WEBVTT 00:00:04.360 --> 00:00:06.559 You're listening to the Christ Our Cornerstone 00:00:06.559 --> 00:00:09.720 podcast ministry of Christ Our Cornerstone Church 00:00:09.720 --> 00:00:12.400 in O 'Neill, Nebraska. I'm Pastor Logan Merrick, 00:00:12.580 --> 00:00:14.580 and it's our prayer that this message strengthens 00:00:14.580 --> 00:00:17.539 your faith and draws you closer to Christ. Let's 00:00:17.539 --> 00:00:20.760 dive in. So now let's look back at verse 17, 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:22.660 just for a moment. Hopefully you've got a Bible. 00:00:22.739 --> 00:00:24.460 If you don't, it'll be right up here before you, 00:00:24.460 --> 00:00:26.679 but we do have Bibles in the back. Would love 00:00:26.679 --> 00:00:31.280 for you to take one. It is our gift to you. And 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:35.840 so Jonah. Chapter one, verse 17 says, and the 00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:40.060 Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:43.719 And Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three 00:00:43.719 --> 00:00:46.439 days and three nights. Now, why is the three 00:00:46.439 --> 00:00:48.880 days, three nights? Why is that relevant? What 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:52.640 do we talk about? It foreshadows Jesus, right? 00:00:52.859 --> 00:00:55.299 It's foreshadowing the death of Jesus. And we're 00:00:55.299 --> 00:00:57.840 gonna actually look more at the foreshadowing 00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:00.500 of the death of Jesus through Jonah's prayer. 00:01:00.820 --> 00:01:04.670 All right? So first and foremost, I asked Micah 00:01:04.670 --> 00:01:06.530 the other day, I said, hey, do you think that 00:01:06.530 --> 00:01:10.950 it's possible that Jonah was swallowed by a whale? 00:01:12.370 --> 00:01:16.049 And without thinking, he just goes, yeah. And 00:01:16.049 --> 00:01:17.609 I go, really? You think so? He goes, have you 00:01:17.609 --> 00:01:22.510 ever seen a whale? Whales are big. Seems pretty 00:01:22.510 --> 00:01:26.170 cut and dry to me. I'm like, all right. But I 00:01:26.170 --> 00:01:29.890 think... that when we look at the book of Job, 00:01:29.890 --> 00:01:32.709 it talks about Leviathan, this beast, this monster, 00:01:32.829 --> 00:01:36.150 the sea monster of chaos that only God can control. 00:01:36.670 --> 00:01:39.629 I believe that God used Leviathan. He appointed 00:01:39.629 --> 00:01:45.450 him to go and to swallow up Jonah. And so Jonah 00:01:45.450 --> 00:01:50.530 is now in the belly of the whale or fish, Leviathan. 00:01:51.049 --> 00:01:52.709 So let's go chapter two, verse one. We're gonna 00:01:52.709 --> 00:01:54.829 read the entire thing and then I will start back 00:01:54.829 --> 00:01:58.969 at the beginning. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord 00:01:58.969 --> 00:02:03.530 his God from the belly of the fish saying I called 00:02:03.530 --> 00:02:06.650 out to the Lord out of my distress if you've 00:02:06.650 --> 00:02:08.969 got a highlighter highlight that and He answered 00:02:08.969 --> 00:02:11.810 me out of the belly of Sheol I cried and you 00:02:11.810 --> 00:02:14.930 heard my voice For you cast me into the deep 00:02:14.930 --> 00:02:18.169 into the heart of the seas and the flood surrounded 00:02:18.169 --> 00:02:20.770 me all your waves and your billows passed over 00:02:20.770 --> 00:02:24.430 me Then I said I am driven away from your sight. 00:02:24.449 --> 00:02:28.210 You should highlight and circle that Yet I shall 00:02:28.210 --> 00:02:32.669 again look upon your holy temple. The waters 00:02:32.669 --> 00:02:35.430 closed in over me to take my life, and the deep 00:02:35.430 --> 00:02:38.310 surrounded me. Weeds were wrapped around my head 00:02:38.310 --> 00:02:42.789 at the roots of the mountains. I went down to 00:02:42.789 --> 00:02:45.610 the land whose bars closed upon me forever, yet 00:02:45.610 --> 00:02:49.569 you brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my 00:02:49.569 --> 00:02:53.310 God. When my life was fainting away, I remembered 00:02:53.310 --> 00:02:55.729 the Lord and my prayer came to you into your 00:02:55.729 --> 00:03:00.139 holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols 00:03:00.139 --> 00:03:04.180 forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I, 00:03:04.259 --> 00:03:06.539 with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice 00:03:06.539 --> 00:03:11.020 to you what I vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs 00:03:11.020 --> 00:03:14.039 to the Lord." And the Lord spoke to the fish 00:03:14.039 --> 00:03:19.500 and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. All 00:03:19.500 --> 00:03:22.680 right, so today we're unpacking Jonah's prayer. 00:03:23.229 --> 00:03:25.370 This kind of idea that I'm gonna drive home for 00:03:25.370 --> 00:03:27.810 you guys is, is no matter how far we've fallen, 00:03:28.610 --> 00:03:31.750 God's grace reaches deeper and is available to 00:03:31.750 --> 00:03:37.270 all who call him sincerely. I have, since I was 00:03:37.270 --> 00:03:42.349 a small child, for whatever reason, I hate to 00:03:42.349 --> 00:03:47.110 be alone. And so when I was a little kid, if 00:03:47.110 --> 00:03:49.389 I even thought that I was alone in my house, 00:03:49.389 --> 00:03:51.830 I would panic and I would have severe panic attacks. 00:03:52.430 --> 00:03:56.110 And so I hate being alone. And now, as an adult, 00:03:56.270 --> 00:03:58.889 like, yeah, I don't mind being alone. But if 00:03:58.889 --> 00:04:01.250 Tracy, if Tracy goes on a retreat or something 00:04:01.250 --> 00:04:04.770 like that and, you know, she's gone for any long 00:04:04.770 --> 00:04:07.210 periods of time, she'll tell you, like, I get 00:04:07.210 --> 00:04:10.150 anxious. But in a way, that's like, I need someone 00:04:10.150 --> 00:04:14.009 to talk to. I cannot stand silence. I hate it 00:04:14.009 --> 00:04:15.990 with everything in me, except for when I'm hunting. 00:04:16.550 --> 00:04:20.550 Outside of that, I hate silence. When I'm doing 00:04:20.550 --> 00:04:23.949 sermon prep, when I'm writing, or even in my 00:04:23.949 --> 00:04:27.009 own prayer time, I have to have some sort of 00:04:27.009 --> 00:04:28.769 low, like something that can't distract me, but 00:04:28.769 --> 00:04:30.750 I have to have some kind of sound that's going. 00:04:31.350 --> 00:04:34.649 When I'm sleeping, my wife can tell you this, 00:04:35.170 --> 00:04:40.470 I sleep with a show, a book, anything going because 00:04:40.470 --> 00:04:43.670 I cannot stay in silence. And so why do I share 00:04:43.670 --> 00:04:46.189 that with you? because there's many times in 00:04:46.189 --> 00:04:50.709 my life where God will shut things off. He will 00:04:50.709 --> 00:04:55.790 shut me in and force me to listen. Does anybody 00:04:55.790 --> 00:04:57.389 else know what I'm talking about? Have you ever 00:04:57.389 --> 00:05:00.550 been shut off from everything and finding yourself 00:05:00.550 --> 00:05:03.949 going, oh man, this is very uncomfortable? And 00:05:03.949 --> 00:05:06.149 the Lord's like, yeah, I know. And in your discomfort, 00:05:06.209 --> 00:05:10.189 we're gonna have a conversation. And so that's 00:05:10.189 --> 00:05:13.339 happened to me. many times, and specifically 00:05:13.339 --> 00:05:18.079 when I was touring and God was telling me it's 00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:20.079 time to come home and get off the road and no 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:22.920 longer be away from your family and all these 00:05:22.920 --> 00:05:27.920 things. It took God ripping all the things away. 00:05:28.939 --> 00:05:34.699 And he's like, hey, you are one, worshiping your 00:05:34.699 --> 00:05:39.079 own fame. You wear this fake mask of Christianity. 