Matthew 2024

So we've been looking at the gospel of Matthew, going through the gospel of Matthew in the evening services.

And, the reading tonight is from Matthew chapter 12 versus 38 to 45. That's Matthew chapter 12 versus 38 to 45. And that can be found on page number 978 of the church bibles. Then some of the pharisees and the teachers of the law said to him, teacher, we want to see a sign from you. He answered, a wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but none will be given it, except the sign of the profit zone Jona.

For as Jona was 3 days and 3 nights, in the belly of a huge fish. So the son of man will be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Ninnema, Ninnema will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it. For their vented at the preaching of Jona, and now something greater than Jona is here. 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.

When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, I will return to the house I left, when it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean, and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it 7 other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. This is how it will be the dislocated generation.

This is the word of the lord. Thanks, Josh. Oh, good evening. My name's Rory, and we're the members of staff here at at Cornerstone. And just to just to reiterate that, notice about the women's breakfast, if you if you're here this morning, you would have heard that, Pete was telling us that that that is gonna be, quite a special 1 because oxana is gonna come and, and give us some stuff about Ukraine, oxana's Ukrainian, and, sort of, question and answer with yourself, and, and, just to sort of understand what happening there.

And, go on. Yeah. Yes. Yes. So, bring your kids if if dads are going to the the the morning.

And it also would be a really, really good event to invite people to So maybe, if you have friends in mind, then then do bring them along and, enjoy sort of the testimony of oxana. I think that'll be really, really worthwhile. So please, women do do do that. Let's pray as, we begin. Father, we do thank you, for all the things that you've been teaching us in this this gospel of Matthew, and we pray that now as we come again, to this book that you will help to understand it.

We pray that you will, reveal to us, the areas in our lives where we need repentance, and you will show us the encouragement of following the lord Jesus Christ. Maybe rebel and him and him loan. And so we pray these things in his name. Oh, man. Do you wanna hear a joke?

You better no. Okay. Well, you're gonna get it then. I've never started with jokes, but I heard this 1 the other day, and I quite liked it. So, it goes like this.

You ready? I've really set up now. It's rubbish. I didn't want to believe my dad was stealing from his job as a road worker, but when I got home, all the signs were there. It's good that 1, isn't it?

I I I I told my dad that before, and he was like, yeah, that's actually quite a good joke. Like, he was surprised that I'd said it. Anyway, why don't I tell that joke? Well, for a laugh? Yeah.

It's a party. That's what a joke's for. But really, because I want us to think about signs. Signs are all around us, and we aren't meant to ignore signs. We're meant to follow them.

But so often is the case is that we do both of those things. You know, there you are, you're driving your car, and there's all sorts of lights popping up in my car, saying that I probably should get it checked. And, I just need a bigger sign, actually. I need a better sign, other than the lights that are red and flashing and stopping my car working. If you were, if you remember the sort of, boy, boys and girls in school, boys often missed the size, didn't they?

That a girl liked them. They didn't understand why they were giving them the the the sandwiches from their lunchbox. What what do they what what do they just realize I'm hungry? Or or or girls probably missed the ones that Blokes try and give off because blokes are incredibly clunky and just ended up beating up the girls as if that they're like this. Oh, yeah.

So the the signs are missed often, aren't they? Or or or we or we have someone that we didn't realize something about, and and then we we look back on them and we go, oh, actually, all the signs were there. I missed that. I needed another sign. If you've been, coming to the morning, services, and we've been looking at ezekiel.

Ezekiel's got all sorts of signs, hasn't he? He is like a, a living sign that says to the people that you need to follow what I'm saying. Yet, time and time again, they don't like those signs. They need another sign. Well, as we, as we come to this passage here, we see in verse 38, The pharisees and the teacher of the law come to Jesus and they say teacher, we want to see a sign from you.

We want to see a sign from you. It sounds like quite a polite request. There's they they come to Jesus, they call him teacher. That was very nice. We wanted to assign from you.

And on on face value, if we hadn't been reading Matthew, we might think, yeah, fair enough. He we who wouldn't wanna see a sign from Jesus. Apart from the fact that Jesus's response shows us that he doesn't feel the same way. Look with me at verse 39, he answered a wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign. That's his response.

You're asking for a sign that shows us that you and this generation are wicked. They're evil, and they are adulterous. I I mean, the the word adulterous, it reminds us of much of what we've been looking at in our morning services, that the people of god or Israel. So often meant to be the people of god cheated on god in terms of a marital unfaithfulness. And so Jesus is sort of saying, look, you're just the same as every other generation before.

You're wicked and you're adulterous. You're unfaithful. Unfaithful people ask for a sign. That's what he's saying. Now why is he saying that why?

Why do unfaithful people ask for a sign? Well, it's because they've missed all the other sides that have happened beforehand. They're not taking the sides that they have seen at face value. You think how many sides have we seen in Matthew so far? I think before chapter 12, you have 9 specific healings or miracles.

9. You get the the leper. You get demon possessed men. You get the the centurion servant. You get Peter's mother-in-law.

You get, the blind and the mute. You get all of these people time and time again. And they're just the individuals. You also get in in chapter 4 and 23, 24, and chapter 8 and verse 16, just healing many, many, many people. How many signs do you need, pharisees?

How many signs you need teachers of the law? And then in chapter 12, We've got 2. You've got you've just seen a much of their dismay and their anger. They saw a man with a witted hand restored. And then in verse 22, they saw a man who was demon possessed that rendered him blind and mute, healed so that he could both talk and see.

How many signs do they need? And that sign that they got there resulted in them calling Jesus, basically Satan. So to ask for a sign is which kid. In fact, asking for a sign is satanic. They they call Jesus Beelzebul.

But actually, to ask for a sign when they've seen so many is satanic. Do you remember in the wilderness? Do you remember in the wilderness when Jesus goes and and he's and he doesn't eat anything for 40 days and 40 nights, and satan comes to him and he says what? If you are the son of god, turn this, turn these stones into bread. Prove that you are the son of god.

And here come the pharisees and the teachers of the law, and they say we want to see a sign from you. Prove that you are who you are saying you are. Now you might know people like this if only god would give me a sign. I remember I've talked to young people before and they and and the classic 1, if only god wrote his name in the sky, and if, you know, I've I've worn out with like, you know, a big old yahweh in the sky of clouds, then I would believe. If only if only god, you know, gave me the thing that I wanted, if only god would just come down and go hello.

I'm here. Will you believe in me? Then I would believe. God, show me a sign. Go show me a sign, and then I'll believe.

And so Jesus says verse 39, none will be given it. None, apart from 1. I'll only give you 1, and it shows that I am greater. Then all. You know, you, you know, you get those those people who say, you think that was good.

Wait till you see? Yeah? You think that was amazing. Wait till you see, you know, you, you know, people people probably did this with my brothers, you know. You think Andrew's special?

Wait till you see Steven. You think Steven's special? Wait till you see Gavin? You think Gavin's special? Wait till you see the perfect 1.

Don't snigger Laura. Yeah? That's what I tell people. I say my mom and dad were just striving for perfection, and then they they achieved it. Or some people say they realized it was impossible when I came out and then they stopped.

Do we read the old testament? I think that's what we should say. You think that's good. Wait till you see Jesus. And what Jesus is gonna do is gonna say all the signs are pointing to the fact that I'm the greater 1.

And so here's my first point, a greater profit, a greater profit. Look at verse 39 to 41 again. He answered a wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign. But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 4, as Jonah was 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the son of man will be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth.

The Met of Ninnover will stand off at the judgment with this generation and condemn it for they repented at the preaching of Jona, and now something greater than Jona is here. He's the greater 1, and he uses the story of Jonah to show this. Now hopefully, many of you are familiar with the story of Jonah. Drew's favorite person in the whole of the Bible is Jonah. Why?

I do not know. But I think it's because she she amused at how grumpy he is, and resonates with that. And, so, but the story of Jonah is fantastic. You know, that god comes to Jonah and says, I'm gonna Droy nineveh, so you need to go and preach it to them and tell them, and Jonah can't stand Pagan nineveh and says, I'm not doing that. Disabase God runs in the complete opposite direction to Tarshish, where he jumps on a boat thinking, I won't have to preach nineveh Unfortunately, you can't escape god, Jona.

And so a great storm occurs in Jona fast asleep finally gets woken up. It was the sailors desperately trying to save themselves, and he's as look lads, you're gonna have to throw me off this boat so that you're all surviving. And I think really it's probably like, and then I won't have to go to Nindigo because I'll be dead. 1, no, me. Unfortunately, for Jona.

God provides a huge fish who swallows him whole. They didn't even see that video the other day, by the way, that canoeist. He was just canoeing along, and then a big old humped back whale came and swallowed him. So is anyone doubts the story of jonah, shown that video. Yeah?

And 3 days, he's in the the belly of a fish, and he has real time to reflect on his on his circumstances, and he ends up praying to god and saying, wow, you have saved me in this time. And so at the end of that 3 days, he spat out onto the shore, and god says, go to nineveh and preach to them. And so there he goes to preach to nineveh, and it is 1 of the shortest sermons you'll ever see. I think he probably likes the fact it's short because it's full of judgement. Jonas's there.

Happy Days, I'm gonna judge you and he says, 40 days. 40 days. 40 more days and nineveh will be overthrown. 8 word sermon, 5 in the Hebrew. 5 word sermon.

I wish I could just do that. 5 words, I'll be done. It is 1 of the most successful sermons in the whole of the Bible, isn't it? The whole city, even the donkeys are repenting. The cattle, they're all repentant.

They all say, Oh, no. We're gonna be judged. We're gonna be overthrown, and so they repent. And turn, and god spares them much to the fury of Jona, which he takes out on god and a tree. He's happy about a tree.

He dies and he's very angry. He, oh, that's why he treats your legs in me. That's the story of Jonah. The prophet Jonah, and Jesus says, there's Joan there. And verse 41, did you notice what he said?

Now something greater than Jona is here. See, Jona wasn't great to be fair, but god used him. But where Jonah was full of grumbling and hatred towards the people of nineveh, Jesus comes, doesn't he? And he has so much compassion. We saw that before that he looked at the at the people, and he saw people that were, like, lost sheep, and he had passion on them, and he had love for people that when the leper comes to him, and it says, Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean.

He doesn't go go away from me. I can't stand you. Now he reaches out and embraces the man and says, I am willing be clean. Where Jonah was disobedient and tried to run from god, Jesus is always obedient to the father and marches on to the plan that is set out for him. Yes, Jonah is a prophet, but Jesus is the prophet, the greatest prophet, the last prophet, the 1 who is called in John 1, the very word of God.

This is the greater prophets. And the sign that Jesus is gonna give is gonna be the same sign as Jonas, but it's gonna be greater. Did you see verse 39 to 40? None, no sign will be given it. Accept the sign of the prophet jonah.

For as jonah was 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the son of man will be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth. The great sign that Jesus says, I'm not gonna give you 1. I'm not gonna do just a magic trick for your lads. He's saying, I'm gonna do something greater. I'm gonna rise from the dead.

That's what he's saying. Jonah 3 days, 3 nights at the belly of a fish. Jesus, 3 days, 3 nights in a grave, but he will come out just as Jonah did. Now you might be thinking, hold on. I I notice a mathematical problem here.

Jesus didn't do 3 days in 3 nights, did he? He died on a Friday, and he rose on the Sunday. I can already see Naomi. Glenn was gonna ask me this at the end, and I've dressed it now. Okay?

She's always got this. Essentially what is happening when the way that the Jewish writings write or or the say their phrases is that if you have 1 part of a day, you consider the whole of the day that day. Okay? So it'll be a it's a it's a common way of speaking in the due. Like, we we might say I spent all day, cleaning the car.

