Well, I've been working and I
travelled through London twice this week and the people of London
are very generous because I've acquired a thing that's getting
me in my throat. So I hope my voice lasts out
for the rest of this message. I hope you can hear me okay.
And bear with it. I haven't had one of these for
years and years like this, quite as strong as this one. Anyway,
I want you to turn with me to Luke's gospel, chapter 11 and
verse 29. Luke's gospel, chapter 11 and
verse 29. And I've called this message
Only One Sign. Only One Sign. We saw last week
in verses 27 and 28 The message of Christ of the Scriptures is
this, that blessing, blessing from God, that good thing from
God, comes from hearing and keeping God's Word, and from that alone. It doesn't come from holy places,
from rituals, from pilgrimages, from icons. We went for a little
ride on the train up to Ely the other day and it's got a beautiful
cathedral and you cannot fail to be impressed as you walk round
and you think it was 800 to 1,000 years ago that stonemasons were
cutting those stones and mortaring them in place and there they
stand, absolutely amazing, but it had a notice that said, please
be respectful in this holy place. No, not according to scripture.
Not according to scripture. No holy places, no rituals, no
pilgrimages, no icons, no rosaries, no vestments, no altars, no priests,
no cathedrals. No. Blessing is not in any of
those things that the religious world thinks constitute blessing
from God. God is spirit, said Jesus to
the Samaritan woman. She said, you Jews say you should
worship in the temple in Jerusalem, but our fathers say it's in this...
Jesus said, it doesn't matter. God is spirit. Those who worship
him must worship him in spirit and in truth. What is truth?
Thy word is truth. God's word is truth. Even Mary
herself The human mother of Jesus, oh, blessed Mary, you know, you
hear the Catholics chant their praises to Mary. Her blessedness
came from the Son of God, who is the Word, who was in the beginning
with God, who was God, who is God. That blessedness of Mary
came from the Son of God in her heart, much more than His infant
human body in her womb. That's what blessing came from.
Her Word, His Word in her heart, the Gospel in her heart. She
was a sinner, just like we are, and she was redeemed by the same
precious blood of that one that she bore. And that's wherein
she was blessed. Don't rejoice in these things
that the devils are subject to you, rejoice in this, that your
names are written in heaven. Now our Lord Jesus Christ always
gathered crowds wherever he went. He was what might be regarded
today as controversial because whatever he said caused a stir. People couldn't ignore him. And
he told the crowd the truth. He told them the truth. Look
at verse 29. And when the people were gathered thick together,
he, Jesus, began to say, now, how are you going to get the
crowd on your side? Can you imagine a politician standing up to get
the crowd on their side? And the politician's going to
flatter them with all sorts of compliments and nice things he's
going to say about them. How many times have you heard
a politician talk about hardworking families? I tell you in my time
I've known a few bone idle families and at various times of my life
I must say I've probably been guilty of being a bit bone idle
myself but the politicians will only tell people that they're
hard-working families. Jesus didn't do that, he told
the truth. He told the crowd the truth. Look what he said.
This is an evil generation. Looking round at them. This is
an evil generation. They seek a sign and there shall
no sign be given it. In the account in Matthew's gospel,
Matthew chapter 12 and verse 39, there's a bit more given.
It was the Pharisees that asked for a sign and Jesus said, this
is an evil and adulterous generation. An evil and adulterous generation. No sign will be given it. An
evil and adulterous generation. Just like the generation in which
we live. Just like 2013 in this world
of ours. An evil and adulterous generation. Why do I know it's the same?
Read Romans chapter 1, certainly the second half of Romans chapter
1. It indicts first century society. And you read it, and Paul might
just as well be talking about the society in which we live.
