We turn to Jonah chapter 2. We considered the first chapter
last week. Let's read this prayer from the
whale's belly in Jonah chapter 2. And two things I want to remind
you of when we read this prayer. This is Jonah praying from a
fish's belly. And this is also the prayer of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And look at it in both ways as
we read this passage of scripture. Beginning in verse one. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord
his God out of the fish's belly and said, I cried by reason of
mine affliction unto the Lord, And he heard me. Out of the belly
of hell cried I. And thou heardest my voice. For
thou has cast me into the deep. We remember from last week it
was the Mariners that cast him, but he says thou has cast me
into the deep. In the midst of the seas and
the floods compass me about. All thy billows and Thy waves
passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of
thy sight. Yet, I will look again toward
thy holy temple. 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. The earth with
her bars was about me forever. Yet hast thou brought up my life
from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord. And my prayer came unto thee
and to thine 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 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. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would meet with us, that you would speak in power
to our hearts from your word, that you would teach us that
salvation is of thee. Lord, teach us what it is to
rejoice in that. Lord, how we thank you for the
salvation that is in your son. We confess our sins, we pray
for forgiveness and cleansing. We pray for grace to love you
more and to love one another more. Speak for Christ's sake. May we be found in him. In his
name we pray, amen. Now from this prayer of Jonah,
from the fish's belly, we're given in these five words Everything
we believe. Salvation is of the Lord. That's everything we believe.
Salvation is of the Lord. And what I think is interesting,
when Jonah made that statement, the fish spit him out. Even fish
don't like that statement. Salvation is of the Lord. Now, the Lord had prepared this
great fish. The Lord Jesus calls him a whale
in Matthew chapter 12, and the Lord Jesus referred to this as
a historic event. People say, well, this is figurative,
which no, this literally happened. Can I understand that? No. How
did he breathe? I don't know. A miracle. How
did the acids in the whale's belly not consume him? I don't
know. A miracle. But the Lord Jesus
speaks of this as a historical event. Jonah being swallowed
by this whale. Now, like I said, I want us to
read this twice. Once as the words of Jonah. and the next time, the words
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how this is. Verse one, then Jonah prayed unto the Lord
his God out of the fish's belly. Now, can you imagine anything
more miserable than that? Being in a fish's belly, utter
darkness, The stuff you would feel, how gross it would be,
how helpless you would feel. Try to put yourself in his place,
in a fish's belly, knowing he was there because of his disobedience.
Knowing he was there because he had disobeyed the Lord and
went to Tarshish instead of going to Nineveh. You remember, he
didn't like Nineveh. Gentiles, the enemies of Israel.
He didn't want them to be shown mercy, so he went to Tarshish. They threw him over the boat.
The Lord has prepared a fish. The fish swallows him. Verse
two, and said, out of the fish's belly, I cried by reason of mine
affliction unto the Lord. He heard me out of the belly
of hell, cried I, and thou heardest my voice. Now this word affliction,
it's translated adversary, adversity, difficulty, anguish, distress,
trouble. From the well's belly, the belly
of hell, is where I cried. And you know the only time me
and you are gonna cry is from the belly of hell. when you've
hit the bottom. That's when you cry to the Lord.
There's no place else to cry. There's nothing else to do. Here
he is in a completely hopeless situation, and he cries to the
Lord, and he said, out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou
heardest my voice. Verse three, for thou hast cast
me into the deep. I know the mariners did it, but
he knew that they did it at the appointment of God. Thou hast
cast me into the deep. In the midst of the seas and
the floods compassed me about, all thy billows and thy waves
passed over me. Then I said, I'm cast out of
thy sight, totally cut off, separated, yet I will look again toward
thy holy temple. Now that's the gospel. That's
Christ. He is the temple of God. He is
the dwelling place of God. Verse five, the waters compassed
me about, even to the soul. The depths closed me round about,
the weeds were wrapped about my head. This talks about how
completely he was trapped. I went down to the bottoms of
the mountains. The earth with her bars was about
me forever. Yet, in spite of that, hast thou
brought up my life. from corruption, O Lord my God. Now this is all spoken from the
belly of the whale. Jonah was given faith to know
that the Lord was going to deliver him. When my soul fainted within
me, I remembered the Lord. That word fainted is utterly
failed. I remembered the Lord and my
prayer came into thee and to thine holy temple. Verse eight,
they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. If you
look to your works, all you're doing is forsaking your own mercy.
