 Our sermon title this morning is holy zeal holy zeal our scripture text is John chapter 2 And we're beginning this paragraph beginning in verse 12 and running through verse 22 John chapter 2 verses 12 to 22 now last week as we were in John chapter 2 verses 1 through 11 We saw Jesus Christ perform his first miracle at a small town at a wedding at Cana His first miracle in Cana at the wedding. It was with great compassion Great kindness great sympathy for the host of that wedding that Jesus performed the miracle he shows Kindness there as the text explains He brings joy and gladness into the hearts of those that were gathered there for the wedding as many you've called it He performed a relatively private Friends and family if you will miracle for the people there at the wedding It just brought joy and brought gladness to all that were there and it concludes in verse 11 with the fact that his Disciples having seen that having seen that miracle believed on him That's the purpose for John's writing right testifying of Christ that they may believe that he's the Christ the Son of God They're believing in him. They might have life in his name So now today we come to John chapter 2 and to verse 12 and today We're going to see a biblical balance that is evident throughout all of scripture and particularly evident throughout the New Testament It's a balance that many refuse to see it's a balance that many refuse to acknowledge But it is evident and it is a balance that we must contend with if we're going to be faithful followers of Christ John chapter 2 verse 12 we encounter other Attributes of the Lord Jesus Christ Other characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ and because Jesus is God in the flesh these other characteristics are also Obviously characteristics and attributes of deity when we see Jesus Christ we see the father many today Want to sentimentalize? Christ They view Jesus Christ is always and only soft or weak or effeminate He's the one sitting in a meadow with his arms reached out calling children to himself right talking with butterflies He's the the one with the long blonde Fabio hair and the baby blue eyes. He's Jewish, right baby blue eyes and blonde hair Always soft always meek and mild reeking of hand cream, right? He's always passive He's viewed as anemic viewed as wooing and only ever comforting Limp-Risted you could say soft He's the one that you turn to when you're sick or you need help But you don't want to have much to do with him in between He's the one that you decorate your life with but he's not Lord and master of your life He's the one that you may ask for forgiveness or one that you may take comfort in But you would never have him confront you in your sin or make any demands on your life that Jesus Christ is not the Jesus Christ of the Bible and Because he is God of the flesh and the exact representation of God's nature. That's not the God of the Bible either People are used to thinking of Jesus Christ as a lamb. Have you ever seen an angry lamb? It's because why he's called the lion also lying in the tribe of Judah today in John chapter 2 verses 12 We're gonna see the holy zeal of the Lord Jesus Christ displayed From bringing joy and gladness in John chapter 2 verses 1 to 11 to now bringing righteous indignation Anger wrath and judgment. This is the Lord Jesus Christ and this is the balance of Scripture This is the real Jesus Christ so to speak and when God is at work in the church You're gonna see both and you're gonna see both in balance Jesus giving joy and gladness Jesus bringing joy and encouragement to the hearts and souls of those he's saved by his grace and At the same time you're gonna see the very public raising up of men and women in the church zealous for the purity of the Lord's church and you're gonna hear both preached faithfully You're gonna see both worked out in practice You're gonna see people encouraged and comforted, but you're gonna see and you should see people Convicted over their sin. Do we need to be convicted of our sin? Amen. We need to be convicted We live in perhaps one of the most self-indulgent self-willed Generations in the history of the world and Christians today so-called need to be convicted over their sin We need the preaching of the word of God often here today Dear weary Worn tired Struggling brother in the faith. Let me encourage you in the Lord dear despairing discouraged weary laboring saint in the Lord dear despairing struggling tired hopeless Having difficulty brother a sister in the Lord all about encouragement right grace grace grace encouragement encouragement Oftentimes today. It is not because a person is weary or despairing or hopeless that the person he's Encouragement from Christ they're in sin and they need a rebuke from the Lord Oftentimes it is sin and disobedience to the Lord that puts us in a position of feeling weary and late to steal a term from truly and chauvinian performance ism is it the reality in Christianity today so-called that Christians suffer from performance ism quote-unquote when most professing Christians go to church one day a week if that Most Christians never study their Bible most Christians so-called never share the gospel never evangelize. Is it performance ism that they're struggling with? No, they're struggling with sin and they need a rebuke from the Lord Jesus Christ not comfort our Christianity today is riddled with a soft weak anemic Peddling of comfort and encouragement when oftentimes what we need is we need the Lord Jesus Christ to issue a rebuke Here you need to ask yourself as we go through this passage What makes God angry? What infuriates the Lord Jesus Christ? What is it that the Lord is zealous for as we ponder those questions? I want you to see four points from our passage point one on your notes I want you to see the scene we want to set out the scene for you So you can see exactly what Jesus Christ is walking into here, and we'll see that in verses 12 through 14 Point two on your notes. I want you to see an example of holy zeal from the Lord Jesus Christ in verses 15 to 17 Point three we want to contrast that with the unholy zeal of the Jewish opponents or the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem at the Passover And then we'll see that in verses 18 to 21 and then forth this Demands a response, and I want you to see an example of right response to the Lord on the behalf of the disciples in Verse 22 so let's begin. Let's lay out the scene for you beginning in verse 12 Here the Bible reads After this he went down to Capernaum He his mother his brothers and his disciples