The Book of Jonah - Part 2

Have you ever tried to run from God and find out that it's impossible? We're studying the book of Jonah, a prophet of God who decided to run in the opposite direction what God told him to do. God told him to go to Nineveh, which is the capital of the Assyrians, the enemies of the Jews. Jonah being a Jew was so hurt and angry by this because he knew that God is merciful. He knew that God is patient and gracious. And so Jonah decided to get into a boat and go in the opposite direction to the farthest port known to man at that time in Tarshish. And today as we continue our study through the book of Jonah, we're going to discover that God is still very gracious, but in his graciousness, we also have to understand that he firmly loves us and that he will continue to chase us. Let's pray and ask the Lord to help us as we continue our study through this wonderful book of Jonah. Father, we thank you. We thank you that you have given us your word that brings such encouragement and life to our hearts, filling our hearts with hope. As we study this book of Jonah, we pray that you would help us to understand and to obey. And we thank you for this in Jesus name, amen. We've learned that running from God doesn't really help us in any way. In fact, when we disobey God, when we run from God, it actually affects not only us, but those around us. Also our obedience to God, obedience to the principles of God also affect us and those around us. Jonah tried to run from God, got into a boat and God sent a huge winds to come upon the ocean. It was said, it says that the sailors, these experienced sailors were so afraid because they thought they were going to die. This is not any kind of ordinary storm. They begin to throw all the things overboard. And Jonah, we are going to read is asleep at the bottom of the ship. It's very funny. It's kind of a comical type of story that we see that Jonah runs from God, pays the money to get into the ship, pays for his disobedience, and then ends up sleeping in the bottom of the ship. But the lesson that we learn is that when God speaks to us, the quicker we obey, the better things are. Not because God is angry with us, but often we bring difficulties upon ourselves. Have you ever noticed that in our disobedience and in our bringing difficulties upon ourselves that we end up blaming God? For example, I remember hearing the story of these friends who were very close and somehow some disagreement or some kind of misunderstanding took place and there was some kind of bitterness and anger that was stored up in the person's heart. And with that bitterness, their friendship was broken. And the one person said, how can God allow this to happen to me? How can God ruin my friendship? But in fact, this person brought it upon themselves. They allowed bitterness to take root in their heart and unforgiveness. And that bitterness and unforgiveness divided their friendship. If they simply would have obeyed what God's word says by not keeping bitterness, ask forgiveness, forgive quickly, they could have seen their life and friendship restored. And so it is in our life, in our disobedience, often we bring things upon ourselves and then we blame God for those things. And here these sailors, these experienced sailors are fearful for their life because of Jonah's disobedience. And we read in verse five, and it says that all the sailors were afraid and each cried to his own God. This is chapter one of Jonah, verse five. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. They thought that this is the only way they can keep the ship from sinking is to lighten its load. That's the last resort when sailors begin doing this. But Jonah had gone below deck where he laid down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, how can you sleep? Get up, call on your God. Maybe he will take notice of us and we will not perish. Jonah was sleeping in his disobedience out of God's will. My brother, my sister, just because you run from God doesn't mean all kinds of bad things happen to you all at once. We must be very sensitive to realize because God is patient and God is gracious and slow to anger. The Bible says this, that we must not take his grace and mercy for granted and simply continue in our disobedience. I remember hearing the story of an airplane pilot. Now, when an airplane pilot, especially these small airplanes, they have these instruments, the altitude, the direction, the compass and all these different instruments in their dashboard to help them to be able to fly the plane, especially when they're flying at night and when they're flying in the dark and when they're flying over land where there's no lights. And sometimes when that happens, it is almost like you're flying completely blind. The only way they can fly that plane is to look at those instruments and put their full confidence in those instruments. Up and down, north or south, the altitude, the pitch, all those things, they must pay attention and not go according to their feelings because there's no lights, there's no stars, there's no sun, there's no moon sometimes. It's completely dark and they have to trust in their instruments. This one pilot one time was flying over a situation like that. There was no lights on the ground. It was cloudy, so there was no stars, no moon. It was dark. He could not see what direction he was going or where he was going or how high he was. He was supposed to be paying attention to the instruments of his airplane. Not realizing that he was flying along the coast of the ocean, that his airplane had gone off just one degree. Now, you think one degree is not much. One degree is a simple thing. That's true. One degree is very small if you're only traveling from here to your neighbor's house. That's not a big deal. But one degree off, and those of you who study geometry, you know this. One degree is very small, but if you travel for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of miles, that one degree will take you further and further and further away from your destination. What happened is, flying hundreds of miles, this pilot was one degree off flying out into the ocean and he never knew it. And it was too late when he realized how far into the ocean he had flown. He did not have enough fuel to come back towards the land and he died. My brother, my sister, the principles of God's word is a navigation, is the direction for our life, the altitude, the compass for our life, telling us the pitch and which way we should turn. And if we are wise, we will not even change even one degree because God made us and He knows us so well and He has the best in mind for our life. Therefore, if we take our life and line it