Mathew pt. 60 Testing The Teacher

Turning your Bible to Matthew chapter 16,

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

Matthew 16. We're gonna get verses one

through 4:00 this morning. And the Pharisees and the

Sadducees came, and to test him, they asked him to show them a

sign from heaven. He answered them, When it's

evening, you say it will be fair weather, for the sky is red, and

in the morning it'll be stormy today, for the sky is red and

threatening. You know how to, you know how to

interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret

the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous

generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it

except the sign of Jonah. So he left them and departed God

like we already prayed. We have the expectation that you

will open up the eyes of our hearts, that we will grow in

wisdom and in revelation, knowledge.

Holy Spirit, we expect that you will remove sin and purity,

pride, whatever it is that you want to come in and minister to

us. And we know you're going to

impart things, we know you're going to impart a deeper love, a

deeper devotion, a more more reverence for you and more trust

in you. God, what a what a mighty thing

and a supernatural thing it has to be for a people to fear you

greatly and love you deeply and still eagerly run into your

presence with boldness and with joy.

Only you can accomplish all this work.

So we submit it to you and we thank you for it.

Now in Jesus name, Amen, the Pharisees and the Sadducees came

to test him. This might seem familiar and it

should remember in Matthew chapter 12 we had almost the

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

same thing happened except it was the the scribes and the

Pharisees. So for some for simplicity sake,

we can just kind of say that the guys on the same team came

before and said show us a sign from the heavens.

And Jesus said you're not going to get what you're looking for,

instead you're going to get something else.

And now we've got the Pharisees and the Sadducees have come

together to test him. So Pharisees and Sadducees, you

can think about them both as religious leaders, except that

the Sadducees are more liberal. The Pharisees are much more

conservative. So the liberals and the

conservatives have joined forces.

The liberals and the conservatives saw saw that they

had such a common enemy in Christ that they said, I will

team up with you to go after him.

So this is, you know, what Psalms tells us and all over

Scripture where the the nations rage.

Why do the nations rage? Why do the kings set themselves

up against the holy one of God? This is what's taking place.

We've got political leaders and the Sadducees.

We've got religious leaders and the Pharisees, and they're

going, we want to take him out. And of course, everything is

going to continue to swell up until that final week in

Jerusalem. And it's all going to make sense

to you probably more than ever before, why they crucified him.

And you're going to go, oh, like, man, I really understand

how much he was subverting, how much he was slamming, how much

he was condemning and how much his authority he was claiming is

superior to all of theirs. They continue to try and make

him appeal to them and he continually lived and functioned

and behaved in such a way as only God would.

Of course, that made them submissive or at a minimum and

made them subservient to Him, even though they wouldn't

acknowledge His greatness. So they come to test him.

The enemies have joined together to test the Lord.

Last week we looked at the the fact that we don't get to set

the terms for how God is going to do what he's going to do.

We talked about how we should expect the miraculous God will

do the miraculous. We should look back in Scripture

and see all the the, the miraculous and supernatural

things that God has done. Not as to say I can take that

exact situation for my exact situation because the how isn't

the most important thing to you and I when we have a need.

The the most important thing for you and I when we have a need is

that we have a great God. There's not an age of miracles.

We said there is a God of miracles.

So knowing that there's a God of miracles, we can trust and

expect that God will do whatever needs to be done, and that is

the promise. So we realize we don't get to

set the terms for how God will come through.

Our job is to believe His promises and stand on them in

spite of what our five senses tell us.

We saw that the how He moves is up to Him.

But the Pharisees and the Sadducees come to do what we

were commanded not to do to test God.

They want a sign from heaven. This actually means that they

were literally designed demanding a sign in the skies.

So they weren't just saying show us a heavenly sign that God is

with you and the earth. He's already been doing that.

Remember 10s of thousands of people were fed miraculously and

untold thousands of people have been healed.

The entire region. You know, somebody who's been

affected by the ministry of Jesus over two years.

And at this point, it's not 17 people following around, it's

thousands and thousands and thousands.

Where's that? Where's that beggar who was

there? He's gone.

He's working for so and so now what?

He went and saw the rabbi. Everybody knows somebody who

knows somebody. This is travelling around, which

is why the Pharisees and the Sadducees are travelling out to

Jesus to say, hey, we can't deny what's going on around here.

