John 2:12-25 (Teaching)

[0:00] morning. Good morning. Be back in the second chapter of the Gospel of John this morning. Those of you that were here last week we covered the first 11 verses in this chapter last Sunday and covering the marriage at Cana which is according to John's Gospel the first miracle that Jesus worked at the beginning of his ministry when he turned water into wine.

[0:31] And I said that covered the first 11 verses of chapter 2 in the Gospel of John so we're going to pick up in verse 12 and good Lord will and we'll finish up this chapter this morning.

[0:46] The verse 12 of John chapter 2 says after this he went down to Capernaum. He and his mother and his brethren and his disciples and they continued there not many days. So this begins with after this after what? After what we just said what we covered last week the the miracle of the turning of water into wine. After this they went down to Capernaum and Capernaum we learned throughout the Gospels not necessarily in John's Gospel but really in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke especially Capernaum pretty much became the headquarters for Jesus's ministry in Galilee and this is where they met and they dwelled and they preached and talked or he instead of they I should say but in life said this kind of became the headquarters the hub for Jesus during during his Galilean ministry and oddly enough just on a side note while this was yes the headquarters

[1:59] Capernaum was Jesus actually pronounced judgment on Capernaum and you read about that in the other Gospels you don't read about it in the Gospel of John I actually preached a sermon on that very scripture one time and it's a sad state that those people were in the miracles that they were witnessing and the things that they were seeing Jesus Christ do and yet they didn't believe all these all these miracles that they saw him perform and they just didn't believe and it's a sad thing it's kind of like a burned red from John chapter 6 this morning Jesus saying that he was the bread of life and the anybody that came after him walked with him anybody that saw Jesus Christ and anybody that truly believed in him would not hunger him would not thirst but what you got to understand in that chapter in John chapter 6 is Jesus was telling them basically what he says in John 14 that he's the way he's the truth and he's the life but these people were saying what can we do what can we do to have eternal life what can I do Jesus is telling them believe on me but like so many other men and women through the ages we think that that something lies on us something you know whether it's given money or whether it's preaching or teaching or singing or whatever the case is we have to do something folks and salvation is of the Lord it is 100% holy and utterly God almighty but like I said that's just kind of a side note but just so you know where it says after this that they went down to Capernaum and it lists these people he he and his mother and his brethren and his disciples they all went down to Capernaum and Capernaum became the hub and the headquarters of Cross Galilean ministry verse 13 and the Jews Passover was a hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem this is the first of three passovers that are brought up in the gospel of John and because of these timelines and because of what we're reading here previously in chapter 2 what we went over last week and because of certain timelines in the three passovers this is how we come up with the ministry of Jesus Christ lasting about three and a third years to three and a half years I mean I wasn't there folks I wasn't alive in this time I don't know the exact amount of time but we can safely say it was three plus years that Jesus Christ's ministry lasted in the gospel of Luke

