Episode Transcript
[00:00:17] Good morning.
[00:00:18] Happy Father's Day.
[00:00:20] My name is Sean. I'm one of the pastors here, and it's my great joy and honor to be able to preach God's Word to you this morning. Please go ahead and take a seat.
[00:00:31] It's just a reminder for me as I prepare each time I get to preach.
[00:00:37] Just the weightiness to it, the joy in it. I just want to honor Pastor Brad.
[00:00:43] The scriptures say to give those who preach and teach double honor. And he labors week in and week out, 40 plus times a year to bring us God's Word. And so just like owning a business, getting actual experience, and it just gives you that perspective that is hard to have otherwise. So thank you, Pastor Brad, for bringing God's Word faithfully each week.
[00:01:09] And if you're a guest here this morning, welcome. We're so glad that you're here to join in today. As we worship God, you find us in the middle of the book of Jonah as we're walking through it this summer. And we find ourselves in the middle of this extraordinary storm that even the seasoned sailors are terrified of, that they recognize is no natural storm.
[00:01:36] The prophet Jonah, the one who carries the message of repentance and salvation, was in a deep sleep, contently resting in his rebellious sin.
[00:01:49] And the sailors frantically wake him up. And as we just read, we see them continue in their intense agitation as they cast lots. And then when it falls on Jonah, they barrage him with question after question. And then the section ends with the sailors in terror when they find out it's the God of Israel who is behind this tempest. And ultimately the prophet Jonah whom he's after.
[00:02:17] But is God only after Jonah?
[00:02:21] As much as Jonah seems to be content in making things solely about himself and his people, his God's compassion abounds much wider.
[00:02:33] You see, these are pagan sailors that are seeking the will of God in all of the wrong ways. And. And yet God meets them where they are and as we will see next week, reveals himself to them. And I believe that as he does, that these pagan sailors respond with faith and trust in the one true living God.
[00:02:58] And now their problem was not just that they were worshiping false gods, as bad as that is, but as we see in our text today, they were seeking the will of God, looking for. For an easy answer, the easy way out. Whose fault is it? What's the solution?
[00:03:16] None of these are bad things.
[00:03:19] But what they miss here, and I think what we often miss, is that in the midst of these challenges and trials, we miss what God is desiring to do which is in us to conform us more into the image of Jesus and not just giving us answers. The sailors were content with solutions when God was after their heart.
[00:03:46] Their framework was one person must be at fault, and it's this person's God who's having a temper tantrum. And we have to figure out how to appease this God rather than acknowledging in the midst of their distress, as Jesus reminds the church of Laodicea in the Book of Revelation, that they are wretched, wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked before the Holy God of Israel.
[00:04:15] And now I think they get there next week, as we will see. But today I want us to consider as we, as we seek God's will in our own lives, are we merely seeking answers or are we seeking to be changed from the inside out by God's grace through, through His Word more and more, and conformed into the image of Jesus? In other words, is our deepest desire in seeking God's will the same as his is for us?
[00:04:53] His glory demonstrated in us, knowing and loving and trusting and obeying and enjoying him more and more in more, in short, are we more about God's glory in our sanctification than in anything else.
[00:05:16] So that's what I want to explore this morning. Let me pray for us and we'll. We'll dig in.
[00:05:21] Father God, we come before youe this morning, needy and desperate. We ask God that through youh Word you would bring the truth of your word and the good news of Jesus to bear on our hearts, that we would see how needy and desperate we are, and that you would lead us to deeper and deeper rejoicing in the salvation that we have in Jesus and that we would be conformed to your will in our sanctification. And Lord, we pray for those, any this morning that might not know you, that as your word goes forth, that you would bring dead hearts to life through faith in Jesus. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:06:08] All right, so verse seven.
[00:06:10] And they said to one another, come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us. So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
[00:06:21] And they said to him, tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation and where do you come from? And what is your country? And of what people are you?
[00:06:34] As we see here, the sailors understandably are freaking out. They have been trying everything they can think of and they turn to the casting of lots.
[00:06:46] When I saw that I was getting the casting of lots section I was thinking that was probably an intentional thing from Brad, but we're not going to spend too much time on casting lots.
[00:06:58] It's mentioned many times in the scriptures, but we don't really have a lot of details on the exact procedure of what casting lots looked like.
