Well, let us open this morning to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 11, verse 14. Luke 11, 14. And he was casting out a demon, and it was mute. When the demon had gone out, the man spoke. And the crowds were amazed. But some of them said, He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of demons. Others to test Him were demanding of Him a sign from heaven. But He knew their thoughts, and He said to them, Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a house divided against itself falls. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? So they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are undisturbed. But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor, on which he had relied, and distributes his plunder. He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, It passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, I will return to my house from which I came. And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. And then it goes and takes along seven other spirits, more evil than itself, and they go in and live there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed. Yes, He said, but blessed more so are those who hear the word of God and observe it. As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, This generation is a wicked generation. It seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. The queen of the south will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them. Because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it. Because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, something greater than Jonah is here. Heavenly Father, we thank You that You've given us Your Word, that You have revealed Yourself to us in Scripture, that we can know the way of salvation by and through Your Word. We thank You that You've sent Your Son to open the door of heaven for sinners like us. We thank You for the cross. We thank You for the atonement that we receive by His sacrifice. And now, Lord, as we look into this, Your Word, we pray that You would teach us by Your Spirit. And that we would receive this Word in the power. In Christ's name, amen. Amen. Now Luke's been presenting Jesus' teaching here. Teaching his disciples, preparing them for their mission. But now he turns in his gospel to some accounts of Jesus' encounters with his opponents and others who were in the crowds to hear him. And in the course of these encounters, Jesus continued to teach. He continued to proclaim the coming of the kingdom of God. But now Luke is beginning to bring the opposition and hostility to Jesus into view. And once again, as is often in the case of Luke in this passage this morning, he makes no reference to time or place. The account begins with Jesus, as we've just read, exercising authority over a demon, one of the evil beings who inhabits the spiritual realm and who sometimes inhabit people. This man was possessed by the demon and he was mute, did not speak. In Matthew's account, he tells us he was also blind. But when Jesus ordered the demon out of the man, what did he do? He spoke. And of course, the crowd would be amazed, astonished. And the healing, as always was the case when Jesus worked healings, it was instant and it was complete. Matthew records, some in the crowds thought he was the son of David, the long-awaited Messiah. He says, all the crowds were amazed. This man cannot be the son of David, can he? But what Luke is trying to show us is those who were hostile to Jesus and how he responded to them. And these sought to discredit Jesus. They sought to get people to look past the work itself and to the power behind the miracle. Now Matthew says they were Pharisees. Mark tells us they were scribes. Some of the scribes were Pharisees. The Pharisees had scribes. And the scribes were, as we've seen, the lawyers, the teachers of the law. So there's no real difference between the three accounts in this regard. And we see that because all three evangelists record exactly the same thing that they were saying. They were saying he casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons, the ruler of the demons, the chief of the devils. Not only did they deny the glory of this divine work, which they admitted had occurred. How could they deny it? But they sought to turn what he did into a satanic act. They're saying, you and Satan, your buddy, are in league here. Now others in the crowd, but among the Pharisees and scribes, were seeking to test him. They demanded that he produce a sign from heaven, as if in all the miracles he'd been doing, and as if in casting out this demon, he had not just done that very thing. Well Jesus is going to first deal with the false accusation that He had driven out the demon by the power of Satan. The accusation that He was in league with the devil. And they want to give the devil credit for what the Spirit of God did. They could not deny that Jesus had exercised power over this demon. Couldn't deny that. But they were saying, in effect, that Satan, here referred to by this name that had developed Beelzebul, had obliged his friend Jesus by ordering his own demon to leave this possessed man. And that's their accusation, as ridiculous as it sounds. Now why Beelzebul? Well, this name had a history and development that went back into the Old Testament. It originally came about as a name of the imaginary Philistine god Baal, B-A-A-L, and here we have B-E-E-L. But at some point, the Jews picked up this name Baal-zebub, turned it into Beel-zebub, and they made it a name for Satan. Beel-zebub. Some think they corrupted this name Baal-zebub into a word that means Lord of the Flies, Baal of the Flies, Baal of Dung. None of that's really important. But the ruler of the demons explains exactly who's meant here by Beel-zebub. He's