In the book of Jonah we see tremendous
pictures of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Tremendous pictures,
so many references, so many pictures, so many themes, so many pointers
to Christ, his death, his salvation, his glory, the depravity of man,
the rebellion of man, the hard-heartedness of man, the preaching of the
Gospel from on high, the seeking out of the lost sheep of Israel,
and the contrasts between law and grace, between the works
of man and the attempts of man to save himself, and the grace
of God which bringeth salvation, and the attitude in men's hearts
that war against the grace of God and his undeserved favour
of his people. In chapter 1 the Lord calls to Jonah
to go to preach against that great city of Nineveh but Jonah
chooses to flee from the presence of the Lord not wishing to go
and preach to Nineveh because of the prejudice which is in
his heart against that wicked people as we see later in the
book. So Jonah goes on a ship to Tarshish
and the Lord sends a great wind into the sea, a tempest that
causes all the men on the ship to fear And Jonah slept. And the shipmaster came unto
Jonah and said, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call
upon thy God. If so, be that God will think
upon us that we perish not. And Jonah responds and tells
them who he is and why this trouble had come upon them. So in verse
11, they said unto him, what shall we do unto thee that the
sea may be calm unto us? For the sea wrought and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, take me
up and cast me forth into the sea, so shall the sea be calm
unto you. For I know that for my sake this
great tempest is upon you. Nevertheless the men rode hard
to bring it to the land. But they could not, for the sea
wrought and was tempestuous against them. 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. For thou, O Lord, hast done as
it pleased thee. So they took up Jonah and cast
him forth into the sea and the sea seeth from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord
exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows. Now the Lord had prepared a great
fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the
fish three days and three nights. And Jonah was in the belly of
the fish three days and three nights. Yes, the word of the Lord came
unto Jonah and Jonah fled from the presence of the Lord. He fled God said go this way
Jonah and Jonah's rebellious heart cried out no and he went
another way Jonah's rebellion here wasn't
simply the rebellion of the natural heart of sin but in many ways
this was the rebellion of a religious man the natural heart of man
when applied to religion. For later, when Jonah was miserable
because of the repentance that God granted to the people of
Nineveh, he said to his Lord, I knew that thou art a gracious
God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and repentest
thee of the evil. that's why I wouldn't go and
preach repentance unto Nineveh. So Jonah knew God and he knew
that God was a gracious God and merciful and he knew that if
he went and preached unto Nineveh that though Nineveh was wicked
Though Nineveh was full of sin, he feared that God would not
judge them, that God would not deal with them in justice, but
that God would be gracious unto them. And his natural inclination
was that these people are evil and these people need to be judged. It's not fair that they should
be spared. They've earned God's wrath and
his anger. Destroy them, Lord. So his religious
inclination warred against his feeling that God might not judge
them and destroy them, but that God might be gracious to them.
And he rebelled against this grace. He rebelled that they
should not get what they deserved. So he fled from God. He didn't
mind doing the will of a God who rewards the works of man. But he didn't like the idea of
a God who was sovereign and gracious and who forgives iniquity. And
our natural hearts war against the Gospel. We want to be rewarded
for what we've done. And we feel that people should
be judged for what they haven't done. And the idea that God will
save a people, not because of their works or their will, but
because of his good pleasure, fills us with enmity. And we
flee from such a God. We rebel against Him, we turn
our backs from Him, we go from His presence. Not only does man
flee from God because of his inbred corruption, but even religious
men reject Almighty God and His Gospel. Even the religious dislike
the reality of the truth of sovereign grace. Whether you are a Jew
or a Gentile, whether you are religious or irreligious, we've
all gone astray. Just as Paul proves in the early
chapters of Romans that the gospel is the power of God under salvation
to Jew and to Gentile, and the gospel is preached unto
all men, because all men have gone astray, because all are
under sin, because all have sought their own ways, and none have
sought God. We have before proved both Jews
and Gentiles that they are all under sin. There is none righteous,
no, not one. There is none that understand.
