Truth everywhere, open my heart
and let it prepare. Love with thy children thus to
share. Silently now I wait for thee. I like that first verse. I like
the whole hymn, but open, place in my hands the wonderful key. I couldn't help but think about
Bunyan's pilgrim progress. How he and his companion were
stuck in Doubting Castle under the dominion of the giant despair. And all of a sudden, the pilgrim
remembered, I have a key. I have a key right here in my
bosom. to get out. And our Lord said
this of His Word. The Word that I plant, put in
your hearts, is the key to get out of this doubting castle,
out from under the giant despair, because He hath given us so many
precious promises. Precious promises. Alright, Matthew
16. I'm just trying to stay true
to this text. Vital words from our Lord Jesus
Christ. I may repeat some things, but
there's some people in here right now that were not in here the
first hour. Verses one and four, the Pharisees
and Sadducees came tempting our Lord, desiring that he would
show them a sign from heaven. And in verse 4 he said, 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. That's serious. He left them and departed. And he left them
in darkness. He left them, and they're ignorant.
They were tempted. They weren't listening to learn.
They were critiquing him. They weren't interested. Isaiah 59, our Lord says, None
calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for the truth. They trust in vanity, and they
speak lies. But our Lord said, The Lord looked
down from heaven to see if there were any that did understand. Any that did seek God. There's
none. The truth was standing right
in front of these men. And they didn't recognize it.
Christ said, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. And they didn't believe Him.
They didn't believe Him then. And they don't believe Him now. But I do. With all my heart. Our Lord said, a wicked and adulterous
generation seeks after a sign. No sign will be given. He said a generation. Now, in
the Scriptures, there are basically three generations in all of time. From Adam to Moses, two thousand
years. From Moses to Christ 2,000 years,
around that time. And from Christ until he comes
again, 2,000 years. Somewhere thereabout. Matthew
1 begins the generation of Jesus Christ. These are the last days. This is the generation that he's
speaking of. This generation. He said this
generation. shall not pass away till all
these things come to pass. These are the last days, the
last generation or age. And our Lord said a wicked and
adulterous generation. Wicked means evil. Our Lord called
this world and everyone in it wicked. The Lord looked down before the
flood. and said the whole earth is corrupt,
corrupt to no end. Adulterous. That means to look
with lust and desire upon another, and whoever does that, man or
woman, is guilty. And who can say they have not?
To divorce and remarry, our Lord said, is adultery. Our Lord said this is a wicked,
an adulterous generation, that is, an evil age, a corrupt people
who are filled with nothing but sexual lusts, unfaithful to each
other, and especially God. God spoke of spiritual adultery
more than anything else. He said they have committed adultery
with other gods, the gods of stone, idols, gold, silver, money,
other gods, their belly. And he said, a wicked, evil and
adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. A sign from heaven. Show us something. If God would
only show us something. That's what they said to our
Lord. If you'll show us something,
we'll believe. In Mark 8, you don't have to
turn, but I'll read it for you. It's the same account, only this
is added. It says, when they came to him
tempting him, he sighed deeply in his spirit. He said, why does this generation
seek after a sign? He said, no sign will be given. I'm not going to show you any
more signs. No more signs. Because you see,
our Lord has shown sign after sign after sign after sign from
heaven itself. The heavens declare His glory. The firmament showeth His handiwork. Day after day others speak. That's Psalm 19. Bear with me.
I'm going to presume everyone knows this. We need to read it.
Psalm 19. Psalm 19. They say, why doesn't
God show us a sign? They said it then. They're saying
it now, aren't they? Why doesn't God show something?
Why doesn't God, if God is, let Him show Himself? He has. He
does. Every morning of every day, every
single night, clearly, Godhead and His power are clearly seen
by the things that are made. Psalm 19, verse 1, the heavens
declare the glory of God, the firmament showeth His handiwork,
what does religion say? He has no hand. Day unto day are their speech,
night unto night showeth knowledge. What knowledge? God is. There's
no speech, no language, be it Hindu, be it Japanese, be it
English, be it Spanish, where this voice is not heard, their
line, rule is gone out throughout all the earth. They're talking
about the sun, moon, the stars, these lights in heaven, these
emblems of God, in them, verse 4, He had set a tabernacle for
the sun. The whole universe is a tabernacle
for the sun. Which is, who is, as a bridegroom
coming out of his chamber, a strong man to run his race, his going
forth is from the end of the heaven, and the circuit of the
ends of it. There's nothing hid from the heat, the scope, the
rain, the rule thereof." Of what? The sun, the S-U-N. But he's
talking about the S-O-N, the Lord Jesus Christ. Life depends
on the S-U-N. There would be no life without
it. Right? Christ said, I am life. The Son of righteousness arisen
with healing in His wing. I was going to have you turn
to Malachi 4, but I just quoted it. Under you that look for Him
shall the Son of righteousness arise with healing in His wing.
