And turn to Jonah, chapter 2, which is on page 774.
!
In the world, and it's not at all what we were expecting.
As the world has advanced, people thought that fewer and fewer thought we'd believe in God.
But in fact, the opposite is happening today.
So today, over one third of the population of the world claim to be followers of Jesus.
We know not only a place like that in America, Southeast Asia, China, people are coming to
Christ at a very rabid rate.
In seven years' time, China is going to be the largest Christian nation in the world.
And we can't keep that away with the millions of people becoming Christians.
But it's not happening here.
And it's not happening on our doorstep.
Whatever certain crumly Christians want to tell you.
As long as we think it's okay not to take Jesus too seriously in our culture.
All over the world, people are saying yes to Jesus.
But because of how it is here in the UK, we imagine that we don't have to take him that seriously.
Why should we say yes to Jesus?
Why should we take him seriously?
And that's the question that I want us to think about from Jonah chapter 2.
And in our New Testament reading, people were asking the same question.
It's not a new question.
They were demanding a sign.
We saw that in that reading in Luke 11.
Show us a sign, they said.
Despite the fact that Jesus had performed many signs and many miracles.
He was healing the sick.
Casting out demons.
Stilling the storms.
But despite all those miracles, all those signs, they still wanted proof, didn't they?
They wanted irrefutable proof that he was not in league with the devil.
They wanted a sign to confirm all the other signs that Jesus was giving them.
They wanted a token from heaven.
It was as if they wanted something written in the heavens, if you like.
That was given independently of Jesus to show that he really was who he claimed to be.
That he was from God.
And Jesus says to them, doesn't he?
You evil and adulterous generation.
An evil and an adulterous generation.
They demand a sign, but no sign will be given it.
Except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
For as Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights,
so the Son of Man will be in the belly of the earth for three days and three nights.
That is the sign.
The sign of the prophet Jonah.
It goes on to say in that New Testament reading,
the men of Nineveh.
That pagan, sprawling city of 120,000 people.
The men of Nineveh, they will stand up on the day of judgment.
And they'll condemn that generation of Jesus' day.
Because they repented at Jonah's preaching.
And something far greater than Jonah is in their midst.
They want a sign.
So Jesus says, look at Jonah.
And Jonah chapter two.
And all the chapters in this little book of Jonah,
the trouble is,
the story of chapter two of Jonah
really isn't going to help us take Jesus seriously.
Is it?
It's the story of a man
who was swallowed by a fish.
How can anyone
take that seriously?
And Jesus said, it really happened.
It is not a parable.
It is a miracle.
The people of Nineveh will be in heaven
because Jesus was swallowed by a gigantic fish.
Literally in the Greek,
a meg katos.
The people of Nineveh,
whole generations of Nineveh
will actually be in heaven
because Jonah was swallowed by a fish
and vomited out by a fish.
And this is a friend of mine
preaching on this passage this week
who said to me that
at a very profound point
in the Bible
that vomit is never a good thing in the Bible.
It's remarkable in opening.
But this generation of Nineveh,
they will rise up
and they will condemn that generation.
So according to Jesus,
it really did happen.
It's not a parable.
People try to explain it away
and they say it's just a story.
It is not.
It really did happen.
And that miracle of Jonah
raised from the bottom of the sea
points to the greatest miracle of all
which is Jesus raised from the dead.
As Jonah was in the belly of the fish
three days and three nights,
so the Son of Man
will be in the heart of the earth
three days and three nights.
So we're going to look at the miracle
of Jonah raised from the dead
and look at the miracle of Jesus
raised from the dead.
And I hope we all see
why you have to tonight
take Jesus seriously.
First of all,
the death that we need saving from.
The death we need saving from.
Now you'll pick it up on my first reading.
It's a rescue story.
It's a rescue, a seed story.
And Jesus is the rescuer.
And what do we need saving from?
And the first thing you notice here
is the death that we need saving from.
And the story goes over, doesn't it,
from the end of chapter 1, verse 17.
And the Lord appointed a great fish
to swallow Jonah.
