You must be born again, John 3:1-15

The phrase “born again” is one that is not unfamiliar to most people today.  However, I’m afraid it is not understood by the majority of people.  Unfortunately, in a lot of circles it has taken on a denigrating characterization  which is attached to someone that is considered to be sort of a religious right wing fanatic.  However, in this passage, we find it’s origin in the words of Jesus Christ Himself, which He uses to describe those that will enter the kingdom of God.  In fact, He said it is a requirement of the kingdom of God that you must be born again.  So it behooves us to investigate this phrase thoroughly this morning, that we might know that we belong to the kingdom of God.

John said in chapter 20:31 that he wrote this gospel so that “you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”  Now up to this point, John has clearly declared who Jesus is; that He is the Messiah, the Son of God, God made flesh, and he has presented multiple witnesses to those facts.

Then in our study last week, you will remember, John presented Jesus cleansing the temple.  That taught the essential theological principle that Jesus is Lord.  And if we are the temple of God, then Jesus is the Lord of our temple, and thus has all rights to it’s use, and the right to cleanse it for His use.  Now today we will see another essential principle of who Jesus is, and that is Savior.  Not only Lord but Savior.  In fact, as I said last week, these two characteristics are inseparable.  One cannot exist without the other.  You cannot be saved, and yet not allow Jesus to reign in your life as Lord.  I think there is even something to be learned from the order found here in John, who presents Jesus as first Lord, then Savior.

So in this passage, John is going to use the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself to explain the need of a Savior.  And of all the teaching of Jesus, this passage sets out the distinctions of our salvation in the most vivid, clear terms.  Most times when Jesus taught, He illustrated a certain distinctive of faith, or a certain characteristic of the Christian life, but rarely do we find a teaching more comprehensive on the subject of salvation than this one. In fact, it’s so packed with important doctrines that we do not want to rush through this passage, so we will likely continue it next week.

But let’s start as John does, with the man Nicodemus.  In some ways, NIcodemus is the representative man.  He is the best of men.  He is extremely religious, zealous for the law and a religious leader of the Jews.  This cannot be over emphasized.  Church teaching has demonized the Pharisees to the point that we fail to realize the good things about them.  This man was a leader of the Sanhedrin, the body of 70 elders which came about as a result of Moses finding 70 men of good repute to act as judges for the people.  So he was an esteemed civic leader as well as religious leader in a public office. And as a leading member of the party of the Pharisees he would have been extremely well versed in the scriptures, much of which he had subjected to memory, as well as an expert in the Mishnah and the Talmud which were commentaries written about the law.  Furthermore, he would have been someone that was considered to be above reproach and who kept the law down to the smallest details. This guy exceeded  by far even the most rigorous demands put upon priests or bishops or pastors today, whether it be in education, in conduct, or in piety.  And to top it all off, according to historians, he was very rich.  Extremely wealthy.  In all respects, if we were to choose a man to represent mankind before God this would be the guy that we would probably elect for the job.

Verse two tells us that Nicodemus came to Jesus at night.  John doesn’t tell us why.  It could have been that he had to work days and nights were the only time he had free.  But I rather doubt that.  The most likely reason is that due to his position in the Sanhedrin and the party of the Pharisees, he came at night to have a private meeting with Jesus so he would not have to fear  being noticed by the public or even perhaps by his peers.  It would have been considered unseemly for such an exalted person, himself an esteemed teacher, to come before a humble Galilean who had no formal training or official recognition.  But I would also point out that when Nicodemus comes, he seems to indicate that he is coming on behalf of others, not simply for his own personal benefit.  Note the use of the pronoun “we” when he addresses Jesus.  It’s quite possible in my opinion that he was sent privately by the Pharisees to try to figure out who Jesus was.  They had already asked him when he cleansed the temple a few days previously by what authority did He do these things.  So they were watching Jesus, hearing about His miracles, and wanted to delve further into who He was, but without attracting attention.

