The word of the Lord came to Jonah the Son of Amitai saying, arise, go to Nineveh that great city and call out against it, where their evil has come up before me, but Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Japa and found a ship going to Tarshish, so he paid the fare and went on board to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea and there was a mighty tempest on the sea so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid and each cried out to his God, and they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, what do you mean you sleeper, arise, call out to your God, perhaps the God will give a thought to us that we may not perish. 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. Then 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, what is your country, and what people are you. And he said to them, I am a Hebrew. And I fear the Lord, the God of Heaven who made the sea and the dry land. Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, what is this that you have done for the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he had told them. Then they said to him, what shall we do to you that the sea may quiet down for us, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, pick me up and hurl me into the sea. Then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to get back to dry land, but they could not for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the Lord, O Lord, let us not perish for this man's wife and lay not on us who is not blood, for you O Lord have done as it pleased you. So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. So reads the word of the living God, let us pray together. Our Father, we bring an absolute confidence to this book where our confidence crumbles is when we realize that human beings have to handle it. And so we come to you this morning recognizing that if there is to be any sufficiency today it can only come from you and the great gift of your Holy Spirit. Guide us, Father. Deliver us from every other thing that is grappling for our attention even at this moment and speak to us, we pray, as your children yours is the voice we long to hear. We ask this because of Jesus. Amen. Shipmates, this book containing only four chapters, four yarns, is one of the smallest strands in the mighty cable of the Scriptures. Yet what depths of the soul Jonah's deep sea line sound? What a pregnant lesson to us is this prophet. What a noble thing is that canticle in the fish's belly, how billow-like and boisterously grand we feel the floods surging over us. We sound with him to the kelpy bottom of the waters, seaweed, and all the slime of the sea is about us. But what is this lesson that the book of Jonah teaches? Shipmates, it is a two-stranded lesson, a lesson to us all sinful men, and a lesson to me is a pilot of the living God. So go the words of Father Maple in Herman Melville's classic, Moby Dick. What is the lesson that the book of Jonah teaches? The lesson quite simply is this. No one can successfully defy the sovereign purpose of God. But even to attempt such a thing is an exercise in full hardiness because it is to make one's opponent the living God himself who bears the decided advantage of possessing absolute sovereignty at his back and call. Which practically speaking means that for all of our efforts at defiance, all of which are always and inevitably self-destructive. God's purposes are never thwarted. They're not even threatened. You know, beloved God has never, ever manipulated by our tantrums. He has never made anxious by our refusals. We could never do anything that would cause him to ring his hands or lose a night of sleep or upset his stomach. It's not that God has no feelings, friends. It's that he has no fear. We have as much hope of impeding the forward motion of his purpose as does a single and before a locomotive. The fact is our attempts to defy him would be humorous where they're not so sad. To be sure Jonah thinks that he is strong. He thinks that he is bold. He revels in his pride, but dear brothers and sisters, there is no autonomy in a universe that is governed by a sovereign God. The fact is Jonah's defiance portrays him as a pathetic human being, too ignorant to see how small he really is. Now, of course, as you know, the word of the Lord came to Moses, and he hesitated because he felt inadequate. And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, and he hesitated because he felt disqualified. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, didn't it, and he hesitated because he felt inexperienced, and yet in each one of those cases inevitably, friends, the elect man bows submissively to God's sovereign purpose and serves it. It was the prophet Amos who framed it this way. The lion has roared who will not fear. The Lord has spoken who can but prophesy. But Jonah plays the fool, you see, and defiantly attempts to be the exception to the rule. He is the elect man to whom the word of the Lord comes and when it does, he digs in his heels. Not because he feels inadequate disqualified or inexperienced. To the contrary, it seems that the reality of his weaknesses never dawns on his mind. Rather, he thinks so highly of himself, he feels the freedom to disagree with God. He pits himself against God. That's what defiance is at the end of the day. But to his own great humiliation, Jonah is soon to discover that he is overmatched, overpowered, and outclassed if for no other reason than his enemy has omnipotent sovereignty at his disposal. It reminds me of Psalm 2, maybe my favorite of the Psalms where we see God's response to people and political leaders who in their foolish attempts at autonomy seek to defy God's rule. He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury. Don't mess with Yahweh says the Psalmist. And that's what the story of Jonah is saying to us as well. It is a story about God, his sovereign purpose, and what happened to a man who foolishly sought to defy it. You say, Lord, I thought the book of Jonah was about God's love for the world in the Old Testament, his promised plan to save the Gentiles, and of course your right in so far as that goes. The problem is it doesn't go far enough. To be sure, this is a book about God's plan to save the Gentiles. But more specifically to save the Gentiles through the instrumentality of a particular man, an elect man who represents an elect nation in defiance against the call of God to take the gospel to the nations. Now you remember the opening of the story, don't you? The prophetic revelation of God comes to his man and the word is definitive. Arise, go, call out, but immediately on the heels of that commission, we come to those two great words of defiance. Remember them, but Jonah. And as we read them, we swallow hard because we know you don't mess with Yahweh. Jonah heads toward Tarshish, Southwest, the antipole of Nineveh, Northeast, but not because he's confused about the nature of the task, or because he fears losing his life in the execution of it with every step he takes toward Tarshish, he loudly proclaims the disposition of his heart, defiance. I will not do it. I will not go. You can get someone else. But is that where it all ends? Verse 3. Does God now say, well, I guess I've been forwarded by the will of all Jonah. I'll just have to look around for another available prophet. Did you see the literary shift that occurs between verse 3 and 4? Notice the butt Jonah that begins verse 3. Is now answered by the, but Yahweh that begins verse 4. For a moment the spotlight is on Jonah who was dared to defy the will of God, but now the level of the focal point in the story changes. Yahweh strikes back and he doesn't miss his target. Verse 4. But the Lord and noticing capitals, that as a reference to God's covenant name, Yahweh, the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea. And there was a mighty tempest on the sea so that the ship threatened to break up. My friends, the Hebrew uses very, very graphic language here. The NIV says the Lord sent a great wind, but unfortunately it misses the violence in the language. This word here is the same word used when Saul hurls his javelin at David in a fit of rage. Saul's intention, just to scare David, to graze him or nick him, Saul wants to pin David to the wall. And in like manner Jonah is Yahweh's target. And so with pinpoint accuracy Yahweh hurls his chosen weapon that in turn in acts a chain of events, the wind arouses a storm that threatens to destroy the ship. It reminds me of the language that appears in another context in the book of Jeremiah, but that really gets it the same idea. Jeremiah writes, behold the storm of the Lord. Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest. It will burst upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intense of his heart. You hear what Jeremiah is saying to your friends? When Yahweh shoots, he hits what he's aiming at. Jonah has called God's bluff and God will not be defied. Now what I would like for you to observe this morning is the varied responses to God's violent pursuit. On the one hand, the response of the sailors, which as you will see, portrays a progressive ascent into fear. And on the other hand, the response of Jonah, which as you will see, portrays a progressive descent into defiance. God calls, Jonah defies, God hurls. Now first of all, notice the initial response of the sailors. There is an initial response of emotion, verse 5. Then the mariners were afraid. That's probably an important word for you to underline. We're going to see it again. That's followed by an outward response in word. And each cried out to his God. Finally, an outward response indeed. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them so that the ship would ride up higher on the sea. Now the love of these sailors are in a state of panic. You say, well, how can you be so sure? First of all, they throw their cargo overboard. I wouldn't remind you, friends. This is not a loveboat cruise. The transportation of their cargo is how these sailors earn their living. To part with it could only mean one thing. They believed that their very lives were in danger. And secondly, we know that their panic struck because they all begin to pray. Do sailors have a reputation for prayer? And here, you know, it's like a meeting of the World Council of churches on that boat. Everybody prays to his own God. In all probability, this is a multi-ethnic group of people from all over the known world. Ironically, a miniature addition of a metropolis like Nineveh. And they all send up their SOS prayers. Mayday, mayday. Can anybody out there hear us? Each sailor prays to his own God with the hope that one of them, as it were, would hit the jackpot