Always be ready to give a reason
for the answer, the hope that lies within you. I guess that
doesn't have to do with singing, but I told Denise to get ready,
but she's actually ready. I should have pushed her a little
bit. Thank you, John, for allowing
me to preach the gospel. Thank you, Kevin and Clay, for
those sermons. I benefit every time I hear the
Word of God. It says in 1 Corinthians, if
you want to just turn to a couple of scriptures by way of introduction, if you want to, while you're
hunting for that scripture, also you might want to try finding
the book of Jonah in your Bible. It's in the Old Testament, I'll
let you search for it. But in 1 Corinthians chapter
chapter 1, to underscore what Kevin and Clay have been emphasizing. It says in verse 17, the Apostle
Paul, for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the
gospel. Kevin opened last night saying
he was going to preach the gospel fully, the full gospel from Romans
15, which he did. And that's what Paul was sent
to do, to preach the gospel. And someone might ask, what is
that gospel? He said here in verse 18, For
the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,
but to us which are saved it is the power of God. And then
he goes on in verse 21, for after that in the wisdom of God, the
world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. The apostle Paul was
not a foolish man. He was a lot smarter than I am.
The best sermon that the best man can preach according to God's
Word is the foolishness of preaching. And we need to understand that
because God uses those who are in themselves entirely inadequate,
insufficient. Who is sufficient for these things?
Not any man. And so in 1 Peter 1.12 it says,
when the Spirit of God was in the prophets in old times, it
was with the Holy Spirit sent down. The gospel, according to
Jesus, are the words of life, the words that I speak unto your
spirit, and they are life. Not by my power, but by my Spirit,
saith the Lord. So the best preaching of the
best of men is categorized here, classified as the foolishness
of preaching, because it comes from a man. But it pleases God
to use those things which to us are nothing, That way He gets
all the glory in our salvation. Now, it was my goal at first
to preach the entire book of Jonah. I'm not going to try to
do that. But if you want to turn to Jonah, it comes before the
book of Micah, after the book of Obadiah, which is after Amos
and so on. If you get to Daniel, just keep
going to the right and you'll get there. is a book, is an account of scripture
that I don't think anyone would be hard-pressed to find someone
in the world that didn't know anything about Jonah. In fact,
in movies you've seen, they look for the person who is to blame
for all their troubles. It must be some Jonah. That's
why we're sinking, or why the storm is upon us. And then if
you think about what happens in this book, which I don't have
time to read to you, what it opens up as is that the word
of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, and told him
to go to Nineveh and preach against that great city, cry against
it, for their wickedness has come up before me, before God's
face. Their wickedness was in God's
face, literally, is what it means. And so God sent Jonah to preach. And then the rest of the book,
it seems like, is about God chastising Jonah. And so you might hear
a sermon on this that would be like this. What God's going to
do to you if you don't do what he says. Right? It's all about
God getting after this man who refused to do what he told him
to do. But that's a very short-sighted and unscriptural, really, interpretation
of this entire book. But that's what happens when
we read the Bible at first. You just take what you see and
you think, well, that's what it's about. Because, again, it
was written with a deeper purpose. The account of Jonah is an historical
account. It actually happened. And there
were real people in it. Jonah was a real man. And there
were real events. There was a real fish. It really
swallowed him. And he was really in that fish
three days and three nights and spit up on the land. And he really
preached to a people in Nineveh, a huge city. These things all
happened. Even the gourd that grew up.
And the worm that ate the gourd. And the sun that beat on his
head. All of it was actually history. But just like the Old Testament
is written in this way, in the fullness of time, it pleased
God to reveal His eternal purpose in Christ in this account. So that the account here, this
historical account, and the people, and the things, and the words,
even the words spoken, are really a message in a much larger picture. Something outside of the account
that's larger and greater. And so, Jesus is the one whose
word explains this. In Matthew, I'll read this to
you. These Sadducees and Pharisees
came to Jesus, these two religious groups that were opposed to each
other. They found a common enemy, the Lord Jesus Christ. Both Sadducees
and Pharisees were opposed to the gospel, opposed to Christ.
