All right, well, join me today
in Luke chapter 11 again, as we're moving through this chapter. And today's lesson is entitled,
No Sign Given. And you know, each of the gospels
kind of presents us with a different aspect or view of the Lord, and
kind of each part becomes a part of a composite of a whole. And
the text that we're going to look at today in verse 27 through
30 is recorded in Luke and also in Matthew. And we'll take a
look at those, but we want to focus on the aspect that's presented
to us here in Luke today. So in context, I wanted to back
up just a little bit because it deals with what's been going
on before it. And in context, we have the report
in the previous verses, back clear to verse 14 of Luke chapter
11, where Jesus was casting out a devil. And some of those, some
wondered at that. And there was a devil that didn't
speak, and the man couldn't speak. And when he cast out the devil,
he was healed. And some wondered at that, but
others, it said in verse 16, tempted him and sought a sign
from heaven. you know, in Matthew's account
it said there were scribes and Pharisees that said we would
see a sign from the, but here it just said others, and so in
response to these ones that took issue with him casting out a
devil, and tempting him, trying to catch him in something that
they might use against him, and seeking a sign. In response,
in verses 17 through 26, we have the words of the Lord, and in
His response where He explained to them that a kingdom divided
against itself doesn't stand, and he didn't cast out devils
by the prince of devils, and then the danger in attributing
to the work of the Holy Spirit to devils. It was very, very bad. But he had all these mighty words
of wisdom and the sovereign eternal wisdom words and demonstration
of his almighty power and saving his people. And when he talks
about the strong man being overcome by a stronger one, And then the next part that delved
into the futility of attempting to come to God under one's own
terms and self-righteousness. When they get done, the end of
them is worse than the first. And so we come to verse 27, after
all that's gone by. And as it came to pass, verse
27 of Luke chapter 11, and it came to pass, as he spake these
things, those things that we just talked about, a certain
woman of the company lifted up her voice and said unto him,
blessed is the womb that bare thee and the paps which thou
hast sucked. But he said, yea, rather blessed
are they that hear the word of God and keep it. 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. And so This woman, in response to these
wise and gracious words and these almighty miracles, these true
signs from heaven that had taken place, lifted up in praise, she
says, the womb that bare thee and the paps which thou has sucked.
And so she's offering up praise to the mother of Jesus here.
And he says, well, that's true, but rather what we ought to be
praising is those, blessing those that hear the word and keep it. Those that the Spirit of God
has been active in and opens their ears. I was brought to
mind about Norm's lesson last week in Zechariah about ye that
hear. There was a verse in one of the
scriptures he brought that said that they had uncircumcised ears. Their ears would only hear with
the fleshly part. They couldn't hear the spiritual
part of it. And that's what he's addressing
here. An evil generation seeking a
sign when he just cast out a devil and he'd raise people from the
dead. Remember in Luke chapter 4 he
said, he read from Isaiah and said, the lame walk, the deaf
hear, the lepers are cleansed, the blind are made to see, and
this day is all these scriptures fulfilled. And all those were
mighty miracles of of God that identified him, who he was, and
yet they didn't have eyes. He said, unless a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And though he was standing
right there among them, those that weren't born again didn't
have eyes to see him. So anyway, this woman that lifts
up praise to the mother of Jesus, and we're not gonna go into this
mariolatry stuff here because that's not the point, but it
calls to mind the words that were recorded in Luke chapter
one, where the angel came to Mary and said, blessed art thou
among women. And later on in verse 28, I believe
it is, she's talking to Elizabeth and she said, from henceforth,
all generations are going to call me blessed. And this scripture
is a witness to that prophecy, as it were, that they were going
to call her blessed. And so the Lord says, yeah, that's
true, but she's not effectual in your salvation. And the thing that's effectual
in your salvation is they that hear the word of God and keep
it, hear that gospel and believe it and keep it. But it's important
that we keep all these things in context as they all form a
part of the whole. And the things we hear of the
Lord by his word are always more than appear on the surface and
require revealing by the Spirit. Again, as our pastor taught Wednesday
night in Zechariah 8, you that hear. So we look back in Luke
at the main thing, the coming of the Lord in the flesh. And
there it's in Luke chapter 1 verse 26. In the sixth month the angel
Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth
to a virgin, a spouse to a man whose name was Joseph of the
house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel
came in unto her and said, Hail thou that art highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed
art thou among women. And so she says, I don't quite
understand that, but so be it. And the angel said, thou shalt
bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. And of course,
we know that it was said that he shall save his people from
their sins. And then we have that prophecy
concerning Mary in Luke chapter 1 verse 42, when she's with Elizabeth
there, who was pregnant with John the Baptist. And she spake
out with a loud voice and said, blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And Mary said, my soul
doth magnify the Lord and my spirit rejoiced in God, my savior,
for he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden. For
behold, from henceforth, all generations shall call me blessed.
