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All right we're in Jonah chapter number two this evening and Jonah chapter number two is a pivotal chapter in the book of Jonah because of its symbolic nature and this is the chapter that validates and confirms that Jesus Christ when he died did descend into the lower parts of the earth known as hell okay and he specifically references this chapter in the Old Testament to confirm that that's exactly what he was going to do he does that in Matthew chapter 12 and Matthew 12 chapter 16 and Luke chapter number 11 but before we get into that we're going to talk about that extensively tonight we're just I'm just going to give you a synopsis of what's taking place here in chapter number two if you remember in chapter one God commands Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach against that city to bring that city into repentance Jonah chooses not to do that he buys a ticket to go down into Tarshish he he gets on a boat and of course the Lord sends a tempestuous storm to trouble the boat to break it because of Jonah and through a series of events we see later on that the mariners recognize that this has come upon them because of Jonah Jonah advises them to basically cast him over into the ocean he's willing to just die and the Bible tells us that God prepares a great fish to swallow him up and one of the things that we can remember from the book of Jonah chapter number one is how creative God can be to judge a person don't think that well you know if I'm in sin you know I'm just going to think through all the ways that God can judge me it's through my finances or it's through health no sometimes he could just send a whale to come swallow you up you know God is very creative he has a lot of ingenuity right he's a creator therefore he can use anything to judge you and chastise you and humble you just as we see here in chapter number one so he says there that he prepares a great fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights now in chapter number two primarily deals with Jonah being in the belly of the whale and it records whether his thoughts or his prayers his supplications unto the Lord and of course at the latter end God shows mercy on Jonah and he allows the fish to the whale to basically throw him up into the land now one thing that we can learn from this before we get into anything else is how merciful God is no God is gracious I mean you know he's in the belly of the well you would think that a person would not survive being in a belly of a well for three days and three nights he allows him to survive and he gives him a second chance okay and this should remind us that yes God is a God of second chances but let's not try to go for the third or fourth chance you know when God shows us mercy he's forbearing he's long-suffering and he gives us another opportunity to get right with him to obey him take it don't just you know turn the grace of God into lasciviousness don't try to just take advantage of it and not care well well you know I'm already saved so it's okay you know I'm just gonna go ahead and live life the way I want you know God can cause a great well to come and swallow you up and humble you if you're not willing to repent and get right with him and you know we need to look at this and say man God is gracious as high as the heavens are from the earth so great is his mercy towards them that fear him but you know the person who does not fear him judgment and chastisement awaits that person and look you say well you know I've been in sin and I've not been chastised I've been in sin and I feel like God has not punished me yet well you know what that's the long-suffering of God if you have not yet suffered the consequences of your actions you will if you persist to stay in that sin you know don't play with God or else he can send a well to come swallow you up so this is what chapter 10 primarily deals with here and you know what's interesting by the way also is that we see Jonah in chapter number one he disobeys God right he doesn't want to go and he doesn't want to preach the Word of God but then you see later on in verse number nine when they ask him like what is thine occupation he says I'm a Hebrew I fear the Lord like what you're running away from God you're not obeying him but you say you fear the Lord he's somewhere in the middle is he not right well it's interesting that in Revelation chapter 2 the Bible says that when someone's neither hot nor cold what is he gonna do he's gonna spew them out of his mouth and Jonah is an example of that of someone who was neither hot nor cold they feared the Lord but they were disobeying his commandments and what happened they were spewed out of the mouth of a whale okay so let's read on here in verse number one of chapter number two it says here then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly now one thing you'll notice that as we read the chapter obviously the entire chapter can be applicable to Jonah and there is very a lot of poetic language that's being mentioned here that can be applicable to him however this is a foreshadowing although it's something that literally happened to him you know this is a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ okay and you'll see that as we go through the verses what applies to Jonah literally and then what applies to Jesus Christ in the future verse 2 says and said I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord and he heard me out of the belly of hell cried I and now heard ist my voice now he's not literally in hell okay but listen to the terminology that he's using he says out of the belly of hell cried I when we think of a belly what does that talk about talking about the centralized aspect of our bodies you know the belly is something that's above your waist but it's below your chest it's simple somewhere where it's like the central of your body right and so he's talking about literally being in the belly of a whale but what he's foreshadowing there is the fact that Jesus Christ was actually in hell okay why because hell is in the belly of the earth hell is in the heart of the earth isn't it is in the center of the earth and so he's not he's not dead here he's alive but he's using this terminology he's speaking by the Holy Ghost to teach this doctrine verse 3 for thou has cast me into the deep in the midst of the seas and the floods can pass me about all thy billows and thy waves passed over me this is literally what he's experiencing right and you got to put yourself in his sandals okay you know this is no light event that took place in his life think about this he's in the belly of a well you know rotten fish swimming in stomach acid I mean the putrefying smell that comes from fish that all the you know thousands of fish that that well swallows it's dark it's dingy this is what he's experiencing it's almost like hell you know like the outer darkness right and then you think of the smell that's just surrounding you you know it's like the fire and brimstone the sulfur that someone smells right and then the fact that he's probably in a pool of the stomach acid that's burning his flesh the pigmentation of his skin well that's like the fire that's not quenched that's like a fire that's burning someone so we see a lot of figurative language here and he is experiencing this what someone would experience if they were to go to hell okay he says in verse 4 then I said I cast out my out of my sight I am cast out of thy sight excuse me yet I will look again toward thy holy temple this is his repentance he says here the waters come past me about even to the soul the depth closed me round about the weeds were wrapped around about my head so that's I think he's literally referring to seaweed being wrapped about his head then he says I went down to the bottoms of the mountains now at this point he's not talking about himself okay this is a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ because of the fact that no whale swims below the mountains right this is referring to the literal place called hell he says I went down to the bottoms of the mountains the earth with her bars was about me forever yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption O Lord my God now what is he talking about there well if you read Acts chapter number two we'll go there just a bit you know the Bible tells us thou will not leave my soul in hell neither shall I suffer thine holy one to see corruption referring to Jesus Christ what corruption is he referring to the corruption of his body okay the you know the fact that a body when it dies after a couple days begins to decompose but we know that Jesus Christ body would did not do that three days afterwards he was able to raise rise from the dead and likewise with Jonah here verse 7 says when my soul fainted within me I remember the Lord and my prayer came in unto me into thine holy temple they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy but I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of Thanksgiving I will pay that that that I have vowed salvation is of the Lord and the Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land now let's let's give let's talk about the shadow the foreshadowing that he's doing here okay and basically this shows us that even when we make mistakes and we're disobedient to God's Word God can still use that for his good right because he used it for something good you know Jesus Christ quotes this in Matthew chapter 12 and in fact go there if you would go to Matthew chapter number 12 Matthew chapter number 12 go to Matthew chapter 12 and go to verse number 38 if you would so there's three areas that we see this in the Gospels this is Matthew 12 Matthew 16 and then Luke chapter number 11 and look what it says in verse 38 of Matthew chapter 12 it says then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered saying master we would see a sign from thee but he answered and said unto them an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign and there shall no sign be given to it but 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 he uses the example of Jonas disobedience of being in the belly of the well as an example to say hey just as Jonas was there for three days and three nights I'm gonna be in the center of the earth and look no one here is like are you talking about Abraham's bosom no one here is confused over what he's referring to they know exactly what it's talking about even the unsafe people knew what he was talking about okay and we'll get to Abraham's bosom in just a bit but we see here that he says that now think about this so he says the sign that's going to be given to the this generation is the sign of Jonas the Prophet because he was three days and three nights in the in the belly of the well now this is reiterated again in Matthew 16 but I want you to notice something interesting go to Luke chapter number 11 if you would Luke chapter number 11 go to Luke 11 so he reiterates this again in Luke chapter 11 but I want you to notice him look at verse 29 it says when the people were gathered together verse 29 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 now in Matthew 12 and 16 what he begins to say thereafter is the fact that Jonas was three days and three nights in the in the well's belly son of man shall