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[0:00] Morning everyone. Let me ask you this question. Have you ever been in a situation for a certain period of time where you feel so hopeless, so helpless to the point where you conclude that it is a situation that is beyond remedy, beyond solution?

[0:26] When you look at circumstances around your problem or your situation, you look at what is happening around that, normally it may lead you logically to conclude that this is a situation that is beyond remedy, that's beyond solution at all.

[0:46] It could be probably a financial crisis, or it could be a healthy problem that you are going through, or whatever problem that you are encountering. But when you happen to look around yourself and look at what is going around, you may end up concluding that this condition will never have a solution.

[1:07] You become so hopeless and helpless. Even the people around you may help you to reach such a conclusion. But when you look at all those situations that a human being will encounter and will arrive to such a conclusion, one of the hopeless and helpless situations is a situation of death.

[1:29] When someone is medically declared dead and everything has been taking place like burial and other things, it becomes very much insane as a human being to think that that situation will reverse.

[1:47] Death, it is a condition where we become hopeless and helpless. We conclude that nothing will happen.

[1:58] Even in our African tradition or religion, we have such a belief that when someone dies prematurely, he or she may appear somewhere and live again and marry and have children and continue their lives.

[2:16] But if it happens that someone who knew them before they died happened to see them, they will disappear again and go somewhere else. This is just mythology.

[2:26] And many, many cultures believe just like what the Bible says. When someone dies, they don't come back unless we're waiting for the resurrection of the dead.

[2:39] Death is a situation, it's a condition where we become hopeless and helpless. We have no clue of any hope. We don't think of any remedy.

[2:50] We don't think of any solution anymore unless a miracle happens. This is exactly what is happening in the book of Jonah. Jonah, chapter 2, Jonah is going to end up in that particular situation where we have no hope.

[3:06] We have no any idea, any hint of seeing Jonah reversing and coming back to any good condition. And I'm going to share with you under three headings the story of Jonah.

[3:22] The first one in chapter 2, I will speak about the disobedience of the prophets. That's where it begins.

[3:34] The story begins by, if you look at chapter 1, verse 1, it begins with a command. The word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amittai, go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because its wickedness has come up before me.

[3:50] The book of Jonah begins with a command given to Jonah, get up and go. So this command is not just from anyone. This command is not just from an ordinary person like Jonah.

[4:04] This command is from Yahweh, the creator of heavens and earth, the creator of everything, including Jonah. He comes up with a command which is not optional.

[4:17] He gives Jonah an order, get up and go. Unfortunately, as we saw last week, Jonah did not obey that command. Jonah chose to disobey and he chose to go on an opposite direction together.

[4:33] Just before I explain about the seriousness of the disobedience of Jonah against God's command, let me try to highlight what could have contributed to that disobedience, what led Jonah to disobey the word and the command of Yahweh.

[4:52] I think one of the things that led Jonah to disobey is because of his too narrow view of God's love. Just like Nick mentioned last week, the Ninevites, the people of Ninevites, were not so people easy to love because of how wicked and how cruel they were in the Hanchi Near East.

[5:21] It was so difficult and hard to love such people. And Jonah had developed a particular attitude against these people, just like any person who developed wicked people.

[5:34] He thought God has no concern to the people of Nineveh. He concluded that if we talk about love, God can only love people like us, people like us Israelites, not the cruel people, the wicked nation, and the people of Nineveh.

[5:54] This is what I call a too narrow view of God's love. Because for Jonah, the people of Nineveh are too bad to be loved by God.

[6:07] And you should know that what bothered most Jonah when God spoke to him to go, it's not necessarily because of the wickedness of the people of Nineveh, but it is because of the Lord's concern with such kind of people.

[6:25] I don't like the way chapter 2 has been translated in our English Bible because it portrays like the reason why God commanded Jonah to go and speak and preach against the city of Nineveh.