Every evil of our modern day society is there in Romans 1. We're an evil and adulterous
generation just like them. But why evil and adulterous? Why? because of unbelief of God
and unfaithfulness to God. We're evil because in our unbelief,
do you know what your unbelief means? It means that I'm sitting
on the fence and I'm just, you know, I'm just minding my own
business. No, it means you're calling God
a liar. Evil, evil, calling God a liar. God cannot lie. That's why he
says it's an evil generation. And adulterous, what's adultery? Marital infidelity, this is infidelity
to Christ, to God. Unfaithfulness to God, the Creator. Calling Him a liar and unfaithful
to Him. We won't believe, they say, unless
you show us a sign. We won't believe the Bible unless
you show us a sign. You know, I've heard people say,
being interviewed, do you believe? No, I won't believe. And what
will you say to God when you get there? I'll say, you just
didn't give me enough evidence. I would have believed you if
you'd given me more evidence, but you didn't give me enough
evidence. Therefore, it's your fault that you didn't give me
enough evidence. This is what people say. We won't believe
unless you show us a sign, a miracle that we can see. Or as in the
case of those people when they'd been fed, the 5,000, in John
chapter 6, you read it there. And they came back the next day,
and do you know what they wanted? Jesus hit the nail right on the
head. They weren't coming for the words of life. They were
coming because it was a lot easier to have a miraculous meal than
one that they had to go out and fish for and cook themselves.
He said, you come just because your bellies were filled yesterday
and you want them filled again today. No, we won't believe unless
we can see a sign. We won't believe, might modern
man say. unless we can see a compelling
argument of logic. We won't believe unless something
makes us feel good inside so that we want to believe. Unbelief
always demands more than God's word alone. God's word alone
is the message of scripture. In Luke Chapter 17, verses 20
and 21, don't turn to it now, but the Pharisees had asked about
when is the kingdom of God going to come, because Jesus spoke
about the kingdom a lot, and Jesus said, the kingdom of God
cometh not with observation. It's not something physical that
you can see and touch and say, oh, look, right, now I'll believe
you. No, neither shall they say, lo, here, or lo, there, for behold,
the kingdom of God is within you. It's a spiritual thing.
It's not based on physical, observable things. It's within you. Saving
faith, the faith of those who are saved by Christ is founded
on God's Word only. Not on any miracle. Not on any
physical sign that might happen. Nothing like that. Nothing that
would prove to your physical senses. It's simply to the law
and to the testimony. if they speak not according to
this word there is no light in them and this faith of God this
faith which is saving faith based on the word of God alone is not
of yourselves for you are saved by grace are you saved through
the means of faith But that's not of yourselves, it's the gift
of God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God, the preaching of the Word of God. It doesn't
come by natural discernment, because as Paul wrote to the
Corinthians, the natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God, for they're foolishness to him, neither can he know them.
The physical reasoning cannot ever convince itself of God.
It must be by revelation. True saving faith is based on
revelation only, not on observation, not on physical senses, and that's
why there's not the slightest point in arguing with Richard
Dawkins or anybody else like him. There's no point, because
the basic rule for them, Professor Brian Cox and all of these other
tele-scientists, the basic rule for them is the only argument
that is allowed is a natural, rational, scientific argument.
Well, okay, but there's absolutely no point arguing with them. Absolutely
no point whatsoever. It's that thinking that led Dawkins
to write his book, The God Delusion. No, you won't receive a sign. Jesus says to the generation
that is exactly like ours, you seek a physical sign to convince
you to believe, but none shall be given you. This is what Heaven
says to this world, you're seeking for a sign to convince you to
believe God. You're not going to get one.
You're not going to get one. Only one. Only one. Not the one that you want, only
one sign. And it's the same today. What
is the sign? Excuse me, it's struggling to
stay in there. What is the sign? It's the sign
of Jonas the prophet. That's the Greek translation.
It's Jonah the prophet. It's the sign of Jonah the prophet. That's what it is. That's the
sign that will be given you. Turn to the account in Matthew's
gospel and chapter 12. Matthew's gospel chapter 12 and verse 38. Then certain of the scribes and
of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, full of hypocrisy. They didn't really believe he
was master. 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 Jonas. For as Jonas 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 Jonas, and
behold, a greater than Jonas is here. The queen of the south
shall rise up in 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. The sign of the prophet Jonah.
