How Sovereign Is The LORD? - [Jonah 1:4-16]

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Every pastor has a hobby horse Every pastor has a few topics.
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They like to talk about all the time and When I'm dead and gone, I hope that you say, you know
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Mike always talked about the person and work of Christ Jesus and he always talked about the sovereignty of God.
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He just kept plugging away at those two topics Jesus is Lord and Jesus is this great sovereign
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King Turn your Bibles to the book of Jonah this morning and we're going to see the sovereignty of God in the book of Jonah The ruler of all still be my vision
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Oh ruler of all the sovereignty of God in the book of Jonah one of my favorite topics
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RC Sproul said if you are God your favorite topic would be the sovereignty of God and Then he said
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God's favorite topic is the sovereignty of God. And so I love to talk about it. Why? Because life is difficult issues happen in our lives
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Sin and sickness and all kinds of things and it's good to be reminded that God's sovereign
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You read Joseph in Genesis 37 to 50 and you'll say this it is obvious that God's sovereign
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It is patently obvious. It is obviously obvious. It is so real that God's sovereign
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I see that why is it set up that way because when you look at your life when you look at your lives
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It's not so obvious. It seems like everything could be messed up And why did this decision happen?
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And why did that happen? And what about and what about and what about here's a great thing God is
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Immutable. He doesn't change. There's no mutation in God He's always the same and the
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God who's sovereign over Joseph Sovereign over you and the God who's sovereign over Jonah is
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Sovereign over you and the God who's sovereign over creation is sovereign over you the
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God who's sovereign over your life and your death The God who's sovereign over every molecule of the universe.
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Is there any molecule in the universe proton neutron? Electron what else is small some quark or something?
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Or is that some dessert you eat in Germany? I think it is but whatever small thing whatever God Whatever big thing it's all underneath the sovereignty of God and as Kuiper said one time
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God looks at the universe and he says mine It's all mine.
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I'm sovereign over it all and that's why pink said in every pulpit. It needs to be continually thundered forth that God reigns
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God's sovereign and when you look at the book of Jonah, you're not gonna be able to say, you know God's sovereign but I know
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God's sovereign, but You know, you don't quite understand my situation this unique trial that I'm in I Think he's sovereign over everything, but you don't know my boss.
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He's sovereign everything. You don't know my spouse He's sovereign everything. You don't know my kids. He's sovereign over everything, but you don't know my parents
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He's sovereign over everything, but you don't know my pastor. God's sovereign over everything
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Psalm 103 his sovereignty rules over what but here's the rub before we look at Jonah While it so comforts us it is the pillow that you lay your head down when you
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Go through a massive trial But it pushes up against us because if God is sovereign that means
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I'm not it goes against our pride So today we're gonna look at Jonah last week.
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We did verses 1 through 3 today We're gonna look at verses 4 through 16 and you're gonna see that God is so sovereign
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So I don't want you to ever think any idolatrous thoughts about God and what's an idolatrous thought about God thinking something about God That's not true.
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I when you think of God, I want you to think he's the king of kings He's the Lord of Lords and he owns the earth and he owns heaven and he does whatever he pleases as often as he pleases
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Always as he pleases and only as he pleases now, that's a God who it I want to worship that kind of God I don't want just a
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God who's sovereign over West Boylston, but he's not sovereign over Worcester I want the God who's sovereign over the land and the sea and when you look at this
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God, you're gonna say He deserves my worship. He deserves my thanksgiving God. Why am
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I anxious God? Why am I? Worried now some people automatically are thinking what about free will
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I don't want to be a robot Maybe if you're from England, I'm not a robot. I'm not some kind of puppet
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Here's the best way to solve all your problems about the sovereignty of God, are you ready just read your Bibles Because if you read your
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Bibles regularly and often God's sovereign he sits on the throne He does whatsoever. He pleases
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Psalm 50 if I were hungry God said I wouldn't even tell you he's just the king He does whatever he wants Sovereign he reigns and he rules and he's not a president where we kick him out every eight years
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He's not a constitutional monarch that just does what I don't know. He is the king Take that out of the tape
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Take the kid goes. What's a tape? Take that out of the 8 -track
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Actually side note. I talked to someone and they said we have some reel -to -reel Classes that s
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Lewis Johnson taught at Dallas Seminary that aren't recorded anywhere else. Do you want the reel -to -reels? I Said I sure do
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It's nothing to cry about No accident no chance.
