Our Old Testament text is from Isaiah. It struck me that we seem to read a lot from Isaiah as the Old Testament text for Matthew, but that is because so much of Matthew is recalling the words of the prophets. This part of the text is actually quoted in Matthew 1. This is from Isaiah chapter seven, verses 10 through 16. Hear the word of the Lord. Isaiah seven, verse 10. Again, the Lord spoke to Ahaz, ask a sign of the Lord your God. Let it be as deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask and I will not put the Lord to the test. And he said, here then, O house of David, is it too little for you to weary men that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted." Now we turn to the Gospel of Matthew, which we are working through. We are now in Matthew 12, verse 38, reading to verse 45. Matthew 12, 38. Again, the word of the Lord. Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you. But he answered them, an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, something greater than Solomon is here. When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places, seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, I will return to my house from which I came. And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself. They enter and dwell there, and the last day to that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of God abides forever. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we pray that our meditations will be pleasing in your sight as we reflect upon your scripture. The words of my mouth will be the truth of your word. We pray for your blessing upon our hearing of it through your Holy Spirit. We pray in Christ's name, amen. Well, this is the final section of this longer section in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 12, that begins in verse 22. So this is really part three of a three-part sermon series in Matthew 12, 22 to 45. That's really the section I'm talking about. And so the previous two really are building to this. This is the last section of that longer portion. And you can see the boundaries of this whole section. in the fact that in verse 22 it begins with a demon-oppressed man being brought to Jesus and he heals him, and ends in the end of verse 45 with Jesus talking about demons inhabiting a man and comparing the generation to that demoniac. And there's also running through this section the question of how people are going to respond to Jesus. the people who saw Jesus heal his demoniac, they are not certain who Jesus is. And they ask the question, could this be the son of David? Which, you know, you need to realize they knew he was the son of David by birth, but they're really asking, is this the Messiah, the promised son of David, who would bring in a kingdom that would never end? and they're asking this not really knowing. That's verse 23. The response of the Pharisees, though, has been blasphemy. They're basically saying Jesus has a demon and he's casting out demons through Satan. Now our passage, looking at verse 38 to 45, is also clearly limited by certain things in the text that show the boundaries. Notice how it opens with Jesus in verse 39, an evil and adulterous generation. And then it ends with the same words, the evil generation. So the generation, the question of the generation is how this section for today is bounded. And this is why, brothers and sisters, even though I'm reading an English translation here that has a big white space and a heading, separating out verses 43 to 45 is a separate section. That's why I've included it. It really is bounded by Matthew in this connection with the evil generation. And yet there are these two parts acknowledging that the you know, the headings and the white space in our translation is not bad. It's simply, that's the first part, verses 38 to 42, and then the second part begins in verse 43. So it's two parts. And the first part focuses on Jesus and the sign he's given, or he is giving to that generation. They're very interesting. He will give them a sign. And then this latter part is particularly a warning of Jesus. Now, brothers and sisters, I've mentioned this before, Jesus is starting to intensify his own criticism of his contemporaries, particularly the leaders of the people of God whom he's encountering. So in the past, he's overlooked their opposition, but now he's responding to them and how they are failing the people of God in assigning to him to be accomplishing the works of the devil, instead of being the Son of David, the Messiah, come to set people free from their sins. Now, this is not the only time you're going to get this, interestingly. This again is something in Matthew's Gospel. Let me just mention again, I've done this before in our series, in Matthew, it's worthwhile to read the whole thing or listen to it in one sitting. You're going to start seeing connections. And there is a connection in our passage in chapter 12 with one in chapter 16. Let me just read that for you, the beginning of Matthew 16. I'll read portions of it. And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. So, you know, it sounds familiar, what