What More Do You Need?

Now, I'm going to read together from Luke's gospel, Luke chapter 11, and we're reading verses

Luke 11 · chapter mention

! Luke chapter 11, I think in the church Bibles, if you're following there, it's page 870.

Luke 11 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 11, reading from verse 29. Let's hear and read together in God's Word.

Luke 11 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 11, when the crowds were increasing, he began to say,

Luke 11 · chapter mention

this generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except

the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be

to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this

generation and condemn them. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

And behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will 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. No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it in a cellar or under a basket,

but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your

eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light. But when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.

Therefore, be careful, lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light,

having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.

It says, the Word of God, and to His name be the praise and the glory.

There's a particular kind of conversation that most of us have probably had at some point in our lives,

maybe with a skeptical friend, or maybe with a member of our family who used to go to church,

and who's kind of fallen away. Or maybe it's a conversation that you've had by yourself,

on a dark night, inside your head, a conversation that you've relayed maybe several times. And it

goes something like this, God, if you would only give me a sign, something big and undeniable,

and then I'd believe, then I'd follow you, then I could be your disciple. But you're not, God. You're

not being obvious enough. Well, in some ways, maybe that sounds a little bit like a reasonable request.

It kind of sounds humble. I'm not asking for much, just for evidence so that I can believe God.

Show me something real, and I'm all in. Well, Jesus has a lot to say in response to a question

like that, and it's maybe not what we might first expect. So in our passage that David read for us in

Luke 11, the people are pressing in around Jesus, and they're looking for that very thing,

shows a sign, they're saying. And Jesus doesn't say, okay, fair enough, here goes, here's something big.

He says something much more searching, something much more uncomfortable,

something that turns the question around on these people, and asks them,

is a lack of a sign actually the issue here? Well, tonight, if you or somebody that you know

is considering the claims of the Bible, if you're thinking, God, if only you would give me a clear sign,

clear, big, undeniable, that's all it would take for me to believe. Well, then this passage is for you.

And we're going to look through this passage together. We're going to do it in three parts.

The sign seekers, the unlikely responders, and the light bearer. Okay, so first, the sign seekers.

So what's really going on when we demand a clearer sign, when we demand more evidence? Well, the crowds

have been coming to see Jesus as we've been going through Luke, and they're getting bigger and bigger.

They're getting more and more pressed in on him. And the people want to hear what Jesus has to say.

But Jesus tells them not what they want to hear, but what they need to hear. Because the first thing

he says in verses 28 and 30 is, this generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign

will be given to it except for the sign of Jonah. So that pretty blunt opening gambit, this is an evil

generation. And this is a generation that hasn't simply made a mistake or missed the truth. The word

that he uses for evil in the original language is an intentional, deliberate wickedness, knowing

and doing it anyway. It's a word for when something's actively corrupt. So these people are not just weak

or misguided. And the evidence that Jesus gives for his claim that these people are actively, intentionally

choosing evil. That's not what we might expect either, because he doesn't point to their moral

failures, the things that they do or the things that they fail to do. He points to their sign seeking

itself. So why is looking for a sign evil? Well, these people have seen plenty of signs. By now, Jesus has

healed a man with a withered hand. He's raised a widow's son from the dead. He's healed 10 lepers. He's

given sight to the blind. And then just before this exchange, he's cast out a demon and has left the man

unable to speak. And the crowds have responded with absolute wonder. The religious leaders even accused him

of being of Beelzebub, of being of the devil, in order to cast out demons. In fact, if we just jump back a

little bit, in verses 14 and 15 of this chapter, Jesus casts out a demon. And then in the very next verse, some

people, to test him, were seeking from him a sign from heaven. So these people are always looking

for something more. This is really important, because these people aren't asking for a sign

because they haven't had one. They're asking for a sign because they haven't seen yet the particular

sign that they themselves want. You see, they want the conditions. They want to decide

what is a good sign and what isn't. What is a sign that Jesus is bringing in the kingdom of God?

Well, the sign that they want is one that would take faith out of their hands, that would force them

to believe on their own terms. They want the kind of evidence that they can control because they want

something spectacular and undeniable so that belief becomes unavoidable. They want a sign that's

so irrepressible that it takes away the need for repentance and for faith. They want to be

compelled to come to Jesus. But Jesus says, the only sign you're going to get is the sign of Jonah.

So as we may well know, Jonah is a prophet in the Old Testament. He's called by God to go and preach

to people who are in trouble. Those people are evil and Jonah doesn't want to go. And so he takes off

as far as he can in the opposite direction until he finds himself inside a giant fish.

We're in Luke, but in Matthew's account, Matthew makes it really clear that the meaning of the sign of

Jonah is, as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so will the son of man

be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Well, Jesus is calling himself the son of man.

