Shall we open our Bibles, please, to the Gospel by Matthew chapter twelve. The Gospel by Matthew chapter twelve. Since I was not here this afternoon, I would like to express my appreciation and thanks for all of the hospitality and kindness we've enjoyed at your hands and guests here. The privilege of having your children over at the chapel for a little while yesterday and today. We want to speak about Some last things here tonight. We've been hearing this as the last meeting of this conference. And as a rule, the things which come last are often the most important and perhaps also the most solemn or the most serious. The Lord Jesus is speaking here of a last sign in Matthew chapter twelve, of a last judgment and of a last state. We read in verse six, the Lord Jesus said, But I say unto you, that in this place is one greater than the temple. In verse thirty-eight, uncertain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonas. And behold, a greater than Jonas is here. The Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it. For she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Behold, a greater than Solomon is here. Verse forty-five, Then go and see and take it with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself. And they enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that man is worse than the first. even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation. Now we know that when the Lord Jesus was here, he was plagued by his critics. He was plagued by the Pharisees. He was plagued by those who sought to catch him and to trip him up in his words. We know that there were those who watched him very intently. in every place that he went, everything that he did and everything that he said. He was under scrutiny every moment that he was awake, and he was the object and the subject of all the criticism that the human heart could invest. In this first part he is the object and the subject of criticism because of what he said. and because of the criticism of the Pharisees. This is what he said to them. He's moving now in three areas of life. And it just occurred to me this afternoon that we have these three in this particular chapter. The first area of the first realm is that of the ecclesiastical or of the religious. He said a greater than the temple is here. Now he was talking to a civilization and to a society who had the central focus of all their interest and their activity in the temple. The Jews are still interested in the building of that temple. I haven't read the article, but I understand in Time magazine, a few just last June or so, was an article about the interest on the part of Israeli in the rebuilding of that temple. If anyone here has a copy of that issue, I'd certainly be happy at least to see it, if not to borrow it, buy it, or rent it. But of course, I think it's most important. I've been looking for that for years, and when it came out, I missed it. Isn't that true to nature? The Lord is saying here now that here is the claim of the priest, and he makes three claims. The Lord Jesus is prophet, he is priest, and he is king. And we see him now moving in the realm of the temple. These people were interested in the temple. This temple meant a great deal to these people. It still does today. They are looking forward to the rebuilding of that temple, looking forward to the coming of their Messiah, whom they already denied, and fail to believe that he has already come and he is coming again. You know, we have an area of interest in our world and in our lifetime today. And it is this ecclesical and religious area in which men and women live and in which they move. The area of a lot of interest on the part of society is in the religious area. Didn't say now the area of Christianity. In this area of religion. In this ecclesiastical area, we have to say to you tonight that the Lord Jesus, a greater than the temple is here. With all of its rituals, what has been accomplished? With all of its ceremonies, what has been accomplished? After all, the rituals and the ceremonies of the temples are ended. After all the sacrifices and all of this is passed, what has been accomplished? The Lord Jesus himself said, a greater than the temple is here. Yes, there is one greater than the temple. There is one that far exceeds and supersedes the ritual and the ceremonies of the religious heart and of the religious mind with all its paganism, Judaism and superstition. I'm afraid much of what we have today is superstition, plain and simple superstition. The Lord Jesus said there is one who is greater than the temple. Do you believe that? I believe that. The Lord Jesus is greater than the temple. We move on to another area. Brother Joe mentioned it tonight. The scientific. We're all interested in that. In verse thirty-eight, the scribes and the Pharisees came to them and said, Master, we would see a sign from these. Why you say offhand, that sounds very interesting. Here are people who are interested now. They're interested. They want to see a sign. That's the token's interest. That's the token's concern. Here are people now who are waking up. There's something now that these people want. They're showing a desire. as far from the truth as it could possibly be. They said, Master, we would see a sign from thee. Notice the hypocrisy of that. They called him teacher. Master means teacher. And yet they would not accept the thing that he taught. Wouldn't accept the thing that he taught. This was an insult to the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse ten, There was a man which had a hand withered, and they asked him, saying, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days, that they might accuse him. That's what they wanted