Willful Disobedience to God

Introduction

What did Jonah's family say when he told them about what happened before reaching Nineveh? "Hmm, sounds fishy."

As I think about the many stories that those young Sunday School teachers taught us in those young formative years, I know no other story that was as captivating as the story of Jonah and the Whale. Oh thank the Lord for those Sunday School teachers, Training Union or Discipleship Teachers, and Vacation Bible School teachers that told those stories with such animation and passion that caused a fire to well up in me for the things of God at a very young age.

Let’s think about it for a moment: Jonah lived three days and nights in the belly of a fish. I can remember vividly cartoon depictions where Jonah was sitting by a fire under water in the belly of the Whale. Oh to have that vivid, childlike imagination and the grandeur of it all. Amen? Folks, it really did happen. Not the fire in the belly, but Jonah survived three days in the belly of a great fish.

Well, to be 50 plus years this side of those great teaching times of my childhood and a man called to exhort the word of God, the book of Jonah is not about a whale.

The great fish is only mentioned in three verses. In the book of Jonah, the word “great” is used 7 times. Jonah is not about a great fish, a great tempest or a great wind, it is not about the great city called Nineveh or a worm for that matter. Each of those items are side characters, side scenes of the bigger story. The story of Jonah and the book of Jonah is about a Great God, a God that offers direction, a God of Mercy and Compassion, but at the end of the day, a God of Sovereignty and His will will be accomplished.

The book of Jonah is only 48 verses and 4 chapters. The story of Jonah is not a fable or a bed side story, but a true historical encounter. We do not know who wrote Jonah nor can we totally pinpoint when Jonah was written. We think sometimes between the 8th and 6th century BC.

2 KIngs 14:25 “25 He restored the territory of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which He had spoken through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath Hepher.”

Jonah was a prophet following Elijah and Elisha.

Jonah 1:1-9

Jonah 1:1–9 NKJV

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. 4 But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up. 5 Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep. 6 So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.” 7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9 So 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.”

Prayer

Message

We could think of this story in a couple of ways:

The Prodigal prophet

God said “go”, Jonah said “no, God said “oh”.

God Communicates His Will & Desire for our Lives

Jonah 1:1-2 “1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.””

Do you know anyone that has selective hearing? It’s true, people hear what they want to hear many times. If something sounds good to us, some reward, something we are wanting for or looking forward to, we will listen intently. But, other times, when we do not like what is being said, we do not want to do what someone is asking, we can tune them out.

93 times “the Word of the Lord came” to various personalities of the Bible. The Word of the Lord came to Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah.

7 times these words are written in the book of Jonah.

One of the most important roles of a prophet in the Bible was to do and say what the Lord tells the prophet to do.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised Prophet; Prophecy

A wide range of persons with diverse associations were called prophets because each in some way claimed to be communicating a divine message

Jonah was not called a “prophet” per say by the text, but in actuality he was called to communicate repentance to the people of Nineveh.

The common thread that you quickly recognize in these names are the fact that most of them were prophets. Even the minor prophets, Haggai, and Zachariah were others as well.

Jonah was one of the five minor prophets. Minor only means that the books are minor meaning smaller, no less important.

We quickly gather that the Lord speaking to Jonah and offering a directive is paramount to the story. There are no introductions. The very first verse of Jonah shares God’s divine revelation to Jonah about something that burdened the Lord greatly.

Holman QuickSource Guide to Christian Apologetics Deism

Deism

Deism holds that God is not known through religion but only through reason and nature. God is a necessary, personal, powerful, transcendent being and the world is His only revelation about Himself. Thus, there are no miracles. In order that we could understand Him through His creation, He gave us reason. Basically, in deism God wound up the world and is passively watching it run down without interacting with it.

Dearly beloved, I want you to know this is not sound theology. Deism in a nutshell states that God was for a period of creation and nature, but He is not ever present today in our lives nor do deist believe that God speaks to us today.

God clearly spoke His will to Jonah and He speaks to hearts today. The question must be asked, how does God speak to us today? For the believer, He speaks through the Holy Spirit. For the non-believer, He speaks through the Holy Spirit who is attempting to make relationship with the lost.

Luke 12:12 “12 For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.””

That is a comprehensive answer, but experientially, how does God speak His will upon our lives. Something will nag on you. You will feel a pull to do something. You will find that the things you read, the shows you watch on TV, the songs you listen to will keep an issue probing on your mind. You will find that friends and even acquaintances will be affirming God’s message to you.

Ill. Last Night-Jane, fellow teacher-words affirming a direction the woman was to take as it related to parenting her children and schooling. Jane does not even remember the conversation. But, the Holy Spirit caused this lady to hear a word from Him and she acted.

You can look for answers and God will affirm with His Word, with a sermon out of this pulpit or a message you are listening to on the radio.

What is the point? God gets His point across and we most definitely know when God is speaking.

He offers life direction

John 6:63 “63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”

The Lord told Jonah to “go to Nineveh and cry out against the wickedness there. Their wickedness has come up before Me.”

I believe there is something in this story that ought to bring you great comfort:

God hears your cries

God wants to bring about change

God wants your cooperation in bringing it about.

Brother Neal shared a powerful story of a statute of Jesus over in Europe that was damaged by a terrible travesty. Some of the younger members of the church voted to replace the statute. Some of the older wiser members said, “Let’s keep the statute to remind us that we are the hands of Jesus to accomplish His will here on earth.

The Lord knows every injustice you are experiencing. He knows every travesty you face. He knows the unfairness of this world. He knows the cesspool of sin that is happening right under your eyes.

