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So the title of the sermon this evening is the book of Jonah and the book of Jonah is a pretty famous story. It's something that many people are very familiar with but I want to just kind of go through this book a little bit and understand it and just kind of draw some parallels out of it because the Bible says to him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins and according to the Bible all of the Old Testament prophets pictured the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a lot of great detail and doctrine that we get from the Old Testament and I want to just kind of go through this book a little bit but we see in verse number one the Bible says now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of the Mitzi saying arise go to Nineveh that great city and cry against it for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee and a Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. They went down to Joppa and he found a ship going to Tarshish so he paid the fare thereof and went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Now this is very interesting that the Bible uses this particular language because we first see Jonah. He's commanded by God to go and preach just wealth and prosperity to everyone away. No way he's sent to go to Nineveh and preach against their wickedness because that's what the Bible's full of is people preaching against wickedness. Sorry to wake you up all right. But Jonah in this story he doesn't want to preach. He doesn't want to preach against the city. He's not interested in going. If you study Tarshish it's kind of a rich place so he just wants to flee to the cares of this world, the luxury, the deceitfulness of riches. He's not interested in going and preaching to the bloody city. He's not interested in preaching to Nineveh. He doesn't want to have to do that kind of a job. In verse number three though it says that Jonah is going to rise up and flee to Tarshish. Notice this, from the presence of the Lord. Now that's an interesting phrase because the Bible makes it clear it's impossible to escape God. But what I think that it's trying to indicate here or what it's trying to teach us is obviously when we draw nigh to God he'll draw nigh unto us. And so obviously you can't escape God in the sense that you can't go somewhere where he's not but you can not be close to him. You can be close but yet be far away at the same time in a sense. But what I want to prove before we get there is just the fact that you can't escape where God is. Go to Psalms chapter 139. And no matter where you put yourself on this planet, God is there. God is going to be there but at the same time you might not have fellowship with him and just because you're in God's presence doesn't even make it a good thing. Sometimes the Bible talks about being in God's presence and it's negative. But let's get some doctrine from the Bible. Psalms 139, look at verse number seven, whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence? So the Psalm is asking the question like how can I get away from the presence of God? Okay. It says in verse eight, if I ascend up into heaven thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. Some people like to soften the doctrine of hell and say that it's just not being close to God. Hey, you're just as close, buddy. You can't escape the presence of God. But you know what? Instead of being in God's love, you're going to be in God's wrath for all of eternity. That's the difference. You can't escape his presence, okay? So it's kind of an interesting thought that we have here in the book of Jonah, how Jonah thinks, you know what? I'm just going to escape God's presence. Well guess what? He's on that boat that you're going to go on. But obviously there could be another parallel there in just the fact that obviously I want to be in God's blessing, not in God's cursing. And right here we have being in the presence of God in heaven and being in the presence of God in hell. I would rather be in that presence of heaven, not hell. That's why I believed on Jesus Christ and God's faith. But go to Revelation chapter 14, let me prove this again, that you can't get away from God. And I think the importance here is this. You know, the Christian life is a long life. It's but a vapor, but at the same time it's going to be a long time. Seventy years is a long time. There's a lot of life that many people in this room have to look forward to, and no matter what you do, God's going to be there. You can't just get away from God. You say, well if I don't go to Step-Ath Baptist Church, God's not going to know what I'm doing. Look, you don't have to come to Step-Ath Baptist Church. God knows where you're at no matter where you go, no matter what you do. And we see that Jonah, he got to a point where he's like, you know what, I'm done with the negative preaching. You know, I don't want to go and preach the Nineveh, and there's going to be people, they say, you know what, I'm done with the negative preaching. Well, God's still going to be there. And Jonah's going to get severely punished for deciding, well, I just want to go away. You can't go away, my friend. Revelation 14, verse 9. The Bible says you can't get away from that presence. I don't care what you do. You go down to hell, he's there. You go to heaven, he's there. Hey, Jonah, you hide on the boat, God's there. God knows where you're at, Jonah. Don't think that you can get away. And you, oh Christian, you, oh steadfast member, don't think you can escape God's presence. Well, as long as I'm going to this other church, you know, this is fine. God's going to follow you. Wherever you go, he's already there. He's waiting for you. And whenever you decide to get out of his will, which I think is more the point that the Bible's making here at Jonah, when you decide to not do what God has for you, God will find you and he will punish you severely. The Bible says in Hebrews 12, you don't have to turn there, for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you're a child of God, which I believe 99% of people in here are saved, you know, that 1%, you can just jump in a lake with a millstone. But the people that are saved in this room, God will chasten and scourge you. You need to learn from Jonah. You need to say, you know what, if I just go hide, God will find me. God knows what I'm doing. You can't just escape God. Let's go back to the book of Jonah. Go back to the book of Jonah. Let's see what happens with Jonah. It says in verse number 4, but the Lord sent out a great wind in the sea and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so