Sunday Message - Today Jesus 118

29/04/07
<Matthew 21:12-17>
THE HOUSE OF PRAYER HAS BECOME A DEN OF ROBBERS

• The brothers and sisters of the Life Church of Missions must be the most handsome and the most
attractive
• All of us should have the “smartness” and attractiveness of God. We need not be afraid of
anything. We just need to get cleansed whenever we are weak
• We must strive hard to worship God. Worships will make us restore the smart and attractive life
• For us who are born again, our bodies are God’s Temple
• The Holy Temple is the place where we can heard God’s voice and know His will
• <John 14> tells us that a person without life will not be able to have it
• Since we have already been born again, how can Satan attack us, to make us weak or to make
us fall sick always?
• Regardless of whether we are weak or fall sick, God’s life is always in us. Satan’s attack will be
reduced when we restore such a life in us. Therefore, we need not always worry for our family or
career

• Our lives will be smart and attractive after we’d formatted God’s Word and make His Word our
fixed perspective (定见)
• God does not choose a generation to work. Rather, He chose people to carry out His work

• We must learn to see that money will come looking for us, and we need not work very hard to
earn money. A blessed person will come looking for another blessed person. Therefore, we need
not worry for anything
Read <Matthew 21:12-17>

• God’s said that His house of prayer has become a den of robbers. This was taken from <Isaiah
56:7>

• <v14> Thus, we should still go to church even though we are sick. We will not be healed
suddenly even if we are to stay at home

• <v15> The chief priests and the teachers of the law had lost the Covenant of Abraham.
Therefore, they would not pray for the nation. Their concerns were only on their personal interest.
The things done by Jesus at the Temple caused them to lose their business

• <v16> “lips of the children and infants” means that people are looking for God

1. My house will be called a house of prayer <v13(i) = Isaiah 56:7>

1) How did the Holy Temple come about: Abraham’s altar → Moses’ Tabernacle → David’s Tent
→ Solomon’s Temple
• We must first understand God’s temple. The Israelites have 3 temples in all
• The latest one was built by King Herod over 46 years. He spent that long amount of time
to build the temple so that he could bind the hearts of the Israelites
• The temple before that was built by Zerubbabel.
• The first and most glorious temple was the one built by Solomon. It was David who asked
Solomon to build it
 • Why did David want to build that temple? It was God’s instruction to have the temple built.
In fact, it is the same instruction God had given to Moses, asking him to build the
Tabernacle
• And why did God ask Moses to build the Tabernacle?
• In fact, a temple was built even in Abraham’s time, in the form of an altar

2) The importance of the Holy Temple. It is not about the building structure or the method used
for worships. What matters is the communication between men and God.
• God’s temple is a place for His people to meet Him
• There’s a Holy of Holies in God’s Temple, which contains God’s life and power
• God had given the decree and laws to Moses and asked Moses to rely on Him. All they
needed to do if they ever fell was to make a sacrifice
• God had displayed His personality through all these things
• When we pray to God in Jesus’ name, we are praying according to God’s personality,
method and purpose
• When God asked Abraham to come out from his hometown, God had wanted him to
leave all his personal methods and ideology. God wanted Abraham to walk in the direction
that He had determined for him. Whenever Abraham was weak, all he needed to do was
to sacrifice
• God wanted Abraham to break away from the roots and ideology of Adam
• The next important person after Abraham was Moses
• The Israelites had built a golden calf for themselves when Moses went up the mountain to
see God. They knew that there was a god. Therefore, when they could not see god or
Moses, they built the golden calf to worship
• This is worshipping idol. When people do not know God, all the things they seek are idols
• Be it God or idols, most people worship because of their personal interest
• A person who doesn’t hear God’s instruction or did not build God’s temple is worshipping
idols in whatever he does because everyone will have their own needs
• If we want to find God without first knowing God’s temple, we are actually worshiping idols
• We should only follow God after we know how God wants us to follow Him. We can only
truly meet God after we have heard God’s revelation through His Word. Only this is true
Christianity belief
• The ark of Covenant was in the Holy of Holies. In it was the staff of Moses (the power of
death and resurrection), Manna (the source of life), and God’s Ten Commandments
(God’s perfect will). There was a system in all these. We should not ask or follow as per
our own desire
• When God asked David to build a Temple, He asked him whether God really needed a
temple to stay, or not
• Solomon knew that God is beyond any temple even when he had built one

