Matthew Poole: Please pray with me. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a speaking God and you are a God that opens up our ears. And we ask God that you would do both now, here in this moment, God. You would speak and you would allow us to hear, God, that our hearts would be open to the word that you have for us. God, we pray against all distraction. Anything the enemy would want to do here in this time, to steal away the goodness and the glory of your gift to us in Jesus Christ. God, we pray for help now for you to do what we cannot do, to magnify yourself in our hearts, to cultivate joy in Jesus in our hearts, that you may receive the glory now and forever. And it's in your name that we pray, amen. My wife and I, before we were married, we were on a mission trip in Rwanda. And we were starting to be attracted to one another, and we were this mission compound or this ministry house. And every morning, we would go out to our meeting place underneath this tree right outside in the courtyard. This was our meeting place where we would come and we would enjoy time together, and we would do it early. And I have never been more zealous for morning devotions in my life. I was just always out there. It was great. Such intrinsic motivation to be out there with this girl that I was falling in love with. We would enjoy each other's company freely. And then there came a time on this trip because they had a rule. They would say your fastest plane ticket home is to get into a relationship. So it was happening. We had to come forward and share what was going on and they separated us. So all of a sudden there was a division in our relationship. We were separated from teams, we were placed, and so like, this was type of trip you're like in a country and then you spread out. And so there was now this physical distance. We weren't allowed to talk to one another. And it was painful and it was difficult. Because now I know we were meant to be together. We were meant to be together. And in a similar way, as humans, we were meant to be together with our. But something has happened. Sin has happened. God created this world and there was paradise in the Garden of Eden. We shared a ⁓ union and a unity with our God. A joy unspeakable. And then sin happened. And division. And no longer is there the joy in that relationship. There's division, hostility, there's even wrath there. And one of the questions that the Old Testament is, the thread running through the whole Old Testament is this question. How can a holy God dwell within unholy people? How can a holy God dwell with an unholy people? This isn't the distance of like my wife and I being put onto separate teams. This is the distance between earth and heaven, between righteousness and wickedness. How can these things come back together? And the answer that God has for the people in the Old Testament is the temple. The temple is the way These two worlds can come together, a holy God and an unholy people. And that temple is filled with all kinds of sacrifices and procedures, meticulous laws, things had to be done just right in order to keep this relationship on good terms. And if it broke, it was bad. You could die if you didn't follow the rules just right. But there's a grace there in what God's doing. There's a grace in the temple. Even just the fact that it exists, right? That is a grace. That there's a way. But the temple is doing two things. It is showing us our need for God and it is showing God's provision for us. Our need for Him because we're sinners and God's provision. So there would be sacrifices and different laws that you could do and that would maintain this relationship. And it was filled with glory and worship. The temple is where atonement for sin happens, where guilt is put away and worship takes place. The glory of God is on display in the temple, unlike it is anywhere else on planet Earth. But by the time we get to John chapter two, the temple is not functioning the way it's supposed to function. It's not a place of worship holistically, there's corruption there. It's a place of self worship, not a place of worship towards God. Atonement for sin, are they thinking about, I don't know all the ins and outs, but what we see is that there's corruption here. today in our text. And in some similar way, this is all of us, apart from God's activity in our lives, we too have corruption. Not in the temple, it's in our hearts. It's in our spirits. We don't worship God the way that we should. We don't relate to God the way that we should. We're about ourselves. And so this question is relevant for us. How can a holy God dwell with an unholy people? good news this morning and there's so much good news in our town. is that God in Jesus Christ is the new temple, doing for us what the temple could not do, and Jesus gives himself in zealous sacrifice to purify God's people, to purify their worship, to transform them from being burdened, corrupt worshipers, to pure gladiators. the good news that Jesus is doing for us, even this morning. Let's tune into this story and may this miracle be our testimony this morning, every one of us. We begin in verse 12. After this, he went down to Capernaum with his mother and his brothers and his disciples. And they stayed there for a few days. 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 course, 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 them, those who sold the pigeons, told those who sold the pigeons, take these things away. Do not make my father's house a house of trade. His disciples remembered that it was written, zeal for your house will consume me. So it's Passover for the Jews. This is the great big, greatest annual festival where they are celebrating their deliverance out from slavery to Pharaoh in Egypt. And everyone from all around is making their way, ascending up to Jerusalem. And Jesus is right there in this flow. But when Jesus gets there, something bothers him. What he finds is not worship, but business. What he finds are people that are after not their own righteousness, but after their own riches. And it bothers him. So he responds, he makes this whip, finds some materials around, and he makes a whip. literally constructs a whip. This is not for the humans, this is for the animals. And then he begins cleaning house. Cleans house. Everything has to go. Kicks the people out, kicks all the animals out. And he makes this strong statement, you shall not make, do not make my father's house a house of trade. That's exactly what they've done. Jesus is throwing down here, this is a far cry from the gentle little Bible story Jesus that we often see in Sunday school. He's on fire here in ways that we probably can't even comprehend. So he drives them out and he says something very unique here. There's a self-disclosure happening. Do not make my Father's house a house of trade. What is he doing? He's not saying your Father, my Father. He's calling back to himself, disclosing himself as the unique eternal Son of God. You're messing with my father here and my father's glory. You're messing with my father's glory. What's the problem with business? Nothing here. The problem is that business has come into the temple and it's corrupting the worship. That's what Jesus has a problem with. The glory of God's not happening. Atonement for sins not happening. Worship is not happening the way it is. And Jesus, I am going to renew this thing. He has moved from observer to reformer with great passion for the glory of his Father. You might consider this an example. This is like a piece of farmland. Ben, you'll have to correct me, he's an agricultural guy. This is like a farmland that's been overrun with weeds and insects, dead brush. It's no longer doing what it was intended to do. It's not producing food for the community. And so what might happen is a farmer or... scientists, environmentalists will have to come in and they will have a controlled burn. A controlled burn to remove all the impurities of the field to restore that field back to its original purpose, to provide food for the people. And that's what Jesus is doing here. He is executing the controlled burn on the temple that has lost its function and purpose in the world. And the disciples here, remember, and I take the line of thought that they are remembering that this text happened, or they're remembering this fulfillment of prophecy, not right here in the moment, but later on, as we'll see after Jesus is raised from the dead. They're looking back on this and they are saying, this is the fulfillment of prophecy. This isn't accidental. It's not that Jesus just got hot tempered in this one moment. No, this is very, In particular, just how we saw last week, that it was no accident that Jesus' first miracle was to turn water into wine at a wedding. So here, it is not an accident that Jesus is now consumed with zeal and cleansing the temple. There's a new order that has come. Jesus is the reformer here. And so they remember Psalm 69,9. For zeal for your house has consumed me, or will consume me. The word consumption here is interesting. It literally means to be eaten up. It's when the cause that you are about is so great that the cause has you. You don't have the cause. And it's as if Jesus is swallowed up in the belly of this cause. It's eaten him up. The zeal has so consumed him. The passion. The glory of God and the purity of worship in the temple has so consumed him, it's led him to this activity. And we might even just pause here and just compare ourselves to these money changers in the temple. We are not too different from them. We are not too different. How might we take the church and make it to be about something that it was never intended to be about? And we do this in so many ways. When you come here in a service or join our church to make ourselves feel better about ourselves, that's not it. Maybe to make our spouse happier with us, that's not it. We serve and we give and we're really after that stroke of appreciation from somebody to get noticed in ministry, that's