Jesus in the Temple: Let Him Drive Out What Shouldn't Be There

Well, I want to welcome you to Journey Church. If we've not met, I'm the lead and founding pastor here. And I I want to give you a very special welcome to Journey Church. You matter so much to God. You matter so much. He made you. He loves you. And if you've ever felt overlooked or maybe you felt like you've you've sinned or you've done something where God doesn't love you, I'm here to let you know you are loved by God. Lisa, he loves you so much. He just He loves you. He loves you. He loves you. He loves you. I want to also say that to all of our friends online. Would you all just shout hello? Come on. Hello. We've got hundreds of people joining us from all over the place. I want to just call some of them out because I'm seeing people from all over the place. We've got Angie in McMinnville. Come on, somebody. Angie, uh we Oh, man. We've got Sherry. We've got Kenan. We want to say hello Kenan. Uh we we want to say

hello to Gail. Uh also over there on YouTube, we've got people watching from all over. We've got Brenda and Luke who are down in Arizona. I think they're enjoying some spring training. So, hello Brenda in Arizona. Uh we also want to say hi to those in California. We love that country. So, God bless you guys down there in California. Uh that that includes Philip who's down there. I mean, we got people watching all over right now. Um absolutely awesome. Even all over Central Oregon. I know I only got to just a handful. Uh that's because my eyes are getting uh older and harder to see, but I will just say this. You matter. Whether you're watching in your living room or you're on vacation or right now, wherever you are, whether it's your first time here at Journey Church or you've been coming a long time, you matter. There's no one too

young. There's no one too old. There's no one who sent too greatly. Doesn't matter who you are today. You matter to God. I just have to get that off my chest because as we get into God's word, my dream and desire for you is that God's word would get deep down into your heart. that you would hear from God. That today it wouldn't be a preacher. I'm not a sage on the stage. The great great news of God is it's a level playing field when you come before God. It's level. It doesn't matter what kind of credentials you have. If you have many PhDs and you come before God, he's still way smarter than you. You might be the best looking person on the planet, but you come before God, he is still holy, holy, holy. He is

completely set apart. So, what I just mean by that today is this is a this is a good space today because this is level. We all need Jesus. And that's what we're going to do right now is we're going to turn our hearts to Jesus. Before we do so, would you just prepare your heart? Lord, today we come before you and we want to encounter you, the living God. I just ask that you would have your way in our hearts. That you would meet with every person. That's how great you are, God. You love every one of us. And if there's been a distraction that has withheld us from truly knowing who you are, we just say distractions be gone in Jesus' name. If there have been strongholds that have caused us to be stuck where we are today, we say strongholds be released in the mighty name of Jesus. We just don't

allow any authority that's not of you in this place. God, I plead your blood over every single life, whether here in person or listening online right now. God, you are omniresent. You can be anywhere at any time. So we say in the name of Jesus, would you be present in our hearts? Would you speak to us? Would you show us who you are? That God, you would become greater and we would become less. It's not too much to ask for revival because we want your kingdom to come and your will to be done in our lives as it is in heaven. So whatever is wrong, we say be made right in Jesus' name. That which is sick, we declare healing in Jesus' name. We say, Lord, would you have your will in your way today? Speak to our hearts, Lord. We're here to listen. And I pray that we would

be transformed and marked on this day that we would say, "God, you did something good. You did something good in our hearts and in our lives. Give us revelation, knowledge, vision. Let your word go deep into our hearts. I pray that we we would have good soil today to receive your word in Jesus name. Amen. And amen. Amen. As Pastor Ryan shared today, it traditionally on at least the Christian calendar you see today is Palm Sunday. In fact, many calendars will will say Palm Sunday. And if we're unfamiliar with what that means, uh, we'll miss what this this meaning is for our own lives. And you can get into the scriptures and there's four accounts of Jesus life in the Bible. They're often called Gospels. There's Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. All four of those accounts of Jesus life share this story

of Jesus coming into Jerusalem. And when he came into Jerusalem, he was met with crowds that came before him. And they waved these palm branches that that that signified some some type of celebrity or dignity or or maybe even this triumphal entry of a king. And as they brought them before Jesus, they yelled out in one accord, "Hosana." Everyone shout, "Hosana. Hosana." The word means save. You're the one that's going to save. And for a Jewish person to triumphantly yell hosana, they're declaring this is going to be the savior. Now, they had in their own minds what the savior or a king might look like. A a king that would come at such a time in history where the Roman Empire

ruled with such force and they took over the world. They thought a king would have to be a conquering king to be greater than the Caesar. But when Jesus stepped into the story, he he didn't do things the way that the world would think he would do it because his kingdom is not the kingdom of this world. It's so much greater. Jesus is a king above all kings. He doesn't need to do it by force because he's almighty. He doesn't force us to follow him. He came as the suffering servant. He came as a savior of our sins. And as he stepped into the story, he comes into Jerusalem riding on a donkey just as it was prophesied the Messiah, the chosen one, would do. And in doing so, coming into Jerusalem, it would it would display the final week of Jesus

