Introduction:
1. I will admit that I’ve been looking forward to preaching this series of messages from the book of Jonah since I first came up with the idea in my sermon thinking last year.
2. Jonah is one of those books in the Bible that never fails to fascinate people. Perhaps it’s the idea of a rogue prophet who is called by God, but refuses to do what He says that we can relate to so well.
3. For many it’s the amazing story of the Jonah ending up in the belly of the fish where he will be for part of 3 days and 3 nights.
4. In reality, the story of Jonah is much more than the story of Jonah, it’s the story of God’s work in an ungodly prophet. But it doesn’t stop there, it’s also the story of God’s work in an ungodly nation. Make no mistake about it, God is the central character in this story.
5. Some people are not comfortable with the story of Jonah, because they don’t believe a man could stay alive in a fish for three days and three nights. They point out that that would require a miracle. Those of us who believe the book acknowledge that the events of the story require a miracle, but believe that God is up to doing any miracle.
6. Let me begin by telling you a story about a little girl that pretty well sums what I’m talking about here. A little girl was reading on an airplane when the man beside her noticed her storybook, entitled, "Jonah and the Whale." The man asked if the little girl believed the story. So, after saying hello, he asked her to tell him about her book. She said the book was about Jonah, and how he was swallowed by a whale. The man said, "You don’t really believe that do you?" The little girl replied, "Yes, I believe the story of Jonah is true." "You mean you really believe that a man can be swallowed by a whale, stay inside him for three days, & then come out of there alive?" The child said, "This story is in the Bible & we studied it in Sunday School today!" Then the man asked, "How can you prove that the story about Jonah is true?" She thought for a moment, and then said, "When I get to Heaven I’ll ask Jonah." The man smiled, proud of his superiority & asked, "What will you do if Jonah’s not in heaven?" The girl thought for a moment then replied, "Well, if he’s not in heaven, you ask him!"
Cell #1—
Fascinating Facts About Jonah...
Some later rabbinic tradition suggested Jonah was the widow’s son brought back to life by Elijah in 1 Kings 17:17-24.
Jonah is listed fifth among the twelve minor prophets. Yet the book contains only 1 brief sentence that could be considered prophecy, "Forty more days & Ninevah will be destroyed."
Nineveh was founded by Nimrod, the great grandson of Noah shortly after the flood.
7. That’s enough talking about the book. Let’s begin our study of this great book. There are some excellent lessons that we can learn together. Let’s read the passage together.
Cell #2—
1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying,
2 "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me."
3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
4 The LORD hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up.
5 Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep.
6 So the captain approached him and said, "How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish."
7 Each man said to his mate, "Come, let us cast lots so we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us." So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 Then they said to him, "Tell us, now! On whose account has this calamity struck us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?"
9 He said to them, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land."
10 Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, "How could you do this?" For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.
11 So they said to him, "What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?"—for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy.
12 He said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you."
13 However, the men rowed desperately to return to land but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them.
14 Then they called on the LORD and said, "We earnestly pray, O LORD, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, O LORD, have done as You have pleased."
15 So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging.
16 Then the men feared the LORD greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.
17 And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights. (NAS updated)
Prayer
Cell #3—
I. Jonah Ran From God 1-3
1. We don’t know all the details of exactly how God spoke to Jonah telling him to go to Nineveh, but we know God’s message was that Jonah was to go to the city & cry out against them because of their wickedness. It wasn’t what Jonah dream job &, he turned down the job offer. 1-2
2. That fact leads us to a question that I think is obvious, but is worth a little consideration.
Cell #4—
Why Did Jonah Run?
Perhaps he was afraid of the cruel Assyrians.
Others have suggested that he was proud & didn’t want God’s mercy to make him look like a liar. (Jonah 4 suggests this.)
A few have suggested that he didn’t think Israel would repent until they saw God judge another nation. So he wanted Assyria judged.
Most likely, Jonah feared God would use Assyria to judge Israel.
