Good morning! He is risen! He is risen indeed! Happy Resurrection Sunday! Happy Easter! A warm welcome to all of our guests and visitors. Beloved, it is a joy to fellowship with you on such a day. We serve a risen Savior. Indeed, we celebrate the resurrection of Christ every Sunday. Of course, Christians gather around the world on Sundays because that is the first day of the week, the first day after Sabbath, the day Christ was raised from the dead. Truly, every time we gather, we are pointing to the resurrection of the perfect sacrifice, the day that death and hell were defeated. But beloved, once a year we pause and we open up the very cavity of our faith and we behold its beating heart, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Without this event, dear saints, you and I aren't here today. Without the beating heart of the resurrection, ours is a lifeless body and a worthless faith. We have a wonderful day where we are reminded that the resurrection of the Lamb of God is the main event in all of history, that it is the foundation and the cornerstone of every action, every prophecy, every sovereign act of God in redemptive history has been accomplished with this one event in mind. That it is the hinge, it is the fulcrum, it is the center of gravity upon which the entire door swings. And it must be so. Paul exhorted the Corinthians, if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you're still in your sins. That's the brass tacks, beloved of God. If Christ has not been raised, we are fools. If Christ has not been raised, we are a people most to be pitied. And yet, 2,000 years later, the body lives. Look around you. 2,000 years later, the church lives. And in him, we live and we move and we have our being. Because he lives. Because the heart beats. It is with that wonderful surety and knowledge that we gather on this Resurrection Sunday. Amen? Amen. Well, beloved, if you will, open your Bibles with me. You're inspired. You're infallible. You're inerrant. You're all sufficient. Bibles with me to our text for this Lord's Day. We'll be in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 12, 38 through 42. Matthew 12, 38 through 42. For those that are visiting with us during normal Sundays, we've been expositionally preaching through the gospel of Mark now for about two and a half years. And it has been an incredible time mining the depths of God's word, digging deep into the unsearchable riches of Jesus' time of earthly ministry. So we welcome you to join us on Sunday mornings. And all the messages, of course, are online as well with sermon audio and Facebook. If you want to catch up, you'll be blessed by it. But today, beloved, we take a tour from our incredible journey through Mark to examine one of the most, well, intricate, some say difficult, prophetic, illuminating statements given by our Lord concerning his death, burial and resurrection. Of course, Jesus spoke many times throughout the Gospels, particularly to his disciples, of the necessity that the Son of God would be killed by wicked men and that he would rise again on the third day. And as we have taught through our time in Mark, it often left them confused and distraught. It didn't match any of their preconceptions of Messiah. It didn't match their theology of what Messiah would do, what he would accomplish. It didn't match their eschatology. that they had been taught since they were old enough to walk into a synagogue. The many prophetic types in the Old Testament pointing to Christ, who he was and what he would do, were often lost on the disciples. Even as Jesus proclaimed and demonstrated the antitypes, the fulfillments of those prophecies in their very presence. And even so, even as clear as Jesus was with the disciples, there was still an air, a great air of mystery surrounding Jesus upcoming death and certainly his resurrection. Like many aspects of prophecy and scripture, beloved, it often takes the benefit of hindsight to bring clarity. Today, Jesus is going to not only bring about a clarity and a greater understanding concerning an incredible, historic Old Testament event and of an Old Testament prophet of God, but is going to make a declaration through that illumination that would crystallize, in part, the very purpose, the very power and even the consequences of his resurrection forever. I may hazard a guess that most put on their Sunday best today not expecting to hear about an Old Testament prophet named Jonah. For some, the last time they heard the name Jonah was probably back in Sunday school. And yet today we are going to find this incredible narrative of a disobedient prophet and a great fish pointing to the most incredible event of all time. Today we are going to see the incredible tapestry woven in God's great design and plan from the time a disobedient Jonah was called to go preach to a disobedient people and to be swallowed by a great fish to the very resurrection of Jesus Christ. So with that, beloved, let us open with our text. Beloved, would you now rise with me on this special day? Please stand. Please stand with me for the reading of God's word. Matthew 12. 38 through 41, Matthew 12, 38 through 41. Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered and said to him, Teacher, we want to see a sign from you. But he answered and said to them, an evil and adulterous generation eagerly seeks for a sign. And yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it. because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we gather as always as a helpless and needy people. Lord, we cannot even approach your word without the aid of the Holy Spirit, attending to it, Lord, and abiding with it in our hearts, applying it as we need it. Lord, we ask that you would be with us. We ask that you would till the fallow ground of the soil of our hearts that this seed may find good soil and may take root. In Jesus' mighty name, amen. Please be seated. Well, if one were to examine the study of ethics in a society, of course there are many branches of this, but ethics simply being, well, how we should live, right? How we should think, how we should process through what is right and what is wrong. What's the right thing to do or say? And there we notice an interesting principle. We see a principle that considers what we'll call the factor of proximity or distance, and what role that distance or that separation plays on a moral agent. A moral agent simply being, well, someone that's capable of choosing one action or another, of reasoning through a choice. Now this principle in ethics very simply observes that the closer you are to something or someone, the more liable, the more accountable you are to that other person or event. For example, how many of us have seen on the news recently perhaps a horrible video of someone in terrible need of help? Perhaps they're being mugged or beaten or suffering some sort of medical emergency and we watch in horror as people simply pass by. And we take umbrage with a person that was so close to a situation and did not help. We don't even hold someone across the street from that person as accountable as the person who walked right by those in desperate need, and they did nothing. Even the lost in the secular world would say that person has a responsibility. They will be held to a higher standard. Their proximity to the event equals their responsibility. And the law has even caught up with this phenomenon that, well, dates all the way back to the Good Samaritan, doesn't it? With a chargeable offense called depraved indifference. If this crime was happening right in front of your eyes, if this person needed your help and you're right there and you do nothing, you do not help, even the lost world without a biblical ethic to draw from knows that is wrong. And just so, we see an oft-repeated principle in scripture, that we are going to be held accountable for the amount of light we have been given. Our proximity and our exposure to the light will bear on our reward or condemnation. Repeatedly throughout the Gospels, Jesus declares this. We see this in Luke 10, 13. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. Do you see the principle? As a matter of fact, just one chapter up from our text this morning, in Matthew 11, Jesus declares this. And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades. For if the miracles had occurred in Sodom, which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless, I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in that day of judgment than for you. Why? Because they beheld the very Son of God. A light shone bright in their presence. In Galilee, a great light has shone. They beheld his miracles. They had the mightiest and the greatest of opportunities. And they hardened their hearts. A depraved indifference, as it were. They love their sin and they love the darkness because their deeds were evil. They didn't want the light. Recall that the last time Jesus even went home to Nazareth, they tried to throw him off a cliff. And in this text, we will see something of, well, something of a tale of two cities. That of Israel and a place called Nineveh. Between a prophet who came And a greater prophet who has come all pointing to the greatest event in human history. This is the sign of Jonah. So with that, beloved, let us look to our opening text this morning. Verse 38, verse 38. Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered and said to him, Teacher, we want to see a sign from you." Now we have so much to consider in the context of this statement. So let us first look at our players on the scene. Our ever-present, of course, scribes and Pharisees. Now, most know that this was already a very hostile relationship between these guys and Jesus. It would be these men that would fuel the fires that would crucify the Lord of Glory. And in fact, that sets our context quite perfectly. If we look back in our chapter of Matthew, the 12th chapter here, if you look back to verse 14, verse 14, what do we read? But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him how to destroy him. As a result of Jesus, of course, performing a miracle and rebuking their false legalism. And if we move slightly forward from there in verse 22, we see Jesus perform yet another miracle later on. Healing a demon-possessed man who is deaf and mute. And what is the Pharisee's response? Look at verse 24. But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, it is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons. Now understand that the interaction that we read in our text today is the same interaction as this here in verse 24. That's your context, right? They have quite literally just called the Savior Satan. They have blasphemed the Holy Spirit. They've committed what is often termed the unpardonable sin. This is about as bad and hostile as you can get. And we must capture that if we're to capture the