THE TROUBLE WITH SIGNS (2): NOT ALL MIRACLES ARE GODS

MIRACLES
(Luke 11:29-36)
April 19, 2015
Intro A man and wife were in the grocery store discussing some expensive
tomatoes when a 6.6 earthquake hit. Cans and bottles crashed to the floor and
things were shaking for a few seconds. When the rolling stopped, they
finished shopping and returned home. But while unpacking things, the man
noticed no tomatoes and asked his wife why. She replied, God said, NO!
Everyone wants a message from God, dont they? A sign. Something
spectacular. A shortcut to spirituality. The desire for the spectacular takes
amazing forms. In addition to the normal claims of faith healing, some have
claimed chickens raised from the dead, dollar bills turned into 20s,
appliances healed, empty fuel tanks filled supernaturally, demons cast
from vending machines, gold fillings appearing magically. No claim is too
bizarre. And then there are those who claim to have been to heaven and back
or even hell and back. The desire for the spectacular takes amazing twists.
And amazingly, everyone willing ignores Pauls warning in II Thess 2:9, The
coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false
signs and wonders. Satan can do miracles, too, Beloved. He cant keep up
with God, but he is not powerless, and those seeking signs and worshiping the
spectacular are opening themselves up to way more than they imagine.
No one did more amazing miracles than Jesus, of course. But they were not
effective faith-producers. The Pharisees suggested He did miracles by Satans
power. But the really amazing group are those in v. 16 who, despite what they
had just witnessed with their own eyes, kept seeking from him a sign from
heaven. Jesus begins to answer that request in v. 29, and He is not amused.
He is not a freak show or a miracle-on-demand genie. He responds, This
generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given
to it except the sign of Jonah. Jesus considers this whole generation of signseekers wicked! This is not because God never gives signs but they are not the
norm, nor are they expected to be. To seek them for our own gratification is
idolatry. Jesus is teaching the trouble with seeking signs over the sign-giver?
One Sign is Never Enough We saw last week this crowd shows this
fact. Having just seen amazing, they immediately insist on another sign a
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frequent pattern in Scripture. God knows, Faith comes by hearing and

hearing by the Word not by miracles. One miracle always requires another.
The Ultimate Sign Has Already Been Given We saw that the sign of
Jonah is that his 3 days in the belly of the fish prefigured Jesuss death and
resurrection. Thus the ultimate sign has already been given. To reject that is to
reject the most that God can ever do.
III.

Gods Word Trumps Signs

Spiritual blindness was never more evident than in the contrast that Jesus
draws in v. 31 between the Queen of Sheba and His own audience! I Kings
10 tells how the Queen heard of Solomons wisdom and came to visit. Sheba
was in SW Arabia, modern Yemen 1,000 miles distant from Jerusalem. Yet,
she came and asked him many hard questions. Then I Kings 10:3, And
Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king
that he could not explain to her. Solomons wisdom was from God, of course.
I Kings 4:29-31: And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond
measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, 30 so that
Solomons wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all
the wisdom of Egypt. 31 For he was wiser than all other men. It wasnt
Solomons opinion that this queen was hearing, but Gods Word as even she
acknowledges in I Kings 10:9, Blessed be the LORD your God, who has
delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the LORD loved
Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and
righteousness. She compliments Solomon, but blesses God. She got it. One
visit and she was in; a believer by Jesus own testimony.
The contrast between her faith and Jesus audience is staggering. He pictures
them standing together in judgment. She a pagan idolater; they the chosen
people of God. She had hearsay; they had centuries of Gods written
revelation. She had no invitation; they were invited by Jesus Himself. She
came from the ends of the earth to hear the Word; they had it delivered to
their front doorstep. She saw no miracles; they were inundated for 3 years.
She heard the Word from Solomon, historys wisest man; they heard the
Word from something far greater. They heard the word from the Word. She
believed; they rejected. No wonder she will rise up at the judgment with the
men of this generation and condemn them. The point of all this is the Word
trumps signs. If you reject the Word, signs will not help you. Two reasons:
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A. Signs Can Deceive; the Word Cant