Isaiah 45 says this, drop down ye heavens from above, let the
skies pour down righteousness. Rain. There's a sign from heaven,
isn't there? You mean looking for a sign from
heaven? There's the sun every single
morning, testifying, declaring clearly. And there's no one on
the earth that can't see it. If they're blind, they can feel
it. They're living because of it and would die without it.
That's talking about Jesus Christ. Then there's the rain. We can't
live without water. Rain is the water of life. Where
does it come from? The heavens. It comes down. And Psalm 72 says, He shall come
down like rain. Day unto day, night unto night
others speak, declaring these signs from heaven, God is. God came. This is the greatest sign from
heaven. Here's what I'm leading up to.
The greatest sign from heaven is this, and Paul said it in
this way, great is the mystery of godliness, God. was manifest
in the flesh. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God. The Word was God. All things
were made by him. Without him was not anything
made that was made. The same was in the beginning
with God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and
we beheld his glory. the glory as of the only begotten
of God, the only bodily manifestation, the only bodily appearance of
God who's invisible, God who's in spirit. God came to this earth. Our Lord said this, I'll show
you a sign. In Isaiah 7, he said, ask me
a sign. Said that to that wicked King
Ahaz. He said, I won't ask a sign. He said, I'll show you a sign.
Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you will
call his name God with us." The sign from heaven. The angels
said it at his birth. The angels from heaven, and suddenly
there appeared in the sky a multitude of angelic hosts who cried, glory
to God in the highest, peace on earth, goodwill toward men.
For unto you is born this day a Savior, which is Christ the
Lord, who is God manifest in the flesh. That holy thing come
down from heaven, a sign and a star. Who did he reveal this
to? Who did he show this sign to?
Wise, not many wise men, there were three, but not many wise
men after the flesh, but mostly shepherds sitting on the hill.
And he took this bright star He took this bright star to show,
to lead them and guide them to see the Son, to behold His glory,
to bow at His feet like Simeon, though they saw a baby, they
didn't think of Him as a baby, they saw God's salvation. And
bow at His feet, bring everything they had, all their riches, thinking
it's no sacrifice, and hestle at His feet, hestle and go to
His feet. He said, this is God with us. And He's made Him known to us. Glory to God. Christ said this. He said, No
man knoweth the Father, but the Son. Nobody knows God except
Christ revealing. He said, Neither knoweth any
man the Son, but the Father, and to him to whom the Father
will reveal. In this next chapter, in this
chapter, he asked the disciples, whom do men say that I am? And they began to say many things.
And they say many good things today. But he asked them, whom
do you say that I am? And Peter, by saying, Thou art
the Christ, he's saying, You're God. You're God with us. And
he said, Oh, you're blessed, Simon. Flesh and blood didn't
reveal that to you. It didn't reveal Me to you. The
Father did. Or you wouldn't know Me. Our Lord said, You neither know
Me nor My Father, He said to the Pharisees. They said they
did, but they didn't. They don't believe His Word.
So the Lord says they're wicked. Why is it so wicked to want a
sign? Why is it so wicked? Well, number
one, because he's shown so many and they don't believe them.
Why should he show anymore? Why should he? So he's not. He's
not. But the greatest thing of all
you hold in your lap right now, the greatest proof or sign of
all you hold in your lap right now, this glorious book that
is the Bible, the Word of God, given by inspiration of God,
holy men, spake as they were moved of God. God who at sundry
times in diverse manners spake unto the fathers by the prophets
through his blessed Word, rising up early. All the prophets rising
up early, sending them to people that didn't deserve the Word,
yet he kept sending it, kept sending it, warning them and
telling them what? Christ is coming. Christ is coming.
