Amen. Thank you for that song.
We do not yet live in that final day of great rejoicing, but we can certainly look to it with great expectation.
! It seems so often that sickness and sadness reigns in this day, but our God does indeed.
I think today we're going to have to accept as part of the normal noise of the room, our typical children,
being in the service with us, which we're so happy for because we love children.
I think we're also going to have to include in that coughing and sniffling, which we don't love so much.
It's part of that in-between, part of the curse that we deal with such things.
I'm really glad to be back with you in this manner this morning, able to preach as I've been in and out and sick.
We had the Advent season the past four weeks, so we took some turns preaching,
and the turn I was meant to have, I had to give up.
Clay very graciously preached on my behalf as I was diagnosed with pneumonia just two weeks ago,
and I'm gaining in strength.
I think I've felt a bit obligated to say that each time I've seen you that I've been getting a little bit better.
I know last Sunday I told Stan that I was at 80%, and then at 90, I saw him at the grocery store last night,
I said 95%. I'm probably being a little generous in all of that.
Sometimes I'm feeling like I'm drowning from the inside,
so forgive me if I take a moment and a break in the midst of preaching to clear myself in that way.
Prior to Advent season, we were working through the book of Ecclesiastes.
And I think, if I'm not mistaken, we were seven sermons in.
I think we got to chapter 2, verse 8, somewhere in that realm as we were marching through the book.
We're going to take a break from it.
We're going to stop preaching in Ecclesiastes.
And here's why.
The book of Ecclesiastes is an interesting book.
It's written. It's unique in all of biblical literature.
Certainly unique as a wisdom book.
And it's a difficult book to lay some bearing on because it has no real discernible outline.
It at times really seems like the ranting of a madman.
And you have to, in each and every time you pick up the book of Ecclesiastes,
you really need to either read it in a sitting or in the preaching of it.
You've got to get to the conclusion.
You've got to bring some sanity to what the preacher is saying in the book.
And his summary of it, we find in a single verse in Ecclesiastes 12, 13,
he says,
The end of the matter, all has been heard, fear God, and keep His commandments.
For this is the whole duty of man.
And he gives us some reason for that in verse 14.
Verse 14,
For God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
And so he's saying to us that we need to rightly recognize,
we need to understand that we are created beings,
and we have a creator who has a standard.
This is the fear God, and we are meant to keep that standard.
The book of Ecclesiastes just drips with the gospel because it presents us with the great problem.
And all of the things in the world, all of the vanities, all of the pointlessness of the world,
he brings us this summary of this,
and we're left with this issue of fearing God and keeping commandments.
This is our duty as people, certainly as Christian people.
So we're going to take a step away from the book.
And we're going to go to the book of Jonah.
So let me invite you to turn there.
The Old Testament prophet Jonah.
As an example of a man that didn't do this well.
The book is characterized by Jonah's rebellion against God's command.
And it so well for us serves Jonah's life as a wonderful backdrop to consider the character of God
as we consider what it means to fear Him and to keep His commandments.
And so, kind of hear this as a continuation of our time in Ecclesiastes,
as a biblical example of how this is meant to work out in our lives.
Now, my apologies to you if this is incredibly disappointing,
if you were really hoping to work all the way through the book of Ecclesiastes.
So to that, I would just say, if that's a desire of yours, stick around.
Maybe build a house in the area.
If you're young, get married and have children.
And maybe at some point we'll revisit together the book of Ecclesiastes.
I'll make no promises, but likely we will at some point get into it.
But for the next three weeks, I want to preach from the book of Jonah.
I want to structure it in this way.
The first week being this morning,
we're going to look at the rebellion found in the book,
the theme of rebellion in the book of Jonah.
This morning we're going to look at chapter 1, verses 1-16.
Secondly, so next Sunday,
we're going to look at the repentance that's found in the book of Jonah
by looking at chapter 1, verse 17, through chapter 3, verse 10.
