"Salvation is of the Lord"

Thank you. Thank you. Oh. Thank you. Good morning. Let's all stand together and sing hymn number 485. 485. We praise Thee, O God, for the Son of Thy love, for Jesus, who died and is risen. Hallelujah, bind the glory. Hallelujah, all is. Hallelujah, bind the glory.

Revive us again. We praise Thee, O God, for the Spirit of light, Who has shown us our Savior, and scattered our night. Alleluia, Thine the glory, Alleluia, come in, Alleluia, To Yahweh the glory revive us again. All glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain, who has borne all our sins and has cleansed every stain. Alleluia, thine the glory! Alleluia, all hail! Alleluia, wonder, glory, revive us again. Revive us again, fill each heart with Thy love. May each soul be rekindled with Thy brother love. Alleluia, Thine the glory. Alleluia, all day. Alleluia, Thine the glory.

Be seated we'll sing hymn number 117 Number 117 He was wounded for our transgressions, He bore our sins in His body on the tree. For our guilt He gave us peace, from our bondage gave release. And with His stripes, and with His stripes, and with His stripes our souls are healed. was numbered among transgressors. We did esteem him forsaken by his God. As our sacrifice he died, let the world be satisfied. And all our sins and all our sin, and all our sin was laid on Him.

We have wandered, far from the fold of the shepherd of the sheep but he sought us where we were on the mountains bleak and bare and brought us home and brought us home and brought us safely home to God. Who can number this generation Who shall declare all the triumphs of His cross? Millions that now live again, Myriads follow in His train.

Victorious Lord, If you have your Bibles with you this morning, if you would open with me to the book of Psalm. We'll read Psalm 29. Psalm 29. Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of glory thundereth. The Lord is upon many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars. Yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. He maketh them also to skip like a calf, Lebanon's Syrian like a young unicorn. The voice of the Lord divided the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness. The Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.

The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve and discovereth the forests, and in his temple that everyone speak of his glory. The Lord said upon the flood, he had the Lord said, King forever. The Lord will give strength unto his people. The Lord will bless his people with peace.

Our most high and heavenly Father, Lord God Almighty, we come to you once more through your blessed son, Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you for your written word. We thank you for this day and for this place we are able to gather. Thank you for the sheep who are gathered out to hear your word. Lord, we thank you for the one you sent to proclaim your word to us.

Lord, we ask that you would allow us to hear your voice today, speak to us through our brother, enable him as he stands to speak freely, to speak the truth and proclaim the gospel. Lord, we pray that you would continue to give us strength and peace. Be merciful unto us, Lord. We're so weak and frail and feeble and humble by your grace, Lord. We can do nothing without you. Lord, we can't even pray a prayer worthy of going to you without you. Lord, we ask that you would be our strength, be our stay, Teach us thy way. Keep us from ourselves and keep us from this world.

We ask that you would bless those who are weak and weary, unable to be here, for there are many. You know their every need. Ask that you would be their strength and their stay. Comfort them, Lord, if you would. We pray for the many saints who are traveling. I ask that you would see them safely home. Lord, we pray for our lost loved ones. Pray for our children.

Lord, we ask that you would be merciful unto them as you have unto us, if it would please you. Again, Lord, we ask that you'd bless Brother Luke as he comes to proclaim the gospel. Lord, we ask that Your word would go out all over this earth and conquer sinful hearts and souls wherever they may be. Lord, you know where yours are. We ask thy will be done for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's all stand together and sing the hymn of the day in the bulletin.

The Savior died, and by His blood Brought chosen sinners near to God. He died to set the captives free, And since by grace, why not for me? Then sing of grace so rich and free, And say, my soul, why not for me? And say, my soul, why not for me? The blood of Christ, how sweet it sounds, Love and free grace therein abounds. The strings thereof are full and free, And why, my soul, why not for me? Then sing of grace so rich and free, And say, my soul, why not for me? And say, my soul, why not for me? Christ came, the lost and poor, to bless, to clothe Him with His righteousness, that robe is spotless, pure, and free, and since by grace, why not for me? Then sing of grace so rich and free, And say, my soul, why not for me? Then say, my soul, why not for me?

