We commence our service this
afternoon by singing hymn number 977. The tune is Wareham, number
431. Deep are the wounds which sin
has made. Where shall the sinner find a
cure? In vain, alas, is nature's aid.
The work exceeds all nature's power. There is a great physician
near. Look up, O fainting soul, and
live. see in his heavenly smiles appear
such ease as nature cannot give. Hymn number 977, tune Wareham
number 431. Deep are the wounds which sin
has made, Where shall the sinner find a cure? In vain, alas, is nature's aid. The work exceeds all nature's
power. In my courage, in my reigns,
with fatal strength, in every part, The dark contagion fills the
veins and spreads its poison to the heart. And can no sovereign come be
found and I is the kind physician, and I to ease the pain and heal
the wound. Life and her gold ever fly. Mary is a great physician, all and live. Say in His heavenly spouse appear,
such is His name. See in the same, yes, precious
blood, life, health, and bliss. Tis only this they say, Let us read together from the
Word of God. From the Book of Jonah, chapters
2 and 3. Reading from the prophecy of
Jonah and chapters 2 and 3. Here we're picking up the reading
where Jonah is now inside the belly of the great fish or whale. Jonah chapter 2, then Jonah prayed
unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, and said, I
cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me. Out of the belly of hell, cried
I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hast cast me into the
deep, in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed me about,
all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said,
I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy
holy temple. The waters compassed me about,
even to the soul, The death clothed me round about. The weeds were
wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of
the mountains. The earth with her bars was about
me for ever. Yet hast thou brought up my life
from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord. and my prayer came in unto thee
into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities
forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee with
the voice of thanksgiving I will pay that I have vowed salvation
is of the Lord. And the Lord spake unto the fish,
and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. Chapter 3. And the word of the Lord came
unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that
great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose and went unto
Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was
an exceeding great city of three days journey. And Jonah began
to enter into the city a day's journey. And he cried and said,
yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed
God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest
of them even to the least of them for word came unto the king
of Nineveh and he arose from his throne and he laid his robe
from him and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes and
he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh
by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, let neither
man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not
feed nor drink water, but let man and beast be covered with
sackcloth and cry mightily unto God. Yea, let them turn every
one from his evil way and from the violence that is in their
hands. who can tell if God will turn
and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish
not. And God saw their works that
they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil
that he said that he would do unto them and he did it not. May the Lord bless those chapters
that we've read, and help us now to draw an eye to God in
prayer. Let us pray. Kind and gracious and eternal
Lord God, as we are favoured to gather around thy word this
afternoon, we thank thee, Lord, for the word of God. And Lord,
we thank thee that there is a message of hope in the gospel a message
of hope for sinners. And Lord, we pray that thou would
help us each, Lord, day by day to learn of thee. For Lord, we each need to be
taught by thee of our desperate need. We each need to come to
that place where we realise that all hope that we should be saved
was lost. There is no help in ourselves. When we come to the end of our
own righteousnesses, then we need to start crying out unto
God for the righteousness of another. Lord, we thank thee
then for the glorious gospel. We too thank thee, Lord, for
their pastor that is able to preach to them regularly, Lord,
as he, Lord, preaches amongst them the unsearchable riches
of Christ. We thank thee, Lord, for his
ministry and amongst the churches too. And Lord, we pray now that
they'll grant him a good rest and change, Lord, as he is on
holiday in Scotland. Lord, watch over him and bless
him and come for him in his loneliness, that he might know that there
is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. And Lord, help
us to have union and communion with thee, the church's living
head. We do pray for each Lord member
of the church and congregation here meeting at Lambethurst and
those that join online. Lord, we pray thy blessing on
each one, from the youngest to the eldest. Lord, we each need
thee. For Lord, we each are on that
brittle thread of life. Lord, and we each by nature,
by birth, have Adam as our federal head, the Adam that disobeyed,
the Adam that brought about judgment upon all his following generations. Yet, Lord, we pray that as we
gather together around thy word, that we might have an interest
in Christ. That we might see, look out of
ourselves to see a fullness resides in Jesus our head. And Lord,
for every malady that there is in the first Adam, there is a
blessed remedy in the last Adam. And Lord, that we might then
lay hold upon that remedy as we have sadly drunk deeply of
the malady, as we, Lord, are confronted with our sin day by
day, as the Apostle Paul cried out, O wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me from the body of this dead? Lord, as we
have to cry out from time to time, feelingly, these things,
oh, that we might be found then fleeing to Christ, and be able
to say with the Apostle Paul, I thank God, through Jesus Christ,
that there is a way back to God, that there is a gospel to be
preached, and Lord, where then is boasting, it is excluded. Lord, thou knowest, if we were
to devise a way of salvation, Lord, we would make sure that
much glory came to ourselves. But Lord, thou hast made the
only way. Jesus is a humble way. Pride and self must be brought
down. And Lord, this is not just a
once experience in our lives, It is an ongoing experience of
thy people. Lord, as they freshly feel the
malady, Lord, they freshly seek to find the remedy. Lord, come
and bless us then, and as we open thy word this afternoon,
Lord, gather with us. Break thou the bread of life.
