Into the Deep: God's Will Prevails Even When We Run | Jonah 1:4-16

God's purpose cannot be thwarted even by our deliberate disobedience, as we see in Jonah's desperate attempt to escape his divine calling to Nineveh.

• The word of God exists to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable"
• Jonah's story shows a consistent downward trajectory when running from God
• God uses a storm as a wake-up call to Jonah's disobedience and complacency
• The irony of pagan sailors praying while the prophet sleeps
• Momentary disobedience doesn't have to undo future usefulness for God
• The contrast between Peter and Judas - two betrayals with different responses
• God receives glory even when His people are disobedient
• Like Joseph, what others mean for evil, God can use for good
• Following God's will is always more fulfilling than running from it

"God, if you called me, I will go. Wherever you lead, I'll go. Wherever you take me. God, I am your servant. God, your will be done and it will be done. Lord, can I join you in this mission? Can I not find myself running away to Tarshish, but can I find myself in the will of God?"

Chapters

• 0:00 Prophet on the Run
• 5:15 The Downward Direction of Disobedience
• 10:10 God's Wake-Up Call at Sea
• 15:43 Momentary Disobedience vs Future Usefulness
• 20:58 When Sailors Worship and Prophets Sink
• 24:20 God's Will Cannot Be Undone

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Amen. This morning we're going to continue as we walk through a series in the book of Jonah. We're going to continue with Jonah, chapter 1. We left last week realizing that we had a prophet on the run. We had a prophet doing exactly what prophets were not supposed to be doing. We had a prophet running away from the will of God.

Speaker 1: 0:30

It's been said that the word of God exists to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comforting or the comforted, excuse me, the comfortable. To comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. Did you catch that? That to those of us that come to the word of God battered and bruised and broken and we need a word of encouragement and hope and we know our only hope is in him. That word of God will sustain us. But there are those times in life where we come and we're just comfortable. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with comfort. What I mean by that is we're complacent, we're just going through the motions, we're saying all is well in our world, that at the end of the day, surely we have control over our lives and surely we can be the, the master, and we can, we can be the Lord of our lives. And we've got this thing figured out and in those moments the word of God comes to us and it really kind of disrupts our comfort, disrupts our complacency. The book of Jonah, I believe, is a wake-up call to complacency. It's a wake-up call when we find ourselves just saying that we are really in control and saying God, it's okay, I can take it from here. It's a wake-up call to that and we're going to see very clearly today the wake-up call that Jonah gets and I want us to see this really one point throughout the day that the disobedience of man cannot undo the will of God, that the disobedience of man cannot undo the will of God and church family. That's good news.

Speaker 1: 2:14

We'll pick up in verse 3, really where we ended last week, but I want to read it again God's word, his command, came to Jonah, called Jonah to rise and go to Nineveh. Verse 3, we saw Jonah did arise, but where does he go? I don't think our author is accidentally putting that word down there. He says it twice in that one verse. We see Jonah was at home. He gets the call from the Lord and he goes down to Joppa. And then, once he's at Joppa, the author says he goes down into the ship we're even going to see in a moment in verse 5, he doesn't just go down into the ship, but he goes down into the very bottom of the ship to take a nap. And that word down comes again.

Speaker 1: 3:14

I believe what the author wants us to see, what we're supposed to see from Jonah here, is that the direction of disobedience. It's always a downward direction, that when we're running from the will of God in our lives, when we're running from the presence of the Lord, we may think for a little while that maybe we're going up, we may think that this will all work out in the end. But at the end of the day, when we're running from the Lord, we look up and realize this whole time we've been in the downward spiral that we ourselves have created. And so Jonah is heading in this downward direction. This is a prophet of God believing that he can escape from the presence of the Lord. And then verse four 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. Number one I love how verse four ends that the ship threatened to break up Throughout Jonah. We see it later on with a plant growing out of the ground, we see that Jonah will kind of personify objects. And right here we've got the personification happening of this ship, where it's written as if this ship itself is actually being moved around in the water and the ship itself is looking up at the sailors and at Jonah and saying, guys, I'm about to tap out here, I'm about done with this, I'm done trying to battle these waves, and so the ship itself is threatening to break up.

