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Please turn with me in your Bibles 
to Matthew chapter 16 as we resume our exposition of the first gospel. Matthew chapter 16. I do want to read the chapter. 
We are focusing this morning on verses 1 to 4, but it is helpful 
for us to understand structurally what's going on at this point 
in the Apostles revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ and his 
ministry. So, beginning in chapter 16 at 
verse 1. Then the Pharisees and Sadducees 
came, and testing him, asked that he would show them a sign 
from heaven. He answered and said to them, When it is evening, 
you say, it will be fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the 
morning it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and 
threatening. Hypocrites! You know how to discern 
the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the 
times. A wicked and adulterous generation 
seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the 
sign of the prophet Jonah. And he left them and departed. 
Now when his disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten 
to take bread. Then Jesus said to them, Take 
heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. 
And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have 
taken no bread. But Jesus, being aware of it, 
said to them, O you of little faith, why do you reason among 
yourselves because you have brought no bread? Do you not yet understand, 
or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many 
baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four 
thousand, and how many large baskets you took up? How is it 
you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? 
but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Then they understood that he 
did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the 
doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. When Jesus came into 
the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, 
who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? So they said, some 
say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of 
the prophets. He said to them, but who do you 
say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, 
you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus answered 
and said to him, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh 
and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is 
in heaven. And I also say to you that you 
are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. The gates of 
Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys 
of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will 
be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed 
in heaven." And he commanded his disciples that they should 
tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ. From that time, Jesus 
began to show to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem 
and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and 
scribes, and be killed and be raised the third day. Then Peter 
took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, Far be it from you, 
Lord. This shall not happen to you. 
But he turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan. You are 
an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of 
God. but the things of men. Then Jesus said to his disciples, 
if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and 
take up his cross and follow me. For whoever desires to save 
his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will 
find it. For what profit is it to a man 
if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will 
a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will 
come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He 
will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to 
you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death 
till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. Amen." 
Well, let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, we come 
now to the Scripture and we pray for Your Spirit's ministry and 
guidance in our minds and in our hearts. We confess our sin, 
our transgression, our iniquity. We pray for cleansing in the 
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We ask that you would help us 
to receive with glad hearts the word of the living God. Help 
us to see in this passage the glory of our Savior, the glory 
of our Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. And may we worship him, may we 
love him. May we walk according to his will in the scriptures. And God, for any and all who 
have come here this morning outside of Christ, we pray that today 
would be the day of salvation. As we sang that weighty hymn 
concerning the great God of judgment, and the reality that we will 
all stand before you to give an account of deeds done in the 
body, Whether good or evil, I pray that Your Spirit would take these 
things and apply them to hearts and cause people here to realize 
that there is a day of reckoning coming. There is a day of judgment. There is a heaven to be blessed 
with or a hell to suffer. We ask God Most High that You 
would reach down in Your mercy and in Your grace and in Your 
love and save to the uttermost. God, we know that with men it 
is impossible to save a soul. but we appeal to the God of omnipotence, 
we appeal to the God of sovereignty and glory, the God who has purpose 
to save a great multitude which no man can number, and we pray 
that you would be merciful this day. Save sinners, we pray, and 
we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, as I said, 
we've come to a new section, or at least beginning in chapter 
16 at verse 20, we see the third major section in the Gospel of 
Matthew, the announcement that the Lord Jesus goes or is going 
to Jerusalem. That then is the climax of the 
ministry of Christ from 1620 on to chapter 28 at the very 
end. In this particular section we 
have seen in chapter 14 where the Lord Jesus fed multitudes 
and where the Lord Jesus healed multitudes. In chapter 15, Matthew 
records the same sort of thing for us. In Matthew 15, Jesus 
heals and Jesus feeds. The only difference is that in 
chapter 15 we see Him primarily in Gentile country, Gentile territory. So we see that Israel's Messiah 
is also purposing to save not only Israelites, but also Gentiles 
in accordance with the promise made to Abraham. And here in 
chapter 16 Matthew again gives us something of the varying responses 
to our Lord Jesus. In chapter 16 verses 1 to 4 we 
have this delegation of Pharisees and Sadducees that that test 
him. That is one manner of response 
to Christ. On the heels of that we have 
Peter's confession that thou art the Christ, the Son of the 
living God. There are two ways, or one of 
two ways, that you can respond to Jesus. You either receive 
him, confess him as Lord and Savior, or you reject him. There's not a third option. There's 
not some sort of a limbo position. You cannot say that I'm just 
sitting on the fence. I'm either with him, but I'm 
not against him. No, the scripture testifies, 
he who is not with me is against me. And if you're here this morning 
and you're not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, take notice 
of what goes on in this particular chapter. It ends on a note of 
judgment. when Matthew records for us at 
the end of verse 4, and he left them and departed. Yes, that 
is geographical in nature. He leaves Magdala, they go back 
across the Sea of Galilee, and ultimately they go all the way 
up to the northern part to Caesarea Philippi. But it's not simply 
a statement of geography, it is a statement of judicial punishment. The Lord has departed from them. There is no more offers, there 
is no more grace extended. There is no more invitation to 
these enemies who continue to withstand it. And you need to 
ask yourself this morning, how do you know that tomorrow is 
going to come? This past weekend, two men died. Well, probably 
a lot more than two men died, but two men that I'm familiar 
with. Ian Paisley passed away on Friday morning. Many of you 
who are connected with the Free Presbyterian Churches will remember 
that particular name. He is in glory. Another man by 
the name of Jimmy, a particular man that had cancer. Joe Ditta 
had been speaking the gospel to him over several months. The 
Lord saved him. That man is now with Christ along 
with Ian Paisley. But how many died this weekend 
in a Christless state? How many died this weekend and 
launched into eternity, but instead of the bliss and the glory and 
the joy of heaven, ended up in eternal torment? You see, this 
is the reality that we fight so hard to try and deny. This is the reality that we fight 
so hard to try and escape. And I want to appeal to young 
people and children very often. You don't think beyond today. 
