Sermon on "This Generation"

Apologia Studios

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

We've been in Matthew for quite some time, and as you guys get there,

00:05

I want to say that it's an amazing book really to do an exposition on, because if you are doing

00:12

Matthew, you are getting so much of the entire Bible. You're getting the Old Testament revelation quoted from in the

00:19

Gospel according to Matthew, and it gives you opportunity with some of these big themes in Matthew to explain so much of the

00:25

Bible. And so it really is a beautiful book to unpack. We're in Matthew chapter 12 right now.

00:32

Jesus has been in conflict with the religious leaders of his day. They just accused him of being in league with Satan, and so Jesus addresses their argument.

00:45

He talks about blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, and he talks about good trees versus bad trees. Good trees bearing good fruit, and bad trees bearing bad fruit.

00:54

And so he is now in the huge conflict with the religious leaders, and you're going to see that picks up as we move through the

01:01

Gospel according to Matthew. But this next little bit here gets into one of those moments that's leading us to the climax, and that climax is so often misunderstood in our day.

01:16

I'm talking about the climax as we move to Matthew chapter 24 where Jesus begins to tell them what's going to take place in their generation.

01:23

But we're in now Matthew chapter 12, starting in verse 38. the heart of the earth, the men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah.

02:07

And behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 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.

02:18

And behold, something greater than Solomon is here when the unclean spirit has gone out of a person.

02:23

It passes through waterless places seeking rest but finds none. And then it says,

02:29

I will return to my house from which I came. And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept and put in order.

02:36

Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself. And they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first.

02:44

So also will it be with this evil generation. Thus far as the reading of God's holy word, let's pray together as a church.

02:53

Father, thank you for your word. Lord, every one of us in this room and everyone at the, under the hearing of my voice,

03:03

God, none of us deserve this privilege of your word. So the very fact,

03:09

Father, that we have your word and we get to look into it and hear you speaking, we know is a tremendous privilege.

03:17

And so first and foremost, thank you. Thank you, God, that you've given us your word, your revelation, and God, we get to hear it today and respond.

03:26

I just want to pray for this room, Father. I pray to God you would guard my mouth, my mind, my heart from error, and that you would teach your people through your word, by your spirit.

03:38

Help us to understand your word, Father. Help us to apply it to our lives and help us to respond.

03:44

Help us not to be evil and adulterous generation. Help us to be a people who hear your word and respond.

03:54

And only you can do that, Father. We acknowledge it and we ask you to please do it. Please get me out of the way.

04:01

Allow people to hear your word and be changed by it. Let it not be the words of just a man.

04:06

And I pray, God, that you would allow people to eventually forget me and remember

04:12

Jesus and his word. It's in his name we pray. Amen.

04:18

Huge, huge moment. Jesus collides with the religious leaders of his day on a regular basis, a pretty regular basis.

04:27

They're constantly trying to trap him. As a matter of fact, it even says in the text, they were seeking to test him at times.

04:34

They're trying to get him in trouble with the authorities, asking about taxation. All those things are taking place in the

04:40

New Testament record. Jesus is constantly confronting the religious establishment of his day.

04:46

And he often confronts them by pointing them back to the word of God. As a matter of fact, that's Jesus' MO. When he wants to confront the religious leaders of his day, if he's not speaking on the basis of his own authority, he points back to the authority of God's revelation, his previous revelation.

05:01

You see it constantly. And this moment in particular is actually a big one, because they just did something that they had not done before in his face.

05:10

Maybe they'd done it in their small group setting. Maybe they'd done it sort of behind his back. But at this point now, it's in the text.

05:17

Before Jesus is confronting false teachers and false prophets of his day, he does it around the

05:22

Sermon of the Mount, right? Jesus talks about false teachers. He says things like, many will come to me in that day and say,

05:28

Lord, Lord, did we not cast out demons in your name? And all these things. And Jesus says on the last day, he will say, depart from me.

05:37

I never knew you. He calls them workers of lawlessness. You have those moments, right, up to this point where Jesus is already in conflict with the religious leaders of his day.

05:47

As a matter of fact, Jesus' forerunner, John the Baptist in Matthew chapter 3, Matthew opens up the gospel and brings you right into conflict with the religious establishment of the day.

05:56

But it's not Jesus, it's John the Baptist. And in particular, that's important here.

06:02

Because when Jesus tells them about the judgment that's about to fall upon that generation, it's important to recognize the context, the overall context that if you know your

06:13

Bible, if you're a scribe and a Pharisee and a good one, you should have known that what

06:18

Jesus was talking about was a certainty because God's revelation had already laid it down. John the Baptist in Matthew 3, as he comes into collision with the establishment of his day, he says, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

06:31

First words out of his mouth. The kingdom has arrived. It's at the end of the fingertip. It's at hand.

06:36

It's within reach. And then he immediately confronts the leaders of his day. And he says what to him? He says, bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

06:44

He says, the ax is already laid at the root of the trees. So Jesus here is not watch.

06:50

It's important. He's not simply responding to the accusation of being hooked up with Satan out of anger.

06:58

It's all part of God's story coming into fulfillment because the background noise you should have set as you come to this text is the

07:06

Old Testament revelation. God has already spoken. And what does God say in the Old Testament? He declares the end from the beginning.

07:14

He separates himself from false gods by saying in Isaiah chapters 40 through 46,

07:20

I'll tell you the future before it happens. And I'll tell you the past and why it happened in the way it did.