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No luck. No serendipity no fortune no fate and What we're gonna see in Jonah Contrary to the view of Allah the
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Islamic view of God Who runs everything who rules everything?
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What about the personal nature of God? What about the the human touch of God? What about the incarnation?
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What about God? Is he does he love or is he sovereign only you're gonna see both today? Let's go to Jonah chapter 1 verses 1 to 3 as a review and then we're gonna move into Verses 4 through 16 with the desire to see what is said here and the desire to remember that God's Sovereign no matter what so that you walk by faith and not by Sight and it starts with a bang.
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Remember, we've only got 48 verses in English So there's not a whole lot of time for character development
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Now the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying when you see all capitals
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It means Yahweh it means a covenant -keeping God a personal God it should remind you
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I am the Lord your God that brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery It's the God who who makes promises a
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God who saves it's the triune God We read the Old Testament and the new from this perspective that the
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Lord Yahweh He is a triune God. The only way you can think about God is a triune
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God one God three persons The Father Son and the Spirit and this triune
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God reveals himself and he said to Jonah as we saw last week arise Go to Nineveh that great city and preach call out against it for their evil has come up Before me and as you would all know that these
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Ninevites are accountable to God It doesn't matter that they're not Israelites. They're still accountable to God.
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Every person that's ever been born is Accountable to God you're accountable to God. I'm accountable to God one day
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We'll stand before God the Creator and judge, but thankfully Wonderfully, he's a
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Savior too. And how does God save sinners? Faith comes by hearing a message about Christ God could just save people
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You're saved or he could say I have a different way. I save people through preaching and so Jonah There are some people there that need to be saved you go and you preach they're accountable before me and every person who's ever lived
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It's gonna stand before God and then there's gonna be judgment We know that from Acts chapter 17 the times of ignorance
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God overlooked But now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day judgment day in which he will judge the world in righteousness
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By a man Jesus whom he has appointed and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead
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Jonah's accountable Nineveh's accountable Israel's accountable. We're accountable and God didn't owe it to Nineveh to send anybody there.
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The wages of sin is death. They earned it. They earned justice But God doesn't leave the fallen human race to perish alone without salvation without a remedy
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What did Jonah do I Call this Jonah's stiff arm Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish instead of going over that way east
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Northeast to Iraq what we'd call Iraq now past the Euphrates up big city on the
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Tigris I'll go the other way and I'll go to Spain. I'll go down to Gibraltar a couple thousand miles away
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From the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa. You can just feel these verbs make you want to just kind of Cascadingly go faster and you can feel the haste he says in chapter 4.
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I Was hastening to flee I got a run Down to Joppa found a ship
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He paid the fare went down into it to go with him to Tarshish away from the presence of the Lord I want to say his favorite hymn included the words prone to wander
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Lord. I feel it Except it wasn't wandering. It was rushing. I got a rush as fast as I can
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And as I said last week from the presence of the Lord, what do you mean? He doesn't know that God is omnipresent. Of course, he knows that but here's what presence of the
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Lord means a king Call someone one of his priests or with one of those who works for him come into my presence
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I'm gonna give you some marching orders I'd like you to do thus and suss and thus and such and then the person says yes, sir
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I'll go do it and off he goes to do what the king wishes and so that's exactly what's going on here
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The Prophet stands before the Word of the Lord that comes to him Jonah son of Amittai go preach
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I don't want to preach I quit He's not saying I'm trying to get away from the presence of the Lord He knows
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God makes the land and the sea and the moon. He's a good prophet, but I quit I resign If I do what you say
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God, I'm gonna go to Nineveh. They're gonna repent cuz I know you're gracious I know you're slow to anger.
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I know chapter 4 what I say about you later It's all true about you and they're gonna repent there'll be stronger their army will be stronger
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You're gonna bless them and they're gonna be stronger to punish Israel In first Kings 19 when you're going to use a
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Syria to punish us, they'll be stronger. I don't want that. No stiff arm God just goes.
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Okay, whatever you want Do whatever you'd like, but this is the
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God you can't ignore. This is the God you can't ignore
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They couldn't ignore him you can't ignore everybody loves well -behaved kids, don't they at least
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I do I've been around kids sometimes that obey and some kids that don't and when
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I'm around kids that obey I'm very happy and thankful and I'm around kids that don't obey I think shame on you, but shame on the parents because that's what
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Solomon say in the book of Proverbs I've been in airports and kids are trying to dump over my coffee and it's really a sin if it's peach coffee
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But they're trying to do stuff to me and I try to be patient. I'm trying to be grandfatherly and One time
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I finally just had to say in Denver. Would you please control your children? I didn't want to say it
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I was leading up to it. I Know you can't ever imagine me saying that but see I think
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I'm the pastor of the Denver Airport as well as BBC Denver Airport Bible Church Then later
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I heard Chuck Swindoll say on the radio and he was talking about disobedient kids and he said Once I was at an airport and I even heard a man say to some parents, would you please control your children?
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I'm like cool Chuck Swindoll's quoting me Probably wasn't me
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But see God Even though he's sovereign When you pray the disciples prayer it starts off.
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What way how does it start? our father
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He's a kind father and he's a good father and he's not going to let the kids disobey
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Because it's not good for them and Jonah's on the run and God could say, you know what? I'll get a different prophet and he could
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I'll make the rocks cry out to Nineveh and he could I'll send an angel to Nineveh and he could but you know what?
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Jonah, I love you. I care for you. You're one of mine. You're redeemed. You're regenerated You're a believer and here's the father's kindness to discipline the son
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Aggressively pursuing Here's the God you can't ignore verse 4
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But Yahweh this triune God Hurled a great wind upon the sea
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That's the language of throwing something really hard standing on the pitchers mound and throwing a baseball across Home plate,
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I didn't know how fast it was in the first service, but somebody told me Nolan Ryan 108 .1
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miles per hour fastest recorded pitch Winding up and throwing the pitch right down the alley target
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Jonah He hurled a great wind look at the sovereignty of God is
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God sovereign over the weather Why is it that Scripture almost always says
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God sent rain instead of it rained God sent the rain why because he's sovereign over and here comes a storm a perfectly devised storm
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There's a mighty tempest on the sea so that the threat the ship threatened to break up now in English I would say
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God hurled a great wind Often in Hebrew you'll say hurled
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God the great wind Just be a little change But this is opposite of the normal Hebrew to try to put the focus on it doesn't matter what
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Jonah does God's in charge and God will do as he pleases Can't ignore
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God There's a mighty tempest on the sea. It's a supernatural tempest
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I think what we have here coming brewing is a what we call a teachable moment and Jonah loves to use the word great
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Great wind great city great storm greatly feared great fish greatly displeased greatly happy in chapters 1 through 4
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Here we have the great wind sent by the great Savior Yahweh Jonah's like no way.
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There's a big thing going around evangelicalism. Now. There's a brand new book out about it. Even it's called be the message
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Don't preach to people so much be the message. I wonder how that would work with Jonah Jonah be the message
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Not so well, I think But God saves people in spite of sinful messengers.
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Aren't you glad? He hurled the wind. This is language of 1st
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Samuel 18 Saul hurled the spear at David to try to pin him against the wall
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Supernatural storm comes up and look at the ship it threatened to break up the ship here The language of the
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Hebrew is the ship is personified the ships like a person and Jonah's Determined not to go but the ship is determined to obey
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God and break up because that's what the sovereign Is implying Jonah disobeys the wind obeys?
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The ship obeys The fish is going to obey then verse 5 the mariners
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And he says the sailors Original language is the old salts. Why do you call them an old salt?
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Because they're the crusty old salts. They're the sailors pagan sailors, by the way, they were afraid
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They're out and boat all the time out in a ship all the time. And now it's not just a storm. It's a great storm It's a supernatural storm
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It's the perfect storm and they're afraid and what do you do when Jonah didn't like something?
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He should have said God help me. God. Give me wisdom. God. Give me repentance. God. Give me faith
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Jonah doesn't pray the pagans pray and there's time for more hurling and they hurled the cargo
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It's just a general word. They hurled a bunch of stuff That was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them but Jonah Down in the inner part of the ship and laid down it was fast asleep
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Oh Poseidon help Oh Neptune help Oh bail help I've never done that before in the pulpit just made that sound as a first time
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Job security Don't do that again. Once every 17 years. I feel sorry for these guys
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That's exactly what the narrator wants you to do to feel sorry for them. It's all because of Jonah They didn't do it.
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They didn't earn it and Jonah's fast asleep notice the text.
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He's gone down below in the hold of the ship laying down falling fast asleep That words not just regular word for sleep
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It's hypnotic sleep. It's deep sleep. It's The sleep in Genesis 2 21 where God says
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Adam time to be under anesthesia Divine anesthesia and you're gonna go to sleep.
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I'm gonna do some surgery on you and your rib and you're gonna wake up married How's that work?
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Divine anesthesia. That's what it's like. I mean he is really out of it So indifferent the captain came and said to him
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I would imagine there's a lot of wind I would imagine it's loud I would imagine he'd have to raise his voice
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What do you mean you sleeper? Now think very carefully here Doesn't this sound familiar?
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Arise call out to your God Wasn't this told to Jonah just earlier arise go and call out.
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This is like a nightmare for Jonah. He wakes to the words From a pagan sailor that are so similar if not exactly the same as what
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God told him call out to your God Perhaps the God will give us a thought or give a thought to us that we might not perish
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This is like Somebody at work that you work with Who's a druid?
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Who's a moon worshiper? Who's a? Satanist and they come to you and say, you know, this is really a bad situation.
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Would you pray? The pagans are going to the Prophet to say it's time for you to pray. They knew something's going on There's somebody sinning in the boat
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They said to one another verse 7 come let us cast lots
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We may know on whose account this evil has come upon us Let us cast lots
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Now what would they do? Well one of the ways that they would Put lots together to determine something.
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I mean, what do our kids end up doing? I don't know what kids do these days anymore I remember going to South Africa and I wanted to shake hands like the cool guys and It's when
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I used to shake hands if we had a certain thing We do and playing basketball and shaking and then I got to South Africa and it was shake this way then that way then this
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Way then do all this kind of stuff and I'm like Luke you just be my vicar. I can't figure this out I'm not cool, but I want to be there's certain ways to do things and For the our kids.
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It's like rock paper scissors. Shoot. Who is it? well they would get little rocks and they would put like on one side of the rock a light color on the other side a dark color and If you wanted to have a yes or no question answered you take those two rocks
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Light on one side dark on the other and you throw them to light side up answers Yes, two dark sides down answers.
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No a light and a dark or a dark and a light. The answer is Shoot again, but here we don't know exactly what they did
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Maybe there's 20 guys on the ship and there's 20 rocks and what's one? You know everyone the purple one equals
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Jonah and whatever comes out, but the lot came on Jonah, that's what the text says the lot fell on Jonah was one man
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Proclaimed man throws a dice, but God makes the spots come up Proverbs 16 33 talks about casting lots for decisions
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Land is divided this way in Numbers 26 a king is chosen this way in 1st
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Samuel 10 Achan was found out in Joshua 7
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Apostles are determined by This in Acts 1 God's sovereign over everything.
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He's sovereign in salvation I want to save Ninevites. I ask you the question.
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When were you saved if you're a Christian? I love it when somebody says Mike when were you saved because then you just get a launch into preaching well in eternity past the
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Father the Son and the Spirit got together for a divine counsel and According to Titus chapter 1 there was a promise that was made before the world began
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To whom were the promises made it had to be within the triune nature of God to go Rescue a bride the father said
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I'm gonna arrange a marriage for you. Here's your bride and then Mike When were you saved while I was saved in eternity past?
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I was saved at Calvary when the Sun went he cloaked himself with humanity. He lived a perfect life
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He died as a substitutionary atoning Sacrifice on Calvary was raised from the dead.
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I was saved then I was saved in eternity past. I was saved at Calvary in 1989
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I'm running the opposite way of God and God Intervenes and God brings people into my life to preach the gospel to me
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Their names are John MacArthur and Ken Mabendroth. No wonder. I love those two so much, but not in that order
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And I got saved in 1989.
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And by the way, I was saved in eternity past at Calvary in 1989 I'm being saved now that is sanctified and I will be saved when
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God takes me home to glory What salvation are you talking about? And here's this God who plans everything out and he's sovereign over the
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Ninevite salvation He's sovereign over the preacher to get there He's sovereign over the wind and he's sovereign over the lots and you ought to ask yourself this question
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So why would I act in any other way? Than recognizing
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God's sovereign in my life, too shouldn't
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I just for once and for all say that's the sin of anxiety is replaced by trusting in this
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Yahweh with all my heart and The more I can see the sovereign hand of God in the life of people in Scripture the better it's going to be for me
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I'm telling you The most difficult times in your life
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Will be helped by the pillow of divine sovereignty Haley's born.
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Everything's fine. Luke's about to be born. He's two weeks late. So we decided to There's gonna be you know,
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Potosin given all that they're gonna induce and so I said, you know, well, let's go in We'll have the baby or you'll have the baby
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Kim and then I'm gonna teach the Bible study at night and you go into the Hospital the baby's born. They show you the baby like this for about three seconds.
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Here's your son He had like at the negative 92 Apgar Whatever it was it was bad off to NICU Will he make it won't he make it and what's the pillow of comfort when you drive away from the hospital with no, baby?
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What's the pillow of comfort that if he didn't make it? What's the pillow of comfort when you bury your husband you bury your grandpa you bury your children you bury your spouse
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What's the comfort and friends? That's why it's such a prominent thing in Scripture the sovereignty of God If I said to my children,
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I'm sorry children that I haven't been able to provide food for you and sorry We're sleeping outside. I can't give you housing and I can't give you food and I would feel bad
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But I would feel worse if for 20 years. I provided everything my kids Needed and they would say dad.
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I'm worried. They're biting their nails. Why are you worried? Well, because I don't know if you're gonna provide for me or not
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I don't know if I'm gonna have anything to eat tonight. I don't know if I'm gonna be safe tonight. I would think
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What a shame that I haven't taught you these things Have you not forgotten my track record weak and frail as I might be the track record of faithfulness
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Your daddy does care for you Your daddy does provide for you and if a non -sovereign daddy can provide for kids
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Then how much more can a sovereign God provide for you? This isn't some story for kids
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It is for kids But it's for people who suffer It's for people that need to be reminded
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God is so good yet. He slay me. I'll trust in him yet I bury my kids and bury my mother and bury my friends and Be on my deathbed.
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I'm still going to say he's worthy to be prayed verse 8
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Then they said to him I still imagine it's loud because the storms going on Tell us on Whose account this evil has come upon us and now here comes the questions one, two, three four
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What's your occupation where you come from? What's your country and of what people are you? We know you're the problem because you just won the lottery
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Okay, you lost the lottery I'm surprised that are even asking these questions because if it were me and I was a pagan
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The lot falls on Jonah. Here we go. Let's keel haul him first Now they're asking more questions, here's the backdrop don't miss it the kindness of the pagans
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Contrasting with Jonah's hatred of pagans way back in eternity past and in the garden and at Calvary and in the
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Abrahamic Covenant God has a Wide salvation not just for Jews, but Gentiles and he's gonna save pagans.
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Aren't you glad ever been a pagan? He saves pagans he's kind to pagans he gives his son for pagans
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He demonstrates his love towards us that while you're yet pagans Ninevites are worse our enemies
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His son dies on the cross for us and God has a love for the Gentiles and Jonah has a hate for Gentiles And it's exacerbated by the irony that the pagan
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Gentiles are being nice to Jonah He deserved it throw him in but they're still talking
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They're still asking answering questions and look what Jonah does If I were to ask you tell me about yourself
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What you probably do is this hi, my name is Mike Avon Roth and I'm a pastor Because that's how we identify ourselves in and I I'm a plumber.
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I'm a CPA For Jonah, he should say
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I'm a prophet of the Lord, but he puts his ethnicity easy for me to say his ethnicity first Then the theology what's he say?
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I fear that he feared the God of the Hebrews first that what I've been okay But he says I'm a Hebrew.
