our Bibles, if you will, to the
second chapter of John, John chapter 2. The first half of this chapter,
we have our Lord's first miracle when he turned the water into
wine. And we are told that when he
did so, in verse 11, this beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana
of Galilee and manifested forth his glory and his disciples believed
on him. When the Lord Jesus Christ worked
a miracle, these two things always should accompany it. That is,
it manifested forth His glory, and His disciples believe on
Him. And then last week, we began
with verse 12 to the end of the chapter. And I mentioned the
fact that there are three subjects in these last verses that I wanted
us to see. First, Christ cleansing the temple. Second, Christ's future sign. And third, Christ not committing
himself to the many who believed in his name at this time. We looked at Christ cleansing
the temple last time. and emphasize that it was a fulfillment
of the Old Testament prophecy, the zeal of thine house hath
eaten me up. So tonight, I want us to look
at these last two subjects. First, Christ's future sign,
beginning in verse 18. Then answered the Jews and said
unto him, what signs showest thou unto us, seeing that thou
doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto
them, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it
up. Then said the Jews, forty and
six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear
it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of
his body. When therefore he was risen from
the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them,
and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had
said. Christ's future sign. Just as
soon as the Lord Jesus Christ cleansed the temple, drove those
money changers out, and the cattle that were in the temple overturned
the tables and told them to carry the birds out, Just as soon as
he did so, these Jews, they questioned his authority to do such a thing. That's how the verse begins.
What signs showest thou unto us, saying that thou doest these
things? You notice, they don't question
the fact that the temple of God was never meant to be a place
of merchandise. Remember in another place, another
gospel, we read He said, my house shall be called a house of prayer
of all nations. And they had made it a house
of merchandise. And the Lord Jesus Christ cleansed
the temple. He drove them out. And now those
who were in authority in the temple, the priest, they came
and they questioned him as to his authority. They do not question
the fact that the temple was never meant for such a thing.
But they do question, what right do you have? What authority do
you have to do this? What sign showest thou? Now, the priests, as I've already
said, they were in control of the temple. Now the priests were
from the tribe of Levi. The Lord Jesus Christ was from
the tribe of Judah. The apostle deals with this in
the letter of Hebrews, doesn't he? Showing that The Lord Jesus
Christ was made a priest not because he was born into that
priestly tribe of the Old Testament priesthood, the law of Moses,
but because he was made a priest with an oath. God made him a
priest. God made him a priest with an
oath. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Remember, Melchizedek was a man
that Abraham met and paid tithes to when he came back from the
war with the various kings. And Melchizedek, he appears and
then he disappears from the Word of God. He has no genealogy. And he's a type, he's a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Christ has an unchangeable
priesthood. All of the priests of the tribe
of Levi, of the family of Aaron, they could only serve. They entered
into the priesthood at the age of 30, and I believe they left
the priesthood at the age of 50 or 55. And then the high priest,
when he died, there would be another high priest, so forth
and so on. But the Lord Jesus Christ, He
is our great High Priest. He has an unchangeable priesthood. He'll never be replaced, saying
that He ever lives to make intercession for all of us who come unto God
by Him. What authority, what right do
you have to do this? You're not of the tribe of Levi. You're not a priest. Now the
only other way that they would recognize that he had this right
would be if he were a prophet, if he were a prophet, if he would
show a sign. Now he had already showed a sign
when he cleansed the temple, just the fact that he by himself
was able to drive out those people that they put up no fight or
anything like that to Him, that He by Himself just drove them
out and they went out by His authority because He is God manifest
in the flesh. He'd already showed them a sign,
but they demand of Him another sign. A sign that would show
you to be a prophet. If you are a prophet, then what
you've done, you might have authority to do that. Show us a sign. What sign showest thou us to
prove that you are a prophet, that you have authority to do
this? You know, God had given the Jews
a way to know if a man. There's many people. It doesn't
take much to say, I'm a prophet. A lot of people have said that
over the years. A lot of men have said that.
I'm a prophet. And they spout out something.
But God gave the nation of Israel a sign as to how they could determine
if a man truly were a prophet of God. Actually gave two signs. I want you to look back with
me at the first sign in Deuteronomy chapter 13. Deuteronomy chapter 13, verse 1 through 3, If there arise
among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a
sign or a wonder, now you notice he gives a sign or a wonder. Well surely he must be a prophet.
