Turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 2. John chapter 2.

What is it that made you a Christian? Well, you would say faith. Belief in the person and work of Christ. You have Acts 16, 31. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. And that’s true. We are saved by grace through faith. It is faith that is the means by which we are saved. But what did it take to convince you to believe? What was it that brought about faith? Or what was the evidence that you needed to come to that point of belief? That is often the way we think about it. How much would it take to make someone believe? Maybe we have a loved one who we’ve been praying for a long time and we just wonder, what would it be that could finally convince them? What would it take to finally bring about faith?

Some people would say, well, I need to see to believe. That if only I could see God with my own two eyes, then I would believe. If only I could see Jesus, then I would believe in Him. But is that the way belief is presented to us in Scripture? Is that what is required for the expectation of us to believe? Belief in Scripture is a command. We are told that we need to repent and believe. So do we need verifiable evidence that we can see and touch with our hands in order to justify our belief?

In the Gospel of Luke, we read of a story that Jesus told that addresses this very thing. It’s the story of the rich man and Lazarus. And to sum up the details of that story, you had Lazarus, who was a poor man who suffered, and he dies and goes to heaven. or goes to Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man dies and goes to hell. And in his torment in hell, the rich man pleads with the father, with father Abraham at least, he pleads with him to send someone to go and warn his family. He doesn’t want his loved ones to suffer the suffering that he’s in at that moment. He is in intense suffering and he doesn’t want his loved ones to have to go through that.

And so he says in Luke 16, starting in verse 27, which is near the end of that story, Luke 16:27, the rich man says, then I’m asking you father, meaning father Abraham, that you send him, Lazarus, to my father’s house. For I’ve had five brothers in order that he may warn them so that they will not also come to this place of torment. He’s pleading, please send Lazarus back from the dead. to go and warn my family. If only you could give them proof. They would believe. If they could hear it from Lazarus’ lips, then they would believe. But Abraham answers. In verse 29 he says, they have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. Abraham says, they have the Bible. Moses and the prophets is their Bible.

They have the Bible. What more do your brothers need? God has spoken in his written word. What an immeasurable blessing that we have the God of the universe communicate to us, and not only that, have it recorded for us in the Bible. All we need to do is read what God’s word says and believe it. We have that much. 2 Timothy chapter 3 tells us what God’s Word is. 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, we know it well. All Scripture is God-breathed, and it’s profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work. We are thoroughly equipped because we have the Bible. God’s Word is all that we need to be saved and to live in obedience to Him. But is that really enough? Is that enough for us? That’s what Abraham told the rich man.

And the rich man answers, no, Father Abraham. No. But if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. They have Moses and the prophets. Let them believe what God wrote. No, no, no, no. No, they need to have someone come back from the dead, and then they need to see that to believe. You don’t know my family. You don’t know that. They need more than God’s word. They are intelligent, educated people. They won’t just take some old document’s word for it. They believe in science. So if you could give them some real visible proof, then they would definitely believe.

And we think that’s a silly response. But we see this everywhere. And we even see this in the church. This is sometimes how we think. Is the word of God enough? Is the word of God enough for what we do in church? Or do we need this program? Or that method? Or we need to do this to attract more people? And we need to stop talking about that for sure. We need to avoid talking about these things. We need to be less divisive and more winsome. And if we did that, then we would have all sorts of people come and they would believe. Because we don’t believe God’s word is actually enough.

Abraham had an answer for the rich man. No, no, Father Abraham, no. You need to send somebody to them. send Lazarus back from the dead, and if they saw that, man, they would believe then. Verse 31, Abraham says to him, if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded, even if someone rises from the dead. If the Bible is not enough, if God’s word is not enough, If the words of Jesus Christ Himself are not enough, nothing will be enough. They won’t be persuaded even if, even if, perhaps, maybe, one day, from the words of Jesus’ mouth, somebody might rise from the dead.

