WEBVTT 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:12.000 Welcome to the Preaching the Cross Radio Podcast, featuring the radio ministry of Pastor James W. 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:14.800 Knox of the Bible Baptist Church of Deland, Florida. 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:25.039 Our prayer is that these half-hour Bible study programs will bring the lost to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and enable the saved to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Savior. 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:27.359 Now here's your host, Pastor James W. 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:28.079 Knox. 00:00:37.119 --> 00:00:46.320 All right, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I'm Brother James, and I greet you one more time in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:50.640 And I welcome you once again to the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast. 00:00:50.799 --> 00:00:53.359 We're so very happy that you've tuned into the program today. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:59.359 You know, it's it's obvious to us, it's it's evident, that there are more and more people listening all the time. 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:03.840 The uh we've had several phone calls this week from our local broadcast. 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:11.200 We've had several letters this week that have come as a direct result of uh things that people heard last week on on the broadcast. 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:22.400 We have had uh people come to visit us uh just this week, and and some even stay and join with us at the Bible Baptist Church in Delane, Florida, as a direct result of the preaching of the Cross Radio broadcast. 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:25.359 And so we certainly thank God for uh speaking to hearts. 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:41.120 We certainly thank those who prayerfully support this work for uh so doing, and we certainly thank each and every one of you that responds to the program, lets us know that you're listening, and uh the many that call to encourage the many that write and say, continue, please, with that preaching, don't stop. 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:46.319 We we get so much from it, we profit so much by the programs, and we certainly thank God for that. 00:01:46.560 --> 00:02:03.280 You know, it's not uh it's not every day that you have the privilege of of hearing someone defend the word of God against those who are so constantly attacking and criticizing it. 00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:37.680 Every single day it seems that we hear the Bible criticized, we hear the Bible attacked, we hear it made fun of, we hear it questioned and ridiculed, and yet it's so important, it's so important that those who know the truth of God's word and know the error of those things which are being uh said against it, it is so important that a voice be lifted up and that we speak out against that which is false, that we not only speak up for what is right, but we speak out against what is wrong, and we thank you, we really do thank you for encouraging us to continue to do just that on these radio broadcasts. 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:40.800 We started a series of programs, uh, twelve broadcasts ago. 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:45.759 This will be program number 13 in a series, on the Bible as science. 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:52.960 And nowhere, nowhere is the criticism of the Bible any greater than among the so-called scientific community. 00:02:53.120 --> 00:03:14.400 Now, the Bible calls it science falsely so-called, because all true science, all true knowledge, will coincide with the teaching of the Bible, will support and bring itself into line with the teaching of the Bible, because after all, God's Word is true, and everything written in the Word of God is true, even when it deals with matters of science. 00:03:14.639 --> 00:03:37.680 This has been the big argument that we've heard for years and years that the Bible is not accurate when it speaks scientifically, that modern science has disproved the Bible, and we've spent twelve broadcasts showing you that modern science is disproved by the Bible, or where modern science is in agreement with the Bible, uh, it is simply catching up to what God had written in his word thousands of years ago. 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:43.520 So, those of us that believe the Bible, we we never uh quail or tremble in the presence of science. 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:52.639 We never blush and feel as though we are outgunned uh when we are in the presence of someone with a scientific background because we've got the truth. 00:03:52.719 --> 00:03:54.319 They're looking for the truth, maybe. 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:58.400 They're studying, hoping to find the truth, they at least they say so. 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:00.800 But those of us that have the word of God, we have the truth. 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:02.319 We are way ahead of the game. 00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:04.159 And we certainly thank God for that. 00:04:04.319 --> 00:04:12.400 Now, on the program today we want to start a discussion of modern science, Jonah, and the whale. 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:16.399 Modern science, Jonah and the whale. 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:22.720 You say, Brother James, you really believe that story that we learned in Sunday school about uh Jonah being swallowed by a whale? 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:24.079 Well, sure I do. 