Jesus enters into the Temple and does not like He sees. There’s emptiness and ceremony and hypocrisy. He turns over the heavy tables and stops the activity that detracts for what was made to be His Father’s House of Prayer. (Mark 11:8-17)

Speaker(s): Pastor Thomas Schaller
Sermon 11891
11:00 AM on 5/24/2020

P. Schaller –

Hallelujah! Praise God! What a joy to be here gathered. We had our 9:00 service inside. We have this one here
and it’s a joy to be together and give our hearts to the Lord in song and listening and rejoicing
with each other. I’d also like to give you an opportunity before we sing, if you want to just step
out of your car and say hello. Keep your distance. It’s always nice to see someone’s face. Let’s
do that for a few minutes if we want. If you want you can stay in your car, but I want to give you
the opportunity to step out and do one of these or whatever you are comfortable with. We
respect people that want to keep the distance, but at the same time, you want to get a closer
look at each other.

Take a few minutes and do that now. Have a prayer this morning before we
begin our message. Give your undivided attention to the few words we say today. I’d like you to
have a prayer in your car. If someone is with you, you can take their hand and have prayer.
Would you do that, please? Or by yourself in the car have a prayer for our country, for revival to
sweep through our country and for people to search for Christ and find him. What a prayer!
Would you do that now, please? I have two sections for you to pay attention to and the first
one is proverbs 1. It’s so great to have you all here today as we magnify Jesus in our hearts and
realize we are a new society. We’re a new group.

A new family. God is our Father. We are timeless. We are eternal. Someone said, you are old fashioned. And I said, no. I’m eternal. I’m timeless because 2 Peter 1:4 we are partakers of his divine nature. We have a new nature. I
read this little funny story about a mouse. It’s in an Indian fable. It says “a mouse was in
constant distress because this fear of the cat. A magician took pity on it and turned it into a cat.
Immediately it became afraid of the dog, so the magician turned it into a dog. Immediately it
became afraid of the tiger, so the magician turned it into a tiger. Immediately it became afraid
of the hunter and the magician said be a mouse again. You have only the heart of a mouse and I
cannot help you.” How can a person change on the external? Maybe I build up my security but,
on the inside, I still have the heart of fear.

First point is Proverbs 1:33. I don’t know if it has happened to you, but people that go to bed watching the evening news and hear about the latest murder go to bed and put that in their subconscious mind and struggle with fear. It’s easy to do that. I have heard that some psychologists are counseling people in the world, do not
watch the news before you go to bed. What goes in my subconscious mind is important. There
is something more to that than psychology. It is Proverbs 1:7. Another kind of fear is vs. 7, the
fear of the Lord. I met people that don’t want to hear about God. I know people that don’t want
to be exposed to the teaching or even maybe unfortunately the presence of God. Like Adam
and Eve in the garden after they sinned, they ran away. They hid. I fear.

That fear is in me. But when we come to God, we make a decision: His way is better than mine. Maybe if I fear him in the sense that I have a lot of respect for him. I fear him the way I respect the train tracks over
here, east of here. When you see train tracks, your lights go on in your mind. Is the train
coming? I need to respect the train. Is God real? Maybe. I need to respect him if he is. I’m not
sure. But why don’t I open myself up. Why don’t I face the music. Why don’t I ask God to visit
me, ask God to help me. This kind of fear is a good respect for God, like you respect a gun that
is in the closet or poison under the kitchen sink. You respect it. You fear it and because of that
fear it keeps you from another fear, the fear that has torment. Many people live in the fear of

evil, the fear of what is going to happen in the future, the fear of losing their money, the fear of
losing their health, the fear of losing their job. These are real things. But when Jesus came into
the world, he was so gentle and caring and understanding that he understands us that have
fears. He is able to change our hearts. Like the mouse. It didn’t change the outside. He became
a dog and a tiger and then, but he couldn’t get rid of the real problem. I believe after this
pandemic is over there will be another fear. There will be another problem because I’m not
coming to God and fearing him, respecting him. I’d like you to turn with me to Mark 11.

The story we went over in our 9 am service. By the way, after this service the bathrooms are open in
the gym. That’s the building at the end here if you need to use it. That’s a new thing we added
to our program. You can stay longer if you like. The cars have to move but you can figure that
out. Tonight, the service will be in our building. That’s it for the details. Mark. 11 a fantastic story.
Vs. 11. I love this picture of Jesus coming into Jerusalem and looking around in the temple and
his eyes went and he looked and made an evaluation. How far are these people away from me?
How far are these people away from truth? How far are these people away from God? How far
are these people away from my Father?