the ship was light to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid and cried every man unto his God and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down to the side of the ship and he lay and was fast asleep. So the ship master came to him and said unto him, what meanest thou sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not. Now this is what I think is really true. Whenever we're in sin, whenever doing something that we shouldn't be doing, you have this tendency to not want to pray, not want to read your Bible, not go to church, not do anything godly. Jonah is about to die and he's just like, well, I'm not going to call God, I'm trying to get away from God. But this makes it so important that when you backslide, when you sin, when you do wrong, you immediately get back in your Bible, you immediately get down on your knees and pray to God, you immediately get back in church, don't let your heart get hardened, don't be like Jonah, I'm just going to die. No, you get down on your knees and you beg God to forgive you. You ask God, what would happen if he had just got down and started praying and asking for forgiveness? Maybe the storm would have just stopped and they would have read it on the boat back to the land. But obviously there's another story here, okay, so we're going to keep reading. Look at verse number six, verse seven, I'm sorry. So we find out his sin. He's trying to get out of the will of God, he's trying to not be close to God, he doesn't want to do what God had for him, he's trying to get away and they're saying, why did you do this? You know, well, go if you would, keep your finger here, but go in your Bible in Numbers chapter 32, Numbers chapter number 32. An important lesson here is the fact that no matter what you do, God will recompense it. God is not mocked. For whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. If God gives you clear commandments and you decide not to do it, there will be a punishment. You think that I just tell my children to do things in vain, like, hey, go clean your room, go eat your dinner. No, if I give them a commandment, I expect them to get it done. Look, God the Father is a better father than I'll ever be. When he gives us commandments, he expects us to do them. And whenever you go out and sin, guess what it says in Numbers 32, look at verse number 23. But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out. Don't think that you can just sin against God and get away from it. Your sin will find you out. Just like Jonah, he can hide in that boat. He can dig down into hell. He can go wherever he wants. God will find him. God is everywhere. You think you can escape from the presence of God? Think again. Look, he's even in Mexico, all right? Go back to Jonah. Go back to Jonah. Look, Nineveh, Mexico, whatever. How many people don't want to go there? Oh, Mexico. You know, these people, they're all bloody and murderous and it's dangerous. And why would we want to go down there so wicked and, you know, they're Catholic? Yeah, but there's a lot of people down there. They don't know the difference between the left hand and the right hand. And they need salvation, too. A soul is a soul, my friend. And we ought not look at another nation and just say, eh, I don't like that one. No, God's called us to go to every country, every nation, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. I ought not look at a certain area and be like, not that one, though. I like Tarshish, you know, I just want to go to Tarshish, Hawaii, oh, this is just Hawaii. Now, look, I'm not against going to Hawaii. You go all through the nations, but you ought to go to Nineveh, too, Jonah. He says in verse number 11, then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? For the sea wrought and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me up and cast me forth into the sea. So shall the sea be calm unto you, for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to bring it to the land, but they could not. For the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them. Wherefore they cried unto the Lord and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood. For thou, O Lord, has done as it pleased thee. So they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea seized from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered to sacrifice the Lord and made vows. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Now the interesting thing about Jonah, there's a lot of things we can learn. I believe that it gives a kind of a dark look into the gospel because it has so many interesting parallels. First of all, we see some sinful guys. Now what happens? They're in a troubleless situation, they're in a tempestuous situation. Now how are they going to get saved? Well they try with their own works by rowing to the shore, but you know what, they can't get there by their works. Do you know what they have to do? They have to call upon the name of the Lord. And then what happens? Well what are they putting their faith in? Well they have to throw Jonah into the sea. They have to sacrifice Jonah so that they can be saved. So it's kind of a picture of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to die for us so that we can be saved, not by their works, not by anything they did, they just called upon the Lord and they accepted his sacrifice as their salvation. I think it's a pretty basic understanding. Now the cool thing about this is you basically have them call upon the Lord, they're trusting Jesus Christ's death in a picture of Jonah's death. Then what happens later? Well then he goes into the well's belly, which pictures what? Hell. And then eventually the well's going to do what? Spit him out? The resurrection. So you have the death, burial, and resurrection of the book of Jonah. I mean it's pretty incredible. Oh a bunch of farmers and herders and cow people, they just wrote these books, you know, just happens to be perfect pictures of Jesus Christ all the way throughout. Now it's obvious that this is God's word, humans could not write such a perfect book, but I want to also focus on some different aspects. That's great imagery and we'd love to get there, but I want to look at a few other things. We have in Proverbs chapter one, I'll just read for you, it says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. So when they feared the Lord, that's how they got saved, right? But in chapter number two, we see that Jonah is put into the fish's belly. And if we read verse one, it says, then Jonah prayed under the Lord is God out of the fish's belly and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction under the Lord