As an 18-year-old Nova Scotian farm boy, Quincy Collins wanted adventure, so he decided to join the Navy. When he reported to the naval base in Halifax for his interview, he took a cab that dropped him off at the front gate.
Explaining to the guard at the gate why he was there, the guard looked at him and asked, “What is your sin?”
Being a good Baptist, Quincy knew what sin was. But he just stood there, his mind completely blank except to think, “What do my sins have to do with me joining the Navy?”
The guard repeated the question once again and Quincy said nothing. Finally, in a much louder voice, the guard barked, “What is your SIN—your Social Insurance Number?”
Red-faced, Quincy quickly pulled out his wallet and gave the guard the information on his new I. D. card.
As things turned out, Quincy did not join the Navy that day. However, fifteen years later in British Columbia, he was able to tell military families all about sin—as a Navy chaplain (Quincy Collins, Christian Reader, Vol. 34; www.PreachingToday.com).
What would you say if someone asked you, “What is your sin?” Some could identify their sin right away. Others would have trouble answering that question, especially those who have lived as Christians for a while.
Such people can run on the hamster wheels of their own routines and rituals that they neglect to stop and examine their own lives every once in a while. They blow past the opportunities to reflect on (or even notice) the sins that hinder their effectiveness as God’s soldiers.
That’s how the religious community in Jesus’ day operated. For years, they had followed their own routines and rituals, which blinded them to the gross sin they were committing right in the Temple complex itself. Then Jesus shows up.
If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to John 2, John 2, where we see what happened in that First Century Temple and what can happen when He shows up in your life, as well.
John 2:12 After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days (ESV).
After Jesus turned water into wine, He went home for a while. Then, it was time for Jesus to leave.
John 2:13-14 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 (ESV).
It’s not like these things were done in secret. It’s just that people stopped noticing the merchants and money changers. It had become so much a part of their routine, they looked past it all.
For many years, people would make their annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem at Passover to make the required sacrifices. Since many of them came from great distances, as a convenience, they could purchase their sacrificial animals right there in Jerusalem. They had five markets to choose from: four on the Mount of Olives and one in the Temple complex itself in the court of the Gentiles.
William Barclay says, “Nearly everyone who came to the Temple brought an offering. You could buy doves outside the Temple, but the [priests] had appointed Temple inspectors and they would be certain to find a flaw or fault in any animal brought [from] outside. They would say, ‘Just buy one from our Temple stalls. They have already been inspected.’ The difficulty was that outside a pair of doves might cost as little as four pence (a day’s wage), while inside they might cost as much as 180 pence (45 days wages)” (William Barclay, Life of Christ).
Caiaphas, the high priest, had set this market up in the Temple to unfairly compete with the traditional markets on the Mount of Olives, and he got filthy rich, as a result.
More than that, there were money changers in the Temple. Everyone was required to pay a yearly “Temple Tax.” Only they could not use their Greek and Roman coins, because they had a king’s head on it—an idolatrous graven image. So they had to exchange their common currency for special coins. The problem was the money changers charged exorbitant rates to exchange the money—a whole day’s wage! Then, they often cheated their customers in the exchange of coins.
On top of it all, this wild market prevented Gentiles from having a place to worship the True and Living God, because all this took place in the court of the Gentiles. The court had become a thoroughfare. People loaded with merchandise were taking shortcuts through it from one part of the city to the other with over a quarter of a million animals involved. One historian noted that “at Passover in AD 66 the worshippers required an estimated 255,600 lambs” (William Lane, IVP Commentary on the New Testament: The Gospel According to Mark, 1974, p. 406).
The merchants and money changers prevented the Gentiles from worshipping God. They cheated people in the name of religion, and everyone else stopped seeing the gross sin, because it had become so much a part of their routine.
Not Jesus. He “found” what was going on. I.e., He saw it for what it was and decided to deal with it. My dear friends, if you want Jesus to deal with the mess in your life, 1st…
LET HIM SEARCH YOU.
Let Him seek and find the sin that you have overlooked for so many years. Let Him examine your heart and reveal the dirt within.
Bob Merritt recently retired (March 2020) as pastor of the Eagle Brook Church in Minnesota after serving there for nearly 29 years. By the time he retired, the church had an average weekend attendance of 22,000 people in eight different locations and an online attendance of 13,000 (www.eaglebrookchurch.com/beliefs-values-history). God used Him in a mighty way, but not without some hard times.
In the middle of it all, he had what he called his “ministry meltdown.” Bob felt overworked and overwhelmed, and the cracks started showing up in harsh comments and bursts of anger towards his family and his staff. Emotionally, he felt depleted and afraid, but he didn't have the time or energy to address the issues that were bubbling under the surface of his life.
Finally, his leadership team forced Bob to look under the surface by entering a year-long intervention with a leadership coach named Fred.
Fred and his assistant interviewed all Bob’s family members, most of his staff, and all of his closest friends with a series of 60 questions that essentially asked, “What's good about Bob, and what's bad about Bob?” The candid responses were recorded in a 200-page document that Fred and his assistant read back to Bob, word for word, during a two-day intervention.