[00:07:08] And there's several reasons for this. But what we do know is that what it essentially looked like was them throwing stones or pebbles. And the new American commentary on the Book of Jonah, I think, is helpful at least to give us an example of what this might have looked like.
[00:07:25] It says, quote, the most common word used for lot indicates that they were either stones or pebbles that were painted or colored, and then the stones were thrown, kind of like dice. If two dark sides landed up, the usual interpretation was no.
[00:07:42] If two light sides landed up, that meant yes. And if a light and a dark side landed up, that means throw again. And so this may have been what it looked like as they were frantically casting lots on the. On the boat, and of course, the two light sides falling on Jonah. And so throughout the Scriptures, we see various circumstances where casting of lots occurs. So in Leviticus 16:8, we see God command the casting of lots to determine between the two goats, the one that would be sacrificed and the one that would be sent out into the wilderness as the scapegoat on the day of atonement. We also see in Acts, chapter one, the apostles prayerfully seeking God's will and then casting lots to determine who the replacement would be for Judas Iscariot. And then we even see at the end of the book of Matthew and actually all four Gospels, as Jesus is being crucified, those who are crucifying him and fulfilling a prophecy from the Psalms, cast lots wickedly to determine how to separate and divvy up his clothes.
[00:08:52] And so we see our pagan sailors here are certainly not casting lots for any of the first two reasons. Prayerfully to the one true God, or because God commanded it. But they are struggling and distraught, and they were just desperately seeking an answer from any of the one. Any of the gods that may have been represented on the boat.
[00:09:16] But despite this idolatrous use of casting lots, God graciously uses the lot to draw Jonah out and to reveal his will to them.
[00:09:29] And I think this highlights, just briefly, a really important thing for us to remember as we're studying and looking at the Scriptures. There's descriptive things that we see, and particularly in a narrative like this, we see God, or we see the word of God describing what's happening.
[00:09:46] And that doesn't necessarily mean that God is prescribing us to do this in every circumstance.
[00:09:54] In other words, just because God graciously answers the casting of lots, we can't necessarily take that as God condoning its continual practice in every circumstance. And so what about casting lots or maybe something similar in our day, since that's very foreign to us.
[00:10:15] So first, does. Does the Lord command us to do that or anything similar to that?
[00:10:21] And the answer is no, he does. He does not. In fact, we see in the Scriptures themselves that after that example in Acts chapter one, when the apostles cast lots to replace Judas Iscariot, we do not see any new examples of the casting of lots in the apostolic church.
[00:10:40] And so, because casting of lots is very foreign to us as a technique for seeking God's will, I want us to consider what that might look like. So I think our hearts are still drawn into seeking God's will in these ways. Maybe it's asking God to audibly reveal something to you. Maybe it's asking God a question and then randomly flipping through the pages of Scripture and putting your finger down, thinking that God's going to give you an answer. Or maybe you even pull a Gideon and put a fleece outside and ask, and put God to the test, asking him to reveal his will to you.
[00:11:14] Or maybe even you just are praying and you ask God, please do this for me. If you do this, I'll be more devoted to you, whatever it may look like. I think we've all done something like this as we've sought God's will in our lives.
[00:11:31] And the issue is not in seeking answers or desiring a particular outcome, but it's in setting your heart on the outcome, on the desired result, on getting what you. You think you need from God.
[00:11:47] And the sailors thought that they just needed out of this clearly dangerous situation. And they weren't. They weren't wrong in that.
[00:11:55] But it was God's will that for them that his glory would be demonstrated in their inner transformation. Again, as we'll see next week, God was after their hearts, and he's after your heart as well.
[00:12:14] His desire for you is to be conformed to the image of his perfect Son, Jesus.
[00:12:21] These sailors, just like everyone in this room in their natural state, needed to first be converted.
[00:12:31] They needed to be brought to the end of themselves and see that their only hope was in the mercy of God alone.
[00:12:41] And Jonah, just like all Christians, needed to be reminded that the will of God as communicated in His Word, is fully trustworthy and good.
[00:12:54] And so how do we seek the Will of God in our day, if not through these extraordinary ways, God's Word has been revealed to us. His Word is final and complete in the Holy Scriptures.
