If you would remain standing and turn in a copy of the scriptures to the book of Jonah, as we start a new book today.
And you might say, Well, where is Jonah?
Good question. I wrote in there the the page number for the Bibles that are found there in the in the pews before you. So if you're having trouble, go ahead and you can turn to page 774 there in the church Bible before you. And that should lead you to the beginning of Jonah before we read it, let's go to the Lord in prayer again, asking for the Lord's blessing. Let's pray, Father, we thank you again that you are not silent, but that you speak. Lord, you often give us clear commands and clear callings and Lord, I pray that you will open up our ears to hear it. Not only hear it, but open up our hearts to obey and follow you and put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, bless your people. Thank you for speaking to us today through the book of Jonah, and it's in Jesus's name we pray amen.
We're going to be looking just at the first three verses this morning of Jonah, chapter one, so Jonah one, beginning in verse one, reading the verse three, hear now God's Word.
Now, the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me. But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found the ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went on board to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence of the Lord.
He who has ears, let him hear the Word of God, please be seated.
I had a pastor friend once tell me, as I was entering into the ministry, he said, Dan, in the work of a pastor, you will have many allies in the church, but very few friends.
And what he meant by that was that you will have many people in your church who will support you, who will pray for you and encourage you, as long as you are perceived as helping the calls of the church, and that's what an ally does, working together for a mutual cause. However, he said, If you are perceived as hindering or even injuring that cause, your allies will no longer support you, encourage you, or pray for you, and that will be your friends who will remain even when you royally screw up, even when you do real harm to Christ and His Church.
Is that true?
Has that been your experience of the church, not many friends, but allies, people who are with you, as long as you don't make the church look bad, people who are with you, as long as you don't do any serious sinning.
If that's true of the church, what does that say about our understanding of grace, not our ability to articulate what is grace in the catechisms, but our experience of grace, our ability to let it sink down deep into our hearts, and not only that, but to share it with others.
There have been some of these more public ministers and pastors who have had moral failings and fallings, and I wonder did, did not most of us, at least internally, say along the lines, how could they have been so foolish?
What were they thinking?
I know I could never.
And as we turn to this historical count of this man of God, this prophet of God, Jonah, you will be tempted to say many times, what was he thinking of all the people a prophet of God. He should know better. He can't run away from the presence of God.
I would never i.
And how easily our self righteousness creeps into our hearts and we become like the older brother in that parable of the prodigal son. You remember that we've just finished Luke, not that long ago, and one of the most well known parables in the book of Luke is that parable of the prodigal son.
But in that parable, there's a story that ends with this older brother. Remember what the older brother says? He says, Look, these many years, I have served with you, and I never disobeyed you and your command. I would never be so foolish.
I would never be so childish as what we see here in Jonah.
And the book of Jonah as we're about to enter into it, in many ways, is like that parable of the prodigal son, except the focus here in Jonah is not really focusing on the younger brother, prodigal, but Jonah is just like that parable, with a greater focus on that older brother.
The focus here of the book of Jonah is not so much on the younger brother, Ninevites, an open rebellion against God, but the older brother of Jonah, who is in the Church of God and with God's people, yet he is far from the Father.
And I would posit to you this morning, and as we work our way through this book, we are all like Jonah.
We are all self righteous.
We are all farther from God than maybe we think we are.
We are all like children near and maybe even in the father's house, but our hearts are so often far from him.
But thankfully, we have and Jonah has a loving Father who pursues even self righteous people like us, and pleads with us to come join in the party of His grace. And that's really the story of Jonah, and that's what we're going to launch in here to this morning. And so our text begins in verse one at the very beginning, which I've heard, is a very good place to start in verse one, in chapter one. Now, the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of amati. Now, most people, even if you have a small amount of biblical knowledge, you've heard about Jonah, and most likely, what you've heard about Jonah has something to do about a whale or a big fish, and that's about it, and it's pretty amazing story, and we'll get there. We're not there this morning, but most people have heard something about this tiny book that you maybe even had a difficult time finding in your Bible unless I gave you the page number, but you've heard about it.
But what do we actually know about Jonah, the person?
Well, we're told here these the Jonah the son of amati. And the reason why that is significant is because this is not, in fact, the first time that we have met Jonah, the son of amati. All of you who know your Old Testament well, and probably have been working through the Book of Kings, know that this is not also the first time the word of the Lord has come to Jonah the son of amati. It's come to him, actually previous in the book of Second Kings. You can look at it at Second Kings, chapter 14, and we are told that God spoke through his prophet, Jonah, the son of Amati, the very Prophet we are seen here in this book named after him. Now in Second Kings His first task. Before we look at his second task in this book, but in Second Kings chapter 414, he is first tasked with going to the king of Israel, who was Jeroboam the second of the time at that time. And he is to bring Jeroboam the second a message of good news.
He will tell Israel and the king that there is a time soon to come when its borders would expand and increase.
He would tell Israel of a time when it would be made great again and some areas would be restored back even to the original size as they were under King David and Solomon, he was given a message of power and prosperity for a nation that was ailing. He was given a message of power to a nation that he loved and.
Cared for.
The Assyrians to the east had just conquered the Syrians to the north and the their Israel's enemies, as they are busy fighting each other, Jeroboam was able to invade these other lands at once was held by Israel, and get them back. And so what we find with all the prophets of God, everything that they said comes true. And that happened with Jonah.
Jonah said, Israel is going to be great again.
And it happened.
And Jeroboam, the second he reigns for over 40 years as a prophet of God. And this is your first gig as a prophet of God. It's not so bad, not a bad task as a prophet of God, going to your own home, your home nation that you love, that you adore, and you give them a blessing from God. And I bet many people even applauded Jonah and thanked him for his prophetical ministry to the people of Israel, Jonah, we are so thankful for you, Jonah, you're really such a good preacher. I love to hear that message that you give to us, Jonah, our country is so fortunate to have a prophet just like you. Jonah, in Israel's success, though, however, in security, although they knew God, they did not honor God or give thanks to God.
And then Israel's worst fears will actually soon come true.
Their first their greatest fears being God's judgment upon them and God's mercy to their enemies, and both of those things are about to happen.
First, the word of the Lord comes to a shepherd named Amos, who has the task of telling the people of Israel, God will discipline them for their rebellion.
And then, around the same time of Amos, you have this man, Jonah of Amati, who again receives the word of the Lord, and we know what Jonah's task will soon be, to give mercy to the enemies of God.
I just want to note here that most prophetical books, like the book of Amos, are mostly about what the Prophet says. If you look at the book of Amos, it says the words of the Lord. They come to Amos, and then Amos says this, that God will do this, and then God will do that. But Jonah is a little different in the sense that Jonah's book is more biographical. It's more of a narrative like we find back in the book of the kings, where with the Elijah and Elisha and these miraculous miracles. So as we come to that, keep that in mind that Jonah has more of this biographical focus, not so much on the actual words of the prophet, but the very life of the prophet, and that's kind of unique.
Second the word of Lord, it comes to Jonah, and that's what it means to be a prophet. In fact, God is giving Jonah a message that must be shared. Other prophets who have received the word of the Lord, they describe it as a sword piercing their spirit, a hammer striking their hearts, or a fire burning within them. It's a message that cannot be suppressed or stopped. It is a message that must go forward no matter what the voice of the Lord must be declared. And in verse two, we're told what that message is. It says, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it for their evil has come up before me.
This time. Jonah is not tasked to go to Israel.
He's not tasked to go to Israel with good news, but he's tasked to go to the enemy with bad news.
The Ninevites was the capital of Assyria, and they were evil, just as God had said they were.
They worshiped false gods, and they loved violence and they loved to torture. They were known for flaying their enemies alive and other things that I dare not say in the presence of women and children. And the word comes to Jonah, and Jonah has a difficult time with it, doesn't he?