If there is none that seeketh after God, they are all gone
out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. And that includes you. There
is none that doeth good. not even you, whoever you may
be, however religious you may be, however unspotted with the
world you may be, however separate you may be, however zealous for
the scriptures you may be, however zealous in meeting with the people
of God you may be, however zealous in all the things of your religion
you may be, There is none that doeth good, no not one. You're either saved by the blood
of Jesus Christ at the sovereign mercy of God because he chooses
to spare you or you're damned because of your own works because
there's no good in you. We have all like Jonah, fled
from the presence of the Lord. We may speak of the Lord, we
may go to those places called churches, we may read the scriptures,
we may think and act like we're in God's presence, but our heart
rebels against the true God and his true gospel and the Lord
Jesus Christ as he truly is, and as such we flee from his
presence. We don't mind going into the
presence of an idol which we create in our own minds. We don't
mind going into the presence of our own gods, like the mariners
upon this ship, who each cried unto their own god when this
tempest came upon the ship. We have our own gods, we have
our own Jesus. But we don't love the Christ
of the Gospel. and we flee from his presence.
We fight by nature against free and sovereign grace. Well Jonah
fled, but the Lord sent out a great
wind into the sea. And there was a mighty tempest
in the sea so that the ship was like to be broken. And the mariners
were afraid and cried every man unto their own gods and cast
forth their wares 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. There was a mighty tempest. The
Lord blew upon the waters The Spirit of God came upon the face
of the deep and blue, as He did at creation, as He did when the
Lord spake and brought this world out of darkness into being, and
spake and made a man, and spake and breathed life into the soul
of man, that man lived. The Lord has a way of bringing
life. The Lord has a way of bringing
life in the darkness, both at the beginning of time and through
his gospel. You may flee from his presence,
you may think you can hide from God, but if God purposes your
salvation he will pursue you no matter where you go. And no
matter where you are, there will be a wind blowing upon the waters
of the deep. You may be out there on an ocean,
on the waters, in the world of darkness and sin, sailing upon
the waters of sin and rebellion, but God will find you, God will
seek you, and He will send out a great wind into the sea. there will be a blowing upon
your sinful heart your sinful soul the spirit will find you and great fear will enter in
because when the Lord begins to work in a man's soul like
this he becomes aware that he cannot escape God And he cannot
escape the judgment. He cannot escape the wrath which
is due unto him for his sins. That there is nowhere that he
can flee from the presence of the Lord. And left to himself,
destruction will come upon him. And you, O sinner, you may be
fleeing this day from the presence of the Lord. You may be floating
upon the sea of your sin. But if God chooses to send a
tempest by His Spirit, through the preaching of His Gospel,
through the preaching of His Truth, if He seeks to pursue
you, you will not escape Him. And either you will go down into
the depths of that ocean in judgement, because you have no answer for
your sin, or you will have to cry out unto your God, that He
should have mercy upon you. Because these on the ship, they
had their gods. They had gods that they worshipped. And in such a state, oh, they
went to their gods. And when trouble like this comes
your way, you may go to your gods, you may go to your Jesus,
but will he hear? The Jesus that saves you by your
own works or your own will, will he hear in this day? When he
stands there at the side, on the wayside, and you're there
on the ocean. And he says, well go on then,
just row to safety. And you're there in that storm.
Are you going to row? What good will such a God do
you then? What good will such a Jesus do
you then? One who says, well come on, I'll
receive you. Just row across to where I am,
and you can get out of your ship. But the ship's breaking apart
and it's sinking and water's coming in. And you're without
strength. And your works are useless in
such a state. And your will is useless, you
want to be spared, you want to go there, you want to go to heaven,
but you can't get there and there's nothing you can do about your
sin and there's nothing you can do about the tempest and the
calamity that's upon you. you're sinking and you're sinking
fast and you're crying out to your gods won't do. Well where
was Jonah? Jonah lay asleep and the ship
master came to him who slept and said unto him what meanest
thou O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if
so be that God will think upon us that we perish not. God's dealings with Jonah began
with a tempest. But that tempest found Jonah
asleep. And you in your sin, with the
wrath of God coming upon you, with the hours and the minutes
of your life ticking away until the day of judgment approaches.
May well be fast asleep. Not only are you in trouble,
not only are you full of sin, not only are the thunderclouds
building up above your head, not only is your life fast ebbing
away, but you're asleep. Oh fool that you are, you're
asleep. You're apathetic, you're blind,
you're deaf, you're dumb, you're dead. Calamity and judgment is approaching
you and you're apathetic. You hear the gospel, you go to
meetings, you hear about salvation, you hear about the need for righteousness,
you hear about the need to be spared of your sins and you're
asleep. You come and you go, you come
to the meeting, you go home again and you're asleep, dead. So often that's where this tempest
finds us. Like Jonah, asleep and we need
to be woken up. Awake thou that sleepest, as
it says in Ephesians, awake. speaking unto Christ, but unto
his people through him, who in him, as those who were once dead,
rose from the grave, being given everlasting life. They were asleep,
they were dead, but God comes unto them in the gospel and says
unto those who sleep, awake thou that sleepest. And the shipmaster
came unto Jonah and said, what meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise,
call upon thy God, we're calling upon ours, call upon yours. If
so be that God will think upon us and we perish not. Jonah needed
to be woken up. The message came unto him. The
storm blew outside. The spirit was coming upon him.
The spirit was blowing. But here another speaks unto
him. There's another voice. The shipmaster comes unto him
and says unto him, what meanest thou, O sleeper? There's a voice,
a man, one who comes unto him and cries out unto him, call
upon your God that we perish not. The shipmaster. Who's the shipmaster but a figure
of God in the gospel coming unto his people, crying unto them,
wake up! Call upon God that we perish
not. As in chapter three at Nineveh. There was a people upon whom
the judgment of God was coming. There was a people upon whom
the tempest was coming. The winds were blowing. And the king of Nineveh says
unto them, Call, cry unto God. Who can tell if God will turn
and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish
not? Like the shipmaster, he calls
unto the people in such a state, call unto God, maybe he will
spare. And God, as a shipmaster, as
a king, as the Lord of lords, cries out through his gospel
and those whom he sends by that gospel unto a wicked generation,
unto sinners, unto those who are dead in sins, unto sleepers
like you. Call out unto God. Who knows
if he will think upon us that we perish not. Call out. Well Jonah said unto them, when
quizzed, I am an Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven,
which made the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly
afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the
men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because
he had told them. Then said they unto him, What
shall we do unto thee that the sea may be calm unto us? For
the sea wrought and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me
up, and cast me forth into the sea, So shall the sea be calm
unto you. For I know that for my sake this
great tempest is upon you. Now here we have the gospel so
forcibly presented unto us. Jonah is both a type and a figure
of the first Adam in his rebellion against God. In his fleeing from
the presence of God as Adam did after sinning in the garden. In his rebellion. And this book gives us some account
of God's dealings with Jonah as one, a child of the first
Adam, upon whom the gospel comes and delivers and brings unto
salvation, but he's also a figure, a type of Jesus Christ, the last
Adam. The last Adam. These things are overlapped,
but most forcibly he is a picture of Christ. And this ship upon
the waters full of men who were lost, full of men who knew they'd
perish, had one in the ship with them
who was asleep, an Hebrew, who says unto them, take me up and
cast me forth into the sea, so shall the sea be come unto you.
Throw me in the sea and you'll be delivered. For I know that
for my sake this great tempest is upon you. put me to death, throw me into
the sea, throw me into the sin and the judgment of God against
it. Cause me to die and all will be calm. Here's
a picture of the first and the last Adam. And they're being
united in death. Because when Christ died, his
people died with him. When Christ died, he bore the
sin and the sins of his people. And because he took their sins
as his, as their substitute, he could say, I know that for
my sake, this great tempest is upon you. Such was Christ's identity
with his people, such was his taking their sins as his and
owning their sins as his, that he could take their sins and
their guilt from them and say slay me and you'll be spared. cast me into the waters and all
will be calm for whilst I am here bearing this sins this judgment
is raining down but if I take these sins from you and bear
them into the sea and go down into the depths on your for your
behalf then all will be calm you will be spared you will be
spared So he preached the gospel unto
them. The gospel which demanded the death of a substitute in
their place. A saviour. A saviour. How we see in Jonah
the rebellion of the first Adam. How we see how the Lord pursues
him and how the tempest stirs him up. But how we see when the
first Adam meets the second, when the first man meets the
second, when the first Adam meets the last Adam, how we see when
they're united, that salvation is the result. In Jonah's willingness
to be cast from the ship into the waters, that the others should
be saved, we see a glimpse, a view of the self-sacrifice in love
and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ for his people. Oh, the boundless
love that he'd give himself for them, that he'd take their sins
upon him, that he'd be thrown asunder, that he would die that
they should live. Oh, the power and the love of
the Gospel. take me up and cast me forth
into the sea. So shall the sea be calm unto
you. But did the mariners immediately
on hearing this, in such a state, in such calamity, did they immediately
take him up and throw him in? They did not. They did not want
his blood upon them. No, they sought to deliver themselves
from the calamity if they could. So even though they'd found him
asleep, even though they'd asked him, even though he told them
plainly what they must do, verse 14 shows us, verse 13 shows us,
nevertheless the men rode hard to bring it to the land. But
they could not, for the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them.
Despite what they'd heard, they carried on rowing, even though
they'd already seen that it was for no good. They were already
sinking. The storm was already too much
for them. But here they begin to hear the
gospel. Here they begin to hear of salvation. Here they begin to hear of the
way out. And all they do is they try to
strive and to strive and to row and to row. First they'd heard
the gospel but now they try to row for shore. Is that what you're
doing? You know judgment is upon you,
you know you must be right with God. But rather than looking
unto a Saviour who takes your sins in their entirety and pays
the price as your substitute, rather than looking entirely
by faith upon Him and owning that you can do nothing, you
carry on rowing. You row hard for the shore. You're
going to save yourself, are you? Your works will bring about the
deliverance, will it? Salvation's in your hands, is
it? You'll apply yourself to religion,
you'll apply yourself to the word of God, you'll apply yourself
to keeping God's holy law. You'll start living as you know
you should, that way that you never once did, but now the laws
come and you're going to live, you're going to serve God, you're
going to read your scriptures, you're going to seek him, you're
going to attend the meetings, you're going to hear the gospel,
you're going to row for shore are you? Salvation's in your
hands, is it? Salvation is of man, is it? Well, the sea wrought and was
tempestuous against them, and they found they were powerless. The more they rowed, the deeper
the ship sank. Nothing they did could bring
about any good. For as Jonah tells us in chapter
2 and verse 9, salvation is of the Lord, not man. Not how hard you can row, not
how righteous you can live. You're sinking and you're sinking
fast. 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, for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee. So they
took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased
from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord
exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows. They heard the Gospel and they
sought to row to shore. But God by His Gospel, by His
Spirit will break you and will teach you as Paul found in Romans
7 that when the law came, though he was once without it, though
he once was alive without it, when the commandment came, it
slew him because the flesh, the sin within him revived and he
found that the harder he tried to live, the harder he rode,
the greater he sank. and sin bubbled up within him
at the commandment. And it broke him and it brought
him to the point of crying out, who can deliver me, O wretched
man that I am? Who shall deliver me from this
body of sin and death? Who? Jesus Christ, the substitute,
the one who must die in the place of sinners. So these came to
see that, who shall deliver us? Jonah so they cried out unto God let
us not perish for this man's life though our sins bring about
his death though our rebellion brings about his death though
we the cause of his death God don't judge us for putting him
to death save us through his death save us through his death
and they were given the faith to fray him overboard, and to
trust that God would hear them, and to trust that his word was
true, that should they do this that the sea would be calm, and
they fray him overboard, and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord
exceedingly. and offered a sacrifice unto
the Lord and made vows. If you come to that point, having
ceased from your works, having turned unto Jesus Christ, offering
up him as your sacrifice unto God for your sins, believing
that God will receive him for you, believing that his sacrifice
will wash you from all your sins, believing that his blood will
cleanse from every sin. If you come to that point, then
the sea will cease from her raging, then God's anger will be turned
away, then you will know the peace of God, and only then,
then you will fear the Lord exceedingly, then you will know that salvation
is of the Lord. We beseech thee let us not perish
for this man's life and lay not upon us innocent blood, O sinner,
If Christ died in your place, it's because of your sins. You
pierced him. You put him to death. You crucified
him. You despised and hated him. You rejected him. Your sins put
him to death. But sinner, if he bore your sins,
and your rebellion and your hatred and your piercing of Christ was
not that simply of the wicked who put him to death and rejected
him and will have to pay for their sins in the end if he bore
your sins and bore your rejection of him and bore your despising
of him if he bore them for you then his blood his innocent blood
will not cry out against you as Abel's cried out against Cain,
but his innocent blood will cry out for you, salvation, because
it's blood that says that all has been washed away. Yes, they
hated me without a cause. Yes, you hated me. Yes, you pierced
me. Yes, you slew me. But my blood
has paid the price. and the sea is calm. Jonah fled from the presence
of the Lord. Jonah was in the ship with the
mariners when the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea and
when there was a mighty tempest in the sea. And Jonah, in the
midst of the tempest, slept in the boat. And the men cried out
unto their gods. And the shipmaster came unto
Jonah, fearing the lives of the men on the ship, and said unto
him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? For who else were on a ship in
a storm? And who else was asleep in that
ship when the men on that ship feared for their lives the disciples
were in a ship with the Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus slept
when a storm came upon the ship and the disciples feared but because Jesus was in the
ship and because he as God had power to calm the storm he delivered
them Luke 8 chapter 22 it came to pass on a certain day that
he went into a ship with his disciples and he said unto them
let us go over unto the other side of the lake and they launched
forth but as they sailed he fell asleep And there came down a
storm of wind on the lake, and they were filled with water and
were in jeopardy. And they came to him and awoke
him, saying, Master, Master, we perish. Then he arose and
rebuked the wind and the raging of the water, and they ceased,
and there was a calm. And he said unto them, Where
is your faith? And they, being afraid, wondered,
saying one to another, What manner of man is this? For he commandeth
even the winds and the water, and they obey him. They were
in much a similar state as Jonah was. And if they knew their scriptures,
they'd have remembered Jonah, and they'd have remembered the
sign of Jonah. as Christ speaks about in Matthew.
They'd have remembered that Jonah was on that ship, they'd have
remembered the storm, and they'd have remembered the calm and
the deliverance that God sent when Jonah was thrown overboard. And if they'd known that Jonah
was a figure of their Saviour, and they knew that their Saviour
was with them like Jonah asleep in the ship, then they if they'd
had faith would have known that all will be well because Christ
is with us, our Saviour is with us. But in the circumstances,
as we so often are when the trials and the troubles of life come
upon us, in the circumstances we look upon the circumstance,
we hear the storm and we fear and we doubt and our faith is
so weak. But Christ was with them and
He calmed the storm. And what gave Him the power to
calm that storm? Was it simply because He was
God? Was it simply because He was
the Son of God? As they said, what manner of
man is this for he commandeth even the wind and the water and
they obey him? Was it simply that? Or is there more to this sign,
more to this account that gave him the power? The fact that Christ like Jonah
was asleep as he was in a ship with his disciples going across
to the other side through a storm, tells us what it is. Here's a
picture of God's church, his people, as it were in a ship
with Christ in an ark, going forth from this world through
to the next, across the waters to the other side. And their
salvation is assured because there's one in the midst who
sleeps through death for them, who slept the sleep of death
for them, who went into the depths for them, who like Jonah would
as it were be thrown overboard for them and rise again for them. The fact that Christ arose from
the sleep of death gave him the power to calm the storm. He died
and He rose again here in figure, later on in reality upon Calvary's
cross. He died and He rose again and
because He died for His people who were in Him when He died,
who were in Him when He was laid in the grave, who were in Him
when He rose from the grave, because He died and rose again,
He rose from the sleep of death, they were brought safely to the
other side. safely out of the tempest, safely
out of the trouble unto glory. He takes his people through safely
to glory, no matter what storms you're brought through, no matter
what trials or persecution, no matter what sin you may fall
into, no matter how the seas may be troubled, if Christ is
in the ship, your salvation is assured. Do you believe it? Do you trust it? Can you by faith
take him as they took Jonah and plunge him into the waters, knowing
that he will rise again for you, knowing that he will take your
sins and bury them, never to be brought forth again, knowing
that he will enter into that fish, that whale, that monster
of the deep for you and knowing that he will come forth from
it alive and you alive in him. Oh like those men have you got
the faith to believe this, to as it were by faith take Christ
and sacrifice him as your sacrifice, throw him overboard for you.
