Running From God: Jonah’s Wake-Up Call | A Rebellious Believer and a Loving God (Part 1)

> Speaker A>We are, beginning a journey through, the book of Jonah this morning. We're calling this series A Rebellious Believer and a Loving God. So, the elders usually meet, most weeks on Tuesday morning. And a month or so ago I was keeping, I was hanging out with my grandson Harrison, who is 5. And I got hold of the guys and they're like, just bring him to the meeting. So he, was pretty excited about going to a pastor's meeting. And he's been talking about being a pastor ever since he got to go to that meeting. But in that meeting, this five year old told us the story of Jonah.

> Speaker A>And he did a pretty good job for a five year old. I was proud of him. So, Frank was winding down the study in 1 Corinthians, so we just decided, hey, let's go to Jonah next and go through that book. So this comes from the mind and the heart of a child. And it happens to be my grandson. So I'm pretty blessed to be able to do this. here's the thing. Most of us heard this story as a child, right? How many people heard this as a child? Okay. And we heard it as kind of a cartoon, right? There's this guy and there's this boat, there's this great big fish, you know, and it's cool and all this. And it's kind of a childl like fairy tale almost. And the thing is, we can bring that childlike attitude about Jonah into adulthood with us. And when we do that, we don't take this book seriously, ok? And maybe, just maybe, we bring that childlike attitude into adulthood.

> Speaker A>Because if we take this seriously and see it for what it is, it's uncomfortable and it's convicting because we all run from God in some way, right?

> Speaker A>We're going to own that this morning, right? we all run from God in some way. So the main thing is if we don't take this book seriously, what we miss overall is God's unconditional love, his mercy and his grace and his patience that he had with Jonah and he has with us. And we miss the fact that this story really continually points to God's salvation. Right? So I'm going to give you some tips to get more out of Jonah along the way. The first one is don't look at it like a child's story. Let's make it fresh this morning. Amen. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to read verses's, see 15, 17 towards the end of the chapter. And then we're going to go back and see how in the world did Jonah end up in the belly of this big fish? Oay. So, starting at verse 15.

> Speaker A>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. And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah.

> Speaker A>And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Let's pray. Father, we're grateful as always for this time togetherather. We ask you to bless these few moments that we are spending together in your word.

> Speaker A>And Father, I do pray that you would make this old story, fresh for us this morning. Offer your glory, Lord. I pray in faith, in Jesus name and in the power of your holy spirit.

> Speaker A>Amen. Let me give you another way to get more out of this story.

> Speaker A>In another story, okay? If you're taking notes, I'm going to give you five things to ask. They're all one word, okay? And to write them one under the other, not cross. And you'll understand. Write down who, what, where, how win, okay? And at any given time in this story, you can ask those questions for us. Who's involved in this story? Well, you got God, you got Jonah. You got some guys on the boat, you got the people in Nineveh. and I think in indirect way, you have Jonah's family and friends because he left them behind, okay? But at any given time, you can ask who. Who's involved? Okay? You can ask what's going on? You can ask, where are we at at this point? You can ask how did this happened or that happened? And you can ask when. So that will help you get more not only out of the book of Jonah, but whoever is s preaching, whatever book you're going through, whatever scripture you're looking at in your personal time, you can ask these simple things and you will get more out of that scripture. So just a little bit about, Jonah. Jonah was written in Hebrew, obviously. It's an Old Testament. The name Jonah in Hebrew means dove, the bird dove.

> Speaker A>And the dove is a symbol of peace. So it's actually a beautiful name.

> Speaker A>Jonah was the prophet in the first half of the 8th century, okay? So that's when all of this took place. Jonah's hometown was a place called Gath Hepper.

> Speaker A>It's G A, T, H H E, P, H E R. Ok? And Jonah is a minor prophet. Now, just for instance, Jonah is a minor Prophet, say Jeremiah is a major prophet. And that's nothing to do with the significance or the importance of the book. Has to do with the length of the book. Okay, Jonas. A fairly short book, Jeremiah long book. And so it has nothing to do with the importance, just the length of the book. Two things that set Jonah apart from the other minor prophets. One is this, for the most part, the other minor prophets are about the message that God gave that particular man to give to Israel. Ok? Jonah is a more personal story with the message of God in it. And, I love that because it's easy to put yourself in Jonah's place as you go through this story. The second thing is this. Jonah was sent to a foreign land with a message of repentance.

