Why Jesus Refused to Give a Sign

We eat to grow and we grow to die. Think about it. I am the true living sign before your very eyes until when, oh wicked, evil and adulterous generation, you're still seeking a sign from me? I am the sign.

Don't ask for a sign. Ask for me because I am the sign and there is no other sign but me. All right, this evening we are going to look at the sign of the prophet Jonah.

Today's topic will be both from the gospel according to Saint Matthew chapter 12 and 16. So it's Matthew chapter 12 and 16 and it is to do with the sign of the prophet Jonah. In the gospel according to Saint Matthew chapter 12 and 16, the scribes, the Pharisees and the Sadducees asked the Lord Jesus two questions.

We will stop at these two questions and then we will look at what do we learn from the two questions in chapter 12 and 16 of Matthew. So we'll come to Matthew 12 and verses 38 to 39. We're going to read.

So Matthew chapter 12 verse 38 and 39. It says, Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered saying, Teacher, we want to see a sign from you. Who do they ask? The Lord Jesus.

Teacher, meaning the Lord Jesus, we want to see a sign from you. In verse 39, the Lord Jesus replies to them and says, But he answered and said to 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. So when the scribes and the Pharisees came to the Lord in Matthew 12 38 seeking a sign from him, the Lord replies and says to them, You are an evil and adulterous generation.

And we will come to that. Why did the Lord reply with these two words, evil and adulterous? You are seeking a sign. A sign will not be given to this evil and adulterous generation except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

When we go back to the very beginning of chapter 12. This is the gospel of St. Matthew. According to St. Matthew chapter 12.

When we go back to the very beginning of the chapter, we will find that our Lord Jesus did three things or three signs. He showed them three signs prior to them asking him in verse 38. The Lord already showed them three signs prior to them seeking a sign from him in verse 38.

When you read, this is at home, it's not on the screen. When you go back home, read chapter 12 and 16 in its entirety. When you go back to Matthew 12 verses 1 to 4, you will find this story.

I'm paraphrasing. I'm not going to say it word for word. You need to read it for yourself.

So Matthew 12, 1 to 4. The Lord Jesus, number one, he did three things. Number one, he allowed his disciples to plug heads of grain and eat them on a Sabbath. And it's classified as doing work on a Sabbath.

They were definitely in the law. They broke Sabbath and the Lord Jesus allowed them to do so. Who jumped at the Lord? The scribes and the Pharisees.

And these religious figures, definitely a pain. So they came charging at the Lord Jesus. And they said to him, how can your disciples break the Sabbath? They plugged the heads of grain and ate it.

How did you allow them? You call yourself a teacher and you're allowing your disciples to break the Sabbath? The Lord Jesus replied and said to them, have you not read what David did when he was hungry? He and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests. How come you don't, you know, judge your King David? Why are you jumping at me and trying to condemn me? Well, your David, your King David did the same thing. He broke the law.

How come you don't mention anything of that? It was not lawful for him, nor for those soldiers who were with him, because that showbread was only meant to be for the priests of the temple. Why you don't say he broke the Sabbath? All this you find it in Matthew 12, 1 to 4, verses 1 to 4. And then the Lord continues in verse 8 of chapter 12. And he says to them, for the Son of Man, meaning himself, for the Son of Man is the Lord even of the Sabbath.

So who is the Lord of the Sabbath? Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Son of Man. You're coming to condemn the one who is the Lord of Saturday. He said it.

It was not the Son of Man. It was not the man made for Sabbath. It was the Sabbath made to serve the man.

And the Son of Man, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, all glory to his holy and mighty name, is the Lord of the Sabbath. And since I'm the Lord of the Sabbath, I have full right to do as I wish. When he said, I am the Lord of the Sabbath, the Lord was saying, I am the Lord of fullness.

I am the Lord of rest. Because the word Sabbath in Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, means rest. These are all Aramaic, Syriac words, meaning rest.

Meaning rest. So I am the Lord of fullness. Why? Because my disciples ate on a Saturday, on a Sabbath.

They ate and they got filled. So I am the Lord of the Sabbath, therefore I am the Lord of fullness. I came to fill you up.

I came to enrich you. I came for you to be filled, not to be condemned. And when you are full, you are relaxed, brother.

When you eat, you want to sleep. That's why when people work hard, they don't eat heavy lunch, because they can't go back to work again. They leave it to last, because the moment they eat, they all loosen up and they want to go to sleep.

So he came to fill us, to give us rest, to give us rest. Now this was the first sign the Lord Jesus showed the Israelite people, the Jewish people, I am the Lord of the Sabbath. And then the Lord left them, same chapter, same day.

He left them for a little while, and he walks into a synagogue on the same Sabbath, in the same chapter. So he leaves that field of wheat, and he walks into the synagogue. And we find that in Matthew 12 verses 9 to 13, this story takes place now.

Verses 9 to 13, this story takes place. This is now the second sign. The Lord, when he enters the synagogue on the same Sabbath, he finds a man in the synagogue with a withered hand, dry hand, can't use it, can't move it.

So now on the Sabbath, the disciples fed themselves on grains, on heads of grain. They were filled. This man in the synagogue had a withered hand, meaning he was unable to eat.

His hand is dead. He can't use it to eat. The disciples ate and got filled, but the man in the synagogue is hungry, can't eat.

Now what does this man do? His hand is dead, he can't use it. To eat. The Lord Jesus, prior to healing him, again the Pharisees asked the Lord this, saying, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? They asked the Lord in the synagogue, is it lawful to heal on a Sabbath? Why? Because they were trying to get him.

They were trying to make him say something that is against the law, to go at him. Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? The Lord replied and said to them, you see, my beloved, the Lord knows you more than you. Don't ever try and challenge the Lord, because he'll put us all to shame.

He knows every single one of us. He knows what's inside of us. Before we even know what's inside of us, he knows what we will think next second, what we will do next second.

He knows everything. Everything is as clear as the daylight. Everything.

He knows you fully before even creating you, before even making you. He knows you. So now the Lord replied and said to them, what man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Let me ask you, you're asking me, is it lawful to heal a human being on a Sabbath? Well, let me reply to you with a question.

If you had a sheep, not a human, an animal, and your sheep fell into a well or a pit on a Sabbath, wouldn't you pull it out of the well on a Sabbath? And that's being classified as work. You just pulled the sheep out of the well. You've just worked.

You broke the Sabbath. But how come you go and run to get the sheep out on a Sabbath and saying to yourself, I'm not in breach of the Sabbath, but here you're trying to judge me for healing not an animal, a human being who is the image and the likeness of God. The Lord then said to that man, stretch out your hand.

Since they could not reply to what he said, what are they going to say? He shut them up. So he said to that man, stretch out your hand. And he stretched it and became wholesome.

Nothing wrong with it. The first sign in Matthew 12, the Lord Jesus says, I am the Lord of the Sabbath. I came to give you fullness.

But those disciples, they ate, they were filled from those heads of grain, wheat. They were filled by that wheat, which they ate, the grains of wheat. You see, from the grains of wheat, we make bread.

However, we eat the dead bread that is made from the grains of wheat. That bread that we buy from the Baalbek bakery is dead. And the Italian and the French breads and the Persian breads, all these beautiful breads, by the way, yummy, yummy, yummy.

They are all dead bread. But the Lord Jesus is the only living bread. But the Lord is the only living bread.

In our homes, there is plenty of bread, but that bread is dead. When did this bread die? It died when it was harvested. You know, as long as those grains were in that head of that wheat, it was alive.

The moment they chopped that wheat stump, that grain became dead. You killed it, isn't it? At harvest, you are killing those grains of wheat. The bread we eat is made from those grains which were killed by men.

So we eat a dead bread. So when we harvest it, the grain of wheat was alive till it was harvested. Then it is threshed, then it is grinded, then it is kneaded, then it is baked.

When you bake it, that means it is definitely dead 100%. You've burned it, you killed it now. There is no sign of life.

And after all this process, we receive that bread and we eat that bread, but still that bread that we ate gave us life. But that life which it gave us led to death. Why? I'll tell you why.

We eat to grow and we grow to die. Think about it. When someone passes away at the age of 95, 100, we say, oh well, they were old.

They've had their share of life. They've lived a very good, blessed, full life. 100, that's plenty.

It was a good life. But we say they were old. Parents, I don't want to scare you.

You know, we come to our children and we say, my son, my daughter, you have to eat, you have to eat, you have to eat. But why, mom? You have to feed your child. Why does the child need to eat? Because my child needs to grow older.

But don't you realize the older they grow, the closer they get to death? We grow older to die, my beloved. But I want to eat to live, not to die. Well, there is no food, there is no bread that you can eat that gives you life except when you eat the one who says, I am the living bread.

Any other bread outside of Jesus Christ is a bread that gives you life, which leads you to death. But the bread that descended from heaven, whom Christ gave you himself as the living bread, when you eat him, in him you shall live forever. There is no death.

You shall live forever. So now, the disciples who are walking with the Lord through the fields of wheat, they have reached the living bread. They've reached him.

Now, since they have reached the living bread, then it is through Christ who is the living bread, who is the Lord of the Sabbath, allowed them to eat on a Sabbath. Are you with me? Since they are walking along with the living bread, where were they walking? The Lord took him through the fields of wheat where bread is made from. So he said he wants to teach him a lesson.

I'm taking you through the wheat, field of wheat where bread is made, but the one who is guiding you through this field is the living bread, not this dead bread. But since you've reached the living bread, and this living bread is Christ who is the Lord of the Sabbath, like he said to them, the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. Since I am the Lord of the Sabbath, then I will allow you to eat on a Sabbath, and you are not in breach of no law, because you have reached the true Sabbath, the Lord of the Sabbath, and the true living bread.

Then what law are you breaking if you're eating a dead bread? The only time you are breaking the law of the one who says, I am the living bread. You break my law, you're dead. You eat dead bread.

There is no breaking of law. Now, the man with the withered hand represents every single one of us. All of us are that man with the withered hand, meaning all of us are unable to do anything without the Lord.

Our hands, and by the way, in the biblically speaking, the hand represents deed. The leg represents path, behavioral pattern. The eye represents knowledge.

Everything in the body, biblically speaking, has a meaning. So the hands represents deed, work. So we are all this man with the withered hand, meaning unable to work, and the Lord Jesus said it very clearly in John 15, 5, without me, you cannot do anything.

You are all with a withered hand, unable to do anything without your Messiah. We are this man with the withered hand, unable to get to the living bread. I can't do anything to get to you, Lord Jesus.

So when you come to the Lord, the moment you say, I've had enough of this sinful life. I've had enough of this world. I have chased the world all my life.

I tried to do things my way, no one else's. And I did it my way, no one else's. But at the end of maybe many, many long years of doing it my way, I've realized one thing.

I am absolutely hopeless, useless, absolutely destroyed. I don't know who I am anymore. I can't do anything anymore.

