Tables Overturned and Mountains Moved - Religion to Redemption - Matthew S6E2

Amen and amen, if you've got your Bibles, grab them. We're gonna be in Matthew chapter 21. I love that testimony video so much because how many of you know it ain't how you start that matters. Then in the kingdom of heaven, it's about the blood of Jesus and from now on. And we're in episode two of this season in our study through the gospel of Matthew that we're calling religion to redemption. And verse 21, I mean chapter 21 verse 1 starts out this way. Now when they, that's Jesus and the disciples, drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage to the Mount of Olives. If you'll remember last week, Jesus just lays the gospel out as clear as possible. He says, we're about to go to Jerusalem and this is a one-way ticket for Jesus because he's going all the way to the cross. And what he's going to do is he is going to go to at that time the most religious cities of all the cities. And it's during the week of Passover. So everybody's there and they're all dialed up to do all of their religious activity. But Jesus is not gonna show up to flex on everybody. He's gonna give his life as a ransom for many. And he goes into this religious city and he's gonna take this thing from religion to redemption because man-made religion will not save you. We need a redeemer and that's what this whole thing is gonna be about. And so they draw near and then Jesus sent two of his disciples, verse 2, and he says to them, go into the village in front of you and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt

with her. Untie him and bring him to me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say the Lord needs them and he will send them at once. Let me ask you this, what do you do when Jesus tells you to do something that doesn't make any sense to you? Because this sounds kind of random, doesn't it? Like, hey, we're going to the temple but first, you boys, go find me a donkey. There's gonna be a donkey and a colt at this dude's farm. And if he's like, hey man, why are you stealing my donkey? Just be like, the Lord needs it and he'll be okay with it. Well, first of all, imagine the trust of the farmer guy that owns the donkey. Like, you're gonna bring him back? I don't know. I don't even know what we're doing. What do you do when Jesus tells you to do something that doesn't make sense? Because everything always makes sense to him just because it doesn't make sense to you doesn't mean it don't make sense. And the reality is, is that when you are in Christ, you have to constantly remind yourself that what he tells you to do is always better than what you think is best for you. And so, they just do what he says. And the reality is, you have no idea what hangs in the balance. What Jesus is doing here when he goes gets the donkey and the colt, sends the boys to go get him, is he is fulfilling the scriptures?

Because that's what he always does. Because God is a promise-keeping God. Verse four it says, and this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet. And here's what the prophet says. He's quoting Zechariah 9-9. Say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you humble and mounted on a donkey on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden. The reality is, is on this week, two kings will enter the city of Jerusalem, King Herod and King Jesus. And one is going to come in all the pomp and circumstance of the world, and one is going to come to fulfill what the word told us God would do for us. King Herod is going to roll in to Jerusalem with a big white stallion and a parade and all kind of hoopla, and then Jesus is going to come humble on a donkey. You see, King Herod is fulfilling his selfish ambition and King Jesus is fulfilling the scripture. That's the difference. And the disciples went, I love this verse so much, verse six, and the disciples went and did as Jesus directed them. Can that be said of you? People ask me this question all the time. You see any line out there in the lobby? So we can cut the line down. I'm going to tell you what I'm going to tell you. People come to me all the time and be like, here's my circumstances, here's my situation, Pastor. What should I do?

And I always answer, you should do John 2, 5. Mary tells the servants, do whatever Jesus tells you to do. That's it, man. That's it. And this is what they do. They don't understand it. They don't have to understand it. Because when your Lord tells you to do something, you do what he says. And if he has to explain himself, he's not your Lord, he's your advisor. These are very different things. And so they just do what he tells them to do. Listen, what is he telling you to do? Do it today. Do the thing, man. Like every time we talk about going on mission trips and you feel stirred up and you don't do it, do it. Trust him with your finances. Pick up the phone and make that hard call to begin. Again, the hard process of reconciliation. Do whatever it is that he tells you to do because the abundant life is found in the obedience. It's not a prize at the end of the road. And so they brought the donkey and the colt and they put on them their cloaks and he sat on them. And then Jesus is gonna roll into town, the almighty maker of heaven and earth, the judge of everything, humble on a donkey. A part of the reason is because he did not come

to flex his power, but to humble himself in order that we might be forgiven unto the glory of God. This is the context of what's happening. Verse eight, most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road, all right? Anybody know what kind of branches they were spreading on the road? Palm branches, good job, you're the advanced class, all right? Anybody ever celebrate Palm Sunday growing up? You ever do that? Sweet, man, it's cool, this is where it comes from. Now my own personal opinion, I praise God, everybody's got their own tradition on how to celebrate things, but I think Palm Sunday is one of the preeminent examples of missing the point, okay? Now I'm not bagging on your tradition, you celebrate Jesus, that's great, but here's what's happening. Jesus comes rolling in and people are expecting a king that is gonna come and do for them what they want. They have been hoping and praying that when the Messiah shows up, he's gonna kick Rome out of Israel and now the Israelites, the Jewish people, are gonna rise to prominence and be the great power that they want to be. And so what begins to happen is a couple people recognize him showing up, they take their cloaks off, their coats, and they lay it on the ground.