not it. Or if we as a church start raising any flag other than the gospel of Jesus Christ, then we have lost it. And we are not about its purpose. And we will raise the flag of politics, or our denominational leading, or a particular translation of the Bible. or whatever it is, we raise that flag higher than the flag of the gospel good news of Jesus Christ, then we are not about the glory of God in the house of God. We are about the glory of ourselves. And we are leveraging church and religion for our own end, at the expense of God and His glory. And God will not have it. He will not share His glory with another. Jesus will not have it. He will reform and purify His church. This morning, you and I are desperate in our need. Not for Jesus to clean a temple, but for Jesus to. Praise God, our text continues. We pick back up in verse 18. So the Jews said to him. What sign do you show us for doing these things? And Jesus answered them. destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews then said, it's taken us 46 years to build this temple and you're going to raise it up in three days? But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered, there's that remembering again, that he had said this, and they believed the scriptures. and the word that Jesus had spoken. So the temple authorities come here, and this is a question of authority. Jesus, you think you're a prophet coming in here doing this? cleaning house like this, kicking everybody out. You think you're a prophet, give us a sign. On what authority can you come in here to the temple of God and do this? As if maybe if a police officer comes into your house and they start looking at your stuff and looking around, you say, what are you doing here? On what authority are you gonna come into my house and look around? You're asking for, show me the search warrant. And the officers, can pull that out. I've got a search warrant. I've got a higher authority that says that I can come in here and I can look around. And that's what Jesus is doing. Is that you want a search warrant? You want a warrant for why I'm cleaning house? I'll give you a warrant. I'll give you a sign. It's going to be my body. The sign is, destroy this temple and in three days I'm gonna raise it up. The resurrection is gonna be my warrant. Son of God has full authority to come in here into the house of the Father and clean and purify. The narrator clues us in that Jesus is not talking about the actual temple because he inserts it here. Verse 21 is the narrator, but he was speaking about the temple of his body. Jesus even hints at this reality. These Jews don't get it, but Jesus hints at it, and there's a Greek thing that he's doing here. He uses a different word for temple than everybody else is using here. They're using the word for temple. That means temple complex, the whole thing. All the areas, the outer courts, all the courts, all the stuff. You know what the word for temple that Jesus uses? Inner Sanctuary. the Holy of Holies. where God's presence dwells uniquely. Destroy that temple and in three days I'm gonna raise it up. Right, this pulls us back to John one. We the glory of God dwells among us. The word of God dwelling is flesh. They don't get it. And what do they do? They mock him. This is a mocking. It took us 46 years to build this temple and you're going to do it in three days. You're a madman. You're a lunatic. You don't know what you're talking about. And apparently the disciples are confused too. They don't say anything. and they're not going to have any idea until after. So everybody's quiet. The disciples understand after the resurrection. That's what it says. When therefore, verse 22, he was raised from the dead, that's when his disciples remembered. They remembered this scripture. They see that this temple, which has been called the absolute heart of the Jews, is now being transferred to Jesus. That happens when they see Jesus come out of the grave on the backside of his death. There is a shame that happens with Jesus and a resurrection, and it's at that point these disciples say, yes, Psalm 69, nine is about him. The resurrection for all the scriptures is the key that unlocks the door of their meaning. So they're referencing this King David in Psalm 69,9. Let's take a closer look at it because there is the focus of this whole passage. We read the first part earlier. For zeal for your house has consumed me, but listen to how that verse continues. And the reproaches of those who reproach you, God, have fallen on me. David. David so cares about the glory of God that people, because they hate God, guess who else they gotta hate? David. Zeal for the glory of God leads to unjust suffering. That's what's happening. And this verse for David is now being applied squarely to Jesus. And it clicks for the disciples. There was a shameful death and Christ is raised from the dead. It clicks there, not before. the temple conflict. they're trying to piece all this together and they're looking at this temple, they're looking