 Let's begin reading in chapter 21 of Matthew at verse 12. I'll read to verse 17, and we'll get into our study. Matthew writes, 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 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. So allow me to give a little context. I'm gonna start again like I've been doing recently. I'm just letting you know that I wanna build some layers so that we can get to an application. It takes a little while to give you the layers, but hopefully once they've been laid, you'll be able to see. So that would be a reason that Jesus would get angry because that's what we're looking at today in the cleansing of the temple. And so as we begin, Jesus entered into the city of Jerusalem, last time we were together, we saw this and he had been riding on a donkey. And so when you look at Jesus's, what is called the triumphal entry, when you see him entering into the city of Jerusalem, you know, Matthew basically stopped at that. So by including other observations inspired writings, we get a more full picture of what was taking place. And so one of the other gospel writers, Mark gave us more insight because in his gospel, in Mark chapter 11 verse 11, he writes that Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when he had looked around at all things as the hour was already late, he went out to Bethany with the 12. And so Jesus looked around at all things. See, Matthew stops us where they're beginning to give him praise. Mark takes us a little bit further and he says he didn't just ride the donkey and all and get met by the two converging crowds. He didn't hear just the hosannas that were being sung, but he actually proceeded into the city of Jerusalem, went into the temple and he looked around. Now, as he was looking around, he was taking note of how congested it was. He could hear how loud it was. He could see how disorderly it was. And he could smell how smelly it was because there were animals in there. And so as he goes into this place, it is the temple of his father. It's the house of prayer for all nations. As he walks in there, it is in such chaos that it provokes him. He noted the merchants who were there. He saw the way that their business was being conducted. And then he returned to the city of Bethany about a mile and a half, two miles outside of Jerusalem. He spent the night there and undoubtedly was considering what he had seen. So in chapter 11 of Mark again, verses 12 through 15, Mark tells us that Jesus came out from Bethany and he went back to the temple. Now, when you're looking at the temple, let me give you some information about that to help you to understand what is taking place here because as Christians, we have a tendency of looking back and remembering that there was a temple in the city of Jerusalem during the time of Christ because we spend our time mostly reading the New Testament. But when you look into the history of Israel, you need to remember that Israel, when it was called out by God, actually had a deliverer that God used by the name of Moses. And when God began to move with the nation of Israel through the leadership of Moses, God commanded this leader, Moses to have a tabernacle built, which was a tent. It was a portable tent of meeting is what it was. And so they were building or they built or constructed a portable tent that was able to be taken on the journey as the children of Israel were wandering. You see, the temple became the center of Jewish worship. That's where they were to meet with God, but they had a tent of meeting from the time of the Exodus all the way to the conquering of Canaan. And so like I mentioned, under Moses, Israel at first met with God in a tabernacle. It says in Exodus 30, verse six, put the altar in front of the curtain that is before the Ark of the testimony, before the atonement cover that is over the testimony. And God said, where I will meet with you. So from the beginning, he was saying, this is where I will be meeting with you. It was portable and therefore was located in various sites over hundreds of years. It was in various cities. When you read your Old Testament, you'll see that the tabernacle was in a place called Gilgal or that it was in Bethel or it was in Gibeon. It spent around 350 years in a place called Shiloh. Now with this portable tent and all, ultimately what happened is God raised up a man by the name of David, King David. And King David was prospered by God. He was blessed by the Lord in a lot of ways. And we're told by Samuel in first Samuel that David had a heart after the Lord. And so he began to be grieved. And it says in second Samuel chapter seven, verse two, that David said to Nathan the prophet, here I am living in a house of cedar while the Ark of God remains in a tent. And it bothered him. He grieved his heart that he had a permanent structure that he lived in and yet the Ark of the Lord where God would meet with the nation of Israel through the priests and all. Well, that was in a portable tabernacle, a portable tent and he didn't like it at all. And so it was his desire to build the Lord a house but God would not allow King David to build him a house. As much as God was pleased with David for wanting to, God would not give him permission to build him a house. It says in first Chronicles chapter 28, verse three, David speaking, David said that God said to me, you shall not build a house for my name and gave the reason because you have been a man of war and you have shed blood. So God would not allow King David to build this temple. He wouldn't allow him to because David was a warrior and in battle he had killed people. So what God intended