WWUTT 1427 Jews Demand Signs and Greeks Seek Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:22)

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The Jews seek for signs, the Greeks are in search of wisdom, but it is by neither of these things that God has brought us to faith, but by His mercy and grace when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ, that men and women of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

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Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here's your teacher,

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Once again reading verses 18 -25,

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I'm in the Legacy Standard Bible. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

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For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.

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Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?

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Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know

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God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

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For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach

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Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness.

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But to those of us who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

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Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

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So on that note there, verse 25, I'd like to jump back to verses 20 and 21 where we read where is the wise man?

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Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? So produce for me the guy that thinks that he can by his wisdom ascend to the wisdom of God, either something equal to it or greater than.

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We read back in Romans chapter 11, beginning of verse 32, for God has shut up all in disobedience so that he may show mercy to all.

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Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways.

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For who has known the mind of the Lord or who became his counselor or who has first given to him that it might be repaid him.

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For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him, to God be the glory forever, amen.

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There is no one who has the knowledge that he might even be the

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Lord's counselor. God does not consult with anybody. He doesn't look at things that are happening in the world and is like, well, boy,

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I need some counselors here. I need some wise men who might advise me as to what I'm going to do in this situation.

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Where is such a person? Where is the man who could step forth and advise God? Where is the one who could step forward and say,

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God, why don't you consider a different action? This may not be the way that you want to go.

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Maybe you want to go this way instead. We read throughout the Old Testament and you've heard it said even within more recent or modern day monarchies that kings, rulers will have their advisors, right?

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We elect a president of the United States and then he has his own panel of people that he assigns to execute different things that the president wants to do or come up with the ideas in these various departments as to what we should best do.

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God does not need anything like that. He doesn't need anybody to advise him or give him counsel or direction or ideas or even bounce ideas off of.

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God doesn't need such a person. Where is the wise man who would advise God?

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Where is the scribe who might either remind God or dictate for God?

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Where is the debater of this age, the person who would argue with God or direct him toward a different course of action?

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Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? God needs no counselors.

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Christ needs no counselors. As we read, even describing Jesus in Isaiah chapter nine, he is the wonderful counselor.

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He doesn't need counsel. He gives counsel. The words that we have from God in the

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Bible, Genesis one to Revelation 22. This is the great knowledge.

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This is the greatest wisdom and we can ascend to nothing higher. For since, and then we get to verse 21, which we looked at yesterday, for since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not come to know

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God. It is God and his wisdom that is arranged. Salvation would come to a person by God's ways and not by our ways.

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So he is the one that has arranged this, that salvation belongs to our God. That even the knowledge of the gospel that a person has come to, their belief in the gospel has not been by their own will to believe it, but because God has transformed the heart that a person might understand it and believe it.

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This was all through the wisdom of God and was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

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The world will call it foolishness, but we know it to be the greatest wisdom, the greatest story that has ever been told.

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His story, right? History. It is what God has been doing through redemptive history to bring about the salvation of his elect.

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All of the Bible points to Christ. And as we have it said to us in Colossians chapter two, in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, everything we could come to know about God, what we can know about ourselves and the way to salvation, that we might be forgiven our sins and have fellowship with God forevermore, that we have peace with God, that his wrath and anger is not burning against us because of our sins.

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How do we come to a solution to our sin problem and the solution to death, which is the wages of sin?

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The answer is in Jesus Christ. It is in the word of Christ. And this is the wisdom of God, foolishness to the world, but the power of God to all who believe.

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To us who are being saved, it is the power of God, this word of the cross.

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We get to verse 22 here today, where it says, for indeed, Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom.

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Now, this is the great divide of persons that is mentioned in the New Testament. It's the difference between Jew and Gentile.

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This is the greatest divide. We have divisions that exist within our country right now that might be racial divisions, right?

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Blacks versus whites, Asians, Hispanics, anybody else you want to throw in that category. So we've got racial divisions, ethnic divisions, if you want to use that term.

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We've also got class divisions. You've got the rich versus the poor. You have elites versus non elites.

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You have the recognized or the stars, the famous versus those who are not famous.

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There's all different kinds of ways that you can break up people, divide them into different classes and things like that. We even have men versus women.

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Men are the privileged. Women are the oppressed. Women deserve everything that men get.

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All the same opportunities men have, women should be able to do those things, too. There are some who believe that there is not even any physical difference between men and women, which is just absolutely absurd.

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But all that to say that you can see these different divisions that exist within our culture trying to break people up into different groups.

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We might even call them constituencies because more often than not, that's the way you see people broken up, how you see like voting results come in.

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Well, white women voted this way. Black men voted this way. Other minorities voted like this.

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That's how you see all of these different voting patterns broken up. We call those constituencies or voting blocks.

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And so since we break people up that way, everything's political now. So we break people up into these various different constituencies.