You may not think beyond the next meal. You may not think 
beyond the next play date. But you need to consider the 
reality. You are either with Him or you are against Him. And 
then in this unholy alliance of Pharisees and Sadducees, we 
see the exact opposite response to those who believe, those who 
receive, and those who want the Lamb of God who takes away the 
sin of the world. So let's look at this section 
in verses 1 to 3 under three considerations. the demand for 
a sign, secondly the display of hypocrisy, and thirdly the 
description of their generation. But notice first the demand for 
a sign. It speaks of Pharisees and Sadducees. These are the two groups. They're 
mentioned again by Matthew in Matthew chapter 3 and verse 7, 
when they come out to investigate the ministry of John the Baptist. Now, if you know anything of 
biblical history, you'll know that Pharisees and Sadducees 
didn't get along together at all. In fact, they were enemies 
of one another. They were two rival factions. 
What we have in the Pharisees are literalists, those who insist 
upon the literal interpretation of the Word of God. They are 
those who love the law of God. They are those who affirm, or 
at least in their version, they love the law of God. They affirm 
the supernatural. They affirm the resurrection 
from the dead. They affirm those particular 
realities. The Sadducees are just the opposite. 
They're sort of the rationalists of the first century. As J.C. Ryle says, they were skeptics. They were free thinkers. They 
were half infidels. They denied the resurrection. 
They denied anything beyond the grave. They denied spirit beings. So you couldn't have two parties 
that were more at odds with one another, but note their unholy 
alliance when it comes to targeting their expressed enemy, the Lord 
Jesus Christ. Spurgeon says it is the way of 
the wicked to become friends when seeking the overthrow of 
the kingdom of heaven. You see, when man despise the 
living and true God, all sorts of coalitions will come together. All sorts of alliances will form 
and band together. David wrote of this in the 2nd 
Psalm. He said, why do the nations rage 
and the people plot of vain things? In verse 2 he says, the kings 
of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together 
against the Lord and against his Christ. You see this played 
out in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, not just with Pharisees 
and Sadducees, but in Luke 23 and verse 12. There's another 
alliance formed when it comes to opposing the common enemy, 
which is Jesus Christ. The text is specific concerning 
Pilate and Herod. Previously they were enemies. 
They had no truck with one another. They didn't have any camaraderie. 
They were not friendly to one another. But when it comes to 
dealing with Jesus Christ and neutralizing that perceived threat, 
they became friends. And the same is true in this 
instance. The Pharisees and the Sadducees 
come to Him and then notice the reason for their particular demand. It tells us, and testing Him, 
asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. Their purpose 
in addressing the Lord Jesus Christ is the same purpose that 
the devil had in the wilderness in Matthew chapter 4. They test. They tempt. They are soliciting 
him. They want him to engage in a 
particular activity, hopefully, so that he'll fail and they can 
expose him as the fraud that they believe him to be. But Matthew 
tells us very expressly what their intent upon. And notice 
as well in the context, the contrast couldn't be sharper. What have 
we argued? That Jesus was in Gentile country. Jesus was in Gentile territory. Jesus is worshipped there. The 
God of Israel is magnified there. When they see His signs, when 
they see His wonders, when they hear His doctrine, they praise 
God from whom all blessings flow. And now the Sadducees and the 
Pharisees, the very religious leaders in Israel, they come 
to test Him. They come to expose Him. They 
come to try and show Him as a sham, as a charlatan, and as a fraud. 
Matthew wants us to see these varying responses to the Lord 
Christ. Not just so you can say, wow, 
that's interesting. Look at the way people differ 
concerning Christ. But Matthew as well is calling 
upon you to say, how view you Christ? You know, when Jesus 
says, who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? It is an 
interesting thing to see how the disciples respond to that. 
But we need to also ask the very important question, who do I 
say that Jesus, the Son of Man, am? Who do you say this morning? Is He your Lord? Is He your Savior? Is he your king? Is he your prophet? Is he your priest? Is it as a 
result of his precious blood that you have the forgiveness 
of sins and a righteousness that now avails with God? Is Christ 
altogether lovely and chief among ten thousand as the bride describes 
her bridegroom in the Song of Solomon? Is Christ everything? Is He that pearl of great price? 