And Jonah was in the belly of the fish
three days and three nights.
And that phrase,
three days and three nights,
used in the ancient world
to say long enough
to be definitely dead.
So you can imagine the headlines
in the local newspaper
and the Joppa Times.
Rescuers call off search
for missing prophet.
Jonah, lost at sea,
presumed dead.
He's a dead man,
as far as everyone is concerned.
He is doomed,
not only physically,
but spiritually,
because he's been running away from God,
as we saw last week.
And to run away from God
is not only to run into physical death,
but it's to run into spiritual management
from God's presence forever.
That's what the Bible calls
the second death.
And so here he is,
as we pick up the story in chapter 2,
heading for a fate worse than death.
Look at chapter 2.
He is sinking down
into a watery grave.
And as you read these verses,
I hope you can pick up
the sensation in the narrative
of falling,
of spiraling down.
Jonah is drowning.
Look at verse 3.
All your billows,
all your waves and your billows
pass over me.
There he is,
bobbing about on the surface,
trying to keep his head above water.
And then in verse 5,
there's progression.
The water's closing over me
to take my life.
Up to the neck,
the watery depths.
The deep surrounding me.
As he tumbles down,
weeds were wrapped around my head
at the roots of the mountains.
He's beginning to sink, isn't he?
And I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me forever.
It's a very graphic description
of someone drowning.
Down he goes to the roots of the mountains,
banished to the bottom of the sea.
He says that in verse 7,
when my life was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord.
Talk about a last minute conversion.
Talk about an 11th hour rescue.
As my lungs filled with water
and I gasped for breath,
with his last breath,
he cries out to the Lord.
And no doubt,
his whole life flashes before him.
They say that's what happens.
Everything goes in slow motion,
I've read.
And you begin to see your whole life
from the perspective of eternity.
And that is where Jonah is.
Verse 3 says,
can you see it?
For you cast me into the deep.
Now that should shock you.
Why should that shock you?
Because that doesn't matter in chapter 1.
Because in chapter 1,
he says,
the sailors,
you pick me up.
And you throw me in.
And we're told,
they threw him in.
But now at the bottom of the sea,
he realises what is happening.
He realises that
this is a God thing.
You threw me into the depths of the sea.
And verse 4,
I've been banished.
I'm driven away from your sight.
It's interesting,
it's exactly the same word in verse 4,
driven away,
that is used to describe
Adam and Eve from the garden.
Do you remember?
They were doomed for sorrow,
toil, and death,
and driven from the garden.
It's exactly the same word.
But Jonah,
you were banished.
You ran away.
Jonah says,
yes,
but this is where it leads to.
But when you run away from God,
this is where you end up.
This is what death means.
That if you're running away from God tonight,
if you've got no time for God in your life,
this is how you will die.
Don't believe all the nonsense
as the undertaker's brochures.
Death is not a happy release.
If you're on the run from God.
And when we die,
we don't just encounter
our own physical limitations
and the shutting down of our bodies.
If you are running away from God,
you will encounter God
as an angry judge.
And that's where Jonah is at the bottom,
and the sea vanished from God's sight,
crying out for help.
Look at verse 2.
Look at his cry.
I called out to the Lord
out of my distress.
And he answered me,
out of the belly of Sheol,
the place of death,
I cried,
and he heard my voice.
Let's look at this quote.
Chapter 2 is a very interesting chapter.
Everything slows down
in chapter 2.
It's a really fast book,
Jonah.
A really fast,
action-packed book.
Chapter 1 is all action.
Boats and souls
and sailors
and giant fish.
It's a very satirical story.
It's a very funny story.
But suddenly everything
slows down in chapter 2.
It's very serious.
And what you have in Jonah chapter 2
is one of the great prayers
of the Bible.
Look at how he prays
from David Jones' locker
right in the bottom
of the Mediterranean Sea.
And you can't help but notice,
the first thing you notice
is that Jonah's prayer
is full of the Bible.
I know we're so unfamiliar
with the Psalms,
we don't spot that,
but Jonah's prayer
is full of the Psalms.
