EXCEPT YE SEE SIGNS

Sunday Morning - March 31, 1996

Text: John 4:48-50 "Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.

49. The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die.

50. Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way."

BESOUGHT HIM TO TOUCH HIM

Mark 8:22-25 "And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. 23. And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. 24. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. 25. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly."

MIRACLES, WONDERS, AND SIGNS

Acts 2:22 "Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:"

APOSTLES APPROVED OF GOD

Hebrews 2:3-4 "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; 4. God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?"

SIGNS FOR ISRAEL

1 Corinthians 1:22 "For the Jews require a sign"

MIRACLES OF THE AGE TO COME

Hebrews 6:5 "And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers [MIRACLES] of the world [AGE] to come,"

SIGNS

Matthew 16:4 "A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed."

CONFIRMING THE WORD WITH SIGNS

Mark 16:20 "And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen."

TONGUES ARE FOR A SIGN

1 Corinthians 14:22 "Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not:"

SIGNS OF AN APOSTLE

2 Corinthians 12:12 "Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds [MIRACLES]."

LYING SIGNS AND WONDERS

2 Thessalonians 2:9 "Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,"

FALSE PROPHET WORKED MIRACLES

Revelation 19:20 "the false prophet that wrought miracles."

MIRACLES

Matthew 11:20-21 "Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: 21. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes."

WONDERS

John 4:48 "Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe."

WONDERS TO SPEAK THE WORD

Acts 4:29-30 "And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, 30. By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus."

WONDER AT THE TEMPLE

Acts 3:7-8 "And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God."

STILL TO THE NATION OF ISRAEL

Acts 5:12 "And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders [MIRACLES] wrought among the people [ISRAEL]; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch."

AMONG ISRAEL

Acts 6:8 "And Stephen, full of faith and power [MIRICLE], did great wonders and miracles [SIGNS] among the people [ISRAEL]."

TILL THAT WHICH IS PERFECT IS COME

1 Corinthians 13:8-11 "Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail [VANISH AWAY, ABOLISH, DONE AWAY VRS.10]; whether there be tongues, they shall cease [STOP, COME TO AN END]; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away [FAIL, ABOLISH].

PROPHECY WHAT WE KNOW

9. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

10. But when that which is perfect is come [COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE OF THE WORD OF GOD], then that which is in part shall be done away.

CHILDISH THINGS

11. When I was a child, I spake as a child [IN TONGUES], I understood [PROPHECY] as a child, I thought [KNOWLEDGE] as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

SPAKE IN PARTS

Deuteronomy 1:1 "These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness,...."

NO LONGER IN PARTS

Deuteronomy 31:24 "...Moses had made an end [telos, PERFECT] of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished,"

SIGNS IN EGYPT

Acts 7:36 "He brought them out, after that he had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years."

MANNA CEASED THE NEXT DAY

Joshua 5:12 "And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year."

THE SIGNS STOPPED IN THE WILDERNESS
WHEN THE BOOK WAS COMPLETED BY MOSES.