> Speaker A>Oay. So that sets him apart there.

> Speaker A>Now let's go to our scripture. We are looking today at running from God. Okay? Very simply, running from God. I have two points that I want to share with you. They're going to overlap each other in the scripture and you will see that. So running from God number one will affect those around you, oay. It will affect those around you. Go back up to verse one. The word of the Lord came to Jonah. That's a pretty common opening, especially for the prophets. And he is the son of Amat. That's also pretty common to say. He is the son of Amti. Who is Amtai? Okay, Other than Jonah's dad? Don't know. We really don't.

> Speaker A>What you about him? His name means faithful or loyal, so it's a beautiful name. Also, that's about all we know about him. God said to Jonah, verse two, Arise. Go to Nineveh, that great city. It was a huge city and call out against them.

> Speaker A>Okay? That word arise there means purposeful. Now for instance, if you say to a child, get up, go clean your room right now.

> Speaker A>Okay, you are not saying to that child, hey, look, if you happen to be passing by your room, would you stop in and pick it up a little bit? Right? You're saying purposely, get up and go clean your room. God was not saying to Jonah, hey, if you happen to be passing by Nineveh, would you stop in there and preach repentance? No, he's saying, get up purposely, stop what you're doing and go tell you what I tell you to do. O, why Nineveh? Well, God said, it's evil has come before me. The word evil there is dealing with. It's a spiritual disaster out there. Nineveh, was full of wicked, evil, violent people. The Bottom line is this.

> Speaker A>None of us needed God, ok? So we have the man of God, the prophet of his day, in Jonah. And you would think that Jonah would be going, what an opportunity this is, right? I get to go tell these pagan people about my God who saves, and what a great opportunity.

> Speaker A>Verse 3. But Jonah, right, That's like saying, I told my son to go clean his room, but little Billy went outside. So what's going to happen now?

> Speaker A>Some discipline, right? But Jonah rose. He did rise up, but he rose up to go to Tarshus.

> Speaker A>Now, here's the thing. Nine Nineveh was in what we now know as Iraq. So give or take some 500 miles east of where Jonah was.

> Speaker A>Tarshus was in what we now know as southern Spain, some 2,000 miles west of where a Jonah was. God said, go this way. Jonah did what? Went that way, the exact opposite way, to go to Tarshus, which in my understanding was the westernmost city in that day. So some have said it's like Jonah was trying to flee and go to the end of the earth, the end of the world, to get away from the presence of God.

> Speaker A>So Jonah did rise up, but he didn't rise up to be obedient. He rose up, to be absolutely disobedient. And here's the thing.

> Speaker A>Anytime we run from God, anytime we're disobedient, we're going the opposite direction, right? Spiritually. Are you with me? When God gives assignments to his people, he doesn't say, wait, do you like those people? Do you want to go there? Because I could give you something else to do. He didn't say that. He doesn't say, hey, do you like this assignment? Are you comfortable with this?

> Speaker A>He doesn't say that. He doesn't say, do you fully understand what I'm asking you to do? What does he say?

> Speaker A>Arise and purposely go.

> Speaker A>Do what I'm calling you to do. Verse three goes on. So Jonah goes down to Joppa, and he goes down into the ship. Now, some have said that symbolizes the fact that when you re running from God, you're going downhill, right?

> Speaker A>He pays his fare in verse three, which would have been a lot of money back then to get on a ship and travel some 2,000 miles. Some have said that symbolism, that it cost you dearly to run from God.

> Speaker A>Why? He's going to Tarshus.

> Speaker A>He's going to the end of the world, if you will, to get away from God's presence.

> Speaker A>He's attempting to avoid God's command. He's attempting to avoid God's guidance.

> Speaker A>He's attempting to avoid God's sovereignty. Jonah came up with a plan to escape God's plan for his life.

> Speaker A>You ever done that? Come on. We've all done that. Come on.

> Speaker A>So Jonah gets on this boat, and he's headed to the end of the earth, if you will. Verse 3. But Jonah.

> Speaker A>Verse 4. But God. You see that?

