Alright, turn to Luke chapter
11 again. Luke 11, and I hope you kept
Jonah. Keep that marked. We'll go back
to Jonah in just a minute. Luke chapter 11, where our Lord spoke of Jonah's story. Jonah's is a Hebrew name. Jonah, the Greek name. Look at verses 27 through 32. It came to pass as he spake these
things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and
said, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, the paps which thou
hast sucked. Speaking of his mother, there
are millions right now doing that very thing, aren't they?
Hail Mary, Mother of God, pray for us poor sinners. He said,
rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep
it. Once again, how blessed we are. We just don't know, brethren,
we just don't know. And when the people were gathered
thick together, verse 29, he began to say, this is an evil
generation. They seek a sign. And there shall
no sign be given, but the sign of Jonas the prophet." And Matthew
and Mark, he went on to say, "...as Jonah was in the belly
of the whale three days and three nights, so shall the Son of Man
be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights."
And verse 30, he said, "...as Jonah was a sign unto the Ninevites,
so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation." The Queen of the South shall
rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and
condemn them. She came from the utmost parts
of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, a greater
than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh shall rise
up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn
it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonas, and behold,
a greater than Jonas is Him. He began by saying, blessed are
those who hear this. And we're so blessed. And hopefully
the Lord will open this to our understanding. This Jonah, the
story of Jonah, which our Lord said is the sign, is a type,
or something typified, a picture, a shadow, a prophecy, That's
why that story happened. It's a prophecy of the Lord Jesus
Christ crucified. It's a whole story. You know
the name? Well, blood is not mentioned. Not much
religion is mentioned in the book of Jonah. It's kind of a
mystery. It's hidden. Oh, but Christ said the whole
book is about Him. And what I hope is that we're
not taken up with the type. Because it's amazing, it's fascinating.
I hope we'll be amazed that Christ would do what He did for that. Our Lord began by saying, verse
29, this is an evil generation. His day, the generation being
2,000 years. We're in the last of the last
days. A day is a thousand years, a thousand years is a day. The
Lord Jesus Christ is that prophet of whom Moses spake. Jonah was
a prophet. Like all the prophets, he preached
repentance. When the Lord Jesus Christ came,
the first thing he preached was, repent, for the kingdom of God
is at hand. Right? He didn't stand up and
say, God loves you. No, he said, repent. Meaning? God is holy and just and righteous,
will by no means clear the guilty. And God is angry with the wicked
every day. And God will punish sin. And
this world is full of sin. In the hand of God, the wrath
of God is coming down on it. Repent. Turn. Why will you die? Repentance. And only the Word
of God can bring repentance. Only the goodness of God can
bring repentance. It convicts the heart and the
mind of sin. What's sin? Well, it ain't stealing a watermelon,
or the things that people say is
sin. Sin is what we are. Sin is what
makes us don't care for God, rebel against Him, have our own
will and our own ways. Sins are what we do. Sin is what
we are. Rebels against God. That's right.
Man doesn't want anything to do with his Creator. Sins. Sins are what we do. One old
preacher used to say, you've not repented unless you've repented
of sin, what you are. What you are not. What you should
be, are not. Sins, what you've done. What
you haven't done. Should have done. And self-righteousness. You see, you're not repenting
unless you've repented of self-righteousness. Look at me. Look what I've done. Look what I've quit. Repentance is godly sorrow. That's what it's called. Godly
sorrow that brings repentance not to be repented of. David
said this. Here's repentance. And God convicted
him of what he was and what he'd done against God. He said, Have
mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness. Blot out
my transgressions. Wash me throughly from my iniquity.
Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in
thy sight. You're going to be clear when
you speak and just when you send me to hell. That's what David
said. If I go to hell right now, I'll get exactly what I deserve.
Let the blood be propitiation on the mercy. Lord, have mercy
on my soul. Wash me, cleanse me, purge me
with hyssop, and I shall be white as snow. One way, the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he was saying. You
know anything about that? That's what repentance is, unto
salvation. And our Lord said this is an
evil generation, they seek a sign. They seek a sign. Our Lord was preaching. He is
the Word made flesh. He was preaching the Word of
God. The blessed Word of God. They said, no, show us something. And this is an evil generation.
People want to see something. But he said in verse 29, no sign
shall be given but the sign of Jonah the prophet. Now turn back
to Jonah, okay? No sign. No sign. May the Lord give us ears to
hear and eyes to see and a heart to believe. Now, this type, as
I said, this is a picture. Something that portrays or typifies
or prophesies of the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Beginning
in Genesis, all the way through Malachi, type after type, after
shadow, after picture, after emblem, And well, they all speak
of Christ. To Him give all the prophets
witness. All the principal people in Scripture
represent Jesus Christ. Okay? The first man created,
Adam, Christ is called the second Adam. From cover to cover. Jonah is a picture of Jesus Christ
here. But, no type is perfect. You understand? You can't make
it be perfect. That's why there's so many. There's
so many. But we'll see what we'll see.
Verse 1, Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of
Amittai. The word came to Jonah. God sent
the word through this man and he came to preach the word. John
1 says the very same thing. In the beginning was the word.
The Word was with God. The Word was God. That's Jesus
Christ. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. The Word came to Him. Christ
is the Word of God. The truth. The whole truth. Nothing
but the truth. In the beginning. Verse 2. He
came to Nineveh, the great city, to cry against it. Against it. Why? The wickedness. He's come up to heaven for God. The wickedness of it. Do you
see? Do you hear what modern religion
is talking? Jesus, little poor Jesus is sitting
there. He just loves everybody so much.
That is not the Jesus Christ of Scripture. He said, I have
come to bring fire on earth. Isn't that what he said? I have
come to bring a sword. He said, suppose you have come
to bring peace. Nay, rather, a sword. I'm going
to separate families, people, the truth by the truth. And in
the last days, I'm going to separate the sheep from the goats. And
I'm going to destroy this whole world with the brightness of
my coming. The wickedness of it has come up into God's ears. But, God, For His great mercy. See, He sent Jonah with this
message of repentance to a bunch of wicked people that didn't
deserve to hear it, to spare them. To have mercy upon them.
That whoever called on the name of the Lord, whoever repented
unto God of their sin, God would have mercy on them. He's merciful. He's ready to pardon. He's gracious. And all that called on Him. It's
no difference. What a good God, huh? He sent
Jonah down to this wicked place. He sent Jesus Christ to this
wicked place. Christ came into this world,
Scripture says, to save sinners. To save many from what? Wrath. Judgment. Condemnation. Death. Sin. That's why I cried to him.
Well, Jonah fled. Here's a great difference. Jonah fled. He rose up and fled
from the presence of the Lord. Our Lord didn't flee, but He
did leave the presence of the Father, didn't He? To come to
this place willingly. Christ willingly, readily, in
love to the Father and love to His people, came to this earth. To these bunch of wicked people
that didn't want Him. Isn't he merciful? Oh, by the
way, Jonah, the name even looks, Jonas, even looks like Jesus. That sounds like the same number
of letters. What does Jonas mean? Dove. Dove. What's a dove? A symbol
of peace. Purity. Innocence. The Shulamite
woman said of her beloved Jesus Christ that he has doves. When
Noah sent out something to see if the wrath of God had abated,
the waters were no longer covering the earth, dry land would appear,
he sent out a dove. And the dove came back with an
olive branch in his mouth. That's a sermon all of itself,
isn't it? Jonas. God wrote this book, didn't He?
And it's all about Jesus Christ, isn't it? Okay. He paid the fare. He paid the fare. He went down,
got in a ship with these wicked fellows. Oh, isn't that a Scripture
that speaks of Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ paid it off. All
the debt I owe. Sin left a crimson stain. He
washed it. White as snow, he paid the price. He came down to this place, entered
into a ship with who? These wicked mariners, these
godless fellows. You know what sailors are like.
I was one of them. I celebrated my 21st birthday
sailing on a ship. I know what they're like. But he came down, tabernacled
among us, The lovely Son of God who had dove's eyes, wholly harmless,
separate from sinners, came down to this place for the likes of
us that didn't want Him. Cast Him out! Why did He do that? He came to
save us from ourselves. Save us from sin. Save us from
Himself. Put us in Himself. He went with
them. The Lord sent a great wind into
the sea. Jonah found the ship. It says
Jonah found the ship. Going to Tarshish. And there's
a whole lot right there if you'll read Ezekiel 23 and other places,
1 Kings 10. There's a lot said about Tarshish.
Full of gold and silver and ivory and all this. But the Lord sent
a great wind into the sea. There was a mighty tempest in
the sea so that the ship was like to be broken. And then the Mariners were afraid,
and they cried, every man unto his God. You see, they don't
know God. They're not calling on God. Every man was religious,
though. And they got in this storm, and now they're calling
on their God. But they're calling on a God
who can't save. And in that religion today, everybody has a God, a
different God, and they call on Him. And He literally is a
God who can't save. That's what they say. He wants
to and tries. They all believed to a man that their God didn't
want this to happen. This big storm came, and my God
wouldn't do that. He loves me. When they found out who the Lord
was, they realized He's the One who sent this. And who He sent to abate it. I just gave you the key. So they
cried, every man, and they cast forth their wares. They cast
forth their wares. Oh my! This is a picture of people
that are in religion, they get in trouble, they start calling
on their God, and then they cast out their wares. That is, they
quit this and quit that, and they think, well, we'll get rid
of this and get rid of that, and then I'll have peace with
God. One thing, one way to have peace
with an angry God, Christ's crucifixion. There was one way this storm
was going to stop. It's Jonah thrown into that sea.
