Jonah and Jesus: God's Unstoppable Plan

We're going to read the Bible now.

If you can open up your Bible to Jonah 1, verses 1 to 16.

Jonah 1:1–16

!

He said,

Threatened to break up.

Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his God,

and they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them.

But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship,

and had lain down and was fast asleep.

So the captain came and said to him,

What do you mean, you sleeper?

Arise, call out to your God.

Perhaps the 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 have 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.

So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea,

and the sea ceased from its raging.

Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly,

and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

Okay, well, thanks everyone.

I'm really excited to be preaching today.

It's been about two years since I preached here,

which, I know, thank you Sarah Morris,

that's the reaction that I had.

Sarah was like,

two years, it's been quite a while,

so I'm really stoked to be here today.

And we're starting a series on the book of Jonah today.

So Jonah chapter one.

Jonah is my favorite ending to a book in the Bible ever.

All so much cattle?

That's the end of the book of Jonah.

I don't know if you've got that far through the book.

They're the last three words.

Random.

I, for about 10 years, have had,

this is a bit of a confession to start,

have had quite a weird, complex, morbid fascination with tornadoes.

I don't know if anyone else here has gone down YouTube tornado rabbit holes.

Yes, I can see one.

It's a bit of an odd thing.

It's actually a bucket list of mine

that I want to see a tornado before I die.

Okay.

I can't tell if that's a me too or if that's a you're crazy.

I think it's probably a bit of a mix.

But in Australia, we don't actually have many tornadoes.

There's been a few.

In fact, this is a fun fact for you.

The strongest tornado ever in Australia was in Bula Dila.

Who knew it could be that close?

But we don't get many.

We get a few.

The best one probably filmed in Australia,

and I'm hoping this is going to click through.

This is probably the most impressive looking one it was in.

Just between Bathurst and Lithgow, if you know where that is.

Decent.

Like that tornado.

Pretty good.

You know, it's a decent size,

but it's not particularly impressive, let's just say.

Now, if you want a proper tornado,

we're talking the big boys here,

there's really only one country that you can go to.

Oh, Australian tornadoes part one

if you want to go down the rabbit hole,

which suggests there's a part two as well,

so you can do that in your own time.

But the big ones are found in the US.

Now, this is an example of another one

that was filmed in America.

Now we're talking.

Look at this.

Isn't that massive?

That's the type of tornado I want to see before I die.

I want to go into...

Katie and Kevin are like,

no, you don't want to see that before you die.

Have you guys ever seen one in America?

No.

Yeah, but I'm sure the damage in it makes the news.

See, I'm a bit removed from it.

I recognise that.

But that's impressive.

That's something that I think is super exciting.

Now, again, I don't know if you know much about tornadoes,

but that is not even the start of how big a tornado can get.

This is one that was in South Dakota.

In case it's not immediately obvious,

that whole thing is a tornado.

It's called a wedge tornado,

and it is terrifying.

Like, no-one wants to be in front of that thing.

And I think I'm very happy to see the big majestic one.

You can kind of see it in the middle of the day.

I'm very happy if I don't see one of these in my lifetime.

That is just terrifying.

Now, people have all different types of reactions to tornadoes.

Some are fascinated.

Some are horrified.

This is a reaction.

This is a very famous...

You didn't think you were going to be coming here to church today

for a tornado rundown, but here it is.

This is a very famous video of a guy who was in his house

when a tornado was coming in his house.

Now, this is the start of the video.

You can kind of see it there in the background.

We're now going to skip,

because this obviously goes for quite a while.

We're going to skip about a minute and a half in.

Now, this is real.

This is pre-AI days.

The guy is still filming.

He's still filming.

Anyway, this video, it actually continues for like another 30 seconds,

and it's basically this chunked-out noise over a black background.

But I think the reason I'm fascinated by tornadoes

is because of the raw power.

Like, there's something just intensely amazing

about seeing this type of thing coming towards you.

And there's nothing that you can do about it.

If you are in front of this thing here, like the guy in the camera,

you can't tell that thing to change course.

It's going where it wants to go.

You cannot tell it that it should maybe quieten down

or, I don't know, dissipate before it gets to you.

So that thing will do whatever it wants to do.

And in this part of the Bible that we're reading today,

Jonah chapter 1,

Jonah 1 · chapter mention

we're going to see a completely unstoppable God.

