Luke 12:54-57

Matthew chapter 12, verses 54 through 57 for our text and study this morning. And he, Jesus, said also to the people, when you see a cloud, rise out of the west, straightway you say there cometh a shower. And so it is. And when you see the south wind blow, you say there shall be heat, and it comeeth the pass. Ye hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky and of the earth. But how is it that ye do not discern this time? Yea, and why even of yourselves, judge. judge ye not what is right. May God bless to us. He is sacred and holy word this morning. There’s hardly a day that goes by that you don’t check the weather report. The weather report has become highly scientific, and we have predictions that are highly detailed. You even get a Whole weeks forecast, what’s going to happen? You’re told like how much snow to expect, how many inches, and what area is going to get more than the other and things of this nature. When it will start, when it will finish. You’re told how hot it will be or how cold it will be. So you can address appropriately. You’re told what even when the sun’s going to, to rise and go down to the minute when the newscast is given. Now, you take it for granted that all this detailed information will be in the weather report. We’re so used to it. We just expect it to occur. A few people realize that if you can discern the weather, you ought to be able to discern the signs of the times. Jesus rebukes the people of his day for being able to predict the weather, but failing to completely discern the spiritual implications of the time in which they lived. This is a common problem. You can have earthly wisdom regarding the weather or many other things, but be totally ignorant. when it comes to spiritual implications of the day in which you live. Jesus has spoken specifically to his disciples about worry, about the second coming, about the division that gospel is going to produce, in verses 22 to 53. Now he speaks to the common people. He turns his attention more broadly here. and they’re still gathered around. They’re still listening to him, even though he more specifically addressed his disciples earlier. And he talks about the weather, and then he talks about the time in which they are living. I want to talk this morning about discerning the signs of the time. Let me begin by saying this. You can be fully aware of earthly signs and what kind of weather is coming. He talks about here a cloud out of the west. Now it should be obvious that predictions concerning the weather by cloud moving and direction of the wind really depend on where you live. But Jesus is talking here about Israel. He’s talking about Judah. And it’s not something that would be true, perhaps, of every nation. But the Mediterranean Sea lay to the west of the land of Judah directly is affected, affecting the weather of Judah. Clouds coming from that direction, carried by winds out of the west, usually brought rain. It’s very common. I don’t know if you remember, but when Elijah was on Mount Carmel, with his contest with the prophets of bail. He said that Ahab the king, during a time of dreadful famine and drought, and drought, get up, eat, and drink, for there is the sound of abundance of rain. Well, they hadn’t had rain for over three years. But while the king is having his feast, Elijah goes at the top of Mount Carmel. What does he do? He prays for rain. And you remember, he kept sending his servant out to look over toward the Mediterranean Sea to see if any clouds had come up. And he would pray a while, send a servant out, and check it. Pray a little bit longer, send the servant out. On the seventh time, the servant comes back. says, I see a cloud like the man’s hand that’s coming. He said, that was it. He says, okay, tell the king, you better get down off the mountain, or he’s not going to be able to, but there’s an sound of an abundance of rain coming. And so we see that he’s looking to the west for that rain to come. And it does come from that direction. So the king has to get in his chariot. get down because it was going to be a great rain. So this was the common direction to expect rain to come. You see clouds coming out of the west. It’s going to rain today. That’s not too hard. Then he talks about the south wind blowing. Now, the wind brought heat to Judea because it had to blow over the hot desert of Arabia to the south and the east. And the wind had came off the desert was warm. It was hot. In fact, in the book of Job, Elihu says this, how thy garments are warm when he quieteth the earth by the south wind gets hot. So you knew a south wind meant a hot day. That was a simple deduction. Now in Matthew’s Gospel, he actually gives us one more. side, a different sign. In a very similar passage, Christ refers to a sign that was well known among the people. He says when it’s evening, and the sky is red, you know tomorrow is going to be a fair day. But if the sky is red in the morning, it’s going to be a bad day. It’s going to be stormy or rainy. A foul weather’s coming. When I was growing up, my dad, who was in the Navy, taught us this little saying, red sky at night, sailors delight, red sky in the morning, sailor take warning. I don’t know if that’s common or not, but that’s what we were told. I remember that. Thus, people could read the sky and successfully guess what kind of weather they were going to have that day. It wasn’t rocket science. It seemed pretty simple. So you can be fully aware of earthly signs here and what kind of weather is coming. Now, he says here in verses 56 and 57, you have a duty to notice the signs which relate to spiritual matters. Now let’s look at these two verses here. He says, ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth. how but how is it that you do not discern this time yea and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right you should be aware of the signs that are relating to Jesus Christ as the Messiah this time he mentions here in verse 56 first he says you hypocrites you pretend to be wise about the Messiah and you expect him to come and establish his kingdom yet when the Messiah is come you’re not prepared to receive him and all you want is more signs as we saw from Matthew’s Gospel you’re not convinced by the signs that Christ is already done you’re not happy with that so you want more signs. signs. All of this under the pretense of having a sincere desire to know the truth when in fact they have no intention of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah. None whatsoever. This is why he doesn’t give them any special extra signs. Why is it that you don’t understand the signs that prove I am the Messiah? that have already done before you. Thou knowest not the time of thy visitation. God says in Christ says in Luke 1914. You’re not, you’re not catching what this time is. So they refuse to see that the prophecies that in the Old Testament were being fulfilled all around them. There’s plenty of evidence. If they had thought about Christ in his birth. He was virgin born. He was born in the city of Bethlehem of the tribe of Judah from the royal line of David. There were the signs that we saw already of the Holy Spirit visibly descending upon him at his baptism in the form of a dove. There was the voice from heaven testifying at his baptism. There were all the miracles which Jesus’ disciples performed, the death were made to hear. The blind were made to see. The demon possessed were cured. The dead were raised. Isn’t that enough? If they had read Daniel more carefully about the 70 weeks and they could count the number of years, The scripture makes it very plain that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem under King Cyrus unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and three score and two weeks. Sixty-nine weeks in total. We’re 483 years, weeks of years there. You call it. could count that. You could get a good idea when the Messiah was going to come. He specifically mentions in Matthew’s Gospel the sign of Jonah. Now think about this. After he’s crucified, just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the fish’s belly, so Christ would be three days, three nights in the grave and he would rise again. How many signs do you need? Is what he’s saying. So the time of the Messiah had come, and Jesus of Nazareth was he. And yet, they weren’t believing. They missed it. They missed it. They missed it all. You should be aware of the signs related to Jesus Christ. You should be able to judge what is right, he says, in verse 57. Here is the conclusion to be drawn from all these signs relating to Jesus Christ. These people were expected to draw this conclusion for themselves. It wasn’t that hard to do. Christianity has reason. It has natural conscience on its sides so that you should be able to deduce these things. If the Jews simply would judge what is right, they would find that Christ’s claims are all true. The miracles of Christ were great. They were undeniable. They were unique. They had witnessed them with their own eyes, and yet they didn’t draw the proper conclusion. And there’s no excuse, Jesus to say. Today, who reads the gospel accounts should come the same conclusion as Jesus is saying here, I am the Messiah. There’s plenty of evidence as you read the scriptures that this is true. So you have a duty to notice the signs which relate to spiritual matters. Now, what are the practical implications of this? First, you’re inexcusable if you’re prudent regarding earthly things, but ignorant as to concerns with regarding your soul. What possible excuse can you offer? You can’t plead lack of mental capacity because we can see that you can figure out the signs of the weather. You have to be able to deduce this as well. You are knowledgeable about earthly things like predicting the weather. Well, then you ought to be able to value, take the value of your eternal soul. and figure it out. It’s a very sad thing to see a person in any social status who manages their affairs with great shrewdness and success but they’re totally ignorant concerning their soul’s state. Totally ignorant. There is spiritual light all around you. Think about this. You have a Bible. You can go to any bookstore and get a Bible. Still the best selling book ever. you can hear gospel preaching. You can turn the radio on and listen to gospel preaching. You can attend a church where there is gospel preaching. You can read sound Christian books. We’ve got all kinds of Christian books available to us today from some of the reformers, some of the best men in the past. You can plead for Christ to Savior. you have all these options. How is it that people are still ignorant of God and of His grace? Why have you failed to investigate this? Why have you deliberately ignored the state of your soul? There’s no excuse for it. If you have common wisdom about everyday matters, you’re capable of sophisticated deductions. God enjoined you to bring your mind to bear on spiritual things and judge what is right regarding them. Deuteronomy 3229 says, oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end. People don’t consider the latter end. What’s going to happen when you die? What’s going to happen to you? Where is your soul going to go? surely you shall be quite inexcusable if you don’t give your mind to serious thought about this important concern. And so you’re inexcusable if you are prudent regarding earthly things, but ignorant as to the concerns of your soul. Secondly, this morning, you are called on to discern the signs of the Messiah and savingly embracing. Those signs, which so many of the Jews rejected, may carefully be judged in your own day to be true. You even have the additional signs of more prophecy being fulfilled today than even in Christ’s day while he was on the earth. Why should you be like those unbelieving Jews who in the myth, of all these signs still seek many more signs. You have no reason to complain about lack of evidence. There’s plenty of evidence to consider. You need to rest your soul on a firm faith, on the gospel declaration, respecting the Messiah’s work and the Messiah’s redemption. There is no other way of salvation from sin. There’s no other reconciliation with God than through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t miss this. He is the Messiah. He is the Redeemer. And there’s really no excuse for not accepting what the Bible says about. Thirdly, you should be able to discern the signs of your own times. Your times are sadly, darkened by great evil. The words of Jesus Christ could be spoken with equal appropriateness today. We have innumerable clouds that have arisen of a coming storm. Not literal here. But the dark clouds of atheism. Of spiritual indifference. Of false religion. Of hostility to Christ. and his kingdom and his gospel. What do these things indicate? They indicate the downfall of our nation. We are on that course, and we need to understand that very clearly. You should be alarmed by these things. For it is a sign of wickedness and the perverseness of our land that it’s right for judgment You live in a day when people say that what is good, according to what scripture reveals, is evil. And what is evil, according to what scripture reveals, is good. You know, I never understood that verse of scripture until I saw, as I grew up, how twisted our society is. What they think is good is evil in. God’s sight and a great perversion. Look at the callousness by which we abort babies in this country. It’s frightening. This is not a woman’s right to choose. This is plain outright murder. And we have blood on our hands as a nation. And God’s going to hold it against us. as a nation. He’s not going to overlook it. Look at the sexual sin and the downright perversion that is promoted in our society. We’re even told, well, it’s up to your decision whether you’re a man or a woman. I got news for you. God already made that determination. Young children in public schools are being indoctrinated by the most vile sexual perversions imaginable. So you’re times are darkened by evil. Can’t you see that stormfront? You find a parching wind of unbelief sweeping over our churches. There are a multitude of various kinds of churches in our night. You can go to almost every block in a city will have a church in it. There’s many churches even in our rural areas. that you can attend. Yet in how many of them is their preaching of the gospel from the pulpit? How many of them are teaching the full counsel of God? Ministers frequently allow their members to believe all sorts of error and denounce all kinds of dogma and creeds. I don’t know if you’ve ever called church. is up to try to find a church, but many of them you ask them of doctrinal questions. Well, we don’t worry about doctrine. It’s all about how many people I can get into church. It’s all about the size of the church. It’s never seemingly about the holiness of life. You can live any way you please. Sink in more your walk and nothing’s going to be said about your lifestyle. There are churches in our area in Cranberry. where you can do all kinds of things and the no, a word is going to be said to you. You could have an abortion. You could be a young woman, have a pregnancy out of wedlock, have an abortion, and no one will say anything to you. You could be a homosexual. You could be a lesbian. Why, in some churches you could even be a pastor. You can have them all marriages. My friends, there are people in churches that you would think, surely someone’s going to say something. They get divorces. They marry somebody else in the church and they both keep coming to church. And nothing said to anybody about it. There’s divorce without biblical grounds. Nothing said to these people. There’s sexual relations outside of marriage. It’s okay. Nothing said. As long as you come and put your money in the collection plate. There’s a failure to discipline your children. There’s a failure even to regularly attend church. No big deal. Maybe you never read your Bible. Maybe you never pray. Maybe you never have devotions. Nothing said. Maybe you’re ignorant of basic Christian doctrine. It’s no big deal. I can go on. and on and on, but this is the truth. Since such infidelity abounds. As a true believer, we see this. You need to rise above it all. We need to walk in the light of God’s truth and be a testimony to others. But how sad it is, this is a parched wind that has come over our churches. And my friends, there’s many a church you can sit in all your life and still go to hell. never be moved in conscience about where you stand with the Lord. That’s a sad thing. Thirdly, you notice an evident withdrawal of the Holy Spirit’s work in our country. My friends, the places where God is pleased to bless His Word seem to get fewer and far between. Where do you find the pouring forth of the Holy Spirit as in the days that have gone by? Where’s our Reformation? Where’s our great awakening? The Spirit is grieved. The Spirit has gone from many churches. The church is powerless on its own to produce converts. Isaiah 62, 6 and 7 says, ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silence give him no rest to he establish until he make Jerusalem or the church a praise in the earth pray for God’s blessing or you shall not have it pray seriously pray with some perseverance about this man until he does something where is in earnest praying for the Holy Spirit to work in You should realize ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you. Acts 1 8. There’s no power without the Holy Spirit. We’re weak and powerless without him. The best of sermons. I don’t care how good it is. Cannot convert a soul without the Holy Spirit’s action. My friends, we have to continue praying for a renewed work of the Holy Spirit in our day. Give the Lord no rest. Seeking out the pouring of the Spirit of God upon us because it seems to me there is a withdrawal of the Spirit’s work in our country. So here are the things I think we can draw from this passage of Scripture this morning. We all rely upon the weather report to predict what our day is going to be light. But few people seem to realize that you can discern, if you can discern the weather, you ought to be able to discern the times of the signs. The signs of the times. You need to look at the times in which you live with a spiritual heart. We should be able to see these things for our own benefit. Judge what is right. Let’s close for the word of prayer.