In this book of Jonah, we began
in chapter 1 a few weeks ago, and we looked at this as a picture,
a type, of the fall and the redemption of man. And so far as we've studied
this book, we saw what brought the fall, what brought the judgment
of God upon humanity, and that was disobedience. Jonah disobeyed
the Lord, and the Lord sent out this great wind into the sea,
threatened the ship, threatened the sailors, and the only means
of deliverance was to throw Jonah overboard. That's what we've
seen in our studies. Then, the last couple of weeks,
we've looked in Jonah chapter 2 at the sufferings of Jonah.
The Lord Jesus said, as Jonah was three days and three nights
in that whale's belly, the Son of Man must be three days and
three nights in the heart of the earth. And we've looked at
the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. And today, I want to
spend one more lesson here in the second chapter of Jonah.
and verse 10 of chapter 2. Verse 10, we've looked at the
fall, we've looked at the Lord Jesus' sufferings and His death,
we've considered all the things that came upon Him down on the
cross. And this morning, I want to look in verse 10 of chapter
2, and this is an amazing statement, a great mural. He says here in
verse 10, And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited
out Jonah upon the dry land." Now, that's an amazing miracle,
ain't it? Jonah was three days and nights
in the belly of this fish. He called it the belly of hell.
Terrible, terrible darkness. And now the Lord speaks to the
fish, and it swims to the surface, beaches itself. and spit still
out upon the dry beach, upon the sand. Now that's an amazing
miracle. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
so raised from the dead after the same man. He suffered, he
died, They buried him, and as Brother Glenn told us this morning,
he raised again from the dead the third and appointed morning.
Now, what does this verse mean to us in verse 10? What can we
learn from this, looking at it as a picture and type that we
have all the way through this book? Well, the first thing we
learn from this glorious statement that this fish vomited out junk
on dry land, we learned that the story doesn't have to end. with Jonah in the bottom of the
sea. Ain't that amazing? What if,
now consider this with me this morning, what if this fish, this
whale had not vomited out Jonah upon dry land? Then the story
ends there, doesn't it? There is no chapter 3. There
is no chapter 4. It ends. despairingly. It ends in tragedy. Joma is gone
forever. Nobody will ever see him again.
The Ninevites will not be converted. All hope is lost. Joma is gone
forever. But, bless God, it didn't happen
that way, did it? It didn't happen that way. Those
poor Pharisees, they thought for sure they'd gotten rid of
Him that had disturbed their little religious ceremonies and
traditions. We've gotten rid of Him now,
they said. He's gone forever. He's out of our heart. But God
raised Him from the dead. And what does that mean for you
and I, brothers and sisters? We have hope now, don't we? We
have a future now. What if the Son of God had not
risen from the dead? We'd have no hope. Life would
still be uncertain, we'd still live in the fear of death and
coming eternity, but now is Christ risen from the dead and our future
is bright. We have a hope and a world to
come, don't we? Blessed and glorious resurrection
of the Son of God. And I tell you, it's not only
that you and I live in the hope of the world to come, but this
world lives in hope. This creation had a hope. We're
told in Romans 8 that the creation groans together tonight. And
what's it waiting for? It's waiting for redemption.
It's waiting for everything to be restored. And you know something? It's assured that there's going
to be a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
You know why? The Son of God has risen from
the dead. What a bright future the children
of God have. You know what the Lord said?
Because I live. Just because I live, you shall
live also. with tears upon my face. Because we have this promise
of God Himself that there's coming a better day in which He'll wipe
all tears away from our face. And the resurrection of the Son
of God assures us of that. I've even come in a measure,
and some of you have too, when your body is afflicted or you're
sick, You sort of rejoice in that because you know that there's
coming a day when all sickness and all pain and all sorrow is
going to be done away with. You know why? Because our Savior
has risen from the dead. We have a bright future if in
this life only we have hope in Christ We are of all men most
miserable, but now is Christ risen from the dead, and we've
got a bright future. We have a world to come. Because
our Savior lives, we shall live also. History's not stopping
it. No, history's going on. And for
God's children, it's a bright history. eternal happiness and
bliss in the Father's house. Why? Because Jesus has risen
again. Oh, that's a wonderful statement
ain't it? The fish vomited out John. The grave helped the Son
of God no longer. And because He lived, we live
also. That's what we learned from this
statement. And the Lord Jesus meant for us to learn that from
this statement, because He said, as Jonah was three days and three
nights, and that well vomited him out, so the Son of Man must
be three days and three nights, and the grave is going to let
me go. It came home. Secondly, we learned from this,
and this is a wonderful statement here, and I believe, brothers
and sisters, you and I need to read this picture carefully.
