Jonah Flees From God

Good morning everybody. I don't like that. You got to tell truth. It's easy to think um of God as someone who is impersonal, distant, and indifferent to our lives. But scripture actually reveals to us over and over again that God is a personal God who cares about the affairs of his children. We can easily be deceived that our own anxieties are too little for God, that they're not that important to him to pay attention to because he has bigger things to worry about.

Um, but it's pride that makes us think like this. Um, to keep our anxieties to ourselves and not to give them all to the Lord, but because the Lord, he calls us to humble ourselves in the midst of our worrying. And that we do that by casting all of our anxieties on him, not sparing one. Not just some of them, all of them. Um so let's hear what um God has to say to us in First Peter 5:67. It says, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you."

Peter reminds us in this verse of the goodness of God and his care for his people. That he is an intensely personal God that sees us, that he's close to us, and that he takes delight in providing for us. So, let's rejoice in that together, and let's stand and worship together. [Music] We won't fear the battle. We won't fear the night. We will walk the valley with you by our side.

You will go before us. You will lead the way. We have found a refuge only can sing. Sing with joy now. Our God is for us. The father's love is strong and mighty for peace.

Raise your voice now. No love is greater. Who can stand against us if our God is for us? [Music] Even when I stumble, even when I fall, even when I turn, still your love is sure. You will not offend me. You will not forsake.

You will cheer me on with neverending grace. Sing with joy now. Our God is for us. The father's love is a strong and mighty fortress. Raise your voice now. Your love is greater.

Who can stand against us if our love is for us. [Music] Hide or death can separate us. Hell and death will not defeat us. He who gave his son to save us. Hold me in his love. Neither height nor death can separate us.

Hell and death will not defeat us. He who gave his son to free us holds me in his love. Neither height nor death can separate us. Hell and death will not defeat us. He who gave his son to free us. Holds me in his love.

[Music] Sing with joy now. Our God is for us. The Father's love is a strong and mighty fortune. Raise your voice now. No love is greater. No stand against us.

If our God is for us, sing with joy now. Our God is for us. The Father's love is a strong and mighty fortress. Raise your voice now. No love is greater. Who can stand against us if our God is for us?

[Music] Come thou f of every blessing. Tune my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing. Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some sung by flameing tongues above. Praise the mountain fixed upon it.

Mount of thy redeeming love. [Music] And here I raise my everer [Music] hither by thy help I'm hope by thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home. Jesus saw me when a strangeanger wandering from the fold of God. He to rescue me from danger interpose his precious blood. [Music] Oh to grace how great a ter daily I'm constrained to be and let thy goodness like a f My wondering heart to be prone to wonder. Lord, I feel it.

Prone to leave the God I love. And here's my heart. Oh, take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.

And here's my heart. Oh, take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. And here's my heart. Oh, take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above.

[Music] [Music] [Music] You call me out upon the waters, the great unknown where feet may fail. And there I find you in the ocean deep. My faith will stand. And I will call upon your name and keep my eyes above the waves. When o rise, my soul rest in your embrace. For I am yours and you are mine.

[Music] Your grace abounds in deepest waters. Your sovereign hand will be my guide. where fear may fail and fear surrounds me. You never fail and you won't start now. So I will call upon your name and keep my eyes above the waves. When oceans rise, my soul rests in your embrace.

For I am yours and you are mine. [Music] [Music] Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders. Let me walk above the waters wherever you would call me. Take me deeper than my feet could ever wonder. And my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my savior. Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders.

Let me walk above the waters wherever you would call me. Take me deeper than my feet could ever want. And my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my savior. Spiritually you will my trustes without borders and me walkers wherever you call me. Take me deeper than my feet could ever wonder. And my faith would be made stronger in the presence of my Savior.

[Music] I will call upon your name. Keep my eyes above the waves. When o rise, my soul will rest in your embrace. I am yours and you [Music] Lord, how hard it is to trust sometimes, especially when we're facing difficult and painful and questionable circumstances. Lord, forgive us for the times where we lack trust, where we have doubt. Lord, I just I ask this morning before we move on to anything else, Lord, that you would just help us to identify the areas where we're not trusting you and just lay those before you today to be open to not picking them back up when we leave.

We thank you that you are trustworthy. We thank you that you are good. We thank you that you are our father. We thank you that you're sovereign. It's in your name. Amen.

You guys can go and have a seat. Um this week what we are going to do as we have been trying to practice uh the last couple months uh is led prayer. So, if I could have the Sherman Matt Jordan up here, February for most of us should know this is Black History Month. And so, what we wanted to do is highlight some of the things that we would like to see in our church, um, as well as in our community. And one of those things is diversity, diversity in ethnicity within our church, diversity in age, gender, um, a lot of different things. And so with it being Black History Month, we wanted to highlight and pray for uh specifically and predominantly black churches in our community um that God would be glorified in them.

Um and that our church itself would look like what this community looks like here. So if you will join me and them in their leading prayer. Great. Thanks guys. Um my name is Matt Sherman. This is my wife Jordan.

