When Jonah Became Bait
·
Known as a disobedient prophet,
Jonah, ran away instead of answering God’s call to prophesize to Nineveh.
·
Because of his disobedience,
God sent a raging storm to the ship Jonah resided in.
·
The sailors cast lots to
determine who was causing the tragedy, and it fell on Jonah.
·
He convinced the crew of the
ship to throw him overboard to calm the storm.
·
Though they tried to spare the
life of Jonah, the waves grew rougher so the men did as they were told,
throwing Jonah into the sea.
·
However, God didn’t let Jonah
die. Instead, God provided a great fish to swallow him. Instead of facing
death, he was in the fish’s stomach for three days and three nights before
being vomited onto dry land.
An amazing story … right!
Could that happen today???
DECCAN CHRONICLE. A Spanish fisherman who drowned in the sea is back with a very
interesting story. The man who disappeared for several days after he went
overboard during bad storm has return to share his survival tale.The
56-year-old fisherman Luigi
Marquez claims that a whale swallowed him. According to Marquez he
stayed there for three days and nights. When Marquez didn’t return home, the
coastal guard tried to find him but failed to locate him and he was considered
dead. “This great beast swallowed me the morning after the storm,” he told
local reporters. “It is the most frightening thing I have ever lived through.
Everything was pitch black and I was shivering cold. The only thing that kept
me alive was the raw fish I ate and the light from my waterproof watch, that is
how I kept in touch with time. And the smell, I will never forget that horrible
stench of putrid decomposition. I had to wash for three days to get the odor to
go away,” Luigi Marquez told reporters. (wife) “This is truly a miracle! I
prayed and I prayed and I never lost faith, and the Lord has brought me back my
precious Luigi,” told his wife, Penelope Marquez, to local reporters. Marquez
claims that he was inside the whale for 72 hours before it flushed him out.
·
During his time in the fish’s stomach,
Jonah prayed to the Lord.
·
Jonah acknowledged his sin and
turned to God in repentance.
·
During his lowest low, he
uttered a prayer that recognizes God’s power and glory.
At that moment, he knew that he
needed salvation. And God heard his plea.
I.
We have the Call of God.
Jonah
1:1-2 The word of the LORD came
to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh
and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."
a. Not everyone’s call is the same.
2 Peter 1:10-11 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every
effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you
will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the
eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
David Moore
… I remember when God called me to the ministry
and I resigned my job. I was called to the Managing Director’s office, and he
said, “I hear you are leaving us for the ministry?”
“Yes”, I said. “Can I not
persuade you to stay on with us?” “No”, I
replied, a little taken aback by his suggestion. “What if we
paid you more money?” I was honestly horrified; I used
to respect this man, but my respect for him was sinking fast as I thought he
was trying to tempt me away from God’s call. “No,” I
said, “in fact they are paying me less money!” Now,
he was the one who looked shocked, why would I leave a nice secure job to
receive less money? Then he asked me, “Which
ministry are you going to? Defence? Environment?” Now the
penny dropped. He thought I was leaving to be a servant of the government, when
I was in fact leaving to be the servant of God, and I’m glad
to say no amount of money he offered would have changed my mind!! That is how
it is when you take up the baton from Christ.
Jeremiah 1:4-7 The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
5 "Before I formed you in
the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a
prophet to the nations." 6
"Alas, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I
am too young." 7 But the
LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am too young.' You must go to everyone I
send you to and say whatever I command you.
II.
We have the disobedience of Jonah.
Jonah 1:3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for
Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port.
After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the
LORD.
a.
God
calls people in two circumstances …
b. First, when you are LOST.
You have heard the Gospel. You may have asked some
questions and considered the answers. You have sung songs to God. The sermon is
preached, and we are now to the invitation. The Holy Spirit is tugging on your
heart. You want to respond but you are afraid. … God is calling you to
salvation…
Jesus is tenderly calling thee home— Calling
today, calling today! Why from the sunshine of love wilt thou roam, Farther and
farther away?
Calling today! calling today! Jesus is
calling, is tenderly calling today! Jesus is calling the weary to rest, Calling
today! calling today! Bring Him thy burden and thou shalt be blest: He will not turn thee away.
Jesus
is waiting, O come to Him now! Waiting today! waiting today! Come with thy
sins, at His feet lowly bow; Come, and no longer delay.
Jesus
is pleading, O list to His voice! Hear Him today! hear Him today! They who
believe on His name shall rejoice: Quickly arise, come away!
c.
Second,
when God has a specific task for you.
d. Jonah was called to a specific task but he ran
away…
Psalm 139:7-10 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 in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and
dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the
day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things
we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that
neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to
come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will
be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
e.
Even in
our sins… God still loves us!
III.
We have the consequences of Sin.
a. Sin always has a price that MUST be paid.
b. Every sin has both intended and unintended
consequences.
Jonah 1:4-17 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and
such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5
All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw
the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck,
where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to
him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he
will take notice of us so that we will not perish." 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.
8 So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making
all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from?
What is your country? From what people are you?" 9 He
answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who
made the sea and the dry land." 10 This terrified them and
they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from
the LORD, because he had already told them so.) 11 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?" 12 "Pick me up and
throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know
that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you." 13
Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for
the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried out to the
LORD, "Please, LORD, do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not
hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, LORD, have done as
you pleased." 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard,
and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the
LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.
17 Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah
was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
c.
What was
Jonah thinking when he decided to run Tarshish ?
d. The sin was his disobedience to God.
e. The unintended consequences were the storm and the
lives of innocent men on the ship if it were to be destroyed.
f.
Unintended
consequences
Romans 6:23 - For
the wages of sin is death;
Galatians
6:7-8 - Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Romans
5:12 - Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all
have sinned:
Isaiah
59:2 - But your iniquities have separated between
you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not
hear.
Proverbs
14:12 - There is a way which seemeth right unto a
man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
IV.
We have the repentance of Jonah
a. This is
where the prayer of Jonah comes into play.
b. Jonah never intended to put other people’s lives
in danger.
c.
He
didn’t plan on causing a storm.
d. He certainly didn’t plan on ending up in the
stomach of a whale!
Matthew 12:40 (KJV)For as Jonas was three
days and three nights in the whale's
belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of
the earth.
Jonah
2:1-10 From inside
the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. 2
He said: "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From
deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.
3 You hurled me into the depths,
into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your
waves and breakers swept over me. 4
I said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward
your holy temple.' 5 The
engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped
around my head. 6 To the roots
of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you,
LORD my God, brought my life up from the pit. 7
"When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose
to you, to your holy temple. 8
"Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God's love for them.
9 But I, with shouts of grateful
praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say,
'Salvation comes from the LORD.'" 10
And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
e. Sometimes we turn away from following God’s calling for us.
We are hindered by our
hesitations, fears, doubts, and worries. It weakens our faith and spirit. But
we can cry out to God for help as we put our hope and trust in Him.
f.
Being a forgiving God, despite
what we did, God still hears our cries.
g. Even in our sinfulness, our prayers are being heard by God.
h. His mercy flows out readily to those who see God as their only
hope.
i.
In Him and Him alone, we can
find our salvation.
God is sovereign over our lives.
He will use our lives and salvation for a purpose, and that is to continue to
reach out for the next generations, to advance his kingdom.
j.
Jonah’s prayer teaches us that
even when we fall short before God, He will always be there to redeem us.
k. We can surrender our lives to Him and commit to following our
callings.
No comments:
Post a Comment