`Word of Salvation – Vol. 26 No. 18 – January 1981

 

No Sign But Christ’s Victory

 

Sermon by Rev. G. van Schie on Matthew 12:38-42

Scripture Reading: Matthew 12:22-42

 

Brothers and Sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ,

I wonder how many of the children in the congregation today, have had the experience which I recall from my childhood. The experience of having received an extraordinary gift and when you told your friends at school about it, they said they would not believe you actually did receive that gift until they saw it with their own eyes.

Or your parents took you on a holiday to a place far away, maybe in an aeroplane, and on your holiday you did all types of exciting things. You went fishing, skiing, skating etc. and when you came back home and told your friends about all you had done and where you had travelled, they would not believe you.

Parents also fall into the same trap of disbelief. When told of some major purchase or election of some person to some office which we find quite remarkable, we say: “I won’t believe it till I see it for myself.”

Our text today is about the need for proof before we believe, or the desire for proof. We approach our text in this way:

Firstly: we look at this desire for proof as a condition of belief as it existed in Jesus’ day.

Secondly, we turn our eyes upon our own world and time and see how that desire continues to exist.

Thirdly, we take heed of the warning given by our Lord with regard to this desire for proof.

First of all then we turn to THE DESIRE FOR PROOF IN JESUS’ DAY.

Who was it in this passage that made that request, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”? Our text tells us it was some of the scribes and Pharisees. Those who were the religious leaders of God’s covenant people. It was this group of men who guarded the traditions of the Jewish people and the Law of Moses. It was quite natural then, they should ask of Jesus a sign or miracle by which they could see evidence of the fact that what He taught, He did with authority. It would be wrong for just any commoner to begin to teach the Lord’s covenant partners; one must possess authority to do this.

“So then Jesus, give us a sign by which we can see that you have authority to do that in which you are engaged”.

However, we know from the Scriptures the Pharisees and others in the Jewish council were not interested in whether Jesus had authority or not; or whether by a sign He could prove this authority. They were not the least bit interested in accepting the truth that Jesus was the promised Messiah – no matter what sign He may have performed for them. All they were interested in was getting this trouble maker out of the way. They wanted to be rid of this stealer of the spotlight, who by His popularity was winning the crowds away from them.

In fact, when we look at the passage closely we find their request is very hollow indeed! In verses 22-29 of Matthew 12 they already had the sign of Jesus’ authority. The blind and dumb man was healed so that he both spoke and saw, but what was the reaction of the Pharisees to that sign? ‘You Jesus, cast out demons by the power of Satan!’

It would not matter what sign Jesus performed for them, they refused to believe that He was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. They did not want to believe, and not all the signs in the world would change their stony hearts.

What a tragedy we have here recorded! The leaders of God’s covenant people, those who ought to have recognised the Saviour in that they possessed the prophetic records of His coming, refused to believe Him even when the signs of His authority were so clearly demonstrated. All they could do was ask for further signs.

Their problem was that they were so filled with their self importance, and the desire to live as they interpreted Scripture, that they became so spiritually blind they did not recognise the truth concerning Him who stood before them. What then was the response of our Lord to this request for a sign? The answer is found in verses 39 & 40.

NO SIGN will be given except the sign of Jonah. Verse 25 informs us that Jesus knew their thoughts. He knew no sign would change their attitude. He knew they were not interested in accepting Him for whom He really was. NO SIGN would be given!

EXCEPT for the one, the sign of Jonah the prophet, would be given.

Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, and after that period of time was delivered up on the shore to carry out the mission of grace God had previously commissioned him to perform. Likewise, Jesus, the Son of Man would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth and after that time would be delivered up from the grave.

The one and only sign that would be given would be that of the death and resurrection of the Suffering Servant on behalf of sinful mankind. If this sign were not acknowledged as proof of the Lord’s authority, then no other sign would do. This sign alone was to be held forth before the eyes of the sceptics.

TODAY THAT DESIRE FOR A SIGN CONTINUES TO EXIST. Jesus referred to the generation of that time as evil and adulterous. Words which so aptly describe our world today. A world which does not believe, and in which the covenant people of the Lord continue to seek signs. A generation which in its worldly compromises proves itself in so many ways to be spiritually an adulteress.

I’m sure we have all heard that call for a sign.

You say Jesus was really God, and is at this time still God? Prove it !!!!!!!. You say there is a God who has created the heavens and the earth, a God who commands all men to worship Him. Prove it!! You say that Jesus rose from the dead and is alive right now? Show Him to me, for unless you do I will not believe!! GIVE ME A SIGN!!

