WEBVTT 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:08.640 Hello, I'm Pastor Creighton, and thank you for tuning in to New Sun Churches Podcast. 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:15.359 We're a gospel centered church in Port Perry, Ontario, proclaiming the true and life-giving word of Jesus as we love and serve our neighbors. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:18.399 May God bless you today through his life-giving word. 00:00:20.399 --> 00:00:26.239 The first reading is from the book of Jonah, chapter one, starting in verse 17. 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:32.719 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:37.679 And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:49.920 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his gun from the belly of the fish, saying, I called out to the Lord out of my district, and he answered me. 00:00:50.479 --> 00:00:54.399 Out of the belly of Sheel I crummed, and you heard my voice. 00:00:54.719 --> 00:01:04.159 For you passed me into the deep, into the heart of the disease, and the flood surrounded me, among your breakers and your waves to be passed over me. 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:12.319 Then I said, I am driven away from your sight, yet I shall again look upon your holy temple. 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:16.000 The wonders closed in over me to take my life. 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:17.599 The deep surrounded me. 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:19.920 Weeds were wrapped around my head. 00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:26.000 To the roots of the mountains I went down, to the land whose bars closed upon me forever. 00:01:26.959 --> 00:01:31.359 Yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:38.159 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you into your holy temple. 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:43.359 Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:50.400 But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you what I have vowed I will pay. 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:53.120 Salvation belongs to the Lord. 00:01:54.079 --> 00:01:59.920 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:01.519 The word of the Lord. 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:09.120 Salvation belongs to the Lord. 00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:10.639 Let's pray. 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:22.800 Lord Jesus, we come ever needful of your grace and loving kindness towards us. 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:26.800 Even in ways, Lord, that we've yet to fully recognize. 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:36.159 And so we pray, Lord, by your Holy Spirit, would you illumine to our understanding this word and your scriptures? 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:47.360 That we would look to you with hearts full of faith and find life and hope, even in what seems to us to be the most hopeless of circumstances. 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:48.639 Show us your grace. 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:49.680 Show us your goodness. 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:51.680 Show us your glory, we pray. 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:53.120 In your precious name. 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:54.080 Amen. 00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:55.840 Please be seated. 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:12.319 Well, last Sunday we began a new study on the book of Jonah. 00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:15.120 We've discovered a couple things about Jonah from chapter one. 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:21.039 First and foremost, we discover that Jonah is certainly not the hero of this story, is he? 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:26.960 He's reluctant, he's resistant, he's even rebellious, he's fearful, he's selfish. 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:28.080 Nothing like us, right? 00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:29.360 It's hard to relate to him. 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:39.039 He's not the hero, though he is the prophet that God is calling to bring his word to those he feels least deserves it. 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:48.960 Now, by way of a bit of a review, I thought it would be good for us to go to uh what is a fantastic textbook, I think, on the book of Jonah, and that's the Jesus Storybook Bible. 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:51.120 Have you read the Jesus Storybook Bible? 00:03:51.199 --> 00:03:51.919 I hope you have. 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:58.960 If you haven't, I hope you pick up a copy because I'm not kidding when I say this is such a life-giving book. 00:03:59.199 --> 00:04:04.719 In seasons where I just feel so spiritually dry, this is a book that just warms my heart. 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:08.719 And so, anyway, I'm gonna just read a portion of uh of Jonah today. 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:10.560 So listen up, boys and girls. 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:14.159 This is called God's Messenger. 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:18.879 God had a job for Jonah, but Jonah didn't want it. 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:24.560 Go to Nineveh, God said, and tell your worst enemies that I love them. 00:04:24.959 --> 00:04:30.000 No, said Jonah, those are bad people doing bad things. 