And then notice that Nicodemus not only comes under the cover of night, but under the pretense of solidarity.  He starts out by affecting a kinship with Jesus, a solidarity that they are somehow of the same ilk, or after the  same things. Basically, he is using a form of flattery to gain an advantage in the conversation.  And this is a common ploy of people who come to church today.  They rarely come on their knees in humility, in repentance and seeking forgiveness.  But they come under false pretenses, professing knowledge of  the things of God and claiming pure motives in their worship of God.  But at the core of that attitude is a sense of self righteousness, of entitlement.  After all, they aren’t the really bad people.  Really sinful people don’t often come to church; they perhaps are too ashamed.  But religion attracts the self righteous, the ones who feel that they are basically good, moral people.  And that attitude is illustrated by Nicodemus.

He says to Jesus, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”  Notice the flattery, the fawning use of the title “Rabbi”, or Teacher, and the acknowledgment that God is with Jesus. So Nicodemus says that they knew Jesus was of God because He did signs or miracles. 

By the way, we know that the ability to perform miraculous signs do not necessarily mean that someone is of God.  You might remember the magicians of Pharaoh who were able to duplicate the miracles of Moses. And so we know that not all miracles are necessarily from God.  That is part of the deceitfulness of false prophets who will arise in the last days.  They will be given power by the devil to do signs which will lead people astray.  Jesus warned about that in Matt. 24:24, "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.” 

And please don’t be deceived by the fact that signs and wonders done in a church building or performed on television supposedly in the name of Jesus automatically sanctifies such things.  No, the devil is in church as well.  Again Jesus warned in Matt. 7:21, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'” 

So Nicodemus was wrong on that account.  Signs and wonders do not necessarily confirm that a person is of God neither does it necessarily produce saving faith in God.  At the end of chapter 2 it says many people were believing on Jesus because of the signs that He was doing, but it concludes that Jesus did not commit Himself to them because He knew their hearts. And that is the indictment against the Pharisees, and particularly against Nicodemus.  They practiced what was for the most part correct doctrine, but their religion was external.  But God looks at the heart.  And salvation is a change of heart as we will soon see.

But back to our text,  I love Jesus’ response.  He isn’t fooled by Nicodemus’ flattery for one minute.  He knows the heart of man, the motives of man.  So instead of falling for the trap of flattery, of feeling special that such an important man sought to have a private interview with Him, Jesus interrupts him and cuts to the chase.  He exposes first of all that there is no solidarity between them.  He says you are not even in the kingdom of God, how can you judge the kingdom of God then? You come in the dark because you are in the dark.  So Jesus rebukes him and at the same time offers an answer to the question that the man should have been asking. What Nicodemus should have asked Jesus is what must I do to be saved?  But instead, he offers up some form of flattery in hopes of getting an advantage, and tries to establish solidarity with God, equanimity with God because, after all, he is a great leader of the Jewish religion.  And as such he is a representative of all men who presumptuously come to God based on their own merits and their own understanding of who God is, and who offer to God a so called worship which is little more than unadulterated flattery for the sake of gaining a “blessing.” They attempt to manipulate God for their advantage through lip service but their hearts are far from it.

So Jesus’ response is found in vs. 3, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Basically, Jesus just cuts him off at the knees.  He says you can’t even see the kingdom of God.  You are so far away from the kingdom of God you can’t even see it.  All of your heritage is worthless.  All of your law keeping is worthless.  All of your worship is worthless.  Your nationality is worthless.  Anything you might try to do in your own strength is worthless before God.  In fact, you actually have to be born all over again in order to see the kingdom of God.  Now that’s kind of rough, wouldn’t you say?  Someone has a desire to become a better person, to turn over a new leaf, to start going to church, to do right, and instead of welcoming them to come as they are and say God loves you just the way you are, Jesus tells them no, nothing about you is acceptable, you have to be born all over again.  Nothing you do is going to work.  You’re hopeless, helpless, and lost.  You’re a sinner, condemned, unclean.  Wow, that’s a tough thing to say to people. It could even be thought of as offensive. That’s not exactly seeker friendly, is it?

But that’s what Jesus does.  He doesn’t mince words.  He doesn’t play church.  He doesn’t play the game called religion with anyone.  And ultimately, that’s what is in their best interest.  Because only the truth will set you free.  Now the key to truly understanding what Jesus means is found in the word “unless” or it may say “except” in some versions.  In other words, man in his natural state is spiritually dead.  He has a sinful nature, and in fact, he is exceedingly sinful.  And God is holy and can not tolerate, or even look upon sin.  The first key to salvation is understanding your need of salvation.  That you are sinful and lost and separated from God to such an extent that you can never bridge the gap to the righteousness that God requires for fellowship.  Except you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God because in your present condition you are dead spiritually.  

