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John Capill

Jonah • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

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THE FIRST COMMISSION OF JONAH

JONAH 1:8 - 9 Number 5

INTRODUCTION

We have been looking Jonah Chapter 1.

I have some good news and some bad news:

- The good news is I won’t take as long on the other chapters of Jonah as I have on chapter 1! There is just some really helpful detail given in chapter 1 that I just don’t want to pass over – so I hope you can bear with me!

- Bad news is today we will still not get to: Jonah being tossed into the sea and a great fish swallowing him – I know that is all you are waiting for!!! I’m sorry, not today!

What we have been looking at the initial responses to Jonah’s mutiny in verses 4 and 5.

We looked:

1. At the Lord’s response in verse 4.

Eventually, the Lord breaks His silence, and His response was to lead his servant on a path of painful discipline in order to bring him to repentance.

And so verse 4 says:

“The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to [a]break up.”

Then we looked at….

2. The Sailors initial response in verse 5.

Their response involved 3 things:

“1. the sailors became afraid and 2. every man cried to his god, and 3. they threw the [b]cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it [c]for them.”

Then, finally, we observed…

3 Jonah’s initial response

At the end of verse 5 we read this:

“…. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep.

And I put it to you that:

- He was not sleeping in self-security.

- Nor was He apathetic or lazy.

The problem was he was being disobedient to the Lord and as a result:

- That would have troubled him greatly.

- It weighed heavily upon his soul!

- He was now a disobedient servant.

- And so his sleep was generated not only from physical exhaustion, but from a spiritual weariness, as he attempted to run from the presence of the Lord.

Then last time we started to look at the confrontation between Jonah and those on board the ship.

And I put it to you, that Jonah’s discipline was not just:

- The wind and the waves; the shocking storm that battered them;

- But it was also the words that came from others on board the ship. They too were part of God’s discipline as they rebuked and exhorted Jonah.

1. First there was the captain of the ship.

We noted that his words in verse 6 contain:

a) A Rebuke

b) An Exhortation

The rebuke was, “How is it that you are sleeping?” How is that possible? What are you thinking?

Here they are in the trial of their lives:

- The wind is hurled at them

- The sea is tumultuous

- The ship is about to break up.

- But God’s servant and prophet is asleep!

Jonah sinned by neglecting the things he could have done and doing things he should not have done:

- Sins of omission: not speak up when he had a wonderful opportunity to witness to these unbelievers.

- Sins of commission: sleeping when he should have been awake; praying and comforting the frightened crew.

But the Captain not only rebukes Jonah, but he issues an exhortation to him also in verse 6:

“Get up, call on your god. Perhaps God will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.”

Here is a man who does not know God; he believes in many gods, but he assumes that Jonah has a God and that, just perhaps, He may be able to save them.

We looked at two important truths those words reveal:

i) On the one hand, it shows that ALL mankind has, in their nature, certain principles of religion that are inescapable and immovable. Why?

Because we are all made in the image of God, and He has written His invisible attributes into creation, His divine nature and eternal power, so that it leaves us all without excuse (as Romans 1:20 says).

ii) But on the other hand, this revelation from nature is altogether insufficient to guide us into a relationship with God – we need His Word and Spirit. Without them we are utterly dead in our sins and unable to come into a living relationship with holy God.

And so we saw that the captain’s words demonstrate both these truths:

- He acknowledges there is but one true God and that it might be Jonah’s God.

- And he also thinks it possible, even likely, that this God might have a relationship with them and be able to save them.

But the captain’s religion is just a mere wish; a ‘hope-so’ religion; “maybe” God will be able to save us. It is not saving faith!

The truth is: While reason or logic may tell me that there is a God, we need special revelation; the Scriptures; the Word of God, to allow us to come to know Him personally.

- To conclude He exists, is one thing, but to know Him, intimately, personally, trustingly, is another thing altogether!

Only in the Scriptures do you learn about:

- His love and mercy.

- That He can do no wrong.

- That is all powerful and created all things.

- And that He wants to have a relationship with you because He has sent His only begotten Son that whosever believes in Him will not PERISH, but have eternal life.

So the captain is right to rebuke and exhort Jonah. It was part of God’s discipline of His servant.

But the captain isn’t the only one to confront Jonah, was he? ….

2. The sailors also confront and deal with Jonah.

We started to look at this last time but did not finish it.

You may remember that the sailor’s confrontation consists of two parts also:

a) First, they decide to cast lots to see who was to blame for this storm; and then

b) They conduct an interrogation of Jonah when the lot showed him to be the cause.

Look at Verse 7 again:

“Each man said to his mate, “Come, let us cast lots so we may [d]learn on whose account this calamity has struck us.” So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.”

We saw that no one, in their right mind, would suggest casting lots unless they believed two things:

- 1stly, that there was a divine Being who would ensure justice would result; AND…

- 2ndly, that they, themselves, were innocent of any crime against that Being.

By suggesting the drawing of lots, they were disowning their own guilt and wanting to point the finger at others.

And I suggested to you, that at the heart of that is unbridled pride.

- Far from saying in humility and lowliness, “Is it I?”; “Am I the one that this God is angry with?”

- They are refusing any responsibility.

- They simply refuse to make an appeal to their own heart or conscience to find any guilt that needs to be dealt with.

- And so they cast lots to seek someone else to point the finger at.

And we finished, last time, by making some general comments about the use of lots to decide things and how that applies to games of so-called chance and luck that are so prevalent.

And we saw the key principle is set out for us in Proverbs 16:33:

“The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is from the Lord.”

The point is there is no such thing as chance or luck in God’s economy.

- His providence rules overall.

- The way the lot falls is decided by God alone.

- And the lot pointed to Jonah!

Well today we will see there is more. God has not yet finished dealing with His disobedient servant.

He not only identifies Jonah by lot, but He allows the sailors to conduct an inquisition of Jonah. And that is what we are going to look at this morning.

Look with me at verse 8:

“Then they said to him, “Tell us, now! On whose account has this calamity struck us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”

Can you see what’s happening?

God is putting the thumb screws on Jonah to bring him to repentance:

- First the storm: wind and the waves!

- Then the captain’s rebuke and exhortation!

- Then the lot falls to him!

- And now the inquisition starts.

What do you make of this inquisition carried out by these sailors?

God has put these details in our Bibles for a reason. It isn’t just to pad out the story!

I want to put it to you, that this too shows something of the character of the unbeliever when faced with life threating circumstances!

And what I want to do this morning, is lean on an old commentary by Hugh Martin who draws a very interesting comparison between this inquisition by pagan sailors and another one found in our bibles; by a man of God.

So this morning you are going to have to be ambidextrous, as we flick between these two passages; I’m sorry about that.

The other inquisition is found in Joshua 7.

Let me just give you the context of Joshua Chapter 7 from what we read in Joshua 6:

- Israel had just crossed the Jordon River.

- They were now in the promised land for the first time after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.

- All the previous generation had been wiped out for their unbelief and rebellion against the Lord, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb. They alone trusted the Lord’s promise and did not give in to fear of the inhabitants of the promised land.

- The land of Canaan was inhabited by pagans whose wickedness had become so great that God would tolerate it any more; they were very much like the people of Nineveh that Jonah was being sent to, in that respect.

- And so the Lord decided to judge them by using His own people, Israel, to remove them from their land and give it to the children of Israel.

- That is what the book of Joshua is all about, isn’t it?

The first city doomed to destruction was, of course, Jericho.

- They took that in a most unusual way: they did not have to use a single weapon.

- The weapons were God’s, and He gave them the city after they marched around it for 7 days.

- It required God’s power and the people’s faith in what God said He wanted them to do.

- They had to submit to His will and trust His word. Something the previous generation had failed to do.

- Day by day, as they marched, they had to trust God and their faith was tested, but the wall came down as Hebrews 11:30 says:

“By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.”

And because it was conquered by God’s power and by their faith in His Word, the whole city was to be devoted to God. It was placed under the ban – a ban against Israel taking any spoil from that city. It belonged to God!

This is Joshua instruction in Chapter 6:17-19:

“17 The city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it, belongs to the Lord; only Rahab the harlot [e]and all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. 18 But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things under the ban, so that you do not [f]covet them and take some of the things under the ban, and make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it. 19 But all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.”

Well, do you remember what happened?

In Joshua 7:1 we read this:

“But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban, for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took some of the things under the ban, therefore the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel.”

That which was taken from under the ban, was effectively stolen from the Lord. It was His city!

And the result was Israel was defeated when they went up against the second city, Ai, for the Lord’s anger burned against their disobedience.

And so what does God do?

He gives directions to Joshua to discover whohad disobeyed His command.

And He did so by instigating the use of the lot – just as Jonah was discovered by lot. (You can see the similarity between these passages, can’t you?):

- In fact, several lots are drawn.

- From the whole nation of Israel, the tribe of Judah was selected by lot: 11 tribes are free!

- From the families of Judah, the lot falls to the family of Zerah: justice is getting closer!

- From the family of Zerah, man by man comes forward and Zabdi was taken.

- And he bought his household forward, man by man, and Achan is taken.

- Behold your sins will find you out!

- Just as God’s finger pointed to Jonah…

- So too it did when He pointed to Achan.

And what we should note as we look at these two offenders: Jonah and Achan is: it doesn’t really matter who you are or what you have achieved in life, God is able to expose your sin in a moment of time.

- Achan was no “servant of the Lord” and no “prophet in Israel” like Jonah was.

- He was a private and unknown individual amongst God’s people (at least until his sin became known).

- All it took for this private person to become notorious sinner was a moment of covetousness. That is all it took!

- Jonah, on the other hand, was both a “servant of God” and a “prophet” in Israel.

- He was well known. The eyes of the nation were on him.

- He was in public office.

Yet bothdisobeyed God and the Lord instigated painful discipline, and He did so simply by drawing lots that pointed the finger at each of them.

Dear friends, without Christ we have no hiding place for our sins because they are forever before Him. He sees them all. He knows all things. It’s an easy thing for Him to expose them!.....

It doesn’t matter if you are a Jonah, well known in name and work, or you are an Achan, an ordinary individual and largely unknown.

- It doesn’t matter if you sin in public or your sin in private.

- It doesn’t matter if you are a public figure or a nobody…

If you do not repent and come to Christ for forgiveness, then your sins will be exposed either now or in eternity at the judgement!

And if you claim to be a Christian, then I put it to you that it is highly likely the Lord will send discipline on you if you continue in your hypocrisy.

And you might be thinking: What sort of God is this that brings such discipline on us?

My friends, He does so because He loves you and seeks you:

- How much better it is that we have our sins found out NOW, while we have time to repent and run to our Saviour who came “to seek and to save the lost”; than to wait until judgment daywhen there is no time to repent; no time to be saved.

- I’m ever thankful for Him finding me out and exposing me!

- What faithfulness it shows from our loving Heavenly Father to preserve us and keep us from besetting sins.

The point is this: What grace is available to you and me if only we repent and trust Him alone for salvation, while we still have time to do so!

Achan was taken from all the tribes. The lot fell to Jonah.

And what I want to do in the time that remains, is to look at how these men were dealt with by the people surrounding them:

- Jonah by the pagan sailors in Jonah Chapter 1:8, 9

- And Achan by the man of God, Joshua, in Joshua chapter 7.

And what I want you to note is how differently they both approach their respective defendant at the bar of justice.

We have already read the account of the sailors confronting Jonah with all their questions in Jonah 1:8 – the flurry of questions that come pouring forth so fast that there was no time to answer!

But let’s read Joshua 7:19-21 where Joshua deals with Achan:

“Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I implore you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me.” 20 So Achan answered Joshua and said, “Truly, I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and [j]this is what I did: 21 when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it.”

That is Joshua’s integration. Completely different to the Sailors.

1 What can we observe about these two investigations: Jonah’s sailors and Joshua?

We are going to examine 2 things: their manner and their content. And we will finish by quickly observing how the two defendants respond.

a) We need to see that the manner of these investigations is completely different.

When it came to the unbelieving, pagan sailors, the thing that strikes you about their manner as they question Jonah is there is panic and anxiety. They are stressed out to the maximum. Driven by fear!

