WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:05.599 I'm going to read for us Jonah chapter one. 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:14.880 Now the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the son of Amitai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me. 00:00:15.119 --> 00:00:18.160 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:20.800 He went down to Jaffa and found a ship going to Tarshish. 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:26.239 So he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish away from Yahweh's presence. 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:32.479 But Yahweh hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:39.200 The mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his God, and they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea and lightened it for him. 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:43.200 But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship, and in laying down, was fast asleep. 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:46.560 So the captain came to him and said, What do you mean, you sleeper? 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:48.640 Arise and call out to your God. 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:51.600 Perhaps the God will give a thought to us that we may not perish. 00:00:51.759 --> 00:00:57.119 And they said to one another, Come, let us cast lots that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us. 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:00.479 So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:04.239 They said to him, Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:05.439 What is your occupation? 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:06.400 Where do you come from? 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:07.359 What's your country? 00:01:07.519 --> 00:01:08.560 What people are you? 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:14.319 And he said to them, I'm a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who made the sea in the dry lands. 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:18.799 And the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, What is this you have done? 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:22.719 For the men knew that he was fleeing from Yahweh's presence, because he told them. 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:26.560 They said to him, What shall we do to you that the sea may quiet down for us? 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:36.560 For the sea grew more and more tempestuous, and he said to them, Pick me up and hurl me into the sea, then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it's because of me this great tempest has come upon you. 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:44.159 Nevertheless the men rode hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:53.359 Therefore they called out to Yahweh, O Yahweh, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Yahweh, have done as it pleased you. 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:58.560 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:04.799 Then the men feared Yahweh exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh, and made vows. 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:12.960 Yahweh appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:16.319 We will save verse 17 next week. 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:19.599 I'll spend all of next Lord's Day, Lord willing, on verse 17. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:23.840 Um, but this morning I want to look specifically at a couple things. 00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:27.759 I want to begin with just this question: why is Jonah in the Bible? 00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:40.639 This is a question that somebody asked me last Sunday after third hour, and uh it was more of an answer that I wanted to give right there with my kids all over and everything, and it just wasn't the right time to explain why Jonah is in the Bible. 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:43.039 But this is the right time this morning. 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:44.639 Why is Jonah in the Bible? 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:48.960 And really, uh, there's a lot of reasons, but I wanted to highlight just three for you this morning. 00:02:49.120 --> 00:02:52.479 Jonah's in the Bible to provide a picture for God's sovereignty. 00:02:52.719 --> 00:03:00.319 You know, often the Bible teaches theological themes and it teaches them didactically, but then it reiterates them in different ways. 00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:04.639 So the Bible makes it clear that God is sovereign, that he reigns over the heavens and the earth. 00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:06.960 He spoke the universe into existence. 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:11.120 The Bible teaches that all things hold together through him in Colossians 1. 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:14.879 Everything has its existence because of God's sovereign will. 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:20.000 There are no molecules out of place, there's no rebel particles in the universe. 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:23.039 Everything is under his sovereign control and direction. 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:30.080 Even sin, even suffering and evil, although God is never morally responsible for evil, he remains his sovereign over it. 00:03:30.159 --> 00:03:31.360 And this is what the Bible teaches. 00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:36.240 It teaches that that didactically, it celebrates that through psalms that are about it. 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:38.800 Yahweh is in heaven and he does whatever it pleases him. 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:43.199 He owns the cattle and all the hills, is a couple examples that come to mind. 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:48.159 But then the scripture teaches these truths through narrative. 00:03:48.479 --> 00:03:55.039 It will then teach something didactically and then sing about it in Psalms and then portray it for you in narrative fashion. 00:03:55.120 --> 00:04:01.599 And so it's one thing to say that God is sovereign over the universe, but it's a it's another to watch what how does that play out? 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:06.240 How does God's sovereignty play out with people who are volitional creatures? 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:10.879 We make decisions, we we have our own will and inclinations, and we do things. 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:13.840 And sometimes the things we do are in rebellion against God. 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:16.079 Sometimes we run away from God. 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:27.680 The world is filled with those who don't know Yahweh, who don't know the covenant God of Israel, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, who don't know the Lagos, the word that became flesh and made its dwelling among us. 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:30.000 The world is filled with those people who've never heard of him. 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:34.720 What does God's sovereignty look like when it encounters people who don't know who God is? 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:36.959 And Jonah provides you with a picture of that. 00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:58.480 And I love the full color way Jonah provides that picture because you see what happens to a boat that intersects with God's sovereignty, with pagan sailors that intersect with God's sovereignty, with a renegade prophet who encounters God's sovereignty, with a whole pagan city that encounters God's sovereignty, and then ultimately with a wind and a worm and a weed and all that. 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:06.399 You get a picture of what God's sovereignty looks like played out on the natural level and on the saving level. 00:05:07.040 --> 00:05:13.360 It's remarkable in the book of Jonah the things that God uses to demonstrate this point that He is the ruler of the universe. 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:22.319 You see that God uses wind, waves, boats, sailors, sheep, fish, a weed, a wind, and a worm to all make that point. 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:31.839 And of course, the main point the book is making that you see in this is that God saves whom he wants to save, when he wants to save, and how he wants to save them. 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:35.279 He wants to save a people in Nineveh, he sends them to Nineveh. 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:42.079 He doesn't send Jonah to Babylon, he doesn't send Jonah to Persia, he doesn't send Jonah to Damascus, he doesn't send Jonah to Rome. 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:47.199 He has, God in his mind, has selected one city, one city for this prophet to go to. 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:55.839 Among all the pagan cities in the world, God has sovereignly chosen these people in Nineveh, and we'll encounter them in a few weeks. 00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:02.560 And tangentially, another lovely picture of God's sovereignty over salvation here. 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:05.360 We find the sailors, and we'll look more at them in a few moments. 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:08.879 The second reason Jonah's in the Bible is to reveal God's heart for the world. 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:11.120 To reveal God's heart for the world. 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:18.800 This is a obviously a central point in the book of Jonah, that one of Israel's prophets has been sent to another nation. 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:21.680 Now, this in and of itself is not unusual. 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:27.920 Jeremiah has prophecies against the nations, Isaiah has prophecies against the nations, others as well. 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:29.360 Nahum comes to mind. 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:34.319 But Jonah is unique in that he was called to pack up and go. 00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:39.439 Head out to these people that don't know Yahweh and bring to them the news of Yahweh. 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:46.879 Now, of course, Jonah was told to go and preach their destruction, but even Jonah, we find out in chapter four, understood what was going to happen in chapter three. 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:53.199 Even Jonah knew that the act of God sending a messenger certainly entailed at the very least a hope of salvation. 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:59.439 And with God, a hope of salvation that depends upon his will and initiative is seen played out. 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:00.720 And Jonah understands that. 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:02.319 And that's why Jonah doesn't want to go. 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:04.319 Remember, he says, I knew you would do this. 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:05.279 Ah, God. 00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:10.079 Of course you would go saving people left and right that I didn't sign off on. 00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:25.519 The takeaway lesson from Jonah's encounter with the sailors in the boat, with the Nineveh, is that God has always had a desire to save people around the world. 00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:30.079 Now, obviously, Yahweh is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:33.519 He's the God of David, Solomon, of Asa and Hezekiah. 