0:00 And would you give a warm family MBC welcome to brother Mark Griffin, future pastor Mark Griffin here at our church?
0:18 Brothers and sisters, grace and peace to you from god our father and the lord Jesus Christ. It is a joy and it is a pleasure to be with you here tonight and to open the word of God together. The book of Jonah is one of those old testament books where many people, even people who don't claim to be Christians, know at least large parts of the story. Jonah getting swallowed by the great fish or the whale. But too often, the greater themes of the book are overlooked.
0:59 Themes like the unchanging character and attributes of God, the fickleness and depravity of man, and the sheer cost to oneself and to others for disobedience to the word of the Lord. On these four short chapters, there is so much rich and meaty food for us with which we can nourish our souls. This book should lead us to a greater fear of the Lord, a greater awe at his infinite might and sovereign plan, and it should leave us with ever deepening thankfulness and praise, and joy, and humility at the mercy and compassion of God. If I had to describe the book of Jonah in one phrase, it would be the sovereignty and mercy of God in the midst of mankind's pride and disobedience. Yes.
2:03 This book, there are moral lessons in here. There is some practical advice. There is even some deterrent examples of behavior to avoid, but at its core, at its essence, this book is about God. And this book is about his great plan to glorify himself by saving individuals and peoples who don't deserve it. So tonight, so tonight is going to be part preaching.
2:35 There's going to be exhortation. There's going to be proclamation. But it's also going to be bible study and teaching as we go deep into the word. We're going to start at chapter one verse one, and we'll see how far we can get. I'm not anticipating that we're going to even come close to finishing the first chapter today, but if the lord wills, there will be other opportunities in the future where we can continue right where we left off.
3:02 And brothers and sisters, we're gonna go slow, and that's a good thing. As a church, Sunday afternoon, Friday evening, we go slow verse by verse into the word of God, and that is intentional. As pastor Daniel says, when you read your Bible, read it slowly. Study it slowly. Meditate on it slowly because by doing so, that's how you can truly understand the mind of God in the words on the page.
3:34 I just I just wanna pause here before we even get started to reinforce why we do that. Because we shouldn't take that for granted because not every church does that. Not every pastor has that same conviction. So why do we go verse by verse? Because it's important.
3:53 Because the word of God is worth going slow. Now, there is some danger, right? There's some danger for some as we go verse by verse, the danger is to be and grow impatient. Why do you spend months or even years going through a book of the Bible verse by verse? It doesn't make any sense.
4:15 There's so much there. We're never gonna get it all done. Why don't you just do high level overviews of the great truths of the Bible? That's a danger. And on the other end of the spectrum is a danger that might even be more insidious or dangerous.
4:32 The danger is for us to be enamored by going detailed in the bible, by learning the different connections, by seeing how the old testament interprets the new testament, the new testament interprets the old testament. Look at that genealogy. Isn't that neat? How that person's connected to that person? The danger is for us to treat bible study, for us to treat preaching as a mere acquisition of facts and knowledge.
5:00 We learn in our minds. We fill our minds, but it never reaches our hearts. That's empty knowledge, and it will profit us nothing. So how do we respond? How do we respond to impatience?
5:14 How do we respond to the danger of acquisition of facts and knowledge without a transformation of the heart. This verse, I've been thinking about this recently. Isaiah 66 verses one and two, I believe is the antidote that keeps us right down the middle of where we should be as we approach the word of God verse by verse slowly. Isaiah sixty six one and two says, thus says the Lord, heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?
5:50 All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look. He who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. If you are trembling at the word of God, it is impossible to grow impatient by how long a pastor takes. If you tremble at the word of God, this will be a time of more than just gaining knowledge.
6:18 It'll be a time of your transformation of your heart to grow closer to the author of this book. So that's why we go verse by verse. And I wanna just take one moment and look at a verse from the old testament and a verse from the new testament to reinforce the importance of it. Look, verse by verse, phrase by phrase, word by word, they all matter, and they matter for a reason. Psalm nineteen seven through 11.
6:48 The Psalmist says, the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandments of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.
7:06 The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned. In keeping them, there is great reward. So church, why do we go slowly?
7:27 Because in the word of God, the word of God revives our soul. Why do we go slowly? Because the word of the Lord makes us wise. The word of the Lord rejoices our heart. The word of the Lord enlightens our eyes.
