Let's continue our Bible studies
this morning in the book of Jonah. Turn to Jonah chapter 1 if you
would, please. We left off last week covering
a small portion of verse 4. It's interesting how I was sitting
down this week to think about where I would go with these studies
today. And I found myself looking at last week's study and thinking,
you know what, there's probably a hundred studies that I could
bring just from those first three verses. I was sharing that with
Pastor Gene the other Friday when Kathy and I stopped by.
So before we continue in verse 5, let's look again once at verse
4 a little deeper. Let's look again at the things
expounding concerning Christ as we saw our Lord doing with
the two men on the road to Emmaus. Again, does not our hearts burn
within us as we look at the things of Christ and Scriptures? Jonah chapter 1 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. You don't need to turn there,
but in the Psalms 107, it says in verse 23, they that go down
to the sea in ships that do business in great waters, these, those
who go down to the sea, see the works of the Lord and His wonders
in the deep. For He commandeth and raises
the storm, the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
They mount up in the heaven. They go down again to the depths.
Their soul is melted because of the trouble. They reel to
and fro and stagger like a drunken man at their wit's end. Then
they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them
out of their distress. He maketh the storm a calm, so
that the waves thereof are still. Then they are glad because they
be quiet, so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. These
men who go down into the sea, oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. Our Lord is the one who brings
this storm. It says so clearly in the word. John Gill writes
it this way. He says, this was a particular
wind. According to the old language, this was a particular wind sent
directly at, hurled, in other words, at the specific part of
the sea that they were in. That means the rest of the sea
was calm and quiet, but where they were, these winds raged. Jonah thought he was getting
away with his disobedience, but our Lord is Lord of all. As we see in Mark chapter 4,
verse 37, the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who controls this
wind. I'll read it for you instead of turning here for the sake
of time. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves
beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he, our Lord,
was in the hindered part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And
they awake him, and saith unto him, Master, carest thou not
that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the
wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind
ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them,
Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?
And they feared exceedingly and said one to another, What manner
of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him? What manner of man is this? He's
God in the flesh. John 1.3 describes Him this way,
All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything
made that was made. Our Lord Jesus Christ created
all that is. The storms, the calmness, the
mountains, everything. We continue in Jonah 1 verse
5, then the mariners were afraid and cried every man unto his
God. Here we see the old saying, every
man who has been in a foxhole believes in a God. The sad thing
is their gods were no more than a mere figure of their imagination.
Their gods were of no use next part of this verse, and they
cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten
it of them. Why would they do that? They
were praying to their gods. They had no faith in their gods.
That's why. Think about that for just a minute. If they had true faith in their
gods, why did they throw their wares over the edge? They had no faith in their fake
gods. And no wonder. Why would anyone
trust a God that failed to save His people? Why would anyone trust a God
that left things to chance? Isn't that what free will is? I hope someday, I pray, Lord,
someday my son will get smart and exercise his free will and
come to the Lord. Isn't that what they pray? They're gods, they're useless.
So they throw their wares over the edge to save themselves. They end up exercising their
own works. Compare that. Compare that reaction
of those men on that ship to a man of God. Again, you don't
need to turn there, but our brother, the king, David himself wrote
in the Psalms, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof,
the world and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded
it upon the seas and established it upon the floods. Who shall
ascend to the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in the holy
place? King David knew who God was. He was the God of all things. Why worry about something if
the Lord of all things is in control of it? Puny little worm
that stands before you can't do anything about it. Throwing
my stuff overboard isn't going to stop anything. What about
Nahum? The prophet of the Lord in chapter
1 verse 3 says, of Lebanon, languish. The mountains
quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his
presence. Yea, the world and all that dwelleth therein, who
can stand before his indignation? Who can abide in the fierceness
of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are thrown down by him. The Lord is good, a stronghold
in the day of trouble. He knoweth them that trust him.
These men of the ship obviously had no trust for their gods at
all. But we have right before us a
better example. As we see, we don't need to leave
very far from our text to see the reaction of God's people.
Look at the last part of verse 5. But Jonah was gone down into
the sides of the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep. I recall
in our Bible study, for those who can't attend on Friday nights,
we recently looked at the book of Acts where Peter was imprisoned
by King Herod. Peter, too, had peace with the
surroundings around him, didn't he? He slept. Well, he had the
garrisons all around him, the doors all around him were locked,
two guards on each side of him that he was chained to, yet he
slept. He, too, was unconcerned about
his desperate situation. Now, this does not mean in any
way that we don't get concerned, for we do. I don't know about
you folks, but I love my children. I love my grandchildren. I love
you folks. When something happens, I'm quite
concerned. I'm very concerned about Steve's
wife, Rosemary, right now. She's going through some serious
troubles. She has been for quite some time.
I'm concerned for her. Don't want to see our loved ones
go through pain and trouble. But we know who the Lord is.
We know, we who know But we know the Lord and we who
have been called, we who have been received, who have received
the gift of faith, a gift freely given by our Lord Jesus Christ
to all that the Father gave him, all of those he calls my people,
we have a hope. We are concerned for our loved
ones, but we have a hope. We have a surety. Our God has
promised that all things work together for the good of them
that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose.