Well, that's a lie. I've never cleaned the car in my life. But anyway, I was looking at it today, but it's filthy. Better spend all day cleaning it. I don't spend all day literally, but we use that as a as a saying.

And so Jesus is saying, yes. If I count 1 day, we count the whole day. So 3 days and 3 nights, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But just as I mean, it's an amazing story with Jonah. Because Jonah is saved, and it's like his death when the fish swallows him.

And 3 days later, he gets spat out, and he goes into Ninnovah. It's really, really interesting. I think that the god that the Ninnovites, does anyone know what the god that the Ninnovites served was? Yeah. Do you know what Dagon was?

He's a fish god. Isn't that isn't god amazing? And so here you go. You have a fish, a fish spit out, jonah, and he goes to the, the nation where they worship a fish god, and he says, Look, the real god isn't a fish god. He's going to overthrow you and they turn.

And so here, we have an even greater, a greater, a sign, and even that because Jesus isn't just going into a fish, so he actually goes to the to battle with death itself and dies in the cross and is is buried for those 3 days in the tomb, and he smashes out that grave in triumph, and he defeats death, and he defeats sin, and he defeats satan. And so when Jona went out, what did the Nynovites do? They repented. So how much more should this generation as they come to face a greater prophet than Jona as they come to face 1 who promises resurrection life. How much more should these people repent?

And we, in this room, if you're online, how much more? This side of the resurrection of our lord, Jesus Christ. How much more should we be repentant and in the light of all that Jesus is, in the light of all that Jesus has done, even in these passages that we've looked at, in light of all that he says, the prophet of god in the light of the resurrection of himself. How much more shall we be those who repent? The Nynovites had 5 words.

We have the very word of god the whole Council of God. We have it in our hands. How much more reason should we have to repent? He is the greater prophet, but then he pushes it further. There's more.

Because not only is he greater prophet. He's a greater king. Look with me at verse 42. 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. This woman who who was probably from Ethiopia, has heard about Solomon, the great king, son of David, and heard that he's a great wise man, and she's traveled miles to see Solomon and hear Solomon's wisdom.

You know, people travel miles to see rubbish, don't they? You know, they might travel miles to go and see their favorite football team play in a in a final. They might travel miles because they're super fans of, I don't know, Beyonce, and they're part of the Beheive. If you know what that's if that's lost on you, don't worry. It's lost on me.

But the Queen of Sheba heard about Solomon and traveled miles to see him. Just just read it with you. It's an amazing passage, actually. 1 king's chapter 10. You can also see it in 2 chronicles and chapter 9.

So 1 Kings, it's it's an amazing story, and I I want you to particularly note of what she says, after she encounters him. 1 1 Kings chapter 10 says this. When the queen of Sheba, heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the lord. She came to test Solomon with with hard questions. It's like rooted.

Anyway, arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan with with Camel's 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 place he had built. The food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes has cupbearers, and the burns offerings he made at the temple of the lord, she was overwhelmed.

She said to the king. The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true, but I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me. In wisdom and wealth, you have far exceeded the reports I heard. And then I love this sentence.

How happy your people must be? How happy your officials who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom. Praise be to the lord your god who has delighted in you and place you on the throne of Israel because of the lord's eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness. Worth going to see Solomon, right? He's a pretty amazing bloke.

How happy your people must be. But then Jesus says, in verse 42, now something greater than Solomon is here. So you thought Solomon was great. You thought he was wise. He doesn't even come close to me.

Jesus is far greater. Jesus is the 1 who is called the very wisdom of god in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 24. None wiser than him. He's wisdom personified. Jesus is the 1 whose kingship is greater than Solomon's.

He's he you know, you think about Solomon, yes, he was a great king, but how wrong he got it with with all the women and the idols that he eventually went for. But Jesus is the greatest king who establishes a throne for eternity. Jesus is the great king who truly brings justice and righteousness. Jesus is the greater king that can give you true happiness, a happiness that, that, think Peter calls it an inexpressible joy. I'm so consumer, jeez, and how great a king and how wise a king he is.

