We live in tempestuous times. The days in which we live all
around us in the events of time, in the events of the world, in
the tragedies you read of and hear of, in the political movements,
in the wars which occupy so many places in this world even at
this time. whether reported or not reported. In the violence you see upon
the streets, in the violent words you hear and read of from many
people, there is much hatred, there is much enmity, there is
much division. We live in tempestuous times. And we have always lived in tempestuous
times. because the tempest come from
the sin of man, which rages against his maker, and rages against
his fellow man, and which kindles the wrath of God from heaven
on high. The things we see occur in this
world, the earthquakes, the wars, the tragedies, the tsunamis,
the famines, are a result of the fall and the sin of man. The hatred, the division, the
violence, the warfare are a result of the fall and the sin of man. The tragedies that may come your
way and my way, the disappointments the disasters, the wrongs, the
disease, the heartache, the division all the things that go against
you are a result of the fall and the sin of man are a result
of your sin and your rebellion and your hatred of God and men. People cry out that these things
are not fair. People complain at their lot
and their circumstances. People complain at the tragedies
which come about in the world and would seek to blame God for
them if they accept there is a God. and they use it as a reason to
reject God and to justify their unbelief
and yet it's their deeds, their rebellion, their heart which
bring these sins into being and bring about these disasters. You are guilty of all the tempests
you see around you and in you You have not one claim of innocence,
and nor do I. We are all sinners, we have all
gone astray, we are all guilty of turning our backs upon God,
and as a result, as a consequence, we live in a tempestuous, a wicked,
an evil, a dark world, in which there is tragedy at the doors
of everyone. There are few people in this
world who do not see the effects of tragedy in some way or another,
even if it only comes down to the loss of loved ones due to
death. even if you're spared the worst
of disaster even if the murderer doesn't come to your door or
the thief doesn't come to your house or the worst of disease
doesn't strike even if you are left to a relatively blissful
and calm lifetime you will still have the tragedy and heartache
of seeing loved ones taken from you of having disease now and
then, of having disappointments in life and having the inward
effects of sin upon you. You will die for your life is
brief because you are a sinner who's gone astray from God. If
you do not believe in Almighty God, if you do not follow His
Son Jesus Christ, if you do not worship Him and love Him, you
stand before God as a guilty sinner. And when your life comes
to a conclusion and you stand before God on that last day,
you will have to answer. for your disinterest in the Gospel,
for your unbelief of the Gospel, for your rejection of Jesus Christ,
for trampling the blood of Jesus Christ underfoot, you will have
to answer. I wish to be as direct and pointed
as I can be. Whoever you are listening to
these words, you stand before God guilty of going astray, of
shaking your fist in his face, of rejecting his son and rejecting
his gospel. you've not sought him as you
should, you've not sought to hear his gospel as you should,
you've not sought to serve God as you should, you've not given
all your strength and all your beings and all your possession
for his service, you've not loved God with all your heart soul
and mind and you stand before God guilty and condemned and
rightly so, unless You are brought by His grace and His mercy to
hear the Gospel, and to hear the voice of Jesus Christ in
the Gospel, and to be quickened by the Holy Ghost unto life,
and given faith to believe on Christ, and to be washed in His
blood. That's your only hope. Your only
hope before God of being delivered from your sin, delivered from
your rebellion, delivered from your unbelief in the gospel,
delivered from the wrath of God which will surely come upon you,
is if God in mercy brings you to hear that gospel and washes
you in the blood of his own Son. If God offers up a sacrifice
in your place, For the price of your sin and the price of
my sin is death. The soul that sinneth, it must
die. And left to ourselves before
God, we must die to pay the price of our sin. Unless God finds
a sacrifice to die in our place. And in the Gospel, for his people,
he found a sacrifice. He offered his own son as that
sacrifice and he poured down the wrath of God against the
sins of his people upon his own son. He gave Christ as a sacrifice
for sinners. He slew his own son. He beat and he bruised his own
son for the sins of his people. and He shed the blood of His
own Son, that He might wash that people clean and make them to
stand before Him in righteousness, perfect before a holy God. Did He offer His Son for you? And have you by the Gospel seen
Him, heard Him and believed upon Him? If you have, then everlasting
salvation, the righteousness of God, an everlasting inheritance
awaits. And if you haven't, then you
will surely perish in eternity under the wrath of God in hell. That's the reality of where you
and I stand this day. We're either in Christ, washed
in his blood, or we will perish. And that, in type and figure,
is the reality which is presented to us in the account of the prophet
Jonah. In the account of the prophet
Jonah. where we see a remarkable picture of the gospel and a remarkable
presentation of a man who was sacrificed in order that others
should live. In Jonah and chapter one, we
read this. Now the word of the Lord came
unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh,
that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness is come
up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto
Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa.