07:27

He is the one who weaves history together. And in this moment, they should have known better if they knew their

07:34

Bibles, if they were good scribes and Pharisees and knew the revelation of God, they should have known who

07:39

Jesus was. They should have understood his ministry and mission, and they should have responded to the preaching of Jesus, the word of God.

07:48

Because in Micah chapters 3 and 5, it's right before the gospel according to Matthew.

07:54

If you guys are new, I do want you to see it. We've done some studies in this so I won't belabor the point, but just do this real fast.

07:59

Keep your finger on Matthew 12 and just move over a bit to the left and look at that last

08:05

Old Testament book in our canon and look at Malachi chapter 3.

08:11

Malachi 3 says, verse 1, Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me and the

08:16

Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. And the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the

08:25

Lord of hosts. So we have forerunner and then the Lord whom you seek will come to his temple.

08:31

Which temple? The second temple. The temple of Jesus' day. But then it says something particular in that text.

08:37

It says, and you can read this later, that the coming of the Messiah after the forerunner will be twofold.

08:43

Two things. One, it's going to purify God's people. So there's a cleansing. There's a purification for God's people.

08:51

And then it says that there will be judgment upon the covenant breakers. God's going to judge those who swear falsely.

08:58

He's going to come against those who have broken covenants. And then the final word, go one chapter over,

09:04

Malachi 4. I want you to see it. Verse 1, For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble.

09:13

The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.

09:20

But you who fear my name, the son of righteousness, shall rise with healing in its wings.

09:26

You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. You shall tread down the wicked. They shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when

09:33

I act, says the Lord of hosts. And here it is, verse 5. Behold, I'll send you

09:39

Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes, and he will turn the heart of the fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.

09:50

So here's the thing. Scribes and Pharisees, they know the law of God. They know the word of God. They're devout.

09:56

What's Pharisee mean? Who knows what Pharisee means? Separated one, right?

10:02

They're so rigorous and so committed to God's word and God's law that they're the separated ones.

10:09

They're like the ultra -conservatives, right? They're like the right -wing, because they watch Fox News, okay?

10:14

They're like there, right? They're hardcore right -wingers, right? These guys are dedicated and devout. If they had known their scriptures and read them, they should have understood that the forerunner was coming.

10:26

Messiah was coming to his temple, and then there was going to be one of two things that was going to happen to you. One, you were getting judged because you were a covenant breaker, or you were being purified.

10:36

You were experiencing God's blessing, his salvation and redemption. Two things, right? And now here's the

10:41

Messiah. John the Baptist says, kingdoms arrived. You'd better repent. The ax is already laid at the root of the trees.

10:48

His winnowing fork is already in his hands, guys. And then Jesus now picks up that theme.

10:55

He proclaims, first thing out of the wilderness, 40 days. He says, as soon as he comes out, he says, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

11:04

He says, have a change of heart. Have a change of mind. Do an about face. The kingdom of heaven is arrived.

11:11

It is the kingdom of God, the rule of God in the world. It's arrived. Now it starts to pick up.

11:17

Now he starts doing his own confronting of false teachers. Now he's doing his own confronting of those who actually are bad trees bearing bad fruit, and he's warning people now.

11:27

In Matthew chapter 10, he sent his people out, and he told them to go out and preach the gospel.

11:33

But he gives them this little word. He says something very significant in Matthew 10. We've already done this together, but I'll quote it to bring it to your memory.

11:40

He says in Matthew 10, powerful moment. He says, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the son of man comes.

11:50

Judgment is coming. John said it. Jesus said it. The old testament prophets said it.

11:55

Covenant breakers are being judged. And then Jesus says in Matthew 10, to his generation, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the son of man comes.

12:07

Comes like second coming? No, in judgment. Just like all the times in the old testament where it says that God came against Egypt.

12:15

God comes in judgment. They knew judgment was coming. Now, could they understand it all?

12:21

There's no way. I mean, they're still questioning. What are you talking about dying and rising from the dead? Like literally, like they just, they can't quite understand.

12:29

Like, what do you mean Jesus? And so obviously their mind is not fully in it. And now you get into the text,

12:35

Matthew 12, 38. Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him. They just accused

12:42

Jesus of being satanic, of being indwelt by an evil spirit.

12:48

That's how he's doing all these amazing feats. That's how he's organizing creation itself.

12:54

And who were the scribes and the Pharisees? They were the separated ones. These guys were devout. And I constantly stress this, but I do want to say it so that we can finally like put it to bed.

13:05

For Christians, the Pharisees are the bad guys, right? What's the great Christian insult?

13:12

If somebody is putting burdens upon others that are not actually biblical, if someone's giving you a manmade set of rules to live by that aren't from Jesus, what's the best way to cut somebody down as a

13:25

Christian? You're being a what? You're being a Pharisee. Well, hypocrite, yes, but let's say you're being a

13:31

Pharisee. What does that mean? Well, what we mean by that as Christians is you're the bad guy, right?

13:37

You're the one that's adding things to scripture that are in fact not in scripture like those bad

13:43

Pharisees. But can I just say this? The Pharisees in the first century were revered.

13:51

And say what you want about the Pharisees, they were disciplined. I mean, it's in the name.

13:57

They are the separated ones. They're the ones that are totally conservative. They're the ones that are saying it's the word of God, it's the word of God.

