1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:07,440 Now if you would open your Bible for the last time in this series at Jonah and Chapter 2, 2 00:00:07,440 –> 00:00:11,880 and really we’re going to look at just one sentence that is the banner that you could 3 00:00:11,880 –> 00:00:14,680 put really over the whole of this book. 4 00:00:14,680 –> 00:00:20,680 It’s Jonah chapter 2 and verse 9, one of my favorite verses in all of the Bible, and 5 00:00:20,680 –> 00:00:22,959 I hope it will become one of yours. 6 00:00:22,980 –> 00:00:32,080 Jonah’s marvelous triumphant statement, salvation comes from the Lord. 7 00:00:32,080 –> 00:00:37,360 Now to take a few moments with a quick review we’ve been thinking throughout this series 8 00:00:37,360 –> 00:00:41,480 of how a person might avoid a God-centered life. 9 00:00:41,480 –> 00:00:45,459 We’ve been seeing that a large part of the book of Jonah’s really like a confession in 10 00:00:45,459 –> 00:00:50,580 which a mature believer tells us honestly that it’s possible even after knowing the 11 00:00:51,380 –> 00:00:56,200 for some time to spend much of your life actually avoiding the God that you serve. 12 00:00:56,200 –> 00:01:00,500 And we have seen from Jonah’s confession how that could happen in our own lives. 13 00:01:00,500 –> 00:01:06,459 For example, you could avoid a God-centered life if you resist God’s call to something 14 00:01:06,459 –> 00:01:07,959 new. 15 00:01:07,959 –> 00:01:12,559 When God calls you to something new, you may find that your comfort is more important and 16 00:01:12,559 –> 00:01:16,839 your obedience more conditional than you had previously thought. 17 00:01:17,059 –> 00:01:23,099 And so hold whatever he has put in your hands lightly, because it will help you then to 18 00:01:23,099 –> 00:01:25,940 discover a God-centered life. 19 00:01:25,940 –> 00:01:31,699 Secondly, we saw that we avoid a God-centered life if we refuse God’s provision through 20 00:01:31,699 –> 00:01:33,360 someone else. 21 00:01:33,360 –> 00:01:37,900 The ship’s crew, remember, were told by Jonah, the only way for you to be saved is 22 00:01:37,900 –> 00:01:39,540 through the sacrifice of another. 23 00:01:39,540 –> 00:01:42,120 They didn’t want to accept that. 24 00:01:42,120 –> 00:01:48,639 And we saw how important it is that we give up being the captain of our own soul and trust 25 00:01:48,639 –> 00:01:53,720 life, death, and eternity on Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave Himself for us. 26 00:01:53,720 –> 00:01:56,820 That leads to a God-centered life. 27 00:01:56,820 –> 00:02:00,860 Another way in which a person could avoid a God-centered life is simply to quit God’s 28 00:02:00,860 –> 00:02:02,779 work in the light of experience. 29 00:02:02,779 –> 00:02:07,540 Remember, after all that Jonah had gone through, God called him a second time, and it would 30 00:02:07,540 –> 00:02:11,119 have been very easy for him to say, boy, I’ve been through very traumatic times. 31 00:02:11,119 –> 00:02:16,399 There’s nothing useful that I can do for the Lord, but he moved forward in obedience. 32 00:02:16,399 –> 00:02:20,419 He did not wallow in his past failures. 33 00:02:20,419 –> 00:02:21,580 And that’s an encouragement. 34 00:02:21,580 –> 00:02:27,960 Press forward in what God calls you to do, and you will grow in a God-centered life. 35 00:02:27,960 –> 00:02:33,139 You can avoid a God-centered life, fourthly, simply by resenting God’s providence in ruling 36 00:02:33,139 –> 00:02:34,740 the world. 37 00:02:34,740 –> 00:02:41,059 We saw how Jonah felt that God was too slow in judging evil and he became angry with God. 38 00:02:41,119 –> 00:02:45,639 And really, as he opens up that theme, he is saying to us, don’t go there, don’t become 39 00:02:45,639 –> 00:02:47,720 a person who is angry with God. 40 00:02:47,720 –> 00:02:51,960 Let God’s grace lead you into worship. 41 00:02:51,960 –> 00:02:56,300 That will strengthen you in a God-centered life. 42 00:02:56,300 –> 00:03:02,580 And then we saw a fifth way to avoid a God-centered life would be to rejoice in God’s gifts as 43 00:03:02,580 –> 00:03:03,960 if they were rights. 44 00:03:03,960 –> 00:03:08,119 We thought about the vine and the worm and the wind and the danger when God gives us 45 00:03:08,119 –> 00:03:09,160 good gifts. 46 00:03:09,160 –> 00:03:11,059 That’s what the vine is about. 47 00:03:11,059 –> 00:03:15,759 That we live a vine-centered life, and so God sent the worm and the wind to make sure 48 00:03:15,759 –> 00:03:17,919 that didn’t happen to Jonah. 