Christ is coming. Repent. Believe. Christ is coming. Just believe. No, you believe
His Word. A man's only as good as he's
worried. What if you kept telling... You
think of yourself as being somewhat honest, and you try to be. Truthful,
don't you? Try to be truthful, and you keep
telling some... Say you tell your children. You
keep telling them something and they don't believe you. Show
me. Well, I'll believe it when I
see it. But they're angry at it. Isn't my word good enough?
After all the things that he's done to prove them to you, it's
wicked. It's not to believe God. It's
not to take him at his word. It's an insult to God. And then our Lord Jesus Christ,
well, Peter preached Christ at Pentecost and he said this. He
said, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God by miracles and
signs and wonders. Him you've rejected. Thumbs down. All of them. Us. We did despise
Him and reject Him. We all did. Why doesn't God speak out loud? He has. He did. I quoted that to you from Hebrews
1. But God did speak. His name is Jesus Christ. And every word he said is the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help me, God. And everything he said, and nothing
gives more proof to man's utter depravity and hatred of God and
utter foolishness not wisdom, but foolishness, in that men
aren't listening, aren't reading, don't believe a word he said. They're not interested. They're
not interested. Our Lord said this. I'm talking
to every generation. He said to his generation, he
said, how can you believe which receive honor one of another?
How can you, when you're only interested in the honor of someone
else? So you'll say whatever they want you to say. You'll
believe them. It's all correct. He said, let
a man come in his own name and you'll receive him. In fact,
let me come in the Father's name? Declaring the absolute truth?
Reject me. I do want you to turn to John
8. John chapter 8. John chapter 8. Go over there.
They even admitted when he spoke, they said no man spoke like this
man. His words. They couldn't resist the wisdom.
One time they came to him asking many questions, like religionists
love to do. They've got all sorts of questions,
but then nobody's asking any question of any importance. Who's God? What is man? What's the truth? What's salvation? How can I get to God? How can
I know God? How can I be just with God? How
can a holy God have anything? Nobody's asking that. If a man's
married seven times and he dies, who will be his wife? Stuff like
that. Should we pay taxes? And he answered
every question marvelously, amazingly, so that after a while, they couldn't
I had nothing more to say. And he asked them one question.
And they couldn't answer it. And it all ended. John 8. Look at this. Every word
the Lord spoke was wisdom from above. Do men read His words now? Are people reading the Word of
Jesus Christ today? No. Do you? Yes. In fact, I've pretty much put
down everything else. Haven't you? Or at least want
to. Esteem it as foolishness. John
8, look at this. For your blessed comfort, look
at this. John 8, verse 43. Why do you not understand my
speech? Because you cannot hear my word. You are of your father
the devil, the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer
from the beginning, a bowed knot in the truth, because there is
no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh
of his own. He is a liar and a father of
it. And everybody that believes man and these ministers of righteousness
of his are children of his. And because I tell you the truth,
verse 45, you believe it not. Which of you convinces me of
sin? If I'm a sinner, don't believe me, he said. If I'm like you,
don't believe me. If I'm telling you to do one
thing and I do another, don't believe me. But find something. But if I'm not a sinner, if I
was born of a virgin, He didn't say all that. I'm saying this
for us. Since I was born of a virgin,
I don't have the seed of man in me. People don't even see
the necessity of that. Religion doesn't believe that,
that Christ was born virgin. They don't see the need of it.
We do. He must be the virgin-born Son, the seed of God, without
sin. If He's just a man, He's a liar,
like us. If I say the truth, verse 46,
why do you not believe me? Look at this. Look at it with
me. Verse 47. He that is of God heareth
God's words. A whole crowd one day was listening
to him. And he was in John 6, the whole
chapter of John 6 is Christ declaring who he is and declaring what
man is. No man can come unto me. But
all that the Father giveth, lection, all that the Father giveth me,
covenant mercy, shall come unto me. Him that cometh to me, I
will know why I was cast out. Perseverance of the saints. The eternal election of a people.
No man can. The depravity of man. The inability
of man. Man's deadness and sin. The whole
chapter of John 6. And he said it again. And he
said, I said unto you, no man can come unto me. And it says,
a whole crowd of people walk no more with him. I said, these
are hard sayings. We won't hear this. They turn
away their ears from the truth and walk away. And our Lord said
to Peter, and James, and John, and you, and you, and you, and
you, will you also go away? And I say, by the grace of God,
with Simon Peter, where? To whom? To whom shall I look
for answer? To whom shall I look for help?
To whom shall I go for wisdom? To whom shall I go for righteousness?
Where shall I look for righteousness? Because here I don't have any.
Where shall I look for wisdom? Carl Sagan, Stephen, whatever
his name is, man of the world, it's foolishness. Thou hast the
words of life. This is life. This is the truth. This is the whole truth. There
is no other. Is that what you say? Why do you say that? Why aren't
you like everybody else? A heft of color. If you were
right here, you would too. Lift up your voice and say, behold,
your God is giving you an understanding that you might know Him that
is true, and you're in Him that is true. Oh John, that's good
news, isn't it? Good news! I wouldn't have known
if he hadn't come to me like Lazarus and said, Lazarus! Paul! Come forth. Opened my eyes. Brought me from
darkness to light. Took off the gray clothes. He that is of God, Heareth God's
words. He that is not, won't. I don't
believe that, preacher. But then I'll go somewhere else.
He that is of God. Of God are you in Christ. And
of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. How many people have ever even
heard that verse, people? How many people have ever even
heard that verse? 2 Corinthians 5.21. We hear it constantly. These
things are written that you may know that you have life. And that your end is true. He that is of God, heareth God's
words. I hear you, Lord. I hear you
and I believe it. These are words of life. And
so he said, a wicked, An adulterous generation seeks a sign. This is just the most marvelous
thing ever created, more so than the Son itself. This right here. Marvelous. Oh, the Lord shows us sign after
sign after sign, doesn't He? Half. Where? Right here. Right
here. And I'll close with it. I've
only been 25 minutes. Matthew 12, go back there. Matthew 12,
go back there. Here's what he said. I'm sorry,
Matthew 16. Matthew 16. He said the same thing in Matthew
12. You know that? He said the exact same thing.
Because the scribes and Pharisees came to him, tempting him again.
He said, no sign will be given but the sign of the prophet Jonas.
A few chapters back. He says it again now. One sign. One sign. I'm going to give you
one more sign and that's it and nothing else. If you don't believe
this, I'm going to send you strong illusions. All right, he said, this is the
sign, verse four. The sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left. He's gone. He departed. What is? What is? the sign of the prophet Jonah. Did you see it? Did you see it? Would you go back there, Jonah?
Would you go back there? Did you see it when we read that?
Do you know how few people see it? Do you know how few people
believe that that was a true story, that there was an actual
man swallowed by a whale? Do you know how many people scoff
at that and mock at that? Like they do to Paul? They absolutely
believed Adam and Eve were some kind of allegory, that it didn't
really happen. This man swallowed by a whale
named Jonah? I think that's foolishness. And
again, I remind us that whatever men take issue with, here's the
thing, they're calling Jesus Christ a liar. And back then,
to his face, when they did that, he slayed them with the sword
of his mouth. Just slew them right there. And
they had nothing to say. One final show in the garden.
Whom do you seek? They said, Jesus. I am. And laid them in the dust. One
final show. Who I am. Now, you can't take
my life from there. I'm not just Jesus. And no man
takes my life from me. I have come to lay it down. I
have that power. But this is true. This is a true
story. It really happened. Jonah. It really happened because
our Lord said it did. Said it did. And one way I know
it happened is because it so clearly reveals Christ and him
crucified. I saw things I hadn't seen before
as we read it again. Okay, Jonah, as a man, now you
understand that a type can't walk on four legs. A pattern,
a picture can't represent Christ completely. Jonah was running
out of disobedience. He's running from the Lord. Our
Lord set his face like a flint toward Jerusalem, toward Calvary. He came in obedience. He was
obedient even unto death, the death of the crop. But Jonah,
as a type, as it were, went down in the ship, all right? He took
ship. He entered in the ship with these fellas, these godless,
idolatrous fellas who didn't know God and didn't know Jonah.
And he got in the ship with them. See, that's after me. He got
in that boat, paid the price, and got in that boat with them,
all right? These ungodly fellas. And what did he do? He went back
in the hinder part of the ship and fell asleep. And a storm rose, a tempest.
Who said it? God did. To do what? To show
these fellows who this is in the boat with you, and why he's
there, and what that means to them. The sign of the Prophet
Jonas. You with me? So he went down
in the ship, and the shipmaster came and said, Wait, don't you
care that we perish? Simon Peter did just that. Don't
you care? He must not have known him. And they said, let's cast lots.