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:38.079 He's the God of the line of David that reigned in Jerusalem. 00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:45.680 He's the God of Jesus, the king of Israel, whose kingdom will be established on the Mount of Olives when he returns a second time. 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:49.120 But he is also the God of Melchizedek. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:55.519 He's the God of the priest that came not from the loins of Abraham, not from the line of Levi. 00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:57.360 He's the God of Ruth. 00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:02.319 Of course, the Moabitus who came and ends up in the line of Christ. 00:08:02.399 --> 00:08:04.240 He's the God of the Queen of Sheba. 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:09.040 He's the God of Naaman the leper, the Syrian military leader. 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:11.920 He's the God of the widow of Zarepath. 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:16.800 He's the God of the Persian wise men who you encounter in Matthew chapter 2. 00:08:16.879 --> 00:08:19.680 He's the God of the Roman centurion, you find in Matthew 8. 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:24.480 He's the God of the Syrophoenician mother who begged Jesus to heal her daughter. 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:29.199 So he's not only the God of Israel, he's the God of the world. 00:08:29.279 --> 00:08:45.039 And you encounter this claim in Jonah, of course, on the on the global scope, when Jonah declares that his is the God, not the God of some province, not the God of some nation like the sailors had, but when Jonah declares that his is the God who made the heavens, who made the earth, and who made the ocean. 00:08:45.200 --> 00:08:48.399 In other words, Yahweh is not a provincial God. 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:50.080 He reigns over all things. 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:51.519 But Jonah goes deeper than that. 00:08:51.679 --> 00:08:55.360 Jonah's not satisfied in declaring that God is the God of the universe. 00:08:55.519 --> 00:09:01.759 He wants to particularly declare that God is the God who wants to save people from all over the world. 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:08.480 It's not simply about God's sovereignty, it's about God's heart to save the nations. 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:13.120 This book has a powerful point in the Old Testament. 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:18.960 You know, Israel has always been designed in the Old Testament to stay in Israel and attract the nations to itself. 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:21.919 The nations were supposed to hear of what was happening in Israel. 00:09:22.080 --> 00:09:23.840 This is what's described in Deuteronomy 4. 00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:25.759 They were supposed to hear of the justice in Israel. 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:31.840 They were supposed to hear about Yahweh's glory, and they were supposed to come to Israel and encounter Yahweh and be saved. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:35.279 And that never happened, other than the Queen of Sheba, really. 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:41.440 And once Solomon marries all of his women, that mode of missions closes. 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:45.679 No longer are the nations drawn towards Israel to encounter Yahweh and be saved. 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:49.360 From that point on, the nations are drawn to Israel to conquer Israel. 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:52.720 To rise up against them. 00:09:53.919 --> 00:10:01.919 And then in the New Testament, God changes that by not telling the church to stay and transform, but rather to go into the world. 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:06.320 The church is not supposed to simply gather, but we gather in order to send. 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:08.159 We gather in order to go. 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:15.279 Now that's a radical change from the way salvation expanded around the world in the Old Testament. 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:18.960 And so you encounter that in the New Testament and you're tempted to say, is this new? 00:10:19.039 --> 00:10:22.159 Is this idea that Jesus wants the world to come to faith? 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:24.080 Is that a brand new thing in the New Testament? 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:25.440 And the answer, of course, is no. 00:10:25.519 --> 00:10:35.759 And there's all kinds of examples in the Old Testament about individuals encountered here and there, but this becomes a prefigure, almost a type of the kind of missions you'll see in the New Testament. 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:38.879 There will be somebody who will be sent to a pagan land. 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:42.240 In that pagan land, they will hear about Yahweh and they will come to faith. 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:47.279 This lets you know that God's heart for the nations did not begin with the incarnation. 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:50.000 It did not begin in Matthew 28 with the Great Commission. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:53.200 It didn't begin in Acts 10 with the Gentile Pentecost. 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:55.039 It has always been there. 00:10:55.200 --> 00:10:56.559 It goes back to creation. 00:10:56.639 --> 00:11:01.039 It goes back to the days of Peleg when God separated the nations. 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:06.399 God has always let the nations go their own way, Paul says in Acts 17. 00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:12.240 God designed to let the nations go their own way so that they would be looking for him, and then he'll send people after them. 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:14.399 The book of Jonah teaches that. 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:16.799 Right smack dab in the middle of the Old Testament. 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:18.240 That's what I love about it. 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:20.000 It's right here. 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:26.639 And then thirdly, the book of Jonah is in the Bible to teach the necessity of conversion. 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:33.519 You know, in the Israelite world, they're circumcised. 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:42.720 They keep the feast, they keep the festive calendar, they practice the holidays, they keep the Torah. 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:50.879 And it's very easy to see salvation then, or God's saving work as something really external, something that you earn by practicing. 00:11:50.960 --> 00:12:04.559 And maybe you don't like the word earn, so swap out the word earn with salvation is something you experience by practicing the Old Testament law, or salvation is something that you appropriate, you make it yours by how you keep the different feasts that are described in the Old Testament. 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:08.720 And you go through the rituals, and some of them happen to you, of course, like circumcision. 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:17.360 Some of them you do to others, you teach your kids the way of the truth, Deuteronomy says, as you walk along the way in life, and they won't depart from it later on. 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:30.159 But it's this practice thing, and so it's very easy if you just had the Old Testament minus encounters like you see in the book of Jonah, to view that your relationship with God is achieved and maintained through practice. 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:36.879 But Jonah teaches something that is taught elsewhere in the Bible. 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:43.360 It's taught prophetically when Jeremiah says you don't need a circumcision of the flesh, but a circumcision of the heart, and for one example. 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:48.720 But you get the clearest window into the doctrine of conversion in the Old Testament through Jonah, don't you? 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:54.720 Here you have a whole city that is going to be compelled to convert. 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:57.039 And what does the conversion look like? 00:12:57.120 --> 00:13:02.159 It looks like their repentance and their trust in Yahweh and God removing his wrath from them. 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:04.879 And then you have these sailors here. 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:08.480 These are not, we're just going to look at a few verses this morning if we ever get to them. 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:11.679 But these are not just throwaway verses. 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:17.279 This isn't just some tidbit that's sprinkled on top of a nice fish story, these sailors here that get converted. 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:20.159 I mean, they are kind of the point of Jonah. 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:21.759 They're underlining the point. 00:13:21.919 --> 00:13:23.919 I mean, don't get sidetracked by the Ninevites here. 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:25.279 There's something else going on. 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:28.320 God saves all kinds of people. 00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:32.879 I mean, it is a surreal book. 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:39.039 When you end this book, it's okay for you to ask, man, is Jonah even converted? 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:39.919 Right? 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:46.399 At the end of the book, God asks, is it okay for me to have mercy on the Ninevehes and on their little babies that don't even know they're left from their right? 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:47.759 Is that okay with you, Jonah? 00:13:47.840 --> 00:13:49.440 And Jonah can't answer the question. 00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:52.639 And you end the book going, has Jonah even been converted? 00:13:52.720 --> 00:14:07.279 Now just look at the powerful work that this book does on the reader, that you end it confident of a sailor's conversion, confident of the Ninevehite's conversion, and genuinely questioning if the Israelite prophet has experienced the same conversion. 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:10.559 I mean, this is a remarkable work this book does. 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:24.159 Behind all that is it's just giving you this basic principle that to be in a right relationship with God, you can be circumcised, you can have all the practice on the outside. 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:29.679 That doesn't matter unless you are personally, individually converted. 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:35.279 A U-turn from your life, a U-turn to God. 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:52.480 Now, all three of these themes, the picture of God's sovereignty, revealing God's heart for the world, and the necessity of conversion, all three of these themes are captured so perfectly in the story of these sailors. 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:55.039 And so I want to look at that this morning. 00:14:55.279 --> 00:15:01.039 And these specifically verses 13, 14-ish through verse 16, the story of the sailors. 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:01.679 And I have an outline. 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:02.960 This is that was the fake outline. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:04.799 This is the real outline for you. 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:08.559 How to swear like a saved sailor. 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:14.000 And Tom Joyce already neuthetically confronted me this week. 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:17.519 Hey, how come you don't say how to swear like an airman? 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:22.000 And I said, because it's a book about sailors. 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:23.679 And he said, Find a new book. 00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:27.679 I'll be on the lookout. 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:32.080 But here, there's a word that's tucked in this. 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:35.759 It's translated in the ESV, the last word of verse 16. 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:39.360 They made vows, but it's a it's a word that's repeated twice in the Hebrew. 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:42.799 They vowed vows, and it literally means they swore swears. 00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:46.000 They took oaths, in other words. 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:50.720 And so I want to take that phrase because it's repeated twice here in verse 16 and make it our outline. 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:53.279 How to swear like a saved sailor. 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:56.320 And what this is going to do is it's going to drill down on that third point. 00:15:56.399 --> 00:15:59.039 It's going to take the overarching umbrella of God's sovereignty. 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:02.879 It's going to take the idea that God has a heart to see the nations come to faith. 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:06.960 And it's going to go a little bit deeper and say, in order to do that, people need to be converted. 00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:07.840 And what does that look like? 00:16:07.919 --> 00:16:10.320 What does conversion look like then? 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:15.039 And we see a picture of that in these three, or in these group of sailors. 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:19.759 Well, first, the first way to swear like a saved sailor is turn from self-effort. 00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:21.279 Turn from self-effort. 00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:24.080 So notice Jonah is on the boat with them. 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:27.279 They are idolatrous, these sailors are. 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:31.919 They worship their own idols, they worship their own gods, their own gods are unable to help them. 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:37.679 They pray to their own gods earlier in the verse or earlier in the chapter. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:39.919 And their gods cannot help them. 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:41.120 This is up in verse 5. 00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:44.159 The mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his own God. 00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:46.320 So these mariners have appealed to their gods. 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:50.799 Their gods are not the gods who created the heavens, their gods are not the gods who created the earth or the sea. 00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:53.440 Their gods don't have jurisdiction on the ocean. 00:16:55.039 --> 00:16:57.519 But they're appealing to them nevertheless. 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:01.120 And their gods are unable to help. 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:05.839 Now they encounter Jonah, and Jonah tells them about the real God. 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:10.400 And this is something that's it's latent in all kinds of polytheistic societies. 00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:14.160 There's this latent idea that there might be a God who's above their gods. 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:15.359 That's not unusual. 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:22.480 Even in the Greek pantheon, there's this idea that one God's got to be above the others, and of course, even the Greek gods fight for that privilege and that identity. 00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:24.799 The Roman world had the same kind of concept. 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:28.559 Caesar was a god, but there were even gods that could be above him. 00:17:29.119 --> 00:17:33.200 The Mayans and the Central American religions have the same concept. 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:39.119 They have different gods, but there's always this concept of an unknown God that could be above all their gods. 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:40.880 You see this in the book of Acts, too. 00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:45.440 Paul talks about that on Mars Hill, that even you would grant that there's an unknown God. 00:17:46.799 --> 00:17:49.599 And so the sailors here are trusting in their God. 00:17:49.759 --> 00:17:51.839 Their gods are not helpful. 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:59.599 They encountered Jonah, who tells them about the unknown God, the Yahweh who created the heavens and the earth and the sea. 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:03.680 And before they trust in them, though, they throw their own idols overboard, right? 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:04.960 They quit calling out to their God. 00:18:05.119 --> 00:18:06.160 That hasn't helped. 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:09.519 And you notice what they do next in verse 13. 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:13.839 The men tried hard to row back to dry land. 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:17.039 The men worked their hardest to get back to the land. 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:21.759 Rather than calling out to God for help, rather, they've just heard about Yahweh. 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:26.319 Rather than calling to Yahweh for help, look at what their go-to move is. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:28.960 Okay, we know our gods aren't helping. 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:32.319 We know that Jonah says there's a God that's put us into this problem. 00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:39.279 And it's, I have no problem believing the sailors believed that at this point, that Yahweh is real and Yahweh is hitting them with this hurricane. 00:18:39.359 --> 00:18:40.319 This is not a normal storm. 00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:41.519 They haven't experienced this before. 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:43.680 They're panicking in an unusual way. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:49.759 So I have no problem believing they believe the truth about Yahweh, that he is the one who is causing this storm. 00:18:51.519 --> 00:18:58.720 But their gut response, their go-to response to that, is not to submit to Yahweh, but to fight him. 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:00.480 To go against him. 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:07.039 God is pulling them one way, and their gut response is, forget you, I want to go this way, God. 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:11.200 I am going to row my hardest to get away from you. 00:19:12.640 --> 00:19:15.039 And that's more than a nautical flourish here. 00:19:15.119 --> 00:19:19.839 Is that not the basic desire that is in all of our hearts? 00:19:20.160 --> 00:19:29.599 This is why we need conversion, because we trust either in false gods and false religions that we were taught when we were young, or we trust in our own self-effort. 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:35.920 I mean, there is an idea deep inside of the human soul that we can do it on our own. 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:43.279 That's the idea behind the person who says, when I die, I'll be okay, I'll go to heaven when I die, because God will know that I'm basically a good person. 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:46.799 If God exists, he'll know I tried hard. 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:48.160 That's this idea. 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:59.680 And if you ever encounter that in your own mind, if you ever think that God is going to be satisfied with me because he knows I have tried my hardest, I want you to conjure up the picture of these sailors in your minds. 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:02.319 Picture them going after those oars. 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:05.920 Picture them trying their hardest to get away from God. 00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:07.279 I mean, they know what God wants. 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:10.079 They're going to find out pretty clearly in a second, at least. 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:14.319 But they want to do it on their own. 00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:19.839 They are determined that they can outmuscle the Savior. 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:26.640 They're determined that they can have that their strength will be effective in going toe-to-toe against the God who created them. 00:20:28.640 --> 00:20:31.440 I mean, rowing in this instance is just plain silly. 00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:33.440 And it's designed to be a little bit humorous. 00:20:33.519 --> 00:20:38.319 I mean, the boat is trying to break up, and here these guys are trying to corral the boat to go against God. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:39.920 It's just not going to work. 00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:46.319 But behind that is a picture of your own self-effort, your own desire to be good enough before God. 00:20:46.559 --> 00:20:51.599 Your own desire to think that I can stand before God, because frankly, I have tried really hard to. 00:20:53.680 --> 00:20:56.640 Certainly, God has taken note of my effort. 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:05.279 But if you trust your own effort, you cannot be converted. 00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:10.799 Because what conversion looks like in this narrative is what it looks like in each human being's life. 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:14.559 What conversion looks like in this narrative is they have to set down their oars. 00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:16.799 They have to stop. 00:21:17.599 --> 00:21:18.880 They have to stop fighting. 00:21:19.119 --> 00:21:21.759 They have to stop striving against God. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:24.640 They have to stop trying to flee his sovereignty. 00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:27.440 They have to lay down their oars. 00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:31.759 And just trust the Lord. 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:38.319 And that is so hard for people to do because people so badly want to trust themselves. 00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:40.160 So badly. 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:43.759 What repentance looks like here? 00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:45.599 Getting rid of the idols. 00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:48.240 False religion, you can't keep the idols on board. 00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:53.440 These guys can't trust Yahweh while still having their you know fish god up on their the deck of their ship. 00:21:53.599 --> 00:21:55.039 No, the fish god is overboard. 00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:59.680 And they can't trust Yahweh by replacing the fish god with their own self effort. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:00.559 No. 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:08.319 Salvation looks like laying down your oars, trusting God, not your own sense of self-worth. 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:10.799 Your worth cannot work your way to God. 00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:13.440 Listen, your worth, you do have self-worth. 00:22:13.519 --> 00:22:18.799 There is value inherent in every human being, but it does not come from your own distinctiveness. 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:20.480 It does not come from your own effort. 00:22:20.640 --> 00:22:22.079 It doesn't come from your own goodness. 00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:33.200 Every human being's self-worth comes from the fact that they're made in the image of God, and so they have an inherent value and dignity and honor because they represent God's nature, God's image. 00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:40.640 Adding to that by working hard to be pleasing to God is not effective. 00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:43.599 And it is at cross-purposes to conversion. 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:46.400 So step one, to swear like a sailor, turn from self-effort. 00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:48.319 Stop trying to be good enough. 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:50.079 Hard for a sailor to do. 00:22:50.160 --> 00:22:53.359 Step two, trust in the doctrine of propitiation. 00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:56.160 Trust in the doctrine of propitiation. 00:22:56.799 --> 00:23:00.559 Now, propitiation is a word I love. 00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:02.000 It's a biblical word. 00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:04.480 In many Bibles. 00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:13.119 Some translations have cut it out because it's not, you know, it's not common in English, and so they get rid of it from the Bible, which just makes my skin crawl. 00:23:13.599 --> 00:23:18.240 The word propitiation, you'll find it in 1 John, for example, that he is the propitiation for our sins. 00:23:18.319 --> 00:23:22.000 Not just for our sins only, but for the sins of the world. 00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:29.119 In other words, not just the propitiation of sins for the Jews, but for people all around the world, including pagan sailors. 00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:30.960 God is the propitiation of their sins. 00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:31.839 Jesus Christ is. 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:38.880 Well, propitiation means, if you look it up in a dictionary, propitiation means to make an appeal to a God so that he won't be angry with you anymore. 00:23:39.039 --> 00:23:43.599 In other words, God's angry at you, so you have to offer him a sacrifice so he stops being angry with you. 00:23:43.680 --> 00:23:49.279 That's the definition of propitiation or another definition, to win or regain favor of a God. 00:23:50.160 --> 00:23:54.720 The idea of regaining favor is that God's angry at you, so you need to win his favor back. 00:23:55.920 --> 00:24:00.160 But in the Bible, it means something even more specific than that. 00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:02.640 It doesn't simply mean to win God's favor back. 00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:04.000 And there's an order to this, right? 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:07.279 If you trust in self-effort, propitiation takes on a whole different flavor. 00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:12.000 If you trust in self-effort, propitiation means you're working hard enough for God to be impressed with you. 00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:14.799 That's not the way biblical propitiation works. 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:17.920 It's not that you work hard enough to get God to not be angry with you. 00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:20.799 Of course not, because that skips over point one. 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:30.880 In the Bible, propitiation means, like 1 John 4, for example, means to assuage God's anger, to do something that calms or covers God's anger. 00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:37.759 God's wrath towards sin is building, it's growing, and it's gonna rain down on mankind. 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:40.720 Propitiation is a shield that blocks it. 00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:44.240 It's a shield that doesn't more than blocks it, actually, it stops it. 00:24:44.319 --> 00:24:51.279 You know, the dam of God's wrath is breaking, and God's wrath is gonna pour out in the world, and you see it break through in flashes. 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:55.680 When Uzzah grabs the ark, for example, and God immediately strikes him dead. 00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:57.200 That's one example that comes to mind. 00:24:57.359 --> 00:25:01.440 You see it break forth with the flood where God destroys the whole world. 00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:05.359 You see God's wrath breaking forth in flashes here and there. 00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:11.200 Nothing at all like we deserve, nothing at all like the fire of hell, which is still future and will be eternal. 00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:15.279 And the point of hell being eternal is to let you know that God's wrath is never exhausted. 00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:17.839 Propitiation just holds it back. 00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:23.839 So you picture a dam with a leak in it and you plug the dam. 00:25:24.079 --> 00:25:25.279 That's propitiation. 