That deadness is the result of the fall – God said if you eat of the tree you will surely die.  And we are all Adam’s children, and as such we have inherited Adam’s fallen nature, the same nature that got Adam kicked out of the Garden, separated from fellowship with God.  So you must be born once again.  Born anew.  To be born again does not mean reformation, as in education, nor does it mean renovation, as in making new year’s resolutions or turning over a new leaf, but it means regeneration.  It means something that was dead grows back again.  It requires a supernatural event, a divine intercession from God to make what is dead come to life again. To bring the spirit of man back to life through the gift of righteousness so that he can have fellowship with God once more.  Eph. 2:1, 4-5 says, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, ... 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,  even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

Now Nicodemus doesn’t understand what Jesus is talking about.  I guess this is the first time he has ever heard the phrase born again.  That’s a phrase that has fallen out of fashion today in religious circles.  I have found that Roman Catholics in particular are put off by that word.  People in general make fun of it.  It’s used as a put down, as in “you must be one of those born again religious fanatics.”  Nicodemus probably was sincere though when he asked how it was possible to be born again.  Vs. 4, Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”  He was obviously thinking only of the physical realm. 

Jesus’ answer is to distinguish physical birth from spiritual birth.  He says in vs.6 “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”  So there are two births then.  One is of the flesh, that is the result of coming from the seed of your father and the womb of your mother.  The second birth is that which is of the Spirit.  And we know that God is Spirit.  So the Spirit of God gives new birth to our spirit, so that we might be the children of God.  That is what John declared in his opening treatise, remember? John 1:12-13 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

So Jesus says that both births are necessary.  Vs. 5-6 “Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”  

There are a lot of debates about  the way to interpret that statement in vs. 5.  What does born of water signify?  Well, I would suggest that it means two things at the minimum, and on these two things  most Bible scholars would camp out on either one or the other.  I happen to think that both interpretations are true.  The most obvious interpretation is that born of water is speaking of natural birth, when the water breaks a woman gives birth.  And that thought is correlated in vs.6 because Jesus uses a parallel statement; “that which is born of flesh is flesh.” Vs. 6 is obviously expanding on vs. 5, so that you would have to say that 6 is just an explanation of 5.  

But some people think that water  speaks of baptism.  And while I do not find that as likely, yet it is possible that He speaks of water as in a baptism of repentance.  That was the baptism that John the Baptist had just finished doing all over Judea, baptizing with a baptism of repentance in preparation for the kingdom of God to be manifested in Jesus Christ.  So if you take that view, then you might say that one cannot be born of the Spirit without first repentance and then faith in Jesus Christ.  And that would be true doctrinally.  

But I believe that the most obvious explanation is that it refers to physical birth, that which is born of the flesh is flesh.  Baptism as we know in and of itself cannot save you, but repentance is necessary as a precursor to saving faith because of the reason I previously made, that is man’s inherent sinful condition estranges him from God.  But baptism does refer to a cleansing by repentance which precedes the infilling of the Holy Spirit as evidenced by Ezekiel 36:25-28 which says "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” 

But the point is that you must be born again, you must be born of the Spirit.  And so Jesus reiterates that by saying, “Do not be amazed that I said to you, you must be born again.”  By the way, that word again in the Greek can also be translated as “from above.”  So there was implicit in that phrase born again the need to be born from above, that is born of the Spirit of God.  That is what it means to be born again. And so Jesus says, don’t be amazed by that. We don’t understand how it happens, but we believe it does happen upon repentance and faith in Christ.  Upon recognizing your sinfulness and need of a Savior, confessing and repenting of your sins, and believing and receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior, you are born again by the Spirit of God to new life in Christ. Your spirit is made alive.

