John 2 - Part C

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That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get started with today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Verse 11, this is the beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.

After this, He went down to Capernaum. He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples, and they stayed there many days. There's two things John wants you to know about this miracle. First thing he wants you to know, this is the first miracle Jesus ever performed.

Why is that important? Because if you are a student of ancient literature, you may have come across apocryphal books like The Gospel According to Thomas. Have you ever heard of The Gospel According to Thomas? It's a book that is not a biblical book. It's an apocryphal book. But in that book, they have Jesus as a youth growing up in Egypt, making clay.

They make clay birds and then throwing them up and make, turning them into live birds. And so this little tradition is even in the Quran it's mentioned, has been passed down. It's not legitimate because this is the first miracle Jesus ever performed.

He didn't make clay pigeons and turn them into live pigeons. There's another old saying that when Jesus was in Egypt as a little boy, He cursed a boy playing some sport with him. He cursed him and the little boy fell down dead and Jesus had to walk over as a little boy and heal him.

It's all fictitious. And we know that because this is the first miracle Jesus did. John wants you to know. This is miracle number one. The second thing John wants you to know is in doing this miracle, it cemented the fledgling faith of these five disciples. You know, they were following Him, but when they saw this, they believed in Him.

Their faith went deeper at this point. Now it brings up a question. I just want to touch on it because I'll be asked it afterwards if I don't bring it up. And I don't mind being asked it, but why not answer it before I get it asked. Is it okay for Christians to drink?

And I love the answer I heard years ago and it stuck with me. I tell people I drink as much as I want to and I don't want to. I don't want to drink, so I drink as much as I want to.

I just don't want to. Now the Bible doesn't say anything bad about wine. In fact, in some cases it commends wine. Timothy was told by Paul in 1 Timothy 5 to take wine as medicinal purposes for his often infirmities. He had a weak stomach. It's like, dude, you have such health issues. You need something to kill the germs in the water. Drink wine for your stomach's sake.

Your often infirmities. So it was used, prescribed by Paul the Apostle for medicinal reasons. Now again, they drank wine in the New Testament.

I don't have a problem with drinking wine per se, but I'll just say I've chosen as a pastor not to do it. Because now it's not an issue. If I don't do it, it doesn't become an issue. If I do it because I have liberty and I have freedom, somebody's going to see me and say, hey, I saw Skip at the bar the other night slamming a couple of things down, man.

It's like, whoa. You can see how that would be complicated. Or what if somebody who struggled with alcoholism sees it? It could be detrimental.

It could be destructive. So here's the rules for doing things that are gray areas in the Christian life. Because I know you've all had questions about, well, would the Bible say I can do this? And it's funny how the questions we ask, it's almost like, well, what can I get away with and still be saved? I think there's a better way to approach life than these questions. But nonetheless, listen, it's answered for you in the Bible. Listen to what Paul says in Corinthians. All things are lawful for me.

I can do anything. But, listen, all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. So Paul said, I can do anything I want to do, but I don't want to do anything that will control me or put me under its control. And if you drink too much wine, you will lose control.

You are now under its control. And I've heard people say, dude, I love you, man. And I know, that's the alcohol speaking. You would never tell me that. First of all, you've never met me before.

I've been loved by so many drunks. So all things are lawful for me, but I will be not brought under the power of any. Then listen to what else he said. All things are lawful for me, but not all things edify or build up. What that principle says is, yeah, you know what, I can do anything, but I have to be very careful of what people think as they watch my life. Is it edifying them? Is it building them up? Or is it giving them permission to do something that's questionable? So those are good things to govern the gray areas of your life.

Does it build people up? Will I lose control and will it control me? So I just choose not to make it an issue, but again, no condemnation, man. If you want to do whatever, if you want to go have a glass of wine after church tonight, I won't fault you. Just don't tell me.

No, I'm just kidding. I won't fault you. Really, it's not a big deal. It's not an issue to me.

