Running from God (Jonah 1:1-3)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:04.040 A Jonah Chapter One. If you have one of the black bibles from the 2 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:09.189 cart it's on page seven hundred and seven, seven seventy four and seven seventy 3 00:00:09.269 --> 00:00:13.070 five is the book of Jonah. Going to be preaching on verses one through 4 00:00:13.150 --> 00:00:17.989 three this morning, but I'll read verses went through six. Let's give our 5 00:00:18.030 --> 00:00:22.260 attention to God's word. The word of the Lord came to Jonah, the 6 00:00:22.339 --> 00:00:28.179 son of Amy Thai, saying arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, 7 00:00:28.260 --> 00:00:32.140 and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me. 8 00:00:33.659 --> 00:00:39.450 But Jonah rose to flee to tarshish from the presence of the Lord. 9 00:00:40.450 --> 00:00:44.530 He went down to JOPPA and found a ship going to tarshish, so he 10 00:00:44.729 --> 00:00:48.969 paid the fare and went on board to go with them to Tarshish, away 11 00:00:49.090 --> 00:00:53.880 from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord hurled a great wind upon 12 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:57.799 the sea and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the 13 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:02.399 ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid and each cried out 14 00:01:02.439 --> 00:01:06.269 to his God and they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the 15 00:01:06.349 --> 00:01:10.790 sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner 16 00:01:10.829 --> 00:01:15.349 part of the ship and had laden down and was fast asleep. So the 17 00:01:15.430 --> 00:01:19.540 captain came and said to him, what do you mean, you sleeper? 18 00:01:19.659 --> 00:01:25.340 Arise, call out to your God. Perhaps the God will give a thought 19 00:01:25.340 --> 00:01:30.620 to us that we may not perish. You may be seated. For a 20 00:01:30.700 --> 00:01:34.609 few years now, I'm not even sure how long, I've been preaching the 21 00:01:34.689 --> 00:01:38.769 New Testament in the mornings and the Old Testament in the evenings, and I 22 00:01:38.849 --> 00:01:42.530 thought it might be good to switch that up because there are some of you 23 00:01:42.609 --> 00:01:46.689 who are only able to attend here in the mornings, are only able to 24 00:01:46.810 --> 00:01:49.680 attend in the evenings, and for those of you that's true, I thought 25 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:53.799 it'd be nice for you to hear an old testament book preached and for those 26 00:01:53.879 --> 00:01:57.879 who come or are only able to come to our evening services. Soon, 27 00:01:59.879 --> 00:02:05.670 well, we're in a new testament book now. So that's the reason for 28 00:02:05.870 --> 00:02:09.509 the switch. Nothing more complicated than that. But here we are with Jonah, 29 00:02:10.030 --> 00:02:15.310 and Jonah is a great book for many reasons. One of the reasons 30 00:02:15.310 --> 00:02:20.180 is it's a great it is it provides us a really helpful opportunity to understand 31 00:02:20.819 --> 00:02:25.139 why the Old Testament is so important, why the Old Testament is so important 32 00:02:25.460 --> 00:02:30.729 to Christians. One of the ways we see that is because of something Jesus 33 00:02:30.810 --> 00:02:36.289 says in the New Testament. Says it's several times. It's recorded throughout the 34 00:02:36.330 --> 00:02:42.289 gospels. It's there are probably at least two different times in his ministry that 35 00:02:42.409 --> 00:02:46.400 he says it and he refers to something called the sign of Jonah. There's 36 00:02:46.439 --> 00:02:51.039 this incident, and it seems to happen at a couple times at least, 37 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:55.759 where the rulers of Israel will come to come to Jesus and ask him for 38 00:02:57.159 --> 00:03:00.750 a sign. Now, this is a kind of a strange thing that they 39 00:03:00.750 --> 00:03:06.110 asked because after one of the instances, he had just fed fed four thousand 40 