> Speaker A>But the Lord. Now, it's as if God is saying, okay, son, we'll do it the hard way, okay?

> Speaker A>Look at verse 4. God hurls this great wind. It's just. If you can imagine this. And this is God, okay? God, like, he forms this violent storm and he throws it Jonah's way.

> Speaker A>And in my understanding, from the human perspective, this storm came out of nowhere.

> Speaker A>Like, nobody predicted this. I didn't see it coming.

> Speaker A>It just kind of came out of nowhere.

> Speaker A>And the ship is threatening to come apart. You can probably hear it cracking and the woods cracking on you, and it's coming apart. And here's the thing. When you're out at sea, the ship you're on is your security, right? You're counting on that ship to keep you above the water.

> Speaker A>And when we run from God in any way, we start to find our security in something else. It could be another relationship. It could be money. It could be a Positionian or job. But at some point, when we run from God, what we're finding security in will begin to fall apart.

> Speaker A>Verse 5. We have some, mariners now.

> Speaker A>That's. Who is that? That's the crew of the ship.

> Speaker A>These are sailors. They've sailed many times and they've seen many storms, I would think.

> Speaker A>But I don't think they've ever seen a storm quite like this before. This is violent, and the ship is coming apart. So they cry out, these grown men, these big bad sailors, if you will. They're now crying out. And that's literal. These guys are crying. They're weeping. Tears are coming down their face, and each one is crying out to his own God. It's like, I'll, call on my God. You call on your God. You call on your God. And maybe one of the gods is the right God for this situation.

> Speaker A>Maybe one of our gods can save us here. So they're crying out to God. In verse five, they start throwing out the cargo. This is how they make a living. They're delivering this cargo, right? They start throwing out this valuable stuff to try to keep the ship from sinking down into the storm. And it's amazing that what we think is so valuable down here is not so much if we're facing death, it changes the perspective, doesn't it?

> Speaker A>So these guys are throwing out this valuable stuff. Water is coming in to the ship, the waves are crashing against the ship. The ship is falling apart. You know, they're throwing away this valuable stuff. And where's Jonah?

> Speaker A>Where's he at?

> Speaker A>I mean, it's absolute chaos going on.

> Speaker A>Where is God's man during all of this? Verse 5.

> Speaker A>But Jonah, there it is again.

> Speaker A>He's down in the belly of the ship, fast asleep.

> Speaker A>It's a good nap. He's in a deep, deep sleep right here. Here's the thing. I think two reasons whya'taking a good nap here. One for the believer running from God will wear us out.

> Speaker A>The guilt, the shame, the conviction will just wear us down. If you're take notes, Write down Psalms 32. I'm not going to go there, just Psalms 32.

> Speaker A>David writes about his sin with Bathsheba, that season of sin. And he said, before I confess my sin to God, my strength was zapped like. Like I'd been out in the sun all day long. You ever done that? The other day, Frank and Selina and I were out at the land. We were mowing and we were taking up a fence and fence posts and stuff. And we had this pretty good sized tractor out there mowing. And I'm going to get this out of the way. I got the tractor stuck in the sand, okay? What are you laughing in? I got the tractor stuck in the sand big time. To the point where Mikey had to come out and rescue us. Okay, now, now that you know that, let's set it aside. Forget it. Okay?

> Speaker A>Y'all not going to tell anybody, right?

> Speaker A>I don't believe you for second.

> Speaker A>So we're working out there, right? We're taking up fence post, cutting the fence away, we're mowing. Frank and I are spent.

> Speaker A>I mean, we're just dead tired. Celine's like running circles around us, you know, she got on my nerves. I'm just going toa be honest with you. I was like, can you at least act like you're tired, please? That would help. But I mean, we were zapped. And that's the idea that David is s talking about in Psalms 32. When I was running from God, it just zapped my strength. But we don't always realize that as believers. We don't always realize what it's doing to us when we run from God. And I believe another reason that Jonah was Sleeping pretty good here is because he was comfortable in his plan.

> Speaker A>I mean, in his mind, hey, my plan to run from God's plan is working. I'm on a ship.

> Speaker A>I'm headed to the end of the earth, the westernmost city. You know, God's not going to catch up with me here. Right?

> Speaker A>Right. I'm comfortable.

