I invite your attention for our
Bible study to Jonah, chapter two. Jonah, chapter two. A couple months ago, we looked
at Jonah, chapter one, and we saw who this man Jonah was. We saw that he was a prophet
of God. But we saw that this man Jonah
was a disobedient prophet, didn't we? And what was true of Jonah, God's
prophet, is true of all God's people. He was a sinner saved
by grace. God commanded his prophet to
go to Nineveh and to cry out against it, for their wickedness
was come up before him. But Jonah disobeyed. Jonah headed
down to Joppa and joined himself to a ship headed to Tarshish. And while Jonah was on that ship,
God did something. God sent out a storm, a great
wind and a mighty tempest into the sea. And not just into the
sea, but to the ship that Jonah had joined himself to. And God
sent this storm because of Jonah, because of what he did, but he
also sent it for Jonah, for Jonah's good. As his child, God was going
to correct Jonah. And likewise, as God's children,
we all constantly need our God's correction. Now when God sent
this storm because of and for Jonah, everybody on that ship,
it appeared that they were in imminent, life-threatening danger. All those mariners or sailors
on that ship, they thought they were gonna die. They were running
around frantically, throwing things off the boat, crying unto
their gods. They didn't know what to do.
And the fact of the matter is, there was nothing they could
do. Nothing they could do to save themselves from that storm.
But in the midst of their hurrying around, not knowing what to do,
God was pleased to use Jonah, that sinful prophet saved by
grace. He was pleased to use him to
save those men physically from the storm. But more than that,
God was pleased to use his prophet to preach the gospel to them,
by which God was pleased to save their souls. Oh, the goodness
of our God. Now, this account of Jonah, people
call it a Bible story. It's very popular. It's very
famous. It's one of my favorite after
studying this for a while. I truly love it. But as wonderful
a story as it is, it will do us no good if we don't see the
spiritual picture. We must see the spiritual picture
here given, and I don't want us to glory in Jonah, all right? We need the glory in God. Jonah
was just a sinner saved by grace. That's all he was. But one thing
we need to learn from Jonah is what he represented. The first
thing Jonah represented, or the first person he represented,
rather, is Adam, our father, Adam. What does it say about
Adam? By one man. Sin entered into the world, and
death by sin. Death passed upon all men, for
all have sinned. What's it say about Adam? By
one man's disobedience. What happened here with Jonah?
One man disobeyed God. He gets on a ship. What happened
to everybody on that ship? They were all in trouble, all
right? The first thing Jonah represents is Adam. In Adam,
all died. We're all born into this world,
dead in trespasses and sin. But praise God, According to
God's infinite wisdom and grace, this man, Jonah, represented
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who was lifted up on the cross.
Jonah said, take me up and cast me forth. Christ was lifted up
and cast forth into the heart of the earth. for us. Jonah went out, and all those
men went free, safe. Christ went down. He suffered
all the wrath and judgment of God for us. And notice, Jonah
was the only one who went out into the sea. Christ did it all
by himself, all by himself. Truly, what a blessed picture
of the gospel we have here in Jonah. Now, today I'd like to
focus on chapter 2, and to lead into it, let's read the last
verse of chapter 1. Jonah 1 verse 17 says, And Jonah was in the
belly of the fish three days. and three nights. Now we read
last time in, I believe it was Matthew 12, where our Lord said
to some Pharisees who were seeking a sign, he said, no sign's gonna
be given unto you except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 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. You see, Jonah was just a picture. He was just a picture, that's
all he was. Jonah, yes, he got cast into the sea, and there
was a great calm to the sailors. But Jonah didn't die to put away
their sin. Jonah couldn't. Now Jonah could
die, but he could put away no sin, not even his own. You see,
only Christ could, and only Christ did. That's exactly what he did.
And God prepared this fish for Jonah. Just as He prepared the
storm for Jonah, He prepared the fish for Jonah. God was not
going to let His prophet die in that storm. And this is so
important. I didn't write it down, but I
just thought of this. I don't want to sound like I'm saying
God sent the storm to punish Jonah. He sent it for Jonah's
good. He sent it for his correction.
If God sent the storm to punish Jonah for his sin, there wouldn't
have been no fish for Jonah. He would have died in that sea.
