Well, good morning to everyone.
If you would, open your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 12.
Our lesson this morning is going to be taken from Matthew chapter
12. And before we begin, let's bow
together in prayer. Our Father, how truly thankful
we are to be enabled by thy grace to meet together this morning
in this manner in which you've given to us and to worship thee.
And Father, I beg of thee that you would bless your word this
morning. You promised that you would always
bless your word. Father, I pray you'd bless your
word. Send it forth to accomplish your purpose of mercy and grace
for your people. Father, I pray you'd send your
word forth to accomplish the purpose of the salvation of your
people, for the comfort and edification of the hearts of your people.
Father, bless us. with your presence as we look
into your word. Without thee, we can do nothing.
Unless you meet with us, we meet in vain. Father, I beg of you
that you'd bless us this morning. We're thankful for all the many
blessings that you have so freely bestowed upon us. You bless this
congregation so, so very richly over all these years. And Father,
we're thankful. Thankful for your mercy, thankful
for your grace, knowing that It is all because of your will
and providence, not because of any good found in us, but all
because of thy goodness. And father, we're thankful and
we would beg of thee that you would not leave us alone, but
that you would continue to bless and lead and guide. Continue
to bless your sheep and call out your sheep according to your
goodwill and purpose. Father, we pray for our country
and our world at this time that you would Give us some relief
from the sickness that is sweeping the land, that you would provide
some way out. Father, we pray that you would
send some peace for the unrest that is sweeping our land. Give
people the wisdom and the heart to be able to care for one another
and to get along. Father, we pray these things
for your glory, that your people might be blessed and live in
a land of peace where we might continually be able to worship
Thee. Father, we pray for the sick
and the afflicted. We're thankful to know that these
things do not come to your people by accident, but it's according
to your will and purpose. And Father, we pray that you'd
be with them in this time of sorrow and sickness and different
difficulties that you've called your people to. Bless them with
your presence. until such time as you see fit
to provide a way out. All these things we ask, and
we give thanks in that name which is above every name, the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. All right, the title of
our message this morning is A Warning to Those Seeking Signs. I have
several points I want to give you about this concerning those
who seek signs and seek miracles in order to give them faith or
to strengthen their faith. And number one is this, it's
a warning. It is unbelief that seeks for signs and miracles.
Faith never has to seek for signs and miracles. It's unbelief that
has to seek for signs and miracles. Look here at Matthew chapter
12, verse 38. Then certain of the scribes and
of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from
thee. But he answered and said unto them, an evil and adulterous
generation seeketh after a sign. and there shall no sign be given
to it but the sign of the prophet Jonah." Now, the Pharisees said
this like, you know, if we just had a little more evidence that
Jesus is the Christ, we would believe on you. Now, they said
this after they had already seen the Lord Jesus heal all manner
of sicknesses. No matter who came to him with
any sickness, there was no sickness that was a mystery to him. There
was no sickness he could not cure. They had seen the Lord
heal the paralyzed. They'd seen him give sight to
the blind, hearing to the deaf. They had seen the Lord Jesus
raise the dead. I mean, they saw the dead brought
back to life. They saw a dead corpse brought
back to life, walking around and talking. They saw that. They
had seen the Lord cast out demons. They had seen plenty of evidence
already, hadn't they? And more importantly, They had
heard plenty of evidence that Jesus is the Christ. They had
heard the evidence that the Lord Jesus Christ is the savior of
sinners. He's God's promised Messiah.
They had heard the witness of John the Baptist, the forerunner
of Christ saying, behold, the lame of God, which taketh away
the sin of the world. They had heard the Lord Jesus
speak and expound on the scriptures. They had heard the Lord Jesus
Christ speak of the grace of God, from the scriptures, from
the word of God. They had heard Christ, the incarnate
word, expound upon the written word of God. They heard the Lord
Jesus Christ speak as never man spake before. He spake with the
power of the Holy Spirit. He had authority when he spoke.
And now they're asking, give us a sign so we can believe on
you. Now, you and I today put ourselves in real danger when
we seek for signs and miracles in order to help us believe or
in order to strengthen our faith. If we say that I need a sign,
I need a miracle in order to believe, what I'm saying is Christ
is not enough. If we're seeking for miracles
to bolster our faith, we're saying I need something other than Christ
alone. in order to believe. And the
Lord calls that an evil people, an adulterous generation. It's
unbelief that always is seeking for signs and miracles. Belief
never does that because true saving faith needs no other evidence
other than the plain word of God. All saving faith needs is
to hear of Christ. So saving faith never seeks for
signs and miracles and wonders. It's unbelief that seeks for
those things. And, you know, seeing more miracles,
more evidences of the deity of Christ would never ever have
convinced the flesh to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You
know, if we're looking for miracles in order to make us believe we
will remain like King Agrippa, almost persuaded, almost persuaded,
but never fully believing on Christ. If we're looking for
miracles to make us believe on Christ, we'll be like those the
Apostle Paul warned Timothy about. Those who are ever learning and
never coming to a knowledge of the truth. People like this are
always learning. They're always learning. They're
always learning new and interesting things. They're always bringing
up things to philosophize about, but they never come to believe
on Christ. They don't come to believe on
Christ because they're always taking up with too many other
things. They want to hear some new thing
all the time and they never come to believe on Christ. Then the
reason for that, that that is true is my second point. Signs
and miracles never produce faith. Now it's unbelief that seeks
for signs and miracles, but signs and miracles never produce faith. Faith in Christ is not produced
by seeing miracles. Faith in Christ is not strengthened
by seeing signs and wonders. Faith in Christ is both produced
and strengthened by hearing the Word of God. Look with me at
Romans chapter 10. This is something I quote so
frequently. If I want us to turn and read
it, see it with our own two eyes, see it in the Word of God. Maybe
the Lord will make it sink into us, the importance of hearing
the gospel, because this is how God gives faith to his people.
Romans chapter 10, verse 17. So then faith cometh by hearing,
not by seeing miracles, but by hearing and hearing what? Hearing
by the word of God. Hearing the gospel is how God
gives his people saving faith in his son. Now, would you like
to see a true miracle? Would you like to see a revelation
of the glory of God in our day? Well, I'll tell you what you
do. You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll see a miracle.
That's right, you'll see a miracle. You'll see how God can save a
sinner like you. You believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and you will see the glory of God. You'll see the glory
of God and how He saves sinners through His Son, through the
doing and the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at John chapter
11. Our Lord told us this in John
chapter 11. If you would see the glory of God, if you want
to see a miracle, just believe on Christ. John chapter 11 verse
39. Jesus said, take you away the
stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, sayeth unto
him, Lord, by this time he stinketh for he hath been dead four days.
Jesus saith unto her, said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest
believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God. If you would believe
on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll see God's glory. You'll see God's glory and how
God saves sinners. Now saving faith is a gift of
God. It's not a gift that he gives
by us seeing signs and miracles and seeing evidences that make
us believe on him. Saving faith is the gift of God
that he miraculously gives through the preaching of the gospel.
Look at the book of Luke chapter 16. Luke chapter 16, saving faith
never comes through seeing signs and wonders and miracles. It's
always by hearing of Christ. Look at this in Luke chapter
16, beginning in verse 19. There was a certain rich man
which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously
every day. And there was a certain beggar
named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores and
desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's
table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. And it
came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels
into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was
buried. And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments. And seeth Abraham afar off, and
Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father
Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip
the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am
tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember
that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things, and likewise
Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted, and
thou art tormented. And beside all this, between
us and you, there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which
would pass from hence to you cannot. Neither can they pass
to us that would come from thence. And he said, I pray thee therefore,
father, that thou would ascend him to my father's house. For
I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they
also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him,
they have Moses and the prophets. They have the scriptures, the
Old Testament scriptures, let them hear them. And he said,
nay, father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead,
they would repent. They won't repent if they hear
the word. Oh, but if one came from the dead, they saw a miracle,
a wonder. Here's a person raised from the
dead coming to them. Then they believe. And he said
unto him, Abraham said, if they hear not Moses and the prophets,
Neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead. Now the Lord tells us plainly
here, seeing a miracle, seeing a great miracle, one raised from
the dead will not make someone believe on Christ. Even seeing
one raised from the dead who would come back to this life
and be able to tell us about the one after this one, even
seeing that won't give faith in Christ. The only thing that
will give faith in Christ, the only thing God uses to give faith
in Christ is the scriptures. Moses and the prophets who all
wrote of Christ. That's the only way God gives
saving faith. Seeing miracles and wonders and
signs will never do it. All right, now look at the book
of first Corinthians. First Corinthians chapter one.
The word of God is the seed. It's the only way God, the only
thing God uses to give faith to his people, to give life to
his people. It is the preaching of that word that God uses to
give faith to his elect. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 21. For after that in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom, the world by its wisdom, the
world by fleshly wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching. to save them that believe. Preaching
of Christ, preaching of the word. Now look at verse 22. For the
Jews require a sign. The Jews, those religious people,
they're looking for miracles, evidences, wonders. The Jews
require a sign. The Greeks seek after wisdom.
Those ones who are ever learning, they want to learn some new thing,
but they never want to learn Christ. They are always learning,
but never come to faith in Christ. The Jews require a sign, the
Greeks seek after wisdom, but that's not what we give them.
We preach Christ crucified. Under the Jews, that's a stumbling
block. Under the Greeks, that's foolishness.
But under them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
the power of God and the wisdom of God. That's all God's elect
need. All they need to hear is the
preaching of Christ and they will be called to Christ because
it's the preaching of the gospel that gives faith. And that's
all faith needs. Faith just needs the unvarnished
Word of God being preached. Faith doesn't need miracles.
The only evidence faith needs is the Word of God, the testimony
of God. Let me show you that in the book
of 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5, verse 10. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his Son. And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal
life, and this life is in his Son. He that believeth on the
Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Right here's the third point.
People will be condemned in judgment. In the judgment day, they will
be condemned for not believing Christ. Look at verse 39. Back
in our text, Matthew chapter 12, verse 39. But he answered
and said unto them, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh
after a sign. And there shall no sign be given
to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three
days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the son
of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation
and shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching
of Jonah. And behold, a greater than Jonah is here. Now, Christ
is the issue. That's what the Lord is teaching
us here. Believing Christ. That's the issue. Believing the
record that God has given us concerning his son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the issue. That's the
issue to you. That's the issue to me. Look over in the book
of Jonah. The Lord here talks about Jonah's
preaching. Look at the book of Jonah. Jonah
chapter three. If you have the authorized version,
that's page 1151. You find it between the book
of Amos and Micah. Jonah chapter three. What happened
when Jonah finally went to Nineveh and preach the gospel? Let's
look and see here. Jonah chapter three. The word
of the Lord came into Jonah the second time saying, arise, go
into Nineveh, that great city and preach unto it the preaching
that I bid thee. So Jonah arose and went unto
Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. 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 40 days
and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh, believe
God and proclaim to fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest
of them, even to the least of them. For word came under the
king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne and he laid his
robe from him and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed
and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and
his nobles saying, let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock
taste anything, but not them feed or 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. Who can
tell? Let's call on God and beg God
for mercy. 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, when Jonah came
preaching, he said, in 40 days, God's going to destroy this place.
The people heard what God said. They believed what God said,
and they repented. They all got together and they
begged God for mercy, and God had mercy. God spared that city.
Now, you and I have heard much more clear preaching than what
Nineveh heard. We have had a much more clear
revelation of Christ than what the city of Nineveh had. Now,
Christ has come. He's died, he's risen again.
We've heard of the finished work of Christ. See, we haven't just
heard about a picture. We've heard about the finished
work of the Savior. The people of Nineveh repented
when they heard about God's wrath. We've heard about God's wrath
and God's mercy. We've had a much clearer revelation
of Christ than they had, haven't we? Yet we've not repented. So if we don't believe after
we've had this much more clear revelation of Christ, we've sinned
against greater light. Now that's how what the Lord
says here, the men of Nineveh will rise up in judgment against
us. They'll rise up in judgment. They'll testify against us because
they repented when they heard a less clear revelation of Christ
than we've heard. Yet we have not repented. The
people of Nineveh immediately repented when they heard what
God said. Yet, We've heard the same thing. We've heard what
God said. We've had a much more clear revelation of God's mercy
and grace and salvation in Christ Jesus. And we're still going
around saying, master, we would see a sign from thee. No wonder
the men of Nineveh rise up in judgment against us. That's looking
for a sign. That's unbelief. Unbelief is
what looks for a sign. All saving faith needs to hear
is the word of God. Faith sees Christ in the scriptures. Faith sees Christ in all the
scriptures, both Old Testament and New Testament. Now, the Lord's
teaching us something very important here. Both Testaments, Old Testament
and New Testament, they have the same message. They are in
complete agreement. Their message, both Old Testament
and New Testament, the message is Christ crucified. The message
is look to Christ. And faith sees Christ crucified. Christ risen again for our justification
in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. See, that
is what the story of Jonah and the whale is all about. This
story of Jonah going to Nineveh is a picture of redemption in
the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the purpose of the whole
story. Nineveh was spared. That great city was spared from
God's wrath after Jonah. spent three days and three nights
in the belly of that great fish that the Lord had prepared to
swallow up Jonah. And Jonah sat there in the belly
of that fish. And after three days, Jonah confessed,
salvation is of the Lord. I'm going to look to the Lord.
I'm going to look to Christ. Salvation is of the Lord. And
when he did that, that fish vomited Jonah out on dry ground. Jonah
came back to life, as it were. He came from the depths. And
Jonah went into that city preaching the word of God. And Nineveh,
when they heard the word of God, they repented. They begged God
for mercy and they were spared. Now listen, that is not just
a heartwarming story. That is not a story that we're
told, wonder what kind of fish that was. How could Jonah live
in the belly of that fish? I don't really know. Who cares?
God prepared a fish and that's what, that's what happened. The
moral to the story is not to try to figure out some scientific
wonder about this whale. The moral to the story is not,
well, now if you do something right, God will spare you. The
whole subject of the story is salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let me tell you why God's
people are spared from condemnation for their sin. It's because the
Lord Jesus Christ was made sin for them. He suffered and he
died for those sins. He died to pay the law's demand.
There must be death for sin. That's why the Lord Jesus Christ
died on the cross. He must die a cursed death. He
must die for the sin of his people. And the Lord Jesus, his body
lay in that tomb for three days dead. Just like Jonah was out
of sight for three days and three nights in the whale, in the whale's
belly. The Lord Jesus lay out of sight
in the tomb dead for three days. Now when Christ died, When he
gave up the ghost, he died. All of his people were justified
from all of their sin. The blood of Christ, the blood
of his sacrifice, his dying blood, put away the sin of his people.
So they're justified. Not just as if they'd never sinned,
but he made it so they had never sinned. That's how powerful,
how cleansing the blood of Christ is. And the proof that that's
true is after three days, the Lord Jesus came out of that tomb.
He came out of that tomb by his own power because death couldn't
hold him. Death could not hold him because
the sin that had been laid upon him, the sin that demanded death,
was gone. It had been wiped out under his
precious blood, so death could not hold him. And he came forth
from the tomb alive. That is the proof, proof positive,
that the death of Christ justified his people from all of their
sins. And faith hears that story and believes it. Believes that
story happened just to the story of Jonah and the story of the
Lord's resurrection. Both faith believes that story
happened exactly like it's recorded in the word of God. And faith
also sees the true meaning of the story and believes Christ
because it sees Christ in that story. I like what Pastor Donnie
Bell says, I believe this word. He said, I got no problem believing
that whale swallowed Jonah. He said, I believe Jonah swallowed
the whale of Florida. God said so. No matter how much
the human mind cannot comprehend it, faith believes the Word of
God when we hear it. It's the only evidence we need.
Christ is our Savior. Faith, if you look back in our
text, also sees another thing. Faith sees the sovereignty of
Christ our Savior. Faith sees the royal, kingly
glory of Christ the Savior and bows to Him. Verse 42 in our
text, Matthew chapter 12. The Queen of the South shall
rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn
it. For she came from the uttermost
parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold,
a greater than Solomon is here. Now, when the Queen of Sheba
saw the glory of Solomon, scripture says there was no more spear
left in her. She was just speechless. Now the queen of Sheba saw a
man. She saw Solomon, who was a picture
of Christ. And seeing that man made her
awestruck. You and I have not just seen
a man. We've heard of the glory of Christ himself, not just a
picture. We've heard of the glory of Christ
himself, his glory and how he saves his people from their sin
by his obedience to the law for them, by his sacrifice for their
sin. He has saved his people from
all of their sin. We've heard that. Yet we have
not bowed to Christ. We have not submitted ourselves
to his righteousness, but we're still going about trying to establish
our own righteousness. We're still going about saying,
Master, we would see a sign from thee and have not believed, have
not bowed, have not repented. We've sinned against much greater
light than what the Queen of Sheba saw. The Queen of Sheba
just saw a man and she bowed. You and I have seen greater glory
and have not bowed. So the Queen of Sheba will rise
up in judgment with this generation. She bowed at a lesser light. She saw Solomon and said, Oh,
your God's good. Your God has blessed this people.
She said that when she saw a lesser light. You and I have not bowed
to Christ, even though we've seen a greater light. The Queen
of Sheba will rise up in judgment against us. Oh, I pray that the
Lord would be pleased to give us the gift of faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I pray that right now this morning,
the Lord would bless the preaching of his word and cause it to take
root in our hearts. so that we'll quit looking for
signs and evidences and earthly, fleshly things happening that
would make us think we would believe on Christ, but that I
pray the Lord will bless His word, cause it to take root in
your heart and give you life, give you faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ and make you believe on Him. If God will do that for
us, we will be completely satisfied with the Lord Jesus Christ. We
won't need any signs and miracles and wonders. We've already seen
the greatest wonder that there is, that Christ would love me,
that God would choose me, that Christ would die for me, that
Christ would put away my sin, that Christ would call me and
keep me and preserve me. That's the greatest miracle ever
was. That's the only evidence faith needs, seeing the Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh, may God be pleased to reveal
himself to our hearts this morning through the preaching of his
precious son. Hope that's been a blessing to your heart. And
until next time, I pray the Lord bless you.