7:43 That's why we go slowly. And then from the New Testament, let's just look at this quickly. John six sixty eight, Jesus is telling people following him some hard things. Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part of me. And people found that hard, so they left following him.
8:05 They abandoned him. So Jesus looks at his closest disciples, and he says, are you going to leave too? John six sixty eight. Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
8:23 The words in the Bible are eternal life for us. Why would we go fast? That's all introduction. In it and I pray that it's not introduction for introduction's sake, but I I pray that as we think about these things, that the Lord truly fans the flames of affection in our hearts to go deep in the word of God tonight, to be changed by the word of God tonight, to see and behold his wondrous glory tonight. So, heavenly father, Lord, we thank you for the privilege it is to gather here as blood bought brothers and sisters in Christ to open this precious word that you have given to us.
9:10 And, Lord, we submit ourselves to the authority of your word. Help us. Help us understand. Lord, give us hearts ready to listen, ready to obey you. And, Father, I pray that you help me.
9:27 Help me be faithful to your word. Help me to proclaim it fearlessly and accurately. Lord, most of all, may I decrease and may you increase so that these people will behold your glory. We thank you now in Jesus' name. Amen.
9:45 Amen. Jonah chapter one. Let's just read the whole chapter. 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.
10:07 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. But the lord hurled a great 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. 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 laid down and was fast asleep.
10:43 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. And they said to one another, come.
10:58 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. Then they said to him, tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation, and where do you come from? What is your country, and of what people are you?
11:17 And he said to them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, what is this you have done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he had told them. Then 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.
11:43 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 great tempest has come upon you. 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. Therefore, they called out to the Lord, oh Lord, let us not perish for this man's life and lay not on us innocent blood for you, oh Lord, have done as it pleased you. So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.
12:17 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. 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. This is the word of the Lord. Verse one. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai.
12:42 Verse one introduces us to the main character of this book, god. As you read through this book, dare I say, as you read through the whole Bible, always keep into the front of your mind that god is the main character. God is the one doing the action. God is the one that this is all about. Everyone else is secondary.
13:05 That includes Jonah in first in verse one. Jonah is a supporting character. The Ninevites are supporting characters. The mariners are supporting characters. Let your focus always be on god.
13:18 Now Jonah Jonah was a prophet of the lord from the Northern Kingdom Of Israel. You know what happened? We haven't gotten there yet in bible study, but David's grandson Rehoboam. Under him, the Kingdom Of Israel split in two. 10 tribes went to the North under Jeroboam.
13:38 The first two tribes went to the state in the South, Judah and Benjamin. And we know from the bible that the Northern Kingdom Of Israel was uniformly wicked to the lord. They did evil. Every single king of the North was evil and worshiped false idols. Now, Jonah, Jonah lived during the reign of Jeroboam the second.
14:02 Jeroboam the second was the longest reigning king in the North, and the Bible says about him, he was evil as well. To put us in a kind of a time frame, Jeroboam the second reign approximately July. Jonah, the son of Amittai, is mentioned one other time in the old testament. Let's look at that. Second Kings chapter 14 verse number verses 23 to 25.
14:30 Second Kings fourteen twenty three through 25. In the fifteenth year of Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam, the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty one years, and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not but depart from all the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. Verse number 25. He restored the border of Israel from Lebo Hamoth as far as the Sea Of The Arabah according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant, Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath Heifer.
15:14 So we know Jonah is the son of a prophet and the prophet himself as he declares the word of the lord. And look how look how the verse describes Jonah, servant of the lord. So no matter what else Jonah has done or will do, no matter the disobedience, the restoration, the anger, the ethnocentricity that we see in Jonah, the Bible calls him a servant of the Lord. Brothers, sisters, isn't that what we want to be said about us? Isn't that how you wanna be known, a servant of the Lord?
15:52 I can think of no other or greater title than that, and think about that. Evan, he's a servant of the Lord. Mona, she's a servant of the Lord. That's a testimony to not to not only our obedience, but to the power of god to save sinners. And at the end of end of days when Christ returns, indeed, that is what he will tell all those who follow and obey him.
16:19 Matthew twenty five twenty three, well done, good and faithful servant. So we know the characters. We know who Jonah is. So what's the message? And that's why that's one of the things that makes this an interesting book.
16:35 Jonah, one of the 12 minor prophets. There's not much prophecy in this book, but the Lord did give Jonah a message. Verse two. Arise. Go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it for their evil has come up before me.
16:58 A little bit of background. What is Nineveh? What was Nineveh? It's a great city. I'm sure a lot of people here can answer this question, but Nineveh was one of the great cities of the Assyrian Empire and would one day become the capital of the Assyrian Empire.
17:15 And at that time, the time of Jonah, Assyria was a world power and would actually one day conquer and take into captivity the people of the Northern Kingdom Of Israel in July. Jonah was also contemporaries with the prophets Amos and Hosea. And speaking of the Assyrian Empire, Hosea eleven five Hosea eleven five speaks to the Assyrian empire. And keep this in mind as we think about what the Lord commanded Jonah to do going to the city of Nineveh, going to the people of Assyria. Hosea eleven five.
17:54 They shall, the people of Israel, they shall not return to the land of Egypt, but Assyria shall be their king because they have refused to return to me. The Lord, even from Hosea, prophesied that because of Israel's disobedience, because of their idolatry, he was going to use the kingdom of Assyria, the empire of Assyria as his tool to bring judgment upon the people of Israel. Jonah knew that. And so when the Lord said, go to Nineveh, go to the Assyrians, We can only imagine what was going through Jonah's mind. Nineveh itself was a city filled with evil.
18:41 The verse says it. The evil is crying out because god tells Jonah, call out against it for their evil has come up before me. So this indicates that it must have been great evil being perpetrated in that city. Where else in the old testament do you hear a phrase phrases like that? Their evil comes up against me.
19:03 I can think of one Genesis chapter 18 verse number 21, Sodom and Gomorrah. The bible says, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know. This is a great city filled with great evil, and the Lord told Jonah, go there. Call out their evil.
19:30 But he was also supposed to warn them. He He wasn't just supposed to call it out and say, look how evil Ninevites look how evil you are. He was called also to warn them. We know that because the the the actual words that Jonah said when he went to Nineveh let's fast forward a little bit and go to Jonah chapter three verse four. After Jonah is rescued, the Lord again tells him go to Nineveh, call out the evil against him.
19:54 And then when Jonah is actually in the city, he says to the people of Nineveh chapter three verse four, yet forty days in Nineveh shall be overthrown. God commanded Jonah to call out the evil in the city and warn the people in the city. So question, does God do the same now? Are we really that different? Is our call really that different than that of Jonah?
20:26 We called to go out to cities, call out their evil, warn them of judgment that is to come. Of course, we are. In the church age, we are all called to that. Let me show you. Ephesians chapter five verse number 11 through 14.
20:42 Ephesians five eleven through 14, we heard from pastor Daniel a couple weeks ago, talk about this verse, and it bears repeating. It's worth repeating. Paul says, take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them for it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when everything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. For anything that becomes visible is light.
21:08 Therefore, it says, awake, oh sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Yes. Christian, you are called to call out evil. You are called to expose the works of darkness around you. And even more than that even more than that, we see from the great commission that our our mission is even greater than that.
21:28 Matthew twenty eight nineteen. You know this. You don't have to turn there. Go therefore, Jesus said. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.
21:37 All nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit. Jesus calls us to go make disciples. How do you make disciples? We make converts. How do you make converts?
21:51 We tell them about the gospel. You call out their sin. You warn them of judgment to come, and you call them to repentance and belief in Jesus Christ. So we know that as Christians in the church age, we are called to go like Jonah. Now perhaps the Lord hasn't called you to a specific city in a specific land, but in actuality, our call is more general and even arguably greater than Jonah's call.
22:23 We're called to go to the world, not just one city. So my question then is, how are you doing with that? How are you doing with that call of Christ to go spread the gospel, to call people to repentance, to warn them of judgment to come? Are you fulfilling that call today? Are you telling your neighbors about Christ?
22:50 Are you telling your family about Christ even when it's hard and uncomfortable? Do your coworkers even know that you're a Christian? That's our call, ladies and gentlemen, to go just like Jonah. So may we not be like Jonah. Let's look at verse three.
23:11 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 into it to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence of the Lord. As you read your Bible, I encourage you to pay attention to the small words. Pay attention to the conjunctions and the interjections. Pay attention to the articles and the prepositions because they're so important here.
23:48 Look at the verse three. What's the first word? But. Verse two, the word of the Lord came to Jonah and said, do this. Verse three, but.
