God's Help for Hard-hearted People
The Gospel of John
John 2:12-25
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - May 11, 2016
(Revised June 28, 2019)
*Have you ever been hard hearted toward God? That spiritual madness has been spreading like wildfire over the last few decades. And I know something about this, because from the time I was about 16 until the age of 22, I was very hard-hearted toward God. I was a very skeptical, extremely liberal atheist.
*I was a card-carrying member of the ACLU, and I was cynical. Mostly I was cynical about God. I thought that Jesus was just an ordinary man or a myth like Zeus or Apollo. I was convinced that Christianity was just a man-made crutch for weak people to lean on in life.
*Then in 1973, God led me out to Louisiana in a miraculous way, and in 1975, by the grace of God, my co-worker Georgia Savoie invited me to church, and I got saved! God had been patiently at work on my heart for several years, and I gladly trusted in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. But I had been very hard hearted toward the Lord. I sadly remember inviting Christian witnesses into our home, just so I could ask them questions I knew they couldn't answer.
*Here in John chapter 2, the Apostle spoke about some other hard-hearted people, some of the most hard-hearted people who ever lived. They were "the Jews" who questioned John the Baptist back in John 1:19-28.
*In today's Scripture, they began to question Jesus. In vs. 18, John again called them "the Jews," but He obviously did not mean all of the Jews. After all, the Apostle John was a Jew, Jesus Himself was a Jew, and so were all of His followers in the beginning. When John speaks of "the Jews" in this context, he is talking about the hard-hearted religious rulers of the Jews, the scribes, chief priests and Pharisees who hatefully rejected Jesus Christ. (1)
*By the time we get to John 5, these Jews will be plotting to kill Jesus. And the tragic truth is that most of them were so hard-hearted toward the Lord that they refused to believe in Jesus, and they are lost in hell forever.
*But there is hope for the hard-hearted people still alive today. There is help for them from our God. We know this because 1 Timothy 2:3-6 tells us that "God our Savior desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."
*Our God can change the hardest hearts. In Ezekiel 11:19-20, the LORD said:
19. "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh,
20. that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
*Then in Ezekiel 36:26-27, the Lord made another promise:
26. "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
27. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
*Our God can change the hardest hearts, and tonight's Scripture helps us understand how.
1. FIRST GOD SHOWS US THE HARM THAT COMES FROM HARD-HEARTED PEOPLE.
*We can see it in the way Passover came to be abused by these corrupt leaders. Many of us know the background of the Passover from the Book of Exodus. When the Lord first called Moses, God foretold that Pharaoh would resist letting the people go, so God promised to send terrible judgments on Egypt.
*In Exodus 3:18-20, the LORD said to Moses:
18. . . . "You shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt; and you shall say to him, 'The LORD God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now, please, let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.'
19. I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand.
20. So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go."
*Those wonders came in the form of ten terrible plagues that God sent on Egypt: Water turned to blood, then plagues of frogs, lice, flies, severe pestilence on their animals, boils, hail, locusts, and darkness.
*The LORD had already sent nine plagues to curse the land of Egypt, and now that last and worst plague was about to come: All of the first-born in Egypt were about to die, except those protected by the blood of the Passover lambs.
*In Exodus 12, the LORD gave instructions to Moses and Aaron. And here is part of what God said:
3. "Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: 'On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.
5. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
6. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.
7. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.
12. For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
13. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt."
*Passover was a night of terror, screams and death for those on the outside. But it was a night of worship, thanksgiving and salvation for every home covered by the blood. As one preacher said: "The family inside could not see the blood. But they had faith that God would save them because of the blood." (2)
*That was how Passover started, and God commanded the Jews to sacredly observe the Passover every year. But by Jesus' day, it had been corrupted by Jewish rulers. Yes, Passover was still an awesome physical sight. One source estimated that 3 million people were in Jerusalem for Passover. Maybe 250,000 lambs were slain every year. And it was still a spiritual experience for most people, but Passover had been corrupted by the religious leaders.
*John Phillips gave this important background: "The entire Temple area of that day included 19 acres, and this area was divided into 4 courts. Coming in from the east and moving toward the sanctuary, a visitor would pass through the court of the gentiles, then the court of the women, the court of Israel, and the court of the priests.
*Oxen, sheep and doves were the creatures generally used in offering sacrifices. The temple authorities had decided that it would be convenient to have a cattle market close to the altar. And with their extreme contempt for gentiles, the rulers decided that the court of the gentiles was a good place to do business. Doubtless the authorities got a percentage of the profits.
*Many Jews also chose Passover as the time to pay the annual half-shekel offering required for maintenance of the temple. Obviously, no coins bearing the image of the Roman emperor or any other pagan symbol could be paid into the temple treasury, so there was a large, very profitable business to change foreign money into Jewish coins. Naturally, this money changing was an open door to greed and profiteering. And again, the corrupt leaders chose the court of the gentiles for this business. Passover in this Scripture is a strong example of how far things can slide from the way God wants them to be. (3)
2. HERE GOD SHOWS US THE HARM THAT COMES FROM HARD-HEARTED PEOPLE. HE ALSO SHOWS US SOME OF THE HABITS OF HARD-HEARTED PEOPLE.
