For more information about our teaching and preaching ministry, you can find us online at cornerstoneorlando.org. The following sermon has been brought to you by Cornerstone Orlando, making disciples for the glory of God. The title of our sermon this afternoon is The Sea Monster. The Sea Monster, and that title is based off of Jonah 1, verse 17, which will be the main focus this afternoon. Chapter one, verse 17, and the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights. I was thinking earlier about Jane Austen. I have never read one of Jane Austen's books, but I know a little bit about Jane Austen's books for whatever reason. She was a very intelligent author in the 17th century, and what you find if you read Jane Austen is that in her different stories, her period pieces, sometimes there are characters that look similar to one another. Even though they're different stories, different books, sometimes those characters will look similar. For example, she'll have, in those period pieces, she'll have somebody who is a soldier. A soldier in uniform. And that soldier in uniform, whatever story you're talking about, for whatever reason, that soldier in uniform is always the bad guy. The soldier in uniform is always the villain of the story. And in the same way, that's intertextuality in Jane Austen. In the same way in the Bible, actually, you can see intertextuality throughout all the Old Testament and the New Testament. And there is a character who is introduced here, namely the sea monster, who is the villain of our story. We see him named in other texts of scripture, and we're gonna learn a little bit about that. The Leviathan is an elusive creature. He's an elusive creature that pops up with different names all over the Old and New Testaments. The Leviathan is described as a dragon, always in the sea. The sea like what we can find in Jonah chapter one. Job 41 has a lot to say about this dragon, about the Leviathan. God says to Job, can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook? See how Leviathan is in the sea? Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth is terror. And he describes it even as breathing fire, very interestingly. His sneezes flash forth light and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Out of his mouth go burning torches, sparks of fire leap forth. Out of his nostrils, smoke goes forth as from a boiling pot and burning rushes. His breath kindles coals and a flame goes forth from his mouth. This is a dragon, this Leviathan. This beast is definitely stronger than Job or Jonah for that matter, but definitely stronger. In fact, God says that it doesn't flee from any man. Quote, the arrow cannot make him flee. It's the biggest player in the ocean. Psalm 104, there is the sea great and broad in which are swarms without number. Animals both small and great. There the ships move along and Leviathan, which you have formed to sport in it. This Leviathan lives in the sea. He lives among the ships. He is the biggest player in the ocean. Leviathan is described in several places as being associated with a stormy sea, like what we see in Jonah chapter one. Quote, he quieted the sea with his power, and by his understanding, he shattered Rahab. Rahab is another word, another synonym for the Leviathan. God quieted the sea with his power, so the sea was stormy. God quieted it, and by his understanding, he shattered Rahab. By his breath, the heavens are cleared. The skies were really cloudy, really stormy, and God, by his breath, he clears the heavens. His hand has pierced the fleeing serpent. So what's the significance of this very interesting, curious creature that pops up all over the place? Why does he pop up in the Bible, especially in highly metaphorical or poetic literature, or in here, typological literature? Why is he all over the place? Why does he get judged by God in just about every text that he's mentioned in? Why does Job describe him as being so strong? Why is he called a serpent? Why is he a monster that dwells in the stormy sea? And what on earth does any of this have to do with the book of Jonah? We're gonna answer some of those questions in this text. Jonah 1, verse 17, the sea monster. We're gonna see in this verse here, we're gonna divide it up really into four main points. First of all, the purpose of the great fish. Many commentators debate, was this fish appointed by God for salvation or for judgment? So we're gonna answer that question, the purpose of the great fish. Secondly, the identity of the great fish. We're gonna look at the different translations of the Old Testament here, how Jesus Christ refers to this great fish in Matthew chapter 12, and we're gonna figure out who this fish is. What is the identity of this fish? Thirdly, by way of application, By way of application, we are going to look at the end of the fleeing sinner, Jonah, the end of the fleeing sinner, and then the end of the fleeing serpent, which is Leviathan. The purpose of the great fish, the identity of the great fish, the end of the fleeing sinner, and the end of the fleeing serpent. Point number one, the purpose of the great fish. Look at Jonah 1, verse 17. Jonah 1, verse 17. And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights. Many commentators, They look at certain language in chapter 2, and the conclusion that they come up with is Jonah is hurled into the sea, the sea stops its raging so that it would no longer come against that boat, but just against Jonah. Jonah descends into the sea, he cries out to God in the water, and so God appoints a fish to come and save him. That's how many commentators, many godly commentators, Puritans, that's how many godly commentators will interpret the book of Jonah here and this fish. They'll say it was appointed by God for salvation. In fact, I'll say, but in fact, we can find in the book of Jonah itself, the way that it presents this fish is that it was appointed by God for judgment. The purpose of the great fish is for judgment. We're going to find that in the language of verse 17. Look at the verse, and the Lord appointed. As I stated at the very beginning of this series, key words are very important in Old Testament poetic literature. And here the word appointed is used four times, four times in the book of Jonah. You can look at Jonah chapter four, flip the page to the right. Jonah is the pouting prophet in Jonah chapter four, and God is going to teach Jonah an object lesson. Verse six of chapter four, so the Lord God appointed, He appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his discomfort. Why does God do this? It's to teach Jonah a lesson. It's to be an object lesson to Jonah. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant. Verse seven, but God, there's the word again, but God appointed, he appointed a worm. when dawn came the next day. And what did the worm do? It attacked the plant and it withered. So God has, he's appointed a plant. This plant is a shade over Jonah. Jonah's very, very happy, very pleased with this plant. And then God appoints a worm to come and attack the plant so that it would die. Sometimes God teaches us a lesson by giving us something and then taking it back. He teaches us a lesson in that. He taught Job a lesson in that. Verse eight, when the sun came up, God, appointed a scorching east wind to do what? The sun beat down on Jonah's head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die. This word is used very intentionally in the book of Jonah. It's used to indicate that God is bringing temporal suffering upon the prophet. That's the point of that word. God appoints a fish to consume Jonah, and then later in Jonah chapter four, when he starts misbehaving again, God appoints a plant, and then he takes it away by appointing a worm, so that Jonah, the thing that he was extremely happy about, was taken away, and then God appoints a scorching east wind. And it's to teach Jonah a lesson. is to teach Jonah a lesson. So even from the word appoint, we can find that in the book of Jonah itself, this fish is appointed by God really for judgment, for temporal suffering. It's a temporal judgment. The Lord God appointed a great fish to do what? To swallow Jonah. And this word is used all throughout the Old Testament as a judgment word. One example of this is the people of Korah. In Korah's rebellion, what was their end? The earth opened up and it swallowed Korah. This is a word that's used all throughout the Old Testament to indicate judgment. God swallows up his enemies. Sheol swallows up its inhabitants. And here Jonah is swallowed up by this great fish. And Jonah was in the stomach of the fish. Jonah chapter two, verse one, then Jonah prayed to God, prayed to the Lord as God from the stomach of the fish. There's an emphasis placed on where Jonah is. He's in the stomach of the fish, three days and three nights. I called out of my distress to the Lord and he answered me. I cried for help from, and here the Nazbi gets it wrong. I was very disappointed. The Nazbi gets it wrong here. The word is, it's a Hebrew word, betin. It means the womb or the stomach, the belly. Jonah was in the belly of Sheol. He's in the belly of the fish, he's in the belly of Sheol. Septuagint uses the same exact word for both. Jonah being in the stomach of the fish is akin to him being in the stomach of the grave. And so from that, we also see that this great fish is not deliverance, he's being consumed by the grave. And lastly, and this is the most compelling reason from verse 17, How long was he in the fish? Three days and three nights. How does the Lord Jesus Christ interpret this verse in Matthew chapter 12? He says, just as Jonah was in the stomach of the sea monster for three days and three nights, so the son of man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. And so Jesus Christ, the way that he interprets the great fish is he interprets it as being typological of his own grave. Just as Jonah was in the fish for three days and