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However, we can divide people. That's the way of the culture. Just divide them, just break them up.

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It's almost like divide and conquer, because if we can break people into these groups and we can convince this group you're being oppressed and this is the group over here that's oppressing you.

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So all you have to do is come against that group and then you get a little bit of their power. We set people against one another and then it's divide and conquer.

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Now I can get my agenda past the way that I want it to be passed because I can manipulate smaller groups to do what

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I want them to do or think the way that I want them to think. This is the way of the world. But despite all of the different ways that the world and the culture might divide us, there has never been a division of people greater than between Jew and Gentile, because of the

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Jews, the Israelites. These are the people that God specifically appointed to himself as descendants of Abraham and made a covenant with Abraham that it's through you.

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I am going to make a great nation and all the other nations of the world will be blessed through this nation.

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If they bless your children, then they also will be blessed. But if they curse your children, then they also will be cursed.

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And it was because of the way that God gave that Abrahamic covenant, a lot of the children of Israel thought that this was how this was how salvation was going to be brought about.

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This was how God was going to unify the nations. And it was going to be through those who bless or curse

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Israel. But really, unity has happened through Jesus Christ. Paul talks about this in Ephesians chapter three, that this was a mystery until well, it's

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Ephesians two and three, but this was a mystery until Christ appeared. There was a dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile.

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And even the Jews were not quite certain how God was going to reconcile all people to himself, whether they were

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Jew or Gentile. But now that Christ has come, that mystery has been revealed, that it was going to be accomplished through Christ who has broken down the dividing wall of hostility that existed between people of God and the not people of God.

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That's really how you break up Jew and Gentile. Jew are a covenant people of God descended from Abraham.

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Gentile are pagans. They are the people that God did not come to. He did not call them out.

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Not initially, right? He called out the Jews. God has always saved for himself a remnant. And in the particular plan of history that we see in the

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Old Testament, it was the Jews. It was Israel. So God has called Israel out of slavery unto himself.

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It is to Israel that he gave the patriarchs, that he gave the prophets, that he gave the law, the oracles of God.

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All of this was through this nation. It was not given to the Gentiles. Now, there were Gentiles that came to faith in God.

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Anyone has ever been saved only by grace through faith. And so there are many others that God has saved this way, even who were not among the

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Jews. But it was to the Jews specifically that God revealed himself and gave his law.

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So the dividing wall of hostility then is between those people that God has revealed himself to, that he has called to himself and has made his children versus Gentiles who are not part of that group and are still separated from God, who do not have the oracles of God unless they come to the

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Jewish people. And then we read in Ephesians 2 .13, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were formerly far off, talking about Gentiles, have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

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For he himself is our peace who made both groups one and broke down the dividing wall of the partition, the dividing wall of hostility, another way that that's called.

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I think of the English standard version by abolishing in his flesh, the enmity, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in himself, he might create the two into one new man, making peace and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having in himself put to death the enmity.

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And this is verse 17 now, Ephesians 2 .17. And he came and preached the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near for through him, we both have our access in one spirit to the father.

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So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household.

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Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole building being joined together is growing into a holy sanctuary in the

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Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the spirit.

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So before Christ, Jew and Gentile are separated, there's enmity between the two were hated by others and hating one another.

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But in Christ, the two have become one and the dividing wall of partition has been broken down and we have been made one in Christ Jesus.

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If God can make Jew and Gentile reconciled to himself through the person and work of Christ, then he can do with anybody.

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If the gospel is enough to reconcile Jew and Gentile, then the gospel is enough to reconcile any person of any class, any ethnicity, any nationality, any culture, any background.

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We are made one in Christ Jesus, one with God, one with one another.

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And as Paul goes on to talk about this in Ephesians chapter three, he says, by revelation, there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief, about which when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men as it was now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the spirit.

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Verse six, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

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That's that which was previously a mystery has now been made known to us through Christ. We are reconciled to one another by faith in Jesus.

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So we have what was what was previously this great division, Jew and Gentile now made one in Christ.

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And then Paul mentions the Jew and Gentile here in first Corinthians one twenty two for indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom.

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Their desires were even the same two different groups of people. But yet Jews want this and Greeks want this.

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Greek is another word for pagan. Pagan could be substituted in there as well. Gentile can also be thrown in there.

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But of course, as we have read about it in in Acts chapter 17, the

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Greeks are mentioned as those who long for and cling to new philosophy.

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Right. As it says in Acts 17 21. Now, all the Athenians, which were the

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Greeks from Athens and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

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They wanted new philosophy. And the reason they wanted new philosophy was largely because of the philosophical teachings of Epicurus.

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He believed in finding happiness in simple things, not chasing after like like some of the philosophers had said, you can't delay gratification if you want it, have it because delayed gratification is delayed happiness.