to do is God intended to allow David's son Solomon to build a house. You see, David drew up plans and David put away personal treasure but Solomon was the one who was given permission to build the house. You see, David knew that this house was intended to give glory to God. He said in first Chronicles 29, one that the temple is not for man. Now you have to keep this in mind. The temple is not for man but for the Lord God. So there's this mindset that the temple, the place where God is gonna meet with man is not for man's pleasure, it is for God. And so that gives you an insight. You see today in our day we have a tendency of reducing God and elevating man and so we say what's the big deal? Well during that day it was a huge deal. It was a huge deal because it wasn't built for my pleasure. This temple was not built so that I would enjoy it or even like the beauty of it. It wasn't built so that I'd enjoy the worship that went around it nor for me to enjoy the offerings that were being made. It wasn't made for a man to see all of these thousands of people coming and having their offerings offered to God and for us to say can you smell the savor of that flesh that is wafting to the nostrils of God as an offering? It wasn't for us. David said the temple is not made for man. The temple is made for God and so from the very beginning the temple of God was for God, not for man. He wasn't able to build it. His son Solomon was given permission to. It was built in Moriah on an area there in Jerusalem and the location, the general location of where Abraham was about to slay his son Isaac. Solomon built that temple and it was intended to be a permanent place of worship. And when you read at the conclusion of the construction of the temple, the prayer of Solomon, you get insight into how valuable it is in the sight of the people of God as well as obviously God himself. Because in First Kings chapter eight verses 28 through 30, a book in the Old Testament that speaks concerning this. Solomon prayed, give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy, oh Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said my name shall be there so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven your dwelling place and when you hear forgive. And so you see him dedicating this and the shekinah glory of God settled there in that temple his presence was made known. In First Kings nine verse three God answered and said to him I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me. I have consecrated this temple which you have built by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. Keep those things in mind because we have a way of reducing the importance of such things. But when you read your Bible you'll see that that temple was a very important place in the history and religion of Israel. It was where they met with God. And to this day many people will go to the Western wall the last remaining remnant of the structures that at one time had been there and they still pray. The Western wall is to this day regarded as a sacred site. Now there are those who say today that the Jews have no claim on that site. The temple never was there. I read that just this week. Where you'll have individuals who are speaking from the position of Islam. They'll say well there was never any proof that there was a temple there. I mean that goes on to this day. We need to remember that six centuries before Muhammad was born Christians and Jews were praying at that site. We know that the al-Aqsa mosque that is there on the temple mount now was built in 638. We know that between 685 and 691 they built the dome of the rock. And we know that centuries prior to them building that mosque and that domino for centuries prior to that that site was regarded as being a holy site by both Jews as well as Christians. During Jesus's time the temple was where the Jews would offer their sacrifice and that's where they would worship. And now Jesus is coming into the city of Jerusalem after making that triumphal entry. He's already walked in. He's already looked around. He's already taken it all in. He's already evaluated how it's being treated and what's been happening there. And all he went back to Bethany, came back the next day and he's about to go into the house cleaning business. He's about to deal with what's taking place. Now as you look at verse 12 it says Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple overturned the tables with the money changers, the seats of those who sold dubs. And so this is occurring if you were to look at a diagram of the temple it actually had four courtyards. And the exterior courtyard would have been what was called or the first courtyard that he entered into would be called the court of the Gentiles. The court of the Gentiles is just that Gentiles as well as Jews were permitted to enter into that area. They couldn't proceed any further under penalty of death. But the Gentiles, the non-Jews could enter into this courtyard. And so this is where this is taking place. It's in the courtyard of the Gentiles. And Jesus is walking into this area. And in this particular court rabbis would often teach, they would have their disciples and all and they would speak concerning the things of God and study and teach out of the Torah, the law of God and all. And in that temple there were tables. There were tables that were set up for money changers and also for dove merchants. And what had happened is it was made into a marketplace. These tables were set up, they were selling oxen and sheep, they were selling the dubs, the salt for Passover. And as mentioned earlier, it was very crowded, it