Five Contrasts for Holy Living

D as an example of that but passover it was the season when religious fervor was at its peak and so the air was full of electricity excitement anticipation but I don't think that there was much celebration going on the western side of the city see as herod and pilot would enter they would you've got to think they were probably the marching of boots the clatter of horse hooves on the on the pavement and stone the herald would proclaim the entrance of pontius pilate the governor of judea and people will probably fall silent there probably weren't many cheers for the conquerors however the eastern side of the city was a little bit different Jesus he entered through the eastern gate on a donkey on a colt which is a little bit different than a horse right horses they were beasts of war one that was a sign of hostility and power going I own you and the other one was a sign of peace and he came as the suffering servant the man who would die the son the man of sorrow the son of God and when someone arrived on a donkey it was a sign to all a public sign that I am here for peace and not hostility and so people they saw Christ and he's entering who is this man this is the prophet this is the one that just raised Lazarus from the grave this is the great teacher that taught on the mount just over just right over there

He was a teacher of galilee and meanwhile everyone's shouting hosanna hosanna to the son of David and they're excited they're cheering they're laying their cloaks on the street and kids are clapping and they're yelling and you gotta think there were probably some sick people crying out to him hosanna save me in this procession it takes place in the afternoon and the city's population has swelled and there's there's there's traffic everywhere there's tradesmen and there's there's families and they're all scurrying about in the excitement and the anticipation of passover it was it was so much so that people couldn't just stay in jerusalem they would actually stay in little little parts little villages all around the city like bethege and bethany where where Christ stayed and so Jesus he winds up turning around after he gets to the temple and he does the same he goes back to bethany according to the book of Mark and the next day he returns to the temple for a purpose and I want you to notice this incredible contrast between the entrance of pontius pilate and the entrance of Christ the king what is what is Jesus doing in the temple why did he go up look around and go back that's a good question I'm glad you asked we're looking at Matthew chapter 21. We're going to be in verses 12 through 17 we're going to look at five contrasts for holy living as we study God's word and so it asks that you stand with me in honor of God's word as we read it the Scripture says this starting in verse 12 and Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in

The temple and he overturned the tables of the money changers in the seats of those who sold pigeons he said to them it is written my house shall be called a house of prayer but you have made it a den of robbers and 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 hosanna to the son of David they were indignant and they 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 infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise and leaving them he went out of the city to bethany and lodged there and so God we do thank you for this day we thank you for the time of worship man of sorrows son of God that is who you are that you would come to redeem sinners like myself like my brothers and sisters that are here God thank you for that Lord we thank you that all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved God we thank you for that and if there's anyone here that does not trust in Jesus Christ we pray that today would be that day of salvation for that person God let this be our confession that we know you and that we love you and help us God to welcome you into the temple of our hearts and as you have entered into my heart God you've had to overthrow things in my life and God I pray that would happen even today continually in my life but also in my brothers and sisters that

Are here that we might be holy and blameless before you in Jesus name amen well Jesus he was always had a method of acting and resting meaning that he was always active in his ministry and he was also very intentional to rest in from his ministry as we see in this passage we see him engaged in conversations we see him teaching crowds we see him doing ministry we see him entering into jerusalem we also see him withdrawing and isolating from him from others spending time with the Lord because it's good for the people of God to withdraw for short periods of time from intense ministry and to spend time with the Lord that's good and right amen healthy breaks are good and we see this with many men of God in the Scripture after Jesus was baptized he withdrew and went into the wilderness before his public ministry Moses he was in the wilderness when he received his call to deliver the people of israel from egypt and well I guess they weren't of israel yet the Hebrews David he was prepared for battle against goliath in the wilderness and he withdrew and withdrew into the wilderness to prepare for that sometimes this is what people must have happen in their lives in order to be used mightily of God now Jesus he sees these money changers working here late in the afternoon he's he's finished his possession he's come up actually do you have a map do you have that map up there is there a map can you show that yeah all right here we go all right so on the right side you see I guess that's the eastern side so you have the mount of olives you got there's a path that goes in that