Take of the things of Jesus and reveal them unto us. Lord, those
that have never seen the glories of Christ. Open their eyes, Lord. Oh, open their eyes, we beseech
Thee. Lord, we know that we ourselves
were blind to the beauties of Christ in our early days. We saw no charm in Jesus' face. We desired, Lord, those things
of this earth. But Lord, when we come to see
a beauty in humility. When we come to see that one
who gave himself for us. That one who, though he was rich,
yet for your sakes became poor. As John Newton said, till a new
object caught my eye. A new object,
and that object was, I saw one hanging on a tree in agony and
blood. who fixed his languid eyes on
me, as near his cross I stood. It seemed to charge me with his
death, though not a word he spoke. Lord, we pray that we each, by
God's grace, might come in guilty before God, that we might each
realise that we are verily guilty. For Lord, It is when we have
an interest in thy death that we will also have an interest
in thy resurrection, an interest in every accomplishment that
flows from Calvary. And Lord, bless us then with
thy presence, and go before us. Bless each that have gathered,
Lord, all the various needs, the young people, the older friends,
those that, Lord, are in old age. Lord, be with each one,
Lord. in their various needs, their
concerns. Lord, as they see that last enemy
approaching, Lord, and we fear it, Lord, as we see our lives
fast hastening away. Lord, how shall we stand in the
swelling of Jordan? Lord, when he put it forth for sheep,
his sheep, he, going before them. And Lord, in all our pathways,
we have a high priest. We do not have a high priest
that cannot be touched. Lord, or put another way, we
have a high priest that is touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Lord, we pray then that they'll
provide for us each. We pray, Lord, go before the
young people, Lord, give them the wisdom as they grow up in
this world, Give them, Lord, that they may learn of the things
that they need to, here below, to be useful citizens. But, Lord, more than anything
else, touch them in their hearts that they may fear the Lord.
For, Lord, we read that the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. There is no true wisdom without the fear of God. And,
Lord, give them then that fear of the Lord, and help them, Lord,
to walk it out in their lives that they may be as light shining
in a dark place they might be able to bring light and hope
and mercy and love to those that they come into contact with as
they have obtained mercy they might be able to show mercy they
might delight in mercy because they have a God that delighteth
in mercy and they have lived off the bounty of another and
therefore their lives are not now lives living to sell, living
to accumulate as much as possible into their own estate, but a
life now that seeks to honour and glorify Him who loved them
and gave Himself for them. Oh Lord, put that new ambition
in our lives, We may not, Lord, mirror the world in all its selfishness
and self-seeking, and Lord, we are just the same by nature.
Lord, give us a desire after God and godliness, a desire to
worship Thee, a desire to live to Thee, and a desire to show
forth Thy praise. Lord, bless us each, then we
pray. Build up the churches, we pray. May there be a day of
blessing. May there be, Lord, many that
will gather amongst our churches, and that we might be found to
be able to communicate with those around us, that we may be able
to communicate the gospel in a way that draws sinners to the
Savior. Come and hear all ye that fear
God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. Like
the woman of Samaria, she went into the village and said, Come
and see a man that told me all things that ever I did. Is not
this the Christ? O Lord, may we be not silent
regarding thee. Thou knowest how often we are,
and Lord, we hate it. Give us boldness that we might,
Lord, be able to be all that we ought to be. Ye are my witnesses. Help us to be Thy witnesses.
Help us to be able to declare to others what a dear Saviour
we have found, and point to His redeeming blood and say, Behold,
the way to God. Bless us then, we pray. Build
up the churches, and Lord, have mercy on our country. Leave us
not, Lord, to degenerate into the spirit of the world. Lord,
help us. by God's grace that we might
be still, Lord, become again that nation of the book. The
word of God becomes precious and the word of God becomes powerful.
Lord, bless us each then and help us then in our daily lives
to be all that we ought to be. Forgive our many sins, bless
us now from thy word. Take us by the hand and lead
us to Christ, the only refuge. For Christ's sake, amen. You have service by singing hymn
number 832. This tune is progression number
52. The men that fear the Lord in
every state are blessed. The Lord will grant whate'er
they want. Their souls shall dwell at rest. His secrets they shall share.