to get in touch with the right deity with the hope that the storm would become. They're playing their cards, you see, rubbing their rabbit's foot. In other words, the ferocity of this storm is so unusual. They discern it to be of a supernatural origin. That's why they pray. And you can imagine a young sailor in the midst of all of the turbulence asking an old sea veteran, have you ever before seen anything like this? No. You better pray, son. In our day, when personal damage is suffered from such a storm, insurance companies refer to it as an act of God. That's what this is. And the sailors are experienced enough to recognize it. They're afraid. They don't know which God to fear, but they're afraid. And so, if you would allow me to say it like this, at this moment, theirs was an ignorant fear. They're afraid. They just don't know of whom or of what. But let me ask you with this particular moment. Were they the culprits in this story, these sailors? Were they guilty of wrongdoing? No. Only Jonah. But they are now suffering the consequences of his sin. That's right. Moreover, friends, would it be prudent for us to assume that this was the only ship in this storm? Remember, Akin, he sins. And as a consequence, the nation is defeated at the Battle of AI. Remember King David? He numbers the fighting man in Israel, and as a result, 70,000 die in pestilence. How many died in the World Trade Center? 70,000 die for the sin of one man. Beloved sin never happens in a vacuum. Do not be deceived at this point, even your most private sin affects other people. They may not be mindful of it, but it always does. Ask a prisoner sitting in a jail cell this morning if their sin has only hurt themselves. Jonah sins and the sailors are on the verge of drowning. They were in a state of terror, doing everything they can, praying, hurting the cargo overboard. And on one of their trips down into the hole of the ship to bring out the cargo, who should they come across? But the man of God. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. He was sleeping like a newborn. Why? Well, for one thing, that hurried up trip to Joppa had worn him out. But for another, his mind had been put at ease by the providential goodness that he had met all along the way. I mean, he could look back on his path and say, you know, from the very start of this deal, there was one open door after another. Now, at last, he's Tarshish bound. A Syria would not hear the word of the Lord. She would not repent. Any fear then of her being used as a rot of chastisement against Israel was now a thing of the past. You know, I hated to run out on the Lord like that. But I've got real peace about it now. Have you ever heard Christians talk that way? Justifying their disobedience to the revelation of God because, quote, unquote, they've had the experience of peace. As though that, rather than the objective word of God, is the final arbiter of what is right and what is wrong. It's like people who attempt to excuse their disobedience by saying, well, the Lord knows my heart. And I always want to say to such a person, and that's a good thing. I mean, you hear people say this all the time every week I hear, well, the Lord knows my heart. Jeremiah says, your heart is deceitful of all things in desperately wicked. The Lord knows my heart. That brings you comfort. Jonah's saying, well, the Lord knows my heart. He's at peace. He's not slept this well in weeks. His is not merely a defiance. It's become a settled defiance. A defiance, beloved with which he had become content. Well, the sailors who discovered him go up on deck, they undoubtedly informed the captain of what they found below. He in turn immediately wakes up this sleeping passenger with something of a review, verse 6. So the captain came and said to him, what do you mean you sleeper? Arise, call out to your God. Perhaps the God will give a thought to us that we may not perish. And friends, as Jonah comes back into consciousness, he must have thought he was having a nightmare because ironically the command given to him by the captain reflected the very same words that God had used to disrupt his very pleasant life just a few days before. Arise, call out! I guarantee you, Jonah didn't miss that. And you hear then what the captain is saying. All of the possibilities belonging to the rest of the crew, both the religious possibilities and the nautical possibilities they've all been exhausted. The only thing that has not yet been tried is the religion of this unknown passenger. Get up and pray. And you know the amazing thing, beloved? We never read that Jonah prays. You ever thought about that? And that's no accident. In a book that repeatedly takes note of the praying of people. All through this book, people are praying. This is not an oversight on the part of the storyteller. The pagans pray. A pagan even implores Jonah to pray. What a review that must have been. But Jonah's defiance has rendered him so utterly pathetic that there is nothing he can pray. Beloved, you defy the Lord God and you feel the disruption in your fellowship with him, don't you? The accusations of your violated conscience shrivel up any prayer before it can ever be uttered. That's why when we see defiance beloved, we have to recognize its far-reaching implications and what it says about the spiritual life of a person. Unless you are a