It is not that I did choose thee,
Lord, Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Niver. 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 Nyvert. I've entitled this morning's
message, Only One Sign Given. And my text is from Matthew chapter
12. Now what if, as you listen to
me preach, I could perform miracles right before your eyes? What
if I could bring matter into existence and demonstrate creative
power? What if I could raise the dead? What if I could heal the sick? And you saw that. I know a lot
of people make claims to be able to do things like that. Preachers
even make claims to have the ability to heal the sick, but
they're phonies. If they really could heal the
sick, they would be in the hospitals healing the sick. But let's say
I could do that. How would that affect your ability
to hear what I said? Would that make you think that
his, obviously he is sent from the Lord or he couldn't do those
things. Would that make you really hear
the message? I wanted to say that by way of
introduction and how I would like to read from Matthew chapter
12. And like I said, the title of
this message is only one sign given. Beginning in verse 38
of Matthew chapter 12, we read, Then certain of the scribes and
of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from
thee. we would see some miracle that
would verify that what you're saying is true. We don't have
quite enough evidence. We need a sign from you to find
out whether you really sent from God and whether we can really
believe what you're saying. Now, he had just cast out a demon,
and they watched him. They had seen him perform miracles,
but yet they said, we need another one. We would see a sign from
thee. Verse 39, but he answered and
said unto them, an evil and an adulterous generation seeketh
after a sign. Somebody that's needing a sign,
Our Lord says they're evil and they're adulterous, this desire
for a sign after they hear the truth. And there shall no sign
be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as
Jonah was three days and three nights in the well's belly, so
shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the
heart of the earth. Now, God has always given signs. He always has. When Moses came
before Pharaoh, God gave him some miracles that he could perform
to let Pharaoh know that he was sent from God. He could throw
his staff down and it would turn into a snake. He could put his
hand in his bosom, pull it back out, it would be leprous. He
would put his hand back in his bosom and pull it back out and
it would be healthy once again. The Ten Commandments, I mean
the Ten Plagues, were certainly great signs from God. And they
all illustrate some aspect of the Gospel, but God gave signs. And during the earthly ministry
of our Lord, He gave many signs. Miracles, where the laws of physics
were suspended. He walked on the water, literally. He really did. He demonstrated
creative power. He brought matter into existence
in the universe that had not been there before. He created
food. He fed a multitude of 5,000 with
five loaves and two small fishes. Obviously, food had to be created,
brought into existence that was not there before. He controlled
the weather. His disciples said, what manner
of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him? He healed the sick. And I don't
mean he, he didn't say, do you have faith enough to be healed?
And then maybe somebody didn't have enough faith to be healed
and it didn't work. Whenever you hear stuff like
that, no, that's a phony. He really healed the sick. He
could walk into a hospital and heal everybody there if he so
willed. He raised the dead. He gave signs attesting to the
divinity of his mission, and he gave signs attesting to the
divinity of himself. Jesus Christ is God. He did only
that which God could do. When the apostles were sent out
to preach the gospel, wonders and signs followed them. They
healed the sick. They raised the dead. They had
miracle working power. God gave them the ability to
have these signs. But did you know that no one
ever believed because of a sign? It hadn't happened one time.