And um we we wanted to open up with a verse uh several verses from uh Revelation chapter 7 starting verse 9. And right to put the context in um there's a listing of the 12 of the 144,000 from each tribe and begins after this I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice belongs to our God who sits in the throne and to the lamb and all the angels were standing standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. And they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiping God saying, "Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever. Amen." I think with the the nature about diversity is obviously we all look like each other, right?

maybe varying in age, background, and whatnot, but living in a city that does not look like us is something that we need to face, something that we need to replicate within our personal lives, within our body as a as a church. And so, we've been able to identify um just simply three uh I I guess predominantly black churches. uh won the Eastern Star Church uh off of Cooper Road and 56th Street, Witherspoon Presbyterian Church at Michigan Road and 52nd Street, and Full Gospel Apostolic Church, which was right across from the refinery. So, I'm going to go ahead and um pray for these churches and then also just pray for um those in our community that are black because we are celebrating them this month, but we should be celebrating them all the time. um because they you know they are made in God's image. So if you guys want to go ahead and bow your heads and we are going to pray.

Um dear heavenly father um we just come to you just with open hands God and open hearts. Um and knowing that if you look around in our church um we all look very similar to each other. And God, um, we just ask that we would just be able to submit to that and just be able to have hearts that are open, um, to creating just a more diverse room um, that just replicates your kingdom and replicates just all the people that you that you love, Lord. Um, we ask for forgiveness just for when we make mistakes. Um, and I pray that we would just acknowledge them and make the commitment to move forward and learn just from a world that doesn't look like us. Um, and God, uh, I just pray that we would just continue to submit to you knowing that this is going to be a lifelong journey of just learning um, and just asking you to mold our hearts um, for what you long and love for.

Um God, I would just pray that um you would give us opportunities to meet and befriend and serve people who are different from us that don't look like us. God, um I pray that we would make tangible steps um with our brothers and sisters of color and specifically in celebration of Black History Month. God. Um those who are black, I just pray um that we would make the commitment and just move forward um and value and see um and pray for black lives um that they would be valued, that they would feel safe, that they would be lifted up um and that we as a church body would help to glorify God and glorify you, God um in loving um those who are different from us. And so, um, Lord, as we just continue throughout our day, our week, um, this year, I just pray that we would just be adamant to love, um, those who are black and just share the good news of the gospel. Um, and we love you so much, Lord, in Jesus name.

Amen. Well, good morning everyone. At this time, uh, we're going to go ahead and dismiss our three to five year olds. So, three to five year olds, if y'all can head over to your classroom, that'd be great. And for everyone else, if you got your Bibles, go ahead and open them up. Jonah chapter 1 is where we're going to be.

Jonah chapter 1. Uh, go ahead and grab those. And, uh, we'll dive into this. This is a new series that we began last week. And uh sorry my sons are fighting in the back right now. So that's always good.

Um we're talking about rebellious prophets and so this is great. Not saying that they're prophets, but they're definitely rebellious right now. Um but anyways, good morning everyone. I'm just going to start over with that. Uh Jonah 1, Josh kicked this off last week with us covering the first couple of verses. And uh I think Jonah is a book that that a lot of times I think a lot of us know about it, know a lot about it as far as just kind of the general high points of it.

You got a prophet who uh gets swallowed by a fish, gets delivered from that, preaches to some people, they repent, and and then the life just kind of continues on. Like that's kind of the general idea that we have around this. and and really most people just focus on the big fish and Jonah being swallowed by it. That's kind of the main thing that people take away from from this book. And and I think because of that, it's widely misunderstood and what the story is actually about. And so that's one of the reasons why we wanted to dive into this book was not only uh because it is a very widen uh book and and truths that come from this, but I think they're also misunderstood.

And I think it it allows us to be to be able to see really some characteristics of God and his grace and his mercy uh that he does despite us uh despite we're choosing to do in our life or or maybe where we're uh actively and and rebelliously running from God in different ways. um or even if we're kind of collateral damage uh in the story of what God is doing in the world around us, there's so many beautiful truths that we see that just highlight the goodness and the graciousness and the mercy of God in this book. And so that's that's one of the things that I love about this book as we continue to uh walk through this over the next few weeks. And so today is going to be very similar. Today is going to be a day in which even though we're seeing the the the beginnings of the fleeing of Jonah from the Lord's face, what we're really going to be able to see in this is is again the character of God and the mercy of God even in a moment where where we may just be outright rebellious uh towards him and towards his plans and and what he has called us to.

And and so I want to first kind of ask this question to kick it off. Have you ever played hideand- go seek with kids before? Yeah, it it's If you've ever played hideand- go seek with kids, it's it's ridiculous. I mean, I've I I play I've got three boys, six, four, and 19 months, and uh we we play hideand- go seek. They they would play all the time if we could, but uh we probably play once or twice a week. And and as I'm kind of, you know, sitting on the couch counting, I mean, I can literally hear the debris trail that they're leading wherever they're going to actually hide.