And he found a ship going to Tarshish, so he paid the fare
thereof, and went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish
from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord sent out a great
wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea,
so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners
were afraid, and cried every man under his guard, and cast
forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten
it of them. But Jonah was gone down into
the sides of the ship, And he lay and was fast asleep. So the
shipmaster came to him and said unto him, What meanest thou,
O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God. If so, be that God will think
upon us, that we perish not. And they said every one to his
fellow, Come and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose
cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots. And a lot
fell upon Jonah. Then said they unto him, Tell
us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us. What is
thine occupation, and whence comest thou? What is thy country,
and of what people art thou? And he said unto them, I am an
Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath
made the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly
afraid and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the
men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because
he had told them. Then said they unto him, What
shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? For
the sea wrought and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me
up, and cast me forth into the sea, So shall the sea be calm
unto you, for I know that for my sake this great tempest is
upon you. Nevertheless the men rode hard
to bring it to the land, but they could not, for the sea wrought
and was tempestuous against them. Wherefore they cried unto the
Lord and said, We beseech Thee, O Lord, we beseech Thee, let
us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent
blood, for Thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased Thee. So they
took up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea and the sea ceased
from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord
exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows. Now the Lord had prepared a great
fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the
fish three days and three nights. 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 heard'st my voice. For thou hadst 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 depth closed 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 forever. 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 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. Oh what an account. What an account
of the circumstances that came about leading to the sacrifice
as it were of Jonah. How he was thrown overboard in
order to deliver the men upon that ship from the great tempest
and certain death that they faced. How the sea was calmed once Jonah
as it were, died for them. How we see a picture of the Gospel
in that Jonah was swallowed up by that fish and was in the belly
of the fish three days and three nights. And how we see the faith of Jesus
Christ in the midst of his suffering from the belly of this fish from
the belly of hell when he cried under his God and worshipped
his God and knew that his prayer was heard and cries out salvation
is of the Lord and as a consequence The Lord spake unto the fish
and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. This remarkable
prayer of Jonah's, seen in chapter 2, in which we see in type and
figure the words and the heart and the faith and the prayer
of Jesus Christ himself, are words which are uttered before
Jonah is delivered from the fish. This is not his prayer recorded
once he has been saved. It does not say that he was in
the belly of the fish three days and three nights and then the
Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited out Jonah upon the
dry ground and then Jonah prayed and concludes salvation is of
the Lord. But this prayer, these words
and this exhibition of his faith in his God are those words he
uttered out of the belly of the fish, which in figure is the
belly of hell. 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 heard'st my voice. Out of the belly of
hell cried I, and thou heardst my voice. What an insight into
the death of Jesus Christ, into the sufferings of Jesus Christ,
and into the faith of Jesus Christ, as exhibited when in the depth
of those sufferings. Jonah as a man had been sent
of God to preach the gospel to that great and wicked city Nineveh. But he feared and tried to flee
from the presence of God. Here we see the frailty of Jonah
as a man. But the circumstances of that
brought him upon a ship with these other men. These other
heathen men who worshipped other gods than the God of the Hebrews. And his rebellion, his sin, his
attempt to flee from the presence of God brought upon them all
condemnation. Brought a tempest and a storm
upon that ship. And as such they cast lots to
see who brought this trouble upon them. And the finger pointed
at Jonah. And Jonah had to confess that
yes, he had fled from the presence of God. And this trouble was
because of him. I am in Hebrew, he says, and
I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the
dry land. Then were the men exceeding afraid,
and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that
he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told
them. What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm? For
the sea wrought and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me
up, cast me forth into the sea, so shall the sea be calm unto
you. Now as a sinner who fled from
the presence of the Lord, we see him as a man. Christ himself
always did the Lord's bidding. But Christ came as a substitute
of sinners. Christ came as God's Son, the
perfect, the righteous Son of God, into this world of sinners,
to bear the sin of His people, to be made sin, to stand in the
sinner's place, and to take the judgment that the sinner deserved,
to suffer, Christ himself didn't flee from the presence of the
Lord but when he came to the cross The Lord took the rebellion,
the hatred, the sin, the unbelief of all his people and laid them
upon him. And at that point Christ stood
as it were as this Jonah who had sought to flee from the presence
of God. He stood as a sinner who because
of his sin and because of his fear of God had sought to flee
from the presence of God. and God's wrath came upon him.