> Speaker A>So he lays down and he takes a nap.

> Speaker A>So here's Jonah napping while his choices are affecting everybody around him. You see that verse six? Who shows up? The captain of the ship. And he goes to Jonah. I can picture him shaking Jonah, right? And he says, you sleeper. You know, like it's a dirty word or something. You sleeper. What are you doing? And he's like, none of the other gods are working, so you arise. That's the same word. You purposely get, up off your backside and you call on your God. Which, by the way, notice in this section of the story, Jonah never calls out to God with everything that's going on.

> Speaker A>He doesn't call out to God, but he says, hey, get up and call out to you, God. So here's Jonah. He's running from God. He's running from God's plan for his life.

> Speaker A>He's taking him a really good nap, right?

> Speaker A>He's thinking, my plan is working.

> Speaker A>I don't have to go to Nineveh. I win. And Jonah has been in a dream world of thinking that he could actually outrun God's sovereignty. And he wakes up to his plan absolutely falling apart. You see that, right? He wakes up to the chaos of the ship coming apart, of this violent storm of grown men crying. And he wakes up to the reality of God's sovereignty over his life. But do you see? Do you see how his choices are affecting everybody around him? In verse 7, they start casting lots. Somebody has to be sacrificed.

> Speaker A>Now, there was a lot of ways, in my understanding, to cast lots back then. I don't know exactly how they casted lots that particular day, but I know this much. I know God's sovereign hand was on it because the lot fell on who?

> Speaker A>Jonah. It's like God just called him out in front of everybody and said, it's this guy.

> Speaker A>This guy is the reason you're in this predicame.

> Speaker A>The lot fell on Jonah.

> Speaker A>Now, Jonah faced a fork in the road. I can be obedient or disobedient. Now these guys around him are at a fork in the road and going, do we sacrifice him? Will his God zap us if we sac? You know, they didn't know what do we do with this?

> Speaker A>Jonah's rebellion is affecting again. Everybody around him. So in verse eight, they start to ask Jonah some questions and they're like, whose account has this evil come upon us? I mean, they know it, but they're like, is it your fault?

> Speaker A>What do you do for a living?

> Speaker A>Where did you come from? What country and people group are you from? I mean, you're on our ship and you're the reason for this violent storm, so it's reasonable. Who are you and where did you come from?

> Speaker A>And in verse nine, Jonah just lays it out there and he says, I'm, Hebrew. I'm Israelite. That could have been dangerous.

> Speaker A>I fear the Lord. That's Jehovah. I fear the God.

> Speaker A>Israel. He is the God of heaven. He reigns from his throne in heaven.

> Speaker A>And look at what he says. My God made the sea in the dry land. My God is right for this particular circumstance because he made the sea, but my God is right for every circumstance. Amen. Do you see that Jonah is evangelizing despite himself?

> Speaker A>You see that he's telling them about his God and he just lays it out there for them to understand who he is.

> Speaker A>Church I have sit down with so many people down through the years that were in some kind of sin and had them say, well, I'm not hurting anybody else. well, yes you are. That's what sin does. It hurts. It hurts you. It hurts the people you love the most. It hurt people you don't even know that's around you. It's just what it does.

> Speaker A>In verse 10m, they're exceedingly afraid and what have you done? Because they knew that Jonah was running from his God because he had already told, what have you done? We're just out here doing our jobs and minding our own business and here you come along running from your God.

> Speaker A>Now the thing is, our choices to run from God may not threaten anybody's life like this, but it will affect them in some way. There's simply no way around there.

> Speaker A>It hurts a lot of people.

> Speaker A>We can run from God first and foremost by rejecting his salvation, rejecting his Son. We can run from God as God's people. If he says, hey, I want you to go on a short term mission trip and we say, n, I'm too busy. That's running from God. We can run from God.

> Speaker A>If he says, hey, go across the street and tell your neighbor about Christ and we don't, that's running from God. We can run from God if I can play Ala last week's sermon. By not praying for the politicians that we don't like, or by not praying for our enemies.

> Speaker A>There's so many ways to run from God, and we all do it in some way.

> Speaker A>In some way, running from God will affect people around you. Number two, running from God. We'll catch up with us. So verse 11, they say to Jonah, what do we do so the sea will quieten down? We're putting this on you. All of this is on Jonah. What do we do? And let's just think about it. It just put yourself in Jonah's place and you've woke up to this violent storm.