Now to explain that further He says, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."  And what I think Jesus is referring to here is the sovereign call of the Holy Spirit upon the soul of man which brings about the spirit of repentance and the gift of faith resulting in salvation.  We don’t understand how that works, but we should not be dismayed by it.  But the fact is that the effectual call of God is active is undeniable in salvation, just as the effect of wind is undeniable, even though we may not see it or know how it comes about. And we know this by many verses in the Bible, but perhaps my favorite is Rom. 8:28-30 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”

The fact that God is the author and finisher of our salvation is irrefutable.  How He does that I cannot understand.  But I believe it.  However, I also believe the Bible teaches the responsibility of man.  Not just the sovereignty of God, but the responsibility of man.  And I approach those two seemingly opposing arguments this way:  when I pray, I pray according to the sovereign will of God to interpose His will in the events of life through supernatural means.  But when I preach, I urge men to respond according to their responsibility to act in accordance to the truth.  I do not know how to reconcile both opposing positions in my mind, but I know that the Bible teaches both, that God predestines and calls men to Him, but at the same time He tells man to receive Jesus Christ, to believe on Him, and repent and turn from his sins.  So both are not only  possible but necessary and are not exclusive of one another but somehow interdependent upon one another.  It is a mystery,  as is the mystery of the wind blowing where it wills and coming from places unknown, yet working effects that can be seen and felt here on earth.

Are you  confused by this?  Well, so was Nicodemus.  He said, “How can these things be?”  I think it’s a cry of desperation, not necessarily frustration.  I think it’s a desire to know the unknowable.  And that’s why I think Jesus gives him a further illustration.  To help him understand by a more simple example. But first Jesus gives him another rebuke.  I don’t think Jesus was being vindictive here by the way. Nor was Jesus being mean by rubbing his nose in his ignorance.  But what I think Jesus is impressing on Nicodemus  his need of being reborn.  He wanted him to realize that his ignorance concerning spiritual truths was part of his fallen nature, and  that he wasn’t righteous, he wasn’t sufficient because of his position or title or pedigree or even by his works, but he was a man in need of a Savior, just as everyman is in need of a Savior.  So Jesus gives him a mild rebuke: “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?”  In other words, if you can’t understand fleshly things, how can you understand spiritual things?

So Jesus gives him another illustration in order to help him understand.  And to do that He draws from the Old Testament story of the exodus, when the Israelites had sinned against God yet again in the wilderness, and God sent poisonous snakes into the midst of the camp to bite the Israelites which caused them to get sick and die. And God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and hang it on a pole that whoever might turn and look upon it would be saved from death.  So Jesus uses that illustration to explain the process by which man is saved from death and given new life. 

And so Jesus says in vs. 13 "No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.”  Now remember He is explaining the process of salvation, the process of new birth which is as unknowable to us as the wind.  And so Jesus starts by affirming that mortal man cannot achieve heaven.  He cannot ascend to God, and so God had to descend to man. Even the Son of Man who came down from God to man, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And notice Jesus says that He descended from heaven. He is affirming that He is God, who dwells in heaven, and that He has come to earth.

And even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness upon a pole, so must the Son of Man take on sin, symbolized as the serpent, and die upon a cross, so that whoever believes on Him, whoever looks to Him might be saved.   Now this illustration is taken from Numbers 21.  And in that account, when the people were bitten and started to die, they came to Moses and repented of their sins. They said we have sinned against God. Num. 21:7-8 “So the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us." And Moses interceded for the people. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live."  

So in that illustration we see that repentance and faith are the twin pillars of salvation.  By repentance and faith our sins are forgiven, and we are made children of God.  We are made children of God because we are born again of the Spirit of God.  As I said last week we are the temple of God because the Spirit of God dwells in us. 1Cor. 6:19 says  that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you.  So having been made righteous through faith in Jesus’ righteousness and propitiation for us, the Holy Spirit then lives in us, producing new birth and eternal life, so that we are a new creation. 

So what Nicodemus needed to understand was that Jesus was the Savior from his sinful, deadly condition.  He needed to look up at Jesus taking his sin upon Himself on the cross, dying in His place to satisfy the justice of God, and in so doing Jesus would be his Savior. And John tells us in chapter 19 that at the crucifixion of Jesus Nicodemus came to anoint His body for burial.  I believe Nicodemus witnessing Jesus on the cross remembered that Jesus had said that “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;  so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.” And believing in Jesus as HIs Savior was the only way Nicodemus could enter the kingdom of God.  That is the only means by which all men can enter into eternal life.  Not just everlasting life, but the life of an eternal quality, spiritual quality that enables us to live as God designed us to live.  To have life and have it more abundantly.  That we might have fellowship with God again.  To be restored again to communion with God.  That is what it means to be born again.  And it is only possible through faith in what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. 

