Introduction to The Godhead: Miracles, Signs and Wonders of Jesus | Steve Benson

been doing a sound doctrine series and

we have been on the gohead

for some time now and looked at the

father and looked at the holy spirit

and the last few weeks and months

actually we've been looking at at the

son of god Jesus and he is

he is all in all as Paul says in

Ephesians so I will never run out of

stuff to study and talk about with

Jesus.

We've been looking at his miracles and

what he said about them, what the

apostles said about them, how important

they are and how they can play a part in

our faith.

And you know these these men that wrote

the New Testament, you know, they were

there with Jesus and they saw many of

many of these things. Turn in your

Bibles if you would to the book of Mark

in chapter 2. We got a few of these

together right here

to get us going. But this message is uh

the signs and the wonders of Jesus.

Signs and wonders of Jesus. And they

don't, you know, all this stuff just

doesn't fit in one bucket, you know.

Okay. Well, that's, you know, miracles

and signs and wonders and, you know,

just put all that in one bucket and

let's move on. That's not the way the

Bible treats these things. The Bible is

very specific about things, you know,

whether it's in the Old Testament or the

New.

And it's good to look at subjects in the

Bible, you know, from Genesis to

Revelation if you can.

And you know, sometimes that's difficult

to do, but we can see,

you know, the Trinity is a that's a good

one. You know, when you look at the

Trinity, you're going to you're going to

go from Genesis to Revelation talking

about that. You know, it's everywhere in

our Bibles, and it's so important to our

theology. We need to believe in a God

who is a triune God.

And that triune God sent the son to

Earth

for a great reason.

And

these signs and wonders and these

miracles were, you know, to authenticate

who he is,

we don't want to follow a God, you know,

who

cannot do miracles because we're in need

of them.

Not necessarily in this life, but in the

life to come to change us, be like him.

So Jesus come to earth

and accomplish these great things for us

um for his father

and we have benefited greatly.

And here in Mark chapter 2

Mark 2 · chapter mention

and verse 12

where I want to begin

and you know by definition

you know we define miracles we've

defined you know those things and and

we've looked at at healings that Jesus

did

and we know when Luke began

his book of Acts, he said he talked

about many infallible proofs

and and that's what we have here this

morning, many more infallible proofs to

go with the miracles and and the things

that Jesus did.

So, we have the the gospels and the

gospel writers

point some of these things out for us

and and Mark does here. We've gotten two

or three chapters here in Mark where we

can get a running start with this. But

you know, Jesus even did this when he

was teaching. You know, he said, you

know, why do you think I did that? You

know, and maybe the public, maybe the

Pharisees, and then he'd ask the

apostles.

He's just an incredible teacher.

And you know, they learned so much from

him as we can, too.

So we want to listen to Jesus about

these signs and these wonders.

And here in verse 12 he says immediately

he arose and took up the bed and he went

forth before them all in so much that

they were all amazed and glorified God

saying we never saw it in this fashion.

So,

you know, these are the the wonders, if

you will, the signs that Jesus did. He

he did them to cause

uh amazement with people.

You know, those are those are some of

the things that we encounter when we,

you know, we go somewhere and it's, you

know, that happened to me when I went to

Alaska

and saw that for the first time. I was

in total amazement and total awe. You

know, I I couldn't even talk sometimes.

I was just taking pictures. Michael come

over to me and he said, "Dad, this is

this is incredible. This is greater than

I ever dreamt of to be able to see the

mountains that God has made." And to

give him the glory and the credit for

letting us see them and and be a part of

his kingdom and know him and to know

these things. So for us, you know, the

the beauty of nature as men call it,

it's God's creation. And you know, we

stand in awe sometimes

of God and what he has done. And and

that happened here with these men and

the things that Jesus did, you know, the

the wow factor, you know, wow, no one

ever spoke like him. Wow, nobody ever

did these signs and these wonders and

these miracles. And they were all amazed

and and look at the result. They

glorified God.

That's what we should do, you know. And

that's what we did when we saw the

mountains. It was just like God, you

wow, we are amazed.

And we glorify God then for his

creation.

And here we see this that Jesus did the

same thing. I mean, he he did things

that wowed people. And if you will turn

over to chapter 4,

we got a few of them here in in Mark to

get us going. Mark chapter 4

Mark 4 · chapter mention

and in verse 41.

