I'd like for you, if you will,
to open your Bibles with me today to Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. This morning,
we are going to look at three verses in this chapter. where
the Lord Jesus Christ confesses to be greater than. The first
is in verse 6, but I say unto you that in this place is one
greater than the temple. And then, if you will, down in
verse 41, the men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this
generation and shall condemn it because they've repented at
the preaching of Jonas. And behold, a greater than Jonah
is here. And then in verse 42, 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. So let's look at these three
verses where the Lord Jesus Christ confesses to be greater than. First, he confessed to be greater
than the temple. Let's read verses one through
six. At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the
corn and his disciples were in hunger and began to pluck the
ears of corn and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it,
they said unto him, behold, thy disciples do that which is not
lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. And he said unto them, have
you not read what David did when he was in hunger and they that
were with him, how he entered into the house of God and did
eat the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither
for them that were with him, but only for the priest. Or have
you not read in the law how that on the Sabbath day the priests
in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless? But I say
unto you that in this place is one greater than the temple. The Pharisees, the religious
people of that day, they accused our Lord's disciples of breaking
God's law. And they came to that conclusion
because they were plucking ears of wheat or barley, whichever
it was, and they were rubbing them together in their hands
and the chaff would be removed and the grain they would eat. And so they accused his disciples
of breaking the law. The fourth commandment in the
Ten Commandments, which are part of the law, part of the law that
God gave to the nation of Israel on Mount Sinai. But in that fourth
commandment, it says the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord. The Sabbath of the Lord thy God.
In it thou shalt not do any work. His disciples were hungry. And
walking through the barley field or the wheat field, they pull
some of the heads and rub their hands together to separate and
to eat. And their accusers saw this as
them reaping and thus breaking the Sabbath law. But in Deuteronomy
chapter 23 and 25, we read, when thou come into the standing corn
of thy neighbor, Then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand,
but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbor's standing
corn. In other words, in the law, there
was a difference between plucking with your hand to satisfy your
hunger and reaping, taking a sickle and reaping the field. And our
Lord responded to this charge which was brought against His
disciples by asking these men, have you not read? Have you not
read? You know, on another occasion
concerning the resurrection, there were some of them, the
Sadducees, who did not believe in a resurrection. The Lord told
them, He said, you do err. not knowing the scriptures, nor
the power of God. You do err, not knowing the scriptures. Now, to these, he asked, have
you not read? Have you not read in the scriptures?
Well, we know that they spent a great deal of their time reading
the scriptures. You see, a man can read the word
of God, but apart from God the Holy Spirit opening his understanding,
he doesn't understand the word of God. The natural man receiveth
not the things of God, for they are spiritually discerned. He
cannot understand them. It's not that he will not. The
natural man cannot understand the things of God. Our Lord said,
you do err, not knowing the Scriptures. Oh, they could probably quote
Scripture, but they didn't know the Scripture. They didn't know
the meaning of the Word of God, nor the power of God. And our
Lord told those folk at that time, God is not the God of the
dead. He's the God of the living. The
Lord Jesus Christ said, whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall
never die. And when a child of God, when
this body dies, the person himself, the soul doesn't die. The soul
goes to be with Christ, which Paul said is far better. far
better than anything we've ever known in this life, or ever shall
know in this life. You do err, not knowing the Scriptures,
nor the power of God. Yes, God is not the God of the
dead, He's the God of the living. Have you not read that He is
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? They were not dead, they
were alive. I love those passages of Scripture
that tell us, and they were gathered unto their people. I love the
way that reads, don't you? Aaron went up on the mountain,
and he was gathered. Took that priestly robe off. Wouldn't need it anymore. Took
that priestly robe off. And the Scripture says he was
gathered to his people. Who were his people? The people
of God. God was his father, the Lord
Jesus Christ, his savior. But our Lord asked these Pharisees
this day, have you not read the scripture? And then he cites
two examples. He said, have you not read what
David and his men did when they were in hunger? See, his disciples
were hungry, so they picked some of the the grain and ate it and
now they're charged with breaking the law, breaking the Sabbath
law. Our Lord asked these men, have you not read what David
and his men did when they were hungry? Remember our Lord said
this also about the Sabbath. He said the Sabbath was made
for man and not man for the Sabbath.
