The Missionary’s Outed

Outed, Ousted and Taken Out Back

Open to Jonah 1

Man goes to his son and asks 'Did you tip over the outhouse'?

Son says, 'Father, I cannot tell a lie: I tipped over the outhouse into the creek'.

Father says 'That's it, you're going to the woodshed for some serious spanking!'

'But Father, George Washington told his dad the truth about chopping down the cherry tree and didn't get punished!'

The Father replies 'George Washington's father wasn't IN the cherry tree!'

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. 8 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?” 9 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.” 10 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.

11 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. 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.” 13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard[b] to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. 14 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.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. 17 [c] And the Lord appointed[d] a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

We left off last week with Jonah down sleeping in the boat and the captain woke him up. Jonah knew the problem, knew the solution, but refused to listen to God.

I believe this happen to us sometimes too. We know we’re sinning, we know we should stop, but we wait till god has had enough. And this is where God is at with Jonah he’s had enough.

Your Sin Will Come To Light – Or as we say further south then here you’ll be outed.

Definition -  To expose (someone) as doing something secret or immoral: outed the shopkeeper as a spy; outed his classmate as a cheater.

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. 8 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?” 9 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.” 10 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.

There are a few things I can be certain of in life. 1 there is a God. 2 he had nothing to do with tax law. 3 What you think is in secret is usually not.

Luke 12 1-3 - In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.

Numbers 32:23 - But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.

We think we can hide our sin but as scripture says you will be outed. See nothing can be done so that God doesn’t know. I believe sometimes we like to pretend that God lives only in this building. But God is everywhere, at all times, in all times, and our sin will come to light. It will be shouted from the housetops.

There Are Earthly Consequences.

11 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. 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.” 13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard[b] to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. 14 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.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.

Jonah has put these guys in a bad situation. Think about it. If they throw God’s man in the water, Earthly consequence, they might be responsible for killing this powerful God’s man. And if they don’t then they all could die anyhoo, another earthy consequence. Seee the catch 22. So they try to fight against the will of God but in the end they decided to throw him over. And Boom all is good.

I know a guy. After getting out of prison for inappropriate behavior with a minor. Called me mad because when he went to church he was told he had to be escorted at all times. He was mad because God had forgiven him so why couldn’t the church. I told him that day that there is still earthly consequences to sin. He honestly has ruin his life in many ways.

Because there are Earthly consequences.

If you cheat on your spouce. consequences.

If you cheat on your taxes. consequences.

If you kill someone. Its consequences probably fall worse then cheating but less then taxes.

But back to that guy. It doesn’t mean God cant use him, nor does it mean that God can’t use the situation. Look at Jonah. He’s messed up, God outed him with some twigs. And his only option is to be thrown into the sea. But look what happens

16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

Missions happened. These men feared the Lord and made Vows to him. Sacrificed to him. They worshiped. They Made Jonahs God their own.

I ended last week with John piper saying

Therefore, worship is the goal and the fuel of missions: Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Missions is our way of saying: the joy of knowing Christ is not a private, or tribal, or national or ethnic privilege. It is for all. And that’s why we go. Because we have tasted the joy of worshiping Jesus, and we want all the families of the earth included.

That should have been Jonahs Goal but it wasn’t. But God still used him to accomplish that goal.

Jonah is used as a missionary even when he was sinning and not doing Gods will and those men was given a Godly consequence for listening to Gods prophet. They believed. They worshipped.

Last thing is there are Godly consequences.

Jonah got Outed, Ousted and Taken Out Back

You young’ns might not know what it means to be taken out back or taken out back to the woodshed, but oooooooo. You better hope you never do. I think I have showed this clip before but its worth rewatching to get the proper idea.

17 [c] And the Lord appointed[d] a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

If that ain’t a woodshed I don’t know what is. This is a Godly consequence. God prepared this fish and this actually happened. But God used this for good too. It is used to foreshadow to the Christ

The Sign of Jonah

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 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. 40 For 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. 41 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. 42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

God still used him to accomplish a greater goal.

Are you living in sin today? Repent

Before your sin is shouted from the housetops. In fact what if I told you my last video is on the unrepentant sin among church members. I got video evidence of many of you this month doing ungodly things. Like lying to the pastor.

How would you feel about that video? I wouldn’t do that but know there are earthly consequences to yours and my sin.

And Godly consequences.

Don’t make you life representative of God using you sin for his goal, instead using you faithfulness to accomplish his goal. To share the gospel to the ends of the earth.peaker: