Two sent things

Now I want to look at just two passages. Turn with me to the Old Testament book of Jonah, Jonah chapter 1. Jonah chapter 1 and verse 1. Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and cry against it for their wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

Went down to Joppa, he found a ship going to Tarshish, so he paid the fare thereof and went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea and there was a mighty tempest in the sea so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid.

They cried every man unto his God. He cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep.

So the shipmaster came to him and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not. And they said every one to his fellow, Come and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

They asked him some questions, and then there are some answers, and we're just going to look at verse, go down to verse 13. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to bring it to the land, but they could not, for the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them. Wherefore, they cried unto the Lord and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood, for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee.

Now, 1st John chapter 4, the end of your New Testament, 1st John chapter 4. And verse 14, And we have seen and do testify. So they were eyewitnesses, John was an eyewitness, and now he's recording it. He's writing this down, that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

I want to look at two sent things, two sent things. We know what it is to send things. We send mail, we send packages, we send greetings to people, we send phone calls, and so on, and so we know it's a very common thing.

Who doesn't understand what it is to send something? But when we read in these two passages, the things that are sent are astronomical. What is sent in Jonah is a deterrent. It says that God sent out a great wind, and so the Lord, as easily in control of the weather, in control of, He's God, in control of all things that are within His power, He sends out a great wind.

Now, let me just back up a little bit, because while most of us are very familiar with Jonah, we even have an expression of a person who who brings quote-unquote bad luck, we say that he's a Jonah, she's a Jonah, and so on, and Jonah the story of the fish, and so on. But a little bit of the background, a little bit what's happening here, and maybe to see tonight that Jonah, that you are not so different than Jonah. You'll notice when it comes to this, that here is a man that is running from God.

It says he he tried to get away from the presence of God, tried to go where he could do what he wanted to do. How many people does that describe? People in this audience, you, that you want to do your own thing, you just, you really don't think about God, what does God want me to do? I don't think that people go through their lives thinking that for the most part, we may think about God, we may entertain the thought of a God in heaven, but for the most part people want to do their own thing, live their own lives, experience their own experiences. And even at times when God does tell us, and move in, and speak to the conscience, still people persist in doing what they want to do.

Someone has said that the ten commandments have become little more than ten suggestions. And so when we read these things, and we read about what God expects, and what God demands, and the thought of God, we push them away. Well, Jonah did that, and he pushed them so far that he's on the run.

He's looking to get away from God. Jonah is going to learn something, that every single person, every single person, is going to have to learn, if they are ever going to get God's salvation. He's going to have to be broken.

He's going to have to be broken. We have so much pride about ourselves. Pride in what we do, pride in what we are, pride in our jobs, pride in our church, pride in the upstanding aspect of citizenship in our communities, and so on.

And yet people need to be broken. We need to find out that we have sinned against God, that we have broken his laws, that we do not deserve heaven. And since there are only two places that are given to us, never mind on a chart in the Bible, the word of God, this chart is taken from the Bible.

There are only two places, heaven and hell. And if you have sinned against God, sin cannot go to heaven. And since there's only one other place, where does that mean you're going? That's why people need to be saved.

That's why people need to be stopped, turned, admit that they've sinned against God, seek salvation while it may be found, and that is why God sends deterrents to stop you, to warn you, to tell you. Roadblocks. You're driving down the road, and while they are for the most part an annoyance, because we're trying to get from point A to point B, and all of a sudden we see those those orange cones, and the man with the flag, and he's waving us, and we're, you know, we have to get somewhere, we have to... They're slowing us down.

It's a deterrent. Slow down. There are things that have come into, I am sure, every one of our lives, a deterrent, that God is not only wanting you to slow down, but to actually stop.

You see, that's the problem, because people will slow down, but they don't stop. How often have you gone by an accident, and it's on the other side of the road, and you look, and you're like, wow, what an accident, and all of a sudden you take a quick look at your speedometer, and you think, I'm going a little too fast, I better slow down, but soon enough, without even realizing it, you're back up to 70, 75, and you're hurtling down the road, and that accident that you saw on the side is long forgotten, and you just, just another roadblock, another deterrent, is just another bother. There are people in this meeting tonight, and because God put deterrents in their way, and they have been made to stop, and get a look at eternity, and think about where they're going, that they thank God for those deterrents, for those roadblocks.

Sometimes, you know, sometimes it just comes in the form of a thought, and like a, like a shooting star, it just hurtles across the landscape of your mind, and as quick as it comes, it's gone, and you think to yourself, I'm going to meet God, or you think to yourself, is that all there is to this world, or you think to yourself, well, your conscience is pricked, it's bothered, and, and you start thinking other thoughts, and you think, you know, is there really judgment, is there really, and as quick as they come, you know what those are? Those are little deterrents. God is speaking to you. Sometimes, it comes in a much louder voice.