That it fills me with joy and happiness. And so the Queen of Sheba traveled miles just to listen to this man. And now now before these people stands 1 who is greater. Who actually isn't being traveled to sea, but he has traveled from from the glory of a heaven. He traveled down.

To the villages and the towns, he must go and preach the gospel He's present with the people. And so how much more should these pharisees and these teachers of this law and this generation that Jesus find himself in? How much more should they appreciate a greater king. How much more should they be listening to the greater king? And so how much more should we appreciate the greater king?

He has risen from the debt. He has established his kingship. His kingdom is here. He rules with justice and righteousness. He is the only 1 who can give us true joy and happiness.

All the signs. All the signs are pointing to him. The greatest side of the resurrection is pointing to him that he is the greatest prophet, the greatest king. Which leads me to my third point, a greater evil, a greater evil, even me from verse 43 to 45. When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and and does not find it.

Then it says I will return to the house I left. When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put an order. Then it goes and takes with it 7 other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.

It reminds me a little bit of house parties this, this story. You know, you know, it was usually an eighteenth birthday, and someone realized that the parents were away, and they suddenly had to tidy up this house, which was a mess. And then, it was empty, ready for a house party, and people came in, and they absolutely wrecked the place. Oh, who was daft enough to have a house party growing up? And he thought, I've got a time because it usually was done without the the parental knowledge.

And, a door would be kick down and and be destroyed, and there'll be people there you didn't want. And you have to get people around to get rid of those people, and the house is an absolute state. And, Drew, she's looking at me because as I'm describing some 1 of her stories now. The state. So the final condition of the house is worse than it that it started.

And so hit what's Jesus saying here? He's saying, look, here's the unpure spirit. It it the person is is freed from the impure spirit. I think he's talking about evil spirits because he's just healed them. He's just been called 1.

And he says, this person's been this impure spirit's been gone. He's been released. And then the house has only been tidied up. And as the the evil spirit goes away, and he looks for somewhere else to live, and he can't find anywhere to live because it's all too dry. He needs water because water symbolizes sort of evil and chaos.

And remember the pigs when Jesus, expelled the demon from, the legion that went into pigs, and they went and they dashed into the water. So I think that sort of stuff's going on here. When they finally can't find anywhere, because it's too hard, they think, well, I'll tell you what, I'll just go back to the old place The old gaffe was pretty decent. Right? Let's see if that's still available.

And so there they go, they go back and they find it empty, and he thinks, well, I better get a few of them, my mates, and we'll go and take them in. And they're more wicked than it than the that original spirit, so the final conditions is worse. Why is he telling this story? Why is he telling this story? Well, I think and I was reading, JC Brown, he says that this is the story of Israel.

I think we we perhaps have seen this in our, in our morning services. When you think about Israel or the people of god, freed from Egypt, freed from Egypt, freed from Egypt, free from slavery, free from the chains of Egypt. And then they go into the wilderness, and do they then have god occupy their heart and have god as their soul king? No. They end up worshiping a false idol.

So then god has to go again and free them again from the slavery. If you think about the the book of judges, it's just a an endless cycle of of of, going into idolatry, going into slavery, being free from slavery, and then doing what going again. And it gets worse and worse and worse. The situation gets worse and worse and worse. And then you go in even into the to the the establishment of of, Israel as a as a country, and we've seen haven't we that in Azikael's time, time.

Finally, Jerusalem falls, and the state gets worse and worse and worse. And so, yes, there's that they get freed, but because they don't have god as king to occupy their hearts. They end up in a worse situation than before. And not only is it the story of Israel in history. This is the story that Jesus sees in this wicked and adulterous generation before him.

There's this constant. And look, how how are they trying to how are they trying to live these these firacies and these teachers of the law and how are they try to get everybody else to live. It's to try and make sure that we can just try and clean up our lives. Yes, we've been free. So now let's just clean up our lives.

Let's dust it down. Let's wash it down. Let's have all the ceremonial washing laws. Let's have, strict adherence the 613 laws in the Bible, and let's make up 1500 plus laws to try and make sure that we can just hopefully be good enough. But they have they haven't replaced waste the evil with someone greater.