three nights, so Jesus Christ was in his tomb for three days. You see, the tomb, in systematic theology, the tomb is a component of Jesus Christ's humiliation. It's not his exaltation. Jesus isn't exalted until he is resurrected. He's not delivered from death until he's resurrected. The tomb is a part of his humiliation. And so rightly, rightly do we assign this fish as a work of God's judgment on Jonah. Make sense? It's not a work of deliverance. And we'll interpret chapter two when we get there, why he speaks in this way. But the fact of the matter is, God appoints a great fish just as he appointed this plant, and then appointed a worm, and then appointed a scorching east wind to teach Jonah an object lesson. It's a sign of judgment. He was swallowed by it, which is a judgment term. He was in its stomach, and Jonah says, I cried out from the stomach of Sheol. And then Jesus Christ interprets it as being a type of his own grave. The fish was appointed by God for judgment, for judgment. We've seen the purpose, the purpose of the great fish. Now we have to ask ourselves, what is the identity? What is the identity of the great fish? And we're gonna learn this primarily from the translations, from the translations of this word. In chapter one, verse 17, the Lord God appointed a great fish in Hebrew, a dog, gadol. Dog is fish, gadol is great. He appointed a great fish. The Septuagint, the translators of the Old Testament into Greek, this was before Jesus Christ was born, before he became incarnate in the 2nd century BC, the translators of the Septuagint put Ketos, which is a sea monster. They could have put an Ichthys. That was a term that's used in the early church. for Christians to identify themselves. It was an acronym that they used. Ichthys, the letter I, Yesus, Jesus. The letter Chi, Christos, Jesus Christ. Theta, Theos, God. Iota stood for Hwios, I'm sorry, Upsilon Hwios, which is son. And then Sigma, which is Soter, Jesus Christ, son of God, savior. It was a term that they, It was an acronym that they used. The word ichthys, that's why we have that symbol that you see on the back of people's cars. It looks like a fish. It's because it stands for Jesus Christ. He is my savior, is what people are saying. And that is the regular Greek word for fish. Everywhere else in the Old Testament, everywhere else, except here in the book of Jonah, they translated the word dog as ichthys. Fish is fish, very clearly. But here, in Jonah 1 verse 17, they translated great fish as sea monster. A sea monster. Why would they do that? Why would they translate it as sea monster? And why would Jesus Christ affirm that translation? He said Jonah was in the stomach of the sea monster. Jesus affirmed that translation. He said the Septuagint got it right. They interpreted it correctly. Why? Why would the translators of the Septuagint not put a great fish? Why did they put sea monster? In Job chapter 3, we're gonna do a survey of the book of Job to see what their rationale was. You can turn to the book of Job, Job chapter 3. In Job chapter 3, the Leviathan is mentioned for the first time in this book, and it's really mentioned several times. Job mentions the Leviathan several times. Job begins his lament here in chapter 3. Everything was taken away from him, and he curses the day that he was born. Verse 8. Let those curse it, that is my day of birth. Let those curse it who curse the day, who are prepared to rouse Leviathan. The point that he's making is probably something, it's poetic literature. Again, he's using Leviathan to talk about a great sea creature. he's essentially speaking of sailors. Even back then, sailors had a really bad reputation for cursing. He's saying, in the same way that sailors curse about everything, let them cast some of their curses on my day of birth. That's what Job is saying. The point is, is that here, the Hebrew Leviathan is translated by the Septuagint as sea monster. A sea monster. Job chapter 9, Verse 13, Job 9, verse 13. Here we find another synonym in Hebrew for the Leviathan. It's the word Rahab. Rahab was a sea monster. It was a mythical creature in ancient Near Eastern literature, even outside of the Bible. And Rahab was used in the Bible to describe Pharaoh. Job 9, 13, God will not turn back his anger. Beneath him crouch the helpers of Rahab. It was a mythological sea monster, Rahab was, and it was a synonym for Leviathan. And here again, the Septuagint translates it, sea monster, sea monster, ketos. Job chapter 26, few pages to the right, beginning at verse 12, Job is speaking about God's power and his greatness. Job chapter 26, Verse 12, he quieted the sea with his power. You see how this Leviathan, this sea dragon, this sea serpent, this fleeing serpent, you see how it inhabits a stormy sea like what we find in Jonah chapter one? By his breath, the heavens are cleared. His hand, I'm sorry, verse 12, he quieted the sea with his power. And by his understanding, he shattered Rahab. Ketos, sea monster, is