heart with which they're now questioning Jesus in verse 38. This is bad stuff, right? They are seething. Permission to treat the witness as hostile, your honor. Sustained. They are hostile. At this point, understand these are the guys everyone is looking to, that the crowd will look to. They are the learned ones, the Pharisees and scribes, right? Surely they will know what to say and what to ask to prove if Jesus is of Satan. In fact, in ancient Israel, there was no other authority on such matters than these guys. And boy did they love that. Not a kingdom of power they're likely wanting to give up. And so they addressed Jesus how? After this whole hostile confrontation that we know happened with an audience. That matters, public humiliation, yes. They addressed Jesus as teacher. Now this is not meant with respect. This is meant with derision and mocking. They were the teachers as far as they were concerned. No one held any authority outside of their own. So this is said with absolute mocking. They called Jesus didaskalos, teacher. But Jesus has just claimed to be what? Look back at verse 8. Matthew 12 verse 8. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Lord. Jesus is not didaskalos, teacher, he is kurios, Lord. Oh yeah? Prove it. Prove you're Lord. Prove you're not of Satan. Teacher, we want to see a sign from you. Give us some proof that you have the right to say the things you're saying, that you are who you say you are. Now this evokes some questions, perhaps an observation right off the bat. Did they actually want Jesus to perform a sign? Of course not. They believed that he couldn't. Now Jesus could publicly humiliate himself, and that would be just lovely. What they're asking for is some sort of, well, some sort of cosmic sign. We see that in Matthew 16, right? They ask for a sign from heaven. In the heavenlies, rearrange the stars, make the sun go dark, make the sun stand still like he did for Joshua, or make the moon turn to blood as prophesied in Joel. Shake the heavens. I want to see some real cosmic stuff here. Impress us, teacher, but hang on. Where are they getting this from? Upon what basis do they have to ask for such a thing? Where in the Torah, where in the Pentateuch, where in the Psalms or the Mishnah, where in any of your scrolls do you see that Messiah is supposed to do any of the things you're asking for when he comes? It's nowhere. Further revealing their heart. And that's just one piece of fruit off of this rotten tree that we must grasp and understand if Jesus' next statement is going to make sense to us. So look with me, beloved, to verse 39. How does our Lord respond? Verse 39. but he answered and said to them, an evil and adulterous generation eagerly seeks for a sign. Now, pause there. What a tremendous statement. One that needs and deserves some exploration. Now, boy, on the surface of this, one may feel like, well, man, there's a lot worse things that someone could do in life than ask for a sign, right? They didn't kill somebody. They didn't rob a bank. They just asked for a sign. Is Jesus being a little harsh here? Jesus first calls it evil, meaning wicked, morally reprehensible, bad. Now if that were Jesus' only description, we may have been prone to wander a little bit, to have to grapple and surmise a bit on this. But Jesus doesn't leave us there. He takes us further. He tells us exactly why it's evil. Understanding, beloved, he could have attached a host of sins to this as an expansion, as a descriptor, as an explanation. But what does he use? Evil and adulterous. There it is. There it is. What is adultery? Well, we tend to think of it mostly in the sexual sense of a married person engaging sexually with a person other than their spouse. And indeed, that is adultery. Yet it goes much deeper than that. Adultery comes from our word to adulterate, which means, listen to this, beloved, to render something poorer in quality by adding another substance. Adultery is the adulteration of marriage by the addition of a third person, rendering, to put it mildly, of poorer quality. Now Jesus is looking at the leaders of Israel, the religious leaders of Israel, those who claim to represent and speak with God's voice to the people, and not just any people, but God's chosen people, the apple of his eye, and people that God has made a covenant with. And we use that word correctly all over the Old Testament. God uses the language of marriage, doesn't He? To reflect His love for His people. And likewise, her disobedience is characterized as unfaithfulness, as strain, as adultery. But wait, it gets even worse in our text. When we look to the spiritual idolatry, and indeed, idolatry of his people in the Old Testament, well, beloved, many times it was outright pagan worship, right? They were bowing down to the pagan gods of Baal and Asherah, of Dagan and Molech. They erected temples of idol worship in the high places with Jeroboam. How many times Israel had forsaken Yahweh to worship foreign gods. They had abandoned their first love. Yes, they were adulterers, and they played the harlot time and again, and they were exiled, and they were disciplined for that. But what about now? What about now in Jesus' day? Oh, beloved, it is so much worse. Say, what could be worse, pastor, than worshiping at the altar of Baal? Because now, You religious leaders of Israel, you use the name of Yahweh for your idolatry. You have co-opted and used the name of the Lord your