up with God's word and we keep it as close as possible to God's word, with God's help, our life will always reach the right destination. Jonah not only was off by one degree, he was 180 degrees off. He was supposed to go in one direction, he was going in the opposite direction. And because of this, he has caused problems for himself and the sailors who are terrified now for their life. God is trying in His grace and His mercy to bring Jonah back to the proper direction because of his love. He does not want to endanger these sailors or to harm Jonah's life and says that this captain was surprised to see Jonah sleeping in the ship in the middle of the storm. Now I've been in a ship and sometimes it's very easy to sleep when the ship is rocking back and forth. It's very soothing and the waves are beating, it can be very comforting. But Jonah's heart knew something was wrong because when the captain came to Jonah and said, how can you be sleeping? Get up, call on your God, maybe He will take notice of us and will not perish. It says in verse 7, then the sailors said to each other, come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity. They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. So they asked him, tell us who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you? Did Jonah know before they cast the lots or they drew the straws who was the problem maker in the situation? Jonah knew, but he did not say anything. It's interesting how often we forget that not speaking the truth, keeping our mouth quiet is just as bad sometimes as speaking a lie. My brother, my sister, Jonah knew very well who was the problem person. He could have told them, he could have said, I'm running from God, I'm the reason why this storm has come. God wanted me to go to Nineveh, I'm trying to run to Tarshish, so God is trying to bring me back in the right direction because He wants to show His grace and mercy to those people and I don't like those people. Jonah could have been honest and said the right thing. The challenge for you and the challenge for my life is at school, do I stand for the truth? When all my friends are saying it's okay to cheat in my exam, will I tell them, no, I follow Jesus, I will not cheat in my exam? Or do I just laugh along with them, ha, ha, ha, that's a good idea, ha, ha, ha, because I want my friends to like me? See how can my life be a testimony if I'm laughing along with my friends when they talk about cheating in the exam? How can I be a light and a testimony to my coworkers when they talk about some, you know, some bad thing that they're planning to do and they're trying to get us along to join them? And I don't say, you know, as a follower of Jesus, I cannot participate in this. If at the home some of the neighbors come over and they begin to gossip and say bad things about some other neighbor, and I don't stop them and I don't say, you know, I'm a follower of Jesus, and the Bible is very clear, I should not listen to gossip because it will affect my own heart and become bitterness and even physically sometimes I can become sick. But I don't say anything because I don't want them to reject me. I don't want them to disapprove of me, so I let them say the gossip. I laugh at the bad jokes. I laugh with them when they talk about cheating in the exam. Jonah knew the truth, but he refused to say something. My brother, my sister, when God gives you the opportunity to stand for the truth, even if it costs you something, some difficulty, some inconvenience, you lose your friend or they mock you, that is okay. Can you imagine if Jesus felt embarrassed to stand for the truth? We would not have the opportunity to have our sins forgiven. Keep this in mind. Jesus went through a couple of trials before he went to the cross. He went through a trial where they examined him spiritually, his divineness. They examined his character and they could find no fault. And it's interesting that Jesus could have just said one thing or not said one thing and he would not have to go to the cross, but Jesus stood for what is right and what is truthful. And because of that, we get to experience salvation, the forgiveness of sin, the abundant life. My challenge for you, my brother, my sister, stand for the truth. Don't hide the truth inside. What good is it? You know, I heard on the news, I was watching the news the other day, and they're talking about new technologies that these scientists are trying to, you know, refine and make better. And just, we have had the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. And so many thousands of people have died because of the floodwaters and also the earthquake. And right now, many of them are suffering because of lack of food and different situations or lack of fuel to get the care to these people. And one of the things that they were explaining is that for years and years and years, the scientists have been trying to find a way to help people know that there's either a tsunami coming or that there is an earthquake coming. So far, the scientists have not been able to predict earthquakes. They know where the fault lines are, and of course, Japan and some of the other countries line up exactly on the fault lines along with the, you know, California and some other places. But one thing that they have done is they have taken the technology, especially through the quickness of the internet and the quickness of the alert system, is as an earthquake, the waves begin to spread. They have monitoring stations along all those places where the fault line is. And as these instruments pick up and detect the vibrations of the earthquake, it sends a message quickly ahead, faster than the earthquake is moving, to the people to give them a warning that the earthquake is coming and it has a countdown, you know, 30, 29, 28, 27. And this system is in Japan and also deployed in other countries. And because of this, many of the people in Japan had 30 seconds warning that the earthquake was coming. And because of this, thousands of lives were saved. Without this system, you would have seen casualties multiplied because people would have been crushed in the buildings. But it's interesting that if we speak the truth, if we don't hide the truth, we are giving a warning to the people. What if the scientists decided, you know, we're going to switch off that machine? We're going to switch off that warning system. Even though the truth is there in that system, if it's switched off, it helps no one. My brother, my sister, as a believer and a follower of Jesus, if you stand for the truth and you open your mouth and you proclaim the things of God, what happens is you are speaking the truth and you are helping people to know