and he heard me out of the belly of hell, cried I, and thou heard is my voice for thou has cast me into the deep and in the midst of the season, the floods compass me about all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compass me about even to the soul. The depth closed me round about the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth with their bars was about me forever. Yet has thou brought up my life from corruption. Oh Lord, my God, when my soul fainted within me, I remember the Lord. My prayer came in unto thee 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 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 chapter 2 is interesting because it's one of the strongest pictures we have of the fact that Jesus Christ actually not only died on the cross for our sins, but took our place in hell that we deserve to go. Now one thing you have to understand about Old Testament prophecy is oftentimes when the prophet of the Lord is speaking, he's speaking about his personal experience and at the same time a prophetic experience. But they're not necessarily both going to happen for both situations. So what I mean by that is some of the things that Jonah is saying are happening to him right now. It's literally what he's experiencing. It's what he's saying. Then we kind of have some metaphors that articulate what he's going through, but it's not something he's literally going through. It's something Jesus Christ will literally go through. But then additionally, some of the things that Jonah said about himself are things that Jesus Christ is not going to experience. So whenever you're studying the Old Testament, you have to understand when it comes to prophecy, some verses are going to be directly interpreted as this is going to be fulfilled then, whereas other verses are interpreted to be fulfilled now. And then sometimes there's crossover where it's fulfilled in both places. So you can't just say, oh, well, all of this didn't happen. Okay, you're right, because part of it's going to happen now, part of it's going to happen later, and there's going to be overlap amongst those. So if we look at a few of these verses, he says in verse 2, I said, I cried by reason of mine affliction to the Lord, and he heard me. Out of the belly of hell cried I. Now when the prophet Jonah is saying this, he is not in hell. But I'm pretty sure if you're in a whale's belly, you could be like, man, I'm like in the belly of hell here. So it's like a metaphor. He's just trying to say, man, it's like out of the belly of hell. But Jesus Christ was literally in the belly of hell, and he literally cried unto the Lord. So that's how the Bible works when it comes to prophecy. Sometimes it may not even pertain at all to the prophet. He's just speaking prophetically, and it's just something that Jesus Christ is going to say or experience. So when we see this verse, we know it's talking about who? Jesus Christ. The Spirit tells us, we can see this when we compare other verses in our Bible. When it says in verse number three, for thou hast cast me into the deep and into the midst of the seas, and the floods compass me about, all thy billows and thy waves pass over me, that is only Jonah. So what's happening, and God does this often, and this is an important concept to learn here because it's throughout the whole Old Testament, where it'll kind of just jump in and talk about Jesus, then go back to where we are in reality, then jump back out again and talk about Jesus again, and then to kind of jump back out. So you can't necessarily take every single verse and just attribute it only to Jesus or only to Jonah. It kind of has this unique poetry that God gives us where it's kind of going back and forth and giving us this prophetic vision or just statements here. But then it says in verse four, then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. Now I believe this is a boat because Jonah is in a sense cast out of his sight, but this is most significantly pointing to Jesus Christ, how God the Father wouldn't even want to look at his own son, but he's going to return, he's going to look back to the temple. Says in verse five, the waters compass me about, even to the soul, the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped up my head. Jonah literally had weeds wrapped around his head. That's not about the Lord Jesus Christ though. So we kind of get this picture, it's kind of a tug and war of both. It says in verse six, I went down to the bottoms of the mountains, the earth with their bars is about me forever, yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. Now verse six is again clearly only the Lord Jesus Christ, because Jonah, the whale didn't go all the way down below all the mountains, okay? He didn't actually go into hell, he's just given this vivid imagery about hey, it's like there's mountains out there and the well's down here, so it's kind of a metaphor, but it literally happened with the Lord. The Lord literally went down to the center of the earth, and I like how it words this because all your flat earth heads are going to explode. He said that the earth with their bars was about me. Now if you look up the definition of about, it can mean a circle. If you said hey, there's a bunch of guys about me, they made a circle about me. About is a circle, and he's saying hey, the earth somehow is a perfect circle all around me, encompassing me with their bars, because it's a globe, my friend. It's not that hard. That's what the Bible's teaching, and Jesus Christ, he's in the belly. Belly is the center, it's the heart, where's your belly? It's in your center, it's in your core, it's in the midpoint, just like Jonah was in the well's belly, so shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth. Let's actually look at these verses, okay? Go over to Ephesians chapter number four, Ephesians chapter number four. Acts chapter number two says, he's seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did he see corruption. We have a clear verse in Acts chapter two, it tells us that Jesus Christ, he did go to hell, but he was not left there. Jonah went to the well's belly, but he was not left there. Now in the latter parts of Jonah chapter two, I believe it's basically just Jonah and there's some parallel with the Lord Jesus Christ, but six is just a powerful verse talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, talking about how he says, my life from corruption, that was brought up my life from corruption. What is corruption? Corruption is how your body would decay, wax old, change. If you've ever seen an open casket, if you've ever been to a funeral and you see an open casket, they