Jonah 1: 4-5 - Number 3

John Capill

Jonah • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

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THE FIRST COMMISSION OF JONAH

JONAH 1:4 - 5 Number 3

INTRODUCTION

We have been looking at the first three verses of Jonah Chapter 1.

In the first sermon, we looked at: Jonah – the man.

And we observed what high terms 2 Kings 14 speaks of Jonah.

- He is described as the “servant of Yahweh”

- And he is given the distinguished title of “prophet” in Israel.

- And we saw that he was a true and faithful prophet because his prophesies were fulfilled at a time when it looked unlikely.

Then we went on to look at the: The mission Jonah was given.

We saw that there was an explicit mission to go to Nineveh:

- To cry against it for their wickedness had come up before the Lord.

- It was a message of pending judgment.

- God had had enough of their idolatry, their violence and their arrogance.

- But we noted that Jonah knew Yahweh and therefore he expected that God would save Nineveh if the city repented.

But I also tried to explain that there was an implicit message for his own people, the people of Israel. They too were coming under judgment in two senses:

(a) First, they were coming under judgement for their self-righteous pride in thinking that they alone were the custodians of God’s grace expressed in the covenant.

They could not conceive of the possibility of a gentile nation, especially one as wickard as Nineveh, could possibly be included in God’s plans of salvation.

(b) Secondly, they found themselves under judgment because of their own idolatry and unfaithfulness.

- One of the curses of the covenant in Deuteronomy 32 was being evoked.

- And we saw that the curse involved making Israel jealous by a nation who was not their people.

- that God was prepared to take their blessings and give it to others.

- And here, in Jonah, that is precisely what’s happening.

- Why?

- That Israel might be provoked to jealously, repent and come back to the Lord.

Then last time we looked at the third “M”:

1. Not only the Man

2. Not only the Mission

3. But we looked at the Mutiny: Jonah’s mutiny against his mission.

And we looked at two things:

1. We looked at the extent of Jonah’s mutiny against God as set out in verse 3.

Sadly, Jonah’s heart was set on fleeing the presence of the Lord and he took a series of steps into sin and rebellion:

i) He “rose to flee”

ii) He “went to Joppa”

iii) He “found a ship”

iv) He “paid the fair”

v) He “went down into it”

At the end of each step, Jonah had the opportunity to reflect on what he was doing and repent. But instead, he relentlessly continues, step by step, further from the Lord’s command.

You will recall, that we noted that twice in verse 3 it says he was fleeing “from the presence of the Lord”.

- Clearly Jonah knew that God was both omnipresent and omniscient (that He is both every present and He is all-knowing).

- So what was he thinking in saying he was fleeing “the presence of the Lord”?

- Well, we looked at Gen 4:16 where we read that “Cain went out from the presence of the Lord” after the Lord sentenced him for murder.

- And we saw that it simply meant he left the place of sacred worship; the special place where God had put his name; the consecrated place.

- So Jonah thought that if he left the place where God was worshipped and specially revealed Himself, he would escape conflict with His God over this mission he did not want to embark on.

Jonah went to great ends in his mutiny against God’s revealed will.

Then we finished off last time by …

2. Looking at some of the possible causes for this mutiny.

We saw:

i) It wasn’t the difficulty of the mission: one man against a great city that was extremely wickard.

ii) It wasn’t that Jonah feared for his life.

Despite being sent to a violent, vicious, merciless, blood-thirsty people, we saw that at several points in this book Jonah was prepared to lay down his life for the sake of the truth of God.

iii) Nor was the reason anything to do with just how unusual this mission was.

An Israelite prophet going to a gentile nation.

Many prophets spoke against gentile nations, but not too many are sent directly to them. Even fewer were to give the gentile nation the opportunity to repent! So, it was unusual!

But there is no evidence of that deterring Jonah.

iv) So what was the real reason? Jonah himself gives the real reason in chapter 4:2: Jonah focuses on the attributes of God and their impact on this mission. He says to the Lord after Nineveh repents:

“Please Lord, was not this [a]what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore [b]in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.”

- Jonah knew His God; His character; His attributes.

- He knew Yahweh was gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and One who relents concerning calamity.

Jonah was tempted not by fleshly, carnal reasons to flee, but by a spiritual reason:

- Jonah was fearful that God’s name would be tarnished in not judging Nineveh.

- That God would appear weak and soft and inconsistent.

