Lord, We Need Your Help!
Matthew 16:1-12
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - Feb. 8, 2009
*Do you ever feel like you need spiritual help? -- Oh yeah! -- Especially when I am struggling or see people I love struggling with faults and weaknesses.
*If you don’t feel like you need spiritual help, let me tell you: You need a lot of spiritual help. You may even be lost. But all of us can cry out to the Lord. And we can use this Scripture to help us do it.
1. The first prayer request is, “Lord, help us see Your signs.”
*In vs. 1-4 some hard-hearted Jewish rulers could not see the Lord’s signs:
1. Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that (Jesus) would show them a sign from heaven.
2. He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, `It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’;
3. 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.
4. 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.
*Some other scribes and Pharisees had asked Jesus for a sign back in Matt 12.
-There in vs. 39-40 He told them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. -For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
*God surely gives signs. He still speaks through the still small voice of His Holy Spirit -- urging us to do the right thing at the right time. God still speaks through our circumstances. Sometimes He speaks to people through dreams. (Sometimes He hits us over the head with a 2-by-4!) Most of all, He speaks to us through His Word.
*God gives signs. But here Jesus said, “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.”
*Why did the Lord say that? The reason why is because there were never enough signs for those hard-hearted, unbelieving people.
-No generation has ever seen as many signs as that generation had seen!
-Those Pharisees and Sadducees had heard the reports. Some of them had seen the miracles first hand.
*Up to this point in Matthew, we see at least 18 reports of miracles, involving thousands of people.
*In Matt 8 Jesus healed a leper. -Then with just a word He healed a Roman soldier’s servant who had some kind of paralyzing disease.
-Jesus also healed Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever by touching her hand.
-He cast out demons with His word, calmed the wind and the raging sea, then cast out a whole legion of demons from two men.
*In Matt 9, Jesus healed another paralyzed man and forgave his sins.
-Then He healed a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years, and He raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead!
-Jesus also healed two blind men by touching their eyes.
-And He cast out a dumb demon, enabling the possessed man to begin speaking.
*In Matt 12 Jesus healed a man who was both blind and mute.
*In Matt 14 Jesus fed 5,000 men plus thousands more women and children with five loaves and two fish.
-Jesus also walked on the water of a raging sea.
-And He made it possible for Peter to walk on the water.
*I like the story Ken Davis told about a 4-year-old boy. His name was Jonathan.
*One summer day, Jonathan’s mom came out on the patio with his lunch. And she found him taking the water out of his little pool. With great determination, Jonathan was draining it one small bucket at a time.
*Mom set his food on the picnic table and asked what he was doing. And her frustrated 4-year-old replied, “I was trying to do like Jesus and walk on the water. -- But this water doesn’t work.” (1)
*It would have worked for Jesus! He can walk on any water.
*In Matt 15 Jesus cast a demon out of a Canaanite woman’s daughter.
-Then He healed many people who were lame, blind, dumb and maimed.
-And He fed 4,000 men plus women and children with seven loaves and a few fish.
*John 21:25 tells us, “There are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”
*But all of that was not enough for these hard-hearted unbelievers.
-As Jesus hung on the cross, dying for our sins, they gleefully mocked Him with these words: “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.”
*Paul explained in 1 Corin 1:21-24, where he said:
21. 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.
22. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;
23. but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
24. but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
*The cross is the greatest sign of all! This was the Lord’s message when He talked about the sign of the prophet Jonah. Back in Matt 12:40 Jesus explained, “As Jonah was 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth.”
*The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest sign the world will ever see. And if you will not receive this sign, you will never be saved.
-We must believe. As John 20 tells us:
30. Truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book;
31. but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
*Lord, help us to see Your signs.
2. And help us go against the flow of evil in our day.
*In vs. 4 Jesus said, “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. . .”
*Truly we are part of a wicked and adulterous generation. The words that Paul wrote in 2 Tim 3:1-5 could certainly describe our society today. Paul told Timothy:
1. But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3. unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
4. traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5. having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
*Lord, we need Your help! Help us go against the flow of evil in our day.
*Many of us have seen the wild and funny TV ads that go along with the Super Bowl. But fans in Texas got quite a shock during the game this year.
*An ad by AshleyMadison.com was seen as inappropriate by the NFL and NBC. But local affiliates in Texas decided that the $250,000 for the 30-secoond spot was too much to turn down. The 30-second commercial was an ad for an online dating service for married people. It showed a couple at a restaurant on their wedding anniversary. The man was an obnoxious jerk who talked on the cell phone during supper. Then, he got up to leave during dessert, as he said, “Happy anniversary, honey.” The voice-over targeted at women asked, "Isn’t it time for Ashley-Madison.com?"
*The company owner defended the ad by noting he was simply providing a service for people wanting to be honest about their displeasure with marriage. He started the service in 2001 after reading that 30% of the people signing up for singles dating services were married. He now has 3.3 million members.
*Texas was the only state to see the ad but that was intentional. Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio represent their fastest-growing markets with nearly a quarter-million members joining in the past few months. Less than 24 hours after the Super Bowl ad, Houston alone accounted for more than 147,000 hits to the site.
*Lord, help us go against the flow of evil in our day. Verse 4 ends with these somber words: “He left them and departed.” Jesus left them and departed. In Gen 6:3 the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh.” The Holy Spirit will not always strive with people. Now is the time to go against the flow of evil. Lord, help us to do it!
3. But also help us trust in Your greatness and goodness.
*In vs. 5-8 the disciples were not trusting the Lord to provide for them.
