Could you turn back to John chapter
two? After the service, if some men could go back in the back
and put up the tables, there's four or five tables from the
wedding showers, and put those back, that would be helpful. I've entitled the message, The
Sign of Christ's Authority. Now I want us to think about
what that must have been like when the Lord went into the temple,
and he looked, and he knew what was going on was wrong. These
men were using religion for profit. He said they were making his
father's house a house of merchandise, and he went out for a moment,
I suppose, and made himself a whip. And he went back into that temple, not in a burst of fury, knowing
exactly what he was doing and why he was doing it, and he drove
the men the animals, the money exchangers who were there for
profit out of the temple. He overturned the tables. And what a scene that must have
been. Now, put yourself in these people's
place. They didn't know what they were
doing was wrong. They should have, but they didn't. They thought
they were trying to be helpful. make worship easier, more accessible,
make it to where people could get the half atonement money,
silver shekel of the atonement money of the temple. They could
buy the oxen and the lambs for sacrifice there, the doves. They
thought they were helping people and making a profit at the same
time. And when the Lord did this, their
thought was, Who gives you the right to do this? And I can understand
them thinking that way. What if somebody came in here?
What if the Lord came in here? Well, if the Lord came in here,
we wouldn't ask who gives you the right, because we'd know
who he is, and we'd just bow down. But if you didn't know
who he was, and he came in and did something like that. Here
was their response in John chapter two, verse 18. Then answered
the Jews and said unto him, what sign showest thou unto us, seeing
that thou doest these things? What makes you think you have
the authority to do this? What makes you think you can
come in here and do this? And the Lord gives an answer.
Verse 19, Jesus answered. and said unto them, destroy this
temple, and in three days, I will raise it up. Now do you know
that some three and a half years later, this is going to be brought
against him during his trial? Turn with me to Matthew chapter
26. Hold your finger there in John chapter two and look at
Matthew 26, verse 59. Now the chief priests and the
elders and all the council sought false witnesses against him to
put him to death, but found none. Yea, though many false witnesses
came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses
and said, this fellow, notice the word is in italics,
this nothing, this, we don't have a name for it. said, I am
able to destroy the temple of God and to build it up in three
days. And the high priest arose and
said unto him, answerest thou nothing? What is it which these
witness against thee? But Jesus held his peace. Now
this was brought up in his trial. And when he was hanging on the
cross, this was used to make fun of him. Look in chapter 27,
verse 39 of Matthew chapter 27. And they that pass by reviled
him, wagging their heads and saying, thou that destroyest
the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the son of God, come
down from the cross. Now, if you can do this, you
can come down from the cross and you obviously can do neither. Now the Lord had determined for
them to say this. It was all a part of his purpose,
and we see exactly what it was he said to them. Now, destroy
this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up again. And when the Lord said this,
they had no idea what he was talking about. They didn't have
a clue. All they saw was the physical
temple. made of stones. And look at their reply. Verse 20, then said the Jews,
40 and six years was in this temple in building. And without
reared up in three days, all they could think of is him physically
destroying and demolishing the temple and rebuilding it in three
days. And they thought that's impossible.
But the Lord never meant that. He could have done it. But he
never meant that. Verse 21, but he spake of the
temple of his body. And you will notice that the
Lord didn't clarify himself to them. He didn't say, that's not
what I was talking about. You got this wrong. He didn't
clarify himself. Destroy this temple, this body
of mine. And in three days, I will raise
it up. You see, this desire they had
for a sign was because they didn't believe there was anything wrong
with what they were doing. What's wrong with this? You know, that's a scary thought. That makes me wonder. I don't
want to, could I be doing something that I don't even know what's
wrong in the house of God? That's a scary proposition, isn't
it? But they didn't know. They were completely unaware
of what they were doing, that it was wrong. They saw no evil
in what was going on. They did not want to believe. That's why they wanted to sign. What was going on was obviously
wrong, and they didn't want to face that or its implications. So they said, show us a sign
to prove to us that what we're doing is wrong and that you have
the right to do this. Let's say I stole your wallet
tonight, or if you're a woman, I stole your purse. And you found
out that I did it. And you come up to me and you
said, you stole my goods, that which belongs to me. Now here's
what I want you to do. I want you to give it back. Now
what if I replied, give me a sign that shows that you have the
authority to tell me to do something like that? There's no need for a sign, is
there? There's no need for a sign. And that is why the Lord said,
a wicked and an adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. You don't
need a sign. No sign is needed. The only reason
they wanted a sign is unbelief. That's the only reason they wanted
a sign. unbelief. When men want to sign,
it's because they do not want to believe. But he spake, verse
21, of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from
the dead, his disciples remembered that
he'd said this unto them, and they believed the scripture.