spiritual schizophrenic, you can't knowingly defy God and simultaneously besiege him in prayer. It's a contradiction that refuses resolution. Apart from genuine repentance, you can't pray. Jonah can't. And he doesn't. Well for the sailors on board, it's a foregone conclusion that somebody on the ship is personally responsible for this disaster. Like a magnet, somebody's guilt has attracted this display of divine anger. To determine the guilty party, they decide on a familiar means of divination or seven. And they said to one another, come, let us cast lots that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us. And friends, this ought to be a clue to you. This is how we know that Jonah was not repentant. Had he admitted his guilt, there would have been no need for the sailors to cast lots. In all probability, these lots were similar to our dice with their sides alternately light or dark. Two dark sides up meant no, two light sides up meant yes, a light and a dark side meant throw again. So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. Jonah won the lottery or lost it as it were. And does it surprise you? His enemy possesses absolute sovereignty. You remember the proverb that says the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord. This one certainly was. And in response, notice Jonah is immediately placed on trial. Then they said to him, tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. Who's the God responsible? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you? How does Jonah respond? And he said to them, I am a Hebrew. And I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea in the dry land. Now, my friends, we need to carefully appreciate what Jonah does say and what he does not say. To begin with, we are not intended to hear this as though this was some kind of bold, strong, courageous, triumphant, proud confession of faith. Don't read this. I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea in the dry land. No, that's not what's going on here. I would remind you this comes in the context of his refusal to repent. How enthusiastic is your testimony to Jesus Christ when your life is in a state of defiance? Are you a good evangelist? A good representation of the gospel eager to share when he says, Yahweh is the God I fear. We would understand that to mean Yahweh is the God to whom I am affiliated with whom I am affiliated. Yahweh is the God I worship. Very post-modern. You have your gods. This is the one I worship. It's very hollow. And I would remind you this is not an acknowledgement that is self-initiated. It is forced from Jonah. You hear the slightest expression of repentance, a hint of the acknowledgement of guilt, any indication of real dread. In fact, friends, we know from verse 10 that he had told the sailors, sailors the whole story, that he was running from the presence of the Lord. And you remember what that phrase means? We talked about this last words day. It means that he had defiantly refused the commission to which God had called him. You hear any hint of repentance in his voice? Remorse? His settled defiance has now progressed into open defiance. This is who I am. This is what I've done. Any brokenness do you hear? Moreover, as a prophet of God, does he seize this wonderful evangelistic opportunity and call them to repentance? For sake your idols, turn to Yahweh and become his followers. He doesn't want to preach to pagans. That's why he's on the run. But this is the very thing God had elected him to do. Who wins? You don't mess with Yahweh. Here was Jonah in spite of himself, even with his heart altogether disengaged, introducing the one true God to pagans. It may very well be that some of these sailors were Ninevites themselves. He who sits in heaven laughs. What does Jonah say? Firstly, he identifies this God by his covenantal name. I fear Yahweh, the Lord, the God who is in covenantal union with the people of Israel. And perhaps some of these sailors had heard the stories. They lived on the Mediterranean. Perhaps they had heard the story of the Exodus or the parting of the Red Sea or the conquest of the city of Jericho or the man had dropped down out of heaven or the defeat of the Philistines. Notice Jonah adds two explanations. First of all, he is the God of heaven. This is not some local tribal deity. This is the God who rules and reigns over all. This is the universal God that we're dealing with. And to reinforce this, notice he is the God who made the sea and the dry land. In other words, there is no realm over which his sovereignty does not exercise itself. Even the sea is at his command. The sea that now threatens our very lives. Now watch the response of the sailors. Verse 10. Then the men were exceedingly afraid. There it is. And said to him, What is this that you have done for the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of Yahweh because he had told them? Now they were afraid back in verse 5 of what or of whom they did not know. Now we're told verse 10 they are exceedingly afraid. In the Hebrew of their interesting phrase they feared of great fear. Why? Because he of whom they had been ignorant has now been made known to them. The God of heaven, the God who made the earth and the sea. And at this point, the captain of the ship, he's thinking to himself, I'm not trafficking here with a little puny deity. He lifts up