absolute holiness

and righteousness

brought the issue

of the personal sin

of those who were involved

in what was going on

to the forefront

and that wave

of shame and guilt

swept through the crowd

and they were all quieted

in the presence

of Christ.

I want to assure you

there will be a day

when the brassiest

of liar,

the most arrogant fool

and the angriest

of men

will be utterly overwhelmed

at the holy presence

of Jesus

the judge

of the whole earth.

And as you think

about this setting

I think it's appropriate

for us as believers

those who know Christ

to recognize

that while Jesus

loves us unconditionally

and we are so blessed

by the richness

of his grace

we who have been

so richly forgiven

should not be a people

that are careless

with sin.

Would you agree with that?

Well I want you

to recognize

glory challenged.

I love what comes next.

Look at that part

if you will.

there in verse 18

so the Jews

said to him

what sign

do you show us

for doing these things?

I can't help

but think about

the pastor

and the princess bride

at this moment

it's like

what a jerk.

Okay

forgive me

I know

some of you

have not watched

that classic

and go home

and do it

but anyway

here are the priests

and the rabbis

that kind of come up

you know

waddling up

you know

and there they are

in their regalia

you know what I'm talking about?

I mean

they had their robes on

and by the way

something about the priest's robes

were pretty spectacular

I mean

it showed your rank

I mean

oh

that's the high priest

how can you tell?

well look

you know

the average yokel

over there

is wearing something

that just costs

$3,000

but the high priest

he's decked out

in jewels

and blah blah blah

and here they come

kind of waddling out

in the front of you

we gave you the right

to do this

and who are they

standing in front of?

Jesus

now remember

our idea of Jesus

is ill informed

we either have this idea

of a wuss

or we have this idea

of Mr. Smackdown MMA

you know

it depends

and I have to tell you

if you read the book

of Isaiah

it tells us

that he was nothing

spectacular

just ordinary

there he was

standing in

ordinary clothes

by the way

it's no accident

that evangelical

preachers

are not all about

finery

Connie

where are you Connie

there you are

Connie throws away

a magazine

periodically

that talks about

robes for pastors

right

throw it in the trash

I don't need one

the one thing

I want you to remember

is the authority

and the sufficiency

of the word of God

and there is Jesus

standing with simplicity

and he announces

to those

who ask him

what authority

do you have

to do what you've done

in cleansing

the temple

he'd exposed

sin for what it is

and what sign

did he give them

let's look

let's pick up on this

because it's glory

confirmed

you look there

in the passage

and Jesus answered

them

verse 19

and he said

destroy this temple

and in three days

I will raise it up

the truth of the matter

is that the Jewish leaders

would end up

having Jesus crucified

and we understand

that in this

declaration

what he is saying

is that

you're going to kill me

and three days after that

I'm going to come out

of the grave

in the face

of what Jesus

had prophesied

I am struck

when I turn over

and I want you to look at it

just for a moment

Matthew chapter 27

Matthew 27 · chapter mention

go back

for a second

Matthew chapter 27

Matthew 27:63

verse 63

in this passage

we find that Jesus

is already dead

and buried

and those people

who were involved

in putting him to death

have some anxiety

the next day

that is after

the day of the preparation

the chief priests

and the Pharisees

gather before Pilate

you can hear them again

with that little whiny voice

sir

we remember how

that imposter said

which he was still

when he was still alive

after three days

I will rise

you know

you can hear that

right

no stop

and so

by the way

they're the ones

who paid attention

to the prophecy

the disciples

what were they doing

hey

he's coming back

three days

it's alright

he'll be out of the grave

it's good news

no

but the Jews

were a little bit nervous

now

they

were having

all kinds of trouble

with the absolute reality

of Jesus'