how they translated it. By his breath, the heavens are cleared. His hand has pierced the fleeing serpent. In poetic literature, you have parallelism in order to identify two things. Here, Rahab is identified with the fleeing serpent. And in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, it's sea monster, and the way they translate the serpent is dragon. You hear all these synonyms that are in the ancient near Eastern intertestamental Jews mind when he's translating? Dragon, sea monster, fleeing serpent, Rahab. And then lastly, Job chapter one, in the climax of this book, God is speaking to Job. Job chapter 41 verse one, can you draw out Leviathan? Now, earlier in the book, at the very beginning of the book, they translated that as sea monster. Here, very interestingly, they translate it as dragon. In the Septuagint, can you draw out the dragon with a fish hook? Or press down his tongue with a cord? Verse eight, lay your hand on him, the Leviathan. Remember the battle, you will not do it again. Behold, your expectation is false. And this is so interesting, the parallels, the intertextuality. Will you be laid low even at the sight of him? That word laid low means hurled down. That's what happened to Jonah, right? The Holy Spirit is the author of both books. I'm not saying the human authors were aware of this, but the Holy Spirit certainly was. He authored both. Men were carried along by the Holy Spirit and they spoke from God. Doubtless, doubtless, this is exactly what the Holy Spirit had in mind in authoring the book of Jonah. Jonah was hurled down at the sight of Leviathan. Verse 28, the arrow cannot make him flee. Leviathan doesn't flee anything, right? Leviathan doesn't flee man. But then why was he called earlier in this book, the fleeing serpent? Who does Leviathan flee from? If not from man, if not from the arrow, he flees from God. He is under God's judgment. He is a servant of God, a wayward servant. Jonah is much like Leviathan in that. Verse 31, the Leviathan makes the depths. In Jonah chapter two, that's the word that's used for where Jonah is. He's in the depths. He calls out from the deep. He makes the depths boil like a pot. He makes the sea like a jar of ointment. You see how he lives in the same place where Jonah is? Behind him, he makes a wake to shine. One would think the deep to be gray-haired. Nothing on earth is like him, one made without fear. He looks on everything that is high. He is king over all the sons of pride. This Leviathan, this fleeing serpent, this sea dragon, this mythological creature is the king over all the sons of pride. Who is that? Who is that? What is the implication here? Revelation chapter 12, which Pastor Mark preached through this morning, so it's fresh on our minds. Revelation chapter 12, verse seven. The Apostle John picks up on this motif, okay, because it's not only in the book of Job, it's all throughout the Old Testament. The Apostle John picks up on this motif, the Leviathan, the sea monster, the dragon, the fleeing serpent, Rahab, all these synonyms for the same mythological creature. The Apostle John picks up on that and he says in Revelation 12 verse seven, and there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. the dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old, who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him, hurled down, we could say. I know that's not the translation there, but the point is, the implication of all of this is one, that you can turn back to the book of Jonah. One, that the translators of the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek, they also recognized this motif, this very motif that the apostle John picks up on. They said, well, the Hebrew Old Testament It equates the terms Leviathan, Rahab, serpent, dragon, will do the same thing. And they added the word sea monster. And that's exactly the word that's used here in Jonah 1, verse 17. Very interesting, very curious. And the Lord appointed a sea monster, which is exactly what Jesus Christ calls it. The Lord appointed a sea monster to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights. What's the implication? What's the implication here? Jonah is being judged, which we already determined. Jonah is being judged by God. He's being cast into the sea, into the realm of the dead, where Leviathan lives. In the New Testament, Satan is the one who has the power of death. Satan, in certain texts of scripture, is an executioner for God. He is the one who brought death into the world. He lives in the realm of the sea, the place of chaos. That's why in Revelation 21, it says, There will be no more sea. There will be no more death. The place of death is out of the picture now. That's the point. And Satan is going to be cast into the lake of fire. Here, the sea monster is an agent of death for Jonah. Chapter two, how does Jonah describe the belly of the fish? I cried out of my distress to the Lord and he answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol. He describes this fish as the underworld. You heard my voice for you'd cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, just like we saw in the book of Job. This is where the Leviathan lives. He makes it like a boiling pot because he breathes fire. The current engulfed me, all your breakers and billows passed over me. So I said, I've been expelled from your sight. Nevertheless, I will look again toward your holy temple. He's out of the special presence of God in this underworld, in the deep, in this place of the dead. Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me. A reed was wrapped around my head, and we'll get to that. I descended to the roots of the mountains. In the ancient Near Eastern mind, the roots of the mountains was the furthest place you could go down before entering into the underworld. The earth with its bars was, it should be translated, behind me. I'm under the earth. I'm in the underworld. So the sea monster, the point is that I want you to get is the sea monster is an agent of God for Jonah's death and judgment. And it's the same way with Satan. Jonah is a type of Jesus Christ, right? Jonah is a type of Jesus Christ. And what did Satan do to Judas Iscariot? He entered him so that Jesus would be handed over to be crucified. The sea monster at work, the sea monster at work. By way of application here, We'll look at two main texts. As we're thinking, as we're closing the first chapter of the book of Jonah, what have we seen? What have we seen? We've seen a fleeing prophet, a fleeing sinner. And I've asked you several times, several times as we've been working through Jonah chapter one, are you like Jonah? Did you rise up to flee? And do you go down, down, down in your spiritual descent, eventually to the roots of the mountains? Jonah sleeping in a storm, Like many do when they're trying to hide from the presence of God when they have a guilty conscience and they have not washed it with the blood of Jesus Christ, they have not turned from their sin. Have you been like Jonah? I have to put in front of your face one of the greatest parallels in the book of Jonah to another Old Testament prophet. Turn with me to the book of Amos. To the book of Amos. It's a couple pages to the left, one page to the left. Amos chapter nine. Amos chapter nine, we're going to see the end of the fleeing sinner. You examine your life. Am I fleeing from the presence of God? Do I hide from his presence? Can I stand in the presence of God and ask him to search me? Or am I like Jonah fleeing from his presence? Amos chapter nine, verse one. I heard the Lord standing beside the altar and he said, smite the capitals so that the thresholds will shake and break them on the heads of them all. Then I will slay the rest of them with the sword. God is bringing judgment, right? He's bringing judgment. And what does he say about those that he's bringing judgment upon? He says, they will not have a fugitive who will flee. These people that God is punishing aren't going to be able to flee from him. They will not have a refugee who will escape. Where do they try to escape to? Verse two, though they dig into Sheol, I like where Jonah is in Jonah chapter two. Though they dig into Sheol, from there my hand will take them. And though they ascend to heaven, from there I will bring them down. Though they hide on the summit of Carmel, I will search them out and take them from there. God is omnipresent. That's a great comfort for a believer that God is omnipresent. He's with me at all times. But for the unbeliever, that's terrifying. You can't hide yourself from the face of God. He will find you no matter wherever you try to hide. I will search them out and take them from there. And though they conceal themselves from my sight on the floor of the sea, from there I will command the serpent and it will bite them." This is a great parallel to the book of Jonah. Jonah is like these fugitives who are trying to flee from God's wrath, flee from his judgment, rowing desperately to reach dry land, but they cannot. And God says, You won't be able to flee from me. Either you repent or you're gonna be cast into the depth of the sea, and from there I will command the serpent and it will bite them. By way of inquiry and self-searching, ask yourself, are you fleeing God? Do you take responsibility? When others come to you, when others come to you and they show you your sin, they tell you your sin, to your face? Do you take responsibility? Or do you cover up and conceal and excuse and justify? Are you able, when someone comes to you and rebukes you, are you able to get on your knees and cry out to the Lord? When was the last time that you cried out to God for mercy? Do you take responsibility for your own sin? Can you admit it? Or do you always make excuses, always try to justify your sin from scripture because you're humiliated? because you don't want to change your behavior. Are you like that? Or do you take personal responsibility for your sin? Do