Jesus vs. Religion Pt 3

Your face, O Lord, I shall seek. Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger. You have been my help. Do not abandon me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation. For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me up. Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me in a level path because of my foes. Do not deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries,

for false witnesses have risen against me, and such as breathe out violence. I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord. And, Father, I do thank you for the hope that we can have in you. And, Lord, that as we wait on you, you promise to always show up.

And, Lord, we just thank you for that today. And so, Lord, I ask that you would show up this morning. Father, we know. We need the work of your Holy Spirit as we get into your word. Otherwise, there's just no point even being here. So, Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit would minister as you see fit to our hearts. Lord, bless me with your gift of teaching and bless your people with that gift of hearing.

In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12.

Well, as we've been in Matthew chapter 12, Jesus has been sparring with the Pharisees.

He's been battling against religion, and he's done so in a couple of different ways so far. First of all, he battled with them over the subject of the Sabbath day. According to them, he had broken their Sabbath laws, but he never broke God's Sabbath law, just the way that man had interpreted the Sabbath law. And, of course, Jesus proved himself to be Lord even of the Sabbath.

And then last time that we were together, we looked at Jesus casting out the demon, the demon that had caused the man to be both blind and mute. And Jesus cast out that demon, and they said, He does this by the work or by the power of Beelzebub, by the power of Satan. And Jesus, of course, pointed out, first of all, the illogical nature of what they had to say because it wouldn't make any sense for that to be true. Second of all, he pointed out the hypocrisy of what they had to say because, after all, if Jesus cast them out by the power of Satan, then how do their own sons or, if you will, their own people cast them out?

Of course, they had to say that, yeah, that's a pretty ridiculous statement to be made. But then he warned them about a place that they were, starting to get to as the religious leaders, getting to a place of willfully rejecting the work of the Holy Spirit and revealing Jesus Christ to a point where there would be no return. Not that they had come to that point yet, but warning them that there was a sin that eventually would cause them to fall away to a point of no return. And so as we pick up today, we pick up with the third time that he spars with the Pharisees.

Now, I didn't put this down for her to put on there. I don't think she probably put it on there on the in-between times. But as I was, studying this, there was one song that went through my head over and over again. If I were to put a subtitle to this message of Jesus versus religion part three, if I were to put something that really encapsulated this particular section, it would be that great theological song by Ace of Base.

I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes. I saw the sign. That's all I could think of. And listen, you don't want to watch the song and dance take place up here, although I'm completely willing if anybody is. But that's what was going through. I had all of those wonderful songs of the nineties that had to do with with signs. As a matter of fact, I entitled the first portion of it.

Give me a sign. That's a whole other song, too, but I won't go there either. So we pick up in verse thirty eight because they're going to request a sign of Jesus. And this is what it says. Then some of the scribes and the Pharisees said to him, Teacher, we want to see a sign from you. And he answered and said to them, an evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign.

Yet no sign will be given to it. But the sign of Jonah, the prophet. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah.

Behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up with this generation of the judgment and will condemn it because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the witness of the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, something greater than Solomon is here. Now, these religious leaders asked Jesus a very interesting question. These Pharisees in the process of all of this,

they asked him a very interesting question. They say, teacher, we want to see a sign from you. Now, if you've been with us any of the past few weeks, you would know how ridiculous of a question that is, because everything that Jesus had done was a sign of who he was. Remember, we had seen that he has cast out demons. He has, given sight to the blind. He has restored the hand of the man that had the shriveled hand.

He has restored the ability to walk to the lame. He has raised the dead. He has done all of the things that the Messiah was supposed to do. All of the signs, the attesting miracles, if you will, that the Messiah was supposed to do. As a matter of fact, we remember in the last chapter that John the Baptist had come to, had sent his disciples to Jesus to say,

hey, are you the Messiah? Or should we? Should we continue looking for someone else? And do you remember how Jesus responded? He said, this is what you need to go back and tell John. The blind see the lame walk and the dead live again. And the gospel is being preached to the poor. All of the attesting signs that the Messiah was supposed to do, all of the attesting miracles that the Messiah was supposed to do.

And so what a ridiculous question for these guys to ask Jesus, would you just give us a sign and we'll believe in you. Now I want to talk for just a moment about signs, because Jesus, this is going to condemn them very harshly. Now signs or attesting miracles are used throughout scripture. I believe that they still exist today. I have no problem believing that God still uses what would be called the sign

gifts or the miraculous gifts today. Uh, I believe that gifts of healing can still be used today where there can be the laying on of hands and someone can be healed through that process. If God chooses to do so, uh, I believe in the use of the gift of tongues for today, as long as it's used within biblical parameters, as the Bible says, it's to be used decently and in order. Uh, I believe that God can do any of these miraculous things that he wants to do, but they will always be used to bring glory to God and they will always be used to point to Jesus and never to be a sideshow, never to be the main focus of what's taking place.

Matter of fact, throughout scripture, we see God use, uh, signs for two purposes. Number one, because signs oftentimes authenticate the work of God. If you were to, if you were to read stories coming out of other nations, stories that missionaries are at work in other nations where they don't have the word of God as available to them, you will read story after story of amazing miraculous things that take place. And part of the reason why some of those things take place is because it authenticates the work that God is doing among that, that village or in that individual.

And it is an authenticating thing. Oftentimes throughout the old Testament, God would authenticate the work of a prophet by providing a sign to authenticate that work. And I have no problem believing that God's still at work doing that today. As a matter of fact, one of the most fascinating thing for me is to read in, uh, publications like the voice of the martyrs about individuals who were simply crying out to God because they wanted to know what salvation really was.

And they have visions of Jesus. And I have no problem believing that because I believe in a big God that does miraculous things. But not only does God use signs to authenticate the ministry or authenticate the work of God, but oftentimes God uses signs or attesting miracles, miraculous things simply because he has compassion for people simply because he loves people and he sees the pain that they're in. And he says, in order for them to continue on doing what they need to do, I'm going to bring out something miraculous in their life.

And so it's oftentimes, uh, just God showing his compassion for people. But we have to understand that when it comes to the sign gifts or the miraculous things, number one, it is completely built upon the sovereignty of God. And it's not something, that I can usher in myself or just say, this is what's going to happen because I commanded in the name of Jesus, because God's still sovereign, either even over things like that. But the second thing is that they will always, always bring glory to Jesus.

They will always point people to Jesus because that's what the Holy Spirit is doing is testifying of the work of God. As a matter of fact, all of the signs that Jesus did, all of the miraculous things that he did pointed to who he is as the Messiah. Now, with that, with that being said, we have within our nation, a lot of churches that have gotten a little out of balance with some of the signs. and so there can be some problem problems if we become those who only seek after signs.

As a matter of fact, I've written down three main issues that can come about if we begin to be those who only seek the signs. Number one, if we become sign seekers, we'll find that the sign is never enough. That's kind of what happened here, isn't it? Is that what Jesus was doing was not enough. Therefore, they wanted something more, to try to prove that he really was the Messiah.

And oftentimes, if our goal is to seek after the miraculous, to seek after the sign, instead of seeking after the one who the sign is to point us to, seeking after the one that the sign is supposed to reveal, then we'll find that that's never enough. There was a young lady that was a part of the youth group when I was in Kansas City, and she ended up falling into some areas of sin in her life that caused her to have to deal with those areas of sin. And it caused her to have to go away to, uh, uh, a program that would, that would help work her past some substance abuse. And the unfortunate thing about this program is that they were more focused on the signs than they were the word of God.

And so when she came back, she had had this miraculous experience with God and with the speaking of tongues, uh, speaking in tongues. And it was a great thing. We were all like, oh, wow, isn't it so amazing? Like God's done such a miracle in her life. But you know what? Pretty soon the sign began to fail or pretty soon God chose not to perform the sign as far as she was concerned.

And so that, that sign wasn't enough because it wasn't founded in the truth of the word of God because the word of God is not what was used in her life to continue to grow her faith. She was only based on the miraculous, not the actual true work of the word of God. Her faith became very weak and she ended up falling away again. And you go, what happened? Well,

the faith was in the sign and pretty soon the sign's not enough because if you don't have another miraculous sign, then what's my faith in? Well, if it's not in the word of God, then it'll never be enough. Many of us find ourselves thinking, man, if so-and-so that needs to know Jesus could just see some sort of a miracle in their life, then I know they would come to Jesus. Well, I'd like to tell you about another young person that I know that found themselves in a very dangerous position.

They found themselves in a car accident where somebody hit them head on and we prayed and we prayed that God would set this person free and that they would end up being restored to their health, to good health. And you know what? They were. We were like, oh my gosh, it's just the miracle that they needed. Only the problem was, they never repented of sin. And so while an amazing miracle took place in their life,

there was still no true change. Why? Because sometimes the miracles aren't enough because you always need one more thing. It has to be founded in the truth of the word of God and the working of the spirit of God. Second problem with signs is that oftentimes signs and wonders become the focus. Oftentimes signs and wonders become the focus. And this has become the issue with a particular portion of the church that has

found themselves saying we need more of the signs and wonders. As a matter of fact, we want to have a revival of signs and wonders. May I tell you brothers and sisters that a revival of the signs and wonders is not what we need. A revival of the word of God is what we need because the word of God is what produces true change in our lives. And the word of God is the only thing that will truly nourish us and change us

from the inside out. But oftentimes that can become the focus because they're exciting. It's exciting to see God do miraculous things. I've seen it happen and it's fun. And it's, it's an amazing thing to see take place, but it should always be something that only points us more and more to knowing Jesus better and better, not seeking after more of the miraculous.

And of course, the third problem that we can have with only seeking signs is oftentimes it's not out of a pure heart. That's kind of what went on here with, with these guys. They weren't really seeking a sign from Jesus because they wanted to see how amazing he was as the Messiah. They wanted to try to prove him wrong. And in our culture, what we oftentimes see is some of these people that are only seeking after

signs, what they're really seeking after is a following and what they're really seeking after is another way to make some money. And so sometimes it's not always out of a pure heart. And so God uses these things in very powerful ways, but it must be kept in balance with the word of God. Otherwise, when it gets out of balance, we have some of those problems with seeking only the signs.

So these guys come to Jesus and they say, teacher, we want to see a sign from you. And Jesus answered them. And said, an evil and adulterous generation craves a sign. What an amazing thing for Jesus to say to these guys, because it's kind of a, kind of a harsh statement that Jesus makes, right? Kind of a rough thing that he says to them again, because he calls them both evil and adulterous.

And I think the adulterous word is the one that we should really pay attention to here because that word carries with it. The idea of being morally unfaithful to the Lord, morally unfaithful to the Lord, because that's what they'd become. Not morally unfaithful, because of their idolatry. We'll talk about that a little bit later in the message, but morally unfaithful because of their self-righteousness because they had, if you will, made themselves their own God by saying, I know how to keep the law.

