1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,000 Would you please remain standing for the reading of God's Word? 2 00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:06,720 Today's a special day in the life of our church. 3 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:11,720 We gave Bibles to all of our second graders celebrating the 4 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:14,840 gift of grace that God's Word is for us. 5 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:19,480 So I want to invite Sammy and Lucy up to read our Scripture 6 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:28,320 this morning. Jonah 117 And the Lord appointed 7 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:32,680 a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of 8 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:36,560 the fish 3 days and three nights. 9 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:45,720 Matthew 1238 through 41 Then some of the scribes and 10 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:49,920 Pharisees answered him, saying, Teacher, we wish to see a sign 11 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:54,520 from you, but he answered them. And evil and adulterous 12 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:59,360 generation seek for a sign, but no son will be given to it, 13 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:02,840 except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 14 00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:09,000 For just as Jonah was 3 days and three nights in the belly of the 15 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:14,640 great fish, so will the Son of Man be 3 days and three nights 16 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:21,240 in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up 17 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:27,400 at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for 18 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:31,480 they repented at the preaching of Jonah. 19 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:34,520 And behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 20 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:39,920 This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God, Sammy. 21 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:41,960 Lucy, thank you. You'll may be seated. 22 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:54,320 I guess I should move this over to the side, right? 23 00:01:56,520 --> 00:02:04,560 I don't think I need that. This past February, a man named 24 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:10,120 Adrian Simoncos was kayaking off the coast of Chile when he was 25 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:13,320 swallowed alive by a humpback whale. 26 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:19,240 I only spent few seconds in its mouth before the whale spit him 27 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:22,080 out. But it was an amazing story. 28 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:26,960 And even more amazing that this wasn't the first time in recent 29 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:30,240 years that a man has been swallowed by a humpback whale. 30 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:37,640 Back in 2021, a lobster diver named Matt Michael Packard was 31 00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:41,640 swallowed by a humpback whale off the coast of Massachusetts. 32 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:45,520 Nobody could actually believe it happened. 33 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:50,080 So afterwards, just giving an interview and this is what he 34 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:52,280 said. He said I was completely inside. 35 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:56,800 He's completely black. I thought to myself, there's no 36 00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:00,400 way I'm getting out of here. I'm done, I'm dead. 37 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:03,240 And all I could think of was my boys. 38 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:10,000 They're 12 and 15 years old. Packard estimated that he must 39 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:14,080 have been in the mouth of this humpback whale for 30 to 40 40 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:18,920 seconds, for the whale went back up to the surface and spit him 41 00:03:18,920 --> 00:03:22,800 out. For centuries, we've been 42 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:27,360 fascinated by stories like this, going all the way back to the 43 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:31,880 story of Jonah. When most people think of the 44 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:37,120 story of Jonah, they immediately think of the great fish that 45 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:41,320 swallowed him. Ask questions like, what was it 46 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:44,320 like for Jonah to be swallowed alive? 47 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:51,560 How did he survive not just for 30 or 40 seconds, but for three 48 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:56,800 whole days and three whole nights, the belly of a fish? 49 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:03,280 If the great fish was actually a large baleen whale, would it 50 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:08,640 then be scientifically possible? Did any of this actually happen? 51 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:13,160 Maybe some of you are wondering, does any of this even matter? 52 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:18,480 This week, we confront the part of Jonah's story that often gets 53 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:21,600 the most attention, but for all of the wrong reasons. 54 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:27,040 And in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus not only points the story 55 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:31,960 of Jonah and the big fish not only as an actual event, 56 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:37,360 something that really happened, but Jesus says it's a sign. 57 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:44,520 And Jesus tells us, but there is something greater than Jonah 58 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:47,880 here this morning. I want us to look at that in 59 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:50,600 three ways. First is this. 60 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:56,000 The story of Jonah teaches us that there is something greater 61 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:58,360 than the fish. So if you have a Bible, I want 62 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:00,400 you to turn to the book of Jonah. 