Signs, Signs, Everywhere are Signs

Insert Picture of Sign

An Evil Generation Seeks a Sign

Matthew 12:38 NIV

Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

1 Corinthians 1:22 ESV

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,

The Gospel according to Matthew 1: Chapters 1:1–16:12 (King James Version) F. Defense 6: The Messiah’s Answer to an Evil Generation, 12:38–45

The Jews wanted more than the signs of miracles. They wanted a sign from heaven, apparently some spectacular event occurring in the sky which would reveal beyond doubt that Christ was the promised Messiah

Matthew 12:39–40 NIV

He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

CHRIST WILL HEAR AND ANSWER PRAYER, BUT WILL NOT FULFILL OUR SELFISH LUSTS

Hosea 4:12 NIV

My people consult a wooden idol, and a diviner’s rod speaks to them. A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God.

An Evil Generation Was Condemned Because It Did Not Repent

Matthew 12:41 (NIV)

The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.

Insert Picture of Jonah preaching to Nineveh and then picture of Christ saying He is the Sign

An Evil Generation was Condemned Because it did not Seek the Greater Wisdom

Matthew 12:42 (NIV)

The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.

1 Kings 10:1–5 NIV

When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the Lord, she came to test Solomon with hard questions. Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed.

Hebrews 11:6 NIV

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Proverbs 8:17 NIV

I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.

An Evil Generation Desires Only Reform not Renewal

Matthew 12:43–45 ESV

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

A clean house is great, but it is inferior if the right person isn’t living there

Matthew 24:12 NIV

Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,

Galatians 4:8–10 NIV

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!

2 Peter 2:20–21 ESV

For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

Picture of Conversion