I appreciate that devotion. Thankful
the Lord lays these subjects on your heart to come before
us with turning us away from the things
of the world and pointing us to Christ. We're going to continue
our study this morning in the book of Jonah. This is our fourth
study. I have so many markings in my book.
Ah, there we go. I've got two messages to bring
today, and I've marked my Bible up quite a bit. So, we're in Jonah chapter 1,
and we've covered down through verse 12, but I want to come
back to this verse 12 again here in a moment. And our last session brought
us to verse 12, and we see where we saw a picture, a picture of
the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus that he made for his people,
that he made for his sheep, those who by the Spirit have been born
again, those who have been quickened, as it says in Ephesians 2.1.
This sacrifice that our Lord gave accomplished all that was
necessary to redeem to restore God's people to himself. It accomplished
all because it was God in the flesh, the God-man, Emmanuel,
God with us. It was a perfect sacrifice, a
lamb without blemish, seen as the lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. So let us look once again at
this picture of redemption in verse 12. 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. Let's continue now with those
thoughts in mind with verse 13. Nevertheless, The men rode hard to bring it
to the land, but they could not, for the sea was wrought and was
tempestuous against them. Now, I want you to notice the
actions of natural men, for we, too, were once just like that.
We, too, in our unregenerate state, would have continued this
road of works. Just as these men were doing,
they did not believe that the sea would become calm by throwing
Noah overboard. Nor could they believe. For the
things of salvation through Christ the Lord are foolishness to natural
men." I want you to stop for just a moment and think about
that. Before the Lord saved you, before the Lord called you out
of darkness, before the Lord gave you a heart to believe,
before the Lord gave you the gift of faith to believe His
Word, did you ever put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ? Did
you ever ask God? for anything before He called
you out of darkness? Before He showed you the truth
of who He was? What about now? How often do
we stop in our path and put all of our trust in our Lord to accomplish
His promises? He promises that all things are
for our good. Have you ever found yourself
in a situation where you thought to myself, I didn't stop first
and ask the Lord for His help? He says, I will never leave you
or forsake you. Have you ever thought, where
is my Lord now? David, a man after God's own
heart, thought that very thing many times. We see it in his
Psalms. It's not unnatural for us to
think the same. I don't know about you folks,
but as for me, I wished I trusted more. Lord, I do believe, but
help thou my unbelief. Help me in the times when the
world surrounds me, the waves are coming up over my ship. Help
me not to take my own thoughts, my own works. Help me not to trust in myself,
but to trust in you. Their faith or their trust was
in what they were capable of doing. It was in the trust of
their own hands. But they could not, for the sea
was wrought and tempestuous against them. If you are of this world
trusting in your own hands, trusting in your own works, and you go
through that doormark death, there is no hope on the other
side. But while there is yet today, there is hope. Today is the day of salvation.
Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, he says.
But it must be a trust in the one true God. It must be a trust
in the Christ of Scriptures. We must worship in spirit and
in truth. And I warn you now, there is
another Jesus that is spoken of from most pulpits around this
world. A Jesus that is a failure. False prophets all over are claiming
that their Jesus loves everyone. but can only save those whom
He will let them. Those who are smart enough to
make a decision for Jesus. Those who claim their will is
above His. The devil made that very claim
once. He said, I shall be like the Most High. He declared his
authority over God in Isaiah 14. Their weak Jesus is not the
Christ of Scripture. The Christ of Scripture is sitting
on His throne ruling over everything. He's ruling all things. He created
everything. How could He not be ruling over
everything? He knows every hair on your head. You've heard me
say this many times, just recently. Doesn't that amaze you? Doesn't
that amaze you? Every hair on your head, He knows. I remember our brother Steve's
studies in the Old Testament where the Jews were giving me,
the Israelites were being given instructions on how to build
the temples. The temple. I said temples, I
apologize. In those instructions were minute,
small, little details. Our Lord The Creator of everything
gave those small, little, minute details because He is the One
who gives all details. Turn over to Ephesians chapter
1 if you would please. Look at verse 20. Hold your place
there in Jonah because we will come back to it. Look at verse 20 in Ephesians
chapter 1. We'll take a deeper look at this
this afternoon or later this morning in my message. But our
Lord writes, Paul writes, instructed by our Lord, which He wrought
in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at
His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality
and power and might and dominion. That's the God of Scripture,
folks. He's far above all those things.
All the power you can think of here on earth, He is above that. And every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. If
there's anything to come that you think could be more powerful
than what we see right now, Christ is above that. And have put all things under
His feet and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church,
which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.
Do we not have great peace in knowing that nothing can sway
our Lord's plan? If I have to trust on my will,
I'm going to fail. If you do have trust in your
will, then you think you're not going to fail. Think about that
for a moment. You think pretty highly of yourself,
don't you? These mariners, they could not
thwart God's plan no matter how smart they thought they were
or how good they were at doing their jobs. And they were pretty
good at it, folks. They were professionals. I know what it's
like to be a professional. I'm a professional truck driver.
That's the only thing I do professionally. It's the only thing God's given
me the ability to do professionally. But I do it pretty well. So I
know what it means to do something well. These men thought they
were pretty good, yet they couldn't. for God's plan. In Jonah 1.14, as we continue,
Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said, We beseech thee,
O Lord, we beseech thee. Finally, these men have come
to a point where they realize their inability to save themselves.
This is where the Lord God will bring all men. Every knee shall
bow. Every tongue shall confess that
Jesus is Lord. All mankind will come to this
point where they know without a doubt that Jesus rules all
things. Here we see them with earnest
sincerity, in other words, crying unto the true God, Lord help
us or we shall die. Allow me to sum up the remainder
of verse 14 with a portion of John Gill's commentary. Where
it says, let us not perish for this man's life, John Gill writes,
they were in the utmost perplexity of mind, not knowing well what
to do. They saw that they must perish
by the storm if they saved this man's life, and they were afraid
they should perish if they took it. and which yet they were obliged
to. And therefore, they had no other
way left but to pray to the Lord that they might not perish for
it, or be reckoned as their crime, and imputed to them as follows.
The next part says, and they laid not upon us innocent blood.
John Gill goes on to write, for so it was to them. He had done
no hurt to them, since he had been with them, except it being
the cause of the storm, whereby they had suffered the loss of
their goods, however, had not been guilty of anything worthy
of death, as they could observe. And as for his offense against
God, well, they were not sufficient judges of, and must leave it
with him. The light of nature teaches men
to be tender to the lives of fellow creatures, and to avoid
shedding of innocent blood. These men were still acting on
natural, unregenerate instinct, yet their last event is to turn
it over to God. For thou, O Lord, hast done as
it pleased thee. Or in other words, if it pleases
thee, Lord, this man's life is in thy hands. In fact, it was
all along. Look in verse 17. Now the Lord
had prepared a great fish. Jonah's life has always been
in the hands of the Lord, as all of us are. Verse 15, it says, so they took
up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from
her raging. Turn over to Psalms 107, if you
would, please. Psalms 107, verse 23. Our brother Darrell wrote these
words for us a couple of weeks back. They that go down to the sea
in ships that do business in great waters, These see the works
of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth and
raises the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
They mount up to the heaven. They go down again to the depths.
Their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and
fro and stagger like drunken men and are at their wit's end. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
He maketh the storm calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Then they are glad, because they be quiet. So He bringeth them
unto their desired heaven. Oh, oh, oh, that men would praise
the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the
children of men. Oh, that we might give praise
to the Almighty. Jesus is Lord of all. You don't
need to turn there, but in Psalms 115, 1, not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and
for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. And then we come to verse 16
of our text. Then the men feared the Lord
exceedingly and offered sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows. It is believed that these men
made vows to offer sacrifices upon their return, for they had
already cast all that they had into the sea. They had no proper
sacrifice for them at this time. And that's where God leaves this
story. He is silent about what becomes
of these men. Therefore, we too will make no
guesses about them. But we do know this, Matthew
22, 14, it says, many are called and few are chosen. Let's take a look at some other
verses in Mark chapter 10. Turn over to Mark chapter 10
with me, and I'll bring this to a close. Kathy and I are reading through
the book of Mark by Don Fortner. And I came across this a couple
of days ago in my reading. And I thought to myself, I've
always read this story and thought to myself, you know, I wonder
what happened to this young man, this rich man who turned away
from the Lord because he didn't want to give up his riches. And
I want you to see something. Something that I didn't notice
until Pastor Fortner pointed this out. Are you with me in
Mark chapter 10? Mark chapter 10 starting at verse 17. And
when he, speaking of our Lord Jesus, was gone forth into the
way, there came one running and kneeled to him and asked him,
good master, what shall I do that I might inherit eternal
life? And Jesus saith unto him, why callest thou me good? There
is none good but one, that is God. Thou knowest the commandments,
do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear
false witness, defraud, not honor thy father and thy mother. And
he answered and said unto him, master all these I have observed
from my youth. Then Jesus, beholding him, loved
him. Did you guys catch that? I'd
never caught that before. I always kept on going and said
unto him, one thing thou lackest. Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou
hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.
And come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he, speaking
of the lad, he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved,
for he had great possessions. Then Jesus, beholding him, loved
him. If Christ loved this man, He
loved him with an eternal love. His name was written in the book
of life before the world was. Oh, how often we have seen those
that we love, friends, come before the gospel, stay with it for
a while and then leave. Make a proclamation of faith
even, and then go away. If Christ loved them, He still
does. If God loves you, then He has
loved you from all eternity. Amen? Next week we'll look at
the death, the burial, and the resurrection pictured in Jonah. Would you stand with me please
and we'll come