14:04

Now, they didn't live consistently, but that's what they said. And they weren't seen as the bad guys. When Jesus in John chapter 3 is talking to Nicodemus at night, a

14:14

Pharisee, right? It's not like Nicodemus is the bad guy in the story because he's a

14:20

Pharisee. For example, in Luke chapter 18 verses 9 through 14, when you think about the parable of the

14:28

Pharisee and the tax collector, understand this. This is important. We know that the

14:34

Pharisee is wrong because he's boasting in his good deeds and his works, right?

14:40

And the tax collector, we want to be that tax collector, right? We want to be the dirtbag. We want to be the wretch.

14:46

We want to be the person that's beating our chest saying, God have mercy on me, a sinner. We know that's how the story goes.

14:53

But can I point something out? In Luke chapter 18, what's the Pharisee say? He says,

14:59

God, I thank you. Look at the

15:06

Pharisee giving God the credit. He's not just saying, I did it all by myself.

15:13

He's not just some rank Pelagian saying, it's all my good deeds.

15:18

It's all my works. He's actually saying, God, I thank you. It's your grace, God, that made me this way.

15:24

And what does he say about his good deeds? He says, I fast. I tithe of all that I get.

15:30

You see what I'm saying? He was disciplined. How many of you guys tithe off of all that you get?

15:36

How many of you guys fast like the Pharisee fasted? Dis the Pharisee is all you want.

15:42

You have to give them credit for their discipline. Now, motivations are one thing, but at least their external behavior looked completely disciplined.

15:53

Now, what does Paul do when he wants to pull rank, when he wants to brag about his resume?

15:59

You know how that is, right? You take your resume, you're going to get a job. What do you do when you're writing your resume?

16:07

Some said lie, right? Okay. We're not talking about your sin right now.

16:13

We're talking about like, what do you do with your resume? The truth is, is when you guys are sitting down to write a resume, it takes a long time to write a resume, right?

16:19

Because what are you writing on your resume? You're writing your best stuff. You're writing your best work. You're telling the best story of yourself.

16:26

When you pull together your resume, you're not giving the weak sauce stuff and you're not giving the bad stuff.

16:31

You're certainly not talking about your failures and you're not associating yourself with bad things on your resume.

16:37

You're pulling together the best of the best, right? This is why you should hire me, because I'm this, because I'm associated with this, because I accomplished this thing.

16:48

And Paul in the first century, when he wants to pull rank, when he wants to show you just how special he was in Philippians chapter three, verse five, what's he say about his resume?

17:03

He says, I'm of the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised the eighth day as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to the law, a

17:13

Pharisee. Pharisee. As though that's a good thing.

17:19

Try writing that resume today as a Christian, right? Like you're applying for a job at a church, right?

17:24

And you're like, as to the law, I'm a Pharisee, y 'all. You wouldn't get hired in any church, right?

17:32

Because you're like, what do you pray? No Pharisee. Those are the bad guys. Just know, scribes and Pharisees in this day, these guys are rigorous.

17:38

Paul says, you want to know how rigorous I was about the law? Pharisee. Blameless. That's tongue in cheek, by the way.

17:45

But what does he go, where does he go from there? He says, but I count all these things as loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing

17:53

Jesus Christ my Lord. He says, I want to be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but the one that comes from God through faith.

18:04

That's what he says. But watch, if these scribes and Pharisees who answered him had understood the

18:10

Old Testament story, they would have remembered Malachi 3, forerunner,

18:16

Messiah, judgment. Malachi 4, the great and awesome day of the Lord.

18:21

Repent, right? They would have understood Isaiah 65, that God was going to give his people a new name, that his servants would eat, the other ones would go hungry, that his servants would drink, the other ones would be thirsty.

18:37

They would have understood that God said he was going to judge the covenant breakers. They should have understood that story.

18:44

And Jesus chastised them for not listening to God's word. The scribes and the Pharisees, Jesus' main concern with them is not their discipline.

18:54

Think about it. What does he say to them? One passage is powerful. He says, you do all these things.

19:01

He says, what you neglected was these things, right? Points him to mercy and justice, right?

19:08

But watch this. He didn't say you shouldn't have done the other things. You should have just been nice and merciful.

19:13

He said, you should have done these things without neglecting the obedience part. Yes, guys, you're obedient, but you're missing the weight of your matter.

19:22

But what does Jesus do? He chastises them. Look for a second. Keep your finger there, Matthew 12.

19:27

Now move to Matthew 19. This is a powerful moment. Verse 1, this is

19:33

Jesus talking to the Pharisees. Now, when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the

19:40

Jordan. And large crowds followed him and he healed them there. Here it is. And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?

19:54

We did a message on this. They're asking him about the law of the day of the

19:59

Hillelites marriages. You had the Shammaites following Rabbi Shammai and Rabbi Hillel and the

20:07

Hillelites. And there was a divorce for any cause, very liberal way, just divorce.

20:13

You had those that said, no, you're going to have biblical reasons for divorce. And so they're trying to test him. Which side are you on?

20:19

Are you with the left or the right? Are you with the conservatives? Are you with the liberals,

20:25

Jesus? That's really kind of how you can put it. And now watch what's Jesus way of chastising the

20:31

Pharisee. These guys who were so rigorously committed to God's law.

20:37

He says, have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female.

20:48

So what does Jesus do to chastise the Pharisees here? What's he do? He doesn't bring them to some amazing moment of personal experience, right?

20:57

He goes, haven't you read that from the beginning, don't you know your Bible guys, you guys who are asking this question, trying to test me, you're supposed to know the word of God.

21:09

You're supposed to know what your Bible says, right? Haven't you read that God created them from the beginning?