When he looks around in the temple, I believe he became angry inside because he saw the loss, the hypocrisy, the emptiness, people without God who had the name of God and the ceremonies and the clothing and the animal sacrifices and the traditions and the law. As he looked around, he saw the emptiness. Our prayer is not
only the churches will be filled these coming weeks and parking lots and the work of God. Not
only people would be in attendance but even more than that that God would visit us and go to
our spirit and our hearts and look around in our soul. And say to us, you are further away than
you realize. I am here. I draw nigh to you and draw nigh to me. I’m afraid Lord if you come close
to me, you might deal with things that I’ve hidden in the closet or I’ve buried in the backyard.

The Lord is saying, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That’s where we can start.
We can start where I am here to help you, to heal you, to touch you, to fill you and cast all the
other fears out. If you know me, you will not fear death. I am the answer. I am the resurrection
and the life in John 11:26. If you come to me, I will teach you doctrine in your soul. I’ll guide you
so the Word of God will be light and life. The word of God is quick and powerful and living. It
cuts. It goes there to the closet. It cuts into the basement, into the backyard, into the burial
ground. It goes where we are hiding. The word of God is so rich and powerful and when Jesus
looked around and he left. Vs. 12.

That’s kind of like us. We are fig trees that have leaves but he looks through the branches for the fruit and there isn’t any. He says maybe he could have breakfast there with the fig tree and vs. 13. It wasn’t mature yet. Vs. 14. This is s a metaphor for Israel. There is a curse coming on Israel because they rejected the Messiah. When his eyes
going into our hearts, we should welcome them. When he goes into our spirit and searches
them to see if there is any pride, we welcome him. He goes back to Jerusalem. It’s a short walk
maybe from here to that building. It’s across the way, the Kidron Valley. It’s not that far. From
here to that church over there. It’s not a long walk. Vs. 15. For him to turn over tables –
Josephus said they were in the History of the Jews, in his Antiquities that these tables were
huge. They weighed several hundred pounds. They were not card tables. They were not vendor
tables set up and taken down. They are large tables made of stone and he turned them over

and the money changers and the seats of them that sold doves. That this man must have been
vigorously angry and very strongly determined to make a statement. Vs. 16. Here is a man
coming through carrying a pail or a vessel and Jesus is not allowing him to come. I read this
yesterday in my heart and got the spirit of the story. God you are welcome in my house. If you
do something, I don’t necessarily understand it, but I welcome you. If you say something and I
don’t necessarily know how to digest that, but I believe your ways are better than mine. If you
get inside and get into some area of life, I’m hiding from you then I need, a doctor needs to take
an x-ray or an MRI. They need to do some business in my body.

How much more in my soul I need God to search me and see if there is anything in me. This is why we are in church. Here I can hear something. This is why I need a pastor teacher. They are ordained of God in Revelation
chapters 2 and 3, Ephesians. 4. They are men who are laboring in prayer and in the Word. We are
together in this and in the Spirit and God is raising up men and women that walk in the Spirit
and they don’t have fear. Ann Landers in my generation as a kid she had a newspaper column
and would receive ten thousand letters a month for her to publish and select letters. They
asked her, what’s the letter that is the predominant problem that people ask you about? She
said “fear.” People are afraid. Fear controls people. Fear has people hide.

Fear has people shut down and not connect. Fear means I got to find a safe place. I can’t go out. I can’t meet that
person. I can’t do that business venture. I can’t go to a school. I can’t take a risk because I’m
afraid. Jesus so to speak comes in and looks around in our soul and puts his hand in the fig tree
and fumbles around looking for fruit and can’t find it. He could step back and say there is a
curse here. There is a curse in his life. He can’t take it. He can’t handle it. There’s a curse going
on. It’s going to destroy him. There is a curse in his life. It’s something he can’t handle.
Something he’s afraid of, something not exactly right but I’m here. Jesus says for you, I’m here.
Fear me. I am very powerful. I can turn the tables over. I can stop everything.