you flee God in that way? Do you have a plagued conscience? Can you say with Paul, I have had up until this day a clear conscience in the sight of God. Do you have a clear conscience in the sight of God and man? Husbands, do you have a clear conscience with your wife? Wives, do you have a clear conscience with your husbands? Children, with your parents? Brothers and brothers, do you have a clear conscience also in the sight of man? John Owen, in his exposition of Psalm 130, he spoke about his own spiritual walk and what led him to a greater understanding of his need for a mediator. I have felt this so many times in my own life, what he's talking about here. In the course of a conversation between him and a young man, Dr. Owen, he put the question, young man, Pray, in what manner do you think to go to God? If you have a clear side of your sin, if you do take responsibility, if you do take responsibility, you can only come to one conclusion. I can only come to God in one way. The young man, he replied, he said, through the mediator, sir. And John Owen, he responded, he said, I assure you, it's quite another thing to go to God through the mediator than many who make the use of the expression are aware of. Is that you? Do you say it? You know the Orthodox answer, you know the catechism, you know the confession, you know what Reformed people say, and so you repeat it like a parrot. Somebody asks you, in what manner do you think that you can go to God? And you say, well, of course, through Jesus Christ. Do you have any idea of the import of that answer? Have you considered, do you have any practical application of that, experience of that? John Owen, he said, I myself preached Christ some years when I had but very little, if any, experimental acquaintance with access to God through Christ. Until the Lord, until the Lord was pleased to visit me with sore affliction, whereby I was brought to the mouth of the grave and under which my soul was oppressed with horror and darkness. But God graciously relieved my spirit by a powerful application of Psalm 130 verse four. It says this, there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. From whence, from that text, I received special instruction, peace and comfort in drawing near to God through the mediator. And I preached thereupon immediately after my recovery. If you don't know now, you will certainly know at the time of your death, what it feels like to visit in your memory bank all of the times that you've sinned against God. If you are not walking now with a clean conscience, Christians can walk with an unclean conscience. Does death scare you? Are you afraid of death because your conscience has been nagging you for a long time about that one thing? Have you been like Jonah for so many years, running away from the presence of God? unwilling, unwilling to say, just as the psalmist, search me, O God. Can you say that? Can you pray that? Do you pray that? Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me. I'm asking you, try me, and know my anxious thoughts. See if there be any harmful way within me and lead me in the everlasting way. I give it all up to you. Search every deep and dark crevice within my heart, within my life, and I will give it up to you. I will repent. Is that you? Do you have a clean conscience like that? Or are you running away, running away, running away, sleeping in the hold of the ship? What is the end of the fleeing sinner? From there, God will command his serpent and it will bite him. And it will bite him. What's your hope then? What's your hope? Is it good works? Is that your hope? Point number four, the end of the fleeing serpent. The end of the fleeing serpent. Look with me at Isaiah chapter 27. Isaiah chapter 27. We will, Lord willing, we will revisit this passage and include in it Isaiah chapter 26 when we get to Jonah chapter two, but for now, Isaiah chapter 27 verse one is very helpful for us. As we consider the sea monster, as we consider what the end of the fleeing sinner is, like Jonah, What is the end of the fleeing serpent? Isaiah chapter 27, verse one. In that day, the Lord will punish Leviathan, the fleeing serpent. Remember how we discussed from the book of Job, he doesn't flee the arrow, and yet he's called the fleeing serpent. Here and in the book of Job, Job chapter 26, he's called the fleeing serpent. What is he running away from? What's he running away from? He's running away from his judge. He's running away from God. In that day, the Lord will punish Leviathan, the fleeing serpent, with his fierce and great and mighty sword, even Leviathan, the twisted serpent, and he will kill the dragon who lives in the sea, which the apostle John takes and he applies to Satan. He says that the dragon is a type, is a type of Satan. We'll make some of these connections later, Lord willing. Look with me, look with me at the book of Psalms and Psalm chapter 74. What is the end of the fleeing serpent? There, God punishes the fleeing serpent. He