21:15

And that's on marriage. Another example is Mark 7. Keep your finger. Matthew 12 moved to Mark 7 to show you another conflict.

21:21

How does Jesus deal with the religious leaders of his day? In Mark 7, when the

21:28

Pharisees gathered to him with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled.

21:35

That is unwashed for the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, holding to the what tradition of the elders.

21:46

And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.

21:56

So here's watch here is a what's seen as a divine deposit, a divine tradition of the day.

22:03

It's running alongside the Bible. Here's the Bible. Here's the divine tradition. And they see

22:09

Jesus' disciples and like, hey, how come you're doing that with unwashed hands? And how does

22:14

Jesus respond to the Pharisees again? He doesn't just pull from his own authority.

22:20

He can, by the way. But what does he do? He says in verse eight.

22:28

Well, did Isaiah prophecy of you hypocrites, as it is written, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

22:35

In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.

22:45

And how does he say they do it? He says, you say, and he says, but Moses says.

22:52

In other words, God says this in scripture, but you say this. He says, so you invalidate

22:58

God's word for the sake of your tradition. How does Jesus deal with the scribes and Pharisees like that with the word of God?

23:06

So I want to just say as a quick moment aside as believers, how do we test any teaching?

23:15

How do we test anything that comes to us? It's not our emotions. It's not our past or experiences.

23:23

It's the word of God. Does this match God's revelation? Does my tradition, does my behavior match the revelation of God?

23:31

And why do I bring it up? Listen, this is big. We can diss the Pharisees and the scribes all day long, but they thought that they were zealous, devout, religious people, and they looked like it.

23:45

They went to church. They did small groups. They had a Jewish style, right?

23:53

They had all the things that we have today in terms of like they had a community, a religious community. And watch, they had all these ways that they saw the world that they thought were biblical, and Jesus has to constantly point them back to his word, his own revelation.

24:10

They proved constantly that they were the sons of Israel. In Matthew chapter 23, verse 29, is

24:17

Jesus really gives them a beating, a theological beating.

24:23

In Matthew 23, after the theological beating, in verse 31, he says, thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

24:38

He says, you prove it, guys, constantly. You say we would have never done what they did if we lived in their days.

24:44

He's like, but you prove at every turn that you're exactly their descendants. You do what they did.

24:50

Jesus chastised them for being just like Old Testament Israel, who rejected

24:56

God's word, who fell into sin. And a great example, watch, is Jesus actually says that they are an evil and adulterous generation.

25:06

It's something significant. Jesus, the Bible uses the term adultery, spiritual adultery, a number of times.

25:13

I'm going to show you one key place. Are you ready for this? Keep your finger there in Matthew. Go to Ezekiel 16.

25:19

I want you to see the text for yourself. In the Old Testament, God had some very, very strong words for his people when they fell into sin.

25:30

I want you to hear this one, because the adultery theme comes in. Ezekiel 16.

25:37

It says, verse 1, again, the word of the Lord came to me, son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations and say, thus says the

25:46

Lord God to Jerusalem. Now, he's talking to Jerusalem, and he talks about the fact that God brought her to himself in covenant as his wife.

25:58

Verse 8. When I passed by you again, I saw you. Behold, you were at the age for love.

26:04

I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the

26:13

Lord God, and you became mine. Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil.

26:21

I clothed you with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk, and I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck, and I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head.

26:38

This is where God expresses his love for facial piercings. Isn't that amazing?

26:44

Oh, I love it. I've just paused here for a moment. Don't you love when evangelicals set up a standard of piety and how you should look and dress that literally makes

26:56

God look like he's sinning? So, for example, a lot of times people today will look at, say, some people we might have on staff and say, look at that facial piercing.

27:08

I can't tell you how many troll comments I've deleted of people saying, facial piercing. You're obviously of the devil because you have facial piercings.

27:15

And I'm like, have you not read what was spoken to you by God?

27:22

Ezekiel 16. And when God wants to talk about how he beautified his wife, he said, I covered you,

27:27

I bathed you up with these fine things and jewelry. He's like, I gave you a facial piercing. It was beautiful, right?

27:35

We were in Australia and my daughter Imogen wanted to get a facial piercing. I don't know why it had to be

27:41

Australia, but it was Australian. So, we went to get the facial piercing. I remember when she got the facial piercing in Australia, a lot of our

27:48

Australian brethren were like, should we have invited him to our conference, right?

27:55

They were like, did you know that your daughter got a facial piercing? I'm like, not only did I know, I helped pay for it, right?

28:02

Why? Because it's straight biblical, baby. Ezekiel 16. Anyway, so in the text, watch what he does though.

28:13

Watch, you're going to see what he does. He says, after he beautifies her, watch, it gets heavy now.

28:19

Verse 17, you also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you and made for yourselves images of men and with them played the whore.

28:29

You took your embroidered garments to cover them and set my oil and my incense before them. Also, my bread that I gave you,

28:36

I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey. You set them before you for a pleasing aroma and so it was, declares the

28:41

Lord. And you took your sons and your daughters whom you had born to me and these, you sacrificed to them to be devoured.

28:49

Were your whoring so small a matter that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them?

28:58

And all your abominations and your whorings, you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.

29:05

He says in verse 26, you also played the whore with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, multiplying your whoring to provoke me to anger.

29:13

So what he does here, and I won't belabor the point of Ezekiel, just watch. He accuses his people constantly of spiritual adultery.

29:22

He says, we're married. We're married. Jeremiah 31, 31. Behold, I'll make a new covenant.