And you notice that most of these come

after something has something amazing

has happened. So this is the these are

the wonders. These are the signs that

Jesus did. And they feared exceedingly

and said one to another, "What manner of

man is this that the wind and the sea

obey him?"

you know, so you know, Michael and I

were out there on the water in amazement

of those mountains, but you know, we had

a few storms come through, but you know,

Jesus didn't, you know, step in and stop

the storm, but he did hear to let us

know that everything answers to him. You

know, all the wind, all the weather, you

know, the weather is just so

unpredictable

and, you know, we can't even forecast

it, but it answers to Jesus.

And the na all nature answers to Jesus.

And you know this is one of the things

that they saw here was him him walking

on the water. Next one's in chapter 6.

Chapter 6

and verse 51.

Mark chapter 6 and verse 51. This is

Mark 6 · chapter mention

when he walked on the water out to them,

you know. So, the apostles saw Jesus

calm the storm and they saw Jesus walk

on the water.

Pro,

you know, that that should impress you.

You should be amazed if you were an

apostle. And that's exactly what

happened.

And in verse 51 here, he says, "And he

went up unto them into the boat, and the

wind ceased. They were very much afraid.

They were amazed in themselves beyond

measure and wonder." So here's here are

these signs and wonders that

um

that human beings experienced when they

saw

the divinity of Christ shining through

through his human flesh.

Turn to chapter 7 now. Mark in verse 37.

Mark 7

and 37. And Mark, I know there's no

chapter divisions in the original, but

he all these come right at the end of a

chapter. you know, it's just like, you

know, Jesus did something awesome and

outstanding and beyond, you know, human

understanding and it and it just caused

an amazement with the people. In verse

37,

and they were beyond measure astonished,

saying, "He has done all things well. He

maketh both the deaf to hear and the

dumb to speak." Well, I'd say that would

happen, wouldn't it? somebody that you

know was this way from birth or whatever

had happened to him. Jesus just you know

he did both. Give him he gave him sight

and he gave him um

a good ears to hear. So this same man

Jesus is going to fix our hard-hinging

ears, you know, and our and our our

eyesight that's, you know, not 2020 like

it used to be. We're not going to wander

around heaven. You know, there'll be no

blind people in heaven. Nobody's going

to be wandering around in heaven trying

to see. We're all going to see perfectly

because of Jesus. He's God. He can do

these things. So, we can rest our hope

in him. We can rest our our our heaven

in him, our future in him. Now, turn to

chapter 13 of Mark.

for the next one.

Mark 13

and in verse 22. Mark 13 and verse 22

Jesus even said that they're going to

people me trying to mimic him,

you know. And

can the can the devil do miracles?

No, he can't do miracles. He's not like

God. But he's a deceiver. He's a

trickster.

So, you have to be careful that you

don't get tricked

by these wonders and by these signs. And

and and this was a part of Jesus message

to his people. Beware

of these things. Beware of somebody

trying to amaze you. Beware of somebody

trying to cause you to wonder or trying

to do a sign.

And he says here in verse 22,

for false Christ and false prophets

shall arise.

Now this is, you know, this it's already

gone on. I mean, there are people out

there now, you know, pretending to be

doing miracles.

They can't do anything. They're human

beings. But they can deceive like Jesus

or like uh like Satan is a deceiver.

And we know now this this was written

before the book of Revelation. So we

know we have Revelation chapter 13 which

Revelation 13 · chapter mention

is the the chapter on the antichrist and

we can connect that with 2 Thessalonians

where Paul said that you know the

mystery of iniquity already works.

So, what's going on?

And you know, Satan is going to deceive

people by saying and putting people out

there who are pretending to be Christ,

pretending to be the Messiah.

And Jesus says, "Don't believe them.

Don't believe them. They're they're

deceivers. They're not, you know,

they're not me. They're not connected to

me." So, he even warns about these

things.

um being false as he puts it. So turn

over to Luke chapter 10.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

Luke

Luke 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10

and and verse 1.

And remember that, you know, we're going

to look in the book of Acts at some of

these that were passed on to the

apostles. And remember,

here we see 70. the 70 are sent forth

and they went two by two. So

you know that you you're familiar with

this text

and I want to see verse one. And these

things the Lord appointed other 70 also

and they sent them two by two before his

face into every city and every place

where he himself would come.