was very noisy and exceptionally smelling because of all the animals and all that was there. And so it was just loud and it was chaotic in it. And it was not what it was designed to have been, it wasn't intended to become like one of the auctions that we have, one of the places that you enter into even today here in Chino and all. You can go to certain places where they're selling cattle or whatever and it smells. And that's how it was there. And it wasn't intended to be like that, it was being desecrated. It was being profaned and the pilgrims that were entering in were being robbed. You see, there was a prophet being made off of the sincere pilgrims who had come to celebrate the Passover. And what had happened is this, you see the officials had established a way to make money off of the pilgrims. You see, in order to celebrate Passover, it was necessary to bring an offering. And so what they did is they had concession stand fees and the priests had actually established inspectors who would look at the animals that were brought for sacrifice and they did it as if they were honoring the law as it relates to acceptable offerings. You see, in the Old Testament, there are different laws that are given concerning the offerings that you make. And so they said that they were simply following Levitical guidelines. In the Old Testament book of Leviticus chapter 22, verse 21 following, it says, when anyone brings from the herd or flock a fellowship offering to the Lord to fulfill a special vow or as a free will offering, it must be without defect or blemish to be acceptable. Do not offer to the Lord the blind, the injured or the maimed or anything with warts or festering or running sores. Do not place any of these on the altar as an offering made to the Lord by fire. And so they had regulations. And so a hireling priest who was hired to be the inspector naturally would find a blemish. And when he found a blemish on the offering, they would confiscate that and they would basically sell something that was pre-inspected. And so often it's recorded that the pilgrim would pay up to 10 times the value of the animal. And there were so many people, so many hundreds of thousands of people that were bringing offerings, the prophet was incredible. They also had what was called the temple maintenance tax. So if I came in, I was obligated to pay a tax to maintain the temple and all. And so if I came in and I was from an outside country and I brought in whatever the currency was of my country, I went to the money changer and when I went to the money changer and I gave you my money, he would give me my money back but he would charge me 25% interest. So these people were being ripped off completely in the sale of the offerings that they would pay too much for as well as the exchange of the money, the money changers and the offerings. And that's what you see in verse 12 when it says Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all of those who bought and sold in the temple, overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. That's what was taking place. Jesus went in and cleansed it. And so he drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple. This is what we're gonna be looking at. We're gonna be looking at righteous indignation, righteous anger, because that's what he has. He responded with righteous indignation towards those who were doing such a thing. Where do we get insight into why he would act that way? Well, Psalm 69 verse nine says it like this, because zeal for your house has consumed me. Zeal for your house has eaten me up. There is something within the Lord Jesus Christ when he came walking in and he saw what was taking place that the zeal for God, for his honor, for concern for those kinds of things that consumed him and that's what drove him to do what he did. As a matter of fact, Mark tells us in chapter 11 verse 16 that Jesus would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. What he was doing was exercising absolute control over the temple. You see, one of the things, and I wanted to speak a little bit about this today with you, one of the things that we have about the Lord Jesus Christ is we look at Jesus meek and mild. And indeed he is. I mean, just before he had just come in and arrived in on the fall of a donkey and he was demonstrating that he was a king coming in peace. He wasn't coming to make war. He was coming in in order to demonstrate that he was with humility bringing peace to those who would receive him. And when you look at the ministry of Christ over and over again, that's what you see in him, don't you? You see the grace of God, the love of God, the humility, you see all of that meekness and kindness that he has, you see all of that. And we have a tendency of only seeing that. But we need to remember that the lamb of God is also the lion of the tribe of Judah. The lamb is also a lion. I mentioned to you that when he came in on Palm Sunday riding on that donkey, it was symbolic of a king coming in peace. But Revelation speaks of him riding on a horse and he's making war. We have a tendency of seeing Jesus Christ meek and mild and we forget that he is also holy and righteous. And we also forget that he actually has indignation over those things that are displeasing to his father. What is it that got him so upset? He was so angry because they were desecrating the temple and disillusioning the people. And that got Jesus angry. And so is that the only time we see Jesus angry in scripture? Is that an exception to the rule? Well, the answer is no. There are many times that you see when you read your Bible that Jesus actually got upset