So these people have a problem with Jesus, and I don't think that's changed in the last 2,000 years.
A lot of people have a problem with Jesus.
And therefore, if they have a problem with Jesus, Jesus said they're going to have a problem with you and with me.
And Jesus said they hated me, so they're going to hate you.
And so he's been stirring it up.
He's been healing people and casting out demons and raising the dead and doing all this stuff.
And it's created quite a stir among the people.
And we looked last time where they were talking about the...
Jesus was talking about when somebody, when God comes in and it cleans up your life.
Right?
And he says it's when the house is stu.
swept and it's cleaned up. Maybe you've had a turn in your life where you're turning away from
some things. Maybe you're doing, you know, some self-help stuff and getting sober and all those
things. Listen, if you don't fill your life with good things, speaking of the Holy Spirit,
It's all for not, right? Now you're just a, you're just a clean person going to hell.
Right? So it's all for not. And so because we have to have the Redeemer, we have to have the one who the Bible tells us we are reconciled by the blood of his cross.
And we have a lot of neighbors in this area in eastern Idaho and, and, and, uh, and, uh, and, and, uh, and, and, uh, and, and, and, uh,
Western Wyoming and stuff that believed that the atonement took place in the garden,
that Jesus atoned for our sins.
No, we didn't.
Right?
He was praying about the atonement that he was about ready to do when he went to the cross
and spilled his blood.
And so we're redeemed by the blood of his cross,
not the drops of blood that was there in the garden,
though that was part of it, right?
That was part of his suffering.
for us. And so he's doing all these things. And here, this woman sees what's going on here.
And we read now in verse 27, and a lot of times I don't know how I'm going to do this when I get up here.
You know, it can be the longhorn preaching thing.
Yen's all heard of the Longhorn preaching.
That's when you make a point over here and a point over here
and a whole lot of bull in the middle.
I've been guilty of that.
Been guilty of some astronaut preaching too.
That's read the text, depart from the text, never to return to the text.
To the text.
But we'll just do this first little tidbit, but we will come back to it before it's all said and done.
In verse 27 through and 28, it says, now it happened as he spoke these things that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to him,
she's seeing all these things happening, pretty impressed.
And she says, blessed is the womb that bore you and the breast which nursed you.
But he said, more than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.
Right?
Blessed are those who hear the word of God.
So this woman's talking about Mary, Santa Maria.
Is it Madre de Dios?
See?
Marcello, is that you?
My amiga.
So he's talking about Mary.
But Jesus said, listen, yeah, Mary was blessed.
Right?
She was blessed.
She bore the savior of the world, my gosh.
She is blessed among women.
And, but like the little gal that I talked to up at the ski hill last week when I wasn't here,
I got to minister into these folks.
And he was a little, they were in their 80s.
And she was from Vietnam.
She had come here in 1975 right after the war.
And she obviously has some Catholic roots.
So you'll pray to Mary?
I said, no, I don't pray to Mary.
Oh, but Mary has power.
I said, Mary has no more power than you and I have.
Right?
And I read this tour and read this scripture tour.
And I said, more blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.
And that's what Jesus said earlier in the book of Luke, right?
Hey, your mother and your brother are outside.
Your family's outside.
And he goes, my mother, my brother, those who are close to me
are those who hear the Word of God and do it.
and so that's a powerful thing and that's something that you and i need but how many christians
do i know that they don't they never pick the bible up they never they never read it and
the older i get the more i see my need for it because it truly does speak life into me and um
Santa Maria had no more faith than you and I.
And so she was the same as us.
Some believe that she was a perpetual virgin.
We know that's not true, right?
Not because we say so.
I had a Catholic woman.
She was kind of ready to throw down.
I thought she was going to take a poke at me.
And I said, no, Jesus had brothers.
She was not a perpetual version.
virgin. And it says it in Matthew chapter 13, verses 55 and 56, he said, is this not the carpenter
son speaking of Jesus? Is not his mother called Mary and his brothers, James and Joseph and
Simon and Judas and his sisters? Are they not all with us? Mary had a quiverful. Her and
Joseph had a quiverful after Jesus was born. And so,
So, but it is interesting.