Is He that exceedingly great treasure? If He's not, pay attention. If He's not, then listen. If 
He's not, then believe by the grace of God and come for the 
salvation of your souls. What we have in the Pharisees 
and the Sadducees is a diabolical attempt on the same parallel, 
on the same line, as the devil to try and trip up our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Note what they say specifically. 
Testing him, they asked that he would show them a sign from 
heaven. They wanted some other phenomena. They wanted some other 
manifestation. The fact that he raised the dead, 
the fact that he gave sight to the blind, the fact that he cast 
out devils from men, the fact that he did all that, that wasn't 
enough for that. He was a sign from heaven. We 
want something that we can really sink our teeth into. Osborne 
says, as in 1238, they demand a heaven-sent spectacle like 
the Exodus signs that forced the Hebrews to believe. Though 
in reality, the Jewish leaders want Jesus to be unable to deliver 
such a sign. You see, they're asking for this, 
not because they genuinely want to know, they're asking him with 
the hope and intention that he doesn't snap his fingers, cause 
the heavens to open, and bread to fall. They don't want him 
to do that so they can try and expose him as a fraud and get 
popular opinion against him. These are wicked, devilish, vile 
men who oppose the Lord Christ. That is what is happening in 
this particular instance. They say they want Jesus to satisfy 
their carnal criteria in order to prove that He is God's Messiah. Sounds like many today, doesn't 
it? We want you to do this, and then we'll believe. We want you 
to provide evidence, and then we'll believe. We want you to 
fix my truck, and then we'll believe. We want you to heal 
my malady, and then I'll believe. Who do we think we are to put 
upon God a criteria that He must subject Himself to? Where does 
man get off thinking that he can pose tests to the living 
and true God? Who do these Pharisees and Sadducees 
think they are, trying to expose Jesus and trying to highlight 
what they believe is fraud in his ministry? Again, it's very 
similar today. The Sadducees disappeared with 
the destruction of the temple in AD 70. But they still live 
on in spirit, the rationalists. Oh, there's no evidence for the 
proof of the existence of God. He hasn't made a personal appearance. He hasn't done wondrous and mighty 
things. Oh, certainly He has. It's just 
that you reject it without giving it any thought whatsoever. You 
rule at the outset that such things are impossible and therefore 
you're not going to believe. So Jesus now displays their hypocrisy 
in verses 2 and 3. They understand weather patterns. 
You know what Jesus is saying here, essentially? You men are 
able to look up into the starry heaven. He uses the same word. 
You're able to look up into the sky and conclude whether or not 
to take an umbrella to work on the next day. But you can't look 
in the heavenly book of God. You can't see heaven's Messiah 
serving man in ministry and understand Him. Look at what he says in 
verses 2 and 3. When it is evening, you say, 
it will be fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the morning 
it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening. 
There's some textual question as to its place in the tradition. It belongs there. This is similar 
to the saying that we imbibe today. Maybe you didn't hear 
this. My father, having been in the Navy, I had heard this 
on occasion. Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in the morning, sailor 
take warning. I'm not a meteorologist. Perhaps 
we should have consulted with Ruslakate. But a red sky at night 
indicates no rain or storm in the forecast. A red sky in the 
morning, however, says that there will be rain or there will be 
storm. And you see what Jesus says to 
these men, when it is evening you say, it will be fair weather 
for the sky is red. And in the morning it will be 
foul weather today for the sky is red and threatening. They 
have an ability to discern the sky. They have an ability to 
discern the heaven. They have an ability to discern 
natural phenomena. The Lord Jesus is masterful here. 
They're probably going, yeah, of course. Of course we know 
this. This is a maxim that is common. 
Everybody knows it. Perhaps not sailors, but maybe 
shepherds would say the same thing. Red sky at night, shepherds 
delight. Red sky in the morning, shepherds 
take warning. Yeah, we know all this, Lord 
Jesus. Just snap your finger and give 
us a sign. Calvin says, it is certain that 
a hundred signs would have had no greater effect than the testimonies 
of Scripture." This is Christ's point. Notice verse 3, right 
about the middle, hypocrites. They're not hypocrites because 
they can forecast the weather. They're not hypocrites because 
they understand this metaphor. They're hypocrites because they 
are religious teachers in Israel. These are religious leaders in 
Israel that know more about whether the sun is going to shine and 
the rain is going to fall. They are more able to predict 
the presence of rain than to understand the prediction of 
the prophet Isaiah concerning the coming of the servant of 
Yahweh. This is why they're hypocrites. 
