All right, brethren, we're going
to be in Luke chapter 11. Our Lord here is continuing to
teach his disciples of the kingdom of God. And he's showing us from
our text that our citizenship is a matter of hearing in the
new man. It's revealed in the new man. It's revealed in his creation
that we are his. And what he's teaching us is
that our citizenship is not based on carnal means. It's not based
on carnal relations and genealogies and what we do in the flesh. It's not the result of a fleshly
birth, but it arises out of that spiritual birth of the seed of
Christ, as we saw in the last hour. He shows us that His disciples
are new creatures. All things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. We are new creatures. Paul said
it this way in Galatians 6.15 that in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but a new
creature. And that goes to the heart of
what we look to by nature. We're looking at the flesh. We're
always looking at the flesh by nature. That's what we understand.
It's what we see. It's what we can feel. And so
we're looking at, well, who's circumcised? Who's not circumcised? Who's a Jew? Who's a Gentile?
Who's male? Who's female? Who's educated? Who's not educated? Who's wealthy?
Who's not wealthy? We look at fleshly things, and
the Lord shows us that What we see in the flesh does not, counts
for nothing. The flesh counts for nothing.
It's the spirit. It's the spirit that is life.
It's the spirit that gives life. We are new creatures even though
we are base, and lowly, and uneducated, and ignorant, and the off-scouring
of the world. Yet, if Christ loves us, if we're
his, then we're his. And we have all in Him. So our
text begins in Luke 11, verse 27. Verse 27 and 28, we'll look
at this. It came to pass as he spake these
things, a certain woman of the company, he was speaking to the
Pharisees, and a certain woman of the company, one who saw his
miracle of casting out that devil, that dumb and blind devil. She
saw that, and she was one of those who wondered at this miracle. And then she hears Christ when
he's attacked by the Pharisees, charging him that by Beelzebub
he casted out that devil. And he heard Christ dismantle
them. He overcame them. And he told
them the truth. And he showed and exposed their
own hypocrisy. And she delighted in that, so
that she lifted up her voice and said unto him, Blessed is
the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. In other words, you are a wonderful
man. You are a wonderful man. Whoever
you are, what we see you do, what we hear you say, you are
a wonderful man. But he said, yea rather, blessed
are they that hear the word of God and keep it. One thing that is clear from
these verses, she was attaching his wonder to carnal things,
to fleshly things. She saw things according to the
flesh. But it's not fleshly things. It is a new creation, a new creature,
something wrought by the finger of God that we are to press on
to. not be content with carnal and
external things, but by life, that resurrection power of God.
We want to know Him. We want to be found in Him, not
having our own righteousness, which is so easy for us to do,
and so easy for us to be taken up with. Our Lord, in the Scriptures,
describes the new creation saying, from 2 Corinthians 5, Wherefore,
henceforth, know we no man after the flesh. I don't get caught
up in the external fleshly things. Yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh, yet now, henceforth, know we him no more. At one time, our hearts were
blinded by that veil of flesh which is there by nature in the
natural birth of Adam's seed, there's a fleshly veil over the
heart that prevents us from seeing the true and living God and prevents
us from hearing him in spirit and in truth. And so we knew
Christ only after the flesh. There's a lot of religious people
that speak of Jesus being the son of God. We spoke that way
ourselves. And it was just a very carnal
religion, a very carnal religious knowledge of these things. But
after that, grace has come and Christ enters the heart by faith. and He gives His Holy Spirit
and raises us from the dead, that veil that's over the heart
is removed. And then we don't know Christ
after the flesh. We know Him after the Spirit,
in the Spirit, according to spiritual things. Therefore, Paul said,
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are
passed away. The way we worshiped God and
the things we looked to as evidences or as a comfort to us that we
knew God by what we knew, the doctrine we knew, the scriptures
we memorized, our works, our walk, everything we did that
we looked to, That all passes away. We lose confidence in the
flesh. As he said in Philippians 3.3,
having no confidence in the flesh. We know what we are. We're Jacobs
by nature. Our confidence is in Christ.
Behold, all things are become new. And so this woman, she heard
Christ. She heard him rebuke the Pharisees
and it delighted her heart. She held him in great esteem
for what she had seen and heard. But our Lord is encouraging this
woman go on to heavenly pastures, go on to spiritual things, to
eternal things, look beyond the carnal, because His blessings
are are not so few as to be tied to discarnal things, but his
blessings are upon many. And the first thing that he revealed
in scripture is one of the first things is that he's not the savior
of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. He just goes beyond. I mean, for us today, thinking
of that, it's not that. We're used to it. We've heard
it. We're comfortable with that, that the Lord has his people
throughout the world. But that was something. to say
back then in Israel, for Christ to be the Savior of the world,
not all men individually, but his people scattered throughout
the world. He is the only Savior that the
Father has given. It's in his Son, Jesus Christ. Look to him. And so he tells
this woman that those who are blessed of God hear the word
of God, and they keep it. Much like he said to Abraham
in Genesis 22 18, in thy seed shall all nations be blessed
because thou hast obeyed my voice. And there's a great similarity
in what he told Abraham and what he's saying to this woman. He's
speaking of that new creature which hears the Word of God and
obeys God's Word and it's speaking of faith, the fruit of faith
in the new creation, in the new man. That's what he's talking
about. And so nothing evidences a new
creature more than to find them following Christ, hearing Christ's
word, being instructed of Christ, feeding on Christ through the
preaching of the gospel and staying upon Christ, needing Christ,
hungering for Christ. The way we hunger for food each
day and we make sure we feed ourselves So in the new man,
we need Christ daily. We feed upon Christ daily. If you feed your flesh daily,
how much more the Spirit? How much more do we need the
Spirit than this flesh? Because the flesh counts for
nothing in the sight of God. It's a spiritual work that He
does in His people, and so Christ people hear Christ, they take
up their cross daily, dying to self, dying to this flesh to
know Him, that we might follow Him and hear Him and serve and
worship Him. And so that new creation is demonstrated
in the faith. It's seen, that's a fruit of
the Spirit, that we believe Christ and walk in obedience to Christ. Seeking to serve him we that's
our obedience faith is the obedience and it's not just a a believing
and nothing more, but he bears fruits. And you that believe,
he brings forth fruits of righteousness that adorn his gospel, that glorify
his name, that speak to what he's done in us, that God hath
wrought this with the finger of God, this new creation in
us. This woman brings up Mary, basically, and as regards Mary,
she spoke of the mother of Christ. Well, she's not the mother of
Christ, she's the mother of Jesus, the man. We don't call her the
mother of God, because she didn't give birth to God, she gave birth
to a man. formed in her womb by the Holy
Ghost. He is God, robed in the flesh,
but she didn't give birth to God, she gave birth to a man,
a God robed in the flesh. And so, What the Lord is showing
us is that she, too, is a sinner. She's not sinless by nature. She's a sinner. A sword pierced
her own heart, and she's a sinner saved. She heard Christ. She
was given faith. She was raised to newness of
life, just as we all are raised to newness of life. She's saved
by the grace of God, and she's made a partaker of these blessings
of God for us in Christ. which is Christ in you, the hope
of glory. She's a partaker of that hope
that we have. And so this is the life. If we don't look to the flesh,
just because she carried him in her womb, that's not her hope. Her hope is that Christ was formed
in her heart. And so we don't look to the flesh.
We hope in Christ, that Christ dwells in our hearts by faith. as we are new creatures in him. And so our Lord did this for
many, for many, which is all his people in him. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities and put them away. And so all that were chosen of
God and him before the foundation of the world, they shall rejoice,
they shall hear, they shall be sanctified by the Holy Spirit,
set apart, brought under this word. Sometimes, as we'll see
at the end of this chapter, the Queen of Sheba went to hear the
word. At other times, the Lord sent
a prophet to the people to preach the word. But He's going to bring
His people under the Word, to hear that Word, and to believe
it, to obey the Word of God, which is faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's where it all begins, right
there. It's in faith to Christ. And
so through Him, all spiritual blessings are given. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ, in Christ, through His redemption work. That's what He's saying there.
