Season 4 Podcast 133 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 16:1-4, Pt 1, “The Sign of Jonah.”
Season 4 Podcast 133 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 16:1-4, Pt 1, “The Sign of Jonah.”
The first principle of the gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I think one could spend a lifetime and never come to the bottom of faith. Perhaps most of us are familiar with the following scriptures and have even been envious of the faith of others,
· Not found so great faith … in Israel, Matt. 8:10
· Thy faith hath made thee whole, Matt. 9:22
· According to your faith be it unto you, Matt. 9:29.
· Faith as a grain of mustard seed, Matt. 17:20
· If ye have faith, and doubt not, Matt. 21:21.
I have always puzzled over Peter’s statement, “trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold” (1 Pet. 1:7). I am struck with the oxymoron, “precious trial.” Few people when in the hurricanes of life consider a trial to be precious. But it is a law of nature that without opposition nothing can be strengthened. And that is why it is such a great sin to seek for a sign. It bypasses the trial of our faith. Matthew 16 opens with the verse.
“The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.”
The Lord condemns those who seek a sign.
· evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, Matt. 12:39
· tempting him, sought of him a sign, Luke 11:16.
· Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe, John 4:48.
Signs become a stumbling block to faith. There is an old saying, “seeing is believing” but that is not necessarily true. The problem with signs is that even though they may seem spectacular at first, they can soon be rationalized away through logic or through science or through opposing testimony or through doubt or prejudice or counter arguments. As the memory fades the miracle becomes clouded. If the sign continues people become less and less surprised and begin to accept it as ordinary. The technological advances we have today would astonish those of the distant past, but to the modern mind they are expected. In fact, Science has become a stumbling block to religion. People use science to prove that God does not exist. It is ironic but we use the laws of God to disprove the existence of God. We use the creation to disprove the creator.
A classic example is found in the last book of the great scientist Stephen Hawking entitled, “Brief Answers to the Big Questions.” Published posthumously the book includes the following by Mr. Hawking, which echoes the view of scientific atheism.
“There is no God. No one directs the universe.”
Of course, it is a direct denial of intelligent design, the primary argument for the existence of God. He added,
“For centuries, it was believed that disabled people like me were living under a curse that was inflicted by God. I prefer to think that everything can be explained another way, by the laws of nature.”
On the one hand Mr. Hawking is certainly correct in debunking the false idea that “disabled people are living under a curse that was inflicted by God.” Only Satan would perpetuate such a lie relating to the Savior who devoted his ministry to healing people.
Also Mr. Hawking is correct in saying that disease can be explained by the laws of nature. What is missing, however, is that the laws of nature were organized by God.
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