In Psalm 107 we see a pattern being played out over and over again throughout this kind
of long psalm where he keeps explaining how God is good to us and he treats us well and
he blesses us and takes care of us but then when things begin to go good human beings
and people have a tendency to forget about God, to go into sin, not to pray, not to read
their Bible, not to go to someone, just to kind of coz, to get a little bit too comfortable,
then he sends hard times, he sends bad things that will come upon us and then when we go
through the bad times, then that's when we call out to God and we remember that we need
God and then he comes and saves us out of all our distresses but look at this, let's
go through this quickly, it says in verse 1, oh give thanks unto the Lord for he is
good, for his mercy endureth forever, let the redeemed of the Lord say so whom he had
redeemed from the hand of the enemy and gathered them out of the lands from the east and from
the west and from the north and from the south, they wandered in the wilderness in a solitary
way, they found no city to dwell in, hungry and thirsty their soul fainted in them and
this is the praise that we see over and over in this chapter, then they cried unto the
Lord in their trouble, it's always when they're in trouble that they're crying out to the
Lord, it says they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them out of
their distresses and he led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city
of habitation and here's the other phrase that keeps coming up in this chapter, oh that
men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men, for he satisfied the longing soul and filled up the hungry soul with goodness
and what God is trying to tell us here is that you shouldn't have to put us through
all these hard things and we shouldn't have to wait until trouble and anguish and distress
comes upon us before we remember that we need it, before we call out to him and he says,
look at God, oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, why don't we pray and
thank God when things go well and then he wouldn't have to put us through these different
things to get our attention, he says in verse number 9, for he satisfied the longing soul
and filled the hungry soul with goodness, such as sit in darkness and in the shadow
of death, being bound in affliction and iron because they rebelled against the words of
God and contempt, contempt means hated, the counsel of the most high, therefore he brought
down their heart with labour, they fell down and there was none to help, then they cried
out to the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out of their distresses, he brought them
out of darkness and the shadow of death and break their bands in sunder, oh that men would
praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men, for
he had broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron in sunder, look at verse 17,
fools because of their transgression and because of their iniquities are afflicted, you see
a lot of the bad things that happened as we bring upon ourselves, the Bible says that
the foolishness of man perverted his way and he fretted against the Lord, you know
we blame God sometimes when things go wrong in our life when really it's our own foolishness
and our own sin and our own iniquity that brings bad things upon us, now not always,
obviously there's Job who was doing everything right, he was serving God, he was a perfect
and an upright man that feared God and eschewed evil and God put him through trials and testing
and tribulation but the vast majority of the time that bad things happen to us, you
know it's being brought upon us by ourselves, it's God chastening us and judging us for
our sins, it's God correcting us or maybe we're just not paying enough attention to
God, we got a little too comfortable, so God has to put us through trials and tribulations
in order that we might rely on him and look to him and realize that we need his help,
he says in verse 17, fools because of their transgression and because of their iniquities
are afflicted, their soul abhorreth all manner of meek and they draw near unto the gates
of death, then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble and he saith them out of their distresses,
he sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destruction, oh that men would
praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men and
we see how God is so long suffering, this pattern plays out over and over and even though
people wait many times until they're in trouble before they call upon him, he still is ready
to hear them, he's still ready to help them out, he still has compassion on them, look
at verse number 23, they that go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters,
these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep for he commandeth and raiseth
the stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof, they mount up to heaven, meaning
the waves, they go down and give him the depths, their soul is melted because of trouble,
they reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end, then they cry
unto the Lord in their trouble and he bringeth them out of their distresses, he maketh the
storm a calm so that the waves thereof are still, then are they glad because they be
quiet so he bringeth them unto their desired haven, oh that men would praise the Lord for
his goodness and for his wonderful works to the tomb of men, turn if you would to Psalm
83, Psalm 83 just go back a few pages in your Bible, you're in 107, go to Psalm 83, you
see the Bible's really clear that, you know we just read it in Psalm 107, God is the one
who controls the weather, okay, there's no question about that and the Bible talks about
those that go out into the sea in ships, he said they know the works of the Lord because
if you go out into the sea there are all these huge storms, now most of the time when a storm
hits the land it begins to lose intensity, it begins to mellow out as it goes inland
but out at sea is where the most extreme storms take place out in the sea and so those that
go out in ships, they're going to be exposed to some of God's most extreme hurricanes and
storms and tempests that there are, God is the one who's in control of the weather, there's
no question, look at Psalm 83, it says in verse 13, oh my God make them like a wheel
as the stubble before the wind, as the fire burneth the wood and as the flames set at
the mountains on high, so persecute them with thy tempest and make them afraid with thy
storm, fill their faces with shame, why? That they may seek thy name, oh Lord, and so we
see that God often sends reminders of his awesome power and reminders of the fact that
he can destroy anyone that he wants at any moment and he sends that reminder that people
will fear him and that people will seek his name and that people will call upon him and
he does it to get their attention, now it's amazing because there have been so many natural
disasters in recent, I saw something yesterday that they said that this is a new record,
2011 is the record for the number of natural disasters that cost over a billion some dollars
each and right now there's a hurricane ravaging the east coast and they said it's going to
cost 6 billion dollars or 10 billion dollars of damage, they just had an earthquake a week
ago that caused a bunch of damage but there have been so many natural disasters, I remember
there was the earthquake in Haiti and I think what was that like 2010, I think that was
actually last year and I heard some commentator and you know they always bring out some liberal
preacher to represent Christianity, you know some watered down phony of a preacher, they
never call up a real violent leaving preacher but they get some phony liberal preacher and
they always make him look stupid and it's not hard to make him look stupid because they
are stupid so they get him out there and I'm listening to this commentator ask this guy
and he says you know he's talking about the Haiti earthquake to some liberal preacher
you know I'm listening to this commentator and he says so let me ask you this and he's
trying to really make this preacher look stupid he says you know so does God have the
power to protect the people of Haiti, preserve the people of Haiti because there were just
tons of people dying from this earthquake just last year I mean it's just huge amounts
of casualties and just devastation across the land and he said does God have the power
to protect these people and save them from this and he just doesn't care or does God
care but he just doesn't have the power to do anything about it so that's the two options
that this guy gets and then this preacher oh you know I don't know and he's saying like
well I know God cares but I don't know and he just had no answer I have the answer God
did not care and so he just allowed to happen God is the one who caused it to happen it's
not that God didn't step in and protect people from the earthquake or that God didn't step
in and do something when he saw this earthquake no God is the one who sent the earthquake
God is the one who controls the earthquake God is the one who caused those people to
die and you say well what God the Bible says I am the Lord I kill and I make alive the
Lord is my name God is the one who decides who lives and who dies when one of these earthquakes
or hurricanes or tornadoes come through and you say well I don't understand I don't think
it's fair God is the one who did it and he does it that men might fear before him he
does it because people don't care what he says he sends earthquakes and hurricanes and
tornadoes and he sends these floods and tsunamis because he's trying to show people that destruction
he's just giving them a small taste a small example of the destruction that he can send
and that he has in store for them and he's actually doing it in his mercy that people
might be saved that people might see God and it's interesting I turned on the weather radio
as I was driving yesterday I was on a really long drive and I was listening to the coverage
where they're talking about big hurricanes coming and they're getting all ready prepared
for it and just there's no mention of God no mention of hey we need to pray that God
will be merciful here you know we need to pray that God does not destroy the city and
that God will have mercy upon us and call out to God nothing to do with God it's just
mother nature it's not mother nature it's God that controls the weather you say well
I don't believe that God controls the weather well let's look at some scriptures on that
Psalm 83 15 we just saw it says so persecute them with thy tempest and make them afraid
with thy sword God sends storms in the Bible as a punishment very frequently go if you
would to Isaiah chapter 28 Isaiah chapter 28 while you're turning I'll read you another
verse Psalm 148 verse 8 fire and hail snow and vapor stormy wind fulfilling his word
look at Isaiah chapter 28 Isaiah chapter 28 verse 1 the Bible reads woe to the crown
of pride to the drunkards of Ephraim whose glorious beauty is a fading flower which are
on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine behold the Lord have
a mighty and strong one which has a tempest a tempest is basically a storm which has a
tempest of hail and a destroying storm as a flood of mighty waters overflowing shall
cast down to the earth with the hand the crown of pride the drunkards of Ephraim shall be
trodden under feet look at the chapter 29 verse 6 Isaiah chapter 29 verse 6 the Bible
reads thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and
great noise with storm and tempest and the flame of devouring fire look at chapter 30
verse 30 the Bible says and the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard and shall
show the lighting down of his arm with the indignation of his anger and with the flame
of a devouring fire with scattering and tempest and hailstones look at Ezekiel chapter 13
actually go to Ezekiel chapter 13 Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Lamentations is stuck in
there but if you turn your page fast enough you probably won't even notice that anyway
Ezekiel chapter 13 verse 13 the Bible reads therefore thus saith the Lord God I will even
rend it with a stormy wind of my fury and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine
anger and great hailstones in my fury to consume it now does it sound like God is just
a casual spectator of the weather or that he just sits back and maybe just lets the
weather kind of run its course and maybe he'll just step in no God is the one who initiates
the weather okay God is the one who controls the wind and you remember the disciples when
they got on the ship with Jesus and they went out into the sea of Galilee Jesus went
down into the bottom of the ship and he was fast asleep and there arose a great tempest
in the sea and so much that the sea that the ship was covered with the waves but he was
asleep remember so the disciples came to him in a wolf saying Lord save us we perish and
he rebuked him he said why are ye fearful oh ye of little faith because he had already
told you said where's the faith well he'd already told them we're going across to the
other side I mean if he says we're going to the other side we're going to the other side
I mean he's Jesus Christ they're not going to die but they're going to die we're going
to be killed in the storm and he woke you know why did you wake me up they woke him
up and he said why are you fearful oh ye of little faith then he arose and rebuked the
winds in the sea and there was a great calm instantly it was calm and but the men marveled
saying what manner of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him even Jesus
Christ on this earth commanded the wind commanded the sea commanded the waves and uh was able
to stop a storm or start a storm and do whatever he needed to do see they had little faith
because they didn't realize that God was in control of that storm and that God was the
one that controls the weather and that if he wanted them to perish there's nothing they
could do to escape in that ship and if he said we're going to the other side then we're
going to the other side they were going to be completely safe there are so many scriptures
on this of course in uh Ezekiel 13 13 we just read and he says in verse 15 that's why I
accomplished my wrath upon thy wall upon them that have dobbed it with untempered mortar
and so forth so it's God's wrath being poured out in a storm Ezekiel chapter 13 look if
you would at Nahum chapter 1 Nahum is at the very end of the Old Testament one of the minor
