Jonah 1:4

Book of Jonah, chapter one, I want to read the first four verses. Our focus will be on verse four this morning. Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of a mitai, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshis from the presence of the Lord and went down to Joppa. and he found a ship going to Tarsius, so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it to go with them unto Tarsus from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. God blessed to us His sacred and holy holy. word this morning. Dog sometimes do things that aren’t very bright. I recall a dog that was chained to a running wire next door at my friend’s house. And the chain confined him to a limited area of the yard. Well, one day there was a rabbit that ventured into the yard near the dog. And he made a mad dash for the rabbit. The rabbit raced away from the boundary. The chain would allow the dog to cover. And so when the dog reached the end of it, it caught him and actually completely flipped him over. That’s how fast he was running. It’s a wonder the poor dog didn’t break his neck. He must have forgotten that boundary line established by his chain. Jonah, the prophet of the Lord, has been commissioned by God, to preach to the Gentile city of Nineveh. Nineveh, however, was an Assyrian city, and even worse, the bitter enemy of Israel. Jonah doesn’t want God to bless them. He wants God curse the rest upon them. He wants God’s judgment to fall upon them. He fears, though, that God may show mercy to them. So he decides he’s going to flee from the presence of the Lord. And we said this was fleeing from the holy land and from the holy place, the temple, where God’s word and God’s visions were usually made known. It’s as if he doesn’t want to hear God’s voice. He wants to escape altogether. Now, this wasn’t very bright. Jonah was acting like the dog next door in my neighbor’s house. seems to have forgotten that God has determined the bounds of his life and the boundaries are set. So while Jonah is chasing his rabbit here, escaping off to Tartius, which we believe is Spain, God is going to pull his chain and thwart Jonah’s intentions. So God pulls the chain here pretty hard, as we’re going to find out, because God sovereignly He intervenes by sending a violent storm. In one sense, we could say Jonah’s story is over. He has made his decision, but Jonah, verse 3, but the rest tells us about God. But God starts verse 4. Jonah decided, but the Lord, you know, he’s going to respond here, and we see his response is going to really turn things upside down in Jonah’s life. Now, what does this passage tell you about the weather? Yes, Keith. That’s right. And why is that important to believe that? Yeah? Or a tsunami or some hurricane that comes along or whatever the case may be. Yes, it can be quite frightening. But what I want to, go ahead, Russell. The weather has a big effect, doesn’t it? Yeah. Please notice that this storm just didn’t happen. It wasn’t Mother Nature on the rampage. The Bible says, God sent it. It wasn’t a matter of the wind just happening to swirl in the right direction at the right time and one low front colliding with a high front, with a high somewhere, and at the right circumstance, as if it were a random event. The Lord. has established laws and our nature, in nature, I should say, they don’t administer themselves. He administers. And so it is God, and because he’s an unchanging God, these laws normally are regular and consistent, and therefore we can distinguish them. But God arranges a series of causes and elements and place them in a corresponding relationship to one another, he is in control. And he’s the one who moves these things that his pleasure does as he pleases. So that the weather does his pleasure. It happens according to his determination. Psalm 148-8 says stormy wind fulfilling his word. And in the New Testament, read about Christ that the winds in the sea obey him. Look at Psalm 107, if you would, with me this morning. verses 23 to 31. would someone like to read that for us? We sing this. I’ve just sang it recently, but would someone read these verses 23 to 31 of Psalm 107? Tim, thank you. Here’s an appropriate passage. It’s perfect. with our text, giving us a clear indication of God’s control. In the New Testament, of course, Christ is the one who controlled the storm on the Sea of Galilee and so forth. So we see the same thing in the New Testament as we see here in the old. Now, the newscasters, you can imagine in Jonas Day probably talked about this great storm that came up on the Mediterranean Sea today in the Jerusalem Gazette or whatever it was that they were publishing. But the Bible provides an insight of why the storm comes up. This terrific storm has God’s hand on it. His power is behind it. He gives the command and a storm is created. The sky gets gray and dark. The loud thunder peals, the bright lightning flashes across the sky, the waves get rough to see. begins to crash over the decks of the vessel carrying Jonah, and it’s the finger of God. And Jonah’s ship gets swept up in this tremendous storm. All that, he is personally directed. How does modern man view the weather? And what do you think lies behind modern man’s view of the weather? Any thoughts on that? That’s right. And what’s behind all that? Does somebody want to… What’s really behind all this? Yes. They want to get rid of God. If we can talk about random events and we can talk about, you know, some type of nature, you know, controlling everything, and then we can just get rid of God. We don’t need God. So modern man’s view is such that he has looked upon these things as occurring without rhyme or reason. It just happens. Of course, there’s no God. It’s just. It was just a bad sailing day. It was bad luck that they went out today, you know, on this day. One day later, maybe it had been better, but he has had bad luck. The Bible says that the natural world declares its creator. And we should see in all the things that happen that there is a God behind these things, directing them. It is the work and wonder of God, as he says here in Psalm 107. But because, man. doesn’t like to retain God in his knowledge. He doesn’t want a supreme being, so he pretends that God doesn’t exist. I can assure you that Jonah knows who set this storm. He indicates to us, and the men on the board the ship are fully aware who sent the storm to after he explains the situation to him. Now, one sign of a changed heart would be the recognition of God’s presence in all these events of life. we would recognize he brings the storm. He’s controlling things. Now, sadly, and I say this sadly because it’s pathetic, some professing Christians today, are guilty of denying God’s hand in the hurricane or the great storms saying that God is weeping in heaven. He wishes that this thing never happened to poor man. Well, that’s a denial of what the scripture says. Do you hear some of the prayers that happen? over after a hurricane comes through or maybe some great storm comes along and you know God’s weeping in heaven and he’s he’s sorry and this what kind of God do we have here the God we have of scripture is the one who said the storm for a purpose we may not always understand his purposes but he sent it so a renewed heart believes in divine providence and we should recognize he is the ruler of the seas he is the the director of the hurricanes and the hurler of the lightning and the king of the oceans and so forth. God works all things after the council of his own will, whether they be storms or hurricanes or whatever the case may be. Now, the comfort in this is what? How is this a comforting doctrine for you as a Christian? And what is he doing in this event? Teaching us something. Yeah, and he’s working for our good. I mean, it may be crazy. I mean, when you lose your house and everything in it, you might say, I don’t see how that’s working for my good, but ultimately it is working for your good. And because God sent it for that purpose if you’re a true believer in him. So even the storms are an indication of God’s fatherly hand upon us as Mark Mark has indicated. So we must recognize God’s hand in the events of this life. Now, the second principle we see is this. I’ll just ask you, maybe you can explain the principle taught here, a storm will sooner or later overtake those who rebel against God. What is the principle here that we want to teach? Can you escape the consequences of your sin? No. Eventually, it catches up with you, right? I mean, this is the, I think, the principle behind this idea of the storm coming. What is the mistake in motion of those who do not immediately feel God’s judgment when they rebel against him. What is their mistake? It’s still coming. Yeah. So here’s John, yes, yes, yes, absolutely. Here’s Joan, he trudges, if he’s a Giff Heifer, he’s trudging his hometown, he trudged some 60 miles to Joppa. He goes there, goes to the port, and he’s, he’s, he trudging, he’s trudging his hometown. He trudging his hometown. He trudging some 60 miles, he and he gets on a ship he finds going in the opposite direction and God didn’t stop him. God didn’t stop him from doing that. Jonah’s allowed to pursue his course of deliberate rebellion. He gets on the ship. He pays the fare. He goes to his cabin, goes to sleep, thinks all as well, and his escape has been successful. So far, so good. He found some comfort evidently in this, so he thinks everything’s going to go good, but, of course, everything is going to be short-lived, as we see. You will find that the enjoyment and peace which people often experience in their sins is only temporary. That God doesn’t always cast down a judgment upon the sinner immediately. And that’s why people think they are escaping, unscathed if God is not watching or God isn’t paying attention. to what’s happening. And they’re getting away with it. The problem with this is that it hardens them in their sin, and it leads to more judgment. Ecclesiastes 811 says, because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Hugh Martin in his book on Jonah said this. The Lord can afford to wait. You may transgress him and pass on apparently unpunished. The Lord, apparently uncognizant, but the path along which you pass has the punishment lining both sides of it and looming dark at some surely fixed point further on. How is the account of Joseph’s brothers a good example of one sins eventually catching up with him? Can you think of what happened in the account of Joseph’s brothers? That would verify that kind of thought? Yes, Keith. Yes, that’s exactly what I’m thinking of. They had successfully sold the despised Joseph into Egyptian bondage. Their father was none the wiser. You know, remember they took his coat of many colors and tore it and put blood on it it and made it look like he got tore by ups by some beast. and then for years you know for years go by and nobody’s you know it’s all passed it’s done it’s over with people have forgotten it and that sin lay hidden almost forgotten decades have passed and then a great famine arises in the land God set the storm right and Jacob’s sons have to go down to Egypt to buy grain so the family doesn’t starve and lo and behold who is the ruler who has to sell on the grain unbeknownst to them it’s Joseph and remember how he treats them he treats him harshly he claims they’re spies he throws him in prison for three days they’re scared to death they’re beginning to wonder why is all this happening to us and what do they say Genesis 42. 21. We are very guilty concerning our brother and that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would not hear and therefore this distress distress has come upon us. They figured it out pretty quickly, didn’t they? All those years went by God had not forgotten their sin and they say what is this that God has done to us? What are some of the messengers God sends to bring you to repentance. In this case, he sent a storm, but what are some of the things that God might send? How does he work? Death of a loved one, sickness, disease, an adversary to trouble you? There’s very many ways in which God may work. he works in mysterious ways sometimes. And you can’t baffle his messengers that pursue you. They’re like the Canadian Mountie. They always get their man. When God sends something to deal with you, it’s going to happen. He’s going to deal with you. And so there’s no loophole. As the scriptures clearly state, be sure your sin will find you out. Amos chapter 9, says, they have sown the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind. Though they dig into hell, thence will my hand take them. Though they climb up the heaven, thence will I take them down. Though they hide themselves in the top of caramel, I will search and take them out thence. And though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them. You cannot escape God’s hand. Now, even Christians sometimes are very slow to accept this particular fact. We’re reluctant, I think, to admit that this is the case. When we’re careless about our lies and we sin against the Lord and we think that God perhaps has left us unchecked for a period of time, just remember this, the storm is coming. If you’re one of God’s people, he’s going to send the storm. and it’s something we’re going to have to deal with. He doesn’t smack our hand always immediately, but if you don’t stop that sinful course, you can be sure the storm is coming. Maybe a tsunami. It may be bigger than you think. And so we see you can’t escape the consequences of your sin. Now, how does this account indicate that being associated with a sinful person is dangers. Yeah, what he did had a direct effect upon them. God has a particular controversy with Jonah, one individual, and yet everyone on board this ship is in danger. Everyone on board is exposed to this judgment. The storm is specifically sent to pursue and punish Jonah, but it involves others who did not share in Jonah’s same guilt. we don’t even know what other ships may have been exposed to this storm or how many ships were affected or how many people even on board the ship with Jonah were affected we don’t know any of these things now why isn’t God unjust when other men on board the ship undergo this storm which targets Jonah well isn’t there you know couldn’t we say well well God that’s that’s not fair It’s unjust. How would you answer that question? That’s right. Purposes? This occasion. Can he have more than one idea in mind? Is he, you know, is he so limited he can only focus on Jonah? Or does he have multi-purposes in sending this storm? Well, I think the answer is obvious. He has multi-purposes in sending this story. Specifically, we know it is directed to Jonah. Yes. Yes. Yes. So we begin to see there’s more than one. idea connected with this storm. As God would tell us, there are no innocent people. There are sinners of various degrees, and I’m a sovereign God. We are all responsible sinners. God deals with each and everyone in terms of his or her personal situation. So God has a sovereign purpose for everybody’s life. So God uses this storm. And we know in particular he’s pointing the finger at Jel. because that is the focus of the story. But many were caught up in the storm that weren’t guilty of the same thing. So why? Well, he has secondary purposes, doesn’t it? The iniquities of the sailors were not unduly punished by this affliction that God sent in dealing with them. God could have 10,000 purposes in one providential event. and he usually does have different things for different people. So God purpose to bring Jonah to repentance. And as you’ve mentioned, Russell, and another purpose, it seems, in verses 14 to 16, is to bring the sailors on board the ship to salvation, or at least belief in the true God, which I took was actual salvation in this case. We don’t know whether the ships were caught up on the sea. Maybe there were pirates on the sea. Maybe there were ships that were robbing and, you know, killing other people and taking their cargo and maybe that, all that ship went down. We don’t know. That would be a different purpose for that. We just don’t know what all was involved in this. But we should recognize it in a single providential event, there could be various aspects to it. That’s the justice of God. Now, let me say this. You may indeed involve your family or your church in your sin. Jonah here involved other people who he was sailing with, but we could cause problems as a husband for our wife and children. We could cause problems for a church if we are a member and we’re doing. something that’s evil. And so we see here this aspect of your sin always affects those around you. That’s the principle that we see. We see that many times in Scripture, and we should recognize that this is the case. Can you think of an indication of that happening in somebody’s life or in a nation’s life? their innocent sheep. I’m the one that had numbered. I’m guilty, but they were punished because of his guilt. And of course, Aiken, I think, is probably the one that comes to mind right away. You see how he troubled the whole nation because of his sin. And we can go on and on. But we need to ask ourselves prayerfully at times when trouble comes. You know, Lord, is it I? Am I the Jonah that’s causing the trouble? for my family or for the church or whatever the case may be. And it wasn’t until sin was confessed by Jonah that God’s blessing was restored as we read in verse 15, that then, you know, we find that after he tells them what he did and they took him up and threw him in the sea, then the sea ceases from raging. We have time for one more thought on this here. Let me mention this thought. you cannot rely solely on circumstances in determining God’s will. How does the case of Jonah prove this? Yeah, he went far, he went in quite a waste in what he was doing, and if he thought, well, everything was working out good. He had, you know, he had, you know, the green light and everything he was doing, everything was working fine. There’s only one thing wrong. He is disobeying the word of the Lord. No matter what the circumstances were, he was disobeying God’s word. And we have to be careful here as we go through this life. Professing Christians sometimes try to rationalize that if events just neatly fall into place, it must be God’s will. Well, it could be God’s will, and it may be that he is opening a door or a situation. But we can’t rely solely on Providence because, providence is not always easy to discern. Jonah could have used the same faulty reasoning. But here’s the thing. When he went on this ship to Tarshis, he didn’t have to wait. There was space available. A captain sold him a ticket. Everything fell in the place. But favorable providence doesn’t supersede God’s word. That’s the danger. The danger is if people, if professing Christians think, that they can just look at providence and say, well, everything worked out well, yeah, but what does God’s word say? It’s what you first should ask yourself before you look at Providence. If you’re okay with God’s word, then you can look at Providence more carefully and discern maybe how things are going to open up. Matthew Henley rightly observed, the ready way is not always the right way. There was a woman who claimed to be a Christian. She asked her minister to officiate at her wedding. As the minister began to question her, he learned that she was already living with the man she planned to marry. And he was not a Christian, which, of course, would be a violation of God’s law also. Well, she wanted a wedding because she felt that was the right thing to do, to be married legally. The pastor commended her for that part. He said, well, that’s right, you ought to be married. But when he further inquired about the relationship of the men, man, he said in light of 2 Corinthians 614, or you’re the Marioni and the Lord, you can’t. If you profess to be a Christian, I can’t marry you. You shouldn’t be married to this man. And here’s what she said, in effect, here. Well, if it wasn’t right for us to come together, God wouldn’t have let it happen. It was meant to be because God’s providence brought us together. But what is she doing? She’s ignoring what God’s clear word is and just saying, well, circumstances were good. you can’t live your life like that. It’s the general principle of the Bible, which provide the framework for the decisions that we make in this life. And we should prayerfully, you know, digest with the Bible teaches that we might have a practical guidance with regard to decisions like marriage and like career and so forth. Just because everything seems to fall neatly into place doesn’t make it right. Just ask Joni. He’ll tell you all about that. and that’s one of the things we learn from this. Any other thoughts on this passage this morning? One minister said this above this passage, he may have disappointed. You always pay the fare when you sin, but you never reach your destination. He pays the fare, but he never gets the torches. And so there’s a, you know, sin has its price. You don’t always get where you’re going. So, Let’s summarize quickly here. You must recognize God’s hand in the events of life. You cannot escape the consequences of your sin. Your sin always affects those around you, and you cannot rely on circumstances alone in determining God’s will. Let’s close then with a word of prayer. Russell, would you close us this morning? Because of his death, because of his sinless life, have life of his righteousness, bring him up. More would understand that. glory and that. Christ’s finished work on our behalf. I pray you to go and give us bruising hearts and minds and mind and hear with Fender Jack has course. Worses over this morning, almost truly though, worshiping you in spirit and in truth. I pray that you truly conform a small word to your end by your word. Your Lord, and sanctified by your truth, by your word. Pray you sing in Christ, Amen.