That's himself he's referring to. And so the sign of Jonah, Jesus is saying, is the resurrection.

Jesus is going to die and he's going to be in the grave, dead for three days, and he's going to rise

again, similar to what happened to Jonah inside the fish. The one great, unrepeatable history-splitting

event that took place vindicates everything that Jesus said about himself, and it's coming.

But notice what kind of sign it is, because it's not a fireworks display and it's not a spectacle.

It's a dead man walking out of a tomb, visible only to those who had eyes to see, and dismissed

by those who were determined not to. The resurrection is not the kind of evidence that compels belief,

regardless of what your heart is like. It's exactly the kind of sign that requires a response of faith.

These people know the scripture. They know their traditions. They know the story of Jonah.

They know that Jesus is saying Jonah is a sign, a shadow of another resurrection that's going to come.

And this is where it lands, I think, with a jolt for us, because we live on the other side

of that other resurrection. The sign of Jonah has been given, and the tomb is also empty.

The evidence has been laid out. We've got the testimony of the eyewitnesses who saw Jesus after

he was risen. We've got the transformation of the disciples. We've got the explosion of the early church

from being a handful of people locked up in a room to a movement that turned the entire Roman Empire

upside down. And the question that Jesus is really pressing in verse 29 is not,

why haven't I given you more evidence? But what is it in you that keeps refusing the evidence that's

already been given? That's the question that Jesus is asking them. And if we're here tonight and

our faith is not in Jesus, well, we've been asked exactly the same question.

What is it that's keeping you from believing? Because the signs are all there.

So Jesus goes on to develop this idea a little bit further in the next two paragraphs, which takes us

to our second point tonight, the unlikely responders. Jesus calls on two witnesses to show us what a genuine

response looks like. So this is in verses 31-32. He says,

the queen of the south will rise up at the judgment and the men of this generation

with the men of this generation and condemn them. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment

and this generation and condemn it.

So these are two deliberately dramatic

verses from Jesus.

Deliberately dramatic in the ears of these first century

hearers because he reaches into

history and he pulls out

two highly unlikely

witnesses.

And he holds them up to the people

and he says,

he's called these people an

evil generation and he

says, they got it.

These people far from

us, far from God, they got it.

But you don't.

So the first witness, the queen of the south.

So we can read about that in the Old Testament

in 1 Kings chapter 10.

1 Kings 10 · chapter mention

She hears about this man in Jerusalem

who's incredibly wise

and she travels over a thousand miles

to hear Solomon's

wisdom.

And Jesus says she came from the ends of the earth.

She actually came from

southern Arabia. I think that's

roughly where Yemen is today.

But that phrase, the ends of the

earth, is a reference to

Gentile foreigners, people

outside of the

religious tradition, people who are

firmly outside of Israel.

She's no Jewish heritage.

She's no covenant background.

She's no long-standing

theological tradition

to rely on.

She heard a rumor.

She heard about this man

and she came to find out more.

And when she arrived and she

heard Solomon speak, she responded

with wonder and worship

and outpouring of generosity.

She came, she heard,

she believed.

And then the punchline

Jesus delivers

is devastating.

He says,

something greater than Solomon

is here.

The one standing in front of the crowd

isn't just a wise teacher.

He's the eternal

son of God.

Wisdom incarnate.

1 Corinthians

1.24

says that Jesus

is the power of God

and the wisdom

of God.

Solomon was given

wisdom,

but Jesus

is wisdom.

And while this

queen was humble enough

to travel all this way,

to hear Solomon,

to hear Solomon speak,

to hear his wisdom,

this evil generation

that Jesus is addressing,

they can't make

the short journey

from unbelief

to faith.

The second witness

or group

of witnesses

are probably even

more striking

than the queen

of Sheba.

Nineveh

was the capital

of the Assyrian

empire.

Nineveh

is where

God sends Jonah,

which is mentioned.

It's also mentioned,

Nineveh

is also mentioned

in the book

of Nahum,

who's another prophet.

And the city's

called the bloody city.

They were cruel

and bloodthirsty

and they were an enemy

to Israel.

When God told Jonah

to go and preach

to them,

Jonah ran

in the opposite direction

precisely because

he knew

they were Israel's enemies.

He wasn't just afraid

of what they might do,

but he didn't want

them to be saved.

Jonah didn't want

to go,

didn't want to preach,

but he did

via a great fish

and he delivered

what's probably

the most reluctant

sermon in the whole

of the Bible.

Five words

in the original Hebrew,

40 days

and Nineveh

will be overthrown.

But what happened?

The whole city

repented

from the king

on the throne

to the cattle

in the field.

