Turn back to Matthew chapter
12. Matthew chapter 12. A greater than Solomon and a
greater than Jonah is here. Our Lord had been charged in
the earlier part of this chapter with being in league with Satan,
that he cast out the devil by the prince of the devil. But
he proved their charge to be absurd. How can Satan divide
his kingdom and stand? He showed them how absurd their
charge was. Now some other Pharisees in the
crowd, some scribes and Pharisees. I think this is a different set
of scribes and Pharisees. They were on all the bases. They had all the bases covered.
Here's another set of scribes and Pharisees. And since they
saw that the other ones were put to silence, they come to
him in another direction. They call him Master. They pretend
that they believe him to be a master. They believe the same thing the
other ones believe. And they come to him and they
ask for a sign. Well, he just healed a man in
front of their eyes that was blind and dumb, couldn't speak. Just did that right in front
of their eyes. Then they said, well, show us a sign. Ignoring. Absolutely ignoring all the other
signs. You know, the Scripture says
God speaks once, yea, twice. Man perceives it not. God speaks
every day. But does this world see it? Absolutely
not. They attribute it to Mother Nature.
You see the storm. He hath his way in the whirlwind
and in the storms, the Scripture says. And they say, well, that
was Mother Nature. Wasn't she bad today? Oh, that's
God's store. That's God's store. And everything
that He, the purpose to accomplish in it, He accomplishes. Every
one He purposes to take out, He takes out by it. It's God's
store. But they ignored all these signs
that He had already given. And they said, show us a sign.
Here's what they want. Let us see what Moses and the
people of Israel saw at Mount Sinai. Let us see this great
thunder and lightning and mountain smoking. Let us see that. Show us that kind of sign. I put in the bulletin, how many
signs does it take to save a center? Absolutely none. It does not
take one sign. In fact, no one has ever been
saved by a sign. We're saved by the grace of God
through the power of the preaching of the gospel in the hands of
the Holy Spirit. That's how sinners are saved.
Signs, it says, over Corinthians are for what? Or for who? Unbelievers. Unbelievers. You remember that
rich man that lifted up his eyes in hell? He said, Father Abraham,
send someone back to my brothers and warn them about this place,
and they'll believe him." And Abraham said, they have Moses
and the prophets. If they don't believe them, they
won't believe the one rose from the dead. It won't do a thing
for them. Scripture teaches us that faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing By signs and wonders? Hearing
by the Word of God. Doing what I'm doing and what
Frank did this morning. Taking the Word of God and just
giving it to the people. And if God is pleased to quicken
someone's heart with it, that's how that person will be saved. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. And faith is an operation of
the Spirit of God. It's not something we can muster
up. It's not something we can whip up. It's an operation of
the Spirit of God. And our Lord calls them just
what they are. He says an evil and adulterous
generation seeks after a sign. They don't seek after God. They're
not seeking after Christ. They're not seeking after the
truth. They're not listening. You see, the Queen of Sheba,
she wanted to hear the truth, the wisdom of Solomon. She came
to listen and learn. No, they wanted to sign. They
wanted a little bit of hocus pocus. That's what they wanted. He said an evil and adulterous
generation. He didn't just call the leaders
evil and adulterous. He said this whole generation
is evil and adulterous. The whole nation was like their
leaders. I tell you this, there is a time
when the pastor and the people become one. There is a time that
happens. And our Lord said this whole
nation is just like the leaders, evil and adulterous. No sign will be given except
the one that God has ordained before the foundation of the
world, and that's the sign of the prophet Jonah. You know,
when people go, and I've heard several messages preached from
Jonah, they always talk about a call to the ministry, a person
rebelling, and then finally he gives in and he goes. The whole
purpose for the book of Jonah is the example of the death,
burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the
whole reason. The whole reason for the story
of the Queen of Sheba coming to hear the wisdom of Solomon
is for this very purpose right here that we have in the Word
of God. Christ, the wisdom of God. It's
not put in there for our entertainment. It's not put in there for to
make a good children's story. It's put in there as an example
of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
he said, that's going to be the sign. That's the only two signs
that's going to be given. Now, he healed others since this
time, but he said, these are the two signs going to be given
to this generation. Jonah was a prophet of God, and
our Lord was a prophet. He's that prophet. And Jonah
was cast, no need going over the whole story, but you know
the story. He was cast into a watery grave. They threw him overboard
into the sea and God had prepared, it says, God prepared a great
fish to swallow up Jonah. You know, there was a grave prepared
for our Lord when He came to this world. That grave was already
prepared by a rich man's grave. He had already dug it out. He
said, I will prepare me a grave. I will take care of my funeral
arrangements so my wife and family won't have to. Well, he took
care of the Lord's funeral arrangements. That grave was already prepared
just like that great fish was prepared for Jonah. And then
Jonah was cast into that sea and it swallowed him up. And
for three days, As far as you and I are concerned, as far as
those people are concerned, he's dead. He's gone. He's under that water.