23:57 That one word indicates that everything else that happens after that, everything else that Jonah does after the word of the Lord tells him to do something and we have but, it means that's not what the Lord told him to do. It means that he's in direct disobedience and rebellion to what God told him to do. The next question I have as I was reading this is how do you flee from the presence of the Lord? Surely, Jonah knew that. He's a prophet of the Lord.
24:24 How do you flee from the presence of the Lord? Psalm one thirty nine seven through 12, I think sums it up, the great the the clearest and the most pervasive. Psalm one thirty nine, David, two, three hundred years before Jonah, said this. Where shall I go from your spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?
24:47 If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my home in make my bed in Sheol, 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 come 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 to you.
25:15 Of course, you can't flee from the omnipresent presence of the Lord. And, of course, Jonah would know David wrote that Psalm and know of that Psalm himself, and he knows he can't flee from the presence of the Lord. So what is what does it mean then? Because it's repeated multiple times. Jonah is fleeing from the presence of the Lord.
25:36 I think it means two things. One, he is fleeing the land where God's manifest presence resided. The land of Israel, God's chosen people, where the temple of the Lord was in Jerusalem, where the visible manifest presence of God dwelt with man. Jonah was fleeing the land of Israel to get away from the manifest presence of the Lord. But second, even more, Jonah was also fleeing from his office as a prophet of the Lord.
26:11 To put it simply, he didn't wanna be a prophet anymore. He didn't like the message, so he didn't want the office anymore. How do we know that? Well, the prophet of the Lord, their job, their description was to stand in the presence of the Lord and relay God's message to the people God told them to. How do I know that?
26:34 First Kings chapter 17. Let's read a couple verses from there. First Kings chapter 17 verse number one. The Bible says, Elijah now Elijah, the Tishbite of Tishbe and Galli and Galeed said to Ahab, as the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain three year these years except by my word. How about again?
27:01 Let's turn the page to first Kings eighteen fifteen. Chapter 18 verse number 15. And Elijah said, as the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today. Joe's, Jonah was a prophet. He did hear from the word of the Lord.
27:23 He was in the presence of the Lord, but he didn't want that anymore. So he not only was trying to flee the geographical area where the manifest presence of God was. He was fleeing his responsibility as a prophet called by God. It's actually really shocking. When you look at the Old Testament, look at all the prophets that we see in the Old Testament.
27:47 Jonah is the only one who rebelled against the command of the Lord, who rebelled against God. When God said do this, Jonah did the opposite. There's no other prophet in the Old Testament who did such a thing. God said, arise. Go to Nineveh.
28:06 Jonah did the opposite. Jonah rose, and he fled to Tarshish. Direct disobedience to the lord. That's what Jonah was doing. He was directly disobeying the Lord.
28:21 There was no gray area for him. There was no confusion as to what the Lord wanted him to do. He understood, and he did the exact opposite, but I submit to you today, brothers and sisters, that kind of disobedience isn't unique to Jonah where where where he hears the word of the Lord and does the opposite. It describes all of us at one point in our lives. Right?
28:45 Might describe some of us now. The word of the Lord, 66 books of the bible. We have it. Page, chapter, everything. It is very clear.
28:55 We disobey it. We disobey it every day. And so when I read verse three here, what I see in the second half of the verse are marks of disobedience. The marks of disobedience in Jonah's life, but also could be said about our lives too. And I see here the means of disobedience, the people of disobedience, and the price of disobedience.
29:20 So let's look at that, the means. Verse three. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. When seeking to disobey the Lord, you will find ways to do it. You will find means to further your rebellion.
29:40 Look. Look at Jonah. Look. He went down to Joppa. He didn't have to look very hard to find means to further his disobedience.
29:48 He went down to Joppa, modern day Jaffa. It's a port town. It's a town right on the Mediterranean Sea, and he went to find a ship to take him from the land of Israel. Of course, he was going to find something if he was going to of course, he was going to find something when he looked. But what means are available for us today?
30:09 I think there's a lot. If we look, if we put it in our hearts to disobey the lord, there's a lot of means easily at our disposal. We don't even have to look very hard to find means to disobey the lord. What about the sin of sexual immorality? Sexual immorality.
30:29 What kind of means do we have available to us today to disobey the lord that we don't even have to look very hard in that regard? Well, how about your phone? Right? Everyone has one. It's always with you.
30:45 And this phone is the doorway to all kinds of mischief in the area of sexual immorality. How about your computer? How about your television or technology? Ways and means are everywhere, brothers and sisters. But it's not just the sin of sexual immorality.