We're looking at some people in this passage today that are looking for a sign.
Isaiah tells us that was a sign, the virgin birth.
Right?
It was a sign when Mary conceived and bore the Christ child.
But faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, right?
It tells us in Romans chapter 10.
So, yeah, she was blessed.
But no more blessed than what you and I can be.
So now I'm going to read the rest of this passage, and it's 29 through 36.
So if you got a Bible, read along with me, because I read a little slow.
And I might say some words that aren't there.
For some reason I do that sometimes.
But if the Lord strikes me dead, you know,
that I added to when I shouldn't have.
And it says, and while the crowds were thickly gathered together, verse 29, he began to say,
this is an evil generation.
It seeks a sign.
And no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah, the prophet.
For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation.
The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them.
For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.
The men of Nineveau will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it.
For they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.
No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place under a basket,
but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light.
The lamp of the body is the eye.
Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light.
But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness.
Therefore, take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness.
if then your whole body is full of light having no part dark the whole body will be full of light and
when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light let's pray Lord we thank you that you are light
you told us Jesus that you're the light of the world and so father we just would praise you for this time
Lord, may we maybe do some self-examination today, or maybe you need to examine us as the psalmas prayed,
Lord, search my heart, O God, and see if there be any wicked way in me that you would lead me in the way everlasting.
I know I need your direction every day, Lord, lest I falter and lest I gravitate to that default flesh that always wants to take control.
But may your spirit be empowered in us, Lord, as we find ourselves, Lord, desiring, desiring to walk with our God,
desiring to be close to our Savior, who is willing to empower us to live this life that you've called us to.
And we know without you we can't do anything.
So we just praise you and invite you here now by your Holy Spirit in Jesus' name.
Amen.
And so right off the bat, he tells him, he says, listen, you're an evil generation.
An evil generation seeks after a sign.
And that's what he said back in verse 16, right?
you're looking for a sign.
And Jesus had been giving them signs, had he not?
All those signs that he had healed the lepers,
he had healed the blind and allowed them to see,
and he healed the lame, he raised the dead,
he cast out demons,
which the Pharisees refused to acknowledge was the work of God, right?
And that's what got us on that last passage,
when they were attributing Jesus casting out the demons,
said, you're doing it by the prince of the demons,
Bielsabab.
And it's like, yeah, Satan, a house divided won't stand.
And we know that.
Just look at America.
Right?
A house divided won't stand.
And he says, listen, if I cast out demons by Satan,
then that kingdom's going to fall.
But if I do it by the finger of God, the kingdom of God has come upon you.
You better pay attention.
And they were ignoring the signs that God had given them plenty of signs to determine whether he was of God or not.
And so no one by the Spirit of God can attribute the work.
of God to Satan. And you'll see that that's, that's blasphemy of the Holy Spirit when you attribute
the works of God to Satan. So Jesus gives us three illustrations here in these, in these verses.
And here, the first one he gives is, is Jonah. And he says in verse 30, for as Jonah became assigned to the
Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation, this prophet Jonah.
I've had conversations with people about Jonah. They don't believe Jonah's really happened.
It's just a story to convey a truth. Well, it appears here that Jesus believed it happened.
Right? He believed in the story of Jonah.
right and and and jonah was it all ends up pretty powerful for the uh i think the the the ninovites
you know fared much better than jona did you know because he was the reluctant prophet the
he ministered to people that he didn't love and i would i would find that hard to do to be a minister
and not love people that uh it's almost like it disqualifies itself
And so you remember the story. God tells John, hey, you go tell those Ninevites, 40 days,
judgment's coming. And he goes the other way. I was looking at it on the map, right? He was,
he went down to Joppa. That means he went south. When Nineveh's north, he went south to Joppa,
hops on a boat. You guys know the story, right? Takes nap down in the bottom of the ship. And
Here comes a storm.
And the guy, he was, at least he was honest.
Though he was hard-hearted towards the Nineveites, he was honest.
