They Cast Lots
Jonah 1:7
Intro.
The shipmaster awoke Jonah and said, “Call upon your God.” The Bible doesn’t mention what Jonah replied, if anything. Although he was a prophet a man of God, he certainly had given up his right to communication and communion with God. He had assumed the role of a rebel against the Sovereign.
When we sin against God and continue in disobedience, we forsake our right to prayer. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” (Ps. 66:18)
True prayer is seeking God’s will in circumstances. So when a man is rebelling against God’s revealed will, he truly cannot pray. The man is seeking his own will.
The first true prayer that comes from a transgressing saint begins with a forsaking of his own rebellion. He must come back to seeking the divine will of God. he must return in submission to God vowing again his allegiance, loyalty, and obedience.
Jonah had closed the door on his prayer life. He could not leave the presence of God, yet in his disobedience, he could not come near unto God. to pray in faith is to be submissive to God’s will. For Jonah to even pretend to pray is hypocrisy.
God’s word on sin and prayer; Jer 11:10-11
10 They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.
11 Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.
For man to sin against God to deny God’s authority over him, then to dare to approach God with pride and arrogance asking him to hear our prayers. This is an insult to God, acting as if we hadn’t sinned or that God had not noticed. If God was to answer our prayer he would degrade himself.
You sin and disobey God then come back and act as if God approves of your sin. He would have to stop being a holy righteous God.
Hosea 5:15
I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.
There could be no prayer until there was repentance, “Then shall ye find me when ye seek me with all your heart.”
To bring Jonah to repentance was the purpose of the storm that Jonah would then be back in communion with God.
I. The Sailors Disown Any Guilt:
They were saying, “We’ll cast lots and see which of you is guilty.” A lost man is not under conviction; he feels no real guilt of sinning against God.
When Jesus announced that “His betrayer was at the table.” The disciples all questioned, “Is it I?” a saved man knows he is guilty of sin and that he id undeserving of forgiveness. Which sin is God so angry at that he brings this storm? Here it is obvious this storm is not an ordinary one, they could see the hand of an angry God in it.
Here we have a picture of how sinful men will justify themselves, they might be willing to admit, that they, as all men are, are sinners. But to say I have sinned against God is another matter.
To say my sinful life deserves nothing but the wrath of God. Oh no!
Men will declare, “I am as good as most men are, and better than many. This storm must be sent for someone worse than me.”
When man sees the wrath of God in a storm near him, he looks around for someone to blame it on. When it begins to beat upon the sides of the ship of his life threatening destruction ask him then if he is a sinner. To answer yes is to say, “I deserve all that has happened.” The flesh rebels he does not wish to pronounce sentence upon himself, that heart that Jeremiah says, “is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” Causes man to try and justify his guilt. “I am a sinner but…” “I have lied but...” “I have stolen but...” “Look God there are many worse than me.”
Only when God the Holy Spirit replaces that heart of stone with a heart of flesh, will man fall before God and say, “Lord have mercy upon me a sinner.” When man is shown his guilt, then God displays his grace.
When man sees that God’s wrath is for him, “he is under condemnation.” He sees a sovereign God that is both Just and Justifier. He then begins to cry, “Lord save me.”
2. Look At The Picture Presented:
Here are a group of men, sinners upon the sea, and a storm of God’s wrath waxes fiercely around them and they have the gall to cast lots to see who’s guilty.
The Bible declares that the lost are under condemnation, the children of wrath. The lake of fire burns brightly, hell opens her gaping mouth, and God’s wrath burns hotly around the lives of those who are lost. They are as worms in a matchbox in the midst of the storm. And yet they cast lots to see who is the guilty party. Oh foolish finite man with a depraved heart how you deceive your own selves.
For whom could such a doom be righteously prepared? “Lord is it I?” Do you wait for the lot to fall and the pronouncement, “Thou art the man.” The storm has prepared for you; the rotting ship planks of your own self-righteousness will not save you.
To understand salvation we must be able to look at the storms of God’s wrath, the lake that burns with a fire that is not quenched and a worm that dieth not. To view this and to declare, “I am the man.” I deserve the wrath of God’s holy anger. Let me no more justify myself, but declare; “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Ps 51:4
No I can cast no lots to identify the chief of sinners, it is I. When I truly bow in submission to God seeking his face, the Judge of my guilt becomes the Savior and Intercessor to stand between me and God’s wrath.
II. The Method Of Discovering The Guilty One: Jonah 1:7
“Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us.”
There are several instances in the Bible where they cast lots, this is not fate but asking God to give direction. In ISam. 14:41, they cast a perfect lot and Saul and Jonathan were taken, it revealed the sin of Jonathan.
In Acts 1:26 the choosing of Matthias to fill the apostolic office of Judas. It was probably by lot that Joshua discovered the guilt of Achan.
What does God have to do with the casting of lots? Do we believe that God is in control even of this? Should we make choices this way?
“The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.” Prov 16:33
If a general had to send a company on a mission and knew that there would be many casualtys. Would it be wrong to allow God to intercede in his choice?
To use these scriptures to try and prove that gambling is all right I believe would be wrong. To try to justify gambling with the scripture is definitely wrong.
These are two extremes, there are many acts between them. Children might cast a lot to see who would begin a game; ball teams actual flip a coin to see who will receive. We must judge for ourselves.
There are many, thou shalts, and also many thou shalt nots, but some things fall in the middle where God’s people must pray and follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
God gave his holy law, and then set his children in his vineyard, he doesn’t hedge us in and say, “Do this till I say quit.” But gives his children freedom to make decisions, we are not robots. “If the son shall set you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
He merely said, “Whatsoever you do, whether in word or in deed, do all to the glory of God.” when you do this seldom will you feel a need to cast lots.
