A Greater than Jonah is Here

Introduction: The Greater Than Jonah and the Coming Judgment

0:03 Will you please follow in your own Bibles as I read this evening from the 11th chapter of the Gospel according to Luke, Luke's Gospel, chapter 11, verses 29 through 32, Luke 11, beginning with verse 29. And when the multitudes were gathered together unto him, he began to say, This generation is an evil generation, it seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah. For even as Jonah became a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment. The Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and shall condemn them. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

1:09 And behold, a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it. For they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, a greater than Jonah is here.

1:29 In previous verses, we have seen that the people of the world, the people of the world, in previous Lord's Day evenings, to be exact, for twelve Lord's Day evenings, we have examined together the contents of the fascinating little book of the prophet Jonah.

1:48 We examined the record, penned probably by Jonah as he was led by the Spirit, of this strange man and God's strange dealings with him, the account of this man which, by itself, by its very nature, was an eloquent rebuke to the nation of Israel for the narrowness of its heart and vision, epitomized in Jonah. We saw in our study something of the largeness of God's heart as he sent his servant to the capital of a heathen nation there to proclaim judgment, all as a means that he might display mercy. We have concluded our study of the actual text of the book of Jonah. By no means thinking that we have exhausted its teaching, but for our purposes at this present point in our life together, we have concluded our study of the book of Jonah itself. However, in the New Testament, there are some very interesting comments concerning some of the facts and circumstances that are recorded in the book of Jonah, comments found upon the lips of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it is one of those comments to which I would direct your attention this evening,

3:16 particularly the one found in verse 32. Our Lord assumes that his hearers are acquainted with all of the facts of the book of the prophecy of Jonah. He assumes that the basic facts of the narrative are commonplace issues in the minds of his hearers. And in the very.

3:38 In the very real sense, I trust I can assume the same of you who are here tonight. The majority of you have been with us for the twelve expositions of the book of Jonah, in which we examined the statements of the Holy Spirit concerning the commission of that prophet, his disobedience, his restoration, his ministry in Nineveh, the repentance of the Ninevites, his pouting attitude in the face of that repentance, and God's dealings with him.

4:10 But our Lord does a very strange and almost amazing thing in the text which forms the basis of our study tonight. Assuming that his hearers, some 800 years after the incidents recorded in the book of Jonah, are very familiar with those facts, he takes the facts of the narrative of incidents that occurred 800 years before his own time. And he says, He says that they have a very direct and vital bearing upon his own generation, and even more than that, he says that the facts in the narrative of the book of Jonah not only leap over 800 years and impinge upon his own generation in A.D. 33, but that they actually stretch forward at least two millennia and will be present at least two millennia. And so our Lord, in verse 32, whence he says, The men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, he is letting his hearers know that it is not enough that there is mere acquaintance with the narrative of the prophecy of Jonah.

5:34 It is not enough that something of God's dealings with the man Jonah, and, and something of his dealings with the people of Nineveh, has become part and parcel of the mental baggage of his hearers. He is not content until something of that narrative concerning Jonah and the Ninevites has impinged upon the moral consciousness of his hearers in the now, and is also viewed in the light of that great day that is yet to come even. The day of judgment. And because our Lord felt that this was a matter of great concern, I wish to reflect something of that perspective in my treatment of this portion of the Word of God. And the great thrust of what our Lord says in this text is simply this, that the greater the worth and the light of the messenger, the greater the responsibility and guilt, if, if the message is spurned, look at the language of the text, the men of Nineveh shall stand up with this generation, that is our Lord's generation, in the judgment, and shall condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, the lesser messenger, with the more

7:03 limited message, and behold, a greater than Jonah is here. That is a greater messenger. With a greater message, and therefore the frightening potential of greater guilt and greater condemnation, if there is unbelief in the presence of that messenger and his message. And so tonight we want to compare the one who is greater than Jonah, all with the view that perceiving something of the greater than Jonah, is a greater than the one who is greater than Jonah who has come, greater in his person and his message.

Jesus is Greater in the Dignity of His Person

7:48 There may be the drawing forth of our hearts to embrace him and his message, and if we yet go on in a state of impenitence, something of the impingement upon our consciences of the frightening reality of the judgment that surely awaits us, if we refuse the message of that one who is greater than Jonah. And I say, without reservation or embarrassment, that I am greatly indebted to Hugh Martin's commentary on the book of Jonah, and in particular his treatment of this very subject, both with respect to much of the substance and the form in which I preach to you this evening. First of all, consider with me then that Jesus is greater than Jonah in the dignity, the dignity of what he does. Reasonableness. Iniquity.

8:42 Inequality. Courage. of His person. Our Lord says, behold, consider, contemplate the fact that a greater than Jonah is here. And in what sense is Jesus greater than Jonah? Well, surely we must start with this very simple and elementary fact that Jesus is greater than Jonah in the dignity of His person. The Jonah of the Scriptures, the Jonah whose history we have examined, was a man. Furthermore, it is very evident that he was a sinful man. It is further evident that he was a sinful man who was within the orbit of God's redeeming grace and fatherly love and therefore fatherly discipline. And as a man redeemed by grace, he was a man who

9:41 was given grace and commissioned by the sovereign will of Jehovah. He was given a peculiar authority to speak. He was given a special message to declare. But in all of this, Jonah was but a man speaking that which had been revealed to him by Jehovah. All that he knew of God's moral government, he knew by the revelation of God to him. It was God who said, go to Nineveh and tell them that their sin has come up before me. Go and tell them forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. And as a man, he was the recipient of direct and special revelation, but he knew no more than that which was given to him by Jehovah with his commission. But a greater than Jonah is here. Our Lord Jesus Christ stood in His

10:40 own generation. John spoke, yes, as one sent from the Father, but he did not speak as one who received by bits and pieces the content of His message. We read in John's Gospel, chapter 1 and verse 18, this tremendous statement, No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of God. John spoke, yes, as one sent from the Father, but he did not speak as one who received by bits and pieces the content of His message. We read in John's Gospel, chapter 1 and verse 18, this tremendous statement, No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of God. He hath declared Him. He is in the bosom of the Father, or in the language of John 3 and verse 32, what he hath seen and heard of that he beareth witness, and no man receiveth his witness. And what was that witness? What did he see

11:41 and hear? Here look at verses 31 and following, He that cometh from above is above all. He that is of the earth is of the earth, and of the earth he speaketh. He that cometh from heaven is above all. What he hath seen and heard of that he beareth witness. And do you see the tremendous contrast? Here comes a man from Palestine who has been given a very limited revelation. He has been given a very limited revelation. He has been given a very limited revelation from Jehovah, a revelation concerning the moral government of God with respect to the city of Nineveh. And now our Lord stands in His own generation and says, The men of Nineveh repented when a fellow mortal came with a very limited message and proclaimed that message to them, but behold, a greater than Jonah is here. Jonah came from the land of Palestine to Nineveh. The greater than Jonah came from the bosom of the Father to the land of Palestine. Jesus, who is the eternal Word, become flesh in the greatness of the dignity of His person as God, is the greater than Jonah who has come and has brought the message of the living

13:08 God. And there is this theme to be found particularly in such verses. The greater the worth and dignity of the messenger, the greater the judgment if we are indifferent to the message he brings. The greater the worth and dignity of the messenger, the greater the judgment in the face of disobedience to that messenger. We read in Hebrews chapter 2, verse 1, Give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard, lest happily we drift away from them. For if the words spoken through angels prove steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which having at the first been spoken through? The Lord was confirmed unto us by them that heard.

14:20 You see, if the medium of revelation is an angel, and there was a commensurate judgment upon all who regarded that revelation through that medium with indifference, how much greater will be the judgment if the medium of revelation is the incarnate God Himself? We have a similar emphasis in chapter 12 of Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1, verse 1, verse 1, verse 1, verse 1, verse 1, verse 1, verse 1, verse 1, verse 1, verse 1, verse 1, verse 1, verse 1, and in verse 25, Hebrews 12 and verse 25,

14:53 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for, if they escaped not when they refused him that warned them on earth, much more shall not we escape who turn away from him that warneth from heaven. You see the point of emphasis. And our Lord stands in His own generation and points to those very familiar with the content of the book of Jonah, and He says to the men of His own generation, A fellow mortal came to the Ninevites, and the Ninevites repented at his preaching. Behold, a greater than Jonah is here, greater in the dignity of his person, the one who stood and faced his own generation and said, I and my Father are one. He that hath seen me hath seen. The Father, and He says, in the light of the greater dignity of the person, how much greater will be the judgment in the face of impenitence. And as surely as the men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with the men and women of our Lord's generation and condemn them, they will rise up and condemn every man, every woman, every boy in this girl, every girl in this place.

Jesus is Greater in the Capacity of His Office

16:19 Who has had the privilege of hearing not the limited revelation of the man Jonah, or any of the other prophets, but Jesus Christ having come as God and spoken, and now sending His servants to speak in His name. There is all the entreaty of deity behind the overtures of the gospel. Behold, the greater than Jonah is here. But consider with me in the second place that not only is Jesus greater than Jonah in the dignity of His person, but He is greater than Jonah in the capacity of His office. Jonah was a prophet of God, a man upon whom God laid His hand, and into whose mouth He put His message. Jesus was a prophet of God as well. We spent many weeks contemplating the biblical teaching concerning the prophetic office of our Lord Jesus Christ, but Jonah spoke the limited message revealed to him in time.

17:34 He spoke it to a limited number of people for a limited and specific end. But Jesus Christ, who is the very sum and substance of the truth, is the great prophet through whom will of God is revealed for all time. Jonah brought a little piece of the Word of God to Nineveh. Jesus Christ is called the very Word of God. A little bit of the mind and wisdom of God was revealed through the preaching of Jonah, but Christ is called the very wisdom of God. And the writer to Hebrews says that in Jesus Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge. And surely the writer to Hebrews again points in the direction of this contrast in the opening words of his letter, Hebrews chapter 1, God having of old times spoken unto the fathers and the prophets by diverse portions and diverse manners, hath at the end of the day spoken unto the fathers and the prophets, and hath at the end of the

18:47 days spoken unto us in a son. And his final and full message comes to us in his son. The whole will of God for the whole church, for all things, for all time has come through the Lord Jesus Christ. Jonah's message reflects his limited revelation. God will bring judgment upon Nineveh continually. God will bring judgment upon Nineveh continually. God will bring judgment upon Nineveh continually. There is the little glimmer of mercy as we saw in our study of the book itself as he recounts God's dealings with him, giving him up as it were to the death of three days and nights in the belly of the great sea monster, and then his being recommissioned and restored to the place of usefulness. But Christ comes and says in words that cannot be mistaken,

19:48 I am come that ye might have life. The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost. I lay down my life for the sheep. The hour is coming in which all that are in the grave shall hear my voice. And if we simply go through the gospel record and note the sayings of our Lord, we find that that which Jonah spoke was but just a grain of bread. A grain of sand, as it were, compared to the whole seashore of truth that comes from the lips of our Lord Jesus Christ. Behold, a greater than Jonah is here. Now think of the contrast. The men and women of Nineveh, they hear a man who comes not in the dignity

20:38 of incarnate Godhead, but just the fallen Son of Adam redeemed by grace. And what is the message he brings as a prophet? Many days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. And for all we know, that's all he said, expanded upon it, probably interlaced it with a little bit of the testimony of how God dealt with him. But that was the beginning, the middle and the end of his message. And yet they repented.

21:09 They saw God as an offended God. They saw their sins as heinous in his sight. They saw their frightening condition in that state of sin and impenitence. And they humbled themselves and sought mercy. Surely they must rise up in judgment and condemn a people who had the incarnate God walking in their streets, speaking such words as these. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He that is not with me is against me. The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give.

