Jesus the zealous prophet
By David Yan

21st chapter of Matthew, and we're going to consider verses 11 forward to verse 16.
Now those of you who were here this morning, you will recall that we considered Jesus the
lowly king.
In verse 5, he is referred to as your king.
Now this evening, we shall consider Jesus the prophet, for in verse 11, he is spoken
of as this is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.
The contact you will be familiar with, it is the day that Jesus is riding into Jerusalem.
A few days henceforth, he would be crucified, his body peeled, three days after that he
would rise from the dead.
So it was a very significant moment in the life and the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This morning we saw him as the lowly king, coming in an act symbolic of peace, riding
on a donkey, no threat to sinners, indeed a friend of sinners.
But now you see, we see him as a prophet, and it is very significant that as Jesus the
prophet rode into Jerusalem, do you know what he did?
We're told in Luke's gospel.
What did Jesus do?
He wept.
Here is the prophet of Israel, coming into the temple and on the precincts of the city,
the prophet weeps.
He weeps over Jerusalem as he sees the terrible things happening.
And that, my friend, is an indication of a true prophet.
He is one who knows how to weep for the cause of his father and to weep for the people.
Here is Jesus then, he is the zealous prophet.
He comes into the precincts of the temple and you know the story well.
He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
Now here is an expression of righteous anger.
The prophet is angry that he's angry in a righteous way.
This morning we considered Jesus as the lowly prophet in all humility.
Now some people seem to think that humility is a sign of weakness, a sign of cowardice,
that a person who is meek takes no action.
And here you have a man, the king, he is meek, but then he is also zealous.
And so we consider then this evening something of this momentous event.
The people in the precincts of the temple, they were making money out of religion.
They were there, as far as they could understand, for a perfectly legitimate reason.
They were selling things which pertain to temple worship.
But in the eyes of God it was wrong.
And so Jesus purged the temple.
Now notice my friends that three years earlier what happened?
Jesus purged the temple.
Three years later these people are at it again.
You see the lesson here surely is that people repeat their mistakes.
Every one of us has a particular propensity to err in some area.
One person may be very weak in terms of money.
Another person may be very weak in terms of say his temper.
Somebody else may be lustful.
Somebody else may have some other weakness.
Now you all know your weakness, I know mine.
Now we have to be very careful you see because we tend to drift into those areas where we
are weak.
You may be very strong in one area but terribly vulnerable in another area.
Now these people were very able to make money.
They could turn over a dollar.
And Christ purged them on that occasion but three years later they're at it again.
That also goes to show my friends that the mere purging of the temple and outward cleansing
of the temple is not enough.
There has to be a change from the heart.
And when there is that change in the heart you can overcome your greatest weaknesses.
This is the power of God working you see, transforming people.
This is a supernatural message.
Mao Tse Tung once said that the most difficult thing to change in the world is human nature.
Now Mao Tse Tung got a lot of things wrong but on that one he was right.
The most difficult thing in the world to change is human nature and who can change human nature
but our Creator.
It was Jesus who can change and is still changing human nature.
So Christ comes onto the scene, he purges the temple.
So let's just take note of what happens here.
We notice first the fearlessness of Jesus, absolutely fearless.
You know if there's ever going to be, as it were, prophets in the Christian church today
they must be people who know no fear.
If you have any fear of man I don't think God will use you.
Jesus knew no fear.
Just consider what he was doing here.
He was actually going into the midst of people who were making money and upsetting their
business depriving them of their living and giving them a scolding.
You try today to stop somebody from making money and what's going to happen?
You've got to have a lot of guts as it were.
To stop a man from making money I mean he'll get hostile but Jesus knew no fear.
He knew these people were craving for money and making money, just went straight into
that temple and drove them out.
The fearlessness of our prophet, the zeal of our prophet.
That wasn't enough you see, it's one thing to be fearless and to take action but unless
you explain to the people why you are doing things they're no better off.