I'm so lost, so confused, so disorientated, Lord. Please, Lord, have mercy on me. The moment you truly confess your sins, you truly invoke the name of the Lord from the core and the depth of your heart.

The Lord, you will hear him saying to you, stretch out your hand. Now you can work. Why you were paralytic? Because you walked away from the Lord Jesus.

You did everything under the sun, but at the end, you found yourself gone, empty, destroyed. The Lord can give you the power to get to him. Just call him from the heart.

The Lord can give you the power to bring you to him. No matter how far you've gone and how deep you've dived, the Lord is God. Nothing stands in his way.

No matter how many sins you've done and you made in your life and how much you are in absolute destruction, the Lord can fix everything before you and I can blink our eyes. Just come back to the Lord wholeheartedly and mean what you say. Do not act before the Lord Jesus.

Be you, honest to yourself. Now, this is the second sign where the Lord says to that man, stretch out your hand, and his hand becomes wholesome, just like the other one. The second sign is healing the withered hand.

The first sign, I am the Lord of the Sabbath. The second sign, healing the withered hand, uncapable, not capable of doing anything. Now, the third sign in chapter 12, the third sign is the result of that person who neither wanted to eat from the living bread, meaning did not want to follow Christ, the living bread, nor wanted to move from his place and follow Christ, withered hand.

He did not want to follow the Lord, nor wanted to work for the Lord. The result of these two signs is the third sign. What was the third sign? They brought to the Lord, we find it in Matthew 12, verses 22 to 23.

They brought a man who was, one, demon possessed, two, blind, three, mute, unable to talk. You see, when you don't follow the living bread, and when you don't wish to work for the Lord, the end result will be demon possessed, blind, and mute. Three things.

Demon possessed, meaning harming himself. When somebody is demon possessed, they harm themselves. If you haven't seen them, I have.

And by the way, if anybody says there is no satan, no foul spirits, poor thing, he's still asleep. I don't want to scare you, but there are sometimes demons in people. Not every demon is weak.

Some of them, you just say boo to them, they'll come out and they'll just disappear. But some, no, they resist. And it depends what you've got, like a one line, two lines, you've got a star here.

What are you in the army? And what kind of a rank do you have in the army? It all depends, my beloved. Then I've seen people, one person is, ten people can't hold him. Or they'll lift you up and they'll slam you on the floor.

They'll throw you like as if they're throwing a feather. So if you're not up to it, don't get near them because they'll break you. And they will resist, not very easy.

So demon possessed, meaning a person harming himself. Now, this can be taken in the literal sense, literally demon possessed, or in the sort of spiritual sense, when a person is distant from the Lord Jesus, what do they end up doing? 100% harming themselves. How do they harm themselves? Well, they go out and enjoy themselves in this world.

I want to dance with somebody. I want to drink. I want to jump.

I want to fly. I want to go clubbing. I want to go do gambling.

I want to be an alcoholic. I want to be with men and women. This is harming yourself.

It is called demon possessed. Secondly, you'll end up blind. Blind to the way of Christ.

You won't know how to go to him again. You'll be so detached. You'll be so distant from him.

Christ is a total stranger to you. You want to talk? You're mute and mute. Can't talk.

Demon possessed, you will harm yourself in this worldly pleasure, which is all satanic, evil. The world is evil. Secondly, you will be blind to the way of Christ.

You won't know how to follow the Lord. You're like a blind person, don't know where to go, how to go. And thirdly, you'll be mute.

Without speech, you won't be able to cry out to him and say, Lord, have mercy on me. I, the sinner or son of David, have mercy on me. You won't be able to say that.

This priest, true story. This priest went to this hospital because they asked him to go and pray on someone in hospital. As he entered the hospital, two nurses, one Christian, one not.

Two nurses saw him in that outfit and my advice to every priest, you wear your formal outfit. Don't wear a suit. A suit is not an outfit for a priest, okay? We are not here modernized, my dear friend.

Remain old-fashioned because old-fashioned is your heritage, your glory, your honor, your image, your identity, all right? So no more suits and ties or bow ties. You're a priest, for God's sake, dress up as one. So now, he enters the hospital.

The nuns, the nurses see him. They run to him. Oh, father, please, there is somebody.

He is on his deathbed. Please come and pray for him before he's leaving. So he said, I walked in.

It's a true story. He said, I walked in. I saw a skeleton on this bed about to give the last breath.

I went there. I came very close to him. He could barely talk and I said to him, I want to pray on you.

You know, may the Lord have mercy on you. But can you say a prayer? Can you ask the Lord something? He said, father, um, I don't know what to say. He said, can you say the, our father, the Lord's prayer, our father who art in heaven.

He said, father, I was, I was a four or five year old. My parents used to take me to church. I was an altar boy.

I used to remember it back then. Since then, I've never prayed it. I don't even remember the words, father.

He said, then say anything. He said, I don't know. I don't know what to say.

I don't know, father. I haven't spoken to Jesus. Since I was a little boy.

So since the Lord became a total stranger, can you talk to a stranger? No, you can only talk to the one you are familiar with. You are so close with a stranger. You don't know.

What would you say to a stranger? Nothing. And that's what happens when you keep your distance from the Lord, you end up a total stranger. Even when you want to say it's not a literal mute, it's a spiritual mute.

You want to say something to him. You can't talk to one you don't know. You can only talk to the one you know.

He said, I don't know what to say to him. He's a stranger to me. I don't know him.

He said, okay, repeat after me. True story. Look at the mercy of the Lord.

True story. True story. He said, repeat after me.

Heavenly Father, Heavenly Father, I come to you. I come to you. Ask him for forgiveness.