[4:51] Luke chapter 3 I believe it is it says that Jesus began to be about 30 years of age when his ministry began that's how we come up with the age of 33 and a third to 33 and a half years that Jesus lived on this earth is because of these timelines like I said this is the first of three mentionings of a Passover and the Passover only took place once per year so that's how we come up with those numbers nowhere in the scripture does it explicitly state that that Jesus's ministry was was three years and nowhere does it explicitly say that he was 33 that I can think of but we can take these facts from Luke and that he was began to be about 30 years of age and the fact and when his ministry began the fact that there were three passovers here in the gospel of John and we can come up with 33 plus years that Jesus Christ was on this earth so the Jews Passover was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem why did he go to Jerusalem this is where people went for the Passover and the man made rule for this was that any Jew within 15 mile let me rephrase any male Jew within 15 miles of Jerusalem had to go to Jerusalem for the Passover exceeding 15 miles away you could go elsewhere and celebrate the Passover if you wanted to and I said no that's a man made rule that was something that the Jews came up with themselves but Jesus was following following this this Passover ordinance really that God had given over in the book of Exodus I mean really and truly Jesus is Jesus is the very one that gave that ordinance he's the very one that created the Passover he's the very one over over in Exodus when before the plague of the of the firstborn of the death of the firstborn came he's the one that told the Jews through Moses that they needed to kill the Passover lamb and they needed to take the blood of this lamb and strike it on their doorposts strike it on their lentils to to mark it there and he said when I pass pass or when when I pass over I'll pass over your house you'll be safe from me over there in Exodus so Jesus here following the very law that God passed and this is something that we see over and over in the scriptures Jesus never wants a fail to keep a law or to keep a feast that that that God had put in place here like I said he's the one that created it anyway Jesus was God manifested in the flesh was he not and Jesus is God now is he not so why would he not keep the law that he himself made so the Jews Passover was at hand Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money of money sitting so he goes into the temple and this is what he finds people selling oxen people selling sheep and people selling doves and any of you that were here when we went through the first seven chapters of the viticus on Wednesday nights over the course of a few weeks this should ring a bell with you this is what these are the things that were offered to many of the offerings there were oxen for those that could afford oxen and those that couldn't afford oxen or had no native oxen in their in their yards or their land or whatever you want to call it they could bring a sheep for a sacrifice and those that couldn't afford sheep they they could bring a dove and doves turtle doves and pigeons these were things that were easily caught and even the poorest of the poor could manage to bring that and this was God's way of making sure that every man was able to make to to follow the law and the ordinance that that God put into place this was so that nobody would be left out but folks what what was the purpose of going to the temple what was the purpose over in Leviticus of going to the tabernacle it wasn't just to bring an animal so it should be so it could be killed the purpose was to worship God it was to go there and it was to worship God and this was an ordinance that these were ordinances I should say that God put into place that he could be worshiped that that he that he showed that he was reconciled to these men these men were reconciled under him and they were free to worship him but they had to worship him how God said to worship them in no other way so these men when Jesus enters into the temple here in John chapter 2 there were there were people selling oxen and selling sheep and selling these doves and any of you that have been a church or been in the scripture for any amount of time you're well familiar with this account so he sees all these things and he sees the changers of money sitting in verse 15 and when he had made a scourge of small cords he drove them all out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changers money and overthrew the tables and said under them that sold doves take these things hence make not my my father's house and house of merchandise so back to verse 15 when he made a scourge of small cords what is this it's a whip

[10:30] God made a whip this is what we would commonly call today a cat of nine tails that Jesus would have made he made he made a whip with several several small cords hanging off of it says he made a scourge of small cords and he drove them all out out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen so not only the ones that were selling these animals within the the court the courts of the temple and this would have been in the Gentile court of the temple but he not only drove the the sellers out he drove their animals out as well and it doesn't say where exactly these animals went to we we can rightfully assume they just went out into the streets right right off free wherever free to go wherever they wanted to but in verse 16 it says and he said to them that sold doves take these things hence so he didn't just run through and loose the cages of the doves but he told the people that were selling the doves you take these out and you you free them but back to verse 15 again it says and over through the tables over through the the money changers tables and folks there's a lot of people that think that this is the people that took the money for the selling of the of the livestock that was being sold here and that's not necessarily the case this is money changers people were coming from all around to Jerusalem and the money changers were exactly what the scripture says they were they were money changers people will bring their currency from whatever area that they were in it ain't you know like here in the United States we had the United States dollar if we go to Pakistan or we go to Ethiopia or we go somewhere in South Africa our dollar ain't going to do us a whole lot of good there we're going to have to exchange our currency when we get there we'll have to exchange a US dollar for whatever type of of money that they use there and and this was what the money changers did but they also charged a huge exchange rate for doing this you bring me a dollar in your currency i'll give you 25 cents back in the currency that you need to buy these animals so it was exorbitant exchange rates that they were charging for these things so Jesus goes in he drives out all the people or all the sellers he drives out all the animals and he overthrows the money changers tables and you got a whole group of people right now in 2020 that'll read this scripture and say well he just wasn't acting like Jesus folks this is exactly what Jesus did and people will say he got angry he lost his temper i can assure you Jesus Christ has never once lost his temper losing your temper and being angry is two very different things you're reading Ephesians chapter four apollo writes be angry and send not neither let the sun go down upon your wrath neither give place to the devil be angry and send not Paul writes the Ephesian church so we can be angry without sinning god knew we'd be angry god knew we would get angry over things and there's some things that that has caused for anger there's some things i'm persuaded if we if it doesn't make us angry it's sinful if we don't get angry about it if we just sit by sit back and let some things pass by but Jesus never has never once never once lost his temper but that's how a lot of people will will read this and Jesus knew exactly what was going on in that temple courtyard he knew the selling that was taking place he knew the goings on he knew the reasons for the goings on and the reasons fell not only on the sellers and not only on the money changers it fell on the Jews as well because they were allowing it to happen they were allowing the desecration of the house of god so it fell so the responsibility fell to the Jews and it also fell to the Gentiles remember this would have been in the Gentile court why would why would Jesus have been so angry though over people just wanting to get an animal to sacrifice under God is that not the worship that God called for yes that's the worship that God called for but that is not the way it was to be done but not only that not only were they to bring something off their own flock that way that way it was personal to them that way it really cost them something but not only that this was interfering with worship this was interfering with people that had shown up to worship God you went to the temple to worship God and for no other reason but this shows the state that Israel was in this shows the state that the Jews were in that God was was was in none of their ordinances he was in none of their ceremonies he was not in the temple at this point now don't get me wrong God is everywhere I mean even Solomon when he was dedicating the temple 500 years previous or hundreds of years almost a thousand years previous to this even Solomon said the heaven of the heavens cannot contain thee talking about God so yes God is everywhere but God was nowhere in these ceremonies that these Jews were performing it was just empty religion for them and once again