00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:28.480 You're stopping up the flood from coming down. 00:25:28.559 --> 00:25:29.839 That's propitiation. 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:35.039 Now the Bible teaches that the death of Christ is our propitiation. 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:40.720 That the death of Christ forever takes away God's wrath. 00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:44.480 So it does more than plugs the dam, it diverts the stream. 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:45.839 It takes it somewhere else. 00:25:45.920 --> 00:25:47.200 That's propitiation. 00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:56.079 As I mentioned, God's anger is infinite and will ultimately come out in hell, but it's not raining down on the earth right now. 00:25:56.720 --> 00:25:59.599 So why isn't God's anger raining down on the earth right now? 00:25:59.680 --> 00:26:06.000 And in a sense, it is when we sin, but that's natural consequences of sin being in the world, it produces death, that's the curse. 00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:10.079 But God's personal, direct wrath will be unveiled. 00:26:10.160 --> 00:26:12.799 You get a picture of this in Revelation 5 and 6. 00:26:13.119 --> 00:26:19.200 5 speaking of His holiness, 6 being of the seals unleash, and you start to see God's wrath coming down on earth, and that's nothing. 00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:25.440 The seals increase in intensity until finally you end up in hell at the end of the book of Revelation, where the fires are eternal. 00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:39.200 That's the idea of God's wrath being infinite and eternal, and yet it's held back right now by the work of Christ temporarily, and it's held back forever and permanently on God's children. 00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:41.759 That's the biblical concept of propitiation. 00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:44.160 So, what makes propitiation? 00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:46.640 Let me give you a little a recipe for propitiation. 00:26:46.720 --> 00:26:50.000 I don't want to call it a formula because it's a recipe. 00:26:50.960 --> 00:26:52.240 Trust and propitiation. 00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:54.079 Here's your recipe for propitiation. 00:26:54.319 --> 00:26:56.160 You need to take imputation. 00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:01.119 Imputation is where God transfers sin from one person to another. 00:27:01.279 --> 00:27:03.680 And you're seeing this in the boat right here. 00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:05.839 Jonah is the sinner here. 00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:09.039 Jonah has come onto the boat to run from God. 00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:15.039 But Jonah's sin is imputed to the sailors when they start running from God also. 00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:16.960 Do you see how the sin spreads? 00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:21.279 And if that's too ethereal for you, go to Adam. 00:27:21.680 --> 00:27:28.160 Adam and Eve's sin goes down to all of mankind, but it's Adam's sin that is imputed to us. 00:27:28.319 --> 00:27:30.400 Adam's sin becomes your sin. 00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:34.480 You are a sinner even before you sin. 00:27:35.440 --> 00:27:36.640 Do you know this? 00:27:37.119 --> 00:27:40.480 This is what David means when you knit together by God, but in iniquity. 00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:43.680 You're a sinner before you have ever sinned. 00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:46.720 Why are you a sinner if you haven't yet sinned? 00:27:46.960 --> 00:27:50.799 Because you're in, you have Adam's sin imputed to you. 00:27:51.039 --> 00:27:53.119 God credits you Adam's sin. 00:27:53.359 --> 00:27:55.759 God treats you as if you had done Adam's sin. 00:27:55.839 --> 00:27:56.880 That's the nature of the fall. 00:27:57.039 --> 00:28:03.119 Adam was your representative in the garden, he sinned, and God's wrath is given to us through him. 00:28:05.359 --> 00:28:06.720 That's imputation. 00:28:06.960 --> 00:28:08.559 You weren't in the garden. 00:28:09.039 --> 00:28:14.240 And you can't be that offended by imputation, by the way, because if you were in the garden, you would have done it too. 00:28:16.319 --> 00:28:17.759 But that's the first part. 00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:18.880 Imputation. 00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:22.720 That Adam's sin becomes yours, or Jonah's sin becomes a sailor. 00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:24.559 Second part, substitution. 00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:25.599 Substitution. 00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:28.240 Jonah says, you've got to throw me overboard. 00:28:28.480 --> 00:28:33.519 And so Jonah is now going to go overboard instead of the sailors. 00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:41.519 Right now they're all going overboard, but they're going to put forward a substitute, and Jonah will go over instead of them, in their place. 00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:46.160 Now, this is the basic concept of all the sacrifices in the Old Testament, isn't it? 00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:49.519 That you deserve to die, but you send a scapegoat forward. 00:28:49.680 --> 00:28:52.799 The scapegoat, one will die and one will run away. 00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:56.480 Or the Passover lamb, the Passover lamb dies in your place. 00:28:56.559 --> 00:28:58.079 That was the whole point of the Passover. 00:28:58.160 --> 00:29:08.240 The family would gather around, the lamb's throat would be slit, his blood would be let out, the blood would be put over on the doorpost, and the father would teach the kids the lamb dies so that we don't. 00:29:08.400 --> 00:29:09.759 The lamb dies in our place. 00:29:09.839 --> 00:29:11.440