1) One of the most obvious possibilities and to be quite honest, an understandable one was (#4, #1) "Perhaps he was afraid of the Assyrians." Nineveh was the capital of Assyria. The people had earned the reputation of being especially cruel. They were well known for decapitating their fallen enemies. They would place the heads of their enemies on their swords or play games with the heads. The people were barbaric & it may have been that cruelty that Jonah wanted nothing to do with.
2) (#4, #2) Others have suggested that he was proud & didn’t want God’s mercy to Nineveh’s citizens to make him look like a liar. In fact, in Jonah 4, this was one of the reasons the prophet gave for not want to go to Nineveh. He was afraid God would show mercy after he had prophesied their destruction.
3) (#4, #3) A few have suggested that he didn’t think Israel would repent until they saw God judge another nation. So he wanted Assyria judged. The thinking here is that Jonah as a prophet became convinced that the Jewish people were not going to repent until they observed someone else getting what they had coming.
4) (#4, #4) Most likely however, Jonah feared God would use Assyria to judge Israel. He was being patriotic in the way he responded, but that didn’t make his response right. This concern would eventually be played out in the real world. Assyria would cause Israel grief.
Cell #5—
It really doesn’t matter, because God told him to go.
(pause) Why we disobey God isn’t nearly as significant as the fact that we disobey.
3. You know the story. God told Jonah to cry out against Nineveh, but instead Jonah went down to Joppa & boarded a ship going to Tarshish. Let me give you some basic geography facts.
Cell #6—
Joppa is 30 miles northwest of Jerusalem.
Nineveh was 600 miles northeast.
Tarshish was over 2000 miles west.
4. To put it another way, Tarshish was the exact opposite direction that Nineveh was. Let’s look at a map, of Jonah’s backward journey. We know the whole story & that Jonah would eventually get to Nineveh, but for the time being, he’s certainly taking the backward way to do it.
Cell #7—
5. At the start of the trip, it looked like Jonah was going to be successful in his bid to get away from God. Sadly, that didn’t last too long. He made it to Joppa, bought his ticket and settled down for a long nap.
TS— But there was something that Jonah had failed to take into consideration. . .
Cell #8—
II. God Was With Him 4-11
1. Jonah was running away from God, but there’s a problem with a God who is everywhere, you can’t get away from Him. Wherever you run you’re going to find Him there. That’s exactly what Jonah discovered. To put it another way. . .
Cell #9—
When Jonah boarded the ship for Tarshish, he was running from God. But when the storm arrived, Jonah ran full force into God.
(pause) Sooner of later when you run from God, you are going to get caught.
2. Jonah apparently thought he was getting away with running from God, but He wasn’t. The storm served as something of a wake up call to Jonah that he had done something he was going to regret. It also illustrates another important fact, one that I believe we can learn some serious lessons from. I can almost picture how Jonah got his gear stowed away & then went below deck for what he thought was a well deserved siesta. Jonah going to sleep below deck is significant.
Cell #10—
Jonah wasn’t only asleep physically, he was asleep spiritually as well.
(later) Notice, it was the ungodly captain who told Jonah to pray.
1) I don’t mean to suggest by this that he wasn’t physically sleeping, but there is a far more significant lesson. He was also asleep spiritually. At the time when he should have been concerned about all the people in Nineveh who were scheduled to die.
2) Jonah seems to be the master of the, "I don’t care" attitude. He was to take the message to the ungodly nation. One other thing that I think is extremely significant. (#10, #2) Notice, it was the ungodly captain who told Jonah to pray. Jonah was suppose to be the one telling others to seek God, but instead he’s asleep & the captain tells him that he needs to pray. How ironic? He needed to be praying all right, but as I said, he was still asleep.
3) The captain didn’t understand most of the details about God, but he knew they were in a really bad storm. It was assumed in those day that if you encountered an especially bad storm, someone had offended one of the gods. Since they didn’t knw which god had been offended, they were desperately trying to appease all of them.
3. Jonah began his own personal prayer meeting. We don’t know how long Jonah had been praying or the storm had been beating against the ship, but eventually the sailors decided that they had to find out who the guilty party was who had angered one of the gods.