We are going to see a completely unstoppable God

intent on delivering His mercy to His enemies.

And the question as we go through, Jonah,

as we kind of go through the passage today

that you should be asking yourself,

is how will you respond?

When you're faced with this incredible force,

unstoppable force that is our God,

how do you respond?

Do you run?

Do you pretend like it's not there, that it's not coming?

Or do you recognise the reality of what's before you?

So let's pray and we can get into it.

Dear God, thank you that we can be here today

talking about Jonah chapter 1.

Jonah 1 · chapter mention

Such an incredible part of your words to us.

I pray that you'd help us to hear.

I pray that you'd help me to speak clearly

and cover over any of my failings if needed.

Amen.

Okay, we're going to open up Jonah chapter 1.

Jonah 1 · chapter mention

So we'll read from Jonah chapter 1, verse 1.

Jonah 1:1

If you've got your Bible there,

then it's somewhere in the middle-ish.

That is so unhelpful.

Look at your contents if you're not sure where it is.

But the first thing,

and actually while you're doing that,

I'm going to swap stands

because I already tell this is just going to

slowly sink down as I'm going.

So I'm going to quickly swap stands while you find it.

Okay, Jonah chapter 1.

Jonah 1 · chapter mention

Now, first thing that we're going to see

as we read through this

is that Jonah shows us

that rebellion is pointless

in front of an unstoppable God.

Rebellion is pointless against an unstoppable God.

So verse 1.

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah,

the son of Amittai, saying,

Arise, go to Nineveh,

that great city,

and call out against it,

for their evil has come up before me.

But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish

from the presence of the Lord.

He went down to Joppa

and found a ship going...

They should have called it Tarshish.

That would make way more sense.

Found a ship going to Tarshish.

So he paid the fare

and went down into it

to go with them to Tarshish

away from the presence of the Lord.

So Jonah chapter 1,

Jonah 1 · chapter mention

we're introduced to this man

called Jonah, the son of Amittai.

We don't know much about Amittai,

apart from the fact that he's his dad, I guess.

But we do know that he's a prophet of God.

So we're told that Jonah is a prophet.

He was around during the reign

of a king called Jeroboam II.

So if you don't know much

about the history of Israel,

basically Israel is in two parts.

There's a northern kingdom

and a southern kingdom.

Jonah's in the northern kingdom,

and this king, Jeroboam II,

is king over the northern kingdom.

And up until this point,

every king has been evil.

There's one that's a little bit mixed in there,

but basically all the kings of Israel

have been evil to this point.

And Jeroboam II is no exception.

He is right on the same path

as his fathers and grandfather.

And when we look at Jonah,

we actually know a bit about Jonah

because he's mentioned in two kings.

So he's not just mentioned in the book of Jonah.

We see in 2 Kings 14.

And basically what it says in there

is that Jonah was a prophet of God

during Jeroboam II.

And he told this king

that he would be the one

to expand the borders of Israel.

So again, kind of it had shrunk

a little bit over time.

Jonah is telling this evil king

that actually he will expand

the borders of the kingdom.

Now Jeroboam II reigned

somewhere between,

look, we're talking ancient history, right?

So there's a bit of an up and down

as to what the range

of when he might have reigned would be.

But it's around 793 to 746 BC

for argument's sake

and so I don't have to keep giving a range.

Let's just say 770 BC.

And so Jonah is the prophet during this time.

But you get the very, very strong impression

Jonah would be happy

to have any other job.

He does not want to be a prophet.

He would love to just be like a bricklayer

or a carpenter or something like that.

He does not want to be the prophet of God.

And in verse 1 and 2,

God says to Jonah,

I have a message for you

that I want you to go and give

to the people of Nineveh.

I want you to tell them

that their evil has come up before me.

Now what does Jonah do?

Yes, Lord.

Thank you for this amazing message.

Consider it done.

Don't stress God.

I am on top of this.

Of course not.

We know that he does the opposite

and he runs away.

Now, usually when we read Jonah,

if you're like me,

you probably get to this point

and you're like,

fool, what a fool.

Jonah, silly man.

And he is.

But you know what?

It's actually a little bit understandable.

So if you don't know anything

about the Ninevites,

they're really a main city

of one of Israel's biggest enemies,

the Assyrians.

And during this time,

Assyria is probably

the most powerful nation on earth.

And so it's no small feat

that Jonah would go to an enemy city

and preach to them God's message.