prophets one of those short little books at the very end there Nahum chapter number 1
and the Bible reads in verse 2 Nahum 1 2 God is jealous and the Lord revengeth the Lord
revengeth and is furious furious means you're just really angry the Lord will take vengeance
on his adversaries and he reserveth wrath for his enemies the Lord is slow to anger
and great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind
and in the storm and the clouds are the dust of his feet he rebuketh the sea and maketh
it dry and drieth up all the rivers Beshan languiseth and Carmel and the flower of Lebanon
languiseth the mountains quake at him and the hills melt and the earth is burned at
his presence yea the world and all that dwell therein who can stand before his indignation
and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger his fury is poured out like fire and
the rocks are thrown down by him go to Jonah Jonah is just a few pages to the left if you're
at Nahum just go back a few pages to Jonah you see people need to realize that when these
these storms happen and when earthquakes happen and when natural disasters and floods and
tsunamis like have been happening like crazy for the last few years when they happen they're
not just an accident and it's not climate change you know it's not oh you know we drove
too many cars and that's why all this stuff's happening no this stuff has happened throughout
history it happened long before the car was ever invented and God sends these things to
try to get people's attention and the reaction that people ought to have when they see the
hurricane coming and when they see the earthquake coming and when they see the storm coming
is to get on their knees and call upon God to be merciful to them and protect them because
God is the one who can control these things now I mean when I heard about all this hurricane
I mean I just prayed similar to what God or I'm sorry similar to what Abraham prayed in
Genesis 18 like we talked about last week and I just prayed I said God don't destroy
the righteous with the wicked you know protect your people protect the righteous you know
if you're bringing forth judgment upon and by the way there's a lot of wickedness going
on in that part of the country that just had the earthquake and the hurricane by the way
that's where our government's located you know we okay next point okay you know I rest
my cake you know there's all kinds of wickedness over there but you know there are a lot of
good people over there too there are a lot of righteous people and good people over there
and I just prayed that God would protect and keep his people safe and that he would
not destroy the righteous with the wicked and you say oh it wasn't a big the earthquake
wasn't a big deal the flooding and it wasn't that big a deal the hurricane wasn't that
big a deal okay what about the next one is that one going to be a big deal maybe this
is just the warning and you say oh you're just doing glue no the Bible is telling us
that God's anger is kindled and he sends forth a storm in his wrath he sends an earthquake
God can destroy whatever he wants to destroy anytime remember we had that big dust storm
and my wife got home from the dust storm I was in the house when it happened a few weeks
what was that a month ago or whatever it was but I was in the house and I heard all these
weird noises and I didn't really know what's going on because our man our neighborhood
was right in front of it we had big trees knocked down in our neighborhood and my car
was just completely covered in dirt oh yeah that's how I was covered in dirt no it was
really covered I mean it was completely caked in dirt and I heard a weird noise I didn't
even know what was going on I walked over to the front door to see what was going on
and the front door just like flew into my face when I opened it was like whoa and then
I shut it within seconds there was just like a pile of dirt inside the door and you know
my wife said when she got home she said wow she said do you think that when people saw
that wall of dust coming it would make them fear God you know it would make them think
to themselves how helpless they are you know it doesn't matter how big how strong the building
is or how prepared you are you know God can send disasters of magnitude that will destroy
anyone and if you look at this thing that happened over in Japan I mean that was a pretty
major devastating earthquake that they're going to be facing that meltdown of that nuclear
plant that has been spewing out toxic and radioactive garbage for months straight you
know it was in the news for a few days you forget about the fact that it's still just
spewing out radioactive months later it's just spewing out radiation and plutonium and
all this radioactive iodine and all this stuff and they're testing the food and the
water and they're saying it's all poison but you know just don't serve it in the school
lunch but you know they're still selling it and still eating it and everything it's something
that they're going to be suffering from financially for a long time and their health is going
to be devastated by it for a long time to come and their nation is destroyed and people
look at that and say why why would that happen I'll tell you why because they do not believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ that's why and most preachers wouldn't get up and say that because
that's not compassionate but I'm going to tell you something God is angry at the wicked
every day and you know when you have a nation that's wholly given to idolatry and you have
a nation that does not believe the Bible that has rejected the gospel and it's not that
they haven't heard the gospel it's that they've rejected the gospel it's not some kind of
a jungle over there where they haven't supposedly heard the name of Christ or something like
that those people in Japan they've heard the name of Jesus Christ they've heard the
gospel they're like didn't you live in Japan for a while you know and you go over there
and you see missionaries go over there with the gospel and you see Baptist churches over
there and they can't get anybody to come and they go out solving and they and it's hard
because people don't want to listen and then God sends destruction and devastation and
we don't understand why God told us in the Bible why he said and I'll go back and read
it for you again it says so persecute them with thy tempest and make them afraid with
thy storm fill their faces with shame that they may seek thy name oh lord it's to get
people's attention it's in his mercy because he's trying to show that look you are on the
verge of destruction because far worse than any tidal wave or far worse than any earthquake
or or hurricane or radioactive meltdown is going to be hell hell is worse this is just
a warning this is shot across the bow saying you need to get right with God here you need
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you need to stop rejecting the truth and that's why
these things happen and I do not believe for one second that any of these natural disasters
is an accident when the Bible all these verses I'm showing you say over and over again that
God controls the storm God causes the earthquakes God sends the rain and the hail and the flood
and so forth and he sends it as a punishment he sends it as judgment and he sends it to