For two solid days Bob sat and listened while Fred read statements like: “Bob overlooks relationships and lacks interpersonal skills in working with people.” “Bob doesn't listen well.” “Bob doesn't manage his staff. There's no love. He's unapproachable.” “Bob speaks before he thinks.” “Bob has a love problem.” “I know that Bob cares, but he's not gifted in showing it.”
What really nailed me, Bob says, was when I heard these words from my son, David: “My dad is angry a lot.” When Fred read those words to Bob, Fred looked up from the page and just let them sink into Bob’s soul. Bob says, “I had to look away… Never in my life had I become so convicted over how flawed I had become.”
“When you hear the same themes repeated over and over again from a variety of people who've experienced what it's like to be on the other side of you, it gets your attention,” Bob says. “It broke me. And it was the beginning of my new life.”
When Bob started seeing Fred, Bob told him that he was afraid he might not be able to change. Fred has seen hundreds of CEO types, and he says the success rate is around 40 percent. The other 60 percent continue to stumble and often end up losing their jobs and families. He said the difference is humility. Those who turn the corner and take their leadership and lives to a new level are those who are humble enough to receive feedback and take it seriously (Bob Merritt, “Ministry Meltdown,” Leadership Journal Winter 2012; www.PreachingToday.com).
Are you humble enough to let Jesus find the flaws in your life and deal with them? Are you humble enough to receive feedback and take it seriously?
Then start by praying the prayer King David prayed nearly 3,000 years ago: “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24).
If you want Jesus to deal with the mess in your life so you can begin a new life, 1st, let Jesus search you. Then 2nd…
LET JESUS CLEAN YOU.
Let Jesus clear out all the dirt. Let Jesus cleanse you from all the sin which has become so familiar to you that you don’t see it anymore. That’s what Jesus did when he “found” evil in the Temple.
John 2:15-17 And making a whip of cords, 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.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me” (ESV).
The word zeal speaks of an earnest concern, even jealousy to the point of fury (Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages). Hebrews 10:27 uses the word to describe a “fury of fire that will consume adversaries.” Jesus was furious, jealous for His Father’s house, because an enemy had overtaken it, so He clears it out! He drives the merchants and moneychangers out.
Please, let Jesus do that for you, as well. When evil overtakes your heart, He is furious, jealous for you, because He loves you so much. Please, let Jesus clean out the evil.
Tim Challies, a Canadian theologian, tells the story of a farmer’s sheep and pig that had escaped. Together they found a weak rail in the fence and pressed upon it until it broke under their weight. Seeing their opportunity, they quickly bolted from the field and began to explore their new and unfamiliar surroundings.
It did not take long for the farmer to notice that two of his animals were missing and to set out to find them. But the animals had wandered far and had not left much of a trail behind them. Day soon turned to night and after resting fitfully, he resumed his search in the morning. The animals had now been gone for more than 24 hours and he began to wonder what could possibly have happened to them.
Then, in the afternoon of the second day, he began to hear a distant bleating, the sound of his sheep crying out. He followed the sound, which led him to a nearby bog. And it was there that he found his missing sheep and his missing pig. Both had fallen into a deep ditch, both had become coated in muck, both were unable to scramble out. But where the pig had been content to wallow in the mud, the sheep had known to bleat pathetically until the farmer had come to rescue it, to lift it out, and to cleanse it (Tim Challies, “The Tale of the Pig and the Sheep,” Challies blog, 9-29-21; www.PreachingToday.com).
My dear friend, if you are ever overtaken by sin, don’t wallow in the sin like a pig. Instead, like a sheep, cry out to your compassionate Savior. Cry out to the One who is jealous for you until He drives the evil out of your heart.
If you want Jesus to deal with the mess in your life, 1st, let Jesus search you. 2nd, let Jesus clean you. Then…
LET JESUS FIX YOU.
Let Jesus restore you. Let Jesus repair the broken places of your life.
That’s why Christ rose from the grave after He died on a cross for your sins. He rose to restore broken temples, even the temple of your broken life.
John 2:18-22 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken (ESV).
Jesus’ resurrection gives Him the right to clean and restore ruined temples. Now, the Jewish leaders thought Jesus was talking about a physical temple, specifically Herod’s temple, which Jesus had just cleansed.
You see, Herod had begun building that temple 19 or 20 years before Christ was born. 46 years later, in the time of Christ, He was still building it! And he wasn’t going to complete it until A.D. 63, 83 years after he started it. It was a magnificent temple with massive stones, cut off site and then hauled in. I saw some of those stones when I was in Israel. They were room sized stones, weighing hundreds of tons each. How Herod did it, no one really knows, but it was an amazing feat of engineering.
So you can understand why the Jews were incredulous, but Jesus had something even more amazing in mind. He was not talking about Herod’s magnificent temple. He was talking about the temple of His own body. “Destroy it,” he said, “and in three days I will raise it up” (vs.19).
