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morning everyone and welcome to free grace baptist church just one announcement before we begin worship this morning at the back there's a table with our directory phone numbers and email addresses and phone numbers so if you are on the directory already if you can have a look at it today or if not today on some following Sunday's have a look in just initial if the information is correct or if you'd like a new email address or phone number reflected in the directory you can scratch out the current one and write the new one there if you're not on there and you'd like to be in our church directory please feel free to add yourself there as well first name last name phone number email so if you could get to that today great if not today then we'll announce it over the course of the next next couple sundays well let's begin our worship then if we can turn in our Bibles to Isaiah 56 Isaiah chapter 56 for our call to worship this morning Isaiah 56 beginning in verse 1 thus says the lord keep justice and do righteousness for my salvation is about to come and my righteousness to be revealed blessed is the man who does this and the Son of man who lays hold on it who keeps from defiling the Sabbath and keeps his hand from doing any evil do not let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord speak saying the Lord has utterly separated me from his people's from his people nor let the eunuchs say Here I am a dry tree for thus says the Lord to the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths and choose what pleases me and hold fast my covenant even to them I will give in my house and within my walls a place in a name better than that of sons and daughters I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off also sons of the foreigner who joined themselves to the Lord to serve Him and to love the name of the Lord to be his servants everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath and holds fast my covenant even them I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer they're burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations the Lord God who gathers the outcasts of israel says yet I will excuse me yet I will gather to him others besides those who are gathered to him amen well let's stand and sing our first hymn is going to be in the larger hem book you can stand with me turn to 216 that's 216 and will stand and sing that together you let's be seated we'll go to our Lord God in prayer now just a couple things a dawn Neufeld is currently in the hospital if anyone is able to he is welcome and open to visitors he's been admitted there and due to pain and some falls so you're free to visit him if you're able to do so it's good to have mrs. bolt here with us this morning you saw the the prayer letter regarding her but she is strong enough to join us here for worship this morning that is wonderful we can remember the proctors in prayer as well addons daughter emily is in the hospital back in ontario so we can pray for her as well as well as many others and many other things let's go to our God in prayer let us pray Heavenly Father we come to you now rejoicing that we can gather as the Saints of Christ in this place to worship our great god and we do pray that you would help us to rightly how will your name that you would be the recipient of a humble worship by your gathered assembly here in this place we seek to honor you and worship you in spirit and in truth we do pray that you would help us to do so and we would ask that we would honor you a right this morning in this place and that your saints around the world as they gather together for worship that they would likewise that you would send them that measure of your spirit to stir and arouse their souls unto a high and heavy honor the triune God we do pray that upon the lips of your gathered Saints around the world today would be much praise and much honoring of you and we do pray God that you would give us that spirit whereby we are able to come to you humbly and reverentially and with that proper fear giving to you the honor and the worship that is your do we thank you that we can come to you through the Lord Jesus Christ knowing that he is the one through whom are our prayers and all our offerings and worship come to you except ibly through and we do worship you and thank you and praise you for the fact that you did send him in the fullness of the times bournival woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the law we thank you for that precious statement of Holy Scripture where we read in first Timothy 115 that there is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world sinners to save and we rejoice in that truth and we do pray that you'd cause us to be singing the praises of such a great Christ today such a glorious plan of salvation we know that we're saved not by works of righteousness which we have done but rather first and last midst and throughout salvation is that which has been perfectly wrought by the triune God Christ Jesus our Savior came in to this world to live a life of obedience unto your law perfectly in the stead of all those who believe we have a righteousness in him that avails with you and peuta to us and receive by faith alone and we do thank you for His perfect work upon the cross of Calvary that he bore your wrath that he bore the penalty do for all those who believe in you we thank you that he did that that he bore that our sins in his own body on the tree and we do thank you that he rose again the third day Lord God in power and in great victory and he has now ascended to your right hand where he does ever live to make intercession for all those whom you have given to him and we do pray that you would help us to be in praise and be in worship reflecting upon these blessed truths of the gospel and we do pray God that you would just an impress upon our hearts that the weight and the glory of being forgiven from our sins and being washed in the blood of the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ we rejoice in your truth and we would ask father that you would help your churches to know your truth that you would cause ministers of the gospel pastors in charge of your churches to open up the scriptures today and teach and preach well the things of your revealed word and we do pray that you would cause your gathered Saints to be well instructed to be fed according to your will and by your word we do pray that your people would be equipped by spirit and word to go out into the world this upcoming weeks live in light of such a glorious truth we would pray for those Lord God who are unwell we think of dawn Neufeld and we just ask that you'd strengthen our brother as he's in the hospital that you would tend to his body and just cause him to gain strength and we pray that in the midst of this he would have be comforted by you and by your word and we pray that he would be resigned holy unto your will and all things and would be rejoicing in the promises of the gospel we pray that you would be with Emily as well his daughter back in Ontario that you would likewise strengthen her and body and by your grace and for your glory cause her to be resigned unto your will as well and to be rejoicing in her Savior even in the midst of affliction we do pray for the the family we pray for Sarah as well with her recent physical setback and pray that you'd strengthen her and we do pray that you would I just give Karen strength to come alongside her family and to be a help and we just pray that you would bless that family we thank you that mrs. bolt can be with us this morning we rejoice that you've healed her and caused her to have regained strength such that she can join us we do just pray that you continue to tend to her body helped her to to know physical strength and help her to rejoice in her God and the blessings that you pour out upon your children we do pray God that you would be with many others we thank you that John cruel as well can be with us we rejoice that you're strengthening him daily we pray that you would continue to do so that you would just continue to heal our brother and we pray for surely that you would help her as well as she recovers from her injuries give her strength in her body daily and give her strength from on high to be rejoicing in her God in the midst of of these pains and in the midst of recovery we do pray God that you be with the proctors this morning we would ask that you'd help them in their sickness to be healed to grow in strength we pray that you would remove from them their discomforts and pains and just cause them even though they're unable to join us here too nevertheless