And so all I got to do is just open my eyes up and just follow the the debris trail. But even then, once I find where they're at, I mean, it's it's just ridiculous. I mean, it it might be a head that's buried in a drawer, but the entire body is just sitting outside of it. Um, it might be them, you know, under a blanket, but the feet are hanging out the side or or the best is my 19-month-old, uh, who literally just does this. I mean, he could just be standing in the middle of a hallway and he's just like, "If I can't see daddy, daddy can't see me." Like, that's what he's thinking.

And so, this is where we kind of find ourselves with Jonah in this story is he's just playing this cosmic just hideand go seek with the Lord. Um, and and almost to the point where I don't know that he thinks the Lord's even going to come after me, but but I'm going to go hide. I'm going to go hide. And and we don't really know why yet. We don't really know why Jonah decides to hide. And and I think that's again, I'm going to leave you with that today.

I'm not going to give you the reason today of why he goes and hide. That that does come in the weeks to come. And so it's kind of like a movie trailer. Well, like you got to come back in order to get that. Uh so that's how we keep you coming back for more. Um but but this really is a silly scenario that I believe Jonah finds himself in.

And I'm wanting you to see is there's really no place on earth where you can flee God's presence. It's going to be one of the big ideas. There there's no place on earth that you can flee God's presence. And the good news in that there's no place on earth where you can flee where God's mercy is also in that place and presence. And that's what we're going to see today. It reminds me of what David preaches in Psalm 139:es 7-12 where he 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 and shield, you are there. If I make or if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, which is ironic with the story of Jonah, your right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me and the light about me be night, even the darkness is not dark to you. The night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

So, and and one of the things I love about this with David is there we do know there are moments where David is crying out where are you Lord? Like like I feel like you are distant. I feel like you are far. I feel like you are not near. But at the same time, he's preaching to his own soul. Where can I go where your presence is not there in its fullness and in its entirety?

And that's what we're going to see today with Jonah is that we can't flee from God's presence. It's when we believe that God is distant, that God is far, that God is not with us, that we can run from him or hide or or that he can't see something. It's then and there where we make some of the most foolish decisions in our life. This is true. It's when we believe the lie that God is distant is when we make some of the most foolish decisions in our life. So, let's dive into Jonah 1.

Again, Josh covered the first two verses last week, so I'm not going to I'm going to reread them, but I'm not going to necessarily preach on them. Jonah 1 1-3. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amati, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for there evil has come up before me." Now Jonah rose to flee to Tarses from the presence of the Lord." He went down to Japa, and he found a ship going to Tarses. So he paid the fair and he went down into it to go with them to Tarses away from the presence of the Lord.

I just want to stop there as we as we slowly unpack this story from the Lord. Who's Jonah again? Like for those who don't know Jonah was an Old Testament prophet of God. All right. So the way it worked back then was God would call prophets and he would call prophets to be the mouthpieces or the ambassadors of the Lord in order to speak to the people to give them truth. And these truths would help them guide their lives.

They would help them uh repent of what they needed to repent and trust in what they needed to trust and live the way that they needed to live. This was what God called prophets to do. And Jonah is a prophet who is called to do this, to be an ambassador of the Lord, to be to be a mouthpiece of the Lord. This is who he is. And so what did Jonah do? Well, he gets this word from the Lord to go and arise and go to Nineveh.

And yet, what did he do? Well, he he did get up. He he did arise and he packed his bags. But instead of going to Nineveh, he heads to Japa. He buys a Carnival cruise ticket and he jumps on the ship and he starts heading to Tarsus. And what do we know about Tarsus?

Was it just kind of like a pit stop on the way? Can we give him the benefit of the doubt that maybe he wanted to see some sightseeing on his way to Nineveh? Maybe he wanted to take like a little vacation. Maybe he want to go the scenic route in order to get there. Well, if you know anything on the geographical location in the known ancient world at this time, Tarsus is completely on the opposite side of the known world of where Nineveh is. So, he's not going the scenic route.

He's not going to sightsee. He's not going on a vacation. He's literally arising, packing his bags, buying a ticket, and saying, "Lord, I'm going the opposite direction of what you just called me to. I I'm I'm I want I'm I'm so against this idea of Nineveh that we'll get to in a little bit. I'm so against it that I'm going to the completely opposite route. This would be like there's a part in Acts where the Lord tells one of the deacons, Philillip, to just go south.

I mean, he doesn't give him a destination. He just says, "Hey, just get up and go south." This would be like him waking up and saying, "I'm just going to go north. I'm just going to directly disobey what you've called me to do. And one of the immediate questions again arising is is why would he do this? Why would he do this?

I mean, it's Super Bowl Sunday. Like, did Nineveh shut out Israel in like a former Super Bowl at some point? Like like why would he do this? Does he just hate them? Does he again Not going to give you the answer for that one. It's in the weeks to come.

But one of the points that I do want to make, and this is the first point for us today, is God is calling you every day to challenging acts of obedience. Like like for Jonah, what we know coming up, this is a challenging act of obedience for him. It's not something he wants to do. And I think for us again the first point to draw out of this passage is that God is going to call us to challenging acts of obedience. Like I I remember when when I was kind of coming into uh Christianity as like a middle schooler, high schooler and I was learning and and I was growing and and at that time like just different uh pastors and preachers who would preach about Christianity. I mean, like they wrapped it up as if it was this this mountaintop beautiful, wonderful experience that right now your life as a sinner is terrible and all the decisions you make are bad and everything's going to go bad for you.