Slowly, don't read chapters, read words when you read God's
Bible. Because the Holy Spirit has these
little nuggets that He puts in the verse of Scripture. And sometimes
you dig one of them out and it's just pure gold. It shines, and
we have one here this morning. Did you notice what the Holy
Spirit said, sir? The Lord spake unto the fish,
and he vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. The dry land. Now, what's so
significant about that? Well, you remember what these
waters were. These waters represented to us
the judgment of God. I went down, Jonah said, into
the deep waters. They came even to my soul. The
billows, those waves came over me. They smothered me. That was
God's judgment against sin. But I tell you, the Lord instructed
this fish so clearly. He says, you big fish, when you
let go of my prophet, you make sure that you're all the way
up on dry land. I don't want a drop of water
to touch even his toe. Waters must not touch my prophet. What does that tell us? When
the Lord Jesus Christ arose from the grave, All of those horrible
things that came upon Him on the cross. What came upon Him
on the cross? Well, our sins was laid upon
Him. The judgment of God came upon Him. God cursed Him. The Scripture tells us that.
He tasted death for us upon that cross. And he finally died. All the awful things that come
upon him. But you know something? When he came out of that grave,
none of these things touched him anymore. Sin that was upon
him, there was not a taint of it when he came out of the grave.
Death that he tasted, that bitter cup, He swallowed it up in victory. Death is no more. The judgment
of God that smote him upon the cross, that sword that shed his
blood is now at rest. Nothing touches him any longer.
You look at Jonah's old well, and where is it? Well, he's laying
there on the beach. It's laying on the beach. He
swallowed up Jonah, but when he vomited out his prey, He lost
all of his power. He was taken out of his element.
I tell you, you put that old whale back out in the deep, down
in the dark waters of the Mediterranean Sea, you see him out there, and
he's pretty scary, isn't he? He's big. Oh, the shadow of this
whale would scare a man. But you take a beach whale, he's
out of his element. He has no power any longer, does
he? And you know something about death? All death has now is a
shadow. It's vomited out its prey, and
it has no power any longer. It gave its ugly dark jaws upon
the Son of God, and He swallowed it up in victory. You go there
to the Mediterranean coast this morning, and you know something.
You won't find anything left of that monster. He begins to
decay. All that was left of it was dust,
and now the dust is blown away. He swatted up Jonah one time,
but when he beat himself, he's gone forever now. He's dead. And the Son of God lives that
death may die, brothers and sisters. There's coming a day when even
the shadow of death will be taken away. I tell you, death to the
soul is already taken away. That bitter sting has already
been borne by our substitute. But now that He lives, there's
come the day that even physical death itself will be destroyed. I love what the Lord Jesus said
to death. You pray to death, dear child
of God. Does death ever come to you in its pale face and its
black garments and make you afraid? Well, you say to death the same
thing the Lord Jesus Christ said to it. You know what he said
to it. He said, O death, I will be your plagues. O grave, I will
be your victory, and repentance shall be hid from my eyes. Oh, it should be, I guess, that
lost people live in fear of death. They'd be fools not to live in
fear of death because they're under the sentence of death.
Oh, but a child of God should never fear death. It's no more
dangerous than Jonah's old, dead, beached whale landing on the
seacoast. There's nothing it can do to
you. There's no harm that it can bring you. I love that passage
of Scripture, when the Lord Jesus had raised from the dead, and
those timid women had gone there to anoint His dead body. And
the angels announced to Him, He's not here. He's risen. And then they made this amazing
statement to them timid women. They said, would you like to
come in and see where the Lord lay? There's death there. We don't want anything to do
with that. No, there's no death there. There's nothing there but light.
There's nothing there but light. And Jesus Christ tasted death,
brothers and sisters, one time. But He's brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel. Oh, hope. What a blessed hope. We're saved from our enemies
because Christ is saved from His enemies. Look over here with
me in a passage of Scripture. And over to the right, look over
here with me in this. Look here at what Zechariah was
saying. You remember John the Baptist's
dad upon the birth of John the Baptist? In Luke chapter 1, he's
prophesying here of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
look what he says about our enemies. Our enemies. That well was Jonah's
enemy. Sin is our enemy. The judgment of God upon sin
is our enemy. The wrath of God is our enemy.
Strong enemies. But look what Zechariah said
the Lord Jesus was coming to do in verse 70. Look at that.
He said here in verse 70, as he spake, as the Lord spake by
the mouth of his holy prophets, which shall have been since the
world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from
the hand of all that hate us, to perform the mercy promised
to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, The oath which
he spake to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us,
that we be delivered out of the hand of our enemies." What is
our enemies? He said this twice, didn't he? Being delivered out of the hand
of our enemies. Was he talking about the Roman government? Was
he talking about Roman soldiers? I don't think so, do you? Oh,
he's talking about tremendous enemies. You know what one dear
old Puritan made a statement one time, he said, God is a man's
best friend, or he's a man's worst enemy. The grace of God
will save a man, the wrath of God will damn a man. What's our
worst enemy? The wrath of God is our enemy.
Sin is our enemy. Death is our enemy. But you know
what he says here? He's delivered us out of the
hand of our enemy. And what's the effects of that?
That we may serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness
all the days of our life. When the Lord Jesus came out
of that grave, as sure as He stepped out without any taint
of sin on Him, without any taint of wrath from the judgment of
God on Him, He's free from those things. You and I are free from
those things. You and I are free from those things. Just as free
as He is, how free is Jesus Christ? How free is Jesus Christ? He
died unto sin once. But death now has no more dominion
over him. In that he liveth, he lives forevermore. Ain't that what scripture tells
us? He's not subject to death. He's not subject to the judgment
of God anymore. The wrath of God has nothing
to do with him, and therefore, dear child of God, you who are
in Christ this morning, these, your enemies, have nothing to
do with you. You're as free as he is. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ has made you free from your enemies. That's what he
came to do, deliver us from our enemies. And when death let him
go, it had to let us go. He came to deliver us who through
fear of death were all our lifetime subject to bondage. Subject to
bondage. What is death now? Just a hollow
shell, a corpse, that's all it is. And when you lay down in
death, brothers and sisters, you'll sleep, you'll rest, is
what you'll do. Look back over to our text again.
There's the effects. The fall of Jonah, the sin of
Jonah affected everybody. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ affected everybody. Everything. Look here in verse
2. Verse 10 again, here's another
important effect this verse has when we read that it spit Jonah
out upon dry land. Look in chapter 3. The word of the Lord came unto
Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that
great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
So Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh according to the word
of the Lord. You know what? You know the blessing
that Jonah's resurrection had upon these Ninevites? There's
two things that's so evident as you and I read the book of
Jonah. Two things that God had purposed to do. Number one, He
purposed to save these Ninevites. They didn't know it, but He knew
it didn't they? And Jonah knew it. Jonah knew
it. That's why Jonah didn't go preach
to them to begin with. He purposed to save those Ninevites. And Jonah said, I ain't going
over there and preaching to them, because I know you're going to have mercy on
them. And when you have mercy on them, you're probably going
to turn from Judah and Israel, from my people. And I ain't going.
I know you're going to save them. And the second thing is evident.
He was going to save them by Jonah. He was going to save them
by Jonah's preaching. But there Jonah is down in the
bottom of the Mountains, down in the dark waters. What's going
to happen then, if he stays down there? Are the Ninevites going
to remain unconverted? Are they going to continue in
their wicked ways? They will, if Jonah is not sent
to turn them from their wickedness by his preaching. Those two things
evident, brothers and sisters, also with God with us. It's evident as you and I read
the Scriptures, He's purposed to save a great host of people
out of Adam's grace. He's determined to do that. He's
decreed to do that. And He's purposed to save them
by His Son. Just the same thing we find in
the book of Jonah. Well then, well then, the Lord Jesus says, I must bring
them. And they'll hear my voice and they'll be converted back
to me. There he hangs. Dead. They take him down from
the cross and everybody says he's dead. They wrapped him in
grave clothes because he's dead. There he lays in the tomb. A
sealed tomb. A dark tomb. What about all the
sheep then? Do they have to go unconverted?