[16:19] I'm not I'm not down in the Jews and I'm not you know saying the Jews are any more wrong than many Christian churches are nowadays you know they go in they yes they might raise their hands and yes they might shout and scream and everything but as God really and truly in that worship I hope that he is and I hope that it's not just some empty vain thing that many people are doing but I have a feeling that's what the case is more often than not in this day and time that we live in I'm not saying there's anything wrong with raising of hands or clapping or shouting or or anything along those lines I'm saying make sure you're doing it for the right reasons make sure that it is done in worship to God so he tells the people of sold the does in verse 16 to take these things hence making up my father's house and house of merchandise and this is the very reason and this is the very verse I should say among a couple of others I could probably think of why business transactions are frowned on within the sanctuary of the church you know even here at free gift and other churches that I've been to if a singing group shows up and they've got CDs or bracelets or bumper stickers or t-shirts or anything else they want to sell it's not done in the sanctuary it's done outside the doors of the sanctuary and this this verse we just read is is one one of a couple why that why that is the folks think about this for just a moment Jesus goes into this temple he goes into the courts he drives these people out and he tells the people selling the does take these things out take these things out and then taking those does out they would also have been taking themselves out what do we read just a few verses before this this was the Passover the Passover was on hand the Jews celebrated the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread at the same time and when they celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread which began with the Passover what were they to do according to the ordinances you find in the book of Exodus there were to purge the leaven out of their house this was the beginning of Passover and I think this was symbolic of

[18:46] Christ purging leaven out of his house I know he says here that you know how dare you basically make my father's house a place of merchandise or house of merchandise how dare you sell things there and he refers to it as his father's house the folks it was Christ's house too if it was the father's and Christ is the heir to God and we are joint heirs with Christ as Romans chapter 8 tells us that we are it was his house as well he was purging his own house of the leaven leaven more often than not in scripture is a picture of sin it's a picture of corruption so he I think that that's very significant in this being it was at the very beginning of Passover that this was happening the Passover feast was upon Jerusalem and Jesus the first thing he does is go to his house and purge the leaven out of it so that's just something very very interesting to keep in mind verse 17 and his disciples remembered that it was written the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up this is a quote from Psalm 69 if you have a reference Bible it probably shows that in your reference Bible probably refers you back to that it says the zeal of my house hath hath eaten me up and it says that his disciples remembered this why would the disciples have remembered this particular verse out of the Psalms I mean you've got 150 chapters worth of Psalms there's 150 Psalms recorded for us in the scripture and that doesn't even include the ones that are not recorded for us but why would they remember this particular one the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up and the disciples remembered this well the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up that's exactly what happened to Jesus exactly what happened to Jesus I mean in the in the whole story we're only in the second chapter of the gospel of John here but by the end of the gospel of John by the end of the gospel account we see how the zeal for the father's house the zeal for the things of God hath eaten

