019 The Zeal of Jesus
Mark 11:1-18
August 2, 2015
A RECENT EMAIL I RECEIVED:
Good evening!
I just had a couple of questions that have been weighing on my mind; and maybe even just more of a vent… I listen to about 10 of your sermon’s a week for personal bible study so I feel like you are practically a fixture in my family (HA)
I have completed Genesis, almost finished with Kings, beginning Psalm 109 and simultaneously studying Hebrews with you guys and the book of James (because my Wednesday night bible study is studying James). And I find the more I dig into the bible with these studies, the more righteous indignation I feel. Not towards you, but towards the way I [begin] to view the world. While James is certainly putting this [indignation in] me, I feel like the study of the Kings has done it the most. The Holy Spirit has really laid into me in Kings to say, more or less, “There is only one God, he is a righteous God, a holy God and the only way to please Him is Jesus Christ” or maybe “Keep God first”.
[Anyway], the more and more I study I find myself in more instances where I feel absolute anger towards the world and in some instances, towards people who pervert the word of God.
I have a cousin who is a lesbian and her and her partner claim Christ and Christianity in their lives. [A recent] picture on facebook about sin [brought] an outburst from them [saying] “why are we so focused on sin when we should just be focused on Jesus”. And when I hear things like this, I never respond…but I do burn with righteous indignation. It reminds me of the Kings who thought the high places were no big deal. Or it reminds me of the book of James where he says to be DOERS of the word and not merely hearers. And it reminds me of Jesus saying that if you DO what He says then you are truly His disciples.
I do believe that the grace of Jesus Christ covers all sin. But can you truly be a believer in Christ if you refuse to [do] what the word of God teaches? Granted, we all fall short and we all sin at times…but homosexuality in a marriage relationship day in and day out is like daily crucifying Christ in my eyes. Can a couple who claims Jesus Christ in their life be covered by the grace of God while still daily living in sin? I just don’t know…and the spirit inside me will not allow me to validate them no matter how much they try to validate themselves to me. In my opinion according to scripture, unless they truly REPENT of their sin and turn to Christ completely…they are doomed for judgment.
In addition to my cousin who clings to sin and claims Christ, I find myself running into other “Christians” who, honestly, spew heresy. In my Wednesday night bible study I heard a lady say that she didn’t believe that God gave us trials to mature our faith. She said that we created our own trials and God just helps us out of them. And at the same bible study I heard a different lady say that the only people going to heaven were those that kept all 10 commandments and the Jewish feasts.
And while unsaved sinners surely break my heart…my heart is breaking more at the people who claim Christ and the holy bible and then pervert the word as such. The bible says there will come a day when people search for truth and Jesus and they will not even be able to find it and sometimes I am really worried that day is here. I feel myself having to be a filter more and more instead of a sponge in God’s house. Less and less is justified by scripture and more and more is just meant to pat you on the back.
How do you deal with this righteous indignation, because I know you must feel it at times, especially being a pastor. Heck, I feel it quite often and I am just a young lady member. And how as a woman in Christshould I respond to such feelings and…well…LIES! My heart aches for the Christians who will wake up one day to find themselves in hell instead of with God.
ZEAL IS NOT A BAD THING
Zeal – “Eagerness; enthusiasm; ardor; fervor”
Zealot – “One who is zealous, esp. to a fanatic degree.”
OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS
John the Baptist
Matthew 3:7-10 “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. “The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 20:9 “But if I say, “I will not remember Him Or speak anymore in His name,” Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; And I am weary of holding it in, And I cannot endure it.”
Samuel
1 Samuel 15:33 “But Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hewed Agag to pieces before the LORD at Gilgal.”
NEW TESTAMENT APOSTLES
Peter with Simon the Magician
Acts 8:20-23 “But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! “You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. “Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. “For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.”
Paul with the blaspheming Jews of Corinth (or Pisidian Antioch or Rome)
Acts 18:5-6 “But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
Paul with the legalistic Galatians:
Galatians 4:19-20 “My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you — but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.”
Jude talking about the men who crept in unnoticed:
Jude 11-13 “Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.”
John talking about traveling preachers with bad doctrine:
2 John 10-11 “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.”
Paul with the “so-called brother” living in immorality:
1 Corinthians 5:11 “But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler — not even to eat with such a one.”
ZEAL IS NOT A BAD THING!!!