So you find Jesus having purged the temple he then says this in verse 13,
It is written my house shall be called a house of prayer but you have made it a den of thieves.
In other words he gives a clear explanation of why he has done this and he tells them
what the temple should be.
That's very important isn't it?
In every realm when we are trying to correct people it's one thing just to take action
but if you don't explain your actions that's quite inconsistent with the example of this
prophet Jesus.
He purged the temple and then he explained to them why.
Now that's very important isn't it?
Therefore we need to understand don't we, that if people repeat their same mistakes
over and over again it must follow that repentance is lifelong, it's lifelong.
We will sin all the time so long as we are in this flesh even if we love the Lord.
We are not perfect, we are going to sin and just as we repeat our mistakes we have to
repent of them all the days of our lives.
Oh thank God that we can come to one who will receive us and if we confess our sins he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Oh how precious it is isn't it to be a Christian, to know that if I have sinned I can come to
my Saviour and he will cleanse me and I can go to bed every night with a pure conscience
and I can sleep.
Oh that we might experience these things.
It also shows us my friends something else that if it was wrong three years ago to trade
in the precinct of the temple in the sight of God it is wrong now.
The standards of God do not change.
Now Jesus could have said well look you did it three years ago but look I can't be bothered
now which is what some people do don't they?
The sins of this world are so overwhelming that even Christians cannot cope and they
say well look if you want to live like that just go ahead.
Jesus didn't think like that.
It was wrong for you three years ago to defile my Father's temple it is wrong today.
If it was wrong two thousand years ago to engage in homosexuality in the sight of God
it is wrong today.
If it was wrong to blaspheme and to be guilty of unbelief it is wrong today.
If hardness of heart was wrong in the days of Jeremiah it is wrong today.
Christ never wavers as far as the holy standards of God are concerned.
And oh that we might realize this.
You know we are all in one sense caught to be prophets aren't we?
You know we are the lights of the world, the salt of the earth.
What did Jesus mean when he spoke like that?
He entrusted to us this very prophetic ministry that we ask our society not arrogantly of
course but in a spirit of humility and brokenness to speak the truth in love.
Because if the Christian doesn't do it well who will?
Who will?
If Jesus did not purge this temple certainly the disciples wouldn't have done it.
They wouldn't have had a clue.
But it was Jesus who maintained the standards of God who fearlessly entered into that situation
and drove out these people who were making a mockery of God's holy temple.
Let's move on.
The temple was restored to a place of prayer.
Jesus said my house shall be called a house of prayer but you have made it a den of thieves.
You see the temple of God according to the sayings of Jesus Christ was essentially a
spiritual thing.
It was a place where spiritual activities took place.
It wasn't the place for trading.
It was very much a spiritual thing, a place for prayer.
And elsewhere in the gospels we're told it was a place of prayer for all nations.
From this temple in Jerusalem localized the gospel was to spread all over the world and
to the people of the temple it was given to them the responsibility of engaging in prayer
for all the nations.
My friends this is really a picture of the Christian church isn't it?
The Christian church is people, people engaged in spiritual activities and God will not depart
from that.
He has called together his people to worship him in spirit and in truth.
And the Christian church must adhere to what God has said the church should be doing.
And so Christ restores as it were through the purging of the temple this house of prayer.
And this is what the work of reformation and revival is all about isn't it?
It's when the Spirit of God comes and we understand afresh what a great thing the Christian church
is and what a great and awesome responsibility God has given to every believer.
It was to be a house of prayer.
God defined it that way and God would work it out in such a way that it was a house of
prayer.
Now the next thing I want you to notice is this.
After the purging of the temple the Lord's presence was evident.
The people must have thought you see well what's going on here and subsequently of course
they asked them well by whose authority are you doing these things?
And Christ replied you see.
But the point I make here is this once the temple had been purged Jesus was there.
Jesus was there restoring it to a place of prayer.
