Welcome, welcome, Grace and Truth Church, February 6, 2024. Let us go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, we love you. As I lift my voice tonight to you and to those in the sounds of my voice tonight to worship you, let our souls rejoice in your word and your son, Jesus Christ. Take joy, our King, in what you hear. May my words and the listening ears of the congregation tonight be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear. We love you, Lord. Amen. I love that song. It's the only song I remember from my childhood. Oh yeah, that'd be a good prayer. We're gonna look at Jonah tonight. I got a lot to get through. Hopefully we get through it. I'm gonna go through the whole book. I call him Jonah, the poor me prophet. It's a great. I'm gonna butcher the English language as far as well as the Greek language tonight. We're gonna learn one word. It's antitypos In my King New King James version and first Peter 321 it talks about the baptism being an antitype and it always threw me off So I wanted to looked up what the word meant It's actually a thing formed after a pattern a thing resembling another its counterpart so antitypos Jonah the prophet and we're gonna see Christ all through this book and And I hope we see it clearly that this story represents we have the Jews we have the law we have the abolishing of the law We have Gentiles repenting and turning to God where mercy reigns. We had the three-year ministry of Jesus and One year which is good. We're gonna see how it's a 40 year ministry of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem before the destruction comes in 70 AD and This prophetic parallel of Jonah and Jesus, to me, has been quite remarkable. I'm not gonna do it justice from what he showed me in the last 10 days. And sure, there are some great moral teachings in this book. We'll look at some of those. But as always, and more importantly, we will look to our King in this book. We will look to Christ, because he's all through it. This book, in the account of the prophet Jonah, is pointing so clearly to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, his work and his judgment, especially in Jerusalem. We have a picture of an imperfect man and a perfect God, the antitipos of Jesus Christ, Jonah the prophet, a type of. So a quick overview of the book. Jonah was a prophet of God. God spoke to the people through his prophets. In times past, he spoke to people through his prophets, but now he has spoken to us through his word, which is the Son, Jesus Christ, to deliver a message to warn and predict future events. God told Jonah to go west to Nineveh. Jonah went east, running from God's command, went in the exact opposite direction God told him to go. The Ninevites were ungodly. Nineveh was the capital pagan city of Assyria. And Jonah didn't want to give them the message, lest they repent and God grant mercy on them. So he jumps on a boat with a bunch of strangers, trying to run away from God's command. God sends a storm. The men on the boat, being superstitious, worshiping other gods, played a game of chance, found out Jonah was the culprit. Went to Jonah. He said, what should we do? He said, throw me in the water. They threw him in the water. They were saved from the storm. Jonah got swallowed up by a big fish. He repented, was spit out, went to Nineveh, and finally obeyed the command of God. They said, go to Nineveh and tell them the judgment is coming. Jonah goes and gives the message, repent or your city will be destroyed in 40 days. And we'll see this too, that this is the 40 years between 30 AD from the crucifixion of Christ and 70 AD where Jerusalem fell. One year, one generation. We'll see that in Luke later. They repent, the whole city, I mean, down to the oxen and calves. I mean, everybody had ash on them. Nobody was eaten. The whole town, all 120,000 people, all repented. So then Jonah goes to sit on a hill and watch what might happen to Nineveh and has a conversation with God. So that's chapter one through four, the basis of it. So let's go to Jonah chapter one, verse one. We're gonna try to get through this. Was that clear? Does everybody got an idea of what we're talking about here? So now, the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. Right here from the start. The word of the Lord came to Jonah. And how do we know, how does the word, how do we hear from God today? Through his word. Through his word. We seek him through his word. And it came to Jonah, when as the word of the Lord came to you, and we'll see in this account, as this account unfolds, that we are to respond, not flee from his commands, his instruction, his direction. God said, go west, Jonah went east. nor to his discipline. Verse three. But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Jonah heard from God and he fled. That's moral lesson number one. Don't do that. Let's just, let's just not do that in our lives. Um, it reminds me of a time when I was 15 years old, mom, dad, you probably remember this. We'll need to go into details, but I got in trouble with the law at a young age doing stupid stuff. And, uh, I remember mom said, go read your Bible. So I did one of them flip the Bible open point point down and it landed me on John five, 14. Uh, Beth... Beth... Every time I look at this word, I can't see it. They healed at the pool of Beth... Beth... Bethesda. Beth... I look at it and I can't say it, but I know it in my head. What is it? Bethsaida. Yeah, okay. Anyway, it's been stumbling me all week. I'm like, I'm gonna get it and I knew I was gonna screw it up. But anyway, he heals the man when the angel would stir up the water and he couldn't get down to the pool. Well, Jesus healed him. He went and found