29:31

Right? He says, not like the covenant that you broke, even though I was a husband to you. I'll make a new covenant.

29:37

I'll put my law within you. He says, he's going to be the husband of his people. They're the bride.

29:43

In the Old Testament, he says, I made you my wife. I took care of you. I loved you.

29:48

I washed you. I beautified you. And your response to it all was to go on and be a harlot and chase all these other foreign nations, doing what they were doing, engaging in adultery.

30:00

And in this text, Jesus says to people who know their Bibles, when they say, give us a sign,

30:07

Jesus, he says, evil and adulterous generation.

30:13

He says, you're a perverse. You're perverse. You're already, you're already so linked up with paganism.

30:21

You've already so abandoned covenant with God. You're already showing that you're the harlot wife.

30:28

You can't even see what's right in front of you. They've so forgotten God's word and are so now tangled up with all these pagan practices that all

30:38

Jesus can say evil and adulterous. You're going to tell the son of man that I have to give you a sign.

30:46

This is God in the flesh. He's literally in the text, just given somebody their eyes back.

30:55

And they're like, not enough. Give us a sign. Right? And that's how it is too. Every day with the unbeliever, the unbeliever lives every day like that.

31:03

You can look at this and you can say, oh, phooey. They saw a blind person get their eyes back and they're still asking for a sign.

31:10

And we do it every single day. Every day, God shouts to you in creation itself.

31:18

Every day, you see the beauty of God, the glory of God, not whispering to you, screaming at you.

31:24

He fills your lungs with air. He causes your heart to beat. He moves you into the world and fills your belly with food.

31:31

You look out every night in Arizona and watch that sunset. And it is just the most banging glorious sunset.

31:38

God is an artist and he does every night, a show more spectacular than any human artist has ever done.

31:45

And then unbelievers will say things like, I need a sign. I need God to appear right here on this stage to show me that he exists.

31:52

Every single day is a sign par excellence that God is who he says he is.

32:00

And unbelievers constantly say, give me a sign. Give me a sign. Give me a sign. And they show that's the unbelieving heart.

32:06

And God's people were the same way. They say, give us a sign, Jesus. Oh, was it not enough that I exorcised the demons?

32:12

Was it not enough I gave sight and hearing to people? Was it not enough that I got that guy off of his bed and gave him legs who was paralyzed from birth?

32:20

Is it not enough I raised a little girl from the dead? Is it not enough I raised a little boy from the dead? Is it not enough that I multiply the loaves?

32:26

Is it not enough that I gave you all these signs? And they say, give us another one. Give us another one. And Jesus says, evil and adulterous generation seeking after a sign.

32:36

And that's what the Jews do, by the way. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1 .22, he says that the

32:42

Greeks seek wisdom, right? Philosophy, logic, right? And by the way, we,

32:50

I'll tell you what, it's actually pretty compelling. When you read what Aristotle wrote and Socrates, and you read the philosophy of like the

32:59

BC era and the first century, when you see what was going on with the Epicureans and the

33:04

Stoics and you see what they were saying, I'll tell you what, it feels like us, this modern generation, all of our wisdom and knowledge, we can't compete with some of the rigor in which they thought.

33:16

It was intense. And the Greeks, they were like, give me the logic. I want rationality, empiricism, reason.

33:23

Give me the facts and the logic. It's how they thought. And Paul says, Greeks, they seek wisdom.

33:29

He says, Jews seek after signs. And that's what they're doing here.

33:35

Like, give me a sign, Jesus. Give me a sign. And what's the truth?

33:40

I wanted to point you to that first Corinthians passage, to that passage for this major thing.

33:46

The Greeks seek wisdom. The Jews seek signs and miracles. And they hear the word of the cross, this lowly broken

33:56

Messiah, the sky from Nazareth, no red carpet, no glorious flowing robes, no rings on his fingers, no money, no military.

34:09

They hear the word of the cross and it is Maria, foolishness, moron.

34:16

You worship a dead, crucified Messiah. It was foolish. It was foolish to the

34:21

Pharisees. Give me a sign. No, I'm going to die and rise again, which is what Jesus said. Here's a sign

34:27

I'll give you. I'm going to go into the earth. I'm going to rise again. There's your sign. I'm going to be crucified.

34:32

And what do they say? The Jews say, Maria, foolishness. And Jesus in Matthew 12, after pointing to what they will get, and that is three days, 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.

34:54

Watch what Jesus says. This is where it gets into the so what. Listen closely. So what? So what? So what? How does this apply to me?

35:01

He says this, the men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it for they repented of the preaching of Jonah and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

35:17

The men of Nineveh. So here's, what's interesting about the whole conflict is

35:24

Jesus says, here's the sign that you'll get. I'm going to die and rise again. That's what you'll see. And he says, and here's your condemnation.

35:33

Here's, here's why you're so condemned. He said, Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah.

35:42

They repented because they heard his message and they turned to God and they're going to rise up on the judgment.

35:48

Here's that day of judgment theme again. It's coming. There will be a day of reckoning. There's going to be a day of justice.

35:54

You'll never avoid it on that day of judgment. They're going to rise up and they're going to condemn you because they repented at the preaching of Jonah.

36:01

He says, you've got something greater than Jonah here and you won't turn. You won't listen.

36:07

It's right in front of your face and you won't turn. And I fear, listen,

36:13

I fear that that is all of us. We get so callous.

36:20

We're so cavalier about life. We constantly try to avoid death.