63 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:04,360 If you don't have a Bible, you can take the Blue Pew Bible in 64 00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:06,280 front of you. That's our gift to you. 65 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:11,160 You'll find the book of Jonah at the end of the Old Testament. 66 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:16,040 It's one of the 12 minor prophets, the last 12 books of 67 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:18,840 the Old Testament. Before we turn the page to the 68 00:05:18,840 --> 00:05:23,840 New Testament, what makes Jonah unique among the minor prophets 69 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:28,160 is that what we read in the book of Jonah is not prophecy, but 70 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:32,240 it's a story, a narrative about Jonah's life. 71 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:35,880 And I want us to pick up with that story where we left off 72 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:38,960 last week. Before we get to Jonah one verse 73 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:41,960 17, I want to look at Jonah one verse 4. 74 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:47,320 Look with me. But the Lord hurled a great wind 75 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:50,960 upon the sea, and there was a mighty Tempest on the sea, so 76 00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:53,000 that the ship threatened to break up. 77 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:56,720 Then the Mariners were afraid and each cried out to his God, 78 00:05:56,720 --> 00:05:59,280 and they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to 79 00:05:59,280 --> 00:06:02,440 lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down in the 80 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:06,280 inner part of the ship and had laid down, was fast asleep. 81 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:09,520 So the captain came and said him, What do you mean, you 82 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:13,720 sleeper? Arise, call out to your God. 83 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:17,360 Perhaps the God will give a thought to us that we may not 84 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:22,800 perish. As we saw last week, God sent a 85 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:28,640 storm after Jonah because Jonah was running away from him. 86 00:06:29,840 --> 00:06:34,800 God had called Jonah to go and proclaim repentance and 87 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:40,600 judgement to Nineveh, and Jonah wanted nothing of it, not 88 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:43,400 because he misunderstood God, but because he understood him 89 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:48,200 very clearly and he did not want to show the grace of God to his 90 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:53,720 enemies. And so Jonah fled away from God, 91 00:06:54,280 --> 00:06:56,560 a far away from Nineveh as he could. 92 00:06:56,560 --> 00:07:00,560 And here we find him on a ship bound for Tarshish. 93 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:05,600 So God sends a great storm, and while Jonah attempts to sleep 94 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:11,400 down in the bottom of this boat, these Mariners are all crying 95 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:17,920 out to their gods. Pagan, pluralistic sailors 96 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:23,280 calling out to their false gods. It's a picture of our own 97 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:27,320 idolatry. Every false God that you and I 98 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:30,280 worship really is just a cry for help. 99 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:36,720 And so we turn now to verse 11. And we're told that the sailors 100 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:40,360 said to Jonah, What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet 101 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:43,440 down for us? For the sea grew more and more 102 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:46,360 tempestuous. Jonah said to them, Pick me up 103 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:49,720 and hurl me into the sea, and then the sea will get quiet down 104 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:52,520 for you. For I know it is because of me 105 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:55,720 that this great Tempest has come upon you. 106 00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:59,840 There's so much here that I wish we had time to unpack. 107 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:02,640 But for now, just let me mention a few things. 108 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:09,720 Once you look again at verse 12, Jonah says to the sailors, pick 109 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:16,120 me up, hurl me into the sea. Then the sea will quiet down for 110 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:19,320 you. For I know it is because of me 111 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:22,320 that this great Tempest has come upon you. 112 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:28,480 Not only does Jonah know the sovereign God behind the storm, 113 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:34,200 but he knows that God sent the storm because of him, because of 114 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:38,520 his disobedience, because of his rebellion. 115 00:08:39,559 --> 00:08:42,799 But I want you to notice who is actually being faithful here. 116 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:45,480 I'll give you a hint, it isn't Jonah. 117 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:50,920 Look at verse 13. Nevertheless, the men rode hard 118 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:54,560 to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew 119 00:08:54,560 --> 00:08:56,560 more and more tempestuous against them. 120 00:08:56,840 --> 00:08:59,760 Therefore they called out to the Lord. 121 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:05,200 O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on 122 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:09,280 us innocent blood. But you, O Lord, have done as it 123 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:12,200 pleased you. They picked up Jonah and hurled 124 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:15,040 him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 125 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:17,920 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly. 126 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:21,640 They offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. 127 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:29,680 Did you hear what just happened? These pluralistic Pagan sailors 128 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:33,880 just cried out to the one true God. 129 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:37,920 These Pagan sailors called out to the Lord. 130 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:42,200 They plead with the Lord to spare Jonah's life. 131 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:45,480 They fear the Lord. We're told they offered a 132 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:49,760 sacrifice to the Lord. They even made vows to the Lord 133 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:53,680 and Jonah didn't even OfferUp a prayer. 134 00:09:55,880 --> 00:10:00,840 What is so amazing about this? Even though Jonah has to be the 135 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:05,640 worst, most reluctant and most rebellious prophet in the Bible, 136 00:10:06,560 --> 00:10:11,200 God still uses his disobedience to reveal himself to a bunch of 137 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:17,320 Pagan sailors. And this is what we see the very 138 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:24,880 earliest chapters of the Bible, that God is always at work using 139 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:30,480 even rebellious people to bring redemption to the ends of the 140 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:35,040 earth. And all of this leads to the 141 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:39,960 verse that we're looking at this morning, Jonah one verse 17. 142 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:43,360 In many ways, it's the most famous verse in the book of 143 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:45,960 Jonah. You might even say it's one of 144 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:47,960 the most famous verses in the Bible. 145 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:55,000 Jonah 117 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up 146 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:59,320 Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of 147 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:06,080 the fish 3 days and three nights for centuries. 148 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:13,400 Commentators, theologians, and Bible scholars have debated this 149 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:18,400 one verse. Many have been so obsessed with 150 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:21,480 the great fish and whether any of this is actually possible 151 00:11:21,480 --> 00:11:23,360 that they completely missed the point. 152 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:27,480 As I told you several weeks ago, many have even suggested that 153 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:32,440 because this one verse is so unbelievable, then the rest of 154 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:35,600 Jonah must not be actually historically true. 155 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:40,640 It has to be a fable or a parable or some kind of 156 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:45,200 allegory. For Jonah to be swallowed by a 157 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:50,240 fish is impossible. All of this Scottish theologian 158 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:54,720 George Adam Smith wrote, and this is the tragedy of the book 159 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:59,720 of Jonah, that a book which is made the means of one of the 160 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:04,440 most sublime revelations of truth and the Old Testament 161 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:08,840 should be known to most only for its connections to a whale. 162 00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:13,000 So I wonder, does that describe you this morning? 163 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:19,400 If you have your own doubts about the story of Jonah and the 164 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:27,120 whale, you might be tempted just to focus on this great fish and 165 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:30,280 I could spend the rest of the morning telling you all about 166 00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:34,240 the fin whale. The second largest whale on the 167 00:12:34,240 --> 00:12:38,720 planet, second only to the blue whale, commonly lives in the 168 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:41,880 Mediterranean Sea, the very sea that Jonah was thrown into. 169 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:48,360 The fin whale is over 70 feet long and can take in as much as 170 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:52,480 80 cubic meters of water in one gulp. 171 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:59,040 That is a very big fish. Or I could tell you about a man 172 00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:02,960 named Harrison. O King was locked in a tiny 173 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:06,400 bathroom when his boat tragically sank. 174 00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:12,680 He was the only survivor of the shipwreck, living at the bottom 175 00:13:12,680 --> 00:13:19,360 of the sea in a tiny room off a very small pocket of air for 176 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:24,120 nearly three days. But none of that is why I 177 00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:27,160 believe in the story of Jonah and the whale. 