be rejoicing along with us in our God and in your Christ we do pray that you'd be with the many others Lord God who are struggling physically we would ask that you would just be with all of your saints who have physical affliction that you would help them in their bodies to be healed to grow and strengthen we pray as always that they would in the inner man rejoice in the Savior and be holy resigned unto their God unto the judge of all the earth at does right by his people we would ask God that you'd be with our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world we know that there are many who fall under the the heavy and unlawful hands of those who oppose your church and who are enemies of the gospel who physically at torture who even injure unto death those who are your children we do pray that you would be with our brothers and sisters in Christ help them Lord in the midst of affliction and trial to have that strength of faith that they would lay hold of the hope that is set before them in Christ Jesus their Lord and help them to be steadfast and strong and to the very end we do pray that you would bring an end to the tyranny of Islamic oppression and and and those who are seeking to bring an end to the life lives of your Saints and who are bringing terror throughout the world we pray that you would vindicate your name and all the earth and bring an end to those who oppose your righteous rule and we do pray God that you would just bring an end to these regimes and these factions of persons who seek to bring terror in the world we do pray that you would cause them even Lord God to know of our Christ and of your gospel that you would come upon the wings of Amazing Grace and cause those who are the enemies of yours to become your friends that they might cast off the madness of their idols and their false religion and believe the living and true God we do pray again father for those who would remain in obstinacy against you and rebellion we do pray that those who would not repent that that you would cast them down those who bring violence against your saints that you would cause them to stumble like drunk drunken men and to wither away like the snail so that they might no longer bring violence in opposition and even murder against those who are your people we do pray God that you would just strengthen your Saints around the world that you would be with those in governments Lord God Kings those who are in authority that you would cause them to rule countries and righteousness justice and equity that they would cast off all those things that are opposed to your word all of those wicked nas's and abominations and the unrighteousness of so many laws that are passed and we do just pray that you would cause rulers to rule after virtue and that they would cast off vice we do pray that you'd be with us now as we worship we rejoice again that we have the opportunity to do so in freedom we would ask that you would help us in this place that the preacher this pastor Butler comes up into this pulpit that you would give him what he needs to proclaim your word just give him strength from on high to do so with great courage and confidence and clarity we do pray God that you would help your gathered Saints here to be well instructed by your spirit and by your word that we would rejoice in our Savior and leave this place seeking to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ and we would ask again father for those who entered in this place outside of Christ in unbelief that you would buy victorious grace and by your word made clear to their hearts cause them to be brought from out of the darkness and the death of sin to light in life in Christ Jesus the Lord but you make many of those here this morning those who leave this place singing the praises of your grace and of your of your Most High name do save Lord God for your glory and for the good of your people and might your name be rejoiced in might your name be hallowed and might you be worshipped to right by your gathered Saints in this place and we pray in Christ's name Amen well let's stand and sing our next team now if you want to actually stay seated excuse me for a moment we're going to sing 281 we're going to have the pianist is going to play through one stanza on the piano that's a tune that's new to us so stay seated when he's finished playing that first stanza you can look and I'll do the arm motion to have you stand and then we'll start singing 281 you you well we'll try to learn that one more and more as we go about the faithful plotting of free grace baptist church it's a great him though praise to our God and glory to our Christ you can turn in your Bibles to the book of Revelation our scripture reading this morning our new testament scripture reading will be from Revelation chapter 10 remember what we've been reading again a lot of symbology a lot of simile a lot of metaphor a lot of language used to describe the announcement of judgment upon the land we have this language continuing in Revelation chapter 10 with the scene of a mighty angel so this is Revelation chapter 10 beginning in verse 1 the word of the living and true God I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven clothed with a cloud and a rainbow was on his head his face was like the Sun and his feet like billard pillars of fire he had a little book open in his hand and he set his right foot on the sea in his left foot on the land and cried with a loud voice as when a lion roars when he cried out seven thunders uttered their voices now when the seven thunders uttered their voices i was about to write but i heard a voice from heaven saying to me seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered and do not write them the angel whom i saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever who created heaven who created heaven and the things that are in it the earth and the things that are in it and the sea and the things that are in it that there should be delay no longer but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel when he is about to sound the mystery of God would be finished as he declared to his servants the prophets then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said go take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth so I went to the aim and said to him give me the little book and he said to me take and eat it and it will make your stomach bitter but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth then I took the little book out of the Angels hand and ate it and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth but when I had eaten it my stomach became bitter and he said to me you must prophesy again about many peoples nations tongues and kings amen well much going on no doubt but isn't it nice to capture a view of the declared glory of our God as is revealed here in Revelation chapter 10 notice that the the author John is is completely in concert with the psalmist and with Isaiah and with the Old Testament writers and no doubt the New Testament as well when he describes our God the only living and true God here in verse 6 the angel swore by him who lives forever and ever who created heaven and the things that are in it the earth and the things that are in it that there should be delay no longer we come to our God and we do not come to an idol fashioned by men's hands we come to our God and we do not come to some sort of stationary ineffectual figure fashioned out of wood or stone or some other thing but we come to the God who fills the heavens and the earth who cannot be contained by anything the one who made all things the one who upholds all things we do not come to some sort of a ghetto or neighborhood deity who cannot affect anything in this world but the only God who can affect all things according to the purpose and good pleasure of his will and who has seen here no doubt in this picture of this angel as one who is perfect in his light and in his righteousness I I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven clothed with a cloud and a rainbow was on his head his face was like the Sun and his feet like pillars of fire you see this imagery this language this symbology this vision is given to disclose the glory and the majesty of God and those of his sent messengers and servants who come to brain to bear the glory of his word the righteousness of his law and the Blessed sweetness of the gospel of saving grace we come to our great god and we come to his scent Christ and we find our all in all so let's come to this God now in prayer and in worship as we continue here Heavenly Father we thank you for your word we rejoice in the fact that you disclose yourself as