And listen, man, this is a big deal in the first century. Most people would have one jacket. This isn't like you and me. How many of you got a closet full of jackets? It's crazy too, we live in Jacksonville. You need like a jacket. By the way, if you're new here, we only have two seasons. We have summer, January, that's all we got. And so with their one and only jacket, they don't even know they're gonna get it back. The donkey might walk over it and ruin it, but they lay that damn thing down and they clip palm branches and then they all go crazy and they're waving their palm branches. Verse nine, and the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Sounds super legit. And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up. Now here's why I have a problem with Palm Sunday. And here's what some people say. Who is this? And the crowd says, this is the prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee. You ever get caught up in the hype? Do you ever know people who get caught up in the hype? They just show up and everybody else is cheering. So before you know it, you start cheering.

You ever go to a game and it's not even your team, but you just start cheering for the team, and you get into it. Here's an example. How many of us were soccer fans for about 18 days a few weeks ago? Others knew I made it. Anybody else watch the game says no man. And here's the problem, there's a bunch of people doing the things. They're laying down their clothes, they're waving the palm branches. From the outside, they look like they're praising Jesus, and then they're like, woo-hoo, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hey, who is this? They don't even know him. They're going through the motions, but they don't know him. By the way, Hosanna means Lord, save us. That's a legit thing to say, unless the us is the biggest part of that sentence. And here's how you know they were more concerned about us than the Lord. That same crowd's gonna gather on Friday. This is Sunday. They worship the Lord on Sunday, and then they call for his crucifixion on Friday. That's what's gonna happen, man. I wanna ask you this. If I were to ask you, who is Jesus?

How would you answer? Because the answer is, he's a prophet, and here's where he's from. The thing I want you to wrestle with is this. Do you know him? Because the reality is that he is knowable. That he is knowable. You don't have to merely cheer at a distance and know things about him. That he wants you to know him, not just as a prophet or a teacher or a rabbi, but he wants you to know him as Savior. In fact, the Bible would have the audacity to say that if you are in Christ, then we have been adopted into the family of God, and he is our brother. He takes it a step further and looks at his. and he says this, I call you my friends, that the God of the universe wants to have that kind of relationship with you. And these folks just show up on a Sunday and do the Sunday activities and call it a week. Listen, man, the Christian life is not just about what you do on Sunday. I mean, the number of people that go through the motions on Sunday, show up, sing the songs, pray the prayers, tip God on the way out, do a couple of things, but don't know him, then you're like this group here. You just sit in circles every week and Bible study, I'm for sure pro-Bible study,

but if all you ever do is sit in there and be like, well, how did that Murph make you feel? Well, this is how it made me feel. Oh my God, let's put it on Instagram. And then don't do anything about it. This is not the Christian life. The Christian life is to know him and make him known. And so then this next event that happens is a very, very popular event, but it's set up by this. Jesus rolls into town. Everybody's screaming his name on the street corners and in the parade, and when it's really exciting, and then he's gonna go straight to the temple and check things out. You see, he doesn't only see you at the worship service, he wants to be loved and known and worshiped with our entire life. And when he goes and checks on the temple, it's not good. Verse 12, the Bible says this, and Jesus entered the temple, and he drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he said to them, it is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers. If you lay this over Mark chapter 11, we get a, Mark just shared some details that Matthew decides not to share.

We find out that Jesus rolls in, and when he looks at the temple and what's happening there, they're not doing what God said they're supposed to be doing at the temple. And he gets angry, and he does something about it. Now, Mark lets us know that he's gonna spend the night in Bethany, so he's gonna make a whip, and he's gonna whip people. And if that makes you uncomfortable, you should read your Bible and understand who the real Jesus is. He's not a Swedish model with blonde hair, no split ends, in a bathrobe, a Miss America sash, that just sits around petting sheep all day, going, hello, I'm Jesus. That's not him, man. He's righteously angry, and he's gonna do something about it, and he whips people out of the temple. He takes action. And part of the reason he takes some time to make a whip is what we see here is that he does not just, he doesn't just react to the situation, but he responds with righteous anger. He walks in, and he sees what's happening, man. And then he goes, and the Bible says he makes a whip. I've never made a whip. I don't know how long it takes to make a whip. I've been whipped about 100 million times, but my dad cafes right there, and he could just whip it out in about one second, okay?

And I just imagine Jesus is over there, and he's making a whip, and his disciples are like, what you doing, boss? He's like, I'm about to show you what I'm doing, and then he rolls in there, and he wrecks shop. And man, the number of spineless Christians that try to explain this away as if Jesus isn't actually doing this is unbelievable to me. Listen, man, Jesus does not need to makeover. You do not need to feather his hair or give him a PR campaign. He does what he wants, when he wants, with who he wants, because he's the sovereign king of the universe, and he makes a whip, and he drives people out of the temple. Well, why is he so mad? What made him so mad? Is it because people are buying and selling in the temple? No, that was actually God's idea. In Deuteronomy chapter 14, God makes a provision that if you lived a long way off, that you could get your sacrifice at the temple, because the reality is, depending on the different times of the year, you would make different sacrifices, and the size of your sacrifice was directly related to the amount of sin you had. So some of you would be fine. Mr. Gary, you bring like a half a dove, you'd be good to go, okay? No problem.

