The Question of Signs
A Sermon on John 2:18-22
Scripture
18The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as Your authority for doing these things?” 19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and …
18¶ Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? 19Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20Then said the Jews, Forty and six years …
Sermon Description
Throughout Jesus’s ministry on earth, people marveled at his many signs and miracles. Performing signs and miracles is something Jesus does often in the New Testament; however, there always seem to be people who were never satisfied with the signs of Jesus. In this sermon on John 2:18–22 titled “The Question of Signs,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones speaks on this topic as he warns against the wrong way of asking Jesus for signs. He begins by pointing out how the people of Jesus’s time continually asked for signs but asked them for the wrong reasons. These people were asking for signs outside of a relationship with Jesus and were never satisfied with the signs they were given. They were more focused on seeing signs in the physical and visible sense rather than being transformed in the spiritual sense. Dr. Lloyd-Jones then challenges Christians to reflect upon their own lives today by asking themselves: “am I also guilty of asking for signs for the wrong reason? Am I not content with what the Lord has already given me?” Dr. Lloyd-Jones concludes by encouraging reflection upon these questions and taking hold of the signs God has already given, rather than to continuously ask for more.
The Book of John
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.