00:03:06.229 --> 00:03:10.270 people with just a little bit of food. In other instances he had been 41 00:03:10.310 --> 00:03:15.979 doing great miracles, healing people, a man with a withered hand, other 42 00:03:16.060 --> 00:03:19.939 things, and then they go to him and I ask for him a sign 43 00:03:21.060 --> 00:03:24.539 that they might believe, or so they say. I have a hard time 44 00:03:24.539 --> 00:03:29.969 understanding their perspective. What exactly was it that they were looking for? What 45 00:03:30.129 --> 00:03:37.849 else did they want to see? Well, Jesus's response is no, he 46 00:03:38.050 --> 00:03:39.969 says to them. Truly, I say to you, I'm you are not 47 00:03:40.090 --> 00:03:45.840 going to be given a sign. I will not give you a sign except 48 00:03:45.879 --> 00:03:52.479 for the sign of Jonah. In mark it simply says that he left in 49 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:58.349 a later passage. In Matthew same thing. There's no explanation given. Earlier 50 00:03:58.509 --> 00:04:02.389 in Matthew and also when Luke, which seems to be maybe the first time 51 00:04:02.550 --> 00:04:08.750 this happens, Jesus does explain a little bit. He tells them that the 52 00:04:08.870 --> 00:04:12.780 sign of Jonah, on points to him, is the son of man. 53 00:04:13.819 --> 00:04:16.579 He says, as Jonah went down into the belly of the fish for three 54 00:04:16.620 --> 00:04:20.660 days and three nights, so will the son of man go in to the 55 00:04:20.779 --> 00:04:26.769 heart of the earth. So you see, Jesus makes this connection with a 56 00:04:27.370 --> 00:04:31.810 story, this account of this history, with Jonah and the Old Testament. 57 00:04:32.329 --> 00:04:36.129 Now, if you don't know the Old Testament you might be a little confused. 58 00:04:36.170 --> 00:04:40.560 If Jesus says nothing's going to be given except the sign of Jonah, 59 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:45.920 you say Jonah who? And even if you read the little bit that he 60 00:04:46.040 --> 00:04:49.199 tells, the references that he makes the story, you're still not left with 61 00:04:49.319 --> 00:04:55.310 a whole lot. You'll get the basic point that Jesus is making and we'll 62 00:04:55.350 --> 00:04:59.870 talk about that continually as we go through the book, but you'll still be 63 00:04:59.990 --> 00:05:03.870 left without a lot of the details, details which God gives to us in 64 00:05:04.189 --> 00:05:08.980 this book. Maybe a simpler way to say it is that the book of 65 00:05:09.019 --> 00:05:14.259 Jonah is expressly given to us at least for one reason, and that's so 66 00:05:14.379 --> 00:05:18.819 that we can understand what Jesus is saying, when Jesus tells us about the 67 00:05:18.980 --> 00:05:25.449 sign of Jonah, and how that relates to him. So understanding the Old 68 00:05:25.449 --> 00:05:29.970 Testament, in this case and in every case, helps us to understand the 69 00:05:30.089 --> 00:05:34.800 New Testament. I hope that makes sense to you and is an encouragement to 70 00:05:34.879 --> 00:05:41.120 you to pay attention to this book, to understand it's it's points, it's 71 00:05:41.160 --> 00:05:46.639 applications, it's texture, it's details, the sense it gives us of God, 72 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:49.430 of man, in of who he is, of what he's doing. 73 00:05:49.589 --> 00:05:57.430 Jesus tells these Pharisees, I believe it's in marks Matthew Sixteen. He says 74 00:05:57.470 --> 00:06:01.790 them you can interpret the signs of the weather, the way the sky looks, 75 00:06:01.829 --> 00:06:05.899 but you can't interpret the signs of the Times, and he points to 76 00:06:06.060 --> 00:06:11.019 Jonah as a way to do that. Jonah is supposed to wake us up. 77 00:06:11.100 --> 00:06:15.220 In a way, is gives us a lens through which to perceive our 78 00:06:15.379 --> 00:06:21.850 world. Jonah is in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is critical, 79 00:06:21.889 --> 00:06:30.089 essential for understanding our faith, and so we turn to Jonah in in particular 80 00:06:31.329 --> 00:06:39.399 and we consider the beginning of this story today. The story begins by introducing 81 00:06:39.480 --> 00:06:44.360 us to this prophet WHO's mentioned in one other place in scripture, a prophet 82 00:06:44.439 --> 00:06:49.189 that seemed to have a some measure of success in delivering God's message and he 83 00:06:49.470 --> 00:06:55.149 having it received. But here our introduction to Jonah is not so nice. 84 00:06:55.189 --> 00:07:00.069 Jonah is introduced, yes, as a prophet, but one who is running 85 00:07:00.110 --> 00:07:06.899 away from his task. God tells Jonah Arise. This is in verse two. 86 00:07:06.899 --> 00:07:12.220 He says a rise, go to nine them, but we read that 87 00:07:12.339 --> 00:07:16.490 he arose, yes, but to fleet, to flee his task and to 88 00:07:16.610 --> 00:07:23.449 flee the presence of the Lord. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh. 89 00:07:24.569 --> 00:07:28.850 Jonah was supposed to take a right hand turn. If you're looking at a 90 00:07:28.970 --> 00:07:35.160 map, Jonah was supposed to go east. Instead he went west. Jonah 91 00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:39.759 was supposed to arise and go to an INNOVA. insteady goes down to tarshish 92 00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:44.000 and or down to JOPPA, down into this boat. Jonah was supposed to 93 00:07:44.040 --> 00:07:47.870 go over the land and instead he hikes it over to the Mediterranean to cross 94 00:07:47.990 --> 00:07:54.910 the seat. The mission as says that in Roman Times it would take sometimes 95 00:07:55.069 --> 00:08:00.220 a year to get from Israel, from JOPPA, let's say, the port 96 00:08:00.339 --> 00:08:03.379 city there, to Tarshish, which was likely on the southern tip of Spain. 97 00:08:03.420 --> 00:08:09.220 All of those stops, all of those resupplying, the bad weather, 98 00:08:09.379 --> 00:08:13.410 and it couldn't be done all the time. There certain times of the year 99 00:08:13.529 --> 00:08:20.009 that such a trip could be made. Jonah drops everything, pays his own 100 00:08:20.250 --> 00:08:24.689 fair, some people think, even paid the fare of the whole ship to 101 00:08:24.850 --> 00:08:30.199 just get the thing moving. Either way, he's going to great expense personal 102 00:08:30.519 --> 00:08:37.200 cost, to go the other way, to do the exact opposite of what 103 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:46.190 God has said. He's commit and to disobedience. Is Striking, isn't it? 104 00:08:48.309 --> 00:08:52.110 There's no hesitation, no thinking it over. We don't even get Jonah's 105 00:08:52.389 --> 00:08:56.940 sort of internal motivations at this point. We'll hear about them a little bit 106 00:08:56.980 --> 00:09:03.460 later in Jonah Chapter Four, but here he just books it. God says 107 00:09:03.500 --> 00:09:09.659 go to Nineveh and he goes the other way. We hear nothing about hesitation. 108 00:09:09.820 --> 00:09:13.289 There's no obstacle in his way, there's nothing to discourage him. It 109 00:09:13.450 --> 00:09:22.009 doesn't seem he simply disobeys a direct command, a one in one of the 110 00:09:22.730 --> 00:09:28.080 blessings of Jonah of the book is it teaches us a lot about our sin, 111 00:09:28.200 --> 00:09:31.120 and as we go through this book I want you to reflect a lot 112 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:35.360 about the nature of sin in general and, of course, in your own 113 00:09:35.480 --> 00:09:41.149 heart in particular. There's so many lessons to be learned, many which I 114 00:09:41.350 --> 00:09:46.750 have yet to learn. One commentator pointed this out to me, Hugh Martin. 115 00:09:46.669 --> 00:09:52.470 He points out just how easy it was for Jonah to find this ship 116 00:09:52.710 --> 00:09:56.019 and how true that often is of our sin. When we commit to a 117 00:09:56.179 --> 00:10:01.179 path of destruction, all of a sudden it seems so easily laid out in 118 00:10:01.379 --> 00:10:05.659 front of us. I'm this is often the case, and Jonah seems so 119 00:10:05.940 --> 00:10:11.330 secure in his path. He decides to go the other way, and he 120 00:10:11.450 --> 00:10:16.450 does, even to the point of falling asleep. He's resting in it. 121 00:10:16.610 --> 00:10:20.289 He feels satisfied, perhaps safe, secure in the thing that he's doing. 