if you would turn to Matthew
12, Matthew chapter 12. Now, this morning, I would like
for us to consider the book of Jonah. But before we do that,
I would like for us to look here at something we find in Matthew
12. Now, this little book of Jonah,
I'm sure Most of you have found it to be a very strange and peculiar
book. But the more we study it, the
more remarkable I think we find it to be. It's been a great blessing
to me as I've looked into it, even preparing for this message. What is the message of Jonah
the prophet? What is God revealing to us in
the word that he delivered to this prophet and the circumstances
in which we find Jonah in this story? Perhaps like most people, when
I mentioned Jonah, you immediately thought of the whale. And that's
not a surprise because it's remarkable what occurs. But is that the
message that God has for us from this book? Is that what should
immediately come to our mind and associate with Jonah? Well,
that's why I'd like us to look here first in Matthew 12, because
we'll let the Lord Jesus answer that question. Matthew 12, and
the context of this that we find here in Matthew 12 is that the
Lord Jesus specifically tells the scribes and the Pharisees
that the events which occurred to Jonah typify his own death,
burial, and resurrection. The context is that the Pharisees
had said, as Jesus performed a remarkable remarkable miracle of casting
out a demon and they said, this fellow, you even listen to the
words they used to speak of Christ, this fellow, this fellow does
not cast out demons except by the power of Beelzebub, the ruler
of demons. And Christ rebukes them for their
wickedness and reminds them that an account will be required in
the day of judgment of whatever is brought forth from the heart. And then some of them responded,
beginning in verse 38. Now look there, verse 38. Then
some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, Teacher, we
want to see a sign from you. But he answered and said to them,
an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign and no sign
will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For
as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great
fish, so will the son of man be three days and three nights
in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise
up in judgment with this generation and condemn it because they repented
at the preaching of Jonah, and indeed, a greater than Jonah
is here. A greater than Jonah is here. When you think of Jonah, this
is what you should think about. A greater than Jonah is here. What does this mean? Well, the
Lord Jesus often does this, we find in his ministry. He makes
reference to an Old Testament text which has reference to himself,
to his ministry, and to the present circumstances that he's dealing
with. And this in turn serves to illuminate
that Old Testament shadow, that Old Testament type that we find
in the scriptures, greater than Jonah is here. And that's what
I'd like us to consider this morning. To understand this statement,
we need to understand what the Lord reveals in the book of Jonah. So turn there with me, turn there
with me. And it's a few, just a few, it's
towards the end of the Old Testament, just a few of the prophets back. After Obadiah, I say this because
it's just a small, small book, three chapters. And as we consider this, I want
to impress upon you a very important truth. God is the Lord of history. God doesn't mold his purpose
of redemption around the events of history. He molds history
to serve his purpose of redemption. God creates and sustains all
things. He sets the seasons. He calls
for the winds and the rain, raises up kings, brings down empires. All peoples, cultures in all
times are in the realm of the power and will of God. And all serve his purpose. in
the redemption of his people. What is the most important purpose
of all that we find here in Jonah? Well, Christ told us, didn't
he? For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly
of the whale, Even so will the Son of Man be three days and
three nights in the heart of the earth." That's the purpose.
If you want to say, what is the purpose for what we find in Jonah? This is it. If only the scribes
and the Pharisees had eyes to see and ears to hear, they would
have been able to understand that Jesus was saying, he was
about to fulfill all that was typified in Jonah. Their eyes
would have been open to the rich treasure of truth as the Son
of Man is typified there in his great work of redemption. I would
like for us to consider three things, three things, although
not necessarily in this order, but just to consider as we look
into these things. First, Jonah foreshadowed and
typified Christ in his death, in his burial, and in his resurrection. And then secondly, that the purpose
of God through this is to pour out his mercy and his grace upon
a wicked and disobedient people. And then just thirdly, briefly,
I want us to see that God reveals himself not to be like man. God
is a God of grace and mercy. Well, look there in verse one,
and we're gonna have to move quickly through here because
I want us to see the whole and understand this story and what
God is teaching us. Verse one, now the word of the
Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to
Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it, for their
wickedness has come up before me." Now, isn't it always true
that the beginning, the beginning of the grace of God begins with
his word. The word of God came. The word
of the Lord. When the Lord purposes to save,
he sends his messenger and he sends his word. This is what
God did to the world. You know, Ken just spoke of this
glorious verse earlier. And if we could have just one
verse in the Bible, if we could just pick one verse, and that's
all we could have, this would be a good one, wouldn't it? For
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. And it's a glorious verse. It's so wonderful. We tend to
overlook the next verse, which is equally wonderful. For God,
listen now, for God did not send his son into the world to condemn
the world. Hear that? He didn't send his
son into the world to condemn the world. but that the world
through him might be saved. What a glorious truth. Well,
God purposes to have mercy on Nineveh, that great city, to
show them their sin, to bring them to repentance, to forgive
them, to give them life. He sends his prophet Jonah. What
does Jonah do? What is Jonah to do? Cry out
against it. Why? For their wickedness has
come up before me, says the Lord. And it reminds us of the words
of the Lord in the days of Noah before the flood, doesn't it?
When we read, then the Lord, looking down upon the earth,
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every
intent of the thoughts of his heart, only evil continually This is God's indictment of fallen
man. When God looks down upon us,
upon our great country today, that's exactly what he sees. If ever a man is to cry out for
mercy, God be merciful to me a sinner. He must know he's a
sinner. And so God sends Jonah, arise,
go to Nineveh, cry out against it. In Romans 1, you don't need to
turn there, but in Romans 1, the word of the Lord gives us
a list of some of our sins. Let me read those and you just
see if any of these cry out against you. being filled with all unrighteousness,
sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness,
full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness. They
are whispers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters,
inventors of evil things. You know, we might listen to
that list and many do. No, no, not me, not me, not me. What about the next one? Disobedient
to parents. Is there one person present today
that could say they're not guilty of this sin? Disobedient to parents. We couldn't count the times,
could we, from when we were young? Of how many times we were disobedient
to our parents. Undiscerning, untrustworthy,
unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful. You know, disobedient to parents. Today, that's not even considered
a sin, is it? In fact, The culture today, in the culture today,
rebellion against parents is a good thing. But what does God
say? What does God say? After this
list, here is his righteous judgment. Those who practice such things
are deserving of death. If you don't know God and you
find his word crying out against you in your heart, don't close
your heart. Listen to God as he speaks to
you. Look there in verse three. But
Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So
he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish
from the presence of the Lord. Now, the Lord commands Jonah,
his prophet, to arise, go to Nineveh and cry out against it
for their wickedness, for their disobedience to God. And Jonah
arises and disobeys God. Jonah rises to go where? To flee
from the presence of the Lord. Well, I wonder where that might
be. I don't think it's in Joppa. I don't think it's in Tarshish. A Christian in sin, in a state
of disobedience to God, in a state of spiritual depression, is not
a pretty picture, is not a pretty picture. I've been there. I know
you do foolish things, stupid things. You don't listen to God. You don't listen to his word.
Maybe Jonah should have called to mind the word of God given
to David in Psalm 139. Listen, where can I go from your
spirit? Or where can I flee from your
presence? If I ascend into heaven, you
are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold,
you are there. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand
shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me." Well, Jonah
is about to learn this, isn't he? Not only in a very profound
spiritual sense, but in a momentous and unforgettable way. When God purposes to save a people,
they will be saved. And nothing can hinder that,
least of all a preacher who is being unfaithful. God'll take
care of that as well. It may be a painful process,
as Jonah found, but it'll happen. But Jonah arose to flee from
the presence of the Lord. Nope. Not going to Nineveh. Not going to happen. Really? Really? Look there in verse four. The Lord summons the winds. But the Lord sent out a great
wind on the sea and there was a mighty tempest on the sea so
that the ship was about to be broken up. Then the mariners
were afraid. And every man cried out to his
God and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea
to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into
the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down and was fast asleep.