or displeased with things. For example, there was a time, and we looked at this as we've been going through Matthew, but there was a time when Jesus was in a synagogue. And as Jesus was in the synagogue, there was a man there who was crippled. He had what is called in scripture, a withered hand. And Jesus sees this man with a withered hand. And then the Bible tells us very clearly that the religious leaders were watching him closely to see what he would do because they wanted to accuse him of violating the Sabbath by doing work. They were looking to see if Jesus would do something good on Shabbat on the Sabbath day. So they would find an accusation and they would say that this man doesn't keep the law of Moses. He violates it by working. And so as this has taken place, obviously Jesus saw right through him and he reacted. He knew they were watching him and Mark tells us that he called the man to himself and he asked the question of the people there who were watching him. Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath? So he asked the question, he confronts them. Well, at that point, these people refused to answer him. And Mark tells us what happens there in Mark chapter three, verse five. Speaking of Jesus, when he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of the hearts, he said to the man, stretch out your hand and he stretched it out and his hand was restored as whole as the other. He looked around at them with anger. All of us have had somebody look at us with anger. I guess. When somebody looks at you with anger, it depends on who that person is. If it's your kid, you say, yeah, go to bed. If it's your wife, you go to bed. It depends on who it is who's giving you that look, that look of anger. How do you think it would feel to have God himself look at you with anger? That's kind of uncomfortable, I would think. But that's what he did. He looked around, he asked the question, is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or evil? Save a man's life or to kill? That's a full question. Nobody said a thing. And the scripture says he looked around with anger. What caused him such anger? He knew their hearts were hardened. He knew they cared more about their religious customs than they did about a suffering man. And it angered him. When we get caught up being more concerned with things that really don't matter, it angers the heart of God. There was a time when some parents and friends were bringing children to Jesus so that Jesus might bless these children. And at first the disciples hindered them from doing so. Mark tells us in chapter 10, verses 13 and 14, they brought little children to him, that he might touch them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was greatly displeased. He said to them, let the little children come to me, do not forbid them for of such is the kingdom of God. He saw his disciples hindering people from bringing children to be blessed and it displeased him. There was an anger involved. We read another story about a man, he had a son who was demon possessed and he had brought this son to Jesus so that Jesus might cast the demon out. But Jesus was on the mountress figuration at the time and only the apostles were there. And so the man had brought his son to the apostles, they could do nothing. When Jesus came down from the mountain, the man came and spoke to Jesus and said, I brought my son who is severely demonized. Your men could do nothing about it, perhaps you can. And Jesus in Matthew 17, 17 answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to me. There is a frustration that is being evidenced by Christ. These are the things that make him angry. He was on his way to Jerusalem and once again Jesus was provoked to displeasure. It says in Luke 9, verses 51 through 56, it came to pass when the time had come for him to be received up, that he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem and sent messengers before his face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans to prepare for him. But they did not receive him because his face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them just as Elisha did, but he turned and rebuked them and said, you do not know what manner of spirit you are of. The Son of Man didn't come to destroy men's lives but to save them. They went to another village. It displeased him. It bothered him. He rebuked them because they didn't know what spirit that they were of. They didn't know that God wants to save lives. They weren't keeping that in mind. They were just getting upset and outraged because the city would not welcome him. You see the Lord Jesus Christ over and over and over again, showing his displeasure over certain things that normally related to people being kept from him or kept from hearing the things that he had to say or touching them. And that's what's taking place here in the temple. A place that was to be a place that was a house of prayer for all nations. A place where men and women were to come and worship God to make their offerings to pray. And he walks in and it smells like a place that is simply just filled with animals and the smell of those animals and the noise and the chaos and the money and all that's taken place there and it just got him so upset. And he was angry because his father's house was being desecrated. That's why he said in verse 13, it is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer. See what he does here is he combines two Old Testament verses to make his point. He combines Isaiah 56 verse seven where it says my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. He combines Isaiah 56 with Jeremiah