get people's attention so that they will turn to him go to Jonah chapter did I have to turn
to Jonah already go to Jonah it says in verse number one now the word of the Lord came unto
Jonah the son of Amittai saying arise go to Nineveh that great city and cry against it
for their wickedness has come up before me so here's a preacher Jonah who's getting an
instruction from God that he's to go to the city of Nineveh because it's a wicked place
and to preach against it and to preach the word of God there but he doesn't want to do
it so he disobeys God so the Bible says in verse three but Jonah rose up to flee unto
Tarshish from the presence of the Lord and went down to Joppa and he found a ship going
to Tarshish so he paid the fare thereof and went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish
from the presence of the Lord now this isn't going to work because you know going to Tarshish
is not going to take you away from the presence of the Lord the Bible says whither shall I
flee from my presence if I ascend into heaven behold thou art there if I make my bed in
hell behold thou art there you cannot escape from God God is everywhere but Jonah is trying
to escape from God and look at verse four but the Lord sent out a great wind into the
sea and there was a mighty tempest in the sea so that the ship was light to be broken
so God sends a storm as punishment it says verse five then the mariners were afraid and
cried every man unto his God and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea
to lighten it up them but Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship and he lay and
was fast asleep so he goes to sleep he's sleeping like a baby while the mariners which are the
guys who work on the ship they're scared they're throwing everything overboard I mean
they're afraid that the whole ship is going to be broken it says in verse six so the shipmaster
came to him and said unto him what meanest thou O sleeper arise call upon thy God if so
be that God will think upon us that we perish not and they said everyone to his fellow come
and let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us so they cast
lots and the lot fell upon Jonah then said they unto him tell us we pray thee for whose
cause this evil is upon us what is thine occupation and whence comest thou what is thy country
and of what people art thou and he said unto them I am an Hebrew and I fear the Lord the
God of heaven which hath made the sea and the dry land then were the men exceedingly
afraid you know when they realize oh actually you actually serve the real true God and now
we're really afraid that that's who's mad at us now notice it says that they called
every man unto his God so they're believing in other gods they have false religion they're
calling out to whatever God they know and they're telling Jonah well hey call upon your
God but they finally realize that the storm is coming upon them because of Jonah because
it says in verse 10 then were the men exceedingly afraid and said unto them why hast thou done
this for the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told them
isn't it funny when people rebel against God they always like to go around and tell
everybody you know you see people start to backslide and go into sin and they always
like to make sure other people can go with them and be dragged out with them so they
like to tell other people about it but you see here that the mariners had the mariners
really done anything wrong necessarily that brought on the storm I mean you got a ship
full of mariners right and they're all calling upon their gods their false gods they're all
throwing stuff overboard they don't know what's happening but why did the storm come it was
really just because of one person wasn't it because if he would have gone on a completely
different ship with a completely different bunch of mariners then they would have been
experiencing the storm so what you see here is that when God sends a storm to punish it's
not just the target of his wrath that ends up suffering other people suffer too I mean
if God sends a storm it's not just going to impact one person here God is mad at one
person Jonah he sends a storm he sends a tempest and really everybody's suffering everybody's
in danger everybody's in peril of their lives but then they realize that Jonah is the problem
look at verse 11 then said they unto him what shall we do unto thee that the sea may be
calm unto us for the sea Robin was tempestuous and he said to them take me up and cast me
forth into the sea so shall the sea be calm unto you for I know that for my sake this
great tempest is applying so at least here he's he's doing the right thing and saying
you know what it's my fault just throw me overboard and God will turn away his wrath
because he's punishing me not you now they don't want to do that though it says in verse
13 nevertheless the men rode hard to bring it to the land but they could not for the
sea Robin was tempestuous against them therefore they cried unto the Lord and said we beseech
thee O Lord and now they're not calling unto their false God they're calling unto the
real God the Lord we beseech thee O Lord we beseech thee let us not perish for this man's
life and lay not upon us innocent blood for thou Lord O Lord has done as it pleased thee
so they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea and the sea ceased from arranging
then the man feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord and made
vows now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was in the belly
of the fish three days and three nights so we see here that this great storm comes and
as soon as they throw him into the water just boom the storm stops and that made him even
more scared because then they realized you know this wasn't just a coincidence you know
maybe it was just a coincidence and we were imagining this whole thing when they threw
him in the water all of a sudden it just clears up of course it's too late for him because
they you know he was probably went pretty deep when they threw him overboard off of
a ship you know most ships are pretty high out of the water you throw somebody in they're
gonna go down pretty deep into a raging sea and then of course he got swallowed so he's
not coming back up okay they were afraid because they said now we know that this was God it
really and now they know he's the true God so look what did God accomplish in this storm
well number one he punished a backslidden preacher he punished a preacher that was disobedient
that's what he accomplished and I mean it was a major punishment because he went through
the storm but then now he's also been thrown overboard and swallowed by a whale now and
you say well it wasn't a whale it was a fish well it says in Matthew chapter 10 that it
was a whale and here well but that's not scientifically correct no maybe science isn't correct just
because some scientist makes a decision well whale is not a fish well I say a whale is
a fish and to say otherwise is to say that the bible is wrong I'd rather believe that
the scientist is wrong you know the bible is and it's not that the bible is ignorant
because the bible tells us in the book of lamentation that basically that whales give
suck to their young so it's not that he didn't know that they don't have mammary glands but