Okay, there's something that I just can't pass up. Here. No, no. It has nothing to do with that. Nothing to do with that.

We're having fun, aren't we? Okay. Okay, so look.

So look at something here. Look at verse 11. No, look at verse 12. After this, after this miracle, this first miracle, he went down to Capernaum. Now, if you have a map in the back of your Bible, and you find Cana of Galilee, and then you find Capernaum, it's this way.

It's up. It's north. North of Cana, just northeast a little bit, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, is Capernaum, where Jesus will be headquartered for the next three, three and a half years. That's where he will move to and live in Capernaum. But it says he went down to Capernaum. So if I say, hey, let's go down to Capernaum. It looks like I just canceled my speech by what I'm pointing to.

Now, look at something else. Verse 13. Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now, from Galilee, Jerusalem is south 90 miles. So I said, I'm going to go down to Capernaum and then up to Jerusalem.

You would go, dude, you are so messed up. But here's what I want you to see. This is something in the New Testament that is very particular to ancient writings. They didn't look at things geographically but topographically. Cana was higher in elevation than Capernaum. If you're on your feet, if you're walking, you'll be going down and you'll know you're going down. If you're going to Capernaum, you're not thinking about a map. You're thinking about, I'm going down in elevation. I'm going down to about 600 to 700 feet below sea level.

That's where Capernaum is. And then Jerusalem is about 23, 2400 feet above sea level. No matter how you approach Jerusalem, you always, no matter what direction you're coming to Jerusalem, you're always going up. And the Jews saw this not only topographically but spiritually. Whenever you go to Jerusalem, man, it's always a step up.

You're always going up. That's why if you're Jewish and you want to immigrate to Israel today, it's called making aliyah. Making aliyah is literally to go up.

I'm taking a step up. I'm going to become an Israeli citizen. I'm moving up to Zion. So they're going to go down to Capernaum and then up to Jerusalem. Okay, verse 13.

See how far we get. Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand and Jesus went to Jerusalem. And he found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves and the money changers doing business. When he 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. And he said to those who sold doves, take these things away. Do not make my Father's house a house of merchandise. In the 1700s, Charles Wesley wrote a song, a hymn. Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, look upon this little child.

Have you ever heard of that? This will change your mind about Jesus. Oh, Jesus can be gentle and meek and mild. There's gentle Jesus, meek and mild, but then there's lethal Jesus, not gentle Jesus, you know, fired up and riled.

How's that? I love this about Jesus. He was a man's man. He wasn't some politically correct, effeminate person just standing over in the corner going, I'm gentle Jesus, meek and mild. I mean, come on. He shows up in the temple courts, looks down on the ground, finds some rope probably from the carts and the animals and just takes them and just starts moving around, overturning tables.

Those things weighed some, they were hefty. And I see Jesus doing that going, yes, I want to go to his church. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, Nate Heitzig has written a children's book just in time for Christmas. And this month we're offering it to you as thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig. Christmas Under the Tree follows the timeless story of Jesus Christ from the cradle to the cross through the eyes of an unlikely character, a humble tree. This beautifully illustrated book, which includes a companion audio experience, is a wonderful way to tell the Christmas story and the story of Christ to the children in your life. This resource is our thanks for your gift of just $25 or more today to help share biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give $25 or more today to reach people all around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig.

Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. Here's a guy protecting people from the chicanery of the leaders who are trying to gouge the people. What do I mean gouge the people? Well, if you go to Jerusalem for Passover and it was required for you to go to Jerusalem, if you live 15 miles in any direction, you had to be there at three festivals a year. If you lived outside of that perimeter, it was suggested you be there. If you were Jewish anywhere in the world, you'd want to be there at least one year for Passover.

That's the dream. In every Passover, it's part of the liturgy of the Passover. Next year in Jerusalem, that's how the feast ends. Next year in Jerusalem, we want to go there.