So we have a new hoop for you to jump through.

Show us something in the skies. They've come to test God.

They want a sign from heaven. Move the stars, move the planets

around. Something that they would claim

they would consider. That would be a true wonder.

Then we could justify the following that you've got, that

you've gained upon gathered around yourself.

They come arrogantly saying, we know all the other things you've

done, but now we have a new standard for you to meet.

This won't make a difference for them though.

I've told you this many times before in your own lives, when

you're ministering to others and people seem to place a demand

upon you, or they seem to place a demand upon God, and then you

feel the weight and you feel the necessity to prove that to them

the gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

For those who believe, it is enough.

The foolishness of the cross is enough.

It is by that means which pleases the Lord to bring others

to Christ. I love apologetics.

I think you should study apologetics, have at it and

feast. And yet also know that an

apologetic argument the the logical clarity that some claim

they need will not create the miracle of the new birth in a

person's heart. Many of us rejoice to see the

that there are many Christian influencers who are gaining

positions of prominence. The largest podcast in the

world, Joe Rogan just had a a Christian apologist on It's all

good things and I'm thankful to see it all.

And yet even though this man can show well, this document is

sound and this document is sound and this document is sound.

Did you come to Christ? Did you come to Christ because

you were convinced of the soundness of historical

documentation? Or did you come to Christ

because you knew that God was forgiving you of your sins and

making you a new creation? Are you saying we can't have the

other? No, I already said we can, but

I'm just telling you what creates the new birth.

So Joe Rogan would not be. Joe Rogan would not fall to his

knees apart from the power of the gospel penetrating his

heart. So we should pray for that for

him. And also, can we bring other

information and documentation? Sure, sure, but don't ever

forget the Pharisees stood face to face with the word of God and

they did not know the word of God.

Don't ever forget all the people who stood face to face with

Jesus and said, I just need a sign from God.

You're staring at the sign from God.

It's him. Jesus is the sign.

So minister to people, but always remember the gospel is

the power and the issue is not that they need you to explain it

in a better way. The issue is a hard heart.

This was the issue with the Pharisees and This is why Jesus

doesn't play their game. He does not enter their

framework. He does not adapt to their

perspective. They will have to continually

come to His. Hard hearts are the issue.

Abraham believed God before he ever saw a miracle, but these

people have seen many miracles and they still won't believe

God. Instead, they're attempting to

trap him and somehow expose Him. The only problem, of course, for

them is that He's already healed many thousands and fed many

thousands. He's done many miracles.

Also, notice the difference between the work of Jesus and

what these manipulators are asking for.

The work of Jesus has always been done.

Look at all of his works and all of His ministry and all of His

supernatural power. It was always in the service to

a person's need. And the Pharisees and the

Sadducees go do a trick to what end?

To what purpose? Because we want one.

This is the prideful heart that you'll still see in the world

today. If God would just, oh, go on,

tell me what he should do for you other than all the other

things that he's done. I know you think that's your

breath that you're breathing now.

I know you think that's not gift and that's no, no, that's,

that's, that's not the miracle that's going to do it for me.

If God would just give me go on and say it a sign like sending

his son, right? So the tender heart is open to

these things. The hard heart says it's not

enough. The hard heart says that's

common. The hard heart says that's

trivial. The hard heart says been there,

seen it, got the T-shirt. I'm over it.

But the work of Jesus is always in service to the needs of the

people that he loves. These guys are thinking about

how they would react with that kind of power.

They would be showy with it, and they assume that Jesus is like

them. Prideful people are like that.

Most people, when they're steeped in their sin, are that

way. The thief, he thinks that

everybody steals. That's how he thinks, how he

that's how he sees the the world around them.

The pervert thinks that everybody's lusting.

The prideful person thinks everything's an ego contest.

These Pharisees and Sadducees think Jesus will be willing to

prove himself to them. But God isn't insecure and he

doesn't ask how high when the arrogant men tell him to jump.

Satan tried this in the wilderness with Jesus, but Jesus

schooled him too. You shall not put the Lord your

God to the test. Satan quoted scripture.

It says in God's word, throw yourself down from there and he

won't let anything happen to you.

He'll guard you with his angels, and you won't dash your foot

against the stone. It doesn't say throw yourself

down from a high place. It doesn't say jump off a

building. And this was the temptation, the

manipulation of Satan. He's going out.