Now let me show you this in John chapter six. The Lord said in verse 29, Jesus
answered and said unto them, this is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he hath sent. Oh, I love that verse of
scripture. This is the work of God, that
you believe on him, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he, God, hath
sent. Why did he send him? Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners, Paul said, of whom I am the chief. That's why he was sent. He was
sent to save His people from their sins, and we're called
upon to believe on Him. Now, after the Lord made that
statement, the people He was speaking to said, they said,
therefore unto Him, what sign showest thou then that we may
see and believe? What dost thou work? How can
we believe what you're saying unless you give us some kind
of sign to verify that what you're saying is so? Now, these same
people had just witnessed and had just eaten the bread and
the fishes that he had created. They had seen this miracle, but
it didn't make them believe. When he gave this statement regarding
faith in himself, they still didn't believe. They said, we
need to see a sign. Now, this is man's response. We need
more evidence. We need more proof that you are
who you say you are. And he's given all the evidence
that's needed. You see, no one ever believed
because they saw a miracle. No one ever believed because
they saw a sign that caused them to believe. Well, I've got to
believe now because of what I've just now witnessed. Do you remember
the rich man in hell saying to Abraham, he said, Father Abraham,
would you send Lazarus to dip his give me a dip of water to
cool my tongue." And Abraham said, it can't be done. He said,
well, will you send Lazarus to warn my brothers of this awful
place that they don't come here? And Abraham replied, well, they
have Moses and the prophets, let them hear then. And he said,
nay, Father Abraham, but if one rose from the dead, they'd repent. And Abraham said, if they hear
not Moses and the prophets, neither will they repent, though one
rose from the dead. You see, no one has ever believed
because of some kind of miracle they've seen. Now, when these
people were asking the Lord for a sign, what they were saying
is, we don't really believe what you're saying. That's it. They're
trying to stall things. We don't really believe what
you're saying. We need a sign to prove it. You see, the fact
of the matter is the truth does not need a sign. There's such
power in the truth that it recommends itself as the truth. For instance, the scripture says
many times, God reigneth. He must reign. His will must be done. Now God
is all-powerful. He created the universe. That
is self-evident. You couldn't create something
from nothing unless you were all-powerful. He who is all-powerful
has the power for His will always to be done. He reigns. He has a will. He has the power. to make sure His will come to
pass, and He always does make His will come to pass. That's
the only thing that makes sense. That is self-evident. The truth
doesn't need a sign. Now, if somebody says, I need
a sign to prove that, Well, the only reason you'd say that is
because you don't like what's being said, and you feel like,
well, if that's true, I don't have any control, and I don't
like it that way. That's why someone makes this
request for a sign. They don't like what is being
said. Now, the Lord gave many signs,
but he never gave signs when people requested them. Here's
why. All they were were statements
of unbelief. We need a sign to verify what
you're saying is so. My dear friend, we have the Word
of God, the authoritative Word of God, the Bible. If the Bible
says it, it's so, regarding who God is, who man is, how God saves
sinners. And all I'm called upon to do
is preach what the Word of God actually says. And a miracle,
if I could perform miracles, it would not help me at all in
getting you to believe. The only way you will believe
is if God gives you faith. And the only way I will believe
is if God gives me faith. But a sign is not gonna cause
anyone to believe. But look what our Lord said.
He said, an evil and an adulterous generation seeketh after a sign,
and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of the prophet
Jonah. Now, most people are familiar
with the story of Jonah, and many people actually are very
incredulous regarding Jonah being in the belly of a great fish
that the Lord had prepared for three days. How could he survive
in the stomach of a fish with all the gastric juices used to
try to digest him. How could a man possibly survive
three days in a fish's belly? That seems far-fetched to me.
With God, nothing's impossible. If God willed for him to live
three days in the fish's belly, three days in the fish's belly,
he will live. Because with God, nothing shall
be impossible. Yes, I believe that Jonah was
literally in the fish's belly for three days. But let's remember
the story of what took place. Perhaps you remember God had
commanded Jonah to go preach in the city of Nineveh. And Jonah
didn't want to do it. He was the disobedient prophet.
And he went and fled from the presence of the Lord. We read
beginning in Jonah 1, Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah,
the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city,
and cry against it. for their wickedness has come
up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from
the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa, and he found
a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare thereof,
and went down into it to go with him unto Tarshish from the presence
of the Lord." Now, let me give you the story of God's in a storm. He sent a storm because his disobedient
prophet was on the boat, and the people were crying out for
fear. Why is this happening to us? Every man prayed to his gods,
and they cast lots to see whose fault it was, and the lot fell
upon Jonah, and they said, what have you done? He said, I ran
from the presence of the Lord, and this is why this is happening,
but here's what you all need to do. Throw me off the boat,
and there'll be a calm. The storm will cease. You'll
be saved. and they didn't want to do that.
But Jonah said, you have to. You won't be saved until I'm
thrown off the boat. And so they threw him off the
boat and there was a great calm. Now in this, Jonah is a type
of Christ. The storm comes because of Jonah's
sin. Christ goes to the cross because
of sin, not his own. The sins of his people actually
became his so that he became guilty of them. That's why he
died on the cross. When Jonah was thrown overboard, there was
a great calm. Interestingly, Jonah willingly
did this. They didn't take him against
his will. He told them what to do. Christ didn't die against
his will. He said, I lay down my life.