The tempest and storms of God came down upon his own son as
a consequence, not because of what he had done but because
of what all his people had done and because of what he stood
for as their substitute. He stood there as them and their
unbelief and their fleeing from the presence of God and their
sin and iniquity he bore and God saw and the wrath of God
was kindled from heaven against him and he as it were said unto his
people who feared God's wrath and who cry out for mercy that
the storms of God's wrath might be removed from them for they
know they're guilty before a holy God and they know that they will
be lost and they cry out what shall we do? how shall we be
saved? and Christ as it were says unto
them take me up and cast me into the sea and the sea shall be
calm unto you if I am slain in thy place You will be delivered. You will be delivered. Oh what
a substitute Christ was. So they took up Jonah and cast
him forth into the sea. And the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord
exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows.
Has Christ been taken up for you? Has Christ been thrown into
the sea for you? Has the wrath of God, which you
felt kindled against your sin, which brought up the storms and
the tempests in your soul, has that been calmed because Christ
has been plunged into the sea in your place? Do you know that
he died for you? Has he died for you? Have you by faith, as it were,
taken him up and cast him into the sea in your place that you
might be delivered? Has the sea ceased from her raging? If it has, then you will fear
the Lord exceedingly. and you will offer a sacrifice
unto the Lord and make vows and serve him and worship him and
love him. For you will know his gospel
and the power of his gospel and you will know the love of God
in Jesus Christ for your soul. That Christ should be willing
to take all your iniquity, all your unbelief, all your sin and
be plunged into the seas of God's wrath in your place. Oh what
a thing for him to do. Now the Lord had prepared a great
fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the
fish three days and three nights. What a place to be! Under the storms of God's wrath,
under the judgment because of the sins of others. What a place
to be! Oh for Christ to take those sins
as though they were his. This is the thing about this
message of substitution. This is the thing about this
account of Jonah. It comes home so close. Christ didn't merely die for
the sins of others as though they were something remote from
him. as though he paid the price but there they were over there
the sinners over there and their sins over there at a distance
Christ's substitutionary death affected him he bore their sins
and he as it were said unto the mariners in the ship This has
come upon you for my sake. For my sake this great tempest
is upon you. This storm has come down because
of the sins which I bear, because of the sin which I'm made to
be, because of the guilt which I carry. Christ stood as though
he was the one who had done this great evil. He owned these sins
as his own. He said, it's just that God should
slay me. I'm the guilty one. I'm the sinner. This is why in Gethsemane, when
he faced the hour of judgment upon the cross, that he was moved
to pray and sweated as it were great drops of blood because
he knew the cup he must drink and the cup he must drink was
not just the wrath of God against sin but was actually bearing
that sin. He who was holy, spotless, without
blame, perfect, innocent and righteous must bear the guilt
of his people. He must be made sin. He must
bear their iniquity. He must be seen before God as
the greatest and worst sinner that ever lived. And that's why
God's wrath came down upon him. Oh what a thing for Christ to
bear. How deep are his sufferings. How deep is the well into which
he was plunged. How deep is the sea into which
he sunk. How great were the storms and
the tempests and the winds which blew upon him. How ferocious
were the fires of God's wrath which came down into his soul.
