1 00:00:01,240 --> 00:00:08,240 And Father in heaven is we open your word, receive what you Holy 2 00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:18,000 Spirit intend to do, cause us to leave this place shouting as 3 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:22,280 desperate people whose needs have been met. 4 00:00:23,080 --> 00:00:29,560 Jesus, Jesus, Father in heaven, for your glory and our good. 5 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:33,160 Would you wake up complacent souls? 6 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:39,200 Would you shake us from the consumeristic, critical way in 7 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:43,600 which we so often treat your means of grace? 8 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:50,000 Speak now and remind us that apart from You we have nothing, 9 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:54,400 and in You we have everything we will ever need. 10 00:00:55,000 --> 00:01:00,560 Give us expectation that we would be transformed even this 11 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:04,200 day. For your glory and our good, we 12 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:10,120 pray in Jesus name, Amen. This morning I'm going to read 13 00:01:10,960 --> 00:01:13,880 from the book of Jonah. We started this series last 14 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:16,400 week. I'm going to read verses one 15 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:21,320 through 6. Will continue in this section 16 00:01:21,320 --> 00:01:26,400 next week as well and go a little bit beyond verse one, 17 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:28,760 Jonah one. Now the word of the Lord came to 18 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:34,280 Jonah the son of Amitai, saying arise, go to Nineveh that great 19 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:39,240 city and call out against it for their evil has come up before 20 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:42,080 me. But Jonah rose to flee to 21 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:44,120 Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. 22 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:47,680 He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. 23 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:51,680 So he said he paid the fare and went down into it to go with 24 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:55,160 them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. 25 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:58,920 But the Lord hurled a great wind up on the sea, and there was a 26 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:02,240 mighty Tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to 27 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:05,400 break up. Then the Mariners were afraid, 28 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:09,720 and each cried out to his God. They hurled the cargo that was 29 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:12,240 in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. 30 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:15,680 But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had 31 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:19,960 lain down, and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to 32 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:25,560 him, What do you mean? You sleeper, arise, call out to 33 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:29,160 your God. Perhaps your God will give a 34 00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:32,480 thought to us that we may not perish. 35 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:36,520 This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. 36 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:48,930 Please be seated. When we open the Word of God, we 37 00:02:48,930 --> 00:02:55,690 are opening the Word that is alive, that is living, that is 38 00:02:55,690 --> 00:02:59,280 God breathed. When we open the word to 39 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:06,360 familiar stories and passages, it's easy to forget that the 40 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:13,840 purpose of this word that is God breathed is to teach us, correct 41 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:19,720 us, to rebuke us, and to train us in righteousness. 42 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:30,520 This is an amazing book of God's word, 48 verses that speaks so 43 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:37,520 much to the darkness and descent of sin in our lives and so much 44 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:42,400 of the depth of God's mercy descending to us. 45 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:48,080 But it's easy to think, what more can I learn about Jonah? 46 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:53,400 You can learn something every time you open it. 47 00:03:54,120 --> 00:04:00,040 Every time you open it, you can be taught, corrected, trained, 48 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:04,280 rebuked in righteousness. And friends, I want to tell you, 49 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:07,240 I think many of us don't expect that to happen. 50 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:10,800 And the reason we don't expect it to happen is because worship 51 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:15,240 is not much more than checking a box, moving through a service, 52 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:18,320 and going on to whatever's next. It's not the purpose of God's 53 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:24,320 Word. God's Word is to make us shape 54 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:28,600 us more and more like the one he saved us to be. 55 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:34,120 Every time you enter this sanctuary in Christ, you and I 56 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:39,720 still come as beggars, desperate for God to do what only He can 57 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:42,960 do. But so often that's not how we 58 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:45,800 enter. We near end with our own sense 59 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:48,000 of preferences. Am I going to enjoy this? 60 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:49,560 Am I going to get something out of this? 61 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:56,000 And