The sermon 'Embracing Mercy' by Jason Dohm explores the theme of God's mercy as seen in Jonah chapter 2. The sermon highlights God's proactive role in extending mercy to the wicked people of Nineveh and to Jonah, despite their disobedience. It emphasizes that all people have God's law written on their hearts, inherently knowing their guilt, and that God's mercy is available for those willing to embrace it. Jonah's journey from rebellion to repentance is marked by God's interventions—raising a storm, sending a great fish, and ultimately saving Jonah from drowning. The sermon discusses Jonah's prayer from the belly of the fish, which is both a literal and poetic reflection of the Psalms, showcasing Jonah's deep knowledge and value of these scriptures. The notion of 'worthless idols' is used to convey the idea that clinging to anything other than God leads to forsaking one's own mercy. Furthermore, the sermon connects Jonah's experience to the New Testament, particularly Jesus' reference to the 'sign of Jonah' as a foreshadowing of His own death and resurrection, underscoring the message that salvation comes from the Lord. The sermon concludes with a call to abandon idols and embrace God's unending mercy, which is renewed every morning.

In Jonah chapter 2, the title of the sermon this morning is Embracing Mercy. Last week the title was Tokens of Mercy. And we just saw the display of God's mercy in chapter 1. God raised up and He sent a prophet to a wicked people that he had no obligation. All of them have the law of God written on their hearts.

They knew in their heart of hearts that they were guilty of wickedness. God could have just left them on the road that leads to destruction. But he, in his mercy, decided to raise up a prophet and send him to this wicked people to declare a judgment against them in hopes that they would repent. When that prophet ran, God intervened. He didn't just let Jonah go to a city in southern Spain to live out his life quietly and away from God.

He sent a tremendous tempest to stop him in his tracks. And to deal with him, to bring him to the end of himself, which is where we are in chapter 2, God revealed Himself to pagan sailors through these events. And at the end of chapter 1, they are calling on Him, they are sacrificing to Him, they are vowing to Him. And God prepared a great fish to save Jonah. Jonah is thrown overboard in chapter 1.

But he doesn't drown because God had prepared in advance a great fish to save his life. Chapter 1 is full of the mercy of God, the tokens of God's mercy. Now we're in chapter 2, I'm calling it embracing mercy, and I'm going off of Chapter 2 verse 8, where Jonah tells those who have regarded worthless idols that in regarding those worthless idols they have forsaken their own mercy. Mercy that was theirs for the having. And he's exhorting us not to forsake our own mercy, that mercy is there for our acquiring of it.

It's there for the taking. And we shouldn't forsake our own mercy. As we come to the text, let's ask the Lord for help. Oh God, you are a God of mercy. There's any truth in the Bible to be gleaned from Genesis to Revelation.

It's that you're not content for your creatures to continue on that wide road that leads to destruction unimpeded, unwarned, but that so often in your mercy you intervene to call back rebels, make them sons and daughters. And even in their pilgrimage on a narrow way, a hard way that leads to life, so many times when they would abandon that way, you call them back. You bring them to the end of themselves and you pour out your mercy on them again and again and again. Thank you. Let the sweetness of this chapter come through the preaching today, I pray in Jesus' name.

Amen. Well, one, if you're taking notes on the handout, the first major point is the Psalm of Jonah. If you were looking ahead and filling out the handout and projecting what I was going to say, you probably said the prayer of Jonah. I got you. It's the Psalm of Jonah on the handout.

But you would be right from verse 1. He was praying from the fish's belly. So verse 1 identifies this as a prayer. But it's clearly poetic. And If you take Jonah chapter 2, what we have here, and you start matching it up with phrases and themes and sentences from Psalms, you can go a long way.

In fact, if you have a Bible that points to cross references, you're going to find the Psalms throughout here being cross references. That's because Jonah is a man who knows the Psalms, values the Psalms, and incorporates the Psalms into his prayer. If I had to guess, this is just the realm of speculation, but if I had to guess, he didn't have paper and pencil on the belly of the whale. I feel like I'm on solid ground to say that. Writing out the poetry, My guess is this came afterwards where the thoughts and the themes of his prayer became the subject of poetic psalm writing after the fact.