The ship master came to Jonah, he was asleep. This literally
took place. Didn't it? Why did that story
happen of the disciples in that ship, and Christ was in that
ship, asleep? Why did he? Because the scriptures
must be fulfilled. Because Christ said, this is
the sign. I'm Jonas. and your salvation. The only way you're going to
escape wrath and judgment is if God puts me on the cross and
I die in your place. This is it. He kept telling them
this, like Jonah finally told them this. Jonah finally told
them who he was, where he came from, what he came for, what
his message was, who God was, what they were, and their only
hope. That's what Jonah's finally told them all. Now I'm getting
way ahead of myself, but I've got to, because this is why Christ
came. He kept telling them from day
one, Christ must suffer, Christ must suffer, scriptures must
be fulfilled. I came into this world, not because
it's a sweet place, but God's angry, and God's wrath must be
appeased, and God's judgment against sin must be satisfied.
And there's only one way, a substitute. Substitution and satisfaction. That's what Christ preached.
That's what the apostles preached. Because that's the truth. That's
Christ. Well, they came to wake him up.
And they cast lots, verse 7. It says they cast lots to see
who did this and what did this. The proverb says, the lot is
cast in the lap. The whole disposing thereof is
of the Lord. They cast lots for our Lord's
garments. Remember that? When our Lord
was crucified, they stripped Him of His raiment, of His robe,
His robe without seeing, without spot, without blemish, except
covered in His own blood. What a robe to wear. And they
stripped Him of that robe without seeing, without flaw, And they
cast lots. Who's going to get this? Are
you feeling lucky? There's no such thing as luck.
No such thing. The lot is cast in the land,
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. And the soldier
that got that robe, I believe it was the same one that was
standing there and finally his eyes were opened and said, that's
the Son of God. That's me. Well, it fell on Jonah. The lot fell on Jonah. And they
all to a man said, it's him. Look at it. Now they asked him,
who are you? Why are you here? And he told
them, like I just told you. Jonah told them, I'm sent from
God. I'm a man of God. I'm sent with
the Word of God. And the Word of God is repent.
For the sin and wickedness of this place has come up into God's
ears, and God is not happy. God is angry, and God will punish
sin. But God is merciful. God is gracious. God is love. God doesn't love
everybody, but He loves those whom He first loved, and gives
them repentance, and calls them, and convicts them of their sin. Christ said this. Here's what
John 16, 8-11 says. Christ said when the Spirit of
God comes, He will convince, convict the world, the people
of every nation of sin. And He said it's because they
believe not on Me. That's what He said sin is. They
said that's what God's holding the whole world accountable for.
I'm going to throw the whole thing into hell for it. They
don't believe Jesus Christ. Of righteousness. Of righteousness, he said. It
must be perfect, he said. You must have a perfect righteousness.
It's not you doing this, casting out your wares. Not putting on,
turning over a new leaf. It's wearing Christ's robe. It's
being covered with Christ's righteousness. Do you understand that? Our children
understand that. Our children are so blessed.
Wesley, our children. Hear this over and over and over,
the truth that's able to make us wise unto salvation, where
the children of people all over the world never hear it. And
I'm going to keep saying it and saying it, and these teachers,
I insist you keep saying this and saying this. Maybe someday,
if God is pleased, that word, like it did to me, will be like
an arrow and hit my heart. That's what we're hoping and
praying for. Because it's of the Lord. It's up to Him. He said He'll convince of sin,
of righteousness. He said, I go to the Father.
And nobody comes there but by Me. My righteousness. And judgment. He'll convince of judgment. There's
a judgment to face. He said the Prince of this world
is cast out as judged. Our foe. Let me go on. So Jonah told these men who he
was, why he came, and our Lord did, His chosen men. And He's
told me, I must be chosen. You must want to be one of His.
