"38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” 39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; 40 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. 41 The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 42 The Queen of the
South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will
condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the
wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here."
Good Morning my beloved,
Now the Pharisees have to change their tactics, because of Jesus' compelling rebuttal of their accusation. The crux of man's revelation is the condition of his sinfulness. It is not always easy to determine just how sinful man really is until he comes face-to-face with Jesus Christ, then his sinfulness is unmasked and there can be no hiding. No matter what the person's life is like, the issue of sin becomes visible and explicit. In referring to the Jewish leaders who outwardly appeared to be righteous and holy, He said in John 15:22, "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin." Because they wore their masks so well, they outwardly appeared to love God and to obey His law, so no one really knew how vile, wretched and sinful they were, except Jesus, Who knew their hearts. When Jesus came and confronted their sin, no matter what else they pretended to be, it was clear how sinful they were by their rejection of the living Son of God. Though they may not have engaged in pagan idol worship as the people in the Old Testament had done, but they were certainly worshipers of self.
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
Father, thank Your for Your Word and the clarity that strikes us in the heart. Help us to not only understand this great truth but that there might be application of it in our own lives and in our churches. Father, we pray that You’ll bring every person here who has refused to believe in Christ to come to Him today in belief and repentance for their sin. We also pray for those who may be sitting on the fence, who have not yet made a commitment to surrender their life to Christ. And for those who are deceived by false religion, bring their hearts under conviction, that they may turn away and runs toward Christ. Lord, search out hearts, that we too might know and acknowledge our sin and come to You in sincere repentance.
May it all be for Your glory, and for Christ's sake.
In His name we ask and pray
Amen
Today's Message: God Wants Us to Make a Difference
There are many people who are faithfully sitting in churches every Sunday all around the world, talking about the Bible, singing hymns of praise, social issues, keeping people at arm's length, often times, even from those in their own household,because they are hiding their sin, When we come face to face with Christ, our true spiritual condition and hypocrisy is unveiled. Such was the case with the Pharisees, their little masquerade was publicly very successful, that is until Jesus showed up. Rather than to acknowledge their sin, their hearts hardened in their rejection, They despised Him for it, because He revealed that they didn't love God, You can't reject one and love the other, they're one and the same. Christ is always the Great revealer!
Open your Bibles with me to the twelfth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 12:38-42.
I invite you to follow along with me as I read verses 38 through 42.
Let us open our hearts to hear what the Spirit of God has to say to each of
us.
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves 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. The
men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and
will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and
behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the
South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will
condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the
wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here."
In verse 38, "Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, 'Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." They give it their best shot in trying to discredit Him publicly by asking Him to validate His claim to being the Messiah with a sign. Because He exposed the truth about their hearts, they had to save their reputation. Publicly, their question of wanting to see more would carry tremendous weight because people would assume it attached to the scribal understanding of the law. But Jesus, knowing their hearts are evil, knew if He gave them what they were asking for, another sign, they would not believe.
What kind of sign were they were after, they had already witnessed thousands of miracles, healing after healing, the casting out demons and the forgiveness of sin. They wanted Him to prove He was sent by God by asking for a sign from heaven. In other words, prove yourself to us by doing something spectacular. Like rearranging the clouds to spell out "He is the Messiah!" They didn't believe He could do it, they wanted to embarrass Him by challenging His teaching and authority.It wasn't enough for them to personally reject Him, they wanted everyone to reject Him.
Beginning in verse 39, "But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet."
Instead of giving them a sign, He labels them an evil and adulterous generation. The implication here is the only kind of people who want that kind of a sign are evil and adulterous. If they really knew God, they wouldn't require that kind of sign. Then He tells them they will only get one sign, which is the sign of Jonah. The irony is that Jonah didn’t actually do anything miraculous. I love His reply, by even seeking such a sign, they manifest the adultery of their hearts, validating they have abandoned God. That's the point.