him later and this is what he said. Afterwards, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, see you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you. This is the first time I ever heard from God directly. Age 15. I've read this verse, and for 23 years I went west, or went east when he told me to go west. It was the drugs. He said, stop that, or worse things are gonna happen to you. I had 23 years of worse things, until finally, like Jonah in chapter two, I repented, and God was able to use me once again. But the word of the Lord came to Greg when he was 15, and he ignored it, just like Jonah did. And in listening to him, I have found that my Lord is so gracious. So now as a newborn babe, like 1 Peter 2, 2 and 3 says, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Do you desire the word this way? Like a newborn, the pure milk of the word? Have you indeed tasted that the Lord is gracious in your life? If you don't desire the Word of God, how will you grow? It says, grow thereby this, the Word of God. And I ask you, if you do not seek this daily, have you truly tasted that the Lord was gracious to you by saving you from condemnation, from saving you from a life apart from Him for all eternity? Verse four, but the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up. You know, I know I look at this life and all too often I forget that it is the Lord that sends the storms, often to bring us to repentance, to test our faith, to reveal the truths of our heart. For whatever reason, it is he who does it. Isaiah 45, five and seven. I am the Lord and there is no other. There is no God besides me. I will guard you, though you have not known me. That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting, that there is none besides me. I am the Lord and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create calamity. I, the Lord, do all these things. And just like this account tells us, the Lord sent out the great wind onto the sea. And like Peter, when he walked on the water, if we keep our eyes fixed on our Savior, we won't care about the waves. Because we know who the one that created them for a purpose. So verse five and six. Then the sailors were afraid and every man cried out to his God and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship and laid down and was fast asleep. So the captain came to him and said to him, what do you mean, you sleeper? Are you really asleep right now? We're dying. Arise, call on your God. Perhaps your God will consider us so that we may not perish. Sounds familiar, Matthew 8, 23 and 27. Now when he got into the boat, who Jesus, his disciples followed him and suddenly a great storm arose on the sea so that the boat was covered with the waves, but he was asleep. Then his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us, we are perishing. But he said to them, why are you fearful, O you of little faith? Then he arose and rebuked the winds in the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, who can this be, that even the winds in the sea obey him? Both the disciples and these men, traveling from Joppa to Tarshish with Jonah, both went to the man sleeping below deck, saying, do something, awake, save us. That antetippus, this look pointing to Christ. Jonah, in his disobedience, had men waking him up. Save us, do something, what are you doing sleeping? Do you think your repentance only affects you? If Jonah stays asleep, they all perish. Jesus and his obedience to the father has men waking him up, saying, save us. Ephesians 5 14. Therefore he says, awake you who sleep arise from the dead and Christ will give you light light. Awake you sleepers. Do we have any sleepers in this room tonight? Is he talking to you? Is he talking to me? Of course he is. awake this is serious stuff this word of god is our life for all eternity wake up you sleepers verse seven and they said to one another come let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us so they cast lots and a lot fell on jonah psalm sixteen thirty three says that with the lot is cast into the lap but it's every decision is from the lord this is what game a chance This is what it refers to with lots rolling the dice. God knows the outcomes of that. You're not hiding from it. Jonah was not going to hide and was going to be real from these other sailors casting lots to find out whose fault this is. Jonah wasn't getting away and neither will we. Let's make it quick. Let's not make it 23 years like I did. but its decisions are from the Lord. Verse eight, then they said to him, please tell us, for whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And what people are you? Jonah, you better tell us what's going on. Verse nine, so he said to them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and dry land. Kind of ironic that he confesses, I fear the Lord that has created the sea. And Jonah went on the sea to try to escape from him. I don't know, I just thought that was ironic. Verse 10, then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, why have you done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told them. He confessed it to them. It's a good start. He owned his disobedience before men. He hasn't owned it before God yet. We'll see in chapter two that he does. But it's a good start. David says, against you and you alone I have sinned, Lord. That's where we need to get to. 1 John 1.9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Verses 11 and 12, then they said to him, what shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us? For the sea was growing more Oh, I'm not even trying. That's another word I'm not trying. Greek and English language we were butchering tonight. Temptetuous. We're going