1 00:00:00,700 –> 00:00:02,960 Well, please open your Bible today 2 00:00:02,960 –> 00:00:05,060 at Jonah, in chapter two. 3 00:00:05,060 –> 00:00:07,400 I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about this, 4 00:00:07,400 –> 00:00:09,360 but if you want to emphasize something, 5 00:00:09,360 –> 00:00:11,640 there are three ways to do it. 6 00:00:11,640 –> 00:00:13,680 One is to put it right at the beginning. 7 00:00:13,680 –> 00:00:14,960 That’s what newspapers do. 8 00:00:14,960 –> 00:00:18,520 The most important thing is right up front in the headlines. 9 00:00:18,520 –> 00:00:20,219 Another way is to put it at the end, 10 00:00:20,219 –> 00:00:22,200 so it leaves a lasting impression, 11 00:00:22,200 –> 00:00:23,260 built to a climax. 12 00:00:23,260 –> 00:00:25,520 The last thing you say is the most important. 13 00:00:26,660 –> 00:00:27,719 The other way is to put 14 00:00:27,719 –> 00:00:29,980 the most important thing right in the middle, 15 00:00:30,420 –> 00:00:32,340 and it seems to me that when Jonah wrote 16 00:00:32,340 –> 00:00:34,660 his marvelous book that we’ve been studying, 17 00:00:34,660 –> 00:00:37,419 that is exactly what he decided to do. 18 00:00:37,419 –> 00:00:39,439 If you want just one sentence 19 00:00:39,439 –> 00:00:42,220 to sum up the whole of the story of Jonah, 20 00:00:42,220 –> 00:00:43,980 the whole book in one sentence, 21 00:00:43,980 –> 00:00:46,340 it would be chapter two and verse nine 22 00:00:46,340 –> 00:00:51,020 where Jonah says that our salvation comes from the Lord. 23 00:00:51,020 –> 00:00:54,099 That’s the book of Jonah in one sentence. 24 00:00:54,099 –> 00:00:56,500 And Jonah takes that message, 25 00:00:56,500 –> 00:00:58,740 salvation comes from God, 26 00:00:58,740 –> 00:01:03,419 and he puts it absolutely center stage in his book. 27 00:01:03,419 –> 00:01:05,900 So for that reason, we’re coming to chapter two 28 00:01:05,900 –> 00:01:08,320 at the end of our series this week 29 00:01:08,320 –> 00:01:10,059 and, God willing, next week, 30 00:01:10,059 –> 00:01:13,440 because it is the most important part of the whole book, 31 00:01:13,440 –> 00:01:15,559 the most marvelous chapter, 32 00:01:15,559 –> 00:01:18,360 and so I have a great sense of anticipation 33 00:01:18,360 –> 00:01:22,900 as we come to Jonah and chapter two today. 34 00:01:22,900 –> 00:01:26,379 Now last time, we left Jonah feeling pretty miserable. 35 00:01:26,379 –> 00:01:28,580 You remember he was on his own. 36 00:01:28,580 –> 00:01:30,940 He was outside the city of Nineveh. 37 00:01:30,940 –> 00:01:33,419 He was in the desert with the vine 38 00:01:33,419 –> 00:01:34,820 that had given him shade, 39 00:01:34,820 –> 00:01:37,459 drooping and lying dead in the sand. 40 00:01:37,459 –> 00:01:38,620 He’s angry with God. 41 00:01:38,620 –> 00:01:39,860 He was angry with Nineveh. 42 00:01:39,860 –> 00:01:41,580 He’s angry about the vine. 43 00:01:41,580 –> 00:01:43,279 And God confronts him, you remember, 44 00:01:43,279 –> 00:01:45,120 at the end of chapter four, 45 00:01:45,120 –> 00:01:47,919 and deals with his selfishness. 46 00:01:47,919 –> 00:01:50,419 Jonah, you are concerned about the vine. 47 00:01:50,419 –> 00:01:53,620 You’re all wrapped up in your own comfort. 48 00:01:53,620 –> 00:01:56,860 You’re all wrapped up in your own life. 49 00:01:56,900 –> 00:02:00,059 You are all wrapped up in your own well being. 50 00:02:00,059 –> 00:02:02,580 Jonah, you are concerned about the vine, 51 00:02:02,580 –> 00:02:05,400 but God says I am concerned about the city. 52 00:02:05,400 –> 00:02:07,519 120,000 people and more, 53 00:02:07,519 –> 00:02:11,199 who are utterly, totally and completely lost. 54 00:02:11,199 –> 00:02:12,759 And that’s where the book ends. 55 00:02:14,000 –> 00:02:15,699 You say, well, we can’t end there. 56 00:02:16,779 –> 00:02:18,559 It kind of looks at that point 57 00:02:18,559 –> 00:02:20,919 as if Jonah might have slouched off 58 00:02:20,919 –> 00:02:24,300 into retirement like a grumpy old man. 59 00:02:24,300 –> 00:02:25,679 You know some folks do that. 60 00:02:27,699 –> 00:02:29,639 People say time heals. 61 00:02:29,639 –> 00:02:31,880 Time heals if a wound is clean, 62 00:02:31,880 –> 00:02:34,759 but if a wound is septic, time makes it worse. 63 00:02:36,080 –> 00:02:40,419 But thank God Jonah did not slouch into retirement 64 00:02:40,419 –> 00:02:43,440 as a grumpy old man, God’s grace triumphed in his life. 65 00:02:43,440 –> 00:02:45,020 You say, well how do you know that? 66 00:02:45,020 –> 00:02:48,139 The reason that we know that is he wrote the book. 67 00:02:48,139 –> 00:02:50,479 God brought him to the place 68 00:02:50,479 –> 00:02:52,960 where instead of being angry and frustrated 69 00:02:52,960 –> 00:02:55,160 as we find him at the end of chapter four, 70 00:02:55,220 –> 00:02:57,960 he felt under the inspiring of the Holy Spirit 71 00:02:57,960 –> 00:03:00,919 coming freshly to him that he wanted to share 72 00:03:00,919 –> 00:03:03,779 where the grace of God had brought him in his life. 73 00:03:03,779 –> 00:03:05,279 And that’s why we have this book. 74 00:03:05,279 –> 00:03:08,220 And when Jonah wrote it under the inspiration of the Spirit, 75 00:03:08,220 –> 00:03:12,419 he put this song of praise in Jonah, chapter two, 76 00:03:12,419 –> 00:03:17,419 right in the center of his own life story. 77 00:03:17,460 –> 00:03:19,619 Now we’re going to dive into that testimony 78 00:03:19,619 –> 00:03:21,699 to God’s grace together. 79 00:03:21,699 –> 00:03:22,740 We’ll pick up the story 80 00:03:22,740 –> 00:03:24,860 just so we remember what’s happening here 81 00:03:24,880 –> 00:03:27,979 back in chapter one and verse 12. 82 00:03:27,979 –> 00:03:31,100 Jonah, you remember, had disobeyed God. 83 00:03:31,100 –> 00:03:34,139 And God intercepted his disobedience 84 00:03:34,139 –> 00:03:36,100 when he first refused to go to Nineveh 85 00:03:36,100 –> 00:03:38,460 by sending a storm. 86 00:03:38,460 –> 00:03:41,559 The storm very clearly was a judgment from God. 87 00:03:41,559 –> 00:03:42,500 Jonah knew this. 88 00:03:42,500 –> 00:03:44,679 And so verse 12, he says to the ships crew, 89 00:03:44,679 –> 00:03:46,539 pick me up, throw me into the sea, 90 00:03:46,539 –> 00:03:49,259 and the sea will become calm for you. 91 00:03:49,259 –> 00:03:51,020 And so chapter one and verse 15, 92 00:03:51,020 –> 00:03:54,139 they take Jonah, they throw him overboard. 93 00:03:54,139 –> 00:03:57,779 And we’re told there, that the raging sea grew calm. 94 00:03:58,699 –> 00:04:00,479 Then we have this remarkable statement 95 00:04:00,479 –> 00:04:02,399 in chapter one and verse 17. 96 00:04:03,380 –> 00:04:08,380 The Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, 97 00:04:12,500 –> 00:04:17,500 and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. 98 00:04:20,679 –> 00:04:23,540 Now, this was an amazing miracle. 99 00:04:23,540 –> 00:04:25,540 And there is no doubt in my own mind 100 00:04:25,540 –> 00:04:27,640 that it really happened. 