Never to hear the Savior's living voice? Die in their sins? No, no, no. He said, I must bring
them. I love that verse. I think it's in Acts chapter
3 verse 26, if I'm not mistaken. And how it goes soar. So evidently
with this type that we're looking at. Peter said to the Jews of
his day, God having raised up his son Jesus, sent him to bless
you. in converting every one of you
from your iniquities. Ain't that wonderful? Just as
God raised up Jonah and sent him to the Ninevites to turn
them and convert them from their sins, God raised up His Son Jesus
and sent Him to bless us in saving us and turning us from our iniquities. But you say, Bruce, how in the
world is he doing this? He's in heaven. Well, physically
he's in heaven. But you know something, brothers
and sisters, he is just as much here today in reality, in his
spirit, even more so probably than he was when he was here
physically. I want you to understand what I'm saying. Don't go off
and start some rumor on me. But Jesus Christ in his physical
being was limited in some sense, wasn't he? He couldn't get into
their hearts. Physically, he's alive. But when
He prayed the Father, and we were sent another comforter,
and who is that? Well, that's God Himself. That's
Christ Himself in His Spirit. Now He can come into our souls,
in our spirits, in our hearts. And what does He do? The first
thing He does is convert us. God sends Him to bless us in
turning us from our sins Listen to this. Brother Glenn
read a portion of it to us this morning. Go ye unto all the world
and preach the gospel. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. And listen to what he said. Brother
Glenn read it to us this morning. Lo, I am with you always, even
to the end. I am with you I am with you. Was he speaking to his apostle?
Yes, but he was speaking to more than his apostle. I am with you
until the end of the world. Lord, how long? Until the end
of the world. Brothers and sisters, that's where you and I are at.
We're right down in the last days, and yet he's with us. And
the scripture says this. Here's how Christ converts his
people. They went everywhere preaching, and the Lord was working
with them and confirming His Word. I thought Christ was in
heaven. He is. But He's here too. He's
here too. It's expedient for you that I
go away. If I go all the way, the Conqueror
will not come. But if I go away, If I go to
the cross, and I go to the tomb, and I ascend back into the Father,
I will pray to the Father, and He will send you another comforter
that He may abide with you for how long? Forever. Christ is
with us, brothers and sisters. He's with us. Let me give you
four things, in closing, about the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the effects of it. Four things. He's with
his church. He's with his church just as
much today as he was in the early book of Acts. He's with us. I'm with you. I'm with you always. Always. He don't always manifest
himself. I have no doubt this morning
that the church of Jesus Christ is all over this world. If you
go to Russia, you'll find it there. Brother Mahan's been there
and preached. He says it's there. It's in China. It's in South America, North
America. It's all over this world, the body of Christ is. Sometimes
it gets so weak. It loses its influence. Nobody
listens to her. But you know something? Christ
is with her anyway. Christ is with His church. No
matter where you see His body, if it's His body, the living
Christ is with that body. Some places He manifests Himself
in the church. Other places, he don't manifest
himself like that, but he's with them anyway. You say, oh, Bruce,
we're living in such a bad time. I don't know what's going to
happen. Violence, lust, wars and rumors
of war. This is a bad... Brother, look
how bad it was down in Memphis. It was pretty bad, wasn't it?
Evil, violence, lust. But who's that walking the streets
down there? Who is that fellow? That walk in the streets? That's
a gentleman. That's a gentleman. And wherever
you find the body of Christ, the true body of Christ, the
living Christ is with his body. Now you mark that down. He's
there. Let me quote this verse to you
again. I am with you always. I am with
you always. Always. Number two, not only
is he with his church as a whole, now get this, I am with you always,
but for his members are gathered as we are this morning, he's
here in our midst. He's in our midst. He's in our
hearts. He's in the atmosphere. He's
here in our midst. Well, that's a blessing. I left
here last Sunday morning, and I told somebody, I said, I don't
know when I have been in a service where I have been so strengthened
and encouraged. From the time Brother Roth taught
the Sunday school class, I wasn't able to preach, I wasn't able
to hear and worship, and I've lived here so strengthened in
myself. I've lived on it all week long.