Who knows how long after the fact. So let's begin by taking a quick tour of the Psalm of Jonah or the prayer of Jonah if you would. We'll just go verse by verse. I'll reread and then we'll just stop and I'll comment and we'll keep going. Chapter 2 verse 1, then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish's belly.

Jonah has been expelled by the sailor. They are convinced, it's the only reason. They are convinced by Jonah that the only way they can save their own lives in the ship is to throw Jonah the cause of this calamity off the boat and they do that and this is where Jonah is in chapter 1 and he prays. This is new. If all you had is the book of Jonah, you don't know a praying Jonah.

You just know a running Jonah. You just know a rebel Jonah. A disobedient Jonah. But now Jonah is out of options. There's nowhere to run and he comes to his senses and he prays.

Who does he pray to? To the Lord his God. Jonah is God's and God is Jonah's. He's a rebellious prophet, he's a disobedient prophet, but I want to wean us off the thought as we work through Jonah that he's the bad prophet. He's really not the bad prophet.

He's going to end up in chapter 3 obeying the Lord and fulfilling his mission. He definitely does things in the book of Jonah that he shouldn't do, but unless you're a Christian who hasn't done something that you shouldn't have done, don't be quick to call Jonah the bad prophet. Jonah's a mixed prophet, and I'm a mixed preacher, and you're a mixed Christian. Sometimes you run away from God when you should run to God. Sometimes you sin when you shouldn't sin.

And what should we do then? We should pray to the Lord our God. This is what Jonah does. He prays to the Lord his God. God really is his God.

And we are told this in verse 1. Now verse 2. And he said, he, Jonah said, I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction and he answered me. So you have two lines here. It's a couplet.

And in verse 2 you have two couplets, two pairs of lines. And they repeat. So look at this. I cried to the Lord because of my affliction and he answered me. And now essentially the same thing is going to be said again in the second couplet.

Out of the belly of Sheol I cried and you heard my voice." Friends, this is poetry. This is Psalm writing. Jonah cried to the Lord because of his affliction and God heard Him. Out of the belly of Sheol Jonah cried, and you heard my voice." Now where is Sheol? Sheol is a Hebrew word that just means the place of death.

Sometimes it can mean the grave, but it's where the dead go. Sometimes it can mean hell, but it doesn't have to mean hell. It can just mean where the dead go. It's not in this world. Jonah is talking like a man who knows that he's a dead man.

That's really the point. I'm in the grave, in the belly of this fish. I'm in the grave. I'm in the place that the dead go. In verse 6 we're going to read this, yet you have brought up my life from the pit.

So often in the Old Testament these are used as a pair. Sheol, the place of death or the grave, and then the pit. They are often used together by Old Testament authors. It just means from death. Here is the big point.

This might be the big point of the sermon. It is probably the second big point of the sermon. Here is the big point of verse 2. If God is your God, you can cry out to Him in any affliction, even if it's self-inflicted, inflicted. And He will hear you and answer you.

If you really belong to Him, if God is really your God, you belong to Him and He belongs to you, then you can cry out to Him in any affliction, even if you were too long in crying out to him. Jonah should have cried out to God long before this, but better late than never. Jonah cries out to him late. Out of self-inflicted affliction, Jonah did this to himself. This isn't random chance that has brought him here.

It's his sins that have brought him here. God still hears him. His affliction is self-inflicted affliction. He's suffering from self-inflicted wounds. But when he cries out to God, God owns him as his own.

And he hears him. And he delivers him. Children, children. Look up. I want to see children's eyeballs.

When you belong to God, when you belong to God, you can always cry out to Him. Even if you've been running, even if you've been disobeying, even if you've been rebelling, That shouldn't keep you from crying out to Him. That should cause you to cry out to Him, knowing that it's not right that you run from this God. You should cry out to Him. Yes, it's late.

Yes, God hears it. Yes, God answers those who are His. Verse 3. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me. All your billows and your waves passed over me." Here God has made the centerpiece of all that has happened.

Who cast Jonah into the deep? The sailors. No! That's not what Jonah says. Jonah says, it wasn't the sailors, it was God who cast me into the deep.

There might have been secondary causes, that's what those sailors were, They were a secondary cause, doing what God had brought all these events together to have them do to work on the prophet who was running. God cast him into the deep. There are billows and waves. They are God's billows and God's waves. They're obeying Him.

Psalm 42 verse 7, if you're wondering why Psalm 42 was the sermon text that was read, well it's because we're memorizing the sermon text and we already recited it together. But also, though you can match up phrases from this all throughout of Jonah 2 with Psalms. This verse, the billows and all your billows and your waves passed over me is a direct Hebrew word for Hebrew word quotation of Psalm 42 verse 7. In Psalm 42 verse 7, the sons of Korah are using this as figurative poetic language. As I read Psalm 42 verse 7, They're not talking about literal billows and waves washing over them.

They're talking about overcoming trials of life that are swamping them. They use it figuratively. Jonah here quotes the psalm written by the sons of Korah and says this is literally what's happening to me. The billows of God and the waves of God are washing over me. Verse 4.

Then I said, I have been cast out of your sight, yet I will look again toward your holy temple. Jonah has been running from the presence of the Lord. Now he feels that being taken to its conclusion. He was running from God, but now he has a sense, God has cast me out. But he didn't plan on that.

What if God not only lets you run but then casts you away from Him? In a sense Jonah feels in the water as the waves of God and the billows of God are washing over him, he feels as if he has been given what he has been seeking. God said, you want to run? I cast you out. That's the sense of it that Jonah has and that's why he is writing this in this poetic prayer of the psalm.

In the second half of verse 4, Jonah looks for help. Please turn to, and just let me read it again, yet I will look again toward your holy temple. Now, Turn to 1 Kings 8. Jonah is in the belly of a fish. It's pitch black.

He can't see a thing. I'm confident of that. What in the world does it mean to look towards his holy temple? I think he's pulling from Solomon's prayer in the dedication of the temple. Remember, David wanted to build the temple, but God wouldn't let David build the temple, so his son, Solomon, built the temple.

And at the dedication of the temple he has this wonderful prayer of dedication in 1 Kings chapter 8. And in 2 Chronicles somewhere there's two recordings of this. But I'm choosing the one in 1 Kings chapter 8 and follow along as I read verses 37 through 40. This is just part of this prayer of dedication to the temple. Solomon is crying out to God.

1 Kings 8 beginning in verse 37. Solomon prays, when there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, When their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there is, whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone or by all your people Israel, when each one knows the plague of his own heart, listen to that again, When each one knows the plague of his own heart, listen to that again, when each one knows the plague of his own heart, and spreads out his hands towards this temple, Then here in heaven your dwelling place, and forgive and act, and give to everyone according to his ways, whose heart you know, for you alone know the hearts of all the sons of men, that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land which you gave to our fathers." Solomon is praying out through the history of the nation, out through the history of this temple. And he knows many things are going to come upon them. They're going to be rebellious during periods of time. God's going to send plagues during periods of time.

He's going to send enemies during periods of time. They'll actually go into captivity during periods of time. And when that happens and when God's circumstances, when his waves and billows wash over them and they're brought to their senses by the circumstances that he sent for this very purpose, and they turn to the temple and pray, God hear those prayers from heaven and have mercy on the people. Jonah is practically quoting 1 Kings 8. I'm now turning towards the temple.

God has brought circumstances into my life that have brought me to my senses And now I'm turning to the temple because according to what King Solomon prayed, when I pray towards the temple, you'll hear in heaven where you dwell. In Hebrews chapter 8 and chapter 9 we learn that the temple is a copy of the things in heaven. So the temple is something tangible, it's a real something you could look towards or visit, but it's a copy of heavenly things where God dwells. So you look towards the temple and you pray towards this tangible building and God who is in heaven where the real things are that the temple is just a copy of, he hears and he answers. Back to Jonah 2, now verses 5 and 6.

The water surrounded me even to my soul. The deep closed around me. Weeds were wrapped around my head. I went down to the moorings of the mountains, the earth with its bars closed behind me forever. Stop there in verse 6.

What is he saying? I'm sinking, sinking, sinking into the depths. I'm drowning. The bars of the earth are closing behind me forever. This is poetic language for I'm sinking into the depths.

Never to return, I'm drowning. The bars of the earth are closing behind me forever. This is a man who knows he's as good as dead. We don't know whether Jonah could swim or not swim. If he can't swim, this is within minutes of him being thrown overboard.

