House Cleaning (John 2:13-25)

John chapter 2, starting in verse 13.

John 2 · chapter mention

The Jewish Passover was near, and so Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

In the temple he found people selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and he also found the money changer sitting there.

Making a whip out of cords, he drove everyone out of the temple with their sheep and oxen.

He also poured out the money changer's coins and overturned the tables.

He told those who were selling doves, Get these things out of here.

Stop turning my father's house into a marketplace.

And his disciples remembered it was written, Zeal for your house will consume me.

So the Jews replied to him, What things will you show us for doing what sign will you show us for doing these things?

And Jesus answered, Destroy this temple, and I'll raise it up in three days.

Therefore the Jews said, The temple took forty-six years to build, and will you raise it up in three days?

But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

So when he raised, was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and he they believed the scripture and the statement Jesus had made.

While he was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name when they saw the signs he was doing.

Jesus, however, would not entrust himself to them, since he knew them all, and because he did not need anyone to testify about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

Let's pray.

Lord, I thank you for this morning.

I thank you for your goodness and your faithfulness.

I thank you for your love.

I thank you for being in control of all things.

And as we study your word, I ask that you would be glorified.

I ask that you would fill me with your spirit to teach your word, that you would fill the hearers with your spirit to rightly divide and discern what is of you.

And that ultimately we would glorify you as a result.

In your name.

Amen.

Alright, go ahead and have a seat.

Okay.

Starting off as we're about to embark on this journey here, I need to give you a Bible study tool that is super, super important for understanding this and really understanding scripture as a whole.

It's going to be super, super, super helpful that if we don't uh embrace this, it's going to make this very, very, very weird.

And so, here is our big, important Bible study tool that runs contrary to what you may have learned for the past 35 years in Christian culture.

The Bible is not predominantly about you.

I know.

That's shocking.

Shocking because we probably have a coffee cup that says it is.

Because we heard many a sermon that teach such.

But ultimately, the Bible is predominantly about God.

Jesus, that's the children's ministry answer.

We win.

And also how that interacts with us as well.

So it does apply to us.

We're just not the star of the show.

I could fill a whole day with examples of what this is, but ultimately, here's a few examples just running right off the cuff here of what this looks like.

When we read the story of Joseph and his brothers, how often are we the misunderstood hero who's being abused by everybody?

And ultimately we have to find our place in rising to prominence.

In reality, we're the brothers.

And when you look at it this way, you have a deliverer who was sold by his brethren and yet rose to a position of saving them.

Sound familiar?

Huh?

Jesus.

Okay.

When we look at the story of the Exodus and Moses, we want to be Moses, the man who is like tight with God, who is above all of this pettiness until he gets mad and hits a rock.

And all of these different situations.

But in that story, more often, we are the Israelites who keep going, I want to go back to Egypt, and want to stone the leader at every turn and what turn to idolatry at the drop of a hat.

You guys are probably getting really depressed.

But I got more.

Okay, when we look at the story of David and Goliath.

So many stories about this.

Ultimately, we want to be the one taking on the giant, and we are the more than conquerors, right?

And everything.

In reality, looking at the whole narrative of scripture, we're the Israelite soldiers who were not equipped to fight the battle.

It's Jesus who was the one who came in to fight the giant of sin and death.

When we could not.

In Ezekiel, we want to stand in the gap, right?

That's become a colloquialism, and that's okay because we know what it means.

We all know what it means.

There's nothing wrong with using that term.

But if you look at the text, when God sought someone to stand in the gap for his people, you know who was there?

Nobody.

Nobody could, so he did it himself.

And you're probably going, number one, why did I come here?

Number two, what does this have to do with the passage?

Because in these kinds of passages and many other passages, we have serious main character syndrome.

Where we want to be the st we what we intrinsically go, like, well, this is about me and what I need to do and everything, and we might miss what Jesus is doing here.

So, that's all the groundwork with that.

Now let's look at the passage.

Starting in verse 13.

The Jewish Passover was near, and so Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Why?

Why on earth would he do that?

Okay, according to Levitical law, there are three feasts where every Jewish male needs to go to Jerusalem for.

There is the springtime feast of Passover, which is this passage right here.

There is the early summer feast of what we call Pentecost, and then there is the fall feast of tabernacles.

So three times a year, every good Jewish man is going to Jerusalem.

That's what we see happening here.

In the temple, he found people selling oxen, sheep, and doves.

