I hear the Savior say, Thy strength
indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and
pray. Find in me thine all in all. Jesus paid it all. ? All to him I owe ? Sin had
left a crimson stain ? He washed it white as snow ? Lord now indeed
I find ? Thy power and thine alone ? Can change the leper's
spots ? And melt the heart of stone Jesus paid it all, all
to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. ? For nothing good have I ? Whereby
thy grace to claim ? I'll wash my garments white ? In the blood
of Calvary's lamb ? Jesus paid it all ? All to him I owe ? Sin
had left a crimson stain ? He washed it white as snow ? And
when before the throne ? I stand in Him complete ? Jesus died
my soul to save ? My lips thou shalt repeat Jesus paid it all,
all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
he washed it white as snow. Please be seated. Good morning. We're going to be in John, the
second chapter of the Gospel of John this morning. John chapter 2. We have spoken to the brethren in Mexico, and it
seems that everybody is well there. That storm went pretty
much south of the churches that are there, so the Lord has spared them any
major damage or trouble from that, so we're thankful. Also, the 25th and 26th of this
month, that's the Thursday and Friday, the last Thursday and
Friday of this month, we're going to be having our first Vacation
Bible School. So there's a sign-up sheet on
the back table where you can help with some of the supplies
or if you want to help volunteer, Susan Emrick is going to be spearheading
that and looking forward to that. Wanted to encourage you to remember
to pray for our kids. This could be a very, a very
Influential impactful time for them to to be under the gospel
for a couple of days and Looking looking forward to that Deanna is real sick this morning
and wasn't able to be here. So Told her that we would certainly
be remembering them in prayer. So let's let's pray together
our Heavenly Father We know, Lord, that the wind is in your hand. And we thank you, Lord, that
you spared our brethren in Mexico. And thank you for the safety
that you provided for them. Lord, we thank you for the wind
of your spirit. And pray, Lord, that you would
be pleased to visit us this morning and to
send your spirit in power and truth into our hearts. And Lord,
that you would enlighten the eyes of our understanding, that
you would cause your word to be alive and effectual, and that
you would point us to thy dear son and give us faith to rest
all our hope in him. Lord, we pray for Deanna, ask
for your hand of strength to be upon her and to give her recovery,
that her and Robert might be able to return and be here with
us in worship. And Lord, we do join our hearts
together and pray to you for our children. We ask, Lord, that
you would be pleased to call them to save them. Pray, Lord, that you would help
us as a church and as their loved ones and parents to raise them
in the nurture and admonition of the Lord that when they grow
old, they would not depart from it. Pray for this Vacation Bible
School and ask, Lord, that you would bless it in a special way
to their hearts. We pray it in Christ's name,
amen. I've titled this message, The
Sign, The Sign. Last Sunday, we looked at the
cleansing of the temple in John chapter two. And this was at
the very beginning of our Lord's public ministry when he went
in and he chased out the money changers. And he said, don't
make my father's house a house of merchandise. And we know that
he did it again at the very end of his public ministry, just
before he went to the cross in Matthew chapter 21. He did exactly
the same thing, only in that time, He said, you've turned
the house of prayer into a den of thieves. And we know that
that both of these acts of judgment that our Lord performed were
certainly warnings against those who would merchandise men's souls,
who would sell the gospel for gain, who would make salvation
dependent upon something other than the accomplished work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. a works gospel. The Lord was
beginning and ending his ministry by condemning that and warning us
against that. But we also see because the temple
of God is his church and it's his people. And we see in this
act that our Lord performed a demonstration not only of his warning of judgment,
but of his mercy. and of his love and is of grace,
whereby he says to his children, I'm going to cleanse my temple
by cleansing your hearts of anything that you might look to for the
hope of your salvation outside of me. And what a What a blessing
it is when he does that. And he has to continually do
that because we're prone to look to something other than Christ
for the hope of our salvation. And you remember this ends with,
in verse 7, with a quote from Psalm 69, the zeal of my house
hath eaten me up. And what zeal, what passion,
and what compassion the Lord has for his children, for his
church, and for his house, and how faithful he is to keep it
purged. Keep it purged of anything that
would rob him of His glory in salvation. That the work of salvation
would be by sovereign grace and that it would be free and that
there's nothing in our hand that we can bring before God. Only to Christ do we cling. We have nothing to present to
Him but our sin. And if I'm to have a willing
heart, if I'm to have faith, if I'm to have good works, he's
going to have to give it to me. And that's what he does. as he
continually works in our hearts by his word, by his spirit, in
the preaching of the gospel, by the encouragement and fellowship
of the saints. You know, one of the things that
we benefit from is knowing that these afflictions are common
to us all. And that we encourage one another
in these things so that we're reminded not only by God's word
and by his spirit but by one another that Christ is all. He's all and he's in all. He's
all we need, he's all we have. And that's... Now... At the end of this cleansing
of the temple in verse 18 of John chapter 2, the Jews object,
of course, to what he had done. And they say to him in verse
18, what sign showest thou us seeing that thou doest these
things? Show us some convincing evidence
that you have the authority to do this. In another place, Matthew
chapter 12, they ask the same thing, show us a sign. And the
Lord responded to them there and said, an evil and adulterous
generation seeketh after a sign. No sign will be given unto it
except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and
three nights in the belly of the whale, so shall the Son of
Man be in the depths of the earth. That's the sign. The death and
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the sign. It's the only sign. But they, as an evil and adulterous
generation, are saying to the Lord Jesus, prove it to us, validate
to us your authority, persuade us, convince us. If this doesn't show the blindness
and the arrogance and the depravity of sinful man, I don't know what
does. To stand in the presence of God
Almighty and demand of Him some proof, some evidence, Creatures telling their Creator
that He owes them an explanation as proof of His authority? Nothing's changed. Our hearts are so filled with
unbelief. Is there not an evil spirit in
our flesh? Is there not an adulterous spirit
in our hearts? Looking away from Christ, that's
spiritual, that's the adultery, spiritual adultery. Looking away
from our one and only husband to whom we have been espoused
and trying to find hope and comfort and peace and rest somewhere
else and doubting God. Doubting God, why are we so?
