TRAVIS and MEGHAN PRAYER and FASTING Jeff and Karen

TRAVIS and MEGHAN PRAYER and FASTING Jeff and Karen Karen’s Cancer – Incurable Jeff’s Surgery Valerie’s Surgery 8.17 K.P. Yohannan

Wanted to talk to you last week --- but CEF • Infrastructure – As much – As often – In as many ways as possible • Our Vision in coming – • Bring the Word of God to this area. • To teach the Word and provide an opportunity for the redeemed to worship the redeemer • See Christ exalted in lives individually and corporately • We have been diligent to commit ALL of our efforts to this agenda. • FROM that the Word of God has moved beyond these walls

BEHIND those efforts there has been an infrastructure in technology and media that has enabled us to do that with as much excellence as possible. • We believe that we should never be static – that we should be desiring to see the work of the Lord abound. • We have used that computer and sound technology to their maximum…. But we have hit a ceiling and there is a legitimate need to make improvements that will have immediate impact on the effectiveness of ministry and allow us to grow significantly in our ability to enhance the ministry of the Word and Worship within these walls and far beyond..

There is plenty of vision for ministry to YOU and to thte world outside of these walls that can be implemented by means of these improvements Months of prayer and research invested in what to do. I admit ---- Discomfort about taking about it I know that MANY of you have come from church cultures that made a big demand on your financial resources. At family camp Jeff Stewart on Prodigal Son – BOTH received their inheritance. One ABUSED it and the other did NOTHING

Greatest gift to the Church is the Word. • Some have ABUSED it on accomplishing their own agenda • Others have done nothing with it. • Some have abused finances • to build monumental structures --- Bringing in fund raisers for months at a time. • Others have built nothing. • To the best of our ability EVERYTHING has been Jesus ---- His Word ---- His exaltation. • SO we aren’t going to make a big deal of this.

The improvements we believe NEED to be made at this time are ABOVE AND BEYOND the weekly giving. • OT – Bible Bus…. Building of temple above their tithes • Moving into this place Here it was a step of faith --- • 10k more a month in rent -- but we didn’t say a thing about it • On top of that the need to purchase the chairs you’re sitting on and all the children’s church furniture • NO HYPE ---- Just had a sign up sheet listing each item and people stepped up and said – I’ll but the tables…. Or

I believe that EVEN IN THIS ECONOMY I believe that there are men and women looking for ways to give • There are those who would say – I can ---- we can ---- buy one of those computers / two of them.

Matthew 21:12-22 • Rejection of the King Part 2 The King Cleanses the Temple and Curses the Fig Tree • As Chapter 21 opens we now enter the 4th major division of Matthew’s account of the life of Christ. • The great theme of this section is “The Rejection of the King.” • Last week we saw the Day the King Came to the nation • Just as promised in Zechariah 9:9 ---- Meek and lowly, riding on a donkey • On the very day predicted in Daniel 9 ---- April 6, 32 AD, the Sunday before Passover

This morning we see the King as Judge • As King He judges the sins of Israel • In so doing we discover why the religious leaders rejected Him and His message. • This morning we will see Jesus cleanse the temple, and He curse a fig tree. • Both of these acts revealed the hypocrisy of Israel: • The center of worship in Israel had become a den of thieves • And the nation itself (symbolized by the fig tree) was without fruit.

Inward corruption and outward fruitlessness were evidences of their hypocrisy. • As we look at Jesus acting in judgment we need to bear in mind the words of John • John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. • Jesus is indeed full of grace • Ready to do for us that which we don’t deserve • Ready to give to us that which we could never earn

He is also full of TRUTH. • He calls sin “sin” • He deals directly and sternly with the religious hypocrite • Here we see Jesus “full of GRACE and TRUTH” • Grace----- That He would • Even enter the “den” of the hypocrites despite their rejection of Him • That He would touch the lives of the needy in the midst of the hypocrites.

TRUTH • About their religious hypocrisy and spiritual blindness • About how the heart of God for the needy • Matthew 21:12 -13 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” • Jesus had opened His ministry with a similar act (John 2:13-25)

KEY INSIGHT: There are in the New Testament two words which are translated Temple • One word is used in regards to The Temple • The structure that contained the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies into which only the High Priest might enter, and he only on the great Day of Atonement. • But the Temple itself was surrounded by a vast space which was occupied by successive and ascending courtyards. • First there was the Court of the Gentiles • Any non-Jewish person could enter there…. But if a Gentile went beyond it they would be put to death.