miracles

do you follow that

remember

when he raised

Lazarus

from the dead

do you know

what they were thinking

about doing

with Lazarus

who knows

raise your hand

if you do

they were going

to put him

to death

I mean hey

if you don't like

the information

get out

get rid of it

pretend that you lost it

or that you shredded it

you know

it's like gone

Lazarus

who's he

and they

the unbelieving Jews

were a little more sensitive

to the power

that he had

well I want you to know

that Jesus would indeed

rise on the third day

and his resurrection

would be the central sign

to all the world

that salvation

was in his name

and work alone

I want you to turn

in your Bible

to Romans chapter 1

Romans 1:4

verse 4

as we wrap things up

this morning

and pay attention

to the clarity

of what Jesus

tells us

about his resurrection

Romans chapter 1

Romans 1:4

verse 4

how do we know

that Jesus

is the son of God

remember

John chapter 20

John 20:31

verse 31

where Ethan recited

last week

right

these things are written

that you might believe

that Jesus is the son of God

and believing

that you might have

life everlasting

eternal life

and was declared

to be

the son of God

in power

according to the spirit

of holiness

by his resurrection

from the dead

Jesus Christ

our Lord

how do you know

Jesus is coming back

he rose from the dead

how do I know

that my sins

are completely forgiven

because he rose

from the dead

how do I know

that he is going

to be the judge

of the whole earth

he rose from the dead

how do I know

that he is going

to be the Lord

and sovereign

of all of creation

and every knee

shall bow

and worship him

with glory

and adoration

or spend eternity

in the absolute

horror of hell

because of the resurrection

so let's think

what we learned

from this passage

this morning

I want you to recognize

that Christ's love

involves

confronting sin

one of the troubles

that we have today

is that we have

a tendency

of calling sin

by all different

kinds of names

other than what it

really is

hey

do you realize

there are probably

people making a living

trying to figure out

new ways to justify

what you're doing

but sin is still sin

and there is no remedy

for sin

except for the finished

work of Christ

I want you to understand

also that Christ's

zeal

is for his father's

glory alone

you know

there are some things

that we all get

worked up about

that really don't amount

to a hill of beans

in eternity

and we do well

to remind ourselves

of that

finally I want you

to understand

that Christ's

resurrection

is a declaration

of victory

over sin

and also the certainty

of judgment

and so we

who are believers

look to the empty tomb

and we say

hey listen

it is finished

and my salvation

is settled

and I have confidence

because Christ Jesus

rose again

from the dead

and if you are here

this morning

and you don't know

Christ

I want to assure you

that judgment

will come

and the one

who died

and paid the penalty

for your sins

will also be the one

who judges you

for your willing

rejection

of the clear

gospel truth

that Christ came

into the world

to let people know

the desperate condition

of their soul

is personal sin

and the satisfaction

for that penalty

of debt

that my sin

has created

is the blood

of Christ

shed for me

you know

here's something

I want you to understand

the Jews

knew exactly

who they were

dealing with

and they rejected

do you understand that

and I want to appeal

to you this morning

if you are sitting here

and you do not know Christ

that you plead

with the Holy Spirit

to give you a broken heart

to trust in Christ

and if you're here

this morning

and you know Christ

as your Savior

I would appeal

to you this morning

that what you do

what you do

is that you cry out

and say

Lord give me a desire

for holiness

and purity

and my life

makes a difference

let's bow our heads

in prayer

and as we're praying

we'd ask John

to come up with the band

and I'm going to ask

that the candidate

for baptism

come forward this morning

so we can celebrate

the joy of Christ

in baptism

you pray with me

with your heads bowed

gracious Father

I am thankful

this morning

for the glory of Christ

that he indeed

is the Savior

of the world

thank you for the clarity

with which

this little reminder

in scripture

lets us know

that Christ Jesus

came into the world

to save sinners

but it also involves

telling people

there's a problem

in your life

and you can't solve

it yourself

Jesus came

to pay the penalty

for our sins

that as it says

in the scripture

whosoever believeth

in him

shall not be ashamed

I pray for those

who are here today

that need Christ

as their Savior

that this morning

where they sit

their heart

would be drawn

to the cross

and they would believe

in him

I ask this

in your precious name

Amen

Thank you Gary

Stand together

Stand together