And then finally, on the third week,
the regret found in chapter 4.
So let's look at together, as I read to you,
Jonah chapter 1, verses 1-16.
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 a ship going to Tarshish.
So he paid the fare and went on board to go with them to Tarshish
and away from the presence of the Lord.
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 lain down and was fast asleep.
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,
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?
And he said to them,
and I love this,
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 that 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.
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,
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.
So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea,
and the sea ceased from its raging.
Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly,
and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
I think that most of us are fairly familiar with the story of Jonah.
We at least know the plot line of the story of Jonah.
We're aware of his rebellion,
and therefore what happens to him as he's swallowed up by a great fish.
But the rebellion in the story of Jonah goes beyond Jonah himself.
It's not just Jonah's rebellion that we ought to see together.
And so I want to look at that,
and then I want to step away from that a bit to look at God's character,
as we see in these first 16 verses.
So notice first, Nineveh's rebellion.
Chapter 2, the word of the Lord to Jonah is,
to arise and go to Nineveh, that great city,
and call out against it,
for their evil has come up before me.
The people who lived in Nineveh were Assyrians,
and they were wretchedly wicked,
as I will show you in just a moment.
So they were rebellious against the Lord God.
Jonah's message, you'll see in chapter 3, verse 4,
is yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
So God is bringing judgment,
and a call of judgment down on Nineveh,
unless they repent and turn from their ways.
Notice also the Mariner's Rebellion,
those who are sailing the ship.
As they're in this storm,
they call out to all of their gods.
It seems that they all have a god of their own making,
apparently.
These gods are silent,
they do not answer,
but yet they don't worship the one true God,
and are also in need of repentance.
And we see them in this text,
they do in fact repent,
and we'll talk a bit more about that next week.
And then certainly highlighted in the midst of all this
is Jonah's rebellion.
Jonah's given a very clear command.
I love how the author,
we don't know who the author of Jonah is,
but gets right to the point.
In this first couple of verses,
there's a call to Jonah to go to Nineveh,
and then very quickly in verse 3,
but Jonah.
Despite what God had commanded him to do,
but Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish
from the presence of the Lord.
What caused Jonah to run in the other direction?
Was it the size of the task?
It's a major task that God put before Jonah.
Nineveh, called that great city in chapter 1, verse 2,
took three days to cross.
Chapter 3, verse 3,
probably because they're counting the suburbs
around Nineveh as well.
Nineveh itself was 18,000 acres
within the city walls.
It contained parks and a zoo.
It was the Assyrian capital in that day.
The wall was 100 feet tall
and 30 feet thick.
In chapter 4, verse 11,
God says that there are 120,000 small children,
we presume.
Persons who don't know their right hand
from their left hand.
Hopefully, we know about what age that is.
Small children, 120,000 of them.
What a task for a single preacher.
Would you be overwhelmed by such a task?
Was that the issue before Jonah?
Was it the danger of the mission?
The Assyrian people were extremely wicked.
In Nahum's prophecy, chapter 3, verses 1-4,
he's speaking out against these very people
that Jonah's been asked to go to.
And he writes,
Woe to the bloody city,
all full of lies and plunder,
no end to the prey,
the crack of the whip and rumble of the wheel,
galloping horse and bounding chariot,
horsemen charging, flashing sword,
and glittering spear,
hosts of slain,
heaps of corpses,
dead bodies without end.
They stumble over the bodies,
and all for the countless whorings of the prostitute,
graceful and of deadly charms,
who betrays nations with her whorings
and people with her charms.
Incredibly evil,
incredibly dangerous people
that Jonah is asked to go to
as a solitary preacher
and preach to them destruction.
Were these the reasons that he didn't go?
The size of the task
or the danger of the mission?
No.
These weren't the reasons.
So why then?
Why then did Jonah go
in the opposite direction
from the place that God had asked him to go?
Nineveh is about 600 miles northeast of Jerusalem.
It's modern-day Mosul, Iraq.
Joppa is 30 miles northwest,
which is modern-day Jaffa, Israel.
And Tarshish, we're not sure about,
but it's likely located in Spain.
So get that picture.
He's meant to go one direction.
He walks out of the front of his house,
and rather than turning right
to head down the road,
he turns left.
He goes in directly the opposite direction
to get on a ship
and to sail far away
across the Mediterranean.
Why did he flee in this way?
Why did his flight take this course?
The book of Jonah answers that for us.
In chapter 4, verse 2,
after we see the repentance of the Ninevites,
he said,
O Lord, is not this what I said
when I was yet in my country?
That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish,
for I knew that you are a gracious God
and merciful,
slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love,
and relenting from disaster.
Jonah hated the Ninevites.
They were enemies of Israel,
and he knew of God's character
that he was merciful,
and that if he were to go
and preach destruction to these people
and they were to turn from their ways,
that God would show them mercy.
And he did not want that to be the case.
I fear that in so many ways,
we do this as a people.
James Montgomery Boyce,
in his commentary on Jonah,
says,
we can understand the geography
and Jonah's motives
if we can imagine the word of the Lord
coming to a Jew who lived in New York
during World War II,
telling him to go to Berlin
to preach to Nazi Germany,
and instead of this,
he goes to San Francisco
and takes a boat for Hong Kong.
And this is the issue before us.
This is the life of a man
that we ought to filter
our own lives through.
Who are your Ninevites?
This could be on a grand
and political scale.
This could also be interpersonal,
an individual that you just don't care for,
or a group of people
that you just don't care for.
I remember back to my high school days.
I was not a big fan of the jocks
at our school,
with some good reason.
But it's God's mercy
not good for them
should they not also repent
and believe.
And we categorize people
and we break them up in this way
and we should not.
So I want to show you,
with that as the backdrop,
three things about our God.
I want to show you God's purpose
in this text,
God's power,
and God's presence.
And God's purpose in this world,
I want to sum up in this way,
is to make Himself known.
To seek His own glory,
His own acclaim,
to make Himself known
primarily through the merciful redemption
of His people.
Let me give you some text to this end.
Isaiah 43, 6 and 7.
God says,
I will say to the north,
give up,
and to the south,
do not withhold.
Bring My sons from afar
and My daughters from the end of the earth.
Everyone who is called by My name,
whom I created for My glory,
whom I formed and I made.
God has always had
worldwide intentions
for His glory.
He has always intended to save peoples
from every tribe
and every nation
and every tongue.
This theme maintains itself
all throughout the Old Testament.
God didn't just intend
to have Israel as His people.
The book of Jonah
is a wonderful expression of that.
Go to the great city of Nineveh
and preach destruction
that they may turn to Me.
There's always been an inclusion
in God's people.
Habakkuk 2, 14.
God says,
For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory
of the Lord
as the waters
cover the sea.
For time,
there's two Old Testament
examples for you.
This has always been
God's intention.
How is it that He accomplishes
this great work
of the glory of His name
by the redemption
of His people?
He accomplishes it
through preaching.
And I don't mean
only this kind
of preaching.
I mean the kind of preaching
that's so often
translated in that way.
The Greek word means
gossiping.
Like in Acts 8, 4.
When the early church
is split up
because of persecution,
it says that they went
about preaching
the Word of God.
It means that they told
anybody and everybody
as they're dispersed
back across
the known world
about the good news
of Jesus Christ.
How is it that we find
Christianity
on three continents
in one generation?
Because God's people
preach the good news
of Jesus Christ.
They saw that they were
meant to go
and to make disciples.
Romans chapter 10,
13 through 17.
Beloved, hear me.
I often read
these common texts
and I think,
oh, I need to come up
with more creative texts.
Right?
That people haven't heard
so much.
But I wonder if I say
Romans 10, 13 through 17
if you go,
I don't read that.
