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Transcript

The Priest Visits the Father's House | Mark 11:15-19 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Bible Study Series) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Mark 11/15. And they came to Jerusalem, and
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  he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and
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  those who bought in the temple. And he overturned the tables of
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  the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.
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  And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the
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  temple. And he was teaching them, and
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  saying to them, Is it not written, My house shall be
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  called the House of prayer for all nations.
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  But you have made it a den of robbers, and the chief priests
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  and the scribes heard it. And they were seeking a way to
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  destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was
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  astonished at his teaching. And when evening came, they went
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  out of the city. Lord, help us, nourish us,
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  revive us, restore us. Do what you need to do in us,
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  that you may be pleased with those whom you have purchased.
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  In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
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  Like the cursing of the fig tree.
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  What you and I just read here, the actions of the Lord Jesus
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  Christ may be startling, may be shocking.
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  What is commonly known as the cleansing of the temple may be
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  something uncomfortable for the unfamiliar reader.
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  This outburst that we just quickly glanced at seems to be
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  out of character for Christ, and even the student of the Gospels,
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  the one who knows the truths of this book, may find difficulty
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  trying to reconcile this Christ with the same Christ who
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  famously declared learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in
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  heart. This seems to be a challenge for
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  those who have a concept of who Christ is and what he does, with
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  conflict and with sinners and even with compromise.
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  But prayerfully, this message that will be expounded before us
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  today will provide enough clarity to silence any claim of
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  contradiction or even contention with what we see here with the
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  Lord in His temple on this morning of Passover week, 2000
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  years ago. And prayerfully also by the end
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  of this message, I hope that you and I will be reinforcing our
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  belief of just how absolutely vital it is to read and study
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  and be acquainted with the Old Testament.
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  If we are to mine the New Testament successfully, if we
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  are to uncover greater revelations, unearth deeper
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  truths, it's going to demand a commitment and a conviction that
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  I must know as much of the Bible as possible.
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  I must travel through terrain that I might have been
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  intimidated by or see no value in, for He will surely reward
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  those who hunger and thirst for greater light.
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  I'm not going to make this a lengthy introduction because we
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  have limited time today and we must break bread together as we
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  always do in the beginning of every month.
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  But I will say that this is a meaty message and it will
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  require you to have greater focus and me to have a greater
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  willingness to visit many Old Testament passages if we want to
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  have a greater reward with this text.
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  And so let's cut this short and get straight into it.
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  The spiritual meal that has been prepared for us will be divided
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  into 4 portions, and if you're a note taker, hopefully this will
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  help Right at the outset of the message.
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  This text will be divided in four ways.
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  The first thing that you and I are going to consider is the
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  typology of the cleansing. What's the theme of what's
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  happening here? Does this fulfil a shadow of the
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  past? Does this showcase some kind of
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  fulfilment of a previous revelation or hint of what's to
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  come? The typology of the cleansing?
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  And then from there we're going to look at the target of the
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  cleansing. What is it that Jesus cleansed
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  the House of God from exactly. And then from there, we're going
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  to consider the teaching of the cleansing.
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  We just read that Jesus taught them.
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  After he demonstrated this righteous inignation, he said
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  some things about why he did what he did.
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  The teaching of the cleansing. Lastly, the threat of the
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  cleansing. The threat that it posed on
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  those who were opposers of Christ.
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  Let's come back again to verse 15 and 16 as we consider the
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  typology of the cleansing. The deeper significance of this
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  dramatic scene can only happen if you and I acknowledge
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  something, a very simple fact that some don't hold to, And it
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  is this. This is Jesus.
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  A second time of cleansing the Temple in Jerusalem.
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  The first time was at the beginning of his ministry, and
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  it was recorded exclusively by John.
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  John is the only one who writes to us about what Jesus did at
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  the beginning of His public ministry.
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  It's found in John chapter 2, and what we see here in Mark
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  Chapter 11 is Jesus cleansing the Temple yet again, but at the
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  end of his ministry, the final week of his earthly life.
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  And with Mark you have Matthew and Luke who also give us the
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  same event. And why that is important is
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  because you have some who who tried to harmonize these two
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  cleansings and say that there are one in the same.
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  And not only is that a desperate reach, in my opinion, to try to
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  reconcile this, it's also a robbery of the richness of this
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  cleansing, this two-part cleansing, if you will, that
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  Christ performs. When you and I see the purgings,
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  the purifications that Jesus does as a pair, it is a powerful
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  declaration. Listen very carefully to Christ
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  fulfilling his priestly role. And the only way that can even
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  be considered is if you and I have a familiar grasp on a book
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  of the Bible that is rarely referenced, read, and
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  unfortunately neglected by so many.
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  Can you guess what book I'm talking about in the Old
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  Testament? Leviticus.
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  Leviticus. Here's what I mean.
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  In Leviticus chapter 14, you have God providing instructions
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  for the people and the priest on how to go about two types of
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  cleansings concerning infectious diseases.
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  So in the first part of Leviticus 14, you have laws and
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  instructions and regulations dealing with a person, an
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  individual who suffers from leprosy.
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  Now the second part is interesting.
