This is a rush transcript.

[00:00:02] It was really exciting to go out with some of you guys yesterday and represent the name of Jesus Christ and share the gospel, and while it's very exciting, it's also it's not just a totally positive experience.

[00:00:17] There's also some negative response that you get. And we said to one guy, what do you think about that sign up there in the sky saying, Jesus saves? And he says that's out of line. And I was like, Excuse me? And he said, is it that's out of line? That should just be a church. Wolf, it's good news, shouldn't we share it with everybody, indeed. He didn't appreciate it. He wasn't happy about it. There was a lot of people who didn't want to talk about Jesus save and anybody. And it wasn't just because maybe they weren't interested in it. Some of the people it was because of bad experiences they had at churches like this one. I talked to one guy and he listed to me all the different names of different churches that he's been to. And he said, Oh, I believe in Jesus. I love Jesus. He saved me from my sins. But I went to this church, in this church, in this church, in this church. And I just didn't connect with it. And I only did I not connect with it. Nobody there connected with me. And he felt wanted by no church, basically. So he doesn't go to church. There was another guy I talked to and he said, you know, I was talking to these people and they convinced me to come to their church and they said, hey, come just as you are. You know, this is a kind of a you just be you and you come as you are to our church. And he said. So I showed up and somebody started looking at me and they said, well, you can't wear what you're wearing here at this church. Like, that's not the dress code. How am I supposed to go to a church, right, come just as I am, and then they say I'm not dressed up enough to be at their church. Is your church going to say something to me like that? Like he's suspicious of us? He understands that church. This idea that we would praise Jesus and lift his name high.

[00:01:57] Well, it's very easily corrupted by men say it's very easy for a church like ours to be corrupt. And it's very easy because people like us will corrupt it. Go to John Chapter two, and we're gonna see what Jesus thinks about some corrupt worship as Jesus declares his ministry publicly here and he gets everyone's attention and he puts himself on the radar of people at his day. He goes after corrupt worship of God and he goes after us even, and he says who we really are.

[00:02:32] And so it might not seem like it's in the best interests of our church to talk about how churches get corrupted. But that's what we're here to talk about this morning. And it might not seem like it's in your best interest to be confronted with how corrupt you are. But that's also what we're going to talk about here this morning. That's where our text's takes us. We're going to look at John, chapter two, verse 13. We're just working our way through this book, The Gospel of John. And right here, I believe, begins the public ministry of Jesus Christ here in the city of Jerusalem. So please, please read our text with me and we'll start in John to 13 and we'll go all the way to the end of our chapter. Follow along with me as I read The Passover of the Jews was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple, he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and the money changers sitting there and making a whip of cords.

[00:03:27] He drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and oxen, and he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, take these things away, do not make my father's house a house of trade. And his disciples remembered that it was written Zeal for your house will consume me.

[00:03:54] So the Jews said to him, what sign do you show us for doing these things?

[00:04:00] And Jesus answered them, destroy this temple. And in three days, I will raise it up. The Jews then said it has taken 46 years to build this temple. And will you raise it up in three days?

[00:04:14] But he was speaking about the temple of his body when therefore he was raised from the dead.

[00:04:21] His disciples remembered that he had said this and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

[00:04:29] Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

[00:04:54] So as we get into this text this morning, we see a shift in the location of where Jesus has been. And we just throw up a map of Israel to make this clear to everybody that for the first part of the book, Jesus has been up in Galilee, which you'll see is the northern part of Israel, if you could see that red circle. And there's a see up there and there's towns and villages around the sea. And that's where Jesus meets his disciples. And we know some of them are fishermen. And it's more of a rural area up there in Galilee. But once in a while for the feast, like this was for the Passover and there was a feast connected with it. We'll see. All the Jews would come into the capital city down in the south of Jerusalem. So it's literally like the whole nation getting together in one city where we're going to celebrate this Passover and remember, as the Jewish people, how God brought us out of the land of Egypt and how he delivered us and how the angel of the Lord passed over us and did not judge us because we put the blood of the lamb on our doorpost and everyone's going to gather together for this Passover meal. And this is where Jesus makes his entrance onto the scene. He's been meeting his disciples. He went to a wedding it describes for us. He's been getting kind of his crew together. But now he goes and he makes his kind of public debut. He makes an entrance. And you'll notice if you look at verse 13, it says, the Passover of the Jews was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem would much, which might be confusing, confusing when you know that he's up north in Galilee. And he goes down south to Jerusalem. So why does it say that he goes up to Jerusalem, where there's really only one way to go to Jerusalem if you've ever been there? I've never gotten to be a tourist to Jerusalem. And you ever had the privilege to go to Israel? It's a city on a hill. And even today in a bus, it'll take you a long time to drive up the hill to get to Jerusalem at the top. And so you always go up to Jerusalem. All of the people did. They made pilgrimage there. They even had songs that they would specifically sing on the road trip up to Jerusalem to gather together for these feasts. And so when the city is packed to maximum capacity, that's when Jesus makes his entrance and he walks into the temple and he checks it out and he makes a whip of cords and he drives people out of the temple where they're supposed to be worshiping God. He doesn't accept what they're doing. And he chases them out of their.

[00:07:26] Why does he do this?

[00:07:28] Well, let's just jump straight to what we learned here at the end. Let's just skip straight to the end and start with what Jesus knows about us. Look at verse twenty three after Jesus makes his debut of his public ministry when he was in Jerusalem at this Passover feast. It says many believed in his name. All kinds of people saying, wow, look at Jesus, I want to follow Jesus. I'm putting my faith in Jesus. They saw the signs that he was doing so he must have done more than just clean out the temple and drive everybody away. He must have done other signs while he was there as well. And that's the whole point. If you've been studying the gospel of John with us, that people are supposed to see the signs. They're supposed to believe in Jesus and then they get eternal life in the name of Jesus Christ. And so you would think, this is great. This is working. He's going public. He's launching his ministry. And people are believing in him. They see the signs. They're believing. You would think that's good news. But then you get diverse 24.

[00:08:24] And look what it says. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them.

[00:08:32] Now it says they believed in him in verse twenty three and then says Jesus did not entrust himself to them in verse 24. But in the Greek, it's the exact same word being used there. It's saying they believed in Jesus, but Jesus didn't believe in them. That's what it said. They said, we're all about you, Jesus. And he's like, I know who you really are. And I don't believe it, in fact, it goes on to describe that here Jesus knew all people, all people would include you and me here this morning, and Jesus needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man Jesus knows what's inside of you. He sees down to your soul. And I don't know if anybody's ever told this to you before, but what Jesus thinks about you. When he sees you is he thinks you are evil.

