Sermon

God's Heart To Save Believers

June 13, 2015 Christ the King Church Sermons

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We are surrounded by people
who are perishing in their sins.
Spiritually dead, blind, deaf,
hopeless, under God's just wrath,
because they've rejected God.
We too used to be numbered among them.
Before God graciously intervened
in each of our lives,
for those of us who are Christians,
we were justly condemned rebels too.
Now if you were like me,
you tend to lose sight of the people
who are perishing all around us.
We tend to forget that we're living
among a people who are perishing,
who are lost,
who are under God's wrath.
They're idolaters.
God created them to worship Him,
and yet they're worshiping
what we'll see in Jonah 2.
Meaningless vapor.
Meaningless vapor.
not only does God want us
to make us aware of the people around us
who are perishing,
God wants to do a deeper work
that goes beyond awareness.
God wants to compel us
to speak to those who are perishing
that salvation belongs to the Lord.
There's a gap between our profession
and our practice.
We all know.
We're supposed to have compassionate hearts
for those who are dying in their sin.
We all know that.
But if we're to be honest,
if you're like me,
there are particular lost people
or even groups of people
that you would rather have wiped off
the face of the earth.
Our hearts are hardened
to particular groups of sinners.
I mean,
I just need the word to say,
the word ISIS.
God wants to change our heart
towards all who are perishing.
Nice people who are perishing
and mean people who are perishing.
God wants to change our hearts
towards them.
God does not discriminate
when it comes to His salvation.
Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord
will be saved.
So whether they're nice people perishing
or mean people perishing,
whether they're compliant or violent,
they're dead, blind, deaf,
and without hope in this world,
why does God want us
to speak of Christ to others?
It's His heart.
Our great God wants to save
a great number of sinners
from a great number of situations
and unite them all in Christ
as one new people,
the church.
The redeemed.
So here's my observation
going into this sermon.
Our God is a great God
and He wants to save sinners.
He's willing and able.
And then we're surrounded by people
all around us
who need to be saved.
And here we are.
Christ the King Church.
The redeemed.
We who personally experience
the saving power of God
through Jesus Christ.
He lit us up in Jesus.
Jesus.
And we're living among
multitudes of men and women,
boys and girls
who are presently living
in darkness.
And these people
may not realize it,
but God has placed us here
smack dab in the middle
of this city.
He's placed us here
for a purpose.
He's got this strategy
going on
to make known
the name of Jesus
around the world.
To make known
to all peoples
that Jesus
is their salvation.
So this little city of ours
is our little slice
of the nations.
And God has placed us
here to make known
the life-transforming power
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
That's why we're doing
the outreach this August.
Christ.
Because here's what we're
banking on.
It shows up in Acts 4.12.
It goes like this.
There is salvation
in no one else.
For there's no other name
given among men
under heaven
by which we can be saved.
There's no other name.
And herein lies the problem.
Now you might be sitting
in your seats
and you're like,
yeah, rip it Salvati!
God's awesome!
He wants to save!
We're surrounded by sinners
need saving!
Yes!
But the problem is
we tend not to care
about those who are perishing.
And if we don't care
about those who are perishing,
we're not going to tell them
the greatest news
that they can ever hear.
That God is offering them today
salvation in Christ.
But there's another thing.
If we don't care
about those who are perishing,
we don't care
about what God cares about.
There's a gap between
our profession
and our practice.
But as the Brits would say,
mind the gap.
God minds that gap.
He's aware of the gap in us
and He's more than happy
to bridge that gap.
He is a way to soften our hearts
and make our hearts malleable
and conform our hearts
to His heart
for the lost.
His way of softening our hearts
will bring us face to face
with our own perishing.
That's what we see happening
in Jonah 2.
In Jonah 1,
God calls Jonah to preach
against the Ninevites.
And the Ninevites
would be to Jonah
what ISIS is to us today.
An unnerving threat
far away
but looming.
The Ninevites were enemies
of Israel
and so when Jonah hears God say,
hey, go!
Go to the Ninevites,
that great city.
Jonah jumps up
and runs the opposite way.
