Turn with me, if you would now,
to Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. I want to look back at this chapter
one more time today. And for our text, let's read
verses 38 to 41. Matthew 12, verse 38, it says,
then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered saying,
master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said
unto them, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign,
and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet
Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and
three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of
Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and shall
condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And
behold, a greater than Jonah is here." Unless the Lord's providence
for us postpones our move, this will be the last time that we
observe the Lord's table together in this building. And I want us to leave this building
as we make our preparations and make our move. I want us to leave
this building on this declaration and this hope. Salvation is of
the Lord. After Jonah spent three days
and three nights in an impossible place. That was an impossible
place. A place that with man is absolutely
impossible. A place where man can do nothing. Jonah couldn't do anything. For
three days and three nights, Jonah couldn't do anything. He
couldn't do anything to save himself. He laid there as a dead
man. For three days and three nights,
Jonah was taught the sovereign power of the Lord. He was taught the sovereign will
of the Lord. You know, Jonah said, I'll have
my own will. He was taught the sovereign will
of the Lord. He was taught the sovereign right
of the Lord in those three days and three nights. It was not
Jonah's will. It was God's will. It was not
Jonah's doing. It was God's doing. And on the
third day, when God miraculously delivered him and brought him
out of that horrible pit. Brought him out of a place of
death to a place of life. After God revealed his doings
to Jonah, his power, his might, his authority, his will. This
is what Jonah said. Jonah is the one who said salvation
is of the Lord. It's of the Lord. What a fool
I was to reply against God. Jonah said, I bow and I acknowledge
and I give thanks for the fact that salvation is of the Lord. That was his message to Nineveh.
I bow, I now bow. I declare, I give thanks. Oh,
how thankful I am for what he delivered me out of. Salvation
is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. He
went all through Nineveh crying, salvation is of the Lord. And
they believed him. God gave faith and they repented. Salvation is not of me. Salvation
is not of my work. Salvation is not of all these
things that this flesh has to do and not do and touch and not
touch. Salvation's of the Lord. That's
repentance. Salvation's of the Lord. My salvation,
your salvation, all salvation. Is of the Lord. That is the declaration
of scripture. That that's the declaration of
the gospel. And that is the declaration of
all of God's people. All of them say salvation is
of the Lord. All of them. Now, Jonah is not
the only one who said that. I want us to read a few locations
in the scripture where it tells us at the mouth of two or three
witnesses, salvations of the Lord. Turn with me, if you would,
to Exodus 14. Exodus 14 verse eight says, and the Lord hardened the heart
of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And he pursued after the children
of Israel and the children of Israel went out with a high hand,
but the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots
of Pharaoh and his horsemen and his army. and overtook them in
camping by the sea beside Piahiroth before Baalzephon. And when Pharaoh
drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes and behold,
the Egyptians marched after them and they were sore afraid. And
the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. And they said
unto Moses, because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou
taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus
with us to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word
that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, let us alone, that we
may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us
to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.
Verse 13, and Moses said unto the people, fear ye not, stand
still, and see the salvation of the Lord. That's what he told
them, salvations of the Lord, which he will show to you today. For the Egyptians whom you have
seen today, you shall see them again no more forever. They were hemmed in just like
Jonah was. Jonah was hemmed in and they were hemmed in. And
the message of the Lord to them was, stand still, don't take action. That's a good way to phrase it
to people in religion. What must I do? What must I do?
Don't take action. Don't take any action. Don't try to save yourself. But just in case, shouldn't I
do this? Just in case, don't try to save yourself. Don't even engage in the fight.
If the fight comes, don't even engage in the fight. Verse 14
says, the Lord shall fight for you and you shall hold your peace.
That's the cross of Calvary. That's what God said to all of
his people. When the enemy comes, when the judgment comes, when
that great battle comes, the Lord shall fight for you and
you shall hold your peace. The Lord will fight the battle
and he will give you peace. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
of the Lord. Turn with me over to 2 Chronicles
chapter 20. I absolutely love this story.
2 Chronicles 20. While you're turning there, I'll
tell you that three countries, Ammon, Moab, and Seir, Mount
Seir. All three of these countries
decided to join together to go to war against Israel, Judah
specifically. And the king of Judah heard about
it and it struck absolute fear into him. And he sent out a proclamation
to all of Judah to fast, and to call on the Lord for help.
He heard they're coming. Three countries are coming against
you. They're coming right now. They're coming quickly. And he
told everybody, fast, that means deny yourself and call on the
Lord for help. Cry out for help. Look at 2 Chronicles
20 verse four. It says, and Judah gathered themselves
together to ask help of the Lord. Even out of all the cities of
Judah, they came to seek the Lord. And that's what we're doing. We've all gathered ourselves
together to ask help of the Lord. Help us, help us. They all came
together. Look at verse 13. It says, and
all Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, their
wives and their children. They all came together. Then
upon Jehaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of
Jeiel, the son of Madaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the
Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation. And he said,
hearken ye all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and
thou King Jehoshaphat, the King of Judah. He said, listen, this
is the word of the Lord, listen. Thus saith the Lord unto you,
be not afraid, nor dismayed, by reason of this great multitude,
for the battle is not yours, but God's. That's the gospel. That's the good news. And I have
to, I can't leave this without reading it to you. Let me read
this to you. He said, tomorrow go ye down against them, Behold,
they come up by the cliff of Ziz, and you shall find them
at the end of the brook before the wilderness of Jeruel. You
shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves, stand
ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you. O Judah
and Jerusalem, fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out
against them, for the Lord will be with you." And that was said
at the cross of Calvary. He was with us, we were with
Him, and that'll be said as we leave this world and go out into
eternity, the Lord will be with you. Verse 18, and Jehoshaphat
bowed his head with his face to the ground and all Judah and
the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshiping
the Lord. And the Levites of the children
of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korites stood
up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high.
They were so happy to hear salvation was going to be of the Lord.
Verse 20, and they rose early in the morning and went forth
into the wilderness of Tekoa. As they went forth, Jehoshaphat
stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem,
believe in the Lord your God. So shall you be established.
Believe his prophets, so shall you prosper. And when he had
consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord
that should praise the beauty of holiness as they went out
before the army and to say, praise the Lord for his mercy endureth
forever. King Jehoshaphat decided to put
all the musicians on the front line. Soldiers in the back. The
Lord said, you're not going to need to fight in this battle.
It's not your battle, it's the Lord. So Jehoshaphat said, all
the musicians go to the front. And as we march in, we're going
to start singing, praise the Lord. Verse 22. And when they began to sing and
to praise, The Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon,
Moab, and Mount Seir, which were come against Judah, and they
were smitten. For the children of Ammon and
Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir utterly to slay
and destroy them. And when they had made an end
of the inhabitants of Seir, everyone helped to destroy another. And
when Judah came toward the watchtower in the wilderness, they looked
unto the multitude, and behold, they were dead bodies fallen
to the earth, and none escaped." And when Jehoshaphat and his
people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among
them in abundance, both riches with the dead bodies and precious
jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they
could carry away. And they were three days in gathering
of the spoil. It was so much. Is that not beautiful?
Is that not beautiful? I mean, that's the gospel. They
were crying, thank God, thank God. The battle was the Lord's. Thank God. All we need to do
is sing praise. That's all we need to do, just
to sing praise. I can see these soldiers going
back home, you know, and all the people asking them, what
did you do? They heard three countries are coming up against
us. What did you do out there when that battle came to you?
What did you do? They said, nothing. We didn't
do anything. Our salvation was of the Lord.
of the Lord. You know, people say, well, now
you have to do your part. If somebody would have said that
to them, well, now you had to do your part. They would have
said, no, we didn't. Salvation was of the Lord. Totally.
Turn with me over to Psalm 3. Psalm 3 verse 1 says, Lord, how
are they in Christ that trouble me? Many are they that rise up
against me. Many there be which say of my
soul there is no help for him in God. But thou, O Lord, art
a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. I
cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy
hill. I laid me down and slept. I awaked,
for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands
of people that have set themselves against me round about. Arise,
O Lord, save me, O my God, for Thou hast smitten all mine enemies
upon the cheekbone. Thou hast broken the teeth of
the ungodly. Salvation belongeth unto the
Lord. Thy blessing is upon Thy people. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Salvation belongs to the Lord.
Don't turn, but Psalm 37 verse 39 says, the salvation of the
righteous is of the Lord. He is their strength in the time
of trouble. Psalm 62 one says, truly, my
soul waited upon God from him cometh my salvation. This is
our only hope before the judgment throne. This is it right here.
It's that he purposed in his heart to save us. It's that God,
the father from the beginning chose to save us and God, the
son came and accomplished that salvation. And God, the spirit
is going to call us. call us to himself. Our only
hope of glory start to finish is that salvation is of the Lord. Now Jonah realized this after
his own deliverance. Jonah was delivered and then
he went out and cried this message, salvation's of the Lord. Jonah
pictured the deliverance. He realized this after his deliverance. And he pictured the deliverance
that God provided for all of his people in the person of his
son. So turn with me, if you would, to Jonah chapter one.
Let me just show you this and we'll be done. If your Bible's
like mine, it's page 1149. Old Testament 1149. Our God orchestrated, he designed
salvation for his people in the only way that salvation could
be had for his people. Our Lord designed, it wasn't
just the perfect salvation, it's the only way his people could
have salvation. It was the only way that God's
holiness would not be compromised, and God's justice would not be
compromised. And one man said this, he made
this statement. He said, if God had asked the
angels, if God had called all the angels together and asked
all the angels, how can I accomplish this? I'm going to create man and he
is going to rebel against me. He's going to sin against me.
And I'm holy and I must punish sin and I'm going to punish that
sin. My holiness, my justice, it demands
it. But because of my love for a
particular remnant of those people, I wanna have mercy on them. I
wanna show mercy to them. I want to deliver them from the
punishment that they are owed and has to come to them. And I want to reinstate them
back into unity with God. Something so full of sin, so
full of ruin. How can I do that? This man said
that if the angels were asked by God, how can I do that? How
can my law be kept? How can justice be upheld and
mercy be shown? How can I be just and justify
my people? He said, had that happened, those
angels would still be sitting in silence, trying to ponder something that only God could
design. And that's so. That is so. Only God could design and accomplish
this salvation. Only with God was this possible. And God revealed to us how he
did it right here in Jonah, right here in the book of Jonah, in
the story of Jonah. We know that the Lord told Jonah
to go to Nineveh, but he didn't. He got on a ship going to Tarshish. And because of that, the Lord
sent a great storm to the point that that ship was going to sink. If you look at chapter one, verse
seven, Jonah one, verse seven, it says, and they said, everyone to his
fellow, come and let us cast lots that we may know for whose
cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots and the lot
fell upon Jonah. The entire foundation of our
salvation is in this statement right here. And the lot fell on Christ. I mean, that's the whole foundation. All of our hope, all of our salvation
is that the lot fell on Christ. God the Father laid the iniquity
on Him. Laid all of the iniquity. Unlike
Jonah, unlike me, unlike you, our Lord did not commit the iniquity. but the iniquity, the actual
ownership and the guilt and the condemnation, all of it fell
on Christ. Who could have ever imagined?
Just think about this. See if the Lord will let you
enter into this. Who could have ever imagined a salvation for
us where the spotless God would take the place of a wretched
people? Who could have imagined? Who could have ever imagined
a salvation for us where the God who knew no sin would be
made sin for us, would make it so that the lot of sin would
fall on himself. I'll take it to myself. so that we could be made the
righteousness of God in him. Can you imagine any angel, had
that scenario happened, can you imagine any angel would have
designed a salvation where the holy God would trade places with
his sinful people, trade standings before the judgment throne, where
the judge would become the judged? Can you imagine? anyone saying
to the holy God, here's the design. The high and holy and spotless,
almighty, all-powerful God is gonna say in the place of His
people, because that's what they are, I'm a worm. Isn't that amazing? The one who is the judge of all
heaven and earth would become the judge. stand there in the guilt of His
people. Who could conceive a salvation
like that but God Almighty Himself? Who would have the humility but
God Almighty Himself? Only God, only the merciful,
loving God would put Himself into that position. So much so
that the law acknowledged it, yes, that sin is on Him. The judgment acknowledged it.
Yes, that sin is on Him. The Father acknowledged it. Yes,
that sin is on Him. Who could imagine a salvation
where God Almighty would say on behalf of His people, take
me up and cast me in? That's what Jonah said. Verse
11. Then said they unto him, what
shall we do unto thee that the sea may be calm unto us? For the sea wrought and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, take me
up and cast me forth into the sea. So shall the sea be calm
unto you. You take me up and you cast me
in and everything will be calm to you. My life for theirs. My life for theirs. In the Lord's
doing of that, from the depths of His own judgment and the depths
of His own death, the grave of death. Chapter 2, verse 2, He
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, In the midst of the seas and the floods compassed me about,
all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said,
I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy
holy temple. The waters compassed me about,
even to the soul. The depth closed me round about. The weeds were wrapped about
my head. I went down to the bottom of
the mountains. The earth with her bars was about
me forever. Yet hast thou brought up my life
from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came in unto thee into
thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities
forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee with
the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. Out of the depths of his separation
from God, this is what he cried, he cried, this sacrifice I make
unto thee. And I make it with thanksgiving.
He said, I will pay what I vowed to pay. Salvation is of me. He said, I swore to save my people,
and because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself.
Salvation's of the Lord. And he saved him. He saved him.
In his resurrection is verse 10, pictures. Jonah being delivered
from this fish. It says, the Lord spake unto
the fish and had vomited out Jonah upon dry land. With our
Lord's resurrection from the depth of judgment, The declaration
goes forth, it's finished. It's finished. Salvation is accomplished
and it was all of the Lord. Every bit of it was of the Lord.
The lot was laid on him and in doing so it broke his body and
it shed his blood. That lot that was cast onto him
broke his body and shed his blood and because of that, we are healed. Our Lord gave us that sign. He said, no sign's gonna be given,
but what happened to Jonah? It's the only sign that's gonna
be given. He gave us that sign to declare it, and he gave us
this ordinance to remember it. He said, in doing this, you're
gonna remember what I've done for you. And because of his mercy
and his grace, God's people will never forget it. I am so thankful
to know that all throughout eternity, even in our spotless, holy, sinless
state, we will forever cry. unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood. Thou art worthy because you were
slain and you redeemed us back to God by your blood forever. We'll never forget it. We will
never forget it. This ordinance is a reminder
until we see him face to face And thank God in that blood we
will see him, a greater than Jonah, a greater than Jonah. Let's remember him together in
his table just one more time here.