Jonah, the book of Jonah. Good
to have Brother Stephen with us this morning. I'm thankful
for his successful surgery, and he's with us. I didn't expect
to see him. Jonah chapter 1. You remember why we are looking
through the Old Testament? Because the Lord preached all
the things from Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms, concerning him
to those disciples. He said, thus it is written,
thus it behooved Christ to suffer and rise from the dead the third
day, and that repentance. This is what he said when he
was preaching. It went all through the Old Testament. He said, this
is the subject, this is why the Old Testament was written, concerning
Christ crucified and repentance. and remission of sins should
be preached in His name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem."
And you're witnesses, he said. Repentance. Another prophet.
Another prophet, Jonah. Same message. Repentance. Old-fashioned, but This is the story, this is the
purpose of Jonah's existence. This book, Jonah, is certainly
about this man being swallowed by a whale, but it is much deeper
than that. The reason, the purpose for Jonah's
life and this book being written is to show us Christ crucified
for sin. Because of sin. Our Lord said in Luke 11, He
said, the men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment against
this generation because they repented when Jonah preached
repentance. They repented. So this is a story. And you know, the story of a
man being swallowed by a whale is an amusing story in this world.
It's a fable. It's a Jewish fable. It's amusing,
you know. And people like to make trinkets
of whales and talk about being the belly of a whale, like Noah
and the ark. They kind of laugh at it, you know. It's amusing. The God's people know it's much
more serious. Picture of Christ crucified.
The name Jonah is a popular name today, isn't it? Naming young
boys Jonah. Like Noah. Noah's a popular name.
But their preaching and their message is completely forgotten. It has no relevance today to
most people. Noah, Scripture says, was a preacher
of righteousness. Scripture says, Noah, being warned
of God, moved with fear and prepared an ark for the saving of his
household. And by that ark, he condemned the world. That's what it says about Noah. Would the people who named their
children Noah would pray that they would find grace like Noah
did? That they would fear like Noah
did? That they would be in the ark like Noah was? It makes us
think of that, doesn't it? How blessed we are when we hear
those names. We think of God's mercy. Jonah, he walked through the
land of Nineveh. He said, 40 days this place is
coming down. That was his message. 40 days
it's all going to be destroyed. That's serious. What if somebody
walked through this world saying that to everybody? We are. We are. Nobody's paying any attention. Nineveh did. How blessed Nineveh
was. How blessed. There are many lessons
to be learned in Jonah. The principal one, though, is
this. Verse 11 and 12. This is what
this whole story is about. Chapter 1, verse 11 and 12. The men were about to go down
and drown in the sea, and they all said, What shall we do unto
thee that the sea may be calm unto us? How are we going to
keep from being destroyed, drowned? The sea is wrought and tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me
up, take me up, and cast me into
the sea. And so shall the sea become unto
you. Because I know that for my sake
this great tempest is upon you. You know that this whole universe,
all time and eternity, is for Christ's sake. God made this
universe for Christ's sake. God didn't need man. He didn't
need anybody. He didn't need anything. The
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit dwelt together in perfect
unity. He didn't need man. Why did He create man? For Christ's
sake. For the glory of His Son. Why
did He create the world? He didn't need this world. Oh,
it's beautiful, isn't it? Wonderful. Not to God. The heavens. You know, the new earth. The
new heavens and the new earth, God said, are going to be so
wonderful, the former will not be remembered or come to mind. Now this present evil world is
still beautiful in it. Look at that. It's beautiful.
Look fast because we're going to put blinds on the windows
so you won't be able to look at them and be distracted. But it's beautiful in it. You
can still see the hand of God. God's people do. Clearly see. But the new heaven, the new earth
is so far exceed this one that we'll think, There's nothing to that. Christ is the reason for creation.
Christ is the reason He's going to destroy this creation. Christ is the reason for salvation.