But they found an enemy in Him that they could create an unholy
alliance. So these two said, the enemy
of my enemy is my friend, and they got together and they came
to Jesus. And they said to Jesus in verse 38 of Matthew 12, Then
certain of the scribes and the Pharisees answered, saying, Master,
we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said to them,
An evil and an adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. So it's
wrong. to seek another validation of
God's truth and of Christ's truthfulness and His words, it's evil. And it's adulterous. It's like
a woman unfaithful to her husband. These people who won't take Christ's
words are unfaithful to their God, the one they profess to
have as their God. They're an evil and an adulterous
generation. They seek after a sign. because
they don't trust Christ. But this is us, naturally. We
want something, something else. But he said, and there shall
no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonah. One
sign. Ever traveled down the road and
you see a sign, you see another one, and when it's really dangerous
they usually put up a whole bunch of them. Just one sign. This is it. There's no other
sign but this one. What is it then? Verse 40, For
as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly,
so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the
heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment
with this generation and shall condemn it, because they repented
at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, a greater than Jonah
is here. or greater than Jonah. That's
what this account of Jonah is about. Outside of the account
of history, and the people, and the words, and the men, and all
of it. The fish, the whole thing. The
boat, the ship. It's a story about the truth. God arranged it. Jonah is the
prophet. God's speaking through him. But
not just his words. the events of his life. Because
in Scripture, the way God uses a prophet is not by just what
he says. It's what happens to the prophet
that conveys the full message. And if you carry that forward
now to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the prophet, What does
that mean? It means the message of Christ
is not just in His words, although it is, it's in His life and in
His sufferings and in His substitutionary work as our Savior. All that happened to Him and
all that He did together with His words was the message God
has spoken in these last days in and by His Son. So Jonah is
this, and I want you to understand that. It's important that we
understand that Jonah was God's prophet. Therefore, God is going
to convey His message through Jonah. Jonah doesn't want to
comply. In fact, look at chapter 4 of
Jonah. The message came to Nineveh,
the people repented, God withheld the wrath He promised to bring,
and in chapter 4 verse 1 it says, but it displeased Jonah exceedingly. He's not just a little upset. He was red hot mad, he says,
and he was very angry. At who? At God. And he prayed
unto the Lord, and he said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my
saying? You've got to get the irony of
what he's doing here. Wait a minute, Jonah, you're
telling me that you, based on what you know about God, knew
what God was going to do, like a prophet. You're just telling
things because you know them. How did you come to that knowledge?
Do you think God knows a little more? About you? You see? So he says, 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. Did God know Jonah? Did He know
that He was going to give Him a message? And that the message
itself would not be so much by His words, although it was, but
it would primarily be what God did to Him in all the events
of His life. So that in Psalm 139, it says
this, Whither shall I go from thy spirit,
or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up
into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold,
thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall
thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say,
surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light
to thee. to me. So you see, Jonah was
this. God called him, God gave him
a message, but Jonah, though he knew God, and he knew what
God would do if he brought that message, because God is gracious
and merciful, great kindness, and turns himself from the evil
that he would bring on us that we deserve. Jonah knew that,
and yet God knew Jonah. And God used Jonah. In fact,
He's going to use him to be a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, our
Savior. Our Savior. And this is what's
wonderful here. Now, in the events of the account
here, understand that the things in the account have a correspondence
to greater things outside of it and the message. So let me
read here in chapter 1. The Lord said in verse 2, Arise,
go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their
wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee
unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to
Joppa, and he found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare
thereof, and he went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish
from the presence of the Lord. We think, well there, he's like
Romans 8, 7. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. He's going the opposite way.
It's true. He's playing out what's in his
old man, his sinful nature. But did you notice his name,
Jonah? You know what that word means?
It means a dove. And Brother Lee was reading from
Isaiah 11, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Remember? And
the Spirit of the Lord, all these things. What is the Spirit of
the Lord? He's the Spirit of grace, the
Spirit of life, the Spirit of light. He speaks of Christ, doesn't
He? That's His message. Behold the
Lamb of God. And Jesus Himself said it. Come
unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. He speaks of Himself as the one
gentle and meek and lowly and harmless and full of compassion,
because the Spirit of the Lord is upon Him. And so Jonah. But
in order for God to give us this message, In the predeterminate
counseling for knowledge of God, knowing Jonah, what he would
do, just like Jonah said, I know what the Lord's going to do.
God took Jonah and he's going to bring him Through the squirming,
wriggling prophet, he's going to bring him and make him a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ to show something bigger. The cause of
God in Christ. That's it. That's the title of
my message. Look at verse 4. But the Lord
sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest
in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the
mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his God. They
were idolaters. And cast forth the wares that
were in the ship into the sea. They tried everything they do
to escape perishing under the judgment of God. to lighten it
of them. But Jonah went down into the
sides of the ship and he lay and was fast asleep." Jonah is
absolutely unconscionable. It's like he has no sense of
his disobedience here. He's at rest in disobedience. Amazing! There's hope for us,
isn't there? This man was a prophet of the
Lord. Isn't there hope for us? If the Lord called him a dove
and yet he acted this way, How gracious it is that God would
describe us by the work of Christ and His Spirit in us. He's mine. And yet He's like this. He is
comfortable with idolaters. But He didn't want to go preach
to the Assyrians, the Gentiles in Nineveh, a huge city. But
a few mariners, He was okay with that. He's a dichotomy. He's like a bipolar. Two natures,
right? The old man and the new man constantly
warring, and yet God is bringing him along every step of the way
to set him up as a beautiful picture of Christ and the cause
of God in Christ. Look, so he was fast asleep in
the ship. Verse six, so the ship master,
the captain, came to him and said to him, what meanest thou,
O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if
so be that God will think on us, that we perish not. Obviously,
they were going to die. And so he tells them, look, we're
all calling on our gods, you better call on yours. Like the
men in Acts 17, they had an idol to everybody. Oh, and here's
one, we don't know who he is, we'll call him the unknown god.
That's the one I'm going to declare to you. That's what Jonah's going
to do right here. And they said, And they said,
everyone to his fellow, come and let us cast lots that we
may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. Casting lots
is gambling. Throw it out there. You can't
control the outcome. The outcome is controlled by
God. The lot is cast into the lap. But the outcome is the Lord. So they did that. They committed
the answer to the Lord. And God gave the answer. So they
cast lots and a lot fell on Jonah. Notice the mercy of God to these
men. These mariners. They were idolaters. And God
sent His prophet onto that ship. To these few men. Against Jonah's
will. But nevertheless, for their salvation. Verse 8. Then said they to him,
tell us we pray thee. And notice very carefully as
we go through these next verses. For whose cause this evil is
upon us. Now we all know, don't we? It
was because of Jonah. He was a disobedient prophet.
God is trying to grab this guy up by the scruff of the neck
and force him to do what he said. Isn't that it? No, that's not
it. That's not it. Understand, when
He said, they asked, for whose cause this evil has come upon
us, it's setting it up for God's answer. Just like the lot was
cast into the lap, the Spirit of God has to be His own interpreter. And so He says here, Tell us
for whose cause this evil is upon us. And they ask him these
questions. First of all, what's your business? What is thine
occupation? What kind of work do you do anyway?
And whence comest thou? Where are you from? What is your
country? Maybe that area is an especially
bad place. And of what people art thou?
You must be of the worst kind of people. Notice verse 9. And He gives them the witness,
the testimony, which is the same for every believer here. Notice.
He said to them, I am a Hebrew, an Israelite. What is that? That's the elect of God, isn't
it? I am the elect, I am His. That's what He's saying. Notice
what else. And I fear the Lord. God is sovereign. I am in His
hand and at His mercy to do with as it pleases Him. I can't influence
Him. I can't manipulate God. He will do what He does. I'm
at His mercy and I'm in His hand. My breath and my life are in
His hand. I fear God. Jesus said, don't fear him that
can kill the body and after that can do nothing else. I'll tell
you, I'll forewarn you whom you shall fear. Fear him who after
he has destroyed the body has power to cast both body and soul
into hell. Yeah, fear him. And so Jonah
says, I'm his, I fear him. He had a holy regard and awe
of God as sovereign. But notice, I fear the Lord,
the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.
Not just the dry land, but the sea. Here we are. You're praying
to your gods. We have a God to the ship and
the sea and the land and all these other gods. My God, the
God, is the Lord of all. The one who made the land and
the sea is the only one who can deliver us from the land or the
sea. So he goes on, verse 10. Then were the men exceedingly
afraid. In other words, the fear of God
struck them. By the power of the Spirit of
God, when Jonah spoke as his mouthpiece, God applied it, so
that they trembled, knowing, having heard of the true God,
that they were in the hand of the true and living God, who
had power over them to take their life, to raise them up, or to
put them down, to kill or to make alive, either one. They
were in His hand. And so, they feared the Lord
exceedingly. And they asked Him now, why hast thou done this? For the men knew that He fled
from the presence of the Lord, because He had told them. So,
I'm the Lord's, I fear the Lord, He's sovereign over all, the
Creator, and Maker, and Sustainer, and Sovereign of all, and I've
sinned against Him. That's what He's saying here.
Remember what he said in chapter 2, verse 9? Salvation is of the
Lord. That's the full testimony. I'm
the Lord's. I fear Him. He's the sovereign.
I've sinned, but salvation is of Him. But notice, he goes on
in verse 11. Then said they to him, what shall
we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm to us? So they understood
it was Jonah's fault somehow, or that it was the cause for
which God brought this storm they were about to perish in.
And so they asked him, now that they've heard from him the truth,
they go back to him to tell him the rest of the truth. What can
we do? How can we possibly be saved?
For the sea wrought and was impetuous." It's just frothy. Verse 12. And he said to them, notice these
words, take me up and cast me forth into the sea, so shall
the sea be calm to you. What is that? Is that not substitution? We understand that, don't we?
This is the great substitution. Jonah, by the Word of God, by
the inspiration of God as a prophet, is telling these idolatrous mariners,
these seamen, that he had taken up shipping with now and was
comfortable with them. He said, if you take me up and
cast me into the sea, then the sea will be calm to you. And
notice he says in verse 12, the last part of it, very carefully
what he says, For I know that for my sake this great tempest
is upon you. Now, if we just think about it
as Jonah sinning against God, and God bringing the consequences
of his sin on him, on the boat, and the mariners just happen
to be caught up in the whole tangled web of Jonah's disobedience,
that we might be completely satisfied with his answer. But that leaves
us with a problem, because Jonah, again, Jesus said, as he was
a sign So the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of Man. So we know that
there's a one-to-one correspondence between Jonah and the Lord Jesus
Christ. Hence, we have a big conundrum
here, at least a charley horse in our own minds. It's not a
problem with God. When he says, for I know that
for my sake, this tempest is upon you. How can we reconcile
that with the gospel? Isn't it because of my sin that
this tempest was upon me? And we have to think about that
for a while, don't we? It certainly is the wages of
sin is death. But there's something bigger.
And this is something that we need to understand about our
great God and Savior. That the events of our life,
our life itself, is in, what, a few years time. And all of
the events, mom and dad we were born to, and the children we
have, the woman we marry, where we live, and what we do as a
job, all those things. They're just a drama, as it were,
of a bigger purpose. And it was that bigger purpose
that Jonah was speaking of here when he says, I know that for
my sake this tempest is upon you. As the Lord Jesus Christ
entered into the ship with his disciples, and while he was on
the ship, the storm rose up, remember? And the disciples feared
for their life, and here he was sleeping in the boat. And they
had to wake him up. Lord, don't you care that we
perish? And what did he do? He spoke
to the wind and the waves. Shh! Be still. Now we understand that as his
great power, as God who could speak to the wind and the waves,
but something else deeper lay in the bottom of that command. He spoke peace to the raging
waves and the wind that threatened His disciples perishing in those
waves. You be quiet. Why did He do that? For whose cause was it come upon
them? If we put the Lord Jesus Christ
as the speaker in this sentence in Jonah chapter 2 verse 12,
it was for His cause. It was for the cause greater
than just the disciples. It was for Christ's cause. Remember? This is it. This is it. Now I
want you to consider some of these texts of scripture with
me in order to support this. And find in this the comfort
of our Savior and His eternal purpose and work in our salvation. He cannot fail. Heaven and earth is at His command
to save His people for His glory. That's what it's about. So He
says in Ephesians 5, 25, Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved
the church. And what? He gave Himself for
it. He gave Himself for the church. That was His purpose. For this
cause, this tempest is upon you. God turned the evil of Jonah's
disobedience into the salvation of the mariners. He didn't regard
their idolatry. They were sinners. They deserve
to die. But he doesn't speak about that.
He goes up another level and he says, for my sake, this great
tempest is upon you. Let me help with a couple of
scriptures. In Genesis chapter 44, if you
want to turn there, the account there is familiar, so I'll have
to, for time's sake, I'll have to condense it. But Jacob had
a son, Benjamin, the son of his wife, Rachel, the son of his
old age, and the one he loved since Joseph had been taken from
him by the sin of his other sons. And he thought that Joseph was
dead, torn to shreds, and so he had a special affinity for
Benjamin. The famine came, Joseph is the
governor over all the land of Egypt. And Joseph, as governor,
demands Benjamin to come to him. Jacob says, no, no, I'm not going
to send my youngest son. If something evil happens to
him, my gray hairs will come down. I will go to the grave
in sorrow. I couldn't bear it. His life
was so bound up in the life of his youngest son, Benjamin, the
son of his old age. And so the account unfolds. First of all, in Genesis 43,
if you look at it, In verse 8, I'll read it to you starting
at verse 7. And the sons of Jacob said to
him, this man asked us straightly of our state and of our kindred,
saying, is your father yet alive? Have you another brother? And
we told him according to the tenor of these words, could we
certainly know that he would say, bring your brother down?
Because God, in all of his character, even in his justice, is in eternal
pursuit to bring his sons from afar and unite them to himself
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And how is he going to do that?
Because the governor threatens to hold his son and keep him
from him. And so this is what happens.
Something else arises. Judah said to his father Israel,
Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may
live and not die, both we and thou, and also our little ones."
The whole family of Israel is bound up in the pledge that Judah
makes to his father here. Notice, in verse 9, I will be
surety for him. of My hand shalt thou require
Him. If I bring Him not to thee and
set Him before thee, then let Me bear the blame forever, no
forgiveness, no ever communing with My Father forever, never
enjoying the smile of My Father's face again. If I do not bring
your youngest son to you again, I'll be surety to you for your
youngest son, Benjamin." And then, that's the drama. Set up
in chapter 44, he says in verse 14, in Judah and his... 44, 14.
Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's house, for he was yet
there. They fell before him on the ground. And Joseph said to
them, What deed is this that thou hast... that you have done?
I was smiling about that when Clay was talking about the account
in court the other day. Watching not, don't you know
that such a man as I can certainly divine? I can see things as God
sees them. Zaphnath paeonea. Verse 16, and
Judah said, what shall we say to my Lord? What shall we speak?
Or how shall we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity
of thy servants. Judah, the surety, does not excuse
himself or his brethren, does he? He stands before the judge
without any defense, except the one he's about to give. He says,
God has found out the iniquity of thy servants. Behold, we are
my Lord's servants, both we and he also with whom the cup is
found. He's about to come under the
judgment of the governor who has all power, all power, and
he claims their guilt. Look at it. Verse 17, he said,
God forbid that I should do so, this is Joseph now speaking,
but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my
servant, and as for you, get you up in peace to your father.
This is just simply the justice of God setting it up so that
the Lord Jesus Christ can come into our defense here for the
purpose of God. This storm is upon you so that
Christ may be glorified. You see, verse 18, then Judah
came near to him and said, oh my Lord, let thy servant, I pray
thee, speak a word in my Lord's ears, and let not thine anger
burn against thy servant, for thou art even as Pharaoh. Such
boldness to approach this man. My Lord asked his servant, saying,
have you a father or a brother? And we said to my Lord, we have
a father, an old man, and a child of his old age. From eternity
he chose us and predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, a little one. And his brother is dead,
and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him. Notice
the death of Joseph, and yet Joseph is on the throne. Do you
remember the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow?
And here we see Judah and Christ again pleading in his other office
as our surety. And so he says here, we have
a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one,
and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother,
and his father loveth him. His father loves his son, Benjamin. He's chosen the one of his old
age. Verse 21, And thou saidst to
thy servants, Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes
upon him. All of God in His holiness wants
what God in His will wants. The people of God joined in the
Lord Jesus Christ, brought as son. But notice verse 22, And
we said to my Lord, The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should
leave his father, his father would die. And thou saidst unto
thy servants, Except your youngest brother come down with you, you
shall see my face no more." If he leaves his father, his father
is going to die. What does that say about the
knitting bond of love between God the Father and His people
chosen in Christ? Can we understand this? Verse
23. I read that, verse 24, and it
came to pass when we came to thy servant, my father, we told
him the words of my Lord, and our father said, go again and
buy us a little food. And we said, we cannot go down.
If our youngest brother be with us, then we will go down. For
we may not see the man's face except our youngest brother be
with us. We all have to be together. There's not going to be a division,
not a hoof. shall be left behind. Every sheep
shall be brought. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and nothing shall be lost." And then he goes
on, "'And thy servant, my father, said to us, you know that my
wife bear me two sons. And the one went out from me.
And I said, surely he is torn in pieces. And I saw him not
since. And if you take this also from me and mischief befall him,
you shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.
Now therefore, when I come, this is Judah speaking to Joseph,
the judge. Now therefore, he lays it on,
when I come to thy servant, my father, and the lad be not with
us, seeing that his life is bound up in the lad's life, it shall
come to pass that when he see it the lad is not with us, that
he will die. God has staked himself with an
oath on his own nature and character and his word and his oath. that he will have his people.