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:32.160 Exactly, said God. 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:34.800 They have run far away from me. 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:37.120 But I can't stop loving them. 00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:39.839 I will give them a new start. 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:41.839 I will forgive them. 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:45.680 No, said Jonah, they don't deserve it. 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:53.759 I'll run away, Jonah said to himself, far away, so far away that God won't be able to find me. 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:56.560 Then I won't have to do what God says. 00:04:56.800 --> 00:04:59.040 It's a good plan, he said. 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:02.240 Because as far as he knew, it was a good plan. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:05.519 But of course it wasn't a good plan at all. 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:07.439 It was a silly plan. 00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:14.319 Because you can run away from God, but he will always come and find you. 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:17.360 Doesn't that sum up chapter one so well? 00:05:18.160 --> 00:05:19.680 So where did we leave Jonah? 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:23.439 We left Jonah in the middle of a raging storm, right? 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:32.160 God is, pardon me, Jonah has tried done his best to resist God, but we find even when we resist God, we cannot outrun our God of grace. 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:46.560 And so God in his severe mercy has caused this storm, and Jonah has been hucked overboard as the source of guilt and the source of this storm, and now the storm has ceased, but Jonah we left plunging into the depths. 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:55.120 Jonah, it's clear, has come to the very end of himself, the very end of his self-reliance. 00:05:55.680 --> 00:06:01.680 And it's at this moment, Jonah gets swallowed by a fish. 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:09.839 So naturally, we ask the question that we moderns, I think, find to be a very sophisticated question, which is, really? 00:06:10.959 --> 00:06:11.600 Really? 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:16.000 Three days, three nights, Jonah got eaten by a fish and survived. 00:06:16.319 --> 00:06:24.879 Now, there's many Bible scholars that I have great respect for who would suggest that the right way to read Jonah is to read it through the lens of a parable, right? 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:36.000 We don't believe that there was historically a father and an older brother and a younger son, the prodigal son, but we see God's character, you know, shining through this story in Luke 15. 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:38.959 Maybe we should read Jonah the same way, suggests some. 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:50.959 And while that might relieve certain tensions within the text, I suspect that the text itself wants us to understand that Jonah is, in fact, a real person who God really called. 00:06:51.360 --> 00:07:00.399 And before we get our head in knots about this fish, we should recognize that the first thing we confess in our creed is that God created the heavens of the earth. 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:00.879 Right? 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:02.800 God's power isn't limited. 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:09.600 So let's be careful before we put a limit on God's power at work in time and in history. 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:16.800 Let's remember that at the center of our faith is someone who is risen from the dead by God's power. 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:23.839 If we're going to take a certain interpretive route in Jonah, let's not let the limit of God's power be the reason that we take it. 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:27.120 So Jonah, one way or another, has come to the end of himself. 00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:30.000 And here he is, swallowed whole by this fish. 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:47.199 And chapter two records this heartfelt prayer that Jonah is making, without any other hope, plunging into the depths, into the darkness, into hopelessness, pardon me, Jonah finds his hope. 00:07:48.240 --> 00:08:08.560 Pastor Tim Keller says in a quote that I have somewhere here it is only when you reach the very bottom, when everything falls apart, when all your schemes and resources are broken and exhausted, that you are finally open to learning how completely, pardon me, how to completely depend upon God. 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:11.279 This is what Jonah's learning. 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:16.560 God's grace goes deeper than we can sink. 00:08:16.879 --> 00:08:18.399 That's what Jonah's learning. 00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:21.680 God's grace goes deeper than we can sink. 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:44.080 And if we can recognize that truth, then we can both recognize the importance of obedience, the obedience that Jonah failed to follow through on, but we can also rest assured of God's generous heart towards those of us who know what it is to sink into the depths and into despair. 