be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth but here he does not say that look what it says verse 30 for as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation now why is there a variation in what he's stating well this is what I believe he's saying here because of the fact that we know that when Jesus Christ went to hell over in Jonah was in the belly of the whale no one really saw that that was something that they personally experienced okay what did people see the resurrected Christ what did people see of Jonah Jonah and in fact you know this is speculation obviously but maybe people knew that he was swallowed by a whale because what happens thereafter well afterwards he gets vomited unto the land the Bible says he goes to Nineveh he's given a second chance he goes to Nineveh it's a three days journey that he does in one day I mean that the man's is quite motivated to be there okay he's not dragging his feet like the Jehovah's Witnesses he's just like three days I'll do it in one you know so he he gets there and he preaches the shortest sermon in the Bible go to Jonah go back to Jonah look at the look at the shortest sermon in the Bible I mean we preach for like 50 minutes and or an hour sometimes you know he'd even preach for that long he just like half a second look at Jonah 3 and verse 4 and Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey and he cried and said yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown that's all he had to say he went there and he said 40 days Nineveh's gonna be overthrown and you know what they did they repented now why is that well here's the thing think about this again he's been in stomach acid for three days and three nights he probably doesn't look the same the way he went in he probably looks a little different the pigmentation of his skin is gone I'm sure he looks deformed and marred and he smells the high heaven he looks a little different so when he comes and he says Nineveh shall be overthrown you know what they're saying yeah you look like you got overthrown right it was like okay you know what he was he was a sign unto Nineveh what is he a sign of of the judgment of God upon a person who disobeys him right so it's like this guy knows what he's talking about yeah you don't look too good and I don't want to look like you so I'm going to go ahead and even make the animals repent right he's like he put sackcloth and even the animals were in sackcloth and ashes this is how ugly he looked okay and so he was a sign and look I don't think that's ridiculous to think about because of the fact that Jesus Christ also was a sign when he resurrected you know they saw the nail prints in his hand they saw the wound in his side you know they were able to see the resurrected Christ okay and so we see there the parallels between the two that as Jonas was assigned into the Ninevites of look Jonas was a representation of someone who disobeyed God of sin well guess what Jesus Christ in like manner bore the sins of the whole world the nail prints in his hand the nail prints on his feet and also on his side is a representation of the sin of man is the repercussions of someone bearing the sins of the whole world okay so I believe what the bible is telling us here in Matthew chapter 12 and 16 is that yes Jesus Christ went into hell for three days and three nights but in like manner as Jonah was a sign physically seeing him come back from the dead so to speak so the son of man shall be a sign as well okay and look that's why Jesus said that's the only sign you're going to get and isn't it interesting that the most valuable and valid sign a person can get there's still people who didn't believe on him because to some people that's just not that's not even enough you know whether you have Moses and the prophets you have the whole entire canonized bible you think well if someone were to rise from the dead you know then I would believe no you won't believe if you don't believe Moses you won't believe Jesus if you don't believe Jesus you won't believe Moses okay so we see there that he's a sign unto them now he preaches unto them and they repent they get right with God and we'll cover that next week but here's the main thing that we want to talk about this evening is this because the main thought of this chapter is the fact that Jesus Christ went to hell okay what I mean by that I mean that when he died he literally his soul literally descended into the lower parts of the earth known as hell okay now you mentioned this to some Christians and they just kind of like freak out they're just like the heresy you know this is blasphemy what how can you say such a thing you know unbelievable how can you even think of such a thing and look I'll be honest with you I was kind of like one of those people there's a time when I believed in Abraham's bosom don't throw tomatoes I believed in Abraham's bosom but not because I studied it out it was just like I believed the pre-tribulation rapture it was my gang okay that's what I did by tradition kind of thing all right but here's the thing you cannot be King James only in my opinion and still believe in Abraham's bosom the way the dispensationalists teach it because of the fact that it specifically tells us in the King James that Jesus Christ was in hell in Acts chapter 2 and Psalms chapter 15 and 18 it plainly says that he's in hell and so you say well that's a ridiculous thought no it's not ridiculous because you have the old testament sacrifices being burned and Jesus Christ is the lamb of God who should take away the sins of the world it's no wonder why he would also have to be burned so to speak right he was the burnt offering but here's the