Let's turn to Jonah chapter 3. Jonah. As we said last week, our Lord
said that no sign, this was in answer
to a group of religious men that pretended to, you know, say to
him, all we are looking for is just a little bit more confirmation. I tried to make it appear as
though we are for you. But we just need just a little
bit more convincing. Show us a sign. Boy, that's what
men say today, you know. Show me a miracle, you know.
If you'll show us something outwardly, we'll believe, you know, signs
and miracles and wonders. Show us a sign. Well, to those
that say we've got to have a sign. This was our Lord's answer to
that. He said an evil and adulterous
generation seeks after a sign. There's not going to be any sign
given but the sign of the prophet Jonah. He said as Jonah was three
days, three nights in the belly of the fish, even so, shall the
Son of Man be three days, three nights in the heart of the earth."
We must understand all that is written, these scriptures, are
written concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. If we look at Scripture
and we see not Him and we have missed the message, the Spirit
of God blesses that message that honors Him, that sets Him forth. When we looked in Jonah chapter
1, we started, Jonah himself was a picture from the beginning. We saw man by nature, he is disobedient. But before that chapter was over,
we saw Jonah as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, our substitute,
our propitiation. Propitiation means satisfaction. The mariners asked Him when the
sea was tempestuous, ìWhat shall we do unto you?î They asked that
the sea might be calm to us. And Jonah said, ìYou must throw
me in.î Thereís a picture of our Lord taking our the wrath
of his people, the wrath of his elect being propitious toward
us, the atonement for his people. Then we saw in chapter 2 a picture
of our Lord when Jonah was actually thrown in. Scripture says that
the Lord had prepared a great fish, a great fish, a picture
of our Lord's grave. The Lord said that. He said,
as Jonah was three days in the belly of fish, so shall the Son
of Man be three days, three nights in the belly of the heart of
the earth. You know that that's a picture
of our Lord's grave, His sufferings. And as we saw in that second
chapter, we saw the cries of actually Jonah But it was a picture,
it was a type of our Lord's suffering and what He endured, what He
suffered under the wrath and judgment of Almighty God in our
place. Jonah, speaking in the ninth
verse, Jonah chapter 2. This is the byword. This is our stand. Here's our
Ebenezer. Here's where we make our stand,
right here. Jonah chapter 2 and verse 9.
Jonah speaking, but only the words of our blessed Lord could
this be applied to. He said, I will sacrifice unto
thee with a voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have
vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. No
one but the Lord Jesus Christ could speak those words. Is there
a man that could pay a vow that he's made? Man by nature is a
liar. He's impotent. He can't produce. He's nothing. He's nothing. Without
me, the Lord Jesus Christ said, you can do nothing. So we see
Christ in the first chapter. We see Christ in the second chapter.
Who do you think we're going to see in the third chapter,
Neal? The Lord Jesus Christ. The Scripture. And let's begin
in Jonah chapter 2, verse 10. It says, And the Lord spake unto
the fish. and had vomited out Jonah upon
the dry land. Jonah has been three days and
three nights in the belly of this fish, the Lord Jesus Christ,
three days, three nights in the heart of the earth, having suffered
the wrath that was due His people, crucified. He was laid in the
heart of the earth in this grave, a borrowed grave, a borrowed
the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. And the Lord spake unto the fish.
Almighty God spake. His Word is effectual, the omnipotent
God. And the Scripture says it vomited
out Jonah upon the dry land. Now, I want us to look at three
things this morning in Jonah chapter 2 concerning our Lord. I want us to look first at the
deliverance of Jonah, secondly, the obedience of Jonah, and thirdly,
the preaching of Jonah. Three days, three nights. Here is our Lord. When God purposed
for Jonah to be delivered, what happened? He spoke to the fish,
and it vomited out Jonah, the Scripture says, upon the dry
land. I mean, we could stop right there
in just that picture. You know, ultimately, primarily,
firstly, it's a picture of our Lord coming out of the grave. Raised, the Scripture says, for
our justification. When He came out, we came out
with Him. He took our guilt upon Himself. He made our sin to be His. He was made guilty. He was made
sin, guilt imputed. All of the guilt of all God's
elect was charged to Him. Everything that was due them,
everything, everything that was due them in punishment, in judgment,
Christ took it. He took it all. If He took it
all, if He paid all the debt, then what is due us? If He has
taken our guilt and paid for it, paid it in full by His precious
blood, if He has charged us, we that believe, with His righteousness,
if He has given us righteousness that He Himself has earned by
His obedience, if we stand in Him, absolutely perfect in Christ,
robed in His righteousness and no guilt. There's no guilt and
perfect righteousness. The Scripture says, There is
now therefore no condemnation to them that be in Christ Jesus.
