Power in the Pulpit | Jonah 1

Introduction: Thank you Leighton and David. I just want to remind you that we will be taking the time each week to not only pray for unreached people groups, but also to watch a video about one of the Southern Baptist Misisonaries or missionary families that are all across North America. On April 2nd, we will be taking an offering for Annie Armstrong which supports those that are missionaries for the North American Mission Board.

Tonight we are starting our series on Jonah. I have a feeling that if somebody were to ask you what the book of Jonah is about, you would say a guy that got swallowed by a fish. That’s certainly part of the story. But the story of Jonah is really about God. It’s about God’s love, it’s about his desire for obedience, it’s about his power and it’s about his grace. It’s just the decisions that Jonah made that bring to light these parts of God’s nature. Tonight we are going to be looking at Jonah chapter 1. Tonight we will see that God takes sin seriously, but also is a God of grace. We will see this in the command God gives Jonah, we will see this in the consequences of Jonah’s response. We will also see this in the miracle from God. And as always, I’m going to ask you to stand as we honor the reading of God’s Word.

Exposition: Verse 1 says Jonah 1:1 “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,” This is a very important detail in understanding this story. By telling us that the Jonah in this story was Jonah son of Amittai, we know that this person in this story really existed. We know this because we read about this Jonah in 2 Kings 14:25 which says 2 Kings 14:25 “He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher.” The he this text refers to is to the King of the Northern Kingdom of Israel at that time. He, under the advice of the prophet Jonah, took back some of the land that had been taken from Israel years earlier. This is important because if the author of the book of Jonah is writing about a person that is mentioned previously in the Bible, he was not writing about a story that didn’t happen but was meant to illustrate a good point. No, the author of Jonah was telling us a story that absolutely happened. Another way we know the story happened is because in the New Testament, Jesus refers to the story as fact. So we know this event took place. So what happened in this story? This is the part that most of you probably know. He says in Jonah 1:2 ““Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”” So most of you know Jonah was told to go to Ninevah, but let’s talk a little bit about who Ninevah was.

Explanation: Ninevah was one of the major cities in the nation of Assyria. The Assyrians were known for being one of the most evil nations at this time. To put into perspective what kind of people the Assyrians were, they had images from battles inscribed on walls in royal buildings so they could remember them. Before executing somebody, they would cut off their hands so the person could shake his own hand before being executed. They would make friends of the deceased carry around the friends’ head when captured in battle. And that’s not even the worst things they did. They also worshiped false gods which often led to sinful practices as a means of worship. So, most likley the people in Ninevah were not good people. The closest thing I could compare it to would be somebody being told to go to a terrorist state to share the gospel. We first see Ninevah in the book of Genesis. When it is referred to as the Great City of Ninevah, it seems to also be referring to the areas just outside of Ninevah as well.

Exposition: It was to this Ninevah that God called Jonah to go to and call out to because its evil had come before him. But implied here, is grace. If God had just wanted to destroy Ninevah for its evil he would have just done it. But what is implied is that if they repent, God will relent from his judgement on the city.

Application: Right away, two verses in we see that God is a God of grace. The Ninevites were evil people. They did not deserve a final warning. They did not deserver the chance to repent and avoid God’s judgement. But He was giving it to them anyway. We are not deserving of God’s grace. But yet, he has given us His word and knowledge of what Jesus did on the cross and how he rose again. We also have a hope of repentance that leads to us avoiding God’s judgement. That is who God is.

Exposition: If the Bible was a book about super heroes, Jonah would have gone to Ninevah and done exactly what God told him to do. Look at this map. Jonah was somewhere in Israel. Ninevah was Northeast of where Jonah was. He goes to Joppa, which was Southwest of where he was. He found a ship going to Tarshish, which is thought to have been somewhere off the coast of Spain, even further west. Jonah didn’t just not go to Ninevah, he went completely the opposite direction. When it says he paid the fare, that word for fare means wage. It was not typical for people to travel the sea by boat at this time. It seems possible that Jonah paid the sailors to let him come.

Explanation: Verse three says several times that Jonah fled from the presence of the Lord. God is omnipresent, what does this mean? The land of Israel was closely associated with the presence of God because it was the promise land. So Jonah may have thought that by leaving there he was fleeing God’s presence. He may have thought that if he fled his responsibilities as a prophet, he could leave God’s presence. But he couldn’t.

Application: This seems like a crazy idea, but don’t we do the same thing. When we are caught in sin, don’t we feel less comfortable in church. Don’t we tend to avoid reading our bibles and praying as much in those times. Also Also, like Jonah, God is calling you to somebody. As believers in Jesus Christ we have been called to proclaim the forgiveness of sins to those that don’t know Christ. We are called to go to people that don’t know Him. There is somebody that God is calling you to go to. Maybe there is a friend or family member that God has placed a burden for in your heart. God is calling you to take the gospel to that person. God may be calling you to be like the people in the videos we are watching, and take the gospel to another place. No matter what God is calling us to something. How are we going to respond? Are we going to be obedient, or are we going to respond like Jonah?

Transition: So Jonah runs from God. Well, at least he tries to run from God. Pretty quickly, Jonah finds out two things he should have already known. You can’t run from God, and he takes disobedience pretty seriously.

Exposition: Verses four and the first part of verse five say Jonah 1:4-5 “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.” There are two things that these verses teach us. The first is that God takes disobedience seriously. God sent a storm that was strong enough to convince the sailors that they were on the verge of dying. It seems that God was willing to take the ship down because of what Jonah did.

Application: We make a habit sometimes of making light of our sin. We can sometimes act like things are not that big of deal. But as we see here, God takes disobedience seriously.

Exposition: The second thing we learn is that often times, the consequences of our sin affects other people. It was not the sailors that disobeyed God and ran the other direction. It was Jonah. But the consequences of that hurt other people.

Application: There are going to be lots of moments in your life that you justify what you are doing based on the fact that it’s only hurting you. That is never actually the case. Our sin affects other people. We can all point to instances in our own lives where we have been impacted by somebody else’s sins. We must be aware of that.

Exposition: We also see that Jonah was exhausted from the whole ordeal. We read But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.” Jonah 1:6 “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.”” It is often portrayed that Jonah was so indifferent to what was happening that he just went to sleep. If the ship is being tossed around so badly in a storm that the sailors are calling on the false god they believe in and worship, throwing all the cargo off, it seems highly unlikely that you are just going to go take a nap. In fact, the proper wording for what the captain says in verse 6 is probably, “How can you be sleeping.” What was probably true, was that Jonah was so tired physically and mentally from all that had happened leading him up unto that point, that he knocked out so hard that the storm didn’t even wake him up. It was that kind of sleep that you dream of when you wake up every morning. That’s how hard he was sleeping.

Application: Running from God does not make our problems go away. Instead it exhausts us. Even trying not to think about it and hiding it from our minds weighs us down.

Exposition: Verses 7-10 say Jonah 1:7-10 “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.” So the sailors cast lots trying to determine who was at fault for the storm. When they do, it falls on Jonah. They start asking him questions that would reveal what he believed religiously. He tells them that he fears/worships the God of heaven who made the land and sea. This would have confirmed in their mind that he was at fault. It appears Jonah had already told them he was running from God, so at this point they realize they are collateral damage to what Jonah has done. So now they have to start figuring out what the solution is going to be. Verses 11-13 say Jonah 1:11-13 “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 rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.” In these polytheistic religions, it was believed that if a god was angry, there were certain things you did to appease him. Jonah is like, “Yea, that’s not really how my God, the real God works. He’s just mad at me. Honestly, just throw me into the ocean. That should take care of it. But the sailors try to start paddling even harder. In fact, these mem show more concern for Jonah’s life than he showed for the people of Ninevah. Jonah ran the other direction, they tried to save him. But it doesn’t work. So they have to give in. Verses 14-16 say Jonah 1:14-16 “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.” They call out to God, saying don’t hold it against them that they basically gave a man a death sentence without any kind of trial, and then throw him overboard. But they make a critical point, God has done as he pleased. And God had. And that was His right as God. God could have handled this any way he could, but he chose to handle it this way. And I think we see why in these verses. After they throw Jonah into the sea, the storm stops. Just like that everything is still. And verse 16 says they feared God, a word often translated worship. They didn’t just fear him, they feared him exceedingly. So much so they offered a sacrifice and made vows to him. We don’t know if these men turned from their pagan false gods and worshiped the one true God alone. But what we do know is that they saw the glory of God on display.

Application: God is a big God. Even though Jonah ran so he wouldn’t have to go and tell the ninevite’s who God was, God was able to use that so that these men would know who he really is. God does not need us to make his name known, But he gives us the opportunity to be used by him. Which way would we rather see God made known?

Transition: So Jonah is thrown into the sea. It would make sense if that is how the story ended. But God is a God of grace. So that is not how the story ends.

Exposition: Jonah 1:17 “And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” I want to start by saying, don’t let the idea that Jonah was swallowed by a big fish convince you this story isn’t real. I know people that say, the story can’t be real because Jonah would have died in the fish or that even most whales can’t swallow a person whole. My response to that is, so you are ok believing that a man heard from God and took off the other direction. Because of that God brought a terrible storm out of nowhere and the storm lasted until the man was thrown out into the water. That part you are cool with, it’s just that idea of him being swallowed by a fish and surviving that gets you. Of course it doesn’t make any sense. It’s a miracle. It’s not suppose to be a normal occurence. If God is capable of creating the entire universe out of nothing, I think he can make a big fish come at the right time and swallow somebody. I think he has that under control.

Exposition: But what the fish tells us is important. Jonah was not being punished by being swallowed by the fish. He was being saved. Without it he would have drowned. That’s surely what he thought was going to happen. It’s honestly what he deserved. He fled the command to go and help save the ninevite’s from God’s judgement. It probably could be said what goes around comes around. But God sent him grace. The book of Jonah is four chapters long. But if God wasn’t a God of grace, it would only be one.

Application: God has sent you grace. He hasn’t sent it in the form of a whale. He sent it in the form of a man that was God Himself. Death was what we deserved, but instead it was Jesus that died on that cross. And he rose again defeating the punishment of death. God is a God of grace. Whether you need to proclaim that to somebody or whether you need to hear it. God is a God of grace.

Conclusion: I want to close tonight by asking you a few questions. The first is this. Are you running from God in any way? Are there areas of your life where you need to be obedient, but aren’t. Second, who is God calling you to go to? When Leighton starts playing here in a minute, I want you to go and get a bookmark. On it, I want you to write the name of the person you most want to know Christ. I then want you to take a piece of chalk and then write their name on the chalkboard paint. I ask that over the next week you commit to a daily quiet time. The book mark will give you verses to read. But I also want you to be praying for that person over the course of this week. The third question is have you accepted the grace that is found in Jesus? Maybe you see the areas that you have been disobedient. Maybe you see that you have done things you wish you hadn’t. You do not have to live in your sin forever. You do not have to be bound my the sins of your past or even your present. God is a God of grace. Are you ready to be forgiven of your sins, are you ready to place your trust in what Jesus did for you on the cross. I will be in the back by the prayer wall. If you would like to talk more, just come and let me know. We will figure out a time to be able to do that. But be true tonight to what you feel God placing on your heart.