with it, guys. I'm not saying it again. And he said to them, pick me up and throw me into the sea, then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me. Now, I don't know if this was so much self-sacrificial on Jonah's part or self-accepting. I'll die before I go to Nineveh. I'm already running from the Lord. Just throw me in the water and I'll die and I still won't have to go to Nineveh. I don't think this was so much self-sacrificial as we look at Jonah a little bit later in the book, but I know what it represents and it represents Jesus willing to die for us. He does tell them to throw him off the boat. Maybe not willing to even throw himself. You got to do it. You can kill me. I'm not going to take responsibility that much. I don't know. Maybe that's selfish of him, but it's pointing to Christ and what Christ is going to do for us. But he did own it and accepted his fate to spare the innocent lives on the boat because this storm arose from Jonah's disobedience. And with Jonah remaining on the boat, they were all going to die. John 11 49 and 51 and one of them Caiaphas being high priest that year said to them You know nothing at all nor do you consider that is expedient for one for us that one man should die for the people and not that the whole nation should perish. Now this he did not say on his own authority, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation. Jonah would die for the people on the boat. He was willing to die. Jonah died for the men on the boat so that they might be saved from death. Regardless of his motives were pure or not, this points to Christ. Imperfect man and a perfect God and what Christ was gonna do Jonah a guilty man died to save the innocent men on the boat Although none of us are innocent before God for this sin in this storm. It was Jonah's fault But they were innocent of Jonah's of Jonah's disobedience and the storm was a result of that Jesus an innocent man died for the guilty he died for us a guilty man accepting his punishment maybe noble maybe a in a respectable, I'm guilty and you owned up to it, accomplishes nothing as far as the redemption of God. But an innocent man, an innocent man accepting the punishment for the guilty, that balances the scales of God's justice. Verse 13, nevertheless, the men rode hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more violent against them. We'll substitute that, more violent. Christ has to die for it. He had to die for it, whatever it is. It is his life that we receive, not a changed life, but an exchanged life. So everything you bring to God, he died for. and we get his life in return. There's nothing off that list. No matter the energy and effort you put forth, the waves aren't going anywhere. Your best and your worst alike, Christ died for it all. Verse 14, therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, we pray, oh Lord, please do not let us perish for this man's life, and do not charge us with innocent blood, for you, oh Lord, have done as it pleased you. They prayed that they are not charged with innocent blood. While Jesus hung on the cross innocent, prayed for the guilty and said, Father, charge their sins to my innocent blood. Father, forgive them for they don't know what they do. Luke 23, 34. Verse 15, so they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea and the sea ceased from its raging. until we are willing, until we accept what he truly has done for us, until we throw Jesus off the boat, until we allow him to be hung on the cross for our lives, we will continue to row to no avail. Hebrews 4.10 says, for he who has entered his rest has himself ceased, has stopped from his works as God did from his. There's no amount of rowing that's gonna get you there. No human effort's gonna get you there. Row all you want. God doesn't calm the storms from the effort of your rowing. He calms the storms when you throw John off the boat, when you look to Jesus at the cross, accepting the sacrifice made for you on his behalf. And once we look to the cross, we look to Christ and Him crucified, the sea will cease from its raging. If there are still raging areas in your life, you're probably working really hard. I'm not gonna deny you that. There's probably a lot of human effort going. But your best rowing will not calm those waves. Not until you accept that Jesus died for your rowing, for your effort. for your own self-righteous effort is what it is, thinking you can accomplish something. And that the innocent threw himself off the boat, hung on that cross for the guilty, for you and me. Romans 5, 18. Therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation. Even so, through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. Through Jonah's offense, Judgment came to that boat. But through one man's righteous act, this is that antitippus, this is the picture of, Jonah sacrificing himself, these men were saved on the boat. Through Christ's righteous act of obedience to the point of death on a cross, now all guilty men and women, by grace through faith, can be justified, sanctified, and glorified in Christ Jesus before the Father. Verse 16, then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows. Who did that? These pagan, pagan men? They were saved through Jonah's obedience. Acceptance at least of what he did wrong. It reminds Psalms 107 I don't know if you've ever read it if you haven't I've challenged you this before read it again. There's four tie What is it five examples for of different people to get in different trouble in this world? And it covers every one of us and somewhere maybe all of them but Psalms 107 23 and 31 are the men on this boat and that the men that feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took their vows before God. Those who go down to the sea in ships who do business in great waters, they see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep, for he commands and raises the stormy winds which lift up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens, they go down again into the depths. Their soul melt because of trouble." Sounds familiar, right? This is what was happening on that boat. They reel to and fro and stagger like junk men. They row and row and try their best, but the waves are too much. And they're at their wits end, so they go to the man sleeping in the bottom of the boat and say, why don't you try something? Because what we're doing isn't working. Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distress. He calms the storm so that its waves are still. Then they are glad because they are quiet, so He guides them to their desired haven. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men." And I want to point out here, too, that these were ungodly men, pagans, And they've repented and made sacrifices to the one true God and vowed to the God of Jonah, the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land. So through Jonah's disobedience so far, everybody's saved. Jonah, so are you willing to be thrown off the boat so that they may be saved? And we are all on that boat and we are all guilty. One went off, one went onto the cross and that is Christ. We're to follow him there. 2nd Corinthians 4 11 and 12 for we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus's sake so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh so that death is working in us but life in you have you learned yet to let them throw you off the boat being guilty but looking to the innocent one Christ on his cross We're always 100% responsible for our own disobedience. But like Christ, we can be innocent of their sin in many situations, but willing to be thrown off the boat for them. Jonah died to save them from death. Jesus died to give us his life. Jonah couldn't do what Christ did. He was a type of, he was an antithesis. Jonah saved the innocent for a moment. Christ saved the guilty forever. For scarcely for a righteous man one will die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die." Romans 5, 7. Like Scott said on Sunday, yeah, that's newsworthy, noble, honorable. Somebody would give their life for somebody else, but you know, it accomplishes nothing if it ain't Christ, if it doesn't go through that cross. It all has to point to Christ. Romans 5a, but God demonstrated his own love towards us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And look how our obedience and disobedience, just from this first part of this book, affects others around us. There's a huge effect, a huge ripple effect in our lives. Jonah's disobedience put the men on that boat's life in danger, yet Jonah's obedience saved their life. So if you're being disobedient, repent, turn back to God, and then you can save yourself and those who hear you. For 1 Timothy 4, 15 and 16, meditate on these things. Give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. There's two things to worry about, yourself and the word of God. Continue in them for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. Are you doing this? If not you, then who? They're scared, they're still on the boat. You're the one that needs to jump. If no one jumps off the boat, we all perish. A boat full of guilty men and women, that's what we are. And if we do not enter to the throne room of grace through that narrow cross-shaped gate, then what are we doing? There's only one way to that throne of grace, and that's through the cross of Christ. Rowing and rowing, accomplishing nothing. The waves are too big and too strong. And besides, God sent them. Can't row against God. Verse 17, now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Jonah let them throw him off the boat, ended up in the fish three days and three nights. Jesus, in his mercy, tells us to nail him to the cross, and in the grave he will go three days and three nights, willingly taking the punishment for our disobedience, our rebellion against God. Three days and three nights into the grave, Jesus went. Chapter two, verse one. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God, from the fish's belly. Then Jonah prayed to God. So we have a whole conversation here in God in chapter one. We didn't hear what Jonah was saying to God. It took all this for Jonah finally to start praying to God correctly. Maybe he's accepted his fate at this point, but finally he's gonna talk to God. And he said, I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction. And he answered me out of the belly of Sheol. I cried and you heard my voice. Jonah went down to Sheol despairing and repentant. Jesus went there declaring his victory. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me. All your billows and your wave passed over me. Psalms 42.7, deep calls unto deep at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and billows have gone over me. Billa. Thanks, Billy. Sorry, it was an inside joke. Verse four. Then I said, I have been cast out of your sight, yet I will look again towards your holy temple. I screwed up, Lord. I screwed up, yet I will look to you. It's really the only answer for everything is to look to the king. In our victories, we look to him because they're his. In our defeats, we look to him because they're designed to make us look back to him so that he can give us his victory. Verse five says, the water surrounded me, even to my soul. The deep closed around me, weeds were wrapped around my head. Again, I'm looking for Christ in all this, so bear with me on this one. The weeds wrapped