Out of the belly of hell cried I. Do you have but an inkling
of what Christ suffered to deliver his people from their sins? Have you but one grasp of the
depth into which he entered to deliver his people? Can you imagine
the love he must have that he was willing to suffer this? 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. Afflicted by sin, afflicted by
guilt, afflicted by condemnation. Afflicted by the wrath of God
and the judgment of God. Afflicted by the stripes of the
law and the penalty of the law upon his back. Afflicted by the
sword of justice. Afflicted by separation from
his father. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? afflicted by the rejection of
all men and God himself. I cried by reason of mine affliction
unto the Lord and he heard me. Out of the belly of hell cried
I and thou heard'st my voice. Oh what a thing! For Christ,
so far off, so condemned, so afflicted, to cry under his guard
and be heard. At the worst point, at his lowest
point, at the greatest depth, at the greatest distance from
God, still Christ by faith looked unto God's holy temple, still
he looked up to the Father, still he cried out and believed that
his God would hear him, even though he was separated because
of sin, even though he bore the guilt of all his people. Even though God's wrath was upon
him, still from the belly of hell he cries. And the Lord heard
his voice. Oh, what faith. And what faith accomplishes.
What a reward for the faith of Christ, that God heard his voice. For thou hadst 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 what a dreadful place to be what a dreadful place
for Jonah but what a dreadful place for Christ of whom Jonah's
but a picture then I said I am cast out of
thy sight. Yet I will look again toward
thy holy temple. I am cast out of thy sight. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? I am cast out of thy sight. Where art thou, my Lord? The waters compass me about.
even to the soul the depth closed me round about the weeds were
wrapped about my head he was lost he was sunk what hope is
there in such a place what hope is there for the soul of a man
who's sunk into the depth of hell out of the belly of hell
cried I What hope is there for you, O sinner? How far have you
fallen? How far off have you gone? Do
you feel cast out of God's sight? Do you feel like the waters of
his wrath have compassed you about, even into your soul? Do
you feel like the depth has closed you about? Do you feel far off
from God, beyond hope? beyond any remote chance of reconciliation. You're too far gone. You're too
wicked. You're too lost. You haven't gone as far as Christ
was. You're not as far off as Christ was here. You're not as
deep into the depths of condemnation as Christ had fallen here. I
went down to the bottoms of the mountains, he says. The earth
with her bars was about me forever. The bottoms of the mountains.
Under the judgment of God. The mountains in the scriptures
speak of the meeting place of heaven and earth. Of the judgment
of God. of His righteousness. We read
in the Psalms of His righteousness being as the great mountains.
They reach up unto God, up unto eternity, up unto the heavens.
And here Christ was, thrown down to the bottoms of the mountains,
at the feet of the mountains, under the earth, under judgment,
cast down into the depths of the earth, into hell. God's justice,
his righteousness had struck out in his son and cast him as
far down as he could go. The earth with her bars was about
me forever. Forever. Not only does he speak
of the place where he's cast into, but he speaks of the time
that he's there for. The earth with her bars was about
me forever. It's been cast into hell and
there's no escape from hell. Hell is everlasting if you end
up as a wicked sinner. outside of the mercy of God if
your life ends and you know not Jesus Christ and you know not
his forgiveness and you're not washed in his blood if God's
judgment sends you to hell it's forever because that's what sin
deserves judgment forever and here Jonah feels himself cast
down under the earth with her bars forever the earth has as
it were grasped him and put him in this jail in this jail in
the depths of the ocean this jail of the belly of hell forever
when Christ went into the depths of God's judgment he as it were
went into an eternal judgment The eternity of hell, the eternity
of the bars of the prison of hell were clasped around him
and he felt himself there forever. Yet even in that place, out of
the depths, out of the belly of hell, he cries and God heard
his voice. Yet hast thou brought up my life
from corruption, O LORD my God. In one verse here we read of
the death, the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 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. He died under the wrath and the
judgment of the righteousness of God and went down to the bottoms
of the mountains. He was cast into the grave and
the earth with her bars was about him forever. And yet on the third
day, after three days and three nights, The Lord brought up his
life from corruption. And Jonah writes this before
the fish spat him out upon the dry ground. So certain was his
hope So certain was his knowledge, so sure was his faith, that his
prayer unto his God had been heard, that he can even speak
before the action has come about of God having brought up his
life from corruption already. And when Christ was buried when