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:49.840 God's grace goes deeper than you or I can sink. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:52.159 So let's open up the book of Jonah together. 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:57.759 Let's open up your order of service or open up the Pew Bibles to page 726. 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:02.320 Let's discover how God's grace goes deeper than we can sink. 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:07.440 We see God's grace in three ways in particular in this text. 00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:11.200 We see God's grace shown through the way that God answers Jonah. 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:18.799 We see God's grace through the way God raises Jonah, and we see God's grace through the way he saves Jonah. 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:20.879 Answers, raises, and saves. 00:09:21.039 --> 00:09:22.559 Let's see God's grace. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:24.559 Verses two and three. 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:36.000 Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me. 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:42.559 Out of the belly of Sheul I cried, and you heard my voice. 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:49.759 For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me. 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:54.240 All your breakers and your waves passed over me. 00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:57.120 This is Jonah's prayer. 00:09:57.279 --> 00:09:59.600 And he's praying in the midst of great distress. 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:04.080 I can't imagine a circumstance in life that would be worse than this. 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:10.879 To be not just swallowed by a fish in the belly of this great beast, but plunging into the very depths of despair. 00:10:11.039 --> 00:10:17.120 Jonah knows exactly where he is and how desperate his situation is. 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:26.639 He knows where he is, he knows who sent him there, and he knows that he deserves it. 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:36.159 Jonah has no hope to solve this situation for himself, does he? 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:37.519 Do we know that feeling? 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:43.120 We survey life's circumstances and we think, I'm powerless to do anything about this. 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:51.440 It's in this situation that Jonah calls out to God and then he recognizes this amazing truth in verse 2. 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:54.799 I called out to the Lord out of my distress, and what happens? 00:10:55.120 --> 00:10:57.200 He answered me. 00:10:57.919 --> 00:11:01.759 That's very interesting to me, because that's past tense, isn't it? 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:04.320 It's not just hope that he will answer. 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:06.159 That's not just wishful thinking. 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:08.639 He has answered me. 00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:10.879 What answer has Jonah received here? 00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:13.200 Because isn't he still in the belly of the fish? 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:14.960 That's very interesting. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:34.960 Here's what Jonah knows: he knows that as deep as he is sinking, God's ongoing commitment to him, God's ongoing generosity towards him, God's ongoing patience with him, God's ongoing kindness towards him has not failed. 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:39.279 He may be sinking into the depths, but God's grace goes deeper still. 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:47.919 Jonah knows what Julian of Norwich knows when she says, all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well. 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:55.120 John Lennon gives a bit of a spin on that when he says everything will be okay in the end, and if everything's not okay, then it's not the end. 00:11:55.360 --> 00:11:58.639 I kind of like the way Julian of Norwich puts it, though, personally. 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:00.879 That's the truth that Jonah knows. 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:08.480 In his grace, no matter how deep we sink, God still hears and answers our prayer. 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:14.799 In our greatest distress, God has not abandoned us, God has not forgotten us. 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:24.879 In fact, God gives an amazing promise to his people in Isaiah 49, or let's just say an amazing image of God's mindfulness of us, right? 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:27.919 Into a people facing exile, right? 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:33.120 Being wondering whether or not God has forgotten his promises towards him. 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:40.399 God says to his people, can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? 00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:45.039 Even these, God says, may forget, yet I will not forget you. 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:48.399 Is God trying to say that mothers forget their nursing infants? 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:50.240 He's saying, of course they don't. 00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:54.559 But they're more likely to forget that than I am to forget my people. 