[00:09:23] That's what Jesus thinks about it. Now, I know that was just shocking and completely rude. And I know this is Orange County where everybody gets a trophy at the end of the season and it doesn't matter who you are. All right. And then we can just all go put on capes and crowns and be princes and princesses and everybody here is just awesome. OK, but that's not actually what the Bible says and that's not what Jesus thinks. In fact, if you were here last week, we had this encouraging sermon about prayer. Was anybody here last week? And it was like if you prayed your father in heaven, he's going to give you good gifts.

[00:09:56] Anybody remember that? It's like this encouraging, inspiring think. And Jesus is like God's going to give you good gifts because if you're evil and you know how to give good gifts to your kids. Imagine how much a good God can give good gifts. And what we kind of skipped over was the fact where he just kind of dropped that we're evil in the middle of all that.

[00:10:16] A lot of people like to skip over that part. Maybe.

[00:10:19] Go to Mark Chapter seven and maybe think, well, it doesn't say that they're I think you're reading that into it. Well, let's just make it abundantly clear. Look at what Jesus says here in Mark, chapter seven, verse 14, just a few pages over to the left in your Bible, page eight hundred and forty three. If you got one of our Bibles here and Jesus now is going to give us some teaching on what he thinks about us. What defines a person is the heading here, mark, chapter seven, verse 14. And he called the people to him again. So he gathers all the people around. He wants to teach him something. And he said to them, Hear me, all of you. Everybody's got a listen to this. And I need you to understand something. Hear me, all of you, and understand there is nothing outside a person that by going into him, can defile him. It's the things that come out of a person are what defile him.

[00:11:12] There's kind of a couple levels that this is working on, because if you were a Jew and you were living under the old covenant that's given to us in the Old Testament, there were all these ceremonies where you had to make sure that you were clean and not defiled.

[00:11:26] Like if you didn't ceremonially wash your hands a certain way and there were things you couldn't eat and there were things you couldn't touch. And there was all these things like if you did one of these things, you could be defiled, you could become unclean.

[00:11:37] There were all these laws and he's saying, hey, it's not about keeping all of these laws. It's not about doing good things on the outside. It's about what comes from the inside. Another, more practical way he's making this analogy is it's not the food that you eat. That's gross. It's when the food goes out of your body. That's gross. That's kind of the thing that he's referring to here.

[00:11:59] And nobody seems to get what he's saying. In fact, look at verse 17 when he had entered the house and left the people his disciples. Now, here is Lerner's, his followers. They asked him about the parable because they didn't fully understand what Jesus was saying. And he said to them, then, are you also without understanding, like even you guys don't get this? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him since it enters not his heart, but his stomach and it's expelled? It's not about eating unclean food, guys. Thus, he declared all foods clean and he said, no, let me make it straightforward. Let me just be very clear. What comes out of a person is what defiles him for from within. Out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.

[00:12:57] All these evil things come from within and they defile a person.

[00:13:06] Jesus wants to make it very clear you haven't just said some bad things. You haven't just done some bad things. You haven't maybe just thought some bad things.

[00:13:14] No, you are a bad thing.

[00:13:16] That's what Jesus is a. You're a bad person. The reason you do evil is because that is who you are in your core, if we could get inside of you. You are an evil person. That's the way you came into the world. This is what the Bible clearly teaches.

[00:13:34] In fact, it's not just Jesus Santa. It goes all the way back to the Old Testament term with me, Jeremiah, 17. And I really want everybody to see this. This is kind of a foundational passage in the scripture. It gets quoted all of the time, Jeremiah. Now you're going to have to look up the table of contents to find out where jeremiads at. It's right here in the heart of the Old Testament. Jeremiah, 17. And we're looking at page six hundred and forty five. And here's a clear statement about who you are on the inside. Jeremiah, Chapter 17 versus nine and ten.

[00:14:08] In the context here, it's saying, who are you going to put your trust in? You're going to put your trust in yourself or in man, or you're going to put your trust in God who is worthy for you to trust. And in case you're tempted to put your trust in yourself. Well, let me just tell you about yourself. Jeremiah, 79. It says the heart is deceitful above all things.

[00:14:31] And desperately sick, who can understand it?

[00:14:36] OK, here's a verse about your heart. Above all things. It's lying to you.

[00:14:42] It's deceiving you. It's so warped. It's so twisted that your heart is gonna make you think you're a good person when you're really not a good person.

[00:14:51] Your heart's gonna be telling you. Look at what you did. Look at how much you care. Look at how good you look at you. And you're gonna be starting to be deceived into thinking they am. I'm pretty awesome.

[00:15:02] It's gonna twist to you is what it's saying.

[00:15:05] Your heart isn't even telling you accurately who you are. You are so lost. You don't even know how lost you are. You can't even find yourself. If you try. That's what this versus saying.

[00:15:18] And it's a little bit different than how we think about the heart, isn't it? We got Valentine's Day and everybody gets a gets a heart, right. These days we've got little emojis. You guys know what I'm talking about? Little a little icons. We can text each other. And this week, my wife, she sent me the red heart emoji, and that's when I knew she really loved me, you know what I mean?

[00:15:37] Because she didn't send me the Purple Heart. The Yellow Heart guys know what I'm talking about. She's only the Red Heart. Right.

[00:15:43] Well, we have this, like, warm, fuzzy idea of the heart, like, oh, we could get to your insides, you're just lovey dubie and touchy feely. Look at, you know, you're a cesspool of wickedness. That's what the scriptures say. You oh, you're like a city all flash and lights and excitement on the surface, but what's underneath the city? What's in the gutter? What's below it?

[00:16:04] Sewage, stinking waste, toxic. Right.

[00:16:11] Somebody should make an A, Mojie. That's like a sewer cap with, like, green stuff losing out of it. And we should send it to each other.

[00:16:18] I heart you, you evil person, right? I mean, that's what the Bible teaches.

[00:16:26] Like, I'm sorry if the world has lied to you and I'm sorry if you've been misled in our culture of self esteem, where the most important thing is to love yourself. Let me just tell you what Jesus knows about you and what the Bible's been saying for thousands of years is that you were born into sin.

[00:16:41] And you are your own worst enemy. You are your biggest problem. That's what the Bible says.

[00:16:47] And if nobody's ever loved you enough to tell you that before, this is something we all need to hear, this is the truth that God wants to give to us. In fact, there's good news on the end of it. Look at the next verse, verse 10. It says, I, the Lord, search the heart and test the mind. I'm really the only one who can tell you how off you are. I'm really the only one who's on point God saying here. And I'm going to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.

[00:17:13] Now I know your heart. I see you for who you are. In fact, someday you will be held accountable for all those things you've thought, said and done out of your evil eye.

[00:17:23] The Lord know you. God says Jesus says he knew what was in man, so he didn't trust us. Because Jesus knows who we really are. Point number one, let's put it down like this.

[00:17:35] We've got to see that your sin comes from within. You gonna see your sin comes from within.

[00:17:43] There's gonna come a a moment in your life where you declare yourself spiritually bankrupt, where you admit that you are wrong from the inside out. And we can't blame it on our society. We can't blame it on our family. At some point we have to own up that we are our own messed up individual. And that's something that every single one of us has to confess. That's what the word confessed means. It means to agree with. OK, so Jesus has said in the scripture that we are evil. God says he searches our hearts and minds and our heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Will you confess? Will you agree with God here today that you are a sinner who has fallen short of his holy standard? Will you admit that? Has there been a point in your life where you came to that realization and you admitted that to God? That's the foundation. Gee, all these people are like, we believe in you, Jesus. And he looks at their heart and he realizes they don't really know who they are yet. You can't really come to Jesus. You can't really get to a holy God until you admit that you're a sinner and you need him to do something about it, to save you, to change you. That's the only way you can get into a relationship with him. And we've all got to come to this realization that we are all sinners and the only way we're ever gonna be saved is by the amazing grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Can I get a name and phone Obama? Is this a church full of sinners here today? Saved by grace? That's who we are.

[00:19:15] Hey. That's who we are.

[00:19:18] And the first step is to declare ourselves a sinner as we come to God, we confess. We agree with God that that's who I am. We own it. I go to Proverbs. Let's get some wisdom.

[00:19:29] We're still here in the Old Testament, a few more pages back to the to the left here into the heart of the Old Testament, Proverbs, Chapter four. Join with me to page five hundred and thirty if you got one of our Bibles. And let's get some wisdom. Because here's what happens sometimes is. Well, as Christians, we acknowledge that we are sinners. That's something every real Christian is going to own about themself that they have seen before, a holy God. Not just that they've done something wrong, but they are wrong from the inside out.

[00:19:59] And so we come to God and we admit that we're the problem. And then here's kind of what I see happening. We get saved by his mercy. He doesn't give us the judgment we deserve. He gives us good things. Instead, he gives us this new life and we start to live for Jesus and we start to read our Bible and we start to come to church and we start to think of ourselves as not so much the sinner we used to be. Now we're pretty good. And so we're we're having a rough week. We start to ask ourselves, well, why am I having such a rough week? Well, I've I've I've been saved and I'm doing so well, and the Lord, why am I having a hard time?

[00:20:33] And we start to think to our self. You know, I really didn't like what my spouse said to me the other day. I really appreciate that. And then I get these kids in my house and they always are complaining and I don't know if anybody else's kids like that at their house. They always want more stuff. And then I was at work and my boss told me to do this and I was like, what is my boss telling me to do stuff for? And then I was driving on the freeway and I'm like, why are there always other people on the freeway? All right.

[00:20:59] It's like, oh, I'm a sinner, I need to be saved. And what's everybody else's problem?

[00:21:05] See, that's what easily happens. It's called blame shifting, and we're all really good at it. Have you ever noticed that? Very hard to own up to the to your own self.

[00:21:15] It's very easy to start pointing the finger at other people in Proverbs Chapter four, verse twenty three years, some practical wisdom even for those who have been saved. It says Proverbs four. Look at verse twenty three.

[00:21:26] Keep your heart with all vigilance. It says, guard your heart. Watch it.

[00:21:33] Four from it flow the springs of life like everything that you do in your life comes from the inside out. It comes from mission control center right here. Your soul who you really are inside of your body. That's where your life comes from. So guard your heart. And if you keep reading in inverse 24, it's going to talk about your speech. In verse 25, it's gonna talk about your eyes in verse 26, it's gonna talk about your feet. And it's saying everything you say and everything you see. And everywhere you go, it all comes from your heart. So guard your heart.

[00:22:08] Watch yourself is what it's saying.

[00:22:12] Now, this passage has been so mis used and abused and twisted as we do as sinners. We corrupt the pure word of God and we change it for our own purposes. And since I had the privilege of serving as a youth pastor, working with high schoolers and college age young people for over 10 years of my life, you usually heard this verse and it was said, you know, in a wrong way. And it was said to all the young ladies, all of you who haven't gotten married yet, you young ladies, you princess is just waiting for your knight in shining armor to come and just sweep you off your feet.

[00:22:51] You'd better guard your heart, ladies, because there's gonna come some evil guy and he's gonna want to date you. So guard your heart. All you little Red Riding Hood is the big bad wolf is comin. So you better you pure innocent young ladies watch out for the men here in this room.

[00:23:08] That's usually how we use that scripture.

[00:23:10] Like protect yourself. Oh, innocent ones from the evil that is without there. That is not what this versus saying. The spears are pointed right at you in this verse. If we're guarding your heart from something, it's from you.

[00:23:24] You're the evil one. That's who we're watching. We're keeping our eye on you. We're not protecting you from other people. We're protecting other people from you, you young ladies. You're the one who wants that sketchy guy because you're sketchy, too. That's how it works.

[00:23:40] All right.

[00:23:43] Guard your heart means to put it in the modern vernacular. You better check yourself for your wreck yourself. That's what it means. It means you're going to mess up your own life and less. You are watching yourself. So not only should we declare ourselves sinner and beg for the mercies of the whole of a holy God, should we say we were sinners from the beginning, but even as saved people, if you don't watch yourself, that sin will end up causing destruction in your life and ruining relationships, and you'll start thinking that everybody else is giving you a hard time.

[00:24:20] And how many of us had a problem this week that we blamed on somebody else? When if we were guarding our heart, we would've looked at ourself and we would've realized I'm contributing maybe even the majority to this problem right here. And I think peace means when are they going to surrender, when really I'm the one who should start the peace process right now by saying sorry and confessing what I have done to make our marriage this way or our family this way or our work environment this way or wherever the sin may be, say. Are we watching ourselves? See if Jesus doesn't trust us? Then maybe we shouldn't trust ourselves either. Maybe he's on to something. Say if he's not going to believe in us.

[00:25:05] Well, maybe we should guard our hearts and make sure that we're headed in the right direction. Go to even further back to the Book of Psalms, the next book over. Go to Psalm 51 with me. And we just got to get down to the basic statement that summarizes this doctrine I'm trying to give to you in theology. What we're talking about here this morning is called total depravity. That's what it is that we are all born rotten to the core with your stinking cesspool of wickedness. That is your heart inside of you. And that's what the Bible says.

[00:25:40] Whether we feel good about it or not, it says this in Psalm 51, when David is confessing his sin of adultery and he's confessing his sin of murder acts that he has done. He doesn't just ask for forgiveness for the things that he has done. He confesses himself to be a sinner. Look at Psalm 51, verse five. And look what he says. He says, behold, I was brought forth. And what's the word there? Shout it out. Iniquity. That's a word for sin and in sin. Did my mother conceive me from the very beginning when I was still in my mother's womb? From the day that I was born, I was a sinner. That's why I did these things.

[00:26:22] David says he agrees with God. He owns it. This is how I was born. Corrupt. From day one. That's me. We all got to come to grips with who we really are. We all got to come to the knowledge about ourselves.

