Dont Miss Out
The children are obviously going up to children's church and children's worship. And Nicole and her team will do a great job and ministering to them. I don't think any church wants to find out that their Pastor has a major scandal in their background yet. Here we are.
That's right. Back in. Paradise Valley, Arizona, in the third grade. I got kicked out of the 3rd grade. Iodine, smarted off to miss villalpando once too often, and I had to go to miss cockrill self-contained portable for problem children. And it would have things about Miss cockrill self-contained portable for problem. Children is They had we had to stay the entire day every other Friday where the rest of the third grade got to go home at lunch time. Watch the rest of the third grade, get on the bus. For their early. Freedom on Fridays. And she would look at us and say, you guys could have been getting off early on Friday. If you had not made the choice, To come to my classroom to align with the problem children. See I aligned with the problem children and I missed out on early release every other Friday. You probably don't care a whole lot about what happened to me in the third grade, but I care if you miss out because at the end of the day, Jesus came to give us both eternal life and Abundant Life. There will be some people that will miss out on eternal life because they will not trust Jesus Christ as their lord and savior. Maybe they'll say, hey I think we're a religion can save me or I think there's more than one way to God or I think I'm good enough to go to heaven on my own it. And if that's the way you approach things, You will miss out on eternal life. There are others in this room who may very well be Christians have trusted Christ for salvation. The Christ also came to give Abundant Life but as long as we try and align ourselves with a password, what's ironic is a lot of us, we don't want to miss out on what the world has to offer. And it until we make compromises along the way. But in doing so, we act miss out on all that Jesus has for us in his kingdom. As we make our way to the Gospel of Luke, we're seeing that the Jesus has finished his Galilean Ministry, the Galilean circuits, and now he has turned his face towards Jerusalem. And if he turned his face towards Jerusalem, he is facing more and more opposition in last week and Luke 11/14 through 28. He healed, a man that was possessed by demon that caused him to be mute. And we know that that some of the people around actually attributed to Jesus, the power of Satan in doing that, and Jesus said, all that's just absurd. Why would Satan be divided against his kingdom? I'm the stronger, man. I'm the one who cast out Satan, the Finger of God is upon you. And you have to choose, you're either for me or against me, that's really the choice that we have today. We either have to be before Christ or against, if we have to be in his kingdom or not, as his kingdom. And if we don't choose Christ, we missed out on so much. If you have your Bibles invite, you turn in them to Luke 11:29 through 36. That will be our text for today. Luke 11:29 through 36. When you get there, if you're able to do. So, I invite you to stand in the honor of the reading of God's word.
The Holy Spirit, inspires Luke to write when the crowds were increasing. He began to say this generation is an evil generation. 6, first sign. But no sign will be given to it, except the sign of Jonah is Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh. So will the son of man be to this generation. The queen of the South will rise up at the Judgment with men of this generation and condemn them for. She came from the ends of the Earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the Judgment with this generation and condemn, it where they repented at the preaching of Jonah and behold something greater than Jonah is here. Knowin after lighting, a lamp, puts it in a Cellar under a basket but honest and so that those who enter may, see the light, your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes healthy, your whole body is full of life when it is bad, your body is full of Darkness, therefore be careful lest the light in you be Darkness, if your whole body is full of light having no dark part, it will be wholly, bright as when a lamp. With its Rays gives you light. Let's pray.
We have heard your word. It is the very word you breathe that you inspired, Luke the great physician in the historian to write many years ago. the Lord, as we unfold your word, I pray that your holy spirit will speak through me. And I pray that we will have receptive hearts. That we will be challenged by this message. but as we were reminded by Jesus at the tail end of last week's Passage May we not just be heroes of the word. But may we be doors of the word for those for second-best when we can have your best. Help us as we continue to worship you through submission to your word in Jesus name, we pray, amen. You may be seated.