Not that they understand natural phenomena, but that they don't 
know theology. They don't understand who Christ 
is. They have missed this by a mile. It doesn't do you any good to 
understand meteorology. It doesn't do you any good to 
understand economics, to understand politics, to understand whatever 
it is your particular niche is. If you don't understand who Christ 
is, that's the point. Hypocrites, you know how to discern 
the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the sign of the 
times. The signs of the times here does 
not refer necessarily to eschatology. He's not talking about, you know, 
what's going to happen in the millennium with them. It's talking 
about the signs of the times in terms of the dawn of God's 
Kingdom. Remember? His announcement at 
the outset of His ministry? Repent. Why? For the Kingdom 
of God is at hand. and the fact that the Messiah 
promised through the Scriptures is now here present in their 
midst. This is the point. You know whether 
or not to take an umbrella to work and you've missed Isaiah 
the prophet? You've missed the Messiah who's 
in your presence? You've missed theology and yet 
you call yourselves the doctors, the teachers, the leaders, the 
elite in Israel? This is wrong. This is bad. The 
signs of the time should have been discernible through their 
written scriptures. There's a good lesson here for 
us in terms of hermeneutics. We need to read the Old Testament 
the way the apostles read the Old Testament, not the way Pharisees 
and Sadducees read it. That may not have a lot of significance 
for you right now, but stick around. We need to read the Old 
Testament the way the apostles read the Old Testament, not the 
way the Pharisees and the Sadducees read it. And as well, the signs 
of the times should have been discernible in Christ's doctrine 
and in the multitude of signs that He had done. Carson explains 
it this way. He says, they, the signs of the 
times, testify to Jesus and the kingdom now dawning. The proof 
that they cannot discern the signs is that they ask for a 
sign. If you're awake and you're trafficking, 
you should have smiled at that. So everyone who didn't smile, 
you need to wake up. Just kidding. They, the signs 
of the times, testify to Jesus in the kingdom now dawning. The 
proof that these men cannot discern the signs is that they ask for 
a sign. When they say to him, show us 
a sign from heaven, they are confessing we don't have a clue 
what Isaiah was talking about. We don't have a clue what Zechariah 
was talking about. We know nothing of Jeremiah. 
We know nothing of Moses. We know nothing of the prophets 
and we know nothing of the writings. Added to that, we know nothing 
about the messianic expectation. We know nothing about the reality 
that Christ is in our midst doing wondrous things to confirm and 
affirm that the hand of God Most High is upon Him and that His 
doctrine is heavenly itself. That's what they're saying. We 
don't have a clue. You see, the description hypocrites 
fits them very well. And I think the description hypocrites 
fits men today, if they can't explain basic Christian doctrine, 
but they know about everything else that's going on in the world. 
If a man stands behind a pulpit and he can't explain the very 
basics concerning the nature of God, the triunity of God, 
and the system of justification, he has no business being there. 
When the leaders of Israel bounce around saying, yeah, it looks 
like it's going to rain tomorrow, and they miss Christ in their 
midst, they ought to wear the moniker hypocrites. Carson goes 
on to say, for those with eyes to see the signs of the times, 
if not the kind of sign the Pharisees and the Sadducees demanded, they 
were already abundant. They were already manifest. The ones with eyes to see, when 
they witness the presence and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
how do they respond? They worship. They follow. They adore. They receive. You see, the proof is in the 
pudding, as it's well been said. Somebody says to you, here's 
this big bowl of brown stuff. Eat it. It's good pudding. And 
you dig your spoon in there and you pull out some mud. You know 
it's not pudding, right? I mean, you may not be a rocket 
scientist, you may not be the brightest bulb in the chandelier, 
but you know the difference between pudding and mud. The proof is 
in the pudding. Those who have eyes to see, wonder, 
marvel, and worship at the presence of Christ. Those who do not, 
say, give us more signs. Give us more proof. Submit to our scrutiny. Do what we say. Jesus was not 
Houdini in the first century, galloping from town to town simply 
to make men marvel and stand amazed at his prowess and his 
ability over the natural phenomena. Jesus is the Son of God Most 
High. Jesus is to be believed on. Jesus is to be received. Jesus 
is to be worshipped. Jesus is to be loved, adored, 
and Jesus is to be followed. You see, if this morning you 
make the good confession, but if somebody took a spoon and 
went in there and they got out a bunch of mud, they would say, 
there's no pudding present. There's nothing there that legitimizes 
this claim, this profession of faith. You see, those who see 
Christ as the Bible sets him forth, worship Christ as the 
Bible sets him forth. And these Pharisees and the Sadducees 
were wicked men. That brings us thirdly to consider 
the description of their generation. There's a parallel passage to 
this section in Matthew 12 at verses 38 and following. And there Jesus says the same 
thing concerning them. Notice how offensive Jesus is. 
