WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:06.799 Speaking of NBC's global efforts, again, with Jonah, we've been highlighting our focus on global missions. 00:00:06.799 --> 00:00:10.080 We've had a number of world partners come in and share about their ministries. 00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:13.279 We have another one with us here today who's going to be our guest speaker. 00:00:13.279 --> 00:00:14.960 That is Jason Casper. 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:17.600 We've supported Jason and Julie for many, many years. 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:19.519 They have a very impactful ministry. 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:25.039 And uh if you don't know Jason, I'm gonna let him introduce himself because I will not do him justice. 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:30.559 And then he's gonna be uh doing a bit of a coda on Jonah today uh and related texts. 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:31.519 So, Jason, welcome. 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:32.960 We're so glad to hear from you this morning. 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:34.159 Thanks, Bob. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:41.520 Good morning, everyone. 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:44.159 Uh it's nice to be back again. 00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:48.799 This is uh a church that has supported us for a long time. 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:56.960 Uh, as you said, many years, Bob, but it goes back to 1998 that we first served overseas, ascent and supported by this church. 00:00:56.960 --> 00:01:01.520 When I got married in 2002, my wife Julie was a member of this congregation. 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:04.480 So we thank you guys for all of your prayers. 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:08.719 We serve uh just outside of the city of Beirut, Lebanon. 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:16.000 We've been there for the past seven years, and uh, we do want to give our assurances to everyone that we are safe. 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:21.519 There are bombs dropping 15 minutes from our home, but not in our neighborhood. 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:28.319 So it's a very weird thing to try to describe, but we are okay, and there are contingency plans in place if it ever gets worse. 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:33.040 But God willing, we will be headed back home in uh the end of this month. 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:35.680 And so we invite your prayers in that regard. 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:41.280 My wife Julie has perhaps more of a traditional missionary type of ministry. 00:01:41.280 --> 00:02:06.239 She works with moms in prayer and uh out of the school where our kids attend, it's a mixed Muslim and Christian environment, and she organizes all sorts of community events, play dates, hikes in the mountains, baking cookies, and brings together a community in which people, whether they follow God or not, are able to experience his love and come along one step further in that journey. 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:08.719 My own work is less traditional. 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:10.240 I serve as a journalist. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:29.599 I write with Christianity today, and four months ago I began a new publication, I call it Middle East Harmony, in which I tried to convey the perspectives of the Middle East Church, tell its stories, in a way that seeks to overcome the points of tension that often divide religious groups in the region. 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:40.240 Something that can work to bring everyone closer to peace if we understand the good motivations that often sometimes get misunderstood and drive people apart. 00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:54.479 But what we're doing today is continuing the sermon series on Jonah, bringing that to conclusion, but in a way that is going to do just as Jesus did and close it with a focus on himself. 00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:57.919 Jesus greater than Jonah. 00:02:57.919 --> 00:03:02.800 Now, I do get to begin this sermon with an example from my journalism. 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:10.960 Several years ago, I was able to do a story looking at the prophet and seeing what he was meaning in the Middle Eastern context. 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:25.439 And I did that because I discovered something very interesting in that local history, perhaps legend, says that when Jonah was vomited by the whale, he landed on the shores of Lebanon. 00:03:25.439 --> 00:03:39.120 So if you just take a look at this picture, this is amazing beachfront property, now located in the Lebanese city of Jie, which is a mixed Muslim Christian area. 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:50.240 And from here, of course, we don't quite know how it landed or where it took place, but he in the map journeyed northeast, and you can advance the slide. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:56.960 Joppa, the first circle there at the bottom, is where he boarded the ship on the path to Tarshish. 00:03:56.960 --> 00:04:00.000 And then, you know, he landed somewhere, of course. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:04.240 The fish swam around for a little while, might as well have been that spot. 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:15.280 But then he went about 300 hours walking, maybe on a donkey, God knows, and landed somewhere up in modern-day Nineveh in the top right corner of that screen. 