Today I will close with just asking you the simple question, have you been born again?  Have you turned and received what Jesus did for you on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins?  I urge you to look to Jesus and live. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” 

Lord of the temple, John 2:12-25

In chapter 2 John begins to show certain signs that Jesus did which illustrate or prove that He was the Messiah, the Son of God.  The first sign that Jesus performed was at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, which was primarily only known to his immediate family and disciples who were there and the servants of the house.  Today, we are going to examine the second sign that Jesus does, and this one is not miraculous necessarily, at least not in the way we would think of a miracle, but it nevertheless illustrates the divinity of Jesus in a very dramatic, powerful way. Jesus establishes through His actions that He is the Son of God, and Lord of the temple and as such has authority over  the temple.

We pick up the story in vs. 12 which says that after the wedding in Galilee, Jesus, His brothers, His mother and His disciples went to Capernaum and stayed a few days, and then they travel on from there to Jerusalem.  And then, it would seem the whole entourage headed to Jerusalem for the Passover Feast.  This annual pilgrimage was obviously a tradition for the family of Jesus.  I’m sure most of you are familiar with the movie “Home Alone.”  My kids used to watch that every Christmas.  Well that was a remake.  In the original “Home Alone” Jesus was 12 years old and left alone.  You will remember that in Luke 2:41 it is recorded that His parents used to go to Jerusalem every year to the Passover.  And when He was 12 years old, He somehow was left behind, and His parents realized Jesus wasn’t with the caravan, and so they came back to Jerusalem and frantically looked everywhere for Him.  After three days they found Him in the temple, sitting down and talking to the teachers who were amazed by His knowledge.  And when His parents asked Him what He was doing, He said, “Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?”  And they did not understand what He meant by that statement. But we will understand it more fully today after we study this passage.

Now just a word about the Passover Feast before we go into the story.  What we call communion or the Lord’s Supper is the ceremony that is the new covenant celebration of the Passover Feast.   Under Jewish law, the Passover was to be celebrated once a year in Jerusalem, and every family was to slay a lamb to commemorate the deliverance of Israel from Egypt.  As you recall, the Lord had said that the angel of death would pass over every house in Egypt, and those that did not have the blood of the lamb on their doorposts would suffer the death of their first born son.  So all of Israel ate the Passover meal, which was unleavened bread, bitter herbs and lamb, along with wine, and they put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their house in order to be saved from the judgment of death. 

But when Jesus celebrated the Passover on the night before His crucifixion, He ordained that from that time on we should celebrate that feast in remembrance of Him.  The symbolism being that He is the Passover Lamb who provided the means to escape death for all that believed in Him. 

And I find it significant that the first public sign that Jesus does is at the temple during the Passover Feast.  John the Baptist had just previously introduced Him as the Son of God, and then as the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world.  And so here comes the Lamb of God, to the feast which foretold His purpose, and yet He does not come at this time to be the sacrificial lamb, but He comes as the Son of God, coming into His house, His Father’s house, and He comes in judgment and condemnation and wrath.  Not meek and riding on a donkey, but in judgement and wrath.

As a church I want to make sure that when we worship the Lord we worship Him as Jesus said we must, in spirit and in truth.  And knowing the truth about God is fundamental to be able to worship Him in truth.  We must recognize God as He reveals Himself in scripture.  And whether or not the modern church wants to accept it, God is revealed first of all in judgment, in holiness and righteousness.  God cannot be put into a little box labeled love and everything we don’t think is love we discard.  But God is the great I AM.  He is all He has declared Himself to be.  And we must worship Him as Lord God Almighty.  Exodus 34:14 says the Lord’s name is Jealous “--for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God—"

Now the most common way to look at this passage is to interpret it as a condemnation against church leadership, false teachers or apostate religious leaders.  And there is certainly a lot of that in modern Christianity today.  There are plenty of fake healers, and televangelists and apostate churches that are fleecing the people and taking advantage of naïve parishioners.  And I may even have preached this text from that perspective myself at some time in the past.  But as I studied this text once again, I believe that the proper application that should be made is to the church body, or to the individual members of the church. 

