If you want to open up your Bibles, we're in the book of Jonah this morning.
And if you're in a pew Bible, the ESV pew Bible, it's on page 658, the NIV pew Bible, it's 1436.
If you're like me, what I end up doing is just find in the middle of my Bible and start going left.
And so I'll just look until I hit Jonah, and eventually I get there.
Do you know what word associations are?
The word association is when someone says something and then you say back the first thing that comes to your mind.
So if I say day and, you would say day and night.
Peanut butter and?
Jonah and the?
Whale.
That's right.
When you think of Jonah, you're probably thinking about a prophet in the belly of a big fish.
And the book of Jonah is so much more than that.
And so Jonah is unlike many other prophetic books because Jonah will focus on seven words of the prophet Jonah in Jonah 3.
But really the book of Jonah is about the life of Jonah.
It's a biography of Jonah.
It's about God's call on Jonah to preach a message of repentance to a distant and dangerous people.
We'll get there in a second.
Jonah is a very dramatic, vivid book with a lot of changing scenes.
I mean, chapter 1 takes place on a boat being ravaged by a tempest in the Mediterranean Sea.
And then chapter 2 takes place in the belly of a whale.
Chapter 3 takes place in the city of Nineveh.
The capital of Assyria in the 8th century.
And we're actually brought into the very throne room of Nineveh.
And then in chapter 4, we find ourselves on the outskirts of Nineveh with Jonah.
Where Jonah awaits and is hoping for God just to lay bare the city of Nineveh.
But what Jonah gets is an object lesson in God's mercy and kindness and pity.
Jonah was a real person.
All these events happen.
This isn't a parable.
This isn't an allegory.
This is a historical account.
And this historical account teaches something to us.
It's didactic.
You see, ultimately, the book of Jonah is about God.
About God's heart for those who are perishing.
For those who are lost.
And so, over the next few weeks, we're going to learn a lot about God's heart.
And we're going to learn about some of our wayward tendencies.
In God's call on our lives.
But here's what's going to ring true.
Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
Anyone.
Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
We see that happening in chapter 1.
We'll see it happen in chapter 2.
We'll see it happen in chapter 3.
Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be delivered.
Our prayer.
My prayer.
Is that as we go through the book of Jonah.
God will form in us His evangelistic heart for all people.
For people to come to know Him as the God over all.
As the God who saves.
As the one true God.
And as a result, my prayer is that we as a church will seek to make Christ known to those who are perishing in our city.
That God will burden us with a heart for the lost.
So instead of a word association when you associate Jonah with a whale.
I think what we're going to realize is the association with Jonah is this.
When you hear the word Jonah.
You'll need to be thinking God's heart for the lost.
Because everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
Jonah chapter 1 has two scenes in it.
It's a great story.
Two scenes.
The first scene is this.
Jonah runs from God.
Second scene.
God catches Jonah.
So let's dive in and let's look at this.
So scene 1.
Verses 1-3.
Jonah runs from God.
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai.
Saying arise.
Go to Nineveh the great city.
That great city.
And call out against it.
For their evil has come up before me.
Right from the beginning we're introduced to a particular name of God.
You see that word Lord?
In your Bibles do you see how it's all capitalized?
L-O-R-D.
They're all capital letters.
Underneath that is the Hebrew name Yahweh.
The personal name of God.
This is the name God revealed himself to Moses in Exodus 3.
When Moses revealed that he was going to deliver his people from Egypt.
And so what from the beginning we're introduced to is God, Yahweh, is the deliverer.
And he has a message for Jonah to proclaim to a particular people.
Which brings us to this guy named Jonah.
Jonah son of Amittai.
There's not much spoken of him here.
It was just like Jonah son of Amittai.
This is the guy.
But in 2 Kings 14.25, Jonah, the son of Amittai, is referenced.
It's the same guy.
And so that allows us to place him at a certain place in time.
And so Jonah was a prophet during Jeroboam 2.
He was a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel in the 8th century B.C.
And here's why that's interesting.
Jonah was a prophet in Samaria in the northern kingdom of Israel right before Samaria was sacked.
Do you remember who sacked Samaria?
Assyria.
The Ninevites.
And so this prophet is going to go preach the message to the people who will eventually be used by God to sack Samaria.
Speaking of Nineveh.
Nineveh.
Its remains lie on the Tigris River on the outskirts of modern day Mosul, Iraq.
It was the capital, the nerve center of Assyria.
And though all Assyrians were image bearers of God, they were notoriously aggressive and brutal.
They were a major player for imperial dominance in the ancient Near East.
They were very proficient at psychological warfare.
As one of my seminary profs would say, they were one of the early terrorists.
For example, after defeating a city, it wouldn't be unusual for the Assyrians to impale people from that city.
Impale them anally with a huge, huge pole.
And then they would dig a hole and put the butt end of that pole in the hole.
And they would lift this person up as a flag of sorts.
A spectacle that showed the Assyrian dominance.
It would have been graphic.
It would have been terrifying.
But it wasn't just one person they would do this to.
They would surround the city with these kinds of flags after they would defeat it.
They were brutal people.
These are not innocent Ninevites.
They were conducting a campaign of terror in the ancient Near East.
This is the Assyria Jonah knew.
Jonah is called to do something.
He's called to call out against the city of Nineveh.
He's called to call out against it.
To preach against it.
To say, stop doing what you're doing.
It was a message of repentance.
And we're told why Jonah is called to preach against it.
For their evil has come up against me.
God, Yahweh, was aware, thoroughly aware,
of the sinfulness of these Ninevites.
And so God has called Jonah to go and preach against them.
They've done evil in God's sight.
God is holy and just.
He does something about it.
Now, what's really interesting here is this.
The Assyrians worshipped a different God than Yahweh.
But notice.
Even though these Assyrians did not acknowledge Yahweh to be their God.
God holds them accountable for their sinfulness.
For their evil that has risen to Him.
The God of the Bible is the God of all nations.
All people everywhere are accountable to Him.
Whether they acknowledge Him as their God.
Or even if they acknowledge His existence.
God never sweeps evil under the rug.
So what this means for us is this.
Everyone in the city of Kenosha is accountable to God.
Everyone.
Everybody in the city of Kenosha is accountable to God.
And just as God sent Jonah to make known a message to a people,
God is sending us to make a message known to the city of Kenosha.
To call people to repentance and faith in Christ.
Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
God sends Jonah to Nineveh.
And so it should be no surprise to us that our Savior King Jesus
tells us to go to the nations to make disciples.
What we see here is God's great missionary heart.
He has always had a heart for all people to worship Him with everything they've got.
This sense of arise, go, call.
In Jonah 1-2, there's urgency to that.
There's priority to that.
In verse 3, we see Jonah's response.
And it kind of takes us by surprise, doesn't it?
Jonah responds immediately.
We've got to give him that.
Look at verse 3.
But Jonah rose to flee.
He's getting out of town.
He jumps on the first ship to Tarshish.
Now, that might sound weird in your ears.
Tarshish.
Everybody, just try to say Tarshish.
1-2-3.
Tarshish.
It's not easy to say.
Now say Tarshish.
1-2-3.
Tarshish.
There's something to it, isn't it?
Feels good coming off the lips.
Notice Tarshish shows up three times in verse 3.
But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish.
So he paid the fare and went on board to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
There's some emphasis.
Do you know why?
Tarshish was most likely the most westerly city in the known world of the time.
So where Jonah was, he was in northern Israel and he used to go east to Nineveh.
And so what Jonah does, he's like, I am out of here.
He jumps on the first ship he can get onto.
Pays a fare.
He'll probably be on the ship for a year to get to the most westerly, remotest place on the face of the earth.
Jonah's on the run.
He doesn't want to go to Nineveh.
And this is blatant disobedience.
Willful disobedience to God.
God's not thrown by it though.
We'll see that in a second.
The other phrase that you need to see here is from the presence of the Lord.
It's also repeated twice in verse 3.
Jonah wasn't just trying to get away from Nineveh.
He was trying to get away from his God.
He wanted to get as far away from God as he could.
And the very fact that he jumps a ship just shows how desperate he is.
Jews were landlubbers.
They didn't like going on ships.
He jumps a ship to be on it for a year to get to Tarshish.
He's desperate.
He wants out.
But you know what?
We're never told why.
We'll learn why in Jonah chapter 4.
I got a question for you this morning.
Are you running from God's call on your life?
As a Christian, are you running from God's call on your life to make Christ known to those who are perishing around you?
Are you avoiding it?
Do you have your head in the sand?
You might not jump a ship for Tarshish, but maybe you've sought to escape in some other way.
Let me just point you to something.
Aren't you glad that when God the Father sent Jesus the Son to come and die and be raised again,
aren't you glad that Jesus didn't run the other way?
Aren't you glad that Jesus came, the ultimate missionary for us?
Well, scene one ends with Jonah on deck of a Phoenician ship sailing to Tarshish.
I love saying it.
And we're left with tension.
Because seriously, who runs from God and it's okay?
There seems to be conflict.
There seems to be conflict between God and Jonah.
How's this kind of thing turn out?
You know how a ship has its name written on the stern, on the back?
You know what I'm talking about?
If you walk down by the marina, you'll see things like the Mary Jean or Wind Walker or Bobby 2.
Jonah gets on this Phoenician ship and in his mind, that ship's name is the Escape.
But what we're going to see happen is God has already got this ship named, baby.
This ship is called the Prophet Catcher.
And little does Jonah know that he's on board.
And Jonah may run, but God is going to catch him in order to change him.
And not only is he going to change Jonah, he's going to catch and change a crew of polytheistic sailors.
And he's going to change them.
And then eventually, God is going to do a change of Jonah that's going to result in 120,000 Ninevites repenting.
It had to happen.
This is God's mercy, what we're about to read.
So scene one, Jonah is on the run.
Jonah runs from God, but God's not freaking out.
Scene two, God catches Jonah.
All right, here's a technical note.
There is an unfortunate break in your ESV Bible.
If you're reading in the ESV Bible, in between verse 6 and verse 7, there's a heading that says,
Jonah is thrown into the sea, which is true.
But it's unfortunate because verses 4 through 16 are all one beautiful unit.
They shouldn't be interrupted.
And that unit, 4 through 16, is carefully designed to hold together to make a really important point.
I want to show you what that point is in just a second.
But scene two starts with God hurling a great wind onto the sea.
And it forms a tempest.
And it is chaotic.
And these mariners on this boat start freaking out.
Now these guys, they've done a lot of sailing.
And so for this to make them so afraid in verses 4 and 5, it means this was a crazy storm.
Crazy.
And what we see in verses 5 and 6 is that these sailors, these seasoned sailors, start crying out.
Each cries out to his own God.
Do you see that there?
It's very important to note that.
There's going to be a change.
They start striving.
They lighten the load.
And in contrast, Jonah goes down below deck and is sleeping.
Now I'm not a psychologist.
But there's something weird going on there.
Do you know what I'm saying?
Crazy storm.
Guy sleeping down there.
He's like in denial.
He doesn't care.
Well, the captain goes down.
Wakes Jonah up.
And he says something very interesting in verse 6.
So the captain came and said to him,
What do you mean, you sleeper?
What are you doing sleeping?
All hands on deck, buddy.
Arise.
Call out to your God.
Now look at verse 2.
Arise.
Go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it.
Jonah would have got the point.
God's there.
Jonah, wake up.
You're on the prophet catcher.
I'm doing a work.
The captain wakes him up.
There's an echo of God in that.
He doesn't want these people to perish on his boat.
Verse 7, there's a sense of panic and dread on the ship.
Sailors are asking for an explanation of what's going on.
And so they do what they only know how to do to get an explanation.
They cast lots, which is a way of kind of divining direction.
Who can explain this to us?