and they did not stay there many days Now the Passover the Jews was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem And he found in the temple those who sold oxen sheep and doves and the money changers doing business now In John chapter 2 verses 1 through 11 Jesus Christ goes to the wedding in Cana Jesus traveled there with his mother his brothers and his disciples And that points to us right off the bat here in verse 12 that Jesus Christ did actually have brothers now Technically they were his half brothers. They were brothers that Mary and Joseph had together Jesus Christ his father was the Holy Spirit was God and so technically his half brothers But Mary did have other children besides Jesus Now immediately from the context right here in verse 12 that verse Destroys the Catholic doctrine of the perpetual virginity of the ever virgin Mary one verse wipes it out Jesus Christ had brothers interesting also to think that he's on this journey from Bethseda or Cana to Capernaum and then he's gonna make the journey to Jerusalem with his brothers and John 7 is Says that his brothers didn't believe in him So he's got brothers around him who don't believe in him But he has his disciples now around him that do believe him He's got Andrew Peter Philip Nathaniel as we've seen and James and our author here John Now they all went down to Capernaum together It's a small town on the north side of the Sea of Galilee not far at all from Cana would have been a short walk It was a city very much like the city of Bethseda that we were interested introduced to a couple of weeks ago Where Jesus during his earthly ministry Did so many miracles and the people of Capernaum were so hard-hearted So steeled in their unbelief that in Matthew 11 Jesus said that their judgment would be worse than the judgment that would fall on Sodom that bears noting That if you continue to reject the light that you are given Your judgment in hell will be that much more severe The more light that you continue to reject The more light that you're given the more understanding that you're given and the more that you continue to reject that The more severe will be your punishment in hell for rejecting that light It's the truth that's taught here with Capernaum as our example Don't reject the light given you by the Lord Jesus Christ turn at his reproof Turn from your sin put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and follow him all your heart soul mind and strength today Lest you die in your sin and find out that on the day of judgment you were worse off than Sodom amen Turn to the Lord Jesus Christ Now they go to Capernaum And it says they only stayed there a few days because they had to make their way to Jerusalem for Passover a Passover is an annual feast and it was followed immediately by the Feast of Unleavened Bread It was an annual feast Passover was that God had commanded the children of Israel to observe to remind them if you will of their rescue out of Egypt out of bondage in Egypt Passover is a remembrance. It's a memorial of when the angel of death Passed over the firstborn of the children of Israel when they had the blood on the doorposts and across the lintel of the house, right? He passed over the children of Israel who were covered by the blood so to speak but killed the firstborn of every son of Egypt Killed the firstborn in Egypt Passover was a remembrance of this rescue They were to eat a memorial meal together with Unleavened Bread and they were to make it and eat it in haste And that was to commemorate the hasty way that they fled out of Egypt in Exodus chapter 12 And all of this this Passover is a picture of Christ in the same way that Christ went to the cross Shed his blood on the cross and provided Deliverance for his people from judgment was the way that the Lord rescued the children of Israel out of Egypt from bondage there So Passover is a picture of Christ now imagine the scene You've got Jesus Mary the disciples They're making their way from the lower elevations around the Sea of Galilee and making the ascent to the higher elevation Where Jerusalem the city of Jerusalem was from a small town of Capernaum now to the very large city of Jerusalem This was one of three pilgrimages that the children of Israel had to make on a yearly basis And so the roads at that time the pathways and rocky ledges and all the pathways and roads that led up the hill to Jerusalem Would have been packed with people there would have been many who were going along this ascent with them And this is where we get the description of many Psalms that we have Called songs of ascent from Psalm 120 to Psalm 134 as they went up the ascent up the mountain toward Jerusalem They would have been singing as they went and singing Psalms hymns to the Lord Psalms like 130 where the Bible reads out of the Depths I have cried to you oh Lord now imagine as they're walking and singing this together Lord hear my voice let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications if you Lord should mark iniquities Oh Lord who could stand but there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared I wait for the Lord my soul waits and in his word I do hope my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning Yes, more than those who watch for the morning It would have made that pilgrimage made their way up the hill Singing songs and hymns and spiritual songs to one another singing praise to the Lord They would have been walking and singing so can you imagine the scene now Jesus and his disciples Mary and his brothers singing hymns singing Psalms as they walk up to the hill Jesus would have been Anticipating getting to the temple. You know he had been there every year of his life up until this point in Luke we have one instance where he went he goes missing they go looking for him And he's in the temple asking questions and he responds to them while you're looking for me I have to be about my father's business right so now many years later his earthly ministry has begun He's headed up again to Jerusalem and now in light of his earthly ministry. He's going up with a different mindset He has to be about his father's business and he's gonna take care of his father's business when he gets to the temple in Jerusalem He's anticipating getting to the temple as they near Jerusalem picture the scene Jerusalem was a very large city when compared to Capernaum or Bethsaida or Cana it was said to have housed 250 to 300,000 people Lived in Jerusalem However, it passed over the city would have been packed because the Jews traveling to Jerusalem for the feast and So as