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LOJ #86: ‘Here’s Your Sign…Again’

Andover Baptist Church-November 28th, 2010

[don't forget the Lottie Moon Christmas offering during announcements]

Opening

A. Text for today is Matthew 15:39-16:4 and our sermon is titled

‘Here’s Your Sign…Again’

B. Scripture NET:

“15:39 After sending away the crowd, He got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan. 16:1 Now when the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. 16:2 He said, “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be fair weather, because the sky is red,’ 16:3 and in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, because the sky is red and darkening.’ You know how to judge correctly the appearance of the sky, but you cannot evaluate the signs of the times. 16:4 A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then He left them and went away.”

C. Children’s Sermon (SLIDE)

1. Call the kids up with Ian as Timmy

2. Say kids I need a volunteer…thanks Timmy

3. Now let’s say that Timmy comes in from outside

a. And he’s wet (splash with water) what does that

mean?

b. What if he has ice on him (dump ice on

him)…Timmy says ‘The weather outside is

frightful’

c. What if you look outside and see his little hat

doing this (turn on fan)….Timmy rolls away

saying, ‘Auntie Em, Auntie Em’

d. Pretty easy to tell the weather by that isn’t it?

e. Well today Jesus tells some people that it’s easy

to see that He is from God because of what He

says and does

D. Introduction

 

1. SKIT

a. Have these signs made: Stop now! / Bridge Out /

Turn Back / Don’t Go One More Step

b. Have one of the kids (Zack) walking by the other

kids showing each sign to them

c. After they read the signs (stops at the end of the

first row) they fall forward screaming…a long

time…and then say splat

d. Hold’s up a sign that says, ‘OUCH!’

e. Stands up, ‘Why didn’t someone warn me?’

f. Hailey: ‘We did silly didn’t you see the signs?’

 

2. Isn't that people?

 

a. They ask for signs when they refuse to see the

ones that are plainly before them

 

b. “I'll believe in God if you prove it to me that He

exists”

c. But it’s not really about there being enough

proof, because there is substantially more than

enough

 

d. It really boils down to the fact that people like

this don’t care to see the proof, because they

don’t want it to be true (our world is full of them)

e. Jesus runs into a group of men today in our text

that are just like this asking for proof of Who He

is when they have already ignored more than

enough

f. And as all people who treat God this way will

find out, Jesus doesn’t play their games, nor will

He play yours or mine if we too approach Him

like this

Sermon

READ: Matthew 15:39 (Scripture slide)

“After sending away the crowd, He got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.”

A. This story takes place after the feeding of 4k+ Gentiles last

week

1. Now notice Jesus dismissed them before He left,

2. He did not leave them (play a factor later on this

morning)

B. Mark 8:10 tells us that after dismissing them Jesus

‘immediately’ got into ‘the boat’ with His disciples who one of

probably owned the boat

1. Jesus is leaving the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee

in the Gentile region of the Decapolis

 

2. He’s heading back to the western shore where there are

more people (especially more Jews)

 

C. Jesus destination: the region of Magadan

1. Mark says they went to Dalmanuth (might be a variant

name for Magadan)  

 

2. Either way we don't really know the exact location

 

3. We do know that this was one of the towns that the tribe

of Naphtali received in its division of the lands between

the 12 tribes of Israel (Jud 19:32-39)

 

4. This could be where Mary Magdalene was from (cf. Mk

15:40)

READ: Matthew 16:1 (Scripture slide)

“Now when the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven.”

A. Enter the 'Pharisees and Sadducees'

 

1. Jesus had just left the Gentiles who had open armed

accepted Him

2. Now He comes back into Israel and faces His own

people, the Jews, and they treat Him as an enemy

3. Likely these Pharisees and Sadducees had been waiting

for Jesus to return 

4. They come to ‘test’ and ‘argue’ (Mk 8:1) with Christ

5. These people had considerable religious and political

power in Jesus’ day, as they were the men who made up

the law courts called the Sanhedrin (like our Supreme

Court in a way)

6. It could be that in fact this was a legal body from the

Sanhedrin 

a. This might explain why the Pharisees and

Sadducees were working together  

b. The two groups working together would have

been an odd sight to see for the Jews in the area

c. Normally they were political and theological

opposites and generally couldn’t stand one

another

 

d. This would be like the Democrats and

Republicans working together to against and

Independent

e. In this case their common enemy was Jesus

b. Jesus had pointed out publically the faults of both

parties and in doing so became the one person

they hated more than each other

 

c. Work together to destroy Jesus and then go back

to hating one another 

 

B. They wanted to ‘test’ Jesus by having Him ‘show them a sign

from heaven’

1. This is the 4th time they have asked for a sign 

2. The word ‘test’ here is used in tempting Jesus to prove

Who He is  (devil did the same in Mt 4:3)

 

3. They had seen His healings, but they wanted something

else, something bigger 

4. They wanted something with supernatural power in the

heaven, either a sign in the sky or something that only

God could accomplish 

a. Something to compete with the OT prophets

  b. Cause manna to fall from heaven

c. Stop the sun and moon

d. Have fire come down from heaven 

5. Strange considering that Jesus had done countless

unexplainable miracles they must have either seen or

heard about 

Matthew 11:3–5 (NET) “11:3 “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” 11:4 Jesus answered them, “Go tell John what you hear and see: 11:5 The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news proclaimed to them.”

John 12:37 (NET) “Although Jesus had performed so many miraculous signs before them, they still refused to believe in Him”

 

6. They wanted Jesus to fail, not succeed…not sincere

 

7. They asked for a sign from Heaven but they didn't want

Him to be the Messiah so they simply ignored the signs

 

8. Besides such a sign did occur in Mt 3:17 (at His

baptism)

READ: Matthew 16:2, 3 (Scripture slide)

“16:2 He said, “When evening comes you say, ‘It will be fair weather, because the sky is red,’ 16:3 and in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, because the sky is red and darkening.’ You know how to judge correctly the appearance of the sky, but you cannot evaluate the signs of the times.”

A. According to Mark 8:12 Jesus said this after 'sighing deeply in

His spirit'

 

B. Weather Forecasting (SLIDE OF THE SKY)

 

1. Jesus uses a very simply metrological sign to show that

it is very easy to see what the weather is doing by the

sky

2. In the same sense they should be able to see Jesus'

teachings and miracles and tell the same thing about

Him being the Messiah

 

3. Jesus’ example is kind of like our folk saying: ‘'Red sky

at morning, sailors/shepherds take warning, Red sky at

night sailors/shepherds delight'

 

4. Some of you in Kansas may say, 'Fat chance telling the

weather here'…but Palestine is different

 

a. A cloud in the west would be coming off the

Mediterranean sea and would undoubtedly picked

up moisture from it

b. If the wind was blowing from the south it would

be going over thousands of miles of scorching

hot desert and thus would be hot itself

 

c. Dark clouds are carrying water, lighter clouds

will be burned off in the heat

 

Luke 12:54–56 (NET) “12:54 Jesus also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A rainstorm is coming,’ and it does. 12:55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and there is. 12:56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how can you not know how to interpret the present time?”

 

d. But Jesus may have been speaking about the

Pharisees claim they could tell by how the

smoke blew on the last evening of the Feast of

the Tabernacle what the weather would be for

the year

 

C. 'cannot evaluate the signs of the times'

  1. 'signs of the times' = the coming of the Messiah Who

and Who's coming would start the countdown for the

end of days

2. The Kingdom of God was upon them

a. History and current circumstances mixed with

Jesus' teachings and miracles should have

screamed to the Jews Who Jesus was

 

b. God was visiting with His people and the people

failed to see this and instead of welcoming Him

they are opposing Him

 