122 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:28.799 He's decided what will be and what will happen. But of course it's not 123 00:10:28.919 --> 00:10:33.720 the case, is it? Jonah has gone to sleep and this great storm 124 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:43.110 arises, a storm which the these pagan, unbelieving sailors are even telling Jonah, 125 00:10:43.470 --> 00:10:48.629 call out to your God and perhaps we won't die, something that will 126 00:10:48.669 --> 00:10:52.659 be echoed in the Ninavites a later in the book and when we get there. 127 00:10:56.779 --> 00:11:03.500 So we see this striking disobedience of Jonah and many people have wondered why, 128 00:11:03.620 --> 00:11:07.409 and Jonah tells us why. But it's a funny reason. It's a 129 00:11:07.570 --> 00:11:16.049 surprising reason. In Jonah, Chapter Four, in verse two, he says, 130 00:11:16.090 --> 00:11:18.480 oh Lord, is this not what I said when I was yet in 131 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:24.559 my country? That is why I made haste to fleet a Tarshis, for 132 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:28.279 I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and 133 00:11:28.360 --> 00:11:35.029 abounding insteadfast love and relenting from disaster. Therefore, now, oh Lord, 134 00:11:35.230 --> 00:11:39.830 please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die 135 00:11:39.750 --> 00:11:46.549 than to live. This is one of the strangest passages in the Bible, 136 00:11:46.629 --> 00:11:54.779 least on the surface level. Why didn't Jonah want to go to to Nineveh? 137 00:11:54.620 --> 00:11:58.740 Why did he flee? Why did he go the opposite way? Why 138 00:11:58.779 --> 00:12:01.529 did he risk his own life? And even now, after God's salvation of 139 00:12:01.610 --> 00:12:07.690 his life, I'm referencing the story which perhaps you don't yet know. All 140 00:12:07.490 --> 00:12:11.450 encourage you to read it. I won't review it now for the sake of 141 00:12:11.570 --> 00:12:20.080 time, but he he's lamenting something that God has done. God's Graciousness, 142 00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:24.360 God's relenting from disaster. These kinds of words are often found on the lips 143 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:31.389 of the PSALMISTS, who praise God for these things. Thank you, Lord, 144 00:12:31.470 --> 00:12:35.870 for your abounding love, your steadfast mercy. You're relenting from disaster. 145 00:12:37.309 --> 00:12:43.309 And here Jonah's saying, Ah, I knew you were this way, the 146 00:12:43.470 --> 00:12:48.299 very thing we're often begging for, the very thing Jonah will soon be begging 147 00:12:48.419 --> 00:12:52.899 for when he's sinking down into the depths of his watery grave and he calls 148 00:12:52.940 --> 00:12:58.730 out to the Lord Save me. I knew you were this way. Well, 149 00:12:58.769 --> 00:13:03.409 yeah, you knew he was this way. You were saved by this 150 00:13:03.570 --> 00:13:11.929 very God. Yet not that long ago. Why would Jonah feel this way? 151 00:13:13.399 --> 00:13:18.240 Well, as usual, I'm going to try and put you in his 152 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:22.399 shoes, because when we put ourselves in the shoes of sinners, we often 153 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:31.669 find ourselves in them. We find that the crazy things that they say are 154 00:13:31.190 --> 00:13:37.710 often the very things that we say too. We've you about it from Jonah's 155 00:13:37.710 --> 00:13:45.820 perspective. Nineveh is not just some great city. Nineveh was a terrible city. 156 00:13:46.179 --> 00:13:54.299 Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria, located near Mosul in northern Iraq. 157 00:13:54.460 --> 00:13:58.129 Today, a very important city, in fact so important that almost everything 158 00:13:58.289 --> 00:14:05.289 we know about Assyria comes from archeological work done in that area hugely important. 