Christ is the reason for damnation. It's all concerning Christ. You
believe on the Son, you'll have life. If you don't, I'm going
to destroy you. That's it. Hear the Son, believe Him, bow
to the Son. I'll receive you and love you
forever, and you'll be with me forever. If you're not, I'll
cast you into the lake of fire. It's all about Christ. You know
that? This whole book's about Christ. This book's not about
Jonah. It's about Jesus Christ. Just
like Job, and Obadiah, and Malachi, all of them. What fakee of Christ? That's the question. To all human
beings. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. He that believeth not the Son,
the wrath of God abideth upon him. Boy, that's an old-fashioned
message, isn't it? It sure is. It's as old as God. And God hasn't changed. And man
hasn't changed. And the truth hasn't changed.
So that's what this whole, dad used to call it, this whole shooting
match, this whole world, this whole kit and caboodle, whatever
you want to call it, this whole vanity. The only reason God continues
to put up with this Present evil world that has no use for God
is God has a people. God has a remnant. He's still
bringing them in. He's still merciful and gracious. He's got a people He's going
to bring them in. I hope it's everybody in this building. And
more. I hope the Lord brings your lost
sons and daughters. Oh, I hope. Don't you hope? It's for Christ's sake. That's
what this story's all about. Here's the fact. If we repent,
we won't perish. If we believe Christ, we won't
perish. If we don't, we will. We'll perish. And if not for Christ, God would
have destroyed this place long ago. He would have destroyed
Adam and Eve right there. God is so blessed and so merciful.
He came to Adam and Eve in the garden and said, it's for the
woman's seed. Someone's coming. So repentance is the message. Jonah preached repentance. Look
at verse 1 and 2. Jonah 1 and 2. 1, 1 and 2. The word of the Lord came unto
Jonah. His name means dove. You remember the story all the
way back in the flood of Noah and the Lord destroyed the whole
world. He took eight souls in the ark. That's right. Well, then when
there's going to be a new world, he sent out a dove. He sent it out once. It came back. He sent it out twice. He came
back with an olive branch in his mouth. That's always been
a symbol of peace, isn't it? God has propitiated. His wrath
has been appeased. And the dove brought back that
emblem of peace. That's Christ. It says He had
eyes as a dove. Scripture says a dove landed
on His shoulder. It's because all the peace of
God is in Him, on Him. That dove came back twice with
an olive branch. He sent Him out again. He didn't
come back. He went on. Our Lord. That's Him. Jonah, the dove. But, He had a message of salvation,
but it was a message of warning. Verse 2, rise, go to Nineveh,
that great city, and cry against it. Their wickedness has come
up before me. I hear it. I see it. I hear it. It's a great city, meaning not
wonderful and great and beautiful and all that. It means great
sin, full of great iniquity. That's what it means. Great as
in large, but at that point it was 120,000 people, Scripture
says. But it took three days if you're
walking. It was huge. It took three days
to walk through. But the greatness of the city
was this great iniquity. Now that's this world. A great many people in this world
now. Look at Genesis 6. I quote this
all the time. Genesis 6. But I don't want to
just quote things for you. I want you to look at it. Especially
our young people. This is what God saw then and
this is what God sees now. Genesis 6. Everybody, I want
you to know. This is what God saw then and
this is what God sees now. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the sons of men to see if there were any. And that's quoted
twice in the Scripture, Psalm 14, Psalm 53. There's a reason
for that, because that hasn't changed. In fact, before the
Lord destroyed the world by flood, the whole world was so corrupt. And God said, I'm going to destroy
it. Look at Genesis 6, verse 5. Verse
4, there were giants in the earth, beautiful women, strong men. Verse 5, God saw the wickedness
of man was great. That's what's great. The only
thing great about man is his wickedness. And that every imagination
of the thoughts, in other words, whatever he could come up with
as far as wickedness and evil and sin, whatever, let's think
how bad we can be. Let's do it. Have you ever, some of you older
people, did you ever think you would see and hear what you're
seeing and hearing? Don't people have any conscience? Did you read that article in
the bulletin about being conscious of sin? No, the conscience is
seared with a hot iron. No conscience. Nothing. No evil. Blame it on religion. His heart was only evil continually,
and it repented the Lord. The Lord's not a man that he
should repent, change his mind. That means He's talking to us
in a language we can understand, like we'd say, I wish I'd never
made you. That's what He's saying. No one
under God always works from the beginning. But look at verse
11. The earth was corrupt before
God. The earth was filled with violence. The Lord looked upon the earth,
verse 12. Are you looking at it? Behold,
it was corrupt. All flesh had corrupted his way. The way of holiness, the way
of righteousness, the way of wholesomeness. Wholesome. Wholesome. Do you like that word? You know, I want to be whole.