Almeda, you'd probably have to bring like a herd of goats or something, you know? Now, what if you live all the way in Palatka? How you gonna get a herd of goats from Palatka to here? You gonna drag them things down 95? I mean, what are you gonna do? So God, in Deuteronomy 14, is like, I got you, bro. Here's what you do. Sell your goats where you live, bring your folding money to the temple, and then we'll have them on sale there. No problem. Then why is Jesus, man? Three reasons that I see in this. First and foremost is this, is the people of God had lost their awe of God. They were treating what was sacred like it was common. They had turned the worship of God into a flea market, man. That's what they were doing. And then secondly, to make it worse, is that they were using the name of God to abuse the people of God to make money for themselves. There was some serious price gouging. That's what's going on. That's why he calls it a den of robbers. You see, because what would happen is, is if you showed up to the temple, then you couldn't use your money, you had to exchange it for temple money. Because regular money had the Caesar's face on it,

and it said Caesar is Lord. And so you had to exchange it for temple money, and you got hosed on the exchange. You ever been to Chuck E. Cheese? It's like that. You roll in, be like, hey, I want that stuffed animal. I got some Benjamins. They're like, we don't do Benjamins, we do Chucky. And when you give you, you get hosed. Or how about this? You ever been to Dave and Buster's? They don't even do money, it's fake. They give you a little card, just kind of fake points on there. You ever do this? And what do you do? You go to Skee-Ball, and both for three hours, you're swiping that thing. And I mean, bro, you're like 50, 50. I mean, you rack it up. And you're like, brr, oh, I got a million points on my Dave and Buster's card. You go walking back there to the prize cave, and you're like, y'all gonna have to back up a flatbed. Daddy's gonna take home him some stuff today. Like, how can we help you, sir? I'll take a spider ring. They're like, boop, you got two points. You just got Dave and busted. That's what was happening then, okay?

Kind of. And then not only that, is that they had a sacrifice inspector. You ever notice an inspector always finds something? You ever notice that? And so you'd bring your goat in, and they'd be like, mm, I got good news and bad news. And the bad news is, your goat ain't good enough. Good news is, we got goats for sale. You wanna buy one of our goats? And then they charge you way too much, because where are you gonna go? It's like, you ever buy a Coca-Cola at Disney? I ain't never had a $16 Coca-Cola. What is in that thing? It ain't magic, it's corruption. That's what's in there. That's what they're doing, man. They're taking advantage of God's people. And then, not only that, this is the third thing that ticked Jesus off, and this is in line with everything we've been studying in the Gospel of Matthew. Remember, Jesus is the greater Israel, the greater Moses, the greater Abraham, because the blessing that God gave to Abraham, he's like, congratulations, Abe. I'm going to bless you so that you'll be a blessing to every family in the world. And by the time Jesus shows up on the scene,

the Jewish people are like, we're blessed. We're chosen to be chosen. And he's like, you missed the whole point. You were chosen so that the whole world could come and worship the one true God. And so the place that this thing is happening is that they have run the Gentiles out of the Gentile court. This ticks Jesus off. You see, the way it was supposed to work is that the temple was gonna be a city on a hill, a light on the world, and the whole world would see the uniqueness of the people following after God, and they would say, I want some of that. And then the Gentile court was supposed to be an on-ramp to know the one true God, and they've set up a toll booth. And say, it's gonna cost you. And Jesus is like, all right. And Jesus gets angry. You ever get angry? Anybody ever get angry? Christians don't get angry. They get frustrated. Liars. One more time. Do you get angry? Anybody get angry? Okay, good. The Bible has a lot to say about anger. Thank God, or I'd be hosed.

How about Paul, as he's writing in Ephesians 4, he says this, ready for this verse? It starts out this way. Be angry. Some of you are like, sweet. Finally, a Bible verse I can do. I'm nailing it. Be angry and do not sin. It's like, yes, uh-oh. So there's a way to be angry and not sin. Did Jesus get angry? Yes. Did Jesus sin? No. So we are to be angry and not sin. And then he says, do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. That word opportunity, in the NIV, it says, and don't give a foothold to the devil. Because if he can get a foothold, it'll become a stronghold. That'll become a chokehold, and it'll kill you. So the moment you begin to start dealing with some of that anger, what he says, when he says, don't let the sun go down, he goes, you need to start dealing with this quickly. And the reason why, because if you don't, if you do what most church people do and don't deal with it, but just stuff it down and stuff it down and stuff it down,

then unresolved anger will begin to ferment. You know what happens when stuff ferments? It stinks, you get drunk on it. And that's what can happen if we deal in anger that way. And so it's not a sin to be angry. In fact, the reality is, is there's a righteous way to be angry and an unrighteous way to be angry. And if the things that anger God don't anger us, it might be because we're not walking with God. There's too many churches that think that the 11th commandment is be nice. That is not in the Bible. We're to be kind. But we are to pursue the things of God. Tim Keller, he's with the Lord now. He pastors a church in New York. He says this, I love this. He says, anger is love in motion to protect what you love most. Anger is love in motion to protect what you love most. So a question to ask when you're angry is this, so what am I protecting? What am I defending? You see, Jesus was protecting and defending the glory, the name, the renown of God and the people that he came to die on the cross for. So he got angry and he did something about it. Oftentimes, if you're honest, what we are protecting isn't something righteous.