back on this temple conflict. And there's shame happening. So looking back on Jesus, Jesus was shamed in the temple convoy. It's a battle for honor and shame. Jesus shames the authorities by cleansing the temple. The authorities then shame Jesus by asking him how in the world can he raise this thing in three days? And because Jesus does not respond, it means he loses. He's shame. Jesus loses the battle in the temple. But get this. As scholar Edward Klink says, the narrator does not want us to miss that Jesus actually lost the conflict with the Jews. Everyone knew it. The Jews, the crowd, even the disciples, Jesus lost. Such a statement sounds like it is not the story of the Gospel of John was telling until we realize that Jesus lost. is the story. Jesus lost is the good news. Jesus was shamed in his temple, at his Passover, in his city by Jewish leaders who should be serving and honoring him by his own creation. Jesus received shame. But this is the good news. He continues, in Jesus, God entered into his corrupt and negligent temple, declared it unclean, and received its shame. This is the very thing he should not have done. And in light of his holiness, could not have done. But he did. Why did he do that? This is a forerunning good news to the ultimate good news that is coming. The ultimate act of purifying worship is a controlled burn, not by removing other impurities, but the controlled burn of Jesus sacrificing himself under the wrath of God as a sufficient substitute for sinners. This is the means by which he purifies the temple. And then we see there's actually a play on words happening with this whole zeal consuming thing from Psalm 69,9 that Don Carson brings out in New Testament Scholar. He says zeal for your house will consume me. It doesn't mean will consume me with zeal. That misses the point. No, because I have the zeal, therefore I will be destroyed. Because I have the zeal for the glory of God, I will be consumed. Jesus as the lamb of God is consumed. His zeal was perfect. His consumption was his act of sacrifice and love for his people. As the lamb of God, considering Jesus. Right, this behold the Lamb of God that John's been telling us. Behold the Lamb of God, it's Passover here. And I was just meditating on this section of the text. Jesus is not led as the lamb into a shiny palace of a temple with gold and stone. That's not where he goes to die. No, he's mocked, he's stripped, put a crown of thorns on his head, like, look at him, there's the king of the Jews, dragged through the city streets and out the gate. Jerusalem was a holy city. Nothing unholy could be there. The sacrifice of Jesus, from their perspective, they needed to get Jesus out of here because he's not holy. He's so unholy that he's a stain on our city. Never mind the temple. and you see him dragged out on a cross, put up there. And I was just marveling this week. The animals are treated better than our Savior. They are brought into the temple. They're brought where they're supposed to be in the presence of God. That's not where Jesus, the Lamb of God goes. He goes outside the city gate away from the presence of But listen in that moment as he's raised on that cross. Covered in shame. There, covered in shame, is the glory of God on display. He's covered in shame as the glory of God to sinful man. Praise God, it's that shame that is getting our welcome into God's family. It's his shaming that gives us acceptance. It's him bearing the full weight of sin and death that gives us life and forgiveness. A full transaction happens in that moment. He did not do this because he had to. He did this because he wanted to. He did this because he loves you. It was not a burden for him to lay down his life for you. For God so loved the world, he gave his only son for you. If you would believe in him, you would have life and life forever. Jesus loves you so much, he goes to the cross to cleanse and to forgive you. No animal was ever raised from the dead. What the blood of animals could not do, the blood of Jesus could accomplish. making you right with God forever and ever. They would always have to have more sacrifices, more sacrifices. Well, when the blood of Jesus is spilled, the sacrifices end. No more guilt. full forgiveness once and for all. guilt, sin removed as far as the east is from the west for the people. Jesus comes out of the grave, which declares to us, The payment was sufficient for our sin. Mission accomplished. Old temple replaced by Christ. It wasn't that the temple was bad. was that the temple was a shadow of the substance to come, as Calvin would say. It was the substance to come. It was just a shadow. It was we were getting some type of it just in shadow form. But once the substance comes, we don't need the temple anymore. Christ is here to meet with God. Now, unbeliever church, we don't go to a place. We go to a person. If you were to type in your GPS, the temple of God, the pen does not drop in Jerusalem, it drops on Jesus. You type in heaven, drops on Jesus. He is the presence