SEP 10 2023 | The Gospel of John S2E4 | Jesus the Cleanser

Sea Change Church · The Gospel of John S2E4 · "Jesus the Cleanser" Pastor Adam Stadtmiller · September 10, 2023
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

The Gospel of John chapter two, verses 13 through 25. When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts, he found men selling cattle, sheep, and doves and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle.

He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables to those who sold doves. He said, get these out of here. How dare you turn my father's house into a market. His disciples remembered that it is written zeal for your house will consume me. Then the Jews demanded of him. What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?

Jesus answered them, destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days. The Jews replied, it has taken 46 years to build this temple, and you're going to raise it in three days. But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. Now, while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name, but Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.

He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man. This is the word of the Lord. I think I came up too early, you know, for this song, uh, I'm Joe Bran. I'm a pastor on staff here at church. Pastor Adam is in, uh, Jerusalem, uh, the city of God. And I I'm pastor of the 25 35. I also am a Unifor's missionary. If you ever have any questions about that, and uh, let me pray. Um, God, you're so good.

Your people are gathered together. We're sitting under your word. Help us clearly see you, um, help the worries, the stress, the shenanigans that we bring in. Be gone. Help us be still and know your God. Help me have no fear and preach clearly. Um, in Jesus' name. Amen. So it was my first year in college, and I don't know about you, but in high school, I just didn't like to study who, who didn't like to study in high school? A few of you. I didn't like to study.

I did, um, whatever I could just to get by. And, uh, it was Dr. Weber's class. And, um, I don't, I forget, I think it was poly sci or statistics, something I'm not really good at. And, um, I, I didn't study really. I paid attention class. I'm a really good listener, you know, but then I just didn't put in the work after, and there was a question I didn't know, um, or many questions I didn't know on the test. And something welled up inside me.

A little bit of temptation, wanting to get a good grade because I actually got good grades in high school somehow. And, uh, I turned to my friend, uh, my new friend. And, uh, when the teacher wasn't looking, well, dude, what? What'd you get for number four? Number five, what? He said, he's looking at me. He's like, all of a sudden I hear, Joe, Brandy, what are you doing?

And if any of you have ever been caught in a sin, you know, and like that, it is just, your heart just instantly goes like that and everything drops and you're caught. And he basically said, everybody leave the room. He cleared the room and he talked to me. He's all, what were you doing? I can't remember what I said. Um, I think I lied.

And, um, but he was watching me the rest of the class and I failed, uh, at least that test. And sometimes we need strong, shocking, righteous anger towards us to make a change. Sometimes we need that rebuke to be cleansed. And we're looking at a story where Jesus does some cleansing. When was it? It was Passover. Passover. I don't know how many Jewish people are here, but I think a lot of us are not Jewish.

We're Gentiles and some of us just don't exactly know what Passover was or is. And what was Passover. It was when, uh, the Jewish people were in slavery by the Egyptians for 400 years. And God said through his servant, Moses, you're gonna go to Pharaoh and say, let my people go through many signs and wonders you're gonna have to do in order for him to let you go. And the greatest, most tragic, uh, sign that he did was the death of the firstborn. And on pass overnight, all Jewish people were supposed to take an unblemished lamb and eat it among themselves, and then take the blood of that unblemished lamb and put it over the doorposts so that when the angel of death would come on this night, he would pass over their door because they had the blood of the Unblemish lamb.

And then they took out the firstborn of the Egyptians. And then Pharaoh says, let my people go. God raised walls of water. And they marched through and they went into the wilderness, and then later, uh, had the tabernacle and then the temple and became the people of God. So this was a huge, huge religious festival. Uh, the population was, there's so many people that say different things.

It was about maybe 200,000. And they would say it would swell up to 1 million people that didn't live in Jerusalem that would come in to celebrate the festival of Passover. Jerusalem and the temple are where God said he would put his face. It was geological, theological, spatial realm where God who fills everything. God is, um, omnipresence. So he's everywhere, but there's something special about his temple in the land of Jerusalem.

And the city that he said, I'm gonna put my special presence there. And the temple was where God would meet people. We might have a image, Jeff, of the courts and the temple. Um, I'm not a temple expert. There's tons of stuff online, but in the temple, which I guess the outer court, by the way, was three football fields big. It was huge. I, I really, I thought I, I had no idea. I've never, who's been to the Atlanta of Israel?

Who's been to Jerusalem? Okay, you guys got, I have no idea. I have no idea. I thought, I was like, maybe it's this big, I don't know. And um, so there's the court of the Gentiles, there's the court of the women, there's the temple building. It is huge. And it is, it was beautiful. And it is where everybody would stream in to meet God.

