Running From Grace: The Sovereign Mercy of God

Bible Passage: Jonah 1:1-17

Summary: The Book of Jonah reveals God's sovereign mercy, Sovereign mercy is God’s unearned, sovereignly bestowed compassion, extended to sinners not on the basis of human merit but according to His divine will. It highlights both God’s justice and love, ensuring salvation is entirely a work of His grace, bringing Him ultimate glory.

Application: This passage reminds us that no one is beyond God's mercy. God extends to the unlikeliest of people.

Teaching: This sermon teaches that God's mercy is sovereign. It extends beyond our understanding or control.

How this passage could point to Christ: Jonah's story foreshadows Christ as the greater Jonah (Matt 12:41), who not only proclaimed God’s mercy but embodied it, offering Himself as the perfect sacrifice so that both Jew and Gentile might receive salvation through God’s sovereign grace.

Big Idea: God's mercy is sovereign and available to all, challenging us to align with His redemptive purpose in a world in desperate need of grace.

Introduction

Hello again! If you were not here the last time I was here, my name is Ernesto Vasquez. Since I was here last, I am now officially a Pastoral Candidate Under care. I went in front of pastors from the Northeast region of the Presbytery and had to state why I feel called to become a Pastor, what my coming to faith story is and why I am seeking ordination in the EPC. So, I got through it and here I am, with you again. And again, I mean this, I said this the last time I was here. Your prayers and words of encouragement is a great help and are very appreciated.

Now, its my understanding that Pastor Tim does a little story for the children once a month. So, I would like to call the Children up for the story of Jonah.

A man and his father were kayaking in Chile. The man’s father was videotaping the waves in the sea. All of a sudden, a humpback whale swallows the man and his father gets the whole thing on tape. The whale swallowed him for a couple of seconds and thankfully spit him back out. Imagine being in a whale for 5 minutes, or an hour, or a day, or 3 whole days! There was a man in the Bible that spent three days in a great fish. A man by the name of Jonah disobeyed the words of God and God appointed a great fish to swallow him up. While in the fish Jonah prayed a prayer, I would like to read it to you:

New Living Translation Chapter 2

1 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from inside the fish. 2 He said,

“I cried out to the LORD in my great trouble,

and he answered me.

I called to you from the land of the dead,

and LORD, you heard me!

3 You threw me into the ocean depths,

and I sank down to the heart of the sea.

The mighty waters engulfed me;

I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves.

4 Then I said, ‘O LORD, you have driven me from your presence.

Yet I will look once more toward your holy Temple.’

5 “I sank beneath the waves,

and the waters closed over me.

Seaweed wrapped itself around my head.

6 I sank down to the very roots of the mountains.

I was imprisoned in the earth,

whose gates lock shut forever.

But you, O LORD my God,

snatched me from the jaws of death!

7 As my life was slipping away,

I remembered the LORD.

And my earnest prayer went out to you

in your holy Temple.

8 Those who worship false gods

turn their backs on all God’s mercies.

9 But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise,

and I will fulfill all my vows.

For my salvation comes from the LORD alone.”

10 Then the LORD ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach.

My favorite line in the prayer is the last one: “For my salvation comes from the LORD alone.” If you can remember anything about this story, remember this: “For my salvation comes from the LORD alone.”

Prayer: Lord I pray for these young minds, I ask you to draw them to your perfect will. I ask that you keep their parent close to you. Protect them from the schemes of the enemy. In Jesus mighty name we pray. Amen.

So, today I we will be in the Book of Jonah, let us stand for the reading of the word of God.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah rose 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, away from the presence of the LORD.

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.”

Jonah Is Thrown into the Sea

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 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.

A Great Fish Swallows Jonah

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.

Prayer:

Lord, we come before you with an open and willing heart. We ask that you fill our hearts with the saving knowledge of Christ through your holy Word. We also ask that your Holy Spirit applies this passage of your Grace onto our hearts. In Jesus wonderful name we pray, amen.

i. Hook

Their is an irony to the story of Jonah that I explained to the Children. If you can remember, I stated that I grew up in Church and the story of Jonah was a common story. I’d be in Sunday School in a small cramped setting with itchy dress pants listening to my Sunday school teacher teach me about Jonah. She would have a felt board in the front of the class and these cut out pieces of paper that would magically stick to the felt board. Does anyone remember those things? The teacher would visually show the whole story of Jonah on this felt board by changing the characters around.

The story of Jonah that I understood was about a man that was told by God to go and preach to the Ninevites. Jonah was afraid because the Ninevites were jerks and was disobedient towards God. He was punished by being swallowed up by a fish. After three days Jonah gave in and apologized to God and everything was golden. He went to Nineveh and did as God asked.

(Pause)

This is fine for a child but this idea followed me into adulthood!

(Pause)

Allow me to give you the meaning of Jonah. Hopefully this statement will be apparent as I go through this sermon today. The story of Jonah is a message that God is sovereign, He rules and works according to His eternal purpose. He is sovereign in spite of our wickedness or folly. Thank God for His sovereignty. As we will see in this book, humanity is filled with wickedness and folly. In spite of that God still completes His purposes.

ii. Contextual Setup

It’s important to learn a little about Jonah’s historical backdrop to fully understand his story. Jonah was a Prophet for King Jeroboam II. He was one of the wicked kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. We all know that after the death of King Solomon, Israel was divided into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. The Northern Kingdoms consisted of ten tribes of Israel and were evil in the sight of the Lord. The Southern Kingdom consisted of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin and were considered good in the ways of King David.

So, Jonah was a prophet which meant that he did two main things. First, he was to call the king and the nation to repentance. This is something that is not unique to just Jonah. Second, he was a messenger of GRACE. God showed an abundance of grace to his “wayward people.”

One important instance of the grace of God, which Israel experienced was God holding back Assyria through famine and division. Assyria was an adversary of Israel, so this means that God was showing mercy and grace to Israel or the Northern Kingdom in spite of Israel’s disobedience. This is found in 2 Kings 14:25-27

2 Kings 14:25–27 ESV

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. For the Lord saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. But the Lord had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

What am I saying with this? Well, Nineveh was a city of Assyria and thus they were enemies of Israel. And God sent Jonah to Nineveh to bring a message of salvation. Now, if you were paying attention to the passage we read it says “call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” Wait, that doesn’t mean that the Ninevites were going to be saved, right? But, I don’t want to ahead of myself. I’ll say this, Jonah, as a Prophet, knows a lot more then he’s letting on. And I’ll get to that in a minute.

iii. Main Idea

The idea that I want to convey here is simple. God is sovereign in all things. Sovereign in who he shows mercy and grace, who he saves, and who he uses as his messenger. This is what Jonah is about. It’s about the character of God, not Jonah’s disobedience.

1. The Messenger of Grace (5 min.)

Jonah 1:1-3

Verse 1 & 2: So, we begin with Jonah’s calling and God commissioning him to give a message to Nineveh. These first few words sets the tone for the rest of the book. First, God came to Jonah and told him to go to Nineveh. What we don’t see here is an explanation or even a dialogue. Second, God asked him to go to a foreign land. This is something that we don’t often see. Prophets are usually commissioned to give messages to Israel. But in this case, God sends Jonah out. Third, is a very important part of the character of God. God states, “for their evil has come up before me.”

(Pause)

Part of God’s character is that he interacts with his creation. God does not merely wind up what he creates like and toy and just watches it unwind. No, he sees the evil in Nineveh and is sending his messenger to do something about it. This is still true today. God interacts with every aspect of your lives as well. The same way he interacted with all the characters of Scripture, he does the same with us. Nothing in our lives are outside of the control and intentionality of God. This should not cause us confusion or fear, but hope. We are not some hopeless beings being thrown around in this crazy world. We serve a God that is “gracious, merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love,” which is exactly why Jonah disobeyed God!

Verse 3: It says, “But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.” In the beginning of the story of Jonah, we are not told why Jonah fled. But Jonah comes clean in Jonah 4:2

Jonah 4:2 ESV

And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.

In other words, Jonah knew that the message for Nineveh was a message for their salvation. Jonah did not like that. He intensionally disobeyed. He is now sinning against God.

(Pause)

While it is true that when we have storms in our lives, its does not necessarily mean that it is a punishment for our sin, but sometimes our sins cause God to send a storm in our lives.

2. The World’s Storms

Jonah 1:3-4

Verse 3-4: The beginning of verse states Jonah 1:4

Jonah 1:4 ESV

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.

“But the Lord hurled a great wind.” This storm was not by chance. What kind of principle can we draw from this passage? Before we answer that let me read you a quote from Calvin,

Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets Lecture Seventy-Third

Jonah then meant, that a tempest arose, not by chance, but by the certain purpose of God, so that being overtaken on the sea, he acknowledged that he had been deceived when he thought that he could flee away from God’s presence by passing over the sea. Though indeed the Prophet speaks here only of one tempest, we may yet hence generally gather, that no storms, nor any changes in the air, which produce rain or stir up tempests on the sea, happen by chance, but that heaven and earth are so regulated by a Divine power, that nothing takes place without being foreseen and decreed.

This is true in our lives. Many times it is difficult to understand for many christians that God appoints storms in our lives to bring us into his purposes. The one thing that units us in this room, beside Christ, is the storms in our lives. Any one of you can come up here and give a testimony of a storm in your life. I don’t think its that important whether we believe that we caused the storms or God did. Again like Calvin states, “nothing takes place without being foreseen and decreed.”

(Pause)

These storms are thus an extension of God’s mercy. Once again, Jonah says of God, “I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” And Jonah said this after he was delivered from the great fish.