that one who lives forever and ever that one who is eternal immortal alone wise and we thank you that we can come to you in worship we pray that you would help us to come with with our praises with our Thanksgivings that we would come to you now as we pray in that manner of Thanksgiving knowing that you the Great God has given us so many blessings from on high as you give daily to us are our daily bread and so many other things and above that even you have caused us to know your Christ by your spirit and for your glory that you came to us and caused us to come from out of the darkness and death of sin to life and light in Christ Jesus by grace we have been saved and we pray that you would help us Lord to worship you are right now as we continue to sing to pray to read the scriptures and to hear those scriptures preached that you would help us to have minds to receive well the things of our Blessed triune God and it's in the name of Christ Jesus that we do pray amen well our last him then is 224 you can stand and sing that with me to 24 please be seated you may turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 21 281 went differently in my head before worship I do want to thank Fraser for playing it certainly as pastor Porter said we do need to practice that one a bit more but we're continuing our exposition in Matthew's Gospel are focused this morning is on the cleansing of the temple it's going to try and take up verses 12 to 17 but there's so much going on in it verses 12 and 13 we'll spend our the bulk of our time there this morning but i do want to read beginning in Matthew 21 beginning at verse 1 now when they drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives then Jesus sent two disciples saying saying to them go into the village opposite you and immediately we'll find a donkey tie and a Colt with her loose them and bring them to me and if anyone says anything to you you shall say the Lord has need of them and immediately he will send them all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet saying tell the daughter of Zion behold your king is coming to you lowly and sitting on a donkey a Colt the foal of a donkey so the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them they brought the donkey and the Colt laid their clothes on them and set him on them and to very great multitude spread their clothes on the road others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road than the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out saying Hosanna to the son of David blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord hosanna in the highest and when he had come into Jerusalem all the city was moved saying who is this so the multitude said this is Jesus the Prophet from Nazareth of Galilee then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers the seats of those who sold doves and he said to them it is written my house shall be called a house of prayer but you have made it a den of thieves then the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and He healed them but when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did and the children crying out in the temple and saying Hosanna to the son of David they were indignant and said to him do you hear what these are saying and Jesus said to them yes have you never read out of the mouths of babes and nursing infants you have perfected praise then he left them and went out of the city to Bethany and he lodged there now in the morning as he returned to the city he was hungry and saying a fig tree by the road he came to it and found nothing on it but leaves and said to it let no fruit grow on you ever again immediately the fig tree withered away and when the disciples saw it they marveled saying how did the fig tree whither away so soon so jesus answered and said to them assuredly I say to you if you have faith and do not doubt you will not only do what was done to the fig tree but also if you say to this mountain be removed and be cast into the sea it will be done and whatever things you ask in prayer believing you will receive a man will let us pray father we thank you for the Sabbath day we thank you for the rest that you give us for our souls and we pray that you would be with us in this glad our help us now by your spirit to understand this passage of Scripture help us to Marvel and stand amazed at the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ God how we thank you that you made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him may we magnify Christ in our church may we magnify Christ in our homes and in our society wherever we find ourselves may we indeed glorify that one who gave His life on our behalf we asked you would forgive us now for our sins and our transgressions we pray that you would cleanse us fresh and the blood of the Lord Jesus and we thank you for that promise that if we confess our sin you are faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness bless us now we pray and we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord amen well I read this longer section because there are two events going on here in chapter 21 that I read first the cleansing of the temple and then specifically the cursing of this fig tree these are portents and a portent is sort of a sign or a warning of judgment to come and so specifically when Christ cleanses the temple yes it's consistent with what Josiah and Hezekiah had done before him in terms of revival but also what Jesus is doing is he is giving a sign concerning the judgment that is to come and the same thing with reference to the cursing of the fig tree Jesus is not anti-environment Jesus is not somehow against fig trees the fig tree represents Israel and as the confrontation between the religious leaders and Jesus increases we will see that this comes out with reference to Christ making the serious pronouncements concerning the destruction ultimately of Jerusalem in AD 70 Christ will speak to that in Matthew 24 all of this is leading up to that particular event or that or or is rather background leading to that with reference to that prophecy but as we look at this cleansing of the temple I want to say something before we begin matthew and jesus knew the Old Testament a lot better than we do I hope you're not offended by that statement but they certainly knew the Old Testament a whole lot better than we do it's very difficult on the one hand to do justice to some of these passages because of the Old Testament background and because I am convinced that New Covenant believers ought to appreciate the Old Covenant Scriptures more or understand them we are going to spend a little bit more time as I said on verses 12 and 13 to show the connection to what has gone before in terms of the prophets concerning the announcement of the Messiah King now remember the Messiah King has entered into Jerusalem via this cult this is in accordance with the prophecy of Zechariah the King would come into Jerusalem lowly he would come riding on this cult so the King comes to town and then the person's asked who is this man remember that in chapter 21 verses 10 and 11 and they answer that this is the profit from Nazareth of Galilee and now Jesus goes into the temple and very much like a prophet speaks condemnation concerning the current situation in Israel Jesus as the Messiah functions as the key functions as the prophet and as we will see later in Matthew's Gospel he functions as a priest when he gives his life as a ransom for his people so Christ here specifically in cleansing the temple is taking that mantle of the prophet and consistent with the prophets before him wants to indicate or tell to Jerusalem that they need to repent their practices are wicked they do not repent and the wrath of God will indeed come upon them so we're going to look at the cleansing of the temple under three considerations in this morning first the entrance into the temple secondly the activity engaged in in the temple and then thirdly the justification for his actions in the first place notice his entrance verse 12 then Jesus went into the temple of God this ought not to surprise us in Israel's life the temple was central in Israel the temple was the center of the world not geographically not physically not geologically but in terms of theology the temple was everything to Israel and so when Jesus enters into that city and he hears Hosanna son of David Christ now enters into this particular place to do business specifically prophetic condemnation now if you're in member in John's Gospel we find a temple cleansing in John chapter 2 some have said there's only one temple cleansing in all the four Gospels and that the Synoptics Matthew Mark