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Let me tell you about my nationality first and I fear the
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Lord if I ask you you are an American or a Christian for those of you who are
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American citizens I wonder which one you think you're more of of course. I'm an American and a Christian, but I'm a
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Christian first Why aren't there any
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American flags up here? Because Christianity has nothing to do with America absolutely zero zilch nada
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You say but there's one back there. Oh, there's two back there. Well, that's another story. Those are for a wanna
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I Love America. I love Israel, but you can tell in his disobedience I'm a
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Jew first and I worship the Hebrew God later Now look what he says and I fear the
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Lord And you should obey him the God of heaven pagans talk like that We worship the
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God of heaven these new invites would talk that way We worship the God of heaven But then he makes it sure that he's not just worshiping a pagan
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God the God of heaven and he throws us in Who made the sea and the dry land?
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God's sovereign over the sea and dry land while the pagan Phoenician sailors would worship bail shaman
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Lord of heaven Jonah adds this Jonah augments it to say but there's this one
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God and he rules everything He reigns over everything you might worship a sky
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God. I worship the God who made everything. Oh Well, then if that's the case, then what do you think you've been doing verse 10?
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Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him. What is this that you've done if you're gonna Disobey such a
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God there's bad things are gonna happen For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he had told them
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Why would you displease such a great God? They're appalled verse 11, then they said to him
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And still they're nice. They haven't thrown him in yet What shall we do to you that the sea may quiet down for us for the?
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Supernatural storm that the Lord hurled earlier is growing more and more Tempestuous NAS the storm was the sea was becoming increasingly stormy.
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I don't know about God's rules Said the pagan sailor, but now I do we got to get rid of you
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The pagan sailors are rebuking the Prophet of God sounds eerily familiar to a
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Bimelech saying to Abraham Why didn't you tell me that she was your wife?
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Remember Abraham She's my sister Verse 12.
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He said to them Pick me up Hurl me into the sea sea will become quiet for you or quiet down for you
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For I know it's because of me that this great tempest has come upon you. I Deserve to die and by the way,
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I'd not go to Nineveh. I told you I'm not going to Nineveh So you might as well kill me now, and I don't have to go to Nineveh I'm not going verse 13 the kindness of the pagans
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The kindness of the Gentiles is shown in stark contrast To Jonah's hatred to Jonah's disobedience nevertheless
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The men rode hard to get back to dry land for but they could not for the sea grew even more and more
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Tempestuous against them even stormier Now when you sit in a canoe and You have an oar and you're teaching a kid to oar or to paddle you put your hand on the top and then you put your hand down here by the oar where where the
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Kind of this thin thing goes to the wider part of the paddle and you tell the kids to what? Huh Row, okay.
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Good. What else do you tell them? What would I tell them? Dig Steve was here first service the
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Hebrew words dig You're digging They're trying to help they don't want to throw them in the kindness of the pagan
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My old pastor said heathen sailors had more concern for one man than Jonah had for tens of thousands at Nineveh so verse 15
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They picked up Jonah There's hurling everywhere in this story hurled him into the sea and The sea ceased from its raging and the light switch just went off except it wasn't lights.
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It was the sea What would you do? verse 16
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This is all language of what Jonah should have done This is all language of what a pious
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Jew would do. This is all language of conversion This is all language of this is how a saint would act back in the
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Old Testament Were they saved I think so then the men feared the
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Lord Exceedingly They offered a sacrifice and they made vows
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Show me a believing Israelite and I'll show you somebody who feared God I'll show you somebody who made a sacrifice and I'll show you somebody who made vows
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You say well, how do you know they're saved? Well, the burden on a proof is on you This is how people act who are saved.
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They fear the Lord. They make sacrifices and they make vows That's what they do back in Israel They get it wasn't it said in Mark chapter 4 who is this that even the wind and the sea what?
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Obey him Jonah should have been fearing the
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Lord Jonah should have been making sacrifices Jonah should have been making vows Timur said and the da
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Carson edited book to fear God in the Old Testament Consistently describes those who have and maintain a healthy relationship with Yahweh Now let's talk about the sovereignty of God just for another second
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Jonah go to Nineveh to talk theologically. I've got some Unregenerate elect people there
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Jonah says no, I'm not going to go God could have said, okay I'll send somebody else but God is sovereign over sin is do you think
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God's sovereign over sin? I hope you think so because if you don't think he is then I'll just prove it with one simple event
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The crucifixion of Jesus where they Killed the innocent one to use the language of Stephen the righteous one
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He didn't deserve it He didn't earn it By his own good pleasure along with the spirit and the father
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He decides to die in place of sinners on their behalf in their place as a substitutionary sacrifice
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Was it not sin to crucify Jesus? Was it not sin to mock him?