Ask him for forgiveness by the blood, by the blood of your beloved son, of your beloved son, our Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ. Have mercy on me, Father. Have mercy on me, Father.

He kept on saying it 1, 5, 10, 20 times, and he said to him, I have to go. Keep on repeating these words. Just keep on repeating them.

And he leaves that sick man, and he goes. A month later, true story, a month later, the priest goes to the same hospital. As he enters for another patient, the very two nurses run to him.

They said, Father, we recognized you. You were here about a month ago. You remember when we asked you to pray on that sick man? He said, yes, of course I do.

He said, Father, you have no idea what happened. Half an hour after you left, half an hour, the whole room got filled with incense, and a dove flew out of that room, that man's room, and the entire hospital was filled with beautiful fragrance. He gave his last breath, and he moved on, but he moved on to heaven, because the dove left the room, and the dove is the Holy Spirit.

God came to take him to him. The withered hand is wholesome. Stretch out your withered hand.

This man who was demon-possessed, blind and mute, the Lord performed the sign with him. They saw the demon-possessed, blind and mute man sitting, seeing, and talking. Nothing wrong with him.

The Lord healed him, and the multitudes were amazed. You find all this in Matthew 12, 22 to 23. Now, the Lord healed all three things, demon-possessed, blind and mute.

He healed them all. The result of all these three signs, after the Lord performing all the three signs, I am the Lord of the Sabbath, healing the withered hand, and healing that man who was demon-possessed, blind and mute. After all these three signs, he done them all, performed them all, the Lord.

Look at the Pharisees, what they said to the Lord. Look at the stubbornness, the ignorance, and the blindness of a human being when they become egocentric, self-centered people, are blind. Stubborn people can never, can never get to Christ.

Impossible. Look at the Pharisees, what they said. This man, meaning of the Lord Jesus, they referred to him, this man, this man does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub.

Now Beelzebub, that's an English pronunciation, it's Ba'al Zebub. Ba'al is a god of the Old Testament. Now Zebub, Ba'al represents Satan.

Ba'al is Satan himself. Zebub, my beloved, in Hebrew means flies. Let me ask you, where do flies sit on and eat? Where do they sit on? Do they sit on flowers? Do they sit on honey? Or do they sit on filth? Filth? Ba'al Zebub is the god of the flies.

Who is the god of the flies? Satan. Satan loves filth, and this is where he tries to drag humanity to the filth, because by dragging humanity to the filth, he has taken them over, away from the living bread. And what is the filth? This world.

Clubs, pubs, Star City Casino, Las Vegas, King's Cross, and what a shame to have such a name, a holy name on such a filthy place. Is that hate speech? Then stick it on your forehead. Filth, filth of the world, drugs, gambling, alcoholism, men, women, in between, all the colors, filth of the world.

That's where Satan is. After performing the miracles, the Pharisees said to the Lord, you are casting demons out of people by the power of Satan. You can't be any more sick, blind, stubborn than this.

After saying this to the Lord Jesus, look at him. Hmm. In Assyrian, we call him Pataquita.

Like they have no shame. After saying these nasty words to the Lord, you're casting demons using Satan by the power of Satan. They came to him and they said, and they asked him this.

We want to see a sign from you. Oh, I just showed you three signs. I'm the Lord of the Sabbath.

I have just healed this withered, this man's withered hand. And I have just healed this demon possessed, blind and mute person before your very eyes. I just performed three signs before you and all of this.

And then you have the audacity to say to me that I am casting out demons and then by the name of Satan or the power of Satan, then you come back and ask me for a sign. Then this is my reply to you and evil and adulterous generation. That's what you deserve as a reply.

You are just one evil adulterous generation. People are not evil doers. They are sinners.

I want you to understand evil and adulterous. These two words are very big in meaning. Evil people, humanity are called sinners, not evil doers.

When do they become evil doers? When they do what Satan tells them to do. Who is evil? Satan and his foul spirits. No human being was ever made by God to be evil.

But what did they do? They broke God's word and by breaking God's word, they became sinners. But to elevate themselves downhill, to go even further down than sinners, when they do what Satan wants fully, they become evil doers. No longer sinners, but much worse evil like Satan.

So the Lord refers to this generation as evil. You are the sons of the snake. You follow Satan fully.

You do not want to follow God, period. Therefore you've left no room even for sin. You are all evil now, like Satan, evil.

Adulterous is when a woman is married and attaches herself to another man. Now those who belong to Christ are the Christians, which is the church. Can the church be found adulterous? Yes, when the church that is attached to Christ, who is the head, you see the church is the body and Christ is the head.

So when the head and the body become one, they become one. So when this church who is the body to Christ, when it goes and listens to someone else outside of Christ, it's like the woman that is married and goes with another man. The church becomes adulterous when it leaves Christ her man, the groom, and goes to Satan and adhere to him.

It becomes adulterous woman or generation in this particular passage. An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. Now my beloved, let's come and look at the sign of the prophet Jonah together, shall we? Now we enter our topic.

Congratulations, you've just graduated. The Lord Jesus says in verse 40, can we have it on the screen verse 40? Yes, it is there. Verse 40, the Lord says in verse 40, for as Jonah was there 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.

So what is the sign of Jonah? This evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, I will not give you a sign except the sign of Jonah. Just like Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of that great fish, so as the son of man, Jesus Christ, will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Three days, three days, and three nights.

Now let's look at these. Why is the Lord saying three days and three nights? What did he just say three days? Why three days and three nights? Did you know, my beloved, the salvation which Christ accomplished, he accomplished it in three days and three nights? Yes, he accomplished his salvation in three days and, and the word and is a divider, and three nights. What is the day here? The Lord's spirit in his body still.

What is the night? The Lord's spirit outside of his body. So the Lord accomplished salvation three days while he was in the flesh, his spirit in the flesh, and three nights while his spirit was outside of his flesh. Well, let's come to it.

It all begins with the last week of passion, the passion week, the last week before crucifixion, and it begins with the, with Wednesday, Wednesday. When we read in Luke 13 31, Luke 13 31, it says, on that very day, some Pharisees came saying to him, to the Lord, get out and depart from here for Herod wants to kill you. Who was Herod? King.

What is king? Government. Oh, you can sometimes tell the government off when they are wrong with love. I love you, but here's the smack.

They came to the Lord Jesus. They said, move, move, move. Get out of here.

King Herod wants to kill you. The Lord Jesus replies in verse 32 and says to them, go tell that Fox. He calls Herod was a king.

He calls them Fox was the Lord. Didn't the Lord know what he was saying? Yes. He knew.

Was he, was he deliberate? Yes. So he called them Fox. Yes.

You know why he called them Fox? Because Fox is my beloved sleep during the day work at night. Every other creature sleeps at night, works in the day, but Foxes sleep in the day while it's light and they work at night while it's dark. Meaning Herod is an evil doer.

His deeds are done all at night in darkness behind the scenes. He is not a straightforward person. He did not come to the light because his deeds are evil.

So tell the Fox he's like the Fox sleeps in the day and works deviantly at night in the dark behind the scenes, but tell him I am the light of the world. I can see his heart, his mind. I see behind the scenes.

Go and tell that Fox, behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today. Where do we find this in Luke 1332? I behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today, meaning Wednesday and tomorrow, meaning Thursday and the third day, meaning Friday, I shall be perfected. Read it in Luke 1332.

I will complete everything today, Wednesday, tomorrow, Thursday, and on the third day, Friday, I will finish everything. Now what did the Lord do on the first day, which is Wednesday? The fig tree, which the Lord condemned on Monday, a few days ago, he condemned it on Monday. On Wednesday, it was fully dead dry.

I don't have the time to go through it. Read it. See, the Lord entered Jerusalem sitting on a mule on Sunday, which we call Palm Sunday.

So you can be with me, please. Yes. So the Lord enters Jerusalem on a mule, on the back of a mule on Sunday, which we call Palm Sunday.

The following day, Monday, he goes out and he sees a fig tree. He comes up to it. He sees it full of leaves, but no fruits.

He condemns the tree. It dries up on Monday, but it becomes fully dry on Wednesday, three days later. So on Wednesday, he condemned the fig tree and became fully dry on Wednesday.

Now, what does the fig tree represent here or symbolize? Self-coverage or self-covering. When Adam and Eve brought God's word, what did they cover themselves with? Fig leaves. So when they covered themselves with fig leaves, they said, we sinned and we want to fix it our way, not your way, God.

We will cover the nakedness of our sin our way. So they used fig leaves. So the fig tree represents self-covering.

He condemned the Lord, self-covering on Wednesday. Don't ever try to fix your mistake by yourself, because the more you try to fix it, the bigger mistakes you will commit. And the more you try to get closer to me your way, the further you are.

Unless I do it, you cannot fix yourself by yourself. Some people I ask, my son, my daughter, I want to see you at church this Sunday. Father, trust me, trust me, I'd love to come this Sunday, but you have no idea how busy I am.

Father, I've got a problem at the moment I'm trying to rectify, to resolve. I've got an issue at home. I've got some family disputes.

I've got some work issues. I've got some health issues. I've got some whatever issues.

The moment I fix them, you'll see me at church. I never see them, because you can't fix them, son. You can't fix them, daughter.

You need to come to church for the honor of the church to fix them for you. Yeah, don't cover yourself by yourself. The Lord condemned it.

And then on Thursday, what did he do? He did divine covering, the Passover. On Thursday, take, eat, this is my body. Take, drink, this is my blood.

He covered us with his own body and blood. He said, self-covering is condemned by me, rejected fully, because I came to cover you with me, I, Christ, the King. Unless you are covered by me, you will always remain naked, i.e. sinner.

Let the Holy of Holies cover you with his own body and blood to give you the dress of righteousness, the dress of King, or to the kingdom, the white dress which the Lord rose with, by the way, on the third day. He rose dressed up in white. That's the divine dress.

That is the divine covering. Let my body and blood cleanse your sins and make you whiter than snow. And on Friday, he said it, it is finished.

He gave the last breath and tilted his head and put his spirit in his father's hand. It is finished on Friday. Now, these are the three days.

Day means light. Night means darkness. The three days, Wednesday, while the spirit was in the flesh, he condemned the self-covering.

Don't fix yourself by yourself, let Christ do it. On Thursday, he covered you with himself. On Friday, he said it is complete.

It is finished. It is done. Now, the three nights, my beloved, after giving up his spirit, what did the Lord do in the three nights? I.e. the spirit outside of the body.

Now, he gave up the spirit on the cross, meaning the spirit left the body. The spirit left the body. What did he do after that spirit left the body, which is night, three nights? Well, we'll see.

See, the Lord Jesus died in the flesh on the cross, 3 p.m. Friday. Now, the day, Saturday, begins according to the word of God, to the law. It begins Friday, 6 p.m. So, Saturday begins Friday, 6 p.m. and it finishes Saturday, 6 p.m. And then Sunday begins Saturday, 6 p.m. and it finishes Sunday, 6 p.m. So, since the Lord died on the cross Friday, 3 p.m., he was still in Friday.