and Luke but at the end of Jesus ministry and John puts it at the beginning I take the position that there were two cleansiness in the beginning of his ministry John chapter 2 and at the end of his ministry Matthew Mark and Luke remember that Matthew Mark and Luke don't record the early Judy in ministry so they wouldn't have said anything about that first cleansing some say that after that first cleansing they would be on their guard they would be on their watch they wouldn't want someone to come and do this sort of a thing again we know as well as I that vigilance only lasts so long in other words if there were an incident in Canada or in America over at the sumas border they would beef up security they would have a heightened security but it probably wouldn't last two or three years so it's perfectly consistent that Jesus does this at the beginning and then at the end as well there's great differences between the two accounts and also it's in this particular context this second cleansing would be a means by which to promote the anger and the indignant sea of these religious leaders so that they would ultimately put him to death when they confront after this interchange in verse 23 you know what the question of the leaders is who gave you this authority in other words who do you think you are and it's because of this that they push to put him to death so we're dealing with two cleansing John records the one at the beginning of Jesus ministry and Matthew Mark Luke indicate the one that is gone at the end of his ministry but if before we get into the actual activity itself what is the significance here John Gill says but he went to the house of his Heavenly Father as the Lord and proprietor of it like that as the Lord and proprietor of it to preach in it and purge it he says whereby the glory of the latter house became greater than that of the former and so several prophecies had their accomplishment and then Gil mentions Haggai too and Malachi 3 you can turn to Haggai for just a moment for those of you old testament challenged the last three prophets or Haggai Zechariah and Malachi these are called the post-exilic prophets these are the prophets that came after the Exile had ended in Babylon remember those who had been in Babylon about 55,000 Jews returned to Judah they were charged with rebuilding the temple that had been destroyed by the Babylonians and so they begin this particular work in an azra chapter 3 verse 12 you don't need to look there but in ezra chapter 3 verse 12 after they lay the foundation for the temple we see that the old man wept they cried and they sighed and not for joy they had remembered the glory and the majesty of Solomon's Temple I mean this was one of the the wonders of the world and when they saw the foundation for this second temple it sure didn't seem the same to them and here in Haggai chapter 2 the same thing as address so Ezra Nehemiah occur at the same time and then Haggai and Zechariah are the men who prophesied to the people during the governorship of Nehemiah and the priesthood of Ezra so just because there's a lot of books in between doesn't mean it's in chronological order Ezra and Nehemiah functioned in labor and Haggai and Zechariah were the prophets that spoke to the people during that time now notice in Haggai chapter 2 verse 3 who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory and how do you see it now in comparison with it is this not in your eyes as nothing it would almost be like if you lived in a you know a nice house in chilliwack and you know a flood came and destroyed it you had to live in a tent I'm not trying to be too specific to anybody's instance or circumstance the halls have actually had some flooding that's not in my head I'm just giving an analogy here but you move from your cozy posh well decorated comfy house and now you live in a tent there's probably a little bit of let down isn't there it's not the same anymore we don't have all the all the amenities anymore it's not as beautiful to look at it that's what's happening Solomon's Temple has been destroyed by Babylon they've rebuilt the temple but it's lacking something of that luster the prophets are trying to encourage the people to press on to persevere to do what they're supposed to do and then through the Prophet verse 6 God the Lord says thus says the Lord of hosts once more it is a little while I will shake heaven and earth the sea and dry land and I will shake all nations and they shall come to the desire of all nations and I will fill this temple with glory says the Lord of hosts the silver is mine and the gold is mine says the Lord of hosts the glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former says the Lord of hosts this is what's going on certainly speaking about the New Covenant realities all focus all blessing all privilege o glorious tired up not an earthly temple but in the Lord Jesus Christ but in a real and heightened sense as Jesus scans in the temple we can legitimately say the glory of this latter temple far exceeds even that former temple now notice as well in Zechariah the Prophet in fact one has argued and many have said that to understand Zechariah chapters 9 to 14 is almost crucial for understanding the rest of Matthew's not understanding the rest of Matthew's Gospel but for understanding how Matthew writes in dependence upon and related to the prophets of the Old Covenant notice the last verse in Zechariah 14 specifically verse 21 be in that day there shall no longer be a cane in the house of the Lord of Hosts you have the ESV or the RSV or the NLT you'll notice that Canaanite is translated as traitor or merchant in that day Yahweh announces there shall no longer be a Canaanite rather a merchant or a trader in the house of the Lord of hosts the people with ears to hear and eyes to see as Jesus is turning those tables over and driving the merchants and traders out from the temple precincts would remember Zechariah 14 21 be they would be alerted to the reality that this is God's man this is Messiah this is the one prophesied by Zechariah to come to his temple and do these particulars notice Malachi 3 Malachi chapter 3 beginning in verse 1 cited already in Matthew's Gospel at 11th 1110 with reference to John the Baptist well what did John the Baptist do he was the messenger that announced the coming of the Lord Jesus notice in chapter 3 verse 1 of Malachi behold I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me and the Lord this is Christ whom you see will suddenly come to his temple even the messenger of the Covenant in whom you delight behold he is coming says the Lord of hosts there you go to understand the flow here Israel had expectation for a messiah Israel had expectation for a great prophet Israel had expectation for a great king namely a Davidic King the Prophet says even the messenger of the Covenant in whom you delight there's a bit of irony here because of what he goes on to say but the person you say you're looking for is actually going to come and when he comes this is what's going to happen notice in verse 2 but who can endure the day of his coming and who can stand when he appears free is like a refiners fire and like laundry or soap he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver he will purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may refer to the Lord and offering in righteousness so you see when Jesus enters Jerusalem when Jesus goes into the temple when Jesus cleanses this temple yes it is for the specific reason to drive out these traders and merchants but you see in its larger biblical category you see it its larger prophetic tone do you see that Christ is the man of God's own choosing to come to save his people from their sins I think one of the things or one of the reasons why try to encourage people to see the Bible in this panoramic view sometimes people say well when you do that it's not real practical what can be more practical than on Thursday morning when you're feeling like a right wretch that you ought to you consider that panorama that from the promise of Genesis 3 15 God orchestrates redemptive history on to the fullness of the times when Christ would be born of a woman born under the law to redeem you who are under the law what's more practical than seeing that we're not an afterthought in the mind of God we're not an add-on to the mind of God but that redemptive history is structured in such a way as that God gets glory through the salvation of wretches like you and I brethren I think that is one of the more practical ways you can get yourself out of the dumps on a Thursday morning Christ was Christ is that Malachi man that Zechariah man that hag I man the glory