I think sometimes we say it,
we tend to say it wrong. We say, you know, well, I have
soul. No, you have a body. You are
a soul. That's the real you. Our sister this morning, according
to God's assignment concerning The days of her life, her soul
went back to God who gave it. The body goes back to the dust. That's what Solomon said in the
book of Ecclesiastes. The soul doesn't cease to exist. The soul doesn't lose any consciousness. At the moment of the death of
this body, the soul goes back to the Lord. And so with the understanding
that you are an immortal soul, I must speak to you again of
the things of God. I didn't give myself this burden to preach the gospel. In fact, there have been many
times when I was ready to lay it down. It's a burden that God gave me.
I didn't volunteer. Brother Eisen knows it's just
God lays it on your heart. You just got to speak for God. Like other ministers of the gospel,
we don't take this lightly. We don't approach it in a kind
of a haphazard way. It's too serious. It's too serious. Apostle Paul
said in preaching the gospel, he said, we're a saver of life
and the life for some people and death unto death for other
people. I tell you, there are issues
this evening, this very night. There are serious issues. Things
are going on. Every time you hear the gospel,
something's happening. Every time. No wonder the Apostle Paul said
in 2 Corinthians 2, after saying the gospel's a savor of life
and a life for some and death and a death for others, he said,
who is sufficient for these things? Who wants to volunteer? Who thinks
they're up to the task? I tell you, not me. Not me. I always beg God don't leave
me by myself in the pulpit. And I thank God that what Paul
said in the third chapter, God is my sufficiency. I'm nobody. I'm just nobody. I'm raised in Bassett, Virginia. The only thing people know about
Bassett, Virginia, that's where the furniture company is. But
I come from a family of non-influential people. I'm just a country preacher. And I don't have any authority
on my own. But I speak by the authority
of God. God's word, God's message. And
I want to talk to you again about salvation. And I hope and I pray
that God will make these things clear to you. I do want to be
understood. Someone said to me one time about
a preacher they listened to, they said, he leaves me confused. Well, I hope I don't leave you
confused. I'd say a man's ministry is of
little worth if those to whom he speaks leave saying, I'm confused. I don't know what he said. I don't understand. I stand as an ambassador of the
Lord. I'm not a debater. And I thought
about these things, the reason I wrote them down. I wanted to
say them just like I was thinking about it when I prepared this
message. I'm not a debater. I'm not trying to correct the
errors of somebody else. I'm not trying to defend a position. Those of you who are on Facebook, as I am, I see things on Facebook,
religious things, some good, some not so good, some terrible. But this is what you'll notice.
I never say anything. I never say anything. I don't
get into the discussions. I don't get into the debates.
I'm not sent to debate. I'm not sent to defend my position
on any given subject. I have a mandate. Preach the
gospel. That's our mandate. That's what
we're told to do. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel. Not try to straighten out other
preachers. Not try to run over the business
of other churches. Not get involved in those things.
Just preach the gospel. to those who are in front of
you. That's our responsibility. I'm not a defender of doctrinal
positions. I'm just sent to proclaim the
gospel of God. I'm sent to brag on God. Put
us down, brag on God, brag on Christ Jesus. Beyond that, I dare not go. And I'll tell you this, since
I'm being honest with you, there have been times when I've got
sucked into these issues, and I wish I hadn't. I wish I'd just
stuck to preaching the gospel. We're not here to get tangled
up in these controversies. I had somebody told me just,
well, it hadn't been long ago at all, they said a preacher's
wife came up to them and said, well,
how do you own on a particular issue? She said, what? She said, which side are you
on on this issue? She said, I'm not choosing sides. What are you talking about? There's
not this side and that side. And she finally said, I'm on
the Lord's side. Oh, we're so quick to think we're
right and they're wrong. I tell you, we're all wrong and
God's right. And we best bow to God's word. I'm not interested in debating
with you or anybody else. I'm not interested in arguing.
I've been invited to enter these or become a part of these chat
rooms. I'm not interested in exchanging
positions on religious subjects. I just want, as best I can, clearly
as I can, preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's what
I want to do. And I'll leave the arguing and
the debating and all that kind of stuff, I'll leave it to somebody
else. That's a whole lot smarter than me. I guess I'm just so
simple-minded. I can only focus on one thing. I want to focus on Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. I want to focus on salvation
is of the Lord. Let's look at this subject right
here in Jonah. And Brother Joe has read to us
the first chapter. Those of us who are God's people,
let's learn some valuable lessons from this scripture, from what
he read to us. First of all, let's learn that
disobedience to God is sure will bring us trouble. It'll bring
us trouble. The reason Jonah found himself
in the belly of the great fish was because he disobeyed what
God told him to do. And I've got to thinking about
it. I just don't believe there's any way we could ever calculate
how many troubles and aches and pains and heartaches we've brought
upon ourselves due to our own rebellion and our own sinfulness. You read Psalm 89, 27 to 37.