Genesis 18:20 “20 And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave,”

Furthermore, He knows how truly bad the situation is. He knows the deepest deprived mind and He knows from how far one has traveled in their sin.

Hosea 7:2 “2 They do not consider in their hearts That I remember all their wickedness; Now their own deeds have surrounded them; They are before My face.”

And yet, our God is so good, so merciful, so loving, so gracious that He patiently waits that people would repent and enjoy new life in Him.

2 Peter 3:9 “9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

God hurt for the people of Nineveh. They were a wicked people. They were an adulterous generation as the Bible shares.

Running From God Does Not Have any Bearing on Him Letting Up on Winning You Over

Jonah 1:3 “3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”

“But” that is a dangerous Word in life, but, but but, that is not the way we respond to God.

Listen to the downward spiral of tone described in that one verse? Your total senses interprets a downward trend Jonah is entering into by not doing those things God told him to do.

It continues in later verses. He went down in the belly of the great fish. He continued down until He prayed.

Jonah knew the heart of God. He knew how gracious and merciful the Lord was. He knew that He held a righteous anger toward the people of Nineveh. Nineveh was arch enemy number one to the people of Israel. Jonah was loyal, but He was loyal to the people of Israel. He did not want to see a repentant Nineveh. He wanted to see the judgment of God come upon them for their wrongdoing.

Nimrod

Genesis 10:11 “11 From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah,”

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised I. Etymology

nūnu, Heb nûn [nôn]), an obvious allusion to the river-goddess Nina, whose emblem was the fish.

IN the biblical times, it was described as “the city with wide streets.” -Broad is the path that leads to destruction. Everything about Nineveh represented a pagan lifestyle.

Jesus is speaking of the similarities as he is sharing to the people of Nineveh:

Matthew 12:39-41 “39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For 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. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.”

Think for a moment of all the cost when we do not do what God is calling us to do. The Scriptures stated that Jonah “paid the fare.” The people of Nineveh were missing out by Jonah not going to share Yahweh with them. He was about to cost the fellow sailors who were pagan that needed to know God their lives and he was getting ready to lose his own life.

Listen, we miss out on life and the lives of others we love when we run away from God. We cause others to run with us.

Ill. As I think about a man I have had lunch with numerous times, attempting to convince his family to come to church. This individual knows what is right. He knows he needs to be in church and he will tell you he needs to be in church. He is paying the fare. As the spiritual leader of his home, he will have the blood of his wife and two children on his hands because he refuses to lead and encourage them to be in church and to be under the lordship of God in their lives. Running.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Nineveh

NINEVEH (נִינְוֵה, nineweh). An Assyrian city located on the eastern bank of the Tigris River. Became the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire under Sennacherib (ca. 703 BC). In the Bible, Nineveh came to be used as a paradigmatic example of evil.

Introduction

Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire during a period of Assyrian dominance throughout the ancient Near East (ca. 703–612 BC). For this reason, it figures prominently in biblical literature. From the ninth century until Assyria’s fall to the Babylonians in 612 BC, Nineveh was an important Assyrian city.

The Bible frames Nineveh as a thoroughly evil city and an enemy of Israel

The question-why Tarshish? For no other reason than it was a 180 degree location to the west. 2,500 miles away.

For no other reason than it was totally opposite to where God wanted him to go. Defiance.

Now is the Time to Surrender to His Will for Your Life

Jonah 1:4-9 “4 But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up. 5 Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep. 6 So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.” 7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” 9 So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry…”

We see in verse 4 that God sent a message to Jonah. The Lord sent such a great storm that the Scriptures state the ship was about to be broken up. And let me say, your ship will break if God is not in your boat.

Romans 3:23 “23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Romans 6:23 “23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In verse 5, you have heard that someone cusses like a sailor, not these guys. They cleaned up quickly, they wanted to know God. Any God, it didn’t matter who, any God that overcome this situation. Listen to me, Jonah knew God was behind what was happening. But things can get so bad for a non-believer, they will know that only God can fix this matter.

Romans 1:20 “20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,”

Even these pagan sailors knew that God was behind such as they were experiencing. Do you know that God loves you so much He will not leave you where you are or leave you alone if you are running from Him?

Jonah in verse 5 represents so many today that we know that have been in this church and then out of this church to the role of backsliders. They become oblivious to all that their apathy of the things of God is costing. Jonah was desensitized in the bottom of the boat hiding from reality and asleep to all that was going on about him.

People desensitize and run from God all the time with their work, their materialism, their partying, living a life not in touch with reality. You may not be aware what its costing, but God is keenly aware.

In verse 6, its amazing how God can work in our lives. He can take the bizarre and make a believer out of you. He takes a pagan captain of the ship to confront Jonah with life issues.

Ill. Clay running catching one’s shoulder.

In verse 6, He offers us God’s life formula:

For us to arise from our sleep, we must call out to God. God is the answer to where you find yourself right now. The captain states, “perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”

The Holy Spirit was dealing with those sailors and the Holy Spirit was convicting Jonah.

Verse 7 “casting of lots” is a picture of the convicting of the Holy Spirit at work in the lives of the sailors and Jonah’s life.

Jonah 1:8 “8 Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?””

The captain confronted Jonah with the same life questions each of us must ask. These are the same questions God asked Adam and Eve in the Garden.

Genesis 3:8-10 “8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.””

God confronted Adam & Eve with their sins. God confronted Jonah with his sin.

Let me ask you where are you today? Is God making His will known to you today? Are you running? He will not relent. But the Reward will be great if you will let His will be done.

Let’s pray.