The Sermon explores why people reject Jesus due to hatred, citing Matthew 12 and Pharaoh's hardening as proof that faith requires a sovereign gift of repentance rather than mere evidence. The speaker argues America has apostatized through cultural shifts like female leadership and immigration policies, contrasting its chaos with Japan's order, while urging men to lead families and citizens to enforce civil justice alongside prayer for true revival. Ultimately, the episode asserts that only God can grant new natures to believe, leaving the resurrection as the sole sign against unregenerate hearts. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: CohereLabs/cohere-transcribe-03-2026, WAV2VEC2_ASR_BASE_960H, sat-12l-sm, script v26.04.01, and large-v3-turbo
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Intellectual Faith and Assent00:07:55
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Please join me in standing for the reading of God's word.
Our text for today is the gospel according to Matthew chapter 12, verses 38 through 42.
Again, that's the gospel according to Matthew chapter 12, verses 38 through 42.
I'll read our text in its entirety.
When I finish reading the text, I'm going to ask that you would respond by saying, Thanks be to God.
One final time, our text is Matthew chapter 12, verses 38 through 42.
The Bible says this Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said, Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.
But he answered them, And evil.
And the adulterous generation seeks for a sign.
But no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah.
And behold, something greater.
Then Jonah is here.
The Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it.
For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
And behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
This is the word of the Lord.
All right, please be seated.
Let's dive in.
Two primary principles that I want us to see from our text today.
In the first half of the text, Verses 38, 39, and 40.
The big idea is this you will not believe what you hate.
If you hate something, you won't believe it.
You won't believe it's real, you won't believe it exists, and you certainly will not trust it.
The Reformed tradition holds that faith is comprised of at least three elements.
One is the intellectual assent, knowledge.
That is a component of true faith.
You have to know something.
You have to know it.
So there's an intellectual assent, but faith, true, saving faith, Christian faith, is not less than intellectual assent, but it is, in fact, far more.
It's not less, but it is more.
So there's a sense of knowledge, but there's also a sense of, in addition to knowledge, assent, agreement, giving your affirmation to the thing that you know.
And the third component, knowledge, assent, and then lastly, personal, implicit trust.
Trust.
Knowledge, assent, and trust.
To illustrate these three components when it comes to faith, you could give this example.
Think of a heretical doctrine.
Let's make the argument from something that we know as Christians is not true.
Not only is it not true, but it's actually damnable.
It's something that is.
Poison.
Well, I know the prosperity gospel.
I know it.
But I do not give my assent, my affirmation, and I certainly am not placing my personal trust in those doctrines.
I'm not betting the farm on the health and wealth prosperity gospel.
I'm not going to allow my soul to hang in the balance on those precepts, trusting in that for my eternal salvation and well being.
But I know it.
I can articulate word of faith theology better than a lot of word of faith pastors, because it seems as though a prerequisite for being a word of faith pastor. is to have below an 85 IQ.
So I know those doctrines better than they do.
And I can probably articulate those doctrines better than they do.
But I don't have faith in the prosperity gospel because faith is not merely knowledge.
It includes knowledge, but it's not merely knowledge.
Faith, according to the Reformed tradition, is knowledge, assent, and trust.
Now, the second component, You can have knowledge, that's an example of me having knowledge but not giving my affirmation.
I don't agree.
So I know the doctrines of the prosperity gospel, but I do not agree with them.
I believe they're false.
And I certainly am not personally trusting in them.
But you can actually not only have the first component of faith while lacking the next two, but you could actually have the first and second component of faith while lacking the third.
So here would be another example the demons.
Demons know that God is triune.
They know that God, the eternal God, the only God that is, exists in three persons.
They know this.
And begrudgingly, albeit, while kicking and screaming, screeching into the void, they give their assent to that knowledge.
They know God is triune.
They know that God is triune.
Holy, holy, holy.
They know many attributes of God.
And they not only know these things, they actually assent to these things.
They do agree.
They not only know it's true, but they agree that it's true.
But they're not trusting in Jesus.