> Speaker A>Ships coming apart grow, men are crying.

> Speaker A>What do you do at this point?

> Speaker A>Because you would think that Jonah, after everything that's happening, would just hit his knees in repentance and say, God, I'm sorry, I'll go, I'll go to Nineveh. But look at verse 12. Just pick me up, and throw me in the sea. Can you imagine this?

> Speaker A>I mean, just picture this scene. You're out in this wooden boat. It's coming apart. Waves are crashing into the boat. It's probably beginning to sink.

> Speaker A>These grown men are crying. And instead of saying, I'll go to Nineveh, he says, throw me into this chaos.

> Speaker A>I would rather go out there in that chaos, in that violence, and drowned.

> Speaker A>Then go to Nineveh.

> Speaker A>You. What in the world? So let's just back up and ask this question.

> Speaker A>What is the big deal about going to Nineveh that he would rather die than go tell these people about his God?

> Speaker A>Well, Nineveh, was the capital of a pagan enemy nation to Israel. Nineveh, was full again of violent, evil, wicked, brutal people that had attacked Jonah's people, very likely had attacked some of his family, maybe at some point attacked Jonah himself. In other words, Nineveh, represented everything that the Israelites hated. Jonah did not want to see the people of Nineveh, receive the mercy of God, because he hated them with a passion.

> Speaker A>That's the power of hate, my friend.

> Speaker A>He hated them with a passion.

> Speaker A>And where there's hate, there's unforgiveness.

> Speaker A>And where there's hate, there's constant ongoing anger.

> Speaker A>And hate could be caused from fear, it could be caused from anger, it could be caused from being hurt.

> Speaker A>But hate will rip you apart from the inside out.

> Speaker A>Hate will corrupt your mind. Hate will take over your mind. Hate will make your judgment cloudy. When you live in hate, you live a defeated life.

> Speaker A>There's so many verses on hate and love your enemies. There's just some homework if you care to follow up. So many verses.

> Speaker A>And you know what?

> Speaker A>Hatred is not good at choosing its battles carefully.

> Speaker A>So when there's hatred in your heart and your unforgiving and that anger is building up in you, you will not choose your battles carefully. Even with those people that you're not even mad at.

> Speaker A>Even with the people that you love the most. Jonah hates these people so much he's willing to be, separated from his family and his friends. I mean, you're talking about, give or take a three month trip to get the tarshes.

> Speaker A>I mean, how long was he going to be gone? What was the plan? Was he going to stay?

> Speaker A>And he's full of hate so much for these people. And he's like, I don't want to even tell him about God. I mean, surely there's nobody in this room and you have somebody in your life that you really don't want to tell about God.

> Speaker A>Because that's hate. That is hate.

> Speaker A>Verse 13.

> Speaker A>Despite Jonah telling them to throw him into the sea, these guys are, and the wording is they're giving it everything they got to try to get this ship, to try the road this ship back to dry land. Now, think about this. These pagan men are more concerned about the temporary life of Jonah than Jonah was concerned about the eternal life of thousands and thousands of people in Nineveh because he hated them.

> Speaker A>You see that these guys are trying their best to get back to shore. Jonah in the meantime would rather die and be thrown into this storm and tell the people of Nineveh about God. But God is using Jonah despite himself. They did not make it back to shore. They couldn't make it. So look at verse 14. We see these heathen men now crying out to Jehovah. You see what's happening? They're now crying out to the true God, don't let us perish because of this man's life. Please don't, please don't punish us because of innocent blood. And look, they recognize God's sovereignty. Lord, you have done as it pleased you.

> Speaker A>You see that?

> Speaker A>And then in verse 15, they picked Jonah up. now just try to picture this.

> Speaker A>Sc, okay, you got a ship coming apart, you got waves coming in over. You got grown men crying and they're absolutely scared. They are terrified. And they pick this man up and they hurl him.

> Speaker A>Can you imagine having to do that?

> Speaker A>They throw a man into this violent storm, into the sea, knowing in those moments he's going to Die. He's going to drown.

> Speaker A>Can you imagine having to do that?