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:43.540 You stand up on a stage, you play for your own 00:05:43.540 --> 00:05:46.199 glory, not for mine. You slap my name on it to 00:05:46.199 --> 00:05:49.759 sell things. We need to have a conversation because 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:52.819 what's happening here is, is it's your own self 00:05:52.819 --> 00:05:56.100 -glorification and you actually aren't worshiping 00:05:56.100 --> 00:05:57.899 me, you're worshiping yourself. And so I'm gonna 00:05:57.899 --> 00:06:00.779 strip everything away and I'm gonna pull the 00:06:00.779 --> 00:06:03.339 mask from your face and I'm gonna make you see 00:06:03.339 --> 00:06:09.180 that it's me, not you. Does that make sense? 00:06:10.250 --> 00:06:13.490 That's where Jonah is right now. God's like, 00:06:13.990 --> 00:06:18.189 you've ran, you've ran, you've ran. Now, I'm 00:06:18.189 --> 00:06:22.430 going to appoint a fish to swallow you up. And 00:06:22.430 --> 00:06:26.889 it's gonna be just me and you, brother. In the 00:06:26.889 --> 00:06:30.389 stomach of this fish, just me and you. You ever 00:06:30.389 --> 00:06:34.230 have those come to Jesus meetings? Yeah? Yeah, 00:06:34.230 --> 00:06:37.370 man. God will strip everything away. I don't 00:06:37.370 --> 00:06:39.519 wanna get too far ahead of myself. but God will 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:45.680 strip it all away. And the thing is, Jonah has 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:49.339 this fish, right, that rescues Jonah. When I 00:06:49.339 --> 00:06:52.220 say rescue, it's not the rescue he wanted, right? 00:06:53.819 --> 00:06:55.459 It's not the rescue he wanted, but it's the rescue 00:06:55.459 --> 00:06:58.379 that he needed. And so sometimes God's greatest 00:06:58.379 --> 00:07:03.379 mercy looks like our greatest nightmare. And 00:07:03.379 --> 00:07:06.699 so I'm calling this the theology of the belly. 00:07:07.980 --> 00:07:11.000 We often think of prayer as an act of devotion, 00:07:11.980 --> 00:07:14.459 a sweet hour of prayer where we come to God out 00:07:14.459 --> 00:07:17.160 of love, but that isn't what happened with Jonah. 00:07:18.459 --> 00:07:20.540 Jonah didn't pray when he boarded the ship to 00:07:20.540 --> 00:07:24.279 Tarshish. He didn't pray when the storm was breaking 00:07:24.279 --> 00:07:27.839 the boat apart. He didn't even pray when he was 00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:32.720 being tossed into the sea. Jonah only prayed 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:36.199 when? What does it say? Let's look back, verses 00:07:36.199 --> 00:07:40.240 one and two. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:43.120 God from the belly of the fish saying I called 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:48.540 out to the Lord in my what? Am I distress Does 00:07:48.540 --> 00:07:52.160 that sound like a affection for the Lord? That 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:57.259 sounds like affliction And so Jonah only prayed 00:07:57.259 --> 00:08:01.500 when he ran out of options How many of us? Will 00:08:01.500 --> 00:08:04.060 do all the things we will distract ourselves 00:08:04.060 --> 00:08:08.430 in all the ways Whatever it looks like work, 00:08:08.689 --> 00:08:14.509 family, distraction, whether it's football, sports, 00:08:14.970 --> 00:08:18.009 whatever it may be, careers, we can distract 00:08:18.009 --> 00:08:22.490 ourselves so much and then when God takes that 00:08:22.490 --> 00:08:25.689 away to get your attention, all of a sudden you 00:08:25.689 --> 00:08:28.889 start praying. But you're not praying out of 00:08:28.889 --> 00:08:31.810 the affection that you have for the Lord, you're 00:08:31.810 --> 00:08:35.700 praying out of the affliction. So this wasn't 00:08:35.700 --> 00:08:38.700 a cry of affection, it was a cry of desperation. 00:08:40.059 --> 00:08:42.759 Jonah was a prophet, a man of the cloth, and 00:08:42.759 --> 00:08:45.639 a man who knew the right answers. Yet his heart 00:08:45.639 --> 00:08:48.639 was miles away from God. He was caught up in 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:51.179 his own fame, his own nationalism, and his own 00:08:51.179 --> 00:08:54.679 self -sufficiency. He thought he was the hero 00:08:54.679 --> 00:08:58.879 of his own story. But God had to take Jonah to 00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:04.309 the belly of Sheol. What is Sheol? Hell. Now 00:09:04.309 --> 00:09:07.049 you can be like, Pastor Logan, he wasn't like, 00:09:07.090 --> 00:09:08.950 like that's figurative, right? No, he was, he 00:09:08.950 --> 00:09:10.490 was in hell and I'm gonna get into that in just 00:09:10.490 --> 00:09:14.830 a second. So to the roots of the mountains wrapped 00:09:14.830 --> 00:09:19.049 in seaweed and darkness, God doesn't crush him, 00:09:19.830 --> 00:09:22.529 but he does deconstruct him. And not in the way 00:09:22.529 --> 00:09:24.509 that we have this popular deconstruction with 00:09:24.509 --> 00:09:26.110 Christians nowadays. That's not what I'm talking 00:09:26.110 --> 00:09:29.929 about. He's destruct, he is destructing, he's 00:09:29.929 --> 00:09:32.909 performing deconstruction in his messed up theology. 00:09:34.009 --> 00:09:36.309 because as you guys, you've heard me say it over 00:09:36.309 --> 00:09:38.149 and over and over again, there's a difference 00:09:38.149 --> 00:09:42.830 between knowledge and knowledge. A lot of us 00:09:42.830 --> 00:09:45.149 in here have a lot of this, don't got a lot of 00:09:45.149 --> 00:09:48.789 this. We know God and doctrine and theology in 00:09:48.789 --> 00:09:51.389 the scriptures here, but it hasn't necessarily 00:09:51.389 --> 00:09:54.149 penetrated the heart, which is why Ezekiel sees 00:09:54.149 --> 00:09:58.110 the vision of a new heart being placed, because 00:09:58.110 --> 00:10:05.669 it takes a new heart. And so, God appoints this 00:10:05.669 --> 00:10:07.929 fish to stop Jonah and his tracks because Jonah 00:10:07.929 --> 00:10:10.610 was moving too fast towards his own destruction 00:10:10.610 --> 00:10:17.330 so God will appoint a fish in your life to be 00:10:17.330 --> 00:10:20.710 a job loss a broken relationship a season of 00:10:20.710 --> 00:10:24.750 silence To bring you to a place of forced quietness 00:10:24.750 --> 00:10:28.990 So he does this to show you who you really are 00:10:28.990 --> 00:10:32.789 Not the person that you're pretending to be Let 00:10:32.789 --> 00:10:36.370 me tell you It's real easy in ministry, real 00:10:36.370 --> 00:10:43.129 easy in ministry to wear this fake facade. And 00:10:43.129 --> 00:10:47.070 so I jokingly said about, you know, being