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  The second part deals with the cleansing not of a person but of
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  a place, namely the home of an individual and the word that is
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  used There is also leprosy. If leprosy infects the walls or
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  the furnishings the interior of a house, there's also protocol
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  of how the owner of the house, in partnership with the priest,
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  is to go about investigating and determining the verdict of the
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  condition of that house. The word there that's used in
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  Leviticus 14 concerning the home is also leprosy.
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  That that may seem strange. What the houses can be infected
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  with this contagion? Not necessarily so.
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  The Hebrew word for leprosy is much broader, and it can include
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  mold or mildew or some kind of decay that even effects
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  materials and what may seem to be irrelevant to us as
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  Christians, at best to us. Some historical document that we
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  can refer back to is in fact a sign pointing to the Lord Jesus
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  Christ in one of his offices in some measure.
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  Don't take my word for it. Take the Bible in your hands and
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  go to Leviticus 14 with me. And let's look together at verse
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  33 as we consider the introduction to the instructions
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  for this nation, Israel, about what they were to do when
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  something happened to their home.
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  In this way, Leviticus 14 verses 33 to 35 the Lord spoke to Moses
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  and Aaron, saying, When you come into the land of Canaan, which I
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  give you for a possession, and I put a case of leprous disease in
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  a house in the land of your possession, then he who owns the
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  house shall come tell the priest, there seems to be to be
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  some case of disease in my house.
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  Here's the first instruction that the Lord gives.
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  It was the owner of the home who was to call for an investigation
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  about the suspecting condition of his abode.
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  On a practical level, this protected owners of the home,
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  having other people pry into their home and try to determine
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  what's going on in it. And so the one who was to
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  initiate this process was in fact the owner of the home, who
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  had a concern that this would affect his family, this would
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  affect himself, this would affect visitors to his home.
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  And so he was to initiate this undertaking.
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  But notice again at the part here, verse 35, he who owns the
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  house shall come and tell the priest.
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  So he was not to determine the condition himself.
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  He was not to evaluate the symptoms and make a case in his
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  own subjective reasoning. He was to call the priest to
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  come into the house. Now what's interesting is when
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  you go to John chapter 2 and you don't have to turn there.
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  When Jesus at the first cleansing enters into the
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  temple, he makes this comment. He makes this statement to
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  remind his audience of who really owns the vicinities, who
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  is the true possessor and the owner of the deed of this place
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  of worship. This is what Jesus says in John
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  216, and he told those who sold the pigeons take these things
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  away. Do not make my father's house,
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  my father's house, a House of trade.
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  It's clear, isn't it? Jesus declares that the temple
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  is His Father's house. It's not just a holy sanctuary,
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  it's a home. It's the earthly abode of the
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  Almighty God, and He makes this known in the context of Him
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  identifying and doing what? Cleansing.
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  Cleansing the spiritual corruption that spread in the
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  temple in the early days of His ministry.
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  And just like in Leviticus 1435, we see God the Father calling
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  for the purifying procedure to take place.
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  By doing what? Summoning his Son.
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  Summoning his son, who is what also a priest, to enter into the
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  Father's house, and to evaluate and examine the condition of
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  that home. And you and I know this about
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  Jesus. And he declared himself
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  confidently in John chapter 5, that he does not do anything
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  unless he first sees the Father doing it.
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  In other words, he took every marching order of every day,
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  every moment of the day, every second of the day by God's
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  orchestration by the Father's leading.
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  And so even when Jesus initially in John Two goes into the
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  temple, that was something that was instigated by the Father.
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  So the Father with his house calls the Son, who is the priest
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  into it to investigate it. Which brings us to the next part
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  of Leviticus 14. Look at verse 36 Leviticus 1436.
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  Then the priest shall command that they empty the house before
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  the priest goes to examine the disease, lest all that is in the
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  house be declared unclean. And afterward, the priest shall
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  go in to see the house, and he shall examine the disease.
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  And if the disease is in the walls of the house with greenish
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  or reddish spots, and if it appears to be deeper than the
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  surface, then the priest shall go out of the house, to the door
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  of the house, and shut up the house.
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  Seven days. Here's the emphasis in this next
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  set of instructions. You see it more than once.
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  The priest is to come, and he is to examine.
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  He's not to be quick to make a determined decision of what's to
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  take place in this house. He's not to make a verdict.
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  It's repeated twice here to emphasize the importance of
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  careful investigation. And this is a decision that the
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  priest would have to make after looking carefully, scanning,
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  surveying, seeing if this is something deeper than just
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  surface level issues. Ring a bell.
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  Do you remember not too long ago in Mark Chapter 11, verse 11,
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  when Jesus, after his triumphal entry, comes into what?
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  The temple? Mark 1111?
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  And when he came into the temple, we were told that he
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  looked at everything. Why was he looking to
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  investigate? What is the condition of this
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  place? Is this place operating the way
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  it was designed to operate? And what's amazing is that Jesus
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  does the same in the first time he visits the temple in John
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  chapter two. Let me read this to you in John
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  214. This is when Jesus comes the
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  first time in the temple he found those who were selling
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  oxen and sheep and pigeons and the money changers sitting
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  there. One of the definitions of the
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  Greek word for found denotes after searching or to find a
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  thing sought. So when Jesus found the activity
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  in the temple in the way it was, it wasn't Jesus accidentally
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  stumbling upon it. It was Jesus knowing that there
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  was something wrong here, Jesus being led by the Father entering
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  into it and finding something that he was intentionally
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  looking for. So Jesus, like the priest in
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  Leviticus, was careful to search for any legitimate concerns, any
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  signs of corruption that may be deeper than the surface.