00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:57.519 That's an amazing promise of assurance. 00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:11.919 God is saying there is no possibility that I will ever neglect you, that I will ever forget you, that I will ever, that I will not will your very good. 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:21.120 Even in the midst of our distress, God has not abandoned us and he will not refuse a broken and contrite heart. 00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:25.120 God remains committed to us in our distress. 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:28.000 He hears our prayers. 00:13:29.759 --> 00:13:34.159 He is more committed to us in our distress than we could ever be committed to him. 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:36.879 Maybe that's what Jonah's recognizing. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:39.279 So how do we pray in our distress? 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:43.919 I want to suggest that what Jonah is praying here is a very honest prayer, isn't it? 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:47.200 He's recognizing some very painful truths for himself. 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:58.320 And I think when we are in the midst of distress, let me speak in the first person, when I'm in the midst of distress, I do this funny thing where I pray in the way that I think God wants me to pray. 00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:04.720 I pray as I think I ought to pray, as if that's going to twist God's arm into doing the thing that I want him to do for me. 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:07.039 But that's not what Jonah doing here, is it? 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:20.960 In his fallible, flimsy way, Jonah is recognizing some brutal truths that he has re- or he has denied, he has run away from all through chapter one, and now he has no choice but to face them for what they are. 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:26.960 I want to suggest that in the midst of our distress, our prayers need to be as honest as that. 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:27.919 C.S. 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:34.720 Lewis writes in a letter of his about prayer, actually, there's a great book, Letters to Malcolm, Chiefly on Prayer, would highly recommend. 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:36.480 I'm recommending all sorts of books today. 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:37.039 Sorry. 00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:37.759 C.S. 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:47.360 Lewis writes, we want to know not how we should pray if we were perfect, but how we should pray being as we are now. 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:56.639 It is no use to ask God with fictitious earnestness for A when our whole mind is really filled with the desire for B. 00:14:56.879 --> 00:15:02.960 We must lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us. 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:04.960 Do you see the difference there? 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:07.759 Pray with utter honesty, Lewis says. 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:11.519 That's the kind of prayer that Jonah is making before God. 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:17.279 Pray with what's in you, not with what you think ought to be in you. 00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:19.919 God answers prayer, he hears our prayer. 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:24.000 There is no depth to which we can sink, or God will not hear this. 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:32.559 But we should notice this that God's answer is not necessarily an easy flip-of-the-switch solution, is it? 00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:35.360 Because Jonah's still in the belly of this whale. 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:43.840 Jonah knows that God answers prayer and he recognizes his grace in it, but he recognizes God's power is greater still. 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:49.279 God can show his grace in raising us from the depths itself. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:51.200 Verse four. 00:15:51.519 --> 00:16:01.120 Then I said, I am driven away from your sight talking to God, yet I shall again look upon your holy temple. 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:16.159 The waters closed in over me to take my life, the deep surrounded me, weeds were wrapped around my head, to the roots of the mountains I went down, to the land whose bars closed upon me forever. 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:20.320 Yet you brought up my life from the pit. 00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:32.320 O Lord my God, when my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you in your holy temple. 00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:39.840 Jonah's sinking not just into the depths of despair, not just into the depths of the sea. 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:46.639 Jonah, we see in verse two, understands that he is crying out from the very belly of Sheol. 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:49.440 And that's the imagery that Jonah is giving. 00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:50.960 It's Sheol imagery. 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:51.840 Now, what is Sheol? 