Brother Luke Coffey's here this morning. We're delighted to have you. Good to see you again. If you don't know Luke and his brother and his dad, you're missing out. Get to know them. You come and make yourself at home. Preach to us what the Lord put on your heart. Good morning. Pleasure to be with you all this morning. The task of preaching is one that I don't have the words to say how difficult it is, but it is infinitely easier when you look out to people that you care about, people that you love and people that you can tell when they're listening to you. They love what you're saying. I hope the Lord is with us this morning as we Try and worship His name.

If you would, open your Bibles to the book of Jonah. The book of Jonah is about seven or eight books from the end of the Old Testament. Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah. Let me read a few verses here in Jonah chapter 1. Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness is 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 went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. 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, cried every man unto his God and cast forth the wares that were in the ship under 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 they said, Everyone to his fellow come. Let us cast lots that we may know for those for whose cause this evil is upon us. So the cast lots and the lot fell upon Jonah. Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us. What is thine occupation? Whence comest thou? What is thy country? And of what people art thou?

And he said unto them, I am in Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. 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.

Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee that the sea may be calm unto us? For the sea wrought and was tempestuous. 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. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to bring it to the land, but they could not. For the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them.

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.

Look over at verse 9 of chapter 2. The end says, salvation is of the Lord. Most of us know this story, the story of Jonah and the whale. And through all this story, what came of it in the end is Jonah came to the realization, or was reminded of this, that salvation is of the Lord Jesus Christ. That phrase, salvation is of the Lord, is a phrase that I think if you went out into this world to anyone who said they were a Christian, they would absolutely believe that. You said, do you believe salvation is of the Lord?

They would say, yeah, of course I believe that. But I think this phrase is one like so many others that we hear it, it rolls off the tongue, it is said often, and we kind of just go with it. It's like so many other things we say and we do, we don't even really consciously think about what we're saying or what we're doing, what it means. So if we went a little further and we said salvation is of the Lord in its origination. Meaning that the redemption of his people is from the beginning of time.

I think people would be like, hmm, let me think about that. I think if we went further and said salvation is of the Lord in its execution, that he performed it, that the father is the first cause of all that took place in the work of our Redeemer. I think you would have people who'd be like, hmm, I don't know. I mean, I might have to think about that one. And what if we went even further than that? What if we said salvation is of the Lord in its application, meaning that His people are made willing in the day of His power, that it's all Him. Well, I feel very confident we'd have some people be like, now, hold on a second. I don't know about that. Well, the scriptures are clear that salvation is of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I just spoke of other people, people in this world, but there's only one thing that's really important. What do I think? What do I believe when it comes to salvation is of the Lord? It doesn't matter what the pastor thinks. It doesn't matter what grandma thinks. It doesn't matter what our friends think or anyone else. What do I think about salvation is of the Lord?

As an introduction to this message, I want to take a couple of minutes and I want to just say a few things. And I want us to think individually, I want us to think more about anything else, just think about what do I think when it says the script, when the scripture says salvation is of the Lord, what do I believe?

And in my explanation of this or my. My deep my diving into this. I'm going to use scripture. Because you shouldn't believe me. I can't sit up here and tell you that it doesn't matter what grandma thinks or the preacher thinks or anybody else thinks and then tell you to believe what I think. I want you to look and see what the scripture says about salvation is of the Lord. So for just a couple of minutes, listen to this and see what you think.

The first one is salvation is of the Lord in its origination. Our Lord planned and purposed the redemption of his people from the beginning of time. In Ephesians, it says, We are bound to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through the sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Our Lord Jesus was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Salvation is too splendid and too wise to have been the product of any mind except that mind which could accomplish it.

In Henry's commentary, he says this. Suppose that God had called a council of angels and he declared to them the man or men that I shall create will rebel against me. I shall punish all of their sin. My justice and my law demand that I do so. But I intend to show mercy for God is love. Tell me. How can my law be honored and the demands of my justice be fulfilled that mercy may reign? Where shall mercy and truth meet together? Where shall righteousness and peace kiss each other? How can God be just and the justifier of sinners who believe? Those angels would still be sitting there in silence.

