SEVEN Sayings of Christ Before the Cross The goal of this message is to walk with Christ to the cross, by meditating on SEVEN sayings of Christ, over the 6 days (from His Triumphal Entry on Sunday, to Friday’s Crucifixion). What was our Lord saying as he entered Jerusalem for the last time, as God’s Promised King? What did Jesus emphasize/command in these final words? What is the church to remember and to look forward to? The Gospels are weighted heavily on the final week of Jesus. 40% of the Gospels of John and Matthew cover this one week. Looking at the 4 Gospels, over these 6 days, here are 7 sayings of Christ: My Temple will be called a house of prayer. Be ready all the time. This woman’s deed will be remembered. This is my body. (next Sunday) I want your will to be done, not mine. I am! All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true. My Temple will be called a house of prayer. Matthew 21:12 (NLT), Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. 13 He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!” • All four Gospels record Jesus cleansing the Temple. • Not just 1x, but 2x! • Why? • The temple had become Jerusalem’s largest flee market (35 acres). Why did Jesus cleanse the temple? Two reasons… First, the place was wrong. • Buying and selling in the temple defeated the whole purpose of worship and prayer. • Jesus, quoting Isaiah, is especially upset that this marketplace took up the space reserved for the Gentiles to pray. Second, the price was wrong. • Oxen, sheep, and doves were purchased in the Temple –– but you paid a premium price for these animals “certified” for sacrifice. • People also came to give the Annual Temple Tax (about two full days of wages). But, this tax had to be paid for in shekels. • The money changers/priests were happy to exchange foreign coins for Jewish shekels (for a handsome fee). This is a den of thieves Jesus said (quoting Jeremiah)! • King Jesus is righteously angry. • God was replaced with greed in the Temple. APP. – Church history is full of examples of how the love of money replaces the love of God. • Johann Tetzel was famous in Germany for selling indulgences. He would say, “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.” Martin Luther was furious, arguing that forgiveness cannot be bought. This greed ignited the need for Reformation. • The church must always be reforming and guarding against greed. Jesus sets the priorities straight in this first saying today, My Temple will be called a house of prayer. • Where is the temple now? As Christians, our bodies are the temple of God. • It is not wrong for me to say, that Jesus our Lord is just as determined to cleanse this Temple from greed as He was then. • It would be His will, that our bodies would be a house of prayer. Be ready all the time. Matthew 24:37 (NLT), “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. 38 In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. 39 People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away...44 You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected. • Be ready all the time. (keep watch!) This is our Lord’s repeated command in His final days. • This saying happens after Jesus/disciples looked down on Jerusalem from the Mt. of Olives. • Just a few days before His crucifixion, Jesus gives his longest teaching about the end times. • It’s called the Olivet Discourse. (In Mt., Mk, Luke). Jesus sketches out the end times events and the signs of His 2nd coming. • Wars and disasters and false Christs will come. • These are the birth pains before the end. • Then the antichrist will be revealed (the Abomination), and his great tribulation will begin. A great falling away from Christ will occur. • Immediately after this, Jesus says, the sky will light up like lightening, and Jesus will return in the clouds in all His glory to gather His bride – the church – and put an end to the antichrist and his evil campaign. Jesus taught the end times will be like Noah’s times. • People will be partying. • When Noah entered the ark, no one noticed, until the flood swept them all away. • Notice the order: First, Noah’s rescue. Next, the flood of God’s wrath. • Jesus describes His 2nd coming the same way. First, God’s rescue of his church, followed by God’s judgement on the world (two events back-to-back). • The whole point of the Olivet Discourse is this: Jesus is coming again, but we don’t know when. • So, “be ready all the time.” • This is our Lord’s command. What does it mean to be ready? • It means we are faithful in living for Christ. • It means we are active in witnessing for Christ. • Jesus said that the gospel must be preached throughout the world, and then the end will come. • If we want to see Jesus return sooner rather than later, we share the Gospel. “The coming of the Lord is the hope of the Church, the crown of our redemption, and the key to all our future.” A. B. Simpson. • Simpson started the Alliance (our denomination) to train and send missionaries to get the Gospel to the world. • The battle cry of the Alliance is, “Bring Back the King!” • The sooner we get the Good News to the world, the sooner Christ will return. • 18 new Alliance missionaries are going out in 2026. The 3rd and final saying today (chosen because Jesus told us to remember this)… This woman’s deed will be remembered. (Mark 14:6) Mark 14:3 (NLT), Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon ... a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head. 4 Some of those at the table were indignant. “Why waste such expensive perfume?”...6 But Jesus replied, “Leave her alone… (stop criticizing her… she did a good thing) 9 wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered. • Everyone is angry at this woman who pours expensive perfume on Jesus’ head. The perfume was worth one year’s salary! (It should have been given to the poor, they argued.) • “Leave her alone!”, Jesus commands. But, she get’s it. • Jesus was her King. Anointings were done for royalty. • Anointings were done for burial. (Jesus explains to them this is what she is doing.) • Everyone around the table, had agendas, expectations, some reason to be around Jesus. • But this woman, she doesn’t expect anything. She just comes and pours out her life/love in gratitude/worship to Him. She gets it! • Of all the horrible things that happened to Jesus in the days before his crucifixion… • She is the only one Jesus commends for doing a good thing for Him. • While everyone around the table criticizes her, Jesus praises her. • She teaches us how to respond to our Savior and King. • Every time we think of the Gospel, Jesus wants us to remember her and emulate what she did. This summer, we will celebrate the 250th birthday of America. • The Declaration of Independence tells us why it all began. The closing lines say that our nation’s founders pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor for the country. • Likewise, this woman is making a declaration. In pouring out expensive perfume, she is pledging her life, her fortune and her honor to Jesus her King. Once we understand that the Gospel is the world’s greatest treasure, we come to Christ – giving Him our life, our fortune, our honor, our reputation. If you have been a Christian for more than 5 minutes, someone has probably criticized you too, or told you straight up, “It’s a waste of time to go to church, to serve the Lord. It’s a waste of money to give to missions.” • This woman reminds us, that nothing we do/give for Jesus or the Gospel is ever a wasted. Jesus praises it! CONCLUSION/Summary My Temple will be called a house of prayer (Prayer is Christ’s top priority. May our bodies be His house of prayer). Be ready all the time (Watch and witness for His 2nd coming). This woman’s deed will be remembered (It is never a waste to give our very best to Him). 28 year old Jim Elliot was killed—speared to death while trying to make contact with a jungle tribe in Ecuador. He left behind his young wife and a 10-month-old daughter. What looked like waste… became a great harvest in heaven. Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” His wife, Elisabeth Elliot, went back. She lived among that same tribe that killed her husband. And many of those very people came to know Christ. In God’s kingdom, nothing given to Him is ever wasted.