[21:04] Jesus up what does this mean he suffered for him he died for the zeal of the father's house he died for the zeal of the things of God to please his father is why he died to to save you and I is why he died to reconcile man back to God is why he died and he had zeal for these things says his disciples remembered that it was written the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up and then answered the Jews and said unto him what sign shu was thou unto us seeing that thou doest these things what sign can you give us seeing that you do these things who are in other words who are you who has given you the authority to come in here well first of all when it says the Jews asked him this this is talking about the the priests the high priests and the Pharisees those the well to do the ones that help help more cloud it ain't just talking about Jews in general this is talking about the good II shoe Jews we might call them they're the ones that that's being referred to here says the Jews sitting in what sign shu was thou unto us seeing that thou do these things in other words who gave you the authority to do this well Jesus had just told them and not so many words who had given him the authority when he said when he said how dare you make my father's house a house of merchandise or a place of merchandise this was again referring Jesus referring to the deity of himself and saying that that that god the father is his father making him god the son making him god making Jesus god showed that that they is but these Jews were seeking a sign from Jesus and this is something that was common with the Jewish people they would want signs for people to prove that they were who they said that they were that they were indeed a prophet from God or they were indeed a man of God or where the case is in fact this is referred to in the scriptures as the Jews seek after a sign and Jesus actually said it said himself he said no sign will I give thee except for the sign of Jonas who's Jonas Jonah he said just as Jonas was in the belly of the well three days and three not so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth in other words he was talking about his death and his resurrection he said that's the only sign that you people are getting from me once again talking to the to the higher up Jews when he said that but they asked what what signs show us now and to us saying that they'll do us these things

[23:50] Jesus answered and said unto them destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up then said the Jews 46 years with this was this temple in building and wilt thou rear it up in three days but he spoke of the temple of his body so back to verse 18 again then enter or 19 then answer Jesus unto them destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up this verse comes under a lot of scrutiny because of other verses in the scripture and I have mentioned this verse I know here before while while teaching or preaching one I mentioned it other places as well as well and I mentioned it in as the fact that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a collaborative effort of God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit because all three of them are credited in the scripture of being as being who raised Jesus from the dead here Jesus says destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up me myself I will do this thing elsewhere in the scripture it says that God does this thing elsewhere in the scripture it says that the Spirit done this thing the folks God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit make one triune God and if one of them had anything to do with it all three of them had something to do with it you cannot separate any of the three persons of the Godhead they're constantly they're constantly in agreement with each other on everything and anything that one does the other two agree to and the other two have their part in it so he says destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up then said the Jews 40 and six years was this temple in building and we'll rear it up in three days now this was the temple that Solomon built yes but Herod had been making some renovations to the temple he'd been remodeling the temple at this point the temple began with the one of the zarubabel had built after it was destroyed about 500 years previous to this give or take a decade but but zarubabel had began to work on the original temple that was in this place the original temple was Solomon's yes but once again it was destroyed it was destroyed when Babylon came in and raised Jerusalem so it was rebuilt and then Herod the Herod had begun some remodeling on it and this is what's being referred to here says 46 years of this temple in building and we'll rear it up in three days but he's spake of the temple of his body so here we have clarification of what temple Jesus Christ was talking about the temple of his body and again when we think about Jesus Christ coming to the temple to the actual physical temple here and it being

[27:04] Passover we can him purging the the leaven again we can think about the temple of our own bodies not of Jesus's body Jesus had no leaven Jesus had no sin that needed to be purged no God was ever found in the mouth of Jesus Christ but we ourselves being temples of the Holy Spirit being temples of God do we not need ourselves to purge the leaven out of ourselves and not just once a year does that need to be done it needs to be done daily it needs to be done hourly say born again children of God that leaven of that sin needs to be purged out verse 22 when there when therefore he was risen from the dead his disciples rent remembered that he had said this unto them and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said so in the previous verse here it says that he wasn't speaking about the the physical temple but he was talking about the temple of his body and it says when he was therefore when he was risen from the dead his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them the this that is brought up here is that that he was said in three days I will I will raise it up and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said so this rightfully gives us a question here in scripture just how much did the disciples believe in Jesus Christ just what did they believe about Jesus Christ and the correct answer is nobody knows for sure exactly how deep their belief went throughout the gospels but we know that their faith was shaky just like your faith is and just like my faith is their faith isn't wasn't perfect then my faith is not perfect now and your faith is not perfect now but they had faith and they had faith in Jesus Christ they may not have understood everything in fact here it says that his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them and they believed the scripture after they remembered what he had said to him after his resurrection the man had already been killed the man had already been buried he had already been resurrected and for all we know he had done ascended to the father before they thought on this day that was going on right now that we're reading about in John chapter 2 and at that point they believed the scripture at that point they believed what Jesus Christ had said the folks I said all that to say this you don't have to believe or you don't have to understand I should say everything about the scripture you know I don't understand everything about the pour I wish I could stand here and tell you that I did but I be lime if I said that I don't understand everything about this bibles I don't understand everything about the gospel I don't understand everything that I want to understand but I believe it I believe it when