He gets on the first ship
to Tarshish.
I love saying that.
And Tarshish happens to be
the town
in the opposite direction
of Nineveh
and it's the farthest town
in the opposite direction
of Nineveh
in the known world of the time.
He was trying to get away.
He's unwilling to preach
to the Ninevites.
And we don't learn
why he's unwilling
until chapter 4.
But what I want to tell you
this morning is this.
Jonah didn't want his God
to show grace.
Jonah didn't want his God
to show mercy
and steadfast love
to the Ninevites.
Do you know why?
Jonah didn't think
the Ninevites deserved it.
Is there anyone in your life
that you don't think
deserves God's grace?
Jonah wanted God
to wipe the Ninevites
off the face of the earth
in a glorious display
of his wrath
that would have eclipsed
Sodom and Gomorrah.
Jonah runs
but God
catches him.
And not only did God
catch this disobedient prophet,
he catches a crew of sailors
in Jonah chapter 1

Jonah 1 chapter mention
who boarded that ship
worshiping a variety
of different gods.
And through that big storm incident
in chapter 1,
these sailors
who worshiped
a variety of God,
they hear about
the one true God,
Yahweh,
through who?
This disobedient prophet
who didn't give a rip about him.
They learn about Yahweh
and they go from
crying out to many gods
to calling on the name
of the one true God,
Yahweh.
And by the end
of chapter 1,
God delivers them.
Those sailors
were changed men.
By the verse 16
of chapter 1,
they're offering sacrifice,
they're making vows
to Yahweh,
they've been changed.
They get to port,
they go home,
and they say to their wives,
honey,
you would not believe
what happened
on the Mediterranean.
I met the God
who created all.
He delivered me.
But not Jonah.
At the end of chapter 1,
Jonah's in the drink
and just where God wants him.
Jonah has yet to call
on the name of the Lord.
The sailors did.
Jonah has not.
And God is going to
graciously bring him
down to the point
where he must call
on the name of the Lord.
You see,
in Jonah 2,
something transformational
happens.
Jonah 1,
God calls Jonah.
Jonah splits
in the opposite direction.
Jonah 3,
God recommissions Jonah.
Jonah's willing
to go to Nineveh.
Something happens
in Jonah 2.
God does something
in Jonah
to make him willing
to go.
What changed Jonah?
What made Jonah
willing to go
and preach
to these Ninevites?
And that's the question
we're going to answer
this morning
for ourselves.
What is going to
make us willing
to open our mouths
to tell those living
in darkness
that their only hope
is the light of life,
Jesus Christ.
salvation belongs
to the Lord.
Jonah 2 shows us how.
Jonah has a personal
experience of God's
saving, delivering grace.
grace.
Jonah is brought
down to death
and he's brought
up to life
by God's grace.
grace.
This deliverance
we'll read about
in Jonah 2
not only rescued Jonah,
it changed Jonah.
It prepared Jonah
to go to Nineveh
to declare God's Word
for them.
The grace that saves us
from our perishing
is the same grace
that burdens us
for the perishing.
Why is there a gap
between our profession
and our practice?
We tend to forget
what God and His grace
has done for us.
He saved us.
And it becomes
a spring of joy
which we declare
to others
salvation
is yours in Christ.
In Jonah 2
God brings Jonah
to an end to Himself
in order to change him
so that he'd be willing
to go to Nineveh.
That's the transformation.
Why?
Because all who call
upon the name of the Lord
will be saved.
Even Ninevites.
Ninevites in the 8th century B.C.
Even Kenoschites
in the 21st century A.D.
all who call upon
the name of the Lord
will be saved.
All who call
the name of the Lord
will be saved
and those who've been
saved
will call all
to the name
of the Lord.
So, Jonah 2.
In the original language
it is a masterpiece.
It is very carefully constructed.
It's like a really good sandwich.
Church.
Chapter 1, verse 17
and chapter 2, verse 10
are like the two pieces of bread
that hold together the contents.
Chapter 2, verses 1-9.
Jonah 1, verse 17

Jonah 1:17
and chapter 2, verse 10
they're actually narrative.