21:50 Life a ransom for many. All of the gracious words that proceed from his mouth. Behold, the greater than Jonah is here, greater in his capacity as a prophet, declaring the whole mind and will of God for the salvation of sinners. And listen, our light is even greater than the light of those who stood in our Lord's generation. For we not only have the record of his words. We have the inspired commentary and interpretation of all his words and his doings in the apostolic writings and in the letters and books of the New Testament. Jesus Christ began to speak in the days of his flesh and continued to speak until his prophetic ministry was complete as far as giving us an inscripturated revelation.

22:51 What a fact! What a frightening thing to live this side of having a completed Bible. There is no need to say, well, I was not sure. What is God's disposition to sin? Will there really be a judgment? Is there really forgiveness? Is there really mercy? You can imagine a poor Ninevite hearing just those words, forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown. The perplexity that would naturally grip the heart of many. Is there any mercy? Is there any forgiveness? Is there any mercy? Is there any mercy? Is there any mercy? Is there any mercy? Is there any mercy? Is there any mercy? Is there any implied offer of mercy? Is there any reprieve? Is there any hope? In spite of so little light, they repented. Those of you sitting in this place have heard many of you again

23:39 and again and again and again. It seems without number that there is mercy. Mercy grounded in that awesome scene of Calvary. That awesome, that frightening.

23:56 Transaction in which he who knew no sin was made sin for us. And the anger of God against sin has not been pronounced in the vaguer language of Jonah's message, but in the clear language of Galatians chapter 3. He hath made him to be a curse for us. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse.

Jesus is Greater in the Fulfillment of His Commission

24:26 For us. And in his capacity as a prophet, the greater than Jonah is here. And our responsibility is thereby greatly heightened. But then in the third place, behold the greater than Jonah, not only greater in the dignity of his person, greater in the capacity of his office, but greater in the fulfillment of his commission.

24:54 Jonah is marked from the very opening words of the Prophecy by disobedient feet, a reluctant heart, and constricted desires. From the very opening words when he receives his commission. Arise, go to Nineveh. The Holy Ghost says, But Jonah arose to flee from the presence of the Lord and went down to Tyre and Goliath.see The Holy Ghost is marked. It is in the clear Tarshish. Went down to Joppa to take a ship to Tarshish. Disobedient feet and then a reluctant heart when he preaches and men see a little ray of hope and they cry to God, who knoweth whether the Lord will show mercy. He sits outside the city and pouts in his carnal petulance.

25:50 There is Jonah. Disobedient feet, reluctant heart, constricted desire. As with so many of the prophets who are men and sinful men, the Holy Ghost does not gloss over the sin and the failure, but he allows them to stand before us, warts and all. But oh, how different when we turn to the pages of the gospel record. Behold, the greater than Jonah is here. And the water is water. And the water is water. And the water is water. And the water is water. And the water is water. And the water is water. And the water is water. And the water is The one who speaks the message of mercy, the one who himself by his own life and death will form the just grounds of a free pardon to believing sinners. We behold, his life is simply an extended commentary upon the words quoted from Psalm 40 as we read them in Hebrews 10. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body thou didst prepare for me. In whole burnt offerings and sacrifice for sin thou hast no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I am come in the role of the book it is written of me

27:05 to do thy will, O God. And it was the Lord Jesus who could say, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. And if that will demands that he who spoke worlds into being out of the womb of nothing, that the one who is both the creator and upholder of the universe, Hebrews 1 and verse 3, who upholds all things by the word of his power, if it means his being humbled to the confines of the dark dampness of a virgin's womb for nine months, he embraces the word of his power and the will of the Father. If it means his humiliating birth amidst the stench of brute beasts, he delights to do the Father's will. If it means the humble upbringing in a peasant home, he delights to do the Father's will. If it means a homeless existence as an itinerant teacher and preacher, so that he has to say the foxes have holes and the birds have nests, but the Son of Man.