You know, so Jesus has forerunners here

like you have with John the Baptist. And

these forerunners are going to do

miracles. You know, there there are

people, you know, here's here are 70

people, you know, that that did, you

know, different things. We don't have

everything that they did, but we have we

have several of them here.

And remember his original the original

12, you know, he appointed them to do

that to go and preach and go to Israel

first. But here we see once Jesus

ministry gets public and opens up, you

know, he's bringing more people in to

help and and to be disciples

and and to be a forerunner for him

coming into the cities and they they did

miracles. Uh these people did in

anticipation of Jesus coming behind

them, you know. So the miracle went and

then the confirmation of Jesus come

behind him and then you know that

probably would

you know I don't know what I would have

done if I would have been been turned

loose but we can just imagine you know

being able to do this kind of thing

under his authority

and with his permission.

And remember the 12 that he's going to

bring to himself in the upper room, you

know, they're going to, you know,

everyone's going to leave him

and then he's going to be down to the

12. But these men, you know, these men

were here when this happened. You know,

they didn't just all of a sudden start

doing miracles for Jesus in the book of

Acts.

So many missed this, you know, giant

step. So as an apostle, they were as

apostle. So here they are being a part

of these 10 and look what happens when

they return in verse 17.

And the 70 returned with joy saying Lord

even the demons are subject unto us

through thy name. So the connection back

to Jesus and to his name. So they knew

it. You know that this wouldn't have

happened if it hadn't been for Jesus.

And and he and remember he said I chose

you. He and he chose these 70, you know,

he every time he did something, he chose

people and he chose the 12 out of here,

you know, and and they're going to and

when we get to the book of Acts, you

know, after he goes to the cross and

dies, which they're they don't, you

know, they haven't fully comprehended

all that,

you know, but they're going to go back

to being his apostles once he restores

them and the church age takes off. And

notice what Jesus said. I beheld Satan's

lightning. You didn't do anything.

Jesus did it.

So the demons were subject to these 70,

but they were subject to these 70

because Jesus withheld Satan as he says

here.

You know, this is sort of what guess

what's going to happen, you know, when

he's locked up in abyss for for a while

there in the book of Revelation.

And you know Jesus said, "Behold, I give

unto you power to tread on serpents."

Who gave it? They didn't ask for it.

They didn't deserve it. They didn't earn

it. They weren't, you know, he gave it

to them

for this purpose that they might learn

these things and that they he might go

behind them and preach.

And he said, you know, you had power

over scorpions and the enemy, and

nothing by any means shall hurt you,

and the the spirits were subject unto

you, but rejoice that your names are

written down in heaven. Now, here's

where he goes to him privately up in

verse 23. He turned unto his disciples

and said privately, blessed are the eyes

who see these things that you see. You

know, so it's a revelation

from Jesus here that that that the

devil, Satan himself,

answered to Jesus,

you know. So, these are some of these

signs and these wonders that these men

experienced when they were on the he was

on the earth with them. Now, jump over

to the book of Acts.

So, you know, this is what the early

church did. You know, he Jesus said,

"You're going to you're my apostles."

You know, he way back there, remember

when he called him in Matthew 10, go and

that, you know, there were 70 that, you

know, experienced this. And he brings it

down to 12.

And to those 12 were the men who the

foundation of the church is built on.

And here in chapter 3 and verse 10,

and they knew that it was he who sat for

arms and at the beautiful gate of the

temple, and they were filled with wonder

and amazement

at that which had happened unto him. How

can you not, you know, see somebody

healed that was, you know, one of your

loved ones

being healed by one of the apostles.

And, you know, here here's the case.

And and we read on down through this in

verse 11. the lame man who was healed.

He held Peter and John and all the

people and ran together unto them

uh in the porch which was Solomon's

greatly wondering. So that's the result

of this upon the people that saw it.

amazement

that, you know, the the church of Jesus,

you know, he's he's not going to set up

a kingdom yet, Jews, we're going to

bring the Gentiles in. That's a whole

book of Acts.

And the greatest thing is the new birth.

But as Jesus used miracles to get the

apostles going uh to to understand what

this was about, this is about your name

being written down in the book of life.

Not that demons are subject to you.

So many people want to get sidetracked

here. Now turn over to chap chapter 2

and verse 11.