31:05 It's any sin. Look at the sin of sloth or the sin of vanity. Look at the means that are that that we just have to look, make a cursory look, and we'll find means to further that sin. Vanity. How about social media?
31:19 How about social media? Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, whatever. We put things on there hoping and praying that people see us, that they like us, that they give us a thumbs up on our post so that we know that people are watching us and paying attention to us. We're looking for that emoji to to validate who we are and to validate our vanity. Sin of drunkenness or drug use.
31:49 Means are everywhere. Alcohol, drugs, bars, legalization of marijuana, legalization of other drugs that are coming. Everywhere you can find means to deter you from the lord, to occupy you from the things of God, or to enable you to run from God. And the support of this is because things are so easy to find, because things like our phone are so easily accessible that will continue us in our disobedience, Put a guard over them. Be watchful.
32:22 Set boundaries on your hearts and on your hands as you navigate, vanity fair filled with trinkets and entertainment and things to turn us from God. The means of disobedience. How about the people? The people of disobedience. Verse three says to go with them.
32:44 Jonah went to go with them away from the presence of the Lord. Who's them? Well, the people on the ship, the mariners. He found the ship that was going away from the presence of the Lord, and he paid the price, and he was going to go with them on that ship away from the presence of the Lord. When we are sinning against the Lord, not only will we find means easily available, we will find people to go along with us.
33:08 The Bible is serious about the people we associate. And if the Bible is serious about it, we need to be serious about it as well. People we seek advice from, people we spend time with. You all know this Psalm chapter one verse one. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of scoffers.
33:32 Who do you sit with? Who do you companion with? Who do you spend time with? First Corinthians fifteen thirty three. Paul says, do not be deceived.
33:43 Bad company corrupts good morals. And it doesn't even matter the sin, no matter how, quote, unquote, acceptable a sin is or a little sin or how perverted and disgusting a sin is, there will always be people who will come alongside you and support you in your rebellion against god. Let's just take one example here. One example that that came to mind was the LGBTQ movement. Let's say we have a Christian brother or sister who struggles in this area, who struggles with this sinful attraction, the same sex attraction.
34:26 And this brother or sister puts it in their heart that look, you know, this is too hard for me. I don't want to do this fight anymore. I know what the Bible says. I don't care. I'm going to embrace this desire.
34:40 I'm going to embrace what I want to embrace. Well, guess what? There will be dozens and dozens of people, even so called Christians, who will come around that person and support them, encourage them, and propel them on to deeper sin and this deeper rebellion against the lord. In your sin, it will never be find a heart it will never be hard to find people fleeing from the presence of the lord. So choose your companions wisely.
35:15 Choose your friends wisely. Who are you going to invest your time with? Who are you going to do life with? But, also, even more importantly, choose your teachers wisely. Who are you going to seek advice from?
35:34 Who are you going to seek counsel from? Are you going to run to a brother or sister in Christ that you know is in the word that loves Christ, that loves to pray, that loves to be with his people? Or are you going to go to a group of people who will just stroke your ego and stroke that sin that you want to partake in. People will either draw you closer to the Lord or take you farther from him. There is no in between.
36:05 The means of disobedience, the people of disobedience. Let's look at the price of disobedience. Verse verse three again. So Jonah paid the fare and went down into the ship. Rebellion and disobedience against god will always cost us something.
36:27 Money, time, energy, relationships, our health, our physical health, our mental health, will cost us sometimes our freedom. And also, in extreme circumstances, it will cost us our life. Let's just look at money because that's what that's what Jonah that's the price that Jonah paid in this verse. So he paid the fare and went down into the ship. Let's look at money in our our our culture, in our day and age, and see how how much sin cost us.
37:00 Pornography in The United States, Annual basis, $13,000,000,000 industry. Movies, entertainment, TV, binge watching, Netflix, everything. $717,000,000,000 in The United States alone. How about alcohol? Alcohol, $248,000,000,000 a year.
37:29 Aren't those numbers astronomical? That people are pouring their money into these things that will not satisfy, that will be dust and ashes in their mouth. So the price of disobedience is a lot, and it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense that you would pour your money into that, that you would pour your time into that where there is no reward. There is no there is no reward for the sin.
37:58 And often often the price of sin is magnitudes greater than the cost of following the Lord. We see that here. You know, Nineveh, Nineveh was about 500 miles from the land of Israel. So probably about a month's journey for Jonah. Tarshish, modern day Spain, was about 2,000 miles from Israel.
