The book of Jonah is found in
the minor prophets, and it's spoken of as the prophecy of
Jonah. But if you read these four chapters
carefully, you will find that there's no prophecy in it. There's
only one time a prophetic word was made. Jonah said 40 days,
and then it shall be destroyed. And that prophecy didn't come
to pass. So while the book of Jonah is found among the minor
prophets, it's really not a prophecy, but rather it is an inspired
autobiography. Here, God's servant Jonah is
inspired of God to describe for us in very brief terms his experience
of God's providence and God's grace. If you'll turn with me
to Jonah, Chapter 1 these four chapters will be my text this
evening Jonah chapter 1 will begin here The title of my message
is the hand of God in the life of Jonah this man Jonah was an
insignificant son of an insignificant man from an insignificant place
he was the son of an a tie of Gath heifer and Galilee. Gathipher was of the tribe of
Zebulun. It was a small, small village
in a remote corner of Israel. But God had chosen Jonah as the
object of his favor and God had ordained Jonah to be a prophet,
a messenger of his grace to Israel, a man of great usefulness. I'm
bringing this message Because I want you to see that the life
of Jonah, as it's recorded in these four chapters, is a marvelous
display, an instructive picture of how God deals with his people
in providence and in grace. As the book of Jonah opens, Jonah
is already a prophet. He's a preacher, a man of God,
a man of faith. the servant of the Lord Jesus.
But like all of God's prophets and preachers, a man with much
yet to learn. Look at verses one and two. Now
the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying,
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city. Nineveh was a city of well
over 500,000 people. They had 120,000 infants, 120,000
who didn't know their right hand from their left. That refers
to infants, small children. So Nineveh was a city of well
over 500,000 people. It took three days to walk in
a direct line from one side to the other. This was not, this
wasn't Danville, Kentucky. This was a big place. This is
a big place. Go to Nineveh, that great city. Cry against it For
it for their wickedness is come up before me but Jonah didn't
want to go and We're not really told why until we get to the
fourth chapter and turn just a page over chapter 4 and look
at verse 2 It appears and I say appears I may very well be wrong
because it's not clearly stated but it appears that that Jonah's
racial prejudice against the Ninevites was so strong that
he did not want to preach to them. He did not want to go there
because he knew God would not send his servant on an errand
without purpose. And so he went to Nineveh fully
convinced that though his message was a message of judgment, God
being a God of mercy and grace would spare the city and he didn't
want to go. Look at chapter 4, verse 2. Jonah
prayed unto the Lord and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not
this my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore, I fled
before thee unto Tarshish. For I knew that thou art a gracious
God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness. If God will enable me, I'll come
back to this another time. That's too much to leave unsaid.
Our God's a gracious God, merciful, slow to anger, of great kindness,
and repentest thee of the evil. He's adverse to judgment. He's
adverse to wrath. It is his strange work. Jonah
said, I know, Lord, that you're gracious and merciful, slow to
anger, full of great kindness, and you're not inclined to wrath. That's not your common way of
doing things. So we read back in chapter one,
verse three, Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish. from the
presence of the Lord. This is where Jonah's troubles
began. And this is where our troubles begin. When Jonah made up his mind to
rebel against the revealed will of God, he knew what God would
have him to do. God said, go to Nineveh. No question
about it. Jonah fully understood. This
is what God would have me to do. But he made up his mind to
rebel against the revealed will of God. And he went to Joppa
instead. And very conveniently, he found
a ship going to Tarshish. And I put myself in Jonah's place. And I'll tell you just what I
would have thought. I thought, well, I must have been mistaken. Look at this. This is God's providential
provision. This is what the Lord has for
me He's provided this ship to take me to Tarsus and I suspect
Jonah Convinced himself that this was a a providential sign
from God That he was in the path that he ought to be in though.
It was the path he had chosen But read the next line So he
paid the fare thereof Now listen to me. If you choose the rebels path. Be warned. When you get on board
the ship self will. Like it or not. You will pay
the fare thereof. And the price is very high. Some
of you here are just like Jonah. God has spoken to you and you
know it. He's revealed to you what you
must do. Perhaps the Lord has spoken to
you by the gospel, calls you to faith in Christ Jesus, to
follow the Lord, to be his disciple. And you, uh, you refuse. You will not bow. You have been
called to life and faith in Christ, perhaps, and he calls you to
confess Christ in baptism, to align yourself with his people,
and for whatever reason, you choose not to do so. I promise
you, the harder you kick against the pricks, the more you kick,
the more you hurt yourself. God will win the battle at last. Perhaps the Lord has called you
to some specific area of service in his kingdom. And you just don't want to do
that. You don't want to do that. The
things aren't exactly the way you think they ought to be. One of the men said to me the
other day with regard to preachers that I think too many of the
fellows who want to be preachers, are sitting on the sidelines
waiting for just the right place to come along and they can move
in with ease. And I said, I expect that's exactly
right. I remember Brother Scott Richardson one time, Brother
Scott and Brother Mahan and I were preaching together in a Bible
conference and there were a bunch of younger preachers around.
He said, you preacher boys, you're like vultures sitting on the
fence waiting for Henry and me to die. And he was just about
right. He was just about right. God
may have called you to some specific area of service and you refused
to go. Perhaps he's called you to a
specific task, a responsibility for his glory, and you refuse
to perform it. You've thus far refused to hear
his voice and you flee from the Lord. God may just let you flee
for a while. But you will pay the price thereof.
You will pay the price thereof. I want you to keep your Bibles
open on your laps and follow me through the book of Jonah.
If the Lord will graciously enable me to deliver the message I've
got, I believe I've got something that will help you. I often lay down at night Most
nights I do. And I wake up in the mornings,
most mornings, and try to trace back things God has done just
for me. I recommend it to you. I look
back over my life and I recognize there are a number of things
that cannot be explained except to say God did that just for
me. Just for me. He arranged things
in providence just for me. Well, here in these four chapters,
Jonah tells us by divine inspiration five things that God did just
for him. Let's mark them and then I'll
come back and look at it with you. Chapter one, verse four. The Lord sent
out a great wind into the sea. And Jonah tells us this was for
my sake. Chapter 1 verse 17, the Lord
prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. Chapter 4 verse 6,
the Lord God prepared a gourd. Verse 7, God prepared a worm. And then he tells us God prepared
a vehement east wind. And all of these things God did
just for Jonah so that he might make Jonah a better man, a better
prophet, a man of usefulness to his kingdom in another day. All right. First, we read in
chapter 1, verse 4, that the Lord sent out a great wind into
the sea. No sooner had this ship set sail
for Tarshish than a storm arose. great storm, nearly destroying
the ship and everyone on it. Everyone was in a panic. The
captain and the mariners all got very religious in the face
of death. And each one began to pray to
his God for the chapter one, 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 going down into
the sides of the ship and he lay and was fast asleep. The storm comes and the ship's
tossed and it looks like it's going to be turned upside down
and all these tough, tough, hard, hard marines got out their gods
and started praying. Each one set up his god and started
praying. They got their prayer mats out
and turned to Mecca and they got their rosary beads out and
turned to Rome and they got their crucifixes out and they got their
little bobble-headed Marys out and all their gods and they started
praying to their gods. But there was one man on the
ship, only one on the ship who knew exactly what was happening. Jonah knew that this great storm
had arisen for his sake. Look at verse 12. He said to
them, take me up And cast me forth into the sea, so shall
the sea be calm unto you. Now watch his language. For I
know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. Not I know
that in order to punish me, this tempest is upon you. Not I know
that because of the evil I've done, this tempest is upon you.
Those are not the words Jonah chose. James he says I know that
for my benefit For my sake this great tempest is upon you now
be sure you learn this lesson God teach me this lesson I've got it firmly fixed here
I've had it firmly fixed here for a long, long time. I have
a lot of trouble with it here. Everything that comes to pass
in this world. Comes to pass by the hand of
God and comes to pass for the sake of his elect. Everything. Everything. I look in your eyes
and I know some of the pain you have been through, some you are
going through, and I'm fearful for some that is yet to come. But I'm here to tell you that
everything that comes to pass in this world is brought to pass
by the hand of our God for your good, if you're his, for your
good, for your benefit. Listen to this word from God.
David said, God performeth all things for me. That's his language. The apostle
Paul wrote to the Corinthians and he said, all things are yours. God performs all things for me
and all things are yours. Later, he says, all things are
for your sakes. They're there for your benefit.
