Page 294, we're going to be singing Stepping in the Light, page 294, it's 294, and let's sing it out on the first.
Trying to walk in the steps of the Savior, trying to follow our Savior and King,
shaping our lives by His blessed example, happy how happy the songs that we bring.
How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior, stepping in the light, stepping in the light.
How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior, letting paths of light.
Page 294 on the second, pressing more closely to Him who is leading when we are tempted to turn from the way.
Dressing the arm that is strong to defend us, happy how happy our praises each day.
How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior, stepping in the light, stepping in the light.
How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior, letting paths of light.
Walking in footsteps of gentle forbearance, footsteps of faithfulness, mercy, and love.
Looking to Him for the grace freely promised, happy how happy our journey above.
How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior, stepping in the light, stepping in the light.
How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior, letting paths of light.
Let's sing it out on the last.
Trying to walk in the steps of the Savior, upwards a love word will follow our guide.
When we shall see Him, the King in His beauty, happy how happy our place at His side.
How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior, stepping in the light, stepping in the light.
How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior, letting paths of light.
Great singing.
Amen. All right. Well, let's take our bulletins tonight. We'll look at some announcements.
If you do not have a bulletin, just raise your hand or not. We're out of bulletins, I guess.
So don't raise your hand. Maybe you can share with somebody.
In the verse this week, 1 John 5.18, we know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not,
but he that is the God of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.
That's a good verse. There, we like that.
If you open up your bulletin, you'll see our service time Sunday morning service 10.30 a.m.
And we do invite you to be with us, of course, on Sunday morning on the Lord's Day for Church Sunday evening service 6 p.m.
And we're glad you're out for the Wednesday night Bible study tonight.
If you look at our soul-winning times, our main soul-winning times on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m.,
we have additional soul-winning times on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays at 2 p.m.
And we'd love for you to join us for any of those times.
We, of course, are a family-integrated church.
What that means is that children and infants are always welcome in the church service.
We don't separate children from their parents for any reason.
We do have mother-baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience.
So if you have a child that's been distracting during the service or if you need some privacy,
we'd encourage you to use the mother-baby rooms and daddy rooms as needed.
If you need to be baptized, please let us know. We'd love to baptize you.
You can let us know on your communication card, and we'll follow up with you and talk to you about that.
If you are a first-time guest, if it's your first time here at Verity Baptist Church, we're glad you're with us.
We have a gift we'd like to give you as you walk out of the church building tonight as you go through the main foyer.
Or if you go out our secondary foyer, you'll see a little table set up.
And on that table, you'll see these little gift bags.
Please grab one on your way out as a gift from us to you for being our guest tonight.
There are several resources in this bag that we'd like you to have.
The one I'd like to highlight is this documentary that our church made called,
Very well made, very interesting. We think you'll enjoy it. We want to give this to you as a gift.
So please make sure you don't leave here tonight without grabbing one of those gift bags on your way out.
And if you are a guest, we'd ask that you please take a moment and fill out the communication card, which is inserted in your bulletin.
If you need a pen, just raise your hand, and one of our ushers can bring you by a Verity Baptist Church pen.
You're welcome to keep the pen as a gift from us as well.
We're not going to do anything odd with your info. We just want to record your attendance.
We actually would like to send you a little gift, but we need your information to do that.
So please take a moment to fill the card out.
Along with the announcements, we're going to sing a song. When we're done singing, we're going to receive the offering.
And as the offering plate goes by, you can drop this card in the offering plate at the offering time.
If you look at the announcements and upcoming events, of course, we're going through a series called Journey with Jesus,
a verse-by-verse study through the Gospel of Luke.
And we have our Sowing Seminar coming up on Friday, September 9th.
It's an all-day event, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
And if you've not yet signed up, we'd love for you to sign up.
I think we've got like 70 people signed up for the Sowing Seminar, so that's great.
We're excited about that. And if you've not signed up yet, I would encourage you to come, especially, you know,
sometimes people ask, you know, they want to know what I think about them coming or not coming.
Here's what I would say. If you've never gone to a Sowing Seminar, you should go.
You should try to make the time and, you know, get the day off of work or, you know, just play hooky or whatever you're going to do.
But, you know, you should try to go if you're able to. We'd love for you to do that.
And then, of course, we have our Family and Friend Day coming up on Sunday, September 18th at 1030 a.m.
And, of course, if you've gone to the Sowing Seminars in the past, you're welcome to go as well, of course, if you want to refresh and all of that.
September 18th is Family and Friend Day. It's our church's 12-year anniversary.
We're going to be giving out the anniversary mugs to all of the families in attendance.
We'll have the candy suckers for all of the kids.
And then we're going to have lunch after the service. We'll be grilling and we'll have food in our fellowship halls.
So, I encourage you to plan to be there and make sure that you are here for that.
And then, of course, we have our Soul Waning Push the weekend before Family and Friend Day on Thursday, September 15th at 6 p.m., Friday, September 16th at 6 p.m., and Saturday, September 17th at 10 a.m.
So, we'd love for you to join us for any of those choir practice for Family and Friend Day.
They're practicing at 5 p.m. Just the choir for now, not the orchestra.
Upcoming cleaning crew, you can check for your name there. We appreciate your faithfulness.
If there's other things there for you to look at, please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service if they're not a distraction to anybody.
If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of August.
We had Ms. Joyce Nathan's birthday on Sunday, August 21st.
And then later on this week, tomorrow, is Ms. Andrea Santo's birthday on August 25th, Ms. Kelly Mitchell's birthday on August 26th, and Justice Usher's birthday on August 27th.
Praise Report, Money Matters, all those things are there for you to look at.
I do have one just announcement that we want to give out.
As you know, or you may remember, my dad, Felix Jimenez and Brother Aldo, they went on a real short missions trip to Mexico.
It was a short trip and it was short notice.
And they went out with the specific intent of preaching the gospel to Brother Mauricio's family.
But while they were there, they also just knocked doors in the area there.
They were literally just there.
I mean, as far as soul winning, not counting the traveling or anything, it was like a 24-hour period that they were there.
But in those 24 hours, they had 16 salvations.
So, praise the Lord for that.
And nine of those were in Brother Mauricio's family, including his dad.
So, praise the Lord for that.
And that was a great success.
And I'd like to do more missions trips to Mexico.
And I'm sure we'll plan those and get stuff like that going.
But I think that's it for all of the announcements.
So, let's go ahead and we're going to take, we're going to sing page number 55, I'm sorry, page number 56.
Five, six, when we all get to heaven.
Page number five, six, as we prepare to receive the offering tonight.
Page number 56, when we all get to heaven.
Sing it out on the first.
Sing the wondrous love of Jesus.
Sing His mercy and His grace.
In the mansions bright and blessed, He'll prepare for us a place.
When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.
See, Jesus will sing and shout the victory.
Page number 56, let's sing it out on the second.
I know it's a Wednesday night, I know you're tired.
You're already here, so you might as well just sing it out, alright?
On the second, while we spark the pilgrim pathway, clouds will overspread the sky.
But when travelling days are over, not a shadow, not a sigh.
When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see, Jesus will sing and shout the victory.
Let us then be true and faithful, trusting, serving every day.
A glimpse of Him in glory will the joys of life repay.