178 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:30,560 Now. I believe in the story of Jonah 179 00:13:30,560 --> 00:13:36,280 and the whale because Jesus did. I want you to turn to the Gospel 180 00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:41,760 of Matthew chapter 12. The Gospel of Matthew chapter 181 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:45,760 12, verse 38. We're told that some scribes and 182 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:49,400 Pharisees come to Jesus and they answer him. 183 00:13:49,680 --> 00:13:54,680 Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you, but Jesus answered 184 00:13:54,680 --> 00:13:56,640 them. An evil and adulterous 185 00:13:56,640 --> 00:14:01,520 generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given it except 186 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:07,360 the sign of the prophet Jonah. Now Jesus is speaking to the 187 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:10,640 scribes and Pharisees. And given all that we've been 188 00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:12,920 talking about, all of our doubts. 189 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:16,080 With a story like Jonah and the Great Fish, it shouldn't 190 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:18,880 surprise us that the main problem of the scribes and 191 00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:22,320 Pharisees in Matthew chapter 12 is unbelief. 192 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:27,520 At this point in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus has just 193 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:30,400 miraculously healed a man with a withered hand. 194 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:34,600 He's also healed a man who was oppressed by demons. 195 00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:39,200 It was those blind and mute. And after these scribes and 196 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:42,480 Pharisees witness all of this, they come to Jesus and they say 197 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:47,880 we want to see more. It's not enough because they 198 00:14:47,880 --> 00:14:52,360 doubted his identity as the Son of God and Messiah. 199 00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:55,800 They demanded to see a sign from him. 200 00:14:55,800 --> 00:15:02,440 And what's amazing is that Jesus replies and he says no sign is 201 00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:08,200 going to be given to you except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 202 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:15,400 What we believe about Jonah and the great fish, according to 203 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:21,520 Jesus, is somehow connected to him and his identity as the Son 204 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:25,720 of God, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. 205 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:30,600 So the second thing we see in the story of Jonah that there is 206 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:32,920 something greater than Jonah himself. 207 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:38,040 Look with me, Jesus continues Matthew 12 verse 40. 208 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:42,840 For just as Jonah was in three days and three nights in the 209 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:46,880 belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be 3 days and 210 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:49,000 three nights in the heart of the earth. 211 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:54,560 This isn't the only place where Jesus mentions Jonah in the 212 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:57,920 Gospels. He will go on just 4 chapters 213 00:15:57,920 --> 00:16:03,080 later in Matthew 16 to mention Jonah again, and the Gospel of 214 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:07,240 Luke tells a very similar account of the same story of 215 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:11,840 Jesus confronting the unbelief of the scribes and Pharisees and 216 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:15,080 pointing to the sign of the prophet Jonah. 217 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:22,840 I think this is incredible. One of my most favorite parts of 218 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:25,680 the Bible, and in fact what I believe is one of its most 219 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:30,800 compelling features, is that though the Bible contains 66 220 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:35,800 different books and has 40 different authors in two 221 00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:42,800 different testaments, it tells one story, 1 intricately woven 222 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:48,400 story from Genesis to Revelation, one story of 223 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:53,800 redemption that is centered on one story about Jesus Christ. 224 00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:59,360 From the very beginning, we see the Bible is all about Jesus. 225 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:03,160 When we look back on the Old Testament, not only we see that 226 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:08,200 it's relevant, but we see Jesus on every page. 227 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:14,800 A few weeks ago I mentioned a theologian, BB Warfield, to our 228 00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:17,359 men on our Tuesday morning men's Bible study. 229 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:19,960 I want you to listen to what he had to say about this. 230 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:25,000 He said the Old Testament may be likened to a chamber, richly 231 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:30,160 furnished but dimly lighted. The introduction of light brings 232 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:34,880 into nothing which was not in it before, but it brings out into 233 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:39,920 Clearview much of what was already in it, but is only dimly 234 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:42,000 or even not at all perceived before. 235 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:45,320 What is he saying? He's saying the Old Testament is 236 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:49,040 like a living room. The early morning hours, the 237 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:53,920 lights turned off, it's dark. You might stumble your way 238 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:57,520 through, maybe even bump into a piece of furniture. 