The Bible makes it very clear that we are individually members of Christ’s body, and as such we are the temple of God, and that He dwells in us.  In the Jewish temple, it was believed that the Spirit of God dwelled in the Holy of Holies behind the veil of the temple.  But upon Christ’s crucifixion, God tore the  temple veil from the top to the bottom, signifying that a new way had been opened up to God through Jesus Christ.  So then in the new covenant, upon faith in Jesus Christ we are made holy and righteous by the transference of our sins to Christ and His righteousness to us, that being made holy we might become the dwelling of the Holy Spirit, the temple of God on the earth.

Eph 2:19-22 makes that relationship clear;  “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,  having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,  in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

And also Peter says that we are now God’s temple in 1Peter 2:5 “you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

And then one more; 1Cor. 6:19 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?”  So without question, we that are Christians are the temple of God.  In fact, I would suggest that this is the purpose of our salvation.  Not just to be forgiven of our sins and escape hell, but to be made holy so that God may dwell in us, that the Spirit of Christ might live in us and through us.  So then the temple is not just symbolic of corporate worship, but how to live as individual members of His body.

So Jesus comes into the temple during the Passover, and He looks around at what is going on.  And by the way, this is the first time that Jesus cleanses the temple with a whip - the second time will be before the Passover just before His crucifixion.  So He does this once at the beginning of His ministry and once at the end. 

And as He comes into the temple, into what would have been called the court of the Gentiles, He sees the money changers and sellers of sheep and oxen and doves.  Now there was nothing wrong with that in and of itself as not everyone would have an appropriate animal for sacrifice and would need to purchase one.  But what was happening was that as people came to present their offering of a lamb or whatever was prescribed by the law, there would be an inspection to make sure that it was a lamb without blemish as the law required.  But the temple priests had a racket going on with the vendors of the bazaar in the courtyard.  They would tell the people that their lamb they had brought had a defect and so it could not be offered, but right over there you can buy a pre-approved lamb.  And of course there was a stiff markup on the price of the animal.  Additionally they would be told that the temple could not accept any pagan currency, so there were money changers sitting at tables who would exchange their money for the acceptable Jewish currency but again with a heavy percentage added to it.

Jesus of course, knows what is going on.  He sees the corruption in the temple and the way they are taking advantage of naïve people in order to make a profit.  They are turning the temple of God into a house of merchandise and a den of thieves.  And so as Jesus watches what is going on He calmly begins to braid a bunch of cords together into a whip.  I kind of liken that to the typical action movie scene where the hero is in a room with a bunch of bad guys who are threatening him, and he turns and heads for the door, presumably to try to leave quietly, but instead he locks the door and turns around and beats up all the bad guys.  So I guess Jesus braiding the leather cords into a whip is the equivalent of locking the door.  But what it reveals is that this is not Jesus losing His temper, but the premeditated wrath of God designed to bring about compliance with His will.

So verse 15 says, “And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business. His disciples remembered that it was written, “ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME.”

Now as I said, we are going to focus primarily on the principles in this story as they relate to us as individuals, rather than the church as an institution.  Because we are the temple of God.  I think even Jesus in vs.19 when He says, “destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up,” indicates that this text should be interpreted as referring to individual temples rather than institutional Christianity.

So how then are we to understand this as it applies to us? Well, first of all, note that it applies to believers, not to the unsaved.  We are the temple of Christ if we have the Spirit of Christ in us.  But what we see in this story is that the purpose of the temple was being prostituted.  The people of Israel who were God’s chosen people, had become greedy and self serving.  They had taken the things which were essentially good things in and of themselves and turned it into an opportunity to serve themselves, to make a profit, and even to take advantage of others for their own gain.  Rather than worshipping and serving God they were worshipping themselves and serving themselves.  And in Jesus’ eyes, the temple was in ruins. It was like an old castle which has become overgrown with briars and brambles, whose ramparts were falling down and in ruins, so He saw the temple as being in need of divine restoration so that it might once again serve and bring glory to the King.

It brings to mind when the Jews had been in exile and the temple in Jerusalem had been abandoned and the walls had been torn down and was in ruins.  And God raised up a prophet, a man of God to stir up the people to go back and restore the temple of God. And you might remember that there was opposition to the restoration of the temple, from all quarters and in a multitude of ways.  So much so that as they worked some also stood guard and every worker carried his sword.  And so the book of Nehemiah records how they were called back to rebuild the physical walls of the temple but also to restore the ancient practices according to the law and call the people back to holy living and away from foreign gods and from idolatry and immorality with pagan tribes which had all caused it’s downfall originally. 