[00:26:37] And the truth is, you will never find out that you are evil by trying to figure it out yourself, because your own heart will lie to you the whole time. The only way you can even be convinced that you are evil is you have to get it from God. You have to get it from Jesus. You have to see what they see in you and confess and agree with them that I was born a sinner. We have a lot of testimonies here at our at our church, and we've been doing baptisms here at our church and we get to hear testimonies and we love hearing about how Jesus saves people at our church. But we got a lot of testimonies here that start out like I was born into a Christian family.

[00:27:15] Have you heard that testimony before? I mean, that's the majority of testimonies actually here in our church one day, I think, in this service. We had four baptisms in a row and they all started with I was born into a Christian family. And my parents were Christians and I grew up going to church. And I went to a Christian school.

[00:27:32] And what they're basically telling you there is like, well, I had this idea that I was good because things around me were good. But where to every one of those testimonies end up?

[00:27:44] But I was deceived because I wasn't really saved because I had to come to grips with my sins. I'm all about kids growing up in church. We've got the kids ministry going on right now. You know what we're telling them over there?

[00:27:56] They're filthy little sinners. That's what we're TALANA. It's what we're telling them. OK.

[00:28:04] That's what they're preaching right now. They got a song with hand motions, not really. But that would be cool.

[00:28:11] OK.

[00:28:13] I mean, maybe there's even here among us in this room, there's this idea. Well, I kind of started out right because of my parents or my upbringing or or what I knew. Maybe we should begin the testimonies around here where I was born, a sinner.

[00:28:28] Everybody here actually starts the same exact way.

[00:28:32] Born in the same exact scene, and when was the day that you admitted that to a holy God when you came to him and you agreed and you said, I agree with you. That's who I am.

[00:28:44] So that's what she got it to get with God. You got to get on the same page, not only about who he is, but about who you are. You have to come to an agreement with God that you are evil. And to say that about yourself, just like Jesus would say it about, you know, go back to John Chapter two, because we got to start with that idea. I think that's why we kind of skip to the end of our passage as we now go through it, because that explains why Jesus is so upset with what is happening here. Because this is the temple.

[00:29:13] I mean, if Jerusalem is the center of Israel where everybody comes to this city on a hill to celebrate the Passover and these feasts, will the center of the city is the temple. It's the place where the people are supposed to be worshiping God. And it has a room in it called the Holy of Holies that only one man, the high priest, is allowed to go into. And he can only go in there one day of the year because it is so set apart, because it represents the very presence of a holy God himself.

[00:29:44] And see, that's why people don't want the good news that Jesus saves because they don't understand the fundamental problem that if God is holy in heaven and no sin is allowed, then I'm not going to heaven because I am a sinner.

[00:29:57] And so I am born at enmity with God, separated from him. And so the people here are not worshiping God in the spirit of holiness. And they are corrupting because of their sin, the worship of the holy God. And Jesus has enough of it. OK. It's not all right.

[00:30:17] Now, can you imagine here you go into Jerusalem, you're one of Jesus's new disciples. You just met him. He went to a wedding. He turned water into wine. You're like, this guy's cool. I want to keep hanging out with this guy. Right now, you head to the to the Passover. Now you're in Jerusalem. You're at the temple. And there's a lot of business going on in the temple. And Jesus is over here and you're like, what is Jesus doing over here? And he's got these cords and he's playing with them and he's got this maybe angry look on his face. Right. And he's playing with these courts and he's like, what do you do in Jesus making a whip?

[00:30:49] All right.

[00:30:51] And he gets a whip look at verse 15. Here's what Jesus thinks about fake worship. Here's which Jesus thinks about bringing sin into the presence of God. He makes a whip of cords. And he drove them all out of the temple. Well, who did he drive out of the temple? The animals? No, he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and oxen. So who's Jesus using the whip to scare him out of the temple?

[00:31:14] He's chasing the people out of the temple and maybe some of the animals, too. Now, I know immediately when I say that some of you are concerned where the animals hurt. All right. I know. I know how it is. Well, you'll be happy to know if you look down a verse 16, he told those who sold the pigeons. Take these things away. So he wasn't whipping the pigeons. So you guys can all feel good about that. He was just saying, get him out of here. All right. I mean, here's what Jesus thinks. When people come into his father's house and they act like they're going to worship him.

[00:31:43] But they bring their own sin into the equation.

[00:31:47] He wants to get a whip and chase him right out of there. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine a grown man run around with a whip, freaking people out and run him out of the temple, start and stampedes saying, get those birds out of here right now? All right. And they do. I mean, they clear out. He's grabbing the tables of the money changers and he's flipping them over because he hates all the worshipers of his father is being corrupted.

[00:32:12] Now, it doesn't really say what the what the sin was, because actually here the people probably needed to buy animals to do the sacrifices. So there wasn't anything necessarily wrong about buying animals to do and selling the animals to do the sacrifices. And actually, you needed money changers because when you went to the temple, you had to pay a temple tax and there was only a certain kind of currency that you could pay the temple with. And so you might have to change your money from what you had to the kind that you could use at the temple. So these could actually be legitimate things that needed to take place. But they didn't belong in the temple. That's the point. See? You can't bring the things of this world, you can't bring this world that's tainted by sin. And even our own sin into the presence of a holy God, it's a fundamental problem that has Jesus chasing people out of their. So if you think that God's just going to be OK with you just the way that you are, just the way that you were born, just the way that you've always been. You gotta rethink about that because nothing is getting into heaven. That's not holy. And you and I did not start out holy. So we've got to confess our sin and we've got to come to God in the spirit of holiness. October 17, as this is crazy scene is happening, what must the disciples have been thinking? This is the guy we're following and he's a mad man chasing everybody out of the temple. And a verse came to their mind. Maybe the apostle John thought of this verse and it says, Zeal for your house will consume me. When they saw what Jesus was doing, they remembered Psalm sixty nine, verse nine, if you're taking notes. Write that down above. Point number two there, that that is the reference that's being talked about here in verse 17. And it's a quote from David who wrote, Zeal for your house consumes me. In fact, if we went back to Psalm 69, verse nine, and we looked at this verse in the original Hebrew as it is written, the word that's translated Zeil, here is a word that is often translated jealousy's. So if you could write that down next to Psalm 69, none that the Zeil were talking about equals a jealousy.

[00:34:33] OK. Now you might think, well, when you hear the word jealousy, that sounds like a negative thing. We're not supposed to be jealous about what other people have. And definitely jealousy can have a negative connotation. Right.

[00:34:48] But I was so excited that my wife was sending me the red heart emoji of love this week.

[00:34:54] I don't want anybody else sending my wife the red heart emoji. You know what I'm saying? I don't want her sending it to anybody else. See if if there was somebody else trying to display affection with my wife. Well, what would I be as a husband? I would be jealous and I would be right to be jealous. See, because that's something that that we share. That's something that belongs to us together. See?

[00:35:18] And so worship is something that belongs only to God. God is the only one who should ever get the glory. And when something is happening in the worship of God, that is it pointing to him and is in ascribing to him that as the only source of goodness. Well, then there's a jealousy that comes out from Jesus here, a righteous kind of jealousy, ACLC.

[00:35:41] That it is not okay for God to not get the glory and I'm going to do something about it.

[00:35:48] That's what Jesus is thinking here.

[00:35:51] So we have Zeil at this church. But as our zeal about us being spiritual people or as our zeal about God getting the glory, which one say there's only one thing that's right to be jealous about.

[00:36:03] And that is the glory of God belonging to him and him alone. And and that Jesus gives us a great example of this. It makes him agitated. Something is wrong. When God is not getting the glory and Jesus is going to make a stand and he's going to do something about it. And the disciples are reminded of David and what he said about it.

[00:36:26] And besides, Jesus, the perfect God man bracts, the best example of a real passion for the glory of God is David go to First Samuel, 17, with me. Everybody turned back to the Old Testament of First Samuel, 17. We're going to page two hundred and forty, going all the way back to this story that maybe you've heard, even if you haven't really come to church much, even if you haven't grown up going to church. I bet you've heard of the story of David and who's the guy that he fought.

[00:36:57] Anybody know? We all we all know people who don't know and even believe in the Bible know the story and the way the story works.

[00:37:05] And we've tried to make what this story's about clear here at our church on multiple occasions, because usually this is the story that shows up in the football locker room before the game. You know what I mean? And we're this where this little school over here that doesn't have funding for the football team and we've got no scholarships and we've got no recruits. And we're praying the play the prep team down the street and they've got all kinds of money. And so we're going to go fight these guys like David and Goliath. Put them in, boys. You know, that's how it works. Are you underdogs? Are you weak people? Let's go beat up the bullies.

[00:37:38] Yeah. I mean, that's usually how it is. Underdogs unite. All right. That's not what the story of David and Goliath is about at all.

[00:37:46] And Rick, the story is the exact opposite of that. First, Samuel, 17, and look at verse 45. David tells us why he fought the giant. It wasn't to inspire future underdogs across the world. No, David fought the giant for a very specific reason that he says right before he killed him in front of everybody.

[00:38:09] Then David said to the philistine, you come to me with a sword and with this spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have. Here's the key word of First Samuel 17 circle this underlining whom you have defied. See, Goliath has come and he started trash talking the nation of Israel. This is how it always works in the Old Testament when one nation fights another nation. It's a battle of whose God how is better. That's how they were polytheistic. Every nation had their own God. And so when the Philistines fight the Israelites, it's the battle of their God versus the battle of the Israelite God. And so Goliath comes and he starts trash talking God. He defies God. He doesn't give God glory. And all the men even King saw. They're all afraid of the giant. And they hear him defying God. And they do nothing in this one zealous young person, see?

[00:39:12] He stands up and he says, are we going to let this guy talk about our God like that?

[00:39:18] Hey, I'm going to fight you, Goliath, because you've defied God. The garden not only of our army, but the God of the heavenly host of the angelic army. And he says this here in verse 46. This day, the Lord will deliver you Goliath into my hands and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day. I'll feed them to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth that all the Earth may know.

[00:39:47] Here's the point. Everybody who ever tells David and Goliath story. Here's where I want them to know that there is a God in Israel. I want everybody to know that the glory belongs to God and you don't mess with him and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. No, the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hand. I want everybody to know right now, everybody all over the Earth and everybody here, here in me right now that the glory belongs to God. And I get every man from anybody on it.

[00:40:21] So whole point.

[00:40:24] Because if you're a sinner and I'm a sinner and weren't, only way that any of us is doing anything good is by the grace of God. Then we got to make sure at the end of the day that God gets all of the credit.

[00:40:35] That's what we need to make sure. It's very important.

[00:40:40] Is your zeal about you doing things? Is your zeal about you being known as a man or woman of God as a as a strong spiritual person? Or is your zeal for the glory of God?

[00:40:51] That's something every Christian needs to ask themself here today. Am I really jealous that God is getting the glory? Or am I getting in the way of that? Am I corrupting the worship of God by putting myself in the middle of it? See?

[00:41:07] Got to be very careful about this, in fact, we've been having some new families coming to our church lately and and checking us out, and I had the privilege of talking to a couple just even yesterday here at our church. And they said they've been listening to these testimonies and the baptisms and they they had a concern. And I thought their concern was worth sharing with our entire congregation, that they kept hearing people say how great it was when they came to CompassHB Bible Church and they kept hearing that name. People seemed really excited about what was going on at the church. And in fact, even some people would shout out specific people that had helped them, that had mentored them, that had discipled them, and they were concerned that the church not get the glory, but that God alone, that the name of Jesus get the glory.

[00:41:54] I think that's a very valid concern for all of us to consider, if you're excited that God's brought you here to our church. If you're excited about other people that God put in your life who are showing you the truth and loving you. Well, if you want to praise the Lord for our church or praise the Lord for those people, that's great. Just make sure you're actually praising the Lord.

[00:42:13] Make sure you're actually giving him the glory because he's the one that's doing anything good through anybody here at this church.

[00:42:21] CompassHB Bible Church has not saved one person. Can I get a man from anybody on it? You haven't saved one person. Don't go talking about me like I've saved anybody or done anything around here because I don't deserve any credit.

[00:42:33] All right. Nobody here does. There's one name that we want to see lifted high. There's one name that we are zealous for his glory. And it bothers me when people don't give it to him. And that's the name of Jesus Christ. And I don't want this church to get corrupted by me. And I don't want it to get corrupted by you either. And that's something we should be praying for here at this church. The pure worship of Jesus will not get corrupted by us and are Sandpoint number two. Let's put it down like this. We need to get zealous. God gets the glory. We need to get zealous. That God gets the glory, a right kind of jealousy. That people are not worshiping God, their creator, as they ought to, and turning to him in their sin for their salvation.

[00:43:25] And Jesus is getting a whip and he's chasing people out of the temple. Jay David is getting a stone and he's slinging it at the Giants head. What are you doing? Because you are zealous for the glory of God.

[00:43:39] That's a real kind of zeal that all of us need to have. Go back to John Chapter two, and we can see that we need to make a comment here. I believe that there is a very specific kind of corruption. Corruption comes in the worship of God. You know, people don't like religion because it's so filled with hypocrisy. And religion is just man's way of getting to God. And and it brings the sin into the worship and it ruins the whole thing. That's why people are getting tired of church, tired of religion, because they've had enough of the faintness, enough of the sin being brought into the worship of God.

[00:44:17] And there's one resounding complaint that comes against churches all the time, and it's what Jesus says here in verse 16, he told those who sold the pigeons, they get those birds out of here, take these things away. Do not make my father's house a house. So what does he say? They're a house of trade. Don't turn the temple into a market, is what he's saying.