So the captain came to him and said to him, what do you mean,
sleeper? Arise, call on your God. Perhaps
your God will consider us so that we may not perish. And they
said to one another, come, let us cast lots that we may know
for whose cause this trouble has come upon us. So they cast
lots and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, please
tell us for whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your
occupation and where do you come from? What is your country and
of what people are you? So he said to them, I am a Hebrew
and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven who made the sea and
the dry land. Now the Lord summons the winds
and the winds obey. The winds still know the voice
of their maker. The Lord sent out this great
wind on the sea. Why? Why? Because he purposed
to save that great city of Nineveh. This was a mighty tempest and
we read here that the ship was about to be broken up. And the
mariners were in fear for their lives, desperate in their efforts
to save themselves. They're willing to cast all the
cargo out of the ship. All this stuff that was so important
is gone. And every man cried out to his
God. Now, in some way, the Lord impressed
upon the hearts of these men. This was no ordinary tempest,
no ordinary storm. which is often found on the sea.
They understood that this great wind had a supernatural element
to it. They all decided to cast lots
to find out for whose cause this trouble had come upon them. So
they cast lots and who did the lot fall on? Jonah. Yes, the lot is cast, but God
determines the outcome. That's always the case. Always
in everything in the world, God determines the outcome. Doesn't
matter what men do, God determines the outcome. Every man in his
heart knows that there is one God who is sovereign. This is
the very reason he creates gods of his own imagination. This
is the reason for false religions. The Roman Catholic worships a
god of his own imagination, as do most Protestant religions
today, as does Islam, as does Hinduism, as does the tribal
animist of Papua New Guinea. In the first chapter there, also
in Romans, we read this, for the wrath of God is revealed. The wrath of God is revealed
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth
in unrighteousness. Listen, because what may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For
since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Without excuse, all men Now, did you notice how Jonah
described his God? The Lord, the God of heaven,
who made the sea and the dry land. In this statement, Jonah
is telling them that the God he worships, his God, is the
one and only true God, the creator of all things. Let's continue there in verse
10. Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, why have
you done this? For the men knew that he fled
from the presence of the Lord because he had told them. Then
they said to him, what shall we do that the sea may be calm
for us? For the sea was growing more
tempestuous. And he said to them, pick me
up, throw me into the sea, then the sea will become calm for
you, for I know that this great tempest is because of me. Nevertheless,
the men rode hard to return to the land, but they could not,
for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. Therefore they cried out to the
Lord and said, we pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for
this man's life and do not charge us with innocent blood for you,
O Lord, have done as it pleased you. So they picked up Jonah
and threw him into the sea and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord
exceedingly and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows. Now,
when Jonah told them who his God was and that he was the cause
of this, the men became even more afraid. Says they were terrified. Why? Why? Because they knew that
they were in the grip of this powerful God whose wrath was
bearing down on them in this mighty tempest. But they faced
an impossible dilemma. How do you appease the wrath
of a God you do not know? That's an important question,
isn't it? They said to Jonah, what shall we do that the sea
may be calm for us? And that too is a great question,
isn't it? What must I do that the storm of God's wrath might
be calm for me? What must I do to be saved, in
other words? You can sense the growing terror
of these men as they face this dilemma. Jonah tells them to
throw him into the sea and the sea will become calm, but this
man is a prophet of the God of the storm. What if his wrath
is increased against us if we kill his servant? So the men
rode hard to return to the land, but they could not. They could
not. And in that We find a metaphor
for all the foolish and puny efforts of man to escape the
wrath of God. You're like these sailors in
the midst of a great storm, a tempestuous storm, rowing for the shore. It's not gonna happen. You cannot
escape the wrath of God by your own efforts. And so they pray to the God they
do not know, and they pick up Jonah and throw him into the
sea. And as the prophet Jonah sank
under the waves, it might have seemed that the purposes of God
for the salvation of that great city, Nineveh, were sinking into
the depths with Jonah. What will it take for the salvation
of the Lord to be freely given to the people of Nineveh? What will it take? It'll take
the death, burial, and resurrection of Jonah. Not literally, but
metaphorically. Look there. Look there in verse
17. Now the Lord had prepared a great
fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of
the fish three days and three nights. This is the first time, well, as Jonah continues, then
Jonah prayed for verse one of chapter two. Then Jonah prayed.