He's a psalm singer.
It's full of the Psalms,
full of Scripture.
It's why it sounds so familiar.
I don't know
whether you've ever noticed that.
Chapter 2 reads
like you've read it before.
And you have.
Because it's packed with Psalms.
A kind of medley of the Psalms.
Psalms that Jonah
would have learned as a child
that he would have sung
in worship.
And these Psalms
are a reservoir of hope.
You'll notice
if you come to visit
a Christian,
an older Christian
who suffers with dementia,
sometimes it's very difficult
to get through to them.
You try to hold
the conversation,
you talk about various things,
and then you quote a psalm
or a song.
And you sing
one of the old hymns.
And they join in.
And it's a bit like
what is happening here
at the bottom
of the Mediterranean Sea.
Do you know the story
of Dick Whittington?
The Lord Mayor of London?
And apparently,
according to the legend,
this is in the 1400s,
he was an orphan
whose only possession
was his cat.
And he used to catch
in rats and so on.
And he runs away.
I think he has one crack
at being Lord Mayor of London.
And he runs away.
And as he's running away
to the edge of the city of London,
he hears the great bell of Bo.
And Bo bells are ringing
in the distance.
And it's almost as if
they were saying to him,
he says,
turn again,
Whittington,
Lord Mayor of London.
He turned around
and went back into the city.
And according to the legend,
he became Lord Mayor of London
another three times.
And it's almost as if
Jonah is running away
from God.
And there he is
at the bottom of the sea
and his life is ebbing away.
And down there
at the bottom of the sea,
he seems to hear,
well, not the great Bo of London,
great Bo bell,
but the singing
of a congregation.
The singing of a familiar psalm
and hymn.
And those psalms
seem to be saying to him,
turn again,
Jonah.
Turn again.
So Jonah here
is hearing these psalms again
and he's turning back
at the bottom of the sea
at the very last moment.
Verse 4,
I've been driven away
from your sight.
Yet,
yet I shall look again
upon your holy temple.
He's turning
and there's hope.
Verse 7,
and when my life
was fading away,
I remember the Lord
and my prayer
came to you
and to your holy temple.
And some people
that live on your street
and live on my street
and who you work with
and who you stand
at the school gate with,
they have never cried out
to God
because they don't think
it matters.
And they don't think
it matters
because they think
they can live their lives
without Him.
And maybe that's you
this evening.
And you sleep easy
at life
at night.
You've got an interesting life,
a full life
and you sleep easy at night
just like Jonah on board
is in chapter 1.
And you've suppressed
your conscience.
It's easy to do that
in the church.
And you're quite happy
without God
really in your life
but you need to see
where it's leading you.
Because to live
without God
is to eventually
die without God.
And that is
a frightful prospect.
And Jesus calls it
dying in your sins.
And I know this is
a very pleasant subject
but we need to make
this point clear.
John Wesley,
the 18th century preacher
said about his people,
our people die well
but not everyone
dies well.
And to die well
you need a saviour.
Think of the train
journey to Wales.
You're going to
the promised land.
Right?
You get all that
having to.
You go on this train
through a pretty
grotty,
dig-off pathway
and red in its
Bristol Park
but even worse.
And then the
tunnels start.
And as you go along
you go under a bridge
and then you go under
a tunnel
and you say
am I there yet?
And then another tunnel
and then another tunnel
and then there's one
quite longer tunnel.
And you come out.
The sun is shut
and the rain is pouring.
You're through the tunnel.
Death, death is like that.
The Christian will not
see death
Jesus says.
A true believer
will not see death.
It will be like that.
You'll go through the tunnel
and before you know it
you'll see you
through the other side.
It's not like that
for those who are
left behind is it?
But that's what death
is like for the people.
You go through the tunnel
and you're out of it
before you know.
But if you're not a Christian
you will come crashing
into death.
And you will encounter
God as your judge
and that is a frightful
prospect.
Psalm 139
says
Many of our people
are saying
I take the winds
from the morning
and I dwell
in the uttermost parts
of the sea
the psalmist says.
Even there you are there.