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  And he was not to be quick, as the priest was instructed in
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  Leviticus 14, but to be just to be cautious, to be careful.
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  But there's more. We read in Leviticus 14 that the
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  priest was to come in, but not just come in, He was to remove
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  the objects and the interior furnishings and then wait for
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  seven days. And after the seven days also we
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  read that he because we don't have time to read the rest, he
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  was to actually remove the stones from inside of the house
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  and scrape off the plaster on the walls, empty it completely,
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  and then to pause yet again and to revisit the house to
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  determine if that was enough to cleanse it.
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  And if not, if you see a resurfacing of the disease, then
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  there must be another approach to make.
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  So let's read this again. You're still in Leviticus 14,
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  right? Maybe.
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  Yes. Leviticus 14.
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  Look at verse 43. If the disease breaks out again
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  in the house after he has taken out the stones and scraped the
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  house and and plastered it, then the priest shall go and look.
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  If the the disease has spread in the house, it is a persistent
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  leprous disease in the house. It is unclean.
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  So remember the priest before this went in The first time?
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  He sees signs, he sees problems, he sees flags, So he empties the
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  house. He removes the stones, he
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  scrapes off the plaster, he puts a new stones, fresh plaster.
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  He was to leave again, and then he was to make a second visit,
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  And the second visit was to see if what happened the first time
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  worked, if it's sufficed, if it's satisfied, and if he was to
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  come. And this disease resurfaces
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  again, revisits again. Then there's a different and
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  more defined diagnosis. This is a persistent disease,
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  and it requires a different approach to solve it.
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  Do you want to know what the approach was?
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  You don't know what the priest, what to do, would have to do in
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  order to deal with this? Look at verse 45, analyticus 14,
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  and he shall break down the house.
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  It's stones and timber and all the plaster of the house, and he
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  shall carry them out of the city to an unclean place.
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  Do you see the parallel? Is it?
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  Is it clear? Christ and John 2 enters into
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  the temple. He removes all the corruption
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  from within, and there is a pause.
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  There is a reprieve, and he revisits the House of God a
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  second time. And when he revisits it, as
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  we're about to discover, he sees that the disease resurfaced.
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  And just like in Leviticus 14, it was deemed A persistent
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  spiritual disease and would require a different solution.
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  Now you remember what Jesus said in Matthew 24 And verse one and
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  two. Jesus left the temple and was
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  going away when his disciples came to point out to him the
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  buildings of the temple, but he answered them.
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  You see all these, do you not truly?
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  I say to you, there will be not left here, one stone upon
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  another that will not be thrown down.
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  Jesus in Mark 11 fulfills the role of a priest when he
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  cleanses the temple. And why do I bring that up to
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  you? Yes, to show how Jesus is a
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  greater priest, but to also show you just how much the Bible is a
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  masterpiece. I did that move.
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  I couldn't stop thinking about it all week.
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  I had to keep my mouth shut, lest I preach the sermon before
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  Sunday to so many people. I was so fascinated.
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  This this book humbles me. Does it not humble you?
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  The more you read it, The more you study, the more you preach
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  it, the more comfortable you get with certain doctrines.
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  The Lord is never short and showing you and revealing to
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  you, You can't exhaust my word. You cannot exhaust it.
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  The moment you think that you reach the bottom of the well,
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  you realize there's 100 feet to go.
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  And then when you get there after 10 years, you realize
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  there's 200 feet to go. You cannot wring this thing dry.
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  It is a supernatural book. It's a glorious book.
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  Yes, you can even benefit from Leviticus chapter 14.
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  This is God's book. This is supernatural.
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  I have to get that out of my system.
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  I've been holding it in all week.
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  How can you be bored with the Bible?
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  Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
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  It's life. It vibrates.
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  It speaks. It connects.
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  It shows. It shines not just to stuff your
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  head, but to bring you to your knees.
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  You realize this book is not from earth.
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  Yes, God moved by the Holy Spirit upon men and spoke and
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  wrote this word. Yes, but it came from heaven.
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  And it's at your disposal. Don't let it be like a vacuum in
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  your house, only collecting the the dust on your night stand.
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  Don't let it do that. Open it.
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  Let it speak to you. Talk to it with other people.
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  See. Struggle with it.
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  Yes, struggle with it. Wrestle with it.
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  God, what are you saying here? And that's an exciting life to
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  live. So we come to now the target of
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  the cleansing. We looked at the prophetic
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  significance, the prophetic significance of what took place
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  here on this day. But the student of the Old
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  Testament still see Jesus's actions here to be unexpected
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  and unsettling, mainly because of another text in the Hebrew
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  scriptures that seem to conflict with the Lord's decision here,
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  his actions. Here Deuteronomy records a
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  helpful regulation for those who live the great distance away
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  from the land. And as we know, 3 * a year,
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  right. The the the Jewish people were
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  instructed of mandatory immediate physical attendance to
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  the temple, three particular feasts, and in great part the
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  requirement to come to the House of God.
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  To worship in those feasts was to bring sacrifices.
