Jonah Week 1

You can’t run from God

When my kids were little they would try to run away from me. I would always catch them. Then one day....

There are times for some who think that they can run away from God. They think they may have a good reason, and they think that they can.

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Purpose

The book clearly sets forth the fact that God’s mercy was not the sole possession of the Hebrew people of Jonah’s time but was available to all through repentance. Even Israel’s enemies could experience God’s mercy.

Today we are starting a brand new series on the book of Jonah. And this is gonna be fun, for me, personally. This is such a great story and the funny thing is that this is one of those stories that you push into the Sunday School realm, that this is a story for the kids because obviously, it really couldn’t have happened. There must be something to it that is allegory or metaphor. There is no possible way that a man could survive in the belly of a great fish right?

I would agree, there IS NO Way that a man can survive in the belly of a fish. Shocker. Unless the God who created the man and created the fish and created the sea and the earth and the universe was involved. Please. It’s a supernatural miracle from a supernatural God. If God can heal, create, do all the things that GOD can do, he can certainly.... miraculously un-comprehensively keep a man alive in the belly of a fish for 3 days. It ain’t just a kids story.

Let’s talk for just a minute about this Jonah. He is famous for the book that bears his name but Jonah was a pretty profound prophet of the Lord. He is mentioned in other areas of Old Testament Scripture and even in some New Testament scripture.

God would speak to the King through Jonah about the future of Israel’s prosperity and safety.

2 Kings 14:25 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.

In the New Testament Jesus speaks about Jonah when the Pharisees were asking him for a sign to prove who he was.

Matthew 12:39 ESV

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.

So this Jonah was a real person. Jesus said so. Jesus would not have referred to a children’s story or a myth to talk about his own resurrection. Jesus was describing his resurrection and he was comparing it to the resurrection if you will of Jonah. If you think that Jonah’s story is a myth then you are obligated to think of Jesus’ resurrection as a myth too and if you look at Christs resurrection as a myth then you by definition cannot be a Christian. That just got real.

So Jonah is a prophet. The purpose of the prophet was for people to know the word of God. Jonah was one of these prophets.

Jonah 1 ESV

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 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. 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. 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. 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.” 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. 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?” 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.” 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. 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. 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.” 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. 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.” So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. 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.

Jonah 1:1–3 ESV

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 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.

Interesting that Jonah, a prophet, who knows God, doesn’t realize how big God is, how powerful God is. But he runs.

This brings us to point 1 in our study today

God will often ask you to do this you don’t want to do.

Why is Jonah running away from God’s will here? What is the big deal about going to Ninevah.

I want to show you a map of the ancient world. Look at where Joppa is. Look at where Nineveh is. Notice that this map is so big that Tarshish doesn’t even fit on it. Jonah is going, but he is going as far away as he can get in the completely opposite direction that God was sending him. Why? What is the big deal about Nineveh?

And we can be kind of hard on Jonah because of his prejudice. But don’t be too hard on Jonah.

The people of the city of Nineveh were of the kingdom of Assyria. And these people were the worst of the worst. They were hated. And there was good reason to hate them. They were unusually cruel and brutal to their enemies.

As a matter of fact, if a place heard that the assyrians were coming to wage war on them whole villages would commit suicide because of how brutal their armies were. It is told that they would torture their enemies. They would skin them alive, they would hang their heads in the kings garden off of trees. They would cut off body parts, they would rape the women, they would cover the walls of their towns with the skins of the people they would have conquered.

Jonah said no. Not them God, not them.

The only equivalent that we could come up with would be if God would ask some holocaust survivors to go to the German guards, or to go to Hitler or to his staff and bring the word of the Lord to them so that they would be saved. Tough? Very tough and rightly so.

So Jonah flees… that word flee is the word that basically means to break ties with. Moses flees from Pharaoh, Hagar flees from her mistress, Jacob flees from his father in law Laban. The word doesn’t mean hide, it means to break ties with. Jonah appears to be done with God and he flees from Him.

Jonah will later understand that it is impossible to “flee” from God.