thing you mentioned this to certain Christians and they're just like I can't that's blasphemous how can you even say something like that but define irony okay because look they're not saying this because they just think it's so crazy that you would think that Jesus Christ was literally burning in a literal hell for three days and three nights that's not what they're flinching at the reason they don't like it the fact that we believe and the Bible teaches that Jesus went to hell is because it's in direct opposition to their dispensational belief of Abraham's bosom that's all it is okay because look I've known Christians who are not new IFB I've known pastors who are straight old IFB I mean these are like people in their 80s and 70s who believe that Jesus went to hell you know what it wasn't controversial back then even if they disagreed with other people it wasn't a big deal no one would ever look at these people who would preach that and say oh man that's heresy that's heretical they just kind of like not care about it but you know what it is it's just another reason why they want to criticize the new IFB pastors is what it is oh reprobate the oxygen poster oh you're you're you're not a Zionist and all these things you don't believe the Jews are God's chosen people and you believe that Jesus went to hell shame on you that's how they see it but define irony though because they think it abominable that we would believe such a thing yet their belief in Abraham's bosom gets where it stems from from the book of the Talmud book the Jewish fable book called the Talmud okay which by the way that's where it originated from this same book define irony this same book teaches that Jesus Christ is in hell today burning in his own escrow because he was a heretical person who practiced black magic and who deserved to die that's what they believe so they criticize us because we believe that Jesus Christ went to hell for three days and three nights to pay for our sins when they're believing in a doctrine that they get from the book of the the Talmud that teaches that Jesus Christ is still there for burning in the sin for his own sins that's what they say define irony if you would okay so this is a foolish teaching of Abraham's bosom and look at the end of the day if you study the bible you put your pride aside your arrogant pride aside you throw your stupid dispensational books in the trash you use it as toilet paper you can see clearly this is what the bible is teaching you don't even have to go that far to see that Jesus Christ said it himself okay now you say what is Abraham's bosom what is that well that's that's Abraham's chest cavity I'm you know I'm not gonna give you a biology class here you this is my bosom okay that's all it is but what they say it is is that they believe that Abraham's bosom is a second compartment of hell in the center of the earth this is ridiculous okay you know there's so much evidence to just disprove that and refute it you know the bible tells us that hell hath enlarged itself so I mean how does that work like hey guys we're gonna need you to move a little bit to the side here we got so many people coming in here we're just gonna have to just can you scoot a little bit but that's what they believe they believe that Abraham's bosom is the second compartment in the center of the earth where the saints of the old testament went to because no one went to heaven in the old testament they went to Abraham's bosom this holding cell but by the way it has three names Abraham's bosom is one of them prison is the second one and then the third one's called paradise that's like man you were gypped you didn't use price line or something so it's it's paradise it's prison and it's Abraham's bosom you know and you say where do they get this from they get it from the Talmud you see dispensationalism is a bastardized version of Judaism that's all it is it's a bastardized Christianized version of Judaism that's all it is they took everything that Judaism teaches and they put a Christian slant to it that's all they did and Abraham's bosom is no exception to that okay now here's the thing luke 16 is where we find the story of the rich man and Lazarus you know the rich man descends into hell Lazarus goes to heaven he goes to Abraham's bosom you know they're up there in heaven and they use that as their proof text to say see there is a second compartment to to hell but the Greek word and name for Abraham's bosom means Abraham's bosom and lo and behold that's not it doesn't say Abraham's bosom in Acts chapter 2 it says hell everything about that everything about that nowhere in the new testament other than luke 16 is hell ever named Abraham's bosom whether in English or even the Greek text think about that so they're trying to fit their you know their square peg into a round hole so what is the Talmud well the Talmud is simply a collection of oral traditions that they believe were given to the 70 elders at Mount Sinai so you have the first five books of the Bible and they say this supplements those first five books of the Bible okay known as the Talmud and Talmud is a compilation of both something called the Mishnah and the Gemara okay and the Gemara is simply a commentary on the Mishnah both together both components together make up the Talmud this is the oral law this is what Jesus Christ will refer to as the tradition of the elders okay not God's word the traditions of the elders he said oh they didn't get Abraham's bosom from there if you go to kid 73b I believe it's 73b in the Talmud they say that a rabbi from the third century now rests in Abraham's bosom also known as paradise go read it it's right there and the