WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.799 All right, let's read together from the Old Testament book of Jonah. 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:09.800 Chapter one, verses 17 to chapter two, verse 10. 00:00:09.800 --> 00:00:11.800 So there are Bibles at the back. 00:00:11.800 --> 00:00:16.500 If you at any time would like to have a hard copy of a Bible, feel free to get one. 00:00:16.500 --> 00:00:26.800 It's no problem to get up and grab one if you'd like to. 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:30.400 All right, Jonah chapter one starting in verse 17. 00:00:30.400 --> 00:00:34.799 This is God's holy word. 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:39.600 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:45.100 And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 00:00:45.100 --> 00:00:49.400 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God from the belly of the fish, saying, 00:00:49.400 --> 00:00:54.000 I called out to the Lord out of my distress and he answered me. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:01:00.600 Out of the belly of Sheol, I cried and you heard my voice for you cast me into the deep 00:01:00.600 --> 00:01:04.200 into the heart of the seas and the flood surrounded me. 00:01:04.200 --> 00:01:07.299 All your waves and your billows passed over me. 00:01:07.299 --> 00:01:10.599 Then I said, I am driven away from your sight. 00:01:10.599 --> 00:01:13.799 Yet I shall again look upon your holy temple. 00:01:13.799 --> 00:01:17.400 The waters closed in over me to take my life. 00:01:17.400 --> 00:01:19.400 The deep surrounded me. 00:01:19.400 --> 00:01:23.700 Weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. 00:01:23.700 --> 00:01:29.200 I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever. 00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:32.000 Yet you brought up my life from the pit. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:38.000 Oh Lord my God, when my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord and my prayer 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:41.000 came to you into your holy temple. 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:46.400 Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. 00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:49.800 But I with the voice of Thanksgiving will sacrifice to you. 00:01:49.800 --> 00:01:52.100 What I vowed I will pay. 00:01:52.099 --> 00:01:55.399 Salvation belongs to the Lord. 00:01:55.399 --> 00:02:02.599 And the Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. 00:02:02.599 --> 00:02:04.699 It's so good to be with you again. 00:02:04.699 --> 00:02:05.699 We're still in Jonah. 00:02:05.699 --> 00:02:10.599 This is the third of six sermons almost half time, which is great for you. 00:02:10.599 --> 00:02:13.199 Maybe I don't know. 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:16.000 Let me tell you something about ancient Middle Eastern literature. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:18.000 I'm sure you're interested in that. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:23.000 In ancient Middle Eastern literature, shipwrecking stories like the one we read about last week 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:27.800 in Jonah 1 had their own genre. 00:02:27.800 --> 00:02:29.599 Shipwrecking stories. 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:34.300 That's why a lot of people believe that Jonah is just a made up story. 00:02:34.300 --> 00:02:38.879 But I was wondering if that actually makes sense because there's not a single story out 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:42.360 there in the literature that ends like this one. 00:02:42.360 --> 00:02:47.000 There's not one story where the protagonist is thrown overboard to save people and then 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:49.000 swallowed up by a fish. 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:50.759 Do you think this is made up? 00:02:50.759 --> 00:02:53.080 What's the point of the fish? 00:02:53.080 --> 00:02:56.719 What's the point of having a fish in this story? 00:02:56.719 --> 00:02:59.719 Jonah chapter two is giving us an answer. 00:02:59.719 --> 00:03:02.800 The point of the fish is grace. 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:03.800 It's all about grace. 00:03:03.800 --> 00:03:12.039 It's about God showing Jonah how endlessly deep and wide and big his grace is. 00:03:12.039 --> 00:03:16.960 All of this needed to happen for Jonah to see that, to experience that. 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:21.879 It gives him time to recognize what grace and salvation mean and to understand that 00:03:21.879 --> 00:03:23.200 he's utterly hopeless. 00:03:23.200 --> 00:03:28.159 He's in the belly of a fish and there's nothing he can do about it. 00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:30.920 And then something interesting happens. 00:03:30.920 --> 00:03:34.000 Jonah prays a prayer, a prayer of faith. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:35.600 And that's what this chapter is about. 00:03:35.600 --> 00:03:41.319 It's showing us what faith, what true faith looks like. 00:03:41.319 --> 00:03:47.319 There are three things that Jonah's prayer about faith is teaching us and I would like 00:03:47.319 --> 00:03:48.799 to talk about them tonight. 00:03:48.799 --> 00:03:51.959 So the first thing is that faith cries out to God. 00:03:51.959 --> 00:03:55.199 Secondly, faith remembers in the hardest of times. 00:03:55.199 --> 00:03:59.120 Thirdly, faith looks at the temple. 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:04.039 So firstly, faith cries out to the Lord. 00:04:04.039 --> 00:04:08.759 Last week we said that Jonah went down, down, down to Joppa, down into the boat, down into 00:04:08.759 --> 00:04:10.919 the inner part of the boat. 00:04:10.919 --> 00:04:16.680 And now he goes even further down to the bottom of the sea, to the heart of the sea. 00:04:16.680 --> 00:04:21.479 And we talked about how the sea is a symbol in the Old Testament for chaos, for death, 00:04:21.479 --> 00:04:22.479 for sin. 00:04:22.479 --> 00:04:28.919 And he's just descending down there and it symbolizes Jonah going down into death, into 00:04:28.919 --> 00:04:31.399 the realms of death. 00:04:31.399 --> 00:04:36.120 And I don't know, some of you here might know what that feels like. 00:04:36.120 --> 00:04:40.719 Some of you here might know what it feels like to hit rock bottom. 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:44.720 There's nothing left to do where you're utterly hopeless, helpless, powerless. 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:48.480 You can't do anything about your situation. 00:04:48.480 --> 00:04:51.040 Nothing helps against getting that diagnosis. 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:54.480 Nothing helps against that rough breakup that you're going through. 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:59.680 Nothing helps when a loved person dies. 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:04.320 But Jonah is reminding us here, there's one thing that you can always do, no matter where 00:05:04.320 --> 00:05:10.000 you are, no matter how bad the situation is, even if you're in the belly of a fish. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:13.480 And that is praying, crying out to God. 00:05:13.480 --> 00:05:16.000 You can do that always and anywhere. 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:18.879 So true faith will cry out to God. 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:23.439 True faith will admit that you cannot help yourself. 00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:27.079 If we look at the text, then we read sentences like this. 00:05:27.079 --> 00:05:29.000 I called out to the Lord. 00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:30.500 I cried. 00:05:30.500 --> 00:05:32.399 You heard my voice. 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:37.160 My prayer came to you with the voice of thanksgiving. 00:05:37.160 --> 00:05:38.439 You see? 00:05:38.439 --> 00:05:40.279 Jonah cries out. 00:05:40.279 --> 00:05:41.279 He prays. 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:44.000 He calls upon the name of the Lord. 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:50.639 You see, often we speak of faith as if it's something passive, as if there's nothing 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:53.519 we can control about having faith. 00:05:53.519 --> 00:06:00.319 And in our confession of faith, we do read that faith is a receiving and a resting upon 00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:01.319 God's promises. 00:06:01.319 --> 00:06:02.680 And that's very true. 00:06:02.680 --> 00:06:08.120 But it's not like faith is something that you have no control over whatsoever. 00:06:08.120 --> 00:06:12.920 It's not like faith is like a thermostat that, you know, when the temperature drops too 00:06:12.920 --> 00:06:17.600 low, the thermostat switches on and then it brings everything up again, brings the temperature 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:18.600 up again. 00:06:18.600 --> 00:06:19.600 Faith is not like that. 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:24.560 Think about faith more like a plant, something you have to water, something you have to feed, 00:06:24.560 --> 00:06:25.639 to nurture. 00:06:25.639 --> 00:06:29.360 And then it grows and the roots go deep into the ground. 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:32.439 And when bad times come, you're solid. 00:06:32.439 --> 00:06:37.800 There is a tree that will withstand the winds of life, the storms of the sea, the storms 00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:42.000 of whatever life is throwing at you. 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:45.680 So faith is not passive. 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:50.879 Faith is something we also have to proactively care for and feed. 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:54.040 And crying out to God is the first step you can do. 00:06:54.040 --> 00:06:57.519 Crying out to God is the most basic thing anyone here can do. 00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:01.319 It's the most basic thing we have to do in order to have faith. 00:07:01.319 --> 00:07:07.759 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, says the Bible in Romans. 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:11.039 You know, often people see faith as a talent or a skill. 00:07:11.039 --> 00:07:15.879 It's like, oh, that person is good at playing an instrument. 00:07:15.879 --> 00:07:17.839 That person is really good at painting a picture. 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:19.000 I can never do that. 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:20.920 We sometimes think about faith like that. 00:07:20.920 --> 00:07:22.759 Oh, I can't have faith. 00:07:22.759 --> 00:07:28.199 I'm just too pessimistic or I doubt things too much. 00:07:28.199 --> 00:07:29.680 But that is not true. 00:07:29.680 --> 00:07:31.199 I don't believe that. 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:34.480 I think everyone has the ability to have faith. 00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:35.480 Why? 00:07:35.480 --> 00:07:37.039 Because I see that all around me. 00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:38.240 Every day I see it in my own life. 00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:40.840 I see it in other people's life. 00:07:40.840 --> 00:07:41.840 How? 00:07:41.840 --> 00:07:47.960 Well, you have faith in your parents, your partner, your children. 00:07:47.960 --> 00:07:54.080 You have faith in medicine, in the government, in the laws of gravity. 00:07:54.080 --> 00:07:58.040 You don't expect that your chair will float away in the next minute. 00:07:58.040 --> 00:07:59.040 Do you? 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:00.040 Okay. 00:08:00.040 --> 00:08:05.400 Maybe you say physics, that something can empirically show it's something we can prove. 00:08:05.399 --> 00:08:10.560 Okay, what about the love of your husband or your wife, the love of your parents? 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:13.000 Can you empirically prove that? 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:16.239 Is that something that can be shown with data? 00:08:16.239 --> 00:08:18.679 No, it's trust. 00:08:18.679 --> 00:08:22.000 You place your faith in that. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:29.120 In other words, I think faith is something which shows the absence of doubt. 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:35.079 Let's talk about faith as the absence of doubt, which brings us to the question of, where 00:08:35.080 --> 00:08:39.000 do we direct our doubts to? 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:46.200 And that's interesting because a lot of people will doubt everything, especially Christianity, 00:08:46.200 --> 00:08:52.000 and there's cynical about it, and they will doubt everything about it, but what they will 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:55.720 not do is they will never doubt their own doubts. 00:08:55.720 --> 00:08:57.320 How do you know you doubt the right thing? 00:08:57.320 --> 00:08:59.000 Have you ever thought about that? 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:00.200 Doubt your own doubts. 00:09:00.200 --> 00:09:03.100 Doubt your own cynicism, your sarcasm. 00:09:03.100 --> 00:09:09.800 The first step to finding faith is doubting yourself enough to go and explore and seek 00:09:09.800 --> 00:09:10.800 God. 00:09:10.800 --> 00:09:13.680 That's what the Bible says over and over again. 00:09:13.680 --> 00:09:18.879 If you seek Him, that's God, if you seek God, He will be found by you. 00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:22.820 Whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who 00:09:22.820 --> 00:09:24.360 seek Him. 00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:29.080 God says, you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 00:09:29.080 --> 00:09:31.200 Doubt your doubts. 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:38.240 Some of the most brilliant minds on this earth have said that Christianity is true. 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:40.480 They've said the claims of the gospel must be true. 