This is the first time we read of Jonah praying to his God. Where is he? He's in the belly. of the fish. He's in the belly
of the great fish. But who did he pray to? He prayed
to his God. God is his God. And there's great
hope in that, isn't there? For you to have God as your God
and to pray to him. And that is all the hope you
need. He prayed to his God from the
belly of the great fish. And now listen. He prayed to
the Lord, his God, from the fish's belly. And he said, I cried out
to the Lord because of my affliction. And he answered me. Out of the
belly of shale I cried, and you heard my voice. He begins in a good way, doesn't
he? I cried out to the Lord. Will he answer? Yes, he will. Yes, he will. Because the Lord
is his God. I cried out to the Lord in my
affliction and he answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried
and you heard my voice. God had brought Jonah to the
place he needed to be, didn't he? Jonah fled from the presence
of the Lord. We often do that. Where did he
end up? In the deep, in the belly of
Sheol. And where was the presence of
the Lord? Right there with him. Right there with Jonah. Well
look now, here's the death of Jonah. Here's the death of Jonah,
if I could put it that way. For you, verse three, for you
cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood
surrounded me, all your billows and your waves passed over me." It would seem that he had perished
in the midst of this terrible storm. Here's his burial, verse four.
Then I said, I have been cast out of your sight, Yet I will
look again towards your holy temple. Here's his burial. The waters surrounded me, even
to my soul. The deep closed around me. Weeds
were wrapped around my head. I went down to the moorings of
the mountains. The earth with its bars closed
behind me forever. Forever. There's his burial. There's his burial. And here's
his resurrection. Yet, yet, you have brought up
my life from the pig, O Lord my God. You see, this is what
Christ was speaking about when he says, as Jonah was three days
and three nights in the belly of the whale, even so the Son
of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of
the earth. Yet, You have brought up my life
from the pit. Oh Lord, my God, Jonah cries. Jonah recognizes that all that
has transpired, all that has happened to him to bring him
to this place is by the hand of God. You see what he prayed? You, he prays to the Lord, you
cast me into the deep. Your billows and your waves passed
over me and you brought up my life from the pit. Look in verse
seven there, he says, when my soul fainted within me, I remembered
the Lord and my prayer went up to you into your holy temple. His soul fainted within him. Think of what Jonah experienced. You know, we read this story.
It's a children's story. Of course, everyone grows up
if they're in a religion here in this story. But do we really
think about what Jonah experienced? In the midst, he's thrown into
the sea, in the midst of this mighty tempest. It's breaking
the ship apart. And the thunderous waves crash
over his head and he sinks under the waves, seemingly to perish in that horrible
death of drowning. He's swallowed by a great fish.
The fish takes him into the deep, into the heart of the seas, down
to the moorings of the mountains. He takes him down to a great
deep. His heart fainted within him. Three days and three nights in a darkness that is unimaginable. Darkness without any light. Three
days and three nights. His life, how did he survive? His life is supernaturally preserved,
isn't it? And you could say his body did
not see corruption. How remarkable then when we see
the hope that Jonah has in his God. He says, when my soul fainted
within me, what did he do? I remembered the Lord. And my
prayer went up to you into your holy temple. When the waves and billows passed
over him, he said, I have been cast out of your sight, yet I
will look again towards your holy temple. What did Jonah look
for in looking towards that holy temple? He looked for whatever a guilty
sinner needs. He looked for mercy. He looked
for mercy. He looked for the mercy of God
in the only place it can be found, in the temple of the Lord. Look
at verse eight. Those who regard worthless idols
forsake their own mercy. Well, who is that mercy? but
I will sacrifice to you. I won't forsake you. I won't
forsake my mercy. He's our mercy, isn't he? The
Lord. Those who regard worthless idols
forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice to you with
the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. And you know, just in preparing
for this and studying it, I was told apparently in this
word salvation, the Hebrew word for salvation, there's one more
letter than usual, giving it a more full sense and giving
it this idea that this is all kinds of salvations, temporal,
spiritual, eternal, a multiplication of salvations. I like that. That was good. That's the salvation
of the Lord, isn't it? It's a full and complete and
perfect salvation. Salvation is of the Lord and