and the word which Jesus had said. Now they didn't understand
this either until after he was risen from the dead. They were
just as clueless as the Pharisees were, but after he was risen
from the dead, they understood why he made this statement. They say, now I see what he meant. And the scripture says, They
believed the scriptures. And they believed the word which
Jesus had said, had spoken. Now, the New Testament had not
yet been written. He's talking about the Old Testament.
And they believed the Old Testament scriptures and the word which
Jesus had spoken. You know what that means? His
word has the same authority as scripture. He wrote the scripture
and everything he says has absolute authority as the very word of
God. I love that verse of scripture
at the end of the Sermon on the Mount when it says they were
astonished at his doctrine for he spake as one having authority. That doesn't mean he had a big
booming voice and people were intimidated by the way he spoke.
Everything he said recommended itself as the very word of God. They believed the scriptures
and the things that Jesus said. Now the only way the Old Testament
scriptures can be interpreted is in light of destroy this body,
and in three days I will raise it up. Let me repeat that. The only way the Old Testament
can be understood is in light of the death, the burial, and
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now do you remember
when the Sadducees who denied the resurrection Turn with me
to Mark chapter 12. Mark chapter 12, beginning in
verse 18. Then came unto him the Sadducees,
which say there is no resurrection. And they asked him, saying, they
came up with a question they knew would stop the Lord. People
try that all the time. We have these genius ways of
stumping him, so we think. Master, Moses wrote unto us,
if a man'd rather die and leave his wife behind him, and leave
no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise
up seed unto his brethren. Now there were seven brethren,
and the first took a wife, and died, left no seed. And the second
took her, and died, and neither left he any seed. And the third
likewise, and the seven had her. and left no seed. Last of all,
the woman died also in the resurrection, which they didn't believe. They
posed this question. Now in the resurrection, therefore,
when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? For the seven added a wife. And
Jesus answering said unto them, do ye not therefore err? Because
you know not the scriptures, neither the power of God, for
when the dead shall rise, when they shall rise from the dead,
they neither marry nor are given in marriage. But as the angels,
which are in heaven, just to note these family units we have
now, they won't be in heaven. They won't be there. Everybody's going to be one family
with the Lord as their husband, one bride with the Lord as their
husband. Verse 26, and 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, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He's not
the God of the dead, but the God of the living, therefore
you do greatly err. Now what hits me right off the
bat is if I was reading that, I wouldn't have dreamed that
that's teaching the resurrection. That's teaching the resurrection.
I wouldn't have thought that, but the Lord tells us it's teaching
the resurrection. Now, Abraham had been dead over
400 years when Moses wrote this. 430 years. God's not the God
of somebody that's dead 430 years. I'm the God of the living. Abraham
lives. Jacob lives. Isaac lives. He's not the God of the dead.