But if you come to Christ and you come into Christianity, your life is going to be awesome and it's going to solve all of your problems and it's going to allow you to live on this mountaintop experience for the rest of your life. It's going to be beautiful. It's going to be like little baby cherabs fly around you at all times. Like there's always someone plucking a guitar in the background. Like it's it's just this wonderful beautiful experience. Now for the soul, yes and amen, that that's where Christ brings us to.

Like we find peace and we find rest and we find comfort in our soul because we're forgiven of our sins that caused really all that turmoil in our life. But it does not make your life and the experiences and circumstances that you walk in, it does not necessarily make them all rose petals and wonderful and glorious and beautiful and so forth. Like it it is not an easy life. There's a cost to disciplehip. There's a cost to following Christ. I mean, you look at the first 12.

Look at the first 12. Every single one of them died a martyr's death. Not glamorous. Not retiring, you know, with a house on the hill. Not retiring with a ton of money in the bank. Like, it's they they did not go and just vacation for the majority of their life in the end.

No, they they were called to challenging acts of obedience. And this is one of those moments where Jonah is called to a challenging act of obedience. And and here's the thing, too, is like that sounds like, well, that that that sounds daunting. That sounds not appealing. But what we know again from scriptures, what we know is that when we say yes to what God has called us to, when we obey it, it is only in that obedience that we live life with joy. With joy.

Even if sometimes there's grudging submission. Even if sometimes we're like, "Lord, I I don't want to go down this route. I don't want to uproot my family and move somewhere else. I don't want to share the gospel with this person. I don't want to do whatever it is." And if we stay in that train of thought or we stay in that act of disobedience, it begins to create, as we'll kind of see illustrated here in a moment, it creates storms within our soul.

It creates unrest. It's only in the obedience that we actually find rest and joy and peace and comfort in what God promises us in his goodness and his grace. And what do I mean by call? To be called is is again simply this. Because I think sometimes when we say like we're called by God to go and do something to we're waiting for him to like literally call us on our phone or we're waiting for him to have somebody come and tell us the Lord gave me just a word and I'm going to tell you that I think this is what you need to do. He's he's calling you to go and do this.

To to be called is simply to obey all that God has commanded us to do in the Bible. Like he's already called us by sending his word out. It's recorded and his word is now transcending time and space and people in order to call them to himself to then also then be sent back out into the domain of darkness. That's one of the things I love about Colossians 1 is that it literally tells us he transferred us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved son and yet has then sent us back into the domain of darkness to continue to spread his light and to call people to him. Like that's what ministry is. That's what the ministry of the saints is.

That's what every single person in this room who live under the banner of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, you are in the game. You're playing a part. That's actually that's what Josh covered last week. Like like there is no one in this room who can say I am a Christian yet I'm not called to minister. I'm not called to preach the gospel. I'm not called to share the good news.

I'm not called by God to be obedient to his word and what he's commanded of me. Every single one of us fall in that category. To be disobedient to that call, to those commands that he has called us to do. To be disobedient would be to fall in line like what Jonah is doing here. So again, the first point that I want you to see is God causes people to challenging acts of obedience. The second point I want you or I want to make is how God responds when we disobey to those calls when we flee as it says here from the presence of the Lord and actually in that can can be translated from the face of the Lord.

I mean this is a guy who is speaking and and this is kind of proverbally like he wasn't actually face to face with the Lord but proverbally here face to face with the Lord turns his face from the Lord and goes the other way flees from the presence of the Lord. The second point I want you to see is God acts mercifully when his people respond to his call with disobedience. God acts mercifully And this this is what is kind of strange and mysterious and it clues us in on the character of God. So Jonah pays the fair. He hops on again the the ship here, the Carnival cruise to Tarses. And and look at what happens in verse four.

But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea. And there was a mighty tempest on the sea. So that the ship threatened to break up. So the first thing that we see is God's response to Jonah's attempts to flee from the presence of the Lord. It ends up being this epic fail on Jonah's behalf. Like the the ship didn't just happen to come upon some choppy waters.

All right? Like it didn't just set sail. and and and before we moved here, uh we were in Miami planting a church for two years down there and and we had a, you know, a great idea to go deep sea fishing at one point. And I am uh I I am very aware of my um equilibrium failures when it comes to deep sea fishing. Now, uh, we we weren't like 15 minutes. As soon as dry land disappeared for the next 5 to 6 hours, I'm just painting the side of this boat that we're on.

I mean, one of the most miserable moments. But yeah, this was a beautiful, glorious day. I mean, sun's shining, beautiful. Josh was on the ship with me and uh, beautiful, glorious day. And the waters, I mean, they were maybe saying were like four to six feet at at that time, but like spaced out. And I'm thinking at that moment, this is the most miserable day of my life.

Like, this is the worst possible thing. Like, so I'm imagining that in this story. And yet, this story is way worse than what I imagined in my deep sea fishing adventures. That this storm comes that God hurled at them. All right. He hurled this storm at them.

