Consequences for Sin...Giant Fish

-04-2018

Welcome to Maranatha Baptist Fellowship

It would seem that I have had the last few weeks off and I have from preaching

So I was hoping I could get ahead on some sermons but nope,

While I was in Colombia and even last week, I was drawn to preach on Jonah

So for the next few weeks we will be in Jonah

I have taught Jonah once, so i was kinda nervous and excited for this time

I taught it to the youth a while ago

I would challenge you if you have never read the book of Jonah or even if you have for the next few weeks read through the book a few times

I believe when you are reading it a few times if helps you dig deeper into what I preach, especially when we go through a book like this

I was also challenge to do some more exegetical preaching rather than just topical preaching, and for those of you who are interested in that it is just a different preaching style

more importantly I want to be a good messenger of what God gives me

So I say all that to say for the next few weeks we are in Jonah and you should spend the next few weeks reading Jonah!

Rather than try and bore you with the back ground and setting of the book of wont and in part because there are a lot of questions that surround this book

We wont discuss them all because we are not here to call into question why its in the Bible, our job is to read and go what can I learn and how can I begin to apply it to my life to grow my walk with Jesus

Some of those questions are when this took place, who was Jonah, why he went outside the nation what is the over all message of the Story

Rather than try and answer those questions we are going to start in Chapter one vs one and see what it says rather then spend time on what it doesn't say

Jonah 1:1–2 NASB95

1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

Right away we see that Jonah is given a message of the Lord and a bit of his heritage because it gives his sons name

So if we were introducing me it would be Jeremy son of Charles

But more than his name we see Jonah is given a task, and maybe you have read ahead but this chapter is what happens when we disobey God

Jonah is given a task to go to a specific city and cry against them

Some of the history is that the Israelites did not live the Assyrians because they were very very violent and brutal people,

Guess what Nineveh was their capital

So you can only imagine how violent and bad they were really were

I mean they even slapped people with fish, at least on the veggie tale movie they did

God had given a message to Jonah to go outside the nation of Israel and cry against this people group

We are given a simple task, we are told to go and preach the Gospel to all the nations

You will say but ours is easier, nope not true, see all the easy people have already been reached for Jesus all that is left are the hard and difficult people to reach because if there were easy people left you would have already reached them because it would have been easy

We have to go and tell people they are sinners and they deserve to die and spend eternity in a real place called Hell or change there ways and fall in love with Jesus

Jonah had to go to a violent not easy people and tell them that

So what does Jonah do

Jonah 1:3 NASB95

3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

Jonah being a man of God decides to run from God

I love that it starts with my favorite word in scripture, but

I also think back to David, when kings go out to war David stayed home

when prophets get a word from the Lord, but Jonah ran the other way

see he goes to the dock and find a ship going the farthest away which is Tarshish which is I believe in Spain

hoping that maybe he can hide from God there

It is one of those things in his mind it sounds good, but I believe in his heart he knew it wouldn't work

Jonah 1:4–5 NASB95

4 The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up. 5 Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep.

God sends a storm

God doesn't just send a small storm, rather God brings on the ship headed to Tarshish a ship so great that even the experienced sailors become afraid

As Experienced sailors they would have been world travelers, they would have taken gods from other ports and began to cry out to their own God

They are afraid and begin to cry out in fear, so it wasn't a normal storm

The reason the storm is there is because Jonah thought he could outrun God

But Jonah, is found in the bottom of the ship asleep, in the midst of the storm

I find it interesting that Jonah was found in the bottom of the ship, that is where Jesus was during a storm

I wonder if Jonah in his heart knew that God would care for him and that is why he didn't seem to worry about the storm

because maybe he had a false sense of security, maybe he thought he was better than most because of his position

maybe you and I have a false sense of security because we either are American, or what ever our position is

Jonah 1:6–8 NASB95

6 So the captain approached him and said, “How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.” 7 Each man said to his mate, “Come, let us cast lots so we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us.” So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Tell us, now! On whose account has this calamity struck us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”

The captain comes to wake him up during the storm and tell him that he needs to wake up and pray to his own God

The captain is trying to figure out what is going

The captain is concerned with the ship

The lots were cast and it fell on Jonah

They want to know all about Jonah and why this storm would be happening

Remember Jonah is felling the presence of the Lord

Instead of going to Nineveh he is trying to go the opposite direction, and he just paid the money with no questions asked

So Jonah responds

Jonah 1:9 NASB95

9 He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.”

Jonah tells them everything they need to know in this response

He tells them he is a Hebrew, which they would have understood, and that he fears Yahweh

Yahweh is the personal name of God

He describes Yahweh as the God who made the earth and the sea

thats important because of where they are and whats going on right this minute

Jonah 1:10–11 NASB95

10 Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, “How could you do this?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. 11 So they said to him, “What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?”—for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy.

After reading this it seems that the sailors at least knew something about God

They did have questions as to who he was but rather began to ask questions about how or why He would do this

Jonah tells them why

The reason is the same, he seems to know why the storm is happening

Then they ask him what they should do right

The storm continued to grow, they continued to become even more afraid

Church I wonder if we are no different in our own walks

I wonder when the storms of life come we become afraid and begin to ask what we need to do, all the while really know that because of our disobedience we have brought the storm on ourselves

see Jonah knew why the storm was there

Jonah 1:12–16 NASB95

12 He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.” 13 However, the men rowed desperately to return to land but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them. 14 Then they called on the Lord and said, “We earnestly pray, O Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, O Lord, have done as You have pleased.” 15 So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

Jonah tells them what they must do

Jonah tells them to throw him into the sea

For some reason they cannot bring themselves to throw him over board

so they do the human thing and try and save themselves

we do the exact same thing in our own lives

see the storms of life happen and if we are honest they happen because we are disobedient and don’t do what we are told to begin with

then during the storm we know what needs to happen but still we refuse and try and save ourselves, we try and dig ourselves out of the hole ourselves

Just like the sailors who refused to throw him overboard

finally they understand that this is the only thing that will save them is throwing Jonah overboard

they pray for their own safety understanding that He is the one true God

they also get to shore and begin to offer sacrifices and made vows to the Lord

Those people were saved because of what they thought was the certain death of Jonah, sort of like a messiah for them

Except that Jonah brought this all on himself because of his disobedience, but God was not finished with Jonah

Far to often we believe that our lives are over when huge storms come and wreck our lives even because of the decisions we have made

See God is still very much in the business of taken the broken, the ugly, the dirty and filthy people that we are and making beautiful things out of us

Jonah 1:17 NASB95

17 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.

Finally the all important giant fish

you and i could go back and forth and debate till we are blue in the face as to what kind of fish, or whale it was but the important thing is

that is of God, and that God sent it to save Jonah

God still had a plan for Jonah

God still have a plan for you, but it will require that you be thrown over the side of the boat

see church there are still consequences for our disobedience, still consequences for sin in our lives

and to be honest we have to submit to those consequences before we can be made right with God

And part of those consequences is to be swallowed by a giant fish

Closing

maybe you are here today and do not have a relationship with Jesus

I want to invite you to the front

maybe you are here today and you need to make a decision about church membership, some of you have asked and now is that time

or maybe you are here today and you are a Jonah, and simply need to be thrown over the side of the boat and submit to those consequences and to be made right with God

the altar is open