| JESUS IS "THE SIGN" Are We living in the last days? How do we know? Matthew 24:3-14 tells of the signs for the last days and we know that these signs are not for us (the gentiles) but these signs are for the Jews - some may disagree but we need to be discerning and rightly dividing the word of truth to understand the signs of the last days and the times we are living in. As believers, Jesus did not tell us to look at signs but to discern the times of the signs (Matt 16:3) He didn't tell us to look for signs and wonders which are the natural things that are happening but we are supposed to be recognizing the spiritual things of God and hearing from the Spirit of God. In Luke Chapter 11, Jesus is healing, delivering and teaching and vs. 27-29 tells us how the crowd (not the disciples) following Jesus were looking for signs, they were trying to get something for themselves - they had a need. Just like when a miracle service comes to town, people are always looking for the miracles or the signs, or wonders, or healing, usually something for themselves. The same crowds that followed Jesus when He was teaching, healing & delivering were the same people who when Jesus was taken, screamed with the crowd "Crucify Him"! Only the disciples were on the inner track with Jesus, the crowds will always be there, but just because you see a large crowd does not necessarily mean they are speaking the right thing or want a relationship with Jesus. Jesus warned them in vs. 29 �"it's an evil generation that seeks a sign and no sign will be given except the sign of Jonah For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.". Jesus was simply saying "I AM THE SIGN'. We look at the earthquakes and famines and all the things that are happening but He's saying "He's the sign". The sign for you is ME, says Jesus - "I'm your sign". Everything is about Jesus, the whole Christian life is not about us, it's about Jesus. Jesus went on to say "The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here. Who's greater that Jonah? Jesus was talking about Himself. Think about that, Jonah preached a message of repentance to tell the people they were doomed but the people turned and repented at his preaching and were saved. As well, Jesus' ministry was a sign in Palestine that He was from God. Jonah's message was to a small group of Ninevites, but Jesus' message was for the whole world. He came first for the Jews but they didn't receive Him and that opened the way for us, Praise God and one day He will again come and finish what he started with Israel. Jonah's message was enough to cause a small number to repent but Jesus message was world wide. Jonah's preaching to just one city was enough to convince the people to repent, but the world stumbled at Jesus message, they stumbled at His Word. They picked up an offense against His Word. Have you ever done that when the Word hits you in an area where you fall short, you can either pick up an offense or receive that Word for you in that particular area. What Jesus was really saying here is that they were not seeking His face, they were not seeking His Heart, they were not seeking a relationship or fellowship with Him but were seeking what He could do for them or give them. They were seeking His hand and not His Face. A lot of people in church are like that today, they come for what Jesus can give them - a healing, a touch, a financial breakthrough, a deliverance, but Jesus is looking for a people who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, He's seeking people who are seeking Him. In 1 Cor 1:22, the Jews were looking for a sign, but the Greeks were looking for Wisdom in that generation, they were wrapped up in getting their heads swelled up in wisdom but Paul says, "we preach Christ crucified" (vs. 23). You can go to a lot of places and hear a lot of things preached but the bible says that in the last days people will be running around wanting to hear what their flesh wants to hear (2 Tim 4:3). We have a decision to make, am I going to do what God says, or my own thing? To the Jews, Jesus was a stumbling block (He was foolishness to them) (Isaiah 8:14 & 1 Peter 2:8). Scripture says that to natural men the things of God are foolishness (1 Cor 1:18). It is only the spiritual man than can discern them but Christ in us is the power and wisdom of God. 1 Cor 14:22 tells us that "tongues" are a sign for "unbelievers". God uses the gift of tongues for people of other nations and languages so He can speak to them in their own language so they will come to believe in Him. When this happens in a church where no one speaks Chinese for example and a person who only speaks Chinese and knows no English, understands what is being said when that someone speaks in tongues, the Chinese speaking person realizes that this is God speaking - this is awesome. Mark 11 tells us that "believers" receive when we pray but what do we do, we want a sign, a little tingle, a little feeling, a little something that tells us we've received, but Jesus is not giving us those signs, He's our sign. In Mark 16:17 the scripture says that "believers don't follow after signs" but "signs and wonders follow after believers". If you are a believer, look behind you and there should be some signs. Luke 2:12 �And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Jesus is the sign! The life and death of Jesus Christ is the sign - His death and His resurrection is the sign to us as believers, we don't need another sign. When the disciples went to the tomb looking for a dead Jesus, it was empty - the angel said "He's not here, He is risen." In the last days there will be all kinds of deception and teachings and we need to discern what is true and what is not. There are going to be people preaching all kinds of things that might activate your flesh, but we have to divide between the soul and the spirit (Heb. 4:12). We cannot afford to drink in and swallow everything that is being taught today, we have to weed out the truth from error with the Word. Check the word when you hear new teachings, they did in the days of the apostles. In Acts 17:11 it says that they searched the scriptures daily to see if the truth was being correctly taught. In Isaiah 7:10-14, Ahaz would not ask for a sign and he was given a prophetic sign which said "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Jesus is the sign. Question: Who are we to Jesus? His children! As His children, we too are a sign, a sign to this generation. Father wants to reproduce the same thing in us that He did in Jesus. We are of His nature, we are not sinners saved from grace, we are the righteousness of God in Christ. We were sinners, we might still sin, but our nature has been changed because God has created us in His image and His likeness, we are not God, but we are like Him, we are His sons and His daughters. Isaiah 8:18 says "Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me, we are for signs and for wonders in Israel�" Yes, this is written to the Jews, the whole Old Testament was written to the Jews, but we can pick up some things spiritually that apply to our lives. The bible tells us to take the Old Testament as an example, therefore Mount Zion is the church today, we are spiritual Mount Zion (vs. 18). What is a sign? A sign is a manifestation, evidence or proof. How was Jesus born? He was born of the Spirit - supernaturally (the Holy Ghost who came upon Mary) not conceived naturally, you and I are also born of the Spirit if we are born-again. This cannot be done in the flesh, as Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3 that we are born of the spirit - that's a supernatural sign, we are new creatures now, that old sinful nature is gone, the power to make us sin has passed away, we may sin from time to time but we are no longer sinners. As we walk in the newness of life, the Holy Spirit will do what He needs to do in our lives. Jesus had to grow and become strong in spirit and stature, we know that He became full of wisdom and that the grace of God was upon His life as He grew and matured. Jesus did not confront the teachers of the law as a baby - He matured in the things of God. When He left the temple at 12 He went home, worked as a carpenter and submitted to His parents, the same thing we need to be doing today. Many Christians don't even want to work today, but Jesus is the sign and if He did it, we need to be doing the same. We know from the book of Revelation that Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy - Jesus is that sign and when the day came that Jesus went into the Jordan to be baptized, He was the sign waiting patiently until His time has come - He waited and submitted to His Father, He constantly said "Your will be done Father in My life". We get so busy trying to make things happen, forcing circumstances, manipulating and controlling that we miss the message altogether - s u r r e n d e r ! Surrender to Him. Jesus yielded to the Father and the Spirit of Prophecy, that was a free will choice. When Jesus taught, he taught in parables and would say "this is like the Kingdom of God", He was always pointing to the Father, He was always pointing to the Kingdom, He never drew attention to Himself. As He submitted to the Father, Father did all the things through Him because He said "Pray, and my father in Heaven will do these things for you". Jesus didn't need the credit or the glory, He kept giving it back - He's our sign. We sometimes try to get glory for the things of God, but we cannot handle God's glory - it will destroy us. The same glory that lifts us up to the Father will destroy us, if we take it unto ourselves. God says that He's a jealous God and will not share His glory (Isaiah 42:8). As Jesus taught His disciples, he was saying in effect, watch me and do as I do. He taught them how to heal, how to deliver, how to be believers, how to be successful, how to do the works that He did and how to live. In the garden of Gethsemane he taught the disciples to pray, to stay awake for one hour as He agonized and asked Father if there was some other way. There was no other way, this was the only way and Jesus had a choice whether to live or to die, He choose to die so we could live. You may be asking how this teaching applies to your life, but what Jesus is really saying is that as His people, you don't have to be caught up in earthquakes, famines & killer bees, or get caught up in weather patterns, they will be there and they will tell us the times in which we are living. Diseases such as the West Niles Virus and SARS are causing people to panic and these things will happen but when you hear of these things, are you fearful? When you are sick, the word says that you were healed 2000 years ago, but many of us are looking for signs of healing, Jesus is the sign - that's the only sign you need. The time is short, Jesus is coming back and He wants the world to get saved, He's not willing that they perish. Jesus already told us that we have been delivered (Col. 1:13), He went to the Cross and took you pain, your habits, you sickness, your fears, your depression, your inability and your insecurities - He did what He said He did. Our problem is not in hearing or reading about these things, our problem is in receiving them. Don't look at your symptoms, or your sick body, or your sick finances, or your flesh, but thank Him for what He has already done. Romans 6:11 tells us to "reckon (or consider) ourselves dead to sin and alive unto God", sin has no more power over you, unless you give it power and satan has not more power over you unless you give it to him somehow, usually by the words we speak. Also, reckon yourself dead to fear, reckon yourself dead to sickness, reckon yourself dead unto your old habits and alive unto God and don't struggle to do it. So many people are struggling to get free of all this, Jesus said you're free, simply walk in it, accept it, receive it and thank Him for it. Every day you get up (if you have a habit) thank God that you're delivered from that, you're dead to that (dead to sin), you don't have to allow your flesh to control you anymore because you're walking by the Spirit now and as you walk in the Spirit there is no condemnation in you. As believers, we don't need any more signs, Jesus is our sign, the Word is our sign, the Holy Ghost is our sign. Blessed are those that hear the Word of God and do it. Remember Thomas who would only believe if he could put his fingers in the nail holes in Jesus hands and side, but Jesus said "blessed are those who have not seen and have believed" (John 20:29) Jesus was saying that blessed are those who believe and who don't need a sign. If there's an area in your life where you feel you need a sign, Jesus is the sign. If there's an area in your life where you need freedom from something, Jesus is your freedom. If there's an area in your life where you need peace, Jesus is the Prince of Peace. If there're an area in your life where you have fear, Jesus didn't give us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind (2 Tim 1:7). If there's an area in your life where you need healing, Jesus is your Healer today, the Word of God is above any doctor's report today. It's up to us to say "Yes, Lord, I receive all that you have for me today". We are a people that walk after the spirit and not after the flesh. |
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