[6:42] It was because of the wickedness or because of the evil of the people of Nineveh. But when you read that passage, this same verse in the original Bible, you realize that the word that has been translated as wickedness or evil often means trouble.

[7:02] It means trouble rather than evil. And so therefore this passage could have been well translated like this. Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because its trouble is of my concern.

[7:17] Listen, this is exactly what bothers Jonah. How can God be concerned with cruel people, wicked people, like the people of Nineveh?

[7:33] And he refused to stand and go and preach because he knows that the love of God cannot embrace such a wicked nation. The love of God cannot embrace such a cruel nation.

[7:45] And he was very much concerned of the fact that God was concerned with wicked people like that. The love of God is so wide, so big, brothers and sisters, that it can embrace anyone.

[8:01] And there's no one who can go beyond God's love. We are all loved by God, no matter how malicious or how wicked we are. You may be here this morning, you may think of yourself so bad and so wicked that the love of God cannot embrace you.

[8:18] But I'm here to tell you that the love of God is so wide, so deep, so big that it embraces everybody. Jonah had a very narrow view of the love of God.

[8:31] And this is one of the reasons why he decided to disobey that. When you look at what is happening in Iraq, for instance, or many other nations where Christians are being persecuted and slaughtered, as Christians, we arrive to a conclusion of saying, could really God come and get concerned with such people?

[8:56] Our natural prayer will be, God, why don't you come and judge these people? It's not thinking about the love of God. You may have a brother in your family.

[9:07] You may have a sister in your family or in the neighborhood. The one who may think this is a very wicked person. And you may refuse to share the love of God with them, just because you think they are so wicked.

[9:23] They cannot be embraced by the love of God. Having such an attitude is just having a too narrow view of God's love. This is what Jonah thought.

[9:34] And he thought, for this very reason, I don't think it is right for me to go and preach against these people. God is concerned with everybody.

[9:48] Anyway, this is the first reason that has made Jonah to disobey. The second reason that I think Jonah disobeyed the command of God is his wrong view of the presence of Yahweh.

[10:04] Have a look in chapter 1 of the 3. But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port.

[10:18] After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish. Why? What is the goal there? And the writer says, to flee from Yahweh.

[10:30] He's running away to flee from Yahweh's presence, as if Yahweh's power and authority were just limited as soon as one departed from the territory of Israel.

[10:43] This is what he thought, probably. That the power of God and his presence and his authority, they are limited or they just end within the boundaries of Israel.

[10:54] As long as I get out of this place, then I am far away from Yahweh. He's not going to see me. He's not going to find me anymore.

[11:05] This is a wrong view of God's presence. Yahweh is not like those gods that we used to worship or the African traditional religion gods, the gods which are territorial and which are localized in one particular place.

[11:26] Yahweh is the creator of heavens and earth. There is no place where you can go run away from God's presence. In fact, this idea of thinking that the power of God is just limited within the boundaries of a particular land was widespread in ancient Near East.

[11:48] If you remember the story of the Assyrians, when they went and picked other nations, collected them together and bring them together and put them in the land of Samaria there.

[12:01] If you read there in 2 Kings chapter 17, the Bible records that because the people who were brought in the land of Samaria did not worship Yahweh, Yahweh sent lions to devour them.

[12:16] And so messages went to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria was told that the people you've brought in the land of Samaria, they don't know what the lord of the land or the god of the land requires.

[12:31] It's because the idea of thinking that Samaria belongs to a particular god and that god should be worshipped according to some requirements.

[12:43] So this idea of localizing God, putting God in the boundaries in the four corners of land was really widespread. And Jonah probably could have thought like that, that God is just limited within the boundaries of Israel.

[12:58] As long as I get out of this and go to Tashishteh, the lord is not there. This wrong view of the presence of God has led Jonah to disobey the command of the creator.

[13:09] Many times we also disobey simply because we have a wrong view of the presence of Yahweh. There's no place, there's no darkness, there's no place in the whole world where you and me can go far away from God's presence.