He's dead. He's gone. He's in that fish's
belly. Think about that. Three days,
three nights. It says the weeds were wrapped
about his head. He said, from the belly of hell,
cried I. And on the third day, on that
third day, that fish vomited him out. that vomited him out. Our Lord was three days and three
nights in the heart of the earth. He was crucified. He died. He was buried. And on the third
day, he arose. He came out of that grave. He's
alive. He's seated right now. This one that's greater than
Jonah is seated at God's right hand, making intercessions for
the transgressors. He's there. And their condemnation
is this, a greater than Jonah is here. They knew the story
of Jonah. They were impressed with it.
They thought a lot about this. You know, Jonah was three days
and three nights in that well, Billy, in the sea, and then he
came out alive. You know, they were very, he
said, a greater than Jonah is here. Listen to me. That's what
he's saying. Don't ignore me, a greater than
Jonah is here. You better listen. See, Jonah
was a mere man, but Christ is the God-man. He is truly God
manifested in the flesh. You want to know who God is,
what he's like? Study Jesus Christ. That's who
he is. He's God-man. Jonah was a prophet,
but Christ is that prophet. Greater than Jonah is here. Jonah's
ministry. Think about Jonah's ministry.
If you go back and read it, Jonah, let me read, let me see if Let
me read you part of it. I've got it marked. When Jonah
went to Nineveh, in verse 3 in the book of Jonah, Jonah says
in chapter 3, Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey.
And he cried and said, in forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown. That was his ministry. Jonah
didn't perform a miracle. He didn't give sight to the blind.
He didn't raise the dead. He didn't give a paralyzed man
his legs. He didn't turn water into wine. He didn't feed 5,000
with just a lunch, a boy's lunch. Jonah had one message, and it
was a message of doom. In 40 days, he went through the
streets and the alleys, and that was a big city. And he just had
this to say, in 40 days, God's going to destroy this place.
I remember Henry in a message a long time. It's amazing that
a sermon, sometimes just a little phrase in a sermon will stick
with you for your life. And I remember this. Henry, preaching from this
chapter, said, all that king had, look here in verse 5, so
the people of Nineveh, what did they do? They believed God. Here's God standing in front
of these men, and they don't believe Him. Greater than Jonah
is here, and they don't believe Him. But Jonah went there preaching
a message of doom with no miracles, and the people said, believe
God. And all that king had, the king made a... Let me go down
and read this so you'll get the gist of it. 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, from the king
to the pauper. 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 sat him in ashes.
And he called it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh
by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither
man nor beast, herd 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 every
one from his evil way and from the violence that is in their
hands." And here's what I remember Henry saying. All that king had
was a who can tell. All that king had was a who can
tell. Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away
from his fierce anger? That's all he had. That's all
that king had was a who can tell. Jonah never preached mercy. He
didn't preach grace to them. He preached doom. You're going
to die. In 40 days, you're going to die.
And that king said, who can tell? Let's fall on our face. Maybe
God will show mercy. And that greater than Jonah's
here, his message was a message of grace to the guilty. He healed
the guilty. He healed the blind. He fed the
hungry. He did many. It says he went
about doing good. He healed everyone that needed
healing. And they despised him. He was despised and rejected
of men. And our Lord says here that his
resurrection His resurrection is going to
be this sign, his death, burial, and resurrection. He was raised,
he's declared to be the Son of God, it says, with power by the
resurrection from the dead. He said that's going to be the
sign you're given. And the Ninevites who repented at the preaching
of the message that Jonah brought, which was the message of doom,
no miracles, they are going to rise up in judgment. They are
going to be a witness, he said, against this generation. I tell
you what, against every generation. that hears the Word of God, that
has the Bible in their hand, and they hear the Word of God
preached, these Ninevites are going to rise up against them
as a witness. They, he said, believed God.
And they fell on their face. They didn't know what we know.
They didn't have what we have. They're going to rise up. Christ
came preaching a message of grace to the guilty. He preached that
for three years. And then his disciples, for many
years since, and we've been preaching it since, many have heard it and despise
it. How great is the responsibility
of those who have great light. Our Lord said they're going to
rise up in judgment against this generation. Secondly, he said
the Queen of Sheba, she left her home. I thought of this. The first thing I thought of
was this. She left her throne and came to his throne. She got
off her throne and came to his throne. That's what she did. She heard down south. She was down there, down where
she lived in Ethiopia. She heard of this man Solomon.
Let me read you something. We're in 1 Kings 10. Here's what
she heard. And when the Queen of Sheba heard
of the famous Solomon, now listen, concerning the name of the Lord. She heard of Solomon, but she
heard of Solomon's Lord. She hadn't heard this from all
the other people that they knew. None was like Solomon. And none
was like Solomon's Lord. And she only heard of that. And
she got off her throne and said, I'm going to go investigate this.
I'm going to go find out. And it says she came with hard
questions. Hard for her. You know, the questions
are hard. How can God be a just God and
a savior? That's a hard question for us,
not for him. She came and brought hard questions,
but she came. He says she came to Solomon.
And she came to hear the wisdom of Solomon. She didn't come to
give Solomon wisdom. She didn't come to give Solomon
her opinion as a queen. She came to shut up and listen. Tell me something, Solomon. And
when she came, if you read that story, I take too much time to
go through that. Over in 1 Kings 10, read it sometime
today. She was just dumbfound. She would
just sit back. She said, the half has never
yet been told. She watched the ascent, the way
he went up to the Lord, and she was just awed. And all the men,
all the servants were happy? I tell you what, every believer
is truly happy in Christ. And they're really going to be
truly happy when this mess is over with. When she saw that, she saw all
those things, all the riches that he had. Think of the riches. You go back and read Solomon.
There was no king like him. His reign, there was no reign
like His. And His reign was a reign of
peace. A greater than Solomon is here.
Oh, don't you know they thought a lot of Solomon. He said a greater
than Solomon is here. A Gentile woman, an Ethiopian
Gentile heathen, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Christ came to his own and his
own received him not. Every word he spoke was wise. Everything he did was absolute
wisdom. Solomon, that can't be said of
Solomon. It says he loved many strange women. That wasn't very
wise at all. But our Lord is greater than
Solomon. She came to hear the wisdom of
a man. We have come here this morning
to hear the wisdom of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Standing before
those men and in Spirit and in His Word this morning, we have
the wisdom of God speaking. When you read the Word of God,
you hear the wisdom of God. Not just a man given wisdom,
but the embodiment of wisdom. That's what was standing before
them, the embodiment of divine wisdom. And they made light of
him. They rejected him. They despised
him. He says she's going to rise up
in judgment because the greater than Solomon here, Solomon's
Lord is here. The incarnate God is here. The
promised seed is here. She's going to rise up in judgment
because she came, she listened, and she believed Solomon. And here they stood there and
rejected and despised him and made light of him and said, you're
doing this by the Prince of the Devils. Oh, greater than Solomon. Listen,
Solomon had great riches. You go through and read sometimes
his great riches. And I started to write down here
that Christ has all riches. But I decided to write down that
Christ is all riches. He is the riches of glory. Solomon
had great power from sea to sea, to the river of Euphrates, to
the borders of Egypt. He had great power as a king
at that time. He had the most power. Christ is the power. The power
of God is standing in front of you. Solomon had a great kingdom,
but where is it now? Look at it over there. Solomon
had a great kingdom, but Solomon doesn't have a kingdom now at
all. Christ has an everlasting kingdom. He is the King of kings
and Lord of lords now. and forevermore. Listen to this. Solomon built a great temple. He built great houses. He had
many, many things Solomon did because God gave him wisdom. And he built a great temple.