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Well, Epicurus kind of pushed back on that a little bit. And he said, those things that you pursue after you think are immediate gratification are actually going to cause larger problems for you in the long run.

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So it's better to find happiness in simple things like the pleasure of philosophical conversation.

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So influenced by Epicurus, the Greeks wanted new philosophy so that they could have something to talk about.

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That's really what it was, that they could measure their intellect against somebody else's. One person has this philosophy.

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Another guy comes along with something new. Maybe you haven't considered this idea. And now they can debate with one another.

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And there's this desire among individual Greeks to kind of ascend in knowledge and loftiness over the other guy.

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I want to show myself to be smarter than this guy. You know, you think back to maybe high school, the cliques that you had in high school, and the currency was probably social standing like popularity.

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Who could have the most friends or who could be thought of most highly by the most number of people?

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That's what you would be after in high school. For the Greeks, it was knowledge. Who can have the greatest knowledge?

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Who can win every debate? This guy was the big man on campus. So this is why the

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Greeks were always after new philosophy. They're looking for new arguments. Greeks search for wisdom.

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Jews. What did the Jews ask for? Something completely different. They asked for signs.

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Now, the Greeks were much more naturalistic in their thinking. The Jews, on the other hand, believed in the one true

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God. They had seen many miracles, and it was even part of their heritage to believe in the plagues that had come upon Egypt, the

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Red Sea parting and being delivered through that God revealing himself in the wilderness. All of this and more fills up the

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Jewish past, so they know that the true Messiah, when he comes, is going to reveal himself in signs and wonders.

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And you have in Matthew chapter 12, some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.

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But Jesus answered them, an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet

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Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

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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.

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The queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

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The Jews want a sign. They want some sort of miraculous occurrence in the heavens that would reveal to them that Jesus is this

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Messiah who was promised, if he's going to be the Messiah, he needs to show us some kind of miraculous sign.

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And Jesus says that no sign will be given to you except the sign of Jonah being buried in the earth for three days, rising again.

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Jesus died on the cross on a Friday, day one, in the tomb on Saturday, day two, rises again

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Sunday morning, day three, fulfilling even this prophecy that was made through Jonah having been in the belly of a big fish for three days and nights.

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Now, Jesus, of course, performed many other signs and wonders among them, having the power over sickness and disease, raising the dead, and yet the

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Jews demanded a sign that wasn't enough for them. What they were asking for was a sign from heaven. They wanted some miraculous sign in the sky, even though one was given to them.

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They had the voice of God that spoke at Jesus baptism and said, this is my beloved son in whom

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I am well pleased. The voice of God would be heard again that last week before Jesus would be taken to his crucifixion.

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When in John 12, verse 28, Jesus says, Father, glorify your name.

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Then a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it and will glorify it again. And the crowd stood there and heard it.

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And they just said it had thundered. And others said an angel has spoken to him. They did not even want to listen to the voice of God.

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They demand signs. But when they're given a sign, that's not the sign they want. It isn't good enough. Jesus said in John 10, 26, you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.

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It is only those who are who belong to Christ who follow the voice of the good shepherd that will see these things and believe that God has done it.

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But remember, once again, as we read yesterday in verse 21, First Corinthians 121, for since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not come to know

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God. God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

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Jews were looking for signs, but they were looking for specific signs that they wanted to see.

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And even though they asked for signs, they still didn't believe those signs were given to them.

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Greeks search for wisdom. They were given the greatest wisdom there ever has been the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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But even they considered that to be foolishness. So salvation has come not by these things, not by demanding a sign and seeing it and then believing, not by demanding wisdom and then receiving it.

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And so believing. We have come to faith because God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached through the gospel to save those who believe.

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That's how we come to salvation, not on our terms, but by God's mercy and grace poured out for us in the love that he demonstrated through the offering up of his son on the cross for our sins, raising him again from the grave and his promise to all of us who believe in him everlasting life in his eternal kingdom.

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Let's finish there and we'll come back to this tomorrow. Heavenly Father, we thank you for showing us your goodness and your grace.

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And may we see that in the gospel. May we not become unsatisfied with this, that the gospel has not been enough for us.

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We need to see signs. We need to have loftier wisdom. We need to look impressive to the people in the world.

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And then I will know that I truly have something from God. May it not be on our terms, but humble us,

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God, that we may come before you as needy beggars, knowing that it is not from us that we receive anything, but it is by your mercy and grace that we've been given anything.

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And what have you given us but everything, even a place to sit with Christ on his throne forever as fellow heirs of his kingdom?

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We are undeserving of any of this, but you have shown us this love, giving your son to die for us, forgiving us our sins and promising us life forevermore.

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Help us to live today in the confidence of these promises and conduct our whole lives in righteousness unto you.

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It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. For more about our ministry, visit us online at www .utt