Alright Luke 11 29 And when the people were gathered
thick together He began to say This is an evil generation They seek a sign And there shall no sign be given
it but the sign of Jonas, the prophet. For as Jonas was a sign unto
the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation." In other words, what God did
when he sent Jonah to Nineveh. He sent his son to preach what
Jonah preached. what all the prophets have preached.
God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time
past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days
spoken unto us by his son. And Jonah and the prophets and
everybody who has spoken for God have always spoken of his
son. And so the son of Jonas the prophet Queen of the South,
verse 31, shall rise up in judgment with the men of this generation
and condemn them, for she came from the uttermost parts of the
earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, a greater than Solomon
is here. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with this
generation and shall condemn it, for they repented at the
preaching of Jonas. And behold, they may be preaching
the same gospel, but they're not the same. There is a greater
than Jonas here. I believe there's somebody greater
than Jonah in our midst this morning. Greater than me, greater
than Jonas, greater than anybody. So why did our Lord rebuke these
people for seeking a sign when the Lord has from the beginning
always given signs? That's of Him. He's the one that
gives. He does give signs and show wonders to sinners. He has
from the very start when God sent Moses to Pharaoh. Moses
was able to cast down that rod and it became a serpent and he
did other things. He did miracles before Pharaoh
to confirm that this is not Moses telling you let my people go.
This is God saying let my people go. In that context God sent a man
with a message. That's why the signs and wonders
were there. Because God sent a man, Moses,
with a message to Pharaoh. Let my people go. And he confirmed
that message with signs and wonders. And that's always been what signs
have been about. There are no signs without a
message. And the signs are in confirmation of the message.
It's the message that's important. God didn't send Moses to Pharaoh
to put on a magic show. He sent him there with a message
that my people are going to go free by the blood of the Lamb.
Whether you like it or don't like it. So Psalms have always been about
that. In the New Testament that's what they were for. They were
always confirming the message. Turn to Mark chapter 16. Let's
see this again. We've looked at this before but
I never know who's You know, some of you are saying, boy,
Chris says that a lot, and others of you are saying, I've never
heard that before. So, you know, the ones that have heard me say
this ten times, just bear with me. Mark 16, 14. And afterward he, Christ, appeared
unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with
their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed
not them which had seen him after he was risen. I wanted to read
quite a bit of context of this because I want you to see that
the issue is faith in Christ. The issue is him, what he did,
and the gospel of him, and the revelation of that gospel, the
faith that he gives in himself. And he said unto them, go ye
into all the world and do what? Do some miracles. No. Preach
the gospel. Preach the gospel. And preach
it to every creature. Don't try to figure out who the
elect are and just preach to them. Just preach to everybody.
God will sort them out, won't he? He will sort them out. He that believeth and is baptized,
verse 16, shall be saved. But he that believeth not shall
be damned. God does the saving and God does
the damning. And these signs shall follow
them that believe. In my name shall they cast out
devils. They shall speak with new tongues.
They shall take up serpents. And if they drink any deadly
thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick
and they shall recover. So then after the Lord had spoken
unto them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right
hand of God and they went forth. and preached everywhere, the
Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs and wonders. That's all they were for, to
confirm the word, to show that this wasn't just a handful of
fishermen and a tax collector and an old man. They came from
God. And so the message they preached
is from God. The Lord himself did many signs.
And so this question is in the back of our minds here and hopefully
we can answer it from the scriptures this morning and understand it.
Why did the Lord condemn them for seeking a sign when the Lord
has plentifully given signs He openly showed the power of
God. He did things that only God can
do. He created things out of nothing. Only God can create
that. And people knew that. Even people that didn't know
him knew only God can do that. They said nobody ever spoke like
him. A blind man in John 9 received
his sight by the Lord's power. And here's what he said in 32
of John. Since the world began, was it
not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born
blind? If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. So we know that our Lord, he
walked on water, he turned water into wine, he made food out of
thin air, really. He broke some bread, there's
this bread, but then there's bread that didn't exist before
because of his hands, his power, his will. He healed all manner of disease,
incurable disease. He raised the dead. But it's
important to understand that the miracles were never intended
to cause faith in Him. He didn't do miracles, He didn't
send His people to do miracles in order for people to say, oh
wow, that's gotta be God, I believe, and I'm gonna follow Christ. That's not what the miracles
were for and nobody ever believed because of the miracles. Faith
doesn't come by miracles. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. The miracles were always about
the message. They confirm the message and
they themselves taught the message. The miracles themselves were
illustrations of how God saves a sinner. We're leprous by nature. We're blind by nature, blind
to God. We're lame by nature. We can't
walk before God in acceptance and favor. We're dead by nature
in trespasses and sin. So they confirmed the message,
but they also showed forth the gospel message and those miracles
that he did and his disciples did by his power. They were an
illustration of how God saves sinners by His power and grace,
and it is God the Son who saves. They showed that. The only one
that could do that. When somebody needed something,
they were desperate, they went to Him. That's a sinner. Are you desperate? Do you hunger
and thirst after righteousness? Do you desperately need God,
communion with God, forgiveness of sin? You're going to have
to go to Him. And even when His disciples and
apostles who were given power to do these things, and people
looked at them like, wow, how did He do that? They always were
quick to say, why are you looking at us as though we did something?