If he can't swim, he's just sinking and sinking. He's drowning. Just a few more seconds and he'll lose consciousness and that will be the end of the life of Jonah. Then the second half of verse 6. Yet, you have brought up my life from the pit.

Oh Lord, my God, the place of death brought up my life from the place of death. That beautiful word, it reminds me of, but in Ephesians 2. But God who is rich in mercy in Ephesians 2, you remember that? This reads like that here. The bars of the earth were closing behind me.

I'm drowning yet, yet. You have brought up my life from the pit. Oh Lord, my God. Against all expectation, Jonah finds himself rescued. In the most improbable way, He finds himself rescued by a fish.

Friends, if a fish eats you, it's probably not your rescue. If the day comes when a fish eats you, that's probably all she wrote for you. This was Jonah's rescue. Verse 7, When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer went up to you into your holy temple." Now I think he's talking about heaven into your holy temple. He's not talking about Jerusalem anymore, he's talking about the place where God really dwells.

His prayer went where God is in his dwelling place. Jonah knew that there was one hope and only one hope. Jonah remembered the Lord and he cried out. In chapter 4, We'll get there two weeks from now, but in chapter four Jonah will say, I know that you are gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, one who relents from doing harm. Jonah knew that about God.

It's actually a complaint in chapter 4. I knew you would have mercy on those Ninevites. But here, it's his remembrance that God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, one who relents from doing harm. It's that that caused him to remember God and to pray to God to cry out to God. Oh brethren, when your soul faints there's only one thing to do.

Remember God who is full of mercy and gracious, who is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, one who relents from doing harm. Has your soul ever fainted? Is your soul fainting now? There's probably some people in here and their soul is fainting right now Jonah tells you what to do remember God what he's like In his graciousness in his mercy and how slow he is to anger. He is so patient and long suffering.

Cry out to him. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord and my prayer went up to you into your holy temple. There he is waiting to receive your prayers. He's there. Jesus is at his right hand interceding for you if you belong to him.

Verses 8 and 9. Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.

If you're drowning, you have seconds left, and you use those seconds to cry out to a false god, you drown. If you cling to the worthless idol, you use up the seconds calling out to something that can never help you when only God can help you. If you regard worthless idols you forsake your own mercy. Mercy was there for the taking but you forsake it. You don't get the mercy that you could have had.

Ladies and gentlemen I submit to you that Jonah knows he has been both verse 8 and verse 9. He is given away God's rightful place to cling to hopes which will fail him. And in doing so he forfeited his own mercy. That's really what has brought us to this place in the book of Jonah. All along he was regarding worthless idols.

I'm not talking about little metal things that you would put or carve out of wood and put on the mantle. I'm talking about giving away God's place to something else, hoping in other things, trusting in other things, displacing your affection towards other things. He's been doing that and it has landed him seconds from drowning. He has been, verse 8, he has forsaken his own mercy. God would have been merciful before now if he would have cried out before now.

And he has been a man who cried out in his affliction and found mercy and found salvation. He's been both. The last phrase of verse 9 is the summary of the whole book. If anybody stops you on the street and says, What is the summary of the book of Jonah? You tell them this.

Salvation is of the Lord. That is Jonah in a nutshell. Salvation is of the Lord. It took him, it took all these traumatic, dramatic circumstances to bring him here, but here he is, acknowledging that salvation is of the Lord. The Reformation Heritage Study Bible says this, the Lord is the author as well as the agent of salvation, whether physical or spiritual.

Let me just say that in a different way. You can talk about any kind of salvation. Physical salvation, that's what's happening with Jonah. He was about to physically die, and he's been physically saved. Or spiritual salvation, You're on a broad road that leads to destruction.

You're on the way to hell and you're saved out of that. Either kind, any kind of salvation, The Lord is the author as well as the agent of that salvation. In other words, it's his idea. He's the author of it. He decides to do it.

And he acts to bring it about. He's the agent of that salvation. So, not your idea and you don't bring it about. It is God's idea and He does bring it about. It's not about you.

It is about God. Salvation is of the Lord. And thank God it is. If it wasn't of the Lord, you would flub it up, I would flub it up. If it depended on our strength, or our endurance, or our perseverance, we'd never make it.