101 00:04:27,640 –> 00:04:30,660 You will not be surprised that some writers suggest 102 00:04:30,660 –> 00:04:32,420 that this was just a parable 103 00:04:32,420 –> 00:04:34,980 or that it was just a story or a fable 104 00:04:34,980 –> 00:04:38,299 rather than a historical reality, an event that happened, 105 00:04:38,299 –> 00:04:42,179 that it’s just a story to teach us something about God. 106 00:04:42,179 –> 00:04:46,600 But there is nothing in the story itself that suggests that. 107 00:04:47,619 –> 00:04:50,299 And the biggest reason why I cannot accept that, 108 00:04:50,299 –> 00:04:52,579 and I’m wholly convinced that this was an event 109 00:04:52,619 –> 00:04:54,640 that actually happened, 110 00:04:54,640 –> 00:04:58,059 is that the Lord Jesus clearly regarded this 111 00:04:58,059 –> 00:04:59,880 as an event that actually happened. 112 00:04:59,880 –> 00:05:02,739 He says in Matthew 12 and verse 40. 113 00:05:02,739 –> 00:05:06,579 As Jonah was three days and three nights 114 00:05:06,579 –> 00:05:08,059 in the belly of a huge fish, 115 00:05:08,059 –> 00:05:11,700 so the Son of man will be three days and three nights 116 00:05:11,700 –> 00:05:13,739 in the heart of the earth. 117 00:05:13,739 –> 00:05:15,399 Now, the death and the resurrection 118 00:05:15,399 –> 00:05:18,440 of the Lord Jesus Christ was an event of history. 119 00:05:18,440 –> 00:05:19,720 It actually happened, 120 00:05:19,720 –> 00:05:20,920 no mere story. 121 00:05:20,980 –> 00:05:24,799 And Jesus talks about the story of Jonah 122 00:05:24,799 –> 00:05:26,220 in exactly the same way 123 00:05:26,220 –> 00:05:29,799 as an event that actually took place. 124 00:05:29,799 –> 00:05:32,200 So the story of Jonah then does not belong 125 00:05:32,200 –> 00:05:34,519 in the realm of the parables. 126 00:05:34,519 –> 00:05:38,519 Where it belongs is in the realm of the miracles. 127 00:05:38,519 –> 00:05:40,260 In fact, there are really three miracles here. 128 00:05:40,260 –> 00:05:41,940 First that God provided the fish 129 00:05:41,940 –> 00:05:44,519 at exactly the right time. 130 00:05:44,519 –> 00:05:45,679 Second, think about it, 131 00:05:45,679 –> 00:05:48,220 that Jonah survived three days and three nights 132 00:05:48,220 –> 00:05:50,239 in the belly of the fish. 133 00:05:50,239 –> 00:05:53,040 And thirdly, that the fish vomited Jonah 134 00:05:53,040 –> 00:05:55,140 as it says at the end of chapter two, 135 00:05:55,140 –> 00:05:57,739 onto dry land safely. 136 00:05:58,779 –> 00:05:59,799 Now it’s good to know 137 00:05:59,799 –> 00:06:03,000 that God did an amazing miracle in the life of Jonah. 138 00:06:03,000 –> 00:06:05,760 But the important question is, 139 00:06:05,760 –> 00:06:09,299 what does this have to do with us? 140 00:06:10,339 –> 00:06:11,320 And I want to suggest to you 141 00:06:11,320 –> 00:06:13,239 that Jonah chapter two was written 142 00:06:13,239 –> 00:06:15,720 to answer that question. 143 00:06:15,720 –> 00:06:18,279 That out of this extraordinary experience 144 00:06:18,279 –> 00:06:20,200 by any standards, 145 00:06:20,200 –> 00:06:24,100 Jonah writes the second chapter of the Song of Praise 146 00:06:24,100 –> 00:06:29,100 to tell us how God saves sinners, 147 00:06:29,799 –> 00:06:33,100 how he saves sinners like Jonah, 148 00:06:33,100 –> 00:06:36,359 how he saves sinners like you, 149 00:06:36,359 –> 00:06:39,760 and how he saves sinners like me. 150 00:06:40,720 –> 00:06:42,619 I want to summarize the message today 151 00:06:42,619 –> 00:06:44,239 in a very simple sentence 152 00:06:44,239 –> 00:06:46,320 that I hope we can get hold of, 153 00:06:46,320 –> 00:06:48,380 and it’s just this, 154 00:06:48,380 –> 00:06:53,140 that God saves guilty, believing, 155 00:06:53,140 –> 00:06:57,880 desperate, repentant sinners. 156 00:06:57,880 –> 00:06:59,119 You might like to say that with me. 157 00:06:59,119 –> 00:07:00,040 Will you help me along here? 158 00:07:00,040 –> 00:07:01,519 Let’s get it in our minds. 159 00:07:01,519 –> 00:07:05,440 God saves guilty, believing, 160 00:07:05,440 –> 00:07:08,640 desperate, repentant sinners. 161 00:07:08,640 –> 00:07:10,040 One more time together. 162 00:07:10,040 –> 00:07:13,679 God saves guilty, believing, 163 00:07:14,160 –> 00:07:17,399 desperate, repentant sinners. 164 00:07:17,399 –> 00:07:19,959 Now that’s the message of Jonah in chapter two, 165 00:07:19,959 –> 00:07:23,320 and let’s see that for ourselves together. 166 00:07:23,320 –> 00:07:28,320 First, God saves guilty sinners. 167 00:07:28,640 –> 00:07:30,839 I’m looking at verse three. 168 00:07:30,839 –> 00:07:34,359 Jonah says, you hurdled me into the deep, 169 00:07:34,359 –> 00:07:36,679 into the very heart of the sea, 170 00:07:36,679 –> 00:07:39,519 and the current swirled about me. 171 00:07:39,559 –> 00:07:43,079 All your waves and breakers swept over me. 172 00:07:45,839 –> 00:07:47,519 Now, I’m coming to verse three first 173 00:07:47,519 –> 00:07:50,179 because it clearly recalls 174 00:07:50,179 –> 00:07:54,279 what happened when Jonah first hit the water. 175 00:07:54,279 –> 00:07:56,299 I need you to try and use your imagination with me 176 00:07:56,299 –> 00:08:00,040 and picture this situation for this man. 177 00:08:00,040 –> 00:08:01,739 He’s thrown overboard. 178 00:08:01,739 –> 00:08:03,160 He hits the water. 179 00:08:03,160 –> 00:08:04,920 And notice what he says in verse three. 180 00:08:04,920 –> 00:08:09,040 All your waves and breakers swept over me. 181 00:08:09,040 –> 00:08:11,279 Now waves and breakers are on the surface of the water 182 00:08:11,279 –> 00:08:13,359 not at the bottom of the water. 183 00:08:13,359 –> 00:08:15,100 So he’s talking about what happened 184 00:08:15,100 –> 00:08:18,380 the moment he hit the water. 185 00:08:18,380 –> 00:08:19,920 Can you picture the situation. 186 00:08:19,920 –> 00:08:23,040 He manages, he goes under, he manages to get up for air. 187 00:08:23,040 –> 00:08:25,640 He takes a gulp of air, a breath or two 188 00:08:25,640 –> 00:08:29,279 and then another wave comes over him and pushes him down. 189 00:08:29,279 –> 00:08:31,140 And he goes under again. 190 00:08:31,140 –> 00:08:32,440 He’s bobbing up and down, 191 00:08:32,440 –> 00:08:34,719 fighting for his life, fighting for air. 192 00:08:34,719 –> 00:08:37,059 Trying to keep his head above water. 193 00:08:38,000 –> 00:08:41,659 Later because verse one says that 194 00:08:42,559 –> 00:08:46,479 this recalls what he prayed inside the fish. 195 00:08:47,520 –> 00:08:49,640 Later he thinks back to what happened 196 00:08:49,640 –> 00:08:51,440 in these first moments in the water 197 00:08:51,440 –> 00:08:55,340 and he says to himself God did this. 198 00:08:56,400 –> 00:08:57,840 God sent the storm. 199 00:08:59,479 –> 00:09:04,479 Verse three, you, God, you hurled me into the deep. 200 00:09:05,640 –> 00:09:06,419 You’re waves broke. 201 00:09:06,419 –> 00:09:09,520 You’re waves broke over me. 202 00:09:11,200 –> 00:09:12,460 I wanted to think about this 203 00:09:14,059 –> 00:09:15,539 because Jonah could have said 204 00:09:15,539 –> 00:09:18,059 the ship’s crew threw me into the deep, 205 00:09:19,820 –> 00:09:21,739 but he’s coming to a distinctively 206 00:09:21,739 –> 00:09:24,619 Christian understanding of life here 207 00:09:26,099 –> 00:09:28,799 behind the human events that happened to him, 208 00:09:28,799 –> 00:09:31,140 the crew threw him overboard, 209 00:09:31,140 –> 00:09:33,340 He sees the hand of God. 210 00:09:33,659 –> 00:09:36,000 Now think about this, 211 00:09:36,000 –> 00:09:39,599 people view their lives in different ways. 212 00:09:39,599 –> 00:09:41,159 Some folks see their lives 213 00:09:41,159 –> 00:09:43,700 as a series of random chance events 214 00:09:43,700 –> 00:09:47,159 and they feel that they’re either lucky or unlucky. 215 00:09:47,159 –> 00:09:49,020 And they talk like that all the time. 216 00:09:50,780 –> 00:09:52,640 Other people see their lives 217 00:09:52,640 –> 00:09:55,539 as a series of events controlled by other people. 218 00:09:56,840 –> 00:09:58,479 They feel like victims 219 00:09:59,719 –> 00:10:01,520 and they talk like that all the time, 220 00:10:02,500 –> 00:10:04,799 Other folks see their lives 221 00:10:04,799 –> 00:10:07,919 as a series of events controlled by themselves. 222 00:10:08,760 –> 00:10:10,659 They feel like heroes 223 00:10:10,659 –> 00:10:14,280 and they talk like that about themselves all the time. 224 00:10:16,359 –> 00:10:19,479 But Jonas sees his life as a series of events 225 00:10:19,479 –> 00:10:21,559 controlled by the sovereign hand of God. 226 00:10:23,799 –> 00:10:26,080 And he knew that behind the crew 227 00:10:27,080 –> 00:10:28,719 and beyond the storm 228 00:10:29,719 –> 00:10:32,280 God’s hand was at work 229 00:10:33,359 –> 00:10:34,820 and God was exposing his guilt 230 00:10:34,820 –> 00:10:37,500 and God was dealing with his rebellion. 231 00:10:39,200 –> 00:10:41,739 He’d suppress that guilt for a long time. 232 00:10:41,739 –> 00:10:44,080 He’d been able even just even to sleep 233 00:10:44,080 –> 00:10:47,239 when he was in the boat, despite the raging of the storm. 234 00:10:47,239 –> 00:10:49,280 That’s pretty good suppression of guilt 235 00:10:49,280 –> 00:10:50,599 to be able to do that. 236 00:10:50,599 –> 00:10:51,679 But in the water 237 00:10:51,679 –> 00:10:53,039 he comes to his senses, 238 00:10:53,039 –> 00:10:54,799 he owns his own guilt. 239 00:10:54,799 –> 00:10:57,359 He embraces, as it were, his own sin 240 00:10:57,359 –> 00:10:59,280 and he acknowledges that he is 241 00:10:59,280 –> 00:11:01,320 under the judgment of God. 242 00:11:01,320 –> 00:11:03,820 He says to God, you hurled me into the deep. 243 00:11:05,099 –> 00:11:07,820 All your wave swept over me. 244 00:11:07,820 –> 00:11:10,979 I am under your judgment 245 00:11:10,979 –> 00:11:15,520 and this is what I deserve. 246 00:11:15,520 –> 00:11:16,700 Now this is the first big thing 247 00:11:16,700 –> 00:11:18,960 for us to grasp from Jonah, chapter two. 248 00:11:18,960 –> 00:11:20,919 That God saves guilty sinners. 249 00:11:20,919 –> 00:11:23,020 In other words, God saves us 250 00:11:23,020 –> 00:11:24,559 when we come to the place 251 00:11:24,599 –> 00:11:26,359 of acknowledging, owning, 252 00:11:26,359 –> 00:11:31,359 embracing our own guilt before him. 253 00:11:34,239 –> 00:11:38,239 Owning our sinfulness means getting beyond this idea 254 00:11:38,239 –> 00:11:40,179 that so many people live with 255 00:11:40,179 –> 00:11:43,260 that we deserve something better from God. 256 00:11:45,599 –> 00:11:47,000 If you’re going through your life 257 00:11:47,000 –> 00:11:49,539 feeling that you deserve something better from God, 258 00:11:49,539 –> 00:11:51,099 get that out of your mind. 259 00:11:52,059 –> 00:11:55,419 The Bible says that the wages, notice that word, 260 00:11:55,419 –> 00:11:58,619 wages are what are due for work done. 261 00:11:58,619 –> 00:12:01,780 The wages of sin is help me. 262 00:12:01,780 –> 00:12:03,419 What’s the wages of sin? 263 00:12:03,419 –> 00:12:06,739 Death, the wages of sin is death. 264 00:12:07,900 –> 00:12:12,900 What I am owned for what I have done by God 265 00:12:16,119 –> 00:12:20,219 is not abundant life, but eternal death. 266 00:12:22,059 –> 00:12:26,400 That’s what I’m owed, that is what I deserve. 267 00:12:29,239 –> 00:12:30,080 Do you know what? 268 00:12:30,080 –> 00:12:33,340 Owning your own sinfulness is the first part 269 00:12:33,340 –> 00:12:35,340 of believing the gospel. 270 00:12:37,320 –> 00:12:42,320 I am a sinner, a rebel by nature and by practice 271 00:12:42,979 –> 00:12:47,979 and what I deserve from God is eternity in hell. 272 00:12:48,780 –> 00:12:52,419 Now if you don’t honestly believe that about yourself, 273 00:12:52,419 –> 00:12:54,900 you do not yet believe the gospel, 274 00:12:56,460 –> 00:12:58,659 you are not yet being saved 275 00:13:00,059 –> 00:13:02,460 because God saves guilty sinners 276 00:13:02,460 –> 00:13:04,340 and if you’re not in that category, 277 00:13:04,340 –> 00:13:07,340 if you have not seen that and own that yourself, 278 00:13:07,340 –> 00:13:11,859 you’re not yet in a position where God is saving you. 279 00:13:13,700 –> 00:13:15,780 Jonah owned his guilt right there in the water, 280 00:13:16,460 –> 00:13:18,940 struggling with the waves pouring over him. 281 00:13:18,940 –> 00:13:21,219 He said these waves are your waves. 282 00:13:21,219 –> 00:13:23,340 I am under your judgment 283 00:13:23,340 –> 00:13:28,340 and I deserve to be under your judgment. 284 00:13:30,539 –> 00:13:34,380 God saves guilty sinners. 285 00:13:34,380 –> 00:13:39,380 Believing the gospel begins when you own your own guilt 286 00:13:40,059 –> 00:13:42,359 by nature and practice before God. 287 00:13:43,280 –> 00:13:48,280 Second, God saves relating sinners. 288 00:13:49,780 –> 00:13:51,580 And let’s look at verse two and verse four, 289 00:13:51,580 –> 00:13:53,640 either side of where we began. 290 00:13:53,640 –> 00:13:55,820 And let’s ask this question. 291 00:13:55,820 –> 00:13:59,320 Where did Jonah first call upon God? 292 00:13:59,320 –> 00:14:02,200 When did he first ask God for help? 293 00:14:02,200 –> 00:14:06,640 Was it in the fish or was it in the water? 294 00:14:06,640 –> 00:14:08,239 That’s an important distinction. 295 00:14:09,239 –> 00:14:10,359 Notice verse one says, 296 00:14:10,380 –> 00:14:11,580 this is from inside the fish, 297 00:14:11,580 –> 00:14:13,700 Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God. 298 00:14:13,700 –> 00:14:16,099 But notice that after that what he said 299 00:14:16,099 –> 00:14:18,280 inside the fish is for most of the way 300 00:14:18,280 –> 00:14:21,979 up till about verse eight, it’s all in the past tense. 301 00:14:23,179 –> 00:14:25,320 He’s looking back to what happened 302 00:14:25,320 –> 00:14:27,200 when he was in the water. 303 00:14:27,200 –> 00:14:29,760 Past tense, in my distress I called, 304 00:14:29,760 –> 00:14:31,080 past tense to the Lord. 305 00:14:31,080 –> 00:14:33,099 And he answered me, from the depths of the grave 306 00:14:33,099 –> 00:14:34,760 I called for help, verse two. 307 00:14:34,760 –> 00:14:36,460 And you listen to my cry. 308 00:14:36,460 –> 00:14:38,320 So he’s looking back to what happened 309 00:14:38,320 –> 00:14:39,840 before he was in the fish, 310 00:14:39,840 –> 00:14:42,380 when he was still there in the water. 311 00:14:42,380 –> 00:14:44,020 And he says in my distress, 312 00:14:44,020 –> 00:14:45,440 the distress was in the water. 313 00:14:45,440 –> 00:14:48,380 When he was in the fish he knew he was safe. 314 00:14:48,380 –> 00:14:50,080 But his distress was in the water. 