of God for us. He is the meeting place for us with God. Jesus is the true temple and as the true temple, he reminds us of these two realities. our great need for Him and the provision of God that He is for us because we have. He's doing what the temple was always aiming to do. Show our need for God and show God's provision for sin. In Him is our atonement. In Him is our worship. In Him is our glory forever and ever. The gap between sinful man and a holy righteous God has been closed. There is now union with our God. We are back because of the blood of Christ. What this means for us, especially if you're an unbeliever, God is not asking us to jump through hoops today. He's asking us to believe. To believe. That's it. To believe in Christ. If you do not believe in Christ, then the wrath of God remains. It remains upon you. But if you believe, then that wrath... Christ paid the debt for your And then what remains for us, having believed, does it lead us to a place of passivity? Far from it. Far from it, church. How are we, a passive people, on the backside of God, dying for us a substitutionary death? What makes us passive about that? Nothing. Nothing. Because Christ has provided the sacrifice, we now don't come with our performance, we come with our gratitude to worship. We don't bring sacrifices in that way. We bring other sacrifices like Paul talking about, a sacrifice of praise, a sacrifice of worship and gratitude, not to gain merit, but because merit has already been supplied in Christ Jesus. Because Christ has purified us, what do we do? We purify ourselves. We keep seeking Him. We purify the church. We're zealous for this cause because Christ is zealous for the cause. Because He's united us with Himself. Guess what that makes us? The temple of God. The very spirit and presence of God dwells in us now as the church. That makes us carriers of the presence of God to one another. What glory. What honor to mediate the presence of God through Christ to one another, and that makes us compelled on mission out into the world as Jesus goes before us as the great missionary to carry the presence of God to people that are far from God so we go to. It is him through us. What an honor to carry the presence of God. This means, church, that because Christ has suffered outside the gate, We too suffer hell side. Hebrews 13 makes this clear. We are willing to go. We are willing to serve. We are willing to do and to bear shame and suffering if that's what it costs because we gladly, we gladly want to bear the name of Jesus. We will suffer with him. That is the best. We will suffer with Jesus, then enjoy the pleasures of this world. Why Hebrews 13 tells us, Because we are seeking, we are seeking a city that is to come. Because here there is no lasting city. We're seeking the one to come with our Lord and with our Savior. How can a holy God dwell with an unholy people without consuming them? By being consumed himself and becoming their sacrifice. By becoming their substitute. And so it will come to pass, this future glory that John shares with us in Revelation. He says this, chapter 21. Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself would be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Jesus, the true temple, has made it so. To Him be all glory now and forever. Father, thank you for your word this morning that your word is life and comfort for sinners, that the word of Christ comes to us in the person of Christ, dying the death that we deserve, and coming out of the grave to give us life forever with you. God, we thank you that we have a wonderful meeting place with you now, one that we can come into without shame, without guilt, without fear. we can come in with hope and confidence and peace. God, thank you that you have made peace through the blood of your son. And thank you because of that, he is now the joy of our hearts, uniting us with yourself, that we are yours forever and ever and ever. God, thank you for making a way. May we come to you now, God, for struggling this morning with shame and guilt, struggle. The fact that you are the temple in your son Jesus declares to us that we can come. We can come with hope. So just ask you, God, to help us even now to lay all of our shame before you, all of our guilt before you. knowing that you are the one that bore it. And may we rejoice. May we have pure worship and glad hearts rejoicing in our great God and what he's done through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Help us God to be a church filled with your presence. That we would be the temple of the living God. What a privilege, what an honor that even now among us, very ordinary, common, sinful, but redeemed sinners, redeemed humans, your presence would dwell. What a wonderful. May we be grateful and may we seek to honor you no matter what the cost as we look to that great day that's coming when your presence will fill not only our hearts, not only the city, but the whole earth. Can't wait for that day, It's in your name that we pray, amen.