Don't you? I want to be whole. I want to
be holy, wholesome. The world is laughing and scoffing
at sin, and it's a sport, and it's just anything goes, filth. Sodom. I was going to have you
turn there. The Lord says the cry of Sodom
is exceedingly great. They're doing things that animals
don't do. He said, I'm going to go down and see if it's as
bad as it is, speaking in a language that we can understand. He knew.
He heard. And he went down and said, I'm
going to just, I'm going to just, the only way you can destroy
anything completely is just burn it. And God did. And he's coming again. Oh, but our modern generation,
they laugh at that. Oh, come on. Only, you know,
fanatics that stand on street corners with long beards talk
about fire falling. Jesus Christ said that. Repent. Turn. Turn. Why will you die? The Lord
said, why will you die? Read Jude. If you haven't read
Jude in a while, read it. All men, women, and children,
listen to me. Do not become desensitized to
what you're seeing and hearing around you today. Don't do it.
Don't become insensitive to it. You hear me? May it grieve us. It grieved our Lord. May it shock
us. May it frighten us. May it cause
us to cry out, God be merciful to me. Because the seed of that
is in us. But for the grace and mercy of
God, we'd do anything. God may cause all of us to cry
out for mercy. God be mercy to the men and women
of the dead. Let everybody put on sackcloth,
King said. Let everybody cry for mercy. It's old-fashioned, isn't it?
Boy, it's a good message, though. It's the goodness of God that
leads us to what? Repentance. The goodness of God
that leads us to what? Repentance. Oh, Lord, forgive us. Oh, Lord,
pardon us and our children. Oh, Lord, cleanse us from all
iniquity. Oh, Lord, forgive us. Oh, Lord, unite our hearts to
fear Thy Name. There's no fear of God around
us. Oh, may it be in us. Turn us,
oh Lord, we'll be turned. Save us from this untoward generation. Would to God that every person
in here would say that from the heart. You know what God would
do? He'd save you. Oh, may the Lord grant us repentance
and faith. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because you know how God's going to forgive us? A substitute. A substitute. These men in this
ship didn't know it, but they were the most blessed men on
earth or sea. They had a man in their ship.
was their salvation. They didn't know it. He was in
that ship for a while. And, you know, all of the beauty of this,
that Christ, you know, He was fast asleep in that ship, like
our Lord. He's such a picture of our Lord. But those men didn't know it.
They had a man in that ship who was their salvation. You see,
that ship, the Lord raised a tempestuous wind, a storm. He did. And you
know, everything, and this storm and this wind, you know, it fell
on Jonah. But those men were godless men. They were idolatrous men. They
all started to look at it. Chapter 1, verse 4, that the
Lord sent out a great wind into the sea. There was a mighty tempest
in the sea. The ship was likely to be broken.
The Lord was going to break that ship up. Lord's going to break everything
up. Everything's going to be destroyed. Everything that man
has ever done, everything we've ever built, our homes, everything,
it's all going to be destroyed, broken up. Now, here's what we
need. We need a broken heart. He's going to destroy it all.
And the mariners, they cried out, every man to his God, Every
man to his God. You know who they were crying
to? God that cannot save. They were all frightened, you know.