many as one million or more at this time would have packed into the city of Jerusalem and many Of those that were visiting packed in around the temple complex What was the first thing on the order of business when they got to Passover? It's the sacrifices the sacrifices now imagine as people came into town They're preparing for sacrifice as they made their way on the ascent to Jerusalem They would have passed merchants animal salespeople money changers on the western slope of the Mount of Olives Facing the city of Jerusalem facing the temple many of those were there selling animals for the sacrifices They would have sold sheep goats oxen doves and the like There was a temple tax that was required for every male who was over the age of 20 And so there would have been money changers there Changing Roman changing Greek currency for the required Tyrion Shekel for the temple tax And this is very interesting to think about They needed to exchange their currency so they had the right Shekel for the temple tax The temple authorities would only accept what was called a Tyrion Shekel And one of the reasons they would only accept that Shekel was because it was 94 percent silver Have the highest silver content of any coin It's also interesting that if you looked at that Tyrion Shekel on one side of the coin was an eagle On the other side of the coin was a pagan god So what were the temple authorities more concerned about? Giving to the Lord or the silver content of the Shekel Far more interested in the silver content the silver content as a result the temple was very wealthy Temple was corrupt and very wealthy So they would exchange their currency for the right Shekel and the people that were coming to the festival coming to the Passover coming to the feast Would have seen this as a as a beneficial service rather than have to travel long distances by foot Driving or carrying animals before them and rather than have to be concerned about whether they had the right currency for the Shekel or not These folks were providing a service However by this point in time by the time that Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem for Passover many of these merchants many of these money changers that once were camped out on the slope of the Mount of Olives Have now made their way down the Mount of Olives and up into the city of Jerusalem and now have rented at a very high price Rented booths from the high priest within the temple complex itself There was a word here used for temple two words that you could have used one meant the building proper Not awesome Greek meant the temple building the word that's used here is the word hereon Which means the temple grounds and what this means is? those merchants set up their booths set up their businesses on temple grounds in The outer court on the property of the temple Those that were coming to visit the temple those that were coming for Passover if you brought your own animal Likely that animal would be rejected So that you'd be forced to buy the animals from those renting booths in the temple property You know it was called the bazaars of anus anus at the time being a high priest The high priest set this up in the temple in the courtyard of the temple and they were reaping a profit from this Anyone who came to change their money from one currency to the temple Shekel the Tyrion Shekel It was said that the exchange rate was as high as 10 to 12 percent So from the high priced animals to the high exchange rate. This was highway robbery. This was Extortion, this was a an established system by which the temple authorities and the high priest could exploit the poor And this was a business that these Changers these money changers and merchants were involved in as a result Temple was extremely wealthy Jesus said in Matthew 21 That the people had turned his father's house into a den of thieves a den of robbers It's exactly what's going on here. They're extorting people who came to the Passover much later Martin Luther It's interesting to have the same experience didn't he if you remember Martin Luther going to Rome and Seeing the decadence and wealth and corruption of Roman Catholicism had much the same experience So now picture this more than a million people just Masked together in the city of Jerusalem the sacrifices are projected to have included more than 250,000 animals You've got all the people more than 250 sometimes the estimates have been as high as a million animals In the temple complex many of those animals were slaughtered in a three-hour period of time on the afternoon before Passover and into this chaotic Blasphemous nonsense walks Jesus Christ Now Jesus is grieved by what he sees instantly grieved but his grief Fuels a holy fury at what he sees he becomes indignant. He gets angry Jesus Christ the Lord becomes angry at what he sees rather than hearing songs of praise as he did all the way up the Ascent toward Jerusalem Rather than hearing prayers of brokenness prayers of contrition which the Lord says are sacrifices that are pleasing to him He would have expected to hear offerings of adoration to the Lord People crying out to God in humility in repentance over their sin Instead of all this rather than all this he hears the bleeding of sheep the mooing of cattle noisy commerce and busy distracted Heartless godless people That's point one That's the scene that the Lord Jesus Christ walks into Can you imagine the scene in Jerusalem at that time now think about all this think about all that is horrendously and Blasphemously wrong with that picture how offensive that is to God How disgraceful how detestable their sacrifices have become to him and Jesus is righteously indignant. He is furious and point to you on your notes We then see a godly response of holy zeal from the Lord Jesus Christ Point to we see holy zeal verse 15 How does Jesus respond? How would you expect the Lord of glory to respond if Jesus Christ is zealous for his father's house? Zealous for what the Lord God Almighty is zealous for how would you expect Jesus Christ to respond verse 15? When he had made a whip of cords He drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen and he poured out the changers money and overturned the Tables and he said to those who sold doves take these things away Do not make my father's house a house of merchandise And his disciples remembered that it was written zeal for your house has eaten me up So Jesus goes into the outer courtyard of the temple he walks into the outer courtyard and God had said to Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah chapter 56 that that was to