life before he was crucified on the cross. And in these last days, we see just a whirlwind. He was celebrated one day. He he was he was filled with controversy. Some people loved him. Some people hated him. Some people were healed by him. The countdown was on to the cross. And as we see in these stories found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus knew exactly what he was doing. He knew that he would willingly give his life on the cross. And the reason he willingly gave his life on the cross was for you

to take your sin on the cross so that you would no longer be the same, but you would be forever changed starting right now. Now, I want to confess to you, this is a true confession. I had written a sermon today out of the book of Ephesians. The Bible is filled with 66 books and we've been studying the book of Ephesians since I don't know 2013 or uh it is just a treasure chest. It's it's such an awesome book. It's it's a small book if you want to go read it. It's only six chapters and I had a sermon ready. I even practiced it on Friday and then something struck me on Friday night that said, "You need to come back

to this story that we celebrate this day for." So, Saturday morning, I told my wife, I said, "I I think I'm going to do a different sermon." Then throughout the day, she just kept asking me, "Well, are you going to prepare for this sermon?" I said, "No, I'm going to let the Holy Spirit do it. But then I got scared and then I started to take some notes. It's a sermon I I've preached several times. But here's the great news of God's word. It never ever gets old. Ever. So the more you study it, the more you realize how rich this is. So whether you're here at church for the first time and the Bible's new to you, I want you

to know the revelation of this word is for you. or if you've been coming to church a very very very very very very very long time, you should never get tired of God or his word because it will continually speak to you. This is no ordinary book. The Bible is is described as itself as living and active. No other book is alive where it can pierce your heart and go to places that a counselor can't go, a spouse can't go, a parent can't go, but God can go there in his word. So I I want you to go with me as we we journey together in this. My biggest desire, my outcome of today's sermon is that you would know the real Jesus. Not the religious Jesus, but the real Jesus. He's available to know. And you can know the presence in the person of God through Jesus. You can have the Holy Spirit. And we're going to talk a little bit about what that looks like.

That a life of believing as in Jesus is is having the indwelling of Jesus in you. That is God the Holy Spirit. And when you do, there's a myth out there that somehow your whole life will get easier. And I want you to know that that's a lie of the enemy. When you believe in Jesus, your life actually gets more difficult because now you actually have the revelation of why things happen the way they happen. You could be persecuted. And Jesus says if you're persecuted, you will actually be blessed. So your blessing is not based on the goodness of how people treat you, but on who God is in your life. That in following Jesus, you start to see who God is more clearly. And here's the good news of following Jesus. You see who you

are more clearly. It is the one crisis that every human has on this planet. Who am I? And the Bible says that every human being is actually made in the image of Christ. that you are made in the image of the creator to reflect the creativity and the beauty of God. How wonderful is that? That in our very fingerprint, the uniqueness that God would speak into your life and say, "There's no one like you. You might not like the way you look, but God looks at you and says, "I made you. I am the potter. You are the clay." How about you quit telling the potter what to do and just embrace it? when he's shaping you, when he's making you. You might not like that little handle right there, but I'm just going to let you know that it doesn't stop God from loving you. He loves you. He doesn't make mistakes.

And so, when we see ourselves in his eyes, we see that even if life is difficult, I declare when you have Jesus, it's worth it. It's always worth it. And there is nothing about Jesus that wants you to live a normal life. Fact, normal is overrated. Normal is not what God wants for you. There's nothing normal about Jesus. Too many of us have normalized our lives and we think that we have to settle for less than the best. Jesus does not want you to settle. Here's what I mean by that. Normal is settling into what is familiar. That could be a pain. That could be a problem. That could be a thought that's in your life. I don't know what's normal for you, but here's what we've done in America. Normal is numbing your problems.

And when you numb your problems and you don't give them to God, they don't go away. Now, all of us deal with that differently. Some of you binge watch Netflix and you could watch six, seven, eight seasons of something in one sitting. But yet you come to church and once the sermon starts, you want to fall asleep. That's because you've normalized something that shouldn't be normal. You're not used to hearing God's word. So when God's word is heard, you think, I I'm not sure I want to receive God's word, but I'll go ahead and receive the filth that Hollywood's shoving down my throat. But it's become normal. And for some of you, you don't binge watch Netflix. You say, "Who who would waste their time with that?" Well, some of you normalize your life through drunkenness. You work

all week long only on Friday night to get so drunk that when you wake up on Saturday, you don't even remember what you did last night. Now, if you're used to waking up with a headache every day because that's your normal, I'm here to let you know that it does not need to be that way. It's not just drunkenness. It's not just Netflix. We all have our own normal. And we we we deal with it in different ways. When you allow Jesus to step into your story, here's what he's going to do. He's going to flip upside down what's normal. And when I say flip upside down, I literally mean he's going to overturn. He's going to overrule. He He's going to destroy those things in your life that have become normal. We could call those things distractions.