Sometimes, God doesn't speak. He shouts. A death of a family member, a funeral, a medical condition, a major crisis in your life, and God is sending a deterrent, and he's trying to get you to stop.

That's exactly what happened with this man, Jonah. Now, as you look at this ship this day, and you look at these men, look what they started to do, and you get a little picture again. You know one thing I love about the Bible? I wish you would read it.

That's the first thing. I wish people would read the Bible. The Bible is so relevant.

It's so true to life. It paints us as we are. It is so down to earth and yet so heavenly at the same time, and when it comes to the word of God, look at these mariners.

Look at what they're doing. Here they are. God sends out a great wind just as easily as one of these children would pick up a baseball and throw it to someone.

That's exactly the meaning of the word here, that God picked up a storm from his shelf and hurled it into the sea to stop these men, to bring them to himself. And what do they do? Well, they start casting four things out of the ship. They start trying to lighten the load.

They start trying to do everything. What can we do? They start looking. Whose fault is this? Is it your fault? Is it, you know, why are we in this predicament? I want you to think about that this deterrent did three things for Jonah.

First thing it did was it exposed the emptiness of this world's religions. It exposed the emptiness of this world's religion. Here are these men and they're crying out to their gods and they're calling out to their religious gods and nothing is happening.

And there with the spotlight of the bible is exposed the absolute emptiness of religion. Religion will never save anyone. It can't.

Your church will never save you. It is powerless. It is unable to do what is required to take away your sin.

Your sin is the big problem. Your sin is what needs to be faced and dealt with. And it doesn't matter.

I want to say this slowly. Slowly. It doesn't matter if you have sinned once or a billion times.

One sin will keep you out of heaven. Did you get that? One sin. And religion is absolutely helpless and hopeless.

To save a sinner. You can go to that church down the road. You can be baptized a thousand times.

You can take communion a hundred times. You can die. You can die at an altar and go to hell.

And you've missed salvation because salvation is in a person and that person is the son of god. And apart from him, there is no salvation. You can have a billion churches put together.

You can have a thousand altars. You can have a hundred ministers. All praying.

All with their vast resources. The power of the Vatican. The power of this church.

That church. Pull them and put them all together. And they can't remove one sin from one sinner.

But you bring the son of god into the picture. You put the Lord Jesus in the front. And you listen to one who says this.

Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. All you that come to me says I will give you rest. All you that are heavy laden, burdened with sin.

I will give you rest. Listen to what he says again. The son of man has power on earth to forgive sins.

He can forgive sins. This exposed the emptiness of this world's religion. It exposed the powerlessness of man.

Because it says they tried harder to row. Harder. They put all their muscle into it.

They put all their backbone into it. You can hear them. Harder! Harder! And they're struggling.

And they're straining. And that wind just keeps coming. And it's pushing them back.

And the ship is being tossed. And there they are. Harder! And you can almost hear sinners, can't you? You gotta try harder.

You gotta row harder. Yeah, you'll get to heaven. Do more.

Pay more. Tithe more. That's what the minister will tell you.

Give more. Work a little harder. Say five prayers.

Do some more of those. You don't think it's real? Churches are full of people that are doing that. And they actually think that will get them to heaven.

It exposes the absolute powerlessness of man. And these men were rowing. You know what the sad thing is? Let me just use the analogy again.

These men were rowing harder. There's some people, and maybe you're in this audience, and you're not even floating. You just haven't even thought about it.

You're hardly floating on the water. And every tick of that clock, every day, is bringing you closer to the vast ocean of eternity. And you're not ready.

And you're absolutely powerless to get to the other side. It exposed the guiltiness of Jonah. Because where he was, was because of his disobedience.

He's on the run from God. I wonder if there's someone here, and you're on the run from God. You're here tonight in this gospel meeting.

Somebody has invited you, maybe, and we're glad you're here. But you know what? When this meeting is done, you are not really going to give this a second thought. You're not going to really open your Bible.

You're not going to really search. You're not going to really get down to business. Jonah's there because of his disobedience.

He's on the run. And you know what? When that storm hit, the moment he came up from below, from his sleep, and that's another problem. There's people that are awake, but they're sleeping in their sins.

And you need to be awakened. People need to be awakened to the fact of, you are going to meet God, and it could be a lot sooner than you think. And I have no doubt in my mind, the moment that Jonah came up from that hold, and popped his head above the deck, and that rain pelted him, and that storm slammed in him, he knew full well, that moment, exactly why it came.

This is the hand of God. And God was sending it to stop him. To turn him.

Listen. God is interested in saving you. Not sentencing you.

He wants you to stop. He wants you to turn. He wants you to call upon him.

Not your God's. Not your own self-efforts. Not your church's.

Not your minister's. Not your religion. Not yourself.

Not your parents. Him. It was a deterrent that was sent.

And I want you to think in 1 John 4 of a deliverer that was sent. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. That's a great expression.

The Savior of the world. It's three times in our Bible. Once in the Old Testament.