[13:25] So this wrong view, one, of God's love and the presence of God really led Jonah to disobey. Now listen to how serious that disobedience was.

[13:37] Disobeying the command of God. It is a serious offense. And what does it mean? Jonah decided, you know, to disobey God, God's command is to decide what is right for yourselves apart from what God has already revealed in his command because it was already revealed to Jonah.

[14:00] Even though Jonah had the wrong view of God's love, even if he had the wrong view of God's presence, but that does not mean that he was not able to clearly listen and listen to the word of God and receive the revelation that came from God to go and preach against the Ninevites.

[14:19] That was very clear to Jonah, but he decided to disobey a revealed, clear word of God. To disobey is actually, to disobey God's word is to say no to what the Lord has commanded you and to come up with what you think is right.

[14:40] In other words, is to sit on God's throne, is to say, I can come up with what I think is right. I don't think, God, you are right by being consigned with such a cruel nation.

[14:53] I think you are wrong. I think I'm right this time around because those people are too bad to be loved. Therefore, it is right for me to go in an opposite direction. So disobedience is to decide what is right for yourself, is to determine what is bad and what is good for yourself, apart from what God has revealed.

[15:15] Dear brothers and sisters, do you know that the definition of good is not beyond what God has defined? There is no good beyond what God has defined as good.

[15:28] Whatever we come up with as good or as right is an opposite from what God has already decided. It's a serious offense.

[15:39] It's dethroning God from a throne. It's telling God that we can become gods on ourselves. It is exactly what Adam and Eve did. Because the Lord says, on the day that you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will surely die.

[16:00] In other words, the day that you will decide what is right and wrong for yourselves, apart from what I have already revealed that very day, you will die.

[16:12] Look at how serious disobedience is and look at how the consequence is also very severe. You will surely die. This is what exactly is happening with Jonah.

[16:25] Jonah has decided what is right in his own eyes. Jonah has decided what is good for himself. Let me just pack my stuff and go to Tarshish because God is wrong.

[16:39] He has gotten it wrong this time around and I've got it right because these people are too bad to be loved. This is a very serious offense when you put yourself on the throne of God by deciding and determining what is right on yourself.

[16:55] If the world is the way it is today, it is because we've made up ourselves small gods by determining what is right and what is wrong in ourselves.

[17:06] We don't want to follow the revealed will of God that God has already commanded to us. This is very serious. And so what happened to Adam and Eve was, this is exactly what is going to happen to Jonah.

[17:21] When you decide what is right and wrong on yourself, you die. That's how serious it is. And what has happened to Jonah is also true to everybody.

[17:34] All of us together. And this will actually lead me to my second point, the death of the prophet. Because of his disobedience, this will lead Jonah into death.

[17:51] Jonah will die. Symbolically, he will die in the belly of the fish. How do we know that Jonah died in the belly of the fish?

[18:02] And the first witness is the writer himself. The writer of the book of Jonah tells us that it appears that Jonah died in the belly of the fish. And why dying? Because death is always a result, a serious consequence to a serious offense that someone has committed.

[18:21] Remember, the serious offense is disobeying God and dethroning God on his throne, determining what is right and what is wrong on yourself. And that has got a serious judgment, which is death.

[18:36] Jonah is now facing death. He's going to die because of that. And the first witness is the writer himself. Look in chapter 2, verse 1.

[18:49] Sorry, chapter 1, verse 17. But the Lord provided the great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

[19:00] I think what the writer wants you and me to imagine, especially his first readers, is that Jonah symbolically died. He has gone into a situation of no hope and no remedy and no solution at all.

[19:17] He dies in the belly of the fish. How do we know? Because the Lord had already appointed a fish, not just a fish, but the writer is very specific.

