In the sermon 'The Fearful Mercy of God' by Robert Bosley, the focus is on the passage from Jonah 1:3-16, emphasizing three main themes: God's use of storms to save and not only punish, the nature of fear, and the cost of salvation. Bosley explains that while the storm in Jonah's story is a manifestation of God's wrath due to Jonah's disobedience, it is also an instrument of mercy intended to lead Jonah and the sailors to repentance. The sermon highlights the different types of fear exhibited by Jonah and the sailors, ultimately showing that true fear of God leads to worship and conversion. The narrative of Jonah being thrown into the sea symbolizes the cost of salvation, as his sacrifice calms the storm for the sailors, drawing a parallel to Jesus Christ's ultimate sacrifice for humanity's sins. The sermon's core message is that God's wrath and mercy should inspire worship and reverence, urging believers to examine their own fears and understanding of salvation.

Oh, good afternoon. I got one. That's good. If you would take your copy of the Word of God and turn to the book of Jonah. Now, today I'll be covering verses 3 through 16 in chapter 1, but so that we grasp the context and just as a reminder of what we had done last time, I will read the first 16 verses of the chapter.

So, find your place and read with me as I read Jonah chapter 1, 1 through 16. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, arise go to Nineveh, that great city and cry out against it for their wickedness has come up before me but Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord he went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish so he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up. Then the mariners were afraid, and every man cried out to his god and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.

So the captain came to him and said to him, What do you mean sleeper? Arise, call on your God. Perhaps your God will consider us so that we may not perish. And they said to one another, Come, let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come up on us. So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.

Then they said to him, please tell us for whose cause is this trouble come up on us? What is your occupation And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you? So he said to them, I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him Why have you done this For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told them.

Then they said to him, what shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us? For the sea was growing more tempestuous. And he said to them, Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that this great tempest is because of me. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them.

Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, We pray, O Lord, Please do not let us perish for this man's life and do not charge us with innocent blood for you Oh Lord have done done as it pleased you So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea and the sea ceased from its raging Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows." Let's pray. Father, we come before you and we Thank you that we have this time that we can be in your word Lord, I pray for your assistance for your help. God. May you take my feeble words and may you use them For the glory of your name and the good of your people gathered here today in Jesus name. Amen.

Now as I said we're going to be going through verses 3 through 16. Yes I'm planning on doing 13 verses this afternoon which is probably about 10 or 12 more than you would expect me to do. But I figured if I want to finish this before Pastor Brown finishes Revelation, we need to move on a little. So it's been a little while since we started this book, and last time we looked at the first three verses which are essentially the introduction to the book. Just as a refresher, Jonah, the Book of Jonah is one of the minor prophets, the 12 books in the Old Testament that we call the minor prophets.

Out of the 12, it's probably the most well-known, but despite being so well-known, it's tremendously misunderstood probably largely because of the simplified and dumbed down versions that are promoted as children's stories. And if we come away from this book focusing on or emphasizing the great fish, we've completely missed the point of the book of Jonah. The book of Jonah is about how great our God is. And if you get nothing else out of this book, get that. Our God rules and our God reigns and He is the great one that we should be amazed at in this book.

Last time we looked at verses 1 through 3 and we saw God's gracious command to Jonah to go and proclaim God's word and his judgment against the Gentile city of Nineveh. It was a shocking command, but a sign of God's grace that he would make his law known to Gentiles. But Jonah of course did not obey. Jonah instead decided to flee. And so we saw secondly his downward descent in disobedience symbolized in the repetition of him going down in the text.

He went down to Joppa and down into the ship and then down into the lowest parts of the ship here in verse 5 and even in chapter 2 it says he goes all the way down into Sheol, into the grave itself. And so today we'll look at the rest of the chapter. And yes, I know in your English Bible it has verse 17, but in reality that begins the next scene. And in the Hebrew text, that verse 17 is actually the start of chapter two. And so in my mind, we're doing all of chapter one today.

And so, and as we look at these 13 verses, I want us to look at it in these three headings, or these three points. First, I want us to see how God sends storms to save not only punish sinners. God sends storms to save not only punish. Secondly, I want us to consider what kind of fear do you have? What kind of fear do you have?