[1] ONE BAD HABIT IS A SELFISH DESIRE FOR CONVENIENCE.
*As John Phillip's said, "It would be convenient to have a cattle market adjacent to the altar." "Hey, let's keep that dirty mess out in the court of the gentiles!"
*An obsession for convenience: Getting all wrapped up in what makes things comfortable and cozy for me. It's the attitude that could say, "You know, I'm one of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet, as long as I get exactly what I want, when I want it." Or it might say, "I'd like to go to church, but Sunday's my only day off. Church is too long. The people aren't friendly. It's too hot, or it's too cold."
*Now don't get me wrong. I like my heat and AC as much as anybody. Convenience is good, and we are amazingly blessed compared to most people in the world today. Convenience is good. But when convenience gets more important than Christ, we've got a problem.
[2] HARD-HEARTED PEOPLE TEND TO BE OVERLY CONCERNED WITH CONVENIENCE. THEY ALSO TEND TO BE COLD TO THE SPIRITUAL NEEDS OF OTHERS.
*Put the cattle in the court of the gentiles. Who cares if their court smells like a barn yard? They're worthless gentiles!"
[3] HARD-HEARTED PEOPLE TEND TO BE COLD TO THE SPIRITUAL NEEDS OF OTHERS. THEY ALSO TEND TO BE CYNICAL.
*We can see a cynical attitude in the question the Jewish rulers asked the Lord after Jesus cleansed the temple. In vs. 18: The Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?'' In other words: "Who do you think you are, Jesus?"
*Now Jesus had already turned water into wine at the wedding in Cana. And vs. 23 tells us that when Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover, "many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did." So even early in His ministry, the Lord had begun to openly perform amazing miracles.
*But maybe this early in Christ's ministry the hard-hearted leaders didn't think Jesus could work miracles. So, they cynically asked for Jesus to prove Himself by giving them a sign. "Show us a sign! Show us a sign to prove you have God's authority to wreck our temple business."
*But Jesus Christ is not a genie in a bottle for us. All good things are possible for God, and all good things come from Him. But God is not under our command. We are under His command, or at least we should be.
*Sometimes as Christians we also want to put God to the test. "Show me a sign." But God has already given us all the signs we ever needed. That doesn't mean He won't give us more signs, and God definitely answers prayer. But it's good to know that if God never gave us another sign, we would already have all the proof we need!
[4] HARD-HEARTED PEOPLE TEND TO BE CYNICAL. THEY ALSO TEND TO BE CONCEITED.
*In vs. 19-20:
19. Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.''
20. Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?''
*In other words: "Hey, God: Look what we did! Think You can do better?" Thank the Lord we're not that conceited. But we do have a tendency to be self-sufficient and self-satisfied.
3. SO GOD SHOWS US SOME OF THE HABITS OF HARD-HEARTED PEOPLE. HE ALSO SHOWS THE HELP JESUS CAN GIVE TO HARD-HEARTED PEOPLE.
*God shows us His solution for hard hearts, and it's Him! Jesus Christ has the solution for all of our spiritual problems. In fact, Jesus is the solution for our spiritual problems. And Jesus will give us the help we need.
[1] ONE WAY THE LORD HELPS US IS THROUGH HIS CORRECTION.
*Verses 13-15 remind us of the Lord's correction:
13. Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
14. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers doing business.
15. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.
*The Lord knows how to use a whip! John Phillips explained that "the Lord's heart was moved at the sight of all this business in the temple. The place of prayer for all nations smelled like a barnyard. It sounded like a cattle yard, was filled with noisy commotion, and was the scene of many swindles. So Jesus made a whip of small cords to drive out the sheep, the oxen, and especially the men who had turned God's temple into a cattle yard. Then Jesus seized the tables of the money changers, and threw them upside down as the money changers scrambled after the rolling coins." (3)
*The Lord knows how to use a whip! And as hard as it may sound, our Heavenly Father knows how to chasten His children. We see this truth in Hebrews 12:5-7. There God's Word speaks to Christians and says:
5. . . You have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: "My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
6. For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.''
7. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?
*Then in Hebrews 12:9-11:
9. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?
10. For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.
11. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
[2] THE LORD'S HELP COMES TO US THROUGH HIS CORRECTION, AND THROUGH HIS DIRECTION.
*We see this truth in vs. 16, where Jesus said to those who sold doves: "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!''
*The Lord will always tell us what we need to do. We just have to wait on Him in faith, and listen.
[3] THE LORD'S HELP COMES TO US THROUGH HIS DIRECTION, AND MOST OF ALL THROUGH HIS CRUCIFIXION.