And so he says an evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign. He says, yet no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah, the prophet for his Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster. So will the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Now, as they're seeking this sign, Jesus says, I'm only going to give you one side.

And it's the sign of the prophet Jonah. Well, this seemed like a really good time for me to give a little bit of a background on Jonah, the prophet. Some of you have probably seen the veggie tales movie, quick show of hands. Who's seen the veggie tales movie. That's right. When I say some of you, I mean, most of you have seen the veggie tales movie. Now, you know what was going on at the time of Jonah,

right? If you've seen the veggie tales movie, may I say that's the rated G version of what was going on, but it is what it is. They weren't exactly slapping each other with fish. Although, bad things were happening. So Jonah was a prophet of God during the time of the rise of the Assyrian empire. Now the Assyrian empire of which Nineveh was the capital was one of the

most evil empires of the time. And as a matter of fact, history has proven them to be one of the most cruel empires ever. Some of the things they did were terrible and believe me, it went well beyond slapping each other in the face with fish. And so because of that, because of how evil they were, God called Jonah and he said, Jonah, here's what I want you to do.

I want you to go to Nineveh and I want you to tell them that if they don't repent, judgment is coming. Only Jonah had a problem. Jonah didn't like the people of Nineveh and he didn't want to go there and preach to them. So Jonah did what all of us as great men of God do when God calls us to take a great step of faith. He ran the opposite direction, right? Now,

fellas, I know you know what I'm talking about here. Sometimes God says, this is what I want you to do. And we're like, no. And we go the wrong direction, right? That's what, that's what Jonah did. Jonah gets on a boat and goes the exact opposite direction. Well, while they're on this boat to go the exact opposite direction, a great storm comes up and the boat is being tossed all around and everybody's

freaking out. They're all praying to their gods, trying to figure out if they can appease the gods of the sea or whatever to stop this great storm. And they couldn't do it. So finally they're like, who are we missing? Jonah, go get Jonah because Jonah was down below asleep while judgment was coming on the ship, right? And so they bring Jonah up to the top of the deck.

And they say, Jonah, you should pray to your God too, because this storm just won't seem to stop because there seemed to be something deeper going on than just an actual storm. There was a greater spiritual element that everybody on the boat felt. And Jonah goes, here's the deal, guys. I'm the reason that there's a storm. You should throw me overboard. And they're like,

no, we can't do that. You'll die. And he says, it's the only way the storm is going to stop. And so they pray, God, forgive us. Don't hold this man's blood over our heads. And they tossed him out of the boat. And as they tossed him out of the boat, I looked this up this morning to make sure I was going to say it correctly. It says that a great fish that God had prepared came and swallowed Jonah.

Now, this is one of the stories in the Bible that a lot of higher critics like to criticize because they say this clearly is fantasy and not real because there is no fish big enough to swallow a man. Well, then your God's too small because I serve a God who can't create anything that he wants to because if he can speak the world into existence, if he can speak and all of the animals show up, then I have no problem believing he can create a fish big enough to swallow one guy for one time to bring judgment on his life because Jesus here confirms this is what happened. And if Jesus says it happened, who am I to disagree with him? And so this great fish was prepared to swallow Jonah.

Now, I don't know how y'all ever pictured this in your mind. I just, it's an amazing thought, isn't it? Like, Jonah gets tossed overboard. He's like, ah, splash, right? Eaten by a fish. Now, I went fishing the other day and I never once thought to myself, I wonder if there's going to be a fish big enough that comes out of that pond to eat me alive. However,

a couple of times I've been on the Arkansas River fishing and I thought to myself, there could very well be a fish big enough in the Arkansas River to swallow me alive. But that's what happens to Jonah. He gets swallowed alive and it takes him three days to repent. How long would it take you? Sitting inside of the belly of a fish to go, this was a bad idea,

right? I clearly should have listened to God, but it took him three days, three days and three nights. He's in the belly of the fish. You ever thought about what took place in the belly of the fish while Jonah was in there? Like, I remember there was a, a movie. I think Disney made it at one point in time and a guy gets swallowed by a whale and he lights a little lamp while he's in there and he's like looking at a book that he just happened to have with him in the sea for whatever reason.

He's like reading a book while he's in there. He's like, sure wish this whale would spit me out. In my mind, that's how I used to think about how Jonah was in the belly of the whale that he was like, right? Because he bought, he brought a Bic lighter with him clearly. But I heard a guy teach on this when I was in Bible college and he completely opened up my mind.

He goes, what takes place in the belly of an animal when they eat something? That's right. Digestion takes place. The body produces all kinds of acids and enzymes to dissolve the food that's in your stomach. So for three days, Jonah sat in there having everything around him, dissolved by the digestive juices of the fish. I had never thought about this. And the guy says,

you've ever thought about how Jonah looked when he got spit out? Most of his clothes were probably eaten off by that point in time. A lot of his hair was probably eaten off by that point in time. And his body was probably incredibly pale. Plus he got vomited out by a fish. So finally, after three days, he's like, God, I was wrong. I'll go to Nineveh. So God's like,

great. And he gave the fish some indigestion, spit that, spit up Jonah on the shore. And so here is this nasty, slime covered, fish flavored man that just came out of the belly of a fish, half naked, most of his hair gone and completely pale. Can you imagine how bad he smelled? I don't know about you, but I've never gone to Bath and Body Works and seen the ode to fish,

right? Like nobody's ever like, ooh, bass, I'll take that one, right? Because it doesn't smell very good. And so this guy comes out dripping with slime, pale, most of his clothes gone, most of his hair gone, smelling like fish. And he goes, repent, because God's judgment is coming. I'd repent too. That's the scariest thing I've ever seen in my entire life. Well,

that's exactly what happens. Biggest revival ever took place in Nineveh. That's going to be important for what we talk about in just a minute. So as these guys are seeking a sign, God says, I'm only going to give you one sign. And that's the sign of the prophet Jonah. But he's not going to talk about the repentance part yet. He says, the only sign they give you is the prophet Jonah,

who spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. In the same way, the son of man will be, three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Do you realize what Jesus says here? He says, there's only one attesting miracle I'm going to point you to, and it's going to be the miracle of my own resurrection. Because that will be the greatest testament to the truth of who I am.