The desire for the spectacular has led a lot of people down the road to
destruction, Beloved. People assume that if they see a miracle it must be God.
But hear me -- Not all miracles are Gods miracles. Signs can deceive; the
Word never will. Jesus Himself warns in Mt 24:24, For false christs and false
prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray,
if possible, even the elect. This is a dire warning, Beloved. Jesus is saying,
Get hung up on signs and look out. False prophets galore will do some
amazing things and even deceive believers. Hes not saying a true believer
could lose their salvation. The elect cant get un-elect but they can live a
wasted existence, chasing false prophets without discernment just because
they do some miracle. It can happen. It will happen; it is happening!
In II Thess 2 Paul describes a coming Antichrist who will rule the world
briefly. How does he get his power? II Thess 2:8, And then the lawless one
(Antichrist) will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of
his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9 The coming
of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs
and wonders. When I was first learning Greek, this was the first passage I
checked out. I wanted to see if the words used for signs and wonders here
were the same as used for the miracles of Christ. They are. But His are true;
these are false. His are from God; these are from Satan. Notice the state of
those who follow these signs in v. 11: They refused to love the truth and so
be saved. They loved the miracles instead of the truth. The put experience
ahead of the Word and ran on emotion, not truth. This is what happens to
people who get enamored with miracles, Beloved. Dont go there. Notice in v.
12 that God even God gets involved, sending them a strong delusion.
Rev 13 gives some detail how this will all play out. Vv. 1-10 tell of an endtime Beast (Antichrist) who has a mortal wound that he survives either by
resurrection or fake resurrection. He also has a side-kick, a PR expert who
manipulates the populace to worship him. Rev 13:12, It (the second beast,
PR spin doctor) exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence,
and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal
wound was healed. 13 It performs great signs, even making fire come down
from heaven to earth in front of people, 14 and by the signs that it is allowed
to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth,
telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword
and yet lived. 15 And it was allowed (by whom? By God. Satan is bounded) to
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give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even
speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to
be slain. Do you get the picture? Not all miracles are Gods miracles.
You say, Well, this is all end-time stuff. When wheels coming off. Its not
happening now. Really? In The Other Side, Bishop James A. Pike describes
how he made contact with his son, who had committed suicide. Using a spirit
medium, the boy supposedly told his father, "I failed the test, I can't face
you, can't face life. I'm confused Yet nobody blames me here." Jesus, the
boy said, was an example but not a Savior. Of course, this violates Scripture.
No blame? It is appointed to man once to die and after that the judgment
(Heb 9:27). And Scripture presents Jesus as Savior, not merely a great
example. You say, What happened? Pike either ran into a clever medium
who impersonated his son, or, more likely, he ran into a familiar spirit a
demon who impersonates dead humans. God warns in Lev 20:6, If a person
turns to mediums and necromancers (literally familiar spirits), whoring after
them, I will set my face against that person. Not all miracles are Gods
miracles.
False miracles abound. Holy laughter, purposeless and unscriptural. Being
slain in the Spirit purposeless and nowhere in the Bible. Are there miracles?
Yes. And we can pray for them, but it is not Gods primary way of working
today. Miracles were never primarily intended to produce faith. We think they
were; they were not. Thats why one is never good enough. Rom 10:17: Faith
comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ, not by miracles. Do you
see? And many, in search of the spectacular, have been led astray. Signs can
deceive; the Word never can. It is far more spectacular than any sign.
B. Signs Are Subordinate to the Word
If youre confused, listen to the Word. Deut 13: 1-3, If a prophet or a dreamer
of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign
or wonder that he tells you comes to pass (its actually a real miracle), and if
he says, Let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us
serve them, 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer
of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love
the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. The Word
rules over miracles. Moses might have said, prosperity preachers. Claiming to
be prophets and dreamers of dreams. Producing some kind of signs, but urging
the worship of riches. Dont buy it. Stick with the Word.
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Remember Luke 16? The beggar Lazarus sat outside the gate of the rich man
hoping for crumbs off his table. All his life. But life ended. Lazarus joined
Abraham in heaven and the rich man lifted up his eyes in torment in hell. First
he begged for relief, but when he found that was not possible, he says in v. 27,
Then I beg you, father, to send him to my fathers house 28 for I have five
brothersso that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of
torment. 29 But Abraham said, They have Moses and the Prophets (the
Bible); let them hear them. 30 And he said, No, father Abraham, but if
someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. 31 He said to him, If
they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if
someone should rise from the dead. This was proven true when Jesus rose
again a few months later. The Word trumps signs as a producer of faith. If you
dont believe because of the Word, signs will do no good.
IV.

