"The Crucified Life"
There are those who won't believe until they see a crucified and resurrected body, the very witness provided by true believers in the course of this life.
Download or email this sermon Purge the Leaven
Passover begins with the purging of the leaven. Jesus would not put on a show. Instead He purged the leaven. Leaven is a figure of sin, particularly sins of pride, because it puffs up. Pride is the kind of sin that undergirds other kinds of sin. If somebody has a greed problem, for example, their underlying problem is pride. If somebody has a lust problem, their underlying problem is pride. Pride is the sin that underlies other kinds of sin. Pride is also associated with false doctrine. That is why Jesus said, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees". (Mt. 16:6).
The Sanhedrin was responsible for the inspection of lambs at Passover. They checked for up to seventy-four different blemishes. If unable to find a blemish on a lamb, they would approve it for sacrifice. But they perverted the Torah, turning their Levitical role into a business. The religious leaders were twisting the Word of God for their own aggrandizement, exploiting God's people and profiteering on the blood of the lamb.
Instead of getting rid of the Romans, God got rid of them. God is much more concerned with the sin in my life and in your life than He is with the sin in the lives of the unsaved.
Jesus cleaned the moneychangers out of the temple because judgment begins in the house of God. Having cleansed the temple, they brought the lame to Him and He healed them. These signs follow. (Mk. 16:20) Jesus would never allow signs and wonders and miracles to be amplified above repentance.
The same thing happened at Hanukkah, the Jewish feast of miracles, They wanted to stone Him and He said, "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?" (Jn.10:32).
If signs and wonders are really the key to revival, why did they cry out a few days later, "Crucify Him", when they knew that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, and healed the lame and the blind? The prosperity preachers, who claim they have all the miracles, have been around a long time, but no revival has come; rather the Gospel has been disgraced by their scandals.
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Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.