Surely he must be a man of God if he can give a sign, a miracle. Not necessarily. And the sign of the wonder come
to pass. He gives a sign. Whereof he spake unto thee, saying,
Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let
us serve them. Thou shalt not hearken unto the
words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord
your God proveth you to know whether you love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul. Now if a man comes
along, let's say he gives a sign and that sign comes to pass,
but he also encourages you to follow another God, to go after
another God. Is he a prophet of God? Of course not. Well, let's apply
this to the Lord Jesus Christ. Is he a prophet of God? Absolutely. As mediator, he is both prophet,
priest, and king. But notice This prophet, this
false prophet, God said, He will say, let us go after other gods. Did the Lord Jesus Christ say
that? You know He didn't. In fact,
He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh
unto the Father but by Me. He certainly did not speak words
that would cause or encourage people to go away from God. He
said, I'm the only way to God, the only mediator between God
and man. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And the Apostle Peter wrote these
words, He said, for Christ hath also suffered for sins, the just
for the unjust. Now listen, that he might bring
us to God. This false prophet, he speaks
words and he says, let us go after another God. He's not a
prophet of God. And God said that he would prove
them to see if they love the Lord. Do you love God? Do you
love God? Do you love his word? And God
had given them his word. And when a man comes along and
he says something contrary to God's word, do you love God? Or do you hanker and want to
hear something different, something new? And so you're led after
some false God. God said, I'll prove you. I'll
prove you. The Lord Jesus Christ, Peter
said, not only did He not say anything to lead us away from
God, He gave Himself that He might bring us to God. Being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit. There's only one way, and Christ
is the way, there's only one way that a person like you or
me or any other child of Adam might be brought into the presence
of God and accepted with God, and that is through Christ. He
gave himself, Peter said, on the cross. He suffered for our
sins. He had no sins of his own, we
know that. He did no sin, in him was no
sin, but yet at the cross, At the cross, the Lord God took
the sins of His people and laid them on Christ. And He suffered
for our sins. He was the just. We are the unjust
that He might bring us to God. Some people, they make fun of
substitute suffering. They say that just cannot be
right. That just cannot be right that a substitute, here I am
a sinner, I sin, I've committed sins against God and God punishes
someone else in my place. And I've heard them put forth this statement. They say you have A who represents
God He takes the sins of B, who represents God's people, and
lays them over upon C, the Lord Jesus Christ. But that's not
what we're saying. We're not saying that at all.
We're saying, A, God takes the sins of B and lays them upon
Himself. That He is God. And that's the
only way that he could bear the sins of his people and satisfy
God and bring us to God. So that's the first way God told
him here in Deuteronomy. This is one way you can recognize
a false prophet. He's not a prophet of God, even
though the sign, the wonder, comes to pass. If He, by His
words, will lead you after another God other than the Lord God Almighty,
Jehovah. He's not sent from God. Now here's
the other place in Deuteronomy. Look over into chapter 18. Deuteronomy
chapter 18 and beginning with verse 18.
You're very familiar with verse 15. I'm sure the Lord thy God
will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy
brethren like unto me. Unto him you shall hearken. That's
Moses speaking. But look in verse 18. I will
raise them up, God speaking, I will raise them up a prophet
from among their brethren like unto thee, Moses, and will put
my words in his mouth. And he shall speak unto them
all that I shall command him. How many times when you're reading
through the Gospels do you read the Lord Jesus Christ saying,
my words are not mine, but him who sent me. My doctrine is not
mine, but him who sent me. This is fulfillment of this scripture,
isn't it? God said, I will put my words
in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command
him. No more, no less. All that God
would command him to speak. The Lord did not command him
to tell us when he's going to come back again, did he? Some
people wonder, well, he said, of that hour no man knoweth.
That was not part of his commission, part of the words, part of the
doctrine that God gave him to speak. But everything that God
gave him to speak, we may feel confident that he spoke. We're not looking for a new revelation.
