You Can't Run From God - Jonah
Notes
Transcript
1 Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
GOD CALLS JONAH
Nineveh - one of the biggest and greatest cities in the world at the time
capital of Assyria - who would later capture Israel and were a very war-mongering people
“great is their wickedness” - though these people were in bad spiritual shape, God still cared very much about them and their affairs
think of the people that Jesus ministered to
JONAH FLEES
1 - tried to flee from his mission
he actively rejected what God wanted him to do
he left the people of nineveh with no messenger
imagine nineveh as the world today - are we abandoning the world because we don’t want to go out to them?
imagine the pain they could possibly be saved from
2 - he tried to flee from the presence of God
we know that this is impossible, but yet, we do it as people
God not only omnipresent all over the universe, but He’s in the deepest crevices of our hearts
We see a situation where God is concerned about the people of nineveh, and yet His own messenger that He calls tries to run from Him
you hear sometimes people talk about “well this person acts better than that other person who goes to church”
much of the time, this is not true
however, sometimes it is
we think about what Jonah did here and we know that the ninevites would eventually repent and yet Jonah flees
Jonah’s flight wasn’t just a short momentary lapse of judgement, it was a prolonged
he had to travel to Joppa, then tarshish
not only did this take a long time, but it was a long distance as well
so think of the effort that Jonah put in to run from God
it seems crazy to us, but we’ve all been like Jonah from time to time
it ends up being a matter of whether or not we come back to God when He chastises us
do we feel guilt? do we care to change our ways? Have we convinced ourselves what we’re doing is okay when it’s actually not?
4 But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.
5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.
6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
Consequences of Jonah’s rebellion
Consequences affecting himself
he’s in the sea risking drowning
for all Jonah knows, he’s about to die
we know the consequences he will face later
our sin has consequences on ourselves
either guilt or chastisement
thievery=jail
malicious gosspping = backfires
lying = backfires
sin causes many, many problems in our life
imagine how much better our life would be if we could keep from sinning
how much closer to God that we could be
we can only do the best we can through God’s help, whom we must rely on
we will never be able to stop sinning,, be we CAN control the way we respond when we sin
if you’re driving the wrong way down a road and don’t stop, you end up far off the ideal path
consequences affecting others
it would be one thing if sin only affected ourselves, but it absolutely doesn’t
most importantly, it affects God - we can grieve the Spirit by our sin
ultimately, we have been bought witha price and we are not our own - we are an agent of God on earth
we are like a worker for God, and when we sin, we are being a bad employee
not only do we grieve God with our sin, but as a believer it reflects bad upon Christianity and therefore God
if we say we follow God and are no different than others, why should people listen to us about God?
not only does it affect God, but it affects others in our life as well
if someone lies to their best friend, it messes up the relationship between the two
if someone cheats on their significant other, it may destroy their partner
it also may destroy the children as well, an entire family destroyed by the flesh
if someone puts malicious gossip out there, that could be extremely damagin
someone’s reputation could be completely destroyed - they may even have to move
essentially all sins not only affect God, but affects others as well
just like Jonah in this boat
none of those guys asked for what was happening to them
sure, they weren’t perfect, but what was happening was because of Jonah
7 And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.
8 Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?
9 And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.
10 Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
v7-8 - we see that Jonah’s sin is catching up with him as far as people are concerned
this usually happens at one point or another, it’s hard to escape
we can see that they’re upset, their lives are at stake because of something Jonah did
v9 - we see that Jonah still has reverence for God, of course, and realizes the jig is up at this point
first of all - we have to stay aware of the things and consequences around us
we could go out into the world and sin, and just never be on the lookout for God’s chastisement or anything like that
we have to stay aware of these things, we have to keep God on the brain - if we miss our corrections from God, how will we ever correct ourselves?
we don’t want to have a hardened heart, we don’t want our heart to be like tough leather instead of soft flesh
v10 - interestingly, these people recognize the power of God
we’re not really sure of the composition of these people, whether they were all foreigners or whether any were from Israel/Judah
for all we know this could have been a boat that originated in Tarshish and was heading back, so it could have been totally foreigners
Joppa is modern day tel-aviv - at the time it was a big time trading hub with people of many different countries passing through
however, it was still in israel/Judah at the end of the day
regardless of what kind of people these were, they recognized the power of God
not only because of what Jonah said, about God created the sea and the dry land - which is certainly going to be the most high God
but because of what they were seeing before their very eyes
Jonah told them he was running from his mission and what he was doing, then they saw this storm arise, it was pretty clear
11 Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.
12 And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.
we see to some extent Jonah taking accountability for what he’s done - he decides to take the harm upon himself and not burden anyone else with it
so we see that he’s recognized his wrong
he could have just remained blind to the situation at hand
he could have just said “weellll it could just be a regular storm and have nothing to do with me”
but he didn’t, he was aware of things, he saw and understood what was happening and why
but we also see that he’s made a decision
he could have just been stubborn and took everyone out with him - but that’s not what he did
we see that while he made a massive mistake in trying to run from God, he wasn’t a total goner
interestingly, we see that the men even tried to avoid throwing Jonah overboard, they were trying to save his life
we see that they couldn’t make it to land, however - sin had to be dealt with - they could not outrun or outrow sin and the consequences thereof
14 Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee.
15 So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.
16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows.
17 Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Interestingly we see that the people on the boat were concerned about whether or not they were sinning by throwing Jonah overboard
they kept God in mind as they acted, and wanted to make sure they were on the right track
they had just seen the power of God, they knew how real He is
we know how real God is as well - it would do us good to keep God in mind before and as we act - to be aware of God while we do things on earth
to consult God, so that He can guide our path, so that He can help us, so that He can be there for us in a time of need
v15 - we can see that once the sin was gone, so to speak, once judgement had somewhat happened, so to speak, that the sea quit raging
it’s great imagery of what happened when sin is removed, when sin is taken care of
as we talked earlier, sin is the cause of so many problems, sin is the cause of so much strife, so much suffering
and once it is taken care of, there can be peace - a peace which is above ALL understanding
we know how much better, how much more pure, how much more stable of a life we can have when we stop sinning
we also know how much better our relationship with God is - when sin is removed from our life, we don’t have to fear Him
we can stand confidently before Him
and importantly, NOT HAVE TO RUN FROM HIM LIKE JONAH DID
v16 - we see that the display of chastisement and the power of God led these men to offer sacrifice and make vows to God
they responded correctly to these things, they were aware, they kept their eyes opened and their hearts softened
v17 - Jonah discovered that when you run from God, you have to deal with the consequences thereof
he also discovered, the hard way, that you cannot run from God
and he would not have had to go through this ordeal had he not ran from God in the first place
we know God’s real, we know His power, we know His righetousness, we know His holiness, but yet we still run from Him
it’s time to pay attention, to be aware, to examine ourselves and to quit running from Him so that we can stand confident before Him and not bring ruin upon ourselves