WEBVTT 00:00:00.720 --> 00:00:06.960 We're going to Jonah today. We finished up our 00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:11.220 sermon series through 1 Thessalonians. Now we 00:00:11.220 --> 00:00:16.239 go into the Old Testament book of Jonah. You 00:00:16.239 --> 00:00:20.059 can find Jonah amongst the minor prophets. And 00:00:20.059 --> 00:00:22.739 when I say minor prophets, I don't mean minor 00:00:22.739 --> 00:00:26.120 in importance, but usually people talk about 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:28.660 the minor prophets in terms of the length of 00:00:28.660 --> 00:00:32.200 the book. Most of these books are rather short, 00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:35.320 at least compared to the major prophets. You 00:00:35.320 --> 00:00:38.920 know those ones being Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel 00:00:38.920 --> 00:00:41.659 and Daniel. You can find Jonah though in the 00:00:41.659 --> 00:00:43.979 minor prophets right kind of in the middle of 00:00:43.979 --> 00:00:47.520 them. If you see Amos and Obadiah, you're on 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:49.399 the right track. If you get to Micah, you've 00:00:49.399 --> 00:00:54.500 gone a little bit too far. This being somewhat 00:00:54.500 --> 00:00:58.189 of an introduction to Jonah. We're just going 00:00:58.189 --> 00:01:01.549 to look right now at the first three verses. 00:01:01.890 --> 00:01:05.069 And so would you turn your attention to the reading 00:01:05.069 --> 00:01:08.870 of God's holy word, Jonah chapter one, verses 00:01:08.870 --> 00:01:51.519 one through three. This is God's word. Let's 00:01:51.519 --> 00:01:56.000 pray. Father, we do thank you for this word. 00:01:56.550 --> 00:01:59.890 We thank you for the gift that is the book of 00:01:59.890 --> 00:02:02.810 Jonah. We thank you for the mercy that we see 00:02:02.810 --> 00:02:05.790 in here, Father. I pray that as we study this 00:02:05.790 --> 00:02:09.330 text, you would more and more show us your incredible 00:02:09.330 --> 00:02:12.349 mercy in Christ Jesus. Open our hearts and our 00:02:12.349 --> 00:02:14.810 minds to hear from you now. We pray in Jesus' 00:02:14.990 --> 00:02:22.770 name, amen. When I was young, I had a children's 00:02:22.770 --> 00:02:27.020 Bible that had a lot of pictures in it. Perhaps 00:02:27.020 --> 00:02:30.860 you still have yours. Maybe your children have 00:02:30.860 --> 00:02:33.620 these Bibles, have pictures in them. But I was 00:02:33.620 --> 00:02:36.979 always fascinated by the picture that went with 00:02:36.979 --> 00:02:42.819 the story of Jonah. It's a picture of a man sinking 00:02:42.819 --> 00:02:45.939 deep down into the water. And he's kind of flailing 00:02:45.939 --> 00:02:49.639 about trying to grab for something. There's seaweed 00:02:49.639 --> 00:02:52.240 around him. There's schools of fish around him. 00:02:52.319 --> 00:02:54.419 And in the background, there's a picture of a 00:02:54.419 --> 00:02:57.960 ginormous fish. Some might even call it a whale. 00:02:59.219 --> 00:03:02.919 A whale of a tail, it's been said. But it's not 00:03:02.919 --> 00:03:07.319 a tail. It's not a tail. And the book of Jonah 00:03:07.319 --> 00:03:12.259 is about so much more than a great fish. It's 00:03:12.259 --> 00:03:15.759 really not even about Jonah. At its core, the 00:03:15.759 --> 00:03:22.400 book of Jonah is about God. It's about God. And 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:26.110 it's about God's mercy. Now when it comes to 00:03:26.110 --> 00:03:29.490 Jonah, we may know a thing or two about him, 00:03:29.509 --> 00:03:32.090 even though the text doesn't tell us all that 00:03:32.090 --> 00:03:36.210 much at the get -go. But in 2 Kings chapter 14 00:03:36.210 --> 00:03:40.930 verse 25, we see a man, a prophet, who is called 00:03:40.930 --> 00:03:43.069 Jonah. And so many think that this is the one 00:03:43.069 --> 00:03:47.169 and the same Jonah. And if so, and I think it 00:03:47.169 --> 00:03:50.689 probably is, then we recognize that Jonah was 00:03:50.689 --> 00:03:56.550 a prophet. This was his job. Jonah's job was 00:03:56.550 --> 00:04:01.930 to prophesy. Now, by way of illustration, if 00:04:01.930 --> 00:04:05.909 you went onto a seminary campus today and you 00:04:05.909 --> 00:04:08.810 were around the Master of Divinity students and 00:04:08.810 --> 00:04:11.370 you asked the students there, hey, how would 00:04:11.370 --> 00:04:14.330 you like to come and preach at our church sometime? 