36:26

We don't want to think about it. And it's in those moments, those precious moments of death, that all of a sudden our eyes start to open.

36:40

We have, right, we have these glimpses in our lives, don't we? When we try to avoid death so often, we try to forget about eternity.

36:46

We forget about the fact that we are on the precipice of eternity constantly every moment. We're not promised the next 10 minutes, the next 20 minutes, the next 20 days.

36:55

We forget it constantly, but those little glimpses come into our lives where death enters, right? All of a sudden, it's like a breath of air.

37:03

You go, oh now, now I realize mortality. Now I realize my own finitude.

37:11

I realize my own fallible nature, my own brokenness. I realize the disharmony of the world, and they didn't get it.

37:20

Here they are at the precipice of eternity. Judgment is going to fall on them in that generation. They didn't believe it, and they didn't respond.

37:27

And my fear is that that is our nature as humans. We don't actually face the fact that there is a day of reckoning.

37:38

We don't face the fact that there is a day of judgment ahead of us. We try to skirt it. We try to avoid it.

37:44

I was at a church this morning, given the honor and the privilege of preaching about abortion to a group of almost 300 teenagers, and it was hard.

37:56

I want to be careful how I say this, because I want to make sure I highlight the fact that I was honored, and it was a privilege to do what

38:02

I did. But it was, it was really hard, because this, this, these, it was a youth group, but this youth group,

38:12

I mean, there was the, it was the, literally, literally, and Marcus is like, at least they're playing your music,

38:21

Jeff. It was, it was just this beat, and there were lights, and like, you know, telling you, it was like, wow, this is intense, right?

38:33

And the whole thing was like, you know, on fire, and rocking, how's everyone doing today? All right, woo! And, you know, it's like, everyone's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, and it was just like this intense sort of like, yeah, and party, and great,

38:44

God is good, and fun, and blah, blah, blah. All of a sudden, it was like, I was in the back going, how am

38:49

I going to talk about abortion? How am I going to bring abortion into this scene, right?

38:59

And I was praying, God, God, help. I'm in the, I'm in the back going, God, help me. I don't know how this is going to happen.

39:06

How am I going to come and talk about the murder of children, and God's demands on us to come and die?

39:13

And how am I going to do that in the context of this? So, while it's all going on, it was like, you know, it's just intense.

39:19

God is good. All of a sudden, it was like, all right, everyone, we're going to pause for a moment.

39:24

We're going to talk about the death of a 17 -year -old that we knew, and let's have a moment of silence. And it was so, it was such an awkward, like, pow, right?

39:34

Excitement, and music, and noise, and pow, and yes, and oh, and then, okay, now death.

39:39

And all of a sudden, it was like, whoa, that didn't feel right. And they said, let's have a moment of silence.

39:46

And they go, everyone, let's have a moment of silence. I go, okay, good, all right. And they go, okay, let's have a moment of silence. All right, great, guys, let's go.

39:54

It was like, that's all we get. That's all we get, because we don't want to do is face eternity and think about deep and hard things.

40:04

Now, I'm not dissing this church. I'm saying that's what we do. It's what the Pharisees were doing, the scribes were doing, is we want to put eternity out there.

40:12

We don't want to, we want to face the revelation of God and respond to his prophetic teaching. We just want to think about it later.

40:18

We don't want to face the consequences now. We don't want to think about the implications now. They didn't either. And so Jesus says, there is a day of judgment and they're going to rise up against this generation and condemn it because they actually repented at the preaching.

40:34

And you won't do it. You're demanding a sign. And so Jesus says, the queen of the south 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, someone greater than Solomon is here.

40:50

So Jesus says, and here, we're finishing on this point. Jesus says some key words

40:57

I want you to focus on. I want you to study. I'm going to give you your homework and I want us to do it together.

41:04

He says, this generation, the men of Nineveh, Nineveh verse 41 will rise up at the judgment with this generation.

41:13

And he says it again at the, uh, at verse 45, he says, then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits, more evil than itself.

41:23

And they enter and dwell there. And the first date of that person is worse than the last date of the person is worse than the first.

41:29

So also will it be with this evil generation? So I want to point us to a specific text as an anchor.

41:38

So do this with me, keep yourself in Matthew 12, and just take a look over at Matthew chapter 24.

41:44

It's another significant moment where Jesus uses this terminology in Matthew chapter 24, verse 34.

41:53

Jesus says, truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

42:02

Heaven and earth will pass away. My words will not pass away. There's a key text.

42:08

There are prophecy books galore written on the moments in the gospels, particularly

42:15

Matthew, Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, where Jesus says this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

42:24

The reason I'm pointing you there is that it's a hotly disputed text where oftentimes

42:30

Christians will load their system into the text and read it into the text of the

42:37

Bible and not let it speak. And because of that, we get bad eschatology. Because of that, we have books like Hal Lindsay's books.

42:46

Because of that, we have prophetic movements that terrify people and pull Christians out of engagement with the world.

42:53

There are consequences. But here's a moment in Matthew 12 where Jesus says, this generation.

43:01

Now there are people who have tried to suggest that generation, the

43:06

Greek word genea, G -E -N -E -A, genea, have tried to suggest the generation can mean race, as in human race.

43:18

And I want to just read to you guys a portion of Gary DeMar's article on this generation.

43:29

And here is DeMar responding to Norman Geisler trying to say the generation can mean race.