He would have died under the wrath of God. God sent that fish. He prepared that fish for him
in mercy. In mercy. Jonah didn't deserve it. We don't
deserve it. We don't deserve it. But praise
God for his infinite mercy to sinners. This message is for
sinners. I pray God will give us good
news for sinners. Now here in chapter two, Jonah's
in the whale's belly. And as we look at this, I pray
God will help us to see ourselves and our sin, and to see Christ
and our need of Him and His mercy. Jonah chapter two, verse one
says, 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. Here he is. And this really happened. Here he is inside the belly of
a fish. Just imagine. Imagine how, it's
just miraculous. Imagine how uncomfortable it
must have been. Imagine, I can't imagine there was any light.
I can't imagine it smelled very pleasant or felt anything comfortable
at all. Just a miserable situation. And
remember, God and mercy put him there, all right? But what does
he do? What does he do in this awful
situation? He prays. Now, recall, it wasn't
long ago Jonah was sleeping in the bottom of a ship in the midst
of God's judgment and wrath, right, what it pictured, and
he was sleeping sinfully, no regard for what he'd done, no
regard for God's holiness and His justice, just sleeping, sleeping
a sinful sleep. And you remember what the captain
said. He came to him and said, Pray unto your God. Your God
might be able to save us. That's what he's doing now. Lord, save me. Now he prays. And you know, this is good for
us, brethren. What do we do when we're in a hard spot, when all
seems lost? Where do we go? What do we do?
We pray unto our God, don't we? We have nothing else to do. We
can do nothing. Without him, we can do nothing. Jonah had a need. Here he is,
trapped inside this fish. And I'm sure he didn't see a
way out. I can't imagine he did. Not a way that would end well
for him. Not unless God did it. Not unless God brought him out.
He needed God to hear him. And I love reading, he heard
me, thou heardest my voice. Why did God hear him? Was he
this mighty, strong Christian man? Oh, no. Why does God hear
us, brethren? This is the only reason God would
hear anybody, because He hears His Son. He said, you hear me
always. He hears Christ. And even in
these two verses here, I pray we can see Christ. Read it with
me again. Then Christ prayed unto the Lord
his God out of the fish's belly. He cried, 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. Is that not our Lord?
Can we see our Lord in that? I pray we can. Verse three, 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. Jonah said, thou hast cast me
into the deep. Why thought those men cast him
into the deep? We'll look back at chapter one,
verse 14. This is after Jonah preached the gospel to these
men. Verse 14, Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said,
We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this
man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood. They wanted
to be saved, but they didn't want to be guilty of killing
God's prophet. But look what they say at the end of verse
14 here, For thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee. Then it goes on to say, they
took Jonah up, threw him off the boat. Who did it? They did
it, yeah? God did it. Both are true. Who
crucified the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, we can read about it very
clearly in the four gospels. Wicked men did that. That's true. But did you know that God did
that? Did you know, did you know that
he was delivered? Yes, Pilate delivered him to
the will of the people. That's what it says. He did.
But our Lord was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God. That means God purposed for this
to be done. God purposed for Christ to be
delivered. I love reading that he was the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That means before
Adam ever sinned, we had a savior. before the first sin ever took
place, the sin of all God's people had been put away forever. What
a blessing. What a blessing to know that.
Now, as Christ's death was purposed by God, Jonah was thrown off
this ship according to God's eternal purpose. And here's the
reason why. Here's why God has given us this
picture, that we might read the book of Jonah, that we might
hear it preached and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
be saved. That's the purpose of this book.
That's the purpose of this whole book, that we might see Christ,
need Him, and believe on Him. That's the whole reason. Verse
three again. 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. Verse four. Then
I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again
toward thy holy temple. Jonah was cast into the sea,
but our Lord Jesus Christ, he was cast into the lowest hell.
He cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Jonah
didn't cry that. We don't cry, we can't cry that,
we can't. You see, though Jonah had thought,
well, God cast me out of his sight, he cast me out, here I
am, left to die, but he hadn't. God did not cast him out. And
I'll say this, trying to relate to Jonah, and sorry, but I just
can't relate to this. No trial I've endured can come
close to this, all right? But trying to relate to him.
I can say this, sometimes it feels like God has cast us out,
doesn't it? Sometimes we feel like, Elijah,
I'm left alone. Where has God gone? Where is
His presence? But the good news of the gospel
is, we cannot be cast out and will never be cast out because
Christ was cast out for us. He was cast out for us. And unless
Christ was cast out of God's sight in my place, I will be. Unless He suffered the judgment
and the wrath of God in my place, I will suffer the judgment and
the wrath of God that I deserve. And the reason for that is God
is too holy, if there is such a thing. God is too just, too
just. The end of verse four here tells
us a little bit about God's temple. It's holy, holy, holy. He said, I will look again toward
thy holy temple. What is God's holy temple? What
is this holy temple? It's none less than Christ. Christ
is the temple of God. And he told his people, he said,
you're the temple of God in him. Where are we going to look when
we have no hope, we have nowhere to go, when we feel like Jonah
cast out of God's sight? Oh, by God's grace, brethren,
we'll look to God's holy temple, won't we? By His grace, by the
faith He gives us, we'll look to Him. We'll look to our Lord
who was cast out for us. Verse five, the waters compassed
me about, even to the soul. The depth closed me round about.
The weeds were wrapped about my head. This is speaking of
Christ. And this tells us how Christ
was cast out. You say, well, He knew no sin. How could God cast Him into the
deep? How could He punish Him for my
sin when He was not guilty of my sin? He knew no sin. There
was no guile found in His mouth. You see, whatever God does, if
God's gonna save a sinner like me, He has to be just in doing
it, not just, oh, God loves you, Christ died for you, now make
it effectual. It doesn't work like that. God is holy. His holiness
must be satisfied. He must be satisfied. Well, how
did that happen? At the end of this verse, it
mentions the weeds being wrapped around Jonah's head. I picture
Jonah sinking and perhaps this was in the whale's belly just
covered by whatever, just filth. That's a good picture, brethren.
Our Lord wrapped himself in our sin, in our filth, and he completely
covered himself from head to toe. Remember, there was a crown
of thorns on his head, and there were nails in his feet. From
head to toe, he took it all upon himself. I had nothing to do
with that. I was just guilty of the sin.
I am guilty of the sin that I committed, the sin that he bore. He bore
it himself. He did that all by himself. And
here's the blessing for us. As a result of him wrapping himself
in our sin, what's that mean for us? He's wrapped us in himself. He's wrapped us in the perfect,
spotless righteousness of himself. Oh, what good news. You know,
if I, I guess if I could say something to Jonah in this moment,
Jonah, why are you so fearful? You're preaching the gospel,
listen to yourself. Listen to God, listen to the good news
of what Christ has done for you. Cheer up. Cheer up. We're one with him. You know,
you rap something, it's one. We're one in him, accepted in
him. Verse six, he went on to say,
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. Oh Lord, my God. Jonah, I don't
know exactly what happened, but I imagine that after he was thrown
off that boat, I imagine he started sinking. The storm was raging, it was
getting more and more tempestuous, stronger and stronger, worse
and worse, and here he is, left to drown. I just picture him
sinking lower and lower and lower. He said, I went down to the bottoms
of the mountains. You know, I read the tallest mountain in the world
is underwater. He sank, he sank, and he sank. Well, let's apply this to ourselves.
Do you ever feel like you've hit rock bottom? I mean, you're
just as low as you could go. You feel like you could drop
no further. This is it. You just feel like a goner. That's
what Jonah was experiencing, physically and spiritually. That's
what our brother Jonah endured. Now, just reading this, we can
understand and enter into the fact that it's an awful place
to be. It just feels terrible, miserable. But by God's grace, spiritually,
this is the best place to be. The lower we get, the higher
Christ gets. What did John say? He must increase,
I must decrease. The lower we get, the more glorious
our Lord appears. When we feel low, brethren, it's
like we've been hearing about the last couple weeks, being
poor in spirit, having nothing to offer God, Needing, here's
what it comes down to. When I have nothing, I'm saying,
I'm looking to Christ for everything. And that's where we must be.
We must, that hymn says, what comfort can a savior bring? Now
listen to this, to those who've never felt their woe, woe is
me. That's why he said a sinner is
a sacred thing. Holy ghost hath made him so. Are you a sinner? I pray we don't try to fight
it. Christ came to save sinners, and He's our only hope, brethren.
His life fully satisfied the law of God, His death fully put
away our sin, and His resurrection proof that God is satisfied.
Now, the end of verse six that we just read here, this certainly
speaks of Christ, where He said, yet hast thou brought up my life
from corruption, O Lord my God. Let me show you a verse in Psalm
16. Psalm 16. When we say things like Christ
was made a curse, He was made sin, it's a fearful thing to
say because we're not trying to corrupt Him. We're not saying
He was corrupted. Now, He suffered our corruption. He was made to be what we are,
alright? But He was not corrupted. Look
at this, Psalm 16 verse 10. This is Christ, for thou wilt
not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one
to see corruption. It's not gonna happen. Now, explain
it all. Forget it. I can't, but I know
this. We're, as I believe Paul told
us, gonna put on incorruption. Now He said, this flesh is nothing
but corruption. How is this corruption going
to put on incorruption? How is this mortality going to
put on immortality? In Christ. And that's only possible
if Christ is incorrupt. And another thing that I just
can't understand, He said, thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.
Well, what's that implying? That's implying that his soul
went to hell. When we say, I'm crucified with Christ, we're
saying, I suffered the wrath of God in hell, in him. But here's
the good news, God brought him out. He said, you won't leave
my soul there. You're not gonna suffer me to
see corruption. And the glory for us is, in him, that's true
for us. He's not gonna suffer us to see
corruption, because we're one with him, one in him. Oh, what
good news. This is what God has done for
us in our substitute. Do you need a substitute? There's nothing we need more,
brethren. Nothing we need more. It was true for Jonah. I pray
it's true for us. Now look here back in our text
in verse seven. Jonah 2, verse seven. Jonah said, when my soul fainted
within me, I remembered the Lord. And my prayer came in unto thee
and to thine holy temple. This blesses my heart so much.
You read of the struggle, you read of the misery, the agony
Jonah's going through. And he said, I fainted. I was at my wit's end and I remembered
the Lord. Why do you think Jonah remembered
the Lord? We know why. It's because the Lord remembered
him. He wasn't gonna let him go. He wasn't gonna let him go. And brethren, let's remember
this. When all hope is lost, remember
the Lord. Remember the Lord. He may let
us wander. He let Jonah wander. But praise
God, he wouldn't let him go. He said, I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you. Remember the Lord. Remember his
love. We sing a song, oh, the love
that sought me. Remember his blood, oh, the blood
that bought me. Remember his grace, oh, the grace
that brought me, a sinner, into his fold. Remember that, brethren.
When you're discouraged, remember these things. Remember him, remember
him, who loved you and gave himself for you. Verse eight, now this
verse, I'll just go ahead and tell you it. It just feels like
it's out of place, all right? Let's read it. They that observe
lying vanities forsake their own mercy. It just seems odd,
doesn't it? I can't tell you how many times
I read this just trying to make sense of it. It seems out of
place, but I'd be a fool to think that because this is God's word.
This is pure, every word of God, which is pure, that's gonna stand
forever. So what's here for us? What does
this mean? Jonah was confessing something. Jonah knew he'd observed lying
vanities. Jonah knew he had forsaken God's
mercy to him. And I tell you what, I know too. Do you know? I'll just be frank with you.
Sin comes so naturally to me. Nothing comes more naturally
to me. It comes so naturally to me. I'm a liar. God's true, I'm a
liar. I observe lying vanities every
single day, all day. God has been so gracious and
merciful to me, and every single day I forsake his mercy and his
grace, every single day. And I'm ashamed of it. There's
no excuse for it. Like, I feel like Paul in Romans
7, he said, that which I want to do, I just don't know how
to do it. He said, I can't find how to do it, that which is good.
And he summed it all up with this, a wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me? from the body of this death.
That's what it is to be laid low. That's what Jonah here in
this whale's belly represents, knowing he'd sinned against God,
knowing he deserves nothing but God's wrath and judgment, and
yet he received nothing but mercy. Jonah's cry is my cry. God be
merciful to me, a sinner. That's the only cry there. That's
the cry God will hear. I'll tell you that. That's the
cry God will hear. A humble heart, a contrite spirit,
however it says, and God will not despise that. He will not
despise that. Verse nine. But I will sacrifice
unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I have vowed
salvation is of the Lord. We quote that so often, don't
we? It's a blessing to study that in its context. Where was Jonah when he said
that? He's still in the belly of a fish. That means something
to me. He cried this when he felt his
sin the most. He cried this when God enabled
him to truly mourn over his sin. He cried this when he was looking
to Christ alone. Oh, that we might learn from
Jonah. Oh, that I might learn to praise,
thank, and worship my God in times of trouble. It's so easy
to be all happy and thankful when everything's going our way.