When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see, Jesus will sing and shout the victory.
Good, sing it out on the last.
Onward to the prize before us, soon His beauty will behold.
Soon the pearly gates will open, we shall tread the streets alone.
When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see, Jesus will sing and shout the victory.
Amen, good singing.
We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time.
And let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do thank you for allowing us to gather together on Wednesday night.
Lord, we pray that you bless the offering, the gift and the giver.
We pray that you meet with us as we take time to pray through the prayer sheet.
Lord, and of course study your word together.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
We pray that you will be with us as we take time to pray through the prayer sheet.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
All right, well let's take our prayer sheets and we'll go through our prayer list tonight.
If you did not get a prayer sheet, just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you.
If you need a prayer list, just put your hand up, we'll get one for you.
And we do want to remind you that the way you add a request to the prayer sheet is through your communication card.
On the back of the card is a place for you to write down a request.
And please mark whether it's private or public.
If it's private, only I will see it.
If it's public, we'll put it on the prayer sheet.
If you don't mark it, we'll do our best to figure it out, but we usually don't put those on there.
We do add them in the order that they're received and we remove them after a couple of weeks.
So if you'd like it to be there longer, you'll have to fill out another card.
And we're going to go ahead and take these requests to the Lord.
I'm going to ask, Brother Shaw, can you help me?
I've got warm air blowing on me, so if you can just make that stop, I'd appreciate it.
Thank you.
Let's go ahead and take these requests to the Lord.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we come to you asking for prayer, Lord, and asking for our church family.
And we begin with these requests from our church family, beginning with the request for family members.
Lord Miss Kimmy, praying for her mom to be accepted into senior housing in Natomas.
And Miss Patricia Wong, praying for her son, Carlos, who's going through challenging times.
Miss Midori, praying for her cousin, Stacy, whose mother and grandmother both passed away in the last month.
And Brother Salvador, also praying for his family.
Lord, we ask for all these individuals. We pray that you would help them and be with them.
Lord, we pray that you'd open the right doors and answer the prayers that they're asking for.
We also pray for Miss Kimmy, praying for healing for the pain in her arm.
And we pray for Miss Michelle Scott's grandmother for her health.
She fell in need of surgery, praying for her health and her recovery.
Miss Patricia, also praying for her friend, Sarah, whose mom is having health issues.
Miss Cricket, we're praying for her ankle and not able to be here tonight due to the ankle problem that she has.
Lord, asking that you relieve the pain and help her to get better.
Miss Christine Ortiz, praying for her health and also for the health of her new grandson, Azariah.
And Brother Salvador, praying for his health.
Miss Dogma, praying for her pain, that you would relieve her pain.
Also for her son-in-law's liver operation on August 31st to remove cancer, that that would go well.
And also her grandson tested positive for COVID, and we're praying that that does not affect her son-in-law's surgery.
So Lord, we're just praying that you would be with all of that and help all of these individuals.
Lord, we also pray for little Uretzi, that she would continue to be healthy and strong.
She's in the hospital, and Lord, asking that she would recover soon and be back home.
Lord, we pray for all of these individuals.
We pray that you would put your healing hand over all of them.
We pray that you would heal them if it's your will.
We ask that you give wisdom to the doctors, the nurses dealing with them, Lord, and that you would help them.
We also pray for the ladies in our church that are expecting Miss Esther Davidson and Miss Antonina Vakulchik and Miss Katie Rosenberg,
asking that you give them all healthy pregnancies with no problems, no complications.
Lord, we also pray for these that are praying for their family's salvation, the Vakulchik family praying for their family's salvation,
Joshua Gastelum Jr. praying for the salvation of family and friends,
and Miss Christine Ortiz praying for her children's salvation, Miss Docma praying for her daughter and her family's salvation.
Lord, and we pray for all these individuals.
We ask that you would help them, and we pray, Lord, that you would bring them to the place where they'd be able to hear the gospel, willing to hear the gospel,
and that you would help them to be saved.
Lord, we also pray for these that are praying for their walk with you.
Lord, we pray for Father Allen, who's praying just that he would continue to be a good steward of all the blessings in his life, his job, his finances, health, relationships, and his church home.
Lord, we pray that you would help him, Lord, and give him wisdom regarding that.
We also pray for Father Salvador and for his walk with you in his faith, Lord.
We pray that you would bless these individuals.
Lord, we also want to pray for those having financial needs, Lord, and Miss Christine Ortiz praying for her finances,
Father Salvador praying for his finances and his work, Lord, asking that you would take care of them there and that you would bless them in regards to that.
We pray for the ministries of our church and Joshua Gastelum Jr. praying for our church,
that souls would be saved and people would be baptized and karma would join the church and for the well-being of the church members, Lord.
And we pray that you would answer those prayers.
We pray for the prison ministry that we have, Lord, that you would continue to bless it and help and guide it.
Lord, we pray for our church here in Sacramento that you'd help us to continue to grow and reach people with the gospel.
We pray that you'd bless our church plants in Manila and Pampanga and in Bijol.
And, Lord, we also pray for these that have unspoken requests.
We pray for Miss Kimmy, who has an unspoken request, and Miss Andrea McQueen, who has an unspoken request,
and Miss Warbed Fompa, who has an unspoken request, for the Salvador, who has an unspoken request,
Miss Dogma, who have unspoken requests.
Lord, you know what their petitions are. You know what they're asking for.
We pray, Lord, that you would answer according to your will.
Lord, we pray that you'd meet with us tonight as we take another portion of scripture and study it out together.
We pray that you'd meet with us, that you'd guide us, that you'd help us to learn and grow.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Please open your mouths to Luke, Chapter 11.
Luke, Chapter 11.
If you need a Bible, put your hand up and I'm just going to bring you a Bible.
Luke, Chapter 11.
If you need a Bible, keep your hand up and I'm sure we'll come by.
Luke, Chapter 11.
Luke 11, we'll read verses 27 through 32.
Luke 11, verses 27 through 32.
Luke 11, making a verse number 27.
And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said unto him,
Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.
But he said, Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.
When the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation.
They seek a sign, and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.
For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation.
The queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them.
For she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
The men of Ninevites shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it.
For they repented at the preaching of Jonas, and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for this evening.
God, I thank you for your word for our church.
And I ask that you please give us the tender hearts of the message of your God.
And I ask that you please read the passage tonight.
Just strengthen them and fill them with your spirit.
And we love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
All right, we're there in Luke, chapter number 11.
And, of course, we are continuing our series through the Gospel of Luke.
We're making our way through this gospel.
We're on a journey with Jesus, verse by verse, through the Gospel of Luke.
And we find ourselves tonight in Luke, chapter number 11.
And we're going to be in verses 27 through 32 tonight.
And I want you to notice in verse 27, in these verses that we're going to deal with tonight,
you'll notice that there is a theme to these verses.
And the theme begins in verse 27.
Though verse 27 is not necessarily connected to the other verses, you'll notice this theme.
There in Luke 11, 27, the Bible says this.
And it came to pass as He, this is, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ,
spake these things.
A certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said unto Him,
Blessed is the womb that bare Thee and the paps which Thou hast sucked.
And, of course, this woman lifted up her voice in the midst of this group.
And she said blessed is.
And she's, you know, praising and blessing, of course, Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ.
