For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me. All your waves and your billows passed over me. Then I said, I am driven away from your sight. And I shall again look upon your holy temple.

 

This is God's word.

 

How do we know the story of Jonah? How was this psalm of thanksgiving transcribed? Well, it had to come from Jonah.

 

What kind of a man would write down this personal story and share it? As we've read this story, we see what a fool Jonah has been. Jonah tried to flee from an omnipresent God. Jonah had great pride in and of himself. And yet, Jonah openly tells this story. He writes it in a book, and he shares it with others. We would never stoop to this level of self-deprecation, would we? Pride prohibits us from telling stories like this about ourselves. It's fine when we tell these kind of stories about other people, but we would never open up and say, look how foolish I have been.

 

How can Jonah do this? What's the only way Jonah could open up and say, look at me, I'm a fool. I've done the most ridiculous things, like trying to run from an omnipresent God, from the commands of God? Jonah was obviously secure in the love of God.

 

The gospel of Jesus Christ provides a unique balance of shameful yet honored. It's the Christian faith. It's unique, unlike any other religion today. It's shameful to be a Christian because you have to acknowledge your sin. You have to repent of your sin. There's no room for religiosity. You can't be a Pharisee if you're a Christian. So it's shameful on the one hand, but yet, so honored because Christ died for your sins. There's a great equipoise inside the Christian faith because it's sinful yet secure. You're absolutely sinful, and yet you're secure in Christ Jesus. Nothing can take away your salvation. You are fully flawed and fully loved.

 

We like sound bites. We like one way or the other. We don't like these two things held together intentionally. And yet, this is the Christian faith. All of a Christian's life is one of repentance, said Martin Luther. And yet, we are secure in Christ Jesus. Fully flawed, yet fully loved.

 

We are a failure and yet a success at the same time, and that was Jonah. He knew he had failed, and yet he wanted to show the success of the Lord in his life. So he wrote it down in a story for us to read. Maybe you feel like a failure today. You've done some things where you have fallen flat on your face. It's only the gospel of Jesus Christ that you can fully admit that you have failed—miserably failed.And yet, at the same time, you're fully loved in Christ. That's the kind of love that we really do need.

 

My wife and I have been married for over 20 years. We know a lot of things about each other. But there are certain things, probably even to the core, that we still don't know about one another. And if we were to find out, we would say, ooh,

 

And God, who created us, and God who knows the sin, that goes real deep into our hearts, knows us intimately, and he still loves us. Because he sent his own Son to die for us. This is so unique to the Christian faith that no other religion will offer this to you. Why? Because this is the gospel. A gospel that says, we've messed up, and God sent his own son to do something about it.  We have rebelled against the holy God. We are unholy people, and yet God makes us holy through Christ, through his death, burial, and resurrection.

 

Have you considered the mega-failure named Paul? He was a failure. And a success. And he openly admits that he was a failure. If you remember in the book of Acts, it says that he was breathing out threats and murder against the disciples of, the Lord. Openly in the scriptures, showing that he was trying to murder Christians. How many of you tried to murder Christians? I didn't see any hands go up. He's a pretty wicked man.

 

And in 1st Timothy, he encapsulates his sin and God's grace by saying this in 1st Timothy chapter 1, verses 13 through 15. He says, "though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, insolent opponent, but I received, mercy, because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost."

 

Religious people will not admit that they are sinners because they have too low a view of God's grace. They still really believe they need to save themselves. And our hearts always want to reach for works righteousness. If given the chance, our hearts will always default back to, "I'm really saving myself." It's the sinful nature in all of us.

 

And irreligious people, they see no need for salvation because there's no such thing as sin. It's just all relative. You do what's good for you, I'll do what's good for me.

 

Jonah, however, cannot start his ascent until he hits rock bottom. And at the bottom is where he finds God's grace. Is that where you found God's grace or have you not hit bottom yet?

 

Those who are religious people are still in a works righteousness default mode, and they want to press that on other people. They want to place burdens upon other people's backs instead of sharing grace. And Jonah was a man who was really living out this: "I'm saved by works mentality" because he had been the great prophet there in Israel. And when God said, I want you to go to the nations, when I want you to go to the Gentiles, he said no, because you really only need to be saved if you're here in Israel. If you're in a certain location.

 

God's grace doesn't have boundaries. There's no boundaries. If you heard in my prayer just a minute ago, he saves from every tribe, tongue, nation. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not an American thing. There is such a small amount of Christians that are, geographically speaking, here in America. The majority of Christians are across the globe. And it's not just concentrated to one geographical place. That should tell you something about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because grace will spread.

 

Works righteousness usually goes into tribalism. Let us never default into tribalism. My tribe, my team, my little group, my little holy huddle. Because we too were like Paul, sinners of the foremost. And God reached down to save us. Paul was a failure. And yet he was a success. Why? Because he'd been saved by grace. It changed his whole life.

 

Have you considered the failure that's Jesus Christ? Jesus was a failure in man's eyes. According to man's standards, he's the biggest failure we've ever seen on this planet. Now, let's just think about this for a second. Jesus was such a loser that at the age of 30, he was not married. In their day, in their context, he's a major loser. In our day, it's different. If you're 30 and still live at home and you're playing video games with your mom, you're okay. You're perfectly fine. Not in Jesus's day. He was a loser.

 

Secondly, Jesus was 30. He lived at home with his mom. He had nowhere to lay his head when he started his public ministry. He didn't have a giant church building. Didn't have a giant ministry. He didn't have a huge bank account. And you know what? He was a failure in the eyes of the world and yet a success according to God. That should humble all of us, shouldn't it? When we think successful ministries have to look like this and churches have to look like that.

 

Fourth, when the top religious guys and famous preachers of Jesus' day took him captive, beat him, then Jesus' disciples all fled. He was all alone. No one stood up for him and no one stood with him. He looked like a loser.

 

Fifth, Jesus was crucified and crucifixion was the most shameful death in the Roman Empire. Crucifixion was a public declaration that you are a failure. Jesus, by all accounts, was a loser. And yet in a couple of weeks there'll be more people gathering to celebrate the fact that he rose from the grave. Up from the grave he arose. He arose.

 

We have to take this gospel of grace and stop looking at what success looks like in the man's eyes and start looking to what God says is a success.

 

Things are changing in America and they're changing in West Cobb. Yes, people are still worshiping this morning, but it's on a ball field, on a court. Oh, people are worshiping this morning, but they're not coming to church.

 

And so there has to be a different approach to evangelism. We all love programs. The church down the road is going to have a play, judgment play. Coming up. I'm sure it's going to be well attended.

 

Just inviting people, it's great. Invite them to church. But if you want to see people come to faith in Christ, you are going to have to do it. You are going to have to ask God, "God, help me to get outside my comfort zone or even where I'm at, where I live, work, and play to be able to share the good news." And if you're not in a place where you can reach people who are far from God, you're going to have to try to move your feet to those places.

 

And I won't name any names, but there's someone in here who did that in his neighborhood. And he's been able to see someone have a relationship with the Lord. And now they come to this church. That's what's going to happen in a post-Christian society going forward. It's not solely programs.

 

There's lots of big churches down this street that have giant programs. You know what? They also have a lot of people that just come in and consume and then just leave. And when it's good for them, when their kids are not playing sports on Sunday morning, then they come back and they consume and then they leave.

 

Programs are not the way you're going to reach people for Christ. It's going to be you personally, patiently, prayerfully over time being in the lives of non-believers. That's not what you wanted to hear this morning, is it? Pastor, don't give me any more work. I have enough work to do.

 

So what did Jonah learn as he's in the belly of this great fish? He learned two things about God in the belly of this fish. And I hope we can see it this morning. And that is that God is sovereign, number one. And number two, God is merciful. He's sovereign. He's in control of all things. And yet, He's also merciful. God is sovereign, number one.

 

Let's go back in time. Let's go back to the text. He says, For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me. All your waves and your billows passed over me. Who cast Jonah into the deep? He says, You cast me. He's talking to the Lord. This is the Psalm of thanksgiving. Lord, you cast me into the deep. But wait, wait, wait, hold on one second. Jonah 1, verse 15. What did it say? Look back at the text. He said, So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea. Who's the they? The pagans. This is why we just read the Westminster Confession of Faith 5.2. And it talked about a first cause. God is the first cause. And God works out His decrees, His plans through second causes. Sometimes freely, contingently. You're going to see this in this chapter, but also you're going to see it in chapter 3. Yes, Jonah goes in, preaches the good news. People repent. They turn.

 

God was the first cause. Who sent Jonah? He works through a man. This is why we as Christians are called ambassadors of Christ. God making His appeal through us. And so who cast Jonah into the sea? God was the first cause. He used a secondary cause, and that was the pagan sailors.

 

Jonah sank down into the depths of the sea, and he's inside the belly of this great fish, he finally awakens to new sensibilities. He awakens to the sovereignty of God.

 

"God, You sent this storm. You sent the sailors. Yes, I made the decision to go get on the boat." And yet all of it, the Lord was using for His plan. This is why Psalm 37.23 says, The steps of a man are established by the Lord. Let me say that again. The steps of a man are established by the Lord. He uses our wise and dumb decisions, all for the outworking of His plans. There's nothing wasted. Proverbs 16.33 says, The lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord. Maybe you say, My God, this is not a God who cast me into the deep. Maybe your God is you. Maybe you've never read the Scripture.

 

Maybe you've never seen how God cast Noah into the deep. How God cast Abraham into the deep. How God cast Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, David, Samuel. He cast so many of His servants into the sea, as it were. And why does God do this? Well, Reverend Dr. Sinclair Ferguson says, When God brings suffering into your life as a Christian, be it mild or drastic, He is forcing you to decide on issues you've been avoiding. Count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds. It's conforming us into the image of Christ.

 

Whose waves and whose billows was this? Go back. Look at the text. He says, All your waves and your billows passed over me. The Lord created this sea. The Lord sent these waves, these billows to go over Jonah. God will use creation to beat down Jonah's pride. And God will use creation to beat down our pride as well.

 

This is why Jesus said to Paul, "Why do you kick against the goats?" Goat was a shiny, pointy object. And they would have wore sandals, not steel-toed boots in their day. So imagine kicking a pointy object with sandals on. You're going to get injured. This is what happens when we keep kicking against God. When we kick against the Lord Jesus Christ, we're going to end up injured. But God will use those things to, well, step on our pride. The same thing happened to Jonah.

 

And Jonah uttered the unthinkable. And he says, "Then I said, I am driven away from your sight." Pause! Do you see the irony in that one statement? All Jonah wanted to do from verse 1 in chapter 1 was to flee from the presence of the Lord. I've got to get away from the Lord. He's asked me to do something I don't want to do. I've got to go to pagans. I've got to go to a different nation. I've got to go to somebody else to share this message. I've got to get away from God.

 

And now he says, I'm driven away from your sight. He finally realizes the worst thing has happened. When God gives you everything that you want, that's the definition of hell. That's the definition of hell. Hell is getting everything you want. Because that's God taking his hands off and saying, "Have it your way."

 

Have you ever seen a child who's been given his way repeatedly? And the parents just say, Have your own way. Do it your way. Do it your way. How does it turn out for that child? How does it turn out for that child in the short term, but also for the long term?

 

He grow up having many difficulties in his life—wondering why the center of the world doesn't actually drop through the middle of him. I thought everyone was rotating around me.

 

And it sets a child up for failure. And we have a father who disciplines his children. It's not good for us to be left alone. He who isolates himself breaks out against all sound judgment. Proverbs chapter 18 verse 1.

 

And this is what happened to Jonah. And Jonah finally realizes, I don't want to be away from your sight, Lord. I want to be near you. I've made poor decisions. Please do not drive me away from your sight. Keep me near and dear and hold me tight. Because there's only good in and of you.

 

And God's presence became personal for Jonah as he was down deep in the side of that great fish. Jonah finally realizes God's sovereignty when Jonah no longer had distractions. Unfortunately, we do live in a world where there are plenty of distractions. You can go for decades and not realize that God is sovereign.

 

We have distractions in our hands constantly. If you wanted to get on the internet in the early 2000s, it had this weird dial-up thing. And it took forever. And then if you try to go to a website, it'd take 30 minutes to get to one website. And then you just said, forget it. I'll go read a book.

 

Now we click through. We can see everything. We can play games. Hey, Words with Friends, this is awesome.

 

We can be so distracted. Jonah had no distractions. And God will take away the distractions in our lives at some point when he deems it's right. And when you find yourself with no distractions and you're bored out of your mind, there's one thing that's left. God.Don't make God force you to get to that point where he takes away everything so that you can only cling to him. Go to him today. Don't be like Jonah. Remove the pride.

 

If you're in here and you're not a Christian, and you're wondering, what's really the meaning of life? Today maybe is a day where you need to pray, to go to the Lord, to say, I don't understand all this. I don't really know who you are. But I know that this life is really empty. It's hollow. And I need something more significant than what I'm living for because a job is not enough.

 

Money is not enough. Relationships with other people are just not enough. There's something that is of more substance. And Jonah finds this out in the belly of a great fish. And he finds out that God is fully sovereign. He existentially realizes this. But what else does he realize?

 

We'll go back to the text. God is merciful. He says, "Yet I shall again look upon your holy temple." Do you see the adverb yet? Yet means up until now. Up until now, Jonah had been blinded by his pride. But God's cold water had aroused Jonah from his spiritual lethargy.

 

What could Jonah see? He says, "I shall again look upon your holy temple." Why the temple? It's kind of odd, isn't it? Yes, the temple is the place of worship, a place of God's presence. It was a happy place. It's the kind of language we would use in our day. It's a place of great fellowship and fun and other people there. We need people. We were created in God's image and there is unity and community in the Trinity.

 

So we too need other people. But really what's at the heart of I shall again look to your holy temple? Most of the Hebrew scholars point to one thing. They say the Ark of the Covenant was there at the temple.