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  And those sacrifices generally were animals, some large
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  animals, some smaller animals, bulls, oxen, goats, sheep,
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  pigeons, also amounts of grain and even wine.
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  And so the Lord gives a law in Deuteronomy.
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  And this law was to relieve the worshippers of the difficulty of
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  transporting these animals specifically from great long
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  ways, from the the House of God. And this is what He gave, this
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  is what He provided for the people.
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  Then turn with me to Deuteronomy 14.
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  I gave you a heads up. We're going to be in the Old
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  Testament a lot. Today in Deuteronomy 14, verse
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  24. I'm reading Deuteronomy and my
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  personal readings and this chapter came to me early in the
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  week and it was just perfect. It was a reminder for what we're
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  studying and learning today. Look at Deuteronomy 1424 and if
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  the way is too long for you, pause.
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  He's speaking to the people who would be placed in different
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  parts of the Promised Land, and there was 1 central place of
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  worship. So here is for those who are far
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  from the temple, and if the way is too long for you, so that
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  you're not able to carry the tide when the Lord your God
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  blesses you because the place is too far from you which the Lord
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  your God chooses to set his name there, then you shall turn it
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  into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place
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  that the Lord your God chooses and spend the money for whatever
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  you desire, oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever
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  your appetite craves, and you shall eat it there before the
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  Lord your God and rejoice you and your household.
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  This passage is rarely quoted. When people teach on the Lord
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  cleansing the temple. Most people read this section of
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  scripture in the New Testament Mark 11 and other parts of the
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  people turning the House of God into a business.
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  And that is the point. But the activity here in itself
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  is not wrong. But you just read it right.
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  If you were from a far place, you could bring money, go to the
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  place of worship, and instead of hauling the beast, you can just
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  buy one right there and then and sacrifice and so how?
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  If you're reading this, if you're going through the
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  scriptures and you come to this and it's in the back of your
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  mind, now you're in the New Testament.
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  You see Jesus cleansing the temple of people who are selling
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  animals. How does this make sense?
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  They Didn't God sanction this? Didn't he permit this?
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  Didn't he allow for travelers and pilgrims and gentile
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  converts to do this? What is the Lord getting at from
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  here? And here's the point.
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  It's very simple. According to this text,
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  according to what you read in Mark 11, Jesus here is
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  correcting what many people do with God's graces.
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  What was meant to offer relief and assistance to worshippers
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  was eventually abused for personal gain.
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  What started out as assistance to worship God.
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  Assistance to worship God? OK, if you're coming from far,
• 24:30
  here's some help. Here's some help for you to
• 24:33
  worship more effectively and with less burden.
• 24:36
  What became assistance to worship turned into worship.
• 24:40
  Assisting the greed of men and the hints to the essence of this
• 24:46
  crime is found in back in Mark 11 verse 17.
• 24:49
  But you have made it a den of robbers, your thieves, your
• 24:55
  crooks, and it's most likely what Jesus is getting at.
• 24:59
  The heart of the matter is that there's extortion here, there's
• 25:02
  unfair exchange rates that was being implemented here.
• 25:05
  And what you had is these pilgrims who came from so far,
• 25:08
  and you had also these other gentile converts with Roman
• 25:11
  currency who came and had no choice, had no choice but to
• 25:15
  submit to the strategize inflation of these wicked men.
• 25:21
  There's no other option. So they upped the price they
• 25:24
  made. Ridiculous price is there for
• 25:28
  people to give in and then they stuff their pockets.
• 25:32
  That's what Jesus is cleansing. Here you had these merchants who
• 25:35
  took advantage of the genuine need of worshippers in order to
• 25:38
  satisfy their own bank book. And the fact that Jesus cleansed
• 25:44
  the temple twice, twice, twice that he had to do this again
• 25:47
  reveals that humanity faces the ever present temptation to
• 25:52
  exploit the name of God, the House of God, and the people of
• 25:55
  God for personal profit. It was true then.
• 26:00
  It's true today. It is a dangerous game to play
• 26:07
  to leverage the House of God or the people of God, and to treat
• 26:12
  it as a lucrative business or as a pool of social and political
• 26:18
  opportunities. You know what you do when you
• 26:22
  play that game with God's house then and today?
• 26:26
  You risk God doing something to you, or the leadership that
• 26:31
  tolerates it, or eventually shutting down the whole ministry
• 26:36
  that hosts such activity. Jesus doesn't display much
• 26:41
  righteous indignation in the Gospels, but when he does, it
• 26:45
  reveals what really touches his nerves.
• 26:47
  And this is one of them Taking the House of God and doing
• 26:52
  something with it that was not intended to do, to satisfy your
• 26:56
  ambitions, your selfish pursuits.
• 27:00
  And Jesus here does something in Mark 11, verse 16.
• 27:03
  Mark alone adds this detail. No other synoptic gospel does.
• 27:07
  Look at verse 16. This is something that's unique
• 27:09
  to our study of this book. And he being Jesus and he would
• 27:14
  not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple
• 27:20
  that's not in Luke, it's not in John, it's not in Matthew and
• 27:24
  Mark's Gospel. It's highlighted that what Jesus
• 27:27
  also did, after he flipped tables and the coins rang
• 27:30
  through the Plaza and the animals were running out of
• 27:35
  their places, Jesus also found people walking through and he
• 27:39
  stopped them. You can't walk through here like
• 27:42
  that. Go back to where you came from.