Now, any good engineer can rebuild a magnificent building. Only God can raise the dead. So Jesus’ resurrection is the sign that He has the authority to change your life. He has the power to clean out the sin and restore your body, which is His Temple (1 Corinthians 6:19). Jesus can do it, because He is none other than God Himself.
Ralph Sockman said, “Something happened on Easter Day which made Christ more alive on the streets of Jerusalem forty days after his crucifixion than on the day of His Triumphal Entry. A false report might last forty days but the church which was founded on a Risen Christ has lasted for nineteen centuries, producing generations of the race's finest characters” (Ralph W. Sockman, “Pulpit Preaching,” Christianity Today, Vol. 41, no. 4; www. PreachingToday.com).
Jesus’ resurrection has changed lives for nearly 20 centuries! Please, let Him change your life, as well.
In June of 1992, Gloria Davey and a few friends were walking in the English countryside. When they stopped for a rest, they discovered a ruined church (from the bombings of World War I). The church had been desecrated by satanic symbols. When she showed her husband Bob, a church leader at another nearby church, he was horrified at what he saw. That moment, the recently retired Bob Davey made a decision that would dominate his life for the next 22 years. He would restore St Mary’s Church.
He said, “You couldn’t see the tower, and there was no roof, windows, or floor — nothing, really. But I felt it was my duty to save it. This annoyed me intensely,” Bob said. “I've been a Christian all my life and wasn't putting up with this on my watch.” He walked inside—the door was long gone—and that afternoon, he started clearing out 60 years’ worth of rubbish. For 22 years he was at the site early every day “except on days of family christenings and weddings,” says Bob, who has four children, six grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.
He added, “I haven’t had a holiday in 22 years, but I haven’t wanted one. Who wants to retire? My advice to others: don’t play golf or buy a Spanish villa when you retire. Find yourself a ruined church to save!” Bob hasn’t just saved the church. He also uncovered a unique set of wall paintings, the earliest in Britain and some of the finest in Europe.
Bob faced stiff resistance. The satanists sent him a message: “If you continue to come here, we will kill you.” Bob said he wasn’t frightened. “I’ll come in an electric trolley if I have to.” And until his death in 2021 at the age of 91, that’s exactly what Bob Davey did (“Bob Davey, Norfolk retiree whose restoration of an old church uncovered a treasure of medieval wall paintings,” The Telegraph, 3-26-21; Harry Mount, “How I saw off satanists and rescued one of England's finest churches... by the inspiring 85-year-old who did it to liven up his retirement,” The Telegraph, 10-24-14; www.PreachingToday.com).
Now, that’s what Jesus wants to do for you even if He has to fight Satan to do it. He wants to restore your life after the vandals have ruined it, even if Satan himself has desecrated it.Please, let Him do it for you.
If you want Jesus to deal with the mess in your life, 1st, let Him search you. 2nd, let Him clean you, and 3rd, let Him fix you. All you have to do is…
BELIEVE IN JESUS.
Just trust Christ with your life. Depend on Him to save and restore you.
John 2:23-25 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 (ESV).
Jesus knows how weak and vulnerable you are, but your salvation is not about Him believing in you. It’s about you believing in Him. Your restoration is not about Him trusting you. It’s about you trusting Him. Your new life is not about your faithfulness to Him. It’s about His faithfulness to you.
So, please, if you want a new life, trust Him with your life. Invite Him into your life and trust Him to make all things new. Sure, He might have to search for and ruthlessly drive out the evil He finds, even those hidden sins you no longer see. But then, He can begin to restore you into His very own glorious image.
Larry Moyer tells the story of a businessman, who learned that an elderly widow was unable to pay her rent. Feeling pity for her, he went to some of his friends and asked them if they would be kind enough to contribute something to help pay her rent. They responded, and he got two months' rent. He went to the widow's house that week to deliver the money.
Although he knew she was inside, when he knocked, he got no answer. He knocked a second time and still no answer. He knocked a third time, still no answer. He knocked a fourth time. Not knowing what else to do, he returned to his business.
A couple of days later, he saw her downtown on the sidewalk looking destitute. He walked up to her and said, “Ma'am, some friends of mine and I found out about your situation. We want to help. We got enough money together to give you rent money for two months. I came to your house to give it to you this week, but I knocked several times and got no answer.”
She took a gasp of breath and put her hand to her face. She said, “Oh, I thought you were the landlord coming to evict me” (R. Larry Moyer, “Right Smack in the Middle of Sin,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 148; www.PreachingToday.com).
Jesus is Lord of the Universe, who did not come to evict you. On the contrary, He came to save you. John 3:17 says, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
In fact, Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart right now. Please, open the door to Him, and trust Him to save you. Trust Him to make all things new.
If you want Jesus to deal with the mess in your life, trust Christ with your life and let Him search you, let Him clean you, and let Him fix you.
Make this your prayer as we close our service this morning:
Search me, O God, and know my heart today.
Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray.
See if there be some wicked way in me.
Cleanse me from every sin and set me free.
Lord, take my life, and make it wholly Thine.
Fill my poor heart with Thy great love divine.
Take all my will, my passion, self and pride.
I now surrender, Lord, in me abide (James Edwin Orr).