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:27.519 Now it's very nice of Google Maps to kind of show that dog leg between the two circles, that reflects the fact that you cannot go between Israel and Lebanon today because of the war. 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:49.600 And that is also reflected in that second circle to the north in GiA, because there are ancient Maronite Catholic mosaics that have Jonah and the whale just depicted, going back for generations, establishing that for the ancient times they thought that this was the spot. 00:04:49.600 --> 00:05:02.319 Now, Jonah is a Muslim prophet also, and so the Sunni Muslims and the Shiite Muslims who live in this contested neighborhood, they can't agree on who controls the property that says he landed. 00:05:02.319 --> 00:05:10.079 And so in the middle of all this, Hezbollah took its money and they built themselves a huge mosque and said, it was here. 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:22.639 So if you look at this next picture, that is the mosque in which that rectangle allegedly contains the body and remains of Jonah. 00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:27.839 Now there's about four other places in the Middle East that say, no, we've got the real thing. 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:36.319 But nonetheless, Muslims and Christians look to this location and say, yeah, this is at least where he landed. 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:49.040 And now you can't really make it out in the picture, but on the top of that tomb is Arabic inscriptions taken from the Quran that say this there is no God but you. 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:52.079 Glory be to you. 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:58.800 And I, this is the voice of Jonah speaking here, was one of the wrongdoers. 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:06.240 This prayer is prayed by Muslims all around the world whenever they find themselves in distress. 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:12.639 So just like Jonah, wit's end in the body of a whale, this story is in the Quran as well. 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:18.160 And he prayed this prayer and God spat him out to safety. 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:26.000 Muslims today look the same thing with that confession, which is very interesting because it conveys something that the Bible doesn't quite convey. 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:31.920 When Jonah says, I was one of the wrongdoers, this is a statement of repentance. 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:36.480 We don't know in the book of Jonah in the Bible whether Jonah repented or not. 00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:38.160 It's an open question. 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:42.800 So in the Quran, Jonah is a hero. 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:55.439 And we look to Jewish tradition, especially in the early periods of Judaism after the uh, you know, the ministry of Jesus, we find something a little bit similar happening too. 00:06:55.439 --> 00:07:02.959 Now, in the series that you've found so far, Jonah is presented maybe not in the greatest light. 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:05.360 Now, I think this is an amazing exegesis. 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:14.319 It fits perfectly the way in which the story brings out that he was very ethnocentric, concerned for his own kind, missing God's vision for the nations. 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:21.360 But early Jewish tradition says there's a different reason why Jonah ran away. 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:24.480 There's a rabbi named Rashi from the 11th century. 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:38.399 And basically what he does is says, Jonah ran from God because he was afraid that if the Gentiles repented, the Jewish people would look really bad because they weren't. 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:51.360 And so, in this understanding, Jonah ran away because he was so devoted to preserve the reputation of God's people that he was willing to sacrifice himself and even run from God himself. 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:53.839 That's a pretty amazing testimony. 00:07:53.839 --> 00:08:08.800 And by the third century after Jesus, we find the story of Jonah being read officially on the synagogue calendar on Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of repentance. 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:20.240 So in both traditions, we get the focus on repentance and we get Jonah as a hero, which is a little different than the way we read them today, in which at least he's kind of suspect. 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:34.720 But this understanding that Jonah was a hero also helps us make sense of how Jesus made use of the character of Jesus when he presents himself as greater than Jonah. 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:40.559 And so let's take a look at that now and let's try to figure out exactly what he meant by this. 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:53.600 So, if we could read the scriptures, Jesus is speaking to the people, and he says, the men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it. 00:08:53.600 --> 00:09:00.559 For they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here. 00:09:00.559 --> 00:09:03.360 He goes on to say, make another comparison. 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:10.240 The queen of the south, this is Sheba, will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it. 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:18.799 For she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here. 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:27.919 This really only makes sense if the people listening to Jesus view Jonah as a hero. 