- And he wanted His God to appear strong, powerful, aster and ready to judge these people who he did not think deserved mercy.

And so we concluded by looking at how we too can easily give in to the same spiritual temptations– when we are embarrassed by the God revealed in Scripture.

That too often we are ashamed of His name, and don’t maintain His cause.

Well today, we want to go on from looking at Jonah’s flight to look at the results of it.

We are going to look at three initial responses to Jonah’s mutiny, given in verses 4 and 5:

1. The Lord’s response in v 4

2. The Sailor’s initial response in v 5

3. Jonah’s initial response in verse 5

1. What was the Lord’s response to Jonah’s mutiny?

Well, the first thing we notice is the Lord allows Jonah to carry out his purpose to flee. He doesn’t interfere with any of the steps Jonah takes.

He is God. He could have stopped him at any point, but He allows Jonah to continue for a time in his rebellion.

- It appears he is getting away with it.

- It appears the Lord doesn’t see.

- It reminds us of Joseph’s brothers in Genesis, does it not?

· It all started with envy of Joseph because of their father’s favoritism towards him

· It developed into hatred and a plot to kill him.

· Then there was the pit they put Joseph in.

· And finally, they sold him to the Ishmaelites.

· It looks like they got away with it!

· They tell their father a great story and show him the blood-stained clothes and nothing appears to happen to the brothers.

· But oh, then comes Gen 42:21, years later! They meet Joseph, their brother, now the prime minister of Egypt!

“Be sure your sins will find you out.”

Hosea 8:7 say:

“They have sown the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind.”

Amos 9:2 and 3 makes it so clear that there is no escape from God:

“Though they dig into Sheol, From there will My hand take them; And though they ascend to heaven, From there will I bring them down. 3 “Though they hide on the summit of Carmel, I will search them out and take them from there; And though they conceal themselves from My sight on the floor of the sea, From there I will command the serpent and it will bite them.”

All things lay open to the eyes of God and all the powers and elements of nature are in His hand. It may appear you are getting away with your sin, but eventually you will find that fleeing from Him and trying to avoid Him is utterly futile.

Apply:

My friends, don’t ever think that you have gotten away with sin; that God hasn’t seen; or that your sin doesn’t matter to Him.

Don’t ever think that because you have not seen a reaction from the Lord that He won’t respond later.

I know in my life, when I was living in sin I would frequently pray for forgiveness, and I thought that all was well because I prayed like that. But God is not mocked. What you sow, you will eventually reap!

- He is patient with us.

- He is slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness.

- And thank God He does forgive us more than 7 x 77 times!

- BUT never forget He is working on us over the course of our whole lives.

- He is the Master Potter, working on the clay.

- Molding and shaping us into the image of His Son.

- He is in no hurry: whether you are Joseph’s brothers or whether you are Jonah on the run.

The point we made the last time still stands, my dear friends, there is no hiding place from God.

You can run, but you cannot hide.

The only solution is to run TO Him and not from Him.

Psalm 32:6-7 tells us what should do:

Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You [g]in a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him. 7 You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with [h]songs of deliverance.”

Jonah didn’t do that and so the Lord finally breaks His silence…

His response was to leads his servant on a path of painful discipline in order to bring him to repentance.

- That is always His response for those who do not repent and continue in sin.

- The Lord disciplines the son whom He loves.

- He will leave the 99 sheep that are safe and go after the lost sheep until He brings it back rejoicing.

- And if we don’t respond to His discipline quickly, my friends, He just ups the ante until He gets our full attention!

Look at verse 4 where His discipline begins:

“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 [a]break up.”

“The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea”.

There were many storms in this part of the world, but here we are specifically told that the Lord Himself stirred it up.

The storm is not attributed to mother nature (as we so often hear these days), but to the God of nature! The Creator of all things.

- He hurls the wind

- He stirs up the storm

- And He does so in a very personal way as He targets His servant, Jonah!

Yes, He has established the laws of nature. There is cause and effect, the science of meteorology can be studied, but God supports it, maintains it, controls it, and moves everything according to His own good pleasure.

While He establishes the laws that give perfect regularity to nature, it does not exclude the executive action of a sovereign, but loving and personal God, who directs whatsoever comes to pass.

He is the first cause of all things!

“The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea.” The Hebrew word used here for “hurl” is the same word that is used when Saul hurled the javelin at David in one of his moments of insane jealousy.

