Well, it's good to see all of
you. I did look at the internet. I didn't see all this. Let's take our Bibles. Turn with
me to Jonah, Jonah chapter 2. Jonah chapter 2, I'd like to
read verse 7. Jonah 2-7. When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord. And my prayer
came in unto thee and to thine holy temple. Let's pray together. Our Father, we are truly thankful
for this evening that you've given us. Lord, I pray your blessing
upon the message, I pray that you'd bless our hearts in worship
Help us. Keep us. For Christ's sake. Amen. Lord willing, in just a little
bit, we're going to observe the Lord's Supper. And we often read those familiar
verses out of 1 Corinthians 11, verses 24 and 25, when our Lord was giving instruction on the
eating and the drinking of his supper. Scripture says, when he had given
thanks, he break it, that is the bread, and said, take eat.
This is my body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance
of me. Then, concerning the wine, he
said, this cup is the New Testament in my blood. What he meant by
that was this cup which represents the blood and that blood is the
payment of that covenant of grace that has been everlastingly purposed
and shown to God's purpose. This cup is the New Testament
in my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink
it in remembrance of me." So I know, with our Lord setting
forth, that we are to remember Him. That is, not just bring
back to memory that He is the Lord, but to remember and be
thankful for the mercy, grace, and compassion that has been
shown God's people in their redemption, in their electing, in their calling
and keeping unto eternal life. Let me ask you this. Do we not
find it to be difficult? because of the
frailty of our flesh. Do we not find ourselves slothful,
careless in this duty, remembering the Lord? But oh, in the midst of our frailty,
how thankful I am that our Lord has revealed His graciousness
to us. Philippians 2.13 says this, for
it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do, of his
good pleasure." Now, it's right to remember the Lord. It's right
for us to be thankful. It's right for us to think upon
and muse upon the mercy and grace of God. In the book of Jonah that we
just read scripture, we read these words. Jonah said, when
my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord. You know, Jonah was a prophet. He was God's prophet. Call of
God, God's affection, everlastingly set upon Jonah and Jonah was
commissioned to go and preach to the people of Nineveh. And
the scripture reveals that Jonah rebelled against God. Jonah did
just exactly what Jonah wanted to do. Now, from that we're going
to see ourselves. Every believer has got that nature
in him. It has one purpose, to rebel
against God. Jonah is a beautiful picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord brought that picture
of Jonah up when He said, this is the only sign you're going
to get. Show us the sign, the sign you're going to get. As
Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale,
so even so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights
in the belly of the earth." Jonah was a type of Christ. But as
a type, we remember this, the type is never the fulfillment
of the type. Jonah was a man, and Jonah had
an old nature about him. And Jonah did just exactly what
Jonah wanted to do. But what happened to Jonah was
for God's glory and Jonah's good. And Almighty God dealt with him.
Dealt with him in mercy. Dealt with him in compassion.
He didn't leave Jonah to himself. Almighty God chastened this man. And He did it that Jonah might
remember who called him, who loved him, who kept him, who
would never leave him nor forsake him. It was good for Jonah that
Jonah was chastened. It was good that Jonah was thrown
in the belly of that whale. David said in Psalm 119, 71,
it's good for me that I've been afflicted that I might learn
thy statutes. In Jonah's correction, God Almighty
accomplished in that man exactly the will of God. The Lord Jesus
Christ said, you do this in remembrance of me. and oh how we need to
be made to remember. You ask yourself this, when are
you most keenly aware of your need of the Lord Jesus Christ? I can tell you when it is. In
the moments of your chastening, when Almighty God stops you and
arrests you, and brings to your memory your need of Him. We need to be corrected. When
do you suppose His broken body and His shed blood would be most
glorious to you? I can tell you when I truly know
without Him I'm going to perish. Without Him I'm going to die.
I've told you, and I can understand this, and many of you can too,
I told you about Brother Todd, Brother Todd Nybert, Brother
Don Fortner, some of these men, they've gone through some tough
times, physical times. Old Brother Todd, he goes through
some tough times, even now, right now. And Todd told me one night,
he said, Marvin, I thought I was going to die. He said, I was
laying in a hospital on a bed. He said, I thought, I'm dying
tonight. I know I'm dying tonight. And
he said, my heart was drawn to think upon the Lord. And he said,
have my mind call back to memory some scriptures that I've read
and studied, he said, that were precious, precious, precious
to me. And he said, my heart was settled.
I know I'm leaving." And he said, I was at peace, I was at rest.
And he said, the Lord was pleased to let me live. And he said,
I have never felt the keenness of his presence as I did that
night since then. It's good that I've been afflicted. When these times of affliction
come, We remember. They're tough. They're tough
on flesh. But we remember. The Lord put
Jonah in the belly of that whale, and the Scripture says when he
was in the belly of that whale for three days and three nights,
he said, when my soul fainted within me, When it was a shroud
of darkness is what it means. When there was that overwhelming
shroud, I remembered. The Lord knows what's best for
us. Hold your place right there and turn with me to Psalm 89.
Psalm 89 verse 30. Psalm 89 verse 30. Our flesh does not ever want
to consider afflictions. Brother Walter said to Betty,
he said, I wish I could learn all these things without going
through trials. She said, Walter, it doesn't work like that. Look
at Psalm 89.30. If his children forsake my law
and walk not in my judgments, If they break my statutes and
keep not my commandments, then will I visit, that is, attend
to, reckon, number. I will visit their transgression.
I will visit their revolt, that's what it means, with the rod,
and their iniquity with stripes. We need to be brought back to
reality. This world is not our home. But
the Lord, for His people, in wrath, in chastening wrath, not
condemning, but chastening, He remembers mercy. Oh, may we be
brought to remember that it's His hand that chastens us. And with that chastening hand,
each stripe of his correction is with mercy. Now, here again,
that's a hard thing to grasp hold of. But when he puts us,
as Paul said, under this light affliction, if we could, we can't. All we know is what we read,
what the Spirit of God teaches us. But if we knew anything,
about eternal judgment. Everlasting separation from God. Cast out of His sight. Cast away
from His presence. Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity. I never knew you. Cast them into
everlasting darkness. There will be weeping and wailing
and gnashing of teeth. Well, I've read that so many
times and I thought, I wonder what the depth of that is. Whatever
it is, it's not going to be good. In comparison to that, whatever
we go through, Pat, in this life is a light affliction. And do
you know why? That we might remember. That
we might be brought to recollect. Jonah, say it back in Jonah. Chapter 2, he says, verse 1 to
3, 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. into the midst of the seas, and
the floods compassed me about. All thy billows and thy waves
passed over me." Notice how Jonah gives credit where credit is
due. I know where this came from.
I'm the rebel. I'm the one that's rebelled against
God. But look at that. Look at that.
Verse 3, "...thou hast cast me into the deep." in the midst
of the seas, the floods compassed me about, all thy billows, thy
waves passed over me. Lord, they have moved exactly
at your bidding." Here's Jonah. Again, there's a beautiful picture
of our Lord crying out in affliction. Those words right there are truly
the words of our Lord. But as a type, Jonah really went
through that. It was only our Lord that truly
said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord. He
heard me out of the belly of hell, cried I, and thou heardest
my voice. Oh, the wonder, the marvel of
the communion that truly took place between the Father and
the Son as He accomplished and finished the work of our redemption.
But then Jonah again was truly in the belly of hell. He was
in the belly of that whale. And I'm reminded in his experience
of my nature. I've got a nature that is a strong
opposition to grace. I've got an old nature that wants
to rebel. That's what I want to do. And
I've got a new nature that cries unto the Lord for mercy. And
here's a new nature that is praying for the rebellion of my old nature. That new nature doesn't sin.
But that new nature cries out for mercy because that new nature
knows that's me that's doing that. That's what Paul said. Romans chapter 7. For I see in
me, that is in my flesh, there dwells no good thing. To will
is present with me, there's the new nature. But how to perform
that which I would, how to perform that which the new nature would,
I find not. Why? Because of an old nature.
I got an old me and a new me. And there's that new me praying
for this old me. Lord have mercy. The believer sees the rebellion
of Jonah and the believer says, that's me. That's me. And that new man, seeing the
rebellion in Jonah and me, that new man never excuses the rebellion
of the old man. Only an unbeliever would do that.
I had a friend. I guess he was a friend. I think
I've told many of you this. He told me one time it was something
that he was doing, it was wrong. And we pretty well parted company
over it. Because I just wouldn't go along with him. And he said,
well you just got to understand Marvin, you know I'm just a sinner. I can't help it. I said, no. You're wrong now. You're wrong.
sin shall not have dominion over you. Sin is not the stronger
of the two natures. Sin does not rule in a believer. It's there. Anybody that tells
me sin is so strong, the Lord said sin shall not have dominion
over you. Jonah said in verse 4, Then I
said, I'm cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again towards
thy holy temple." When I'm brought to see myself,
when I'm brought to see the frailty of my old man, the frailty of
my nature, then I'm brought again to look and to remember. Here's what Jonah says, look
at this, this is precious. Then I said, I'm cast out of
thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple." I made again to look to Him who
in His flesh, our Lord, now here's the holy temple. Almighty God,
a body was prepared Him. And God Almighty took upon Himself
the form of sinful flesh. He took a body. A body was given to Him. A body
that knew no sin. He was made sin, but He Himself
knew no sin. That's the holy temple. That's
the temple that was rent. That's the body that was broken. That veil that was rent. Top
to bottom, a picture of Christ, that veil which is His flesh.
That was what was torn. For me to have access to God,
for me to have entrance, for me to have peace, that Holy of
Holies, it was separated, that veil. You couldn't get in, the
high priest, one day out of the year, and not without blood,
could enter in. Make atonement, sprinkle the
blood upon the mercy seat. But when the Lord Jesus Christ
died, do you know where the entrance into the presence of God was
accomplished? Do you know how that was accomplished? His body.
He paid the debt. He put away the guilt. We've been reconciled. He's the
mediator. So that holy temple is His body. But that body that Jonah is speaking
of is that body that was shed for him, broken for him, that
blood that was shed for him. Reconciliation is through that
holy temple, that precious Lord Jesus Christ who laid down His
life. Now read it. Then I said, I'm
cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. Lord, I'm a rebel. God Almighty,
have mercy upon me. Lord, in myself, I deserve what
I get, but O Lord, remember mercy. Lord, I'm cast out of your presence,
out of your sight, thankfully, not eternally. Almighty God hides
himself, and you talk about some lonely times. That's what, in
Song of Solomon, that's what the bride said. Have you seen
the one that my soul loves? I looked for him, I couldn't
find him. We often go through times of trials, tribulations. I wonder what the Lord's doing
in this. I can tell you this, whatever it is, it's for your
good and for His glory. But what was the first thing
you did? You remembered Him. You remembered Him and His sufferings,
the putting away of our guilt. I'm cast out of your sight, yet
I look again to the Holy Temple, thankful. Oh, this evening, by
the grace of God, may we be made to remember Him in the eating
of this bread and the drinking of this cup. He's commanded us
to do it. Lord, help us. Lord, give us
a heart to do so, for Christ's sake. Amen.