we become complacent consumers as opposed to 62 00:04:56,000 --> 00:05:03,200 desperate women and men who need to hear again, Jesus, Jesus, 63 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:09,840 what must I do now with Jesus? This morning's sermon is not 64 00:05:09,840 --> 00:05:12,960 going to be very long. And we're going to come to the 65 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:14,960 table. We're going to pick up right 66 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:18,680 where we lift off. But I want you to hear you were 67 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:22,520 tempted to think there's not much in your life that really 68 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:26,200 needs to change. And I want to tell you, Jonah is 69 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:32,720 going to show you, Jesus is going to show you that there is 70 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:40,200 so much in us that is not what God desires and so much mercy to 71 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:45,840 meet that every day we live with every breath we take. 72 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:52,840 So let's start here. Jonah was a prophet of the Word 73 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:57,800 of God. He not only knew the word of God 74 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:01,520 and heard the word of God, he knew the character of God. 75 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:04,720 He's going to say so later in this little book. 76 00:06:05,840 --> 00:06:10,640 The God is a God of mercy. But what happened to him? 77 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:15,960 As we look at Jonah's life, we're going to see this descent 78 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:23,720 into deep, deep darkness of sin. And it all starts with how he 79 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:28,040 viewed the word of God, God himself. 80 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:32,400 Look with me, verse one. Now the word of the Lord came to 81 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:38,640 Jonah, the son of Amitai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, 82 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:43,000 that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has 83 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:47,080 come up before me. The word of the Lord, not a 84 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:49,720 different word, not some other word. 85 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:56,000 The word of the living God came to Jonah and God was clear. 86 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:02,120 Friends, God is always clear with what He seeks to be clear 87 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:05,600 about. He doesn't lack the ability to 88 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:09,120 make His word clear. Some things aren't as clear as 89 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:14,000 others. But Jonah received a clear 90 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:16,280 message. And what was the message? 91 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:22,240 Go to the great city of Nineveh. The instructions were clear. 92 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:28,320 Thus begins Jonah's descent into the darkness of sin. 93 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:37,880 How did Jonah get where he was? Verse 2, Jesus says arise. 94 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:41,240 The Lord says arise, go to Nineveh, that great city. 95 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:43,440 Well, verse 3 tells us what happens. 96 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:47,760 But Jonah, remember that phrase? But Jonah? 97 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:54,000 But Jonah rose, So he did rise. Sin doesn't keep us neutral, OK, 98 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:58,400 Sin doesn't keep us neutral. God said arise, go to Nineveh. 99 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:03,200 Jonah rose and he went the opposite direction, and if you 100 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:06,720 pay attention to the scene, he just keeps getting lower and 101 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:13,360 lower and lower. Here we see the most precise 102 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:18,160 picture of what happens to us when we reject the Word of God. 103 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:22,960 There are two categories of sin in our lives. 104 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:26,840 Many of you know these. There's sins of Commission. 105 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:33,000 These are the sins where we actively do something against 106 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:38,039 what God's word clearly forbids. Sins of Commission. 107 00:08:38,799 --> 00:08:40,919 Thou shalt not steal, but we steal. 108 00:08:41,799 --> 00:08:43,960 Thou shalt not gossip, but we gossip. 109 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:46,960 Thou shalt not lust, but we lust. 110 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:50,560 Thou shalt not murder, but we murder. 111 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:56,880 Those are sins of Commission, but they're also sins of 112 00:08:57,200 --> 00:09:02,840 omission, failing to do something that God requires. 113 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,840 Love thy neighbor. Pray for those who are your 114 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:12,800 enemies who persecute you. I have not committed adultery 115 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:15,480 against my wife. That would be a sin of 116 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:19,520 Commission. But there are many days I have 117 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:22,480 failed to love her as Christ loved the church. 