Only God can plan and accomplish salvation. Only He can do it. Turn with me to Isaiah 46. Isaiah chapter 46. Salvation is of the Lord in its origination. Isaiah 46 verse 9 says, Remember the former things of old. For I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure, calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country.

Yea, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also do it. It is very clear that salvation is of the Lord in its origination. Now, salvation is of the Lord in its execution. That means that He performed it. In the performance of it, it's all Him. The Father made the beloved and only begotten Son our surety, our representative, and the federal head of an elect people chosen in Him and given to Him to redeem and bring to glory. He did that.

Turn with me to John, John chapter 10. John 10, look at verse 14. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. And they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Look over verse 24. Then came the Jews round about him and said unto him, How long does thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you and you believe not.

The works that I do in my father's name, they bear witness of me. But you believe not because you are not of my sheep as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him."

In Adam, we died. In Christ, we live. In Romans, it says, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for they all have sinned. But then it also says a few verses later, For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. In Adam we died, in Christ we live. In Adam we are made sinners, in Christ we are made righteousness. In Adam, we are separated from God. In Christ, we are brought to God.

First Peter says, For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. It is such good news to see that salvation is of the Lord in its execution, that I'm not the one who has to perform it. The father is the first cause of all that took place in the work of our Redeemer. He, the father, hath made him, the son, to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ. It pleased the Lord to bruise him.

Even those who planned His death, those who betrayed Him, those who tried Him, those who scourged Him, those who nailed Him to the cross and put Him in the tomb, did exactly what God determined before to be done. Christ died not as a reformer, not as an example, nor to gain the pity of man. He died as the substitute, as the sin offering, and the sacrifice of His people. As the blood atonement on the mercy seat of old was offered before the Lord, Christ Jesus, by one offering before the Lord, perfected forever them that are sanctified. The Father ordained and pictured for us in the Old Testament all that our Lord would do for our redemption. In this story, we're going to see that. And He died according to the Scriptures.

It is not a surprise to me that so many people don't see this, don't understand it, and don't believe it. I was raised, like many of you, hearing the Gospel my whole life. I had no reason not to believe it. Arguably, my grandfather was the person I trusted more than anybody in the world. And he's the one who told me this. Showed it to me in the Scriptures over and over again. But my mind just can't grasp it.

Unless the Lord shows us these things, it's beyond anything we can think about. It's not a rare occasion that someone will say something or I will hear something and I don't understand it. And it's made very clear to me that the reason I don't understand is because I'm just not smart enough. You know, on multiple occasions, I have been said, you know, well, you're just too stupid to get it. All of us, as sinners, who we are, we're just not smart enough to grasp any of this.

Thank God our grasping it is all of Him. We don't have to read this book and understand it on our own and come to the right conclusions in order to be saved. That's impossible. Thankfully, salvation is of the Lord in its origination and in its execution and also in its application. This is the last one here real quick. No, no, no. Wait, wait. The freewheeler says, hold on a second. God has done all that he can do and he's given his son. He's provided salvation. Now it's up to us to want it, to seek it, to accept it.

Can the dead sinner give himself life? Can the lost sheep find itself? Can the unregenerate begat themselves? Can the Ethiopian change his skin? I've always heard those examples. In the argument of, it is up to us to want it, to seek it, and to accept it in salvation. I've heard these great things. Can the blind man see those kind of things? Those are way too far for us. We can't do anything on our own. It's just our high opinion of ourselves that make us have to look at things such as, can the dead person give themselves life? No. The Lord's people are made willing in the day of His power.

Of His own will begat He us with the words of truth. We receive Christ and believe on His name because we are born of God. In John it says, But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, which were born not of blood, nor the will of flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. The only way we can be born again, the only way we can believe is of God. It's all of Him. Paul summed up his call in these words found in Galatians 1. But when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me. Salvation is of the Lord. All of it. It's all of Him.

That was a longer introduction. And now I'm going to have a couple more minutes of an introduction so I can get to what I want to talk about this story. Turn back with me to Jonah. This story in Jonah, as we all know, is about Jonah and what he did. And where he ended up in that whale and through that trial came out saying salvation is of the Lord. I want to take just a couple of minutes really quickly. to go over a few points about Jonah. And then I want to get to who I want to talk about. OK, so look with me real quick.

