← Back to sermon library

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. Our focus 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 verses 12 
and 13. We'll spend 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 to them, go into the village opposite 
you and immediately you will find a donkey tied 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 a very 
great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut 
down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 
Then 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 and 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 mouth 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 wither 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. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, 
we thank you for this 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 hour. 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 ask that you would 
forgive us now for our sins and our transgressions. We pray that 
you would cleanse us afresh in the blood of the Lord Jesus, 
and we thank you for that promise, that if we confess our sins, 
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 these 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 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 whole 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 
colt. So the king comes to town and 
then the persons ask, who is this man? Remember that in chapter 
21 verses 10 and 11. and they answer that this is 
the prophet 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 King, 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. 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. If they do not repent, then the 
wrath of God will indeed come upon them. So we're going to 
look at the cleansing of the temple under three considerations 
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 remember 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, put it at the 
end of Jesus' ministry and John puts it at the beginning. I take 
the position that there were two cleansings. 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 Judean 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. Well, you 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, in this particular 
context, this second cleansing would be a means by which to 
promote the anger and the indignancy 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 cleansings. John records the one at the beginning 
of Jesus' ministry, and Matthew, Mark, Luke indicate the one that 
is done at the end of his ministry. But 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. I 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 have 
their accomplishment. And then Gil mentions Haggai 
2 and Malachi 3. You can turn to Haggai for just 
a moment. For those of you Old Testament 
challenged, The last three prophets are 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 Ezra 3, verse 12, you don't 
need to look there, but in Ezra 3, verse 12, after they lay the 
foundation for the temple, we see that the old men 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 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 is addressed. 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 and labored 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 nice house in Chilliwack, You know, a flood came and destroyed 
it, and then 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 letdown, isn't there? It's not the same 
anymore. We don't have 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. And 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, 
in 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, 
all glory is tied up not in an earthly temple, but in the Lord 
Jesus Christ. But in a real and heightened 
sense, as Jesus stands 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 21b. If you have the ESV 
or the RSV or the NLT, you'll notice that Canaanite is translated 
as trader 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 14.21b. 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 
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 seek, 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. Now you've got 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. That's why 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? 
For he is like a refiner's fire and like launderer's soap. He 
will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver. He will purify the 
sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may 
offer to the Lord an 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 traitors and merchants, but do you see in 
its larger biblical category? Do you see it in 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 I 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 could 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 
unto 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 Haggai 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. It's not a replacement theology. The idea is that 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, vis-a-vis 
Emmanuel himself dwelling with his people. I think the panoramic 
view of God's Holy Word does a lot to encourage weary saints 
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. 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're regenerated, 
factually called regenerated by God's grace belief, so we're 
justified, we're sanctified, one day we'll be glorified. It's 
good to think about those particulars, but step back from that, see 
it in its blessed whole. that in 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. We're 
not an afterthought. We're not a plan B. You actually 
do matter to someone. It's a blessed 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, Haggai, Zechariah 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. In fact, the verb means to throw 
out with force. It's used by God concerning Israel 
in the Greek translation of Hosea chapter 9 and verse 15. It's 
used concerning Hezekiah and his purge of the temple in 2 
Chronicles chapter 29 verse 5. Davies and Allison make this 
observation, and I think it's appropriate. Because notice, 
we've just seen that Jesus rides into Jerusalem on this donkey, 
and what did we indicate there? What is that demonstrative of? 
It's demonstrative of His lowliness, His meekness. 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. beautiful thing concerning our 
beloved Redeemer. He is lowly. He 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 to mean, he did not believe 
it inconsistent with forceful behavior. In other words, Jesus 
isn't a sissy. In that first temple cleansing, 
in John chapter 2, Jesus makes a whip of cords 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 the 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 traffickers should flee before 
him while they endure the overturning of their tables and their seats. 
Neither the temple guard nor the Roman soldiers appear to 
have interfered in any way. When Jesus takes to himself power, 
Opposition ceases. Now note the practical implication 
that Spurgeon then draws out. He says, 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. 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 and the dead. Brethren, see in 
this particular 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 or 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 corollary. Are 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 Yahweh and not have it affect us one way? 
You see, for the Lord Christ, when 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 a legitimate 
response as to why they're there. When worshipers came from outside 
of Jerusalem, they had to pay the temple tax with a particular 
type of money, Tyrian 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 their Greek 
or Roman 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 Jerusalem. So the 
idea is that it's not necessarily condemned. You can look at Deuteronomy 
14 for this sort of background. It doesn't talk about selling 
and trading and buying and all that, but it does indicate that 
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. Now, I don't know. Do 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. There 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. 