The one you crucified hath shed this abroad. Did they not? Acts chapter 3 verse 12. I was
going to read that, but you know that. They said why are you gazing
upon us as though we did something here? It is his name through
faith in his name That hath wrought and given this man this perfect
soundness in the presence of you all So it taught that Christ is the
miracle he's the salvation he's the And it's His name, through
faith in His name, that sinners are saved from their sins. But nobody ever believed because
of the miracles. How are they going to believe
on Him of whom they've not heard? And how are they going to hear
without a preacher? It's not how are they going to believe
on Him unless He shows them a miracle. It's how are they going to believe
on Him until they hear of Him by the preaching of the gospel
by a man who God sends. His name his authority his attribute
him through faith in him If the Lord spoke and did a miracle In your very presence and all
that impressed you was the miracle you just came away, you know
saying wow What a miracle then you're just going to want more
miracles. I Another sign. He had just cast
out a devil when these ones asked him to see a sign. It's always
more and more. That's religion. Entertain us
and then you'll have to up that next week. Because we're hungry for more
and more. They still sought a sign even
after he just, I mean, But if the miracle gets your
attention and you say, what's going on here? Unless this is God, this man
couldn't do this unless this is from God. Like the blind man
in John 9. Now you're on to something. And
what are you going to do? Do you believe on the Son of
God? Who is he Lord? I want to find out who he is.
I don't want to just see another miracle. I want to know who you
are. If you see in the miracles the
power of God and receive the message as from the very mouth
of God, who alone can do miracles, And you believe the gospel that
was preached by Moses, by Christ, by all of his apostles, all of
his preachers. He spake in time past and in
these last days he has spoken. Have we not seen in the last
five messages in this content in the book of Luke how he emphasizes
the word, the gospel, Mary hath chosen that good part. What's
she doing? She's sitting at his feet and
hearing his word And here again we have it And if you Maybe the miracle
got your attention, you know when he walked and was doing
those among people but then you heard what he said and you realize
that the miracle of all miracles is that God is can and does have
mercy on sinners like me by the precious blood of His Son. The
miracle of all miracles is Calvary. Christ crucified and all other
miracles point to that one, to Him. Religion is all about the earthly,
the physical senses, Whether it's in there trying to replicate
these miracles, they try to have healing services and things like
that, or by entertainment. But nobody's saved that way.
Nobody was saved even by the miracles our Lord did, much less
the fake ones you're trying to do. Here's the sad truth about all
that. In John 12, 37 it says this, but though he had done
so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him. A miracle is not going to give
you faith in the Son of God. That's not the means by which
God conveys faith. He does it by the preaching of
the gospel. And the miracles are in support of that. what
the Lord Jesus was saying to Nicodemus. Look at it with John
3. Look at John 3 with me please. Look at what he said here. John 3, 1. There was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same... Now he's a Pharisee. He's religious. He knows the scriptures. And
a pretty sharp fellow, I'm sure. A scholar. A ruler of the Jews. The same, verse 2, came to Jesus
by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles. You see that? No man can do these miracles.
What did our Lord say in our text? This generation is evil
because they're seeking a sign. No man can do these miracles
that you do, except God be with him. And the way the Lord answered
him, I've always thought that it didn't have anything to do
with what Nicodemus said, but it does in a sense. He pretty
much ignored his fascination with the miracles, but he did
listen to what he said. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. What our Lord is saying now to
this man who was impressed with the miracles, He told him that
if he's going to see and enter the kingdom of God, He's not
going to do that. That's not going to happen by
him seeing these physical outward miracles. God's going to have
to do a miracle in here. Or you're never going to see
God's kingdom or enter into it. You see how it does pertain to
what he was saying. He is talking about a miracle.