00:04:14.930 --> 00:04:17.089 Probably most of those students would nod their 00:04:17.089 --> 00:04:19.889 heads and say, yes, I would love to do that. 00:04:20.269 --> 00:04:23.519 Why is that? Well, because that's what they're 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:25.560 training to do. That is, in some cases, what 00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:30.079 they are already doing. Preachers preach. But 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:33.259 then we get to the book of Jonah, and we have 00:04:33.259 --> 00:04:38.420 a prophet who doesn't want to prophesy. You can 00:04:38.420 --> 00:04:43.800 see he receives the command to go, to go call 00:04:43.800 --> 00:04:48.379 out against that evil city. Jonah has been doing 00:04:48.379 --> 00:04:51.180 this work as a prophet before, but this we might 00:04:51.180 --> 00:04:54.160 consider this is his call to the big leagues. 00:04:54.639 --> 00:04:57.019 This would be what Jonah was known for. You're 00:04:57.019 --> 00:05:00.300 telling me, God, to go to Nineveh, this evil, 00:05:00.339 --> 00:05:09.620 wicked city? What does Jonah say? Not a word, 00:05:09.819 --> 00:05:14.540 does he? Jonah doesn't say anything here. He 00:05:14.540 --> 00:05:19.600 just runs the other way. Perhaps it would be 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:22.180 helpful to know what was going on at this time. 00:05:22.300 --> 00:05:26.220 The history in Israel and Jonah was a prophet 00:05:26.220 --> 00:05:29.420 in Israel. This would have been the time of King 00:05:29.420 --> 00:05:32.600 Jeroboam the second. You might remember that 00:05:32.600 --> 00:05:35.800 at this time Israel has been separated into a 00:05:35.800 --> 00:05:39.079 northern kingdom. Israel's up here with the capital 00:05:39.079 --> 00:05:42.699 city of Samaria. Down here this is southern kingdom 00:05:42.699 --> 00:05:46.339 with its capital of Jerusalem. So two different 00:05:46.339 --> 00:05:48.860 kingdoms here. This would have been around the 00:05:48.860 --> 00:05:51.800 eighth century. And from the outside, looking 00:05:51.800 --> 00:05:54.779 in, other countries looking at Israel, they would 00:05:54.779 --> 00:05:57.040 have thought, wow, things are actually going 00:05:57.040 --> 00:06:00.600 really well in Israel. In the eighth century, 00:06:00.740 --> 00:06:04.000 the nation of Israel was expanding. It was growing. 00:06:05.139 --> 00:06:08.540 But inside of Israel, things were not looking 00:06:08.540 --> 00:06:11.959 so good. If you read these other minor prophets 00:06:11.959 --> 00:06:16.399 like Hosea or Amos, you see that within Israel, 00:06:16.910 --> 00:06:22.189 There were social and moral and religious problems. 00:06:23.089 --> 00:06:25.509 And so what do you expect a prophet to do in 00:06:25.509 --> 00:06:29.009 Israel? You expect a prophet to reach out, to 00:06:29.009 --> 00:06:31.850 call out within its own country, to call out 00:06:31.850 --> 00:06:36.310 within Israel or to call out within Judah and 00:06:36.310 --> 00:06:39.610 urge repentance or announce judgment. This is 00:06:39.610 --> 00:06:42.410 what we see the prophets do all the time. We 00:06:42.410 --> 00:06:46.759 also see prophets Speaking about the atrocities 00:06:46.759 --> 00:06:50.579 in the other countries, right? Do you know what 00:06:50.579 --> 00:06:53.540 we do not see very often within the scriptures? 00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:59.420 What we don't expect? A prophet being given the 00:06:59.420 --> 00:07:03.360 message and being told to go to another country 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:08.540 with that message. And especially, especially 00:07:08.540 --> 00:07:13.180 not a place like Nineveh, not a country like 00:07:13.180 --> 00:07:17.170 Assyria. We can understand Jonah's position, 00:07:17.269 --> 00:07:23.029 can't we? We wouldn't want to go there. My first 00:07:23.029 --> 00:07:25.509 mission trip I ever went on was to the Bahamas. 