Tabor Baptist Church

Introduction

• Going to start looking at Jonah
• In some ways it is a well known book but also a story that is discounted by many as 'just a tale'
• Jesus Christ referenced the account of Jonah: being in the belly of a fish for 3 days
• v1 - reminds us of it's historical nature
• 2 Kings 14:25 - Jonah was a well known prophet in Israel in the Northern Kingdom during the reign of Jeroboam
• Jonah gave good news to Jeroboam and it came to pass, even though Jeroboam was a evil king (2 Kings 14:26-27)
• A time of history when Israel was under threat: they were taken away by Syria
• Jonah was to become the greatest evangelist of the Old Testament though he did not wish it
• Jonah was going to preach to Nineveh
• God was going to do a great work amongst the pagans

Resisting God's Will

• v2 - A clear command to go the Nineveh
• A great city - 120'000 people at least
• A large city - it took Jonah a few days to walk from one end of the city to another
• A very wicked city - yet God had love for them
• He sent them a message of judgement that they might turn to Him
• Imagine God doing that today!
• What did Jonah do?
• He arose to flee to Tarshish - he went in the other direction
• He didn't want to do God's will - he went in the opposition direction
• He wanted to take an easier option
• He suspected that God would save the people if they repented and Jonah did not want this - 4:2
• Jonah knew this from the example of his own nation
• He had concluded that God was gracious, merciful, slow to anger and full of lovingkindness
• Isn't it awful that Jonah had a love only for his own people and not for others or for his enemies
• Look at how this happens today
• There must not be a parochial spirit that says we are only concerned for ourselves
• Jesus came into the world to save both Jews and Gentiles
• He offered eternal life to a Samaritan woman
• He told stories of the Samaritans
• He raised a Gentile widows son
• He broke through all barriers
• Jesus loved sinners
• Jonah may have been fearful in going, but that wasn't his main reason
• We can understand fear
• Jonah is prejudiced
• Perhaps Jonah is worried about his reputation
• Jonah tried to flee from the presence of the God
• Didn't he understand that God was omnipresent?
• He was saying that God was especially present in Israel and Jonah did not want to be there
• Some people leave churches - they don't want to hear God speaking anymore
• There are many lessons in the life of Jonah
• Do we obey God's will when it is contrary to what we want?
• We can discern God's will in the Bible and by our conscience
• Do we resist what God is saying to us?
• Do we do the exact opposite?
• It is often difficult for us to cope with change
• Personal example of a call to Brazil and then back to the UK
• Jonah would not have liked the thought of leaving all that was comfortable
• He was not going to Tarshish to preach - he didn't like gentile people
• The Book of Jonah is a challenge to us to be obedient to His will
• Let us have a heart that loves God and loves people

Interpreting Providence

• Did Jonah think that God had provided a ship to Tarshish?
• Did Jonah think that God had provided the (probably large) cost of the ticket?
• We are not to 'put out fleeces' - this is not living by faith by living by sight
• We need to be careful of how we determine providence
• An open door isn't necessarily a right door
• An open door that provides an easy way out is not an open door
• What if Jonah used peace as a sign?
• You cannot use a feeling of peace as the ultimate guide to doing God's will
• Feeling trouble within himself was not a sign that he should not go
• God did allow Jonah to flee
• God did not force Jonah
• God would make him willing - Jonah had to come to a point of repentance before he did God's will and before God sent him again
• Jonah brought trouble
• Maybe to his family
• Certainly to the sailors
• Our disobedience can cause trouble to others too

The Chastisement of God

• The book shows God's kindness to Nineveh and to Jonah
• God was going to restore Jonah
• God was going to save the sailors on the boat
• [God was going to save the people of Nineveh]
• The book of Jonah is not about Jonah but about God's saving will for the world
• v4 - the Lord sent a great storm on the sea
• It wasn't the devil
• Infact, the [hardened] sailors were so afraid that they called to God
• Even atheists in deathly peril will call out to God
• Was Jonah asleep because he was at a point of great exhaustion - not because he was at peace?
• Remember it was such a great storm
• Perhaps he was exhausted because he was fighting against God
• God chastens His children (those He loves) - Heb 12:5-7
• God is chastening Jonah through the storm and through the rebuke of the mariners
• Example of Spurgeon
• When the whole world is crashing around us - are we asleep or obedient?
• Jesus also came from Gath Hepher (Galilee) but He always did God's will
• If you don't believe in the Book of Jonah then you cannot believe in Jesus Christ
• He did far greater miracles
• Through Jesus' obedience people were saved
• Jesus died and was raised from the dead to save people

If we look at Jonah we might look back to ourselves or the church, but we should be looking to Jesus Christ