She says blessed is the womb that bare Thee and the paps which Thou hast sucked.
And this might be the first instance of Mariology in all of history, you know,
because we have this woman here who is offering praises to Mary, the mother of our Lord.
And, you know, I'm not going to preach on the subject of Mary and Mariology tonight
because, honestly, I've actually taught extensively on the subject of Mariology just recently
as we've been going through the Luke series.
It's came up in other places, and we've actually came here to Luke chapter 11 and verse 27 and looked at it.
So I'm not going to talk about that tonight.
Obviously, we don't believe that she's the mediatrix.
We don't believe that Mary is someone that you should pray to.
The Bible says, For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
And, of course, we do believe that Mary was a very godly woman and highly favored of the Lord.
But she was a sinner like anybody else.
She needed Christ to save her like anybody else.
So I'm not going to preach on the subject of Mariology,
but I do want you to notice that this verse, this woman lifting up her voice,
the Bible says, A certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said unto him,
Blessed is the woman that bare thee, and the past which thou hast sucked.
This whole episode that's going on here really sets the theme for the next six verses
because the theme of the next six verses, as you'll see as we travel through it,
is this idea that Jesus is greater than and that Jesus is greater than everyone, really.
And there's a theme here regarding the fact that Jesus is greater,
specifically we're going to see, than Jonah and that he's greater than Solomon.
This is a theme that we've already seen in the book of Luke.
If you remember, when we studied the Mount of Transfiguration,
we saw that Peter made that big mistake when he tried to put Jesus on the same level
as Moses and Elijah the prophet.
And, of course, God the Father made a big deal about that
and about the fact that Jesus Christ is greater than Moses.
He's greater than Elijah.
We're going to see here that he's greater than Jonah.
He's greater than Solomon.
But this verse kind of sets that theme in place
because here you have this woman trying to lift up Mary over the Lord Jesus Christ.
She says, Blessed are the women that bear thee and the paps, which is how I suck.
And, of course, she's trying to honor the mother of the Lord,
but she's really praising this woman, Mary, when she should be praising the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it's interesting because you'll notice in verse 28 that whenever this happens in the Bible,
whenever there's an instance in the Bible, it's almost like, I mean, I shouldn't say it's almost like God knew.
I was going to say it's almost like God knew. It's not almost like God knew.
God knew, but if you don't believe the Bible, then you might think it's almost like God knew
that people were going to worship Mary at some point
because here you have this woman saying, Blessed is the woman that bear thee and the paps, which is how I suck.
And Jesus responds to her, verse 28, but he said, Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.
And that's a true statement. If there's ever been a true statement, that's a true statement.
You want to be blessed by God? Hear the word of God and keep it.
But we see this theme start here, this idea that Jesus is often compared to,
tried to put in the same level as, and sometimes even have others be put above him.
And the theme of the word of God is that Jesus is greater.
And look, this is something today you'll talk to the Muslim and they'll say,
Well, Jesus was a good prophet, but he's not greater than Muhammad, you know,
or he's at least on the same level as Muhammad, which they don't believe that.
Today you've got all sorts of religions that are trying to put Jesus in his place,
according to their understanding.
But I'm here to tell you something, and the word of God is here to tell you something,
that Jesus is greater than all of them. He's greater.
And that's the theme that we see in this passage.
So notice there in verse 29, we get into this idea.
Luke 11, 29.
And when the people were gathered thick together.
I love that phrase, though.
When the people were gathered thick together.
It ought to excite us when people want to gather in order to hear the word of God.
It ought to be an exciting thing for us.
There's 178 people here tonight, almost 180 people here tonight.
It ought to excite us that people want to come out on a Wednesday night to a Wednesday night Bible study.
Why? For what reason?
We're not putting on some big musical production here.
We're not putting on some big entertainment production here.
You know, I'm thankful for the music, and the music tonight was beautiful and all those things.
But what is the reason that people are attracted to a place like Verdi Baptist Church?
It's because of the preaching of the word of God.
It's because of the fact that people want to hear the word of God.
They want to learn the word of God.
So I love that phrase when it says,
And when the people were gathered thick together,
Gathered thick together,
He began to say,
They gathered together to hear the Lord Jesus Christ.
And notice He says,
This is an evil generation.
They seek a sign.
If you remember earlier in this chapter,
We saw that there was those who were,
We talked about it on Sunday.
They were blaspheming against the Lord Jesus Christ.
They were saying,
Yeah, He cast out devils by Beelzebub, the chief of the devils.
And they also accused them,
And they said that they wanted to see a sign from Him.
Which is interesting because the Lord Jesus Christ is performing miracles.
He's, you know, casting out devils.
He's healing people.
And they say,
Yeah, but can you show us a sign?
So Jesus now begins to turn His attention towards these individuals.
And we're going to see as we continue in the Book of Luke,
That Jesus begins to kind of become very hostile towards the Pharisees,
And towards the lawyers,
And towards the religious leaders.
And here He says to them,
This is an evil generation.
They seek a sign,
And there shall no sign be given it,
But the sign of Jonas the prophet.
So I want you to notice that Jesus in the gospels has often asked for a sign.
Well you give us a sign,
And He said,
I'm going to give you one sign.
The sign of the prophet Jonas.
And if you're taking notes tonight,
And I would always encourage you to take notes,
On the back of the course of the week,
There's a place for you to write down some things.
Number one, I'd like you to notice that Jesus is greater than Jonah.
Jesus is greater than Jonah,
And we see the sign of Jonah,
The prophet Jonah.
And I want you to maybe jot this down.
The sign of Jonah.
Because we're going to come back,
And then we're going to see Jonah as a sign.
And those are two different things.
But first I want you to notice the sign of Jonah.
Because Jesus says,
No sign shall be given it,
But the sign of Jonah's the prophet.
Now you're there in Luke chapter 11,
That's our text for tonight.
Go with me if you would to the book of Matthew.
The gospel of Matthew,
You go backwards,
You go past the book of Mark,
Into the book of Matthew.
Matthew chapter 12,
And look at verse 39.
This idea of the sign of Jonah,
Is a common theme throughout the gospels.
Matthew 12 and verse 39,
Notice what the Bible says,
But He answered and said unto them,
An evil and adulterous generation,
Seeketh after a sign.
Because remember they're asking for a sign.
Will you show us a sign,
That you are the Messiah?
And He says,
An evil and adulterous generation,
Seeketh a sign,
And there shall no sign be given to it,
But, Jesus says,
Here's the one sign I'm going to give you.
But the sign of the prophet Jonah.
So look at verse 40,
For as Jonah's,
Now you say,
What is the sign of the prophet Jonah's?
Here's the sign.
As Jonah's was three days and three nights,
In the whale's belly,
So shall the Son of Man,
Be three days and three nights,
In the heart of the earth.
So if you want to know,
What's the sign of the prophet Jonah's?
What is Jesus referring to,
When He says,
I'm not going to give you any signs,
Except the sign of Jonah's.
And by the way,
The sign of Jonah's,
Was a sign that was not only given,
To the people of that generation,
But it's a sign that's been given to all of us.
It is a sign that tells you,
That Jesus was who He said He was.
You say,
What is the sign?