[00:44:43] What do people hate about churches? As I was going into this church and I thought it was cool for a while, and then I realized they were all about what?

[00:44:50] People don't like churches because they're all about money.

[00:44:55] OK, now we try not to make a big deal about money here at our church. We do take an offering every Sunday morning and we do sometimes comment about that. I know some of you give to the church online and we sometimes comment about that, but we try not to make it a centerpiece and bring it in here to the worship. You're never going to see thermometer's here at CompassHB Bible Church talking about how much money we've raised for this next project. So that's something I would ask every single person to pray for here at this church is that this church will never be corrupted by money. I would appreciate every single person praying about that. And we have a system setup in place where we try to be very careful about that. We have a board of pastors from the CompassHB Bible Church that planted us here. And they are overseeing every single line item of our budget, including the salary of everybody here who is on staff. There is not a dollar spent that is not talked about in these meetings that we have at the board here at this church. So we do have a system of checks and balances to make sure that this church doesn't get corrupted by money, that our best intent, at least. But I would really appreciate your prayers that that would never become the issue. I appreciate those of you who give. I mean, obviously, we'll get to texts that will lead us to talk about money and even giving to the church from time to time. We can't do the things we do here at this church without money. So it is I mean, many people have. God has provided through the giving of his people here at this church so that we don't want or need anything here at this church. So praise the Lord and give him the glory for that. But it is money that is at the heart here. But the fact that the selling of these things is not in the market, but it's in the temple. That is the core problem that has Jesus whipping people out of there is money has become in a place where it should not be in the worship of God. So let's all take that to heart and let's pray that for our church that we'll be about sinners coming to worship a holy God in the name of Jesus and money will never get in the way. And the Jews here ask Jesus in response to this, driving out of the temple and overturning the tables. They ask him one of the dumbest questions you could ask. Verse 18 right here. And this is a typical response of the Jews. They said to him, what sign do you show us for doing these things? Now, to me, it was more of a sign. Do you need the guy just grabbed a whip and chased everybody out of that. I mean that to me, that sounds pretty impressive. I mean, a pretty powerful display of who Jesus is right there. I mean, people are grabbing the birds and run. And what more do you need here about it? Just a statement of disbelief. It's a statement. And it's kind of hypocritical position here, because if Jesus was just a crazy guy in the temple, well, why didn't they arrest him? If he was just a guy raising up a ruckus, a public disturbance of the peace?

[00:47:59] Well, they could've just thrown him in jail. So if they really need a sign, he's clearly somebody that they're not carrying him away.

[00:48:07] But then they want to act like they don't accept him. They don't want to believe in him. And so they say, give us a sign. Maybe it's even a more honest position than those who will claim to believe in him, but really don't. These guys are just saying, hey, we don't believe you haven't convinced us yet. Where is the sign?

[00:48:24] And Jesus, his answer here is mind blowing. It's it's a hard statement even for them to understand. Look at verse 19 Jesus. Answer them, destroy this temple. And in three days I will raise it up.

[00:48:38] They say, well, basically, who are you to drive us all out of the temple? And his response is, hey, you destroy this temple, I'll raise it again in three days.

[00:48:47] Now, if you know anything about the temple, if you've ever seen pictures of it, maybe in the back of a Bible, or maybe you could search online and just get a glimpse of what the temple was like. The idea that someone could build the temple in three days is absolutely mind blowing. It just does not compute.

[00:49:03] I mean, when you read about Solomon originally building the temple, it was a massive undertaking. And then the temple was destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. and there was the exile of the people. And when they came back, man, rebuilding the temple was a long process. And then now here in the time of Jesus, Herod has decided to do some reconstruction on the temple. And it's a process that's been going on for forty six years.

[00:49:34] And if you do ever get to go to Jerusalem, even today when all that's left of the temple is the Wailing Wall there, you just get this impression of how massive it must have been. And the Stones, you can even go underground and you can see some of the foundation stones that make up the temple. And you're just thinking, how did they even get rock to be that big? It's just absolutely amazing, the foundation of this temple. And for Jesus to say he's going to rebuild it in three days, nobody understands what he's saying. And they're just blown away and they just ask a question, they're incredulous and and nobody gets it. In fact, John even points out that even the disciples didn't fully understand what Jesus was saying there until much later than that moment. And this is the same answer that Jesus gives every single time someone says, show us a sign. He always gives the same answer. Go to Matthew Chapter twelve, turn over to Matthew. Just a few books over the beginning of our New Testament, another gospel of Jesus. Here, look at Matthew. Chapter twelve. Please turn there and look at verse.

[00:50:42] Verse 38. With me. Let's start there.

[00:50:45] Here's another occasion where the religious leaders of the of the Jews, they come and ask Jesus for the same thing. Show us a sign. So that will believe in you. This is Matthew. Twelve thirty eight page eight hundred and seventeen. If you got one of our Bibles, then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him saying, Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you. You want us to believe in you. Show us a sign. Prove it to me, they say. And here's Jesus his answer, but he answered them, an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign. There he is again. What is he calling people? Evil, OK. Evil people you want to sign.

[00:51:25] And that's what he says.

[00:51:27] Well, no sign will be given to it except for the sign of the prophet Jonah. Now, we actually went through the book of Jonah this summer. Anybody here for that? Anybody remember? We went through the book, Jonah. And the first thing that everybody knows about Jonah is the guy got swallowed by a great fish or something.

[00:51:44] You said, well, there's a lot of debate about that, right. Because it's like the most interesting thing that happens in the book, a guy gets eaten by some underwater sea creature. Not not sure who it is. Very intriguing. And then he lives. So we learned that wasn't the most important part.

[00:51:59] In fact, look what Jesus says right here in verse forty four, just as Jonah was. Here's actually the significance of being in the great fish as he was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish. So will the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth?

[00:52:18] So what was the point of the story of Jonah? Well, the guy was in the fish for three days and then he came up destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in three days. What is Jesus say? You want to see a sign. You don't believe in me. Well, I'll show you a site. I'm going to die. And guess what I'm going to do on the third day. I'm going to rise again. How's that? You want to believe that?

[00:52:39] That's what he's saying. You want to see something? Well, after I'm gone. Count him and I'll be back. That's what he's saying. That's his prophecy about himself. That's the temple he's referring to is himself saying you saying the whole point of the story of Jonah is not the fish.

[00:52:57] It's the number of days. Pay attention to that and you'll see a sign, because on the third day, Jesus Christ came back from the dead. That's the foundation. That's the stone that we are building our faith on.

[00:53:11] It's the revelation of who Jesus is, that he's God who died for our sins and rose again. Anybody want to shout a man right now? That's what we believe in here. That's what saves us, is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. See?