But when they would come during Passover, they had to bring a sacrifice, um, the holiness of God. He says, when somebody sins, you shall die. And that happened in Genesis. And throughout redemptive history, in order to meet God, there had to be a substitute. There had to be a sacrifice, there had to be blood. And just like the blood that was over the doorposts and the angel deaths passed over to come to the temple during Passover, you had to have a sacrifice that was unblemished.

But these people were coming from very far away. So did they bring their, their lamb or did they bring their, uh, if they were poor, did they bring their dove? Did they bring their pigeon? They didn't. They would bring money and they would buy at the temple courts. If you notice, it says in verse 14, in the temple, he found those that were selling oxen and sheep and pigeon and the money changers sitting there. So let's stop. Um, they were selling ox oxygen and sheep and pigeons.

That wasn't a bad thing in itself because they were doing a service. People traveling super far. Uh, you know, when you're traveling on a long trip, sometimes you forget something. I mean, hopefully you don't forget the important things. But they didn't have cars and they had to take, they could not take their sacrifice. Then maybe something would happen to it.

They didn't know it'd get accepted. So people would actually sell, uh, what they needed to bring to meet God. And what they were doing was they raised the prices. They raised the prices. I don't know if it's 50%, 20%, but every, uh, pastor I listened to and study, it was extortion. So people were coming to meet God and they were raising the prices of the animal. And then sometimes, uh, they not sometimes right beside them, we're the money exchangers. Now, the money exchangers, if you've ever traveled, which I'm sure everybody's traveled, you go to a different country, they don't always take the US dollar, right?

So you have to exchange it into pesos or cordova or lon or whatever. And sometimes these exchange rates are a bummer, aren't they? Your dollar doesn't go that far. So the exchange rate, they jacked up the exchange rate too and made it way more expensive. And what I read is that the, the high priest was in collusion with the, uh, people selling the animals and the money changers.

And they were making crazy money off people seeking God. And this is what God, Jesus, very, very upset. And where, where were they selling? Um, if we can go back up to the, the image again, in the past, outside the temple courts, they used to, uh, sell the animals so that they could bring the animal into, uh, the area so they can meet God on the day of Passover.

But what had happened is that outside realm was the court of the Gentiles, and they put all the animals and the money changers inside the court of the Gentiles. And what people say is it became like a big noisy flea market in the house of the Lord. Jesus sees this, and he actually is righteously angry. Jesus does get angry sometimes. He gets righteously angry.

And does he immediately, uh, go, go ballistic, go nuclear on them? No. It says in verse 15, he made a whip of cords. Now, I don't know how long it takes to make a whip of chords. And I did see Indiana Jones last month and it was pretty good. The c g O is a little different. You know, it wasn't a leather whip. Tim Keller actually says that it was like some type of little branches.

So we made like a whip that was, I don't know, it was mellow. Uh, John MacArthur says there was a bunch of ropes around there. So he made a a, a whip of rope. But there were thousands of people inside the gentle, inside the gentile courts. And his zeal and his passion drove them out. He said in 15, he drove them all out of the temple, the sheep and the oxen. He poured out the coins of the money changers.

He overturned their tables. And it says, he told, or I say, he rebuked or yelled to those who sold pigeons, take things, things away. Do not make my father's house a house of trade. And then his disciples, remember that zeal for your house will consume me. Why was he so angry? Why was he so angry? Because the place where God had put his face and said, meet me here, had been exchanged from a place of prayer, meditation, worship the glory of God to a hustle and bustle, financial, corrupt system, making it hard for people to know and meet God and this God Jesus so upset. Also, another reflection is that outside it seemed religious. They kind of, they had all the courts, they had the temple.

They were almost doing the right thing, but it had become mechanical and not inward. Third, he made it hard for the Gentiles. I mean, God is, is and was the God of the Jews, the Jews that have faith in Jesus. But there's something special about the Jews. They were his people. He formed them out of Abraham. He gave them the land. He gave them the temple.

But he also said in Isaiah 56 that I want the nations to come worship me. And they were making it so hard for Gentiles to know and meet God. Uh, notice also it says, uh, he says to those who sold pigeons take things. Why would he say and focus that attention on those who sold doves and pigeons? Well, if you were super poor, you could not afford a lamb, you could not afford an oxen.

So all you could buy in front of everybody and everybody could kind of see it. It's almost like if we went time forgiving and said, Hey, everybody give and we get to see what everybody gives all at the same time. Go, Ooh, that person's extra religious. Oh, I don't, this is kind of embarrassing. I have like a dollar. I don't know.