He hadn't gone on to Saturday. Saturday begins Friday, 6 p.m., but the Lord died in the flesh Friday, 3 p.m. So, Friday, he died 3 p.m., that is the first night, Friday. The spirit out of the body represents night.

On Friday, what did the Lord do after the spirit leaves? He goes holding the cup of his blood. I'm just saying it in a simple language for you to comprehend. He takes that cup of his own blood.

He takes it up to his father and he said, Dad, this is my blood. Your justice has been paid for in full. You said, man who sins shall die.

I took the place of the former Adam. I died and this is my blood to offer it to you to say that your justice is paid. I had to die.

I died and now I'm offering you the blood of my death. Here is the cup. God's justice is fulfilled.

With that blood of cup, the Lord opens the gate of paradise, heaven. Then on Saturday, he goes back down to Hades and then he brings out all the souls that were held captive by Satan in Hades. He takes them out, those who slept on the hope of salvation when Christ comes.

So, from Adam till the last person of the Old Testament, the Lord Jesus releases them from Hades, those only who slept on the hope of resurrection when the Messiah comes. And when he raises them out of the grave, then he puts the spirit back in the body. And Sunday morning, he rises from the dead.

First takes the cup of his blood to his father, for the father's justice has been served and fulfilled. Then he goes back and sets free all those souls who were held in captive in Hades on the hope of resurrection. He brings them out of that bondage, out of the captivity of Satan.

And then he takes that spirit of his and puts it in the body. He raises the body. On Sunday morning, he is risen.

Why are you seeking the living amongst the dead? Now, in the three nights, the Lord delivered Adam and his children of the Old Testament. And in the three days, the Lord offered his salvation to the living ones on earth, the New Testament. So, in the three nights, he delivers those of the Old Testament.

And in three days, he delivers those of the New Testament. He is the good shepherd to both Old and New Testament equally. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, so as the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.

And this is all chapter 12 of Matthew. Very quickly, we'll come to Matthew 16 now. That was all Matthew 12.

In Matthew chapter 16 and verse 1. Let's look at Matthew verse 1 to 4. It's okay. You see, they said the same thing, however, they added an extra word when they spoke to the Lord Jesus. Who said this? The Pharisees and the Sadducees.

They said exactly the same thing as they said it in Matthew chapter 12. What did they say? Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came and testing him, asked that he would show them a sign from heaven. You see, in chapter 12, they said, we want a sign from you.

But in chapter 16, they added the word heaven. In chapter 12, there is no heaven. We just want a sign from you.

But in chapter 16, we want a sign from you, but we want the sign to be from heaven. They've added the word heaven. Why? Why did they ask in chapter 16, we want a sign from heaven? Why? See, when you read in chapter 10, this is all about Matthew, the gospel according to St. Matthew.

When you read in chapter 10, the Lord Jesus performs the miracle of those five loaves of bread and the two fishes. And when you go to Matthew chapter 15, the Lord Jesus performed the miracle of the seven loaves and a few little fishes. So the Lord performs two miracles that are to do with blessings.

Blessings. The first one, Matthew 10, five loaves and two fishes. The second one, Matthew 15, seven loaves and a few little fishes.

Now to cut it short, and it's not our topic. The first miracle, the five loaves and the two fishes, it is specific to the church and the apostles. Meaning the New Testament church, fullness of grace.

And the second miracle in Matthew 15, it is specific to the time of the law, Old Testament church, fullness of the law. So the first miracle, the five loaves and the two fishes, is to do with the New Testament church. And the second one in Matthew 15, the seven loaves and a few little fishes, is to do with the Old Testament church.

And it's to do with blessings. Now these people, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, said, well, this man, Jesus Christ, performed the miracle of the five loaves and the two fishes in Matthew 10. And then he comes in Matthew 15, he performs another miracle to do with seven loaves and a few little fishes and feeds multitudes.

And every time he does these kind of miracles, he says, but greater than Solomon is here and greater than Jonah is here. They said, you know what? We need to put a stamp seal on this once and for all. Enough feeding us here a little bit, feeding us there a little bit.

You know what? We're going to go to him and say to him, we want you to perform a miracle or a sign that is greater than Moses. Moses fed us 40 years in the wilderness. You fed these people just for a couple of days.

And then what? Are we going to go and apply for Centrelink every time? We want to be fed once and for all. We don't want Centrelink anymore. So enough of this feeding us bits and pieces here and there.

Can you do better than Moses? Well, guess what? Moses fed us 40 years in the wilderness. Then can you do something better? We want a sign from heaven. That's why they asked him this.

Are you with me? Yes. Are you asleep? You better not. You better be not.

All right. We want a sign from heaven. How about you feed us more, Jesus? Come on, you can do it.

So they asked the sign from heaven. The Lord replied in Matthew 16, for thing again to them, a wicked, wicked, evil, same category, a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. Again, Jonah.

They're talking about feeding. What Jonah? What do we do with Jonah? We want you to feed us. What does that mean? What did they mean? We want you to feed us.

You see, my beloved, why did the Lord Jesus put the sign of Jonah here again? Because the Jewish people till this day, with all love and respect, they're expecting their Messiah to be a king on earth. They wanted an earthly kingdom, not a heavenly one. When the Messiah came, the reason why they rejected him because he did not do what they have been waiting for for centuries.

What were they waiting for? They wanted the Messiah to set them free from the bondage of the Roman empire. They want to be free. Establish a kingdom on earth and you be the king.