upset 00:10:47.070 --> 00:10:53.570 about the game and being frustrated with the 00:10:53.570 --> 00:10:56.950 Huskers. And I sent a text to Vicki and Lowell 00:10:56.950 --> 00:11:01.210 and apologizing. But in reality, they saw who 00:11:01.210 --> 00:11:04.669 my family sees every day. They don't see the 00:11:04.669 --> 00:11:09.370 facade that is here. They saw part of who I really 00:11:09.370 --> 00:11:15.330 am, broken and messed up. And so the thing is, 00:11:16.169 --> 00:11:21.029 is all of us wear a facade of some kind. There 00:11:21.029 --> 00:11:24.730 can be a lot of men in this room that look, that 00:11:24.730 --> 00:11:27.809 come across as great fathers and great husbands, 00:11:27.889 --> 00:11:32.289 but when you get them home, they're brutal. They're 00:11:32.289 --> 00:11:37.549 either, abusive or they're distant. They're not 00:11:37.549 --> 00:11:39.629 who they claim to be. I mean, for crying out 00:11:39.629 --> 00:11:45.129 loud, we've seen legitimately serial killers 00:11:45.129 --> 00:11:50.049 who were elders in their church. I mean, I know 00:11:50.049 --> 00:11:51.769 that's an extreme, but do you see what I'm saying? 00:11:53.029 --> 00:11:56.519 It comes down to this. We wear a fake facade 00:11:56.519 --> 00:11:58.720 that is not real in front of everyone else and 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:01.700 God will do everything he can to save you from 00:12:01.700 --> 00:12:07.039 yourself. And so he will break the facade. And 00:12:07.039 --> 00:12:09.240 so if you're unwilling to break the facade, just 00:12:09.240 --> 00:12:12.019 know he will and it's not going to feel good. 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:17.759 How many pastors have you seen just in the last 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:24.409 year? Famous pastors got massive platforms. The 00:12:24.409 --> 00:12:26.169 facade came down because they were unwilling 00:12:26.169 --> 00:12:30.350 to bring the facade down themselves. And so just 00:12:30.350 --> 00:12:33.110 know, the scriptures are clear. Your sins will 00:12:33.110 --> 00:12:36.450 find you out. It says that in Numbers. So if 00:12:36.450 --> 00:12:39.169 you're unwilling to take the facade off, God 00:12:39.169 --> 00:12:41.210 will do everything he can. He's gonna strip it 00:12:41.210 --> 00:12:43.450 all away and he's gonna force you to be still 00:12:43.450 --> 00:12:44.789 and be quiet. And he goes, all right, it's time 00:12:44.789 --> 00:12:48.600 to get real. And that's where Jonah is now. Now 00:12:48.600 --> 00:12:50.220 I wanna talk about for just a second, there's 00:12:50.220 --> 00:12:51.639 this thing called, have you guys ever heard of 00:12:51.639 --> 00:12:53.799 cheap grace and costly grace? Have you ever heard 00:12:53.799 --> 00:12:57.580 of that before? That comes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:02.320 theologian. He died as a martyr in World War 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:06.379 II. But he has this, and this is a great book. 00:13:06.580 --> 00:13:09.980 Write this down if you wanna read it. It's one 00:13:09.980 --> 00:13:12.179 that I've read several times and it's always 00:13:12.179 --> 00:13:14.750 a good reminder. But he has a book called The 00:13:14.750 --> 00:13:18.250 Cost of Discipleship. And in it, he starts the 00:13:18.250 --> 00:13:21.350 entire book like this. He says, cheap grace is 00:13:21.350 --> 00:13:24.190 grace without discipleship, grace without the 00:13:24.190 --> 00:13:28.309 cross, grace without Jesus Christ living and 00:13:28.309 --> 00:13:32.509 incarnate. But costly grace is the treasure hidden 00:13:32.509 --> 00:13:35.549 in the field. For the sake of it, man will gladly 00:13:35.549 --> 00:13:38.289 go and sell all that he has. And so what does 00:13:38.289 --> 00:13:43.649 he say? Most of us live with cheap grace in mind. 00:13:44.590 --> 00:13:47.450 We live the facade with cheap grace in mind. 00:13:47.769 --> 00:13:51.629 It didn't cost us anything, we don't care. But 00:13:51.629 --> 00:13:53.549 he's like, there are those who understand what 00:13:53.549 --> 00:13:56.990 they've been saved from, they've been broken, 00:13:57.250 --> 00:14:00.649 they've been quieted, and they understand the 00:14:00.649 --> 00:14:04.370 costly grace of what it costs God. And so they 00:14:04.370 --> 00:14:09.110 live differently. This, of what is happening 00:14:09.110 --> 00:14:12.559 with Jonah, is Jonah had been experiencing cheap 00:14:12.559 --> 00:14:18.360 grace, the grace that he was unwilling to give 00:14:18.360 --> 00:14:22.220 to the Ninevites, that's cheap grace. But now 00:14:22.220 --> 00:14:24.960 he's experiencing costly grace because God has 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:29.580 literally taken him to the pit of hell. And so 00:14:29.580 --> 00:14:31.720 this is where we often get everything wrong in 00:14:31.720 --> 00:14:34.779 the modern church. Cheap grace is the idea that 00:14:34.779 --> 00:14:38.659 God is a nice guy. He overlooks our sin because 00:14:38.659 --> 00:14:43.139 it's no big deal. But the grace Jonah finds is 00:14:43.139 --> 00:14:47.539 the dark and costly grace. It is grace that identifies 00:14:47.539 --> 00:14:51.039 the jacked up way we see God and demands we change. 00:14:51.980 --> 00:14:54.500 It's the grace that strips the mask off because 00:14:54.500 --> 00:14:57.000 it loves the person under the mask too much to 00:14:57.000 --> 00:15:02.059 let them live a lie. This grace cost God everything. 00:15:02.220 --> 00:15:04.539 It cost him his son. And when you are in the 00:15:04.539 --> 00:15:06.980 belly of your own personal fish, you realize 00:15:06.980 --> 00:15:08.879 that you aren't being punished. You're being 00:15:08.879 --> 00:15:14.159 purged. You are being shown a grace so deep that 00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:16.879 once you taste it, you can't keep your mouth 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:19.580 shut about it. You stop playing church and you 00:15:19.580 --> 00:15:22.080 start living in the reality of a savior who went 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:25.419 into the real sheol, the real hell, so that you 00:15:25.419 --> 00:15:32.580 could come out of yours. Have you ever met someone 00:15:32.580 --> 00:15:39.240 who was, well, let me back up. First off, You 00:15:39.240 --> 00:15:43.539 don't have to have a crazy testimony to experience 00:15:43.539 --> 00:15:48.139 costly grace. Here's what I mean. You don't have 00:15:48.139 --> 00:15:51.480 to have a testimony of you've been saved from 00:15:51.480 --> 00:15:57.779 years of black tar heroin, right? But I've met 00:15:57.779 --> 00:16:00.860 drug addicts, prostitutes, people who have had 00:16:00.860 --> 00:16:04.330 these crazy testimonies. And when they come to 00:16:04.330 --> 00:16:07.110 know the costly grace of Jesus, they are forever 00:16:07.110 --> 00:16:09.070 changed and they're forever changed in a way 00:16:09.070 --> 00:16:11.190 that they constantly can't stop talking about 00:16:11.190 --> 00:16:14.570 Jesus. You know what I'm talking about? And I'll 00:16:14.570 --> 00:16:18.730 look at it and be like, man, I wish I was on 00:16:18.730 --> 00:16:22.049 black tar heroin to have a story like that. Not 00:16:22.049 --> 00:16:26.669 really. Right. And one day I had to because I 00:16:26.669 --> 00:16:28.750 can't remember why we were having this conversation 00:16:28.750 --> 00:16:32.730 at our house. But I think it was Aria that said 00:16:32.730 --> 00:16:35.649 something about like not really having a testimony. 