He also found money changers sitting there.

So pausing there for one second, is this an out-of-chronology same version of what we see in the Synoptic Gospels during the Passion Week?

Is this a different event?

Okay, number one, it really doesn't matter that much.

So we can have different opinions on that and still be okay, right?

Right, this is not a salvific issue.

If it is a salvific issue for you, we should talk afterwards.

But it seems, and most of the sources that I was looking at seem to see this actually as a separate event from the Synoptic Gospels.

Possibly.

And here's why I see that.

Number one, we see a general chronology of what's happening here in the last previous couple chapters.

Jesus is in Cana of Galilee, right?

Does his first miracle there, and then he goes to Capernaum in verse 12 of chapter 2, and he's only there a few days, and then it says the Jewish Passover was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

After this passage, we have Jesus speaking to Nicodemus, who was a ruler of the Jews.

Other passages in Scripture in John chapter 7, verse 50, and chapter 19, verse 39, indicate he is one of the Pharisees in Jerusalem.

John 7:50

So this happening in Jerusalem.

And then after that, after talking with Nicodemus, he leaves the area via Samaria.

Seems to be that way.

However, John doesn't always seem to care too much about chronology, but that seems to be a nice general flow.

Number two, there's differences in what happened in this passage.

Number one, him making a whip of cords.

Number two, the Jews confronting him immediately as opposed to the next day.

But then also finally, in this, there is the reaction to that, whereas in this passage, it seems like in verse 18, they're somewhat unfamiliar with him and going, dude, what are you doing?

What's the sign for what you're doing?

Whereas we see in the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, that uh they actually confront him the next day and seek to kill him because they're fed up.

So it makes the most sense to me that this is actually near the beginning of his ministry from where we see the chronology here, but then also because of their reaction to him, there's not a whole lot of familiarity.

Whereas the Gospel of John is going to have time after time after time in Jerusalem to build up to that.

So, but ultimately, it doesn't matter all that much.

That just makes the most sense to me.

So, continuing forward, what does he find in verse 14?

He finds people selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and also money changers sitting there.

What is going on here?

Why is that happening and why is that a problem?

Okay, two things: people selling oxen, sheep, and doves.

Three times a year, what do they have to bring with them?

A sacrifice.

Not any old sacrifice will do.

It has to be a spotless sacrifice, it has to be a perfect sacrifice.

How many of you have traveled a long distance with kids?

Yeah.

Do they arrive at their destination clean and smelling good usually?

Now exponentially multiply that for an animal.

And you see the problem there.

What may be a great sacrifice here at the end of the journey is bad.

And you don't want to end up showing up in Jerusalem with an animal that got lame part way through from like stumbling over a rock or something.

So it is easier to sell your animal in your hometown, make the journey, and then buy a certified approved animal for the temple.

And that's what we see here.

Now, I am sure they would never upcharge for this.

For what has been certified and approved, it has a little seal on it.

You know how that works.

So it's like it's wrapped in plastic, like the food of the supermarket.

I'm pretty sure that's how it gets there.

So, also, money changers.

What's going on here?

Well, we see that in those three times a year, they are bringing a half shekel temple tax.

They're coming from all over.

Not everybody uses a shekel.

In fact, this is the Roman Empire, and a lot of times you are not using a shekel, you are using the Roman money of the day.

And so there is a conversion aspect.

So where you are converting to the temple money to be able to pay the temple tax, which is due every time you make this journey.

How many of you have traveled internationally?

How many of you have tried to exchange money internationally?

Have you noticed a discrepancy between the conversion rates at, say, a bank versus the conversion rates at, say, one of those really convenient stores that is a money-changing place on your yeah, it's crazy how suddenly what was supposed to be this is now this.

Um, and again, I am sure that they would not be doing these kinds of funny things as a result.

But there's a changing to the text that becomes a bit of an upcharging.

That makes sense why when this happens later in the Synoptic Gospels, he says that it's turning into a the father shall turn into a dim thieves.

So, two different issues there that he sees.

Okay, and then we see Jesus' response.

Verse 15, after making a whip out of courts, he drove everyone out of the temple with the sheep and oxen.

He poured out the money changer's coins and he overturned the tables.

Pause there for a moment.

Um a few things.

Number one, I've said this about 35 times already, three times a year, he's going to the temple, right?

Do you think this is the first time he has seen the money changers and the animals there?

So is this a surprise?

No.