We have the finished revelation of God, the word of God. And when people do not speak
according to this word, the Bible says there's because there's
no light in them. Now, let's read on. And it shall
come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which
he shall speak in my name, I will require of him. And it shall
come to pass, verse 20, but the prophet which shall presume to
speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak,
or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet
shall die. And if thou say in thine heart,
how shall we know? How shall we know the word which
the Lord hath not spoken? I tell you, even Satan, the Bible
says, is transformed into an angel of light. A man can speak
smooth words and very convincing words and not be from God. How are we going to know this? When a prophet speaketh in the
name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass,
that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken. If he prophesied
and said this is going to take place, if it doesn't take place,
you know that is not a prophet from God. As he goes on to say,
he's speaking presumptuously. Don't be afraid of him. Don't
listen to him, in other words. Alright, with that in mind, let's
go back to John chapter 2. What authority? What authority? Who gives you the right to drive
these people out, these animals out of this temple? Jesus answered and said unto
them, here's a sign. Now prophet, if he prophesies
and it doesn't come to pass, he's not of God. He's speaking
presumptuously. Here's the sign. Destroy this
temple and in three days I will raise it up. Destroy this temple. The Jews, they demanded of him
a sign. a sign giving him the authority
to cleanse the temple, and he gives them a sign, a future sign,
yes, but a sign, and it is twofold. Destroy this temple. In other
words, his death. And if we would understand this,
you will destroy this temple. When he says, destroy this temple,
he's not commanding them to destroy the temple, commanding them to
crucify him, but he is telling them, you will destroy this temple. You will. Matthew Henry's comments,
he foretells his death by the Jews malice in these words. Destroy
you this temple. That is, you will destroy it. I know you will. I will permit
it. I will permit you to destroy
it. And then Matthew Henry said, note, I like his notes, don't
you? When you read his commentary,
Christ, now listen, Christ, even at the beginning of his ministry,
had a clear foresight of all his sufferings at the end of
it, and yet went on cheerfully in it. He knew they were going
to destroy His temple, His body, His crucifixion. He knew that.
Here's the sign. Destroy this temple. They didn't
know it, maybe, but God knew it. They did exactly what they wanted
to do, didn't they? When they called for His death,
When they told Pilate, release unto us Barabbas, what then shall
I do with Jesus? Crucify. They did exactly what
they wanted to do, but they were doing exactly what God had foreordained
to be done before the foundation of the world. God worketh all
things, the scripture says, after the counsel of His will. Aren't you thankful for that?
All things, all things, from the very minutest to the greatest
thing in this world, God worketh all things after the counsel
of His will. And the greatest thing of all
was the crucifixion of Christ. And it did not happen by accident. God purposed it in eternity past. And God brought it to pass. They
did exactly what they wanted to do, but in doing what they
wanted to do, they did what God had ordained should be done for
the salvation of His people. Now the second part of His sign
is, I'll raise it up. Destroy this temple, and in three
days, I will raise it up. Over the years, people have asked
me, who did raise up the Lord Jesus Christ? Did God the Father
raise Him up? Did God the Holy Spirit raise
Him up? Did God the Son raise Himself
up from the dead? Well, remember this. He was raised
by omnipotent power, by God's power. And he said this, the
son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the father
do. For what things soever he doeth,
these also doeth the son likewise. His resurrection was accomplished
by the power of God, which is common, omnipotence, is common
to each person in the Godhead. Just as the Father is omnipotent,
the Holy Spirit is omnipotent, and the Son, He too, is omnipotent. And so, he said here in this
verse, I will raise it up. Paul said the Father raised Him
up. In Romans 8, he says the Holy
Spirit, the Spirit raised Him up. God raised Him from the dead. And listen, remember this, what
Paul says in Ephesians, the same power And that took some power,
didn't it? Didn't it? I mean, here's a body
that's been dead for three days, comes back to life, raised to
life. That takes some power. You know
of anybody that has that kind of power around here? I don't. God has that power. But here's
my point. It takes the same power. to raise
a sinner who is dead in trespasses and sins. The very same power. When Jonah said salvation is
of the Lord, that includes a lot, doesn't it? It includes a lot. Before we move on to the final
subject in this chapter, let me make two comments on this.
The Lord Jesus spoke of His body as a temple. Now they took His
words literally. They understood His words literally. We see that because they came
back saying, well this temple took 46 years to build this temple
and you tell us you're going to raise it in three days? Now He wasn't speaking of that
temple made with stones and mortar He wasn't speaking of, he was
speaking of the temple of his body. But we know, had he so
chosen, he could have raised that physical temple up in three
days, if it had been destroyed, that temple in Jerusalem. But
listen, man, they made a mistake. And they remembered this because
when they bring him before Pilate, this is one of the accusations
they're going to charge him with. But they made a big mistake in
understanding His words literally. And men do the very same thing
when they take these words. Now listen. These words that
He spoke later here in John chapter 6. Verily, verily, I say unto
you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink
His blood, you have no life in you. Men make the mistake. of understanding those words
literally. And so they have invented some
kind of a ritual, some kind of a ceremony, some kind of a hocus-pocus
where they can turn their wafer into the actual body and blood
of Christ. Our Lord in both places is to
be understood and we know that. How do we eat His flesh? How
do we drink His blood? Not by putting something into
our mouth, but by believing on Him with our heart. With the
heart man believeth unto salvation. Not by eating something. And
the second thing is, I want you to notice the words in verse
22. When therefore he was risen from
the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them,
and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had
spoken. Now that was three years later.