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:31.120 Now we can understand that with Solomon, the pinnacle of wisdom. 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:34.000 But Jonah, yeah, that's how they saw him. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:39.679 And what Jesus is saying is he's focusing attention not on these characters, but on himself. 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:42.480 I am greater than Jonah. 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:44.480 I am greater than Solomon. 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:53.519 And this fits in the message that Jesus had been given as well, because earlier in this chapter, he says, I am greater than the temple. 00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:57.120 He says, I am the Lord of the Sabbath. 00:09:57.120 --> 00:10:05.360 And whatever we think of these heroes of the past, Jesus is reorienting their attention onto him himself. 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:11.840 Now this, of course, comes within a context. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:23.519 Because to understand what he's doing, he's trying to show that no matter what we received in the past, something new is happening here, and I am greater. 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:25.039 How? 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:30.159 Let's take a look at three examples in which Jesus is greater than Jonah. 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:34.799 The first one, he is greater than Jonah in power. 00:10:34.799 --> 00:10:41.440 If you remember from the sermons before in the early chapters, Jonah ran from God. 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:45.519 He found himself on this boat and he's sleeping soundly in the hull. 00:10:45.519 --> 00:10:54.080 And as the storm is raging and everyone is panicking, Jonah is completely unaware of the danger that's all around him. 00:10:54.080 --> 00:11:04.159 Jesus, by contrast, when he was on the Sea of Galilee and a storm raged, he was sleeping peacefully, with no worry whatsoever. 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:07.120 But their responses are dramatically different. 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:12.080 Jonah, when he's stirred from his sleep, has compassion on the soldiers around him. 00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:16.080 This isn't their fault, he realizes that, and he says, throw me overboard. 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:20.559 That's the solution to how to bring peace to the sea. 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:24.480 What does Jesus do, by contrast? 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:27.279 Peace, be still. 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:30.879 He speaks the words and there's silence. 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:38.080 Clearly, Jesus is more powerful, greater than Jonah in this aspect. 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:40.799 Now that's not Jesus' main focus. 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:45.840 Jesus' main focus is how he is greater than Jonah in sacrifice. 00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:49.039 And here we should read exactly what it is that Jesus said. 00:11:49.039 --> 00:12:04.639 So if we go to the next verse, Jesus is telling the people, for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:14.480 Now, Jonah, the sacrifice that he was making for the sailors on the boat, almost kind of looks like an appeasement of the gods. 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:17.840 You know, get rid of me, and it'll be okay for you guys. 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:27.840 But where Jonah went down for three days into the belly of the fish, God saved him as an individual. 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:31.039 He called out to God, God saved him, it's amazing. 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:38.159 But when Jesus was three days in the belly of the earth, he saved us. 00:12:38.159 --> 00:12:43.519 And here again, Jesus is putting that focus onto himself. 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:49.919 I am the one that brings the sacrifice, that brings salvation to all of us. 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:52.720 I am greater than Jonah. 00:12:52.720 --> 00:13:00.879 But there's a third aspect in which Jesus is greater than Jonah that maybe isn't obvious from these texts. 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:13.120 And if you follow with me as I go through the rest of this sermon, I think you will see that what Jesus is really showing us that this third manner in which he is greater than Jonah is in righteous anger. 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:20.080 And here, again, you'll have to follow in what I'm trying to say. 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:27.120 But the sermon series so far has established Jonah as a very angry character. 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:29.279 He's angry with God. 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:31.759 And that's okay as far as it goes. 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:33.120 We can be angry with God. 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:34.799 We need to tell him that. 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:38.320 But he's certainly also angry at the Ninevehites. 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:40.080 And that anger is righteous. 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:41.360 They're wicked people. 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:44.480 They're going to come and they're going to destroy Israel. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:47.440 God, okay, he'll have mercy on them. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:49.759 Jonah's not very happy about it. 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:53.679 But that anger is pointed outward. 00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:57.200 What does Jesus say? 00:13:57.200 --> 00:14:05.759 How does he in the Sermon on the Mount tell us to deal with this frustration we have with those around us? 00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:11.440 Basically, take the log out of your own eye first. 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:19.840 Then you will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye. 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:27.440 As wicked as those Ninevehes were, that's a speck compared to the sins of the people of Israel. 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:35.679 And Jesus is greater than Jonah in righteous anger because he's pointing his anger in the correct direction at his own kind. 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:38.799 This is what the prophets always did. 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:50.000 Yes, they had messages for the nations, but they were calling the people of Israel to account for their failure to follow God properly, and Jesus did the same. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:58.799 So, greater in power, greater in sacrifice, greater in righteous anger. 00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:04.399 But we have to ask the question, why was Jesus so angry? 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:08.480 Up in the verses so far, maybe we haven't quite seen it clearly yet. 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:17.120 So if we go to the next slide, this is the way that Jesus introduces this sign of Jonah himself being greater. 00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:20.720 It's prompted by this question from the Pharisees. 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:27.440 They and the teachers of the law said to him, Teacher, we want to see a sign from you. 00:15:27.440 --> 00:15:30.799 Sorry, go back, please. 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:32.080 I think I might have missed a verse. 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:33.200 One Briar? 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:34.559 Yes, this one. 00:15:34.559 --> 00:15:47.919 He said of them, in response to this question, a wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:54.240 And so this is what's introducing the little mini-sermon that Jesus gives here. 00:15:54.240 --> 00:16:01.039 But this language, wicked and adulterous generation, it kind of seems unprompted. 00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:02.559 I mean, what's the big deal? 00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:04.559 They just wanted a sign, right? 00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:08.879 Jesus did signs here, he did signs there, he did signs everywhere. 00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:11.519 Okay, maybe these Pharisees were late to the game. 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:12.559 They didn't see this one. 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:14.240 They want to see it too. 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:17.360 Might as well let Jesus prove his case. 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:31.120 Well, one of the problems is that Jesus just did a sign, and the Pharisees responded rather cruelly to what they saw. 00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:36.240 So if we advance again just a little bit, now we come to the episode itself. 00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:42.639 This is the sign that Jesus had done, which flows into him talking about Jonah. 00:16:42.639 --> 00:16:46.879 They brought a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. 00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:51.600 And Jesus healed him so that he could both talk and see. 00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:57.039 And all the people were astonished and said, Could this be the son of David? 00:16:57.039 --> 00:17:07.599 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, It is only by Beelzebel, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons. 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:12.160 Jesus had just performed an amazing miracle. 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:20.079 A child of Israel is now able to talk, able to see, and is freed from the demon that possessed him. 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:25.519 And their response is to say, you are in league with the devil. 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:29.279 I would be pretty mad at this myself. 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:40.400 This is terribly rude, completely unbelieving, and setting himself themselves up in opposition to Jesus and his ministry. 00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:45.119 Now, it's even a little bit worse. 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:51.039 Because yeah, Jesus is going to be mad at this, but he's also not in a really great mood anyway. 00:17:51.039 --> 00:18:00.000 If we think back one chapter earlier in Matthew 11, Jesus receives a delegation from John the Baptist. 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:03.039 The one who launched his ministry in the first place. 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:08.240 And now John's disciples are coming to Jesus to say, I'm not sure. 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:12.880 Are you the one, or should we expect someone else? 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:15.599 What is Jesus' answer to him? 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:20.640 He says, look at this sign, and look at this sign and look at this sign, I did this, I did this, I did this. 