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:26.240 Why wouldn't I believe it? 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:27.759 Is there any reason not to? 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:32.480 You say, well scientists say Well, maybe they do, maybe they don't. 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:39.600 In weighing the evidences for the inspiration of the Bible, there are many lines of investigation that are a delight to the Christian investigator. 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:50.720 No single fact that is advanced for the support and comfort of the faith, however, is a more practical value and interest than is the fact of the poverty of the critics of the Bible. 00:04:50.959 --> 00:04:57.279 Almost two thousand years of culture and learning have passed since the manuscripts of the Bible were completed. 00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:02.639 Some four thousand years or more has gone by since the record was first begun. 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:07.360 In those multiplied centuries the wisdom of man has increased to an astounding degree. 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:15.199 Yet when men today draw upon that vast body of new knowledge for help in their criticism of the Scripture, they receive no comfort at all. 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:28.480 Now we've pondered upon the interesting fact that after these centuries of criticism and study, the enemy of the Bible is restricted to not more than five or six pseudo-scientific arguments against its integrity. 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:42.720 We frequently hear the critics say there are scores of scientific errors in the Bible, but when challenged to enumerate a few of these, they invariably name at the most five or six possible errors and can't think of any more because that's all somebody told them to say. 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:45.519 They've never read the Bible for themselves or found any errors in it. 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:50.079 They just are magpies repeating what some infidel told them. 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:54.560 Upon investigation, even these five or six fade away. 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:58.240 Leave the Bible utterly unchallenged in its claim to inspiration. 00:05:58.480 --> 00:06:04.160 Over and over, these five or six objections are reiterated, and they are the sole stock in trade of the infidel. 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:09.600 These stock objections will be subjects of our studies from here on out. 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:18.160 We want to show beyond question that these so-called weaknesses of the Bible rather constitute one of its strongest features. 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:28.959 Now, among these few available arguments that are offered against the doctrine of the scientific accuracy of the Bible, the most frequently advanced by the superficial critic is the modern objection to the story of Jonah and the whale. 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:34.240 Cheap witticism has labeled this account the greatest fish story in history. 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:42.399 Many men who have never studied the book of Jonah claim that it is the most outstanding weakness in the entire Bible. 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:52.879 Infidelity has long laughed at this strange record, and derided its accuracy and questioned its probability, but has never disproved the historicity of the affair. 00:06:53.439 --> 00:07:02.639 Undaunted by the light of the light laughter of empty objections, the man of intelligence proceeds to investigate and find the truth of the matter by research. 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:05.040 That's what we're going to do. 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:09.839 Now the book of Jonah consists of four chapters, has a total of forty eight verses. 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:13.519 It can be read easily in less than five minutes by the average reader. 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:22.240 Yet in many parts of America, uh people are asked, audiences are asked, churches are asked, how many of them have read this short book through at one sitting? 00:07:22.480 --> 00:07:26.560 And you never find more than ten percent of any group of people that have done so. 00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:36.800 The most widely discussed book in all the Bible, and not ten percent of those attending churches have ever invested five minutes to see what the argument is all about. 00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:41.519 And you know those numbers are must much less among those that criticize it. 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:49.759 The entire book of Jonah would be accepted by the modern critics if we would remove two verses from its contents. 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:58.879 The rest of the book is admittedly a valuable historic document, were it not ruined, that's what the critics say, by the introduction of these two verses. 00:07:59.120 --> 00:08:02.319 The first of these is the last verse of the first chapter. 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:05.199 The other one is the last verse of the second chapter. 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:13.360 Now you'll recall how the first chapter, the book of Jonah, recounts the fact that God's wrath was kindled against Nineveh because of its outstanding sin. 00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:20.480 God, who is ever gracious and slow to anger, sent a message to the prophet Jonah, instructing him to proceed to Nineveh. 