the head of the evil kingdom. And Jesus clearly understood they were talking about Satan. They were saying, Satan gave you the power to do this. Not the power of God. So their words, what do they reveal about how they felt toward Jesus? Well, they hated Him. The Jewish religious leaders hated Jesus. They despised Him because of the crowds He was drawing, because many said He was the Messiah, because He said He was sent by His Father. They saw Him as claiming He was equal with the Father, which He was and which He is. They were saying He didn't honor their traditions. And they said He associated with tax collectors and sinners. They didn't understand in their obstinance. They wouldn't believe that He had come to save sinners and to destroy the works of the devil. That's why He came. And Jesus demonstrated His authority over the devil in His repeated exercises of His power over the demons. How many times have we seen Him casting demons out of people? He'd come to win a victory over sin, Satan, and death. to destroy the works of Satan. Now look, Satan won a huge victory in the Garden of Eden. He became the force in this world. Adam followed what Satan told him to do. And Adam lost fellowship with God. And we were all born with Satan inside us, with his sin nature. These guys would not believe that Jesus had come to destroy what Satan had done. They're resting on the law and whatever. Their own righteousness. Now Jesus, in his divine nature, knew what they were thinking. Tells us that here in verse 17. And the question would be this, why would a demon cast out one of his own? Doesn't make sense. If he'd cast out the demon by the power of Satan, That would amount to conflict between the realm of the demons. Demon versus demon. And so Jesus, to kind of point out the absurdity of what they were claiming, he cites what, at that time and still today, was a pretty well-known proverb. A divided kingdom cannot stand. A divided kingdom cannot endure. Besides, if they were right, the forces of evil were destroying themselves. But of course, we know Jesus did not act by the power of Satan. Their claim was absurd, as I said. He acted under divine power. And there was one other point he wanted to make to them because there were some among the Jews whom he called their sons, their followers, who were also seeking to cast out demons. So Jesus said to them, You say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. And if I'm doing that, by whom are your sons casting them out? So they're going to be your judges. Now we don't know anything really further about these Jewish exorcists of that day. We don't know what success they had or didn't have. But Jesus does seem to confirm that some in Israel were casting out demons here. But his point wasn't that. His point was that it's hypocritical for you Pharisees and scribes to claim that I am in league with Satan while your followers are doing the very same work. You attribute to Beelzebub the miracles which I've performed, and then you turn around and praise the same things in your own followers. So they were exposing their own hypocrisy. But Jesus then gets back to the main point here. On the other hand, He says, if I'm casting out demons by the finger of God, by the Spirit of God, then what does that mean? What does that mean if that's what I'm doing? It means the kingdom of God has come upon you. Jesus' exercise of His power over the demons was proof that the kingdom of God had come into the world. You know, it's 2,000 years later. We've gotten used to the idea that Christ came into the world, the Son of God incarnate, that the kingdom of God came in Him. For them, this was news. This was the biggest thing that had ever happened. And it still is the biggest thing that ever happened. The Son of God had come into the world. The kingdom of God had come into the world, and its power is infinitely greater than that of Satan. It's who Jesus called what? The ruler of this world. Finger of God here is a metaphor for the Spirit of God, the power of God. But something of earth-shaking proportion was occurring here. Think about this. What John had announced, what Jesus was proclaiming, What first the Twelve, then the Seventy had proclaimed was true. What was the message of every one of them? Kingdom of God has come among men. Because this was the kingdom of Satan. So he was demonstrating for them by casting out these demons the presence of the kingdom of God. It's still here. It's right here. He was showing his power over Satan. From the time of the fall of Adam, Satan was the ruler of this world. But now, the Son of God had come into the world and everything was changing. But the Jewish religious leaders, the chief priests, the Pharisees, the scribes, were all resisting this change, this great news. Well Jesus then illustrated His message in a parable that begins here in verse 21. Talking about a strong man, fully armed, guarding his house, his possessions. And they're safe until somebody stronger comes and overpowers him. A man can take every precaution to guard his house and possessions. But if someone stronger and better armed attacks him, he's going to lose everything. He's going to lose his house. He's going to lose his possessions. He who has the greater power will defeat him. So the parable shows what? It shows Satan as the strong one guarding his possessions, those under his power. But when the stronger one comes, he's going to lose everything. Jesus came to destroy Satan. and his kingdom. His casting out of Satan's demons was a foretaste of his total victory over Satan, which was coming soon. A spoil of Jesus' victory? Or what? All those he would reclaim from Satan's grip. Do you remember being in Satan's grip? Remember not believing in Jesus? the hold of Satan over fallen men was going to