What we are defending is me and my comfort and my reputation and my ego. A great prayer to pray is this, Lord, would you please break my heart so that I love what you love and I hate what you hate? And before you go popping off at everything we see on the cable news every night, the first step according to the gospel is, and you hold up the word of God to yourself and you start there. Because there's the stuff in my own life that you hate. And may I hate the sin in my life like you hate the sin in my life. And may I make a whip and run those things out of my own life. James, the brother of Jesus, talks a lot about anger. And he says this in James 119, he starts out this way. He says, know this, my beloved brothers. So before he talks about activity, he's gonna lay the foundation of identity. He's like, before you hear what you're supposed to do with anger, first and foremost, know this, my beloved. All throughout the New Testament, that is a title that God gives his children, my beloved. It's such a powerful word. It's not a word that we use a ton, you know. I don't think I've ever used it in a regular sentence, kind of a grandma word, you know. Like, my man One is right here on the front row and I've never been like, my beloved.

It sounds weird. But the reality is that's how God sees you. And the etymology of the word in English tells you everything you need to know about who he is and who you are. Think about it. If you could just be loved, then we'd be more loving. And not only that, in Hebrew, the name for God, the covenant name for God is Yahweh. In English, that gets translated in the Bible to I am that I am. The way that you would say that in English class is to be. That be loves you. So if you would be loved, then we could be loving some other people. And so he says, so know this, my beloved brothers. Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. Let me say it again. Let every person, nobody gets a pass. We live in a world right now that tries to blame all of our problems on somebody else. Like, I know I'm angry, but it's not my fault. My Myers-Briggs is J-E-R-K, so I can't help it. Like, I went to public school, I wasn't breastfed, I don't know what my, you know, it's not my fault. It doesn't matter, dude. Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. And most of us are slow to hear and quick to speak,

quick to repost, quick to comment, and quick to anger. And I think when, I added a few. I don't know if you picked up on that. And I think when James is quoting this slow to anger part, he's actually quoting Exodus 34, six. In Exodus 34, Moses goes before the Lord, and he goes, God, show me your glory. I wanna see all of your glory. And God's like, Mo, you can't handle this, dude. Because if I were to show you who I am, the holy, righteous judge of the universe, then I have not yet sent the Redeemer to pay the full price for the penalty of your sin. You would not be able to handle my presence. You'd burn up like a marshmallow in a campfire. That's how this would go. But I'll tell you what I'm gonna do, Mo. I'll tuck you out right here in the cleft of the rock, and I'm gonna hide your face, and I'm just gonna cruise by and let you catch the afterglow. That's what I'm gonna do. And then in Exodus 34, six, God describes himself. He says he is loving, and he is merciful, and the English says that he is slow to anger. That's not what it says in Hebrew. You know what it says in Hebrew? He says, and he has. It's a big nose, that's what it says. He's like, Mo, I'm loving, I'm merciful,

and I got a big nose. And you're like, what in the heck? Why do we serve a big-nosed God? Because he's talking about anger. Hebrew is like a picture language. And the way, in that time, in antiquity, they would think about anger as anger would like boil up from within. That anger, emotion, would begin in the gut. They called it in the bowels. You ever get mad and you kind of feel it, like you feel your stomach get like, rrr. And then what happens, man, if it keeps going, it starts moving up and your heart starts beating fast. You ever do that, you know? And then it keeps moving up and your veins in your neck pop out. That's why I grew a big beard, so you can't tell when I'm mad at you. I can sneak up on you, right? And so it starts coming out your neck, and then your face turns red. And then what happens, your nostrils look like a horse, you know what I mean? And then, pfft, here it comes. And God says, listen, when it comes to my people, there's plenty to be mad about. And by the way, God is love, he must be stirred to wrath. And yet he's so patient, he's so kind, and when it comes to us,

and that anger begins to build and build, he's like, Moe, I stretch my nose out as long as I can so that you have time to repent and come to me. And so that's how God treats us. So James says, so know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. So he says, be slow to anger. Not blow up anger. That's usually about ourself. When we blow up. In fact, James, a few chapters later in James 4, 1, he asked this question. He said, all right, let's talk about you being mad, you being angry. What causes fights and quarrels among you? That's the question that he asked. And if I were to ask you that, now in church you would lie, and you'd be like, it's just spiritual warfare. But if you were being for real, and I gave you the mic, and the last fight you had, what happened? Here's what we have a tendency to do. Be like, I'm about to tell you what happened, okay? It's my wife, my husband, my ex, my boss, this government, whatever the thing is that you're mad at out there. You're like, they did this to me. And then James says, what causes fights