[00:13:11] And now we find ourselves in the midst of redemptive history. Jesus has accomplished all that was necessary for the salvation of sinners 2000 years ago in his perfect life on our behalf, in his death on the cross to atone for our sins and to raise from the dead defeating death and sin and the devil. It's through faith in him that we are redeemed. But we see we are in the midst of the redemptive history as the Spirit of God is applying this redemptive act of Jesus to the hearts of sinners throughout all of history. And we're wrapped up in that.
[00:13:50] But the Word of God is complete. The Word of God is done. It's final.
[00:13:58] It has come to us through the Scriptures.
[00:14:02] And as Paul says in 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 16, he says, All Scripture is breathed out by God, and it is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. That or so that the man of God or the woman of God may be complete and equipped for every good work. The Word of God is sufficient and has everything we need for our maturity, that we might grow into maturity and be equipped for every good work. So we might be equipped as we seek the will of God in our lives.
[00:14:47] And so the sailors were looking for easy answers.
[00:14:51] They weren't seeking wisdom and instruction from God.
[00:14:57] And we often want easy answers to what's right in front of us. What if it's God's grace that he doesn't always give it to us?
[00:15:06] What if he doesn't always give us the thing that we desire or the answer that we want or the clarity that we desire?
[00:15:14] What if he's using it to humble us, to make us more needy before him, to draw us to Himself through His Word, by His Spirit, that we might grow in Godliness and be complete or be mature, equipped for every good work.
[00:15:38] What if he's more about transforming us into the image of His Son than He is in giving us the answers we think we need?
[00:15:49] And so what does this look like for us as we seek the will of God through His Word in the midst of distress or when things are hard, like when a terrible storm is raging and you desperately are trying to figure out what to do next?
[00:16:07] And much of the time the answer in Scripture is not black and white. The Scriptures are not a roadmap to life or a life decision tree. They're not going to tell you what job to take or who to marry or whatever might be in front of you.
[00:16:21] And this is actually, I think, really, really good news.
[00:16:27] If God were to give us all of the answers that we desired, like the sailors who just want an answer to the most pressing thing in front of them, then think what would happen.
[00:16:41] If we're brutally honest with ourselves, what would happen is that we would start to think that it was us that was doing the right thing. It was us that was making the right decision, that we are in control of our lives and that we start to become puffed up in our pride.
[00:17:03] We start to think that we are the ones that have figured it out. You wouldn't be growing in deeper wisdom that breeds humility and faith and love and moral clarity.
[00:17:15] But you would make things about yourself and about making the right decisions, and your affections and fervor for God would dwindle.
[00:17:27] This is what would happen to each and every one of us. And I know that to be the case because that is what happens when we rely on our flesh.
[00:17:38] It's the grace of God that he doesn't always give us the answer.
[00:17:43] And if you've been a Christian for. For any length of time, you know that the deep heart and soul work that God does is often in the midst of the trial and the tribulation and the. The storm and the. The uncertainty of what to do next through the wrestling of the brokenness that's inside of you and the brokenness that you see outside of you.
[00:18:09] Peter says the Apostle Peter in his first epistle in the first chapter, after he articulates the amazing salvation that is found in Jesus alone, he says, quote, in this. In this great salvation, you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while if necessary, and it is necessary for our sanctification. You have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though your faith tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
[00:19:00] And James says something very similar in paraphrase in chapter one, when he talks about the trials and tribulations making us perfect and complete. Or again, it's that word making us mature in Christ to bring us into maturity. So it's God's grace that he does not give us all the answers that we think we need or that are right in front of us.
[00:19:26] And it's easily understood why, when we reflect honestly for even a second on the weakness of our flesh and the propensity for self reliance.
[00:19:38] So in fact, if you look at the Lord's Prayer that Jesus gives to his disciples, there's nothing in it in asking for a particular direction in life. And I'm not saying that we shouldn't do that. It's good to pray for direction and pray for clarity on things in your life, but I do think it's an emphasis thing.
[00:19:59] It's an emphasis thing. We pray for wisdom in making a decision and even for the Lord to provide clarity. But it's subordinate to praying for God's will to be done, for him to be glorified in the decision for yourself to be made more and more humbled and dependent on him, to be conformed more and more into the image of Jesus and regardless of what circumstance is in front of you.
[00:20:30] So it's an emphasis thing.
[00:20:34] And I think ultimately this gets to the heart of the matter as we see the Apostle Paul talk about in 1st Thessalonians, chapter 4, verse 3.
[00:20:44] He says this is the will of God to make everything easy and to give you answers to what's in front of you, to give the clarity you desire. No, that's not what he says. He often does that in his grace. But Paul says this is the will of God, your sanctification.
[00:21:06] This is what God is most after. This is God's deepest will for you, your sanctification.
[00:21:16] It's hard to say that word slow without breaking down all the syllables.
[00:21:21] But this is what God's after.
[00:21:24] He's more about setting you apart as being holy to the Lord, being transformed in your inner being, in your affections, in your thoughts, in your desires, in your outward actions, to be more and more conformed into the image of his perfect Son, Jesus.
[00:21:43] And so I want you to consider an area of your life or a situation in your life you're facing right now that you're seeking the Lord's will or you at least desire to be seeking the the Lord's will in.
[00:21:55] So maybe like the sailors, you're. You're in a dangerous situation. Maybe there's an unclear medical diagnosis, maybe even a life threatening situation.
[00:22:05] Or maybe you're walking through tremendous loss or pain.
[00:22:12] Maybe your job is in danger or you've lost your job and you're worried about the uncertainties that that brings for you or your family.
[00:22:21] Or maybe you're just faced with a huge decision like moving or marrying somebody or whatever, what job to take whatever is in front of you, regardless of how big or small the issue is. Our God delights in us coming to him and seeking him out in that, as we see in the parable of the persistent widow In Luke chapter 18, when Jesus is telling us to continually come before the Lord.
[00:22:49] And as again we see in James chapter one, where God says he delights to give us wisdom when we come to him and ask but the heart question is, is your deepest desire to get an answer to the situation, to know the diagnosis, to know what the next treatment is, to know which job to take and for that job to come fast or which home to buy? All these are very good things to desire.
[00:23:18] Is that your deepest desire?
[00:23:22] Or is your deepest desire to seek the Lord's face wherever he has you, to open your heart up to him in the midst of the struggles and the pain, and to plead with him, to grow your affections for him, to make you more content in him, to make you more humble and needy before him, to make you more open handed in all that he has given you, to make you trust in him more that you might be less anxious and on and on. In short, is your deepest desire the same as God's for you, your sanctification?
[00:24:10] And none of these things that lead to our sanctification that we're talking about, none of these things come naturally to us.
[00:24:19] They are Holy Spirit worked things in the souls of God's people who have been redeemed through faith in Jesus alone.
[00:24:29] And as we see the scripture in the Scripture itself, the Spirit of God does these things in his people as the Word of God transforms and shapes us and confronts our hearts and molds and shapes our hearts into that of Jesus Himself.
[00:24:49] In other words, we will not be sanctified or transformed by the renewal of our minds according to the mind of Christ and according to the heart of Christ, unless we take seriously the desperate need that we each have to drink deeply of God's Word, to study the Word deeply.
[00:25:13] And so I want us to look next briefly at the necessary and inseparable link between the Spirit of God and the Word of God. The Holy Spirit of God in the Scriptures the Word of God without the Spirit of God will do nothing in our lives but leave us condemned.
[00:25:38] This is because in our natural state and how all of us are born, we are the Scriptures say that we are at enmity with God. We are in an all out rebellion against God.
[00:25:51] It is only by the Holy Spirit's power working through God's word that that he breaks through the hardness and deadness of our hearts and he brings sinners from spiritual death to spiritual life through faith in the only mediator between God and man, the God man, Jesus Christ.
[00:26:14] So when this happens, we are counted righteous in God's sight. This is what the Bible calls justification. We are made right with God the moment we put our faith in Jesus, going from being his enemy, which we all are naturally, to being his adopted sons and daughters.
[00:26:36] And it's his own doing. It's not the result of anything that we do, but his alone, that no one may boast in his sight.
[00:26:44] And this is. This is the work of the Holy Spirit through the word of God.
[00:26:50] And it's the same Holy Spirit that justifies the Christian, that promises to dwell inside of us, that promises that from the inside out through throughout our lives, to continually sanctify us and transform us more and more into the image of Jesus until the work is complete, until we finish the race set before us, that the Spirit of God promises to bring us stumbling to the end when we either die or when the Lord Jesus returns in glory.
[00:27:27] This is the power of the Spirit working through God's word.
[00:27:33] And so I just want to read real briefly. If you're taking notes, I'll make sure this is in the notes for a community group. But if you're taking notes, write these two passages down. We don't have time to look into them in depth, but I want you to, when you get a Second, it's Colossians 3, 16, 17, in Ephesians 5, 17, 21.
[00:27:54] And what I want us to see in these passages, just real briefly, these are two different letters written to two separate churches by the apostle Paul. But the Apostle Paul's thinking is this reality of the inseparable link of the Spirit of God working through the word of God just comes out naturally in the Apostle Paul's thinking. So when you look at these two passages, you're gonna see that they say very similar things.
[00:28:18] They're exhorting these two churches in very similar things.
[00:28:23] But what I want to point out is, as you look at Colossians, what you'll see is that the apostle Paul says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. And then he goes on to say these various things that you can look on your own time. But then in Ephesians 5, again, he's saying very similar things, but he doesn't say that part.
[00:28:44] Instead of saying, let the word of God dwell in you richly, he says, but be filled with the Spirit.
[00:28:51] And then he goes on to say very similar things. The point here that I want us to see is that with The Apostle Paul Letting the Word of Christ dwell in you richly is being filled with the Holy Spirit.
[00:29:04] And being filled with the Holy Spirit is the Word of Christ dwelling in you richly. The only way for that to happen richly or to produce fruit is if the Spirit of God is working in us and through His Word.
[00:29:20] That's why this is an impossible, why it's an impossibility for Christians, or should be, for us to become puffed up and arrogant and prideful in anything that we do. Because it's not of our doing.
[00:29:32] It's the Spirit of God working in us and growing and maturing us. So take some time to look at those passages when you get a chance. And so the Spirit of God transforms his people through the Word, through the Scriptures. And if you are lukewarm or sluggish when it comes to knowing God through His Word, you are not alone in that.
[00:29:57] This one of the reasons why I do enjoy preaching, because it is such a internal heart work for myself as I prepare to preach. And I have been convicted that I don't often seek the Lord through His Word as.
[00:30:12] As ferociously as I should. And so you're not alone in that. And if you feel convicted about that, I don't want you to walk out of here feeling paralyzed. Plead with God to grow your desire for him through His Word. Plead with him and then maybe consider some practical steps that you might take.
[00:30:35] But I think that our default is to consider the practical steps first and then plead with God. I would encourage you to flip that as we see in God's Word. Actually, it's really interesting as we look at Jesus, I just want to do this real briefly.
[00:30:52] In Deuteronomy 8, verse 3, Jesus, when He is being tempted by the devil, quotes this verse. And what he says is really, I think, eye opening. It was for me at least. He says, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
[00:31:16] Now, I know most of us know that verse, but what was really interesting to me is that Jesus looks at the Word of God as being food.
[00:31:26] It's food to his soul.
[00:31:28] When we plead with God to make His Word like food for us, we don't then need to rely on, on 10 practical steps.
[00:31:39] We don't go about our day and think to eat food because we've worked out the practical steps to make that happen. No, our bodies tell us to eat.
[00:31:51] And so the only way for us to consistently grow over time in feasting on and digesting God's Word into our souls, is if it is food to our souls, that without it, we will grow famished and weak.
[00:32:09] So we plead with God to do this spirit work inside of us.
[00:32:14] And I'm not knocking practical steps, Pastor Matt. I'm not knocking them. I love them. Matt, if you're. If you want advice on practical steps, Matt is your man. He is very helpful on that. I love the practical steps of things. If I don't get up first thing in the morning and spend time in God's word and prayer, then I will struggle. So I'm not discouraging practical steps. Please think about them, pray about them.
[00:32:40] Work. Figure out what works well for you. I know some of you that like to spend time in God's word in the evening. If I don't do it in the morning, I'm a mess. So I. Practical steps are good. Okay?
[00:32:53] So if you feel stuck and you don't know where to start, I would encourage you to, like I said, plead with God. Pray and then let's talk about it.
[00:33:05] Come to one of the pastors. We would love to talk to you. We want to shepherd you in this. We want to help you grow in feasting on God's word to pray with you.
[00:33:15] But even more so, I would encourage you to have these conversations in community group. You're not the only one. If you are struggling in this stumbling forward.
[00:33:23] We are to build one another up, to encourage one another to pray for one another.
[00:33:28] So let's open up and let's go before the Lord and ask him to grow us in this way.
[00:33:35] Okay? So I want to continue in this thread of seeking God's will, but we're going to shift a little bit, and I want us to briefly look at. Oh, goodness. At God's moral will.
[00:33:48] And I'll try to move quick.
[00:33:50] So in other words, I want us to look at the importance of having moral clarity as we seek God's will. Moral clarity. As Jonah is stirred from his deep slumber and God outs him with the casting of lots, we see his confession of faith. In verse nine, he says, I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.
[00:34:19] And we see that the sailors are terrified at this confession of faith. They knew he was running from his God, as we saw, but they now know that this is the God of Israel.
[00:34:31] They had to have known of the exploits of God in the region throughout history. And now that they know it's the God of Israel that's causing this, they are terrified.
[00:34:42] But what I Want to highlight is Jonah's response.
[00:34:45] Jonah has an orthodox view of God. We actually read some of what he just said in the Nicene Creed this morning. He confessed God as Lord and creator of all things.
[00:34:57] But his heart was cold towards the idolatry and brokenness and immorality of the pagan sailors around him.
[00:35:08] And I think we can properly infer this coldness because, as we'll see later, his response to the repentance of the Ninevites shows that so he saw himself and God's people as separated from the world, as set apart to be holy as he should have.
[00:35:27] But he takes the grace of God which has brought him and his people salvation, and he becomes cold in his heart towards the brokenness, towards the dying world around him.
[00:35:45] The pagans were on the deck, crying out to demons in idolatrous worship, to false gods that do not exist, perishing both spiritually and potentially physically on their way to hell.
[00:36:00] In Jonah is in a deep sleep, slumbering below.
[00:36:07] As you see the brokenness around you, as you see the idolatry, as you see the moral decay that dishonors God and dishonors the people created in God's image, are you broken over it?
[00:36:27] Are you stirred to seek God and to plead with him to move for his namesake and for the salvation of sinners of whom we all were once counted among?
[00:36:40] Or are you slumbering, fast asleep?
[00:36:45] And if I'm honest again, I regularly default to the disposition of Jonah, and I'm sure many of you can relate. We must humble ourselves before the true and living God and plead with him to move not only in the world, but in our hearts, to give us the appropriate disposition towards the world and towards those in the world.
[00:37:13] And so what does this look like for God's people? To not have, or to not have the compassion of Jonah, but to have the compassion of God.
[00:37:23] And the best answer, I think, is obvious. To look at the person of Jesus, the eternal Son of God who came in human flesh, who demonstrates, because he is God, the perfect compassion of God. But as we see, if we look at the gospel accounts, we see not a soft compassion, but a compassion that's grounded in the truth, but that demonstrates the compassion of God that is grounded in the truth.
[00:37:51] And I'm becoming more and more convinced that as we Christians, that we as Christians have to be more and more diligent in developing a biblical worldview to help us, to help ground us more in God's will, that we might be prepared to speak the truth, love that we might have moral clarity with a heart of compassion.
[00:38:18] And I say this because I think when it comes to moral questions, we're living in an age that's more and more untethered from a consensus of a moral reality, or at least an objective moral reality.
[00:38:33] And so, just as for some examples, we see God creating man and woman in his image, male and female, he created them.
[00:38:42] And then we see in the world a devolving of that and saying that, no, actually, man and woman is a social construct and even a means of oppression.
[00:38:55] And then we see in God's word a clear indication that marriage is between a man and a woman and the sexual benefits that are to be enjoyed and all of the benefits of that in the confines of marriage, between a man and in a woman.
[00:39:13] And then we see more and more in the world not only a acceptance of homosexuality and all kinds of sexual promiscuity without the confines of marriage, not only accepting that on the fringes, but now in a world saying that that is a moral good.
[00:39:32] This is the reality we live in. And so I think as Christians, we need to both develop the moral clarity and. And plead with God to give us the compassion of Christ towards sinners. And beyond these sexual issues, we have very relevant moral issues in our day in regards to the culture of death that surrounds us.
[00:39:54] That's moving not just from the horrifying reality of the killing of unborn babies, and as evil as that is, but now moving into a direction where we are saying it's okay to. To assist people in suicide.
[00:40:12] Eleven states in the United States have approved this already, and there'll be 12 at least by next year.
[00:40:19] We need moral clarity on these issues. And I want to make one other briefly. Okay? So this is really important because as we see, if you do not have moral clarity or if you are untethered from objective morality, or what happens is you move from one thing to the next and have more and more moral confusion. So where it started out as we're going to assist people in suicide who have terminal illnesses, and by God's grace, that's what it is now in the United States, as bad as that is, what we're seeing across the world is that it's moving beyond that. It's now not just we'll assist you in suicide if you have a terminal illness, but if you're not happy, if you don't desire to live. This is the reality of what happens when you're untethered from an objective biblical morality.
[00:41:12] I said I was going to be quick, but I hope that's helpful.
[00:41:16] The other thing that we have to talk about is that these moral issues have real people behind them. There's real people that are in suffering, in pain.
[00:41:29] And we must engage these issues with both moral clarity and compassion, because this is what the most loving thing to do is, because it displays the character of God.
[00:41:42] And just one brief example and then we'll wrap up.
[00:41:46] I have the pleasure and joy of serving at the Fort Worth Pregnancy center. And I think this is a great example of what this looks like on the ground we have. The Forward Pregnancy center has the conviction, the moral clarity that the unborn baby is a human life that is created in the image of God, that has the sanctity of life that should not be destroyed. And destroying that life is a wicked and terrible thing to do.
[00:42:16] And at the same time, there is the compassion of God towards every single person that walks through that door. The vast majority of them thinking in their minds that they want to get an abortion.
[00:42:28] The compassion of God that goes towards them to love them, to counsel them, to help them, to not judge them.
[00:42:36] We see the moral clarity and the compassion of God displayed. And I'll take it even further than that, because this happens, unfortunately, more than we would like. But even when those women come and they receive the free care, they get the ultrasound, they get the counsel, and then they still decide to go and have the abortion, the center doesn't say, okay, go do your own thing now. No. The sinner continues to pursue them, continues to come after them, to provide recovery services, to connect them with the local church that they might be cared for in the almost inevitable reality.
[00:43:23] Sorry.
[00:43:27] Of the emotional trauma that comes with killing your own baby.
[00:43:33] This is the moral clarity and the compassion of God towards sinners in the deepest and darkest despair of their lives.
[00:43:46] And so most of y' all know, but if you don't, I. I know this. I know this firsthand. Before I came to Christ, I was involved with two abortions. I know the devastating impacts of taking a life.
[00:44:05] But I also know, and the reason I'm standing here today, of the compassion of God towards the worst of sinners.
[00:44:14] This is the compassion we see all throughout the book of Jonah. God pursuing people in their sin.
[00:44:21] Only the gospel of Jesus Christ can do this. And a people bring people from spiritual death. I deserved nothing but God's just wrath.
[00:44:32] And he set his affections on me and made me alive in Christ and forgave me of my sin.
[00:44:39] His compassion came after me.
[00:44:43] The worst of sinners grafted into God's family by grace alone.
[00:44:50] Have you tasted God's compassion?
[00:44:55] Not just do you know about God's compassion? Have you tasted it in your inner being? Have you humbled yourself and cried out to God, I'm a sinner, have mercy on me.
[00:45:09] If you're here and living and breathing, there is still time to repent, to cry out to God for mercy.
[00:45:17] He's faithful, to answer like the sailors who were just looking for the right answers, trying to figure it out all on their own.
[00:45:30] If you try to do things on your own and come before God on your own works, it will fail and you will be condemned before God.
[00:45:41] But if you believe that Jesus died for your sins, not just this general reality of his death, but he died for you and rose from the dead and believe upon him alone, you can have eternal life. You can experience the compassion of God.
[00:45:57] So repent and believe today.
[00:46:00] And if once you have been found in Christ alone, then join with the rest of us in humbling ourselves before God through His word power of His Spirit being continually transformed by the renewal of our minds, pleading with him to move in our hearts that we might grow in both discerning his will and being grounded in moral clarity, but to have the relentless compassion of God towards sinners.
[00:46:32] Let us pray.