118 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:28,840 Sins of omission. Jonah, in these few short verses 119 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:35,840 reveals to us that he is on the downward spiral of this darkness 120 00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:44,280 because of both types of sin. He does not like what God made 121 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:50,840 clear. Go to that city once. 122 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:54,560 We don't like something that is in God's Word. 123 00:09:56,080 --> 00:10:00,520 We then will use different things to begin to inform the 124 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:08,560 way we see God and see His word. Jonah's anger towards God we 125 00:10:08,560 --> 00:10:14,880 will see and towards the people of Nineveh and his hatred is 126 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:18,880 actually understandable. Here's why. 127 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:25,560 The people of Nineveh in Assyria were evil people When they would 128 00:10:25,560 --> 00:10:30,000 attack a country that they sought to occupy. 129 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:36,280 It was common for them to cut off both legs and one arm of the 130 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:40,120 soldiers they were fighting in order to shake their hand. 131 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:45,040 While they suffered and bled to death, it was common for those 132 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:48,960 who were the victims of their violence to have their heads cut 133 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:52,600 off and then family members to have those heads put on a post 134 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:55,280 in which they had to March around the city. 135 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:59,600 It was common for them to be stretched out and flayed, their 136 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:03,640 skins put up on walls. It was an evil people and Jonah 137 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:06,960 knew it. And they were not God's people. 138 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:13,640 He despised them and it's understandable that he did so. 139 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:18,480 God brings the message that he doesn't understand that he 140 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:22,680 doesn't agree with that. He wants to be no part of it. 141 00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:28,160 And so his hatred towards that people now informs his theology 142 00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:31,240 of God. His hatred towards those people 143 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:35,000 influence what he is going to do in terms of obeying God. 144 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:38,240 And what does he do? He gets up. 145 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:45,920 He doesn't rise towards Nineveh, but he descends as far away as 146 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:50,160 possible from the presence of the Lord and watch what happens 147 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:56,320 to his theology. He actually believes that he can 148 00:11:56,320 --> 00:12:00,400 move far away from the presence of the Lord. 149 00:12:01,160 --> 00:12:06,560 This is common for all of us and it goes back to our first 150 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:10,080 ancestors. It was about the word of God. 151 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:14,480 Eve heard Satan say, did God really say? 152 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:19,880 She says God did say. She succumbs to that dark 153 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:22,440 temptation, believing it would be light. 154 00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:24,880 She eats the fruit, gives some to Adam. 155 00:12:24,880 --> 00:12:26,200 They ate, and then what do they do? 156 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:31,160 First thing they hide. They hide from each other and 157 00:12:31,160 --> 00:12:35,320 they hide from God. Then they make garments to cover 158 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:40,320 their nakedness. They're hiding from the presence 159 00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:43,120 of the Lord. That's why God's first question 160 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:45,880 in the Bible is so powerful. Where are you? 161 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:48,920 It's not to indicate that he doesn't know. 162 00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:53,400 He's to show that I know you're hiding and I'm coming for you. 163 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:55,880 That's the essence of Christianity. 164 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:02,760 Where are you? Jonah's hatred towards the 165 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:08,360 people of Nineveh, his distrust at the Word of God and the will 166 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:14,040 of God, informs how he now sees God and is influenced by what 167 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:16,480 he's going to do. So he flees. 168 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:23,560 It was his intention to flee God today, Friends, without getting 169 00:13:23,560 --> 00:13:30,320 on a boat, where are you tempted to flee the Lord? 170 00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:38,160 Without getting on a ship, where are you rejecting the Word of 171 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:43,120 God, whether in terms of sins of Commission or omission? 172 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:48,200 And if you right now are saying I'm not, then I'm telling you 173 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:54,680 right now you are. And you are blind to the things 174 00:13:54,680 --> 00:14:01,200 that are going on inside you. All of us this side of heaven 175 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:06,280 are going to experience that war, that temptation to not take 176 00:14:06,280 --> 00:14:09,520 God at His word. Was there. 177 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:12,880 Has there been a time in your life when you simply said, I'm 178 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:18,240 not praying that prayer, I'm not going to do that or I just can't 179 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:20,520 help it. It's how I'm made. 180 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:26,120 Where are you fleeing the Lord? Maybe it really is, I don't 181 00:14:26,120 --> 00:14:29,840 know. That's OK Ask Him to show you. 182 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:36,040 Is there any part of my life where I am fleeing the Lord? 183 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:43,640 Any people I'm not willing to love, any place I'm not willing 184 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:49,480 to be courageous, any forgiveness that I've been 185 00:14:49,480 --> 00:14:59,720 unwilling to give Jonah in The Dark Descent, The Spiral does 186 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:03,800 not take God at his word. He's angry. 