DAILY TRUTH - When The Pagans See More Clearly Than The Prophets
Episode Stats
Harmful content
Toxicity
4
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Hate speech
13
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Summary
In the midst of a storm, the sailors fear the Lord. They make vows and sacrifices to the Lord after the storm has been neutralized. They know that they have been sinning their whole life, and they know they will have to stand before a God who holds them accountable for their sin.
Transcript
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In less than a year, our podcast has gone from an average of 10,000 downloads a month
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and gospel of Jesus Christ. Help us press forward the crown rights of King Jesus by leaving us a
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five-star review on your favorite podcast platform. Thanks. We see that the sailors
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picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared
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the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. This is significant.
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The last thing we'll focus on. The men actually feared the calming of the sea the most. So they
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fear the storm. Then they fear the God in the storm or over the storm with authority, Jonah's
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God, the triune God. And then the storm ceases. And this would be the moment for the fear to cease
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along with it. Typically, once the threat has been neutralized, then the terror would go away
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along with it. But here in Jonah chapter one is where we find these sailors most afraid,
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not least afraid. The men actually feared the calming of the sea and the ceasing of the tempest
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most of all because it proved that Jonah's words were true. There is a God who created all things
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and will hold each man accountable for his sin. Now, since the ship was a large vessel and bound
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on a long voyage, the men had livestock on board, which they offered as a sacrifice. And in order
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to further display their gratitude, the sailors made vows before the Lord. Now notice this.
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They're afraid of the storm. They're extra afraid when they realize that the storm actually has a
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deity behind it controlling the storm. And then they're even more afraid when that is confirmed
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by the storm ceasing. Because now they're no longer have the storm as an immediate threat
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to their physical bodies, but they know that everything Jonah's just said about this God is
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true. And although this immediate storm in the physical sense has ceased, there is another storm
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of brewing. There's a storm of judgment. And that one day they're going to have to stand before this
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God who causes storms and has authority to cease and still the storms. And they've been pagans
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their whole life, worshiping false gods instead of the true God. So the fear doesn't go away when
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the storm ceases. If anything, it increases. And so what do they do? They make vows and sacrifices
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to the Lord after the threat has been neutralized. Now think about this in terms of genuine repentance.
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It's one thing when you're sick to cry out to the Lord for healing and mercy.
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and let's say as a specific example let's say you're sick in a particular kind of way it's
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the kind of sickness you brought upon yourself right maybe in a past life in rebellion in sin
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and you are kneeling calling upon the gods kneeling before the porcelain throne
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right but it's one thing to cry out and make vows and ask for mercy in the midst of a storm in the
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midst of pain in the midst of fear it's another though when everything's all done when you're
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pleased for help have actually been granted and answered to then turn to god and say i make a vow
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not i'm making a vow in this moment if you help me i'll never do this again but no you have helped
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me and I'm going to live another life. You have helped me and I'm going to be faithful to you.
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That's what's happening with these sailors. These pagan sailors, they get it. They're making vows
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and I think there's no other way to read this but bona fide, genuine salvation. They fear the Lord.
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They now make vows to the Lord, not just to get out of the immediate threat. They've already gotten
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And out of that, they're making vows for the future,
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for the rest of their lives to live in fidelity to the Lord.
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that they've sinned against the Lord in a host of ways,
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So they're making sacrifices, seeking atonement,
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meanwhile the Hebrew prophet is still in rebellion still Jonah chapter 2 is the only portion in all
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four chapters where he appears to repent and I would argue that even then he doesn't Jonah chapter
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2 is Jonah's prayer he cries out to the Lord but I don't believe it's actually the prayer from the
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belly of the fish he talks about the waters going over his head I think that it's actually the
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prayer that Jonah prays in the ocean or the sea as he's sinking in the waters. And even that is a
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kind of prayer that's precisely the opposite of what the pagan Phoenicians pray. See, Jonah prays
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as he's drowning that God would save him. And once God does, we pick back up with Jonah three and four
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and he's got the same bad attitude again. Doesn't want to obey, wants Nineveh to be destroyed.
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that in Nineveh, there's 120,000 children so young
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their children haven't committed any violence towards Israel.
