How Sovereign Is Your God? (Part 2)

Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author, Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

Jonah’s Disobedience and the Storm at Sea

Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the scriptures, verse by verse, with No Compromise. Jonah disobeys.

The wind obeys. The ship obeys. The fish is going to obey. Then verse 5, the mariners, NAS says the sailors, the original language is the old salts. Why do you call them an old salt? Because they're the crusty old salts, they're the sailors, pagan sailors by the way.

They were afraid. They're out in 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, it's the perfect storm, and they're afraid.

And what do you do? When Jonah didn't like something, he should have said, God help me, God give me wisdom, God give me repentance, God give me faith. Jonah doesn't pray, the pagans pray. And there's time for more hurling.

And they hurled the cargo, 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, he went down in the inner part of the ship and he laid down and was fast asleep.

Oh, Poseidon help, oh, Neptune help, oh, Baal help. I've never done that before in the pulpit, just made that sound. That's the first time. Job security, don't do that again, once every 17 years. I feel sorry for these guys.

The Sleeping Prophet and the Pagan Captain’s Rebuke

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, they didn't earn it. And Jonah's fast asleep. Notice the text, he's gone down below in the hold of the ship, laying down, falling fast asleep.

That word's not just a regular word for sleep. It's hypnotic sleep, it's deep sleep, it's the sleep in Genesis 2 .21 where God says, Adam, time to be under anesthesia, divine anesthesia, and you're going to go to sleep.

I'm going to do some surgery on you and your rib and you're going to wake up married. How's that work? 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, 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. What do you mean you sleeper? Now think very carefully here. Doesn't this sound familiar? Arise, call out to your God. Wasn't this told to Jonah just earlier?

Arise, go and call out. 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 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.

This is like somebody at work that you work with who's a druid, who's a moon worshiper, who's a Satanist. And they come to you and say, you know, this is really a bad situation. Would you pray? The pagans are going to the prophet to say it's time for you to pray.

They knew something was going on. There's somebody sitting in the boat. They said to one another, verse 7, come let us cast lots. We may know on whose account this evil has come upon us. Let us cast lots.

Now what would they do? Well, one of the ways that they would put lots together to determine something, 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 I used to shake hands, we had a certain thing we'd do in playing basketball and shaking. And then I got to South Africa, and it was shake this way, then that way, then this 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 our kids, 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'd take those two rocks, light on one side, dark on the other, and you'd throw them two light side up, answer is yes, two dark sides down, answer is 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. Maybe there's 20 guys on the ship, and there's 20 rocks, and which one, you know, everyone, the purple one equals Jonah, and whatever comes out, but the lot came on Jonah.

That's what the text says. The lot fell on Jonah. As one man proclaimed, man throws a dice, but God makes the spots come up. Proverbs 16 .33 talks about casting lots for decisions. Land is divided this way in Numbers 26.

A king is chosen this way in 1 Samuel 10. Achan was found out in Joshua 7. Apostles are determined by this in Acts 1. God's sovereign over everything. He's sovereign in salvation. I want to save Ninevites.

I ask you the question, 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 Father, the Son, and the Spirit got together for a divine council.

And according to Titus chapter 1, there was a promise that was made before the world began. To whom were the promises made? It had to be within the triune nature of God to go rescue a bride. The Father said, I'm going to arrange a marriage for you.

Here's your bride. And then, Mike, when were you saved? Well, I was saved in eternity past. I was saved at Calvary when the Son went. He cloaked himself with humanity. He lived a perfect life. He died as a substitutory atoning sacrifice on Calvary, was raised from the dead.

I was saved then. I was saved in eternity past. I was saved at Calvary in 1989. I'm running the opposite way of God. And God intervenes and God brings people into my life to preach the gospel to me. Their names are John MacArthur and Ken Mabendroth.

No wonder I love those two so much, but not in that order. And I got saved in 1989. 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 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 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. So why would I act in any other way than recognizing God's sovereign in my life too? Shouldn't I just for once and for all say that the sin of anxiety is replaced by trusting in this 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. I'm telling you, the most difficult times in your life will be helped by the pillow of divine sovereignty.