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:22.959 If we were studying the book of Jonah, I'd show you how he sent that message. 00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:24.879 I believe he carried it there in person. 00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:35.120 But uh anyway, he gave him this message, and Jonah was to tell of the coming destruction of the city with all of its inhabitants, unless they repented and turned from their sin. 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:42.879 Well, instead of going to Nineveh, Jonah found a ship that was going to Tarshish, and fled from the direction of Nineveh as fast as he could travel. 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:50.159 The residence of the prophet was in Gath Hefer, and when he started to Tarshish, it was directly opposite to the direction of Nineveh. 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:58.399 But as Jonah was seeking to flee from God's appointed task, a mighty storm arose in which the prophet sailed, in and threatened the ship in which the prophet sailed. 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:05.759 And when the men of the ship learned that this storm came upon them because of Jonah, at his own behest, they threw him overboard. 00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:08.720 To save their own lives, they gave up his. 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:14.720 This resume brings us to the first disputed verse, which is given in these simple words. 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:20.480 Now the Lord God had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:25.679 And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:29.440 The second disputed verse is in the second chapter. 00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:32.000 The first verse of this chapter is certainly admissible. 00:09:32.159 --> 00:09:36.320 Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly. 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:39.919 I'm sure no intelligent person could find fault with that statement. 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:44.639 The amazing thing is that the obstinate prophet waited three days to begin. 00:09:45.919 --> 00:09:46.879 That's where the rub comes in. 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:51.679 They said there's no way a man can live in a whale's belly three days and three nights, and why didn't he pray sooner than that? 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:59.759 Uh most people say that if they'd been swallowed by that fish in less than three minutes the Lord would have heard their cry, and let me out, I want to go to Nineveh. 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:10.000 And so even the most rabid critic does not question the statement that Jonah prayed from the depths of the of the uh sea monster, as some called it, the whale as Jesus called it, the fish as it's called in the book of Jonah. 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:13.519 Any man in Jonah's case would have cried out to God. 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:15.360 But that's not the point. 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:19.360 The first nine verses of the chapter deal with the prayer of Jonah. 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:22.080 The tenth and final verse is the disputed record. 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:24.399 This statement is made in these simple words. 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:29.440 And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it cast out Jonah upon the dry land. 00:10:29.919 --> 00:10:35.279 Without any attempt at textual comment, I've simply quoted the verses from the Authorized King James Bible. 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:40.080 This then is the story at which infidelity is allowed for centuries. 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:47.440 And yet, this is an account which infidelity has never disproved. 00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:56.240 Now the Prophet Jonah is an interesting character to say the least. 00:10:56.480 --> 00:11:03.840 The school of higher criticism, denying all miraculous elements in God's dealings with men, has refused to accept the tale of the whale. 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:10.879 Now, if we delete these two verses containing the record of the miracle, they would find the book acceptable to their fancy. 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:22.879 However, it has never been profitable in any generation for men to alter the written records of God's word to harmonize with the demands of the so-called scholarship of that generation. 00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:32.720 We are under the necessity of accepting the book just as God wrote it, and our knowledge must be brought into harmony with his revelation. 00:11:33.039 --> 00:11:41.200 Not willing to bow before the higher wisdom of the Holy Spirit, the critics have sought to deny the historical existence of an actual Jonah. 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:47.200 They have said that he was a legendary hero of Jewish folklore and fable, as was Hercules among the Greeks. 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:49.600 The contrary, however, is the truth. 00:11:49.919 --> 00:11:55.440 Jonah is as historical a character as was Napoleon Bonaparte or Ramses II. 00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:00.240 They may readily be established by an appeal to a reliable book of pure history. 00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:09.200 In all the historical records of any people, there are none that are superior to the books of the kings, which records were kept by the Hebrew people under the direction of God's Spirit. 