315 00:14:50,080 –> 00:14:52,239 And he says there I cried to the Lord 316 00:14:52,239 –> 00:14:56,299 and he answered me, from the depths of the grave 317 00:14:57,280 –> 00:15:00,659 I called and you listened to me. 318 00:15:01,479 –> 00:15:04,159 The word that’s grave there translated grave, 319 00:15:04,159 –> 00:15:09,159 the depths of the grave in the new international version, 320 00:15:09,159 –> 00:15:13,320 literally means Sheol all or the place 321 00:15:14,340 –> 00:15:16,919 where dead people in the old Testament 322 00:15:16,919 –> 00:15:18,479 were separated from God. 323 00:15:18,479 –> 00:15:19,460 We would say hell. 324 00:15:21,500 –> 00:15:24,580 So what he’s saying there is from the depths of my hell, 325 00:15:26,419 –> 00:15:30,159 I cried out to God for help. 326 00:15:30,159 –> 00:15:33,260 You see here’s a man who’s been running from God 327 00:15:33,260 –> 00:15:36,119 and now he suddenly realizes he’s on the brink 328 00:15:36,119 –> 00:15:39,479 of an eternity without God. 329 00:15:41,659 –> 00:15:44,020 And he says out of that I just cried out to God 330 00:15:45,559 –> 00:15:46,859 and you listen to me. 331 00:15:49,719 –> 00:15:52,760 Friends it isn’t easy to ask God for help 332 00:15:52,760 –> 00:15:55,219 when you are very aware of your own guilt. 333 00:15:56,700 –> 00:15:59,979 When you know you have sinned and you are aware 334 00:15:59,979 –> 00:16:03,200 that in some particular way you are under his judgment, 335 00:16:04,460 –> 00:16:08,159 when you feel your own guilt it takes courage 336 00:16:08,159 –> 00:16:10,599 to ask God for help. 337 00:16:11,580 –> 00:16:13,659 And I want you to see what a great struggle 338 00:16:13,659 –> 00:16:14,640 that was for Jonah. 339 00:16:14,640 –> 00:16:15,900 You’ll never see it more clearly 340 00:16:15,900 –> 00:16:18,080 than in verse four of chapter two. 341 00:16:18,080 –> 00:16:20,419 He says, notice the first line. 342 00:16:20,419 –> 00:16:25,419 I said I have been banished from your sight. 343 00:16:28,219 –> 00:16:29,719 So Jonah’s heart at this point 344 00:16:30,280 –> 00:16:31,880 kind of condemns him completely. 345 00:16:33,200 –> 00:16:37,119 God, there’s no hope for me now, he’s saying to himself. 346 00:16:37,119 –> 00:16:41,539 I see and I feel the weight of my guilt and my own failure. 347 00:16:43,419 –> 00:16:46,400 He came to the conclusion that he was beyond forgiveness. 348 00:16:46,400 –> 00:16:47,559 He felt within his heart 349 00:16:47,559 –> 00:16:49,479 that God had pulled the rug from him, 350 00:16:49,479 –> 00:16:52,320 that there was no future, that there was nothing now 351 00:16:52,320 –> 00:16:55,359 that he had by way of hope at all. 352 00:16:55,359 –> 00:16:57,179 Some of us may have been there. 353 00:16:58,119 –> 00:17:00,580 He came to a point where he really believed that. 354 00:17:02,119 –> 00:17:06,180 God doesn’t want me now. 355 00:17:08,760 –> 00:17:10,800 But I want you to notice this amazing thing 356 00:17:10,800 –> 00:17:12,540 what he says in the very next line, 357 00:17:12,540 –> 00:17:14,839 because it’s a battle that’s going on in his mind. 358 00:17:14,839 –> 00:17:17,260 And it’s a battle that you will experience 359 00:17:17,260 –> 00:17:19,739 if you seek to find your way to faith. 360 00:17:19,739 –> 00:17:22,339 On the one hand I said, I’ve been banished from your site. 361 00:17:22,339 –> 00:17:23,199 There’s no hope for me. 362 00:17:23,199 –> 00:17:25,060 I’m an outsider, I’m gone. 363 00:17:25,160 –> 00:17:30,180 Yet I will look again towards your holy temple. 364 00:17:32,119 –> 00:17:35,699 His marvelous statement comes out of a battle 365 00:17:35,699 –> 00:17:38,739 and it’s raging inside Jonah’s own soul 366 00:17:38,739 –> 00:17:40,260 right here in the water. 367 00:17:40,260 –> 00:17:43,939 He wants to pray, but as you’ve probably experienced, 368 00:17:43,939 –> 00:17:45,640 he feels so far from God. 369 00:17:45,640 –> 00:17:47,439 He thinks I can’t possibly pray. 370 00:17:47,439 –> 00:17:48,979 God’s not gonna listen to me. 371 00:17:50,420 –> 00:17:54,380 The flesh tells him God doesn’t want to listen to him. 372 00:17:54,439 –> 00:17:56,380 It tells him God doesn’t want to know you. 373 00:17:56,380 –> 00:17:59,380 But somehow something within him rises up and says, 374 00:17:59,380 –> 00:18:01,040 no, but I’m gonna cry out to God. 375 00:18:01,040 –> 00:18:02,300 I’m gonna reach out to God. 376 00:18:02,300 –> 00:18:04,180 I’m gonna put my hope in God. 377 00:18:05,680 –> 00:18:10,180 Friends, don’t expect coming to faith to be easy. 378 00:18:12,760 –> 00:18:14,680 Jonah struggled to believe. 379 00:18:16,780 –> 00:18:21,260 Your life and your eternity hang on this. 380 00:18:21,859 –> 00:18:23,599 So why would you be surprised 381 00:18:23,599 –> 00:18:26,500 if it is literally the fight of your life? 382 00:18:29,119 –> 00:18:31,020 That’s what it was for Jonah. 383 00:18:31,020 –> 00:18:34,979 You know, easy phrases about just believe, just believe. 384 00:18:36,319 –> 00:18:38,180 It’s a battle for him to believe 385 00:18:38,180 –> 00:18:39,699 that God will listen to him. 386 00:18:41,239 –> 00:18:42,540 And it may be for you too. 387 00:18:44,520 –> 00:18:48,140 Yet, I will look to your holy Temple. 388 00:18:48,400 –> 00:18:49,280 I will look to your holy Temple. 389 00:18:49,280 –> 00:18:51,380 Could you make those words of Jonah your own 390 00:18:51,380 –> 00:18:54,140 in the struggle that you have to believe? 391 00:18:55,780 –> 00:18:58,260 Even though I have sinned 392 00:18:58,260 –> 00:19:02,180 and even though I feel your judgment upon me, 393 00:19:02,180 –> 00:19:05,260 I dare to hope in you. 394 00:19:07,819 –> 00:19:10,140 And you say, how could Jonah dare to hope in God? 395 00:19:10,979 –> 00:19:13,579 Well, we did see in chapter four that Jonah knew 396 00:19:13,579 –> 00:19:15,300 God is gracious, compassionate, 397 00:19:15,300 –> 00:19:17,420 slow to anger, abounding in love. 398 00:19:17,479 –> 00:19:19,579 A God who relents from sin and calamity. 399 00:19:21,219 –> 00:19:23,040 He leans hard into what he’s learned 400 00:19:23,040 –> 00:19:24,540 of the God of the Bible. 401 00:19:25,780 –> 00:19:28,439 Here’s an amazing thing about God. 402 00:19:29,560 –> 00:19:32,180 When God was against Jonah at the same time 403 00:19:32,180 –> 00:19:33,339 he was for Jonah. 404 00:19:34,459 –> 00:19:37,060 While God was judging Jonah at the same time 405 00:19:37,060 –> 00:19:38,859 God is reaching out to save Jonah. 406 00:19:38,859 –> 00:19:39,939 Isn’t that amazing? 407 00:19:41,239 –> 00:19:44,079 While we were still sinners Christ died for us. 408 00:19:44,900 –> 00:19:46,660 God justifies the ungodly. 409 00:19:49,260 –> 00:19:52,020 Some folks have the idea that you have to clean up 410 00:19:52,020 –> 00:19:54,160 your life before you can come to God 411 00:19:54,160 –> 00:19:55,560 and before he can save you. 412 00:19:55,560 –> 00:19:56,880 You know what that’s like? 413 00:19:57,780 –> 00:20:00,800 It’s like saying to Jonah, if you can swim to the shore 414 00:20:00,800 –> 00:20:03,119 then God will send you a lifeboat. 415 00:20:04,400 –> 00:20:05,939 That’s no salvation at all. 416 00:20:08,280 –> 00:20:11,739 Jesus told the story about two men who came to pray. 417 00:20:12,000 –> 00:20:14,619 One person came into the temple and told God 418 00:20:14,619 –> 00:20:17,140 about all the good things in his life 419 00:20:17,140 –> 00:20:18,239 and then he went home. 420 00:20:20,619 –> 00:20:23,219 Another man Jesus said came into the temple 421 00:20:23,219 –> 00:20:25,079 and told God about his sins 422 00:20:26,439 –> 00:20:29,579 and he said, oh God be merciful to me a sinner. 423 00:20:29,579 –> 00:20:32,300 Jesus said that second man, not the first one 424 00:20:33,300 –> 00:20:36,800 went home right with God. 425 00:20:37,560 –> 00:20:42,560 You see, how can God make guilty sinners 426 00:20:45,400 –> 00:20:49,939 who reach out to him in faith right with him. 427 00:20:49,939 –> 00:20:51,339 How could God do that? 428 00:20:53,140 –> 00:20:55,060 The answer at the very heart of the Bible 429 00:20:55,060 –> 00:20:57,079 is simply this and it applies backwards, 430 00:20:57,079 –> 00:20:59,420 retrospectively, into the Old Testament 431 00:20:59,420 –> 00:21:03,520 as well as forwards, proactively into our lives today. 