Sermon Tone Analysis

The following material is adopted from John MacArthur’s commentary on Matthew and his Study guide.

Additional material taken from sources listed at the end

Read and summarize

Look for

— Prayers ( Blue )

— Promises ( Green )

— Warnings ( Red )

— Commands ( Purple )

Q: About 7% of the world is born physically blind.

What percentage of the world is born spiritually blind?

Q: Why did Jesus refuse to provide a miracle to the Pharisees and Sadducees ( 16:1-4 )?

The Blind who will never see ( 16:1-4 )

( 16:1-4 ) Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; 3 and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’

Hypocrites!

You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.

4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.”

And He left them and departed.

RC Sproul

— At first glance, chapter 16 seems to be repeating earlier accounts

— Earlier Scribes and Pharisees came to Jesus asking for a sign , but He said He would only give them the sign of Jonah ( 12:38-39 )

— A delegation of Pharisees asked why He and His disciples were transgressing the traditions of the Jews ( 15:1-2 )

— Now back in Jewish territory He is confronted again, but notice something unique about this encounter

— The Pharisees and the Sadducees demanded a sign from heaven; the first time we see the Sadducees; earlier it was the scribes

— They tried to explain away Jesus’ other miracles as sleight of hand

— They wanted something beyond:

— the healings

— Deliverance from demons

— Multiplication of loaves and fish

— They wanted an unmistakable sign from heaven that would settle the question of Jesus’ identity once and for all

— This, they were sure, would be a feat beyond Jesus’ power

— Although Jesus could have easily impressed them, He refused

— He knew that even a miracle in the sky would not convince them He was the Messiah because they had already decided not to believe in Him

The weather report

( 16:2) He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’;

— We have a saying, “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight; red sky at morning, sailor take warning”

— When the sky is red at night the weather the next day will be fair

— But if the sky is red in the morning, the weather is likely to turn foul very soon

— In Jesus’ opinion, they were better meteorologists than biblical scholars

( 16:3 ) You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.

Hypocrites!

You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.

— Despite their religious training, their primitive and limited knowledge of the weather was far superior to the their knowledge of God

— You are oblivious to the times in which you are privileged to live, the very times of redemption by God’s own Son, before whom you now stand

— It was the beginning of the messianic age that Jews had long hoped for, but those Jewish leaders did not recognize it

— Today we have those who can predict the weather, stock market and interest rates but are oblivious to God’s plan for the world

Seeking a Sign

RC Sproul

— Jesus first told the Pharisees and Sadducees that their seeking after a sign showed that they were part of a wicked and adulterous generation, a generation that was not faithful to its God

— He was speaking about people whose hearts are hard, so hard they feel God ought to perform a special miracle just for them

— The world today is filled with people just like these Pharisees and Sadducees

— They say: “I know what the New Testament says, but I wasn’t there, so unless I can see this Jesus with my eyes and touch Him with my hands, I’m not going to give any confidence or consideration to Him

— When Jesus rose again, He appeared to all of the apostles except Thomas

— Thomas said, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe” ( John 20:25 )

— Jesus said, Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (v.

29).

Not all are given the privilege of seeing Jesus’ wounds in order to bolster their belief, but they believe nonetheless

— People may want more from God, but He has already given enough evidence to make everyone of us culpable to knowing the truth

We are all blind

— About 7% of the world’s population is considered legally blind; since the fall everyone is born spiritually blind

— Because we are physical we are all born blind to spiritual things realities

— Two types of people

— Those who never see ( those who reject Christ )

— The blind who will be made to see ( those who embrace Christ have Him as their truth teacher )

— Many people, like these Jewish leaders, say they want to see a miracle so that they can believe

— Jesus knew that miracles never convince the skeptical

— Jesus had been healing, raising people from the dead, and feeding thousands, and still people wanted him to prove Himself

— These are those who will never see — they just wanted to test Him and discredit Him

— They knew the weather but were spiritually blind

Four Characteristics of these blind

( 1 ) They seek fellowship with darkness

— The Pharisees teamed up with the Sadducees

— They love darkness rather than light

( 2 ) They cursed the light

— Their intention was to shame Him and mock Him

— They sought no genuine evidence

( 3 ) They only plunge into deeper darkness

— They knew the weather

— Jesus said, you’re not bad at the weather but when it comes to discerning spiritual reality they were stone blind

( 4 ) He is abandoned by the Lord

— He departed from them

— Do you expect God to prove Himself to you personally before you believe?

— Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” ( Jn 20:29 )

The Pharisees with the Sadducees—strange combination because the Pharisees were the extreme religionists; the Sadducees were the unitarians, the modernists.

They did not believe in the supernatural, or the resurrection

Q: Jesus “offended” the conservatives and the liberals.

What does that mean for us?

Do we choose sides?

In this chapter we will see three viewpoints concerning Jesus

1.

The Pharisees and Sadducees consider Him an imposter and do not believe that He is the Messiah

2. The multitude thinks He is John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or another of the prophets.

(v14) In this, they were complimentary, although they missed the mark completely

3. His disciples present the third viewpoint.

They believe that Jesus is the Messiah (Christ), the Son of the living God

“...sign of the prophet Jonah”: Second time that Jesus has used the prophet Jonah as a “sign of the times” (Matt 12:40).

Jesus first use referred to Jesus being raised from the dead

Q: Did these Pharisees and Sadducees accept the “sign of Jonah” when Jesus was raised from the dead?

Going Deeper

— The Pharisees and Sadducees were Jewish religious leaders, and their views were diametrically opposed on many issues

— The Pharisees carefully followed their religious rules and traditions believing that this was the way to God

— They also believed in the authority of the Scripture and in the resurrection of the dead

— The Sadducees only accepted the books of Moses as scripture (Gen, Ex, Lev, Num, Duet) and did not believe in life after death