That's the result of the gift of

tongues. And we're going to talk about

that when we get to the church.

But here look that that's what happened

you know when everyone heard everyone

speak in their own language try that

you know we might learn a word or two

but to have a conversation about

theology in your own language with

someone that's what happened here this

is where the church began

at the day of Pentecost

and here in Acts chapter 2 verse 11

Acts 2:11

and the Creians and the Arabians,

we do hear them speak in our own sorry

language

the wonderful works of God. That's what

it's all about.

The miracles, the ones that Jesus did

confirming him and his message. The

miracles that the the early church did

were confirming him and his message just

like John the Baptist said.

Did we get the right one or look we for

another? No, we've got the right one.

And and we have so much of the history

of the church here in the book of Acts.

But that now we've made the transition

from the Gospels and into the book of

Acts. Um go to 1 Corinthians chapter 16.

1 Corinthians 16 · chapter mention

You know, some of the churches were

started by miracles and some of them

were not, but they were all so they were

all started by the word of God and the

gospel of Jesus Christ.

And here in Acts, no 1 Corinthians

16

and verse 8,

I saw this last week when pastor was

preaching. Sorry pastor, I got a little

distracted during your message.

But look what look what Paul this is one

of the very this is one of the very

first churches.

Thessalonian church

and first Corinth in the current corner.

Nowhere in Thessalonians does Paul say

you know start a miracle crusade

you know start a healing crusade you

know start a signs and wonders crusade.

No, Paul says, "Preach the gospel."

That's how the church started in

Thessalonica.

Now, the church in Corinth, it's a

different story there. There it was one

of the first churches. So, it came along

early. But by the time Paul gets to the

end of this chapter,

um, in verse eight, he says, "But if I

tar at Ephesus until Pentecost, Paul, is

Paul going to have another Pentecost and

call down from heaven, you know, the

Holy Spirit and other people speak in

tongues and repeat what's already

happened?" He doesn't do that at all.

He

and notice how he hands us this off to

Timothy.

You know, I don't know that Timothy did

miracles. I don't think he did.

You know, we have no evidence of that.

And we're Titus. The ones we have are

the the original 12

and the the original people at the

Jerusalem church. But by the time the

church gets out here, you Paul, you

know, they did some miracles in Corinth,

but the church is going. And he says

here, "A great door and effectual is

opened unto me. There are many

adversaries.

Now if Timothy come see that he may be

with you without fear for he works the

work of the Lord as I do.

You know Paul says Timothy and we're

doing the same thing and that's

preaching the gospel of Christ the the

gospel of grace. You know did Paul do

miracles? Yeah. We're going to look at

that. And Paul hands this off to

Timothy. But nowhere did he say here

Timothy take my gift of healing or my

gift of of of signs and wonders or

whatever. Paul ends up in second Timothy

in my leadus at the end of his life like

the all of us do ready to die.

Who wants to stay here in the shape this

world's in and the shape we're in? Not

me. I want to go on. My hope is in

heaven.

But the gospel is what started these

churches. And I know there were miracles

that in Acts 16, the church in Philippi.

I was thinking about that. So I went

back and read. Sure enough, you know,

Paul casts out the demon and then God

sends the earthquake. So a miracle

started the church in Philippi. Couple

of them, you know. So, you know, people

were seeing that, you know, God has, you

know, the gospel preachers have power

over demons. And how do we have power

over demons? Because we preach the

gospel that can get you out of hell and

get you away from your sin and away from

all the demons and put you in the

kingdom of God.

That's the gospel Paul preached. That's

the gospel that Timothy preached. Now,

turn back to Acts chapter 14.

Acts 14 · chapter mention

And you know the uh the early apostles

they called themselves

servants but all of Paul's letters start

with him being a servant.

And the other thing that they call

themselves was witnesses.

You know, we saw this. They're eye

witnesses to the truth that that Jesus

Christ of Nazareth and and the son of

God are they're the same person.

So, they witness to that. That's what

the Bible does. It witnesses to us that

fact and that great truth.

And here in Acts chapter 14

Acts 14 · chapter mention

and in verse 8,

that's what that's what we have here.

And there was a certain man in Atlaia,

impotent in his feet, being crippled

from his birth. He had never walked.