of the latter temple is far more excellent because we have it in Jesus now not that Solomon wasn't a great man but Jesus Christ Himself says he's a greater than a Solomon Christ himself according to Matthew 12 6 there is someone greater than the temple here you see the temple has not been replaced in some strange sort of a way replacement theology the idea is is that the temple or the reason the temple stood was to point us to the Lord Jesus and now that the Lord Jesus has come we don't need earthly temples we don't need those particular places because God is with us visa V Emmanuel himself dwelling with his people I think the panoramic view of God's Holy Word does a lot to encourage where he say it's along the road if you haven't got that glimpse yet hang on stick around stay with us because at some point you're going to say wow man you know we look at the Ordo salutis the order of salvation we look at those things particularly in terms of our own life and experience you know we regenerate effectually called regenerated we by God's grace beliefs or justified what we're sanctified one day will be glorified it's good to think about those particulars but step back from that see it and it's bless at all that in the garden of the Garden of Eden when God the Lord promises the soul of the skull-crushing seed of the woman is going to come and devastate the devil we're part of that we're there the Lord Christ is purposed to save us the Lord God most high the father has chosen us from before the foundation of the world were not an afterthought we're not a plan B you actually do matter to someone to bless it thought isn't it sometimes persons want to be special to other persons well the reality is if Christ laid down his life for you and rose again it's about as special as you can possibly be I love what dr. Lawson said when he was here on Sunday night he said sometimes when i travel persons ask me have you received the second blessing he says i've received every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ you know why that is well at least in part because this Malachi hi guy zeca a man entered into Jerusalem went into the temple and engaged in this particular activity notice what he goes on in Malachi 3 4 then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the Lord as in the days of old as in former years and i will come near you for judgment i will be a swift witness against sorcerers against adulterers against perjurers against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans and against those who turn away an alien why because they do not fear me says Yahweh of hosts now back to Matthew 21 so we see his entrance hopefully we see the significance of that entrance now note the activity engaged in while he's in the temple verse 12 he went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves he drove them out it means just that fact the verb means to throw out with force used by God concerning Israel in the Greek translation of Hosea chapter 9 and verse 15 it's used concerning Hezekiah in his purge of the temple in second chronicles chapter 29 verse 5 Davies and Allison make this observation and I think it's appropriate he's notice we've just seen that Jesus rides into into Jerusalem on this donkey and what did we indicate there what is that demonstrative of fits demonstrative of his lowliness his meat nests in fact go back to Matthew chapter 11 when Jesus calls needy sinners to come to him he says in verse 29 take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart it's beautiful thing concerning our beloved Redeemer he is lowly is gentle he is humble Davies and Allison make this observation this verse the one about him driving persons out from the temple this verse seemingly implies that whatever else Matthew took meat to mean he did not believe it inconsistent with forceful behavior in other words Jesus isn't a in that first temple cleansing in John chapter 2 Jesus makes a whip of quartz to assist him in driving those beasts right from the temple complex you see in this particular instance the zeal of our beloved Savior Calvin rightly comments that that zeal ought to be imitated by all persons but then he rightly cautions that not all persons have the same office of the Messiah in other words it may not be your job to go to every temple and drive out every money changer that may not be your vocation have the zeal of our beloved Lord Jesus but beloved Lord Jesus is a public man he's the Messiah man he's the king he is the prophet so the idea is not go ahead and next Sunday visit some temple and drive everybody out that's not the point but that's what Jesus did listen to what Spurgeon says what an awe must have surrounded the one man that the whole tribe of track of traffickers should be a flee before him while they endure the overturning of their tables in their seats neither the temple guard northern Roman soldiers appear to have interfered in any way when Jesus takes to himself power opposition see says now note the practical implication that Spurgeon then draws out he says what a prophecy this incident of fourths of the ease with which it is second advent he will purge his floor with the fan in his hand the same way persons weren't able to stop him in the temple on that day is the same way that persons cannot stop him when he comes again in glory to judge the living in the dead brethren see in this their passage the ferocity of our lowly our meek and our blessed Savior see in this passage him driving these persons out see in this passage the kinds of zeal are the kind of zeal that we ought to imitate in terms of the glory of God with Psalm 69 I believe in the first situation or in the first cleansing zeal for your house has consumed me that's why Christ does what he does there's a great choral area we zealous for the purity of God's Holy worship does it matter to us the way it mattered to Jesus are we able to see strange fire being offered up to your way and not have it affect us one wit you see for the Lord Christ when the temple saw the temple system or structure was being prostituted was being turned into a den of thieves Jesus didn't say well you know that's their choice they have a hankering after God they want to experience God and if they experience God that's not what Jesus does Jesus drives these people out we might even ask the question why are they there well there's actually legitimate response as to why they are there when worshipers came from outside of Jerusalem they had to pay the temple tax with a particular type of money Tyree and silver the temple tax could not be paid in Roman or Greek coinage so it was legit to be able to accommodate travelers and to be able to cash in there there the Greek are all in coinage for something that they could use in the temple complex as well consider the fact that you're coming from northern Galilee it wasn't out of the question to have available for persons to purchase a sacrifice they have a great sacrifice or a great animal in their flock but they've got however many days journey they can sell it take the money and buy that object when they get closer to russula so the idea is is that it's not necessarily condemned you can look at Deuteronomy 14 for this sort of background doesn't talk about selling and trading and buying and all that but it does indicate those who traveled from a distance could bring money when they went to Jerusalem in this particular instance so that's what's happening but what had occurred and what often occurs is that we might use something useful and end up being attached to it rather than God economics a marketplace a den of thieves criminality it became more of a commercial setting rather than the Temple of the Living God it became like a swap meet I don't know you have swap meets here I don't know that I've ever seen a swap meet they were quite common when I was growing up they were drive-in movie theaters and you'd go to the swap meet during the day there'd be a bunch of different people out there selling their wares that's sort of the idea that's going on here they had gotten too close they had distracted from the main idea and notice that Jesus not only drives out the sellers but he drives out the buyers you see when we look at heretical preachers for instance and we might name one of them and say wow this guy is such a wretch listen to the stuff that he's preaching and yet there's thousands and thousands and thousands of people that are sitting on every word that comes out of his mouth there has guilty they're as culpable brethren you're responsible for what you take into your ears the Bereans were more noble minded than those in Thessalonica why because they examined daily