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:46.560 Albert Einstein, the more he knew about physics, the more he believed in God. 00:09:46.560 --> 00:09:55.480 And many others, Galileo, Isaac Newton, a lot of really, really brilliant minds. 00:09:55.480 --> 00:10:02.320 You have to want to believe and the first step that you can do that is to cry out to 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:10.800 God, to doubt your doubts, to simply start asking questions with the right posture in 00:10:10.800 --> 00:10:13.480 your heart. 00:10:13.480 --> 00:10:18.200 You see, if you have a problem with someone, you can talk a lot about them, but if you 00:10:18.200 --> 00:10:22.159 don't talk to them, the problems won't go away. 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:26.860 So if you have a problem with God, go, speak to God. 00:10:26.860 --> 00:10:30.879 And also in this, there's an application for those who do believe. 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:36.399 When we cry out, like Jonah, do we mean what we say? 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:37.759 Do we mean it? 00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:42.919 Are we crying out to God as if our life depends on it? 00:10:42.919 --> 00:10:47.439 Or are we simply complaining in God's direction? 00:10:47.439 --> 00:10:48.919 Because God is alive. 00:10:48.919 --> 00:10:51.360 God hears your prayers. 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:52.399 He's real. 00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:53.720 Be honest with God. 00:10:53.720 --> 00:10:54.720 Doubt your doubts. 00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:57.200 I believe that Jonah does this here. 00:10:57.200 --> 00:11:03.120 Jonah, he has a development throughout this chapter, throughout the prayer, where he arrives 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:06.759 at a statement at the very end, where he talks about grace. 00:11:06.759 --> 00:11:11.879 He says, salvation belongs to the Lord. 00:11:11.879 --> 00:11:18.120 And some have said that this really is a statement that sums up everything in the Bible. 00:11:18.120 --> 00:11:20.000 It's the heart of the Bible. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:22.639 God is something that belongs to God. 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:24.519 We can't earn it. 00:11:24.519 --> 00:11:26.399 We can't, we don't deserve it. 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:28.799 God doesn't owe us anything. 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:33.740 We can't get out of the belly of the fish on our own terms. 00:11:33.740 --> 00:11:36.639 Only God can make that happen. 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:40.720 And that's especially important for the times we live in. 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:45.399 There was a famous philosopher called Philipp Reef. 00:11:45.399 --> 00:11:47.960 He died in 2006, I believe. 00:11:47.960 --> 00:11:55.160 And in 1966, so quite a while ago, he wrote a book that is called The Triumph of the Therapeutic. 00:11:55.160 --> 00:12:00.040 And one of the things he observes in this book about society in the Western world is 00:12:00.040 --> 00:12:03.480 that we try to fix our own problems. 00:12:03.480 --> 00:12:08.400 We think about ourselves as a bit like machines, really. 00:12:08.400 --> 00:12:09.480 There's something wrong with us. 00:12:09.480 --> 00:12:10.480 There's an error. 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:11.840 We try to fix ourselves. 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:13.759 I can fix myself. 00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:21.039 So we go and we go to therapy and we think that will truly heal us, that will truly fix 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:22.039 us. 00:12:22.039 --> 00:12:23.039 That is what we need. 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:24.200 We need to be true to ourselves. 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:25.200 And yes, we do. 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:26.720 We do need to be true to ourselves. 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:27.720 That's true. 00:12:27.720 --> 00:12:28.720 Therapy is great. 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:30.879 Counseling, super important. 00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:36.879 But if you can't say that salvation belongs to the Lord, then maybe you haven't realized 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:39.879 yet that you are sitting in the belly of the fish. 00:12:39.879 --> 00:12:44.399 Maybe you haven't realized that things are worse than you might think. 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:46.240 The triumph of the therapeutic. 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:48.960 We can't fix ourselves. 