159 00:14:05.289 --> 00:14:13.039 All kinds of artifacts and documents and inscriptions and things come from there. Well, 160 00:14:13.159 --> 00:14:18.080 wasn't just great as important, it was great as in terrifying. From 161 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:24.269 Nineveh and from Assyria in general, the destruction of God's people was happening and 162 00:14:24.590 --> 00:14:31.590 was coming. These were scary, dangerous people who were the enemies of God. 163 00:14:33.909 --> 00:14:39.860 To go there as a messenger of the Lord, proclaiming their imminent doom 164 00:14:45.019 --> 00:14:48.620 would have been disconcerting, and not only would it have perhaps been a little 165 00:14:48.620 --> 00:14:52.649 bit scary, but it would have chipped away at the pride of the people. 166 00:14:54.970 --> 00:15:00.169 Gentiles are enemies. This is who you want me to go to? 167 00:15:00.289 --> 00:15:03.370 I am a prophet of God, and God is for Abraham, for Isaac 168 00:15:03.450 --> 00:15:07.080 and for Jacob, not for the gentiles who, by the way, are 169 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:13.559 intent on destroying us. Well, the word of the Lord is spoken throughout 170 00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:18.759 in the world, throughout the world. In some ways, the Israelites, 171 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:22.750 God's people, were the apple of his eye, and now God is reaching 172 00:15:22.830 --> 00:15:28.710 out to Nineveh, calling attention to their evil deeds, perhaps even drawing them 173 00:15:28.789 --> 00:15:35.419 in to his covenant promises, perhaps going to people and offering them salvation, 174 00:15:37.539 --> 00:15:43.940 where Israel had yet and or was he was currently failing to respond? To 175 00:15:43.980 --> 00:15:48.059 help you understand this a little more, I want you to imagine right now, 176 00:15:48.700 --> 00:15:52.570 bring to your mind someone you are having a hard time getting along with, 177 00:15:54.009 --> 00:15:56.730 or perhaps even were, someone you would describe as your or enemy, 178 00:15:58.529 --> 00:16:03.360 someone who you despise, someone who is a thorn in your side, a 179 00:16:03.720 --> 00:16:10.879 bur in your saddle, someone you wish would just go away, not an 180 00:16:10.919 --> 00:16:15.600 annoying person and abhorrent person, a terrible person, someone perhaps, who has 181 00:16:15.639 --> 00:16:19.110 done you great harm, who has tried to make you unhappy, who has 182 00:16:19.190 --> 00:16:25.909 tried to take away things that rightfully belong to you. And now imagine that 183 00:16:25.990 --> 00:16:30.750 God tells you specifically to go to this person, tell them of their sins, 184 00:16:32.350 --> 00:16:36.940 call them to repentance and then invite them to become members of Covenant Orthodox 185 00:16:37.019 --> 00:16:41.659 Presbyterian Church, that you might sit with them and sing with them and confess 186 00:16:41.860 --> 00:16:49.049 with them and praise with them. This is what it would have felt like, 187 00:16:49.289 --> 00:16:56.009 I think, for God to say arise, go to Nineveh, that 188 00:16:56.250 --> 00:17:03.399 great city and call out against it, Jonas thinking this is a city that 189 00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:08.319 had deserves justice. This is like going to Sodom and go mora. This 190 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:15.910 is like going to the evil empire and calling out to them their repentance, 191 00:17:17.069 --> 00:17:22.109 not just because justice is eminent, but because I know who you are and 192 00:17:22.309 --> 00:17:27.470 there is a possibility for race and forgiveness. Indeed, God had let this 193 00:17:27.789 --> 00:17:33.660 period of grace be quite long already for Assyria, or for Nineveh in particular. 194 00:17:36.019 --> 00:17:42.539 Eventually Assyria would be destroyed, for there's very sins justice would come swiftly. 