Today, he would be brought up on charges for being so unkind 
and so untoward. You can't call them an adulterous 
generation. You can't say things like that. You can't tell them they're wicked. Don't you know you'll bother 
them? Don't you know you'll hurt their feelings? Don't you know 
they might cry? Jesus is not shaped by popular 
opinion, and Jesus also does not subscribe to political correctness. Jesus tells it like it is. When the Pharisees and the Sadducees 
come to demand a sign from Him and they're testing Him, Jesus 
doesn't satisfy their curiosity, Jesus doesn't have a rationality 
session with them, Jesus doesn't debate them, Jesus points out 
their hypocrisy and describes the entirety of their generation 
with these two descriptors. They are wicked and they are 
adulterous. That's Jesus' tact. Now with reference to this statement, 
a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, his audience 
would have understood. Sadducees did receive the five 
books of Moses. Pharisees received the entirety 
of the Old Testament. It was in the book of Deuteronomy 
where God, through Moses, is telling the people what they 
looked like when they were in the wilderness. How did the people 
do in the wilderness? Were they upright, God-fearing, 
servants of Jehovah Most High? No. If you've ever read any of 
the Pentateuch, you'll see that they were whining, grumbling, 
complaining, sniveling babies that wanted to go back to Egypt 
so they could eat garlic and leeks and onions. How does God describe them through 
Moses on the plains of Moab in the book of Deuteronomy? They 
are an evil generation. They are a perverse and crooked 
generation. They are a perverse generation. Deuteronomy 1.35, Deuteronomy 
32.5, Deuteronomy 32.20. When Jesus speaks to them of 
being a wicked generation, he is telling these religious leaders 
that you are parallel to these men who rebelled against God 
in the wilderness. When he describes them as adulterous, 
one need only spend a few minutes in the prophets to see how many 
times God's servants, the prophets, told the nation that they were 
guilty of adultery. Not physically, necessarily, 
in terms of a man-woman relationship, though they did that often. But 
adultery, as the prophets used it, was with reference to their 
relationship to God. God was their bridegroom. They were in covenant with Him. And so when they went out and 
worshipped Baal, or Asherah, or the various deities in Cana, 
or when they bowed to themselves, whether it be through money or 
prestige or power, or they just were really happy about themselves, 
they were committing adultery against the living and true God. 
Those of you who are using McShane's calendar read some of this in 
Ezekiel over the last couple days. In Ezekiel chapter 16, 
God indicts the nation, and he uses language that offends our 
delicate sensitivities. The only translation that I can 
find that actually translates verse 25 literally is the New 
American Standard Bible, where God, through Ezekiel, says to 
the nation of Israel, you were like a harlot spreading your 
legs to every passerby to multiply your harlotry. Now I think at 
times we in our 21st century situation say, wow, that's indelicate. Wow, that's not good. Wow, we 
shouldn't translate that literally. And we miss the point. What's 
more offensive? The way God explains our sin? Or the sin that we commit against 
God? It's like standing downtown holding 
up those signs with reference to the abortion situation. People 
come up and say, well that's not very nice, holding up a picture 
of a butchered baby. They're hung up on the sign and 
they miss the reality. Not, wow, it's terrible that 
we live in a situation where murdering babies in their mother's 
womb for cash and convenience is acceptable. The real crime 
is standing up and holding a sign that points this abomination 
out. You see, we're messed up. Don't 
translate 1625 literally because it might offend or it might cause 
some parents over lunch to have to explain things to their children. 
Pastor Butler, don't you know how difficult this is going to 
be? God will give you wisdom, brother. He wants you to see 
that when the covenant community turns from Yahweh and bows to 
Baal, it's adultery. How many times do we get upset, 
and rightly so, over a man who's unfaithful to his wife? How many 
times do we get upset about a woman who's unfaithful to her husband? 
And we should! But how many times do we just 
take it in stride when men are unfaithful to the living and 
true God? And then when God describes it through the prophet Ezekiel 
using language that is very, very real, we say, well, that 
doesn't sound nice. You know what God goes on to 
say through the prophet Ezekiel? You're not even a harlot like 
other harlots. Most harlots accept payment for 
services rendered. You pay. You pay your suitors. That's how bad it was in Israel. So when Jesus says a wicked and 
adulterous generation seeks after a sign, understand that He is 
bringing weight to bear upon these men. Understand that He's 
taking Scripture and He's laying it in their laps and He's saying, 
Thou art the man! You come seeking, demanding a 
sign from the Glorious Christ to satisfy your carnal lusts, 
and you don't realize that you live among a nation that is wicked 
and adulterous? Hypocrites. Hypocrites, he says 
to them. Notice, a wicked and adulterous 
generation seeks after a sign. Imagine that. Ken Ham debating 
Bill Nye. And Bill Nye says, give me a 
sign of the existence of God. And Ken Ham says, you're a wicked 
and adulterous man. Debate done. We want some interaction. Throw 
down with him, Ken. He did, just like his master 
would. Now, there's time for rational 
debate. What Ken Ham did, I'm not faulting. 