They're as 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 deluded 
are somehow off the hook. Not where we live in a day and 
age where everybody has access to Bibles, and Berkhoff, 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 truths of the Christian faith. Unconscionable 
that persons can't define justification by faith. Unconscionable that 
persons can't relate some basic reality concerning what the doctrine 
of the Trinity is. So yeah, while these 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 overturns the tables 
of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 
You know, we have this sort of picture in our minds. If you 
grew up in a reformed church, thankfully, 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 sort of wanders around with robes, 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. Has it ever dawned 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? Does 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. He's a 
carpenter, construction man. He probably had muscles. I don't 
want to put a picture in our minds. It's the last thing I 
want to do. But he wasn't this prissy, dainty 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. 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 in. Perhaps if you would have seen 
this, you'd be saying, who is this man now? And they'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? I think he is. He's 
come to our temple. He's come 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 9-9 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 
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 standing in the temple 
that day and you were with your person, your friend, 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 then 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 cites? 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 text tells us the 
abuse of the temple. And here I think Jesus is ingenious. Not that Jesus ever needs me 
to applaud him for the things he says or does, but what he 
says and 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 outset of worship. What 
is that prophecy concerning? It's concerning new covenant 
blessing, new covenant worship, Sabbath observance, concerning 
the eunuchs who were once afar off being brought nigh now because 
of the Messiah. You see the particular application 
of that in the conversion of the Ethiopian unit in Acts chapter 
8. We as Baptists 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 the Western text, 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 eunuch 
was forbidden from entering into the assembly of the Lord God. 
Isaiah the prophet, on the inspiration of the Spirit, says that day 
is going to change in the new covenant. The eunuchs, those 
dry trees, are now brought nigh. That's what's beautiful in that 
conversion story of that ex-Aedic, ex-Aedic Ethiopian eunuch man. 
What Isaiah 56 prophesied has come to pass. And not just Sabbath 
blessing and observance, not just eunuch inclusion in the 
New Covenant, 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 ones. So what is God saying to Isaiah 
the prophet in 56? In the new covenant, eunuchs 
will be brought nigh. In the new covenant, the nations 
will be brought nigh. In fact, to quote the prophet 
Isaiah, even them, God-fearing Gentiles, I will bring to my 
holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their 
burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, 
for my house shall be a house of prayer, or called a house 
of prayer for all nations. Now prayer there stands for the 
whole of divinely authorized worship. It's not to suggest 
that sacrifice has no place in the temple. That singing has 
no place in the temple, that preaching has no place in the 
temple, all we can do is pray. 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. So 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 wisdom of our 
Lord Jesus. And I'm gonna 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 and the coming language in verses 29 
and 30, but in terms of the end game, most everybody from whatever 
school of interpretation they come from would acknowledge that 
what Jesus is doing, at least in part in Matthew 24, is announcing 
the destruction of Jerusalem and its 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. Now, 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, hey, just going to go out there 
and do my... No, there's a fear and a 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. 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 where does Jeremiah get to 
do that? Facebook it? Tweet it, Jeremiah? Send letters, 
Jeremiah? Hang hangers on doorknobs while 
people are at work, Jeremiah? No, go to the temple and tell 
them, Jeremiah. Go to the place that's going 
to be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians and you tell 
them that that's going to happen. I gotta tell you, Jeremiah was 
the weeping prophet for a reason. Jesus is just like Jeremiah in 
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 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, this sermon may 
be a little bit more different than what you're used to or somewhat 
different, but you really gotta get this. You gotta really understand 
that what happens from Matthew 21 to 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 set 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 7.1, The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, 
saying, Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim 
there 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 saying the temple of the Lord, 
the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these. You see 
in a few minutes we're going to make this real practical, 
but for now understand this. It 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. We're 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 thieves. Notice, verse 5. For 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, then 
I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that 
I gave to your fathers forever and ever. You see what God is 
calling them to? Faithfulness to their covenantal obligations. Right? Everybody see that? Verse 
8, Behold you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will 
you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to 
Baal, 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 covered, we've been excused. No, 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 a den of thieves 
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, a sign, a warning, a portent of the judgment of 
God to come. 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 belittle God's 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 Psalms are sung. This is supposed to be a place 
where eunuchs 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 learn a few things. In the first place, 
there is a covenantal 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 6, 12, Behold 
the man whose name 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. It's 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 covenantally 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 houses, consume me. 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 taken 
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. That 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 and 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 Immanuel. There is 
a covenantal significance to what is transpiring here, and 
it will be 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. I tried to deal with 
this a little bit when we looked at the first table of law, the 
first four commandments in the Decalogue. I was thinking this 
morning about young people, the children. Praying, praying. You 
know, I don't like to say that. Wow, what does he do? Oh, I'm 
just praying for everything. No, I was praying. I happened 
to be praying for the young people and children today. And I 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 heterosexual fornication, whether it be pornography. We 
ought to write articles, we ought to campaign, we ought to say, 
do not do these things. When's 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 Baal. 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 seven. 
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, earnestly, 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 ask the question, what does 
God the Lord command? Listen to the sermons in 1st 
and 2nd 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 Christians 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, an ecclesiastical 
implication, money and religion don't mix. 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. In order to keep a missionary 
in China, we send money. I'm 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. I'm not talking about we need 
money to light the heat. We need money to send the missionaries. Talking about this emphasis, 
at least in America. Well, it's in Canada too, man. 
This North American thing. I read last year where there's 
pastors 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 having your own plane is necessarily 
a wicked thing. But man, you live amidst an 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 says, 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 sin. 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 was happening 
in 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 
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. Well, 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 
2 Thessalonians 1, 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 ask the question, what's 
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 Jesus going to 
come? The Antichrist? The Beast? What's going to happen? 
Is it Obama? Is it this? Is it 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 cleansed 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. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank 
you for the Word of God. We thank you for 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 high, 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 of 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.