49 00:03:17,919 –> 00:03:22,419 So, we saw a lesson there, don’t live for the things of this world, because all of them 50 00:03:22,419 –> 00:03:24,720 will pass away. 51 00:03:24,720 –> 00:03:31,039 The reason for living lies not in God’s gifts, but rather in the one who gives them, grasping 52 00:03:31,039 –> 00:03:34,679 that will help us to pursue a God-centered life. 53 00:03:35,539 –> 00:03:40,759 Then sixthly, we saw that you can avoid a God-centered life by receiving God’s mercy, 54 00:03:40,759 –> 00:03:44,080 but being very reluctant about sharing it with others. 55 00:03:44,080 –> 00:03:47,220 It’s great for us to rejoice in being saved. 56 00:03:47,220 –> 00:03:50,919 But what about our hearts for those who are not yet saved? 57 00:03:50,919 –> 00:03:53,399 What about the heart of God for the lost? 58 00:03:53,399 –> 00:03:59,559 Catching God’s passion for lost people and engaging in His work will help us to pursue 59 00:03:59,559 –> 00:04:01,660 a God-centered life. 60 00:04:02,259 –> 00:04:07,699 Now, these are some of the ways in which Jonah avoided a God-centered life, and we’ve been 61 00:04:07,720 –> 00:04:09,139 learning from his example. 62 00:04:09,139 –> 00:04:15,820 We’ve formed this prayer, lord make me less like Jonah and more like Jesus. 63 00:04:15,820 –> 00:04:20,100 And that’s become a theme I think that’s resonated in our hearts. 64 00:04:20,100 –> 00:04:25,239 It’s just occurred to me thinking about this, you know, Colin, you might actually meet Jonah 65 00:04:25,239 –> 00:04:31,640 in heaven, and what if he says to you, I hear you had a series, you went on for eight weeks 66 00:04:31,640 –> 00:04:35,200 and the main point you told these folks seemed to have been that you wanted everyone to be 67 00:04:35,200 –> 00:04:37,480 less like me. 68 00:04:37,480 –> 00:04:42,980 And then I thought perhaps I might also meet the king of Nineveh, who might say, don’t 69 00:04:42,980 –> 00:04:45,100 you think you were a little bit hard on Jonah? 70 00:04:45,100 –> 00:04:49,380 I mean haven’t you met the 100 and 20,000 folks from my city of Nineveh who are all 71 00:04:49,380 –> 00:04:51,619 here and were saved through his ministry? 72 00:04:51,619 –> 00:04:53,940 What were you thinking about? 73 00:04:53,940 –> 00:05:01,079 And so I want us to see that actually Jonah becomes for us a model, especially in chapter 74 00:05:02,079 –> 00:05:06,700 two, and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to end with the second chapter, because here 75 00:05:06,700 –> 00:05:12,359 we see him really being a model of God-centeredness, he becomes more like Jesus, and therefore 76 00:05:12,359 –> 00:05:15,619 we want to become more like him also. 77 00:05:15,619 –> 00:05:20,459 If I had been in a storm, if I had been thrown overboard from a ship, if I had been three 78 00:05:20,459 –> 00:05:25,359 days and three nights in the belly of a fish, I’m not very sure that I would be singing 79 00:05:25,359 –> 00:05:31,000 songs of praise and thanksgiving, I might have been someone who was restraining praise, 80 00:05:31,179 –> 00:05:36,679 holding it back, on account of my own pain and experience, but Jonah gives thanks to 81 00:05:36,679 –> 00:05:43,079 God in the middle of this great darkness because he knows that the God who has begun a saving 82 00:05:43,079 –> 00:05:47,260 work in his life will bring it to completion. 83 00:05:47,260 –> 00:05:53,100 So that brings us to our last title today, to reduce God’s salvation by crediting your 84 00:05:53,100 –> 00:05:57,600 response, and again Jonah is a wonderful model for us here. 85 00:05:57,660 –> 00:06:03,980 We want you to see in Jonah chapter 2 in verse 9 that he gives God all the glory, all the 86 00:06:03,980 –> 00:06:07,320 glory for his salvation. 87 00:06:07,320 –> 00:06:14,640 Salvation comes from the Lord. 88 00:06:14,640 –> 00:06:18,279 Now I’ve got to quote Spurgeon, especially for all the guys who are at seminary. 89 00:06:18,279 –> 00:06:20,320 This is a good one for the seminary guys. 90 00:06:20,320 –> 00:06:26,100 This is Spurgeon’s comment on salvation comes from the Lord. 91 00:06:26,820 –> 00:06:33,619 Jonah learned this sentence off good theology in a very strange college. 92 00:06:33,619 –> 00:06:35,619 I love that. 93 00:06:35,619 –> 00:06:37,019 Where did you go to seminary? 94 00:06:37,019 –> 00:06:44,859 Well it was the seminary of the deep, and Spurgeon says, most of the grand truths of 95 00:06:44,859 –> 00:06:47,239 God are learned by trouble. 96 00:06:47,239 –> 00:06:54,440 They must be burned into us by the hot iron of affliction, otherwise we shall not truly 97 00:06:54,440 –> 00:06:56,760 receive them. 98 00:06:56,760 –> 00:07:02,339 We’ve been talking about avoiding a God-centered life, and so I want us to see in this last 99 00:07:02,339 –> 00:07:07,720 message today how utterly God-centered Jonah became. 100 00:07:07,720 –> 00:07:14,380 Jonah chapter two, the whole of it is a song of praise, in which God gets all the glory 101 00:07:14,380 –> 00:07:15,820 for His salvation. 102 00:07:15,820 –> 00:07:22,559 Oh, that God would get all the glory for our salvation today and forever. 