239 00:17:59,120 --> 00:18:02,040 It's not that a dark living room isn't filled with furniture, 240 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:04,520 it's that you can't see it unless the light turns on. 241 00:18:07,120 --> 00:18:10,080 What he's saying is that Jesus is that light. 242 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:14,360 And when you read the Old Testament, through the light of 243 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:18,000 Jesus Christ, we see what had always been there. 244 00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:22,200 We didn't have eyes to see that all along. 245 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:28,600 There was the promise of a snake crusher would come and redeem 246 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:31,960 his people and give them salvation. 247 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:40,680 And so we see Apostle Paul in First Corinthians say that Jesus 248 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:47,040 is the true and greater Adam. We see the preacher in the book 249 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:52,000 of Hebrews say that Jesus is the true and greater Moses. 250 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:56,960 But of all of the figures and forefathers in the Old Testament 251 00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:01,200 that Jesus himself could have picked from to compare himself 252 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:06,880 to, who does he choose? He doesn't choose Adam, He 253 00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:10,360 doesn't choose Moses. He doesn't choose Abraham. 254 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:21,440 He chooses Jonah, a deadbeat, disobedient prophet refused to 255 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:24,160 show the grace of God to his enemies. 256 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:28,800 Why? Why Jonah? 257 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:34,160 Because of what happened to Jonah in the belly of the great 258 00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:39,440 fish and because of what happened to Nineveh after Jonah 259 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:44,840 came out alive. Jesus says for just as Jonah was 260 00:19:44,840 --> 00:19:47,800 3 days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the 261 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:50,720 Son of Man will be 3 days in the three nights in the heart of the 262 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:54,000 earth. Do you hear what Jesus is doing? 263 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:59,280 He's comparing Jonah spending three days in the belly of a 264 00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:08,800 fish to his own death and his burial, 3 days in a tomb and the 265 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:14,160 promise of his resurrection. It's just almost as if Jesus is 266 00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:16,600 saying to all of these unbelieving scribes and 267 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:20,560 Pharisees, look, if you had a hard time believing in the story 268 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:23,600 of Jonah and the whale, you hadn't seen anything yet. 269 00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:29,320 Things are about to get a lot more unbelievable. 270 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:35,840 I want you to know that This is why the story of Jonah and the 271 00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:41,280 Whale matters. It forces us to confront what we 272 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:44,320 really believe. We really believe about the 273 00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:49,840 Bible or believe about the God of the Scriptures, who is 274 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:55,880 sovereign over all things, and what we believe about God's Son, 275 00:20:56,160 --> 00:21:00,720 Jesus Christ. There is a literary device and 276 00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:04,280 fictional storytelling called the suspension of Disbelief. 277 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:09,080 The since suspension of disbelief happens anytime we're 278 00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:14,240 reading a book or watching a movie that is absolutely 279 00:21:14,240 --> 00:21:18,120 unbelievable in its premise. But what we'll do is we'll 280 00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:22,800 suspend our disbelief on all we would ordinarily hold to be true 281 00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:25,760 about the world in order to follow the story. 282 00:21:26,120 --> 00:21:30,240 So for example, for reading The Lord of the Rings, you will 283 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:34,480 suspend your disbelief in order to accept the world of Middle 284 00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:41,000 Earth, but there is such thing as orcs and goblins and elves 285 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:45,400 and dwarves and hobbits in order to follow Frodo to Mordor. 286 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:50,640 Or if you're watching Star Wars, you'll suspend your disbelief 287 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:55,600 and be willing to accept that there's such thing as aliens and 288 00:21:55,600 --> 00:22:01,640 droids and the Force in order to follow Luke Skywalker to the 289 00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:06,000 dust door. The challenge for storytellers 290 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:12,120 is they can't push an audience too far because if they do, the 291 00:22:12,120 --> 00:22:14,480 suspension of disbelief is broken. 292 00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:19,000 So for any of you watching Episode 4 of Star Wars and 293 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:20,680 you've made it all the way through to the end of the movie, 294 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:25,760 I hope I'm not giving it away. And Luke Skywalker turns off his 295 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:29,360 computer and makes that one shot that destroys the Death Star. 296 00:22:29,360 --> 00:22:35,040 He said, oh, come on. I would say really, that was the 297 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:38,920 thing that got you. After this entire crazy movie 298 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:43,520 about talking robots and the force, that was the thing. 