Put some truth in here. Well, that is true, by the way.

There's standards and qualifications for that promise,

as are all the promises of God that you won't even stub your

toe. Is that a promise of God?

Yes, it is. And yet Satan's manipulating,

saying he, what is he doing? Testing Jesus?

That's testing the Lord your God.

There's only one example in Scripture that I know of where

the Lord says you can test me, and that was whenever he's

telling us to tithe, He says I want you to tithe and he says

test me in this, but we're not testing his nature and

character. His point was he was saying, see

to it that I will be proven faithful as you walk out your

obedience, but you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.

Let's also compare the way the Pharisees and the Sadducees make

a demand of Jesus compared to the way somebody humble,

somebody submissive comes to Jesus, the way Mary comes to

Jesus when the wedding runs out of wine.

So Mary is a guest at this wedding with Jesus.

Remember Jesus's first miracle coming back to the Pharisees and

the Sadducees. Now they're giving him a

specific instruction, foolishly giving the test to the teacher.

How's that different from Mary? Mary comes to him very

submissively. Remember what she says to him at

the wedding. She doesn't come and tell Jesus

what to do. She doesn't say you need to do

something about this. Right now there's a big problem.

Mary comes to Jesus and she says they have no wine.

That was it. I defer this up to you, Lord.

They have no wine. This is her son.

But she knows who he is, right? Mary was there from the

beginning. If you're a virgin and you have

a baby, it's probably pretty easy for you to believe.

Now, we also know that, you know, we saw earlier in Matthew

where Mary has some struggles, right?

Of course, we know later she's restored.

But she doubted. She was intimidated by the

Pharisees and by the scribes. So when Jesus is putting them on

blast, remember Mary and her and her children come, they go.

Hey, Jesus, come on outside, talk to us.

Hey, guys, he's lost his mind. We're really sorry about that.

And Jesus says, my mother and my father and my brothers and my

sisters are the ones who obey the will of God.

But here at that wedding, Mary says they have no wine.

And Jesus said, woman, what does this have to do with me?

My hour has not yet come. And Mary's looking at him.

She looks to the servants, and she says, do whatever he tells

you to do. And she leaves.

That's it. She never gave him an

instruction. She never placed a demand upon

him. But what does Mary know?

Nature. No, Mary knows the nature and

the character of Jesus. She knows who he is.

She knows what he's capable of. We have no reason to believe

that he's ever performed any other miracle.

But she says do whatever he tells you to.

This is how you should come to the Lord with expectation,

knowing his goodness, knowing his nature, knowing his

character. And you should be ready to obey

any instruction that comes next. Would Jesus have made wine for

the wedding if Mary hadn't asked?

I don't think so. So I think clearly asking has

its place, but it's nothing like the hard hearted demand made by

his enemies here. Those are two extreme examples,

one of absolute humility. Lord, here's the need and I

trust you. What's this got to do with me?

She didn't even answer him. She's goes, I know you, you, you

do whatever he tells you to do. And she's as irresistible for

him. It was sweet.

He sees the need. She's counting on his nature and

his character and his goodness, and he goes, I can't resist.

All for a celebration, all for a wedding that ran out of wine.

You need to know that you can and you should approach the

throne of grace with confidence so that you will receive mercy

and that you will find grace to help you in the time of need.

That's what the ministry of our great high priest is about, Not

doing tricks so that someone will believe in him because they

won't believe in him anyway, But sympathizing with us in our

weakness. Whether it's the very human

embarrassment of not being prepared for the wedding event

that we were hosting, or the very human experience of being

hungry and not close to our next meal like the people who had

followed him for three days, or the very human tragedy of

injury, illness, and death. That's when the Lord's ministry

comes through. So don't confuse and say, well,

can we make demands of the Lord? We come to the Lord with full

expectation on his nature and character.

This is very different from what the scribes and the Pharisees

and the Sadducees did. Hey, we're making a demand.

It's not to serve people. It's not to glorify the name of

God. It's for us.

It's for us to trap and to test you.

And the Lord says, Nah, I don't think I will play along.

Jesus ministers according to faith that emerges from a need.

Jesus ministers according to faith that emerges from a need.

So whether you need forgiveness or anything else, faith in Him

and faith in His word is the first step.

And then He does all the rest. Keep going.