his head and he sees the howling all around him and he thinks to himself, I'm dealing with the God of heaven. He feels the surging underneath his feet and he thinks to himself, I'm dealing with the God who made the sea. He senses the near presence of the rocky coastline into which they may very well crash and he thinks to himself, I'm dealing with the God who made the dry land. I'm dealing with the God of all gods and he's angry with a man on my boat! Yahweh strikes back and in response Jonah progressively descends from a settled defiance into an open defiance. In contrast, the pagans progressively ascend from an ignorant fear into an informed fear. This is the God who rules and reigns over all. Then they said to him, what shall we do to you that the sea may quiet down for us? The issue Jonah is not our ability as sailors, it is not an issue of seamanship, the issue is you and your God, you're the target of his weapon, you must know how to best appease him. And he most certainly does. He said to them, pick me up and hurl me into the sea, then the sea will quiet down for you for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you. A settled defiance progressing downward into an open defiance leading finally to the ultimate defiance. I'd rather die than obey him. Please friends, please forget the little Christian cartoon shows that we buy at the store, little children's books that talk about the story of Jonah. You need to appreciate this for what it is. The request for suicide here is not motivated by what Jonah now believes to be his proper punishment. Well, after my defiance, I deserve to die. Nor is it an altruistic gesture on behalf of the sailors, I'll sacrifice myself so that you might live. He will not do God's will. I mean, you think about it, he could have very easily said in response to the sailors' questions, it's obvious that God wants me to go to Nineveh. I know what God wants me to do and will not be safe until I go, turn a boat around. And I'm inclined to think that had Jonah taken that approach, not only would the storm have stopped, they would have had the best wind imaginable all the way back to Jampa. But you see what's rambling around in the mind of this defiant man? If I go to Nineveh in preach and they repent and God extends mercy and we as Israel remain idolatrous, then God will use a seriet of punish us. It's better that one man should die for the people. Apparently he's more loving than God, more compassionate. This Jonah, he would rather die than obey. How ironic that he foreshadows Jesus who would rather obey than live, but this you see beloved is what unrepentant defiance does. It never stays neutral. It puts us on an accelerated path to self-destruction. I'd rather die than obey. Pick me up and hurl me into the sea. Verse 13, nevertheless, the men rode hard, they dug in their ores, the Hebrew says, to get back to dry land. This is ironic. Jonah will do nothing to save them. They seek to do everything possible to save Jonah. Have you ever met a non-Christian who acts more like a Christian than a Christian? But they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the Lord, here now the word of Yahweh, the name of Yahweh is on the lips of these pagans. Oh, Yahweh, let us not perish for this man's life and lay not on us innocent blood for you, oh Yahweh, have done as it pleased you. Do you hear that declaration, friends? It's what the storyteller wants us to hear. You are the sovereign one. You were the one behind all of this now, including even the hurling of Jonah into the sea. You were the Lord. You were the one who reigns. You do what pleases you. They've learned. You don't mess with Yahweh. And again, the love of the irony is so utterly pronounced here. The sailors are willing to do whatever Yahweh wants, as soon as they can figure out what it is. Jonah knows exactly what Yahweh wants, but does everything in his power to not do it. Who are the pagans in this story? Verse 15. So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared Yahweh exceedingly. Do you see it? You see the progression, the ascent into fear, an ignorant fear, verse 5, an informed fear, verse 10, a submissive fear, verse 16. You say, well, how do you know that? And they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh. In other words, the object of their worship had changed. And what's more, we're told that they made vows. Vows to do what? Undoubtedly, to bring yet more sacrifices to Yahweh in the future. And you know, friends, what I find to be absolutely fascinating here, worthy of your consideration? Do you realize these guys did not make their vows prior to their deliverance, but subsequent to it? I'm much more impressed with that, aren't you? A foxhole conversion is when a soldier is crouching in a foxhole looking down a hill at an approaching enemy. He fears for his life and says, oh, God, if you get me out of this, I will serve you forever! The soldiers advance. Then suddenly, they turn off in another direction. The battle moves away. The man in the foxhole is saved. Does he remember his promise? Does he become a missionary? That's not what we have here. They made their vows subsequent to their deliverance. I think we'll see these guys in heaven. Ironic, isn't it? Jonah had run to the end of the earth to avoid seeking the conversion of pagans. And what does he get as a result of his