We believe His word when He says, I will never leave you nor forsake
you. This Lord our text is speaking of is Christ Jesus Himself. He
has always been Lord of all. He is Lord of lords, King of
kings. He has been given the name which
every knee shall bow to. His elect shall hear His voice.
His elect shall call Him God. We continue in verse 6 where
it says, So the shipmaster came to him and said unto him, What
meanest thou, O sleeper? Now take note of this, folks.
This is very important, for the world does not understand our
peace. They cannot. The carnal mind
is enmity against God. Romans 8, 7. The natural man cannot think
on the things of the Lord. That's why it's so easy to come
up with this new God, this one that we can control ourselves. This one that we say, I have
the decision to make over Him. I have the power to reject or
accept Him. It is my will, not His. That
is the carnal mind. That is the natural mind of man
in this world. Yet God says in Romans 3.11,
there is none who seeketh after Him. The ship master probably
thought Jonah was a crazy person. What are you doing down here
sleeping in the bottom of the boat? Things are going to all
get up. We're going to die. The world around them was in
total chaos. Their lives were in jeopardy.
They feared death. They feared the unknown. Yet
God had given this man, this man Jonah, peace so that he could sleep
through that storm. That peace is in His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. A peace that was noticed. Perhaps
maybe the ship master didn't think he was crazy. Perhaps he
saw that peace this man had and he wondered. Well, I would say
it might be suggested in this next part of the verse. Arise,
a call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us that
we perish not. Obviously, to the ship captain. Obviously, he looked at Jonah
and saw him as a man who wasn't worried. He said, call upon your
God whom you trust in. Call upon this God who your faith
is in. And then in verse 7, we also
see, and they said everyone to his fellow, come and let us cast
lots. that we may know who this cause of evil is upon us, so
that they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah." Turn to
Hebrews chapter 12. Hold your spot in Jonah, because
we will come back. And while you're turning there, I just
got to bring out this. Isn't Jonah having a bad day?
I think about the old worldly saying,
the carnal saying that says, if it weren't for bad luck, I'd
have no luck at all. No, God's people believe in Him
that rules over everything that is. There is no such thing as
Lady Luck. Our God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
sits on His throne ruling all things according to His own counsel,
working all things out according to His own will, and He does
whatever He is pleased to do. It pleased the Lord to reveal
to Jonah as the subject of His chastening. There was no accident,
no chance that the lot fell on Jonah. Our Lord caused that to happen.
Are you with me in Hebrews chapter 12, beginning at verse 1? Wherefore,
seeing we also are encompassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth
so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that
is set before us. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him
that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest
ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not resisted unto
blood. Let me repeat that. Ye have not resisted unto blood. striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not
thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked
of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye
endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what
son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement,
wherefore all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not
sons. And again in Jonah, verse 8,
Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause
this evil is upon us. What is thine occupation? And
whence comest thou? And what is thy country? And
of what people art thou? And he saith unto them, I am
in Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath
made the sea and the dry land. Jonah was finally brought to
the point that he confessed his sin before men. How do I know
this? Look at verse 10. Then were the
men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done
this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the
Lord, because he had told them." He confessed his sins. Our own
sin is ever before us, and sometimes we choose not to look at it at
all, don't we? Turn over to Psalms 32, if you
would. That's why God chastens us. That's
why the storms come upon us at times to remind us of our sin. Because He loves us and wants
us to remember that it is Him that we have to look to. Stop
looking at ourselves and look to Christ for our saving, our
saving grace. Look to Christ for His mercy.
that we would look to Him for mercy. We see His strength when
we see our own weaknesses. Sin has left a crimson stain.
He, my Lord, has washed it white as snow. Are you with me in Psalms
32, beginning at verse 1? A Psalm of David. Blessed is he
whose transgressions is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed
is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in
whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones
waxed old through my roaring of all the day long. For day
and night thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned
into the drought of summer, say law. I acknowledge my sin unto
thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess
my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity
of my sin. Say, Law, for this shall everyone
that is godly pray unto thee in the time when thou mayest
be found. Surely in the floods of great
waters they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding place. Thou
shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shalt compass me about with
songs of deliverance. Selah. Jonah had ran from the
Lord. The Lord had given him instructions,
if you remember last week's message. Instructions. And just as all
of God's people do, we fall from those instructions consistently.
Yet as I said last week, I'll say it again, we have an advocate.
Thou, my advocate, art my hiding place. Thou, my advocate, shalt
preserve me from trouble. Thou, my advocate, shalt encompass
me about with songs and deliverance. We sing a song titled, What a
Friend We Have in Jesus. Allow me to read it for you.
What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything
to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Have we trials
and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We
should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful? Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care,
Precious, precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord
in prayer. Do thy friend despise, forsake
thee, take it to the Lord in prayer. In his arms he'll take
and shield thee. Thou wilt find a solace there.