People are religious because they see the wrath of God revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness. Hurricanes and tornadoes and
earthquakes and disease and plagues and some people see it as the
hand of God so they cry out to a God. You know, people get religion
because of, you know, calamities and disasters and trauma and
death and all of that, and they get religious. I believe that
these men, you know, if it became calm all of a sudden, they'd
have quit crying. They'd have quit crying on their God. I've seen it. Somebody dies and
everybody goes to the funeral, everybody gets real serious,
you know, but about 24 hours later it's all forgotten and
they go right back to the way it was, like it never happened.
It's plagued, Lord's sin, everybody. 9-11, you name it. 9-11's like the tire of Sololo
fell, you know. Everybody gets serious, everybody
talks about God, but when the storm's over, go right back to
what it was. These men, the Lord put them
through this storm, and they started crying. And their hope
was right there, a man in their midst. This man, he's the one that's
going to steal the tempest. He's the one the Lord's going
to destroy, as it were, to save them. And they finally realized
how blessed they were. Jonah, you see, revealed himself
to them. He said there in verse 12, they
said in verse 11, why is this happening? He says, for my sake. He revealed to them, he said,
I am a Hebrew, verse 9, and I fear the Lord, Jehovah. He revealed
the true God, Jehovah, the God of heaven. Look at verse 9. I am a servant of the Most High
God, the God who is God, the One who made this sea, and you're
in it, and He's the One that brought this storm, and you're
in His hands to do with as He pleases. That's what He's saying
right there. This is the God who created everything.
This sea, everything that you're going through right now, He did
it. That's what He's saying. That's
the God we need to preach. That's the God we do preach.
And it struck fear in them, didn't it? What are we going to do? What do we do? How are we going
to have peace with God? And Jonah said, if I be lifted
up, if I be taken up and cast into this tempest, You'll have peace. How blessed we are. Aren't we
blessed to have in our midst the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ? And there's some in here who don't know how blessed they
are. Like these men. They don't know the Lord Jesus
Christ yet. I pray that they will. I pray that like these
men in this ship, they'll call on the Lord. I do. I pray that we'll all keep calling
on the Lord. But they didn't know until Jonah
revealed himself, and we don't. No man knoweth the Father, but
the Son, he to whom the Son will reveal. He said, this is for
my sake. And salvation came because of
a substitute. In verse 17 of chapter 1, the
Lord prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. Jonah was in
the belly of that fish three days and three nights. Our Lord
called it a whale. And He said, this is the reason,
this is the sign, this is the purpose, this is what this is
saying. It says, Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days
and three nights, so must the Son of Man be in the heart of
the earth three days and three nights. Why? Why did Christ die? Why did Jesus Christ come? Why
did Jonah come? Why did God send Jonah to Nineveh?
Why did He send him there? To preach. That's why Christ
came. Repentance toward God. Well,
what else? Faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
What do you mean? Believe in Jesus? No. Bow to,
call upon God for mercy, for Christ's sake. A substitute. A sin offering. A burnt offering. Christ crucified. Are you with
me? That's why He came. And Jonah, his life, was so that
God would cast him overboard into that belly of that whale
and save this ship full of men and save this country. Salvation. Our Lord said this. Listen to
John chapter 12. Let me read it to you. He said,
Now is my soul troubled. Would that God would put us all
in trouble. Like these men, they realize
we're in trouble with God. We're in His hands. Christ was being made to sin.
Christ came to be made to sin. He said, now is my soul troubled.