Our brother, our elder brought much about that this morning, and we will think through these things more this afternoon. And thirdly, I want us to see that salvation costs the life of another. Salvation costs the life of another. And so the point I want us to get from our text today is that God's wrath and God's mercy should lead us to worship and fear him. God's wrath and his mercy should lead us to worship and fear him.

Now these three things that I've pointed out that we want to look at the text are not really divisions in the chapter. Normally I would break out the chapter like this paragraph corresponds to this point and these verses correspond to these points. That's not really how this one is going to work. These are more of themes that we will trace throughout the whole chapter. So let's begin.

First, God sends storms to save not only punish sinners. So verse 4, but the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea and there was a mighty tempest on the sea so the ship was about to be broken up. And when we read that God sends out a great wind. It's literally in Hebrew, he hurled or he threw this wind. It's actually the same word used to describe what the sailors do, throwing the cargo overboard.

And when they throw Jonah overboard in the same way, God threw this wind onto the sea to create this massive storm. And so when we we read this we can immediately think okay that's the wrath of God. And it is. I don't want to say it's not. It is the wrath of God.

God is not pleased with Jonah's choice. God wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh. Jonah is saying, nope, I'm going 180 degrees the other direction. God is not pleased. So this is an expression of God's wrath, his judgment on Jonah for his rebellion.

But there is also mercy here, and we have to see that. God's ultimate goal in sending this storm is not punishment, Although it is punishment, but his ultimate goal is mercy. His ultimate goal is to bring salvation to those on the ship, prophet and sailor alike. Consider with me, Jonah could have been the shortest book in the Bible. Think about it.

If we had read in verse 4, instead of what we have here in the text, if it had said God threw a wind on the sea and causing a mighty tempest and he destroyed that ship and he called another prophet to go to Nineveh. Period. The end. What if we read that? God would have been perfectly just to have done so.

But he didn't. He sent this storm, yes as punishment, but ultimately so he could bring Jonah to repentance and to bring these sailors to repentance. Now Jonah on the ship, it says he's fleeing from the presence of the Lord. Now we know that Jonah knows he cannot flee from the presence ultimately. Jonah knows that God is everywhere as he'll make clear when he interacts with the sailors and even in in chapter 2 in the in his psalm But what he's intending is he's trying to get away from where God is making his special presence made known in Israel He's he's fleeing the presence of the Lord in that sense But God is not gonna let him do it.

He's not going to let Jonah get away. God sends this storm. He hurls the storm on the sea because God will not allow Jonah to abandon his mission that God has called him to. God sends this storm to grab Jonah's attention. We should see here clearly the sovereignty of God, the sovereignty of God in orchestrating this and we'll see this over and over again.

The Lord does this thing. Yahweh does this and that and the other thing. And over and over again, the author of this book is clubbing us over the head with the power and sovereignty of God. Jonah thinks he can rebel and get away, but God is saying, no, you will go. And it's because he is determined Jonah will go and he is having mercy on him that he sends this storm.

He is going to cause him to go. He's going to make him change his mind. He's going to cause him to obey. Because obedience to the ways of the Lord are always best, no matter what he calls us to do. Now this storm, what kind of a storm is this?

It says it is a mighty tempest or a very powerful storm. So much so that it says the ship was about to be broken up. And it's actually very interesting in Hebrew, the ship is personified here. It says actually the ship considered breaking apart this the storm is so powerful and the author is using the ship as if it's a thinking being like well it's time for me to just break apart now this is too much for me to hold on to That's the picture of how powerful this storm is. This ship is on the verge of just blowing apart like a bunch of matchsticks.

But it doesn't. And I think that is actually one reason why the sailors know that this is a storm sent by God. Not only do they cry out to their gods in verse 5, but then look down in verse 7, the sailors, they said to one another, the sailors, come, let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this trouble Has come up has come upon us So they know there's something unique about this storm They know it's sent for a purpose. This isn't just your average storm. Now these are sailors.

They've been at sea during storms. They know what it's like And I'm sure they've called on their gods in previous storms But I would wager they've never seen a storm like this one before This is a storm. They recognize this should have destroyed us. But it's not. The ship considered breaking apart but it didn't.