Jonah would love for these people

to just be wiped off the face of the planet.

And we find out later in Jonah

that he suspects that God will be merciful

to them if he goes.

So he hates them.

And in fact,

in about 50 years on from Jonah,

the Assyrians end up conquering

the northern kingdom of Israel.

So the kingdom that Jonah is in,

the Assyrians end up conquering.

That is the people that God is telling him to go to.

So you can kind of understand that.

But even just from a selfish perspective,

he's asking him to go to an enemy

and tell them that they're complete rebels

and they're evil.

Now to try and maybe make a bit of a poor illustration,

imagine you were Ukrainian

and God came and said,

I want you to go to Moscow

and I want you to tell them that they're evil

and that the God of the whole universe

is unhappy with them.

Best case jail, probably.

Worst case torture and death.

That is what God is asking Jonah to do.

And I can kind of understand his hesitance

when he does that.

So Jonah actually doesn't want to do this.

Now he's concerned for his own safety.

We can get the slide happening.

Oh, this is a slide I forgot to say.

I'm going to actually...

Okay, this is a slide

that I should have said right at the start.

So I'm going to do this quickly.

It was talking about the scale of tornadoes.

So...

You can tell I've got a weird...

I've just completely thrown the whole flow of my talk,

but I think this is important.

This is a map of Newcastle.

There was a giant tornado in America, again, of course,

called the El Reno tornado.

It happened in 2013.

I'm not sure if anyone's heard of this tornado.

Yes, yes.

4.2 kilometres wide.

Which is ridiculous.

500 kilometre per hour winds,

which is also ridiculous.

This is...

If church was the centre point of that tornado,

that's how far it would stretch.

So we're talking, what, Lake Macquarie in the south,

all the way up to nearly Woolworths at Edgeworth,

if you know where that is.

If you know where I live,

this would knock out my house as well.

It's about a 10-minute drive to my house.

So we're talking about a massive, massive tornado.

Great, that's important for later

and totally not helpful in the context

of what I was talking about.

But Jonah is running from God.

He's rebelling against God.

And God is unstoppable.

His plans never fail.

And Jonah is rebelling against this unstoppable God.

This is the slide that we're meant to be up to.

This is where Jonah is running.

So he goes to Joppa.

This is in Miles, which is very unhelpful.

It's one of the terrible inventions of the British.

2,500 kilometres is where he's going to Tarshish.

It's basically the end of the world for someone like Jonah.

God is calling him to go the other direction.

He's calling him to go to Nineveh.

And it's about as far as you can possibly get

from where God is calling him to go, Tarshish,

other direction.

And he's running away.

Now, Jonah is rebelling against an unstoppable God.

His plans never fail.

And Jonah's rebellion against this unstoppable God

is pointless.

There is no point in his rebelling.

So we're going to read from verse 4.

You've got Bible again, verse 4.

But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea,

and there was a mighty tempest on the sea,

so the ship threatened to break up.

Then the mariners were afraid,

and each cried out to his God,

and they hurled the cargo that was in the ship

into the sea to lighten it for them.

But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship

and had lain down and was fast asleep.

Then verse 7.

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's your occupation and where do you come from?

What's 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 verse 12.

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.

Then in verse 15.

So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea,

and the sea ceased from its raging.

See, Jonah's rebellion against God is pointless.

He's running away.

He's trying to hope that maybe God won't see him,

but God sends a massive wind to come and push him back.

And they kind of try everything that they can.

Jonah has kind of told him he's running from our God.

But God makes it clear to everyone

that Jonah is the reason that they are in this mess.

They're the reason that they're in this horrific storm.

And the sailors, to their credit, actually,

very nobly, try and resist this storm.

They throw stuff into the sea.

They kind of, Jonah says, throw me out.

And they're like, oh, don't worry.

We'll try and row anyway.

But they find that it is pointless.

And eventually they throw Jonah into the sea,

and he's swallowed up by the great fish.

And of course, that's what Jonah is most famous for,

is being swallowed by a fish.

But for all his efforts,

Jonah finds out that rebellion against God is pointless.

Now, this is why I kept persisting with my out-of-place slides,

because I want you to imagine that this El Reno tornado,

four kilometres wide, 500 kilometre per hour winds,

they reckon, over 500 kilometre per hour winds,

is coming towards us.

It's coming out of the south.

It's hit Lake Macquarie Maccas.