And someone did rise from the dead. Abraham was right. because he did rise from the dead, and they saw him alive after they crucified him, and they still didn’t believe. They tried to cover it up. So if you think that if only you could see him with your own two eyes, then you would believe. No, you wouldn’t. No, you wouldn’t. If you don’t believe what God’s word says, if you don’t believe what God’s word says about him, even if Jesus himself stood before you, you would find some reason why you don’t believe. Many, many people saw him rise from the dead and are in hell today. Near the end of John’s gospel, we’ve read it several times, where he gives his purpose statement.

In John 20:31. Back up a few verses to John 20:29. After Thomas asks to see the wounds, he needs visible proof before he’ll believe. And he gets it. And he believes. Jesus says to him in John 20:29, because you have seen me, have you believed? That’s what it took, Thomas. Because you’ve seen me, you believe. Blessed are those who did not see and yet believed. He continues, therefore, there are many other signs that Jesus also did in the presence of the disciples. It’s a bit of a dig on Thomas right there. There was all these things that Jesus did before the disciples, and it wasn’t until this moment that Thomas was finally like, okay.

There was many other signs Jesus did in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book, but these have been written so that you may believe. that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you have life in his name. Blessed are those who did not see and yet believe. These things have been written so that you may believe.

You ever wonder why in the fullness of God’s plan, He didn’t plan to have Jesus come back when we had video capabilities and we could record what actually happens so people could see it with their own eyes. Ever wonder that? I think about that sometimes. But Jesus didn’t come when we had video recording technology.

Did you know that not seeing the miracles of Jesus are a blessing? Blessed are those who did not see and yet believe. If God wanted you to be alive then, you would be. You would have been. If God wanted those things on video, they would be. But God placed you right where you are right now. And not only that, he has given you his word. He didn’t have it recorded on video. He had it written down in a book so that we could read and believe. These things have been written so that you may believe. We get to read about him. We get to read about these signs. If only you had more than God’s word, what more do you need?

Well, in our text this morning, in John chapter two, we read about those who saw him with their own eyes. And they demanded a sign from Jesus. And he gave them a sign. But they still did not believe. You see, they thought that seeing is believing. Show me some proof. Give me something to see. Show me why you claim to be who you are. Give me some visible proof. I need to see to believe. They thought seeing is believing because they didn’t realize that believing is seeing. We’re in John chapter two and in the last passage we saw Jesus cleanse the temple. He comes to Jerusalem for the Passover and he comes into the temple and he sees chaos. The place where there ought to be reverence and worship. There was sheep and oxen and pigeons and money changers and merchants.

And out of zeal for his father’s house, he makes a whip and drives them out of the temple. And John has been recording for us the very first days of these disciples. They began following Jesus, and right away we saw he did his first sign at the wedding in Cana. He turned water into wine, and they saw that, and they believed. They had already believed because they were following him, but they saw that and believed even more so. John chapter 2, verse 11. He says, Jesus did this in Cana of Galilee as the beginning of his signs, and he manifested his glory. He showed them a little bit of who he was, and his disciples believed in him.

As I mentioned last time, they had a faith-building moment, something that strengthened and galvanized their faith in this one they were following, which was good because their faith was about to be tested. by this confrontation. And it is often confrontation that tests our faith. They were about to see another side of this Jesus who they’d been following. And when they see Jesus cleanse the temple and drive out the money changers and the merchants, they didn’t doubt or turn away. No, it says they remembered what God’s word says. Zeal for your house has consumed me. It was God’s word that confirmed their faith. These men were growing as disciples of Christ.

First they were blessed because they saw a sign, and they believed all the more, and then they remembered God’s word. And that leads us to our passage today. This is a brief passage, and it’s really in the same episode. And originally I thought of covering all this at once, but there’s just too much. So we break it up a little bit. We’ll cover verses 18 to 22 this morning. And what we see in this passage, following the cleansing of the temple, we see a new group of people. And number one, we see the demand made to Jesus. Number two, you see the declaration made by Jesus. Number three, we’ll see the doubt of Jesus. And lastly, number four, we’ll see the disciples of Jesus.

So I’m gonna read for us once again, John chapter two, verses 18 through 22, and this will be the focus of our time this morning. This is the word of the Lord. The Jews then said to him, What sign do you show us as your authority for doing these things? Jesus answered them, destroy this sanctuary. And in three days, I will raise it up. But he was speaking, oh, sorry, I skipped a verse. The Jews then said, it took 46 years to build this sanctuary, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the sanctuary of his body. So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this. And they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. This really is a profound passage of God’s word. It instructs us so much as to what is at the heart of our faith. Following the cleansing of the temple, we meet this new cast of characters, and they have a demand.

That’s our first division of this text, verse 18, the demand. See, these Jews come and confront Jesus, and they say, what sign do you show as your authority for doing these things. These were probably members of the temple guard, really the police force there at the temple. They were representatives of the Sanhedrin, who were the rulers of the Jewish religion, those who oversaw the goings on at the temple. And they arrive to this commotion in the temple court, Jesus with a whip in his hand, driving animals and people out of the temple, and they demand from him, what sign do you show as your authority for doing these things? They were not inquiring about information about Jesus. They were not seeking to know more about this guy. It was a challenge.

“What gives you the right? Who do you think you are? Do you know where you are? Do you know who you’re talking to right now?” It was that sort of a confrontation. Jesus had taken it upon himself to completely disrupt their normal order of business, and they viewed it as, this is our territory. What right do you have to come in here and tell us what to do? But it was his father’s house. He had every right to be there. And now they want a miraculous sign to prove his authority. And this is the same way that the Jews, probably sent from the same people, confronted John the Baptist. What do you think you’re doing out here? What authority do you have?

They didn’t like any infringement on their little realms of power. And they needed to protect their business at all costs. But their demand for a sign was foolish, because if they had eyes to see what was actually happening, they wouldn’t need to ask. The rulers of the temple, ones in charge of the Jewish religion, the ones who were profound in the scriptures. If they believed the scriptures, they would know exactly what’s happening.

We looked at it before, but Malachi 3:1, we’ve looked at this a few times now because it speaks of the two messengers that God is sending the people. Malachi 3:1, behold, I’m going to send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. Who is that? John the Baptist. We talked about him. The first man they confronted and said, who do you think you are? It continues, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. And the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says Yahweh of hosts. The messenger of the covenant, the Messiah. He was here at his temple. He had come. And this act is a messianic act. He comes to his temple and cleanses the temple. And that itself is a clear sign of what God is doing. It’s a clear sign that he’s from God and he is the Messiah.

And so now you have these Jews, the leaders of the Jewish religion, have now encountered both messengers of Malachi 3:1. And if they had eyes to see and ears to hear, they would have put it together. We saw the one come to prepare the way. Now we see the one that’s come to the temple. But their hard-hearted unbelief led the Jewish leaders to continually ask for signs. Because that was their mindset. Oh no, something is going to disrupt what we know. Why don’t you prove it? Prove that this is real. They’re coming to Christ from a stance of unbelief. We don’t want to believe that anything’s different. We don’t want anything to change. So why don’t you go out of your way to prove it to me that I should change at all. So they demand signs, and we’ll read throughout the book of John, they continually demand for signs, and they get them.

They get these signs. Because in John 12, verse 37, we read this, but though he had done so many signs before them, they were still not believing in him. They want another sign, and another sign, and another sign, and another sign, and they get them. But signs don’t work for people who can’t see. If only I could see a sign, if only I could see a true miracle, then I would believe. No, you won’t. No, you won’t. If his word is not enough, nothing will be. And the fact that the temple authorities demanded a sign, It exposed their wickedness and their hardness of heart already.