What shall I say? Father, deliver me, save me from
this hour? No. This cause came unto this. He said, Father, glorify thy
name. There came a voice from heaven
like thunder. I have both glorified it, and
I will glorify it again. How? In His people. Some stood by and heard it and
said it thundered. And I want you, every time you hear the
thunder, I want you to think of this verse when our Lord said,
Father, glorify thy name. That's what this whole world,
that's why it thunders. Every time it thunders, this
is why, to remind us that Christ has glorified God and He'll glorify
Him again. And our Lord said, this voice
came not because of me, it came for your sake, that you might
understand why Christ came. Never lose sight of that. He says, now is the judgment
of this world, now the prince of this world be cast out. He
said, and if I be lifted up, crucified, I will draw all men
unto me. And this, he said, signifying
what death he should die. That's what it's all about. That's why this world still exists. And these men saw that. They
heard. So they laid hold of Jonah. Are you sure about this? They
laid hold of Jonah. And they took him up and cast
him into the sea. And you know what happened? Verse 15 says, The sea ceased
its raging. Ceased its raging. You know, we with wicked hands
have taken and crucified the Lord of glory, but we did what
God determined purpose before to be done. And by Christ being
crucified, God is, who ought to be angry with us, is not angry
anymore. His wrath is appeased. God, my
God, is reconciled. How? Christ crucified. God's not angry with us. His
people, those who have laid hold of Christ, those who look to
Christ, Those who believe Christ, God
is not angry with them. Look at chapter 2. Jonah prayed out of the belly
of the fish. He prayed unto the Lord his God.
He said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord,
and he heard me. When our Lord was hanging on
Calvary's tree, God had made him to be sin for his people.
The wrath of God was being poured out on Christ. Christ was going
through hell on Calvary's tree for his people. Not everybody,
but for his people. And he cried out, my God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? That's hell, forsaken of God,
forever. He cried, I thirst. With a worm
dieth not, the fire is never quenched. He said, I thirst.
For who? Who did he cry that for? Me. You, if you believe
him. If you need him. Do you? Hmm? You fear God. That's what he
did for you. He said, I thirst. Why? So that
you never will. Oh my. Verse 3, He cast me into
the deep and the midst of the sea. The floods compassed me.
All thy billows and thy ways passed over me. That's Christ
in the belly of hell itself. People make fun of hell, don't
they? I was talking to a man, railroad
I worked with one time, and talking to him about the gospel. And
he said, I know, I know. He said, if I died right now,
I know I'd go to hell. I said, no, you don't. You wouldn't
have said it like that. You'd have hit your knees right
now and begged God not to send you there. No, you don't even
have, don't have a clue. Don't have a clue. Look at verse 7. He said, when
my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, my prayer came up into
thine holy temple. Christ cried something else on
that cross. Father, forgive them. That's
the first thing he cried. Father, forgive them. Why should
I, for my sake? Christ said, Father, forgive
them. They don't know what they're doing. They don't know what they're
doing. You see, verse 8 says, They that
observe lying vanities. That's me. That's you. That's
us. That's these young people. Going
out into the world. Vanity, vanity. Oh, my. May the Lord show us those who
do forsake their own mercies. Verse 9, this is our Lord crying
out, I will sacrifice unto thee. The voice of thanksgiving, I
will pay that that I have vowed. Christ paid that price for us,
didn't He? Why? Because salvation is of
the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ. And Brother
John, when he had by himself purged our sin, He entered into
the holy place with his own precious blood, and he obtained eternal
redemption for us. Peace, he said. Peace I leave
with you. Not like the world gives it. Not like the world
promises you. There is no peace. I give you
peace by the blood of his cross. And the Lord spake unto that
fish, and he vomited him out on dry land. That's Christ risen. Jonah didn't perish. Jonah went
out into that whale's belly, didn't he? The mariners thought
he died, didn't they? The mariners thought he was consumed,
didn't they? No, no, no. He lives. He lives. As Christ crucified. This whale... Give me a few more minutes, okay?
