Jesus or Jonah
Jesus or Jonah • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Jonah 1:1-3
Jonah 1:1-3
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”
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.
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.”
So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent.
And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.
Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.
And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying,
Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?
Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.
So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.
Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!”
On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.”
Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
The Church is called to be like Jesus. My question is, “Are we like Jesus or are we more like Jonah?”
Jonah was given a particular assignment to preach a specific message to a specific group of people. Each of us has an assignment from God. We all have people in our lives that God has connected us to so that His message can be preached and souls can be saved.
Jonah’s assignment was to preach and warn a city called Nineveh. Nineveh was a great city. It was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. (120,000 people)
Wicked city in a wicked Empire. Gates of the city named after gods and goddesses worshipped at their temples. Ishtar - goddess of love an war. Assyria was known as an Empire of violence, bloodshed, and sexual immorality. God was sending Jonah into the heart of that wickedness to preach.
Jonah did not want to go. Jonah did not like the Nenevites and did not think they deserved the mercy of God.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Glad God came to save the world as long as the world is people we like. As long as God came to save everyone we think He should save, we are good with it.
Jesus came to save people you think he should save and people you don’t think he should save. Jesus came for people you like and people you don’t like, people who look like you and people who don’t look like you, people who vote like you and people who don’t vote like you. Jesus came to save the whole world. We do not get to pick and choose who deserves to hear the gospel and who doesn’t.
The Son came into the world to seek and save those that were lost.
Guess who was lost? EVERYBODY
Jonah received a Word from God. God said, “Go preach to Nineveh.”
Jonah 1:2 ““Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.””
Their wickedness had gotten the attention of God. He was going to destroy it but he was going to send Jonah to give them a chance to repent.
God is a merciful God. He is a God of judgement and wrath but the Bible tells us that His mercy triumphs over His wrath. And until Jesus returns and God pours out his wrath, we need to warn people but also let them know of the mercy and goodness of God that promises redemption and escape from wrath.
THANKFUL FOR THE MERCY OF GOD.
Jonah 1:3 “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.”
Jonah runs from the presence of God. It does not say he wanted to give up his title or position of prophet. Sounds like a lot of churches today.
Tarshish was a the tip of Spain near Gibraltar. This was 2,500 miles in the opposite direction of Nineveh. Jonah was running as far as he could away from where God told him to go.
God knows how to get your attention!!! You cannot run from God or His calling on your life. He will get your attention one way or another.
God sends a great wind. He sends a storm. Jonah had gone down into the lowest part of the ship and was sleeping. Captain says, “Wake up sleeper. Call on your God. Maybe he will save us.”
Then they cast lots to see whose fault the storm is. It lands on Jonah.
Jonah 1:10 “Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.”
“Throw me in”
“Don’t let us die because of him!!”
IT MATTERS WHO IS IN YOUR BOAT!!
God had prepared a great fish. The fish took Jonah to the bottom of the sea.
Run from God - down to Joppa, down in the boat, down to the bottom of the sea. When you run from God and his calling on your life, you will find your life in a downward spiral. God will not let you have peace as long as you keep running.
Jonah 2 is his prayer to God.
Jonah 2:10 “So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.”
Jonah 3, God gives him another chance and the city repents and is saved.
Why did Jonah not want to go to Nineveh?
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.
Jonah is mad because God showed mercy on people Jonah did not like.
They don’t deserve your mercy, God!! Guess what, neither do you, and neither do I. We cannot sit on our high horses all pious and act like we were never one of them, act like we were never enemies of God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 lists a bunch of sins and says, they will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Then in verse 11, it states,
1 Corinthians 6:11
And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
How did we ever get to the place where we forgot how vile and wicked we were? We were all sinners on our way to hell, and but for the goodness and mercy of God, that is where we would still be headed.
And now we want to act like others do not deserve the same mercy we are so thankful for??
Jonah ends up on a hill pouting in the hot sun. God makes a plant grow to give Jonah shade from the sun and Jonah is very thankful for the shade. Then God send a worm to kill the plant. Jonah gets mad again.
And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
God reminds Jonah, you are angry about a plant that you did not do anything to make it grow but you don’t think I should have mercy on a city of 120,000 people.
Jonah got mad because God killed a plant and got angry because he saved people.
What about Jesus?
Mark 4:35 “On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.””
And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling.
But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.
But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes.
And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, because he had often been bound with shackles and chains.
And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.
When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.”
For He said to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!”
Jonah and Jesus both had an assignment
Jonah and Jesus both got in a boat.
They both were in a storm. Jonah was out of the will of God. Jonah’s storm was the result of his own choices. Stop blaming God for the storm you caused. Yes, God sent the storm but He sent it to correct a disobedient Jonah. Had Jonah listened and answered the call of God, he would not have been in the storm.
Jesus was in the perfect will of God but he still went through a storm. Being in the will of God does not promise you won’t go through a storm.
Both calmed the sea. Jonah had to get thrown into the sea. Jesus just had to speak to the storm.
Jonah was running away from his assignment, running away from the people God was calling him to.
Jesus was going across the sea to get to a man who nobody else wanted. He was going to a man everyone else called hopeless. He was a lost cause. Everyone had given up on him and sent him to live in the tombs.
Jesus and Jonah both had a mission. Jonah ran from his, Jesus ran to His.
What if God is calling us to reach people we do not like? What if God is calling you to reach people who do not look like you, dress like you, talk like you, vote like you, or live like you? What if God is calling you to people that everyone else has called a hopeless case, a lost cause?
Are we going to respond like Jonah and go the other way? Or, are we going to be like Jesus and run to those who need Him the most?
Today, we draw a line in the sand. Today, we stand and declare, we are going to be like Jesus.