3) The reasons why God had asked the Israelites to build the Holy Temple (5 important
purposes)
• First of all, do not forget the covenant that God had given to Abraham: 4 Gospelisations
(personal, church, regional and world)
• This is the guilding purpose of God asking the Israelites to build a Temple
• God always reminded the Israelites not to forget that it was He who brought them out
from Egypt and cross the Red Sea
• Secondly, God’s purpose was for them to see the 5 Miracles. This is the guiding principle
• Third; God’s purpose was for them to sacrifice the 5 Offerings
 • What sort of weaknesses do we have? Just cleanse it. We know that God is pleased with
us whenever we cleanse ourselves
• Fourth; we need to be joined and held together (联络得合式)
• All of us must be together to fulfil God’s purpose. Thus, how can we quarrel over minute
things?
• We must restore having one Father, one Lord, and one Spirit
• Fifth; we must bless all people and all nations
• There was an outer court outside the Holy Temple where the women and Gentiles could
gather
• However, people were selling and buying there now
• God’s purposes are in all these and all these are the contents of the five law books of
Moses (i.e. God’s books of covenant)

4) God’s glory will shine upon God’s people whenever they call out to God in accordance to the
purpose of the Holy Temple
• God will definitely listen to the Israelites whenever they call up to God with this purpose
• God blessed everything that Abraham had done when Abraham prayed with this purpose
<Genesis 13, 15, 18-24>
• A person who lives a life with God’s purpose will definitely be blessed all his life, even
though there will be times where he is weak, fails or face some setbacks
• <Ex 40> After Moses constructed the Tabernacle, God appeared to them and spoke to
them
• Similarly, after David and Solomon have built their temples, God also appeared and
spoke to them

5) A saint’s life has a temple (Spiritual Palace). A temple is also a place where a group of saints
gather for holy meeting (church)
• Our bodies are temples (Spiritual Palace)
• The place where saints gather is also a temple
• We do not want to worship idols but we want to earnestly worship
• Therefore, during worship service, we should do less of other miscellaneous things
• Some saints may say, they have been attending worship service for so long but they have
been encountering increasingly more unlucky incidents. However, when we examine their
lives, we find that they do not pay attention during worship service or they do not place
importance on worship service

2. But you are making it a “den of robbers” <v13(ii) = Jeremiah 7:11>

• In an important temple, the temple became a den of robbers
• We must know why a temple can become a den of robbers
• The robbers represent Satan. Satan buys and sells and does business just outside the temple
1) The fall of the temple is a result of the fall of religious leaders. The main leaders of the
temples then were: Sadducees (Chief Priests), Pharisees (teachers of the Law), the
Herodians (Politicians) and the Zealots (Revolutionists)
• The temple will become bad and rot because the leaders in the temple have fallen and
became bad
• There are four types of people in the temple:
• First, the Sadducees (Chief Priests). They were the descendents of David’s chief priest
 • They do not believe in eternal life or death and resurrection. They are like those people in
today’s churches who talk about social sciences, psychology, counseling, philosophy but
do not talk about God’s temple or Jesus Christ )
• Second, the Pharisees (teachers of the Law). They represent the prophets who teach
God’s words
• Nicodemus is a Pharisee but he does not even know the meaning of being “born again”
• What do pastors who do not know what is being born again teach?
• Third, the Herodians (Politicians). They are like those in church who often talks about
politics
• Fourth, the Zealots (Revolutionists)
• They have a strong spirit of patriotism. They always wanted to fight in battles, hoping to
restore Israel
• God does not want us to get into battles often. God is a Prince of Peace
• Therefore, Jesus Christ told them that their father is Satan
• A church cannot become a den of robbers. This is worse than a church that is sleeping
• A Christian faith does not solely want us to follow the Laws but to understand God’s
concern. It is also not about singing hymns daily to praise God, while compromising to the
worldly standards
• The most important thing a church has to restore the joy of having one Father, one Lord,
one Spirit, one Body, one Purpose, one direction
• When believers with such a conviction come together, there are words that need not be
spoken. Good things will be shared together with the rest