 

What's inside the Ark of the Covenant? The Ten Commandments, which tells us that we are sinners. We're horrible people. Wait a second. Why is Jonah looking to the Ten Commandments? That's horrible. We're terrible people. I know God. I'm in the belly of this fish deep down in the Mediterranean Sea. I get it, God. I'm horrible. I'm terrible.

 

Why would Jonah look to the holy temple where the Ten Commandments are at? Well, there's something above the Ten Commandments. It's the mercy seat. The mercy seat where the animal would have been sacrificed and the blood sprinkled where God would have forgiven the sins of the people.

 

Jonah's looking to something far greater. He's thinking deeply because he doesn't have any doubt of how good God is at fulfilling his promises. He remembers what God has done on that mercy seat for his people. The mercy seat was where he pays the price for the sins of his people and Jonah was very limited in his understanding of the mercy seat. We know far more about the mercy seat, don't we? We know about God's ultimate sacrifice: his Son the Lord Jesus Christ. Jonah will say in chapter 4 verse 2 "you're a gracious god and merciful slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster." Jonah knew well that he deserved god's wrath but he was looking to God's mercy inside the temple

 

Therefore Jonah says you cast me into the deep, yet i shall again look upon your holy temple

 

Have you failed this morning? Do you feel miserable about your failures? If you do, look to the one who was cast into the deep for you. The one who was the perfect sacrifice on your behalf and who was the perfect sacrifice on your behalf. He who extends the ultimate mercy to us

 

We won't care about the mercy seat unless we care about God's grace—until either you hit bottom or to really realize how deep in sin you really are. You really won't appreciate God's mercy until you understand how bad you have been. You won't cherish God through Christ and by the power of the Spirit until you realize you deserve damnation because you have fallen short. And the Bible says we all have done this every single one of us.

 

Look, some of us in here have hearts that default to religiosity. We're very religious. We love rules, laws, policies. We love the minutia. We love placing those burdens on other people, because lets it feels horrible. Here! let me share my misery with you. We have a religious heart and we just default to that side.

 

Then there are some of us who are well, we're we're antinomians. We don't want any law. We want to all be free. There's nothing that should hold us back and that's because of sin. You're either this way or that way. and until

 

You will not be free until you realize and identify your idol. Your problem is your sin and by the power of the Holy Spirit—whether you are religious or irreligious—you'll never love the mercy of God.

 

It has to start with a personal prayer asking God reveal to me my idols. Reveal to me where I sin daily. Reveal to me my default mode of my heart. What is it and where is it that I want to go.

 

If you're going to reach people for Christ, there's one theme that's pervading throughout West Cobb and I can tell you this because yes I coach baseball and I get to interact with a lot of people who are not Christians; who are not coming to this church who will never come to this church or any church. I interact with kids on Wednesday morning at Harrison High School, many of whom will never go to church because they're too busy worshiping on Sunday morning— playing sports and their parents would never take them to church. There's one theme that's running through West Cobb and that is free individualism. I'm free to do whatever I want at any time.

 

That's fine until the suit pinches them. What do I mean? Here's what I mean: have you ever put on a suit that you haven't worn in a long time? Perhaps it's Easter so you got to look good so you put the suit on. You get to church and you go to sit down. RIP! I hope they don't ask me to get back up again. "Oh dear Lord!" Where did that break? Then you start asking your wife: "Can you check out where that broke? Is it is it my coat or is it my pants?"  I need to know which one is it. You've been there. Some of you are laughing because you've had it happen to you. This is what's happening in our society. At some point the suit pinches, the suit cracks 

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They will need help and if you're not there in their lives, you can't help. We sit inside echo chambers as Christians many times yelling out stuff to the outside world. They never hear it. Why? It's just rattling the four walls or we're just beating the crap out of each other so they're never going to come to faith because you can get that kind of abuse in the outside world. Why go to church?

 

Individualism, that's what's pervading throughout West Cobb. I am autonomous I can do my own thing whenever I want to as long as I have enough money. How are you going to help those people when the suit pinches? The seat of the pants will break and they're going to ask for help in a time of need.

 

What do you tell them? You're going to say, "Yeah there's freedom. There's freedom in Christ but that freedom is a freedom that now gives you parameters and guidelines of how to live a robust, healthy life instead of worshiping the creation instead of worshiping the creator God who is blessed forever and ever.

 

God is sovereign. God is merciful. But will you be an ambassador for Christ.

 

Let's pray. Father in heaven, we do thank you for this morning. We do thank you for your word. We ask that you continue to build us up in this faith, strengthen us so that we too may worship you wholly solely above all things. Lord expose our idols to us and help us to walk in humility. And we pray all these things in the strong name of Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior. Amen.