432 00:21:04,359 –> 00:21:08,880 God makes guilty sinners right with himself 433 00:21:08,880 –> 00:21:12,160 as we put our faith in Jesus Christ 434 00:21:12,160 –> 00:21:17,160 who on the cross loved you and gave himself for you. 435 00:21:19,199 –> 00:21:20,180 Think of it this way, 436 00:21:20,180 –> 00:21:23,760 Jesus Christ put himself under the judgment of God 437 00:21:23,760 –> 00:21:26,640 so that he could deliver you from that judgment. 438 00:21:28,160 –> 00:21:32,119 The Lord Jesus Christ bore the guilt of your sin 439 00:21:32,160 –> 00:21:33,959 so that he could take the weight 440 00:21:33,959 –> 00:21:36,640 of that guilt off your shoulders. 441 00:21:37,599 –> 00:21:42,199 The Lord Jesus Christ entered into hell itself 442 00:21:42,199 –> 00:21:45,900 so that he could save you from ever ever going there. 443 00:21:47,119 –> 00:21:50,439 That is what the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross 444 00:21:50,439 –> 00:21:53,540 and that is why the apostles say in the New Testament, 445 00:21:53,540 –> 00:21:56,819 believe in the Lord Jesus Christ 446 00:21:56,819 –> 00:21:58,800 and you will be saved. 447 00:22:00,640 –> 00:22:01,560 You’re never gonna do that 448 00:22:02,359 –> 00:22:03,640 until you come to realize that there is sin 449 00:22:03,640 –> 00:22:05,339 from which you need to be saved 450 00:22:05,339 –> 00:22:07,619 but when you’ve come to own your own guilt, 451 00:22:08,599 –> 00:22:11,119 you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ 452 00:22:11,119 –> 00:22:14,359 and what He has accomplished on the cross for you 453 00:22:15,560 –> 00:22:18,939 and the accomplishment of his sacrificial death 454 00:22:18,939 –> 00:22:21,439 and resurrection will be applied to you 455 00:22:21,439 –> 00:22:23,339 so that you will be saved. 456 00:22:24,839 –> 00:22:26,660 God saves guilty sinners. 457 00:22:27,599 –> 00:22:32,599 God saves believing sinners. 458 00:22:33,000 –> 00:22:36,119 Friend, if it’s the biggest struggle of your life 459 00:22:37,420 –> 00:22:39,880 to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, 460 00:22:39,880 –> 00:22:43,699 if you find that Satan himself is pounding your mind 461 00:22:43,699 –> 00:22:45,660 with saying God doesn’t wanna hear from you, 462 00:22:45,660 –> 00:22:48,640 you can’t come to God, you’ve gone way too far, 463 00:22:48,640 –> 00:22:50,880 you fight your way through that fight 464 00:22:50,880 –> 00:22:52,920 to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, 465 00:22:52,920 –> 00:22:54,560 it is the fight of your life 466 00:22:54,640 –> 00:22:57,599 and your eternity hangs on it. 467 00:22:59,719 –> 00:23:01,339 Be surprised if it’s not easy. 468 00:23:03,520 –> 00:23:05,479 All the powers of hell are not ready 469 00:23:05,479 –> 00:23:07,119 to let you go that easily. 470 00:23:10,459 –> 00:23:15,459 God saves guilty sinners, God saves believing sinners. 471 00:23:18,040 –> 00:23:20,060 I’ve been so deeply impressed this week 472 00:23:20,099 –> 00:23:25,099 by how clear the gospel is in this second chapter of Jonah. 473 00:23:25,640 –> 00:23:27,540 Here’s the third thing. 474 00:23:27,540 –> 00:23:32,199 God saves desperate sinners. 475 00:23:32,199 –> 00:23:33,380 Now, I want you to notice this, 476 00:23:33,380 –> 00:23:36,420 it’s very important for those who would believe 477 00:23:36,420 –> 00:23:38,420 in the Lord Jesus Christ today. 478 00:23:39,699 –> 00:23:43,540 What happens when Jonah believes? 479 00:23:45,500 –> 00:23:48,300 The answer is, verses five and six, 480 00:23:48,300 –> 00:23:51,239 his problems got worse. 481 00:23:52,660 –> 00:23:55,000 Think about that, it’s very important to know. 482 00:23:56,920 –> 00:24:00,619 God allowed Jonah to go down to the bottom 483 00:24:01,920 –> 00:24:04,800 before he sent the great fish. 484 00:24:06,479 –> 00:24:08,000 I never actually thought about that before 485 00:24:08,000 –> 00:24:11,479 until I looked at it more closely, but it’s very clear. 486 00:24:11,479 –> 00:24:16,479 Verses five and six describe Jonah’s experience going down. 487 00:24:17,359 –> 00:24:19,040 Verse three, remember, he’s on the surface, 488 00:24:19,040 –> 00:24:20,439 the waves and the breakers. 489 00:24:20,439 –> 00:24:22,099 But look at verse five and six. 490 00:24:22,099 –> 00:24:25,079 The engulfing waters threatened me, 491 00:24:25,079 –> 00:24:26,640 the deep surrounded me. 492 00:24:26,640 –> 00:24:28,880 He’s not above the water now, his strength has gone. 493 00:24:28,880 –> 00:24:29,719 He’s sinking. 494 00:24:30,540 –> 00:24:34,280 Seaweed wrapped around my head, verse five. 495 00:24:34,280 –> 00:24:38,140 He’s gone down so deep now that he’s surrounded by weeds 496 00:24:38,140 –> 00:24:40,579 that would have been on the ocean floor. 497 00:24:40,579 –> 00:24:43,339 To the roots of the mountains, he says, I sank down. 498 00:24:43,339 –> 00:24:45,599 It’s clear he went all the way to the bottom. 499 00:24:47,420 –> 00:24:50,459 Remember that the storm had stopped. 500 00:24:52,739 –> 00:24:54,619 If Jonah had managed to stay on the surface, 501 00:24:54,619 –> 00:24:57,260 perhaps he could have found a piece of wood, held on. 502 00:24:58,760 –> 00:24:59,939 Saved himself. 503 00:25:02,420 –> 00:25:04,920 But God takes him down to the bottom of the ocean. 504 00:25:06,300 –> 00:25:09,719 He’s beyond any hope of being saved from a piece of wood now. 505 00:25:11,380 –> 00:25:16,380 He has no way out, he is absolutely hopeless. 506 00:25:16,660 –> 00:25:21,660 And then God sends the fish. 507 00:25:25,180 –> 00:25:25,900 Verse six, 508 00:25:25,900 –> 00:25:28,599 to the roots of the mountain I sank down. 509 00:25:29,599 –> 00:25:32,140 The earth beneath barred me in forever, 510 00:25:32,140 –> 00:25:36,239 but you brought my life up from the pit, 511 00:25:36,239 –> 00:25:39,900 oh, Lord, my God. 512 00:25:39,900 –> 00:25:42,780 I wonder, did Jonah see the fish coming? 513 00:25:42,780 –> 00:25:44,859 I mean, he says, my life was ebbing away. 514 00:25:44,920 –> 00:25:48,579 Clearly, he had in his mind cried out to God 515 00:25:48,579 –> 00:25:51,000 when he was in this most desperate situation 516 00:25:51,000 –> 00:25:52,640 and feeling that, 517 00:25:52,640 –> 00:25:54,640 perhaps, it was going to slide away from him. 518 00:25:54,640 –> 00:25:57,500 After all, did he even know what 519 00:25:57,500 –> 00:25:59,619 was happening when the fish swallowed him? 520 00:25:59,619 –> 00:26:00,699 I wonder. 521 00:26:02,699 –> 00:26:05,420 But then, inside the fish, he breathes, 522 00:26:07,339 –> 00:26:09,780 like a man spluttering back 523 00:26:10,780 –> 00:26:14,640 from the very brink of death itself. 524 00:26:16,540 –> 00:26:18,619 And what this is telling us is something very important 525 00:26:18,619 –> 00:26:21,439 that God saves people who cannot save themselves. 526 00:26:21,439 –> 00:26:22,979 That is us. 527 00:26:25,699 –> 00:26:27,939 See, there are thousands of people 528 00:26:29,199 –> 00:26:31,260 who have the idea that salvation 529 00:26:31,260 –> 00:26:35,400 is basically get your act together 530 00:26:35,400 –> 00:26:37,180 and do it by some model effort. 