So here we see this power that Jesus had

and he sent his apostles to go into the

world and preach the gospel and he said

I will be with you and here he is with

them. You know the power of Jesus here

is healing these people not these men

and a certain man of Listra impotent. We

read that and Paul spoke to him and and

he if you have faith uh to be healed

stand up on your feet and he leaped and

walked. How can you not be amazed

you know if you're there? Wow. But this

is for us to see you know that's who

we're following. We're following the

Jesus of Nazareth that it doesn't matter

what illness or sickness or sin you

have, he can heal you from it. Maybe not

in this life, but in the life to come.

And you know, these men go on to preach

the gospel. And the witness part is uh

down there in verse 17. Nevertheless,

this is this is uh Luke's summary, you

know, of the whole thing. Nevertheless,

he left not himself without a witness

in good and gave us rain from heaven

fruitful and our hearts and our food

were filled with gladness. God is good.

So, you know, that's what we need to

know. You know, we don't get, you know,

these great things from God because we

deserve them. we get these great things

from God because he's generous and he's

good.

And um he goes on to talk about those

things there. Now turn over to Romans 15

Romans chapter 15. This is where, you

Romans 15 · chapter mention

know, Paul Yeah. He Yeah. Paul did.

Miracles,

but Paul didn't do them. Jesus did them

through Paul because Paul was

proclaiming and preaching the gospel.

And the in the early church, the

foundation is built on these men and

their gospel preaching,

but they're on the foundation of Christ.

But Paul tells us that in Ephesians for

the Jew and the Gentile, you know, we

both have a redeemer. Now, he's the same

redeemer.

And here Paul uh mentions this about

himself in verse 19.

And here's where Paul says, "Signs and

wonders." You know, Mark said Jesus did

signs and wonders.

You know, it came from him. The power

came from him. Here Paul did uh signs

and wonders by the power of the spirit

of God. Not Paul.

So that from Jerusalem and roundabout

unto I whatever that word is Iconium

I have fully preached the gospel of

Christ. So the full gospel is you know

that

you know Jesus is the son of God. Jesus

is the son of man. Jesus died for our

sins. He's our substitute. God is our

savior. Jesus shed his blood for us. And

that's what Paul preached.

And that's how these churches were

started. And you know, he doesn't say,

you know, Timothy come along after me.

He was the next pope, you know, and I

laid hands on him and he healed

everybody, too. No, Paul says it it it

stopped with us. And it even stopped

before the book of second Timothy where

Paul is in my lead sick.

So this is sort of just a big overview

of what Jesus did, what he said, how he

taught

and and a miracle is not just a wonder.

Turn back to Isaiah.

Isaiah

and go to chapter 7.

Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 10.

Isaiah 7 · chapter mention

Yeah. Here's a couple of these verses

that

we're not maybe as familiar with as we

should be. And here in in Isaiah 7

and verse 14,

therefore

the Lord himself,

where do miracles come from? The Lord

himself, not from men,

but from God.

And God has done, you know, things

through men like Paul, like Peter, like

John, like the original apostles.

And even Moses, you know, we he's in

there. Elijah, he's in there. I mean,

the men that God did miracles through,

you know, they're they're throughout our

Bible. It's not all of our Bible, but

it's all over the Bible. And every time

is to give a witness to what God has

said.

And here's a here's an example of a sign

not necessarily being a miracle or not

necessarily being, you know, a a a great

wonder.

Here's a verse. The Lord himself will

give you a sign. Behold, the virgin

shall conceive and bear a son, and you

will call his name Emanuel.

So, the Lord is going to send Emmanuel,

who is God with us, to a virgin, and

that's called a sign here by Isaiah.

And then, um, if you will look over in

chapter

uh, 38,

Isaiah chapter 38,

Isaiah 38 · chapter mention

and you know what Luke says, you know,

we're going to see that in a minute. the

the great miracle of the incarnation.

Yeah, that's a miracle.

But the the prophet says pointing saying

the Messiah is going to come

through a virgin.

And here in Isaiah 38:7,

Isaiah 38:7

"And this shall be a sign unto thee from

the Lord

that the Lord will do this thing that

has been spoken."

So a sign is God doing what he said he

was going to do, and that was to send

the Messiah.

And we know that the Messiah is God. God

in the flesh. Now turn to to Mark

Mark 16 · chapter mention

chapter 16.