look different. There's been some corruption, they lose their life, they lose their substance. Jesus Christ didn't suffer any corruption of his body. When his soul returned into his body, he looked the exact same, he didn't look like he ever died before and he was glorified on top of that, but I'm just saying, like the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, when he's showing up, I mean, he's different, but he didn't, his body didn't decay. He didn't get a new body, okay, Jehovah's false witness. He didn't get like a loner body, nope, it's the exact same body, it still had the same holes, it still had the hole in his side. His body was preserved by God and he re-entered that body after three days and three nights. And I think the picture there's also Jonah, somehow Jonah was able to be in a whale's belly for three days and not physically deteriorate. I mean, I don't know what that's like. I don't know if that's even scientifically possible. I venture to believe it's probably not. Just from the acids or whatever other things are going on in the whale's belly, it's probably pretty dangerous to be in a whale's belly. I don't know what else is going on in there, all kinds of different things being swallowed in constant water and it sounds terrible, okay, and it's a lot like hell. There's some distinctions. The whale's belly is really wet. Hell, there's no water. It's in the pit, there's the pit where there is no water, but you know what, it's dark. I'm sure it's frustrating. There's nobody else there but you. I mean, it's just horrifying. You don't know what's going on. Maybe it could feel like, you know, where you're weightless. Obviously in the center of hell, we think of it probably having no gravity, potentially. I don't know of being in a whale's belly, you're just kind of like, I don't know what's going on. I don't know what's the way it's up. I mean, it sounds horrific and that's kind of a picture that Jonah had. That's the closest anybody's going to get to hell that's saved, all right, but Ephesians chapter four teaches that Lord Jesus Christ went to hell for us. It says in verse eight, wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth. He that descended the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things. So the Bible teaches from cover to cover, hey, Jesus Christ not only died on the cross, he also took our place in hell that we deserve to go. Old Testament, New Testament, epistles everywhere, we see that the Lord Jesus Christ actually not only tasted death, he experienced hell for us. Now go to Matthew chapter 12, a verse that we know pretty well. We'll see it connect Jesus Christ with the story of Jonah for us. We don't even have to do the hard work. I mean, the Bible just does all the work for us. It just like tells us all the things that we need to know. And in fact, most prophecy, the safest thing for you to do is let the New Testament give you all the Old Testament prophecy because the Old Testament constantly says, you know, as it is written, hey, as I say it, hey, remember prophet Jonah, go look up Jonah. He was in the Wells Valley. This is the safest way to understand prophecy. Now sometimes you can read pictures and samples and stories in the Old Testament that we can find in the New Testament and that's great, but it's safer when you look at pictures that the Bible just clearly paints for you, you know, paints different pictures of Esau and Isaac and Abraham and David and all these different stories and helps us understand them. Matthew chapter 12 verse 39, but he answered and said to them, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign and there shall be no sign given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the Wells Valley, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, the men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with his generation and shall condemn it because they repented of the preaching of Jonas and behold a greater than Jonas is here. So notice it was a powerful picture of Jonas's testimony that people could believe in him and he said, hey, there's somebody better than Jonas here. You should believe him. Now I want you to go to Luke 23, Luke 23. Some people attack this doctrine. I don't see how after I showed you all those verses, all the new Testament verses, you could sit here and still say, Jesus didn't go to hell. You know, I don't believe that, you know, that's a blasphemous doctrine. You know, how's it blasphemous? I think it gives me more love and appreciation for the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, the fact that not only did he die physically, he took my place in hell that I deserved to go. Secondly, from a logical perspective, it makes sense that, hey, if God's just and every, you know, thing has to be rewarded justly, someone had to take my place in hell and I'm glad it's not me. I'm glad it was the Lord Jesus Christ. Additionally, how the heck did Jesus Christ get the keys of hell and of death if he didn't go there? Revelation. I mean, everything about it makes perfect sense. Why would it be blasphemous? We already read two verses where it says, if I make my bed in hell, thou art there. Hey, they're going to be torment in the presence of the lamb. So it's not like he's just, well, I could never go to hell. He's there. He can't escape the presence of God, period. But he experienced the torment, the pain, the anguish. I don't even know what it's like. Sounds horrible. But what people do is they'll take one verse and they'll try to make it, you know, teach that he didn't really go to hell. Luke 23, look at verse 43. And Jesus said in him, verily I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with me and paradise. So the thief, the good thief, okay, well, I don't know good, but the believing thief, all right, the saved thief, okay. He said, Lord, rememberest me when thou comest in thy kingdom. Jesus Christ said, today thou shalt be with me and paradise. And people say, see, Jesus didn't go to hell. Well, here's the thing. Jesus Christ is not limited like you and I that he can only be in one place, my friend. How is he in heaven and hell at the same time? Now let's prove this from the Bible because Jesus Christ is known as the Son of Man and Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus Christ is the Son of Man, was the Son of Man, and is going to be the Son of Man. He's the man Christ Jesus, period. And let me give you some strong proofs for this. Go if you would to Acts 7. Let's go to Acts 7 first. We're going to see that the Bible consistently teaches that the Son of Man is in heaven. It says in Acts 7, let's look at verse number 56. Now this