Then there came the Court of the Women, entered by the Beautiful Gate of the Temple • into which any Israelite might come. • Next there came the Court of the Israelites, entered by the gate called Nicanor's Gate • A great gate of Corinthian bronze which needed twenty men to open and shut it. • Lastly there came the Court Of the Priests, into which only the priests might enter • In it there stood the great altar and the great brazen laver;

At the back of it there stood the Temple itself. • This whole area, including all the courts, is called the Temple; but the Greek word is he - ay -rown • Here in Verse 12 Jesus enters the hieron ---- the Temple Precincts • As we said - the outer courts were known as the Courts of the Gentiles. • This was THE PLACE where all the nations could come and discover the truth of the one and true living God of Israel. • It SHOULD HAVE been that --- but it had become something very different

At this time a man named Annas had turned the COURT OF THE GENTILES into a money making enterprise • REMEMBER – • It is Passover ---- a mandatory feast • Jews were thronging in from all over the Roman world. • Many of them have traveled from North Africa or from Spain and thus they obviously couldn’t bring a lamb for the sacrifice over such a long distance.

So they would come there and would have to then buy an animal that the priest was selling. • But they couldn’t use the Roman coinage. • You could only use the “temple Shekel” because Roman coins bore the image of Caesar – who was worshipped as a god. • It was defiled currency. • In order for you to buy an animal to sacrifice you had to have the Hebrew shekel from the temple mount.

So you would come with your Roman money and you would exchange your currency and the exchange rate was exorbitant. • So FIRST they would RIP YOU OFF in the currency exchange • Then they would rip you off on the purchase of an animal for your sacrifice. • If you tried to buy the animal you were going to offer in the market place the priest would examine your animal and find a spot or a blemish and say, “This animal is not pure. It’s not clean. You can’t sacrifice it.”

And you’d be left in the position of having to buy • a pre-approved Passover lamb • from the precincts at jacked up prices • KEY POINT: Those outer precincts SHOULD have been THE place where the Gentiles could come and see how man worshipped God in Spirit and in truth • But instead ---- they saw • A religion run by thieving hypocrites • The Temple of the true and living turned into a market place.

There in the Court of the Gentiles • the “outsider” ----- those outside of Judaism ---- saw the high priest and his cohorts taking advantage of people who had come sincerely desiring to worship • PRESENT APPLICATION:In many places today men and women who are “outside” of faith in Christ will show up at a church because surely THAT is THE place where they can see how men and women can approach the True and Living God. • And when they get there they see those who are supposed to be spiritual leaders, take advantage of the sincerity of God’s people.

God’s people will come to worship. • God’s people will come grow in grace and in the knowledge of their Lord and Savior • They come to have a fresh view of Christ on the cross and remembering the price that was paid. • And there are in our time those who will be talking money and taking advantage of them. • And the sincere worshipper ---- because they are sincere ---- will feel condemnation and pressure and sure enough they get fleeced instead of fed. • KEY POINT: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever. • Jesus feels the same way about it today as He did then. • And I have a feeling He would be turning over some tables today - Tables run by a lot of guys on TV. • Because He hates it when His people are taken advantage of. • NOTE: Those people who give in sincerity will receive the reward. • They maybe naïve and they may have contributed to some scoundrel but God will reward them for their giving. • It’s the person that took it whose shoes I would not want to stand in.

KEY POINT: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever. • Jesus feels the same way about it today as He did then. • And I have a feeling He would be turning over some tables in the year 2008 • Because He hates it when His people are taken advantage of. • He hates it when the unbeliever is turned away by religious hypocrisy • He hates it when the church is run by mercenaries instead of missionaries.

NOTE: Those people who give out of a sincere heart will receive the reward. • They maybe naïve and they may have contributed to some scoundrel • But God will reward them for their giving. • It’s the religious hypocrite that ripped them off that will be judged! • KEY OBSERVATION: Jesus comes into the middle of the scene and begins to turn over the table of the moneychangers and begins to drive them out. • Jesus meek and mild chases everybody.

You can hear everybody screaming. • The scene must have been incredible because of the presence and authority of Jesus • REMEMBER - He just allowed Himself to be owned as Messiah and King. • Imagine the tremendous display of authority in Jesus at that moment ---- for just one man to upset thousands upon thousands and to begin to clear that temple precinct by Himself. • THINK ABOUT THIS - Jesus said “You have made it a DEN of thieves.”

You remember how Jesus told the story about the man who was held up and robbed and beaten and then cared for by the Good Samaritan. • The people could understand the story quite well because they were all very familiar with the old road that went up from Jericho to Jerusalem. • They knew that there were many caves and hideouts for the thieves along that road from Jerusalem to Jericho. • They knew there were many blind curves, around which robbers and thugs would lie in wait. • It was a dangerous journey.