He's the God of the living, and every believer lives. They have
life before him. They've been raised spiritually,
and they will one day be raised physically. Now, we do not understand any
scripture apart from his resurrection. When they ask for a sign, He
knew what he meant when he said, destroy this temple in three
days, I'll raise it up. And notice what he said. He didn't
say destroy this temple in three days, God will raise it up. He
didn't say that, did he? In John chapter 10, verses 17
and 18, he says, no man takes my life from me. I'm not a victim. I'm in control of this. No man
takes my life from me. I have power. to lay it down
and I have power to take it up. This commandment have I received
of my Father. The Lord Jesus says with regard
to himself, I have power to raise myself from the dead. No one
could say that but the Lord Jesus. Now it's true, God the Father
raised him from the dead. It's true, God the Holy Spirit
raised him from the dead. But he says here, I have power
to raise myself from the dead. That can describe only one man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, verse 22, when therefore
he was risen from the dead, his disciples remember that he'd
said unto them, And they believed the scriptures and the word which
Jesus had said. Now let's talk about this for
just a moment. When he was risen from the dead, I don't know of
anything more mysterious than the fact that Jesus Christ died. Now there is nothing mysterious
about me or you dying. I hope we all reach home safely
and I'd be very sad if one of us go out and a car runs into
us and kills us and we're dead. But there's nothing mysterious
about that. We're weak, we're sinful creatures, we're just
a breath away from dying right now. Our breath is in our nostrils
that the Lord can take away. We're all very close to death. And it would not be a mystery
if any of us died. Now, what's the reason for death? Sin. Well, he died of cancer. No,
he died of sin. He died of a heart attack. No, he died of sin. sin
is the reason for death there's a reason i'm gonna die there's
a reason you're gonna die because of sin s-i-n sin romans 5 12
for by one man sin entered the world and death by sin the reason
i'm gonna die is sin the reason you're gonna die is sin that's
not hard to understand or get a hold of. The reason we die is because
of sin, and sin must be punished by death. The wages of sin is death. If sin is not punished by death,
God is not just. Now, this is very important.
I know every one of us at one time or the other have thought,
why can't God just forgive sin? He expects us to forgive sin.
Why can't he just forgive sin? Well, if he just forgave sin,
he would be unjust. He would be like me and you. If I commit a terrible crime,
let's say, and I've used this illustration many times, but
it serves well, if I murder one of your children, and I'm caught,
and I'm brought before the judge, and the judge says, I'm a forgiving
judge, I'm going to forgive you, and he lets me out back into
society after I've murdered your child, how you gonna feel about
that? You're going to know it's unjust.
You're going to be angry. You're going to know justice
has not been done. God is just, and I'm so thankful
he's like this. God is absolutely just. He must
punish sin. You see, we don't really understand
how infinitely evil sin is, but what it is at its very root is
its hatred of God. That's what sin is. It's hatred
of God as he's revealed in the word. The carnal mind is enmity. That's the mind we're born with.
The carnal mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the
law of God. Neither indeed can be. Now, God must punish sin. Don't look within yourself to
figure out how bad you are. Don't think of the things you've
done. Now, I'm not justifying any sinful things you've done.
But the only place that you find out about how sinful you really
are is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. There we find out
what I'm really like. When I'm left to myself, I would
murder the Son of God. And all of us are guilty of that. Don't think, well, I didn't do
it. Yeah, you did. When Adam did it, you did it. And you say,
well, I wouldn't have done it. Yes, you would have. Adam had
an innocent nature when he fell. And the men who killed Christ
didn't have that innocent nature. They had an evil nature like
you and I do, and we all would have done the same thing. Now,
understand this. If you want to understand sin,
don't look within your heart. Look at the cross. And there
you'll have some understanding of the evil of sin. Now, that being said, God is
absolutely just. He must punish sin. God is gracious. God delights in mercy. What a glorious attribute. God
delights in mercy. That's who he is. He delights
in saving sinners. He delights in showering His
grace upon sinners. That's who He is. He delights
in mercy and He will save sinners in a way that satisfies His justice. Now there's a reason hell is
eternal. The reason hell's eternal is no one can ever satisfy God's
justice because their sin is so great. An eternity in hell
will not satisfy His justice. You couldn't satisfy His justice.
But there's somebody who can. This is the gospel. There's somebody
who can. God demands His justice to be
satisfied. The only way His justice can
be satisfied is by death, but my death won't satisfy His justice. It would have to be the death
of His only begotten and well-beloved Son. He completely satisfied
God by His death. Now, this is one of the great
mysteries. I talk about how mysterious it is that Christ died. It's not mysterious if you or
I die, but the God-man died. Now, God must be satisfied. Man can't satisfy. Man can't
satisfy. The only thing that can satisfy
God is perfection. The only one who can satisfy
God is God. Man cannot satisfy. God cannot die. The God-man did
both. There's the gospel. The God-man
did both. The whole Bible is interpreted
in light of this. The life, the death, the burial,
and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, satisfying God's
justice, making a way for God to be just and justify somebody
that's guilty in and of themselves. The serpent bruising the seat
of woman's heel, but the seat of woman crushing his head is
only understood in light of the gospel of Christ. The Lamb slain,
listen to this, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
I love that scripture. I hope somehow, about every time
I preach, I'm going to bring that out. Christ is the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. But you know, that's a meaningless
concept unless He's also the Lamb raised from the foundation
of the world. He doesn't stay dead eternally.
He's the Lamb raised from the foundation of the world. The
amazing story of Jonah. being swallowed by the great
fish, three days in the whale's belly, it's only understood in
light of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Give us a sign.
Destroy this temple. In three days, I will raise it
up. Listen to this. The reason God
created the universe is for his son to come here and live and
die and be raised from the dead. That is God's reason for the
creation of the universe. Now you and I are gonna have
something to do with glorifying him in that. We're either gonna
glorify his grace or we're gonna glorify his justice, but glorify
him we will. This is God's purpose in all
things. What sign? What makes you think
you can do something like this? Destroy this temple? Three days,
I will raise it up. Now I wanna end by looking in
Acts chapter two. This is the first gospel message
after the resurrection of Christ. Acts chapter two. This is Peter preaching. He says in verse 22 of Acts chapter
2, first gospel message after the resurrection. Did that pique
your interest? What will they say? What will
Peter say? First example of gospel preaching
after the resurrection. What will they say? Verse 22,
ye men of Israel, hear these words. Don't you love his name, Jesus
of Nazareth? Identifying clearly who he is. Jesus of Nazareth,
the one born in Nazareth. He was born in Bethlehem, but
all they knew was Nazareth. That's where he was brought up.
Jesus of Nazareth. That's the one. 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 ALSO YOURSELVES KNOW." Now, I love how in John
there are seven different miracles that he performed that only God
could do. We considered a couple of weeks
ago how he made water wine. And then we read in John chapter
four, where simply as an act of his will, he healed the nobleman's
son. And then in John chapter five,
that man who had been a cripple for 38 years, he said, rise and
walk. And then in John chapter six,
he created food. I mean, matter, food was brought
into existence that was not there before. An act of creation. Only God can do that. And then
in that same chapter, He suspended the law of physics. They were
His law. And He walked on the water. He can do that. He's the
God-man. And then we read in John chapter
9 where He gave sight to one that was born blind. And then
in John chapter 11, he raised somebody from the dead that had
already gone through the process of decay. Only God can do this. Verse 23, him being delivered
by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God. You know why he died on a cross?
God's determinant counsel, God's foreknowledge. We read in Acts
chapter 4 of a truth against thy holy child Jesus whom thou
has anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and
the people of Israel were gathered together, listen, to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." Everything
that took place with the Lord Jesus Christ happened according
to God's sovereign will. Do you know what? That doesn't
get us off the hook. Him being delivered by the determined
counsel of God, foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain. You see, God's absolute
sovereignty does not in any way deny our complete responsibility. Everybody does exactly what they
want to do. If whatever I do is what I want
to do, I'm not forced, I'm not coerced. I do what I want to
do. Thank God He's sovereign over
what I want to do, but I can't use His sovereignty and say,
well, I shouldn't be held responsible for my actions. He says, you
have taken and with wicked hands have crucified and slain. Now this, isn't it interesting?