I believe what we have here is God has sent such a powerful storm that it should have obliterated them. It should have destroyed them. It should have sunk their ship and we would have never heard from them again. But God at the same time, he is sending the storm in his wrath. He is holding on to their ship and holding it together in his mercy so that he could bring Jonah and these sailors to repentance.

So they correctly identify this storm as being a picture of God's judgment that is sent because of someone's sin. But at the same time we have God's mercy in holding on and preserving the ship. Now when we get down to verse 10, Jonah has explained himself, sorry in verse 9, he says, I am a Hebrew. I fear the Lord. I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.

These men had called on their tribal deities. Each man called out to his God. But now they're introduced to the God of gods. The God who created all things. And the God who sustains all things.

And Jonah confesses the Lord to them and he explains to them that he has run from the presence of the Lord. And so Jonah rightly recognizes that his sin calls for death, for his own death, and he deserves to be cast into the sea to suffer the wrath of God. Because What does he say? They ask him, what should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us? And he says pick me up and throw me into the sea.

This is what I deserve. God has sent this as punishment for my rebellion. This is what I deserve. Throw me into the sea. And so they do.

They throw him into the sea. Now, think you, imagine you've never read this before, you've never heard this story before. That's a death sentence. We know the end, but that's a death sentence to be thrown overboard in the middle of such a powerful storm. There's no hope for Jonah.

It's death. But at the same time, that causes the storm to cease, and the storm ends, and these sailors are amazed, and they call out to God. Not only do they just call on God, they don't say, oh, Jonah's God, have mercy on us. They call out to God by name. We talked a little bit last time about the covenant name, Yahweh, in our English, the capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D.

This is God's covenant name. And it's a name that one would use if they're calling on God as the covenant Lord. It's really a picture of it to use our New Testament language of conversion. They call on Yahweh. We pray, oh Yahweh, please do not let us perish for this man's life.

Do not charge us with innocent blood for you, oh Yahweh, have done as it has pleased you. And then the men feared Yahweh exceedingly and offered a sacrifice to Yahweh and took vows. As a result of this storm, as a result of throwing Jonah overboard and seeing the storm not only arise so suddenly but ending immediately when Jonah is thrown overboard, it causes them to worship. They see the power of Jonah's God. They see the power of Yahweh and they worship.

And I think not only do they worship, I think they join the covenant. I think they abandon their old gods. I think that's what the author is signifying to us by the repetition of them using the covenant name. They leave their idols, the gods that they called on when the storm first arose, the gods that proved to be completely hopeless and helpless in the face of the storm sent by Yahweh, these gods they abandon. They're overawed by God's power and they call on him by his covenant name, and they offer sacrifice, and they make vows, all elements of old covenant worship, true worship under the law.

And I believe what we have here is these men became believers. They became Christians, if we want to say it that way. Why? Because God sent a storm. God punished Jonah through the storm, but he used the storm to save sinners and really to bring Jonah to repentance as well, which we will see more in the next chapters.

But God sent this storm not only to punish, but also to save. These sailors would have had no idea who the true God of heaven and earth was if God had not sent a storm. And so yes, the storm is an instrument of wrath, but it also has mercy as its goal. And this is key for us to consider. As we go through life, we face many difficulties and trials.

We face these storms of life, so to say. And they have the same purpose. God is bringing discipline. It may be an expression of God's displeasure. We have heard much about God bringing discipline against the sons and daughters he loves, but what is the purpose?

To make you more like Christ. That is why God disciplines the son he loves to make him more into the image of Jesus. And so often when we face trials and difficulties in our lives, these are not just instances of God showing his displeasure. It's God making you into the image of his son. It's God bringing you to repentance.

Because let's face it, we've all been Jonah. How many times have we gotten the word of the Lord, not audibly, but here? How many times have we gotten it and read it and said, I don't know. I don't think so. Maybe not, maybe not openly we won't say that, but how many times have we read something and disobeyed?

A little bit more pointedly. Husbands, how many times have you read, love your wife as Christ loves the church? And how many times have you been harsh with her? How many times have you disobeyed that? Or wives?