But it's the miracle of the new birth. It's the miracle of God
in saving a sinner by his grace. And you know how that happens.
He hath begotten us again unto a lively hope. He beget us again
by the word. By the word. So signs themselves
now are not evil. But here's the thing. If miracles
is what you're after, we see from the word, and this will
be true with you too. We see it in the scripture that
when the Lord showed a miracle and that's all that impressed
them. Oh the miracle, the miracle, the miracle. Let's go see some
more of that. All they wanted was more miracles. But if he
ever performs a miracle on you, on the inside, and gives you
a new heart, all you're going to want is him. You're not going to need to see
anything else but his face. But signs themselves weren't
evil. Seeking a sign was evil. They're evil because they seek
a sign, and it still is. It still is. If you're seeking
a sign and you find one, you're just going to want another sign.
Our Lord Jesus, He gave many signs and they were instrumental
in confirming the message, but the message is Him. If you seek
Him and find, then you're done. You're done. You've found the
pearl of great price. And you're not seeking goodly
pearls anymore, you found him. You found him. And when someone sought a sign,
like these here, we see in Matthew's account of it, they said show
us a sign. That's why he said this is an
evil generation. They seek a sign. Whenever somebody
sought a sign from the master, he never gave them one. Not one
time. Never gave him one. He refused.
But what our Lord did do for these people is he referred them
to Jonah. And this is somebody they never
knew. They weren't contemporaries of Jonah. So what he's referring
them to is the word of God with regard to Jonah. The sign of
Jonah, they didn't see Jonah do anything or God do anything
with Jonah. But they had the scriptures. The sign of Jonah. The only way
you're going to see the sign of Jonah is by reading God's
word and understanding it by his grace. You want a sign? You want to see something from
God miraculous and wonderful? You're going to have to hear.
You're going to have to hear. Just about everyone is familiar
with the story of Jonah. And for time's sake, you know,
we can't read the whole book of Jonah, but I want to read
quite a bit of it this morning. Because, I mean, what are we
going to know what our Lord's talking about? We can't know what he's
talking about unless we see what Jonah had to do with. God told
Jonah to go and preach to the city of Nineveh. That's why he
said the Ninevites are going to rise up in judgment against
you. Because when Jonah preached the gospel to them, they repented.
They repented. That's why God sent him. To give
them repentance. And Nineveh at the time apparently,
or according to many, was the largest city in the world at
the time. A very corrupt and horrible place. And God said,
their evil has risen up before me and I want you to go and preach
to them that they might repent of the evil that they have done
in my sight. And you know, just that alone
is a sign. That's the sign of Jonah right there, isn't it?
Part of it. One aspect of it, God's merciful to sinners. Why
didn't he just rain fire down on them? Like he did Sodom and
Gomorrah. Why hasn't he sunk this whole
world down to hell? Because God likes to show mercy.
Instead of doing that, he sent him a preacher. He sent him a
prophet. Boy, that's a sign. I like that
sign, don't you? That's an indication of something.
The mercy of God towards sinners. So Jonah, let's turn over there,
Jonah chapter one. My fingers won't work. Jonah chapter one, verse one.
You know this about the story. Jonah didn't want to go. He didn't
want to go. He ran. He got on a ship that
was headed anywhere but Nineveh. Anywhere but Nineveh. Look at
Jonah chapter 1 verse 1. Now the word of the Lord came
unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh,
that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has
come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto
Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. You don't want to find
yourself there, running from the presence of the Lord. And
he found a ship going to Tarshish, so he paid the fare thereof and
went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence
of the Lord. But the Lord sent out a great
wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea.
So that the ship was like to be broken. Now you see the gospel
in all of this. This is the garden, isn't it?
What happened to Adam and Eve? From the presence of the Lord.
Banished from the presence of the Lord. And God sent a storm.
A life-threatening judgment upon them. By nature, that's upon
all of us, sons of Adam. The ship was like to be broken.
It's fixing to be over. Then the mariners were afraid
and cried every man into his God and cast forth The wares
that were in the ship into the sea they did everything that
just made sense to them, you know We have these gods. Let's
pray to them and let's do some practical things Let's throw
some things overboard to lighten it of them But Jonah was going
down into the sides of the ship and he lay and was fast asleep.