[19:28] He says, a great fish. Jonah is not facing just any ordinary fish. Jonah is now in front of the great fish. Already, it gives us a clue that Jonah is going toward a situation of no help and no hope at all.

[19:47] It's not just a great fish. And the great fish does not come to befriend Jonah in the story. The great fish does not come to entertain Jonah in the story.

[19:59] It's very clear that the great fish comes to swallow Jonah. The word for swallowing actually can also mean to devour Jonah. Jonah is being devoured by the great fish.

[20:13] And this shows that he has gone into a situation of no help and no hope at all. To emphasize the idea that it was helpless and hopeless for Jonah, the writer goes on to tell us that you should know that Jonah was not there for one day.

[20:32] Jonah was there for three days and three nights. So the great fish, the devouring and three days and three nights, they are there to give us a clue that he died.

[20:46] Jonah has gone into the land of the dead. He will never return. According to the ancient Near Eastern culture, it took about three days for someone to reach in the land of the dead.

[21:02] So it appears that Jonah has already reached for three days and three nights. Let's forget about Jonah. Jonah is gone. He's already in the land of the dead. And all the people thought that the land of the dead is the land of no return.

[21:19] So when the writer tells us just Jonah faced a great fish and the fish devoured Jonah and he spent three days and three nights, he wants us to imagine that Jonah is finished.

[21:34] There's no way we can think about his survival anymore. He's dead in the belly of the fish. Do you remember when Jesus was invited by Mary and Martha to go and see the tomb of Lazarus in John chapter 11?

[21:52] when they reached the tomb, Jesus commanded them, why don't you bring the stone, roll the stone away? One of the complaints was, Master, we buried him a long time.

[22:06] A long time they meant it is already four days, which means we can't think of any remedy that can come. When they talk about three, four days already, we should already conclude that nothing will come out of here.

[22:20] but we see Jesus standing, who is life, who is resurrection, is the one who can perform such a miracle. You remember when Jesus met the two disciples on the road of Emmaus, asking them, they were complaining and talking about what has happened in Jerusalem.

[22:40] And they came up, they said to Jesus, don't you know that what has happened in Jerusalem? And it is now three days already, by mentioning three days is to say, let's not think about that something will come out.

[22:57] So it is something relatively long that there's no hope at all. So when the writer specifies that Jonah spent three days and three nights in the bale of the fish, he wants his readers, you and me, to imagine that he has gone to the land of the dead.

[23:17] There's no hope. Jonah, he becomes a dead person, no hope at all. This is a great testament, a first testament we hear that Jonah dies.

[23:27] And this is because of this disobedience that Jonah has actually gone through. But we have the second witness that shows that Jonah dies himself.

[23:39] In fact, in the belly of the fish, listen to the words and languages that Jonah is using when he's praying in the belly of the fish. If at all, he did pray in the belly of the fish.

[23:51] Everything that Jonah is actually trying to explain in his prayer gives us a hint that he died. He has gone into a situation of no remedy, no solution at all.

[24:04] Look at chapter 2, verse 2, for instance. In my distress, I called to the Lord, and he answered me. So, Jonah describes his situation, his condition, as a distressful situation, of no help, and no hope at all.

[24:25] It goes on in verse 2, from the depths of the grave, I called for help. Jonah has gone into the grave, and the grave is the land of the dead, is the land of no return.

[24:39] This is where I am now, there is no hope, there is no help at all. It's not only that, it goes on to say, I've been held into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents stood about me, all your waves and breakers stripped over me.

[25:00] I say it, I've been banished from your sight. All these languages of the deep, the waters and everything, Jonah is trying to describe his situation of helplessness and hopelessness that he has already gone into.

[25:18] There's no solution for Jonah, because this is a serious punishment, a serious judgment that comes as a result of disobeying God. it is very clear that when you read that, you can't have any idea, any hope at all, that Jonah is going to come out of the situation.