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:25.279 And yet, even John's disciples aren't sure. 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:32.400 In the same chapter, Jesus sends out the twelve disciples to go and preach the same messages that he's been preaching. 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:37.519 And yet, what is Jesus' reflection after that? 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:43.039 He says, Woe to you, Bethesda, woe to you, Khorazon. 00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:52.799 If the miracles that had been done in your presence had been done entire in Sidon, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes. 00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:58.960 Jesus has been doing ministry for a long time, and people just aren't getting it. 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:02.880 His own kind are not believing. 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:04.960 Okay. 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:08.079 But he's going to meet this challenge head on. 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:17.519 If the Pharisees are going to come and say that you are working with the power of Beelzebub, well, guys, that just doesn't even make sense, really. 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:23.839 Because a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. 00:19:23.839 --> 00:19:25.759 Right? 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:34.240 I mean, if I'm working with the devil, why am I going to be driving out his other agents who have taken over this guy's life? 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:37.359 Okay, the logic isn't there. 00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:45.839 But since I am driving these demons out by the power of God, this shows that the power of God has come into your midst. 00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:51.119 But here Jesus then does something perhaps a little unusual again. 00:19:51.119 --> 00:20:07.119 Because if a kingdom divided against its stealth will not stand, what is Jesus doing except elevating himself to such a high place, greater than Jonah, greater than Solomon, and saying, I am the one that makes a difference. 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:11.359 And whoever is not with me is against me. 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:14.160 This is division, right? 00:20:14.160 --> 00:20:17.039 You follow me or you don't. 00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:21.359 This is the message of somebody who's frustrated, but it's also the truth. 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:33.039 If he is greater than all of these other figures and institutions in Jewish history, following him is the choice that is going to determine your destiny. 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:36.720 And the Pharisees, they're choosing the wrong side. 00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:38.720 So who are you going to follow? 00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:40.559 Division. 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:47.680 Now, be careful here, because this isn't only the way that Jesus talks. 00:20:47.680 --> 00:21:02.799 In another passage of the Gospels, there's a different occasion in which there's a bunch of people over here, we don't really know who they are, but the disciples get wind of them because they are also casting out demons in Jesus' name. 00:21:02.799 --> 00:21:06.720 And the disciples come back to Jesus to say, hey, should we stop this guy? 00:21:06.720 --> 00:21:08.240 He's not one of us. 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:11.200 And Jesus says, Yeah, yeah, don't worry about it. 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:16.720 And then he says, Whoever is not against me is for me. 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:19.599 What's the difference here? 00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:26.319 Well, I think it's the same reason why Jesus proves himself greater than Jonah in righteous anger. 00:21:26.319 --> 00:21:30.400 These outsiders that are doing good in Jesus' name, this is amazing. 00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:38.319 But to the Pharisees and those who are opposing him, if you are not with me, you are against me. 00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:54.000 And here Jesus finds himself in that same spirit as the Muslim Jonah, the Jewish Jonah, and of course all the prophets of Israel beside, and he's looking at his own people and he's saying, Repent. 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:56.319 Repent. 00:21:56.319 --> 00:22:00.960 Your sins are at Stake here. 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:09.039 And Jesus does something, and he flips the script further on the Pharisees. 00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:11.680 He says, You want to talk about the demonic? 00:22:11.680 --> 00:22:12.319 Okay. 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:14.880 Let's talk about the demonic. 00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:26.720 And immediately after setting himself up as the sign of Jonah, on whom salvation depends, Jesus then launches into this part of his sermon. 00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:30.319 Sorry, back one. 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:32.559 One slide prior. 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:36.160 Oh yeah, no, I'm sorry, my mistake. 00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:44.880 They brought to him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him so he could both talk and see. 00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:45.920 I'm sorry. 00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:47.039 One ahead. 