More Than Enough

More Than Enough

Matthew 12:38-50

Illus. Deal or no deal?

As we pick back up in Matthew 12:38-50, we find the Pharisees, who had seen many of Jesus’ miracles, ask for a proof sign. In their asking for a sign,
it is made clear that all He had already done and shown, was not enough for them.

The crowds were continually amazed, but the Pharisees and Scribes were increasingly enraged. So much so, that after seeing Him heal a man on their Sabbath,
they began to conspire as to how they might destroy Him (12:14). Upon seeing His power in healing a man who was blind, mute and was demon-possessed,
they accused Him of using the power of satan to bring about the healing, restoration and freedom to the one who was once bound.

Jesus clearly and pointedly showed them that their assertion was not only wrong, their full and final rejection of Jesus would place them on the wrong
side of eternity. Jesus’ power was from God and He made it clear, yet their response to His clear and concise addressing of their accusation was that
they wanted another sign, even though He had already shown more than enough evidence that He alone, was truly divine.

Read: Matthew 12:38-50

Those questioning Jesus were deeply devoted to disbelief. A response for one more sign, would turn into many more, yet, they were meaningless if there
was no way they would open the door of their hearts to receive Him. Jesus had done more than enough, yet they would continue to seek a sign, rather
than the Savior who was standing in their midst.

Certainly, there are things we would love to see in our lives. Times when the sign becomes more important than the sender, message more important than
the messenger, or the gifts more important than the giver.

Jesus ended up pointing those asking for a sign to the most significant sign that they would see, His resurrection. It is the sign you and I have today
as well, so that all can say with regard to Jesus, “He is more than enough for me.” While gifts are great, the giver is greater, and here Jesus reminds
the Pharisees, Scribes, and us today that the greater One has come.

I.Seek the Savior

Luke 11:16, Trying to test Jesus, (they) demanded that He show a miraculous sign from heaven to prove His authority.

Matthew 12:38, Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.

• In their request for a miraculous sign, they are essentially saying, “all that you have shown is no proof…If you are who you suggest you are,
  if you are operating by the Spirit of God…Prove it, show us a sign from heaven.”

• The sign they wanted is not specified, but in making this request, they were invalidating His public miracles of healing, casting out demons, calming
  storms, and raising the dead. What they were requesting was of a grander scale.

Illus. Me too! 

• “If you give us strong enough proof, then we will believe”…But Jesus knew that nothing He would do, would cause their hard hearts to be moved.

• Ultimately, they were not looking for a reason to believe, they were looking for a reason not to believe. A reason to accuse Him.
• They were demanding a sign by their choosing while rejecting all the signs of God’s choosing.
• The Savior was standing right in front of them, and if they chose to look at the signs already given, they had already been given enough to see.

Isaiah 35:5-6, Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.

Isaiah 61:1, The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

Matthew 11:5-6, The blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.

• This is an important reminder for us today to search for and seek the Savior, in so doing, realize He has done and given more than enough.

Deuteronomy 4:29, You will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

• There are some who come up with tests of their choosing that demand God to prove who He is to them…Seeking signs passionately, rather than the
  Savior wholeheartedly.

Illus., God, if you’re real, then…

Matthew 7:7, Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

• Because of what had already been done, Jesus had nothing to prove, but those questioning had much to lose.

1. Rise up in faith

• Jesus then gives two examples of those who heard, believed, and endeavored to rise up in faith.

Matthew 12:39-41

• Jonah was a prophet in the Old Testament who refused to obey God’s call to preach to the city of Nineveh.

• Upon receiving the call from the Lord, Jonah went in the complete opposite direction, got on a ship and a great storm came upon the sea. Jonah was
  thrown into the sea in order to save the rest of the men on board the ship.

• God then caused Jonah to be swallowed up by a “great fish,” in whose stomach he remained for three days and three nights (Jonah 1:17).

• Jesus said, just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in
  the heart of the earth.

Interesting Insight: “Verbally predictive” and “typical” prophesy.

• Jesus Himself validates the story of Jonah, and also that the reality of that story is also a foreshadowing of His death, burial, and resurrection.
• The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the evidence and proof that God gives to the world so that we might believe in His name and have life everlasting.

1 Corinthians 15:14, 17, 20 … and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain… and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins…But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.

• The question then isn’t, Lord why didn’t you provide that sign? Rather, the question is, what will you do with the sign He has given?

• When Jonah reluctantly arrived to Nineveh, he spoke one sentence:

Jonah 3:4, Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.

• And the people of Nineveh believed God (NKJV). One of the greatest revivals in history.

• The people of Nineveh came to repentance after one sentence from Jonah…Jesus here says, “Behold, something greater than Jonah is here (12:41).

• Jonah came to Nineveh with a few words, Jesus came preaching, teaching, and healing many.

• Jonah was a reluctant minor prophet, Jesus was the willing Prophet of God.

• Jonah was rebellious, Jesus was sinless.

• Jonah was actually angry when the people turned from their ways, Jesus gave His very life so that people could be saved for all their days.

• No signs were seen by the people of Nineveh, the people of Judea had more than enough to choose from.

• Jesus then refers to the Queen of the South, from 1 Kings 10, who had heard of the fame of King Solomon, so she came inquiring of Him sincerely, asking
  questions, sharing what was in her heart (1 Kings 10:3).

• After Solomon answered her questions, after she saw, and heard…It was more than enough for her.. She went away amazed. Blessed are your servants!

• But for the Pharisees, something greater than Solomon was in their midst (Vs. 42).

• Jesus is saying, Nineveh and the Queen of the South are a sign of those who heard and saw, and believed…They rose up in faith.

Romans 10:16-17, They did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So, faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

• Those standing in front of Him, though they had seen and heard much more, were a sign of unbelief.

God gave a sign in sending His only Son…What will you do personally with the sign He sent?

1. Realize the reality

John 1:14, And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 11:11-13, He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

• Jesus concluded by illustrating the emptiness of religion without relationship and being filled with the Holy Spirit.

• He describes the case of a man who after being delivered of an unclean spirit, begins getting his life in order religiously. Yet, though his life was
  swept and put in order, it was empty.

• He had some improvement in his works and ways externally, but was empty internally.

• The emptiness of their religion would only lead to greater bondage.

• The reality of Jesus is greater than any sign, signal or sermon.

John 10:10, I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

• So full that He is willing and ready to welcome you into His very family.

Matthew 12:49-50, And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

• What is given to those who know He is enough for them, is the glorious and gracious invitation to be welcomed into His family.

Ephesians 2:13-14, In Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.For He Himself is our peace… 

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous
generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as Jonah was three days and three
nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will
stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater
than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends
of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.“Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man,
it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it
comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they
go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”
While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. Someone said to Him,
“Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.” But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said,
“Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever
does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”