around his head, he's in the grave. John 20, verse seven, John chapter 20, verse seven, and the handkerchief that had been around his head, not lying with the linen cloth, but folded together in a place by itself. I don't know if, You guys know what this represents, but in Hebrew culture, this is in the grave when they went to find Jesus. This is what was left behind. The thing that was wrapped around his head, the handkerchief was folded nice and neat away from his clothes. And in Hebrew culture, when a servant of the master, he stood out of sight while he was eating. And to let the servant know, the master, to let the servant know that he was done, he would crumble up his napkin, throw it down. Come clean up, I'm done eating. But, and that was a sign. However, if the napkin was folded neatly, it told the servant, don't you dare come clean up yet, cause I'm coming back. I ain't done eating yet. So when Jesus had that handkerchief folded in that grave, it was telling us I'm coming back. You don't need to clean up this world system. You don't need to change your life. You need to exchange it. This is what he was showing us. And just like Jonah that had the seaweed wrapped around his head, we're looking at Christ. On the cross, Jesus declared it is finished, but in the tomb that folded napkin declared he would be returning. Verse six, I went down to the bottom of the mountains, the earth, which is bars closed behind me forever. Yeah, you have brought up my life from the pit. Oh, Lord, my God, this is a good prayer. He went running. Now he's talking to God, honestly, and what he's doing is saying who God is. This is who you are, Lord. Again, Psalms 107, verses 10 through 16, we're gonna see Jonah here. Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, bound in affliction and irons, the bars closed behind me forever, because they rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High. This is Jonah. He rebelled, he despised what God told him to do. Therefore he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down and there was none to help. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble. Then when he was in the belly of the fish, he cried out to the Lord in his trouble. And he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke their change in pieces. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. For he has broken the gates of bronze and cut those bars that closed them behind Jonah. He's cut them in two. 7, 8, 9. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer went up to you, God, and to your holy temple. Those who regard worthless idols forsake your mercy. But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. That's it. He finally got it. Salvation is of the Lord. He's at least for now willing to obey God. And this is a beautiful prayer of repentance. He pointed to who God was, what he did, and what God is, salvation. Verse 10, so the Lord spoke to the fish and vomited Jonah onto the dry land. The fish did what Jonah, and often we don't do so often. He told the fish to spit him up, and the fish spit him up. He obeyed him. Maybe we'd be more like this fish. Jonah's obedience was not based on feelings anymore, but true repentance. Trusting in who God was, salvation is of the Lord. I know I screwed up, but I will look to you. I have been cast out of your sight, yet I will look again to your holy temple, verse four. Look to the God of mercy. Look to Jesus, the innocent, dying on that cross for me, the guilty. Chapter three, verse one. We're getting there, guys. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, did he have to tell you twice? He didn't have to tell you twice, Bill, that's awesome. He didn't tell me twice either. He told me when I was 15 years old. He didn't tell me again. I knew it was wrong, but he didn't tell me. I didn't hear it the same way. Until I obeyed him, he wasn't gonna give me another command. I had one to follow, and then the next can come. And notice it came after his repentance. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you. Now that you've been in the depths of the poor decisions of your life, and now that you have called out to God, look to Him, now go do what He says. Keep your vow. I don't know about y'all, I've made plenty of vows to God in my deepest and darkest places. Many I have not kept. Many I have. John 14, 15, if you love me, keep my commandments. So verse three and four, so Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day walk. Then he cried out and said, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. There's a lot here, guys. Once you remember these numbers, we got three to one. We got a three-day journey city. One day he walked into it and they repented. Luke 13, seven and nine. Then he said to the keeper of the vineyard, who this is God the Father saying to Jesus, look for three years, here's the picture of Jerusalem in the upcoming judgment. Look for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and found none. Cut it down. Why does it use up the ground? But he answered and said to him, sir, let it alone this year also. until I dig it around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well, but if not, after that, you may cut it down. Here's the sign of Jonah, and we'll read it in Matthew later. Three year ministry of Jesus, three day big city. One more year, 40 years representing a generation of people. He said, give me one more year, which would be 40 years from 30 AD when Jesus was crucified to 70 AD when Jerusalem fell. Nivena, a pagan nation, repented on the first day. Jerusalem, three years of ministry from Jesus, did not repent. And he said, give me one more year, give me one more generation, Father, before you cut it