Now, let's address one thing that a lot of people have issues with. It says, the son of man was in the earth three days and three nights. Now, if you know anything about the Easter story, you know, that Jesus was crucified on a Friday, and he rose again on a Sunday. That's not three full days and three full nights, at least as we Western culture, English speaking Americans would consider it.

But that's because we don't understand the way that they spoke in the Jewish culture of that time. Any portion of a day was considered to be the entire day. So this way that he spoke, we have no issue with if you're looking at it from a Jewish culture, because for him to say three days and three nights, it wouldn't have to be three complete 24 hour days. That's just the way they spoke.

So, for three days, that's what he did. So, Jesus goes on to tell them, the only sign that I'm going to give you is the sign of the resurrection. That will be the greatest proof of the fact that I am who I say that I am. Do you know what we're told in the book of Romans chapter one? In Romans chapter one, we're told that he was declared to be the son of God with power.

And God raised him from the dead. The greatest proof of our faith, is the fact that we serve a living savior. The greatest proof of our faith is that he was not held down by death. He was not held down by the grave, but he defeated that and he rose again on the third day. Now I realize I'm a little bit early on this Easter message that we've got a couple of more weeks before that takes place.

But after all, like we've mentioned before, as believers in Jesus Christ, when we gather on Sunday, every Sunday is resurrection day. Every Sunday we celebrate the fact that Jesus is alive because today is the Lord's day. Today, is the fulfillment of the Sabbath. And we recognize the fact that Jesus is alive. Do you know that critics for years have tried to disprove the resurrection because they've said we can tear down all of the Christian faith by only doing one thing.

Because if he's wrong on this one thing, then it tears down everything that he said in the gospels. It tears down all of the claims that he made. And so this one thing we're going to try to tear down, we're going to try to tear down the proof that Jesus raised from the dead. And they've done everything that they can. Josh McDowell tried to do it. Lee Strobel tried to do it.

And you know what, that what happened when those guys tried to disprove the fact that Jesus raised from the dead, they had to say, yes, he did. He did rise from the dead. And as a matter of fact, I need to surrender my life to him because he is the one true God because he defeated death. And if y'all have never watched the movie, uh, the case for Christ, I would highly recommend you watch that movie or read that book.

Have a box of Kleenex with you because man, it's going to tear you up. Because repentance always just destroys me, but that's everything that Lee Strobel set out to do. He was very angry that his wife had come to faith in Jesus because after all he was an atheist and they're an atheist family. And so his wife ends up getting saved and following Jesus. And he's like,

I'm going to prove her wrong because she's got to be set free from this fantasy idea of this false Jesus. And he tried every which way he could to prove that Jesus did not rise from the dead. And after he examined, all, all of it, all he could say was, yes, he did. And as a matter of fact, he's my only hope. Jesus said, I'm only going to give you one proof,

and that's the proof of the fact that I've raised from the dead. And at that point in time, you will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that yes, I am everything that I say that I am. Well, he goes on from there to speak of some witnesses that will speak against these Pharisees and the judgment. Notice what it says in verse 41. He says, the men of Nineveh will stand up with this.

This generation at the judgment and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah and behold something greater than Jonah is here. He says, if you want to know who are really going to be the witnesses against who you guys are, it's going to be those men of Nineveh. Because remember what we said happened when Jonah showed up smelling like fish covered in goo, all nasty because he'd been eaten up by all the digestive juices. He said, repent because God's judgment is coming.

And so what did everyone do? They repented. As a matter of fact, the leader of the city, he came out covered in sackcloth and ashes, torn clothes, the whole nine yards and said, we need to repent because I believe the crazy looking guy and God held off his judgment for a time because they repented. And all that happened with them was that Jonah, a prophet of God showed up and spoke of God's judgment that was to come and they repented.

And Jesus said, and you guys have the very one that he was testifying of standing right in front of you. And yet you refuse to repent. You refuse. You refuse to believe. He said, those men will stand up in judgment against you because they heard the preaching of Jonah and they repented. And I'm telling you that someone even greater than Jonah is standing right in front of you.

Well, he goes on from there to bring a second accusation or a second group of witnesses against them. Notice what he says in verse 42. The queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of some. And behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The second witness that he calls is the queen of the South.

Now, if you were to go back and read, I believe it's first Kings chapter 10, you would find that Solomon had so much wisdom that everybody wanted to come here. This great wisdom that he had Solomon, such a cool story, at least in the beginning, Solomon was the son of David, the one who God had chosen to carry on the kingdom of David, the one who would reign in peace. And so after David died, God came to Solomon and said, because I loved your dad so much because I want to honor his memory so much. You ask for whatever you want and I'll give it to you.