Verse two, He answered them, so they've come to test.

Show us a sign from heaven. Verse two He answered them when

it's evening, you say it will be fair weather for the sky is red

and in the morning it'll be stormy today for the skies red

and threatening. You know how to interpret the

appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of

the times you've heard that phrase before all of us living

on the water for sure. Red sky at night sailors delight

red sky and morning sailors take warning.

So this is something that people recognize throughout history and

go, hey, red sky at night indicates probably going to be

favorable weather. Red sky in the morning, probably

going to be stormy weather. And there's reasons for that.

And by the way, in case you're wondering, it's not just a wives

tale, it's it's pretty fairly accurate.

And there's, there's reasons there's dust and particles in

the atmosphere. It has to do with the where the

sun is. So the sun, the direction of

weather traveling, sun rising in the morning, red in that

direction, sunrise. Google it people.

You can figure out this is not a science lesson, but Jesus is

calling them out because they're saying we want to see something

in the sky. And he says, yeah, you, you're

interested in the sky and you're actually, you can actually

interpret the weather patterns, which is pretty impressive,

right? You know, we look back in

ancient peoples, it's kind of tempting sometimes think they're

dumb. They were not.

They most certainly were not. But he says you can read the

weather, you can understand that, but you can't read the

Kingdom. That's the problem I want, we

want a sign in the sky. And he goes, you've got signs in

the skies, you've got signs all over the place, but you still

can't read it. You still don't know the Kingdom

when it's staring you in the face.

Some people can read the stock market, but they can't read the

Kingdom. Some people can read the

headlines, but they can't read the Kingdom.

You can read the surface, but you can't read what's happening

underneath. These guys knew the scriptures,

but they did not know the ultimate sign of God that was

standing right in front of them. And He literally did give them

the thing they're asking for about 30 years earlier.

He gave them a sign in the heavens.

He moved stars around for them and they even then missed it.

If you would just give us all their words are going to be used

to condemn them on the day of judgement.

All those words are going to be brought right before them and

they will be terrified of everything they spoke.

And the Lord said, you actually were given that and you missed

it, and you were given this and you missed it.

You had everything and you missed it.

You had God himself and you missed Him.

They didn't see then and they don't see him now.

What does it matter if you can be prepared for the weather, for

the day, but you don't know how God is leading you today?

What does it matter if you can prepare well for retirement, but

you haven't prepared well for eternity?

These guys interpret all kinds of other things, but not what

God is doing through His Son Jesus.

So again, easy for me and you to be like, man, dudes are awful.

But this is the thing. We have to guard against the

fair, the little Pharisee in me, the little Sadducee in me, the

flesh in me, the pride in me, the blindness in me, the

foolishness in me. I love the Lord.

You love the Lord. And yet we can still be pretty

stupid. We can still be pretty foolish.

We can still miss the forest for the trees.

We can still look at the weather for the day and know that we're

going to take our umbrella on our raincoat, but we can still

miss out on what the Lord is doing in His Kingdom for the

day. So where are you?

St. As a believer, you want to keep

growing in faithfulness. I don't.

It's not satisfying for you. It shouldn't be satisfying for

you to compare yourself to the Pharisees and the Sadducees and

go, I'm doing great. Like that's not the bar that you

and I want to meet. The bar is the Lord's standard

of righteousness and holiness. So there are examples to be

learned here, but we don't just sit back and condemn them and

drive home and go. Thank God that I'm not like

those men, because in doing that we become those men.

Humility is what is what we're after as we pursue the Lord.

You should go after the Lord. You should go after the Lord

with boldness. You should go after the Lord

with joy. You should go after the Lord

with zeal. You should go after the Lord

with great expectation. But that will keep you humble

and it will keep you focused on things heavenly.

You will set your mind on things above.

You will set your heart on things above.

Not on things that are lowly, things that are earthly.

The Pharisees and the Sadducees, they thought they were setting

their minds on things above. Thinking about the sky Jesus

standing there with Him in the dirt is the greatest thing they

could have put their hearts, attention and focus on.

These guys interpret other things, but not what God is

doing through His Son Jesus. Keep going.

Verse 4. An evil and adulterous

generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it

except the sign of Jonah. So he left them and departed.

We don't know how Jesus delivered these lines.

We don't know what the crowd was like in this moment.