Comfort in the Sovereignty of God for Suffering and Death

Haley's born, everything's fine. Luke's about to be born. He's two weeks late, so he decided there's going to be, you know, Pitocin given, all that, they're going to induce. And so I said, you know, we'll just go in, we'll have the baby, or you'll have the baby, Kim, and then I'm going to 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. Here's your son. He had like 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? What's the pillow of comfort then 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. 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, 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, I would feel bad.

But I would feel worse if for 20 years I provided everything my kids needed, and they would say, Dad, I'm worried. They're biting their nails. Why are you worried? Well, because I don't know if you're going to provide for me or not.

I don't know if I'm going to have anything to eat tonight. I don't know if I'm going to be safe tonight. I would think, 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?

Your daddy does care for you. Your daddy does provide for you. And if a non-sovereign daddy can provide for kids, then how much more can a sovereign God provide for you? This isn't some story for kids.

It is for kids. But it's for people who suffer. It's for people that need to be reminded, 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, I'm still going to say, he's worthy to be praised.

Jonah’s Identity, the God of Heaven, and the Fear of the Lord

Verse 8,. Then they said to him, I still imagine it's loud because the storm's going on. Tell us, on whose account this evil has come upon us. And now here comes the questions, 1, 2, 3, 4. 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. Okay, you lost the lottery. I'm surprised they're even asking these questions because if it were me and I was a pagan, the lot falls on Jonah.

Here we go. Let's keelhaul him first. Now they're asking more questions. Here's the backdrop, don't miss it. The kindness of the pagans to Jonah. Contrasting with Jonah's hatred of pagans. Way back in eternity past and in the garden and at Calvary and in the Abrahamic Covenant, God has a wide salvation, not just for Jews but Gentiles.

And He's going to save pagans. Aren't you glad? Ever been a pagan? He saves pagans. He's kind to pagans. He gives His Son for pagans. He demonstrates His love towards us that while we're yet pagans. Ninevites, our worse, our enemies.

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 Gentiles are being nice to Jonah. He deserved it, throw him in, but they're still talking.

They're still answering questions. And look what Jonah does. If I were to ask you, tell me about yourself, what you'd probably do is this. Hi, my name is Mike Abenroth and I'm a pastor. Because that's how we identify ourselves.

Hi, I'm a plumber. I'm a CPA. For Jonah, he should say, 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? I fear the God of the Hebrews first?

That would have been okay, but he says I'm a Hebrew. Let me tell you about my nationality first. And I fear the Lord. If I ask you, are you an American or a Christian? For those of you who are 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 Christian first. Why aren't there any American flags up here? Because Christianity has nothing to do with America. Absolutely zero, zilch, nada. You say, but there's one back there.

Oh, there's two back there. Well, that's another story. Those are for Awana. I love America. I love Israel. But you can tell in his disobedience, I'm a Jew first and I worship the Hebrew God later. Now look what he says, and I fear the Lord.

And you should obey him. The God of heaven, pagans talk like that. We worship the God of heaven. These Ninevites would talk that way. We worship the God of heaven. But then he makes it sure that he's not just worshiping a pagan God.

The God of heaven, and he throws this in, who made the sea and the dry land. God's sovereign over the sea and dry land. While the pagan Phoenician sailors would worship Baal Shaman, Lord of heaven, Jonah adds this.

Jonah augments it to say, but there's this one God and He rules everything. He reigns over everything. You might worship a sky 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?

Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, what is this that you've done? If you're going to disobey such a God, there's bad things that are going to happen. For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he had told them.

The Sailors’ Fear, Jonah’s Surrender, and Their Conversion

Why would you displease such a great God? Paul, verse 11, then they said to him, 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 supernatural storm that the Lord hurled earlier is growing more and more tempestuous.

NAS, the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. I don't know about God's rules, said the pagan sailor, but now I do. We've got to get rid of you. The pagan sailors are rebuking the prophet of God. Sounds eerily familiar to Abimelech saying to Abraham, why didn't you tell me that she was your wife?

Remember Abraham? She's my sister. Verse 12, he said to them, pick me up, hurl me into the sea. The sea will become quiet for you or quiet down for you. For I know it's because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.