I think it would be a benefit to us to change our views of the storms in our lives and view them in light of the God that we serve. If we just change our prayers and seek to get closer to God in these storms, it would cause us a lot more peace in our lives.

But what is our normal responses? We do what the mariners did.

3. The Church in the World

Jonah 1:5-6

Verse 5: Moving to verses 5 and 6 we see a lot going on. You could even say these are two common ways that we respond to storms. We can see how the mariners and even Jonah respond in verse 5, Jonah 1:5

Jonah 1:5 ESV

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.

Many times in the midst of our storms we try and fix them. Now, I don’t mean some conflict in our lives that can be fixed, that’s not a storm. Storms are outside of our control, right? That is why we call them storms. But like the mariners, we try and try to fix things and nothing changes. Jonah, like some of us, merely withdraws. I know I do that sometimes, an maybe some of you do the same. And I’m not saying these are the only two responses but these are common, right? We either try and fix things or we give up.

Verse 6: But we see in verse 6 that the captain wakes Jonah up to pray. Jonah 1:6 states:

Jonah 1:6 ESV

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.”

I like the way one theologian, Sklar puts it:

Daniel–Malachi Comment

In words dripping with irony, the captain commands: “Arise, call out to your god!” The pagan sailor is the one who has to tell the Israelite prophet to pray!

In our storms we often have to be reminded to get closer to God. Remember, this is a storm that is appointed by God and has a purpose, to bring Jonah into the purpose of God.

4. Fearing the Lord

Jonah 1:7-10

Verse 7: So in verse 7 the mariners continue trying to figure out how to fix their current predicament. Verse 7 states Jonah 1:7

Jonah 1:7 ESV

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.

Does anyone here know what lots are? Casting lots is something that you see a lot of in the Old Testament. We even see it in the New Testament.

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary Lots

LOTS (Lŏts) Objects of unknown shape and material used to determine the divine will. Often in the ancient Near East people, especially priests, made difficult and significant decisions by casting lots on the ground or drawing them from a receptacle. Several times Scripture mentions the practice. We do not know exactly what the lots looked like. Nor do we know how they were interpreted. We do know that people of the OT and NT believed God (or gods in the case of non-Israelites or non-Christians) influenced the fall or outcome of the lots (

So even the idea of lots have to do with the sovereignty of God. As Prov. 16:33 states:

Proverbs 16:33 ESV

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.

Now, Jonah comes clean and confesses the Lord and his power over all things. Jonah 1:9

Jonah 1:9 ESV

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.”

5. Jonah the Scapegoat

Jonah 1:11-16

After coming clean Jonah asks the mariners to toss him into the sea. Now, I’m not 100% sure that Jonah is saying this out of selflessness or stubbornness? In other words, does Jonah feel guilty in placing the mariners is this predicament or is it from stubbornness and he’d rather die then repent? Well, in chapter 4 when Jonah prays and admits that he ran because he knew God would show mercy to the Ninevites he also states Jonah 4:2-3

Jonah 4:2–3 ESV

And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

(Pause)

I think Jonah was being stubborn. That is why the Lord took it further and appointed a fish to swallow him up. In other words, God saw that Jonah was still not in his purposes so He turned up the heat. Remember, these storms are an act of mercy. It brings us into God’s good purpose.

6. The Lord’s Salvation

Jonah 1:17

Verse 17: verse 17 states:

Jonah 1:17 ESV

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.

Conclusion

I would like to land this plane with some final remarks on the Sovereignty of God. God is sovereign in all things, as Romans 9:15

Romans 9:15 ESV

For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

And showing mercy and compassion to the Ninevites in spite of their evil ways, God shows us mercy and compassion in our evil ways. When Jesus mentioned Jonah in the gospel of Matthew he said “and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”

(Pause)

What does that mean? The answer is found in John 6:37

John 6:37 ESV

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

John 6:44 ESV

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

Unlike Jonah, Jesus comes to us in spite of our wickedness, in spite of our evil ways, Sklar puts it best: “Jesus is not running away from the Lord; he is right in the midst of the Lord’s mission.” This is important, God sends the Son, the Son does not flee from God there are a couple of passages in the NT that support this notion.

Galatians 4:4–5 ESV

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

1 John 4:9–10 ESV

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

We can see a number of passages supporting this notion, that Christ was sent because the Father is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Let us pray: Lord, we thank you for this story of your prophet, Jonah. we ask you that you show us, everyday, your sovereignty over all things. Help us take comfort in your will, even in the midst of the storm, even in the tumultuous times. Help us understand the peace that surpasses understanding. Amen.

Benediction

So, thank you all for having me again. I still have one more day that I’ll cover for Pastor Tim, so we’ll see each other then. Let me pray this benediction:

"May the God of peace who raised Christ from the dead Strengthen your inner being for every good work. And may the blessing of God Almighty Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest upon you and dwell within you this day and evermore. Amen.