3. 'cannot' = unable to….they were looking at Jesus

through the wrong lenses….3D is the rage now, in TV's

at the movies…but try and watch those events make

sense without the right glasses

a. They cannot see the signs because they have to

ask for them…Jesus has been doing them for

almost 2 years now

  b. They could not see because they did not WANT

to see

1. Someone goes to the doctor and the

doctor says looks like I found something

on the x-rays, and that they need to run

more tests

2. But that person never goes back to the

doctor to get those tests because they

would rather pretend that there was

nothing wrong

 

3. Arguments for God (look in William

Lane Craig's book)

 

4. People will continue to reject the truth

even when it is obvious because they

don't like the responsibility to Christ that

comes with it

 

c. Ian’s Jewish Old Testament teacher

1. No matter what is said or what proof is

given he will refuse to believe

2. He is a modern day descendent of these

men (elaborate on him more fully)…'We

already rejected Him once, why would

we accept Him now?'

 

d. Someone who doesn't want to believe…won't

READ: Matthew 16:4 (Scripture slide)

“A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then He left them and went away.”

A. 'wicked and adulterous generation'

 

1. Why can't they see? Because they are wicked and like

an unfaithful lover of God

 

2. Wicked = opposite of all that is good and right (used of

times as an actual name of the devil)

 

3. They were adulterous spiritually because they were not

doing what God would have them do: i.e. accept His

Son Jesus

a. Anytime you put anything before God your are

being idolatrous

 

b. You see they had an idol in the form of a Messiah

who was non-existent

c. We do the same when we try and fit Christ in our

own molds instead of treating Him as He is

 

4. A generation is the group of people who are alive at the

time and the Pharisees and Sadducees become the

spokesmen for this evil generation

 

5. Our own generation is just as wicked and adulterous in

their attitudes about Christ

 

B. No sign but Jonah was going to be given them

 

1. Jesus has already told them this before in chapter 12

 

2. Jesus is done giving signs and points to the fact that only

the sign of Jonah will be given them

 

3. What happened to Jonah?

Jonah 1:17 (2:1) “The Lord sent a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights. “

 

a,. Jonah was swallowed by a great fish (for all

intensive purposes this would spell death),

b. When He was swallowed by a great fish he went

into it's belly (burial),

c. But all was not lost because the great fish could

not hold him (resurrection)

 

d. The sign of Jonah: death, burial and resurrection

 

e. Jonah’s story served as a warning to the Ninevites

he was sent to that they had best repent or face

judgment

4. Jesus' death, burial and resurrection would be to the

same sign to the Jews

 

Luke 11:30 (NET) “For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be a sign to this generation.”

 

Matthew 12:40 (NET) “For just as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.”

 

a. As Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for

three days so too will Jesus be in the belly of the

earth for three days and rise again

 

b. And how surprised would the Pharisees be when the One they put to death rises and to the

Sadducees who don't believe in a res will be

resurrected to stand before Him

 

Matthew 26:64 "Jesus said to him, 'But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven."

 

C. 'He left them'

 

1. After saying this Jesus left them….one of the most

horrible sentences that can ever be said of someone

 

2. They came to Jesus and He left them

 

3. Jesus left them to their own sin

 

Deuteronomy 32:5 (NET) “His people have been unfaithful to Him; they have not acted like His children – this is their sin. They are a perverse and deceitful generation.”

Deuteronomy 32:20 (NET) “He said, “I will reject them, I will see what will happen to them; for they are a perverse generation,

children who show no loyalty.”

 

4. The opposition Jesus gets here will send Him again into

Gentile territory (Mark 8:13 tells us He went to the other

side of the lake)

 

5. When you share the truth and it is trampled underneath,

do what Jesus did and just walk away

Invitation (slide)

A. The sign of heaven now IS Jesus!

 

B. Eventually Jesus will appear in a heavenly sign in the sky, but

then it will be too late for His detractors (Rev. 3:17)

 

Phil 2:8-11 "He humbled Himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross! As a result God exalted Him and gave Him the Name that is above every name, so that at the Name of Jesus every knee will bow - in heaven and on earth and under the earth - and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."

 

C. Have you bowed the knee to Jesus yet? One day you will no

matter what, but I pray you do it now!

Let us sing our last song # ,

[pic]

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