He is the salvation of the Lord. Isn't that true? In this prayer
of Jonah, we see a powerful prefiguring of the sufferings of Christ in
his death and burial and resurrection. Let's just look at a few of those
passages from just one psalm, one psalm that will demonstrate
this. We could look at a whole bunch of psalms. Psalm 18, turn
there. We could look at Psalm 22 or Psalm 69 or Psalm 88. The Psalms of Christ and his
sufferings, we see that when we look here, you'll see the
harmony in the prayer of Jonah. Psalm 18. Psalm 18. Let's just begin there
in verse four. This is Christ in his sufferings. He says, the pangs of death surrounded
me and the floods of ungodliness made me afraid. The sorrows of
Sheol surrounded me. The snares of death confronted
me. In my distress, I called upon the Lord and cried out to
my God. And he heard my voice from his
temple. And my cry came before him, even
to his ears. This psalm like the rest are brought forth
from the heart of Christ from eternity. I can't ever read these
without thinking that he knew what he would face when he came
to give his life a sacrifice for sin. He knew from eternity
and he came anyway. He came anyway. He came freely
and willingly and in obedience to his father. And this psalm,
remember now, this psalm is His voice. And it prefigures, like
many others, the sufferings of our Savior as He cries out of
the darkness, out of the pain, out of the depths, out of the
anguish, as He suffers the unspeakable horror of all we couldn't suffer. and bears all that we couldn't
bear and pays the price that we could never pay. Jump down to verse 16. He sent
from above. And here's this hope. He sent
from above. He took me. He drew me out of
many waters. He delivered me from my strong
enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too strong for
me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord
was my support. He also brought me out into a
broad place. He delivered me because he delighted
in me. In his life, in his death, in
his burial, in his resurrection, the Lord kept his vows in obedience
to the Father. And in doing that, he brought
in an everlasting righteousness for his people. Is it any wonder
that he's the one in whom the father delights? The one in whom
the father is well pleased. Look down there to verse 20.
The Lord sings of his sufferings as our substitute. Sufferings
that satisfied, sufferings that sealed our salvation. The Lord rewarded me according
to my righteousness. Isn't that right? And if you're in Christ, you're
rewarded according to his righteousness. Do you see that? He rewarded
me according to my righteousness, Christ says, according to the
cleanness of my hands. He has recompensed me, for I
have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed
from my God, for all his judgments were before me. And I did not
put away his statutes from me. I was also blameless before him,
and I kept myself from my iniquity. Therefore, the Lord has recompensed
me according to my righteousness. Now, that's a great righteousness
that he's worked out, isn't it? That Christ worked out for his
people. Therefore, the Lord has recompensed me according to my
righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his
sight, in his sight. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. A greater than
Jonah is here. We'll turn back to Jonah and
we'll just finish quickly. Chapter 2 and look there in verse
10. And the more we look at Jonah,
the more we'll see that the entire book comprises a type of Christ
in the gospel. Verse 10, so the Lord spoke to
the fish and had vomited Jonah onto dry land. What is this? Figuratively speaking, it's Jonah
arising from the grave. For what purpose? That through
him, the Lord might save a multitude of sinners. Chapter three. Now the word of the Lord came
to Jonah the second time, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great
city, and preach to it the message that I tell you. So Jonah rose
and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now
Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in
extent. And Jonah began to enter the
city on the first day's walk. Then he cried out and said, yet
40 days and Nineveh will be overthrown. So what do we find? We find that
God sent his prophet Jonah to a wicked and disobedient people. He gave him the words to speak.
Did you note that? Speak to them the message that
I give you. He cast him into the deep. He
brought up his life from the depths. Why? Because God beforehand
had purposed to have mercy upon this people of Nineveh. That's
why. And that's why he sent his son. Nineveh, we're told, was an exceedingly
great city. Later in this chapter, the Lord
tells Jonah there were 120,000 in this city who didn't know
their right hand from their left. Now, if we take that to be children
under a year old, then the typical population is that's 2% of the
typical population. infants under one years of age,
which would put the population of Nineveh around six million.