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:48.400 Yes, this is it. 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:50.960 Sorry, we'll go back to that slide in a moment. 00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:58.079 When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 00:22:58.079 --> 00:23:01.680 Then it says, I will return to the house I left. 00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:08.000 When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean, and put in order. 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:16.000 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they all go in and live there. 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:21.200 The final condition of that person is worse than the first. 00:23:21.200 --> 00:23:30.480 So this is what Jesus then tells the crowd, tells the Pharisees immediately after, identifying himself as the sign of Jonah. 00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:34.000 And basically, he's saying, watch out. 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:40.640 Now, we see this because we have to look a little bit more carefully at the miracle that he did. 00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:43.680 And so now we go back to the original slide. 00:23:43.680 --> 00:23:56.720 And we find that this demon-possessed man, blind, mute, Jesus healed him, we're not told that this character had faith. 00:23:56.720 --> 00:24:12.160 I mean, maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but while the people who brought him to Jesus certainly had faith, otherwise they wouldn't have brought him in the first place, the man himself, well, I'm not so sure about him. 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:29.920 And these sections in which he says, when the demon comes out, the house is swept clean, but yet seven other demons might take his place, the final condition is worse than the first. 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:37.680 And that language, something worse, is not the first time that Jesus has said this. 00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:46.799 If you think with me, back to John chapter 5, Jesus was going to the pool of Bethesda. 00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:51.200 And at this location, there were a whole crowd of people who needed healing. 00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:57.920 And they were sitting there waiting for something to happen in this pool, the waters to stir, so that they can go down and find healing. 00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:00.720 And Jesus kind of just shows up in the middle of them. 00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:12.720 So when we read these verses, this character, this paralyzed man, Jesus saw him lying there, learned he had been in this condition for a long time. 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:15.680 He asked him, Do you want to get well? 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:20.160 Sir, the invid replied, he doesn't know who Jesus is. 00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:23.599 I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. 00:25:23.599 --> 00:25:27.279 When I'm trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me. 00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:33.519 And Jesus said to him, Get up, pick up your mat, and walk. 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:38.319 At once the man was cured, he picked up his mat and walked. 00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:45.119 Again, we see a character in whom there's a healing, but not necessarily faith. 00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:46.880 Right? 00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:50.559 I mean, Jesus just said, You want to get better? 00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:51.680 He gives some excuse. 00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:53.359 Jesus says, Okay, you're fine. 00:25:53.359 --> 00:25:54.559 Here you are, healed. 00:25:54.559 --> 00:25:56.799 Pick up your mat and start walking. 00:25:56.799 --> 00:25:58.799 It's an amazing story. 00:25:58.799 --> 00:26:05.519 And the story continues for a few verses, but again, we wonder that this person might not have faith himself. 00:26:05.519 --> 00:26:11.440 So we go ahead, and Jesus then finds him in the crowd, and he tells him this. 00:26:11.440 --> 00:26:15.039 See, you are well again. 00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:20.480 Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you. 00:26:20.480 --> 00:26:23.279 Here there's no example of the demon, eh? 00:26:23.279 --> 00:26:26.319 The first one, okay, the demons. 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:31.279 Here, that same something worse language is present, demon or not. 00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:41.119 And so how we understand this whole demonic thing or not, I think as we move into the application, there is a clear message here for some of us. 00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:55.359 If you are in church today because you're a good person, and good people go to church, well then understand there's probably a good bit about you that is not good. 00:26:55.359 --> 00:26:59.839 Be careful. 00:26:59.839 --> 00:27:02.400 Your house is clean. 00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:06.799 Do you want it seven times worse in the days to come? 00:27:06.799 --> 00:27:10.880 Just tell God you're sorry. 00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:28.960 Or if you were raised in a Christian home and you have the benefits of life in an environment that is lived according to Christian principles, but you have never told God yourself that my life is yours, then beware. 00:27:28.960 --> 00:27:31.519 You're swept clean. 