and quarrels among you? Let's be honest. Isn't it your desires that started within you? James is saying, you know what the common denominator of every fight you've ever been in is? It's you, you've been in them all. And then the craziest thing happens. He answers the question, which is crazy. Because there's not a lot of, a lot of times the Bible doesn't just straight out answer it like that. And I think a part of the reason that James is so clear is because he grew up sharing a bedroom with Jesus. And you ever notice, Jesus always answers questions with questions? I mean, I can imagine Mary's like, son, did you clean your room? I mean, it's like, well, there were two farmers and six doves, he's like, what are we talking about? James is like, what causes fights and quarrels among you? Didn't it start with you? And then here's the answer. It's because you want something and you didn't get it. So when we blow up in anger, it's typically because we're trying to defend us because we wanted something and we don't get it. So it's not blow up anger, but it's also to not know anger. That if what angers God does not anger you, then maybe you don't know God.

James is gonna say, if we know what we're supposed to do and don't do it, that's called sin. That we are not supposed to abdicate our responsibilities as sons and daughters of the kingdom of heaven, that we're supposed to push back darkness and advance the kingdom of heaven. So what angers you? I'll tell you some things that anger me, that we do some things about. Child exploitation, that ought to tick you off. You don't believe there's evil in the world and try to explain that. And this is gonna make some of you, some of you will leave because of this, no problem. We don't have no seats already, so it's gonna work out good. Did you know every single time you bring your first and best, your any amount of money that you bring, a part of that goes to fight to rescue children out of human trafficking? That we partner primarily with the Tim Tebow Foundation, all right? And there's a very specific group of people with a very specific group of skills and their little kids being exploited right now, and they partner with local authorities and those kids cry out, Lord help me, and some cool-dressed people come in and they rescue those kids

and then they get those people to the authority and occasionally we just fast track them straight to the judge himself, okay? And if that bothers you, email me at jimmycratscorn at idontcare.com because it angers the heart of God and it angers me and if the church doesn't do something about it, nothing will be done. Tell you what else makes me angry, the mutilation of boys and girls in the name of healthcare, that'll make you mad. The taking of innocent life in the womb, that'll make you mad. We're. Worshiping God with your mouth and not your life, play in church, that makes God mad. Amos chapter five, God says, take away from me the noise of your songs. To the melody of your harps I will not listen, but let justice roll down like waters in righteousness, like an ever-flowing stream. God says, hey man, if you would come here and sing to me and not do something about it, just shut up. You wanna worship me, how about worship me with your life? This oughta make you mad. A demonic influence in our society right now, there's an attack on marriage, an attack on parents, an attack on identity, an attack on believers and what the bride of Christ can do. Something else that makes me mad is when preachers

peddle a false gospel and mislead their people to make much of themselves. When you use the name of God to try to take advantage of the people of God. And this is what they're doing in the temple. So Jesus is ticked and he does something about it, flips over tables. I can imagine on Twitter, they're like, Jesus, you're not being very Christ-like. Help you. And he said to them, it is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer and you make it a den of robbers. There's a couple of things here. God's house is a house of prayer. This is a house of prayer. One of the things that's coming up is elder-led prayer is coming, okay? And you need to be here. And because of this verse, here's what we're doing. All we're gonna do the entire time during elder-led prayer is pray. And the elders are gonna pray over you. And so we need to know what to pray about. So I need you to text the word prayer to 441122, okay? And we're gonna have different categories that we go through and we're gonna pray over all the specifics at elder-led prayer. And here's the thing, I get it, man, I get it. Some of you don't wanna write down

what's actually going on, but you'll never be free until you learn to be honest. You try to fight the devil in the dark, he'll get your tail handed to you. I promise we're not gonna post your prayer request on Facebook and be like, look at Nancy, she's out of control. That's not what we're gonna do, man. We're gonna pray for you. And then some of you are like, well, I don't really have a prayer request right now. Okay, just put your name. Just fill your, just put your name in there because we are gonna pray over every single person. This is a house of prayer. This group of people had lost their all of God and the moment you lose your all of God, you will take yourself out of the mission of God and that's what happened. And what Jesus came to do is be a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. So he wipes out one group of people and then he invites the people that were not allowed in. Look at verse 14. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple. I love this. The religious leaders are like, they're not supposed to be here. Jesus is like, this is my house.

I get to determine who comes in my house. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, like how you gonna get mad at Jesus for doing wonderful things? And the children crying out in the temple, Hosanna to the son of David. Do you know why they were saying that? Because yesterday they saw their parents doing that. Listen, way more of discipleship for our kids is caught than taught, all right? And by the way, this is just for free, real quick. Man, I love it when we have kids in the service, even the babies, man. If you got babies in here and they make baby noises, I love it. You know what two signs of a healthy church are? Singing men and crying babies. It don't bother me at all. I love it. If they throw up on your neighbor, maybe you can step out. But short of that, no problem. And the kids are crying, Hosanna to the son of David. And the religious leaders are like, the religious leaders were indignant. Why are they so mad? Jesus is welcoming everybody.