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:54.679 If you think that, then maybe this chapter here in Jonah, this second chapter in the 00:12:54.679 --> 00:13:00.879 story of Jonah is speaking to you because he is going through this change. 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:06.000 He is acknowledging that he's fully dependent on God's grace. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:07.000 It's a gift. 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:08.480 That's what grace means. 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:10.039 You don't like it. 00:13:10.039 --> 00:13:11.120 Why? 00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:14.200 Because it's too good to be true, isn't it? 00:13:14.200 --> 00:13:19.759 Sometimes I think God's grace is too good to be true. 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:26.700 I think there are about three categories of people, perhaps, maybe more. 00:13:26.700 --> 00:13:29.440 But in this regard, let's say there are three groups of people. 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:35.519 I think one group, they realize that they sit in the belly of the fish as it were and 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:38.159 they can't get out by their own strength. 00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:40.679 And therefore, they don't even want to be saved. 00:13:40.679 --> 00:13:47.079 I've had good friends in Germany that I talked to and they told me, you know, Simon, that's 00:13:47.079 --> 00:13:49.959 all good that you believe in Jesus and all that. 00:13:49.959 --> 00:13:51.480 But I don't need to be saved. 00:13:51.480 --> 00:13:52.959 I don't want to be saved. 00:13:52.959 --> 00:13:58.759 I think I'm just trying my best here and that's about everything I can do. 00:13:58.759 --> 00:14:05.919 And then there are some people, they know that they sit in the belly of the fish, but 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:07.439 they don't want grace. 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:08.760 They don't want a gift. 00:14:08.760 --> 00:14:10.920 They want to earn it. 00:14:10.920 --> 00:14:12.480 They want to do good works. 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:15.440 They want to say, God, I've earned your grace. 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:17.640 I don't accept it as a gift. 00:14:17.640 --> 00:14:25.440 And it's a bit like if someone came to you and said, here, I'll gift you this really 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:30.440 expensive yacht, a boat, 30 million dollars, all right? 00:14:30.440 --> 00:14:31.520 Pounds, 30 million pounds. 00:14:31.520 --> 00:14:34.240 Let's say 30 million pounds. 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:41.519 And these kind of people, they would say, oh, thank you, that's great, but there must 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:43.200 be something I can do about this. 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:47.560 And they look on their bank account and they see there are 300 quid, maybe, or you know 00:14:47.560 --> 00:14:49.320 what my bank account looks like. 00:14:49.320 --> 00:14:51.639 And they say, have my 300 quid. 00:14:51.639 --> 00:14:55.240 And just to, they do that to feel better about themselves. 00:14:55.240 --> 00:14:56.720 But what is actually happening? 00:14:56.720 --> 00:14:58.279 Does that make sense? 00:14:58.279 --> 00:15:03.120 It doesn't because the person giving you the yacht, they just wanted you to enjoy it. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:09.720 They're insulted if you give them 300 pounds and the yacht costs 30 million, right? 00:15:09.720 --> 00:15:13.080 And then there's a third group of people, and that's people who think that God owes 00:15:13.080 --> 00:15:21.000 them something, that God has to save them out of the belly of the fish. 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:24.000 True faith does neither of these things. 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:31.519 True faith cries out for help and says salvation belongs to the Lord. 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:34.480 Secondly, faith remembers. 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:37.679 Faith remembers in the hardest of times. 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:42.759 Jonah is making reference in every single verse to how far away he is from God, how 00:15:42.759 --> 00:15:46.480 deep, how life-threatening his situation is. 00:15:46.480 --> 00:15:51.720 For example, out of my distress, out of the belly of Sheol, in the deep, in the heart 00:15:51.720 --> 00:15:56.039 of seas, I'm driven away from your sight, the waters closed in on me, and so on and so 00:15:56.039 --> 00:15:57.279 on. 00:15:57.279 --> 00:16:00.120 My life was fainting away. 00:16:00.120 --> 00:16:06.360 Jonah acknowledges that things are not good right now, like in the previous chapter when 00:16:06.360 --> 00:16:07.840 the storm came. 