Sophisticated Fools - Part II Matthew 16:1-4

Last week was part one of our sermon through Matthew chapter 16 verses 1 through 4

We looked at the first three and a half verses and this morning We are going to look at the end of verse 3 and verse 4

The reason we are taking so much time to focus on such a small portion of scripture that there is so much relevance in these verses to our present day and It's worth meditating

Carefully on what the text says and its relevance to what we are seeing in the world that we live in So at this time

I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me to Matthew chapter 16 And if you see one of those red

Bibles is on page 976 this two

Sunday sermon is titled sophisticated fools We'll begin by reading the whole text if you if you missed last week's sermon

It is on the website so you can listen to that But here's a but before we jump into the the sermon here

I'm going to begin by reading here verses 1 through 4 and the

Pharisees and Sadducees Came and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven

He answered them when it is evening You say it will be fair weather for the sky is red and in the morning

It will be stormy today for the sky is red and threatening 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 here's a big idea once again

Understand that sharp minds often miss the things of God and Our first reason why that we saw one week ago is that rebellious humans?

intentionally miss God's Truth here's our second reason and this will be the focus of this morning

Sharp minds often miss the things of God and the second reason why is that rebellious humans are blind to God?

orchestrated events Happening before their eyes Rebellious humans are blind to God orchestrated events happening before their eyes

Now in the first point we looked at how unbelievers generally miss the things of God They have no problem rejecting

God in his word because they are inconvenient to their sinful lifestyle We saw that quote last week from Elders Huxley the offer of the brave new world where he told them

Honestly, this is why we are atheists. This is why we reject the

Bible. This is why we reject God It's because it's not convenient to our sinful lifestyle

Now in the second point we are going to zero in on what they are specifically Missing when

Jesus is talking to the Pharisees Pharisees and Sadducees In the second of verse three he tells the

Pharisees and Sadducees that you cannot interpret the signs of The times so they miss the signs of the times

So not only are they missing the general realities that God is creator That they are sinners that they need saving and the judgment is coming

But they also miss the major events orchestrated by God Happening right before their eyes

Now when you hear the phrase the signs of the times this brings to mind a prophecy fulfilled in the latter part of history

Well, we must understand about the Old Testament is that it only told of one coming of the

Messiah We know now that there are two comings of the

Messiah because we get later revelation from the New Testament When Jesus came the believing

Jews thought that Jesus was going to restore the kingdom of Israel We know this because in the beginning of Acts Right before Jesus ascends to heaven.

What did the disciples say to Jesus? Will you now? Restore to us the kingdom of Israel and by the way, this is this gives a clear evidence that there will be a 1 ,000 year reign of Christ because that is what the 1 ,000 year reign of Christ is is fulfilling

God's promises to Israel Just as they are laid out in the Old Testament and the disciples rightly

Expected there to be a kingdom of Israel where Israel will be a superpower

Where Christ will reign from Jerusalem and where he will wrap up world history

Before the eternal state that is coming, but that was not

God's plan for it to happen right then the New Testament Gave new revelation that revealed that there would be a gap in history

Between the first coming of Christ and the second coming this was news to them

Almost 2 ,000 years have gone by since Christ ascended to heaven with this in mind

We have been in the last days for almost 2 ,000 years The Messiah came

When he came the first time to pay for sins But at his second coming it will be to judge the world and gather his people as Hebrews 9 28 says so Christ Have you been offered once to bear the sins of many?

Will appear a second time not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him

What Jesus is telling the Pharisees and Sadducees is that this book that they say that they believe

This book from where they draw their history foretold the Messiah And what

Jesus is telling them is that he is that Messiah And yet this long foretold

Messiah They want nothing to do with him He stands right before him we don't want you we want a

Messiah of our own Imagination and Jesus goes after him here as we saw one

Sunday ago They can observe the regular activities of the world right sailing was so big at this point in history

When the sky is this way It's safe. You know, you know what weather is coming when it's this way.

It's threatening. You're not gonna set sail You can observe the world that you live in but you cannot observe the things of God Now it's interesting reading this as those who live in 2021

When we see the phrase signs of the times this should perk our attention The world has always been a crazy place.

But what we see in our present time is unique February 2020 before kovat seems so far away.

Does anybody remember that world? I Don't the world was different then in March 2020 everything changed

The whole world shut down from kovat 19 those first few weeks felt apocalyptic

I'm fascinated asking people who have lived 60 70 80 90 years like Elvin and Susan If they have ever seen anything like this and their answer is the same

They haven't these are people who lived through the Great Depression Pearl Harbor World War two the

Kennedy assassination and 9 -11 Those events rattled the world but still

Nothing like what came on this earth in March of 2020 It's not just the virus all the other things that happened as well

And if one wants to learn about the end of the world, there is only one place to look This book right here has the answers

The Bible tells us clearly how this world is going to end. I Notice a trend in our day where a lot of theologians are trying to Explain away the details and pretty much just say let's just understand the theology of the end times

You know the the big picture of the character of God and and things like that, which is true But the details are in the book and he wouldn't have given us the details if he didn't want us to know them

So let's study the details. The Bible tells us clearly how this world is going to end and when the secular world

Puts forward theories about how the world will end. I remember reading watching a show one time

Ten most likeliest what likeliest ways the world will come to an end and they were talking about black hole

Gamma -rays, I mean things like that Really interesting interesting showing anything nice thing about is the

Christian, you know that none of these things are gonna happen But still the world actually believes these things something is going to happen

The most recent one I've heard is that the Sun is gonna run out of juice Like six billion years from now and everybody's so sad.

I don't know But there's only one

Place where we get the true answers about this world's final days And that's the Word of God the place to look more than all others in Scripture is the book of Revelation The first three chapters of the book is historical as Jesus addresses the seven churches

But the rest of the book describes future events events that have not yet Happened and there's a war on this in Christianity, by the way

People are trying to say well all these events happened in the first century Hogwash, they did not happen in the first century.

There's 100 pound Pieces of ice that are gonna fall from the sky

That hasn't happened historically not even close half the world's population is gonna die

That hasn't happened historically. This is all future this ancient book

Talks about a one -world currency. What when does that happen? It's a one -world government a one -world ruler and a one -world religion

During most of the last 2 ,000 years it was hard to see how this would all be set up this is so because of a lack of technology a

Lack of technology meant the world had to be regional Powerful people and powerful governments could only control smaller regions

But this is not so anymore in recent years we have seen a globalist movement develop

People in this world have always been evil. But when the world is regionalized evil is restrained

Look at the Tower of Babel They all come together and God says this isn't good these people are gonna come up with some really evil plans

So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna spread them all over the earth Evil leaders in different corners of the earth are unable to unite

Unless you have technology Which we have We have a globalist movement that has developed and there are even politicians talking about a one -world currency

Evil governments use crisis to gain power and what we have seen not only in this country But also all over the world is that governments have gained more control over people's lives

We still have a lot of freedom where we live but other places not so much a place like China Has very little freedom and countries are becoming more like China Australia is

One example of this and in our country, there's every effort to control

Americans as well Right now in America what we are seeing is half democracy and half oligarchy

Now what the founders planned by the way? What is an oligarchy an oligarchy is a small percentage of powerful people?

They come together to run the country in America right now.

It's the federal government the mainstream media Secular universities big tech like like Facebook and Twitter By the way, we have a

Facebook account. They haven't they haven't censored us yet, but we're on there large corporations like coca -cola and Apple and Walmart and Hollywood Why is it that sports leagues are moving all -star games out of cities because the local government did something they didn't like It's because the federal government and large corporations are working together

To advance an agenda and when states make laws that go against that agenda, they show the power that they have

You see this was censure censorship When someone with influence post something that hurts their agenda that threatens their powers, so they take it down The oligarchy is real and I hope all of us see that and they're not for you

Okay, understand that They're not for you Now in America, we still have some form of a democracy because our founding fathers

Made it very difficult for a small group of corrupt powerful people to take over this country

But these powerful elitist institutions are trying to run the country and let me tell you that this power structure is not going away

Okay, we know how the Bible in but the good news is

There is resistance and the resistance is made up of mostly common people like you

But this is the future of America There will be this ongoing

Cultural civil war between corrupt powerful people and ordinary people who know evil when they see it and want to fight against it

As Christians, we need to be a part of the resistance Okay, let me say that again.

We need to be a part of the resistance Ever seen Star Wars kind of like that, okay

Now I've wrestled with this right? Okay. Let let me let me let me be very clear on something

Being part of the resistance does not mean being vulgar. It does not mean using tactics that are sinful

It means doing what John the Baptist did It is not lawful for you to take her as your wife

Or what Jesus did? When he called out evil leaders or what the prophets did or what the

Apostles did? We want to be like them not Going in the sewer.

Okay, I'm gonna be very clear on that and the goal is Two things we pray for repentance.

We call for repentance and we call for justice If repentance doesn't come then we want justice

King David Always was calling for justice against his enemies and we should do the same right?

We want to be biblical That's the whole goal here And with those common people who see evil, but are not born -again

Christians What an opportunity it is to share the gospel with those people. I know those people in my own life They are trying to hold on to the good of this country, but may we offer them the greatest hope

Jesus Christ He will destroy every evil power in the future and those who belong to him will dwell with him in forever glory

That's what we can offer people It is the only thing we can offer people that truly matters that truly lasts

But as we think about what is happening in this country and in our world How many Christians recognize the times that we live in?

Go back to the second verse three He's telling this to the

Pharisees and Sadducees So do we recognize the signs of the times that we live in?

The Christian who thinks that what is happening in our country and in the world is normal and that those who are raising concerns are alarmist

You know an alarmist to someone who yells fire when there is no fire People who say that you know, there's nothing to see here.

These people are overreacting Those people are either dishonest or ignorant

Pastoring in these times is much different than pastoring in 2019 Listen to my service for 2019.

They might sound a little different. I don't know I preach with more urgency today than I did early on in my ministry here because I see evil advance

I See that Christ's return may be very close Evil has accelerated and when evil accelerates

Christians need to pay close attention The message is clear The world's not going to go on forever

This world will come to an end Look at the national can't keep up.

You can't keep up this pace Look at look at the look at the tension and the instability in the

Middle East Can't keep up with this look at China gaining more and more power

Which is an evil government the

Bible describes major events happening around us as birth pains Matthew 24 8 after describing the crises of the world.

Jesus said these are but the beginning of birth pains Now I am a man and I don't know what it's like to have birth pains

But I witnessed my wife experiences during her two pregnancies The way birth pains work is that the closer to the birth you get the greater the intensity of the

Contractions as the contractions increase the birth of the baby is close This is how world history is as The events increase and as the events get bigger and bigger the end is close

What we experienced in 2020 was a big contraction Now you might be asking how close is

Christ's return? I Don't know the answer to that. None of us do

Jesus said in Mark 13 32 that none of us know the day or the hour But when we see these things happen

We should know it is getting closer and we should live in light of that Just like Doug said this morning teach us to number our days that we may have a heart of wisdom

And as we think about the end of the world, we need to talk about how we must live Living with lives of wisdom 2nd

Peter chapter 3 verses 11 and 12 Peter describing the end times tells us this what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness

Waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God And so as we see

Christ return we want him to find us living for him living lives of holiness

Vigilant of his return when in 2nd Timothy, it says who are the ones who are going to be saved?

Those who long to see his appearing May that be us

And while we are here He calls us to live courageous lives.

This is a virtue that is a lacking that isn't talked about much There's a lot of books out there about Living in the home and Living in church life, which is great, right?

We want those things There's books that talk about the gentleness of Christ, which is which is good, right?

Christ is gentle But when is someone gonna write a book about the the courage of Christ?

Has that been written? I don't know. Maybe it has if it has There aren't too many of them. We need courage

We need to be in prayer we need to share the gospel with the lost we need to urge other Christians to wake up and Recognize the times in which we live

There's a big problem with American Christianity. You've heard me tell you this before. I Believe that God is shutting down Christian institutions that are completely missing what is going on I believe

God has removed his blessing from churches that have compromised in order to win the applause of the world

These Christian institutions and churches are calculated in what they say because they don't want to face hostility

They don't want to be shut down They see the climate of society.

They see this oligarchy where the most power is and they're afraid They want to survive in this climate and in order to survive you need to compromise

So these places tone down the message They're not on the front lines in the fight they don't cover certain topics they care what the world thinks of them

They want to draw people. They think that if they take a stand they will lose people but the great irony is

That they are losing people and they're losing the wrong people.

Do you know who they're losing? the Christians who are full of conviction The Christians who want to be courageous the

Christians who want to stand for Christ no matter what that's who they're losing The ones who don't care what the world thinks the ones who will stand on the

Word of God no matter what it costs What a great irony that is any church or Christian institution that compromises severely as so many places have loses

God's blessing How do I know this Look at how

God dealt with Israel in the Old Testament When Israel went after other gods, he removed his blessing their land became a land of famine.

They lost in war They were taken captive by their enemies, but in Isaiah 66 to the

Lord said this This is the one to whom I will look he was humble and contrite and trembles at my word

If you want God's blessing then humbly follow him

Fear him don't fear man. Tell the truth and not just some of the truth, but the whole truth

To the one who does this God is close to you. His blessing goes with you that's something

I'm trying to try to explain to this church is I Want to tell you the whole truth?

Not just some of the truth. I think churches have become places where you know, we just don't we don't go certain places

Why is that where did that come from it and whoever said that I mean it doesn't tell us to do that in here

I mean it comes from a Cultural a car a cultural

Conventional wisdom within Christianity. This is what seminaries tell their pastors who are going to go out into the world

It's so interesting, right? If you look at the Bible, where did Jesus spend most of his time? Away from the institution away from the people

He was in the Galilean region with ordinary people telling the truth before he

Before Christ was introduced. So think about think about this We want to have a pure Christianity Not a watered -down cultural

Christianity In Matthew 10 32 Jesus said everyone who acknowledges me before men

I Will also acknowledge before my father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men

I Also will deny before my father who is in Heaven if you're on a nationally television is

Jesus the only way to heaven Yes Don't waffle around and I see that sometimes they've kind of waffle or just give a clear answer

Yes, if you die apart from Christ, you will perish. That's what the

Bible teaches God is with the one who fears God not the one who fears man

How can God's blessing be on a church or a Christian institution that sees the oligarchy that sees the evil?

globalistic power structure and Strategizes to figure out how we will survive that happens all over the place

Instead of saying we are going to do what's right and trust him to take care of us That needs to be the mentality and there's a spectrum on that Some have compromised a ton while others have compromised less some have compromised just by being silent in Private they believe what

I have explained to you, but they won't speak it publicly This group God is more patient with his blessing is still there

But it could be there more and my prayer and plea is that they join the other churches and Christian Organizations who are on the front lines in this present fight

And what I have observed is that in the world and in America the churches that are thriving the most are the ones that haven't

Compromised and the ones that haven't stayed Silence, isn't that interesting? People are flocking to these places and the ones that are floundering are the ones who have linked arms with the world

Right. God removes his blessing doesn't he and if you stand with God, he will stand with you

But if you cower and compromise, he is not pleased and he will remove his blessing His blessing will only return if bail is removed

When Israel went after bail God forsake them But when but when they turn from him that's when he returned to them in Matthew 6 24 you cannot serve two masters you either love one and you hate the other and Too many

Christians are trying to serve two masters right now What does

God think but what does the world think right? What does

God think that's the only thing we should be thinking about Now unbelievers, of course do not understand the times in which we live

They're clueless. They think the world is going to go on forever The unbelieving liberals think we are going to destroy this planet through carbon emissions

While the unbelieving conservatives recognize that there is a problem and are desperate to fix it

But don't understand that this world will end when Christ returns They don't understand that major events will happen that precede the end of the world.

So they are confused and want nothing to do With the evil that's going on, but they don't know what to do about it.

But as history moves on They don't understand that things will only get worse not better But that's the unbeliever.

What about Christians? As I just mentioned it's sad that so many fail to see the times in which we live

But there is a legion of Christians who do understand who do see that there is a serious problem in the world

That see there is compromise in the mainstream church who do see that Christ's return may be very close and So they live with that urgency

Jesus wants us to long for his appearing we are told in Scripture to long and pray for Christ's return and The more we talk about the

Christ's return the better we will live You think it might be the opposite? Oh, you're just thinking too much of the age to come

No, if we think about the age to come we will live better lives And we are told to long and pray for his return in Revelation 22 20

The Apostle John prays come Lord Jesus But many

Christians are missing the uniqueness of the time we live in Most of the places that are more aware are smaller

Most of these people are unknown But it is just like God to work in this way as Paul wrote in the first Corinthians 1 verses 26 to 27

Consider your calling brothers Not many of you are wise according to worldly standards Not many were powerful not many were of noble birth, but God shows what is foolish in the world to shame the wise

God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. I wonder if I should say this, but I will say it

John Piper Wrote an article that was the worst article he's ever written and What the article showed me

I disagreed with what he said What he said was And it was about the vaccine

What he said was all the pressure is coming from the conservative side And so if you're a conservative

Christian, you should get the vaccine don't listen to those voices And I'm thinking how out of touch is this guy

You didn't understand my family was annoyed at how much

I talked about him at one point Okay, so for me for me to say this. I'm just following the facts.

Okay, and if someone leaves the facts Then my trust goes down okay, and It's it's it's hard to do that because you attach yourself to someone

But it but when you see when you see them veering from the truth, it's it's troubling Okay with the vaccine.

The pressure is not coming from the right maybe a little bit. Okay, I understand to a certain extent Yes, and yet he writes an article about not even mentioning that and mentioning that somehow the pressure is coming from Conservative point

I'm making here is and he's one of many they're kind of you know

They're in this elite bubble of Christianity They're out of touch there are touch with you in the pews and I'm not saying throw away your

John paper books okay, he's written a lot of good things and a lot of things that are glorifying to God and We should hold on to those things and and there's lots of things that I learned from him that I won't give up that and I'm grateful for But there is a disconnect folks who just who just sit in the pews and it's it's and there's a problem and we and I and people need to see that and I hope my prayer for him is that he would see that and that he would repent of that But anyway, just because something is small though just because something is unknown

Does not mean that there's not a great work happening there. This is how God works and in the end one will be able to see

God's great works in small places that makes a great difference in the world and God is glorified through the power that he works in these people and in these places

Think about the Lord of the Rings that take down the evil power, right?

They go they march across all this danger. They go to Mount Doom. They throw the ring and Evil is defeated.

They lived in they lived in the Shire kind of nice me

Jericho a little bit Interesting, okay. I'm just saying God works in small places to show his power

To show that you know, I can use these small people To get my message across Now as Jesus talks with these

Pharisees and Sadducees, he tells them that their intellect is good Okay, we've seen that we've seen that in these verses their intellect is good

They can see the world they live in they can interpret the weather Right. They know that two plus two equals four

They know that when a truck is coming towards you you need to turn away Right, they know the world that they live in But what they don't see are the things of God and Specifically the things of God happening right in front of them.

The Messiah stands before them and they can't see it and They are asking

Jesus here to perform a sign Remember the sign from heaven as verse one says, but he's not going to do it

Why would he do this when the real issue is their unbelieving hearts and this heart causes them to Miss the great work that God is doing right in their midst this is what he says at the beginning of verse 4 an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign the

Pharisees and Sadducees Remember the Pharisees were the unhealthy conservatives the Sadducees are the unbelieving liberals

They have received enough information, but they want more This is not an innocent question asking.

How do I know that you're the Messiah? in a place of discouragement John the

Baptist Asked about Jesus whether he truly was the Messiah who was to come and and you know what?

