All right, we're gonna be preaching again in Jonah, tonight, Jonah chapter one. Title of my message is, Whence Cometh the Tempest? I think I used that word right. So in Jonah chapter one, starting in 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 like to be broken. 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, the lightened of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship and he lay and was fast asleep. So the ship master 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, every one 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? And what is thy country? And of what people art thou? And he said unto them, I am a 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, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? For the sea wrought and was tempestuous. And he said unto 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 upon you. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to bring it to the land, but they could not, for the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them. Father God, Lord, I pray that you would be with me tonight as I preached the word, God, that you would keep me from error, Lord. Give us a message from your Holy Spirit, God, and I just pray, Lord, that you would open our ears to your word. Lord, we pray for those, again, God, who are in the path of this hurricane, God, that's coming right now. Lord, we pray for those that are still recovering from the last hurricane, God. We know that the storms are in your hand, God. We just pray for mercy, God. Lord, I just pray again that you would keep me from error tonight, God. It's in Jesus' name I pray, amen. So Jonah is on his way to Tarshish. He's fleeing from God's presence. He was told to go to Nineveh and preach to that great city and cry against it because of the wickedness of that city. But Jonah chose to disobey God because he did not want to give Nineveh a chance to repent of their sins and find mercy in the eyes of God. He wanted Nineveh to be judged for their wickedness, to get what was coming to them. But in his disobedience, he knows that he is bringing God's judgment upon himself. Not only upon himself, but upon the ship and those men that are within it. They are all in danger because of him. Jonah knows this, but the other men on the ship, they don't know yet who Jonah is or what he has done. But they know that there is something unnatural about the storm that they are caught in. It's said that God sent out a great wind I'm sure that the sailors of this ship were not strangers to wind at sea. The Mediterranean is known to be moody. Storms can arise at any time, but particularly in the fall and winter, the winds can be strong. Probably the sailors would know when the best times to sail were, and would be knowledgeable in the weather patterns that they were likely to encounter on their voyage. But this storm appears to be such that they assumed that it was of a divine origin, and they all cried out to their gods for fear. and the captain called upon Jonah to wake up and call upon his God to try and save them if it was possible for Jonah's God to do something about the storm. But the storm continued unabated, and so they went to the next level. In verse seven it said, 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. We've talked about lots a bit recently, The subject of lots comes up in the Bible a lot. We saw that the apostles cast lots to decide between Matthias and Joseph when they chose a replacement for the place of Judas. In Acts 1 it said, And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was surnamed Justice, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show whither of these two thou hast chosen. that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship from which Judas, by transgression, fell, that he might go to his own place. And they gave forth their lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles." I believe in this case that they had discussed and reasoned with one another who would be best suited to take on this role, and they ended up with two candidates that were generally agreed upon, and to make the final decision, they cast lots. They prayed first to the Lord and gave the final decision to Him through the determination of what many men might consider to be random chance. But as believers, they understood that random chance is not really random and that God controls everything, even the lot. Webster defines the lot as that which in human speech is called chance, hazard, fortune, but in strictness of language is the determination of providence. as the land shall be divided by lot, Numbers 26, or that by which the fate or portion of one is determined, that by which an event is committed to chance, that is, to the determination of providence, as to cast lots, to draw lots. And he quotes Proverbs 16, it says, the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Sometimes God commands the casting of lots, like in the dividing of the land among the children of Israel, or in some cases where God dispenses divine judgment, like in the case of the sin of Achan. I don't think that you can rightly say that every decision or even many decisions that a man makes could or should be resolved by the casting of lots. The Bible does say in Proverbs 18, the lot causeth contentions to cease. and parteth between the mighty. Sometimes disagreements may arise between parties that are too contentious for them to resolve amicably, and there might be a tendency among some to escalate the argument towards violence. But in the interest of peace, a wise man might suggest that they leave the matter up to God, and through the casting of lots, allow providence to decide the matter. Of course, a wise man, in the interest of peace, might also just accept the wrong. Many would probably not be willing to let the outcome of a contentious issue be decided in such a manner, as it wrests the control of the outcome from them and requires faith to believe that the whole disposing of the lot truly is of the Lord. And God may just not take your side. But it could be better than wasting much time or coming to blows over a matter that ultimately may not be as consequential as it seems in the moment. There may be times when it is a sin to cast lots. You should never be casting lots to avoid doing what God has told you to do. Now, in the case of direct command from God, it is not necessarily unreasonable to ask God to confirm what he has told you. We saw this with Gideon in Judges 6. It says, And the Lord looked upon him and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have not I sent thee? And he said unto him, O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that thou talkest with me. Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again. And Gideon went in and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour. The flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it. And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of his staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes. And there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. The Lord gave Gideon the sign that he asked for as a confirmation of what he was being told. Then a little further on, we see Gideon asks again for a sign, not once but twice, out of an abundance of caution, I suppose. It says, And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said, behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the floor, and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said. And it was so, for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water, And Gideon said unto God, let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once. Let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece. Let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night, for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground. Gideon here recognized that he might be over the line, asking God to not be angry with him as he asked for another confirmation. but the Lord suffers him and does give him the sign that he asked of him to confirm that he is not following some fanciful vision, but that indeed the Lord is going to deliver Israel through him. He even gives him more proof, knowing that Gideon might still have doubts in his heart because of the way that God intended to show that the deliverance was by his hand and not through the might of Israel. I think that when God deals directly with one man in this way, it is not necessarily wrong when that man seeks clarity through a sign. Most men have never had the experience, and I think it might be hard to know that you weren't imagining things, and a sane man would want to be sure that God is really communicating with you. But a man could sinfully seek a sign if he knew that God probably wouldn't approve of something that he intended to do, and try to cover it by saying, I'll cast a lot and see if it's God's will or not. Flipping a coin to see whether or not God wanted you to get on a boat to Tarshish instead of going to Nineveh, for instance. or whether you should let the bank know that there was an extra thousand dollars in your account that shouldn't be there. When you know what is right and what you should do, you shouldn't be seeking a sign otherwise. Then there's the example of Haman and Esther. It says, And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath, and he thought scorned to lay hands on Mordecai alone. For they had showed him the people of Mordecai, wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai. In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Purr, that is, the Lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar. Haman had determined already that he was going to destroy the Jews because of Mordecai. All he wanted to know was what day it should happen on. So he went through the calendar for every day and cast the lot to decide which day it should happen on. I'm sure he prayed to his idols and pagan gods to guide his choosing when the lot was cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof was of the Lord. We know how God ended up lifting Haman up on his own gallows that he had built for Mordecai, and Mordecai was promoted and the conspiracy to destroy the Jews was turned around on their enemies. I know there is so much more that could be said about lots from the scriptures, but the main point I want to make is that whether or not the lot is appropriate may be circumstantial, but still, the lot is in God's control. But that doesn't mean that God can be made to reveal hidden things to you just because you try to question Him through those types of means. And I would strongly advise that you don't do that, because that is really what divination is. In Jeremiah 14, it says, Then the Lord said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them. They prophesy unto you a false vision, and divination, and a thing of naught, and the deceit of their heart." Divination, it says in Webster's, the act of divining, of foretelling future events, or discovering things, secret or obscure, by the aid of superior beings, or by other than human means, The ancient heathen philosophers divided divination into two kinds, natural and artificial. Natural divination was supposed to be affected by a kind of inspiration. Artificial divination was affected by certain rites, experiments, or observations, as by sacrifices, cakes, flour, wine, observation of entrails, flights of birds, lots, verses, omens, position of the stars, etc. Some people seem to find omens and signs everywhere they look. but I don't think that we're supposed to be that way. We need to be able to recognize when God is trying to tell us something, but not assume that everything is God trying to tell us something. When God communicates with his people, he knows how to get their attention. The primary way that God will communicate with us today is through his word, his holy Bible, the King James Version. If we want to know what God has to say to us, that should be the first place that we look for his guidance. But if we aren't listening to what God has to say to us, God does know how to get our attention. And I think that God is getting Jonah's attention in this boat with this storm. He certainly has the attention of everyone else. These men on the ship with Jonah were not followers of Jehovah, but they decided to try and find the cause for why they were in this situation through the casting of lots, and God uses the lot to single out Jonah. 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 in 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 and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told them. So the men are exceedingly afraid now. Not only did they already have the notion that the storm was not normal, that it was sent by a divine being, although they didn't know what being that was or for what cause it was sent. But now they get told by Jonah that the truth is Jonah is a prophet of the Lord, and he is running from God. Not just any God, but the God, the God that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, the God that led Israel through the Red Sea and destroyed the armies of Egypt. I think they knew of the things that Jonah's God had done. And now they were trapped on a boat with this man who was in blatant sin, running from the presence of that God. And they asked him a very simple question. Why hast thou done this? I imagine Jonah may be asking himself the same question. Why did I do this? What did I really think was going to happen? Did Jonah really think that God was going to let him just sail away from his calling and live happily ever after? Verse 11 says, Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? For the sea wrought and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me up and cast me forth into the sea. So shall the sea be calm unto you. where I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you." Nevertheless, the men rode hard to bring it to the land, but they could not, for the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them. Jonah tells them that because this storm is on his account, that they should throw him into the sea. I don't know if the sailors thought that that was a good idea, because they continued to try to row the boat to shore. I don't know how that would sound to these men who were greatly afraid somewhat superstitious as sailors tend to be. Jonah says he is a prophet running from God and that they should throw him overboard to stop the storm. It kind of sounds like a trap. So they kept rowing, hoping to somehow get the boat to land. But it says that the sea wrought against them. It wrought and was tempestuous against them. Wrought means it worked against them. The storm was actively keeping them from being able to go where they wanted to go. So the sailors eventually did what Jonah told them to do, and cast him into the water. Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said, 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, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee. So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows. In many ways, the sea is like the lot. When the mariners set out to travel by ocean, they're taking a chance that they may not reach their destination. I found a BBC article from 2023 titled, How Many Shipwrecks Are There in the World's Oceans? It says there are several databases of the world's shipwrecks, each of which has a slightly different estimate for the total number that has been found. The online service Wrecksite has a catalog of 209,640 boats known to have been sunk, 179,110 of which have a known location. The global maritime wrecks database, on the other hand, contains the records of more than 250,000 sunken vessels, though some of these still haven't been found. According to one estimate, around 15,000 ships sank during World War II alone. There are forgotten battleships and tankers strewn from the Pacific to the Atlantic, gradually bleeding oil, chemicals, and heavy metals into the surrounding water as they decay. In fact, it's thought the shipwrecks that have been documented only represent a small fraction of the total. According to an analysis by UNESCO, there are over three million resting undiscovered in the world's oceans. The Mediterranean Sea is no doubt filled with the wreckage of thousands of ships. That wreck site database lists almost 18,000 wrecks in the Mediterranean. The dangers of ocean travel are hard to overstate, and it's little wonder that sailors tend to be so superstitious. They have the idea of a person who is bad luck. They call it Jonah, which of course is based on the story that we're reading. They say that clergymen are considered bad luck, as they are all of Jonah's ilk. You don't want them on your boat. Redheads and women are also to be avoided as passengers. They have some other superstitions. Bananas. You shouldn't have bananas on your boat. That's obvious. Always step onto a boat with your right foot. No whistling. They say if you whistle that you're challenging the wind. Never start a voyage on a Friday. Never change a boat's name. Don't say goodbye when departing. Anything that might be perceived as unlucky would be avoided at all costs, because the price of a shipwreck would usually be your life. Storms were always a present danger at sea. While certainly they were more likely at certain times of the year, bad weather could occur at any time. In the past, sailors had no radar or satellite imagery to warn of impending bad weather. They had a saying. that we still know today, it goes something like, red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. That was your weather forecast. The saying was not so much superstition as it was observation. They probably had little idea why this would be so, and it generally only held in the mid-latitudes where the prevailing winds were from the west to east. But Jesus himself even refers to this in the Gospels. In Matthew 16, he answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, it will be fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the morning, it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky, but can ye not discern the signs of the times? This shows the importance of watching the weather, especially for those at sea. If they had warning that there was a storm coming, those men on Jonah's ship probably would have put closer to land before it caught them. But they did not appear to have any warning. Nahum 1 verse 3 says, 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. We're in the midst of the Atlantic hurricane season here in the United States. The National Hurricane Center website says the Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1st to November 30th. The Atlantic basin includes the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. Based on a 30-year climate period from 1991 to 2020, an average Atlantic hurricane season has 14 named storms, that's big enough to have a name, seven hurricanes out of those 14 storms, and three of those are major hurricanes, category 3, 4, or 5. The first named storm typically forms in mid to late June, and the first hurricane tends to form in early to mid-August, and the first major hurricane forms in late August or early September. There are also Pacific hurricanes, but we tend not to pay much attention to them as they usually don't make landfall in the U.S. Hurricanes cause billions of dollars worth of damage every year. It's not ever a question of whether we will have hurricanes this year. It's always a question of how many hurricanes will we have and how bad will they be? What areas will be hit and which areas will be spared? Coastal states are used to being pummeled by the tropical storms every year. So much so that the people tend to not take warnings of severe weather very seriously, which for some ends up being a fatal mistake. With the still fresh path of the damage from Hurricane Helene giving us daily new images of the destruction and loss and the stories of missing family members and those who escaped still coming out, we have another hurricane, Milton, about to hit Florida. It's making landfall tonight. People are being warned not to stay and try to make it through the storm, but to evacuate. And I hope that people take these things seriously, but there will always be those who don't leave or can't leave for whatever reason, and I pray God has mercy on them, protects those who are not able to get out of the path of the storm. For some of those people, that storm is going to become their lot, and it will be up to God whether they are taken or not. The storm is