We don't know if he addressed them with their with their red

sky analogy. And then if he goes and looks to

everybody and goes and points at them.

An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign.

We don't know for sure, but either way, this is a massive

body slam. Again, he just keeps doing it.

He calls them evil and adulterous.

Nobody talks about these guys this way ever.

And they would certainly never say it to their faces.

Evil and adulterous? Do you know who you're talking

to? Remember the Pharisees?

They come into town, the whole village.

Oh, my goodness, Rabbi, so and so is here.

And Jesus gone. OK, He's not impressed.

He's not impressed with anybody. And of course he is exposing

them continually. Evil and adulterous generation,

Strong language. Come on, Jesus, don't you think

you'd get a little farther if you use some sugar instead of

all that salt? You ever heard that before?

I sure have. Come on, won't, won't sugar make

the medicine go down a little bit better?

When people are hard hearted Saints, this is the most loving

thing that you can do. Nothing else can penetrate.

Nothing else has penetrated. Strong sickness requires strong

medicine. This is the mercy and grace of

God to them. I just think if he had what?

What? Bent over backwards to please

them. The people who knew that he was

resurrected from the dead because the Roman guard came and

told them. Those people who said tell

everybody that his disciples stole his body.

Hey, time out, guys. Shouldn't we actually

acknowledge that the Messiah was just raised from the dead?

No, no, we're going to double, triple and quadruple down.

Why? Because it's not about what we

see and what we've heard. It's about what we will and will

not believe. We've got to believe that for

ourselves. Believe that the heart is the

thing that guards everything else.

The terrible infection needs strong medicine.

Come on, Jesus, this is the kind of thing that will turn these

guys away. These guys are already turned

away. This is their only hope.

Evil and adulterous. Those are strong and specific.

Evil. You know what that means?

Wicked and opposed to God and his goodness.

That's what he's calling them. The religious leaders are being

called that by Jesus in front of the crowds.

Adulterous. Abandoning the good and lusting

for the bad. What causes Jesus to use such

strong rebuke? Unbelief.

Same things that always move Jesus.

Faith makes him say wow. You have great faith.

And unbelief makes him say wow. Where's your faith?

Over and over and over in the Gospels.

Over and over and over. You have little faith.

You have little faith. I'll let Jesus down.

Yeah. Yeah.

Because unbelief is a big deal to God.

It's the root sin for all of my sin.

It's the root sin for all of your sin.

It was the root sin for Eve. It was the root sin for Adam I'm

missing. There's something I don't

believe about God. There's something I don't

believe about His goodness. There's something I don't

believe about His grace. There's something I don't

believe about His sustaining power in my life.

There's something I don't believe about His provision.

Why do I steal? Because I don't believe that

God's actually going to provide for me.

So I had to go and make something happen on my own.

Every sin in its root as we were to trace it down and go and why

did you do that? And what why did you do that and

why did you do that? You're going to come to a

theological reason and it's always going to be you didn't

believe God, you didn't trust the Lord.

It shows up, there's a it spirals out, the web gets

bigger, but it all comes back to you didn't believe God, which is

why the Lord was so pleased with Abraham.

Abraham believed God, Abraham, out of your worship in the moon,

worship in the sky. And God says Abram, pack up and

move and go to a place that I'll show you.

Where is that Lord? I haven't told you yet.

OK, I'll do it. I'll do what the Lord said.

I'll believe the Lord, and I'm going to multiply you, Abram.

I'm going to make you the father of many nations.

Your name is now Abraham. I don't have any kids yet, but

you want me to go around introducing myself as the father

of many nations? Yes, because I'm the guy who

speaks things that are not as though they were.

Can you believe me, Abraham? I believe you.

God. I haven't seen it, but I believe

you. Will you sacrifice your son for

me, Abraham? How can all my descendants come

from Isaac if Isaac's dead? Well, I reason that the Lord can

raise Isaac up if I kill him. I believe God.

The Lord is so pleased by faith. Why?

Because God is so faithful that He equates you doubting him to

adultery. Unbelief is the root sin, and it

is deep unfaithfulness to the faithful husband.

When we don't rely on him, when we don't seek others, when we

seek others to fill us up instead of him, when we seek

others to provide for us, when we seek other things to lead us,

when we seek other things to protect us, the loving husband

says we have a problem. This is adultery.