Direction from bethany and beth feige right through those two mountains and he would have taken gone north into there's this gate that's right there you see that red area that's the temple mount there's a gate there that's called beautiful it's a beautiful gate it's also known as the eastern gate and so that's the path that he would have taken in order to enter jerusalem now think about this he's entering in the afternoons there's people that are either leaving the city because it's in the afternoon they've done their business in the city and they're going out into the countryside in order to settle in for the evening with their family so they're going against the current and so it takes Jesus a while to get up to the temple mountain he walks up into the temple mount and he looks around and does he see those money changers doing their thing yes he does why doesn't Jesus go ahead and do that in the evening why doesn't he just start flipping over tables that night I think there's a very important reason firstly I think that Jesus he took time to pray we always see him that's me just kind of thinking all right I just see Jesus doing that but I also think they want to make the biggest impact possible you see the temple it was most active during the daytime typically between 8 am to 3 pm if it was later in the day which Mark says that it that it was then there wouldn't be as many people in the temple at that time people wouldn't have been as shocked or offended and so what Jesus is doing is not procrastination but intentionality and maybe there's something in your life that you believe that God is okay with because he's glanced in on it

And he hasn't brought about a righteous judgment and the reason for that is because he has a greater judgment for you that he is preparing we don't like to think about Jesus in that way but that's exactly what he does in this passage and the way to escape from that coming judgment is by changing your mind about that sin that you love and turning to Jesus Christ that's the only way to escape from the wrath to come and so what does Jesus do the next day as he enters into the temple on this morning you know what he does is firstly he enters into the temple if you have a Bible circle that word that he enters some things that Jesus does he enters I want to compare the temple of God with you as a person the reason for that is because if you are in Christ you are God's temple and the spirit of God dwells within you and that's what first corinthians 3 16 says so let me ask you this is Jesus in your heart have you have you believed in Jesus Christ are you saved then if that's the case then Jesus abides in you and you are in him and my question is what is the evidence John chapter 10 verses 15 chapter 15 verse 10 says if you keep my commandments you will abide in my love just as I've kept my father's commandments and abide in his love and so he enters in the evidence of it is a changed life but what else does Jesus do he also drives things out he drives out the sin because salvation listen salvation demands submission circle that phrase drives out or drove out you see in Christ your life it should

Look different than before I don't mean simply like those external parts of your life that people see on the outside I'm talking about your values your morality your convictions Jesus he also overturns everything circle that word turns or write that down your notes he overturns everything I think I think about that meme where you know it says if someone asks you what Jesus would do remind them that flipping over tables is part of the equation right it's a Christian way to handle things I'm joking by the way my wife's not here is she I'm joking I'm joking when one time we were playing a board game and she got really upset and we were like yeah arguing over the rules and we were like something that we laugh about to this day so anyways Mark 11 it includes actually flipping over seats you know people are sitting down and Jesus is like move get out the way and you know he's flipping things over there's money going all over the ground there's there's pigeons that are that are being cast out of the temple there's oxen running for their lives cattle are or going down through the beautiful gate escaping from jerusalem Jesus is causing a hectic kind of chaos and yet he's the son of God and never did anything that was wrong he was always only good and righteous and just and so we look at this and we have to think that this is what Jesus was doing so therefore it was and is good and this is the second time that Jesus has done something like this in John chapter 2 it says this

Is just a few years before at the very beginning of Jesus's ministry it says that the passover the jews was at hand and Jesus went up to jerusalem in the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and the money changers were sitting there and making a whip of cords he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and oxen and he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables this is at the very beginning of his ministry and here he is at the end why because he has zeal for the father's house he loves the Lord as God he cares about what's happening in the temple do you care about what's happening in your temple do you care about the things that are happening in your heart because Jesus does is Jesus being mean-spirited here is he is he being a jerk is he some sort of idealist who misunderstands people and their intentions no he's always only righteous and kind he knows every thought and intention of the heart before one word is on our mouth he knows it completely let's not forget that this is the temple that is literally built in his name he is the Lord Almighty this is his father's house and by extension it's his own house what is that what else is Jesus doing here Jesus he also has is speaking he spoke circle that phrase he said to them listen to me Christian God he still speaks to us today primarily through his word the inspired word of God this is sufficient for us it is enough quit looking for more of God's word when you neglect this one everyone wants a new revelation read it let's not forget that