turn sorry I'm really struggling with this turn back to the book
of Jonah the book of Jonah and let's just have a look at what
this sign is of the prophet Jonah Jonah chapter one, and the first
two verses. Now the word of the Lord came
to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, arise, go to Nineveh,
that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness is come
up before me. Nineveh was a great city. It was symbolical of the society
in which we live today. It was the largest city in the
world at one stage, I think about six or seven hundred years BC. It was in the northern Assyrian
Empire and you can actually go to its ruins today. The ruins
are in northern Iraq on the banks of the river Tigris and there
there is the remains of a wall, a rampart around the city that's
twelve kilometers long. That just shows you it was a
big, big city. And it was in the Assyrian Empire
with no knowledge of the things of God. It was in the Assyrian
Empire and it was evil. It was filled with sin and wickedness.
Their wickedness has come up to God. This great city, so much
like the society in which we live. And Jonah would have been
very approving of the destruction of Nineveh. Jonah was a prophet
of God in Israel. And you can tell he would if
you read chapter 4 of Jonah. He was exceedingly angry that
God spared Nineveh. He wanted to see it destroyed.
He wanted to see fire and brimstone rain down upon it as it did on
Sodom and Gomorrah. And he knew that if God ordains
to send a preacher to some people, God, the God of grace and mercy,
clearly intends to save some of those people. So when God
told him to go to Nineveh, that hated, wicked city of the Assyrian
Empire, go and preach to them, you're going to save some of
them. I'm not going there, they don't deserve to be saved. And
what did Jonah do? He fled. He fled. He fled to
Tarshish and went from the presence of the Lord. He went down to
Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish and got in the ship.
And the story's familiar, but I'll just recount it. He went
on this ship, and no sooner had they left port than a great storm
arose. And the ship was about to be
overwhelmed by the storm. And they lightened the load,
and they did everything they physically could, but they couldn't
fight against the will of God. God had told his servant to go. and he didn't, he ran away. You
know, they talk about free will in religion today. God's will,
God's will was what was done. God prevented, that God went
before and stopped Jonah going where he wanted to. God had a
purpose, and God's purpose would not be thwarted. God's purpose
was that Jonah would go to Nineveh and preach, and that those people
would be saved. that was God's purpose and how
was it to happen it was by the gospel of grace and redemption
that Jonah learned in this because you know the story how they cast
lots to see Who's causing this? What's happened that we've got
such an unnatural storm? And of course the lot fell on
Jonah. So all the crew said, well, it's
you. What have you done? And Jonah said, yes, it's my
fault. I'm running away from my God. I'm a prophet of God
and I'm running away from him. What should we do? Throw me overboard
and the storm will stop. And he pleaded with them and
they did. They threw him overboard and they were terribly afflicted by the fact
that they'd thrown this man overboard, but they did, and as soon as
they did, the storm stopped, and they went about their business.
And Jonah was swallowed by this great fish, a whale of some sort.
I know skeptics today pour all sorts of scorn on it. I believe
God's word. He was swallowed by some great
sea creature in which he could survive for three days, and he
went down into the depths. He went down into the storm of
the sea. He went right down into the sea
and there, there, he prayed to God in chapter 2. He prayed to
God. He'd come to an end of himself.
In chapter 2, he'd come to an end of himself and he prayed
out of the fish's belly, inside, in the storm of judgment all
around him. And he prays this prayer. And
his experience, as we read it earlier, did it occur to you
how this in the Psalms is the experience of Christ bearing
the sins of his people under the wrath and judgment and punishment
of God? All your billows and waves passed
over me. That's Christ speaking in the
Psalms. Jonah quotes it. He was cast out of his sight,
yet I will look toward your holy temple." What does the temple
speak of? The temple speaks of the gospel
of grace. The temple in Jewish Old Testament
worship has no other purpose than to speak of the gospel of
grace, the glory of God in the grace of the gospel of salvation. And in the end of his prayer,
verse 7, When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord.
I came to an end of myself. And my prayer came in unto thee,
into thy holy temple, the gospel of God's grace, the symbol of
everything that was the gospel of his grace. They that observe
lying vanities forsake their own mercy. There is mercy for
sinners. But those that forsake, that
observe lying vanities, it's what the scriptures call elsewhere
a refuge, they seek a refuge. But it's a refuge of lies. A
refuge of lies in this world and this world's philosophy.