There's some good things come out of this tornado.

It's Bunnings.

It's Costco.

It kind of just evaporates into the sky.

It gets to KFC Glendale.

And it is coming.

There is nothing you can do.

It will hit this building.

Now, imagine if at that point you went,

you know what?

I'm not moving.

I have been here since 8 o'clock this morning.

I had to get my kids ready.

My son spilt water on my preaching notes.

My wife still has two songs to go.

We're not leaving.

I'm staying here.

And in fact, you can move.

You can go around me.

That's fine.

You know, if you want to quieten down before you get here,

that's an option as well.

But I'm not moving.

Now, imagine if that was your response

to the tornado coming down on you.

Well, I would find out pretty quickly

that no amount of rebellious attitude from me

will make any difference to what that tornado does.

It's coming for me.

It'll throw me hundreds of metres into the air.

It'll obliterate this building.

And it does not matter whether I tell it to do something or not

because it is unstoppable.

And that's what we're seeing here in Jonah.

We're seeing Jonah up against an unstoppable, unresistible God.

The God of the universe who will deliver his plan

and nothing that Jonah says or does will stop it.

I wonder how well acquainted you are with God's plans.

Maybe you're not really been to church much before.

Maybe you're someone who kind of has been in and out of church.

But I wonder how much you actually know about God's plans.

Because if a great God of the universe is tracking towards you,

wouldn't you want to know what that plan is?

If that plan will be delivered

and you cannot change it,

he will deliver it,

then I would put it to you

that you probably want to know what that plan is.

You know, I think most people in Newcastle

actually don't want to know the plans of God.

I think Jonah is probably not the best example

for what someone is like in Newcastle.

I think very few people in Newcastle that aren't Christian

will rebel against it.

They'll know God's plan.

They'll know Jesus' death and resurrection.

And they'll decide,

no, I'm doing something anyway.

I think actually most people

are very happy being willfully ignorant of God's plan.

Because if I know God's plan,

then I probably have to change something

about what I'm doing.

I think that's why a lot of people

don't want to hear about God's plan.

And I've been trying to think about why I find,

I don't know if you're at church camp,

if you're at church camp,

or if you weren't at church camp,

there was a really strong,

I guess, question put to us about evangelism.

Are we telling people the gospel?

And I've been trying to think about

what is it that I find so hard

about telling someone about Jesus?

Because I actually do talk about Jesus a lot.

I talk about him,

like all my colleagues know I'm Christian.

I talked about the fact I went to church camp,

for example.

My colleagues know that I go to this church,

so they would know where to find me

on a Sunday morning if they wanted to come and visit.

I actually don't have a problem

with telling them I'm a Christian.

But where it gets hard

is when I have to say,

actually, God's plan applies to you as well.

I think most people are happy for me to be a Christian.

As long as it's for you.

I don't want to know about it.

Like, that's fine, you do what you want to do,

but I'm not someone who wants to know

about the plans of God.

They don't want to know that they're in rebellion

to an unstoppable God.

See, to properly tell others

means that at some point,

you're going to have to say something offensive

and that they don't want to hear.

And that is that they are at conflict

with the plans of an unstoppable God.

And in Australia,

there is almost nothing more offensive

than to tell someone

that they're living life the wrong way.

I don't know if you've done it before,

but it's kind of the unwritten rule in Australia

that you don't talk about my life,

you don't dwell too hard on my life

and I won't do that to you.

But it doesn't change the reality.

Whether that person, that friend, that colleague,

whoever it might be, family member,

whether they know the plans of God,

whether they believe the plans of God,

makes no difference to the reality.

There is an unstoppable God headed their way.

And I think in Australia,

most of our job is convincing people

that they actually are in rebellion

to this unstoppable God.

And we should be trying to help other people see,

I think, the reality of this giant tornado

bearing down on them.

So if rebellion is pointless

against an unstoppable God,

faith is accepting the reality

of an unstoppable God.

Now there's a really strong contrast in Jonah.

If you see Jonah,

he's kind of the guy who's running away,

he's scared,

he knows what God's plan is,

and he's like,

I want no piece of that.

There is a contrasting reaction in Jonah.

I don't know if you picked it up

as we read through,

but the sailors actually have the reaction

that Jonah probably should have had

and the fear towards God

that Jonah should have had.

So we're going to read some of that again,

but they put him to shame.

So we're going to start at verse four.

We're going to cover some of the bits

that we already have talked about,

but try and look at the reaction

of the sailors in response to God.

But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea,

and there was a mighty tempest on the sea,

so that the ship threatened to break up.

Then the mariners were afraid,

and each cried out to his God,

and they hurled the cargo that was in the ship

into the sea to lighten it for them.

But Jonah had gone down

into the inner part of the ship,

and had lain down and was fast asleep.

So the captain came and said to them,

what do you mean, you sleeper?

Arise, call out to your God.

Perhaps the God will give a thought to us

that we might 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's your occupation?

Where do you come from?

What's your country,

and 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 you have done?

For the men knew that he was fleeing

from the presence of the Lord,

because he had told them.

Then he said to them,

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 quieten 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.

So they picked up Jonah

and hurled him into the sea,

and the sea ceased from its raging.

Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly,

and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord

and made vows.

See, the sailors,

they actually initially don't know

what they're dealing with.

They can see that something's going on.

They know that this giant storm

is happening,

and these guys are very experienced.

I don't know if you've ever experienced

turbulence on a plane.

You kind of don't freak out.

It happens all the time.

You're not supposed to worry.

If the crew starts freaking out,

then you start freaking out

if you're on a plane.

That's when you know you're in big trouble.

And in this part of the Bible,

in Jonah chapter 1,

Jonah 1 · chapter mention

the crew are freaking out.

They're throwing stuff overboard.

They're praying to their gods.

I don't know how you kind of do that

on a ship that's like rocking all around,

but they're doing that.

They're really freaking out,

and they start calling out to their gods,

and they eventually go,

this must be because of some reason.

This is not a normal storm.

We've been in storms before.

And so they cast lots.

It's like throwing the dice,

and it says that Jonah

is the one who's put them in this situation.

It's Jonah's fault.

And Jonah tells them

that it's because he's rebelling against God.

And they respond how Jonah should have responded.

Sorry, say that again.

What are you talking about?

Why?

You're running from God,

and you're putting us in danger.

You're on the same boat as us.

You stupid person.

Listen.

That is how they respond.

See, they recognize

that they're up against an unstoppable God.

There's nothing that they can do.

They recognize the reality

that they are up against something

that is unstoppable.

And so eventually,

they throw Jonah into the sea,

and the storm stops.

And what do they say?

It says that then,

they feared the Lord exceedingly,

and they offered a sacrifice

to the Lord and made vows.

Now,

when later in the week

you go down the tornado rabbit hole,

you'll notice

that often what the storm chasers do,

because this is a whole thing,

is that people kind of

try and predict

where these tornadoes will be,

and they'll find them

and try and follow them,

is that they try

and not get in the way,

because they recognize

that if they put themselves

in harm's way,

there's nothing they can do.

They have no power.

This thing will just

throw them into the air.

They realize

that the tornado

is unstoppable.

Well, the sailors here

recognize

that they're up against

an unstoppable tornado.

They can't row against God.

They can't fight against Him.

They can simply accept

the reality.

They can accept

that the God of the heaven,

who created the sea and the land,

will deliver His plans.

See, in Jonah,

God is to be feared.

The men recognize

that they have been fighting

against this God.

They have on board

a man who is running

from God.

And Jonah,

I actually probably

didn't do it justice

when I read it out before,

but when he's talking

about who God is,

and they're kind of

grilling Him,

and they're like,

who are you?

Where are you from?

And he's like,

I'm a Hebrew.

And they're like,

okay, well, what God?

He made the heavens,

I guess.

And the dry land,

and I guess the sea.

Like, it's a ridiculous response

from Jonah.

He knows who God is.

The sailors,

they just recognize

that they are up against

an unstoppable God.

They fear Him,

even though they don't know

His full plans.

Jonah knows His plans,

and He runs.

But for us,

we know God's plan

for the world.

If you're a Christian

here today,

and you've been

coming along to church

for any length of time,

you know God's plan

for this world.

We have faith

in an unstoppable God.

We accept the reality

that God will deliver

His plan for this world,

and there is nothing

that can stop it.

And unlike

the unstoppable tornado,

whether you believe

in God or not,

you have to accept

God's plan

for this world.

Whether or not

you have faith in God,

it actually makes

no difference

to the reality.

The tornado is hitting.

God is unstoppable.

The tornado is unstoppable.