I won't share you and I want to provide and protect and lead you

completely and exclusively. And now he tells them what sign

will you get? They made their demand and he

tells them again what he's told them earlier.

The sign of Jonah is the only sign you're going to get.

So this is a very wise and interesting thing here that he's

doing. And we see Paul do the same

thing as well with Paul's on trial.

It's in Acts, it tells us that there are Pharisees and there

are Sadducees together and they've come against Paul

because again, God, everybody will unite.

The liberals, the conservatives all come together against Christ

and against his servants. And Paul recognized that there

was Pharisees and Sadducees there.

So right away he said, brothers, before I make my defense, I

would like to just say I'm a Pharisee and I believe in the

resurrection. So immediately the the

Sadducees, they don't believe in the supernatural.

They don't believe in the resurrection of the dead.

And immediately they turned on one another, which is perfect.

And Paul's like, because they turn on one another and say,

well, you're stupid. So he was much more a Pharisee,

of course, than Sadducees. If he had to pick, and you would

never want to pick either. But if you had to pick, you'd be

a Pharisee. You and I would want to be

Pharisees, which we don't want to at all.

But the Sadducees were even worse in that, you know, they

denied the supernatural. So Jesus is referencing the sign

of Jonah, the son of Jonah. It's a reference to

resurrection. So some people actually believe

that Jonah died. Others say he didn't die.

I tend to think he didn't die inside the fish and that, you

know, he actually repented. But there there are some who

would argue that, you know, Jonah died and then he had

resurrection. No matter what, Jonah really

happened. And Jonah is obviously a type of

Christ. The whole Bible is about Jesus.

Jonah is as well. It really happened.

It happened for that reason, for that moment, for that point.

And also it points to Christ and Jesus is saying that's the sign

that you're going to get. So maybe even for producing some

division here between the Pharisees and the Sadducees to

say you'll get the sign of the prophet Jonah.

They're going. And he had already said before,

he said, I'm going to go down 3 days and three nights, and in

the same way that Jonah did, and we'll come back.

So now the set, the Sadducees and the Pharisees, maybe they

turn on one another, maybe they didn't.

But Jesus's point is that of course he is the greater Jonah.

Jonah was reluctant to accomplish his mission.

He had to be forced into it. Jesus was eager.

Jonah hoped for the destruction of his enemies.

Jesus prays for the salvation of his enemies.

Jonah had a hard heart and Jesus had a soft one.

Jesus goes fully and completely in Jesus steps into the belly of

the whale. Jonah had to be dragged kicking

and screaming to fulfill the will of God.

Hard heartedness is the issue for religious leaders who have

come to Jesus. And a hard heart should scare

you and I more than anything else.

Give me a person with no wisdom. Give me a person with no

discipline. Give me a person with no

knowledge but a tender heart. They're going to be OK, but the

person with wisdom and discipline and knowledge and

capability, so far so good. But a hard heart, God have

mercy. And that is their only hope

would be the mercy of God. Are you against these other

things? No, I'm pursuing wisdom and

self-discipline and knowledge and capability.

I want all that. But the temptation with those is

dangerous because the temptation is pride in my capability.

Well, I really don't need a walk by faith because I kind of know

how to solve this. Actually, when I was younger and

weaker, I actually needed God. But in a sense, I've outgrown

him. If you really think about it.

God have mercy if you're tender towards the Lord, He will get

you everywhere you need to go. He will guide you better than

red sky signs. His signs, His leadings, His

promptings are always sure. They are always true, but it

will require that you seek Him. So they came and they sought him

out, but they came to seek him out, to test him for those, for

their own foolishness, for their own pride.

They were in opposition to Him. I know you're not in opposition

to the Lord, Saints. I know you would not

deliberately set yourself up in opposition to Him.

So that's why we're not going to use a low bar.

We'll raise the bar and say, where are we now?

What would our next step of faithfulness look like?

Are you seeking God? Are you looking for your next

direction from Him right now in life, in this moment?

That's the bar for the spiritual believer, for the mature

believer, for the spirit filled believer.

Am I seeking the Lord for what's best and what's next?

Right now with where I am, I'm not looking around and going

well. I'm not where they are and I'm

not where they are. Well, pray for them and pray for

them, but don't compare to them. Compare to your best

faithfulness on your best day, and more importantly, compared

to the standard of His Word and His expectation.