A major theme of this book is that God is a gracious God. Even to the worst of sinners. The worst of sinners. Meaning that no matter who you are or what you have done the payment of Jesus’ shed blood reaches even them. Even them.. That is how powerful the debt is that Jesus paid.

God really is a loving God.

Do you know that there is a Jonah in us? There is a Jonah in all of us that makes us want to run from God, to hide from God. Now maybe not as dramatically as Jonah. But we do it.

We distance ourselves from God when we don’t like something he says. We distance ourselves from Church, we distance ourselves from our Christian friends. Distance ourselves from God.

Sometimes its because there is something going on in our lives that we know God doesn’t approve of but we do it anyway. “but I want it”. “but I deserve it” But everyone else gets to do that and I don’t” It’s not fair.

Sometimes we read those verses about forgiveness and we say, “I will not forgive them for what they did to me, or to someone I love”. But the bible says to forgive. “I can’t do that”.

For some, the verses that cut them are the ones that say “pray for your leaders’ and you just can’t.... what I actually should say is you just won’t even though God says it. You will not do it.

Some people ignore those verses that talk about giving, tithing. I just don’t want to hear that. I want to stick my head in the sand here. I won’t do it because its my money.

Maybe it is a relationship that you know isn’t pleasing to God. You are unequally yoked and you say. God, I don’t want your best. I don’t believe that you know what’s best for me God. I am taking over on this one. It’s disobedience. And disobedience has consequences guys!

We don’t like what the bible says, or that one verse, and we get on that ship in the opposite direction to Tarshish. Are you on a boat to Tarshish right now? Because listen/ every time we run away from God something bad happens. Every time

But every time we run away from God something bad happens.

2 You can always, always find a boat sailing in the wrong direction.

Jonah 1:3 ESV

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.

Away from the presence of the Lord. That is where Jonah wanted to go. Are you on a ship to Tarshish today? Some of you know exactly what I am talking about. Your heart is beating real fast, or you are very angry right now. You have been running and you are trying to justify it and I am telling you it’s not going to work. You are running from God.

Or you are not necessarily running from God but you are drifting. You are very slowly, drifting. At the beach one day the boys and I were riding the waves and I kept doing that dad thing. Over this way, over this way. But then there was a period where the waves were really good and we were riding and then running out to catch the next one and we stopped looking for that umbrella that we have and it wasn’t long before we were a considerable distance from our umbrella.

Drifting takes you away too. Did you stop reading your bible? Did you stop praying? Did you dabble in activities that draw you away from God rather than bringing you to God?

Are you beginning to look at those answered prayers as coincidence rather than God working in your life?

That is what drifting is all about. And drifting has the same exact result in running. You get further and further away from God. That is the Jonah in all of us.

The problem is that there are many many boats to to Tarshish. There is never a shortage of those boats.

Matthew 7:13 ESV

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.

There is always a consequence to our disobedience. Always, whether we see it or not, it is coming.

There is always a consequence to our disobedience. Always, whether we see it or not.

Brings us to number 3 which shows just how loving our God really is.

3. Sometimes God will bring a storm to get our attention.

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.

Who hurled a great wind? THE LORD, say that with me, who hurled the great wind? The LORD! This is showing us how much God loves. God loves. God loves the people he wants to save, the Ninevites, and God loves Jonah. Sometimes he has to do something crazy to get our attention.

When my kids were little and watching tv I might say, “kids, time to get the table set for dinner.” And they are still staring at the screen and I say, “kids time to set the table”, nothing. Sometimes I would have to go over and actually turn off the tv to get their attention.

I know, I know. You don’t need to call child protective services/ They are okay. But sometimes you have to do something drastic to get the attention of the person you are trying to talk to.

God sends this huge storm to Jonah and the seasoned sailors are freaking out and throwing stuff overboard. The cargo, their money so that they can survive and Jonah is in the hull of the ship, asleep. Don’t know how that is possible but they come to him and say, who are you? What is going on?

Jonah is thinking that his sin is only affecting him, just like many of us here today think that our sin is private and our sin isn’t hurting anyone but you are wrong. Your sin might not be hurting others right now, but it will. It will hurt those you love.

