Here's Your Sign

Matthew 12:38-50

An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign. Jesus deals with faith. If you want to have a relationship with Jesus, you must have faith in Him. You want to go to heaven? You must have faith in Jesus. Do you want the promises of God given to you in your life? You must have faith in Christ. The Pharisees said that they wanted proof that Jesus was who He was claiming to be. Faith is believing without first seeing, and Jesus said that people who see with their eyes have relatively weak faith compared to those who believe without seeing. These guys were wanting proof.

We often want proof of things. If someone says they love you, but they are not showing it, then you may ask them for proof. If someone says they can dunk a basketball, but they are shorter than you would expect a person who can get above a rim would be, then you may ask them to put their money where their mouth is and dunk a ball. It is natural for us to speculate, but these Pharisees had witnessed Jesus perform multiple miracles. They wanted a sign performed on their terms, which Jesus was not going to do nor should He have to.

Long ago there was this city of the Assyrian empire that was pretty large, and had a notorious reputation. This city was called Nineveh, and it was a wicked place. The Assyrians were brutal people, and they were said to flay their enemies alive. That is to remove your skin while you are still fully able to feel it. They also put people on stakes in order to send a message to those who would stand against them. This was a tactic calculated frightfulness. They would do something horrific, and then send the stories ahead of their soldiers so that when the army arrived, you would be so terrified by the story that you would submit to their desires. This was a pagan culture, and evil culture, but God wanted to save them. God sent a messenger to Nineveh. This man’s name was Jonah. In a quick run-down of the story: God sent Jonah, Jonah did not want to go, Jonah ran, Jonah was caught up in a storm on the seas, he ended up in the water, a large fish swallowed him, he prayed, 3 days later the fish threw Jonah up on the beach, Jonah went to Nineveh, witnessed to the wicked city, and the city repented. The entire city listened to God’s warning, turned from their wicked ways, and followed Him.

Then there was this queen. She was from Sheba. Do you know what they called here? The queen of Sheba :) There was an exceptionally wise king in Israel, do you know his name? It was Solomon. Solomon is revered as the wisest man in history. Notice that I said wisest, and not smartest. There is a difference between being wise and being intelligent. You can always be smart, but if you do not use your brain how can you be wise? Solomon used his wisdom to build his nation. He was immensely wealthy, and powerful. He had alliance all over the known world, he pushed the boundaries of his kingdom farther than any king of Israel ever had, he successfully held onto and increased what his father David had given him, had some moral failures, but as a whole was a fantastic king and ruler. Everyone knew of Solomon. This queen in the land of Africa had heard rumors of the grandeur of this king, and she wanted to see for herself if it was true. So she loads up gifts to pay homage, and she heads north with a caravan. She came with riches, but she also came with difficult questions. Questions about life, questions about God, questions that other men did not have the answer to, and ones that she need fulfillment for. Solomon gave her all that she asked for. She came with riches to bestow, but the weight of her questions were far greater than the weight of gold she was carrying. The king sat down and was able to answer every question that she had about life. Do you know what that means? Solomon explained his God to her, and told her how life was truthfully supposed to operate. We have no idea if the queen converted over to following our God, but we do know that she did bless our God at the end of the meeting with Solomon. 1 Kings 10:9 “Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness.””

She revered God. The men and women of Nineveh revered and worshiped God. These Pharisees did not for they had the God of the universe in front of them, and they were demanding a sign be performed so that His authenticity could be proven. Even though He had been performing miracles for days, and His reputation had reached the cities even before He did.

Jesus said here is your sign. I will spend 3 days in the grave and then I will rise again on my own power. Which no has ever or will ever be able to do. There is your sign, but when the sign comes you will be truly doomed.

Jonah preached to the city of Nineveh and they repented. Solomon witnessed to the queen of Sheba and she acknowledged God in all His greatness. The Pharisees had God HIMSELF preaching to them, and they ignored Him, and even called Him a devil. Jesus said that in the end, these people who were once wicked, but repented, will stand and judge these men who rejected Jesus. How sad it must be to reject Jesus.

Let me tell you in your own life. Jesus Christ came, He died for your sins, and He rose from the grave to prepare a place for whoever would believe in Him. That can be you. If you will only believe, and follow.

Now lets talk about actors. You have all probably read or watched something about the case with Johnny Depp and Amanda Herd lately. Both good actors and actresses, obviously Johnny is far superior, but that is what they do. They act. They pretend to be something that they are not for our enjoyment. We act too for the same reason. Some of you may be putting on a great show tonight. Jesus said here in verse 43-45 that there are these kinds of people all over the world. Let me explain who these people are. They are people who try to clean up their lives without Jesus. They are people who say “I need to do better. I am not doing right. Let me clean up my lifestyle.” Then under their own power they clean themselves up. They cut the bad habits. Then the bad habits come back, but they resist. Then the bad habits come back with a bunch of friends, and the habits overtake the man. No man can clean up his life and keep it clean. Not on his own power. It takes a true relationship with Jesus Christ to give you the power to overcome. Remember the scripture in Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” You have the power to overcome, but only through Christ who gives you the strength to overcome.

This is why we see so called Christians failing and falling into what looks like a deep pit of sin that they never come back from. You would say “how can someone claim to be saved but continue living like this?” That is the question I would raise myself. If Christ has truly freed us from our sins, then why are we still a slave to them?

IF CHRIST HAS SET YOU FREE, THEN WHY ARE YOU CONTINUING TO WALK IN SIN??? People make mistakes. ISOLATED mistakes. Not calculated sins. This means that they have a slip up, the repent, and move on to do something better. Those who are saved should never plan their sins. Sins should surprise us. Surprise us so much that we cry out in prayer for forgiveness and move on. Some of you guys premeditate your sins and then broadcast them to the world as if you are proud. This is dark, and this is wrong. Certainly not behavior of a child of Christ. Christ has character, and His children carry on His character as well.

Jesus shows that those who show His character are His true family. Not even His own blood 46-50. Matthew 12:50 “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”” Those who follow God’s commands are His family. Those who follow His will are His children. Those who do what is right, and those who do what is good by God are the ones who have the right to be called sons and daughters of God.

Yard sale is this coming Friday and Saturday. All of the money that we make will be going straight to the youth budget to be used for the summer. As you can see we have grown, thankfully, and it cost more money for us to operate. If you want soar to be successful, then you need to be helping with the yard sale. I know that you guys will be in school on Friday, but if anyone will be out I could use your assistance. Thursday night we will be setting up. It will be raining likely so we will have to adapt how it is done. It is in your best interest to attend.