C.H. Spurgeon, “If you never have sleepless hours, if you never have weeping eyes, if your hearts never swell as if they would burst, you need not anticipate that you will be called zealous. You do not know the beginning of true zeal, for the foundation of Christian zeal lies in the heart. The heart must be heavy with grief and yet must beat high with holy ardor. The heart must be vehement in desire, panting continually for God’s glory, or else we shall never attain to anything like the zeal which God would have us know.”
AND JESUS HAD AS MUCH PASSION OR ZEAL OR FERVOR AS ALL OF THEM PUT TOGETHER!
When He came down from being transfigured:
Matthew 17:17 “And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.”
When He was confronted by a crowd only wanting miracles:
Mark 7:34 “and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!”
Or a crowd only wanting a sign:
Mark 8:12 “Sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, “Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
Listen to Jesus in Luke 11 while eating at a Pharisees house:
Luke 11:39-52 “But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness. “You foolish ones, did not He who made the outside make the inside also? “But give that which is within as charity, and then all things are clean for you. “But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. “Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the chief seats in the synagogues and the respectful greetings in the market places. “Woe to you! For you are like concealed tombs, and the people who walk over them are unaware of it.” One of the lawyers said to Him in reply, “Teacher, when You say this, You insult us too.” But He said, “Woe to you lawyers as well! For you weigh men down with burdens hard to bear, while you yourselves will not even touch the burdens with one of your fingers. “Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. “So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs. “For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘ I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute, so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.’ “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.”
Remember Him outside the tomb of Lazarus after so many questioned His power?
John 11:33 “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled,”
JESUS WAS FULL OF ZEAL
BUT NO PLACE DO WE SEE THAT BETTER THAN MARK 11
#1 THE APPROACH – Mark 11:1-10
#2 THE ASSESSMENT – Mark 11:11
#3 THE ANNOUNCEMENT – Mark 11:12-14
#4 THE ATTACK – Mark 11:15-18
“He entered the temple”
“began to drive out”
“overturned tables”
“He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise”
John adds:
John 2:15-17 “And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME.”
It was no longer the temple, the place of worship
They had made the house of God a robber’s den (hideout for thieves) and He couldn’t take it.
JESUS FULFILLED JEREMIAH 7
(TURN TO: JEREMIAH 7:1-16)
SO FRIENDS IF YOU LACK ZEAL,
THEN YOU HAVE REASON TO QUESTION WHETHER THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST IS IN YOU OR NOT
JESUS WAS ZEALOUS!
APPLICATION:
We know the warnings:
Ephesians 4:26 “BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger,”
We know we’ll never get entirely away from sinners:
1 Corinthians 5:9-10 “I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world.”
WHEN DO I BRING OUT THE WHIP?
First, is it fair to say that Jesus only brought out the whip on the religious? (that’s true)
Not everyone Jesus confronted was saved, but they all claimed to be. Furthermore they sought to lead others.
I would also remind that there are some people who simply won’t hear what you have to say.
Matthew 7:6 “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”
BUT BEYOND THAT, WHEN IS IT TIME TO TURN OVER THE TABLES?
(Let me show you when men of God did it)
3 QUESTIONS:
1) DOES IT DISTORT THE GOSPEL?The gospel is the means of salvation, without it sinners will never be saved, it must be preserved.
- Galatians 1:6-9 “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!”
- Galatians 2:14 “But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
- 2 John 11 “for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.”
2) DOES IT DISHONOR GOD?God is the savior deserving of glory, but beyond that a misrepresentation of Him hinders salvation.
- That is why Jesus cleared the temple – they made God look like a friend of the corrupt.
- Romans 2:17-24 “But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,” just as it is written.”
3) DOES IT DISTURB THE CHURCH?The church is the pillar and support of the truth and also the bride of Christ. Her purity must be preserved and we must not allow things that discourage her sanctification or threaten future generations.
- Galatians 5:12 “I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves.”
- 1 Corinthians 5:5-8 “I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
- This is why Peter was so angry at Simon the Magician, he wanted to be a preacher of God’s people.
BE ZEALOUS LIKE JESUS!