This was a huge city. A huge city, even by today's
standards. Great number of people. Maybe
it wasn't six million, but it was a very great city. Many millions, many millions
of people. Look there in verse five. So
Jonah begins to preach. What happens? So the people of
Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth,
from the greatest to the least of them. Then the word came to
the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne and laid aside
his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and 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. Do not let them eat or drink
water. But let man and beast be covered
with sackcloth and cry mightily to God. Yes, let everyone turn
from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
Who can tell? if God will turn and relent and
turn away from his fierce anger so that we may not perish. And God saw their works that
they turned from their evil way. God relented from the disaster
that he had said he would bring upon them and he did not do it. The people of Nineveh believed
God. What a wonder. What a wonder. We can't say how many people
were saved, but we can say that the scriptures here indicate
it was a very broad and deep work of grace. And there were
an exceedingly great number of sinners who were saved. The people
of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, put on sackcloth and
ashes. What do we read? From the least
even to the greatest. It was a broad, broad work of
God among these people. What a day of mercy. What a day
of grace. And how do we know, listen, how
do we know that this was a genuine work of God's grace? And this
just wasn't a temporal repentance, which you see everywhere today.
People will repent for all sorts of things, Not in a spiritual
way, not in a spiritual sense. How do we know that this is a
genuine work of God's saving grace? Because this is what Jesus
said to the scribes and the Pharisees. The men of Nineveh will rise
up in judgment with this generation and condemn it. Because they
repented at the preaching Jonah and indeed a greater than Jonah
is here. They'll rise up in that judgment
as the Lord says that his his saints will be judges with him
in that judgment. And this is what it's referring
to. This was an incredible when we think back particularly to
the this was the Old Testament times when all of the all of
the Word of God, as it were, was found only in this one little
nation of Israel, when all his law and his ordinances and all
the privileges of the promises of God residing in this one nation.
And yet, even in this, God is prefiguring something, isn't
he? The gospel to the Gentiles. The gospel to the Gentiles. What
a glorious foreshadowing this is of that also, isn't it? In
Ephesians chapter three, you don't need to turn there, but
let me just read that. When Paul is speaking of that
gospel mystery that was revealed, that the gospel would go to the
Gentiles, he says, which in other ages was not made known to the
sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to his
holy apostles and prophets, that the Gentiles should be fellow
heirs of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ through
the gospel." Well, even here, this is foreshadowing that, isn't
it? Here, it's exactly what Christ is telling those scribes and
the Pharisees. Look, you're not believing. You of the nation of Israel,
are not believing in disobedience. But there'll be people who will
believe. The Gentiles. And so we turn
to the Gentiles. So we see that also. Now, just
quickly in conclusion. Look there in chapter four. but it displeased Jonah exceedingly. And he became angry. It displeased Jonah exceedingly. Aren't you glad God is not like
man? You might think that's shocking,
but I'll tell you, this is who we are naturally. God is not
like us. We're not gracious and we're
not merciful. And even as the Lord's people,
this is something we have to overcome. I know from experience as a missionary
in New Guinea. You're ministering to a wicked
and adulterous generation. An evil people. and you're like Jonah, you don't
say it, but you feel like these people don't deserve to be saved.
It's true. And this is what, just as an
aside, let me say, this is what underlies the fact that there
isn't more of an urgency in the gospel churches to send out missionaries. Many, many men ready to be pastors
that those to be sent down to fulfill the commission of
Christ, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every
nation is not an urgency. Why? Because there isn't that
mercy and that grace naturally coming from our heart as it does
from God's. Look at this. Why would he save
this people of Nineveh? But why would he save Israel?
Why would he save you? Why would he save me? In this
I find such great hope, great hope. Listen, it displeased Jonah exceedingly
so that he prayed to God and said, ah, Lord, ah, Lord, was
not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore
I fled previously to Tarshish for I know, now listen, for I
know that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger
and abundant in loving kindness. Gracious and merciful, slow to
anger and abundant in loving kindness. It's this God who cries
out in Isaiah 45, look to me and be saved all the ends of
the earth. Do you know him? Have you looked
to him? Cry out to him. He's a gracious
and merciful God. Amen.