Um I have a distinct memory of going to Costco about five years ago.

And the bread's back there, and they're over here, and the milk is back there, and the eggs are back there.

I got a little triggered.

That's not where it's supposed to be.

They moved everything.

Not cool, and I know some of you guys are like, well, I shop at Trader Joe's.

I'm aware of that.

Trader Joe's shoppers are the biggest evangelists ever.

Anyway, having that said, he's not seeing something for the first time, going, This should not be.

Ah, I'm upset.

He's seeing this over and over and over again.

Number two, he makes a whip out of courts.

I am not an expert in whip making.

But I know it is not an immediate process.

It takes a little bit of time to do that.

So, why am I saying this?

Because there is a certain category of us who really want to see Jesus losing it here.

Really want to see him, you know, zeal for his house consuming him, meaning he saw something, he got righteously angry, and he went for it.

Um I say this out of love.

If that is our reaction, there might be a bigger issue at play.

Because this is not the passage where our inner CrossFit bro wants to like just like get really upset and start like tearing down things and cleaning house and setting up our kingdom.

I'm gonna spoil my own conclusion here because this is not about us, it's about Jesus cleaning house.

Having that said, that is the challenge that we come into play here.

Is sometimes people we get really excited about this because it's like, yes, action, cleaning house.

So if I can put it this way, if this leads us to a crusader mindset, that's a red flag.

And I'll just leave it with that.

Having that said, what does he do?

He cleans house.

He drove everyone out of the temple with their sheep and their oxen.

He poured out the money changer's coins, and he overturned the tables.

Now, what's going on here?

Two things.

Number one, when is this happening?

Passover.

If we look at part of the Passover requirements in Exodus 12, 19, yeast, leaven, must not be found in your house for seven days.

If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a resident, alien, or native of the land, must be cut off from the community of Israel.

Passover is the first day of the weeklong feast of unleavened bread.

Do you know why it's called the feast of unleavened bread?

Uh-huh.

No leaven, exactly.

So, with that in mind, the leaven is driven out of the house, right?

And this got to a point in uh the exponential extrapolation of the law and the rules that it would become a big thing.

And tradition states, you know, people are like driving it out with a feather kind of thing.

Whether that's true or not, I'm not sure.

Ultimately, they're serious about leaven when it comes to Passover time and making sure there's nothing in the house.

Because the stakes are pretty high there.

That's a pretty high punishment there.

Yeah, it must be cut off from the community of Israel.

So, no leaven in the house whatsoever.

And my baker wife is sad.

So, what does that have to do with our passage here, the leaven drift?

Because that's what's happening here.

He's driving the leaven out of the house.

There is the exorbitant extortion of the animal upcharge.

There is the money changers with their conversion rates, driving it all out, cleaning house.

But then also, he is in the process pouring out the money changers' coins and overturned turning their cables, driving out the animals, which is their inventory.

Um you think that bothered them a little bit?

Do you think they're sitting there like, oh well, we rebuild tomorrow?

Like, that is a big problem.

Why is that a big problem?

Because he is also overturning and upending their God.

The money, the extortion that is happening here.

So in the process, not only is he cleaning out the leaven, but you can also look back to the pictures of the King Josiah in 2 Kings, who is, they find the law, they repent, make a new covenant, and he starts tearing down idols.

Not only does he start tearing down idols, but he gets so excited about it that he goes into the northern kingdom, which by the way is not his kingdom, and starts tearing down all the idols there as well.

And you can see that happening here as well.

That is, and so when he is saying here, get these things out of here, stop turning my father's house into a marketplace, he's cleaning house.

Now, who has the right to clean the house?

The owner of the house, and his son has a right to do so.

And so, if this is the father's house, the father, God, the house of God, the dwelling place of God, and he calls it my father, he is directly here calling himself the son.

And so, if random dude decides to do this, that's a big problem.

However, he as the son has the unique authority to clean and maintain his father's house.

So that's what we see happening here.

He has the right.

The challenge is that the people there are not yet familiar with his identity as the son of God, as the Messiah, as God.

And so that causes a little bit of friction.

So his disciples remembered what is written, zeal for your house will consume me.

So that is from Psalm 69, 9, a hearkening back to that.

Now, if this is near the beginning of his ministry, right after his first miracle, right after the calling of his disciples, if you are the disciples, how are you reacting right now?

Because you're like, we will follow you, we're leaving our whole lives behind, we're going to go, we're gonna follow you.