To resist is like

standing in front

of that giant tornado

coming towards you

in stubborn rebellion

about the reality

that's coming.

You know,

my Christian faith,

no matter how it's going,

sometimes it might be

doing well.

How much does that

progress the plans of God

if my faith is going well?

If I'm having a tough time

and I'm kind of not

reading my Bible very often

and I kind of feel

distant from God,

how much does that

stop the plans of God?

When we see things

in this world

that seem like

a departure from

a Christian worldview,

when we see people

departing from God's

way of living,

should we pray

as if God

may not know

that that's happening?

Should we pray

as if somehow

God's fighting

the forces of evil

and he's slowly

losing the battle?

God is unstoppable.

Nothing can resist him.

I wonder if world events

are keeping you up at night.

I mean,

the obvious one,

what's filled today?

Like $2.40?

Diesel?

Hang on,

it's $2.90 today?

Are you wondering

how you'll get by?

Maybe some of you,

there was a mortgage

rate increase

recently,

kind of freaking out,

going,

I don't know how

we're going to handle

this one.

Are you worried

about the world

getting dragged into war?

I don't know about you,

but sometimes it feels

like we're kind of

just on this really

long downward slide

into a third world war.

Maybe you're worried

about what your kids

are going to inherit.

I worry about that

from time to time.

Grandkids?

What kind of a world

are we bringing

these kids up into?

Maybe you feel like

Australia is the land

of the haves

and the have-nots.

Like you want to buy

a house,

but it just keeps getting

worse and worse

and further and further

out of reach.

It feels like

our society is just

drifting further and

further away from God,

but our God is

unstoppable.

He will deliver

his plans.

You think Donald Trump

can get in the way

of an unstoppable God?

You think Anthony

Albanese

has any effect

on the plans of God?

or Pauline Hanson

or whoever it is

that you're concerned about?

To what effect

does the unbelief

of Australia

have

on the directions

of an unstoppable God?

Nothing.

It is like me

standing in front

of the tornado

shaking my fist.

See, faith is not

about giving

God's plans

a helpful push

in the right direction.

It's accepting

the reality

of an unstoppable

God.

It doesn't mean

we shouldn't care

about this world.

Don't hear me saying that.

I'm not saying

we shouldn't care

about what happens

and that we shouldn't

try and fight

for a society

that gives

honour and respect

to God's words

and purpose.

I'm not saying that.

But we don't need

to worry

when it goes

against what we

think should happen.

A little while ago

I, probably

about five years ago,

went through

an existential dread

about climate change.

Now, I'm not making

a point about climate change.

I don't care

if you think

it's real or not.

But I had this

existential dread

that we were kind

of going down

this path

where my kids

are going to grow up

in a world

where it's a horrendous

place to live.

our God's unstoppable.

Climate change

isn't going to make

a difference

to God's plans.

He knows it.

He sees it.

He will always

deliver his plans.

Our God

is unstoppable

and all we can do

is accept

the reality

of what he will do.

But what is

the plan

of our unstoppable

God?

Because I've kind

of talked a lot

about it

up until this point.

He has a plan.

It's coming.

There's nothing

he can do

to move it.

But what actually

is that plan?

Because Jonah

points us

to something

much bigger

than simply

God's plan

to save

the Ninevites

and we'll kind

of hear more

about that

in future weeks.

Jonah points

us

to Jesus.

The ultimate

plan

of an unstoppable

God.

I'm going to

open up to

Matthew chapter

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

12.

If you've got

your Bible

open up to

Matthew chapter

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

12.

I'm going to

start at

verse 38

because Jonah

is actually

mentioned in

the New

Testament as

well.

He's mentioned

a couple

of times but

we're going

to read

Matthew

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12.

In this

section,

basically the

background of

what we're

going to

read is the

Pharisees who

are religious

leaders of

the day.

I actually

was practicing

this yesterday

and had a

slip of the

tongue.

I'm sure

someone has

invented this

word but I

thought it was

fantastic.

Pharisees.

They

basically are

trying to

catch Jesus

out.

They're trying

to trip him

up.

They're trying

to get him

to say

something that

he doesn't

mean.

And this

is what we

come to where

Jesus just

before this has

essentially called

the Pharisees

evil.

That was

unintentional.

The Pharisees

evil.

Verse 38.

Then some of

the scribes

and Pharisees

answered him

saying,

Teacher,

we wish to

see a sign

from you.

But he

answered them,

An evil and

adulterous

generation seeks

for a sign,

but no sign

will be given

to it except

the sign of

the prophet

Jonah.

But just as

Jonah was

three days and

three nights in

the belly of

the great fish,

so will the

Son of Man be

three days and

three nights in

the heart of

the earth.

The men of

Nineveh will

rise up at

the judgment

with this

generation and

condemn it.

For they

repented at

the preaching

of Jonah,

and behold,

something greater

than Jonah is

here.

See, in

Matthew, Jesus

tells us that

Jonah is

actually a

sign.

It's a sign

pointing to

something that

is far greater.

Because just as

Jonah is God's

unstoppable mercy

to the Ninevites,

Jesus is God's

unstoppable mercy

to this world.

Now, throughout

the book of

Jonah, I said

that there's

some questions

you should be

asking yourself

and that's about

response.

But there's

other questions

we should be

asking.

Who is going

to be the

perfect prophet

who will

actually be the

one who delivers

God's mercy?

Because Jonah is

useless.

He doesn't want

to be there.

He fights against

him the whole

time.

Even after you

would think being

in the belly of a

fish for three

days, you would

get on board

with God's

plans.

We'll find out

as we go

through the

series.

Even then,

Jonah still is

frustrated and

annoyed at God

and thinks he

should do

something different.

But we're

meant to be

asking, who

is the one

who will

willingly submit

to God's

unstoppable plan?

who is the

perfect one

who delivers

God's mercy?

Because like

the Ninevites

that we see

in verse 1,

God calls us

to realise

that our evil

has come up

before him.

Without his

mercy, we are

standing in the

path of his

wrath at our

rebellion.

It's like a

giant tornado

coming towards

you.

Because humanity

has not

accepted and

not recognised

the reality of

an unstoppable

God.

We have

rebelled against

him.

We have not

given him his

due place as

the ruler of

the world,

the God of

the heavens,

the lands,

the sea.

We have

turned our

back on him

and we've

chosen to

make our

own reality,

thinking that

somehow,

actually, my

plans are

unstoppable.

unstoppable.

I'm the

one who

decides what

happens.

People can

move around

me.

My plans

are the

ones that

never fail.

But Jesus

tells us

that Jonah

is a sign

that points

to him.

Jesus is

the answer

to those

questions.

Jesus is

our perfect

prophet.

Jesus is

the one who

willingly

submits

himself to

the unstoppable

plans of

his father.

And just

as Jonah

spent three

days and

nights in

the belly

of a fish,

Jesus spends

three days

and three

nights cast

out from

God's

presence,

dying on

the cross

and taking

the wrath

that we

deserved.

Because just

as Jonah's,

in Jonah,

we see that

God's plan for

the Ninevites

is unstoppable.

Jesus is

God's unstoppable

plan for

saving those

who accept

the reality

of his

plan for

the world.

Now imagine

again that

you've got the

tornado bearing

down your

house.

Imagine you're

in this

situation.

You're seconds

away.

There's nothing

you can do.

You cannot

run.

You cannot

kind of stand

against it.

What should

you do in

this situation?

If you're

in, you've

got the camera

there, what

should you be

doing?

You should

be trying

to seek

shelter.

That's why

this video is

so shocking

because you're

like, it's

so the

opposite thing

to what you

should be

doing in

the situation.

You should

be seeking

a tornado

shelter.

I don't

know if

you've seen

a tornado

shelter before.

They're

basically

these big

capsules.

Imagine a

shipping

container

almost,

probably a

little bit

smaller.

They usually

dig them

into the

ground.

They might

put concrete

around them

or something

to pack it

in.

The idea

is that as

the tornado

goes over

the top,

you're under

there safe,

protected.

That's kind

of the whole

idea of a

tornado shelter.

In fact,

there's another

video, I

chose not to

show it.

I think it's

just, I

recognise

the kids

in the room,

that almost

is identical

to this

video where

a guy's

filming a

tornado coming

towards his

house and

his wife had

told him,

we've got a

tornado shelter,

get into it.

This is the

time that

you do

that.

And the

man,

apparently his

wife said

to him that

he wasn't

scared.

He would

be fine,

he's strong

enough.

She didn't

need to worry

about him.

She went

to the

tornado shelter,

he filmed

the tornado,

she survived

and his body

was found

hundreds of

metres away.

how will

you respond

to the

unstoppable

God?