You should.
Okay, so hear me.
You should.
For everyone
who calls
on the name of the Lord
will be saved.
Do we care about people
to that degree?
Right?
Even our Ninevites
that we would want people
to have what we have.
Right?
The mercy of God
to us in Jesus Christ.
Everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord
will be saved.
How then will they call
on Him
in whom they have not believed?
And how are they
to believe in Him
of whom they have never heard?
And how are they to hear
without someone preaching?
This is that Greek word.
Don't think that this
excludes you.
Right?
This isn't just a text
for the pastor.
This is a text
for the believer.
And how are they to preach
unless they are sent?
As it is written,
how beautiful are the feet
of those
who preach
the good news.
But they have not all
obeyed the gospel.
For Isaiah says,
Lord,
who has believed
what He has heard
from us?
So there's not a promise
that everyone's going to turn
to Christ.
Right?
We can see that here.
Right?
But there's a command to go.
Verse 17,
So faith comes from hearing
and hearing
through the word of Christ.
Jonah seemed to understand this
better than we do
so often.
He didn't want to go
because he knew
they probably would believe
that God would save
their souls.
Psalm 96.3,
the exhortation,
declare His glory
among the nations,
His marvelous works
among all the peoples.
Matthew chapter 28,
another text
you should be very familiar with.
Right?
Just the first part
of verse 19,
Go therefore
and make disciples
of all nations.
Acts 1.8,
You will receive power
when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you
and you will be
my witnesses
in Jerusalem,
in all Judea
and Samaria
and to the end
of the earth.
If we are disciples
of Jesus Christ,
we will care about
what Jesus Christ
cares about.
Luke 19.10,
For the Son of Man
came to seek
and to save
the lost.
This is the means
by which
He carries the Gospel
to all peoples.
And don't hear me
just making a mission call.
Certainly include that
in this.
Some of you may need
to go
and go to the ends
of the earth,
to the weirdest
and most remote places
where people live.
All of us need to go
to wherever we're going
this week.
To see that we are
first and foremost
disciples of Jesus Christ.
Everything else
falls underneath that.
Everything else
is subservient
to the fact
that we're God's people
and we're meant
to take the good news
of Christ
to everyone
everywhere.
To be messengers
of the mercy
of God.
And this book
just drips
with that.
God displays
abundant
mercy
toward mankind
in the story
of Jonah.
I am always
so thankful
for the conjunction
but.
You see that
this command
is given to
Jonah.
Verse 3,
but Jonah.
He's given a command.
Instead,
he goes and does
this thing.
And instead of God
doing the warranted
thing for Jonah's
rebellion,
right?
I read these first
three verses
and in my mind
I want God
to smush Jonah.
Be done with him.
Right?
Ah, rebellious.
Go on to the next guy.
Right?
Somebody else
in Jerusalem
certainly would have
gone.
But verse 4
says,
but the Lord.
And there's this
great intervention
on his behalf.
He sends a great
wind and a great
fish because
he loves
Jonah.
Because he's
merciful toward
Jonah.
He's got this
mission for him
that he intends
to carry out
and he does not
need him to
accomplish this
thing.
Could God not
in some other
way preach the
good news to the
people of Nineveh?
Certainly he could.
But he chooses
to use Jonah
and to express
his mercy
through the
work of Jonah.
He shows this
abundant mercy
to him.
And he does it
on more than
one occasion.
He does it
again in chapter
4.
Again, I want
Jonah to be
smushed by the
thumb of God.
But God
stays his
anger toward
him.
He shows mercy
to the mariners.
We see their
repentance and he
stays the storm
for them once
they throw Jonah.
overboard.
And he
certainly shows
mercy to the
people of Nineveh
as we see the
greatest revival
that has ever
happened in all
of history in
the book of
Jonah.
We see God's
purpose in
Jonah.
The redemption
of people from
every tribe,
every nation,
and every tongue.