His covenant shall learn. Guided by grace shall walk his
ways. and heavenly truths discern. Hymn number 832, tune progression
number 52. O say can you see, by the dawn's
early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last
gleaming? ? His secret treasure shed ? ?
Needs no man to show her ? By that thy grace shall all hope
disperse, And all nature's desire In it is all that breathes, where
sinking makes them swim. He dies that is free, He lives
and reigns, And gives them trust in Him. He leads us with the heavens'
choir, And to Him the saints adore. O come to nature, cheerful and
rich, And pose the dawn of wisdom. is the spirit of heaven. A confidence that's strong An
anxious mind to all that's right ? To all that's strong ? ? Peace,
religion, life, to all that's strong ? ? As well as life ?
? Grace, mercy, sweet salvation ? ? Greater than all creation
? So Lord, may you graciously help
me, I will turn your prayerful attention to the book of Jonah
chapter 2 and read the last sentence in verse 9. Jonah 2 and the last
sentence in verse 9. Salvation is of the Lord. Jonah 2 verse 9, the last sentence. Salvation is of the Lord. We looked this morning at this
character Jonah as a prophet of the Lord, one who foreshadowed
both the first Adam in his disobedience but also the Lord Jesus Christ
as that one who laid down his life as a sacrifice in the place
of others and how Jonah willingly gave himself to be thrown overboard
so that the others would receive life and calm from the fearful
storm. And we got to that point where
Jonah had been thrown into the water and disappeared underneath
the surface and we're told that he was swallowed by a great fish
and was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. And the Lord Jesus in the New
Testament likens this to his own, what he would do, that he
would be three days and three nights in the earth, in the grave. And then on that third day, he
would rise victorious to demonstrate that the Lord is risen. And this was going to be a sign
that this was going to be true of the Lord Jesus. There was
going to be a sign, and the sign had already taken place. And
Jesus directs those scribes and Pharisees to look back to Jonah
and to remember what happened to him. And this was going to
be a sign that the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the greater than
Jonah, that chapter you see in Matthew chapter 12, the Lord
Jesus is speaking to the scribes and Pharisees and in three places
he says that he is greater than something else. In verse 6 of
Matthew 12 he says, but I say unto you that in this place is
one greater than the temple. The Lord Jesus Christ is greater
than the temple. He is He is what all the temple
and all the offerings are pointing to and indeed he is the great
high priest. The temple was, the important
people were the high priest there offering those sacrifices. The
Lord Jesus was greater than those. He's a greater priest and we
have here in verse 41 of Matthew 12, Behold, a greater than Jonah
is here, a greater prophet. And then later on in verse 42,
we have a greater than Solomon is here, a greater king. So by
a prophet, a priest, and a king, all that Christ is greater than
all of those. And yet, you needed the eye of
faith to see it. You see, the eye of faith needed
to see this. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. And you think of that with Solomon.
Solomon in all his glory. They were the glory days of Israel.
They look back to them as the great days. And then Jesus says
this, Behold a greater than Solomon is here. A man that has not where
to lay his head. A man that has no retin and no
great horses. in front of him running and carriages,
none of the pomp and glory of this world, none of the gold
of this world he has. He has not where to lay his head,
but behold, a greater than Solomon is here. And so the Lord Jesus,
you see, is greater. And yet we need to see by faith.
And the word of God is showing us, as we look at these Old Testament
types, something of how much Christ is greater than they were.
and yet it shows us something of his work. Well, then we come
to chapter 2, then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of
the fish's belly. So here Jonah is now in the deep,
he's inside, his life has been saved in the sense that he's
able to still breathe inside this sea creature and he's able
to cry unto God. I just want you to imagine the
The darkness and the lostness that Jonah must have felt. You think of it, what could he
do? Nobody even thought that he was still alive. Nobody was
searching for him. Who could he contact? He had
no human way of getting out of that situation. It seemed, naturally speaking,
certain death, just a matter of time, and his life would be
extinguished. And here we see the nature of
living faith. Faith is the gift of God. It laid hold on the promises
of God. And Jonah, you see, in his extremity,
and this is a picture for us, in our extremities, to remember
what happened to Jonah. But then to see this is a picture
of Jonah, but it's a picture of the Lord Jesus himself. because if you read Jonah 2 and
then you read Psalm 69 there's lots of similarities. Psalm 69
is that psalm foreshadowing what happened, the Christ's really
feelings and words on the cross and you see the Lord Jesus entered
this way too. You see the Lord Jesus goes before
his people and it's something for us each to get our heads
around. It is that for children, isn't
it? You children, I guess you that are older, you get to a
certain age and you can look back at the first time that you
really realise that your parents once were children themselves.