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The cows didn't do anything wrong. This is how the story of Jonah ends, right? If you care about
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the plant that I sent a worm to destroy, and it's not really just your own comfort, your own
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idolatry, you just care for innocent living things. Well, you should probably care for the innocent
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living 120,000 kids in Nineveh or care about the cattle in Nineveh, but you don't. Because at the
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end of the day, you're not concerned about justice. You're not mad because I'm not being
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just and punishing Nineveh because of their crimes. You're just, you're angry for yourself.
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This has all been about your comfort, whether it's the plant causing shade, whether it's you
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getting to make positive prophecies and them actually coming to pass and being liked by your
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contemporaries, whether it's you having to travel to Nineveh, whether it's you in the belly of the
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fish at every level. Jonah, the only thing you care about is not my glory. It's not my justice.
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And it's not contained in the book, his repentance.
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but what is contained is remarkable everyone in the story of jonah repents except jonah
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the phoenician sailors repent and i think it's real repentance nineveh repents we know that's
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real repentance because jesus even says the men of nineveh on that day will rise up and judge
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you speaking to israel ninevites will be your judges israel everyone repents in the story of
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Jonah, except for Jonah. And Jonah, in many ways, we could say as a prophet, an Israelite prophet,
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he represents the church. And more particularly, not just the church, that would be like Israel,
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but Jonah being a prophet of Israel, pastors. And that's the last relevant overlap that I see in
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our day and age. That right now, by the grace of God, because of judgment being poured out,
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there are a lot of people and a lot of them unsuspected some surprise conversion stories
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you might say there are a lot of people repenting
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there are a lot of people i believe by the grace of god who are being converted and born again
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they're seeing god's judgment they're seeing the error of our ways they're seeing the wickedness
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behind the veil is being revealed and there are people who are waking up and coming to christ
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He's recognizing, wait a second, we've got to repent.
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But there's one character in our current story,
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like the story of Jonah, who still doesn't seem to get it.
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i mean you've got bona fide racist repenting and coming into the kingdom of heaven before
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and then you've got a bunch of other people who are called racist but actually aren't
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but the one group of people who seem to be so stubborn and will not relent
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sadly are the prophets the people who should know exactly what time it is they've been given a
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message namely this book to preach and to preach faithfully you don't get to ad-lib
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and yet continually and consistently there's a refusal God says go to Nineveh they'll go to
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Tarshish God says hey I'm doing a work of revival repentance among people on the right go to Nineveh
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go to the right we'll be friends with the left we want the high seats
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right go over there there's a bunch of people in flyover country you know the country bumpkins
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you've made fun of for the last 30 years they're getting saved go over there but why do that when
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Russell Moore and David French go hang out with the Atlantic in the New York Times
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jonah's the one guy who doesn't get it and notice the biggest way to miss the story
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is that jonah doesn't get it not because he's afraid for his life jonah refuses deliberately
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will not allow himself to get it because he's afraid of god's mercy saving the kinds of people
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who spent your whole life, your whole preaching career,
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hating on the Assyrians as those bad, dirty people.
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Right? Fly over country, blue collar country, bumpkins, white people.
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you spent your whole career talking down, punching down on that type of person.
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And then God says, I want you to go and preach to that city, to that people. I actually plan
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to save them. And yeah, there are sins that they've committed, but I'm going to relent
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and send a disaster and send mercy instead. And you're like, wait, the Phoenicians though,
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I think they, that's a better crop right there. I think there's more potential for
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revival among the Phoenicians. And God just laughs, I'll save them too.
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But the one person you should probably be worried about, evangelical pastor, Jonah of our generation,
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the one person you should be concerned about God saving is you.
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and judgment is here and it begins with the house of god and it begins first and foremost
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within the house of god with ministers of god there are people we've despised we've looked down
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on right like the priest who would walk by somebody who's laying in the street who's
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been mugged by robbers but it's the samaritan that actually stops and helps
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the fact that god's been using jordan peterson is an indictment to the church
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we need men who will preach god's word faithfully and that will know the times like the sons of
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Issachar and be willing to go to whatever people the Lord sends them to.