Jonah, verse two says, The Lord said, 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 under 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 went down into it to go with them under Tarshish. For the presence from the presence of the Lord. First off, let's realize that Jonah here is not some random stranger who the Lord sending. The Lord is sending a prophet to go to talk to these people to prophesy to them, and Jonah just makes the decision, you know, that's not what I'm going to do.

Let me give a quick example, and I don't know if any Kids in here might think this is crazy, but let me give an illustration, okay? So, your mother or your father, and everybody else, let's put ourselves back to being children, okay? Let's think about if we would do this. Our mother or father comes into us one day on a Saturday morning and says, I want you to clean your room.

Don't do anything else, clean your room. And I don't mean move stuff around, I don't mean to walk around your room and act like you're cleaning your room. I want you to clean it up. I want you to clean it well enough that when I walk back in here in a few minutes, I'm going to be very pleased with how well you cleaned it. Not your cleaning, but my type of cleaning. And I'm going to go outside for a few minutes. I've got to do something. And when I come back in, I expect this room to be clean. So your mom or dad walk outside.

And the moment you hear that door shut, you stand up, leave your room, Walk to the other side of the house, grab the remote, turn the TV on and start watching it. Now, maybe. When they when your mom or dad told you all that you thought what they meant was you do whatever you want to do. You know, they said all those details, but really what they meant was do what you want to do, or maybe you realize when they were talking to you, I know what's best for me.

I'm not going to listen to them. I'm going to do what I want to do. Or maybe you thought to yourself when they were telling you that and giving you order, you thought, well, I don't think they understand the dynamic here. I'm the one in charge. I get to decide what happens.

Or maybe even further, you went in there and said, let's see him try to stop me. Let's see him try to make me clean my room. If they walk in here, let's see who's going to have a timeout. You know, if they get a little too loud at me, maybe I'm going to give them a spanking. Now, I understand. that that sounds totally ludicrous, right?

Nobody in this room right now thought to themselves, you know, maybe that was what they meant. No, we all just laugh at those reactions to it. And if anybody in here, especially children, because I can look at this from the viewpoint of my own children. We react to that and think nobody would do that. If you haven't already done it, you're going to do it. Everyone in this room has done things like that before. Now, maybe not that exact moment.

But what about Jonah here? Do you think Jonah thought to himself when he said, go to Nineveh, he said, you know, I think he really wants me to go to Tarshish. Do you think Jonah thought to himself and said, you know, I'm going to read into this and I think I'm going to do it a different way? Do you think Jonah thought to himself, he can't make me go to Nineveh? You think Jonah thought to himself, I'm the one in charge, I can do what I want.

All of that is foolishness, yet that's what we do on a consistent basis based off what the Lord has shown us very clearly in this book. He says, believe on me, what do we do? We don't believe. He says, salvation's of the Lord, and we think, well, maybe I can do something. All those things. Have faith. Come unto me. All these things he tells us in there. Do we do those things? The only way we ever do it is if he makes us do it.

In the same way that the only way Jonah was ever going to go to Nineveh is if the Lord made him do it. And that last part of verse 3 says, from the presence of the Lord. The center margin there takes us to Genesis, and that's actually taking us to Cain.

This isn't Jonah saying, I want to go the other way, I want to go where I want to go. He's saying, I want to flee from God. Is that not us? I don't think I'd ever thought about anything other than Jonah just not wanting to go to Nineveh. But this is very clearly Jonah is saying, I want to flee from my Lord. When we disobey him, this is not the same as us disobeying our parents. This is us saying, I will not have that man reign over me. I'm going to do what I want to do. Look at verse four here, a couple more things on Jonah.

But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea. There was a mighty tempest in the sea. The ship was about to be broken. All these mariners were scared. Look at verse six. So the shipmaster came to him and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? These men called him a sleeper.

So Jonah, at this moment, is asleep in the bottom of a ship. I don't know if anybody here has ever been on a cruise or a boat or anything. Sleeping on a ship is not an easy thing to do in general. But do you realize there's a hurricane outside? And Jonah's sleeping. From personal experience, whenever I'm struggling with something or whenever I'm having a hard time, especially when I know when I'm feeling guilt, I'm realizing that I've done something I shouldn't have done. I really struggle sleeping. You know, I'm wrestling with my thoughts going through it.

And this isn't three o'clock in the morning in your warm bed in your 72 degrees house. This is in the bottom of a ship during a hurricane and he's sleeping. He is not worried at all about this, this action he's taken. We are by nature completely unconcerned with our disobedience to God. May God do these things, whatever it takes, three days in the belly of a whale, thrown into the fiery furnace, into the lion's den, or whatever it is.

Make us to see who's in control. Make us to obey. Make us do those things. Jonah went through this, and then in verse 11, They said unto him, What shall we do unto thee that the sea may be calm unto us for the sea is wrought? Verse 12. And he said unto them, Jonah said, Take me up, 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. Jonah understands through this the actions on this ship, which we'll look at in a second, that it's all because of his actions. It is a great place to come to the realization that I am the one who's wrong. I am the sinner. I deserve all these things. Jonah does. He's thrown overboard. And verse 17, it says, 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.

And then finally, chapter two, verse seven, 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 dry land." Jonah is a great picture and a great example of what the Lord does for his people.

We don't obey. We don't listen. We want to flee from him. And he makes us to see who we are, who he is and what we have to do. And that's such a blessing. It's a blessing that we try to flee from him and we can't get away. That at times we just fight, kicking and screaming, and he just holds us. We cannot get out of his hand.

And that he will make us to see salvation is of the Lord. But now let me ask this question. Do we think that remember, I just said that this whole thing that happened to Jonah was so that Jonah would see that salvation is of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do we think that if the Lord wanted to, he could have had Jonah go directly to Nineveh and at the same time realize that salvation is of the Lord? Of course he could have. The Lord can do things, anything he wants. Why did he allow Jonah to do this? There was somebody else that he had to teach. Salvation is of the Lord.

Who else is in this story? What about all these sailors, these fishermen? What about them? Let's spend a few minutes, and I want to look at these Mariners, as there's called these these sailors, the people on this ship. Because all of this happened, and I've read this story a ton of times, and I love Joan in the way it's a great story, a great picture. But I hadn't ever spent hardly any time on the other people in this story. But once I saw it is awesome. It is wonderful to see. So I'll try to go quickly here. And let's go through this. And let's look.

So Jonah fled and he got on a ship, paid the fare to go to Tarsus. Now, Do we realize that there was a specific time that the Lord told Jonah to go to Nineveh? And it was the exact time so that the next morning he would get up and he would find this random ship going a different direction. The Lord told him at the exact moment, knowing that this is the exact ship that Jonah would go to get on, and he knew that this exact day, which of these sailors were going to be on that ship, all of it. was perfectly ordained in a specific way for all of them. 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, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them. So where do we first meet these sailors? We see them on the ship, with a big storm, and they're all afraid. And what do they do when they're afraid? Every man cried unto his God, little G. This storm was bad enough that they realized they needed to approach a God about it. That phrase, the ship was like to be broken or thought to be broken, implies that they know that at any moment this ship is going to fall apart. The ship that they're in, the thing that they're depending for their safety, at any moment it's going to fall apart because of God.

Now, they're all crying, every man to his God. They've all got a God. They're all little g-gods. They're not the true and living God. But they all understand that this storm is not a normal storm. These are sailors. You know they've been out in storms, right? I mean, they've gone through so many storms. This one's bad enough that they realize this storm is of God. Whatever God it is, they realize this is too much for us. Every man cries to his God, all the different gods.

And what do they do next? They start throwing everything overboard. They realize the situation they're in And their first course of action is to pray to someone because they can't save themselves. And the second thing is they realize all the stuff they've got, all of it, is completely useless. They have things on that ship to defend themselves. Throw them overboard.

We've got to survive this storm. They've got food on the ship. We've got to eat. We'll die if we don't eat and drink. That doesn't matter. We have to survive the next five minutes. Throw it all out. All the supplies that make sure that the ship works, throw it out. This ship's going to fall apart. We've got to save ourselves.