dipsticks came they're like oh yeah that's a good idea hey that sounds great let's let's just make an entire dumb doctrine out of this you know and that's where they got it from and look you ever wonder where what Abraham's bosom was before Abraham that's something that Clarence Larkin C.I. Schofield, John Nelson Darby, and these other heretics they didn't really think about okay now the Jews did think about that believe it or not because if you read the Hellenistic testament of Abraham the writings during that time they'll say that prior to Abraham you know being in charge of this bosom it was it was Adam who was in charge of that bosom okay and that's a cheap bosom because it's missing a rib you got people slipping out of hell and stuff like that they're falling out they're going into like you know the actual place of the dam and it's like man we gotta fix this you know so then what happened was you know Adam he damned all of mankind they're like hey man thou you know thou shalt be no more steward and we're gonna replace you with Abraham you know you listen to your wife too much you listen to your wife too much Abraham he has his household in order now it's going to be Abraham's bosom okay and so these unsaved wolves and sheep's clothing false prophets came they took that concept from the Talmud and they applied it to Christianity okay so they they say that it's the second compartment of hell and what they believe is that during the old testament when people would die you know no one goes to heaven for whatever reason of course they don't they never want to talk about Enoch they never want to talk about Elijah who's carried up in a whirlwind chariots of fire in a whirlwind all the exceptions in the rule yeah you know however they believe that when they die they go into Abraham's bosom they stay there in this in this paradise slash prison then they have to wait this entire time until one until Jesus until the dispensation the new dispensation comes in Jesus Christ dies he goes into that second compartment and they use first peter chapter three as a proof text to say that when Jesus Christ descended into that second compartment he preaches to the spirits in prison and then they're like all right now we really believe you know it's all right boys come on out let's go and then they go to heaven and now currently Abraham's bosom is currently vacated right now that's that's a stretch that's such a stretch it's a tear you're ripping okay you're pulling a muscle such a stretch that's what they believe though okay and it doesn't take much to refute this because the bible is clear that when Jesus Christ died the bible tells us what is it that he ascended but that he first descended into the lower parts of the earth yeah but that's referring to Abraham's bosom okay then answer me this why is it that every time the bible mentions the word hell it's never in a good manner it's always associated with burning with distress with anguish it's a place of the wicked it never talks about hell your so-called Abraham's bosom as being a place where righteous people go think about that well what about David David said you know that when I leave my soul in hell that is a reference to Jesus Christ so time will not permit for me to go through all the scriptures proving that hell is a place of fire and torment but I think that's pretty clear you have to have something outside of the bible to teach us otherwise you will not get that from the word of God itself okay now go with me if you would to Acts chapter 2 go to Acts chapter 2 this belong to anybody someone trying to kill me here or something all right it belongs to somebody like I'm not saying it's me like and that's all it is look it's Jewish fables is what it is okay and like well you know we we can learn a lot from the Jews though you know they're God's chosen people the bible tells us that they have the veil over their eyes they can't understand even the most basic doctrine and in fact if you were to get a ruler of the Jews they would even know how to enter into the kingdom of God I don't believe that well what about Nicodemus Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews he was a master of Israel and he didn't even know how to get saved this is a spiritual leader so you think that they oh yeah well I know they're not saved but they understand everything else really they don't even understand the most basic thing in regards to doctrine salvation and you think that they're going to understand anything else something as deep even as as hell okay not going to happen look at Acts chapter 2 and verse 25 it says for David speaketh concerning him I foresaw the Lord always before my face for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved therefore did my heart rejoice and my tongue was glad moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope because that will not leave my soul in hell neither will thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption thou has made known to me the ways of life thou shall make me full of joy with thy countenance it's not ridiculous to think that Jesus Christ went to hell because of the fact that if we're to die for our sins that's exactly where we would go as well that's where we would go if we were to pay for our own sins that's exactly where we would go so why is it ridiculous to think that that's exactly what happened to Jesus Christ oh because he paid for our sins on the cross that's how he saved us no the bible says that he paid for our sins and he was raised again for our justification but he also went to hell it's all of them he paid for them on the cross he descended into hell and he resurrected it was all necessary