Whether it's the life of your enemies, whether it's great wealth, whatever you want, I will give it to you. So Solomon sat back and said, I'm a young man. I don't know how to go in. I don't know how to come out. I need wisdom to lead this great people of yours. And God said, that's a, that's amazing. Not only am I going to give you wisdom beyond anyone else,

but I'm going to give you everything else that you didn't ask for. And so Solomon was so well known for his wisdom, his knowledge, his understanding, his wealth, his kingdom building, everything that he did. But there was a queen that lived down in the South who said, I want to know if these stories are true. And so she tracked far and wide to come find Solomon.

And when she sat down and visited with Solomon, she said, the stories weren't even half the truth of what's going on here. It's truly amazing what God has done through you. And so he says, you know who else is going to stand up in judgment, against you on that day? The queen of the South, because all she had to do was hear about the great wisdom of Solomon.

And she traveled far and wide to find him in order to hear his, his great wisdom. And Jesus said, and I'm here to tell you, someone greater than Solomon is standing right in front of you. Now, I want you to take note of some of the things that Jesus has said in this chapter. So far in this chapter, we've heard that Jesus is greater than the temple. We've heard that Jesus is greater than the prophets.

We've heard that Jesus is greater than the kings, because Jesus is so much better than it all. Jesus is so much greater than all of it. That's what the entire book of Hebrews is about. If you ever read the book of Hebrews, you found yourself going, huh, it's a hard book to read. Well, focus on what it's about. It's about the fact that Jesus is better than everything else,

because he's so much greater. And that's what Jesus says here. And as Jesus is talking to these guys, they want a sign to prove that he's real. He's like, I've done it. I've done it over and over again. And there's only one other sign that I'm going to use to prove that I'm who I say that I am. And that's the sign of the resurrection. And quite frankly, you should find yourselves in a really dangerous place right now,

because the place that you're finding yourselves is where the men of Nineveh, who, by the way, were Gentiles, will stand up in judgment against you, because all they had to hear was the preaching of Jonah, and they repented. The queen of the south, also a Gentile, is going to find herself in a place where she can judge you, because she heard about the wisdom of Solomon and came to see it. And someone greater than Solomon is here. I think that there might be a little bit of a message here for the church today, because we have so much opportunity to hear the truth today, and yet so many times in the church we say, but I just want something more.

The religious leaders had Jesus standing right in front of them doing all of these amazing things, and yet they found themselves saying, we need another sign so that you'll prove that you're true. And Jesus said, you don't need any other sign. You just need to believe. I get nervous for the culture that we live in. The reason why I get nervous for the culture we live in is because

we have so many opportunities to hear the truth. The word of God you can find in more translations than you can shake a stick at. And I can shake a stick at a lot of them. You can find it in so many different translations. If you want to understand what God's word has to say, then not only has he given us every opportunity to hear what God's word has to say,

to have it taught to us, but he's also in this day and age given us every opportunity to hear what God's word has to say, and yet so many times in the church we say, we still want more. We want more signs. We want more show. We want more lights. We want more smoke. We want the music to be better. We want the pastor to be funnier. We want everything. Meanwhile, God's going,

you've got everything that you need, and all of the people in other countries right now who tear out one page of the Bible and are so blessed to have that one, they're going to stand up in judgment against us and say, you had everything. And you still don't know. And you still miss Jesus. Because that's what's happening in the Western culture church today. We've got everything that we need,

and we've still missed Jesus. We've got everything that we need, and we've still missed the point. Meanwhile, all those in other countries who maybe have this much knowledge compared to what we have will stand up and say, but I saw the truth. And they'll stand up in judgment against the church in the United States of America today. Now, Jesus goes on to give a warning.

The warning that he goes on to give is this. Verse 43. Now, when the unclean spirit goes out of a man and passes through waterless places seeking rest and does not find it, then it says, I will return to my house from which I came, and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there, and the last state of the man becomes worse than the last state of the man.

And the last state of the man becomes worse than the last state of the man. And the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation. Now, Jesus uses this illustration of a demon-possessed man, and so there's a couple of things I want us to pay attention to. There's going to be a practical truth about demon possession. I think that we learn from this.

But then there's the actual direct application of this warning that Jesus gives to the religious leaders. And so he says, if a man is demon-possessed and he is set free, a demon is cast out, then that demon goes looking for a place to live, and if it can't find anyone else to possess, then it comes back. And if it finds that place, there's a key word here, unoccupied, then not only will he move back in, but he'll bring seven friends with him. He'll bring seven other demons with him, and his last state will be worse than the first.

Now, here's the point that we learn practically about demon possession. Number one is that the demonic realm is real, and demon possession is real. I know that that's not an overly popular thing to say. As a matter of fact, there's a lot of people who say, that's not, that's not real stuff. That's not real things. I don't like messing around with that kind of thing.

Matter of fact, I don't like to watch movies about demon possession because I know that it's real. When I was a kid, well, when I was a kid, when I was in high school and I wasn't doing things Jesus wanted me to do, I remember going to a party one time. As I was at this party, most everybody had left, and somebody got out a Ouija board. And I was like, whoa, I'm not doing things the way that I should right now, but I know that's wrong because I know that's real.

And I got out of there as fast as I could because I've always had that understanding that the demonic is very real. So as we understand the fact that this demonic realm is really real, Jesus gives us a little bit of an indication of what needs to take place, that if somebody is set free from demonic possession, then they'd better fill themselves up with the Holy Spirit of God. They'd better find themselves saved so that the Holy Spirit moves in because when the Holy Spirit moves in, do you know when he puts up a little sign that says, no vacancy, occupied. Therefore, if the enemy comes back, to try to possess, he can't possess because the Holy Spirit is in there and there's only room for the one.