They don't trust God at a personal level.
They don't have implicit trust in the triune God.
They know He exists.
They agree He exists.
And they hate Him.
They hate him.
So, faith is knowledge, assent, and trust.
I know something, I know the details.
There is an intellectual component of knowledge.
I assent to it.
I don't just know about it, I know about evolution.
But I don't assent to it.
There are all sorts of absurdities that we know.
I know that some people out there think that fish eventually turn into people.
But I don't agree.
I appreciate it.
It's good to have a good laugh every now and then.
But I certainly don't agree.
And I'm certainly not personally trusting in the doctrines of macro evolution.
Certainly not.
So, again, faith, true Christian saving faith, knowledge.
I know the intellectual components, the tenets.
I agree.
I don't just know about them, but I agree.
I've given my assent.
And at a personal level, I'm betting the house.
I'm betting the house.
I actually am putting my life on the line for these things.
That's faith.
Supernatural Hardening in Egypt00:11:49
And you will not believe something that you hate.
You won't because you can't.
And when I say, right there in your notes, Roman numeral number one, we haven't gotten very far.
I'll get there.
You will not believe what you hate.
When I say the word believe there, I'm talking about faith, Christian faith, as I've just defined it.
So, including in that word believe, I'm including all three of the elements, including particularly that third one personal, implicit, trust.
You will not believe what you hate, or to say it more particularly, you will not personally trust Jesus if you hate Jesus.
And the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes and the religious rulers, all these Jewish leaders in Israel at the time, hated Jesus absolutely hated him, and that's why they would not believe in him, and that's why they demand that he produce for them on the spot.
Think of the audacity, the arrogance.
You have the Son of God incarnate, deity, wrapped in flesh, standing in front of you, and you're telling him to produce parlor tricks at your authority, at your will.
That would already be absurd.
But couple that with the fact that Jesus has been, by this time, performing miracles in front of their faces.
Day after day after day, they've already seen signs, they've seen plenty, they've seen the sick healed, the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, they've seen demons exorcised and cast out, they've seen all these signs, they've seen food multiplied miraculously for thousands,
and yet they're still demanding a sign.
But the reality is that even if Jesus on the spot produced a sign for them, they would not believe.
They would not believe in Jesus because you cannot believe in that or who you hate.
They hate Jesus.
And if it was merely a matter of evidence, well, then they would already be followers of Jesus because by this time, plentiful evidence has been generously and graciously.
Provided.
In your notes, I've written this.
Once again, we see the spiritual blindness and hostility of the Pharisees.
These religious men are so puffed up with their own righteousness that they would demand signs from the Son of God Himself.
They cry out, Teacher, we wish to see a sign, as if Christ had not already healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead, and preached the gospel of the kingdom.
Their hearts were hardened, just like Pharaoh, who saw the mighty hand of God and yet still refused.
To repent.
Remember, Pharaoh in the book of Exodus, in the Old Testament, Pharaoh in his hardened heart continues to hate the God of Israel, even after miraculous signs have been performed 10 times.
10 times.
We know this.
We have the Ten Commandments, but we also have the Ten Plagues.
God had performed many signs and wonders, and Pharaoh had personally witnessed them all.
And yet, he would not repent.
And this is key.
He also could not repent.
He could not.
In fact, in the New Testament, in commentating on Pharaoh and what God performed, all these miraculous works in Egypt, the New Testament tells us for this reason I raised you up, so that I might display my power.
Think about this for a moment.
God.
The infinite one, the omnipotent one, all power, all powerful.
How can God ever, when it comes to wanting to show his power, his authority, his majesty against an opponent of his, how can God ever really manifest or display his power against an opponent?
If you're infinite, all your opponents are ants, right?
I mean, how impressed would you be if right after church I took you outside and I said, You want to see something cool?
Watch this.
And I stepped on a bug.
That's your pastor.
Pretty threatening, huh?
Pretty impressive.
Right?
My two year old son might be excited.
Might be excited about it.
But even then, he'd only be excited because he knows he can do it too.