00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:34.400 But what's next? 00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:37.599 Something worse may come. 00:27:37.599 --> 00:27:48.400 Now, here I don't think we should focus too much on the individual, because that's not where Jesus puts his focus either. 00:27:48.400 --> 00:27:50.960 Let's go to the next slide and see what happens. 00:27:50.960 --> 00:27:53.039 We had just read of the demonaic. 00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:55.440 We're back in Matthew now. 00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:58.880 The final condition of that person is worse than the first. 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:01.200 But here's what Jesus says next. 00:28:01.200 --> 00:28:06.079 That is how it will be with this wicked generation. 00:28:06.079 --> 00:28:10.319 This blind mute that Jesus healed, he's an object lesson. 00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:12.880 Yes, his future is at stake. 00:28:12.880 --> 00:28:22.720 But Jesus is making a point to talk to the entire crowd and saying, This generation is wicked for rejecting me. 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:26.400 Now, how do we understand the demonaic here? 00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:28.000 I don't quite get it. 00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:32.720 Possession, dispossession, repossession with seven. 00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:34.160 What about now with the generation? 00:28:34.160 --> 00:28:41.920 Is a demon going to inhabit each one of these Jewish leaders and those in the surrounding crowds that are against Jesus? 00:28:41.920 --> 00:28:48.880 Or is it more like a spirit or an ethos in which a culture can kind of yield itself to negative impulses? 00:28:48.880 --> 00:28:50.960 I'm not sure. 00:28:50.960 --> 00:28:58.559 But if we look very clearly at this passage, right now all that's happening with the Pharisees are basically they're calling Jesus names. 00:28:58.559 --> 00:29:01.440 They're really mean names. 00:29:01.440 --> 00:29:08.240 But how is it that several chapters later, by the end of this story, they're conspiring to crucify him? 00:29:08.240 --> 00:29:09.519 I mean, really? 00:29:09.519 --> 00:29:11.839 He's a backwater prophet. 00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:13.680 He's a minor nuisance. 00:29:13.680 --> 00:29:16.480 He has no power, no armies. 00:29:16.480 --> 00:29:24.240 Oh, yes, of course, we know he's a greater threat than that for all the reasons you've studied in other sermons, but to kill the guy? 00:29:24.240 --> 00:29:30.079 Notice the power of the demonic at work in this generation. 00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:35.039 It's phenomenal how rapidly this descended into chaos. 00:29:35.039 --> 00:29:44.240 And here we have a second warning, not just for the individual, but for Christian civilization. 00:29:44.240 --> 00:29:52.960 For Europe, for America, for Latin America, all these places that have been Christian for generations. 00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:57.039 Our houses have been swept clean. 00:29:57.039 --> 00:29:59.200 Where are they going? 00:29:59.200 --> 00:30:08.079 We can see that this application is legitimate to bring into play because of what Jesus said to the people of his day. 00:30:08.079 --> 00:30:11.920 Who's going to rise in judgment against those Jewish people? 00:30:11.920 --> 00:30:13.680 The people of Nineveh. 00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:16.000 The queen of Sheba. 00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:18.480 Take a look at this map. 00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:21.200 Sheba today is Yemen. 00:30:21.200 --> 00:30:24.160 Nineveh is Iraq. 00:30:24.160 --> 00:30:27.039 You want to live there? 00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:34.559 Back in the day, these places had thriving Christian civilizations. 00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:42.799 In Yemen, there's a city called Nejran, and the people there were famous Christians who endured during great persecution. 00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:51.519 Now, eventually, the Muslims rise up after that episode in which they demonstrated the sincerity of their faith through death. 00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:56.559 And the Muslims aren't out to kill them, they just make a deal with them. 00:30:56.559 --> 00:30:59.519 Like, okay, you guys pay your taxes, we'll leave you alone. 00:30:59.519 --> 00:31:01.599 You leave us alone, we'll leave you alone. 00:31:01.599 --> 00:31:03.440 The Muslims are focused north. 00:31:03.440 --> 00:31:09.119 They want to push into the very rich and wealthy lands of Christian civilization up there in the Middle East. 00:31:09.119 --> 00:31:12.079 But in Yemen, it's out of the way, they can leave them be. 00:31:12.079 --> 00:31:13.200 It's okay. 00:31:13.200 --> 00:31:15.440 So the Christians made a deal. 00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:21.119 Within a couple hundred years, their Christianity just completely withered away. 00:31:21.119 --> 00:31:24.480 For this reason or that, they converted to Islam. 00:31:24.480 --> 00:31:31.680 Now, up in the north, in Nineveh, Baghdad, basically, they made a different choice. 00:31:31.680 --> 00:31:34.960 Now, the Muslims there, they were there in force. 00:31:34.960 --> 00:31:37.359 This is the capital of their empire. 00:31:37.359 --> 00:31:39.839 Baghdad became so eventually. 00:31:39.839 --> 00:31:43.039 And the Christians decided to cooperate. 00:31:43.039 --> 00:31:52.960 And in partnership with the Muslims, they helped create the most thriving civilization the world had known to that point in time. 00:31:52.960 --> 00:32:03.920 The Library of Alexandria, you know, generations before, was certainly rivaled, at least, by the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. 