2) Therefore, when a temple’s worship has become “a formality, mystical and legalistic”, it is
unable to allow people to receive life, strength and evidence
• When the Israelites’ worships in the temple became a formality and legalistic, they did not
even give tithes, which is on of the most basic things to do <Malachi>
• In the end, when the Saints did not do anything, the temple became weak. As a result,
even the Levites (who were the Preachers and Pastors then) had to go out to do farming
• Eventually, Israel and the temple became a den of robbers

3) Therefore, when God’s altar is blessed → our spirit will be blessed → all our thoughts,
judgement, speech, lifestyle, interpersonal relationships will then be blessed
• When Israel got revived, all the Israelites were revitalized. Everything became good when
their spirits were revived
• As they repent and restored giving tithes, the Levites left the farms and returned to the
Holy Temple
• Church is not talking about giving money. Church talks about God’s word. Everyone
should treat God’s word as real
• When a person’s spirit has received grace, all his relationships, lifestyle and heart’s desire
will become good
• Therefore, all of us must be smart (i.e. handsome). It means to be a big vessel
• Believers are not smart when their worship become a formality
• It is a church when the congregation has unity. It is a church when the everyone in the
congregation has the same desire to love God’s purpose
• God’s word must be read in depth. We must understand the spiritual meanings. The
historical events are a representation of today’s churches
• It does not matter how big the church’s congregation is or how much offering was
collected. The most important thing is the spiritual life of the Believers must be revived
3. How can the Lord of the Temple, Jesus Christ, restore the Temple? <14-17>
1) Jesus Christ; He is the Lord of the Temple
• Lord Jesus Christ has inherited all the spiritual meaning in the Temple
• The altar of Abraham and the Tabernacle of Moses was both worshipping Jesus. The
Temple built by Solomon was to display the glory of Jesus
• Jesus Christ had revealed all the spiritual meaning of the Temple. is word becomes flesh.
He dead and resurrected. He reigns in the heavenly throne and is expanding God’s
kingdom daily

2) Therefore, all the Saints who have accepted Jesus Christ must also inherit Him (becoming the
Jesus of today)
• When we believe in the Lord, we must inherit what Jesus Christ had inherited
• Our Spirit is the Holy of Holies. Our soul is the Holy Temple. Our body is the outer court,
for reaching out to others.
• Our spiritual palace must be beautified
• Before we come into the Temple of God, we must cleanse ourselves and prepare our
hearts to meet the Lord

3) The condition of our temple today is the most important (has it been formatted? Has our
spiritual palace been built yet?)
• We must format our life if we want to restored God’s “smartness”
• We are only worshipping idols if we do not know what is God doing or we do not know
how to see Him
• Very often, we want to meet God with our own feelings. Thus, we will want to pray or look
for God when we feel good. When we feel lousy, we will not want to pray or meet Him
• Satan is very powerful. He can cause us to receive hurt with very minute things or by
some harmless comments from others
• We can only do fixed time prayers after we’d formatted
• When we realize that we were deceived by Satan, we must do concentration prayers and
restore peace and God’s desire

4) Will surely form a group of blessed people (church). From there comes our personal lives,
family, careers and ministries
• Very often, we know what we need to format but yet we just cannot do it and we feel so
helpless about it. In that case, we must be church and meeting centered.
• We can never restore the life that God wants us to have if we do not treat all the meetings
seriously
• There is no way we can get healed if we don’t treat God’s greatest concerns seriously

Sharing and Prayer Topics

1) God has built a temple (spiritual palace) in my life. What is my view about this spiritual
palace? Have I restored God’s purpose in creating the temple in my life and daily living?
Referring to the notes, have I grasped the mystery of being able to see God anytime,
anywhere, communicate with God and enjoy His blessing and power?
2) When the Israelites worship in a formality and religious matter, it brings forth all the
personal, family, society and the era problems. Are there any contradictions in my current
spiritual life, daily living or interpersonal relationships? How can we resolve all these
contradictions by worshipping with a blessed spiritual palace?
3) How do we maintain a continual spirit temple of joy, thanksgiving and praise? Therefore,
what do I need to improve in my daily life? Is my church (The Life Church and Missions) a
blessed church and one that God wants to use? Where is the evidence? Comparing the
Jerusalem Church <Acts1:1-2:47> and the Antioch Church <Acts11:19-30>, in what areas
can we give thanks for and in what areas can we improve?