They said, why is this happening to us?
And Jonah goes, because of me.
I did it.
He said, yeah, throw me overboard and you guys will be fine.
So what kind of guy thinks that way?
I just don't, you know, I ain't really good at swimming.
I don't think that's really a way I wanted to go out, but he tells him, he says,
throw me overboard.
And even more, the Lord sent a great fish.
Now, we don't know if it was a whale or not, but it was a big fish.
It was big enough to swallow a man.
And so, Jonah, we know he's three days and three nights, the sign.
Many believe it's a sign of the resurrection.
We were bantering this morning here with the worship team.
Did Jonah die?
Some believe he did.
Some believe he didn't.
Did he? I don't know. I'm not that dogmatic on it, but I know that it was a sign of the resurrection, right? Three days, three nights, right? Kind of parallels the resurrection.
He went down and he came back up. Bluh.
However, he did pray while he was in the belly of the great fish, right? He prayed.
And so he barbs him out. To nina, he goes, and he preaches.
a lot of people there in Nineveh and he starts preaching goes judgment's coming in 40 days
now there was no love in his message God loves you just come to him he's a merciful God
he'll forgive you that was that was the that was the sand that was stuck in Jonah's craw
right was that God was merciful and God would forgive him and that was just that just kind of
So it says the people of Nineveh here that said that the kids didn't even know their left hand from the right.
They were so wicked, right?
They were like those people that Genesis talks about, right?
That their only thought was evil continually.
Oh, that's us too, by the way, without Jesus.
And so it says, and so the people, verse, this is Jonah chapter three, verse six, excuse me, verse five,
So the people of Nineve believe God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.
Then word came to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe,
covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.
And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh that the decree of the king and his noble saying,
neither man nor beast, hurt nor flock, taste anything.
Do not let them eat or drink.
Man, this is pretty serious stuff.
Or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily to God.
Yes, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
Who can tell if God will turn and relent and turn away from his fierce anger so that we may
not perish. Then God saw their works and they turned from their evil way and God relented from
the disaster that he had said he would bring up on them and he did not do it. Wow. This is like an
ancient version of Jonathan Edwards, seniors in the hands of an angry God. Right? When he read that
in a monotone voice, his notes, they said the people were, we're.
weeping on their faces in the aisles and that the bars in that area shut down, they were so cut to their heart, cut to the quick that they had been sinning against God.
And they turned. They repented. They agreed with God that they were wicked. Somebody defined repentance like that. I like that. Right? We always hear it's turning and going the opposite direction. It is. But it's agreeing with God that what you're
doing's wicked.
Some people,
they kind of poo-pooed the Jonah story,
but a fellow by the names
of James Bartley
in the 19th century.
He was born in 1870, and he died in 1909.
And the story is reported is that during
a wailing expedition,
off the Falcon Islands, Bartley's boat was attacked by a whale, and he was said to have
ended up in the whale's mouth. The story claimed that he survived and was discovered in the whale's
stomach by his crewmates when they, not knowing he was inside, caught and began skinning the whale,
because the hot weather otherwise would have rotted the whale meat, and it was said that
Bartley was inside the whale for 36 hours.
This is documented
That his skin had been bleached by the gastric juices
And that he was blind the rest of his life
In some accounts, however, he was supposed to have had returned to work within three weeks
He died 18 years later
And his tombstone in Gloucester reads
James Bartley, a modern-day Jonah
Listen, if I've said it once, folks, I've said it a thousand times, you can't take,
you can't go wrong taking God's word literally, right?
So that's a pretty powerful story, the sign of Jonah.
And I don't know what it was.
Was it the preaching or just the fear that judgment was coming?
Or had all of his hair been burned off by the stomach juices of the whale and he was bleached white?
And they were just like, is that the sign?
I don't know what the sign was for sure.
Matthew tells us that just as Jonah was three days and three nights of the belly of the great fish,
so so the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
And that will be your sign.
But then he says, right, hey, a greater than Jonah is here.
Jesus is much greater than Jonah, right?