No man takes it from me. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to pick it back up. He died willingly. And then a fish swallowed Jonah. You can read about that at the
end of chapter one. Now the Lord had prepared a great
fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the
fish three days and three nights. And then in chapter 2, he gives
his prayer, and the Lord causes the fish to spit him out on dry
land. And the Lord Jesus tells us that
that is the only sign that's going to be given to this generation,
the sign of Jonah three days in and out. What this is a reference
to is the three days the Lord spent in a tomb, and on the third
day He rose from the dead. The sign is the resurrection. Now, I'm not preaching a historical
Christ. I'm preaching Him who lives. He died, and He was raised from
the dead, and He lives. Now, I'd like to read from 1
Corinthians chapter 15, and this gives us some very important
instruction regarding the resurrection, but I'd like to begin in verse
1. Paul says, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel.
Now that is what he was preaching was the gospel. And here is what he calls it. He says, For I delivered unto
you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures. Now that's the gospel.
It's not that Christ died for our sins. It's how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures. You see, this
is talking about the Old Testament types, like the Passover, the
Day of Atonement, and so on. But here's an example. In the
Passover, God said, wherever there's a house or a person in
the house with the blood over the door, when I come through,
I will pass over you when I see the blood. He didn't say, when
I see your faith. He said, when I see the blood.
Everybody wasn't covered, only Israel. The Egyptians weren't.
And so Christ, you look at all these Old Testament types, the
day of atonement, the Passover, and the morning and evening sacrifices,
Christ died for our sins according to the Old Testament scriptures.
And he was buried and he rose again the third day according
to the scriptures. And then he talks about all those
witnesses who saw him after his resurrection. One time, 500 brethren
at once. Now in verse 12 of 1 Corinthians
15, he says, now if Christ be preached that he rose from the
dead, How say some among you, there's no resurrection of the
dead? There was an error being circulated in the church at Corinth
that there was no resurrection of the dead. So Paul says, but
if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not
risen? You see, Christ really died. The God-man died. That's one
of the most mysterious things to me, how the God-man can die,
but he did die. The wages of sin is death. The
sins of all of God's elect became his sins. He took them in his
own body on the tree and he died. But his death did something that
No mere man could do. His death actually satisfied
the justice of God, and that's why He was raised from the dead.
He accomplished something by His death. The full satisfaction
of God. God raised Him from the dead
because He said the debt is paid. The sin is put away. It's gone. It's obliterated. It's blotted
out. Now, if Christ be not risen,
Paul says, then is our preaching vain. It's a foolish waste of
time if Christ isn't really risen. If Christ is still dead, our
preaching is to no purpose. Your faith also is vain. It won't
do you any good at all. It won't help you. You won't
enter heaven. Yea, and we're found false witnesses of God,
because we've testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom
He raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. If Christ
didn't raise from the dead, I'm a liar, Paul says. I'm a false
prophet. I'm not telling the truth regarding
God. He said in verse 17, and if Christ be not raised, your
faith is vain, and you're yet in your sins. All your sins are
still on you. You see, when Christ died, He
put away the sins of all of His people. That's why He was raised
from the dead. If He didn't put them away, He'd stay dead. But
He was raised from the dead. But if He wasn't, you're yet
in your sins, verse 18. Then they also, which are fallen
asleep in Christ, are perished. The people who said they believed
the gospel, they're now in hell. Verse 19, if in this life only
we have hope in Christ, we're of all men most miserable. But if Christ did arise from
the dead, which he did, our preaching is not in vain. God will bless
it to the salvation of his people. Our faith is not in vain. We're relying upon the risen
living Lord, and we'll be saved. Our faith is not vain. We're
not in our sins anymore if we're believers, if Christ was raised
from the dead. That means before God, I'm justified. He was delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification. I'm justified. Christ was raised from the dead.
I was justified when He was raised from the dead if He represented
me. Oh, what a glorious message we
have. We have a new history if Christ
is raised from the dead. Justification, never sinned.
Our faith is not vain. Those that have fallen asleep
in Christ are now in heaven if Christ really was raised from
the dead, which He is. And in this life, we are of all
men most happy, not most miserable, but most happy. Even if everything's
going bad, we still have this blessed assurance that even though
it seems like it's going bad, it's all going good because all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose. Now, all of my
eggs are in this basket. When Christ was raised from the
dead, God accepted me. Doesn't have anything to do with
my works. Doesn't have anything to do with what I've done. It
has wholly to do with what he has done. That's the gospel.
My only hope of God accepting me is that Jesus Christ took
my sins on himself and put them away and gave his righteousness
to me. You know, one of the Things that
I hear preached so often that I'm just, oh, it's so discouraging
and disheartening is when people present the death of Jesus Christ
as for everybody, but there's not something you need to do
to make it work. That's not gospel to me. If somebody can go to
hell that Christ died for, then I know I'll end up in hell. But
thank God he accomplished something by his death, the complete salvation
of all who believe. Now, Paul said in Philippians
chapter 3, I want to know the power of his resurrection. I do too, Paul. I want to know
the power of his resurrection. First of all, I want to know
the justifying power of his resurrection. You see, when the Lord Jesus
Christ died, He died for sin, the wages of sin is death, but
the scripture also says He was risen again for our justification.
Now here is my justification before God. Christ died, was
buried, and was raised. And when He was raised, my salvation
was assured. It was accomplished. All my sin
was put away, and I'm given a perfect standing before God. That's what
justification is. I've never sinned, if I'm justified.
My sin was put away by Christ's death. His righteousness given
to me when he was raised from the dead, it's because God accepted
him and everybody he represented. Oh, I want to know the just,
I want to walk in the joy of the justifying power of his resurrection. And I want to know the life-giving
power of his resurrection. Do you know the same power that
was exerted in raising Christ from the dead is exerted in giving
somebody dead in sins spiritual life. You see, we're born into
this world dead in sins, but oh, God gives life. That's the new birth. That's
regeneration. That's being born of the spirit. Oh, what powers exerted in giving
the believer spiritual life. He's given something he didn't
have before. the divine begetting, partakers of the divine nature. Oh, I want to know the life-giving
power of the resurrection. And I want to know the preaching
power of the resurrection. Martin Luther said, I preach
as though Christ died yesterday, rose today, and is coming again
tomorrow. Oh, I want to know the preaching
power of his resurrection. And I want to know something
about the comforting power of his resurrection. My dear friend,
are you troubled by your sin, wondering how God could ever
have anything to do with you? Look to Him who's raised from
the dead. That's how sin's taken care of,
not by you taking care of it, but by Him putting it away. Look to Him who's raised from
the dead. Do you fear death? Christ died,
and He was raised again, and you will be too. Do you fear
judgment? Look to Him who was raised from
the dead. He took care of all the sin debt
of everybody that looks to Him. And you have nothing to fear
on Judgment Day because you will be completely accepted, your
sin blotted out by what Christ did. Look to Him. Oh, I want to know the power
of His resurrection. You see, there's no sign needed
but the sign of Jonah. Now, what if while I'm preaching
to you, I could perform miracles? Would that do any good? No, not
at all. Now this desire for a sign can
be more subtle than just a desire to see miracles. Do you give a scent to the truth
but deep down you don't have any assurance that you're really
saved? And you look back in the past
for some kind of sign, something that happened to you, sometime
when you felt like you really believed, when you were very
moved by a sermon, and maybe you walked down in front of the
church and rededicated your life or something like that. You looked
for something that took place in the past for a reason, for
assurance, or perhaps you looked at something you're going to
do in the future. You're waiting for some kind
of sign, some kind of feeling. that will make you believe you're
saved. Somebody may say, I could believe I was saved if I did
this or did not do that. Or I could believe I was saved
if I had a deeper experience or if I felt more, had more victory
in my life and more power over sin. If I manifested more fruit,
if I had more joy in my life or even more sorrow over my sin,
then I could believe I was saved. I could believe I was saved if,
if what? If Christ died? Oh no, I believe that. If Christ
was raised? No, I believe that. I could believe
I was saved if this happened or that happened. My dear friends,
that's just believing in yourself. The only sign we're given For
salvation is the sign of Jonah. Christ Jesus actually died, was
in the heart of the earth for three days, and He was raised
from the dead. And there was a reason He was
raised from the dead. He did what His Father sent Him
to do. He put away the sins of all His
people. In Matthew 121, the angel said,
Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people
from their sins. And when He bowed His mighty
head and said, It is finished, His people were saved from their
sins. When He was raised from the dead,
It's because all of the sins of all of those people had been
blotted out, exterminated. They are no more. And as he sits
at the Father's right hand, I'm there with him in the person
of my substitute. The only sign I need is the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. He is all in salvation. Now we have this message on DVD
and CD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to messages at todsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
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