00:16:35.730 --> 00:16:41.549 She's just known Jesus and she's got a pretty 00:16:41.549 --> 00:16:45.769 awesome dad and mom, you know, but she's like, 00:16:46.190 --> 00:16:47.789 but we don't really like have like a testimony 00:16:47.789 --> 00:16:53.070 and And at first I'm like, oh yeah, you know, 00:16:53.269 --> 00:16:55.529 but then then the Holy Spirit was like no that 00:16:55.529 --> 00:16:59.429 That is a testimony. That's a testimony to the 00:16:59.429 --> 00:17:03.250 goodness of God. God's like, it's the costly 00:17:03.250 --> 00:17:05.809 grace. You still have to live it out and understand 00:17:05.809 --> 00:17:08.769 that you've been saved from yourself. So you 00:17:08.769 --> 00:17:10.490 don't have to have this crazy story. But what 00:17:10.490 --> 00:17:14.109 I want you to hear, though, is if you have experienced 00:17:14.109 --> 00:17:17.329 costly grace, you should live in a way that you 00:17:17.329 --> 00:17:23.190 know you've experienced costly grace. You won't 00:17:23.190 --> 00:17:25.990 shut up about it. You're constantly talking about 00:17:25.990 --> 00:17:29.809 it. The only people who hate when people are 00:17:29.809 --> 00:17:31.730 constantly talking about the goodness of God 00:17:31.730 --> 00:17:33.849 and what they've been saved from are the people 00:17:33.849 --> 00:17:37.910 who love cheap grace. And so what happens? The 00:17:37.910 --> 00:17:40.670 people who have experienced costly grace ultimately 00:17:40.670 --> 00:17:42.730 get beat into submission by the people that love 00:17:42.730 --> 00:17:45.109 cheap grace because they don't want to be reminded. 00:17:47.390 --> 00:17:53.269 So I'm going to ask you, examine yourself. What 00:17:53.269 --> 00:17:58.049 type of grace are you living under? Point number 00:17:58.049 --> 00:18:00.450 two. Wait, hold on, I don't think I gave point 00:18:00.450 --> 00:18:06.450 number one. Did I? I did? Oh, cool. All right, 00:18:06.509 --> 00:18:10.210 cool. A cry of affliction, not affection. Hopefully 00:18:10.210 --> 00:18:12.789 Dustin was on it, because I wasn't. All right, 00:18:12.789 --> 00:18:16.349 point number two. Don't anybody email me on this, 00:18:16.390 --> 00:18:20.069 all right? If it is, if you do, my email address 00:18:20.069 --> 00:18:26.890 is k .tomjack at gmail .com. Distance can be 00:18:26.890 --> 00:18:31.809 hell. Now, I mean that in the way of both, like 00:18:31.809 --> 00:18:36.089 to get your attention, but also the literal hell. 00:18:37.069 --> 00:18:41.430 So let's look at verses three through five. For 00:18:41.430 --> 00:18:43.589 you cast me into the deep, into the heart of 00:18:43.589 --> 00:18:47.690 the seas, and the flood surrounded me. All your 00:18:47.690 --> 00:18:51.250 waves and your billows passed over me. Then I 00:18:51.250 --> 00:18:56.980 said, I am driven away from your sight. Verse 00:18:56.980 --> 00:19:01.079 five, or yet I shall again look upon your Holy 00:19:01.079 --> 00:19:04.339 temple. The waters closed in over me to take 00:19:04.339 --> 00:19:06.859 my life and the deep surrounded me. Weeds were 00:19:06.859 --> 00:19:11.319 wrapped around my head. And so Jonah gets what 00:19:11.319 --> 00:19:16.839 he asked for, right? What was he asking for? 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:22.660 To get out of, to be distant from God, right? 00:19:23.400 --> 00:19:25.299 He wanted away from him. So God's like, all right. 00:19:26.190 --> 00:19:31.990 Thy will be done, right? Except wasn't exactly 00:19:31.990 --> 00:19:36.069 what Jonah wanted. So Jonah acknowledges a terrifying 00:19:36.069 --> 00:19:38.369 reality, for you cast me into the deep, into 00:19:38.369 --> 00:19:42.890 the heart of the seas. So we have to remember 00:19:42.890 --> 00:19:45.250 that Jonah was a fugitive. He wasn't just on 00:19:45.250 --> 00:19:49.289 a boat. He was on a quest for distance. He wanted 00:19:49.289 --> 00:19:51.549 to get so far away from the presence of God that 00:19:51.549 --> 00:19:55.380 God would finally just stop pursuing him. That's 00:19:55.380 --> 00:19:57.319 what's funny about all of this. God does not 00:19:57.319 --> 00:20:01.559 stop pursuing until the end. He wanted God to 00:20:01.559 --> 00:20:04.200 leave him alone. I'm gonna ask you, have you 00:20:04.200 --> 00:20:06.599 ever been there? Have you ever just wanted God 00:20:06.599 --> 00:20:10.599 to leave you alone? Charles Spurgeon calls him 00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:12.400 the hound of heaven. He doesn't stop pursuing. 00:20:13.640 --> 00:20:16.920 Have you ever been there? He just keeps coming 00:20:16.920 --> 00:20:19.539 up. That's what I love when you hear Phil Robertson's 00:20:19.539 --> 00:20:22.779 testimony and he just talks about how God pursued 00:20:22.779 --> 00:20:25.160 him over and over. And he kept pushing him away 00:20:25.160 --> 00:20:27.960 and pushing him away and God still kept pursuing 00:20:27.960 --> 00:20:32.500 him and kept pursuing him. So you can want distance 00:20:32.500 --> 00:20:34.380 from God and he will give you distance, but he 00:20:34.380 --> 00:20:37.039 will also continue to keep pursuing. But then 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:38.599 there will come a time where, and I'm going to 00:20:38.599 --> 00:20:40.380 get to that in just a minute, where he will stop 00:20:40.380 --> 00:20:45.819 pursuing. So maybe you thought, if I could just 00:20:45.819 --> 00:20:48.700 get far enough away from the church stuff or 00:20:48.700 --> 00:20:51.220 the conviction, I could finally just live my 00:20:51.220 --> 00:20:54.940 life in peace. But Jonah discovers a horrifying 00:20:54.940 --> 00:20:57.539 paradox. God eventually gives us what we want. 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:01.500 So here's the reality of hell. I want everyone 00:21:01.500 --> 00:21:03.619 to pay attention. If you zoned out on me, this 00:21:03.619 --> 00:21:05.160 is what you need to hear more than anything, 00:21:05.240 --> 00:21:10.039 because this is literally life or death. And 00:21:10.039 --> 00:21:12.519 so people often argue, they'll bring this to 00:21:12.519 --> 00:21:16.079 me as a pastor, that a loving God would never 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:19.099 send someone to a place of eternal torment and 00:21:19.099 --> 00:21:22.319 darkness. Have you heard that before? If God 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:25.500 is so loving, he would not send someone to eternal 00:21:25.500 --> 00:21:30.599 damnation. What you have to understand is the 00:21:30.599 --> 00:21:33.900 most terrifying part of hell is distance from 00:21:33.900 --> 00:21:36.619 God. You could be like, I don't know, that doesn't 00:21:36.619 --> 00:21:40.960 sound too bad. When you know that God is literal 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:44.299 light, love, justice, and mercy, it's terrifying. 