You're not His enemy and you're certainly not going to make

disrespectful demands of your Lord, but are you even asking

Him for anything anymore? I'm not worried that you're

going to go to the Lord and raise your fist at Him, but are

you even seeking Him for anything?

Has your love grown cold? Has your Walt grown boring to

you? Has your testimony gone quiet?

Are you regularly going to the throne of grace?

What happens whenever the Pharisees and the Sadducees come

with their pride at the end of the passage in verse 4 says so

He left them and departed. They didn't get anything.

They got humiliated. They got outdone once again.

But this is what the Lord does with unbelief and hard

heartedness. He just leaves.

That's the terror. That's the horrifying thing.

And I'm thinking like, where's the smiting?

Where's the Thunder? Where's the lightning?

Where's the judgement? That is the judgement.

That is the judgement. His absence, the removal of his

spirit, the removal of his presence.

How could it get any worse than that fire from heaven?

OK, that's spectacular. But there's nothing worse than

the presence of the Lord leaving.

There's nothing worse than the anointing of the Lord pulling

away the Holy Spirit being grieved and saying you almost

wish you're like, no, no, correct me, fix me, help me,

rebuke me. That's love, that's grace.

But as we saw before we looked at the impardonable sin, though,

there even comes a place where times where people harden their,

their hearts so much and so much and so much and so much that the

judgment fully comes and the Lord says, I'm leaving you to

what you've chosen so they can never repent again.

Why? Well, because the grace won't

come again for them too, because you can't repent apart from the

grace of God. Anyway, remember, I can't just

go today. I choose.

It's always the grace of God that moves first in you and I,

and we respond to it. The Word of God cuts us to the

heart. And then I respond.

I either harden my heart and I gnash my teeth against his

servants, or I say, what must I do to be saved?

But God's grace keeps coming. Sometimes it comes with firm

rebuke. Sometimes it comes with gentle

whisper. But that's what grace looks

like. But when he departs, when he

leaves, this is a terrifying thing for them.

I thought he goes to find the lost sheep though, Pastor.

He does. But remember, the lost sheep

wants to be found. The lost sheep is just stupid.

The lost sheep is thankful when the shepherd shows up.

That's entirely different from the goat.

Who doesn't love him, who doesn't obey him, who doesn't

trust him, Who doesn't like him? The lost sheep is tender.

The wandering goat is hard. And here's.

And that's what we see here. We see the goats that Jesus

talks about. He's going to separate the sheep

from the goats. And this is again, why you're

going to understand why do these people want to murder him?

Well, you're going to continue to have more clarity and see how

he's talking about them and how he categorizes them over and

over and over. That's our focus.

Keep going into the presence of the Lord.

Go in with boldness. Go in with joy.

Go on with expectation. Go in like Mary.

I know Him. I know Him, and of course you

have His promises. You have the fullness of His

word. Keep going, keep asking, keep,

keep seeking, keep knocking. He said the door will be open.

We're not. I'm not worried about you

wrestling with the Lord like Jacob did.

I won't let you go till you bless me.

He didn't have the Lord in a headlock and demanding that the

Lord would do something that the Lord didn't want to do.

He loved him and he was pursuing him as a friend.

This is the way we pursue the Lord, not with demands, not with

pride, not with arrogance. And we'll close with this

wherever you are, if you sense the Lord's presence has been

grieved, If you sense that. I don't, I just don't sense the

closeness of the Lord like I used to.

I don't feel His presence like I used to.

I know what I would do. I know what you should do.

You should cry out for help. You should run to the throne of

grace to receive mercy and help in your timely need.

It's simple and it's humble. If you want something elaborate,

I don't have it for you. If you want a five step plan,

there isn't 1. Repentance is messy.

Repentance is real. Repentance is not a formula,

it's just pursuit. Lord help me, Lord help me.

Could I withstand the preaching of Jesus?

Could I withstand his challenge? Could I withstand his rebuke?

Would I be drawn in or would I be repelled?

Do I love him for who he is? What is the expectation you can

have as you think about coming to the Lord for more closeness,

for more fellowship? Look at the people of Nineveh.

Look at what Jonah accomplished with the worst sermon ever

preached. 40 days and Nineveh will be destroyed.