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:11.039 But this time, Jonah's reaction is completely different. 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:15.320 In the first chapter, we have the Mariners, and they turn to God and they pray, and they 00:16:15.320 --> 00:16:17.000 obey God. 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:20.240 And Jonah is the one who's not really pious at all. 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:23.560 But here, it seems like Jonah has learned his lesson. 00:16:23.560 --> 00:16:25.240 He reacts differently this time. 00:16:25.240 --> 00:16:28.960 He turns to prayer, and as we said, he cries out to God. 00:16:28.960 --> 00:16:36.800 But you can only do that if you are willing to remember, to remember your faith, to remember 00:16:36.800 --> 00:16:44.120 God, the promises he has given you, the love he has for you, the scriptures. 00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:46.080 What is God saying in the scriptures? 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:49.200 It's about remembering. 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:54.920 If you look at the passage, the whole chapter, you'll realize it sounds very similar to a 00:16:54.920 --> 00:16:55.920 psalm. 00:16:55.919 --> 00:16:59.759 If you read the Psalms, then you will find Psalms that sound very similar to Jonah's 00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:00.759 prayer. 00:17:00.759 --> 00:17:05.240 More specifically, it sounds like a Thanksgiving Psalm. 00:17:05.240 --> 00:17:06.639 And usually, you get these elements. 00:17:06.639 --> 00:17:09.839 You get an intro, then a situation of crisis. 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:11.639 Jonah's in the belly. 00:17:11.639 --> 00:17:12.839 Then he cries out for help. 00:17:12.839 --> 00:17:17.519 He asks for deliverance, and then he vows to sacrifice and praises God. 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:23.799 So what is happening here is that Jonah, it's almost like he remembers the scriptures. 00:17:23.799 --> 00:17:29.799 He remembers the Psalms, and he is singing a best of psalm medley in the middle of the 00:17:29.799 --> 00:17:32.039 ocean in the belly of the fish. 00:17:32.039 --> 00:17:37.440 If he was a free church of Scotland member, maybe he would have sang Psalm 16 and Psalm 00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:39.879 100, who knows. 00:17:39.879 --> 00:17:45.159 But he's sitting there, and he remembers what he has read as a prophet. 00:17:45.159 --> 00:17:49.480 He remembers the word of God. 00:17:49.480 --> 00:17:54.799 And the way that this chapter is built and constructed is that it is written in a very 00:17:54.799 --> 00:17:56.279 poetic way. 00:17:56.279 --> 00:18:02.480 So the way that Hebrew poetry works here is that in one line, Jonah states how far gone 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:07.120 he was, and then in the next line, how God has hurt him. 00:18:07.120 --> 00:18:10.360 So we get these contrasts in this prayer. 00:18:10.360 --> 00:18:16.319 For example, I called out to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me, I'm driven 00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:21.439 away from your sight, yet I shall look again upon your holy temple. 00:18:21.439 --> 00:18:25.480 I went down to the land, yet you brought up my life from the pit. 00:18:25.480 --> 00:18:29.559 When my life was fading away, I remembered the Lord. 00:18:29.559 --> 00:18:33.559 There's power in remembering the Lord. 00:18:33.559 --> 00:18:37.279 Remembering the Lord, what does remembering mean? 00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:43.960 The biblical meaning of remembering is not something that simply means remembering because 00:18:43.960 --> 00:18:45.559 you've forgotten something. 00:18:45.559 --> 00:18:47.599 It means something more proactive. 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:50.399 It means calling something to mind. 00:18:50.399 --> 00:18:56.720 It means studying, meditating, pondering over the word of God. 00:18:56.720 --> 00:19:02.759 Even God sometimes remembers his people, but it's obviously not because God forgets things. 00:19:02.759 --> 00:19:04.319 God doesn't forget things. 00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:12.639 It is because he's bringing up to the mind of the people the covenant promises of the 00:19:12.639 --> 00:19:15.119 Old Testament. 00:19:15.119 --> 00:19:17.399 Jonah is doing something similar here. 00:19:17.399 --> 00:19:20.519 He's remembering the promises. 00:19:20.519 --> 00:19:27.679 He's remembering the goodness of God in his situation of despair. 00:19:27.679 --> 00:19:34.759 In other words, Jonah is preaching to himself down there in the belly of the fish. 00:19:34.759 --> 00:19:36.279 Are you a preacher? 00:19:36.279 --> 00:19:39.519 The passage is teaching us we have to all become preachers. 00:19:39.519 --> 00:19:42.159 And if we're not in the pulpit, then at least to ourselves. 00:19:42.159 --> 00:19:44.799 You have to become a preacher to yourself. 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:46.599 What I mean by that. 00:19:46.599 --> 00:19:52.279 If you're in a difficult situation, then it's going to be really, really helpful if you 00:19:52.279 --> 00:19:55.399 can preach the gospel to your own heart. 00:19:55.399 --> 00:20:01.639 If you can remember the goodness of God, if you can apply the scriptures to your own 00:20:01.639 --> 00:20:09.799 heart, if you're in situations of frustration, sadness, temptations, depression, you need 00:20:09.799 --> 00:20:13.200 to have the word of God hidden in your heart. 00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:17.360 You need to have it stored up in your mind so you can call upon it, so you can use it, 00:20:17.360 --> 00:20:22.120 so you can call to your mind the promises that God is giving you in his word. 00:20:22.120 --> 00:20:26.039 And that of course assumes that, well, you know the word of God. 00:20:26.039 --> 00:20:28.519 It assumes that you know God and his character. 00:20:28.519 --> 00:20:34.720 It assumes that you do spend time in the Bible, that you do spend time in prayer. 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:38.559 So maybe that's something you want to start doing again. 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:46.079 You want to start a Bible reading plan, setting aside special time for prayer in your day-to-day 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:53.279 routine, or maybe you want to memorize verses, talking to God, praying like Jonah here. 00:20:53.279 --> 00:21:01.279 You want to remind yourself as well how often God has been faithful and for how long God 00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:03.200 has been faithful in your life. 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:11.920 So maybe you lead a prayer journal and you reflect upon one year ago, two, three, five, 00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:15.759 ten years ago, how far has God brought you? 00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:18.000 How faithful has he been? 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:21.319 How much in your life has changed? 00:21:21.319 --> 00:21:23.400 Faith remembers. 00:21:23.400 --> 00:21:30.240 Thirdly, faith looks at the temple. 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:36.720 In this prayer in Jonah chapter two, Jonah mentions the temple in his prayer twice in 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:41.000 verses four and in verse seven. 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:42.960 Remember where Jonah is right now. 00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:47.039 Jonah is in the belly of Sheol. 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:53.400 Sheol we said last week is a bit of a difficult concept to grasp, but just imagine it as the 00:21:53.400 --> 00:21:55.480 realms of death. 00:21:55.480 --> 00:22:00.440 Jonah is at the low point and the lowest place possible. 00:22:00.440 --> 00:22:02.920 So what does he feel in that situation? 00:22:02.920 --> 00:22:06.920 Maybe he feels like God, can you even hear me? 00:22:06.920 --> 00:22:10.079 Are you even here? 00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:12.839 He is so far away from his country. 00:22:12.839 --> 00:22:19.720 He's so far away from Jerusalem, from the temple, where God dwells. 00:22:19.720 --> 00:22:27.480 And yet he says, yet I shall again look upon your holy temple. 00:22:27.480 --> 00:22:30.120 What does the temple symbolize? 00:22:30.120 --> 00:22:33.079 The temple is where God dwells. 00:22:33.079 --> 00:22:39.160 The temple is where you go to worship, where you go and sacrifice. 00:22:39.160 --> 00:22:45.079 Longing for the temple in this case is too long for the presence of God. 00:22:45.079 --> 00:22:49.879 In the first chapter of Jonah, it says twice that Jonah ran away from the presence of the 00:22:49.879 --> 00:22:50.879 Lord. 00:22:50.879 --> 00:22:53.919 Now he says he will look again upon the temple. 00:22:53.919 --> 00:22:56.319 He's longing for the temple. 00:22:56.319 --> 00:23:02.799 To move from Sheol, from the belly of the fish to the temple is, in other words, to move 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:06.039 from death to life. 00:23:06.039 --> 00:23:12.480 To long to gaze upon the temple is to long for life itself. 00:23:12.480 --> 00:23:17.519 Jonah looks at the temple as a place of faith and hope. 00:23:17.519 --> 00:23:19.960 What else is in the temple? 