I’m God. I’m here. I’ll take your life. I’ll turn you inside out. I’ll fill you with the Spirit. I’ll put my wisdom in you. I’ll
make you a man. I’ll make you a woman. No, not just a biological man. I’ll make you a man. I’ll
make you not just a woman. I’ll make you a godly woman. I’ll make you a person. I’ll bring you
beyond yourself. I’ll teach you. I’ll guide you. I’ll fill you. That’s the message. That’s why he
came. He’s good at it and he’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. P. Mati tells the story
when he was in Tajikistan back in the Soviet days up in the mountains, way up in the mountains
written on the cliffs there it said, “Lenin yesterday, Lenin today, and Lenin forever.” He’s a born
again Christian when he read that, and he thought what a lie.

There are so many lies. There are so many lies. In the Communist world, it’s filled with lies. In our world here it is filled with lies. Lies of all kinds. Lies about you and about me, lies about the world, lies about God, lies about
Jesus, lies about the Bible, lies about the church. There are many lies in this world. Lies in my
own heart bubbling up. Jesus said I came. I am the way, the truth, the life. Feed on the lamb of
God. You will not fear people. Be not afraid. You don’t have it. You’re free. You’re a
worshiper. You follow God. Yes, we respect electricity. We respect the fact that the devil is
real and there are such things as deception and lies. We know this. But when you got your heart
filled with godly ammunition, when you have your life doctrinally established, when you get
established in the faith, your life changes. You start to grow from faith to faith. You start to

realize wow! Where is my enemy? Deuteronomy 33:27 they are found out to be liars unto you. Let me tell
you a lie to illustrate it. Napoleon Bonaparte was Chinese. What? Napoleon Bonaparte was
Chinese. Everyone knows that. It’s written everywhere. Napoleon Bonaparte was Chinese.
That’s a joke. That lie is so far away from what we all know. It means nothing. But when a lie
gets close to the truth, it’s like a decoy, a duck in the water. When it gets really close to what it
is, it gets dangerous. Those are the lies that run life for people. People live in them. When Jesus
came into Jerusalem and he went into the temple, basically he said it’s a lie. They do not
receive me. They do not know my Father.

They do no know what spirit they are of. They don’t know who I am. He came back the next day and turned the tables over and did business there and then he left. What did they do but they decided how they will kill him. That’s like this world. They don’t want it, but you do. You are a disciple. You are a believer. You have Jesus in
you. You want it. Come, Lord. I’ll take it. What do you have to say to me? He might say
something like this: I want you to not only develop a habit of listening to me on a regular basis
like daily, but I want you to learn how to listen to me every second of your life. I want you to set
me before you face always in Psalm 16:8. I don’t want you to get offended when I come and turn a
table over. I want you to receive what I have to say. I want you to receive who I am. I want you
to be filled with the Spirit and follow me and trust me.

Maybe somebody listening you might say, I like this. I want to hear this. I’m hungry for this. I believe you pastor. I believe what you are saying. I believe Jesus came and he’s the same yesterday, today and forever. I believe Jesus
is here, and when I go home today, Jesus will be with me. I’m going to believe that God has
more for me. And God is welcome in my home and heart. I want him. Yes, after a year it will
grow. After a week, it will grow. You’ll be challenged. Let me finish with this. You will have trials
and it will be tough. There will be times when you are confused and very discouraged. It will be
tough. They are called the trials of our faith. There are times when I just made a decision by
faith. I had no feeling. I didn’t know what I’m doing. I just made a decision for God by faith. God
loves it when you walk by faith.

God honors you when you walk by faith. God loves it when you make decisions by faith. Some of you God might say, you got to break that relationship up. It’s over. Walk away from it. That relationship is like God turning a table over and saying no more. You can’t do it anymore. It’s over. God says trust me. Believe me. When I used to live in Europe, there was a woman living with her boyfriend for seven years. I went to visit her, and she said
God is speaking to me. I’m moving out. I said, is your boyfriend saved? No. He has come to the
church, but he doesn’t want it. I have to decide between him or God and I’m choosing God.
That woman started to shine like an angel.

That woman started to glow in her heart. Then she married this amazing guy and they lived happily ever after. It’s true! I don’t know about happily ever after but it’s true. Life for us is different from other people because not only have we accepted Jesus in our life at some point when I knew I needed him, but we also continue
moment by moment saying to him in our heart, show us. I want to love you. Teach me. I want
you in my life. I want to see this happen. Give it time. Be patient. Go through your trials. Be
believing. Learn to live by this amazing book. Learn to be in the church. Learn to come. Learn to
trust God in all areas of your life and fear him and trust in him. it’s sweet and precious.

Amen.

 

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