> Speaker A>Do you think Jonah is having a change of heart at this point? I don't.

> Speaker A>I think Jonah is still thinking, I, won.

> Speaker A>I mean, I'm goingn to drown down here, but I don't have to go to Nineveh, right? It's all is well. In verse 16. I love this. Well, verse 15, the sees from raging it. God saves their lives. It's like Matthew 8 where Jesus called the storm. God is sovereign over his creation, right?

> Speaker A>In verse 16. I love this.

> Speaker A>You have pagan men. They now fear Jehovah exceedingly.

> Speaker A>You see that? And they're offering sacrifices and making vows to the true God. These pagan men are now responding to the true God all and repentant faith.

> Speaker A>These true men are finally realizing, you know what? Our gods are absolutely worthless.

> Speaker A>This is the true God.

> Speaker A>This is the true God.

> Speaker A>God is bringing good from Jonah's rebellion. Listen to me carefully. We canot stop God's plan.

> Speaker A>You with me now, God? When we rebel, when we try to run from God, God will either do what he's doing with Jonah and say, no, you're going, or he will let us go our own way and carry out his plan anyway. And we miss out.

> Speaker A>But either way, Jonah was not going to keep God from going to Nineveh in some way, right?

> Speaker A>And he was not going to keep Nineveh, from coming to him because it's already in God's plan.

> Speaker A>So Jonah is now sinking into the depths of the sea. He has escaped God's assignment.

> Speaker A>He is thinking, I believe I've made it.

> Speaker A>I ain't going to Nineveh. I just ain't going. God, you can't make me. But God was not through with Jonah.

> Speaker A>Verse 17. God appointed a, big fish. It doesn't translate well.

> Speaker A>Okay, but if you think it's a whale, that's fine. It doesn't make any difference.

> Speaker A>Original scripture said God had appointed a willale.

> Speaker A>So when did God appoint this fish to be in this exact same spot at the exact same time that Jonah would be there? When did God appoint this fish? I firmly believe before the beginning of time.

> Speaker A>It's all God's plan.

> Speaker A>Listen, nothing ever happens in our life.

> Speaker A>Whether we cause it or somebody else causes it or it's just everyday life. Nothing ever happens in our life that causes our God to go, whoa, I didn't see that coming. What are we going to do now? Know God never does that.

> Speaker A>Everything's within his sovereign plan.

> Speaker A>And he really Isn't control. Do you believe this?

> Speaker A>He really is in control. So God had appointed this whale, this big fish, whatever you want to call it, to be in that, at that moment, in that place, exactly where Jonah was. So here's Jonah. He's in the belly of a big fish.

> Speaker A>Now, as I close today, I got one application question for you.

> Speaker A>You see it?

> Speaker A>I dare you to write that down and go home and prayerfully ask that question between you and God.

> Speaker A>Because you may be surprised.

> Speaker A>You may be surprised. I'm closing with this. To the world. This is a foolish, childish fairy tale.

> Speaker A>Okay? Are you seriously telling me that this guy was swallowed by a whale?

> Speaker A>Yeah, but

18 says the very message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. So the world would say to us as followers of Jesus Christ, are you really telling me that your God came to earth as a baby boy? Are you serious?

That he was conceived of the Holy Spirit? And he was born of a virgin? Are you serious?

Are you telling me that your God is the king of kings and he was born in a barn? How ridiculous is that? And you're telling me that they laid him in a feet and trough the king of kings and the king of kings. You're telling me he grew up in this poor family and he learned how to be a lowly carpenter? Ah.

Are you seriously? You really believe that?

And you're telling me that your God took your place and suffered and died on the cross?

You're telling me that a, ah, God would do that? That's ridiculous. To the world. And you're telling me that your God rose again so that whoever believes in him would have everlasting lies and be for yes world. That's what we're telling you. That's our God.

Yes.

We're leaving Jonah this morning in the belly of a, big old fish. More importantly, we're leaving Jonah still in the hands of a loving God.

You with me? A God that didn't forsake him and didn't leave him even in all of his rebellion.

God put Jonah in that fish because he's loving on him.

You get it?

This story is a story of a God whose Sol loves.

Then he gave his only begotten son, so whoever would believe in him would not perish, but have everlasting life. Do you see that? Do you see the love of God in this story?