Well, I'm thankful for Romans
828, aren't you? I've entitled the message for
this evening, No Sign Given. Verse 11, and Pharisees came
forth and began to question with him. Not honest inquiry, but
trying to tempt him to get him to say something that would be
wrong, that would disprove who he is. Seeking of him a sign from heaven,
tempting him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit. and saith, why does this generation
seek after a sign? Verily, I say unto you, there
shall no sign be given unto this generation. Now this word sign
is the word whenever you find miracle in the New Testament,
it's the same word, a sign or a miracle. miracle, and the Lord
gave a lot of signs. A lot of signs. He performed
a lot of miracles that attested to his divinity, or at least
his divine commission. That's how Nicodemus took it.
He said, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, because
no man could do the miracles that thou didst, except God be
with him. Turn back to Matthew 11 for a
moment. Verse 2, now, when John had heard in the
prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and
said unto him, art thou he that should come, or do we look for
another? Now, I've read many people who
have said, well, he knew that He was the Christ, but he wanted
to send his disciples there who were perhaps struggling with
it so they could see. I don't believe that for a second.
I think John was in prison. He went from this, I don't know what you'd call
it, but a God bless ministry to all of a sudden being on a
shelf. And I would say that there's a lot of things you could think
about in prison all day long without anybody to talk to. And
I'm sure all kinds of things were going through his mind.
Ever happened to you? Sure it has. He didn't know what
to think. And he said unto him, are thou
he that should come, or do we look for another? Now, notice
he didn't say, perform some miracles to show it. He didn't say anything
of that nature. He just said, are you he that
should come? Jesus answered and said unto them, go and show John
again those things which you do here and see. The blind receive
their sight. The lame walk. The lepers are
cleansed. The deaf hear. The dead are raised
up. And the poor have the gospel
preached to them. And blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me. And I have no doubt that at that
time he did those things. And those people witnessed that.
And they came back to John the Baptist and said, yes, he's the
one. Turn with me for a moment to
John chapter 20. John the 20th chapter. I preached
from these verses in the last month. Verse 30. And many other
signs or miracles truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples,
which are not written in this book. But these are written for
this purpose, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God. And that believing, you might
have life through his name. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? The son of the living God? My dear friends, that's faith.
And believing, you might have life through his name. Now, in our text, he had just
created matter in the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding
of the 4,000. Only God can do that, bring something
from nothing. He controlled the weather. He
raised the dead. Everybody he healed was healed.
He didn't say, be healed, and somebody wasn't. He did what only God can do. He demonstrated that by signs
and miracles. But he never performed a miracle
by request. Do you remember how Herod, when
he's brought to Herod, Herod was glad to see him because he
wanted to see a miracle done by him. He'd heard many things
about them, and he wanted to see one of these miracles. And
the Lord wouldn't do it. He wouldn't do it. He remained
silent, and all Herod did was make fun of him at that time.
And the men of war said he would not. He would not perform a miracle
for them. You see, The request for a sign
is the result of unbelief. If I need a sign, it's because
I do not believe. I'm saying, I need more evidence
than this. I need better proof than this.
What about Satan? He heard the voice from heaven
when Christ was baptized. This is my beloved son. in whom
I'm well pleased. And what did he say? If you are,
prove it. Give me a sign. See that stone
there? Make a turn to bread. If you
really are the son, prove it. Demonstrate it so everybody can
believe. Jump off the temple because the scripture says the
angels will hold you up unless you dash your foot against the
stone. If you're really the son of God, prove it to us. Jump
off and let us see the angels catch you. You see, that was
unbelief. That was questioning, that was
tempting. Let me ask you a question. Is the word of God enough? Is the word of God enough? This desire for a sign is the
product of unbelief. You're there in John, turn to
John 12, I want you to look at these. Verse 37. But though he had done so many
miracles, signs before them, yet they believed not on him.
Do you know what witnessing a miracle never caused anybody to believe? I'd like to see some miracles.
