Jonah 1:6

Jonah chapter one I want to read the first six verses our focus will be on verse six this morning now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amitai 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 under Tarshus from the presence of the Lord and went down to Joppa and he found a ship going to Tarshis so he paid the fare thereof and went down into it to go with them unto Tarsius 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. Then the mariners were afraid and cried every man unto his God and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship and he lay and was fast asleep. So the shipmaster came to him, said unto him, what meanest thou, o sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God. So be that God will think upon us, and that we perish not sacred and holy word this morning. My father often joked about sleeping through the only naval battle that he was in. During World War II, my father was fighting the Japanese forces in the Pacific on a troop transport. He was in the Navy. And one night he heard naval gunfire just as his regular duties for the day were completed. And he was was about to retire. And it was a very hot night. It was warm and muggy. So he decided that he would sleep on deck of the ship. Now, even though this was forbidden, he found a secluded spot in which he could lay down and try to escape some of the heat. He figured that the gunfire, he heard was from the battleships in the fleet bombarding the Japanese island installation. preparing for an invasion. Well, when he awoke the next day, everybody was talking about the naval, that last night’s naval battle. It seems that several Japanese destroyers had attempted to sneak into the convoy and destroy the U.S. troop transports, and it was a heated fight to drive them off. Yet my father missed all the excitement because he was, sound asleep during the hour of crisis. Everyone was at their battle stations except for him who was sleeping on the deck of the ship. If you knew my father, you’d realize he could sleep through almost anything, so I evidently he did. Jonah was fleeing his God-given mission to preach the Assyrian city of Nineveh. He has gone to the port of Joppa, paid the fare to sail to Tarsus, which we believe is in Spain and just the opposite direction of where he was supposed to go. He goes down into the hole of the ship and he falls asleep. The ship sets sail. All seems well. However, as we see, God sends a tremendous tempest which violently shakes the ship and It is a tremendous storm, which in a sense, is focused here upon the disobedient profit. The ship, we see, is in grave danger of sinking. Emergency measures are undertaking. The ship cargo is cast overboard and so forth. Jonas leaps through it all. We have this group prayer meeting going on the deck of the ship. Everybody’s praying that they might somehow be spared. But when the ship captain looks below deck and he’s checking things out, he finds there’s Jonah asleep through all this. And this man, though he is a pagan, rises up to rebuke the prime. of God. Now as we look at this text of scripture and we focus on verse 6 this morning, let me ask you this. What can the world know about God through human reasoning? What do we see the the captain speaking about here? Let’s just put this, we’ll put this on the, on its most basic level. How do you know human reason can tell you? you that there is a God. He assumes that there is a God. Why does man assume that that’s the case? Yes, I think that’s very clear. And I think if you read Romans chapter 1 and we see that man likes to suppress the knowledge that he has. And the Bible indicates to us because of the way man is created. And as he looks at creation, he’s reminded of his creator. and he likes to suppress that truth and he starts making gods out of animals and things of this nature and wood and stone and so forth. But the scripture indicates to us that there’s some type of impression that is upon man about God being the creator. And so he takes it for granted here, the captain does, that there is a god. These heathen sailors had many gods. It could be raw. It could be Bail. It could be Molek. It could be Dagon or one of these ancient gods. We don’t know. So he calls upon Jonah here to cry out to his God. He took it for granted that Jonah like everybody else believed in a God. After all, what does the Bible say? It’s only the fool who says in his heart there is no God. Probably a fool who isn’t in deep trouble. And it’s interesting enough that it says here that every man cried unto his God. The ship captain here speaks of a single God. Why do you think the ship captain used the singular, your god, instead of the plural, since there are, you know, people have many gods that they worship. What do you think the singular aspect here is about? Well, he’s covering all his bases. I don’t think there’s any question about that. Yes. I think that. I think there’s a sense in which many times each nation had a God, that there was like the main God. There is a sense in which I think man realizes that there has to be really one ultimate God. You can’t have gods, but there has to be some supreme God. We see here one of those two reasons. could be the purpose of this statement. But even unregenerate man can come to the conclusion that there’s only one God. You know, even the demons know that truth, that there’s one God. So let me ask you this. Can human reason tell you who this one God is? Why or why not? Anybody have any thoughts on that? So man can know there is a God. problem is he doesn’t know who he is. He really doesn’t know the details about God. He can even know some general things about maybe by creation you can see something about his eternal. But we don’t really know. Well, they can be that, you know, the god of fertility or whatever. They have like single god sometimes or they might have a creator god separate from all the other. that’s true. they might, you know, the god of the storm. We’ve got to pray to the God of the storm because we were out here in the middle of the storm. It’s things of this nature. If I go to an art gallery, you know, I can see maybe a multitude of paintings that decorate the wall of the gallery and I can look them all over. And human reason tells me immediately there must have been a painter. There had to be an artist. If I see the paintings, these paintings didn’t just, you know, spring into existence by chance. Furthermore, as I examine, the paintings one by one, I might discover that there is a connection between the paintings. Maybe the paintings of one particular artist. Maybe it’s a series that he painted, that, you know, have a complete wall on one side of the art gallery that has a collection of paintings by this one person. And maybe they present a person’s life from childhood to old age and maybe it tells us something about the least. leading incidents of the man’s life, maybe his birth, his graduation from college, maybe his marriage, his family, maybe something to do with him starting out as a lawyer and ending up as a judge and so forth, you could get all that information maybe from the paintings. From the design, from the purpose and the manner in which the painter painter constructed those paintings, you gather some information about the artist. But you really don’t know the artist. You may know something about his style, his abilities, his skills, but you don’t know the man. You don’t know the personal side. You don’t know his moral standard. You don’t know his appearance. You don’t know his personal desires or taste or something of this nature. Now, when we talk about acquiring a knowledge of God, we can learn something from his painting. If we look at creation as what he produced, we can learn some general things about God. But who he actually is is only revealed to us in Scripture. So we have to have Scripture. in order to truly know who God is. And so we need the Word of God to explain God, and we need the Holy Spirit to actually open our eyes to understand the Word of God to actually truly grasp who the Lord is. For he has hid these things from the wise and the prudent has revealed them under Baves. So human reasoning can only take you so far. At least he knows there’s a God. At least that’s one thing that he knows. What else can he know here? What do the words call upon your God, and God will think upon us, imply about God here? What else does he think about this God that he asked Jonah to pray to? Yes. He, human reasoning, and assure you that God is, at least, of being capable of personal dealings with his creatures. At least he seems to indicate that here. That he expects some kind of response. If he calls it, upon God because he can help us. He may think upon us. He may, you know, get us out of this situation. It’s possible. If so be, he says here. Human reason can’t conclude whether or not God will actually do so. Yes, Keith. It seems he also has some others. Yes. Yes. He’s, he he is aware that God is angry. He sees some kind of being caught up in the anger of God of God here. and somehow, rather, we’ve got to figure out a way out of this, and he’s the only one, you know, he’s going to have to help us. So God, he knows, reason is able to realize that God is capable if he pleases of attending to the needs of man. Did you have something to add to Russell? If we assume he knew all this. We don’t, we don’t know that he did. But yes, it’s possible. Just like Rehab heard the stories, and so forth is what you’re saying. I have a greater knowledge of people’s gods and things of this nature. Yeah, it’s very possible. But at least you see here that he believes that God’s capable of answering prayers, that God can control the circumstances that they’re in and so forth. The problem is, without revelation, man does not know on what terms God will actually hear prayer. Reason tells you that it’s essential that God’s anger be appeased, as we have mentioned, if so be that God will think upon us. Literally, if so be that God will shine upon us. Now this comes up to where this idea brings us into what Keith has mentioned. If God would show favor to us, if God would be propitious to us so that we don’t perish. So the wording here would indicate some type of mercy. if God would be somehow have his wrath abated. The problem is, how can God be propitious? How can God be favorable? How can man be right with God? How can he obtain God’s favor? So he doesn’t know. The thing is man does not know this. He cannot know it without divine revelation. And therefore, without the Bible, man is in the dark, Human reason can’t answer that question, and man, therefore, doesn’t know really how to pray. He doesn’t know how to approach to God. He doesn’t know on what basis that he can find favor with God. So heathen prayers, if you ever notice, the heathen prayers are designed to make God favorable to them. With the vain repetition. Maybe if I say it, you know, 10,000 times, God will hear it. Or maybe there is some type of self-infliction. Remember? the prophets of bail would cut themselves with knives and lances and so forth to bleed and before bail you know to get his attention to show how much they were suffering or you know sometimes they would go as far as sacrificing their firstborn child their son to gain the attention of God now you as a believer know better than all of this you don’t pray with the idea that somehow you can make God be favorable to you or propitious to you. You pray knowing God is favorable and propitious through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s how we must approach God. You pray knowing from Scripture that God is a pardoning and gracious God, that there is forgiveness with the Lord that he may be feared, as the psalmist tells us in Psalm 130. so the believer cast aside all these heathen thoughts about perchance perhaps if so forth the believer can go to the scripture and say this is on the basis of this I can approach God and I can find his mercy in his favor so we have to take God at his word and what he reveals to us that O thou that he hearest prayer unto thee shall all flesh come We sing that in Psalm 65. And so he’s a God who hears prayer, who even though iniquities prevail against us, he can purge them all the way, as the psalmist says there. So we see there are certain things that the world can know generally about God, but the actual key aspect of how to pray to him and really how to find his favor has to be revealed to us from Scripture. Now, let’s look at the other aspect of the way. this. We see the captain what he has to say here. But let’s look at the other aspect of this is why you as a Christian may deserve to be rebuked in this situation. What opportunity did Jonah miss here by being asleep during this crisis? Yes. He had perfect opportunity here. I mean, if he could have been like Paul, as we said last week in the New Testament where he could say, you know, I you know, I have communicated with the Lord, and he’s going to spare a ship and things like this. It would have been really comforting and beneficial to them. But you deserve to be rebuked when you are stumbling, blocked to others. Here, he’s not bearing testimony with regard to Christ and the way of hope here. When the captain asked you know, what meanest thou, oh, sleeper, you know, he can’t tell him, well, he should have been telling him, well, God is our refuge and our strength, and, you know, present help and time of need and so forth, time of trouble. But he’s not doing those things. He could have glorified God in the eyes of these heathen sailors. A real testimony of the power of the true and living God, and he misses it. How often do we let us precious opportunity pass us by and not take advantage of it. When people are in trial, when they’re in adversity, when they’re in difficult circumstances, that’s a prime time to be able to carry the message of the gospel of Christ. People are more willing to listen, it seems, at those times than at other times in their life. And, you know, you have the case of the three Hebrew children. the book of Daniel, and they’re going to get thrown in the fiery furnace. And Nebuchadnezzar is, who’s going to deliver you? Why, our God is able to deliver us? They have that kind of message. When Daniel is thrown in the lion’s den later in the book, and the king says, is the God whom you serve able to deliver you? Yes, O king. He has delivered. He has sent his angel to shut the mouths of the lions. I’m still here. I’m still a lot. What a testimony that is to the true and the living God. Are you useful in times of adversity to the world around you? When they are in trial, when difficulties are there, that’s when the faith of Christ can really shine. But he doesn’t do it. Now, Jonah’s actions were shameful, insensitive. He’s sleeping while everybody. else is furvishly working here, feverishly working to save the ship. Think about this. He’s sleeping while everybody else is praying. So he gets rebuked. It’s inexcusable. We shouldn’t have anything in our lives that the world can point out and say, look at this as a detriment to the cause of Christ here. We get caught up in our sin, and sometimes we have this situation. and it can leave a real mark upon us. Many careers have been blighted by one lapse of sin. You can imagine, you know, in this, what testimony did this guy, this prophet bear on this occasion? He has to be rebuked. So don’t be a Jonah inviting the ridicule of the world. Don’t allow the world’s finger to be pointed at you. What are you doing? Let me draw a couple conclusions. And one is this. God’s retributions are very exact. Here is a Hebrew that’s rebuked by a heathen. A prophet of God, rebuked by a ungodly ship captain. What was Jonah fleeing from? What was his duty? Wasn’t his duty to cry against a heathen city for their sins? Cry against. Rebuked them for it. So what does God do here? He punishes him in kind. He has the he then rebuked the prophet for his sin in this situation. God’s discipline often fits the crime that’s committed. There’s 10,000 ways in which God, without a moment’s warning can show you your hidden sin in a mission. mirror and just put it right before your eyes and you have to see it. You can’t escape it. He directs this punishment in such a way here to Jonah that he was reminded, I think, of his failure. We don’t know the mysteries of God’s moral judgment, but God certainly uses your conscience. And he certainly has a way of turning the tables on us when we don’t do what he commands us to do, putting things in the right light for us. and maybe the ship captain could have rebuked 10 other men in on the ship and it wouldn’t have been a big deal, but you had to know this was cutting to the prophet. He knows where this rebuke really comes from. He knows it comes from God. The captain is just an instrument in this case, I think, for God’s God’s message to Jonah. And here it is. He’s a he even, a person without knowledge of Jesus Christ, he’s an unbeliever, and he has to rebuke Jonah. Can you imagine? if we have to be rebuked by the heathen. What a terrible situation that would be. And yet it happens at times. Notice something else. Are you sleeping while eternal danger looms ahead for those around you? Jonah here was sleeping while those around him were ready to perish, not only physically, but eternally. He was the only one on board who could provide the insight to spare them. He’s the only one that has the revelation of God who can tell them. about salvation? What meanest thou, the little sleeper? We often, I think, should take this rebuke to heart personally. Because you and I profess to believe in God’s word. We profess to believe that we know the way of salvation in Jesus Christ. We know that the ungodly around us are heading for eternal damnation. They’re on the road to hell. you believe that the Bible says that hell is a literal place where men will be tormented and that only the gospel of sovereign grace can save people and that the lost are going to go away into eternal punishment as Matthew 2546 tells us, is this just a creed that we accept or do we really believe it? You see your neighbor heading for eternal fire where they’ll be tormented day and night forever and ever. shouldn’t we be warning people to flee from the wrath to come? Shouldn’t we take every advantage we can to try to talk to people about the salvation in Christ? Let us resolve to be salt and light, let us not be sleeping through these opportunities that God provides. Any other thoughts on this particular study this morning? Is there something you would like to add or something that I didn’t come? Maybe there’s another angle to this that you’d like to address. Alright, let us then close.