A Wicked Generation – Part 1
Luke 11:29-36 (29-32)
May 19, 2019
As you know here in Luke’s gospel, we are in a bit of a minor section
Where we are dealing with the issue of AUTHENTICITY.
IT BEGAN when Jesus cast a demon out of a man and the Jews accused Jesus of performing that miracle by using Satanic power.
• In short, they accused Jesus of not be authentic or real.
• He of course turned that argument on its head and has ever since been exposing the Jews as the frauds.
We see that conversation continued this morning.
But before we get into the text,
I just wanted to take a minute and make sure you understand
The great reality that is being exposed here.
I THINK THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT,
And especially to people who would consider themselves to be religious
Or who hold to the importance of religious affiliation.
Here we have a group of people here
Who think that they are pleasing to God
Simply because of their religious pedigree and participation.
In short, they are Abraham’s descendants according to the flesh,
And secondly, they are “good” people.
And yet, the Bible is filled with warnings about Israel’s false assurance.
And I want to touch on that this morning, even before we get into our text.
In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he fired the first shot at the Jews in Ch 2.
TURN TO: ROMANS 2:17-29
• You see there all the confidence that Israel had regarding their acceptance before God.
• They were confident of how pleasing they were.
• And yet, Paul revealed that this was all external.
“For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly…”
It’s a sobering warning.
And one that we dealt with last week as we saw the problem with morality.
The Lord looks at the heart,
And even though these were very religious on the outside,
Their hearts were clearly corrupt before God.
And this wasn’t just a present issue in Paul’s day.
This proved true of Israel over and over again throughout their history.
Perhaps you remember their tendency to grumble and complain against God, even in the wilderness, regarding their lack of bread or water.
Psalms 95 says that:
Psalms 95:10-11 “For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. “Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”
• That’s a strong word… “loathed”
• And again we see that their problem was a heart problem since “they are a
people who err in their heart”
It was a real problem of hypocrisy.
It was a problem of a wicked heart
Wrapped in an outward shell of religion and morality.
BUT GOD WAS NOT PLEASED.
This generation then became an illustration and a warning
Both for those in New Testament times and even for our day.
TURN TO: 1 CORINTHIANS 10:1-12
Paul begins by listing all the spiritual privileges of Israel.
• “all under the cloud”
• “all passed through the sea”
• “all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea”
• “all ate the same spiritual food”
• “all drank the same spiritual drink”
• You say, “God called me” – He did them too
• You say, “God delivered me” – He did them too
• You say, “I was baptized” – They were too
• You say, “I partake in the Lord’s Supper” – They did too
And then we read in verse 5 “Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.”
That is that same generation that God loathed,
And He killed most of them in the wilderness.
They never entered His rest.
And then Paul says that they are an example for us, not to be like them.
Religious on the outside, but evil on the inside.
• The craved evil things
• They worshiped idols
• They acted immorally
• They tried the Lord
• They grumbled
It didn’t matter what their religious pedigree or participation was,
They were clearly wicked on the inside.
Do you see that?
TURN TO: HEBREWS 3:7-19
You will notice in verses 7-11 the writer of Hebrews begins by quoting that same Psalms 95 that we looked at earlier, and then he applies it to his current audience.
(12) “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, that falls away from the living God.”
In short – DON’T BE LIKE THEM
Instead, believe – Instead hold fast
And the writer of Hebrews reminds that
Those people actually provoked God to wrath.
(READ 16-19)
• Again the writer indicates that these people were delivered out of Egypt,
• And yet despite delivering them from Egypt God was so angry at their sin that
He did not permit them to enter the land.
And the core issue?
UNBELIEF
That actually produces the warning to us in chapter 4.
Hebrews 4:1-2 “Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.”
They heard the preaching too.
The problem was they didn’t believe it.
Do you see how their religion did not help them?
They remained wicked on the inside despite their outward compliance.
Paul made that point again in Romans 9.
TURN TO: ROMANS 9:1-8
• Again we start with all their privileges and opportunities.
• God had certainly moved in their midst.
And yet, they still didn’t believe.