And later, the apostle says, all things are of God. God performs all things for me. All things are yours. All things
are for your sake. All things are of God. They come
to pass in time because God brings them to pass and it brings them
to pass for our benefit. Though Jonah was determined to
forsake God, God was determined that he wouldn't. Isn't that good? Jonah said,
I'll leave you rather than do this. And God said, you won't
leave me. He was among those covenant people
of whom God said, I'll give them one heart and one way and they
shall be mine forever. God said, no, you won't leave
me. The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord
knoweth them that are his. And though many times it's true
of us, as it was of Jonah, we turn from God in unbelief. Yet
it is a faithful saying. If we believe not, he abideth
faithful. He cannot deny himself. Go back
to the book of Jonah now. Though Jonah sought to flee from
his responsibilities as a believer, as God's prophet, the Lord graciously
forced him to confess his faith in the midst of his rebellion
before a mob of heathen. Look at chapter 1, verse 8. Then
said they to Jonah, tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause
this evil has come upon us? What is thine occupation? What
do you do for a living? I'm a prophet. And whither comest
thou? What is thy country? And of what
people art thou? And he said to them, I'm in Hebrew.
And I fear the Lord, I worship Jehovah, the God of heaven, which
hath 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 told them. Verse 11, 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 Jonah said to 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 come upon you now obviously Jonah did not write down everything
he told them He tells us that they knew he was fleeing from
the presence of the Lord because he had told them So Jonah didn't
write down everything he told them but this much we know he
told them He said I'm in Hebrew I am one of God's covenant children
to whom God has promised salvation, for whom God will send his son
into this world to redeem and save my soul. I'm a Hebrew. He
said, I fear God. I worship Jehovah, the true God. Not these little peanut things
you pulled out of your pockets and you call gods. I worship
Jehovah, the Lord God, who made himself known to Israel as the
saving God of his people when he spoke to Moses and said, Go
tell my people I am has sent me to deliver they. He said,
I have rebelled against the Lord God. Obviously, he also told
them something about the mission of mercy the Lord had sent him
upon. And he told them something about
God's sovereignty and God's strict justice. For in verse 10, we
read that Jonah tells them what he had done. And then in verse
14, we see that they knew something about who God is. He said, he
said, I'm a Hebrew. I, I fear the Lord. The true
God who made heaven and the earth who made the sea and the dry
land he who is the creator and the ruler of the universe Look
at verse 14 Wherefore they cried now, what's this? Merle they
cried to jehovah They had never prayed to god before They prayed
to their gods now now they hear jonah's word and they cried to
the jehovah Said we beseech thee Oh Jehovah the redeeming saving
God of Israel We beseech thee Let us not perish for this man's
life and lay not upon us innocent blood for thou Oh Jehovah has
done as it please thee these men suddenly turned to worship
the Lord Jehovah, as Jonah declared him to them, the God of salvation,
who does as it pleases him in heaven, in earth, in the sea,
and in all deep places. And before the day was over,
God was glorified before all that were in the ship. Look at
verse 13. Nevertheless, the men rode hard
to bring it to the land. But they could not for the sea
was wrought and was competuous against them So they cried to
the Lord verse 15 so they took up Jonah and cast him forth into
the sea and the sea ceased from her raging they took Jonah and
One man was sacrificed for all the men who were in the ship
One man died in the place of many men. And when this one man
died in the place of many men, the sea was calm and God's wrath
was turned away. Then the men worshipped. They worshipped. That's the word
feared. They worshipped the Lord Jehovah
exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto Jehovah the Lord and made
vows. So our God is so great that even
the wrath of man praises him. He so sovereignly rules the universe
that even the rebellion and the rebellious deeds. The sin and
the sinful deeds of his faithful children. Redound to his praise when he's
done. Oh, God makes all things to work
for his glory and for our good. Behold, a greater than Jonah
is here. Hold your hands here and turn
to Luke chapter 11, Luke chapter 11. The Lord Jesus tells us plainly
that Jonah was a type of our savior. It's Christ himself who
gives us the true full meaning and significance of Jonah's experience. Jonah, he tells us, was assigned
to the Ninevites and to the people before whom he lived and assigned
to all generations, Luke 11, 29. And when the people were
gathered fit together, The Lord Jesus began to say, this is an
evil generation. They seek a sign. And there shall
no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonah, the prophet. For
Jonah was a sign unto the Ninevites as Jonah was assigned to the
Ninevites. So shall also the son of man be to this generation. And in the first chapter of Jonah,
we see a very clear, instructive picture of our all-glorious Christ
