WEBVTT 00:00:04.246 --> 00:00:16.493 We've been in a series for the last four weeks on the book of Jonah, called Embracing God's Mission, and today we're going to finish this series up by looking at the words of Jesus as he references Jonah in the New Testament. 00:00:16.493 --> 00:00:17.925 It's really a powerful passage. 00:00:17.925 --> 00:00:21.019 So if you're there, matthew 12, verse 38 through 41. 00:00:21.019 --> 00:00:32.609 One day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority. 00:00:32.609 --> 00:00:39.668 But Jesus replied only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign. 00:00:39.668 --> 00:00:44.481 But the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. 00:00:44.481 --> 00:00:55.170 For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the son of man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. 00:00:55.170 --> 00:01:04.796 The people of Nineveh will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. 00:01:04.796 --> 00:01:16.096 And now someone greater than Jonah is here, but you refuse to repent. 00:01:16.096 --> 00:01:21.483 Let's pray together, father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you for this day. 00:01:21.483 --> 00:01:21.823 Lord. 00:01:21.823 --> 00:01:30.507 God, I thank you for this word that you've given me to speak, and I ask that you would cause these words to produce life within the people that are listening to them here in this service and also online. 00:01:30.507 --> 00:01:41.144 And, father, we just pray that those who are not yet saved, father, that today would be the day of salvation, that they would repent of their sins and believe on the Lord, jesus Christ. 00:01:41.144 --> 00:01:51.971 And for the rest of us, lord, would you help us, through Jesus's example, to embrace more passionately the mission of God here in this earth. 00:01:51.971 --> 00:02:03.968 And, lord, we ask that you would take these words of mine and cause them to come alive and to be used by you to be transformative in each of our lives, and we thank you for it in Jesus name. 00:02:03.968 --> 00:02:05.010 Amen. 00:02:11.508 --> 00:02:12.493 Have you ever met a one-upper? 00:02:12.493 --> 00:02:32.915 You know what a one-upper is Somebody that you're having a conversation with and you're telling them some of the highlights of your life, some of the best moments of your life and some of the worst moments of your life, and that person has better moments and worse moments, and as soon as you get finished, or maybe even partway through, they stop you to tell you about how bad their life has been or how great their life has been. 00:02:32.915 --> 00:02:37.206 Right, and I was going to ask for a show of hands, but I decided against it. 00:02:37.206 --> 00:02:49.867 For those in the room that might be one-uppers yourself Like you might find yourself in those conversations thinking about your own life experience and kind of trying to interject into other people's conversations. 00:02:49.867 --> 00:02:54.103 I discovered this a lot. 00:02:54.383 --> 00:03:01.228 I've been in the ministry for 31 years and I've been to a lot of pastor's conferences, and in pastor's conferences you meet a lot of people you know. 00:03:01.228 --> 00:03:03.402 You see people you know, but a lot of people you don't know. 00:03:03.402 --> 00:03:17.311 And so you're sitting around in circles, around tables and you're talking with each other and dialoguing and pretty soon one guy starts talking about the size of his building, another guy how many people are attending their church, how great their last sermon series was. 00:03:17.311 --> 00:03:29.294 You know all of these different things and all of the other guys around the table are finding points of interjection so that they can one up the other person and before long it gets to be a little bit ridiculous, right? 00:03:29.294 --> 00:03:31.600 It's like seriously, is that true? 00:03:31.600 --> 00:03:32.984 It could be true. 00:03:32.984 --> 00:03:48.596 But I was cured of this at one pastor's conference because this is a massive church and we were there, and so we went to one of their church services and the lead pastor showed up on the stage as a hologram, not even kidding. 00:03:48.596 --> 00:04:03.152 So he had preached the sermon the night before and they were trying a new technology which had cameras that took all different angles to images of him, and so on the stage it appeared like he was standing there speaking to us, but he wasn't there. 00:04:03.152 --> 00:04:13.721 It was really interesting watching this, and as he was giving his message, as a hologram, he talked about the fact that they were open in their 82nd church campus, you know. 00:04:13.721 --> 00:04:27.302 He talked about the fact that they had cured world hunger and then next week they were actually going to send missionaries to Mars, just in case, because we never know if the gospel is needed in Mars. 00:04:27.302 --> 00:04:41.404 Right, and obviously I'm joking, but in comparison, looking at what they were doing and considering what we were doing and the scope of things, it cleared me up from any kind of one-upness that I was a part of before that right. 00:04:41.404 --> 00:04:55.266 So obviously we look at that as a negative thing most of the time, but how many of you know, the only person who could one-up somebody else and it be holy, is Jesus, and he does here. 00:04:55.307 --> 00:05:00.822 In this passage he says now, someone greater than Jonah is here, and he's speaking of who? 00:05:00.822 --> 00:05:09.550 He's speaking of himself, right, if you've been following along with the sermons on Jonah, you might be tempted to think, well, that's a pretty low bar, jesus. 00:05:09.550 --> 00:05:21.540 I mean Jonah isn't exactly somebody that you'd put on a poster, as you know, somebody who's just a really faithful servant of God, or that you would invite to your missionary conference to be the keynote speaker. 