Jesus he always points back throughout all of his teachings it is written it is written it has been said in other words Jesus he says the Bible says thus saith the Lord and those are some of the things that we see Jesus doing and so we want to see some of these contrasts some of the things that's happening that Matthew has made here I want to want to make some of these contrast first contrast is I want you to notice the money changers versus the prayers the money changers versus the prayers see some groups of people that were there in the temple just to make money to achieve status the others were there to pray and to worship I would say the vast majority of the people that were there were very glad that Jesus was there they were there to genuinely worship the Lord they were there because they were excited for the passover and to keep God's laws many of the leaders were not many of the leaders they were there to see how much money they could make maybe they could get a banner year or a high attendance sabbath or you know they were just they were trying to do whatever they could to build up their own their own stature and their own hopes and their own dreams you know if we look at our nation's history a lot of people they look at the past through rose-colored lenses don't they like if we if we just took ourselves from 2021 today we just projected ourselves into the future where we really talk about how awesome our country was back in 2020 I seriously doubt it I mean when we talk about how our nation used to be a Christian country what are we talking about are we talking about the racism and hatred of the 50s

A meddling are we talking about the sexual revolution of the 60s we're talking about the rise of liberalism in the 70s the materialism of the 80s the greed of the 90s the turmoil of the 2000s the confusion of the tens what part of our nation's history that any of us has ever experienced was actually Christian I dare say that none of us have actually fully experienced it the closest that we get to heaven on earth is when Christ abides in us and us in him it's the closest that we get so let's not say let's take america back but as the Bible teaches to look forward to the kingdom of God in his arrival I look forward to Jesus's return do you the closest society that we that we will ever get to experience on earth is when Christian brothers and sisters right here in this church love one another with a genuine and pure heart looking out not only for our own interest but also for the interests of others as austin had read earlier when the kingdom of Christ is proclaimed when the Gospel is believed and preached when we are together and we are unified in Christ that's the closest that we get to heaven on earth don't remember that old hymn there's a sweet sweet spirit in this place it's because that's where the spirit is and there is unity morality it cannot save love cannot bring salvation acceptance can't redeem the soul and just because people know the ten commandments doesn't make our nation better or worse in regards to salvation got a picture here it's of a pig you see the pig yeah now

Does that ring make the pig beautiful no it makes the ring ugly and when we try to put a morality onto lost people that's all that we're doing only God can take something vile and make it something beautiful so let's stop trying to push rings into pig's noses you know this is what this is what preachers I love reading old dead white guys because like I do because they grieved over the things that like we talk about you know it's like man you know one of the guys I was I was reading it was herschel hobbs you guys probably heard of herschel hops I hope that you have there's a giant of southern baptist convention for years you know one of his things that he always grieved over was the fact that there were so many lost people in his congregation people they would come to church well I'm giving money or you know I attend every week or you know I'm part of a community group or I'm this or I'm that you know none of that saves just because you're a member of our church doesn't save you just because you give money doesn't save you know what does save faith alone in Jesus Christ turn away from sin and to turn to Christ repent and belief that's what it takes in our modern day society it's not nearly as beneficial to attend church as it was even in the mid to late 2000s now to attend church regularly and to believe God's word honestly is kind of frowned upon really you believe that you believe Genesis is history you believe that there was really a guy that was swallowed by a fish you really believe that there was

Someone that died and really died and he rose again on the third day you really believe that it's it's considered strange it's considered foreign but you know what happens is that the light shines brightest in the darkness we're called to be salty salt what good is salt if it loses its saltiness it's just worth to be tossed out or be trampled upon we love God and we obey God because what he's done in our lives and so we draw to him the second contrast I'm kind of going on hey we need to move on all right dinner robbers dinner robbers versus house of prayer I want to get you all out of here in a timely manner denim robbers versus the house of prayer this his point it points to the purpose of the church like we as first baptist church we exist to glorify God we exist to make disciples that's if we accomplish those things and we do it well then we're doing a-okay if we're glorifying God and making disciples we don't exist to get more money that's not our purpose at fbc you know what we do we fund missions we give as much away as we can yeah we're still very frugal with our money we do what we can with what we got but we want to give as much away as we can we don't exist to inflate our bank account and you know what first baptist church is a place for prayer it's a place for worship it's not for financial gain it's not for status but what is happening in the temple well men they're there they're trading goods they're taking a profit they're taking advantage of the weak and the poor it's no wonder Christ was angry yet he didn't sin

