Text: John 2:12-25
Title: “Cleansing God’s Temple”
Thesis: That God’s “temple” needs periodic cleansing.

My introduction is going to be a review of what we can learn about Jesus Christ in first 2 chapters of the Book of John. This will set the context for my message. Please turn to John 1:1 and follow along. 

1:1. The Word was in the beginning, with God, and was God. This is Jesus Christ as the spoken expression of God. Jesus spoke God’s words. Jesus is the living Word and this is the written Word of God.

v3. This Word was the Creator of all things

v4. In this Word was life and light

v9. This Word gives [spiritual] light to everyone born into this world

v12. This Word gives every person the authority to become the sons of God if they will believe on His Name

v14. This Word became flesh (sinless man), and dwelt among men as the only [“one of its kind”] begotten (“to come into existence”) of the Father

v17. Now the Word & the Man are revealed to us by name—Jesus Christ (everything centers and revolves around, Jesus Christ. Why? Because He alone brought grace & truth)

v18. Jesus Christ, as a man, reveals the invisible God to you

v36. Here, John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, identifies Jesus as the O.T. sacrificial Lamb of God who would pay for your sins

v41. Andrew, one of John the Baptist’s followers, now follows Jesus, declaring to his brother Peter that Jesus is the promised O.T. Messiah

v45. Now Philip follows Jesus, and tells Nathanael that they found the Person Moses and the O.T. prophets spoke of in Jesus of Nazareth

v49. Next Nathanael identifies Jesus as a teacher, the Son of God (an O.T. Messianic title, Dan. 3:25), and the King of Israel

2:1-11 is the story of Jesus’ first miracle, turning plain spring water into non-alcoholic wine. This miracle made Jesus known as a worker of supernatural miracles/signs, and His disciples began to be persuaded that He truly was the long awaited Messiah (v11). Actually, only God can perform miracles, so this also proves to us that Jesus is God.

            The stage is now set for Jesus’, who is both God and Man, first public appearance at the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. This takes us back to a fulfillment of Mal. 3:1;

Mal. 3:1, “Behold, I (God) will send My messenger (John the Baptist), and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord [Jesus Christ], whom ye [Jews] seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the Covenant, Whom ye delight in: behold, He (the Messiah) shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.” 

Text: John 2:12-25 – “Cleansing God’s Temple” -- prayer 

I. JESUS’ TRAVELS (v12)
            A. From Cana, due east, to Capernaum, then Jerusalem  

II. JESUS’ COMPANIONS (v12)           

III. JESUS’ DESTINATION (v13)
            A. Religious Destination (the Passover, a picture of Christ)
                 1. This is from Ex. 12 where the lamb was killed, the blood was applied & the death angel passed over the house in Egypt (Ex. 12)
                 2. This was the Jews 1^st feast of the New Year. Every Jewish male was required to attend. Jesus, a Jew, kept all of God’s Laws. 

            B. Physical Destination (Jerusalem)
                 1. The holy Temple in the holy City. The place that used to have the presence of God! But now God, as the Christ, was returning after 430 yrs. Malachi said the Messiah would come to His temple 

IV. JESUS’ DISCOVERY (v14)
            A. At the Temple, in the Court of the Gentiles
                 1. Sellers of animals to be sacrificed
                 2. Exchangers of Temple coins to be offered
                     a. From the Roman coins to the Temple half a shekel 

V. JESUS’ RESPONSE TO WHAT HE FOUND (v15)
            A. He Made a Convincer (scourge/whip of small cords with knots/stones)
                 1. Drove them all out (& take your defective animals too!)
Mal. 1:8, “…And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?...”                  2. Dumped out the money-changer’s money
                 3. Overturned the tables
                      a. Jesus used brute force, not divine power 