to do. They wanted an occasion so they might accuse him. You see the hypocrisy there. These men were not honest. These men were not honest. And you know, there's no man or woman in this world. who will ever get to Jesus Christ unless he or she, first of all, is honest with himself. Never will. There's no man that will ever see God's heaven without, first of all, being honest with himself. And most people today are not willing to be honest with themselves or anybody else. That's a pretty strong statement to make, isn't it, publicly. I'll make it without apology. I want to try and prove it to you. In June, I cut a clipping out of the paper in the Sioux City Journal. This is what it says. Richmond, Rhode Island, the Cairo Regional District School Committee, sat down for a meeting and found this printed on the top of the agenda. Quote, in events, in events of atomic attack, all rules against praying in this school are indefinitely suspended. Do you think of any more hypocrisy than that? You can't pray in this school. In event of atomic attack, all rules against praying in this school are indefinitely sustained. Does that sound nice? So you wait until an atomic bomb explodes and then you start praying. These men were not honest with themselves, and they were not honest with him, and they were not honest with each other. And the world we're living in today, friends, is no different from that. It's no different. It's the same world. The human heart is the same. You never change it. There's no way in the world, scientifically, biologically, or any other way, that you'll ever alter mature character. You can't do it. Somebody once said that most adults have minds like Shemit, thoroughly mixed up and permanently set. And this is what these Pharisees were doing here. They approached Him concerning the temple. They approached Him concerning the priest. And they said, We want to see a sign from thee. And then they saw the Lord Jesus. as he healed this man who had the withered hand. He said to the man in verse thirteen, Stretch forth thy hand. He stretched it forth, and it was restored whole-like as the other. And then were the Pharisees exceeding glad as having a view of his power and authority. It says nothing of a kind. It said, Then the Pharisees went out and held a counsel against him how they might destroy him. Were they honest with him? Master, we would see a sign from thee. Were they honest with him? Were they honest with themselves or with each other? They had just seen a sign. We wouldn't accept it. Wouldn't accept it, refused to accept it. In verse twenty-two they brought unto him one possessed with a demon. Blind and dumb and he healed him in so much that the blind and them both spake and saw. All the people were amazed and said, Is not this the Son of David, but when the Pharisees heard it, They said, this fellow does not cast out demons, but by Beelzebub the prince of the demons. And Jesus knew their thoughts. He wasn't insulted by that. He knew their thoughts. Here were people who said, Master, we would see a sign from thee. They had already seen, too. Would they have accepted another? They would not. They had already set their hearts against him. that no matter what he said, no matter what he did, they would not accept it. They were not honest with him and not honest with themselves. The Lord Jesus said to them, I'm not going to give you a sign. I'm not going to show you a sign, but I'm going to tell you about a future sign. Future sign. Then he made reference to Jonah and the whale. And he said, as Jonah was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, in the whale's belly, so that shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Times tells us today, a whale can't swallow man. I believe a whale can swallow man. Big enough, God made this whale prepare his. I believe God can make a whale small enough so a man can swallow the whale. It doesn't make any difference to him. It isn't any more difficult to do it one way or the other. Most any one of us here can make a car go forwards or backwards either way we want. God can make a fish big enough to swallow man. He can make a fish small enough for the man to swallow him. But there are people, you know, that move about in this scientific realm and they say, I can't accept that. I cannot accept anything as incredible as that. in spite of the documented evidence today that a whale has swallowed a man. On more than one occasion, not the same whale or the same man. Historically, this is true. But there are men and women today, young people today, who say, I will not, I cannot accept it. Young man said to me one day a few years ago, Carl, I'll never be saved. I said, that's too bad. How come you'll never be saved? Why, he said, I know too much science. How sad that is. He had just finished my school and got his first year in college, and he knows too much science. That's just too bad, isn't it? In this realm of the scientific, the Lord said a greater than Jonah. is here. And men who, Nineveh who repented at the preaching of Jonah, he said these men are going to stand up in judgment. Something else the Lord said. As he moved on into the realm of the historical, he said the Queen of the South shall rise up in judgment. with this generation and shall condemn it, because she came from the uttermost part of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, greater than Solomon is here. The Lord said there's one greater than the temple. He said there's one greater than Jonah, and Jonah was a prophet, and the Lord Jesus was prophet. He said there's one greater than Solomon. Solomon was a great king. The Lord said there's a king greater than Solomon. The Lord Jesus Christ is king of kings and lord of lords. She