Yes, we have all heard these remarks of the disbelieving. Those who will not believe until proof is placed before their eyes. People found both outside and within the covenant community.

The answer of the Lord to this ‘modern’ request is still the same: NO SIGN EXCEPT FOR THE SIGN OF JONAH!

All that a man or woman needs to see is there to be observed. Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of the Living God, has both died and risen! Death could not hold Him, and in victory He rose on the third day leaving empty the tomb in which He was buried. This is the only sign that is given to us in order to believe in the One whom God has sent, and in whom He has faithfully fulfilled His covenant promises.

It is this sign which leaves the world without excuse.

Every year governments set aside as public holidays the weekend of Good Friday and Easter. During this time via the media, the people are reminded of the meaning of these days. The sign of Jonah is held up before them in its fulfillment but the sign is ignored.

Easter is time for holiday. It is the time to go for a weekend in the bush. It is the time to go fishing and doing all types of activities ignoring the tremendous event which is held before our eyes. The ONLY SIGN is by-passed, because people are again too caught up with their own lives, their own will and their own self importance. You want proof! You’ve got it the sign of the cross and the empty tomb! None other is given, or will be given. Jesus, crucified and bearing the punishment for our sins, rising in victory over the grave, is whom God holds before us! Do you see Him? Do you believe? Or are you still seeking more proof?

If this sign is not enough for you, then heed THE WARNING OF THE LORD. This warning we find in verses 41 & 42, and as we look at this warning let us not be put off by the fact that this is a ‘warning’. We seem to very easily sneer at Scriptural warnings with the view that we are being ‘scared’ into heaven. This is false and must be fiercely opposed. When we arrive at a warning sign on the side of the road that informs us there is an accident around the next corner, we are thankful the warning was given for we have avoided becoming involved in that accident by maintaining a high speed and crashing into the vehicles blocking the road. The very nature of a warning is to save us from harm. So too is it with Scriptural warnings.

What then is the warning of the Lord with regard to seeking signs beyond the One sign given in the saving work of our Lord? It comes in the form of two examples.

The first is that of the Ninevites, those people to whom Jonah was sent. A people who had a minor prophet speak to them, unlike a man such as Elijah or Elisha. The message they had preached to them was one of doom: ‘Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown’. They were given no message of salvation. No hope was extended that their destruction could be avoided. These people also had no covenantal background. They did not know God as Israel knew Him. The promises of the covenant did not belong to them and therefore the hope of the Messiah was unknown. To cap it off, as Jonah preached in their city, no signs were performed for them by which they might be persuaded that this prophet spoke with authority, and therefore what he said was true.

In spite of all this, the men of Nineveh repented at the Word of God and turned to Him having received the message from Jonah. With so little to go on and yet having taken faithful action, they would stand to accuse the Jews of Jesus’ day who had so much more and yet did not believe. They would condemn those who sought after more signs as a requirement for faith.

The same is true of the Queen from the South. She had heard a report about Solomon’s wisdom. Also without any covenantal background or miracles performed to confirm the report, she took the long and hazardous journey to Solomon’s court. She acted upon what she had heard, although she had not yet seen. She too would stand to condemn those who had so much more at their disposal and yet rejected the Saviour who had come to bear their sins on the cross.

The Jews had so much to guide them to Jesus, but because of their determination to live as they wanted, they rejected Him and had Him crucified. They had the prophets; they had the covenant; they had the miracles performed in their midst, and greatest of all they had the Christ Himself!! Yet still they wanted more proof before they were willing to give up their ways.

What about you?

You have far more than the Ninevites possessed. Far more to go on than the Queen of the South heard. Even more to go on than the Jews of Jesus’ day.

We have the covenant and a greater understanding of it. We have the full inscripturated Word of God, clearly setting forth a message, not of doom, but of hope in Jesus Christ. We have the records of God’s wonders wrought through His servants, and especially through His Son, and we have the full account as to the meaning of the cross and the empty tomb!

Do you want more?

If so, no more will be given to you. There will be no signs in the sky, no ecstatic experience, no vision or dream. There will be nothing except the sign of the Victorious Christ.

How do you stand before the cross and the empty tomb?

Are you still asking for more?

OR…

Are you declaring in faith: “’My Lord and my God!”

“Jesus said to him, because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

Amen.