It was an innocent question. So Jesus responds to him and tells him I am the man who's fulfilled all these

Old Testament prophecies But when the Pharisees and Sadducees ask him they are asking in order to test him

They want to disprove him as the Messiah and they want the people not to flock to Jesus but to flock to them

Like they once did They're jealous. These people used to come after us now. They're going after him

But Jesus says people who ask for a sign like this

Aren't going to receive one He's not interested in giving them a sign because they're in evil and adulterous generation that's what he says in the beginning of verse 4 an evil and adulterous generation

The Pharisees and Sadducees represented this evil. Well, the only sign that Jesus is going to give

Is what he explains in the rest of verse 4 no sign will be given to it

Except the sign of Jonah. That's an interesting answer

What's the sign of Jonah? We've already seen Jesus used this phrase in Matthew 12 verses 39 and 40

When he addressed a different group of Jewish leaders in that passage They asked for a sign and we are right to assume that in both cases

These corrupt Jewish leaders are asking for the same heavenly sign That they thought would disprove

Jesus But what Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees in chapter 12 and what he is telling the

Pharisees and Sadducees in this text Is that they need to pay attention to the story of Jonah and how it points ahead to the

Messiah? That story prophetically pictured what was going to happen to the future

Messiah Jonah spent how many days in the belly of the fish? three

Jesus spent how many days in the earth Jonah was spit out and Jesus was raised out of the tomb

Nineveh listened when Jonah preached and We are to when they hear the message of Jesus Christ and him crucified

Preached that he is risen from the dead That you will stand before him one day and it will either be in blessing or in judgment based on your response to him

What Jesus is telling the Pharisees and Sadducees? Everyone in the world and everyone in this room that this is the only sign you need

You need to believe the testimony of Scripture Jesus would die and rise again and the people would come to know what the sign of Jonah was

The sign of Jonah is the gospel the good news that Jesus died and rose again for sinners

What everyone needs to do is believe the sign and be saved It is the reliable Testimony of Scripture that needs to be believed the unbelieving world does not need more information

Let's go to the best -selling book in the world. That's that's the information you need

Believe the word and when this word is unfolding right in one's midst

No miracle from heaven will do anything People today want to hear an audible voice or see a great miracle and yet they don't read

Revelation They don't see that the end is unfolding right before their eyes They don't see that Jesus came 2 ,000 years ago on a rescue mission to save sinners

And they don't see that this world is marching toward his second coming It's happening right before your eyes.

Don't you see that's what God is telling the world if they can't see this evidence from history revealed in Scripture and present events

Preparing the way for the end no sign will do anything God gives people plenty of information to believe in him and if they don't

Nothing the unbeliever demands will ever make him or her believe in him So as we wrap up this to Sunday sermon understand that sharp minds often miss the things of God and In this text we have seen two reasons why the first reason is that rebellious humans intentionally miss

God's truth The second reason why is that rebellious humans are blind to God orchestrated events

Happening right before their eyes Do not be fooled By intelligent people who reject

God or even people who maybe aren't that intelligent, but just want to live their sinful lifestyle Do not be fooled by anyone who says it's not logical to believe in God When Christians understand the weather and the meaning of life accurately, we are the ones who are being consistent

We are the ones who see the world for what it is We are the ones who have a heart that has been changed by God's grace that is no longer hostile toward God When people reject

God it is not sound intellect It is sin It is sin.

Yes, it's that simple. It is sin and This text clearly explains that and this is a dreadful place to be

But for every Christian God has freed you from this if you have Christ you can interpret the facts of life and also the most important things the things of God and You know the world you live in you can see what's happening around you.

You can see that everything is Marching toward the return of Christ and may that be soon now next

Sunday We will look at Jesus Warren his disciples about the Pharisees and Sadducees After this confrontation he had with them and I look forward to looking at that with you next

Sunday But this time let's power heads in prayer father in heaven

Thank you for your word Lord the sign of Jonah Jesus Christ and him crucified

Thank you for giving Everyone in this room who knows Christ eyes to see that when we see the things of God when we hear the name of Christ joy fills our hearts

You changed us You've given us the Holy Spirit We love

Jesus, and we want to be with him, but thank you

Lord for this instruction for me We're to show us the problems with the world

The reason people miss things is because they're blind to the truth. They've hardened

Their hearts they don't see it Because they've chosen not to see it and there's this blindness that is there and they're bankrupt intellectually with the deepest things of life

Things concerning you So help us to understand this