5. And when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.
6. Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.’’
7. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no bread.’’
8. But when Jesus perceived it, He said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?
*In other words: “Oh you of little faith, why are you thinking about and talking about bread? Why are you debating about bread? Why are you so focused on something you ought to know I can provide?”
*“Oh you of little faith...” Johnny Dean wrote a book called “Oh Me of Little Faith.” That shoe fits more than I want to admit.
*Then in vs. 9&10, Jesus asked them and us:
9. Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?
10. Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?
*It’s as if Jesus was saying, “Don’t you understand and remember my greatness? All bread comes from Me. I can turn a little crumb into a mountain of bread. And I can surely provide you with all the bread you will ever need. Don’t you remember and understand my goodness? I had compassion on those thousands of hungry people out in the wilderness. I have compassion on all people. And I surely will have compassion on you.”
*Have you ever seen the greatness and goodness of God in your life?
-God is just as great today as He was 2,000 years ago!
-God is just as good today as He was 2,000 years ago.
*Just like the first disciples, we need to understand and remember the greatness and goodness of Jesus Christ. Lord, help us to do it!
4. But also help us to learn and live by Your Word.
*In vs. 6 Jesus was trying to teach His disciples something very important: “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” Leaven is the yeast that makes bread rise. God often uses leaven as a symbol of sin, because it grows and tends to affect every part of the dough. When the disciples did not understand, the Lord strongly corrected them. Then in vs. 12 He explained that the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees was their doctrine or teachings.
*The Pharisees were supreme legalists. Many of them had fanatical, angry, murderous devotion -- not just to God’s law but also to the hundreds of traditions they had added over the years. They proudly thought they could please God with their radical devotion. Paul was one of these fanatics, before he got saved. Here is part of his testimony from Acts 22&26:
-“I am indeed a Jew, taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.”
*Jesus said to beware of the proud, legalistic teachings of the Pharisees. Watch out for spiritual pride. Don’t put man’s traditions over the truth of God. Don’t ever think that your religious zeal is a substitute for God’s mercy and grace.
*The Sadducees were completely opposite to the Pharisees. They were a small group of wealthy, worldly aristocrats who collaborated with Rome. The Sadducees were mainly concerned with keeping their wealth and their privileges. (3)
*Acts 23:8 tells us that the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection or angels or spirits. In Matt 22:29 Jesus explained that their great error was they did not know the Scriptures or the power of God.
*Jesus said to beware of the worldly teachings of the Sadducees. Don’t doubt the Scripture and the power of God. Don’t let the things of this world become more to you than the things of God. “Beware the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,” especially the leaven of rejecting Jesus Christ. Beware of anything that diminishes the importance of Jesus Christ in your life.
*After Jesus chastised His disciples, and challenged them with His truth. After He explained what He meant to them, vs. 12 says, “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.”
*Then they understood. Lord, help us to understand, because so often we don’t. Help us to understand and apply your Word in our lives.
*Then they understood, because they were staying close to Jesus. They were listening to Him. They were following Him. They were trying to understand. They accepted His correction, and they did their best to follow Him, -- all but Judas of course. They were becoming more and more like Jesus. Are you?
*Carolyn Gillette told the story of a hospice chaplain, named Larry, and how he became friends with an 80-year-old lady named Mary. Mary was a hospice patient. Larry visited with her many times, and was greatly impressed by her faith. One day, he got a call that Mary had taken a turn for the worse. And that if he wanted to see her alive, he’d better go that day.
*Larry went to visit his friend, and found her in a very deep sleep. Larry didn’t wake her up, because he knew Mary had been in a lot of pain. But just as he turned to go, she opened her eyes wide and stared right at him. Mary looked intently and then said to him, "Oh, for a minute, I thought you were Jesus."
*They laughed about it for a moment and had a good visit together. Just two hours later Mary did see Jesus face to face.
*But Mary’s comment really hit a note with Carolyn Gillette: "Oh, for a minute, I thought you were Jesus." Carolyn later wrote: “I believe we all ought to be mistaken for Jesus, every once in a while. God has given you a mission, just as God gave a mission to Jesus. If you’re living it out, if you’re showing his unconditional love, if you’re treating other people with care and compassion; if you’re bringing good news to the poor, and healing to the sick, and freedom to those whose lives are being torn apart. Then maybe someone will look at your life and say, ‘Oh, for a minute I thought you were Jesus.’” (4)
*Lord, help us to learn Your Word, and live by Your Word, so that people will see Jesus in us. Please bow for prayer, as we continue seeking the Lord’s help.
(1) Adapted from Ken Davis, Lighten Up, 10/20/6, KLBT 88.1, Beaumont, Texas - (IN OTHER WORDS - October 2006 #3 - produced by Dr. Raymond McHenry - 35 email issues per year - 6130 Barrington ~ Beaumont, Texas 77706 (800) 553-4697 - www.iows.net)
(2) Houston Chronicle, 2/2/9, p.A1 -(IN OTHER WORDS - February 2009 #1 - produced by Dr. Raymond McHenry - 35 email issues per year - 6130 Barrington ~ Beaumont, Texas 77706 (800) 553-4697 - www.iows.net)
(3) Some information found in BARCLAY’S DAILY BIBLE STUDY - BLIND TO THE SIGNS - Matt.16:1-4 - by William Barclay - (Copyright 1975 - First published by the Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh, Scotland. -The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, PA.)
(4) Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, Sermon: “What God Gives” - (Found in Jan. 25, 2004 email from Sermonillustrations.com)