they just did in our passage. Verse 38, then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered and said, Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you. So, chapter 16, you're going to get this again. Jesus responds with, you know, what I heard growing up from my father, who was a sailor back in the World War II in Korea, and he said, you know, red sky at night, sailors delight, red sky in the morning. I'm sure there's farmers have their own version, but red sky in the morning, sailor take warning. That's what I learned. And it's interesting, that's right here in Matthew 16. evening you say it's be fair weather for the sky is red in the morning will be stormy today for the sky is red and threatening so that that saying is right there in the Bible you know and it turns out to be true and then he says you know how to read the sky but you can't see that what's happening in your very midst this is Matthew 16 and he says you're an evil and adulterous generation now I don't know about you But as a young Christian, I've asked God for a sign. Soon after my conversion, I actually asked God to send an angel to give me a sign. I am so thankful he did not. Brothers and sisters, I don't think having angels show up is, it's very scary when it happens. Often people say, oh, I'm going to die. This is really serious. But, you know, I was naive and silly and a young Christian, and the Lord was very kind to say, no, I've given you a sign. OK. And I had to learn that. And he's also given me the scripture. So, brothers and sisters, we have an abundance of signs. We don't need any more signs from the Lord. You don't need angels showing up. They've already shown up at key times in Scripture. And the Word of the Lord is effective through the Holy Spirit. That's what I needed to learn back then, and that's what we are learning here today. We're going to get a sign from Jesus. We're going to get a sign that is unmistakable. and it will be a sign that will reverberate throughout this age when people will respond by the operation of the Holy Spirit to the death and resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That's the sign that we focus our faith on. Well, back then, when Jesus is addressing them, I want you to remember that he's particularly addressing these scribes and Pharisees, and he's responding to their demands for a sign. Now these are the leaders of the people of God. He will say that later. We're going to actually see this later in Matthew where he makes that point. These are your leaders. These are your shepherds, the people of God. And so this is how I speak to them because they are accountable for their shepherding of the people of God. And he has already seen the people of God harassed and scattered like sheep without a shepherd, because their shepherds have been fleecing them and have not been taking care of them and feeding them purely from the Word of God." Well, these people, these scribes and Pharisees, come up to Jesus and they demand a sign. And so it says, then some of the scribes and Pharisees. When it says then, you know, that word has two meanings. It could just be generally in that time or the next thing that happens. And that's the latter part. That's what's happening. So Jesus has already been reproving them. Then, in response to that, here's what they say. So that's how you should read, then, in verse 38. Then, some of the scribes and Pharisees, because they're answering Jesus. He has been reproving them, and here is their response. They then say, well, we want to see a sign. And what's interesting is before, it was the Pharisees accusing Jesus of casting out demons by Satan, Beelzebul, but now, interesting, it's not just the Pharisees, but the scribes. Oh, they brought out the big guns. So the scribes are the Bible scholars from Jerusalem primarily. There were some scattered around Israel, but not very many. These are the big guns. These are the guys who are the experts in the scripture. So they are going to come out and once they start asking questions, you start getting nervous because these are the experts. You can't mess with them because they know everything. Bible scholars don't know everything, okay? That's just the nature of the case, but these guys had that reputation. So when they come forward, you see, this is when you're reading this now and you see scribes, that's what you think. These Pharisees go contact the scribes and say, well, you need to come along with us, because we need to really impress Jesus that he really has to answer, you know, we need to see this from him. If he's going to talk to us that way, you guys come along and show him what's what. Well, teacher, we wish to see a sign from you. What? What in the world has he been doing? How many signs has he already given them? Teacher, we need to see a sign from you. What do you think he's been doing? I mean, this whole thing started with him casting out a demon, and he didn't go through some magic ritual. He didn't call on some other person to accomplish this for him. It's with a word. He has the authority to cast out demons on his own name. He has that authority. And he's been healing people, he's been raising the dead, he's been forgiving sins, he's been calming wind and waves on the lake. What kind of signs do you want? Well, brothers and sisters, this is not a serious question. This is how you have to read this. These people are not asking a serious question. They are putting him to the test. Okay, now you do it at our command. Now let's see it. We're gonna authenticate it. They need to be eyewitnesses, but brothers and sisters, they're not serious with that question. Nicodemus, John chapter three, a Pharisee, comes to Jesus by night, and here's what he says. Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God. No one else can do these signs that you do unless God is with them. He knows about the signs. He's recognized that he's been doing signs. He's a Pharisee. They see the signs. They know about the signs. Oh, we want to see a sign from you. Here's another passage, John 11. So the chief priests and Pharisees gathered the council and said, what are we to do? For this man performs many signs. They don't need any more signs. They're not asking for a sign sincerely, not because they don't know. This is not a sincere question. They are putting him to the test. They are putting him to the test to see whether he will jump at their command and whether they can control him. and bring him into their orbit and control so they can retain their position of authority to do whatever they want among the people of God. You know, the people of God wonder if he's the Messiah. Can this be the son of David? This is what's asked in verse 23 after Jesus heals the demoniac. And notice what these leaders call him. Let's go back to verse 38. we wish to see a sign from you." Teacher. They're willing to accept him on their own terms as a teacher, but not the son of David, Messiah, who is their Lord. They're willing to accept him as one of their own rabbis, a teacher on their own terms, although the scribes are kind of like one rank above. teacher who are willing to accept it. By the way, I don't know if you noticed that, also what Nicodemus in John 3 says, Rabbi, teacher, we know you come from God because of the signs. So they're willing to accept them, Jesus, on their own terms. This is the thing that you get from Jesus. Time and time again in the Gospels, you've got to accept him on his terms. because he is the son of man. He is the Lord of glory. He knows what he's doing and no one will turn him from his path to deliver his people from their sins. That's his name. Matthew 1, the angel, you will name him Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. So they named him Immanuel, which means God with us. It's the Isaiah 7 that we read. The virgin shall conceive and they will name him Immanuel. It's actually quoted in Matthew 1. And he will do that, and no one can turn him from his determination to fulfill his father's will to save his sheep from their sins. And to be under the orbit of these people who are willing to say that Satan is casting out demons and blaspheming the Lord? He will not do it. So here's his response. Verses 39 and following. His response, an evil and adulterous generation seeks for his sign, but no sign will be given. It's very interesting he says that. He says, no sign will be given, although I'll give you this one. Okay, right? You see that. No sign will be given you, but I'm gonna give you one. Just as Jonah, three days in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. So the Son of Man, you notice that title, that Son of Man, this is the one who identifies with his people. He's one of us. He's a human being like us. He's not the Son of God and his deity without the incarnation. He is the Son of Man who was born of a virgin as one of us, the holy, eternal, most glorious Son of God became man. He added our nature fully to himself and became one of us so that he might die for our sins. That's what we're dealing with, with the Son of Man. So this is really the first time that Jesus starts adding, interestingly, adding information about what his mission is as the Son of Man, and here's a sign, here's the central sign of his work. He's going to die for his people and be in the grave for three days, and then he'll come forth. Just as the fish spit out Jonah, so the grave will spit out the Lord Jesus Christ, because he has victory over death. That's what Jesus is predicting here. Here's your sign. This is the only sign you're going to get. But what a sign it is. But brothers and sisters, we're not dealing with people who are willing to accept that sign. And Jesus knows it. These scribes and Pharisees are like that rich man in the parable that Jesus tells in Luke 16. You may recall this, the rich man and Lazarus, the poor man, and how in death the poor man was leaning against the breast of Abraham in glory, and the rich man was in hell for all of his failure to live up to his confession of faith of God, and his God was his riches. And this man who is in hell says to Abraham, oh, please, Father Abraham, send to my brothers this man, Lazarus, to tell my brothers about what's going to happen if they continue in their idolatry and ignoring the God of our fathers. And here's what Abraham says, Luke 16.31. He, Abraham, said to him, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. See, this is the unbelief of this evil and adulterous generation. Brothers and sisters, read ahead. We stopped at verse 45. Look at 46. While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brother stood outside. These Pharisees and scribes could have gone to Jesus' mother and said, we heard rumors that an angel appeared to you and told you stuff, and they could have inquired about the birth of Christ and how he was born of the Virgin in fulfillment of Isaiah 7. There's the sign. You want a sign from God that Jesus is who he says he is? You go to Isaiah 7. ask of me a sign. I will give you a sign the virgin shall conceive." Mary is right there. They can inquire of her. It's easy. She's right there. But they will not. They're unwilling to inquire. This is people who are not really interested in the truth. So when they ask for this sign, they're not serious about it. This is why Jesus' response is so severe. They're an evil and adulterous generation. Why adulterous? Are all these guys that he's talking to adulterers? No, it's adultery from their God. who marries them in covenant, as it were. That's what covenant is, it's this bond where God says, I am your God and you are mine, in analogy with marriage between a man and a woman. This is how God takes us to betroth us, as it were. So he is our God, like our husband. the husband of the people of God. So they're adulterous. They've turned away from God. James 4 verse 4, you adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. You're adulterous from God, your God. Jesus says, whoever is with me, whoever is not with me is against me. Whoever does not gather with me scatters. The Lord Jesus is saying, you are wedded to me. You must gather to me. When I call you, you come to me because I am the King of glory come to save you. He is wielding the authority of the Holy Spirit. If I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has overtaken you." This is what he's up to here. He is doing something worldwide in his ramifications, and we on this side of the world, we're the evidence of that. It is still unfolding in the world, the power of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the gospel. Well, this is why you have that section at the end of our passage, verses 43 and following. If you want to know what that means, I don't think Jesus is much interested in teaching us about demon possession, frankly. You read this and you say, oh, this is interesting, now I know about demon possession. Well, He's not interested in teaching you that. This is something where he talks about it, with this one demon bringing along seven worse demons, and you may have all sorts of questions arising, but this is essentially a parable. Notice how this comes clear at the end of the passage, verse 45, because he makes clear why he says this. Verse 45. brings in seven worst demons, the last state of that person is worse than the first. That's what he's saying. You then apply that, so also will it be with this evil generation. You're an evil and adulterous generation. It's like this, this man who's healed of a demonic possession, which is how our passage opened, right? in verse 22. This is how the whole thing started. He's bringing that back to mind. It's like that, except you can't leave that place empty. That home can't be empty. You must come to the Lord Jesus because He's offering to fill our hearts through the Spirit of God so that you will not have any danger of demons evermore." But this generation did not learn that. They did not come to Jesus. So he says, you, your generation, it's going to get worse for you. You've gone from bad to worse, and worse things are going to take over you. But here is the great sign. This is the focus of what Jesus is talking about, this great sign. Now he's telling us about what he's up to. He's going to go into the earth, in hell itself, death, the grave, for three days, and then he will rise from it, like Jonah, the prophet. And notice what he says about this. Notice how he brings in Jonah and then says, but I want you to know, something greater than Jonah is here in your midst, right? The prophet. And then the Queen of the South is probably someplace in the Arabian Peninsula. That's where she came from. Pretty far, really far away at that time. And the Queen of the South came to see the glory of Solomon. And Jesus says, well, something greater than Solomon is here, the son of David. Something greater than Solomon is here, the Lord Jesus himself. And they will rise up in witnesses on the last day. Notice how Jesus invokes once more the last day's judgment. and they will bear witness against this generation, Jonah and the Queen of the South, and the people of Nineveh, these enemies of Israel. They will rise up to bring charges against this evil generation. Well, in conclusion, it's a good thing, brothers and sisters, we live in a generation where everybody is a Christian. Wise. We're all sincere in our faith. All of Corvallis, all of Albany and