God for this twisted apostate mess of a religion you call Judaism today. You've taken your legalism, your tradition, your man-made rules, you've made a God to put yourself and you put my name on it. It's one thing to commit adultery. Now, how about we go and commit this adultery in the name of our spouse, in the name of the one you're married to? Might we call that evil? You're not walking into the temple of Baal or Moloch. You're walking into my house, my temple, with your heart set on blasphemy. The God you have fashioned in your mind and your heart is not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It's not the God revealed to you in the holy writ before you, and yet you dare call this God of yours Yahweh. Did the Pharisees not cry out, we are of our father Abraham? Jesus said, no, you're not. You have your father, the devil. An evil and adulterous generation eagerly seeks for a sign. Why? Why is it evil? Why is it adultery? Put plainly, put simply, why? Because if you were actually my faithful covenant people, you would know me. You would know me. If you had not put another God of your own making on the throne of your heart, you would have seen me clear as day. All the miracles, all the preaching, a blind light shone upon you. Are we not drawn back to the simple and beautiful story of Simeon and Luke 2? When Jesus, just a baby, was brought into the temple and Simeon, a man whose scripture says was a righteous man, a man who was waiting for the consolation of Israel. And even the moment Jesus was brought into the temple, just a baby, no miracles in sight. Simeon cries out to God, my eyes have seen your salvation. A light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel. And right after Simeon, in comes Anna. A woman who scripture said did not depart from the temple. Worship and fasting and praying night and day. In she comes and gives thanks to God. And began to speak of Him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Israel. They knew Him. John the Baptist had never met Jesus. Yet he looked up and he proclaimed, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. To know the Father is to know the Son. Do we get that? If you are in right relationship with the Father, you will know the Son. Was any sign necessary? Even as the baby, those who walked with a pure heart toward God, who looked for the consolation of Israel, they leapt when even the baby was brought in. You know, you know. The true sheep know the shepherd. The sheep hear his voice. The disciples dropped their nets at the water's edge and they followed him. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Thus, if you know the Father, you'll know me, but you don't know me. So you ask for a sign. So you ask for a sign. What sign? Well, at this point, I'm almost scared to know. The last part of verse 39. And yet no sign will be given to you but the sign of Jonah, the prophet. Now, first off, before we dive headlong into these waters of Jonah, can we first ask the question some might be pondering even now? Why not give a sign? Why not? Why not shake the heavens? Put these guys in their place? Did Jesus possess the ability and power to do it? Jesus is God. He's all-powerful. Of course He could have. He created the heavenlies. He can do with it as He likes. So why not just blow these guys away with a cosmic sign? Truth number one here, saints, the clay does not command the potter. Who is man made from the dust and the dirt to make demands upon the omnipotent God of the universe? Since when does the creature command the creator? Only our fallen pride and hubris thinks such a thing is reasonable or even possible. And second truth, it would have made no difference anyway. The heart bent against God will not believe. Jesus tells of the rich man who cried out in hell in Luke 16. But Abraham said to him, if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded, even if someone rises from the dead. Do any supernatural act, raise someone from the dead, turn the moon to blood. Oh, they'll run in terror, but their hearts won't be changed. In our series of last things in Mark, we have seen bowls of wrath that will be poured out upon the people in Revelation, having all manner of heavenly signs, and they will only curse God louder. There will be no sign given except one, the sign of Jonah. a sign given on divine terms, on terms set forth from the beginning of time, foreshadowed and foretold by the prophets, not on your terms or because of your demands, but by the decree of God. Now, most of us remember the narrative of Jonah, four riveting chapters in the Old Testament given by that very name, a prophet called by God to go and preach to the great city of Nineveh, If you'll recall as well, Jonah, he hated these people. He hated them so much, he didn't even want to bring the message of repentance to them. Why? Because they might actually repent. And he didn't want that. Heaven forbid. So he ran, and he fled on a ship going the opposite direction. Of course, the Lord sent a great storm. And all the men on board who were deeply superstitious, they said that someone's God must be angry. And they cast lots to find the guilty party, and shocker, it's Jonah. Jonah says, yep, it's me. I serve the one true God of heaven. I'm running from him. Throw me on into the sea, and all this will stop. These men were somewhat happy to oblige. Over you go. And what happens? The Lord appoints a great fish. Could be a sea