Our Lord of the Scripture says in Psalm 22, they cast lots for
my best share. They cast lots, a lot fell upon
Jonah. Yes, you with wicked hands have
taken and crucified the Lord of glory, but you did what God
determined before to be done. The lot is cast into the lap,
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." They said, tell
us why this evil is upon us. What's your occupation? What's
your work? Where'd you come from? Where's
your country? Those are your people. Christ said, I'm from above. I'm from heaven. I've come to
do my Father's business. That's my occupation. Savior's
my occupation. Christ is a preacher in my occupation. I'm from heaven. You're from
beneath. Who are my people? Call my name Jesus. I'll save
my people from their sin." No coincidence, Jonas sounds a whole
lot like Jesus. No coincidence. He said, then,
I'm a Hebrew. He became a Hebrew. An Israelite. The seed of Abraham. I fear the
Lord, the God of heaven. sea and the dry land. They said,
why have you done this? They knew he fled from the presence
of God. Why did Christ come here? In fear of God and in love to
God and in love for his people and a covenant he came to this
earth. They said to him, verse 11, what shall we do unto thee?
That the sea, we're going to die, we're going to perish. The
wrath of God is upon us because we're idolaters. What are we
going to do? What can we do to cease the raging
wrath of most high God against us sinners? He said, take me
up. If I be lifted up. If I be crucified. Cast me into
the sea. Cast me forth into the sea. And
our Lord said of His disciples, of all His people that come unto
Me, he that cometh to Me, I would no wise cast out. Why? Because God cast him out. He
hung on Calvary's tree, crucified as our substitute, our sin offering,
our representative, and He cried the first words out of His mouth
from Psalm 22, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? And
He said that for our sake. He knew he was cast out of the
presence of God for our sake, that we might be brought into
the presence of God. Read on. And he said, this is
all for my sake. It's all for my sake. This whole
universe, everything, every purpose, especially salvation, is for
Christ's sake, to the praise of the glory of His grace, that
in the ages of to come He might show unto us the exceeding riches
of His grace through His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus
our Lord. But the man kept rowing. You might as well quit rowing.
You can't get there. Cast your care on Him. And so they start crying, finally,
verse 14, unto thee, Lord, Jehovah, we beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech
thee, let us not perish for this man's life. Lay not upon us innocent
blood. Didn't they say at Calvary? Let
his blood be upon us and our children. But yet God did not
hold it to their charge. Why? We did esteem him stricken and
smitten of God. hid, as it were, our faces from
Him. We crucified the Lord of glory. But why didn't God hold
that to our charge? Because Christ prayed from that
same cross we hung Him on, Father, forgive me. Lay not this sin
to their charge. So they took up Jonah, cast him
into the sea, and the sea stopped. Peace. Be still. One sign. No more. No more signs. The sign of the
prophet, gentlemen. And the whole second chapter
is Christ speaking, like Psalm 38. The sins have gone over me
more than I can bear. And He cried, you observe anything
or anyone, you observe in lying vanity, look under His holy temple,
look to the Lord Jesus Christ who sits in the temple. Salvation
is of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ. Our Jonah. Our Jonas. Oh, what a glorious
sign. A sign from heaven. A message from heaven. Clearer
than the noonday sun. Christ and Him crucified. Christ was buried as Jonah was in the belly Quail
three days and three nights. So Christ was in the heart of
the earth three days and three nights. Buried. He's dead. And
that fish vomited out. Somebody said the fish was an
Armenian. Couldn't stomach a Calvinist.
You used to say that all the time. Couldn't stomach it. Vomited
him out. Salvation is up with the Lord. And our Lord said this in the
very last book of this book, He said, I am He that was dead,
and I am alive forevermore. Thanks be unto God. Alright,
let's sing in closing a hymn. What number? 233. That's it. Depth of mercy,
can there be? Mercy still reserved for me.
Yes, in Christ there is mercy. for the Chief of Senate. Depth of mercy can there be,
mercy still reserved for me? Can my God His wrath forbear
me, the chief of sinners spare? I have long withstood his grave,
long provoked him to his death. Gunned to his core, freed him
by a thousand foes. Now incline me to repent, let
me now my sins remit. Thou my soil revoke, deplore
weak belief, and sin no more." You're dismissed. so