Latest / HBCWestminster / 11.14.21 Luke 19:45-20:8 Pastor Danny Gardner

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11.14.21 Luke 19:45-20:8 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, we said last week that we have now entered the final section of Luke's gospel, the Passion Week. We said that Christ, who is our master conductor, is ensuring that the melody line of his ministry, which can be found in chapter 19 and verse 10, that is, to seek and to save the lost, that that melody line is not lost, even in the mayhem of the crowd's messianic euphoria. We said that Jesus never forgot why he came, and despite how the week began,
• 0:31
  with that triumphal entry with celebration with hosanna and blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord with him being hailed as king despite how that week began he never forgot that those same crowds would only at the end of that same week be yelling crucify him the events about to happen in the city of jerusalem will not in any way take jesus by surprise he was purposefully masterfully
• 0:58
  orchestrating the events surrounding his own death. And when he said that no one takes his life from him, but he lays it down freely, he was serious. And so with that in mind, let's read our text. And I would ask if you're able to stand in honor of God's word as I read. Chapter 19, beginning in verse 45, we'll go through 20 and verse 8. And hear the word of God. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, it is written,
• 1:31
  My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers. And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him. But they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words. One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.
• 2:02
  He answered them, I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? They discussed it with one another saying, if we say from heaven, he will say, why did you not believe him? But if we say from man, all the people will stone us to death for they are convinced that John was a prophet. So they answered that they did not know where it came from. And Jesus said to them, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
• 2:30
  Would you pray with me? Lord, we look to your word for our truth, for our light, for our peace. We ask that you give power to those who are faint among us. We ask that you increase the might of those who are weak. Lord, renew our strength that we may mount up with wings like eagles. In the name of Jesus, amen. Amen. Thank you, church.
• 3:02
  Certainly you've noticed how quickly heavenly praise can turn to visceral hatred, like the nasty breakup of two 10th graders, who last Wednesday were madly in love and this Wednesday can't even be in the same room with each other. So also that shallow kind of love can turn on a dime to genuine loathing. In his book, Brave New World, Aldous Huxley warns against a post-Christian society.
• 3:33
  In his dystopian future, America and all other nations no longer exist, but they've been replaced with what he calls the world state. It's a single government which controls its people with a heavy hand. Its citizens now long for more than anything else, meaning through mass production. They find satisfaction through industry. They know happiness only by knowing their place. The book was written in the 1920s. It was published in the 1930s.
• 4:03
  And Huxley describes their greatest heroes no longer being sports figures or great warriors or politicians or even spiritual saviors, but rather Henry Ford, the man who was responsible for the greatest contributions in the industrial age through his development of automated production and the assembly line. Their veneration, adoration to Henry Ford was total. The Lord's name was even replaced with Ford's name.
• 4:33
  People in the book exclaiming, oh my Ford, instead of oh my Lord. References are made to his Fordship, completely deifying his memory. Rather than tracing the sign of the cross, which Christians had done for centuries prior, now they trace the sign of the T, honoring Henry Ford's greatest contribution to society, the Model T. The author even says that crosses
• 4:58
  that once adorned cathedrals and churches around the world had their tops removed so that they now became tees. You may be thinking, well, Danny, that's a work of fiction. Certainly that wouldn't happen in real life. Although Huxley's book is fiction, indeed, it is a work of fiction, we can see some modern parallels as our society has become increasingly secular. This same attitude.
• 5:26
  has become more prevalent and pronounced as our culture shifts its affections away from the Lord and toward worldly things. And so much so that many in our country are even offended at the very religious symbols like the cross, which were once used to bless what is now a bygone era. Many of you know that I grew up in the Mojave Desert, just north of Los Angeles. Not far from my hometown, there is a veterans memorial.
• 5:56
  honoring the sacrifice of american soldiers in world war one the memorial is simple there is a plaque dedicating it to all who paid the ultimate price there is a simple white cross on top of a small rocky hill there it is you can see how simple it is a small plaque you can barely see in the shadows and on top of the rocks a very discreet white cross in 2002 the cross was covered
• 6:24
  Lawsuits were filed to have it taken down because that memorial, which had been there since 1934, sat on public land. It was argued that there must be a separation of church and state, and therefore a cross has no place on public land. And so for eight years, the cross was bagged. Eventually, a heavy-duty wooden box like a crate was made and slipped over the top of the cross to keep it covered. And for eight years, that cross sat in the dark.
• 6:55
  In 2010, 11 years ago, after countless hours of litigation and dollars spent, it was ruled that the land could be given in exchange for another property to a private veterans group who could display the cross again, not because it was okay to display the cross, but because now it was no longer on public property. And so a wealthy man exchanged private property for that property. The box was finally removed. Only days after that, the cross was stolen
• 7:24
  By vandals, it wasn't recovered for two more years. It now sits back on private land. It is displayed in honor of those U.S. soldiers who have fought and died. Now, I know that some of you are thinking, well, yeah, Danny, but that was in California, where the hippies and the criminals and the drunkards rule the land. That would never happen here. It may happen in Raider Nation, but it ain't happening in Broncos country, not in God's country. You know, it's funny you should bring that up.
• 7:57
  There is a public charter school here in town, which many of us are familiar with, a public school, which many of us love and are thankful for, that was struggling through the COVID restrictions being placed on schools, specifically related to social distancing requirements 15 months ago, at the beginning of the 2020 school year, because the principal of that public school is a believer and is also a friend.
• 8:22
  I went to our Highland board to ask about partnering together with that public school to see if they could use our campus, our church campus for classes. My proposal was, what if we opened our church to the public school system so that their students could properly spread out, right? Instead of being in a small classroom, maybe they can use our sanctuary so that it can spread out. They can use our fellowship hall, our West Hall. And so I went to our board and said, what if we partnered together with the public school system? Our board.
• 8:52
  seeing the unbelievable outreach potential, right? Which you can imagine, hundreds of public school kids coming to our campus, our church every day. Our board decided to offer our facility to the public school system for free. No rent, no cost whatsoever to them. And church, what response do you think we got? The school board convened. They actually decided they would allow it. As long as we would cover up the word church on our sign and
• 9:24
  bag or box or cover all crosses and religious icons, both on the outside of the church and within the building. And this we will not do. Just to be very fair and for the record, that public school principal, who is a believer, did not think that we should cover any of those things. She was not in agreement with that. But church, we are witnesses, I think, to the attempted systematic cleansing of Christianity from our society.
• 9:53
  Now currently that's being done in the name of separation of church and state, but it's all with the devil at the steering wheel. You may be thinking, yeah, and it's getting worse and worse. Amen? No, church, it's not. It's not getting worse and worse. It's not new. These, the days in which we live, are not unique in human history. This has always been going on, and it's always...
• 10:23
  been bad church make no mistake this cleansing did not begin in 2020 america it began in luke chapter 19 verse 47. i would draw your attention there where it says the chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him this has been going on for 2 000 years i'm at times surprised at believers reactions to the seeming growing negativity of our world towards spiritual things
• 10:56
  Church, haven't you read your New Testaments? One of my favorite movies of all time is A River Runs Through It. Robert Redford is the director. He's also the narrator in the movie. And in the movie, Robert Redford's father is a highly opinionated Presbyterian minister in Montana who thinks, and these are his words, that Baptists are just Methodists who can't read. That's what he said.
• 11:26
  Baptists are just illiterate Methodists. That's all they are. And so friends, fellow Baptists, prove him wrong. Read your Bibles. We do not live in a world at peace with and in love with Jesus Christ. That's not what this book says. We live in a world at war. Now there might have been a little armistice, like a little truce for a little while, for a few decades in this little place called America.
• 11:54
  But if you would read your New Testament, then what is happening around the world is nothing new and it is exactly what you would expect to have happen. Look at the words of Jesus in John chapter 12 and verse 24. Truly, truly, he says, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it. Whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal.
• 12:25
  And you may be wondering, well, what did Jesus mean when he said, I mean, surely, surely he didn't mean that we might actually die if we follow him, did he? Yeah, that's exactly what he meant. In fact, he even says we are like seeds, seeds that can only bear fruit when we're buried, when we're buried. Pastor Stephen Davey has said this, a legacy of spiritual fruit.
• 12:56
  Belongs to that person who effectively says to jesus christ. Here am I? bury me A legacy of spiritual fruit if you want to bear fruit in your life If you want to leave a legacy a lasting legacy after you die He says the only way you can do that is to bury yourself the way That jesus did and church. This was the attitude of christ He knew That if he was going to bear spiritual fruit, he must first die
• 13:26
  For the next six days in the life of Jesus, what will be our study for the next four months? We will look at the systematic attempt of the Jewish religious establishment in conjunction with the Roman Empire to completely erase the ministry of Jesus from the map. That is what's going on in Luke 19 to 23. It's not just the crucifixion of Jesus getting rid of one guy. This was the systematic eradication.
• 13:54
  of a movement which Jesus started and which continues today. In that effort to erase Jesus, they will bury him in the ground. They are completely unaware that he had already called himself a seed, which if you bury in the ground will bear much fruit. They had no idea the kind of fruit that their actions would bear. In this morning's text, Jesus, we find, cleansed the temple from them.
• 14:25
  The corruption, the sinful, the wicked practices of these important Pharisees, scribes, principal men of the people. He will cleanse the temple from them. But then in turn, they sought to cleanse the nation from him. And so let's look at that temple cleansing. Notice in verse 45, it says, and he entered the temple. Now this...
• 14:54
  leads to some speculation on what day this occurred if you were just to take out those kind of section headings in our bible so above verse 45 it says jesus cleanses the temple there's a break if you were just to read from verse 44 into verse 45 where jesus has been hailed king praised celebrated by the people rejected by the pharisees then he goes and weeps over the city he laments over the city
• 15:20
  And he entered the temple, verse 45 says. You may assume that he just went from one straight into the other. So maybe this happened on Sunday evening. It could be. Others will say, well, this undoubtedly happened on Monday. Some will even push it as late as Tuesday. Believe me, church, there is no end to the writing of books on the dating, the chronicling of the Passion Week of Christ. I've read many of them. I've not read them all because there is, I think, an infinite amount.
• 15:45
  okay so i've read some of them which just say well no doubt it happened this way sunday monday tuesday wednesday and then you'll read somebody else and say no no he got it all wrong it happened this way sunday monday tuesday wednesday let me just say for the record it doesn't matter it doesn't matter what day this was we do know from luke 21 just next chapter and verse 37 that jesus would go into jerusalem every day he would teach he would throw people out
• 16:11
  He took over the temple. He would preach the gospel. He would tell parables and give lessons about fig trees and other things, talk about his return. But then every evening he would retreat to Bethany. He would go back to the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, his best friends. So he would go into the city and then every evening come back to Bethany, back to his friends. For our purposes, we'll say that this day was Monday. Now there are a host of things which Christ accomplished on Monday of the Passion Week.
• 16:41
  which would ensure his rejection by the Jewish leaders and would ensure his crucifixion by the Romans. He did all kinds of things that they deemed worthy of crucifixion, but none more vital than this event. His coming into the temple and kicking over tables really ticked them off. You say, well, what about John chapter 2? For those of you who perhaps have read the Gospels already,
• 17:10
  John chapter two describes the cleansing of the temple, but it describes it at the very beginning of Jesus's life. Very, I'm sorry, very beginning of his public ministry. So right when he's baptized, he comes in and he cleanses the temple. So John describes it at the beginning. Luke describes it at the end. And there are some critics of God's word who would say, see a clear contradiction in scripture. You say, well, how do you get around that? How do you explain that? Well, church, let me ask you, how do you explain that? Maybe he did it twice.