Jonah’s disobedience directly affected those innocent people around him.

Jonah 1:2 ESV

“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”

Jonah 1:8–10 ESV

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?” 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.” 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.

Jonah 1Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me”

Jonah’s sin had touched the lives of these other men who were innocent as far as Jonah’s sin was. Your sin affects those around you. It does.

The man that looks at porn thinks that he is only hurting himself but he is hurting his wife as his sin puts a barrier between them. She notices that they aren’t as close and she thinks there is something wrong with her. She did nothing to deserve it but she suffers because of his sin.

And I would love to have the time to develop this idea but your sin, no matter how private it is touches those who you interact with.

Why would God do that? Why would he warn them? answer: He is a loving God.

The sailors are suffering because of Jonah’s disobedience.

Listen to what happens next.

verse 3 says this

Jonah 1:11–12 ESV

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. 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.”

Jonah 1:11–16 ESV

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. 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.” 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. 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.” So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

Jonah 1:11-

Jonah 1:3 ESV

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.

Jonah finally understands that what he has done is affecting the lives of these men and the only way for them to be safe is if Jonah is willing to be thrown into the sea.

Away from the presence of the Lord

Principle: God is everywhere (verse to prove it)

These men are really torn. Even though they aren’t God’s people (the Israelites), they still don’t want to shed innocent blood. They work very hard to NOT throw Jonah overboard. But the sea grows even worse and they finally, throw this man overboard.

Jonah 1:14–16 ESV

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.” So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

14-

There is always a consequence to our disobedience. Always, whether we see it or not.

The men prayed to God, please let us be innocent of this mans blood. And as soon as Jonah was thrown into the sea, the word says that the storm stopped. The see ceased its raging

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.

Jonah 1:16 ESV

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

I don’t think that God creates every storm, but I believe that he can create one. And he had a doosy here. “Hurled”

Jonah’s death apparently just converted a ship ful of sailors.

And it was a bad storm. Remember, seasoned sailors throwing their money overboard to survive. That will only happen if you want to stay alive

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.

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.”

verse 8 what is your occupation?

Finally,

4 Jonah’s worst nightmare was exactly what he needed.

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.

What Jonah thought would have been the worst possible scenario was actually orchestrated by God.

What does that first part of 17 says? The Lord APPOINTED The Lord Appointed a great fish. Not a whale, doesn’t say a whale. Says a great fish. Doesn’t matter, what matters is that God provided a great fish to swallow Jonah.

Jonah was running from God. Then Jonah realized his sin and he surrendered himself to the sea and then the unimaginable happens.

Sometimes the worst nightmare that we can imagine can actually be what God thinks we need.

Maybe you are there. Maybe you understand. Maybe you are going through something right now that feels like you are in the middle of something that would seem incredibly bad but that thing might be the very thing that God is using to get you to where He wants you to be.

Maybe God is saying to you right now.... “do i have your attention now?”

Is that hard thing that you are going through now an opportunity to surrender to Jesus? Even when it doesn’t make sense maybe God is calling you to trust Him in this area or that area. I won’t go through the list. I will let the Holy Spirit speak to you about that.

Pray, Holy Spirit, tell me what area I need to give to you and He will tell you.

And then you will have the choice as to whether you will obey or not obey.

Remember, there are plenty of ships to Tarshish. You can easily find one. And listen, you can make this hard on yourself, or you can make it even harder because when you get on that ship that is going in the wrong direction you may find yourself facing a storm that the Lord sends. Or you may face your worst nightmare when it is ultimately God providing that thing for the sole purpose as to get you back.

Ultimately it is because He loves you, He cherishes you.

End:

Rather than running from God, wont you trust him with your past, present and future. Saying no to God quickly leads to disaster, Saying yes brings new understanding of God and his purpose in the world.

Pray

Those who are running.... Those in the storm.... Those who have just been swallowed up.

Recognize who you are. You pursue us. You love us.

2 You can ALWAYS find a boat sailing in the wrong direction