And thy servant shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant
our father with sorrow to the grave." Verse 32. For thy servant,
Judah speaking of himself, thy servant, speaking to God's governor,
became surety for the lad unto my Father." He made Benjamin
sure to Jacob. Christ made His people sure to
His Father. He pledged Himself for them. So that the purpose of God had
to be fulfilled before the foundation of the world Christ was slain. By the determinate counsel and
for knowledge of God, you have taken Him. And by wicked hands
have slain Him. But God raised Him up. It was
God's doing. You see, the purpose of God greater
than our sin, greater than our life, God's glory in Christ,
to His glory for the salvation of His people. Now therefore,
He says in verse 33, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead
of the lad a bondman to my Lord, This was the pledge Christ made
from eternity. Lay the obligation upon me. I will fulfill it. I will bring
them again. And it pleased the Father well
to make Him our surety. Be surety for thy servant for
good. Psalm 119, 122. Christ our surety. Hebrews chapter
7. It's throughout Scripture. Make
me, take me, a bondman. How shall I go up? He says, verse
34, How shall I go up to my Father? And the lad be not with me, lest
peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my Father. Christ
obligated Himself. He laid Himself in the balance
from eternity for His people so that God no longer looked
to them. But he looked to his son, and now the storm, Jonah
is in the ship, the mariner's lives are perishing, they all
together are bound up in whether or not God receives Jonah as
a sacrifice for them. And he says, this storm has come
upon me, come upon you, for my sake, for God's purpose in Christ,
to glorify his son. You see? Now, this should give
us immediate comfort. When Peter spoke in the book
of Acts to those men convicted, listen to the way he words it
here, and I'll just read this to you. In Acts, he says to them,
when they saw that he had healed this lame man, Peter said, You
men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look ye so earnestly
on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this
man to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac,
and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his son
Jesus, whom you delivered up, and denied him in the presence
of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But you denied
the Holy One and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted
to you. And you killed the Prince of
Life, You can't lay it on any thicker, can you? It was the
truth. But notice what he says. God raised him from the dead,
whereof we are witnesses. And his name, through faith in
his name, hath made this man strong, whom you see and know.
Yea, the faith which is by him has given him this perfect soundness
in the presence of you all. Now brethren, brethren, he speaks
to them as his countrymen. Very humbly, Peter could have
laid it on, stupid, stiff-necked Israelite, you haven't heard
the prophets, I'm going to just... No, he says, I knew that through
ignorance you did this, as did your rulers. Ignorance, really? That seems like an optimistic
judgment to me, but it's because they were not reprobate. They
had not committed that sin which is unforgivable. And he goes
on, but those things which God before had showed by the mouth
of all his prophets that Christ should suffer, he has so fulfilled. And now let me just add to that
one verse back in Genesis, where I was in chapter 45 this time.
Notice the words, the language of Joseph to his brethren. And
Joseph said to his brethren, after they realized it was Joseph
and they were terrified, he said to his brethren, come near to
me. The judge, the governor, come
near to me, I pray you. Who? shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect. As early as they were His elect
in Christ, they were justified. And so He tells them this. Come
near to Me, I pray you. And they came near and He said,
I'm Joseph, your brother, whom you sold. You did it, just like
we crucified Christ. Verse 5, Now therefore, be not
grieved, nor angry with yourself that you sold me hither, for
God did send me before you to preserve life." Amazing grace,
isn't it? The purpose of God in Christ
is big enough to save the worst sinners. And what do these men
do? They go on and read it in the
book of Jonah, and see how they fell on their faces, and they
cried to the Lord. They didn't want to throw Jonah
in. They tried. They used him, just like we do.
I can't accept free grace. They'll do anything to refuse,
and they refused to do nothing. That's just the way it is with
us, naturally. And the Lord channeled them in. He shut them in so there was
no other way. You're going to have to throw
him overboard. And they took him up. And they cast him in.
And what happened? As soon as he hit the water!
Mirror glass. But under the water, what was
happening? A drowning man, and a fish, and three days, and three
nights, and a resurrection later, and then finally he goes and
preaches, and they believe, and they turn to God. Because only
through the death, burial, resurrection, and the ascension and reigning
of our Lord Jesus Christ does the gospel come to us, and we're
turned. We're given faith, and then we
turn. All because of Jonah. He said,
I will pay that I have vowed. He took our debt and he paid
it all. I'm the ransom price. Let the lad go up free with his
brethren to his father. Let's pray. Lord, cause us to
understand that your cause is bigger and more saving, and more
glorious than anything we could imagine, so that we would exalt
our Savior in all of His goodness and greatness. For Christ's name
we pray, Amen.