That's about all he did walking through the city, and he hoped

that they wouldn't repent. But even him.

Why did Jonah not want to go to Nineveh?

Because he knew what was going to happen.

His whole, his whole argument against the Lord was, I know

what you're going to do. They're going to repent and

you're going to be merciful and you're going to save them.

That's what the prophet of God knew was going to happen to the

filthy Gentiles. That's us, by the way.

That's what he knew was going to happen to this wicked city.

I know if I preach, you're going to save them.

And then I'm going to be mad because I hate them.

And God goes, are you right to be angry?

Yeah. I'm bad enough to die.

That's what Jonah said. Just foolish all up in the

flesh. But what did God do for Nineveh?

He saved them. Why?

They repented in sackcloth and ashes.

They put on their itchiest, most miserable clothing to humble and

humiliate themselves. And they cover themselves.

Not in their makeup, not in their earrings, not in their

Sunday best. But they said I'm a nobody and

you're a nobody. And we're all a bunch of

nobodies. Let's humble ourselves.

No one will eat or drink, no animal or woman or boy or girl

or man. We will humble ourselves before

God and maybe he will be merciful on us.

And I said they're humble, they're repentant.

I can work with that. He said he was going to destroy

him in 40 days. He already said he was going to

destroy him in 40 days. God is merciful.

Nineveh passed the test and the men of Nineveh will rise up in

the judgment and condemn Pharisees and Sadducees.

Jesus said. Even Jesus, the judge who will

judge the living and the dead, will say for this trial he'll

raise up the men of Nineveh and put them and they will condemn.

Why? Because they repented when they

had the worst sermon ever, when a guy who smelled like a fish

compared to the Pharisees and the Sadducees who have the

living God in front of them. Saints believe God, believe that

he loves you, and believe that when you come into his presence

that he wants to forgive you and that he wants to be gracious.

Jamaica, I've repented so many times.

Welcome to Christianity, welcome to humility, welcome to walking

with your God with a tender heart and a tender conscience.

Our life is not marked by perfection, but it is marked by

repentance, and it is marked by faithfulness.

It is marked by us being willing to be made low, being made low

before our God, which also means being made low before one

another, which is why we would confess our sins to one another

as opposed to hiding them and protecting them.

Because why would I do that? Why would I hide all my sins?

Because what you'll think about me.

So God, I pray for your people, those who feel far off, those

who feel distant, those who haven't been pursuing you.

I I really don't have the concern.

Lord, as we look at our passage in your word today, I don't see

that kind of hard heartedness in your people.

I don't see that kind of foolishness and and fist raising

anger and demands. God, my concern is that our love

could grow cold. My concern is that my love would

grow cold, that we would have a familiarity that would say,

yeah, it's Jesus. Yeah, yeah, it's Jesus.

As though you're common, as though you're small.

I pray that you would expand faith where it needs to be

expanded. For so many of us, we just need

to stand up with boldness for your promises.

Again, we need our faith revived.

We need to believe, to see your goodness and your power at work,

not to demand upon you, but demand upon ourselves.

Believe God, O soul. Believe God, O Spirit, believe

God and live. Believe God and rejoice.

Believe God and see His works of power and others, just to begin

to pursue Him with sincerity. The repentance there is one of

neglect 1. Of forgetfulness 1 of

distraction. The Lord find us humble right

now. We repent and we turn from our

sin. We want to walk in close

fellowship with you. We want to be humble like Mary.

We want to be humble like the disciples.

You have the words of life. Where else would we go?

Who else will we listen to? We're with you, Jesus.

You don't have to prove anything to us.

You've already done it through the miracle, the new birth,

through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

That was all the proof that we needed.

All the other things, of course it makes sense, of course the

documentation is solid. Of course the Bible is the anvil

that will wear out every hammer that comes against it.

Of course there's a all the logical and other reasons as

well. But there's nothing more logical

than loving the God who forgave us of our sins, delivered us

from evil, and helped us to love him and to follow him.

Lord, help us to not just read the signs of of the day, of the

weather, of of the financial season, of the political season.

Make us a people who have heavenly minds and heart, heart

filled and heavenly hearts. I plead the blood of Jesus over

your people, God in Jesus name. And now the Lord bless you and

keep you. The Lord make his face Shinedown

upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance

upon you and give you great peace in Jesus name, Amen.