Exodus 20:1-17, Psalm 19:1-14, 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, John 2:13-22.
(A) THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.
Exodus 20:1-17.
The first thing that we notice about the Ten Commandments is that they are the words of God (Exodus 20:1). Secondly we notice that the LORD is the God who has redeemed us (Exodus 20:2). It is not the keeping of the Ten Commandments which saves us: salvation is a gift of God.
1. As the LORD is the one true and living God, He will not tolerate any competition (Exodus 20:3). There are no other gods, so we must put nothing before Him in our lives. Neither may we place anything alongside Him, before His face, as if on an equal par with Him.
2. Equally, we are not to make likenesses of anything, real or imagined, in order to worship them or place them alongside the worship of the true God (Exodus 20:4). Our God is a jealous God, and such folly brings curses upon whole families (Exodus 20:5). Yet the same God, who visits this iniquity upon the third and fourth generation (Exodus 20:5), is merciful to thousands (of generations) of those who love Him and keep His commandments (Exodus 20:6).
3. God’s name is sacred: it describes who He is. To call down His name in imprecation of another, or to use His name lightly or flippantly is to show great disrespect (Exodus 20:7). Our great Redeemer will not be mocked!
4. The Sabbath is to be “remembered” - which implies that it was already known about prior to the giving of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8). It is first a Creation ordinance (Genesis 2:1-3), but is now also revealed as a Redemption ordinance (Deuteronomy 5:14-15). It is to be kept holy, and is symbolic of our entrance into the “rest” of God (Hebrews 4:3).
Work is also a Creation ordinance, and implicit in the command to rest is the command to work (Exodus 20:9). The need to rest from our labours, and to find time to enter into the rest of the Lord, is held in common by all classes and nations: and even workhorses need to rest awhile (Exodus 20:10). There is even legislation about resting the land (Leviticus 25:1-7) - which if Judah had heeded they might not have had to spend seventy years in exile (2 Chronicles 36:20-21).
To “enter into His rest” is to enter into the blessing of the LORD (Exodus 20:11). This everyone should seek after. Whether we are seeking salvation, or are pursuing the benefits accruing from our redemption in Christ Jesus, God blesses the effort.
5. The land is mentioned as an incentive to honouring our parents (Exodus 20:12). This is the first commandment with promise (Ephesians 6:1-3). The children of believing parents have responsibilities towards God in ratio to the privileges that they receive from God.
6. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount gets into the spirit of the familiar prohibition against murder (Exodus 20:13). An unkind thought or unkind words are as murderous as a fatal wound with a lethal weapon (Matthew 5:21-22). Gossip and slander are as malicious as conspiracy to kill (James 3:8-9).
7. According to Jesus, the prohibition on adultery (Exodus 20:14) includes not only the act itself, but also the thought of it (Matthew 5:27-28). This includes participation by proxy (Romans 1:32). It also reflects our relationship with God, as apostasy and idolatry are viewed in the Bible as spiritual infidelity (Jeremiah 31:32).
8. The right to private property is upheld in Scripture (Exodus 20:15). This includes everything from the moving of our neighbour’s landmark (Deuteronomy 19:14) and the stealing of our neighbour’s vineyard (1 Kings 21:1-22) - to kidnap and slave trading (1 Timothy 1:10 - “men stealers”). This includes everything from stealing pens from the office, adjusting timesheets, falsifying accounts, and writing dud cheques - to bank heists and the Great Train Robbery.
9. False witness is perjury (Exodus 20:16). It also includes gossip and tale bearing. If we are living in the image of the God who cannot lie (Titus 1:2) then we know that even so-called ‘white lies’ are anything but harmless!
10. At the root of all these sins is the hidden matter of our own hearts (Exodus 20:17). When the devil came to Jesus, he found nothing in Him into which he might grip with his evil claws (John 14:30). When he comes to us, alas, he finds us all too ready to contemplate sin (James 1:14).
If we disobey any of these commandments, we disobey God. If we break just one link in this chain, we have broken all. The very attempt to keep these commandments alerts us to our inability to do anything to please God outside of our Redeemer, and drives us to Him for mercy (Galatians 3:24).
(B) A HEART FOR GOD.
Psalm 19:1-14.
In July 1994, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (formerly D/1993 F2) broke apart and collided with the far side of Jupiter. On that occasion I preached on “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1), and wondered at the perfection of God’s creation. God placed the earth in the ‘Goldilocks zone’, I taught, in the ‘just right’ place to sustain human life. He placed the gas-giant Jupiter exactly where it is in order to absorb the debris of deep space before it can damage our habitat.
Psalm 19 has been called the most majestic of David’s Psalms. It falls into two main sections dealing respectively with Creation (Psalm 19:1-6) and Covenant (Psalm 19:7-10), with an application to follow (Psalm 19:11-14). These seemingly distinct parts form one unified, progressive whole.
The first main section deals with Creation. This falls into two subsections, the first of which speaks of the ‘voice’ of Creation (Psalm 19:1-3): Creation’s witness to the existence of God. We are standing upon the earth admiring the results of God’s handiwork from Day 4 of Creation (Genesis 1:14-19). We share this pleasing view, this vista, with the whole of mankind: so there is no excuse for the ungodly (Romans 1:20).
Psalm 19:4-6 forms a second subsection, dealing with God’s sustenance of His Creation. We cannot live on sunshine alone, but we cannot live without it! We are not worshipping the sun or any other created object: but rather rejoicing in the hand that created all these things.
Yet Creation, general revelation, does not stand alone in its testimony to God. The LORD God has entered into a covenant relationship with mankind, and spoken to us Himself. This ‘special revelation’ is explored in the second main section of the Psalm, under at least six different synonyms for His Word to us (Psalm 19:7-10).
At this point we might recognize that God’s Word is not limited to Torah, to the Law alone. God’s Word is revealed in the unfolding of His special revelation throughout the Bible, from Genesis to the book of Revelation. This includes the historical books, the wisdom books (including the book of Psalms), and the prophetic books of the Old Testament; and the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament. Ultimately, God’s Word is recognized in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:1-5; John 1:14; Hebrews 1:1-3).
‘Now these things are written,’ writes John, ‘that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through His name’ (John 20:31). Paul concurs: ‘Now all these things… are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come’ (1 Corinthians 10:11). “By them is thy servant warned,” acknowledges the sweet Psalmist of Israel, the man after God’s own heart (Psalm 19:11).
Thus the application (Psalm 19:11-14) begins with a recognition of the need to heed the warnings of Scripture, and to acknowledge the value of keeping God’s law (Psalm 19:11). The heart of man is desperately wicked, and deceitful with it (Jeremiah 17:9): so the Psalmist searches his own heart, and asks to be cleansed from secret sins – those which have been committed in ignorance, and which he has not yet discovered to be sins in his life (Psalm 19:12). A thoughtful reflection on God’s Word will lead us in the same direction, teaching us new things every day, but leaving us also with a deep impression of how poorly we know and apply that Word.
The Psalmist prays also to be kept from presumptuous sins (Psalm 19:13). It is a cry for the grace of God. ‘The temptation is strong Lord, and only you can keep me from the great transgression.’
The other side of that coin is our responsibility: having escaped the dominion of sin and death, how can we live any longer therein? (Romans 6:2). Without holiness shall no man see God (Hebrews 12:14). The imputed righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ is that which makes us “upright” (Psalm 19:13) – but if we are thus righteous, we will also conduct ourselves in an upright manner.
I have called this Sermon ‘A Heart for God’, based on the last verse of the Psalm. As with other preachers, sometimes I use these words, or words very like them, to open my sermons. “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).
Paul puts it this way: ‘If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved’ (Romans 10:9). This is not only head belief, but heart belief, even as the LORD has promised (Hebrews 10:16-17). In the end, after all, the witness of Creation and Providence, and the words of Law and Gospel, are of no value at all to us unless they are allowed to take residence in our hearts.
(C) A WORD TO THE WISE.
1 Corinthians 1:18-25.
The common consensus in the world of Paul’s day was that God exists. The Jews knew the identity of the true and living God from their past encounters with Him; but the Greeks were floundering about in the dark, seeking ways of access to God through the pursuit of wisdom. To both, it was only ‘fools’ who would say that there is no God (Psalm 14:1; Psalm 53:1).
In the world of our day we oscillate between not believing in God at all, and then believing that ‘all roads’ lead to God. The latter is blatantly untrue, often motivated by a misplaced sense of political correctness.
Christianity is not tolerated – even by some who would call themselves Christians – when we sing about there being ‘no other way to get to heaven: Jesus is the only way’ (cf. John 14:6; Acts 4:12). However, we are not ashamed of this truth because it has brought, and is bringing, salvation to many (Romans 1:16).
The wisdom of the wise has been confounded by the preaching of the cross of Jesus, rendering the wise foolish (1 Corinthians 1:18; cf. 1 Corinthians 1:27).
It is not true wisdom which sees only foolishness in the ways of God (1 Corinthians 2:14-15) - on the contrary, it is the wisdom of this world which is foolishness to God (1 Corinthians 3:19-20).
Before we get too high and mighty about the correctness of our cause, perhaps we should consider that there is an element of this ‘wisdom of the world’ even in the church, when we are too embarrassed to preach “Christ having-been-crucified” (1 Corinthians 1:23). In Isaiah’s day the LORD bemoaned the fact that ‘religious’ people drew near to Him with their mouths, using their lips no doubt to sing His praises, but followed nothing more than the precepts of men in their lives (Isaiah 29:13). Paul quotes Isaiah 29:14 in 1 Corinthians 1:19 - stating that the wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the understanding of the prudent shall be brought to nought.