299 00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:48,800 You see, this is what I think sometimes the story of Jonah can 300 00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:53,480 be for us. It causes us to confront what we 301 00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:58,680 actually believe. I'm amazed that of all the 302 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:02,880 things in the Bible, it's the story of Jonah and the big fish 303 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:13,120 that gives people pause when all along we're told that Jesus 304 00:23:13,120 --> 00:23:18,840 Christ was born of a virgin, fully God and fully man. 305 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:26,520 That Jesus Christ died on the cross and he rose from the dead 306 00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:30,280 after three days buried in the tomb. 307 00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:36,680 You hear all of that and your problems with Jonah and the 308 00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:41,760 whale. See, I think like me, you've 309 00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:46,240 grown up a culturally Christian place like Dallas, TX. 310 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:51,760 So much of our Christianity looks more like the suspension 311 00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:53,680 of disbelief than it looks like faith. 312 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:58,880 We've been so inundated the story of the Bible that we've 313 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:02,560 just kind of gone along with it. Yeah, I get it. 314 00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:04,920 Jesus was born of a virgin. That's Christmas. 315 00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:06,800 And he wrote from the dead. That's Easter. 316 00:24:08,360 --> 00:24:11,200 But we never stopped long enough to really consider what that 317 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:15,040 actually means. And so this morning, if you have 318 00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:19,720 a problem with Jonah and the whale, maybe the real reason is 319 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:23,280 because you haven't been taking the resurrection of Jesus 320 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:29,400 seriously enough. Because there's something 321 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:34,920 greater than Jonah here, something greater that demands 322 00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:41,240 much more than we suspend our disbelief, something greater 323 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:45,360 that demands our faith. That's the third and final thing 324 00:24:45,360 --> 00:24:48,120 that we see here in the story of Jonah and the whale. 325 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:53,800 There is something here that's greater than our rebellion. 326 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:58,040 One of the things that Jonah teaches us about what true faith 327 00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:03,840 looks like is that we tend to think of faith in a binary way. 328 00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:08,080 What I mean by that is we often say, look, do you believe in 329 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:10,680 Jesus? Check the box, yes or no. 330 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:15,200 But if you're honest about life and honest about doubt, faith 331 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:20,080 never actually looks that way. It's filled with moments of 332 00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:26,880 difficulty and doubt and questions that plague our hearts 333 00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:30,320 and minds and calls us to question is God who he really 334 00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:34,920 says he is? Clearly Jonah believed in God. 335 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:39,440 He heard his voice. Now, Jonah's problem is, though 336 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:41,720 he believed in God, he didn't trust him. 337 00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:47,280 But you see, true faith always leads to faithfulness. 338 00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:51,960 It's the kind of faith that doesn't just believe in Jesus. 339 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:57,160 It follows Jesus and hears Jesus's words and obeys them. 340 00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:01,240 It doesn't just simply believe that Jesus existed, as James 341 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:03,360 tells us, even the demons believe in Shudder. 342 00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:07,560 No, it's the kind of faith that leads to repentance. 343 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:11,200 And it's this kind of faith that Jesus is confronting the 344 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:13,840 Pharisees and the scribes with. It's the kind of faith that he's 345 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:20,280 confronting us with today. The Gospel of Matthew verse 41, 346 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:24,880 Jesus says the men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement 347 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:29,080 with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the 348 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:34,080 preaching of Jonah and behold, something greater than Jonah is 349 00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:36,720 here. Now I want you to imagine what 350 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:39,840 it must have been like for these scribes and Pharisees to hear 351 00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:45,760 these words of Jesus as he is confronting their unbelief. 