the scriptures to see if what Paul was speaking was true of course bring your bibles to church of course look at the passages that are announced of course read along of course follow the exegetical process you have to do that Jesus back in Matthew 15 speaks of the religious leaders he says the blind lead the blind and both shall fall into a ditch it's not the case that those poor people out there being diluted are somehow off the hook not where we live in a day and age where everybody has access to Bibles and and birkoff and sermon audio and the confessions of faith it is unconscionable that persons who name the name of Jesus Christ today should be ignorant of cardinal doctrine Cardinal truths of the Christian faith unconscionable that person's can't define justification by faith unconscionable that person's can't relate some basic reality concerning what the doctrine of the Trinity is so yeah while these you know big-haired weird preacher men ought to stir up our ire what about all those people that are giving him money that are sending in their love gifts whenever he asks for one Jesus drives out seller and buyer alike notice he / turns the tables of the money changes and the seeds of those who sold doves you know we have this sort of picture at our minds if you grew up in a reformed church thankfully you at least hopefully you weren't exposed to a lot of images of Jesus the popular image of Jesus out there is that he's a feminine man you know he wrote you know sort of wanders around with robes and and he looks prissy and he looks soft and he looks like he's no threat or no menace whatsoever to anybody now again not detracting from the lowliness and the meekness is ever dawn on us that a man can be lowly meek and zealous has it ever dawned on us that we can't have soup and salad it ever dawn on us that a genuine man combines the elements of meekness and lowliness and a right zeal for the glory of God most high that will translate into force if necessary to purify the house of the living god does it ever dawn on us that we can actually be those kinds of people but you know as we consider Jesus this meek and lowly one he's not prancing around the temple compound pushing on tables he's exerting himself as a carpenter construction man he probably had muscles I don't want to put a picture in our minds the last thing I want to do but he wasn't this prissy daty fellow that we so often associate Jesus Christ with he's turning over tables he's driving people out in the first one he's got a whip of cords he's probably sweating veins are popping out you see the idea here is that the purity of Yahweh's worship meant something to our beloved Christ and he wasn't going to just sit back and not say anything he turns these things over drives these persons out excludes them from this particular place now notice in the third place is justification for the action that he engages it perhaps if you would have seen this you'd be saying who is this man now you've already asked it after he's entered into Jerusalem the persons are saying Hosanna blessed is the son of David who comes in the name of the Lord they're already asking who is this man probably rising up in them right now to say who is he think he is he's come to our temple it's going to our place of worship he's overturned our tables he's driven out our sellers and our buyers who does he think he is notice that Jesus has one weapon whether he is dealing with the devil in the wilderness or he is dealing with persons in the temple at Jerusalem it is written it is written Jesus justifies his activity because he is the Zechariah 99 man he comes in the name of the Lord God most high he has divine authorization he has divine authority hence in verse 14 when the lame and the blind come to him and he heals them that affirms confirms and validates that he is the Messiah with the authority to engage in what he is doing but here specifically in verse 12 verse 13 he said to them it is written my house shall be called a house of prayer but you have made it a den of thieves why am I doing this because my house shall be called a house of prayer but you have made it a den of thieves that answers it doesn't it if you were scanning in the temple that day and you were with your person your friend your your brother your sister your wife your son you leaned over and you said why is he doing this what is he hoping to gain what's he hoping to do yes under Josiah and under Hezekiah and to a degree under Jesus there is this desire for revival this purging this cleansing but there is this portent this sign or this warning concerning the judgment that is to come both via the temple and in the fig tree God is not happy with apostate Israel God is not mocked Deuteronomy 28 was in existence at this time they had broken covenant and they would reap the curses associated with that broken covenant so what Jesus does is perfectly legitimate and perfectly authorized as Messiah but what about the text that he science again we have a conflation we have two texts that are combined together the first text tells us the purpose for the temple the second tax tells us the abuse of the temple and here I think gee Jesus is ingenious not that Jesus ever needs me to applaud him for the things he says or does but what he says it does are amazing he's dealing with people who knew the Old Testament he's dealing with people who knew Isaiah and Jeremiah these are the passages he cites pastor Porter read Isaiah 56 at the outside of worship what is that prophecy concerning it's concerning new covenant blessing new covenant worship Sabbath observance concerning the eunuchs who were once a far-off being brought nine now because of the Messiah you see the particular application of that in the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter 8 we as Baptist like to talk to that passage and go wow isn't that wonderful he went down into the water and he came up and isn't it wonderful at least according to Western tax he makes a profession of faith those are wonderful things but to see acts 8 in light of Isaiah 56 and in light of Deuteronomy there was a time when the unit was forbidden from entering into the Assembly of the Lord God I see the prophet and the inspiration of the Spirit says that day is going to change in the New Covenant the eunuchs those dry trees are now brought nine that's what's beautiful in that conversion story of that ex-addict ax8 Ethiopian eunuch man what Isaiah 56 prophesied has come to pass but not just Sabbath blessing and observance not just unique inclusion in the new confident but Isaiah 56 speaks of the foreigner that's us you're foreigners outside of Israel we were foreigners we are Gentiles we were the excluded one so what is God saying to prophet Isaiah the prophet in 56 in the New Covenant UNIX will be brought die in the New Covenant the nations will be brought nine fact to quote the prophet Isaiah even then god-fearing Gentiles I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer they're burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar for my house shall be a house of prayer called a house of prayer for all nations now prayer their scans for the whole of divinely authorized worship not to suggest that sacrifice has no place in the temple that singing has no place in the tamp all that preaching has no place in the pep all we can do is no that's a synecdoche where one part is put for the whole prayer there involves or includes all of the elements of divine worship you see what happens Jesus comes to the temple this place that's supposed to be a house of prayer and instead it's become a house of economics a house of extortion a house of all kinds of wickedness of course he's going to drive them out of course he's going to turn over the tables of money changers and sellers of doves of course he's going to do this because the purpose for this place was that God be worshipped that's the first text Isaiah 56 the purpose for the temple the second text is found in jeremiah 7 and verse 11 Jeremiah 7 and verse 11 this is why I suggest that we ought to appreciate the the wisdom of our Lord Jesus and I'm going to ask you several times over the course of the next chapters to remember this do you know what kind of a context Jeremiah found himself in Jeremiah was the prophet to the south prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 that was Jeremiah's job to tell Israel that Jerusalem was going to be attacked that the city including its temple would be destroyed Jesus is a new covenant Jeremiah in this regard Jesus is going to do the same thing at the Olivet discourse now there's a few different approaches to the interpretation of the Olivet discourse but