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:56.639 Sheol, for the Hebrew people, is the place of the dead. 00:16:56.879 --> 00:17:01.360 It's where souls go that depart from the Lord. 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:06.000 And the imagery that Jonah is evoking here is very much associated with Sheol. 00:17:06.160 --> 00:17:08.799 It's a place of forgottenness. 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:16.079 It's deep in the depths of the earth, never to emerge again, being barred in kind of imagery. 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:27.119 So it raises an interesting question here because while most commentators suggest that Jonah is speaking in figurative language, it's as if he's descending into Shiul. 00:17:27.519 --> 00:17:36.319 There is another interpretive tradition that suggests that perhaps Jonah, having been eaten by a whale, is actually descending into Shiul. 00:17:36.960 --> 00:17:43.680 He is actually going to the place of the dead, having departed from the world. 00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:51.920 Now, whether it's figurative or whether it's actual, we can recognize that Jonah is in an utterly hopeless situation. 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:55.759 And there's nothing he can do to fix it for himself. 00:17:56.079 --> 00:18:07.279 But it's in this very depth of hopelessness that Jonah recognizes a gospel truth, yet, you, God, brought my life out of the pit. 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:21.039 There is no defeat, even death itself, that can thwart God's good work for us, and his commitment and his generosity and his kindness towards us. 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:24.480 There is no defeat that can thwart God's work. 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:30.880 And that is Jonah's hope, even in the place where no hope lives. 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:37.440 Jonah's hope is in God, who raises what has gone down into the pit. 00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:45.759 In his grace, in other words, no matter how deep we sink, God can still raise us up. 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:53.920 I was reading earlier this week Genesis chapter 22, which admittedly is a very thorny chapter, if you know it. 00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:59.519 That's the chapter where God calls Abraham to take Isaac up on the mountain and sacrifice him. 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:08.319 And at the last minute, right, God prevents Isaac from sacr or Abraham from sacrificing his son Isaac and provides instead a ram to be sacrificed. 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:10.160 And the imagery is very vivid there. 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:13.839 God will provide the substitute for what he requires, right? 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:17.359 It's very salvation, you know, Christ imagery there. 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:27.279 But nevertheless, it's a bit of a thorny chapter, and we wonder what is going on through Abraham's mind as they make this journey up the mountain. 00:19:27.839 --> 00:19:33.759 The book of Hebrews tells us exactly the sort of faith that is revealed in this story. 00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:45.119 Hebrews chapter 11, reflecting on Genesis 22, says this Abraham considered that God was able even to raise Isaac from the dead. 00:19:45.359 --> 00:19:48.640 So why is it that Abraham was willing to take this journey? 00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:57.680 Why is it that Abraham was willing to make this sacrifice when God said, It's through this son Isaac, that my promise to the whole world will come into being? 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:04.799 God knows even if this sacrifice goes through, God is able to raise the dead. 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:09.440 Not even death can thwart God's plan for salvation. 00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:13.359 And yes, God in his way provides the sacrifice, right? 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:23.039 Hebrews 11, figurative speaking, Abraham did receive Isaac back, but in the midst of his distress, Abraham knows that checkmate is not the end of the game. 00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:25.839 If we play chess, we know that checkmate ends that game. 00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:32.240 We know what it is to be in the end game and to recognize the sequence of moves here that's going to lead to checkmate. 00:20:32.319 --> 00:20:35.279 But checkmate does not thwart God's purposes. 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:39.440 What we think is the end, God can still raise up. 00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:42.480 This is the hope that Abraham has. 00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:44.079 This is the hope that Jonah has. 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:48.720 In the midst in the depths of Sheol, God can raise up. 00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:57.759 Which is exactly why Jonah twice says that he will either look upon or pray towards God's holy temple. 00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:01.119 Did you notice that in verses 4 and verse 7? 00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:03.200 Twice he brings up the holy temple. 00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:05.039 What's Jonah talking about here? 00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:10.799 He's talking about that place where God's dwelling is made manifest amongst his people, right? 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:14.640 Where God's covenant promises are represented here. 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:22.000 And Jonah in the depths of Sheol knows there is nothing that he can do to solve this problem for himself, to raise himself up. 00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:27.200 And so in his heart, he turns his attention towards the place where God's promises rest. 00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:31.200 He turns his heart there in thanksgiving and in praise. 00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:34.720 He turns his heart there in prayer and in petition. 00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:47.920 And friends, when we are in the midst of the despair and depths and desolation, we too need to turn our hearts to the place where God makes his dwelling known, where he makes his promises manifest. 00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:59.759 Today's the conversion of Paul, and in the letter in his letter to the Corinthian church, Paul writes that you, church, that's plural, you, you know that you. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:06.000 You yourselves are God's temple, and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst. 00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:10.319 Under the old covenant, God's presence was made known in this physical location. 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:16.079 In the new covenant, now in Christ, God makes his presence known amongst his people, the church. 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:28.559 And so when we recognize God's power to raise up, raise us up from hopelessness and desperation, we can come into God's church with hearts full of thanksgiving and praise and make that known to God. 00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:46.400 But then those of us who are in the midst of our distress, in the midst of desolation, we need to come into God's church and we need to hear proclaimed the words of promise that God makes all things new and bring that to bear on our desolation and on our distress. 00:22:46.559 --> 00:22:52.720 We need that proclamation, we need that promise that is being made manifest amongst God's people. 00:22:53.680 --> 00:23:02.079 We look, we pray unto God's holy temple in praise, in proclamation, and thanksgiving. 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:05.839 What other hope has Jonah? 00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:07.440 He has none. 00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:11.200 That's why Jonah makes his final declaration here. 00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:17.519 God answers us in our distress, he raises us up from the pit of despair itself. 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:21.519 Finally, Jonah recognizes God alone saves. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:22.960 Verse 8. 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:29.119 Those who pay regard to vain idols, Jonah says, forsake their hope of steadfast love. 00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:37.039 But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you what I have vowed to pay. 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:42.480 Salvation, Jonah says, belongs to the Lord. 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:47.200 Salvation, deliverance, victory, help. 00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:52.799 This same word is used in Psalm 20 to talk about a military victory, right? 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:54.880 One army defeating another. 00:23:55.119 --> 00:24:03.279 The same word is used in Exodus chapter 14, describing God's saving his people from Egypt through the Red Sea. 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:08.079 It's deliverance, salvation, security. 00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:15.279 And it belongs to the Lord, which is to say, it is his working. 00:24:15.599 --> 00:24:24.000 God makes his salvation manifest in real history and in real time in his way, and we are recipients of it. 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:31.680 All of this would suggest that Jonah is beginning to recognize that salvation, his salvation, doesn't belong to him. 00:24:32.559 --> 00:24:33.119 Right? 00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:37.440 If salvation belongs to the Lord, then it cannot belong to Jonah. 00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:39.920 Jonah got himself into this mess. 00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:47.440 Jonah got himself plunging into the depths of the sea, the very depths of Sheol itself. 00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:52.240 He needs a power greater than himself to raise himself up. 00:24:53.359 --> 00:24:56.400 Salvation belongs only to the Lord. 00:24:56.559 --> 00:25:11.200 See, in his grace, no matter how deep we sink, God can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, to save us, to rescue us, to redeem us. 00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:24.480 It's precisely for this reason that Jesus, responding to his critics, the Pharisees and scribes, points to this story of Jonah to frame the salvation that he will accomplish. 00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:35.680 The scribes and Pharisees say to Jesus in Matthew chapter 12, Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you, which is to say, you know, we've just been talking about how a tree is known by its fruit. 