This includes
all of the ways
that we section
ourselves out.
This includes
the hipsters.
God's power.
The second thing
I want you to
see.
God's power.
There's a number
of things that we
see in the text
that we can speak
about God's
power.
He calms a
storm.
Think about
Jesus speaking
to the storm
on the Sea of
Galilee and
calming it.
He commands
a great fish.
He's got power
over the
creation.
We see that
he changes
hearts.
We see that
the Ninevites
and the mariners
turn to God.
We see all
this expression
of God's
power,
but I'm
referring
specifically
when I talk
about God's
power from
this text
to God's
sovereignty.
His ultimate
and complete
reign over
all things.
Nothing
escapes
God's
control
and power.
And we seem
as a people
to have no
trouble with
God's sovereignty
in the natural
order of things.
An example
of this
would be
gravity.
Have you ever
heard a person
complain?
That God
is in control
of the way
in which
we stay
on the ground?
I never have.
I'm thankful
for it.
I can rest
in that fact
that I know
that I'm
on the ground
and gravity
is going to
function and
continue to
work.
This is under
God's purview.
He is in
control of
this right
now that
we're where
we are.
We're held
together.
You're not
going to float
up out of
your seats
all of a
sudden.
Unless the
sermon gets
real good.
You're going
to stay put
in your seats.
We have
no trouble
with this
kind of
thing.
We say,
oh sure,
God is
sovereign and
in control
of that.
The orbit
of the planet.
Yes,
God is in
control of
that.
But we
seem to
really struggle
with it
when it
comes to
the experience
of life.
Suddenly we
become,
because we
experience
something
different,
we become
gods in
ourselves.
And we
say,
oh,
we couldn't
possibly be
sovereign over
all things.
we struggle
with it,
with things
like a
wayward
saint.
I think
all of us
have been
around long
enough that
we've seen
a person who
professes faith
in Christ,
who shows so
much evidence
of that,
and then just
seems in so
many ways to
rebel against
God.
To run
off.
People are
coming to my
mind that
have been
here and
have left.
And this is
not the
magical place.
You've got to
be here if
you're a
Christian.
But they
go off and
with their
life,
they just
kick against
God.
Does God
not have the
ability to
actually crush
our wills?
Certainly He
could,
and sometimes
I just
wish that
He would.
That He
would just
actually make
me a
robot.
I would
be fine
with that.
Help me
to walk
in righteousness.
So we
struggle in
this way.
Jonah speaks
to this.
Jonah speaks
to this.
God is
in control.
His providence
raised.
Look at the
way that He
deals with
Jonah.
to accomplish
His purpose
with Jonah
indirectly.
Could God
have, and
certainly He
has, there's
some accounts
of it in
the Scripture,
of changing
somebody in
a way that
causes them
to do a
thing?
Couldn't He
have done
that here,
right?
Couldn't
verse 4
read,
but God,
but the
Lord,
as He
was turning,
as He
was going
toward Joppa,
changed His
heart and
caused Him
to walk
the other
direction
to
Nineveh.
Certainly,
He could
have.
But here,
God works
indirectly.
He works
through
circumstance,
a great
storm and
a great
fish.
Jonah
recognizes
God's
intervention
in His
repentance,
which we'll
talk about
next week,
and does
the thing
that God
had said
Him about
doing.
His
providence
reigns at
all times.
It never
does it,
even if our
experience
doesn't seem
to affirm
that.
Beloved,
the Scripture
is our
great high
authority,
not our
experience.
Psalm 115.3,
Our God
is in the
heavens.
He does
all that
He pleases.
Proverbs
16.9,
The heart
of man
plans his
way,
but the
Lord
establishes
His steps.
Proverbs
21.1,
says of a
king,
and it
says it of a
king because
the king
was in
absolute
control in
the mind
of the
people over
everything that
was under
his reign,
right?