My brother Larry was talking about something, I think he said,
David said something to the effect that, you know, I've listened
to tales. I've listened to tales. But it's so different. It's so
different when you're there with the Lord's people. You're inspired. It's different. And you know
what the difference is? He's here. He's here. Where two or three are gathered
in my name, I, this resurrected Christ, am in your midst. I have no doubt in my mind this
morning, brothers and sisters, that Jesus Christ is with us.
He is in our midst. We're sure of that. We're sure
of that. We can be assured of this also.
Look here in 1 Peter with me, right quick, and I'll close.
Two more things and I'll close. Look here in 1 Peter. He's with
His church always, and wherever the members of His body, as we
are this morning, gather together, He's in our midst. He's a resurrected
Christ in His Spirit. And look at this. And look at
this. 1 Peter chapter 1. Wherever his gospel is preached,
wherever his gospel is preached, he's in that gospel. He's in the gospel. Look here
what Peter said in chapter 1, look in verse 9, verse 5. Receiving
the end of your faith, here's the end of our faith, the salvation
of our souls. Of which salvation the prophets
have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace,
free grace, that should come unto you. Searching what or what
manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did
signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and
the glory that should follow, unto whom it was revealed that
not unto themselves But unto us they ministered the things
which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the
gospel unto you." Look at this. How do you preach the gospel?
With the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. You know how I know that Jesus
Christ is here this morning? The gospel is being preached.
And where His gospel is preached, He's with it. He's ready. He's
in it. He's in it. And that brings us
to our Jonah, doesn't it? God rose him out of that whale's
belly and He sent him to convert those nevertheless. And Jesus
Christ is in His church this morning. He's where His gospel
is preached. And what's He doing? He's converting
sinners. He's converted His elect into
Himself. You'll find that in Acts chapter
16 where the Apostle Paul and those who were with him went
out to the river where they often met for prayer. And these group
of ladies were there. They were gathered there. And
as Paul began to preach the Gospel, the Scriptures make this clear.
The Lord opened Lydia's heart. Is He with us or not? Is He here
on this earth today or not? They went everywhere preaching
the gospel and the Lord was with them. When the Lord is with the
gospel, oh, somebody's going to be blessed. Somebody's going
to have their hearts opened. And she attained unto the things
spoken of Paul. I tell you, Jonah and all the
miracles of that book, they've got nothing on us out there.
All the miracles we read about in the book of Jonah. The Lord
sending out that wind and stirring the waters. Preparing the fish. Jonah living in that fish for
three days. I tell you, that's a miracle.
The Lord speaking to that fish. What a miracle that was. That
old fish laying on the bottom. Suddenly he rises up. Where are
you going big boy? I've got this urge. Urge. Where are you going? I've got
this urge to become a beached whale. You know the consequences
of that? Oh, it don't matter. And boy,
he heads for the dry land. And with one big surge, he pushes
his heavy body right up on the dry sand and bombs it up. What a miracle that was. But
I'll tell you the greatest miracle. I'll tell you a greater miracle
than that. When a poor old dead dog singer is sitting in a worship
service, hearing the gospel of the Son of God, and the Holy
Spirit comes to the heart and opens the heart. And you say,
now I see. Now I see. I once was blind,
but now I see. What do you see? I see the King
and His beauty. I see Jesus Christ and His saving
merits. I see Him. Oh, He's mine. He's mine. And you're brought
to cast your soul upon Him to be saved by Him. Oh, that's the
biggest miracle that you can ever imagine. And it's all accomplished
by this way. Christ, the risen Lord, is among
us. He's among us. Lord, bless Your
precious Word, our heart. Father, we do thank You. We thank
You for this precious Book of Jonah, all that You teach us
from it. We thank You, our Father, for
the Lord Jesus. O Lord, surely You are our sovereign
Lord. You brought us to Yourself. We
were Your enemy, but we are enemies no longer. We were dead in sins,
but we're dead no longer. We were filthy and laid with
our iniquities, but now we're clean. Oh, and it's all because
you, Sovereign Savior, have blessed us. And we bless you for doing
it. Be your interpreter this morning.
Bless your gospel to this dear people. In our Lord Jesus' name
we pray. Amen. Brother David Baker wanted to
profess the Lord Jesus in water baptism this morning, and we're
going over to Clark.