It says, show reverence to your husbands. How many times have you rebelled against that? How many times have we read clear commands and run the other way, if not physically, then within our heart. And God will discipline the rebellious child. He will bring discipline, not simply to punish, but to bring repentance.

And we have a picture of that vividly here in Jonah. And so when we face trials, when we face the discipline of God in our lives, we need to not spurn it or harden our hearts against it, but we need to look at it and see, what is God teaching me? In this suffering, in this trial I'm enduring, what is God teaching me? We need to have the mindset, as Spurgeon said appropriately for the book of Jonah, I have learned to kiss the wave that strikes me against the rock of ages. Is that our mindset when we endure trials?

When we endure the storms that come into our our paths? God is sending them to get your attention, to bring you to repentance, to make you more like Jesus. And even non-Christian, if you are here today and you are not a follower of Jesus, the Lord sends storms, sends trials and difficulties to get your attention ahead of that final trial, that final storm of his wrath on the day of judgment. God is trying to get a hold of your attention, to bring you to himself. And so we see God's, God sends storms not only to punish but also to to save sinners.

Secondly I want us to consider what kind of fear do we have? What kind of fear do you have? The word fear is repeated several times throughout this chapter. You have the mariners were afraid in verse 5, and in verse 10 the men were exceedingly afraid. Literally, they feared a great fear.

And then in verse 16, the men feared Yahweh exceedingly. They feared Yahweh with a great fear. And so fear is a theme that runs throughout this chapter and this is very appropriate for us. There are many things Causing us to fear. There are many things telling us to fear.

Certain things you should be afraid of, certain things you probably shouldn't be afraid of. But fear is a big topic today and it's not always illegitimate to be afraid of the things in this world. There are a lot of things in this world that we should rightly fear. We live in a fallen world, but the question we must always have in mind is what or who do we fear most? Because there is one that you ought to fear above all.

Now Jonah is not an example of fear. It doesn't say he's afraid. There's no evidence that he fears. Now he does say in verse 9, I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, but we reading that we can rightly ask well Jonah. Do you really?

You say you fear, but if you fear would you be where you're at? If you really feared Jonah, Would you be on the ship or wouldn't you actually be on a camel or a donkey or something heading to Nineveh if you actually feared the Lord? Now obviously, Jonah's using the phrase, he feared the Lord in a sense of he offers worship, but it's a ritual to him, it seems. It's become something he says with his mouth, but he doesn't feel in his heart. He worships God because he offers sacrifice.

He fears God. He goes to the temple and observes the laws, but there's no heart of love or worship." Now, his fear is a lip service fear. The sailors, however, they fear many things. First, they fear the storm. The sailors were afraid.

They cried out to their gods, and they threw the cargo overboard, which actually is really good theology, despite the fact they're pagans, they have the right idea. Calling God also do something about it. We hold on to both. We call on to God and we also do something. So they actually have a good practical theology despite being pagans.

But they fear the storm. Then it says they exceedingly were afraid because they now know the storm is the wrath of God in verse 10. But then in verse 16, what is the object of their fear? They fear the Lord exceedingly. Now what caused the change?

What changed the object of their fear from the storm to God's wrath to God himself. They learned who God is. Jonah in their conversation with Jonah in verses 7 through 10 really or 11, Jonah explains to them who God is. Who is the God that Jonah worships? Well he is Israel's God.

He is the God of the Hebrews, but he's also the God who made the sea and the dry land. He's the God who is the God of heaven. He dwells in heaven. He's not a tribal deity that's limited to a city or a region He is the God of all creation who made all things and holds all things together He's the God who can send a storm like this And so they rightly recognize they need to be afraid of this God. And they fear this God.

They fear his wrath. And Then after Jonah is cast overboard and the sea immediately becomes calm then the men feared Exceedingly they feared the Lord Exceedingly because not only did they see his power in creating the storm, but they also saw his power in making the storm stop. Where else have we heard that? Who can this be that even the wind and seas obey him? I think that's what the disciples had in mind.