And in the last chapter of Nehemiah, chapter 13 vs. 25, it says that Nehemiah was angry with the Jews because they did not take seriously the sanctity and sacredness of God’s law and were corrupting the temple with their flagrant sins.  And so it says in vs. 25, that Nehemiah “contended with them and cursed them, and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God” to stop their immorality and idolatry.  The wrath of Nehemiah was a preview of what the Messiah would do when He came into the temple, but rather than pulling hair and striking them He made a whip of cords and kicked over tables and drove them out.

I think it would be fair to say about Nehemiah that the zeal for the house of God had consumed him. And I would to God that zeal for the house of God would consume Christians today.  You are the temple of the holy righteous God and yet we continually serve the profane things of the world, we desire the idols of the world and lust after immoral things.  Perhaps what’s needed is more prophets of God need to get riled up and make a scourge of cords or start yanking people’s hair and get them to swear their allegiance to God or drive them out of the church. 

We need to examine ourselves in the light of this text.  We cannot point to the iniquity of the unsaved, but we need to recognize that we are the temple of God and everything in our temple should be consecrated to His service.  We have abused the good things that God has given us and used them to serve our lusts, to make a profit, to take advantage of others, to be selfish and we do not serve God with our whole hearts.  We need to examine our pocketbooks and see if we are robbing God.  We need to examine our motives and see if we are serving ourselves.  We need to examine our doctrine and see if we are worshipping the true God or a god of our own design.  To serve God is to worship God.  To obey is better than sacrifice.

Listen, are we making merchandise of the grace of God?  Do we say to ourselves that we can sin and God will forgive us because Jesus has paid our punishment?  Do we crucify afresh Jesus Christ so we can continue to serve our selfish ends?  Do we make a profit on the grace of God?  Do we misuse the gifts that God has given us so  that we can serve ourselves?  Is the church of God and it’s ministry suffering because you have not given God every thing that is due to Him?  God demands first place in your life, not just an hour a week of lip service so that you can live like the devil the rest of the week.

It’s appropriate that this story is set in the context of the Passover, what we call the Lord’s Supper.  When Paul wrote to the carnal Corinthian church about the Lord’s Supper he said “Let every man examine himself” before eating of the supper. 1Cor. 11:27-32 says, “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.” 

We need to examine ourselves.  Christ blood was not shed so that we might use it for our profit or to our advantage so that we might continue to serve ourselves while the world around us is dying in their sins.  Christ’s blood was shed that we might be reconciled to God, that we might be made holy and righteous and be filled with the indwelling Spirit of God so that we might do the works of God.  God said, “You shall be holy as I am holy.”  And there are some principles that this story teaches which should help us to do that.  That should cause us to examine ourselves and judge ourselves rightly that we may not be judged. 

The first principle we need to learn is that of Christ’s Lordship.  Jesus comes into the temple as the Lord of the temple.  He takes charge as One with authority to drive out the merchandisers.  He says this is My Father’s house.  He had the right to do whatever He pleased and so He had the right to cleanse the temple of profiteers and thieves. 

Listen, is Jesus the Lord of your temple?  Does He not have the right to do whatever He pleases, to make whatever demands He chooses upon your time and your resources?  I would suggest to you that if you lay claim to Jesus as Savior, you must also accept Him as Jesus the Lord.  You cannot separate the two. You cannot believe on Jesus and be saved and not submit to Him as Lord.  Rom 10:9 says, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus [as] Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” The Lord comes to make us holy temples of God.  We are no longer our own or  to live for ourselves. 1Cor. 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”   As Paul was fond of saying, we become bondslaves of Christ the Lord.  We are slaves, either of sin or the Son of God.  We cannot serve God and mammon.  We are His now, all of us, all of our resources are His.

The 2nd principle we see illustrated in this story;  He knows everything. Jesus looked around the temple and He knew what was happening in secret.  He knew the plans that the priests had to defraud people.  He knew the back room agreements between the vendors and the priests and the temple officials.  Nothing was hidden from Him. 