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:18.080 The recent advancement of archaeological learning, if it is done nothing else, has established the credibility of these historical scriptures. 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:29.919 In 2 Kings, the fourteenth chapter, there is an historical reference to the prophet Jonah that authenticates this character and gives him an established background. 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:34.799 In this passage of scripture, the father of Jonah is named, thus giving his genealogy. 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:37.200 The place of his residence is told. 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:40.720 We also learn the name of the king who ruled when Jonah was alive. 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:45.039 History further attests that some of his prophecies were fulfilled in the reign of that king. 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:49.840 So, from this historical reference we see that Jonah was a real person. 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:58.240 To complete the case and make the evidence perfect, there is one other source of testimony to the reality of Jonah that cannot be set aside. 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:02.559 That's the conclusive testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:07.759 When the Son of God speaks upon any subject, that testimony is and should be conclusive. 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:12.480 In the days of his flesh, he was betrayed in the house of his friends by one of his followers. 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:18.960 Today he has many so-called friends, who by their infidelity and unbelief reenact the drama of Judas. 00:13:19.200 --> 00:13:24.000 But believing friend and disbelieving enemy alike are united in their praise of his character. 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:29.519 Not even his bitterst enemies impugn his veracity or question the honesty of his statements. 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:39.200 So it's with a great deal of assurance that we turn to Christ's testimony concerning the historicity of this man Jonah. 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:45.759 In the course of his ministry among men, Jesus made two references to Jonah as an historical character. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:52.320 In one, he gives the experience of Jonah as a type of his own burial and resurrection. 00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:56.080 Now that's crucial to our study. 00:13:57.120 --> 00:14:03.759 When the scribes and Pharisees demanded of him proof of his deity, they asked that this proof be given in the form of a sign. 00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:14.720 Jesus replied to their demand, a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall be no sign, no sign be given you save the sign of the prophet Jonah. 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:23.919 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so must the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the depths of the earth. 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:28.559 These two experiences are interdependent and equally historical. 00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:44.320 Since the resurrection of Jesus Christ is established upon the most unquestioned evidence, and since the experience of Jonah is as real as was the resurrection of Jesus, this testimony of the Savior is of peculiar and striking force. 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:51.279 The second reference that Jesus made to the historicity of Jonah was a citation of the repentance of Nineveh. 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:59.279 As Jesus was teaching and preaching in the course of his ministry, he met with considerable hardness of heart, and in some cases with outright rejection. 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:09.200 On one of these occasions our Lord said, The men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment against this generation and shall condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonas. 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:12.000 But behold, a greater than Jonas is here. 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:23.759 Now, we have this authority of Jesus Christ for saying that Jonah as a character is as truly historical as is the person of Jesus himself. 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:32.240 One of the fascinating things in the writings of Jonah is the manner in which his character is displayed in this very brief section of his autobiography. 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:39.200 Jonah is perhaps one of the most honest writers in literature, for he writes boldly and bluntly of his own faults. 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:43.279 He tells of his stubbornness as he set his own judgment against the command of God. 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:53.519 He tells without apology of the waywardness of his conduct as he fled from the call of God, but with a rare dependence, he gives no explanation and offers no excuse. 00:15:54.240 --> 00:16:00.320 He is content to say with charming simplicity just what he did, and offers no motive for his conduct. 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:05.360 This course of procedure has laid the prophet open to another assault on the part of the critics. 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:08.399 Jonah seems to have been the first foreign missionary. 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:12.480 He was called of God to bring a warning of the consequence of sin to a foreign people. 00:16:12.639 --> 00:16:20.000 With that warning he was to deliver also an offer of redemption and mercy if they would turn to God and repent. 