And so we see these manifest blessings. One, we hear the voice
of Christ. Our Lord said, my sheep, hear
my voice and follow me. Here he says, blessed are they
that hear the word of God and keep it. In Hebrews, he said,
hold fast the beginning of your confidence steadfast unto the
end. We hold fast that word, that's
our obedience is holding fast that word that knows and believes
Christ is my righteousness and we walk in that light. And that word abiding in you,
you have the Son and the Father. have he abides in us by that
and so we hear his voice through the preaching of the gospel and
he gives us understanding whereby we know the mind of God and the
mystery of God that we would know him who has all dominion
all authority all power in his hand that's our hope is Christ
And so another blessing, we hear that word of God with understanding,
to know the mystery of God, to know this is what our God is
revealing unto us, turning us to Christ, even the mystery which
hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made
manifest to his saints. This is the blessing of God toward
His saints, evidently making known His gift of salvation by
the giving of the Spirit. And it's a walk of faith. whereby we hunger for him, whereby
we see, we're taught and instructed by him. He's the one who determines
when the storms will come. He's the one who determines when
we shall be stripped and brought low in ourselves. He's the one
that determines when we shall be raised up. from our sorrows
and our difficulties, and given a time of respite and peace,
and brought to remember those seasons of joy and those times
of refreshing, it's in his hand. And through that, we're learning
our God. And as he reveals himself in us,
so that we see him more and more precious, And so the blessing
is that we're regenerated, born again, made members of his body,
put into that, whereby we serve and love one another as a member
of the body of Christ. And that blessing leads us to
hear the word of God and to keep it. He does that. Turn with me
to 1 Peter. 1 Peter speaks of this in chapter
one. At the end of the chapter, 1
Peter 1, picking up in verse 22 through 25, Peter uses these same words.
They walked with Christ, they heard Christ, and they had Christ's
spirit in them. by which they spoke and wrote
these letters to the churches. And he says, 1 Peter 1.22, seeing
ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the
spirit. As new creatures, you hear that
word, you obey that word, that is, you're given faith. receive
that word unto unfeigned love of the brethren right there's
fruit seen in it testified in it see that ye love one another
with a pure heart fervently you're in the family of God brethren
you're in the body of Christ love your brethren being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. Not of
Adam's seed. It's the flesh counts for nothing.
It's the spirit that Christ spoke of. He said, eat his flesh, drink
his blood. He said, my words are spiritual,
spiritual words. Hear these words, being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. And that word, brethren,
is speaking of Christ by which he reveals himself through his
word. through this word he makes us
to know the word of God that was made flesh. From the beginning
that is God and was made flesh. For all flesh, don't get caught
up in the flesh, for all flesh is as grass, and all the glory
of man as the flower of grass. And what happens to the grass?
We see it, as we have these seasons. The grass withereth, and the
flower thereof falleth away. The works we weave of the flesh,
we think they're something, and all they do is wither, and die,
and fall apart. They're lost. They're lost. But the word of the Lord endureth
forever. And if that word abide in you,
it shall carry you through the veil. In our Savior, who went
through the veil before us. He is the anchor of our soul.
We shall not be lost. We shall not come short because
we are in the body of Christ and he has gone before us and
overcome the world and even our faith overcomes this world. John
said, and so this is the word which by the gospel is preached
unto you. That's a blessing, brethren.
Blessed are you that hear this word and keep it. by the grace
and power of God, who gives his Holy Spirit, blessed are you. That is no mean gift. That is no small thing. That
is not a trinket. That is our very hope. That is all. That is the precious
gem, the precious pearl of great price. That is Christ, who is
all, all, that you may stand before the throne of God, accepted
of him. That's all. These are the blessings
which are for all in the body of Christ, apart from genealogies,
apart from carnal affiliations. It's a spiritual work of God
brought in the elect by His grace. Now, all who are chosen of God
are made evident by the grace of faith in them. It's the distinguishing
grace of God in His people. It's what sets His people apart.
They hear Christ, they believe Him, they follow Him. That is
His distinguishing grace that sets you apart and distinguishes
that you're His, that you've been set apart by the Spirit
and you're staying on Him. Yes, when you look at yourselves,
when I look at myself, I ain't impressed with what I see of
myself. I'm a sinner saved by grace. And the more I learn,
the more I see, I'm desperate for his grace and mercy. And
that's what he makes us to know, because he tells us, the just
shall live by his faith. If you saw everything as you
would see it, well, thankfully, we're not God, God is God, and
he's determined the paths of righteousness that we shall walk
in, in Christ. looking at him, crying out to
him, begging him for mercy. Now, what he shows us is that
a wicked and evil generation, faith is not enough. Faith is
not enough. I'm not talking about not bearing
fruits of righteousness by the Spirit, but what I'm saying is
for a wicked generation, faith is not enough. They want a sign.
They want to see demonstrations, miracles and demonstrations,
because the miracle of grace means nothing to them. They don't
see that. They want to see signs. They
want to see a sign to prove the word of God in the court of their
carnal reasoning and experience. They want a sign. And that's
what our Lord says in verse 29. When the people were gathered
thick together, he began to say, this is an evil generation. And again, when you see that
word generation, I mean, yes, he's talking about that day,
but it also speaks of the generation of Adam. That's what we are by
nature. It's an evil generation. They
seek a sign, and there shall no sign be given it but the sign
of Jonah the prophet. That's the sign that they're
given. And so when a man's hope is his flesh, the word of God
is not sufficient. It will never be sufficient for
him. He will not believe God, he wants a sign. And this crowd
of people thick around him, they were only going to believe God
if they saw a sign from heaven. They wanted something they could
see. They wanted to be able to feel it, to touch it, to experience
it in that manner, something they could understand. Like Nicodemus,
they wanted to understand according to the flesh. They wanted something
they could prove so that the basis of their faith would rest
on that sign. basis of their faith was going
to be in that sign, some miracle that Christ would have done for
them. But if they believed God, or they would have believed God
if they were given a sign, and what does that remind us of?
Who spoke like that in Christ's day? It was the chief priests,
the scribes, and the elders when Christ hung on the cross and
they said, if he be the king of Israel, let him come down
now from that cross and we'll believe him. So that if man got
his way, we wouldn't even be justified by the blood of Christ. It never would have happened.
If man had his way, we would die in our sins if God leaves
us to our own way and getting our way and seeing what we need
to see so that we can believe God. Well, then you're not just
because the just live by faith. If we got to have some carnal
thing like that, we're not justified. And so carnal man needs evidences
for his faith and What the Lord shows us is that faith is actually
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen, not seen. And so man's idea of faith is
contrary to the faith of God. So this brings us to the sign
which is given and this is what the believers hope, you that
are in the body of Christ, your faith rests on this sign which
is speaking of what? The redemption of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the hope of the believer
resting entirely upon the redeeming grace of Christ. His work, what
he accomplished, that's where our faith rests in so many levels. All blessings, spiritual blessings
of God revealed in Christ. And so Christ said at the end
of verse 29, There shall no sign be given it but the sign of Jonah
the prophet, verse 30, for as Jonah was a sign unto the Ninevites,
so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation. This is what he gives to his
people yet in the generation of Adam. This is what he does
to save his people from their sins, to bring us out of death
and to bring us into the light of God. So Jonah was made a type
of Christ, picturing that redemption that he would accomplish for
his people. You can flip over there to Jonah 1, we'll look
at a few verses there, but Jonah was cast into the raging sea. to quiet the wrath of God seen
in that raging sea, picturing the wrath of God. Jonah was cast
into that sea to quiet that sea that those men in the ship, in
that fellow ship which Jonah was in, that they all would be
saved. All right, Jonah one, verse 11
and 12. They said unto him, what shall
we do unto thee that the sea may be calm unto us? For the
sea wrought and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, take me
up and cast me forth into the sea. So shall the sea be calm
unto you. For I know that for my sake,
this great tempest is upon you. Brethren, like these sailors
with Jonah, God's wrath rages against us. It rages against
us. We are under the wrath of God. The wrath of God is revealed
even now against all unrighteousness. It shows what we are by nature,
and the wrath of God is against us. But when it pleases God,
he's going to make his child to know what we are in nature's
darkness, what we are in this flesh. We're going to hear the
law and see the exceeding sinfulness of my sin, my sin, I'm the sinner. He's going to show his child,
you're the sinner deserving of this wrath of God. And you're
going to die, you're going to drown in it, being swallowed
up like those that were in the waters in Noah's day. You're
gonna die in your sin unless God redeems you, unless God saves
you. Now, hold your place there in
Jonah 1, go to Psalm 107. Psalm 107, it describes what
these men are going through, and it describes what our Lord
is, where our Lord is bringing his people who were redeemed
by Christ to see that we might know the grace of God in Christ. So Psalm 107, verse 23, verse
23, They that go down to the sea
in ships that do business in great waters, these see the works
of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. This is a wondrous
thing, to see the finger of God doing a work, and we only see
it when it's doing a work in us. For he commandeth and raiseth
the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. And if