He's told you who He is, where He came from, why He came, what
He did on Calvary tree. He showed you the sign of the
prophet Jonah, that the whole message of your salvation is
Christ crucified. And you know that. And so they said unto him, verse
11, What shall we do unto thee that the sea may be calm unto
us? The sea is getting more and more tempestuous. And brothers
and sisters, is it not true that this world, just as it was in
Egypt right before the Lord took the children of Israel out of
Egypt, it grew more and more tempestuous. And one of the last
signs was darkness covering the face of the earth. Darkness you
could feel. And what brought the children
of Israel out was the death of a substitute. The death of the
firstborn of Egypt. There was not a house in Egypt
where somebody didn't die. Well, the same was true of Israel.
There was not a house in Israel where there was not a death.
But it was not one of them. It was a lamb. Do you understand
that? Oh, I love this. I see this. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Don't you? What shall be done if the sea
is more and more tempestuous? And Jonah said in verse 12, look
at it, look at it, three words, take me up. What did Christ say? Somebody
say it. If I be lifted up, That's crucified. There'll be peace. One way. Cast me forth into the sea, the
sea will be calm unto you. It's for my sake. It's all for
my sake that this great tempest is upon you. Salvation is for
Christ's sake. This whole, everything, judgment
is for Christ's sake. The anger and wrath of God is
because they believe not on Him. And peace is going to come because
you believe on Him. You see that? I see, Kelly, I
see. Mine eyes. It's as clear as that. Judgment, because you don't believe.
Salvation, because you do believe. It's all because of Him. His
sake. In fact, the children of Israel,
they were bitten by those snakes. Bitten by the snake, which is
a picture of sin, this whole world bitten by a snake. And Moses took a pole and held
up a serpent in the likeness of that snake that bit them all.
He said, look! He lifted up as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness. So must the Son of Man be lifted
up. And whosoever believes on Him shall not perish. It's as
simple as that. It's Him. Look! Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. You bitten? Boy, I am. Got this poison in
me. If I be lifted up. So they did. First they tried to row harder. They tried to row harder, like
the disciples in that boat. They were bailing and rowing
and bailing and rowing, and they woke up Christ and said, Lord,
save us. If you don't save us, we'll perish. And Irene, he got up and spoke
peace. So they cried unto the Lord.
Now they know who the true Lord God is, the Lord Jehovah, who
God is. They cried unto Him. Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And they
said, We beseech Thee, O Lord. They're not demanding, not insisting. He's not outside asking them.
They're begging Him. We beseech Thee. Let us not perish
for this man's life. Lay not upon us innocent blood. Brethren, do you remember when
Christ was being crucified, the Jews said, Let His blood be on
us and our children. Do you remember that? That's
what they said. Pilate said, I'm innocent from
His blood, don't charge me. They said, we'll take the blame. But you know how merciful God
is. Those same people that said, we'll take the blame, doesn't
bother us. Christ was hanging on that cross
and said, Father, forgive me. And then He sent His disciples
after that, like this. He went right back to Nineveh. Jonah did. Christ sent His disciples
and said, you start at Jerusalem. You go to Jerusalem first if
you preach to the very people that killed me. And you know what the Scripture
says. So they took him up. They took up Jonah. Verse 15, and
they cast him forth into the sea. Peter at Pentecost stood
up and preached Christ Crucified, risen, buried, risen, and seated
at the right hand of God as the Lord over all. Not a frustrated
Jesus standing outside your heart's door, but the Lord seated on
the throne. Sent by God to do a work that He performed, He
finished, and after He had by Himself purged the sin of His
people, went back to the majesty on high, and sat down until this
whole thing is under His feet. That's Jesus Christ. That's who
Peter preached. They said, now save yourselves
from this untoward generation. What shall we do? They said.
We've crucified the Lord of glory. We with wicked hands have taken
and crucified the Lord of glory. But Peter said, you did what
God determined before to be done. God did this. The Lord had prepared. Look at verse 17. The Lord had prepared a great
fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of
the fish three days and thirty-nine. Oh, brethren, I'm not sufficient
for this. I can't do it. When they cast Jonah into that
water, it says, the water laid down ceased a raging. The sea
ceased a raging. That great tempest, all that
wrath, they thought they were all going to die to a man. They
were scared, they feared the Lord finally. They finally feared
the Lord. They knew that He's going to
kill us all and we deserve it. And then when they took Jonah,
that man of God, sent by God with the message of truth, and
threw him into that depth, the depth of the sea, that sea stopped. And boy, now they know. Do you
reckon they know who Jonah represents? Everybody does. Everybody does. And the Lord prepared a great
whale. And when Christ was hanging on
that cross and cried, it is finished, a great earthquake happened. The dead in Christ
arose. The veil of the temple was ripped from top to bottom.