Which means they're telling a story.
It's describing events.
It's like when you pick up
the Kenosha News
and you're reading
and you're describing events.
It's written in prose.
And what we read
in both those verses
is that God sovereignly directs
a really big fish
to bring about
a really big deliverance.
Now, in the middle
of this sandwich
verses 1-9
is a poem.
Verses 1-9
is poetry.
It's a psalm.
A psalm of thanksgiving.
Written by Jonah
while in the belly
of a whale.
And what this psalm records
is Jonah
coming to the point
where he calls
on the name of the Lord
for deliverance.
So here's what I want you to see
going into this passage.
This little psalm
verses 1-9
is surrounded by God's sovereignty.
God bringing about
what we're about to read.
He has Jonah
right where He wants him
to change him.
God's sovereignty
is causing Jonah's
suffering
as well as
his deliverance
and change of heart.
God has a purpose
for this prophet
to dramatically
change him.
He's got him
right where He wants him.
And God has purpose
to change us
as well.
What kind of sandwich
is this?
It's not a fish sandwich.
This is a sandwich
of God's grace.
Of His heart
for the nations.
So let's dive
into this text.
Chapter 1, verse 17
we read that God
appointed a great fish
to swallow up Jonah.
Jonah was in that fish
for three days
and three nights.
And on an aside,
Jesus refers back
to Jonah 2.
And you know what He says
about it in Matthew 12?
That was pointing to me.
And then He says,
someone greater than Jonah
is here.
Do you know why?
Jesus was the greatest prophet
who proclaimed
the greatest message
of the greatest act
of deliverance.
Jonah was in the belly
of a whale for three days.
Jesus was in the grave
for three days.
And then He was raised
from the dead
securing our salvation.
God is sovereign
not over just this fish
but over history.
Something you need
to know about this big fish.
When you read about it,
you're like,
okay, what's this big fish?
Is it a whale?
What is it?
We don't know.
What we do know
is big enough
to swallow a dude.
That's what we know.
But don't think about
this big fish
as punishment.
This fish,
if it had a name,
it would be called
deliverance.
Rescue.
This fish was the means
by which God saved Jonah
and made him willing
to go to Nineveh.
God will use
whatever He sees fit
to accomplish His purposes.
Furthermore,
there's no reason
to believe
that this event
didn't happen.
You might be saying,
you know,
big fish normally
don't swallow people.
You're totally right.
They don't.
This is a supernatural
deliverance.
If this fish
didn't intervene,
Jonah would have died
by drowning.
God delivered Jonah.
What we're going to see here
is that this big fish
didn't swallow Jonah
while he was on the surface.
Jonah wasn't flailing around
and this big fish
came and took him in.
Jonah was on the bottom
of the sea
when this big fish
swallowed him.
You'll see it.
So,
1.17
it's that first bookend,
that first piece of bread
that God is sovereign
bringing all these events
together.
So,
now let's look at
the contents,
this poem itself
by getting into
chapter 2,
verses 1-9.
Chapter 2,
verse 1.
The Jonah prayed
to the Lord
as God
from the belly
of the fish.
And notice,
again,
it's from the belly
of the fish.
This poetry
originated
in Jonah
who is in
the belly
of a fish.
But what you need
to realize
is that he's not
reflecting
on being
in the belly
of the fish.
He's reflecting
on being delivered
from the depths.
From the gates
of Sheol.
And so,
verse 2
of chapter 2,
we get this summary.
I called out
to the Lord
out of my distress
and He answered me.
Out of the belly
of Sheol,
I cried
and you heard
my voice.
This is a prayer
of thanksgiving.
Jonah is going
to give great joy.
He's going to say,
God has delivered me.
He's saying,
this is a prayer
in which I called
on the name
of the Lord
and He answered me.
It was about time
this disobedient prophet
called on the name
of the Lord.
He called on the name
of the Lord
out of his distress.
Verse 2.
When he says
out of the belly
of Sheol,
don't be thinking
out of the belly
of a whale.
It's a play on words.
