ON THE RUN
Jonah 1:1-17
S: Evangelism
Th: My Life as God’s Light
Pr: WE CANNOT ESCAPE GOD.
KW: Stages
TS: In Jonah 1, we will find seven stages that unfold showing how we cannot escape God.
Inductive
The _____ stage is…
I. COMMISSION (1-2)
II. COMPREHENSION (3)
III. CALAMITY (4-7)
IV. CULPABILITY (8-11)
V. CONDEMNATION (12-15)
VI. CONVICTION (16)
VII. CARE (17)
RMBC 7/15/01 AM
INTRODUCTION:
ILL Notebook: Escape (fire!) [modified]
Three athletes are about to be executed. One is a dark-haired soccer player, one is a baldheaded tennis player, and the third is a tall blond-haired football player.
The guard brings the dark-haired soccer player forward and the executioner asks if he has any last requests. He says no and the executioner shouts, “Ready!…Aim!!…”
Suddenly the soccer player yells, EARTHQUAKE!!!” Everyone is startled and looks around. And he escapes.
The guard brings the baldheaded tennis player forward and the executioner asks if he has any last requests. He says no and the executioner shouts, “Ready!…Aim!!…”
Suddenly the tennis player yells, “TORNADO!!!” Everyone is startled and looks around. And he escapes.
By now the tall blond-headed football player has it all figured out. The guard brings him forward and the executioner asks if he has any last requests. He says no and the executioner shouts, “Ready!…Aim!!…”
…and the football player yells, “FIRE!!!”
To all the tall blond-headed football players in our midst this morning, I apologize.
But the truth is the truth you know…
Well, have you ever needed or wanted to escape?
1. Have you ever wanted to run away?
We probably all have that feeling once in a while.
We just want to get away.
Sometimes I feel that way being in the ministry.
It is so hard trying to keep so many people happy, and I feel pretty frustrated at times.
Sometimes I think just walking away would be easier and better for everybody concerned.
But every time I think of that, today’s story is a reminder to me.
Because, being AWOL (absent without leave) is not where we want to be…
This is what happened in the Old Testament to a prophet named Jonah.
2. Jonah is an illustration of an attempt to evade God’s summons.
OUR STUDY:
Our introduction to Jonah is his commission…
I. The first stage is COMMISSION (1-2).
The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
1. Jonah had a mission to accomplish.
He is told to “go.”
And he is told to go to a particular place—Nineveh.
Nineveh was a significant place, for it was most likely the largest city in the entire world at that point in time.
Not only that, it was the capital city of Assyria, which was the most powerful and dominating empire on earth.
So, he was to go to Nineveh, for…
2. Jonah had a message to deliver.
Because the wickedness of that city had gotten so bad, he was to go and preach.
He had good news and bad news to tell them.
They were going to be destroyed if they didn’t turn around.
But the good news was that God was giving them the opportunity to repent of their sins.
God wanted to save them from this terrible and deserved judgment.
And Jonah comprehended this…
II. The second stage is COMPREHENSION (3).
But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.
1. Jonah was not interested in going to Nineveh.
And so, he decides to get as far away as possible.
Instead of going to Nineveh which was 500 miles east of Jerusalem, he decides to go sailing 2000 miles west of Jerusalem.
He heads for Tarshish, which was the farthest point known to him.
It was a Phoenician outpost in southwest Spain, at the very edge of the Mediterranean world.
So, why does Jonah go the opposite direction?
Certainly going to Nineveh would have been a difficult mission.
He probably would be made fun of and run out of town.
Perhaps he would be physically beaten or even executed.
After all, these were dangerous and wicked people.
On top of that, why does God have to send him to Nineveh?
There were plenty of problems right there in Israel.
It was in trouble morally, spiritually, and socially.
Perhaps he felt that Israel needed to take of her own act first.
But the truth is…
2. Jonah held no compassion for Nineveh (Nahum 3:1-4).
The prophet Nahum gives us some insight on what caused Jonah to go the other way…
Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims! The crack of whips, the clatter of wheels, galloping horses and jolting chariots! Charging cavalry, flashing swords and glittering spears! Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling over the corpses—all because of the wanton lust of a harlot, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft.
Nineveh was a bad place—nasty and cruel.
It was the Assyrian policy to never keep their captives alive.
They gloated over their victims and enjoyed every atrocity.
They would hold their victims down, reach into their mouth and pull out the tongue.
They would skin their victims alive.
They would build pyramids of human skulls outside of a conquered city.
Their cruelty was known throughout the world.
And frankly, Jonah hated them!
He did not want them blessed.
They could be condemned forever as far as he was concerned.
He had no desire to see these people turn from their sin.
He wanted them to receive the judgment that they so richly deserved.
So, he was not going to give them the opportunity to make it right with God.
ILL Barnhouse ill (modified)
Jonah’s reaction has been described this way…
“…calling Jonah to go to the Ninevites was like asking a Jew in 1942 to go from New York to Hitler, and tell him that God loved him, and that everything he did would be forgiven if he would but repent. So the Jew got on a train, all right, and went to San Francisco; then got on a ship to Antarctica! He wanted nothing to do with it.”
Simply, Jonah was willing to do God’s work as long as it suited his own purposes.
But giving Nineveh an opportunity to be let off the hook was not something that he was willing to do.
So the calamity comes…
III. The third stage is CALAMITY (4-7).
Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish.” Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
1. Jonah is chased and surrounded by God.
As the storm comes, the men begin to pray.
They would have prayed to Asherad—the sea goddess.
They would have prayed to Baal-shamin—god of the sky.
They would have prayer to Baal-tyre—god of the mariners.
They would have tried them all.
And as they did, none were working.
The storm was throwing their ship all about.
Finally, someone notices that Jonah is not there.
So, the captain goes looking for him and finds him asleep!
And…
2. Jonah was awakened to the consequences of his disobedience.
I don’t know how Jonah slept through this storm, but the irony is that the only one who could have made a difference is sound asleep.
The captain comes and rebukes the prophet of his prayerlessness.
Jonah wakes up to see that he has placed these men in a dangerous situation.
He has put them in a compromising position.
The men cast lots, and they know it is him that is the problem.
As it says in Proverbs 16:33…
The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.
As one author put it, “Men throw the dice, but it is God who makes the spots come up.”
And Jonah realizes that he culpable.
His rebellion, as with most rebellions, is not a private affair.
IV. The fourth stage is CULPABILITY (8-11).
So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.) The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”
ILL Notebook: Responsibility (for this job…)
“For this job,” said the personnel director, “we are looking for a responsible man.” “That’s for me,” said the applicant. “Everywhere I’ve worked, whenever anything went wrong they said I was responsible.”
Well…
1. Jonah accepts personal responsibility.
You have to admit that he is forthright.
God is doing it, but it is his fault.
He does not shy away from giving testimony of the truth.
He may have been endeavoring to resign his commission, but he could not change his heart.
He was the prophet of the Creator God.
And so, he learns that his actions affect more than himself.
2. Jonah’s actions affect both him and others.
These sailors were obviously hard-working, courageous men who knew their business.
But they also knew that this storm was beyond them.
So their questions basically implied, “Why have you done this?”
They had to be amazed that one could act so foolishly and claim to know God at the same time.
Jonah’s solution, though startled them, for he accepted the condemnation from God…
V. The fifth stage is CONDEMNATION (12-15).
“Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.” Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried to the LORD, “O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD, have done as you pleased.” Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm.
1. Jonah determines that it is time to die.
Personally, I find Jonah’s answer a sad one.
His resistance is continuing, for he would rather die than do God’s will.
He has become so hardened, he doesn’t even pray.
He won’t even run any longer.
Just throw me in…because Nineveh is not where I am going.
Interestingly, the sailors do not want to do this.
They are worried about condemning Jonah to death by throwing him overboard.
And so…
2. The sailors’ attempt to thwart God’s plan is a fruitless venture.
They row and row and row.
The storm gets worse and worse and worse.
Finally, there is no other solution…Jonah must go.
And as they toss him over, with his permission, the storm goes silent.
Imagine that…that must have been so strange.
And it brought conviction to these hard-working sailors.
VI. The sixth stage is CONVICTION (16).
At this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.
1. The attitude of the sailors became a healthy fear.
They learned quickly.
This God was not a God to trifle with.
This was the Almighty Creator God.
And…
2. They became believers as a result of God’s pursuit of Jonah.
There is such irony here.
They had prayed that the Lord would forgive them for his innocent blood.
And now they worship.
They make vows of service.
So we find that everyone and everything is doing what God wants…except Jonah.
But it is not the end of the story, for Someone cares…
VII. The seventh stage is CARE (17).
But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
1. God prepared a great fish for Jonah.
Mercifully, God appointed a fish to save the rebellious Jonah.
Though Jonah probably was expecting to die, God was not done with him yet.
He was still pursuing Jonah.
And…
2. God preserved him for three days.
For three days and three nights, God has some lessons for Jonah to learn.
He has a mission for him.
Jonah has a message he must give.
And Jonah was not going to get away so easily.
TESTIMONY: Don Andersen
APPLICATION:
ILL Notebook: God (been there all night long)
[Leonard Sweet, SoulSalsa (Zondervan, 2000), pp. 23-24]
One tribe of native Americans had a unique practice for training young braves. On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday, he was placed in a dense forest to spend the entire night alone. Until then he had never been away from the security of his family and tribe. But on this night he was blindfolded and taken miles away. When he took off the blindfold, he was in the middle of thick woods. By himself. All night long.
Every time a twig snapped, he probably visualized a wild animal ready to pounce. Every time an animal howled, he imagined a wolf leaping out of the darkness. Every time the wind blew, he wondered what more sinister sound it masked. No doubt it was a terrifying night for many.
After what seemed like an eternity, the first rays of sunlight entered the interior of the forest. Looking around, the boy saw flowers, trees, and the outline of the path. Then, to his utter astonishment, he beheld the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow. It was the boy’s father. He had been there all night long.
God is always present with us.
God’s presence is unseen, but it is more real than life itself.
In the same way…
1. WE CANNOT ESCAPE GOD.
How about you?
Are you running from God?
You know…typically we run in our spirit long before we physically reject God.
So, do you have a Nineveh?
Do you have a place God is sending you, but you are not going?
Is there something God has for you and you are refusing it?
Do you have a Tarshish?
Do you have a place that you know is the exact opposite that God wants you to go?
Eventually, you know, it is going to be found out.
For example…
ILL Sin (bandaids)
A drunk husband snuck up the stairs quietly. He looked in the bathroom mirror and bandaged the bumps and bruises he’d received in a fight earlier that night. He then proceeded to climb into bed, smiling at the thought that he’d pulled one over on his wife. When morning came, he opened his eyes and there stood his wife. “You were drunk last night weren’t you!” “No, honey.” “Well, if you weren’t, then who put all the band-aids on the bathroom mirror?”
Running is useless.
Pretending that everything is okay is pointless.
One does not escape God’s notice
For…
1.1 We cannot go where God is not.
He is omnipotent.
There is nothing He cannot do.
He is omniscient.
He knows everything.
And, He is omnipresent.
He is everywhere.
And…
1.2 The whole of God is in every place.
You see, God is here with you right now.
And He is with you wherever you go.
The neat thing about all of this is that…
2. God accepts us as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us that way.
You see, the Lord who can calm the troubled waters of your life is the same Lord who can stir them up to a great frenzy.
So when we persist in our disobedience, He gets rougher.
He begins gently, but in the end, He sends the tempest.
If you are on the run, don’t believe God is going to ignore it.
He is going to work to wake you up to see the consequences of your actions.
But there is a blessing in this.
For it is wonderful to know that God pursues us even though we are stubborn and rebellious.
God gives us second chances.
I like how Max Lucado has put it…
“If there are 1000 steps between you and God will take 999 of them and leave the last one for you."
You can only be on the run so long.
It is time for you to get to your Nineveh.
Are you running away?
Is God asking you to do something that you are fighting?
Take the time today to turn around.
Today Tim and Rhonda Schwartz will be staying after the service.
If you have a spiritual need and need someone to pray with, Tim and Rhonda will be here in the front.
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Run no longer…for we cannot escape God; for God lovingly pursues those He has called; He cares too much for us to leave us to our own pursuits.
Run to God…we can either run away from God or run to Him; run to Him and find the joy that comes with His salvation and with doing His will.
Run with God…for when we do His will, we find no greater joy that can be found being His companion, His co-worker and His friend.
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