• 27:44
  What's happening here? Evidently, the temple also
• 27:48
  became something else. It became a detour for
• 27:53
  commuters. It became a place for carriers
• 27:56
  of vessels and goods to travel by.
• 27:58
  Why? Because if you look up just how
• 28:00
  big the temple was after Herod renovated, it was massive.
• 28:04
  You can fit multiple football fields in it, and for people
• 28:09
  they realize well to go around, the temple makes our journey
• 28:12
  much longer. And so they would use the
• 28:13
  courtyards to cut corners and they would use the House of God
• 28:18
  as just a convenient place for transportation to make their
• 28:24
  journey a little shorter. And Jesus saw this.
• 28:29
  He saw these individuals desecrating the sacredness of
• 28:33
  his house, treating as just as a shortcut through their GPS.
• 28:38
  And he even stopped that. You realize what this place is.
• 28:42
  You realize where we are. You realize that this is a place
• 28:46
  for worship, not a place for convenience.
• 28:51
  How does happen? How do you have these people
• 28:54
  taking advantage of others? How do you have other people
• 28:57
  around? We're taking advantage of the
• 28:59
  House of God for although and he's I mean it went from selling
• 29:04
  beasts at a upscale price and the corruption trickling down to
• 29:09
  people who were just walking by the House of God like it was a
• 29:12
  front lawn instead of walking around on the sidewalk.
• 29:16
  I'll tell you how it happens. This all began with a gracious
• 29:19
  law that aim to relieve worshippers in the pursuit of
• 29:23
  honoring the king. And like many truths about God's
• 29:27
  grace, man is not slow to apply them to justify irreverence and
• 29:35
  justify carelessness and justify selfish ambition, even through
• 29:43
  spiritual means. Can I tell you what God's grace
• 29:47
  really should do when somebody really tastes it?
• 29:50
  One's enjoyment of the grace of Jesus Christ provokes greater
• 29:55
  reverence, not less of it. And a person who is not
• 30:00
  stimulated to greater awe and fear of God, even when you drink
• 30:04
  from the cup of salvation and grace and mercy, is
• 30:10
  questionable. And I learned something about
• 30:14
  Jesus. Here are Jesus.
• 30:15
  My Jesus, your Jesus, gentle Jesus, loving Jesus, praying for
• 30:20
  babies. Jesus healing the sick.
• 30:23
  Jesus visiting those who need visits.
• 30:26
  Jesus. That Jesus.
• 30:27
  You know what? I learned something about Jesus
• 30:29
  here. Precious Shepherd, The Lamb of
• 30:31
  God, the Bridegroom. Irreverence irritates him.
• 30:40
  Irreverence irritates Jesus. And John explained it this way
• 30:48
  with Jesus's first visit to the temple in John 2 verse 17.
• 30:52
  His disciples remember that it was written zeal for your house
• 30:57
  will consume me. When they saw Jesus doing this
• 31:01
  in John chapter 2A, scripture came to mind from Psalms.
• 31:05
  Zeal for your house will consume me.
• 31:07
  Do you want to be like Jesus? I want to be like Jesus in every
• 31:12
  way, not in some ways zeal for his house.
• 31:19
  You know, you have different extremes here.
• 31:21
  You have some who have no zeal for the House of God, and then
• 31:25
  you have those who have zeal in the context of the House of God,
• 31:28
  but for the wrong things. I call them legalists.
• 31:31
  They're very zealous for things that don't matter.
• 31:34
  Have you met people like that? Nitpicking and this and that
• 31:37
  about every single thing? And they justify it with the
• 31:40
  zeal for righteousness, zeal for God's zeal for holiness?
• 31:45
  No, it's misguided passion. And so you have extremes with
• 31:49
  anything, right? With any emotion, with any
• 31:51
  conviction. You have two sided extremes.
• 31:54
  My concern at this point, I touched on the legal list a
• 31:57
  little bit, but my concern is for those who don't have zeal
• 32:00
  for God's house. Where's that?
• 32:04
  Where's that? You know, something happened to
• 32:10
  the world a few years ago. You remember what happened,
• 32:12
  right? The whole world shut down.
• 32:13
  And I remember having a conversation with a pastor at
• 32:15
  the peak of churches not being able to meet and all the
• 32:20
  craziness. And he said something to me that
• 32:24
  stuck with me to this day still rings in my mind from time to
• 32:27
  time. It it, it caused me to stop in
• 32:29
  my tracks. I remember I was walking in
• 32:32
  front of the house when we were talking.
• 32:37
  He's like, brother, churches are meeting, Christians are
• 32:41
  gathering. He's like, I wonder what
• 32:44
  Christians would have done 200 years ago if this mandate went
• 32:48
  out. He's like, I, I, I think
• 32:50
  Christians maybe I'm wrong, would have gathered in their
• 32:52
  hundreds and cried out to God. Lord, we can't meet here.
• 32:57
  Lord, there's something happening.
• 32:59
  They're restricting our ability to come and worship you and hear
• 33:02
  you and give to you. Lord, do something.
• 33:04
  He's like he's like, brother, I don't know about your end of the
• 33:06
  world, but on my end of the I'm not seeing that zeal for the
• 33:13
  House of God to protect the honor of it, to preserve the joy
• 33:21
  of it, to stay on track of the intent of it.
