Sermon #77 Luke
Sermons
Title: “A
Greater Than Jonah Is Here”
Text: Luke 11:29, 30, 32
Subject: The Sign of Jonah—Unbelief Condemned
Date: Sunday Evening –
Tape # W-94a
Introduction:
Yesterday I read a report from a man who had observed a portion of a
battle taking place in an open field near him. He did not name the battle, the
place or even the war. It could have a battle of the Civil War or of the
Revolutionary War, or of some other military conflict. That is really
unimportant. But what he said is very important.
He saw a cannon fired at a line of men, who, as soon as they heard the
shot, fell flat down on the ground, thereby escaping death. The ordnance fired
sailed directly over them. What mighty, great, effectual armor they employed to
defend themselves!—They fell flat down before the enemy!
That which gave those men notice of imminent danger was the sound of
the blast as the powder ignited. What mercy that the blast was heard before the
volley reached its target!
Now, listen to me. The Lord
God almighty, in like manner, warns before he wounds. He sounds alarm before he
assails in wrath. He blows the trumpet before he charges with the sword of his
justice. He alarms before he slays. How often you have heard the igniting of
his cannon. Oh, be wise! Fall flat down on the ground before the Lord God
against whom you have sinned, whose wrath you have provoked, and sue for mercy.
Fall down before him that his wrath may pass over you! Fall down before him.
You have no other armor. Fall! Fall! Fall down before him now!
As Jonah came into
(Luke 11:29,30,32) "And when the people were gathered thick
together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and
there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. (30) For
as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this
generation. … (32) The men of
I. First, our Lord
speaks here of the sign of the
Prophet Jonah.
(Luke
11:29-30) "And when the people were
gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek
a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.
(30) For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of
man be to this generation."
Faith believes God Only unbelief seeks, looks
for, or depends upon signs and evidences.. Those in our Lord’s day and those
like them in our day who make signs, evidences, and proofs, (be such signs
matters of science, logic, emotions, or miracles), the basis of faith will
perish in unbelief, even if they profess to believe. Faith stands upon the Word
of God alone.
I call you this night to
repentance and faith in Christ. The basis of my appeal is the Word of God alone. I have no argument with
which to persuade you, but the gospel. I have no sign to give you, no miracle
to perform, no evidence to convince, nothing but the naked gospel of God’s free
and sovereign grace in Christ. Will you hear me? God help you to hear and
believe unto the saving of your soul. Oh, Holy Spirit, come now and cause
sinners to hear and believe to good news, for Christ’s sake!
·
The wrath of God is upon you!
·
There is righteousness, redemption, grace and salvation for sinners in
Christ.
·
God almighty has promised life eternal, free salvation, to every sinner
who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ!
·
Outside Christ, without Christ there is no salvation, no grace, no
mercy, and no hope.
This is what the sign of
Jonah declares. – “Salvation is of the Lord!”
I know you are as familiar with those words as I am. How we rejoice to hear
them! How we rejoice to proclaim them! But how is Jonah a sign of this blessed
gospel?
A. As the Lord God
prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah (Jonah
B. As Jonah was cast
into the sea by the hands of wicked men and by the pleasure of God
(Jonah 1:5, 14), so the Lord Jesus died at Calvary by the hands of wicked
men, being delivered into their hands by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God (Acts 2:23; 4:26-28; 13:27-29). – “It pleased
the Lord to bruise him!”
C. As Jonah was in the
heart of the whale’s belly, in the belly of hell for three days and three
nights (Jonah 1:17-2:2), with all the waves and billows of God’s
wrath passing over him, cast out of God’s sight, so our blessed Savior was cast
out of God’s sight, when all the waves and billows of infinite wrath that we
deserved passed over him, and he was buried in the heart of the earth for three
days and three nights[1].
(Psalms
88:1-7) “O LORD God of my salvation, I
have cried day and night before thee: (2) Let my prayer come
before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry; (3) For my soul is full of
troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. (4) I am counted with
them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:
(5) Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest
no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. (6) Thou hast laid me in
the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. (7) Thy wrath lieth hard upon
me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah."
D. While suffering the
judgment of God as a substitute for the mariners who threw him into the sea,
Jonah cried, “Salvation is of the Lord!” Son the Lord Jesus Christ, when he
suffered the wrath of God as our great, sin-atoning Substitute declared God’s
salvation (Ps. 40:10, 16; 69:29).
·
“Father, forgive them!”
·
“Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise!”
·
“It is finished!”
E. On the third day
Jonah came out of the whale’s belly for the salvation of a specific people (Nineveh).
So, too, the Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead on the third day to
proclaim the salvation of God’s elect (Rom. 14:9; 4:25-5:1, 10, 11; 1:1-5; 1
Cor. 15:1-4).
(Romans 14:9) "For to this end Christ both died, and
rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living."
(Romans 4:25) "Who was delivered for our offences, and
was raised again for our justification."
(Romans 5:1) "Therefore being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
(Romans
5:10-11) "For if, when we were
enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being
reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. (11) And not only so, but
we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received
the atonement."
(Romans
1:1-5) "Paul, a servant of Jesus
Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
(2) (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)
(3) Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh; (4) And declared to be the Son of
God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from
the dead: (5) By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for
obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name."
(1 Corinthians
15:1-4) "Moreover, brethren, I
declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have
received, and wherein ye stand; (2) By which also ye are saved, if ye
keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
(3) For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how
that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (4) And that
he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the
scriptures."
F. As Jonah was a sign
to the Ninevites, so the Lord Jesus Christ, crucified and raised from the dead,
(that is to say, the preaching of Christ) is the only sign God gives to
sinners. – This and this alone is the power of God unto salvation.
Therefore, we glory in the cross. Therefore we preach Christ!
II. Second, the Lord
Jesus declares that grace despised
will forever make the fires of hell burn hotter in your soul (v.
32).
If you refuse to hear the
gospel, you will hear it forever in hell! Your willful, obstinate unbelief will
make hell hotter for you than for any other. The Ninevites will arise in
judgment and cry out as witnesses against you at the bar of God.
(Luke 11:32) "The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the
judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the
preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here."
Like the Jews in our Lord’s day, you have been favored with the great
privilege of hearing the gospel. Yet, like them, you harden your heart and cry,
“Crucify him! Crucify him!” Are not the men of Nineveh irrefutable
witnesses against you? Are they not true witnesses against your soul,
condemning your obstinate unbelief? Indeed they are!
A. The men of Nineveh
repented, and turned to God, though they only heard one message from one
prophet.
·
They had none of the privileges and opportunities we enjoy.
·
Nineveh heard only one prophet; and he not much of one.
·
Nineveh heard that prophet only once; and in that one sermon there was
no indication of care, concern, or compassion.
·
Nineveh had heard no word of glad tidings, but only the thunder of the
law and the threat of wrath.
·
Yet Nineveh’s obedience to the Word of God was immediate, universal,
practical, and acceptable, so that the city was spared.
B. The men of Nineveh
repented, and turned to God, though Jonah gave them no reason to hope for
mercy.
·
He declared no promise of pardon.
·
He made no mention repentance.
·
He proclaimed no word of grace.
·
He only preached hellfire and brimstone, and seemed to do so with
gladness!—"Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown."—His
message began and ended with judgment, wrath, and terror.
The difference between the Ninevites and you who believe not is simple.
They believed what God said, though there was no grace in what he said to them.
Believing God’s Word, they found themselves in desperate need. Therefore, they
made the message of doom a message of hope. They took Jonah’s dreadful message
as an indication that since God gave them forty days, he might be willing to
spare them altogether.
Some of you who hear my voice, on the other hand, hear the glorious
gospel of rich, free, full salvation, grace abounding, mercy multiplied, and
life eternal, with hardhearted, stubborn rebellion and unbelief.
C. The men of Nineveh
repented, and turned to God, though Jonah offered them no hope.
Bro. Jonah did not go to the right seminary. He was
anything but a loving, tenderhearted pastor, anxious to gather the lost sheep.
Rather than thanking God for the privilege of proclaiming the unsearchable
riches of Christ to the Gentiles, he pouted and sulked. Not only did he not
pray for the conversion of his hearers, he got mad at God when he granted them
mercy!—Yet they obeyed his voice, and obtained mercy in their time of need!
D. The men of Nineveh
repented, and turned to God, by finding in the message of wrath a door of
hope.
(Jonah 3:9) "Who can tell if God will turn
and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?"
They heard no invitation to
seek the Lord. They did not even hear a command to believe him, to repent, or
to confess their guilt. Their only hope was formed from what God did not say.
He did not say that he would not be merciful. So they deduced that he might!
And if he refused, they would lose nothing by seeking it. What great faith! But
hear me.—You do not need to deduce a thing. God has promised, “I will be
gracious! – I will forgive! – I will save!”
Jonah’s mission was but a
warning. Yet, the warning implied a degree of mercy. The Ninevites ventured
upon that bare hope of mercy, saying, "Who can tell?" We have
much more! The gospel proclaims hope for the hopeless, help for the helpless,
grace for the guilty, and salvation for the sinner through the merits of
Christ. Will you not venture upon him?
III. This is what I want you to see. “Behold, A greater than Jonah is here!” Oh, may
God give you eyes to see him.
·
A Greater Man!
·
A Greater Prophet!
·
A Greater Resurrection!
·
A Greater Message!
·
A Greater Mission! – “Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners! – The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost! – I
am come that they might have life! – He that believeth on me shall never die!”
“Come, humble
sinner, in whose breast
A thousand thoughts revolve,
Come with your guilt and
fear oppressed,
And make this last resolve
‘I’ll go to Jesus,
though my sin
Hath like a mountain rose;
I know His courts I’ll enter
in,
Whatever may oppose.
Prostrate I’ll lie before
His throne,
And there my guilt confess;
I’ll tell Him I’m a wretch
undone,
Without His sovereign grace.
I’ll to the gracious King
approach,
Whose scepter pardon gives;
Perhaps He may command my
touch,
And then the suppliant
lives!
Perhaps He will admit my
plea,
Perhaps will hear my prayer;
But if I perish, I will
pray,
And perish only there.
I can but perish if I go,
I am resolved to try;
For if I stay away, I know,
I must forever die.
But, if I die with mercy
sought,
When I the King have tried,
This were to die (Delightful
thought!)
As sinner never died.’”
Edmund Jones
“Who can tell?”
I read a story last week, a
true story about the conversion of a man ordained of God to be a preacher of
the gospel. Let me give you the essence of it.
He was so overwhelmed with a
sense of guilt and sin that he concluded his day over and that he must be lost
forever. He was certain that hell would be his everlasting portion. He decided
therefore, in hopeless despair to commit suicide, reasoning as only suicidal
men can reason, that it would be better to put an end to his life than to go on
in his course of sin, bring greater wrath upon his head.
Feeling that he deserved to
go to hell, and that he was already damned forever, with no way to escape, he
reasoned that it would be best to end his life immediately. That evening he
went to a river, determined to throw himself off a high cliff into the abyss
below. Just as he was about to jump, the words of the Ninevites rang in his
soul, '”Who can tell?” It was as though the words had been audibly
spoken.
Immediately he was arrested.
He sat down on the edge of the cliff he had designed for his doom and found it
to the place designed by God for his salvation. He began to go over those three
magnificent words in his mind.—“Who can tell?”
·
What God will do?
·
If God will be gracious?
·
If I might yet find mercy?
·
What God’s purpose is?
·
If God might be pleased to save me, even me?
By those three words, “Who
can tell?” the Lord God graciously broke through the darkness of his soul
and gave him grace to through himself into the arms of Christ rather than into
the river below. Grace gave him faith Christ, as One able to save to the
uttermost all that come to God by him!
He became a preacher of the
gospel; and drawing from his own experience of the riches of grace, he was
greatly used of God for the conversion and comfort of many!
Come now, my friend, poor,
despairing soul. Throw yourself into the arms of the Son of God.
(Jonah 3:9) "Who can tell if God will turn
and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?"
(Isaiah 25:9) "And it shall be said in that day, Lo,
this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is
the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his
salvation."
(Isaiah
33:22) "For the LORD is our
judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will
save us."
(Isaiah
45:22) "Look unto me, and be ye
saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none
else."
(Micah
7:18-19) "Who is a God like
unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the
remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he
delighteth in mercy. (19) He will turn again, he will have
compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their
sins into the depths of the sea."
(Zephaniah
3:17) "The LORD thy God in the
midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with
joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing."
[1] “That Christ means himself by the ‘son of man’, there is no reason to doubt; and his being laid in a tomb, dug out of a rock, is sufficient to answer this phrase, ‘the heart of the earth’, in distinction from the surface of it; but some difficulty arises about the time of his continuing there, and the prediction here made agreeable to the type: for it was on the sixth day of the week, we commonly call ‘Friday’, towards the close, on the day of the preparation for the sabbath, and when the sabbath drew on, that the body of Christ was laid in the sepulchre; where it lay all the next day, which was the sabbath of the Jews, and what we commonly call ‘Saturday’; and early on the first of the week, usually called ‘Sunday’, or the Lord’s day, he rose from the dead; so that he was but one whole day, and part of two, in the grave. To solve this difficulty, and set the matter in a clear light, let it be observed, that the three days and three nights, mean three natural days, consisting of day and night, or twenty four hours, and are what the Greeks call, ‘night days’; but the Jews have no other way of expressing them, but as here; and with them it is a well known rule, and used on all occasions, as in the computation of their feasts and times of mourning, in the observance of the passover, circumcision, and divers purifications, that wlwkk Mwyh tuqm, ‘a part of a day is as the whole’ and so, whatever was done before sun setting, or after, if but an hour, or ever so small a time, before or after it, it was reckoned as the whole preceding, or following day; and whether this was in the night part, or day part of the night day, or natural day, it mattered not, it was accounted as the whole night day: by this rule, the case here is easily adjusted; Christ was laid in the grave towards the close of the sixth day, a little before sun setting, and this being a part of the night day preceding, is reckoned as the whole; he continued there the whole night day following, being the seventh day; and rose again early on the first day, which being after sun setting, though it might be even before sun rising, yet being a part of the night day following, is to be esteemed as the whole; and thus the son of man was to be, and was three days and three nights in the grave.” (John Gill on Matthew 12:40)