If you want to, you can turn to the 21st chapter of Matthew. This being Palm Sunday, this is the account of where Jesus comes riding into Jerusalem and honoring us as they would a king. The Bible says in the 5th verse, it says, Behold, thy king cometh unto thee, meek and sending upon an axe. and the colt, the foal of a man. And we're given three accounts in the four Gospels of Jesus Christ coming and finding the colt tied up. We know it also mentions in John that he rode in with the people crying, saying, We know that in all three accounts it also mentions about what he done afterwards. And I just find it interesting that it mentions here that it says that the multitude went before in the ninth verse and that followed cried saying, Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. and the highest. And then there's a paragraph, or at least there's one that's marked in my Bible, and it says, And when he came to Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth, of Galilee. And then there's another paragraph, and it says, And Jesus went into the temple of God, cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seat of them that sold does, and sent unto them that is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves." We know that this is mentioned in three of the gospels as well, but if we was to read just Matthew, it would make you wonder, or make you think anyhow that he come in and he rode into Jerusalem. And as soon as he got there, he went to the temple and he cast the money changers out. But if you read in, I believe it's Mark, we know that there's a day that transpired. That he rode into Jerusalem. We're not feeling very well tonight, today, so we'd ask you all that you pray for us. But he rode into Jerusalem and he spent the night just outside of Jerusalem and come back in come Monday. And we find that that is when that he cast those out of the temple. This is something that Jesus had done before. I find it interesting that as we read it in Matthew, it seems as if Matthew being the gospel that seemed to have been especially wrote to the Jews, that as if if we would read this, we would say that he wrote it to Jerusalem a triumphal entry, an entry of that of a king, and he come and he cast out the people from the temple. We know that if you read, and I believe it's the 2nd chapter, we could turn there if you'd want to, of St. John, the Bible says in the 2nd chapter, it says in the 15th verse, and when he had made, well we'll go ahead and start in the 13th, and the Jews Passover was at hand, And Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and found in the temple those that sold oxen, and sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting. And when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the table, and said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence. Make not My Father's house a house, of merchandise, and his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. We find here that this was at the beginning of Jesus' ministry. It was just shortly after when He turned the water into wine at the request of His mother. And we find Him here at Passover in the first year of His ministry, and He was casting those out of the temple. We find that in the last year of His ministry, there shortly, the last week that He was to walk on this earth, As to Christ, we find that He, once again, there right at the Passover, that He comes into Jerusalem, and He finds the same things going on that would have been going on in years past. What was his reason? What was his purpose for riding into Jerusalem? I wanted to say that he cashed the money changers and the thieves as it were out of the temple. He started his earthly ministry and he done it at the end of his earthly ministry. But we was reading about that. was thinking about it and we thought no. He cast out the fees, the money changers, those that would want to make profit on those that had come to the temple. He cast them out at the beginning of his earthly ministry and at the beginning of his heavenly ministry. Let Jesus Christ come out there where they were saying Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest. I recognize him as king of kings and lord of lords. He comes to the temple. He cleansed the temple and cleared it out. That's where Jesus comes. That was his purpose all along. He might clean our hearts. The bible says he was crucified. that the curtain of the temple was read, no more was taught. I'm going to draw a dwell behind the curtains of the temple, but he comes, that he might dwell in the hearts of men. The Bible teaches me, and he'll do the same for me and you, as he did. a man, but more than a man, a king of kings and lord of lords, the bible said he said reek upon that ass, the coat of an ass, but the bible says as well, that when he come in and seen his house in disrepair, that he had passion, there was anger there, and he cast him Why would y'all be so passionate? Why were the ones that were so meek and mild and pleasant? And with those that were in his house, it was because that was not what it was intended for. And so we find, even yet today, we can make the comparisons. What's going on within the walls of church today? And wonder if God would look down and say, my house shall be called a house of prayer. And look, they've made a house of merchandise. It's a den of thieves and gullies, a home of liars. But