VS 2 – ALL WICKEDNESS WILL EVENTUALLY COME BEFORE THE LORD FOR JUDGEMENT!!!
Acts 17:30 - And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
2 Corinthians 5:10 - For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things [done] in [his] body, according to that he hath done, whether [it be] good or bad.
1 Peter 4:17 - For the time [is come] that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if [it] first [begin] at us, what shall the end [be] of them that obey not the gospel of God?
Romans 14:12 - So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Psalm 37: - 1 Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. 2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
Ezekiel 18: - 20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. 21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
VS 4 SOME STORMS ARE SENT BY THE LORD HIMSELF!!! STORMS IN YOUR LIFE MAY VERY WELL BE A CRY FOR YOU TO WAKE UP!!!!
VS 5 & 6 JONAH WAS SLEEPING!!! SO MANY WANT TO ‘SLEEP THRU THE STORM’ – JUST LIKE JONAH DID
In the middle of this terrible Storm, Jonah is below sleeping. They had woke him up and asked why he did not cry out to his God for deliverance. He said he was a Hebrew and he feared God in vs 9, sounds like some of the people we have all met… They tell you they are saved, but they sleeping -- Tell you they are a Christian, but sleeping – Tell you they belong to a Church, but sleeping. These hard working men find out that this RUNAWAY SLEEPING PROPHET is the cause of God’s fury.
Ephesians 5:14 - Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
Proverbs 20:13 - Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, [and] thou shalt be satisfied with bread.
Proverbs 6:9 - How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
Proverbs 6:10 - [Yet] a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
Romans 13:11 - And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
VS 11 WHAT SHALL WE DO? WE HAVE ALL FOUND OURSELVES ASKING THIS QUESTION AT ONE TIME!!!
- It is the same question men asked Peter after his sermon at Pentecost in Acts 2
- Peter said, “Repent and be baptized”
- After the earthquake had freed Paul and Silas from their cell, the Philippian Jail Keeper cried, “What must I do to be saved?”
VS 12 Jonah told them to throw him overboard!! This sounds crazy… but I believe Jonah was coming to the realization that he belonged to God! He was not his own, and he could not do as he pleased… but he HAD to do what God required of him!
Getting a whippin from God is NEVER pleasant…. But it proves to us that we do belong to Him! I believe Jonah realized that if God wanted him at the bottom of the sea there was nothing he could do to prevent it!
Hebrews 12: - 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
VS 13 WE CANNOT SAVE OURSELVES!
These men tried to save themselves by working harder but it came to nothing! If we are out of the will of God, we can work as hard as we want, but it will always come to nothing! WE ARE ROWING HARD –but still not saving money, still not seeing growth, still no change, still can’t get along, still in the storm!
Haggai 1: - 5 Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways. 6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. 7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.
We MUST be SURE that we are in the Will of God or everything we attempt to do will come to nothing!
VS 15 THEY FINALLY THROW JONAH OVERBOARD! DO YOU NEED TO THROW SOME THINGS OVERBOARD TO GET OUT OF A GOD ORDERED ‘JONAH’ STORM IN YOUR LIFE?
‘Jonah Storms’ are storms that none of us should ever have to go through… we should learn to stay out of them!
‘Jonah Storms’ are storms of our own making!
The ONLY way out is to throw it overboard!!!
We need to confront obstacles in our lives! Our ‘Jonahs’