Jonah knew
he was coming down
to the very gates
of death itself.
God delivered him
from the depths.
And so what we see
in these verses here
is this weaving
of falling down,
descending down
into the depths
of the sea
and getting closer
and closer
to death.
Sheol.
The pit.
The land
who would bar him
out.
So what we're
seeing here
is that Jonah
is in the water.
He's reminding
himself.
This psalm is saying,
I was in the water.
I was falling
into the belly
of Sheol.
I was on my way
to Tarshish,
but I took
a downward
turn
and I was
on my way
to Sheol,
the realm
of the dead.
I want you to notice
something very important
in verse 2.
I called.
He answered me.
I called.
You answered me.
He said,
it's very subtle,
but it's significant.
He moves from
talking about God
to talking
to God.
It moves from
He to
you.
It's moved from
theory to being
very personal.
God is minding
the gap
in Jonah.
Jonah.
What we'll see
is that God,
even though
Jonah tried
to flee from
His presence,
God was there
all along.
In verses 3
through the beginning
of verse 6,
we'll look at
this descent
down.
Again,
I just want to
reiterate,
Jonah's not
recalling being
in the fish.
He's recalling
being overwhelmed
by the sea
into the deep,
into the heart
of the seas.
The flood
surrounded me.
All your waves
and billows
passed over me.
This is a description
of being overwhelmed
by the waters.
He was in
over His head.
Anybody in
over your head
in the sea,
in the lake?
You're getting
close to not
being able
to keep your
head up anymore?
Panic sets in?
He says in
verse 3,
it's very
interesting.
For you
cast me
into the deep.
Even though
the sailors
cast Jonah
into the sea,
Jonah knows
what's really
going on.
God orchestrated
the whole thing.
God wanted
Jonah in the sea.
God caused
Jonah to be
in this
overwhelming
situation.
Is that nice
of God?
Is that
unloving
of God
to do?
To put
someone
through a
hard thing?
To overwhelm
someone?
Oh no,
it's not
unloving.
In fact,
this is one
of the most
loving things
God could do.
It's a hard
love,
but it's a
real love.
God is
bringing Jonah
to an end
to Himself.
He's letting
Jonah
sink.
until
Jonah
cries
out.
In
chapter 2
verse 4,
in the state
of being
overwhelmed,
Jonah thinks
that God
has lost
sight of him.
Then I said,
I am driven
away from
your sight.
Jonah is
fearing that
he's been
cast out
of God's
saving
presence.
That God
had cast
him out.
But God
hasn't driven
Jonah away.
He seems to
have forgotten.
He's the
one that
bolted.
He's the
one that
sought to
flee the
presence of
the Lord.
Quite the
contrary.
God has
been faithful.
God has
followed him.
God has
orchestrated
all these
things.
God is
actually wanting
to draw
Jonah into
His presence.
and what
God sees
in Jonah
is a
hardened
heart
unwilling
to preach
to the
Ninevites.
A heart
that needed
to be
softened.
A prideful
heart that
needed to
be humbled.
And God
is afflicting
Jonah to
humble Jonah
because God
loves Jonah
because God
wants to
make much
of His
name in
Assyria.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But that's
what it took
to get at
Jonah's
arrogance
to soften
his heart.
Jonah says,
yet I shall
look upon
your temple
in verse
four.
It's kind
of a then
and now
situation.
Beginning
of verse
four he
says,
then I
said I
am driven
away from
your sight
when he
was in
the waters.
And then he says,
yet I shall look upon your holy temple.
The best way to explain it is
he's in the stomach of the fish.
He's been delivered.
I'm going to look on the temple again.
I was being cast out,
but now I'm on my way.
In verses 5 and the beginning of 6,
the descent continues.
The waters closed in over me.
The deep surrounded me.
My weeds, seaweed wrapped around my head.
At the roots of the mountains.
That's a reference to the bottom of the sea.
In 6, the latter half in 6b,
he says, I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me forever.
I went down.
Jonah has been descending down
ever since Jonah chapter 1.

Jonah 1 chapter mention
Chapter 1, verse 3.
He went down to Joppa.
1, verse 5.
He went down into the inner part of the ship.
And here in 2, verse 6,
he's gone down as far as he can go
to the land whose bars closed upon me forever.
He's talking about Sheol.
The pit, verse 6.
The place away from the saving presence of the Lord.
Where people would be after they died
as they awaited judgment.
The bars are referenced,
is a reference to bars in a city gate
of a city in the ancient Near East
that would lock people out
and lock a people in.
What Jonah is describing
is a sense of being barred into Sheol.
No escape.
Separated without hope.
Jonah has reached the end of his rope.
Do you know what it's like
to reach the end of your rope?
Do you know what it's like
to be overwhelmed?
Barred in?
Hitting rock bottom?
There's no further descent to go.
There's nowhere to go.
Have you ever experienced this?
Underwater?
Do you know what it's like?
We're reaching the turning point
of the poem.
Jonah's reached bottom.
This is the darkest time of night for Jonah.
Just before the dawn.
In the latter half of verse 6,
we read this.
I went down to the land
yet you brought up my life
from the pit.
Oh Lord, my God.
When Jonah came to an end to himself,
he finally cried out to God.
We see that explicitly in verse 7.
When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord
and my prayer came to you.
When my life was fainting away.
Do you know what he's talking about?
Out of oxygen.
Underwater.
Losing consciousness.
My life was fainting away.
I remembered you.
His last thought of God
at the bottom of the sea
was,
I remember you.
It's the turning point
in Jonah chapter 2.

Jonah 2 chapter mention
You brought up my life
from the pit.
Did you notice the contrast?
I went down
and you brought up.
Did you notice that?
Jonah has no doubt
that it was God
who rescued him.
God humbling him.
God bringing him low
in order to raise him up.
God bringing him down
in order to change him.
Jonah did nothing
to merit what happened here.
At his lowest point,
he called out
and there he was swallowed
by the fish
at the bottom of the sea.
God sent that big fish down.
Get him.
Deliver him.
This was an act
of God's grace.
It was a display
of his steadfast love.
In fact,
God sovereignly orchestrated
all these events
in order that Jonah
would call upon
the name of the Lord
and experience deliverance.
God wanted Jonah
to be brought
face to face
with his own perishing.
God delivers him.
Jonah seems to have been
a pretty prideful bugger.
In his arrogance,
he held out on calling
on the name of the Lord
all the way down
until he could barely
think anymore.
And then he calls
on the name of the Lord
and God delivers him.
He finally humbles himself.
There's this great passage
in James 4.6.
God opposes the proud,
but he gives grace
to the humble.
Jonah humbles himself.
God delivers him.
It's all by God's grace.
God was orchestrating
the whole thing.
And then look at verse 8.
Verse 8.
Those who pay regard
to vain idols
forsake their hope
of steadfast love.
One reads that
and you're kind of like,
where did that come from?
That seems a little
out of place.
We're just talking about
Jonah being delivered
and all of a sudden
he's talking about
those people
who worship vain idols,
pay regard.
What's all this about?
Jonah.
In a demonstration
of a changed heart,
Jonah recognizes
not only his state
of perishing,
but he starts to see
the state of those
perishing around him.
That they are worshippers
of vain idols,
meaningless vapor,
nothing.
They forsake
God's steadfast love.
He's coming to terms
with those who are perishing
in their idolatry
all around him.
In verse 9,
Jonah lifts his voice
to the Lord.
I will,
but I with the voice
of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you.
You know what
thanksgiving is?
Thanksgiving,
gratitude,
is a beautiful,
very clear indicator
of a changed heart.
Of a chart of heart
that's been grace impacted.
Jonah went from
not giving a rip
about anybody
to being grateful
that God delivered him
from the gates of Sheol
and now he's aware
of people who are perishing.
When was the last time
you thanked God
for saving you?
When was the last time
you came to your God
and said,
oh God,
thank you for saving
a sinner like me.
I didn't deserve anything.
I deserved your wrath.
Out of his heart of gratitude,
Jonah says he will sacrifice
and make vows.