It's a difficult thing for a young child. They always think their
parents always were adults, they were always in control, they
always were able to look after themselves but Actually when
a child gets to the point to realise, actually my parents
were once babies themselves. My parents were once children.
They've actually been in my place. That's something for a child
to get there, to think about. But if I may use that as an example,
it is so with a Christian. A Christian comes to that position
when they start to realise that the way that they're crying out
in the depths that their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has gone
before them. He's been that way already. He
understands. You see, you might think a child
would say, my father and my mother, they would never know what it
is to be a little child, a little toddler, not being able to see
over the seat because they're so short. You say, they never
know that. Yeah, but they do. They have. They've been there.
And you see, we have The Lord Jesus, you think of him in glory,
ever seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living to
make intercession for his people and we can forget that Jesus
himself was one that endured the wrath of God. He knew what
it was to feel forsaken. He knew what it was to feel dark.
He knew what it was to be in the darkness. Then Jonah prayed
unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, and said, I
cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me.
Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. Here we have an encouragement.
Wherever you are, in whatever darkness, the door of his mercy
stands open all day. There is, in the extremities
that we get into, And Jonah, if you'd have asked him the day
before whether he would ever need to cry out from the belly
of a whale, he would have said, what do you mean? He would never
think he would get there, and we wouldn't ever think that we
would get to the places we do get to. But when we're there,
when we realize, and for us it's all because of our sin, it was
because of Jonah's sin, wasn't it? Of course, with our dear
saviour, it was not for his own sins he was there. This is the
great thing in Isaiah 53. The Lord Jesus was suffering
and it was the great turning point in Isaiah 53 is when he
says, but he was wounded for our transgressions. A realisation
that it wasn't because God was angry with him for his own sins
but he was angry with him for his people's sins. look in verse 3 it says for thou
has cast me out for thou has cast me into the deep in the
midst of the seas now this is really interesting language Jonah
is saying for thou has cast me into the deep but you say no
look I can read in chapter 1 and I know what happened it was these
men that Jonah told to throw him into the sea And yet you
see in chapter two, in prayer, for thou has cast me into the
deep. Do you see Jonah realizes that
beyond men is God. This is so true. It's so precious
when we come to realize that often in our lives, in our troubles,
in our difficulties to realize that God is ultimately in control. If you look in Acts chapter two,
That's exactly what we have there. Acts 2 verse 23. Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. This is
absolutely God's decree that his only begotten son should
travel this way. Ye have taken him by wicked hands
of crucified and slain. You see there's two sides. There's
the human side. And ultimately it was God's purpose.
And Jonah saw that you see. For thou hast cast me into the
deep. Yes, it was these mariners, these sailors, they cast him
over, they were involved, but Jonah sees beyond, beyond them
to realize that this was to do with God. And this is so important
in our lives. And you see, if we look at another
prophet, beautiful prophet Zachariah, Zachariah 13, we have these words
in verse 7, Awake, O sword against my shepherd. against the man
that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts, smite the shepherd
and the sheep shall be scattered." This is a prophetic of what would
happen at Calvary. You say, well, but it was the
chief priest that ganged against him. They held that council and
Pilate delivered him to be scourged and then to be crucified. It
was all these people that were doing these things, these wicked
people. What happened at midday? What
happened at midday on that day of the crucifixion? Who was it
organized that the midday to become midnight? Who was it that
organized that? Was that the scribes and the
Pharisees? You see that was God the Father, awake! Oh sword against
my shepherd, against the man that is my equal, smite the shepherd! It was the Father that was laying
on his only begotten son the sins of his church. For thou
hast cast me into the deep. You see, God was involved. And
so, in our lives, as we pass through things, it's precious
to see that, yes, these people did this against me. It's very
comforting as well sometimes when we pass through sorrows.
You think of Joseph with his brethren. Oh, they were so unkind
to him. They'd sold him into slavery.
They'd done all manner of evil against him. But what was Joseph
able to say? Ye meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. Oh, that will take the chip off
your shoulder with those that have been unkind to you. When
you can see, ye meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.
Then you see you have come into the heart of the Saviour. You
see, it's a heart of forgiveness, of mercy. And this is the great
theme of the Gospel. For thou hast cast me into the
deep, in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed me about.
All thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said,
I am cast out of thy sight. Jonah recognized that he had
sinned. He had disobeyed God. He was finished. But look at
this. Living faith. Yet, I will look
again toward thy holy temple. Is that a word for somebody here?