So Jerusalem was crowded full of people, people from all over the world there. Now if you travel from anywhere in the Roman Empire to Jerusalem, you're not going to take animals with you for sacrifice. It's too much carry-on. You know, you can't fit that in the overhead compartment. That sheep, sir, will not fit in the overhead, I'm sorry, or under your seat. You can't bring it.

Right? So you would be animal-less. But when you get to Jerusalem, they'd smile and go, that's okay, we have an app for that. Yeah, yeah, we have animals here. And these animals are pure animals. Now, you go, well that's great, how much will they cost?

A lot. They charge exorbitant prices, and they gouged people, exploiting their desires to worship God. By charging them a crazy price for that animal. Or, let's say you did bring your own animal. You would have inspectors look at it and go, hmm. Now these inspectors, according to Levitical Law, had spent 18 months on a farm examining animals to tell what's clean and unclean.

They got really nitpicky. And invariably, they would look over your animal, even though you looked it over before you left home, and you think it's kosher. They'd look at it and go, you know what, it looks pretty good, but look under that ear. See that little flaw? And you're going, no, I don't see it.

Well, I do see it, I have a trained eye. We reject this animal, you must buy one of these animals. So you had to cough up the extra money to do that. Number two, you had to bring a temple shekel, or the Tyrian shekel. The Tyrian shekel was a piece of money that had a certain amount of silver content as you would go up to the temple to worship. Now that was part of the law, everybody had to bring that to upkeep the sanctuary.

However, if you were a foreigner and you had coinage from anywhere else in the world, to exchange it into the Tyrian shekel, or the temple shekel, they would charge you 12 to 20 percent. Jesus saw that. He didn't lose control, and everything Jesus was out of control. It's not like He's having a bad Messiah day.

It's like, oh, I'm so married to these people. He was never out of control. He was in absolute, total control. Because notice what it says about what He did. He made a whip of cords, verse 15, He drove them all out with the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changer's money and overturned tables and said to those who sold doves, He's not overturning the cages of the doves and hurting the animals and breaking their property.

He's in total control. He said to those who sold doves, take these things away. Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise. Now the fact that Jesus didn't say our Father's house, but My Father's house indicates a special relationship that He is claiming with the Father in heaven, with God. He is asserting Himself as their Messiah, as the Son of God, as the one who has rightful authority over the house of God. The disciples remembered that it was written, they're now remembering the quote from Psalm 69, zeal for your house has eaten me up. So the Jews answered and said to Him, what sign do You show us since You do these things? They challenged Jesus' authority.

Why? They challenged Jesus' authority because Jesus had just sidestepped their authority. They have no authority in His heart, His head. It's His Father's house.

I'm taking charge of it. They said, what sign do You do that since You do these things? Jesus answered and said to them, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. Then the Jews said, it has taken 46 years to build this temple and you will raise it up in three days. But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this to them and they believed the scriptures and the word which Jesus said to them.

Fascinating. Jesus said something that nobody understood. Even His disciples didn't get it for how many years?

Three years. They won't understand this saying until after the resurrection. Jesus said it knowing they wouldn't get it for three years.

You know, some truth is staged truth. Some truth you're just not ready for. Some truth Jesus is so patient and loving towards you that He knows you won't get it, but eventually you'll get it. Something will happen. You'll read it again.

You'll go through something in your life and when that happens, you'll remember it. That's how patient, that's how committed to spiritual growth God is. His disciples didn't get it for three years now. He said destroy this temple and I'll raise that up in three days. Now they were thinking of one thing, a temple of stone. He was thinking of the temple of flesh.

John 1. And the word became flesh and tabernacled amongst us. But they're thinking of a temple of stone. He's thinking of a temple of flesh.