And religion is about control and fear. And they're angry. It's so sad. The Pharisees have memorized the word of God and the living word is standing right there in front of them and they can't see him because he doesn't fit into their religious construct. In fact, the reason they're mad, it's actually because they're losing control. John 11, 47 to 48 tell us, so the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and they said, what are we gonna do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. They didn't care about the people. They were using the people so they could have control. Verse 16, and they said to Jesus, do you hear what these are saying? And Jesus said to them, yeah. Have you never read? Now here's the thing. If you don't understand what a shot this is, these are professional Bible readers. And he's like, you don't read your Bible? This would be like going to the gym and finding the most jacked guy.

I'm like, bro, do you even lift? He'd be like. He would hurt his feelings so bad. He said, have you never read, out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies, you have prepared praise? He's quoting Psalm 8 too, and to the religious leaders. So there's this thing called a remez, where you only have to quote a part of it for them to know the whole song. Here's how the whole song goes, Oh Lord, our Lord, and that first Lord is a capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. That's the covenant name of God, Yahweh. Jesus is saying, they are calling me Yahweh. So if you've ever heard some dumb person on the internet be like, Jesus never claimed to be God, they should stick to coloring books, because they're not smart. This is the first century way to say, I'm him. Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouths of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes to steal the enemy and the avenger. And then the way that psalm ends is, Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. And Jesus is saying, yeah, they're singing the right psalm, because I'm him. Verse 17, and leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany, and he lodged there. You know who lives in Bethany? Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. So he rolls up to Lazarus' house, and he's like, hey man, can I spend the night? He said, bro, you brought me out from the dead, you can do whatever you want. You know? And then the next thing that happens, this event that happens, is one of the most misunderstood things in the Bible, but what's going to happen is Jesus is going to curse a fig tree. He don't hate figs.

This is just a picture of what was happening at the temple, and what can happen in today's church. It goes this way, and in the morning, Jesus was returning to the city, because he was hungry. You ever get hungry? Jesus got hungry. You're like, I thought he was God. For the gifted class, write down hypostatic union. He's fully God, fully man. He could walk on water and calm the seas, and the brother needed breakfast, okay? Both of those things are true at the same time. Verse 19, and seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it, and he found nothing on it but leaves, and he said, may no fruit ever come from you again, and the fig tree withered at once, and he curses the fig tree. By the way, I always thought this would be a good Christian cuss word. Like if you're not cussing, but you shouldn't, you could be like, fig that, and that's what Jesus did. He cursed it. Let's see if he catches on. Okay, this is not random. He's not just randomly cursing fig trees. What's happening? This is a picture of where he just came from at the temple. It's all leaves, no fruit. It's not doing the thing that it's supposed to do. It just looks like it. And by the way, it is a picture of the modern American church going through all the motions but don't know Jesus. It's all leaves, no fruit. May you never be a fruitless Christian.

May you never just play church but not actually follow Jesus. Man, I found this song this week. It kind of found me. I was so pumped. I played it to my kids. They're like, dad, that's AI. I don't care. Let's do it. It's called Seven Days. The whole point of the song is, is if you're going to follow Jesus, that's not a Sunday-only activity. It's every day of your life. It says, you want God when your own throne cracks, when the life you control starts fighting you back. Then suddenly, Jesus is all on your tongue but once he restores you, you go back to where you're from. You want rescue without surrender. Want the fire gone but not the heart made tender. Want his hand when your strength runs thin, then shut the door when he wants to come in. That ain't faith. That's convenience dressed in prayer. Wanting God on demand but not God everywhere. The whole song's like that, man. You see, one of the biggest warnings that you get in the New Testament when it comes to righteous anger and love is apathy. You know what the greatest danger in our church is right now? You know what the number one threat to 1122 is right now? It's not from the outside. I mean, honestly, in 2020, I thought, I might be in prison one day. I mean, they might pass laws to call what I do hate speech, but that's fine.

I can run this thing from Union or Baker. We got all kinds of prison campuses, no problem. We just reallocate some broadcast resources and we'll keep rolling. But historically, the church has always handled pressure from the outside really well. You know where the fastest growing church in the world is right now? The underground church in Iran. You know where the greatest threat of the church is? It's on the inside. It's not the outside. The number one threat to what God's doing here is apathy and compassion. complacency. You know why? Look around. It's going awesome. All the rooms are full, all the parking lots are full, kid program's going good, and the moment you begin to walk in here and take your eye off all and the majesty and the glory of God and you think, well, you know, somebody else will do all that stuff we're supposed to do, I'm just gonna come and get fed. It's over, Bo. It'll be all leaf and no fruit. And there's all kinds of warnings in the scriptures about apathy, about abdication, about complacency. In fact, in Revelation chapter 3, Jesus writes letters to churches. He's not writing to the evil pagan secular world out there. He's writing it to the people in the churches, in the seven churches of Asia Minor, and to the church at Laodicea, he says this, so because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I'm gonna spit you out of my mouth. Let me translate that. If you just go play church and show up and do church things but not follow after Jesus, it makes him sick and you don't want to make him sick.