How shameful it is that we don't rest as we ought in the in the
clear and simple truth of God's Word. Why am I ever afraid when
my God said, fear not, I am with thee? Why do I ever look for
peace and comfort anywhere other than the Lord Jesus Christ? Why am I so easily influenced
by the opinions of men? Why am I ever drawn to the empty
and deceitful appeals of this world and of my flesh and of
the temptations of Satan himself? Why? Are we not in essence saying,
show us a sign? Why is my heart so often without
affection, without love and adoration for Christ? Why
am I ever discontent? Show us a sign. Do we need any
greater evidence of our sinful nature than the fact that we
would ever demand of God that he prove something to us beyond
what he has spoken in his word? That we would That we would doubt
Him and require something from Him beyond what He has given
to us? That we would... You know, I
love having the Holy Spirit warm my heart with feelings of affection. I do. I love having the Spirit
of God thrill my soul with visions of Christ. But those things aren't
always there. And for me to demand of God that
he give me an experience or that he give me a feeling in order
for me to be able to believe him, is it not me saying to God,
show us a sign? How oftentimes we try to find
evidence of our salvation in our lives, in the way in which
we live, the things we do and don't do are in our hearts. I
hope that there is evidence of salvation. I know there is. But if I'm looking to that to
find some comfort and hope, am I not saying to God Almighty,
show us a sign? When he says to me, one sign,
One sign will be given and that is the sign of Jonah. And that's
exactly what he says in our text. Look with me and look at verse
19. And Jesus answered and said unto
them, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it
up. It's the same answer he gave before. They thought that he
was talking about the temple there where he was in Jerusalem. Herod had begun a restoration
of that temple. Herod the Great, 40, what did
they say? This building has been under
construction for, look at verse 20. Then said the Jews, 40 and
six years was this temple in building and that will rear it
up in three days. 46 years this temple's been under
construction. And it will continue to be under construction for
another 40 years until just before the coming
of the Romans in 70 AD when they come in and not one stone will
be left upon another. They're going to destroy that
temple and it's never been rebuilt again. Matter of fact, on the
site where that temple is, there's nothing left but the wailing
wall and a Muslim mosque. He spake, look at verse 21, of
the temple of his body. There's the temple that's desecrated
whenever Whenever we're prone to look somewhere else for the
hope of our salvation other than the Lord Jesus, whenever we say
to God, I need evidence of your promise by some blessing, you
talk to lost people and they're holding on to an experience,
you know, I prayed, I was down and I prayed and God recovered
me and And usually it has to do with some sort of financial
benefit, you know, that they've received. I've had people tell
me, you know, that I was almost bankrupt and I gave my life to
Jesus and he turned my business around and been successful ever
since. And they're holding on to that. I talked to a friend
I'd known for years. He said he's got a large piece
of property and all of his children have now built on their property.
But he's looking at that, he told me, he said, I prayed when
I first started this farm that God would bless my efforts. And
he's not a believer, I know him. And now, 50 years later, he's holding on
to the prosperity that he's experienced as the evidence of his salvation. Not looking to Christ. Show us
a sign. You see, men will grab onto any
sign other than the one sign that can only be seen. A sign
is something that points to something. The Lord Jesus is saying, this
is the sign. Destroy this temple and in three
days I will raise it up again. No sign will be given to an evil
and adulterous generation except for the sign of Jonah. People in religion, they want
a sign, you know, and so they, you know, give me something to
do. Give me a law to keep. Give me something to abstain
from. Give me a certain dress to wear. Give me a certain diet
to eat. Give me a certain day of the
week to do something. Give me something to do and they'll
hold on to that or they'll hold on to an experience or a feeling. The heart that has been circumcised
by the Spirit of God worships God in the Spirit, rejoices
in Christ Jesus, and has no confidence in the flesh. Whatever my eyes
have seen, whatever my flesh has experienced, whatever feelings
I've ever had, I can't have confidence in those things. I can only have
confidence in what Christ has done and who he is and what he's
declared to me in his word. That's where my confidence must
be. And the circumcision of the heart is when the spirit of God
cuts from our hearts confidence in the flesh. And he continues
to do that. We're always in need of having
our hearts circumcised. Lord, cut away, cut away any
hope or any comfort or any peace I would have outside of Christ. Give me Christ. Look at verse 22, when therefore
he was risen from the dead His disciples remembered that he
had said this unto them and they believed the scriptures and the
word which Jesus had said. They remembered what the Lord
had said when he raised from the dead and they believed the
scriptures. Faith is the evidence of things
hoped for. That's it, believing God. Another thing I see in this miracle
really is the authority that the Lord Jesus has. The clearest and most glorious
evidence of our Lord's unrivaled authority and power might be
right here, among non-believers at least. The Romans had given jurisdiction
to the Jews to punish those who broke their Jewish laws and to
punish those who desecrated their Jewish worship places, the synagogues
and most particularly the temple. You remember when they brought
our Lord before Pilate. Pilate said, this has to do with
your laws. You judge him according to your
laws. And they cried and they said, no, crucify him, crucify
him. They couldn't crucify the Lord. Only the Romans could do that.
But Pilate had given them leeway to punish him however they saw
fit. Did they not stone the woman that was, wanted to stone the
woman that was caught in adultery? And the Lord said to those hypocrites
that brought her, they that without sin let him cast the first stone
and from the oldest to the youngest they walked away. Did they not
stone Stephen, put him to death? Did Saul of Tarsus, was he not
sent out by the high priest to gather up those who claim the
name of Christ and bring them back and have them arrested and
put to death? You see, they had authority.
When the Apostle Paul later came back after a missionary journey,
He was accused of having brought a Gentile into the temple and
a riot broke out. You see, the Jews were given
by the Romans certain jurisdiction and certain freedoms to exercise
their laws and their punishments when it came to their religious
things. And yet, what do we see here
in both of these incidences? In the first one here in John
chapter 2 and the second one in Matthew chapter 21, no one
raised their hand. No, they didn't send in the priests,
they didn't send in the executioners, they didn't, no
one raised their hand. What a demonstration of our Lord's
power authority. Never a man spake like this man."
Isn't that what they said when they sent the police out to have
him arrested? They came back empty-handed and
they said, we couldn't take him. Never a man spake like that man. For he spoke as one having authority,
not as the scribes. And when our Lord spoke to the
wind and to the waves and the disciples said, what manner of
man is this? Even the wind and the seas obey
his voice. You see, had anybody else done
what the Lord Jesus did, they would not have tolerated it.
But no man could stand up against him. The devils begged him to not
punish them before their appointed time. You remember the demoniac
and the Gadarenes and the legion of angels cried out and they
said, we know who thou art, Jesus. Have you come here to torment
us before our appointed time? What authority, what power. And these Jews, their mouths
were stopped. They could not object. Lazarus, come forth. What power. Dead Lazarus made alive, came
forth. Lord, I know you can, if you
will, I will be thou clean. And immediately he was made clean
of his leprosy. Thy sins are forgiven thee. Never did a prophet say, I say
unto you. The Old Testament prophets and
the New Testament apostles always had to say, thus saith the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one that could stand in authority and say, I say unto
you. Here is the omnipotent living
Word of God going uncontested in his power and in his authority
to rebuke men. And though their mouths were
stopped and though they later plotted ways to, and they took
him and with wicked hands they crucified him, the same truth Relating to his authority is
for those who he brings to faith in himself. He makes us willing. Let him who have ears to hear,
hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He shuts our mouths
and he stops us in our tracks and he causes us to say, speak
Lord for thy servant listeneth. He causes us to say when he exposes
us for what we are, We say with that Syrophoenician woman, truth,
Lord, whatever you say is true, whatever you say is right. And
we bow to him. What a work of grace in the heart
that we would not be silent and walk away. as those hypocrites
did that brought the woman caught in adultery. You remember, I
brought that up a moment ago, when he said he has, without
sin, laid in Casper, and beginning with the oldest to the youngest.
You know, the oldest, they had a little more experience with
their sin, and they walked away first, and then get down to the
arrogant young men, and they realized finally, When it comes to the authority
and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ among believers, clearly
it is the fulfillment of these words that stops our mouth and brings
us to cry out for His mercy. Destroy this temple. And in three days, I will rise
it again, raise it again. There are no other sign, this
is the sign. And they did, when Peter preached
to this same crowd in Acts chapter two, he said, let's turn with
me to that passage, Acts chapter two. Look at verse 23. Him being delivered
by the determinant counsel and for knowledge of God, you have
taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God
hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it
was not possible that he should be holding to it. Peter puts the full responsibility
for the crucifixion of Christ on them. And in Zechariah chapter 12,
when the spirit of grace and the spirit of supplication is
poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the house of
David, we mourn after him whom we have pierced as one mourneth
after his own son. And so the Lord Jesus is saying
to me and you, you destroy this temple. And though he laid his
life down, the responsibility for taking it was squarely placed
on those who crucified him. You destroy this temple. And
in three days, I'll raise it up. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
is our death. The wages of sin is death. In
the day in which you eat of the fruit you shall surely die. God
required death for sin. And the Lord's saying to us,
here's the sign. Here's the sign. I died. your stead and you died in me." So that when I was crucified
you were crucified. He bore all the sins of all of
his people in his body upon that tree and put them away once and
for all. He satisfied the demands of God's
justice by his own death. He killed death. He opened up
the grave. He destroyed the devil who is
the prince of death. And he set his people free. You destroy this temple. And in three days, I will raise
it up. In Adam, All died. We come into
this world spiritually dead, spiritually separated from God.
And in Christ, we're made alive. Who shall bear the curse of all
the sins of all of God's elect and satisfy God's holy justice?
By suffering the full wrath of God's law. Who can do it? Only Christ. Only the one who
is without spot and without blemish. Only the one who is able to offer
himself to his father is a perfect sacrifice. The holy, harmless,
undefiled, higher than the heavens, Son of God. Only he could do
it. And that's exactly what he did.
And this is the sign. This is the sign. Whatever blessings
God gives, whatever feelings, whatever experiences we might
have, fine. But those cannot be signs. Those
cannot be evidences. Those cannot be something that
we hold to as the proof of our salvation. We hold to what the
apostles held to. Look back with me again at verse
22. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples
remembered that he had said this unto them. And they believed
the scriptures and the word which Jesus had said. Turn over with
me just a few pages to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. Look at verse 17. Therefore doth my father love
me because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. Destroy this temple. And in three days, he wasn't
talking about that temple of stone, he was talking about the
temple of his body. destroy this temple and it was
sin. I love, I love what the Lord,
you know, we, the Lord reveals himself as the son of God and
as the son of man. And in that passage over there
in Matthew chapter 21, he's talking about his humanity when he says,
as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale,
so shall the son of man be. the heart of the earth. So it
was our sin, it was our sin that destroyed the Son of Man. Not
permanently, not permanently. Couldn't do that. Why? Because
his father was satisfied with the sacrifice that he made. And
the scripture says he, the father, would not allow his holy one
to see corruption. The father raised him from the
dead. He says here, I raised myself from the dead. Why? Because everything that God required
for the salvation of his people was accomplished when that temple
was destroyed. Everything. We can't add to it. We dare not take away from it. Everything that God required.
That's what our Lord's saying. What sign will you show us? Just
destroy this temple. And in three days, I'll raise
it again. And his disciples remembered
His words and they believed what was written in the scriptures
concerning Him. That's faith is just believing
God. Believing God. I mean, are we
not offended when we speak the truth to someone and they question
our sincerity and they question our honesty and they begin to
interrogate us as to whether or not we're really being honest
with them? Are we not offended by that if
we are being honest? How much more? God Almighty who
cannot lie, who has declared his salvation and his truth in
his word infallible. And for us to doubt him, Oh Lord,
that's why believers are always coming, always having to come
and always having to have their temple cleansed. They're always
having to have that merchandise taken from their hearts, that
fleshly dependence cut away from them. They're always in need
of the circumcision of the spirit because they will even take confidence
in their flesh. And the Lord said, here is the
sign. This is the sign. There's no other sign. John chapter seven, they sought
to take him when he identified himself as
the son of God, they sought to take him but no man laid hands
on him because his time had not yet come. He was in complete
authority as to when and how and where he would die. And when he tells the disciples
in John chapter 12 about his death, He responds
by saying to them, what shall I say? What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour,
but for this cause came I to this hour. This is the reason I came. I
came to die. I came to provide for my people
what God requires for their salvation. destroy this temple, and in three
days, I will raise it up." And his disciples believed. They believed. And they still
believe. And his disciples still find
all their comfort, all their hope, and all their peace, and
only reason for their salvation in that temple being destroyed
and being raised again. Our Heavenly Father, thank you.
Thank you for the power of your word. Thank you for the simplicity
of it. Thank you for the clarity of
it. Thank you for your Holy Spirit that gives to us faith. to believe
on Christ. For it's in His name we pray.
Amen.