It calls to mind
at the end of chapter 1,
those sailors
who after being delivered by God,
sacrificed and made vows.
Jonah's been changed.
Jonah's been changed
by experiencing the saving presence
of the Lord.
He was running from the One
who wanted to save others
and now he's experienced
being saved by that One.
Being delivered.
And now he's willing to go
and preach.
At the end of this psalm,
it closes with that great,
great declaration.
Salvation belongs to the Lord,
Jonah says in the belly of a whale.
He's personally and profoundly
experienced God's deliverance.
He knows firsthand
what it means to be delivered.
And it closes,
salvation belongs to the Lord.
He alone can rescue.
He alone can save.
He can save anyone.
God can save Ninevites
in the 8th century B.C.
and He can save Kenoshaites
in the 21st century A.D.
He saved me.
He saved you.
Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord
will be saved.
In verse 10,
we have that final bookend,
that last piece of bread
on the sandwich.
Having graciously saved Jonah
and changed Jonah,
God speaks to the fish.
The fish vomits Jonah on dry land.
He delivered him from the sea
and presumably bumped him
in the right direction to Nineveh.
This morning I started this sermon
with an observation.
God's heart is to save.
He's willing and able.
We live among a people
who are perishing
and need salvation.
People in order to be saved
need to call on the name of the Lord.
Acts 4.12
There is salvation in no one else
for there is no other name under heaven
given among men
by which they must be saved.
Who's going to tell them?
Who's going to go to them?
We are.
We are.
We are.
We are.
We are.
We are the ones called by God
to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ
to the perishing.
But we're slow to it, aren't we?
So we need to be changed.
And what will motivate us
to boldly and winsomely
tell those who are perishing
is our own salvation.
Recalling our own deliverance.
What will compel us
to take risks like that?
What will get us over
our own distractions
and quiet bigotries?
What did God do
to get Jonah willing
to preach to the Ninevites?
God delivered Jonah.
He brought him face to face
with his own perishing
and said,
look what I can do.
I can do that
for the Ninevites as well.
We are to call to a mind afresh
that God has saved us
from our perishing
for no other reason
than His grace.
There's nothing special about me
and there's nothing special about you
that caused God to rescue you
from your sin.
He saved you.
Here's the logic.
God saves sinners like you and me
to show a world that it's perishing
that He can save anybody.
Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord
will be saved.
God doesn't discriminate
according to race, position,
bank account, or education.
God will save anyone
who calls upon His name.
And if God is willing and able to save me,
He's willing and able to save anybody.
I want to ask four questions to close.
Are people in our city
perishing apart from God
because of their idolatry?
Yes.
Does our God want to save people in our city
who are perishing in their idolatry?
Yes.
Is God calling you and me
to be willing to open our mouths
to tell people who are perishing
that their salvation
is in Christ alone?
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
So what will it take
to motivate you
to tell someone else
of this great salvation
that is in Christ alone
but God offers to all?
What will it take?
We're not going to do it out of duty.
We do this out of delight.
Our witness to those who are perishing
is born of thanksgiving.
It springs from joy.
It's the joy of salvation.
Salvation belongs to the Lord.
My salvation belongs to the Lord.
Your salvation belongs to the Lord.
I was lost, but now I'm found.
I once was blind,
but now I see.
Amazing grace,
how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me.
We're all wretches
saved by God's amazing grace.
And we speak to others
as those who were once perishing,
but now are saved.
We speak as those who once
descended down to the gates of Sheol,
but were brought up to life
by the grace of God.
Brothers and sisters in Christ,
do you realize you have something to say?
You have something to say.
Salvation belongs to the Lord.
Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord
will be saved.
And then those who've been saved
will call all to the name of the Lord.
Let's pray.
God, we do pray that you would
remind us afresh
of what you saved us from
just as you did Jonah.
And in so doing, God,
you would loosen our jaw,
loosen our tongue,
that God, you would fill our hearts
with gratitude for being saved
by you and your grace,
and that we would tell others
where salvation is found
in our great God and Savior,
Jesus Christ.
In His name we pray.
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