is Stephen, he's been preaching a really nice message to the Jews, how great they are, how they have only always resisted the Holy Ghost, and they crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. They didn't really like that message. But in verse 56, the Bible says, and he said, Behold, I see the heavens open, and notice this, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. So when Stephen looked up and looked into heaven and he saw Jesus Christ, who is that? The Son of Man. The Son of Man was in heaven with God the Father, you say, yeah, but that was after the resurrection. Okay, let's just get a few more after the resurrection stories. Go to Revelation chapter 14, Revelation chapter number 14. So we clearly see that Jesus Christ in heaven right now, when Stephen looked up to him, what did he call him? The Son of Man. Let's look at Revelation 14, 14, Revelation 14, 14. And I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown, and his hand a sharp tickle. So he's even in Revelation. They're looking and saying, hey, this guy's like Jesus Christ, he's like the Son of Man. Go to chapter 1. Go back just a few pages, go to chapter 1, look at verse number 13. Now this is a famous passage talking about the revelation of Jesus Christ. It says in verse number 13, in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man, clothed the garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were a flame of fire, and his feet like unto fine grass, as if they burn in a furnace, and his voice is the sound of many wanders, and he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth and his strength. So look, even Jesus Christ, when we read this description, this is the glorified Lord Jesus Christ. What is he referred to as? The Son of Man. One like unto the Son of Man. Now go if you would to Mark chapter number 14. Mark chapter number 14. So we see that Jesus Christ, when Stephen looked at him, hey, this is the Son of Man. Hey, when we see in Revelation, even his glorified state, Son of Man. Mark chapter number 14, he's being questioned by the Sadducees and Pharisees, all the wicked people. It says in verse 61, but he held his peace and answered nothing. Again, the high priest asked him and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? So he's saying, hey, are you the Son of the Blessed? Are you the Son of God? Are you the Son of the Most High God? Some Muslim will say, Jesus never said he was the Son of God. Jesus never said he was anything. Well, here's a question. Are you the Son of the Blessed? Let's see what he said. He was really confusing, and Jesus said, I am. I never admitted it. I am. Jesus says, and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. Jesus Christ is emphasizing, hey, the Son of Man is sitting at the right hand of God the Father. Jesus Christ is the Son of Man. Go if you would to John chapter number 6 now. John chapter number 6. Jesus Christ is the Son of Man. So whenever he says, hey, today thou shalt be with me in paradise, you're like, oh, well, there's Jesus in heaven. Look, Jesus is in heaven, period. He's always in heaven. He's not limited by space and time like us. He's the creator. He created all things. Look at John chapter number 6. This is some interesting language. Give me a second to confirm there. John chapter 6, look at verse 62, verse number 62. Let's back up a verse, all right? Verse 61. When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said to them, did this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before? He's saying, hey, you know where the Son of Man was before he came down? In heaven. That tells me the Son of Man didn't come into existence in Mary's womb. He was before Mary's womb. Jesus Christ is the great I Am. Go if you would to Daniel chapter number 7. Daniel chapter number 7. Let's go even further back, all right? Daniel chapter number 7. Now Jesus Christ, when he was on this earth, you say, well, it says where he was before. That means he's not there now. Yeah, but in John chapter number 3, he makes it really clear to his disciples. He says, no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven. Jesus Christ said, hey, the Son of Man came down from heaven, and guess what? He's in heaven. There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. You know when that verse changes? Never. There's always three in heaven. Don't be confused. God is everywhere. Jonah, I'm going to escape the presence of God. Good luck with that, buddy. You can't escape. You can't escape God. Daniel chapter 7, verse number 13. And I saw in the night visions behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. Who do they call him in the Old Testament? The Son of Man. Look, Jesus Christ is the Son of Man. The Son of Man came down. The Son of Man ascended. When you get in Revelation, it's still the Son of Man. Jesus Christ is the Son of Man. You can't escape him. Don't try. All right? He said, hey, when you're going to be with me in paradise, was he with Christ? Yep. Did Jesus Christ go to hell? Yep. Where is Jesus Christ? Everywhere. In all places. That's why it's foolish, Jonah, to try and escape God, to escape the Lord Jesus Christ. All right? Now, go, if you would, to Revelation chapter 1. Go back there. I know we've kind of skipping around a few times, but work on your sword drills. All right? Revelation chapter 1, verse number 18. This is Jesus Christ. We didn't quite get there, but he says in verse number 18, this is the Son of Man talking again. I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, amen, and have the keys of hell and of death. Jesus Christ, he experienced hell for us, so we wouldn't have to go there. Now, going into Matthew chapter number 18, I want to look at another point, Matthew chapter number 18. So what are we establishing? We're establishing the fact that when the prophet Jonas went into the well's belly, it had major significance to point to the fact that Christ would go to hell for us. But Jesus Christ, you know, his presence is everywhere, even in the church right now. It says in Matthew chapter 18, look at verse number 20, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Look, we have the presence of God in all different kinds of places, and I think that what that should do is it should motivate you to think about your actions. I mean, if Jesus Christ was sitting right next to you in church right now, you might be like, I want to stand up a little bit, oh, Matthew 18, yeah, I'm going to flip to Matthew chapter 18, you know. I bet when you drive home, you might say less words, you know, when someone cuts you off. I bet when you're by yourself and you're thinking sin, oh yeah, Jesus