be a house of prayer for all nations and yet When Jesus walks into the temple the outer courtyard the Gentiles it was called the court of the Gentiles for a reason The Gentiles had been driven out couldn't even worship there because these crooked business owners had set up booths in the outer court And it driven the Gentiles out from worshiping God had already judged the people through Jeremiah the prophet in chapter 7 for turning his house the house He says that bears his name Into a den of thieves and here they are when Jesus comes to pass over Exploiting the people again for dishonest gain. So what does he do? What does he do? He sits down. He takes these ropes that would have been there for the animals these Fibrous rushes that he would have found on the floor of the stable I mean the floor of the temple and he takes these rushes these ropes and he braids them together and makes Makes a rope makes a whip You can imagine now thousands upon thousands packed into the temple complex Packed into just the few acres around the temple building here the masses Packed into the temple and he drives them all out He drives them out. He turns over the tables money is clanging around everywhere on the floor on the ground He's rebuking those who sold doves people are headed out the door in droves, right? He drives them out of the temple. He's rebuking the money changers Rebuking those that sold animals rebuking those that have turned the temple into a house of merchandise Driving with a whip all the way and driving them out the door. I think about it for a moment It's not the sting of that little rope that little whip that does it We're talking about thousands of people thousands of animals. It's not the it's not the rope that does it It he was certainly loud. He was certainly raising his voice But it wasn't the the strength of his voice It wasn't the volume of his voice that did it that drove them out Jesus Christ the Lord Jesus Christ essentially overpowered them with the force of his holy zeal for the Lord his righteous indignation This is the anger the righteous anger of the Lord Jesus Christ And listen these people they knew they were guilty. They knew they were guilty Have you ever been in a circumstance before where you're standing next to someone who's being rebuked for something that you were sort of participating in? Don't you feel guilty? Then they were around the people that were around they knew what was going on They knew what Jesus Christ was was doing They knew that they had participation in it and they were guilty too and he was driving them all out The people felt it Everyone around there would have experienced this act of judgment. I think about it for a moment John chapter 2 verses 1 through 11 we saw the first miracle of Christ at Cana in the turning of water into wine Here in John chapter 2 beginning in verse 12. We see the second miracle of the Lord Jesus Christ This is a miracle not as obvious here. There's no healing. There's no raising from the dead or casting out demons But this is a tremendous display of the power and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ a Tremendous display of his holy zeal for God his wrath and his holy zeal ignited Inflamed by what he saw the people doing to his father's house So what causes God to be angry? What infuriates the Lord Jesus Christ? Here we get a picture of that wickedness in the house of God among the people of God Blasphemous hypocritical false fake attempts at worship Heartless cold dull ritualistic worship defiled and corrupt worship What infuriates Christ is when the church that is called by his name has lost her purity is Full of lost people Accepts into their fellowship disfellowshipped people When it fails and refuses to purge out the leaven that is among them Here Jesus Christ is a mirror into the perfect nature of God with respect to this as well He mirrors the nature of God when you've seen Jesus you've seen the father What infuriates God false worship look back with me at Amos chapter 5 We see an example here in John of a new testament portrayal or display of the zeal of God and the Lord Jesus Christ We see that throughout scripture turn to Amos chapter 5 Give you another example of this Amos chapter 5 They in Amos at this time God was angry with Israel and what was he angry with him for? The Israelites had put up false altars and the false altars now have led to false worship Hypocritical fake worship of God they put up false altars. They were living in self-indulgence at this time. They had Grand expensive opulent homes, so they're living very self-indulgent leave very self-willed and they were prideful Listen, you can't worship the Lord rightly with a proud heart Prideful worship is an abomination to God the sacrifices of God are a humble and contrite heart here The Israelites were leading false worship. They were self-indulgent self-willed and they were proud So in Amos chapter 5 look down beginning at verse 21 and how does the Lord view their worship of him verse 21? Here the Bible reads I hate God says I despise your feast days and I do not savor your sacred assemblies though you offer me burnt offerings and your grain offerings I will not accept them God says nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings Take away from me the noise of your songs for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments But let justice run down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream Did you offer me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness 40 years? Oh house of Israel You also carried sick of your king and she and your idols the star of your gods, which you made for yourselves Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus says the Lord whose name is the God of hosts This is the Lord zealous for his proper worship. You've got Israel trying to Present before the Lord hypocritical false worship hypocrisy Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 1. Let's look at another example of this Again, God being righteously indignant being angry over the false worship of those that claim his name Isaiah chapter 1 and look there beginning at verse 11 and Again false worship is rampant in Israel But Isaiah chapter 1 down in verse 11 God says to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me said the Lord I've had enough of burnt offerings of rams and of the fat of fed cattle I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or goats. You can imagine The Lord Jesus Christ the way that he went into the temple at Passover in Jerusalem had the same righteous indignation Had enough of these