You feel like you're at the end of the earth. But yet, will I
look again? There's hope, you see, there's
always hope in the gospel. While there's life, there's hope. Because
there is one that has gone before us. The one that experienced
the sufferings and stood in his people's place so that he is
able to sympathize but able to stand in their place and able
to pay the price. You say but it's Jonah was wrong
he was wrong to be disobedient and he was and we are wrong. All Christians come short of
the glory of God. Sin is mixed with all that we
do. We're all by nature children of wrath even as others. but we've obtained mercy because
we've looked out of ourselves and we've beheld the Lamb of
God that taketh away the sin of the world. This is the Lamb
of God. This is the only one that could
do it. You see, I went down to the bottoms of the mountains,
the earth with her bars was about me forever. Yet hast thou brought
up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. See, Jonah is confiding
in his God, even in these dark situations. May we remember,
you see. We read in Hebrews, we have not
a high priest that cannot be touched with the feelings of
our infirmities. And he knows what it is to cry
out in prayer. You see, when you cry out in
prayer, do you really consider that He has gone before you. It's a difficult thing to get
our head around. But you see, if you look in Psalm
69, a messianic psalm, that means it's a psalm that tells us about
what Jesus was passing through in his sufferings. Save me, O
God, Psalm 69, for the waters are coming unto my soul. I sink
in deep mire where there is no standing. I come into deep waters
where the floods overflow me. I'm weary of my crying, my throat
is dried, mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. They that
hate me are without a cause, are more than the hairs of my
head. They that would destroy me, being my enemies, wrongfully
are mighty. Then I restored that which I
took not away." Christ did that, you see. He restored that salvation
that he didn't lose. It was the first Adam that lost
it, and we compounded that by our own sins. But he didn't lose
it. And yet he came to restore that
which he took not away. And if you go through that Psalm
69, there's many references applied to Christ in the New Testament.
This is the path that the Lord Jesus walked. Save me, O God.
He needed to be saved, you see, that he might be delivered from
death, that he may not stay in the grave, but he might rise.
And therefore all his people rise with him. When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came in unto thee, into
thine holy temple. And in verse 8 of chapter 2,
they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. Those
who trust in false gods are ruining their own sense of mercy. False
gods will not help you here. You need a god that's going to
do something, don't you? In that fish's belly, it's no good speaking
to a god of wood and stone, is it? What will they do? How will
they deliver you from the fish's belly? They that observe lying
vanities forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee
with the voice of thanksgiving. You see, we have a picture here.
Jonah was brought into that time of need. He was brought into
judgment for his sin. He cried for mercy to God, and
he obtained mercy. And you see, and then there is
thanksgiving. But I will sacrifice unto thee
with a voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that I have vowed. So he is now going to live to
God's honor and glory. Salvation is of the Lord. This is what Jonah proved in
the belly of the whale. If he was going to be saved,
it was going to be God's work. It wasn't going to be anybody
else's. It certainly wasn't going to be his own, was it? How could
he arrange his own salvation? Salvation is of the Lord. This is what Jonah came to realise. And this is a wonderful truth
for us in each of our pathways. Salvation is of the Lord. And
the Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited out Jonah onto
the dry land. He experienced that salvation.
He experienced the faithfulness of God to hear his cry in his
greatest need. The Lord Jesus did the same,
you see. For Christ, it was when he was
on the cross. And we read about what he did. You see, there was
those that were mocking his faith. There were those that were belittling
his faith that he would never know God's favor again. I can just pick that up in Peter
Peter's epistle picks that up beautifully 1 Peter and chapter
2 1 Peter 2 verse 23 who when he
was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatened
not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously
he committed his self to his father He trusted in God. Though he slay me, yet will I
trust in him. Job said it, but it was fulfilled
in Christ. Though he slay me, yet will I
trust in him. He trusted in his father, though
he was entering into that death experience on the Calvary. And so, he committed himself
to him that judgeth righteously. He committed himself to his father
and he was not disappointed. We read in Philippians, therefore
God hath highly exhorted him and given him a name which is
above every name, the name of Jesus every knee should bow.
This is salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. You
see, it's not that Jonah could then go and glorify himself about
his greatness. He'd experienced salvation himself. And this is what we each need
to experience. We each need to come to the end of ourselves.
All hope that we should be saved was lost. And then we need to
start to come and realize, come hither soul, I am the way. I am the way. Another precious
hymn associated with this is written on the brazen serpent,
876. Very precious hymn. Jesus thus, this is verse four
of 876. Jesus thus for sinners smitten,
wounded, bruised, serpent-bitten. To His cross directs their faith. Why should I then poison cherish?
Why despair of cure and perish? Look my soul, though stung to
death. See the Lord of glory dying.
See Him gasping, hear Him crying. See His burdened bosom heave.
Look, ye sinners, ye that hung Him. You see, it's personal.