as far as I know just about everybody agrees that at least one part of that prophecy does deal with the destruction of Jerusalem and her temple again there may be some differences in terms of the details in the coming language and verses 29 and 30 but in terms of the endgame most everybody from whatever school of interpretation they come from would acknowledge that what Jesus doing at least in part in Matthew 24 is announcing the destruction of Jerusalem and it's temple that's what Jeremiah did same thing intriguingly this is what Stephen is on trial for in Acts chapter 6 as well but that's for another day now Jeremiah 7 specifically verse 11 which Jesus conflates with Isaiah to tell not only the purpose for the house of God but also the abuse of it Jeremiah is told to go to Jerusalem and preach in the temple no I don't know about you guys but if my message to you was you're all going to die I would be a little bit hesitant I would be a little bit reluctant I must confess that on any given Sunday you always got that sort of feeling in your belly when it comes to preaching you know it's not this you know lion-hearted a just going to go out there and do my job there's a there's a fear and trepidation but if my message included your city is going to be destroyed your temple is going to be destroyed and you're either going to die or you might end up in exile and in exile don't think that that's going to be somehow good I confess a bit of fear and trepidation to have to bring that message so Jeremiah has to announce to Jerusalem that the city is going to be destroyed and the temple along with it and what does Jeremiah get to do that Facebook it tweet it Jeremiah send letters Jeremiah hang hangers on doorknobs while people are at work Jeremiah now go to the temple and tell them Jeremiah go to the place that's going to be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian and you tell them that that's going to happen I got to tell you Jeremiah was the weeping prophet for a reason Jesus is just like Jeremiah Matthew 21 now notice in Jeremiah 7 specifically in verse 11 has this house which is called by my name become a den of thieves in your in your eyes behold I even I have seen it says Yahweh now let's just read the rest of the section leading up to this again the sermon may be a little bit more different than what you're used to or somewhat different but but but you really got to get this you got to really understand that what happens from Matthew 21 the 28 is scripted it's not haphazard Jesus isn't bouncing around in his daintiness from one event to another he is a man who has said his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem because he must die because he must go through these things to save guilty vile wretched sinners just like us but it was prophesied it was told it was spoken beforehand by the prophets of God notice in Jeremiah 71 the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying Stan in the gate of the Lord's house and proclaimed their this word and say hear the word of the Lord all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord thus says the Lord of hosts the God of Israel amend your ways and your doings and I will cause you to dwell in this place do not trust in these lying words say the temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these you see it a few minutes we're going to make this real practical but for now understand this seems that Israel had fallen into this particular practice of living like the devil sunday through friday showing up at the temple on saturday and thinking that everything was great the temple the temple the temple were here in a place of healing we're here in a place of forgiveness we're here in a place of atonement now let's go back out in the world and sin like the devil to turn it into the den of thing notice verse verse 54 if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor if you do not oppress the stranger the fatherless and the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place or walk after other gods to your hurt and I will cause you to dwell in this place in the land that I gave to your father's forever and ever you see what God is calling them to faithfulness to their covenant of obligations all right Willie c 9 verse 8 behold you trust in lying words it cannot profit will you steal murder commit adultery swear false falsely burnt incense to bail and walk after other gods whom you do not know and then come and stand before me in this house which is called by my name and say we are delivered to do all these abominations you see the emphasis you live like Devils sunday through friday and then you come in here and you say we've been we've been a covered we've been excused now in one sense when we have dealings with the sacrifice of God we are covered we are forgiven but the implication is not to go back out and do all the sins that got us into that place to begin with and that's what they were doing the idea is like this I can live however I want during the week as long as I go to church on Sunday and everything will be okay no it won't that's what verse 11 says has this house which is called by my name become identify in your eyes behold I even I have seen it says the Lord brethren what we find in the temple cleansing by our Lord is yes a cleansing but yes an announcement sign warning a portent of the judgment of God to calm the people of Israel had prostituted the worship of God I mentioned this last Sunday and I'm going to mention it again sometimes we be little gods worship sometimes we do not prioritize God's worship sometimes we do not value God's worship sometimes we belittle it sometimes we neglect it sometimes we're lazy about it or sometimes we champion other causes which are right to champion to the neglect of the worship of God in this particular instance they had taken the temple had turned it into a marketplace and as a result this man prophesied came and overturned their tables and drove out those sellers and those buyers because zeal for his house had consumed him and because this is supposed to be a house of prayer this is supposed to be a house of divinely authorized worship this is supposed to be a place where the word is preached where the sacrifices are offered where the songs are sung this is supposed to be a place where units and Gentiles can come from without and find their fellowship in this is supposed to be that sort of place but Israel they have abused it they have turned it into a den of thieves they have made a mockery of the divine worship of the living and true God and as a result this Messiah engages in this action well in summary or in conclusion I think we learned a few things in the first place there is a coven ental significance involved in all of this the Prophet Zechariah specifically in chapter 6 we learn that the branch is the temple builder the branch is a reference to the Lord Jesus notice in Zechariah 612 behold the man whose aim is the branch from his place he shall branch out this idea of branch is found in the Prophet Jeremiah again in Zechariah elsewhere and in the prophet Isaiah the branch of David he shall build the temple of the Lord yes he shall build the temple of the Lord he shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule on his throne so he shall be a priest on his throne and the council of peace shall be between them both what we find coven entally in terms of that physical temple dwelling in Jerusalem is that it would be destroyed it will not be rebuilt in some future Millennial Kingdom the temple and what it stood for is realized by Christ we see this in the first temple cleansing when the Lord Jesus engages in the activity and he says zeal for your house is consuming and then the religious leaders ask him what he's doing and he says destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up they said it's taking us 46 years to build this temple and will you raise it up in three days John the theologian tells us he was talking about the temple of his body fat temple pointed to Christ now that Christ is here we don't go backwards in redemptive history now that Christ is here when we get to the book of Revelation John says there is no temple because God in the lamb are their temple temple facilitates meeting between deity and human we have that in Christ he is God with us he is that Emmanuel there is a covenantal significance to what is transpiring here and it will be fully Duff more fully developed later on in Matthew's Gospel let's look secondly at some ecclesiastical implications Church implications what do we learn with reference to this in the first place the purity of the worship of God is absolutely crucial