It implies force and great power and is very personal - targeting none other than Jonah, His servant, the prophet of Israel!

Dear friends, the Scriptures continually ascribe natural events as coming from the hand of God. He has a purpose behind everything that happens.

Listen to the words of Psalm 107:23-31, describing the experience of pagan sailors:

“Those who go down to the sea in ships, Who do business on great waters; 24 They have seen the works of the Lord, And His [o]wonders in the deep. 25 For He spokeand raised up a stormy wind, Which lifted up the waves [p]of the sea. 26 They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths; Their soul melted away in their misery. 27 They reeled and staggered like a drunken man, And [q]were at their wits’ end.

28 THEN they cried to the Lord in their trouble, And He brought them out of their distresses. 29 He caused the storm to be still, So that the waves [r]of the sea were hushed. 30 Then they were glad because they were quiet, So He guided them to their desired haven. 31 Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness, And for His [s]wonders to the sons of men!”

- He can hurl a great wind on the sea and stir up a mighty storm.

- Or He can give the command that THE greater Jonah did, when in the midst of a storm He said: “Peace, be still” – and the wind and the waves obeyed Him!

The Lord’s response to Jonah’s disobedience was to discipline His servant…..

It started with Him sending a storm and whipping it up by a great wind that would make even professional sailors’ quake in their boots.

Apply:

My friends, we need to put God’s sovereign hand at the forefront of all that happens, and not ascribe natural events to “nature”, or to global warming, or to some impersonal force like “mother nature”; as if it were self-determining what happens.

Before we came to know God, our thoughts of God were little better than some abstract, impersonal, force – if we had any thought about Him at all.

BUT then we came into the light, and we find the living God, who wants to have fellowship with us and orders all things for our good and His glory.

Suddenly we see the whole realm of nature in an entirely different way. We see, written into creation, His eternal power and divine nature, as Romans 1:20 says - speaking of His person so clearly that it leaves you without excuse if you do not come to know Him.

And when you come to know God, through Christ, instead of fearing the power of nature, we start to delight in the work of His hand and look for the evidencesof His grace and His ruling providence over all.

What a great warning all this is to us, is it not?

- We live our lives in God’s hands.

- Nothing happens by chance.

- As RC Sproul says, there is no maverick molecules in the universe – not one outside God’s sovereign control.

IF we think we can run from God and not deal with Him, we are so wrong.

- He can stir up a storm in our lives!

- He can hurl a great wind at our ship!

- And He will do that to discipline us for no other reason than to draw us back to Himself and get us to obey His commands!

The storm that arose against Jonah was stirred up by the work and power of the Lord.

And that force, my friends, was very personal – it was aimed at none other than Jonah!

That’s the Lord’s initial response to Jonah’s mutiny. He disciplined the son whom He loved.

But in the second place we see….

2. The Sailors initial response in verse 5.

The first thing that should strike us is that God’s controversy with one individual involved many others and put them in danger, did it not?

That too was a result of Jonah’s mutiny.

The storm was sent to pursue, and arrest, and punish Jonah. But many others are involved who had no knowledge of the issues or share in Jonah’s guilt.

You might say: Is that fair?

Why should others suffer for Jonah’s sin?

Well, no matter what happens, God is always just and fair in what He does. God cannot do wrong. There is no evil in God.

When you consider the others involved here, the sailors, the ship owner, the captain - all of them are sinners who lived in rebellion against their Creator. None of them revered the God of Israel or Jonah.

- They were pagan idolators.

- They didn’t know God or trust Him or honor Him.

And if you want to talk about fairness and justice, the fact is: that every sin deserves the wrath of God and eternal death, as God warned Adam and Eve. The Scriptures tell us plainly that “the wages of sin is death”.

So the wonder is NOT that He sometimes afflicts sinners with terrible tragedies, but that He is so patient and long-suffering and forbearing with us! That’s the wonder, isn’t it?

Every sin we commit, no matter what it is, deserves God’s wrath.

Do you understand that?

So although these sailors are not co-conspirators with Jonah, they had multitudes of their OWN sins, including idolatry, that God is completely just in dealing with at any time He chooses.

This is why we need the covering of the blood of Christ, my friends:

- Only He can shelter us from the wrath of God.

- Only He has taken the judgement we deserve.

- Only He can cover you and protect you from God’s righteous anger.

- And if you are outside of Christ, then you are left exposed to God’s righteous anger that can break out at any moment.

- Oh dear friend, make sure you trust Him and Him alone. Christ alone has descended into hell in your place, so that you might enjoy eternal life instead of eternal hell.

Having said all that, does that let Jonah off his responsibility for what was happening to others?

It doesn’t, does it!

Although others are suffering justly for their own sin, that does not excuse Jonah one iota for his responsibility for what happens to them.

- He is guilty not only of his sin against God

- But he is also guilty of harming others.

- He has not loved his neighbor as himself.

- “But for” Jonah’s disobedience, these sailors would have most likely continued to enjoy God’s patience and long-suffering.

- The point I’m trying to make is that Jonah can’t plea the Sailors’ sins as his defense!

Let me make it personal for a moment: when God punished me for my sin, my family was deeply hurt and greatly afflicted. I am fully responsible for all the harm I did to my family. I can’t hide behind their sins or faults and think that in any way lessens my guilt.

When David conducted a census of God’s people contrary to God’s command in 2 Sam 24, 70,000 people in Israel died. David sinned, but many others suffered in the consequences.

And so, as we look at how God’s discipline on Jonah impacts on many others, we need to ask:

- Am I committing any sin that will either directly hurt others or, if God should act in discipline against me, will that hurt them?

- Do you consider others when you choose to sin and act selfishly?

- The reality is, my friends, that when spouses’ sin against one another; when parents sin against their children; when children sin against parents; when people in the church sin against another brother or sister – the reality is that others get hurt.

Oh, how careful we need to be. We are our brother’s keeper! We are to love our neighbors as ourselves! We can’t hide behind other people’s sins as a defense for our own evil acts.

And so the sailors are caught up in the discipline of Jonah.

So how did they respond initially?

Look at verse 5:

“Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the [b]cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it [c]for them.”

The Sailors respond in three ways:

1. They became exceedingly afraid.

2. They cried out to their own gods.

3. They threw the cargo into the sea.

Clearly the storm was exceptionally violent and that terrified these sailors.

These were professional sailors and must have been used to the storms that could arise on that patch of sea at any time. Surely, they were not easily made fearful or scared.

But here the Lord of Creation is targeting their ship, and they knew it. It was very personal. It was exceptional.

- He had a special purpose in hurling the wind and the waves, so He stamped it with special terror to show His presence and His power.

- He aggravated the circumstances to show it came from Him.

- Oh, dear friends, “it’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God”.

This storm terrified the sailors. They knew something was not right. Their initial response is fear!

And that caused them to take the second action: they started to call upon the pagan gods which they worshipped.

Their unbelief is seen in their worship of many gods. That is why it is written in the plural. Each had their own deity and they turned to it in their fear and desperation.

Isn’t it amazing how even the hardened sailors, suddenly become religious when things are going wrong, and their lives are threatened?

- Suddenly they are not independent, self-determined people, but weak, dependent creatures who are crying out for help.

- Have you noticed that with others?

And I want to put it to you, that there is within every single person a consciousness of God that the unbeliever normally suppresses in unrighteousness, as Romans 1:24ff says.

Why is that?

For the simple reason that each and every one of us are made in His image!

- He has imprinted His Being on our souls.

- He has created us to know and commune with Him.

- He has put within us a consciousness of right and wrong – even if that is suppressed in unbelief.

- It is this that sets us apart from animals.

- In short: He has put eternity in our hearts as Solomon observed.

And so, what we need to do, is humble ourselves quickly before the Lord and call upon the TRUE God who lives and reigns over this world in which we live.

And if we don’t, we will find that God has a way to deal with us…

Sudden danger, great affliction, illness, serous disease – all these things will bring us to our knees before His great Kingship.

These sailors show how deep-rooted, in human nature, is our conviction of God’s existence.

Brothers and sisters, isn’t this something we should be more aware of in our evangelism?

- Instead of being embarrassed or apologetic about our faith, should we not be far bolder and courageous?

- Each person we speak to knows that there is a God. That is an amazing fact!

- Here are pagan sailors praying!!!

- They know they are accountable to Him and that they cannot escape Him.

- They know they stand guilty before Him and are not innocent.

- That’s why they are praying and not bailing!

But what they don’t know is what to do with their guilt because they refuse to come to Christ.

- And that’s the hope we give them in evangelism.

- Brothers and sisters, being created in the image of God is the bridge by which we can and should communicate the gospel!