They fasted,

they mourned,

they put on

mourning clothes,

they responded

to a half-hearted

message

from a reluctant

preacher

with complete,

immediate,

and total

repentance.

And Jesus says,

something greater

than Jonah

is here.

Jesus is not

a reluctant prophet.

He's not been

dragged into this

mission.

The son of God

who dwelt

in glorious

perfection

came willingly

into the world

to preach

with perfect

authority

and compassion

to perform

many miraculous

signs

in front of

their eyes.

And the generation

that's seen this,

all of this,

stands unmoved

while the evil

Ninevites

repented

at the message

that barely got out

of the preacher's

reluctant mouth.

I mean,

can you feel

the weight

of what Jesus

is saying

to these people?

He's not

mocking them.

He's being urgent.

The comparison

with the Queen

of Sheba

and the Ninevites

is not primarily

condemnation.

It's a wake-up call.

He's saying,

look how little

it took for them

to respond.

Look how much

it's taken

for you.

Look how much

you have got

and how little

you've moved.

So,

how is that?

What's going on?

How can these

ignorant outsiders

go from

a place of

unbelief

to faith

and the people

right in front

of Jesus

aren't?

Well,

God says in Jonah

that the Ninevites

didn't know

their left hand

from their right hand.

They were ignorant

but they accepted

the message.

The people

he's speaking to

have had generations

of benefits,

teaching,

tradition

and they failed

to hear

an even clearer

message.

in the 18th

century,

the philosopher

David Hume,

Edinburgh boy,

he wrote a paper

called On Miracles

and in that

he mounted

what he considered

to be a decisive

argument against

the possibility

of miracles

taking place.

Essentially,

he argued

that it's never

rational to believe

in miracles

because the evidence

for violation

of natural law

can never

outweigh the

uniform experience

against it.

So Hume

always maintained

that it's more

probable that

witnesses are

mistaken or lying

than it is

for a miracle

to take place.

But here's the thing,

his objection

isn't about

evidence,

it's about

his prior

commitment.

He's already

decided before

looking at any

miraculous claim

that no evidence

can be good

enough.

The conclusion

that he comes

to is already

built into

his premise.

He wasn't

engaged in

open-minded

inquiry.

He wasn't

letting the

evidence fall

where it might

lie.

He was

protecting a

predetermined

verdict that he

decided in his

head.

And Jesus is

saying,

this is what's

happening with

this generation.

Jesus is saying

that the signs

he can,

it's not

genuine

openness,

it's a request

for the kind

of overwhelming

resistance

bypassing

proof

that would

make faith

unnecessary

and repentance

unnecessary as

well.

So why

can Jesus

make this

claim?

Why are

these people

looking for

a sign

when so

many signs

have been

given?

Jesus is

connecting

sign-seeking

to an inner

condition.

And he's

going to go

on to say

that in

point three.

Jesus says

in point three,

sorry,

I've lost

my place.

That the

reason that

this generation

can't see the

signs that are

right in front

of them is

not due to

a lack of

light.

It's not

because there's

not sufficient

evidence,

but it's

because their

capacity to

receive that

evidence is

broken.

Well,

Jesus says,

your eye is

the lamp of

the body.

So in the

ancient world,

the eye was

understood not

just to be the

receiver of

light, but a

transmitter of

light.

So through

your eye you

see, but

through your

eye you also

receive light,

which then

lights your

whole body.

And in the

original language,

the words that

are used to

describe the

eye in our

passage, we've

got bad in

English.

but actually

it's the same

word that he

uses to

describe the

evil generation.

He's talking

about an

evil eye.

This evil

generation has

an evil eye.

It seeks a

sign because

its eye is

evil, clouded,

distorted, aimed

at something

wrong, serving

divided masters,

not seeing

clearly.

Jesus uses an

interesting word

for a healthy

eye too.

Because the

word that he

uses for the

healthy eye is

single or

undivided.

So Jesus is

connecting, sign

seeking, looking

for more and

more evidence,

when plenty

evidence exists,

to an inner

condition.

It's not really

about the eye,

but it's about

the heart.

The light's on.

It's their

capacity to

receive it that's

broken.

God's

trying to

evaluate Jesus.

They're looking

at Jesus and

trying to make a

decision about

whether he's

telling the

truth, whether

he is in

fact the

light of the

world as he

tells us that

he is in

John.

But they're

doing it with

eyes that

can't see

clearly.

Their

priorities are

already distorted.

Their will is

already set

against repentance.

And here, I

think, at the

end of this

part, it

becomes the

most searching

line in the

entire passage.

Jesus says,

therefore be

careful lest the

light in you

be darkness.

So Jesus

says it's

possible not

just to be

in darkness,

but to

mistake your

darkness for

light.