I So the ship master came to him and said, what meanest thou,
O sleeper? Arise and call upon thy God.
Notice when it says their gods, it's a little G. I don't think this guy knew yet
that he's talking about Big G God, but he was. He said, all of us
are crying to our gods. Maybe you're the only one not
crying to a god. Get up and do it. That may be
the problem, you know. If so be that God will think
upon us that we perish not and they said everyone to his fellow
come and let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this
evil is upon us. So they cast lots and the lot
fell upon Jonah. The lot is cast into the lap
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. God identifies
the problem and he always does doesn't he? Then said they unto him, Tell
us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is come upon us. What is that occupation, and
where are you from? Tell us about yourself. You're
the problem, it looks like. And of what people are you? And
he said unto them, I'm a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God
of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. He made
this ocean we're floating on. And if we ever get to land, If
we make it through this storm, it will be because of him. And then were the men exceedingly
afraid and said unto him, Why have you done this? For the men
knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told
them. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that
the sea may be calm unto us? For the sea wrought and was tempestuous. The judgment of God is on us
now, and we are goners. What are we going to do? What
are we going to do about it? What can we do? 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. Nevertheless, now it says the
men, they didn't want to do that. They didn't want to do that.
They rode hard to bring it to the land, nevertheless, even
though he told them what had to happen now. It had to happen,
but men are going to do everything. But look to the one way, the
one sacrifice. One person has got to be sacrificed
if the judgment of God is going to be satisfied. But they didn't
want to do that. We're not going to do that. No,
we'll just row harder. We got this. You don't got it,
but they could not you see that they could not Verse 14 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 Has done as it pleased thee they're coming
around now We're gonna throw him overboard, but don't judge
us for it Lord. I Don't judge us for it. So they took up Jonah and cast
him forth into the sea and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord
exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord. They'd already
done that in picture. So they offered sacrifice unto
the Lord and made vows. Now the Lord had prepared a great
fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the
fish three days and three nights. What a coincidence. Three days. In the words of this first chapter
the sign of Jonah is pretty clear isn't it? There's wrath upon
the people of this ship because of sin Because of rebellion,
because of a going from the presence of the Lord. Because of the fall.
A banishment from the presence of God. And they didn't want
to kill Jonah. But that just shows us that all
of their efforts now to escape God's wrath are vain. Jonah's
got to go. He's got to go. Whether they
like it or not. They were goners. But Jonah himself
told them what had to happen. Jonah is a picture of our Savior.
How are we going to know how we're going to be saved from
the judgment of God? He's going to have to tell us. He's going
to have to tell us. And he volunteered. He willingly
laid down his life to be sacrificed for the people. Do you see what
our Lord is saying when he said there's just one sign that you're
going to see? Just one sign that matters. There's just one miracle
that's going to save you. It's the sign of Jonah, the prophet.
You might be thinking, how can this be a sign of our Savior?
Now, when Jonah brought this wrath down on himself, it was
because of his sin. Our Savior never sinned. Of course
not. True. But we did, and he took
our place. He took our place under the wrath
of God for sin. I don't understand that, but
I know it's true. And I know because he did, the sea hath
ceased her raging against me. I know that. I know that without
a doubt. He volunteered for the sake of
everybody on that ship, God's elect, to be sacrificed. He made his own soul an offering
for sin. And he said that, he said there's
not going to be any appeasing of God's wrath. Did you notice
that? It's not going to work out any
other way until you cast me over. There's not going to be any appeasement,
no peace, no rest until I'm sacrificed. And he laid down his life for
the sake of others and the sea ceased
a raging. There was a definite result of
his sacrifice. A definite result. Now you think about this. It
was his will. He said, you throw me overboard. Their hands were used. And our
Lord was taken by wicked hands and crucified and slain. But it was by his will. He willingly
offered himself a sacrifice for sin. And the sea, there was a
direct and definite result. Peace. Colossians 1.20 and having made
peace through the blood of his cross. By him to reconcile all
things unto himself. By him I say whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven and you. I love that. Things in earth and things in
heaven that pretty much includes everything but I'm glad he added
the and you. And you. that were at one time
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to
present you holy and unblameable. You talk about a miracle. You
want to see a sign? To present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight. When our Lord made his own soul
an offering for our sin, God was satisfied. And his justice,
now the wrath of God consumed the sacrifice. As the fire consumed the Old
Testament sacrifices, in the sense that our Lord was crushed.
