I LOVE JESUS But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, Salvation comes from the LORD. Jonah 2:9 N.I.V. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is the work of God. It is he alone who quickens the soul dead in trespasses and sins, and it is he also who maintains the soul in its spiritual life. He is both Alpha and Omega. Salvation is of the Lord. If I am prayerful, God makes me prayerful; if I have graces, they are Gods gifts to me; if I hold on in a consistent life, it is because he upholds me with his hand. I do nothing whatever towards my own preservation, except what God himself first does in me. Whatever I have, all my goodness is of the Lord alone. Wherein I sin, that is my own; but wherein I act rightly, that is of God, wholly and completely. If I have repulsed a spiritual enemy, the Lords strength nerved my arm. Do I live before men a consecrated life? It is not I, but Christ who liveth in me. Am I sanctified? I did not cleanse myself: Gods Holy Spirit sanctifies me. Am I weaned from the world? I am weaned by Gods chastisements sanctified to my good. Do I grow in knowledge? The great Instructor Christ teaches me. All my jewels were fashioned by heavenly art. I find in God all that I want; but I find in myself nothing but sin and misery. He only is my rock and my salvation. Do I feed on the Word? That Word would be no food for me Unless the Lord made it food for my soul, and helped me to feed upon it. Do I live on the manna which comes down from heaven? What is that manna but Jesus Christ himself incarnate, whose body and whose blood I eat and drink? Am I continually receiving fresh increase of strength? Where do I gather my might? My help cometh from heavens hills: without Jesus I can do nothing. As a branch cannot bring forth fruit Except it abide in the vine, No more can I, except I abide in him. What Jonah learned in the great deep, let me learn this morning in my closet: Salvation is of the Lord. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving,.... Not only offer up a legal sacrifice in a ceremonial way, when he came to Jerusalem; but along with it the spiritual sacrifice of praise, which he knew was more acceptable unto God; and thus Christ, his antitype, upon his deliverance from his enemies, Psalm 22:22; I will pay that I vowed; when he was in distress; as that he would sacrifice after the above manner, or behave in a better manner for the future than he had done; and particularly would go to Nineveh, if the Lord thought fit to send him again: salvation is of the Lord; this was the ground of the faith and hope of Jonah when at the worst, and the matter of his present praise find thanksgiving. There is one letter more in the word rendered salvation than usual, which increases the sense; and denotes, that all kind of salvation is of the Lord, temporal, spiritual, and eternal; not only this salvation from the devouring waves of the sea, and from the grave of the fishs belly, was of the Lord; but his deliverance from the terrors of the Lord, and the sense he had of his wrath, and the peace and pardon he now partook of, were from the Lord, as well as eternal salvation in the world to come, and the hope of it. All temporal salvations and deliverances are from the Lord, and to him the glory of them belongs; and his name should be praised on account of them; which Jonah resolved to do for himself: and so is spiritual and eternal salvation; it is of GOD the Father, as to the original spring and motive of it, which is his grace, and not mens works, and is owing to his wisdom, and not mens, for the plan and form of it; it is of GOD the Son, as to the impetration of it, who only has wrought it out; and it is of GOD the Spirit, as to the application of it to particular persons; and therefore the glory of it belongs to all the three Persons, and should be given them. This is the epiphonema or conclusion of the prayer or thanksgiving; which shows that it was, as before observed, put into this form or order, after the salvation was wrought; though that is related afterwards, as it is proper it should, and as the order of the narration required. Observe when Jonah prayed. When he was in trouble, under the tokens of Gods displeasure against him for sin: when we are in affliction we must pray. Being kept alive by miracle, he prayed. A sense of Gods good-will to us, notwithstanding our offences, opens the lips in prayer, which were closed with the dread of wrath. Also, where he prayed; in the belly of the fish. No place is amiss for prayer. Men may shut us from communion with one another, but not from communion with God. To whom he prayed; to the Lord his God. This encourages even backsliders to return. What his prayer was. This seems to relate his experience and reflections, then and afterwards, rather than to be the form or substance of his prayer. Jonah reflects on the earnestness of his prayer, and Gods readiness to hear and answer. If we would get good by our troubles, we must notice the hand of God in them. He had wickedly fled from the presence of the Lord, who might justly take his Holy Spirit from him, never to visit him more. Those only are miserable, whom God will no longer own and favour. But though he was perplexed, yet not in despair. Jonah reflects on the favour of God to him, when he sought to God, and trusted in him in his distress. He warns others, and tells them to keep close to God. Those who forsake their own duty, forsake their own mercy; those who run away from the work of their place and day, run away from the comfort of it. As far as a believer copies those who observe lying vanities, he forsakes his own mercy, and lives below his privileges. But Jonahs experience encourages others, in all ages, to trust in God, as the God of salvation. Hallelujah!! In JESUS Name AMEN Jonahs Prayer … 8 Those who regard vain idols Forsake their faithfulness, 9 But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the LORD. 10 Then the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land. Cross References Job 22:27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows. Psalm 3:8 From the LORD comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people. Psalm 27:1 Of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life-- of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 50:14 Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, Psalm 50:23 Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me, and to the blameless I will show my salvation. Psalm 95:2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. Ecclesiastes 5:4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. Ecclesiastes 5:5 It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it. Isaiah 45:17 But Israel will be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation; you will never be put to shame or disgraced, to ages everlasting. Jeremiah 33:11 the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of those who bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD, saying, Give thanks to the LORD Almighty, for the LORD is good; his love endures forever. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were before, says the LORD. Hosea 14:2 Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips. May the Heavenly Father bless this message through His SON JESUS, Now and FOREVERMORE Amen and Amen
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 08:59:23 +0000