monster, as translated, maybe a whale, something created specially for this occasion, doesn't really matter. But of course, Jonah was swallowed. And he remained in the belly of the sea monster for three days and three nights. And the rest of Jesus' ministry is touched on as Jesus looks to Nineveh in our later verse. But let us first look to Jesus' statement now in verse 40. Verse 40. What is the sign of Jonah? What is the sign that will be given to an evil and adulterous generation? For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Most of most who are regulars here at Harrison Hills have have heard us teach pretty regularly on the principles of types and antitypes in scripture. We see them often. A type, of course, being an Old Testament person or place or event that points forward. It represents a later fulfillment, a greater fulfillment in the New Testament or in later times. Of course, a great example being 1 Corinthians 15.22. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. Here, Adam is the type and Christ is the anti-type. We behold just such a beauty. with the prophet Jonah. Jonah's time spent in the great fish, according to Jesus, was a type pointing to the most monumental event in all of history. Just as Jonah was swallowed into the fish, Christ was swallowed into the grave. As far as the men who threw Jonah into the water were concerned, Jonah was a goner. As far as the men who rolled the stone over Jesus' tomb were concerned, Jesus was a goner. This should have been the end of Jonah. This should have been the end of Jesus. Depths of the sea, depths of the earth. Jonah virtually died. Jesus actually died. Jonah was delivered from certain death. Three days later, being spewed out of the fish's mouth. And three days later, Jesus came out of the tomb. Jonah came out of the depths and Jesus came out of the depths. So, beloved, put clearly, put simply, what is the sign of Jonah? What will be the last sign, the final and greatest sign given to an evil and adulterous people? The sign of Jonah is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But what does that mean? What's the implication and the application of that tremendous truth? Beloved, it means that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is simultaneously the most wonderful and the most terrifying event in all of human history. Luke's recording of a similar account in chapter 11, verse 30, I'll read it for you. For as Jonah became assigned to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. Well, how then was Jonah assigned to the people of Nineveh? Well, he went to them, and he preached to them, did he not? And one can be sure that he told them about his miraculous deliverance from the depths of the sea. In fact, many surmise that his skin would have been bleached white by the stomach acid of the fish. making him quite a sight and spectacle. But Jonah is merely bringing a testimony of deliverance and a call to repentance. No miracles, no signs to perform in front of them. He didn't even like these people. He pretty much said to Nineveh in chapter three, hey, turn or burn, right? God's gonna overthrow this entire city in 40 days if you don't repent. There, God, I said it. And what happened? They repented. Oh, the horror. Not only did they repent, they even put their animals in sackcloth and ashes, crying, perhaps God will relent from his anger. And thus, just as Jonah has called for the repentance from the people of Nineveh, having been delivered from the depths, so now Jesus would be a sign to this generation. What sign? What sign, beloved, will fully, completely, and finally validate all that Jesus has been saying and warning? I'm going to walk out of the tomb. I'm going to walk out. The depths of the grave will not hold me. I will defeat death. It's going to spew me out of its mouth. Jeremiah's testimony of his deliverance from the depths of three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster stood as validation in his calls for Nineveh to repent. But now, one greater than Jonah has come. One greater Look with me to verse 41. The men of Nineveh, verse 41, the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, something greater than Jonah is here. Do we see what's happening here? Beloved, Jonah performed no signs, no miracles. He simply had a testimony of deliverance and a call to repent. And they did! But you! Evil and adulterous generation. You had the very light of heaven shine amongst you. You witnessed the miracles. You heard the teaching and preaching of the very Son of God. You saw His glory. The glory of the only one and only Son who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. You're accountable for the light among you. And just as Jonah was a sign, so I will be a sign. I'm bringing the ultimate sign, the ultimate testimony, the be-all, end-all, final sign. To end all signs, I'm gonna rise from the dead. And it will seal your fate with complete finality. It will be the king's seal on all I have said. Nineveh repented with far, far less. Now you, this generation, are going to witness the greatest sign in redemptive history. And not only will you walk on by guilty of depraved indifference, you're going to actively deny it. You're going to slowly and systematically kill off everyone who testifies to the truth of it. Why? Because your own heart condemns you. Because the resurrection of Christ stands as a terrifying testimony that everything he said was