Weekly Sermons

The Greatest Sign - Matthew 12:38-50

The Greatest Sign
When the child of God
Looks into the word of God
And sees the Son of God
They are transformed by the Spirit of God
Into the image of God
For the glory of God
-Warren Wiersbe

Signs are important because they give us the information we need to make right choices. When the meaning of the sign is obvious, we don’t need another sign, we need to act on the information the sign conveys. - Matthew 12:38-50

The Sign that saves - V. 38-42

They asked for a sign, Jesus gave them a sermon – about the greatest sign to come – His resurrection.

Matthew’s first audience was his fellow Jews, and only he repeats the Jewish idiom Jesus used, “three days and three nights.” The other gospels use the other way Jesus said it, speaking of rising on the “third day.” The accounts complement one another.

It must have irked these Pharisees to hear Jesus preach that God had justified pagans from what is now Iraq and Arabia because they had repented and believed, yet they would be condemned for their unbelief!

Crucifixes emphasize a perpetually suffering savior; but empty crosses emphasize our victorious risen Lord!

“My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me!” - Matthew 27:46

“It is finished!” (Tetelestai) - John 19:30

Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. - Hebrews 7:25

The Situation that doesn’t save - V. 43-45

The key to understanding verses 43-45 is that last statement – so also will it be with this evil generation. Jesus is saying this situation adequately describes that generation in Israel who rejected Jesus.

To their credit, the Jews had rejected pagan idolatry when they came back from the Babylonian captivity hundreds of years before. That idolatry had been fueled by the kind of demonic spirit that had left the house. Like the house in the story, they had put in order matters of external worship, but still had not filled the house with true internal worship of God. When the spirit of idolatry came back, it brought different demonic spirits with it: pride, unbelief, ingratitude, self-righteousness, a judgmental spirit, contempt of others, and lack of love. Their condition was worse than the days of overt idolatry.

Changes you make on your outside will not help you in the long run if Jesus is not on your inside!

The Sibling that sticks closest - V. 46-50

John 7:5 says that Jesus’ brothers did not believe in Him. Mark 6:3 tells us some of Jesus’ brothers’ names – James, Joses, Judas (Jude) and Simon, and also tells us he had sisters. Just before Mark tells us the same thing Matthew 12 does, it says, “When his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind” (Mark 3:21).

As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” - Luke 11:27-28

Jesus is not telling us here not to take care of family priorities, but He is making clear that believing in Him and doing what He says is every believer’s highest priority.

If you part of God’s family through faith in Jesus, begin regularly praying “Yes, Lord,” in every area that is clear in the Bible.