Now, make note here. These guys that Well, first, let me back up. I want this to strengthen your theology. Nothing happens that the Lord does not ordain. Just period. Nothing happens that the Lord does not ordain, that the Lord doesn't plan, that the Lord doesn't purpose.

If the if the storm was a fraction less, the mariners that we'll see here in a moment would not be worried. And if it was a fraction more, worse, the ship would break apart. The Lord is sovereign over exactly what he is ordaining here and what he is purposing for these people that are on this ship. And that's something that we need to understand. It it kind of brings in this interesting relationship between the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man where who can you blame for the storm? Jonah because he's fleeing from the Lord and so it's his sin.

and also God because it says he hurled the storm in there. It's this unique mysterious relationship where even in our sinning, God is sovereign and can work with it and use it and ordain it and plan it and purpose it for his glory and our ultimate good. So we see here in verse 5, look at the reaction of the mariners as they find themselves in this mighty wind that has come upon them. 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. So these mariners were so afraid that they just started throwing everything overboard to save their own lives. Now, make note here.

These are not like butlers and musicians on the Titanic. Like, like these are trained mariners and sailors who know what they're doing and have come to the conclusion that preservation of life is their greatest commodity. Like, like they've come to the conclusion that we need to do whatever we can in this scenario to save our lives. So, let's start hurling everything off the boat. Just get rid of everything and let's just start crying out to any and every god possible. And we'll see why here in a moment.

They find themselves in a dangerous situation. And we see the response of God towards Jonah by again hurling this great wind and storm. And we see the response of these mariners who are hurling all of the cargo overboard. There's a lot of hurling that's going to be going on here. All right. And where is Jonah?

Look at the end of verse 5. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. Now, I I didn't dig deep enough to find out if Jonah was married and had kids or not. Uh, I mean there's some people who kind of uh have points on either side of the coin there. Uh, but he has to be a father. The only reason why I say he has to be a father is because this guy can literally sleep through anything.

All right? He can just sleep through anything. We're talking a storm where you've got mariners and sailors running around a muck just trying to figure out how can they save their souls? How can they save their lives here? and he's asleep. I mean, that blows my mind the condition of Jonah's heart.

I mean, this actually is one of the first moments where we can now start to picture why Jonah is actually fleeing in the first place. And what we're seeing here is just how apathetic this guy is. how apathetic he is that yes, he's fleeing from the Lord, which is going to harden his heart a little bit. He also apparently is has a hardened heart towards Nineveh because that's one of the reasons why he doesn't want to go there. He doesn't want to be around them. And then here finds himself in a situation where everyone around him are literally crying out for their lives and he doesn't have a care in the world about it.

He could care less if it goes down. It shows us the condition of Jonah's heart. It's revealing for us layer by layer the apathy that he has and that while he's fleeing from the Lord, he also has no concern for their lives and that they're in danger on this ship. And you know what? The captain is just not going to have it. He's not going to have it.

Look at verse six. So the captain came and said to him, "What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your God, and perhaps the God will give a thought to us that we may not perish." What do you mean, you sleeper? I I think he's being a little too nice there. I I might have some different words uh for Jonah if I found myself in this scenario.

It might be a little harsher, but he's What are you doing, man? Like, what are you doing right now? Like, get up and call out to your God. Like, look around right now. See, see the seriousness of the situation that we have found ourselves in. I mean, the captain is literally yelling for Jonah to call out to his God.

And which isn't that a little ironic that you've got this pagan captain full of pagan mariners all around them. And what they are turning to is actually kind of evangelism here. They're now turning to, hey, we can't figure this out ourselves. We got to get to something beyond ourselves. Maybe there's a God out there that could work for us in this moment. And so maybe we need to pray to him.

Maybe we need to do some work of prayer here. This non-believing captain now believes that his only hope is prayer. And we then see the reactions of some of the rest of the mariners in verse 7. And they said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots that we may know on whose accounts this evil has come upon us." So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said, which imagine that I mean obviously it's going to fall on him.

Then they said to him, "Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?" 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 that you have done?" For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he had told them. So what's happening here is the mariners cast lots. And if you remember when Jesus was being crucified, the soldiers around him were casting lots to determine who would get his garments. This was a way in which uh they would determine things in this day and age. They would just cast lots almost kind of like g in our world.

Oh, did anyone have like the magic eightball when you were a kid? Or you just shake it up and you're like, "All right, should I uh should I eat this last piece of chocolate?" Yes. Thank you. All right. Should I date this person?

Probably not. Like, we would do those things back in the day. All right. This is kind of their way of just leaving it to chance, determining something that they could not necessarily determine themselves. And so they would cast lots and whoever to find out who was responsible for this storm. And you might not you might say in regards to that, how did the Lord allow the lot to fall on Jonah?

Like it seems like they're trying to leave this up to chance. Like how does God work with chance in figuring this out? Well, again, God is sovereign. God is sovereign. Proverbs 16:33 puts it this way, and it just lays it out exactly. The lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord.