Christ was judged upon the cross and went through the hours of
darkness at the cross under the wrath of God when he was in hell
when he was laid in the grave even at that point he knew his
prayer was heard and he knew that on the third day he would
rise again and he can speak and pray by faith with a sure and
certain knowledge that God has and will bring up his life from
corruption. What a saviour Christ is. Without
this faith, without this knowledge, without this certainty, He could
not deliver us from our sins. But Christ was a Saviour who
with an outstretched arm, with the arm of righteousness, could
be buried in the belly of hell and yet know that His God would
lift Him up and deliver Him in the end. because he himself was
righteous though he bore the guilt and corruption of his people
because he himself was the perfect innocent Lamb of God who could
take that and have that judged and have that burnt up as it
were in him and come out the other side in himself perfect
and glorious and righteous all that he was as the Son of God
survived all that he suffered upon the cross and all that we
were as sinners if we died with Christ was judged and destroyed
and taken away in His death. It was blotted out. His blood
washed it all away. There was no more to keep us
in the grave and nothing to keep Christ in the grave. Yet hast
thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. On the third day He arose from
the dead. He arrives. 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
a voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. Oh what hope he had and oh what
a message there is in this for us. In what do you hope? In what oh sinner do you trust? Do you look with Christ unto
the Lord? Do you look by faith unto the
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for your salvation? Or
do you trust in lying vanities? If you trust in lying vanities,
if your hope and trust is in your own strength, your own will,
your own works, then you are like those mariners who on that
ship in the tempest, who face certain death. strove to row
hard unto the land and could not bring the ship there. Nevertheless,
the men rowed hard to bring it to the land, but they could not,
for the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them. You can row as
hard as you like, my friend. You can be as zealous in religion
as you like. You can set your will as firmly
as you like to go this way or that way, but you cannot escape
the tempest of God's wrath. Your works will not save you. Your religion will not save you. Your zeal or your prayers will
not save you. Your church going will not save
you. Row as hard as you like, you
will be lost. You need for your Jonah Jesus
Christ to be sacrificed in your place and your only hope is if
he is. Is if he is. So they took up
Jonah and cast him forth into the sea and the sea ceased from
her raging. Your only hope of salvation from
the wrath and the tempest of God which is upon you. which is upon you now, and will
come down with increasing ferocity when the days of your life come
to a close. Your only hope of deliverance
is if by faith you are brought to spiritually take your Jonah,
Jesus Christ, and cast him into the sea on your behalf, that
the sea may cease from her raging. If Christ died for you, if he
went into the depths for you, then God's wrath will be taken
away. It will be quenched. There will
be peace. There will be salvation. And
you with Jonah will be able to say with a certainty, salvation
is of the Lord. For he did it. He did it all. He even gave me the faith to
believe on Him and to see it and to know it. He did it all. I was rowing hard and I was sinking
under the storm. But God came in the Gospel and
presented unto me His Son, my Jonah, cast overboard for my
iniquity. This One who went into the belly
of hell for me, this Christ, this Jesus, this Saviour, He
took Him and He slew Him because of my sin and my unbelief and
my rebellion. I'd sought to flee from the presence
of the Lord, but God, by His Gospel, brought me nigh again. has he come unto you in his gospel,
and shown unto you his Son, who out of the belly of hell cried
unto his God by faith, and whose voice was heard, and whose life
was brought up from corruption, and who was delivered, and delivered
with his people, who brought in his people from the dead,
who rode into heaven's courts and glory upon a steed followed
by his people, who delivered them and brought them in righteous
before a holy God. He who went to the depths of
hell and took their sins and cast them into the deepest ocean
and cast them out of sight so that he could lead that people
into the presence of almighty God, perfect and holy, washed
in his blood without a spot or a blemish on them. And so that
he could say unto his father, behold my bride, Whom I loved,
whom I gave myself for. He loved me and gave himself
for me. He loved the church and gave
himself for it. Did Christ love you? Did he give
himself for you? Did he go into a great fish for
you? Was he cast into the belly of
hell for you? Did he deliver you? Did he say
salvation is of the Lord? for you. Has he given you the
faith to say with him, by certainty, in truth, with a great hope,
salvation is of the Lord. Amen. We close by singing hymn
number 238. With melting heart and weeping
eyes My guilty soul for mercy cries What shall I do or whither
flee To escape the vengeance due to me? Hymn number 238.