The Sabbath was made for man. Man needs a day of rest. And
not only was it made for man, but for the animals. They rested
too on the Sabbath, didn't they? Men need a day of rest. The Sabbath
was made for man, a day set apart especially to worship God. We worship on the first day of
the week because we read that in the New Testament epistles
and because it speaks to us of the gospel as contrasted with
the law. The Sabbath came at the end of
the week, after a week of working, and that's what the law said,
wasn't it? Work, do this, and live. But we begin our week worshiping
God the first day of the week. Why? Because the gospel says,
believe and live. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou shalt have everlasting life. David and his men, they were
in distress. They were hungry. And so they
went into the tabernacle where the priest was and asked if there
was anything there to eat. And the priest said, well, the
only thing here is the showbread. But we know that the law, it
allowed only the priest to eat the showbread, but David and
his men were given that bread, and they did eat. If you notice
in verse 7 here in our text, it says, but if you had known
what this meaneth, if you had known this, I will have mercy
and not sacrifice. They didn't know anything about
mercy. Oh, I'm so glad, aren't you? That God is a God of mercy. He's a God of holiness and righteousness. And we love that especially,
but also he's a God of mercy. Oh, where, where would you be
if it were not for the mercy of God? I'll tell you where you would
be. And we would be there together. We'd be in hell. but for the
mercy and grace of God. Our Lord said, I wish you understood
what this meant. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. If you understood that, that
the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath,
then you would not have condemned the guiltless. They're not guilty. They're not guilty by plucking
these ears of corn because they were in distress. They were hungry.
And then our Lord cites another example. Have you not read what
the law prescribes for the priest on the Sabbath days? Don't you
know what the law says about the priest? Here's this day,
the Sabbath day, the seventh day of the week. And listen,
no one, no one ever turned Sunday into the Sabbath. Don't fall for that, my friends.
We worship on the first day of the week, but the first day of
the week is not the Sabbath of rest into which we have entered. The Sabbath of rest into which
we have entered is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Sabbath. Here they are, these priests,
and they're not supposed to do any work on the Sabbath day,
and yet here they are, and not only are they doing work, that
is, offering sacrifice, slaying animals, pouring out blood, burning
incense, and everything else, burning the fat on the altar,
but they're not only working, but they're doing it in the temple. First in the tabernacle, and
then they're doing it in the temple. But they do it and are
guiltless. Now, in this place, in this place
the Lord told those people, I am greater than the temple. The
tabernacle first was given in the law and then of course Solomon
was allowed to build the temple. And both the tabernacle and the
temple pictured, they were types of the body of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The word, the scripture says,
the word, the eternal word, the eternal son of God, he was made
flesh and dwelt, he tabernacled among us full of grace and glory. And then in Hebrews the apostle
says the true tabernacle. That other tabernacle wasn't
the true tabernacle, it just pictured the true tabernacle.
Just like Canaan wasn't the true rest, it pictured the rest. The
true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. Think of this. All of the mystery,
holy place and that most holy place, all of the incense, all
of the beauty, all of the gold, everything there. What is that
in comparison to the true tabernacle, the Lord Jesus Christ? Because
you see in him dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Oh, that
tabernacle was, it was beautiful. There's no doubt about it inside. And the temple, beautiful. I
mean, can you imagine a room that just gold on the ceiling,
on the walls of gold and these, these cherubim and their wings
covered over with gold and that mercy seat of gold and the Shekinah. The presence of God manifested
there. There was much mystery and glory
about it, but it can't compare to the true tabernacle. In this
place is one greater than the temple. You see? I hope that's clear to all of
us. With all the blood poured out
and all the fat burned, and all the incense offered that was
associated with that tabernacle and that temple, what is that
compared to him, one greater than the temple is here? For
he by one sacrifice, and make no mistake about it, my friends,
his one sacrifice, his one offering of himself upon the cross of
Calvary, has done what all of those other sacrifices only pictured
but could never accomplish. He has put away the sins of his
people. One greater than the temple is
here. Now if you look down to the next
one, beginning with 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
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. Now in the parallel
passage in Luke's gospel, it is a sign that they wanted, but
a sign from heaven, a sign from heaven. If you look back to verses
13 and 14, here was a sign. Then saith he to the man, stretch
forth a hand. And he stretched it forth and
it was restored whole like as the other. Here was a sign. Here's a man in the temple who
had a withered hand and the Lord Jesus said, stretch it forth.
And it was made whole. That's a sign. And then look
in verse 22. Then was brought unto him one
possessed with the devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him insomuch
that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. That's a pretty
good sign, isn't it? Pretty good miracle. Man comes
up here, he can't see, he can't speak. And the Lord, he's possessed
with the devil and God, the Lord Jesus Christ healed him. He loosed him. He freed him from
that devil and healed him of his blindness and of his dumbness. And the man both saw and spoke.
And here they are saying, show us a sign. Show us a sign. Well, The writers say that what
they're asking for is a sign from heaven. In other words,
they believe that Satan, he had power to work signs, miracles
here upon the earth close to the ground. And remember, that's
what they accused the Lord of being in collusion with Satan,
that he's doing these things through the power of Beelzebub.
through the power of Satan. But no, they say, show us a sign
from heaven. In other words, they wanted a
sign like was given when God came down on the mountain and
spoke with Moses. The mountain, the scripture says,
there was thunders and lightnings, a thick cloud upon the mount,
and the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud. Show us a sign, a sign
from heaven. Show us a sign from heaven. The
Lord mentioned to them that the only sign that was going to be
given to that wicked generation was the sign of Jonah the prophet.
Because as Jonah the prophet was three days in the fish's
belly, the whale's belly, the Lord Jesus Christ, his body too,
would lay in the heart of the earth. From that Friday, he was
crucified until Sunday morning, the first day of the week when
he rose and came out of that grave. A greater than Jonas is
here. And thinking about the Lord Jesus
as greater than Jonah, I thought about this. One way that Jonah
was a type, and Jonah represents the prophets here, of course,
but One way that Jonah was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, you
remember when he was on his way, not to Nineveh, but to Tarshish,
I believe. And that ship, God sent a great
wind. And here's this ship out there
in the middle of the sea and it's being tossed. And those
men who were shipmen, who sailed, they came to Jonah and woke him
up and said they were about to perish. All of them were going
down. Everyone on the ship's going
down and here you are sleeping. They woke him up. You remember
what Jonah said? He said, cast me into the sea.
Cast me into the sea. What did they do? They didn't
want to. But they did. And just as soon
as they cast him into the sea, there's a calm. The storm's over. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ,
He's the substitute for His people. And the storm of God's wrath,
which was over your head and my head, over the head of every
unbeliever, every person who comes into this world, The Lord
Jesus Christ, He substituted Himself just as Jonah was cast
into the sea as a substitute, and there was a great calm. So
the Lord Jesus Christ is the only surety and substitute for
His people. Your sin, my sin, deserves God's
wrath. God's holy wrath, and yet because
of our substitute, because of our surety, He took our place. And the storm, He bore the storm,
right? The wrath of God, the judgment
of God was poured out upon Him that we might go free. A greater than Jonah is here. Greater than Jonah's here. Greater
than the temple is here. Greater than Jonah's here. And
then notice third in verse 42. 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. I want you to turn back with
me, if you will, to 1 Kings, where this is recorded. 1 Kings
chapter 10. 1 Kings chapter 10 and verse 1. When the queen of Sheba heard
of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came
to prove him with hard questions. Do you see why she came? She had heard of his fame concerning
the name of the Lord and also She came to prove him with hard
questions. Solomon was famous for his wisdom,
which we see the wisdom that she came to inquire of had to
do with the name of the Lord. The name of the Lord means God,
the Lord. She came, as the scripture says,
concerning the Lord. That's the reason she came. She
had some interest in the Lord. In the Lord she came, and she
came to prove Him with hard questions. Now, we do not know what the
hard questions were, but we may assume one of the hard questions
was, what about my sin? Oh, she was a queen, but let
me tell you something. Being born a queen does not mean
being born without sin. No one, no one comes into this
world without sin. And this is a hard question,
my friends. And apart from the word of God,
apart from the gospel, you'll never know the answer. What about
my sin? Is this life all? Is this all
there is? Are we like animals that when
we die, that's the end of our existence? Or is it true that
when God created man, He breathed into him the breath of life,
which He didn't do to the animals, and that men have an immortal
soul? That men and women, when this
life is over, that's not the end of the person. The person
goes out into eternity. And as the scripture says, it's
appointed unto man wants to die. But after this, the judgment,
she proved him with hard sayings. How is it that a man who drinks
iniquity like water? How is it that a man who is born
in sin, who has a sinful nature, who loves sin, who practices
sin? How is it? that a sinful man
may be right with God. How is it that God, who is absolutely
holy, the thrice holy God, how is it that he may be just and
the justifier of those who are guilty of sin? She proved him
with hard questions. She came to hear about the name
of the Lord. But listen, Solomon, He's a drop
in the bucket compared to Christ. His wisdom is a drop in the bucket,
my friends. Just like a little drop of water
in the great ocean compared to the Lord Jesus Christ because
in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He is
the wisdom of God. Solomon was given some wisdom.
But the Lord Jesus Christ, he is both the wisdom and the power
of God, greater than Solomon is here. We might use each of these three
examples here this morning, greater than the temple, greater than
Jonas, greater than Solomon to represent our Lord's three offices
as mediator. The scripture says, for there's
one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. And the Lord Jesus Christ, in
mediating between God and man, he has three offices. That temple where all the sacrifices
were performed may well represent him and his priesthood. He's
the only person who is called our great high priest. There were other high priests.
They weren't great. Why? Because they never put away
sin. Our great high priest. And there
were other prophets besides Jonas, but he is that prophet that God
told Moses he would raise up like unto him that men must hear
or perish. And as Solomon was a king, so
the Lord Jesus Christ, he is king of kings and Lord of lords. Someone said, make him your lord. You can't do that. You can't do that, my friends,
because God's already made him your lord. But think about this. I was thinking this morning earlier
about you folks, those of you who are members of this church
and those who visit. And I could not help but think
there's not a family I know that doesn't and is not going through
some trial, some difficulty, some struggle. But Christ is greater than. He's
greater than your sin. You say, my sin's so great, how
could God forgive me? He's greater than. Whatever your
problem is, your difficulty is that you're in at this particular
time, He's greater than that difficulty. And He can make a
way of escape, and He will. He's greater than. Well, I pray
that God would bless this word to those of us here today. We're
going to