he just decided to classify it as a fish because you know it looks like a fish to me who's
with me on this it swims like a fish thank you oh but you don't understand the fins
of a fish are vertical and the flukes of a whale are horizontal fins for real man it's
a fish so anyway I'll say it's a fish and an animal why not and there's so many animals
that defy man's classification you know a duck billed platypus I think God just made
those okay what are you going to call this category you want to put this in a missing
link or what you know and it's not the missing link between anything it's the crazy and there
are a lot of strange creatures out there that are like that and you know that defy man-made
classification so you know when you run into something like that don't don't start getting
all upset about the bible you know just realize that the bible is right it's a fish it's a
it's a whale and a fish because a fish is a whale and a whale is a fish all right so
uh in this context obviously there are fish that are not whales but they're not whales
that are not fish all right so he he's in the fish's belly okay that's not a pleasant
place to be he talks about he compares it to hell he compares it to being in hell he
wasn't really in hell but he compared it to being like being in hell probably I mean I
don't know what it's like in there okay I don't think anybody does and plus the bible
says the lord had prepared a great fish so some people say well he couldn't have fit
down the the whale's throat well first of all it could have been another species of
whale back then that didn't exist today since there are so many animals going extinct every
year this could have been a species of whale that no longer exists or more likely he prepared
a great fish so he prepared a fish that could swallow him where he could live inside of
it for three days and three nights without dying obviously god can do that he prepared
a special fish but it wasn't a fun place to be it's dark and I think the reason why he
might have compared it to hell maybe the stomach acid you know of the digestion was burning
it you know who knows he talked about weeds being wrapped around his head because whales
eat a lot of seaweed but either way you don't want to be in a whale's belly for three days
three nights he's not he doesn't have any food he doesn't have any water he's in a dark
cramped uncomfortable painful place for three days and three nights so what had god accomplished
with the storm he punished the backslidden preacher who was in disobedience to his word
who would not preach the the message that god had commanded to preach to the people
that he commanded to preach but not only that what did he accomplish he he by by pouring
out his wrath even on these mariners who weren't really the ones specifically that he was targeting
they ended up turning to the lord they ended up turning away from their false gods and
turning unto the lord so actually you could look at the story and say well that wasn't
fair that he made them throw all their merchandise overboard well guess what they're gonna have
to pay for that stuff or lose you know somebody's gonna have to pay for it their boss or or
the owner of the ship is gonna have to pay for it somebody lost they probably lost a
lot of their personal belongings they definitely uh went through a horrible period there but
if they ended up getting saved in the end if they ended up believing upon the and calling
upon the lord instead of worshiping a false god hey he actually did them a favor if you
look at it he was actually merciful to them they were actually lucky to be on the same
ship as jonah because they got to see an example of god's awesome power that would i'm sure
stick with them for the rest of their life and cause them to renounce their false gods
and call out to the lord and do sacrifices to the lord and they already knew who the
lord was before this happened but now they realize that he's the only true god and so
when god sends a storm it's his wrath it's his punishment now he accomplishes other things
too he gets other people's attention and you know i wonder what kind of jonahs we have
today in our nation and what kind of jonahs are over in new york city and washington dc
that basically god is targeting with this song think about it you say oh you're crazy
no god i'm sure looks down from heaven and sees a lot of preachers that are not preaching
what they're supposed to preach over there a whole bunch of guys they're saved they believe
the bible but they're not preaching the message that god has commanded them to preach and
i wonder if they're the ones that are to blame for the great hurricane i wonder if somebody
could come to the church house and pull out some liberal backslidden preacher who's not
preaching right who just cares about pleasing the crowd or whatever he cares about and say
tell us we pray thee for whose cause it has come upon us and i wonder how many of those
preachers could say well you know what it's my fault i'm not preaching anything negative
i'm preaching a positive only message of prosperity gospel when i was supposed to preach you know
and look at the message that he was supposed to preach let's look what uh jonah chapter
three tells us it says in jonah chapter three verse two arise go into Nineveh that great
city and preach unto it the preaching that i bid thee it wasn't enough for jonah to just
go to Nineveh and preach he's supposed to preach the message that god tells him to preach
and look what that message is in verse four it says and jonah began to enter into the
city a day's journey and he cried and said yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown
this is not a positive message this is not your best life now this is not uh you know
uh living up to god's potential for your life this is not the blessing of the lord maketh
you rich this is a negative message of destruction coming from god and he's preaching what he's
supposed to preach in chapter three and it has a great result because the whole city
pretty much turns to god and turns away from their wicked sins and god uh look at verse
one it says god saw their works that they turned from their evil way and god repented
of the evil that he had said he would do unto them and he did it up so because they turn
from their wickedness god decides not to destroy the city of Nineveh because of the message
that was preached by a preacher who was preaching what he was supposed to be preaching but i
wonder how many jonahs over there are not preaching what they're supposed to be preaching
and god maybe i wonder if the rain is falling especially hard on their house today or if
the floodwaters are creeping into their basement especially the preacher who's not preaching
what he's supposed to be preaching or what other jonahs do we have in our ship what other
you know and i wouldn't want to have a jonah in my church causing the whole church to be
blasted with the tempest and storm and god's wrath think about the the jonahs of our day
and maybe it's not a backslidden preacher but just whoever's living in sin whoever's
in rebellion and disobedience against god god chastises and punishes those who rebel
against him and everybody ends up feeling the the brunt of it i mean when when this
storm came i guarantee you other ships were probably affected if he sends a storm into