and his great sacrifice for us. There was a mighty raging tempest
threatening the lives of these mariners. And you who believe
not, the wrath of God abides on you. These men were threatened
with death, immediate judgment, and they knew they justly deserved
it. And when they cast lots, to determine
by whose fault this thing had come. They cast lots to determine
who should be cast overboard. The lot fell on Jonah. But while
they didn't know it, the lot that is cast into the lap falls
where God directs. The lot is cast into the lap,
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. And so our Lord
Jesus, as Jonah was chosen by lot, by the decree of God, so
our Lord Jesus, by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, was delivered into the hands of wicked men to be crucified
and slain. And when Jonah saw that these
men were about to be slain in the storm of God's wrath, Jonah
did a remarkable thing. He volunteered to die for them. He volunteered to die for them. So our blessed Redeemer, for
wherever the world was, stood forth as our surety and volunteered
to lay down his life in the room instead of his people. And when
he came at last to die in our place at Calvary, he said, I'm
the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. No man taketh it from me. I have
the power to lay it down and I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received in my father. And as soon as
Jonah was cast into the sea, God's wrath and judgment ceased. The sea was calm. As soon as
the Lord Jesus suffered the wrath of God to the full satisfaction
of justice as our divine substitute, God's wrath and judgment are
over. They have ceased and he says,
fury is not in me. One more thing I can't pass up.
All for whom Jonah gave his life. We're saved from death and worship
God. These men for whom Jonah died. The next thing we read is that
they worshiped Jehovah exceedingly and bowed down and offered sacrifices
to Jehovah. And so it is that everyone for
whom Christ dies is born again of his spirit called by his grace
and saved by his grace. All right. Look at verse 17.
Here's the second thing. The Lord prepared a great fish
to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of
the fish three days and three nights. Now, preacher, you don't
believe that, do you? Why, that's scientifically impossible.
There's no such thing as the greatest whale that could swallow
a man whole. And if he could, the man couldn't
possibly survive in the gases of that whale's stomach for three
days. You know that's not so. Well, there's just a little problem
with that. There's just a little problem with that. This was no
ordinary whale. This was a great fish prepared
by God just for the purpose of swallowing Jonah. Just for the
purpose of preserving Jonah in the belly of hell for three days
and three nights and capable as no other whale could be to
spit him out alive on dry ground at God's announcement. Jonah's
experience in this passage. Is a typical representation of
the accomplishments of redemption by our savior He says as jonah
was three days and three nights in the whale's belly So shall
the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart
of the earth When our lord jesus was made sin for us He was swallowed
up in the sea of god's wrath He was slain as our substitute
A dead man his body was cast into the heart of the earth into
the tomb of the dead and there he lay for three days But three
days later the Son of God our Redeemer arose from the dead
He came out of the tomb victorious over death hell in the grave
and his resurrection is the declaration by God that redemptions accomplished
He arose from the dead for our justification. That is because
our justification was accomplished. Our sins were put away. The risen
Christ declares it. He was risen from the dead like
Jonah. to bring repentance and remission
of sins to a fallen, depraved band of rebels like we are. He
is the prince risen and exalted to be a prince and a savior for
to give repentance and remission of sins to Israel. He sent his
disciples out preaching repentance. That's a strange thing to preach.
Preaching repentance. I know preachers everywhere talk
about Well, they don't much these days. You used to talk about
preaching repentance. You've got to turn from your
bad ways. You've got to turn from your bad ways. Well, that'd
be a good idea. I highly recommend it. But preaching
is not offering good advice. Preaching is announcing good
news. Frank, he sends us to declare
the good news of the turning. Not a turning we do, a turning
He has done and will do for all who hear Him. And so Jonah was
sent to declare that which our Savior is sent to declare by
the virtue of His death and resurrection and by the power of His grace.
Jonah's deliverance from the belly of the fish, the belly
of hell, is a picture of every believer's salvation by God's
grace. Look at chapter 2. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord
his God out of the fish's belly. And he said, I cried by reason
of mine affliction unto the Lord. And he heard me out of the belly
of hell, cried I. Out of the belly of death, out
of the belly of the grave, cried I. And thou heardest my voice,
for thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas. And the floods compassed me about,
all thy billows and all thy waves passed over me. Then I said,
I am cast out of thy sight. Yet I will look again toward
thy holy temple. I will look again toward the
mercy seat. I'll look again to Christ crucified.