• 33:25
  Zeal for your house consumes me. I can tell you if that zeal is
• 33:31
  in your or not by this one simple evaluation of our own
• 33:35
  hearts. It's Sunday.
• 33:36
  Just another day to us for the Christian who goes to a Bible
• 33:42
  believing church, Not a perfect church, a Bible believing, Bible
• 33:46
  preaching, Bible submitting church.
• 33:48
  Sunday should be the most exciting day of the week,
• 33:52
  shouldn't it? Shouldn't it?
• 33:56
  We get to go to the House of God.
• 33:59
  We get to go to the place of worship.
• 34:01
  We get to go where God said He would meet us and speak to us
• 34:04
  and honor us and where gifts of the Spirit would manifest before
• 34:08
  us and through US. God's house.
• 34:11
  Zeal for your house. This is Jesus consumes me.
• 34:17
  That zeal for positive rejoicing, Thanksgiving,
• 34:20
  gratitude, and also a defensive zeal.
• 34:22
  A protective zeal. When the enemy or the flesh
• 34:24
  tries to corrupt it, it does something to your soul.
• 34:29
  That's Jesus. I love Jesus.
• 34:35
  Let's go to the teaching of the cleansing.
• 34:43
  And he was teaching them verse 17 and Sanctum.
• 34:45
  Is it not written? My house shall be called the
• 34:47
  House of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a
• 34:51
  den of robbers. Jesus in his teaching quotes 2
• 34:57
  Old Testament passages and puts them together.
• 34:59
  He quotes one the first part from Isaiah and the 2nd from
• 35:02
  Jeremiah 7. We won't focus on the latter
• 35:05
  part for the sake of time. It's pretty straightforward.
• 35:07
  You've turned my house into a den of robbers.
• 35:09
  You've turned the House of God into a gathering place for
• 35:12
  criminals. You've turned the House of God
• 35:14
  into a place where criminals can feel comfortable in corrupting
• 35:18
  and manipulating and taking advantage of the people of God.
• 35:20
  The name of God, the House of God.
• 35:22
  That's pretty straightforward. But let's look at the first
• 35:24
  part, my house. Let me remind you of the intent,
• 35:27
  the design, the plan, the purpose of my gathering place
• 35:32
  shall be called, of all things House of prayer.
• 35:36
  And let me give you that quote. Turn with me to Isaiah 56 and
• 35:40
  verse 7. Here's where Jesus is getting
• 35:43
  this from Isaiah 56, verse seven.
• 35:51
  These I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in
• 35:56
  my House of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their
• 36:00
  sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be
• 36:04
  called a House of prayer for all peoples.
• 36:10
  God's intent for His house is that it would be an inviting
• 36:15
  place for all peoples of all nations for the purpose of
• 36:18
  corporately participating an honest, heartfelt prayer in an
• 36:25
  atmosphere of reverence. Just Just peel through what was
• 36:32
  just quoted and and and look for God's heart in Isaiah 56, seven
• 36:36
  What does it say about God's heart that his longings for when
• 36:40
  his people gathered they would pray.
• 36:45
  Well, prayer is a vertical expression.
• 36:48
  Prayer is US contacting God and that's what God wants from us.
• 36:55
  The goal of our gatherings is to meet with God.
• 37:00
  That's the goal. We meet together, yes, but we
• 37:03
  meet together for that purpose, to meet with God.
• 37:07
  Because that's what prayer is. Prayer is the door in which we
• 37:10
  enter into the room of fellowship with with him.
• 37:13
  And so you know what God designed his house to be like.
• 37:16
  You know what should be filling this atmosphere?
• 37:18
  Every time we do gather, oh, God longs to hear, please for
• 37:22
  forgiveness. God longs to see our honest
• 37:25
  laments for a brokenness. God longs to hear our needs and
• 37:30
  our cries, whether they're small or great.
• 37:33
  God longs to hear the shouts of Thanksgiving.
• 37:35
  God longs to see the rejoicing response to his word declared.
• 37:40
  God longs to hear us. He, He, he wants to fellowship
• 37:45
  with us. He wants us to gather with that
• 37:47
  aim. We're here to meet with him
• 37:49
  because he said my house shall be called the House of prayer.
• 37:52
  What's another word of prayer? What is prayer really?
• 37:54
  Communion. Communion with God.
• 37:58
  And this is what God wants. And God must be the goal.
• 38:01
  And as the owner of his temple, then and now, our relation to
• 38:07
  the House of God is very simple, very simple, very, very easy
• 38:10
  actually, to honor His wishes, Honor His wishes.
• 38:15
  None of us, no matter how gifted a ministry, is our ministers,
• 38:19
  elders, none of us have the right to make the House of God
• 38:25
  something other than what God made it to be.
• 38:28
  And the reward of honoring His wishes is found in this very
• 38:31
  verse. Did you see it?
• 38:34
  Look back at Isaiah 56, verse seven.
• 38:36
  He said my house shall be called the House of prayer.
• 38:37
  But look what the Lord would do when it would be a House of
• 38:39
  prayer. Verse 7.