00:07:26.250 --> 00:07:30.649 It was really difficult. This is no resort that 00:07:30.649 --> 00:07:34.149 Jonah is being called to go to. Friends, this 00:07:34.149 --> 00:07:39.930 is Nineveh. And Nineveh was one of Assyria, or 00:07:39.930 --> 00:07:44.259 Assyria was one of... Israel's greatest enemies 00:07:44.259 --> 00:07:49.300 for so long. And so this is very unique that 00:07:49.300 --> 00:07:52.300 he would be told to go there. But let's think 00:07:52.300 --> 00:07:56.279 about this for a second. If you know your minor 00:07:56.279 --> 00:07:58.339 prophets well, you know that there is another 00:07:58.339 --> 00:08:02.360 book after Jonah that almost acts as a sequel. 00:08:03.079 --> 00:08:05.759 It's the book of Nahum. What happens in the book 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:10.959 of Nahum? This is the judgment upon Nineveh. 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:14.040 But in the meantime, and this is a spoiler alert 00:08:14.040 --> 00:08:19.399 that the people of Nineveh will repent of sin. 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:23.240 But what happens in the meantime? What happens 00:08:23.240 --> 00:08:26.560 between the time of them repenting and the book 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:30.480 of Nahum? We know that the nation of Assyria 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:34.460 comes and destroys and captures the Israelites. 00:08:34.799 --> 00:08:37.299 And we know this from other texts that prophecy 00:08:37.299 --> 00:08:40.600 of that truth. And so what Jonah is being told 00:08:40.600 --> 00:08:44.700 to do is to go to Nineveh, tell them to repent, 00:08:45.740 --> 00:08:48.379 and then Nineveh, a city of Assyria, is going 00:08:48.379 --> 00:08:53.360 to come and capture Israel. Friends, this is 00:08:53.360 --> 00:08:57.740 remarkable. And we can perhaps understand why 00:08:57.740 --> 00:09:00.700 Jonah doesn't want to do that. And at the same 00:09:00.700 --> 00:09:03.419 time as this is a book about God's mercy, we 00:09:03.419 --> 00:09:06.759 also recognize this is a book about God's sovereignty. 00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:11.620 Because He is in charge of every one of those 00:09:11.620 --> 00:09:15.059 episodes, every episode we see in the scriptures. 00:09:15.860 --> 00:09:19.600 Every time that someone came to wage war against 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:22.100 Israel or every time that he let those nations 00:09:22.100 --> 00:09:26.360 win against Israel, this was all for Israel's 00:09:26.360 --> 00:09:31.600 good. And so even as Jonah doesn't want to go, 00:09:31.620 --> 00:09:35.259 we must understand that God has a perfect plan. 00:09:36.169 --> 00:09:40.250 even when we don't understand it. This morning, 00:09:40.269 --> 00:09:43.730 I want to look at the command of God and the 00:09:43.730 --> 00:09:49.830 response of Jonah. Look in verse two. There's 00:09:49.830 --> 00:09:54.409 urgency there. Arise, it says. The Hebrew word 00:09:54.409 --> 00:09:59.409 is just simply up. Get up and go to Nineveh, 00:09:59.649 --> 00:10:04.480 that great city. He's saying, get there, not 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:07.639 tomorrow, not when the weather changes, get there. 00:10:08.100 --> 00:10:10.419 Now Nineveh was quite some distance away. It 00:10:10.419 --> 00:10:15.659 was hundreds of miles to the northeast of Samaria. 00:10:16.740 --> 00:10:20.419 It's in modern day Iraq. And so Jonah is supposed 00:10:20.419 --> 00:10:23.340 to leave home for this great, wicked city. But 00:10:23.340 --> 00:10:27.080 when the word in our English, when it says great 00:10:27.080 --> 00:10:30.299 there, what does that mean? It could mean two 00:10:30.299 --> 00:10:32.299 different things. It could be referring to the 00:10:32.299 --> 00:10:36.320 size of Nineveh. We read in chapter three that 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:39.419 Jonah spends like three days getting across it, 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:42.320 preaching repentance. Some have called Nineveh 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:45.419 a metropolis. It's as if Jonah's being sent to 00:10:45.419 --> 00:10:48.799 Atlanta or something. But it could also be referring 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:53.340 to the importance of Nineveh as a historical 00:10:53.340 --> 00:10:55.860 city. You can read about Nineveh all the way 00:10:55.860 --> 00:11:01.080 back in Genesis chapter 10. Jonah is called to 00:11:01.080 --> 00:11:04.519 go there, to this great city, but we're not exactly 00:11:04.519 --> 00:11:08.539 given right here why. We're not told exactly 00:11:08.539 --> 00:11:13.000 how evil Nineveh really is, but we do know that 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:15.799 he is supposed to announce doom if there's no 00:11:15.799 --> 00:11:19.000 repentance. And we know from the book of Nahum 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:21.740 that the people of Nineveh, they were violent. 00:11:22.539 --> 00:11:25.820 That nation of Assyria is called bloodthirsty. 00:11:26.169 --> 00:11:29.629 The people there were deceitful. They were lustful. 00:11:29.950 --> 00:11:33.789 They committed atrocities. They committed idolatry 00:11:33.789 --> 00:11:36.309 all over the place. Again, Jonah is not being 00:11:36.309 --> 00:11:42.549 sent to a resort. But if Israel had all of these 00:11:42.549 --> 00:11:47.289 problems at home, why is Jonah being sent to 00:11:47.289 --> 00:11:50.409 a foreign nation like this with all these problems 00:11:50.409 --> 00:11:52.610 in Israel? It's very much like people who say, 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:55.279 Why do we send missionaries abroad when there's 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:58.759 so much to be done right here? And the reason 00:11:58.759 --> 00:12:02.080 for this that we're going to see is that God 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:06.580 doesn't restrict repentance just to Israel. Actually, 00:12:06.580 --> 00:12:09.039 what's happening within this text, we are seeing 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:13.360 God's greater plan of bringing more into his 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:18.620 family. We are being shown the incredible mercy 00:12:18.620 --> 00:12:23.490 and grace. God, we are seeing God's bigger plan, 00:12:23.490 --> 00:12:25.850 but even as we see it here, it's not as though 00:12:25.850 --> 00:12:29.450 this has been a secret. If you will, let me read 00:12:29.450 --> 00:12:34.149 to you from Genesis chapter 12. This is the call 00:12:34.149 --> 00:12:39.490 of Abraham. Listen for how this shows God's worldwide 00:12:39.490 --> 00:12:44.610 mission. Now the Lord said to Abram, go from 00:12:44.610 --> 00:12:48.909 your country and your kindred your father's house 00:12:48.909 --> 00:12:51.769 to the land that I will show you and I will make 00:12:51.769 --> 00:12:55.129 of you a great nation and I will bless you and 00:12:55.129 --> 00:12:57.830 make your name great so that you will be a blessing 00:12:57.830 --> 00:13:01.570 I will bless those who bless you and him who 00:13:01.570 --> 00:13:04.990 dishonors you I will curse and in you all the 00:13:04.990 --> 00:13:09.590 families of the earth shall be blessed again 00:13:09.590 --> 00:13:13.889 God is showing incredible mercy that is to go 00:13:13.889 --> 00:13:17.960 everywhere and friends if you are a believer 00:13:17.960 --> 00:13:22.360 in Jesus Christ, you have received the very mercy 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:29.899 of God, and you are a child of Abraham. Listen 00:13:29.899 --> 00:13:33.039 to this from Galatians chapter three, seven through 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:38.080 nine. Know then that it is those of faith who 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:41.580 are the sons of Abraham, and the scripture foreseeing 00:13:41.580 --> 00:13:44.399 that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, 00:13:44.600 --> 00:13:47.600 preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying 00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:52.299 in you shall all the nations be blessed so then 00:13:52.299 --> 00:13:55.379 those who are of faith are blessed along with 00:13:55.379 --> 00:14:01.299 Abraham the man of faith you Christian have been 00:14:01.299 --> 00:14:05.620 brought into the family of God you've been adopted 00:14:05.620 --> 00:14:10.509 into his family God has reached out to you Not 00:14:10.509 --> 00:14:13.149 the other way around perhaps, you know this passage 00:14:13.149 --> 00:14:16.950 from first John 3 See what kind of love the father 00:14:16.950 --> 00:14:19.889 has given to us that we should be called children 00:14:19.889 --> 00:14:24.850 of God And so we are it is his love. It is his 00:14:24.850 --> 00:14:29.490 mercy that saves us and Friends, I believe that 00:14:29.490 --> 00:14:34.769 Jonah knew about the mercy of God He knew about 00:14:34.769 --> 00:14:37.190 the mercy of God. I don't mean to give away the 00:14:37.190 --> 00:14:39.809 entirety of the book but flip ahead to Jonah 00:14:39.809 --> 00:14:50.710 4, verse 2. Jonah 4, 2, there it reads, And he 00:14:50.710 --> 00:14:54.409 prayed to the Lord and said, O Lord, is not this 00:14:54.409 --> 00:14:58.509 what I said when I was yet in my country? That 00:14:58.509 --> 00:15:02.769 is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish, for 00:15:02.769 --> 00:15:06.509 I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful. 00:15:06.830 --> 00:15:10.389 Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love 00:15:10.389 --> 00:15:16.990 and relenting from disaster. Jonah knew this 00:15:16.990 --> 00:15:23.789 about God, didn't he? Jonah just does not. He 00:15:23.789 --> 00:15:27.750 cannot see himself going to this place of Nineveh. 00:15:27.850 --> 00:15:30.230 And I don't believe that Jonah had a problem 00:15:30.230 --> 00:15:32.529 with all Gentiles, because where does he want 00:15:32.529 --> 00:15:36.830 to go? He wants to go to Tarshish. But he has 00:15:36.830 --> 00:15:40.909 a problem with the cruelty of Nineveh. But ultimately, 00:15:41.710 --> 00:15:45.090 he has a real problem with the mercy of God. 00:15:46.570 --> 00:15:52.090 Friends, when I lived in Bulgaria, when I got 00:15:52.090 --> 00:15:54.490 there, the mission team that I was a part of 00:15:54.490 --> 00:15:57.269 said, we have a lot of needs here in Bulgaria. 00:15:58.169 --> 00:16:00.730 You can essentially choose what you want to do. 00:16:00.789 --> 00:16:03.610 Who do you want to minister to? Who do you believe 00:16:03.879 --> 00:16:06.759 needs to hear the gospel. I spent a lot of time 00:16:06.759 --> 00:16:09.019 in prayer and talking with others and thinking 00:16:09.019 --> 00:16:11.559 and I thought you know who needs the gospel in 00:16:11.559 --> 00:16:14.980 Eastern Europe and in Bulgaria. I thought it 00:16:14.980 --> 00:16:18.179 was the Roma population, the gypsy population. 00:16:18.279 --> 00:16:21.179 And so I told some friends this. I said I believe 00:16:21.179 --> 00:16:26.000 the Lord needs to reach the people within these 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:28.340 gypsy communities and I want to be a part of 00:16:28.340 --> 00:16:31.970 that. And this friend said to me, That's fine. 00:16:32.269 --> 00:16:34.549 That's good. If you feel called to do that, great. 00:16:34.549 --> 00:16:36.929 Take the gospel to the gypsies, but I'm not doing 00:16:36.929 --> 00:16:42.070 it. I'm not doing that. I'm not going there. 00:16:42.730 --> 00:16:47.629 Why? Well, quite honestly, the Roma population 00:16:47.629 --> 00:16:50.690 are known for being thieves. They're known for 00:16:50.690 --> 00:16:54.070 being drunkards. They're known for being lazy, 00:16:54.169 --> 00:16:56.529 all of these things. And so you can understand 00:16:56.529 --> 00:16:59.980 people don't want to go there. And there are 00:16:59.980 --> 00:17:03.200 examples like this all over the world. People 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:08.259 that were like, I'd rather not. People that we 00:17:08.259 --> 00:17:11.240 shun. People that we believe in our heart of 00:17:11.240 --> 00:17:14.619 hearts don't. They shouldn't have the mercy of 00:17:14.619 --> 00:17:19.599 God. I don't know who it is for you. I don't 00:17:19.599 --> 00:17:23.720 know who it is that you're uncomfortable around. 00:17:25.299 --> 00:17:27.660 Maybe it's the inmate who finishes up his prison 00:17:27.660 --> 00:17:32.250 sentence. somebody who is looking for a church 00:17:32.250 --> 00:17:36.430 home, looking for hope, looking for help, but 00:17:36.430 --> 00:17:39.029 a lot of people would say that's for somebody 00:17:39.029 --> 00:17:42.990 else. Maybe it's people who are just unlike you 00:17:42.990 --> 00:17:47.069 in every single conceivable way, and you think, 00:17:47.329 --> 00:17:51.250 I can't do that, Lord. I can't tell them the 00:17:51.250 --> 00:17:54.490 gospel. Friends, if we keep looking for the person 00:17:54.490 --> 00:17:57.450 who is exactly like us, with whom to share the 00:17:57.450 --> 00:18:01.160 gospel, We will never share it. We will never 00:18:01.160 --> 00:18:02.880 share it if we're looking for the person that 00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:07.759 is just like us. And quite frankly, friends, 00:18:08.660 --> 00:18:12.279 we were like that, weren't we? Before coming 00:18:12.279 --> 00:18:16.299 to Christ, we were dead in our trespasses, right? 00:18:16.759 --> 00:18:19.579 We were what some people might call a lost cause. 00:18:20.259 --> 00:18:23.259 But friends, our God is the God of lost causes. 00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:26.140 He takes people who are dead in their trespasses 00:18:26.140 --> 00:18:30.339 and He brings them to life. This is our story. 00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:35.359 God takes lost causes and sanctifies them. He 00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:38.759 shows them mercy. And so to whom are you to take 00:18:38.759 --> 00:18:44.839 God's message of repentance and salvation? We 00:18:44.839 --> 00:18:48.460 are to be conduits of mercy, not with holders 00:18:48.460 --> 00:18:53.119 of mercy. The church where we used to worship 00:18:53.119 --> 00:18:55.980 at in Texas had a name. I've shared it with some 00:18:55.980 --> 00:18:59.460 of you. Mercy Presbyterian Church. And our slogan 00:18:59.460 --> 00:19:04.940 was this, mercy to us, mercy through us. And 00:19:04.940 --> 00:19:07.119 this is who we should be as Christians, showing 00:19:07.119 --> 00:19:10.819 the mercy of God. And so think today, who is 00:19:10.819 --> 00:19:14.259 it that you know that needs the mercy of God? 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:17.380 Jonah as a prophet didn't want to go because 00:19:17.380 --> 00:19:21.039 he knew that God would be merciful. And so what 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:23.539 does Jonah do? He goes in the complete opposite 00:19:23.539 --> 00:19:27.930 direction. Look in verse 3. It's not just that 00:19:27.930 --> 00:19:31.369 he's running from Nineveh, is it? The text says 00:19:31.369 --> 00:19:35.109 he's running from the presence of the Lord. Now, 00:19:35.109 --> 00:19:37.670 as a prophet, Jonah would have surely understood 00:19:37.670 --> 00:19:40.349 God's omnipresence. And so I don't think that 00:19:40.349 --> 00:19:43.549 this is a denial of that. He is thinking, if 00:19:43.549 --> 00:19:47.210 I'm nowhere near Nineveh, I cannot possibly preach 00:19:47.210 --> 00:19:51.089 to them. I cannot possibly fulfill God's command. 00:19:51.490 --> 00:19:56.210 He wants to leave it all behind. Do you remember 00:19:56.210 --> 00:19:59.730 that old Southwest Airlines commercial from years 00:19:59.730 --> 00:20:03.509 ago? Want to get away? That's Jonah here. He 00:20:03.509 --> 00:20:06.730 wants to get away, not just from his home. He 00:20:06.730 --> 00:20:09.470 wants to get away from the calling that God is 00:20:09.470 --> 00:20:12.289 placing on his life. It's like Jonah is handing 00:20:12.289 --> 00:20:15.990 in his prophet card and saying, you are not the 00:20:15.990 --> 00:20:18.890 God of the Tarshishites, if that's even a word. 00:20:19.250 --> 00:20:24.650 So that's where I'm going. Additionally, If we 00:20:24.650 --> 00:20:28.009 look in Isaiah 66, we see that Tarshish at that 00:20:28.009 --> 00:20:31.609 time was a place that had not seen God's fame, 00:20:32.150 --> 00:20:34.829 had not seen God's glory. And so Jonah is in 00:20:34.829 --> 00:20:37.589 effect saying, you haven't called me there. You 00:20:37.589 --> 00:20:39.670 apparently haven't called anyone there. And so 00:20:39.670 --> 00:20:43.130 that's where I'm going. But first you see he 00:20:43.130 --> 00:20:46.470 has to go to the place of Joppa. This is a place 00:20:46.470 --> 00:20:50.829 where he could board a ship. He boards a ship 00:20:50.829 --> 00:20:54.480 then. And he's going to go to Tarshish. But our 00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:58.960 question then is, where is Tarshish? A couple 00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:01.599 of possibilities. It could be a point on the 00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:04.420 Mediterranean, like Carthage, which would be 00:21:04.420 --> 00:21:09.160 quite far away. But it could also be southern 00:21:09.160 --> 00:21:12.599 Spain. And that's probably the most common location 00:21:12.599 --> 00:21:15.660 that scholars point at, southern Spain. That 00:21:15.660 --> 00:21:19.519 is really, really far away. And so if it's southern 00:21:19.519 --> 00:21:22.910 Spain, God is not. or Jonah's not messing around 00:21:22.910 --> 00:21:26.029 here. If it's Spain, it's as if Jonah is saying, 00:21:26.190 --> 00:21:28.869 I'm going as far away as I possibly can from 00:21:28.869 --> 00:21:32.349 Nineveh. I like how James Montgomery Boyce puts 00:21:32.349 --> 00:21:37.849 it. Listen to this quote. He says, we can understand 00:21:37.849 --> 00:21:42.549 the geography and Jonah's motives if we can imagine 00:21:42.549 --> 00:21:46.329 the word of the Lord coming to a Jew who lived 00:21:46.329 --> 00:21:49.319 in New York during World War II. and telling 00:21:49.319 --> 00:21:52.960 him to go to Berlin to preach to Nazi Germany. 00:21:53.819 --> 00:21:57.099 And instead of this, he goes to San Francisco 00:21:57.099 --> 00:22:02.359 and then boards a boat for Hong Kong. He is getting 00:22:02.359 --> 00:22:06.579 as far away as he possibly can. Tarshish might 00:22:06.579 --> 00:22:09.119 be the furthest place that he has ever heard 00:22:09.119 --> 00:22:13.599 of. And that's where he's trying to go. But I 00:22:13.599 --> 00:22:15.759 also want us to see something else. This is not 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:20.039 just geographics here. If you see within the 00:22:20.039 --> 00:22:22.880 text that first word there of arise, there is 00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:26.220 kind of a picture going on with these words of 00:22:26.220 --> 00:22:30.039 going up and then going down for just as it says 00:22:30.039 --> 00:22:33.400 arise, then we also see twice that it says that 00:22:33.400 --> 00:22:39.599 he goes down. He goes down to Joppa. He's going 00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:45.200 down into the ship. Jonah is on a downward spiritual 00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:48.430 spiral. He's running from the presence of God, 00:22:48.730 --> 00:22:52.910 as if to say, God is not the God of Tarshish. 00:22:53.089 --> 00:22:56.329 I'm going there. And he's running so much so 00:22:56.329 --> 00:23:00.470 that when he buys fare for the trip, scholars 00:23:00.470 --> 00:23:03.490 like to point out, this seems like he doesn't 00:23:03.490 --> 00:23:06.950 buy a seat on a boat. It's not like he went on 00:23:06.950 --> 00:23:10.430 Travelocity and got a window seat. No, in Jewish 00:23:10.430 --> 00:23:15.869 tradition, Jonah rents the entire boat. and pays 00:23:15.869 --> 00:23:19.750 for the crew to get in there. Jonah, if these 00:23:19.750 --> 00:23:22.430 scholars are correct, charters the whole boat 00:23:22.430 --> 00:23:28.049 and has them attempt to get him all the way to 00:23:28.049 --> 00:23:32.569 southern Spain. Can you imagine how much it would 00:23:32.569 --> 00:23:36.670 cost to charter a cargo ship, which is probably 00:23:36.670 --> 00:23:39.890 what it was, charter a cargo ship with a crew 00:23:39.890 --> 00:23:42.930 and get you all the way to southern Spain, friends? 00:23:43.259 --> 00:23:47.940 This is costly disobedience, isn't it? He's not 00:23:47.940 --> 00:23:49.960 simply saying, I don't want to do this. This 00:23:49.960 --> 00:23:53.359 is disobedience at all costs. One commentator 00:23:53.359 --> 00:23:57.400 says, everything about Jonah's action is diametrically 00:23:57.400 --> 00:24:00.519 opposed to Yahweh's commission. Yahweh says up, 00:24:00.819 --> 00:24:04.000 Jonah goes down. Yahweh says go to Nineveh, Jonah 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:06.579 leaves in the opposite direction. The Lord tells 00:24:06.579 --> 00:24:11.220 Jonah what to say, and we get no words from Jonah. 00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:17.440 Friends, this is costly disobedience. But wouldn't 00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:20.500 we also say that all disobedience is costly? 00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:24.900 Disobedience is what led Christ to the cross. 00:24:25.619 --> 00:24:29.460 The story of Scripture is Christ making right 00:24:29.460 --> 00:24:34.460 what people get wrong. You remember the story 00:24:34.460 --> 00:24:38.700 of Adam and Eve. There's a whole garden there. 00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:41.440 God's provided for them. He says, don't eat of 00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:43.819 that one tree. And what do we see in the next 00:24:43.819 --> 00:24:48.700 moment? They're chomping away on the fruit. Disobedience 00:24:48.700 --> 00:24:52.420 and costly disobedience. But friends, there's 00:24:52.420 --> 00:24:56.339 good news in that story. In that same exact chapter 00:24:56.339 --> 00:25:00.299 of Genesis three, we see the promise of the Redeemer, 00:25:00.359 --> 00:25:04.980 don't we? God promises Christ. And there's example 00:25:04.980 --> 00:25:09.299 after example in scripture to see that. All sin 00:25:09.299 --> 00:25:12.619 is disobedience. No one is immune. We all have 00:25:12.619 --> 00:25:16.000 original sin, and we all commit our own sins. 00:25:16.660 --> 00:25:19.539 And the prophet Jonah is probably more acquainted 00:25:19.539 --> 00:25:23.359 than most with the glory of God and His mercy, 00:25:23.420 --> 00:25:26.440 and yet Jonah wants nothing to do with obedience 00:25:26.440 --> 00:25:29.839 and sharing that mercy. Friends, you may know 00:25:29.839 --> 00:25:33.339 this about yourself. We're all like Jonah a little 00:25:33.339 --> 00:25:36.579 bit, aren't we? We are all a little bit like 00:25:36.579 --> 00:25:40.730 Jonah. But friends, there is good news. Christ 00:25:40.730 --> 00:25:45.589 gets right what we get wrong. Why was Christ 00:25:45.589 --> 00:25:49.890 incarnate? To make things right. And it's not 00:25:49.890 --> 00:25:52.930 just that Jesus died for you, which he absolutely 00:25:52.930 --> 00:25:57.269 did. And that's a critical point. But we also 00:25:57.269 --> 00:26:00.509 must recognize that Christ lived the life for 00:26:00.509 --> 00:26:04.369 us. That he lived... Without sin, he was in perfect 00:26:04.369 --> 00:26:07.089 submission to the Father, and so Jesus does not 00:26:07.089 --> 00:26:09.069 flee from the command of the Father. He signs 00:26:09.069 --> 00:26:12.829 up for it. Jonah fled from announcing salvation, 00:26:12.890 --> 00:26:16.190 but this was Jesus' message, and he embodied 00:26:16.190 --> 00:26:20.710 it. Jesus was tempted to sin as we are, but he 00:26:20.710 --> 00:26:24.269 never did. And ultimately, Jesus, when he came, 00:26:24.430 --> 00:26:28.779 he knew what was ahead for him, didn't he? you 00:26:28.779 --> 00:26:30.940 read in the book of Matthew you see that three 00:26:30.940 --> 00:26:33.579 different times Jesus talks about the cross before 00:26:33.579 --> 00:26:37.660 the cross is ever in the picture and Jesus knew 00:26:37.660 --> 00:26:41.240 that Isaiah 53 was written about him that says 00:26:41.240 --> 00:26:45.180 the chastisement that brought us peace was upon 00:26:45.180 --> 00:26:50.240 him and by his wounds we are healed why why do 00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:53.099 we receive that mercy because that's who God 00:26:53.099 --> 00:26:58.750 is God is slow to anger and he's abounding in 00:26:58.750 --> 00:27:01.730 steadfast love. Friends, I want you to know the 00:27:01.730 --> 00:27:05.849 reason that Jonah is so upset is the reason that 00:27:05.849 --> 00:27:11.009 Christ came. The reason Jonah is so upset is 00:27:11.009 --> 00:27:15.829 the reason Christ came. Christ gets right what 00:27:15.829 --> 00:27:16.630 we get wrong.