It's not somebody over there did it. Those soldiers, they
were very naughty you know. No, it's personal. Look ye sinners, ye that hung
him. Look how deep your sins have
stung him. Dying sinners, look and live. There's life you see in a look
at the crucified one. And as they threw Jonah over
and saw him disappear out of sight, and then the storm was
gone, they realised how much they owed to Jonah in that sense.
But as we come then to think of how much we owe to the Lord
Jesus. And the Lord spake unto the fish
and it vomited out Jonah onto the dry land. And then we have
in chapter 3 his He's given a commission again to go to Nineveh, that
great city. Three days journey to walk across
that city, it was so great. And he preached, you see, his
preaching was, I don't know whether it's just a summary of what he
said, or I guess he perhaps said more than this, but yet 40 days
in Nineveh shall be overthrown. It was a message of judgment. And yet these people of Nineveh,
we read, believed God. Believed God. Whether they had heard then of
this salvation that Jonah himself had received by being rescued
out of that seeming death experience, and he was then to preach as
a living witness of the mercy of God. a living witness and
you see that today, you might say well surely we need a preacher
that's sinless, a preacher that's never sinned. That's what we
need, a good preacher. Jonah went to preach to the Ninevites
as a sinner saved by grace. He wasn't a good man in that
sense, he was a sinner. And yet he obtained mercy. And
so he could point others to that mercy that he had obtained. But
sadly, with Jonah, he doesn't seem to be that good at doing
that. He was faithful in preaching yet 40 days, but his message
was very much on the negative side. And amazingly, that the
people repented and realized that there was hope. There was
hope and repentance. But if you go in the New Testament
and look at the greater than Jonah, we see how Jesus challenges
us today. Because these men of Nineveh
repented. And it was a very negative message
on the whole that they received. Yet 40 days and Nineveh shall
be overthrown. And yet they They hoped in mercy,
just where they got that message of mercy from, whether it was
from Jonah or how it just was. But they did repent and God did
have mercy upon them. But you see, Jesus says this,
the men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation
and shall condemn it. Because they repented at the
preaching of Jonah's. Must have been something of repentance
there, then, mustn't there? Must have been something of hope.
Behold, a greater than Jonas is here. You see, the Lord Jesus'
ministry was not just, as it were, 40 days and Nineveh should
be overthrown. There was a message of hope,
repent. for the kingdom of God is at
hand. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart." Oh, it's a much better
gospel, isn't it, than Jonah preached. Oh, Jonah didn't give
them much hope at all, did he? But they did believe, and they
did find mercy. And they did find God to be merciful.
And yet when they obtained mercy, Jonah wasn't that happy. Jonah
was exceedingly angry, we read. Oh, what a contrast to our Savior. He wept over Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets and stoneth them that are sent
unto thee. How often would I have gathered
you as a chicken does her chicks, and ye would not. Oh, you see,
the heart of Christ, a greater, a greater than Jonah is here. One so much greater than Jonah.
Jonah was, you see he had a sin, he wanted mercy himself. He delighted
in his own salvation out of the belly of the whale but he wasn't
too keen on Nineveh receiving mercy. I guess we can be like
that and of course it was difficult for Jonah. Nineveh was really
their enemies and of course later on they did, were used by God
to be part of those which would overthrow Israel. when they were
going to captivity. It was an enemy nation. It's
difficult to see mercy on our enemies sometimes, isn't it?
And yet, the Lord Jesus did it for his traitors and his foes. He, on that cross, when he said,
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. His traitors
and his foes. we can see how much truth there
was when the Lord Jesus says, for a greater than Jonas is here. Oh Jonah was, Jonah had a message
but there was a lot wrong with it as well. There was a lot of
imperfection. He did not seem to, we read in
that God is delighteth in mercy, Jono sat outside the city to
see what would become of it and wanted to see the destruction
of it seems. We have a God that delighteth
in mercy, a God that is long-suffering, a God that delighteth in mercy
to his people and yet we are not to abuse We're not to say,
well, you know, he delighteth in mercy, so we will sin that
grace may abound. No. We are to come and find that
salvation is of the Lord. And then as we think about this
then, we have a much fuller gospel to preach than Jonah did. A fuller gospel. And so as we've
been given clearer light, there's a greater responsibility on all
of us here today. A greater responsibility. These
men of Nineveh, they didn't get told much of the mercy of God
in Christ, it doesn't seem. And yet amazingly they grabbed
hold to this idea that he was a merciful God. You see, if you've
got somebody who doesn't know anything about showing mercy, There's no purpose in pleading
because this person is not merciful. But they had obviously got some
idea that the Lord is merciful. Jonah himself was a living witness
of mercy. If God had dealt with him in
justice, he would have been dead. But he was there to preach to
them as a living witness that God is merciful. A living witness
that God is merciful. And as we have in the Bible Christ
preaching, and the apostles preaching of a risen saviour, it's a demonstration
that this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. This is
one who is merciful. This one who came to deal with
the awful consequences of sin. The men of Nineveh shall rise
in judgment with this generation. So the picture is the last judgment
day. those will come along and the
people of Nineveh will be there spectating. And when we come
to that judgment seat, we come to give an account of our hearing
of the gospel. As we've come to God's house,
how have we heard? Have we lay hold on the hope
set before us in the gospel? Or have we said, we'll just keep
going, thank you very much. We just keep rowing our boat
to get to the land. We won't worry about this one
to die in our place. We don't want to be associated
with the death of this man. We want to distance ourselves.