[00:53:27] I declare myself a sinner. I admit I'll never be good. No matter how hard I try, because I am corrupted from the inside out. But there was one who lived a perfectly good life. And then when he was wrongly killed on the third day, that's actually the first day of the week, Sunday morning, which is why we do church on Sunday morning, because that's the morning. It was the third morning that he rose from the Dead Sea.

[00:53:52] And that's what he said he would do when they didn't believe him, when he was so upset because they were corrupting the pure worship of God, that he ran him out of the temple and they demanded a sign. He said, You want to see a sign. Look to the third day.

[00:54:04] See and look for me, risen from the dead. And believe in me. And then you will have life.

[00:54:10] Declare yourself a sinner and put your faith in Jesus, and he will forgive you for all of your sin. In fact, he will give you a new heart. He will put his spirit within you. He will make you a new creation. And it will be like you die to your sinful self the way you were born. And you've risen again to a whole new life in Jesus Christ. Come back Wednesday night. That's what we're gonna hear. Jesus say, if you want to go to heaven, you must be born again because you were born in sin one time and no sinner is going into the presence of God.

[00:54:41] Make no mistake. God is not okay with our sin, no matter what anyone has told you. You are not good enough to go to heaven. No, you have to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

[00:54:53] Go to Ax Chapter 17 and you'll see this year in Acts Chapter 17 as Paul speaks to a group of people who didn't go to church, who maybe didn't even know the Old Testament. And he tries to give them the message in the most simplest and straightforward way, yet still so profound. And this is Act 17, verse 30. And this is a command for all people everywhere, every single sinner, including you and including me. Here's what he says. The times of ignorance got overlooked. But now God commands all people everywhere to repent. Everybody's gotta declare themself a sinner and turn to God because he has fixed today on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man he has appointed. In fact, you should put your trust in this man. You should believe in this man.

[00:55:43] And of this he has given assurance. Why should you believe in him? He has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.

[00:55:52] You're looking for somebody to believe in. How about the one who came back from death and offers you his new life? That's who you should believe in.

[00:56:01] That's the command for all people. Summarize there for us. Act 17. Thirty to thirty one and Jesus. It must have been such an awkward scene. It must have made sense to nobody. He drives everybody out of the temple with the whip and the crowd gathers and they're like, she will show us a sign. Who are you? Why did you do that? And he says, destroy this temple. And in three days, I'll raise it up. And everybody's scratching their heads and nobody gets it. And they go on hating Jesus and eventually they don't like what he's doing. So they kill Jesus. In fact, one of the false accusations at the trial of Jesus, you can write this down. Matthew, 26, verse 61. One of the things they use at his trial when they're going to kill him is they say this man said he would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, which is not what he said. He said destroy this temple and I'll rebuild it in three days. They misquoted him and said he said he would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days. That was one of their false accusations against Jesus when they wanted him dead. And nobody understood until on the third day when he rose. All of a sudden, the gospel of John come at the Apostle. He gets it. And he says, and I believed on that day when I remembered. Confused for years. And then all of a sudden, I remembered what Jesus said and I believed if you go back to John Chapter two, he says, I believed the scripture and the word that Jesus spoke. I believe what Jesus said on that day. And I even believe the scripture, the Old Testament writings that prophesied that Jesus would rise again. See, Jesus wasn't the only one calling it before it ever happened. Jesus said on many different occasions that he would rise on the third day. Well, even before Jesus, thousands of years before Jesus, there are prophecies that he would rise from the dead, that he was the special one who came from God. And John says on that day when I saw Jesus rise, I believed the scriptures. I saw the sign of his resurrection. And I believe that it's in the scripture where I would find this life of Jesus Christ. Now, the most famous, the most quoted prophecy that Jesus would rise from the dead in the Old Testament is Psalm 16. So I want everybody to grab a Bible right now and turn to Psalm 16, because if you need to know one prophecy about the resurrection of Jesus from the Old Testament, it's this one. And again, it's written by David. And David wrote this approximately one thousand years before Jesus even came on the scene. And this is quoted throughout the New Testament.

[00:58:46] As a prophecy, a thousand years beforehand, we would know Jesus was God and we should believe in him based on his resurrection, it says here in Psalm 16, verse eight. I have said the Lord always before me, and I'm living for him now.

[00:59:01] I've turned from my ways and I'm following him because he has at my right hand because he is with me. I shall not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my whole being rejoice is my flesh also to all secure even my physical body. I'm not afraid of death. I'm not afraid of what's going to happen to me. I feel safe for you will not abandon my soul to she'll now she always the the way in the Old Testament they would say the place of the dead.

[00:59:29] David has this confidence that even if he were to die, his soul would not stay in the place of the dead. Why? Here's the key phrase. Or you will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your holy one see corruption. Who do we think the holy one is here?

[00:59:46] Anybody want to shout his name? Jesus Christ. He's not going to see corruption. What? That's so interesting.

[00:59:53] It's such an amazing phrase that in so little says so much. So David is clearly referring to death. He's talking about his flesh resting, secure. And when he dies, he knows even though his body is going to be put into the tomb and it's going to decompose, he knows his soul is not going to go to the place of dead because the holy one will not see corruption as in the holy one will die.

[01:00:20] But his body will not start decomposing. His body will not start rotting. His body will not go back to dust. No, there's going to be one, the holy one who will die. But he won't be corrupted.

[01:00:34] He's actually going to defeat death. He's actually going to overcome sin. He will actually win the victory for Satan once and for all. And he prophesies it a thousand years before it ever happens that a holy one will overcome death.

[01:00:50] And then he says this based on his faith in that future resurrection of Jesus. He says, You make known to me the path of life, man. I can see a way to your presence, God. And in your presence, there is fullness of joy. And at your right hands are pleasures. Forever more for all of us who put our faith in Jesus Christ. Someday we will experience a worship of God without corruption. You will not have any more inclination to sin inside of you at all. Something you have never known.

[01:01:25] We'll be actually you will be made like Christ. And there will be no desire to say, think or do evil because you will no longer be evil and you will be in an environment where nothing evil will be allowed in. Nothing impure will ever enter the presence of the holy one and the enemy will be cast into the lake of fire. Who's been working all this evil? You will not be evil.

[01:01:50] You won't be in an evil environment. There won't be forces of evil working towards that end. It will be completely perfect.

[01:01:59] And you will worship God in the splendor of his glory. That is what it promises that you will share in the life of God through his son, Jesus Christ. And you will worship him. Finally, for the first time in your life, in a place with a group of people and in your own heart, completely uncorrupted by sin, that's coming for every single person here. Every sinner saved by that amazing grace. Well, let's give all the glory to God, and it's through his resurrection saying that he makes dead people alive. People who are lost in sin are found. People like you who were born wrong are made right in Jesus. Do you believe that here this morning? Does everybody here believe that? Have you declared that you're a sinner? Have you found this new life? See, for years, I worked with young people. All right. So many people have told me over the years that they have a good kid at their house. No, you don't have a good kid at your house. And we made that clear here today. Right. Oh, my kids. One of the good kids.