Jesus is saying that the REAL dangerous place was not the road from Jericho to Jerusalem. • He said that the REAL DEN OF THIEVES was on the Temple Mount and the ring leader was the high priest. • He was saying that it was MORE dangerous to go up on the Temple mount than to travel that road. • Often times the same is true today ----- the most dangerous place to be is not out on the streets but in a church! • 13He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”

CRUCIAL: When Jesus called the temple “My house,” He was claiming to be the GOD of Israel! • He was quoting Isaiah 56:7 • these I will bring to MY holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for MY house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” • The entire 56th chapter of Isaiah denounces the unfaithful leaders of Israel. • The phrase “den of robbers” comes from Jeremiah 7:11

It is part of a long sermon that Jeremiah delivered in the gate of the temple • In it he was rebuking the people for the same sins that Jesus saw and judged in His day. • What does God want in His house? • God wants prayer among His people • True prayer is an evidence of our dependence on God and our faith in His Word. • For the Christian prayer is like breathing ---- you can’t survive physically without breathing nor can you survive spiritually without prayer.

But again ---- today churches are places where people people • Come to meet God ---- worship God ---- pray • But instead they are often robbed. • Of their time and talents and resources. • In order to build a building and fill a building. • And tragically ---- • they don’t seem to be bothered so much by being robbed • But they are really bothered at the idea of coming to pray!

14And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. • THAT is what God desires in His house ---- • 1.) He wants His house to be the place where the needy, broken and empty to COME TO JESUS • By the way ----- • We need to realize that when God leads someone inside these doors He is leading them to meet Jesus --- not be an attendance statistic for Metro.

KEY INSIGHT:The blind and the lame were not normally around the temple precincts. • The lame came to the gates and to the entrances to the temple and sit there and beg. • Normally they would not come in. • But after all of the thieves are driven out ---- the lame and blind want to come in because they know who Jesus is….. They’ve been hearing all about Him for 3 years now. • You can see them now sliding across the temple floor for the first time. • And as they are coming to Christ He is healing them

2.) He wants His house to be the place where the power of the Holy Spirit is working through the Word of God to change people. • 15But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,“‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” • 3.) He wants His house to be the place where Jesus is exalted!

NOTE: It was the closest this temple precinct had ever been to realizing its glory. • Because the Messiah was there • He had cleansed it • The children were worshipping and singing. • The lame were being healed the blind were receiving sight. • What an incredible scene. • How I would have loved to been there and just see the children worshipping and singing.

AMAZING! • Seeing all of this ---- the religious leaders areindignant. • It was OK for the moneychangers to be there but please do not heal people and watch children sing in our temple. • They are angry. You have to try to imagine their tone of voice. • 17And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there. 18◙ In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry.

19And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.20When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” 21And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

KEY INSIGHT: Mark places it on His way into the temple. • Matthew seems to be writing more with a concern for the events as they related to Israel more than a chronology. • There is a difference between the two • Mark seems to give us a more shot by shot chronological sequence of events. • Matthew is relating to the Jew ---- writing to the Jew.

Ninety-nine times in his gospel he quotes the Old Testament • More than any of the other gospels combined. • And because of his audience ---- when he comes to this cursing of of the fig tree ----- he puts it in this order after Christ has cleansed the temple. • Because this fig tree is a picture of the nation of Israel • Judges 9:10 • Jeremiah 24 • Hosea 9:10 • Joel 1:6

Each of those passages pictures Israel as God’s fig tree. • God is looking to Israel to produce good figs ---- to be fruitful. • Jesus was not angry at the tree. Rather, He used this tree to teach several lessons to His disciples. • Just as this tree had leaves but no fruit • so Israel had a show of religion but no practical experience of faith resulting in godly living. • God wants to produce fruit in the lives of His people.

Fruit is the product of life. • The presence of leaves usually indicates the presence of fruit, but this was not the case. • In the Parable of the Fig Tree (Luke 13:6-9) the gardener was given more time to care for the tree • But now the time was up. • This tree was taking up space and doing no good. • NOTE WELL: This must be understood to be FIRST and foremost about Israel

The time of judgment had come. • The sentence was pronounced by the Judge, but it would not be executed for about forty years. • In 70 AD Rome would come and destroy the city and temple and scatter the people. • But we must not miss the application to our own lives • We must beware of the danger of fruitlessness. • The temple was supposed to be a “house of prayer” • The nation was to be a believing people. • Both were missing.

COMMUNION

TRAVIS and MEGHAN PRAYER and FASTING Jeff and Karen