the sea there's probably other ships that were affected that might have just been on
the outskirts or the edge of this great storm that was in the book of jonah and so we need
to honestly we need to throw the jonahs overboard you know what i mean we got our country's
filled with wicked people and and we basically usually look at them and say like oh they're
not hurting anybody isn't that what people say you know you look at the sodomites and
the weirdos and and you look at the the people who are just uh committing all kinds of adultery
and polygamy and fornication and drunkenness and it's just kind of like well they're not
hurting anybody but you know if you really think about it they're really hurting all
of us because they bring god's judgment upon our nation right i mean you know you can look
at jonah and say well he's not hurting anybody he just he just wants to go to sleep okay
he just needs a little break from the ministry he just needs a little break from soul winning
and preaching for you know he's just getting a little burned out so he's going on a little
sabbatical okay is that still bad no it's not going to work and so you know throw over
throw overboard the jonahs of your life you know throw the jonahs out of your car out
of your house out of your church out of your nation you know too many jonahs are bringing
god's wrath upon a whole nation upon a whole group of people but if you would turn in your
bible to um let's see here turn to jeremiah 23 go back in the bible a little bit jeremiah
23 say what's the what's the moral of the sermon you know the point of the sermon is
this things that happen in the weather they're not an accident they don't just happen by
chance i mean we went through all these scriptures that showed that god is the one who controls
earthquake weather and so when we look at these things we have to ask ourselves why
is this happening not like some liberal commentator why why would god do this i can't believe
that a loving god would allow a wicked heathen nation that worships idols and that and that
commits wicked sin and doesn't care about jesus doesn't believe on the jesus the bible
and doesn't care anything what god's word says why would he allow this to happen why is he
going to send them to hell yeah you don't know what you're talking about god is going
to punish the wicked and you'll punish them in this world and worse he's going to punish
them in the world to come but we are not looking at it from that we have to look at it and
say why is god doing this is god's wrath on me you know and have i done wrong we all always
search our own soul and say have i done wrong you know and even if it's not directed at
us that's just a good thing to do anyway but we have to look at it and say god's power
and god's wrath is on display right now whether it be through an earthquake or a hurricane
or a tornado that's what it is when some tornado comes through and destroys a house and rips
it apart and picks it like there were tornadoes on the east coast yesterday and and people
have been dying from this hurricane you know and they're talking about somebody was just
laying in their bed in a tree just fell on their house and just flattened it you know
that's not an accident and i'm not saying that that was a wicked person or i'm not saying
you know why it happened i'm not saying why it happened i'm just saying it happened for
a reason it's not random you see if god wants me to survive i could be in the worst storm
imaginable you know i could be like the one who's in kansas or something when some tornado
comes and they're in their bathtub or something you know and the bathtub is picked up like
and dropped off 50 miles away and you know they're still fine you know if god wants to
protect you i think something like that happened maybe that was just a cartoon that i saw as
long as i think something happened no but honestly things have happened where people
were literally picked up and sat somewhere really far away or cows or you know picked
up and put in a really far this you know if god wants you to survive he can protect
you through anything i mean through the most extreme storm and that tornado i mean there
are times when tornadoes literally suck up every house on a street except one you know
yeah and i'm not pretending to know why i'm not going to sit here and say now when i look
at a country that that basically rejects christ then it's pretty easy to know a lot you know
when you look at a country that just totally rejects christ and then you see these disasters
happening you know you can look at that and say well you can see god's just pouring out
of breath or like indonesia remember the huge well i mean weren't there like 200 000 people
that died yeah wasn't it something like that some huge number with that tidal wave this
is before the japan you know going back what 10 years or so i forget when it was that indonesia
earthquake and tsunami was was even bigger i mean it was devastating and you look at
a nation that that rejects god that rejects the lord jesus christ i'm not saying i know
why certain individuals are killed and others are spared so you know the one has the tree
fall into their house and and destroy them the other you know is safe and sound one is
drowning in a flood one is okay but i do know this it's not accidental you know it's appointed
unto men wants to die and here's the thing we all we all if we're walking if we're if
we're saved i mean we're serving god and doing what we're supposed to do we're not just going
to die by accident i mean god can protect us and he will allow us to die when it's our
time to die in his mind and we can do things that will affect that you know if we start
living a wicked life he might decide to move up that time on the calendar a little bit
you know if we start a rebellion he gets him living in sin he might just decide to just
bring us home and say well you know you're not doing anything for me down there anyway
might as well just call it call it good and maybe if we're doing you know if we're serving
god doing what we're supposed to do then it will be well with us and our days will be
long on the earth in many cases and you know god has reasons sometimes he'll bring a righteous
person home early like stephen you know a martyr for his faith and sometimes we don't
know why god will cause a person in their 20s to to to pass away there was a great christian
or a great solar he'll bring them home early you look that you don't know what but god
had a reason maybe god's protecting them from something that's coming maybe there's something
bad that was going to be coming in the future and he just brought him to heaven just to
help him not to have to deal with it you know we don't know why god does what he does but
i'll tell you this god is the one who causes these natural disasters god is in control
of these natural disasters and god is sending them as a punishment upon many people other
people that are innocent they feel it as well they get hurt as well they die as well but
god can also protect the righteous that's why we should pray for those that are righteous
and you know if you know people in that area then you know pray for them that they will
be safe because of the fact that you know you don't want the righteous to be destroyed
with the wicked but we need to get off this this worldly kick and this is the problem