• 17:39
  right maybe he did it twice maybe at the beginning of his public ministry he goes up to the temple he drives everybody out he takes over and he says this temple belongs to me and then he leaves and for three and a half years he's casting out demons he's doing miracles he's preaching sermons he's calming storms he's feeding thousands he gets back down to the temple at the end he says wait a minute this is mine i thought i made that clear and so he drives them all out again no doubt church there were two
• 18:11
  Two temple cleansings. You say, why does that matter? Because it shows the zeal in Christ's heart for spiritual priority. Make sure you hear that. He cared about the soul more than he cared about the body. He cared about the spirit more than he cared about what was physical. The same zeal for spiritual priority, which consumed Christ at the beginning of his ministry, also consumed him at the end. He was less concerned.
• 18:41
  with things like politics, governments, more concerned with the heart. In fact, John MacArthur says the same thing when he says Christ's entire ministry focused on spiritual matters. So the song that he begins to conduct, that Seek and to Save the Lost, that we've talked about in the last couple of weeks and we will continue to talk about, that song that he is conducting did not begin on the Passion Week. Christ the Conductor was playing the same tune.
• 19:11
  For three and a half years. And notice what it was that he attacked. It wasn't the pagan, idol-worshipping Gentile Romans. It was the very heart of Judaism. The temple. He attacked the revered and elevated religious leaders of the nation. In the words of one pastor, Jesus attacked the soul of the nation. Why would he do that? Well, it's because they were not only fake.
• 19:43
  But they were actively leading others into the same counterfeit religion. Jesus, we find, was less bothered by political Roman occupation and pagan occupation than he was with religious corruption. Let me say that again. Jesus was less bothered by who was running the government than he was what was going on in his own people's hearts. Everybody's drawing the right applications here, right? He was less concerned with who was running the government.
• 20:18
  than he was with what was going on in his own people's hearts. He was less concerned with Israel's relationship to Rome than he was Israel's relationship to God. What about today? If Jesus came back today, if he came back right now, who do you think would receive his greatest rebuke? And I know, beloved church, there are so many things that we as a nation are struggling with. I know that there are so many things that so many of us disagree with.
• 20:57
  But are you as devoted in growing your relationship with Christ as you are researching politics? Maybe I'll ask it this way. Which do you open more? Your Bible or your Fox News app? And I'm saying this to my own shame. I'm guilty of the same things. I've noticed that I complain about the state of our nation a lot. Very concerned about my relationship to the government, my relationship to the state. And so perhaps...
• 21:31
  I give that relationship more of my time and mental energy than I even do my relationship to my Lord. If Jesus came into our sanctuary this morning, what do you think he would say? He says he entered the temple. He didn't enter the temples of the false gods. He entered the temple of his Holy Father. It says, began to drive out those who sold. Now, I don't want to belabor this point because I've talked about it in previous sermons, but the temple precinct, the temple mount,
• 22:07
  had become a marketplace where goods were sold, where money was exchanged. In fact, there was an entire financial system that had been devised by one of the Jewish sects, specifically probably the Sadducees, who were in charge of the Temple Mount, where they had devised an economic system where they would skim the profits.
• 22:28
  the temple and so as genuine worshipers would come to offer their sacrifices and their offerings they would always get a portion of those sacrifices and so they were making you can imagine a ton of money things like tokens to pay the temple tax lambs without blemish you can't just bring your own lamb and present it you've got to purchase one of our pre-approved lambs without blemish at obviously a highly marked up rate
• 22:54
  And so they were making an incredible amount of money. There was unbelievable corruption. And so he begins to drive them out and saying to them, it is written. It is written. And what follows is a composite. I'm going to call it a composite Old Testament text, which I'll explain in just a moment. A combination of Isaiah and Jeremiah where Jesus poignantly points out the vast gap.
• 23:22
  between the worship that God searches for and what was actually going on in the temple at his time. God wants worshipers, right? He wants his people to be a people of worship. And yet Jesus points out here what God is looking for and then what Jesus found in the temple. And there was a huge gap. Jesus one time in a conversation with a woman at a well said in John 4, the hour is coming and is now here.
• 23:49
  When the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. So he describes his heavenly Father as searching the earth, scouring the earth, looking for what kind of people? Worshipers. That's what he wants. He wants us to be people of worship. Genuine, spirit-filled worshipers. That is who he's looking for. And yet that's not what he finds in his own temple.