So to have a

religious framework,

a set of

confident

convictions, a

well-developed

theology, and

to be so

thoroughly in the

dark that you

think you're

fine.

The Pharisees

thought that they

were the

custodians of

light.

They thought

they knew what

light was and

wasn't.

They were, by

every external

measure, the

most serious

religious people

in Israel.

And Jesus

says to them,

check whether

what you think

is light.

is actually

darkness.

Because if your

fundamental

orientation towards

God is wrong,

if your heart's

closed, if your

will's set against

him, if your

religious practice

is about being

seen by other

people, or to

make yourself feel

satisfied in your

own performance,

then your most

confident religious

light might be

darkness through

and through.

sin.

Since Adam and

Eve, in the

garden, since

they fell, our

capacity to

receive and to

respond to

truth, it's not

just intellectually

limited.

It's morally

compromised as

well.

So sin in us

means that we

are not

detached,

neutral,

neutral observers

of the evidence

about Jesus.

we're not

looking at it

all from

behind the

glass screen.

We're

fallen, and

our desires are

distorted, our

egos are

defensive.

We've got deep

instinctive

resistance to

surrendering control

to anyone,

including to

God.

Our eye is bad,

and a bad eye

doesn't know

that it's bad.

Darkness doesn't

announce itself as

darkness.

It announces

itself as

perfectly reasonable

skepticism,

as intellectual

rigor, as

legitimate, fair

questions, but

often right down

at root level.

It's our will

that's turned

away from God,

and we're

looking for

reasons to

stay that way.

Jesus says,

be careful,

lest the light

in you be

darkness.

It's one of the

most important

warnings in the

whole of the

Gospels.

It's a warning

addressed not

just to the

Pharisees, not

just to the

21st century

crowds that are

gathered around

Jesus, but to

everyone who

handles light,

religious light,

with confidence.

It's a warning

to preachers and

to elders,

it's a warning

to people who

have sat in

free church

pews their

entire lives,

who could

recite the

catechism from

memory.

It's possible to

know a great

deal about

light and yet

never be in

it.

So how can

we know?

How do you

check whether

your eye is

good or your

eye is bad?

Well, the

primary test that

Jesus gives us

here in this

passage is

repentance.

repentance.

So the

queen of

Sheba came

and she was

changed.

The Ninevites

heard and they

were changed.

A healthy eye,

one that's aimed

at Christ, it

leads to genuine

transformation.

Have you been

sitting under the

word for years

and your

fundamental posture

towards God

remains unchanged?

If you're not

more humble,

more repentant,

more dependent

on God, more

loving towards

other people,

more desperate

for God's

grace, we

need to stop

and ask

ourselves whether

the light that

we're pursuing,

the light that

we're standing

in is actually

darkness.

But here's the

good news,

and it is

great news.

Jesus doesn't

just give us a

warning and

leave it at

that.

He also gives

us a promise.

He says in

verse 36,

if your whole

body is full of

light, having no

part dark, it

will be wholly

bright as when a

lamp with its

rays gives you

light.

So Jesus talks a

lot about lamps

and light in the

Gospels.

In Matthew 5,

he says that

we're to let our

light shine before

others so that

they can see by

our good works,

our Savior, our

Father who's in

heaven.

Bright people

point others to

Jesus.

But here in

Luke, we get a

slightly different

development, a

picture of

ultimate

illumination, a

whole person, no

dark corners, but

somebody flooded

with light.

You see, the

passage isn't just

a warning about

what we lack,

it's a promise

about what's

available.

Jesus is the

light of the

world, greater

than Solomon,

greater than

Jonah.

He gave us the

side of the

resurrection.

When he went to

the cross willingly,

died for our sins

in our place, took

the punishment that

we deserved, and

he's the one that

opens blind eyes so

that we can see it.

We call Jesus the

great physician.

Do you know how

great a physician he

is?

He can perform eye

surgery and heart

surgery at the

same time.

If you ask him, he'll

take your bad eye and

make it good.

He'll take your heart

that's turned away and

turn it back to him.

And in the end, he

will flood every

corner of you with

light.

Let's pray.

Father, we confess

that we are not

always honest

inquirers that we

imagine ourselves to

be.

We confess that our

resistance to you is

often deeper than our

questions.

Forgive us for the

times we've asked for

more light when what

we needed was open

eyes to see the

light that's already

been given.

Lord Jesus, you're

greater than Solomon,

greater than Jonah.

You're the light of

the world.

God, illuminate the

corners, the dark

corners of our

hearts.

Defend us from the

evil one.

Help us to stand in

your light.

Give us eyes that see

hearts willing to

repent for your glory

and for our good.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.