It's so easy as a sinner to murmur and complain and oh, Oh, may
God help us. May he teach us like him to vow. Lord, I'm gonna worship you.
You're worthy to be worshiped and praised in all things. You
know, as I get a little older, I feel like I'm starting to realize
the greatest blessings often come to me when I feel the worst. In the most trying times, how
often is that when God will bless us the most? Have you found that
to be true? I'm looking at some people who've
been through some things. We can only believe that and
know it by experience. And I pray God would teach us
that more and more. Verse nine again, he said, Now so many people
think, So many people think that they've
vowed something to God. You know, when salvation depends
on, yes, Christ died, yes, God is love, God, yep, but I, what
we're doing there is we're making our salvation dependent upon
something we vow, some decision we make, all right? Well, that's
going right against what Jonah's saying. You know, you could read
this. A not-so-good commentation on
this said, where Jonah said, they that observe Lion of Ages
forsake their own mercy, but I, I will vow unto the Lord. No. Jonah, he's admitting his
sin, he's owning up to what he is, what he's done, and he's
praying, Lord, would you cause me to be thankful? Would you
cause me and everything to give thanks for this is your will
concerning me in Christ? You see, only God can truly pay
that which he's vowed. Who vowed to save a people? Wasn't
us. Who vowed to be surety for his
younger brethren? Who vowed to finish the work
that his father gave him to do? Brethren, none of that has anything
to do with us, except we're the recipients of it, of the gift,
the free gift. Salvation's of the Lord. Are
you interested in this? Oh, I pray we are. I pray we
are. Do you need the salvation that's
of the Lord? There's one salvation. There's
a lot of different salvations being preached, but it's either
me or it's the salvation of the Lord. Which one do you need?
I can do nothing. I am nothing. I deserve nothing
but wrath and judgment and condemnation. I need the salvation that's in
Christ. I need the salvation that's of
the Lord, and I pray you do too. Verse 10, and the Lord spake
unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. I love thinking about God speaking
to this fish. Did you know everything in this
whole world and universe, however you want, everything, something
that captures everything, everything runs, it functions at God's command. I think that's why the psalmist
could say, this is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice
and be glad in it. God spoke to this fish. Everything
moves at God's voice, at His command. I've spoken it. I will
also bring it to pass. What a comfort. I have purposed
it. I will also do it. Oh, what good news. God speaks
to this fish to vomit out Jonah. And it's a very simple reason.
He purposed Jonah to come out. He purposed Jonah to go in, and
he purposed him to come out. And I don't know which one's
more miraculous, the fact that a fish swallowed up Jonah, preserved
him, kept him alive for three days, or the fact that God said,
come out, and he spits him out. Amazing. But upon that thought,
I'm not sure which amazes me more, the thought of Christ dying
on a cross, the thought of him opening not his mouth, being
led as a lamb to the slaughter, being mocked and ridiculed like
he was when he was worthy of everything opposite of all those
things. What's more miraculous, that or his resurrection? That by one man's death, he could give eternal life to
so many. I don't know which amazes me more, honestly. I just know
I rejoice in Him and what He's done for me. I rejoice that this
was God's purpose for us, that He might save His people from
their sins. Now, this is a picture here of Jonah, Jonah coming out
of the fish. The picture is Christ coming
out of the grave. And I'll end with this. Notice where it says
He was vomited out. It says, upon the dry land. Does that remind you of anything?
Does that remind you of some sinful, rebellious children of
Israel who God was pleased and mercy to deliver? How did he
deliver them? Through a sea? What did it say
about them as they walked through the sea? It said they walked
on dry land. God's people walk on dry land. God's people walk on dry land.
We only walk on dry land. because we're in Christ. We walk
in Him. We walk with Him. He took our place in the sea
of God's wrath. He drank the cup dry, and we
walk on dry land in Him. Salvation is of the Lord. Amen.