Christ is with me, I'm not going to do that one. Look, Jonah, you can't get out of the presence of God. He knows what you're doing. He sees everything that you're doing. Don't think, well, if I get out of Step Fast Baptist Church, you know, whatever, God's going to see you, God's going to follow you. It's not about coming to this church. It's about serving God. That's your life. You don't have to come to this church to serve God. You know what? You're not going to serve God in the well's belly. You're not going to serve God, you know, hiding on the ship going to Tarshish. You need to start doing what God said and go preach to Nineveh. You need to start fulfilling the call that God has in your life. Go back to Jonah, it's a good chapter 3, powerful book with so many truths. I don't have enough time to go through every single truth. But don't think that you can just skip out on God. God will find you. God knows where you're at. God's there. He's going to watch you. That's why it's important the Bible says if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Whenever you get out of whack, get right with God immediately. I don't want to get thrown in the well's belly. That sounds terrible. And look, you don't think that Christians are severely punished every single day on this earth. They are. There's a lot of Jonahs today going through the well's belly financially and their marriage and their house, whatever. Why? Because they don't want to serve God. They're not following God's commandments. See, if God didn't tell me to go to Nineveh, yeah, He just told you to go the whole world. That's what He told you. So good luck. I'd rather just have to go to Nineveh. Look at verse number 1, chapter 3. And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Rise, go into Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. Notice that God's commandment didn't change. Oh, you didn't want to go? Let's find something else for you to do. Nope, same message. You know, some people, I just want God to talk to me. Here you go. Yeah, but I want something new. Like I want something, you know, cool. I don't like that one. He said, God, give me a message. Yeah, but I didn't want to do that one. No, here you go. Look, it's crystal clear. He already gave us His word. Jonah's like, well, what do you want me to do now? The same thing I already told you? Look at verse 3. So Jonah arose and went into Nineveh. Good idea. According to the word of the Lord, now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city of days journey, and he cried and said, Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them, even to the least of them. 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 satin ashes. And he caused to be reclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, erred 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 everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not? And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil that he said that he would do unto them, and he did it not. What a great story of repentance, but here's the thing. This is not personal salvation. It's a city, and if you want a city to be preserved, you know what they need to do? They need to turn from their wicked ways. And even us as Christians, after we get saved, if we want God to not physically destroy us, we need to turn from our wicked ways. Now, it's interesting. When you read about the prophet Jonah and Nineveh, the king of Nineveh is more receptive than Jonah. He just hears the preaching of God's word, and he fixes it. And God spares a lot of people, spares an entire area. And we even find out in verse number 10 that God considers turning from your way works, and that God is the one that repents, meaning what? He turned away from his wrath. He was going to pour out wrath. He turned from his wrath based on the response of these people. Now, if you went to Isaiah chapter 58, you know what this also tells me? Hard preaching works. You're just so angry, and you just get up and yell, and you tell people to say it to the Lord. Yeah, because it works. The weak preaching hasn't worked. Where is the godly people at the non-denominational fund center, my friend? You know what? I never run into somebody that says, yeah, we're going soloing, too. We're from Gateway. Why is that? They're never dressed godly. They never act godly. They don't even care about the Bible. That's interesting. How come if the weak preaching is just going to reach so many people, none of them want to serve God? How come it's the fire-breathing church that preaches so hard against sin, those are the people that actually want to follow God? And of course, as we match with the freest of grace, too, it's interesting when we believe you have to do nothing to be saved except for believe. And it's like we have the godliest people in our auditorium this afternoon. I guarantee you, if I compare overall to other people, look, I'm not trying to say we should do this. We ought not compare ourselves among ourselves. We ought not compare to other churches. I'm just saying, if I were to look at other churches, who are the ones that seem to be the godliest? Ones that believe in salvation by faith alone. The ones that teach work salvation, like the Roman Catholic Church? It's full of all kinds of wickedness and idolatry and abominations. I mean, the pastor is a pedophile. I mean, let alone what's going on in the congregation. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that hard preaching works, but people just don't like it. Ah, y'all are just mean-spirited and you're just so awful. Well, if I hated you, wouldn't I want you to just be an abominable filth and not care about you? I actually do want you to live righteous. I actually do want you to have a successful life. I want you to have a big family, not just to grow the church. Look, you take your big family somewhere else. I just hope you have a big family. And I hope you raise them right. And I hope you raise and love the Lord. And I hope you follow all of God's commandments. And follow your will, Jonah. Go preach the Nineveh. I would hate to see my church not follow God's commandments. And we as God's men, we ought to preach God's word and thunder it forth and not be afraid of their faces. We ought to say, you know what, in 40 days, Nineveh is going to be destroyed. He says in Isaiah 58 verse 1, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. What if Jonah walked into Nineveh, have your best life now. What happened 40 days later? Wiped off the face of the map. Yet 40 days and Nineveh should be overthrown. It wasn't, there wasn't even a caveat. It wasn't hope. He didn't preach a message