down. And if they don't repent, then good, cut it down. And this is what we'll see, 30 AD to 70 AD. That one more year is this generation that Jesus says, give me that, give me my spirit to roam around once I'm back with you, Father. And if they do not repent, then cut it down. 5, 6, and 7. So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed to fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. Then the word came to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe. covered himself with sackcloth and satin ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Do not let them eat or drink water. At the warning of the judgment one day journey, God spread his word throughout the whole city, even through the king's chambers. And they repented. These pagan men and women, they heard the word of God and believed it. The pagan men on the boat saw the works of God in the wind, through the wind of the sea, and sacrificed to God and believed Him. Yet the Israelites, Jerusalem, God's chosen people, when Jesus came, they would deny Him. Verses eight, nine, and 10. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily to God. Yes, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent and turn away from his fierce anger so that we may not perish? Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God relented from the disaster that he had said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it. Here it is, Matthew 12, 39 and 41. But Jesus answered and said to them, the Pharisees and the Sadducees in Jerusalem, an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, and indeed there is a greater than Jonah here." Luke 11 30 tells the same story and says, so the son of man will be to this generation. As Jonah was to Ninevites, so Jesus will be to you, Jerusalem. And here's the prophetic word spoken through Jonah, pointing to Christ. 40 days and this city will be destroyed. That's what he told the Ninevites. They repented and their city was not destroyed. The book of Jonah, which was found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, written hundreds of years before Jesus came, sealed away before the fall of Jerusalem between like 62 and 64 AD, showing that Jesus is the Messiah and that the testimony of prophecy is the spirit of Jesus. Jesus said that no sign will be given to these people The people of the city of Jerusalem accept the sign of the prophet Jonah, who was here a foreshadowing of Jesus in Jerusalem. Three days and three nights he would go into the grave and then come give the message of resurrection life. Give me one more year, one more generation, and then cut it down. Abolishing the law and offering eternal life to all who will receive it. 40 days to 40 years. We have a lot of day-to-year prophetic words in the Bible. 40 years representing a generation. Also, Numbers 1434, according to the number of days in which you spent spying out the land, 40 days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year. So we got a 40-day prophecy into a 40-year. 40-day thing to 40 years. Namely 40 years and you shall know my rejection what a picture of Jerusalem when it fell in 70 AD Ezekiel 4 6 says and when you have completed them lie again on your right side Then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah 40 days. I have laid on you a day for each year. I So here it is, the sign of the prophet Jonah, yet 40 in Jerusalem will be thrown away. In 40, Jerusalem will be destroyed, overthrown. The Jews who led the city would not accept this. Like I said, in 30 AD, when Jesus was crucified, history would tell us. History sealed in 62 to 64 AD when the Dead Tree Scrolls were sealed. 40 years later, Jerusalem will be taken by the Romans in 70 AD. history proving what Jesus and Jonah already said. April 4, 30 A.D., Jesus died on the cross, and in April, 70 A.D., Jerusalem began to be besieged by the Roman Empire. And I love this, too. 2 Samuel 11, 1, it happens in the spring of the year, at the time when kings should go out to battle. This is referring to David when he actually stayed home when he should have been out to fight and Bashe was tempted by Basheba. Our king went to battle in the spring. He went to that cross and died and won the victory that we cannot win for ourself. He went out in the spring. to defeat sin and death, the power of it over our lives. In 40 years to the month, you know, God sends the waves. He sent the Roman Empire to fulfill the prophecy that he spoke over Jerusalem through the prophet Jonah. Luke 21 5 6 then as some people spoke of the temple. Look how beautiful look how adorned with beautiful stones. Look at all the donations in it. Jesus said these things which you see the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down again referring to the prophecy of Jonah to Jerusalem. Jesus knowing that they would not repent and turn from the law and turn to Jesus prophesied their destruction. All right, chapter four, guys, we're getting there. We're almost there. But are you seeing it yet? This whole account of Jonah, turned from the law, turned to Christ, that the gospel will be given to the Gentiles, and they will receive it, yet his own people will not. Let's dig a little deeper in chapter four here. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. What displeased him? Oh, that they repented. This displeased Jonah. You know, even his prayer in the fish, when he said, those who worship idols forsake their mercy. I looked at that and I think he was kind of hoping that was going to happen, that they wouldn't have repented. So judgment can come to them because they deserve judgment. They are wicked, evil people. Verse two, so he prayed to the Lord and said, oh Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, one who relents from doing harm. You know, every time you don't forgive somebody, every time for anything they've done to you, to themselves, that you're like Jonah talking to God here. Well, I don't want them to have mercy. I'd rather die. Just throw me off the boat and let me just die in my self-pity. And we're just like Jonah. Anytime you just deny somebody forgiveness, you've been received, you've received forgiveness. You owe it to everybody for Christ. He said, didn't I tell you God? Here it is. Revealed the conversation in chapter one. We only heard what God said to Jonah, but now we get in chapter four, we get to hear what Jonah said to God. I knew that you're merciful, therefore I didn't want to go. In Exodus 34, 6, And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious. Jonah knew this. Long-suffering and abounding in goodness and truth. He didn't want this for the Ninevites. They were the enemies of Israel. A pagan nation. They were sinful and brutal people. They tortured Israelites. They killed Israelites. And being a prophet of God, he didn't want to go to them and deliver the message of God's grace and forgiveness, his long-suffering, because he feared that they would actually repent and that God would grant mercy to his enemies. Verse three, therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. Why is that? Because you gave them mercy. Poor me, prophet, poor me. Just kill me now, kill me again, Lord. This is the same attitude when he told them to throw him off the boat. I'd rather die than have them receive your mercy, God. Verse four and five, then the Lord said, is it right for you to be angry? Is it right? Is it right that you're angry because I gave them mercy? So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade till he might see what would happen to the city. And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah so that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. But at morning dawn, the next day, God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. Now we have the whole picture right here in these three verses. When I was shown this, I thought I was the first person to ever see this. To my encouragement and disappointment, I went and Googled it to make sure I was teaching the right thing. It was revealed to somebody before me. Big surprise. But this man-made shelter, it stuck out to me. Well, if you made a shelter to get out of the shade, Then God grew up a plant that covered his head, then sent a worm to die, to eat the plant. Jonah's man-made shelter, man-made religion, self-righteousness. This is what this represents. To the best of my ability, this is how I understand it. Cain being a good picture of this, the Tower of Babel being a good picture of this man-made shelter. the best shelter the fallen man can produce, the best of his labors, the building till the heavens, fall way short of the glory of God, not even enough to cover his head. And whatever this shelter provided by Jonah that he made, it wasn't enough. So verse six, and the Lord prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. Now God prepared a plant. Now God gave the law. Now Jonah had relief under the covering of the law. Jonah's own efforts didn't cover his head. Now this plant gave him some relief for his head. Now he had a temporary covering. And through the sacrifice of bulls and rams and the following of ordinances, there was a temporary covering for the sins. Not that any man made perfect through the law, but he was covered. This is why the worm had to be sent. The plant given by God to cover our head, but still not good enough. By the law, no man has made perfect. has been made perfect by the law. Galatians 2, 16, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, for by works of the law, no flesh shall be justified. So Jonah found relief in the law, but not these heathen Ninevites. They don't follow your law, God. That makes us Jews different than them. They don't deserve your mercy because they're not your chosen people like us. Look at what we do and look at what they do. We are deserving, they are not. This plan had to go. Verse seven, but as morning dawned the next day, God prepared a worm and it so damaged the plant that it withered. God gave the law and in this picture of the worm eating the plant is the fulfillment of the Messiah abolishing the law. In Jonah, like the Pharisees, Jesus warned in Matthew 12, got it wrong. They wanted the plant and were mad at the worm. They were mad at Christ and this worm, It's referred to as the tall law. There's two kind of worms in the language. This one is purposely picked and chosen for this verse. Jonah's attitude was kill me, similar to the Jews who had Jesus crucified. You took away the law, now kill me. You know what? We'll kill him so he can't take away the law. kill him because he's killing the plant. Now the crimson worm, that's what this toloth represents, a crimson worm, was sent to destroy the plant, the law, so that mercy would reign forever. And like I said, this worm is so significant, the word is toloth in the Hebrew, It's referring to a crimson or scarlet worm. In Psalms 22 6, when it's the prayer of Jesus on the cross, he says that I am a worm and no man. Same word. I am a crimson worm and no man. A reproach of men and despised by the people. Jonah despised the worm that destroyed the plant. Jerusalem and the Jews were going to despise Jesus for coming to abolish the law. And I'm going to just read this because it'll do a better justice. Let me try to explain it. When a female crimson worm is ready to lay her eggs, which happens only once in her life, she climbs up a tree or a fence and attaches herself to it. She crawls on something wooden. With her body attached to the wooden tree, a hard crimson shell forms. It is a shell so hard and so secure to the wood that it can only be removed by tearing apart the body, which would kill the worm. The female worm lays her eggs in under her body, under the protective shell, so the baby worms can feed on the living body of the mother worm for three days. After three days, the mother worm dies and her body excretes a crimson or scarlet dye that stains the wood in which she is attached. The baby worms remain crimson colored for their entire lives. You see it? You see why this worm in Jonah was sent to kill that plant? You see why Jesus says, I am a worm. I am a tolof. I am a crimson worm. Therefore they are identified as crimson worms. And on day four, the tail of the mother worm pulls up into her head, forming a heart-shaped body that is no longer crimson and has turned like snow white. Brilliant white. Jesus died on that cross for three days. His blood and his flesh is what we feed upon in his word. And now he is glorified in the glory which he had with the father before he came. And a brilliant white that we couldn't dare look upon in these human eyes. And that snow white flax that looks like a patch of wool on the tree or fence. It then begins to flake off and drop to the ground, looking like snow. This is the worm. This is the worm that ate the plant. Jonah was upset that the plant got eaten. Jerusalem would be upset that Jesus come to abolish the word. What a picture this gives us of Christ dying on that tree, attaching himself so firmly so that he would die there. Shedding his precious blood for us that he might bring many sons to glory. Hebrews 2 10. He died for us so that we might live for him. and but that work on the cross Jesus did by offering himself as a lamb without blemish, this toloth, this crimson worm that would sacrifice her life for her children, who hung on that cross until death, who was willing to be thrown out of the boat so that we may live, his work has completely covered us from the scorching fire of his wrath and condemnation, where mercy reigns from heaven. Revelations 19, 13, he was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God, our Savior, our King Jesus. Verse eight, it happened when the sun arose that God prepared a strong east wind, and the sun beat on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself and said, it is better for me to die than to live. I had mercy on you, and you can't have mercy on them. Verses 9, 10, and 11, let's wrap it up. Then God said to Jonah, is it right for you to be angry about the plant? And he said, it is right for me to be angry, even to death. But the Lord said, you have had pity on a plant for which you have not labored, nor may grow, which came up in the night and perished in the night. You didn't cause my law to be, which covered your head, and now you're mad that I'm taking it away and giving you something better? where mercy will reign forever. What is it? How many times Psalms 136? 26 times. His mercy endures forever. 26 times. Every verse says it. And his mercy endures forever. Verse 11. And should I not have pity on Nineveh, that great city in which are more than 120,000 persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and much livestock, poor me, poor me. You know, people that sin against you are like the people in Nineveh. Not ones that are godly and repent and apologize, but the ones that do it and don't think they're doing nothing wrong. They don't know their left hand and they're from their right hand. And you can't have pity on them, because they don't know any better. You do. But yet again, in my anger, I cry out, poor me, poor me. It'd be better if I died. I didn't get what I wanted. It didn't go the way I planned or the way I thought it should be. I can't believe they did that to me. Poor me. Jonah wanted death to get out of his poor me's. And God uses this example, this plant, to show Jonah the error of his ways. It's easy to read this book and think, how could Jonah feel this way about God's mercy, his grace? The more I reflect on this book, I can see Jonah in myself. I see myself ignorantly telling God, it's right for me to be angry. When does that answer ever yes if God asks you it? Never. And like Jonah, it is right, it is right. But then now that I've studied these scriptures, I can recall these scriptures and bring them to remembrance and know that it's a silly response to tell God it is right for me to be angry. These are sins of my prideful, self-righteous, and self-seeking attitude, which I must repent from. And when we make our obedience about us, we will always go east when he says go west. We will run from his command. We will sleep when we need to be alert. We will end up with a poor me attitude, angry at God for giving to others what we have freely received. When it's about him, when it's about Christ, we will be willing to be thrown off the boat for the guilty, looking to the innocent savior on the cross for he died for them just like he died for us. And we will preach them mercy who do not deserve it. just like ourselves, undeserving and unworthy of what we receive. But by His mercy, which endures forever, we will finish this life. Let us pray. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for the attention and patience of the congregation tonight. Lord, bless your offering as it goes forth. Use it to spread your word, Lord. And just thank you for all my brothers and sisters who I love dearly that came and showed up tonight. Protect us on our way home. Bless the fellowship. the time we spend together after. We lift up Scott and Susie to you, Lord. And in all these, Jesus, in you we pray. Amen.