*The help for all of our spiritual problems comes through the cross of Jesus Christ! And in vs. 18-21, the Lord talked about His crucifixion:
18. So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?''
19. Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.''
20. Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?''
21. But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
*They didn't understand it, but Jesus was talking about His death on the cross. And why did Jesus have to die on the cross? It was because of our sin!
*God reminds us of this truth in vs. 23-25:
23. Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.
24. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men,
25. and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.
*Jesus didn't commit Himself to them, because they weren't really committing themselves to Him. They weren't really interested in following the Lord. They only cared about the good things Jesus that could give them. But Jesus "knew all men." Jesus knew "knew what was in man," and that's sin. That's why Jesus had to die on the cross. It was for our sin.
*John Phillips noted that during this first Passover of His ministry, Jesus prophesied what they would do to Him at His last earthly Passover: They would nail Him to a cross. (3)
*And just think about how much the Old Testament Passover lambs compare to Jesus. Jesus is the spotless Lamb of God who died for us. As the bones of the Passover lambs were not broken, the bones of our Lord were not broken on the cross. The blood of our Lord on His cross reminds us of the blood of the lambs that was spread on the door posts of the Jews in Egypt. And just as they could not see the blood from inside their homes, we can't see the Lord's blood today. But Christians, by faith we know that the blood of the Lamb saves us from all of our sins.
[4] THE LORD'S HELP COMES TO US THROUGH HIS CRUCIFIXION, AND THROUGH HIS RESURRECTION.
*Again, in vs. 19-22:
19. Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.''
20. Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?''
21. But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
22. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.
CONCLUSION:
*Because Jesus lives, believers, we will live forever! And there is hope, there is help for the hardest hearts today, because of the cross of Jesus Christ!
*As a young man, Johnny Friloux certainly had a hard heart toward God. I heard Johnny's story when he was a golf coach at Mississippi State. Johnny said that he grew up in a godless home. He was an atheist. And he started taking drugs at a very young age.
*Johnny told about a beautiful fall morning in 1989, back when he was a student at Mississippi State. On the way to class, he turned the corner at the student union and said he encountered a bunch of old men in suits. They were Gideons passing out New Testaments, and Johnny was infuriated just to see them.
*Johnny said: "As they handed me a Testament, I threw it at them, spit on them, and began to curse and rant and rave, 'How dare you come to this campus and bring your religion and push it on us!' Those guys just kept smiling, let him say what he had to say, and kept on passing out New Testaments."
*Johnny said that then he started running into Jesus Christ everywhere he went! People started coming up to him in class to witness to him. He cursed them to their faces.
*Every weekend he drove to New Orleans. He told his parents he was going to work. But he was really just going to party. That weekend he was in the parking lot of a bar when a guy handed him a tract, and said, "Sir, would you please read this?" Johnny crumpled it up, and threw it in the backseat of his car. Then, he began to cuss those two witnesses out. He said: "The madder I got, the happier they got!"
*Later that night in the bar. His eyes began to be opened for the first time. He started to see those people like they really were. Then, at 3 a.m. he walked out of that bar, and those two witnesses were still out there praying for him. Johnny apologized to them, but he still wasn't ready to receive Jesus.
*But after three miserable, sleepless days, he did read that tract. And he said, "I went to my book bag to get a pencil to underline the verses in this tract." And when he unzipped it, there was a New Testament inside. Johnny said, "Some crazy Gideon, while I was cussing them out, was unzipping my book bag and putting a Bible inside."
*He spent hours studying that Gideon New Testament. And on Oct. 18, 1989, alone in his bedroom, Johnny cried out to God: "Lord Jesus, if you are real, please come in and change me." And He did! (5)
*The same God who had mercy on Johnny Friloux wants to have mercy on you! Let the Lord change your heart too! Put your faith in Jesus Christ. You can call on the Lord to save you right now, as we go to God in prayer.
(1) Sources:
-EXPLORING THE GOSPELS: LUKE by John Phillips, Kregal Publications, Grand Rapids - "The Ancestry" - Luke 3:23-38
-Sermons.com sermon "The Masterpiece" by James Merritt - Matthew 1:1-17
-"Who Are 'the Jews' In the Gospel of John?" by Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg - Nov 7, 2012 - https://blog.israelbiblicalstudies.com/jewish-studies/who-are-the-jews-in-the-gospel-of-john/
-John's Gospel: A Discipleship Journey with Jesus, by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson - Entire study is available in paperback, Kindle, and PDF formats - http://www.jesuswalk.com/john/appendix_2.htm#_edn253
(2) Original source unknown
(3) Adapted from EXPLORING THE GOSPELS: JOHN by John Phillips, Kregal Publications, Grand Rapids - "Jesus and the Building" - John 2:13-17
(4) 1994 Gideon Testimony heard from Johnny Friloux - updated by http://vimeo.com/29052537