Dallas, all of these cities around us, everybody's a Christian and they've all bowed the knee to the Lord of glory, right? Good thing that's true of Eugene. No, none of us live in a pure generation. We even find in ourselves that too many times we fail, but we've come to Jesus. Brothers and sisters, something greater than Jonah came, something greater than Solomon came, and we have a sign. We live among people who are foolish. We live among, in ourselves, we're negligent of devoting ourselves to Christ. In Jesus' day, they didn't have this. You couldn't buy a Bible unless it was in translation, and then you just get a scroll of one of the books. And that would be expensive, and you'd have to be able to read Hebrew or Greek. If that wasn't your language, well, they weren't always available in translation that you could understand. So you had to hear preaching, and that wasn't available everywhere, certainly not among scribes and Pharisees pointing you to the truth. But today, we are without excuse. We are without excuse. We are not to put the Lord our God to the test, to expect something else to happen in our generation that will be some sort of sign, some sort of angel appearing and flying overhead for our generation. They won't believe it. If they didn't believe, When they saw Christ raised from the dead and heard of the resurrection from witnesses who were sincere and had no reason to lie, they won't believe in Jesus unless he turns their hearts. So we pray for our generation. that the Lord will have mercy upon our neighbors. This is what we're doing here. This is why we're here. We are salt and light in the world. This is our main purpose in life. You want to know what your main purpose in life is? It is that. To glorify God and to enjoy him forever. This is your purpose in life. And brothers and sisters, you young people, what a purpose. Eternal ramifications. You will forever thank God that you had this opportunity to live in the midst of a generation that doesn't know God, and you can be a witness and help to people who are lost and searching for all sorts of weird things all around us, like they were back then. This is our purpose, and we have a great sign. Listen to Paul, 1 Corinthians 1. Listen to Paul. Here's what he says. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ and Him crucified. a stumbling block to Jews and a folly to Greeks, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than all the wisdom of men, and the weakness of God is stronger than all the strength of men." Brothers and sisters, you have the word of God at your disposal. And you say, well, I can't preach. You bring him here. you invite your neighbors to church. You can say, well, tune in if you want to hear it. You tune into the stream. But you would get a welcome at our church. See, this is why a welcoming congregation is so important, where people can come in and dress differently than others and not be in the same social standing, whatever, and we welcome them. This is so important. You may think, that's not a big deal. It's a big deal. So here's your contribution to the advancement of the kingdom of God, that they come and they hear the word of God, because it's the wisdom of God. We preach Christ and Him crucified, the power of God for salvation. That's what's going on in the church today and why it's so important. Because then that great sign, three days in the foundation of the earth, then you're going to have people on the last day who stand. I'm going to read you a passage from Revelation chapter 7. Revelation 7 verses 9 through 10. What you need to know is at the end of chapter 6, the question is asked by people who are falling under judgment. The question is asked, the wrath of God and of the Lamb has come on the last day. Who can stand in the day of wrath? And here's the answer. Who can stand on the day of wrath? Here's the answer, Revelation 6 verse 9, After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every name, every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Salvation belongs to those who come to the Lamb, who is the same yesterday, And today and forever, and His salvation is the same, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And on that last day, you will stand. You will stand in resurrection glory. That is your hope, Christian, and what we are doing here today. Praise the Lord. Let's pray. Our Father in Heaven, what a sign you gave. We're thankful you didn't do some trivial thing. Instead, Almighty God, most powerful Father, knowing what we needed, we have a Savior who is three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, conquering death on our behalf. And now, O Lord, may our neighbors know this, those who are searching for all sorts of things and have heard all sorts of stories about Jesus. But now the truth will come out. the same yesterday, today, and forever. Grant that we may, O Lord, testify to these truths, holding fast to them as light in the world, as salt among our neighbors, and be gracious to them, and turn them from their folly, and help us, O Lord, to stand fast in the truths of the Bible. We pray in Christ's name, amen.