Sermon: Here’s Your Sign Matt 16:1 November 10, 2002
I. Our World is Looking for Signs
A. Signs, Signs, Everywhere you look you see them.
1. Street Signs
(a) Stop, speed limit, merge signs, one way traffic signs
(b) Caution signs like: Caution Water on Road during rain.
2. Advertising Signs
(a) For sale signs on houses, businesses, cars
(b) Signs to promote their business
(i) Like this one:
(a) Outside a plumber’s shop “We repair what your husband fixed.”
(b) Or At the baggage stand at an airport: We take your bags and send them in every direction
(c) Or At a church: Don’t let worries kill you let the church help.”
B. Even Billboard signs from God
1. The modern day equivalent to the writing on the wall
2. You have probably seen some of these:
(a) Let’s meet at my house Sunday before the game – God
(b) We need to talk – God
(c) Keep using my name in vain, I’ll make the rush hour longer. – God (now I know why traffic is so bad at rush hour)
(d) That “love Thy Neighbor “ thing…I meant it – God
(e) Big band theory, you’ve got to be kidding – God
(f) My way is the highway – God
(g) Need directions? – God
C. The Pharisees and Sadducees did have Billboards but they too wanted a sign from God
1. A sign from heaven
(a) At first glance this was not an bad request. It was common in that day to ask a prophet for a sign as proof that their words were from God.
(b) When a sign was requested it was expected that a miracle or healing or statement would begiven immediately as proof it was from God!
(c) Jesus had already performed many miracles and healings at this point. He had given them many signs from heaven. He had given them proof but the Pharisees and Sadducees were not asking for a sign to prove Jesus was from God. They were looking for a sign to prove in their mind that Jesus wasn’t from God.
2. And so Jesus refused VERSE 4 (READ)
II. The Sign of Jonah? What was this sign?
Much is debated about it for there is nothing in the Bible that explicitly says this is the sign of Jonah. Jonah in fact is only mentioned in the book of Jonah and in the passages about the “Sign of Jonah,” It is in these text that I believe the truth about the sign of Jonah is revealed.
A. Let us begin with the The Story of Jonah turn with me if you will to Jonah in the Old Testament – (pg 720) it is near the end of the old testment in the minor prophets – Daniel Hosea, Joel Amos Obadiah, Jonah
1. Most of us know the story. We probably learned it as the story of Jonah and the whale growing up in Sunday School but it is much more than that. In fact is it is really a story about God and Jonah.
2. You see Jonah was a prophet, a man of God. He knew God’s way, God voice. He had been delivering messages from God for years when he got this message.
(a) Jonah 1:1 “The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: ‘ Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.’”
(b) The message was loud and as clear as if it had been written on a billboard. – Jonah go to Nineveh – God.
3. But Jonah ran the other way.
(a) He hated the Ninevites. They were Assyrians and the Assyrians had trampled the jews. They were a vile and wicked nation. And Jonah despised them.
(b) What I find interesting is that Jonah ran away when God told him to “preach” against them. God was telling Jonah, given Jonah the chance to go and tell the Ninevites how bad they were. I would have thought Jonah would have enjoyed the opportunity to go and preach against them. The problem was while Jonah would have enjoyed chastising the Assyrians he knew God really well too. He knew God was just about chastising them God was about to save the Assyrians.
(c) So Jonah ran the other way.
4. A violent storm came. The sailors saw this as the hand of God in judgment against one who wronged him. And they determined the one who wronged God was Jonah. So Jonah was cast overboard as a sacrifice.
(a) Jonah 1:17 “But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
(b) It was here in the belly of the whale that Jonah lamented, moaned and groaned to God until he came to true repentance. Vs 2:8 “ Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs But I with a song of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salavation comes from the Lord…” And the fish vomited Jonah onto dry land
(c) “The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”
5. So Jonah travels to Nineveh and delivers the shortest sermon in history, eight words to be exact. “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” And it works! (hey maybe if I delivered just an eight word sermon – nah – we’d get out of church too early.)
6. The Ninevites repented and came to God. One hundred and twenty thousand people are saved. You’d think Jonah would be happy but he isn’t. In fact he is angry and cries out to go in prayer: “4: 2 That is why I was so quick to [run away]. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love a God who relents from sending calamity.”
