Jonah

Let's turn to the book of Jonah, please. The little book of Jonah in the Old Testament and in chapter 1. We're glad for all who have stayed for the gospel meeting. Jonah chapter 1 and we'll read at verse number 1. Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness is come up before me.

But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish, that is to Spain, we would call it Spain today on the west side of the Mediterranean, from the presence of the Lord, and he went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish, and paid the fare thereof, and went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his God, and cast forth the words that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them.

But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep. So the ship master came unto him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not. Verse 15.

So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Chapter 2, verse 1. 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. And so on for sake of time, drop down to verse number 9. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving, I will pay that I have vowed salvation is of the Lord. And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

Now the Lord will bless to us the reading from his word. It's always been an interesting story to me from Sunday school days onwards, the story of Jonah. Jonah stands out in the page of Scripture as the only prophet who tried to run away from God, and his disobedience is noteworthy on the page of Scripture so far as the prophets go.

So I want to look on him tonight just as a little picture in his disobedience of a sinner who is turning away from God, all right? So there's the line we're going to take. Jonah as a picture of a sinner who is turning away from God. You notice in verse 2 of the first chapter that God had spoken to Jonah and said, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness is come up before me.

Now Nineveh was the captain of the empire of the day, the Assyrian Empire. It was a city that is known in history for its atrocities, for its cruelty. It was a wicked city, and Jonah is given the task to go to a city like that and preach in the open air.

Forty days in Nineveh shall be overthrown. Now we're not told just how often, but the Lord actually spoke to Jonah. We're not exactly told how often, but I have no doubt about it in my mind that Jonah heard exactly what the Lord was saying and what the Lord required of him.

And yet Jonah turned and went the other way. I take it from that that Jonah had reached the point where he was fed up with God speaking to him. Fed up.

Now this will not end well for Jonah, nor for anyone who gets tired of God speaking to them in the gospel. That God speaks is amazing. That God speaks to my heart, to your heart, is amazing grace.

Now if you're tired of God speaking to you, I want to tell you something. It's not going to end well. Jonah was fed up.

So you be very careful, my dear friend, when God speaks to your heart, that you listen up. That you seek the Lord while he may be found, because he may not always be found. We're living in a world that's noted for its atrocities, for its cruelty, for its wickedness.

We're living in a world that is just ripe for the judgment of God. It may be in 40 days, or it might be less. And you're a part of that world.

And if you're in your sins and the Lord comes, you're going to be left behind for the judgment of God that is going to be poured out upon this world. Salvo after salvo of divine wrath will come upon this world. It's called the tribulation time.

And if you're in your sins and the Lord comes, you're left behind and you'll face those judgments. And it is still written on the page of our Bible, be ye also ready. For in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man cometh.

And if he comes tonight, the rapture, you'll be left behind. You see that word, the tribulation, there right in the middle of the chart? That's what you'll be in if he comes tonight. So my appeal is to any that are fed up with God speaking to, fed up with having to come to gospel meeting, fed up having to sit for a whole day, with the opportunity of hearing the voice of God in your soul, I want to appeal to you tonight, listen up! Because it might be your last opportunity.

It just might. Well, what happens next? Verse 3. He went down to Joppa and he found a ship going to Spain. And he paid the fare thereof.

And he went down into it. Notice, he went down to Joppa. Some have been to Joppa in the meeting.

You can still go to Joppa today, lies south of Tel Aviv. And from the hill, you can look down into the harbor. He went down to Joppa, found a ship, paid the fare thereof, and he went down into it.

So notice his direction. He's moving out, but he's going down. Moving out and going down.

You know, that's exactly what a sinner will do, what sin will do for a sinner. It will take them out from the presence of God and it will take them down. Sin always brings sinners down.

The homeless guy living under the bridge with his bottle of liquor in the brown bag never thought likely that that's where it would take him. Brought him down. The guy that's robbing the convenience store and gets caught and winds up in jail because he needs money for drugs, he never thought he would end up there.

When he got involved in that kind of a lifestyle, sin will take you down. The song goes like this, sin will take you farther than you want to go. Slowly but wholly taking control.

Sin will keep you longer than you want to stay and sin will make you pay far more than you want to pay. He paid the fare thereof. He was fed up, but he paid up.