said there was the Queen of the South, the Queen of Sheba. That word Sheba means happy land. She was the Queen of the happy land. But there came to her ears the news one day of another land, and of another man who lived in that land, a king of renown, a king of renown. And she heard the account of this great king. And she believed what she heard, and she came, and she saw. And it says there was no more spirit in her. She had all the breath knocked out of her when she saw. But she came. She came a thousand miles to see the wisdom of Solomon. She came from a place that's called the Happy Land. You read First Kings Ten, and she said to Solomon, Happy are thy men. Happy are these thy servants? And she came from the happy land. What a paradox. We're living in a land where there should be more happy and satisfied people than anywhere else in all this world. If going where you please, if doing what you please, is saying what you please, if believing is what you please, if having what you please makes for joy and happiness, then our nation should be the happiest nation in the globe. and from any society. Is that true? No, it is not. He said the queen from the happy land came. When she saw Solomon, her heart was so filled to overflowing, there was no more breath in her. She saw the answer to her desire. She saw the answer to her need in this man, Solomon. And the Lord Jesus said, there's a greater than Solomon here. And my friend, we've attempted in a small and feeble way to introduce you to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the greater than Solomon, greater than the temple. There is no ecclesiastical formula that can ever take away sin. Can't do it. There's no ecclesiastical formula that can make you right with God. Can't do it. Can't do it. There's nothing in the scientific realm. that can take your sins away. No chemist could ever concoct the formula, strong and powerful enough to take your sins away. The blood of Jesus Christ is Son cleansed us from all sin. And without the shedding of blood there is no remission. And only the precious blood of Christ can take your sins away and make your right with God. And the Lord Jesus is saying there's a day coming when at the last judgment The men of Nineveh are going to be there. The queen of Sheba who came from a heathen land, she is going to be there. And those who repented at the preaching of a lesser prophet are going to be there. What about you tonight? You have heard the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Won't you come to him? Won't you trust him as your Savior? It says in John one and twelve, But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. even to them that believe on his name. Why should it be so difficult for you to believe? Why should it be so incredible for you to come in simple childlike faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? The Apostle Paul said, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt confess. be saved and then my friends you know what it means to be happy you'll know then what real joy is like because there is no joy anywhere in all this world to be compared to the joy of knowing that your sins are gone and your name written in that book of life justified and in the clear before God born again by the Spirit of God and having a new nature and a new life to live for His glory. We want to say as we close our meeting, if you are concerned or interested in any way and you have a desire to settle this issue, do you know of a better place? Do you know of a better time to settle this issue? This is the time and this is the place, my friend, for you to come to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and get right with God. We're going to ask that as we bring our meeting to a close, we're going to ask that you remain behind, to give some of us an opportunity to speak with you and show you how tonight in a very simple way, as quick as the heartbeat of God, you know what it means to trust in Him and be saved for time and eternity. Shall we sing together the first two stanzas please of hymn number seventy. We've been saying concerning the Lord Jesus. And our hymn says, how wondrous the Savior is God's blessed Son, how great and eternal the work he has done. God's glory maintained by his death on the tree, while mercy flows freely to you and to me. The first two stanzas, number seven. Everyone, sing it. How wondrous a Savior is, God's blessed Son! How great and eternal! The worthy has come! God's glory may change by His death on the tree! merciful streaming to you and to me. How free is the pardon this life of yours. How blessed are the welcome! Heavenly name has ensured! Still are the transgressive! Their Savior and Lord! Now brought into favor the evening His word! Shall we bow in prayer together as we close our conference and meeting tonight? Our loving God and our Father, we thank thee once again for the riches of thy grace to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank thee for the way of salvation that he has proclaimed so simply and so freely to each one. We pray, our Father, that tonight thy Holy Spirit may work on both heart and conscience, and that there may be some here tonight, whether younger or older, who may know what it means to trust in simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank thee that we look forward to his coming again, and what a happy day it will be to see him face to face, to see the print of the nails in his hands and feet, and to remember once again how much he loved us and how much he suffered for us, when he gave his life a ransom for many. We pray, Father, to separate us with thy blessing and to take each one safely home as we commit us to be in his precious and worthy name.