187 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:08,920 There's hate, but I want you to notice two other things. 188 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:12,440 He's isolated, as best we can tell. 189 00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:17,400 Nobody's giving him counsel, and he certainly hasn't taken 190 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:21,920 counsel from the Lord. And he is exhausted. 191 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:31,520 Sin, trying to flee from the Lord, trying to hide your sins 192 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:33,680 from the Lord. How do you do that? 193 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:38,960 You might be able to hide something from your husband or 194 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:43,320 your wife or your parents or your friends or your pastors. 195 00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:45,320 Can't hide anything from the Lord. 196 00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:49,280 Hitting Clear History doesn't wipe it out. 197 00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:57,040 Slandering somebody and then offering to pray with another 198 00:15:57,040 --> 00:15:59,800 person that you've slandered somebody about with doesn't wipe 199 00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:05,880 it out. We all try to hide, We all flee. 200 00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:12,360 The dark descent into this sinful spiral leaves us 201 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:18,440 exhausted. Jonah pays for his trip, goes to 202 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:24,400 the belly of the ship and goes to sleep and sleeps soundly. 203 00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:31,600 But Jonah, I want you to put your name there. 204 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:37,560 But Mark but Ed. But Christina. 205 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:44,760 But Emily, where are you being tempted to flee from the Lord? 206 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:55,800 But now look at verse 4. But the Lord, but God. 207 00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:00,840 Bill Lamberth often says this. My favorite 2 words in the 208 00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:04,480 Bible. But God, now I want you to see 209 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:11,160 this. Jonah, informed by really bad 210 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:16,200 theology of his own making, believes he can flee from the 211 00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:20,720 Lord. He's exhausted by this pursuit. 212 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:28,040 He sleeps what Scottish pastor Hugh Martin calls the sleep of 213 00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:39,240 sorrow when all of a sudden the depth of God's love and mercy 214 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:46,600 descend up on the sea surrounding that ship. 215 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:52,520 The depth of darkness in the spiral of sin that we find 216 00:17:52,520 --> 00:18:01,760 ourselves in cannot out sail the specific sovereign depth of 217 00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:06,880 God's strategic strike to make us His own. 218 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:14,480 He loves us too much. Jonah is asleep above. 219 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:19,560 The storm has come. The storm has come at the hand 220 00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:27,440 of the sovereign God. Sin, yours, mine always brings 221 00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:30,880 with it a storm. I'm not saying that every 222 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:34,760 difficult thing you encounter is a result of some specific sin 223 00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:37,160 you've committed. That's not biblical. 224 00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:41,160 But every sin brings a storm with it. 225 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:46,120 And we may think it's only going to impact us, but it doesn't. 226 00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:51,360 It impacts the people around us, our family, our church. 227 00:18:52,360 --> 00:18:58,280 Jonah is asleep. The sailors above are 228 00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:01,600 experiencing this specific strike. 229 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:05,320 The word in verse 4 says the Lord hurled. 230 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:09,400 It's like the image of a javelin being thrown towards a specific 231 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:13,200 target, and the target is the sea. 232 00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:18,240 And it was a mighty Tempest. This Tempest was so great that 233 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:22,760 it threatened to break up the storm, but Jonas Sin and the 234 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:26,440 sorrow of his sin was so great, he was able to remain sound 235 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:30,880 asleep until the captain of the ship. 236 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:36,480 Have you watched all of the sailors throw all the literary 237 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:40,960 says hurl, same word, all of the stuff into the water? 238 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:42,800 And by the way, that's their living. 239 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:45,640 They're sailing with goods to make money. 240 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:47,480 That's their living. They're throwing it away to 241 00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:50,680 survive. They're praying to their gods. 242 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:54,240 The one who should be praying isn't praying. 243 00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:59,360 The prophet who had received the word of God is not believing the 244 00:19:59,360 --> 00:20:02,560 word of God. And So what does God do in the 245 00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:06,560 midst of the storm? He calls the captain to go 246 00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:10,240 below. And the captain, without 247 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:15,480 understanding what's taking place, uses the exact same word 248 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:24,440 that God used to Jonah arise. What are you doing, you sleeper? 249 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:30,040 Wake up, arise. That's a good word for us. 250 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:35,880 Are you sleeping the sorrow of sin? 251 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:38,960 Is your Christianity just a cruise control? 252 00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:42,440 Just happy to make it to the end? 253 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:48,680 Are you sailing away from the Lord? 254 00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:53,480 The captain says arise, call out to your God. 255 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:58,520 Perhaps the God will give a thought to us that we may not 256 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:13,520 perish. Hundreds of years later, Jesus 257 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:17,600 is going to be sound asleep on a boat. 258 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:29,200 This is powerful, the Sovereign Lord sound asleep as the 259 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:33,560 Sovereign Lord creates A Tempest, a squaw to come up on 260 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:38,040 the sea. And when it does, the disciples, 261 00:21:38,040 --> 00:21:43,880 like these sailors, are doing everything they can to survive. 262 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:48,640 Finally, one of them asked Jesus, don't you care? 263 00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:52,080 Don't you care that we're about to drown? 264 00:21:53,440 --> 00:22:00,400 Mark Ford tells us that Jesus arises, speaks to the wind, to 265 00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:05,200 the sea, to the storm he himself, as God Almighty, has 266 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:10,240 made, and says be calm, be still. 267 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:16,800 And it was. The greatest storm that Jesus 268 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:24,160 was going to face though was when he would be sent from the 269 00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:33,920 Father descending to this earth, hanging on a cross that he would 270 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:37,840 die atone for all of our sins that belonged to him. 271 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:44,480 Jesus's body hanging on that cross as the sky turned black 272 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:49,840 said it is finished. Into your hands I commit my 273 00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:53,400 spirits. His body taken down, put in the 274 00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:58,120 tomb. And three days later he rose. 275 00:23:00,120 --> 00:23:05,920 He conquered death. All of that was necessary 276 00:23:07,120 --> 00:23:13,840 because I have fled. You have fled. 277 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:21,480 We all, like sheep, have turned to our own ways. 278 00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:27,160 The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 279 00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:36,960 The depth of our sin, of Jonas sin and the darkness cannot 280 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:48,120 outdo, outrun, or out sail the mercy, love and grace of God. 281 00:23:49,360 --> 00:23:58,960 The depth of Jonas sin descending cannot overwhelm the 282 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:03,840 depth of Christ descending. Love for you. 283 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:11,960 So friend, hear the good news. Come to this table to be 284 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:15,480 reminded. Don't rush out of here to 285 00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:21,320 something else without being impacted by what you've heard, 286 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:32,080 what you've experienced. His love is for you, even though 287 00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:39,480 we flee all the time. Rest in Him, rest in His 288 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:43,480 promises. Table we're about to come to is 289 00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:48,920 a table for believers, those who have trusted in Jesus today. 290 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:51,720 If you know you're not in Christ, we invite you not to 291 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:54,680 come forward, but to stay in your seat and think about the 292 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:58,560 things that you have heard. But for those who are in Christ, 293 00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:02,920 it is not for us to clean ourselves up and then come. 294 00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:06,480 It's not for us to stay in our seat because last Sunday we had 295 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:10,520 a better Sunday than today. This table's for you, brother, 296 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:14,000 you sister. So as we lead through the rest 297 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:20,800 of this service, calm, expectant, don't sail away from 298 00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:26,960 this moment now, but be still. Know that He is God. 299 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:33,960 Trust Him to show you everything about your life and turn to him 300 00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:39,800 and say, Lord thank you for making me yours. 301 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:46,640 Father, as we come bless this time we need you. 302 00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:50,560 We're desperate for you, so wake us up and fill us. 303 00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:54,640 Holy Spirit, for your glory and our good we pray in Jesus name, 304 00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:56,440 Amen. Please stand.