103 00:07:22,600 –> 00:07:25,239 Now, I want you to look at Jonah 2. 104 00:07:25,239 –> 00:07:26,920 I hope you have it open in front of you. 105 00:07:26,920 –> 00:07:34,000 And I want you to see how utterly God-centered Jonah has become inside the fish, how God’s 106 00:07:34,000 –> 00:07:37,200 grace has triumphed in his life. 107 00:07:37,200 –> 00:07:42,040 From inside the fish, Jonah prayed, notice how it’s all about God, to the Lord his God, 108 00:07:42,040 –> 00:07:47,399 he said, in my distress I called on the Lord, and He answered me. 109 00:07:47,399 –> 00:07:49,679 From the depths of the grave I called for help. 110 00:07:49,679 –> 00:07:53,440 And you listened to my cry. 111 00:07:53,440 –> 00:07:58,019 So now Jonah is speaking directly to God, and I want you to see how he focuses on the 112 00:07:58,019 –> 00:08:03,220 Lord all the way through this marvelous prayer of praise. 113 00:08:03,220 –> 00:08:09,140 In fact, everytime we come to the word you or your, I’m gonna read through the chapter 114 00:08:09,140 –> 00:08:15,700 here, I want you to help me by giving me a strong you or your, so that we see just how 115 00:08:15,700 –> 00:08:19,600 this runs all the way through the chapter. 116 00:08:19,640 –> 00:08:24,059 So we’re beginning at verse 3, and we’re right there on the first word. 117 00:08:24,079 –> 00:08:25,700 You ready, are you with me? 118 00:08:25,700 –> 00:08:26,700 Okay. 119 00:08:26,700 –> 00:08:32,320 You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and all your waves and 120 00:08:32,320 –> 00:08:34,020 breakers swept over me. 121 00:08:34,020 –> 00:08:40,320 I said, I have been banished from your sight, yet I will look again to your Holy Temple. 122 00:08:40,320 –> 00:08:42,520 Then he goes into his own problems. 123 00:08:42,520 –> 00:08:46,080 The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me, seaweed was wrapped around 124 00:08:46,080 –> 00:08:48,200 my head, to the roots of the mountains I sank down. 125 00:08:48,200 –> 00:08:53,419 The earth beneath barred me in forever, but you brought me up from the pit. 126 00:08:53,419 –> 00:08:56,099 Oh Lord my God, when my life was ebbing away. 127 00:08:56,099 –> 00:08:58,479 I remembered you, Oh Lord. 128 00:08:58,479 –> 00:09:02,659 And my prayer rose to you, and to your Holy Temple. 129 00:09:02,659 –> 00:09:07,460 Then he says those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. 130 00:09:07,460 –> 00:09:11,119 But I with a song of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you. 131 00:09:11,119 –> 00:09:13,739 What I have vowed, I will make good. 132 00:09:13,900 –> 00:09:18,380 say it with me, salvation comes from the Lord. 133 00:09:18,380 –> 00:09:22,159 And just in case we haven’t got the point, the very next verse says, and the Lord commanded 134 00:09:22,159 –> 00:09:26,179 the fish, and it vomited Jonah out onto dry land. 135 00:09:26,179 –> 00:09:27,679 Now what does chapter two say then? 136 00:09:27,679 –> 00:09:30,320 It says this, God saves. 137 00:09:30,320 –> 00:09:31,659 That’s the message. 138 00:09:31,659 –> 00:09:36,179 God saves, God saves. 139 00:09:36,179 –> 00:09:41,919 And Jonah is concerned that God gets all the glory for his salvation, and we are concerned 140 00:09:41,919 –> 00:09:48,320 that God gets all the glory for ours as well. 141 00:09:48,320 –> 00:09:54,820 Now it’s worth thinking when we are looking at salvation comes from the Lord. 142 00:09:54,820 –> 00:10:00,320 I found it helpful to see that the Bible speaks about salvation in three tenses. 143 00:10:00,320 –> 00:10:03,239 I hope you’ll find this helpful. 144 00:10:03,239 –> 00:10:09,460 The Bible speaks about salvation first as a completed transaction. 145 00:10:09,619 –> 00:10:15,659 Romans 2 8 — it is by grace that you have been saved, a completed transaction through 146 00:10:15,659 –> 00:10:16,659 faith. 147 00:10:16,659 –> 00:10:20,299 This is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. 148 00:10:20,299 –> 00:10:25,080 The Bible is full of language of a completed transaction. 149 00:10:25,080 –> 00:10:30,159 Romans 5 1 — since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through the 150 00:10:30,159 –> 00:10:31,299 Lord Jesus Christ. 151 00:10:31,299 –> 00:10:34,340 We have been justified by faith. 152 00:10:35,000 –> 00:10:40,940 Romans 8 1 — there is now no condemnation for those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. 153 00:10:40,940 –> 00:10:44,299 How have I been saved? 154 00:10:44,299 –> 00:10:51,219 I have been saved because Christ died for my sins, and He rose for my justification. 