you've ever seen, I've never been in the deep ocean, but if
you've ever seen pictures or movies or something of it, those
waves are mighty. And they will swell you high
up and then bring you very deep down. I can imagine the affliction
of going through the ocean. I think one time we were in someone's
whaler, like a boat, and 15 or 20 feet long, and we hit some
of that open water, and those are some big waves. You're talking
about a difference of 12, 15 feet in those things. Verse 26
says, they mount up to heaven, to the heaven, they go down again
to the depths. Their soul is melted because
of trouble. And they reel to and fro and
stagger like a drunken man and are at their wit's end. And that's what the Lord does
through the storms that he brings upon our lives is to bring you
to your wit's end. when you can do nothing to save
yourself. You can do nothing to deliver
yourself from the snare that you're in, from that storm, from
those waves. He uses all manner of those things
to bring us low in ourselves to see, Lord, I cannot do it. Save me, Lord. Save me. Have
mercy upon me. That's what he does. He brings
his child to their wits' end so that they beg God to have
mercy on them. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. And so This is the mercy of God
to give us peace in our soul for Christ's sake. These sailors
didn't save themselves. God saved them. God saved them. And if you go back to Jonah 1
now, We see it. And I can see myself in these
men. Verse 13, nevertheless, the men
rode hard. Jonah told them, throw me into
the sea and it'll be calm to you. Nevertheless, the men rode
hard. They tried to bring that ship
in. They didn't want to do it. They didn't want to throw Jonah
overboard. They wanted to do it their way. Their way. They're going to do it. I'm going
to deliver myself. I'm going to get us back to land. We're
going to row just harder. We're going to work harder. We're
going to spend more energy. We're going to do whatever it
takes. We'll get you there. We'll do it. We'll do it. But
God brought them to their wits' end, for the sea they could not,
for the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them. God bringing them
to their wits' end. They finally realized, we can't
do it. We can't do it. Wherefore, they
cried unto the Lord and said, we beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech
thee. Let us not perish for this man's
life, and lay not upon us innocent blood, for thou, O Lord, hast
done as it pleased thee. So they took up Jonah and cast
him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging. If you're going to be received
of God, it's going to be by the innocent blood of Christ being
spilt for you. That's what it takes. We have a debt we cannot pay.
We cannot whittle that debt down by our works. It required the
innocent blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, to be spilled
for us, for my sin. And that's what we're made to
see. I'm the sinner. I cannot save myself. I cannot
get myself to Canaan shores And the Lord will deal with you,
whatever it takes, and He'll wear you out as long as it takes. He's able, if you're His, by
His grace and power, He's not going to let you go. Praise be
God. Praise be his name. He will not
let you go. And so it's going to be casting
yourself upon Christ, who shed his innocent blood for your sins. That's how we're going to come
into peace and rest with God. Jonah said, take me up and cast
me forth into the sea. And Christ said, if I, if I be
lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. And that he spake of the death
that he should die, when he was raised up, lifted up on the cross. And by his death, he draws all
given to him, all his people, through his blood. Christ came
into the world to save his people from their sins. And like the
sailors with Jonah in the ship, we cannot row ourselves out from
under this wrath of God. No amount of spending, no amount
of laboring, no amount of works. No matter how good you are, or
think you are, or get yourself to be, it's never going to be
enough to save yourself. That's why the Father sent Christ
into the world to save his people from their sins. Christ Jesus
is that substitute that we need. He's the mediator between God
and men. He gave his life as the shorty
to pay that debt off in full that we might come into the presence
of God, that we would be adopted into the family of God through
the blood of Christ, by his love, his grace, and his power. God hath made Christ to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. And like Jonah was swallowed
up by the whale and lay in that belly of the whale for three
days and three nights, our Lord, when he sacrificed himself and
his dead body taken off that tree, was laid in a tomb in the
belly of the grave for three days and three nights. And as
God brought him out, brought Joan out of that belly, so our
Lord Jesus Christ was raised. God declaring his satisfaction,
that his wrath has been satisfied, and that sea is now at rest. against his people. It's a peaceful
sea of glass. Like that sea before the throne,
John said it's glass. That means there is not a drop
of wrath for the people of God before the throne of God. It's
a sea of glass. That's how powerful, how wonderful,
how mighty the blood of Christ is. How much he satisfied God
to the fullest extent. That is glass, not a ripple,
not a wave, nothing. Nothing against God's people.