There's so much in the Psalms about God controlling the weather, but I think now, as I've studied this, I think the disciples might have had Jonah in mind when Jesus calmed the sea. Think of the parallels. Jesus was asleep on the ship, and they come and wake him up and he rebukes them for their lack of faith and he tells the sea to stop immediately and it stops and what does it say? Then the disciples were greatly afraid and said what kind of a man is this? Even the wind and the seas obey him.

And that's the response of these sailors. What kind of a God is this? The storm stopped immediately. They've never seen something like this before. It's completely new to them.

And they're amazed at the power of this God. And so we see here that there are different kinds of fear. You can say you fear God, and you should fear God, but that is not enough. You have the right fear of God. Even the demons believe and tremble.

They tremble out of fear of God, but the demons, I'm not sure if you understand this, but the demons aren't saved. They're not going to heaven. The demons fear, but they don't have a saving fear. So what kind of a fear do you have? Do you have Jonah's ritualistic fear?

Well, yes, I fear God, but is this a fear that just you say, but it isn't a fear that changes how you live or how you think Is this a fear that lets you just go on living in unrepentant sin? Do you claim to fear God but live as if he doesn't exist? That is not fear. That is not true fear. Now when the captain comes to Jonah he says, get up.

Call on your God. Imagine this, a pagan sailor is rebuking a prophet for his lack of prayer. Because Jonah had no real fear of God. He was running. This pagan at least had sense to, we have to cover our bases.

You call on that God, you call on that one, and you wake up and call on your God. He at least had the right idea. So do you have Jonah's fear? A fear that lets you sleep when God's trying to get your attention? Or do you have the the slavish fear where you merely conceive of God as an almost abusive father who is simply looking to explode in anger over every wrong you've ever done?

Is it a slavish fear that turns your life into a list of do's and don'ts and a line of good works one after the other that you think you have to mark off each day to keep God's wrath contained. That's not godly fear either. That's the fear where you're afraid of punishment. That's not Godly fear. What is Godly fear?

It's the fear the sailors have at the end. What is the response when they see who God is? It says in 16, again, they feared Yahweh exceedingly and they offered a sacrifice and made vows. It is a fear that provokes them to worship. That is godly fear when you see and understand who God is and when you see and understand your helplessness and your own sin and your own weakness.

It's a fear that propels you toward him, not away from him. It's a fear that draws you in to him as your father. It's a fear that causes, yes, it causes you to obey, but it's a fear that provokes love and joy. Because you have this one as your father. Is that your fear?

Now, we heard much about this earlier, and I echo our elders call, examine yourself, look at your heart, what kind of a fear do you have? Is it a false fear? Or is it truly a fear that leads you to greater love and repentance and worship of the one true God, the one that you must fear? So what kind of a fear do you have? And lastly, I want us to see that salvation costs a life.

Salvation specifically costs the life of another. Salvation costs the life of another. So we have seen that this storm is an expression of God's mercy in that it had a merciful purpose. God sent it as a call to bring Jonah and these sailors to repentance. And we must not forget, however, that it is also an expression of God's wrath.

It is God's judgment. God was displeased with Jonah. God was angry with the sailors because they were calling on false gods. They were rightly under his judgment and open to his wrath. And so when they responded with prayer to their false gods, like I said, they had somewhat of the right idea.

They needed divine help. They needed to call on a power greater than themselves. But they did not call him the true God. They did not know this God. But in verses 7 through 11, Jonah introduces them to this God.

Jonah tells them who Yahweh is, the creator and sustainer of all things. He is not a small deity. He is not like Baal or Dagon. He's not a God limited to a city or a town or a region. He is not a God that needs to be fed or cared for by his people.

He is a God who feeds and cares for his people. And Jonah, in the middle of the storm, in the middle of the danger and chaos of this storm almost tearing the ship apart, Jonah introduces them to the one true God. And what is the result? They feared exceedingly and they said to him, why have you done this? And then they said to him, verse 11, what shall we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?

And the key there is what should we do to you? Something had to be done with Jonah if these sailors were to be saved. Now Jonah knows what has to be done. There's no indication anywhere that Jonah even prays, but Jonah still knows what has to be done. He knows his Bible, and though it's not yet written, he knows the truth that the wages of sin is death.