And so what ends up happening is that they have ended up trusting in their own law keeping to get right with god. That's what self righteousness is. Self righteousness has been the the sin of humanity ever since the fall. Adam and Lee, they decided that they knew best, that they decided that they were gonna be in the place of god, that they were gonna side what was right and what was wrong, and people have been doing that ever since. And I can just try and do enough to be right.

I can just try and clean up my life. Yes. Okay. We can have a little bit of Jesus, but I must and do all these other type of things that make me good enough. And, oh, if I just work hard enough in my job, then that might prove myself, and that I might be good enough.

And if I just raise my kids right and and and and pour my energy into them so that they do well in their exams, then I might be good enough. And I've tidied it up, and it looks clean, and it looks good. And so, actually, I'm good enough. The problem is someone greater hasn't replaced. The evil.

And so you have an empty house. And with an empty house, you have an opportunity and an opportunity for great evil. Did you notice how many spirits the import pure spirit gets. 7. And 7 is a significant number in the Bible, because 7 means complete.

But this time it's used for something bad. This is complete evil. This is complete wickedness. That's what self righteousness can do. It's complete wickedness because self righteousness says that I can keep laws and I can do good enough stuff, and it will get me right with god, and I don't need a greater prophet and I don't need a greater king.

That is the great evil that we see before us in this passage. They're they're so focused on the law keeping in and their self righteousness, that when the greatest prophet, the 1 that they're meant to be looking forward to, when the greatest king walks in and amongst them. When the Messiah comes, they're blinded from seeing how great he is. He's right there with them. He's right there with them.

And they're so blinded by the self righteousness. See, we we think that we it's it's a common thought that we just think that the the really evil people are those out there and and we're okay because we we do the right things. Jesus is saying you're in a you're in a very, very perilous situation. And so not only they don't recognize who Jesus is They ignore him completely, but it's even worse than that, isn't it? Because they condemn Jesus.

What do they call him in verse 24? It is only by beelzebul, the prince of demons that this fellow drives out demons. And all the miracles that they've seen them do, they reject him and say we want another sign. What a wretched state they're in? The final condition is worse than the first.

So blinded are they that they reject, and they condemn the lord of the universe, and they put him on a cross. So blinded are they that when they're confronted with the greater sign, they still won't believe. You might remember a story in in in Luke chapter 16. Jesus tells a story about lazarus and the rich man, and, they they both live in this world, and they both die, and the rich man ends up in hell, and lazarus ends up in heaven. And and the rich man's trying to order lazarus around because he thinks the old order still still applies.

Labor Ham's having none of it. And he says, well, can you at least send someone from the dead to go and talk to my talk to my family and friend so that they'll, believe. And Jesus says at the end of that parable in chapter 17 and verse 31, he said to him, if they do not listen to Moses and the prophet, and Remma Moses said there's gonna be a greater prophet to come. If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets They will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead. And so that's exactly what these these people were like.

This is what this generation were like. Jesus and John, he he goes to the the tomb of his friend, lazarus. He raises from the death, and what is the response to the raising of Jesus raising of lazarus from the dead, is we better kill this man. When they find out that that that after they put a guard, because they rem they said remember, Lads, he said he was gonna ride from the dead. So let's put a guard to make sure that doesn't happen, because if he does come out, then maybe you can stab him or something like that.

And then make sure you you finish off the job. And so there you go, they put it there. And then, then, He rises from the dead. The guards come back, go. He's raised basically, he's risen from the dead.

They go, well, here's some money. Hush. Hush. That's the wickedness of this generation. And so what is the result for those who reject the greatest prophet and the greatest king?

We'll look again at verse 41 and 42. The men of nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it. For they repented that the preaching of Jona are now something greater than Jona is here. And then 42, the queen of the south will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it. For she came from the end of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom and now something greater than Solomon is here.