It is the sign of the fact,
That in the same way,
As Jonah's was three days and three nights,
In the whale's belly,
So shall the Son of Man,
Be three days and three nights,
In the heart of the earth.
Now,
Let's go to the book of Jonah,
If you would,
Jonah chapter 2,
Obviously in the Old Testament,
Towards the end of the Old Testament,
You've got those big major prophets,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations,
Ezekiel, Daniel.
After those major prophets,
You've got the small books of the minor prophets,
Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah.
Jonah chapter 2,
And do me a favor,
Put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there in Jonah,
Because we're going to leave it,
And we're going to come back to it.
Jonah chapter 2,
And let's talk about the sign of the prophet Jonah.
The fact that he was in the whale's belly,
Three days and three nights.
And in that same way,
Jesus would spend three days and three nights,
In the heart of the earth.
Now,
The sign is this,
Jonah chapter 2,
In verse 1,
And I don't know,
Maybe a couple of years ago,
We did a whole Sunday morning series
Through the entire book of Jonah.
So I'm not going to go through the entire story of Jonah.
I'm sure you're familiar with the story of Jonah.
Jonah chapter 2 and verse 1,
The Bible says,
Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God.
I want you to notice where Jonah is at this time.
Remember, he got thrown overboard,
And he got swallowed up by a whale.
The Bible says,
When Jonah prayed unto the Lord in his God,
Notice,
Out of the fish's belly.
So according to Jonah chapter 2 and verse 1,
Where is Jonah when he prayed unto the Lord his God?
He is in the fish's belly.
He is in the belly of the whale.
Verse 2,
And said,
I cried by reason of my affliction unto the Lord,
And he heard me.
I want you to notice what he says,
Because remember,
Jonah is what?
He is a prophet.
He's called Jonah the prophet.
The sign of the prophet,
Jonas.
So when Jonah was in the belly of the whale,
The Bible tells us that he prophesied in that belly.
In the belly of the whale,
He prophesied,
And Jesus points back to that prophecy and says,
Hey, do you want a sign?
I'll give you a sign.
The sign of the prophet, Jonas,
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly,
So shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
So I want you to understand something.
Jesus tells us,
Look, the three days and three nights that I'm going to give you as a sign,
Are going to be similar in length,
Three days and three nights,
To Jonah being in the whale's belly.
But what's interesting is,
When you go to Jonah chapter 2,
And you find Jonah in the whale's belly,
He actually begins to prophesy,
And when he prophesies,
He says this in verse 2,
And said,
I cried by reason of my affliction unto the Lord,
And he heard me,
Notice these words,
Out of the belly of hell cried I,
And thou hurtest my voice.
Now, according to Jonah chapter 2 and verse 1,
Where is Jonah?
He's in the fish's belly.
Right?
Verse 1.
But in verse 2 he says,
No, I'm in the belly of hell.
So then which one is it?
Are you in the belly of the whale,
Or are you in the belly of hell?
And here's what you need to understand,
Jonah really was in the whale's belly,
But he is prophesying about the fact,
That while he's in that whale's belly for three days and three nights,
He prophesies about the fact that there's a coming Messiah,
Who is going to also spend three days and three nights,
Not in the whale's belly,
But in the belly of hell.
Jesus said,
In the same way that Jonah's three days and three nights in the whale's belly,
So shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Now people like to argue about,
Well, what's the heart of the earth?
You know, when Jesus died,
The question is,
Where did he go?
And if you ask different Christians,
You'll get different answers.
And especially the dispensationalists.
They like to tell you,
Well, you know,
His body was just in the grave,
Or he went to,
His soul went to like some resort in hell,
You know, called Abraham's armpit.
And they try to give you all these things.
But look,
A lot of the Bible,
To define itself,
I mean,
A lot of the Bible study, right?
A lot of the Bible to define itself.
Jesus said,
I'm going to be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
And he said,
Like Jonah.
And then you go back to Jonah,
And Jonah says,
Three days and three nights in the belly of hell.
So wouldn't that tell you,
That the heart of the earth is hell?
And then, by the way,
You know,
You study hell all throughout the Bible.
And all throughout the Bible,
We're told that hell is downward.
It's in the nether parts of the earth.
And then science finally catches up to the word of God.
And you get these images that they put out in school.
The same school where they teach you there is no God.
They give you an image of the earth,
You know, cut in half.
And right in the heart of the earth,
In the middle of earth,
You know what they tell you there is in the heart of the earth?
Fire.
Lava.
Fire.
Flame.
Well, that's exactly what the Bible tells us.
I'm glad you finally caught up to the word of God.
The Bible clearly teaches,
That Jesus went to hell.
For three days and three nights.
Now, people will often, they'll think like,
That's blasphemous to say that.
But listen,
Jesus came to this earth to seek and to save that which was lost.
He came to this earth to pay for my sins.
Well, let me explain something to you.
The penalty for my sin is not only a physical death,
But it's also the second death of the lake of fire,
Of a punishment in hell.
In order for Jesus to pay for my sins,
He not only had to die physically,
He also went down to hell,
The Bible tells us,
For three days and three nights,
And He suffered an eternity of punishment to pay for our sins.
Jonah chapter 2, look at verse 6.
Notice what Jonah says.
He says,
I went down to the bottoms of the mountains.
Again, Jonah's not literally in hell,
He's prophesying.
He says,
I went down to the bottoms of the mountains.
The earth with her bars was about me forever.
People will say,
Well, how could Jesus pay for an eternity of my punishment in hell,
In three days and three nights?
Well, Jesus is God.
He's an eternal being.
And there's three that make up the eternal being,
Which is God,
The Father,
The Son,
And the Holy Ghost.
So, I don't know how it all works.
You'll have to get to heaven and ask Him.
But I think He just spent one day in hell for every member of the Godhead.
And He just spent, you know,
An eternal God was able to pay for an eternity of hell in that amount of time.
You say,
Why did He have to resurrect after three days?
Well, notice Jonah chapter 2 and verse 6.
I went down to the bottoms of the mountains.
The earth with her bars was about me forever.
This is all referring to hell being in the center of the earth.
Yet, has thou brought up my life from corruption,
O Lord my God.
So, I want you to understand something.
Notice something.
Jonah chapter 2.
Jonah is in the whale's belly.
And he's prophesying.
And he's saying,
I'm in hell.
Though we know he's not in hell.
He's in the whale's belly.
But you can connect that back to Matthew 12,
Where Jesus says,
As Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly,
So shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights,
In the heart of the earth?
But that's not the only connection to Jesus paying for our sins in hell.
Because in verse 6 He says,
Yet, has thou brought up my life from corruption.
I want you to notice that phrase.
Brought up my life from corruption,
O Lord my God.
Now go to Acts chapter 2.
Keep your finger there in Jonah chapter 2.
And go to Acts chapter 2 and verse 31.
People say,
I don't know.
I've never heard this.
That Jesus went to hell.
Well we just saw it.
And you know the Bible tells us in Isaiah,
That his soul was made an offering for our sin.
But here's a verse that you cannot argue with.
Acts 2 31.
He seeing this before,
This is talking about David,
Who prophesied in the book of Psalms.
He seeing this before,
Spake of the resurrection of Christ.
This is a prophecy of the resurrection of Christ.
What is the prophecy?
That his soul was not left in hell.