So the people that could only afford a dove and a pigeon, he was super upset because they were making it hard. The religious system, he was make it hard for the poor to know and meet God. And then because of the hustle and the bustle and the uh, the cold metallic religiosity, there were actually big-hearted Jewish people that wanted to meet God.

And the corruption of the leaders had blown it. Reflection on this is, um, you know, again, he says it's for the poor. It's for the nations and, and people that a big hearts wanna meet God. And these were the religious leaders make making a mockery and hypocrisy of God. And there's one, one time I was in Nicaragua and we were at a church. It was, had a great reputation and there was a visiting pastor from Guatemala and he started and we're using the translator.

'cause my Spanish was about 30% of the time. Now it's like 50%. Um, and we're using the translator and there's me and my team and I was like, low man in the totem pole. And there's like 12 of us. And there's all these pastors that had come from the United States that they were gonna sponsor orphans connected to these churches. And I don't know, I started hearing this visiting preacher say Mercedes b m w, you know, he's speaking Spanish. But he would say those, you're going, what?

What? And I start looking, you know, and everybody's getting excited and you know, they're dancing. It's the time of giving and I'm all, my heart starts beating, start getting angry. And I looked at him, I'm all dude, is he saying that if you give financially, God's gonna give you a Mercedes? Is he saying? And they're like, dude, I think so.

And there was this guy that worked at the orphanage, this just really sweethearted guy married, had one kid and he had one motorcycle. He would help the orphanage and he was the groundskeeper and gatekeeper and all that kind of stuff. And he was there at church and he was had one motorcycle. He went up there during time of worship and he's dancing, takes his keys, gives it to the pastor, and people were, he was promising that if you give a certain amount financially, God is gonna meet you in a special way. God is gonna bless you.

And I got so angry I didn't do what Jesus did, but I got so angry. Another this angers God, by the way, this angers God. Okay? Uh, another little quick story is I was in Mexico with a, with a friend, uh, named Todd, uh, Todd, you know Todd. And um, I was going to do a surf session. I kept getting this call from this weird number like blowing me up.

And then finally I picked it up and there's a sweet lady from Australia know Is this Joe Brandy of Unity Forin? I said, yes. Not realizing Australia and Mexico, my phone bill ended up being crazy from that phone call. It was like 50 bucks. Um, she's like, well, did you get the money I received? I gave. I'm like, no, what are you, what are you talking about? And I'm looking it up and she's like, well, I gave $10,000 to Unity orphans. I'm like, really? And I calling, I look, well, no, we don't see any record of te She's all what?

'cause prophet so and so said, if you give this money and you sow a seed, you're going to get some blessing from God. And what they had done is made a fake, uh, unity orphans page and people were giving to Unity four orphans. And they were embezzling the money. And we had to have a couple conversations. I'm all, look at this is me on the website. Why would I lie? They're all, they said, you would lie. You're a bad guy. I am like, what?

I have nothing to hide. Like whatever. When, when religion and money. And by the way, one thing I love about this church and different pastors have different stances is that Pastor Adam never knows what you're giving. Just think about that. Okay? So, um, God gets upset when religious systems make it hard for those who want to meet him, not able to meet him.

And they start to twisting it. So God, the God man makes a whip of cords. He turns over the tables, he drives people out in righteous anger. And he says, what's the solution? What's the solution? This temple that God had said, this should be a light in the to the nations because I'm gonna put my special presence there. And you need to during Passover and other times, you need to bring a sacrifice because I'm holy and the soul that sin shall die.

Uh, you have to have something die in your place to meet me, but then you can enter and and pray to me and be filled by me. And year after year after year, uh, the religious leaders, the Jewish people, I mean today we can do it too, had corrupted. And 5 86 going back before time, God had prophesied to Isaiah that your sacrifices have become an abomination to me. Your sacrifices so much outwardly, but inwardly, your hearts are so far for me. And in 5 86, Babylon destroyed the temple.

Later, many years later, they rebuilt the temple. Uh, Herod had rebuilt the temple and it become the same thing. There might be a a scripture from Isaiah Jeff in Isaiah 56. And Jesus, when he quotes the scripture, is hearkening to this scripture and the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister him who love his name. And to his servants, everyone who ke keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it and holds fast my covenant, these I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house, a house of prayer.

Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. It was not a house of prayer for all peoples that had become something different. So Jesus says, destroy this temple in verse 19 and three days, I will rise it up. Jesus not just cleanses the temple, but he is creating a new temple in himself. Destroy this temple and I will raise it up again.