They loved their temple. The temple had started to be built, the temple of Herod, the temple that Jesus is in, had started to be built 16 years before Jesus was born. It by this time had been going on for 46 years and it wouldn't be finished for another 24 years. In fact, the finishing touches were still being put on the temple in 70 AD when the Romans destroyed it. It wasn't done yet and it was destroyed. By the time Jesus was born, Herod the Great had already taken and put a wall around a mountain and leveled the mountain to a 35, 36 acre complex called the Temple Mount. So when you go to Jerusalem and you look at the western wall, the Wailing Wall, you're looking at stone that was laid before the birth of Jesus, before he even came to Jerusalem.

So here's what happened, really briefly, because I have two minutes. The temple was destroyed in 586 BC. You know that. 70 years later, they came back to rebuild it. Zerubbabel, Joshua, a different Joshua, started to build it with the people. They're building the temple.

They get it pretty well done. Zerubbabel was discouraged. The prophet Haggai in Zechariah encouraged him, come on, man, keep building it, and he did. Once it was finished, this refurbished temple that was destroyed, Solomon's Temple, once it was refurbished by Zerubbabel, some people shouted for joy and other people who remembered how beautiful the first temple was, mourned and wept, because it wasn't as pretty as it used to be. So enter Herod the Great, 30 years before Jesus was born, 30 BC, and he started the temple, as I mentioned, 16 years before his birth. He decided he would make something so magnificent that even the Jews in their writings said, he who has not seen the Temple of Herod in Jerusalem has never seen splendor in his life. He took that huge temple mount, that mountain, and leveled it off and erected this magnificent temple.

I won't even get into the details because of time. They loved their temple. It, to them, represented the presence of God. As long as there's a temple, God's presence is here.

To this day, Jews believe that the presence of God has never left the Temple Mount. So they're thinking about the Temple of Stone. The fact that Jesus is speaking about the temple of his body is very telling. What he is saying is that greater than the presence of God in a stone temple is the presence of God in this fleshly temple.

I am the Logos, I am the Word, who spoke things into existence and became flesh, and I am present in my Father's house. And he was speaking of the temple of his body, which can I just say briefly before we close tonight's study? Do you know the Bible says your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?

It means two things, in my view. Worship should be taking place inside of you regularly. And number two, you should be taking care of this temple.

And every time you do something good for your health, be it eating right or exercise, it's a way of saying, God, thank you for the body you've given me, the temple you've given me. So Jesus uniquely now compares the temple of stone to the temple of his body, speaks about not construction but resurrection. Disciples won't get it for another three years. I think we'll just read it and then we'll pick it up next time because it's a perfect segue. Actually, the way I see it, if I would have been, was it Philip Langdon in the 1200s who put the chapters in?

I would have ended chapter one at verse 22 and began chapter three at verse 23. I'll tell you more about that why next time, but look at verse 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. But Jesus did not commit himself to them because he knew all men and had no need that anyone should testify of man for he knew what was in man. It's a play on words.

Let me give you a literal translation. Many believed in him, but he did not believe in them. Many were committed to him, but he was not committed to them.

The question is, why? What was the nature of their faith? Why would Jesus not believe or be committed to them? And who was in the crowd listening that day that this would have special application to? We'll meet him in the very next chapter. One of the guys in the temple that day was Nicodemus, a Pharisee. He'd been watching the whole thing and he dying to have a private conversation with Jesus.

A one-on-one, a face-to-face and an eyeball-to-eyeball conversation which he will get. And John's intent is to introduce Nicodemus in contrast to those who saw the signs and wonders and followed him for that. Compare those to this guy who will believe in Jesus and have a new birth.

Not just a shallow commitment, but a real heartfelt commitment. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program. Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resource that will help you and the children in your life see the timeless story of Christ with fresh eyes.

Nate Heitzig's book, Christmas Under the Tree, with Forward by Levi Lusko, is our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today. Request your copy when you give $25 or more. Call 800-922-1888.

That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And did you know that you can find full message series and libraries of content from Skip Heitzig on YouTube? Simply visit the Connect with Skip Heitzig channel on YouTube and be sure to subscribe to the channel so you never miss any new content. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast your burdens on His word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.