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:22.399 This service he refused at first. 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:27.679 Later, however, repenting of his refusal, he returned and preached to this nation with tremendous effect. 00:16:27.919 --> 00:16:38.000 So widespread was the revival that resulted from Jonah's preaching that every soul in the kingdom was converted, from the king on his throne down to the humblest subject in the streets. 00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:49.360 In fact, even the animals were garbed in the in the sackcloth and ashes of mourning and penitence, as the grace of God manifested itself in the sorrow of the repentant sinners. 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:58.399 Now in this account of Jonah's refusal to serve and his attempted flight to Tarshish, the higher critic has found much comfort. 00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:08.319 One of the favorite arguments of the modernistic school is the baseless assertion that the revelation of God in the Old and New Testaments constitutes an evolution of the idea of God. 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:21.599 They falsely state that beginning with a God of restricted authority, who was merely a tribal deity, men gradually evolved the idea of a God who is the universal father of humanity. 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:31.359 Of course, any honest student reading the scripture with anything more than a casual interest will realize this theory is not borne out by the Bible text, but what critic of the Bible ever read it honestly? 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:37.759 In the first place, it is nowhere stated in the Old Testament that God was a tribal deity. 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:43.359 In fact, the first revelation of God in the Scripture is the highest revelation that the Bible contains. 00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:53.200 The first chapter of Genesis opens with the record of an omnipotent, omniscient deity who by his spoken word created the heavens and the earth and all things therein. 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:59.200 There is certainly nothing tribal in the picture of the Creator that Moses draws in the first book of the Bible. 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:06.319 We further see that this God, who is the creator, is a kind and gracious deity. 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:13.200 In those same early writings we find him walking and talking in Eden's garden, seeking fellowship with the creatures that he has created. 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:24.720 That picture of a loving God in intimate personal communion with his creatures is never equaled, even in holy writ, until Jesus comes saying, And when ye pray, say Father. 00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:35.519 The Savior, however, was careful to state that God is only the father of those who receive the Son and are thereby born again. 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:43.359 To the enemies of God's message, Jesus said, Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:47.119 So the conclusions of higher criticism are baseless here. 00:18:47.279 --> 00:18:49.119 Their premise is also faulty. 00:18:49.359 --> 00:18:55.119 There is no evolution of the idea of God, nor does the Bible anywhere teach the universal fatherhood of God. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:03.279 One of the strongest arguments of the critical school, however, for their fallacious philosophy, has been the conduct of Jonah. 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:09.680 When God called him for one specific service, he fled from the call of God and headed for Tarshish. 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:19.440 The higher critic has sought to show that Jonah believed that God's power was restricted to Palestine, so if he got beyond the confines of Palestine, his God could not reach him. 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:26.079 I realize that sounds ridiculous, but when you're looking for an excuse to reject the Bible, anything will do. 00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:31.759 The most cursory examination of Jonah's creed, however, will show that such is far from the truth. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:41.599 The unbeliever, infidel, atheist, or higher critic can find no comfort in this record, for his weird idea of Jonah's belief in God is proven to be false by Jonah's own statements. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:44.960 Jonah believed in a god who was omnipotent and universal. 00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:54.640 If you read again the first chapter of this book, this book of Jonah, you'll find that while the storm was raging at its height, Jonah slept in peaceful security in the heart of the ship. 00:19:54.880 --> 00:19:57.279 When the captain wakened him and said, Who art thou? 00:19:57.519 --> 00:20:00.240 Jonah's reply contained his creed. 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:05.119 He said, I am an Hebrew. 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:07.119 Well, no problem there. 00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:09.519 I am a Hebrew. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:19.039 And I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which made the sea and the dry land. 00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:21.680 Now is that a tribal deity? 00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:28.000 Is that a description of a God whose power is was circumscribed by the geographical limits of Palestine? 