531 00:26:37,180 –> 00:26:38,619 Good works, family values, 532 00:26:38,660 –> 00:26:39,579 the 10 Commandments, 533 00:26:39,579 –> 00:26:40,760 come to church and know by the way, 534 00:26:40,760 –> 00:26:43,160 of course you’ve gotta believe in Jesus as well. 535 00:26:44,619 –> 00:26:48,619 My friend, if you could save yourself 536 00:26:49,739 –> 00:26:51,640 basically by getting your act together 537 00:26:51,640 –> 00:26:53,880 and believing the right things, 538 00:26:53,880 –> 00:26:56,219 why would Jesus have to die on the cross? 539 00:26:58,859 –> 00:27:00,219 Jesus Christ came into the world 540 00:27:00,219 –> 00:27:01,060 because you and I, 541 00:27:01,060 –> 00:27:02,800 we need someone to save us. 542 00:27:02,800 –> 00:27:04,819 We can’t save ourselves. 543 00:27:05,260 –> 00:27:08,699 God sent the fish because Jonah couldn’t save himself. 544 00:27:08,699 –> 00:27:09,880 He’s right at the bottom. 545 00:27:11,579 –> 00:27:15,500 And that’s why God sent Jesus for you and for me. 546 00:27:17,859 –> 00:27:19,939 One evidence by the way of true faith 547 00:27:19,939 –> 00:27:24,500 is that you know that apart from Jesus Christ, 548 00:27:24,500 –> 00:27:25,760 what he did on the cross 549 00:27:25,760 –> 00:27:27,760 and what he still does for you right now 550 00:27:27,760 –> 00:27:30,699 as your risen Lord interceding for you in heaven 551 00:27:30,699 –> 00:27:32,479 apart from the Lord Jesus Christ 552 00:27:32,800 –> 00:27:34,880 apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, 553 00:27:34,880 –> 00:27:37,619 you know you would be completely, utterly, 554 00:27:37,619 –> 00:27:40,000 and hopelessly lost. 55 00:27:40,000 –> 00:27:41,079 Do you see that? 556 00:27:42,140 –> 00:27:43,640 Do you feel that? 557 00:27:45,400 –> 00:27:46,819 Is it clear to you? 558 00:27:48,079 –> 00:27:48,900 Because if it is, 559 00:27:48,900 –> 00:27:51,439 your heart will be full of praise and thanks 560 00:27:51,439 –> 00:27:53,300 and worship to him. 561 00:27:55,680 –> 00:28:00,500 God saves desperate sinners 562 00:28:01,199 –> 00:28:04,619 and what Jonah teaches us here is that 563 00:28:04,619 –> 00:28:06,500 as someone who believes, 564 00:28:07,760 –> 00:28:10,920 God may allow you to go right to the bottom 565 00:28:10,920 –> 00:28:12,859 in some circumstance of life 566 00:28:14,040 –> 00:28:14,800 and you may think, 567 00:28:14,800 –> 00:28:17,140 does God really care about me at all? 568 00:28:18,540 –> 00:28:20,859 And he’s calling you to trust him 569 00:28:20,859 –> 00:28:23,280 and to hang on to the grace 570 00:28:23,280 –> 00:28:26,400 that is in the Lord Jesus Christ right there 571 00:28:26,439 –> 00:28:31,579 at the lowest point of your believing life? 572 00:28:33,020 –> 00:28:34,959 You’re not ready for that in Christian experience, 573 00:28:34,959 –> 00:28:37,219 you’ll never understand what’s happening to you. 574 00:28:38,880 –> 00:28:40,540 God saves, 575 00:28:40,540 –> 00:28:42,119 thank God, 576 00:28:42,119 –> 00:28:44,619 desperate sinners. 577 00:28:46,040 –> 00:28:47,140 And here’s the fourth. 578 00:28:48,540 –> 00:28:51,839 God saves repentant sinners. 579 00:28:51,839 –> 00:28:54,579 And let’s look at verses eight and nine. 580 00:28:54,579 –> 00:28:55,520 Notice, by the way, 581 00:28:55,520 –> 00:28:57,079 that when we get to verse eight, 582 00:28:57,079 –> 00:28:59,760 he moves from the past tense to the present tense. 583 00:28:59,760 –> 00:29:04,500 So now this is what Jonah is saying directly 584 00:29:04,500 –> 00:29:06,199 in the belly of the fish. 585 00:29:06,199 –> 00:29:09,160 Now that he has been taken out of the place of death 586 00:29:09,160 –> 00:29:11,439 and he’s now been brought into a place 587 00:29:11,439 –> 00:29:16,119 in which God is sustaining his life. 588 00:29:16,119 –> 00:29:18,780 Now, I want you to notice how clearly in this chapter 589 00:29:18,780 –> 00:29:21,280 we see that salvation from sin 590 00:29:21,280 –> 00:29:26,280 involves both faith and repentance. 591 00:29:26,660 –> 00:29:29,239 In other words, when God saves Jonah 592 00:29:29,239 –> 00:29:31,560 from what looks like certain death 593 00:29:33,040 –> 00:29:36,479 and when the fish brings him to the dry land 594 00:29:36,479 –> 00:29:39,640 and vomits him out on the sand, 595 00:29:41,160 –> 00:29:44,280 Jonah does not go back to the port in Joppa 596 00:29:44,280 –> 00:29:46,599 and get the next ship to Tarshish. 597 00:29:48,560 –> 00:29:49,839 He does not, in other words, 598 00:29:49,839 –> 00:29:51,479 continue in the disobedience 599 00:29:51,479 –> 00:29:54,459 that got him into this situation in the first place. 600 00:29:54,459 –> 00:29:55,400 What does he do? 601 00:29:55,400 –> 00:29:57,140 He moves in a whole new direction, 602 00:29:57,140 –> 00:29:57,500 obeying the commandment of God 603 00:29:58,420 –> 00:30:00,439 and he goes, as we saw, to Nineveh. 604 00:30:01,560 –> 00:30:03,260 In other words, God’s salvation, 605 00:30:03,260 –> 00:30:04,359 if you’re really saved, 606 00:30:04,359 –> 00:30:05,880 it involves a complete change 607 00:30:05,880 –> 00:30:07,800 in the direction of your life. 608 00:30:07,800 –> 00:30:09,880 That’s the point of verse eight. 609 00:30:09,880 –> 00:30:12,680 Those who are clinging to worthless idols, 610 00:30:12,680 –> 00:30:16,719 they forfeit the grace that could be theirs. 611 00:30:16,719 –> 00:30:18,239 You hold onto something else 612 00:30:18,239 –> 00:30:20,439 that you put in the place of God, 613 00:30:20,439 –> 00:30:23,040 you forfeit, notice that word. 614 00:30:23,040 –> 00:30:25,280 You lose out on the grace 615 00:30:25,280 –> 00:30:27,699 that God could be given to you. 616 00:30:27,699 –> 00:30:29,880 You cannot receive grace from the hand of God 617 00:30:29,880 –> 00:30:31,640 and hold on to an idol 618 00:30:31,640 –> 00:30:34,420 that is in his place at the same time. 619 00:30:35,739 –> 00:30:38,339 Now, this total change in direction, 620 00:30:38,339 –> 00:30:41,839 this is true even if you lived a very good 621 00:30:41,839 –> 00:30:45,300 and moral life before you came to Jesus Christ. 622 00:30:46,260 –> 00:30:49,239 See, when he says about the idols, 623 00:30:49,239 –> 00:30:50,839 what that’s saying is this. 624 00:30:51,939 –> 00:30:54,579 What you live for changes 625 00:30:55,500 –> 00:30:57,160 or to put it more accurately, 626 00:30:57,160 –> 00:31:01,560 who you live for changes. 627 00:31:03,260 –> 00:31:04,979 When Jesus Christ saves you, 628 00:31:04,979 –> 00:31:06,979 you are no longer your own. 629 00:31:08,180 –> 00:31:09,880 The New Testament puts it this way. 630 00:31:09,880 –> 00:31:11,119 If you belong to Christ, 631 00:31:11,119 –> 00:31:13,819 you are bought with a price. 632 00:31:15,300 –> 00:31:17,540 And what an amazing price that was. 633 00:31:17,540 –> 00:31:19,819 You directly were purchased 634 00:31:19,819 –> 00:31:22,339 by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, 635 00:31:22,339 –> 00:31:23,459 so you’re not your own. 636 00:31:23,459 –> 00:31:25,400 I’m not my own. 637 00:31:25,400 –> 00:31:27,020 Can’t live for myself. 638 00:31:27,020 –> 00:31:28,739 I belong to Christ. 639 00:31:29,819 –> 00:31:31,219 And if you are in him, 640 00:31:31,219 –> 00:31:32,900 he by his spirit is in you, 641 00:31:32,900 –> 00:31:34,459 you are a new creation. 