It's not unique.
So then, how does God show off his power when it comes to opposing an enemy?
Well, because he's omnipotent, because he's infinite, and all his opponents, by comparison, are mere ants.
What God has to do is to show off his left hook, he has to hold up his opponent also at the same time with his right hand.
He literally has to prop up his enemy just so he can display his offensive power.
And that's what the scripture is saying in the New Testament when it commentates on Pharaoh in the book of Exodus and the ten plagues of Egypt.
For this reason, I raised you up.
It's not merely talking about the fact that providentially Pharaoh was raised up to become the ruler of Egypt at that time, but it's also saying.
That God did a supernatural work in Pharaoh's heart.
What was that supernatural work?
He supernaturally hardened his heart and produced a supernatural rebellion in Pharaoh so that after 10 plagues, he would still, after losing his firstborn son, the Nile has been turned to blood, Egypt is decimated, and the Israelites have now exited Egypt and taken all their gold.
And after all of that complete decimation through miraculous means, and not random miraculous means, but each of these 10 plagues, the God of Israel showcasing his power over each of the gods of the Egyptians.
Oh, you have a Nile God?
I'm stronger than him.
Oh, you have a God of frogs, a God of flies?
I'm stronger than them.
So God has not just decimated Egypt by this point, he has humiliated Egypt.
He's humiliated all of their false gods, all of their false worship, all of their idolatry, all of their paganism, all their perversion has been decimated, destroyed, and shamed.
Humiliated.
How in the world, after all of that, your kingdom lying in ruins and your son dead but his body still warm, how would you muster?
The will to say, after all of that, let's still go and chase down the Israelites.
Maybe we could still win.
That's not just being delusional, right?
That's not just like the incurable gambler.
He's like, maybe I can win my money back after he's lost all of his money.
No, this is something supernatural.
It's far more.
How?
Not just why.
I think that's the wrong question.
It doesn't really get at the principle, the truth that we need to know.
It's not just why was Pharaoh so rebellious, how?
How had Pharaoh attained such a degree of rebellion?
And the answer is God.
Because the Old Testament tells us in the book of Exodus plainly that two things occurred Pharaoh hardened his heart.
Human agency is inescapable, it is real, it is a biblical principle.
And therefore, because Pharaoh chose to harden his heart, he is morally culpable for every ounce of God's judgment.
He did it, he earned it, he deserves it.
Also, Other side of the coin, completely true simultaneously, Pharaoh hardened his heart and God hardened his heart.
Supernaturally, hardened his heart to the degree that after being shamed, decimated, and losing a child, he would still think, maybe I can win.
And so too it is with the Jewish rulers here in Israel at the time of Christ.
They had seen Jesus perform miracle after miracle after miracle.
It's not merely that they will not believe.
Brothers and sisters, we must know that they cannot believe.
Because repentance is a gift, it is not a work conjured by man.
It is not merely something that you can dig deep down.
The gospel is not sola bootstrapia, it's not something you can accomplish in your own strength.
Repentance is a gift.
And it must be granted sovereignly by God as an act of his mercy.
And if he does not grant us repentance, we will not repent.
Not merely because we will not, but because we cannot, because repentance cannot be found.
We see this elsewhere in the scriptures.
Speaking of Esau, Hebrews chapter 12, verse 15 through 17 says, See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up.
And causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.
That no one is sexually immoral or unholy, like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.
Verse 17 now.
For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, the blessing of God that would be transpired through his father, Isaac, he was rejected.
Not merely rejected by his father, but his father standing in as representative of God.
God rejected him.
When he sought this blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent.
The scripture doesn't just say, for he was unwilling to repent, or he didn't want to, I don't want to.
No, he couldn't find a chance to repent.
There was not the opportunity to repent, there was not the capability to repent.
He would not because he could not.
Though he sought it with tears.
There's a whole sermon in that last phrase, which I don't have time to preach today.
But beware of tears.
Tears Without True Repentance00:18:00
I'll say that at least.
I have seen many tears, but absent of repentance.