And so in him we are free, free from our enemies, free from the
bondage, free of this flesh, that we might live unto God by
faith, rejoicing in him by his spirit. And like Jonah got up
and preached that word to the people of Nineveh, so our Lord
preaches this word through the gospel, his voice, and we lift
up our voice with his voice, declaring the same thing, eye
to eye, that this is the will of God for you. in Christ, in
Christ Jesus. That is His will and purpose
in this word, to reveal Christ to you, to give you life and
peace and joy and rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ for Christ's
sake. It's all His blessed work. And
so by his grace and spirit, that word is made effectual in our
hearts, just as Jonah's word was made effectual in those Ninevites,
who knew nothing and did nothing. But he made it effectual, so
that they heard that word and obeyed it, repenting in sackcloth
and ashes. And God delivered them, just
as he had, because he's gracious, because he would do it. That's
why he sent that word. And so it is that this word is
sent And by His grace it's heard in the spirit and there's belief
in the heart. Just as it's described to us
in Romans 10, that word of faith which we preach speaketh on this
wise, it's nigh thee, even in thy heart, that thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ. Not just the saying of
those words like a trinket, but believing that He is the Christ
sent of God for this very work. and that He laid down His life
and God raised Him from the dead, and He gives you that faith,
that belief in your heart to believe Him, then it's because
God has saved you. He has washed you in the blood
of Christ. He is now, He's made a new creation,
a new creature, and He calls you to Himself and promises,
what I've begun, I shall complete. And he does the work as it pleases
him, fitting us in as weak, lowly creatures in ourselves, but members
of his body to serve one another and to serve our God. And our
Lord, well, he brings us to see, as Jonas said in Jonah 2.9, salvation
is of the Lord. He does. Now our Lord gives a
warning in closing. He gives a warning to those who
hear that word but don't heed the things that are said, who
don't believe Christ. Unbelief is the disobedience
to the Word of God. Unbelief is disobedience to the
Word of God, just as faith is obedience to the Word of God. So to believe Christ is to obey
that word. Paul even said this way of the
gospel, that it's made known unto all nations for the obedience
of faith. Faith is called obedience. That
is the obedience to the word, to believe Christ, to believe
the one whom the Father hath sent. he gives life and so he
says to those who would set Christ at naught who were setting Christ
at naught and in our day who would set Christ at naught to
disobey him he said verse 31 Luke 11 31 the queen of the south
shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation
and condemn them For she came from the utmost parts of the
earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, a greater than Solomon
is here. That queen had nothing but the
word of men who said, this man Solomon, you got to hear him.
He's the wisest man that ever spoke. And she came a great distance
at great expense to hear that word based on the word of men,
telling her how wonderful, how wise this man Solomon was. And
Christ says, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. And then
he added in verse 32, the men of Nineveh shall rise up in the
judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, for they
repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, the greater
than Jonah is here. You can imagine how horrible
Jonah looked after being in the belly of a whale and how he must
have smelled and just looked. And he was miserable. He didn't
even want to preach the word to those people. He hated the
Ninevites. And he was not happy about doing
it before. He wasn't happy about doing it
after. And all he told them that is recorded is in three days,
in three nights, in three days, the Lord's going to destroy Nineveh.
And they repented at that word, at that word. And yet a greater
than Jonah is here, our Lord said. A greater than Jonah is
here. And you today, we don't see Christ in the flesh as they
saw him in his day, but he prayed for you. that believe. In John
17, our high priest prayed for us, verse 20, neither pray I
for these alone, these disciples, but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word. This is the witness of the word
which was given to the apostles to preach throughout the world. This word that you and I hear
today. And Christ prayed for us, that we would hear that word
and believe this word, that we would obey the word, that is,
obey Christ, believe Christ, believe what God is saying to
us. Get to Christ, look to Christ,
rest in Him, believe Him, trust Him. He is the Christ. He is
the Savior whom the Father sent. And through Him, our sins are
put away and we have life. And that, brethren, you that
believe, that is the new creation. You that walk in Christ, follow
Christ, that is the new creation, His gift, His blessing to His
people, which distinguishes us from all the world, as religious
as they might be, as many resources as they might have. We that have
nothing but Christ have all, all. And I pray the Lord bless
that word to our hearts, brethren. Amen.