Well, I would too. But no one has ever believed because of
a miracle. And he said this, that the saying
of Isaiah, the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake,
Lord, who had believed our report and to whom is the arm of the
Lord been revealed. That's who believes, who he reveals
himself to. That is who believes. Therefore
they could not believe because that Isaiah said again, he hath
blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should
not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted
and I should heal them. John six. I want you to see this. Verse 14. This is after he fed
the 5,000. Look what it says. Then those
men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, this is
of a truth, that prophet that should come into the world. Now,
they saw the miracle, they ate the food, they experienced the
miracle. Now, these same people, look
in verse 26, these same people who had experienced this miracle,
Jesus answered them and said, verily, verily, I say unto you,
you seek me not because you saw the miracles, but because you
did eat of the loaves and were filled. Labor not for the meat
which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto everlasting
life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you. For him hath God
the Father sealed. Then said they unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered
and said unto them, this is the work of God. that you believe
on him whom he hath sent. Now look at these next words.
They said, therefore unto him, what sign showest thou then?
Give us proof. They just experienced that miracle.
I wasn't gonna do anything for them, but this was the response
of unbelief. Give us a sign, give us something
that we can see, something tangible. because they did not believe
what he said. Seeing a miracle doesn't produce
faith. You think of the rich man. Remember
when he was in hell? What a horrible thing to think
about. And he says, Father Abraham, send Lazarus back from the dead
to warn my brothers. I got five brothers. Send him
back from the dead to warn them of this awful place. Abraham
replied, they got Moses, and the prophets let him hear them.
He said, nay, Father Abraham, but they'd be persuaded if one
rose from the dead, and they saw this miracle, and they saw
this supernatural, oh, they would be persuaded then. Abraham said,
no, they won't. They won't be persuaded or repent,
even if someone is raised from the dead. John 7, 42 says, though
he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed
not on him. No one was ever saved by being
the eyewitness of a miracle. Faith doesn't come by sight.
Faith comes as the gift of God. Faith comes by God giving you
life and you see who the Lord Jesus Christ and you believe
on him. Now, verse 11, back in our text, And the Pharisees came forth
and began to question with him. Now that doesn't mean it was
some honest inquiry, wanting to know the truth. This was an
evil motive behind what they were doing. And Mark tells us,
they began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven,
tempting him, trying to put him to the test. Boy, that's a horrible thing
to do. May the Lord deliver me and you from that to put him
to the test. He's the truth. He's the son
of God. And to try him? That's what they
were doing. And he sighed deeply in his spirit. He could look within these people's
hearts and see how much they hated him. and see how much they
questioned him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit
and saith, why does this generation seek after a sign? Now he knew the answer to that
question. He said in another place, a wicked and an adulterous
generation seeketh after a sign and there should be no sign given
it. Now this request for a sign says,
I do not really believe you. I need more evidence, I need
signs, I need wonders, I need to see things that will enable
me to believe. I don't believe your word. And he said, no sign is gonna
be given to this generation. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1. Verse 22, for the Jews, the religious people,
require a sign. That's the requirement of unbelief.