642 00:31:35,880 –> 00:31:37,020 Think of this. 643 00:31:37,020 –> 00:31:39,260 Here’s a connection with our experience. 644 00:31:40,500 –> 00:31:41,739 When Christ saves you, 645 00:31:41,739 –> 00:31:43,760 you can read about this in Romans 6, 646 00:31:45,459 –> 00:31:49,640 you go through a spiritual death and resurrection 647 00:31:50,739 –> 00:31:52,560 that is symbolized in what? 648 00:31:53,979 –> 00:31:54,920 Baptism. 649 00:31:55,839 –> 00:31:58,819 Going like Jonah, 650 00:32:00,160 –> 00:32:01,319 under the water, 651 00:32:02,380 –> 00:32:04,140 and back up again, 652 00:32:04,140 –> 00:32:05,180 into a new life. 653 00:32:05,180 –> 00:32:07,040 Thank God that baptism doesn’t involve 654 00:32:07,040 –> 00:32:08,780 going to the bottom of the ocean. 655 00:32:11,359 –> 00:32:13,040 But you see what baptism is saying. 656 00:32:13,040 –> 00:32:14,739 You’re no longer the same person. 657 00:32:15,680 –> 00:32:18,939 Like Jonah who went to the gates of death 658 00:32:18,939 –> 00:32:20,959 and then came up into a new life. 659 00:32:22,900 –> 00:32:26,439 You are a new person in Jesus Christ. 660 00:32:27,339 –> 00:32:30,459 And through death and resurrection in Jesus Christ, 661 00:32:30,459 –> 00:32:32,939 you now rise to live a new life. 662 00:32:32,939 –> 00:32:35,439 That’s Romans chapter six and verse four. 663 00:32:36,699 –> 00:32:38,660 Now this repentance has two sides. 664 00:32:38,660 –> 00:32:42,099 It involves turning from and turning to. 665 00:32:42,099 –> 00:32:45,280 We turned from idols and we turned to the Lord 666 00:32:45,760 –> 00:32:47,520 and notice that in letting go of the idols, 667 00:32:47,520 –> 00:32:51,800 in Jonah’s case the idol was his own comfort. 668 00:32:51,800 –> 00:32:54,579 I’ll do whatever is comfortable, God, but nothing else. 669 00:32:55,800 –> 00:32:57,640 And he smashes that idol. 670 00:32:58,760 –> 00:33:01,280 He says, no Lord, I can’t hold that idol anymore. 671 00:33:01,280 –> 00:33:02,280 I’ve gotta be yours. 672 00:33:02,280 –> 00:33:04,979 I’ve gotta be ready to do whatever you call me to do. 673 00:33:06,219 –> 00:33:09,239 So he turns from the idol and he turns to the Lord, 674 00:33:09,239 –> 00:33:13,780 verse nine, but I, I with a song of thanksgiving 675 00:33:13,819 –> 00:33:18,819 will sacrifice to you what I have vowed I will make good, 676 00:33:21,000 –> 00:33:25,780 and he says salvation comes from the Lord. 677 00:33:25,780 –> 00:33:29,619 Now, I want you to think about how amazing this is. 678 00:33:31,540 –> 00:33:34,939 I with a song of thanksgiving. 679 00:33:36,900 –> 00:33:41,040 So the man is singing in the belly of the fish. 680 00:33:41,339 –> 00:33:46,119 He’s thanking God, he’s worshipping, 681 00:33:46,119 –> 00:33:49,119 and we know about Paul and Silas worshipping 682 00:33:49,119 –> 00:33:50,880 in prison in the middle of the night. 683 00:33:50,880 –> 00:33:51,719 Think about this. 684 00:33:51,719 –> 00:33:54,300 This is Jonah worshiping the Lord 685 00:33:54,300 –> 00:33:57,540 in the utter darkness of the belly of the fish. 686 00:33:57,540 –> 00:34:00,560 This is, talk about worship venues. 687 00:34:00,560 –> 00:34:04,719 This is the most unusual worship venue of all time. 688 00:34:04,719 –> 00:34:06,599 We talk about folks worshipping at Douglas 689 00:34:06,599 –> 00:34:08,040 and folks worshipping at the grove, 690 00:34:08,040 –> 00:34:10,840 what about the folks worshipping in the belly of a fish? 691 00:34:11,100 –> 00:34:12,459 It’s what Jonah was doing. 692 00:34:12,459 –> 00:34:16,459 This is the strangest sanctuary in human history. 693 00:34:18,239 –> 00:34:20,520 And I want you to think about it. 694 00:34:20,520 –> 00:34:22,040 It was dark. 695 00:34:24,040 –> 00:34:26,639 Can you imagine the smell? 696 00:34:30,080 –> 00:34:33,399 You would think that Jonah would be saying, 697 00:34:34,280 –> 00:34:37,800 Lord, get me out of this place, 698 00:34:38,580 –> 00:34:40,659 but he doesn’t say that. 699 00:34:42,419 –> 00:34:46,459 Instead, the highest praise comes from the darkest place 700 00:34:46,459 –> 00:34:49,260 and why, understand this, 701 00:34:49,260 –> 00:34:54,060 why is Jonah so full of gratitude in the fish? 702 00:34:56,340 –> 00:34:58,419 The answer is that when he was in the water, 703 00:34:58,419 –> 00:34:59,919 he was sure he would die, 704 00:35:00,780 –> 00:35:03,479 but when he was in the fish, he was sure he would live. 705 00:35:03,540 –> 00:35:04,739 He was sure he would live 706 00:35:06,260 –> 00:35:08,860 because if God had intervened in his life 707 00:35:08,860 –> 00:35:12,379 so graciously and in such a miraculous way as this, 708 00:35:13,340 –> 00:35:15,239 what could be more certain that God 709 00:35:15,239 –> 00:35:18,500 would complete what he had begun 710 00:35:18,500 –> 00:35:22,260 in this amazing saving work in Jonah’s life? 711 00:35:24,919 –> 00:35:27,840 And friends, there will be times in your believing life 712 00:35:27,840 –> 00:35:31,719 when you feel like you are in a dark, stinking place 713 00:35:31,719 –> 00:35:34,540 and your natural impulse would be to say, 714 00:35:34,540 –> 00:35:36,219 Lord, get me out of here. 715 00:35:37,800 –> 00:35:39,540 But I want you to think about Jonah 716 00:35:40,560 –> 00:35:44,139 for even there, you can praise and thank him 717 00:35:44,139 –> 00:35:48,780 for this reason that what God begins, he completes 718 00:35:49,860 –> 00:35:52,580 and to ever dark your experience 719 00:35:52,580 –> 00:35:56,360 in your journey through life as a saved person, 720 00:35:57,360 –> 00:36:01,739 remember this, that he who did not spare his own son 721 00:36:01,739 –> 00:36:03,800 but gave him up freely for us all, 722 00:36:03,800 –> 00:36:06,439 how will he not also, along with him graciously, 723 00:36:06,439 –> 00:36:07,979 give you all things. 724 00:36:10,000 –> 00:36:11,939 And Jonah worshipps in the belly of the fish 725 00:36:11,939 –> 00:36:14,560 because however uncomfortable his experience 726 00:36:14,560 –> 00:36:19,040 at that moment in time, he knows that God is saving him 727 00:36:20,419 –> 00:36:22,120 and that is all he needs to know. 728 00:36:23,679 –> 00:36:25,899 From inside the fish, he prayed. 729 00:36:27,239 –> 00:36:30,399 And if you will just glance over that wonderful chapter 730 00:36:30,399 –> 00:36:31,560 with me one more time, 731 00:36:33,260 –> 00:36:38,399 he looks back at what God did for him in the water 732 00:36:38,399 –> 00:36:41,360 and he says, oh God, when I was back there in the water, 733 00:36:41,360 –> 00:36:45,139 I cried out to you for help and you listened to my cry, 734 00:36:45,139 –> 00:36:47,840 you were the one who threw me into the deep. 735 00:36:47,840 –> 00:36:50,439 Your waves, they broke over me. 736 00:36:50,439 –> 00:36:51,760 I was on the brink of hell. 737 00:36:51,760 –> 00:36:53,659 I thought I was gone forever. 738 00:36:54,419 –> 00:36:58,219 But in a great struggle, I came to the place of saying, 739 00:36:58,219 –> 00:36:59,540 God, I’m gonna look to you. 740 00:36:59,540 –> 00:37:00,659 I’m gonna ask of you. 741 00:37:00,659 –> 00:37:02,560 I’m gonna trust in you even here. 742 00:37:03,600 –> 00:37:05,260 And I cried to you for help. 743 00:37:05,260 –> 00:37:06,159 Here’s what happened. 