352 00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:51,960 The example that he uses to describe faithfulness isn't 353 00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:58,480 Israel, it's Nineveh. He's choosing a bunch of former 354 00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:03,840 pagans who are the enemies of Israel to be the exemplar of 355 00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:07,560 faith. What do you think that did for 356 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:12,280 these Pharisees? Now I want you to imagine what 357 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:16,200 it would have been like for Jonah if he could have been 358 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:22,280 alive to hear Jesus say this, especially at this point in 359 00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:26,880 Jonah's story where he is running as far away from Nineveh 360 00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:29,880 and as far away from God as possible. 361 00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:35,360 We're in a moment of resignation, not faithfulness. 362 00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:39,040 He tells the sailors and the ship to throw him overboard. 363 00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:44,120 If you forget that, we know the end of the story. 364 00:27:44,120 --> 00:27:46,200 But at this point, Jonah doesn't. 365 00:27:47,360 --> 00:27:50,000 He doesn't know that God's going to send a big fish. 366 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:53,360 Now, you see, I believe that when Jonah told the sailors to 367 00:27:53,360 --> 00:27:56,240 throw him overboard, he thought he was going to die. 368 00:27:58,360 --> 00:28:02,200 He thought he was going to die running away from God. 369 00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:07,280 And there is no worse death than that. 370 00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:14,800 But you see, God didn't just send a storm, He sent a fish. 371 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:22,640 And this is what we see in the book of Jonah, just how great 372 00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:29,240 and glorious and sovereign our God is, that though as hard as 373 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:33,440 we might try to run away from Him, he will never let us go, 374 00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:38,560 and he will use any means necessary to bring us back to 375 00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:41,800 Himself. And so we see once again in 376 00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:46,880 Jonah one verse 17, the Lord appointed a great fish to 377 00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:51,160 swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish 3 days 378 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:54,800 and three nights. Notice what it says, the Lord 379 00:28:55,040 --> 00:29:00,360 appointed a great fish. That word appointed appears four 380 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:02,840 times in the short book of Jonah. 381 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:06,680 It's one of the great themes that we see in this tiny book, 382 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:12,920 that God is always there and He's always at work. 383 00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:21,000 And though Jonah abandoned God, God did not abandon Jonah, you 384 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:23,400 see, because there really is something greater than Jonah 385 00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:27,720 here, something greater than Jonah's rebellion, something 386 00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:31,760 greater than Jonah's hatred, something greater than Jonah's 387 00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:34,400 sin, something greater than all of our sin. 388 00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:39,680 It's the greatness, the sovereign grace of God who will 389 00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:44,760 stop at nothing to bring his people back to Himself. 390 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:51,320 Apostle Paul puts it this way in the book of Romans, Romans 828. 391 00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:57,160 And we know that for those who love God, all things work 392 00:29:57,160 --> 00:30:01,440 together for good for those who are called according to His 393 00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:05,260 purpose. This is one of those Christian 394 00:30:05,260 --> 00:30:07,200 T-shirt verses. You know what I mean? 395 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:11,120 You can find it on coffee mugs or embroidered into Bible 396 00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:14,800 covers. Do we really know what it means 397 00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:20,800 when Paul says God works all things together for good? 398 00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:27,600 He really means all things. And I think this is what Jonah 399 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:31,240 teaches us. He will even use storm. 400 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:38,040 He'll even use a fish. He will even use a disobedient 401 00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:44,160 and rebellious prophet to bring salvation to the ends of the 402 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:49,320 earth. So let me ask you, what would 403 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:53,400 have happened if Jonah had never rebelled against God? 404 00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:57,800 Well, God would have never sent a storm. 405 00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:02,560 He would have never sent a fish, and Jonah would have never spent 406 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:06,640 three days in its belly, and we would have never been given a 407 00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:11,840 sign of the death and resurrection of Jesus to come. 408 00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:14,920 So let me ask you another question. 409 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:19,720 What if the Romans had never invented crucifixion? 410 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:27,640 What if there was no one such as Caiaphas? 411 00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:32,240 No such person as Pontius Pilate. 