00:21:46.700 --> 00:21:51.900 The flames and the fires of hell are but just 00:21:51.900 --> 00:21:55.299 a portion of the torture because it's the other 00:21:55.299 --> 00:21:59.359 that is terrifying. So I would say we misunderstand 00:21:59.359 --> 00:22:02.700 the nature of hell. Hell is not God being unloving. 00:22:03.059 --> 00:22:07.319 It is God being just, and he's just enough to 00:22:07.319 --> 00:22:11.779 respect our choice. He is so just and good that 00:22:11.779 --> 00:22:14.559 he's like, okay, this is what you want. I'm giving 00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:17.480 you that. You truly want distance from me. Why 00:22:17.480 --> 00:22:21.410 would I put you in a place of eternal eternity 00:22:21.410 --> 00:22:27.450 with me in my presence. And so, if you spend 00:22:27.450 --> 00:22:29.450 your entire life running from God saying, leave 00:22:29.450 --> 00:22:31.450 me alone, eventually God will say that will be 00:22:31.450 --> 00:22:35.230 done. As Jonah sinks into the heart of the seas, 00:22:35.309 --> 00:22:37.829 he's experiencing a physical manifestation of 00:22:37.829 --> 00:22:42.410 hell. It is darkness. It is despair. And it is 00:22:42.410 --> 00:22:45.430 the absolute absence of the light of God's presence. 00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:48.779 Hell is simply the place where God is no longer 00:22:48.779 --> 00:22:51.579 there to restrain the darkness. Is God there? 00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:53.259 Yes, but is he there to restrain the darkness? 00:22:53.339 --> 00:22:57.640 No. So if you keep asking for God to go away, 00:22:58.519 --> 00:23:01.339 he'll give you what you want, and he'll stop 00:23:01.339 --> 00:23:03.680 restraining the darkness. And so here's a warning. 00:23:03.720 --> 00:23:06.700 This should be up here if you wanna write this 00:23:06.700 --> 00:23:10.759 down. We think the distance, that distance from 00:23:10.759 --> 00:23:13.339 God will bring us freedom. But as Jonah found 00:23:13.339 --> 00:23:16.180 out, the distance only brings the flood and the 00:23:16.180 --> 00:23:19.980 billows. Sin promises a playground, it delivers 00:23:19.980 --> 00:23:23.279 a grave. It gives you exactly what you asked 00:23:23.279 --> 00:23:25.720 for, but it turns out to be nothing what you 00:23:25.720 --> 00:23:29.660 hoped for. And so, but here's the good news. 00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:34.940 Let me pause for just a second. The reason why 00:23:34.940 --> 00:23:38.319 this perfectly encapsulates in the words that 00:23:38.319 --> 00:23:42.559 Jonah uses, he uses water, going down right so 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:44.859 literally God takes him again we're going down 00:23:44.859 --> 00:23:48.019 more so God takes him literally to the base of 00:23:48.019 --> 00:23:52.539 the ocean and so water and mountains he uses 00:23:52.539 --> 00:23:55.079 both of those things and so in Hebrew culture 00:23:55.079 --> 00:24:01.599 they believe that Sheol so mountains represent 00:24:01.599 --> 00:24:09.250 God and going up to the sanctuary of God, and 00:24:09.250 --> 00:24:11.230 ultimately that's why you see Moses go on top 00:24:11.230 --> 00:24:13.529 of a mountain and God visits him there. Throughout 00:24:13.529 --> 00:24:15.509 all the Old Testament, even into the New Testament, 00:24:15.650 --> 00:24:18.369 the transfiguration happens on a mountain. So 00:24:18.369 --> 00:24:19.849 there's tons and tons of mountains. It's supposed 00:24:19.849 --> 00:24:22.490 to be God's footstool. They believe that Eden 00:24:22.490 --> 00:24:26.569 was on a mountain. And so, at the base of the 00:24:26.569 --> 00:24:31.950 mountain, they believe is where angels and... 00:24:33.819 --> 00:24:35.559 supernatural beings kind of come in and out. 00:24:35.579 --> 00:24:38.440 So you heard of Jacob's ladder, right? And so 00:24:38.440 --> 00:24:39.920 they believe it's at the base of the mountain 00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:42.319 and underneath mountains and in oceans, that 00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:46.720 is Sheol. That's hell. So it's not figurative, 00:24:46.740 --> 00:24:48.579 like they believe that that's exactly where it 00:24:48.579 --> 00:24:50.880 is. Is that where it's at? I don't know. I couldn't, 00:24:51.099 --> 00:24:56.220 I mean, sounds good to me. So when he's literally 00:24:56.220 --> 00:25:00.700 going down, he is literally in a physical manifestation 00:25:00.700 --> 00:25:04.089 of what the Hebrews understood hell to be. utter 00:25:04.089 --> 00:25:07.210 darkness, utter despair, and completely distant 00:25:07.210 --> 00:25:11.589 from God. And so, but here's the beautiful thing. 00:25:13.630 --> 00:25:16.109 What does God do? We read it, right? So what 00:25:16.109 --> 00:25:18.809 does God do? He takes him there, Jonah begins 00:25:18.809 --> 00:25:23.329 to pray, what happens? What did it say? Where 00:25:23.329 --> 00:25:25.569 does Jonah, what ultimately happens to Jonah? 00:25:27.589 --> 00:25:31.950 He's thrown up onto the shore. So we see that 00:25:31.950 --> 00:25:34.569 God's mercy happens. You can be like, that doesn't 00:25:34.569 --> 00:25:37.250 seem like mercy. We'll get to that. So the reach 00:25:37.250 --> 00:25:40.549 of the sovereign hand, even in the depths, Jonah 00:25:40.549 --> 00:25:43.309 realizes something profound. So if you look at 00:25:43.309 --> 00:25:45.390 verse four, it says, I have been cast out from 00:25:45.390 --> 00:25:48.269 your sight, yet I shall again look upon your 00:25:48.269 --> 00:25:51.589 holy temple. Even when Jonah felt he had finally 00:25:51.589 --> 00:25:54.650 succeeded in losing God, he realized he couldn't 00:25:54.650 --> 00:25:58.289 outrun God's sovereignty. He was cast out, but 00:25:58.289 --> 00:26:01.430 he wasn't wiped out. And so ultimately, this 00:26:01.430 --> 00:26:07.039 is Jonah saying, Yeah, I'm not dead yet. I'm 00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:10.180 here in hell. This is awful. So this tells me 00:26:10.180 --> 00:26:13.619 I should probably do the thing you're telling 00:26:13.619 --> 00:26:19.019 me to do. So this is the tension of the gospel. 00:26:19.559 --> 00:26:21.440 So you've got one, you've got the justice of 00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:23.779 God. God allows you to feel the weight of the 00:26:23.779 --> 00:26:27.579 distance you chose. But then you've got the mercy 00:26:27.579 --> 00:26:30.500 of God. His hand is never too short to reach 00:26:30.500 --> 00:26:34.220 into the dark. And so I want you to hear me. 00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:37.500 Don't wait until the weeds are wrapped around 00:26:37.500 --> 00:26:40.420 your head to realize that the distance you're 00:26:40.420 --> 00:26:43.539 craving is actually killing you. You might be 00:26:43.539 --> 00:26:46.579 in a sinful lifestyle right now that feels like 00:26:46.579 --> 00:26:49.039 freedom, but if you look closely, the water is 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:52.299 rising. You're experiencing a personal hell, 00:26:53.220 --> 00:26:57.180 one of your own making. Anxiety, fear, and a 00:26:57.180 --> 00:27:01.460 hollowed out soul is happening. And so Jonah's 00:27:01.460 --> 00:27:04.339 only hope and your only hope is to stop swimming 00:27:04.339 --> 00:27:06.579 away and start looking back towards his holy 00:27:06.579 --> 00:27:10.200 temple. So you don't have to wait until you've 00:27:10.200 --> 00:27:14.480 hit the bottom to call out. So, but if you are 00:27:14.480 --> 00:27:18.519 at the bottom, know this, the God of grace is 00:27:18.519 --> 00:27:23.019 a deep sea diver. He goes down to the depths 00:27:23.019 --> 00:27:28.099 to pull up the runaways. One of my favorite C 00:27:28.099 --> 00:27:31.960 .S. Lewis, It's a very short book story. It's 00:27:31.960 --> 00:27:33.980 called The Great Divorce. And The Great Divorce 00:27:33.980 --> 00:27:38.099 is about this man who's getting on a bus and 00:27:38.099 --> 00:27:42.500 he's lived in this very gray town. And in this 00:27:42.500 --> 00:27:45.259 gray town, you've got people like Napoleon Bonaparte, 00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:48.799 who never leaves his home and he's constantly 00:27:48.799 --> 00:27:54.079 running around his house and trying to find things 00:27:54.079 --> 00:27:57.259 to conquer. And he's trapped inside his home. 00:27:58.049 --> 00:28:00.410 And so he lives in this very gray town and the 00:28:00.410 --> 00:28:04.029 people are always arguing. And so they're fighting 00:28:04.029 --> 00:28:06.109 to get on this bus. They get on the bus and as 00:28:06.109 --> 00:28:09.750 the bus begins to take them up, they arrive at 00:28:09.750 --> 00:28:13.509 this, at heaven. All this time they've had no 00:28:13.509 --> 00:28:19.809 idea that they're dead. So they go up, they have 00:28:19.809 --> 00:28:21.569 people that come out to greet them that they've 00:28:21.569 --> 00:28:24.930 known in their life. And the people that they've 00:28:24.930 --> 00:28:28.779 known are people that maybe had like one guy 00:28:28.779 --> 00:28:33.279 experiences, he experienced as a guy who murdered 00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:36.480 a friend of his and the murderer is in heaven. 00:28:36.720 --> 00:28:38.539 And he's like, how can you be here? And I'm down 00:28:38.539 --> 00:28:42.420 there. And he's like, he's like the grace of 00:28:42.420 --> 00:28:44.680 Jesus right before I, before I died, you know, 00:28:44.680 --> 00:28:47.220 I, I was a terrible man. And, you know, and it 00:28:47.220 --> 00:28:49.920 was, and he starts telling it the goodness of 00:28:49.920 --> 00:28:51.900 God. And he's like, you've got to come with me. 00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:53.460 You've got to come with me. You've got to come 00:28:53.460 --> 00:28:57.099 with me. And so you get all these different stories 00:28:57.099 --> 00:28:59.380 of all these people that they're being begged 00:28:59.380 --> 00:29:04.279 just come. And it says that the people that were 00:29:04.279 --> 00:29:08.599 in hell, they're just these kind of mystical 00:29:08.599 --> 00:29:13.700 spirits, but the people in heaven are real. And 00:29:13.700 --> 00:29:15.500 when the spirits try to start walking towards 00:29:15.500 --> 00:29:19.400 the city, the ground, the grass is made of crystal, 00:29:19.640 --> 00:29:23.819 and it's very hard on their feet. And a lot of 00:29:23.819 --> 00:29:25.480 them either reject going because they're like, 00:29:25.480 --> 00:29:27.759 I don't want to be there. I don't want any of 00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:30.099 that. I'm fine where I'm at. And then others 00:29:30.099 --> 00:29:32.700 try. And they're like, this is painful. I'm not 00:29:32.700 --> 00:29:34.920 doing this. And then there's only one or two 00:29:34.920 --> 00:29:37.160 that actually accept it. And they experience 00:29:37.160 --> 00:29:40.559 the pain to ultimately go and be in front of 00:29:40.559 --> 00:29:43.019 God in His holy city. And so it's a really cool 00:29:43.019 --> 00:29:46.339 book. But in it, there's this illustration of 00:29:46.339 --> 00:29:49.119 the journey of the souls from hell to heaven. 00:29:49.660 --> 00:29:52.119 and many of the souls reject heaven, preferring 00:29:52.119 --> 00:29:54.880 their isolation and their autonomy that they 00:29:54.880 --> 00:29:58.460 had in hell. They are unwilling to give up their 00:29:58.460 --> 00:30:01.180 preferences, illustrating how the ultimate desire 00:30:01.180 --> 00:30:04.519 to be left alone can lead to self -imposed exile 00:30:04.519 --> 00:30:08.420 from God's love and presence. And so this poignant 00:30:08.420 --> 00:30:11.759 narrative reminds us that hell is not a torture 00:30:11.759 --> 00:30:14.279 chamber, but rather the tragic fulfillment of 00:30:14.279 --> 00:30:18.130 our choice to be distant from God. Now you'd 00:30:18.130 --> 00:30:21.690 be like, Pastor Logan, are you saying that you 00:30:21.690 --> 00:30:25.390 don't believe in eternal torment? No, I do, I 00:30:25.390 --> 00:30:29.769 do. I think that C .S. Lewis is just giving us 00:30:29.769 --> 00:30:33.250 an illustration that the worst part is the distance 00:30:33.250 --> 00:30:37.769 from God. And so Lewis has this quote, there 00:30:37.769 --> 00:30:40.049 are only two kinds of people in the end, those 00:30:40.049 --> 00:30:44.250 who say to God, thy will be done, and those to 00:30:44.250 --> 00:30:48.339 whom God says in the end, thy will be done all 00:30:48.339 --> 00:30:51.779 that are in hell choose it without their self 00:30:51.779 --> 00:30:56.680 -choice there could be no hell so this should 00:30:56.680 --> 00:30:59.839 be right up here hell is the ultimate fulfillment 00:30:59.839 --> 00:31:08.960 of the human desire to be left alone by god just 00:31:08.960 --> 00:31:14.309 a couple more points point number three Mercy 00:31:14.309 --> 00:31:20.230 swims in deep waters. So if we look verses six 00:31:20.230 --> 00:31:25.069 through 10, at the roots of the mountains I went 00:31:25.069 --> 00:31:28.569 to the land and I went down, at the roots of 00:31:28.569 --> 00:31:30.750 the mountains I went down to the land whose bars 00:31:30.750 --> 00:31:33.150 closed upon me forever yet you brought up my 00:31:33.150 --> 00:31:36.630 life from the pit. Oh Lord my God when my life 00:31:36.630 --> 00:31:38.890 was fainting away I remembered the Lord and my 00:31:38.890 --> 00:31:42.390 prayer came to you into your holy temple. Those 00:31:42.390 --> 00:31:44.690 who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope 00:31:44.690 --> 00:31:48.289 of steadfast love But with the voice of thanksgiving 00:31:48.289 --> 00:31:50.930 I will sacrifice to you and I will I will I will 00:31:50.930 --> 00:31:55.690 have valid what I will pay Salvation belongs 00:31:55.690 --> 00:31:58.410 to the Lord and the Lord spoke to the fish and 00:31:58.410 --> 00:32:04.630 it vomited Jonah onto the dry land and so Here's 00:32:04.630 --> 00:32:07.809 something that's really incredible Jonah sees 00:32:07.809 --> 00:32:11.980 the mercy seat of God in the deep In hell, he 00:32:11.980 --> 00:32:15.400 sees the mercy seat of God. What is the mercy 00:32:15.400 --> 00:32:17.500 seat? So Jonah finds himself at the roots of 00:32:17.500 --> 00:32:20.940 the mountains, a place where earth's bars were 00:32:20.940 --> 00:32:24.579 closing in on him forever. In this pit, he remembers 00:32:24.579 --> 00:32:29.460 the mercy seat of God. Where's the mercy seat? 00:32:31.799 --> 00:32:36.380 A little Old Testament quiz going on. Ark of 00:32:36.380 --> 00:32:38.960 the Covenant, right? So the Ark of the Covenant, 00:32:39.220 --> 00:32:41.609 you've got these angels that sit on top of the 00:32:41.609 --> 00:32:43.369 Ark of the Covenant, right? And there it goes 00:32:43.369 --> 00:32:47.369 out. And on that is the mercy seat. And so what 00:32:47.369 --> 00:32:50.410 happens on the mercy seat? Well, the sacrifice, 00:32:50.789 --> 00:32:53.289 the sacrifice is made. The blood is sprinkled 00:32:53.289 --> 00:32:56.089 onto the mercy seat. This is a representation 00:32:56.089 --> 00:32:59.630 of Christ. And so as I was preparing for this, 00:32:59.710 --> 00:33:02.930 I couldn't stop thinking about remember that 00:33:02.930 --> 00:33:05.029 song in the 90s? I don't remember her name. I 00:33:05.029 --> 00:33:07.130 should have wrote it down, but but it went, I'm 00:33:07.130 --> 00:33:11.680 running. I'm running, I'm running to the mercy 00:33:11.680 --> 00:33:14.240 seat. You guys know that song? Where Jesus is 00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:18.500 calling. Everybody's looking at me like. You 00:33:18.500 --> 00:33:23.200 don't want to sing it man? Oh, I thought you 00:33:23.200 --> 00:33:24.599 were gonna say, but I don't want to sing it. 00:33:25.559 --> 00:33:27.279 But it says I'm running to the mercy seat where 00:33:27.279 --> 00:33:30.900 Jesus is calling. He will provide the healing. 00:33:31.099 --> 00:33:35.180 I'm running to the mercy seat. It says that His 00:33:35.180 --> 00:33:38.160 blood will flow freely and He will provide my 00:33:38.160 --> 00:33:41.799 healing. And so I was like, man, that's Jonah 00:33:41.799 --> 00:33:44.119 right now. Like he's going, I'm running to the 00:33:44.119 --> 00:33:50.000 mercy seat. I am running to the mercy seat, begging 00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:56.779 Jesus, begging the Father. Please, please, I'm 00:33:56.779 --> 00:34:04.579 stupid. Forgive me. There's a couple people that 00:34:04.579 --> 00:34:10.980 were like Jonah is saying Can we all agree like 00:34:10.980 --> 00:34:15.619 he's being stupid? He's running from God and 00:34:15.619 --> 00:34:18.340 He did everything he could and now he finds himself 00:34:18.340 --> 00:34:21.840 in his own self -made hell and now he's crying 00:34:21.840 --> 00:34:27.699 out to God He's not stupid now, but he was Pastor 00:34:27.699 --> 00:34:30.800 Logan's been stupid many times. I grow from it. 00:34:30.800 --> 00:34:35.750 Hopefully It's the grace of God. And so Jonah 00:34:35.750 --> 00:34:38.909 knows exactly what the lyrics of the song means. 00:34:39.309 --> 00:34:41.070 Because in the temple, the mercy seat was done 00:34:41.070 --> 00:34:43.769 the lid of the Ark of the Covenant, where the 00:34:43.769 --> 00:34:45.789 blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled to cover 00:34:45.789 --> 00:34:48.449 the sins of the people. And Jonah realizes that 00:34:48.449 --> 00:34:50.630 he doesn't need a better plan. He doesn't need 00:34:50.630 --> 00:34:53.010 a better boat, and he doesn't need a better reputation. 00:34:53.510 --> 00:34:57.610 He needs a sacrifice. He needs God to step in. 00:34:58.490 --> 00:35:01.230 So even in the deepest darkest hell of your own 00:35:01.230 --> 00:35:04.690 making mercy is swimming there you cannot out 00:35:04.690 --> 00:35:09.829 sink the reach of God's grace So but there's 00:35:09.829 --> 00:35:13.590 this funny part in verse 8 does anyone find that 00:35:13.590 --> 00:35:17.670 this part to be kind of strange like He's talking 00:35:17.670 --> 00:35:21.389 about Mercy right and and I see your Holy Temple 00:35:21.389 --> 00:35:23.369 and you're you know, you've brought me up from 00:35:23.369 --> 00:35:25.829 out of the pit He's essentially quoting Psalms 00:35:25.829 --> 00:35:29.000 by the way But then he says in verse 8 those 00:35:29.000 --> 00:35:31.780 who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope 00:35:31.780 --> 00:35:35.019 of steadfast love But I does anyone feel like 00:35:35.019 --> 00:35:37.940 that's kind of a strange like we're rolling along. 00:35:37.940 --> 00:35:40.119 He's saying a prayer He's talking about the mercy 00:35:40.119 --> 00:35:43.539 of God. He's quoting the Psalms and being rescued 00:35:43.539 --> 00:35:46.539 and then he talks about vain idols Does anyone 00:35:46.539 --> 00:35:48.559 else find that to be a strange like it feels 00:35:48.559 --> 00:35:57.199 like a hiccup? so Theologians are they they're 00:35:57.199 --> 00:36:01.860 split, but I will tell you where I stand. So 00:36:01.860 --> 00:36:04.380 there are those that say, yeah, Jonah was talking 00:36:04.380 --> 00:36:08.579 about his own idolatry, his own political idolatry 00:36:08.579 --> 00:36:11.820 and his own fame idolatry. And so he's saying, 00:36:11.860 --> 00:36:15.159 I'm rejecting all those things. I don't agree 00:36:15.159 --> 00:36:20.480 with that. I believe that he is talking about 00:36:20.480 --> 00:36:25.000 the Ninevites. That he is looking at it and once 00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.480 again being self -righteous That he wants that 00:36:29.480 --> 00:36:35.159 costly grace while offering cheap grace Why do 00:36:35.159 --> 00:36:38.840 I think that Well, I know the end of the story 00:36:38.840 --> 00:36:42.000 and how it how it ends but also it says but I 00:36:42.000 --> 00:36:46.659 But I I will I will be the one that makes sacrifices. 00:36:46.659 --> 00:36:52.909 I will be the good Christian right and so An 00:36:52.909 --> 00:36:55.210 idol is anything you look to for meaning, for 00:36:55.210 --> 00:36:57.650 worth, security, that only God can provide. And 00:36:57.650 --> 00:37:00.369 as people, as spouses, and as professionals, 00:37:00.510 --> 00:37:02.989 we turn our careers and our self -image into 00:37:02.989 --> 00:37:07.309 sin factories. And here's the difference. This 00:37:07.309 --> 00:37:10.250 will be up here. An idol will always eventually 00:37:10.250 --> 00:37:15.329 sacrifice you on its own altar. Your idol, if 00:37:15.329 --> 00:37:17.329 your idol is your legacy, what you're leaving 00:37:17.329 --> 00:37:20.469 behind. By the way, leaving behind a legacy is 00:37:20.469 --> 00:37:22.769 not a bad thing. It is a good thing. It is a 00:37:22.769 --> 00:37:25.190 godly thing. It is in Genesis. We see it. Leaving 00:37:25.190 --> 00:37:27.489 behind inheritances and wanting to have a legacy, 00:37:27.630 --> 00:37:29.250 none of that stuff is bad. But when that thing 00:37:29.250 --> 00:37:32.570 becomes all important to you of having this legacy 00:37:32.570 --> 00:37:35.530 to be remembered, when people forget about you, 00:37:35.670 --> 00:37:39.730 you will be crushed by it. If your idol is your 00:37:39.730 --> 00:37:41.809 own self -sufficiency, it will abandon you when 00:37:41.809 --> 00:37:45.769 you fail. But God is the only God who puts himself 00:37:45.769 --> 00:37:50.150 on the altar for the sake of the idolater. So 00:37:50.150 --> 00:37:53.909 here's the problem with Jonah and with us. Is 00:37:53.909 --> 00:37:58.150 Jonah truly repentant? Or is he still just playing 00:37:58.150 --> 00:38:01.369 church? So like I said, I think that he is talking 00:38:01.369 --> 00:38:05.250 about the Ninevites own pagan idolatrous ways. 00:38:06.309 --> 00:38:09.190 He's seeing himself as worthy to be saved and 00:38:09.190 --> 00:38:11.469 the Ninevites unworthy to be saved. He's saying, 00:38:11.690 --> 00:38:14.670 their wickedness is way worse than mine. I'm 00:38:14.670 --> 00:38:16.989 worthy of being saved. I'm on the all -star team. 00:38:17.130 --> 00:38:19.909 I'm a prophet. I'm a mouthpiece of God. I should 00:38:19.909 --> 00:38:26.230 get the costly grace, but they should not. And 00:38:26.230 --> 00:38:29.130 so how often do we do this? We want God's grace 00:38:29.130 --> 00:38:32.309 for our own mistakes, but we want God's judgment 00:38:32.309 --> 00:38:36.329 for the other people. We want costly grace for 00:38:36.329 --> 00:38:38.869 ourselves, but we offer that cheap grace, or 00:38:38.869 --> 00:38:43.489 no grace at all. So Jonah's still acting a fool. 00:38:46.050 --> 00:38:47.769 Thank you for somebody that at least laughed. 00:38:48.829 --> 00:38:51.710 But even in his imperfection, he still lands 00:38:51.710 --> 00:38:55.409 on one truth that changes everything. Verse nine, 00:38:55.449 --> 00:38:57.230 what does it say? Somebody read it out, tell 00:38:57.230 --> 00:39:01.010 me. The very last line, what is that very last 00:39:01.010 --> 00:39:05.190 line in verse nine? Salvation belongs to the 00:39:05.190 --> 00:39:08.789 Lord. He is quoting the Psalms. That is the entirety. 00:39:08.889 --> 00:39:12.250 If you were to sum up all of the Bible in one 00:39:12.250 --> 00:39:14.909 verse, if you said, sum it up, give me the thesis 00:39:14.909 --> 00:39:17.369 statement, Pastor Logan. It's that salvation 00:39:17.369 --> 00:39:19.869 belongs to the Lord. You cannot save yourself. 00:39:20.230 --> 00:39:22.650 He is the one that does it for you. He does the 00:39:22.650 --> 00:39:25.690 heavy lifting. He is the one that saves. And 00:39:25.690 --> 00:39:28.289 so J .I. Packer in his book, Knowing God, says 00:39:28.289 --> 00:39:32.070 this. We have seen why the thought of grace means 00:39:32.070 --> 00:39:35.429 so little to some church people, namely because 00:39:35.429 --> 00:39:38.010 they do not share the beliefs about God and man, 00:39:38.269 --> 00:39:42.210 which it presupposes. Now we have to ask, why 00:39:42.210 --> 00:39:45.170 should this thought mean so much to others? The 00:39:45.170 --> 00:39:48.420 answer is not far to seek. Indeed, it is evident 00:39:48.420 --> 00:39:51.699 from what has already been said. It is surely 00:39:51.699 --> 00:39:54.820 clear that once a person is convinced that his 00:39:54.820 --> 00:39:57.920 state and his need are as described, the New 00:39:57.920 --> 00:40:00.380 Testament gospel of grace cannot but sweep him 00:40:00.380 --> 00:40:03.400 off his feet with wonder and joy, for it tells 00:40:03.400 --> 00:40:06.280 how our judge has become our Savior. If you did 00:40:06.280 --> 00:40:07.900 not understand what he's saying, he's ultimately 00:40:07.900 --> 00:40:10.280 saying this. When you come to the realization 00:40:10.280 --> 00:40:13.239 that you are not good and you desperately need 00:40:13.239 --> 00:40:17.679 Christ to save you. You're not any better than 00:40:17.679 --> 00:40:20.980 the person next door. That's when grace sweeps 00:40:20.980 --> 00:40:24.039 you off your feet and you cannot be Overwhelmed 00:40:24.039 --> 00:40:26.380 with wonder and joy because then you understand 00:40:26.380 --> 00:40:29.300 that the judge who can totally destroy your soul 00:40:29.300 --> 00:40:34.380 has now become your Savior So wrapping up right 00:40:34.380 --> 00:40:40.519 here I Have the subtitle the great puke a foreshadowing 00:40:40.519 --> 00:40:44.500 of Christ Jonah couldn't swim out of the fish 00:40:44.670 --> 00:40:47.889 He couldn't bargain his way out, only God could 00:40:47.889 --> 00:40:51.429 speak to the monster. When verse 10 says that 00:40:51.429 --> 00:40:54.469 the fish vomited Jonah upon the dry land, it's 00:40:54.469 --> 00:41:00.809 not just a gross detail, it's a prophecy. Anybody 00:41:00.809 --> 00:41:03.929 want to guess why it's a prophecy? Because Jesus 00:41:03.929 --> 00:41:08.690 himself called this the sign of Jonah. Just as 00:41:08.690 --> 00:41:13.949 the fish couldn't hold Jonah, the grave couldn't 00:41:13.670 --> 00:41:19.489 hold Jesus. Death swallowed Christ, but Christ 00:41:19.489 --> 00:41:22.230 could not be shut up for he spoke to death and 00:41:22.230 --> 00:41:26.570 sheol and it vomited him forth. And when he rose, 00:41:26.710 --> 00:41:29.489 he didn't come alone. He broke the bars of the 00:41:29.489 --> 00:41:32.130 pit and brought with him everyone who had been 00:41:32.130 --> 00:41:38.329 waiting for the true mercy seat. And so, here's 00:41:38.329 --> 00:41:43.380 my call to you. I'm gonna ask that you stop playing 00:41:43.380 --> 00:41:45.920 church. I'm gonna ask that if you have been here 00:41:45.920 --> 00:41:48.679 with a mask on, you are not who you claim to 00:41:48.679 --> 00:41:51.599 be. Only your spouse knows that, or your kids 00:41:51.599 --> 00:41:55.340 or grandkids know that. Here's what I'm gonna 00:41:55.340 --> 00:41:58.559 ask you to do. Stop playing church. You're only 00:41:58.559 --> 00:42:03.340 drowning. Stop feeding the vain idols of your 00:42:03.340 --> 00:42:07.139 reputation and your self -reliance, because they're 00:42:07.139 --> 00:42:12.039 not gonna save you. They'll let you sink. I want 00:42:12.039 --> 00:42:14.280 you to experience the costly grace that doesn't 00:42:14.280 --> 00:42:16.480 just pat you on the back but pulls you out of 00:42:16.480 --> 00:42:20.780 the grave. So the hand of God is reaching out 00:42:20.780 --> 00:42:23.460 to you right now to pull you from your own personal 00:42:23.460 --> 00:42:28.960 hell. I have this quote. It's from Martin Lloyd 00:42:28.960 --> 00:42:34.579 -Jones, famous pastor and theologian. It is grace 00:42:34.579 --> 00:42:38.989 at the beginning and grace at the end. so that 00:42:38.989 --> 00:42:42.150 when you and I come to lie upon our deathbeds, 00:42:42.150 --> 00:42:45.150 the one thing that should comfort and help us 00:42:45.150 --> 00:42:50.210 and strengthen us, there is the thing that helped 00:42:50.210 --> 00:42:54.409 us in the beginning. Not what we have been, not 00:42:54.409 --> 00:42:57.369 what we have done, but the grace of God in Jesus 00:42:57.369 --> 00:43:00.469 Christ our Lord. The Christian life starts with 00:43:00.469 --> 00:43:03.710 grace, it continues with grace, and it ends with 00:43:03.710 --> 00:43:08.739 grace. Grace, wondrous grace. By the grace of 00:43:08.739 --> 00:43:13.000 God, I am what I am, yet not I, but the grace 00:43:13.000 --> 00:43:17.619 of God, which was with me." So what he's saying 00:43:17.619 --> 00:43:20.760 is this, it's grace that saves you, not works. 00:43:21.400 --> 00:43:24.280 It's grace that continues your sanctification, 00:43:24.900 --> 00:43:28.619 not your works. And it's grace that will sustain 00:43:28.619 --> 00:43:33.079 you on your deathbed and into heaven. And so 00:43:33.079 --> 00:43:34.780 if you're here and you've been playing church 00:43:34.780 --> 00:43:37.480 and you've not actually experienced the costly 00:43:37.480 --> 00:43:39.380 grace of God, I would ask that you would remove 00:43:39.380 --> 00:43:42.199 the mask and be real with yourself and respond. 00:43:42.840 --> 00:43:43.300 Let's pray.