Jonah, you will remember was called by God to preach in Nineveh, saying "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me." Jonah said, "I don’t want to go to Nineveh," he went in the opposite direction. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship that was going to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. Listen, no matter how hard you try, you can't run away from God. He created a great storm, landing Jonah in the belly of a fish for three days. It looked like the end of Jonah, but it wasn't. After three days, he came came out.
Verse 40, He says "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." By obvious association with Jonah, Jesus is giving us a glimpse that He will be in the grave for three days and come out. As a footnote, three days does not necessarily means the whole seventy-two hours. Some people have difficulty understanding that a day simply means any portion of the day, it doesn't means the whole twenty-four hour period. The Talmud says, "Any part of one is as the whole." By the way, you can read the full story of Jonah and the story of the Ninevites here in Jonah 1.
Jesus is validating the authenticity of Jonah, saying the story of Jonah was a prophecy, a perfect picture of His resurrection. Something greater than Johan is here. He's saying no sign will be given but His resurrection! Because no one can raise the dead but God. That was the only sign they would ever see. They rejected Christ, if they reject His resurrection, in the face of that sign they will have revealed their vile sinfulness. The same is true today, if you reject Christ and His resurrection, you're destiny will be determined. What you do with Christ is the determiner.
The people of Nineveh, likely didn’t even know that Jonah was in the belly of a fish. But when he preached, there were no signs and they listened. His whole message is a message of doom and destruction. And the whole place repented and they turned from their evil ways, they believed God. That shows their repentance was genuine. A city of Gentile, pagan, idolatrous people outside of the covenant of God repented so God did not destroy Nineveh until 150 years later.
Look at verse 41, "The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here." Jesus is saying the people of Nineveh, who received much less, will rise up and condemn them for their unbelief. These
are Jews, God’s covenant people who had the law, the covenant, and the promises
of their fathers. One came to them greater than Jonah, with a message
not of doom and destruction, but of grace and mercy, forgiveness and
salvation. He gave them miracle after miracle and sign after sign after sign. Yet, they refused to believe and repent. What a dark contrast!
That brings us to verse 42, He's not finished. He says "The Queen of the
South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will
condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the
wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here." This is the Queen of Sheba, the ruler of the kingdom of Saba in Arabia, far from the land of Israel. She is an Arab, a Gentile, a pagan, wealthy beyond imagination, and a woman. Here is the Queen of Sheba, a woman, with no spiritual advantages who traveled across the desert from the farthest parts of the earth with all of her entourage, just because she heard about Solomon, the wisest man in the world, who has the wisdom of God. And she did it without invitation to test his knowledge and seek his wisdom. By the way, Solomon didn't perform any miracles either. And she was so astounded that she gave him treasure after treasure, 120 talents of gold, precious stones and the largest quantity of spices ever brought to Jerusalem to honor and thank him. She became a believer.
Here is The Son of God, Who is greater than Solomon, the God of Solomon in their presence, speaking the truths of God and they didn't even have to travel to hear Him. And still they wouldn't listen. They have every advantage over the Ninevites and over the pagan Gentile queen. They have absolutely no excuse not to believe and repent. It’s unbelievable. No wonder she and Jonah will rise up and condemn them in judgment.
In Closing..
Today there are still those who reject Jesus Christ and they reject the wisdom of Christ and are afar off from true saving faith. They reject the resurrection of Christ perhaps because they're trapped in disbelief by human wisdom or a false religion. The result is they remain just as unbelieving and unrepentant as the Jewish leaders in Jesus' day, who even after His resurrection, wouldn't repent.
Jesus continues speaking through those of us who preach and teach His Word, offering those who will repent and believe on Him His grace and offer of salvation.
Jesus is loving, gracious, merciful, compassionate and longsuffering, giving unrepentant sinners every opportunity to come to Him. But He will not wait forever. Though no one knows the day or the hour of His return, His return is imminent and closer than it's ever been. That's why Scripture tells us today is the day of salvation. I pray that your heart has been changed by the very personification of wisdom, the many signs and powerful evidence that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, indeed God's Son, indeed the Lord and Savior through the teaching in this message, by the power of God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen