Matthew 12:38-50

Introduction

Today’s the Big Day!

You’re Finally Going to Propose to Your Girlfriend of 3 Years

You Pick Her Up Early that Morning…

And Tell Her You’ve Got a Whole Day of Activities Planned

But There’s One Big Surprise that is Going to Come at the End of the Day

So You Take Her to Get Her Nails Done

You Take Her to Her Favorite Restaurant

You Order Her Favorite Dessert

You Take Her to All Her Favorite Places…

And Spoil Her Like She’s Never Been Spoiled

Then as the Sun is Setting, You Take Her to Where You First Met…

Where All of Your Family and Friends are Waiting

And You Get Down on One Knee, Pull the Ring Out of Your Pocket…

And Ask Her to Marry You

She of Course Says, “Yes”, and Everyone Celebrates

But as the Night is Over and You are Driving Her Back Home…

She Looks at You and Says, “You Promised Me this Morning that You Had a Big Surprise for Me at the End of the Day.”

“So, What’s the Big Surprise?”

You Say, “The Proposal was the Big Surprise!”

Then She Hangs Her Head and Says, “Oh, I Just Thought There Would Be More”

That’s the Moment You Start Regretting the Decisions You’ve Made that Day

If a Perfect Proposal at the End of a Perfect Day Isn’t a Big Enough Surprise…

Then There’s No Pleasing this Girl

In Our Text, We are Going to See the Scribes and Pharisees Act in a Similar Way

They Say They Want Something From Jesus in Order to Believe Him

But What They are Asking for, Jesus Has Already Given Them

And it Wasn’t Good Enough for Them

Matthew 12:38-50

Next Week, We’ll Be Starting the 3rd of Matthew’s 5 Teaching Discourses of Jesus:

The Parables of Jesus

Chapter 11 was About How Jesus Didn’t Meet the Expectations of the Jewish People

Chapter 12 has Been About the Jewish Leaders’ Rejection of Jesus

This Even Led to Last Week’s Text Where the Pharisees Blasphemed the Holy Spirit in Order to Reject Jesus

To End this Section of His Account…

Matthew Shows Us the Future of that Unbelieving Generation

Matthew 12:38 (NASB95)

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”

In Matthew’s Account, Everyone Who Addresses Jesus as “Teacher” is Not One of His Followers

That’s One Way Matthew Communicates to Us that These Scribes and Pharisees are Not Believers

They Want to See a Miraculous Sign From Jesus

They Want to See Him Do Something that Proves Without a Doubt that He is the Messiah

There’s Nothing Wrong with Expecting Signs as Proof that Someone is Sent From God

But Here’s the Problem:

Jesus has Been Giving Signs of His Messiahship Since the Beginning of His Ministry

They’d Seen Him Work Sign After Sign…

And Nothing was Ever Good Enough for Them

His Miraculous Healings Weren’t Good Enough Proof

His Exorcisms Were Performed By the Power of Satan

Nothing was Ever Going to Be Good Enough for Them…

Because They Didn’t Want to Believe in Him

Mark and Luke Tell Us They Were Asking for Signs in Order to Test Him

There is No Pleasing These Hard-Hearted People

And Jesus Isn’t Interested in Trying

Matthew 12:39–40 (NASB95)

But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

He Calls Them Evil and Adulterous for Wanting a Sign

While, as God’s People, They Were Supposed to Be Faithful to Him…

As a Man and Woman are Supposed to Be Faithful to Their Spouse

But Their Hearts Were Set Against God and They Were Unfaithful

Again, the Wanting of Signs Isn’t Evil or Adulterous

It’s the Rejection of All the Signs They’ve Already Witnessed…

And Yet They Ask for More

He’s Not Going to Give Them Any Different Signs Than They’ve Already Witnessed

The Only New Sign They Will Receive is the Sign of Jonah

What is the Sign of Jonah?

That He Spent 3 Days and 3 Nights in the Sea Monster’s Belly

And the Son of Man (Jesus’ Messianic Title for Himself)…

Will Spend 3 Days and 3 Nights in the Heart of the Earth (In Death)

The Sign is Not that Jesus Will Die…

But that He Will Only Stay Dead as Long as Jonah Stayed in the Belly of the Sea Monster

The Only Other Sign Jesus is Going to Give This Evil and Adulterous Generation is:

His Resurrection From Death

Matthew 12:41 (NASB95)

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

Even the Wicked Gentile City of Nineveh Will Condemn this Jewish Generation in the Judgement

When Jonah Preached to Them, They All Repented

As Far as We Know, the Ninevites Never Knew About…

Jonah Being Swallowed and Spit Out By a Sea Monster

They Only Heard His Preaching and They Repented

But this Generation has Seen Jesus’ Miracles

They’ve Heard His Teachings

And They Will Eventually See the Sign of His Resurrection

And They Will Still Reject Him

But They Aren’t Just Rejecting Another Prophet Sent From God

They are Rejecting the Physical Manifestation of God Himself

The Gentile Nineveh Repented at Only the Preaching of Jonah

Israel Has Seen the Miracles and Heard the Preaching of Someone Far Greater Than Jonah…

And They Persistently and Defiantly Reject Him

Matthew 12:42 (NASB95)

“The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

The Queen of the South is the Queen of Sheba in 1 Kings 10

This Gentile Woman, as Well as the Gentile Nineveh…

Will Condemn the Jewish Generation of Jesus’ Time in the Day of Judgement

She Traveled a Far Distance to Hear the Wisdom of Solomon

And When She Did, She Praised the One True God

She was Impressed with a Mere Man

The Jews Were Not Impressed By Jesus Who is God Himself

Both of These Examples By Jesus Show Gentiles Turning to God

This is Pointing Forward to the Universal Nature of God’s Worldwide Kingdom

He has Always Accepted All People Who Will Love and Serve Him

But His Own Special People, Israel, Were Now Rejecting Him…

Even Though They’ve Been Given Sign After Sign

Matthew 12:43–45 (NASB95)

“Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order.

“Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”

Jesus Seems to Be Going Completely Off Topic Here

But this Story is Entirely Related to What We’re Seeing in this Context

The Story is of a Man Who is Released From the Possession of a Demon

He Get’s His Life Back On Track, But He Leaves Himself Empty

He Doesn’t Replace the Evil Spirit with the Holy Spirit

And Because of That, When the Evil Spirit Returns, He Finds His Old House Unoccupied

So He Goes and Gets 7 (Number of Completeness) Other Worse Spirits to Join Him

And Now the Man is in Worse Shape than He was Before

The Moral of the Story is the Same as a Something Jesus Said Last Week

Matthew 12:30 (NASB95)

“He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

You Can’t Take a Neutral Stance When it Comes to Jesus and His Reign

Repentance that Doesn’t Lead to Allegiance to Jesus is Only Half-Repentance

And When Jesus Isn’t Occupying Your Heart, Mind, Soul, and Body…

Evil is Going to Find its Way Back in and It’ll Be Far Worse than Before

Here’s How this Story/Parable Fits Our Immediate Context:

Jesus is Cleansing His Evil Generation in His Kingdom Ministry

The Effects of Sin are Being Conquered By Him

But if the Generation He’s Cleansing aren’t Willing to Accept Him…

And Give Their Allegiance to Him…

They are Going to End Up in Worse Shape Than They Were Before

Ownership By the Devil Must Be Replaced with Ownership By Jesus

Morality Without Faith, Hope, and Love in/for Jesus Will Never Last

Jesus was Exercising the Evil and Corruption Out of this Generation

But They Were Unwilling to Welcome Him in

By Not Allowing Him to Make His Home with Them…

They are Allowing Satan to Return and Make Their Condition Far Worse

We Could Possibly See a Hint of 70 A.D. Being Referred to Here

Without Jesus, the Forces of Darkness are Coming in Full Force Against this Evil and Adulterous Generation

Within 30-40 Years, the Evil Powers at Work in the Roman Empire…

Were Going to Come Crashing Down on the Jewish People Who Rejected Jesus

Matthew 12:46–50 (NASB95)

While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. Someone said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.”

But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers!

“For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

Jesus was Just Speaking of How Gentiles Would Condemn Israelites in the Judgement Day

Why?

Because They Accepted God’s Prophet and King…

And Obeyed and Praised God

God is More Concerned with Spiritual Israel Than Physical Israel

I Think That Same Concept is Being Applied Here to Family

Why Were Jesus’ Mother and Siblings Wanting to Speak with Him?

We Aren’t Told, But Based On the Context…

It Seems Like They Were Not Exactly Part of His Believing Followers

This Whole Chapter is About Jesus Being Rejected

And We Know From Other Texts that During His Ministry…

Many in Jesus’ Own Family Rejected Him

Jesus Isn’t Advocating for Being Rude, Negligent, or Dismissive to One’s Unbelieving Family

But He is Showing Us Something About His Priorities

Jesus is More Concerned with Spiritual Family Than Physical Family

To Jesus, There is a Connection Thicker Than Blood

Those Who Place Their Faith in Him…

And Obey the Will of God…

Become a Family with God as Our Father

And Jesus Considers this Family as His Closest Family; His Real Family

I Want to Close the Lesson with this Concept:

Can You Imagine How the Church Could Turn Our Present World Upside Down…

If We Saw Christian Fellowship and Familial Relationships the Way Jesus Does?

We are Family!

We Aren’t Just “Church Family”…

Which Often Comes Across as a Secondary Family

We are, in the Truest and Most Intimate Sense, a Family

Jesus Didn’t Die So We Could Have a Secondary Family to Fall Back On

He Died to Give Us a New Primary Family

The Sooner We Recognize and Accept the Implications of that Fact…

The Sooner this Church Becomes Everything Jesus has Called Us to Be

If You Aren’t Challenged By What I’m Saying Right Now…

Then You’re Either Lightyears Ahead of Me in Your Walk with Christ

Or You Aren’t Paying Attention

Being with These People is Where We Should Feel Most at Home

If We Aren’t Comfortable Inviting Each Other into Our Homes…

Or Spending Any Time with Each Other Outside of These Walls…

Then We Don’t See the Church the Way Jesus Does

In the Age to Come, Our Unbelieving Family is Going to Be Completely Replaced By Our Spiritual Family

In Eternity, Our Spiritual Family will Be the Only Family We Have

As Christians, it is Our Duty to Live in this Age as if We are Already Living in the Next

That Means Seeing the Church as Jesus Sees the Church

You are My One True Family

I Hope We Will All Strive to Truly Believe that…

And Allow that Belief to Alter the Way We Treat and Interact with Each Other

Jesus Didn’t Say, “The World Will Know You are My Disciples if You Gather Together Once a Week.”

He Said, “The World Will Know You are My Disciples if You Love One Another.”

May We Love Each Other in the Way that Only a True Family Can

Matthew Leaves Us with a Beautiful Ending to Several Discouraging Chapters

Jesus was Rejected By His Generation

But He is Now Surrounded By a True Family of Believers…

Who Accept Him for Who He Truly is

Have You Accepted Jesus for Who He Truly is?

Are You an Obedient Believer of King Jesus?

Are You in the Family of Father God?