but tried to deal with this a little bit when we looked at the first table of law the first first four Commandments in the Decalogue singing this morning about young people the children praying praying like to say that wow what does he do oh I'm just praying for everything I was praying there happen to be praying for the young people and children day and just thought what a challenge it is to be a young person or a child today see when I was 12 13 14 15 and I had all that you know hormonal angst and all those things going on I didn't have a phone in my pocket that had the access that you have so I pray God keep you from temptation i pray god save you keep you watch over you guard you protect you because there's great potential to harm in your pocket and then it made me think about this there's a lot of articles written today against sexual immorality and we should write such articles the christian church ought to champion that seventh word whether it be sodomy whether it be you know heterosexual fornication whether it be pornography we ought to write articles we ought to campaign we ought to say do not do these things with the last time we read something that promoted sabbath-keeping when was the last time we read something just take the recent article on sexual immorality and replace sexual immorality with idolatry and i'm not talking about the idolatry where you're bowing to bail i'm talking about the worship of the true God in the false way you see we just don't care about what God says if I have a hankering after Jesus I should just get to express myself any old way I want not according to Scripture not according to God but does that matter to us again let's be champions let's preach against the seventh let's preach against the six let's preach not preach against them like they're bad but preach them against the sins that they target but let's not neglect that first table of the law brethren purity of the worship of God is a primary concern of God in the second place in terms of an ecclesiastical implication the faithfulness of the Church of God is absolutely crucial you see when the church does what she's supposed to do not everybody's going to be happy when the church does what she's supposed to do not everyone's going to be happy but the church can't operate based on what people are happy about the church must do what she's commanded to do she must seek to do it faithfully perseveringly tirelessly honestly of course prayerfully always scripturally in other words we can't get sidetracked we can't get tripped up we have to be faithful we have to go forward we have to do what God the Lord commands you asked the question what does God the Lord command listen to the sermons and first in second Timothy it's really not that difficult the church has made the church that much more difficult by throwing burdens upon the church that God the Lord had never given to us there are actually things that you as private Christian should be doing that aren't necessarily a particular task of the church there are things that the church does that you as a private Christian doesn't necessarily do as well God's glorious the Lord Jesus is wise he provided the division of labor he gave the family to do family things he gave the church to do church things he gave individuals to do individual and other individual collectively things he gave the state to do state things isn't that great no one man has to think through every single thing Christ the organizer has provided the division of labor and the church must do what church does she must do it faithfully and one of those things is to secure and to protect the purity of God's worship in the third place of ecclesiastical implication money and religion don't max I had a bit of a different worded proposition there but I think I'll just bring it home money and religion do not mix of course religion can't exist on love and fresh air right in order to keep a missionary in china we send money not saying that money is necessarily evil I am saying profiteering relative to religion is an abomination to the living and true God that's what I'm saying not talking about we need money to light the heat we need money to send the missionaries talking about this this this emphasis least in the midst in Canada to man this North American thing I read last year where there's there's there's a pastor's in Africa that have their own private jets now I'm not a socialist I'm not Bernie Sanders I'm not a commie I'm not saying you know having your own plate is necessarily a wicked thing man you live a bunch amidst up and impoverished people and you're flying around in your own jet something's wrong something's wrong money and religion don't mix and a final implication concerning church life hypocrisy and religion don't mix you may come to church you may be here on a Sunday morning you may actually come on a Sunday night you may actually show up on a Wednesday evening there's no awards here for attendance so calm down but if you are living the way the people were according to Jeremiah 7 don't invoke the temple the temple the temple because we are delivered from all of these abominations we can go back out and do these abominations that is to abuse the grace of God in the Christian gospel what shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound may it never be the grace of the gospel that justifies us is the grace of the gospel that promotes in us a sanctified life you don't live like the devil and then say but I go to church but I go to church but I go to church that is hypocrisy you've been justified freely by grace now God said seek by grace to live in accordance with my Holy Word I will give you the spirit I will even give you forgiveness when you sit but do not abuse grace do not celebrate it to the point where you are living like a devil and then coming into the church you see that's what what's happening at Jeremiah's day and don't think they missed it you keep reading Jeremiah what do they want to do to him they don't want to give him his own parking space at the temple they're not building a new office for him they don't give him a membership to the local country they want to kill him that's what happens in Israel when the prophet of God comes and speaks the truth of God sounds like the other prophet we're considering in Matthew 21 he comes to purge the temple he comes to cleanse the temple he comes to heal the lame and the blind he comes to do all these things and what do they do away with him away with him crucify him that's what the true prophet of God gets amongst the people that are filled with hypocrisy brethren we ought to take these things to heart and by the grace of God strive to be the church that God defines in the Holy Scripture and if you are not a Christian here this morning may I remind you of what Spurgeon says concerning this Malachi 3 man what a prophecy this incident affords of the ease with which in his second Advent he will purge his floor with the fan in his hand there is a purging coming there is a Judgment Day coming there is a day when the Lord Christ shall return in glory with all of his holy angels and as the Apostle puts it in second Thessalonians one taking vengeance on those who know not God and on those who do not obey the gospel that's your future as an unbeliever you asked the question was going to happen to me on that day we always want to know what's going to happen in terms of the big events is G's going to calm the Antichrist the beast what's going to happen is it Obama as it is is that we always want to puzzle ourselves with that think about what you will do on that day when you will meet the judge of all the earth there's one answer in preparation for that and it is to come to the Lord Jesus it is to believe on him to turn from your sins by the grace of God and to lay hold of that offered mercy through the lowly one who entered into Jerusalem on this cult this one who cleanse the temple this one who functions as king who functions as prophet who will ultimately function as a priest to give his life as a ransom for many will let us pray our Father we thank you for the word of God we thank you for the the wholeness of it the way the two Testaments relate to one another the way Christ is the one that brings the glory to God most time which is the scope of the entirety of Holy Writ I pray that you would take these things and seal them to our hearts help us as well to see the importance on the purity of worship in the house of the Living God I ask that you would go with us now bring us together again that we may worship you and we pray through Christ our Lord amen will close with just a brief time of meditation and then be dismissed