for these things to happen okay so Abraham's bosom is a fraud okay and again as I mentioned for someone to call it paradise you know they'll call it paradise and they'll say you know they'll call it they'll use the words that the bible uses completely out of context you know because of the fact that Jesus said today thou shall be with me in paradise okay and the fact that we know that Jesus Christ went to hell if he descended then he's talking about paradise well that just speaks to the the fact of the fact that he's God that's what it's referring to okay and anytime you study the word paradise in the bible it's always in reference to heaven for example you have Paul right who went up into the third heaven and he called it paradise now go with me if you would to first peter chapter number three first peter chapter number three first peter chapter number three i remember when i believed this and then i was confronted with this you know i thought to myself well you know if the bible says it then i believe it and i went to ask chapter two i went to the different portions of scripture and i say yeah that makes sense that makes a lot of sense i guess i was wrong you know and i look it's not bad if you're wrong about something you're right we're always going to be wrong about something hopefully not consistently wrong about things but every once in a while we're going to be wrong and if you're wrong this is what you do you admit it and then you you correct it and then you believe that which is right why do you want to remain wrong your entire life out of pure stubbornness and just being arrogant i know people who have showed these scriptures too and they just refuse to believe it they're just like no i don't believe that i don't believe that and it's just like don't you want to believe right and i tell them look if i'm wrong show me where i'm wrong because i want to believe right but they can't okay now the reason i'm bringing you to first peter chapter number three is because of the fact that this is what they used to teach that when jesus christ died he had this preaching service in the second compartment of hell and this is exactly what they use to try to to teach that okay and look this is this can be a confusing scripture okay if you don't compare scripture with scripture if you don't understand certain things look at verse number 17 for it is better if the will of god be so that you suffer for well-doing than for evil doing for christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to god being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison which sometime were disobedient when once suffering of god weighed in in the days of noah while the ark was a preparing wherein few that his eight souls were saved by water so they'll use this and say see he went and preached to the spirits in prison prison is paradise they both start with a p you don't see it come on that's what that's they're they're synonymous with one and one with another they're like synonyms prison is just like paradise so let's what does this mean okay look at verse 18 again for christ has also had once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to god being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the spirit by which also he went and preached into the spirits in prison by which also is referring to that by the spirit he went and preached unto the spirits in prison so how do we preach the word of god we have to preach it by the spirit how do we win people to christ how do we go solely we have to do it by the spirit why because the flesh profiteth nothing it is the spirit that quickeneth my words that i speak unto you they are spirit and they are life that's what the bible tells us so when we preach the word of god we need to do it by the spirit and this is referring to the fact that he preached the spirits of prison by the spirit he said well okay hold on a second so why is it saying spirits in prison you know explain that well it doesn't take much to notice if you just compare scripture with scripture this is just referring to normal human beings let me give you a real deep doctrinal teaching right now you have a spirit did you know that every single human being on this world has a spirit and when we preach the word of god to a person you know what we're preaching to we're not preaching to their flesh preaching to their spirit why because the bible tells us that the flesh is not subject unto the law of god neither indeed can be so when we preach the word of god we're preaching to their spirit now go to isaiah chapter 61 isaiah 61 are you saying that he was just that's just referring to just regular people yes is that so weird yeah that's weird no what's weird is that you're saying that he had a preaching service in a second compartment in the center of the earth right that's weird look at isaiah 61 verse 1 the spirit of the lord god is upon me because the lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the lord and the day of vengeance of our god to comfort all that mourn to appoint unto them that mourn in zion to give unto them beauty for ashes the oil of joy for mourning the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness that they might be called the trees of righteousness the planting of the lord that he might be glorified look the bible tells us that before salvation our spirit was dead in trespasses and sin god says that a person who's not saved it's like they're in prison why because they're in prison to sin satan has captured them satan has blinded their minds lest they they should hear the gospel and be saved that you said well not me you know before i was saved i was you know i wasn't in prison