00:32:03.920 --> 00:32:21.839 And all of the geniuses of Christian civilization joined with the geniuses of Muslim civilization, and they produced this location that basically preserved the entire heritage of Greek philosophy for us today, as they translated it into Arabic. 00:32:21.839 --> 00:32:34.559 But before too long, the Mongols came from the East and basically just killed everybody in their path, Muslims and Christians together. 00:32:34.559 --> 00:32:39.839 So I'm not trying to make a point on what they did. 00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:45.519 In one case, they kind of just kept their distance from society at large and the outstanding culture. 00:32:45.519 --> 00:32:48.400 In another one, they partnered with the outstanding culture. 00:32:48.400 --> 00:32:50.960 In both cases, they came to nothing. 00:32:50.960 --> 00:32:55.200 So Christian civilization today has those same choices. 00:32:55.200 --> 00:32:56.640 We might do this, we might do that. 00:32:56.640 --> 00:32:58.559 I don't know what's the thing to do. 00:32:58.559 --> 00:33:05.920 But none of it really matters if your house is simply swept clean. 00:33:05.920 --> 00:33:13.039 Because today, look at these two countries and where they are, despite the heritage that they had. 00:33:13.039 --> 00:33:17.279 And where are we going as a nation ourselves? 00:33:17.279 --> 00:33:19.119 Repent. 00:33:19.119 --> 00:33:25.920 But this isn't perhaps the final application to make. 00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:30.960 Now maybe this third warning isn't drawn directly from the text. 00:33:30.960 --> 00:33:38.000 But if we have something to warn Christian civilization, aren't we doing the same as Jonah? 00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:44.240 And looking out there at all the other people that are ruining this great heritage we've got? 00:33:44.240 --> 00:33:51.519 Jesus is greater than Jonah because he directs his anger at the right people. 00:33:51.519 --> 00:33:55.839 And so we have to also warn the church. 00:33:55.839 --> 00:34:02.079 What is our role in this whole episode of what we do with Jesus? 00:34:02.079 --> 00:34:04.480 Let's read the next verses. 00:34:04.480 --> 00:34:06.799 We skip to another section of the Bible here. 00:34:06.799 --> 00:34:11.599 We're in Revelation now, and Jesus is writing to the seven churches in Asia Minor. 00:34:11.599 --> 00:34:16.239 One of them is Ephesus, and he says, I hold this against you. 00:34:16.239 --> 00:34:19.679 You have forsaken the love you had at first. 00:34:19.679 --> 00:34:22.719 Consider how far you have fallen. 00:34:22.719 --> 00:34:27.199 Repent and do the things you did at first. 00:34:27.199 --> 00:34:34.480 If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. 00:34:34.480 --> 00:34:39.440 So here we're talking about a very different situation. 00:34:39.440 --> 00:34:45.280 The demonaic or the paralyzed man. 00:34:45.280 --> 00:34:50.960 Demon involved, not demon involved, what certainly was in neither of these cases was the Spirit of God. 00:34:50.960 --> 00:34:54.800 So we here have the Spirit of God. 00:34:54.800 --> 00:34:59.519 We are protected from these worst possible outcomes, seven times worse. 00:34:59.519 --> 00:35:10.159 But at the same time, if we have lost our first love, the warning is God's going to come and take our lampstand and be done with us. 00:35:10.159 --> 00:35:13.679 He'll find somebody else to work through, sure. 00:35:13.679 --> 00:35:24.079 But whatever influence we can have on that wider Christian civilization that we're frustrated by, well, our attention needs to be here. 00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:30.800 And where are we failing to follow Christ correctly? 00:35:30.800 --> 00:35:40.320 Jesus was, as we are, frustrated with the situation we find ourselves in. 00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:45.599 Because I imagine that most of you are leading the types of lives that you're supposed to be leading. 00:35:45.599 --> 00:35:51.199 But there's one other aspect of this story that brings it even closer to home. 00:35:51.199 --> 00:35:54.000 And here it gets very, very personal. 00:35:54.000 --> 00:36:00.639 But to find it, we have to look outside of this passage in Matthew to the parallel passage in Mark. 00:36:00.639 --> 00:36:05.519 Because we've got this episode, Jesus is healing a demonaic. 00:36:05.519 --> 00:36:09.840 He has been called in league with the devil, Beelzebub. 00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:13.440 He responds with this talk about the sign of Jonah. 00:36:13.440 --> 00:36:17.599 And then he warns about the house swept clean. 00:36:17.599 --> 00:36:22.480 But everything starts off in the very beginning with a different emphasis. 00:36:22.480 --> 00:36:24.559 So let's read from Mark. 00:36:24.559 --> 00:36:34.159 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said he is out of his mind. 00:36:34.159 --> 00:36:40.400 Even Jesus' family didn't believe him. 00:36:40.400 --> 00:36:47.440 And we know that this is connected to the start of the episode because it goes in to this episode about Beelzebub. 00:36:47.440 --> 00:36:50.320 And then everything happened as we've done in the sermon so far. 00:36:50.320 --> 00:36:57.119 And when all of this is done, guess who's still standing there at the end, waiting to take charge of him? 00:36:57.119 --> 00:36:58.880 His family. 00:36:58.880 --> 00:37:01.280 So we read the next verse. 00:37:01.280 --> 00:37:02.719 Now everything's finished. 00:37:02.719 --> 00:37:03.840 We're back to Matthew. 00:37:03.840 --> 00:37:09.760 Jesus was still talking to the crowd, and his mother and brothers stood outside wanting to speak to him. 00:37:09.760 --> 00:37:13.199 And someone told him, Your mother and your brothers are standing outside. 00:37:13.199 --> 00:37:14.960 They're wanting to speak to you. 00:37:14.960 --> 00:37:15.679 Okay. 00:37:15.679 --> 00:37:17.840 What does Jesus say? 00:37:17.840 --> 00:37:21.519 He points to his disciples. 00:37:21.519 --> 00:37:25.440 Here are my mother and my brothers. 00:37:25.440 --> 00:37:32.559