Chapter 14 9.sermon

Father Maple stood up, and in a humble elder tone, he gave the order unhurriedly: "Stay on the starboard side, please lean to the port side, and those on the port side, please lean on the starboard side. Everyone, please take your place!" After the sound of stools being moved, the sound of shoes rubbing against the floor, and the rustling of clothes, the tranquility was restored, and everyone looked at Father Maple who was aloof. After a short rest, he closed his eyes, raised his head, knelt down, folded his hands on his chest, and prayed devoutly. When the prayers were over, he began to recite the hymn solemnly, with a steady and ethereal tone like the bells of a ship sailing through the mist.

At the end of the hymn, his tone suddenly became passionate and high-spirited: the terror of the whale, hangs over my heart, Mysterious luster shines on the vast expanse of waves, I rise in it, and I fall in it. The gates of hell are open, There is a sea of ​​pain in there! Who can help me to extricate myself, Don't lead me into the abyss of despair? In hopeless despair, When my confidence is gone, I appeal to my Lord, As he bent his ear to listen, The giant whale passed me by. O Lord, you ride upon the splendid dolphin, came to my rescue like a hurricane; Your saving face,

Radiates brilliance and eternity. I remember with my song, The eerie terror and the joy of deliverance; Glory be to God, Thanks for his omnipotence. Everyone sang the hymn with him, and the singing echoed, drowning out the roar of the storm. After everyone had calmed down, Father Maple turned the pages of the Bible slowly, pressed the page to be spoken, and said: "Dear shipmates, listen to the last verse of the first chapter of the Book of Jonah: 'The Lord sent a great fish to swallow Jonah.'" His voice is gentle and steady, neither rush nor slow. "Boatmates, this part, four chapters in all—four yarns—is the smallest strand of this great cable-like holy book."

"So deep is Jonah's heart! How noble is the prayer book in the belly of the fish!" "The waves were roaring, the flood was covering the top, we fell into the abyss with the boat, and the seaweed danced around us." "The book of Jonah tells us to learn a lesson, we sinners must learn a lesson, and I, the boatman, must also learn a lesson." "Here's the story of Jonah's crime, his lack of conscience, his sudden awakening and his fear, the sudden punishment that made him repent, made him pray, and he was finally saved, and he rejoiced." "As all of us sin, this son of Amittai sinned because of his willfulness, because he violated the will of God!"

"We must not doubt the will of God, do not ask the meaning or significance of that will, that is what God has us do, it is His command, not His persuasion." "Jonah thinks that order is difficult to carry out. In fact, God's orders to us are so easy to carry out. Let us obey God without hesitating to disobey ourselves. Perhaps, it is precisely because of this disobedience to ourselves that you have I feel that it is very difficult to carry out God's will!" "Jonah disobeyed orders, evaded responsibility, and despised God. He thought that the ship built by man could take him to a place where there was no God. There was only the captain but no God."

"He was in hiding, and finally found a boat on the pier bound for Tash." "Boatmates, here I draw your attention. Tash is the modern city of Gades—so is the opinion of the educated people—so, where is the city of Gades?" "Cades is in Spain! At that time, the Atlantic Ocean was almost an unknown sea, and Joppa traveled by water to Cades, Spain, which can be said to be the farthest line between two points!" "Jopa is the current Dufa. It is located in the easternmost part of the Mediterranean Sea, in Syria. From there to Tash, or Gades, it takes more than 2,000 miles westward to reach the outside of the Strait of Gibraltar!"

"Jonah wants to go far away from his God!" "This panic-looking fellow, with his hat pulled down, wanders the wharves. He knows he's guilty, and he feels the eyes of countless eyes on him!" "If there were policemen at that time, they would have caught him long ago, before he could set foot on any ship! Because he was too suspicious. He had no luggage, no escort, and he acted like he was dodging left and right. !" "Finally, he found the ship bound for Tash, which was about to be loaded, and as soon as he got on board, the sailors stopped what they were doing and kept a close eye on him!"

"Jonah realized that he was being suspected, so he tried his best to smile calmly and pretend that nothing had happened. But these undisguised thieves in his bones, the sailors whispered: "He must have just robbed a widow!" "'He's a bigamist!'" "'He's an adulterer who broke out!'" "'He's a murderer who just killed someone!'" Everyone has everyone's judgment, and every judgment is not too much for this scumbag.A sailor ran to the pier to see the notice of the wanted kingslayer with shadow graphics, and the reward on it was five hundred gold coins.He looked at the notice, he looked at Jonah; he looked at Jonah, he looked at the notice.

"The sailors surrounded Jonah and awaited the judgment of their fellows on the dock. "Jonah was completely flustered, and stood there helplessly, waiting for the sailor's trial. He was not allowed to go on board until a negative gesture was made there. "Jonah walked down the cabin in a state of embarrassment. He was going to see the captain." "'Who are you?' asked the captain casually, who was filling out the customs form. "Jonah was so frightened by this ordinary question that he almost ran away! Finally, he mustered up his courage and said:

"'Captain, I just wanted to ask, when does this ship leave? I, I want to go to Tarsch!'" "Hearing such a panicked voice, the captain suddenly raised his head: "'When the tide comes up I'll sail.'" "'Can't it be earlier?'" "'It was a good time for any decent sailor to sail at that time.'" "Jonah sniffed out the voice of the captain's words, and he hastened to answer obediently: "'Okay, okay, I'll take your boat! How much is it? I'll pay right away.'" "Boatmates, this detail I'm telling is in the Bible. The Bible says, 'He paid the boat and got on board.'"

"Boatmates, the captain of the boat that Jonah was on is very vigilant, but he is greedy for profit, and his eyes are covered by a few money!" "Boyfriends, criminals who can come up with money don't need passports or anything like that to get through; on the contrary, as long as an honest person has no money, he can't move a single step!" "The captain looked at Jonah's wallet, roughly estimated how much money he had, and then offered a price three times that of ordinary passengers, and Jonah immediately agreed!" "The captain understands that Jonah is a fugitive!" "When Jonah took out the money, the captain carefully checked each gold coin to see if it was real or not. After confirming that they were all real, Jonah was officially recognized as a passenger on the ship. "'Oh, sir, I'm very tired and I want to sleep. Where's my berth?' asked Jonah eagerly." "'I can tell. This, this is your room.'" "Jonah rushed into the room in three steps and two steps, and turned around to lock the door, but he didn't lock it after a long time of tinkering." "The captain, hearing him behind the door, chuckled to himself: 'A cell door will never be allowed to be locked from the inside!'" "Jonah gave up the idea of ​​locking the door, and threw himself on the bed with his clothes on." "Gradually, he felt tightness in his chest and he couldn't breathe. He found that the ceiling was so low that it almost touched his head, and there were no windows anywhere, so he couldn't breathe." "He had a premonition, after the big whale swallowed him, that's how he felt!" "Dim hanging lamps, swinging on the wall of Jonah's cabin. The ship's cargo is getting more and more loaded, and the ship's hull is leaning more and more toward the dock." "Jonah was lying on the bed, uneasily watching the tilting of the ship and the swaying of the hanging lights. Although he got on the ship, his mood could not be calm no matter what." "'Oh my gosh, my conscience is hanging! Shaking it and shaking it, nauseating, puking...'" "Jonah is like a man who just had a night of carousing. He is lying on the bed, but his mind is still spinning, like a galloping stallion in the Roman arena, and like a desperate man praying to God to heal his illness and eliminate disasters." Almost desperate people..." "He was wounded. The wound was on his conscience. He was bleeding profusely, but there was no way to stop the bleeding in this place. The painful convulsions and strong numbness made him drowsy." "The tide surged up, the anchor was lifted, and the ship left the deserted pier, leaned over, and sailed silently into the sea." "This is the first smuggling ship recorded in history! The smuggled thing is Jonah!" "The storm is coming suddenly! The sea will not carry this evil cargo, and it shakes itself vigorously to shake Jonah off!" "The boatswain ordered everyone to join the battle to lighten the ship. All the bottles, cans, boxes, and boards were thrown into the sea amidst the howling wind and the shouts of the people. At this moment, Jonah Still faltering in his nightmare. "'Hey you, what's the matter, get up!'" "The panicked captain ran into Jonah's cabin and yelled wildly at Jonah who was still sleeping. He sat up abruptly, not sure whether he was dreaming or waking up. He stumbled onto the deck and clung desperately to railing. "The furious sea rushed to the deck, rushed from the bow to the stern, submerged everything on the deck at once, the ship was not sinking, but people felt as if they had been drowned!" "A ray of moonlight, cast from the sinister sky, frightened Jonah as if he saw the end coming." "His unusual panic and desperation attracted the attention of the sailors again. There is no doubt that he is a desperado!" "They cast lots to determine the culprit of this natural disaster. It is God's will. The lot that was cast was Jonah!" The culprit turned out to be him!After the truth came out, everyone surrounded Jonah and questioned him one after another: "'Who are you? Where are you from? What is your occupation? Nationality? Ethnicity?'" "Jonah was overwhelmed by the sailors' questions, and he answered all the questions they asked, and those they didn't ask." "His self-indulgence is God's punishment for him!" "'I am a Hebrew. I am in awe of Jehovah's mighty power that created the heavens and the earth!'" "His crying aroused the compassion of the sailors, and they even wanted to punish him without throwing Jonah into the sea, because Jonah had voluntarily asked for it." "But the storm was stronger, and the danger of shipwreck was nearer. The sailors prayed to God, and even, with some reluctance, lifted Jonah up and threw him into the sea." "The effect is very obvious. The wind has stopped, the waves have calmed down, and there is a peaceful scene, as if nothing happened just now. It has always been like this." "Jonah was thrown into the sea, just left a small eddy on the surface of the water, and immediately disappeared." "Unbeknownst to the sailors, Jonah has fallen into a gaping mouth that has been waiting there for so long!" "That's a giant whale! The teeth of the giant whale are like white fences, and Jonah was imprisoned in one fell swoop." "Jonah knew that this horrific punishment was just. He didn't cry and pray directly to God. He just silently surrendered everything to God in his heart." "Boymates, this is sincere repentance, not asking for quick success to save lives. If you ask Jonah what God thinks of doing this? Then you only need to look at the final result." "He was rescued not only from the belly of the giant whale, but also from the sea. I am telling the story of Jonah here, not to make you repeat his sinful mistakes, but to learn his repentance example." "Don't sin! After sinning, you must repent like Jonah!" While the pastor was talking about this, the bitter wind and rain outside never stopped.This provides a good soundtrack for the story. His vivid narration made people feel that he was wandering on the pier in a panic, and sometimes he was swaying in the strong wind and waves. His heaving chest, waving arms, raised eyebrows and lightning eyes greatly shocked the audience. the next audience. The pastor's words stopped abruptly. He closed his eyes and concentrated on it, as if he was talking to God. He moved, opened his eyes slowly, flipped through the Bible, lowered his head, and said modestly and steadily: "Boatmates, God put one hand on you; but He put two hands on me. The story of Jonah I just told is a lesson to you, and it is a double lesson to myself. .” "Oh, what a pleasure it would be if I were one of your audience, and one of you was standing at this high rostrum preaching the message of life!" "Jonah is an ignorant anointed with holy oil. He was entrusted by the Lord to spread the truth to the evil Nineveh people. However, he was afraid of those evil people and wanted to escape his responsibility. He boarded the boat in a panic and wanted to go to Tasch! God let the giant whale wait for him in the sea and swallowed him into the abyss. "At such a critical moment, God still heard Jonah's heartfelt repentance. God gave an order to the giant whale, and the giant whale rushed out of the cold deep sea and rushed to the warm sunshine. To the living earth." "'Spit Jonah onto dry land.'" "Jonah, who was covered in bruises, was thrown onto the land. His ears were ringing, but he had made up his mind to carry out God's order." "What order? That is to spread the truth to everyone without hesitation." "Boatmates, may the helmsman who has learned the lesson of evasion suffer! May the man who could not resist the temptation and violate the holy order suffer! May the man who only knows how to please others and dare not offend him suffer! People who value reputation more than virtue will suffer! May the savior with evil intentions suffer!" He lowered his head, remained silent for a while, then raised his head slowly, with a gleam of joy in his eyes, suddenly, he shouted loudly: "But, fellow shipmates! There is indeed a pleasure behind the unhappiness. And, no doubt, that pleasure is stronger than the unhappiness!" "Pleasure to the steadfast captains of the ship—joy from the bottom of my heart! Delight to those whose ships are beginning to sink in this treacherous world, while they themselves are still trying to hold everything on their arms! Happy is the man who draws evil out of the robes of a member of parliament and the like, and is determined to eradicate it! Happy is the man who does not know how many laws there are in the world, but only knows the Lord!" "A man on his deathbed said: 'My Father! I am about to die. The first thing I know is your power. I am going to die whether I go to hell or go to heaven. I try to be yours. , trying far more than wanting to belong to the world, to belong to myself. Anyway, I wish you eternal life. It is inconceivable that a man should try to outlive his God.'” "This man deserves eternal pleasure! Pleasure is his forever!" He waved his arms slowly and stopped talking. He covered his face with his hands and could not afford to kneel.All the people left, only he was left kneeling there silently.