WHY?
“For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants…”
Just because they can trace their lineage back to Abraham,
Does not make them true children of Abraham.
True children of Abraham are children of faith.
They are children of grace and children of the promise.
AND THE POINT I AM MAKING TO ALL OF THAT IS THIS
• No one had more exposure to God than Israel…
• No one had more revelation of truth than Israel…
• No one had a great opportunity than they did…
But all of that exposure, and all of that religious involvement
Did not profit them because they refused to believe in their heart.
Everything was external, and thus they missed salvation.
They are a very real warning even to the religious of the church today.
Now don’t get me wrong,
• Religion is a good thing.
• Being raised in a Christian home is a good thing
• Sitting under preaching weekly is a good thing
• Having Christian friends to encourage you is a good thing
• Participating in the work of the church is a good thing
None of those are bad things.
But they are pointless things
If they do not stem from a heart that believes in Christ.
If you do all of the external, but the internal is wrong
Then you are in very grave danger.
That was Israel’s problem.
They were not AUTHENTIC
And not only did Psalms 95 expose them as evil, but SO DOES JESUS.
And that is what we see here.
Let me just point out to you the statement of Jesus.
(29) “As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation;”
I’ve been to many conferences and camps and preaching services,
But I’ve never heard a preacher open the conference
By pointing out how wicked everyone in attendance was.
And yet that is exactly what Jesus did.
• Despite their religion…
• Despite their outward morality…
• Jesus plainly calls them “wicked”
The question is WHY?
Well there are 2 reasons given here in the text.
(We’ll see the first today)
#1 THEY DESIRE A SIGN
Luke 11:29-32
As we noted, we see here that “the crowds were increasing”
• This may be directly related to the demon Jesus cast out in verse 14,
• Or it may be a story from a different incident that Luke places here because it fits his theme.
• Either way, we see it is an opportunity for Jesus to address a message to a large group.
And Jesus’ message to this growing crowd
Is certainly one that falls short of the expectation
Of the modern day “seeker sensitive” movement.
• Jesus DOESN’T tell them how glad He is that they have come…
• Jesus DOESN’T brag on their commitment…
• Jesus DOESN’T flatter them or appeal to their ego at all…
He says, “This generation is a wicked generation”
(Does that stretch your view of how the world likes to view Jesus?)
Such an announcement must have taken the crowd back a little
So Jesus explains why He pronounced them wicked.
“it seeks for a sign”
• Jesus knew their heart.
• He knew why they were there.
• He knew what they wanted.
The wanted “a sign”
And Jesus called them wicked for it.
Well, I guess we better ask:
WHAT’S THE PROBLEM WITH THAT?
For in TODAY’S SOCIETY, seeking signs
Has become one of the most staple aspects of religion.
Many, in fact, feel as though God owes them a sign.
Others are simply willing to claim any and everything as a sign.
But it is not foreign to understand the concept of seeking a sign from God
Now we know that GOD HAS GIVEN SIGNS at times throughout history.
To Noah:
Genesis 9:13 “I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.”
To Moses:
Exodus 3:12 “And He said, “Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.”
God actually told Ahaz to ask for a sign:
Isaiah 7:11 “Ask a sign for yourself from the LORD your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven.”
And of course Jesus did in fact work signs.
Each of His miracles was a sign of who He was.
John 12:17-18 “So the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify about Him. For this reason also the people went and met Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign.”
And because of such occurrences, and many others like them,
Many have concluded that seeking for a sign is the way to go.
The poster child for such thinking would of course be Gideon
And his infamous “lay out the fleece”
People have been laying out fleeces ever since.
What is commonly overlooked about that story is that God did indeed allow Gideon to lay out the fleece, but God refused to let Gideon walk only by sight.
God then required him to whittle his army down to 300 men
And attack with a trumpet and clay pot.
But none the less it is a fad among men to ask for a sign from God.
The problem is that Jesus clearly condemned such practice
In our text here this morning.
Jesus NEVER promoted a mystical faith.
Jesus NEVER promoted an experiential faith.
Jesus always promoted a faith built solely upon the conviction
That God will do what He said.
THE SPECIFIC PROBLEM HERE IS THAT
• These people were in essence telling Jesus that thus far He had not
done enough to warrant their belief.
• If He truly expected them to believe in Him, then He’d have to do better
than that.
In a roundabout way they were actually
Blaming their unbelief on His lack of evidence.
You haven’t done enough.
If You want us to believe,
Then we’ll need to see something really spectacular.
If you’re familiar at all with the miracles already listed in Luke’s gospel
Then you know how absurd this is.
AND THAT’S WHY JESUS WON’T GIVE THEM ANY MORE SIGNS.
In fact, there’s only 1 more coming.
(29b-30) “and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.”
What was the “sign of Jonah”?
Generally speaking, Jonah was a sign of judgment to the Ninevites.
You remember the story.
• God told Jonah to go to Nineveh
• Jonah fled and went the other direction toward Tarshish
• God sent a storm and Jonah knew it was because of him
• He had the men thrown him overboard
• And according to the book of Jonah, he sank to the bottom and was about to
drown
• There Jonah repented and God appointed a fish to save his life
• That fish swallowed him, carried him to Nineveh and vomited Jonah up on the
shore
Jonah then walked through the city and preached ONE MESSAGE.
Jonah 3:3-4 “So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk. Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
Jonah’s arrival in Nineveh was a sign of judgment for the Ninevites.
Now, Matthew’s gospel gives a little more insight into Jesus’ explanation here.
Matthew 12:39-40 “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.”
There we learn a little more of what Jesus meant.
• Jonah was delivered from death and sent to preach to the Ninevites.
• His deliverance and subsequent preaching was a sign of judgment.
Jesus also will be delivered from death.
(Jonah in a fish, Jesus in the ground)
And Jesus’ deliverance from death will also be a sign to the Jews.
Now, if you FOLLOW THE STORY you know how this plays out.
Do you remember Peter’s sermon at Pentecost?
• The Holy Spirit falls and the disciples start speaking foreign languages.
• The people accuse them of being drunk.
• Peter says we aren’t drunk, this is the Holy Spirit.
And then Peter reminds the Jews how they killed Jesus,
But how God raised Jesus from the dead.
And then Peter says that the resurrection of Jesus
Was a sign of judgment for Israel.
Acts 2:32-36 “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. “For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, “SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET.”‘ “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ — this Jesus whom you crucified.”
• The resurrection proved Jesus was in fact God’s Messiah,
• It also proved that Israel had rejected God’s Messiah
• And therefore Israel was under judgment.
That is why the people asked Peter, “what shall we do?”
And Peter said, “Repent”
And Jesus said that this would be the only sign they would get.
That is to say, He wasn’t going to bow to their skeptical requests
To keep pulling rabbits out of hats to convince them to believe.
HE HAD ALREADY DONE ENOUGH.
The only sign they would get now
Would occur after they finally reject the Christ by crucifying Him.
So Jesus calls them wicked and then says
It is because you refuse to believe what you have seen and heard
And are constantly trying to make Me prove it again.
And to further make His point Jesus gives two more historical references.
(31) “The Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.”
Remember her?
• This was the Queen of Sheba.
• She heard of Solomon and traveled all the way to hear him.
1 Kings 10:6-7 “Then she said to the king, “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. “Nevertheless I did not believe the reports, until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. You exceed in wisdom and prosperity the report which I heard.”
Now understand her testimony.
• Had she seen Solomon? No
• Had she heard Solomon speak? No
• All she had was a report about the greatness of Solomon and his wisdom.
• All she had was a second-hand testimony.
And yet she traveled “from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon”
• She didn’t come asking for more proof…
• She didn’t come in skepticism…
• She traveled a great distance to hear what she had been told about.
And here’s the really important part.
“and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.”
HERE’S THE POINT:
She worked harder and traveled farther to hear lesser wisdom.
You’ve got the greatest wisdom right here with you and you still won’t listen; instead you keep demanding more proof.
And so Jesus said that “The Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them”
That is to say:
• At the judgment, when you are facing the full wrath of God,
• And you start making excuses like, “We would have believed, but He didn’t do enough signs.”
• God will answer and say, “The Queen of the South had no signs and yet she believed.”
She will be your condemnation.
And then Jesus gives another:
(32) “The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”
It’s a similar point.
I already read to you how Jonah went through the city and preached the coming judgment.
And when the Ninevites heard Jonah’s preaching
We read that “they repented”
Jonah 3:5-9 “Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. He issued a proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. “But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. “Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.”
Let me ask you to focus on that response for a moment.
All Jonah did was preach a message of judgment.
He said “yet forty days and Nineveh will be destroyed.” That was it.
• Jonah never mentioned repentance…
• Jonah never mentioned forgiveness…
• Jonah never mentioned the possibility of salvation…
• Jonah also worked no miracles aside from the deliverance from the fish…
All these people heard was a message of judgment from a prophet
Whom God authenticated by delivering him from a fish.
And their response is amazing.
• They certainly believed Jonah.
• That is proved in their immediate and total repentance.
• They put everyone on a fast from food and water (even animals)
• And covered everything in sackcloth (even animals) and told everyone to call
on God.
Saying, “Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.”
They had no assurances that mercy was even something God offered.
But they so believed the simple message of judgment
That they were willing to give it a try.
And Jesus says “The men of Nineveh will stand up and with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”
WHAT’S THE POINT?
They repented with much less information than you’ve received.
Here these Jews were wanting additional signs;
Wanting Jesus to prove again that He was the Messiah.
And Jesus says, “this generation is a wicked generation”
• The Queen of the South didn’t require more signs to believe.
• The people of Nineveh didn’t require more signs to repent.
THE PROBLEM ISN’T THAT I HAVE GIVEN TOO LITTLE PROOF. THE PROBLEM IS THAT YOU ARE TOO WICKED TOBELIEVE.
Does that make sense?
Jesus called them wicked because
They ignored everything they had seen and heard from Him.
They tried to say
It was because He hadn’t done enough to warrant believing,
But even history proved that wasn’t true.
Both Solomon and Jonah DID FAR LESS THAN JESUS
And their ministries were wildly successful.
The problem wasn’t Jesus, the problem was these phony Jews.
They weren’t looking for reasons to believe Christ.
They were looking for reasons not to.
Can I remind you friend
That if you won’t believe when you hear the word of God,
Then no amount of signs or extra proof is going to do it for you either.
Later in Luke’s gospel we are confronted with a rich man who dies and goes to Hades and in torment he begs for relief or even for someone to go and warn his brothers.
Luke 16:27-31 “And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house — for I have five brothers — in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ “But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ “But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.'”
And sadly, that would prove true, as Jesus would die and rise from the dead
And still many would not believe.
JESUS HAS CLEARLY REVEALED HIMSELF TO BE THE SON OF GOD, THE MESSIAH, THE ANOINTED KING OF GOD.
• He clearly deserves belief
• He clearly deserves trust
• He clearly deserves submission
• He clearly deserves obedience
If you can’t see that by now, it’s certainly not due to lack of evidence.
People don’t fail to believe in Christ because of a lack of evidence.
People fail to believe in Christ because of inner wickedness.
Jesus said it Himself:
John 3:16-21 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
In short the only explanation for unbelief is not lack of evidence,
But rather love of sin.
And now you see why Jesus called this generation wicked.
They just kept seeking a sign.
• Don’t do that.
• Don’t try to force to God to validate who He is.
• Read His word and trust Him.
Don’t be like those Jews who wouldn’t believe even though they saw the powerful works of God.
Hebrews 4:1-2 “Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.”
The calling is for man to hear the words of Christ and to believe in Him.
To place their trust in Him.
To submit their lives to Him.
Excuses for not believing in Jesus won’t wash
For there are many
Who have far less exposure to the truth than you have
And yet believed.
Don’t get caught simply playing a religious game on the outside.
Be real, be authentic, believe in Christ.
Luke 11:31-32 “The Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. “The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”