The dead rose from their grave. The earth opened up. Heaven and
earth erupted. And hell beneath them. And the wrath of God was appeased. The wrath of God stopped. There
is no wrath. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ, whom Christ died for. The wrath of
God's sea. Now long before Jonah was thrown
into this sea, God prepared a fish. A whale. Long before. Months
before. Maybe a year before. I just read that the whales were
not too often seen in these waters. It was a rare sight to see a
whale in these waters. But God had this whale like that
ram at the bottom of the mountain where Isaac was to be sacrificed. Walked up that mountain waiting.
God had this whale. They say when there's a great
storm that the dolphins and the sharks and the whales all go
to calm water. Not this one. God told this whale,
you go. As a man, you're to swallow. Are you with me? Come on now.
Come on. This is marvelous. But it's deep. That whale represents this world. The depth, the darkness, the
filth. Jonah in Jonah chapter 2 started
describing down there, this whale represents this world that is
filled with hell. There is hell on earth. It's
called sin, wickedness, filth, darkness, rottenness prevails
here. It's a vast gulf that is swallowing
up this world and everything in it. Okay? It's a vile place. It's not a beautiful place. Our
Lord called it this present evil world. And it's just swallowing
people. It's opening up and swallowing
people. Day in and day out. And our Lord
was put in that. He was made sin. He endured hell. He went through
hell. God put him. In Psalm 69, that's
the psalm of the cross. Read it. He said, I've come into
deep waters. He said, all thy waves and billows
have passed over my head. Jonah 2. Cried unto the Lord
out of the belly of the whale. He said, the bars. He was, as
it were, in prison. Now, Psalm 16. of which Peter
preached. He says, but thou wilt not leave
thy holy one in hell, or suffer him to suffer corruption. Won't
do it. But Christ, know this, that this
world is not a peaceful, sweet place that God loves. It's like
this whale that's just swallowing people up. And Christ came into
this place, was made sin for His people, who knew no sin.
See, the mariners are up there in peace, calm, safety, while
Jonah is in the depths of filth. And Jonah cried, look at it,
in Jonah chapter 2. It went down, verse 6, into the
bottoms of the mountains. Yet hast thou brought up my life
from corruption, O Lord my God. This is after the fact. He wrote
this before it happened and after it. And it says in verse 8, they
that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. What does that
mean? What does that mean? What does that mean? Brother
Mike, that means anything other than Christ crucified is a lie
and vanity. And it won't save you. Anything.
I don't care what it looks like, how it sounds. There's one way
these mariners were saved. It's by Jonah being cast into
the depths of the sea and swallowed by that whale. And there's only
one way we're going to get to God. It's by Christ crucified.
Old-fashioned, bloody religion. An angry God. That's right. Sin. That's right. Wrath of people. That's right. Bloodshed. That's
right. That's the truth. Christ pricked. But Jonah said, verse 9, I will
sacrifice unto thee. Christ made that sacrifice for
us, didn't He? With thanksgiving, with a joy
that was set before Him. I'll pay that that I've bowed.
He paid the vows, didn't He? Of faithfulness, of righteousness.
You see, salvation is of the Lord. And you know what happened? The
Lord spake, and that fish spewed out Jonah on dry land. And Christ was in the belly of
the earth three days and three nights. He was in this earth
33 years. Significant, coincidental, 33
years. Three days, three nights. He died. He was put in a grave. Where is he? John, he's the scapegoat. He's the fit man. He was taking our sins and separating
them from us. Isn't that wonderful? Then God said, Satisfied. Open up. And the earth opened
up. And Christ came out. And in chapter
3, chapter 3, it says, The Word came to Jonah again. Now go preach. And oh, the Lord saves a whole
city. You see how the type itself is
amazing, isn't it? But what I hope we'll be amazed
at and marvel at is that Christ would come down here and do this
for us. At those marriages. Do you think
they were grateful for Jonah? Do you think they were grateful?
When they heard that Jonah lived, don't you think, Helen, don't
you think somebody said, Jonah's alive. We saw him. No! Really? We killed him. Really? Let's
go see him. I know a man, Robin, that said,
let's get in the ship and go find him. There he is on the
shore cooking fish. Jonah! Thank you! Thank the Lord for sending you.
Christ crucified. It doesn't get any better than
that. Salvation is of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's sing in closing
number 42. All hail the power of Jesus'
name. Number 42. Oh, hail the power of Jesus'
name! Let angels prostrate fall. Praise for the royal diadem,
and crown Him Lord of all.