It's nothing but a lying vanity. And then he makes this statement. But I will sacrifice unto thee
with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I have vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord. Now, let me repeat. That's everything
we believe. Salvation is of the Lord. Now, salvation. I need to be
saved, first of all, from God. Have you ever thought about that? He's the one I sinned against.
He's the one who has the power to cast me into hell and give
me exactly what I deserve. I need to be saved from God. I need to be saved from my sins.
I cannot get rid of my sins. I need to be saved from my sins
in a way that honors God. I need to be saved from myself.
I am my own greatest problem. And if you don't know that about
yourself, you're deceived. You are your own greatest problem. You believe that? Salvation. I need to be safe from God, I
need to be safe from my sins, I need to be safe from myself.
Salvation is of the Lord. Now, let me talk for just a few
moments about that. First, salvation's of the Lord
is purpose. God purposed salvation. Salvation is by the purpose of
God. You know, in the very earliest
sermons we have, this is an issue. When Peter's preaching on that
great day of Pentecost, he opens up the message with these words,
him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. He begins there. The reason he
was delivered, yes, you with wicked hands have crucified and
slain him, but God purposed this. This happened according to God's
determinant counsel. When the early church is praying
in Acts chapter four, they say a truth against thy holy child,
Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles, the people of Israel, were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. Now, this was prominent in the
apostles preaching. I love it when Luke gives the
first prayer, I mean, a sermon of Paul in Acts chapter 13, and
Luke, the inspired writer, gives this summary at the end after
he preached, as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Acts chapter 13, verse 48. You
see, Christ is lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
And God, in his purpose, made a way where he can be just, utterly
just, and justify sinners like me and you. We're bound to thank
God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God had, from the beginning, chosen you to salvation. Isn't that enough? Why me? Why
me? That's the only response. Why
me? But God purposed salvation. And not only did God purpose
salvation before time began. He's the author of it and the
purpose of it. He's the executor of it. Now, we couldn't come
up with a way figure out how God could actually be just and
justify the ungodly. Only God can do that. He's given
this to show his greatness. But if we could come up with
that way, we couldn't execute it. We couldn't make it happen.
It would not happen if it was up to us, but salvation is of
the Lord in its execution. I think of Christ agreeing to be a surety before
time began to take full responsibility for the salvation of his people.
It's of the Lord in his execution. He came in time. And in time,
he kept God's holy law perfectly, working out our perfect righteousness
for his people. In time, he did what was ordained
before the foundation of the world. He came and bore the sins
of his people. He did it by himself. He was not given any help. He
did this by himself. He by himself purged our sins.
He was raised from the dead, having put away all of our sin. Salvation's of the Lord and it's
execution. He did it. He did it. He kept the law for
me. He paid for my sins. He put them away. salvations
of the Lord in its application, in the applying of it. Now, what
do I mean by that? You know, I was thinking, I've
never thought of things in this light before, but if you've heard
what deism is, most of our founding fathers were deists. They believed
that God created the universe and he stepped back and just
let things go to see what would happen. And you know, Most people
have kind of a deist view of salvation. God made salvation
possible. He made salvation possible, but
it's up to you as to whether or not it's going to be finished.
He got it started, but it has to be finished with you. That's
no different than deism. But that's not so. God, by His
Spirit, gives life to everybody Christ stood as a surety for,
everybody God elected, everybody that Christ died for. He gives
them spiritual life. He applies it. He preserves these
people. Salvation is of the Lord in His
preservation. The reason you haven't fallen
away, you've seen people leave. The reason you haven't is because
He's kept you from it. He's preserved you. Salvation
is of the Lord in His final glorification. When, I love that hymn, when
I stand before thy throne, dressed in beauty not my own, when I
see thee as thou art, love thee with unsinning heart, then, Lord,
shall I fully know, not till then, how much I owe. When I stand before God sinless, I'm going to know salvation is
of the Lord. Now let's read this prayer as
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the primary application
of this. This is such a powerful type
of Christ. Three days in the a well's belly,
the well spitting out three days later, which represents the resurrection
and what the Lord accomplished. And remember, the Lord said you're
only going to be given one sign, the sign of Jonah, three days
in, three days out. Now, let's read this prayer as
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. From the cross Then Jonah prayed
unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, and he cried
by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord. And he heard me
out of the belly of hell, cried I, and thou heardest my voice. Now this is talking about his
sufferings. And when we talk about the sufferings
of Christ, I always feel so stupid because I don't understand it.
I don't understand what he was going on. I don't understand
what the full equivalent of hell is. I don't understand what it
means to be forsaken by God and be left all alone, left to myself. And I wouldn't understand it
because, you know, I was born sinful. He, in his holiness,
was made sin. We're used to sin. It doesn't
really bother us. It does sometimes, but not much. Not like it should. But he who
is holy was made sin and was made to feel the awful violence
of it. Verse three, for thou hast cast
me into the deep, into the midst of the seas and the floods compass
me about. All thy billows and thy waves,
speaking of his wrath, have passed over me, this is the equivalent
to my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now he knew, he
knew. And once again, I'm talking about
things that I believe but don't understand. He was made sin. He was made to be guilty of the
commission of the sins of all of God's people. What all does
that mean? I don't know. And I would be
foolish to try to explain it. But he was made sin. And the sins that I have committed
He became guilty of the commission of those sins. And that's why
his father forsook him. He's righteous. He's holy. He's
true. Whatever he does is right. And when he punished Christ,
it's because Christ deserved to be punished because he took
my sin and made it his own. Did he ever sin in his person?
Of course not. Of course not. Of course not. This is worse. He was made sin
and made to feel all the horror of it and was forsaken by his
father. All the waves of his father's
wrath came over him. Verse four, then said, I, I am
cast out of thy sight. Complete separation. Now when I think about this,
I think the worst thing that could happen to me is for the Lord
to leave me myself. Worst thing that could happen. Christ was
left to himself, forsaken by the Father, cast out of his sight. But all that time, he never quit
believing God. Look what it says, verse four.
Then said I, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again
toward thy holy temple. He continued to believe God.
You know, when Job said, though he slay me, yet will I trust
him. Those are the words of Christ. He's the only one to ever really
do that. Me and you, when things go bad, what's, you know, we
think we're being punished. The Lord's doing this, Lord's.
We think all kinds of things, not him. Though he slay me. Yet will I trust him. And he trusted his father completely
even while he was forsaken by his father. You see, somebody
had to believe God. And this is exactly what it's
talking about in the New Testament when it says we're justified
by the faith of Christ. He believed God perfectly. He believed God completely. How
about me and you? As soon as something's going
wrong, we're questioning the Lord, not him. He believed God
perfectly. That's the faith, the faith of
Christ that we're justified with. Verse five. The waters compassed me about,
even to the soul. The depths closed me round, about
the weeds were wrapped around my head. He who knew no sin,
was made to know sin. Once again, I don't know what
that means. But when he talks about the waters encompassing
his soul being touched, being touched, he who knew no sin was
made to know sin. Verse six, I went down to the
bottoms of the mountains The earth with her bars was about
me forever. Forever. Now what that reminds
us of is that he suffered what no man could suffer. The full
equivalent of eternal hell. Once again, I don't know what
I'm talking about. We just believe. That's what
he suffered. Yet has thou brought up my life
from corruption, O Lord, my God. Speaking of his resurrection,
when my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord and my
prayer came unto thee and thine holy temple. Verse eight, they
that observe lying vanities. And that describes everything
about anything me and you come up with to save ourselves. It's nothing more than a lying
vanity. And the Lord knows this much
more acutely than anybody else does. They that observe, regard
lying vanities, they forsake their own mercy. He knew so clearly that he's
the way. All other ways are lying vanities.
And then he says in verse nine what me and you can't really
say. But I will sacrifice unto thee. With the voice of thanksgiving,
we can do that. But hear what he says here. I
will pay that that I have vowed. Who's the only one who can say
this? The Lord Jesus Christ. He vowed the salvation of his
people before time began, and he paid what he vowed. He worked
out a righteousness for them. He paid for their sins. I will pay that which I have
vowed. Only he could do that. What a
price he paid. And then he makes this statement
that he understands this a whole lot more than me and you do.
Salvation is of me. Salvation is of the Lord. And my dear friends, that's everything
we believe, isn't it? You know what it means if salvation
is of the Lord? It means it doesn't have anything to do with anything
you do. That's the good news about that. It doesn't have anything
to do with anything that you do. He did it all. When he said it is finished,
it was finished. Salvation is of the Lord. And if you're saved, you know
that that is so. Amen. And the Lord spake unto
the fish, and it vomited Jonah upon the dry land." I like to
think of him hurling out of that fish's mouth on dry land, but
what that represents is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. All
my salvation is dependent upon His resurrection.