From Paul’s own experience he asks the questions (1 Corinthians 1:20), “Where is the wise” - in Athens, or perhaps even Corinth? “Where is the scribe” – in Jerusalem perhaps? “Where is the debater” then - on Mars Hill, or even in the synagogue – either would do? Yet ask them all, “Has God not rendered foolish the wisdom of this world?” All paths do not lead to God and - professing themselves to be wise - men become fools, following the vain imaginations of their own hearts (cf. Romans 1:21-23).
From all eternity God had determined to bring about man’s salvation by the seeming ‘foolishness’ of preaching (1 Corinthians 1:21) – and specifically the preaching of the cross of Jesus. Paul confesses to his own lack of eloquence, so that the faith of his readers should not seem to stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God (1 Corinthians 2:1-5; cf. 1 Corinthians 1:24). Without making too much of a pun of it, the crux of the matter - the central, crucial feature of all sound Bible teaching - is the Cross of Christ.
After Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple, the Jewish authorities asked Him to show them a sign to legitimise the authority by which He was doing these things (John 2:15-19). Thus, even to His own people, and in answer to the prophecies of their own Scripture, Jesus had become a stumbling block (Matthew 21:42-44). Paul says that the Jews still sought such a sign in his day (1 Corinthians 1:22) - yet a sign had indeed been given, but rejected: the death and resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 12:38-40)!
In like manner, the Greeks (who stand for all Gentiles) found the idea of a crucified Saviour foolish and repulsive. To them, God is above such things: have we not heard the same argument in our own day? Yet to those who are called (1 Corinthians 1:24) - a calling which is based in Christ, and has been from before time (Ephesians 1:4) – Christ is both the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Thus we find that the foolishness of God (the preaching of the cross) is wiser than men; and that the weakness of God (His manifestation in Jesus, who died on that awful gibbet to bear away our sins) is stronger than men (1 Corinthians 1:25). As the Lord told Paul in another context, ‘My strength is made perfect in weakness’ (2 Corinthians 12:9).
‘Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good conduct, by deeds done in the meekness (humility) which comes from (God’s true) wisdom’ (James 3:13).
(D) THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE.
John 2:13-22.
John 2:12 provides a link between the miracle (sign) of the water being turned into wine in Cana (John 2:1-11), and the cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem (John 2:13-22) = another sign of who Jesus is. In between these two signs, there was a brief interval when Jesus, His mother, His brethren, and His disciples were in Capernaum - which appears to have been Jesus’ main dwelling place when He was ministering in Galilee (cf. Matthew 4:13).
The reason for Jesus leaving Capernaum at this point was in order to attend the Passover in Jerusalem (John 2:13). Entering the Temple complex, Jesus found those who were selling sheep and oxen, and doves. Moneychangers sat at tables exchanging foreign currencies for the Temple shekel (John 2:14).
This was all taking place with the evident collusion of the priesthood. After all, (they probably reasoned) did not the people require animals for sacrifices, and money for the Temple tax? Jesus was disgusted to find such trading in His Father’s house, and He reacted accordingly (John 2:15-16).
There is, after all, such a thing as ‘righteous indignation’ (cf. Mark 3:5). Divine anger is always righteous anger, directed against sinful behaviour and human injustices. It is also tempered with mercy (cf. ‘in wrath remember mercy,’ Habakkuk 3:2).
The Lord’s actions in the scene before us are the most violent, and in some ways therefore the most shocking. To purposefully create a scourge of small cords (John 2:15) also suggests that He was in complete control of His emotions: as He was in His Passion throughout. We are not told whether the cords contacted flesh, human or animal: possibly the contrary may be true, as He was careful to protect the doves, commanding their salesmen to take them out of there (John 2:16)!
Saint John, the writer of this Gospel, anecdotally remarks (in John 2:17) that this put the disciples in mind of Psalm 69:9 - a verse which goes on to demonstrate the substitutionary mission of the Messiah: ‘For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee have fallen on me.’
After Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple, the Jewish authorities asked Him to show them a sign to legitimise the authority by which He was doing these things (John 2:18). This was somewhat ironic, since the turning of the water into wine, AND the cleansing of the Temple were indeed such signs! His answer referred them to another Temple: the temple of His body – but they did not, or chose not to, understand (John 2:19-21). This is perfectly in keeping with John’s theology of the incarnation, whereby the Word became flesh, and “dwelt” (or set up His tabernacle - or temple) among us (John 1:14).
When Jesus was risen from the dead, the disciples remembered what Jesus had said in John 2:19: “(If you) Destroy this temple, in three days I will raise it up.” Sometimes it takes a long time for us to fully understand what the Lord is teaching us.
Thus remembering, they believed: both the Scripture, and Jesus (John 2:22).