Because yes, he has a message, and his message is repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
But he's also full of love and grace and mercy.
The second illustration he gives is Solomon.
And it says there that he says the queen of the south,
most believe this was the queen of Shiba or Ethiopia.
Some think it was Yemen, but will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation
and condemn them.
For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon,
and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.
That's a fascinating event, by the way.
And we've just been reading through the Bible and didn't read, I read about it just here not too long ago.
And this queen had heard of the wisdom of Solomon.
Right?
You remember, that was Solomon's prayer.
That's a prayer you and I ought to say, don't you know?
You know, when the Lord goes, hey, ask anything.
Ask anything.
Wouldn't that be cool?
The God of heaven says, hey, ask anything.
thing you want? You remember what Solomon said? He didn't ask for the life of his enemies, right?
He didn't ask for riches. He asked for wisdom. Oh, God, give me wisdom to rule this great
people of yours that you've called me to do. And hence, he became, arguably, the wisest man that
ever lived. I love reading his writings, the proverbs and ecclesiastes.
and the song of Solomon.
Actually, when me and my wife did our marriage counseling, we did the Song of Solomon, right?
One part in there says, I'm going to climb that tree.
I like climbing her tree.
Sorry.
T.MI.
It's biblical.
They had us do some of the corneous stuff.
My wife looked at me and goes,
I cannot believe we're doing this.
Right?
You, my love, are like a dove.
They didn't go over so well when we were in a hot, heated argument.
One time we were in a hot argument and I looked at it, I said,
honey, just love me. Yeah, no, I'll kill you, boy.
But absolutely so inspired to go listen to a word from this king,
supposedly the wisest man in the world.
Now, this was an incredible commitment on this woman's part.
I mean, it's fascinating.
I mean, she traveled between 12 and 1,500 miles on camels to hear this guy.
That's what I call being committed, right?
Not only that, but the entourage that came with her and she bore spices and gold and precious stones
is gifts for Solomon.
So you wonder what's going through her mind.
You know, she looks back and looks at her big cash of gold.
thinking, man, I'm wondering if this is going to be worth this. Right? No, Lord knows how long that
track took weeks probably. And it says in First Kings chapter 10, it says, and then she, the queen,
said to the king, it was true. A true report, which I heard in my own land about your words and your
wisdom. This is First Kings 10, verses six and seven. However, I did not.
believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes. And indeed, the half was not told me.
Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard.
Wow. So not only was she impressed, she was super impressed. That wisdom of Solomon was so impressed her.
And then Jesus says, now wait a minute, if she did that, don't you know a greater than Solomon is here?
A greater than Solomon is here.
The one in whom, Colossians 2, 3 says is, the one in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Jesus.
So when you know Jesus, you know it all.
Right?
in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
And so, and then he talks about the comparison of the Ninevites who heard Jonah preach,
and of the Queen of Sheba that heard the wisdom of Solomon.
And in verses 31 and 32, should really cause us to stand up and pay attention.
where it says there in verse 31, excuse me, 32,
and the men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it,
for they repented at the preaching of Jonah.
And then it also says the queen of Sheba will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them.
because they responded.
They responded to the message that God gave the Ninevites through Jonah.
And apparently that God gave the message to the Queen of Sheba, they responded.
They responded in a positive way.
And so we should take notice that, notice, these people are years,
millennial apart.
And yet their works, when they're good, are going to contend, condemn the works of those who responded
negatively to the message of the gospel, the message of the king of kings and the Lord
of Lord.
So the accountability that Jesus will require from each generation.
And you and I, we're accountable for what we hear and what we know to be.
truth.
And every generation since then, because that greater, that greater one gave a greater sign.
Because that generation that Jesus is speaking to are going to see the greatest sign
that humanity has ever seen.
They're going to see it in real time.
You and I have been hearing about it and reading about it for thousands of years now.
And you don't think that we'll be accountable for what we do with that?
So the queen listened to Solomon, the people of Nineveh, listened to Jonah.
They heard the word of God and did it.
That's what he said to the woman, remember?
And so we, you and I have work to do.
And really that work, I shared it at a funeral yesterday.
I love sharing this John 629 with people at a funeral.
Because so often we wonder in our lives, especially when you start getting, you know, a little long in the tooth.
My teeth aren't getting long. They're falling out. But you start thinking, Lord, have I done enough?
And we who are believers and have been walking with Jesus for some time, how dare us ask that question?
We can't do enough.
I can't do enough. I can't
I can't do enough good works to outweigh my bad works.
And when I'm speaking of bad works, I'm speaking of word, thought, and deed.
Right? Because some of them things go really, really fast. And there's so many.
There's no way I could ever even come close. That's why Jesus came.
And that's why he told them when they came to him and said, Lord, what must we do to do the works of God?
and Jesus says, this is the work of God, believe in the one that the Father has sent.
That's the work of God.
I can do that.
You can do that.
We can do the work of God.
And it brings such a confidence to our lives that it's not my work I'm putting my faith in.
It's his work that I'm putting my faith in.
Now, there's a lot of my works that need to go away.
Habits I need to break.
You know, I'm trudging along.
Jesus lets me come along and learn of him and take his yoke and be like him.
And so then he gives a third illustration, right?
Weirsby said the third illustration was from daily life, not from history,
like the queen of Sheba and Jonah.
And this one Jesus had used before, we see in Matthew 6,
he talks about light and the eye.
Verse 33, no one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket,
but on a lampstand that those who come in may see the light.
that's hearing the word of God and doing it.
Jesus said, I'm the light of the world.
You, he says, you are to be salt and light in this world.
God's word is light that shines in a dark world.
I know it shined in my heart.
I remember getting saved and going to the bar.
Right?
I wasn't very sanctified yet.
I was justified, but I wasn't sanctified.
And I'm sitting in this bar, and I began to watch people.
And I'm going, oh my gosh, these people are as lost as a goose.
And I was right there rubbing shovelers with them two weeks earlier.
And because I would go and drink seven up.
That didn't last very long.
Don't try that.
I don't suggest that.
You don't need to go to a bar unless
This is what you do.
You're willing to do.
Stick your head in the door and go,
repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and then run.
That's the only reason you probably should go to a bar if you're a believer, right?
No, I heard a story of a guy that did that, right?
He would sneak in bars and usually with a live band.
So when the live band would take a break, he would step up.
Well, the owner of the bar thought he was with the band,
and the band thought he was with the bar.
And he would get up and he'd start, hey, everybody having a good time.
Yeah, partied on, you know.
And they'd hoot and holler, and he'd say, hey, you want to go to a party that lasts forever?
And he says, and I'm talking about heaven.
And then he drops the Jesus bomb on him and says, I'll be right outside if anyone wants to talk.
So that was the guy with the bar ministry.
I haven't seen too many of them over the years.
I don't think he lived very long.
But it's, it's, when the word of God comes in, it convicts your heart, right?
Psalm 113.
The entrance of your words, the psalmist writes, gives light.
It gives understanding to the simple.
And, and he's saying here, when you, when that light's lit, you don't cover it up.
Right?
You don't try to darken the light of the gospel.
You let it shine.
You let it fly.
It's a song I sing with my grandson, right?
This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine.
You're right?
And so you don't hide it under a bushels, no.
And so, but notice it's connected
to the eye.
And this is scary
because it says
the lamp of the body,
verse 34,
is the eye.
Right here.
What do you let in
through your eye gate?
What do you let into your soul?
Because there's never been a time
in the history
of humankind
when we have the ability
to allow sewage
through our eye gate.
Right?
With that little device in your pocket,
pocket and that computer screen at home. And Lord knows a television screen. What do we let in there?
Because he says just some fascinating things to me here. He said, the lamp of the body is the
eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, those of you have the King James Bible, it says,
when your eye is single.
I like that.
When your eye is single,
it's singularly focused on the Lord Jesus.
When it's single.
It gives a whole new meaning to that song, doesn't it?
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in his wonderful face.
And the things on earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his
his glory and grace.