Just a little background here this temple is known as herod's temple in history it's known as herod's temple it's a 36-acre complex to give you an idea of how huge this place was filled with thousands of people there to worship the Lord this outer courtyard that you see there that's known as the court of gentiles or in this time it was known as the bazaar of anus it was known as the bazaar like a b-a-z-a-a-r you know a place to buy and sell goods that's how bad it got and so you got jewish people there you got gentiles in the courtyard where they were permitted to be but you know what happened the jewish people they were going you know if the gentiles are here surely it's not bad for God's people to make a profit while they're here and so they had ox where oxen weren't allowed to be doves rams sheep goats and as he's a jewish aristocrat during this time he managed these temple grounds he was a member of the sadducees and he made a lot of money off of being in control over those 36 acres so you had animals you had oil you had spices you had salt you had honey you had anything that could be used for sacrifices that were right there right at that time also according to God's law here's what people could do is they could bring in lambs they could make sacrifices but the priests had to give approval and what was happening during this time is that many of the priests would go well is this a temple lamb I'm sorry you can't sacrifice that lamb here you gotta go and you gotta buy one and for you as a as a poor person in

First century judea or maybe you traveled you know hundreds of miles just to be able to make the passover pretty much what they're saying is that your sins cannot be atoned for until you buy our lamb sound familiar third contrast the chief priests versus the blind and the lame Jesus he was tearing apart the values of the religious elite and he healed and he taught those who were poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God which would you rather relate to the leaders who were loved by men or the blind and the lame which were loved and healed by the Lord one group had power in this world the other group has an inheritance in the kingdom this doesn't mean however that just because you have some sort of physical ailment that the Lord owes you some type of special favor you still need a Savior just like everyone else Jesus Christ he entered this world to save sinners just like you just like me just like anyone who would call upon the name of the Lord in order to be saved you and to escape the wrath to come you must confess that you're a sinner and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ death burial and resurrection I also want you to notice that the lame and blind they were healed by Jesus right here right in this passage right in front of everyone for the world to see and yet the religious leaders they did not and they could not accept that the Messiah was standing right there in front of them do you believe that Jesus is the son of God you cannot be a Christian unless you at least believe that believe in Christ trust in him today there's another contrast here you see

Scorn versus worship do you think that the religious leaders took all of this laying down you think they were okay with Jesus acting this way I don't think so in fact the Bible says they weren't Luke 19 it says that the chief priests and scribes and the principal men of the people after this they were seeking to destroy him hey let's figure out a plan to kill this guy because he's cutting into our prophets he's subverting our authority and there are always going to be men and women of satan that are going to seek to thwart the work of God and yet through their thwarting through their plans they will be fulfilling God's will because nothing in all creation happens apart from the will of God remember that these men they hated Jesus the pastor says they were indignant that means that they were jealous they were jealous of God this is the original sin that you know right satan he was jealous of God he was jealous of his stature and he rebelled he convinced a third of the angels to rebel as well and let it never be said that you and I are so full of scorn or jealousy like these unholy men but rather let it be said of us that we are worshipers of God these men of unholy scorn they were still under the sovereign hand of God if you look Jesus at least three times had told his disciples I am going to jerusalem right now to be delivered into the hands of the gentiles and the jews and I will die and I will be dead for three days and then I will come back

You see God he still used all of this hate that these men had for a purpose to bring about the redemption of anyone who would trust in Jesus Christ that was his whole purpose and so Christians we should never despair when we see things like unrighteousness or hate or malice we should never despair because we know that God has a greater redemption for us like we can be filled with sorrow when we look at society just as Christ wept over jerusalem and we can our hearts can be broken but we can also rest assured that God he is working out a greater redemption that we may not fully understand as we're going through it and yet the children they're in the temple and they're crying out hosanna hosanna to the son of David and they were worshiping the Lord and Jesus he's welcome welcoming them those children the Bible actually it commands us not to forbid children to come to the Lord Luke 18 it says truly I say to you whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter the children they believed Jesus was the Messiah that he was hosanna the son of David simply because of who Jesus was and what they saw what was Jesus doing he was healing people and doing many wonderful things the final contrast is questions versus confessions notice that the religious leaders they asked do you hear what these are saying Jesus says yep I love that I love that response in other words like Jesus shut them up they're asking for you to save them and you can't you're not God Jesus is like yeah I do hear them how can I not hear them I'm sure this just like got all the religious leaders in the