Doing everything that they can to save themselves. The realization that they are not in control, the realization that they need a savior is such a great place to be. I know in the moment, boy, they did not want to, they would rather have been anywhere in the world. other than on that ship at that moment. But at the end of this story, they would never have wanted to be anywhere other than in the midst of that storm, in that ship.

So they got rid of everything they had. They realized all the earthly possessions are useless. And I hope you're seeing some of these correlations to us and our spiritual life, eternal life, that we realize that that all these troubles, that we can't save ourselves, that we need someone who's greater than us to save us. We're going to get rid of all our earthly wares. Just Sunday, Gabe was preaching and we were going through the passage where Paul says, all these things I count but done. All of it. It's all just worthless.

Verse six. So the shipmaster, came to him, well I'm sorry, let's finish in the middle of verse 5, but Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship and he lay and was fast asleep. Everybody on the ship was panicked and trying to just stay alive and Jonah was sleeping. Verse 6, so the ship master came to him and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper?

What in the world are you doing? How are you asleep right now? Do you not know what's going on around you? Sleepwalking through this life, not aware of judgment that's coming. Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that that God will think upon us that we perish not. This sailor has realized something.

All these gods they're yelling to, it's not working. I don't even know who they are. But by this description, it makes me realize that all of those men on that ship were probably crying to anybody they'd ever heard of called a God. You know, some cultures have one God, some have ten, some have thousands. That's all because those gods don't do anything, they have no power, they have no authority. And so he thinks when he goes down to this sleeper and he says, maybe that guy has a God that can help us. And of course, That God is a capital G. Said maybe that God will think upon us that we perish not. Verse seven.

And they said, everyone to his fellow come, let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So casting lots, so they are desperate enough at this point that let's just leave this up to chance to figure out who it is. My illustration to my children on this story of casting lot is there's about 10 kids who want to play tag and no one can decide who's going to be it. So you take a pencil and you get in a circle and you flip the pencil in the air and whoever it's pointing to and it stops on the ground, that person is it. Well, that's what they're doing here. They're so desperate, so confused, so out of control. They're like, let's just spin the pencil and we'll blame it on somebody.

So they cast lots and the lot fell upon Jonah. You know, I don't know how many sailors there are, six, eight, 10, 20, I'm not sure. It later talks about them rowing. You have to have a certain number of people to row a ship. It has a underbelly, so of course it's a big enough ship, you'd need quite a few people.

That, you know, 10 or more flipping it, you know, that's a, that's pretty bad odds. You know, I don't like betting on anything that's 5%, 10% chance of winning. You know, I can't believe it fell on Jonah. That pencil could have been spun 5 million times and it was going to land on Jonah every single time. They thought they were casting lots in the same way that we think we're in control of things. It pointed at Jonah, verse 8. Then said they unto him, tell us, We pray thee for whose cause this evil is upon us.

What is your job? What's your occupation? Whence comest thou? Where'd you come from? What is the country? What people are thou? They're they're asking. They're so flabbergasted by this. They're just like, what? What's going on? What can you tell us why this is anything?

And he said unto them, here's Jonah's answer, I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord. a God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land." The first line of verse 10 says, then were the men exceedingly afraid. We know that this verse 9 is not all that he told them, because in just a moment, they're going to say that Jonah had told him what he'd done. I don't know how long Jonah talked, and I don't know exactly what words he used, but Jonah told them the truth. And he told them who God is. And what's the response?

They're exceedingly afraid. They have heard who is the one that is responsible for this storm. Verse 10, Then were the men exceedingly afraid and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? But the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told them.

Jonah had to go to Tarshish on this ship because he had to preach to these sailors. Did he have any interest in preaching to them or telling them about God? Absolutely not. He was sleeping in the bottom of the ship while they were about to die. But the Lord made him and the Lord put him in this situation and he told him and I don't know how much man the sailors understood at this point, but they understood enough to realize that we think this God is God. They're exceedingly afraid. So then they said to him, why did you do this?

I pray that I have the graciousness. To understand. That when you do something. It's not anywhere near as bad as when I do something. Because we all see this and I have my whole life thought to myself, how could Jonah be so dumb to not just go to Nineveh? It seems so simple, doesn't it? Do we not think to ourselves, I just pray the Lord to make this obvious to me. We just make this easy for me. Will you show me where to go? Well, he is and we just We can't do anything. Jonah, why would he have done this?