with people who spend too much time listening to the news and reading the newspaper or following
the news you start to pick up their mentality because they're not going to even bring god
into this at all they're not going to mention god it's like god has nothing to do with it
it's all just by chance it's all just because of our exhaust fumes or it's all just because
you know uh whatever we need to get it in our mind and that's why you come to church
to get a biblical perspective when all you hear out there is just a worldly perspective
and say you know what god's punishing a lot of wicked people right now amen god's punishing
a lot of sin and god is also not just punishing he's also just displaying his power because
he said that that will cause people to fear him and to turn to him and to call upon him
and we need to get back to the fear of god in this many people don't fear god because
they have the wrong view of who god is they have the wrong impression of god and if they
would come face to face with the god of the bible they would fear and the bible says the
fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom
the fear of the lord is the beginning of understanding and we need the fear of the lord in our nation
maybe that's why god has to send the temple maybe that's why he has to send a storm maybe
that's why he has to send the whirlwind in order that man might fear before now he shouldn't
have to oh the men would praise the lord for his goodness for his wonderful works till
the children went to god that they would look at all the bounty and plenty and prosperity
and say wow thank god but no they thank themselves they bless their own heart and they think
that it's all through their doing and then when the bad things happen they don't think
that that's their doing now all of a sudden you know god help us and you know often times
he will because he's a loving god because he's a merciful god and so what we ought to
be praying right now is that people who are getting blasted with these natural disasters
wherever they're taking place across the world we have to be praying that they will look
at this and turn to god and that whatever good churches are in those areas will be able
to win many souls to christ because maybe people would be thinking about their own mortality
maybe they'll be thinking about hey I'm not going to live forever you know even though
I'm 18, 19, 20, 25 you know this huge storm is coming maybe that will make them take the
gospel a little bit more seriously that's what I would be praying that it would cause
people to turn to god and fear before him and get saved and also that people would basically
turn away from sin and say you know what that you know I'm living in sin and I wonder
if I'm the Jonah for the reason why this is coming upon us you know maybe some backslidden
preacher would get right with god and get in the pulpit tonight and preach a real sermon
for the first time in decades because he realizes that hey maybe I'm Jonah here maybe I'm a
Did I return to Jeremiah? Yeah the Bible says in Jeremiah 23 19 behold a whirlwind of the
Lord is God's fourth impurity even in grievous whirlwind it shall fall grievously upon the
head of the wicked the anger of the Lord shall not return until he has executed until he
has performed the thoughts of his heart in the latter days he shall consider it perfectly
and by the way that's the time we're living in look at chapter 25 I'm just about done
chapter 25 verse 32 thus saith the Lord of hosts behold evil shall go forth from nation
to nation and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coast of the earth and the slain
of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even under the other end
of the earth they shall not be lamented neither gathered nor buried they shall be dumb upon
the ground how will you shepherds and cry and wallow yourselves in the ashes ye principle
of the flock for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished and
ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel and the shepherds shall have no way to flee nor the
principle of the flock to escape a voice of the cry of the shepherds and howling of the
principle of the flock shall be heard for the Lord hath spoiled their pasture and the
peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the Lord look at chapter
30 Jeremiah chapter 30 the Bible reads behold Jeremiah 30 23 behold the whirlwind of the
Lord goeth forth with fury a continuing whirlwind it shall fall with pain upon the head of the
wicked the fierce anger of the Lord shall not return until he hath done it and until
he hath performed the intents of his heart in the latter days he shall consider it and
until God is clear again he'll send the whirlwind and it's going to fall on the head of the
wicked and destroy them he's sending in wrath he's sending in judgment and you know I've
learned there but in Luke 21 you know of course the famous passage about the second coming
of Jesus Christ about the end of the world and this is the one where in Matthew 24 he
goes into the tribulation and the rapture and the sound of the trumpet and all that
stuff and then same thing in Mark chapter 13 well in Luke 21 it's kind of a parallel
passage it goes into some of the same things a little bit different but it goes into some
of the same things and he says in verse 25 and this is Luke 21 25 and there shall be
tides in the sun and in the moon and in the stars and this is parallel if you compare
with Matthew 24 and Mark 13 where God is going to darken the sun and moon the sun and moon
will be darkened and then Jesus Christ comes in the clouds and it says in verse number
25 there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars and upon the earth
distress of nations of perplexity and listen to this the sea and the waves roaring men's
hearts failing them for fear basically having a heart attack because they're so scared and
for looking after those things which are coming on the earth for the powers of heaven shall
be shaken and then shall they see the son of man coming in a cloud with power and great
glory and when these things begin to come to pass then look up and lift up your heads
for your redemption draw up nigh now I know that Tim LaHaye and everybody's got their
little left behind lie series and this is what I'm going to say why would independent
fundamental Baptists who are King James only and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ why
are they watching movies put out by these so called Christians who are preaching work
salvation who are preaching another gospel who preach that you have to turn away from
all your sins and stop singing and start living the Christian life and start following
Christ a total work salvation is what's preached by way of the master Kirk Cameron Ray
comfort and then they put out a movie on the second coming of Christ and you expect to
be accurate their gospel is not accurate their bible their bible is not accurate their NIV
that they carry around everything else they preach is false so why would you expect them
to preach the truth on the second coming of Christ and it's a big lie this thing where
everybody disappears and you're like where is everybody that is not biblical at all where
you're wondering oh what happened where is everybody and people just disappear and