43:40

He says, one of the foundation stones of dispensationalism in particular and futurism in general is the claim that this generation in Matthew 24, 34, either refers to a future generation, the generation that sees the signs, or the

43:57

Jewish race. Norman Geisler, in his critique of Hank Hanegraaff's The Apocalypse Code, argues that the

44:04

Greek word genea should be translated as race. He writes, quote, as virtually all acknowledge, it can mean this

44:14

Jewish race will not pass away, which it has not. Greek experts aren't in Gingrich acknowledge that the term genea can have an ethnic use of family, descent, clan, then race.

44:28

Now here's DeMar. Notice that Geisler says can have. The problem is there is no place in the

44:35

New Testament where genea is translated as race. None. And the lexicon cited by Geisler does not point to a verse where race would be the appropriate translation.

44:46

Moreover, Geisler does not tell his readers that the Greek English lexicon that he cites also states that genea, generation, means, quote, the sum total of those born at the same time expanded to include all those living at a given time.

45:07

And this is important. Reasons for rejecting this race as the correct translation of this generation.

45:14

There are at least four problems with translating genea as race instead of generation. First, as we've seen, the

45:20

Greek word used in Matthew 24, 34 is genea, a word that in other contexts means generation.

45:27

Try using race where generation appears in these verses. Matthew 1, 17, 11, 16, 12, 39, 41, 42, 45, 16, 4, 17, 7, and on and on.

45:40

It's in your bulletin. Here's Matthew 1, 17, where I've translated genea as race.

45:48

Quote, so all the races from Abraham to David are 14 races. From David to the deportation to Babylon, 14 races.

45:57

And for the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, 14 races. Here's the point. Geisler even admits that in other contexts, genea means generation, but claims that it can have a different meaning in a, quote, prophetic context.

46:10

What is the basis for this line of argument? Where are the examples? He never tells us. Second, if Jesus wanted to say that this race will not pass away until all these things take place, he would have used the

46:22

Greek word genos to clear up any confusion. He uses genea, not genos in Matthew 24, 34.

46:30

Now here's the point. Why do I point this out? Here's why. You're going to start to see this. We're seeing it now in Matthew 12.

46:37

This generation, this wicked generation, adulterous generation, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

46:45

And the word generation means what you think it means. The people living at that time, those contemporaries.

46:54

And so why emphasize it at this point in the message when we're not in Matthew 24 yet? Here's why.

46:59

Because we have to have a consistent and meaningful biblical hermeneutic.

47:07

Hermeneutics is the art and science of biblical interpretation. And what that means, watch. The Pharisees used to pour into the text of the

47:14

Bible their traditions, right? We just talked about that. What we can't do as Christians is follow their lead.

47:22

What we need to do is take the word of God and let it speak. Amen? We let it speak to us.

47:28

We let it tell us the story. We engage in exegesis, drawing out of the text what it means and not what?

47:38

Eisegesis, pouring into the Bible foreign meetings. The Greek word genea means what you think it means.

47:44

Generation, those people living at that time. And the warning here to them, very simply.

47:53

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

47:59

So also will it be with this evil generation. The warnings are coming now about that generation and why.

48:08

This is where you do a first full circle back to the beginning of the message. Because the Old Testament promised that the coming of the

48:14

Messiah and his kingdom, twofold. One, purification and salvation to God's people.

48:21

And two, judgment upon the covenant breakers. And here's the end. They didn't listen.

48:28

They did not believe him. It's to the degree that Paul can say in Romans 1, your faith is being proclaimed throughout the entire world,

48:38

Colossians 1. The gospel has been preached to every creature under heaven. That's massive success in the first century.

48:45

But there's a flip side to that and that's Paul's discussion in Romans. Why has the word of God failed?

48:54

If Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, then how come there aren't a lot of Jews following Jesus? So did it fail?

49:02

And Paul's argument is what? What does God say in the Old Testament? I've reserved for myself 7 ,000 that have not bowed the knee to Baal.

49:12

God has his remnant, Paul says, right? He's got his people. He's preserved his people.

49:19

It hasn't failed. And you have the Jewish people moving alongside the Gentile Christians in one body, moving through that first century.

49:28

And they know judgment's coming on that generation. And they're moving through trusting Jesus. And all of a sudden, in the 60s of the first century, that's when everything began to drop.

49:38

Nero starts coming against the Christians. Now you've got Rome and the Jews coming against Christians, persecuting them.

49:45

Josephus records that the famine was so bad, one woman is recorded as cooking her child and eating it and offering it to people passing by.

49:55

The famine was so bad in the city, they were eating manure to survive.

50:01

One of the worst earthquakes in history was in Pompeii in the 60s of the first century. There were wars and rumors of wars,

50:09

Josephus says. It was like the entire world was going to war against itself. Everybody fighting against everybody after the

50:16

Pax Romana, the peace of Rome. Very confusing time. There were false messiahs, false teachers.

50:23

There were families turning over families to the authorities, brought before synagogues and tribunals, brought before kings.

50:32

Nero persecuted the church. He was trying to destroy the church. He had Paul killed. He had Peter killed.

50:39

He tried to kill John. Church history says that the apostle John was boiled in a pot of oil by Nero.

50:46

He didn't die. Nero was superstitious, so he sent him into exile to Patmos, and that's where John wrote the book of Revelation.

50:53

The warnings in the New Testament, just say this quickly, the warnings in the New Testament. The kingdom of heaven is at hand,

51:00

Matthew 3 .12. Who warns you to flee from the wrath about to come, Matthew 3 .7. His winnowing fork is in his hand,

51:06

Matthew 3 .12. What will the owner of the vine growers and will give the vineyard to others?

