You Think You Can Hide?
Notes
Transcript
4 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.
5 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. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.
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.”
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.
Last week
we left Jonah heading to Tarshish
Going as far as he could from God
From God’s plan
From who God was
with really no reason given
In fact to this point we are hearing a biography of Jonah
Jonah has yet to speak
instead it is someone speaking upon Jonah’s behalf
With that we ended asking the questions
What is your Tarshish
What are you running too?
What is your Nineveh
What are you running from?
Comfortably Hid
Comfortably Hid
4 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.
5 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. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.
This morning we pick up with Jonah
Jonah has boarded his ship
The ship is sailing towards Tarshish
We see that God is seeking Jonah
Not that He doesn’t already know where He is at
Jonah continues to flee God
God sets the sea in a tumultuous rage
in fact it threatened to break up the ship
This would have been a whale of a storm
so much so that it scared the mariners
the guys that were used to the seas
used to the nature of maritime travel
The mariners even started offloading cargo
attempting to lighten the load the ship had to carry
They were doing everything in their power to keep afloat
But with all of that taking place we can see that Jonah’s fleeing from God did not just affect Jonah
Jonah fleeing from God affected those around him
he had put the sailors lives at risk
he had put them in a situation where they lost money in the cargo thrown overboard
the negative effects went past Jonah to those around him
this is definitely true today
The negative effects of running from God are evident
it could mean that someone did not hear the Gospel from you that needed it
Another thing to note is God will chase you down
Just as Jesus says he will leave the 99 to find the one
this is true with Jonah’s fleeing to Tarshish
So now we have Jonah
Jonah amidst all of the turmoil
was so comfortable running from God
he slept
amidst the raging sea and partial wrath of God he slept
in fact he wasn’t just dozing
He was fast asleep
Jonah was comfortable outside of the will of God
This is a dangerous place to be
a dangerous plight to be comfortable hidden from God
Jonah had fled down down down away from God’s will to where he felt comfortably Hid from the Almighty
how foolish
often times we look at Jonah and say how foolish
how foolish to be comfortable hiding from God’s plan and God’s will
Until we realize this is the status of the church today
the church is comfortably hid and asleep
with a mission to go pursue Kingdom Business
we go the opposite and follow worldly business
and the world is suffering for it
Suddenly Awaken
Suddenly Awaken
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.”
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.
Next Jonah is awaken
God finds Him
He knew where he was at the whole time
Jonah is found
The men recognize before Jonah that something was off
seeking anything they were calling their god’s for salvation
finally they cast lots and find that Jonah was the problem
Jonah had been found not only by the mariners but by the Almighty
Found by God
Found by God
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.
Lastly upon Jonah’s being found
the men turn and ask what he has done
in fact they ask on whose account this evil is upon them
the mariners recognize the dire situation
they knew this was supernatural punishment or pursuing
Upon Jonah claiming his identity in the Lord
Jonah then exclaims that he is running from the Lord
and the men recognizing that Jonah served the one true God
grew concerned and questioned his motives
they questioned why would you run from the one true God
We have even seen this in the world today
Penn and Teller the famous magicians
Penn once said on youtube...
Jillette explained, “I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe there is a heaven and hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward.
“How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate someone to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?”
From an Atheist comes the claim that if you know and do not tell you must hate them
why?
Because you are withholding a grand message for them!
you are withholding eternal life from them
out of fear of socially awkward or persecution
The world sees the importance that if there is a God people should be prostletyzing
Yet the church stands asleep and afraid to do so?
Are you ready to wake up and come out of hiding today?
Are you ready to wake up and come out of hiding today?