You remember the disciples were impressed with the stones of
that temple, although I think that temple was built by Herod
at that time. But they were impressed. The
temple was, you go back and read the temple of Solomon and all
the beauty and glory of that temple and all the stone work
that was in that temple. Go back and read that. But it was stone. It was made
out of stone, wood, hay and stubble. That's basically what it was
made out of. Christ is building a living temple for God to dwell
in. We are the living temple of God. Solomon couldn't do that. Solomon
could take men who were skilled and they would make the stones
and things the way they wanted them, make them look, the architect,
make it look beautiful. You take a stony heart. You take
a man that has a stony heart and make him love God. Solomon
couldn't do that. He couldn't do that. You take
an obstinate heart. and make it willing. Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. Solomon couldn't do
that. A greater than Solomon, he said, is here. Solomon is
gone. Where's Solomon? If he's so great,
where is he? Christ is here. Where two or
three are gathered together in his name, he said, there am I
in the midst of him. Solomon couldn't say that. Christ
is here. You believe that? You believe
He's here this morning? And then our Lord points out,
here's what He's going to point out here in these next few verses.
He says, Jonah and the Queen of Sheba is going to rise up
in judgment as a witness against this generation. They had a whole
lot less than they believed when they came. But a mere profession,
he says, is not going to save you. A mere outward profession
of religion will not save anyone. Let me go back over here. Now
this verse of 43, powerful verse, these next few verses. When the
unclean spirit, he's going to charge this upon that generation.
When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, He walketh through
dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he saith, that
unclean spirit saith, I will return into my house from whence
I came out. And when he is come, he findeth
it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he and taketh with
himself seven other spirits, more wicked than himself. They
enter in and dwell there. And the last state of that man
is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto
this wicked generation. Your religion, he's saying to
them, your religion is nothing more than outward show. And you
are, he said this at one point, you are of your father the devil.
The unclean spirit here is Satan. There's nothing pure about him.
He is absolute evil. Absolutely. And he manipulates. He manipulates those whom he
possesses. He goes and he comes and best
suits his purpose. And he's charging this generation
that he's talking to here with being possessed of this evil
spirit of Satan. And when he leaves his house,
whether it be a man or this generation that he's talking about, if he
leaves his house, he takes the key with him because he's going
to return. He's going to return. He's going to return at will.
He's going to go out. He's going to go about and it
says he seeks rest and he finds none. He finds no rest in God's
creation. He finds no rest in all that
belongs to God. The only place If Satan finds
any, if you can say contentment or likeness, it's in an evil
heart. He goes out and he comes back
in, just like you go out in and out of your house. He said that's
what happens. He said he goes in and out. He
will let a man make a profession as long as there is no work of
grace. If there's a work of grace, he
ain't coming back. If the stronger man comes in and takes over the
house and spoils his goods, Satan ain't coming back. But he'll let a man make a religious
profession just like they were. Those Pharisees, those scribes,
you wouldn't have convinced anybody in town that they were of your
father the devil. But Christ knew their hearts.
He said, you're decorated on the outside, but inside you're
full of dead men's bones. He finds no rest but in the evil
heart. And when he returns to his house, it's called his house, the Lord is saying, you are Satan's
sanctuary. That's why he's saying that religion
of that day, those Pharisees, those scribes, those religious
leaders, and those who follow them, he said, you are Satan's
sanctuary. And he goes in and out as he
pleases. And when he comes back, here's
what he finds. The man has reformed. He made
a reformation. A man may have quit doing some things and become
religious and he's empty, swept and garnished. Empty. No one
else took possession. Christ is not there. The Holy
Spirit's not there. No, he's empty and he's swept. He's cleaned up and he's decorated. But I tell you what, he's dead
as ever. He's dead as ever. Unless God does the work of grace
and comes in and takes over, a man can be as religious as
he wants and he's still lost as ever. It is a possession of
Christ. It's Christ possessing you. That's salvation. And you notice he calls it his
house. He says it's his house. The God
of this world. The Prince of Darkness. evil
spirit of the generation. It's his house. And when he comes back, it's
empty. No one occupied it. A temporary
reformation is a good picture right here. But when he comes back, notice
this. He takes seven other spirits with him. More wicked Can you believe that? Can you believe that? More wicked
than himself. And he enter in and he stays there. He's not
leaving. He dwells. He said he dwells there. You
know, the Scripture says the whole world lieth in wickedness. Outside of Christ, outside of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the whole world is under an evil spirit.