sacrifices Look at verse 12 When you come to appear before me God says who has required this from your hand to trample my courts Bring no more feudal sacrifices Incense is an abomination to me the new moons and Sabbaths and the calling of assemblies I cannot endure the iniquity and the sacred meeting cannot endure iniquity iniquity in the sacred meeting It's worship when you're in your sin Worship we come together. We're to be a pure set apart body to the Lord So for there to be Unrepentant sin in our midst the spot on our love feast and It's an abomination to God Our worship is to be pure worship in spirit and in truth We can't come into the house of God and worship in our sin That's why we have a time of repentance in our worship service He goes on to say verse 14 your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates They are a trouble to me God says and I'm weary of bearing them. Can you imagine God Almighty? weary of bearing your worship How are you worshiping worshiping the Lord? He says in verse 15 when you spread out your hands I'll hide my eyes from you even though you make many prayers. I will not hear your hands are full of blood Here's what he says to do verse 16 wash yourselves make yourselves clean in other words repent turn from your sin Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes Cease to do evil learn to do good seek justice Rebuke the oppressor defend the fatherless plead for the widow and he says look at the mercy of God come now verse 18 Let us reason together says the Lord though your sins are like scarlet They shall be as white as snow though they are red like crimson. They shall be as wool You're willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land But if you refuse and rebel you shall be devoured by the sword for the mouth of the Lord has spoken I Can't resist this reference go to first Samuel chapter 15 first Samuel chapter 15 Lord is zealous for his worship zealous for obedience to his commands zealous for his name Here we see these Continuous examples of hypocritical fake false worship heartless worship at first Samuel chapter 15 Here we have Saul Saul was commanded by the Lord to go in and defeat the Amalekites and when we say defeat means kill every last thing that lives The Lord intended to wipe the Amalekites from the face of the earth and Saul disobeyed that command look down at verse 10 This is first Samuel 15 verse 10 now the word of the Lord came to Samuel saying I Greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my Commandments and you notice there from verse 10 and 11 That to disobey the commandments of the Lord is to turn back from following him If you don't obey the commandments of the Lord you've turned back from following him You need to repent and turn back to following him You don't obey your apostatizing you're turning back from following the Lord and this grieved Samuel It said and he cried out to the Lord all night verse 12 So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul it was told Samuel saying Saul went to Carmel and Indeed he set up a monument for himself And he's gone on around passed by and gone down to Gilgall set up a monument to himself Now there are many many many professing Christians who set up all kinds of monuments to themselves in their own art Right monuments to themselves of leisure. I'm gonna take my leisure not gonna be so concerned about serving following the Lord I'm gonna do what I want to do set up monuments to themselves of free time Monuments to themselves of hobbies or work or whatever it is you set up idols in your heart Monuments to your own self importance monuments to your own self indulgence within your own heart and That worship is an abomination to God Hard to be no idolatrous motives in your heart Says in verse 13 Samuel went to Saul Saul said to him blessed are you of the Lord? I've performed the commandments of the Lord Saul was a liar Verse 14 Samuel said if you've kept the commandments of the Lord What then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? Saul you're a liar Saul said they've brought them from the Amalekites for the people spared the best of the sheep in the oxen to Sacrifice to the Lord your God and the rest we have utterly destroyed in other words. I'm gonna Justify why I've just disobeyed the Lord gonna justify myself make excuses for I just blatantly and obviously disobey the Lord It's for God Saul says Verse 16 Samuel said to Saul be quiet and I'll tell you what the Lord has said to me Saul our Samuel by the way Was zealous for the Lord Samuel displays a holy zeal for the things of God and he said to him speak on so Samuel said verse 17 when you were little in your own eyes where you were not the head of tribes of Israel and did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel now the Lord sent you on a mission and said go and utterly destroy those sinners the Amalekites and Fight against them until they are consumed Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil and do evil in the sight of the Lord? So Saul didn't obey Saul Didn't have zeal for the things of God Saul had zeal for himself and the monuments that he built to himself He was zealous for his own Purposes look down though at verse 22 Look at what Samuel says Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? I think you can just please the Lord by coming to church each week Please the Lord for giving him is you know pittance You know most of professing Christianity Doesn't come to church more than once a week they profess the name of the Christ of Christ and they don't read their Bible They profess the the name of Christ. They don't evangelize They profess the name of Christ and they live their lives for themselves And yet they do their weekly ritual of going through the doors of a church somewhere Is that what pleases the Lord? Behold God says to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of Rams For rebellion verse 23 says is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatrous How many times? How many times do you hear the exhortation from the word of God to obey the Lord and pour yourself into studying the Bible? Read your Bible the Bible is to be your daily meditation It is to be your joy day and night and yet you don't obey the Lord How many times have you heard the great commission of the Lord to go out and to share the gospel with lost people and yet? Week after week after week and month after month after month you make excuses for why you won't be faithful to the Lord in evangelism We have the word of God being taught here throughout the week And yet there are other