It says a lot, man, about the darkness and the light.
Looking unto Jesus, Hebrews 122, the author and finisher of our faith,
for who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Just want to know you, the thread of the sign that God is going to hold everybody accountable for is in all these scriptures.
The contrast between light and darkness in Ephesus chapter 5, verse 8 it says,
for you were once darkness, you and I.
You remember that?
You remember being darkness?
It still tries to come sometimes in my life.
I don't know about you.
But you were once darkness, but you, but now you are light in the Lord.
Walk as children of light.
For the fruit of the spirit is goodness, righteousness, and truth.
Finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
Don't do them.
For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done.
done by them in secret, but all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light.
For whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore, he says, awake you who sleep, rise from the dead,
and Christ will give you light.
Looking at him. Looking away from evil. I was talking to a friend about that here this last week,
and I said, yeah, I remember one time I was young, married.
me and my wife and we were driving down the road and there was this there was this huge billboard with a jack
no it wasn't jack daniels it was black velvet a black velvet commercial and this gal was all
scandaly dressed with a you know half a gallon of velvet and i look away and i almost run off the road
and my wife starts laughing at me and i kind of pulled her up short i said hey listen
if i look in lust that's adultery jesus said that's adultery
since we got married, I made a covenant with my eyes, right?
I don't want to look in lust.
It doesn't mean that I haven't stumbled in that, but I don't want to do that.
I want to make a covenant with my eyes, right?
I want to turn away.
Listen, if you don't practice it, you'll never do it.
Now, if you get, if you start practicing, you may not do it best all the time, but you'll get better as time.
goes on about it, right? Looking away. When you see that stuff on the phone or whatever, get away
from it. I don't know, you might have to stomp on that thing. Right? Jesus is pretty serious about that.
If your eye causes you sin, fin, pluck that baby out. If your hand causes you to sin, chop it off.
Now, I'm not going to go into a commentary on that because I've heard all kinds of, look, this
and that. What Jesus is saying, whatever it takes, you know what, you better deal with your
sin.
Job said it.
In chapter 31, I love this.
Job was that guy who shunned evil, right?
His life was perfect before the Lord, and I don't believe he was a sinless man, but he had made
some really good decisions and how he was.
living his life. And in chapter 31, the first verse, it says, Job saying, I have made a covenant with
my eyes. Why then should I look upon young women? And some say lust in that. The NLT says lust, I think.
Verse two, for what is the allotment of God from above and the inheritance of the almighty from on high?
is it not destruction for the wicked?
He equated that to being wicked.
I don't want to be wicked, Job's saying.
And disaster for the workers of iniquity,
does he not see my ways and count all my steps?
We think we get away with stuff,
because we're all alone.
We don't think we have to be accountable.
Listen, you're never alone.
You're never alone.
The Lord is right there watching it all.
Not only that, but recording it.
Oh, yes.
That old tree, murder.
Gossip.
Been talking about your neighbor.
Because the books are opened, right?
The day of judgment, the books are opened.
David had the same thought in the 101st song in verse 3,
where he says, I will set nothing wicked before my eyes.
And I've learned that if you'll just start practicing it, go, no, no, no.
You know, Paul said, flee youthful lust.
Grab up your hind parts and get out of there.
right if you got to run i remember being you know driving with friends of mine i'm thinking sorry i'm
walking home because i know what you guys is about to do and what i used to do i don't want to do no more
that's light it's having it's it's not mixed with darkness because that's kind of a bizarre
bizarre verse there,
that the light
which is in you is
not darkness. Make sure it's not darkness.
Don't call out the name of Jesus and then go pollute
yourself with the world.
With the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.
No, put it behind you.
And the great one, the one that's greater than Solomon and greater than Jonah,
will help you.
some have said the the eye is the window to the soul
so let our eyes be good
I've noticed a contrast you guys I've tried reading
electronically right on my computer because I can just pull it up so fast
there's a difference there's a difference than reading it on a screen
than just turning pages for me there is a
difference. I can tell the difference. You got to put it in. If it's ever going to come out,
you got to put it in. Then Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows
me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. Following Jesus. Staying close.
