It's Time To Clean Up

Matthew 21:10-16 9/21/25 a.m.

I remember as a kid there were many times that my mama would tell me and my brother, “You two need to clean your room.” And ... she was right. It looked like a pig stye. It was mostly my brother Mike’s stuff.

And now as a daddy I’ve told my kids, “You need to clean your room.” And I’m right too. Now listen, you all think I’m mean to Rachel for teasing her so much. Well, if you notice, I didn’t use her as an example today. No, I know the boundaries. Plus, she’s a good house keeper. She keeps a nice tidy house. ILLUS: She’s not like the story I heard about a college fraternity house. They got a PIG to use as a PRANK but they had to keep it somewhere until the next day. So one of the boys said, “Well I can keep it in my room.” Somebody asked him, “Well, what about the smell?” And the FRAT BOY said, “Oh, I don’t think it will hurt that OLD PIG, he’ll get used to it.”

This morning, I want to take a few minutes and talk to you about CLEANING HOUSE. And so before we go any further let’s read from the Book of Matthew. Chapter 21 and we’ll read Verses 10-16.

“And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?

11 And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.

12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,

13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.

15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the son of David; they were sore displeased,

16 And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?”

We see here that Jesus was walking into this beautiful temple that was built when the Nation of Judah returned from Babylonian captivity. It was completed in 516 B.C. And so for many years it had stood there, a place for people to come and go. A place for people to offer sacrifices unto God. A place to worship. A place where God had, at one time, dwelt. In Ezra Chapter 6, we see the DEDICATION of this temple. We see that the Priests and Levites were PURIFIED. And because of that, the FEAST of the PASSOVER was able to be kept. Things were good but through the years SOMETHING had happened.

And so that’s what we’re going to look at today but before we do, let’s pray.

Brother ____, would you lead us?

From the time that I was a little boy, I have always loved this story. I have envisioned it in my mind. Jesus coming in to the temple and seeing the Money Changers ripping the people off.

You see, in the days of Jesus, the temple tax was required to be paid with a Tyrian shekel, or a half-shekel version known as a didrachm. The Jerusalem temple authorities were strict about this, and other currencies were not accepted. You couldn’t pay the Temple Tax with a Roman Denarius. The reason why was because the Tyrian coins' had a high silver purity whereas the Roman Denarius weren’t near as pure.

And so the people were paid at their jobs with the Roman Denarius but they had to exchange those for a Tyrian Shekel or half shekel. And so the people would bring their Roman money into the temple and exchange them for Shekels. The problem was, the money changers were ripping the people off. They weren’t giving them the FULL VALUE of the Roman money for the shekels. And this made Jesus angry.

There were also people SELLING DOVES to be offered for sacrifices. They were probably overcharging the people.

And so, like I said, I have envisioned Jesus going in and taking action. In John 2 it gives us the same story but adds one detail. Jesus used a WHIP to drive them out.

I LOVE THAT. Jesus a man of action. Taking care of business. He’s BRAVE and BOLD.

And so Jesus comes in to the temple and He sees the CORRUPTION.

You know, that’s the way it was approximately 2000 years ago. But shortly things would change. You see, no longer would PRIESTS be required. No longer would the people need to offer sacrifices. No longer would the temple be a place for God to dwell. EVERYTHING CHANGED when Jesus died on the Cross of Calvary. HE!!! was the Final Sacrifice. HE!!! is our intercessor. And our BODIES are where HE dwells!!! Paul told the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 6:19 and 20,