VI. JESUS FULFILLED O.T. PROPHECY (v16-17)
            A. By His Words & Works (v16) (4 things)
                 1. Directed to those that sold doves (“get them out”)
                     a. Doves were sacrificed by the least & poorest of the Jews (Lev. 14:22), including Jesus’ parents (Lk. 2:24)
                 2. To reinstate the purpose of the Temple (a holy place)
                      a. Not a house of merchandise [to buy and sell]
                          1) The Temple priests ran it!
                 3. To remind them of whose house the Temple was
                      a. God’s house! It represented God and who He was!
Listen to 1 Cor. 3:9, “For we (Paul & church at Corinth) are labourers together with God: ye (church at Corinth) are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.”
                      b. The Baptist church (not the bldg., but the assembled members) is God’s house. It represents God and who He is!
                4. To reveal to them His relationship to the God the Father (“My”)
                    a. Humanly speaking God was Jesus’ earthly Father. Divinely speaking, Jesus, the Father & the Holy Spirit are all God. 

            B. The Disciples Remembered (v17)
                 1. The inspired O.T. scriptures that spoke of Christ (Ps. 69:9…)
                     a. 5 of 6 uses in John the disciples are told to “remember” 

           C. His Zeal (“a great intensity of feeling”) (v17)
                1. Jealousy for God’s Temple, and angry at sin
                    a. It ate Jesus the Man up (“consumed”). Consumed with zeal! 

VII. JESUS’ SIGN TO THE JEWS (v18-22)
          A. Show Us a Sign (a thing that makes a person known) (v18)
               1. Show us who You are                       

          B. Show Us Your Authority (v18)
               1. Jesus’ authority came from God & the O.T.
               2. Jesus just did! He threw them out of the Temple! 

            C. Jesus’ Sign (v19) (I will show you a sign!!!)
                 1. Destroy (“tear apart; do away with”) this Temple (death)
                 2. And in three days (burial)
                 3. I will raise it up (resurrection)
                     a. The first mention in John of a Saviour 

            D. The Jews Confusion (v20)
                 1. Herod’s Temple wasn’t even completed until 63 A.D. 

            E. Jesus’ Meaning (v21) recorded for us 

            F. After Jesus’ Resurrection (v22)
                1. “When,” not “if” He was risen from the dead
                2. His disciples remembered what He had said
John 14:26, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My (Jesus’) Name, He shall teach you [Jewish disciples] all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
                     a. The inspiration of the N.T.
                3. They believed the scripture
Ps. 16:10, a Messianic psalm, “For Thou (God) wilt not leave My (Christ’s) Soul in hell (“the place of no return”); neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One (Christ) to see corruption (“the pit”).”
                4. They believed what Jesus said
                    a. You must be born again! 

VIII. JESUS WAS RECOGNIZED (v23)
           A. At the Passover, in the Feast Day
                1. Many believed in His Name (the Christ/Messiah)
                2. Why? Because of the miracles which He did 

IX. Jesus Did Not Commit (“have confidence in”) Himself to Them (v24-25)
          A. He did not reveal Himself as Messiah, because the Jews were only looking for a Messianic King to overthrow the Romans & set up His kingdom. That was not His purpose
               1. Because He knew all (omniscience)
               2. He knew what was in man (self-centeredness, sin-nature, instability). He knew what was in these Jews & He knows what is in you! 

Concl.: Jesus Christ came to clean out His Father’s Temple. This 2^nd Temple was finished in 349 B.C. & expanded by Herod starting in 19 B.C. By Jesus’ time all godly holiness had been replaced by the self-centered desires of the flesh.                           When you were saved, Jesus came in and cleaned out all the trash of your life. All you sins were forgiven. But through neglect of reading your Bible, prayer and Baptist church attendance, your life was gradually refilled with self, sin and the desires of your flesh.
It is now time for another “house-cleaning!” It is time to tell the Lord Jesus Christ that you don’t want to be wicked, dirty and crooked any more. You want the Temple of your life cleaned up and made presentable to God.

Maybe you are here and you have never asked Christ to clean your soul from the ravages of sin? If you will trust Him, He will clean you! Will you trust Him?