Jonah knew God was in control of the situation. When Jonah is inside the fish, he thinks about what happened and he says “God did this! God sent the storm. You hurled me into the deep… Your waves swept over me” (Jonah Ch2 v3). Jonah could have said “The ship’s crew threw me into the deep,” but he’s coming to a distinctly Christian view of life. Behind the human events, Jonah sees the hand of God. Jonah knew that behind the crew and beyond the storm, God was at work in his life, exposing his guilt and confronting his rebellion. He sees his own sin clearly and he knows that he is under the judgment of God.
But, God saves guilty sinners. God saves us, when we come to the place of acknowledging, owning, embracing our own guilt before Him. Owning our sinfulness means getting beyond this idea that so many people have that we deserve something better from God. Owning your own sinfulness is the first part of believing the gospel: “I am a sinner, a rebel by nature and by practice, and what I deserve from God is eternity in hell.” If you don’t honestly believe that about yourself, you do not yet believe the Gospel.
“You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity” (Jonah 4:2).
Here is an amazing thing: God was for Jonah even when He was against him! God is for you even when He is against you. It was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us. God justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5). God makes guilty sinners right with Him through the Cross where the Son of God gave Himself for you. No one’s sin is bigger than God’s saving grace!
God takes Jonah down to the bottom of the ocean. He hits rock bottom. He has no way out. He is absolutely hopeless, and then God sends the fish:
“To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God.” (v6)
God saves people who cannot save themselves. If you could save yourself, why would Jesus have come into the world and why would He die on the cross? God sent the fish because Jonah couldn’t save himself. One evidence of true faith is that you know that, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, you would be completely, utterly and hopelessly lost. God saves desperate sinners. That’s the hope of the Gospel.
Salvation from sin involves both faith and repentance. Salvation, if you are really saved, involves a complete change in the direction of your life. You can’t hold idols and receive grace. Turning to God means turning away from whatever had His place in your life before. You are a new creation in Christ, created for good works (Ephesians 2:10).
Repentance has two sides: We turn from idols. We turn to the Lord. “But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord” (v9). You would think Jonah would say “Lord, get me out of this place!” But he doesn’t say that. Instead the highest praise comes from this darkest place… the belly of the fish. Jonah worships in the belly of the fish because however uncomfortable his experience is at that time, he knows that God is saving him. And that’s all he needs to know.
Four life-changing steps:
1. Own your own sinfulness.
2. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Trust Christ, whatever happens in your life.
4. Commit yourself to a new life of obedience to Jesus Christ as your Savior, Lord and Master today.
Christ saves guilty, believing, desperate, repentant sinners. If you are taking these steps today, He is saving you!