So they wanted an earthly king that would look after them, meaning feeding them, feeding them, looking after them, and giving them everything they need and everything they lack. So their intention was wrong. And that's why he said you will not be given a sign or wicked and adulterous generation except the sign of Jonah.

Why? Because Jesus Christ whom you're seeking to be your king, he cannot be this king unless he dies, is buried, and is resurrected. Then he can be the king. He needs to die first.

But your problem, you're saying the Messiah never dies. True, the Messiah never dies. But the reason why he died, because he carried your sins.

But the reason why he rose, because he is sinless. So truly the Messiah never dies. But to be the king he needs to die and then rise for your sins to be forgiven.

Then I can be a king over you. Without that I can't be your king. You're seeking the wrong king.

You're seeking a king whom you want to be over you and you still remain in your sins. I'm God. God is the king.

And for God to rule over you, you need to be sinless. And how can I forgive your sins unless I pay the price? I need to die. I need to be buried.

And I need to rise in order for your sins to be forgiven. So that you are sinless. Then I can be king ruling over your lives.

So the Lord Jesus says to them in Matthew 16 verses 2 to 3. Can we go back to 2 to 3? They wanted a sign from heaven. The Lord Jesus gives them a sign from heaven in verses 2 and 3. Look what the Lord says. He says to them, when it is evening you say it will be fair weather for the sky is red.

Here the translation is not that accurate. The word red means clear sky. That's what it means.

When it is evening you say it will be fair weather for the sky is crystal clear. You see stars in the sky. When you look at night time in the sky and you see stars, you say tomorrow morning is going to be a stunning weather man.

It's going to be a sunny day. True? True or not? Come on. True? So when it is evening you say it will be fair weather for the clear and in the morning when you get up in the morning and it will be foul weather today for the sky is red and threatening meaning dark clouds.

So when you wake up in the morning and you see dark clouds you say oh Lord have mercy. It's a miserable day. It's a miserable weather.

It's going to be thundery. Definitely it's going to buck it down brother. It's going to rain.

Then the Lord says hypocrites to them. Hypocrites you know how to discern the face of the sky but you cannot discern the signs of the times and I'll leave you with it my beloved. If you can explain to me what the Lord says in in Matthew 16 2 and 3 I'll buy you a Kit-Kat.

What is the Lord saying? When you go out in the evening and you look at the sky and you see it clear and plenty of stars in it you'll say tomorrow will be a sunny day. He says to them literally you can determine what kind of a weather you're going to have tomorrow by tonight. So from the dark night you can tell if the weather is going to be nice tomorrow.

And when you get up in the morning and you see dark clouds you say it's going to be it's going to thunder it's going to rain. How can you discern the face of the sky and you are till now unable to discern the signs of the times. In the night when you look at the sky and it's clear you say tomorrow is a sunny day.

What happened in the night the Lord was born in a manger in Bethlehem. When I was born in Bethlehem it was night. When the when Herod came and asked you pharisees you you you when Herod came and asked you where is it that Christ should be born you said to him that when Christ is born he is definitely going to be born in Bethlehem.

And so true you have said to him you knew that Christ was going to be born in Bethlehem. It was at night time and Christ was born in Bethlehem yet you denied his birth. The shepherds came to him the magis from Iran Persia came and worshiped him yet you my people Israelites whom I was born in the midst of it was night why couldn't you tell from the night that it is the Messiah born.