So that’s number one in this passage, verse 18, the demand, which leads to our second division here, which is the declaration by Jesus, verse 19. Jesus answered them. Although He is the authority here and He has no need to answer these men, He does answer them. And he says, destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up. Some of your versions may have temple. There’s similar words. The word that’s used there is really speaking about the inner sanctuary, but that’s why the LSB translates it sanctuary and not temple, which was used before. But Jesus says, you want a sign? I’ll give you a sign. And Jesus’s reply baffles these Jewish authorities.

They did not expect to hear this from him. And for the time being, it confused his disciples as well. Because just like in his parables, this was a veiled statement. And it concealed the truth from those who were hostile unbelievers. Jesus spoke in ways that allowed His followers to hear and believe, but at the same time it remained a mystery to those who were coming to Him with skepticism and demanding signs and wanting proof and looking for reasons not to believe. Jesus talks about this in Matthew 13 when he explains why he does this, why he speaks in parables, why he speaks in ways that not everybody gets it right away.

Matthew 13 verses 10 and 11, the disciples came to him and said, why do you speak to them in parables? And Jesus answered and said, to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. You see, the fact that anybody believes in the Word of God is the work of God. The fact that you believe anything written in this book is the work of God. If He hadn’t given you a new heart, if He hadn’t given you ears to hear and eyes to see the truth, you would be just as blind and deaf as these men.

These Jewish leaders, their spiritual blindness resulted from their unbelief and rebellion against God. Again, they thought that seeing was believing, but they didn’t realize that believing is seeing. An unbeliever’s failure to understand Jesus’ message is a theme that runs throughout John’s gospel. We see throughout John’s gospel all of these signs, these things that point to who Jesus is. And we continually see people who don’t see the sign. And they don’t understand what it points to. But here, Jesus says, destroy this sanctuary. In three days I will raise it up. And the emphasis of this statement, we can miss it if we’re not paying attention. Because he is really giving them the opportunity. He’s saying, if you destroy this sanctuary, you will destroy this sanctuary, and I will raise it up in three days. And that’s exactly what happened.

And the irony here is the fact that the Jews themselves were the means to bring about the sign they asked for. And even still they didn’t recognize it when it came. And to put Jesus to death was to offer the one sacrifice that truly and finally paid for sin. and eliminated the need for this temple anymore. So in another way, they’re the ones who destroy the sanctuary by putting Jesus to death. Because once that sacrifice is paid, the temple is no longer needed.

So the Jews demand a sign. And Jesus says, you want a sign? Here is your sign. And they miss it. That is the declaration that Jesus makes. Which brings us to number three, verse 20, the doubt of Jesus. The Jews then said, it took 46 years to build this sanctuary. And will you raise it up in three days? So the Jews are utterly confused at this point. They’re astonished by Jesus’s reply to them. They have a tendency to get their way when they throw their weight around. Typically people cower and hide when the Jews and their temple security come and start making threats. But Jesus answers them.

And they say, they think to themselves, what? Not our precious temple? Their response is a mixture of shock and anger. It took 46 years to build this temple, and you’re going to raise it up in three days? What are you talking about? What do you even mean? That’s not even possible. See, this temple of Jesus’ day, the temple that he’s in, is not the temple that Solomon built. The Babylonians destroyed that temple, and we see that in Ezra chapter five, and this is the post-exile temple, where they come back and they build a new temple. And they rebuilt that after the Babylonian captivity. But then, centuries later, and really it started around 20 BC, so about 50 years before this time, Herod the Great began an extensive reconstruction and expansion of the temple.

But even before that was done, Jesus is here. And right after, if you read the history of this temple, right after the reconstruction is finally finished, it’s right before 70 AD, when it’s then destroyed again. So the Jews are in disbelief. How could Jesus possibly rebuild this temple in three days? It had already taken 46 years and it wasn’t finished yet. So this reconstruction of Herod had been going on for 46 years. How was Jesus going to rebuild it in three days? They’re clearly not listening to what he said. They miss it. Because a few years later, at his trial, this statement that he makes is used as evidence against him.