And that was super cool when he's turning water into wine, but now he just drove all the people out of the temple, and you sit there like, you got your receipt?

Because this is getting a little intense here.

That would be a really crazy thing to see.

We look back at these passages through the lens of everything we know about Jesus, but they're living it in real time, and in real time, that's pretty gnarly to experience, potentially on like day three of the job.

So, with that, what are they learning from their rabbi here?

What is it that they are actually seeing here?

And and so I see him having the authority to clean the house, having the right to do that, and also not tolerating it.

So, because he has the right and the authority.

And once again, if we have in vinyl wall art, zeal for your house has will consume me, might be a bit of an issue.

That might be one of those things you might want to check out if that's the your life verse.

Um, so because also it's interesting that his followers are doing nothing here.

In none of the the house cleaning passages do we see the disciples going, Yeah, we're doing this! They're sitting there going, we're gonna die.

So, in verse 18, the Jews reply to him, What sign will you show us for doing these things?

And again, this is interesting to me because it seems to me, we don't know for sure, but it seems to me that they are not totally familiar with his game at this point.

That they're like, Well, what's your sign that you're gonna show us that you're what did you just do, and what sign is that?

If this, and again, this is not a strong argument, but if this happened during the passion week, they know exactly what he's doing, they know exactly his message, and they know what's going on, and they want to.

Kill him for it.

And here they're just like, dude, what are you doing?

What is the sign?

Last week, this was brought up, and it's very important because this word comes up all that time in the Gospel of John, this idea of a sign, a not just a miracle, not just a healing, not just a part of God making whole on the micro scale his creation, but rather a sign of Jesus' Godhead and divinity.

And they're saying, Can I see your ID, please?

This is a part where the church ushers go, hey, how are we doing, friend?

That's a bad sign.

If that happens, there you go.

That is almost as bad as, can I help you?

Nobody, at no point do I go, if someone says, Can I help you?

Then I'm like, maybe this is a good thing.

So, with that in mind, what sign will you show us for doing these things?

And Jesus answers, destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three days.

And they have no idea what he's talking about.

Cool thing is neither to the disciples.

So the Jews say, This temple took 46 years to build, and you will raise it up in three days.

Your translation may see was built, may say was built 46 years ago.

They're like, are you out of your mind?

You're gonna if we destroy this, you build it up in three days.

First of all, you seem to really want to tear down this temple, and that bothers us.

Number two, it ain't gonna happen.

What are you talking about?

So, a little bit of the rabbit trail that we won't go down today.

What does this 46 years mean?

What is going on with that?

Okay, there's possibilities that he's talking about from the time that Herod started to renovate the second temple until that day was 46 years.

We know from Josephus that Herod started in the 18th year of his kingdom to renovate the temple into a huge monstrosity, which is about 20 BC.

And so does that mean that it was 46 years from that date to this day?

Uh we don't necessarily know for sure because um despite what we want to uh nail things down to the exact day of things, uh you get five Bible experts into a room and you're gonna get seven opinions on the year that Jesus was born.

We why?

Oh, we'll go there.

Why?

Why is that the case?

Jesus is not a conventional king, right?

He is not a part of the official historical annals of either Judaism or the Roman Empire.

And so, while his birth is super important to us and became super important to the Roman Empire, thanks Constantine, we uh at this point in time they don't care.

And so, having that said, historically, we do not know the exact year that Jesus was born.

Which gets really complicated when we want to nail down the exact date of the triumphal entry, but I'm not going there.

So, with that, we don't know if that's what he's talking about, if that's the 46 years, or if it was a 46 years of the second temples being built.

That seems a little weird to me.

Ultimately, what we pull out of this is not that we need to know what 46 years means.

They thought it was 46 years.

Whether that's true or false is not a relevant part of the story.

So, why do I say that?

Because there are certain things when we are reading literally the word of God that we want to go, well, I need to validate this or else it'll question the authenticity of scripture.

Um, this is not something that we have to prove is true, because at no point in time did God say the temple was built in 46 years, in a little parentheses here of the narrator.

In fact, it just says that the Jews said that.

And so ultimately, we don't know, it's okay, it doesn't matter.

But ultimately, they're not getting it.

That's the point that we need to pull out of this passage.

Because in verse 21, but he was speaking about the temple of his body, not the building, but his body.

If you tear down this temple, I'll raise it up in three days.