They distract us from the true kingdom of God. God wants you to experience his kingdom. Here's what I mean by kingdom. A way of life, a principle of life. The kingdom of God is perfect. One day, God is going to make all things wrong, right? And we don't have to wait to get to heaven to experience heaven. Jesus says, "Let's start praying it now. Let's start putting it into practice right now." So, if we have distractions that we've we've made normal, Jesus wants to destroy those and flip them upside down. No matter who you are, no matter where you are. So I want to pick up in the story today in one of those four accounts of Jesus life. I want to look at the first book of the New Testament called Matthew. I find myself today in the 21st chapter if you want to follow along with me. Matthew chapter 1.

Now at this point where I'm going to pick up in the story, Jesus has already come into Jerusalem. He's already ridden on the donkey. He's already had the people put the palm branches before him. They've already shouted hosana. And in the next narrative of the story is where we pick up in Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter 21 starting with verse 12. Matthew [snorts] 21 starting with verse 12. I think I put verse 7 in there on the screen, but I need you to know that I did this very very early early this morning. So, uh, anybody that's clicking the scriptures on the screen, you're going to give me a little grace today. It was only with about one cup of coffee, not the six that I've had already. So, Matthew 21:12. Are you there with me? If so, just shout yes. All right, here we go.

Matthew 21:12. And Jesus, he's in Jerusalem now, entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple. And he overturned, there we go, he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And we got to understand the context today because this temple that Jesus came into is no longer around. I it is a central theme of the Jewish faith and the Jewish people. The temple represents the very dwelling place of God. The temple is so significant that even today, 2,000 years after this story, so many people travel to Jerusalem just to touch and to pray at the remnant of the same temple where Jesus is.

You may know as the wailing wall. It's it's a remnant of this very temple that Jesus stepped into. Now, the temple had different courts or different places with within the sphere of of what it represents. The most inner part of this temple represented the holy of holies. This represents the dwelling place of God. Nobody can go into the holy of holies except for one person once a year. That is the high priest. It was so holy the pl the dwelling place of God that when the high priest entered in there they would tie a rope to his leg and in case he saw the presence of God and died they would drag him out. The Holy of Holies is a significant place because it represents the greatness, the glory of God. Now, outside the Holy of Holies, that would

be separated by a curtain. That is the same curtain that tore in two while Jesus was on the cross. He made a way to the Holy of Holies. He made a way to God Almighty. He he he made a way for all people. And that curtain was torn from the top to the bottom. Outside of that is the place where the Israelites would be. No, not just any Israelite. It would be the male Israelites. This is where the ministry would take place. Now, outside of where the Israelites would be would be the place for the Jewish women. The Jewish Israelites for the Jewish women were not allowed to go into that the place where the ministry was done. So, you have the women, you have the men, then you have the Holy of Holies. Now, outside of the court for the women, the Jewish women, is the court of the Gentiles.

Now the court of the Gentiles is where a non-Jewish person could come and worship Yahweh. Yahweh in our English translation is Lord. So people would travel from all over Greeks, Romans, those who are not Jewish and they would want to encounter the God of this temple. Now they were not allowed to go past the court of the Gentiles, but there was this place where they would be. Now when you think of a court, I don't want you to think of a a small court. This this actually is a large area for the Gentiles. It was some 35 acres and this is the place that when they would want to come worship God, they would get to meet with God. Now, a gentile was not allowed to offer the sacrifice for their sins. They could come meet with God, but they couldn't go through the same rituals that you would

find in the Jewish scriptures that we call the Torah, the instructions of God. Now, Jesus enters Jerusalem and he decides to do something intentional. Everything that God does is intentional. It doesn't seem like it in the moment, but God doesn't make mistakes. He's never surprised. You know how you're surprised when someone dies or when someone betrays you or something bad happens? God is never caught off guard. He's always had a plan. And we read this in Ephesians chapter 1, what we've studied that he's predestined us. He He already knows what's going to He's eternal. He stands outside of time and matter, the very thing we're in right now. So when you trust him, you're trusting in a great God. And Jesus comes into the temple, the very place that was made for his presence. Jesus is the fullness of God in man.

100% man. Yet he is completely 100% God. And as he comes into this place, he doesn't experience the awe and the reverence of worship, but instead he hears money being exchanged. He he hears the sounds of bartering. He he hears the sound of animals. And he he looks around this place that's meant to be a place of praise and prayer. And instead, there's just exchanging going on. He he sees poor people being taken advantage of of he he sees animals moving about and and let me just explain what's happening here out of the context if you're unfamiliar with what the temple was about and why these things would be taking place. The week happens to be

Passover, one of the holy festivals of the Jewish people. And Jewish people from all over the world would travel a great distance to come to Jerusalem, specifically to the temple during Passover. There could be more than two million people coming just to the temple for Passover. So you have all sorts of tourists that are here. And so they're taking advantage of those tourists and they would come and meet with God. And they would give an animal sacrifice, a recognition that I've sinned before God. I deserve death, but the animal dies in my place. And it's a reminder of all of God's faithfulness dating all the way back to the Israelites being set free from Egypt. Are you tracking with me? I'm giving several thousands of years history just in a quick paraphrase.