And we cannot hide our sins from God either.  God knows our hearts.  He sees everything we do in secret.  A good illustration of this principle is David, who hid his sin with Bathsheba and thought he could get away with it.  He thought that no one knew what he had done.  But you remember that God sent his prophet Nathan to reveal David’s sin, and rebuke him for his sin.  And in Psalm 51, when David confessed his sin and repented of it, he writes that  God requires truth in the inward parts.  James says when you pray and do not receive what you ask it’s because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend it on your sinful pleasures.  Listen, there is nothing hidden from Gods’ sight.  And if you are secretly and willfully withholding what is the Lord’s then He knows it and He will demand it. 

Let’s imagine for a moment that I had complete insight into your private, most secret world, and came to you right now as you sit here in your seat, and overturned your chair, and called your motives into question, and exposed your corruptness.  Imagine if I publicly exposed all the private things that you think no one knows about, all the ways in which you have held back from God the things which are rightfully His, all the ways in which you have committed immorality  with the world, using the grace of God as a covering for sin.  All of the time, money, resources and the very life that God has given you and yet you have used it for only your own profit, and I laid it all out for everyone here to see.  That would be painful and embarrassing wouldn’t it?  Yet one day the Lord of our temple promises to lay bare all that we do in secret and proclaim it from the rooftop.  We need to examine ourselves and judge ourselves rightly  so that we might not be judged.

Because our secrets will be judged according to His word. Heb. 4:12-13 says, “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” God is looking around the temple of your soul and nothing is hidden. You may fool your pastor, you may fool your Christian friends.  But God will not be mocked.  God knows your secrets, your deceptions.  And He wants a holy temple consecrated to serving Him and Him alone.

God desires truth in the inward parts.  He doesn’t care for our ceremonies and rituals, our fake worship, while we hide iniquity in our hearts. Isaiah 1:11-18 "What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?" Says the LORD."I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies--I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD, Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.”

3rd principle;  God will not tolerate corruptness in His temple.  Even as Jesus cleansed the temple with scourging, so He will cleanse His people so that they will not profane His temple.  Jesus said you cannot serve God and mammon.  No man can serve two masters.  He demands our full commitment in our relationship with Him.

2 Cor.6:14 is commonly interpreted as speaking of marriage, but remember that His church is to be the spotless, virgin bride of Christ. So it’s actually referencing our relationship with our bridegroom.  2 Cor. 6:14-18 “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM;AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. "Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE," says the Lord." AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. "And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty.

Now in closing let’s note His actions and our response.  Jesus said “Take these things away and stop making my Father’s house a house of merchandise.”  If Jesus is Lord of your life He is going to take what is His and make rightful use of it.  If you are the temple of God then the Lord of the temple will make His temple holy and useful to Him.  And sometimes He does that by scourging.  He makes us clean by means of discipline.

Heb. 12:5-14 "MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD,NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES,AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES." It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.” So the discipline of God our father is to scourge His children and expose in us that which is harmful. 

And our response is to cleanse ourselves from all defilement of soul and spirit and body.  You know, even though God brought the children of Israel into the Promised Land, they still had to finish driving out the idolaters that were left in there.  God gave them the responsibility to drive them out and not to leave any remnant of the evil nations that dwelled there.  God planted them, gave them the resources and then commanded them to drive out the ungodly nations lest they fall into sin with them and ruin their nation.  And God tells us to do the same thing in  2 Cor. 7:1,  “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

Let me close by asking you a question, as you are the body of Christ and Christ is the head of the body, then it shouldn’t it mean that we should have the same desires as our head who is Christ?  Can we say with Jesus that zeal for the house of God has consumed you?  Has the refining fire of God burned away all the impurities so that you might be a vessel sanctified and set apart for good works?  Have you like Paul said that you consider all the things that were formerly gain to you, to be as loss for the sake of knowing Christ as Lord?  Is Christ Lord of your life?  Have you given Him all? 

I encourage all of us to examine ourselves in light of this word that we might be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ in all that we do.  That our life would be lived for our own glory, but for the glory of Christ.  And for some here today I would ask, is the Spirit of God living in you?  Or is the flesh striving against the Spirit?  Are you committing adultery with the world yet claiming to be the bride of Christ? I would to God that you will pray with David in Psalm 51, “create in me a clean heart O Lord and renew a right spirit within me.” If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, that you may present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.