seven verse 11 where it says has this house which bears my name become a den of robbers to you. This is my father's house. It is to be a house of prayer for all people. You have transformed it into a den of robbers. God intended the temple to be a place for people to worship. To see the temple desecrated in this way moved him to action and that's why he drives them out. It's a prayer. It's a place of prayer for all of the nations and faith in him. The Bible teaches very clearly was something he wants all people to enjoy not just the nation of Israel. Remember when Jesus early in his ministry began to send his disciples out to preach? At first he said you're not to go to the Gentiles. You're to be remaining with the house of Israel. In Matthew 10 verses five and six he had said do not go into the way of the Gentiles do not enter a city of the Samaritans go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But after his death and resurrection they are now to go throughout the world because God intends to bring all people to a saving faith in him. It's not just the nation of Israel. It is all people. God is calling all people to enjoy him to worship him, to love him, to serve him to be blessed by him. You know one of the beautiful pictures you find in the book of Revelation is chapter five verse nine. It says there, they sang a new song saying you are worthy to take the scroll to open its seals for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. All of us, you know heaven is a place that is integrated with all humanity with people and it doesn't matter what ethnicity or what nationality we might have claimed while we were on the face of the earth. I would remind you that there are no neighborhoods we'll say in Israel where the Hispanics live over here and the African Americans live over there and Native Americans and Asian Americans, you know, it's all just one family. I wish, here we go, I didn't put this in my notes but I'm going to say it anyway. I pray that we will get that. I pray that we will get that. I say this all the time when it comes to mind, I say it to this church because I think it's important to remember as a congregation. And here it is, the beginning of the year. Let us remember this. There is no white, there is no black, there's no Native American, there's no brown, there's no yellow, there is us. We belong together in Jesus Christ. We are the body of Christ. We need to remember that. We divided our nation, the Pluribus Unum and all of that, you know, out of the many one, has become out of the one many. And what happens is we have a tendency of isolating ourselves from other groups. Listen, if you're uncomfortable holding the hand of a person who's not of your ethnicity right now, what are you going to do in heaven? What are you going to do in heaven? I don't want to touch that white guy. I don't want to touch that brown guy. I don't want to touch that black guy. I don't want to touch that Asian guy. I don't want to touch that Native American, whatever. You know, what are you going to do in heaven? You know, we're all one in heaven. There's only, out of one blood, he made all human race, all human race. We belong together. And unless we understand that, we're going to still war and devour one another. We need to love one another in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what heaven's going to be. We put aside those silly barriers and we unite in the love of Christ and we're transformed because of him. We need to understand that. I want people who walk into the doors of this church to know one thing, that Jesus Christ is here. The Spirit of God is here. The love of God is here. And I don't care what color you are. You're my brother and my sister in Jesus Christ. That's the way it is. That we have to understand that. If we don't understand that, we are worldly and carnal. That's what we are. Worldly and carnal. We, my grandchildren, my grandchildren have a non-Hispanic father. So what? They're my babies. Our other grandchildren, it's Hispanic United Nations. Puerto Rican, Nicaragua, Mexican. They're one. My wife, Puerto Rican, Mexican, Indian. She's 26% Native American, you know? So love sees beyond that, doesn't it? Love sees beyond the barriers. Love straight in the eyes and says, this person loves Christ. I love Christ. We're one in Christ. And that's the way it's gonna work. And man, when we're in heaven and we're worshiping the Lord, it doesn't matter. Those barriers have been broken through Christ. We are one. It's the one new man, the one new person in Jesus Christ. That's what matters. And that's where my mind is. That's where I want us as a church to be. You walk in these doors, this is a place where we worship Jesus Christ. We don't make barriers here. We don't look at you and say, you can't sit there, you gotta sit over there. This is my seat, you know why? Because I sit here every week. No, we're together in the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't have to say that. It's not even there. It just came to my mind. But I believe that with all of my heart, all of my heart. When I went to Calvary Chapel for the first time, I was 20 years old. In Calvary Chapel, there were not very many Hispanics. I don't even know how come I call myself Hispanic. It's just something. I'm Chicano. I mean, that's how I was raised. And I never thought of it. So when I walked into Calvary for the first time, I did not walk insane. Look at all these white surfers and hippies. I don't belong here. I came in, I brought my burrito. A man, let's, no, I. There was something different about that place. I've said this to you recently. I'll