The ninevites had a 5 word sermon, and they repented from their wickedness. Jesus has come, and he's given a whole sermon in chapters 5 to 7 of Matthew, and they're refusing to listen. Jesus comes, and he rises from the dead, and they refuse to listen, and so they've rejected the lord of of life. They rejected the king. They rejected the wise 1.

They rejected the great prophet. They said that he deserves to be killed We have condemned him to die on a cross. What do you think will happen to them? They're gonna be judged. They will be condemned.

A condemned to eternal hell. And there is the people of nineveh who repented of 5 words. And there is the Queen of Sheba condemning this, this generation because they refuse to bow the knee to the king of all. This generation that asks for a sign, prove it. This generation that refuses to have Jesus as the king and occupy their life, they will be condemned, and they will be judged.

And you think it will be better for generation, this generation that we live now, 20 25, live this side night, have the full revelation of god's words, have the very words of the lord Jesus in print for us, have more access to the Bible than any other generation, have it in all different translations, have it at the at the fingertips, at our fingertips, on our phones, on our computers, are the hard copies everywhere. We have the church. We have constant grace and mercy in giving us god's word we have been confronted with the king and the prophet. And every time that you say, actually, I'm gonna live and decide what's right, you're rejecting the lord Jesus Christ. And so we sang that song, how deep the father's love, and said ashamed, I hear my mocking voice, call out among the scoffers.

Every 1 of us in this room is guilty is guilty. He's guilty of saying that the lord Jesus deserves to be dead on a cross. We have more reason to accept the greatest prophet and to accept the greatest king than any other generation before us. And so if we're not gonna do that, how great the judgment and how great the condemnation that faces us. It's a scary thought.

It feels like there's a lot of judgment in this church at the moment, isn't there? We've got Zekel in the morning and more in the evening. Well, let's try and end on a on a more positive note then. Fourthly, a greater grace, a greater grace. The great thing about this passage is there is incredible mercy and there is incredible grace within it.

For there are those who did repent, and there are those who did travel to see. And the glorious news of the gospel is that Jesus died and rose. For self righteous people. Jesus Christ died and rose for those who are wicked and adulterous. Jesus Christ died for the wretched those whose condition was so poor.

And so for those who trust in the greater prophet and the greater king, there is salvation. That's why Nina, and she are great. Aren't they? They show us. The men have never repented, and they were spared.

Sheba was blessed for hearing the wisdom of god. And so what are we to do when we're to look at the signs And we're we're we're meant to do what we're meant to do with signs and follow the signs and follow the signs to the the greater 1, the 1 who pays the price for your sin and your guilt and yourself right us, who hangs on that cross for your wickedness, and no salvation. Let let Christ occupy our hearts. Let Christ occupy our lives. Let Jesus be the king of all.

Let him be the 1 that directs everything that you do. Let him be the 1 that you listen to. There's so many messages in this world, brothers and sisters. There's so many things that try and grab your attention and say, live for this, live for that. Stop listening to them, listen to the the word of the lord, Jesus Christ, and him alone.

And let us live a life of repentance and faith. And as we get this, as we get this, let's follow our savior and preach a message to a wicked and adulterous generation There's great news in this passage still. Yes. There's warnings, but let's be encouraged that the lord Jesus Christ is gracious to sinners for all those who trust in him. And listen to him as a greater prophet and bow their knees to the greater king.

They will be forgiven of the greater evil. What extraordinary grace that we see in our lord Jesus Christ Let's pray. Father, we do thank you, for this passage. We thank you, so much for the lord's as Christ, and we thank you that he is the greater 1. Let us follow the signs to see that he is the greater prophet, and that he is the greater king.

And we pray that as we get such a vision of him. We pray that you will occupy our lives and our hearts. And forgive us for when we we move away from you and and and go towards self righteousness and trying to justify ourselves. Help us to continue to repent and live by faith in the lord Jesus Christ and him alone. We thank you so much that Christ is a is a is 1 who was full of grace and full of mercy, that he would look upon wretched sinners like ourselves, and that he would shed his blood and die on a cross to be risen again to bring us to everlasting life.

And so we pray that this will be the the truth that occupies our hearts. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.