155 00:10:51,219 –> 00:10:57,299 And being made one with Jesus Christ through the bond of faith, God counts all my sins 156 00:10:57,299 –> 00:11:03,599 as if they were Christ’s, and all Christ’s righteousness as if it were mine. 157 00:11:03,859 –> 00:11:10,140 And that completed transaction of justification — justification in the perfect tense — the 158 00:11:10,140 –> 00:11:19,260 completed action — the Bible often refers to as justification — that is, the completed 159 00:11:19,260 –> 00:11:24,979 transaction of salvation — salvation, if you like, in the past tense. 160 00:11:24,979 –> 00:11:30,440 But the Bible speaks about salvation also as a continuing process. 161 00:11:30,479 –> 00:11:36,359 For example, 1 Corinthians 1 18, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who 162 00:11:36,359 –> 00:11:43,880 are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 163 00:11:43,880 –> 00:11:48,859 So clearly here, salvation is a continuing process. 164 00:11:48,859 –> 00:11:54,640 My salvation has begun but it is not yet complete — I am not yet, you are not yet what we 165 00:11:54,640 –> 00:11:56,219 will be. 166 00:11:56,219 –> 00:12:02,460 We struggle with the flesh, we fail in many ways, yet we are not who we were. 167 00:12:02,460 –> 00:12:05,419 God has not left us in defeat. 168 00:12:05,419 –> 00:12:11,200 We are being saved and that process comes from the Lord who continually is at work in 169 00:12:11,200 –> 00:12:12,200 our lives. 170 00:12:12,200 –> 00:12:13,200 We have seen this in Jonah. 171 00:12:13,200 –> 00:12:17,539 He had known the Lord for many years, he had been a prophet in Gath Thepher. 172 00:12:17,539 –> 00:12:24,080 Then he gets himself into a particular sin and God intervenes in his life graciously 173 00:12:24,080 –> 00:12:25,919 through the storm and then through the fish. 174 00:12:25,919 –> 00:12:26,919 Why? 175 00:12:26,919 –> 00:12:31,080 Because God is still saving him, and then he goes on and has wonderful ministry, and 176 00:12:31,080 –> 00:12:38,239 then many people come to the Lord, and then he gets into a strange funk, and God has to 177 00:12:38,239 –> 00:12:42,219 intervene again because he is angry and he is out of sorts. 178 00:12:42,219 –> 00:12:43,219 What is God doing? 179 00:12:43,219 –> 00:12:44,539 God is still saving him. 180 00:12:44,539 –> 00:12:52,520 It’s a continuing process, and that continuing work of our salvation, salvation in the present 181 00:12:53,119 –> 00:12:58,000 The Bible often refers to as sanctification. 182 00:12:58,000 –> 00:13:03,460 Salvation’s the big word that embraces our justification, our sanctification, and something 183 00:13:03,460 –> 00:13:04,460 else. 184 00:13:04,460 –> 00:13:13,080 Because salvation, thirdly, is a future hope, 1 Peter 1 and verse 5, you who, through faith, 185 00:13:13,080 –> 00:13:19,039 are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed 186 00:13:19,039 –> 00:13:21,359 in the last time. 187 00:13:21,400 –> 00:13:23,919 So now salvation is something that’s still to happen. 188 00:13:23,919 –> 00:13:26,799 It’s future, it’s for the last time. 189 00:13:26,799 –> 00:13:32,840 And again our hope of future salvation comes from the Lord, because our future salvation 190 00:13:32,840 –> 00:13:33,840 lies here. 191 00:13:33,840 –> 00:13:39,000 Paul says, the Lord himself will come down from Heaven with a loud command, and with 192 00:13:39,000 –> 00:13:42,059 the voice of the Archangel and the trumpet call of God. 193 00:13:42,059 –> 00:13:45,679 The dead in Christ will rise first. 194 00:13:45,679 –> 00:13:49,039 And when we are brought into the presence of the Lord, we are caught up to meet him 195 00:13:49,460 –> 00:13:52,059 the air, and then we’ll be with Him forever. 196 00:13:52,080 –> 00:13:55,280 Revelation tells us what happens. 197 00:13:55,280 –> 00:13:59,080 God will make His dwelling with men. 198 00:13:59,080 –> 00:14:02,479 God will wipe all tears from our eyes. 199 00:14:02,479 –> 00:14:05,719 There will be no more death or mourning or sorrow or pain. 200 00:14:05,719 –> 00:14:06,719 Why? 201 00:14:06,719 –> 00:14:11,739 Because God says I am making everything new, so our future salvation comes from where? 202 00:14:11,739 –> 00:14:19,000 It comes from the Lord, from His coming and from His new creation. 203 00:14:19,000 –> 00:14:22,880 And the future tense of our salvation, the Bible often calls glorification. 204 00:14:22,880 –> 00:14:29,380 So if you want to think how to relate these words together, salvation comes from the Lord. 205 00:14:29,380 –> 00:14:34,960 Past, present, future, justification, sanctification, glorification, salvation, and three tenses, 206 00:14:34,960 –> 00:14:39,960 and it all comes from the Lord. 207 00:14:39,960 –> 00:14:46,960 Now that’s the teaching of Jonah chapter 2 and verse 9. 208 00:14:47,320 –> 00:14:53,340 Now I want for the rest of our time to focus in on just one very critical and most important 209 00:14:53,340 –> 00:14:56,059 question, and it’s this. 210 00:14:56,059 –> 00:15:00,099 How does this help us? 211 00:15:00,099 –> 00:15:07,099 What difference does it make to know that salvation comes from the Lord? 212 00:15:09,659 –> 00:15:16,580 And I want to speak for a few moments perhaps a little more personally than I do at other 213 00:15:16,820 –> 00:15:20,520 times, and I hope that that will be helpful. 214 00:15:20,520 –> 00:15:27,520 But the reason for doing that is that I was a Christian for about 20 years before I really 215 00:15:29,919 –> 00:15:36,619 came to appreciate the truth that Jonah saw so clearly. 216 00:15:36,619 –> 00:15:42,940 And I have to tell you honestly that it has been for me one of the most life-transforming 217 00:15:43,159 –> 00:15:50,159 truths since about 20, 25 years ago, it dawned into my own soul in a fresh way, and it has 218 00:15:52,919 –> 00:15:59,919 helped me so much that I covet that many would share the same help and joy and know already 219 00:16:02,940 –> 00:16:05,599 that many do. 220 00:16:05,599 –> 00:16:11,119 But here is how it has helped me to know that salvation comes from the Lord. 221 00:16:11,299 –> 00:16:17,320 And I’ve isolated three ways, and they run very deep because they go to core issues in 222 00:16:17,320 –> 00:16:20,419 a Christian’s life. 223 00:16:20,419 –> 00:16:27,419 Number one, grasping more clearly that salvation comes from the Lord more than anything else 224 00:16:29,679 –> 00:16:36,679 has helped, in my experience, to deepen my own worship. It really has. And I hope that 225 00:16:37,679 –> 00:16:42,840 this might help you in the same way. 226 00:16:42,840 –> 00:16:49,840 Let me try and put it to you this way. It is a good thing to know that God is love. 227 00:16:52,679 –> 00:16:59,679 It is a greater thing to know that God loves me. Big difference. 228 00:17:00,679 –> 00:17:07,040 I am moved to know that Jesus died on the cross for sinners. 229 00:17:07,040 –> 00:17:14,040 I am more deeply moved to know that Jesus died on the cross for me. 230 00:17:15,780 –> 00:17:20,359 That is the language of the Bible if you think about Galatians Chapter 2 in verse 20. 231 00:17:20,359 –> 00:17:24,459 The apostle Paul says, help me here, 232 00:17:24,640 –> 00:17:30,040 the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me. 233 00:17:30,040 –> 00:17:31,900 It’s very, very personal. 234 00:17:31,900 –> 00:17:34,079 That’s the language of the Bible. 235 00:17:34,079 –> 00:17:37,839 He died generically out there for people in a general sense. 236 00:17:37,839 –> 00:17:43,699 Paul says, no, I’ve understood this, that the Lord Jesus died specifically, pointedly 237 00:17:43,699 –> 00:17:47,760 for me. 238 00:17:47,760 –> 00:17:53,160 In other words, when Jesus came into the world and when he died on the cross, he did more 239 00:17:53,239 –> 00:17:56,959 than provide a way of salvation for people in general. 240 00:17:56,959 –> 00:18:01,599 I find it helpful to think of it this way, that when Jesus came into the world and when 241 00:18:01,599 –> 00:18:09,439 he died on the cross, he came to save people with names and faces. 242 00:18:09,439 –> 00:18:17,859 And here’s where my own heart just gets lifted in amazement, and one of them was me. 243 00:18:17,859 –> 00:18:23,040 That’s amazing. 244 00:18:23,040 –> 00:18:30,780 When he was born, he lay in that manger for me. 245 00:18:30,780 –> 00:18:36,300 When he died on the cross, he hung there for me. 246 00:18:36,300 –> 00:18:42,000 When he carried sin, there were sins I can think about in my life that he carried for 247 00:18:42,000 –> 00:18:43,000 me. 248 00:18:43,000 –> 00:18:50,739 And when he entered hell, that I cannot even begin to imagine, he took hell and entered 249 00:18:50,739 –> 00:18:52,939 hell for me. 250 00:18:52,939 –> 00:18:55,979 My hell. 251 00:18:55,979 –> 00:19:01,160 And God did all this before I was ever born. 252 00:19:01,160 –> 00:19:09,680 But it did not end there, because think about this, by nature, I would have absolutely no 253 00:19:09,680 –> 00:19:14,920 interest whatsoever in any of these things. 254 00:19:14,920 –> 00:19:19,160 By nature, I would’ve gone and lived a purely self-centered kind of life for this world 255 00:19:19,160 –> 00:19:20,520 and everything else. 256 00:19:20,619 –> 00:19:29,599 And yet, when I was a young child in Edinburgh, Scotland, I opened my heart to the Lord. 257 00:19:29,599 –> 00:19:33,459 Now I’ve been thinking about that for years since, as you perhaps have thought for years 258 00:19:33,459 –> 00:19:40,239 about your own conversion, and I’ve asked the question, how did that happen? 259 00:19:40,239 –> 00:19:45,359 And how was it that I opened my heart to the Lord when other people who I know and loved 260 00:19:45,359 –> 00:19:48,880 did not. 261 00:19:49,420 –> 00:19:51,979 And here’s the answer. 262 00:19:51,979 –> 00:19:55,380 God sent His Spirit. 