195 00:17:45.970 --> 00:17:49.369 But here we have this moment of grace, this moment of grace for 196 00:17:49.410 --> 00:17:56.809 a gentile people and enemy people of God and of his people. And Jonah 197 00:17:56.970 --> 00:18:04.319 was to go. So he said no, I don't want to, I 198 00:18:04.519 --> 00:18:10.319 don't see how I can, I don't want to. He said No. 199 00:18:10.599 --> 00:18:15.710 He said no to God. Now it doesn't seem, or it's not recorded 200 00:18:15.789 --> 00:18:18.309 any way, that he says this with his words, but he says it's 201 00:18:18.309 --> 00:18:22.029 with his actions, and that's often true of our sins. We don't actually 202 00:18:22.029 --> 00:18:26.029 have to verbalize our no, to say no, do we? You just 203 00:18:26.269 --> 00:18:30.779 do the other thing. You do the opposite of what God says, God 204 00:18:30.940 --> 00:18:33.140 says go up, you go down, God says go left, you go 205 00:18:33.940 --> 00:18:40.220 right, or whatever it is. And so I think we all, when 206 00:18:40.259 --> 00:18:44.769 we hear these words of Jonah or see these actions of Jonah, this great 207 00:18:44.970 --> 00:18:49.609 no of Jonah, we can't just stand over him and say, silly prophet, 208 00:18:51.250 --> 00:18:55.839 what are you doing disobeying God? We have to take account for our 209 00:18:55.880 --> 00:19:00.440 own sins. We have to look at our own lives with the same sort 210 00:19:00.519 --> 00:19:04.519 of clarity and ask ourselves, are there places in my life where I am 211 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:14.509 directly, willfully disobeying God, just like Jonah was? I think we'd all 212 00:19:14.710 --> 00:19:17.789 like to say, or perhaps most of us are willing to say, yes, 213 00:19:17.910 --> 00:19:22.190 of course I sin, but when we say that we're talking about accidental 214 00:19:22.230 --> 00:19:26.619 sins and unintentional sins and that I was trying really hard, but of course 215 00:19:26.660 --> 00:19:32.099 I'm a sinner. Kind of sins, and of course our personal disobedience covers 216 00:19:32.140 --> 00:19:37.579 all of that, but doesn't it cover more? Aren't there sins in our 217 00:19:37.700 --> 00:19:41.930 lives where we simply disobey, and that's just as simple as it is? 218 00:19:45.289 --> 00:19:51.289 I have to ask you to ask yourself about this, because this is the 219 00:19:51.450 --> 00:19:57.319 clarity of God's word here. When God says yes, are we saying no? 220 00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:04.680 Or if God says go, do we? Are we fleeing? There 221 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:08.589 are ways that every single one of us have disobeyed and maybe are even now. 222 00:20:08.670 --> 00:20:17.869 Our disobeying in our life going directly against something God has commanded. Talking 223 00:20:17.910 --> 00:20:21.660 about the obvious stuff, not the gray area stuff, but the black and 224 00:20:21.819 --> 00:20:27.339 white stuff, the stuff your crystal clear on. When we think of these 225 00:20:27.500 --> 00:20:33.619 things, as you think of these things, let's be clear about them. 226 00:20:33.700 --> 00:20:40.369 Let's not hide them or push them away, because they are as open before 227 00:20:40.369 --> 00:20:47.170 the Lord as Jonah's sins were. They're not any more hidden, though we 228 00:20:47.289 --> 00:20:52.119 might be as selfdeceived as Jonah was as he goes down into the ship, 229 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:59.799 as he falls asleep and sort of consigns himself to despis obedience and even death. 230 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:07.950 Instead, let's mourn our sins, my friends. Let's more in them, 231 00:21:07.990 --> 00:21:11.630 let's see them what for they are. Let's let them sting our conscience. 232 00:21:12.230 --> 00:21:18.430 Why? So that we can wake up, so that we can go 233 00:21:18.779 --> 00:21:22.779 to the Lord in repentance while there is yet still time, as necessarily, 234 00:21:22.859 --> 00:21:33.609 as the sailors say, that we may not perish. As we think of 235 00:21:33.690 --> 00:21:38.250 these things, as we do this hard, thinking, hard not necessarily as 236 00:21:38.329 --> 00:21:45.369 in difficult as or a complex but hard, as in emotionally challenging and revealing. 237 00:21:47.720 --> 00:21:49.720 In light of the command to Jonah and as light of the questions about 238 00:21:49.720 --> 00:21:56.759 obedience and disobedience, let us remember that not only is the message and the 239 00:21:56.880 --> 00:22:03.950 necessity of obedience very clear in Jonah, but so is the message of power 240 00:22:03.230 --> 00:22:11.589 and God's greatness and forgiveness, the work of God in pursuing us through his 241 00:22:11.750 --> 00:22:19.180 word. Palm one thirty nine talks about the presence of God. Let's turn 242 00:22:19.299 --> 00:22:34.769 to it actually, rather than me sort of semi quoting it. Jonah flees 243 00:22:34.849 --> 00:22:38.089 the presence of the Lord. And when we're in disobedience and when we're in 244 00:22:38.250 --> 00:22:44.519 sin, we like to try to think we can get away, and the 245 00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:51.480 reminder that we can't is terrifying. But it can also be good news to 246 00:22:51.599 --> 00:22:56.480 you, as it is to David here in Psalm one thirty nine. Listen 247 00:22:56.480 --> 00:23:00.990 to what he says. Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me. 248 00:23:02.269 --> 00:23:06.630 You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You discern 249 00:23:06.789 --> 00:23:11.950 my thoughts from afar, you search out my path and my lying down in 250 00:23:11.029 --> 00:23:17.059 our acquainted with all my ways, even before a word is on my tongue. 251 00:23:17.180 --> 00:23:21.660 Behold, oh Lord, you know it all together. You Hen me 252 00:23:21.819 --> 00:23:26.900 in behind and before you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too 253 00:23:26.019 --> 00:23:33.849 wonderful to for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. Where 254 00:23:33.890 --> 00:23:37.450 shall I go from Your Spirit, or where shall I flee from your presence? 255 00:23:37.490 --> 00:23:41.799 If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my 256 00:23:41.960 --> 00:23:45.440 bed and she all, you are there. If I take the wings of 257 00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:51.359 the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your 258 00:23:51.480 --> 00:23:55.990 hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, 259 00:23:56.029 --> 00:23:59.990 surely, the darkness shall cover me and the light about me be night. 260 00:24:00.230 --> 00:24:04.430 Even the darkness is not dark to you. The night is bright as 261 00:24:04.509 --> 00:24:15.019 the day, for darkness is as light with you. This is the word 262 00:24:15.380 --> 00:24:23.970 of someone who he's thinking about the presence of the Lord, the Omni presence 263 00:24:25.089 --> 00:24:30.410 of the Lord, his everywareness, and yet also realizes at the same time 264 00:24:30.650 --> 00:24:37.250 it's sort of beyond his comprehension. It's so high. He he cannot attain 265 00:24:37.329 --> 00:24:42.759 it, he can't comprehend it, he can't get it all together. It's 266 00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:53.869 so big. There's nowhere that he can go where God isn't this is ultimately 267 00:24:53.950 --> 00:25:00.990 a wonderful thing, he says in verse fourteen. I praise you for I 268 00:25:00.109 --> 00:25:07.380 am fearfully and wonderfully made in the way that he has known and searched out. 269 00:25:11.299 --> 00:25:15.740 When we flee from the presence of God, it's a vain exercise. 270 00:25:18.819 --> 00:25:23.890 Where are you going to go from someone who is everywhere? How can you 271 00:25:25.130 --> 00:25:33.930 flee someone whose power is omnipotent, all powerful, capable of raising up great 272 00:25:33.930 --> 00:25:38.720 tempests in the sea, monsters that can swallow you from the deep, or 273 00:25:38.839 --> 00:25:42.119 little tiny plants and worms? That was will read at the end of the 274 00:25:42.200 --> 00:25:49.309 chapter. God commands the entire world and he knows US inside and out, 275 00:25:49.789 --> 00:25:56.950 beginning an end, his presence, if we are trying to flee from him, 276 00:25:57.430 --> 00:26:04.900 will be our death. But when we are fleeing from God, yes, 277 00:26:06.019 --> 00:26:14.619 when man was fleeing from God, God came to him. When Jesus, 278 00:26:14.859 --> 00:26:17.900 this one, who is, he will tell us in the gospels, 279 00:26:17.940 --> 