[30:12] I read it even even if I don't completely understand it Peter didn't completely understand Jesus John didn't completely understand Jesus Paul as great of a man as Paul was he didn't completely understand Jesus None of these men did that we're talking about here You don't completely understand them and I don't completely understand them But I understand enough to know that if I repent of my ways and I believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ I will and am saved I understand that much so Once again, I mean you take Peter's example when Peter made made the awesome comment when Christ asked him who Who do men say that I am they said who do you say that I am and Peter said they are at the Christ the Son of the living God And just a couple of verses after that Jesus starts talking about his crucifixion And he starts talking about he's how he's got to be handed over into the hands of the Gentiles and in the hands of sinful men and they he's got to be crucified and Peter says not so don't let this be it's not going to happen Lord

[31:17] That shows me that even though Peter himself said thou art the cross the son of the living God just a couple verses later It shows just how little he truly understood Jesus Christ But he knew he was the cross and he knew he was the son of the living God So again, I'm just saying all this to tell you you don't have to understand all the scripture to be saved and praise God for that because I don't understand all the scripture But I understand enough to get the basics that if I repent and I believe that I can be saved that I am saved Because of those things and I'm saved because of the blood of Jesus Christ Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover in the feast day many believed in his name when they saw the miracles Which he did but Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men and Needed not that in that any should testify of man for he knew what was in man So when he was at Jerusalem during this Passover feast

[32:21] In the feast day many believed in his name and folks over to been many people there to Believe in the name of Jesus Christ and believe on this name of Jesus Christ Once again, this was this was the Passover feast Jerusalem would have been flooded with Jews from from at least 15 miles around and I'm sure some of them From beyond that had showed up in Jerusalem For this so there were many people there to believe on the name of Jesus Christ And it says that many did believe in his name when they saw the miracles which he did and I think that this is I Think that this kind of happens now Somebody somebody might get saved. Well, we'll just say somebody does get saved somebody from from the worst family in town Somebody from a mafia family will say just using that as an example say somebody hears the gospel and they get saved And other people see the change that God makes in that person

[33:25] They see a miracle that God has wrought in that person's life and Because they see this change they believe in the name of Jesus Christ But does that save them?

[33:39] Here it says Jesus didn't commit himself to these people and You might look at the scripture and say well, why didn't he if they believed in his name if they believed on his name?

[33:51] They believed in the miracles that he was working folks don't ask the question scripture gives us the answer It gives us the answer, but Jesus did not commit himself under them because he knew all men But at the same time as as negative as this sounds at the same time, I praise God that he knows me I Praise God that he knew me before he knew of me before didn't I didn't know God intimately I didn't know him personally, but he knew me before it says in the Psalms that he knows our frame He knows our frame. He knows what makes us up And he knows that we're sinful and he knew that before he ever created Adam and before he ever took Adam's rib and Created Eve and before the serpent ever came in and the God even Eve talked her husband into sin and Before any of us ever inherited that sin from Adam and Eve God knew what was going to happen And yet he still made us and he still made this world and he still made this earth and he and

[34:58] And God did not give up on man However, man gives up on God an awful lot, but God has not given up on man God made a way that man could be reconciled back to him through his son Jesus Christ But Christ did not commit himself to these people because he knew all men Verse 25 one more time and needed not that any should testify man. He didn't need anybody tell him about these people He knew all men. He didn't need anybody to say now Joe over here He's all right, but you come over here to Johnny boy. And now you don't want anything to do with him Nothing like that needed to be done with Jesus. Jesus knew all men according to the verse before this and according to this verse For he knew what was in man. He needed not that he should testify of man for substitute that word for with because He needed not that he should testify of man because he knew what was in man

[36:02] He didn't need anybody to tell him about man because he knew what was in man. He created man He walked with Adam in the garden He walked with Eve He was there and he was there when sin first entered in and he has been overseeing the entire world ever since he created it He knows what man is and he knows what man is capable of But he also knows what he has done to reconcile man back to a God whose wrath abides on the wicked Jesus Christ knew man and he knows man. He will know man on into the future and yet Yet the invitation is still there come unto me all you the labor and heavy-lain and I will give you rest Praise God that brings us to the end of John chapter 2 anybody got any questions or any comments on any of that?

[36:57] All right, if not God bless you. I appreciate your attention