00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:34.319 Jonah recognized the universal nature of the Creator and knew that he could not journey beyond his reach. 00:20:35.279 --> 00:20:40.559 The question arises then: why did Jonah flee toward Tarshish if he was not striving to get out of the reach of God? 00:20:40.799 --> 00:20:43.680 Why did he take this ship that would bear him away from Nineveh? 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:57.920 Well, you've got to remember that all the prophets of Israel, from Jonah right up to Peter, uh arguing with God about going to cornegis household, were intensely patriotic. 00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:00.640 Jonah loved his own nation and people. 00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:06.559 And the most bitterly hated enemy possessed by Israel at this period of time was Nineveh. 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:14.960 When the Word of God came to Jonah saying that he would destroy Nineveh unless they repented, Jonah, in the fervor of his patriotic heart, said, That suits me. 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:22.640 If God will wipe out Nineveh, that will constitute a patriotic victory for Israel, and I'll get as far away from Nineveh as I can. 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:29.200 In other words, Jonah was an ordinary human with the passions and interests and the psychology of any modern man. 00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:38.880 The same instinct of patriotism was manifested in some of the most cultivated Christian men of the twentieth century when the United States of America entered the Great World Wars. 00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:52.960 Men who had radiated love and had talked about the international brotherhood of man began to curse the Germans, and damn the Kaiser in the First War, and damn Hitler in the Second War, only because that race had become this nation's enemy. 00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:59.759 Jonah thought and reasoned and acted exactly as a modern man would do in the same circumstances. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:08.000 Not only that, but these critics assumed that Jonah had great faith because God called him to be his prophet. 00:22:08.559 --> 00:22:10.319 That's not necessarily so. 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:13.839 And even a man of great faith has times of great failure. 00:22:14.079 --> 00:22:20.880 The same Elijah that stood boldly on Mount Carmel and slew the prophets of Baal ran and hid in the cave from the threatenings of Jezebel. 00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:29.119 The same Peter, who stood with sword drawn to defend the Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, denied him in the presence of a little maid at a campfire. 00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:47.519 Have you ever stopped to think about the fact that maybe Jonah was just afraid of what might happen to him if he went to a foreign land, the only Israelite among all of those Ninevites, and stood boldly in their town square and said, God's going to destroy every one of you people. 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:51.680 I don't know about you, but it would take a remarkable faith. 00:22:52.160 --> 00:23:01.519 Oh, not so much to believe that God could do that, not to believe that God would do that, but it would certainly take a remarkable faith to believe that you could go to Nineveh, preach a message like that, and get out alive. 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:08.079 And the Bible nowhere the Bible nowhere holds Jonah forth as a man of great faith. 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:15.440 And it's entirely possible that that that rather than believing he was escaping the boundaries of God's tribal deity. 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:17.279 What nonsense. 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:21.440 It may be he was running for his life because he didn't want to be lynched in Nineveh. 00:23:23.279 --> 00:23:24.559 Amen and amen. 00:23:25.119 --> 00:23:32.640 Now you see, when men set out to criticize the Bible, they they abandon their own reason. 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:48.400 These matters are simple, these matters are easily understood to anyone who thinks honestly, anyone who will look at the at the Bible with the same the same measure of intelligence and common thinking with which he reads a newspaper. 00:23:48.640 --> 00:23:50.400 I'm not saying the Bible's a newspaper. 00:23:50.480 --> 00:23:54.880 I'm saying when you read a newspaper, you approach it with a certain attitude. 00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:56.960 You intend on believing what you read there. 00:23:57.039 --> 00:24:00.319 You may not like it, you may not agree with everything there, but you believe it. 00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:14.319 And yet men approach the word of God with this skepticism, with this critical, doubting nature that leads them to set up the most ridiculous arguments against the truth of the Word of God. 00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:20.240 And nowhere is this manifest more plainly than in their attacks on the book of Jonah. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:25.359 Thanks for tuning in today. 00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:30.000 Join us every weekday for another episode of the Preaching of the Cross Radio Podcast. 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:35.759 For hundreds of hours of in-depth expository Bible teaching, please visit our YouTube channel, James W. 00:24:35.920 --> 00:24:43.039 Knox Sermons, our sermon audio page, Bible Baptist Land, or our website, Bible Baptistteland.com. 00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:47.839 Until next time and throughout eternity, may Jesus Christ be praised.