Everybody in here knows. And that story I told the example with the kids, everybody here knows we should have cleaned our room. We know exactly what our parents meant. We knew the punishment coming from it. What was going to happen? And yet what do we do? We do what we want to do. They say to him, why has thou done this? They realized he fled from God.

What I mean when I say, if the Lord would give me grace in this, as brothers and sisters who are just nothing but sin, may the Lord help us to have patience with each other. Because let me ask this question. If I told you to think right now of all the times that someone had done something wrong to you, OK? I said, just start writing them down. Man, I just start writing. I just every time I think of something, oh, there's something. Oh, they did this. They did it just right, right, right. And then if I had to start and sit down and say, I want you to write every time you've done wrong to someone else. Well, maybe I might have.

We see the error in everyone else and we don't see it ourselves. So I pray the Lord gives us patience and grace and mercy to each other. We shouldn't think that way. I mean, it says what we look at others with the with something in their eye and we have a beam in ours that we just can't see our own blind spots. He give us grace of that just in the side that I know I'm horrible doing that and maybe it will get better. Verse 11.

Then said they unto him, what shall we do unto thee that the sea may be calm unto us for the sea wrought and was tempestuous? Jonah is the only person on that ship that seems to have any idea what's going on. So they look at him and say, what do we do? How can we solve this? What do we have to do to save our lives? And Jonah said in verse 12, and he said unto them, take me up and cast me forth into the sea, throw me overboard. So shall the sea be calm unto you, for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. They asked Jonah, what do we do?

We got to do something. We're all going to die. I mean, it's been five, 10, 15, 20 minutes since they said this ship is going to fall apart at any second. We're going to die at any second. And they say, what are we going to do? And he says, you got to throw me overboard. It's my fault. I'm the one. That's all you got to do. Just throw me overboard. These men have begged and pleaded, trying to find some way that they can be saved, and they've been given it right. They just were told this. OK, this book tells us very plainly salvation is of the Lord. So what are we going to do? What are these sailors do? Look at verse 13. Nevertheless, despite being told this, the men rode hard to bring it to the land. What did they do? They tried to do it themselves anyway.

Why do we read things? Why do we see things? Salvation is of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all of Him. And then maybe I can help. Maybe I want to be a part of it. Maybe these men fought to themselves they're doing this so they can get credit for saving themselves. I don't know.

But they're just doing the same thing they've done over and over and over again and it's never worked yet. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to bring it to the land, but they could not, for the sea wrought." That means it grew more and more tempestuous and the tempest was against them. Every single row they made, the waves got higher. Every single row they made, the wind blew harder. The only way we will rest In the Lord, if he makes us to do it. We're just like these men. We just keep rowing, maybe I can do it.

Verse 14. Wherefore, they cried unto the Lord and this is capital L. They're crying unto the Lord now. They've been told who he is. They said, we beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee. Let us not perish for this man's life. Lay not upon us innocent blood for thou, O Lord, has done as it please thee. These men are a lot different right now than they were just a bit ago, aren't they? For one, they're crying out, To the Lord now, not some little G God.

Two, they're saying. That you do as you please. They're saying it's all of you. They say. Let us not perish. They understand he's in control. He has their lives in his hand. They understand all of this. Verse 15. So they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea and the sea ceased from her raging. In this moment. That is just. A few seconds, there's so much in this, these men tried, they didn't want to throw Jonah overboard. They didn't want to do it.

But yet they realized that's the only way There has to be a sacrifice. Somebody has to die. There's a willing sacrifice here that's going to save them. They throw him overboard. Now, I'm 100% sure every single person on that ship was there and watching when they threw Jonah overboard. They all had to watch every moment of it. And even knowing that this is going to save them, they still know what they're doing. They're very aware we are killing this man.

By throwing him overboard in the middle of a hurricane in the water, they know he has no chance of survival. When they watched as Jonah hit the water and went under, I'm sure that realization hit them all very hard. But do you know what happened the moment Jonah went under the water? They're all watching it. they see him go in the water.