say it again. There was something different about that place. It was love. Love. Love covers a multitude of sin. I felt accepted in a place. That wasn't a white place. Because remember with me, you wouldn't know this, many of you are too young. Calvary Chapel, when it began in the pastured, when I became a pastor out of the Calvary chapels, there were only three Mexicans that I knew. Only three out of two or 300 pastors. Only three. Raul, his brother Xavier and me. But we did not kind of hang together. You know, at the monoliths together. We didn't do that. You know what we did? We joined a brotherhood. There were no African-Americans. It was a surfer hippie kind of thing. But you know what? We were one with these people in Christ. That's what made the difference then. That's what makes the difference now. It's always been the love of Jesus Christ. Always. It's always been that. You know, and that's just the bottom line. No reason to tell you that? Just on my heart. Because I think of how worship is going to be. My house is a house of prayer for all nations. Not just for the Jews, but for anyone who wants to worship. We need to remember that. And that's what the Lord walks in and that's what he sees. It's a house of prayer. You have made it into a den of thieves. So the Lord was not happy about that at all. You are profiting off of the sincere worshipers. You should have known better and you're disillusioning those who have come in. Remember, religion has always sold well. Always. Peter speaks concerning this when he speaks of false teachers that would profit from the religious faith of people. In the church, in 2 Peter 2, he writes in verses 2 and 3, many will follow their, speaking of false teachers, many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed, these teachers will exploit you with stories they've made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them. Their destruction has not been sleeping. False teachers will make up stories and profit from you is what he's saying. That's religion's sales. Jesus consistently showed anger at religious profiteering in Matthew 23. We'll get there in about two years. In Matthew 23, in verse 14, he said, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widow's houses even while for a pretense, you make long prayers, therefore you shall receive greater condemnation. You're charging people. The more money they give you, the longer your prayers and you're ripping them off. You're using religion to profit. And as a result of that, the people are disillusioned by those who should have known better. The ones with the most knowledge were the most accountable. They were hypocritical. Listen and remember this always. Worship of God is joyful and believers should rejoice as we worship our God. He's worthy of worship and it causes our hearts to be filled with joy. So as this is taking place, he's so angry and he's cleansed it for that reason, you have desecrated the temple and disillusioned my people and thus I'm cleansing this. Well, when that happens, verse 14, the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, he healed them. And so they were given freedom to once again, he continues his ministry to the truly hungry and needy and they go once again brought to him so that he can minister to them. And his zeal became very attractive to those who had need. Well, as this is taking place, verse 15, when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did and the children crying out in the temple saying, Oh, it's honor to the son of David. They were angry, 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. Do you hear what they're doing? Do you hear what they're saying? Yes, I do. You see, what happens here is they get upset at the wonderful things he's doing. So it pushes the priests and scribes over the edge. It exposes their hypocrisy. And when people's hypocrisy is exposed, they don't necessarily always react in a very positive fashion, if you will. Mark tells us in chapter 11, verse 18, the scribes and the chief priests heard it, sought how they might destroy him, for they feared him, because all the people were astonished at his teaching, astonished at his doctrine. He exposed them and they lashed out at him for doing this. It's interesting how it says in verse 15 that the people were crying in the temple Hosanna to the son of David. But the religious leaders were angry. And so they even asked the question, do you hear what these are saying? And that's why Jesus said yes. And then he says, have you never read? Remember, I've been mentioning this to you. Perhaps you've heard this, maybe it's something new to you now. When Jesus is speaking to the religious leaders and he says, have you never read? That's a slam. That's a rebuke. Because these are people who prided themselves in the knowledge of Scripture. These are the ones who ransacked the Scriptures. They would go through the Bible. They memorized the Bible. They memorized many commentaries and things related to Scripture. These were the religious experts. It's like speaking to a doctor of theology and saying, haven't you ever read this? It's a slam. It's a rebuke. PhD, a THD, are you asking me if I've ever read the Gospel of Mark? Are you kidding me? I've written commentaries on it, and a doctor of theology could say, well, so that's what Jesus is saying to them. Have you never read? Have you not read with understanding? There's a difference between reading and reading with understanding. I can read various languages if they're written out in an English kind of pronunciation. I can read them. I can read it. I probably don't pronounce it properly, but I can read it and not understand it. And there are people who can read the Bible and they don't understand it because the Bible is a spiritual book and it requires the Holy Spirit to enlighten your understanding to know what this is speaking about. And so he's asking them, have you never read? And he's actually rebuking them because they are the doctors of theology and he's saying, you may have read, but you don't understand. But let me give you a Scripture. It's found in the Psalms. Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants, you have perfected praise. What that means, literally, is it is God who inspires and puts praise in their mouths. It isn't that they're just speaking praise. This is spiritually inspired. You come to church, we have words on a screen. The worship team is leading in music. You're looking at the screen and you're reading the words. But you're just singing a song. You're a believer in Christ. God has done tremendous work in your life. You are so grateful for who he is and what he's done. And there are songs that perhaps God has placed in your heart that matter. See, I don't get emotional over every song that I sing. I don't. There's songs up there and they're just, there's songs in this need and they're true and I want to meditate on the truthfulness of what's being said. But there are other songs that when those songs are being sung, I have to stop singing sometimes. I actually do. I have to stop. Someone's asking me, can you stop? No, I have to stop singing. I have to stop singing because my heart becomes so full of gratitude that I cheer up. How about you? Does that ever happen to you? Happens to me. Yes, yes. That I cheer up. My eyes well with tears. I know that surprises you, but it's true. It is so overwhelming when I think of what he did for me. It is. Did I invent that? Did the songs inspire me to do that? Did the songs make me cry? No. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings, thou hast perfected praise. What are you saying? Jesus is saying, have you never understood that true worship comes because God inspires it? And you're trying to tell these people to stop praising me when God's at the blame for them, even doing so in the first place. You're telling me to tell them not to worship when in fact God inspired them to? No, no. You see, true praise comes through the inspiration of the Spirit. People can sing religious songs all day long, and they're just words on a page sung to a melody. That's all they are. You can know the words and not know the one who inspired them. It's so easy to know the words and not know the one who inspired them. But when you know the one who inspired them and those words connect with you in a spiritual sense, there's this God put praise in your mouth, and it's just a time of worship and gratitude and thankfulness to who he is. We're not singing to one another. We're singing under the inspiration of the Spirit to the God who put that inspiration in our heart. And when, what is happening in worship today, unfortunately, is that there are someone, and this is sad, but it's true, who are writing songs and playing music, not for God, but so that their songs will be sung on the radio, or they'll be invited to come and do some kind of worship outreach, and people will come and buy their materials afterwards. I have a friend of mine who actually interviews. This is what he does. It's what he has done. He interviews the current individuals who wanna be recorded, and he actually has to and has interviewed them, and he told me not that long ago how many come with a desire not to be worship leaders, but to get their music on the radio so that once their voices are heard, they can go out into other secular kinds of entertainment venues, and he has had them tell him that, because they'll say, why do you want to sing songs? And they'll say to him, because I want my music on the radio, so I can use this as a step to go to other places. There's well-known people, I will not use their name now, because I don't wanna give you the wrong impression like I'm judging them, but I know of people who started out in their music careers that you know, you know their names. They started out as worship leaders. They started out as Christian entertainers, and now they're known for anything but Jesus Christ, because they brought that in. It was their heart to sing songs with their talents. No, true worship doesn't even require a good voice. True worship requires a good heart, and the good heart comes because of what Jesus Christ has done in it, and that's how worship actually is to be experienced, and so God places that in your heart. Words of praise. Do you have them today? Do you have them today? Words of praise. Where the song comes on, and you don't sing, because God, look at what you've done. I think of my life, I think of where I was, I think of what I have done, I think of all the guilt that I carried, and then I came to the cross and your blood washed me clean. You cleanse me, you gave me a new heart, you gave me a new song. You have transformed me. Oh Lord, I'll worship you for the rest of my life. For how good you've been to me. That's worship. And the rulers are saying, tell them to be quiet. You see what they're doing. I said, have you never read? Don't you know what Scripture says? This is what God inspired out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants, you have perfected praise. Worship comes from a heart that's been touched by God. And then what did he do? Verse 17, we'll close. He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and he lodged there. How did he get away with this? How