00:05:21.540 --> 00:05:27.262 You know, jonah learned a lot of what he learned by doing the wrong thing. 00:05:27.262 --> 00:05:27.983 Right. 00:05:27.983 --> 00:05:40.360 Aren't you glad Because I am Jonah in a lot of ways, and so I'm so grateful that God chose to put this in the Bible so that we can learn and we can have hope for our own lives as well? 00:05:40.360 --> 00:05:42.625 So it's not. 00:05:42.625 --> 00:05:46.353 We understand that Jonah's testimony was not that stellar. 00:05:46.353 --> 00:05:52.293 So, in comparison, obviously Jesus is much greater than him, but it's important because of who he's talking to here. 00:05:52.759 --> 00:05:55.105 Jesus was using an old Testament example. 00:05:55.105 --> 00:05:57.711 When Jesus walked on this earth, do you know? 00:05:57.711 --> 00:05:59.641 They didn't have a new Testament. 00:05:59.641 --> 00:06:07.060 The people that he was speaking to only had what the Old Testament, and some of them only the Torah right. 00:06:07.060 --> 00:06:13.223 So they had the Old Testament and that's what they were leaning on or were relying on in order to understand who God was. 00:06:13.223 --> 00:06:19.884 So Jesus is using their own knowledge, their own information that they had based on childhood. 00:06:19.884 --> 00:06:23.372 I mean, how many of us discovered Jonah in one of these ways? 00:06:23.372 --> 00:06:30.031 You either discovered through flannel graph any flannel graffers in the room that remember Jonah in the Sunday school, right? 00:06:30.031 --> 00:06:34.850 Some of you discovered Jonah through puppets Anybody discover through puppets. 00:06:34.850 --> 00:06:43.000 Some of you discovered Jonah through veggie tails, right, yeah, baby, lots of veggie tailors in the room, right? 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:48.122 But so you can imagine these Jewish people that Jesus was speaking to. 00:06:48.122 --> 00:07:00.173 They would have heard the story of Jonah spoken to them, recited to them from the scriptures, probably many times over, and so Jesus is using this as an example, as a symbol. 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:10.040 Right, here's something that we need to remember the Bible is one big true story, from beginning to end. 00:07:10.040 --> 00:07:11.584 It's not separated. 00:07:11.584 --> 00:07:12.968 It doesn't need to be separated out. 00:07:12.968 --> 00:07:20.401 I grew up in a church where the Old Testament was considered kind of outdated, right, we didn't really need to use that very much. 00:07:20.401 --> 00:07:25.072 We focused primarily on the New Testament and understand why that was and all of that. 00:07:25.072 --> 00:07:32.244 I'm not trying to get into the weeds on that, but it's important that we understand the Old Testament because it points to. 00:07:32.244 --> 00:07:35.029 Everything in the Bible points to Jesus. 00:07:35.971 --> 00:07:43.425 When you read your Bible, I encourage you to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to show you the road to Jesus in whatever passage it is that you're reading. 00:07:43.425 --> 00:07:51.480 And there's a road to Jesus found even in the book of Jonah and in the story of Jonah, and Jesus is telling his listeners about that. 00:07:51.480 --> 00:07:58.461 We're going to examine four ways that Jesus's life and ministry was greater than Jonah's right. 00:07:58.461 --> 00:08:01.891 But before we get to that, let's look at some context from this passage. 00:08:01.891 --> 00:08:10.095 So by the time the events of Matthew 12 occurred, jesus has already been in ministry for like a year and a half to two years. 00:08:10.095 --> 00:08:12.223 So he's already done a lot of things. 00:08:12.223 --> 00:08:17.785 He's already called 12 disciples to follow after him and he's pouring into their lives and teaching them and training them. 00:08:17.785 --> 00:08:22.985 He's preached the greatest sermon ever preached, which was the Sermon on the Mount. 00:08:22.985 --> 00:08:24.307 He's already done that. 00:08:24.307 --> 00:08:30.449 He's healed the sick, cast out demons, calmed a storm and on and on and on. 00:08:30.449 --> 00:08:40.504 In fact, the book of John at the end of John, it says that there's not enough paper or ink to write down all of the things that Jesus said and did while he was here in this planet. 00:08:40.504 --> 00:08:49.285 So what we get in the gospels are a sampling, a small sampling of the work of Jesus, the ministry of Jesus while he was here on the earth. 00:08:49.986 --> 00:08:54.583 Now, the Jewish religion was regulated by experts in the law of Moses. 00:08:54.583 --> 00:08:58.491 These were lawyers, they were Pharisees and Sadducees. 00:08:58.491 --> 00:09:03.446 They were part of the Sanhedrin and, like any such group, not kept in check. 00:09:03.446 --> 00:09:11.206 They tended toward self-righteousness and requiring others to obey rules that they exempted themselves from. 00:09:11.206 --> 00:09:16.049 That's religion, that's law, right. 00:09:16.049 --> 00:09:18.888 They required others to obey them. 00:09:18.888 --> 00:09:24.091 They considered their traditions equal to God's word and enforce them with vigor. 00:09:24.091 --> 00:09:36.182 If they said that something was true, then other people needed to believe that it was true and they needed to follow along, even if it wasn't necessarily found in scripture, because they were the ones that understood these things right. 00:09:37.024 --> 00:09:38.749 So Jesus bursts onto the scene. 00:09:38.749 --> 00:09:47.167 He speaks much more about the heart of man than the outward expression, in other words, what we do outwardly and how we obey on the outside. 00:09:47.167 --> 00:09:50.639 This was an assault on what the religious leaders stood for. 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:56.774 They preached daily doing this you must do this or you must not do this. 00:09:56.774 --> 00:10:06.780 There were rules and regulations that were to be followed, but they did not consider or talk about the heart of mankind, especially their own hearts. 