true. Friends, as a general rule, if someone said they were God and then rose from the dead and showed themselves to 500 people to prove it, we are obligated to listen and obey everything that person has to say. Jesus had given sign after sign. He is a long suffering and a patient God. Yet, as we gather as the beloved of God this morning, this Resurrection Sunday, we must be of two eyes. Two eyes, beloved. I believe it was the eminent evangelist George Whitefield who proclaimed, I preach with heaven in one eye and hell in the other. And our preaching of the resurrection and our understanding of the resurrection is just so. It requires two eyes to see. It is first heaven in our eyes. The joy for the saint. It is the final seal of approval. That the perfect sacrifice of Christ has been accepted, that the father's wrath against the elect has been satisfied, that the sin debt that stood over us has been discharged and paid in the courtrooms of heaven where the books will be opened. Oh, glory to God. The resurrection of Christ is the very heartbeat of our faith. It is the center about which we live and move. That Christ is risen today, the redeemed sing unto their maker. Death has died, and I am a recipient of undeserved grace. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know He holds the future. And life is worth the living just because he lives. That's the song of the saint. Raised to heaven, the joy of the resurrection fills the heart of his children, purchased and redeemed of God as that eye looks toward heaven. Yet Jesus says we must have two eyes for the resurrection. The sign of Jonah. The resurrection not only sealed the pardon for those who are hidden under the cleft of the Savior, but it stands as the last and final sign to a world that has rejected Christ. Beloved, the gospel, the euangelion, quite literally means good news, but good news for whom? For whom? It is good news for those who are being saved. It is good news for those who would turn from their sin and throw themselves into the lifeboat of the Savior. Oh, to them, it is the best of news. But understand. The gospel message is the worst of news possible for the majority of the world. If the gospel is true, their fate is sealed. If Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, confirming everything he has said and done for a rebellious world, it is not a reason to sing in praise. It is the sign of Jonah. A risen Jesus is a most terrifying prospect. They begged for a sign, they got one. And after getting and rejecting sign after sign, only one remains. The sign of Jonah. A risen Jesus is a King Jesus. A risen Christ is one to whom all things have been given and subjected to. A resurrected Lord is judge over all the nations, and he will command the knee of every man in here. One final sign has been sent out into the world, and we declare it here this morning. Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead. Behold the most wonderful, most terrifying news in all of human history. We preach the resurrection with heaven in one eye and with hell in the other. Beloved Paul told the church at Corinth, to those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this? This morning, the resurrection is either the scent of life unto life or of death unto death in your hearing. Nineveh repented with just a preacher, an infallible one at that, calling for a city to turn. And they did. They did. But one greater than Jonah has come. And he is called for repentance, but most would not listen. His message was the scent of death unto death. The last call given to a rebellious people is a risen Christ. The joy you see of those who have known the kind face of their Savior, who can rejoice in the resurrection that have come and repentance and faith themselves being resurrected to a living hope. Beloved, the sign of Jonah stands this morning. It reigns supremely over every confession, over every worldly knowledge that sets itself against God. We all must do business with the resurrected Christ. We will either be clothed in a robe of righteousness, given as a gift from a benevolent and beautiful king, or we will wear the sign of Jonah upon our forehead. What a beautiful day. What a perfect day to cry out to God. Wipe the sign from my forehead and clothe me in your beauty this morning. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. All glory, all majesty, all dominion are his forever and ever. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, as these words come upon us, Lord, as we are confronted with your resurrection, Lord, it demands of us a choice. The resurrection of your son is not something we can set aside or move past. We must do something with it. Lord, today, you have brought here whom you would bring. Lord, there are those listening online whom you have brought to listen. Lord, we ask that they would not harden their hearts as in the days of the rebellion. But Lord, that salvation is of the Lord. It's of you that they would turn, repent and come to you today. Lord, that their robe of the sign of Jonah would be removed. They would be clothed in white robes of righteousness given to us, purchased by us, for us by Christ. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this Easter. We thank you that you're alive. We're not talking into the air, but we have a God who is living, active, and hearing us. This is a great hope, the hope of Easter, and we thank you for it in Jesus' mighty name. Amen.