The Need is to See the Savior, Not to Seek a Sign

A final word to sign-seekers a parable showing in seeking signs they were

missing The Sign Jesus. V. 33, No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a
cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the
light. Two things must happen for us to see something. First, the thing must be
lit up. Usually, you can see your hand just fine, including the hang-nail on the
fourth finger. But there are nights when you cant see your hand in front of
your face, right? Whats the problem? No light. Its not illuminated. Second,
to see your hand you need a healthy eye. Your hand could be all lit up, but if
your eye is bandaged or damaged it cannot see the hand.
Now in this parable the thing lit (revealed) is Gods truth, most perfectly
illuminated by the person of Christ. He Himself is the light. Jesus says in
John 8:12, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in
darkness, but will have the light of life. He says in John 9:5, As long as I am
in the world, I am the light of the world. John 12:46, I have come into the
world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.
Jesus lit up the world as no one before or since. He was the ultimate in Gods
revelation, the fulfillment of all that God had said previously in His Word. So
the light is there; Gods truth is definitely lit up by Christ. Do you see?
The problem is with eyes that refuse to see. V. 34, Your eye is the lamp of
your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but
when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. The problem is not with the
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light. It is there for all to see in the person of Jesus and the miracles and signs
He has already done. The problem is with the perception of the sign-seekers.
They are refusing what is right in front of their face. Jesus says their eye must
be healthy simple, single. Ever have double-vision? Thats one time when
two is not better than one, right? Why? Because reality is skewed. You try to
pick up the vision on the right, and you get thin air. Thats what these people
were doing. They were refusing to see figuratively hiding the light under the
bed and then asking for more signs. They were condemned by their refusal to
see the reality that was illuminated right before their blind eyes.
John says of them in John 12:37, Though he had done so many signs before
them, they still did not believe in him. Why? Because they couldnt? No, bc
they wouldnt! The issue was they were closing their eyes to truth right in
front of them. And Jesus gives the reason in John 3:19, And this is the
judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness
rather than the light because their works were evil. They didnt need more
signs. They were covering their own eyes and Jesus knew it. They were doing
that because they did not want to be accountable. They did not want to repent.
Seeking for another sign was just an excuse to go on living according to
their own selfish desires instead of submitting to His Lordship. They were
willfully blind. So they went on seeking signs instead of seeking a Savior.
No one will ever be able to say to God, Its your fault. I just needed one
more sign. No you didnt. You refused what He already gave. God set His
truth ablaze in the person of Christ. By His words and works, He gave
overwhelming evidence of the truth of His message and the deity of His
person. And He capped it off with the greatest sign of all the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead. These people, like many today, were blind by
choice, not for lack of evidence.
Conc Sign-seekers are like the elderly nearsighted man who imagined
himself an art critic. One day he visited the museum with some friends. Hed
forgotten his glasses, but that didnt stop him airing his strong opinions as
they went along. He was particularly taken with one full-length portrait. He
critiqued it mercilessly: "The frame is altogether out of keeping with picture.
The man is too homely and shabbily dressed. In fact, it was a great mistake
for the artist to select such a shoddy subject for his portrait." On and on he
went until his wife managed to pull him aside and whisper to him, My dear,
you are standing in front of a mirror!
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You get the point, I trust. The search for signs says a lot more about the
seeker than about the Lord. There is a willful blindness going on that must be
clarified by absolute trust in the Savior who has already revealed Himself. The
search for the spectacular can lead you down a lot of ratholes; trust in the
written and living Word never will. Lets pray.