[01:02:57] No. No, they're not.

[01:03:00] I mean, I got I worked with high schoolers for over 12 years. Now, I got so immersed into the world of high school and I could say that because they're having their own service right now. I got so immersed in the world of high school, I began to view them as normal people. That's how into it I was. I mean, some people would say, well, you're always working with high schoolers like, oh, that must be kind of weird for you. And I didn't I literally could not relate to what they were saying because I was so into the young people.

[01:03:26] And what you see happens in high school, maybe eighth grade, when somebody really starts becoming of age, when they start going through what we call adolescence, when they start to become their own man or woman for the first time in their life. That evil that has been lurking in them since the beginning is now able to manifest itself, that they can start making adult choices and they can do whatever they want.

[01:03:47] And it doesn't get pretty and it doesn't look nice. No, it's war at home and it's seen on Friday night and it's all kinds of destruction and torn apart relationships.

[01:03:59] And here I am trying to prevent it all from happening. If these young people could just experience the resurrection of Jesus, they won't have to live a life of continued sin and destruction. And I'm thinking, won't it be great if they could be spared from that?

[01:04:12] So we started reaching out to these young people and we would do these outreaches on the campuses of the high schools and we would bribe everybody to come with free food. It was very it was very effective. Free pizza, lunch for everybody.

[01:04:24] A crowd gathers and we preach to him the good news of Jesus in no. But very few people could believe what we were saying because they had all been lied to from day one, that they were good kids.

[01:04:38] And the educational system was designed to make them skeptics of anything that would cause them to question themselves, because above all, the virtue that we uphold in the high schools of Orange County is self-esteem.

[01:04:54] And so they will not believe in the good news of Jesus.

[01:04:58] Because they could not see themself as evil and therefore not needed, no salvation from any one, many young people destroying their lives with their own sin, thinking they're fine because that's what their teacher told them.

[01:05:13] And my heart would break for these young people.

[01:05:16] And I remember one day I was walking down the hall of a high school and overpopulated high school. And it's in between classes and everybody's slam in their locker. And there's so many students at this school. They got these little square lockers slammed on top of each other and everybody's trying to get their books out for their next class. And I was looking at these kids at their lockers and it made me think of a mortuary where they put all the dead bodies in these little boxes. Maybe you've seen that in a movie where somebody comes and they they pull it out and they unzip the thing. Is this so and so? Is this your loved one that died? And I'm seeing all these dead souls lost in sin.

[01:05:54] And I'm thinking, God, who could raise these young people to life? Who could give centers like this a chance to be in your presence and to worship you, only Jesus Christ can do that. Please help. Dead people come to life just like Jesus did, when did you come to life? When did you find out you were dead?

[01:06:16] You were lost and Jesus made you alive. You said on the third day he would rise and he did. And everyone will see Jesus Christ. And I hope when you see him, your sin will have been forgiven and you'll have the new life that he offers until we thought it would be appropriate here today to worship Jesus by taking communion. And someone asked the ushers to come forward and we're going to pass the elements. And point number three, because I know you want that before you fold up your notes. Praise Jesus for your new life through his resurrection. Man, if there's one thing we should go out to here today as evil peoples pray, praise the Lord for us that we've been given a new heart and a new life. And that's because Jesus rose from the dead.

[01:07:02] And I hope everybody here can do number three. I hope everybody here can praise Jesus because you've declared yourself a sinner and you've had new life. And so I just think as we take communion here, as we consider that Jesus said his body is the temple. That brings us into the perfect presence of God if there is sin in your life.

[01:07:21] I would encourage you during this time as we sing this next song to confess that sin and to own it before God and to make yourself right, as you remember, that Jesus shed his blood to pay for your sin, and he sacrificed his body so that you could have his righteousness, so that you could have his life. Jesus died for our sin so that we might no longer live in it. So let's make sure we've confessed our sin before the Lord. And if you've never really confessed sin before, if you've never agreed with God, not just that you've done bad things, but that you are a sinner before him. Then I would encourage you just let these elements pass. You don't need the symbol. Of the death of Jesus, you need the real death of Jesus here this morning. We take these elements to remember that Jesus died for us and to thank him. Well, if you've never done that before, then I want to encourage you during this time right now. Now is the time to tell God you agree. That you are evil and you want this new life in Jesus Christ. You want to be saved and now you if you're convicted of your sin. If you're here in this sermon, don't leave here and go on with your life. I beg of you, I plead with you right now if you can hear my voice. And you know you are a sinner. Call out to God and ask him to save you during this time.

[01:08:41] And so let me pray as we get into this time of communion.

[01:08:43] God, we we just thank you so much. If there was a way to you and we were supposed to go there, we would always corrupt it every single time. God, we would ruin your worship because of our sin. We confess that. If you gave us a temple and you told us everything to do, we would break the rules every time because of the sin within us. So, God, we thank you that Jesus is the temple, that it's his body that he offered on that tree. It's at the cross where he shed his blood.

[01:09:16] That's where he paid for our St..

[01:09:19] And then on the third day when he rose, he offers to us now all who will believe in him. A life of complete forgiveness for sin.

[01:09:30] And we just want to thank you here. And God, we pray that every single heart really could praise Jesus as they live. Leave this place today. And so thank you for this time of communion, we pray this in Jesus name a man. When you get that cup and you get that bread, just hold it and we'll take of it all together after this song.

[01:10:05] Send my sister.

[01:10:09] We'll need. Dead mice.

[01:10:17] And who would he? Devalued. That's.

[01:10:25] Good first surge, which is to cross the cross where I first saw the light and the food in my heart rule do.

[01:10:51] It was by fate.

[01:10:55] I received my side.

[01:11:00] Now I am happy. The.

[01:11:18] Borzi. For crimes.

[01:11:23] I left. He groaned to me.

[01:11:35] Using T. T.

[01:11:41] And the two agree to cross the cross.

[01:11:52] When I first saw it and put in my high Rodo.

[01:12:04] It was by me.

[01:12:08] I received my say, and now I am happy that.

[01:12:23] Had the SAT, the cross where I first saw the night hand, the mood in my heart. Oh, no.

[01:12:39] Here it was five.

[01:12:45] Hi, received my eyes. Now I am happy all the.

[01:13:25] As we take these elements together, we are declaring. That we will once lost in sin, but it is because Jesus died and rose again that we can have a new life. Let's take these together. We come before you as a church. Now. And we say that no one here will ever get the glory for their salvation and that it all belongs to you, God. And we come back as sinners. We thank you so much. That you would send your son, that he would die for us and that he would rise again, and that by faith in him, we have a new life. God. And so let us have a great time today praising Jesus and thanking him.

[01:14:16] We pray this in his name. A man.