Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. If you
have your Bibles with you today, please turn with me to Jonah,
Jonah chapter 1. Jonah chapter one. I'm gonna read the first two
verses of Jonah. Now the word of the Lord came
unto Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh,
that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness is come
up before me. We read here, that God is commanding
Jonah to go to Nineveh to preach to them. This, God says, was
because their wickedness was come up before him. It came that ordained time when
God was going to move against this city for their rebellion
against him. The next verse we read is this. But Jonah, in verse three, God
told Jonah to do something, but Jonah did not want to do it.
Man in his flesh will always want to do things his own way
for whatever reason it might be. It does not matter what the
reason is, if you are doing what you want to do instead of what
God says to do, you are rebelling against him. You might say, men
don't do this if they really know God, but what does scripture
tell us? In Numbers 13, we read of the
account of the children of Israel where they came to the land of
Canaan and the Lord told Moses to send out the men to spy the
land out and come back with the report. There were 12 that went
out to spy the land. Two of them, Joshua and Caleb,
came back with an honest report. But the rest came back with an
evil report. They reported of the great bounty
of the food that was there, but the fortification of it and the
men that were there, they said, were too much for them to overcome. They feared men instead of God,
that is these 10. But Joshua and Caleb said to
go in and take it, for they feared God and not men. In chapter 14
we read they murmured against Moses and Aaron. They wanted
someone to lead them back to Egypt. They willed to go back
to their bondage. After all that God had did for
them up to this point, they still wanted their bondage. They were
ready to stone Moses and Aaron to get what they wanted. But
man always wants the opposite from what God says to do. Once
they had done all these things, God tells them this in Numbers
14, verses 23 through 27. How long shall I bear with this
evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the
murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against
me. Say unto them, as truly as I
live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will
I do to you. Your carcasses shall fall in
the wilderness, and all that were numbered of you, according
to your whole number, from 20 years old and upward, which have
murmured against me. Doubtless you shall not come
into the land concerning which I swear to make you dwell therein,
save Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun. but
your little ones, which ye said should be prey, them will I bring
in. And they shall know the land
which ye have despised. But as for you, your carcasses,
they shall fall in the wilderness. So now Moses tells the congregation
what he has said, that they will not enter into the land. You
would think that maybe now they would cry out for mercy and ask
forgiveness of God. What do they do now? Numbers
14 verses 40 and 41. And they rose up early in the
morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying,
Lo, we be here, and we'll go up unto the place which the Lord
hath promised. For we have sinned. And Moses
said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the Lord?
But it shall not prosper. So God first tells them to enter
the land. They say no, they will not enter
into the land. Then God tells them they will
die in the wilderness and not go into the land. They then make
attempts to ascend up to God to tell God they will go in.
Man is always doing the opposite of what God tells them to do. This is man by nature. Whether
a man is regenerate or unregenerate, his evil nature is to do the
opposite of what God says to do. They want to try to ascend
to God their own way. What are they actually doing
though? Let's look some more at Jonah in verse three. But Jonah rose up to flee into
Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. and went down to Joppa. And he found a ship going to
Tarshish. So he paid the Pharaoh thereof
and went down into it to go with them into Tarshish from the presence
of the Lord. Then we read where God sends
the storm and the men of the ship are frightened. and are
throwing things overboard, but it is not making anything any
better as far as the ship being able to make it through the storm.
So what do we read next in verse five? Then the mariners were
afraid, and cried every man unto his God, and cast forth the wares
that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But
Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship and he lay
and was fast asleep. We know the rest of the account.