But the
king's
heart is a
stream of
water in
the hand
of the
Lord.
He turns
it wherever
he will.
Effortlessly
he turns
it.
And certainly
this gives
application
to us.
God is
sovereignly in
control of
all things.
Now I
don't want
to even
try to
work out
all the
implications
of that
with you.
I don't
think we
will on
this side
of glory.
I think
it's a
thing that's
far too
high for
us to
completely
understand.
How it
is that
God is
sovereign over
all things
and yet we
are responsible
for our
actions,
I don't
want to
try.
I don't
want to
try.
Listen to
this quote
from Charles
Spurgeon.
This is on
the front of
your bulletin
that you
don't have
because it's
sitting in
the hall.
So I'll
try to read
it carefully
and you
can go
back and
reread it
if you
manage to
pick one
of those
up.
He once
said,
opposition
to divine
sovereignty
is
essentially
atheism.
Men have
no objection
to a
God who
really is
no God.
I mean
by this
a God
who shall
be the
subject
of their
caprice
or temper
tantrums,
who shall
be a
lackey
to their
will,
who shall
be under
their
control.
They have
no objection
to such
a being
as that.
But a
God who
speaks
and it
is done,
who
commands
and it
stands
fast,
a God
who has
no respect
for their
persons but
does as
he wills
among the
armies of
heaven and
among the
inhabitants of
this lower
world,
such a
God as
this they
cannot
endure.
Oh, I hope
we're not
those people.
I hope
we're a
people who
rest in the
sovereignty of
God over
all things,
who believe
the promises
of Scripture.
The same
way that we
rest in the
sure promise
of gravity,
we can rest
in the sure
promise that
God is
sovereignly in
control of
everything.
Young
people,
this should
help you
as you
consider what
comes next
in the future.
I know this
is one of the
great questions
on your
mind.
What am I
to do
next?
What is
God's will
for my
life?
God
accomplished
it with
Jonah,
even when
Jonah was
running in
the opposite
direction.
He'll do
the same
for you.
I'm not
saying don't
be wise,
I'm not
saying don't
seek counsel,
walk in the
way of the
Lord,
pray about
what you
should do,
but rest
in the
fact that
God is
in
control.
Thirdly,
God's
presence.
God's
presence.
There's
an interesting
little phrase
in this
first chapter
expressing
what it is
exactly that
Jonah is
fleeing from.
It doesn't
say the
command of
God.
It says
that he's
fleeing from
the presence
of the
Lord.
It's twice
in verse
three,
it's once
in verse
ten.
He's
fleeing
from the
presence
of the
Lord.
What does
that mean?
It's such
an interesting
thing.
I think
we all
understand
that God
is omnipresent.
The scripture
affirms that.
Psalm
139,
7-10,
which Jonah
should have
been aware
of.
He's a bit
of a later
Old Testament
character.
The Psalms
were completed
at this
time.
They would
have been
canonized.
They would
have existed
and distributed
at this
time.
I believe
he would
have been
familiar
with this
text,
which says,
where shall
I go
from your
spirit?
Or where
shall I
flee from
your
presence?
If I
ascend to
heaven,
you are
there.
If I
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.
But yet,
it's recorded
that he was
fleeing from
the presence
of God.
It seems
that Psalm
139,
7-10 was
written for
Jonah.
Once again,
we get this
dwelling in
the uttermost
parts of
the sea.
Who has
ever done
that except
for Jonah
for three
days?
James
Montgomery
Boyce
suggested he
liked to
imagine the
name of the
ship that he
got on,
which we
don't know
was Wings
of the
Morning.
He took
the wings
of the
morning,
and he
later dwelled
in the
uttermost
part of
the sea.
Maybe this
is the
text.
Maybe this
is the
way that
God spoke
to him
as he's
in the
belly of
that great
fish.
That even
in these
places,
God's hand
was leading
him,
and his
right hand
was holding
him.