38:23 So Jonah was willing to go four times the length and distance just to disobey the Lord. That should say something to us. Brothers and sisters, my question to you is, is your sin worth the price that you're paying for it? Is it worth your time that you will never get back? Is it worth your relationships that may be damaged for the rest of your life?
38:49 Is it worth your money? Is it worth your health? And the resounding answer is no, Because ultimately, the price we pay for our sins is our relationship with god. There's no greater cost than that. So we turn to verse four.
39:10 Verse four. Jonah is fleeing from the presence of the Lord. He's disobeying the Lord. He's in rebellion against the Lord. Verse four says, 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.
39:31 We're beginning to see in this passage how God is going to respond to Jonah's sin. This is the beginning of God's discipline for Jonah's sin because where there is sin, where there's rebellion, there is discipline for the people of God. But also also notice in this verse, even while beginning his discipline, God is setting the stage for a wondrous display of his mercy and grace. Now verse four shows us and tells us that god is sovereign, and we know through the bible that god is sovereign over everything. A sister on Wednesday night prayer this week said the simple phrase, but profound phrase, nothing just happens.
40:21 Nothing just happens. Things just don't happen out of nowhere. The windows doesn't come out of nowhere. People aren't in a room just out of nowhere. Nothing just happens.
40:34 Everything. Everything in this world through all time is ordained by the sovereign power of God. Everything. And you think about that. What's the alternative to that?
40:47 If you say no. No. No. No. No.
40:48 No. No. God doesn't ordain everything. Things do just happen. What's the alternative?
40:53 Well, Satan. Maybe Satan. Maybe Satan has ultimate control over the weather, the hurricanes, the fires, or maybe it's just chance chance. You know, there's there's just chaos. It's just things happen.
41:09 There's nobody knows why. Nobody knows for what reason. Nobody knows where it came from. That just happens. Or how about man?
41:17 No. No. No. No. God God isn't sovereign over everything.
41:23 Man is. I choose. I have it all. Well, I was thinking about that just the other day. I don't know how comforting that is, really, because I know I don't know about you, but when I'm hungry, I turn into a beast sometimes.
41:41 When I'm tired, when I'm cold, when I'm hot, These small things influence what my what my disposition is and influence what my choices are. That's not a comforting thought to say that God doesn't have control over me. So nothing just happens. God is sovereign over everything. And in this verse, we see specifically how God is sovereign over nature and over creation.
42:06 The wind and the sea. You see the words, the Lord hurled, and then there was a mighty tempest on the sea. God did not just not god did not just create things, set the world in motion, set the universe in motion, and leave it alone. In fact, god is always creating in nature. Think of the sunsets that you see every day.
42:36 God created that. But even more, let's take that even a step further. As the world turns, there's a sunset going on all the time, and they're all different. So God never stops creating these beautiful, gorgeous sunsets that we see. God never stops creating the rain showers, the the fall foliage, the beautiful winter storm.
43:02 God never stops creating. In fact, God takes a pervasive and personal control involvement over every aspect of nature, over everything. Colossians one seventeen, I love this verse because it specifically shows how Christ holds things together, holds the universe together. Colossians one seventeen says, and he, Christ, is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Now nature, creation is a revelation about God.
43:39 Nature glorifies God. It speaks about him, and it reflects his attributes, and God is sovereign over it. Let's just look at a couple of verses. The wind and the sea. We could talk for hours on the providence and sovereignty of God, just over nature, but let's just look at the wind and the sea because that's what we have here in Jonah.
44:01 Turn with me to Exodus chapter 10 verse number 13. And as we read through these verses, look at the verbs themselves. These are not passive, inactive verbs. Look at the verbs and see how active, how controlling, how involved these words show god to be. Exodus Exodus ten thirteen.
44:25 So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind had brought the locusts. Couple verses down, Exodus ten nineteen. And the Lord turned the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Psalm one zero seven twenty five.
44:54 Psalm one zero seven twenty five says, for he commanded the lord commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. Psalm one thirty five seven. Last one for the wind. Psalm one thirty five seven says, he it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses. Look at these words.
45:26 The Lord brought the wind. The Lord turned the wind for he commanded the wind and raised the stormy wind. He lifted up the waves of the sea. God takes a personal interest, not only you and me, but also in the very wind around us. How about the water?