be broken. It was being broken once and for all by the incarnate Son. Well then Jesus amplified this truth. Look at these words in verse 23. He who is not with me is against me. Now just stop and think about every person you know who is not with Jesus. He's not neutral. He's not neutral. He's against Jesus. He stands with Satan. He who does not gather with Me scatters. There can be no neutrality with Jesus. All who do not stand with Him do stand with Satan. I don't make up the rules. All people who've ever come into this world are either in Christ and believing in Him, or they are apart from Christ and rejecting Him. There simply is no middle ground. No man can serve both Jesus and the lusts of His flesh. And no man can serve both Jesus and Satan. Now there's good news. He came with good news. It was the whole point of the kingdom of God coming. For the people of God, those who have come to the Father through the Son, the rule of Satan has been overthrown. But all others, Jesus said, stand with Satan. Those neutrals stand with Satan. Well, Jesus had one more illustration. When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through barren or waterless places, seeking rest. Not finding any, it says, I'll return to my house from which I came. When it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and takes along seven more spirits, more evil than itself, and they go in and live there. And the last state of the man becomes worse than the first. This may seem like it's a separate illustration of a separate truth, but it isn't. Here, Jesus is making application of what He was doing and what He was showing them in casting out this demon. See, the casting out of the demon was not the end of the matter. Getting rid of one bad habit does not mean you're on the road to heaven and everything's fine. Quit drinking, quit smoking, quit whatever. That's not the pathway to heaven. The pathway to heaven is Christ. Now, these words, when an unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through dry places. This is a metaphorical expression in which we learn that demons want some place to live. They want to live inside a person. And for a demon to lack a man in whom to dwell is to him like a banishment. to a barren wilderness. People who are possessed by demons don't have to act crazy and make all kinds of faces and scream and do all of this. All they have to do is stay away from Christ, and He's got them. Everybody who's home today, not worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father in heaven, who do you think's keeping them there? their own desires for their own pleasure, they find something else more enjoyable, and Satan is saying, yeah. So people don't have to be insane or crazy acting to be under the hold of the demons. People are doing the demon's work for them by following their own lusts. So this man He's freed from the grip of the demon. Jesus freed him. Things had now gotten better for him. But there's now an empty space where the demon had dwelt. Where the demon had ruled over him. And he had to be replaced. There's this empty space there. You can't be morally neutral. No one can live for long in a moral vacuum. Remember what Jesus has just said. You're either with me or you're with Satan. If I'm not there, he is. Or he's coming back. And that's the point of the story. He comes back. So this man now, he's been rid of this demon, but he's got this empty space. But he's not free from Satan's further attacks. His only hope was what? Another work of divine power. coming of the Holy Spirit into his heart and dwelling within him. That's why Jesus is using this illustration. This man must now turn from a life of sin, cry out to the triune God, plead for forgiveness, and for the Holy Spirit to come and dwell within him. And if the Holy Spirit did not come, Jesus is showing us the demons coming back. And it's going to be worse. Every false start at righteousness. When you slip back, you go back farther into unrighteousness. The empty space was going to be filled one way or the other. No neutrality. Neutral is against Him. Calvin says this, in this regard, the wretched condition of the whole human race is described here. When every man comes into the world, now we call it by a nice term, we have a sin nature. Calvin puts it this way, the devil has a residence within him when every person comes into the world. And that's right. He inhabits both body and soul. And he never ceases to seek to harm us. He never ceases, folks. He's after us even after the Holy Spirit has come and dwelt within us. He seeks to draw us away from our only hope, the Lord Jesus Christ. What's He seeking? What is it that He sought for Adam and Eve? He sought their destruction. And He continually seeks nothing other than our destruction. Where does He want to lead us? Where is He going? What is His destiny? He knows His destiny, and He wants us to go with Him. He wants to take people with Him, to follow Him into hell. So even when He suffers defeats, He keeps coming. He gathers His forces, and He renews His attacks. We see this in the case of many new believers, or when we were new believers. When somebody first hears the call of Christ, what happens? Satan's attacks become even fiercer. Stuff starts happening in our lives. And we think, maybe if I wasn't a Christian. When people profess faith in Christ, Satan comes with even greater intensity. We're seeing it now in the case of people we know. And so, we see that some soon fall away. This is the story of the parable of the sower. We have some that reject the Word altogether, but some, the Word springs up. They receive the Word with joy in the rocky places. It springs up, but it has no root. Sometimes it's the cares and worries of the world that distract a person. Satan is the one using all of these things. Jesus used that illustration to show us that. Look at what Peter wrote to believers. He's writing to believers. First Peter 5.8. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion. He's seeking someone to devour. but resist him, firm in your faith." You see, Peter's talking to believers and Satan is coming after us. Knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. Persecution is a way to try to get people to turn away from Christ, to blame God for whatever displeases us in this life, for whatever harms us, for whatever causes us pain. Peter continues, after you've suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. Trust in Him no matter what. So Jesus is here amplifying what He taught in the preceding parable. Satan has to be overpowered, driven out, and deprived of his dominion over us. If he's not met by a superior force, he's never going to yield. He's not going to just walk away. Because of Adam's sin, he's in every man still unless and until one stronger comes and casts him out. Christ is the only one who can do this. There isn't some other way to overcome the demon that resides in everyone who comes into this world. No man can accomplish this. No religion can accomplish this. The eternal Son of God took on flesh to deal with every man's greatest problem. And He came into the world to destroy Satan and to destroy his works. The reason people don't come to Christ is they don't realize their desperate condition. They can say whatever they want to say. They don't realize what their situation is. Those who come to Christ because they think He'll give them a better life on earth haven't dealt with their real issue. We've got sin indwelling us, and it has to be driven out. And only He can do that. Now the men who were supposed to be leading the people in Israel, Judah, the scribes, the Pharisees, the priests, by their rejection of Jesus. What did they reveal? They showed themselves to be unworthy to be counted among his flock. They're supposed to be bringing the truth to the people. And they're trying to lead them. Who's leading them? Who do you think is leading the Jewish religious leaders here? Well, it's Satan trying to lead the people away from Christ. You wonder how somebody like Nicodemus was able to function and make his way. Well, God poured out his grace on him. Paul was one of these Pharisees, and God poured out his grace on him. But Paul received the grace of God while he was on his way trying to destroy the church of Christ. Both needed Christ. Nicodemus helped bring him down from the cross. Paul went into the world with the gospel. If you reject Him and are not among His flock, you don't gather with Him. If you reject Him, you don't gather with Him, and you are what? Scattered, Jesus says. You're against Him, and you're scattered. There was a woman in this crowd, seemed to understand there was something very special going on here. She'd seen this man who was mute start talking. She'd heard Jesus command this demon to come out of him. He starts talking. And she was so moved by what Jesus had done and what he was saying, she raised her voice and she said to him, Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed. But he said, Yes, but better still, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it. I didn't read that from any of our translations because there's something that tends to get lost in the English here. Jesus wasn't denying what she said by the words He answered. The NAS, I think, says, on the contrary. Well, He wasn't speaking on the contrary. He was saying, yes, that was a great blessing that Mary received that she would be the mother of the Messiah. But there's something that's more significant, more important. She says, How blessed is the mother of this man to have given birth and nurturing to one so good. But Jesus is not saying that what this woman said was wrong. word here, menoun, which most of our versions translate rather, doesn't question the truth of this woman's statement. But it's saying there's a greater relevance of something else. He's saying it wasn't Mary's physical relationship to Jesus that was of the greatest importance, but it was her hearing and believing and keeping the Word of God. That's what matters. Well then, Jesus gets to their request. A really arrogant request that He show them a sign from heaven. And then maybe they'll believe it wasn't Him and Satan working to get this demon out of this man. Luke writes, the crowds were increasing by this time. And by Jesus' words here, look what He says. We see He saw this demand for a sign as something that was representative of that whole wicked generation. Now here's the scribes. They won't acknowledge Jesus as having been sent from God unless He produced a direct testimony from heaven. What kind of people are these? In other words, you want us to follow you, us the teachers, then let God declare from heaven that He is the author of your teaching and your works. Let Him confirm your calling by a miracle. I know I've read this somewhere before, probably when we were in the Gospel of Matthew. But Hendrickson put this as well as you could, I think, in terms of what they were really saying to him. They wanted something sensational, a sign from heaven. What did they want to see? He says, did they want Jesus to cause the heavenly constellations to change places in the zodiac? Did they want him to make Taurus the bull catch up with Orion the hunter? They didn't have to blaze His name across the sky in gold letters. Is this what they wanted? Maybe they were demanding He make the sun and the moon and the stars dance in the sky. I mean, what more could He have done? He put them in the sky. That should have been enough. Their demand was so wicked. He had just cast a demon out of this man. He'd