There's a lot there, whole lot there of what this means because it indicates that the Jewish leaders would be the ones actually destroying this temple, being his house of God Himself.

But then also, he would raise it up in three days, his authority over death.

And this is the interesting thing.

They want a sign, they want a miraculous uh sign from God that what he did was okay and not an act of terrorism.

And he is indicating to not just, hey, I'm gonna do a trick for you, but rather I'm going to tell you about victory over sin and death.

So their scope and their gaze was this big, and he goes, and they miss it this time.

But it's cool to see in that that what he's talking about, the sign that he has the right to do this, that he has the authority as the son, is that he is the Messiah.

And in verse 22, so when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, they believed the scripture and the statement Jesus had made.

For those of you who are here on Palm Sunday, we went through a very similar passage where it is an amazing thing that the disciples have no idea what's going on at any given point.

And that should be comforting to us.

So they're like, I don't know what you mean by this.

He says in uh John, I believe, 11, he says, Um, so we're gonna go to Jerusalem.

I'm going to die at the hands of the Jews and the Romans.

Three days later I will rise again.

And the disciples are like, You are being so vague.

I don't could you please clarify what you mean by that?

And so that's the beauty of this is we get to be in the role of the disciples, that it is not our job to have the puzzle figured out.

It is our job to follow the Lord and to obey him and to see and to watch what he does, which is cool.

So, same thing here.

When he was raised from the dead, the disciples are going, oh, that was three days, and he said three days, temple.

Oh, I know what you mean there.

Three years later.

And uh, but the cool thing is, what is the result here?

They both remembered and they believed the scripture and the statement Jesus had made.

It was used as an occasion to strengthen their faith after the fact, which is super cool.

So, what's the result here?

This is the potentially first collision in Jerusalem, potentially one of the last.

There's room for that, but ultimately, he, as we see in the Gospel of John over and over and over, there's certain friction that's happening in Jerusalem that builds and builds and builds until uh the crucifixion and resurrection of our Savior.

And it gets it gets crazy, you know, to the point where he raises Lazarus from the dead, and the religious leaders are like, you know what we need to do?

We need to kill that guy, Lazarus.

They're trying to kill Lazarus again.

And it's like, what did he just he can't do it twice?

What is it?

Okay, whatever.

But ultimately, here there is a continued rhythm throughout the Gospel of John of these interactions in Jerusalem.

And this is one of the first that we see in this book, at least, of him showing his kingdom is far greater in scope than they want it to be for their Messiah and is far bigger in that.

So, while he was in Jerusalem, verse 23, during the Passover festival, many believed in his name when they saw the signs he was doing.

So, again, he is doing signs and marks of his divinity throughout this week, through this Passover festival, because it's a week-long thing in Jerusalem.

But he wouldn't entrust himself to them.

He knew them all.

He didn't need anyone to testify about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

That is a very strange statement.

There's a few different interpretations for that.

Here's what I see: he is starting to reveal himself as the Son of God, as God in the flesh.

And it's starting to create a buzz.

This would, you know, basically at this point in time, when you when you're like you when you have that viral moment, that's when you build your platform.

That's when you build your time to uh set up your kingdom.

Because at that point you have as many eyes as possible on that, and that's when you want to build your brand because you have the support and the following, and that creates exponentially, at least in 21st and 21 21st century mentality.

But here, he's not letting, as I see it and as I interpret it, he's not going to let them set up his kingdom.

Why?

Because we want him to have an earthly kingdom.

Number one, that kicks out the Romans.

Number two, that sets up a theocracy here.

And number three, conveniently fits my agenda.

And here he's doing signs.

Many are believing.

We have a stirring up here, but he doesn't, this is not his time.

Just like last week, when his when Mary, his mom, says, Hey, they're out of wine, and he's like, This is not my time, okay.

Do whatever he says, he's not setting up his kingdom here.

He sets it up through the cross, which is wonderful and amazing.

If he set it up here, we don't have the substitutionary atonement for salvation.

That's a problem for me.

I'm hoping I'm not the only sinner in the room.

So, with that in mind, from what we see here, this is an interesting passage to where he goes into Jerusalem, goes into the temple, the epicenter of their religious life at that point, and he cleans house in a premeditated way, methodically, and drives the leaven out and establishes his authority, and he indicates that, and they go, What are you doing?

And he says, I can do that because I'm the Son of God.

I have the authority to do so.

And then when they're like, Well, what's the sign of your Messiahship?