28:23 That not where to lay his head, there is no complaint, there is no resistance, there is the most wholehearted compliance with the will of his Father. And when that will brings him into the horrible, horrible realization of that awful cup, and he enters Gethsemane and the Father holds, as it were, the cup before him and says, My son, this is the cup you must drink to effect the redemption of your people. Though there is the agony, though there is the struggle, there is that cry, Not my will but thine be done. And though that will led to the agony, the cry of dereliction, the abandonment of the cross, the shrouded heavens, the angry frown of the Father who in his person found him to be his great delight. The key to the promise of the I am incarnate is that we mustäg for the love we have of his Father by setting ourselves free. But in his infirmity, we must large bubbles and make plans before our mercy is lost.

29:24 The angu Johns told me things that I should make or hope that I should not hope for, and that's all that I must do. Once the query with the I am incarnate, many understand that like God wants me not to do all his tongue, I cannot do all that I am incarnate, even my deity would not do. position as the bearer of the sins of his people pours his wrath upon him. Oh, how much we see the greater than Jonah. Jonah commissioned, reluctant in his feet, reluctant in his heart, constrained and constricted in his desire to see mercy. But the greater than Jonah comes and finds his meat and his drink in performance of the Father's will. My dear friend, you see why Jesus said the men of Nineveh shall rise up and condemn this generation. To have received a message from a reluctant prophet with a narrow heart, yet the Ninevites repented.

30:16 And yet you've received the message of one who did not come with a narrow heart, with reluctant feet, but who did not come with a narrow heart. And yet you've received the message of one who did not come with a narrow heart, with reluctant feet, but who did not as it were ran to perform his Father's bidding. Though in the pursuit of the Father's will it meant everything from the humiliation of the confines of a virgin's womb, to the agony in the shrouded heavens of Golgotha, to the blood and the shame and the terrors of the cross. And mercy is proclaimed, not reluctantly, not with a constricted heart, but freely.

30:55 Unfettered, unqualified mercy. And the Savior says, come. And they're heavy laden. I will give you rest. You see, a message of pardon is extended from the one who wept over Jerusalem, who pleaded with sinners, who prays for his enemies while hanging on a cross, and whose crowning act of mercy was to stand on the cross. I will snatch a sinner from the flames of hell in the last moments of his life upon earth and say today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. Behold, a greater than Jonah is here. And my friend, what happened in Nineveh impinges upon your conscience tonight, and it's going to meet you in the day of judgment. They repented at the preaching of a prophet

32:00 with slow feet and with a narrow heart. And yet you have not come with a narrow heart. You have not repented at the preaching of one whose heart is large, whose feet are swift,

Jesus is Greater in the Authority of His Call

32:16 and whose overtures of mercy are earnest and sincere. But again, a greater than Jonah is here, not only greater in the dignity of his person, the capacity of his office, not only greater in the fulfillment of his commission, but Jesus is greater in the authority of his call. Greater in the authority of his call. You remember, those of you who were here for the expositions, that we sought to underscore that when Jonah called Nineveh to repentance, he did so on the grounds of the rights of an offended Jehovah. He came to the Ninevites and said in that message, yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown, he was telling them that their deeds were known by the moral governor. And that those deeds either brought pleasure or displeasure, and that that displeasure would be shown in judgment. And so Jonah came to Nineveh and sought to bring to bear upon the conscience of the Ninevites something of the rights of the offended Jehovah, who

33:37 was the God of Israel. And in that sense, his message bore the authority of God. But oh, a greater than Jonah is here. For whereas Jonah called Nineveh to repentance on the grounds of the rights of an offended Jehovah, Jesus Christ himself is that offended Jehovah. He is our maker, he is our sustainer, and he is our appointed judge. And he can say as Jonah could never say, he that is not with me is against me. Jonah called Nineveh to repentance on the grounds of the rights of an offended Jehovah, Jonah made no such message. Jonah could make no such claim. And when the call to repentance

34:29 and faith comes this side of the manifestation of the Son of God, the greater than Jonah, that call comes not only in the name and authority of God, but as the call of God himself. That's why Jesus laid claim to absolute and undivided. He laid claim to absolute and undivided religious affection, which would be the essence of idolatry if he were not God. He said, if any man come after me and hate not father, mother, brother, sister, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. That is, I must occupy the place of supreme, unrivaled religious affection in the heart of everyone who would be my disciple. Jonah made no such claims. Jesus is greater than Jonah in the authority of his calling, and I seriously question that it's dawned upon the hearts of many of you unconverted men and women and fellows and girls that when a fellow mortal stands in the name of Christ and preaches the gospel of Christ as given in this word, it is Christ himself in all the authority of his Godhood

35:51 that has claims over you. You remember what he said to his father, and he said to his father, and he said to his disciples when he sent them forth in Luke 24. It is recorded in that passage beginning with verse 45, he opened their minds that they might understand the scriptures and said unto them, perhaps you'll want to look at the passage, that it was necessary that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all the nations. That is, in his authority, against the backdrop of the revelation of the glory of his own person, and the majesty of all that he is as the incarnate God. Oh my unsaved friend, has it dawned upon you that your eternal destiny is in the hands of the Son of God? Jonah could preach forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown, but he had no power to perform the overthrowing. That was the prerogative of God.

37:06 But when Jesus Christ says, Come, it is the same Christ who will say in his position as judge, Depart from me, ye cursed. I never knew you.

Jesus is Greater in the Experience of Judgment by Which He Enforces His Call

37:22 The greater than Jonah is here. But then further, Jesus is greater in the experience of judgment by which he enforces his call. By what does the Lord Jesus enforce his call to repentance and faith?

37:48 At this point, I want to read from Hugh Martin, because he has expressed this so eloquently, so powerfully, that I would not want you to be robbed of his richness of expression. He says concerning this point,

38:04 that when Jonah came to preach to Nineveh, it is obvious from the statement in our text earlier on, Jonah was assigned to the Ninevites, indicating that he must have recounted his amazing deliverance from the belly of the fish, by which he was now a messenger of God to them. And so, picking up that train of thought, Hugh Martin says, While in his Godhead he is equal with the Father, and therefore supreme in authority, he is, as man, greater than Jonah, in that he has an experience of his own with which to enforce his message greater unspeakably than Jonah had. As Jonah was three days and nights in the whale's belly, so was the Son of Man three days and nights in the heart of the earth. Beyond question, Jonah informed the Ninevites of his own terrible experience of the anger of God. Do you remember when the angry waves, became, as it were, his tomb?

39:11 In that experience, in that altogether matchless history, Jonah was assigned to the Ninevites. He could enforce the certainty of judgment on transgression by quoting the things that had happened to himself. And the greatness of that calamity and the manifest evidence of the immediate hand of God in it could not fail to strike terror into the hearts of the men of Nineveh and convince them that, the message of such a God would be executed relentlessly and to the full. You see the point he's making.

39:44 When Jonah says, I was disobedient, and the God-King of Israel, as a stroke of judgment upon my disobedience, had me cast into the angry waves, they would learn from that that God is a God who will not wink at sin, and Jonah can enforce his message of impending judgment by his own experience of that judgment. But now, Hugh Martin goes on to say, but behold, a greater than Jonah is here. Jesus was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Jonah died and rose again in a figure, a metaphor, a figure carrying in it a terrible reality, but stopping short of actual death.

40:29 Jesus died and rose again. He suffered the just for the unjust. In the room of transgressors he stood, in the name and as bearing, the persons of transgressors. He was judged, condemned, avenged upon in all the completeness and terrors of the wages of sin which is death, the wrath and curse of the Lord God Almighty.

40:54 The arrows of Jehovah pierced Him. The curse of the eternal rulers' broken law descended upon Him. He tasted the bitterness, yea, the sting of death, his soul was exceeding sorrowful, He poured out his soul unto death. He knew the power of God's wrath to the uttermost.

41:14 And if the experience of Jonah was a sign and an enforcement joined with his message, oh, with what overwhelming urgency may Jesus refer to his experience. My listener, when Jesus counsels you to repent and flee from the wrath to come, the exhortation comes from one, if we may reverently use, as we may with intense truth use the saying, it comes from one who knows whereof he speaks. He knew that wrath. The tears he sheds over lost souls are prompted in part by his own knowledge of the wrath whereunto they are plunging themselves.