you know what? He did not come so that we would biddle. Temples made of hands. You know, there's great cathedrals. The Catholics, most of all, seem to buy the bill. The greatest cathedrals. But that was not the ways of God. and pictures that he could dwell. Much more personal. I've not been in very many of them, but you can go in there and you can speak and your voice will echo. And why is that? Because the vastness of it all, the vaulted ceilings, and the epitaphs of it as well. But you know what? Lord, His intentions are from the beginning of time. Oh, when the Father loved His Son, there was no escape, no escape. I heard the first chapter, as it were, of Genesis. And he said, let us make man. And you all from there on out are going to be able to dwell in a clean temple. And I'm thankful that Jesus Christ comes just to do that. And he'll not stop. The Lord would have us open our hearts. He walked into that kippo there in Jerusalem, for the doors were open. And if we would open our hearts to the Lord, He'll come in. The Bible says that He'll clean us. We can find it as it were, swept and garnished. There's a lot of people, every year, they call it spring cleaning. And they begin to clean their house. For what purpose? Not to clean it to live, but to clean it to dwell in. And I'm thankful that the Lord did that for me and you. I don't have to go to Jerusalem, I don't have to go to Washington, D.C., or just any, or any other capital of any country or state. Lord's desire when he was there on the cross when he looked at the one thief and said today I will be with thee in paradise his intentions were that he'd shed his blood on Calvary so that though he bled in a corner over there at the beginning of his ministry so filthy that a cord would not have done. So God took all the dirt and jumbled it up with and beat it out and turned over the tables. His skill was a dirty blade. What it took to clean the hearts of men was much greater than the passion that the Lord fell for His Father's temple. What it took was the blood that was shed at Calvary, and I saw Him glad. But I'm glad that he was sufficient People in this world today Come just as they did so long ago Way back yonder Oh, when Jesus went to the temple I don't know what they went for Maybe the feeling of obligation But I come to Jesus to lay my trust The tormentors from my soul. I come and I'm not fine. True religion. The world is full of counterfeits. There's so many people. Today I'm going to improve. Those that are truly born again. He's cleaned our temple. He's made a way in the place where he can dwell. And I'm thankful of that. And I don't know why anybody else would want something that's half as good. But you know what? The devil ain't offering us something that half as good. Although he would tell you it's better. But in the end you find out that it couldn't be considered to be good at all. But yet tomorrow we was talking to our boys. There's a story about these two brothers that grew up and their father was a preacher. And they grew up and they would talk about After he moved off, then he'd come back, and there was nothing that soothed his heart more than hearing the words that his father spoke there, but he never talked about it. never talked about, born to give experience, and him and his brother and his father, their time was going to the river and fishing, and I thought to myself, at the end of the story, There's an elderly man, and he's standing there, and his father's dead. His brother had an untimely death, and his wife was dead. He said, yet this river flows. And he spoke about a river that flowed through his life, and it was sand. The Bible promises me and you that we can have a spring, a springing up, the Bible says, in the heart of one where there once was a filthy temple, but then there The call of our Jesus We can find peace everlasting Glory to God That we can rejoice and know That that cup that I drink from today Will be filled tomorrow Let that sweet breeze Fill on my brow In this present life I shall feel In the life to come When my daddy passes away, if the Lord would carry, that I might have to say goodbye, but that there is a heaven, glory to God, there is a celestial city, and paper is God. I said, thanks be to God. I said, he came to clean the temple. I said, he told that we might have love. I said, we've had it for a month and a half. I said, wouldn't you enjoy being in that number? I said, well I catch the palms. I said, and their shirt. I said, well they're cold as it were. I said, head from the hip. I said, can you imagine? I said, had you been the one. I said, From this little wild coal, never been thrown by nobody. And the time will become, say the master has need of me. What an honor, what a privilege, that you take him. That's a king by right. I'm a man, but he's a mannerer. Because he's come, he's taken the heart to me. I don't know. Why anybody would fall colder when the Lord has offered them a kingdom? I'm thankful that the God of my fathers, not only will be my God, but will be the one that will dwell in my heart. I'm thankful that, though I was not a one that was befitting or deserving of his sweet presence, that he planted, as it were, a queer that drove those things out of my life that needed to be. You know what? We just gotta let him go. I'm thankful there's a lot of people today struggling with addictions and troubles and the greatest struggle of all. is just letting go. Listen, my God is a passionate God. My Jesus, though he was meek and mild, there was something that got him fired up more than anything, and that was those things dwelling in his father's house that didn't belong I'm thankful he's still yet today just as passionate. He's never lost a battle, but we've got to try, don't we? He said he'd help. He said he'd deliver. He said that he would wash us clean, and all we've got to I don't know why that is. All you got to do is let the load get out of the way and let the Lord bring it back. The mighty God is a pantheon of God. He holds our heart and our lives to be a house of prayer and a house of merchandise. You know what? If we look at our body as a holy temple of God, a verse on the heart, a letter that adorn it. We've been trying to be good by it. I've been trying to make it look younger. As they get older, I guess young men try to look a little bit older. Doing whatever they might do in order to make it look more appealing. God said it was created. It might be a house of prayer. We went out yesterday. It's been some time. That's just how it is. We need to have good habits. We need to have, as it were, good traditions. My wife wasn't feeling well and so she laid down and she took the baby with her. So me and the four children was there, and we walked out in the cedars. You know, they were calling for rain yesterday. We thought it was going to come after noon, and it didn't come until the evening. But we walked out in the cedars, and I sat my children down, and we began to pray. I want them to know that the God that I serve, He finds pleasure when we make our temple a house of prayer. He finds joy when we open up our hearts and let Him be as it were a whip. You know what? Years ago, Uh, that's what, uh, when we went to India, I don't know, uh, Tony, if you remember it, uh, they didn't have a brood, did they? Uh, like me or you would use, uh, but what they had was, uh, was a bundle, uh, uh, a straw, as it were, uh, or what do they call that, brood corn, uh, a bundle that they just bent over, And they were done sweet with that. Didn't have a handle on it. Oh, you know what? You could take a cord, and you could flash you a whip. Or you could make you a broom. Or you could use a whip. A floor broom. When my Lord begins to clean the house, He'll drive out those things that don't want to be drove out, and He'll also clean it. I'm thankful that His blood is sufficient. That what He said on Calvary is what they are leading. I know I'm not waiting for a day when the Lord will manifest Himself in some way in order that I might be better delivered. Thanks be to God. When He hung on the cross, He said it was finished. He made the way. Every one of us, there's not a single one of us that should pass. I would go to hell and the only ones that we are those that shut the door to that temple that would otherwise be glorious. You know, the men that built temples of all manner when we was over in India, It was with Paul's and Jess's daughters. We went to this one tickle that they had made into a market. It was huge. And the cows, I guess they made it into the market. It was all right for us to walk in there. with her shoes. And so we did. She mentioned we could go into this temple or that temple. She said that we'd have to take her shoes off. Well, you know, I've got real narrow feet. I wear a number size 12s and AAA if I can find them. I didn't imagine that I could find any over there. We were warned and In some of the literature that we read, that when Westerners took their shoes off outside of certain temples, there was people that would take them. But when she told me that I had to, that we had to take the shoes off, I said, that's all right, I'm not interested. Not because I was frightened that I might lose my shoes, because we took them off when we went inside the house of God. But I didn't want to take them off in the honor of God, that wasn't of God. I didn't want it to be portrayed by anybody, including the people that I was with, or any stranger that Daryl was going to honor or to recognize some false idol. And you know what? I'm thankful little people today are going to all manners to adorn themselves on the inside and out, that those that are born again truly know. what is holy ground and which is ground to not walk on at all. You know we find that when Moses was there at the foot of that mount and he seen that burning bush. The Bible tells me that God said Moses take your feet, take your shoes off For you're standing on holy ground. I'm thankful that when the Lord cleans us up, not only is it on the inside where the grass will not grow, the ground begins to flourish all around us. I'm thankful for that. I've been doing a little bit of reading. You know what, in farming, what we do with chemical fertilizer is all it is is plant food. We pour this chemical fertilizer in the soil and what it does is it breaks down and it goes right to the plant. But then there are those other kinds of fertilizers that feed the soil. If we feed the plant, the plant grows and the plant dies. and the fertilizer is gone. But if we feed the soil, then that fertilizer that we use can build up the soil and it's not just gone as it were in one season. And why is it because we're feeding the bacteria and the microorganisms that dwell within the topsoil on our ground? And