And then she, she brings it back to the main thing those for he
that is mighty and done to me great things and holy is his
name. And, and she goes on to talk about his mercy to his people
and to the seed of Abraham forever. Regarding signs, prophecies concerning
signs that we find early on, we turn to Luke chapter 2 regarding
Simeon who came to the temple when they brought Jesus to the
temple to consecrate him there with the sacrifice that was required
by the law. So in Luke chapter 2 verse 27,
and he, Simeon, came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought
the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law,
then he took, then took he, or that's Jesus, up in his arms
and blessed God and said, Lord, now let us thy servant depart
in peace according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
which thou has prepared before the face of all people. A light
to lighten the Gentiles, You know, our text here in Luke 11
regarding Jonah going to the Ninevites, the Ninevites was
not Jews. The Ninevites was a Gentile nation. A light to lighten the Gentiles
and the glory of thy people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marveled
at those things which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them
and said unto Mary his mother, behold, This child is set for
the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign
which shall be spoken against. Yea, a sword shall pierce through
thine own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be
revealed." Well, you know, it says here, Jesus knowing their
thoughts. Jesus knowing their thoughts.
many hearts revealed. Nothing is hidden unto Him with
whom we have to do." And so with that, we turn back to Luke 11,
27, and here the Lord agrees with this certain woman regarding
the blessedness of His earthly mother because it was written
that it should be so. It was written many times there
in Luke chapter 1 and 2 there. But that was not the main point. the gospel was the main point
and that's what Jesus redirects their attention to. And it came
to pass as he spake these things a certain woman of the company
lifted up her voice and went on about the blessedness and
but he said in verse 28, yea rather And blessed are they that
hear the word of God and keep it. And so, you know, we spent
some time on that, hearing the word of God and keeping it in
the parable of the sower in Luke chapter eight. So I'm not going
to spend time on that today. But, you know, hearing with the
spiritual ears that come with the new birth and doing the believing
the gospel and keeping it. That's what that was about. and
that seed that fell on good ground, but many of the seed landed on
ground that was not compatible with the gospel and took no root
and bore no fruit. So we're moving on to this next
portion of this scripture here in verse 29. And the people were gathered
thick together and he began to say, This is an evil generation. Note the contrast between verse
28 and 29. Blessed are they that hear the
word of God and keep it. And in verse 29, this is an evil
generation. They seek a sign. But 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. Well, here we have a classic
example of the results of the fall. You know, in 1 Corinthians
2.14 says, The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God for their foolishness to him, neither can he know them
for they are spiritually discerned. And so here we have all these
signs and these wise words and the gospel declared and yet,
to them it was just foolishness and and again we we mentioned
in john 3 3 where it says except a man be born again he can't
see the kingdom of god can't see it can't enter it and as
we look at this this evil generation that seek
a sign, but there's no sign be given it but the sign of Jonas
the prophet. For as Jonas was assigned to
the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation."
Now in Matthew's account, as we said, there are different
the different Gospels present to us different aspects, and
then we get different views of the Lord through each one. And
in Matthew, it more focuses on the aspect of this having to
do with the resurrection. In Matthew 12, verses 39-41,
if you want to turn in your Bibles there to Matthew 12, verse 39, There should be no sign be given
but the sign of Jonas, the prophet. As Jonas was three days in the
whale's belly, so shall the son of man be three days in the heart
of the earth. And then he says, the men of
Nineveh will rise up in judgment against this generation because
they repented at the preaching of Jonas. And so that's the presentation
that we have from Matthew. But again, we're kind of sticking
with the Luke record here because it brings another layer of grace
here and knowledge about the scriptures and stuff. And so,
as always, we find The depth of the wisdom, the layers of
grace that we find are always greater than what appear on the
surface. And in two simple verses here in Luke 11, 29, and 30,
which really come out of the Old Testament gospels regarding
the prophet Jonah and the Ninevites, So we hope to, by the Spirit,
to draw some correlations between what was written about Jonah
in the time with the Ninevites and the time Christ was speaking
these words to this generation that was confronting him and
seeking a sign that were non-believers. Again, I don't want to take away
from the view in Matthew, which talks about his resurrection,
this resurrection that's pictured in being three days in the heart
of the earth and how that pictures his resurrection from his sacrificial
death in the place of his people that satisfied the righteousness
and justice of God the Father as recorded in Isaiah 53 11.
But, you know, the scriptures say, He was delivered for our
offenses and raised again for our justification. And it's Christ
that died, yea rather is risen again, who's at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. So that's kind of from
the Matthew perspective. But on the level in reference
to Jonah, here, we should look at some background information
here a little bit about Jonah. And that the book of Jonah was
written about in the mid 700s BC. And there's four chapters
regarding this prophet and his calling by the Lord to preach
to a Gentile nation. And we can find some other references
to Jonah in the Book of Second Kings and Chapter 14 where it
talks. He's in he's in an awful place.
the in the 15th year in second kings 14 23 it says in the 15th
year of amaziah the son of joash king of judah jeroboam the son
of joash king of israel began to reign in samaria and reigned
40 in one years And he did that which was evil in the sight of
the Lord. And he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam,
the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. And he restored the coast
of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain,
according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he
spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the
prophet, which was of Gath Hefer. Amittai, his father name meant
stable and trustworthy. And this city of Gath-Hefer,
his name represents a wine press. And it was about halfway between
the Sea of Galilee and the coast there in the land of Samaria.
And in that time, you know, Judah kind of connived with Assyria
against Samaria, and so there was all kinds of things going
on there. You can read about that in 2
Kings chapter 15. But the main point is that the
Assyrians were adversaries, and they weren't even that friendly
with the other ones that they connived with, that they made
a They did it, but they didn't care. They were going to just
kill them, too, later on. So Judah became a vassal state
to Assyria. And we can read about them being
in league with Assyria in 2 Kings 15. So it's not remarkable, then,
that Jonah was reluctant to go preach the word of the Lord to
a Gentile nation who was, in fact, an enemy. And, you know,
there's a lesson there for us in not judging, you know, who
we should present the gospel to. And we just present the gospel
and it goes out and we leave the rest up unto the Lord. And,
you know, Jonah had a hard time with that. He said, I don't want
to go to the Nineveh. And he took off the other way. He went to Joppa. And he booked
a ship to Tarshish, which, according to my map, is kind of in the
southern Mediterranean coast of Spain, a little seaport there.
And it was the ships of Tarshish, you'll find in the scriptures,
were famous for being constructed for long voyages and hauling
great cargoes worth much, much value and gold and spices. cloths and all kinds of things
that were in trade in those days. And so he goes down to Joppa
and books a ship to Tarshish to get away from having to go
and preach the word to Nineveh. You know, they might have just
said, we'll probably just kill you. So behind all this, though, we
see the hand of the Lord God Almighty whose wisdom and knowledge
and judgment are past finding out. So turn with me over to
Jonah chapter 1 for a couple of verses here. Jonah chapter 1 verse 1 says,
Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai,
saying, Arise and go to Nineveh, that great city. It's recorded
here that in chapter 3 that it was an exceeding
great city of three days journey. It took three days to kind of
go around it or cross it. And go to that great city and
cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah
rose up to flee and to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord
and went down to Joppa and he found a ship going to Tarshish
and he paid the fare thereof and he went down into it to go
with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. And you
know the rest of that story, how the Lord sent a great storm
out there, and the seamen all prayed to their gods, and then
they woke him. He was sleeping. They woke him
up to pray to his God about this, and it was revealed to him that
he was the cause of the great storm. And he said, you're just
going to have to chuck me overboard. And they did, and then everything
was calm. And then the fish, the great
whale swallowed him up and three days he was in the whale's belly. And then he repented in that
whale's belly and he cried out to the Lord there. And so the
whale took him to Nineveh and coughed him out there on the
beach. And so join me now in Jonah chapter three, it says,
the wickedness of the Assyrians was made known unto the Lord. He says, their wickedness has
come up before me. They were awful people. They
worshiped other gods and they sacrificed atrocious sacrifices
to them. They killed everybody they went
up against. They were violent, vengeful,
awful people. And yet the purpose of the Lord
was that the gospel be declared to them. In Jonah chapter three,
verse one, and the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second
time saying, arise and go into Nineveh, that great city and
preach into it the preaching that I bid thee. And so Jonah
arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now
Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey. And
Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he
cried and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
Forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. And you know,
the Lord, the only thing that you can say here is that the
Lord prepared the people for the word that came to them. Because
in verse five, it says, the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed
a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them, even to
the least of them for the word came unto the king of Nineveh
and he arose from his throne and he laid his robe from him
and covered him with sackcloth and satin ashes and he caused
it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree
of the king and his nobles saying let neither man nor beast hurt
nor flock taste anything let them not feed nor drink water
but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily
unto God Yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the
violence that is in their hands. Kind of reminds you of, you know
what it says in Ezekiel, when I give them a new heart, when
I wash them with water, then they'll look at their ways which
were evil and loathe themselves. And in verse 9 it says, who can
tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce
anger that we perish not? And God saw their works, that
they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil
that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not."