41:58 The melting calls, turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die? Oh, they come from one who knows what that cursed death is.

42:11 It comes from one who tasted that death. Of all the terrors and agonies, saving that alone of a self-accusing conscience, Jesus had of all beings in the universe the deepest and most dread experience of the wrath of God. Then he goes on to say it's because of that that he speaks so often. And of the terrors of the damned, he speaks so often of coming judgment.

42:41 For in his own soul he tasted, he experienced, he knew that wrath. Oh, if Jonah could enforce the validity of his message. Ninevites, hear this message. The wrath of an offended God will fall.

42:58 Then he says, I know whereof I speak. His billows went over me in the deep. I was swallowed up, as it were, in this kind of death. The Son of God stands and says, Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

43:16 I know that wrath. I have seen my father's furrowed brow. I have felt my father's pointed arrows. I have sensed the billows of his wrath.

43:30 Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die? Oh, my unconverted friend, a greater than Jonah is here.

Jesus is Greater in Power to Grant Repentance

43:42 And then finally, in this comparison, Jesus is greater in power than Jonah. You remember the record says that all Jonah could do was make an announcement of judgment. All he could do was denounce the sin that provoked the judgment. But if some Ninevite were to have come to Jonah, and said, Jonah, O man of God, I believe your message.

44:12 I believe it is true. But my love of sin is such, and my bondage to sin is such. Oh, can you do something for me, Jonah, to break the chains? Can you do something to give me a heart that will break off with sin and love righteousness and obey the law of the Almighty?

44:34 Jonah would have to shake his head and say, My friend, I have no such power. All I can tell you is forty days, and you'll be overthrown unless you repent. Ah, but Jonah, that we believe. But where, where does one with a hard heart, where does one bound with chains find power to repent?

45:03 Jonah had no such power. But behold, a greater than Jonah is here. And we have that precious word, in Acts chapter 5 and verse 31, Him has God exalted with His right hand, a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance and remission of sin. Oh, the wonder of the grace that is to be found in the greater than Jonah.

45:35 Jonah can announce judgment. Jonah can expound the grounds of judgment in the affliction of sin. The offended deity and the broken law. But Jonah has no power to grant repentance.

45:49 Jonah has no power to break the chains that bind sinners to their sin. Thank God the greater than Jonah is here. And Christ is exalted to the right hand of the Father to grant repentance so that as the message comes to you tonight saying, turn from your sins, you too have a right hand. You too have offended the God who has made you.

46:14 You too have provoked His wrath. And His judgment is coming as sure as the tides come and break upon the shore. You say, Pastor Martin, where can I find strength to change the patterns that have been as much a part of me as the hair upon my head, the disposition with which I was born? My friend, there's one who has power to grant it.

46:40 Go to Him. Go to Him upon a throne of mercy. Come before Him like that poor blind beggar hearing that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. He cries out, Son of David, have mercy upon me.

46:59 And thinking that the Lord is too busy for such people, they attempt to shush Him and to be done with Him. But the Scripture says He cried the louder, saying, Son of David, have mercy upon me. And the Scripture says, And Jesus stood still and said, What wilt thou that I should do unto you? Did He say that to mock Him?

47:30 Did He say that to tantalize Him? No, my friend. He said that that the man might articulate his need and that the Lord Jesus might meet it. What wilt thou that I should do unto you?

Conclusion: What Will You Do With the Greater Than Jonah?

47:45 And if you say to Him, Lord Jesus, that my chains of sin would be broken, that this paralyzed spirit of mine that sees the reality of judgment but cannot believe that mercy is for me, Lord, somehow break that paralysis and give me to know that mercy is even for the likes of me as you have promised. Come before Him, pleading nothing but your own wretchedness, your own undone-ness. A greater than Jonah is here, greater in the dignity of his person, greater in the capacity of his office, greater in the fulfillment of his commission, greater in the authority by which he calls, greater in his experience of judgment by which he enforces, greater in the authority by which he calls, greater in his power. Now, my friend, all of that truth impinges upon you right now. And listen to me, it's going to meet you in the day of judgment. And you will either rise up with the men of Nineveh in condemnation upon others, sharing with the Son of Man in the work of judgment as is clearly taught in 1 Corinthians

49:12 and is inferentially taught in many other passages. You will rise up with the men of Nineveh and stand in judgment upon others who in the face of the message of the greater than Jonah have gone on in their impenitence. And the men of Nineveh shall rise up and with the Lord Jesus and all His redeemed ones shall join in consigning you to the pit. They repented at the preaching of Jonas, a greater than Jonas.