But those that observe those lying vanities forsake their
own mercy. But, says Jonah, I will sacrifice
unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that I have vowed. He's learned about salvation.
He's learned about salvation from sin, from the wrath and
judgment of God. Salvation is of the Lord. He
was told to go and preach judgment to a people, condemnation coming,
and he learns in the midst of judgment, where he's seeing a
picture of how God is going to save his people from their sins
in the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, he learns this.
Salvation is of the Lord. It's his sovereign prerogative.
Salvation is of the Lord. Redemption is accomplished for
a people. Redemption is accomplished for
sinners. Even to Jonah, the Jewish prophet,
even for Gentile sinners. Why? Because other prophets had
said it. The Old Testament had said it
over and over again. That the Gentiles would hear
this message. That salvation is of the Lord. That God is a
just God. an absolutely holy, just God. He is that, but he is also a
saviour, Isaiah 45. God remains just, absolutely,
perfectly holy, yet he justifies the one who believes in Jesus,
Romans 3.26. Jonah, the one who we're told
this is the only sign that will be given, the sign of the prophet
Jonah, Jonah went down into the fierce judgment of God, and so
Christ must go down and bear that same judgment for his people. Christ went down into that judgment
that's pictured in Jonah going down in the whale into the depth
for those three days and three nights. Christ went down into
that hell of the wrath of God for the sake of his people. He
learned that there, but Jonah must come out. Jonah must rise
from that judgment and come out of it in order to proclaim the
grace of God to repentant sinners. Jonah must do that, and Christ
proclaims grace to this generation, to you and to me. And that's
the only sign that will be given, is the grace of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Will you believe His word alone? There is no other sign than gospel
preaching. Oh, I must go to that charismatic
church because great things are happening there. I really feel
the presence of God there. No, to the law and to the testimony.
If they speak not according to this word, to this one and only
sign, there is no truth in them. What sign will be given? No sign,
no miracle, nothing other than the proclamation of the gospel
of grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. No signs, no proof, nothing except
hearing and believing and repenting and trusting. That's it. That's
it. This is a solemn, solemn issue. a solemn issue. We're talking
about salvation or judgment. That's a great divide. Salvation
or judgment. Will you believe what God says?
God's word is clear, there'll no other sign be given than the
word of God. Blessed is he that hears the
word of God and keeps it. Oh blessed are these that have
all, no, blessed is he that hears the word of God. Let me give
you some of the word of God. In Matthew chapter 25, the words
of Jesus, the son of God, the word become flesh. When the Son
of Man shall come in his glory at the end of time to draw this
creation to a close and all the holy angels with him, then shall
he sit upon the throne of his glory. What a dread throne that
shall be. What a majestic dread throne
that shall be. And before him, will I be there? Yes. And before him shall be
gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another. As a shepherd divides his sheep
from the goats, and he shall set the sheep on his right hand,
but the goats on his left. Then shall the king say to them
on his right hand, the sheep, come. Listen. Come, ye blessed of my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. And then a few verses
later, verse 41, he turns to those on the left. Then shall
he say also unto them on the left hand, that's the goats that
he's divided from the sheep, and he'll say this. What dread
words depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared
for the devil and his angels. Give me some proof. No other
proof will be given you. God has spoken. That's his word.
Will you believe him? These are solemn words. This
is the testimony of God's Word. Will you believe Him without
a sign? There's only one sign will be given you, the gospel
of grace in Christ. We've all sinned, says Romans,
all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We all deserve
the condemnation of God, but Christ has gone down into the
storm of judgment for His people, for His sheep. Are you among
them? What lets you know, what lets me know that I'm among His
sheep? There's only one thing lets you know, I believe the
gospel of His grace. I believe His word. I trust Him. I may not understand everything.
I may not be able to explain everything, but I believe Him
that He has paid the price of His people's sins and that He
put me amongst them and gave me faith to believe Him and trust
Him. Do you know who's among them?