Salvation is of the Lord. This is another point in Jonah 2 that closely mirrors the Psalms. Listen to both of these. These are both Psalms of David. Psalm 3 verse 8.

Salvation belongs to the Lord. It's His. Your blessing is upon your people. Selah. It probably means think about it.

It might mean think about it. Think about that. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing is upon your people. Or better still, Psalm 68, also a Psalm of David.

Listen to this, Psalm 68 verses 19 and 20. Verse 68, verses 19 and 20. Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits. Don't you love that? Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits.

The God of our salvation. Selah. It might mean, think about it, Think about that. Verse 20, our God is the God of salvation. And to God the Lord belong escapes from death.

Wow, David was writing about Jonah. To God the Lord belong escapes from death. David knew a thing about that. Jonah is learning a thing or two about that. Brethren, if you are going to be saved at all, it is God who will save you.

If you are to be saved, it is God who will save you. Salvation is of the Lord. In verse 9, Jonah offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving. This is a psalm of praise. Who can deny that this is a psalm of praise?

And he either makes vows in the belly of the fish, or he recommits to following through on vows that he's already made. I can't tell which it is. I don't think it matters. He's either making vows there, or he's promising to make good on the vows that he's committed. I don't think it's a stretch to say chapter 3 is the following through on these vows.

He was running chapter 3 he obeys the Lord, he goes to Nineveh and he preaches. He puts his life on the line next week in chapter 3. Now remember all this is still when he is in the fish's belly. Jonah is not on dry land when he's praying this prayer. He's extending his faith.

He's believing God that because He's not dead, because He didn't drown, because the bars of the earth haven't closed on Him forever, it seemed like they were, that God is going to complete his deliverance. All he knows is he's alive when he should be dead. He prays these things in the belly of the whale as if his deliverance is already complete. Verse 10. So the Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

I guess we're at the end of the beautiful poetry. Beautiful poetry, beautiful poetry, fish vomit. But notice, God is the primary cause. God speaks to that fish, and that fish does as he's told. Jonah should have done as well.

God continues to be the chief character in the book of Jonah. The book of Jonah is not about Jonah. It's not about the fish. It's not even about the Ninevites. It's about God.

It reveals God to us in very precious ways. One last point. Jonah has not been perfected. Not at all. Chapter 4 is going to be a tough pill to swallow.

It seemed like Jonah has turned the corner in chapter 2 and then he does so well in chapter 3. He is a disaster in chapter 4. This is that Jonah. Jonah hasn't fooled God. God already knows about chapter 4.

But that does not stop God from delivering Jonah or from using Jonah in a mighty way. That does not stop Jonah from thanking and praising God. Jonah is far from reconciled with what God intends to do in Nineveh. We find that out in chapter 4. He has not made his peace with God about what God intends to do with Nineveh.

That doesn't stop God from saving Jonah. It doesn't stop Jonah from praising God here. You know you're a lot like Jonah. You want to be fully yielded to the Lord if you're a believer, but you find yourself often not fully yielded to the Lord. It doesn't keep His kindnesses from flowing to you every day.

Thank God! You want to believe that God is good and wise and in all things, but there are certain things that you look at and you're like, that doesn't look good and wise to me, but it doesn't keep you from reserving judgment and keeping going. We're a lot like Jonah in these ways. So that was number one, the Psalm of Jonah going verse by verse through the Psalm. Number two, major heading number two, if you're taking notes on the handout, sign fills in the blank.

The sign of Jonah. So now we have to back up one verse to the last verse of chapter 1. So we'll go back to last week a little bit to the last verse of chapter 1. Jonah 1.17 Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. My guess is he gets vomited out on dry land, he encounters someone and he says what day is it?

You would have no sense of daytime, nighttime, light, dark, all that would have been lost. He's going to encounter someone when he's on dry land and he's going to say what day it is and he can figure out how long he was in the belly of the whale. Jesus picks up on this and he speaks of it in relation to his time in the grave and his resurrection. So let's turn to Matthew 12. Matthew chapter 12.

