May God be pleased to bless us
together this morning, and if we meditate in his word, let
us turn to the little book of Jonah in chapter two, and we'll
read verse seven. The book of Jonah, chapter two,
and reading verse seven. When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord. and my prayer came in unto thee
into thine holy temple. I expect most of us are fairly
familiar with this account of Jonah. Many people learn of it
at school and it's a very interesting account of course and what we
have really is how God spoke to Jonah and how Jonah didn't like what
he heard and Jonah didn't want to do the will of God and he
turned away from it. We have that in the first chapter
and what occurred because Jonah was disobedient to his God. And then in the second chapter
we have the account of Jonah's experience in the stomach of
the whale. And of course it's referred to
a great fish here but in Matthew's gospel it is also referred to
a whale. Whatever it was, it was a very
large fish and it was prepared by God so that it could swallow
up Jonah. And then in the third chapter,
we read how Jonah then heard God's voice, and this time he
didn't disobey it. This time he did obey it. And
he went and preached to Nineveh, that was a very wicked city,
and God had wonderful compassion upon Nineveh, and they turned
and repented, turned to the Lord and repented of their evil. therefore
the Lord had mercy upon them. So there is much instruction
to us today in this well-known account, and we should try and
fit ourselves in our lives alongside such an account. And you may
say, well of course, you know we're not living in that country
and we're not likely to be called upon to go into a certain place
and to preach against the evil and we're certainly not likely
to be thrown overboard and to find a big fish follows us up
and then find that we're then delivered and commanded again
to go and to preach to the Ninevites. Well that may not be so in the
Actual words, but nonetheless I believe there is an alignment
today in the lives of the people of God and The alignment really
is like this God still speaks to people today No doubt about
it. He speaks to our heart and we
realize that God has spoken But we find ourselves today perhaps
no better than Jonah, because what God spoke to Jonah, it wasn't
an easy thing. He was told to go to Nineveh,
a great city, and cry against it, for the wickedness is come
up before me. Now he was obviously realized
it was a very hard situation. He didn't want to go there. No
doubt he'd have been shouted down and people would have spoken
against him and therefore he decided no he wouldn't go. Sometimes
you and I may have the same position today. God may speak to our hearts
and we think well no that's a bit too difficult. It's going to
cause a few problems in my life. It's going to stop me doing some
things. It's going to put me on a different course. And really
I don't want that. So what do we do? We turn a deaf
ear to God. We close our ear so that we won't
hear what he's saying. And we then decide to go our
own way. Now, be very sure of this. God
will always have his way. God will always gain the victory. And as you and I may perhaps
decide to rebel against God and to not go that way and to disobey
God, and it's a terrible thing to disobey God. We often operate
that way, don't we? We don't realize what a tremendous
thing it is to disobey the Word of God. And you can read from
the beginning of the Bible right through many, many instances
where people were told what to do and they disobeyed God and
God's judgment came upon them. And if they were his people,
mercy came upon them. But nonetheless, it was not an
easy path. See, God would always win in
the end. God would always have his will
brought to pass in the lives of his people. So let us not
think that because we decided to do something else, and especially
if it looks a bit okay at the present time, it did. You see, in Jonah's case, he
thought he would avoid going to Nineveh. He thought he'd go
in the opposite direction, and he went down to Tarshish, and
he found a boat. And he had enough money to pay
the fare, So he got aboard the boat and was very happy with
his position, went down and went to sleep. Sometimes, you know,
you and I might be like that. We really disobey God, we walk
in an opposite way, and it all seems peaceful, it all seems
quiet, and everything seems to be working out. And we're quite
glad that we've disobeyed God. Well, it wasn't long before Jonah
had to realize the reason for the great storm that had come
upon the boat he was in was because of his disobedience. Now that's a very sanitary experience
when God brings situations into our lives in one way or another
to indicate to us that we are disobeying Almighty God. And I believe there will be that
nudging of our conscience that we cannot rid ourselves of what
we should have been doing. And there we find our conscience
is being nagged by the Holy Spirit of God. And that's a great blessing
really. Well, in the case of Jonah, he
had to go through a very difficult situation. very difficult situation
he would never have expected what was going to occur and yet
he was told by God that he was the cause and he told all the
sailors he was the problem and the only thing to do was to throw
him overboard well they weren't very happy to do that but in
the end they realized that was the only solution and Jonah confirmed
it And he told them to cast him overboard. And as soon as that
was done, there was a great calm, the sea calmed down. And Jonah
was in the sea, but the Lord had decided what to do with Jonah. He knew all along what was going
to happen. And therefore we prepared this great fish and the fish
swallowed up Jonah. Now Jonah, we're told, was in
that fish's stomach for three days and three nights. It's hard for us to visualize,
isn't it, today, what it would be like in that condition. In
the sea, in the stomach of a great fish, and no daylight, not able
to observe anything. And it would seem, from this
account, that Jonah was realizing The situation that he was in
but was unwilling to pray. Because we're told he was there
for three days and three nights and then prayed unto the Lord
his God. It's a very sad situation, isn't
it? When we're so rebellious and
so hard-hearted that we're not prepared to pray to God. We're
not prepared to seek for mercy. Well, eventually, of course,
Jonah was. And this second chapter gives
us an insight into the working of the Holy Spirit upon him.