things more important to you than hearing the word of God taught such that you never make it to a group or To an evening service or to wherever Not because you can't because you make excuses for why you won't go and The word of God is being taught You give the Lord your God the leftovers of your life and then you come to the doors of a church And you expect that your worship is going to be acceptable to him Your worship is an abomination to God repent of your sin the Lord is to be primary where to be holy zealous to him He says here this stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry because you have rejected the word of the Lord He also has rejected you saw from being king It was interesting. We see the zeal of Samuel drop down to verse 32 Samuel said Bring a gag the king of the Amalekites here to me and so a gag came to him cautiously and a gag said Shirley surely the bitterness of battle the bitterness of death is passed He's scared of Samuel. He has every right to be scared of Samuel scared Samuel is zealous for the Lord Samuel said as your sword has made women childless so shall your mother be childless among women and Samuel in holy zeal before the Lord hacked a gag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgall With the remnants of idolatry in our hearts With the remnants of self-will in our hearts With the monuments that we've built in our own hearts to leisure to pleasure to fun to whatever it is We need to take those monuments and hack them to pieces before the Lord Dig out that idolatry from your heart dig out those monuments and serve the Lord with holy zeal You know a set of Phineas in Numbers 25 that he was zealous for the Lord The Israelites were commanded not to take foreign wives of themselves and yet the Israelites took in Midianite women Midianite women to be wives for themselves and they had a repent of that Had to cast out those wives and they had a solemn assembly Where the camp of the Israelites were repenting of that sin and in the midst of the solemn assembly and Israelite? Takes to himself a Midianite woman and goes into his tent So what does Phineas do zealous for the Lord? What does Phineas do Phineas takes his spear? He goes into the tent after them and runs them through both with his spear Here's what the Bible says of Phineas in Numbers chapter 25 Phineas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest has turned back my wrath from the children of Israel Because he was zealous with my zeal among them. Now think about that for a moment Are you zealous? with his zeal Are you zealous for the things that God is zealous for? Do you reflect that in your obedience to him? Do you reflect that in your life? Are you zealous as God is against sin your own sin or if you become dull-hearted and cavalier about your sin? When's the last time that you wept and mourned over your sin and how it offended God or are you dull-hearted and cold towards your sin? Are you zealous against sin in the way that the Lord is are you zealous in the sin of others? Zealous in the sin of our church the sin in our church Are you zealous in the sin that you see in your brothers and sisters? Are you zealous at this against the sin that you see in the world? Are you zealous for the things that God is zealous for it? Are you zealous for God's mission on the earth? Which is to seek and to save those whom he has elected to redeem them to himself are you zealous in evangelism? That's what God is zealous for it's the reason he's left us here That's the mission that he's given the church that's a mission. He's given you while you're here Are we zealous for the same things that the Lord is zealous for the Lord is zealous for his word? Zealous for his truth are you zealous for what God is zealous for here Phineas was commended because he had zeal in line with God zeal because he was zealous with my zeal God says among them so that I did not consume the children of Israel in my Zen in my zeal verse 12 goes on to say therefore say Behold I give to him my covenant of peace and it shall be to him in his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood because Phineas was zealous for his God and made atonement for the children of Israel Where to be zealous for the Lord? Here the Lord is zealous Lord is zealous for his own holiness zealous for his own glory zealous for his own name Such that the Lord is angry Righteously angry when he sees sin listen to this from Psalm 90 most people just don't view God this way We don't view God this way. This is the God of the Bible Psalm chapter 90 beginning in verse 7 the Bible reads for we have been consumed by your anger and by your wrath We are terrified you have set our iniquities before you our secret sins in the light of your countenance For all our days have passed away in your wrath think about it for a moment The reason that people die is because God is righteously angry over sin It's the reason that people die Verse 10 goes on the days of our lives are 70 years and if by reason of strength They are 80 years yet their boast is only labor and sorrow for it is soon cut off and we fly away Who knows the power of your anger for as the fear of you so is your wrath So teach us to number our days the psalmist asks so that we may gain a heart of wisdom God is sickened by sin God is sickened by false worship Indignant over hypocrisy. He's The worship of a an idolatrous cold-hearted hypocrite is an abomination to him So how much does Christ then? Seeing his holy zeal before the Lord in the temple at Jerusalem they pass over how much does Christ disapprove of What most professing Christians try and pass off as worship today Is he any less zealous for the Lord today than he once was how many professing Christians today show Carelessness in their obedience to the Lord Carelessness in their worship of the Lord How many professing Christians today, you know the heart the heart of one that professes Christ In the heart of one that professes Christ you should hear hymns and songs and spiritual songs In the heart of one who professes Christ a true Christian You should see a holy zeal for the Lord and yet in The heart of many who profess Christ there's nothing more than the bleeding of worldliness The bleeding and lowing of self-indulgence and self-will the bleeding and lowing of just satisfying my own lusts the bleeding of Indulging myself with pleasures and fun and time wasting You know, we've got all of eternity to rest. We're gonna enter our rest one day, right now It's the time to labor for the Lord, but most professing Christians just say I want things my way Jesus says you