The temple was a sacred space, a where people could meet God and Jesus, the eternal son of God, the eternal logos stepped into time, born of the virgin, obeyed perfectly where Israel had failed, where Adam had failed, where we have failed to obey the 10 Commandments. And then on Passover, he enters the temple and he brings himself as the sacrifice, the perfect lamb that would sacrifice himself. And then the Father, the spirit and himself raise his destroyed body, his destroyed temple from the grave.

Then he, after he resurrects, ascends up to the Father at the right hand. And then for hall belief, he pours out the spirit making everybody who believes in God a new temple of God. Subjectively, personally, you become when you receive by faith and you receive the spirit, a temple of the Holy Spirit. When we all get together corporately on Sunday or midweek, we are his temple.

But it first started as Jesus being the new temple. He says, destroy this temple. The temple was destroyed in Ad 70. They say when the Romans burned it, like there was literally no stone. Jesus steps into the temple and he gets destroyed. All the stones of God's wrath get put on him, put on that spotless lamb. And for those who say, I need a Jesus, I need a spotless lamb to die for me to be a substitute for me.

He says, by faith you can come into me. You can come into my father's house and I into them. Have you put your faith in Jesus? Is he inside you? Are you inside him? Is he your temple? And are you a temple of the Holy Spirit? It says Jesus turned tables. Jesus turned the tables, he poured out the money. Have your tables been turned over by God?

Are you holding onto sins and things that he wants to pour out to ask you to repent and believe and pour out? He says that everybody that comes to him, he's gonna rearrange the furniture of your life. There's always people in in the audience. There's people that, that, that love Jesus. Here, there's people that are sick and there's people that maybe got drug here.

They're like, I'm, I'm just going, okay, mom said I had to. I don't know. Um, so there's always a mixed audience in, in the visible church. But if you want to meet God, if you want to receive the Holy Spirit, if you want Jesus to be your Passover lamb, you have to let him rearrange the furniture of your life. He has to be Lord.

You have to stop being Lord if you've already put your faith in him. This is called the area of sanctification where he is slowly conforming you into the image of his glorious son throughout time. And sometimes it's not always like this, it's like, you know, but it's always gonna slowly go up in this realm of sanctification.

If you have believed in the Lord Jesus, if he is your substitute, what are some areas of the furniture of your life that you won't let him overturn? You're not, I'm holding on to this precious part. I won't let you touch it. God doesn't mean you're not a Christian, but that's an area of life that he's, he's the Holy Spirit is whispering to you.

Like, let it go. Let me rip this out of your life so I can grow something more, more beautiful. Jesus said He is the new temple. He replaces that physical temple. And then three, Jesus makes us a new temple. I already kind of alluded to it, but in one Corinthians three 16, I don't know if I have that scripture out there, Jeff. Excellent.

Um, one Corinthians three 16, do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the spirit of God dwells in you? Do you not know if anyone defiles the temple of God? We don't need to read that part. That's kind of gnarly. But uh, do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the spirit of God dwells in you? Do you know, do you know this is so, um, honoring and beautiful and it's also so weighty at the same time.

We are by faith and spirit a new creation. He has come made his abode personally in us. Has he made his personal dwelling in you? God knows your heart. This can be the time to meet him today. And he corporately has made us a new temple. Do you realize that when he bound himself in a sense to the geogra geographical region of Jerusalem in the temple, people had to come to that geographical area to meet God in a special way. And when he allowed, and I know it was tragic, the destruction of the physical Roman temple in AD 70.

And then he steps in to be the temple and he is destroyed in the place of sinners to turn them into sons and daughters. If they have faith, the geographical, um, dimension of the kingdom of God is released and it's expanded. So that right now, I don't know, sometimes like when I preach I get very focused. Sometimes when I show up and I'm not preaching, I'm, you know, I'm tired and I end up getting the spirit by about the third worship song.

But you know, sometimes we just come to church, we don't really realize what's fully happening. If you have believed in Christ, the new temple of God and you have the Holy Spirit, you are the temple. And we corporately it says in Peter are like living stones together. This is the temple of God, the church all over the nations, all over the world.

Do you understand that deep identity? I think if we do understand that deep identity that I am a, a holy temple, it can change everything. It's also very convicting. Um, in Peter says, we're living stones being built up. CSS Lewis, I didn't get the quote written in there, but this is such a amazing quote. C s Lewis said, there are no ordinary people.

You have never talked to a mere mortal. Think about that. You've never talked to a mere mortal. What does he mean? He means that we will live forever because God made us in his image. And you can live forever in glory if you have the Holy Spirit. If you're following Jesus or if you don't believe in Jesus the true temple, the Passover lamb, then your forever will be in darkness.