They cast lots.
God into sovereignty pulls up who?
Jonah.
And so these sailors, in verse 8, come to Jonah and pepper him with questions.
And what they're essentially doing is,
Jonah, will you explain the lot fell on you?
Why is this happening to us?
Splash.
And then in verse 9,
we have the very first quote of Jonah.
Jonah, the first thing he says in the book of Jonah.
What's happening to us?
Jonah says,
I wasn't there, so I don't know.
I am a Hebrew.
And I fear the Lord.
The God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.
If I were one of the sailors, you know,
I'd be like, okay, okay, okay.
Okay, you're a Hebrew.
I pick up on the accent.
I buy it.
Okay, okay, okay.
You fear the Lord, the God of heaven,
who made the sea and dry land.
Okay, I'm familiar with Genesis 1 enough to know
that Yahweh made the sea and the dry land.
I get it.
But you fear the Lord?
Jonah,
you want a ship bound for Tarshish?
Captain just woke you up.
What do you mean you fear the Lord?
It rings hollow.
And it's supposed to.
Because it is.
There is a major gap
between Jonah's profession
and his practice.
Jonah is saying one thing,
I fear the Lord.
But he's doing another.
He's running in disobedience.
I know the Jonah complex.
Do you?
Your profession doesn't match up with your practice?
Do you?
Well,
we turn to verse 10
and these sailors,
in great contrast to Jonah,
they hear what he says
and they were exceedingly afraid.
The Hebrew reads,
they feared with a great fear.
And they say,
what is this you have done?
They knew he was fleeing
from the presence of the Lord.
He told them.
And so these guys
are putting it together.
Jonah's God,
the Lord,
Yahweh.
He is the one behind all this.
And it seems that Jonah and his God
have some unfinished business
and we're getting caught up in it
and his God is amazing.
Their fear is a real fear.
Not a professed fear.
They really are afraid.
They really are aware
that they are in the presence
of a God
who is doing something
that is way beyond them.
The irony is thick.
Jonah,
the prophet,
who's supposed to know God,
doesn't really fear God.
And he was sleeping.
And these sailors,
who are polytheistic,
they were worshipping
all sorts of different gods
when they got on board this boat.
So,
these polytheistic sailors
are now encountering
the one true living God
and their response
is what Jonah should have been.
Fear,
reverence.
What do we do?
How do we respond?
The sailors,
realizing that they have
an expert in Yahweh on board,
in verse 11,
starts saying,
Jonah,
you know this God.
What do we do?
How do we stop this?
Tell us what we must do
to be saved.
Jonah.
But Jonah doesn't point to God.
He points to himself.
In verse 12,
Jonah gives the explanation.
We're in this mess, guys,
on account of me,
so throw me in the sea,
and the sea will be made quiet.
And when you read that,
it's really hard to know
as you're reading it
whether or not
Jonah is being noble
or he's just kind of
thrown in the towel.
You don't know.
And it's intentional.
The author of Jonah
wants you not to know.
He wants you to be
experiencing some tension.
In verses 13 and 14,
the sailors
strive for Jonah.
They dig in their oars.
They try to make it to land.
Jonah didn't care about
these sailors,
but these sailors
cared about Jonah.
Ironic.
They dig in
and they start moving to land,
but God in His sovereignty
clicks up the intensity
of the storm.
They're going nowhere.
And so these sailors
are only left
with one option.
And they realize
Jonah's God
is limiting them
to just one option.
And that option
is to throw
Jonah
into the sea.
And it's in verse 14
that something
really amazing happens.
Would you look at verse 14?
Therefore they called out
to the Lord,
O Lord,
let us not perish
for this man's life
and lay not on us
innocent blood
for you, O Lord,
have done as it pleased you.
Lord, O Lord, O Lord.
Yahweh, Yahweh, Yahweh.
They are crying out,
not each to his own God,
they are together
crying out
to the one true God,
Yahweh.
You see what happened?
At the beginning
of this section,
they were polytheists.
God is now moving them
towards monotheism
and the fear
of the one true God,
Yahweh.
These sailors know
that they are in the hands
of Jonah's God
and they've realized
that they are accountable
to Him.
That's why they say,
don't hold this man's blood
against us.
What happens here
is that these sailors
are calling on the name
of the Lord.
Everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord
will be saved.
They call on Him
and God does something amazing.
In verses 15 and 16,
the sailors throw Jonah
into the water
and remember,
you see what happens?
Quiet.
It might ring a bell.
At the end of Mark 4,
Jesus speaks a word
to the Sea of Galilee
and there is silence.
God is sovereign
over these things.
This account ends
with these sailors
throwing Jonah
into the sea
and the result
is peace.
Deliverance.
God has delivered them.
Yahweh has delivered them.
They then fear
a great fear.
They're no longer
panicking.
They're worshiping.
They make sacrifice.
They make vows.
To who?
To the Lord.
Yahweh.
These sailors have turned
from trusting in false gods
to trusting in the one true God.
God has not only caught
His wayward prophet,
but it seems as though
He's caught some wayward sailors
and He's changed them.
There's something about this passage
that you can't see
with English eyes.
It was originally written
in Hebrew
and there's something
going on here
that's worth pointing out.
But in order to do that,
I've got to talk weddings.
You ready?
We married a couple here yesterday.
It was great.
Huge wedding.
Massive wedding party.
Typically what happens
is a wedding party,
groomsmen and bridesmaids
will come down,
walk arm in arm
down this center aisle
and they will move out
and we'll have bridesmaids
on this side
and groomsmen on this side.
You know what I'm talking about?
And so they pair
and then they separate
and what happens is
you have both sides
of the wedding party
kind of filling in
and moving towards the center.
all in anticipation
of the coming in
of the bride
and the bride
and the groom
standing together
in front of everybody.
We have that going on
in this passage.
If you'll notice
at the beginning of chapter 1
verse 4 and 5
and at 15 and 16
you have someone
hurling something
into the sea.
fear.
And then there's
great fear.
And then there's
calling out.
And what happens
in this is that
there is a movement
in these verses
towards verses 9 and 10
which is where the author
wants our eyes to fall.
And there lies
the emphasis
of this passage.
Fear.
And it's in contrast
to each other.
Jonah
says he fears the Lord
but he really doesn't.
These sailors
really do.
And it's ironic
because the prophet
who's supposed to fear
the Lord
doesn't.
And these polytheistic sailors
who are not supposed
to fear the Lord
they do.
and the result
one is delivered
the other is thrown overboard.
The sailors are delivered.
The prophet's thrown overboard.
What this is all pointing to
is the importance
of fearing the Lord.
Everyone
anyone who calls upon
the name of the Lord
will be saved.
The point of this passage
is this.
God is willing
and able to deliver
anybody who calls on him.
The sailors were willing
but Jonah was not.
God delivers the sailors
but Jonah is thrown
into the sea.
So you could say
something like this.
The prophet catcher
caught the prophet
but then threw him back.
But he wasn't done.
As we'll see next week
starting in 117
God has had a bigger plan
all along.
In order for God
to change this prophet's heart
he had to get this prophet
into a whale.
And then in the whale
what you'll see
is this prophet
crying out to God.
Salvation belongs
to the Lord.
Making sacrifice.
Making vows.
There's a couple things
I want you to see.
God's heart
has always been
that all people
in all places
would call upon him
with all their heart.
I'm just going to close
with a passage
from Malachi.
Malachi.
Malachi 1.11
From the rising of the sun
to its setting
my name will be great
among the nations
for I am a great king
says the Lord of hosts
and my name will be feared
among the nations.
Word association.
Day and night.
Peanut butter and jelly.
Jonah and God's heart
for the lost.
Everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord Jesus
will be saved.
Let me pray.
Oh God,
would you
help us to
not only fear you
with all of our hearts
but God to
be faithful
to your call
on our life
to make Christ known
to those who are perishing.
We ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.