And in just a matter of moments, one of them goes, what happened to the rain? And another one said, what happened to the waves? And the other said, where'd the clouds go? That was the calmest water they'd ever been in in their lives. And in that moment, you know they realized what was going on. It says in the sea ceased from her raging, that word says, and the sea stood. The sea didn't dare move because the heavenly God said stop. The wind didn't blow, the water didn't move. Nothing happened. And in another picture, you know what they saw? There was light. In the hurricane, it's dark and scary, and then all of a sudden the sea was like glass and the sun is bright above.

Verse 16, then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows. They had seen. Who the Lord was in this example, they had seen it, Jonah had told them who he was. We remember they started in the midst of that storm and they were afraid. And then it got worse and worse, and they heard of who God was and they were exceedingly afraid. Then they understood, and then it says, then the men feared the Lord exceedingly. One thing to be afraid, another to be exceedingly afraid, but there is nothing like the fear of God. the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord." It says, sacrificed unto the Lord and vowed vows. They had learned something. They understood who God is. Now, it's such a wonderful thing to see that I have read a story for my whole life. I've had it taught to me.

And yet every time we look at these things, we see more and more of how our Lord is constantly calling out his sheep. He is constantly at work. We say that phrase that all things are for our good and his glory, but we can't grasp that. Well, we can't understand that. And in closing, well, let me say this first.

You know, they didn't realize that when they threw Jonah overboard, that there was a whale waiting for him right underneath the level of the water. I think to myself, how could they not have seen the whale? How could they not have seen that? Well, they didn't see it because they were so caught up in the fear of God from what they'd seen. But these men live the rest of their lives.

Thinking about that moment, If we went through that, you know, there was never a time they were on a ship and it started raining or the wind started blowing that they didn't think back on that moment of Jonah. A willing sacrifice that they had to throw overboard and kill. You know, we think we understand some of these things. In glory, and I'll say it's a presumption, but The Scriptures are very clear of who our God is. And it's very clear to me that He had sheep on that ship that were sailing that boat.

Can you imagine that the day they came to glory and realized that they didn't kill Jonah, that Jonah was preserved, that what they had done, the man they'd thrown overboard, that willing sacrifice had been buried for three days and then came back out and went to Nineveh and prophesied unto them. And what happened from that? They became sorry in Nineveh and repented. All of this full circle of Jonah doing what he did, all of the Lord saving his sheep.

That's what we say it's for our good. ignorant in the thought sometimes that I think some of these earthly things are what that means. And I got that new job or I got that big sale or something like that. Our good is that He has saved our souls. There's nothing like that. All the heavenly things, I'm sorry, all the earthly things combined. If we could have every single wish we ever thought in our minds granted, it wouldn't even be a millionth of what it is that He's given us eternal life. Sometimes we just have to be shown what we already know to remind us of the truth, to remind us who's in control, remind us who has the power.

May the Lord show us that salvation is truly of the Lord Jesus Christ. Show us that. Make us believe it. Make us love it. Make that be the central theme of our entire existence. Every single thing we do and every single thing we think about is all centered on the fact that salvation is of the Lord Jesus Christ. How thankful we are. If we ever want to find peace, that's the only place. If we ever want to find hope, that's it. You want to search the earth for happiness and all these things? You will find happiness and salvation is of the Lord Jesus Christ. He chose a people and He will save them.

Go to the Lord in prayer. Lord God Almighty, our true and living God, what's more, we come through your precious son. Lord, thank you for this message. Thank you for your perfect will, for your mercy, for your grace, for your perfect faithfulness. Thank you for your saving grace.

Lord, let us not forget the things that we've heard this morning as we go our ways. Lord, leave us not to ourselves or to this world. Keep us close to thee. Lord, we pray for traveling mercies for those to be traveling. And again, we pray that you'd strengthen those who are weak and weary. Lord, we pray thy will be done in all things. For Christ's sake, amen.

Oh, how merciful. How merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful thou art to me. Oh, how merciful, how merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful thou art to me. Brother Luke, if you don't mind, please go up to the front so folks can greet you. Thank you for that message. Lord willing, our pastor will be back Wednesday evening. We'll meet again then. You're dismissed.

"Salvation is of the Lord"

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"Salvation is of the Lord"

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