Passover is a reminder of God's faithfulness to his people that when you trust in him and you do what he says to do, not only will your your life be preserved, but your family's life will as well. And so they would do what's called a Passover seder. We're actually going to do one during the Passover in April. Passover is the last week of April this year. So stay tuned for more details if you want to enjoy a seder with us. We're going to do a a seder here. And it was this Passover week that Jesus comes into this temple and he's in the court of the Gentiles and he sees something that just he cannot contain anymore. It's distractions. Could you imagine coming in today and there's money changers? Just like if you would travel to a different country. When I go to Uganda, I turn in our American dollars into shillings. or my daughter's been

spending time in England and she has to change her American dollars into pounds that you have to change your currency. There would be a a temple tax that every person would have to pay. And if you traveled from a different uh region with a different currency, you couldn't just give your currency for the temple tax. It had to be the correct currency. And so what you started to see in this very place was an extortion. people being taken advantage of that if you wanted to pay your temple tax, these tables actually represent bankers. So you had bankers in the house of God. Not only did you have bankers, but people would travel a great distance and instead of bringing animal with them and traveling with them, just think about these days of antiquity where they didn't h have the same modes of transportation we have. So they would actually purchase an animal there instead of bringing one with them.

And what Jesus sees around him is nothing but distractions, distractions, distractions, distractions, distractions. And he decides not to just give a simple sermon and an illustration, how about we just focus on what matters in our lives. Instead, he starts flipping tables. All four of the gospels when describing Jesus in the table uh in the temple flipping tables they they use the same word drives them out. Matthew puts it in the past tense. He drove them out. When you read Mark and Luke in this account, it says Jesus would drive them out. It's the similar language that John uses when he refers to a God that's love. And he says perfect love drives out fear.

That God which is which we have a God of love cannot allow fear and love to live in the same place. The temple here represents the presence of God and Jesus sees distractions that cannot be in the same presence of God. Now I want you to see an illustration for your personal life here that many of us have different distractions. You your distraction might be an addiction of some substance. Your distraction might be uh something you're addicted to with your eyes. Your distraction might be something that happened to you in the past. Your distraction might be your career uh or your success. Uh your distraction might be school. Uh your distraction might be uh maybe your

family. Uh your distraction could be all over the place. We all have them. And when Jesus steps into the temple, he wants to acknowledge that which is there shouldn't be there. He wants to drive out the distractions. And he did just that. He drove out the distractions by flipping over the tables. He lets us know that this is not the intentions of what the temple is actually about. Then we get to verse 13. And Jesus just didn't flip this over and create chaos. He's not a god of chaos. He's a god of order. And he said to them, "It is say written." Written. Let's all say written together. It's written. This is a common theme of Jesus. He comes back to the scriptures.

He comes back to the word of God. What we now call the Bible. In Matthew chapter 4, when Jesus was in the wilderness, the devil came and tempted him three different times with the same temptations that we're faced with in our lives. And every time the devil came against him, do you know what Jesus did to refute the devil? He said, "It is written Jesus knew the word of God and he used the word of God not to give into the devil." Now Jesus is in the very temple of God which represents the presence of God. And he once again comes back to what is written. Jesus teaches us and I want you to see Jesus teaching the word of God will revolutionize your life. If you want to grow close to God without the word of God, you will miss the God of the word. And the devil would love to keep you away from the Bible. If you're questioning and wondering who is God, the greatest way to get to know God is

in the word of God. And I'm referring to the Bible. And if you don't have a Bible, we would love to give you one before you leave today as a free gift. We want you to get into the word of God. Jesus right in the temple says it is written. Now he's going to quote several different scriptures. My house, this is an audacious claim. The temple where the presence of God is. Jesus says my house shall be called a house of prayer. Amen. But you make it a den of robbers. When confronted with the distractions that the devil puts right in the very temple of God, Jesus goes to the word of God. He goes to the word of God so that we would see the heart of God. This is what God wants from us. He starts with Isaiah chapter 56. He quotes

specifically verse 7, but I want to read two verses for you out of Isaiah 56. This is the prophet Isaiah speaking some 700 years before Jesus was born. Jesus now is speaking through the fulfillment of what Isaiah was looking forward to when Isaiah said, "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 shall all all peoples." Isaiah was looking forward to a day that all people all over the world, no matter who you are, would see that you could practice the presence of God by meeting in the temple. And the temple would be a place where you meet with God. Now, if you're if you're wondering what is prayer,

prayer is practicing the presence of God. It's talking to God. It's listening to God. It's being in God's presence. That's what prayer is. Simplified. It's communication with God. And Isaiah would look forward to say the temple will be a house of prayer. Not for some people. This is never meant to be a holy huddle. Not for the people that have enough money. Not for the people that can do do enough. But this will be for all people. Look at verse eight. The Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel. Praise God for the outcasts. Declares, "I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered. Isaiah, look forward to a time that when the Messiah comes, in the Greek that's called Christ. When the Christ comes,

the chosen one of God, people will be able to practice the presence of God through prayer, no matter who you are. And Jesus comes back to that reminder and says, "This will be a house of prayer." Then Jeremiah the prophet, he writes this in chapter 7 in the 11th verse. He says, "Has this house," referring to the temple, "which is called by my name become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord." In the Greek, the term robbers suggests something more than just a thief. We can see that the the bankers and those who were doing business were taking advantage of others. They were extortionists. They were charging more money than they ought to have charged

and they were actually doing it in the name of God, taking advantage of God's people. Now, the word robbers though in the Greek here is is essentially it's a nationalist. It is someone who has zeal for their nation. It's someone who who's a nationalist rebel. They're willing to do whatever it takes for their nation. Now, we see this in the scriptures because one of the 12 that Jesus chose to be on his team was what's called a zealot. It's the same phrase, Simon the zealot. These were the ones that were actually willing to take the life of someone else because of their conviction for their nation. In this case, the Jewish nation, Israel.

So, here you had people that don't have the heart of God for all peoples. You had people that were making decisions that that really it was based upon their pride that they wanted to see their nation rise up. I'm not sure if you've ever seen that before. We are living in the day that we live in such a polarized place that people pick which side they're on, even in our own nation. I don't mean to get political here, but that is never the heart of God. God doesn't say, "I'm for the Republicans." He doesn't say, "I'm for the Democrats." He says, "I want you to be for me." That's what real revival is.

Real revival is and say, "God, bless this political party." Real revival is God, that political party better bless you. And when you humble yourself and you pray and you seek God's face, that's when the blessing comes. And Jesus is incredibly upset that these distractions have stepped into his story where people come to meet with God, but instead of meeting with God, there's distraction. There's hurdles. There's hoops to jump through. But he just wants to meet with his people. Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, this would be the last prophet that would speak forth the coming Messiah. He says in chapter 3:1, "Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me." He's referring to John the Baptist. and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to

you to his temple. He's talking about Jesus and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. Now, Christ has come into his very temple, the temple that he came into as a baby, 8 days old in Luke chapter 2, the temple that he traveled to year after year for all the festivals. We read that Jesus at the age of 12 was so consumed with the the temple that his parents lost him for a few days. And when they found him, he says, "I'm just going about my father's business. This is his house. Here he is in the temple revealing himself as the Messiah, the chosen one of God. And instead of worshiping the Messiah, they missed it.

And instead of surrendering their lives to the Savior, they missed it. Jesus so desperately wanted them to know the heart of who he is. When he started off his earthly ministry in John chapter 2, we read first he turns water into wine and next he goes into the temple. And as he reveals himself to the world, the first thing he does is he goes into the temple and he cleanses it out. I don't know what image you have of Jesus, but that image in John chapter 2 is an awesome one because he makes a whip. He becomes a rancher, a cowboy, if you will, and he's whipping these animals to get them out of the temple. He's flipping over tables one by one, flipping over tables, turning the world to the attention of who he is. And when the religious saw him doing this, they asked him the question, "By what

authority do you do these And in John 2 19, he answered them, "Destroy this temple. I'll show you who I am. In three days, I will raise it up." The Jews then said to him, "It's taken 46 years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" For the original temple that was built by Solomon, it was destroyed. Herod, a a Roman king, came to the Jews and helped fund this project to rebuild the temple, and it took a long time. And they're saying, "How can you do this in three days?" But verse 21, John tells us, "But he was speaking about the temple of his body." So if the physical temple represents the presence of God, Jesus is speaking of his crucifixion and the resurrection.

When therefore it says in verse 22, he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that Jesus had said this. They believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. Here's what distractions do. Distractions stop you from the presence of God. So, where do these distractions come from? These distractions come from spirits. I'm going to get weird for a moment, but we live in a spiritual world. The spirit of religion stops you from the presence of God. Right? The spirit of religion says there are good things. There are things that you have to do. with the spirit of religion comes into your life and actually keeps you away from the living presence of a relationship with God. Now, it's taken me a long time to identify that even over this region of central Oregon, there is a strong spirit of religion.

Well, why aren't the churches united? Why aren't the churches in this region overflowing? Why aren't Christian Christians celebrating each other? Instead, there's just this little murmuring. Instead, there's just seems to be this division. And instead there seems to be this lack of unity because the spirit of religion stops you from God. Now the spirit of religion will rarely come in the way you think. Instead the spirit of religion says you've got to do this and you've got to do that. And I love that when Jesus steps into his own house he just simply says I want this to be a place of prayer. I want this to be a place where all peoples, as Isaiah prophesied in chapter 56:7, all peoples, I declare that once again, all peoples, no matter where you came from, no matter what house you were born into, no matter where you've been before, you ought to be welcome here to be a house of prayer.