00:10:06.780 --> 00:10:09.567 Right, jesus flipped the table. 00:10:09.567 --> 00:10:11.051 He did something completely different. 00:10:11.051 --> 00:10:14.264 He came to talk about the heart of mankind. 00:10:14.264 --> 00:10:22.628 So the supernatural workings that accompanied his ministry were unnerving to those that used control. 00:10:22.628 --> 00:10:29.750 They controlled people through fear and through their words, and they were unnerved by Jesus's miraculous moves. 00:10:30.740 --> 00:10:40.087 Jesus's last encounter right before the passage that we read with these guys was when he cast the demon out of a blind mute, a man who could not see and could not speak. 00:10:40.087 --> 00:10:43.089 And what was their response to Jesus's great miracle? 00:10:43.089 --> 00:10:48.003 They said you cast out demons by Satan's power. 00:10:48.003 --> 00:10:50.267 That makes sense, right. 00:10:50.267 --> 00:10:54.714 Why would Satan cast his own demon out? 00:10:54.714 --> 00:10:56.182 That doesn't make much sense, right? 00:10:56.182 --> 00:10:57.966 Because he sent that demon there for a reason. 00:10:57.966 --> 00:11:04.480 So, but anyway, that was the excuse that they use, and that's what they were trying to promote to people and to try to create a divide. 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:10.354 That's why it's so curious that they begin this section or this passage by calling Jesus teacher. 00:11:10.354 --> 00:11:17.232 Another word for teacher is rabbi or master, so they're using a term of endearment here. 00:11:17.232 --> 00:11:20.634 It's like they're trying to butter him up as they ask him this question. 00:11:20.634 --> 00:11:28.004 They complimented Jesus with the title of master, pretending respect for him when they intended to abuse him. 00:11:29.807 --> 00:11:44.452 All are not truly Christ's servants who call him master, and I just want to speak to all of us here in the room this morning and I had to come to this place in my own life of understanding that just praying a prayer as a child is not all that it's about. 00:11:44.452 --> 00:11:54.374 If we are to be truly followers of Jesus Christ, there must be marked change in our hearts first, and then in the way that we live. 00:11:54.374 --> 00:12:01.653 That's going to be a direct result of being a true Christian or a true follower of Jesus Christ. 00:12:01.653 --> 00:12:17.230 And if you have not yet experienced that in your life, you may have prayed a lot of sincere prayers, but you are not saved unless the Holy Spirit brings about not perfection but continual change, growing and becoming more and more like Jesus. 00:12:18.734 --> 00:12:23.326 They went on to show their true hearts, these Jewish people. 00:12:23.326 --> 00:12:30.710 They demanded that he show them a miraculous sign to prove that he isn't using Satan's power but is truly sent from God. 00:12:30.710 --> 00:12:34.623 It didn't really mean that they were trying to trap him. 00:12:34.623 --> 00:12:36.129 They were trying to trick him. 00:12:36.129 --> 00:12:42.486 They were trying to get him to do something just because they asked him to, and then they were going to try to flip it to use it against him. 00:12:42.486 --> 00:12:45.833 They were falsely implying that they would believe. 00:12:45.833 --> 00:12:52.513 We will believe if you only do one more sign and one more miracle. 00:12:54.480 --> 00:13:11.190 How many of us in our own lives cry out to God for signs and wonders and miracles, and yet he's given us the greatest sign and miracle of all in himself and the relationship that can be restored with Jesus, with the father, because of Jesus. 00:13:11.190 --> 00:13:23.265 So their creator, god, a unique person combining absolute deity and perfect humanity, is standing in their midst, speaking to them, and they dared to ask him for a sign. 00:13:23.265 --> 00:13:27.173 Show us something, wow us, amaze us. 00:13:27.173 --> 00:13:33.131 The demand for signs is evidence of unbelief rather than faith. 00:13:33.131 --> 00:13:35.041 Do you hear me? 00:13:35.041 --> 00:13:41.441 The demand, the requirement of seeing a sign, is evidence of unbelief instead of faith. 00:13:41.441 --> 00:13:44.668 It would have been wrong for Jesus to have given them a sign. 00:13:44.668 --> 00:13:51.740 Why? 00:13:51.740 --> 00:13:54.365 Because that would have catered to their unbelief and allowed them to set the standards of faith. 00:13:54.365 --> 00:13:55.388 In other words, we can direct God. 00:13:55.408 --> 00:13:59.602 How many of us in our lives have made the mistake of attempting to be God's boss? 00:13:59.602 --> 00:14:03.471 And how's that working for you? 00:14:03.471 --> 00:14:06.557 It's not working for you, right? 00:14:06.557 --> 00:14:09.988 God is in charge and we have the privilege of. 00:14:09.988 --> 00:14:11.394 Should we pray for miracles? 00:14:11.394 --> 00:14:12.799 Should we pray for signs and wonders? 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:14.443 Should we pray Absolutely? 00:14:14.443 --> 00:14:28.243 We do all of the time, and yet we understand that God's the one who ultimately is in control, and we put our trust and confidence and hope in him, regardless of if we ever see another miracle in this life again. 00:14:28.243 --> 00:14:33.313 So, no matter what miracle Jesus performed, it would not have pleased them. 00:14:33.419 --> 00:14:40.581 And Jesus goes on to say only in an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign. 00:14:40.581 --> 00:14:48.264 See, jesus goes past the outward and all of the actions and he confronts the condition of these people's hearts. 00:14:48.264 --> 00:14:54.341 He calls them out for their evil intentions, their wickedness in their hearts. 00:14:54.341 --> 00:14:56.765 Their hypocrisy was transparent to Jesus. 00:14:56.765 --> 00:14:58.471 It was not hidden from him. 00:14:58.471 --> 00:15:09.090 If they had not believed as a result of the many wonders and miracles and signs that Jesus had done up until this point in time, why would one more be able to be the thing that convinced them? 00:15:09.090 --> 00:15:13.248 Are you and I still waiting for a sign? 00:15:13.248 --> 00:15:19.711 I'm here today to tell you that Jesus told them and he's telling us as well. 00:15:19.711 --> 00:15:26.068 The sign that he's given us is himself, is himself and we're going to look at that. 00:15:26.659 --> 00:15:42.369 The word adulterous that he uses here was a metaphor frequently used in the Old Testament for spiritual unfaithfulness, in other words, placing other things in the place of God, worshiping idols maybe not bowing down to idols, but putting things in the place of God, right? 00:15:42.369 --> 00:15:46.328 So sign seeking can be an idol for our lives. 00:15:46.328 --> 00:15:50.815 There are some people that all that they do is try to run from one high to another. 00:15:50.815 --> 00:15:55.649 High in the kingdom, they look for signs and wonders, and they'll travel to and again. 00:15:55.649 --> 00:15:57.601 God can do anything at any time. 00:15:57.601 --> 00:16:11.111 I'm not trying to convince us of anything less than that, but if that's all we're seeking after and not the heart of God, if we're just looking out for his hand, if we just want to see his hands and not his heart or his face, something's wrong. 00:16:11.111 --> 00:16:12.422 Something's wrong. 00:16:12.422 --> 00:16:19.244 You see, the attitude that demands miraculous signs as a condition for belief does not please God. 00:16:19.244 --> 00:16:22.690 It goes on. 00:16:22.850 --> 00:16:35.707 Jesus goes on to say the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah, for as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the son of man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. 00:16:35.707 --> 00:16:42.750 Jesus promised them a sign, but he also pointed them backward to another sign or symbol that was in the Old Testament. 00:16:42.750 --> 00:16:52.169 The fact that Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of a fish was a precursor or something that pointed forward to Jesus himself. 00:16:52.169 --> 00:16:57.832 Spending three days and three nights in a tomb. 00:16:57.832 --> 00:17:06.332 Jesus' own death, burial and resurrection from the dead were the greatest sign. 00:17:06.332 --> 00:17:09.208 It is the greatest sign of all the ages. 00:17:10.290 --> 00:17:13.902 So let's get into four ways that Jesus' life and ministry was greater than Jonah's. 00:17:13.902 --> 00:17:17.711 Number one a greater obedience, a greater obedience. 00:17:17.711 --> 00:17:18.922 So what do I mean by obedience? 00:17:18.922 --> 00:17:23.811 Following God's commands his way, right away and all the way. 00:17:23.811 --> 00:17:25.916 That's obedience. 00:17:25.916 --> 00:17:29.265 Those who are training children, who have ever trained children, how many of you know? 00:17:29.265 --> 00:17:32.501 This is a good definition for obedience, right? 00:17:33.303 --> 00:17:44.631 So Jonah was called by God to go where, to go to Nineveh, and to declare to them the judgment that was going to come upon them if they didn't repent of their sins. 00:17:44.631 --> 00:17:47.405 Right, that was his job, that's what God called him to do. 00:17:47.405 --> 00:17:48.852 There was only one problem. 00:17:48.852 --> 00:17:49.655 What was the problem? 00:17:49.655 --> 00:17:57.009 Jonah hated Nineveh and he hated everything that was a part of Nineveh. 00:17:57.009 --> 00:18:04.386 The Assyrians were enemies of the Jewish people and they were cruel in every way. 00:18:04.386 --> 00:18:14.210 And Jonah knew God and he knew the mercy of God, and he knew that if he went and even declared judgment to these people, that there's a chance that God might have mercy on them. 00:18:14.210 --> 00:18:16.548 And he did not want to take the chance. 00:18:16.548 --> 00:18:27.674 He would rather lose his own life avoiding being obedient to God than obey God, because he knew enough about God to know that God might be up to something. 00:18:27.674 --> 00:18:31.665 These people were pagans. 00:18:31.665 --> 00:18:35.691 They did anything that you can think of from a sin standpoint. 00:18:35.691 --> 00:18:38.067 They were involved with and they embraced it. 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:45.330 But Jonah rebelled against the call of God and it's interesting, it says that he tried to flee from the presence of the Lord. 00:18:45.330 --> 00:18:49.428 Where are you going to go to hide from God? 00:18:49.428 --> 00:18:54.259 You can go to the highest mountain, to the lowest valley. 00:18:54.259 --> 00:18:55.471 You can jump to the highest fountain, to the lowest valley. 00:18:55.471 --> 00:18:56.118 You can jump into the sea. 00:18:56.118 --> 00:18:58.584 You can anything that you can imagine. 00:18:58.584 --> 00:19:01.930 You cannot get away from God. 00:19:01.930 --> 00:19:05.055 He is everywhere. 00:19:07.121 --> 00:19:11.711 So Jonah rebelled against the call of God and in doing so his life began a downward spiral. 00:19:11.711 --> 00:19:14.186 Right, we talked about this in week one. 00:19:14.186 --> 00:19:20.172 He went down to Joppa to get on a boat and when he was on the boat he went down into the inner part of the ship. 00:19:20.172 --> 00:19:29.074 When the storm came, so that he and he slept he was sleeping through the storm he went down into the belly of the great fish and all of these things. 00:19:29.074 --> 00:19:32.925 He went down into the sea first, and then he went down into the belly of great fish. 00:19:32.925 --> 00:19:35.071 All of these things are not a coincidence. 00:19:35.071 --> 00:19:40.010 It's a statement about what happens when we disobey God's call. 00:19:40.010 --> 00:19:47.473 When we are disobedient to the call of God on our lives, our lives go downward. 00:19:50.500 --> 00:19:54.910 The rest of the book of Jonah thankfully tells us that he, finally, was obedient. 00:19:54.910 --> 00:19:56.393 But was his heart in it? 00:19:56.393 --> 00:19:59.588 No, his heart was not in it at all. 00:19:59.588 --> 00:20:36.382 Now, jesus, on the other hand, was perfectly obedient to the mission that his father asked of him, and this began with his willingness to leave the comforts of being in the presence of his father and the Holy Spirit to come to this earth to give up his privileges of Godhood and to become a human being who was literally born to die Philippians 2 describes it so well who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. 00:20:36.382 --> 00:20:43.500 He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 00:20:44.603 --> 00:20:45.805 Was Jesus obedient? 00:20:45.805 --> 00:21:00.088 He was obedient to everything that the father asked of him and in fact in John 6, 38, jesus says of himself for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 00:21:00.088 --> 00:21:05.203 Jesus's obedience led him upward instead of downward. 00:21:05.203 --> 00:21:14.705 He came up out of the waters of baptism, as we've just seen here this morning, and when he came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove. 00:21:14.705 --> 00:21:23.962 Heaven opened up and the Father God said this is my son, whom I love and whom I am well pleased. 00:21:23.962 --> 00:21:28.395 He went up on the mountain to spend time in prayer with the Father. 00:21:28.395 --> 00:21:32.327 He went up to Jerusalem where he would be delivered to death. 00:21:32.327 --> 00:21:38.224 He was lifted up on an old, rugged cross so that he could draw mankind to himself. 00:21:38.224 --> 00:21:44.021 He was raised up from the dead on the third day, defeating death, hell and the grave. 00:21:44.021 --> 00:22:03.166 He ascended upward into heaven, where God in Philippians 2, it says therefore, god has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that, at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. 00:22:03.166 --> 00:22:06.394 To the glory of God, the Father. 00:22:06.394 --> 00:22:10.913 When Jonah went downward because of disobedience. 00:22:10.913 --> 00:22:13.664 Jesus went upward because of obedience. 00:22:13.664 --> 00:22:17.002 Aren't you thankful that Jesus was obedient? 00:22:18.565 --> 00:22:31.426 Secondly, we see that Jesus had a greater sacrifice, a greater sacrifice, and the word sacrifice means finding acceptance with God by means of an acceptable substitute offered in the place of the sinner. 00:22:31.426 --> 00:22:47.983 You remember in the Old Testament that when God gave Moses the law, he also gave a prescription that could be used, which would be the raising of spotless animals that would be sacrificed and their blood would be shed, not to remove the sins of the people, but to cover over them. 00:22:47.983 --> 00:22:58.227 To cover over them so that they could still have some semblance of relationship with God, even though a just God could not look upon sin right. 00:22:58.227 --> 00:23:00.250 And so that's what they did. 00:23:00.250 --> 00:23:01.113 They prescribed this. 00:23:01.113 --> 00:23:06.113 So obviously, with Jesus, we know that he was a much greater sacrifice. 00:23:06.473 --> 00:23:15.068 But when Jonah found himself in the storm of his life, asleep in the bottom of the boat, the sailors, who didn't know God at all, cried out to their own gods. 00:23:15.068 --> 00:23:17.045 And finally, what did they do? 00:23:17.045 --> 00:23:20.641 They kicked him awake and said pray to your God, maybe he'll save us. 00:23:20.641 --> 00:23:28.755 And Jonah, in his state, was so angry with God and was so rebellious that he didn't even pray. 00:23:28.755 --> 00:23:31.066 But he offered a solution. 00:23:31.066 --> 00:23:36.280 He said to them throw me overboard, because I would rather die than obey God. 00:23:36.280 --> 00:23:43.294 It's interesting that the sailors were more godly in their behavior than Jonah was. 00:23:43.294 --> 00:23:47.230 Because the sailors didn't want to throw him over, because they were afraid of God. 00:23:47.230 --> 00:23:51.631 They were afraid of the God of Jonah, even though Jonah wasn't afraid of the God of Jonah. 00:23:51.631 --> 00:23:53.243 They were afraid of him. 00:23:53.243 --> 00:24:00.894 They didn't want to do it, but they finally did, and as soon as Jonah's body hit the water, the storm subsided. 00:24:00.894 --> 00:24:02.701 You know what the sailors did? 00:24:02.701 --> 00:24:05.286 They worshiped the God of Jonah. 00:24:05.286 --> 00:24:07.509 That's what they did. 00:24:09.212 --> 00:24:14.751 His sacrifice, jonah's sacrifice, as selfish as it was, led to the sailor's salvation. 00:24:14.751 --> 00:24:16.306 God used it in spite of him. 00:24:16.306 --> 00:24:27.270 In this scenario, though, it was Jonah's sin that caused the storm, so his sacrifice couldn't come from a place of perfection or purity. 00:24:27.270 --> 00:24:35.938 His sacrifice was based upon his own wrongdoing, but, on the other hand, jesus' sacrifice was greater in every way. 00:24:35.938 --> 00:24:37.924 Unlike Jonah, he didn't deserve death. 00:24:37.924 --> 00:24:40.932 He hadn't done anything wrong. 00:24:40.932 --> 00:24:54.772 Can you imagine living 33 years in this life with never having a wrong thought, never having a wrong attitude or motivation, never speaking a wrong word, never performing any kind of action that was sinful against God? 00:24:54.772 --> 00:25:02.689 That's what Jesus did, and our Lord's death was that of a sacrifice. 00:25:02.839 --> 00:25:15.548 The same people that just a week earlier, a few days earlier, had cried Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, were now screaming crucify him, crucify him, the Lord, were now screaming, crucify him. 00:25:15.548 --> 00:25:15.828 Crucify him. 00:25:15.828 --> 00:25:30.444 He was betrayed by Judas, denied by Peter, this perfect man, falsely accused, beaten, mocked, nails were driven into his outstretched arms and for six hours he hung in misery. 