They require a sign. They don't like what they hear,
so they say, give us a sign to testify that what you're saying
is true. Prove it to us. If I tell you
the truth and you say, prove it, what you're doing is calling
me a liar. And that is if I'm going from the word of God. And
what they were doing, they were saying, I need a sign. I'm not
satisfied with what you're saying. I don't believe it. And the Greeks
seek after wisdom, not the beginning of wisdom that's the fear of
the Lord, but some kind of wisdom that will make their life better
in this world. If I can learn how to do this and learn how
to do that, my life can become better in this world. The Greeks
seek after wisdom. Now let's see what led Paul to
say this. Look back in verse 17. For Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel. Now is that saying baptism is
inconsequential? Not important? It doesn't matter
whether you're baptized or not? No, because the Lord said, whoso
believeth and is baptized, the same shall be saved. If you believe the gospel, you
are to be baptized. This is not saying that baptism
is not important. baptized. It is how we confess
Christ. I'm confessing in baptism that
my salvation is me being in him. When he lived, I lived. When
he died, I died. When he was raised from the dead,
I was raised from the dead. He's 100% of my salvation. Why
wouldn't someone want to confess that? He's not saying that baptism
is not important, but he is saying this, our job, our purpose is
not results. It's not to see how many baptisms
we can get. It's not to see how many people
would be converted and saved. Our purpose is to preach the
gospel. That's our purpose here on earth,
here in Lexington. Our purpose is to preach the
gospel. And I love what he says next,
not with wisdom of words. Not with wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. Now, what's
it mean by that? Well, when you use wisdom of words, what you're
doing is trying to present the gospel in such a way as nobody
would be offended by it. Now, if you remove the offense,
you've removed the gospel itself. Now, let me give you an example
of what I'm talking about. I hear this in reform circles quite
a bit. Christ died for those who believe and repent of their
sins. You ever heard that? Christ died for those who believe
and repent. Yes, that's true, but it's the
wisdom of words. It's trying to keep from offending
people and trying to present the truth in such a way as you
tell the truth, but you're not going to offend anybody. Because
really, if you take that statement, Christ died for those who believe,
you know what you can get out of that? Belief is the cause
of him dying for you. Your faith, your repentance,
that's why he died for you. You believe, he died for you.
Now that is covering the gospel with the wisdom of words. And
when I hear preachers talk like that, what comes to my mind is,
you're ashamed of the gospel. You won't preach the gospel.
You're gonna try to package it and present it in such a way,
scared to death, to offend somebody. Now I don't wanna offend somebody
by my bad behavior. I really don't. I wanna be gracious,
I wanna treat people in such a way I'm utterly unoffensive
in that sense. You do what you want that to,
but I want people to be offended by the gospel I preach. If they're
not offended, the gospel's not being preached. And that's what
Paul is saying. He says, not with wisdom of words, lest the
cross of Christ be made of none effect. If you use, if I use
wisdom of words to try to market the gospel and package it to
make it easy to believe and easier to understand and not look to
the Holy Spirit to be the teacher of the people who are hearing
the word, I've made the cross of Christ of none effect. No one is actually saved and
brought to a saving knowledge of Christ through that kind of
foolishness. Now look what he says, verse
18. Four, the preaching of the cross. That word preaching is logos,
the doctrine or the word of the cross. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ
is the whole counsel of God. It's the purpose of God. It's
why he made the universe. It's why he decreed the fall
of our first father, Adam. Now, I make no apology for saying
that. Are you blaming God for evil? I'm saying he decreed the
fall for his own wise and holy purposes. And me and you are
not fit to sit in judgment on God and say, I disagree with
that. If there were no fall, there
would be no cross. You see, the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the full manifestation of the character of the God of
glory. Every attribute of God is displayed
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. The cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ is salvation. I love His words. It is finished. That's music to my ear. That
means there's nothing for me to do. That means He accomplished
salvation. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10, 14
says, for by one offering, he hath perfected forever them that
are sanctified. You know what that means? When Christ died, everybody he
died for was perfected forever. Now the preaching of the cross
is to those that perish foolishness. You know, there's somebody that
sees this and this seems pointless. I don't see what the issue is.
Why? This is foolish. How's this helping me? This is
going to lead people in the wrong direction. You're not giving
people a motive for obedience. This is foolishness. To the Jew,
it's foolishness. Where's that? The preaching of
the cross is to them to perish foolishness. They don't see it
as necessary. unto us which are saved. But I want to be in that group,
don't you? I want to be in that us. That us which are saved. It, the preaching, the doctrine,
the glory, the person of the cross is the very power of God. What omnipotence is displayed
in the cross of Christ. This is what the cross of Christ,
the personal work of Christ, it makes me, this sinful man, perfect in God's sight. It takes my sin and makes it
not to be. That is the power of God unto
salvation. Four, verse 19. I will destroy the wisdom of
the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent."