And after Jesus drives out all those animals, flips over the banking tables, verse 14 says, "And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them." In the first century, the those with disabilities were looked down upon. You were considered cursed by God. In fact, even if you were Jewish, you could not give a sacrifice in the temple if you had a disability. If you were blind or you were deaf or you were mute, you were looked down upon. And you would have to stay in the outer courts even if you were Jewish. And here Jesus is in this outer courts of the Gentiles. And he begins to heal them. He begins to show he begins to show us what happens when you remove the distractions of your life. Healing comes

when you make the temple a place of prayer. Healing comes when that which is wrong is made right and you see the real Jesus. Healing comes. He doesn't make them go do something first. He just meets them right where they are and he healed them. Because a house of prayer is a house of miracles. And you don't have to do something to get to this God. You just need this God and his name is Jesus. His name is Jesus. God Almighty's name is Jesus. When Jesus was questioned, "Why don't your disciples do the things that make them look religious?" I'm in Matthew chapter 12. I'm just paraphrasing. You could look this up. He was questioned.

Your disciples do things on the Sabbath. they shouldn't do because man made all these rules of what you can do and can't do on the Sabbath. That's what religion does. It makes rules and those rules can hinder you from a relationship. Well, Jesus steps in and he defends and he says in Matthew 12:6, "I tell you there's something greater than the temple is here." Meaning all of those rules that you're trying to do to get to God, there is one greater than God. You see, in the days of old, if you touch somebody that was sick, you would be considered sick. They use a different term for this. If you were sick, you were considered unclean. So if you touch someone that was unclean, you become unclean. But here's the good news of Jesus Christ. When Jesus touches you, he doesn't become unclean. He doesn't get contaminated with what you have. You get contaminated with what he has. So he is

holy. So when you come to his presence, you actually become more like him. That's why he could hang out with drunkers and sinners and prostitutes. He didn't become like them. They became like him. But the religious flipped the script and instead of embracing what Jesus is doing, they like to criticize. They can't see because the spirit of religion criticizes what's being done. Because don't you know, and be careful not to point the finger at somebody else. It's a lot easier to criticize someone than to create something. We have a creator God, not a criticizing God. The Bible says in Romans 8:1, "There's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because he's the creator God." You can't even see the potential of what he can do in your life. He can create something greater in your life than you can see.

You might have been disabled your entire life. And I'm not even talking physically. I'm talking about some distraction in your life. And in just one moment, Jesus drives it out and you see the potential of what he can do in your life. There's healing. This is who Jesus is. In that same chapter, this is the last week of Jesus' life. Matthew 21:23, when Jesus came back into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people, Matthew 21:23, they came to Jesus as he was teaching. They said, "By what authority are you doing these things?" And who gave you the authority? You see, this is what the spirit of religion will do. It tries to trick you. It tries to trap you. And at first glance, it it might even look like they're trying to be holy, but instead they have ulterior motives.

They're not looking for an honest answer. We can see here they tried to hurt Jesus. They were trying to trick him. And it's in this place that we start to understand that Jesus has all authority for he is supreme over all. He reigns over all. Let me come back to what he did after he healed. verse 15 and 16 so that you can see this. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, referring to the healings and the children crying out in the temple, hosana to the son of David, that's a term preserved for the Messiah, the one that would come. The children are crying out, hosana. That means save us to the Messiah. Well, the religious were indignant.

And they said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said, "Yes, have you never read your Bible? Have you never read?" I I love the Jesus points us back to the promise of God's word. It will never fail. God actually said this would happen. Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies, you've prepared praise. Jesus is quoting Psalmapter 8 verse two. And in Psalm 8, God would declare that it would be the infants that would profess praise. Why was it the children crying out hosana? Where were those adults that were laying down their palm branches? Now they're sitting back kind of criticizing. They're sitting back wondering what's going to happen next.

But the kids see the healing and they say, "Hosana." I love that kids are so awesome. They're so honest. I love the kids don't know don't know they don't have the same filter that adults have and they just see Jesus so clearly. Hosanna, he's here. And Jesus receives it for that's exactly who he is. He's the savior. And here Jesus is coming to make the world right. And what the religious does is so wrong. They're indignant. They miss the moment. Jesus has cleared out the temple and they missed the Messiah. Instead of developing saints in the temple, they were taking advantage of suckers.

The enemy wants to take advantage of us as well. Which brings the personal application of your life. I pray that you will see this because the only person that can change your life is you. When Jesus died on the cross on the third day, he rose from the grave. That curtain was torn in two. It wouldn't be but 40 years later that that temple was destroyed. And to this day, it's never been rebuilt. Because when Jesus rose from the grave, it was the power of God himself, the Holy Spirit that rose Jesus glorified. And he showed us a new way to God. That by believing in Jesus, you get the power of Jesus inside of you. That is the Holy Spirit. That is what the church is. The church now makes up the temple. Not a place, not a program, not a brick and mortar, but as Peter would put it, we are living stones of God.

That when the world sees us, they should see the presence of God. But somehow we allow the distractions to slip into our lives and instead people see hypocrisy. Instead, they see extortionism. Instead, they see control. Instead, they see us taking advantage. instead they miss it because we we've allowed some things in our own lives. Paul when he writes his first letter to the Corinthians, he gets so real with them. He's like, "You guys have literally meshed holiness with the world and that can't happen. I'm talking about sexual sin. I'm talking about drunkenness with alcohol." I mean, Paul gets so real to the church in Corinth. It was much like the American church of today. And he comes to a place in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 where he's talking about their sexual sin, the perversion that if you believe

in Jesus, you can't just live like the world. I know that's normal. I know the world says you can do that. But he goes on to say, "No, you don't live the normal life." And he says in 1 Corinthians 6:18, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own. for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. What Jesus has done is he made a way that we no longer have to travel to a temple to experience the presence of God, but rather the spirit of God will travel to you. That by believing in Jesus, you become the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So now God speaks to your heart through his word and says, "Take care of your temple.

