A Drowning Disciple

[0:00] Well, if we could, this evening, with the Lord's help and the Lord's enabling, if we could turn back to that portion of scripture that we read in the book of the prophet Jonah.

[0:13] Jonah chapter 1. And we'll just read again at the beginning. Jonah chapter 1 from the beginning.

[0:25] Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.

[0:37] But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa 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.

[0:51] 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. Do you know when Jonah reached the pier at Joppa, and when he paid the fare, and when he boarded the ship headed for Tarshish, surely Jonah knew that what he was doing was wrong.

[1:19] And even when the ropes were being cast off from the pier, and the ship's sails were casting the easterly breeze, surely then Jonah wondered if he was making a mistake.

[1:30] And then even as he was heading out west across the Mediterranean Sea towards Tarshish, with Joppa and the promised land now in the far distance, surely by that point Jonah thought to himself, the Lord is not going to be happy with this.

[1:48] I've made a mistake. I need to go back. But no, Jonah wasn't for turning back. Jonah was determined in his disobedience to the Lord.

[2:01] Because as we saw last week, Jonah was a disobedient disciple. But if you remember the name Jonah, it means dove. And when the dove is mentioned in the Bible, we have to see that the dove is mentioned in relation to being the Lord's messenger.

[2:17] And that's what Jonah was meant to be. Jonah was meant to be a dove. Jonah was meant to be the Lord's messenger. But Jonah was a disobedient dove. Because when the word of the Lord came to this dove, this dove refused to listen.

[2:35] And although in a way he was like his prophetic predecessors, who were Elisha and Elijah, Elijah, when the Lord called and commissioned and commanded Jonah to bring a message of judgment, he did that.

[2:47] He was meant to bring a message of judgment, just like Elijah and Elisha, in order to provoke repentance and proclaim the Lord's grace and mercy. But Jonah was unlike his prophetic predecessors, Elijah and Elisha.

[3:02] Because Elijah and Elisha, you remember, they were called and commanded and commissioned. They were to go to the covenant king and the Lord's covenant people. But Jonah, Jonah was called and commissioned and commanded.

[3:15] He was told to go 500 miles east and cross the border away from the promised land, outside the boundary of Israel. And he was to bring a message of judgment to the city of Nineveh.

[3:29] And as we saw last week, the city of Nineveh, it was situated in the modern city of Mosul, which is northern Iraq. In fact, it said that Jonah's tomb is in Mosul.

[3:43] And Jonah's tomb was destroyed by the terrorist group ISIS back in 2014. But, you know, when Jonah was sent to Nineveh, Nineveh was this large and wealthy city.

[3:56] It was a mighty fortress. It was a key city in the ever-expanding Assyrian Empire. But Nineveh, it wasn't just renowned for its strength. It was well known for its sin.

[4:07] And the way it dealt with people. The people of Nineveh, they hated God. They hated God's people. And in their hatred of others, they exploited the helpless. They were merciless when it came to war.

[4:20] They partook in idolatry. They committed prostitution. They performed witchcraft. They were extremely proud of all their achievements. And, of course, this angered the Lord, which is why the Lord commissioned Jonah to go and preach against the city of Nineveh.

[4:37] But as we know, Jonah arose, not to follow the Lord's call, but to flee from the Lord's call. And as a disobedient disciple, Jonah would very quickly become a drowning disciple.

[4:50] And so having introduced ourselves to Jonah last week by just looking at the opening verses, I want us just to consider the rest of the opening chapter this evening by noticing three things about Jonah.

[5:03] Three things about Jonah. Jonah's conscience, Jonah's confession, and Jonah's Christ. Three things about Jonah. Jonah's conscience, Jonah's confession, and Jonah's Christ.

[5:16] So let's look first of all at Jonah's conscience. Jonah's conscience. Look again at verse three. But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

[5:28] He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went on board to go with him 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.

[5:47] And you know, you would have thought that Jonah, who had been called and set apart to the office of a prophet, you would have thought that Jonah would be a willing and obedient servant.

[5:59] But you know, what Jonah's experience should always remind us is what J.C. Ryle said long ago, the best of men are only men at best. Because when the Lord placed this call upon Jonah's life to go to Nineveh, Jonah fled.

[6:14] He fled to Tarshish. And the narrative of the passage, it emphasizes the direction that Jonah went by mentioning Tarshish three times. We're told that in verse 3, Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

[6:29] He went down to Joppa, 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. Jonah was meant to go east towards Nineveh, but he went west towards Tarshish.

