Stop Asking for Signs...And Start Obeying What You Know!

If you have your Bibles, please take them and find Luke 11:29.  I want to share a message with you entitled, “Stop Looking for Signs, And Start Obeying What You Know!”

 

We are continuing this morning in Luke’s gospel, and we are studying it verse-by-verse, and chapter-by-chapter.  Last Sunday, Jesus reminded us of the key to God’s blessing.  Do you remember what it was?  It was and is obedience.

 

Two Sundays ago, Jesus exercised a demon from a demon-possessed man.  Consequently, the Pharisees attributed what Jesus had done to the power of the devil.  Instead of seeing the miracle as divine, they saw it as demonic.

 

 

1. The Solicitation for More Proof, Luke 11:29a & Matthew 12:38

29 And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks a sign,

 

Remember that Jesus had removed a demon from a man.  Also, this demon-possessed could not speak. 

 

Verse 29 says the crowds were growing.  They were seeking a sign, and we know from Matthew’s account of this story that the Pharisees asked specifically for another sign.  See Matthew 12:38.

 

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”

 

What were they asking for?  What is a sign?

 

A sign was a miracle that would prove or affirm Jesus’ message.  In other words, they wanted Him to do the miraculous on command so as to prove He was divine or prove He was the Son of God or prove He was the promised Messiah. 

 

As a result, Jesus called them an evil generation.  Certainly, He was including the scribes, the Pharisees, and the crowds.

 

BTW…How much more proof does a person need?  Hadn’t Jesus just exercised a demon from a man?  In Mark’s gospel, Jesus has given no less than 14 signs before this story.

 

1:26 And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him.

 

1:31 So He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her. And she served them.

 

1:42 As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.

 

2:12 Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

 

3:5 And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.

 

4:39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.

 

5:13 And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea.

 

5:42 Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement.

 

5:34 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”

 

6:42 So they all ate and were filled.

 

6:51 Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marveled.

 

7:30 And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed.

 

7:35 Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly.

 

8:8 So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments.

 

Sometimes, we do the same.  We say, “God prove to me that you love me.”  Then, we suggest to Him what that sign might look like.  Take away this hurt.  Heal my loved one.  Fix my marriage.  Pay this debt. 

 

In other words, we say, “Lord, prove to me what You have already told me in Your Word.”  Or, we say, “Lord, write it in the clouds.  Send a messenger to me with Your exact message.”

 

This was a solicitation or request for more proof.  They wanted Jesus to prove one more time that He was who He said He was by giving them a sign.

 

 

2. A Demonstration of Messianic Proportions, Luke 11:29b-30

and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. 30 For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation.

 

By calling them an evil generation, Jesus issued a stinging rebuke to these Jews and their religious leader refusing to surrender their lives to Jesus.  That meant they were failing to recognize Jesus as the promised Messiah of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

 

They had requested this sign for Jesus to prove His power and authority, but Jesus said they would not receive another sign.   As a matter of fact, no more signs would be necessary except the sign of Jonah.

 

Do you remember that story of the minor prophet?  God told him to go to Nineveh to preach His message to them, but Jonah refused and sailed to Tarshish.  As an act of discipline, God caused a great storm to overcome Jonah’s ship. 

 

The Gentile sailors on the ship eventually threw Jonah overboard to stop the storm.  However, Jonah was swallowed by a great fish, and there he stayed for three days and three nights until he repented.  The then fish vomited up Jonah on the shore.

 

When Jonah was given another chance, he didn’t waste it.  He went to Nineveh to preach, and the entire Gentile city turned to God as a result of Jonah’s preaching. 

 

With this example, Jesus foreshadowed and compared His own future death, burial, and resurrection with Jonah’s experience.  Like Jonah, He would also be in the earth for parts of three days: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday before He was resurrected never to die again.

 

BTW…There have been a thousand questions asked about this particular story.  However, Jesus’ reference to it tells us that Jesus believed the literal meaning of Jonah and the whale or great fish, whichever you prefer.

 

The resurrection of Jesus was the ultimate sign. It emphatically proved that He was the promised Messiah.  An individual resurrected to never die again had never before and has never happened since. 

 

 

3. The Condemnation for Missing the Point, Luke 11:31-32

31 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. 32 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 indeed a greater than Jonah is here.

 

In verse 31, He also reminded His congregation of a story from 1 Kings 10 involving the queen of the South or the queen of Sheba.  She had heard of Solomon’s wisdom, but needed to see it for herself, and she did, and recognized God’s hand on Solomon.

 

In verse 32, Jesus remind the Jewish religious leaders not only of Jonah’s resurrection, but also how these Gentile Ninevites responded to Jonah’s preaching.  Unlike these Jews and the scribes and Pharisees, these Gentiles repented.  Consequently, they would one day stand in judgment over Israel who didn’t recognize Jesus as the promised Messiah.

 

Notice how Jesus compared Himself to both Jonah and Solomon, but He said more.  He said He was greater than both.  He wasn’t just a prophet of salvation like Jonah. He was the instrument of salvation. 

 

He wasn’t just a wise man like Solomon.  He was the source of Solomon’s wisdom.

 

The irony with these two examples is biting.  These Gentiles believed and trusted God’s messengers in Solomon and Jonah, but these Jews, the people of God, were not trusting Jesus, the Son of God, right in front of them.

 

 

Application

So how do these verses apply to us today?  In a similar way, the Church, the people of God, often are looking for affirmations or sign to confirm what God has already told us. 

 

If you want God to give you a sign to be baptized, He has.  If you want God to give you a sign to join a local church, He has. 

 

If you want God to give you a sign that you need to start tithing, He has.  If you want God to give you a sign to sacrificially and unconditionally love your spouse, He has. 

 

If you want God to give you a sign that you need to keep your children in church, He has.  If you want God to give you a sign, children, to obey mom and dad, He has.

 

Stop asking for signs and starting doing what the Bible already has said.

 

If you are here this morning and you’ve never been saved and you’re asking God for a sign as to whether He loves you, look no further than the cross.

 

Romans 5:8, 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

 

Look no further.  Wonder no more.  Ask for no more signs. 

 

God loves you and wants a personal, relationship with you.  Will you call on Jesus to save you from your sins?