Now, in the purpose of God, that which he determined was made
to come to pass, and he didn't really change his mind regarding
that he just caused these things to come to pass the way that
he determined. And it was in the purpose of
God that Later on, some hundred years later, these same Assyrians
would be his rod of vengeance against Israel. he would cause
them to come down from the north and conquer all that area. And that is all recorded in Isaiah
8. And we'll read a little bit of
that. But I want you to note some striking similarities prophesied
of in Isaiah with what we read throughout our study here in
Luke. So join me in Isaiah 8, verse
4 in your Bible. and we'll read a few verses here. Isaiah chapter eight, verse four. For before the child shall have
known to cry, my father and my mother, the riches of Damascus
and the spoil of Samaria, that's where Jonas was from, shall be
taken away before the king of Assyria. And the Lord spake also
unto me again, saying, for as much as this people refuses the
waters of Shiloh that go softly." You know, they had this little
stream, Shiloh, that was a quiet stream, and it was said it kind
of ran smooth as oil, and it wasn't a big rambunctious river
like the ones in the Tigris and Euphrates and those major rivers
of further east. But they didn't appreciate what
they had there. And it's kind of a picture of,
they didn't appreciate the Lord that came. They didn't appreciate
the gospel. They refused the waters of Shiloh
that go softly and rejoice in reason and remoliasson. You know,
those were their enemy people. Those two guys were their enemies
that were attacking them. And they said, yeah, we, they're,
They're kind of against us, but we kind of like the way they
do things. Now, therefore, behold, the Lord
bringeth upon them the waters of the river, strong and many,
even the king of Assyria, in all his glory. And he shall come
up over all his channels and go over all his banks. And he
shall pass through Judah, and he shall overflow and go over,
and he shall reach even to the neck, and the stretching out
of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Emmanuel. Isn't
that interesting how that's brought in? Associate yourselves, O ye
people, and ye shall be broken in pieces. He says you're going,
you're confederating yourselves with the enemy and going away
from the Lord God. Associate yourselves, O ye people,
and ye shall be broken in pieces. And give ear, O ye foreign countries. Gird yourselves, and ye shall
be broken in pieces. Gird yourselves, and ye shall
be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it
shall come to naught. Speak the word, and it shall
not stand. For God is with us. He is with his people. And even
though these Turbulent times are going to come over the nations
and they're going to be led into captivity and many of them killed
and everything. There was going to be a remnant.
It shall not stand, for God is with us. For the Lord spake thus
unto me with a strong hand and instructed me that I should not
walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not a confederacy
to all them whom this people shall say a confederacy? Neither
shall you fear their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord
of hosts himself, and let him be your fear, and let him be
your dread, and he shall be for a sanctuary. But a stone for
a stone of stumbling and for a rock of a fence to both the
houses of Israel for a gin and a snare to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble
and fall and be broken and be snared and be taken." Isn't that
what Simeon said in Luke chapter 2, verse 4? He said, this child
shall be for a snare and a stone of stumbling. and bind up the
testimony seal the law among my disciples and i will wait
upon the lord that hideth his face from the house of jacob
and i will look for him behold i and the children whom the lord
hath given me are for signs and wonders in israel from the lord
of hosts which dwelleth in zion he just speaks of a remnant that
the lord keeps to himself and and delivers through all time.
So then the sign of Jonah would turn out to be much more than
just a prophecy regarding the resurrection of the Lord for
the people of Israel, who in the time of Emmanuel witnessed
so many mighty works. All those things that we talked
about that have been recorded in the book of Luke just by itself.
So many miracles, so many actual signs from heaven. And yet they
resulted in few believing the word of God, the feeding of the
5,000. And, you know, after that, many,
and John said that a lot of them just took off, said, this is
a hard saying, when he brought out the gospel and they walked
no more with him. You know, in Luke chapter three,
it's interesting that we find John the Baptist preaching in
the wilderness. In Luke chapter 3, verse 2, it
says, Annas and Caiaphas, being high priests, the word of God
came unto John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. And he came
into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance
for the remission of sins. Isn't that what Jonah went to
Nineveh and did? He went and said, repent. this country is going to be overthrown,
tore down in 40 days. As it is written in the book
of the words of Esaias, the prophet sang, the voice of one crying
in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord, make his
path straight. Every valley shall be filled, every mountain and
hill brought low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the
rough way shall be made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation
of God. Then said he to the multitude,
this is John speaking when he's baptizing in Jordan. He said
to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation
of vipers. You know, he could have just
said generation of Ninevites. Huth warned you to flee from
the wrath to come. Bring forth therefore fruits
worthy of repentance. Now the Ninevites, they did that.
They repented and sat clothed in ashes and believed, it says
they believed the word of God. But here it says bring forth
fruits worthy of repentance, which here they didn't do. and
begin not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father,
for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise
up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid
to the root of the tree. Every tree therefore which bringeth
not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Well, you know, It was going
to be just about exactly 40 years from when he said that till the
time the Romans came and they tore down Jerusalem. They sacked Israel and they tore
Jerusalem and burned it to the ground and looted it and pillaged
it. Killed a lot of the people that
were there for the Passover. There was like three million
Jews in the city and there was, if you read about it in Josephus,
The carnage was awful. People were starving. There was
gangs and looting and killing. And there were so many dead people,
they couldn't get rid of them. They couldn't bury them fast
enough after the starvation and the plagues that took place. And they were throwing them over
the walls. And the Roman general, he just said, oh my word, this
is Why don't they give up? This is awful. So there's some similarities
there that Jonas said in 40 days, this city will be overthrown
unless you repent. And here we have 40 years and
Jerusalem is going to be torn down. Jesus said, and shall lay
thee even with the ground and thy children within thee, and
they shall not leave thee one stone upon another, because thou
knewest not the time of thy visitation." Luke 19, 44. And Luke 21, 6. As for these things which ye
behold, the days will come in which there shall not be left
one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. And so, as
Jonah began to enter into the city, a day's journey in Jonah
chapter 3, and preached the gospel to those people and said, 40
days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed
God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest
of them, even to the least of them. Now, according to the purpose
of God, a Gentile nation heard the word of the Lord. And for
a time, it seems they repented and turned from their ways, which
were not good. And you know, God didn't change
his mind regarding them. And a hundred years later, the
entire book of Nahum is written about the fall of Nineveh and
the Assyrians being conquered, I think, by the Babylonians.
And because even though he used them as a rod of vengeance, They still affected his people
and so he had vengeance against them. So here we have this scripture
today, there shall no sign be given it. but the sign of Jonas
the prophet, for as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, a
sign to repent, a sign to turn from the worship of idols and
the things they were doing in evilness, so shall the Son of
Man be to this generation. The Lord was there. He did many
mighty works. The signs were there. And unless
they turn from their evil ways, and, you know, the fall is so
great, though, that His wise words and the miracles that He
did just aggravated them more and more and more as they lost
more and more power and more and more control over the people.
They sought more and more to kill him just as the scriptures
declare that people were gathered together to do what he had before
declared to be done in offering up his own son as a sacrifice
on the behalf of his people to satisfy that righteousness and
justice of God. So we'll stop there. We're out
of time and next time we'll take a look at the Queen of the South
that came up to hear the wisdom of Solomon and he says, she came
a long way and yet a greater than Solomon is here. So thank
you for your attention and as always, be free.