7. That is the sign of Jonah!
(a) There is a relatively new movie out called “Jonah.” I highly recommended it for you and your children and grandchildren. It is a great family night of entertainment and message for it is a children’s movie featuring singing vegetables telling the story of Jonah. Now I know that sounds a little corky but as I sat there and watched it with my children I was amazed at how true the account was to the story and clearly they gave the sign of Jonah in their big show stopper tune “God is the God of second chances.” The song is sung by a host of angelic celery stalks and asparagus so I’ll not try to sing the song for you but I want you to hear the words
(i) God is a god of mercy. God is a god of love and right now he’s gonna’ lend a helping hand from up above. Praise the lord. He’s the god of second chances. You’ll be floored how his love your life enhances. You can be restored from your darkest circumstances. Our god is a god of second chances. Ain’t it good to know a god who gives a second chances…So if you say you’re sorry for all the stuff you do than he’ll be ready with a second chance for you. If you believe God’s love is true then you should know what you should do. Our God is a god of second chances.
B. That is the message of Jonah.
1. If you believe God’s love is true than you know what you should do
(a) God’s will isn’t a surprise disguised in a sign. It is as clear as the black and white letters of your Bible. He isn’t trying to fool or trick you. And you can’t hide from his word. No matter where you are, where you go – even if it is in the belly of whale of materialism, vocation, or self indulgence, God’s directions for your life are as clear as his words to Jonah. Go and proclaim my message!! Whatever is happening in your life. Whenever you are wondering what God would have you do, whenever you are wondering what God’s will is remember his message to Jonah’s – Go and proclaim my message knowing this…
2. God has already prepared the way for you.
(a) God had prepared the way for Jonah. It wasn’t that Jonah’s sermon was so great that his words overwhelmed, awed 120,000 people. I mean it was only eight word’s long and it didn’t even mention God. BUT God was already working in the hearts and lives of the Ninevites. He had prepared them to receive the invitation that Jonah was going to bring.
(b) We Christians fret so about witnessing, about telling people about God. We worry we don’t know the right words, the right scriptures to quote, the answer to all the possible questions. But we forget is we aren’t the ones doing the saving. God is and he has prepared the way for us. He just wants us to extend the invitation and he’ll do the rest. No matter what Jonah had said the people would have been saved for God was the one in control, God was the one convicting the hearts and for
3. God is a god of second chances. Jonah knew God’s message, he knew God’s will but he still went the other way. He made mistakes He didn’t do what God said. But God didn’t give up on him. God didn’t walk away. God directed him, led him to find the right path the right way. God gave him a second chance and he will give you one too. He’ll give this church a second chance And here’s the proof..
III. Turn with me if you will to another recounting of the story we began with in Matt. Turn to Matthew 12:38
A. Now one greater than Jonah is here! Greater than the sign of Jonah that proclaims God is a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love. Greater than the sign of Jonah that proves God has prepared the way for you. Greater than the message that God is the god of second chances is the proof the evidence that found in the Son of Man, Jesus Christ.
B. He is your second chance.
1. When you haven’t got it right, when you have sinned, when you have fallen short of the glory of God his grace, his love is your second chance for he has redeemed you in front of God. He has made you worthy. You can’t do it on your own. But he’s given you a second chance to get it right. He’s given you his son to lead and guide you.
2. Jesus Christ is the sign. The only sign this generation and generations to come will need. He is the sign of redemption, repentance, justification, salvation. He is the sign of eternal life.
IV. Closing
A. I could share with you hundreds of stories of individuals like Jonah who had strayed from God, ran from God. Stories of individuals who repented and experienced the God of second chances. But the questions isn’t what is their story, but what is yours? What has God called you to do? Where in your life do you need to meet the God of second chances? What have you been given a second chance to do?
(a) Is it to tell others about Christ?
(b) Is it to lead outreach in this church?
(c) It is to enter the ministry?
(d) Is it to be unashamedly proclaim and be a Christian example in your workplace?
(e) Is it to be counselor of God’s love to someone who is suffering?
(f) Is it to be a teacher to the children of this church?
(g) Is it to serve the “Least of God’s children with compassion, love and service?
B. The message of the sign of Jonah is for you – Go and proclaim God’s message. He’s prepared the way for you. He has redeemed you and given you a second chance through the life, death and resurrection of his son, Jesus Christ. You are his child live like it
Amen and Amen.