That's exactly
what Job was trying to do.
If I go as far
as the east
is from the west
that's exactly
what he was trying to do.
I cannot escape God.
It's not true is it
that when you're dead
you're dead.
It's not true.
And so tonight
for every single person
in this room
and in this great city
you will either be gone
as your loving
heavenly father
or your angry judge.
And the time
is very short
to sort that out.
And that is why
you have to take
Jesus seriously.
Because some people
aren't there
and they think
it's too late.
It's too late
to cry out to God.
I've been in church
all my life.
I've become a church
member.
I've been baptised
and I still don't know God.
And I've lived
without him
all my life.
I've lived too long.
It's too late.
I've gone too far.
I've sunk too low.
Well,
Jonah chapter 2
is just your chapter.
And it's a great chapter
for those of us
who've got unbelieving
relatives
because as long
as there is life
there is hope.
Because there
at the bottom
of the sea
he cries out
at the end
of verse 3
all your waves
and your billows
they pass over me
and then I said
I've driven away
from your sights
yet I shall again
look upon the holy temple.
Hope in God.
There is hope.
Now Jonah quote
Psalm 42
remember how Psalm 42
ends
hope in God
for I shall again
pray to you
as long as there is life
there is hope.
Second point is
the God who saves us
from death
well that's
the God who saves us
from death
we've seen the death
we need to be saved from
certainly the God
who saves from death
in verse 17
chapter 1
and the Lord appointed
a great fish
for swallow
Jonah
the fish
who knows
what it was
but that fish
was appointed
appointed
by God
and it was
the vehicle
of Jonah's salvation
it's unimaginable
isn't it?
what it must be
like to wake up
at the belly
of a fish
and not know
whether they're
dead or alive
stuff and nightmares
it must have been
gross
but do you see
what he says
in verse 6
chapter 2
yet you
brought up
my life
from the pit
oh Lord
my God
the fish
was the vehicle
that God
used to bring
Jonah's life
up from the pit
to save him
the fish
was the answer
to his prayer
it was through
that fish
that God
rescued
him
and so
that it's
no coincidence
that this
denizen of the deep
just happened to turn up
at that very moment
the Lord appointed
a great fish
himself
he is the Lord
of heaven
and he can do
the ice
I hope you're not
embarrassed by
the supernaturalism
of the Bible
the supernaturalism
of creation
the supernaturalism
of Noah
of the prophets
of Jonah
the supernaturalism
of Jesus
we must be
unembarrassed
supernaturalists
he commands
the birds
of the air
and the fish
of the sea
have his will
he is their
creator
but thank God
he is their
saviour
and rescuer
what a great
rescuer he is
he said
what does it
take God
to create
how does God
create
he speaks
a word
it happens
it's very easy
for God
to create
he imagines
it
he speaks
it
and it
comes into
existence
but to
save
to save
he has to
give his son
and that is
why Jesus
takes this
story of
Jonah
and connects
him with
his own
story
and that is
why he
links the
story of
Jonah
and the
fish
with his
own death
and resurrection
just like
Jonah
was three
days and
three nights
in the valley
of a fish
so the
son of man
will be
three days
and three nights
this is the
vehicle
that God
will use
to save
human beings
just as he
appointed a
great fish
to rescue
Jonah
in the
Mediterranean
so in
the fullness
of time
God sent
his own
son into
the world
to save
and to
rescue
at just
the right
time
God sent
his own
Jonah
was three
days and
three nights
in the
valley of
the fish
so he
will be
three days
and three
nights
in the
valley of
the earth
Jesus
is the
equivalent
of that
great
fish
in fact
the sign
of being
a Christian
in the
early
times
was a
fish
was it
why
because it
comes from
the word
ichthus
which is a
kind of
acronym
Jesus
Christ
son of
God
and
some
people
some
very bad
drivers
have it
on the
back
of their
car
nobody
can cut
you up
and you
see the
fish
sign
but it
was the
sign
of early
Christians
and that's
how early
Christians
identified
themselves
ichthus
Jesus
Christ
son of