51:17

They, the priests, the scribes, and the elders understood that he spoke the parable against them, Mark 12, 9 through 12.

51:24

Mark 13 .30. This generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Luke 3 .17.

51:31

The winnowing fork is in his hand, Luke 21 .22. These are the days of vengeance in order that all things which are written may be fulfilled.

51:40

Luke 21 .32. This generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Here we go, listen.

51:48

Luke 23 .28 through 30. Jesus, did you, watch, oh man, when

51:54

I got this it was like a light bulb. I could never understand this.

52:00

It seemed so out of place and so strange, I have to confess it. It was like, what in the world is that doing there?

52:06

I don't get it. Jesus is now beaten, tried, and he's going to his crucifixion.

52:14

This seems so out of place, but when you understand the story, you say, I get it.

52:22

Jesus and Luke 23 .28 through 30. On his way to the cross, listen, daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

52:37

For behold, the days are coming when they will say, blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.

52:46

Then they will begin to say to the mountains, fall on us, and to the hills, cover us. That's Jesus on the way to the cross.

52:53

They're weeping for him. He says, don't you weep for me, weep for yourselves.

52:59

The days are coming when people are going to think you're blessed for not having children that have to go through this.

53:06

He warned that generation that judgment was coming. They're like, give us a sign, give us more. Come on, Jesus, just one more step.

53:12

Just give us a little more. Come on, now prove yourself to me, God. And what's Jesus doing? He points them constantly back to the

53:18

Word of God. He says, you're not listening to the Word of God. You reject the revelation of God. Have you not read?

53:26

Even the parable Jesus gives to the Pharisees of the rich man and Lazarus, when they're in, when he's in torment, he's like, please just send someone back.

53:35

Just send someone back. Let them know how awful this place is. And what is, what does he say to them?

53:40

He says, they have Moses and the prophets. If they won't listen to them, they're not going to believe if somebody comes back from the dead.

53:50

What's the point? When the revelation of God comes into your life, brothers and sisters, listen, please, when the revelation of God comes into your life, respond today.

54:01

Today is the day of salvation. Don't wait. You don't know when that day of judgment is coming.

54:08

You don't know when that day of reckoning is coming. You don't know when God calls you to account for all the light that you've been given.

54:16

And we have light constantly poured into us. But do we respond to it? And Jesus confronts the people of his day because they wouldn't respond to the revelation of God.

54:27

And in that generation, they faced it. They faced it full on. Before that generation passed away, that temple was destroyed.

54:35

They set fire to it. They were dispersed. I mean, completely dispersed and slaughtered.

54:41

Josephus says the blood was flowing through the streets. Do you know who the only people to escape the war between the

54:48

Romans and the Jews? You know, the only people that escaped that war were the Christians that had heard

54:54

Jesus say that that generation would not pass away until all those things take place. And he gave them a warning.

54:59

He said, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you flee. Don't go get your coat. Don't go do it.

55:06

You leave then. And they did. They fled to a town called Pella. They knew judgment was coming. They responded.

55:13

How do you respond to the word of God? Do you want more? You want more from God?

55:19

You want more of a sign of his love? Do you want more testimony to his goodness towards you?

55:26

His kindness and his compassion and mercy? How do you need to respond today?

55:33

That's really what you should see, right? Like, okay, I see that they got, like, the rough end. But how do

55:39

I respond today? Can I ask you? When you get the revelation of God into your life about you being a father to your children, how do you respond?

55:50

No, I need more, God. Give me more discipline. Give me more time. Give me more,

55:56

God. Like, I need more from you, God, about, like, being the father that glorifies you and loves my children.

56:02

Like, how do you respond? Are you waiting for, like, more signs? Something else from God?

56:07

Or do you just respond? Like, I hear you, God. I'll respond. Or are you like the Pharisee and the tax collector and the scribes?

56:15

How about being a mother to your children and loving your husband, respecting your husband? Do you need more?

56:23

More time? More discipline, maybe? More signs? How about your calling that God has called you to in your life?

56:31

Do you need more from him? Or will you just say, here I am, Lord. Send me. I'll go.

56:37

I'll risk. I'll lay down. I'll give it all I've got. What do you need to respond to God with today?

56:44

Are you waiting? Or will you just respond? My hope and prayer is that through this study, we do see that when

56:53

God says He's going to do something, He does it. He's faithful.

56:59

He cannot lie. He keeps His promises. So our response to the Scriptures should be, if God says it,

57:07

I believe it. If God says it, I will do it. And we ought to respond with humility to God when

57:14

He speaks. We say, yes, Lord, here I am. Send me. God, I'll obey.

57:20

How is God calling you to obey today? That's the question. Let's pray. Father, I pray that the message today is something that,

57:31

Lord, changes us. God, we are all guilty. We are all guilty, Father, of hearing your word and not responding, and hearing your word and demanding more, hearing your word and not believing, hearing your word and being nearsighted and not farsighted, not thinking about the future.

57:53

Father, please make us into people that hear your word and say, yes,

57:58

Lord, that hear your word and believe you at your word, that hear your word and don't test you,

58:07

Lord, that believe, that respond.

58:13

God, give us the strength to do so. Give us the strength to be faithful single people, faithful fathers, faithful husbands, faithful wives and mothers, faithful children.

58:24

Lord, not for our glory, but for yours. Father, you say that in your presence is fullness of joy.

58:33

In your right hand, there are pleasures forever. Lord, let us enter into that by obedience and response.