Three years after he spoke these words. This was his first Passover
that he attended. And he will be crucified at a
Passover time. Three years later. And then they
remembered, it says here. John is writing, and he's one
who remembered, no doubt. He said his disciples remembered
that he had said this unto them, and they believed the Scripture. It's natural for those of us
who are preachers, teachers, parents, we all desire to see
results immediately. We do. We all desire to see People
confess Christ and trust in Christ. When we preach and teach and
witness, don't lose heart. Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know,
your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Three years passed
by, but then they remembered his words and they believed.
Let me tell you an unusual story. I read this years ago and I was
impressed and I went back and looked it up this past week in
preparing these notes. But it's a story about a man
named Luke Short. Luke Short. Luke Short was born
in England and he heard a sermon preached by the Puritan John
Flavel somewhere around 1670. 1670. Soon after this, he immigrated
to America where he spent the remainder of his life. He certainly received no immediate
impression from Flaval's sermon. He lived in carelessness and
sin until he was a century of age, 100 years old. Now, Luke Short was a sinner and 100
years old and to all appearances ready to die accursed. Ready to die and leave this world
and go out into eternity. But sitting one day in a field,
he fell into a busy reflection on his past life. And thinking
back to the events of his youth, he remembered having heard Mr. Flavel preach and vividly recalled
a large portion of his sermon, as well as the extraordinary
earnestness with which it was delivered. Starting as if stung
by an adder, he instantly labored under accusings of conscience.
and ran from thought to thought till he arrived finally at a
conviction of sin. And next, at an apprehension
of the divine method of saving the guilty. He's 100 years old. That's 84 years had passed. I
believe he was 16. 84 years had passed. These disciples, three years
later, remembered and believed. He recalled, and he lived 16
more years. He lived 16 more years, and they
went on to say, Luke's chart gave satisfactory evidence of
being truly converted and a believing follower of the Savior until
his death. So don't get discouraged, none
of us. God has His time. And He's always
on time, isn't He? And it's never our time. Here's
the last subject. Christ not committing Himself
to the many who believed in His name at this time. Notice in verse 23. Now when
He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, Many believed
in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus
did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men. And needed not that any should
testify of man, for he knew what was in man. Now John gives us
the reason as to why the Lord did not commit himself unto these
men who believed on him. And he says, because he knew
all men. He is the eternal word of God,
and it is written of him, neither is there any creature that is
not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and opened
unto him with whom we have to do. Now what stands out to me
in these verses here are these words concerning these who believed
in his name. Look again with me in verse 23.
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover in the feast
day, many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which
he did. What stands out to you? They
believe when they saw. What does the word of God say?
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. They believe
when they saw the miracles. God calls His people through
His Word, through the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no need in us trying
to determine if these were false believers or not. They may well have been like
those later in John chapter 6 who the scripture says they had seen
the miracle of our Lord feeding 5,000 men and more women and
children with five loaves and two fish. And the Bible says
the Lord perceived that they would attempt to make him a king.
And so what did he do? He departed again into a mountain
himself alone. These men who believed on Him
here in John chapter 2, when they saw His miracles, is it
possible that they believed that He was the Messiah that they
had been taught to expect? They had been taught to expect
a Messiah who would reign in this world as a king and reign
over the nation of Israel. And the nation of Israel would
once again be the great power of this world, like it had been
in the days of David. They may have expected and believed
that he was that Messiah, but we know, he tells us later, that
his kingdom was not of this world. His kingdom is within you. And
so he did not commit unto them because the Messiah that they
were looking to or trusting would come, as they had been taught,
was not the Messiah who would come and suffer, bleed, and die
for the sins, paying for the sins of his people. Well, I pray
the Lord will bless these thoughts to us here tonight. We have a
wonderful Savior, those of us who know him tonight. I don't need to tell you that.
If you know him, you know that. Let's sing a hymn and we'll be
dismissed.