Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nybert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I've entitled the message for
this morning, The Sign of Christ's Authority. Now, let me give you
the setting of this story. We read in verse 13, and the
Jews, John chapter two, verse 13, and the Jews, Passover was
at hand. John does not call it the Lord's
Passover. He calls it the Jews Passover
because the Jews had prostituted the meaning of the Passover and
stripped it of its meaning. And Jesus went up to Jerusalem. and found in the temple those
that sold oxen and sheep and doves and changers of money sitting. Now these were men who made profit
on religion. These were men who had thought
we can make worship more accessible, more convenient, easier. People won't have to bring their
sacrifices to Jerusalem. We can sell them there and we'll
make a profit as well. And the atonement half shekel
of silver that they don't have, we'll sell them those and we
will make a profit from that. And they didn't think of what
they were doing as being sinful. They thought they were making
religion more accessible and easier. It kind of reminds me
of a seeker sensitive religion in our day, make things easier,
make things more accessible. And we read in verse 15, And
when he, the Lord Jesus, had made a scourge of small cords,
now the Lord walked into the temple, saw this, and not in
a fit of rage or anger, he thoughtfully made a whip to drive these people
out of the temple. And when he 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. Now, can you imagine this scene? And he said unto them that sold
doves, take these things hence, make not my father's house, a
house of merchandise, a house of profit, a house of gain. And his disciples remembered
that it was written, the zeal of thine house hath eaten me
up. Then answered the Jews and said unto him, what sign showest
thou unto us, seeing thou doest these things? What gives you
the right to come into the temple with a whip. Who gave you the
authority to come into this temple and drive these people out? Who
do you think you are? Give us a sign that'll prove
to us that you have the authority to do this. And look at the sign
the Lord gives. He said in verse 19, Jesus answered
and said unto them, destroy this temple, And in three days, I
will raise it up. He gives them the sign of the
resurrection. Now they didn't know that is
what he was doing. They looked at the temple, the
physical temple made of stone and said, this temple was 46
years in raising. And you say you'll tear it down
and build it up in three days. And the Lord didn't clarify himself
to them at this time. He didn't say, well, that's not
what I meant. Let me explain what I meant. This desire for a sign. Show us a sign. that will prove you have the
authority to come into this temple and drive the money changers
out and the animals out. We're trying to make worship
more accessible, more easy. Who gave you the authority to
do this? Give us a sign. Now, the reason they asked for
a sign is they saw no evil in what they were doing. It was
very evil, but they didn't see it. And they said, give us a
sign that proves you have the authority to make these demands
on us. Now, what was going on was obviously
wrong. They just didn't see it, nor did they want to face its
implications. Now, this thing of a sign, the
Lord said a wicked and an adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. Give us a sign. What if I stole
your wallet and you didn't know who had it and finally you found
out that it was me who stole it. And you would come up to
me and confront me and say, give me back my wallet. That's my
wallet. You stole it from me. Now, what
if I replied, give me a sign that shows you have the authority
to ask me to do this. Well, that'd be ridiculous, wouldn't
it? No sign is needed. And that is how ridiculous this
is that they ask for a sign questioning the Lord's authority. The only
reason they wanted this sign was because of their unbelief. Verse 19, Jesus answered and
said unto them, destroy this temple, here's a sign. the sign
of the resurrection, destroy this temple in three days, I
will raise it up. Then said the Jews, 40 and six
years was at this temple and building and without rear it
up in three days. You say they did not understand
what he was saying. They thought he was talking about
knocking down that temple and rearing it back up in three days.
And they thought that's impossible. That's delusional. If you think
you can believe that. That doesn't tell us anything.
They had no understanding what he was talking about. But John
tells us, but he spake of the temple of his body. He was talking
about his life, his death, his burial, and his resurrection.
He spake of the temple of his body, verse 22, and therefore
he was risen from the dead. His disciples remembered that
he had said unto them, and they believed the scripture and the
word which Jesus had said. Now the disciples didn't even
know what he was talking about then. They understood after the
resurrection. But before the resurrection,
at this time when he said this to the Pharisees, they did not
understand what he was saying. But after he was risen from the
dead, it says, they believed the scripture and the words which
Jesus had spoken. They said, now I see. and they
believed every word which he said, and it was given equal
authority as Scripture. When he spake, it's the Scripture
speaking. Every word he said was inerrant,
every word he said was perfect, I love it when they said, after
hearing him preach the Sermon on the Mount, it says, they were
astonished at his doctrine, for he spake as one having authority
and not as the scribes. Now I want you to listen to this
statement real carefully. The only way the Bible can be
understood is in light of the death the burial, and the resurrection
of Christ. There is no scripture understood
apart from understanding the meaning of the life, the death,
the burial, and the resurrection of Christ. If we don't look at
everything in light of Jesus Christ and him crucified, we've
missed the whole meaning. Now, let me show you an example
of this in Mark chapter 12. This is when the Sadducees denied
the resurrection and they gave a story that they thought would
entrap the Lord and cause him to see his inconsistencies in
believing the resurrection, so they thought. And they told the
story of a woman who her husband died, she had no children, and
under the law, she was to be given to his brother for him
to raise up seed unto her, and he died also, and she still had
no children, and this happened with seven different brothers. She was wife to all seven brothers,
and they all died, and she had no children. And then they asked
the Lord this question, in the resurrection, Whose wife should
she be? For all seven had her. Oh, they
thought they had the Lord entrapped. Now listen to our Lord's answer.
Verse 24 of Mark chapter 12, And Jesus answering said unto
them, Do ye not therefore err? Because you know not the scriptures,
neither the power of God. Now if you're gonna err, if I'm
gonna err, here's where we'll err. We don't understand the
scriptures, and we don't understand the power of God. Verse 25, for when they shall
rise from the dead, They neither marry nor are given in marriage,
but are as the angels which are in heaven. There will not be
the family unit as we know it here. There, they'll be as the
angels of heaven. There won't be this family and
that family. There's one family, the family
of God, the bride of Christ. Verse 26, and as touching the
dead that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses
how in the bush Now he speaks of when God spoke to Moses from
the bush, the bush that burned and could not be consumed. I don't know how many hours Moses
looked at it, but he saw this bush that burned and was never
consumed. It kept burning. And this bush
represents the Lord Jesus Christ. God spake from the bush. He's
utterly independent. The bush didn't need the wood.
Or the fire didn't need the wood, the energy of the wood, to keep
its flame going. Utterly independent, no needs. Christ is God-independent. The
bush could not be consumed by the fire. This is the perfect
humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. How He could not be consumed
by the fire of God's wrath, but He consumed the wrath. Now look
what our Lord says, as touching the dead that they rise, have
you not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto
him saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God
of Jacob. Now, would you have heard that
and thought, well, that's teaching the resurrection? I wouldn't
have. But this shows how deep the scripture
is. Look what the Lord says about
this. Verse 27, he's not the God of
the dead, but the God of the living. Abraham lives before
God. Isaac lives before God. These men have been spiritually
resurrected and they're in God's presence even now. You remember
when the Lord said to that thief, Verily I say unto thee, this
day shalt thou be with me in paradise." He lived. He was raised
from the dead spiritually in this life, and he lives before
God. He's not the God of the dead,
but the God of the living. You therefore do greatly err,
so we see even this passage is only understood in light of the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I love the way he
speaks. He says, destroy this body, and
in three days, I will raise it up. He does not say destroy this
body in three days, God will raise it up. He doesn't say destroy
this body in three days and God the Father will raise it up.
He doesn't say destroy this body in three days and God the Holy
Spirit will raise it up. Although God did raise him up
and God the Holy Spirit was in the agent of his resurrection. He says, destroy this body and
in three days, I will raise it up. Now here is the sign of his
authority. In John chapter 10, verses 17
and 18, he said, no man takes my life from me. I'm not a victim. When they came to crucify the
Lord Jesus Christ, when he was put to death, no man took His
life from Him. He was not a victim. You see,
He was in control of everything. He was controlling everything
that happened during the cross. It was His will being done. Acts 4 27 and 28 says of a truth
against thy holy child Jesus, both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. His will was being done. No man takes my life from me. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to raise it up. This commandment I received
of my Father. The Lord Jesus Christ tells us
at this time, here is the authority that I have. I have the power
to raise myself from the dead. Now there's only one who could
do that. The God man raised himself from the dead. Now we read in
verse 22, when therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered He had
said this unto them, and they believed the scripture and the
word which Jesus had said. Now when therefore he was risen
from the dead, you know what that means? It means first of
all, he died. Jesus Christ died. To me that's so mysterious. The God-man, he who is life. He said, I'm the way, the truth,
and the life. The God-man died. How mysterious. No, it's not
mysterious when you or I die. We're weak. We're just this side
of death right now. God can take away our breath
immediately. We're weak. We're sinful. We
can't prevent death. There's no mystery in any man
dying. Now, somebody may be thinking,
what is the reason for death? Sin. By one man, sin entered
the world and death by sin. That one man was Adam and death
came to him because of sin. Now, the reason Jesus Christ
died was sin. Now, please listen to me carefully.
God must punish sin. He's absolutely just. He must punish sin for him to
let one sin go unpunished would mean that he is unjust. Now if
someone murdered your child and they were caught and they were
brought before the judge and the judge says, I'm a forgiving
judge. I'm going to let this man go
free. You would be outraged. you would be angry because this
is not right. Justice has not been done. If
God just let sinners go free without justice being satisfied,
he would be an unjust judge. He would not be a judge we would
even want in a human court, more or less the court of heaven.
Now, God is just. Sin must be punished by death. Now, when God sends a man to
hell, and he does, there is a place called hell, it lasts forever. Why does it last forever? Because
no satisfaction is made for that sin. Sin is an infinite evil.
Sin is putting to death the Son of God. That's what we're guilty
of, killing Christ. Have you ever thought about that?
Your problem goes a lot further. My problem goes a lot farther
than Wrong things we've done. We've been guilty of hating and
murdering the Son of God. You say, but I wasn't born. You
would have done it. That's the point. I would have
done it. God sees what we would do, and really, we all sinned
in Adam. We all did the same thing. You
would have done it. And God must punish that sin
eternally. There's no satisfaction for it.
If someone murdered your child and then came up and said, here's
$10 million, will you be satisfied with that? No, no, the only thing
that will satisfy me is if my child is brought back to life
and justice is satisfied. Now, man can never satisfy God. The only one who can satisfy
God is God. Man cannot satisfy, God cannot
die. Now here we have this quandary.
Man cannot satisfy. That's why hell's eternal. God
cannot die. The God-man did both. When he
died, he satisfied the justice of God. That is why God raised
him from the dead. He completely paid for those
sins that he bore in his own body on the tree. He was delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification, complete
satisfaction by what He did. That's what the resurrection
of Christ is all about, what He accomplished. He bore those
sins, He put them away, He actually died. He never went through the
process of decay because He completely satisfied God by what He did
and He has been raised from the dead. Now that is the sign I'm
giving. Destroy this temple and in three
days I will raise it up. Now the whole Bible is interpreted
in light of this. The serpent bruising the seat
of woman's hill But the seed of woman, the Lord Jesus Christ
crushing his head, destroying him is only understood in light
of the death and the resurrection of Christ. Yes, the serpent bruised
his heel on the cross, but he didn't realize it. He was having
his head completely crushed on the cross. You know, I love the scripture
in Revelation 13, Christ is called the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. And listen to me before there
was ever a sinner, there was a savior. And before time began,
He is the Lamb having been slain from the foundation of the world.
God created the universe for His Son to come and die as a
sin-bearing substitute for the glory of God and for the salvation
of His people. This is God's eternal purpose,
which He purposed in Christ Jesus the Lord. But think about this.
If He's the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, He's
the lamb raised from the foundation of the world. He didn't stay
slain. No, he's the lamb raised from
the foundation of the world. The entire scripture is only
understood in that light. Now, in the sermon that was first
preached, the first gospel message after the resurrection of Christ,
it's found in Acts chapter two, it's called the great message
after Pentecost. We read where Peter says in verse
22, ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, I want
you to know exactly who I'm talking about, the one who was born in
Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth, remember how they said, can any
good thing come out of Nazareth? He did. He was born in Bethlehem,
I realized, but he grew up in Nazareth. A man approved of God
among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him
in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know. He did what only God
could do. Him being delivered by the determinant
counsel and foreknowledge of God. That's why he was delivered.
God determined this. It was God's will for this to
take place. You have taken and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. While it was God's sovereign
purpose, that doesn't get man's responsibility off the hook.
You with wicked hands have crucified and slain him whom God hath raised
up. having loose the pains of death
because it was not possible that he should be holding of it. It
was not possible that the Lord Jesus would stay dead. Why? Number one, because of who he
is. He's the God-man. He's the creator. He's the sovereign
of the universe. He's God. He can't stay dead. Here's the second reason, because
he rendered complete satisfaction to God. All the sins that he
died for were completely paid for and put away. Verse 25. For David speaketh concerning
him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face. He's on my right
hand that I should not be moved. He's quoting Psalm 16. Therefore
did my heart rejoice and my tongue was glad, moreover also my flesh
shall rest in hope. Because thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption. This is Christ speaking. Thou
hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full
of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely
speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he's both dead and
buried, and his sepulcher's with us unto this day. If you go into
somewhere in the Middle East, you'll find a pile of dirt with
the DNA of David in it. He wasn't raised from the dead
the way the Lord Jesus Christ was. Therefore, being a prophet,
knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit
of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ
to sit on his throne, he seeing this before spake of the resurrection
of Christ. David knew exactly what he was
saying. He was speaking of the resurrection of Christ. Now let me give you four things
real briefly in closing. He said, destroy this body and
in three days I'll raise it up, the resurrection of Christ. Number
one, this is God's eternal purpose. He's the lamb slain, he's the
lamb raised from the foundation of the world. Number two, this
is the gospel. Salvation accomplished by what
he did. Your sins are not forgiven. If
they are forgiven, they're not forgiven because of anything
you did, but because he was raised from the dead, having accomplished
salvation. Number three, this is the object
of our faith. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. That's a promise. Now, this thing of believing
that God raised him from the dead is more than just believing
the fact of it, understanding why he was raised from the dead.
Because whatever it was he intended to do, he did, he accomplished,
and he was raised from the dead because everybody he died for
was justified. And my dear friends, I can't
say this strong enough. This is the only ground of assurance. Why do I believe that God can
accept me? One reason, that empty tomb. It doesn't have anything to do
with my works. It's his work and his work only. Show us a sign. Destroy this
temple. And in three days, I will raise
it up. This is Todd Nyberg praying that
God will be pleased to make himself known to you. That's our prayer.
Amen. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send a request to todd.nyberg at gmail.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen. Mm.