i wasn't you know in jail or anything no spiritually speaking you were in prison you were taken captive by satan and by the false ideologies of this world but when a soul owner came to you and gave you the gospel they helped you to overcome those false doctrines and ideologies and what happened we were made free we were given liberty and this is exactly what jesus christ did when he was here on this earth he preached the word of god unto the spirits in prison those who were in bondage to sin and bondage to false doctrine and bondage to just not being saved and in fact in the book of luke he reads this passage of scripture and he says this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears and no he wasn't in abraham's bosom at that time he didn't say that when he was in the second compartment and say hey david noah this day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears no he was doing his ministry he was preaching the word of god and he was seeing people say who the spirits that are in prison look what it says in chapter four verse number five it says who shall give an account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead for for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead that they might be judged according to men in the flesh but live according to god in the spirit it says but the end of all things is at hand but be therefore sober and watch unto prayer so you know this is what happens when you just take one verse and you don't compare scripture with scripture you got to compare it you can't just come up with some crazy interpretation of scripture by just using one verse look by the way and they'll say well you know in first and second peter peter talks about tartarus why is he using tartarus tartarus is a different compartment of hell as well it's the abyss tartarus is hell he said why is he using tartarus why is he using hades because they're synonyms and you know why peter uses tartarus instead of hades because of the fact that peter is in babylon and babylon at that time is what rome right well rome at that time esteemed greek literature quite a bit i mean obviously we talked about that before how when rome conquered greece it was almost as they had a joke that almost greece conquered rome because of the fact that they were adopting all their literature they loved their way of living they just integrated their culture into their own culture and so it's no surprise that peter would use this language of tartarus that maybe not may not be found within the greek new testament as often but in other greek literature it's found one is referring to hell why because he's using a higher level language of greek that's why okay they're found within a city where they're steaming greek literature quite a bit and that's the language that he's using and in fact he uses many greek words in first and second peter that are not commonly used in the other portions of scripture of the new testament okay and so no tartarus is not some you know second compartment third compartment it's just hell is what it is and look to prove it and people think like synonyms are like you can't have synonyms in greek or something english does the same thing here let me help you out there's hell there's the lake of fire there's the outer darkness the blackness of darkness forever right there's the center of the earth the heart of the earth these are all referring to hell so yes hell is the primary one that everyone's familiar with however there's synonyms to that to help expound its meaning and help you to understand and just give you a different perspective of it but we need to make sure that when we study the bible that if there's an isolated word or verse that may not be found anywhere else we don't build off a doctrine off of that okay this is the only one that's found so we got to make sure we create some new doctrine no we need to compare scripture with scripture and here's the funny thing this week i made a video on just giving helpful tips to explain james chapter number two and someone literally commented and said this huh you have to compare scripture with scripture to prove your point that's what they told me how do you answer how do you answer stupid he literally said you have to compare scripture with scripture in order to prove your point you can't just use one verse to prove your point i mean what do you what do you say i'm just like you got me yeah yeah i just wanted to press the like button or the heart you know put the heart next to their name you got it because that's exactly how you're supposed to interpret scripture scripture with scripture okay all scripture is given by inspiration of god's profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction instruction and righteousness no prophecy of the scripture is given of any private interpretation you know if god places an important doctrine in the bible he's gonna place various verses throughout the bible to confirm that teaching to confirm that doctrine now obviously there's teachings in the bible or verses that are very obscure okay but the vast majority of them that are obscure they don't deal with deep doctrine so it's kind of open for interpretation for us because it's not essential these aren't essential doctrines in regards to salvation in regards to the trinity in regards to heaven and hell these are very blatant scriptures that we can understand and know but in order for us to know what it's saying we need to make sure we compare scripture with scripture go back to to jonah chapter number two if you would jonah chapter number two so we debunked this thing called the fact that it's called paradise okay and the fact that they