00:26:22.210 is greater than Jonah, a prophet, greater than Jonah. When he came 280 00:26:22.369 --> 00:26:26.730 to preach this message in the world, he came with his with the very 281 00:26:26.809 --> 00:26:33.960 presence of God. You may remember that at Christmas sometimes he's called Emmanuel, 282 00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:40.960 which means God with us. When man was fleeing from God. God came 283 00:26:41.240 --> 00:26:48.789 to man and came in such a way to save us. As we will 284 00:26:48.109 --> 00:26:55.710 consider again and again, Jesus is both like and unlike Jonah. He is 285 00:26:55.869 --> 00:27:00.740 like Jonah and that he too also descended into the depths for three days and 286 00:27:02.019 --> 00:27:07.940 three nights. He also descended into the depths because of judgment. But the 287 00:27:08.059 --> 00:27:14.819 big difference, beloved, is that where Jonah was descending into his own judgment 288 00:27:14.980 --> 00:27:21.170 for his own sins, Jesus was descending into death and judgment for our sins. 289 00:27:21.210 --> 00:27:26.970 He came to do what Jonah's like us, are incapable of doing, 290 00:27:26.049 --> 00:27:33.200 bearing our own punishment, suffering our own death and coming out on the other 291 00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:37.640 your side. The only thing we can rely on. Is the thing Jonah 292 00:27:37.720 --> 00:27:44.829 is having a hard time getting his head around God's grace. It's the hard 293 00:27:45.150 --> 00:27:49.630 it's a thing that we all have a hard time getting around, but we 294 00:27:49.750 --> 00:27:59.740 must, we must begin to understand this grace of God and instead of fleeing 295 00:27:59.779 --> 00:28:04.779 from him as either and and try and either thinking that we can get away 296 00:28:06.819 --> 00:28:11.059 or thinking that we'll just give up and consign ourselves to our sin, to 297 00:28:11.220 --> 00:28:14.289 give ourselves over to death and say, well, I guess that's just going 298 00:28:14.329 --> 00:28:18.650 to be it. Why would we do that when God has given us his 299 00:28:18.849 --> 00:28:23.890 promise in this prophet who has spoken a word better than the word of Jonah, 300 00:28:26.009 --> 00:28:33.039 because we are saved by him and his word. He doesn't just preach 301 00:28:33.160 --> 00:28:40.640 repentance through faith, but Jesus preaches repentance through faith in him. He tells 302 00:28:40.680 --> 00:28:45.430 us, believe on me and you will be saved, you will be lifted 303 00:28:45.509 --> 00:28:52.029 up out of those waters of baptism, those waters of judgment, the herd 304 00:28:52.109 --> 00:28:59.779 and grave of the Earth, into life itself, the life in God. 305 00:29:02.220 --> 00:29:08.779 We can find our yes to God because of his yes to us. That's 306 00:29:08.859 --> 00:29:15.410 how we are saved and that's the message that Jonah is ultimately preaching, though 307 00:29:15.529 --> 00:29:21.930 somewhat unwillingly and but ultimately also pointing forward to in this one who comes. 308 00:29:22.930 --> 00:29:29.200 And so it's my word to you, in that same prophetic word that God 309 00:29:29.240 --> 00:29:34.960 has brought into the world, to believe and to trust this one who comes 310 00:29:36.160 --> 00:29:41.670 in grace, while there is yet time, see your sins for what they 311 00:29:41.670 --> 00:29:47.150 are, recognize your disobedience for what it is and, instead of fleeing from 312 00:29:47.190 --> 00:29:52.299 God, flee from it and turn to the presence of the Lord not so 313 00:29:52.460 --> 00:29:57.779 that you might be judged in in and condemned to your sins, but so 314 00:29:57.940 --> 00:30:03.099 that you might receive the forgiveness of your sins, as he is freely offering 315 00:30:03.180 --> 00:30:11.009 it to you in the better Jonah, in Jesus. That's all I have 316 00:30:11.170 --> 00:30:15.769 to say about that. That's all there is to say about that. So 317 00:30:17.089 --> 00:30:21.559 we're going to end there and I pray that you would do that. Believe 318 00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:26.599 in this savior. Believe in him and you will be saved. Let's pray