Since you know the weather from the sky couldn't you tell the birth of the night who was born in Bethlehem and in the morning when you wake up haven't you read who I am I am the sun of righteousness according to your prophet Malachi. He's one of you According to your prophet Malachi he said about the Messiah he is the sun of righteousness and healing in its wings. So when the Messiah comes he is the sun and when I came I said I am the light of the world because I am the sun of the world and when I came this sun is full of healings I healed all your illnesses all your sicknesses I healed before your very eyes the demon possessed the blind the mute the leper the paralytic I even raised your dead from the grave before your eyes couldn't you read the sign of the day who I am the light of the world and I've been preaching to you for three and a half years the three and a half years is the morning because when you come while Christ is preaching it is day because he is the sun of the world you're walking in his light and you still did not recognize the signs neither the night my birth nor the day my ministry preaching and healing but you can read the sign of the skies and you can't read me I am the true living sign before your very eyes until when all wicked evil and adulterous generation you still seeking a sign from me I am the sign don't ask for a sign ask for me because I am the sign and there is no other sign but me the harshest words anyone could hear from the Lord are the last few words in Matthew 16 4 and he left them and departed this is the worst of the worst of the worst anyone could ever come across when the Lord leaves that person and departs from him he can't get any worse than this but because of their stubbornness insisting that Lazarus for God's sake was dead for four days dead rotted dead in the grave four days he raised them before their eyes this is not a myth this is a true literal story there was a man called Lazarus literally he died physically he was put in the grave for four days his body was rotted Jesus Christ of Nazareth the true living Messiah God revealed in the flesh came and raised him from the dead literally now you ask any human being you ask all the Jews all humanity who raises the dead isn't it only God you Jewish people who know this scripture very well haven't you read the psalmist your King David Psalms what does he say he says God is the only one who opens the eyes of the blind God opens the eyes of the blind I just opened the eyes of this man blind man and then just shortly after that he came and asking me for a sign what sign hello only God opens the eyes of the blind I just did and if somebody here or out there says well even saints open eyes of blinds yes but they can only do it when they invoke the name of Jesus Christ but when the Lord Jesus opened the eyes of those blind people he never said in my father's name I open your eyes he said your eyes just are open he actually spat when you go to John chapter 9 he spits on the ground and he makes mud and he he applies it to that blind man who was born blind from his mother's womb he applies the mud and he says go and wash it in that pond he goes washes he regains two brand new eyes he didn't invoke any name he did it in his name why because he is God that's the difference and to to make clay mud he was saying to them and to all of us just like God created the former Adam out of mud do you know the word Adam in Aramaic Hebrew means red mud it demta dem in Aramaic Hebrew means means blood it demta red mud so Adam was made out of mud clay and Jesus Christ made clay and put it on those eyes and he made two brand new eyes he was saying this the very God who created you out of clay is this very God standing before you who made just clay now and created two brand new eyes I am the same God what other sign are you seeking at night the sign of my birth and in the morning the sign of my ministry and when you don't believe in my birth nor in my ministry definitely will not believe when I rise from the dead and until now they haven't blessed are those who do believe in Christ the risen Messiah those who did not and he left them and departed he left them and departed what the Lord has done for all of us no one can ever repay no one can ever do but the Lord is only saying just accept and leave the rest to me I don't want anything from you just accept me accept my offering accept my sacrifice accept my love accept my precious blood that I shed on Calvary on the cross for you just accept it and let me do what I need to do in you through you by you and with you my son my daughter every day you wake up the first thing you say Lord I love you Lord I beg you make me the son you are happy with today make me the daughter that you are proud of today whatever I was not able to achieve yesterday please Lord through your mercy and grace allow me to achieve it for you today Lord let me be the reason to have that smile on your holy face let me be that reason Lord I want to be with you Lord I want to be for you Lord I want to live for you I don't want to live for me anymore I don't want to do things my way anymore because it is hell it is absolute destruction foolishness stubbornness blindness Lord I want to do things the way you want it not me not anyone else when for the Lord's sake I'm begging when are we going to truly give it up to the Lord give everything to him stop crying for yourself for what has happened stop crying for yourself for that miserable past stop whinging stop complaining stop fighting stop arguing stop it for the Lord's sake stop it what are you trying to achieve by doing it your way the end is the grave 100 you're dead you're dead you're dead look at the world sick foolish there are a lot of people that are smart in the world but because they denied the Lord Jesus they're ignorant we have weapons so powerful this is our make we made it in China we made it in the United States of America we made it in Russia we made it in North Korea and now Iran is trying to be also powerful we have weapons of mass destruction we have rockets nuclear warheads that contains that can wipe the world a hundred a thousand times moreover the geniuses of the world say we've made weapons that will kill us and wipe us from the face of this earth I don't think you can be any more dumb and dumber than this there was a movie a long time ago called dumb and dumber I think it was in the late 80s or early 90s I can't remember it was a long time ago some of you maybe you were not born but you know back then but it was called dumb and dumber because they were dumb and dumber so you can't be dumb and dumber than this by creating and taking being proud of it the world is proud they have technology they have weaponry that destroys them do you see how foolish blind they are so some elites they've got bunkers deep down in the ground so when anything happens on the surface and most of the population is dead they'll come out after I don't know how many years and instead of eight billion people there'll be maybe 500 million all super duper all educated you know no no more liabilities no more people on center link they're all educated they're all productive people yeah they've been living underground all their life you know what kind of life is that instead of like enjoying this sun you know sunny day going to uh to a beach sitting in a cafe having a nice coffee what are you trying to achieve but satan satan the sneaky snake satan the deceptive snake satan the liar snake satan is doing it all but these people gave in come back to christ so many atheists came back to the lord so many non-christians came back to the lord so many satan worshipers came back to the lord so many the lord is the living bread the lord is the light of the world the lord is the life and the resurrection the lord is the truth the lord is all love and healing for you my child come back to the lord jesus stop doing it your way when you pray for something and it doesn't happen don't lose hope don't be upset don't have suspicion maybe the lord did not hear my prayer or maybe the lord is not interested in me anymore don't do that don't ever do that this is all from satan kick him punch him spit on him be gone satan in jesus mighty name the lord is my dad the lord is my love the lord is my life the lord is my breath the lord is everything to me he has never forsaken me never will he's always he's the only one that is ever close to me in fact we are so close he made me one with him inseparable inseparable so i pray it didn't work thank you lord you know better i prayed and it worked thank you lord you know better whatever happens trust do your best but let god do the rest and if you're not gonna get married this year that doesn't matter maybe next year maybe never who cares better just just kidding just kidding just kidding just trust me ask those who are married we whinge and complain all the time but if we truly ask ourselves why why you'll find the answer is what a fool i was fighting over what whinging about what i want a house i want a car but it's the end it's the grave we fought over things that will lead us to the grave i fought for money and i got plenty of it and then i died i fought for wealth and i've made plenty of it and then i died i fought for beauty and then i died i fought for the position and then i died i fought for countries and then i died gained what so you'll never realize the truth until you come to the truth his name is jesus christ of nazareth i invite every human being to come to jesus christ of nazareth there is no other god but him amen god bless you let's stand for the finale prayer please in the name of the father of the son and of the holy spirit one god amen lord make me an instrument of your peace where there is hatred let me so love where there is injury pardon where there is doubt faith where there is despair hope where there is darkness light where there is joy or divine master grand that i may not so much seek to be consoled as to console to be understood as to understand to be loved as to love for it is in giving that we receive it is in pardoning that we are pardoned it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life amen may the lord jesus bless you guard you and protect you all the days of your life now and forever more amen amen go in peace the peace of christ be with you always my beloved god bless