We want a religion that's more palatable. We don't want these
people dying. But you see, we come to that
point where there is no other way. there needs to be that laying
hold of Christ, laying hold of this one. The men of Nineveh
shall rise in judgment with this generation, Jesus' generation,
who had the Lord Jesus preaching to them, and shall condemn it. The scribes and the Pharisees
that had the Lord Jesus in front of them and yet despised him. But yet such are some of you.
We cannot throw any stones at them, can we? Are we better than
they? But we need a warning here. The
men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation
and shall condemn it because they repented. They were given
a spirit of repentance. They said, who can tell whether
God would be merciful? Have you come there? in your
experience? Have you come with a who can
tell that God will be merciful to me? I will lay hold upon the
hope set before me in the gospel. I will trust for time and eternity
on the life and the death of another. Because this is the only way.
It's the only way to rid me of the guilt. It's the only way
to make me right with God. It's the only way to bring me,
the only way that God can be just and the justifier of the
ungodly. 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. Jonah, in the Old Testament,
he showed something of the coming of the just one, something of
the coming of the Savior, who would lay down his life for ransom
for many. something about one who would
stand in this people's place and yet there was there was things
that Jonah came short in all the times all the foreshadowings
of Christ always came short because they were just shadows of good
things to come shadows you see if they didn't come short We
just latch on to the shadow and say that's enough for me. That's
enough. All I need is the shadow. I trust in Jonah. I trust in
Moses. I trust in Joshua. I trust in
all the Isaiah and all the other great men in the Old Testament. But no, none of those could save us. John the Baptist, what did he
say? He must increase and I must decrease. You can't trust in John the Baptist.
You can't trust in any of the prophets because as they were
prophets of the Lord they pointed out of themselves. They pointed
away from themselves to the one who really could save. They were
but those that pointed to the Saviour. And so you see when
we come to realise that then there is I will sacrifice unto
thee with the voice of thanksgiving, I will pay that which I have
vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. Then you see there's joy. Then there's something to sing
about. There's something to praise God for. In Romans chapter 12 you see, we
have those beautiful words. I beseech you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice. You see, we read here, but I
will sacrifice unto the Lord with the voice of thanksgiving.
Well, you see, there was much animal sacrificing that took
place in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament, that was
superseded with other sacrifices. I beseech you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice. We are now to live to God, to
live to Him, to live for Him, to show forth His praise, that
ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service. Satan would constantly
try and tell you it's unreasonable, but it is reasonable. When we
consider what he's done for us, it's very reasonable. It's totally
reasonable. A living sacrifice. I don't know whether I've used
this illustration here before. Forgive me if I have. But I came
across an account that was in the time of the gold rush, when
many went out to make their fortunes in the gold rush and there was
this honourable man that had gone and it was all involved
with slaves and there was a slave market there and this honourable
man he saw a beautiful African young girl
being auctioned in slavery and there was two men bidding one
against the other to have that young girl for themselves. And
they were muttering under their breath all the immoral things
that they would do if that one would become theirs. And he realized
the evil of what was going on and he said, I'll pay twice as
much for that slave. And the auctioneer said, nobody
pays that much for a slave. He said, well, I'm going to pay
it. So he outbid these other two men that wanted her. And
this young, beautiful slave girl didn't realize why this man had
bought her. She only could think that he
bought her to abuse her like the others would want to. And as she went down the road
with her new master, he started to try and explain
to her what he was going to do. That he was going to take her
down the road to meet to sort out all the paperwork to set
her free from her slavery and when she started to realize why
he had bought her she fell down at his feet and said you mean
to say you've paid double the amount that anybody pays for
a slave just to set me free and he said yes that's right And
after some time when she was able to compose herself, she
said, I make one request of you. And he said, what is that request?
