Mark 11:15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
17…My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.   Many, when they think of Jesus only muse on His gentleness, His compassion, His grace, and His mercy.  Our text today reveals another side of our Lord’s character that many seem to completely overlook.   When Jesus entered the temple He saw that materialism had taken over.  No longer was it about prayer and the spiritual health of the nation, but now it had become a marketplace where abode a den of thieves!  Listen to this passage… John 2:15 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 tables;   Our Lord was quick to help the down and out, and gentle with those who needed healing and forgiveness.  At the same time He had little patience with the religious hypocrites of His day.
Some might say, how could a loving Savior make a whip and drive people out of the temple?
The same folk might say… how could a loving parent spank their child?  Those same people rarely  believe that there is a literal Hell, a literal place of torment.   How could a loving God condemn someone to Hell?
God has promised judgement awaits those who fail to realize that they are sinners, condemned already, and turn from sin to the  Lord Jesus for salvation.
There will come a day when it will be too late to meet Jesus in faith for forgiveness.   Only then, will many realize… There’s another side of Jesus.  Please don’t be that person.  Amen.  Pastor