[6:45] He was always going to Tarshish. And as we mentioned last week, it's not exactly clear where Tarshish was. But we know that Tarshish was a place that ships travelled and they traded goods.

[6:58] And the ships of Tarshish, they're mentioned in the Psalms, they're mentioned in Psalm 48 and they're also mentioned in Psalm 72. But what's interesting is that the name Tarshish means refinery.

[7:13] The name Tarshish means refinery. And if we consider the words of Psalm 72, we're told that the kings of Tarshish sent ships full of gold as gifts to King Solomon.

[7:27] And from that, we could probably conclude that Tarshish was known for refining gold. Tarshish had built its reputation in the ancient world for being a gold refinery.

[7:40] And you know, it's interesting that Jonah wanted to travel to Tarshish. He wanted to travel to the place called refinery. But when Jonah acted as a disobedient disciple, he was actually entering the Lord's refinery.

[7:55] Because as soon as Jonah set sail from Joppa, the Lord began this process of removing from Jonah's life the dross of being a disobedient disciple.

[8:09] And for Jonah, it was going to be a painful process, especially because refining it usually took place in a hot furnace. But for Jonah, he was going to be refined in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

[8:23] And you know, my friend, we must never forget that the Lord wants what's best for us. because he knows what's best for us, even when we think otherwise.

[8:35] The Bible reminds us so often that the Lord disciplines those whom he loves. And he chastens every son whom he receives. And then, as it says in Hebrews 12, what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

[8:52] Therefore, the discipline of the Lord is for our good, it's for our growth, and it's ultimately for his glory. That's what we must always remember. The discipline of the Lord is for our good, it's for our growth, and it's ultimately for his glory.

[9:09] And needless to say, there are many times that the Lord will discipline us. The Lord will discipline us for different things. The Lord will discipline us for our disobedience, our pride, our worldliness, our empathy, our arrogance.

[9:25] The Lord will discipline us, he'll shape us, and mould us, he'll refine us. But we must, what we must always understand is that it's for our good, it's for our growth, and it's ultimately for his glory.

[9:39] In fact, the word discipline, it's from the same root word as disciple. So we are disciplined disciples. And that's why the Lord disciplines us, he loves his disciples.

[9:53] And for Jonah, Jonah was entering the Lord's refinery as a disobedient disciple. And the Lord begins this refining process by hurling a violent storm upon the sea.

[10:06] We're told that in verse 4. The Lord, no one else, 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.

[10:17] And now with this storm raging in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, threatening to thwart the voyage that was heading towards Tarshish, and now threatening to destroy the ship, we're told that the mariners, they're all afraid.

[10:32] They're all afraid, we're told at the beginning of verse 5. Then the mariners were afraid and each cried out to his God. Of course, these mariners, these sailors, they were hardened seamen.

[10:43] They knew the seas. They had faced many storms in their life. But this was different. This was a storm that they weren't prepared for. Especially because it wouldn't have been the season for storms.

[10:57] You never sailed in the stormy season. And it seems that the sailors, they were afraid here because they knew that this storm was divine in nature.

[11:08] Which is why they were all began praying to their God. But what's interesting is that most of the sailors here who were praying to their God, they would have been Canaanites.

[11:20] And the Canaanites, they worshipped Baal. And Baal was known to be the God of the weather. Baal was said to be the God who was in control of the seasons. And you worshipped Baal and you offered sacrifices to Baal if you wanted rain for your crops or if you wanted calm seas for your voyage.

[11:39] But when these sailors prayed, as you would expect, Baal wasn't listening. Baal was just a voiceless, dumb idol. Baal was nothing like the living and through God.

[11:51] Baal was nothing like Jonah's God. And even realising that their efforts of prayer were of no use, the sailors, they give up on prayer and were told that they went down into the hold of the ship in order to start throwing the cargo overboard.

[12:06] No doubt the ship had left the pier at Joppa fully loaded, fully laden with goods to trade. But the sailors, they were desperate to lighten the ship so that they wouldn't be swamped by water.

[12:21] And as they went down into the hold looking for all these goods to throw overboard, who did they find asleep? But Jonah. We're told in verse 6 that the captain came and said to him, what do you mean you sleeper?

[12:38] Arise, call out to your God, perhaps the God will give a thought to us that we may not perish. And you know, as Jonah came round from his sleep, he was oblivious to what was going on, he was oblivious to the storm and the chaos that the sailors were facing.

[12:54] Even the sailors knew that this was a divine storm. But it seems that Jonah was oblivious to all of it. In fact, when the captain asked Jonah to pray, Jonah did nothing.

[13:09] He didn't pray. He didn't even say anything about the storm. Jonah only speaks about the Lord when he was prompted to. And we see that later on. He's prompted to confess that he has been a disobedient disciple.

[13:24] And you know, what we have to draw out from this, that when Jonah doesn't even speak or doesn't even pray, what we have to draw out from these verses is that Jonah was in a very bad place spiritually. Because when Jonah was a disobedient disciple, or as a disobedient disciple, you could say that Jonah had silenced his conscience.

[13:46] Because when we look at verse 3, and verse 3 is a key verse in chapter 1, we're told twice, well, we're told three times where Jonah was going. He's going to Tarshish.

[13:56] But then we're told twice there that he's fleeing from the presence of the Lord. And that's never a good thing. It's never good to disobey God's word and step outside the will of God. And sad to say, this prophet of the Lord, he was moving further and further away from the Lord.

[14:13] And it should be a reminder to us that the Lord's servants, and it should always be a reminder to us, the Lord's servants aren't exempt from sin and spiritual shipwreck.

[14:24] because we're told here, he was going to Tarshish, we're told that three times. We're told twice that he's fleeing from the presence of the Lord, but we're also told three times in this chapter that Jonah is going down.

[14:39] We're told in verse 3 that he went down to Joppa. Then he boarded a ship and went down into the hold. And when the sailors came to throw some cargo overboard, we're told that Jonah was down in the inner part of the ship.

[14:53] And the narrative is emphasising where Jonah was going. He's going away from the presence of the Lord, down, down, down. You could say that Jonah was sinking downwards long before he ever hit the water.

[15:09] Jonah was going down, down, down. He was moving further and further away from the Lord. And you know, it was once said, never think that you're freest from danger when you're furthest from Christ.

[15:27] Never think that you're freest from danger when you're furthest from Christ. And you know, it's a warning to us all not to disobey God's word and to silence our conscience.

[15:40] Because, you know, we can do it, and we do it, we do it so easily. We can enter into this downward spiral away from the presence of the Lord and we can do it very, very quickly. And we can move away from the Lord by crowding other things in and crowding out the Lord.

[15:59] We can move away from the Lord by just simply the things we watch, the things we're taking in, the things we watch, the things we listen to, the places we go, the things we do. We can silence our conscience, we can move away from the Lord by being a disobedient disciple.

[16:15] And the thing is, we know what's right and what's wrong. We read the Bible. We know what's right and what's wrong because the Lord has given to us a conscience.

[16:28] And we know if we're in a good place or a bad place spiritually because the Lord has given to us a conscience. He has awakened our conscience by the Spirit. But you know, what's frightening about this prophet of the Lord is that he silenced his conscience to sleep.

[16:45] He silenced his conscience to sleep. My friend, never think that you're freeest from danger when you're furthest from Christ. But even though Jonah's conscience was sleeping, it was awakened when Jonah had to make a confession.

[17:04] That's what we see secondly, Jonah's confession. So Jonah's conscience, first of all, then Jonah's confession. Jonah's confession. Look at verse 7. And they said to one another, Come, let us cast lots that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.

[17:20] So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. And they said to him, Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?

[17:32] 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. Jonah had moved so far away from the presence of the Lord that he didn't even confess to know the Lord by that point, let alone be a prophet.

[17:52] He had just kept it all quiet. Because, you know, Jonah's confession, it only came when he was prompted. Jonah's confession only came when he was prompted by the sailor.

[18:04] Jonah's confession only came when the lot fell to him. Otherwise, he would have kept quiet. Now, casting lots in the ancient world, you could say it was very similar to just rolling the dice.

[18:19] You were given two little stones like dice and these stones, they both had one side that was a light colour and the other side was a dark colour. And when the stones were thrown or when you were shaking them, you would ask a question and then the lot was cast.

[18:37] So, for example, is this Jonah's fault? And if both stones landed on a dark colour, the answer was no. If both stones landed on a light colour, the answer was yes. If one stone landed on the light and the other on the dark, the answer was not being given.