The waters compassed me about, even to the soul. The depth closed
me round about. The weeds were wrapped about
my head. I went down to the bottoms of
the mountains. I went down to the very footers
of the mountains. The earth with her bars was about
me forever. Yet hast thou brought me up.
I brought up my life from corruption. Oh, Lord, my God, when my soul
fainted within me, Remembered the Lord and my prayer came in
unto thee into thy holy temple They that observe lying vanities
forsake their own mercy But I will sacrifice unto thee with the
voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that I have vowed
Salvation is of the Lord and the Lord spake unto the fish
and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land Again, I say behold
a greater than Jonah is here The Lord Jesus is obviously portrayed
here none, but the incarnate God Could suffer the eternity
of God's wrath in a single day The very prayer that Jonah prayed
our Savior prayed turn back to Psalm 69 Psalm 69. Let me show
you He used the very same words that Jonah used Psalm 69 Save
me, O God, for the waters come in unto my soul. I sink in deep
mire where there is no standing. I come into deep waters where
the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying. My throat
is dried. Mine eyes fail while I wait for
my God. They that hate me without cause
are more than the hairs of mine head. They that would destroy
me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty. Then I restored that
which I took not away. Our Savior cried just as Jonah
did here, as we read of his crying to God in Psalm 22. He promised
in the midst of his anguish that he would declare God's praise
in the midst of his church, just as Jonah did. None but Christ
could pay the vow that he vowed to the Lord God for us. And he
declared exactly what Jonah did in the declaration of God's praise.
Salvation is of the Lord. The Lord Jesus said the salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord. But still, these verses portray
every believer's experience of grace as well. There's a lot
of debate these days about when a person is saved. And when you run across fellas,
you will, you'll run across somebody, they'll say, well, when did the
Lord save you? And when you start to tell them,
they'll look at you like, no, you're not one of them because
you didn't experience what I did. You haven't measured up to me.
I'll give you a homework assignment. Read this book through, take
your time, read it through and find me every place in this book
We're a prophet or an apostle or a preacher of God. Ask anybody,
when did God save you? Find me a time. Find me a time. You won't find it. Cause most
of us don't know when. Most of us don't know when we
began to believe on the savior. We just found ourselves believing.
Most of us don't know when Christ was first revealed in our hearts
We just found ourselves believing him and you won't find anyone
in the New Testament Answering such a question. Yeah, but what
about Paul? He was had the Damascus Road
experience Once in a while some of God's people do And Paul's
experience on the Damascus Road, we're told plainly, was to be
an example to those who afterwards should believe, teaching us how
it is that God saves sinners. But not many are of that experience. It doesn't matter when God saved
you. There's a danger in talking about
when God saved you. There's a danger in it. You look
back at that and that event becomes a work and a basis of assurance. The only thing that matters,
Rod, is do you believe on the Son of God? That's the only thing
that matters. Well, when is a person saved? How can you describe when a person
is saved? A person is saved when with the awareness of God's just
wrath upon him, he calls upon God for mercy, as Jonah did here. Like the publican crying, God
be merciful to me, the sinner. A person is saved when, from
the depths of his own corruption, he looks to Christ in faith.
As Jonah looked to the mercy seat, looked to God's holy temple,
calling upon God in mercy. A person is saved when it comes
to know the one true and living God. This is life eternal, that
they might know thee. the one true God, the living
God, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Jonah
said, they that observe lying than it is forsake their own
mercy. I remind you, all idolatry is
will worship. It is men worshiping the works
of their hands. And every man who worships his
own works Every man, every woman who worships his own will, her
own will, every person who worships themselves, observe lying vanities. Only those who worship the Lord
God alone as God know God's salvation. A person is saved when God lifts
him from the miry pit of corruption by his almighty grace. Jonah
said, I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth with
her bars was about me forever. Yet hast thou brought up my life
from corruption. Oh, Lord, my God. But when Jonah
said that. Now, remember, he's writing by
inspiration. He was still in hell. He was still in the belly
of hell. He was still in the whale's belly.
And he said, thou hast brought me up. He hadn't been brought
up yet. Oh, yes, he had. Oh, yes, he
had. God's purpose to do is the doing
of the matter. And so it was with God's elect
saved by his grace from everlasting. And then fifthly, a person is
saved when from the depths of his inmost soul, he sees and
acknowledges and confesses Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is
God's work. God's work. Every saved sinner
understands that. Only lost religious folks have
a problem with that. God purposed it. God purchased
it. God performs it. God preserves
it. God has the praise of it. Salvation
is God's work. Once the Lord calls Jonah to
look to him, this great fish was called by our God to spit
Jonah out on dry ground. And the word of the Lord came
to him a second time, and Jonah hit the ground running to go
to Nineveh and preach the preaching that God put in his mouth. It
is written, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy
power. Somebody talks about God calling
them and they wouldn't let God save them. No. At the appointed
time, God will break you. I've heard preachers talk about
how they ran from the Lord and they wouldn't bow to God's call.
Oh, yes, you will. At exactly the time God intends,
you will. At exactly the time. Jonah after
three days was spoken to a second time and gladly went to Nineveh
with the message of God And it's described for us in chapters
2 verse 10 down through the end of chapter 3 Jonah proclaimed
God's message You see when God's in intends to be gracious to
sinners He sends them a word his word to heal them Oh, blessed
are those people to whom God sends his word. I told our friends at Dingus
yesterday morning, I recall the first time I went there, I mentioned
it to you this morning, the Free Will Baptist Church. I don't
mean they were just free will in doctrine. Their name was Free
Will Baptist Church. Brother Bill Clark was over here
one time riding down the road and saw those signs, Free Will
Baptist. Free Will Baptist. He said, this is the only place
in the world where they advertise apostasy. But they were Free Will Baptist
Church. And their pastor, who had been
their pastor for a long time, was an old man, started listening
to a young fellow by the name of Mahan. I mean young. He was
about 60 years old. But started listening to Brother
Mahan on television. God saved the old man. He called
Henry and asked him to come for a meeting. And Henry went down
there and he called me up and asked if I'd like to go. I said,
I'll be happy to. So Shelby and Faith and I drove up from lookout,
found the place. It was something else. It was
something else. But it was in Dingus, West Virginia. Dingus, West Virginia. Try to
find somebody who knows where Dingus, West Virginia is. Nobody's
got a clue where Dingus, West Virginia is. None of you know
except the ones who've been there. It's just somewhere in West Virginia.
And it ain't much of somewhere. It's Dingus, West Virginia. But
oh, what a blessed place. God sent his word. Oh, how blessed are you to whom
God has sent his word. God sent his word by Jonah to
Nineveh. The whole city of Nineveh then
believed God. It's amazing. Jonas came and
he said 40 days and God's going to destroy this place and the
Ninevites believe God the Ninevites reasoned like all Men condemned
ought to reason like all condemned sinners ought to reason look
at chapter 3 verse 9 Who can tell who can tell if
God will turn and repent and and turn away from his fierce
anger that we perish not. Who can tell? God just might
have mercy. We've heard what Jonah had to
say. He told us he's good and gracious and kind and merciful,
loving, kind, full of loving kindness. Who can tell? Maybe
he'd spare us. Those four lepers were outside
the city and they said, if we go into the city, we're going
to die. But in there, they've got meat. If we stay out here,
we're going to die. We might as well go in there.
Maybe we can find something to eat. Maybe we can live. And so
they walked into the city and found everything they needed.
The thing for you to do, condemned rebel. is go to God, tie a noose
around your neck, hold it in your hand, and go to God and
bow down and seek His mercy. Perhaps He will admit my plea. Perhaps He will hear my prayer.
But if I perish, I will pray and perish only there who can
tell. Perhaps He'll be merciful. When
sinners hear God's Word and turn to Him in repentance, they obtain
mercy. I said that exactly the way I
intended to. When sinners hear God's word
and turn to him, they obtain mercy. When sinners hear God's word,
did you hear me, sinner? When sinners hear God's word
and turn to him, they obtain mercy. There's never been such
a thing. sinner to turn to God for mercy
who didn't obtain mercy. Look at verse 10. God saw their
works that they turned from their evil way and God repented of
the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he
did it not. Now there you are Mr. Fortner You tell us that our
works have nothing to do with our salvation. But it says here
that when God saw their works, that they repented and turned
to God, then God repented of his evil and spared the city.