that your life is a follower of Jesus. But not only that, you are helping them to know that this is the way that life is to be lived. You're warning them. You are helping them to know their direction. Not opening your mouth will actually endanger them. And so Jonah, not being very responsible, trying to hide the fact that he is the cause for this problem. They draw straws or roll lots and they find out, Jonah, you're the person. Tell us, who are you? Where are you from? What are you? Which God do you serve? Who is your people? And Jonah begins to explain and he says, I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven who made the seas and the land. This terrified them and they asked, what have you done? Jonah should have told them before, but only now he tells them. Says they knew that he was running away from God because he had already told them so. The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, what should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us? Jonah said, pick me up and throw me into the sea. He replied, and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault for this great storm has come upon you. Finally, Jonah admits, it's my fault. I am the cause. I'm the reason. But here's the thing. These sailors asked Jonah, who are you? Where do you come from? What God do you serve? And Jonah tells them, I am the servant of God. I am a Jew. I am a Hebrew. I serve God who created the land and the sea. You know, that terrified the sailors because they realized here he is the servant of God who created all things. He has the power to move the sea, move the wind, and it frightened these sailors. And they said, what should we do? And finally, Jonah admits, he says, I am the reason for your problems. He says, take me, throw me overboard, and the sea will become calm for you. I think, personally, I think Jonah still did not want to go back to Nineveh. He said, let them throw me overboard. At least I'll die. I don't like those people. And I will not go there. And so he thought, at least let me drown. He's a very funny kind of character. But see, God is smarter than Jonah. Jonah is a funny character, but God is smarter than him. But one good thing that Jonah did is Jonah was truthful. At least he admitted that he was wrong. Do you realize the first answer for correcting a mistake is to say, I am the reason. I am the problem. How often we like to blame everyone else for our own situation. We fail our exam. It's my teacher's fault. We fail the exam. My pencil broke. We fail the exam. The mosquito was flying around my ear. We fail the exam. I was just so hungry. I could not concentrate. We blame everyone else except ourselves. Yes, there might have been a mosquito. Our pencil may have broken. The teacher may not be nice. But the choice is still ours. Something in the marriage, when there's a fight between husband and wife, no one wants to say, I am wrong. Please forgive me. It's always someone else's fault. It's always the wife's fault. Always the husband's fault. In the marriage, we don't like to take the blame ourselves. You know, between friends, we always find out someone else is the problem. Someone else is the cause. Someone else is the difficulty. You find this even when we watch cricket on TV. After the cricket match has been lost, they will say all the excuses why it is not their victory, but it was this reason, this reason, this reason, this reason. My brother, my sister, unless we stop making excuses and simply say, it is my fault. I am the reason. I am the cause. We can never move forward. See, only when Jonah admitted, I am the reason, now they can take steps to correct it. In the marriage, if you want things to go correctly, you say, I am the reason for this. Please forgive me. If you want friendship to be very close, when you have a fight, you say, I am the reason for this. Please forgive me. If you fail your exam, don't feel discouraged. Don't feel like you have to commit suicide and give up and everything. No, you go to the teacher and say, teacher, I did not study well, or I did not do this well. Please help me. You are my teacher. Please help me to know better. I want to know. See, when we stop making excuses, we can move forward. And that's the key element of life. Every excuse you make for the reason why you did not do something or the reason you did do something actually stops you from moving forward. Stop what you're doing. Admit that you're wrong and you can move forward. Do you realize that Jesus himself could have said, it is not my fault that I need to go to the cross. All these sins I'm going to take upon myself is not my sins. You see that? But instead, Jesus said, take all those sins that everyone else does not want to take and put them on me. Sometimes the best thing that we can do is say, Jesus, you forgave me when I was wrong. You loved me when I was wrong. Please help me to love my brother, love my sister, love my wife, love my husband, love my children to show mercy to them, even though they may be wrong. Help me to love them. Help me to help them. From Jonah's life, we can learn one powerful lesson today that when we see our life, we have done something wrong. Let us admit it quickly. Then we can move forward in God's strength and God's power. My brother, my sister. The Lord is merciful. In Psalm 139, it says that God knows our very hearts and the intentions of our thoughts. He knows our words. He knows where we go and where we're coming from. In fact, it says that all of our days are written in his book. It says that we cannot run from his presence. Jonah tried to run from God's presence, run from God's mercy, and he found out he could not run far enough from God's love. When Jonah admitted that he was wrong is when God began to work in his life. When you realize that maybe you are in the wrong, that is when God can begin to work in your life. Only when I admit I have done a sin, I have done wrong, can I ask God to forgive me. Until then, I'm making excuses. Let us stop making excuses and let us embrace the promises of God. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your grace and your mercy. We thank you that you have allowed us to study this small book of Jonah that encourages our hearts so much. I pray that you would help us to stop making excuses and admit when we're wrong so that we can move forward embracing your promises, embracing your power in our life, and seeing your mercy and your grace in our life. And we thank you for this. I ask for your blessings upon each of my brothers and sisters. In Jesus' name, amen. May the Lord bless you as you walk with Jesus, knowing that he loves you more than you will ever know. And may his grace and mercy be upon you.