Sermon Tone Analysis

Jonah’s Whale (3 of 6)

Introduction

There is an old saying that "truth is stranger than fiction."

Many times, that is true.

The book of Jonah proves that very point.

When a man catches a fish, we accept that as truth.

But if a fish catches a man, we would say that is fiction.

Jonah is a story of truth that sounds like fiction.

One reason I know it is true is because Jesus Christ believed it was true.

He said in Matt.

12:40-41

Jonah is a very interesting character in the Bible.

If he were going to college today, he would certainly go to the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, because he was the original "Runnin' Rebel."

Jonah got off to a bad start with God, and then did everything he could to make it worse.

First, he resisted God; then he rebelled against God; and then of all things he tried to run from God.

I remember one time Mohammed Ali was going to fight an upcoming opponent and a newspaper reporter said, "Your opponent has said that he's just going to get on his toes and run from you the entire fight."

Mohammed Ali just smiled and said, "Well he can run, but he can't hide."

If there is anything that Jonah teaches us, it is this: You not only can't hide from God, but you also really cannot run from God.

I love the story of a little boy who kept riding his bicycle around the block, and a police officer was sitting by the side of the road, and he watched this little boy ride around the block about ten times.

Finally, he got out of his squad car and stopped him and said, "Son, you keep riding around this same block over and over, what are you doing?"

The little boy said, "I'm running away from home."

The officer said, "Running away from home?

How can you be running away and keep going around the same block?"

The little boy said, "Because my Mommy told me I couldn't cross the street!"

In a real sense, we are all like that little boy.

You may think you can run from God, but you really cannot.

When God speaks and tells you to do something, whether you think it's a big thing or a little thing, you had better do it.

Because if you don't, your life will become just one catastrophe looking for a place to happen.

As we study the four chapters of this book, we learn four very valuable principles that show us the grief that comes from rebelling against God, and the glory that comes from obeying God.

I. Disobedience Brings Discipline

The story begins with a call of God on the life of Jonah.

As we saw in:

Now the command seems simple enough.

Jonah was to go to Nineveh.

It was indeed a great city.

It was the capitol of Assyria.

The king's palace there covered five acres, had 71 rooms with hallways 180 feet long and 40 feet wide.

It was a huge city.

It was enclosed within eight miles of walls, with fifteen gates and had a population of 175,000 people and considered to the largest city of that time period.

But primarily it was a wicked city.

The Living Bible translates Jonah 1:2 as,

"Their sin stunk to high heaven."

The stench of their sin had become so putrid in the nostrils of a holy God that He decides to send a preacher named Jonah to give them a choice-repentance or retribution.

But there was only one problem-Jonah did not want to go.

Jonah 1:3

Now why did Jonah disobey God?

Well, to put it bluntly Jonah was a racist.

The Ninevites were among the most hated enemies of Israel, and Jonah was afraid that their rebellion might turn into repentance, and their repentance might turn into revival, and his attitude was "they might get saved, but I'm not going to have anything to do with it!"

You may be sitting there thinking to yourself, "How terrible!

How horrible!

How selfish!" May I tell you, that any Christian who refuses to witness and tell other people about Jesus Christ, has the same "Jonah" attitude.

Their attitude is, "People might get saved, but it won't be because of me!"

Because of his disobedience Jonah became a man on the run.

He was running and running hard, because Nineveh was 550 miles east of Israel and Tarshish was 2,500 miles west of Israel.

Now these cities are very important.

Because they are the only two cities mentioned in this book, and that is for a reason.

Nineveh represents the way or will of God, and Tarshish represents the way or will of man.

I want you to listen carefully.

Every day each of you go to one of those two cities.

God allows you to make the choice but remember this: Every time you choose Tarshish over Nineveh it's going to cost you.

We're told in verse 3 that when he found the ship going to Tarshish, "he paid the fare."

Whenever you run with God He pays the fare, but when you run from God you pay the fare.

You remember this the next time you decide you're going to disobey God and refuse to listen to whatever God is telling you to do.

Whenever you run from God, the trip is always longer, always costlier, and always harder.

I've told you before sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.

And as youknow from last week this was true in my life as well

Now because of Jonah's disobedience, everyone experienced God's discipline.

From verse 4 to the end of chapter 1 we are told that a great storm arose.

Everybody began to pray to their god, throw out the cargo, lighten the load, but nothing worked.

Jonah sizes up the situation and tells these men that they must throw him overboard if they're going to live, and that is exactly what they wind up doing.

I heard a story of a ship that was sinking in the middle of a storm, and the captain called out to the crew and said, "Does anyone here know how to pray?"

One man stepped forward and said, "Yes sir, I know how to pray."

The captain said, "Wonderful, you pray while the rest of us put on life jackets-we're one short."

Well, disobedience led to discipline.

Because Jonah was not only thrown into the storm, but he was also swallowed by the sea, an then swallowed by a great fish.

I want you to learn this lesson.

If you are a Christian, in your heart you have a hot line to heaven.

Every time that telephone rings God is on the other end.

When you answer God does not want you to say simply, "Hello," He wants to hear you say, "Yes, Lord, whatever you ask I will do."

Just remember, it is always God's way or the highway.

Disobedience brings discipline.

II.

Discipline Brings Deliverance

Now the scene shifts from the bottom of a boat to the belly of a fish.

If you could sum up the first two chapters it would go like this:

God said, "Go!"

Jonah said, "No!"

The great fish said, "Oh?"

and Jonah said, "Whoa!"

Now there are those who ridicule this story as mythical, non- historical, a fairy tale.

There are pseudo intellectuals and liberal biblical critics who say it is impossible for a fish to swallow a man; keep him for three days; spit that man out on dry land and that man come out alive.

You know what I say to all of that: "With God all things are possible."

By the way, this was not an ordinary fish.

Jonah 1:17

This was a God-prepared fish.

May I just go a step further.

I not only believe that Jonah was swallowed by a great fish, but if God told me to swallow Moby Dick, I wouldn't argue, I would get out the tartar sauce!

What happened was simply this: Jonah got a whale house for a jailhouse; spent three nights on a foam blubber mattress; and then was spit out on dry land.

We don't know what kind of fish it was, and it really doesn't matter.

I heard about a preacher that preached on Jonah and the whale, and after the sermon was over, an unbeliever and a critic walked up to him and said, "Preacher, how do you know it was a whale that swallowed Jonah?"

The preacher said, "Well, I don't know, but when I get to heaven, I'll ask Jonah."