We have lived in this country for decades now, with our highest virtue being this when she cries, she of both sexes, when she cries, she's right, and she gets what she wants.
And following that roadmap, we have achieved Drag Queen Story Hour, the mutilation of children, the murder of 7 million, 70 million babies, that's a low number, in their mother's womb in the last 50 years, a full scale invasion at our southern border, our jobs stolen away from a country that allegedly has the most geniuses in the world.
Yes, I'm talking about India.
Now, if they have to start paying $100,000, mark my words, I predict that all of a sudden our tech lords will discover that actually Americans are really bright.
Oh, you know what?
It turns out that Americans aren't so lazy after all, and they're not so dumb after all.
And it turns out that we have a lot of great Americans, and we're not racist.
We're just hiring Americans because we have to win the tech race on the global map and beat China.
And we're hiring Americans because they're actually the hardest working and the smartest.
It's like, but you told us we were dumb and lazy and we couldn't win unless we imported from the rest of the world people to code because no American would code or could code.
What changed?
Oh, your pocketbook.
That's what changed.
And yet, this is the country we now live in full scale invasion, the erasure of heritage Americans.
Taking away an opportunity to own a home, to provide for a family.
Mass perversion with the LGBT, LMNOP, mafia.
Political assassinations of moderates, by the way.
They killed the nice guy.
They're going to regret it.
We'll see who comes next.
When people say, What happened?
Who radicalized you?
You did.
You tried to brainwash our children.
You tried to replace our culture.
You took our jobs.
You took our country.
You killed our heroes.
You did.
For two weeks now, I've been getting emails.
About half of them are I hate you.
I'm going to try to kill you.
Thus, why we're moving around right now, the Webb and family.
The other half are I stopped listening to you six months ago.
I'm sorry.
I was a lib.
You were right.
Doesn't seem so radical anymore, does it?
Husbands, husbands, lead your family.
Joel's too radical.
You know what?
If you're going to say that, why don't you just put your wife on the phone?
I'd like to talk to the decision maker of the household.
Right?
Let's just stop playing games.
Let me talk to the man of the house.
Could you put your wife on?
No, it's not too radical.
One of my constant convictions that I'm wrestling with the Lord actively on a daily basis, and I mean this, is Lord, am I compromised?
Lord, am I cowardly?
Lord, if there be any sin in my heart, any weakness, any cowardice, reveal it.
Convict me by your Holy Spirit.
Help me, God.
After careful and prayerful consideration, help me, Lord, to become worse for your glory and the good of your people.
Make me half the enemy, half the monster that your enemies think I am.
Save the church and save the country, Lord.
I want my kids to at least have a semblance in their childhood and their adulthood, and as they desperately seek one day to start families of their own, a semblance of the country that I got to grow up in.
But here we are.
Here we are.
And part of the reason we're here is because we have chosen to succumb to tears without repentance.
Esau cried.
Oh, please, I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry.
Please, please, but you don't understand.
He cried, but he never repented.
He was unwilling.
He was unable.
He could not repent.
Oh, but please, please, it's just a four year old little girl.
Families can be deported together.
Praise God.
They all have to go back.
Because you're allowed to have a country.
It's not racist.
It's not sin.
It's not wicked.
It's not mean.
It's not arrogant.
Every single country in the world is allowed to have their people and their home, except for the West.
That's wicked.
It's wicked.
It's sin, and I will speak against it.
Repentance is key.
The Pharisees could not repent because you cannot believe in that which you hate.
Esau could not repent because you cannot believe that which you hate.
And Esau had tears, but he had no true godly sorrow, no true remorse.
That has to be the standard for us as the people of God.
We have to stop being manipulated.
By tears, by shows.
And we have to be willing to say, no, it must be true repentance.
America has apostatized.
We have a Christian history, a Christian origin.
We were a Christian country, and we have apostatized against the Lord Jesus Christ.
And anyone who's not truly repenting gets no say in the matter.
You'll be deported, you'll be removed from office, but you get no say in the matter.