It will be in judgment. It's a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. And Jesus fell into the hands of living God. But that living God like Abraham, when he slayed Isaac or tried to slay Isaac had the sword. The Father, the Holy Father had the sword and poured out his holy, righteous justice on his son. But it says somewhere in scripture that it was his joy to lay his life down because he loves you. For God so loved the world, he gave his only son that for whoever will believe shall not perish, have eternal life.

And someday that you're already in the temple of God, you hopefully you taste and see and sense the presence of God. But someday you will be in the future realm of God in the new heavens and new earth. And then lastly, Jesus came to the temple and cleanse the temple. Jesus is the temple. He makes us a new temple. And now we are called to live as a temple.

We're called to live as a temple. Philippians two 12. Philippians two 12 is such a mysterious verse with attention of God's sovereignty and our responsibility. Do you ever struggle with that? Like God's sovereignty? But my responsibility, some of us are like focused too much on what I do and my focus, you know, like I have to do this, I have to do that. It's all on me. Yeah, I believe God but it's all on me. And other people are so sovereign. You've God, like God is so sovereign you could do anything. You know, like he's got in control.

And this verse when it speaks about us living as a temple has both. Therefore my beloved, as you've always obeyed, not all of us always obey Anna. Uh, therefore my beloved as you always obeyed. So now, not only my presence but much more my absence. This part work out your salvation with fear and trembling. That's don't read that next, I'll read it in a second.

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Why? 'cause God's holy Spirit lives in you. You're not a mere mortal. You are special because you're made in the image of God. God sent his son to die for you and be your Passover lamb and you have the Holy Spirit in you. So therefore this is a great honor. We're reflecting our God so therefore do what's right. But next, that's a lot of pressure for its God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. I'm gonna read that again for it.

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Yes, I'm gonna do, I'm gonna repent of this. I'm gonna clean myself up. No for its God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do you realize there's so much happening behind the scenes that God is doing that you are not even aware of? Hasn't there been times where, you know some friend comes up to you and says, man, you've grown so much in that area. And you're like, really? I didn't see that.

It's 'cause God is doing it by his grace as you participate in walking with him and being the temple of God. One Peter two, four says, as we come to him, I don't think I gave this to you, Jeff, I'm gonna read it to you. One Peter two, four, as we come to him, the living stone temple language, you also like living stones are being built into a spiritual house. Do you realize when, right now we are actually part of God's house?

Do you realize when you leave this you are God's little mini temple walking around? I don't always realize that. I forget, we are called to meet together in Hebrews 10. Do we encourage each other all the more to keep walking in the ways of God? And as we close, even though God calls us to be clean and be a temple that is very uh, that's due, that's law. And God calls us to do things. He calls us to obey.

But do any of us perfectly obey? I don't perfectly obey. I don't perfectly obey. But Jesus perfectly obeyed. And even in the command when he says, work out your salvation or be a temple, even when you're on the path trying to do what's right. I mean I've seen this now like a family will go on a vacation. They've saved up money, they made preparations. You know, they got somebody to watch the dog.

They got all this stuff working out and then in an act of love, the father and the mom are going to pick your place. And along the way the kids start fighting. Or maybe there's just me and my sister in the backseat. You know, this is my line, Gina. Don't cross over it. And I remember my dad pulling me over just screaming at me and stuff.

And sometimes when we're on our way to do good things, family vacations, or even trying to serve as a volunteer in church or even be in small group, we're gonna sin against one another. We're gonna sin against one another. So in words, we're trying to do good things, God's gonna show us our sin. And that's why we need the gospel that he that didn't sin would become sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God and church.

I wanna read from Revelation chapter 21 as we close and we go into communion. Revelation 21, this is, well, all the parts of the sermon are important, but I think this is, if you can get this vision, if just anchored in your mind's eye, deep in your soul, everything will change. 'cause this is where we're going. Revelation 21. I did not see a temple in the city.

This is the future, the future world. No, I'm done. I did not see a temple in the city because the Lord God Almighty in the lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine in it for the glory of God gives it light and the lamb is the lamp. Can you see that church, the nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.

On no day will its gates ever be shut for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the lambs book of life in the present. If you are in Christ, if you put your faith in Christ, you are his temple. If you have not put your faith in Christ, you are not part of his temple, we strongly encourage you to put your faith in your trust in Jesus, the Passover lamb that died for you, the temple that was destroyed for you so you can enter God's house. Have you, for those who have put their faith in him right now, we are always experiencing the family of God, but there is a future world where we will be with the lamb and the Father and they will be the temple, they will be the light, and we get to bask in his glory. Let's pray.