And so he can't come in. Now, can someone still be oppressed by the work of the enemy? Absolutely. I believe that demonic oppression is very real. I think that sometimes the depression that we go through as believers in Jesus Christ is demonic oppression. I think that some of that really does take place. I've experienced it in my own life where all I can attribute it to

is the fact that there's demonic oppression going on because the enemy wants to destroy the work of God. He wants to, he wants to destroy what God wants to do in our lives, particularly he wants to destroy life. And so he says the most important thing that you can do is make sure that that's filled. And so that's kind of the practical lesson that we learn from this.

But now we get to the warning that Jesus actually gives because he says that is the way it will also be with this evil generation. Now, I believe that what this illustration does is it points out the truth of what had happened in the nation of Israel because the nation of Israel had swept their hearts away from God. They had become clean of idolatry. If you were to go into the Old Testament and look at the end of 2 Kings or the end of 2 Chronicles, you will find that both the Northern and Southern Kingdom had gone into captivity.

The Northern Kingdom to the Assyrians, the Southern Kingdom to the Babylonians. Why did they go into that captivity? Because of idolatry. The Old Testament is riddled with warnings of the nation of Israel going into idolatry. That if they don't turn from their idolatry, that they will go into captivity to some other nation. And eventually God had to say, now punishment has to come.

So when they came back from the Babylonian captivity, they said, no more. We will never fall into idolatry again. This is where the Pharisees began to have their rise to power because the Pharisees said, we will stick strictly to what the word of God has to say. We will stick strictly to the law so that we don't end up giving into idolatry again. We have swept the house clean.

But here's what happened. You see, they swept the house clean of idolatry, but rather than filling it with the true knowledge of God, they filled it with something worse. They filled it with pride and self-righteousness. Brothers and sisters, if there's anything that God hates, it's pride and self-righteousness. As a matter of fact, God says there are six things that I hate,

seven things are an abomination, and of the greatest of them is pride. And that's what had happened to the nation of Israel. That's what had happened to the nation of Israel. to the Pharisees and the religious leaders is that they said pride has come in, self-righteousness has come in. Sure, there is great reforms that took place in the nation of Israel, great religious reforms that took place,

but there was no true regeneration that took place. There was no true regeneration of heart that took place. Laws were made, all that kind of stuff took place, but there was no real relationship with God that came about because of it. And that reminds me of a truth for us as the church today. As the church today, our goal is not to make our world a better place.

You say, well, Ryan, yes it is. Our goal is not to make America great again. It's not, and I know that's gonna step on some toes, but that's not our goal. Our goal is not to try to change our culture. That's not our goal. What is our goal? Our goal is the regeneration of souls. Because if we want to see our nation blessed again, you know what has to happen?

Well, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, because that's what it says in the Bible. Not blessed is the nation who has the right president. Not blessed is the nation who has conservative understanding, but blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. And so if we want to see anything good happen again, it can't take place because we've reformed our government.

It can't take place because we've reformed morality. You can have the most moral majority in the world, and you can have still completely missed the point. You can have still completely missed regeneration, and you'll have a bunch of people opposed to abortion going to hell. And that won't change anything. Because if we want to change anything, it has to be with the heart of man.

I have another bold statement for you. Do you know we'll never end racism? That's right. I just got shut down on something right there. We'll never end racism. You know why? Because as long as there are people in the world, there will be hate in the world. We will never end hatred. I don't care whether it's hatred of skin color, whether it's hatred of gender,

whether it's hatred of transgender. I don't care who it is. We'll never end it. You know why we'll never end it? Because hate is not bound up. Hate is not bound up in a policy. Hate is not bound up in a color of skin. Hate is bound up in the heart of man. And the only thing that sets us free from hate is not another law. The only thing that sets us free from hate

is not another hashtag. The only thing that sets us free from hate is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that's the only thing that'll change anything in our world. We have to stop thinking, let's make America great again. And we have to start thinking, let's bring souls to Jesus again. I was talking about this during first service. And religious hypocrisy always ends up coming

when we sweep the land clean. When we sweep the land clean and make it only about morality, then religious hypocrisy begins to set in. Do you know what took place in the church in the 50s and the 60s? In the 50s and the 60s, religious hypocrisy began to take place within the church because self-righteousness began to take place within the church. And do you know what all of the kids of those parents

attending those religious self-righteous churches found themselves doing? I'm so sick of it. I'm so sick of seeing the hypocrisy of my parents. I'm so sick of seeing the self-righteousness of the church. And so what they did is they completely cast off all the things of the church. And when they completely cast off all the things of the church, they said, I'm gonna have sex with whoever

I wanna have sex with. I'm gonna smoke whatever I wanna smoke. I'm gonna do whatever I'm gonna do because it's all free because all of that religious stuff is hypocrisy and self-righteousness. Which is true if the Bible's not involved. And that's where Calvary Chapel came in. And said, let's talk about what the word of God really says. And it wasn't just Calvary Chapel.

There were other great churches of the time doing it. I only know Calvary because that's what it grew up in. But they said, but let's see what the word of God has to say. I don't care what you look like on the outside. I only care what Jesus wants to do to you on the inside. I don't care what kind of long, at that point in time it was, you know, long hair and dirty and no shoes

and all that kind of stuff. And they said, we don't care what you look like. Just come in. Just come to church. And learn what Jesus has to say. And then if he wants to change you, if he wants to change the way you look on the outside, then that's what he'll do.