slays it with his great and awesome sword. Here, Psalm 74, beginning at verse 12. Yet God is my King from of old, who works deeds of deliverance in the midst of the earth. You divided the sea, there it is again, like the Red Sea. You divided the sea. The sea was a place of judgment. The Red Sea was a place of judgment. You divided the sea by your strength. You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan. You see how the sea monster is Leviathan? And you see how the end of Leviathan, the end of this dragon, the end of the serpent of old, the end of the agent of death, God's executioner, what is his end? His head will be crushed, and his head was crushed by Jesus Christ on the cross. Genesis chapter three, the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. Here, Psalm 74, Jesus Christ crushes the heads, the seven heads, as it is in Revelation chapter 12, the seven heads Jesus Christ crushes of the leviathan. What do we need? What do we need in order to escape the wrath of God? We need a savior who crushes the one who has the power of death. Hebrews 2. Many, many texts that we could go to, many texts that we could visit. Hebrews 2. Verse 14. I mentioned the fear of death earlier. Hebrews 2, verse 14. Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same. Jesus Christ became incarnate. He took upon himself all of our common infirmities, yet without sin. He had a human body. He had a human mind. He had a human heart. He had a human conscience, a human will. Jesus Christ partook of the same nature that we have. He's not ashamed to call us brethren. Why did he do it? That through death, he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil. In the book of Jonah, Jonah fleeing from the presence of God, and what is the end of the fleeing sinner? He is eaten by the one who has the power of death. Jesus Christ destroyed him who had the power of death, and he did it in a most curious and unexpected way. How did he crush the head of the serpent who had the power of death? By dying, by dying, he took our place on the cross. All of your covetousness, cast upon Jesus Christ. All of your lies, cast upon Jesus Christ. All of your adultery, cast upon Jesus Christ. All of your murder, cast upon Jesus Christ. All of your outbursts of wrath and your anger that is unjust, he cast upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He died at our place. He was bit by the serpent. so that we wouldn't have to be. Can you praise God and thank God with me? If you're in Jesus Christ, thank God, thank God that the solution for a guilty conscience is not by good works, the solution for a guilty conscience. Hebrews chapter eight is the blood of Jesus Christ. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Jesus Christ, through his death, has rendered powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and he cleansed your conscience with his own blood. Brothers and sisters, if you have, as I said, if you've been fleeing from the presence of God, sleeping in the hold of the ship, and you have an unclean conscience, what do you do? Turn your head up? Look to Jesus Christ for cleansing? purification of your conscience, and then bear good fruit and do what you must to get a clean conscience. Turn from those works that have been defiling it. Romans chapter 6, we're talking about how Jesus Christ accomplishes everything for our salvation. Romans chapter 6, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound? After talking about how Jesus Christ is bit by the serpent so that we wouldn't have to, are you then going to continue in your sin? May it never be. Turn from whatever that is that your conscience is nagging you about. Turn from it. Not because you're afraid of death, but because Jesus died on your behalf and secured free pardon that you didn't have to work for so that you don't have to be afraid of death. You're no longer subject to the fear of death. Praise God for the greater Jonah, Jesus Christ, who was consumed by the sea monster so that we wouldn't have to be. Praise the Lord. Let's pray. Oh Lord, we love you. Our hearts are just burning as the scriptures are opened up to us, thinking about Jesus Christ and what he has done. We love you, Lord. We turn now from our sin. We turn now from our sin. We look toward your holy temple in the place where Jesus Christ stands as an intercessor on our behalf. We desire, we desire to do what is pleasing to you. Make us holy in your sight. In Christ's name, amen. Hello, and thanks for listening. My name is Mark Brashear, and I have the blessed privilege of serving with the saints at Cornerstone Church near Orlando, Florida. We're so grateful that you've connected with us through the sermon that you've just heard. For more information, visit us at cornerstoneorlando.org, or better yet, come and see us on the Lord's Day at 3370 Snow Hill Road in Oviedo, Florida. We're just east of Orlando and about 15 minutes from the campus at UCF. It would be a joy to have you worship with us.