And we're told then, after these three days and three nights,
he says, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord. And it was a bad situation he
was in, and he obviously recognised that he could not get himself
out of that condition. And so it may be so in our lives. It won't be quite like this,
but we may have got ourselves into a bit of a fix. And we don't
know how to get out of it. In actual fact, we're so hard-hearted,
we don't want to pray about it. Because we know we've brought
it upon ourselves. We know it's because we've sinned
against God. Because we've rebelled against
God. Because we've disobeyed God. And we're reluctant to confess
that we have walked that way. And to repent of our sin seems
a long way from us. We just stay in that condition. Well, you see, We're told this
in the word of God. The Lord waits to be gracious. The Lord waited here until by
the power of his spirit Jonah realized his condition. He realized what he was doing. And then he prayed to his God.
And he prayed to his God. Well, it'll be a great blessing
for you and me when we come and pray to God and we confess our
sin and we confess our rebellion against God, we confess that
we haven't obeyed God, we haven't obeyed the Word of God, we haven't
obeyed the Word of God contained in the Bible and we've decided
to do that which we want to do. And our hearts are hard, our hearts
are sad, and therefore we walk in the contrary way to God. Until,
well there was an until in the case of Jonah. And the until
in Jonah's life was this, he cried unto the Lord. Now, when you and I, my friends,
are brought to that position where we cry to God from our
heart, it's not then just a mere form of words. It's a real cry. We need God. We need God to hear
us. We need God to answer our prayers. And we cry from our heart. And
it's very real. And we need an answer. Jonah
needed an answer, didn't he? He cried and what are we told? And he heard me in that strange
position in the whale's stomach and as he refers to it as the
belly of hell. It's what it seemed to be like
to him. Darkness, darkness, no light,
terrible condition. You see, God hears our prayers.
wherever we are isn't that good wherever we are you may have
been in some pretty bad places but you see if you cry to God
God can hear your prayers in the worst place perhaps places
that you should never have been in and yet God has caused you
in those bad places to cry to God and God heard his voice. God heard his voice. And you see, what happened, Jonah
had to confess the condition. He had to confess the situation
that he was in. And it's a mercy when God gives
us favor, gives us grace to come just like this. and to pray unto
God. And he said, for thou hast cast
me into the deep, in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed
me about, all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then he said this, I am cast
out of thy sight. And that's how it may sometimes
appear to us. God has cast us out of his sight. It's as though he doesn't want
anything more to do with us. Because we've turned our back
upon God. Because we've been determined
to have our own way. Because we've been determined
to disobey God. It's a very, very solemn situation,
isn't it? It's a very terrible position,
really, when you think of it. when we're so small in comparison
with the greatness of God and yet we're so ungrateful and we're
so wretched and we're so sinful that we decided to disobey God. Well, what a mercy it is when
we have a statement like this. Because then he said, I'm cast
out of thy sight. But he'd come to his senses.
He'd come to his senses and what did he say? Yet, I will look
again toward thy holy temple. And of course, in those days
there was the temple in Jerusalem, the ordained place for worship. And it wasn't just a building,
it was a building, but of course it was the place where sacrifices
were made to God and it's where the blood was shed and everything
in that tabernacle, in that temple rather, pointed to the Lord Jesus
Christ in those various types which it portrayed. So that as
the worshipper came to worship in the temple, it didn't just
look at the wonderful natural buildings, some did, but those
who were blessed with faith realised they needed salvation and the
salvation directed them to the Lamb of God. to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And you may say, well, I'm surprised
to hear that. Well, just remember what Jesus
said about Abraham days before when he said, Abraham saw my
day and was glad he saw the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so here we see Jonah in this desperate condition, coming to
this position and saying, yet, yet I will look again toward
thy holy temple. What was there? He had a hope in the mercy of
God. And that's a tremendous blessing
when the Holy Spirit gives us a hope in the mercy of God and
faith to look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Here was Jonah given
faith Although he recognized he'd been cast out of the sight
of Almighty God, yet he said, I will look again toward thy
holy temple. And there may be in your lives
times when you pray to God, and then you've given up. And you've
said, well, I'm not praying anymore. It's of no use. And then God comes to him. Now he came to Jonah. He came
to Jonah and he made him realise there was a God in heaven. He
made him realise he must pray. He must cry to his God. And what was the effect? He said, yes, I'll look again. I'll pray again toward the Holy
Temple. I'll come once more. to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, you see, he had to learn
some hard lessons. Then I said, I am cast out of
thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. And he
explains his position. The waters compass me about,
even to the soul. So he comes and he directs us. Again, there's a deeper view
here. It's not just his body. He now realises it is his soul
which is at stake. And of course our soul lives
forever. And that's why it's so vital
to have a right relationship with God. He now realised it was his soul
that was at stake. And that's why he said, 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." What was the blessing here? Hope in God. God had given him a hope, even
in a far off place like that. In the darkest place in the whale's
belly, yet there was this place of hope. This place of hope. And he says, yet as thou brought
up my life. And this really had two features. His natural life had been preserved.
He wasn't drowned. And also his spiritual soul had
been preserved. He wasn't cast into hell. Well, what a revelation that
was. By the Holy Spirit of God, the
Jonah, hard-hearted, sinful Jonah, Therefore, may we be encouraged
today to believe the Lord still deals with us, not as our sins
deserve, but because of his favour toward us and to be able to come
and to realise a great truth like this. Yet, yet has thou
brought up my life from corruption, O Lord, my God. The position
was, now that he was praying to his God, Oh Lord, my God,
he was in a desperate state, wasn't he? There was no one else
that could deliver him from that condition, in that dark place,
no one else. And it's the same today with
us. No one else can deliver us from our lost condition but the
Lord God Almighty. What a blessing when the Holy
Spirit comes and convinces us of our condition, of our situation,
so that we're able to realise it is the work of the Holy Spirit. We couldn't do anything and we
can't do anything toward our salvation. It is the work of
the Holy Spirit. And what a blessing it is when
you and I realise we are a possessor of that work in our souls, so
that we're able to confirm with Jonah these great truths, yet
as they were brought up, my life from corruption, oh Lord, my
God. And then we come to the verse
that I read this morning. when my soul fainted within me. Sometimes, as it were, we faint,
we give up. We give up. Faint's within us.
But what happened to Jonah? When he was in that desperate
condition, he said, I remembered the Lord. Remembered the Lord. Well, what a mercy when we come
and we remember As God brings to our attention, yes, I believe
there is a God. And therefore I desire to be
reminded of this God and reminded of who this God is and what he
can do. Jonah says, I remembered the
Lord. Well, praise God today. if you
have remembered the Lord. On that day in the history of
the world when the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, upon that
cross at Calvary, there were those two thieves which were
crucified with him. One on the right hand, one on
the left. And one thief Although they'd
both spoken against the Lord Jesus Christ, one thief was brought
to the light, was brought to realise that this was the Son
of God, and to realise that this blessed Jesus had done no wrong.
He said to the other thief, we indeed justly, because we receive
the punishment due to our sins but this man has done nothing
amiss and then he said Lord remember me. He wanted to be remembered
of God. Here we have Jonah saying that
I remember the Lord and he remembered the Lord because the Lord had
remembered him and what a blessing it is for us today to have a
realisation that God remembers us. God's watched over his people
from the moment we were born. The moment we were born. He watches
over us all our life until the very time we take our last breath
and then it is to receive his people into glory. He remembers
us and it's a good thing when we remember the Lord remembers
us. And so here was Jonah in this
situation when he said, when my soul fainted within me, I
remember the Lord. And my prayer came in unto thee
into thine holy temple. Well, again, we have to go back
to the picture we have in the Old Testament of the temple. And in that building, There was the holy place, and
then the most holy place, the Holy of Holies. And in that Holy
of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant. And in the Ark of the
Covenant were the Tables of Stone, the Ten Commandments. And the
lid on top was of solid gold, and it was called the Mercy Seat. And it's where the Lord God came
and communed with the high priest on that great, wonderful annual
day of atonement. And there was this requirement
that the high priest could not go into the holy place unless
he had with him the shed blood of a dead animal, which he took
within him and sprinkled upon the mercy seat. And you see,
it was then that that offering was accepted by Almighty God
to hear the prayers of the high priest on behalf of the people. Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ
came and died upon that cross at Calvary as that great and
glorious complete sacrifice, he was the sacrifice. And the picture we have was when
he gave up his spirit When he said, it is finished, that means
the work of redemption, the work of salvation was complete. We're
told that the veil of the temple, the veil that separated the most
holy place from the holy place was rent in twain from the top
to the bottom. And what did that signify? It
signified very beautifully and very importantly that now there
was that way made of access to God the Father. through the Lord
Jesus Christ's shed blood. In the Old Testament, the only
way of access was through the bloodshed that the high priest
took and sprinkled on the mercy seat. And that was accepted and
access was then granted. But now we have a far more glorious
scene in the Lord Jesus Christ because he now sits in glory
and he intercedes for our prayers today. through his sacrifice,
through his shed blood. We have therefore a far more
glorious temple as it were. And we see here then in this
picture, my prayer came in unto thee, into thy holy temple. And bless God today, our prayers
ascend up to the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ as he intercedes
for us in heaven today. No more need for animal sacrifices,
because the Lord Jesus Christ offered himself as that all-sufficient
sacrifice. And that sacrifice and that shed
blood, my friends, atones for the sins of all his church. And
bless God today, it atones for your sin and my sin. as we come
and confess our sins and pray for forgiveness, commit our way
unto the Lord, there is that glorious picture of forgiveness.
The worst of sinners, the Apostle Paul knew it, less than the least
of all saints, the greatest sinner. However sinful you and I may
feel to be, however terrible we are, however great we are,
there is forgiveness with God. through the shed blood of the
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. So we have here in this account
the very clear direction that Jonah had of coming to this place
and being able to say, and my prayer came in unto thee, unto
thine holy temple. And bless God today that our
prayers come in to the Holy Father through the merits of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh, what a mercy, what a revelation,
what a wonderful favour to realise there is forgiveness with our
God. Oh, there is. And that's why
we read in the Romans, the 8th chapter, there is therefore now
no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh but after the Spirit. And here Jonah was
walking after the Spirit. The Spirit was speaking to him
in that dark place in the whale's belly. And my friends, bless
God, when He speaks to us sometimes in a dark place, and He shows
to us the light. And what is the light? The glorious
Gospel. And what is the light? It's in
the face of Jesus Christ, isn't it? Oh, you see, that's a wonderful
blessing, that's a wonderful favour. Never forget the reference
I often make in the 2nd Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians and
the 4th chapter and the 6th verse. It's very easy to remember. Don't
forget it. The 2nd of Corinthians, the 4th
chapter and the 6th verse where we read, For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ." And he goes on and just tells us that we
have this treasure, and it is a tremendous treasure. It's very
valuable. if you and I have realised this
light shines into our heart through the merits of the Lord Jesus
Christ and we have this vessel and it's referred to as earthen
vessels, our bodies of course are earthen vessels, that the
excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. It was
the excellency of the power of God that revealed to Jonah the
only way of salvation. as he was in this dark place
when the Lord came and blessed him, he humbled himself, he was
blessed with repentance and he came and he acknowledged the
wonderful blessing of God and he came and he speaks in this
way. He says, they that observe lying
vanities forsake their own mercy. And it is a blessing when you
and I turn away from lying vanities. And the devil is a great, skillful
person at bringing before us lying vanities. What is that? He's telling us we can ignore
the commands of God. He's telling us we can enjoy
the world. We can enjoy the things in this
world. Now, God's given us many things
to enjoy in the world and we shouldn't ignore that. But you
see, vanities of worldliness which will never profit our soul.
And so here we have this statement. They that observe lying vanities
forsake their own mercy. May we not be amongst those who
forsake mercy. Let us not forsake the word of
God. Let us not turn away from the
word of God. God had mercy upon Jonah. There are many who do not receive
mercy, who turn away from God. May we find that today, that
we don't forsake the mercy of God, that we don't turn our back
upon God, that we don't disobey the Word of God. It's a frightful
thing to disobey God's Word. It's a terrible thing to disobey
God's Word. And our friends, may we never
be found in that way. May we be walking before our
God as he shines his light into our hearts. And Jonah goes on
to say this, but, having spoken all these things, now he says,
but I will sacrifice unto thee, unto the Lord, with the voice
of thanksgiving. Isn't that wonderful? So when you and I are brought
to acknowledge the Lord's mercy, the Lord's grace, the Lord's
love, his great love where he loved us, to acknowledge it,
how is it done? This is how it's done. With a voice of thanksgiving.
We thank God for his mercy. We thank God for his grace. We thank God for His love. And that's with our voice. Be
very clear about that. Very clear about that. But I
will sacrifice. And what does that mean? Well,
sacrifices, of course, in the Old Testament were those things
which the people had to give. And what it meant was this. They
had to do something and it was costly to them. They had to take
something and they had to offer it as a sacrifice. And they had
to, therefore, commit it to God and to give it freely. What a
blessing, therefore, if we today are blessed with this desire
to come and to give freely and to sacrifice unto the Lord. I will sacrifice unto thee with
the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I have vowed. Well, God knows whether you vowed
anything, whether God has, you said to the Lord, if that happens,
I will do this. Perhaps it's the Lord hears my
prayer. I will take up my cross and follow
thee. The Lord knows. the effect of
his work in our hearts. What a blessing, therefore, if
you and I are amongst such donors as we have here. I will pay that
I have vowed." And the culmination was really this. The work of
the Spirit had revealed to his soul this great blessing. Salvation, the saving of his
soul, is of the Lord. is of the Lord." That means he
couldn't save himself. That means however good he decided
to be, to turn a new leaf and to change his attitude, he wasn't
able to save himself. And so he gives God the glory.
He gives God the glory. Salvation is of the Lord. Now this morning, how do you
respond to that? Do you have to come and say,
I hope you can and I pray you can come with your heart to God
in real thanksgiving and say, salvation is of the Lord. It's his work. He's revealed
to me my condition, my lost condition, my ruined condition, my hopeless
condition. And he's caused me to pray to
God. He's caused me to crying to Him,
and He's heard my prayer, and He's looked upon me, and He's
shone into my heart the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus
Christ. He's shown to me that the blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth from all sin, and His blood has
cleansed my sin, so that I am freed from the condemnation of
the law of God. He set me free. Blessed freedom
it is. And it's an eternal freedom.
Never again under that yoke of bondage which the devil would
try and keep you down. Yes, the Lord comes and when
he sets free, it is a glorious freedom. Salvation is of the
Lord. And we see here then in this
account now, this spiritual experience which Jonah passed through in
that time in the whale's belly and then the work was done and
what happened? The Lord spake under the fish
and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. Jonah was now a
different person. Jonah was now a person blessed
by the Spirit of God. Jonah was now a person made willing
by the power of the work of God in his heart. Yes, Jonah was
a changed person. And we're told in the next chapter,
and the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time. Arise
and go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto the preacher
in the eye of Bidley. What did Jonah do now? Did he
now run away? Oh, no. He was made willing. in the day of the power of God. And he arose and went to Nineveh.
Well, may you and I, my friends, be made willing in the day of
God's power to do His will, to not be disobedient any longer,
but to turn unto Him, commit our way unto Him, to trust in
Him, that He will remember us for good. And don't forget, the
Lord never leaves and never forsakes his people. He said, I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee. So we may boldly say, the Lord
is my helper. I will not fear what man shall
say unto me. Amen.