God
and saviour
is what it
means
the death
and resurrection
of Jesus
who died
for our
sins
and wrote
again for
our
justification
the creed
says he
descended
he descended
to the
dead
Paul says
he descended
to the
lower
parts
of the
earth
he descended
to the
dead
why did
he do
it
was it
a tragedy
a mistake
an accident
it was
deliberate
Jesus died
according
to the
determinate
counsel
and foreknowledge
of God
it was
appointed
in eternity
that Jesus
should come
and descend
into Sheol
into the
lowest parts
of the
earth
that was
God's
act of
salvation
for the
human race
and on the
third day
he raised him
from the
dead
in the
late 1980s
I read this
this week
a Christian
book star
in England
paid £50,000
for the
postmark
Jesus is
Alive
you know
the postmark
they stamp
every letter
and he paid
£50,000
that every
letter in the
UK would be
stamped
with the
postmark
Jesus is
Alive
he wanted
Jesus is
Alive
franked
on millions
of letters
leading up to
he paid
£50,000
for it
I'm not sure
if it's a great
use of
that
but it
caused
that upon
the
God
crowd
the British
Humanist
Society
complained in
a letter
to the
Guardian
those who
believe that
Jesus is
dead and
have devoted
certain thoughts
to the
matter do
not wish to
be told
every day
for six
weeks that
he isn't
other letters
concern phrases
like greatly
perturbed
deeply
offensive
obscene
Bernard
Lemon
wasn't a
Christian
but he
was a
journalist
for the
time
through
and
in
a
brilliantly
named
article
the
article
was
called
when
franking
in
senses
he wrote
this in
the
text
he said
suppose
you
go wrong
surely
you don't
mind
supposing
if we
promise
not to
tell anyone
and that
bloke
from
South
then
he was
so
hooked
on
the
pale
of
Galilee
to
the
extent
that
he's
willing
to
shout
out
52,000
pound
to
promote
him
suppose
if he's
right
and Jesus
is alive
what is so
terrible about
that
why wouldn't
you want
that to be
true
why is it
so disturbing
to you that
Jesus is
alive
it's very
interesting isn't
it coming
from an
easiest
why is it
so disturbing
to people
let me tell
you
because people
just want
to be left
alone
they want
to be left
alone
they want
to live
their lives
without any
kind of
interference
without any
kind of
accountability
especially to
God
but you see
if Jesus
really did go
down to the
depths of the
grave for our
sins
and if God
really didn't
raise him on the
third day from
the dead
then it's not the
kind of information
that you can
file away in the
back of your
mind as if
it was just
interesting
that information
that Jesus
Christ is
risen from
the dead
well it's
bomb in the
building
information
isn't it
it's going to
Heathrow
airport tomorrow
morning and the
announcement comes
over the
time
it says it's
an official
announcement
there is a
bomb in the
tomb and I'll
please evacuate
the building
what would you
do
would you order
another flat
white
I doubt it
you would
act on it
wouldn't you
especially if
it was an
official
announcement
because that
sort of
information you
cannot ignore
and I'm
telling you
that this
is the sign
that God
has given
the world
it's the
sign of
Jonah
that on
the third
day God
raised Jesus
from the
belly of the
earth
for our
justification
that is how
Paul preached
the resurrection
to the
intelligentsia
in Athens
on Mars
Hill
he preaches
the resurrection
he says to
the academics
on the
Areopagus
therefore God
has overlooked
the times of
ignorance
isn't that a
wonderful way
of summing up
civilization
he speaks to
the Greeks
for goodness
sake
he talks about
Greek civilization
he talks about
Roman civilization
the greatest
civilizations that
the world has
ever seen
and he says
God
God's winks
at those
times of
ignorance
those great
Greek philosophers
those great
Roman statesmen
God is not
impressed by that
he overlooks them
at these
times of
ignorance
and now
God commands
all people
every culture
every civilization
every language
everywhere
to repent
and to turn
around
because he
has set a
day that he
will judge
the world
in righteousness
people talk
about apologetics
arguing
the cause
of the faith
I've got a big
common
apologetics
in fact I think
apologetics
!
I agree
but it's
got to get
to there
you've got to
get to the
point where
you call
people to
repent
you've got to
get to the
people when
you say to
people
God has
said a
day that
you have
judged the
words
and if
you don't
get there
whatever you're
doing
it's not
possible
proclamation
and he
will judge
the world
in righteousness
by the man
he's appointed
and how do you
know that?
Because he's
raised him
from the
dead
that's what
Paul says
that is a
sign of
Jonah
and embarrassed
supernaturalism
and that's
why you have
to take
Jesus
seriously
to it
so what
do we
need to
do about
it?
Last point
how are we
to respond
to what
God has
done for
three things
that Jonah
mentions at
the end
of the
chapter
verse 8
identify
your idols
those
who pay
regard
to vain
idols
I think
the NIV
I can't
say it's
the NIV
I think
something like
those who
cling to
vain idols
is that
right?
Leslie
Bals
is my
NIV
expert
get off
Facebook
Leslie
it never
works
when you
can't
go
interactive
does it?
What is
what is
verse 8
in the NIV
does anybody
have the
NIV?
Yes
paper
bibles
those who
cling to
worthless
idols
it's very
helpful
isn't it?
Jonah
wakes up
in the
belly of
the fish
he wakes
himself up
it's very
interesting
Jonah was
a prophet
this isn't
the only
place you
see Jonah
Jonah was
a prophet
in the
northern
kingdom
and he's
been used
by God
marvelously
you can
read about
that in
two kings
this isn't
the only
place you
find Jonah
in the
Old
Testament
he's
a prophet
in the
northern
kingdom
he's
a
servant
of God
and suddenly
he's in the
belly of the
fish
and in
the crisis
he wakes up
to the fact
that all
his life
he's made
an idol
of his
ministry
that is a
terrible
thing to
wake up to
you could have
been in
church work
all your
life
and suddenly
you wake up
and you realise
it's been
idolatry
he wanted
ministry
success
that's why
he'd run
away
he didn't
want to
go to
Nineveh
so he
ran away
and God
was telling
him to
go
he says
no
why
because he
put his
ministry
first and
his reputation
first
it's more
complicated than
that
it's more
subtle than
that
he also
had a
kind of
religious
idol
because we
know that
he felt
superior to
the Ninevites
and that's
why he
didn't want
to go
there
they are
pagans
they are
Israel's
enemies
and he's
a Jew
he is
in covenant
with Yahweh
and he'd
rather go to
hell
and see
those pagans
say
I don't
want people
like that
in this
church
I'd rather
go to hell
and see
pagans
and so
he runs
away
and at
the bottom
of the
tree
God shows
him that's
idolatry
Jonah
and as
long as
you cling
to that
way of
thinking
you forfeit
my grace
can you see
that at the
end of
verse 8
you forsake
their hope
of steadfast
love
you forfeit
my covenant
love
what a lesson
to learn
at the very
end
that could
have been
it for
during
goodness
and he
could have
gone into
eternity
clutching
to an
idol
clinging
to an
idol
he could
have
forfeited
he could
have
forsake
the hope
of steadfast
love
of God
is that
how you
will die
that you
will wake
up to
the fact
that all
your life
you've been
clutching
in idols
it's possible
for ministers
that they
have
to do
that
what is
your
idol
well one
of the
things that
you've
nightmares
about
what is
your greatest
nightmare
what do
you worry
about losing
the most
that's
your
idol
what do
you rely
on to
comfort
yourself
when things
go bad
or difficult
what do
you run
into
food
shopping
sex
leisure
what is
it
sport
can't be
no
look at
it
what's
going to
happen
when you're
too old
and too
fat
to play
anymore
will your
idol
comfort
you then
of course
it will
drop you
to the
second
team
what is
it
is
work
your
idol
do you
think
God
would
impress
with
your
sporting
trophies
bring
them
on
judgment
day
if you're
clinging
to your
career
and you
get your
sense
of who
you are
and your
sense
of
salvation
from your
job
and your
identity
what's
going to
happen
when they
lay off
people
in the
workplace
you're
going to
take your
appraisal
in on
judgment
day
very well
!