And it's three days, rise again.

And so, once again, everything centers around the gospel.

The death, the resurrection of Jesus.

The center point, the nucleus of the Christian faith is that we are separated from God through our sin.

But God loves us so much that he sent his son, there's a verse about this, and Jesus lived a sinless life as God and yet man died on our behalf, took our sin upon himself, so that as he rose again, his righteousness could be imparted to us if we receive that through faith, confession, and belief in him, and transferring ownership of our life to him as Lord.

We do not graduate past that point in our Christian life.

That's not milk, using the Corinthians thing.

That is the core of everything.

And if we're not careful, we go, yeah, cool, yeah, that's cool or whatever, whatever.

But ultimately, we need to be looking for something forward that holds all of the future, holds all of my passions and all of my zeal and all of my focus and consumes my thought.

But there's not something coming that is more powerful in the life of the believer than what happened on the cross and the empty tomb.

So, why am I saying this?

Number one, I think I may have mentioned once or twice or 10,000 times, the Bible is not primarily about us, right?

In this story, we are not Jesus filled with righteous anger, driving out the sinful things and setting up our kingdom.

Because first of all, he didn't do that, but secondly, we're not the star of the show.

Yet this matters for us.

What are we then?

I would submit to you, we are the temple in this story.

Just like in chap in the beginning of chapter two, when he took water representing life, transforming it to wine representing abundant life.

He's in the conversion process, if you want to do that.

Here we see a house cleaning.

Who does the house cleaning?

Jesus.

That's the good news.

He does not have a spreadsheet of all of the things you need to be working on right now.

Thank God, because sorry, everyone, believe it or not, you run out of cells.

Um and uh there's no thing to where he's sitting there and going, you're doing this, and then you come to him and he's like, Why didn't you take care of this?

Why didn't you clean this out?

He cleans the house.

And that's beautiful.

He's not surprised by what's in the house to begin with, and yet he's faithful to still clean it in a measured and effective way.

And that is the beautiful thing, is if we want to interpret this passage as God in the flesh losing it and turning over tables, um, I'm a little scared for how my house is gonna get cleaned.

Uh, if that's what you do during spring cleaning, um maybe hire someone instead.

But as followers of Jesus, the good news of that is he, via the work of the Holy Spirit, cleans the house, and all we have to do as the house is not impede his work and obey in what he calls us, which is so cool.

There's so much put into Christian culture of saying you need to clean your house and then God will love you.

God already loves you, and he will is faithful to do this work.

He who began any good work in you will be faithful to bring it to completion.

That's the encouraging thing.

So if I can leave you with two things.

Number one, just remember in this these things, if these passages um whip us up into a crusader mindset where we want to uh take the speck out of somebody else's eye, he might be calling us to look at the plank in our own and bring that to him.

Number two, be encouraged that he cleans, he's a good cleaner.

He cleans well and in a measured way, and that's a beautiful thing, and he is not calling us to get fixed up before we come to him.

Isn't that amazing?

Isn't that wonderful?

Uh imagine a kid being sick, and you your parent goes like, hey, how about you get better before you come give me a hug?

It doesn't work that way.

You give them a hug and you go, Oh, I'm so getting this.

Uh but you still primary focus is taking care of your kid, and that's a beautiful thing.

So, with that in mind, if you have not placed your faith in Jesus, there's good news in that.

He did all of the heavy lifting, he did all of the work, all of the sacrifice, all of the righteousness.

And what we do to receive that is to believe in him through the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts to say, I want that.

I accept your terms, I believe in that, and I confess that you are the Savior and that you have made a way for me to be right with God, and I accept that, and I want to live for you.

Super simple, and He's the one who does all the work.

Let's pray.

Lord, I thank you so much for your goodness and faithfulness in all things.

I thank you that you are good and your mercies endure forever.

I thank you that you're a good father who uh cleans.

As has been said, never using a hammer when a scalpel will do.

With precision, without anger.

And for those of us who confess to you and know you, I ask, Lord, that we would come to you and say, clean us out.

Anything that doesn't belong to you, have full access, and help us to not try to take the cleaning tools out of your hands.

For those who do not know you, Lord, I ask by your spirit you would work on their hearts so that they would be quickened to confess that you are Lord, that you are the Savior, that you lived a sinless life, died, rose again, took our sins upon you, and gave us your righteousness if we would confess and believe.

Be moving in hearts for this and be glorified in your name.

Amen.