been healing people. Their demand was couched in unbelief. They knew he had been performing many signs that many of these same Jewish religious leaders had witnessed some of the miracles he'd performed. This entire episode began with what? A sign, a sign miracle. They'd acknowledged that the demon had been cast out. They didn't even deny that the miracle had occurred. But they defiantly and stubbornly refused to acknowledge it as what? As a work of God. And it wasn't just that they asked for a sign. You may recall Gideon asked the Lord for signs a couple times, and God granted them. Problem here was they refused to acknowledge the power of God in Christ, which was plainly in front of them. He began to say this generation is a wicked generation. It seeks for a sign. Notice how he connects the two. To come to Jesus in unbelief. Think about that. There he's standing. The power of God. The love of God. They're asking for a sign. This is wickedness. He said that that generation was wicked. In Matthew's account, he said it was evil and adulterous. Why adulterous? Because it had broken its marriage covenant vow to Yahweh. So Jesus said that the demand of these scribes was just a symptom of the whole spiritual condition of the whole nation, of all of the sons of Jacob. They'd lost contact with God. They'd lost contact with His Word. Or else they would have recognized the incarnate Son when He came among them. They'd have recognized their Messiah. And they would have received Him. He came unto His own, but His own would not receive Him. Because they'd lost touch with God. So they want a sign, and Jesus says, you're not getting a sign. except one. I'll give you a sign. It's going to be the sign of Jonah. Now Jonah, we read earlier, had been sent by God to go to the Assyrian city of Nineveh. First he resisted. Then he boarded that ship. And he's heading in the opposite direction to Tarshish on the Iberian Peninsula. This big storm arises. The ship's going to break up. The sailors are scared. They begin throwing the cargo overboard. They cast lots to find out who brought this on us. The lot falls on Jonah. They find out he was fleeing from the presence of God. And they were pagans, by the way, when this all started. They threw him overboard. And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow him. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish. For how long? Three days and three nights. Three days and three nights. And then Jonah prayed. And then what? And the Lord commanded the fish, and the fish vomited Jonah up on dry land. So Jesus says now, For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. As Jonah was swallowed up by the great fish, so Jesus will be swallowed up by the earth. And as Jonah was delivered from the great fish, so Jesus would be raised from the grave. This would be the sign that He had come from God. He was declared to be the Son of God by God raising Him from the dead. Romans chapter 1. For first century Israel, the sign would be His glorious resurrection. And Jesus said something else. For those who reject Him, the consequences would be grave. Will be grave. Queen of the South, the Queen of Sheba, will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them. That's another pagan woman. who came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, something greater than Solomon is here. So this reference, 1 Kings chapter 10, Queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord. She came to test him with difficult questions. So she came to Jerusalem with a very large retinue, with camels carrying spices, very much gold, precious stones. She came to Solomon. She spoke with him about all that was in her heart. Solomon answered all her questions. Nothing was hidden from the king, which he did not explain to her. And when she perceived all the wisdom of Solomon, the house he built, the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his waiters and their attire, his stairway which went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. And she said to the king, It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. And nevertheless, I didn't believe it until I came and my eyes had seen it. Behold, the half was not told me. You exceed in wisdom and prosperity the report which I heard. How blessed are your men! How blessed are these, your servants, who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom. Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you, to set you on the throne of Israel, because the Lord loved Israel forever. Therefore he made you king to do justice and righteousness." She came a thousand miles from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of an earthly king, Solomon. And Jesus tells his hearers here that in the final judgment, this queen will arise alongside the men of this generation and condemn them. And condemn them, this pagan queen. In the eyes of the judge, though she was almost certainly a pagan, her case will be more favorable than that of the Jewish religious leaders. Those who are blessed with the presence of Christ and the greater revelation of His kingdom, as we have been, as the sons of Jacob were. Those who are blessed with that revelation and still reject it will suffer greater punishment. We saw this in terms of Jesus telling them that Sodom and Gomorrah would receive a lesser punishment than the cities of Chorazin, Capernaum. Wisdom in human flesh had come to dwell. Wisdom itself had come to dwell among these Jewish religious leaders. One greater than Solomon. One far greater than Solomon. The source of every bit of Solomon's wisdom was now in front of them. And Israel, its teachers, those presumed to be the teachers in Israel, would not hear the wisdom of God. That's why the queen of Sheba at the judgment will stand up and condemn them. Now what about the men of Nineveh? Well, verse 32, the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, something greater than Jonah is here. Something greater than Solomon. Something greater than Jonah. You might want to turn to Jonah chapter 3. I'm going to read these ten verses. But the story is this. The men of Nineveh, pagans all, Repented at the preaching of one who didn't even want to be there. Jonah didn't want to go there. He went in the other direction. Jonah chapter 3. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. Now remember, he's been vomited up out of the fish onto dry land. The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh the great city, and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you. So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days walk. And then Jonah began to go through the city one day's walk, and he cried out and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh will be overthrown. And the people of Nineveh believed in God. They called a fast, they put on sackcloth, all of them from the greatest to the least. When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the ashes. Now contrast this with the response of the Jewish religious leaders. who've got the Lord Jesus Christ in their midst and do nothing like this. The king of Nineveh issued a proclamation and said in Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles, do not let man, beast, herd or flock taste a thing. Even the animals were involved in this fast. Don't let them eat or drink water. But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth, and let men call on God earnestly, that each may turn away from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands." Does this sound anything like the Pharisees, the scribes, and the chief priests? Who knows, he said, God may turn and relent and withdraw his burning anger so that we will not perish. And when God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way. Then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them, and He did not do it. Nineveh is capital in Assyria. Assyria was the enemy of Judah and of Israel. Assyria was the enemy force that Isaiah was warning the people of Judah about throughout at least the first 40 chapters. And this is the place Jonah is sent, and he doesn't want to go. But the pagans of Nineveh, to whom this strange prophet came, who had resisted even coming to them, who brought these dire warnings under a law of which they weren't even familiar. They believed Jonah's. They repented, fasting in sackcloth and ashes. That's why Jesus is using this example. The Jews. On the other hand, to whom had been given the oracles of God, the adoption as sons, to whom had been sent the prophets of God, to whom had now been sent the very Son of God Himself, who brought the good news of forgiveness of sins through faith in Him, they rejected Him and didn't repent and didn't believe. Of course, those Ninevites are going to rise up at the judgment and condemn them. Now we're not told how many of the Ninevites' repentance was lasting, but that's not even Jesus' point here. His point was that they'd opened their hearts and minds to hear one who was a far lesser station than Jesus. They were willing to listen to Jonah and do what God had called them to do through Jonah. The leaders of the Jews of Jesus' generation had no interest in listening to the one who was greater than Jonah. Jesus makes it clear. Those who reject Him and His gospel, including those Pharisees and their scribes, are worse than both the Queen of the South and the Ninevites were. So is Chorazin. Whether the Queen or the men of Nineveh were truly converted, it's really pointless to inquire. It's enough in the case of the Ninevites to see that in contrast to the Pharisees and scribes, they were so affected by the teaching of Jonah that they repented. So the lesson is clear here. During his time on the earth, and in all his works, Jesus exhibited and acted under the power of God. That meant that in him the kingdom of God had come, and it's still here in his church. He'd come to destroy the works of the devil, and he succeeded. And all who do not stand with him stand against him. There isn't any neutral ground. I think that's the most important lesson here, because we know so many who think they're standing on safe, neutral ground. And then he gave the ultimate sign that all the things that he spoke were true, are true. The sign of Jonah. His rising from death back to life on the third day. When the Spirit of God comes, it's every man's duty to respond to him. Believing in the Son, believing in the atoning power of the cross, turning from sin to the newness of life in Christ. What a wonderful phrase Paul has given us. And we must always be on our guard because the enemy is out there roaring about, seeking still whom he may destroy. Jews of Jesus' generation, though having been blessed with the very presence of the Son of God, refused to hear Him, though He came to bring to them peace with God. We who believe have received the greatest of all possible blessings, that which we need the most, that which every man needs the most, forgiveness of our sins and the indwelling presence of the Spirit of Christ. May we live in gratitude of Him and obedience to Him all our days. Lord, we thank you that you teach us day by day, week by week, revealing to us your plan of redemption, revealing yourself and your works, revealing your love and your mercy and your grace to us. We thank You, Lord, that You have called us to Yourself. And Lord, I pray that You would stir us to respond to all that You have done for us and all that You have given us in a way that pleases You in gratitude, worship, and obedience for Your kingdom, for Your glory. In Christ's name, amen.