Don't just allow those demons to slip into your life." I know demons might sound a little strange, but let me come back to that for just a moment to paraphrase. This is real. The devil is real. The Bible tells us that Satan rejected God in heaven and Jesus said, "I was there when it happened and he fell like lightning from heaven." Now, the Bible says a third of all the angels rebelled with Lucifer and actually were rejected out of heaven because they rebelled against God. So there's twothird of the angels that stayed holy and and are messengers of God. Then there's another third that have now become enemies of God. When you read the scriptures, which you ought to read the scriptures, you see that Satan is the prince of this world until he's locked up forever in hell. But for now, he with the principalities, the army of

darkness are going after you. And just like the devil tried to get into the original temple through these little distractions, the devil's still doing the same today. And it's time for you to allow Jesus to have full authority of your temple to drive out that which is in your life that shouldn't be there. There are some of you that have a false theology that bought into the same lie that I bought into for a long time. That if you've believed in Jesus, then demons can't torment your life. That's a lie. This was the temple, the presence of God. Yet, they were doing things that they shouldn't have done. We still allow the same thing in our lives. You could be born again and doing things of the devil because you're allowing it in your life. You have to allow Jesus, the power

of the spirit of Jesus in your life to drive out that which should not be there and replace it with that which should be there. Well, what should be there? Prayer, the presence of God, his righteousness, his grace. The Bible says that in Jesus is the fullness of grace and truth. And from him you receive grace upon grace. Why don't you get rid of that gunk and receive God's grace? Why don't you get rid of the strongholds that have been your life from the very beginning that the devil wants to keep bringing you back to and say, "That's not who I am. I'm a child of God. I received the promise of God. I'm not going back to who I was. I'm becoming who God wants me to be. I realize I've made mistakes, but my God is a miracle worker. I might have been lame before, but no longer lame. I am healed in Jesus name. I receive the promise of God. I

received the power of God. I received the hope of Jesus Christ. And if he could do it for me, he could do it for you. Jesus came to do three things. He preached the good news. Repent, which means change your thinking. Don't live a normal life. That's the first thing he did. The second thing he came to do is to heal. Yes, he can heal your life. Don't normalize your lack of sleep. Don't normalize your nightmares. Don't normalize your chronic pain. Don't normalize that which was passed down to you genetically. It's time to break that in Jesus name and receive the healing of Jesus Christ. Praise be to God. The third thing Jesus came to do is to drive out demons. If that seems weird to you, I beg you to read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. He did it often and it's not weird. The

reason it's not weird is Jesus has full authority. You don't have to argue with the devil. You don't have to wrestle with the demons. You just simply have to say leave in Jesus name. You have all authority, supreme authority in Jesus name. That devil that's been tormenting you, it's time to say be gone in Jesus name. I renounce that which has been tormenting me. And you know exactly what that is. It could be bitterness. It could fester as greed. You always want something that you don't have. You're never content. You need to confess it and drive it out. Let Jesus into your flip over that table. Flip it over. Flip it over. Flip it over. Flip it over. Do not allow it to to take room in your house where you say, "Yeah, I have Jesus here, but I also have this lust over here."

That lust does not need to stay. Don't Don't you make any mistake about this that I'm just a man and how am I going to do this? No. Be a man of God. Allow righteousness into your life. Allow Jesus into your life. I'm going to have to wrap this up, but here's how I'm going to wrap this up. I'm going to tell you to do what Jesus did. Get into God's word. This is war. The devil's trying to destroy your life. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. For though we walk in the flesh, we're not waging war according to the flesh. You don't need to fight fights in the way the world fights it. For our weapons, verse four, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. So, how can you be set free? By the power of God and by the word of God. We destroy it. says verse 5, "We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ." So we do what Jesus did.

We cancel curses curses. We drive out demons. We set people free. And before you set anyone else free, you be free. Jesus once spoken in a synagogue. He took the book of Isaiah and he opens it up and he quotes in in actually I could probably find this in the book of Luke I think chapter 4 Jesus when he was in Nazareth his own hometown he went to the synagogue and he read in in Luke 4:18 the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he's anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor there's the preaching of the good news he sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and the recover covering of sight to the blind and to set the liberty of those who are oppressed. So he heals and he sets free to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. My

friends, this is the year of the Lord's favor. As Paul writes to the church, today is the day of salvation, not another day. Please don't wait for a better day to be set free from these strongholds. It's it's springtime. It's time for some spring cleaning. I'm not saying that you just tidy it up and tuck it in the corner. I'm saying you load it up in your car and you go drop it off right now and get rid of it. Go drop it off. Say good riddance. You're not going to regret it. So many of you are thinking like, "This is just who I am. This is who I am. This is who I am. I'm Italian. I'm always going to be angry. That's just who I am. I'm just Irish. I'm gonna always be stubborn. That's just who I am. I'm of a German descent. That's just who I am.