There now, what are you going to do with that? I want to say
it just like it says. I want to tell it just like it
says. Sinners who turn to God obtain mercy. Not because God
looks down on your turning and says, well, since Bob Duff was
willing to forsake his idols and turn to me, then I'll turn
to Bob. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You see, you've got
to understand scripture with scripture. Repentance is the
gift of God. God giveth repentance. Christ bestows repentance as
the gift of his grace through his blood atonement. And the
repentance given is exercised. And the sinner exercising repentance,
believing God, receives testimony from God that mercy is his. Now it appears to anyone looking
on Well, they've repented now God's been gracious and their
repentance calls that but the folks who experience it no better
They understand that their repentance is the proof of the fact that
God has forgiven their sin that God's called them by his grace
God's redeemed us and he saved us and believers understand that
I recall when I was out in school Springfield, Missouri my first
year in Bible college I had a bit of a reputation because I wouldn't
keep my mouth shut about the gospel of God's grace and folks
didn't like it. And we were involved in something
matter of what it was. And some folks got real upset,
got real heated talking about God's election and Christ's redemption.
And one of the girls in school stood up. You ladies probably don't understand
this, but when women start teach me theology, I get upset. I'm
not, I'm not interested in what a woman has to say about doctrine.
Any woman, any woman, God's servants are not women preachers. But
this gal, she stood up and she said, I know salvation by grace,
but I believed in Jesus. It was my faith. And you can't
take that from me. I said, I wouldn't attempt to
take that from you because it's not worth taking. Not worth taking. We believe God by the gift of
faith and faith is the operation of God, the Holy Spirit in us
and everybody who has it knows it. Then in chapter four, we
read that Jonah got mad at God for his mercy upon Nineveh and
he went out to pout. Now look at verse six, chapter
four. Here's the third thing God did
for Jonah. The Lord prepared a gourd and made it come up over
Jonah that it might be a shadow over his head to deliver him
from his grief. Here's a pouting prophet, but he's God's prophet. The prophet of a merciful and
gracious God. And this God was prepared by
God to comfort his servant Jonah while he's mad at God. As we see the hand of God in
grace, let us see the hand of God in our daily comforts. God sent this comfort to Jonah.
When he was totally undeserving of it. And the comfort was exactly
what Jonah needed at the time. The lord sent the gourd to jonah
at the right time and god's purpose in sending it Was to comfort
and protect his beloved servant And god's purpose was fulfilled
Jonah was glad because of the gourd he's he's sitting out there
pouting mad at god and the heat's beating down on him and god just
Grew a gourd and not the kind you hang on your Clothesline
out there and for Martin boxness. None of this. This was a special
plant like that way Oh God prepared for Jonah and it grew up and
covered him. He like it was like a Like the
owning you put up over your patio attention grew up covered Jonah
kept him from the heat But all earthly comforts are all just
temporary all earthly joys are just temporary and We shouldn't
get too attached to them. Look at verse 7 Here's the fourth
thing God did for Jonah. God prepared a worm and it smote
the gourd that it withered. Here, as the hand of God is in
our comforts, let us understand the hand of God is in our sorrows,
our bereavements, and our losses. Long, long time ago, there was
a businessman in London, England, a wealthy man, And as was the
case with businessmen in those days, he had to leave his family
often for months at a time. Once, when he left his family
and was gone, a little while after he left, his two boys,
who were his delight, got sick, very sick. Just before he was
due to arrive home, both boys died. And his wife pondered in
her mind what she's going to do. because her husband was going
to be devastated. But she had the boys' bodies
prepared for burial, and she put them in the room next to
the parlor where her husband would come in. And her husband
came in, and the boys didn't greet him at the door like they
normally did. And she kissed him and said hello, and he said
hello to her and said, where are the boys? Where are my sons? And she said, Honey, before you
see the sons, I've got something more to tell you. It's very important. Sit down here. She said, after
you left, I was invited to a very, very important meeting I had
to go to. And our neighbor, the jeweler,
he came by and offered to let me borrow this bracelet and necklace
that was just beautiful. Just beautiful. Very, very expensive. And I wore them. I decided I'd
like to keep those. Do you reckon I ought to give
them back? He said, well, woman, what's wrong with you? Of course
you give them back. They're his. He just loaned them
to you. And so she got up and said, come
on, I want to take you to the boys. And she opened the room
and there they lay. And she said, God gave us two
jewels for a while. And he came and said he wanted
them back and they're gone. And so it is that God sends our
comforts and God sends our sorrows as seemeth him good. Now read
verse eight. Here's the fifth thing. I won't
be long, I promise. It came to pass when the sun
did rise that God prepared a vehement east wind And the sun beat upon
the head of Jonah. If we're wise, we'll see the
hand of God in our heaviest trials. And our heaviest trials, Alan,
often are about the most insignificant things. Y'all will remember back years
ago, some of our wise politicians decided to sign an agreement
called NAFTA with Mexico and Canada. I remember Ross Perot's
summary of NAFTA. He said, when it goes through,
you'll hear a huge sucking sound going toward Mexico. Well, for
all the years that missionaries were in Mexico, they couldn't
own any property. Still can't. They can't own any
property. You hear about folks coming here
don't have any rights. Believe me, you go somewhere
else, you lose yours altogether. But Walter and Cody down there,
Milton been down there, Brother David Pledge has been down there,
lived in rented houses, and at the whim of whoever they rented
from, they'd have to move like that. Well, the one good thing
that came from NAFTA is that Brother Walter and Brother Cody
were able now to lease property for 99 years. And so they both
built houses, one back to the other, nice houses, got nice
tile floors. And they got moved in long and
Betty, she had one thing of real value. She had a crystal dish. I don't even know what it was.