got a
bonus
will
work be
kind
to you
what about
your
peers
those who
promise you
such a good
time
will they
still love
you when
you're
no fun
to be
with
what will
it
profit a
man if
he gains
the whole
world
Jesus
says
I mean
he loses
his own
soul
maybe quite
possibly
you're one of
those beautiful
people and
you've lived a
charmed life
and you've
gained the
whole world
and such
I know
people like
that
they've got
plenty of
money
they've got
a decent
home
and then
the news
comes in
from your
doctor
that the
results
of the
tests
are in
and all
the money
in all
the world
is no
use to
you then
because
what you
need then
can you
see it
it's the
end of
verse 8
steadfast
love
loving
kindness
it's grace
and those
who cling
if you
persist in
clinging
to that
worthless
idol
well you
won't have
it
when you
need it
and you
will forfeit
the grace
of God
and it's
so serious
that we
need to
identify
our idols
we need
to go
home and
take a
good long
hard look
at ourselves
and say
what am I
clinging
to
to give
me my
self-worth
to give
me my
self-esteem
and that's
the first
thing
identify
your idols
certainly
give
yourself
to the
Lord
verse 9
but I
with the
voice of
thanksgiving
will not
sacrifice
to you
what I
vowed
I
will
pay
a
friend
of mine
who was a
minister
went to
visit
someone
who hadn't
been to
their church
for years
and they
had been in
the church
generations
past
and they
had a
connection
with the
church
and he
went on
a
visit
in the
pastor
went in
and he
saw
on the
wall
a
framed
baptismal
certificate
he said
well I
talked to
him about
that
why
is he
putting
that
on the
wall
so he
asked
him
the
man
what is
this
and he
says
that's my
certificate
to say
I was
baptised
in your
church
and the
minister
sounded
brilliantly
when are you
going to
cash it
in
when are you
going to
cash it
in
and some
of you
are members
of this
church
and you've
made
membership
vows
to belong
to this
church
and serve
the
Lord
through
this
local
church
when
will you
take
those
vows
seriously
our
idols
are not
obvious
but what
idolatry
does
is
idolatry
drains
the
spiritual
energy
out of
us
so you've
got no
time
and Jonah
says I've
woken up to
myself
and from
now on
he says I'm
going to
fulfil my
vows
and I'm
going to
take you
seriously
so let's
think about
sport on
Sunday
there's nothing
wrong with
sport
don't get me
wrong
but if it
comes to a
choice between
sport on
Sunday
or gathering
with the
Lord's
people on
the
Lord's
day
it really
is no
contest
with a
song of
thanksgiving
with a
voice of
thanksgiving
I'll keep
my vow to
gather with
the Lord's
people on
the Lord's
day
and so
let's
identify our
idols and
let's give
ourselves to
the Lord
let's recommit
ourselves to
him
listen to
what I
read from
J.I.
Packard this
week
the only
proof of
past
conversion
is present
convertedness
the only
proof of
past
conversion
is present
convertedness
smash your
idols
hand your
life open
to the
Lord
and then
lastly
pray like
Jonah
verse 7
when my
life was
fading away
I remember
the Lord
and my
prayer came
to you in
your holy
temple
like Daniel
in Babylon
remember
Daniel he
opens the
window towards
Jerusalem
it's interesting
because Jonah is
from the north
of Samaria
and yet at the
bottom of the
sea he looks
towards Jerusalem
and the temple
in Jerusalem
and all it
signifies
and tonight
through the death
and the
resurrection
of Jesus
Christ
we have
access
we come
boldly to
the throne
of grace
and we
are bold
to enter
the holy
place
through the
blood of
Jesus
through a
new and
through a
living way
that he's
opened for
us
through the
curtain
that is his
flesh
and so
tonight as we
come to the
table that
is growing
here
let's not
claim to
worthless idols
let's commit
our lives to
the Lord
and let us
come back to
him in
prayer