Romans 12, 11, do not be slothful in zeal, but fervent in spirit and serve the Lord. I'm telling you, man, have you become slothful in zeal? I was doing a pastor's conference in East Africa several years ago, and they flew me over there. There was hundreds of pastors. It was unbelievable. It was at this hotel. One night, or one day, the hotel people came to the guy leading it and says, man, can y'all keep it down because there's other guests staying here? And I thought because we were making too much noise in the building. It wasn't that. You know what it was? The pastors were screaming out to God in prayer at night in their hotel rooms and it was keeping everybody up. I ain't never heard about that in an American pastor's conference. These brothers had a zeal for the Lord. One of the pastors came to me and says, man, I feel sorry for you being a pastor in America. It must be impossible. I'm like, what are you talking about? It's awesome. We turn Walmarts into amphitheaters. Tens of thousands of people can come. You'd be YouTube famous. You brought me over here to teach you how to do it. What are you talking about? And he said, well, my understanding of the gospel is to follow after Jesus. It costs you everything. And in your country, it seems to cost you nothing. Whoa. Whoa.

To the church, it's all leaf and no fruit. Revelation 3, this is to another church. And Jesus says, wake up. Wake up and strengthen what remains and is about to die for I have not found your works complete in the sight of God. You know how many churches that are just asleep, just asleep, going through the motions? I think a part of what I've been called to do in my life is wake up the American church to what it means to actually follow after Jesus. Because I'm telling you, what Jesus will do if it's all leaves and no fruit is it's over just like the temple was. Paul's writing to Timothy and he's warning him because Timothy's going to take over the church. He's going to be the pastor at the church of Ephesus. Starts out awesome. It doesn't end awesome. When Jesus writes the letter to the church at Ephesus in Revelation, he's like, man, I've been to your church. It's great. Your programs are cool. Your Bible studies are nice. There's just one thing. You lost your first love. You just don't love me. Here's what Paul tells Timothy. This is a reminder that the greatest threat is from the inside, not the outside. He starts out this way in 2 Timothy 4, he says, all right, Tim, preach the word. Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort. So when I'm yelling at you, I'm just doing what the Bible says. With complete patience, I got a ways to go and teaching.

And here's why. Why, Paul? 2,000 years ago, he says, for a time is coming. That time is today. For there is a time when people will not endure sound teaching, but have itching ears and they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. This is why I preach. I know you guys ask me on tattoos all the time. This one says preach the word on top of a sword because Paul says in Ephesians that the sword of the spirit is the word of God. And if I ever get tempted to be popular, if I ever get tempted to just try to entertain you, I'm just constantly reminded that I would be like that fig tree, all leaves and no fruit. And we've just got to preach the word. Listen, my job is not to make you happy. My job is definitely not to make you comfortable. My job is to make disciples. And if we do not preach what the word says, then woe to us. who will be like that fig tree. Verse 20, when the disciples saw it, when they saw him curse the fig tree and it withered immediately, and when the disciples saw it, they marveled saying, how'd the fig tree wither at once? Again, this has nothing to do with fig trees. He's pointing at those religious institutions that are only that and are not a pathway to have that relationship with the one true God. And Jesus answered them, truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt,

you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, which by the way, this happened to the temple 37 years later, it was torn down. But even if you say to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea, it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive if you have faith. This verse is taken out of context as much as any other verse you've ever heard in your life. Jesus is standing on a mountain talking about a particular mountain. He didn't just say, pick a mountain and throw it in the sea. And by the way, to preach so good, if I wanted to entertain you and make you feel good right now, that's what I would do. I'd shift right now, I'd be like, how many of you got a mountain before you? You got a mountain of debt, you got a mountain of confusion. And I could do it, man, so good. I could lock a room and talk it as good as Kirby Smart without the cuss words, you understand what I mean? We'd be all motivated, we'd be so good. We'd be so motivated, we'd be so good until lunch. It's just not what he's talking about at all. He's standing on a mountain. He curses a fig tree after he's turned over the temple. The table's in the temple. He goes, boys, let me tell you what I'm actually talking about. That by faith, you can say to this mountain, what mountain?

Mount Zion, the temple mount. He's saying, when I get done by this weekend, you can throw that whole thing away because you're not gonna need it anymore. Josephus lets us know that on that weekend, Passover weekend, a quarter of a million lambs were gonna be slain for the day of Passover. And Jesus says, you're not gonna need it anymore. Because I'm not just another lamb that's gonna cover the sins of the Jewish people until next year. I am the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sins for anyone, I don't care where you're from, who believes. That's what he's talking about. The mountain that he's talking about is the mountain of the debt of sin that we have and we owe. And when Jesus goes to the cross and pushes up on his nail pierced feet and says, it is finished, then that mountain of sin that separates us from God is thrown away. And all the religious activity that was supposed to point to Jesus, you don't need that stuff anymore. For by works of the law, no one will be declared righteous. And Jesus says, I'm about to come and do for you what you cannot do for yourself. And he says, whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive if you have faith. You know what the most audacious prayer you can pray