I've seen it, but I don't even remember what it was. Just one
of those things that ladies love. It had been passed on through
her family for generations. And it was quite valuable. And
she found just the right spot for it. and set it on a shelf,
and then Walter put his easy chair right under the shelf.
Not a good idea. About the first or second time
he got up, he jumped up, hit the shelf, and Betty's over in
the kitchen. She heard that thing crash into 1,000 pieces on the
floor. And Walter thought, oh, no. Went to the pantry, pulled out
a dustpan, one of those little dust mop, dust brushes, stooped
down and sweeped it up. And she said, well, I won't have
to worry about that anymore. Oh, God, give me that kind of
grace. For most of us, those little things cause a lot of
trouble. Jonah is out here and his great trial was a severe
east wind. But the trial itself seemed to
be horribly brutal. And sometimes God's trials seem
to be brutal. Seem to be brutal. And Bob, I'll
tell you what's the most brutal aspect of it. When it doesn't appear that any
benefit can come from the trial. You're going through heartache,
trouble. Mother's laying there in the
hospital and suddenly she takes her last breath and the two babies
and her husband are left alone. And you say, how in hell can
anything good come out of this? Preacher, tell me! How can anything
good come from this? I don't know. I can't tell you. I don't know. Those trials that are heaviest
usually come when we feel most secure and everything going well. Our trials, after all, don't
change anything. They only reveal what's in us. Jonah's trial here didn't do
anything but reveal his anger to God. That's all. Didn't change anything. Now,
let me show you one more thing and I'll be done. You can look
at it later. In 2 Kings 14, God did all of
these things for his servant Jonah. He did all of these things for
his servant Jonah to make Jonah a more useful servant
for his people in his kingdom. Isn't that wonderful? God sends you through some heartache,
some trouble to make it possible for you to minister to some of
his children in the same heartache and trouble. God used Jonah now
to bring about great deliverance for Israel in time of trouble
to minister to them. God, I often pray, will you use me? I won't run so much to be used
by God. To be used by God. Be careful. He might. He might. And if he does, you
will endure that which he sins, though it may seem brutal and
may seem senseless at times, to make you more useful for his
glory and the good of his people. The book of Jonah closes as no
other book in the Bible. You ever notice that? It closes
with a question. Look at verse 10, chapter 4. Then said the Lord, thou hast
had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not labored,
neither madest it grow, which came up in a night and perished
in a night. You had pity on a worthless,
useless gourd. And should I not spare none of
that great city wherein are more than six score thousand persons
that cannot discern between their right hand and their left, and
also much cattle? And we have no answer given.
I don't know what Jonah said. I don't know how Jonah answered
God. We're not told. Maybe there's a reason. I'm sure
there's a reason. Perhaps God, the Holy Spirit,
closes this book with this question for you to answer. And for me to answer. You set
your heart on worthless, temporary, transient things to come up in
a night and perish in a night. Wouldn't it be better to set
your heart upon Christ and upon his chosen in this world and
the saving of his elect and the building of his kingdom? You answer. God, give me grace
to answer for Christ's sake.