of hope. Think about that. Oh, you got, you got to give people hope. His hope was, hey, I'm just going to give you the truth. The truth is you're going, you're getting destroyed, buddy. And they say, well, maybe we just get right with God and you'll be merciful to us. And I like that because even if you feel like you have a situation with no hope, God can still be merciful to you. God can still bless you beyond what you thought is even possible. Look, turn to the Lord. Now is the day to turn. Now is the day to repent and get right with God. Go to Second Timothy chapter four, Second Timothy chapter four. Others need to preach the word of God, regardless of the circumstances of the situation. God's word needs to be thundered forth from the house tops today. I don't care what the situation is. I don't care how ugly the truth is. You preach God's word. You don't be afraid of their faces. You don't be afraid of the truth. You just give people the truth. That's super important. When I walk up to the door, even if it's not going to be popular, I'm going to give them the truth. I'm not going to walk away and let them think, well, I guess he thinks I'm saved. No, I'd rather them think there's no hope. If you believe that, you're going to hell. Bye. At least maybe they think, wow, hell, what does he think? I'm going to go look at that website and I'm going to look at that video. Oh, I'm going to hell. Maybe they'll get saved rather than walking away and be like, oh, he said, I believe I'm going to heaven. Cool. Don't leave the door and give them false hope. Be like Jonah. I'm not saying you have to be like Jonah. There's somewhere in the middle. All right. But I'm just saying I'd rather be like Jonah than to give someone false hope. Don't leave people with false hope. Give them the truth. 2 Timothy 4 verse 1, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who's a judge, the quick and the dead, at his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word. Be instant in season, out of season. But approve, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but at their own lusts shall they heap with themselves teachers having itching ears. Boy, is that not coming to true every day. I look at these churches, they suck. The preaching sucks. The music sucks. And they're growing. I'm like, how are you guys growing? They don't even do so many. They don't even knock on doors. Like, how are they bringing these people in? Because these people have an insatiable lust for lies. They want to feel good about how ungodly they are. They want to go to a place where they can feel godly and be ungodly at the same time. Come as you are, and we'll tell you how special you are, and we'll just send you out, and you can just feel good all the way. Don't want to go to Nineveh Baptist Church, you know, where the preaching's rough. I mean, there wasn't even any hope. God just screamed at us. The same thing over and over. You know, we're going to be destroyed. Yeah, but I'd rather go to that church where it's at least true. Go to Psalms 86, Psalms 86. The Bible says, by mercy and truth, iniquity is purged, and by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. Let me wake you up for a second. Nobody's going to stop sinning without you telling them what the Bible says. Without them getting the fear of the Lord. Nobody's just going to wake up tomorrow and say, I'm going to be godly today. I think I'm going to start following God's commandments. Nope, they hear God's word. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, so it takes you to actually preach them the word of God. That's how people change their life. Hard preaching works. We need to be like Jonah today, and we need some hard preaching to be thundered forth in this world, in this country. Why is our country being destroyed? No hard preaching. No fear of God. The world today has virtually no fear. Just because God is so long suffering, and so merciful, they have no fear. It'd be nice if every once in a while you'd pull an exodus, you know, 23,000 people just die from fornication or something, and it wakes a couple people up. But the reality is it does happen, and people excuse it to other things. Oh, it's just cancer. I mean, it's only killing one fourth of our population. I mean, it's just autism, and you know, it's just drugs, and it's just gangs, and it's just whatever. It's just war. Look, it's the judgment of God, my friend. It's just plain obvious that people are constantly destroying their lives, and being killed, and being murdered, and suffering all kinds of illnesses and diseases, and it's just normal to them. Just everyday life. Look at the judgment of God, and you say, I don't want that. Well, I've got a cure for you. Look at your God. Follow God's commandments. Look at Psalms 86. But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion and gracious, longsuffering and plenteous, and mercy and truth. He wants to be gracious unto you, but notice the people of Nineveh had to repent. They had to get right. They had to put on the sackcloth. The Bible says, He that covered this sin shall not prosper, but who so confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. God wants to give you mercy today, but you need to confess and forsake your sin. That's what the Ninevites did. Go to chapter 4. Let's finish this book study. So many parallels that we could draw out of this, but there's some great things that we've already seen. Chapter 4, look at verse 1. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry, and he prayed unto the Lord and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore, I fled before unto Tarshish, for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful so to anger and of great kindness and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore, now, O Lord, take I beseech thee my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. Now, this is weird. Jonah wanted these people to die so much that after he sees them get saved, he wants to die. I mean, it'd be like Fox News getting a heart for the Muslims or something. They have to go and save all the Muslims or something from rescue, from a nuke or something. They're like, I wanted them to get nuked. That's a wicked heart. Why would you want someone to be destroyed? Why would you want someone to be killed? I think something could be similar in the sense that Jonah's saying, hey, I knew if I went and preached to these people, they'd get saved. And all of you know that if you go out soul winning with us, you're going to get people saved. I'd rather just die than have to go soul winning the rest of my life. Don't say that too loud. God heard it. That's FYI. Look, don't