He paid up. He paid the fare thereof. Now sin has still got a price to pay.

Oh yeah. Let's go to the Bible again for this. The wages of sin is death.

Every sin carries the death penalty. God is righteous and we are not. We are guilty before God and we cannot ever pay enough money for even one sin.

Because the wages of sin is death. And that's eternal death. There it is on the chart, the lake of fire, which is the second death.

It's eternal death. And you and I can never get to the end of that paying eternal death. That's what must be paid.

And the soul that sent it, it shall die. That's eternal death. That's what must be paid.

And you can never pay that. Because eternity never ends. And you never get a point to a point where it's all paid in full.

There's still eternity to pay. So what you and I need is this. We need somebody who can pay that for us.

And the only person who could ever pay an eternal amount for our sin must himself be eternal. And that's the good news in the gospel, isn't it? Because God has sent his eternal son into this world. What for? To die.

What does that mean? That means he paid in full the price for sin that was not his own. The only one who had never sinned was made sin for us. That we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

So there's no payment that you and I could ever make that would ever pay for our sin and satisfy God. But thank God tonight, you thank him. That when he died on the cross, he died for me and he paid in full what I deserve to pay.

Now let's just face it. Have you ever from your heart thanked God for what his son did for you? You say you haven't. Well, why not? Why have you not? Christ died for our sins.

Christ died for the ungodly. Who's that? That's me. Thank God just now for what the Lord Jesus has done for you.

Paid in full. It is finished. Now, again, I want you to notice that not only was he fed up and paid up, but there comes to this, it comes to this point in his experience.

Verse five, Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship and he lay and was fast asleep. So he's asleep. Verse six, so the ship master came to him, said unto him, a good question.

What meanest thou, O sleeper? What meanest thou, O sleeper? That's a good question to ask Jonah, wasn't it? You know, Jonah thought he had it made. He had enough money to pay the fare and off he, off he went to towards Spain and he goes down into the side of the ship and the rocking of the boat and so on. He falls fast asleep.

Oh boy, I'm sure glad that that's behind me. That's what he thought. Thought he had it made.

Hidden away down there in the bottom of the ship on the great sea, the Mediterranean. But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea and there was a mighty tempest. And so that storm comes sweeping down.

Let's focus upon Jonah. And that ship is in danger of sinking. But Jonah down there in the sides of the ship, he's fast asleep.

He's unaware of the danger that he's in. I think that that's just like a lot of Christians, children, even in this meeting tonight. We can speak of the lateness of the hour so far as this world is concerned.

We can speak even to you about the possibility that this is your last opportunity. And you know, in theory, something about the danger that you are in. But just like Jonah, you're asleep.

It doesn't really bite home, does it? It doesn't really grip your soul. But before tomorrow morning, I could be in hell asleep. What meanest thou, oh sleeper? Jonah is going to die and he doesn't even know the danger that he is in.

But the captain comes. And he woke up, Jonah. He woke him up.

Yeah, that's what we tried to do in the gospel meeting. I know it's God only that can do it, but we bring the word of God to bear. And if it was within our power, we would love to get within your soul and just shake you to the point where you would waken up to your knee.

We can't do that. That's the spirit of God's work. But while God is speaking to your soul, you listen up.

You respond to it. So Jonah, he's woken up to this great fact. I'm about to go down with this ship.

That'd be a great meeting, wouldn't it? If there was even one in the room tonight. And you woke up to this fact, this world is a sinking ship. And if the Lord comes, I'm going down with a sinking ship.

What meanest thou? So when do you intend to waken up? Do you have a plan? How old do you figure you ought to be before you waken up? Is there a specific date that you have lined up as to when you're just going to start to be serious about this matter of being saved? Because I tell you this, whatever your plans are, there was a Scotchman that one time said this. He said, the best laid plans of mice and men, a gang are I, which means they always go wrong. And you just don't know what storms might lie ahead in your life.

What bad news the doctor might give the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job, the loss of health. These things can just come sweeping into our life and swallow up a person so that they can think of nothing else. Don't you think that you can just switch on your thoughts of salvation and getting saved whenever you just jolly well like? Doesn't work like that.

There was a young fellow that grew up right next door to us in the old country. His name was Ian. Ian came to Sunday school, had years of unbroken attendance.