say that you love me Why don't you do the things that I tell you to do? Everything and anything takes precedence over the Lord and God gets your leftovers The God who created you the God who saved you Hearts that no longer tend toward conviction over sin This is dull-hearted cold indifferent apathetic No conviction Not because we don't preach against sin Because your heart is grown cold and dull and indifferent and apathetic You hear and you hear and you hear and you hear and you do not obey Don't show any love for the brothers Because you don't show up to love them. You don't prioritize that over other things Simply not a priority in your life. You take to worship like mindless duty When you have a Lord and you wonder why the Responsibilities or duties of a Christian have become burdensome to you Because you have a problem in your heart that you need to repent of you need to dig out that apathy And you know how you do that Exactly what the Lord said to do in Revelation chapter 2 and 3 to the seven churches be zealous and repent Remember from where you have fallen Remember from where you have fallen Repent of that sin Be zealous and repent and go and do the works that the Lord has commanded you to do do the first works You know Ephesus That passage in Revelation chapter 2 Ephesus had their lampstand snuffed out long ago You know that entire region of Asia Minor that area of Turkey You'd be hard-pressed to find a handful of genuine Christians there now Islam has just completely taken over. I don't want that to be said of us He goes on in verse 17 back in John chapter 2 His disciples were witnesses of these things Witnesses of the holy zeal of God for the things of God and his disciples remembered that it was written zeal for your house Has eaten me up. There's many applications we can draw from this, but here's one to think about The disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ Witnessed his zeal and The disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ preached him until their deaths Zealous for the Lord until the Lord took them home It's interesting that Christ says there your house my father's house They're remembering here Psalm chapter 69 verse 9 in Psalm chapter 69. This is a quote of David is calling the people of Israel back to true worship. They had departed true worship has left Israel They had departed the true worship of the one true and living God And so David was calling the people back to true worship and they were rebelling against him Not only were they were rebelling against him. They were hating him for it They hated him for it such that he said the zeal for your house has eaten me up And he says the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me David experienced pain and reproach when the Lord experienced pain and reproach that be said of you What pains the Lord what grieves the Lord is a grieve you What is blasphemous toward the Lord? Does that grieve your heart also? We're to be zealous like our Lord You know, most people have absolutely no trouble whatsoever Exhibiting zeal in a whole host of other areas I don't know that I've ever seen more dramatic zeal displayed than by a sports fanatic at a championship game, right? No trouble displaying that zeal, you know ladies. I've seen display great zeal for bunco You know or bingo or whatever whatever game I've seen great zeal displayed for a hobby great zeal displayed for work Great zeal displayed for fun. I've seen great zeal displayed for a child and justify be slow. Amen Where's your zeal for the Lord? zeal is a fruit of repentance If you're genuinely a Christian Then zeal is one of the marks of the Spirit one of the fruits of the Spirit that you're gonna see in your life According to 2nd Corinthians chapter 7 verses 10 and 11 zeal is a fruit of genuine repentance And we have the example of Revelation 2 Revelation 2 zeal is tied to your work for the Lord be zealous and repent do the first works It's tied to your obedience to him think about the Opposites of zeal for a moment The Lord was zealous Against the sin and corruption he saw in the temple that day in Jerusalem So one opposite to that holy zeal is an unholy zeal no concern whatsoever for sin no concern whatsoever for the things of God such that You don't mind even the sin in your own life much less than anyone else's But also when we say that one is zealous as we see in Revelation chapter 2 there's zealous for good works Isn't that what the Lord saved us for? Saved by grace through faith His own special people to be zealous for good works We see this kind of zeal though Contrasted with the unholy zeal of the Jewish opposition back in John chapter 2 beginning in verse 18 Look there. This is point three on your notes Unholy zeal verse 18 says the Jews answered and said to him after Jesus Christ did this Rebuked those that sold doves the Jews answered and said to him what sign do you show us since you do these things? Appointed question a snide question right hostile question Jesus answered them verse 19 destroy this temple and in three days. I'll raise it up Then the Jews said it's taken 46 years to build this temple and you're gonna raise it up in three days But he was speaking of the temple of his body this is unholy zeal toward their law Unholy zeal toward their tradition unholy zeal toward their precedents unholy zeal toward their authority unholy zeal toward doing the things that way they wanted to do them and no zeal toward God It's interesting here. They demand a sign from Jesus and he just gave him one. He cleared out the entire temple It's a miracle And the Lord gave them a sign in that They want to know what right he has to do that what right he has what authority he has to clear the temple They just gave them a supernatural display of his authority notice. They didn't stop to ask him. They didn't have the sense to ask him One what he was referring to but two they didn't have a sense to ask him If what he said was right or just they didn't have a sense to consider his words whether what he said was right or just They just responded in hostility. It's often the case with prideful people, isn't it? When you're witnessing to someone or you're talking to someone and they are self-willed prideful Hard-hearted they respond with defensiveness. They don't consider whether what you are saying to them is true or not They simply respond with pride with hostility with defensiveness with self-righteousness So here they're always asking Jesus for a sign. It's interesting. Jesus never kowtows to their demands these hard-hearted hypocrites Basically, they're attempting to