Listen to them again in Jonah 1:8:

“Then they said to him, “Tell us, now! On whose account has this calamity struck us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”

They have only just found out Jonah is the offender by the drawing of lots and then the questions just start flowing:

- There is alarm

- There is haste

- They are irrepressible and excited

- They’re full of curiosity

- Question after question pours forth from their lips.

And what becomes clear when you think about the sort of questions they are asking, is they had no concern whatsoever about the morality of what Jonah has done, but just what he had done.

They lack moral leadership.

They are morally impoverished.

All they have is anxiety and pressure to get answers out of Jonah’s mouth!

- They are full of fear.

- They are self-centered.

- There is great haste and curiosity.

- They are full of mental anxiety and scarcely have time to ask a decent question, never alone to wait for an answer.

- That’s their manner, my dear friends!

But now compare that to Joshua as he exams Achan. What’s his manner? Look at Joshua 7:19:

“19 Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I implore you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me.”

That is all he says.

There is no panic.

There is no flurry of questions.

It is altogether different, isn’t it?

When it comes to the manner of the investigation, we find the man of God, Joshua, to be solemn and serious:

- There is dignity and deliberateness.

- There is a holy deliberation.

- He’s reverential in his manner.

- Something altogether higher than mere curiosity.

- There is a majesty in the discharge of his duties as an instrument and servant of the Lord.

And unlike the sailors, who lacked any moral integrity, Joshua is driven by moral integrity:

- He is stern

- Yet mild, quiet, gentle

There is a righteousness in his manner, mixed with great compassion, against this man who troubled Israel. He calls him, “My son” - treating Achan with the utmost respect and exceptional love.

Joshua’s holy character is mixed with his holy office. He holds both by faith.

Apply:

Maybe the Lord has put you in the place of responsibility: perhaps as a parent, or an employer, or a manager, or as an elder in the church, or some other position.

What manner do you adopt when you investigate a matter?

Is it more like the sailors OR do you conduct yourself with the dignity and righteousness; with gentleness and love, and the quiet resolve that godly Joshua demonstrates?

My dear friends, I put it to you that the mannerof these two investigations is completely different.

- The sailor’s interrogation is what you can expect from the world, driven by the evil one, the accuser of the brethren.

- Joshua’s manner is that which we find in the greater Joshua, even Jesus Christ: Stern, serious, truth-driven, yet gentle, mild, and full of gracious majesty.

That’s the nature of Christ, our King and Judge, and that is what we, by the Spirit, should seek to emulate in our dealings with others.

I want to ask you this morning: how do you speak and deal with others? Especially when there is a confrontation?

Is it like the Sailors: looking for blood and driven by panic and anxiety? Trying to control the situation?

Or is it like Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, full of grace and majestic in all His ways?

The manner of these two investigations is completely different!

b) But what about the content of their questions?

There are two things that every investigation needs to lead to:

i) There needs to be, on the one hand, an admission of the facts.

ii) But on the other hand, there needs to be an acknowledgement of guilt.

When it comes to the unbelieving sailors, their whole focus is on the facts. Did you notice that?

They want to know what Jonah has done. That is what all their questions are directed towards:

- They want to know the offence.

- They want to know what led up to this and why it happened.

- They want to know his background.

- They are not at all interested at all in whether or not Jonah feels guilty.

Look at their questions again in verse 8. Not a single one of them is directed at strengthening Jonah’s conscience to make a full confession to the God.

They can clearly see that God is angry. They can see the wind and the waves, but as soon as they know Jonah is the culprit, they forget God and focus on Jonah.

They focus exclusively on:

- The events that led up to this.

- The facts.

- The history.

- The action.

There is no mention of the need for godly sorrow that leads to repentance.

There is not even a single mention of the God that Jonah has clearly offended, never alone trying to get Jonah to glorify his God.

“Give us the facts!

“Tell us what you have done!

“Don’t worry about your guilt before God that touches His glory. Don’t worry about that!”

They focus exclusively on an admission of facts – the first requirement of an investigation and totally ignore everything else.

But I want to put it to you, the complete opposite is true of Joshua, is it not?

Yes, as part of his duty, he must establish the facts, BUT the whole emphasis on what he says to Achan is on Achan’s duty to confess his guilt to God.