The Lord talked about The certainty of his covenant,
his seed he'd bring to him, notwithstanding their rebellion. He said, I visited
you with the stripes of affliction. I visited you with the rod. We
read in the book of Hebrews, if you be without chastisement,
it's because you're bastards and not sons. The Lord said,
I visited you with these afflictions, but my loving kindness, I'm not
gonna take away from you. I love that scripture in 2 Timothy
where the apostle Paul said, though we believe not, yet he
abided faithful. Aren't you glad? Though we believe
not, And all of us have to say, Lord, we believe, help thou mine
unbelief. Thank God He's faithful. He's
faithful to His covenant promises. He's faithful to that which He
has purpose to do. He's always faithful to His children,
to love us, to show us grace. He's faithful and He's just.
to forgive us our sins. He can forgive us and he does
forgive us on the basis of justice satisfied in the substitutionary
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know this, sin, when it's embraced
by a believer, is a very dangerous thing. That's why it says in
Jonah 1, 3, Jonah paid the fare thereof. There is a fare to pay. for disobedience. Secondly, the Lord will not leave
his people in a state of misconduct and rebellion, but he'll do whatever
it takes to bring them back. I believe that. God's not going
to allow his children to remain in disobedience to such a point
that they bring reproach on his name. He'll either bring them
back or he'll kill them. I do believe that. He'll bring
them back or he'll kill them. The last thing any of us want
to do is bring reproach and dishonor to the name of Christ Jesus.
To the name above all names, the name we love. And the last thing we ever want
to do is bring reproach upon this congregation, upon this
church. God killed me before I ever did that. I tell you, he brought Jonah
back. Look at Jonah chapter 2, verse 4. Jonah 2, verse 4, it's
already said in verse 1, he prayed to God out of the fish's belly.
Verse four, then said I am cast out of thy sight. Yet, yet I
will look again toward thy holy temple. I will look again. I was looking and then I took
my eyes off the holy temple. What was the holy temple? What's
involved in the temple of God? That's where God met with men
and men met with God. And that holy temple's a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all the vessels in the temple
picture our Savior, either His person or some aspect of His
work. Jonah, Jonah disobedient, Jonah
rebellious. Go and preach the gospel. I don't
want to preach to them. Well, you're going to pay the
fare thereof. You're going to wind up preaching anyway. We
can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way. And
with Jonah, he essentially said, well, let's do it the hard way. And now he's in a mess. And he
said, yet I will look again. I'll tell you when we get in
trouble. when we stop looking toward God's
holy temple, when we stop looking to Christ Jesus, when the eyes
of our soul aren't focused on the Son of God, that lovely,
glorious, magnificent, everlasting God who is our Savior. that one
who humbled himself and left heaven's glory and came down
here to live and die for the likes of us, who gave himself
to save us, who shed his blood to wash away our sins, and who
rose again after he died, he rose again, he ascended, he ever
lives to make intercession for us, and we look to him and we
love him, and then all of a sudden our eyes are taken off of him,
and then we're in trouble. That's exactly the time we get
in trouble. Yet I will look again. Am I talking
this evening to some of God's children who you've kind of looked
away, kind of got wrapped up in something, and boy, it's easy
to do, isn't it? It's easy to get kind of caught
up in what's going on in your family or in the world at your
job. You just kind of get sidetracked. Jonah got sidetracked. But you
know what? God wouldn't let him go. God
wouldn't let him go. God won't let his children go.
Aren't you thankful? He always brings us back. It's
the nature of sheep to wander, to wander away, and we wander
away, and the great shepherd, he puts the staff out with the
crook and says, not so fast. He pulls you back in. How many
times has he pulled you back in? I tell you, he's pulled me
in a bunch of times, a bunch of times. If ever one of his
sheep could have left and been gone forever, It's this one. But always he comes after me
and says, no, you're mine. You're mine. I've loved you with
an everlasting love. I've been your everlasting surety.
You've always been accepted by the Father in me. We're one. We're one. I bought you. I paid for you. I own you. I redeemed you. I reconciled
you. You're mine. Come back here. Come back here. Jonah said, well,
I'll just take me another trip. And the Lord said, I'm coming
after you. I'm coming after you. And you have great reason for
concern if he doesn't. If he doesn't come out, if he
just lets you go. People leave the gospel. Just go away. They don't come
back. Tell you, I'm thankful for fetching
grace, aren't you? David said, for Jonathan's sake,
anybody in his household still alive? Mephibosheth. He's a member
of the royal family, but he's lame on both feet. You know, there he is, Jonathan's
son, Saul's grandson. He's an enemy of you, David. Fetch him to me. The Lord who fetched us in effectual
grace, who brought us to himself in everlasting covenant love,
he won't let us go. I tell you, that good shepherd,
he went looking for us and he found us and he hoisted us up
on his shoulders. He's going home rejoicing. We're
his. I will look again. I will take
another look at Calvary. Take another look at the glory
of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ. See if that doesn't
melt your heart. Here's the thing that will break us. If we're the Lord's
now, if we're His, Here's what will do us in. When the Lord
comes to us through his word and he says, now come back to
me. And then we're just broken hearted
and say, I've disappointed you again, Lord. I've done messed
up. How many times have you said,
Lord, I've messed up again? Lord, I've sinned against you
again. How many times has he taken you back? Every. single time. And he always will. He always will. Let's learn something else. Thirdly,
notwithstanding the misconduct of Jonah, this is a gospel picture. The scripture says, Brother Joe
read it to us, They said, all right, there's somebody in here.
They've done something wrong. That's the reason we're in this
mess. So let's cast lots. Well, the Lord's in control of
that too. The lot fell on Jonah. Who are you? Where'd you come
from? They started quizzing him. The storm was raging. What are
we going to do? Jonah says, it's not but one
thing to do. I can tell you this, this storm is not going to be
over till you just cast me forth into the sea. And then it'll calm right down. Nevertheless, they wrote a heart.
Do you say this is substitution here? Here's one man. Here's one man, and he says,
and here's the storm is raging, the sea, the water's washing
up over the deck, the men are having to hold on tight so they
won't go over in the ocean. He says, cast me out and the
sea will be calm. No, no, no, no, we'll row harder. That's the natural man. You see,
Jonah is teaching us God using his disobedience. See, this is
the mystery of divine providence. We would never have learned this
except that Jonah had been disobedient. And yet Jonah is responsible
for his disobedience and God overrules it to teach us a gospel
lesson. Now that's the wisdom of God
right there. Jonah says, I'll be sacrificed
and the rest of you will live. Now if you can't see the gospel
there, the fellow said you could blind in one eye and can't see
out the other. That's substitution. One man. One man cast into the sea. The
sea which is a picture of death. One man dies and everybody on
board lives. That's the gospel. Christ Jesus
died for his people. We all live. But the natural man is very much
opposed to the gospel of substitution and satisfaction. And you know
what we do? We just roll harder. It's a natural
man. We row harder. We, oh, there's
another way. Well, give it your best shot.
Let's see if the sea calms down. Let's see if you make it to land.
Row harder. Man, the harder they rowed, it
seemed like they're just going backwards. So finally, they took up Jonah. They cast him into the sea. And
verse 15 says, and the sea ceased from her raging. The only thing that could calm down the justice of God
and the anger of God and the wrath of God was the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He was, as it were, cast into
the sea of death. And then all of a sudden, for
us, everything is calm. It's calm. No more anger. Because the anger is against
our sin. No more wrath. No more judgment. Just to see
that it's absolutely peaceful. Our Lord spoke of Jonah in the
book of Matthew. Matthew chapter 12, he said,
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. Well, then let's learn something
else. Let us understand that we seem
to learn lessons The best, when they, these lessons, we learn
them the best when they come to us by the branding iron of
a flitch. We learn lessons the best that
way. It's like a branding iron. I'll tell you when we really
learn the promises of God. when he teaches them to us. When you find a word that blesses
your heart, and God takes it right home to you, you'll learn
it well. If you're just taught by a man, you'll learn that lesson well.
It's the heated afflictions of life. That's where we learn the
lessons well. And we learn them through these
afflictions that God sends us. That's what David said. He said,
it's good that I've been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. And then let's learn, as Jonah
did, this sentence of good theology. And I hope we don't have to go
to a strange college to learn it either. That's in the belly
of the whale. I hope we don't have to go down
in the belly of the great fish to learn this. I hope God will
teach it to us graciously and most tenderly. to our hearts
when the weeds were wrapped around his head and the depths were
all around him, he said, salvation's of the Lord. You know who taught him that?
God taught him that. He didn't get that from a theology
book. He didn't get that from hearing
preaching, though preaching is certainly beneficial, it's what
God uses. God taught it to him by experience
because he tried to get out every other way. I vowed, I made vows,
I'll keep my vows. Let's see if that'll get you
out. No, that won't get you out either. He finally throws up
his hands in utter despair. Is this you? Have you ever been
driven to utter despair? And you throw your hands up and
you say, salvations of the Lord. I've tried. I've tried. I've tried to do this. I've tried
to do that. And then the Spirit of God just
keeps pressing you down. The Spirit of God keeps showing
you, it's not you. You can't do it. You can't do
it. Brother Bill read scripture for
us back in the study. Look at Galatians chapter 3.
I was thinking about this as he read this. Look at Galatians chapter 3. Look at verse 11. Galatians chapter 3 and verse
11. but that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God,
it is evident. For the just, that is the justified,
the righteous shall live by faith. Now watch, the law is not a faith. In other words, the law doesn't
require faith. You know what the law requires?
Perfection. That's what the law requires.
The law doesn't require you do the best you can do. The law
requires perfection. That's the reason He says back
in Galatians 3.10, For as many as are under the works of the
law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things that are written in the book
of the law to do them. What does the law say? The law
says be perfect. That's the only thing the law
will accept. Righteousness, that's what the
law demands. And if you can't produce that,
the law says you're okay. But you can't produce it. And there are a lot of people
who says, well, all you gotta do is believe. But the law doesn't
say, I'll settle for faith. Now we know we have to believe
the gospel. But there's the issue of divine
justice that's got to be satisfied. And faith can't justify you. Faith cannot cause you to be
accepted by God. Faith cannot make you perfect. Well, what does faith do? It
reaches out to the only one who can make you perfect. Faith is
the empty hands that reaches out to the Son of God. The law says the man that doeth
them shall live by them. Thank God Christ has redeemed
us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us, for
it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that
the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. This salvation, it's of the Lord. And he gives us faith. He gives
us the gift of faith. And I'll just give you these
things very quickly. Salvation's of the Lord in its
everlasting purpose. It's of the Lord in its purpose.
He's the one who chose us. He's the one who ordained us
to everlasting life. He's the one who set us apart.
We're among the remnant according to the election of grace. Salvation
of the Lord in its purpose. Salvation of the Lord in its
providence. Purpose and providence. The Lord
arranged, he has arranged all things, he's decreed all things
and by his providence he's bringing everything he predestinated to
pass. And don't you marvel, don't you
marvel as you look at the life of our Lord Jesus Christ and
then things building up to his death. It's like the Lord, he's
just moving the chess pieces around. He's just lining everything
up. That's the way He always does.
That's the way God operates. Everything that had to do with
the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father had ordained it
before He made the world. This is the only way anybody
could be saved. It's the only way God's law could
be satisfied. Justice honored was by the substitutionary
justice satisfying death of the Lord Jesus. And our God, he had
everything right down to the minutest details, all purpose. Divine providence brought it
all to pass. Those who lifted up their hands
in rebellion against the Son of God are absolutely guilty
for everything that they did. God used them to fulfill His
purpose. You say, God uses men like that?
He uses everybody. He uses the demons of hell. He uses Satan. He uses you and
He uses me. Somebody says, oh, I pray that
God will use me. You can bet your last dollar
on that. He'll use you to fulfill His
eternal purpose. I don't know what your use will
be. I don't know which piece on the chessboard you'll be,
but I'll guarantee you God's going to use you. And you watch
as he moved things around. Up until the time our Lord Jesus
died, he said, my hour is not yet come. And he said, now the
time has come. Salvation is by divine purpose.
It's by divine providence. It's by divine purchase. He bought
us with his blood. He's the lamb who was slaughtered. And salvation's of the Lord in
its awesome power. The same awesome power that raised
our Lord Jesus from the dead, Ephesians chapter 1, raised you
from spiritual death. I don't want to hear anybody
talk about man's free will and I let God save me and I made
my decision, phooey on all that stuff. That's so God dishonoring. That's just a bunch of garbage.
Men need to learn this truth, salvation's of the Lord. We were
dead, he gave us life. We were blind, he gave us sight.
We were deaf, he gave us hearing. We were lame, he gave us the
ability to flee by faith to Christ Jesus. God gets all the glory. Salvation's by God's power, it's
by his performance. He performs his will. He does
his will in everything. Salvation's of the Lord in His
perfection. And I got one more P for you. All these are alliterated. Salvation's
in a person. It's in a person. And that person's
the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is of the Lord. It was, it is, it always shall
be. It's never been in your hands.
It's never been up to you. It's never been up to your will.
It's always of the Lord. Always. Anybody says anything
different, just tell them you speak contrary to the Word of
God. This is God's salvation. He gets all the glory. This is
what you need to ask every time you hear a preacher. Who's getting
the glory in his sermon? Isn't that right? Who's getting
the glory? And if he ultimately gives the glory to the sinner
because he lets God save him, you can just say, well, I'll
X him off. I ain't gonna listen to him anymore. But if he gives God the glory,
say, thank God for him. God taught him the gospel. Maybe
God teach me something through his ministry. Well, let's sing
the closing