Tizzy for good reason they felt like they were in charge they felt like they were the stewards of the temple of God that they could say and they could do what they wanted and they didn't even realize that God was in the flesh right in front of them and yet the lame and the blind they said shouted out hosanna the children made that same confession save us Jesus he is the son of David it's a title for the Messiah the one that they have been waiting for since Genesis 3 15 the promised Redeemer the one that would save mankind from the punishment of sin and reconcile them to God for all who would believe so what does all this mean on palm sunday firstly it means that we should check our hearts that's what it means do we feel like we're the ones that are in control we feel like we need to be in control do we want what we want or do we want what God wants if it came down to a wrestling contest are you going to be jealous of the Lord are you going to choose to bow in worship secondly we learn a few things about God here firstly is that God is righteous at once he cares about justice and purity and just as the Lord dealt with their sin he will deal with ours and secondly we learn about how good God is God he is always only good that's why the blind and the lame come to him because of his goodness he also learned about God's omnipotence that means that he's all powerful he not only has the right to change things but he has

The ability to change them we also learn about the sovereignty of God that while these wicked men they sought to kill the Lord God he was orchestrating something greater for you and I head hand heart I want you to know that we come to God as we are come to God just like we are we don't have to clean ourselves up or anything like that we come to God as a poor lame blind child it's not through any efforts or strength of our own we cannot earn salvation and I want you to ask if maybe there's anything in your heart that Christ has been looking to overthrow for a while maybe you've just been trying to close that beautiful gate keep him out maybe it's selfishness or pride ask the Lord to show you what it is heart I want you to believe that Christ he is always worthy of our praise he's always worthy of our worship it doesn't matter if the people are indignant or jealous Jesus is worthy of it all because he is the lamb of God the king of kings and as we will see on friday the lamb who was slain [Music] let's stand and let's pray together [Music] so God you are the father of all creation we thank you for your word I pray that you would just help us to know that we can come to you just like we are whether we're wandering whether we're living in rebellion or maybe our lives are okay God help us to even in that moment to seek out what you would have us to do maybe we look okay but our hearts are

Far from you God bring us close God thank you for the invitation that you beckoned and you draw us to yourself God if there's anyone here that hasn't been saved maybe they don't know where they're going to spend eternity and I pray that during our responses maybe people come up and give to the annie armstrong easter offering God maybe they would slip over and say pastor I just need to get this right I'm ready to follow Christ God let that be what happens in someone's heart today God as we've looked at these contrasts Lord I pray that you would just help us to not be like the money changers dwelling in a den of robbers like those chief priests those scribes those chief men they were full of scorn and questioning God but let us be Lord just like those those prayers in your house of prayer God let us be totally dependent upon you for healing of our of our spiritual blindness of our spiritual lameness God confessing you like children that you are the one who can save us God help our hearts cry out hosanna in Jesus name amen how deep the father's love for us how vast beyond all measure [Music] that he should give his only son to make a wretch his treasure how great the pain of searing lost the father turns his face away as wounds which mar the chosen one bring many sons to glory [Music] now would be the time if you plan on giving your offering to the andy

Armstrong easter offering to come forward to this little church that's right there to help build other churches in north america behold the man upon a cross my sin upon his shoulders ashamed I hear my mocking voice call out among the scarfers it was my sin that held him there until it was accomplished his dying breath has brought me life I know that it is finished [Music] I will not boast in anything no gifts no power no wisdom but I will boast in Jesus Christ his death and resurrection [Music] why should I gain from his reward I cannot give an answer but this I know with all my heart his wounds have paid my ransom why should I gain [Music] I cannot give an answer but this I know with all my [Music] amen and so God we do thank you for this time that we've been able to worship together God as we depart from this place as your church equipped with our cups full with our minds focused on your will God help us to leave from this place as your ambassadors as your missionaries God seeking to share the Gospel and evangelizing the lost and loving the hurting God help us to do so with tremendous joy that you've given to us by the presence of your son in our hearts we love you in Jesus name

Amen one thing holy week schedule we got service tonight thursday night is communion service and then good friday service and so I'll see y'all hopefully tonight God bless you