Front and center of his questions is the glory of God. That is the thing Joshua is concerned with.

- Joshua is not concerned that he has been humiliated before the nation by the defeat at Ai because of Achan’s sin.

- He’s not worried about what others might now think or say about his leadership because of the defeat.

- He’s not focused on the loss for Israel and its reputation in the promised land.

- Or the impact this might have on their future conquest in the promised land.

But listen to where Joshua starts and what his great concern is in verse 19:

“My son, I implore you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me.”

At the front of his questions is the glory of the Lord.

Yes, Achan had troubled Israel. Their winning start at Jericho had been bought to an abrupt end. They had been dishonored and defeated by Achan’s sin.

But none of that is the focus of Joshua’s questions. Joshua’s sole focus was on God and Achan’s relationship to his God.

Surely, he knew what the psalmist confessed: “against You and You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in His sight.”

You see, Joshua is primarily concerned about Achan’s guilty before God.

The facts are almost immaterial. He only wants to know the facts to the extent that he knows that a little leaven, leavens the whole lump.

BUT give glory to God:

- God knows the facts already.

- He has seen all things.

- Nothing is hidden from Him.

- He has been offended.

- You stand guilty primarily before Him.

- Confess and humble yourself before Him.

- Give glory to God by confessing to Him who is the Sovereign King; the Most High; the Holy One of Israel.

My friends, there is a huge difference between the admission of the mere fact of sin and an acknowledgement of the guilt of sin, is there not?

This has been a struggle since the dawn of time.

Think of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden after they fell into sin.

- The questions God asked were not aimed at establishing what God already knew and was obvious.

- God knew the facts already.

- He starts by focusing on where Adam and Eve were – they were now hiding from Him! They know they stand exposed and naked before His holy presence. So God starts with their obvious guilt!

- And only after getting a distorted answer, does God simply says, “Adam, have you eaten? Eve, have you eaten?”

- But the whole interrogation was aimed at inducing a confession of guilt, of moral liability. That was God’s focus! “Where are you?” And not “what have you done?”

And how did they answer?

- They tried to avoid the issue of guilt.

- Adam says: “The woman You gave me, she gave me, and I did eat.”

- The fact is given but the guilt is not admitted at all – do you see what I mean?

- If anything, Adam’s purpose was to admit the fact but disown the guilt – he put the guilt on to Eve.

- There is no giving glory to God by making confession to Him, my friends – if anything it put the responsibility for sin on God Himself! “It was the woman Thou gavest me”!!!

The woman does exactly the same. She admits the facts – that she DID eat, but she rejects the guilt: “The serpent deceived me”.

Do you see what I mean? There is no admission of guilt!

Apply:

My friends, does this not go to the core of sinful human nature, does it not?

Is it not true that we are slow to admit our guilt before God? Most of the time we are even slow to admit the facts!

What do you confess at the throne of grace?

Do you focus on the facts?

Do you distort the facts to excuse yourself and remove or lesson guilt? Minimize them; rationalize them; justify them?

Or do you remember that “against You and You alone have I sinned and done what is evil” . . . is that your great concern?

Isn’t it true that we tend to be very careful to defend ourselves against any slight error in the facts, and care little about our guilt before the Lord? We just want it all to go away!

Admitting the facts might be enough for unbelievers, but God wants us to deal with the guilt of our sin. He wants to deal with the heart, so Joshua says:

“Give glory to God, my son, and make confession to Him.”

How do you give glory to God when confronted with your sin?

Surely you must go to Him, remembering He is your salvation, notwithstanding your guilt.

- He seeks to save sinners.

- His discipline is designed to drive both Achan and Jonah and me to Christ.

- He is our only covering for guilt!

- Christ alone is our righteousness, our holiness and our salvation.

- I have no righteousness of my own.

- Christ alone has borne the wrath I deserve for the guilt of my sin.

- My dear friend: Outside of Him there is nowhere to go with your guilt!

Go to Him as the heart-searching, all-seeing God and say:

“O God, you know my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from You. My sin is ever before You and against You and You only have I sinned and done what is evil. I come to You trusting the gift of Your Son who alone can cover all my guilty!”

Only when you trust Christ do you give glory to God for His Son; the Son He has sent.