45:48 How about the water? Psalm one zero six verse nine. The lord, he rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry. Or how about Exodus fifteen nineteen? For when the horses of pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea.
46:20 And to sum both of them up, the wind and the sea, God's pervasive, invincible sovereignty over them, let's look together at Matthew eight twenty seven. Matthew eight twenty seven. Looking at Jesus calming the storm, and the men marveled saying, what sort of man is this that even winds and sea obey him. I think it's clear, brothers and sisters, that things just don't happen. This the wind in Jonah chapter verse four didn't just happen.
47:02 The sea didn't just happen to get tempestuous. God did that, and God did that for a reason. So what is our response to all of this? What we we see all of these verses. God's yes.
47:17 Mark, I agree with you. God is sovereign over this. But what does what does this mean? What is our response? Well, I can't help but think of Job.
47:30 As we read this verse in Jonah, in the verses we read in Exodus, in Psalm, and in Matthew about God's great power and his sovereign plan, it reminds me of where we stand in relation to God. In other words, who is Jonah to say no to God? Who are we to say no to God? The winds and the seas obey him, and we have the pride and the temerity to say no. Isn't that astonishing?
48:11 But I think Job's response is our should be our response. Let's look at Job chapter 40 verses four and five. And remember, this is after God is rebuking Job for his self righteousness. This is after God is telling Job, where were you? Where were you, man?
48:30 Where were you when I laid the foundation of the world? Where were you when I call from the storehouses, the wind and the snow, and the lightning? Where were you when I created and commanded Leviathan? Where were you, Job? Job 44 through five.
48:47 Job says, behold, I am of small account. What shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not answer twice, but I will proceed no further. In other words, the response is, you are god.
49:09 I am not. What you say, I will do when you command me. Lord, I will obey. Brothers, sisters, let's be overwhelmed by this truth. Let's truly be overwhelmed by that.
49:25 Let us see the breathtaking power, the command, and the sovereignty of God just as Job did. And just like he did, let's put our hands over our mouth when we wanna talk back to God. In closing, we've seen the marks of disobedience. We've seen God begin to bring discipline upon Job. But even even in verse four, we begin to see the prologue to God's amazing display of his mercy and grace for sinners who don't deserve it.
50:06 Where is it? Where is it? Let's look at verse four again. 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. Do you see it?
50:24 Do you see the beginnings, the prologue to god's mercy in this verse? So the ship threatened to break up. God could have easily sent the wind and destroyed that ship in one instance. God could have sent a wave that would consume that ship without any chance for the people on board to survive. God could have sent a lightning bolt and blown up the entire thing, but he didn't.
50:56 He didn't. You see, the ship threatened to break up, but it didn't. It didn't break up. Why? Because god wouldn't allow it to break up.
51:08 So god, even when he is bringing discipline upon us for our disobedience, even when he is causing the stormy winds in the penten in the tempestuous season our life, he's also bringing mercy and compassion for his chosen people. And so in closing, are you in rebellion against God today? Are you in disobedience? You read your Bible, you know what the Lord says to do in a certain situation that you're going through. You you know what the Lord says to do about this temptation or that temptation, but you in your heart said, I don't wanna do it that way.
51:50 I wanna go my own way. Are you in rebellion against the Lord? I say this, if you are sitting here and you're in rebellion, that's because of God's mercy. If you are hearing my voice right now, that's because of God's patience and his compassion and his kindness for you. He's giving you moment after moment, opportunity after opportunity to come back to him, to repent of your sin.
52:25 God's kindness, God's mercy, God's compassion is meant to lead us to repentance. And so I say this, before the discipline comes or even in the midst of your discipline, come back to God. Repent of your sin. Embrace him once again before it's too late. Don't wait.
52:51 Brother, don't wait for God's discipline to be increased in your life. Sister, don't wait and presume on the kindness and mercy of God. Run back to him now. Repent now, and embrace your lord once again. Let's pray.
53:11 Heavenly father, you are good, and your mercy endures forever. God, we look only at the cross when we see that even while we were sinners, even while we were in rebellion, even while we hated you, you sent Christ to die for us. God, give us hearts that hear you. Soften our hearts to obey you. And Lord, may we bow in reverence to you and tremble at your word, follow your word with joyful hearts, expectant hearts.
53:51 And Lord, may all the days of our life, may we praise you and glorify you until we see you again. In Jesus' name, amen.