• 24:23
  God's heart, we know, has always been for the salvation of mankind and church, all of mankind, not just for the Jewish people. The birth of His own Son was meant to bring a light to the Gentiles. Isaiah 9 and verse 2 says, The people who walked in darkness, that is the Gentiles, have seen a great light, that is Jesus. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
• 24:50
  Even the selection of Abraham's descendants, the Jews, God's covenant people, was meant to reinforce that same priority in the Lord's heart for all peoples. Abraham was called in Genesis 12, and in verse 3 it says, In you, Abraham, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Even the construction of the temple was meant to do the same.
• 25:22
  Two Old Testament verses. It's interesting that he does this. He takes a little snippet from Isaiah, just one little phrase from Isaiah 56, and then he takes one little phrase from Jeremiah 7 and he jams them together and he quotes them in condemnation on those who had possessed and corrupted his temple in a call for them to repent. But all of this is in order to communicate the heart of God for all people. Now let me begin by just asking the question because it's an important one.
• 25:52
  Jesus takes a phrase out of one book and he takes a phrase out of another book and he squeezes them together and he draws an application. Church, just for our own Bible study, is this good hermeneutical practice? Should you, in your personal devotions and Bible study, take small phrases from one book and another phrase from another book and squeeze them together and start drawing applications? Is this how you should study your Bibles?
• 26:18
  No, it's not. It's not good Bible study method. It's not good preaching method. If I start doing that, you should say, hey, wait a minute. I think you might be taking those things out of context. So let me ask, why then did Jesus do it? Because he's Jesus, right? I mean, that's the answer. He's the author of the book. The author of the book gets to do whatever he wants with the book, right? And if you ain't Jesus, don't do this.
• 26:48
  Okay. And so there's just a very clear, it's just an easy principle, an easy application. Jesus is allowed to do what he wants. Now, why would he take these two phrases? Isaiah 56, my house shall be a house of prayer. In fact, Isaiah 56 and verse seven, which is this verse, my house shall be a house of prayer actually ends with for all peoples, for all nations. In fact, Mark's account of this cleansing actually says that Jesus included that phrase.
• 27:19
  My house shall be a house of prayer for all peoples, for all nations. Jesus intended, I think, to remind his hearers that God's way to salvation through sacrifice in the temple was intended to be open to all people, not just the Jews. And he tacks onto the end, Jeremiah 7, 11, but you have made it a den of robbers. He offers this stinging rebuke.
• 27:48
  to the nation who had forsaken their god and so when you read verse 47 you're like well yeah it makes sense he was teaching daily in the temple he'd gone in there possessed it it's mine the chief priest the scribes the principal men of the people now they're all losing money and so it makes sense that they were seeking to destroy him but it says they didn't find anything they could do for all the people were hanging on his words here we find the only thing that kept jesus safe
• 28:20
  Until the appointed day of his crucifixion were those that we will just call his adoring fans. Public sentiment had not yet changed against Jesus. They weren't yet yelling crucify him. They were hanging on his every word. Notice also that Jesus' authority is questioned. His authority is questioned. Chapter 20 and verse 1 says one day. One day.
• 28:47
  Now, again, there are people who get all kinds of worked up about which day this might have been. Again, let me say it doesn't really matter. This event happened during the Passion Week. It's included here by Luke because of its clear connection to Jesus's cleansing of the temple. He challenged their authority. And so they challenged his authority in return. Jesus was teaching daily. One of those days, he was challenged by the chief priests, the scribes, the elders who said, tell us,
• 29:20
  By what authority you do these things? Who is it that has given you this authority to come in here and take over? Now imagine for a moment a group of people telling God that he doesn't have the right to come into his own house and tell them what to do. The audacity, I mean the arrogance of these people who will come to Jesus and say, who put you in charge? Where do you get off? Why do you have the right? Who told you you could come in here?
• 29:50
  And push us around. And friends, may I humbly ask, do you ever draw lines, maybe in the same way, do you ever draw lines in the sand with God? Do you ever ask Him what authority He has to come into your life and make changes? What authority do you have to come into my home and tell me how it should run? What authority do you have to come into my marriage, to meddle in my marriage and tell me how to be married, how to parent my kids, how to run my money?