If you have you'll know that this manner of man is able to
command the winds and the water and they obey him. Now they threw
him overboard and the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah
and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three
nights. a picture of the cross, a picture
of the death of Christ, a picture of his burial, a picture of his
suffering and torment for his people, a substitute buried for
them in the belly of the fish, three days and three nights. As Christ affirmed in chapter
12 of Matthew, He answered and said unto those
people who heard him, 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. He died. He really died. He really was
slain for the sins of his people. Sinners like you and I. He really
died and he really was in the heart of the earth three days
and three nights and he really, truly rose again in power. When he calmed the storm of that
tempest that poured down from heaven on high, against all manner
of sin, against all unrighteousness of men. For the wrath of God
is revealed against all manner of unrighteousness. But in the
gospel of Christ, Christ having risen again, the power of God
is made known, because in his gospel the righteousness of God
is revealed. Because he took those sins into
the belly of the earth, into the heart of the earth, and he
buried them there. And he came out in newness of
life with the righteousness of God for his people. For there is no sin upon any
that rose out of that grave with Christ, not one blemish, they
are perfect. The men of Nineveh shall rise
in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it. because
they repented at the preaching of Jonas. And behold, a greater
than Jonas is here. Christ is. Christ in his gospel
says unto you today, a greater than Jonas was thrown into the
depths. A greater than Jonas was swallowed
by the monster of the deep. A greater than Jonas was in the
belly of a whale, a fish, the belly of hell as Jonah chapter
2 verse 2 tells us. A greater than Jonas was in the deep for three days
and three nights and cried out of the deep unto his God as Jonah
cried out but came out then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God
out of the fish's belly and he and cried by reason of his affliction
unto the Lord and the Lord heard him out of the belly of hell
cried I and thou heard my voice I suffered all these things But
God delivered me. Salvation is of the Lord in Christ
by his gospel. And the Lord spake unto the fish,
and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. Christ rose from
the dead. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Why am I in the belly of hell? because he took his people's
sins as though they were his I know that for my sake this
great tempest is upon you but bury me, slay me and the storm
will be taken away and all will be calm do you believe it? out of the depths he cried But
at the end, he cried out, it is finished. Salvation is of
the Lord. And he arose. He arose from the
tomb. He ascended with all his people.
He went up into glory. And he went forth, resurrected
before his ascension. And he went into Jerusalem. He
went into the city. And he appeared unto many saints
for 40 days. He proved his salvation. And Jonah went into Nineveh preaching,
preaching the gospel. And crying out, yet 40 days and
Nineveh shall be overthrown. When Christ ascended and left
his disciples on earth. After 40 days the Spirit of God
came down onto that city of Jerusalem, that city that slew the Saviour,
that wicked and evil city, even though it was religious, the
Spirit of God came down in power at Pentecost and overthrew the
hearts of rebellious sinners with such power that 3,000 were
saved. And when Jonah went into Nineveh
and preached, the king was so moved that he commanded the people,
who can tell if God will turn and repent? God comes in the
gospel and says to a hard-hearted and evil people, call unto me,
and though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. because my son has been slain. Jonah has been buried. He's gone to hell for you. Christ
has died. Oh, have you heard that gospel?
Do you rejoice in it? Well, Jonah, as the descendant
of Adam here, back to his fleshly ways, was grieved that Nineveh
repented. Oh, how his legal spirit came
to the fore. How we see the contrast of law
and grace. He complained he wanted to die. But God showed him through the
good, which was destroyed, which had done him good. which Jonah
complained and was angry that it was withered away, God showed
him that God can have mercy. God's a God of grace. God will
save. The natural man might fight against
it, you might fight against it, you might feel like salvation
should be earned. You might feel like the wicked
should be judged. But you are wicked. You are as
wicked as any. And if God's justice should be
poured out upon you, you've not a hope of saving yourself. All
around perish. But God has a people whom He
has chosen, whom He puts in a ship with His Son and takes them to
the other side. And though they, like others,
deserve to perish in the waters, He purposes to save them, not
condemn them. Has He saved you? Or are you
going to plead his justice and bring it upon your own head?
Or are you going to cry out unto him for mercy and believe on
the one who entered the depths for sinners? O believer you Do
you get angry at the sin you see in the world? Do you get
angry at the sin you see in the apostate church? Are you so taken
up with that which grieves your spirit that you've forgotten
the love and the mercy of the gospel? You've forgotten to forgive
others as God himself first forgave you. Don't forget the message
of Jonah. Salvation is of the Lord. Your
salvation and the salvation of all God's people. You're here
not to condemn, not to go forth with a message of condemnation,
but with a message of life and righteousness, a ministration
of righteousness, the Gospel. To shine forth as God's light
in a dark world, to preach Christ, to be witnesses of Him. Oh, preach, preach, preach the
Gospel. for salvation is of the Lord. Now the Lord prepared a great
fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the
fish three days and three nights. Praise God.