refer to it as prison and look if they want to call the literal hell prison i have no problem with that because that is prison the only difference is there's no parole you never get out okay and look every single person who's ever taught this false doctrine and there were unsafe heretics they believe in the right type of hell now they don't believe in abraham's bosom anymore right yeah you know every single person every single jewish rabbi every single heretic clarence larkin john elson all those guys the trio they all believe in the right type of hell now yeah amen none of them hold to abraham's bosom anymore right they believe right now and look just think about this every single atheist and person who hates god they all become believers when they die they all get one over right they all start believing right but at that point it's too late it's too late and so jonah chapter number two is a powerful portion of scripture and it's only 10 verses but it it's enough because god used it to symbolize the foreshadowing of jesus christ dying for us and descending into the lower parts of the earth okay which is hell and look that should cause us to have gratitude amen because you know don't undermine the fact that he went there for three days and three nights he was willing to experience hell for us okay and you know i find it that when i explain this to people at the door they have no problem believing it every once in a while you'll find someone maybe who has a problem with it but for the most part most people don't even bat an eye at it you know the people who have a problem with it are christians dispensationalists dipsticks republican christians serious they all have a problem with that the brand new believer says oh yeah i get that the person at the door has no problem believing that because it's so clear it's like this i remember when we went to the missions trip in mexico with faithful or baptist church and i was with pastor anderson he was witnessing to a guy you know pastor anderson has like 15 000 kids or whatever and he was there and he was getting any time he'd give that illustration about how many kids he has people in the states are like you got all those kids what in the world you know he was talking to this guy in mexico and he told him how many kids he had and the guy was just like in his mind he's just like that's it weak sauce you know because hispanic families they got like 20 kids and stuff i've known some to even have like 30 kids yeah you know but they don't they he didn't even bat an eye at that why because it's just it's normal right well in like manners sometimes you'll talk to like when i present the gospel i often say yeah jesus christ went into hell for three days and three nights and they just nod their head they have zero problems with this why because they don't have any preconceived ideas that they have to sift through they don't have the sewage of dispensationalism that they have to sift through okay they have the pure word of god it makes complete sense and that is what the bible is teaching us there so jonah chapter number two is a great chapter and at the end of the day obviously it teaches the fact that jesus went to hell and it confirms that but another thing that it teaches us is the fact that god is merciful okay and you know we we often talk about the righteousness and the judgment of god the wrath of god which are very real qualities and attributes of god that we should appreciate but in like manner i'm thankful for his long suffering i'm thankful that he gave jonah second chance you know and we never want to undermine that as well you know if god is giving you a second chance take it don't play with god if you're involved in sin repent well you know i haven't been swallowed by a well well you know he might have something bigger than a well to come swallow you up don't tempt the lord thy god don't tempt god make sure you just get right with them and and escape that judgment that's going to come upon you if you don't get right don't become vomit don't become a whale's vomit just get right with him allow yourself to bask in the mercy of god and be thankful for it okay and so we'll get into chapter three next week so what we covered so far is the fact that he was commissioned to go to the city he disobeys his fish swallows him up he's in the belly of the whale he cries unto the lord the lord's merciful to him vomits him up and now he's really motivated to actually do the will of god okay and so make sure you're motivated before you get swallowed so that he doesn't have to use a well to motivate you thereafter and then inspire hasn't have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for your word and thank you for the example of jonah and although sometimes we can we can look down on jonah in all reality all of us can be a little bit like jonah sometimes and i pray god that you'd help us help us to to remember your mercies and understand that is it is of the lord's mercies that we are not consumed your mercies are new every day and help us to be constantly thankful for that and lord i i pray god that you'd help us uh to always have a heart of gratitude even in the in the area of thinking about the sacrifice that you made of your son to die for us and descend into hell and we we're those of us who are saved we're never going to see hell ever again it's never going to be a reality to us and unfortunately it is a reality to many people who are there now but i pray god that you use something like this to motivate us to go out and preach the gospel to see people save and to pull them out of that fire we love you so much lord and we thank you pray these things in jesus name amen