in the whole world is? You know what the only eternal miracle is? Listen, man, we believe in miracles. I mean, if the tomb is empty, anything is possible, right? We believe in miracles. And I see miracles here all the time. I can name six people right now that had a death sentence of cancer. And we prayed, and they ain't got cancer no more. Praise God. And while we praise God for that, none of those are eternal miracles. You get it? If God heals your body, guess what? You're still gonna die. I mean, Jesus did some cool miracles. He brought Lazarus out of the grave. Guess what? He went back. Anybody seen Lazarus lately? Nah, man, he gone. The prayer of all prayers of faith is the prayer of salvation. It's the one that lasts forever and ever and ever and ever. And you're saying, I have a mountain of sin against you, God, that separates me from you. And Jesus is going to say, and when I die on that cross, I am going to remove that mountain of sin and debt. I'm going to take it on upon me. I'm gonna take it on upon you.

I'm gonna take it on upon myself. Pay the full price. And if you believe, you receive the right to become a child of God. This is what the Pharisees missed. That salvation is not achieved, it is received. It is a free offer of a holy God. Not saying I'm just gonna overlook your sin, but I'm gonna pay the debt on your behalf, because that's how much I love you. So my question is, have you ever asked for that miracle? Have you ever come to the place in your life where you say, Jesus, can I take that deal? Not if I do better, not if I be better, not if I live better, but if I do better. And I'm gonna ask you, can I take that deal? I make myself right, then maybe I can be right with you. Not if I do better, not if I be better, That's what the Pharisees were doing. not if I live better, but if I do better. It doesn't work. But then you humbly come before him and say, Lord, I can't do this. I can't do it. I can't make myself right with a holy and just God. I can't achieve it. But you can receive it. And the way you receive it is that you believe, you trust that somehow when Jesus died on the cross, that counted for you.

And the Bible says there's a prayer that gets answered. When it's prayed by faith, there's a prayer that gets answered every single time. The Bible says all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Not who get their act together. It's not what it says. All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Not might be saved. Not will see on the great day of judgment. But all who call on the name of the Lord and what it means to call him Lord, is saying I am surrendering my life to you. And I believe that when you died on the cross, it counted for me. Therefore, I receive the right to become a child in your family. I wanna give you the opportunity to do that. Would you bow your heads? Would you close your eyes? And if you're here today, whether you thought you were too far gone because of the bad things that you've done, I've got good news. There's more grace in Jesus than sin in you. And you are in the everybody category. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord, you'll be saved. Or maybe you were in the try harder, do better camp for so long, thinking religious activity would somehow earn you a right spot with God,

but that's not how it works. It is by grace that you have been saved through faith and not by your words. It's by the finished work of Christ. And I'm asking you today, if you were ready today to put your trust, put your faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, to admit that you're a sinner, to believe that when you died on the cross, somehow that counted for you. And if that's you, and today for the very first time, you are ready to take that step, then call on the name of the Lord. And if you're ready to do that right now, I would invite you to lift your hand as high as you can, because it's not a hand in the air that saves you, it's Christ's finished work on the cross. But you lift your hand and say whatever words you say, you don't have to repeat after me. We don't do incantations around here. And you just say, Lord, save me, praise God. Lord, save me, and he will and is, and you are being saved at this very moment. Our good and gracious heavenly Father God, we love you more than anything. And we thank you that you came on a rescue mission for us. Not so that we have to clean up ourselves in order to be made right with you, but God, you made him who was without sin, your son Jesus, to be sin for us, that we, if we would just believe,

that we would be made the righteousness of God. And Lord, I thank you for salvation in this church. And Lord, I pray for those of us that have been walking with you for a minute. Lord, I pray against complacency, I pray against apathy. Lord, I pray that you would consistently stir in us a righteous anger that would lead to right activity, that we would push back the kingdom of darkness and advance the kingdom of heaven, that we would pray on earth as it is in heaven. And we wouldn't just think things and feel things, but God, we would do things in your name for your glory. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Church, would you please stand as we respond to the gospel? The gospel demands a response. Let me tell you one of the reasons that we sing. Man, in the Old Testament, the Bible says, sing a new song. That doesn't mean sing a song that nobody, anybody knows the words to. It means to sing a song of victory. You know what the armies of God would do is they would get together and they would sing, we won, before they even fought. They'd go out and fight and they'd come back and be like, see, we told you, we won. And that's what we're gonna do, sing a song of victory. The song is the cross said it all. And then we bring, you wanna participate in the advancement of the kingdom of God? Every single time we bring our first and best,

it goes to fight against things that God is angry about for human flourishing under the glory of God. And we pray. And if you're being honest, what a bunch of us need to do is get on our face down here in humility, just like Jesus entered Jerusalem in humility, and say, Lord, would you please give me a heart that loves what you love and hates what you hate? And God, would you stir me rightly so that I could match up my activity with what you have called me to do? So let's sing, let's bring, let's pray. Let's respond.