The Beautiful Feet That Preach The Gospel

King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34

Date: Sunday, July 07, 2019
Chapters: The Book of Jonah
Message: The Beautiful Feet That Preach The Gospel

Hello My Friend,

Did you ever just have words going around in your head, but they just do not know how to come out? That was me today, I knew exactly what God wanted me to talk about, but the words just would not come out. So, there are a lot of people who are going to be in church today, millions in fact, and all over the world. Many may even speak of Jesus, how much He loves them, and everyone knows what the most famous verse in the Bible is, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” – John 3:16. The saddest part, all of them are destined for hell because it is not enough to believe that Jesus came here to save them, they must also receive Him as their Saviour, and unless they are taught this then they will not be saved. The greatest example there ever is in the Bible to show us that we who are saved need to be preaching the Gospel to everyone God lays upon our heart, is Jonah. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” – Romans 10:13-15.

The book of Jonah contains four chapters, the author of the book is Jonah and it was written to the nation of Nineveh. The timeline for these events took place approximately between 825BC to 790BC. The purpose of the book was to get Nineveh to acknowledge God, repent, and turn to Him for their salvation. What we are to learn from the book is that God does not put a restriction on salvation, it is for all who call upon the name of the Lord. Jonah spent most of his days in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, prophesying after Elisha died. God told him to go to Nineveh to warn them of the judgment placed on them, but Jonah, like many Jews, believed that salvation was only for the Jews, and therefore, refused to go. He found a ship headed in the opposite direction, boarded it, found a cozy spot to lay in, and fell asleep, all the while a hurricane forms right before them. The men feared for their lives, crying out to their gods, to no avail, and then realized Jonah was sound asleep during all this.

“Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not. And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee. So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows. Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” – Jonah 1:5-6,12,14-17.

“Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly,” Talk about a wake up call, these men went from praying to every god they could think of to unanimously praying to the Almighty. They knew that He is not only God, but LORD. Do not let it fool you to believe that the world does not know who God is, they may reject, and some may even say He does not exist, but given the right circumstance they will admit that there is only one Almighty God. Now, as Jonah sat in the belly of that fish for three days and three nights, he realizes that he was not getting out of there unless he agreed to do what he was supposed to do and finally calls out to God. “Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly, And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD. And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.” – Jonah 2:1-2,7-10.

“out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.” When the Pharisees and Sadducee’s asked Jesus for a sign to prove that He was of God He told them the only sign they will receive would be of Jonah being in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, (Matthew 12:38-41). So, there are many today who make the assumption that Jesus was in hell for three days because of what Jonah said here. This is incorrect, Jesus was in paradise for three days, (Luke 23:32-43). What Jonah was referring to here is the same thing we all need to realize, we are in hell without the LORD, but when we call upon Him He hears us and we are saved from hell. “Salvation is of the LORD. And the LORD spake unto the fish,” Think about this, Christ is our salvation, without Him our destination is hell, the second we receive Him as our Saviour, God speaks, and the devil has to spit us out, he can no longer mess with our soul or take it to hell with him. “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” – Matthew 10:28.

“And fear not them which kill the body,” It is not man we need to fear, it is Satan, and he will do anything to take as many of the souls God created down to hell with him. Why? Because God cast him out of heaven for trying to overthrow Him. Salvation is not for who we think it should be, it is for all, as long as there is breath in that soul that soul has a chance for salvation, which is why God sends us out into the world to preach the Gospel. Again, God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh, he obeys, and what would normally be a three day trip only took one day.

“And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.” – Jonah 3:1-6,9-10.

“And God saw their works,” This is where works count, once saved, always saved, but once we get saved we are born again, new creatures filled with the Spirit of God in them. God warns us of the judgment we are about to face so that we can have an opportunity to be saved from our sins, and turn from them so we do not face those judgments. Salvation may be by the grace of God through our faith in Christ alone, but it does not exempt us from God’s earthly judgments, unless we turn away from all sin. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” – Romans 6:1-4.

Jonah could not get over the fact that God would save a heathen nation, could not understand why God spared them when they would just go back to their wicked ways. He just knew that they would forsake God and turn back to their wicked ways, and he wanted to catch them, kind of like an, “I told you so.” to God. So, he camped himself up and watched over them. “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry? So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?” – Jonah 4:1-5,11.

“that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand;” You see, they do not know that what they are doing is wring because of the way they were taught. God did not want them to end up in hell, He wants to save all, but unless we tell them they will know not the way. We cannot pick and choose who we tell the Gospel to, it is to be told on whomever God tells us. It saddens me to say this, but I have family in hell right now because they never received Christ as their Saviour, they never even got that chance. Likewise, there are probably some people I do not care for that is in heaven right now. Do I know that everyone I tell the Gospel to and say they believe is saved? No. But God does, and that is between them and Him. We who are saved are commanded by Jesus to tell the Gospel to everyone He lays upon our heart, no matter who they are, and He will get us to do it one way or another. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” – Matthew 28:19-20.

Jesus Christ Magnified: “Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” – Jonah 1:17.

Today’s Prayer: God, You have blessed us with so much, You have given life to all who believe in and receive Your Son as their Saviour. We are saved only by trusting in His death, burial, and resurrection, and He not only saves us from hell, He even brings us out of every mess that we have gotten ourselves when we choose to walk with Him. How merciful You are, and how wonderful You are to save a sinner like me. Thank You, Jesus, and thank You God for giving me the opportunity to repent of my vain works and enjoy a new found, abundant, never boring, life with You in it. Lord, Lead me and guide me, let me not run from anyone You lay upon my heart to tell them about Jesus, let me boldly speak and proclaim You as my Saviour and how they can be saved too. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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