00:25:30.444 --> 00:25:57.993 As I was considering these words this week, in this passage, I was reminded of something that grieves me, because it was my sin and my guilt and my shame that nailed Jesus to the cross. 00:25:57.993 --> 00:26:05.180 Each and every one of us, starting with Adam and Eve, except for Jesus. 00:26:05.180 --> 00:26:11.366 We have cheated, we've stolen, we've lied and every other sin that can be named. 00:26:11.366 --> 00:26:20.008 We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and the wage that we deserve because of the sin that we've committed is death or separation from God. 00:26:20.008 --> 00:26:36.849 That's what we, that's what I deserve, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. 00:26:36.849 --> 00:26:39.906 This is the good news. 00:26:41.801 --> 00:26:48.049 On the cross, jesus offered himself to God in our place, taking our sin, our guilt, our shame upon himself. 00:26:48.049 --> 00:26:54.631 And what did he say from the cross Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing. 00:26:54.631 --> 00:27:01.488 And finally, his final words from the cross as he's breathing his last it is finished. 00:27:01.488 --> 00:27:09.031 The price had been paid for our redemption. 00:27:09.031 --> 00:27:12.267 Jesus paid it all. 00:27:12.267 --> 00:27:23.509 In doing this, he satisfied God's just demands against us and gave us a chance to be free from the consequence of sin and to be reconciled to God. 00:27:26.525 --> 00:27:27.730 Why would he do such a thing? 00:27:27.730 --> 00:27:33.909 He did it because of his love for his father first, and because of his love for us. 00:27:33.909 --> 00:27:47.089 His blood listen to me carefully the blood of Jesus is enough to cover our past sins, our present sins and our future sins. 00:27:47.089 --> 00:27:49.888 His blood is enough. 00:27:49.888 --> 00:27:57.714 And it seems like we could stop there and be good. 00:27:58.986 --> 00:28:01.394 But point three is that there was a greater resurrection. 00:28:01.394 --> 00:28:07.256 Resurrection means to be miraculously brought back from death to life. 00:28:07.256 --> 00:28:17.676 In Jonah's case, it appears that he was only figuratively brought back to life, in the sense that God sent a great fish to swallow him up. 00:28:17.676 --> 00:28:22.708 For three days and three nights he was held in the prison of that fish's belly. 00:28:22.708 --> 00:28:26.057 For two days he remained silent Can you imagine that? 00:28:26.057 --> 00:28:29.570 And on the third day he cried out to God. 00:28:29.570 --> 00:28:45.817 It's interesting that in his prayer in Jonah 2, he doesn't say he's sorry, he doesn't acknowledge that he's done anything wrong, but he does acknowledge that God is the only source of his help, and he finishes his prayer by saying salvation belongs to the Lord. 00:28:45.817 --> 00:28:48.288 So what does God do? 00:28:48.288 --> 00:28:52.496 God causes that great fish to point its nose toward Nineveh. 00:28:52.496 --> 00:28:58.653 And on the beach, all of the sudden, the great fish hurls Jonah upon the beach. 00:29:00.796 --> 00:29:05.008 I would give almost anything to be a fisherman on the beach that day. 00:29:05.008 --> 00:29:16.944 I mean you can imagine no airplanes, no, they had none of the technological breakthroughs that we've had that you could consider would create something like this. 00:29:16.944 --> 00:29:19.163 But to be there and to observe this, I mean this would be a story that you could consider would create something like this. 00:29:19.163 --> 00:29:27.348 But to be there and to observe this, I mean this would be a story that you could tell generations, your children and their children, their children, on and on and on. 00:29:27.348 --> 00:29:40.305 There was one day I was on the beach and this great fish showed up and out of its mouth came this bleached blonde from the acids in the stomach. 00:29:40.305 --> 00:29:50.277 And can you imagine the stench of squid being your constant companion, rotting next to you? 00:29:50.277 --> 00:29:55.211 So you can imagine when Jonah arrives in Nineveh, of course they're going to repent. 00:29:55.211 --> 00:29:57.051 I mean, this man looks crazy. 00:30:02.605 --> 00:30:14.275 That's not the reason, obviously for those of you who think I'm being serious, but it's interesting to think about God causes the fish to put him back on the way to Nineveh. 00:30:14.275 --> 00:30:17.325 Aren't you glad that God showed kindness to Jonah? 00:30:17.325 --> 00:30:21.654 Aren't you glad that God showed kindness to Jonah Even though he didn't deserve it? 00:30:21.654 --> 00:30:31.432 How great is his compassion and kindness toward us who are in the same boat, literally, and don't deserve it. 00:30:31.432 --> 00:30:34.714 And yet God is a good God. 00:30:35.484 --> 00:30:43.107 Now Jesus, on the other hand, died and was buried in a borrowed tomb In the example that he was giving to the Pharisees. 00:30:43.107 --> 00:30:45.354 He's comparing the sign of Jonah to himself. 00:30:45.354 --> 00:30:47.886 Think about the ways that you see the comparisons. 00:30:47.886 --> 00:30:51.836 The grave was to Christ, as the belly of the fish was to Jonah. 00:30:51.836 --> 00:30:57.893 There he was thrown as a ransom for lives, ready to be lost in a storm. 00:30:57.893 --> 00:31:12.059 There he lay, as in the belly of hell, like Jonah described his own experience, and he seemed to be cast out of God's sight. 00:31:14.265 --> 00:31:17.704 Jesus went into this with a promise from the Old Testament that I guarantee you he was holding close. 00:31:17.704 --> 00:31:24.053 The promise was this that God would not abandon his soul to hell or let him see corruption. 