The bottom line is, we all have our sign.
I know.
Who's that?
Bill, what's his name?
Here's your sign?
We all have our sign.
Jesus said this generation,
this generation is in big trouble for rejecting the sign that he gave them.
That is, he died on a cross.
He went into the ground for three days, and he rose again.
that was the sign. That's the only sign that humanity needs because it's the greatest event
that has ever happened in this world. You have the sign. I have the sign. What we do with that is up to us.
But if he condemns us because we ignored it, it's on nobody but ourselves. It's on nobody else but ourselves.
Now, there was a time when he overlooked that.
Pastor Joe and I were talking about this on the way down to the ballgame the other night.
When Paul was there at Athens in Acts Chapter 17, then they had that monument called the unknown God, right?
The unknown God.
And Paul goes, hey, I want to tell you about him.
You don't know him, obviously.
But in verse 30 of chapter 17, he says, truly, these times of ignorance, God always,
overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent because he has appointed a day on which he
will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance to
this. Listen, here's the sign. He has given assurance to this to all by raising him from the dead.
And if you don't believe that,
you're not going to believe anything.
It is the pearl of the gospel, Jesus, right?
I got to share that at a funeral yesterday, too, there in Romans, right?
If you confess with your mouth of Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you're saved.
It's the only sign we need.
Come to Jesus and see.
Come to Jesus and live.
One more scripture here before we close.
It's found in 1 John 1 5.
And it says,
this is the message
which we have heard from him and declare to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.
So don't say, oh, God understands my darkness.
Yeah, he does, but he will judge it.
So step out of the darkness into the light, stay in the light, pursue the light.
It's not easy.
It's consistent.
It's daily.
It's moment by moment.
We need Jesus working in our lives.
Because listen, he is coming.
He is coming to judge the quick and the dead.
Jesus is coming.
Are you ready for that?
And I don't about you, but I want to hear those words.
Well done.
Good and faithful servant.
Enter into the joy of your Lord.
So our ploy is not to seek a sign,
But our ploy is to walk in the light as he is in the light, as he is in the light.
Amen.
Let's pray, shall we?
Father, thank you.
Thank you for your word.
Lord, it's alive.
It's truly that sharp sword that cuts, it cuts right into our souls and our minds
and causes us to consider.
Lord, to consider our lives, to consider our decisions, to consider the words that we speak,
the thoughts that we have.
Lord, you've given us the power to overcome all those things as you have instructed us by your word
to be quick to hear and slow to speak and slow to wrath, to take our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ Jesus,
to turn our eyes away from evil.
You've given us all this equipment, Lord.
Help us to draw on up.
And I just pray for anyone here today, Lord, that just needs to, maybe just feels like they just need cleansed.
Lord, that the world's dirtied them up, their own flesh is dirtied them up.
Lord, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh.
the enemy, all those things.
Lord, just that they would know that, Lord, you're gracious
and that you're willing to forgive.
And all you require is a moment of humility
that we would come to you and say, oh, Lord, forgive me.
Lord, I've sinned against you.
I've sinned against others.
And Lord, you're so faithful.
You love that prayer of humility that will just confess.
And that cleansing comes, Lord, as we confess our sin,
your faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
So if anyone here today just need, you just need that cleansing.
Just pray this prayer with me.
It's just a simple prayer, just seeking Jesus and asking him.
Just pray, oh Lord, Jesus, I believe that you're willing to forgive me.
Lord, that your blood was the payment for my sin.
Lord, that you rose again from the dead.
Lord, would you rule and reign supreme in my life?
I need you.
I need you every hour.
And so Lord Jesus, come in and make your abode in my heart.
Help me to respond to the conviction that comes from your Holy Spirit
that I might be full of light.
Lord, and I pray that for myself as well.
So be with us this week, Lord.
We're going to have opportunity to shine that light.
Help us to do it with all of our hearts in your mighty and holy name.
Amen.
Let's stand and worship.
One, two, three.