Relentless

The Runaway Bunny

The whole story is about this Bunny trying to run away from its mother.

The mother, who loves and cares about her little bunny, says she will change to be whatever she needs to be in order to be with and take care of the bunny.

I’ll be a trout, I’ll be a fisherman; I’ll be a rock on a mountain, I’ll be a mountain climber;I’ll be a plant in the garden, I’ll be a gardener and find you; I’ll be a bird, I’ll be a tree for you to come home to. Eventually…I’ll be a little boy and run into a house, I’ll be your mother and catch you in my arms and hug you…I might as well stay where I am and be you little bunny.

We’ve already talked about God’s omnipresence—God is everywhere and therefor you are always in His presence.

Our text this morning is about the Relentless Pursuit of God

No matter who you are, where you’re from, or what you did in the past, God is pursuing you.

Salvation isn’t about us deciding to follow Jesus, and then we have to go and hunt Him up.

Salvation is you responding to the call of God the Holy Spirit. He works in your heart and life to reveal Himself and Jesus to you. He convicts you and reveals your sin. He calls you to follow Jesus.

Jonah 1:7-17

This morning we’re looking at just how far is God willing to go to rescue the lost and restore His own.

Jonah 1:7–17 ESV

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. (We don’t use fortune telling schemes like this, but God did work through this one to make sure the sailors knew that Jonah was the one at fault. Also it is interesting that Jonah didn’t offer up that it may be his fault. Also, for some reason, we have no record of Jonah actually praying after they wake him up.) 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?” (They’re panicking and were asking all the questions. Probably multiple people asking each question.) 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. (So you’re running from the one true God who has control of the land and the sea. And you chose a boat on the sea as your method of escape. ARE YOU CRAZY!?) 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.” (It’s not perfect, but Jonah is beginning to feel compassion for pagans. He sees their fear and their predicament that he has caused and he is willing to die to keep them from suffering the same fate.) 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.” (The Pagans try to save Jonah. They don’t want to throw this man into the sea. Also, if he is a prophet of the God who is responsible for the storm, what would He do to them if they killed His prophet?) 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. (Ceased literally means that it stood still. Whatever this looked like, it was enough to get the sailors attention.) 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. (This doesn’t seem to be a conversion to get something from God. These men truly feared God and worshipped Him. They had learned that their gods were not real or had no real power. 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. (This is where everyone gets stuck in the story. It’s all about this big fish or this whale. We even try with science to prove what kind of whale or sea creature this could possibly be. The key is that this fish was appointed to swallow Jonah. So if God could send a supernaturally disastrous storm, He could also create a specific fish, whale thing to swallow Jonah. The picture and miracle isn’t that it didn’t eat him. It is that he survived for 3 days and was spit-out on dry land.)

What is the point of this point of the story?

God will go to any length to rescue the lost and restore His own.

The Sailors

God used a storm and a rebellious prophet to reach these pagans.

Not to say that God is manipulative, for sure not in a bad way. But God does work things together in His sovereign will.

Before He told Jonah to go to Nineveh, He knew that Jonah would say no and go to Joppa to get on a ship going to Tarshish.

Not that it was okay or God’s will for Jonah to disobey Him, but God worked in spite of Jonah’s disobedience to reach another group of pagans.

God sent a storm upon the ship to allow them to call out to their gods to show that they couldn’t help them. Then He immediately calmed the storm as soon as Jonah was thrown in. It got their attention.

There are many in this world that are facing some type of situation that God is using, not causing, to get their attention. God can use sickness, death, loss of a job, family issues, mental disease, anything to get our attention. And the point is that God is willing to do whatever it takes to get their attention.

Why? Because hell is a million times worse than anything you will ever face here in this life.

Jonah

God sent a storm to get Jonah’s attention. He allowed lots cast to show Jonah’s guilt. He made sure the men knew they had to throw Jonah overboard. He appointed a great fish to be there in the sea at the right time to swallow Jonah.

If you run from God, God isn’t going to let you off easy. He knows that if you run long enough, you can come to a place where you turn away and reject God entirely. God doesn’t want that for anyone.

Hebrews 12:5–6 “5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.””

God whoops us when we run because He loves us.

Jonah has no clue at this point just how merciful God is. He thinks he’s going to die and that God would be just in doing so. Jonah disobeyed God, Jonah is going to be punished. And yet Jonah has no clue just how merciful and gracious God is.

That really will be what we learn from this whole book is just how patient and relentless God is in pursuing not just Nineveh, but Jonah.

How do we know for sure that God will go to any length to rescue the lost and restore His own?

Jesus has already gone the greatest distance to rescue us all.

This story of Jonah being thrown into the sea to save the sailors is really a picture of salvation.

The storm in Jonah is God’s wrath towards Jonah. But the real storm we face today is God’s wrath against sin. And Jesus threw Himself into that storm to take in all the wrath of God towards sin.

Jonah didn’t die, but Jesus did.

Jesus willingly came into our world and though He committed no sin, He cast Himself into the wrath of God for sin so that we could be saved from it.

God has already gone the greatest length from Heaven to Hell to save us. So we know that He can and will go any other length to make sure we receive this gift of salvation that He has suffered and died to give us.

What distance are you willing to go to save others?

Jonah was willing to give up his life to physically save the sailors. Are you willing to give of your time, money, energy, and resources to reach out to others that they may be saved?

Are you the one that God is pursuing this morning?

Lost, He will make everything else fail to satisfy so you will realize that He is the one your soul is searching for.

Saved, God will discipline you and cause you to feel misery for your sin. He is trying to get your attention because He loves you. God cares more about your restoration than He does about condemning you. God isn’t waiting to catch you in sin so He can punish you. He died to avoid doing that because He loves you.