Well now, that reformation, that regeneration, has sort of needed to happen again. Because in churches, again, what have we seen? We've seen self-righteousness and religious hypocrisy. Only this time, it's not just those who say, we've made our own rules. We're so good. You have to do what we want to say. There's two ends of it now. You see, on the one end,

you have the self-righteous religious hypocrisy of those who say, if you don't look a certain way, you don't dress a certain way, you don't act a certain way, you can't be a part of our church. But then on the other end of it, you have people saying, hey, do whatever you want to do as long as you follow us. As long as you say you love Jesus. That's the important thing.

You can be a homosexual if you want to. You can live in sin if you want to. You can live with someone you're not married to if you want to. It doesn't matter to us. After all, all those things are archaic anyway. Let's just do what we want to do and let's just love Jesus. And so we have these two ends of the spectrum trying to reform the culture and kids are starting to go,

I don't want to do any of it. And so what we need to do again is get back to what the truth of the word of God has to say. I love you no matter what you look like on the outside. I don't care how many tattoos you have. I don't care how many piercings you have. I don't care if you come and smell like pot. What I care about is that I can get the truth of the word of God into your life.

Because if I can get the truth of the word of God into your life, then he can change you. Because we don't need more moral laws. We need a true change of soul. And only the gospel can do that. Because after all, if we don't, then our second state will become worse than the first. That's the way it will be with this evil generation. But we go on from there. While Jesus is saying these things,

we come to verse 46. It says, while he was still speaking to the crowds, behold, his mother and brothers were standing outside seeking to speak to him. And someone said to him, behold, your mother and your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to you. It makes sense to me. But Jesus answered the one who was telling him and said, who is my mother and who are my brothers?

Stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, behold, my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of the Father who is in heaven, he is my mother and my sister, my brother. Now this scene is sort of an interesting one. You can paint the picture if you will. Jesus is surrounded by the crowd. And as he's surrounded by the crowds, his family shows up.

Now we're given a little bit of a glimpse from some of the other gospel accounts as to why his family showed up. First of all, we know his brothers didn't believe him. We're told that in John chapter seven. They didn't think, they thought he was a little bit crazy. Quite frankly, can you imagine being Jesus's brother? Can't you be more like your brother Jesus, right?

Like, no, I can't be more like my brother Jesus. He's, well, Jesus. So they didn't like him and they didn't believe in him. But even with this, it seems from other gospels, gospel accounts that when Jesus and his brothers show up, it's because they think that he's gone a little too far with this whole thing. They think he's maybe stepped over the line with some things that he's done.

And so they're almost like, we need to take him home now because I don't really know what he's doing. And so this wasn't a friendly visit. This was a, let's try to talk some sense into him sort of a visit. That's the general idea that we understand. And so when they show up, of course, the guys come to him and they say, hey Jesus, your mother and your brothers,

they're there. And Jesus has something interesting to say. He says, but Jesus answered, who is my mother and who are my brothers? Now there's a couple of interesting things that I would like to point out to you. And again, the potential of me stepping on toes is there, but hey, it is what it is. We need to pay attention to a couple of things here. First of all, the fact that Jesus had brothers.

You say, Ryan, why do we need to pay attention to that? Well, unfortunately, there is a group of folks in the Catholic religion that believe in Jesus. They believe in Jesus. They believe that Mary was a perpetual virgin because they put Mary in a place that she never really deserved to be. They put her alongside Jesus as a co-redemptress. And they call it the perpetual virginity of Mary.

Only problem with that is that the Bible says Jesus had other brothers. Now, where did those brothers come from? Listen, I took that class in high school, okay? Got two of them for myself. I know where they came from. They came from Mary, right? She wasn't a perpetual virgin. Just the one time. Did she have the virgin birth? And so, he has these brothers. But the other thing to take note of

is the way that Jesus responded to his mother. Because notice when his mom shows up, he says, who's my mother? Because at this point in time, perhaps, Mary is in a place where she's maybe doubting a little bit. Now, again, according to the Catholic religion, Mary is on a level right next to Jesus. Mary is on the level of being a co-redemptress and one that intercedes for us.

Which is why they come to Mary and say, Hail Mary, full of grace. Now, the problem with that is that Jesus doesn't refer to her that way here. The problem is Scripture never refers to her that way. Now, I want to be clear about something because I think in the Protestant church, we do Mary a great disservice sometimes. I think she was a wonderful woman of God.

For God to have called her to do what she did, I don't know if there's anybody that has ever walked planet Earth that is quite the quality of character that Mary the mother is. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know who the mother of Jesus was. I think she had to be because in order to do what she had to do,

she had to have a great strong walk with the Lord. She had to be a great woman of faith. But when it comes right down to it, she was just like us. She needed the death of Jesus Christ to forgive her of her sins, just like you and I do. He was her Savior as much as He's our Savior. And I think that that's an important point that needs to be made here. But the next point,

and the one that I think is what's really being brought across, is that Jesus says something interesting. He stretches out His hand towards His disciples, and He said, Behold, my mother and my brothers. From that, we realize something. From that, we realize that anyone who does the will of the Father is a part of the family of God. And I think that that breaks down two ways.

Number one, it means that I am now closer to Christ than any family member I've ever had. My bond with Jesus Christ is deeper than any family member I've ever had. It's deeper than any human bond I will ever have with anyone else because there is a spiritual bond there that cannot be replaced by any human being. And it's the same for you because the Holy Spirit, as we're told in the book of Romans, is at work in you, bearing witness to the fact that you belong to Jesus.