Twice in the New. Once it's in another language. And the next two times it's in the clear language that we can read it in.

The Savior of the world. A deliverer sent. The Father sent the Son.

You know what that tells me about? Tells me at least three things. Number one, tells me of, if I can use this word, it's so weak. But I'm going to use it anyway.

Tells me of the sincerity of this. Because it's the Father sending the Son. What feeling.

What heart. What sincerity. What love.

What compassion. Is behind this great mission launch. As the Father sends the Son.

There are divine persons. The Father and the Son. Working together.

And it's not that the Son went unwillingly. It's not that He went begrudgingly. Willingly He came.

The Father sent the Son. All the sincerity behind it. He sent the Son.

The activity behind it. Can you think for just a moment of all that was set in motion. In that movement.

As there came that time when the Son would leave heaven. Step from the throne. Bypassing angels.

I wonder. Gabriel. Michael.

Scores of angels looking as their creator. The one that upholds the very universe. The one that maintains the planets and the galaxies in their places.

The one that holds the revolution of this world. The one that holds the atomic structure of elements in His power. And now He steps from that.

And He comes into the world. To a place called Bethlehem. The Father sent the Son.

What a day it was. But I think of the ability to be the savior of the world. No one left out.

No one exempted that will trust Him. There is enough. Listen.

The death of a person. The death of people signifies their weakest moment. How many times? I remember standing by my grandfather's bed.

He wanted to die. So frail. So weak.

He was a Christian. A believer. And there I looked at his form.

Once he was a boxer. He was a strong man. And now I'm looking.

Death. When we die, it's our weakest moments. When He died, it was the pinnacle of victory.

It was the very purpose behind all of eternity. That He would come to die. This is no moment of weakness.

This is eternity's greatest victory. It's how God saves sinners. It's how sin is dealt with fully and finally.

I can thank God tonight. It's how my sins were dealt with. I am going to be in heaven.

I will never be in hell. I will never know the judgment of the lake of fire. I am going to heaven absolutely positively because my sins have been forgiven by the Savior who died for me on that cross.

A deliverer sent. He sent His Son. But I want to tell you there's not only the sincerity behind it.

There's not only the activity behind it. There's not only the ability behind it but there is a mystery behind it. The Father sent the Son.

The Son. The Son that He loves. For you.

The sinner. For me. You who have broken His laws.

You who really don't really care for the most part. Most people don't really care what God says in the Bible. They don't really seek Him.

They're living their own lives. They're concerned about their lives, their families, their retirements, their houses, their cars, and their existence. And God is there on the periphery.

Someone has said that God is like the spare tire in the trunk. He's there just when you happen to think you need Him. What a mystery.

The Father sent the Son? I remember growing up in New Jersey. I lived on a street called Temple Place. They had a large Jewish population in our town.

Temple Place. And right across the street there was a man and his family his name was Fader. And he had a son named Robin.

Robin Fader. Robin was certainly wasn't a tough kid, I can tell you that. And we grew up in a tough neighborhood.

A lot of fights, a lot of things going on. I can still remember the gang up the street. I still remember their names.

I can see them. And one day I remember as these five fellows were walking by Robin Fader this Jewish boy was coming home from school. And they started beating him up.

Just picking on him. He had a fence in front of his house and they pushed him against the fence and I was watching from my alley from the driveway of my house and I watched. I was probably only about maybe ten.

And they started making fun of him. And they started cursing at him. And then one of them all of a sudden I saw a quick flick and they punched him right in the face.

And he went back, raised his hands he pushed him against the fence hit him again. I still saw him. He just doubled over.

And as he doubled over one of them hit him on the back. And then he's on the ground. They started kicking him.

Simply because they were making fun of him because he was Jewish. And all of a sudden out of the side door of Robin Fader's house I saw Robin Fader's dad. He was about all of five foot four.

And like a human dynamo he just came out of that house he pulled those young fellas off his son pushed them back and I can still hear him in his broken accent Get away from him. Get away from my son. Get away.

Leave him alone. And they pushed them off him. And they all backed off like a pack of dogs.

He put his arm around his son I was just watching and he said You okay Robin? You okay son? And I can still hear his son he was just heaving He says come on son Come on we'll go inside Come on let's go inside And he protected his son That didn't happen at the cross No door ever swung open from heaven as men were beating the Son of God No hand, no voice ever came from the glory Get away from my son No thunderbolt ever fell God could have destroyed the world had he so chosen He'd already sent a flood in the Old Testament You know why? Because God loves you And the Father sent the Son to save you Makes you wonder who he loves more doesn't it? How much does he love you That God sent his Son a Deliverer to save you What think ye of Christ? What do you think of him? What God has done What it cost him Because it was the only way to save poor sinners like us Trust him tonight He has done all that work He has sent deterrents to turn you to stop you And he has sent his Son to save you and deliver you Trust the Lord Jesus