• 38:41
  These things I will bring to my holy mountain and make them
• 38:45
  joyful in my House of prayer. That's the reward for honoring
• 38:50
  His wishes. When you come to the House of
• 38:52
  God with the intent and the heart posture and the design of
• 38:56
  what I had in mind for it, your reward will be joy.
• 39:01
  I will make them rejoice. A joy greater than a place that
• 39:08
  entertains. A joy greater than a place that
• 39:11
  puts on things to again maybe help this person in in in there,
• 39:15
  in that area of of business or politics or social, whatever the
• 39:19
  case may be. There's a joy greater than you
• 39:21
  taking advantage of the place of God for personal profit or gain.
• 39:26
  They can only come when we honor it the way he wants it to be
• 39:29
  honored. For my house shall be called the
• 39:31
  House of prayer. And when you do that, you'll be
• 39:34
  joyful. You'll be joyful.
• 39:38
  Let's come, because of our time here, to the threat of the
• 39:41
  cleansing. Verse 18 of Mark 11.
• 39:45
  And the chief priests and the scribes heard it.
• 39:48
  And we're seeking a way to destroy him, For they feared
• 39:51
  him, was astonished at his teaching.
• 39:54
  And when evening came, they went out of the city.
• 39:56
  The chief priests weren't there. The chief.
• 39:59
  Priests and the scribes heard. It so news came quickly to the
• 40:03
  leaders of this time. Jesus of Nazareth wiped the
• 40:07
  place clean today. And we're told here.
• 40:14
  That they were seeking a way to destroy him.
• 40:16
  And here's the reason for They feared him.
• 40:19
  This is not a God honoring fear. This is not an awe and a
• 40:22
  reverence that Jesus deserves. This is a fear of what Christ
• 40:27
  would do to them. Because all the crowd was.
• 40:31
  Astonished at his teaching, they were fearful that the popularity
• 40:35
  was going to Christ. They were fearful that now the
• 40:37
  allegiance of the people that once esteemed these religious
• 40:40
  figures as the authority of the faith are now shifting towards
• 40:44
  this Jesus. And that's what they were afraid
• 40:47
  of. We have to do something now.
• 40:50
  In a way, Jesus, by doing this, really sealed his faith.
• 40:54
  No more time to waste. No more games to play.
• 40:56
  If he was audacious enough to come to the temple during
• 41:00
  Passover week and put this on, what else does he have in mind?
• 41:06
  We. Must deal with him.
• 41:08
  And they feared him and. I want to make this.
• 41:13
  Case that there are some who do not believe in Christ, give
• 41:17
  themselves to Christ, surrendered to Christ because of
• 41:21
  fear. Fear, like these scribes.
• 41:25
  And like these elders, that if Jesus is to do what he is to do
• 41:30
  as Lord, he would. Displace some things in your.
• 41:34
  Life. You know what?
• 41:36
  These guys were worried about our position.
• 41:38
  Our power is now at risk. If he cleanse the temple, what
• 41:41
  do you? What about us?
• 41:43
  We got to do something. And I'll tell you, there are
• 41:45
  people like that who will not come to Christ because they're
• 41:47
  afraid that if Christ enters into the life, He's going to
• 41:49
  rearrange everything. Let me tell you confidently, He
• 41:51
  will. He will.
• 41:54
  He's Lord. He has to.
• 41:56
  He must. If He loves you, He will.
• 42:02
  I've talked to enough Young. People various youth meetings
• 42:05
  that are honest off after a sermon on giving your life to
• 42:08
  Christ, surrendering to Christ, being consecrated to Christ,
• 42:12
  thinking. They have their whole life.
• 42:13
  Ahead of them thinking that and their strength and their vigor.
• 42:16
  All these plans and all these ideas.
• 42:18
  I don't want Jesus to mess it up.
• 42:20
  I don't want Jesus. To lead me.
• 42:23
  Somewhere I don't want to go. I don't want Jesus to give me an
• 42:24
  occupation that I don't want to do.
• 42:26
  I don't want Jesus to make me marry somebody that I don't want
• 42:29
  to marry. They're.
• 42:31
  Afraid of his. Lordship, Can I tell?
• 42:35
  You, whatever fear you. Have in your resistance of
• 42:37
  surrender Christ is a lie. It's a lie from Satan.
• 42:43
  It's a lie of the flesh because he is good.
• 42:50
  You've been Lord of your. Life long enough to realize that
• 42:55
  you are a terrible master. You've been subject to other
• 43:02
  Lords in your life to realize that they do not satisfy you.
• 43:07
  Served money for years, right? Are you happy?
• 43:09
  Scripture says he who has money, loves money, wants more of it.
• 43:14
  You've been jumping from. Woman to woman For how long now?
• 43:18
  OK, so why is there? A vacuum in your soul.
• 43:19
  Still, from man to man, relationship to relationship,
• 43:24
  you've done so many things to your body.
• 43:27
  You hope that if you posted that you would get this amount of
• 43:29
  likes and that'll make you good and feel satisfied.
• 43:32
  Only for what? Another week and there you are
• 43:35
  in. That week because your latest.
• 43:37
  Post was less likes than the former one.
• 43:38
  Here you are depressed for days. Christ deserves.
• 43:44
  To rearrange everything Christ deserves to Lord over your life
• 43:48
  because he knows what you need and in his.
• 43:53
  Great love. He's not.