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Was it not sin to scourge him? Was it not sin to spit in his face? was it not sin to rip out his beard wasn't it not sin to put the thorny crown on his head
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Wasn't it not a sin to put a bag on his head and hit him tell us prophesy son of God who hit you
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The answer to every one of those questions is yes. Yes. Yes Yes Yes And God was sovereign over it all because acts 2 and acts 4 says that was according to the pre determined what?
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plan of God And now just think for a quick second Jonah says
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I'm not going to be a missionary Okay, you don't want to be a missionary to the
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Ninevites. I've got some unregenerate elect people on a boat the
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USS Whale, I don't know what it was called. I know it doesn't say whale in the Hebrew just made up the ship's name
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Listen to a commentator Jonah's anti missionary activity has ironically resulted in the conversion of non -israelites
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Preparing the reader for the shocking contrast between Jonah and God that comes fully into view into chapter 4
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You want me to go preach to Ninevites and pagan people and enemies? I'm not gonna do it
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Oh, yes, you will but they happen to be in the boat and I'll get those people saved first and then off to Nineveh You're still going to go.
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I thought that's amazing. Who does that think about your own life? How many if then?
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Statements and people and situations did it take for God to arrange your regeneration?
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Arrange your salvation. So you responded with faith and repentance How how did he do it all if you look back in your life, you might recognize a few things
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But maybe you won't recognize them all until you get to heaven and you're like God is sovereign No wonder they're singing.
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He's a king of kings and Lord of Lords How can he do all that to get me to the point where I would say? Lord have mercy on me a sinner.
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Who did he bring in my life? I think about guys in my life I'm driving down the street. I am in a car.
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We're coming home from church. There's about six of us I'm only going to church for one reason. Well two reasons assuage my conscience and meet girls.
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Those are my reasons And a guy looked at me in the front seat when I was telling about I was a Christian and he looked at me
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He goes you're not a Christian. You tell me you're a Christian. I Think I told you the story before I wanted to hit him.
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I'm not really a hitter Somebody else in my family one of the little kids I called them the hitter Not a hitter, but I wanted to hit that guy.
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Who are you to tell me? You're not a Christian. I Don't know his name. I wish I could remember his name.
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I wish I knew him I wish I could call him up and say God Providentially put me in my in that car on Sunset Boulevard coming home from that watered -down church with the no girls that I could see and He arranged it all
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He arranged everything every single detail all arranged because Every single elect person is going to believe every single one
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Whether they live in Nineveh whether they live in West Boylston or whether they're in that boat Because God's sovereign over all
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We live in a day and age God I know you're sovereign over my parents my skin color when
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I was born Where I was born how old I am when I'm gonna die Sovereign over the weather over the rain over the wind over my job over my kids but you're not sovereign over who goes to heaven and who doesn't because the idol of free will will keep that nice and and handy over here
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Friends if God wasn't sovereign in salvation the bondage of the will Would always stiff arm
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God But God can't be ignored. He won't be ignored here.
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We have a father Who cares enough to discipline and through the discipline saves other people?
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That's no reason to be disobedient But I want to worship a God who's sovereign over good and evil and sin
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Isaiah 46 10 my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure
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Who is like this God Yahweh? Let's pray
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Father thank you For an account like this it never gets old See new things all the time the riches of your scripture the nuggets that are found in it the drama of redemption
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Who is a God like you? And father of truth be told we're a lot like Jonah probably worse
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Yet you love us you discipline us and all your purposes will be accomplished through us
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Getting work done with crooked sticks Thank you. Thank you for being a
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God who's worthy to be worshipped to get down on our knees and say Worthy as the lamb who was slain.
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I Pray for anyone who's here today Who's trusting religion? good works morality
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Ethnicity, I pray that you would give them no sleep and no rest until they find their rest in you the
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Savior of sinners And I pray for Bethlehem Bible Church. I pray that you'd help us not worry
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Your sovereign I help that I pray that you'd help us not to complain your sovereign over these situations
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I Pray that you'd help us to praise you That although we look at the world's newspapers and the headlines on the
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Internet Who could undo these things who could make sense of them only you could
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So father help us to trust in you with all our heart and to lean not on our own understanding.