defiance, the conversion of pagans? You get the point? No one can successfully defy the sovereign purpose of God. How about you? At this very moment, is there a strand of defiance lingering in your heart, a specific sin of which you have refused to repent? A habit that needs to be forsaken, a lust that needs to be run from. An ego that needs to be put to death, a resentment that needs to be crucified, a jealousy that needs to be confessed, a pride that needs to be eradicated, agreed that needs to be surrendered. Let me ask you, my friends, what is the one specific command that the Holy Spirit has been bringing to your attention in recent days that you have defiantly refused to obey? If you are God's child, he will use whatever means necessary to put you on the path of obedience. He may not hurt a little storm into your life, at least not at first. He may begin with the slightest prick in your conscience. He may use the preaching of the Word of God in such a way that you know he's pointing his finger into your chest. He may use the loving confrontation of a brother or a sister, or like Jonah, he may result to circumstances that are extraordinary, a sick body, a failed business, a wayward child, a car accident, the Lord disciplines the one he loves, the Bible tells us. The fact that the matter is friends, the most frightening thing is when God in the face of our defiance seems to do nothing. For a while, it may be his grace furnishing you with the opportunity to repent. It may, however, prove to be an indication that you are not really his, that you do not belong to him. For all of your claims to be a child of God, his neglect indicates that you are in fact illegitimate. He brews 12 teaches us that. And so he'll let you go through your life uninterruptedly, all together sinfully in a happy, go-lucky life, until the day you face him in judgment when all the bills come new. What persuaded the sailors, the power of God? His authority over the raging sea, the moment Jonah was thrown into that water, the storm, that eloquent symbol of God's anger, was switched off immediately. It was an eerie thing, a frightening thing. These sailors were filled with awe. Do you realize my friends, that over and over and over again, the Old Testament repeatedly portrays God as the Lord over the seas? Raging waters in the Bible are often symbolically used as expressions of judgment, of condemnation. They frequently reflect a turbulence and renegade nature of sin. This is why when we come to the Book of Revelation in the eternal state, we read there will be no sea. That is not John's statement about the hydrological nature of the eternal state. He's saying all that that represented will be gone. And yet do you realize that on dozens of occasions in the Old Testament we read that Yahweh is the ruler of the sea, that he commands the seas and they obey him, that they move at his back and call? One of those images that we have from the Old Testament Scriptures, beloved, he commands the rise of the floods, he parts the red sea, he parts the Jordan River, he is the master of Leviathan, the great sea monster, and right here he commands the cessation of the storm and the sailors fear him and worship. Does it remind you of anybody in the New Testament? Does this remind you of the scene in the Gospels? He was asleep in the stern of the boat. A wind storm arose with the boat near to capsizing. Wake up he was told, don't you care that we might perish? How did he respond? Be still! And there it was again. Eerie, ominous, calm, and do you remember the response of his friends in the boat? And they were filled with great fear, more fearful of him than the storm. And they said to one another, who then is this? But even the wind and sea obey him. Beloved, it is no accident that when the God-man comes to us, Jesus Christ, He displays His sovereignty over the waters by stealing them, by catching great numbers of fish when no one else could. By transforming them into wine, by walking on top of them? He is the God of heaven, the Lord who made the sea and the dry land, and He is the Lord who sovereign purpose, you cannot defy. If you are not a Christian, I hope this morning that your ignorant fear has now become an informed fear, and I pray that by the grace of God it becomes a submissive fear, and that you worship him, repent of your defiance and fear the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray together, shall we? Father, we do thank you for your word, how wonderful it is, how it speaks to our hearts and grips us and affects us and addresses us in such profoundly personal ways. Father, forgive us for our attempts at defiance. As we've already said this morning, how humorous they would be where they not so sad. To attempt to take you on as our enemy? Oh, our Father and God, we as your people repent today, we all repent, we repent as a people, we repent as persons. Oh, Lord and God, we pray that you would cause us to fear you, in light of all that you are, in light of your unconquerable sovereign purpose. We thank you, O God, for our great Savior Jesus, who is the Lord of all. We remember him saying to his own man, how can you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? Father, hear our repentance and confession, wash us clean of our sin and grant to us fresh resolve to fear and worship, in the name of your Son we pray. Amen.