[25:37] First, great fish devouring Jonah three days and three nights. Let not think about any hope of Jonah. Secondly, himself is speaking about being in the grave, being in the deep where there's no life.

[25:54] And he goes on very far to explain that in a very spiritual way, to say, I have been banished from your sight. What a serious offense when you are banished from the sight of God.

[26:07] This is exactly what death means, especially spiritual death. When we die, when we disobey, we are banished from God's presence.

[26:19] And God is the source of all life. When you are banished from his presence, you have no life in you. This is the reason why Jonah has gone as far as to say, I have been banished from your sight.

[26:35] For how long? Okay, the storyteller tells us that Jonah will spend three days and three nights in that condition, but himself, look at what he says in verse 6. For how long he's going to be in that situation?

[26:46] Verse 6. To the roots of the mountains I sank down, the earth beneath bad me in for how long? For three days and three nights?

[26:57] No. For a month? No. For two months? Forever. This is a condition of any human being far away from God.

[27:07] We deserve to stay far away from God forever. It's an eternal punishment. This is how he portrays himself, his condition in the belly of the fish.

[27:20] I am in this situation forever. This is a consequence. This is a punishment. This is a judgment that comes because of disobeying God.

[27:31] Not something that will take a day or two or three, but something that someone will spend for the rest of their lives far away from God. This is how serious it is. I think you remember the very first couple in the Bible.

[27:45] They were banished from God's presence, Adam and Eve. You also remember the story of Cain. He was also banished from the sight of God. It's so serious when we are banished from the sight of God because God is the source of true life.

[27:58] Jonah died in the belly of the fish. How do we know? The writer himself has told us and Jonah himself also confirms that by the way he is explaining the story and his condition.

[28:12] Jonah has no hope at all. He becomes a dead person, no response, no feeling at all in the belly of the fish. He symbolically died there.

[28:24] We can't think of any life that will come out of there. It's not only the writer who tells us that Jonah died. It's not only Jonah himself by the way of singing, but even the Lord Jesus Christ himself, he confirms that Jonah died in the belly of the fish.

[28:42] You know, Jesus, when he's trying to talk about his death and resurrection, he refers his death and resurrection with what happened with Jonah. So in other words, Jesus endorsed the idea that Jonah died in the belly of the fish.

[29:00] Death is always the judgment of disobeying the command of God. We die. The Bible says the wages of sin is death.

[29:17] And death is separation from our creator, not for months, not for days, but forever. It's a very serious offense. No hope at all.

[29:30] So we have the witness from the writer himself. We have the second witness that Jonah died in the belly of the fish from Jonah himself as he prays. and we have the witness of the Lord Jesus Christ himself when he compares his story of death and resurrection with the Jonah.

[29:52] But when you read the Apostle Paul, the passage that Penny read for us, the Apostle Paul comes up with an idea to also highlight the fact that we also died because of our sins and trespasses before God.

[30:10] chapter 2 verse 1 of Ephesians, as for you, you were dead in your transgression and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the rule of the kingdom, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

[30:31] All of us lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving the wrath of God.

[30:47] We, by nature, are dead people. We are dead walking people. Though we are walking apart from Christ, we are dead.

[30:58] As far as God is concerned, everybody before they come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, they are dead people. No matter how beautiful and handsome they look like, but they are dead before God.

[31:13] That's why the gospel is a wonderful news to bring life once again to the people around us. You wouldn't want to see your neighbor, your brother and sister, spending eternity far away from the side of God.

[31:30] Just like we've seen Jonah here, the consequence of the wages of sin is death. This is the truth, this is not a joke. When you don't give your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, you are separated from him and for eternity you will be banished from his side.

[31:50] You better think twice about where you are going. And whenever we take the responsibility of explaining the gospel of Jesus, we should have that in mind, that the consequences of sin are very serious.

[32:06] We are all dead because of our sins and we all deserve the punishment of God because sin came through one man and through one man all have sinned and we are all under the wrath of God which is death.

[32:22] Now since Jonah is in this condition, this now leads me to my final point, the deliverance of the prophets. What will come out of this situation?

[32:33] We have already seen that Jonah has gone into the land of the dead. We have already seen that Jonah has gone into a situation of no remedy, of no solution, of no hope at all. Jonah is irresponsive.

[32:45] There is nothing he can do to redeem his life on his own. Nothing. Nobody outside of Jonah, even Jonah himself, has no power to actually come out of that condition.

[32:56] So it takes God himself to perform a miracle. it takes God himself to bring back life to Jonah.

[33:07] So now we talk about the prophets' deliverance. Jonah knows that deliverance comes from Yahweh alone. Listen to what he says himself in verse 6 of chapter 2.

[33:18] To the root of the mountains I sank down the earth beneath me in forever, but you, speaking about Yahweh, brought my life up from the pits, O Yahweh my God.

[33:31] It's only Yahweh who can reverse the irreversible. It's only Yahweh who can bring hope when there's no hope. It's only Yahweh who can bring life when there's death, when there's no clue of any solution at all.

[33:47] It is only the creator of life who can bring. And Jonah is actually aware of that. That's why it says, you has brought life from the pits, O Lord my God.

[33:59] It's not only that, that confirms that Jonah was very much aware that God himself brings a solution. Look at verse 10, for instance, verse 9, at the end of verse 9, but I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you what I have vowed and I will make good.

[34:20] Why? Because salvation comes from you, from God. salvation is all the doing of God. You don't expect a dead person to come on their own to the Lord.

[34:36] That's why we pray for God to perform a miracle, to give them faith, to awaken them from their death. You know what happens when we preach the gospel to dead people who are banished from the sight of God?

[34:49] A miracle happens, the miracle of life. They will not respond unless God does something in their lives. If you came to God, it's because God gave you life.

[35:03] You could not respond on your own. At all. That's why no one can boast. Because we were all unresponsive to God, no feeling.

[35:15] But the Lord has performed the miracle and brought us to himself. This is our cry, this is my prayer, this is your prayer, to all those we think are still far away from the living God.

[35:26] We should pray that God would perform a miracle of bringing life to them, giving them faith that they would put trust in God. When you look at somebody who is still resistant to God, especially to Christ, it's because these people cannot respond by themselves.

[35:46] That's why we pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to awaken people's lives, to awaken them, to give them feelings again, to bring them out of the grave where they are, so they can have faith again in Christ.

[36:00] You don't have to get upset with a dead working person. Otherwise, people look at you like you are insane. You can't go and force a dead person to eat.

[36:10] Wake up, come on, eat. They can't because they can't respond anymore. We can't force these people. We present the gospel message to the dead working people.

[36:21] We trust that the Holy Spirit will perform a miracle in them by giving them life so that they can come to Christ. It takes a miracle. It takes God himself. This is what the Bible says here, that salvation does not come from anybody, from any effort, because people are there, they're in their graves.

[36:40] Salvation comes from the Lord himself. What a miracle that God has done. So Jonah knows that salvation comes from God. And I think you can also see that Jonah also knows that whenever he stands and prays and asks for God, he goes via the temple.

[36:57] Have you seen that the temple is very significant in the prayer of Jonah? Look at twice he mentions the temple. Look at verse 4. I said I have been banished from your side, yet I will look again toward your holy temple.

[37:12] Look at verse 7. When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.

[37:23] Why the temple? The temple was a symbol of God's presence. The temple is the place where forgiveness is offered, where the Lord is the dwelling place of Yahweh in the theology of the people of Israel.

[37:38] The temple is where the sacrifices of sin and they are actually offered, where God meets the sinner and where the sinner gets his forgiveness.

[37:51] It's from the temple. The temple is very significant in the story here, but when we come to the New Testament, you'll hear the Lord Jesus Christ himself equating himself to the temple.

[38:02] Remember when he said, destroy this temple and how we'll build it in three days and three nights. They said, what? It took us about 46 years to build his temple.

[38:15] They never understood that he was not talking about that building, he was talking about his own body. Jesus has replaced the temple because in Christ all the fullness of God dwells in there.

[38:29] We meet God through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no salvation apart from Yahweh and there is no salvation apart from Christ who is our temple.

[38:42] Everything that we know about the temple is fulfilled in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself.

[38:55] Where? In Christ. Not counting people's sin against him and he has committed to us the message of reconciling. God is reconciling the wicked world in the temple which is Jesus Christ today.

[39:08] Not outside of Jesus Christ. So brothers and sisters you know that the deliverance of the prophet came from Yahweh. The disobedience of the prophet leads him to the death of the prophet.

[39:22] Now we see the deliverance. The salvation comes from Yahweh alone. You are here if you have not given your life to the Lord Jesus Christ you should know that you are a dead walking person.

[39:36] And life comes from God and my prayer is that God may give you life so that you can come and respond by faith so that you may walk and be forgiven by God.

[39:48] Let me finish by giving you the two responses of the great salvation. Jonah did not keep quiet. Remember he was in the land of the dead where there was no hope, where he was helpless and hopeless, nothing could happen to him, he could never think of anything ahead of him, which was that death, but the Lord has come recklessly and God commanded the fish to vomit Jonah.

[40:15] Jonah is alive again by God's grace. How did he respond to such a great salvation? He never kept quiet. Two responses from Jonah.

[40:26] Number one, Jonah thanks God. He is grateful for what the Lord has done. look at what he says in chapter 2 verse 9. But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you what I have vowed I will make good.

[40:43] Salvation comes from the Lord. This should be a natural response of every true Christian who has really understood what it means to be loved by God, what it means to be forgiven.

[40:56] When you are forgiven your sins, you can't help it, but to come to the Lord with thanksgiving to him. If I told you understand what salvation means, every person who understood salvation, they came up in gratitude to the Lord.

[41:15] Remember Levi, Matthew, he never thought that Jesus could also extend his invitation to such a tax collector who were in the umbrella of all the sinners of the day.

[41:28] when Jesus called him, he expressed that by organizing a party as a way of expressing how grateful he was. Who am I to be called also among the apostles?

[41:42] Remember that woman who broke the perfume before the Lord. It was as a way of expressing how grateful she was because she was forgiven all her sins.

[41:54] If you are truly a Christian, you understand what it means to be forgiven, to be included in God's family. You can't help it but to go into thanksgiving and thank the Lord for what God has done for you.

[42:10] That's the first response that Jonah has done is to thank God. The second response, Jonah becomes a teacher. Look at what he says in verse 8.

[42:21] Those who clung to worthless idols forfeited grace, they could be here. Jonah becomes now a teacher to others. This is what happens when you are truly saved, when you understand the Lord has delivered you, the Lord has forgiven your sins.

[42:39] Nobody will force you to share the wonderful news of salvation that the Lord has done for you. How good it is when you are forgiven your sins. These are natural responses when you encounter true salvation.

[42:54] You can't help it but to thank the living God who has given life to you. You can't help it by standing and sharing the good news of salvation to everybody around you.

[43:08] The disobedience of the prophets, the death of the prophets, the deliverance of the prophets. Let's pray. Lord, what a wonderful thing you have done in Christ Jesus by bringing us from the grave and back to yourself.

[43:28] And now today we can enjoy life with one another. We can enjoy life in the family of the people of God. We disobeyed just like Jonah. We were dead in our sins and trespasses.

[43:40] But Lord, by your love and your grace, you gave us life. Once again, we have life and we have assurance, we have hope of eternal life. Thank you, Lord, for what you have done in Christ Jesus.

[43:53]  Give us now passion to share such a wonderful experience of knowing the Lord with others. Amen. Amen.