the more and more I read about that, it just It fascinates me to think that the Lord created such minute little beings that in their living and in their dying they create, as it were, plant food for the plants that grow. And that we could either feed the plant or we could feed the soil that feeds the plant. But I said all that to say there's a lot of soil They throw a crush and they do it pretty good. But the soil is there. work out for that chemical fertilizer, that speed in the plant, that there be very little but weeds to grow, that there is some soil that is so dead that even weeds itself have trouble growing, but with Jesus Christ cleans the temple he don't just stop there but he plants a garden around me and you so that the world can see that he dwells in a glorified body that he'll dwell in a community and because of it those around us benefit as well and I have somewhat of a trouble and seeing why there are those always up against it. And I'm not talking about in the physical. You know, it's been said that the poor without God are most miserable. If you would look in my, if you would look in our current state of our country, we would have to say that there are those that are miserable, that have money, and there are those that are poor. and miserable. And one would have to say that at least the wealthy are going to go, they're going to eat. In our country, even the poor, it seems like, have that meal at least once a day. You know, but there are certain countries where that's not the case. But the statement was made that the poor without God are of all men most miserable, of those poor with crises. or princesses and princesses, or princes and princesses, that they are children of the Most High God, that they are all the inheritance to a heavenly kingdom. And I was thinking about that. What will it be? Though we might not be able to change our present state, we can either be one That is poor with a desolate garden All around us with cobwebs and decay Corpses, as the Bible said Jesus Christ put it to the Pharisees and said That they would set the cruce full of dead man's bones We could open up our heart and let the Lord clean us up Plant a vineyard, build a wall and have wonderful gardens all about us and still yet be poor. I'll take the ladder over the first any day. Why the cars? Though we would be poor. The Bible says we are an inheritance. We have an inheritance that we are heirs and joint heirs unto Jesus Christ. Then all we have to do is seeking for who He is. All we have to do is honor Him and cry out to Him, Hosanna. Do you know what Hosanna means? I looked that up once and it more or less is a declaration saying, save now or deliver now. Those people there, I don't know All that were there, I don't think they fully comprehended what Jesus was going to do. They were looking for an earthly kingdom to be set up. They were looking for an earthly king. And then the Lord walked into that temple. And He showed them, though they could not see, He showed them what He was there for. He was there to drive out the pretenders. He was there to drive out the predators. He was there to drive out the liars. He was there to drive out the thieves. In order that he might make room for himself. So what do you have in your heart that needs not to be there? You know, there's great auditoriums. As a matter of fact, I can remember, I forget the name of it, I should know it, but we're the king and queen. When Princess Diana got married, I can remember they showed that on television. I think it was on all three channels we could get. They showed her great train It was a boy's alumni. That was a big church. And it went around half the church. You wouldn't take a very long train to go down half Orchard. This was a humongous church. But one thing that I remember, and I was somewhat interested in that when I seen, I thought, well, that'd be hard to walk with. And I don't know how they had that all rigged up, because normally, well, it'd be pulling on your feet so that I don't know exactly, they had to have some kind of cables or something, ropes or something in there to work that out to where it'd make it look real pretty like it did. And all I remember is that when they were doing that marriage ceremony, that there was such an echo in that church, I couldn't understand a thing. Between that and them talking funny, you know how English people do. And I thought, wow, that church is full. There still was such an echo. And I thought, what would it be like to sit in that church and try to hear a message preached? It would be somewhat confusing. Then I got to thinking about all those Catholic cathedrals. And for years, years after years after years, that there were just common folk coming and sitting in those pews. And they built him things so that a whisper could be heard from the pulpit. They had that ability. They had not only that ability. I like that old song Larry Sparks sings about being in West Virginia. Going down a dusty dirt road and he looked out over off the curb and he seen a little white frame church. He heard the Word of God preached. When he went down there and he heard them singing, are you washing the blood? He got saved there. He sang about that little white framed church. Well, listen, they had a little white framed church because they couldn't afford it, no doubt, no better. But can you imagine having the money to build these