Cell #11—
It was no accident that the lot fell on Jonah.
(later) Jonah & the sailors were about to learn a very powerful lesson...
(later) It doesn’t pay to mess with God.
(later) God is loving, but He is no Wimp!!!!!
1) The superstition that prompted the pagan sailors to throw lots, would lead them to an important principle. (#11, #2) Jonah & the sailors were about to learn a very powerful lesson. It’s one that people sometimes forget, but it’s a lesson you forget at your own peril. (#11, #3) It doesn’t pay to mess with God.
2) Please get this important truth, (#11, #4) God is loving, but He is no Wimp!!! Jonah thought he was running away from God, but he’s about to learn his lesson the really hard way.
Cell #12—
III. Running Never Works 12-17
1. Jonah must now face the consequences of his disobedience. He tells them that what they must do is throw him overboard. I must admit, I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to tell someone that they were going to have to toss me out of the boat into a massive storm.
2. Jonah knew that’s what they were going to have to do. He said, "throw me over." In spite of the fact that they knew the storm had been brought on by his disobedience, they were still not willing to throw him into the storm. They were convinced that throwing him overboard would mean certain death and they didn’t want that. Now compare that attitude with the attitude of Jonah throughout the book. Jonah came up on the short end of the stick.
Cell #13—
One of the great tragedies of Jonah 1 is that the ungodly sailors appeared more committed to doing right than Jonah.
3. In spite of the fact that they didn’t want to throw Jonah overboard, they eventually decided that they had no choice & they did it. When Jonah hit the water, immediately the massive storm stopped dead in its tracks.
Cell #14—
God used Jonah in spite of himself. The sailors recognized God was great.
4. The sailors learned God was powerful through the tragic example of Jonah, but they did learn the lesson. There was some good that came of Jonah’s disobedience. It reminds me of the statement in Romans 8:28, God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him.
5. Be that as it may, this was not a pleasant moment for Jonah. None of us can fully imagine how that must have been when Jonah felt himself being thrown overboard.
Cell #15—
That must have been a terrifying moment when Jonah felt himself being thrown out of the ship.
6. The terror didn’t mean God had written Jonah off. Be that as it may, this was not a pleasant moment for Jonah. None of us can fully imagine how that must have been when Jonah felt himself being thrown overboard.
Cell #16—
God’s mercy meant that He didn’t give up on Jonah.He sent the Fish.
7. Not only that, He would give Jonah another chance to be used. Aren’t you glad that when we have let God down, He doesn’t wipe His hands of us and say, "I won’t give them another chance. They should have known better." If God were not a God of mercy, none of us would stand a chance!
Conclusion:
1. I want to conclude with a simple question for you that is at the very center of this morning’s sermon. "Are you running from God?" Let me first direct that question to you if you are not a Christian, I.E. you have never asked Jesus into your heart to be your personal Savior. You know you should ask Him into your heart, but you haven’t been willing to accept Him. This morning, it’s time to stop running.
2. You could be a Christian who is running from God. The story of Jonah illustrates that. You know God wants more from you, but you haven’t been willing to give it. In a very real sense, you have been asleep spiritually. I must admit to you that God spoke to me in the preparation of this sermon about how easy it is to become spiritually complacent. The truth about Jonah was that he was running from God before he got on the ship going to Tarshish. Many believers are running from God. It’s time to turn around & run into the arms of our Father who is waiting for us to return.
3. If you are here this morning & don’t know Jesus as your Savior will you quit running from Him? If you know Him, but haven’t been living for Him as you should, will you quit running? Let’s pray.
1 Adam Clarke, Adam Clarks Commentary on the Old Testament, (Cedar Rapids, IA: Parsons Technology) 1999.
2 Frank Gaebelein, Ed., The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Old Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House) 1976-1992.
3 Charles Ryrie, The Ryrie Study Bible, (Chicago, IL: Moody Bible Institute) 1986, 1995.
4 John Walvoord, Roy Zuck, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, (USA: Victor Books) 1985.
5 Cyril Spaude, People’s Bible Commentary: Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House) 1994.