The Son who satisfied justice by dying on the cross for sin, so that God could be both just and justifier to take away our guilt!

This is the amazing thing about God and His grace, dear friends:

- I can sin against God.

- I can do what is evil.

- I might be liable to die for what I’ve done as Achan and Jonah were.

- But even in my sins there is a way to give glory to God by dealing with guilt and not merely defending little details about the facts.

- Trust the One who took my guilt and died for me!

- Trust the One who alone is my righteousness.

- Oh that blessed Cross of Christ that has dealt with my sin and removed my guilt.

- Oh the perfect expiation for sin that He made at Calvary for me that my sin may be forgiven forever.

Oh, dear friends, may you run to Christ and be washed in His blood. That alone gives glory to God - even when we are caught in sin!

Well, we have compared the two respective investigations, (their manner and their content), but let’s just finish quickly in the second place:

2 By comparing the defendants’ responses to this interrogation.

What we find is BOTH Achan and Jonah focus on their guilt, not the facts, in confessing their sins.

Look at Achan’s answer in Joshua 7:20:

“20 So Achan answered Joshua and said, “Truly, I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and [j]this is what I did:

Achan’s confession starts with God, does it not?

- He speaks with meekness and simplicity.

- There is no elaborating on what has happened.

- It is as if he looks God in the eye and admits openly and honestly that he has sinned against Him.

Joshua had led him to that by focusing on God’s glory: giving God the glory in the midst of confessing sin. And so Achan does just that!

But what about Jonah? He did not have the advantage of being handled by a man of God. How does he answer?

He simply says this in Jonah 1:9:

“I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.”

He too focuses on the Lord and only briefly mentions the fact that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord as is recorded in verse 10.

- He didn’t try to cover up the facts.

- Nor did he distort the facts and put a spin on them.

- He admits them briefly, fully and openly.

But his focus is on the guilt he felt before His Lord his God.

- He knows he is blameworthy.

- He’s the convicted criminal before the bar of God’s justice.

- He admits he deserves all that God is doing to Him and much more.

- This is the start of his repentance, is it not?

How do we know that?

Well his guilt is aggravated by what he confesses, isn’t it? (And we going to look at that next time, DV.) But briefly….

- I am a Hebrew – one who belongs to God’s covenant people, the recipient of grace upon grace. I should have known better!

- And not only that, but I know the God of heaven and earth and fear Him; the God who is the Creator of all things: the sea and the dry land.

His guilt is great because He knows this God in an intimate and personal way:

- That He is the living God.

- That He is the all-powerful, omnipotent God.

- That He alone is the supreme Creator of the wind and the waves, the heavens and the earth.

- The one who answers prayer, if he would but call upon Him rather than sleeping in the bottom of the ship!

His guilt was great indeed, and that is what he focuses on in his confession. He was giving God His rightful place, giving God the glory.

What mattered, dear friends, was his heart and his relationship to the Lord!

Isn’t this proof that Jonah is a true child of God?

- He doesn’t just fear God in the past, but he does so even more now.

- He gives glory to God in his discipline.

- The enemy would have him fall by the wayside, but the true child of God does not faint when disciplined by the Lord.

- He draws near to God and humbles himself, or herself, before His throne of grace.

- And confesses all his or her guilt.

- That Christ might remove it and forgive it forever!

Conclusion

Brothers and sisters, when you are caught out in sin – and your sins will find you out – how do you handle them?

Do you focus on the facts or do you look to the glory of God by owning your guilt before Him?

Or do you deny it, rationalize it or minimize it and justify it by debating the facts with Him?

Oh that we might run to God and confess the depth of our depravity and look to Christ who bore our guilt on the cross.

Oh that we would cling to Him and His precious blood that washes away guilt and restores us.

That’s what brings glory to God!

Micah 7:8 clings to the hope we have in Christ when we sin grievously against the Lord:

“Rejoice, not against me, o mine enemy: when I fall, I shall rise again; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light for me.”

- Not even our sin can pluck us out of our Father’s hand.

- Though He slay you, yet still trust Him.

None of you that trust Him will be left desolate.

Why? Because He has dealt with the guilt of sin and can forgive it if we will but run to Christ!