Now, that's not true wisdom. That's people who are wise in
their own eyes and prudent in their own eyes. He says, I'm
going to destroy that. The wisdom of the world is foolishness
with God, he said in chapter 3. Where is the scribe? Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this world, like the Pharisees
who were attempting him and trying to get him to perform something,
to try to catch him in his word. I love what he says. Hath not
God made foolish the wisdom of this world? The Lord said that
which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God. Verse 21. For after that, in
the wisdom of God, The world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Preaching. Now this is not to
glorify the preacher. I'm afraid it's Some preachers
will take a passage of scripture like that and use it to, you
know, you need to listen to what I'm saying. Well, you do if I'm
preaching the truth, but that's not the purpose of this verse
of scripture. I think that this verse of scripture
please God by foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
Now here's what this means. You go back into second Kings
chapter five and you have Naaman. Naaman was a great man with his
master. Naaman was a mighty man of valor.
Naaman was a very successful man. Naaman was a leper. I like what Henry Mahan said,
Naaman thought himself to be a great man who happened to be
a leper. He didn't realize he was a leper who happened to be
a great man. Now, he comes to Elisha's home
in all of his glory, his officers, his clothing, his position, his
power, and he just stands out there and waits for Elisha to
come out to him. And you know Elisha didn't even open the door
and enter the door for him. He sent out a lowly servant,
a nobody from nowhere to give Naaman his instruction. Naaman
was offended. Does he know who I am? Isn't
he going to deal personally with me? No. No. He's going to speak through his
lowly, nobody servant. And if you're going to hear the
truth, you see, this is humbling. We like to think, well, God's
going to deal directly with me. Well, there's a sense in what
he does if he deals with you at all, but it's going to be through
the preaching of the gospel. That's how God works and the
world calls that foolishness, but it's how it's pleased God
to reveal himself and to save those who believe. Believing, faith is the evidence
of salvation. Now in Matthew chapter 12, I
love it where the Lord said, there shall no sign be given
this generation, but the sign of Jonah. Three days in, three
days out. The resurrection. Do you need
any other sign than the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Is there anything
else you need to give you assurance? Is there some other sign that
would make you feel like God has done something for you? Well,
you've been deceived. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now let's go on reading in verse
22. For the Jews require a sign. Now why do they require a sign? Because they don't believe. And
they need something from you to prove to them it's so. And they wanna show you a sign
to prove to you that they are what they're not really. saved. That's why they want this sign. The Greeks seek after wisdom
and what this is is how to use and manipulate this world for
success, how I can use this wisdom to make myself more successful,
to make my place better in this world so I can have more control
over other people. I know something that you don't
know. Therefore, I have the advantage
over you. That's the way of the world.
And that's the wisdom everybody wants. Everybody wants that kind
of wisdom. I want wisdom to make my life better and make others'
lives better. I'm like Cain. He went out to
build a City East of Eden to try to make this world a better
place This is not about trying to make this world a better place.
This is about preaching the gospel Now he said we preach Christ
crucified For the Jews require sign and the Greeks seek after
wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified Now that's what's on
that sign out on the road We, this is what every believer,
this represents every believer's message, what they believe, who
they believe, everything to them. We preach. We're not trying to change the
culture. You know every time I hear a preacher talk about
the culture, I know he's some kind of seminary. This is not about
changing the culture. This is about preaching the gospel.
We preach. We preach the Christ. The Messiah. The Son of God. God's prophet. The very Word of God. God's priest
who presents His own blood to God. Not the blood of an animal
sacrificed, but His own blood. The one who the Father accepts
and receives. God's King. Yet have I sent my
King on my holy hill of Zion. He's the King. He's your King
whether you know it or not. He's the King. Oh, aren't you
thankful? He's the King. The King is the
one whose will is done. We preach Christ crucified. He died. Why did he die? It was the purpose of God. Why
did he die? For sin. Why did he die? To put away sin. Why did he die?