He learned the verses. He could recite whole chapters from the Bible, Isaiah 53, Romans chapter 5, Psalm 53, Psalm 14. He got prizes for it.

I don't know if Ian ever really thought about being saved, but he grew up until he was 16, got a job, saved his money. On his 17th birthday, he could purchase a more powerful motorcycle. And so he did.

Picked it up on his birthday on Monday, went to work the next day, Tuesday. Went to work on Wednesday, coming home from work on Wednesday. 30 mile an hour speed limit coming out of Belfast.

He reached down to adjust something on the motorcycle, lost control, fell off, slid along the ground into a power pole. The bike came behind him, broke his neck. Aged 17 into eternity, he left no testimony behind.

I don't know what his plan was, but that was unexpected, wasn't it? And you never know the moment, boys, girls, you never know the moment when you'll leave time. So Jonah was woken up. And I tell you tonight, if that was to grip your soul before the morning, I could be in eternity.

That would waken you up. He was woken up. So Jonah now, he sees the storm and, well, realizes that he has made a mistake and now he's dead serious.

And they take him and they throw him overboard. And God had preferred a fish that swallowed up Jonah. So here he is now.

He swallowed up, swallowed up. He's lost control of his life that he thought he was in control of. But he really needs to be delivered now, doesn't he? Now, that's just like you in the meeting tonight.

You need to be delivered from your sins, which will swallow you up and which will take you down to that dreadful place called hell. Let me ask you tonight, if you were to die in your sins, where would you go? So go to hell. Well, that's the right answer.

Why would you go to hell? And you say to me, well, I'm not saved. Wrong answer. It's your sins are taking you to hell.

That's why you need your sins forgiven. That's why you need your sins paid for. That's why you need your sins removed to the point where God is satisfied.

And there's only one way that you can have your sins removed. There's only one man who has paid the price. Be it known unto you, therefore, that through this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, preached the apostle, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.

He paid in full upon the cross. All that sin demands, all that sin deserves and all that God demands, God's justice. So you trust him tonight is your savior.

You'll have your sins removed. You'll be delivered from that place of going down to that dreadful place called hell. And you'll be rather ready for heaven now.

Notice what happens to Jonah. He's stirred up. He comes to his senses.

He's swallowed up by the whale. And now in chapter two, verse one, then Jonah prayed unto the Lord, his God, out of the fish's belly. What's he doing now? He's looking up.

He prayed unto the Lord and he said, and he cried by reason of my affliction unto the Lord. And he heard me out of the belly of hell, cried I. And thou heardest my voice. Jonah eventually turns to the Lord for deliverance.

There was no other way out of that fish's belly, whether it was a whale or a whale shark or whatever. I don't care. There was no other way out of that fish's belly, but by the power of the Lord.

And so he trusted alone in the Lord to deliver up. And so he looked up, he looked up. I want to ask you tonight, my friend, have you looked up to the savior lifted up upon the cross, but now exalted and received up into heaven? Look to Christ tonight.

Look to him. He's the savior. He's the only one can deliver you.

He's the only one who can rescue you from going down eternal. He looked up. Was he disappointed? Well, you know the story.

What happened? The Lord caused that fish to come right up to the shore and vomited out Jonah right there on the shore. And at last he was in dry ground. And now his heart confesses salvation is off the Lord.

God had acted in his tremendous power and had delivered Jonah from, he calls it the belly of hell. God caused that fish to take up Jonah. So Jonah is taken up, taken up.

You know, everyone who's trusting the Lord Jesus as their savior. We're waiting for that moment right now. We're waiting for that moment when we'll be taken up.

Taken up out of this old world altogether. Taken up to meet the savior in the air. Taken up to the father's house.

Taken up to those many mansions that we were hearing about. Taking up to meet the loved ones gone on before. Taken up to be forever with the Lord.

We're looking for that. I will not be disappointed. The moment he comes, we'll be taken up.

Jonah was rescued. Every soul believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior. We've been rescued from the penalty of our sins.

And we're looking forward to the moment when we'll be delivered from the very presence of sin out of this world altogether. This wicked old world. To be forever with the Lord.

So think of Jonah tonight, fed up. But he paid up. Thank God he was woken up.

And then he was swallowed up. He was stirred up. He looked up.

And finally, he was taken up. May the Lord bless his word. Let's pray.