get a heart of Jonah and just despise, well, I don't want those people to be saved or this people or, man, I knew if I went out there, they'd get saved because he's merciful. But I don't know. Look, so many Baptist churches have Jonah's attitude today, and this is how they disguise it. Well, you're just going out and praying a prayer with people. If they didn't really say they'd come into church, but if you talk to them, you say, I thought all you have to do is believe, well, yeah, I mean, yeah, you have to believe. When I go out, they change their belief and believe in Jesus Christ. Well, I guess, you know, whatever. But they just can't stand the fact that us going out and preaching the gospel and getting these people saved is the work of the Lord, so they have to attack it and tear it down and have a bad attitude, because they know if they went out, they would get people saved too. But they don't want to do it. They want to be Jonah. They just want to sit around and be angry, sit around and do nothing and care more about the gourd. Let's keep reading. All right. Look at verse 4. Then said the Lord, doest thou well to be angry? So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth and sat under it in the shadow till he might see what would become of the city. The Lord God prepared a gourd and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. The God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass when the sun did arise that God prepared a vehement east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah that he fainted and wished in himself to die and said, it is better for me to die than to live. And God said to Jonah, doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry even unto death. Then said the Lord, thou said pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not labored, neither madeest it grow, which came up in the night and perished in the night. And should not I spare it Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six or a thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle. It's sad when God's preacher elevates a plant over 600,000 souls. But that's the reality that we live in today. There's a lot of saved Baptist preachers today that if they got on fire for God, they could save a lot of people alive. You know what? They care so much about their stupid gourd. They care so much about their pleasure and their happiness and their comfortability. They don't want to be pressured. They don't want to be persecuted. And they're just going to be like Jonah. And we ought not ever be like a Jonah. Look, God used Jonah, but Jonah was real resistant, all right? And I'd rather be a resistant Jonah than not, you know, going out and preaching. But here's the thing. We're supposed to be angry but not let a son go down upon a raft. Jonah, he's just hanging on to his bitterness. He's hanging on to his anger. He's not doing more work of the Lord. How many more cities could he have gone to and ministered to? He had the wrong heart. If he had the right heart, he'd want these people to be saved. He would go out and preach the gospel. We need to have the right heart today. Go if you would to Acts 13, Acts chapter 13, the last place I'm going to have you turn. The Bible says in Isaiah 42, I the Lord have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand and will keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles. The Jews were supposed to be a light to all the heathen nations to get them saved. But you know when I read my Bible, I can't remember when the Jews were so excited to preach to the heathen. It's like virtually never. Save a few prophets. Save Jeremiah. Save a few handfuls of guys going out. And you know what? It's no different today. The harvest truly is plenteous but the labors are few. Look, God has called the church to be the light unto the world. We're supposed to be going out and getting the whole world saved and there's so many Baptists today, they don't care about shining that light. They don't care about preaching the gospel. But you ought not say, well, what does it matter if we don't do it? Why do we have to be the ones to do it? Because no one else is doing it. We need to be that light. And whenever you see other people doing it, it shouldn't be like, well, we should be like them. No, shame on them. Shame on them for caring about the gourd, for not caring about the city, for not caring about the 600,000 people. Look, this church could get that many more people or more saved in its lifetime. I believe that. We can give the gospel to the whole world. But if we have Jonah's attitude, no one's getting saved. Acts chapter 13, look at verse 47, For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. God has put us on this earth to preach the gospel. That is our goal. That is our mission. And I sure hope I'm not looking at a bunch of Jonahs today that just say, I can't wait to get on the boat and flee to Tarshish. I can't wait to go hide under the gourd. Look, God knows where you're at. You can't escape God. God has sent us out to preach the gospel, and He's going to cast us away. He's going to put us in the well's belly. He's going to severely chastise and punish us when we don't do His work. We don't do His commandments. Look, the whole Bible's about what? The gospel and soul winning. All right? Just want to wake you up a little bit, okay? That's the main purpose. That's the first works. That's what we're supposed to do as a church. And it's sad when churches, they won't preach those two things. And when we read our Old Testament, it should help motivate us to see the gospel and want to preach the gospel and to know that your job is important. There's a lot of cities today that are going to be destroyed because nobody wants to go preach in the gospel. Who's going to go? I hope that our church will send missionaries one day. I hope that our church will plant more churches. I hope that we will be a light to lighten the Gentiles. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for your word. Thank you for the example that you gave us through Jonah and the preaching that we saw. Thank you for sending your son to come to this earth and not only suffer in the flesh but also suffer in hell and the sacrifices that he made for us. I'm excited to see the Son of Man one day, but I pray that you would allow our church to go out and do the preaching that you've bidden us to, that we'd go out and preach your word, that we preach upon the housetops, that we wouldn't have this strange idea that we can escape from thy presence, but rather that we'd have the blessings of thy presence. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.