I don't think Jesus went to hell.
Well the Bible says that his soul was not left in hell.
Well I think that's Hades.
You don't speak Greek.
You don't know what the Hades you're talking about.
It's hell is what the Bible says.
And by the way in the Greek language Hades is hell.
Oh it's Hades.
That's just a different language for calling it hell.
That his soul was not left in hell.
But here's the connection back to Jonah.
Neither his flesh did see corruption.
Remember how Jonah 2 6 said,
He says yet has thou brought up my life from corruption.
He says that his soul was not left in hell.
Neither his flesh did see corruption.
You say why did he have to resurrect after three days and three nights.
Here's why.
Because after three days and three nights his body,
His physical body would have began to corrupt.
To decay.
So in Jonah we see two connections.
We see two connections to this prophecy of Jesus going to hell to pay for our sins.
The fact that Jonah said while Jonah tells us,
The book of Jonah tells us that he was in the fish's belly.
Jonah says that he cried from the belly of hell.
Jesus said as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly.
So shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Then Jonah says I was brought up.
Thou has brought up my life from corruption.
And David in Psalm says and is quoted in Acts that he spake of the resurrection of Christ.
That his soul was not left in hell, the belly of hell.
Neither his flesh did see corruption.
So look do you really think, go back to Luke chapter 11.
Keep your place in Jonah and go back to Luke chapter 11.
Do you really think it's a coincidence that Jesus says,
That the sign I'm going to give you is that I'm going to spend three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Like Jonah spent three days and three nights in the whale's belly.
And then you go to the passage when Jonah is in the whale's belly.
And he's prophesying about being in hell.
And he's prophesying about the fact that he's going to come out of the belly.
Yet thou has brought up my life.
Because God is not going to allow him to see corruption in that belly.
And then Acts 2 through 31 tells us that his soul was not left in hell.
Neither his flesh did see corruption.
Those are not coincidences.
That is the sign of Jonah's.
You say what is the sign of Jonah's?
Here's the sign of Jonah's.
The only sign you need to know about the Lord Jesus Christ is this.
That he died on the cross for your sins.
His soul went down to hell for three days and three nights to pay for your sins.
And then he resurrected from the grave.
That's all you need to know. That's the sign.
You say I need a sign. Here's a sign.
He was born. He lived. He died. He was buried.
His soul went down to hell and he rose up from the dead as a payment for your sins.
So why would he do that? To pay for your sins.
To pay for your salvation.
So we see the sign of Jonah.
But then I want you to notice, go back to Luke 11.
Because in verse 29 the Bible says,
And when the people were gathered thick together,
he began to say, This is an evil generation.
They seek a sign, and there shall no sign be given it,
but the sign of Jonah's the prophet.
So we see the sign of Jonah's.
But then I want you to notice in verse 30, Jesus says this.
Luke 11.30
So in verse 29 we're told of the sign of Jonah's.
But in verse 30 we're told that Jonah's was a sign.
So we have the sign of Jonah and then we have Jonah as a sign.
Those are two different things.
You say, what is the reference to Jonah as a sign?
Go back to Jonah, if you would. Jonah chapter 3.
Jonah chapter 3.
And while you turn there, let me explain this to you.
The Bible tells us that the sign of the prophet Jonah's
is the fact that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.
He spent three days and three nights there.
While he was there, he prophesied about not himself,
but somebody who's going to spend three days and three nights
in the belly of hell
and that they would be resurrected or brought up out of that belly
before they saw corruption.
But then Jesus says, not only is there the sign of Jonah's,
but Jonah's himself was a sign.
Now, what does that mean?
Well, it could mean a couple of things.
First of all, it could mean that Jonah's himself physically was a sign.
I would imagine, because if you remember,
when Jonah was a bachelor and preacher,
God told him to go to Nineveh and he went the opposite way.
And that's why he ends up in the ocean
and he ends up being swallowed by a whale.
By the way, let me just remind some of you,
you can try to run from God, but you can't outrun God.
Say, I'll go in the opposite direction.
I'll get on a boat and go the opposite direction.
God will meet you there.
His whale will meet you there.
So Jonah's backslidden, but when he gets right with God,
I would imagine that if you get swallowed by a whale,
you're probably going to get right with God.
When he gets right with God, the whale vomits him up near Nineveh.
And Jonah walks to Nineveh and begins to preach the judgment of God.
But I could imagine what Jonah looked like.
I mean, I don't know what you would look like
after spending three days and three nights in a whale's belly,
but you probably didn't look good.
I mean, if you want to know why was Jonah so effective,
because Jonah led one of the greatest revivals recorded in Scripture.
And if you want to say why was Jonah so effective,
it might have been the fact that he just scared the living daylights
out of these people.
I don't know what you would look like after spending three nights
in the stomach of a whale with all the belly acids and all those things,
but he must have looked something because he walked in and he said,
God's going to judge you, and they're like, let's repent, this guy.
So Jonah was assigned probably just the way he looked.
I mean, he probably looked crazy in days and whatever.
But I believe there's more to it than just that.
Not only was the sign of Jonah given,
but Jonah and his story was also given as a sign.
Now, I preached through the whole book of Jonah,
so I'm not going to go through this whole thing tonight.
But let me just quickly, since it's Bible study,
if you're interested in these things, maybe you can jot these things down.
And let me give you just some things from the story of Jonah
that show us that Jonah was a sign of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Number one, if you're familiar with the story of Jonah,
he was cast forth into the sea, Jonah 1-12.
And the sacrifice of Jonah was similar to the sacrifice of Christ.
Jonah was cast into the sea, why? To save the rest of the sailors.
Remember, the sailors were in this boat and God brought this big storm.
They all thought they were going to die.
And Jonah said, hey, if you want to survive, you have to sacrifice me.
And they threw him overboard in order, they sacrificed Jonah in order for them to be saved.
Well, you know what? Jesus was also sacrificed and crucified that all mankind might be saved.
So in that way, Jonah was a sign of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But not only that, if you're familiar with the story of Jonah,
you'll remember that when Jonah tells them, hey, you got to cast me over,
you got to throw me off the ship if you want the storm to cease.
If you remember, the Bible says in Jonah 1-13 that after he told them that,
the men rowed hard to bring it to land.
So even though Jonah said, look, this is from God, you got to cast me over the boat if you want to be saved,
they still tried to row hard to bring it to land.
They tried to work their way to the shore without having to sacrifice Jonah.
Well, it's interesting because today you teach people, hey, Jesus died on the cross for your sins.
He did all of it. His soul went to hell for three days and three nights.
He paid for your sins and people are like, well, I'll just still try to repent.
I'll just still try to live a good life. I'll just still try to do it on my own.
You know, today people are trying to row hard to get themselves to heaven,
just like these sailors were trying to row hard to bring it to land.
But when the sailors finally give in, here's another way that Jonah is a sign of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When the sailors finally gave in, you know, here's what they said
when they threw Jonah off the boat in Jonah 1.14.
This is what they said to God,
And lay not upon us innocent blood, for thou, O Lord, has done as it hath pleased thee.
You know, the Bible tells us in Jonah 1.14 that the sacrifice of Jonah was pleasing to the Lord.
Well, it's interesting because Isaiah 53.10 tells us about the sacrifice of Christ
that yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.