[18:52] And casting lots, it wasn't forbidden in the Bible, but was only ever used in certain circumstances in order to discover the will of God. And that's how it's put in Proverbs 16.

[19:06] The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. And that's what we see here because when the sailors cast lots to find out which one on the ship had caused this divine storm, the lot falls on Jonah.

[19:23] And with that, the sailors, they immediately start firing all these questions at Jonah. It says in verse 8 that they said to him, tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us.

[19:35] What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you? These sailors who are afraid, they're agitated because of the storm, they want to know why Jonah has brought this chaos upon them.

[19:50] Because these sailors, they were put in a life and death situation because of Jonah's disobedience. They were put there all because of Jonah's disobedience.

[20:03] And you know, even that should remind us that when we act as a disobedient disciple, it will always affect the lives of those around us.

[20:13] Like Jonah, our disobedient actions will have consequences, maybe even casualties, for those who are just the innocent bystanders.

[20:24] My friend, our disobedient actions, whether they are public or private, they will always affect the lives of others, even those whom we love. Therefore, we must remember that if we're going to be a disobedient disciple, we must first of all consider the consequences and even the casualties of our actions.

[20:47] Because, you know, our character, conduct, and conversation, it must reflect our confession. Our character, conduct, and conversation must reflect our confession.

[21:02] And that's one thing that couldn't be said of Jonah. His character, conduct, and conversation didn't reflect his confession. because it was only when Jonah was inundated with all these questions from the sailors that he confessed that he was a prophet of the Lord.

[21:20] It's only then that he finally came out with it and says in verse 9, I am a Hebrew. I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. And the men were told they were exceedingly afraid and said to him, what is this that you've done?

[21:35] Jonah, for the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he told them. Jonah confessed. And when the sailors heard Jonah's confession, they were afraid.

[21:49] Literally, they were told that they were filled with the fear of God, something Jonah was lacking. And the sailors, they rightly asked Jonah, what have you done?

[22:02] Jonah wasn't even asking himself that question. He was silencing his conscience. But the sailors, they're pointing out, what have you done? And with the storm getting stronger and stronger, the sailors, they ask Jonah, what shall we do to you to quieten down this storm?

[22:22] And Jonah says in verse 12, pick me up, 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.

[22:34] Jonah's confession, we see there that it went even further than just knowing the Lord and being a prophet of the Lord. Jonah's confession was that it's all his fault.

[22:48] I've brought you into this. This is my mess. And Jonah knew that the only way for this storm to calm down was for the sailors to throw him overboard. But notice what the sailors do in verse 13.

[23:01] Even though they hear Jonah's command to throw him overboard, we're told, 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.

[23:16] The sailors tried their utmost to preserve Jonah's life, but they couldn't. They knew that this divine storm would only come to an end when Jonah was thrown overboard.

[23:28] And so what did these ungodly sailors do? These ungodly sailors who had spent their life worshipping Baal, the god of the weather, what did they do? What did they do?

[23:41] They worshipped the Lord, the covenant god of his people. That's what we're told. They worshipped the Lord, the covenant god of his people.

[23:54] Verse 14, therefore they called out to the Lord, O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life. And lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it please. So they picked up Jonah, hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.

[24:07] Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. They worshipped the Lord, the covenant god of his people.

[24:18] And you know, last Sunday evening in Boer, we were considering Psalm 29. Because in Psalm 29, David, the psalmist, he is calling all people everywhere to ascribe glory to the Lord.

[24:35] And when he says the Lord, he uses capital letters. That's the title that refers to the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God. And in Psalm 29, David said that when we look at the weather, when we look at the weather and consider the strength of the wind and the heat of the sun and the noise of thunder and the flash of lightning and even the downpour of the rain or even the whiteness of the snow, David said that when we look at the weather or even talk about the weather, the weather should lead us to worship.

[25:08] The weather should lead us to worship. And that's what we see here with these sailors. The weather led them to worship. The storm that was changed to a calm led them to worship.

[25:24] And they worshipped not Baal but the Lord, the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God. The God who makes promises and keeps his promises.

[25:35] He is the Lord, we're told, the one who keeps covenant. And that's who these sailors turned to worship. The weather led them to worship. The weather led them to worship.

[25:49] And you know, what's remarkable is that Jonah was meant to confess the name of the Lord. But instead, the sailors, they confessed the name of the Lord. Jonah was meant to worship the Lord but instead it was the sailors who worshipped the Lord.