412 00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:42,880 What if Judas had never existed? You see, God works all things 413 00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:47,200 together for the good of those who love Him. 414 00:31:47,880 --> 00:31:52,120 All things. So if you ever asked a question 415 00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:56,960 what sent Jesus to the cross, there are many ways to answer 416 00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:00,960 that question. You could say what was Judas's 417 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:05,720 betrayal? It was Caiaphas's witch hunt. 418 00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:11,280 It was Pilate and his lack of true power. 419 00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:16,160 You could say it was unbelieving Israel that rejected him as the 420 00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:19,360 Messiah. You could say it was all of us 421 00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:24,160 and our sin. But don't ever leave out God. 422 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:32,960 We see it was God who sent Jesus to the cross, working all things 423 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:36,840 together for good. Apostle Peter puts it this way 424 00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:45,240 in the book of Acts and Acts 2. Peter says men of Israel hear 425 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:48,720 these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man 426 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:52,800 attested to you by God, with mighty works and wonders and 427 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:55,680 signs that God did through him in your midst. 428 00:32:56,160 --> 00:33:01,800 As you yourselves know this Jesus listen, delivered up 429 00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:07,000 according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you 430 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:11,680 crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 431 00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:21,080 God even uses rebellious people to bring redemption to the 432 00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:26,400 world. And so listen, there will always 433 00:33:26,400 --> 00:33:29,960 be storms in this life. Always. 434 00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:36,640 In the past few weeks, we have witnessed great evil in our 435 00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:41,880 country. In the past few months, we have 436 00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:48,520 experienced great grief and unimaginable heartache. 437 00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:55,720 And in every one of our lives there is uncertainty and fear, 438 00:33:57,360 --> 00:34:03,480 there is sorrow and anger, there is suffering and sin. 439 00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:10,639 And so, just like the scribes and the Pharisees, we want Jesus 440 00:34:10,639 --> 00:34:16,080 to give us a sign. Just show us something true, 441 00:34:17,679 --> 00:34:22,239 some kind of proof that Jesus really is who he says he is. 442 00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:27,840 That in the midst of so much evil in this world and so much 443 00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:32,760 pain and suffering and striving, that Jesus really is on the 444 00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:38,360 throne, that he is the King, that he is good and that he wins 445 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:44,480 in the end. What Jonah shows us is that he 446 00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:51,280 has already given us a sign. He's already shown us who he is. 447 00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:58,440 Something greater than Jonah is here, Something greater than 448 00:34:58,440 --> 00:35:04,880 evil, greater than storms, something greater than 449 00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:08,800 suffering, something greater than our sin. 450 00:35:11,720 --> 00:35:16,480 You see, Jesus is the true and greater Jonah. 451 00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:25,760 And like Jonah, Jesus was called by God to go to his enemies, but 452 00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:31,960 he was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 453 00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:37,920 And there on that cross, Jesus was crucified in our place for 454 00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:42,520 our sin. And greater than spending three 455 00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:48,160 days in the belly of a fish, Jesus died and was buried for 456 00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:53,960 three days in the tomb. And on the third day, Jesus rose 457 00:35:53,960 --> 00:36:00,360 again to conquer sin and death, to give salvation to all who 458 00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:07,400 trust in his name. Something greater than Jonah is 459 00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:12,240 here. So what do you truly believe? 460 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:19,600 The kind of faith that leads you to follow Jesus in every 461 00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:23,240 circumstance and every joy and sorrow. 462 00:36:26,240 --> 00:36:31,920 Jesus Christ shows us that is the true and greater Jonah. 463 00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:41,040 He truly is working all things together for good for those He 464 00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:43,720 is called according to His purpose. 465 00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:50,800 Let's pray, Father in Heaven, we asked, You would now give us a 466 00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:53,360 greater vision of the sign of Jonah. 467 00:36:54,960 --> 00:37:00,080 You would help us to trust in Christ alone as our trailblazer, 468 00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:04,840 the one who has gone before us into the suffering of the cross, 469 00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:08,200 and the one who goes before us in the resurrection. 470 00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:14,200 But we found our life in him, our faith, and in our hope in 471 00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:19,560 Him, and may we follow him until he comes again. 472 00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:23,640 We pray this the name of Jesus, our Savior, our King, Amen. 473 00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:25,200 Let's stand in the scene.