To glorify God. You go on and on with that why
he died. Not talking about his life without
talking about his death. If he lived in this planet and
perfectly kept God's law and went back to heaven, what good
would that do me or you? Absolutely nothing. He was crucified. He was made sin. And the more
I repeat that, the more I realize that I don't understand what
all that means. I know that he was made sin, though, and I know
that he was guilty. He owned that sin as it is his
own, and that's why he was crucified. When he was being crucified,
it wasn't the innocent being punished, it was the guilty being
punished. My sin became his sin. We preach Christ crucified. That's our message. No other
message, the only message to preach. We preach Christ crucified. Now unto the Jews, this is a
stumbling block. What's that mean? You are taking
away all motive for obedience. You're saying you're complete
by what he did without any reference to your work? Well, that'll lead
men to sinful course of action. That'll make them think it doesn't
matter what they do. We stumble at that. That's not right. Something's
missing. You're not giving a motive, a
reason for obedience and holiness and good works. You're saying
everything was done by Christ. That's exactly what I'm saying.
That's exactly what I'm saying. And the Jew stumbles at that.
The Greek, the Gentile, Why, that's foolishness. You see,
he can't see where this will help his life. This is not going
to change the culture. This is not gonna make the world
a better place. This is not going to help the economy. This is
not doing anything for man. This isn't doing anything for
medicine. Why, this is foolishness. Why even bother with this? But, verse 24, unto them which are called. Now, if mere you end up in hell,
God never calls. And so isn't it? But unto them which are called. This is talking about the invincible,
irresistible grace of God, the effectual call. Lazarus, come
forth. Did he have a choice? Could he
have said no? Could he have not responded?
Absolutely not. This is the same voice that said,
light be, and light was. Lazarus, come forth. He that
was dead came forth. Zacchaeus, up there in that tree,
make haste. Come down. Today I must abide. at thy house. You know what the
scripture says? He made haste, he came down, and he received
him joyfully. Joyfully. Now this call is always
obeyed. But notice what it says, but
unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, aren't you thankful
the Lord calls Jews and Greeks? He's got a people out of every
kindred, tribe, tongue, and nation. Both Jews and Greeks. is the
evidence that he has called you. Now that ought to get our attention. Here is the evidence that he
has called you. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom
of God. Power and wisdom. What wisdom is displayed in God
remaining just, impartially, absolutely, perfectly just? No variation, no shadow, Absolutely
just. And saying of Todd Nybert, he's
just. He has no guilt. He has no sin. And it be real. And there's the
difference. How many times has perhaps a
criminal been justified, but it wasn't just, was it? He did
it. He committed the crime. Maybe
he didn't get caught, whatever. But when God justifies a sinner,
he in his infinite wisdom, we never come up with this, in his
infinite wisdom, he's made a way to be absolutely impartially
just and justify me in a way that honors his justice and honors
his holy law. and glorifies Him, even though
I am the chief of sinners." Now, it took wisdom to do that, didn't
it? But what good would it do if
you had the wisdom to know how it's done and not have the power
to make it come to pass? Christ is the power of God. Christ
is the power of God. to keep the law, he's the power
of God to put away sin, he's the power of God to make every
believer stand holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. He's the mighty power of God. Now, here's the one sign we need,
the sign of Jonah. When Christ walked out of that
tomb, all my salvation All my salvation, all my salvation was
accomplished. No other sign is needed. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for Jesus
Christ and him crucified. Lord, we ask that you would give
us grace to believe the gospel. We ask that you would give us
grace to preach the gospel. And we ask that you would give
us grace to be separated unto nothing else. How we thank you for your glorious
gospel. Lord, deliver us from the need
for signs. Enable us to believe only. Thy
word. Bless this message for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen.
Dwayne, come lead us.