He knows the truth that the soul that sins it shall die. And so he says to them, throw me overboard. Kill me. The storm is here because of my sin. I have to die for this storm to be taken away and to save you.

That's what he's saying to these sailors. And this is the seriousness of sin. We have to get the seriousness of sin. We deserve to die Physical death. Yes, we will physically die because of sin But even more than that spiritual spiritual death eternal death in hell that is the consequence of our sin.

We have broken God's law countless times And God's justice calls for our blood. Just as God's justice called for the death of Jonah here. The divine law requires perfect obedience, and we have failed miserably, and so divine justice calls for our lives And so we see here first in this this end of the chapter where Jonah tells them to throw him overboard, we first see that Jonah must die for his own sense. He must die. He must be thrown overboard.

And Again, imagine you're reading this for the first time. As far as Jonah knows, this is it. He's going to die. Now, we can talk about whether the fish saves him or not. I'm actually not convinced that's the case, but we can talk about that next time.

Regardless, this is presented as a death, whether Jonah physically dies or not. This is a death to Jonah, and he is going to die for his sins he is thrown into the wrath of God personified in this storm He is thrown in it full to suffer it full force, open and exposed, and he will die, at least he believes so, because that's what his sin calls for. But also we see a picture of substitution here. Jonah deserves to die for his sins, but the sailors deserve to die for their sins. And the storm will claim their life, But someone died in their place.

Jonah is thrown overboard, not only that he would die for his own sins, but also that the language is key so that the sea may become calm for you. The sailors, what should we do that the sea may become calm for us? Jonah dies, that the sea may become calm for them on their behalf. It's a substitution. Jonah is dying so that the sailors don't have to.

And that is the cost of salvation. That is the cost of your deliverance. Someone had to die. Someone had to die in your place. So Jonah dies so that the sailors may live.

Now this was just a single storm. The sailors would go on and die and if they did not truly trust in God they would face his wrath at the end of the age. But it's a picture of a much greater reality. There is a final storm coming, a final day of God's wrath being revealed on the day of judgment and sinners need a substitute. And that's what we have a picture of here.

But we needed a much better substitute than Jonah. Jonah could only be a substitute for these sailors for this single storm. We need a substitute to save us from many sins and from a much greater danger. We need a substitute who wasn't running from God, But we needed a substitute sent by God and sent from him. We needed one greater than Jonah.

We needed the truly obedient prophet who came and not only proclaimed God's Word, but fulfilled it in our place. We didn't need a sinful man to die in our place. We needed the sinless God-man to die in our place. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the Greater Jonah. He died so that sinners could be saved from the wrath of God, from the storm of his anger and judgment that will come on that final day.

He was perfect law keeper and lawgiver, the perfect prophet, priest, and king, never once displeasing his father, never once running the other way when his father gave a command. He had no reason to die in and of himself, but he laid down his life on behalf of sinners like us. And just as the fish will spit Jonah up out of up onto the dry land after three days and three nights in a watery grave, death could not hold on to our Christ. And three days after tasting death for everyone who would ever believe. He came out of that tomb securing eternal redemption for all who will repent of their sins and believe and trust in him.

That is the substitute we needed. And that is the substitute God gave. God saved these sailors by putting Jonah there to substitute for them in this storm. We needed him one greater. And the Lord Jesus Christ came.

And he laid down his life. And now he's calling. He's calling to you, come to me, you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. He has taken it all on himself. Come to him.

If you're not trusting him today, repent and follow Christ. Follow the one who is much greater than Jonah. Follow the Savior that your soul needs. Turn to Him while there's time. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for this time we've been able to be in your Word. Thank you for these beautiful truths, these beautiful types and shadows and pictures that we rejoice in seeing how you fulfilled them all in your son. We thank you Lord that you did not withhold your son from us, but you gave him You gave him so that all who believe would be saved God I pray that those who are here today and do not yet know you I pray God that you would convict them of their sin. Show them their need of a substitute. Show them their need of a Savior.

Make Christ precious to every heart here today, Lord. Thank you for what you've done. Thank you for what you have done. Thank you for being not only the creator and sustainer but also our savior. In Jesus' name, Amen.