Speaker 1: 4:47

But what's interesting about verse 4, at the very beginning, is this but the Lord hurled a great wind. That's interesting to me that in this moment, when Jonah is fleeing from the presence of the Lord, it is the Lord that brings the wind to serve as the wake-up call to Jonah. Jonah is very much unsuccessful in his ability to get away from the presence of the Lord. The Lord hurls the wind towards Jonah. Now what am I saying First? What am I not saying? That any difficult moment and what we might call the storms of life, that any of those storms of life are caused by the Lord. That this afternoon, when I'm walking out of my child's room and I stub my toe, that the Lord was looking down from heaven saying Taylor, it's time for a stubbed toe. That's not what I'm saying.

Speaker 1: 5:44

What I am saying is that there are times in our lives, in our disobedience, in our complacency, in our rebellion, that the Lord will send us a wake-up call. And maybe you've been in those moments where you've been in seasons of rebellion and you can think back to some of the wake-up calls that God sent to you. You can think back to the conviction of the Holy Spirit when he stopped you in your tracks and you realize I am not going the direction God has called me to go. And you think about how God has to get a hold of us. And God has to show us and sometimes in a very real way, show us that we are not ultimately in control, that we don't hold the universe in our hands, that we are not God upon the throne In fact we don't even get to sit on the throne of our own lives but that God is in control and sometimes he has to send us a wake-up call.

Speaker 1: 6:43

And so the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, the great tempest on the sea. The ship threatened to break, and then verse five then the mariners, the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his God. You'll notice that lowercase g God. So all of these sailors are unbelieving sailors. Or I should say this they are believing sailors. They are just believing in all kinds of gods that are not uppercase G, yahweh, god. So these unbelieving sailors are just trying anything they can. They look around each other. Hey, you've heard of this God, you've tried that God, all these gods, if you can reach out to see if they can do anything. And they even hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But look at this. But Jonah had gone down there's that word again into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.

Speaker 1: 7:46

Think about the irony of this. There is a man of God on this boat, there is a prophet of God on this ship today, and then there's a lot of sailors who know nothing of God, nothing of Yahweh, and yet all these sailors are up just crying out to any God they might can find and the one individual, the prophet of God, who actually serves the true God, that can actually do something about this situation. Where's he at? The prophet of God is down at the bottom of the boat and he's quite literally taking a nap. We see later in the gospels that there's a moment when there's storms on the water and Jesus is at the bottom of the boat taking a nap. But why is he doing that? Because number one, he's Jesus and number two, the second, his disciples wake him up. He can come up to the top of the boat. He can snap his fingers in the waters, or still. Jonah can't do that, but he can call up to the top of the boat. He can snap his fingers in the waters, or still. Jonah can't do that, but he can call out to Yahweh, and yet in this moment he's sleeping.

Speaker 1: 8:51

The irony the man of God is the only one who's not up on top helping Verse six. So the captain came and said to him what do you mean? You sleeper, arise, call out to your, your God. Maybe you've got a God lowercase g God that we haven't tried yet. We've tried all the others. Perhaps the God will give a thought to us that we may not perish.

Speaker 1: 9:14

In verse 7. And they said to one another come, let us cast lots that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us. So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah Casting lots you can think of, maybe rolling dice or picking straws, this kind of thing to figure out who caused this, who's the reason, who's the guy that has brought this upon us and what do you know? It all lands on Jonah. Then they said to him verse 8, tell us on whose account this evil has come. What is your occupation, where do you come from, what is your country and of what people are you?

Speaker 1: 9:56

Verse 9, and he said to them I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord. That's Yahweh, the God of heaven, heaven who made the sea and the dry land. Now here's what's interesting. These are honestly beautiful words on Jonah's part. I mean, he speaks rightly, he's a Hebrew, he fears the Lord, the God of heaven. But what is so interesting is clearly, at the end of this verse, jonah knows the ability, the jurisdiction, the territory of God, that this is the God who made the sea and the dry land.

Speaker 1: 10:35

And you talk about a prophet that has just completely lost sight of his calling. That the prophet, who knows good and well that Yahweh, the God of the universe, made the sea and dry land, thought that if he got far enough away on the sea, he could get away from the presence of God, and yet God found him. God never lost sight of where he was Verse 10,. The men were exceedingly afraid and said to him what is this that you've done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he had told them I mean, the men probably made the point I just made hey, buddy, you knew God was able to find you on the sea. You knew God made the very sea that you're trying to get away from, and now you've brought us into this mess that you're in.

Speaker 1: 11:29

Verse 11, they said to him what shall we do to you that the sea may quiet down for us? For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. And look at what's next. He said to them pick me up and hurl me into the sea, then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this tempest has come upon you. What does Jonah say in this moment? How can this crisis be averted? How can we get out of this mess? As Jonah says this pick me up and throw me into the sea. Now, that's an interesting response, because Jonah knows what that means. Jonah knows that that means I'm not going for a swim. Jonah knows that means that you will throw me over and that will be the end of my story.

Speaker 1: 12:22

Jonah in one sense we could argue is saying this it is better for my story to end than for me to have to go to Nineveh and preach to those people. If I can't get to Tarshish, I'll just let my road end right here so that I don't have to go to those evil people in Nineveh. But also we could look at it like this Sinclair Ferguson in his commentary just a wise pastor and teacher says that in this moment Jonah despaired of any future usefulness. That surely in his mind, jonah thought to himself that here I am in the ocean, I've run from God, I've brought this storm upon all of us. My story's probably going to end right here and even if it didn't, god couldn't use me over there anyway, god couldn't use me down the road.

Speaker 1: 13:18

We're tempted to believe that our momentary disobedience can undo our future usefulness. We're tempted to believe that, maybe because I was disobedient in this moment, maybe because I rebelled here, surely there's no way God could use me here. We're tempted to believe that because we have a past and part of that past there is some tempted to believe that because we have a past and part of that past, there is some disobedience involved, that maybe I don't have a future with the Lord, that any ministry, any movement of God that could happen in and through me, surely God wouldn't use someone like me. The good news this morning is this we're going to see it in the life of Jonah. You've probably seen it in your life. Praise God, I've seen it along the way in my life that momentary disobedience does not have to undo future usefulness. That the weight of our past does not have to determine how God might be able to use us in the future. That we serve a God. Think about something now that if God could only use those individuals who don't have a past, how many people would he have to work with?

Speaker 1: 14:39

I think of two responses to disobedience that we see in the gospel. I think of a man named Peter and a man named Judas. On the same night they commit a similar act of disobedience. On the night of Jesus' arrest, judas goes and for just a few coins. Goes and turns Jesus over, tells the troops where to find him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Goes and turns Jesus over, tells the troops where to find him in the Garden of Gethsemane Later that night. Peter is asked three times if he knows Jesus is he a follower of Jesus? And three times Peter says I don't know the guy.

Speaker 1: 15:13

On the very same night, judas and Peter, both in one sense they betray Jesus Christ. And yet on the backside of the resurrection there's two responses. Peter comes back to Jesus, they have a conversation and in this beautiful moment in John, chapter 20, jesus restores Peter. Not only does he restore him, but we see throughout the end of that gospel and even into the book of Acts, that Peter is a leader within the life of the early church. Not only that, he's written books in this thing, peter's written books. This is a leader in the life of the church who once disobeyed in such a massive way, yet found restoration. And yet Judas went the other direction way, yet found restoration. And yet Judas went the other direction, likely despairing the fact that there could be no restoration. And I just wonder I just wonder it's speculation if Judas had come before Jesus and sought that same restoration if it had been there. And I just have read enough of the Gospels and I feel like I know a little bit about the character of Jesus to know it would have been, and yet he chose not to Different responses to the same kind of disobedience.

Speaker 1: 16:33

There is always restoration for those who seek it in Christ Jesus. That the disobedience of your past does not have to determine the way God might use you in the future. That God desires and delights to use every one of you, and that God has a purpose I think of Ephesians 2.10, good works that he has prepared beforehand for each one of you. So the good news is our momentary disobedience does not have to undo future usefulness, yet in this moment. Good news is our momentary disobedience does not have to undo future usefulness. Yet in this moment. Jonah figured that must be the case. He had no idea that God's salvation was waiting for him right below the boat in the manner of a very large fish. He had no idea that the book of Jonah doesn't end at the end of chapter 1. He's got three chapters to go, but still they're going to throw him overboard.

Speaker 1: 17:26

But look at verse 13 first. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. It's interesting, isn't it? I feel like the most noble individuals in this whole story so far are these sailors who, 10 minutes ago, were calling out to every God they could think of. And then you've got the prophet of God that you know has nothing to do with God, up to this point. And yet these sailors are not going to throw him in yet until they've tried everything they can. But then, verse 14, therefore, they called out to the Lord. The sailors say this oh Lord, in your Bible that word Lord is probably in all caps. That means that is the word Yahweh, that is the God, the true God, that is Yahweh himself. So look at this now. These unbelieving sailors who were calling out to every God are now calling out to Yahweh in this moment. Think about this the first individuals to pray to Yahweh throughout this whole story. It's not the prophet of God, it's these unbelieving sailors. They say, oh Lord, let us not perish for this man's life. Lay not on us. Innocent blood for you, oh Lord, have told us to do it. This is his idea, lord, don't hold us guilty for this. And so they picked up Jonah, verse 15. They hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. And look at this verse 16. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and they made vows.

Speaker 1: 19:09

Where does chapter one end? I know in your text you see there is a verse 17 in the English text, in Hebrew that begins verse one of chapter two, but looking at 16, saying this account, this part of the story ends right there. Where does it end? It ends with the prophet of God in the ocean and the unbelieving sailors now worshiping Yahweh. Let me say that again the prophet of God who was supposed to be on his way to Nineveh but was disobedient. He is now in the ocean. The unbelieving sailors are now offering sacrifices and worshiping Yahweh.

Speaker 1: 19:51

The tables have turned in this moment and I just want to make this point that God can work in spite of our disobedience, that God's will goes forward, even in spite of our disobedience, that Jonah was not supposed to be on this boat. Jonah was supposed to be heading 500 miles towards Nineveh. Jonah wasn't supposed to be here and yet, even in Jonah's disobedience, god, in his sovereignty and in his goodwill and pleasure, received glory from even where Jonah was to where these men and I can't say for a fact that it's a full-scale conversion. I hope that it is that these men followed Yahweh for the rest of their lives. That's my hope and prayer. I hope to see him in heaven one day, but I do know this in this moment they're lifting up worship to Yahweh that God gets glory even as Jonah is disobedient.

Speaker 1: 20:58

Now, what does that mean? As we've looked at Romans over the last few weeks, you remember Romans 6, shall we continue in sin? That grace may abound? I could say this. Well, should I be disobedient, since God can get glory out of my disobedience? You know the answer to that. It's no. God didn't need Jonah to be disobedient to save these men and see these men worship Yahweh. Do you know? There's a moment in Numbers where God's word is proclaimed through a donkey. I didn't make that up, that's a true story. You can look it up. God can proclaim his word however he wanted. If Jonah had been on his way to Nineveh, god could have taken the very fish that would soon come into our story, plop them up on the boat and that fish start preaching the gospel to these men, because God can do what he wants, how he wants, when he wants. But in this moment, god got glory, even through Jonah's disobedience. It's good news that God can work in spite of our disobedience. And really it says that the disobedience of man cannot undo the will of God. The disobedience of man cannot undo the will of God.

Speaker 1: 22:08

I think in Numbers, chapter 20, the people of God are in the wilderness. They're mad at God once again because they had water to drink back in Egypt and now they're a little thirsty and they're grumbling and they're upset about it. They're complaining to Moses and God tells Moses go, speak to the rock, and when you speak to the rock, water's going to flow out of the rock for the people. But Moses is getting a little aggravated because the people are grumbling and in his frustration he takes his staff and two times he hits the rock. He was told to speak to the rock. Moses hits the rock and I wonder what happens next? Surely nothing's going to happen next because God's prophet, god's man, was disobedient. But Moses hits the rock twice and what happens? Water flows out of the rock, because the disobedience of man cannot undo the will of God and if God wills it, god can make it happen.

Speaker 1: 23:07

I think of Genesis 50, verse 20. All through this time Joseph has gotten the short end of the stick. Brothers tossed him in the pit sold him into slavery. A false charge from Potiphar's wife. He's in prison. His cellmate was supposed to tell Pharaoh all about him but forgot for two years, and so he's in there an extra two years. Finally he is brought out and he's second in command in Egypt.

Speaker 1: 23:34

And all of this evil had happened. And yet at the end of his story he says this what man meant for evil, god meant for good. That the disobedience of man cannot undo the will of God, that God's will and God's sovereignty marches on. Even when men are faithless, god remains faithful. If you want the ultimate picture of this, you've got to look no further than the Gospels as you think about the disobedience of man, and by that throughout this. You've got to look no further than the Gospels as you think about the disobedience of man, and by that throughout this I'm meaning mankind, men, women, all of us. That the disobedience of man, our own sin, that put the Savior on the cross. I think of the disobedience of those who quite literally, nailed his hands and feet to the cross at the moment when evil had thought it was had won. What man meant for evil on Friday afternoon. When they put Jesus in a grave on Sunday morning God meant for good, as Jesus rose from the grave, that God can take situations, even when man is disobedient, and bring good out of them.

Speaker 1: 24:54

Think about your own life. Maybe you've seen moments of your own rebellion and disobedience. That even in the midst of your running from God, god was not finished with you, that you were on that boat on the way to the Tarshish of your own life. You were on your own ocean, living in your own disobedience, and yet God's will was marching forward and even when you were faithless, god remained faithful. Even when you were running, god found you, because the disobedience of man cannot undo the will of God. That's good news, and I'd also say this this morning. I pray it's not the case, but if it is, that any of that gives any kind of license towards disobedience.

Speaker 1: 25:50

Let me tell you this good news. The news is this I've lived on both sides of the equation. I've seen God work in spite of me and I've seen moments where, by His Spirit alone, he worked in and through me, and I'm going to tell you life is a lot more enjoyable when he he worked in and through me, and I'm gonna tell you life is a lot more enjoyable when he's working in and through you. It's fun being on mission for God, when you're seeking after him and, in obedience, going where he goes and getting on mission with him and being a part of his will and his plan and his operation. If we want to sit on the sidelines, if we want to live in disobedience, god's will will go forward.

Speaker 1: 26:35

But my hope for each one of you, my hope for this church, my hope for every one of us in this room and outside of this room is this that, as God's will marches on that, we would be obedient individuals that seek to follow after him, live into that will and partner with him in this ministry to take the gospel forward, because there are people in El Dorado, there are people in this state, there are people around the world that need the good news of Jesus, and our job as believers, as God has called us to go, is to share that good news. That they need Is to go after the will of God, even in those moments where it calls us to Nineveh, even those moments where it is uncomfortable, even in those moments where God I don't know how you're gonna come through in this moment but even in those times to say God, if you called me, I will go. Wherever you lead, I'll go Wherever you take. Say God, if you called me, I will go Wherever you lead, I'll go Wherever you take me. God, I am your servant. God, your will be done and it will be done.

Speaker 1: 27:59

But, lord, can I join you in this mission? Can I not find myself running away to Tarshish, but can I find myself in the will of God? Lord Jesus, obedient to you, let's pray together and as I end this prayer, we'll worship again and maybe there's a decision you'd like to make. Maybe you want to come chat. I can pray over you. Maybe you want to join this church or you want to know more about Jesus Christ and how to find life in him. I'd love to introduce you. However you want to respond, I'll be down front. Let's pray together.

Speaker 1: 28:38

Lord Jesus, I thank you for the gospel. Thank you that when each one of us were running away in our disobedience, god, you found us. You found us where we were. You brought us to where you were. Lord, you are good and you are faithful. Lord, let us seek your will continually and, lord, let us be individuals that, in our obedience, we would follow after you. Follow after your will, be on board your mission quick to obey where you call us, where you send us, and Lord, if there's one, if there's more in this room this morning where you send us, and Lord, if there's one, if there's more in this room this morning that want to make any decision, would that happen now? I pray that in Christ's name, amen. Would you stand? We'll worship together and I'll be down front.