So both the sacrifice of Jonah was pleasing and the sacrifice of Christ were both pleasing to the Lord.
Not only were they pleasing to the Lord,
but both the sacrifice of Jonah and the sacrifice of Christ were appeasing to the Lord.
Because the Bible says in Jonah 1.5 that when they cast him forth into the sea,
the sea ceased from raging.
Jonah had brought, as a result of being on that boat,
the judgment and the wrath of God in the form of a sea.
But when they cast Jonah into the sea, the Bible says that the sea calmed.
The sea was raging, but it calmed because his sacrifice was appeasing to God.
Well, you know the same way the Bible says about unbelievers and about you and I,
before we were saved, that the wrath of God was upon us.
But when we receive the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, that sacrifice appeased his wrath.
Of course, we already talked about it, but the payment for three days and three nights
as Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights
in the same way that Jesus was in the belly of hell for three days and three nights.
Not only did they both spend three days and three nights in the belly of the whale in hell,
but both came up and were resurrected after three days and three nights.
So you see how the story of Jonah has a lot of parallels to the story of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
So that's why I believe that Jesus not only refers to the sign of the prophet Jonas,
but he also refers to Jonas as a sign.
That he himself was a sign and that his story in his life has a lot of parallels
in regards to being able to preach the gospel even from that story.
Go to Jonah chapter 3 and let me just say this as we just continue with this idea of Jonah.
We saw the prophet Jonah, the sign of Jonah, and Jonah as a sign.
But then I want you to notice the men of Nineveh.
I'm going to show you the men of Nineveh and Jonah because Luke brings up the men of Nineveh.
We're going to talk about them.
There's a debate in regards to whether the people of Nineveh were spiritually saved
or whether they were just physically saved when Jonah shows up to Nineveh and preaches the judgment of God.
People will argue about this.
Did Jonah just show up and he preached the judgment of God and they repented
and therefore God chose not to judge their nation and to destroy their nation
and it had nothing to do with salvation.
It was just the saving of the nation, which that's a true thing.
God will judge nations and he'll judge nations because of the actions of those nations
and the people of those nations could change their actions and withhold the hand of God's punishment,
but that doesn't mean that they're saved.
But then of course then you have the idea that no, Jonah preached the gospel to them and they got saved.
So there's a debate. Did they get saved or were they what we might call spiritually saved
or were they just physically saved, meaning that they were saved just from the physical wrath and judgment of God.
I'll give you my belief and I'll show you from the Bible why I believe this,
but I believe that they were both.
That they were both saved spiritually and that they were also of course saved physically.
You say, well, why do you believe that?
You know, I may have to prove that. I didn't get a lot of amens on that one,
so maybe some of you guys aren't with me on that one.
You say, why do you believe that they were spiritually saved? Jonah 3.5.
So the people of Nineveh, here's why I believe they got saved.
So the people of Nineveh believed God.
Let me ask you a question. How did somebody get saved?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
So people of Nineveh believed God is what the Bible tells us.
And you say, well, I don't know. Does that mean that they got saved?
Well, here's what's interesting and you don't have to turn here. I'll just read this for you.
Romans chapter 4 and verse 3 tells us about another famous character in the Old Testament that we know was saved.
And here's what it says about his salvation. Romans 4 and 3.
For what saved the Scripture? Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
So Romans 4 and 3 says Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
And we know he got saved. So when the Bible says that the men of Nineveh believed God,
you know, they got saved because that's what salvation is.
Salvation is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
So the people of Nineveh believed God.
So I believe that they were spiritually saved and that's not the only reason I believe they were spiritually saved.
I'm going to show you another passage that's just going to prove that without a shadow of a doubt.
It's going to put the final nail in that coffin because these people, look, Jonah led one of the greatest revivals in history.
And if you don't think they got saved, I'm not against you. You know, it's not something worth fighting about.
But I'm just telling you the Bible is clear about the fact that these people got saved because they believed God, number one.
The same wording that's used about Abraham, Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
But there's another reason why you can believe that the men of Nineveh got saved. I'll show you that in a minute.
But let me just show you, I also believe that they got physically saved.
Now this is something that a lot of Christians struggle with because the average Christian is lame, unfortunately.
I didn't expect a lot of amens on that one either.
A lot of Christians are just backslidden. A lot of Christians are worldly.
A lot of Christians just don't have a genuine walk with God.
A lot of Christians just, you know, are just watching TV, watching Hollywood, just doing everything that the world does.
So it's hard for them to understand this concept.
But let me tell you something, not only, and we obviously preach a lot, we preach against work, salvation and all those things.
So sometimes people misunderstand this but it may help you understand something.
Okay, salvation and sanctification are two different things.
Being saved and being a follower or a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ are two different things.
You can be saved and not be a follower.
You can be a follower and not be saved.
Judas Iscariot.
So what God wants is that you be saved and you be a follower.
Now this is why it's hard for many people to get this, many Christians.
Because a lot of Christians, in fact most Christians, are saved and not followers.
They're not following Christ.
How can you say that I'm not following Christ?
Because the Bible says that if we follow Christ, we follow in his footsteps, we would do the things that he does, we would have the attitude.
Paul said that Christ would live in me.
The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
That's not the average Christian.
The average Christian unfortunately is saved and not following Christ.
But there are some people out there, you may not be aware of this, you may have never seen this.
You may think this is not real because you've not experienced it.
But you know that there are some people out there who both get saved and get sold out for God all at the same time.
I mean that's what we see in Jonah. These people got saved and they got right with God.
You know, I mean one example I give you in my life, and I didn't ask for permission to use this as an example because I knew she would say no and I don't care.
But one example is my wife.
I mean my wife, I got her saved when we were 17 years old.
And the day that she got saved, she became three to thrive soul winner, read her Bible every day, prayed, began tithing, got rid of her worldly clothes.
I mean the same day.
You say, was she doing that to get saved? No, she just got saved and got right with God all on the same day.
And has just been living that life for the last 19 years.
See, some of you are so cold in your Christianity, you're so stinking lukewarm, you can't even fathom what it means to actually love God.
To actually not be a stinking worldly Christian, listening to rock music, watching the world's filth in the movies.
You don't even understand what that means because you've never experienced that.
But I'm here to tell you, some people actually walk with God.
Some people actually love Jesus.
Some people actually read the Bible and then apply it to their lives and they actually try to do what God tells them to do.
That actually exists in case you didn't know that.
And you could do it.
So these people, I want you to notice, they got saved.
They believed God but they also repented.
Is that to be saved? No.
But they did repent.
Look at verse 6.
For the word came unto the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne and he laid his robe from him and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes.
By the way, men, you'd be shocked the influence that leaders could have.
You say, why did Nineveh, why did Nineveh, so many people get saved in Nineveh?
Part of it had to do because the king himself got saved and right with God.
The word came unto the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne and he laid his robe from him and covered him with sackcloth and sat in 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 hurt nor flock, taste anything, let them not feed nor drink water.
But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God, yea, let them turn.
I want you to notice, what is it that these people are doing?
They are repenting. In fact, let me just help you understand something.
They are repenting of their sins.
You say, prove that. Well, notice it says, he says, let them turn.
The word repent means to turn.
Now, it could be physically a physical turn or it could just be a turn in your mind going from unbelief to belief.