coming. There's not much question of its general path. There's always some degree of uncertainty beforehand, but it quickly becomes a sure thing for those people who are in its way. And for those who choose to stay, despite the warnings, I imagine they might ask themselves the same question that those sailors asked Jonah. Why hast thou done this? We can't know the exact purpose God has for these types of events. We know that they happen. They happen regularly, every year. The least active Atlantic hurricane season on record was in 1914, when they only had one known tropical storm. But on average, 14 of these named tropical storms per year, seven of them hurricanes, and three of them major hurricanes. And it is certain that these events can be a judgment on a city, or a people, or a person. It isn't just hurricanes. Bad weather can occur anywhere. We live in Tornado Alley. Bad thunderstorms can just pop up and rip your church building down. It's not always clear that the people in the path of the storm did anything to deserve the destruction. There are earthquakes in other parts of the world, tsunamis, volcanoes, so many ways to become a statistic. We read in Acts 27 when Paul was being taken to Rome by ship. It says, when we had sailed over the Sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy, and he put us therein. And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over against Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete over against Salmoni, and hardly passing it, came unto a place which is called the fair havens, nigh whereunto was the city of Laecia. Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already passed, Paul admonished them. and said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives. Either by his meteorological knowledge or by the Holy Spirit, Paul had gotten some kind of weather warning and tried to get the party to wait, but the centurion and the ship's captain wanted to continue sailing. He says, nevertheless, centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship more than those things which were spoken by Paul. And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phineis and there to winter, which is a haven of Crete and lieth toward the southwest and northwest. And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence they sailed close by Crete, But not long after, there arose against it a tempestuous wind called uroclodon. This uroclodon is a cyclonic, tempestuous, northeast wind which blows in the Mediterranean, mostly in autumn and winter. It comes from the Greek word uros, meaning the east wind, and either ancient Greek word aculon or cludon, meaning surging wave. The Mediterranean has tropical-like cyclones, often referred to as Mediterranean cyclones or Mediterranean hurricanes, or shortened to metakanes. They're a meteorological phenomena that occasionally is observed over the Mediterranean Sea. On a few rare occasions, some storms have been observed reaching the strength of a category one hurricane. In 2020, Cyclone Janos was recorded reaching category two intensity. So possibly this storm was as intense as a hurricane. And Paul tried to avoid going through it. But this storm was not brought on Paul's account or the account of anyone on the ship. The storm was just a fact. And now that they had decided to sail, they were going to be in it. But Paul got another report as they were tossed in the tempest with the sun and the stars hidden for three days. In Acts 27, 21, it says, but after long abstinence, Paul stood forth in the midst of them and said, sirs, Ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer, for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul, thou must be brought before Caesar. And, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer, for I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me." And then after 14 days they ran aground, and while the ship was destroyed, they were all safe. So I guess the main takeaway from all this is that God is in control of everything. Even the things that seem to be wildly out of control, the lot, the most random way that a man can come up with to try and fairly decide an outcome, the believer knows is actually not random at all, but it is the providence of God. The storm that rages and billows is able at God's command to be stilled and quieted, just as God quieted the tempest when Jonah was thrown into the sea, or when Jesus commanded at peace, be still, and it obeyed. And if God doesn't stop the storm, he can bring you through it safely to the other side, if that is where you are supposed to be. Don't ignore warnings. If there's a storm coming, that doesn't mean you have to run into it head first. Proverbs 22 says, a prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished. Don't be simple when it comes to severe weather, but if you found yourself in a storm, hold on to God with all you've got because he is the one that will get you through it, not chance or luck, and examine yourself Make sure that there isn't something in your life that you need to repent of. If God may be using such a storm to get your attention, that would be the right time to get that thing straight with God. If there's anything in the boat with you that needs to go overboard, that would be the time to throw it out. Job 37 verse 9 says, Out of the south cometh the whirlwind, and cold out of the north. By the breath of God, frost is given, and the breadth of the waters is straightened. Also by watering, he wearieth the thick cloud. He scattereth his bright cloud, and it is turned round about by his counsels, that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world and the earth. He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy. Father God, Lord, I thank you for your word, God. Thank you, Lord, for the comfort we have, and knowing, God, that you are in control of everything, God, and that we need not worry about the storms, that they're in your hand, God. And Lord, I do pray for those that are in Florida right now and those other people in other states that are affected by these hurricanes, God. Just pray for safety for those who are affected by it, God. And Lord, we just pray that you would help us, God, to examine ourselves, God, that we should be ready on whatsoever time it may be that we might find ourselves face-to-face with the storm, God, that we would be ready, Lord, to meet you, God, because we know that we could be called to see you any time. Lord, we know you could return any time, God. We pray you would return quickly, God. And we pray, Lord, that we would be accounted worthy to stand before you. God, I thank you for this church. Thank you for these believers. Thank you for all the children. I just pray you would bless us all, be with us tonight, the rest of our night, in our fellowship, God. It's in Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen.