In the Same Boat (Jonah 1:6-16)

Father in heaven, we are so thankful for all that you've

given us this day, for the reminders that we profess with

our mouths, words we hear in song and prayer, the liturgy

that you've given us to remind us of who you are and who we are

in Christ. Father, as we open Your holy

word, as we read this account of Jonah on the boat with the

Mariners, we pray that You would cause our eyes to see correctly

in our ears to hear rightly. We pray that our hearts would be

with affection for You and our minds would think rightly about

the truth that You've given us this day.

We ask this in the powerful name of Jesus, praying for the

illumination of the Holy Spirit, all for Your glory and our good,

and the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen. This morning I'm going to read

from Jonah chapter 1, verses 6 through 16.

Jonah 1:6–16

As I read this, I want to remind you that we as a church, if

you're visiting with us today, this is important for you to

know right from the beginning. We believe what Second Timothy

says about God's word, that all Scripture is God breathed and is

useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training and

righteousness. We believe that the story you're

about to hear actually happened. And we believe that the story is

not just a fable. It's not just something for

children. And already that might make you

go, wow, people really believe that we do.

And maybe you want to ask why it's a question that you need to

pursue, but we believe it's true.

But let me say this, we don't always live like it's true.

We don't always walk into the sanctuary expecting to be

trained, expecting to be rebuked, expecting to be taught,

expecting to be equipped in righteousness.

But that's what happens when the Spirit of God does the work that

only he can do. And I need it, and you need it.

This happened, what you're about to hear on a boat with a man

named Jonah who was a prophet of God, who was rebelling against

God's word, and a group of Mariners who he was sailing

with. I'll begin again at chapter 1,

verse six. So the captain came and said to

him, that's Jonah. What do you mean?

You sleeper, arise, call out to your God.

Perhaps your God will give a thought to us that we may not

perish. And they said to one another,

Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this

evil has come upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot

fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, Tell us,

On whose account this evil has come upon us?

What is your occupation, and where do you come from?

What is your country, and of what people are you?

And 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, What is

this that you've done? For the men knew that he was

fleeing 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 quiet down for us? For the sea grew more and more

tempestuous. He said to them, Pick me up and

hurl me into the sea. Then the sea will quiet down for

you. For I know it is because of me

that this great Tempest has come upon you.

Nevertheless, the men rode hard to get back to dry land, but

they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous

against them. Therefore they called out to the

Lord. O Lord, let us not perish for

this man's life, and lay not on US innocent blood.

For you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.

Do not forget that phrase. You, O Lord, have done as it

pleased you. So they picked up Jonah and

hurled him into the sea. And the sea seized from its

raging. And the men feared the Lord

exceedingly. And they offered a sacrifice to

the Lord and made vows. This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God. Please be seated.

In a few hours, it's estimated that 100,000 people will fill

State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ for the memorial service

Celebration of Life of Charlie Kirk outside I Estate.

Millions will watch or hear something of that service.

We know there are going to be people protesting violently.

Perhaps even we've seen it already.

There's confusion, there's anger, there's anxiety.

Who was he? What mattered most to him?

Just before he was horrifically murdered, he was in an

interview. When asked what mattered most to

him, this is his last recorded interview, he said God, wife,

kids, network, meaning mobilizing people.

He was a figure that some of you had never even heard of till he

was shot. Others of you followed him

passionately, appreciating the bold way he would stand.

Others were a little reluctant because of his style.

Perhaps that's not what I'm here to talk about today.

What I want to preach today is that a man stood up for what he

believed courageously, an evil that has been in the world since

the fall. The deep, deep darkness of evil

was met. Hate filled another man who in a

moment believed that this was the right thing for him to do

and he took Charlie Kirk's life away.

Since that time, horrific things have been said and will be said.

So how do we respond? What is our response?

And this is so, so, so important for us to constantly ask the

question of ourselves. Who am I really listening to?

As Christians, we don't just have a worldview, we have a

living word. We don't just have sound bites

that we throw at things. We have a living word, the

living Word. Scripture teaches us with great

clarity what we are to believe about the world we live in, what

we are to believe about sin and evil and darkness.

The Word of God also teaches us how we are to live and behave in

a world that is so full of evil and darkness.

And above all of that, what the Word of God teaches us is about

who God is, the sovereign Lord. And what I'm about to preach,

you're not going to hear on Fox News nor on CNN.

You're not going to hear it in a lot of places.

You might go look for information.

But what I'm about to share with you is what Christians always

have believed about who God is. You see, God is not scrambling

to figure out what to do, what you can be sure of at any moment

in history. And when I see any moment, I

mean any breath in history that you take is that God on his

throne and fully present in the world is accomplishing the

purpose of His will at any moment, the one that's now, the

one that's now, the one that's next, God is moving to

accomplish purpose of his will. God's ways are not always our

ways are often not our ways. Listen as I read from Isaiah 55

Isaiah 55:8

verse 8, God's Word. For my thoughts are not your

thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord that

didn't matter to Jonah. For as the heavens are higher

than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my

thoughts than your thoughts. Listen to this.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not

return there, but what are the earth making it bring forth and

sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall

my word be that goes out from my mouth.

It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that

which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I

sent it. And this is what that means,

that no matter what we see, no matter how evil rises up, we

have faith in the living God who ordains all sorts of things that

we don't always understand in order to accomplish the purpose

of His will. Friends, there is no greater

comfort than knowing that God is sovereign.

I want you to see how specific His sovereignty is on this boat.

100,000 people inside the stadium, thousands of people who

will be outside, millions watching it.

This is true. We, the human race, are all in

the same boat. We live in a world that when

Adam and Eve fell and sent Andrew dead.

Darkness, violence, evil thoughts met by evil deeds have

consumed our world continually, and it's going to until the day

Christ returns. So where do we find our hope in

His Word? The first two children born,

Cain and Abel 1 murders the other, and time goes on.

God's Word from Genesis to Revelation is His sovereign plan

to save His people. And God will use evil kings and

godly kings. God will use people who will do

incredible good and unthinkable harm.

And God is always our sovereign Lord.

And friends, that's what we need most of these moments, to anchor

us so that we live the way God's Word has called us to live,

courageously, boldly, with love and truth, always side by side.

So let's go to the boat. Jonah, Juan.

For those that weren't here last week or are unfamiliar with the

story or two weeks ago when Paul kicked the series off, Jonah is

a prophet of God and he has received clear instructions from

the Lord to go to a very wicked people to tell them who the Lord

is and that the Lord is unhappy with their ways.

Jonah is a prophet of God. That means he knows the word and

he knows the one who gives the word.

But because he despises the evil people in Nineveh, he can't in

his mind imagine that God would show mercy to them.

He can't imagine it. And what he can't imagine in the

flesh. And his own mind begins to

inform the way he's going to think about being obedient to

the Lord. And so he's not going to be

obedient. And so begins this dark descent

in Jonah's life, spiraling into the depths of sin.

And it gets lower and lower and lower, but it's going to be

matched by a greater and deeper love that is going to chase him

down. And that's where we are today.

Jonah is asleep, sleeping what Hugh Martin called the sleep of

sorrow. The despair, his anger, his

frustration, his sadness, all sorts of things going on in his

heart and mind put him in this condition where he is exhausted

and he goes to sleep. In the midst of this great

storm, the captain moves towards Jonah.

He uses the same word that God used to call Jonah to go to

Nineveh. Arise.

Captain is now using that same word, not knowing Jonah had

heard that from God. Arise and he says, call out to

your God. Perhaps the God will give a

thought to us that we may not perish.

They're perishing. Now.

I think this is really important.

It's easy to think that this, this story is a boat that's in a

storm. But somehow we tend to think

things are kind of calm. They're not calm.

These men, Mariners, professional sailors, have their

livelihood on the boat with them, are doing everything they

can in their strength to save themselves and one another.

They're experiencing common grace in a way.

They care for each other, but not Jonah.

Jonah's asleep. The skipper calls him awake.

They cast lots ancient ways. This is one of the ways in which

they made decisions. Here again you just see the

sovereignty of God all over this passage.

The lot falls on Jonah. Thus begins a conversation, and

this is the first time we hear Jonah speak to the sailors.

Verse 8. They said to Jonah, tell us on

whose account this evil has come upon us?

What is your occupation? Where do you come from?

What is your country, and of what people are you?

Now they want to know, what have you done?

What God have you offended? The reason they want to know is

because these experienced sailors were not prepared for a

storm. They didn't see a storm suddenly

coming on the horizon, but God, the sovereign Lord of the storm

was bringing it. God as soon as Jonah moved away

from him in his mind knew that this storm I'm going to set as a

specific strike against this boat.

Why? Because I'm going to accomplish

the purpose of my will and saving my people.

And so Jonah, here's their questions.

Their questions are questions of identity.

What is your occupation? Where do you come from?

What is your country and are what people of you?

Now remember this. This is not a moment when

they're suddenly standing in a circle, sitting down.

Everything's calm. These men are soaking wet by

rain and sweat. The storm is swelling around

them. The boat, we're told, is

breaking apart. These are intense, direct

questions. The moment matters.

Now. You've been sleeping.

That's incomprehensible. Who are you?

And then listen to what Jonah says, verse 9.

Jonah said to them, I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord the

God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.

Let me say it again, I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the

God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.

Except he didn't. He didn't fear the Lord, because

the one who made the sea and the one who made the dry land is

also the one who said to him, Jonah, arise, go to Nineveh,

that great land. And then the fear of the Lord

that Jonah had began to dissipate as he went on this

decline. If a prophet of the word, if a

prophet of God can turn his back against the word of God, so can

we. So do we.

We constantly need the Lord's help to show us.

Where in my life am I not fearing the Lord?

And this fear of the Lord is what the church needs to be

awakened to. We need to wake up.

There are ways in which we have simply fallen asleep and not

taken God at His Word. We either don't believe what He

has said or we don't believe the way He's called us to live.

And friends, this is going to be a challenge between now and when

He calls us home or returns. Ask the Holy Spirit for mercy to

show you. Where in my life am I saying no

to the Word of God? Where in my life do I see a

group of people and say they don't deserve Jesus?

Or where in my life do I see a group of people and say it's

impossible for that person or that group to come to Christ?

I'm sure the early church thought the same about Saul.

Jonah had feared the Lord, he says.

I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven who made

the sea in the dry land. It's true that he did, but in

this moment he doesn't. But what happens when he says, I

am a Hebrew? I fear the Lord the God of

heaven, who made the sea in dry land.

It says in verse 10. Then the men were exceedingly

afraid and said to him, what is this you have done?

For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the

Lord, because he had told them, What is this you have done?

They became exceedingly fearful of God.

Now watch this. The man who was a prophet of

God, who should have sustained and continued to have that fear

of God, says that he fears the Lord.

But he doesn't, not in this moment.

He is not yet repentant. And yet the ones who have not

feared the Lord, the pagans who have called out to other gods,

hear that the God of the Hebrews, which they have

obviously heard about over time, is his God, and now they are

exceedingly afraid because of who He is.

How could that happen? Because God knows what he's

doing. He moves in mysterious ways, and

he has taken this prophet of the word of God who says that he

fears them, but he no longer does.

And he has put him, as he seeks to distance himself from a ship,

on a boat with others who are about to come into deep

confrontation with this living God.

I'm a Hebrew. I fear the Lord, the one who

made the sea and the dry land. Then they were exceedingly

afraid. What is this you have done?

This is where I'm going to stop today.

When the Church constantly remembers that we are

worshipping the one true God. Who indeed made the sea that

these sailors are floating on? Who indeed made the dry land

that these sailors desperately want to reach?

When we realize that this God we worship is Lord sovereign over

the storms, in the storms, before the storms, after the

storms, then we have a fear of the Lord that is not based on

this terror of not being able to come to Him, but this reverent

awe and majestic sense of how great He is and He is.

Jonah has chosen to flee from Him, His presence.

The sailors begin to see something.

And don't you see the sovereign hand of God at work on this

boat? So let me in here.

Jonah is about to tell them what to do.

But Jonah doesn't know how the story's going to end.

Neither do the sailors. So the sailors are not going to

listen to Jonah until there's no other way, and then they're

going to hurl him overboard. Jonah's going to be the picture

of a scapegoat, which is fulfilled perfectly and our

Savior Jesus. But here's the difference.

Jonah was thrown overboard because of his sin.

He submerged under the water, not knowing that a fish would

swallow him. Jesus became our scapegoat

because of your set and mine. Another difference.

Jonah didn't die, but Jesus did. There's a comparison between the

two that's remarkable, and we're going to pick up here next week

in the midst of this painful, dark season.

The God who brought the storm to this boat, to that sea is the

same God who is in control of everything that is happening

now. May you take great hope and

courage and him our victor. And may today we make much of

this one true God. May he have mercy to cause us to

rise, to wake up, to boldly go wherever he's called us.

Lord Jesus, thank you for this flock.

The privilege of walking with you with them blesses my life

and the lives of our pastors to no end.

Oh Lord Jesus, we pray today that what we have heard and what

we have said and what we have sung would go deep, deep, deep

into our hearts. That we really would be a people

living in fear of the One who made everything, the Lord of the

storm, the Lord of salvation, the only Lord we pray in his

name. Amen.

Please stand.