Treasonous Anger

It is great to be with you all this morning. I would like to thank Bro. Jimmy for having me come back and preach this morning. Also, thank you to all those that helped our worship through music happen. It really is great to see all the familiar faces and some new faces. I have prayed diligently for this church over the last 4 years but especially since we left. This body of believers has lost many wonderful servants who are rejoicing in the presence of the Lord today. I personally look forward to seeing them again in the future.

This morning we are going to be diving into the Book of know some in this room is hoping that I am about to say a specific passage but that would be to good to be true, sorry Mike we are looking at the whole book of Jonah this morning. We will be in various sections of the book so if you have trouble keeping up the verses should be on the screen. If you are taking notes this morning the title of the message is “Treasonous Anger.”

Charles Spurgeon wrote:

In the long line of portraits of the Doges in the palace at Venice one space is empty, and the semblance of a black curtain remains as a melancholy record of glory forfeited. Found guilty of treason against the state, Marino Falieri was beheaded and his image as far as possible blotted from remembrance.

As I regarded the singular memorial I thought of Judas and Demas, and then, as I heard in spirit the Master’s warning word, “One of you will betray me” (), we asked within our soul the solemn question, “Lord, is it I?” Every one eye rests longer on the one dark vacancy than on any one of the many fine portraits of the merchant monarchs, and so the apostates of the church are far more frequently the theme of the world’s talk than the thousands of good men and true who adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. Hence the more need of care on the part of those of us whose portraits are publicly exhibited as saints, lest we should one day be painted out of the church’s gallery, and our persons only remembered as having been detestable hypocrites.

Spurgeon, C. (2014). Spurgeon Commentary: 2 Timothy. (E. Ritzema, Ed.). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

This morning we are going to examine how God’s sovereign plan moves Jonah to a treasonous decision that he must make which we as believers are equally faced with today.

Let’s pray together and then we will dive in.

I. God’s call forges rebellion in Jonah.

Fill

Jonah 1:1-3

Jonah 1:1–3 ESV

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

Jonah hears the Lords call, his immediate reaction is not to serve God but to flee from the work he has called Jonah too. Why would he do this?

Well first and formost

First and foremost, Nineveh is one of the capital cities of the wicked Assyrian Empire who has been in squirmishes with the nation of Israel and neighboring cities and nations. Thus, it is the enemy of Jonah’s people, Israel.

Secondly, Jonah could be fearful of going to them. They were known for their brutality, sexual immorality, and child sacrifice. We also know that their wickedness was great enough that God is sending Jonah in order that they might repent so he would not destroy them. It would probably be safe to compare their wickedness to Sodom and Gomorrah.

Regardless of all the reasons why, Jonah chooses to reject God’s call committing treason against God in his rebellion and attempts to flee for a city in the opposite direction from Nineveh.

APPLICATION:

We also often go out of our way to avoid sharing the gospel with those in our life. We offer a variety of reasons why. Maybe, we aren’t comfortable. Or we feel unprepared. Or simply do not want to share the gospel. We cannot fall into those traps, if you are a child of God. He has called you to evangelize and disciple those around you, those that you come in contact with otherwise it is disobedience and you are committing treason against God.

Not only do we see that God’s call leads to Jonah’s rebellion, we also see that.

II. God’s intervention leads to obedience in Jonah.

God is not pleased with Jonah’s disobedience so God intervenes in the situation. First, we see that

How does God intervene?

A. God sends a storm.

Jonah 1:4–6 ESV

4 But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. 5 Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. 6 So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

Jonah’s brought other people into his sin through disobedience. The men on the boat did not know that Jonah was fleeing God but in his sinful action. God brings the storm upon all of the ship.

Application:

I have included a rendering of a ship that this storm would have been thrashing about on the sea.

When we sin and rebel against God, we also bring harm to those around us. Yet, we so often do just that. When we are unwilling to share the gospel we are telling those people that we do not care for them. When we sin sexually not only are we causing harm to the other individual in that practice, we cause harm for our future spouse, current spouse, our children, our relationship with God, and/or the community and usually its a combination of many of these. When we drinking alcohol can hurt our witness, drunkenness is sinful, hurts the family, and makes us do foolish things. Ultimately, our sin does not solely effect us but also those around us.

Ultimately, it is not Jonah who’s attention is grasped with the storm. He is sleeping. It is the sailors who wake him and discover that it is Jonah who has caused this death storm to arise through fleeing God’s call upon his life. Which results in the men reluctantly throwing Jonah into the sea. Which brings us to the second intervention God sends Jonah’s way.

Fill in details leading up to this point.

B. God sends a fish.

Fill

Jonah 1:17 ESV

17 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah

At this point, you know Jonah is saying well. It’s official I am dead. God sent this fish to show me who’s boss and I’m dead. I can even hear him saying something like “Well at least I don’t have to go to Nineveh. But as he sits in the belly of the fish. God moves Jonah’s heart as he sat in the fishes stomach for three days. It is then Jonah prays a pray of repentance. Really, a prayer of remembrance of who God is. God then tells the fish to spit out Jonah.

Application:

It seems we as Christian’s often suffer from the same forgetfulness of Jonah. Usually, we have these great periods of obedience we draw near to God and love doing so. Then we begin to drift, we become lazy. We stop praying as much, reading as much, and enjoying the presence of the Lord which results in our hearts growing cold and disobedience abounds. We must guard against that reality. Instead, we must remember the goodness of God and repent daily of our sin and shortcomings.