49:51 And my friend, He is here in the preaching of His word, in the assembly of His saints. He is here in the plenitude of His grace, in the plenitude of His mercy, in the unrestricted offers of grace and pardon to all who will believe Him. It's fascinating to study the book of Jonah It's thrilling to read of that city-wide repentance But my friend, if it yet leaves you wedded to your sins and to your unbelief, all it has done is increase the measure of your judgment. Behold, a greater than Jonah is here. What will you do with him? Will you accuse him of insincerity in the offers of His mercy?

50:53 You say, Pastor, I wouldn't do that. I believe Christ means what He says. When He says, Come, I will give you rest, then, my friend, why don't you come? Well, I feel unworthy.

51:07 Yes, yes, that's the point. He calls the unworthy. But I don't feel enough conviction, my friend. If you know that there's no hope in yourself, that's all the conviction you need.

51:24 If you're convinced that your hope must be in another, that's all the conviction you need. Let not conscience make you linger, nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness He requireth is to feel your need of Him. Lo, the incarnate God ascended, pleads the merits of His blood.

51:50 Venture on Him. Venture wholly. Let no other trust intrude. None but Jesus, none but Jesus can do helpless sinners good.

52:03 I'm reluctant to close the service tonight. And you know why? Because in my heart of hearts I'm so afraid that some of you who've sat here tonight and sensed something of the overtures of God's mercy and grace in the greater than Jonah will leave this building and the impressions will dissipate and by Tuesday morning your world will be that same old world of work and of sports and of the cares of this life and it will choke out the word. Oh, my dear young people, children, men, women, behold the greater than Jonah and embrace him. And child of God, surely though the entire thrust of the message has been to the conscience of the unconverted, if your heart has not run out in admiration of your Savior, if you've not found your love deepened and your desire to please him intensified, I don't know where you've been. For we cannot contemplate the greatness and the glory of our blessed Lord without having our hearts warmed with desire to love him

53:28 and to serve him as we never have before. Well, we're going to leave our friend Jonah. We're going to leave the Ninevites. But we're going to meet the Lord.

53:39 But we're going to meet them again at the last day. May God grant that we'll stand with them and not opposite them. May God grant that the greater than Jonah will be ours and we his. Let us pray.

54:17 Our Father, how we thank you that we have been privileged to live this side of the revelation of the greater than Jonah. Oh, how we bless you that life and immortality have been brought to light through the gospel. That though you spoke in bits and pieces in various ways in times past through the prophets, you have in these last days spoken unto us in the Son. And we thank you for the full display of your heart in the person and work of your Son.

54:59 How we thank you that we need have no question as the Ninevites could justly have. Is there any mercy intermingled with the pronouncement of judgment? We thank you that we need have no such questions. We thank you that grace and truth and mercy and pardon as it were pour forth from the lips and from the wounds of our Savior.

55:25 Oh, may none seated in this building despise those offers of mercy. Throw around the heart of proud, impenitent sinners. Oh, God, throw around such hearts those bands of conquering love and bring them to the feet of Jesus. Oh, God, seal your word and may that great day reveal that it was not preached in vain.

55:57 Oh, God, for Jesus' sake bring, Son, this night to embrace the greater than Jonah who has come and will come again in clouds and power and in great glory. For those of us who know him help us to have a greater love to him, a greater appreciation of his glory, a greater zeal to proclaim his name and his salvation to our generation. Hear our prayer. Receive our thanks for your presence with us.

56:37 May the benediction of your own blessed presence rest with us and abide upon us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.