domesticate God Almighty by getting him to bow down to their demands of doing a sign That's the kind of allegiance that always requires the carrot And that's not the kind of allegiance that God wants or desires He's not going to bow to their demands But Jesus does give them an option in verse 19 not a very realistic option But he said to them destroy this temple three days. I'll raise it up The jews said it's taken 46 years to build this temple. You're going to raise it up in three days But he was speaking of the temple of his body They didn't have the sense to ask him what he was referring to but we have to see Jesus in these verses As a replacement for the temple Here you think about this now Jesus is talking about his bodies. It says in verse 21 Jesus is the replacement of the temple they were standing in Jesus is the living abode of god on the earth The temple and everything about the temple points forward to a better meeting place between god and man that better meeting place is the lord Jesus christ Jesus christ becomes the center of true worship and we worship by faith in him In the temple of his body The ultimate sacrifice would be made for sin And the true temple would rise from the dead So jesus replaces the temple By fulfilling its purposes in himself So jesus is zealous for god zealous for god's plans and purposes. It's interesting there that Think about it this way That jesus the the sin that he saw provoked zeal in him The zeal that jesus christ displayed the godly holy zeal that jesus christ displayed provoked an unholy zeal in his opponents Their unholy zeal led them to kill the messiah and then jesus destroys the temple The temple was destroyed in 8070 not one stone left on another So when the lord says Zeal for your house has consumed me or eaten me up In one sense he is consumed with zeal for god such that he takes a holy zeal stand for righteousness in the temple But it's interesting the septuagint there with that word consume makes it future tense zeal for your house will consume me in other words Jesus's holy zeal for the things of god is what led others to crucify him What led others to eventually in the future? Send him to the cross send him to calvary many um in their zeal for comfort and their zeal for leisure zeal for their own will It becomes a warm blanket to them They become entrenched in zeal for their own desires their own thinking Such that now they're so hard-hearted you can't reason with them remember witnessing to a guy one time and Got through the gospel and he said listen i understand everything i agree with everything you say What the bible teaches but i'm just comfortable and just comfortable That was his rejection of the gospel of the lord jesus christ The world can handle almost any kind of zeal, but it can't handle holy zeal Think about berabbas berabbas was a zealot berabbas Killed roman soldiers. He was an insurrectionist. He wanted to see the roman government overthrown. He was a zealot jesus christ Demonstrating holy zeal for the things of god and what did the people shout out when jesus was about to be crucified? Give us berabbas the world Will be zealous for its own And it can handle that zeal, but it can't handle holy zeal There are many christians so-called that are like that today called themselves christians And just not zealous for the things of god that kind of christianity is detestable It's detestable. It's an abomination to god For all that wrong response point four on your notes. There's a right response. We see that in verse 22 Right response Therefore verse 22 when he had risen from the dead His disciples remember that he had said this to them and they believed the scripture and the word which jesus had said Now this is the first of two cleansings of the temple jesus christ cleanses the temple here Obviously they didn't get it. He cleanses the temple again in the synoptic gospels near the end of his ministry They didn't get it and he destroys the temple in 8070 the hands of the romans who wiped it out This is all a result of unbelief They didn't listen to the words of the lord jesus christ god speaks. They don't listen Secretly they have their own plans. They have their own preferences. They are conveniently and comfortably deaf. Does that describe you today? Conveniently and comfortably deaf to the word of god The readjustment or the repentance would have been too discomforting too disrupting Their minds too filled with reasoning from this world Reasonings from false religion And as christians we have to throw down cast down every argument that raises itself up against the knowledge of god But how do people respond to this jesus today? The same way they did back then they don't want to be zealous The purpose of this miracle that the lord jesus christ did in the temple that day So that you might believe that he is the christ the son of god and the believing in him you might have life in his name Do you believe the words that jesus spoke? Do you believe that what he did was authoritative as the son of god? Do you desire that kind of zeal for the things of god? If you spurn his mercy If you spurn his patience If you spurn his compassion And you're going to face his anger You're gonna face his violence so to speak You're gonna face his righteous indignation It's interesting uh revelation chapter six Those that were facing the judgment of jesus christ Said this listen the kings of the earth the great men the rich men the commanders the mighty men every slave and every free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains And said to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us From the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb For the great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand Turn at his reproof Turn at his word put your faith and trust in jesus christ alone to save you Be spared the wrath of god The lord will justify you Forgive you cleanse you make you a child of the kingdom and give you an inheritance in heaven forever Amen. Amen. Let's pray Father in heaven. Thank you for this time together. Thank you for your word Thank you for christ in this example of zeal god I pray that we would be zealous for the things of god Or that you would by your spirit ignite and flame and bolden in us a heart that is full of zeal For the things that lord that you are zealous for We'd be zealous for your glory zealous for your name zealous for your mission God zealous for your word Zealous against sin Help us lord. We need you in this and pray lord that you would glorify yourself in the holy zeal of your people In jesus name we pray