Did you look up the scriptures I gave you? This whale is a great
type. of several things. The whale
that swallowed Jonah. You see, if that whale hadn't swallowed Jonah,
it would have swallowed those men. You know that? They were all going down, okay? And that whale was big enough
to swallow them all. But it swallowed Jonah instead. In their stead. Okay? A great whale. What does
this represent? Well, I was going to have you
turn to Numbers. In Numbers 16, there were some men called sons
of Korah, and they rose up against Moses, against God. You know, that's rising against
God's truth, God's prophet, God's truth, against the God of heaven. And they all said, we don't believe
you're the only way. We don't believe this is the
only way. We don't believe this is the only truth. We all got
something to say here. And Moses said, don't let these
men die a natural death. May the earth open up and swallow
them all. And it did. That earth opened
up and swallowed him. This whale represents this world.
And most people in this world are swallowed up by it. Completely
swallowed up by it. Drowned. Paul told young Timothy,
beware of riches. Men drowned in riches. Got so much of it, it's all they
think about. In Hebrews, I do want you to
turn to, where should I have you turn? John 17. John 17, I'll turn to the others.
And this is, and I end with this. John 17. Turn over here. See, this whale represents sin.
Just swallows people up. Just drowns people. This whale
represents the God of this world. He just holds everybody and kept
them in the pit of corruption. Right? How do you know I was
there? How do you know I was there? And I still see him, and I still
feel him, and I still hear him. I'm still tempted by him. There's
still a pit that I want delivered from. This whale represents the
world. It just swallows people whole.
This whale represents death. It's going to swallow up everybody.
It's going to go down into the earth. It's going to be swallowed
up by every single human being. Are people wise? Do people think
about that? Do they? It's the most certain
thing. It's more certain than taxes.
Taxes are going to end. Death won't. We're all going
to be swallowed up by the earth. Do people think about that? Oh,
that they were wise. This whale represents hell. Swallow
people up. John 17. Our Lord prayed this
for His disciples. Verse 9. He said, I pray for
them. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast
given me. They are thine. Look at verse 15. I pray not
that thou should take them out of this world, but keep them
from it, from evil." He said, they're not of this world as
I'm not of this world. This world didn't swallow up
our Lord, did it? No, he wasn't taken up with this
world at all. He saw it for what it really
was, vanity. He came into the world. He was
not of this world. Why did he come into this world?
To save the people out of this world. To keep this world from swallowing
us in. The grave from obtaining the
victory. He came into this world to Take
us out of this world. Look at verse 16. They are not
of this world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through
thy truth. Set them apart. Thy word is truth. You've sent me into the world,
so have I also sent them into the world. But they're not of
it. They're not of it. You remember the story in Revelation
of the two wings of the great eagle? That woman, that's the
church, taken up on these wings of eagle and to a place in the
wilderness where she was nourished for a time and a time and a half.
And it says the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood. A flood of water, a flood of
iniquity, a flood of words, a flood of propaganda, a flood of lies,
a flood of religion, a flood, the serpent, the seed, Satan's
seed is religion. He cast all, and the world is
full of it. And it says the earth helped
the woman. The earth opened her mouth and swallowed it up. The earth swallowed up everything
that Satan was spewing out of his mouth. Swallowed it up. How
did that help the woman? Because whatever the world believes,
we're not going to believe it. Whatever the world's going after,
we're not going to follow it. Right? Whatever you see the world
believing and hearing and whatever you hear in the world, run the
other way just as fast as you can. You hear me? Now I didn't
say that. God did. He said there's a way
that seems right to man. You turn and you run the other
way as fast as you can. Because this is an untoward generation. He said, save yourself. How?
Turn and run toward the Lord Jesus Christ, just as fast as
you can. Save me or I perish. And you know what? First Corinthians,
I'll end with this. First Corinthians 15 says, oh, here it is. O grave, where is thy victory?
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
You know where it is? Swallowed up. That's what it said. He swallowed
up death, held in the grave, Jesus Christ. If you're in Him,
He went into that grave, and He came out. He was crucified,
and we were crucified with Him. He was buried, we were buried
with Him. And he came out, and so shall
we. This world won't swallow us if
we're in prayer. Okay.