[26:04] Jonah was meant to proclaim the name of the Lord but instead we're seeing here that on the ship the sailors were proclaiming the name of the Lord. And the irony of all this is that Jonah, Jonah was running from Nineveh because it was an ungodly city.

[26:24] And Jonah thought that they didn't deserve the Lord's salvation. And yet, Jonah, he gets onto a ship full of ungodly people and they're all converted. The irony of the whole thing, Jonah's running away from people he's meant to be preaching to so that they'll be converted and yet he gets onto a ship and they're all converted.

[26:46] And it should remind us even today is anything too hard for the Lord? Is anything too hard for the Lord? But you know, I want to say that some people may look at Jonah's disobedience and say that it was okay.

[27:04] It was okay for Jonah to be disobedient because disciples came out of Jonah's disobedience. Some might say that in the Lord's providence these ungodly sailors they were converted and brought to worship the Lord all because of Jonah's disobedience.

[27:20] And some might look at the end result and conclude that it was okay for Jonah to be disobedient because good came out of it. But you know, my friend, we must never think that the end justifies the means.

[27:34] we must never think that the end justifies the means. And we must never ignore the Lord's commands by flippantly saying well all things will work together for good.

[27:48] Because as we said last week we can often misread and misuse the Lord's providence. But providence as we said it never contradicts the word of God.

[28:00] Providence only ever complements the word of God. Providence never contradicts the word of God. Providence only ever complements the word of God. And Jonah's providence here it was contradicting the word of God.

[28:15] The word of God was saying go to Nineveh. Jonah was on his way to Tarshish. Jonah's providence was contradicting the word of God because Jonah was a disobedient disciple. And yet through Jonah's disobedience the Lord converted these sailors into dedicated disciples.

[28:30] but my friend let's never fall into the trap of thinking that the end justifies the means. The end does not justify the means.

[28:45] But then we come to this verse that everyone remembers. And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

[28:58] And I want us to see in this closing verse I want us to see that and even in the passage as a whole if we look at it I want us to see that we're enabled to see Jonah's Christ.

[29:10] We've considered Jonah's conscience Jonah's confession and then lastly Jonah's Christ. Jonah's Christ the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

[29:27] We mentioned last week that when we were introducing ourselves to Jonah that the story of Jonah is actually about Jesus and the message of the gospel. The story of Jonah is about Jesus and the message of the gospel because Jonah shouldn't just be seen as this man who ran away from God and was swallowed by a big fish.

[29:48] Jonah should be seen before us on the pages of scripture as a type of Christ and the book of Jonah as a whole should make us realise the preciousness of the gospel.

[30:01] And in this opening chapter we can certainly see comparisons and even contrasts between Jonah and Jesus because as we're told in the opening verse of this chapter Jonah was the son of Amittai and as a family they were from a place called Gath-Hefer and Jonah's home village of Gath-Hefer was only a few miles north of Jesus' home village of Nazareth.

[30:28] In fact you could say that both Jesus and Jonah were both Galileans. They were both from the region of Galilee and Jonah was the only Old Testament prophet from Galilee and Jonah was the only Old Testament prophet that Jesus ever compared himself to.

[30:47] And we can even draw out some comparisons and contrasts between this chapter and what we read in Mark chapter 8. But you know one glaring contrast between Jonah and Jesus was that Jonah was on a ship because he stepped outside the will of God.

[31:05] Jesus was on a boat because he was always carrying out the will of God. But both Jonah and Jesus they were on a voyage in a storm. Both of them were with seasoned sailors.

[31:17] sailors were afraid. And when the wind rose up and the storm broke both seasoned sailors were afraid. And with the waves threatening to break up the boat Jonah was asleep in the hold.

[31:29] Jesus was asleep in the stern. But you know when Jonah awoke to the sailors looking for answers Jonah confessed that he was running away from God.

[31:40] But when Jesus awoke as we read in Mark 4 he commanded the wind and the waves to calm because he was God. But you know there's one comparison and I'll close with this.

[31:55] There's one comparison between Jonah and Jesus that just fascinates me. And it's the direction they both went. Because as we read earlier Jonah went down.

[32:06] He went down to Joppa. And when he boarded the ship he went down into the hold. And when the sailors came to throw the cargo overboard they found Jonah down in the inner part of the ship.

[32:18] So we said earlier that Jonah's movement away from the Lord was down, down, down. Until he was down in the belly of the whale. Remarkably that was the same movement as Jesus.