But the word repent just in and of itself means turn.
People often get confused because they are like, well, you teach that you don't have to repent of your sins to be saved.
But all throughout the gospels, the word repent is mentioned.
Yeah, but you know what is not mentioned in the gospels regarding salvation?
Repent of your sins.
That phrase doesn't exist.
You say, but John the Baptist preached repentance. I preach repentance.
You got to turn from unbelief to Christ.
You got to turn from being an atheist to believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
You got to turn from Mohammed and from Hinduism and from Mormonism and from Catholicism and from work salvation and from trusting in yourself to trusting on Jesus Christ.
That is repentance.
Do I have to stop drinking alcohol to be saved? No.
That is turning from your sins.
What did these people do? Look at it.
Verse 8, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God.
Yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands.
Notice what the king says.
Who can tell if God will turn?
You say, I don't know if the word turn means repent.
Okay, let the Bible divide itself.
Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away?
They are saying, maybe God will turn.
What do you mean by that?
Maybe God will repent.
Why are you using those words synonymously?
Because they both mean the same thing.
The Bible is its own dictionary.
Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not?
And look, let me just prove to you that you don't have to turn from your sins to be saved.
Because look, you know what the Bible says?
You know what the Bible is very clear about?
That salvation is by grace and not of works.
Look at the righteousness which we have done.
It's what the Bible says.
The Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works.
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
The Bible is very clear that salvation is not of works.
I don't think you have to work your way to hell.
I just think you have to repent of your sins.
Okay, well here is the problem with that.
God defines repenting of your sins as works.
Prove it, Jonah 3.10.
And God saw their faith. Is that what it says?
God saw their work.
What did he see?
That they turned, repented from their evil way.
And God repented of the evil that he said that he would do unto them and he did it not.
So you are saying that they got saved because they repented?
No, they got saved when they believed God.
But then they said, hey, let's not just get saved.
Let's become followers of the Lord.
And they repented.
They turned from their evil way.
And the Bible says that God saw their work, that they turned from their evil way.
And God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not.
So notice these people were saved both spiritually and physically.
I'm still not convinced that they were saved spiritually.
I mean, just because it says that the Ben of Nineveh believed God.
Well, how did you get saved?
I believed God.
How did Abraham get saved?
Abraham believed God.
I don't know. I'm still not sure.
Well, let me just put the final nail in the coffin that these people did get saved.
Luke 11, verse 32.
Because Jesus is talking about how he's greater than the prophet Jonas.
And he says, you want a sign?
No sign is going to be given unto you, except for the sign of the prophet Jonas.
As he was three days and three nights on the world's belly, so shall I be three days and three nights on the heart of the earth.
And not only do I want to talk to you about the sign of the prophet Jonas,
he said, I want you to remember Jonas as a sign.
And we talked about that.
But then Jesus brings up the men of Nineveh. Notice what he says. Luke 11, 32.
The men of Nineveh, this is Jesus speaking to the Pharisees, to the Jews that are not believing on him at the time.
The people asking him for a sign.
He said, the men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment.
What's the judgment?
Well, there's only two judgments.
There's the judgment seat of Christ, where believers are not judged to go to heaven.
They're already in heaven. They're judged to be rewarded for the things they did in their lives.
And then there's the great white throne, where people get condemned and go to hell for trusting in their own works, is what Revelation tells us.
What judgment is this?
And the men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it.
The men of Nineveh are going to be at the great white throne and they're going to be looking, Jesus says, to the Jews of Jesus' day.
And Jesus said, they're going to condemn you.
Why are they going to condemn them?
For they repented at the preaching of Jonas.
You said, what repentance?
Both. The one required for salvation, they turn from unbelief to belief.
And also the one required for sanctification, they turn from their evil way.
The men of Nineveh are going to be at the judgment and they are going to condemn the men of the generation of Jesus.
Why are they going to condemn them?
For they repented at the preaching of Jonas and behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
So I think it's pretty clear that the men of Nineveh got saved.
I mean, if they're going to be at the judgment and they're going to be like, hey, we got saved because some crazy looking guy got spat out of a whale and told us to believe,
and you had Jesus and you rejected Him.
So look, it's clear that these men were saved.
They're at the judgment and they're on the right side.
They're helping condemn.
You better believe.
At the Great White Throne, I do believe that there's going to be a lot of pain and hurt there for us to see people we love be cast into hell.
That's why the Bible says that God's going to have to wipe away the tears from our eyes.
But there are some other people that we're not going to be that sad about.
I'm going to be like, let me throw them in, God.
I mean, in these men of Nineveh, they're rising up and they're condemning the men of the generation of Jesus for they repented at the preaching of Jonas and behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
So we see, number one, that Jesus is greater than Jonah, the sign of Jonah.
But then secondly tonight, and look, that was the longest part, right?
There's only two points, not three points, two points, and the second point is short.
Look at verse 31.
Point number one, Jesus is greater than Jonah, the sign of Jonah.
And then here's point number two, Jesus is greater than Solomon.
We see the wisdom of Solomon.
Notice who's brought up.
Luke 11 31.
The queen of the south, who's this a reference to?
This is a reference to, you might remember from the Old Testament, as the queen of Sheba in 1 Kings chapter 10 and 2 Chronicles chapter 9.
You know, it's funny because I didn't really do this on purpose because I already had this plan, but this Sunday, I'm going to be preaching about the queen of Sheba.
It's just a coincidence that we happen to deal with her here as well.
But Jesus brings up the queen of Sheba.
He says, the queen of Sheba shall rise up in the judgment.
So I want you to notice, when the queen of Sheba in 1 Kings 10, 2 Chronicles 9, when she goes to visit Solomon, the Bible tells us that she asked him all sorts of hard questions.
And Solomon, you know, said everything to her that was in her heart.
He answered all her questions.
The thing that is not really told to us in the Old Testament, but now here it's clear, is that Solomon got her saved.
I mean, she got saved as a result of going to see Solomon.
And notice, the Bible says that the queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment.
So she's going to be at the judgment, like the men of Nineveh, with the men of this generation and condemn them.
She's going to condemn them. Why?
Notice what the Bible says.
She came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
If you remember the story of the queen of Sheba, she comes from a long journey and she brings all these gifts and she brings all these people to come and hear because she heard of the wisdom of Solomon.
She comes to see whether the things that she heard were true.
And Solomon not only answers all of her questions, he gets her saved.
And at the end of the whole thing, she says, the half was not told me.
She said, this is better than I heard.
She came all the way. Here's what the Bible says, Luke 11 31.
For she came from the uttermost part of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
Notice the words.
And behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
So she traveled a long ways to hear Solomon.
And Jesus says, a greater than Solomon is here and you're rejecting me is what Jesus is telling these people.
By the way, let me just say this, that the queen of Sheba is highlighted.
I mean, what would you do to get a shout out in the Bible?
You know what I mean?
I mean, some of you may not want to shout out in the Bible because it'll be like, you know, you're all backslidden or something.
Demas has forsaken me having loved this present world. I don't want that shout out.
But you know, this woman is only mentioned a few times in the Bible.
1 Kings chapter 10, 2 Chronicles chapter 9, and then a handful of times in the gospel, all the same passage.
Jesus brings her up.
You know what he brings her up for?