I don't care how sad you are.
We've been led by women in this country feigning sadness for 50 years.
And the tears of women have directly fueled the blood of babies.
And we're not having it anymore.
We're not doing it anymore.
When did you become so heartless?
When babies were murdered.
When throats were slit on subways.
That's when.
And God forgive me for being radicalized far too late.
The Pharisees hated Jesus, and the Pharisees today still hate Jesus, you need to know.
They will not repent because they cannot repent.
Repentance is not a work of man, it is a gift of God.
It must be sovereignly granted.
And if it be not granted by God in His mercy, then that person will never change.
They might cry, they might wail.
They might say all the right things, but their heart will remain hardened.
They will hate Jesus, and on account of Christ, they will hate you.
They will hate your wives, they will hate your children, they will hate your grandchildren, and you must be innocent as doves, but as wise as vipers.
We cannot afford to be naive any longer.
Evangelicals cannot afford to be naive.
You will not and indeed cannot believe in that which you hate.
It is not a matter of merely providing the sufficient evidence.
The Pharisees had evidence, they saw sign after sign after sign.
The audacity is unbelievable of these guys.
Show us a sign.
Are you kidding?
I literally just got done healing a guy.
Are you kidding me?
I just got done exercising demons.
Are you kidding me?
I just did this.
I just did that.
What do you mean, show me a sign?
You were right there.
You were right there.
What do you mean, show me a sign?
Oh, well, we just don't believe.
We're just simply objective spectators.
No, you're not.
You're deceitful, maniacal, manipulative leaders who are trying to lead the people of Israel to hell.
You're the elite leaders in a country.
That has taken that responsibility that should be an honor and a privilege, and you've perverted it.
You put heavy burdens that you yourselves will not lift with a single finger.
Defund the police, meanwhile, you're in a gated communion with private security.
Yes, there are many parallels to the Pharisees in the country that we currently live in.
Show us a sign.
We're objective, we're reasonable.
If you provide the evidence, we'll come along.
The evidence had already been provided, and they refused because the problem was not merely intellectual assent, it was not merely evidence, it was moral.
The problem is always moral, it is a matter of the heart.
Why do people not believe in Jesus?
Because in their minds, they're lacking reason, they're lacking evidence.
No, in their hearts, they hate him.
They hate him.
We had a guy in America.
Who was willing to sit down with people and say, Well, maybe you're just lacking reasons.
And so I'll have respectable discourse.
And I will talk to literally anyone and make myself available day after day after day in the public square.
Anyone can come up to the microphone, they can make their objection, and I'll give a response.
They can ask their question, and I'll give a reason.
And they shot him in the throat in front of his wife and kids.
No, it's not intellectual.
It's moral.
People don't believe in Christ because they hate Christ.
And we, the church, need to know that in our bones and live accordingly.
No more, Mr. Nice Guy.
Kindness is a fruit of the Spirit.
Niceness, damn it to hell.
Niceness is one of the greatest lies the enemy ever persuaded the American church to believe.
No more, Mr. Nice Guy.
Love, yes.
Kindness, yes.
Niceness, no.
Romans 8, chapter 7, and verse 8.
To illustrate this point even further, The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile towards God, not merely indifferent, not simply neutral, but at enmity with God.
If a person's mind be set on the flesh, if they are an unbeliever, unregenerate, the mind of the sinner, the unbeliever, the non Christian, it's set on the flesh and therefore not merely neutral and objective.
And if I just have the evidence, then I'll believe.
Nope, hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law nor Can it?
Indeed, it cannot.
Those who are in the flesh cannot, not merely will not, cannot please God.
We have to believe the scripture.
Believe what's being said in our text today in Matthew chapter 12 in regards to the Pharisees.
Believe what was said in Hebrews 12, verse 15, 16, and 17 about Esau.
And believe Romans chapter 8, verse 7 and 8, what's being said about the unregenerate man whose mind is set on the flesh in all three instances.
Instances.
One in the scripture would be enough to make the point in all three of these instances, and there are more.
The principle is clear.
The unregenerate man will not submit to Christ, for he cannot submit to Christ because he hates Christ.
Get it in your bones.
Second point for today, and the final: the adultery of the Jews and the salvation of the Gentiles.
Of the Gentiles.
In your notes, I've written the following.
And so our Lord, focusing our attention now on verses 41 and 42.
And so our Lord answers them, these religious rulers in Israel, not with flattery, but with the truth.
He says, An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign.
Adulterous because they have forsaken their true husband, the Lord, and gone whoring after their own righteousness and their perverse.
Traditions of men.
But the Lord gives them a sign in his mercy and kindness nonetheless.
The sign is this it is the sign of Jonah.
Just as Jonah was three days in the belly of the fish, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
And here is the gospel, hidden even in judgment.
Christ crucified, buried, and risen, the true and final sign.
Which no man can overturn or deny.
Just as Jonah emerged alive out of the fish to preach repentance to Nineveh, so too Christ rose from the dead to proclaim forgiveness to the ends of the earth.
This is the sign.
It was a sign for them, and it's the sign for you.
And to demand anything more is arrogance and rebellion, and you will be judged on account of it.
You have been given a sign.
Jesus Christ, wrapped in flesh, the God man.
He lived a sinless life, not only avoiding all sin, but in his active obedience, fulfilling all righteousness.
He died a sinner's death, a criminal's death, that you deserved, not him.
And the Lord bodily rose him from the dead on the third day.
He presented himself to over 500 witnesses at one time.
So that means the number is far higher.
And he ascended in majesty and in glory to the right hand of God the Father Almighty, where he is now seated in honor.
And one day he will return to judge both the living and the dead.
And if you reject that sign, he will return and he will say to you, Depart from me, you workers of iniquity.
And cast you into the lake of fire, and there will be no more chances.
Jesus is not like a DEI hired judge in America.
Jesus doesn't give 14 chances.
No, on that final day, all the chances are gone.
And those who rejected him and were ashamed of him, he will be ashamed of them before his father, and he will say, Depart from me, I never knew you.
But for all who believe the sign of Jonah as it relates to Christ, that he died, was buried, and rose again, that he is the Son of God, that he died for your sin, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, to you there will be honor, there will be glory, there will be forever eternal communion with the triune God.
You will be blessed.
To you has been given eternal life.
And that judgment for the living and the dead, whether it be reward for those who are in Christ, Or judgment for the wicked.
It is coming.
Christ will one day return.
And if he tarries, that judgment is still coming.
Because either he will come to you or you will go to him.
One way or the other.
Time is running short.
Trust in Jesus.
Moral Change for National Revival00:08:13
Believe in Jesus.
And know that if you're not a Christian and you're here today, your only hang up is not a lack of evidence, your hang up is not intellectual, it is moral.
You hate him.
And the only thing that can change is God supernaturally changing your heart.
To believe in Jesus, you have to love Jesus.
And to love Jesus, you need a new heart.
That's the gospel.
1 John 4 19, we love because he first loved us.
It's not that we simply weigh all the evidence in some unbiased, objective way and then choose to love God, and then God, who's sitting in heaven, chooses to love God.
To respond after we first initiate and say, Well, because you've worked so diligently and you've chosen to love me, then as a response, tit for tat, I will love you.
No.
We love because He first loved us.
Those who do not love God are those who have not been awakened by the Spirit of God to see His love for them.
They are spiritually blinded, just like the Pharisees, spiritually deaf, they cannot hear, their hearts are hardened.
And the heart of stone must be replaced with a heart of flesh that is softened and malleable and receptive to the things of God.
You need a new nature.
It's not just that you have to turn over a new leaf or make a new set of choices, you must be born again.
You need a new nature.
You must become a new creature in Christ Jesus.
And if that doesn't happen, then you are an enemy of God and an enemy of His people.
And so we need to do two things in our country the church must preach and administer word and sacrament.
And we must pray that God, in His mercy, might send revival to actually give people new hearts.
And also, I know this is tough, really, really, really hard for evangelical Christians in 2025.
But I like to believe that by the grace of God and the Spirit of God, we could walk and chew gum as Christians at the same time.
I know it's tough.
Christians are insufferable in our country, over spiritualizing everything, truncating everything.
But we must begin to think clearly and think in categories as it pertains to the church.
We need revival.
You want the land to be saved?
You need more regenerate hearts.
They hate you because they hate God and they will never do anything else unless God gives them a new nature.
So, as a church, Lord, send revival.
And we, doing the work of an evangelist, preaching the gospel, praying that many might be saved.
Now, as private citizens, it's not just another area, another group of people, it's you wearing two hats.
As a Christian, as a member of the universal church, do the work of an evangelist, seek.
For new converts to be made and pray that God might grant them grace.
But then you also, as a part of the civil magistrate, because we still live in a republic, I know it's a bit of a joke at this point, but technically, well, then you also must enforce justice, not as a vigilante, but through whatever civil political power you have.
Because here's the deal contrary to the belief of pietists, Of which the Reformed Church has many.
Contrary to that belief, you can have a country that's safe for your children, temporally, physically safe, where the majority of that country is actually still unregenerate and goes to hell.
Did you know that?
Wait a second.
No, that's not possible.
No, you literally can.
Japan is 2% Christian, guys.
2% Christian.
High trust society.
Huh?
How?
How is that possible?
They've rejected the Lord Jesus Christ.
How do they have such a low crime rate?
Well, they didn't invite the whole world to live there.
And they actually have some laws.
And there's some homogeneity.
You trust your neighbor because you share in common things with your neighbor.
You come from the same people, the same ancestors, the same heritage, the same history, the same customs.
And so, even an unbeliever with another unbeliever can say, This is my kin.
This is my brother.
He can have a box in his front yard with fresh farm eggs that says, Please only take one.
And you don't have to worry about one of the neighbors coming with his U haul truck to take them all.
We don't have that in America.
Because we've brought the whole world here.
That's why.
So it's both things.
And this is where people will misinterpret and they'll slander.
But hear my words.
It's not one thing, it's both things.
Why are things as dire in our nation as they are today?
Number one, we the people rejected Christ.
It is spiritual.
Number two, in our rejection of Christ, we rejected law, we rejected order, we rejected heritage Americans and imported the third world.
We exalted women into places of civil leadership.
It's all of it, it's the whole enchilada.
And you're called to do both, Christian.
As a Christian, preach, evangelize, pray.
We need revival.
We need hearts to be changed.
Because if they're not changed, it's moral, not merely intellectual, if the heart is not changed, then people will go on hating Jesus.
But also, not just as a Christian, but as a citizen, in your civil duty, work towards political and civil reform.
Because here's the deal.
There are plenty throughout all of human history.
There have been plenty of cases, millions of examples could be told of people who did not have a new heart and therefore hated Jesus and yet never committed murder.
Why?
Because Romans 13, the civil magistrate, is a terror.
God's avenger.
God's deacon, his servant, to carry out vengeance on the wrongdoer.
It is possible for someone to not be a Christian, therefore hate Jesus.
Therefore, in their heart of hearts, hate you as a follower of Jesus and still be afraid to throw a piece of trash out of their window.
Ask El Salvador.
It can be done, it requires the will.
Oh, we just don't know what to do.
We know exactly what to do.
We need hearts for revival.
You also need stomachs for revival.
You have to have the grit.
And really, it's just a question it's going to happen.
It's not if, it's just when.
And a lot of this is up to the women.
I want you to hear me.
It's up to you.
It shouldn't be.
It shouldn't be.
But because our nation is wicked and has given you political power equal to your husband to divide the household, then yes, it is very much up to you.
When the country changes, it's up to you.
And this is literally what it comes down to.
It comes down to when the women of these United States of America finally decide that their fear of being mugged and killed and their children slaughtered in public.
Output transcript Outweighs their fear of being called a racist.
That's it.
As soon as that happens, the nation changes.
And you're safe again.
Keeping the Covenant Amid Nations00:06:18
And your kids have a future again.
That's all it takes.
It just takes the women in America to stop being slaves to the approval of man.
That's all it is.
We'll see.
One year, two years, five years, ten years.
We'll see.
So, an adulterous generation, God's not going to give them a sign.
The only sign left is the sign of Jonah that Jesus Christ would be crucified, buried, and raised on the third day.
And this is the gospel, even tucked away in judgment in God's kindness.
Yet Christ goes further, the final thing in our text, and he begins not only to indict, to correct, and to rebuke, but he shames these religious rulers.
And he shames him with the faith of Gentiles.
Notice what he says.
He says, You're going to be under judgment.
You hate me.
You've rejected me.
And you've lied and manipulated all those under your care.
But the men of Nineveh, pagans, they repented.
The queen of Sheba, she came from a long way off just to sit and hear the wisdom of Solomon.
And yet, the Jews, with the true Jonah and the true Solomon now standing before them, still do not believe.
What God has done these last 2,000 years with the Great Commission and the spread of the gospel to all the four corners of the earth has been an indictment.
On Israel.
For 2,000 years, more and more nations have heard and witnessed the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ and come to repentance.
And yet, for 2,000 years, Israel has remained hardened.
Now, that said, You're not merely a tool.
And you need to hear this.
God is not merely saving Gentiles to stick it to the Jews.
God is saving Gentiles because he loves them.
He loves you.
And this was always his plan from the very beginning.
Through you, Abraham, all the nations of the world will be blessed.
The original covenant, the covenant of redemption, included the nations, it was never just about Israel.
But through Abraham, many nations would eventually be blessed and flock to Mount Zion and find salvation in Jesus Christ.
So God is saving nations.
And He's saving them because He loves them, first and foremost.
But He's also saving them as an indictment and a shame to Israel.
And that's what Jesus tells the Pharisees here and the scribes.
And these Jewish religious rulers of that day.
He says, Not only are you demanding a sign when you've received many, and I'll call your bluff, I'll actually give you one more sign, the sign of Jonah.
But you did not believe the signs I've already produced.
You will not believe that sign either.
And it's not because of some kind of lack of evidence or intellectual hang up, it is a moral issue.
It's because you hate me.
And your hatred for me is unique because there are many others.
Many pagans, many Gentiles who have not had your response, and they never saw the miracles that you have seen.
There are many Gentiles who have never had the distinct pleasure of the Son of God in the flesh walking down their streets, performing signs and miracles and wonders, and yet they believe, just as Jesus told his disciple Thomas better for those who do not see and yet still believe.
And that's the promise for you.
That's the promise for me.
That by the grace of God, He has given us new hearts, awakened us, given us spiritual eyes to see, and we believe.
The leaders in Christ's day had far more evidence, but their hearts were hardened.
And for you, if you have any love for Christ at all, any faith in Christ at all, it is because God has worked a miracle.
God has changed your heart.
And for that, you should be eternally grateful and thankful and vigilant.
Knowing that this change of heart, this softness of heart, this new nature was not your own doing.
And it's not a switch that you can control at your will, but it was a sovereign, merciful work of God.
And to take it for granted that the Lord softened your heart and gave you affection for Him, and to neglect spiritual duties and disciplines, saying, Well, I can control it.
I can control at my convenience my affection for Christ, my faith in Christ, my submission and obedience to Christ.
That is an arrogant thought.
Repent of it.
The response today should be gratitude.
Like the men of Nineveh, like the queen of Sheba, the response should be Thank you, God, for choosing me, a wretched sinner, having mercy on me, a wretched sinner.
But for the grace of God, my heart would be just as hard, and I would be rejecting all your kindness and goodness.
So keep me.
The same grace that saved you is the only hope to keep you.
Keep me, Christ.
Soften me even more, Christ.
Convict me even further, Christ.
And use me for your glory and the good of your people.
Let's pray.
Father, thank you for your word.
Bless it to your people and bring about for yourself great glory.