They woke him up and told him to pray to his God so they did
not all die. Then they cast lots to see for
whom the cause of this trouble was falling on them. The lot
fell on Jonah. So he ended up telling them that
if they were to be saved, they had to throw him overboard. We see so far for everything
that Jonah was doing, all these things he was doing, rebellion
against God, the almighty God of heaven and earth, we read
it, every step he took was down. When men tries to do things his
own way, all he will do is go down, down, down. down. So what happens now? Now there comes a preparation
of God. This is another going down, which
God had prepared. Jonah continued to go down, but
this time it was of God's preparation. Jonah then begins to pray to
God. He is now feeling the affliction
of God on his soul. He said he is in the belly of
hell. When God's preparation comes
taking you down, you will then begin to see that your way is
not the right way. Your way has brought you down
into the belly of hell. you will begin to cry out to
God for mercy, knowing that if he does not do anything, if he
is not willing to do anything, then you are going to perish
in hell. Oh, but there is mercy and forgiveness
with God. God told the fish to vomit Jonah
out on dry land. Oh, the mercy of God. The belly
of hell was not able to keep us. Why? We know this is an account
about Jonah, but this is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ and
him doing for those who he has chosen from the foundation of
the world that thing which will set them free from their bondage.
This is a picture of Christ coming into the world to save sinners. There are so many scriptures
that show us how merciful and kind God is to his people. This
passage is not absent of that. We see in Numbers again where
God, even though the people were rebellious, God was still kind
and merciful to them. We have the people of Israel
where they were traveling in the wilderness and complained
against God. And God never seemed to show
anger to them, but was merciful to them. How? He gave them water
from the rock. Although Moses, who typifies
the law of God, was angry with them. God refreshed them with
water from the rock. He gave them manna from heaven
and meat from heaven. God is kind and merciful to those
he loves. We see it right here in this
passage. Although some may not see it as kindness, maybe when
God is teaching you something or that is correcting you of
something, it may not seem like he is merciful and kind. I'm
sure Jonah did not feel like what he was going through was
nice and kind, but the alternative was to have died in the sea.
God is always faithful to his people, no matter whether we
are faithful or not. And we are not always faithful
to God. If we are faithful, it is because
He has given us the faith and He has worked in us both to will
and to do of His good pleasure. But this account is about someone
greater than Jonah. Jonah being thrown overboard
and swallowed up by a great fish, he stayed there for three days
and three nights. This was a picture of that one
who is greater than Jonah, who would come. This sign, that is
the sign of Jesus Christ the Lord, our Messiah, is the only
sign given to simple man. That is the one that is greater
than Jonah. If you would, turn with me to
Matthew 12, verses 38 through 42. Matthew 12, 38 through 42. 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
Jonas. For as Jonas 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 he
shall condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of
Jonas. And behold, a greater than Jonas
is here. The Queen of the South shall
rise up in judgment with this generation and shall condemn
it. For she came from the uttermost
parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold,
a greater than Solomon is here. This world always wants something
different than what God gives. Just as Jonah was in the belly
of the fish for three days and three nights, Jesus Christ, once
he suffered the death of the cross having been made sin for
us, having been forsaken of God the Father, he gave up the ghost
and died. He was dead three days and three
nights. But as Jonah was in the fish's
belly, then he arose from that grave victorious, having put
away sins forever. When he arose from the grave,
he ascended to the Father on high, but then returning in a
glorified body. It is in this man, who is God
himself, that took my place, me, a sinful man who hated God,
and was not looking for God, but trying to run away from God
to my own destruction. But it is He that took my place.
He calmed the storm of God's wrath against me, so that now
this same sovereign, almighty, all-powerful God shows me kindness
and mercy in His Son. So much so that I can now approach
unto God by Jesus Christ the Lord, having fellowship in Him. The sign given by God is what
Christ has done. Those people of Nineveh heard
the gospel proclaimed by Jonah, and they repented of their way.
We have now a greater than Jonah who is right here in this passage
proclaimed us the gospel. He tells us of what he would
do and now has done. He now sends others to proclaim
the gospel. Will God have mercy on you? If
he has, then you will hear this gospel and repent. If you will
not hear this gospel, you are still looking for a sign. And
there is no other sign given, nothing but Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. When the lot was cast, it had
to be Him, that is, Jesus Christ the Lord. He was the only one
that could satisfy the fierce anger and wrath of God for those
in His ship. After coming out of the grave,
he now goes forth through those sent by him preaching the gospel,
which declares to those hearing that he has finished the work. This is the only place you will
find mercy of God. Even after Jonah was vomited
up on dry ground, he went into Nineveh and proclaimed God's
truth to the people and they repented. Christ tells us he
did so. So I know they did. But Jonah
still got angry with God. What was he angry about? Well,
if you read, you can see that Jonah was angry because God did
something in mercy towards Nineveh. Jonah did not like the people
of Nineveh. Jonah did not like the people
of Nineveh, and he knew God is a merciful God and would probably
show mercy on them. That is what he says in chapter
four of Jonah. It is the reason why he did not
want to go to Nineveh in the first place, in chapter one that
we've read here. He was so angry about it that
he said he wanted to die. But look here in this passage,
in chapter four, God does not deal unkindly to Jonah, even
when he is being a complainer and a backtalker against the
God Almighty himself. However, God did teach Jonah
who he is. He makes the gourd grow to cover
Jonah's head, and then he makes the gourd wither. Not to mention
that God sent the wind to cause Jonah to be even more miserable.
But God did these things to Jonah to teach him who he, that is,
who God is. This passage shows how we are. Man being angry with God in rebellion
against God, is all the old man can do. That's all the old man
can do. In Proverbs 14 and 17 we read,
he that is soon angry dilleth foolishly, and a man of wicked
devices is hated. And in Proverbs 29, 22 it says,
an angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in
transgression. Just as God said to Jonah, what
is there that we have to be angry about? We have created nothing,
we have control of nothing, so we have nothing to be angry about
as it concerns God. Were it not for the mercy of
God in Christ Jesus the Lord, all sons and daughters of Adam
would be consumed in the fires of hell. Yet man, that is those
who do not know God, those who do not love God, get angry with
God when he does with his creation just as he is pleased to do.
His creation being everything and everyone. But not only that,
we see that God's people can be angry with God. As a child
of God, if you get angry with God, he will correct you. We
see this in the book of Jonah, right here. Jonah, when first
told by God to go preach to Nineveh, he got angry and did not immediately
go. He tried to get away from God,
He was trying to get away from God, from what God was telling
him to do, and he started out by heading to Tarshish instead.
Even after all that he went through on the ship, then being thrown
overboard, being three days and three nights in the fish's belly
and spit up on dry ground, he still gets angry after he preaches
the gospel to Nineveh. God corrects us every time. If
God does not correct us, what does his word tell us? then are
ye bastards and not sons. If there are no troubles you
encounter, and your sailing in your ship is smooth and sunny,
with nothing going wrong, it seems everything goes right,
you might have good reason to worry. Because it says that we
are all partakers of his correction, that is his people. Why? Because the fact is all of his
people need correction. If you are not partaking of his
correction, then you are not his. What about God's anger? God does everything right. He
is God and creator of all things. Therefore, whatever he does is
right because of who he is. If God is angry, he is absolutely
right in being so. God's anger is not something
you want to have on you. His correction is not anger.
His correction is in love and kindness to his. But here is
God and his anger as we read it in Nahum chapter one verses
two through six. God is jealous and the Lord revengeth. The Lord revengeth and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance
on his adversaries and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The Lord
is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit
the wicked. The Lord hath his way in the
whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his
feet. He rebuketh the sea and maketh
it dry, and dryeth up all the rivers. Bashan languisheth, and
Carmel and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake
at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence,
yea, the world and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before
his indignation, that is his wrath? Who can abide in the fierceness
of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are thrown down by him. I don't want to be God's
adversary, although I know by nature I am that very thing.