Because

just like

the

tornado,

God's

judgement

and wrath

is coming

directly for

those who

have rebelled

against him.

It's

unstoppable,

there is

nothing that

we can do

to redirect

the course.

There's

nothing that

we can do

to resist

it.

We

have

committed

evil in

the sights

of God.

We

haven't

recognised

the reality

that he's

unstoppable,

that he

alone is

the ruler

of this

world.

We

don't

recognise

that God

is the

ruler of

our life

and so

fury of

God is

heading our

way and

there's no

escaping it.

Now we

certainly

can't stand

in rebellion

shaking our

fist.

You know

how people

often play

the Bon

Jovi

I did

it

my way

song?

You

can't do

that in

the face

of God.

God is

unstoppable.

Only

a tornado

shelter

that can

take the

full fury

of the

wrath

of a

tornado

can help.

See we

need

Jesus.

He is

the

shelter

that we

can stand

behind.

He

shelters

us from

the wrath

and he

takes the

penalty

that we

deserve

by dying

on the

cross.

And he

rises again

to show

that the

penalty

is fully

paid.

See this

is where

the tornado

metaphor

slightly

breaks

down

because

God

is the

one

who

provided

that

shelter.

God

sent

Jesus.

He sent

us as

his mercy

so that

when his

wrath against

the sin

and evil

in the

world

came

he would

see

Jesus

and we

would be

saved.

So how

will you

respond to

an unstoppable

God?

If you

aren't

a Christian

here today

and I'm

not sure

if that's

you or

not

and maybe

you aren't

sure

maybe you've

been kind

of putting

the foot

down into

the tornado

shelter

but then

like oh

maybe it's

fake

maybe the

tornado

sirens

aren't

actually

something

to worry

about

maybe it's

not going

to be

bad

maybe it'll

go around

me

if that's

you

then the

reality is

there is

an unstoppable

God

coming your

way

he will

deliver his

plan for

the world

whether you

recognize it

or not

if you walk

out of this

building

and you say

that guy

talked for

probably far

too long

I learnt

some things

about tornadoes

the rest

was psychopathic

doesn't change

the reality

turn to

God

seek the

tornado

shelter

seek

Jesus

he's the

only one

that can

save you

from the

wrath

of a

righteous

God

because he

will deliver

his plan

and if you

are a

Christian

well where

are you

taking

shelter

you know

the plan

of an

unstoppable

God

this is

not

news

to you

I'm sure

probably

for the

last 10

minutes

something

you've

heard a

thousand

times

before

are you

in the

shelter

or are you

maybe

kind of

half out

of the

shelter

maybe

you're

pretending

like the

tornado

doesn't

exist

you kind

of turn

up on

Sunday

but it's

mainly for

appearances

sake

or maybe

you've built

your own

shelter

maybe it has a

fantastic patio

you'll have a good

view from the

deck

when that

tornado

rips it up

maybe you

think you

can hide

behind your

bank balance

maybe that's

you

maybe you'll

kind of

show your

phone up to

the tornado

as it

approaches

and says

I've got a

million

there's

nothing

you can

do

maybe

you'll be

outside

when the

tornado

comes

yelling

I'm the

CEO of

insert

big company

name

here

what are

you seeking

shelter

in

maybe it's

your looks

maybe you'll

be like

the storm

will just

be like

damn

I'm going

a different

way

maybe you

think your

biceps

you'll be

able to

punch the

tornado

apart

but God's

wrath

against evil

is unstoppable

and there is

nothing that

we can do

except come

to Jesus

and seek

shelter

he is the

only one

that can

save

and I

mean

how

incredible

thankful we

should be

that God

has provided

that way

for us

without it

we are

in the

path

we're the

ones shaking

our fists

in defiance

without God

we're the

ones turning

our backs

and ignoring

him

it's

his mercy

that means

we are

saved

see

Jesus

is God's

unstoppable

plan

so will

you run

will you try

and flee it

like Jonah

did

will you

ignore it

or will you

turn to him

will you take

shelter in the

saving work

of Jesus

death and

resurrection

and I

quickly pray

dear God

thank you

that you

are a

God who

cares about

evil

thank you

that you

don't just

let it

slide

and that

you are

a God

who

recognizes

that our

evil

and the

evil of

the world

is something

that needs

to be

dealt

with

God

you are

an

unstoppable