Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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Well, let's turn our attention now
to John, Chapter two, on the
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second half of this chapter. So
after Jesus displayed his divine authority over nature,
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as we read last week, in
his turning water into wine, we
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see another demonstration of his Divine Authority
today in an act of Judgment on the
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temple and the people doing business there. And he also prophesies about his resurrection.
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Let's hear God's Word Now and learn
what we can of him and the
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Kingdom of God. John to thirteen
through twenty five, I'm sorry, through
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twenty two. The Passover the of
the Jews was at hand and Jesus went
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up to Jerusalem. In the temple, he found those who were selling oxen
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and sheep and pigeons and the money
changers sitting there and making a whip of
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cords. He drove them all out
of the temple with the sheep and the
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oxen, and he poured out the
coins of the money changers and overturned their
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tables and he told those who sold
the pigeons take these things away, do
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not make my father's house a house
of trade. His disciples remembered that it
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was written zeal for Your House will
consume me. So the Jews said to
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him, what sign do you show
us for doing these things? Jesus answered
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them, destroy this temple and in
three days I will raise it up.
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The Jews then said, it is
taken forty six years to build this temple
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and you will raise it up in
three days. But he was speaking about
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the temple of his body. When, therefore, he was raised from the
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dead, his disciples remembered that he
had said this and they believed the scripture
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and the word that Jesus had spoken. I'm an God, bless his word
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to us. Please be seated.
We can see from the end of this
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little section that I read in John
Chapter Two that it's written from the perspective
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or the assumption that you you know
the end of the story already right.
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It's written from this perspective that you
already have a sense of what's going to
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happen and in fact, what does
happen. So in verse twenty two,
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it says when, therefore he was
raised from the dead, his disciples remembered
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that he had said this and they
believe leave to the Scripture and the word
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that Jesus had spoken. John writes
this whole book, in fact, for
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this same purpose, not just for
himself and his belief, but also for
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yours. He writes these events,
he records these things by the inspiration of
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the Holy Spirit, so that,
along with the disciples, you might also
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remember what he said here in chapter
two. Believe the scripture and the word
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that Jesus had spoken and, as
John will say later at the end of
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the Gospel, and by believing,
have eternal life in his name. This
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is an amazing thing, and it
is the central message of scripture that this
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resurrection that Jesus Talks about here,
this thing and which we believe and we
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depend, changes us and affects us
in such a way that we also then
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participate in this resurrection, an astounding
thing. By believing in him and what
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he did, we come to share
in it. I'm not sure how,
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what more I can say to impress
on you, then, the importance of
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hearing God's word in this passage.
It has to do with your own eternal
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life, it has to do with
the things of eternity. With that said,
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and hopefully your ears pricked a little
bit plucked up, consider this striking
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contrast, in a way, with
the last story we heard about Jesus.
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This last story that John recorded was
about Jesus making wine. In the previous
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story, Jesus Saves a party and
then all of a sudden, Jesus Ruins
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one, not a party, of
course, but business trade that was going
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on in the temple. Nevertheless,
despite these sort of striking contrast, Jesus
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does reveal something to us about himself, about his mission, I'm something that
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we can and ought to believe in. So consider what Jesus says here.
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Let's make sure that we understand what's
going on. It might help to begin
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by explaining a few examples about this
or explaining a few things about the setting.
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John tells us that this event happened
just before the Passover. The Passover
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was a major Jewish feast that happened
once a year. John Mentions Three Passovers
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in his Gospel, which is,
by the way, one reason we believe
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that Jesus as ministry lasted about three
years long. The Passover was a significant
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festival that celebrate did how God rescued
his people out of Egyptian slavery. Those
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events are recorded in a book called
Exodus, a word that means a going
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out or a leaving from somewhere.
The people left Egypt, but it wasn't
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just sort of going on a trip
or moving on to a new place.
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They were leaving because God had rescued
them out of Egypt. God's people had
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been bound in slavery and the King
of Egypt, Pharaoh as he was known,
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would not let those people go.
God put on Pharaoh and on the
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people of Egypt plague after plague after
plague, ten of them at all,
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the final one being this plague in
which the angel, the Angel of the
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Lord, would pass over these over
all the houses of Egypt, and anyone
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that did not have the blood of
a lamb spread on that house would lose
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the life of the firstborn son in
that house. And so in Egypt that
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night there was great wailing and crying
as many, many, many homes lost
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their family members, their sons,
except, of course, the people of
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Israel that had the blood spread over
so that the angel of the Lord passed
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over those homes and they were rescued, they were saved from judgment. That's
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what they're celebrating here. They're celebrating
this festival in which God has saved them,
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has brought them out of slavery.
And you remember, as I often
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say that when God rescues his people, he doesn't merely rescue them out of
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something, he rescues them to something. He's brings them out of slavery of
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Egypt so that he can bring them
into a promised land, so that he
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can establish true worship with them,
with him as their God. The Passover
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celebrated these things, but it was
even more than that, you know.
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The Passover also looked forward to a
new exodus as well, a greater exodus
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in which, through someone who was
greater than Moses, who would establish a
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covenant that was better than Moses,
would lead people out of the slavery of
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Sin Itself, the tyranny of death
itself, would bring them into a land,
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a kingdom that could never be shaken
ever again, that would be free
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of all enemies and all tyranny,
a place that would be a comfortable and
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happy and blessed forever. But we
often call heaven or describe of as the
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new creation, remade, glorified one
that Jesus. His promise is to be
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revealed fully before our eyes on the
last day. The temporal oppression that Israel
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faced under Egypt was was an example
and and showed us or symbol in some
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ways, of the internal oppression and
the spiritual oppression that we face under the
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tyranny of the evil one, tyranny
that Jesus rescues us from. So all
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this is tied up in this word, pass over. They're celebrating the Passover,
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they're celebrating this past event, but
also with a sense that God has
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promised a new event. And here
comes Jesus on the Passover into the temple,
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this new Moses, this one that
is greater than John The baptist,
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this one who has been sent from
heaven and self the Messiah, has come.
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And what does he find in the
Temple of God? What does he
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find in the House of God?
Ungodly things. He finds people, taking
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this place that was supposed to be
holy, a place that was supposed to
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be a place of worship, and
turning it into a place of business,
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a place where Mun me and temporal
things are being focused on. We're adding
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to one's own personal wealth and power
and authority was the focus, instead of
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worshiping the one who is all powerful. It's similar actually, in some ways
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to Moses. He brings his people
out of out into the desert. You
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remember, he goes up on Mount
Sinai receives the law, comes down and
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what does he find? The People
Worshiping the God who just rescued them.
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Know they had made a golden calf
and we're saying these are your gods who
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brought you out of Egypt. Moses
was pretty upset about that. If you
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go and you read those stories,
you will you'll remember that Jesus does something
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similar here too. Zeal for the
Lord's House and the things of the Lord
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consumes him, something that's testified to
in the prophets concerning the Messiah. This
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zeal just demonstrates all the more that
he is the one, he is the
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Lord of this temple himself. This
is not just God's house, as God
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himself, it is his house,
his house that was meant to be a
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place in which God and his people
would come together, in which there would
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be the forgiveness of sins, in
which there would be communion and worship and
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closeness. God says, I will
be your God and you will be my
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people, established this temple and I
will be with you and I will dwell
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with you this place where there was
supposed to be a communion and connection and
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intimacy and forgiveness. All of these
things, things symbolized in the building itself,
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in the priests who are there and
the sacrifices they were offered. All
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of it was thrown out the window
and transformed into this show, a money
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making event. The eternal things,
the glorious things, the things of the
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immortal God, were being rejected for
temporal things, the glory of Man and
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his money. Idolatry, you have
to see, is really just a new
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form of slavery. When we were
rescued out of our slavery of Sin,
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unto the false worship of of God
or the or the false worship of another
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God, to give our highest love
to something that is undeserving of that love
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is just to fall right back into
slavery again. It's to leave one cage
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and move into another, and that's
not God's intention for his people. God
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gave himself in these ways. God
rescues us in these ways so that we
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can be close to him, not
a supreme power of our imagination, not
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some other God, but him and
Jesus, as we read in the trevious
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story and the story about Jesus turning
water into wine. Manifested his glory.
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He is showing us God himself and
all of God. Jesus didn't come to
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play the part of pretend religiosity,
to puff up people in their ambitions that
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have nothing to do with God.
Why did Jesus Come? Jesus came to
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bringing true, lasting personal connection between
God and Man. That's what true worship
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is all about. It's not about
coming and putting on a show, it's
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about communing with God. That's what
the temple was about, and that's why
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Jesus was so upset. Man had
come into this relationship between the Lord and
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his people and was mucking it all
up, defiling it, ignoring it,
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even destroying those things which were bringing
salvation. And so Jesus Acts as God
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always acts. He saves. He
saves and with the Authority of one who
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belongs there, whose belongs to the
House, who owns the house, he
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judges those and brings wrath on those
who would not honor God. When you
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think about it that way, Jesus, his actions don't seem so harsh anymore.
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He's saving his people, he's protecting
his people, he's driving out the
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wedge which would come between him and
those whom he loves. It would seem
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them in that the only way to
impute bad things to Jesus, we hear,
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is if you have a very low
conception of God and his love.
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But when we think of God and
his purposes and his power, what Jesus
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does here is he is protecting,
he is guarding, he is holding fast
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his people. Imagine someone broke into
the home of a family and the father
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of the household got up and he
sees the thief standing there and he says,
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just take whatever he want. You
know, I really don't love these
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people that much. What would you
think of that father? Would you think
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that he was a good husband,
a good father, that he loved of
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those who belong to him? You
remember the story of of Lot, when
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these angels come to Sodom and go
mora and lat says here, take my
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daughter. It's hard to think of
a lot is acting. Well, they're
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right, what are you doing?
Jesus isn't doing that here. He sees
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this threat and he faces it.
Jesus is going to do the same thing
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when he goes to the Cross and
he faces it, except there, instead
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of the way that he deals with
the tyranny of sin and the evil one
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that drives a wedge between us and
God. He deals with it permanently.
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He deals with it finally by taking
that judgment that is deserved against sin on
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himself. The Lord is zealous over
his temple, and it is right for
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us to remember that. The scriptures
testify to us that we are his temple,
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that this Old Testament temple would one
day be destroyed, and it would,
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and what would raise up in his
place would be the body of Christ,
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both his physical body and all are
who are united to that body through
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the spirit which is you. Peter
testifies to this and he says that we
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are the temple of the Living God. We are like living stones being built
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up in which the Holy Spirit himself
dwells. That's an amazing thing. When
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Jesus comes into this temple and Cleans
House, he does a similar thing on
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the cross. He Cleans House,
he removes sin, he takes away the
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things that would keep us not only
from worshiping God in his temple but being
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the temple himself in which the Holy
Spirit, in which the Holy Spirit,
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dwells. And so this is what
is going on here. The Jews,
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of course, are very upset about
this and they say what sign do you
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show us for doing these things?
It's another way of saying what gives you
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the right? By what authority?
Prove it? Prove what you will do.
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And what's Jesus's response? He says, destroy this temple and in three
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days I will raise it up.
They're incredulous. Verse Twenty. It is
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taken forty six years to build this
temple. Another detail, by the way,
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which helps us with dating issues.
But they say it's taken forty six
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years to build this temple and you
will raise it up in three days.
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Absolutely because we read that he was
speaking about the temple of his body.
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It might be tempting to think that
Jesus is being overly coy here, or
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maybe that he's not even telling the
truth, but it's not the case,
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because what we read is that the
temple was always connected with him and his
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people, him and his body.
He comes to establish the new worship of
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God, to establish something that the
temple was always pointing forward to, and
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that's exactly what he does. When
Jesus dies on the cross, when Jesus
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takes on all the sins of those
whom he was dying for and he forgives
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them all they are and his blood
atones for them all. He does it
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in a way that is perfect and
final, and we know that by his
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resurrection, in which he raises himself
from the dead. An amazing thing,
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and the scriptures testify to us that
this resurrection of Jesus from the dead is
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just a foretaste of our own resurrection
when we believe in Him. Paul talks
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about it as the first fruits of
the resurrection of the dead. When you
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go out and you look at your
your let's say your grapefruit tree, and
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you see the first fruit hanging there, it reminds you that all the rest
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is coming. We're to think about
the resurrection of Jesus like that. Jesus
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is resurrection from the dead. Was
Not just this one remarkable thing in history.
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It was that first thing that happened, which shows that all the rest
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is coming. Your own resurrection from
the dead is spoken about here. You
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belong to him, his body,
his temple, his life. All of
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this happening here, as I said, on the Passover, this great moment
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when God rescues himself or rescues his
people out of slavery, and it happens
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through the blood of the lamb.
It pointed to Jesus on the cross,
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our Passover lamb, who takes on
the judgment of God for sins so that
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we might be saved from them.
Let's praise and thank God for our salvation
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and him