We have seen that God intervened through a storm and a fish yet God also intervenes in a third way. This time,

C. God calls Jonah, again.

How does Jonah respond?

onah responds in obedience.

Jonah 3:1–4 ESV

1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

Jonah 3:3–4 ESV

3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

It is here that Jonah finally obeys God’s call and goes to Nineveh. God didn’t give up on Jonah. He went through extreme measures to get his attention. But God never gave up on him.

Application

Praise God that He never gives up on us either. He is constantly pursuing us. Sometimes that means we have storms that come into our lives because of our disobedience.

Let me be clear, not all storms are from disobedience some are simply to allow us to be tested like Job. Yet, other times, it is because we have sinned and rejected God’s call upon us.

Jonah had rejected God’s call and it lead to an experience I know I do not want to experience.

Not only do we see that God’s call results in Jonah’s rebellion and that God intervention leads to Jonah’s obedience. We see that

III. God’s sovereign grace produces anger in Jonah.

Let’s see

Jonah doesn’t rejoice at the results of his message but becomes angry over it

A. God’s sovereign forgiveness.

Jonah 3:5–10 ESV

5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. 6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” 10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Jonah 3:

God intervened in the life of Jonah in order to accomplish the sovereign work he had willed. Here we see that God’s mercy for this people is undeniable. Also, God knew the message of Jonah would produce this work in the capital city of the Assyrian Empire.

A wonderful reminder that God’s desire is for “none to perish.” In the power of the message the people repented and turned to God.

Application:

There is never a nation or person too far gone that God cannot bring repentance. We must not eliminate people because of how “evil, wicked” they are in our eyes.

Next we see

B. Jonah’s wrath towards God.

Jonah 4:1–3 ESV

1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

Jonah is distraught over the forgiveness this enemy nation of Israel received. In fact, with the historical context in mind, I believe it is possible to argue that Jonah thought he was committing treason against his own people.

We already established that Nineveh was an enemy of Israel, but it would only be three years approximately after the repentance of Nineveh that they would attack and exile Israel.

God’s message is that if Nineveh doesn’t repent then I will destroy them. If one of the major capital cities of the Assyrian Empire was destroyed, it would hurt their strength massively. Yet, as part of God’s sovereign plan, he wanted to reach Nineveh so they might be used to bring God’s people back to himself.

The reality is that Jonah was angry with God for having the audacity to offer his mercy and grace to the enemy of the people of Israel.

For an example, let’s say that the USA is really close to full out war with Russia. We have had a few battles but nothing major has broken out yet. Then God calls you to go and preach the Word in the busiest part of the capital city of Russia and God tells you if they don’t repent then I am going to destroy them. You have the option of fleeing that call and the war never takes place that you can clearly see coming or you go to them, they repent and USA is destroyed and the people have to leave the nation to other nations to survive.

This is the situation Jonah has found himself and now he is angry and desires to die instead of see Israel pay for her own unbelief. We often scoff and laugh about how dumb Jonah was for acting the way he did, but every day, we do the same thing when we do not evangelize, when we refuse to be the hands and feet of Jesus even to those who might cause us harm.

Conclusion

God forgives the people of Nineveh of their great crimes. Some of the wickedness that was found in the Assyrian Empire is brutality and child sacrifice. In fact, some of the wicked practices of Nineveh is prevalent in our own society. A society that praises the right to kill the unborn, sexual immorality, and greed can only be condemned.

Unfortunately, our society and many in the church, practice and give approval to the wickedness of our nation.

Paul warns us that we can’t do such things in:

Romans 1:29–32 ESV

29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

His conclusion is those that do such things are not saved but condemned. Much like Jonah’s message to Nineveh repent or be destroyed. God’s call to his church today is repent and return to me or be destroyed. If we do not repent of our loose living and lack of zeal for God, we will not remain as we know her.

Furthermore, we as believers, have an equal, if not even greater, message to proclaim than that of Jonah and it is called the Gospel, Jesus crucified and raised to live forevermore. Yet, we are like Jonah and hesitate and refuse to preach the word to others. We refuse our call to make disciples. We make excuses some is they aren’t like me, I don’t know how (if you are saved, you know how to share the gospel), I don’t have time, or someone else will.

If we refuse to share the gospel, we will end up like Jonah in a storm only to be swallowed until we finally repent or go to be in the presence of the Lord.

Christian, commit today to sharing Jesus every place you go. Listen carefully to his calling and obey joyfully.

Invitation

Some in the room have been running from Jesus. They have looked for all the excuses. Others have been living more in line with the world and less with God. Come this morning and confess it to the Lord and commit yourself to doing the work of the Lord.

Others in this room have heard the Lord’s call on their life to serve in the church and to serve in the community faithfully. Come this morning and talk to a staff person they would love to help you get plugged in so you can serve faithfully.

Yet, there are some that need Jesus to be their savior. They heard the Lord calling saying come to me. Jesus paid the ultimate price we could not pay. He died for us and rose from the grave so that we might have life for all eternity. All God asks is for us to admit that we are sinners in need of forgives, to believe in Jesus and his work for us, and to confess him as Lord and we will be saved. If that is you this morning, cry out to him and say something like this. Lord I know I am a sinner, I know and believe that Jesus really did die and raise from the grave so that I might be made clean and alive, and I confess you as my Lord and savior.