[32:33] Jesus' movement was down, down, down. From the crown of glory to the cradle in Bethlehem to the cross of Calvary. It was down, down, down.

[32:45] Jesus' movement was from the crown to the cradle to the cross. Jesus humbled himself from glory to Golgotha to the grave.

[32:57] And it was all away, you could say, from the presence of the Lord. He was forsaken. But you know what's amazing is that Jesus compares his death and burial to that of Jonah.

[33:09] Jesus says himself, just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

[33:24] You know, my friend, although Jonah was a disobedient disciple, who became by the end of chapter 1 a drowning disciple, Jonah is to be viewed in scripture as a type of Christ.

[33:36] Christ. We might not see Christ in him all the time, but he should be viewed as a type of Christ, because Jesus compares himself to Jonah.

[33:47] And the story of Jonah is about Jesus and the gospel. And we'll see more of that as we continue our study in this book. So Jonah's conscience, Jonah's confession, and Jonah's Christ.

[34:01] And God willing, next time we'll see more of Jonah and his Christ. may the Lord bless these thoughts to us. Let us pray. Oh Heavenly Father, we thank thee and we praise thee that thou art the one who moulds us and shapes us, that even when we are disobedient, thou art the Father who disciplines us.

[34:25] And Lord, help us, we pray, to see it for our own good and for our own growth and ultimately for thine own glory. And Lord, we pray that we would be obedient children, that we would follow in thy footsteps, that we would imitate Christ, that we would emulate him, that we would love him.

[34:45] And Lord, we bless and we praise thee for thy word, that it is the only rule to direct us on how we may glorify God and enjoy him forever. And Lord, we thank thee for it.

[34:56] We thank thee, Lord, that we can see Christ even in the Old Testament, that he's there for us, there to be feasted upon, there to be seen even in the storms of life, that he is there and that he is able to calm the storms and bring us safely to our desired haven.

[35:13] Oh Lord, bless us, we pray, uphold us and strengthen us. Remember, Lord, those especially this evening who are mourning, whose hearts are heavy, that thou wouldst change their storm into a calm at thine own command and will.

[35:28] Lord, bless us then, we pray, keep as we ask, go before us and do us good for Jesus' sake. Amen. Well, we're going to bring our service to a conclusion by singing the words of Psalm 29.

[35:46] Psalm 29 in the Sing Psalms version on page 34. Psalm 29 on page 34.

[36:06] As I mentioned, this is the psalm we were looking at on Sunday evening in Borg. And how it's a psalm that calls us to worship, it gives us a cause for worship and there's also a consequence for worship.

[36:19] The call to worship is to ascribe to the Lord glory and might. The cause for worship is that the Lord is speaking, his voice can be heard and the consequence is that he blesses his people with peace.

[36:35] And you know, like as we sing this psalm, as I was mentioned on Sunday evening, the weather should lead us to worship. We look at the weather, we talk about the weather, it's in every conversation, but the weather should lead us to worship.

[36:48] You mighty once give to the Lord as is right, ascribe to the Lord God both glory and might, to the Lord's name due glory and honour accord, in beauty of holiness, worship the Lord.

[37:02] We'll sing the whole psalm to God's praise. glory and honour accord, in the glory and might, to the Lord's name due glory and honor and accord, in beauty of holiness, worship the Lord.

[37:43] Lord. The Lord's voice is over, the water shall rot, and thunder proceeds from the glorious God.

[38:02] above all the water, God's thunder is heard, a powerful voice is the voice of the Lord.

[38:21] The voice of the Lord is majestic and loud, by the voice of the Lord the great cedars are bound.

[38:40] Yes, even the cedars of Lebanon tall, the Lord breaks in pieces and shatters them all.

[38:59] By the leap of a calf he shakes Lebanon's drops, and Syrians skips like a startled wild ox.

[39:17] The voice of the Lord causes lightning to flash, the voice of the Lord's name.

[39:29] The Lord makes the wilderness crash, the Lord makes the desert of Gaddish to shade, the Lord causes oaks of the forest to quake, the trees of the forest.

[39:59] He strips off their leaves, and he in his temple great glory receives.

[40:13] The Lord overclasses as monarch alone. The Lord sits forever as king on his throne.

[40:30] The Lord makes the strength of his people increase. The Lord gives his people the blessing of peace.

[40:50] The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, now and forevermore. Amen.