• 43:54
  Like Pharaoh, that makes things more burdensome.
• 43:58
  He is a God who comes to. Take from you and then give you
• 44:02
  what you were designed to have. Intimacy with him.
• 44:07
  Peace, joy, and the Holy Spirit. Righteousness enabled by his
• 44:10
  powerful mercies running through your veins as you walk in the
• 44:14
  Spirit. If you're a person in here who's
• 44:18
  afraid to make Jesus Lord, I beckon you.
• 44:22
  That's a lie. Come to him and express your
• 44:25
  fears. And even if you express your
• 44:27
  fears concerning him, he's gracious enough to heal you.
• 44:30
  Of that He is. Take it from A.
• 44:35
  Room filled with people who love to serve Jesus, and I'll tell.
• 44:40
  You this as a person. Who served Jesus?
• 44:43
  The longer you serve him, the sweeter he grows.
• 44:51
  Today we're coming to this. Table because we.
• 44:57
  Realize that he is not. Someone to be feared in the
• 44:59
  wrong way, but someone that longs to embrace us and forgive
• 45:03
  us and wash us and restore us and redeem us if you're not a.
• 45:09
  Christian in this. Place we kindly ask that you
• 45:11
  observe what Christians are about to do.
• 45:14
  Jesus gave his church 2 ordinances, just two.
• 45:18
  The first one is believers baptism, where you with your
• 45:21
  conscious decision decide to get in a body of water after
• 45:25
  confessing and repenting of your sin to be identified with him by
• 45:29
  being buried in that water signifying you being buried with
• 45:32
  Christ and it coming out of that water signifying new life in
• 45:36
  Christ. And then what the Bible
• 45:37
  prescribes as a pattern is, after you have done that, you
• 45:40
  then partake in a continual ordinance, which is the Lord's
• 45:44
  table, where you take the element of the bread and the
• 45:47
  element of the cup, and you approach the table, and you
• 45:50
  rehearse that you have been forgiven and you've been saved
• 45:53
  upon the performance of Christ, not your own.
• 45:57
  And if you have not confessed, Christ believed in Christ,
• 45:59
  giving your life to Christ. And this is not for you,
• 46:01
  respectfully, because this is for those who are his.
• 46:06
  And believer, you're coming to this.
• 46:08
  Table also remembering, yes, the body and the blood, but also the
• 46:11
  oneness of the body of Christ today that like this one loaf we
• 46:15
  are one, we are connected, we are inseparable by the Spirit.
• 46:18
  And if in practice that is not true, if in practice there's
• 46:21
  divide, there's tension, there's something that's not there, then
• 46:25
  you would honor Christ more. And leaving your gift at the
• 46:28
  altar and reconciling with the Brother, and saying, I can in
• 46:31
  good conscience say we are one body when you and I have an
• 46:34
  issue. And so that's what.
• 46:37
  This is for it's it's for the church.
• 46:39
  And it's a sanctifying thing that reminds US1, you're saved
• 46:43
  by grace. Like you're saved by grace.
• 46:46
  Yeah. OK, You had a bad week.
• 46:48
  Thank God for grace. You're forgiven by faith.
• 46:54
  And two, am I right with my brother and sister?
• 46:59
  Am I right? With them?
• 47:00
  If not, no one's here to judge. No one has the.
• 47:04
  Right to judge, but I'll pause on this and I will do something
• 47:08
  that's going to honor Christ more and find that brother and
• 47:11
  sister and have an honest conversation.
• 47:15
  Let's prepare our hearts to take.
• 47:18
  Together, Lord, we just pause now.
• 47:33
  And meditate on this holy moment, Lord, if you.
• 47:36
  Long for reverence we. Give it to you and.
• 47:41
  Thank you, Lord, that reverence. Is not in competition with joy
• 47:48
  for you? Said I will make them.
• 47:49
  Rejoice in my House of prayer. Lord, we sit and we thank.
• 47:54
  You for the word that you've provided us and now.
• 47:58
  We prepare Lord to. Do what you commanded your
• 48:00
  church to do that as often. As we eat and.
• 48:03
  Drink. We would remember what you've
• 48:04
  done for us. And so, Lord, as we sing these
• 48:09
  songs. To reflect.
• 48:10
  And as we even pause to examine our own hearts, we.
• 48:15
  Pray Lord, that your holy. Spirit would minister to us.
• 48:20
  We love you. And we are honored to be invited
• 48:24
  to this table. The privileged Lord is.
• 48:28
  Ours. And to have this fellowship
• 48:31
  means that you've accepted us, and that we belong to you
• 48:34
  forever. And so Lord in.
• 48:37
  This moment let. Sins.
• 48:38
  Be repented of. Let discouragement disappear.
• 48:42
  Let even if needed relationships be restored, just be glorified.
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  And Lord, if your house. Shall be called the House of
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  prayer. Then hear our prayers.
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  Hear our prayers in Jesus name we pray.
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  Amen. As the praise team comes.
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  Up invite you to stand. We're going to sing about the
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  very truth that you heard me. Explain briefly.
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  And just I encourage you, please just engage with the Lord,
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  engage with the Lord. Just let this be a precious time
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  between you and him to remember that 2000 years ago he did
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  something that would save you forever.
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  Amen. Would you join me as we stand?
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  Thank you.