And through the Holy Spirit, you can cry out, Abba, Father. And so there's that tender relationship that you now have with Jesus, and it's closer than anyone that you can ever know on earth. As a matter of fact, there are things that I tell Jesus that I can't tell anybody else. Nobody else. You know why? Because sometimes there's things that I tell Jesus that I can't say in words

because I don't even know how to communicate it. Sometimes I just have to sigh in the Spirit. And as I sigh in the Spirit, Jesus goes, I know. Because my bond with Him is closer than it is with anyone else in the world. Which is why when it comes right down to it, no relationship that I have on this earth can ever come between me and Him. My wife knows distinctly

that I will always love Jesus more than her. I have to love Jesus more than her because if I don't, I will never be able to love her the way that I'm supposed to. I recounted to you guys a while back a conversation that I had with my youngest daughter. And she said, Daddy, do you love me more than Jesus? And I said, no, sweetheart, I don't. And she goes, what do you mean?

I said, well, sweetheart, Jesus is my Savior. I have to love Him more than you. Otherwise, I'll never be able to be the father to you that I'm supposed to be. Jesus has to come first in my life just like I expect Jesus to come first in your life. You have to love Him more than you love me. I don't know that she quite accepted that just yet, but we're working on it.

But my bond with Jesus is closer than anybody else in the world. Why? Because once I gave my heart to Him, I did the will of the Father. The will of the Father is that I put my faith in the Son. And once I did so, now I have a bond with Jesus that I'll never have with anyone else and it will last for eternity. But do you know what else is true? What else is true is that

you and I, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, we have a bond with each other that's even closer than the bond that we have with blood relatives. Because we are the family of God. And when we put our faith in Jesus Christ, you don't just join some kind of a church. You don't just join a movement. You don't just join a social club. You become a part of a family.

And when we gather on a Sunday morning and celebrate the fact that Jesus is alive, we do so as a family. And as I look out amongst you right now, I, look at you at all, which is why the last time we did communion, I said, look at each other. This is your family. Because that's who we are. Listen, does everyone's family have some crazy people? Yes. Do we have some crazy people?

Probably. Am I one of them? Probably. And as my good friend Jerry Horton used to tell me, you can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your family, right? Crazy Uncle Ed, he's gonna be there. That's all there is to it. But when it comes right down to it, we're family. And that bond that we have with each other through the blood of Jesus Christ,

is deeper than any bond that you have with your family. Some of you all perhaps have been ostracized by your family because of your faith in Jesus Christ. And as you've been cut off by your family because of your faith in Jesus Christ, you've come to a place of going, you are my family now. Because I don't have any other family anymore. Some of you all have lost all your family

because maybe you've aged out and your family's gone home to be with the Lord now and you're going, you are my family now. And that's who we are as brothers and sisters in Christ, is we are all a big family. That's why every time I address you, I say brothers and sisters in Christ because that's how I view all of you. But what that means is that we should act like family.

Do you know what I feel like the greatest sign of the success of a church is? I don't think the greatest sign of the success of a church has anything to do with its bank account. I don't think it has anything to do with how many people are sitting in the rows. I don't think it has anything to do with how far your social media reaches or any of those kinds of things.

I think the greatest sign of the success of a church is when people know that they're loved like family. I have to tell you, it's done my heart really good to hear some of you that are newer here at the church come to me and say, man, when I showed up here, I couldn't quit getting greeted by people. I couldn't quit having people come talk to me. That's a beautiful thing because brothers and sisters, that's what should happen.

You know what I love that happens every Sunday? I can't get out of here on Sundays. You all just stick around forever. And I love it. It's the greatest thing in the world. KU plays at 1.30 today. But other than that, I love it, okay? That's all I'm saying. It's the Elite Eight. You all can stay. I may go home. But I love that we can't get people out of the sanctuary

because you all are just visiting with each other. I love that I'm hearing that people are getting together for dinner and it's not even a church-sponsored function. I used to have people say, you know, the church should do more fellowship meals so we can get to know each other. And I'd say, you know, you could invite them over. And then you could get to know more people.

And you know what's happening? That. That's happening. People are getting together and I don't have to have anything to do with it. They're just inviting each other over. Why? Because you're not just a group of people that happen to show up at the same place at the same time on the same day. You're family. And that bond goes deeper than you can ever imagine.

So we should act like family. Amen? Family, let's stand up.

As we wrap up here this morning, I hope that you have that distinct understanding of what God wants to do through His Holy Spirit in your hearts and in your lives. That it's not about a list of rules and regulations. It's about loving our Savior and it's about loving each other. Father, we come before you and we just thank you for the time that we've had in your word this morning.

And I ask that you would continue to do your good work in us. Lord, that we would seek not only to love each other the way that you've called for us to, Lord, but seek to reach out with the regenerating, working work of your gospel to the world that's around us. Father, strengthen us in you and bless us in you. And we just thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

Heavenly Father, God, thank you, Lord, for the freedom and the new life that we have in your Son, Jesus, Lord. God, thank you. God, we just thank you, Lord. And I just pray that as we leave here, God, that we would leave changed, that we would not be the same, God, that people would be talking about what's happened here for days and weeks to come. Lord, I just pray that your Holy Spirit go with us,

work in us and work through us, God. We love you and we praise you, in Jesus' name. All of God's people said, amen. Guys, have a great week. Be blessed.