This is the first gospel message after the resurrection. Look
what he begins with. I love this. Verse 24, whom God hath raised
up, having loose the pains of death, because it was not possible
that he should be whole of it. Now, why was it not possible
for him to stay dead? Let me give you two reasons because
of who he is. That's enough of a reason. because
of who he is and because he made complete satisfaction. You see, the scripture says in
Romans chapter 4 verse 25, he was delivered for our offenses
and was raised again for our justification. When he was raised
from the dead, everybody he represented was justified. You know what
that means? If he died for you, you don't
have any sin. You don't have any guilt. You
stand before God without sin, having never sinned. That's what justification means.
Means you didn't do anything. You stand before God without
guilt. You've never done anything wrong. You've always done that,
which is right. What a gospel we have. The gospel
of him justifying his people at a poor old Publican in the
temple God be merciful to me the sinner he went down to his
house the Lord said justified Justified It wasn't possible for him to
be holding of death verse 25 for David speaketh concerning
him now, this is a quotation from Psalm 16 and Peter was just given life if
he didn't have before and David speaketh concerning him. He wasn't
talking about himself. He was talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ. David speaketh concerning him. I foresaw of
the Lord always before my face, and he's on my right hand that
I should not be moved. 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. Do you know
the Lord never went through the process of decay? How come? Because he completely satisfied
God. The moment he died, all of the
elect were saved. He never had to go through the
process of decay. Verse 28, thou hast made known to me the ways
of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy
with thy countenance. Now this is David speaking in
Psalm 16. And look at Peter's comment on
this. Verse 29, men and brethren, Let me freely speak unto you
of the patriarch David, that he's both dead and buried and
his sepulcher is with us into this day. Now, somewhere in the
Middle East, there's some dirt with the DNA of King David. He didn't raise from the dead.
He wasn't talking about himself. He was talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ. Therefore, Verse 30, being a
prophet and 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
David saw this, somebody says, so you know, people think, well,
they, they were just in some kind of stream of consciousness
and they didn't know what they were talking about, but they
were just inspired to say, no, David knew exactly what he was
talking about. He knew exactly what he was talking
about. The Bible says he does. Therefore,
being a prophet, and 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. That's what he was
talking about. The resurrection of Christ, that
his soul was not left in hell, Neither his flesh did see corruption.
This Jesus has God raised up where of we're all witnesses.
Therefore being by the right hand of God, exalted. This is
where this resurrected Christ is by the right hand of God,
exalted. and having received of the Father
the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this which
you do now see in here. For David is not ascended into
the heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit
thou in my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore,
let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
this same Jesus whom you have crucified both Lord and Christ. I don't know of anything much
more ridiculous than for someone to say, won't you make Jesus
the Lord of your life? He is the Lord of your life. He is your Lord. You might not
know it, but he is your Lord. The scripture says he's Lord
of the dead and the living. Somebody says, he's not my Lord. Yeah,
he is. You just don't know it. You're
in his hand. He's in complete control over you. Somebody else
willingly, oh, he's my Lord. He is my Lord. I say with Thomas,
my Lord and my God, but you can't make him Lord. God made this
same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now this is God's eternal purpose.
Amen. This is God's eternal purpose. 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. And
you know, you don't just believe the fact, you know why he did
it. He made complete satisfaction by what he did. Death could not
hold him because of what he accomplished by his death. It wouldn't do
us any good if he just lived and went back to heaven. He had
to live and die and put away that sin. And he put it away
and was raised from the dead. This is the object of our faith.
This is the gospel message. how that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures and was buried and raised again
the third day according to the scriptures. And this is the ground
of our assurance. Listen to me real carefully.
You know what the ground of my assurance is? The empty tomb. Anything else? Nope. Nope. The empty tomb. What the Lord
accomplished in his death. These fellas are upset. Give us a sign. Show us by what
authority you do these things. Destroy this temple. In three
days, I'll raise it up. And this is the ground of our
faith. Who he is, what he did, and how
he was raised from the dead. May God give us this faith to
believe him. Let's pray. Rick, I've asked
Rick Warner to come up and lead us in prayer. Rick, would you
come and lead us?