00:25:35.759 --> 00:25:39.119 We want some proof that you're legit, Jesus, so give us a sign. 00:25:39.359 --> 00:25:49.519 But Jesus answered them an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 00:25:49.759 --> 00:25:51.599 What does Jesus mean by that? 00:25:51.920 --> 00:26:06.079 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man, that's himself, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:16.559 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. 00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:18.720 Did you catch that? 00:26:19.599 --> 00:26:26.799 Just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 00:26:27.039 --> 00:26:29.519 Something greater than Jonah is here. 00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:34.480 Jonah is just the sign, the reality that it points to has arrived. 00:26:34.559 --> 00:26:37.119 And that's me, is what Jesus is saying. 00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:45.920 Three days and three nights, Jonah was, that's inclusive, by the way, because I know that's kind of tricky, but we're talking three nights, three three days, three nights inclusively. 00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:53.680 Jonah, so Jonah was plunged into the very depths of death itself, so too will I be plunged into the depths of death itself. 00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:59.359 And just as God raised Jonah up by his power, so too will God raise me up by his power. 00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:04.559 But here's the important difference it's Jonah's guilt that got him into this situation, isn't it? 00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:13.440 It's his resistance and his rebellion against God that has made for the consequence of his being brought down into the depth itself. 00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:16.559 Jonah has no one else to blame but himself. 00:27:16.960 --> 00:27:19.759 Jesus is not the guilty one. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:28.640 Jesus is not the one who deserves the death that he receives, but he willingly bears our guilt, the world's guilt. 00:27:28.960 --> 00:27:42.880 He willingly takes that upon himself on the cross and so plunges it into the very depths of Sheol itself, so that when he is raised in righteousness, he can share with us that righteousness. 00:27:43.039 --> 00:27:55.599 And we can stand before God in perfect confidence, not in our ability to do for ourselves what we think God requires of us, but with confidence in Christ who has accomplished that on our behalf. 00:27:55.839 --> 00:28:07.279 Friends, if you are in Christ, your guilt has sunk to the very bottom of the sea, to the very depths of Sheol itself. 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:09.920 It lies in hell. 00:28:10.559 --> 00:28:14.799 But you have been raised to new life. 00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:22.400 You are a new creation, and there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:33.920 You have been brought up to new life, and one day that new life will be made manifest when we will all be raised with him in his everlasting kingdom. 00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:38.400 But that life has started now in Christ. 00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:40.400 That's who you are. 00:28:40.880 --> 00:28:46.640 You've been raised by his power and the power of his resurrection. 00:28:47.839 --> 00:29:03.440 If that's Jesus' power, to raise up from death our very souls, our very life, then who else does salvation belong to but the Lord, who makes himself known in the Lord Jesus? 00:29:04.160 --> 00:29:13.920 Maybe that's why Jonah says in verse 8, those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. 00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:19.519 He knows the one to whom steadfast love belongs to, the true God, the creator God. 00:29:19.680 --> 00:29:28.960 Any other vain idol, any other false God, anything, any deliverer that we could set up for ourselves is really just vanity, vacuous and empty. 00:29:29.279 --> 00:29:33.599 We need the real salvation that comes from the only real God. 00:29:34.319 --> 00:29:52.720 And therefore, spiritual growth comes when we recognize the idols of our hearts, those false saviors we set up for ourselves, those things we think will deliver us and bring security in times of distress, those things that substitute themselves for the true God, for our Lord Jesus. 00:29:53.440 --> 00:29:58.559 And spiritual growth comes when we recognize those things and we hand those over to Him. 00:29:58.880 --> 00:30:05.920 And our allegiance and our trust is found solely and completely in the Lord Jesus' power to save. 00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:09.279 But friends, that's tricky, isn't it? 00:30:09.519 --> 00:30:16.240 That's tricky even for Jonah, I think, by the way, because truthfully, I'm not quite sure who he's talking about here. 00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:18.799 Who is it that trusts in vain idols? 00:30:19.039 --> 00:30:26.720 Is Jonah talking about his own people, Israel, and their ongoing struggle with false gods, their ongoing lapse into unbelief? 00:30:27.119 --> 00:30:28.079 Maybe. 00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:35.839 Is Jonah talking about the sailors that he was just with who asked Jonah to call out to his god just like they're calling out to their gods? 00:30:36.799 --> 00:30:37.759 Maybe. 00:30:38.079 --> 00:30:42.480 Is he thinking about the Ninevehes who he's been called to go and preach to? 00:30:42.960 --> 00:30:44.480 Quite possibly. 00:30:45.039 --> 00:30:58.640 Almost certainly I would suggest Jonah is not thinking about himself and the idols in his own heart, and the idols that suggest that he has a self-righteousness that these sailors or these Ninevehes lack. 00:30:58.960 --> 00:30:59.359 Right? 00:30:59.599 --> 00:31:05.440 This self-righteousness that justifies his callousness towards who need God's grace the most. 00:31:12.319 --> 00:31:14.880 But it's almost certain he's not talking about himself. 00:31:15.039 --> 00:31:32.079 And again, Tim Collar writes, Jonah sees the literal idols that the pagans worship and doesn't see the more subtle idols in his own life that keep him from fully grasping that he too, just like the heathen, lives only, equally by God's grace. 00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:34.400 And friends, isn't that true for us? 00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:39.119 Don't we live equally only by God's grace? 00:31:40.480 --> 00:31:41.599 It's tempting. 00:31:41.839 --> 00:31:55.279 It's tempting to recognize the idols in everybody else's life and everybody else's heart and never turn our attention to our own and hand those over in trust and discover that God alone answers and raises and saves. 00:31:56.160 --> 00:31:59.279 But nevertheless, God's grace goes deeper still, doesn't it? 00:31:59.759 --> 00:32:02.400 Because God does not forget Jonah. 00:32:02.640 --> 00:32:04.319 He is pursuing Jonah. 00:32:05.119 --> 00:32:07.839 Well, we see how silly Jonah's plan, isn't it? 00:32:08.400 --> 00:32:15.519 Jonah's plan is silly not just because he thinks he can outrun God, but because of the kind of God he thinks he can outrun. 00:32:15.839 --> 00:32:17.359 This God is gracious. 00:32:17.599 --> 00:32:23.039 This God is gracious not just to the Ninevehites, not just to enemies, not just those who don't deserve God's love. 00:32:23.200 --> 00:32:29.839 God's gracious to Jonah, even in the depths of desolation, despair, and death itself. 00:32:30.079 --> 00:32:31.279 That is our God. 00:32:31.599 --> 00:32:35.759 And he is as gracious to you as he is to Jonah. 00:32:36.079 --> 00:32:46.400 And Jonah's fear and selfishness and reluctance have all plunged him into this, into the depths, but God, by his grace and power, has raised him to new life. 00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:48.480 And that's the image we get. 00:32:48.720 --> 00:32:52.400 That the Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah out into the dry land. 00:32:52.480 --> 00:32:54.160 And I love that image. 00:32:54.880 --> 00:32:59.839 Death cannot hold us when God speaks life. 00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:04.400 God's grace goes deeper than we can sink. 00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:08.240 And if that's true, maybe we can recognize the importance of obedience. 00:33:08.480 --> 00:33:08.799 Right? 00:33:08.960 --> 00:33:13.039 Because Jonah and his disobedience has brought this upon himself. 00:33:13.680 --> 00:33:18.079 Because he didn't trust the good will of the God who has called him to proclaim his word? 00:33:18.480 --> 00:33:20.559 Can we trust the goodness of God? 00:33:21.039 --> 00:33:24.640 Can we trust it even when it doesn't seem to make sense? 00:33:24.880 --> 00:33:36.960 Even in the times where we know that so-and-so does not deserve to hear that word of grace and forgiveness, can we recognize that we too are sinners and we need God's grace and forgiveness? 00:33:37.119 --> 00:33:41.440 What is God calling you to that you might otherwise run away from? 00:33:41.599 --> 00:33:43.279 What is God convicting me of? 00:33:43.519 --> 00:33:46.480 The sin that I might otherwise cling to for security. 00:33:46.720 --> 00:33:50.799 Let's not be afraid of this gracious God, but let's run towards him. 00:33:51.119 --> 00:33:59.759 And let's run towards him, assured of his faithfulness in the depths of desolation and death itself. 00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:05.119 Because God's grace goes deeper than we could ever plunge away from God. 00:34:05.279 --> 00:34:09.679 God's heart is for you and for me and for us. 00:34:10.239 --> 00:34:14.719 And he is far more committed to you than you could ever be to him. 00:34:15.519 --> 00:34:17.039 Thanks be to God. 00:34:17.840 --> 00:34:25.360 With Jonah, through Jesus, we can say, Who is like the Lord our God? 00:34:25.840 --> 00:34:28.960 Strong to save, faithful in love. 00:34:29.440 --> 00:34:32.719 My debt is paid, the victory won. 00:34:32.960 --> 00:34:36.159 The Lord is my salvation. 00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:42.159 So we're gonna leave Jonah spewed up here on the beach with a decision to make. 00:34:42.480 --> 00:34:44.000 Where does he go from here? 00:34:44.239 --> 00:34:50.800 Friends, we who know God's grace in our Lord Jesus have a decision to make. 00:34:50.960 --> 00:34:52.639 Where do we go from here? 00:34:52.880 --> 00:34:54.400 Let's go deeper still. 00:34:54.719 --> 00:34:55.360 Amen. 00:34:59.039 --> 00:35:01.599 We hope that you've been blessed by God's word today. 00:35:01.760 --> 00:35:07.039 If you live in the Port Perry area, we hope that you'll come and worship with us in person on Sunday at 10 a.m. 00:35:07.519 --> 00:35:10.880 If you'd like to learn more about Newsong Church, we'd love to connect with you. 00:35:11.039 --> 00:35:15.840 Please find our contact information at newsongportperry.ca and reach out to us. 00:35:16.079 --> 00:35:21.280 Newsong's ministry is entirely funded by the generous giving of those who worship and journey with us. 00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:29.599 If you feel called to support our ministry with a financial gift, please go to newsongportperry.ca slash giving to make your contribution. 00:35:29.920 --> 00:35:32.559 Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.