And do you think Jonah has a difficult time with the Word of God? He.
Here, because the word of God is unclear.
Do you think Jonah's difficult time is that he's he's saying to himself, you know what God? I think I really need to do a word study first on what you mean by arise and go and how that, how you use that with the other prophets. I should probably spend some time just looking into what that means first before I do what you just because I don't want to accidentally mess up that arising and go, I need to probably just study it a little bit more before I do it. Do you think that's what his problem is? No, of course, it's not.
It's a very clear message for him to arise and go and just like Jonah, our problem often with God's word is not typically clarity, but hardness of heart and stubbornness. And that's going on with Jonah, and that so often goes on with our hearts as well. God's will is colliding with our wills. It's usually, Well, God, I just don't really want to do that.
So maybe I I'll spend some more time doing something else before obeying right away and all the way with a happy heart.
And we don't like it, and Jonah doesn't like it. Jonah's will is colliding with God's will, and Jonah is having a hard time, and he doesn't like it.
Essentially, Jonah is saying, you know, God, I have a good thing going here in Israel. I mean, a celebrated Prophet here, if I go prophesies over there the Ninevites, I might even be considered a traitor going to the enemy.
And haven't God? Haven't you heard what the Ninevites do to the enemies of God?
What will it What good would it do? Anyway? They're not going to listen. They worship false gods over there. How about this? God?
I'll write a letter.
I'll just, I'll send a letter out. I'll stay in the comfort of my own home, around my family, but I'll use my special stationary that has the watermark of the prophet of God on it, and I'll just send it out from here. I can do that, right, God.
Or how about, how about you send someone else that doesn't have as much to lose again, you know, I'm gonna celebrate a prophet here. Send someone else.
Okay, Okay, how about if ever I happen to be in the area of Nineveh, then I'll stop by and let them know this is like if God, though, is calling you to go into the heart of ISIS or Hamas and condemn them, you have to recognize what God is calling know what to do, and we should have some sympathy for This calling. He has a very dangerous calling, and it's very unsettling to him, but God takes hold of Jonah, and he says, arise. Now, go. Now, it's clear, isn't it, we don't have to do a word study on this.
And you know, God has called his very church to this work of missions we have all been commissioned by Christ himself.
You know what God has told us, Go into all the nations, teaching them and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is your calling.
This is your calling of missions. And your calling is not always easy and is not always comfortable, and many of us are happy to do the work of missions, just like Jonah is as long it's to my own people who understand me and know me, and it's near home, and it's even the good message.
And like Jonah, I think many of us, we say, please don't send me to Nineveh, don't send me to hard places with hard people to do hard things. I just want to retire and enjoy my children and my grandchildren, and I want to go collect shark teeth in Venice Beach and maybe hopefully find a megalodon tooth. That would be wonderful. Maybe I'm giving too much insight into my own heart, but it's very, very possible, and you should spend some time, maybe today, even in prayer, wrestling with is God calling me right now, or has God called me even away from my family, not near my home, to go to a hard place and to not.
Just speak of God's mercy, but to speak of His justice to those who will not repent.
Where and to whom is God calling you this day to go that may be like Jonah, I have been too afraid to do it, too afraid to go, and I'm justifying in my heart reasons not to do it and not to go. It's very possible that, just like Jonah, after this message is done, you will walk out of these doors and you will go the other way, rather than pursuing that calling that God is telling you there's someone you need to go talk to.
There's a place in this city or this world that you are called to go and share the gospel.
I also notice here, like the parable of the prodigal son, nine of us evil is very obvious.
Nineveh, evil is very public to all. But Jonah's evil is more subtle. Jonah's evil is deep and dark.
And then what does Jonah then do in verse three?
In verse three, does it say he he comes to his senses, finally, he remembers the God whom he worships. He remembers I have nothing to be afraid of. He remembers the grace of God that he has received, that he has experienced, and he willingly and lovingly obeys the Lord and longs for the grace of God to be given to others because God has been so gracious to him.