He says, this lady traveled a long ways to hear the truth.
And Jesus says, and she didn't even come to hear me.
Jesus says, a greater than Solomon is here.
She says, she came to hear Solomon.
Jesus said, Solomon was good, but I'm better.
But he's praising this woman and saying, she was willing.
She came from the uttermost part of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
And you know, tonight, tonight at Verity Baptist Church, we've got people sitting in this room that commuted a long ways just to show up here for our Wednesday night Bible study.
And you know, to all of you, I want to give you the Queen of Sheba Award.
And maybe it doesn't mean anything for me because a greater than me is definitely here, the Lord Jesus Christ.
But you know what?
If the Queen of Sheba gets, you know, special recognition from the Lord Jesus Christ for being willing to travel to hear the truth,
I believe all of you who commute and have commuted and have made the effort and have paid for the gas
and have got, you know, you leave an hour early, an hour and a half early and you put in that work,
I believe that God is looking down from heaven and he's well pleased.
For she came from the utmost part of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
Go to Luke chapter 12.
Look at verse 27.
We saw the Queen of Sheba.
She got saved when she came to see Solomon and she's giving accolades because she traveled to seek the truth.
But just real quickly, look at Solomon because look, for Jesus to say to a bunch of Jews,
I'm greater than Solomon was a big deal because I'll just give you one example.
Luke 12.27, consider these how great they told not, they spent not, and yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
If you would have talked to someone from the nation of Israel and even today if you talked to Jews today
and you talked to them about the kings of Israel, David would be seen as the greatest king.
I mean David was the greatest king to lead the nation of Israel and obviously we know all the adventures and the things about David.
But if you would have asked about glory, about power, status, success, strength, prosperity,
Solomon would take that place as the most glorious king of Israel.
And the Bible tells us that he made gold like the stones on the ground.
There was so much prosperity during his reign.
But you know, Solomon in all his glory, Jesus would still say, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
So what we learned tonight from this passage, I mean there's lots that we learned, but just a couple of takeaways.
Go to Luke chapter 9. Real quickly, Luke chapter 9.
The takeaways are these. Jesus is greater.
It doesn't matter who do you want to bring up. Mary?
Blessed are the Pabst, thou hast looked. You know, Jesus is greater.
You want to bring up Jonah? Jesus is greater. You want to bring up Solomon? Jesus is greater.
Go to the book of Hebrews. One of these days soon I'm sure we'll do a verse by verse study through the book of Hebrews.
What's the book of Hebrews about? Especially chapter 1.
It's about the fact that Jesus is greater than Moses. Jesus is greater than the angels.
Jesus is greater than the tabernacle.
What the theme of the entire New Testament and Old Testament is this. Jesus is greater.
Jesus is greater. You want to compare it to Moses? He's greater. Elijah? He's greater.
Luke 9.35, the Mount of Transfiguration. Peter tries to put Jesus and Moses and Elijah on the same level.
Luke 9.35, and there came a voice out of the clouds saying, this is my beloved son. Hear him.
He said, what's the great takeaway? Here's the great takeaway. Don't miss it.
Jesus is greater than Mary. Jesus is greater than Jonah. He's greater than Solomon.
He's greater than Moses. He's greater than Elijah. He's greater than the angels.
He's greater than the tabernacle. He's greater than anyone who's ever lived.
And don't miss this. He's greater than you.
So what do you mean? You know, the reason people are going to die and go to hell is because they can't stop trusting in themselves.
It's not enough. It's not enough for them to say, Jesus died on the cross for my sins.
His soul went down to hell. He resurrected from the grave. And all of that pays for all of my sins.
And I don't have to do anything. I don't have to earn it. I don't have to work for it. I don't have to keep it once I have it.
I don't have to repent of anything. All I have to do is believe on Him. And people say, no.
No, I still have to do something. I still have to repent of my sins. I could still lose my salvation if I commit suicide.
I mean, if I commit suicide, then you know what that means? If you believe that you could do something to lose your salvation,
here's what you believe. That you're greater than Jesus. You know what Jesus said?
He said, and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My Father which gave them me is greater than all. And no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
You know, when it comes to salvation, you say, what do I got to believe regarding salvation?
Here's what you got to believe. That Jesus is greater. That He's greater than you. He's better than you.
He's more powerful than you. And what He did is all you need to be saved.
And as long as you believe, no, well, I could still lose it if I, I could still not be saved if I,
then all you're doing is putting yourself above Jesus and saying, no, I'm greater.
Jesus is greater. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your word.
Thank you for these passages of scripture, these stories that have been documented for us to learn and study.
Lord, I pray you'd help us to learn what the Bible says.
I pray when it comes to salvation that you would help us, Lord, to acknowledge that Jesus is greater.
There's nothing I've got to do. He's done it all. All I've got to do is put my trust in Him.
I pray you'd help us to learn that, to study that, to believe that, to preach that to others.
In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen.
We're going to have Brother Moses come up and lead us in a final song.
Just want to remind you that if you've not yet signed up for the Sowing Seminar,
you can do that tonight on your communication card. Let us know if you plan on being there.
If there's anything that we can do for you, please let us know.
And we're getting a bunch of emails and we're thankful for this. Praise God.
But we're getting a bunch of emails from people asking, you know, where can we find the live streams
and where can we find the sermons. And so I just want to encourage you as our church family.
Obviously, you know, we didn't live stream on YouTube tonight because, you know,
last time I told you that they shut down our channels. Well, we started two other channels since then
and they shut them all down. So, you know, I'm sure we'll get there eventually, but we're just not there.
So if people are wondering, if people ask you, you know, about the live streams and all those things,
we want to get the word out. So we're live streaming on our website, bandbutnotbound.com.
So just help us out with that. Maybe let people know on Facebook or Instagram or wherever your social media
or text your friends or email them. If somebody is wondering, we're live streaming on bandbutnotbound.com.
We're also going to be posting videos. We're going to start building a sermon library on bandbutnotbound.com
instead of YouTube. And so, Lord willing, people could go there and find the sermons they're looking for.
So if you know of anybody looking for that, could you help us out and let them know.
And let them know they can sign up for the Band But Not Bound email list so that as our social media platform
gets shut down, we can email people and let them know, here's where we're at now. All right.
So if you could help us with that, we would appreciate it. If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know.
We'll have the Moses come up and lead us and find us home.
Please turn to your song books on page number 27.
Page number 27, we're going to be singing the Old Rugged Cross.
Page number 27, the Old Rugged Cross. And let's sing that out on the first.
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame.
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain.
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I lay down.
I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.
Oh, that old rugged cross so despised by the world has a wondrous attraction for me.
For the dear Lamb of God left his glory above to bear it to dark Calvary.
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I lay down.
I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.
Page 27 on the third.
In the old rugged cross, seen with blood so divine, a wondrous beauty I see.
For it was on that old cross Jesus suffered and died to pardon and sanctify me.
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I lay down.
I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.
To the old rugged cross I will ever be true, each shame and reproach gladly bear.
Then he'll call me someday to my home far away where his glory forever I'll share.
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross till my trophies at last I lay down.
I will cling to the old rugged cross and exchange it someday for a crown.
Great singing. Can I please have Brother RJ close this in a word of prayer?
Amen.
Thank you.