Jesus tells us. The Queen of Sheba, the Queen
of the South, the Queen of Sheba is among them. She came to hear
Solomon, because she'd heard of the wisdom of Solomon. And
in many ways, Solomon was a type of Christ. In many other ways,
he was a great human failure, but then so was David, and so
are all of us. But the Queen of Sheba had heard
of the wisdom of Solomon, and the riches and the splendor.
And when she came, she saw, she said, not the half of it has
been told. And now Lord Jesus Christ says, the Queen of Sheba
is amongst those who will be with the sheep in that day, judging
this evil generation. Why? Because she came to hear
the wisdom of Solomon, but a greater than Solomon is here. Why is
he greater than Solomon? In our Lord Jesus Christ, Paul
tells us in Colossians chapter 2 verse 3, in our Lord Jesus
Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. They're
not open, lying on the surface for everybody, for rejecters,
for swine to trample over them like trampling over pearls not
realising the value. but they're there, deep and hidden. The treasures of wisdom and knowledge
are in our Lord Jesus Christ, are greater than Solomon is here. Our Lord Jesus Christ is here.
Do you know who else will be amongst them? Those amongst the
sheep that last day, judging this wicked generation, the men
and women of Nineveh, that great and wicked city. How do I know?
God's Word tells me. The men of Nineveh will be there.
They'll rise up, verse 32 of chapter 11 of Luke. They'll rise
up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn
it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonas. And behold,
a greater than Jonas is here. A greater prophet than Jonas
is here. Our Lord Jesus Christ is here,
preaching the gospel of grace, not in types and pictures, but
clearly, he's here. Will you believe his word? Will
you believe him? The people of Nineveh will be
judging this evil generation. How come? They heard and they
believed. Jonah chapter three, verse four. Just turn back there. Jonah chapter
three, verse four. Jonah, having been set again
on his way, and knowing he can't avoid the will of God, he goes
to Nineveh, that great wicked city, and is a day's journey
into it. And he began to enter it, a day's
journey, and he cried and said, yet forty days, and Nineveh shall
be overthrown. He came and preached. He must
also have proclaimed a gracious God who has justified a people,
including Gentiles, from eternity, from all eternity. And so verse
five. Isn't this dramatic? Isn't the
word of God economical with what it says? He goes and preaches
what must have been the gospel that he'd learned in his experience.
So the people of Nineveh, this rebellious people, this people
who were wicked in the sight of God and deserving of judgment,
we don't read that any signs were shown, we don't read that
anything dramatic happened, Jonah preached the word that God had
given, and the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a
fast. They repented. They rethought,
which is what repent means. They thought again. They turned around. They saw
what their sin was. By the grace of God, they saw
what their sin was in the eyes of God. They knew that they were
condemned. But oh, how they repented of
it, and oh, how they cried to God for salvation. The people of Nineveh took God
at His word, and Christ says they will rise up among the redeemed,
the redeemed in Christ, to judge that unbelieving generation that
Jesus spoke to, the Pharisees who were there just to try and
trick Him, and all in our day who will not believe God. Do
you want the testimony of the Word of God again? Let me give
you some more. John's Gospel, chapter 3, verse
16. You know this. For God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten Son, this is a word
of grace, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish in the
judgment of God, but have now everlasting life. For God sent
not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the
world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not
condemned. Is that not so clear? He that
believes the simple testimony of the word of God is not condemned. But he that believeth not is
condemned already because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. Do you want more proof of it?
Well, that's the only proof that will be given. Will you believe
and know the blessing of everlasting life in Christ? Because you will. You will discover those hidden
depths of riches, the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that
are in Christ. Or will you reject God's Word
and spend the rest of your life like this generation in which
we live without Christ and without hope in this world? And all there
is is a fearful waiting for judgment. As Paul said to the Corinthians,
we are ambassadors, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 towards the end, we
are ambassadors for Christ. Preachers, we are ambassadors
for Christ. on a mission from the King to
tell you, as though God Himself did beseech you, did exhort you,
did cry out to you by us, we pray you in Christ's name, be
ye reconciled to God.