He actually died for our sins. The sacrifice was consumed by
the wrath, but oh, wonder of wonders. The sacrifice consumed
the wrath too. In a glorious and beautiful and
wonderful sense, the sacrifice consumed God's wrath so that
justice was perfectly, completely, and forever satisfied for all
of the sins of those for whom he died. And our Lord rose triumphant. And look at the way Jonah described
these three days. We've got to read chapter two.
It's a little shorter and no problem. We'll read that pretty
quick. But look at this. Look at the way Jonah described
what happened and the end result here. See if we can see by God's
grace the sign of Jonah the prophet. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord
his God out of the fish's belly. And said, I cried by reason of
my affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me. Does this sound
like the language of Psalm 22? And others where the Lord cried,
my bones are consumed within me. And he heard me out of the belly
of hell. Cry, die. And thou heardest my voice out
of the belly of hell. Now you think about that. Was
Jonah exaggerating a little bit maybe? That being a fish's belly
wasn't pleasant, I guarantee you that. The belly of hell? What's our
Lord teaching us here? Some say that the Lord Jesus
actually physically went to hell as he was dead for those three
days. Look, look, we don't know what
happened those three days and three nights. We don't know.
They don't, you don't, nobody knows. But I do know this. Here's
what I know by the revelation of God. Whatever hell is, He suffered it. He did it for
me. That's why I can't even say it
right. He suffered it for me. The wrath
of God was upon him. Look at verse 3. For thou hast
cast me into the deep. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him, didn't it? Jonah didn't say those dadgum sailors cast
me in the deep. He said the Lord did. The Lord
did. In the midst of the seas, And
the floods compassed me about, all thy billows. Remember he
said you made the sea and the land. He made the sea and the
land. That's who we're dealing with here. All of your billows. And all of your waves have passed
over me. And then I said I am cast out
of thy sight. What happened on the cross? My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The very father could not look
upon his son, because he bore my sin and iniquity in his own
body on the tree. I'm cast out of thy sight, yet
I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed
me about, even to the soul. The depth closed me round about,
the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms
of the mountains. The earth with her bars was about
me forever. Yet hast thou brought up my life
from corruption, O Lord, my God. Thou wilt not suffer thy holy
one to see corruption. They had no power over him because
he had no sin. I did, but he paid for mine. And he didn't have any, and so
corruption had no hold over him. And when my soul fainted within
me, I remembered the Lord. I don't a lot, but my Savior
did. His faith was unwavering, not
like mine. My prayer came in unto thee and
to thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities
forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee with
the voice of thanksgiving I will pay that that I have vowed. In
the eternal covenant of grace, he vowed it, didn't he? You know
what he paid? The debt of my sin. He redeemed me with his precious
blood. I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. You want to see a sign? You want
to be impressed by something? See God's salvation in Christ
crucified. And you'll never be the same
again. You'll never be the same. You won't need to see anything
else. You'll say from that day on, one thing is needful. Just
show me Him. Just show me Him again. And the Lord spake unto the fish,
and it vomited Jonah upon the dry land. Do you see what our
Lord now is saying in our text in Luke 11? In effect, to those
that seek, you know, the senses to be impressed, they're looking
for a magic show of some kind. He's saying this, look to the
Word of God. That's where the miracle is seen
and found. The message is the miracle. The
man who is the message is the miracle. The gospel is the true
miracle to God's people. Remember in Luke chapter 16 If I have you turn there we're
not going it's gonna take too long but in Luke chapter 16 The
rich man Lazarus laid at his gate And Lazarus was poor he didn't
have anything to eat and he was sick and the dogs licked his
sores He was a miserable wretch Begging for bread and Lazarus
had no use for him. I mean the rich man had no used
for him, but they both died. And Lazarus went to Abraham's
bosom. He went to be with the Lord.
And the rich man woke up in hell, being in torments. And it's a
longer story. You can look at it in Luke 16,
19 through 31. But at one point of that story,
the rich man said to father Abraham, he said, send Lazarus. Send somebody back from the dead
to tell my brothers so that they don't come to this place. And Abraham said to him, they have
Moses and the prophets. They have the scriptures. They
have the word of God. And the rich man said, nay. He
just dismissed the gospel just like he had when he was living
on this earth. That's not going to change. He said, but if somebody will
go back from the dead, if they see a sign like that, if something,
wow, there's somebody from the dead telling us, you know, then
they'll believe. And Abraham said, if they don't
believe Moses and the prophets, they will not believe though
one came back from the dead. A miracle is not going to do
it. A sign, a wonder is not going to get it done. God's going to
have to send a preacher your way. A preacher. He's going to have to send his
word. You're not going to believe of him who you've not heard.
You're not going to hear without a preacher. You're not going
to hear unless God sends that preacher to preach to you. And think about what our Lord
said in our text again one final time here. He says one sign will
be given. One sign. I'm not going to give
you any other sign. One sign will be given. Talking
about Jonah. But when he says this sign, this
one sign will be given you, he's talking about what he's about
to do. He's not just referring back to the book of Jonah, although
he is. He's saying the word of God now.
That's what you need to know the word, you need to know the
gospel. But he's also talking about that sign of, what is the
sign of Jonah? What was Jonah picturing? What
Christ is fixing to do. That's the sign you're fixing
to have. When you see that happen, Now that, that's salvation. If
you see Christ crucified, that's salvation. God's wrath is upon
us because of sin and there's one solution, one way for that
wrath to be appeased. God, there's got to be a sacrifice
and it can't just be anybody. It had to be Jonah, didn't it?
If one of the others would have said, oh man, you know, you seem
like a nice guy. I'll jump in for you. That's not going to
cut it. It's got to be Jonah. And it's got to be the Lord Jesus
Christ. And think about this with me
now. The one responsible for the sin is the one that's got
to die. And I said it that way specifically
for a reason. The Lord didn't do any sin, but
he was responsible for the sin. He was responsible for it. And
so he's got to die. In him was no sin. But he bore
our sins in his own body on the tree. The Lord Jesus Christ,
who though he did no sin, he was responsible for the sins
of all of his elect. The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all, and he is sacrificed, and the wrath of
God is satisfied. After three days and three nights,
the one sacrificed walked on this earth again. Jonah, his
feet hit dry land. Don't seek a sign. Don't seek
an outward miracle. And don't seek an inward one
either in yourself. Most people these days know better
than they know that the fake miracles of religion are a hoax. Most people are smart enough
to know not to seek for an outward sign. But listen, don't look
for one on the inside either. Don't look for faithfulness in
yourself. Don't look for any improvement in yourself. Don't
look for any quality or qualification in yourself. There's no miracle
in there that you're going to see. You in your flesh You have
Moses and the prophets And now the Apostles and the complete
Word of God and in all of Moses and all the Psalms and all the
prophets What did it say there? where we read so often at the
end of the book of Luke in all of Moses and the prophets and
the Psalms and in all of the New Testament now our Lord today
still is He shows us those things concerning Himself. 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which
also you have received, and wherein you stand. Paul said, I preached
the gospel to you. By the grace of God, you've received
it, and you stand fast. in that liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free. And listen, by which also you're
saved. You're saved. It's the gospel
that's able to save the soul. It's the power of God unto salvation
because it's Christ. By which also you're saved. If
you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you believed
in vain, it may prove that that wasn't the case. But it sure
looks like it now. You've received the gospel. Verse three, for
I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received. How that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures. Jonah was sacrificed. He died
for our sins. He was sacrificed for everybody
that he died for. Christ died for our sins according
to the scriptures. Notice it doesn't just say how
that Jesus died or I Delivered to you that which also received
that Jesus died for our sins It's how that he died according
to God according to the scriptures a Lot of people talking about
Jesus down on the cross, but not according to the scriptures.
They're not most of them and that he was buried and that
he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. That's the
sign of the prophet Jonas. Christ crucified and risen again. Acts 17.2 Paul, as his manner
was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them
out of the scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must
needs have suffered. and risen again from the dead
and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. Salvation is of the Lord. That salvation is a person. May God give us grace to declare him faithfully. Let's
pray. Gracious Father, thank you again
for this precious word. May we, as we've seen so much
in these recent studies, Lord, how precious and vital the gospel
of your grace in Christ is, that you give faith by those means.
And may our faith indeed be in him alone. May it be that faith
which you give that works. Thank you, Lord, for this church
and for revealing yourself to us, Lord. And we pray that as
we look into these things, that you just cause us to fall in
love with you more and more. And that our faith in you would
be stronger and stronger, that we'd grow in your grace and in
the knowledge of our Savior. Bless us as we go from here to
go from here rejoicing in Him and resting in Him in His precious
name. Amen. Amen.