I don't want to be wicked, although I know by nature I am that very
thing towards God. The scripture says that God is
angry with the wicked. When? Every day. Psalm 7 and 11 says this. God judgeth the righteous, and
God is angry with the wicked. every day. Psalms 212 says, kiss
the son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his
wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in him. How do you kiss the son? This
is not a kiss of one on the cheek. This is a kissing of bowing down
at his feet in humble adoration for who he is. That is king of
kings and lord of lords. If you do not want to bow down
to Jesus Christ the Lord, then you are yet wicked and his adversary. You will either know the mercy
of God or the anger of God. Is God angry with you? Scripture
says God is angry with the wicked every day. We've already read
it. I don't want God to be angry with me, but merciful to me,
not because I deserve it. That is not that because I deserve
mercy, but because I need it. I deserve the anger and wrath
of God coming down on my head, because the only thing I try
to do is run from God to have my own way and not his. But God
bethinked, if I am in his son, I will never know the anger of
God Almighty. We see here in this book, the
book of Jonah, that there is one who is complaining about
what God is pleased to do. Jonah did not want God to show
mercy to those in Nineveh and was angry with God. But listen,
do not presume on God. Don't think you can do this and
everything will be okay. Don't think God owes you anything. God owes us nothing but his anger
and wrath. Don't be flippant with God and
think you will just do what you want to and have your own way.
We know that God has chosen a people. It is clearly in scripture. I
know people may think we say God chose some to salvation and
chose others to hell, but that is not true. God certainly does
choose His people to salvation, but God does not have to choose
sinful man to go to hell or eternal damnation. A man or a woman who
has not been chosen in Christ is already fitted to that end. If God has not chosen a man or
a woman, they are already dead in trespasses and in sins. They
are already the very enemies of God. They are wicked before
a thrice holy God. whether they know it or not,
whether they think it or not. Are we going to blame God for
not choosing us? God commands all men everywhere
to repent. God said in his word that all
that come to him, he will unknowwise cast out. Yet there are thousands,
even millions, who could care less about Jesus Christ. For
most, Jesus Christ is someone they are involved with when they
go to church, and that's it. Then there are some who do not
care about Jesus Christ at all. Some certainly do love the Jesus,
the Jesus of their own imagination, but they would not even think
about having the absolutely sovereign of the universe to be their Lord,
and no natural man will. The truth is that none will ever
come to and bow down to Jesus Christ unless God has chosen
them in his faithful son, Jesus Christ the Lord, before the foundation
of the world. And then he coming to them, giving
them life by his spirit and sending the gospel in power to them. God bethinked that he would even
think about choosing me. a wretched, no good sinner to
show mercy on me. Not only that, even after God
reveals himself to me, I complain constantly at the hand of God
and what he provides for me every day. Yet God is merciful and
kind to me to take care of my every need. He can do this because
he knows all my needs when I have no idea what I have need of.
He corrects me always. So how does God show mercy to
me? How is God kind to me? How can
he be kind to me if I am born a rebel against him? The only
one that can calm the seas of God Almighty's furious wrath
against a sinner is Jesus Christ. Him being the one who was the
one that took his people's place of being thrown overboard to
suffer the death that we should die. His death calms the storm
of God's wrath against those whom he has chosen in his glorious
son, Jesus Christ the Lord. Those who are his were raised
with him to eternal life. Now he just needs to let them
know about it. It is up to God to show mercy
to us. He does this in his son, Jesus
Christ, and Jesus Christ alone. Him being God manifest in the
flesh, his cross work in that he was made sin, died and was
buried three days and three nights, and arose from the grave victorious,
having accomplished salvation. That is, completed salvation. That is finished salvation for
those to whom the Father gave him. My prayer is that all of
those who are hearing me, that you do not have to experience
the anger and wrath of God. I pray that he has shown mercy
to you. I know he can because he is gracious and a merciful
God. But if he has shown you mercy,
it is only through the Lord Jesus Christ and his crosswork, the
almighty creator and controller of this world. Will you continue
to go on your way down, down, down? I pray that he has sent
his son to die for you. And my hope is he will then begin
to take you through the storms of his wrath to reveal himself
to you. So that you will then be enabled
to cry out just as Jonah did when God pulled him from the
belly of hell. Salvation is of the Lord.