That's so. That's so. He takes those seven other spirits,
and that goes in and dwells there, and the last state of that man,
whether it be a man or a generation, or whether it be a church or
a congregation, the last state of it is going to be worse, he
said, than the first, because the last state of it is final
condemnation. No hope. No hope. They'll become more proud when
they came out of Egypt. And they came out of Egypt. One
of the first things they did was they made a golden calf,
and they got into idolatry, and then they'd go out of it, and
then they'd get into it, and then the temple was built. And
actually, then they got into it, the law was given, and these
things were cast out, but then they became proud. They became
arrogant. They became self-righteous. They
had their temple, they had their ceremonies, they had their rituals,
and they performed them outwardly to the T. But he says they were a wicked
generation. They were more proud than ever. They were more arrogant
than ever. They were more self-righteous
than ever. They were more obstinate than
ever. They looked down on everyone. Everyone. This not only happens
to a man, but it happens to a generation. And it can happen to a church. Then who really belongs to him?
Who really belongs to him? I don't want a false profession,
no more than you do. Every child of God is concerned
about that. Every child of God wants, like
Jacob, I won't let you go until you bless me. You want him, and
you want it to be real. And who are really his? Verse 46. Well, he talked to
the people. Just like I'm talking to you
now. He's talking to the people. He's telling them the truth.
Talking to these Pharisees and telling them the truth. Giving
out wisdom. He's interrupted. Can you imagine somebody coming
at the door and says, your mom and dad's out there. They want
to talk to you. I'm standing here talking. Standing here preaching. Well,
that's what they did. They went in and interrupted
him. They said, behold, your mother and his brother Behold, his mother and his brethren
stood without desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto
him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring
to speak with thee." They want to talk to you. And here's wisdom again. Every
opportunity, wisdom just pours out. Here's wisdom. He says, I'm going to tell you
who my family I have a family. I have mother,
brothers, sisters. I'm going to tell you who they
are. They are the ones who do the will of my Father which is
in heaven. Now, every last one of us knows if we want to do
that or not. I know that. When I sat and I
read this, I thought, I know and you know, every believer
knows if he wants to do the will of God or not. If your desire
If your desire is to follow after Christ, if your desire is to
know Him, if your desire is to get into this book and read it
and know Him and to find out His will, to take up your cross
and follow Him, to deny yourself, that's fine. Lord, I'll do it.
If you really want that, you're the family. That's the family. The Pharisees, the scribes, and
those bunch of religious, self-righteous people didn't want a thing to
do with him. They didn't want any of his sayings. But now,
if you do, if you do, if you want to keep his commandments,
love one another, as he said, that's my commandment, here's
my commandment, you can love one another as I've loved you. If you're the Lord and you truly
Lord, enable me to love my brothers. Enable me to love my enemies.
Enable me to do this. Enable me to deny myself. Enable me to do it. Enable me
to take up the cross and follow You. You're part of the family. He said, here's my family. My
family. My brothers and my sisters. Those
who are going to be with me for eternity are those who desire
to do the will of my Father. That's the family. He has a family. He has a family. It's not made
up of flesh and blood. It's made up of spirit. He has
a family that loves him, that wants him, that worships him,
and is willing to follow him. wherever he goes. And where is
that? That's where the gospel is preached. That's where the gospel is preached.
If you have to quit a job and go where the gospel is preached,
do it. It's better than perishing. I'd
rather starve physically than spiritually. All right, Mike.