So what
does it
mean that
he was
fleeing the
presence
of God?
Jeremiah
7-23,
God speaks
and says,
obey my
voice,
obey my
voice,
and I
will be
your
God,
and you
shall
be my
people,
and walk
in all
the way
that I
command
you,
that it
may be
well with
you.
And I
think what's
happening in
the book of
Jonah,
and the
reason for
this record,
is not that
Jonah could
actually flee
from God
himself.
God is
going to be
present in
those places.
But what
they're trying
to express
is that out
of Jonah's
disobedience,
he was
fleeing from
communion with
God,
with God's
pleasure with
him,
that he was
severing that
which was good
in the garden,
which was so
beautiful and
precious about
the garden.
It was
paradise,
there was no
evil,
there was no
death,
all of those
things.
But the
beautiful thing
about the
garden is
that Adam
and Eve
had communion
with God.
He walked
with them
in the
garden.
And this
is something
that ceased
at the fall
as their
cast out
of the
garden,
they're
cast out
of the
presence
of God.
Christ brings
us back
to that.
That's what
the great
restoration
is for us,
that we get
to be back
in relationship
with God.
But even
as those
who are now
positionally
back in
that place,
we can still
sever communion
with the
Lord by our
disobedience.
We walk
in evil
ways.
We don't
walk by
the Spirit.
He is
always there,
but yet we
shut him
off.
And I
think that's
what's
trying to
be
communicated
here.
The author
of Jonah
is trying
to say
that Jonah
by fleeing
from the
will of
God was
fleeing
from the
relationship
with God.
It's good
to be with
the Lord,
even if
He's saving
our enemies,
that we
would walk
with Him
because He's
our greatest
good.
Psalm 119.
35
says,
Lead me in
the path
of your
commandments,
for I
delight in
it.
It is good
for the
people of
God,
to be
with
God.
John
writes in
1 John 2,
3-6,
and by
this we
know that
we have
come to
know Him.
We've
positionally
changed.
We know
that we have
come to
know if
we keep
His
commandments.
We don't
keep His
commandments
so that
we can
know,
but we
know that
we know
because we
keep His
commandments.
Whoever
says,
I know
Him,
but does
not keep
His
commandments,
is a
liar,
and the
truth is
not in
him.
But whoever
keeps His
word in
Him,
truly the
love of
God is
perfected.
By this
we may
know that
we are
in Him.
Whoever
says he
abides in
Him,
ought to
walk in
the same
way in
which He
walked.
This brings
us back
to God's
purpose.
God's
purpose,
God's
power,
and God's
presence.
So let me
ask you a
couple of
questions in
conclusion this
morning.
Are you
a rebel
this morning?
Are you a
rebel
positionally?
Have you
never believed
in Christ,
His person,
His work,
His perfect
sacrifice,
on your
behalf?
Do you
stand as
the
Ninevites
or the
mariners
stand,
never knowing
God,
being cut
off from
Him?
The call
to you is
to repent
and to
believe.
Destruction
is your
end unless
you repent
and believe.
Or are you
a rebel
functionally
this morning?
Have you
repented
and believed?
Are you
positionally
found in
Christ and
yet you
don't walk
in His
way?
And don't
think that
you're waiting
for the
word of the
Lord to
come to
you.
That you
need a
vision for
Him to
speak to
you for
what you
should do.
You have
His word
already.
He's given
you command
to walk
in.
Do you
love the
purpose of
God?
Do you
believe in
the power
of God?
Do you
walk in
the presence
of God?
Of course,
to all of
these things,
all of us
should say
imperfectly
no.
Imperfectly,
I hope
yes.
And in
this,
as you ask
the Lord
to search
your heart,
the call
to you
is repent
and believe.
Turn from
your sin
and turn
to Christ.
Don't be
Jonah.
And we'll
look more
in the coming
weeks.
What the
rest of
the book
has to
say to
us about
our God.
Let's pray
together.