So, so nothing is left to chance. Absolutely nothing is left a chance. There is there is no stone unturned that the Lord does not ordain. There is nothing outside of the sovereignty of God. What that does for us is that provides for us deep size of relief that even in our disobedience and the damage that comes from our disobedience, it does not thwart the plans of God and what he has ordained and what he is going to ultimately see come to completion. Now, might there be some better ways to get there?

Absolutely. Obedience to the Lord is always going to be the best route to get to what God has ordained for your life. But it doesn't mean that God can't use your disobedience and the evil and the sin that comes with that in order to work it to still come about what he has ordained. That's sovereignty. And that's a God that we can trust in that he's good and that he's gracious and that he's merciful and that he's in control and that he's not running around trying to figure out how am I going to work this? How am I going to solve this?

I did not expect Jonah to head to Tarses. So, how am I going to get him back? God is never sweating. never. He's never concerned. How am I going to get this back on track?

He ordains everything. So, the mariners after seeing the lot fall on Jonah, they begin grilling him with all of these questions. They need answers for why they're in the dire circumstances that they are in. And Jonah begins to tell them. He says, "I'm a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land." Oh, okay Jonah.

Now you're going to be an evangelist. Now you're gonna start sharing about the goodness of God who made the seas and the dry land. That's what we think when we see this. But how hollow were Jonah's words right here? Like I think about those times I I've done something incredibly stupid and then someone asked me, "Aren't you a Christian?" And I'm like, "Yeah, I believe in God.

I believe in Jesus and and I I go to this church and and there's just those moments where I've like I've just done something stupid and now I'm trying to kind of explain surface level. Well, I I I am on team Jesus and I really I guess we're Jonah's landing here. I mean, we got to still remember this dude's apathetic. He's just given just barely some points of interest to them when it comes to where he lands. There's been too many of those moments. But what Jonah and the mariners didn't know was that God was going to act mercifully even though Jonah responded to God's call with disobedience.

Look at it in verse 11. 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. And 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.

Now many theologians at this point believe this is Jonah starting to repent. That he's starting to take ownership of his actions, but it's not true. It's not true. What what he's actually saying here is I'd rather die. I I would just rather die than one have to deal with my fleeing from the Lord, having to deal with going and doing the call to Nineveh. I'd rather just die.

Just throw me over and the collateral damage of my sin will take care of this. The sea will calm and then I can just end this whole thing. There's a lot of hurling going on here, but Jonah is saying, "Throw me into the sea and it will quiet down because this is my fault. There are some deep theological waters here, no pun intended, but those two things are working together here where we see the consequences of his actions, the sea, but we also see the sovereignty of the Lord. Again, this is not out of his control. And he's still going to use even the decisions that Jonah is making here to still exact what he is wanting to happen.

But something kind of interesting happens first where these men, these mariners, they don't listen to Jonah. And I would actually say even though they are not like they're they're pagans here, they they're not god-fearing in the sense that they're saying to pray to any and every god possible, I still believe these mariners from a character standpoint are better men than Jonah. Better men than Jonah. Jonah's office. And this is important for us. This is important for every single person in this room.

Jonah's office does not determine his character. Okay? Like Jonah's off office office does not determine his character. We're seeing here that he has character flaws as we see what these men do. Verse 13. 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.

The mariners here are better men than Jonah. Yet even their attempts to save his life and theirs is still not working. No matter what we do at times when we try to take things into our own hands and we try to fix things oursel, we try to row our own lives, God is still going to do what God is going to do. He's going to do what he's going to do. And these men just they all had to learn the hard way. They're rowing against the current of God's ordered and ordained and purposed plan here.

I think this causes us at times to maybe question God when we're rowing and we're rowing and we're rowing and we're wondering why hasn't anything changed? Why hasn't God answered? and we just keep going and going and going. It's because we got to realize that there needs to come a time for sacrifice. There has to come a time for sacrifice. There has to come a time of submission.

There has to come a time where we're laying something down in order for God to receive it and then take upon himself what needs to happen, what change needs to happen. And what we're about to see here is Jonah does become this sacrifice from these mariners. the storm's getting more and more tempestuous against them. And then just an amazing thing happens in verse 14. Therefore, they the mariners called out to the Lord. They finally got it right this time.

There they were calling out to any and every god. They finally get it right this time. 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 it, or have done as it pleased you." So they picked up Joon, and they 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. Minutes earlier, these brothers had been calling on their gods to save them, and their condition continued to worsen. And here these sailors pray one of the most theologically rich prayers you could ever imagine. They finally get it right for pagan sailors faced with imminent mortality. What do they pray here? Well, they they pray for deliverance.

Like they they pray for deliverance. They ask for forgiveness for what they're about to do here because they consider Jonah an innocent man. They think he's an innocent man. And then they acknowledge God's sovereignty and control over all things. I mean, like I I hope we pray this prayer. Like I hope for every single one of us, this is a daily prayer of ours that we are praying for deliverance.

That we're praying for deliverance for the Lord to come into our lives and to save us. and that he would not hold us accountable for the sins that we've committed and the things that we've done wrong, that we're praying for forgiveness. And so they hurled Jonah into the sea and it says it ceased from raging. The second they let one man's sacrifice become payment for the wrath of those waves, they were saved. You can start to see some illustrations here of a great event that happened in our history. Interestingly, this is what happens next is it says they feared the Lord exceedingly like they offered a sacrifice.

They made vows and you know what happened? What happened after the sea ceased from raging? They finally realized that they were going to be saved. They worshiped. They worshiped. They they they held a church service, if you will, like they did what we are doing right now.

They came to God and they worshiped him because God delivered them of their sin and brought them into calm waters. And in that moment, they began worshiping because they had been delivered from death by the sacrifice of one man. Is it not God's will for all of us to be like these mariners? Honestly, my hope and prayer is is not that we are more like Jonah by the end of this book, but that we're actually more like these mariners, more like these sailors. That we see that all of our own efforts to try and save ourselves are feudal and ineffective, but the sacrifice of one man, Jesus Christ, is what delivers us from the wrath of God. That's what they're coming to understand.

So, the third thing I want you to see here is that God's greatest act of mercy is illustrated to us in the Old Testament by a rebel prophet. God's greatest act of mercy is illustrated to us in the Old Testament by a rebel prophet. Like, that's phenomenal to me. That's amazing to me. And so a question I have for you this morning, where do you find yourself this morning with God? And maybe that's maybe that's broad.

In what ways are you like Jonah? In what ways are you like Jonah? Like right now, are you just casually disobeying the Lord? Maybe some of you are are on your way to Japa. You've got your bags packed. You're on your way to Japa.

You're heading to buy a ticket. You're still on dry land, but but you've paid the fair. Maybe some of you, you you've boarded the ship. You've left you've left the port. You're in the waters and you're still just walking down this direction. Maybe some of you honestly have just found yourself in an apathetic place where where you're asleep with no no realization around you that there's an actual storm that you're in and that there's lives that are that are on the verge of being lost all around you.

I mean, I think this for for us, we this is the conversation we had at our community group this week was like, are we just asleep? Are we just indifferent to the lostness that's around us? Because I think one of the questions was like, who who's an enemy in your life essentially that you're not willing to go and share the gospel with? Like Jonah to Nineveh. And for me, I think our my greatest concern for our church is is not that we visualize enemies that we don't want to share the gospel with, but that we're just indifferent to those passengers who are all around us and we just don't have a care. We're just apathetic towards sharing with them some good news that will save their lives.

That will save their lives. I'll eventually get around to it. you know, those neighbors that live next to us that have been there for a few years. Or, you know, the opportunity just hasn't presented itself yet. Maybe if they ever ask me a question, I notice, you know, you seem to be a good person. Like, what must I do to be saved?

Like, that question is just not going to come up to you. All right? Are we willing to go and make disciples or are we going to be apathetic like Jonah here? Maybe for some of us, we've we've been thrown overboard from what we thought was a comfort and are now we're in the sea and we're in the storm and we're searching for a lifeline, something to save us, something to bring us back to the Lord, something to deliver us. And where do we find ourselves? In verse 17, it says, "The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights."

What we see in verse 17 is that God's mercy is always bigger than our sin. That's the character of God. God's mercy is always bigger than our sin. right now in like in this moment even if and again I'm I'm I'm gonna harp on that idea of indifference because I really think that's where most of us are. I we're it's not that we don't want to share the good news. It's just that it doesn't bother us enough so we're willing to not share it.

So, we're just in that middle road. And I want you to hear that even in that act of disobedience, which is fleeing from the presence of the Lord, that you cannot outrun God running towards you. You cannot outrun the mercy of God as we are running. And I say run, we're just wallowing in our sin, in our disobedience. This is why Jonah 1 should be encouraging to us because God wasn't punishing Jonah. The storm was not a punishment.

It's an act of mercy providing the means for his deliverance and for his repentance. This is not a story about a prophet. It's not a story about a stormy sea. It's not a story about these mariners. It's not a story about a big fish. It's the story about a merciful God who is sovereign and in control and plays out his plans with his own hands.

Like bad things happen due to the consequences of our sins and actions. And yet those things are not outside of God's ordained plan and will. You cannot out sin his mercy. You cannot out sin his forgiveness. Your evil cannot thwart his will and his goodness. This is why I love in Genesis 50 20 it says this of the story of Joseph.

His brothers sold him into slavery. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it the evil for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. I mean, think about that in in regards to this story here. Jonah and his disobedience is an evil. And that evil has the consequences of responsibility of of the sin and the collateral damage that comes with that sin and the storm that comes with that sin where lives are threatened and all of them. What evil have you brought on this ship?

Well, that storm was hurled by God. What they meant for evil or what maybe Jonah meant for evil, God meant it for good. Because not only does it ultimately deliver Jonah from his rebellion, but it also delivered this entire ship of mariners from their pagan lifestyle to where they now know the good Lord and they are now worshiping him. So, even in this, this is where I know God has the whole thing rigged. Even in a prophet's rebellion, an apathy and outright, I am not going to do what God wants me to do. Even in that moment, God saying, I'm going to save them while I'm still dealing with you.

That's incredible. That's incredible. And that that again that gives me and it should give you hope that it's really hard for you to mess this up. Like re it Christianity and the spread of the gospel and the spread of the good news, the the spread of Jesus is really hard for you to mess it up. I I it's impossible for you to mess it up. God will move in your life whether you are asleep in your disobedience or you are faithfully responding to him in obedience.

He's going to use both to exact what he wants to do. And that's good and that is gracious. And what that actually does is again that does not lead you to be like, "Well, okay, cool. I'm just going to lead a life of disobedience. God's going to do what he wants to do." No, the more you understand this, this is those theological deep waters.

The more you understand God's mercy towards you in your sin, actually lead you to sin less and worship more and call out and and respond in obedience to what he's doing because again, you know, at the end of the day that that's going to be more joyful. like that might have a less storm that I have to deal with, that might provide for me um um some some greater peace and comfort and joy by seeing others around me, getting to know the Lord and the gospel and all those good things. But at the end of the day, what we can rest in is knowing again that God is sovereign. And if you look at the story like Jonah and you say, "I can't believe God would hurl a storm at these people." The better statement would be, "I can't believe God would deliver these pagan mariners and also this rebellious prophet." Like, don't harp on the circumstances of life.

harp on the goodness and mercy of God towards us in those circumstances and that he is delivering us. Nobody deserves it. And yet God freely gives it. And he ultimately gives it through his son Jesus Christ. We see this in Matthew 12:40. Jesus speaking.

For for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish that we'll see next week, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The story is not about Jonah. It's about the goodness of our savior. It's about the goodness of our savior. And so as we come to this time of communion, as an act of mercy, God hurls his son Jesus overboard from the comfort of heaven to enter the storm of our earth. And then he swallows Jesus up in death on a cross.

And there he stays for three days and three nights in order for the seas of sin to be calmed around us. And for us to be delivered into God's grace and mercy and forgiveness. This story is not about the disobedient prophet Jonah. It's about the obedient prophet Jesus. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your goodness to us and your grace and your mercy.

Lord, I don't know at what level we are like Jonah right now, but what I do know is that no matter where we are in the story, your mercy is right there with us. Your presence is right there with us. We may try to flee the presence of the Lord, but like David preaches, wherever we go, there you are. We can't run from you. We can't flee from you. And that is the best news that we could ever, ever hear because you offer salvation.

You offer life where disobedience leads to death. So thank you Lord for your pursuit of us in the storm of our disobedience and that you provide the means and the way for us to come back to you and to joyfully obey the call that you have placed on our lives. It's in your son's name we pray. Amen. I'm going to have you go ahead and stand. We're going to come to this time of communion.

And as I just read there, as you saw, Jonah is about Jesus. And Jesus being that sacrifice for us for the seas to be calmed, our lives of our sin. And so this is a moment. Yeah. If you don't have the elements, you can go ahead and go back and grab them and come back to your seats. This is what we remember.

This is what we worship. This is what we celebrate in what Jesus was willing to do on our behalf. Jesus was not asleep on the job as a prophet, but is looking around at all of us as mariners, as pagans, as sinners, trying to figure out what can we overthrow in order to save ourselves. And what he ultimately is is picturing here for us is is I I have to be the one that is actually overthrown and die. And and and you have to break my body and you have to see my blood be shed in order for the wrath of God towards your sin to be removed so you'd be forgiven. and find calm waters in your soul.

And so we thank Jesus as we remember what he did. We break bread because it says we remember his body broken. And we drink the juice because we remember that it's his blood that was shed in order to bring this about for us. for us like the mariners to then worship. We're only able to worship because of his sacrifice. So, let's partake now remembering him breaking his body and him shedding his blood and then our band will lead us into a time of worship.

and let's just get after the Lord in this time like the Mariners did in that moment. I mean, you got remember they threw everything overboard. There's nothing left on the ship for them to do, for them to eat, for them to play. I mean, there's nothing left for them but to worship. And so, I hope that's true for you today, that you're able to strip that away and that there's nothing left for you to do but to worship. [Music] All the poor and powerless and all the lost and lonely.

[Music] All the thieves will come confess know that you are holy. Will know that you are holy. And all will sing out hallelu. And we will cry out halleluah. [Music] All the hearts who are content and all who feel unworthy. [Music] All who hurt with nothing left [Music] will know that you are holy.

And all will sing out holly lion. We will cry out holly lion. And oh sing out holly. And we will cry out holly. [Music] Shout it. Go on and scream it from the mountain.

[Music] Go on and tell it to the masses. that he is God. Shout it. Go on and scream it from the mountain. Go on and tell it to the masses. that he is God.

[Music] Shout it. Go on and scream it from the mountains. Go on and tell it to the masses that he is God. Shout it. Go on and scream it from the Go on and tell it to the man. es that he is God.

[Music] All will sing out. We will cry our lion. Oh, will sing our lu. We will cry out. [Music] Father, again, thank you for uh this time that we've had to worship this morning. Thank you for your goodness to us in your grace.

It's in your name we pray. Amen.