The resurrection of our Lord. God accepted His sacrifice. Accepted. Raised Him. So we see, first of all, we see
the resurrection of our Lord. I can see also A picture of the
resurrection from death to life of His people, regeneration,
coming out of the grave, out of the grave of ignorance and
death and horror and darkness and blindness. Christ, our resurrection. Christ, our hope. See a picture
of our deliverance by the sacrifice of our blessed Lord. But the
Scripture says the Lord spake to the fish. Vomited out. When God speaks and calls His
own, they hear. The Lord Jesus Christ said, My
sheep, they hear My voice. They follow. They come. Irresistible
grace. God spoke to this fish. It vomited
out. Jonah, I don't want to be gross. I promised I wouldn't. But I'm
going to tell you something. If somebody is sick, you feel
yourself, you're going to have to throw up. You know what you
do? You do. You just throw up. The Scripture says, let me read
this, in Acts chapter 2 and verse 22 to 24, You men of Israel,
hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you
by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst
of you, as ye yourself also know him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having
loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
behold another." It wasn't possible. When God spoke to this fish,
the Scripture says that that fish vomited forth. He came forth. It was not possible. It was not
possible that Christ could be holy. He satisfied. Almighty God accomplished the
redemption of His people, satisfied justice, put away sin. God raised Him from the dead
because justice demanded it. It was not possible that He could
be holy. There's the deliverance of Jonah,
the deliverance of our Lord. It was not possible. The deliverance
of his people, not possible. Christ has paid their debt, not
possible that they could be holy. He justly, he is faithful. The scripture says those for
whom Christ has died, paid their debt. He is faithful and just
to deliver them from their sins, he delivers them Justly, Christ
is paid. It's not just one of those things
where men say, well, if you come to the Lord, because He's a gracious
Father, He just kind of feels sorry, like you feel sorry for
your kids or your grandchildren or something like that, you know.
He'll just, you know, absolute justice. Justice demands faithful
and just. Secondly, let's look at the obedience
of Jonah. The Scripture says in Jonah,
Chapter 3 and verse 1, it says, 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. What that means is it took three
days to go around it. It was a big city. Great city. God's chastening brings forth
fruit and secures dutiful, in the day of His power, obedience. Jonah, at one time, had been
told, I want you to rise and go to Nineveh, preach to them. But the Scripture says, but Jonah
arose and found him a ship, paid the fare, decided he was going
to go to Tarsus, disobedience. Here, the Scripture says that
the Word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time and says,
ìGo to Nineveh.î And Jonah arose and went. His obedience was complete. He didnít carry. He went to Nineveh. And his obedience was divinely
directed. ìGo to Nineveh and preach to
him.î But here, again in Jonah, A picture, and I can't say this
enough. I'll reiterate this time and
time again. Remember, no sign is given but
the sign of the prophet Jonah. This whole book, this book, key
book right here. No sign? Let's look at it. Jonah,
again, is a picture of the glorious one of whom Jonah is a type. Do we not behold the Lord Jesus
Christ, the obedient servant As Jonah obeyed, having suffered
his ordeal in the fish, what does that say concerning our
Lord? Now, here's a wonderful Scripture. Hebrews chapter 5. Let me just read this to you.
I've got it written down here. Hebrews 5a. It says, "...though
he," that is, the Lord Jesus Christ, "...were a son, yet learned
he obedience by the things he suffered." That's an amazing
scripture, amazing. Though he was a son, yet learned
he obedience by the things that he suffered. Did Jonah actually
go into the belly of a fish? Absolutely. People can say, well,
that's just a fairy tale, that was just a dream. The scripture
says that God prepared a fish. I read one account that said
that this fish, some certain kind of fish, There were accounts
of this fish being 600 feet long. I relate everything when I start
seeing hundreds of feet to a football field. That's two football fields. 300 plus feet wide. That's a
big fish. That may be the case. That may
be the one it was. I don't know. It was a great
fish, though I can tell you that. But Jonah was actually in the
belly of that fish three days, three nights. Did God Almighty
say that God Himself taught something to Jonah in that fish? Sure did. Did God speak to that fish and
that fish vomited Jonah up? He sure did. Did God tell Jonah
to go to Nineveh? He sure did. Did Jonah go? He
sure did. But if this is not but a picture,
I mean, if this is not a story, if this is only a story, a historical
story about a man, what has that got to do for me? Eternally,
what has that got? I can rejoice in it. I'm glad
He did it. But if it is only history, if this Old Testament
is only history, what has that got to do with us? But if this
is a picture, if this is a type, if this is a revelation of the
Lord Jesus Christ and His obedience, His obedience, and this obedience
of whom Jonah is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ is applied
to me, in the eyes of Almighty God, I want to know what does
it have to say? What does it have to say concerning
me, my eternal soul? The Scripture says God spoke
to Jonah again. God Almighty came into this world. The Scripture says He learned
obedience by the things He suffered. As Jonah was in three days, three
nights in the belly of that fish, Christ also suffered. Christ, in Hebrews 5, 8, is spoken
of as having learned obedience by the things that He suffered.
Did the eternal God come into knowledge of something that He
was not aware? No. That's not what it means.
It means when it says He learned obedience, He experienced it. You know, you don't really, you
and I, You don't really know anything except by experience. Someone can say, well, you know,
you've suffered a great tragedy. You've lost someone in your family
that you dearly love. You've suffered some affliction
in your body or something. I'm going to tell you something.
Unless you've been there, unless you have lost someone in your
family, Someone that was dear to you. You don't know. You don't
know what it feels like. You can say, well, I understand.
Not unless you've been there. You don't know. The Lord Jesus
Christ, the Scripture says, learned He obedience by the things He
suffered. He actually, Almighty God, came
into this world and God Himself took upon Himself the form of
a man. Absolute man. Absolute God. Totally God. Totally man. And as a man, he suffered. He hungered. He thirsted. He
hung on that cross. Actually hung there under the
actual judgment of Almighty God. I mean, we talk about this. We
go through a few things here. We have some circumstances. Providentially, we go through,
and we know something. But as I said last Wednesday
night, Paul says, these light afflictions, light. We don't
know anything about the indescribable, undiluted judgment of God. We don't. We don't. Christ having
suffered for us. having put away our guilt, our
sin, in that he suffered. He suffered. The Scripture says
he learned obedience. He experienced what it is. He experienced obedience. As
a man, he experienced it. Jonah actually was in the belly
of that whale. He experienced that. Somebody
could say, I know what it's like to be in the belly of a whale.
No, you don't. You do not. I know what it is to suffer under
God's providential judgment. Oh, no, you don't. No, you don't.
No, you don't. Christ learned, experienced obedience. The soul that sins is going to
die. There's not a person that's sitting
here this morning that knows anything about that. God is not going to wink at iniquity. He's not. We hear that. We understand it. He actually
learned it by experience. Suffering. Not that he didn't
know suffering as Almighty God, but he actually learned it. Jonah
learned something. by being in the belly of a fish
three days, three nights. And when he came out, God spoke
to him. He said, Go to Nineveh. Surely
we see something. It says the word of the Lord
came unto Jonah the second time. We've already seen and established
that Jonah is a picture in his beginning, a type of man by nature,
Adam, disobedient, fleeing from God, But then before, as I said,
before it was over, we see Jonah as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the propitiation thrown over, a type of our blessed Lord in
the resurrection, coming out of that grave. And here's Jonah
again, a type of the second Adam, obedient, obedient. The Lord
spoke to Jonah the second time. Though excellent in his being,
God-man was not exempt from suffering the paying of our debt. He said
in Matthew 16, he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things
of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and
raised again the third day. Jonah is a type of our obedient
Savior. Here he is, going to Nineveh
and preaching that which God bid him. The Lord Jesus Christ
said, The things that I speak, I have heard them. John 8, 29,
He that sent me is with me. This is Christ speaking. The
Father has not left me alone. For I do always those things
that please Him." Someone could say, Yeah, but Jonah learned
so much. And see, after he went through
the belly of that whale, there was no possible way that he would
disobey God again. Are we so foolish to think that
man is capable of having gone through a little something, a
little suffering, and then he is able to reform his life? Go
on from there and never disobey God again. Have you ever? Have
you ever gone through? Have you ever made any promises?
I know I have. Make a promise to God. Lord,
if you do this, I'll never do that again. That's the most foolish
thing that I could say. I'm not capable of keeping myself. I absolutely must have one who
is absolutely God Himself. perfect, able to keep me from
falling. And then lastly, look at the
preaching of Jonah. The Scripture says, Jonah, in
verse 4, began to enter into the city of Baal's journey, and
he cried and said, Yet forty days in Nineveh shall be overthrown. The scripture says that the people
of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth
from the greatest of them even to the least of them. The preaching
of Jonah. He went to Nineveh. He preached
that which God had bid him do. The Lord Jesus Christ. You remember,
it was Christ himself that spoke of Jonah. And he said that the
men of Nineveh are going to rise up in judgment against that generation
because the men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, at
his preaching. That was the Lord Jesus Christ's
word concerning. Here Jonah goes and he preaches.
The Scripture says that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God. Here is a picture of Christ,
our prophet. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word
was made flesh. Here is a picture of Jonah, the
Lord Jesus Christ, a picture of Christ, our great prophet,
son of God. The mind of Almighty God is discovered
in these scriptures, and Christ said, these scriptures speak
of me. That's what he told the two on
the road to Emmaus, beginning with Moses. All of the prophets,
the law, he expounded unto them in all of the scriptures those
things concerning himself. If this man Jonah is but a man,
and he goes to a city that doesn't even exist anymore. What has
that got to do with you and me? But if this is a picture of Jonah,
God's prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ is set forth,
and He is. And I want to know. I want to
know. Remember, Luke 11.30, though,
says, For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so also the
Son of Man is a sign to this generation. Jonah, without a
doubt, is a picture of God's prophet Christ himself. He was a sign, first of all,
a type of Christ in God's mercy to send his word. Jonah is a
type of Christ in that he came unto his own. He came to the
Jews and his own received him not, but as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God." Here
is a picture of God's mercy. He was a sign of God's inflexible
justice for disobedience. Did Jonah, as a picture of Adam,
disobey God? Yes, he did. Did Jonah, was Jonah
cast into the belly of a whale? The sea, the raging billows,
yes he was, but that was a picture of what Christ took upon himself
for his elect. Jonah here is a sign God is just. His preaching was God's Word.
His preaching was earnest. His preaching was wonderfully
successful. The Scripture says that the people
of Nineveh believed God. and proclaimed to fast and put
on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them.
He came to the king, and the king said, Everybody, beast,
everybody is going to fast. No one is going to eat. No one
is going to drink. Verse 8 says, Let man and beast
be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God. Yea, let
them turn away, every one, from his evil way and from the violence
that's in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn
and repent? and turn away from his fierce
anger, that we perish not. And the Scripture says, God saw
their works, verse 10, they turned from their evil way, and God
repented of the evil that he said he would do unto them, and
he did it not. There's an amazing thing that
takes place in the fourth chapter. I know, and you know, that eventually
Nineveh was destroyed. Why were they destroyed? because
of their iniquity. But right here, at least in type,
I can see, as Jonah is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, these
people, at least in type, are a picture of God's people, God's
elect, that hear the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ and
repent. The Lord says, that the people
of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah. You say, I don't know
if I can reconcile all that thing. Oh, there's a lot of things I
can't reconcile in my mind. There's some things that the
Scripture does not fully reveal, but I can tell you this. Christ
himself said, Jonah is a type, is a sign. As Jonah was a type
and a sign, he's a type of Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. No sign
is going to be given, except John 8, 26, said, He that sent
me is true. I speak to the world those things
which I have heard of him. Jonah was earnest. He went into
that city and he cried, Yet forty days in Nineveh shall be overthrown. Concerning the earnestness of
our Lord, John 7, 37, he said, In that last day, the great day
of the feast, he stood and cried, saying, If any man thirsts, Let
him come unto me and drink." Concerning his success, the Scripture
says that the people of Nineveh, starting with the king, it's
an amazing thing. I cannot, I just, I can't fathom
that. Starting with the king and everybody,
everybody proclaimed a fast, everybody. He said, Christ said,
the people of Nineveh repented. That's an amazing thing. Any
more amazing is it of the repentance of one of God's elect? The preaching
of Jonah had success. Christ said, My sheep hear my
voice, and they come to me. His word will not return unto
him void, but shall accomplish the purpose for which it was
sent. And then, lastly, we see the
Lord in His power, calling out His people. Those last few verses. and everyone down to the last
animal in that great city was covered with sackcloth and ashes. These were in the preaching of
Jonah. We behold something of God's
mercy. He sent a prophet. The Lord Jesus
Christ came to his own. He preached that which the Lord
bid him, Jonah did, Christ said, I preach those things that I
have heard of Him. No indication is given that Jonah
preached anything contrary to God's command. Of the Lord Jesus
Christ, it is said, He shall see, God shall see the travail
of His soul. He is satisfied. But I know this,
there was at least an outward form an outward change, an outward
repentance from the throne to the stable, who can tell? Who can tell? If God will turn
and repent and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish
not. Who can tell? Who can tell? But today, if God might be pleased
to call one of His own out of darkness, who could tell? God might be pleased. Do we find
not hope in that God sent a prophet to that city? I think to myself
how blessed I am that God sent a man to preach the gospel and
cause me to be there. It was many years ago, I told
you this, years and years ago, I heard a man, never heard of
him before, Henry Mahan, never heard of him. My mama gave me
a tape. Listen to this tape right here.
Popped in and listened to this man preach. Who could tell if
God might be pleased to call this religious, wicked sinner? Satisfied? Doing just fine, thank
you. I don't need to hear another
preacher. I've heard all the preaching I need to hear. What
the scripture says, God saw their works. that they turned from
their evil way, and God repented of the evil that he said he'd
do to them, and he did it not. Boy, don't despise the day of
small things. Someone says, well, Jonah didn't
preach long. It didn't take long. Noah preached
120 years, and we don't read of the success according to God's
Word. that this man saw. In the next chapter, we are going
to see that he had a bad attitude, and God Almighty showed mercy
in spite of him. God saw their works. Eventually, Nineveh filled up
the cup of its iniquity, and the threatened destruction came. You know, it is not our place
to decide what Almighty God is doing or try to speculate on
matters that are not revealed. The issue is this. Seek the Lord
while he may be found for adventure. God might be pleased to show
mercy to me. That song, Lord, if I have not
believed you for today, help me today. Grant me a heart today. Show me your Son today. Grant
me to behold truly my need of Him. Repent. Who can tell whether
God might show mercy upon us? Lord, will Him. I want to look
at the last chapter of Jonah tonight, what happened, and why
I believe it is revealed, why God showed mercy to that city. I've never seen it before. I think I've seen something.
I know I've seen something of the gospel in chapter 4, but
that whole city, starting King, and according to the King's word,
down to all the animals, everybody is going to have cyclops and
ashes. Everybody is going to fast. And in the very last part
of the fourth chapter, I believe I see why God showed mercy to
that city, why he spared that city. I know, eventually, Nineveh
was destroyed, and there's nothing there now. Nineveh was shown
mercy for God's sake, for Christ's sake. Wonderful passage. Our Father, tonight, or today,
we realize that by your grace and mercy we are able to be here. And Lord, we behold in the sign
of Jonah, a picture of Christ. We behold Him, the second Adam,
the obedient servant. He who learned obedience, experienced
obedience by his sufferings, and suffering that for your people. How we pray that you would cause
us this day to think by faith to look upon him who is worthy,
worthy of our praise, worthy of our thanks, worthy. We ask
you to forgive us for we failed you. Show us of Christ, for it
is in his name we pray these things. Amen.