did Jesus, meek and mild, walk in and clean the place out? Do you kind of picture him as some outlaw motorcycle guy, big ol' guy walking in six foot, six, five hundred pounds of mean? How do you do this? Why didn't they resist him? You would think they would. I mean, he was cutting into their profits. He'd done it before. At the beginning of his ministry, and you look at John chapter two, at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus had come in and he had cleaned house. Now at the conclusion of his ministry, he does it a second time. How did he get away with it? Three basic things. One, it occurred the day after his triumphal entry, and therefore there were still people there who were aware of him and he was very popular. Two, the temple trade itself was very unpopular. And so the silent majority were very much in favor of him doing what he did. So one, he's riding the crest of popularity, and two, the people are glad that he's actually doing that. And then three, his actions alone revealed his authority. You don't have to be a huge, monstrous, mean person to wield authority. You have a, you carry it, and people will recognize it. They will recognize it. They will say, this person has authority. I had a philosophy professor at Biola when I was there who was maybe five foot four, five foot five, kind of like just an odd kind of person, just had an oddness about him. I still remember him in that way. He was just kind of like, he was, he was, I don't know how to say it, he was the guy that you would kind of push around in school. I mean, he's kind of, but he, you know, when I was in the world, not as a Christian, not at Biola pushing people around, we didn't do it. I should say that clearly. No, but you know what I'm saying? When you're a kid, you kind of look for the one on the low end of the pecking order and you bully him. That's not right, but that's what you did. That's what we did. That's, you set up your order that way. He was that guy, but I respected him more than I respect most any of my other professors. There was one or two that I respected more, but this guy respected, you know why I respected him? He had authority. This man knew how to wield authority. He had information, he had articulation, he had a sense about him where he knew who he was. He knew his degree, he knew his subject matter. He treated us with respect, and I instantly respected him and I learned a long time ago that authority isn't the size and the meanest of the spirit. It's what you carry within and people will respect you because of that. And when Jesus walked in, no, he wasn't glowing in the dark. When he walked in, there was a sense this man has authority. And when he wielded that authority, they weren't gonna do anything about it. That doesn't mean they didn't plot to do something about it because Luke tells us in chapter 19 verses 47 and 48, he taught daily in the temple, but the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him could not find and could not find what they might do for all the people were very attentive to hear him. No, they got angry. And they wanted to do something, but they couldn't do anything because the people were listening to Jesus gladly, but they were still looking for an opportunity because what he did exposed their sinfulness and they wanted to deal with them because of that. Sometimes when people are under tremendous conviction, rather than repenting and saying, you're right, I am sorry, they get antagonistic and attack you. Right? Have you ever had that happen? Right? It's true. You did something wrong, man. I have to tell you what the word of God says. Who do you think you are? You judge you this and that, they do that. They get mad at you. They would beat you up if they could. That's why I always walk around with big guys. They do. They may not get you now, but they're gonna get you. That's in their mind. I may not be able to get you right now, but I'm gonna get you. That's what's going on with Jesus. You've had that happen, haven't you? I have. I can't get you right now, but one of these days you're gonna be by yourself and I'm gonna get you. That's what they're thinking. They're afraid. Yeah, okay. They're afraid. They're afraid. And they're gonna make good on their threats later on. But the one who's not afraid is Jesus because he came to do what his father said to do and that meant I'm laying my life down because that's the way I can save even my enemies. Even those who hate me, I'll die for them too because if there's gonna be a man by the name of Paul who's gonna breathe out threatenings concerning followers of this way and he will be saved and from the man who breathed out threatenings he will teach others to breathe out praise because that's what God does when he transforms a heart from the threatening you get the praise. When you get the sinner who's saved you get the thankfulness. That's what Jesus Christ does. He changes our hearts. That we from the anger can now have the joy and that comes because we receive the one who saved us. Even as they said, save now, he saved us. He saved us. He transformed us. He gave us a purpose for life and a home that is awaiting us in one of these days and it's not that long. We're gonna walk in and we're gonna see these beautiful places that have been prepared for us and we're gonna look into the face of Christ and we're gonna say thank you. You cleanse the temple of all of its dirt but you cleanse this temple of all of my dirt and you came and dwelt within me and for that I'm so grateful. Thank you Jesus for the new life that you give you've inhabited this temple. Isn't God good? God is good.