Sadly, Jonah did not point them to the TRUE God and so they are left crying out to their idols.

But there is something else, we also learn from their prayers.

Did you notice how utterly useless their prayers are that are uttered in fear and terror?

- Nothing happens when they pray – the storm continues unabated!

- Most of the time the ungodly “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” as we have seen in Romans 1.

- But when some appalling affliction comes, they cry to God in alarm!

- They expect God to show them mercy and protection even though they do not know Him.

- Suddenly they become religious.

- Suddenly they expect God to be like a bell-boy who will come at their bidding!

But such prayer, my friends, is not the prayer of faith. It is a prayer of desperation. It is self-centered and self-serving!

It is looking for the benefits of grace without trusting in the One who provides all things!

- Thank God that He is often pleased to answer such a prayer.

- Thank God He is a God of mercy and compassion, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness.

But the truth is, it is not true prayer at all.

- It is a prayer without faith in God.

- It is using God when we need something from Him.

Brothers and sisters, prayer that is acceptable to God is the prayer of faith:

- of calm confidence and reliance upon His Word

- childlike trust in a loving Father after reconciliation through Christ.

- That is the prayer the Father promises to hear and respond too.

I want to ask you: When do you turn to God and cry out to Him the most?

- Do you do it every day, in faith, in sincerity of heart, remembering your dependance upon His grace, and trusting Him for His good providence?

- Or do you neglect prayer until some affliction comes your way and then suddenly you are on your knees?

Oh how often we are like the children of Israel, where it says in Psa 78:34 that WHEN the Lord:

“Slew them, then they sought Him; they returned and inquired quickly after God. And they remembered that God was their rock, and the most high God their Redeemer.”

My friends, there is no true prayer that brings ‘glory to God’ except through our great Advocate and Intercessor, Jesus Christ.

Prayer must be made in His name; trusting Him to do all things well. All other prayer is useless.

The Lord is the God of infinite love, giving up His Son to die for sinners; satisfying divine justice; and turning away God’s wrath from us.

- We need to pray in faith through Him!

- We need to be calm, deliberate, and rest in His righteousness!

I want to put it to you, dear friends, that the time of real prayer is actually when everything is going well; when there is good things happening, health and happiness, prosperity, and blessing – that is the time to turn to God with sincerity of heart.

The sailor’s response was one of fear, not trust, and then they suddenly became religious and started to pray.

Their response involved one more thing: they began to throw their cargo overboard.

Isn’t it interesting how little they thought of their worldly possessions when their lives were in danger!

- They simply tossed them overboard.

- They didn’t consider them to have any value whatsoever!

Suddenly, the rich and the poor find themselves on the same level when confronted with death. Death is a great leveler.

Satan said to God when targeting Job:

“Skin for skin; all that a man has he will give for his life.”

- Satan knows human nature.

When God started to afflict them with a raging wind and a mighty storm, they are forced to reconsider their priorities. Suddenly material possessions meant little to them. Suddenly they are tossed overboard.

Why is it that we need painful experiences to remember this?

Why do we need storms, and dangers, and ill-health to remind us that our souls are infinitely more precious than all the possessions we have in this world?

Do you remember the parable of the rich fool in Luke 12?

- He was prospering and getting richer and richer.

- God blessed him with so much grain he couldn’t handle it, and so he reasoned within himself what he would do: he would tare down his existing barns and build bigger ones…

- This is what he said to himself:

I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’

But do you remember what happened?

20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night [i]your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’

And what conclusion did Jesus draw in verse 21 of Luke 12?

21 So is the man who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Isaiah 55:2 puts it this way:

2 “Why do you [b]spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance.”

Oh that we would think more about what is worth spending our time and money on!

- What will we take with us when we die?

- What are we investing in that has eternal value?

Nothing is worth keeping unless you have the “pearl of great price” and know that “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because Thou art with me.”

The response of the sailors initially was one of great fear, then they prayed to their pagan deities and finally they threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship in the hope it would not sink and might save their lives.

Well, finally,

3 What was Jonah’s initial response?

Look at the end of verse 5:

“…But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep.”

Jonah is the cause of this great calamity. He is the guilty one.

While there is terror and pandemonium on the decks above, Jonah lay asleep!

What do we make of this?

It is easy for us to deal harshly with Jonah for this, is it not?

- Many see this as an example of a sleepy soul;

- or godless security; or

- sheer apathy amongst the storms of life.

Many a sermon has been made about sleeping like Jonah while sin goes unaddressed, and the rest of the world goes to hell!

It is true that he was disobedient and was trying to flee the presence of the Lord.

It is true he had resisted the clear call upon his life and did not want to preach in Nineveh.

But we have seen, have we not, that apart from this incident, Jonah was the “servant of Yahweh” and a faithful, true “prophet” in Israel.

I want to put it to you that:

- He was not sleeping in self-security. Where is the evidence for that?

- Nor was He apathetic or lazy. There is no hint of that in this book.

- There is no evidence that it was because he was neglecting his relationship with God – in fact, just the opposite. He was on this ship because he had been confronted by God about going to Nineveh.

I want to put it to you that this man had been deeply upset by his calling and he was deeply agitated in mind and soul.

He was a frightened fugitive, not from the people of Nineveh, but from his God.

Far from him NOT being anxious about his relationship with the Lord, he was now in the category of being a disobedient servant. That surely would have weighed heavily upon him.

Surely a servant of God and a prophet would not feel great about being at odds with his Lord!

- It would have deeply troubled him

- His peace was gone

- He was living away from God.

- It weighed heavily upon his soul!

I’m sure you know what it is like to be at odds with someone you love or who is in authority over you. Maybe you have sinned against your spouse or your parents:

- There is no peace

- There is anxiety

- Things weigh heavily upon you.

- And that can be exhausting! Draining!

Well, I’m convinced this is what Jonah was feeling.

His conscience had been slain and he knew things were not right between him and his God.

He tried to run from God’s presence (and that was quite a journey), but he knew he couldn’t!

And so in utter exhaustion he could sleep through anything, even a storm that threatened to break up the ship he was on!

Added to that was:

- The loss of his home and native land.

- The fears he had of being on board a ship going to a foreign place, amidst rough, pagan, strangers.

He had countless fears to deal with all because things were not right between himself and his God.

And I put it to you: that these things wore him out, in body and soul.

My friends, none of this excuses Jonah for where he is. None of this makes it right.

But we need to remember that not everyone who sleeps amidst affliction is showing slothfulness of soul.

Did not THE Greater Jonah, Jesus, sleep amidst a storm and His disciple conclude He did not care about them?

- But there was no sin in Him.

- Unlike Jonah He was exhausted from doing His Father’s will.

- A much better position to be in!!!

When we are approaching Jonah, surely, we should be like our Lord Jesus when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane and He found His disciples sleeping in His hour of greatest need:

- He was full of sorrow.

- He was being tormented in mind and soul as He approached the cross for us.

- And yet what love and tenderness and concern He showed for the sleeping disciples’ welfare.

Listen to what it says in Luke 22:45:

“When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, 46 and said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

Were not the disciples sleeping for the same reason that Jonah was? Sorrow? Loss? Sadness?

Where they not feeling the impact of the spiritual battle that had reached its climax in the pending death of their Lord and Saviour, the Greater Jonah?

My friends, there is no time for us to sleep, whether it be for carnal reasons or spiritual struggles.

Jesus told His disciples, and that includes us this morning, to watch and pray, least we enter into temptation.

When things are not right between you and your God, you will find yourself lost and weary.

If you are a child of God, you will not be able to handle the afflictions He will bring upon you to stir you up and have you return to Him.

The only remedy to the wary soul and the guilty conscience is to go back to God.

- To watch and pray!

- Get things right with Him.

- Confess our sins up front.

- And deal with our guilt through the blood of Jesus who has paid for our sin and our foolish rebellion.

- Remember His yoke is easy, and His burden is light.

“If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive you your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.”

Conclusion

My friends, Jonah committed mutiny against God.

Jonah’s disobedience resulted in:

- The Lord disciplining the child He loves by hurling a great wind at the sea and stirring up the forces of nature.

- The Sailors ended up scared to their wits- ends, and they tossed their worldly possession into the sea, and called upon their pagan gods in the hope of being saved.

- Jonah was exhausted, spiritually, because he was not right with the God.

How we need the redemptive work of the Greater Jonah!

How we need Him who spent three days and three nights in the heart of the earth to pay the penalty for our foolishness.

How we need Him to make intercession for us when we fall into sin and rebel.

We come back to the same place as before:

“Seek the Lord while He can be found

Call upon Him while He is near.”

Why?

Because “It’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

PRAY

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