God can forward that back there. That be cool. all right, so as we continue here, we're going to see That, if you ignore Christ, you will miss out on so much last week, we talked about the king, you could not ignore it. At the end of the day, you can ultimately ignore Jesus because everyone will have to give an account to him, because he is the king of kings. And Lord of lords, people try and ignore him, but they do so at their own risk, they do so at their own lost, but if you try and ignore Jesus, you really miss out on so much. So, the first thing that we don't want to miss out on today, it is simply that's don't miss the sign. That Jesus is the greater profit. Don't miss the sign. That Jesus is the greater profit. Look at once again, at verse 29, when the crowds were increasing, Jesus is a teacher, he's a rabbi, he's a preacher and in Preachers, like crowds right? This should be a good thing. The crowd is increasing and what does Jesus do? He's obviously not ready. You know how to win, friends and influence people. He's obviously not being secret sensitive here at all. Not giving a feel-good message. What is he say? This is an evil generation. This is an evil generation. He's reminding the people that he is preaching to that, that he is teaching. You guys aren't evil generation. He's not doing so because he hates them, he's not saying that. Because he doesn't love them. He's about to die on the cross for their send. He is warning though, he is pleading with them. Remember that I've been doing all of these sign I have been giving all of this teaching and yet you guys are in danger of rejecting me. A sad, is we live in an evil generation? I don't say that. Flip a coin. I say that realistically I say that with a with a grieving heart we live in a evil generation we live in a generation that looks after number one that is very selfish. In many ways we are more than willing to abandon children in the womb and in discard them because they may be inconvenient. And if they happen to be born We are more than willing to, to mutilate them. Generally saying that in the name of affirming care, I don't want to give up the dictionary. You know what affirming is? If to look at someone who is born in the image of God and say you know what, God has made you fearful and wonderfully, you were created in the image of God. There is nothing wrong with you Just the Way You Are. That's affirming to somebody. And then of course we see violence all over the place, we see genetic testing where someone may happen to have a disability. We think about discarding them instead of preparing to take care of them. There's a lot of selfishness going on, we live in a wicked generation, we live in a generation that that wants to redefine what God is to fight. We live in a generation that quite frankly wants to be God themself. They don't want God to Define reality, they want to Divine reality in God's place. That's what at the end of the day, all of this is about
I'm in charge. Not you God. We want to be on the throne of our own lives.
Will the passage continues in verse 29. This generation is an evil generation at 6 for a sign, but no sign will be given to it. Except the sign of Jonah to the miracle that Jesus did earlier and Luke chapter 11 when he healed the man. That was possessed by the demon that caused the man to be mute in. Some people say, by the power of Satan, you did that other people. Can you show us a sign? I'm sorry, didn't Jesus? Just show them a sign. He just heal the guy. That's a such a matter. Fact, if you look through the Gospel of Luke, just by way of review, he healed a man with a demon in chapter 4, the hills of Peter's mother-in-law in chapter 4. He healed many. It says in chapter 4, he healed the leper in a paralytic and chapter 5 in chapter 6, he healed a man with the withered hand and chapter 7, he healed the Centurion servant, he healed the Widow's son from name, raised him from the dead and chapter 8, with the Affliction with with the blood, he healed the irises daughter as well as an inverse night, he healed, the boy, with the unclean spirit. And then later or earlier in chapter 11, he healed the man he's already done signs. What more signs do you want? They weren't looking for sign. They were looking for excuses.
That's what they were looking for. He says no sign will be given to it. The sign of Jonah, not know what's this deal about the sign of Jonah. Now you guys probably were called at the story of Jonah from the Old Testament. You don't, you don't have to turn there, I will for you but in Jonah, 2:10 it says in Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah out on dry land. Now we remember the story of Jonas, he was sent to the city of Nineveh. It was a wicked City and I want you to go to those people. I love those people that there are currently far from me, but I want them to hear my message. Jonah was a good Jewish prophecies. I don't like those people. I don't want to go so he can pay to get on the boat to go far away. And God says you're going. Anyway, cause the great storm and jumped in the ocean. And then he got a pointed, a great fish to swallow and then it, spits them out on ground. Where does it spit him out? Where we supposed to go? I'm sure whoever saw that on the beach. It goes, quite the impression Jonah was at the point of death. And yet he was spit on the shore to life and then it says, in verse 3, of chapter 1, the word of the Lord came to Jonah. Second time saying, arise, go to Nineveh that great City, call out against the message. I tell you to do a rose went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. On Nineveh was an exceedingly, great City, three days, journey and prep and Joe Jonas began to go into the city going a Day's Journey he called out yet forty days and then it but she'll be overthrown in the people of Nineveh believed God they called for a fast put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. So, Jonah, who was far from a perfect prophet Jonah disobeyed. God. It first, so much so that God had to get his attention.
Finally decided to obey God after he was in a fish and after you got vomited out on land. This imperfect Prophet preaches to the people of Nineveh. And what do they do? They repent, they believed the message of Jonah. Do you know what? Jesus is the greater profit? He was an imperfect, he was perfect in Jesus had a sign as well. He wasn't in the belly of a fish for 3 days. He was in the be in the belly of the Earth for 3 days after he was crucified, but he would rise to life. And yet we see in verse 32 of Luke chapter 11, Jesus says that's the men of Nineveh will rise up at the Judgment with this generation and condemn it for they repented at the preaching of Jonah and behold something greater than Jonah is here.
Jonah preach to the people of Nineveh this imperfect profit and yet they repented and hear Jesus says it all. He's done is teach perfectly and he'll and extend love. He's been authenticated as the Messiah over and over and over and what do the people of his generation do who, by the way. We're good Jewish people, right? Jesus was the Jewish Messiah coming for the Jewish people and the Jewish leaders, they are buying large rejecting him. God says You're missing out on the sign and he was the ultimate sign of Jesus's, right? The resurrection that would be the ultimate sign just like Jonah was in the belly of the fish for 3 Days. Jesus would be in the heart of the Earth for three days and that should be the sign. What? Everybody should repent and Trust Christ. The Savior. Jesus is utterly unique. Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. He's dead. Muhammad is dead. Confucius is dead. Buddha is dead. Charles Taze, Russell founder of Jehovah's, Witnesses, is dead. Jesus is Alive. He rose from the dead that there's there for us. We know that the Old Testament predicted that the Messiah would rise from the dead. We know that we know, Jesus predicted, he would rise from the dead. And we know that both the Jewish authorities, and the Roman authorities had every vested interest in destroying and stopping Christianity. And all they had to do was produced the dead body of Jesus, but they never could, could they It is. So what are we supposed to believe some of the other theories that are out there? The, the stolen body Theory are we really supposed to believe that the Disciples of Jesus who were afraid and who abandon them? Just all of a sudden decided to overpower the Roman guards that were guarding the tomb. These Elite Roman guards at all the sudden that they whipped up that courage know that doesn't make any sense or are we supposed to? Hey. Are we supposed to believe the the theory that that says that the, the cool areas of the tombs revive? Jesus said that he actually didn't die. So are we supposed to think that the Romans were expert executing people all of a sudden, didn't know how to execute somebody that somehow and in the cool air of the tube or they're cool. But Jesus was was revived if he was able to get all the bandage cloths off and then hop off the the stone and then roll away the stone and beat up a bunch of Roman guards. Are we supposed to believe that we supposed to believe the hallucination Theory? The disciples were well-meaning? And they just hallucinated that they saw Jesus. What? They all have the same hallucination. And Jesus appeared to more than 500 people. At one time, 500 people have the same hallucination know. Let's think about this. The disciples did go from denying Jesus or abandoning Jesus to being scared to all of a sudden thing. We saw Jesus rise from the dead and all the apostles except for one Apostle switch was John who died in an old-age died, a martyr's death, all testifying in the fact that Jesus rose from the dead is the only logical conclusion to that based on the evidence is that Jesus indeed rose from the dead. That's the song we need to believe the sign. So you have plenty of evidence, there's plenty of evidence along the way. Going to do the slide, that's great. You have plenty of evidence. What you lack is a response to the evidence? That's a beautiful day, if you don't believe. You're being intellectually dishonest. You don't want to believe? It's not an intellectual thing. It's a hard thing. There's plenty of evidence believe that Jesus rose from the dead or something else. We don't want you to miss out on. We don't want to neglect. I don't want you to neglect your access to Jesus. The Greater King. Don't neglect your access to Jesus. The Greater King. Luke 11:31. It says this the queen of the South will rise up at the Judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them for. She came from the ends of the Earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, something greater than Solomon is here now, who is this queen of the South or the queen of the South. What is is known as the Queen of Sheba? She came from up, what is most likely modern human? She traveled over 2,000 miles because she had heard of the wisdom of Solomon, the kingdom of Solomon of the grant architecture and that the gold. Imagine that she didn't have a Amtrak to go on. She didn't have an airplane to go to want you to not have an Uber. She had to get to go, probably had to mount a camel and or took her Entourage over two thousand miles to come to hear the wisdom of Solomon in her story. Is it is found in 1st Kings chapter 10 and it says, when the Queen of Sheba heard, the fame of Solomon concerning, the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great new with camels bearing spices. Very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to solve them, and she told them all that was on her mind and Solomon answered all her questions. And there was nothing hidden from the King that he could not explain to her. And when the Queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built the food at his table, the seating of his officials, the attendance of the servants. They're closing his cut Bears, his burnt offerings that he offered at the House of Lords. There was no more breath in her and then she would go on to say this, in verse 9 blessed, be the Lord your God who is delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel, because the Lord love Israel forever. He has made you King that you may execute Justice and righteousness.
At the end of the day, the queen of the South, the Queen of Sheba. She came to hear the wisdom of in perfect King. He has some problems as well. He was an imperfect King. And yet, she traveled all that way in great effort and expense to herself to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And Jesus is trying to tell his generation. I'm the Greater King. I'm the king of kings. I am the Lord of lords and yet you're rejecting my wisdom. How often do we neglect access to Jesus? The Greater King. Do you realize that we have access coming to see you tomorrow night? They're not letting you in your not going anywhere. Close to that, you don't have access. To elected officials to just go. Anytime you please? Do you understand?
But you. Have access through Christ. To God Almighty in to the throne. That you and anytime can call upon the name of the Lord that you can pray to him that you can talk to him that he cares about your hurts and your fears and your anxieties. he cares about you, you have access to the Greater King and yet the people of Jesus's generation didn't care about that stuff. The promised Messiah, the greatest.
So, you're not as wise as you think you are, Solomon was wise. Jesus is wiser.
We need Christ to live our lives, their decisions that we need to make the relational decisions that we need to make their family decisions that we need to make their economic decisions that we need to make. We need to make decisions on the workplace and we need the perspective of God to make those decisions. Always remember to the Jesus is far wiser than you will ever be. He is far wiser than you will ever be. And so, how do we Gain the wisdom of Christ. What will first of all? We need to be more humble and less prideful.
Sometimes we just need to say, God, I need you. Come to him for guidance and Direction cuz we have access to all the wisdom we ever need.
Sometimes, do we need to be more teachable and less critical? We're willing to complain about other people were willing to complain about our lot in Life or what we think, God's done wrong, we need to be more teachable, even during those difficult circumstances of Life, Maybe. If you remember Mary from a few weeks ago, Martha serve were Mary sat at the feet of Jesus. Each day, if you spend time with the Lord, in prayer scripture reading, seeking his face and seeking his perspective, it's the wisest thing that you can ever do. You have access to the god of the universe?
The Queen of Sheba travel 2000 miles to hear the wisdom of Solomon and imperfect King and yet some of us aren't willing to roll out of bed. 15 minutes early to spend time with the Lord. We say we're too busy busy doing, what Facebook Instagram, Snapchat, whatever it's called. Watching TV. Give me. What are you too? Busy doing that. I mean, you have access to the King of Kings you have access to Jesus. We're not too busy. The wisest thing we can do is not neglect or access, don't miss out, don't miss out on spending time with the Lord. The finally don't fail to see that Jesus for under a basket. But I understand so that those who enter may, see the life that we get why people put out their lamps and in back in the day they would have like oil and it would burn and but it was placed in a room. So people could walk around and see so they wouldn't stumble in the dark that's why you turn on a life. this is just a side note, if it doesn't it irritate you like any time you have ever watched a horror movie that they always have like a like just thought about turning on the lights, you put a light on a lamp stand so you can see You want to see the light that's being offered, but Jesus says, your eye is the lamp of the body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of life. But when it is bad, your body is full of Darkness. See you in order to say, you need a couple things, one you need life. Into you need site, you need light. Can you need site? I like to be perfectly fine. It could be bright, but if you don't have the sight, You're not going to see the light. The problem is, is a lot of people don't want to see the light. What we do with the light of God, and by the way, Jesus says, I am the light of the world. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
We take the light of Jesus. And what do we want to do? We want to put two blindfolds on? We want to cover our head and blanket so we can't see the light. We don't always want to hear what Jesus has to say, to the lamp with its Rays. Gives you white There is nothing wrong with the illumination that comes through the Holy Spirit. There's nothing wrong with Jesus, as the light of the world, he's going to give you truth. He's going to give you the pathway to Salvation if there's anything wrong, it's our site cuz sometimes we just don't want to hear and see what God wants us to do. How's your eyesight?
Not your physical eyesight. How's your spiritual eyesight? Can you seek spiritual? Are you wanting to see spiritually spiritual blurriness?
Is caused by a prideful heart when we are prideful.
Want to do things. Our way we're not willing to Humble.
To the message of Christ's side become spiritual blurry. A judgmental attitude.
In a divided loyalty when we have our foot. Well, what am I friends think? We have our foot in the world, in that divided, loyalty, we don't see as well. Spiritual to spiritual blurriness is caused by all those things. But also,
We can have spiritual Clarity and how do we have spiritual Clarity? Simple? Repent of our sins and Trust Christ. Repent of our sins. And Trust Christ.
At the end of the day Christ wants you to have eternal life. An abundant life and you can have both. And it would be sad and tragic if you missed out on either one. You don't have to. You simply don't have to if you're here today and you don't know. Then when you die, you're going to go to heaven.