• 30:27
  even how much I'm supposed to smile. Like, really? You're going to tell me to be joyful? What if I have nothing to be joyful about? You're going to tell me to rejoice? Who gave you the authority? Now, I don't know that we ever say it in those words. I mean, none of us ever look to heaven and say, by what authority do you do these things? But we will call our friends, our family members and complain, which is in essence doing the same thing.
• 30:55
  drawing lines in the sand, questioning the will of God. It's like we go to the Lord and say, Lord, I would love to have all of the good things. I mean, the eternal life, that sounds great. The reward, that sounds great. The love, joy, peace, and patience, all of that sounds great. I would love to have the fruit of the Spirit. God, Galatians 5 sounds great. But I'm not really interested in James 1. Consider it all joy. When you experience trials of many kinds, like I'll pass. I'm not interested in that part. What authority do you have?
• 31:23
  to come into my life or to come into my church, to come into my home, my family and make changes. Don't forget, friends, when Christ called us to follow him, he called us to lay down our rights. He even called us to lay down our lives. Luke 9 and verse 23, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. He called us to come and die.
• 31:50
  So he answers their question instead of just answering the question. He answers their question with a question. Look at verse 3. He answered them. I also will ask you a question. Tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? In other words, explain to me the baptism of John. And rather than springing their clumsy trap, the Lord sidestepped it and went straight for their hearts. It wasn't that he was unwilling to answer their questions. He'd been answering that question for three years. Are you really asking me again? Who am I?
• 32:22
  Are you really asking me again about my, I mean, how many times, how many times have I told you exactly who I am? How many of your synagogues have I visited and read Isaiah 61 and said, today is the scripture fulfilled in your midst? Here I am. Are you really asking me again? I don't think he was unwilling to answer their question. He had answered it all kinds of times. I think he was merely unmasking their hypocrisy. They weren't genuinely interested in pursuing the truth anyway.
• 32:51
  They were just looking for ways to destroy him. And so he poses this question, explain to me the baptism of John. In verse 5, they begin to discuss it with one another, saying, well, if we say it's from heaven, then he's going to say, well, then why didn't you believe him? If we say it's from heaven, which is what all these people around us believe, then he's going to question why we chopped his head off. Because that's what they did.
• 33:18
  They chopped off his head. And you don't typically chop off the head of people you like, right? That's not normally an expression of friendship and love and goodwill, beheading. And so we can't say it's from heaven. But if we say from man, which is what they believe, all the people will stone us to death because they're convinced that John was a prophet. So what do they say instead? We have no idea. Like, I don't know. We don't know.
• 33:49
  They answered that they didn't know where it came from. I have no idea where it came from, right? After this long deliberation, they just kind of decided not to hazard a guess. And I love what Jesus does. He determined that they were content with their ignorance. And so he just allowed them to remain in their ignorance. The truth is he had for three years been clear about his coming from heaven. He'd been clear about his authority over demons and disease.
• 34:18
  about his authority over storms, even wind, about his authority to the claim of the Davidic throne because he was from the line of David. He'd been clear about that authority, but instead he just says in verse eight, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. You know, Christ's enemies found that the harder they strove to eradicate Christ's influence, the tighter they gripped that bar of soap, the more difficult they found it was to hang on to.
• 34:49
  It just kept slipping out. The more difficult it was to control, in their effort to stomp on and crush the gospel, they found that they were kind of unintentionally spreading it to the farthest reaches of the earth. His enemies, we see, played right into the conductor's hand. And all because his attitude was, here am I, Lord, bury me. I'm a seed, and I cannot bear fruit apart from being buried. And church, let...
• 35:21
  our attitude be the same as the attitude of jesus christ who did not consider equality with god something to be grasped but laid himself down emptied himself and was obedient to the father even to the point of death and god i pray that this is the kind of resolve that we would live with it is the example that your your son has set and lord may we follow in his steps in jesus name amen