Unfortunately, not.
And this, again, is not only Jonah's story, but your story and my story. How often would we love if that was the next verse in our life, obedience and love for God and love for others. But how often is this our story here in verse three, just like what Jonah does, Jonah rose to flee from Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found the ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them. Tarshish away from the presence of the Lord Jonah, gets up and he goes in the opposite direction.
He goes to Tarshish, which is at the edge of the known world.
He's getting as far as physically possible from Nineveh. Nineveh is kind of more in the Northeast, and parshas is more in the southwest, going in the opposite direction, and he flees from the presence of the Lord.
Now, Jonah is not only an Israelite. He's a prophet of God, right? He's a preacher.
He's a pastor. And no doubt, I guarantee, Jonah knew and had memorized Psalm 139 you remember Psalm 139 I'll read to you the first few verses. It says, oh, Lord, you have searched me and know me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down. Are acquainted with all my ways, even before a word is on my tongue. Behold, oh Lord, you know it all together.
You hem me in behind and before and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your spirit? Oh, where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed and shield, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there, your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say surely, the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night. Even the darkness is not dark to you.
The night is bright as day, for darkness is as light with you.
And the psalm goes on. But no doubt Jonah knows this, no doubt he's memorized it, and no doubt he has put this into heart. Now, children, can you run from the presence of the Lord, from the words you just heard from the psalmist?
Children, can you run and somehow be away from the presence of God?
Okay, I think our children are listening. I hope so. But no, right? And our children know that. I think even a child can understand what the psalmist is saying there in Psalm 139 we can't run from the presence of God. Now, our children know this. Jonah knows this. We know this. We cannot run.
Him from the presence of God, this is silly. What Jonah is doing here, right? It's foolish.
What's he doing? What's he thinking? Doesn't he know better? Isn't this foolish?
Well, yes, it is.
And again, we are just like Jonah.
And perhaps you can think of a time when you have acted and behaved in a way, as if God was not there, maybe perhaps even this past week, you can think of a conversation you had that you would not have had if you remembered that God was in your presence, perhaps you made a decision or you had a look or a thought that you would not have had if you remembered the very presence of God With you, where in your life are you like Jonah, thinking that God is not there, that he's not present, that he's not observing, that he's not with me, in the bedroom, at work, in your mind, in your heart.
Where shall I go from your presence? The psalmist says, Where shall you go? There's nowhere you can go and be away from the presence of God. But yet we act like this. So often.
Do you remember our first parents, Adam and Eve, when they had sinned? What do they do?
Run and hide. How silly, how foolish we are, just like Adam and Eve.
We are just like Jonah. This is what we do, too. We run and hide. Even in the church, a friend, a pastor, an elder, exposes our sin, and we like to run and hide, go away.
We often in the church have this cognitive dissonance. I had to practice saying that word unless I messed it up.
But our brain and our hearts don't often match up, and that's certainly true, I think, especially in our kind of Reformed community that that we know and can articulate well the grace of God, the power of God, the presence of the God, the love of God. But as we go out of these doors and we enter into the circumstances of life, we get afraid, because we don't realize the power of God, we don't realize the true love of God. We don't realize the very presence of God, and the things that we confess with our mouth are not always lining up with our hearts, and that's what happens to us, and that's what's happening here to Jonah.
He knows these things. You know these things, and let the things that you know sink deep down into your heart that there is nothing in all of creation that can separate you from the love of God, that know that God is with you. Remember, even before he gives you the Great Commission, he says, Lo, I am with you. Always, let these truths ring true in our lives, and let it have true effect in our thoughts, in our hearts, in our conversations and what we do, lest we are so foolish like Jonah thinking we can run away and hide, get away from God.
I bet when Jonah, he gets to Joppa, and there just happens to be a man ship going to Tarshish. He was grateful for the providence of God, and maybe he he even said a little hesitant prayer, Lord, thank you for understanding. I really didn't want to go there. Thanks for providing the ship for me.
And I mention that because I don't want you to misunderstand your circumstances for the will of God in your life. You ever do that you know God puts on your heart someone that you're supposed to talk to, that you're supposed to share the gospel with, and then in your heart, you're like, well, if they don't come past my office in 10 minutes, then God, that must be your will. Thank you that they didn't show up.
Yes, and we allow our circumstances to dictate what God is clearly commissioning us to do as a church.
Now we need to follow God's clear voice in his command.
Notice, I also notice a locational cues here in verse three, which are cues that are happening of Jonah's heart.
He's supposed to arise, ascend, if you will, go up.
Yeah, but what does Jonah do? He goes down to Joppa, and then when he gets in the ship, he goes further down into the ship.
And we actually know what happens later in this chapter, he goes down into the sea, which represents shield or hell, and God's righteous judgment on sin.
The wages of sin is death, and that is what Jonah earns for himself. That is the result of our rebellion and self righteousness against God, death, destruction, hell, and that's what Jonah deserves, and that's what you and I deserve.
But is there any hope in Jonah?
Is there any hope in this book for us?
Well, thankfully, Jonah is not just a picture of us. Jonah actually points us to another and from the series of Luke. Do you know what the Scriptures are all about?
What are the scriptures all about Jesus? Right? So who do you think Jesus? Jonah is pointing us to Jesus. He is.
Jesus is the true prophet of God.
Jesus is the one who leaves his home and is sent to a hostile land with people with hardened hearts.
Jesus is the one who willingly and lovingly goes, even though he will be despised and rejected, and Jesus will be the one who willingly gives his life and lays it down so that grace might come to self righteous runaways like you and me and Jonah, I will most likely say what I'm about to say again as we get to the end of Jonah, but as we are a people that are prone to forget, I'm going to probably repeat myself. But Jonah will end, and this book will end like the parable of the prodigal son.
If you remember how that parable ends, Jonah ends this way.
It's open ended. Do you remember the story ends with the Father pleading with the son, the older son, to come in to the party of the Father's Grace, and Jonah will end in that way, kind of open ended. What will Jonah do? Will he just sulk in his sin and misery and self righteousness, or will his heart be melted by the grace of God, and will he repent?
And it's open ended, because in that, in that parable, and also, in this historical account, it really doesn't matter so much what the older brother does, and it really doesn't matter what Jonah does. What matters is, what will you do? What will you do?
Will you remain self righteous, or will you see your filthy rags, and hold fast to the righteousness of another. Will you hold fast to Christ in him alone and even in the church.
Recognize that when sinners royally mess up the church and ministers mess up the church, that we're not looking to their righteousness. We're looking to Christ's righteousness.
Let us confess that I have stayed at home yet been far from the Father. Let us confess that I too have denied the very presence of God in my life and pretended he wasn't there.
Let us confess that we have plugged up the ears of our hearts to God's clear calling in our lives to arise and go and let us confess our self righteousness, but let us plead the merits of Christ.
Let us plead for our true prophet and our good older brother on our behalf, that He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might have the righteousness of God.
And let us say, as the psalmist says, Search me, oh God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts and see if there's any grievous way within me and lead me in the way everlasting.
Make me ready and willing to do your will, Lord whatever it is, let me not be a run away. Let me this day arise and.
Oh, what you're calling me to do in your word, let me rest in Jesus as we do it.
Let's pray, Father.
We often look at Jonah and often so many other people who seem to do such silly and foolish things, but Lord, let us recognize how silly and foolish we have been, and let us not look to our own works, but let us look to the work of Christ on our behalf, who died for all of our sins and our hope is and found in Christ alone. Let us rest in Him. Be merciful to your people. I pray that you, by the power of your Spirit, you would stir our hearts, that you would unstop our deaf ears, to not only hear, but to willingly do all that you command.
And it's in Jesus' name, we pray amen.