And listen to how they represent his words while he’s on trial. Matthew 26:61. And they said, this man stated, I am able to destroy the sanctuary of God and rebuild it in three days. Mark 14:58, we ourselves heard him say, I will destroy this sanctuary made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands. This is their testimony under oath. We ourselves heard him say that I will destroy the temple. No, you didn’t. That’s not what he said. You may have been there, but you weren’t listening, obviously.

See, they completely missed the point of Jesus’ statement. Jesus said, you will destroy this temple. He says, destroy this temple and I will build it again in three days. So not only was there doubt in Jesus’ ability to do this, there was a complete misunderstanding of what he even said. And it wasn’t as though Jesus was being unclear. It wasn’t as though it was impossible to understand what he said or what he meant. Well, how do we know that? Because there’s other people there. There’s other people here. Which is why we see, after the doubt of Jesus, number four, the disciples, verses 21 and 22. but he was speaking about the sanctuary of his body. So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this. And they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

As you read through this account, the moment is so tense and there’s so much going on that you almost forget about the disciples are there, watching all of this happen. John was there. And they’re all standing off to the side somewhere, seeing Jesus just make a whip and drive out all these money-grubbing merchants. Imagine their state of mind. And then these Jewish temple police come running out and start yelling at Jesus. What authority do you have to do this sort of a thing? You can just picture it. All of this commotion, the disciples are probably hiding behind a pillar watching this all take place, and here John, the narrator, interjects. He interrupts the narrative for a moment.

The Jews said, it took 46 years to build this temple, this sanctuary. And will you raise it up in three days? And then John speaks. But he was speaking about the sanctuary of his body. John steps into the story and gives us some explanation. And that’s often how you can structure the narrative portions of John. He gives us a bunch of details and information and things that happened and then he stops and explains. This is what this means. This is what’s happening here. And as the Jews are focused on their precious building, their object of worship, and they think Jesus has threatened to destroy it, John steps in and says, he was speaking about the sanctuary of his body. He wasn’t talking about your building.

The sign Jesus gives them in response to their demands was so much greater than their building. He tells them about the greatest sign he will ever perform. John lists signs in his book. He lists all the things Jesus did to show who he was, and the last one, the greatest is the resurrection. The greatest sign He will give to point everybody to who He is. Jesus gives it to them. And Jesus speaks about these same Jews and their demanding signs elsewhere. In Matthew chapter 12, verses 39 to 40, Again, he’s speaking with these people. And he answered and said to them, an evil and adulterous generation eagerly seeks for a sign. And yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. This is the sign. This is what points to who He is.

And their demand for a sign reveals their heart. It reveals their evil and unbelieving heart. That’s what Jesus says, an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign. If you are demanding, show me a sign, show me proof. Until then, I won’t believe.” You’re already showing your heart, your evil and adulterous heart. When we demand a sign or some proof as a trade-off for belief in God, we reveal our evil, unbelieving heart. The Word of God is enough. He gave us His Word. He wrote it for us. It was enough for them, but they rejected it. You see, the problem was not that they didn’t receive any visible proof. They shouldn’t have needed any visible proof, but they got it anyways, and they still rejected it.

The very reason Jesus came to earth, to be born in the flesh, was the sign that would point to who He was. It would be the greatest sign that He would give. You cannot die and raise yourself from the dead and not be God. Nobody else has ever done that. God has raised other people from the dead. Nobody’s raised themselves from the dead. But He is God. He is God with us. Destroy this sanctuary and I will raise it up. And with all of these accounts John has given us so far, he closes with a focus in on the disciples. Not only does he tell us the importance of what he just said, he goes to the disciples because he’s showing us different signs so that we will believe. He’s showing you there were those who saw and believed Verse 22, so when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this, and they believed the scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.

They didn’t even understand at the time what Jesus was talking about. They’re just seeing everything happen and hearing the words that he said. They heard him loud and clear. And while they didn’t understand in that moment, when their faith was tested the most, when he died, when he was gone, when this one that they devoted their lives to following for three years was gone, And now, they don’t have anything to see and believe. What’s their faith in now? And he rises from the dead. And it clicks. He rises from the dead.

What was it that made them believe according to this verse? What was it that made these disciples believe in John 2.22? It was the word of God. The word of Jesus himself. They remembered that he said this and they believed. They saw him again after he was supposed to be, after they saw him die. They said, “hey, you remember a couple years ago in the temple? Jesus said in three days he would rise it up. It’s been three days. He rose it up. Jesus was right!”

He not only rose from the dead, He called His shot. He told them what He would do and then He did it. And while they didn’t get it at first, they got it eventually because they heard His voice. They heard His words. When He rose again, you can hear Jesus’ words echoing in their minds. Destroy this sanctuary and I will raise it up in three days. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. They heard his voice. They remembered what he said and they believed. They followed him.

Just like after his first miracle when he manifested his glory and his disciples believed, they believed. And now John tells us that they saw and they heard and they believed all the more. John is giving us his eyewitness testimony to these things. John was there. John heard what he said. And John interjects in the narrative and says, yeah, when he rose again, we remembered. We remembered what he said. He’s saying, look, this is why I believe. This is why I believe in Jesus, because I was there when he did this, and I was there when he rose again, and I remembered what he said when he did it. I was there, I saw it, I heard it. He called his own shot and he followed through. And these things have been written so that you may believe. I’m telling you why I believe, so that you will believe. that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you will have life in his name.

So do you believe? Is his word enough for you? Or does your evil, unbelieving heart say, prove it? Prove it. Show me a sign. Give me some evidence. Do you say, God, I’ll believe you if you do this for me? If you give me this job that I want? If you give me a child? If you give me a spouse? Then I’ll believe. Then I’ll do what you want. I’ll tell you right now, if that is your heart, even if you get what you want, You won’t believe. If God’s word is not enough for you, nothing will be. If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.

If you have not yet believed in Jesus Christ as your savior, you need to believe in his word. and come to Him today. Believe what He said. God has given us His Word. And He told us there is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. There is salvation in no one else. You need salvation. You know that. And there is salvation in no one else. Not in yourself. Not in your family. Not in your children. In Jesus Christ alone.

So no matter what it costs you, there is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Jesus told you himself. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one, absolutely no one comes to the Father but by me. Absolutely no one knows God apart from Jesus Christ, even though they claim to worship a God. They might even claim we worship the same God but in different ways. No one, not one person, comes to God the Father except through Jesus Christ. Believe in Him. Come to Him.

And if you do believe, believe in Him all the more. Say to Christ, I believe, help my unbelief. Use these testimonies of a man that was there, that saw it, to confirm and strengthen your faith. Believe all the more, and do like John does, and bring your faith to those who need to hear it, to people around you, to your family, to your friends, to your coworkers, to people who live in your community. All John is doing in this book is telling us, this is why I believe. This is what I saw. I was there. This is what caused me to believe. And I wrote them down so that you would believe. Bring your faith. Tell people why you believe in Christ. Share with them the things that you believe about him. Tell everyone around you why you believe.

Let’s stand and close in a word of prayer this morning. Our God and Father in heaven, we thank you for the testimony of John, who tells us the things that he saw, the things that he heard, the things that he remembered, and the scripture that confirmed his faith. Lord, we thank you for giving us your word. We thank you for telling us about yourself, about your son, about how we can be saved. And Lord, I pray if there is anybody here this morning who up until this point has had an unbelieving heart, Lord, pierce their heart. Crush their heart of stone. Help them to see their need for a Savior and that there is salvation in no one else but Christ. Lord, we thank you for what you’ve given us in this opportunity to be saved. In your word that tells us how these things can be. And in your Son who you sacrificed for unworthy, evil, adulterous sinners. Lord, we praise you for your goodness, for your righteousness, for your justice, and for your mercy and grace. We thank you. We pray all of this in Christ’s precious name. Amen.