The Lord's presence and the church should be known by the presence of the Lord.
In 1 Corinthians 14 verses 24 and 25 you have the teaching there that when the non-believer
comes into the church and he sees what is happening he will fall down and say truly
God is in your midst.
The non-believer can recognize when God is in the midst of the church and we'll see more
of this as we progress.
But the question is this isn't it?
If non-believers come into the Christian church today speaking very generally does
he fall on his knees and say well look there's something here.
God is here.
Sadly he doesn't talk like that.
He doesn't.
And so we urgently need to have the presence of the Lord restored to the temple even as
it was in this instance.
So after the presence of the Lord is restored something very fascinating happens.
We're told in verse 14 the blind and the lame came to him in the temple.
You see what's happened here.
Initially the church was cluttered up with the temple was cluttered up with all this
commerce and trade.
Christ purges the temple.
It is restored to a spiritual place and then the people come back.
Isn't that wonderful?
When the temple has been restored the people outside actually came.
That's a beautiful picture isn't it?
When the church is spiritual the world will come.
That's a very important point, one that is being missed today by many churches who seem
to think that if we the church become more relevant to the world the world will come.
But that's not true is it?
You can become as relevant as you like but the world won't come and you know why?
Well because the people in the world are quite smart, they're very smart.
They can see that if the church engages in activities which I engage in why do I need
to go to the church?
They're very discerning.
But if they see well look the church is different then they will come.
And this is what's happened here you see.
These people by and large they didn't go into that temple there's nothing there.
They were used to seeing traders and commerce and so what they saw in the precinct of the
temple was not new to them.
They saw it every day outside of the temple but once all that had been cleared and once
Jesus spoke about it being a place of prayer and once Jesus Christ himself was present
in the temple the world came with all its needs and praise be to God Jesus met those
needs.
Those who were lame they were healed, the blind were given sight, those who were hurting
inside they were comforted, the ones with broken hearts Jesus Christ healed them and
he healed them in the precinct of the temple.
The world will be restored through the Christian church when that Christian church is different
to the world in terms of what it believes and in terms of its testimony that once the
Christian church becomes worldly it has lost its power and that is what is happening today.
Worldliness is the doctrine of the devil.
It is but the purity of the gospel that belongs to our Lord and the sooner we realize this
and strive to reform our churches to pray to God to restore true religion and true spirituality
to the church then we shall make an impact and so that's what's happened here you see
the people returned they could see that there was something there something that they hadn't
seen before something that was different to their everyday existence they could see the
Christian church had something to offer.
All my friends this should warm our hearts shouldn't it that God would just work in our
midst inadequate though we are that we shall truly be his disciples and as we live our
lives in obedience to the Lord those outside shall be attracted to Jesus and Jesus in the
midst of his people Jesus in your heart Jesus in my heart shall minister to those who are
crying out for help oh that God would move in a mighty way here in this church and even
in my church there in Auckland.