00:23:19.960 --> 00:23:22.160 The holiest of holies. 00:23:22.160 --> 00:23:27.319 In the Jewish temple, you have this place called the holiest of holies. 00:23:27.319 --> 00:23:32.259 And it's the innermost sanctuary, which is located at the western of the temple. 00:23:32.259 --> 00:23:39.000 And it's this windowless room where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, which the Ark of 00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:43.279 the Covenant, if you remember the Old Testament, carries the Ten Commandments. 00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:47.480 And it symbolizes Israel's covenant relationship with God. 00:23:47.480 --> 00:23:52.400 And only the Israelite High Priest would be allowed to go in there once a year on Yom Kippur, 00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:54.759 on the day of atonement. 00:23:54.759 --> 00:23:59.880 And on that day, the High Priest would burn incense and he would sprinkle blood of a sacrificial 00:23:59.880 --> 00:24:05.480 animal to atone for his sins and the sins of the people of Israel. 00:24:05.480 --> 00:24:12.519 You see, on the Ark of the Covenant, which I said, it keeps the law of God. 00:24:12.519 --> 00:24:15.960 There's something on it that's called the mercy seat. 00:24:15.960 --> 00:24:18.720 And that's where the blood was sprinkled onto. 00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:22.620 And the blood was supposed to atone the sins of the people of Israel. 00:24:22.620 --> 00:24:28.360 But we read in the New Testament that actually no sacrifice, nothing could ever atone for 00:24:28.360 --> 00:24:30.799 the sin of the people. 00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:32.000 That's why Jesus had to come. 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:33.880 That's why the Son of God had to become human. 00:24:33.880 --> 00:24:43.600 You learned earlier in the kid's talk and suffer and be killed to atone for our sins. 00:24:43.600 --> 00:24:49.440 You see, the reason why Jonah can look at the temple in faith and hope is because Jesus 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:54.280 came down from heaven and he became the atoning sacrifice. 00:24:54.280 --> 00:24:59.320 And he made the cross, the new mercy seat, sprinkled with his blood, fulfilling the law 00:24:59.320 --> 00:25:02.800 of God that we could never fulfill. 00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:08.599 So that you and I, Jonah, may be pardoned. 00:25:08.599 --> 00:25:13.240 There's one significant detail that I have mentioned, and it's in the very first verse 00:25:13.240 --> 00:25:14.740 of a reading. 00:25:14.740 --> 00:25:20.319 And it says that Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. 00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:22.879 In the New Testament, Jesus says something about this. 00:25:22.879 --> 00:25:29.720 He says, for his Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish. 00:25:29.720 --> 00:25:38.079 So the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:42.120 You see the story of Jonah, Jonah in the belly of the fish. 00:25:42.120 --> 00:25:47.039 It's a metaphor for Jesus's death and resurrection. 00:25:47.039 --> 00:25:52.720 It's a metaphor for when Jesus obediently and willingly went down to the bottom of the 00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:58.759 pit, to death, to the realm of death, and brought back victory over death. 00:25:58.759 --> 00:26:03.640 To make it possible for you to live again, to run back to God again. 00:26:03.640 --> 00:26:09.039 We talked about Jonah running away from God, God pursuing Jonah, and now Jonah is coming 00:26:09.039 --> 00:26:12.400 back to God in faith. 00:26:12.400 --> 00:26:18.480 Jesus made it possible for you to find faith, to cry out to God. 00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:25.119 So remember this, and remember to look at the temple. 00:26:25.119 --> 00:26:31.439 Remember to look at the mercy seat where Jesus' blood was sprinkled so that you could live 00:26:31.439 --> 00:26:34.479 and come back to the Father. 00:26:34.479 --> 00:26:36.479 Let us pray. 00:26:36.479 --> 00:26:42.839 Father, we thank you tonight for this chapter here in Jonah, for the prayer of faith that 00:26:42.839 --> 00:26:44.599 he is praying. 00:26:44.599 --> 00:26:50.599 I ask that you would apply this to our hearts, that you would not let us forget about this. 00:26:50.599 --> 00:26:55.559 I ask that you would be with us and help us when times are difficult. 00:26:55.559 --> 00:27:01.119 We thank you for your grace and that you have saved us through the atoning sacrifice of 00:27:01.119 --> 00:27:03.359 your Son Jesus Christ. 00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:05.759 Forgive us all our sins in Jesus' name, we ask. 00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:21.759 Amen.