263 00:19:55,380 –> 00:20:01,160 God said, if you can picture it this way, the father speaking to the spirit, go work 264 00:20:01,160 –> 00:20:04,959 in that little boy’s heart. 265 00:20:04,959 –> 00:20:13,319 Speak to him, draw him to Christ, give him life from above which he does not have by 266 00:20:14,319 –> 00:20:15,979 His power. 267 00:20:15,979 –> 00:20:23,219 Direct his life, call him, equip him, guard him, keep him, stay with him, correct him, 268 00:20:23,219 –> 00:20:30,099 you’ll sure need that, strengthen him, you need that too. 269 00:20:30,099 –> 00:20:31,180 Show him the truth. 270 00:20:31,180 –> 00:20:36,219 Help him to pray and bring him at last safely home. 271 00:20:37,020 –> 00:20:44,560 I Tell you the more I think about the mystery of God’s saving work in my life the more 272 00:20:44,560 –> 00:20:51,219 staggering it gets and I find just an increasing sense as I think about these 273 00:20:51,219 –> 00:21:01,660 things of worship welling up inside and saying salvation comes from the Lord. 274 00:21:01,660 –> 00:21:04,979 It’s helped me more than anything else. 275 00:21:04,979 –> 00:21:12,459 Deepening worship. Here’s the second when which has helped me and and this goes 276 00:21:12,459 –> 00:21:16,900 very deep as well and I hope it might be a particular help to to some this 277 00:21:16,900 –> 00:21:23,579 morning and it has helped me so much in strengthening my assurance. In other 278 00:21:23,579 –> 00:21:28,020 words my confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ with regards to final salvation 279 00:21:29,020 –> 00:21:38,839 And here’s why it has been so helpful to me. See if my salvation boils down to my 280 00:21:38,839 –> 00:21:43,380 decision to follow Jesus if ultimately that’s really what it’s about. If it 281 00:21:43,380 –> 00:21:48,300 boils down to my decision to follow Jesus, how in all the world do I know I 282 00:21:48,300 –> 00:21:55,199 can keep that up. If my salvation boils down to my decision to follow Jesus 283 00:21:55,819 –> 00:22:01,560 the best I can do is to say Lord, I’ll do the best I can to keep it up. I’ll give 284 00:22:01,560 –> 00:22:07,880 it my best shot. Thank God my salvation doesn’t depend on my best shot. Don’t you 285 00:22:07,880 –> 00:22:16,260 agree with that yourself. So I find such assurance in being able to say with Jonah 286 00:22:16,260 –> 00:22:23,979 salvation comes from the Lord. Because if God is saving me, really think about it, 287 00:22:23,979 –> 00:22:30,579 if God is saving me I can trust God to keep me. I have confidence in His ability 288 00:22:30,579 –> 00:22:36,900 to keep me. If He’s in the business of saving me, if He’s the Savior. Let me just 289 00:22:36,900 –> 00:22:42,060 read these words. Some of you will know them well. Written by Augustus, top lady. 290 00:22:42,060 –> 00:22:50,500 Died at the age of 38. Wrote these amazing words. The work which His goodness 291 00:22:50,619 –> 00:22:56,180 began, the arm of His strength will complete. He’s talking about His 292 00:22:56,180 –> 00:23:03,239 salvation, for His promise is yes and amen and it never was forfeited yet. 293 00:23:03,239 –> 00:23:08,300 Things future, whatever the future holds nor things that are now, not all things 294 00:23:08,300 –> 00:23:13,780 below or above can make Him, His purpose forego. if He’s determined to save me 295 00:23:13,780 –> 00:23:17,640 He’s never going to drop on His purpose and nothing will sever my soul from His 296 00:23:18,599 –> 00:23:26,119 And then this is so beautiful, my name from the palms of His hands 297 00:23:26,119 –> 00:23:31,560 eternity cannot erase. See what he’s saying, if it’s really true that Jesus 298 00:23:31,560 –> 00:23:36,900 bore my sins on Calvary, He came into the world to redeem me, that’s really true 299 00:23:36,900 –> 00:23:43,119 then how could He ever let go? How could that hand let go of one for whom that 300 00:23:43,359 –> 00:23:50,500 hand was pierced? Eternity won’t erase my name from the palm of His hands, no 301 00:23:50,500 –> 00:23:57,339 impressed on His own heart it remains in marks of indelible grace. And then He 302 00:23:57,339 –> 00:24:01,819 says, yes, I to the end shall endure for as sure as the earnest, the first 303 00:24:01,819 –> 00:24:09,900 down-payment is given, more happy but not more secure the glorified Spirit in 304 00:24:10,079 –> 00:24:13,859 heaven. See what he’s saying? The Lord Jesus who died to save you lives to keep 305 00:24:13,859 –> 00:24:21,900 you and He will never let you go. You see how assurance flows from being able to 306 00:24:21,900 –> 00:24:29,060 say with conviction, with Jonah, salvation comes from the Lord God saves! He’s 307 00:24:29,060 –> 00:24:35,680 saving me. Here’s the third way in which it has really helped me to know that 308 00:24:35,680 –> 00:24:40,239 salvation comes from the Lord and again this one runs very