So there was power to meet the needs the church purified will always be effective you may
think well this is wonderful and indeed it is but you know the depravity of the heart
is so deep isn't it because you read later on how the priests and the Pharisees they
oppose what was happening isn't that a terrible tragedy that those who should have known better
actually oppose the pure work of Jesus Christ it's tragic and when you read of the movement
of the spirit in revival it is very sad to read sometimes that those who oppose revival
were actually ministers ministers well it's happened here you see those who oppose Jesus
in the purification of the temple and in what was happening they were the Pharisees the
scribes they were the professionals they were the ones who'd been to seminaries and so on
they were the ones who oppose the Holy Spirit no wonder Jesus had little time for them hypocrites
he rebuilt them oh my friends what a wonderful thing it is though that there are those who
will always recognize the work of the Holy Spirit and they will dare not they will never
oppose it because they know God is in the midst of his people well let's just close
then we'll learn some some more lessons here in closing if we understand the temple to be a
foreshadow of the Christian Church well we understand that churches can become dens of
iniquity Jesus called this place this temple as it was being used in the way it was a den of
thieves now it's sad my friend but very true that Christian churches can lose the plot and they
can become dens of iniquity synagogues of Satan as John would say oh that God would guard us from
that but it is a fact isn't it that many churches today which call themselves churches are in a
state of utter confusion so much so that when when taken from the viewpoint of the scriptures
truly they are no longer churches call them what you like but they are no longer churches
they become worldly they've compromised on the truth they take no discipline upon people whose
lives are inconsistent with the calling of a Christian this confusion there and truly they
have become dens of iniquity and when that happens my friend really it's time to separate isn't it
it's time to start afresh I mean I don't want to be controversial here but I believe that there
comes a time when we must separate from those who are sinking and lost in apostasy and compromised
that they are no longer churches we learn also in closing and I perhaps have alluded to this
already but notice the absolute intolerance of Jesus toward that which is false there is such
a thing as a holy intolerance no compromise if it's wrong it is wrong and so Jesus shows this
holy intolerance he comes to this temple and basically there were there were two things he
could do he could either purge it and try and get it right or he could remove it but there was no
room here for compromise we learn also that the temple must be kept holy there are certain
standards that God has set in place upon which his church is built and so the Christian church
must be kept holy as far as humanly possible we need to be holy people and the church needs to be
holy and the essential meaning of holiness is to be separate again I come back to this point you
see that the temple was meant to be different from the world the church is meant to be different
from the society in which it is in and every Christian is different from the unregenerate
soul quite different we saw something about this this afternoon how as Christians for instance the
Holy Spirit works in our conscience and our conscience has become super sensitive we do not
sin against God and when we do sin we feel that we confess our sins now these are the exercises of
the Christian the regenerate soul which the non-believer doesn't do he doesn't think like
that and so here is just an example of how the church and the Christian must be holy and finally
let me say this the salvation of sinners is direct directly related to the state of the
church you can see this from the context can't you Jesus purged the temple and he said look this
temple should be a house of prayer it should be a house of prayer for all nations the gospel would
go forth from the temple so it is that there is always a direct relationship between the state of
the church and the salvation of sinners where the church is not living and bearing a testimony
consistent with the Christian gospel that gospel will not go forth in power but where the Christian
church is possessed by God the Holy Spirit where it is obeying the Lord Jesus Christ where there
is love present in that church where there's a desire for missions and gospel outreach and all
these things are present and these things relate do they not to the salvation of sinners my friends
I pray that this little meditation would challenge our hearts for surely it is our desire that those
in the world who are blind and lame and hurting it is surely our desire that they come into our midst
and receive the cure that they want isn't that the case don't we want those who are hurting in
our families our friends colleagues do we not long to see them come into our midst and to be
restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and will we not trust in the Lord to work in such a way that this
will happen that those whom you have prayed for will come to Elmore Vale Baptist Church and here
be met by the Lord Jesus because Jesus is in your midst that's what we long to see isn't it
that people will come and be wonderfully saved to the glory of our Lord Jesus Jesus is the zealous
prophet of God he came and purged the temple he spoke a clear message and after that the people
came may God bless this word to our hearts amen let us pray our gracious father in heaven as we
have contemplated the work of the great prophet who is Christ Jesus we realize our own shortcomings
but father at the same time we know that Jesus is the prophet of today that he is able to come
and cleanse his church of all that is dishonouring to him and that he is able to come and presents
himself in a new way in the midst of his church whereby the world shall come and be saved Oh God
we pray that you would implant this word into our heart and souls that we shall pray for and long
for and believe in the revival of the Christian Church that through such a revival there shall be
a mighty awakening in this place Lord hear our prayers we pray and give us the grace to maintain
a good testimony to our family members those who do not profess Jesus those who are lost Oh God
that you would bring them in and that they might meet with you father hear our prayers we pray for
Jesus sake Amen