I'm just suggesting that if someone were to enter the fray and do 
that, they would be within their biblical rights to do so. You 
don't seek a sign from the living and true God. You bow before 
the living and true God. You don't hold out your hand 
for blessing before you'll believe. You don't put conditions on the 
God of heaven and earth. You don't say, if you do this, 
or if you do that, or if you go, I'll believe. You bow. You submit. You take Jesus Christ 
as He's freely offered in the gospel. You believe. You hold 
on and you never let go. That's what the scriptures tell 
us. You're in no position to bargain with the Most High. You're 
in no position to come to the table and say to him, if you 
do this, then I'll accede. If you do this, then I'll do 
you the favor of following you. No. That's not right. What Jesus 
says to these men who demand a sign is that they are hypocrites. And he says that no sign shall 
be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. Spurgeon 
says it was not lack of evidence but the sad depravity of their 
minds which set them upon seeking after a sign. And therefore the 
Lord would not satisfy their unhealthy craving. It's not going 
to be a sign given to you. It's not going to be those things 
that you approve of. It's not going to be those things 
that you say, well, yeah, that affirms or confirms. And that's 
one of the problems we face today as Christians. We go out and 
we try to prove everything about the Bible. Again, I'm not suggesting 
we don't engage in rational debate. I'm not suggesting that we don't 
present what our confession says concerning the excellencies of 
Scripture. We don't tell men what's going on in terms of the 
unity of the whole and the consent of all the parts. It's not that 
we neglect that, but we need to understand the final reality 
that men are not persuaded by this unless the power of the 
Holy Spirit comes upon them. We can't change the heart. We 
seek by the grace of God to shut their mouths, but we can't change 
their heart. Jesus says that a wicked and 
adulterous generation seeks after a sign and no sign shall be given 
to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. Again, chapter 
12 helps us understand what Jesus is after in this particular situation. 
First, we need to understand that the Lord Jesus accepted 
the story of Jonah as a historical reality. He doesn't say, well, 
what that narrative was attempting to portray What that fable was attempting 
to teach in Israel, what that fictional account of a man being 
swallowed by a great fish was designed to teach us. No, he 
doesn't do that. Jesus accepts the prophet Jonah. Jesus believes in an infallible 
and inerrant Bible. Jesus speaks from the authority 
of God's Word. He says to these men that no 
sign will be given except the sign of the prophet Jonah. The 
prophet Jonah, as we know, I hope, was functioning in a typical 
capacity. And by typical, I don't mean 
routine and normal. I mean that he was a type of 
Christ. What happened to Jonah when he 
was swallowed by that great fish? Some actually believe, and I 
don't think there's anything outlandish about this, that he 
really did die. Whether he died or he lived in 
the belly of that great fish, when he was vomited out on the 
dry ground, what was he typical of? Well, Jesus tells us, just 
like Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days, so 
will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth or the belly 
of the earth for three days and three nights. What happened there? He dies and he is resurrected. He dies and he is raised from 
the dead. As Jonah dies, he is resurrected. When Jonah was walking around 
the streets of Nineveh, he was preaching, repent. And he's also 
preaching, God is the God who not only sees men die, but also 
raises them from the dead. The prophet Jonah, with a particular 
emphasis with reference to the prophet Jonah, is upon the death 
and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the sign 
that Jesus says Israel will see. And for the most part, Israel 
as a whole will reject Isn't it interesting? What does Paul 
say in 1 Corinthians 1, 21-23? He says, "...for since, in the 
wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God. It pleased 
God through the foolishness of the message preached to save 
those who believe." He then makes this incredible statement. He 
says, "...the Jews seek after a sign, and Greeks seek after 
wisdom." And then he says, "...but we preach Christ crucified." 
Isn't it intriguing? He's following his master. Because 
when these Jews seek after a sign, what does Jesus do? He preaches 
Christ and Him crucified. If Jonah typifies Messiah, the 
sign that is coming to this generation is the death and resurrection 
of the Lord Jesus. You don't need signs, you don't 
need phenomena, you don't need all of these things. You need 
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ preaches Christ 
crucified when he is asked to produce a sign. You see the lesson, 
I hope? Somebody asks you for a sign, 
what should you say? You should point them to a crucified 
and risen Savior. You should point them to the 
Lord of glory. You should show them what the 
scriptures say concerning this blessed Redeemer who alone has 
salvation. And, you know, it's also intriguing 
when Jesus does this. If, in fact, Jodah, and I believe 
he does, typifies the death and resurrection of Jesus, what did 
I say about the Sadducees earlier? I know we're going back like 
40 minutes. That was a long time ago. They denied the resurrection. Jesus gives them one of these, 
right? These men don't even have a concept of afterlife. They 
don't even entertain the reality of spirit. This is why in 21-22, 
when there's all these debates, it's the Sadducees who come to 
Christ and say, Master, Teacher, let's suppose that a man has 
a wife. And this man dies, and then, 
or the other way around, it's escaping me right now. I guess 
that's what I have to look forward to in elderly age. Whose wife 
will she be in the resurrection? The Sadducees are trying to debunk 
the reality of resurrection. That's the point. They don't 
believe it. They don't hold to it. So when 
they say he had or she had six or seven subsequent husbands, 
when we get to the resurrection, whose wife will she be? Ha, ha, 
is what they're doing. Where does Jesus go? He goes 
to the burning bush passage where Yahweh says, I am the God of 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I am presently. What's the implication? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are 
in his presence. There is a resurrection from 
the dead, Sadducees. And Jonah typified it. The Son 
of Man will undergo it. He will be crucified at the hands 
of godless men. He will be delivered up. He will 
spend three days in the tomb. And he will bolt from that place 
again. He will rise from the dead. He 
will ascend on high. He will lead captivity captive. 
And so many within this A wicked and adulterous generation would 
just reject it, and despise it, and loathe it, and abhor it. 
And that brings us to his departure. I've already indicated this. 
The end of verse 4. And he left them and departed. He left them and departed. Geography 
to be sure, but justice as well. You see, from here on out, brethren, 
when he goes down to Jerusalem, and it's a long trek. Caesarea 
Philippi is way up north. It's going to take some time 
to get down to Jerusalem. There's a couple places named 
in Galilee on the way. But in terms of the Galilean 
mission, it's over. The ministry of Jesus in Galilee 
at this particular point in his earthly ministry is over. He's 
not going to do miracles in that region again. He's not going 
to speak the Sermon on the Mount in that region again. He is now 
on a specific mission, a specific purpose. As he announces in our 
passage, verse 21, from that time Jesus began to show to his 
disciples that he must go to Jerusalem. And we know why he 
must go to Jerusalem. It is to be the antitype. It 
is to be the fulfillment. It is to be the realization of 
what the prophet Jonas signified. The Son of Man will die. The 
Son of Man will be raised from the dead and all those who by 
the grace of God believe on Him will have everlasting life. Well, in conclusion, we see first 
the hypocrisy of the religious leaders. the hypocrisy of the 
religious leaders. They could read natural phenomena. 
They knew the little quip, red sky at night, sailors delight, 
red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. But they missed 
the prophet Isaiah. You see, as a general rule, if 
you can predict rain tomorrow, but you haven't figured out who 
Jesus is, your life is in a shambles. Your life is in a mess. We sometimes 
look at very learned people in society and we say, wow, they're 
brilliant. Wow, they've got it all figured 
out. Wow, they've got it all going on. Their PhDs, they know 
quantum mechanics and those sorts of things. But they don't know 
Christ. I'd rather be a five-year-old 
who knows and understands the God of Westminster Shorter Catechism 
number four, than being a PhD in quantum mechanics who doesn't 
know Jesus. What's the psalmist say? The 
law of the Lord makes wise the simple. Isn't that good news 
for us simple ones? What else does the psalmist say? 
He says, your ordinances, your statutes, your commandments make 
me wiser than my instructors. You little ones, if you're in 
school or you meet somebody and they start denying the person 
and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they have all this 
learning after them, if you just simply rehearse some biblical 
truth, it will have the same effect as that stone in David's 
sling when he swung it around and he hit Goliath in that giant 
head and knocked him to the earth. It's the word of God that's important. 
They could not read their own scriptures or interpret the ministry 
of Christ. And look at how arbitrary they 
are. We don't accept that you've raised 
people from the dead. We don't accept, I mean, we accept 
that you've done that, but it doesn't satisfy our curiosity. 
See, it's never enough with people. If you start playing that game, 
well, can you prove to me this? Can you prove to me this? It 
never stops, does it? Matthew Henry said it this way, 
they had great plenty of signs. Every miracle Christ wrought 
was a sign, for no man could do what he did unless God were 
with him. But this will not serve. They must have a sign of their 
own choosing. They despised those signs which 
relieved the necessity of the sick and sorrowful, and insisted 
upon some sign which gratified the curiosity of the proud. Davies 
and Allison, who have probably the most comprehensive critical 
commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, made some incredibly perceptive 
spiritual statements. Now, that shouldn't be taken 
as odd as I just made it sound, but you don't expect that in 
a commentary like this. They said the truth, I'm sorry, 
they said the account paints a telling picture of sad men 
who professing to want evidence, in fact, refuse to see the proofs 
right in front of their noses. They're standing with the one 
of whom Isaiah prophesied. They are standing before the 
one who told Jairus' daughter, little girl, get up. They are 
standing before the one who cleansed a paralytic, or who healed a 
paralytic. They're standing before one who 
cleansed a leper. He's right before their noses 
and they're saying, give us a sign, give us proof. Isn't that how 
you feel when somebody says, how in the world can you prove 
that God created everything? Don't you want to just do this? Show me a factory that can duplicate 
that. Show me a factory that can put 
together a human eye. I don't mean fix it or put a 
contact lens on it, but one who creates all things from nothing 
by the word of His power in the space of six days and all very 
good. You see, there's no shortage 
of evidence. It's just that the unrighteous 
man, as Paul tells us in Romans 1, suppresses the truth in unrighteousness. He will not bow before God, he 
will not confess God, but in his hardened heart he continues 
to reject. He continues to refuse. Secondly, 
in the passage we learn, concerning the response of Christ, first, 
he does not satisfy carnal curiosity. He doesn't do that. Sometimes 
this bothers people. Why doesn't God just do this? 
He's God and you're not. There is a creator-creature distinction. There is a different chain of 
being. God is not us. Secondly, He does 
not submit to carnal scrutiny. You see, in all of our studies 
and in all of our searchings and in all of our understanding 
of scripture, we ought never to approach it in this way, as 
if to take the God of the Bible off the shelf and put him on 
the slide and look through our microscope so that we can scrutinize 
him. No, the better posture is from 
a position of great humility simply to gaze and wonder and 
seek by his grace to understand what he has revealed. Thirdly, 
he does rebuke them for their religious hypocrisy. Hypocrites. Again, not because they understood 
weather phenomena, but because they understood that missed Messiah. 
Fourthly, he does declare the prophetic word and his own ministry 
is sufficient. What happens with the rich man 
and Lazarus? What does the rich man say? Oh, 
send someone to warn my father and my brothers. What's Jesus 
say? If they have the word of God, 
if they have Moses writings, they've been warned. They've 
been advised. They've been informed. They have 
been instructed. They need to heed that. And fifthly, 
he answers the request for a sign with a declaration of the truth 
of the gospel, his death and his resurrection. Now as we close, 
we do have these sorts of people living in our day. I've already 
alluded to them along the way. There are the rationalists, there 
are those learned professors, there are those who fancy themselves 
as those who will not do anything unless they have scrutinized 
the evidence. They're certainly out there. 
There are those as well that say, unless the Lord bless me, 
or unless the Lord give me, or unless the Lord do for me, I 
will not believe. Well, you may be someone like 
that. You may be the type of person 
that says, you know, unless I get more evidence, I'm not going 
to believe. You might even be the type of person that says, 
I have this injury, or I have this illness, or I have this, 
you know, mother, or cousin, or friend, or something going 
on that's really terrible, and I'm asking the Lord to intervene, 
and when He does intervene, well, then I'll cast my lot into His 
camp. But if He doesn't give me what 
I want, well, then I'm simply not going to follow Him, because 
that means that He's Really not there. You may be that person. If you 
haven't gotten it up to this point, let me say it again. You 
are in no position to bargain with the Living God. You are 
in no position to try and finagle the system so that you benefit. The only position that you ought 
to adopt is as one who understands something of His holiness and 
something of their own sinfulness as one who flees to the Lord 
Jesus Christ for rescue. You know what I often suspect 
that with the rationalists and with those who just want blessing 
before they believe, I even think those are masks. I think that's 
a put on. Well, if he doesn't satisfy this 
demand for evidence, then I won't believe. Or, if he doesn't give 
me what I ask for, then I will not believe. I think sometimes 
those things mask an even more foundational problem. I want 
my sin. I want to do what I want. I want to break the Ten Commandments, 
or at least most of them. I want to live as if I'm an island 
unto myself. I don't want God to rule over 
me. I don't want this one to tell me what to do. I find my 
portion in Lot among those men in Psalm 2. We will not have 
this God and this Christ to reign over us. What are they seeking 
to do in their mutiny? They're trying to cast off the 
moral bind or the moral bonds that hold them. There might be 
someone here. Might be young people, might 
be old people, might be some in our midst. You know, it's 
not as technical as I need proof or I need blessing before I believe. 
It's just as simple as I'd rather sin and rather live how I choose 
than do what the God of heaven and earth says. Whatever camp 
that you might find yourself in, realize this. There is a 
day coming, and we sang of it in Hymn 240. There is a day coming 
that the Bible everywhere speaks of, when you will stand before 
this Christ. You will stand before this Lord 
of Glory. You will stand to give an account 
of deeds done in the body, whether good or evil. Isn't it horrible 
when you have to confess something to somebody and they ask for 
the details? You know, a child does something. 
Say, yeah, I did it. What did you do? Well, you've 
got to kind of detail it so that your parents know the full implications. 
It's tough, isn't it? Having to tell the worst part 
of you. I can only imagine what the Day of Judgment is going 
to be like. For those who cannot say, foul I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. For 
those who give an account, for those outside of Christ, for 
those not clothed with the righteousness of another, they will stand before 
the just judge of all the earth. And the only way to prevent that 
inevitability in terms of judgment and punishment and hell is to 
flee to Christ now. You may not be a Pharisee, you 
may not be a Sadducee, you may not remember how I even defined 
or described these men, but this much is true. You are a sinner 
before a holy God, and He will punish, He will judge, and He 
will cast out. The way that Christ departed 
from Galilee is the way that ultimately sinners will depart 
from His presence. Belief! Come! receiving as he's promised in 
the scripture. That's the good news of the gospel. 
That's the good news that the prophet Jonah typified. That's 
the good news that our Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled. Well, let us 
pray and ask God to take these things and put them in our hearts. 
Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the truth. 
We thank you for the ministry and the aid of your Holy Spirit. 
And we appeal specifically to him now to come and to take these 
things and to penetrate hardened hearts. God, I pray for young 
people. I pray for children. I know they're 
raised up in an environment that is godless and unrighteous. And we see so many things in 
this world that that offer temptation and solicit to evil. I pray that 
from their youth they would remember their Creator, that by the grace 
of God Most High they would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and 
they would be saved. And for adults here, God, I pray 
that we'd all look in our own hearts, that we'd all examine 
ourselves, as Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians. And we pray, or 
I pray, that each and every one of us would be heaven-bound, 
not because of our own righteousness, but because of the righteousness 
of Jesus Christ our Lord. God, we pray for the family of 
Pastor Paisley, we pray for the family of this man Jimmy, we 
pray that you would comfort them. We know these are grievous times, 
these are sorrowful times, but God, cause them to remember that 
they grieve not like the world. And we pray that you would look 
with favor upon us now and watch over your saints here. And we 
ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.