And this Emmanuel is going to

demonstrate for us the love of God and

the grace of God, the mercy of God, the

goodness of God,

all those wonderful things that Jesus

is. He's the all and all. In him are all

the treasures of the Godhead hidden.

And you know these men,

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John

spent quite a bit of time with him,

three and a half years.

And here we see in Mark chapter 16

Mark 16 · chapter mention

and they went forth

and they preached everywhere

the Lord working with them

confirming the word with signs

following. Amen. That's Mark well he

sums it up. Here's here's what we did.

Preached him and and there are miracles.

Yes, for sure. And they don't want us to

get blinded by these kind of things,

by the miracles and by the wonders.

Yeah, he did them, you know, but don't

don't hang your salvation on a miracle.

Hang it on Jesus.

Go to John chapter 2

John 2 · chapter mention

and verse 18.

You know, John, his gospel is a little

bit different than the synoptic gospels.

You know, that you read read them, you

can see that right away. And you know,

one's not better than the other, but you

know, they have a different

a different but a same message.

And here John when he talks about the

miracles of Jesus, he doesn't use that

word.

The other guys do, you know, Luke, we've

seen in in, you know, in the book of

Acts, we've seen in the book of Luke,

you know, Luke used that word. Mark used

that word. Matthew used that word to

describe some of the things that Jesus

did. But what John's unique about, he

doesn't use that word.

miracle. He uses the word sign.

And everywhere in the Gospel of John,

your Bible is translated, if you got a

KJV,

miracle,

it should be sign.

And it starts here in the very first

miracle

in John chapter 2 verse 18.

John 2:18

And John uses this word miracle a lot,

but it's the word sign. Every time he

uses it, it's a Greek word.

I don't know, there's three or four

Greek words that could be used, you

know, and and you know, there are times

that the word of God, you know, and

that's what we we believe in verbal

plenary inspiration.

The Bible's inspired all the way down to

the words

and the words that the Bible uses.

And here

um the King James made a little mistake

and verse 11, the beginning of the

miracles did Jesus and Ken show sign.

And then if you will jump over

um

to verse 23 and this is where John tells

us about the the people that were

astonished and amazed at the miracle but

remained in unbelief.

You know that this is a dangerous thing.

That's why John

doesn't use the word miracle. He uses

the word sign.

And in verse 23, now when he was in

Jerusalem at the Passover and the feast

many days, many believed in his name,

when they saw the miracles that he did.

So right there is why John doesn't use

the word miracle. It's signed

and people were, you know, they were

wowed by it. How can you not be? But

John says, "They remained in their

unbelief

and needed not that any should testify

of man, for he knew what was in man."

You know, so Jesus even saw people

following him and remaining in unbelief

that actually saw his miracles.

And you know this is a dangerous thing

to do. Very dangerous thing to do. Well,

that um the verses that we have about

Jonah, remember they wanted a sign in

Matthew and Jesus said no more.

The only thing you're going to get is me

coming out of the grave. That's your

sign.

So everything pointed to Jesus. And when

you remain an unbelief

after everything's pointed to Jesus,

that's a great sin. Terrible sin. We're

going to see it in the Old Testament

here in a second. And um let's go ahead

and turn back there.

Turn back to

find the verse.

Exodus chapter 7.

Exodus 7 · chapter mention

Exodus chapter 7. I'm running out of

Exodus 7 · chapter mention

time and I don't want to miss this.

We we talked about Moses last week or

the week before and the miracles that he

did.

And you know the the Egyptians have the

all the plagues listed on their their

scrolls and in their literature. There's

no doubt this stuff happened. There's no

doubt for us because God said it, not

the Egyptians.

But these things are real.

And here in Exodus 7 and verse 8, the

Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, he

says, "When Pharaoh shall speak unto

you, saying,

show a miracle

for you, then you shall say unto Aaron,

take the rod and cast it before Pharaoh,

and it shall become a serpent." Wow,

there's a miracle.

And this is not Moses and Aaron doing

that. This is God.

Pharaoh is not arguing with men. He's

arguing with God.

And notice what he does. He wanted a

miracle. God gave him one. He remains in

unbelief.

He goes on, "And Moses and Aaron went

unto the Pharaoh, and they did as the

Lord had commanded.

And then Pharaoh also in verse 11,

here's the great sin. He called for his

wise men and his sorcerers. God gave him

what he wanted and he remains in

unbelief.

This is a terrible sin. This is where

God hardens uh Pharaoh's heart for that.

And verse 12, for they cast down every

man his rod, and they became serpents,

and and Aaron's rod swallowed up their

rods.

And he hardened Pharaoh's heart

that hearkened not unto them again, as

the Lord has said. The great sin here is

not, you know, he didn't believe Moses.

He he didn't believe God. Well, that's

what happened when Jesus come to earth.

You know, it's not that we're we're

disbelieving a man. We're disbelieving

God like Pharaoh.

So, you know, God did something good for

Pharaoh.

And all the miracles in the world were

not going to convince Pharaoh. And there

are people,

this group is still exist.

And they're everywhere. They're going to

wonder after the the beast. They're

going to wonder after the lie and the

liar and the antichrist. And the Bible

warns us of that in Revelation chapter

Revelation 13 · chapter mention

13. It talks about the deceiver to come

and that is the antichrist.

You know, unsaved people are, you know,

they that people that don't know the

Bible, that was me.

You know, that's why it's so important

to have an understanding of the Bible

from back to front about these things.

You know, we have a great God and he's

he's wanting us to follow by faith and

to walk by faith and not by sight. And

you know, here we have Moses

and he was a just man. God sent him. God

picked him out, you know, just like he

did his own son. And Hebrews says a a

greater than Moses is here.

So people are rejecting God when they

don't listen to his son and receive his

son.

So it's, you know,

unbelief.

And again, back to the book of John,

that's what John wants us to see. Go

back to John chapter 2.

John 2 · chapter mention

John doesn't want us to be like Pharaoh

and say, "Oh, well, I'm going to go on

in my own belief." John wants us to see

the Jesus behind and above and beyond

these miracles and these wonders.

And back to John, we go in chapter 2

and we saw these here about the signs in

Canaa

that Jesus did. And that's what John

John calls them

these signs. And we have the one with

John the Baptist that let me find that

one. And it's in chapter 10.

Go to John chapter 10.

John 10 · chapter mention

Here's where that's the blasphemy of the

Holy Spirit. The Pharisees. Oh, come on,

Jesus. Do some more miracles. You are

you really God?

Proof after proof after proof. and they

stayed in their unbelief.

And that's a terrible thing not to

believe God.

And here we have uh in John chapter 10

John 10 · chapter mention

and many resorted unto him and said John

did no

it's in John so it's sign. John did no

sign,

but all things that John said

about this man were true.

So that's what he God wants from us. You

know, we we want to testify

that everything Jesus said is true.

And then that you might believe on him.

That's it. That's the requirement is to

receive the free gift from God and

believe on him.

So you know the again the synoptic

gospels mention signs and wonders and

miracles and and all those things and

that's not wrong. That's that's good.

That's right. But here you see John he

moves all that aside and just gives us

Jesus says believe in it and you will

have everlasting life.

And you know, in Romans chapter 4,

Romans 4 · chapter mention

Paul calls circumcision a sign,

you know, and there's a lot of things

like that. Circumcision can't save you.

There's not a sign that can save anyone.

There's a person though that can't.

And he is the one who who here in verse

25

said, "I am the way. I am the truth. I

am the life. No man can come to the

father

but by me. In verse 25 there,

he that believeth in me, though he were

dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever

liveth and believeth in me shall never

perish. Do you believe this?

You see where John puts it, he puts it

on Jesus. Believe in him and uh that you

might be saved and that I might be

saved. He is our all and all. Paul said,

"We may not get everything we want in

this life, but we got paradise coming

with each other and with him."

Father, we thank you this morning for

your words.

We thank you for your son. We thank you,

Jesus, for teaching us

that you are greater than miracles.

You're greater than signs. You're

greater than wonders. You're greater

than everything.

And everything came from you. You

created the heavens and the earth. the

galaxies.

You declare your glory and you come to

earth and died for us. And you showed us

the way, the truth, and the life. And

you've made us your children through

faith and belief,

and the God of this Bible and the Jesus

of the gospels here as we see. We thank

you for these things. and we do believe

and we are comforted by you and we pray

it in Jesus name. Amen.

Lord, as we go from this place

loving you more,

trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine

to a sin darkened world as we go from

this place.