everything's fine everything's don't know look I'm not preaching the whole sermon on
this I'd like to just preach the whole sermon right now but the thing is the bible is so
clear he said that the same day that Noah got in the ark it rained the same day the
flood came and took them all away he said the same day that Lot went out of Sodom and
Gomorrah God rained fire and brimstone and he said so shall it be also the days of the
coming of the son of man and the bible is clear that when Jesus Christ comes in the
clouds it's not going to be a secret rapture like they teach where it's just everybody
dum dum dum dum dum there's all these little piles of clothes cars are crashing airplanes
are crashing here's the funny thing about that too they always have way too many people
going up in the rapture I mean that's a sad that's a sad truth for all the way it was
leaked to the strip you know planes are going up I mean what percentage of pilots are really
safe than just every plane is coming down I mean we know they're missing a lot of church
you know most of them have to work on Sunday you think about it I'm not saying they're
not safe I'm sure that there are many safe pilots but let me tell you something I have
a prediction that I'm going to make right now there's not a single plane coming down
in the rapture rapids you know why are you listening to me there's not a single plane
in the world that's going to crash and I'm just guessing but it's an educated guess and
here's why because nobody's going to be flying a plane on a day when the sun and moon are
darkened and the stars are falling out of the sky and there's a waves roaring and a
tidal wave crashing over every continent I don't think that people are going to be go
let's go see grandma in Kansas let's get on the plane but you see in their Hollywood version
everything's just dumb dumb dumb and then it happens no the bible is clear he says that
before it happens the sun and moon are going to be darkened he said the stars are going
to fall from the sky there's going to be a great earthquake there's going to be a tidal
wave there's going to be all these things happening and we see it all laid out in Matthew
24, Mark 13, Luke 21 all these different places it's not going to be a secret rapture that's
totally unbiblical the bible says behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see
him did you hear me they shall see him coming in the clouds and somebody will try to tell
you oh he's going to come but it's a secret he said no when he comes it'll be like the
lightning that shines in the east and shines on the west when he comes back it will be
seen everywhere the bible says the heaven will depart as a scroll when it's rolled together
and then they shall they see the coming of the son of man and then shall all the tribes
of the earth mourn and then the sound of the trumpet and then he'll gather his elect from
the four winds and then we'll be caught up together with them in the clouds look it's
not going to be something where everybody's just wondering wow people disappeared but
everything else seems fine no and look maybe planes will fall out of the sky okay whatever
but I don't think any planes are even probably going to be flying if all this cataclysm is
happening leading up to the rapture of the sun and moon being darkened now obviously
god pours out his wrath on this earth he doesn't start burning up the trees and all that until
after the rapture you know after the rapture is where he starts turning the water into
the blood and raining fire and brimstone that doesn't happen before the rapture that
happens right after the rapture okay it begins to happen in revelation chapter eight when
in revelation eight he starts to pour out fire and brimstone just like he said the same
day lock went out he rained fire and brimstone the same day that we are caught up in the
clouds he'll rain fire and brimstone they're not going to be wondering where is everybody
they're going to be wondering where is shelter from the fire and brimstone that's falling
on my head a half hour later exactly a half hour after the rapture the bible says he's
going to pour out fire and brimstone upon the earth but everybody's going to be wondering
where is everybody everybody's going to be listening to little cassette tapes if you're
listening to this it means i disappeared all these little hollywood movies and so yes the
worst is coming after the rapture where god pours out his wrath where god's actually burning
up the trees turning the water into blood and and you know causing people to have sores
everybody who took the mark of the beast can be taken out covered in sores and all this
stuff you know i've preached all that stuff in revelation but even before the rapture
the bible says the sun and the moon will be darkened before the rapture period and the
stars will start to fall from the sky before the rapture the tidal waves are coming before
the rapture the earthquake it's all happening leading up to it so it's not going to be something
where uh you know it just happens in like hey you can come before the end of the service
no and that's a whole nother sermon and you know i hope if you've been deceived by that
then sorry it's not my fault you know but the bible says in matthew 24 and mark 13
and luke 21 and second thessalonians chapter 2 and luke 17 and on uh so what i'm saying
is that someday there's a really big tidal wave coming someday there are great big earthquakes
coming and these things that you see right here like this hurricane and this earthquake
these are just tiny little precursors to it they're just a little foreshadowing because
a lot of people will look at some of these things like they looked at that oil spill
and they said this is the book of revelation where he turns the water into blood no but
it's just a little foreshadowing of it or like when that volcano erupted in isla remember
that was that less than a year ago when that volcano erupted in isla and no planes could
fly for several weeks in europe because the the dust or the smoke from the volcano you
know darkened the whole sky and they couldn't even fly planes for weeks and they said is
this the part where god opened the bottomless pit and the smoke arose out of the pit and
the sun of the earth no but it was just a little tiny taste of it just a little force
just a warning from god saying hey not only this is what i can do but this is what i am
going to do and if you read the book of revelation he's going to do all that stuff and so men
need to beware and fear before and understand that god sends rain on the just and on the
unjust doesn't just fall on its own volition god controls the weather let's bow our eyes
and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for your word dear god and i just
pray that you would help us to not only seek you when things are going bad but help us
to pray and thank you when things are going good and to praise you when things are going
well in our lives that way you won't have to send bad things to get our attention so
that we'll remember you help us to remember you during the good times and to call upon
you during the bad times and father i just pray that you would just help our church dear
god and your people to take this message to heart and to stop and stand in awe of your
power with the weather and with the forces of nature and in jesus name we pray amen