stone cathedrals with these vaulted ceilings and these timber framed roofs so that a whisper could be spoken and the man in the back pew could hear it? and then speak to all those folk in Latin. They did that for years after years. And I was thinking, why on earth? Why you couldn't? When I remember seeing that one service, and I've seen some others where there's such an echo as there's talking, I thought, I don't think I can understand. It never was made to be. When they built those things, their intention all along was to speak to those people in Latin. They come there because that was their only time. They were taught that in order to go to heaven, they had to sit in those pews. They had to hear something they couldn't understand. They had to believe somebody that we could have been telling the truth or the lie and they wouldn't have known the difference. And go there every week to confessional. You know, I'm thankful. That when the Lord come and He stretched out His arms and He died, it was to tear that curtain apart that separated man from God or put man between God and man. And that, I don't have to, what a wonderful blessing it is. And it was all brought about through the blood of men that we could read God's holy word in our native tongue. today. And I'm thankful that it was always his intention not for me to sit on that back pew in a church that would hold 1,500, but that his desire was to dwell in my heart, whether I was on the back pew, the front pew, out in the tractor, or out in the middle of the woods in a cedar thicket. It doesn't matter. of where we might be. God wants to be there with us. It's a wonderful thing to come to church. I don't know why people don't seem to have more desire to do it or not. But, you know, whatever. I'm glad that I can come. But, you know, what I like to say, or what I like to think anyhow, that they're just so full of God that they don't need to come. But as long as I've lived, I'm going to be 40 years old. In the case of anybody I ever met, the people don't come to his house because he don't dwell. He don't either dwell there or he don't dwell in here. And I'm thankful that if he dwells in our hearts, It's going to motivate us to do things we otherwise wouldn't. It's going to motivate us to do things that we otherwise couldn't. If He dwells in our heart, it's going to cause us to be as it were that temple or that city on a hill that cannot be hidden. Not only will He dwell in a clean temple, but He will give us soil outside that house that will grow under abundant mallow fruit and that's my desire. The Bible speaks about that, about the children being as it were a vineyard, and I'm looking forward to the day that we'll be able to see these little ones give their heart to God so that I can tell Him, I just thank You, I just thank You Lord to have Your temple clean and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and God Almighty the Creator of this universe will fill you up with nothing sweeter, nothing better than that. I know the world isn't offering many a thing, but I'm telling you it's giving me. I don't want the Lord. I will provide each and every one of us if we would just not believe in Him. We thank you for your attention. Let's get some songs to sing. Well, we can look at this. The Lord cleansed the temple before He entered into His ministry, and He cleansed the temple at the end of His earthly ministry. But my desire for you is to say that He cleansed the temple at the beginning of His earthly ministry, and He cleansed the temple at the beginning of His heavenly ministry. And I can take you back I was talking to a fellow at work Friday, talking about the farm I grew up on and the old house, the old timber frame house that our landlord had. It was made of stone. I said, it was a historical landmark, so unless it burnt down, it's probably still standing. I said, but you know what? There's so much that's changed around there. I don't know. I don't know that I'd be able to find it without really searching. But I know that old house where I gave my heart to the Lord. It was just a chicken house that was turned into a house for people. Well, they tore that down, and I don't know if that cherry tree, I'm sure that cherry tree's probably not standing anymore neither. Daddy put us a tree swing in, But I could go and I could take you to that old house at Landmark, and I could look there, and in my memory I could look off in the direction that little old white framed house was. And I could say, boys, daughters, I swear to the Lord, between the temple, when I was 12 years old, laying in bed so afraid that I was going to die, if I was to go off to sleep and know where I'd go. I'm thankful that that's what Jesus Christ had come for. And He came and He entered in Jerusalem triumphantly on a Sunday, knowing that He was going to be crucified that Friday, not because He was ignorant of the fact that He thought things were going one way, And they turned off ugly, but because that was his purpose all along, he come and his desire is to dwell in a clean temple. And not only is that his desire, but that is his will and that is what he'll do if we would just open up our hearts to him. The Word of salvation, he sings of the King. His name is love and mercy, His name is love and mercy. God is all, and He reigns, and to Him be all praise. He who brought to Jesus the Word, preach and bless.