deep and it is very 309 00:24:40,239 –> 00:24:49,900 personal. It has motivated me more than any other truth to prayer and to 310 00:24:49,900 –> 00:24:59,760 evangelism. Let me tell you why. I have some people on my mind and heart who 311 00:24:59,900 –> 00:25:08,160 need Jesus. You do too. I’m thinking about people who are not Christians and who 312 00:25:08,160 –> 00:25:13,400 are not interested in becoming Christians. And I expect that you can 313 00:25:13,400 –> 00:25:19,660 think of folks who you know and love like that as well. Now think about this 314 00:25:19,660 –> 00:25:25,579 with me. If salvation boils down to a human choice, if that’s basically what it 315 00:25:25,579 –> 00:25:31,579 is, then I have no hope whatsoever for the folks I’m thinking of and the folks 316 00:25:31,579 –> 00:25:36,979 I love because they have already made their human choice more than abundantly 317 00:25:36,979 –> 00:25:42,859 clear – and have done for years. So if salvation basically is a matter of 318 00:25:42,859 –> 00:25:47,619 human choice, I really have no hope for people I love who not only are not 319 00:25:47,619 –> 00:25:54,579 Christians but they’re not interested in becoming Christians. But think about 320 00:25:54,579 –> 00:26:02,900 this with me – if it is true that God really is free to swoop down 321 00:26:02,900 –> 00:26:08,140 uninvited and lay hold of a person who is dead in trespasses and sins and bring 322 00:26:08,140 –> 00:26:20,260 them to spiritual life – that gives me hope. When I see that God saves, that puts 323 00:26:20,260 –> 00:26:23,040 me in a position of saying, God it’s you who saves 324 00:26:23,040 –> 00:26:28,119 my hope isn’t in someone changing their mind – my hope is in you, penetrating that 325 00:26:28,119 –> 00:26:34,619 life, getting underneath that armor and bringing life out of spiritual death. And 326 00:26:34,619 –> 00:26:39,199 I’m asking you to do that. That’s a reason to pray if God works like that. 327 00:26:39,199 –> 00:26:45,420 And that’s what Jonah grows – salvation comes from the Lord. So more than anything 328 00:26:45,420 –> 00:26:50,260 else this motivates me to pray. The Bible does not present to us a God who 329 00:26:50,380 –> 00:26:55,959 stands passively by watching to see who’s going to make up their minds to become a Christian. 330 00:26:55,959 –> 00:27:03,920 No, he saves. Saved me – as a little boy. Saved Saul of Tarsus when he was going to 331 00:27:03,920 –> 00:27:09,020 try and persecute Christians. He just broke into his life. That’s how salvation happens, 332 00:27:09,020 –> 00:27:14,199 that’s how your salvation happens. However simple it seemed, it has a dynamic behind 333 00:27:14,439 –> 00:27:20,640 it that is amazing. And when you see that you begin to gather courage, to pray for people 334 00:27:20,640 –> 00:27:24,839 who have absolutely no interest in the things of the gospel because they’re not harder 335 00:27:24,839 –> 00:27:30,660 for God’s saving power. And it motivates me more than anything else 336 00:27:30,660 –> 00:27:37,660 for evangelism because God saves, how? Through the gospel. Faith comes by hearing and hearing 337 00:27:38,959 –> 00:27:43,819 by the Word of God. Well now, if God swoops down into people’s lives, uninvited by the 338 00:27:43,859 –> 00:27:50,760 gospel, ambushes people, takes them by surprise, that encourages me to share the gospel, to 339 00:27:50,760 –> 00:27:57,260 hand out a gospel tract, give a book that explains the Christian message, preach. That’s 340 00:27:57,260 –> 00:28:00,979 the point of the parable of the sower, isn’t it? He sows out the seed, and He knows some 341 00:28:00,979 –> 00:28:07,719 of it’s going to land on hard ground. But He also knows that some is going to land on 342 00:28:08,199 –> 00:28:14,500 ground for it will grow and it will produce thirty, sixty, a hundred fold. I do not know, 343 00:28:14,500 –> 00:28:20,260 how could I possibly know, who in this congregation will be saved today. But, I believe that God 344 00:28:20,260 –> 00:28:26,560 saves. That’s the reason we’re putting out the gospel. Week by week, and month by month, 345 00:28:26,560 –> 00:28:32,359 and year by year, people are saved and their lives are changed, why? By the gospel. God 346 00:28:32,359 –> 00:28:39,819 swoops in. A person says, I’ve come to trust Christ, and behind that is a whole 347 00:28:39,819 –> 00:28:47,920 amazing miracle of God’s grace that would lead us all to worship. When Jonah said salvation 348 00:28:47,920 –> 00:28:52,719 comes from the Lord, he was saying more than that God makes salvation possible. Jonah was 349 00:28:52,939 –> 00:28:58,180 saying God saves, aren’t you glad that God saves? Aren’t you glad that God 350 00:28:58,180 –> 00:29:09,060 saved you? Now here’s the last thing. And it is so important. I want to say a word in 351 00:29:09,060 –> 00:29:18,459 these last moments to people who would say, I’m not sure that I have been saved. I’m not 352 00:29:18,459 –> 00:29:24,760 sure I’m being saved and I’m not sure that I will be saved. And your, your thought might 353 00:29:24,760 –> 00:29:28,540 be like this, you might say, well now, I hear what you’re saying, but if salvation comes 354 00:29:28,540 –> 00:29:38,640 from the Lord, then what can I do? Doesn’t that leave me without hope? Now I want you 355 00:29:38,640 –> 00:29:49,859 to hear me crystal clear on this one. It’s precisely the opposite. The fact that God 356 00:29:49,859 –> 00:29:55,800 saves doesn’t close the door of hope for you, the fact that God saves is the very thing 357 00:29:55,800 –> 00:30:04,339 that opens the door of hope for you. And let me explain that in just a moment by asking 358 00:30:04,400 –> 00:30:09,699 you a few simple questions. You’re saying, I’m not sure I’m saved, not sure I will be 359 00:30:09,699 –> 00:30:18,020 saved. Let me ask you these questions. How are you going to have faith? How are you going 360 00:30:18,020 –> 00:30:26,640 to live a life of faith? How are you going to love God more than you love yourself? How 361 00:30:26,640 –> 00:30:32,300 are you going to overcome sin in your life that has been habit forming, and perhaps so 362 00:30:32,380 –> 00:30:40,380 habit forming you hardly notice it. How are you even going to sustain a desire to change? 363 00:30:40,380 –> 00:30:50,160 You can’t do that and you know it. But God can do these things for you and He can do 364 00:30:50,160 –> 00:31:00,439 them in you. Salvation comes from the Lord, not from yourself. And when you see that, 365 00:31:01,280 –> 00:31:08,420 to find hope in Him. You will gather courage to come to Him, to draw near to Him and to 366 00:31:08,420 –> 00:31:20,439 ask Him to save you. See, almost every week I have a conversation with someone who in 367 00:31:20,439 –> 00:31:25,959 some way is totally absorbed with their own inability to deal with their own problems. 368 00:31:26,819 –> 00:31:32,579 They talk about all the aspects of their own problems and about themselves. And what I’m 369 00:31:32,579 –> 00:31:39,800 saying to you in this moment is, get your eyes off your own inability to save yourself 370 00:31:39,800 –> 00:31:48,400 and get your eyes on to the One who has all the power in the world to save you. You look 371 00:31:48,400 –> 00:31:59,119 to Jesus Christ. The Lord saved Jonah. The Lord saved a man called Saul of Tarsus who 372 00:31:59,119 –> 00:32:05,239 couldn’t have been more anti-Christian, and his whole life was turned around. 373 00:32:05,239 –> 00:32:12,959 Think about this. The Lord is saving scores of people who are sitting all around you. 374 00:32:12,959 –> 00:32:16,900 If the Lord is saving scores of people who are sitting all around you, why should He 375 00:32:16,900 –> 00:32:23,619 not save you? Why should you not say Lord, I can’t save myself. I’m looking to you to 376 00:32:23,619 –> 00:32:28,060 save me, because I believe that salvation comes from the Lord. Why shouldn’t you do 377 00:32:28,060 –> 00:32:33,699 that today. Let me read you just one paragraph from C. 378 00:32:33,699 –> 00:32:40,660 H. Spurgeon. Here’s how he ended his marvelous sermon on Jonah 2 in verse 9. 379 00:32:40,660 –> 00:32:45,680 Let me just read these words. They were 150 years old, so I’m paraphrasing them 380 00:32:45,859 –> 00:32:48,060 and then we’re going to pray. 381 00:32:49,199 –> 00:32:57,099 Everybody here, he says, has a soul to be saved or a soul to be lost, and you will 382 00:32:57,119 –> 00:33:03,219 be lost forever unless God saves you. Unless Christ shall have mercy on you, 383 00:33:03,219 –> 00:33:09,219 there is no other hope for you. And I love the directness of this. 384 00:33:09,359 –> 00:33:20,839 Down on your knees, cry to God for mercy, lift up your heart in prayer to God now. 385 00:33:20,839 –> 00:33:28,699 May this be the moment when you will be saved. He says peace with God is to be 386 00:33:28,699 –> 00:33:43,319 had now today, so ask and seek and knock. Come to Christ and be accepted in His 387 00:33:43,319 –> 00:33:55,459 beloved Son. Father, salvation comes from you. 388 00:33:55,500 –> 00:34:04,040 Help those of us who are being saved to rejoice in it in a whole new way. 389 00:34:04,040 –> 00:34:10,919 Right now Father for those who are saying I see I can’t save myself but I see 390 00:34:10,919 –> 00:34:20,379 that if God saves he can save me, Lord save them. Save all of us who right now 391 00:34:20,860 –> 00:34:28,080 are looking away from our own inability and looking up to you the Savior and the 392 00:34:28,080 –> 00:34:39,500 Lord and calling upon you as Jonah did for mercy. Thank you that salvation comes 393 00:34:39,500 –> 00:34:45,699 from the Lord hear our prayer in Jesus name.