744 00:37:06,159 –> 00:37:09,600 I sank to rock bottom and here’s what you did, oh God, 745 00:37:09,600 –> 00:37:12,340 you brought my life up from the pit. 746 00:37:12,340 –> 00:37:14,419 What you have done for me is so amazing 747 00:37:15,719 –> 00:37:17,760 that with a song of thanksgiving, 748 00:37:17,760 –> 00:37:19,560 I wanna tell you right here and now, 749 00:37:19,560 –> 00:37:21,159 however stinking and terrible 750 00:37:21,159 –> 00:37:23,020 this place is at this time 751 00:37:23,080 –> 00:37:24,620 and this moment in my life, 752 00:37:24,620 –> 00:37:27,300 I wanna thank you for your amazing grace, 753 00:37:27,300 –> 00:37:29,719 for your saving love that has brought me back 754 00:37:29,719 –> 00:37:31,860 from eternal death. 755 00:37:33,159 –> 00:37:34,959 And from this day, I want to say Lord, 756 00:37:34,959 –> 00:37:36,459 my life is yours. 757 00:37:36,459 –> 00:37:40,699 What I have vowed, I will make good. 758 00:37:40,699 –> 00:37:43,419 God saves guilty, 759 00:37:44,780 –> 00:37:45,719 believing, 760 00:37:46,899 –> 00:37:47,780 desperate, 761 00:37:48,699 –> 00:37:49,760 repentant 762 00:37:51,060 –> 00:37:51,939 sinners. 763 00:37:53,300 –> 00:37:56,959 Now, folks, here’s what that means in this last moment. 764 00:37:56,959 –> 00:38:01,959 It means the God is ready and able to save you. 765 00:38:04,899 –> 00:38:07,520 And I’m sure that in our services this weekend, 766 00:38:07,520 –> 00:38:09,139 there will be a number of folks, 767 00:38:09,139 –> 00:38:12,939 you’ve been thinking about the claims of Jesus Christ, 768 00:38:12,939 –> 00:38:14,820 but you’re kind of on the edge. 769 00:38:15,820 –> 00:38:18,860 And I can think of no better day than today 770 00:38:19,860 –> 00:38:24,860 for you to come to saving response to Jesus Christ, 771 00:38:27,000 –> 00:38:32,000 who is able to save, guilty and believing 772 00:38:32,360 –> 00:38:34,860 and desperate and repentant sinners. 773 00:38:36,600 –> 00:38:39,879 So, I want simply to invite you in these last moments 774 00:38:39,879 –> 00:38:44,879 to make four steps that will be life changing 775 00:38:45,159 –> 00:38:48,719 and eternity changing for all who make them. 776 00:38:49,479 –> 00:38:53,739 I want to ask you, will you as someone who has 777 00:38:53,739 –> 00:38:57,639 perhaps sat on the fringe of Christian things for a while, 778 00:38:57,639 –> 00:39:02,340 will you today own your own sinfulness? 779 00:39:03,659 –> 00:39:07,419 Will you confess to God, today, 780 00:39:08,439 –> 00:39:10,659 I’m a sinner Lord, 781 00:39:10,659 –> 00:39:13,780 I’m a rebel by nature and by practice what I deserve 782 00:39:13,780 –> 00:39:16,100 is not abundant life like I tend to think 783 00:39:16,100 –> 00:39:17,540 but actually eternal death 784 00:39:18,540 –> 00:39:23,100 and I own my guilt and I own my sinfulness before you 785 00:39:23,100 –> 00:39:24,239 will you take that step? 786 00:39:24,239 –> 00:39:29,239 Will you own your sinfulness before God today? 787 00:39:32,139 –> 00:39:37,139 Second, will you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ today? 788 00:39:38,600 –> 00:39:43,459 The son of God loved you and he gave himself for you 789 00:39:43,459 –> 00:39:45,860 when he died on the cross for your sins 790 00:39:45,979 –> 00:39:48,780 he rose from the dead and he’s ready and willing 791 00:39:50,020 –> 00:39:53,219 to save all who will put their trust in him. 792 00:39:55,040 –> 00:39:56,760 So I’m asking you today, 793 00:39:56,760 –> 00:40:00,379 will you ask Jesus Christ to save you? 794 00:40:02,659 –> 00:40:04,520 Come to Him as simply as this 795 00:40:04,520 –> 00:40:05,979 and you may find it’s a great struggle 796 00:40:05,979 –> 00:40:07,899 and a great battle to get to this place. 797 00:40:07,899 –> 00:40:11,659 That’s because of the intensity of the spiritual dynamic 798 00:40:11,659 –> 00:40:13,459 that is going on right now. 799 00:40:14,020 –> 00:40:17,020 But you can say Lord Jesus Christ, 800 00:40:17,020 –> 00:40:18,399 deliver me from sin, 801 00:40:18,399 –> 00:40:21,379 deliver me from death and deliver me from hell 802 00:40:21,379 –> 00:40:23,500 through your shed blood on the cross. 803 00:40:23,500 –> 00:40:25,100 You can ask him that today. 804 00:40:25,100 –> 00:40:27,919 Will you ask the Lord Jesus Christ to save you? 805 00:40:29,540 –> 00:40:31,939 Will you own your own sinfulness? 806 00:40:33,760 –> 00:40:35,379 You believe in the Lord Jesus Christ 807 00:40:35,379 –> 00:40:36,739 and ask Him to save you? 808 00:40:36,739 –> 00:40:41,020 Third, third step. 809 00:40:42,280 –> 00:40:45,580 Will you trust Jesus Christ 810 00:40:46,840 –> 00:40:49,560 whatever happens in your life? 811 00:40:51,439 –> 00:40:53,760 Jonah trusted God at the bottom of the ocean 812 00:40:55,800 –> 00:40:57,800 and in the belly of the fish. 813 00:40:59,439 –> 00:41:01,459 And I’m inviting all who believe, 814 00:41:01,459 –> 00:41:03,179 those who believe for the first time today 815 00:41:03,179 –> 00:41:05,260 and those who have believed for a long time today, 816 00:41:05,260 –> 00:41:07,459 will you trust Jesus Christ 817 00:41:07,459 –> 00:41:12,139 whatever happens in your life? 818 00:41:14,260 –> 00:41:15,320 He has said, 819 00:41:16,399 –> 00:41:19,020 if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord 820 00:41:19,020 –> 00:41:21,300 and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, 821 00:41:21,300 –> 00:41:22,560 you will be saved. 822 00:41:22,560 –> 00:41:23,679 Trust him in that. 823 00:41:25,500 –> 00:41:27,780 He has said, I will never leave you. 824 00:41:27,780 –> 00:41:30,020 I will never forsake you. 825 00:41:30,899 –> 00:41:32,340 Lean on that. 826 00:41:33,300 –> 00:41:38,300 He has said, my strength is made perfect in weakness. 827 00:41:40,040 –> 00:41:43,419 My grace is sufficient for you. 828 00:41:45,659 –> 00:41:46,659 Hang on to that. 829 00:41:49,500 –> 00:41:53,639 Trust him whatever happens. 830 00:41:53,639 –> 00:41:55,219 That’s what a life of faith is. 831 00:41:57,860 –> 00:41:59,179 For those who trust in him, 832 00:41:59,179 –> 00:42:02,479 Jesus says, will never be put to shame. 833 00:42:04,419 –> 00:42:06,179 And then, fourthly, will you commit yourself 834 00:42:06,179 –> 00:42:08,179 to a new life of obedience to Jesus 835 00:42:08,179 –> 00:42:10,580 as your Savior, Master, and Lord today. 836 00:42:11,719 –> 00:42:14,040 Will you turn from all that God says is wrong? 837 00:42:15,419 –> 00:42:19,320 Will you pursue all that God says is good 838 00:42:19,320 –> 00:42:20,600 with the help of his spirit? 839 00:42:20,600 –> 00:42:24,179 Tell him, this is what I’m going to do, 840 00:42:24,179 –> 00:42:28,679 and then, ask him for the help of his spirit. 841 00:42:29,739 –> 00:42:30,560 To do it. 842 00:42:32,699 –> 00:42:36,620 Christ saves guilty, believing, 843 00:42:36,620 –> 00:42:39,479 desperate, repentant sinners, 844 00:42:41,239 –> 00:42:45,439 and so, if you are taking these steps today, 845 00:42:46,540 –> 00:42:50,899 he is saving you. 846 00:42:52,060 –> 00:42:53,560 Let’s pray together, shall we? 847 00:42:55,280 –> 00:42:57,939 Father, seal your word into many hearts, 848 00:42:57,939 –> 00:42:59,739 those who have believed for a long time 849 00:42:59,739 –> 00:43:03,100 and find themselves in a deep place or a dark place, 850 00:43:04,800 –> 00:43:07,860 those who desperately need to find you 851 00:43:07,860 –> 00:43:10,820 and find your salvation for the first time today, 852 00:43:12,739 –> 00:43:17,159 Lord Jesus Christ, hear our prayer, 853 00:43:18,540 –> 00:43:20,580 for we ask it in the Savior’s name. 854 00:43:21,860 –> 00:43:22,699 Amen.