Can you just be born again by the blood of Jesus Christ and say, "That's who I am. I've got to start living and operating in the ways of God." This is not normal. When you do this, the same thing that happened to Jesus is going to happen to you. People are going to misunderstand it. People are going to criticize you. People are going to question you. People are going to say, "Oh, you're holier than thou. You think you're self-righteous. You think that's who you are?" You say, "No, I am a sinner saved by grace through faith. I am born again because of Jesus Christ." Hallelujah. I am a temple of the Holy Spirit, and I just cannot tolerate sin in my life any longer. I won't allow the devil to destroy me with the distractions of this world. He's done a good job, but it's time to let Jesus drive it out. Now, I want you to point out two things here.

Number one, Jesus started his ministry by cleaning the temple. Number two is he ended his ministry by cleaning the temple. How in the world Did that which he cleaned out the first time come back again? That which you tolerate will take place in your heart. It'll dwell in your heart. So if you allow something to come back, you you you got rid of it three years ago because you came to church and you believed in Jesus and you went back to it. Do you think Jesus looks at you and says, "Fine, I guess you're a hopeless cause. I tried. It looked good the first time, but that's it." No. Jesus comes back and he cleans it again. Don't give up. Don't give up. Don't give up. Let Jesus clean it again. The devil's just trying to destroy your life, but he doesn't have authority. Don't give him that room in your life. I'm just going to ask you right now.

There's two two people I want to speak to, and we all fall in one of these categories. The first one is absolutely important. If you've never believed in Jesus, I want to give you a chance right now. I can't save you, but Jesus can. Here's the good news of Jesus is that he died on the cross for all sins once and for all. And he wants to forgive your sins. He wants you to be set free today from your sins. And all you've got to do to be set free from your sins is receive the gift that he's given you. It's called grace. He forgives you today. If you want to be forgiven the moment you you believe in Jesus, you receive the gift of eternal life. You will never die. You will spend eternity with him. Oh, what a wonderful gift. Today I want to make sure that you have the assurance of salvation in your heart. Would you just every eye closed right now? I want to just ask you in your heart, would you get real right now? Do you need Jesus?

And if you need Jesus, I'm going to ask you to be bold and to raise your hand nice and high and to look at me so I can see who's making that decision to say, I want to be saved today. Praise be to God. Anybody else? Just raise your hand nice and high so I can see you. Right? Praise [music] God. Amen. I'm so proud of you. He's changing your life starting today forever. He's changing your life. He loves you so much. [music] He's never stopped loving you. Praise God. Praise God. He sees you. [music] Praise God. From this day forward, you're no longer what you've done. You are who God says you are. You're a man of God. You're a woman of God. Is there anyone else that can just [music] put your hand up and look at me right now? Anyone else? Praise God. I see you. Praise God. Amen.

So proud of you. Anyone else? Praise God. Yes. Yes. He's been watching you the whole time. He loves you so much. You're not here by accident today. God wanted you to hear this message [music] just for you. Anyone else? You can have the assurance that you're loved, you're saved, you're forgiven. Just raise your hand nice and high. Let's let's start with prayer right now. I'm just going to pray a simple prayer. I just want you to repeat these words after me. If you've ever believed in Jesus, let's pray together with those doing this for the first time. God's not asking for the right words. He's just asking for a sincere heart. Say this out loud. Lord Jesus, I believe in you. I receive forgiveness.

I repent of my sins. I receive the Holy Spirit. Clean out my temple. Flip over those tables. I receive healing today. Help me to live for you in Jesus name. Just while we let's stay in a posture of prayer for a [music] moment. Some of you need to be released of strongholds and and devils that have been holding you back from experiencing healing and life in Jesus name. Today, if you want to be released of something, something that comes right to mind, maybe it's pornography or [music] alcohol or just something that comes right to your mind that you know you want released out of your life. [music] There's no judgment with this today with just eyes closed between you and God. Would you raise your hand high and just say, "God, I give it to you today. I'm flip over this table today.

Flip it over, Lord. Flip it over. Flip it over. Flip it over. Lord, flip over these tables today. God, we release our hearts to you in the mighty name of Jesus and say strongholds be gone in Jesus' name." Instead, we receive the Holy Spirit today and we say, "We want your righteousness. [music] We want your healing power. We want your hope to fill our hearts." So, we say that which has been burdened for a long time be gone today in the name of Jesus. We release it today that when we leave here, we're no longer the same. In Jesus' name, we will walk in the according to your word. That your word would be a lamp unto our feet. [music] In the name of Jesus, we declare you are worthy of praise. Like the children who cried out, hosana. May we be unashamed, God. May we be undignified [music] to fully be surrendered to you at all costs, no matter what the world says. We love you,

Jesus. Thank you for your grace. In your name [music] we pray. Amen.