He also speaks of it again in Matthew chapter 16 verse 4 but it's a reference that doesn't have any explanation to it so I'm not going there but just know he speaks of Jonah, the account of Jonah, and the sign of Jonah in multiple places in the gospels. So this is a repeated theme for Jesus. Matthew 12, follow along as I read verses 38 through 40. And we'll be back here next week to continue in Matthew 12 when he talks about Jonah's preaching and the response. Matthew 12, 38 through 40.

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered saying, Teacher, we want to see a sign from you. But he answered and said to them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." I bet they didn't understand that. Now, there's debate over is it three full days, including the nights, and how do you reconcile that with the fact that we think it was Friday to Sunday, and that's not three days and three nights? I'm just going to lay that aside and just say the Bible is true.

There's a couple of ways that you can explain that. So there's a couple of ways to explain it and it doesn't matter to me which one is right. The Bible is trustworthy. If I had to pick a side, I would say three days and three nights is figurative for three days. Some people aren't satisfied with that and they have other ways to explain it.

Fine. The Bible is true. Jesus says, you're not getting any sign on demand. Think of all the signs he's done, and will do. Did before this in Matthew 12, and will do after this.

Continuing in Matthew, He says, I'm not doing signs on demand. I give you one sign, the sign of Jonah. As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth. He's talking about his death, burial, and resurrection. Here's what James Bruckner, the NIV application commentary I think is what he wrote.

He says this, the wonder of the sign is that a place that ought to have been a place of death became a place of deliverance and life. No one expects a man to survive inside a fish. Fair enough. Nobody expects you to survive three days inside a fish. He says, and I think rightly so, that this sign between Jonah and Jesus is that a place that ought to have been a place of death in Jonah's case the belly of the fish in Jesus's case a grave actually became a place of deliverance and life, and on Jesus' side, life for everyone who will trust in him.

The sign of Jonah. I'll give you a sign. I'm going to go to a place that is known as the place of death and in three times I'll come out as the Lord of life, as the life giver. Another place in the gospels where Jesus speaks of the son of Jonah is Luke 11. So turn quickly to Luke 11.

Luke 11 verses 29 through 32. Luke 11 verses 29 through 32. And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, he began to say, this is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation.

The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and indeed a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it. For they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and indeed a greater than Jonah is here." Here in Luke 11 there's no mention at all of the three days and three nights in the belly of the whale. I think in Luke 11 the meaning is that the sign is that salvation is of the Lord. Because really in Luke 11 Jesus pegs it to, he connects it to the saving preaching of Jonah.

In a sense, Jonah's preaching was an expression of his experience. I think that's what connects Matthew with Luke 11 here. Do you follow me? In a sense, Jonah's preaching was an expression of his experience. What is Jonah's near drowning, if not judgment against sin?

What was that? It was judgment against his sin. And that's what he is sent to Nineveh to preach, judgment against sin. And yet he repented, he cried out, he turned to God and found God to be merciful. His preaching was an expression of his experience.

Friends, Jesus Christ is the first fruits from the dead. Paul says that in 1 Corinthians 15. Jesus Christ is the first one up out of the grave, but not the last one. That's what first fruits means. He is the first out of the grave but not the last out of the grave.

He has conquered death for me and for you. Sinners deserve to drown in their sins But salvation is of the Lord. You got that? Isn't that the message of the Bible? Isn't that the message of the Gospel?

Sinners deserve to drown in their sins. Who can blame God if Jonah drowns? Would God be unrighteous if Jonah drowns? I hardly think so. Would God be unrighteous if He sends you to hell for the thoughts that you've thought, the words that you've said, the actions that you've done?

No. No one could condemn God for injustice if he sends me to hell. But salvation is of the Lord. All who look to him are saved. We have Jonah's Psalm.

We have the sign of Jonah. Now major point number three, embracing mercy. I want to go back to verse 8 for a moment. Go back to verse 8. Just look at it again.

Jonah says this of himself but not just of himself. Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy. I put this in the weekly email. I memorized this in my teams in the NIV. I'm sure the NIV is less precise translation, but it's wonderful commentary on the verse.

So let's just take it as wonderful commentary and appreciate it as that. NIV has it this way, those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. It's such a sad picture. It's such a sad notion. Grace there for the taking.

Grace there for the having. But someone clings to a worthless idol and it'll never answer their prayers. But they're clinging to it. Meanwhile, there's grace that's just theirs to be had. But they forfeit it.

They bypass it. They forsake it. Let's close with Lamentations 3. So Lamentations is between Jeremiah and Ezekiel. So you have these two big prophetic books.

Jeremiah, Ezekiel. If you can find either one of those lamentations, it's between them. Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel. Lamentations 3 was written by Jeremiah. It was written by a prophet who is prophesying to people who have been taken into captivity and more will be taken into captivity.

And it's a lament. It's a mourning book. It's a book of sorrows. He's known as the weeping prophet. This is the book from the weeping prophet.

And in the middle of it you have this, which isn't weeping at all. It's glorious about the ever present mercies of God. I'll be reading Lamentations 3, 21 through 23. Lamentations 3, 21 through 23. Here's what the weeping prophet writes.

This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed because His compassion fails not. They are new every morning. The mercies of the Lord, the compassion of the Lord are new every morning. Why?

Because you earned it the day before? That's totally opposite the point. Because the Lord's people need them every day. It's not because you earned it the day before, or they wouldn't be new every morning. They would be new on the mornings that you did good the day before.

No, they're new every morning. His compassions are there every morning. His mercies are new every morning. Not because you earned it, but because you need it. Here's what Matthew Henry says.

This is just blissful. Listen to what Matthew, not Patrick, Henry says. God and His servant Jonah had parted in anger, and the quarrel began on Jonah's side. He fled from his country that he might outrun his work, but we hope to see them both together again, and the reconciliation begins on God's side. What's Matthew Henry saying there?

Oh, there's a quarrel between God and Jonah. And Jonah started the quarrel, but God started the reconciliation. This is so precious. I need the message of Jonah. You're insane to start a quarrel with God.

You've never done that? You've never started a quarrel with God because of stubbornness and because of sinfulness? Because of stubborn sinfulness? Here you see God, you started the quarrel, God starts the reconciliation. That has happened here.

You thought to outrun your work, God I don't want to serve you anymore. God brings about reconciliation. His compassion are new every morning. His mercies are new every morning. Not because you earned them the day before through good conduct, but because you need it every day.

It's not a response to us, it's a response to His nature. He can't be another kind of God. Do you get that? God can't be another kind of God. He has to be a compassionate and merciful God because that's who He is.

A little bit later Matthew Henry says this, thanks be to God, every transgression in the covenant does not throw us out of the covenant. This encourages even backsliding children to return. Let me just read that again. Thanks be to God, every transgression in the covenant does not throw us out of the covenant. This encourages even backsliding children to return.

We're meant to get encouragement from Jonah chapter 2 when we're backsliding to run to him. But I've backslidden so many times, then run to him again! His compassion are new every morning. His mercies are new every morning. My question is this to both believers and unbelievers.

Are you clinging to a worthless idol? Are you forsaking your own mercy? Are you forfeiting the grace that could be yours? My guess is there are people in here who are answering in their heart of hearts, Yes, I'm clinging to a worthless idol. And no one else even has any idea.

The message of Jonah 2 is salvation is of the Lord. Don't run from the Lord. Don't backslide another millisecond, another nanosecond. Run to him. Run to him now.

He waits to receive you. He does command all men everywhere to repent. I don't want to paint God as he's so often painted as a God who's pining away powerless. He's not that. But he receives sinners.

That's what I'm trying to say. He receives sinners. What? Even believing sinners who have persisted in rebellion even after he's been so kind to them. Yes, especially them.

They should stop their backsliding right now, run to him right now. Salvation is of the Lord. His compassion is new every morning. His mercies are new every morning. If you cling to a worthless idol, you're forsaking your own mercy.

It's theirs, it's yours for the having. Don't forsake it. Don't Forfeit the grace that could be yours for another minute. God, I pray if there's anyone who's hearing that, who's saying, that's me. I have been running from God in my heart, though I've kept myself respectable on the outside.

I know I've been running. God, I pray that they would run to You now. Run to You now. Stop running from You. Stop persisting in their stubborn sinfulness.

Stop nurturing the darling sin that they won't part with. Oh God, have mercy on them today. Draw them through your mercies today. I pray in Jesus' name, Amen.