I deserve to die. And by the way, I'm not going 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, the kindness of the Gentiles is shown in stark contrast to Jonah's hatred, to Jonah's disobedience.

Nevertheless, the men rode hard to get back to dry land, but they could not for the sea grew even more and more 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 kind of this thin thing goes to the wider part of the paddle and you tell the kids to what?

Huh? Row. Row. Okay, good. What else do you tell them? What would I tell them? Dig. Dig. Steve was here first service. The Hebrew word is dig. You're digging. They're trying to help. They don't want to throw him in.

The kindness of the pagan. My old pastor said, heathen sailors had more concern for one man than Jonah had for tens of thousands at Nineveh. So, verse 15, 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, it was the sea. What would you do? Verse 16. This is all language of what Jonah should have done.

This is all language of what a pious Jew would do. This is all language of conversion. This is all language of, this is how a saint would act back in the Old Testament. Were they saved? I think so. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly.

They offered a sacrifice and they made vows. 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.

You say, well, how do you know they're saved? Well, the burden of proof is on you. This is how people act who are saved. 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? Obey Him. Jonah should have been fearing the Lord. Jonah should have been making sacrifices. Jonah should have been making vows.

Timur said in the D .A. 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.

God’s Sovereignty Over Sin, the Cross, and Salvation

Jonah, go to Nineveh to talk theologically. I've got some unregenerate elect people there. 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.

Do you think God is 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. The crucifixion of Jesus, where they killed the innocent one, to use the language of Stephen, the righteous one.

He didn't deserve it. He didn't earn it. But by His own good pleasure along with the Spirit and the Father, He decides to die in place of sinners on their behalf, in their place as a substitutionary sacrifice.

Was it not sin to crucify Jesus? Was it not sin to mock Him? 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? Was it not sin to put the thorny crown on His head?

Was it not a sin to put a bag on His head and hit Him? Tell us, prophesy, Son of God, who hit you? 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 predetermined plan of God. And now just think for a quick second. Jonah says, I'm not going to be a missionary. Okay, you don't want to be a missionary to the Ninevites?

I've got some unregenerate elect people on a boat. The USS Whale, I don't know what it was called. I know it doesn't say whale in the Hebrew. It's made up the ship's name. Listen to a commentator. Jonah's anti-missionary activity has ironically resulted in the conversion of non-Israelites.

Preparing the reader for the shocking contrast between Jonah and God that comes fully into view in Chapter 4. You want me to go preach to Ninevites and pagan people and enemies? I'm not going to do it.

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. I thought that's amazing. Who does that? Think about your own life.

How many if then statements and people and situations did it take for God to arrange your regeneration? Arrange your salvation so you responded with faith and repentance. How did He do it all? If you look back in your life, you might recognize a few things, 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 He's the 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. Who did He bring in my life? I think about guys in my life.

I'm driving down the street. I'm in a car. 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. Those were my reasons.

And a guy looked at me in the front seat when I was telling him about I was a Christian and he looked at me and he goes, You're not a Christian. You tell me you're a Christian. I think I've told you this story before.

I wanted to hit him. 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. Who are you to tell me you're not a Christian?

I don't know his name. I wish I could remember his name. I wish I knew him. I wish I could call him up and say, God providentially put me in that car on Sunset Boulevard, coming home from that watered-down church with no girls that I could see.

He arranged it all. He arranged everything. Every single detail all arranged because every single elect person is going to believe. Every single one. Whether they live in Nineveh, whether they live in West Boylston, or whether they're in that boat.

Because God's sovereign over all. We live in a day and age. God, I know you're sovereign over my parents, my skin color, when I was born, where I was born, how old I am when I'm going to 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 handy over here. Friends, if God wasn't sovereign in salvation, the bondage of the will would always stiff-arm God.

But God can't be ignored. He won't be ignored. Here we have a Father who cares enough to discipline and through the discipline saves other people. That's no reason to be disobedient. But I want to worship a God who's sovereign over good and evil and sin.

Isaiah 46 .10, My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. Who is like this God, Yahweh?

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 8 .30 and 11 a .m. and Sunday evenings at 6 p .m. We're located on Route 110 in West Boylston, Massachusetts. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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