00:31:24.053 --> 00:31:36.692 Jesus was able to do what he did because he understood his relationship with his heavenly father and he knew that his father had a plan and that this was going to work. 00:31:36.692 --> 00:31:55.837 You see, to die for sin is one thing, and we could spend so much time talking about martyrs and those who laid down their lives for the sake of other people, but to be raised from the dead proves that sin has been defeated. 00:31:55.837 --> 00:32:11.327 How many of you know, in Genesis, chapter 3, when sin came into this earth because Adam and Eve disobeyed God that there was, that God cursed Adam and Eve and also the serpent who had convinced Adam and Eve to eat the fruit. 00:32:11.327 --> 00:32:25.046 And in that passage it says that the serpent will strike the heel of the seed, which is Jesus, but Jesus will stomp the head of the serpent. 00:32:25.046 --> 00:32:28.653 What was Jesus doing while he was in that grave? 00:32:28.653 --> 00:32:33.288 I believe he was stomping the head of Satan over and over. 00:32:33.288 --> 00:32:34.710 This was a dance party. 00:32:34.710 --> 00:32:42.199 He was stomping in a spiritual way. 00:32:42.199 --> 00:32:44.000 Obviously, his physical body was dead. 00:32:49.286 --> 00:32:54.738 On the third day, jesus, the Son of God, rose from the dead. 00:32:54.738 --> 00:33:03.646 Matthew 28, verses 1 through 6, just a few chapters after our passage this morning goes on to say. 00:33:03.646 --> 00:33:10.631 Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb. 00:33:10.631 --> 00:33:14.604 Suddenly, there was a great earthquake for an angel. 00:33:14.604 --> 00:33:18.730 The Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone and sat on it. 00:33:18.730 --> 00:33:23.779 His face shone like lightning and his clothing was as white as snow. 00:33:23.779 --> 00:33:28.596 The guards shook with fear when they saw him and they fell into a dead faint. 00:33:28.596 --> 00:33:30.912 Then the angel spoke to the woman. 00:33:30.912 --> 00:33:32.209 Don't be afraid. 00:33:32.209 --> 00:33:32.751 He said. 00:33:32.751 --> 00:33:35.835 I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 00:33:35.835 --> 00:33:37.892 He isn't here. 00:33:37.892 --> 00:33:42.175 He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. 00:33:42.175 --> 00:33:45.170 Come see where his body was lying. 00:33:45.170 --> 00:33:47.695 My friends, this is why we're here today. 00:33:47.695 --> 00:33:53.594 This is what we are here to celebrate the fact that Jesus was dead, but he's alive again. 00:33:53.594 --> 00:33:56.638 He lives forever more. 00:33:56.638 --> 00:33:58.352 Amen, that's the good news. 00:33:58.352 --> 00:34:06.083 He lives forevermore. 00:34:06.083 --> 00:34:06.964 Amen, that's the good news. 00:34:09.324 --> 00:34:11.692 I visited Israel myself and I went to the tomb that they said that Jesus's body was laid in, and I investigated. 00:34:11.692 --> 00:34:14.420 I felt of it, I looked at it from every angle, I took pictures of it. 00:34:14.420 --> 00:34:19.632 I I breathe the air that was in it and I'm here to tell you it's an empty tomb. 00:34:19.632 --> 00:34:24.090 Jesus is not there, he is alive forevermore. 00:34:24.090 --> 00:34:31.690 Romans 1.4 says and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:34:31.690 --> 00:34:35.079 He is Jesus Christ, our Lord. 00:34:35.079 --> 00:34:37.907 I love this quote by Henry Morris. 00:34:38.429 --> 00:34:43.550 The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the crowning proof of Christianity. 00:34:43.550 --> 00:34:48.652 If the resurrection did not take place, then Christianity is a false religion. 00:34:48.652 --> 00:34:56.012 If it did take place, then Christ is God and the Christian faith is absolute truth. 00:34:56.012 --> 00:35:02.108 How many of you know the resurrection matters, and that's why we're here today and that's why we're celebrating it. 00:35:02.108 --> 00:35:06.927 And fourth and finally, jesus had a greater message than Jonah. 00:35:06.927 --> 00:35:11.077 Message in this context is telling others what has been given to you to speak. 00:35:12.666 --> 00:35:20.143 Jonah's message was very limited and he limited it to one characteristic of God's nature and who he is, and that is judgment or justice. 00:35:20.143 --> 00:35:20.603 How many of you know that there? 00:35:20.603 --> 00:35:21.835 To one characteristic of God's nature and who he is, and that is judgment or justice. 00:35:21.835 --> 00:35:26.204 How many of you know that there is an arm of God, that is the arm of justice and judgment? 00:35:26.204 --> 00:35:41.527 In order for him to be holy and perfect and pure, he has to have a holy stance towards sin and anything that is against his will or his way of doing things, and that is his arm of justice and judgment, and we know that that is a part of who he is. 00:35:42.510 --> 00:35:46.057 So Jonah's sermon was five words in the Hebrew language. 00:35:46.057 --> 00:35:52.277 In English it said in 40 days, nineveh will be overthrown or overturned or destroyed. 00:35:52.277 --> 00:35:57.010 That was his message, remember? 00:35:57.010 --> 00:35:57.932 He hated Nineveh. 00:35:57.932 --> 00:35:59.996 You know what? 00:35:59.996 --> 00:36:00.476 What God did? 00:36:00.476 --> 00:36:11.769 God opened the hearts of these wicked people, revealed himself to them and the people of Nineveh believed God, repented of their sins and God showed them mercy. 00:36:11.769 --> 00:36:17.623 God showed them mercy, you would think by this point. 00:36:17.623 --> 00:36:29.248 Somebody pointed out earlier that Jonah was the most successful prophet in all of the Old Testament, because he said five words and all 120,000 people radically changed their lives. 