She said, I want to serve you for the rest of my life. You see, she'd been set free,
but now she wanted to serve a master that had her good. mind rather
than just buying her to abuse her and use her, her good. And you see we have a new master
that has purchased us from the grips, the claws of Satan, that
evil taskmaster that only buys people to abuse them. When you've
done his service all your life, if you've faithfully served Satan
all your life and done his dictates, the reward is to go to be with
him in a lake of fire and It's a horrible service. But you see, when you've been
brought out of that master into a new sphere, one that's obtained
mercy, then you see there's a response. And this is the response of a
Christian. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. We are to
then live to our new master, not to gain salvation. Salvation
is of the Lord, but as a demonstration of our love to him that loved
us and washed us in his blood. We now have a new song in our
mouths and it's not unto us. The Apostle Paul or Saul of Tarsus
was no longer speaking of his greatness as a Pharisee. He was
no longer telling everybody of his wonderful pharisaical achievements. No, he threw it all away. I count
them but loss that I may win Christ and be found in him, not
having mine own righteousness which is of the flesh. I've thrown
that away, all of my own self-righteousness. I was a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
I had all the credentials possible. But it was all empty because
it wasn't real. I now have found a saviour who
has saved me, who has gone to Calvary on my behalf and now
to live to him is all I desire. But I will sacrifice unto thee
with the voice of thanksgiving." You see that lady, that young
lady wanted to show her thankfulness to this master that had brought
her to set her free and her response was then to desire to serve such
a one like that for the rest of her life. Not out of duty,
but out of love. And that's the difference between
legality and serving the Lord out of love. Legality is having
to do this and that and the other and constantly feeling that Christ
is a hard taskmaster, a bit like the older son in the parable.
of the parable of the prodigal son, the oldest son, I've always
done my father's will, but he didn't seem to love his father,
he didn't delight in mercy. But the youngest son who had
gone far from his father's home, he'd come to receive mercy. And the oldest son too. We don't
know whether he received mercy, do we? The account stops with
the father speaking to him. encouraging him mercifully to
come back. You see there's room in the father's
house for the renegades who've gone far off from God into a
faraway country and there's room also for the chief of the pharisees,
for the soul of And so there is hope in Christ. May we know the Lord's blessing
then in our lives. May we know what it is to realise
that salvation is of the Lord. He has put a new song in my mouth,
even praise unto my God. It's not about me and my achievements
and my church going and all the catalogue of things that we feel
that we've done. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
a cry for mercy, a realisation first of all that we come short,
that God is real and he's a real God that is serious about judgement,
that the soul that sinneth it shall die and that command will
stand, except we're in that second Adam. The last Adam, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so we cry for mercy. We enter
into those depths and Christ has already been there. So he's
able to sympathize, he's able to know where we've been. See,
if you've been through some very dark valley, and difficult to
you, able to sympathize with others, aren't you? We have one
that's been through the darkest valley. none of the ransomed
ever knew the depths of the waters crossed, nor how dark was the
night the Lord went through, or he found his sheep that was
lost. Oh, come and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. The sorrow of Christ was unique.
It wasn't because he was crucified, that's not unique. Many have
been crucified. But for the wrath of God, that
should have sunk a number that no man can number of every kindred,
nation, tribe and tongue into everlasting hell for eternity
and to, as it were, compound that all into a few hours of
suffering on the cross. That's a unique suffering. It's
a suffering only the Son of God could bear. He did it. He satisfied that suffering.
Cried it is finished. so that we can know that salvation
is of the Lord. And then to walk and to run in
the ways of his commandment in obedience, in love to him that
has done so much for us. This is the way of salvation.
May we walk it out. May God work in our hearts to
see the beauties of Christ and to run in the ways of his commandments. to our service by singing hymn
number 343. The tune is Pemberton, number 812. If Jesus is ours, we have a true
friend, whose goodness endures the same to the end. Our comforts
may vary, our frames may decline. We cannot miscarry, our aid is
divine. A moment he hid the light of
his face, Yet firmly decreed to save us by grace, And though
he reproved us, and still may reprove, Forever he loved us,
and ever will love. If Jesus is us, we have a true
friend. His goodness endures the same
to the end. Our comforts may vary, our flames
may decline, They cannot miscarry Our radiance divine Though God may delay to show
us his light, and happiness may endure for a night, Everything shall surely abound,
And one to another again a raisin is found. The hills may dip but a man taints
river, but faithful the water maintain of love. The Father has graven the names
of thy hands, a building in there, an eternal instance. How I wanted that night of His
face Yet can they decree to save us by grace? And though He reprove us and
still may reprove Forever He loved us and ever will love Kind and gracious, Lord God,
we thank Thee, Lord, for Thy mercies. We thank Thee that there
is salvation with God. Salvation is of the Lord, and
we pray that we might each obtain mercy and find grace to help
in time of need. Bless us each, and may the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father's love, the fellowship
of the Eternal Spirit, be with and abide with us each, both
now and for evermore. For Christ's sake. Amen.