00:36:29.248 --> 00:36:50.052 So on the surface, yes, he was the most successful prophet, and yet his heart was so messed up he actually climbed to a hill so that he could sit down, hoping that somehow either God would change his mind or the Ninevites would change their mind, and so then he could watch fire come down from heaven to consume them and destroy them all. 00:36:50.052 --> 00:37:01.425 And God took time to be merciful toward Jonah even in that context, and to train him and to teach him about who he is Now. 00:37:01.465 --> 00:37:05.157 Jesus' message is what we call the gospel, or good news. 00:37:05.157 --> 00:37:08.005 It includes God's wrath and judgment. 00:37:08.005 --> 00:37:11.733 We must have that as a part of the message that we're speaking. 00:37:11.733 --> 00:37:14.237 But thank God it doesn't end there. 00:37:14.237 --> 00:37:22.039 Thank God it doesn't end there Because Jesus took the wrath of God upon himself for the sins of the world. 00:37:22.039 --> 00:37:25.574 He took my sin, my shame, my guilt and all of ours. 00:37:25.574 --> 00:37:27.150 He took it to the cross. 00:37:27.150 --> 00:37:42.192 We have a chance to experience the other side of God's character and his nature, his mercy and grace, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but what have? 00:37:42.192 --> 00:37:43.916 Everlasting life. 00:37:43.916 --> 00:37:48.067 This is the good news that we are here to declare to you today. 00:37:48.067 --> 00:37:54.858 Jesus is alive, he's risen and he paid the price for us to be believers in him. 00:37:54.858 --> 00:37:58.829 The New Testament is all about this. 00:37:58.829 --> 00:38:03.168 That's why we love the New Testament as well as the Old Testament. 00:38:03.670 --> 00:38:31.318 In Ephesians 2, it's one of the greatest passages and see if this isn't your testimony and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were, by nature, children of wrath like the rest of mankind. 00:38:31.318 --> 00:38:44.594 But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. 00:38:44.594 --> 00:39:03.373 By grace, you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus, for by grace you have been saved through faith. 00:39:03.373 --> 00:39:04.811 This is not your own doing. 00:39:04.811 --> 00:39:13.474 It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:39:13.474 --> 00:39:27.657 You see, god wants us to experience our own resurrection, those of us who find ourselves in a condition of being dead in our sins and trespasses. 00:39:27.657 --> 00:39:39.755 God wants to make us alive unto him, so that we can be made that we may have eternal life, that we may live with him forever and ever. 00:39:39.755 --> 00:39:41.021 Mark 1 14,. 00:39:41.021 --> 00:39:47.737 Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. 00:39:47.737 --> 00:39:50.813 Repent and believe in the gospel. 00:39:50.813 --> 00:39:55.186 This is the fitting response to all that I've been talking to you about today. 00:39:55.186 --> 00:40:02.987 It is for us to acknowledge our own need for a savior and to acknowledge that and to talk to him about it. 00:40:02.987 --> 00:40:09.438 To acknowledge the fact that we've broken his law, that we've sinned against him and that we want to change, that we want to follow. 00:40:09.438 --> 00:40:14.269 After that, we believe in Jesus and the sacrifice and the resurrection. 00:40:16.815 --> 00:40:17.777 The people of Nineveh. 00:40:17.777 --> 00:40:18.697 Jesus goes on in Matthew 12,. 00:40:18.697 --> 00:40:19.420 The people of Nineveh will stand on. 00:40:19.420 --> 00:40:28.826 In Matthew 12, the people of Nineveh will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. 00:40:28.826 --> 00:40:34.277 Now someone greater than Jonah is here, but you refuse to repent. 00:40:34.277 --> 00:40:38.474 The people of Nineveh repented. 00:40:38.474 --> 00:40:52.076 Jesus was making the point that these Jewish religious leaders were seeking a sign from him, but unless they paid attention to the sign of Jonah and turned and believe in Jesus, there was no hope for them. 00:40:52.076 --> 00:41:00.257 They were going to face judgment, and even Nineveh itself would stand in judgment against these people. 00:41:04.786 --> 00:41:19.036 Let this not be our story, let it not be said of us when Jesus returns which he is going to return and if you're watching things happen in this world around us, you have to acknowledge that he's coming back sooner than ever before. 00:41:19.036 --> 00:41:48.878 Jesus is coming soon, there will be a day of reckoning when the righteous judge will judge the world and he will separate all of humanity, throughout all of time, into two groups, and those who are his will be on one side and they will enter into his rest, and those who are opposed will be sent into a place of eternal punishment called hell. 00:41:48.878 --> 00:41:54.193 So many people wonder what is it that sends a person to hell? 00:41:54.193 --> 00:41:59.936 What is the sin that a person must commit that makes their sin so great that God can't forgive it? 00:41:59.936 --> 00:42:02.110 What is that sin, if you had to name it? 00:42:02.110 --> 00:42:02.813 Is it murder? 00:42:02.813 --> 00:42:03.434 Is it rape? 00:42:03.434 --> 00:42:04.115 What is it? 00:42:04.115 --> 00:42:10.097 The sin that's going to send people to hell is the sin of unbelief. 00:42:10.097 --> 00:42:24.708 It's refusing to believe in Jesus Christ, refusing to put faith and confidence and hope and trust in a Christ that died and was buried and rose again. 00:42:24.708 --> 00:42:33.527 Let us, like the Ninevites, recognize our need this morning, this afternoon, now, and look to Jesus. 00:42:33.527 --> 00:42:39.338 He's the only one who can raise us from the dead and give us eternal life. 00:42:39.338 --> 00:42:41.771 He's the only one. 00:42:44.206 --> 00:42:46.335 So this message I had two things in mind. 00:42:46.335 --> 00:43:01.215 One was, if there's anybody here this morning, or anybody that's watching online, that has never taken the opportunity to put your faith in Jesus Christ, I believe that today is your day. 00:43:01.215 --> 00:43:03.159 We have been praying for you. 00:43:03.159 --> 00:43:05.201 There's a lot of people that have been praying for you. 00:43:05.201 --> 00:43:24.313