Well, good evening. It's good to be back with you on a Thursday evening. I always miss being here at Grace Covenant when I am away, which doesn't happen too often, thanks be to God. But I do bring you a good report of my time with the saints at King's Church in Conroe this morning. As you know, my friend Pastor Richard Hutto invited me to come preach some time ago, and so it was my great privilege to be with the saints there in Conroe this morning. They are a like-minded church with us, and so I was very encouraged to participate in their worship service and to preach for God's people there. And so let's continue to remember that congregation. Let's continue to pray for them. I do hope that in the future years, we might be able to partner with them in different ways and enjoy fellowship in the gospel together. And so it was a good day, but I'm glad to be back with you on the Lord's Day. Well, with that, let's turn our attention to the Book of Jonah, Chapter 1. As you have it there in your order of worship, we will be looking at Chapter 1. God willing, this will be the first of three sermons, three sermons on Jonah, Chapter 1. Tonight, we will be considering Jonah, God's runaway prophet. God willing, next Lord's Day evening, we will be looking at lessons on sin and sinners from this same chapter. There's many things that I don't have time to get into tonight. And so this text is going to take us a few weeks to work our way through. And then finally, as we consider Jonah chapter one on week three, we will consider how Christ relates to this passage. And so again, this is just the beginning tonight, as we begin to open up the book of Jonah, having last week considered something of an introduction to this great book. Let me remind you, what we've already covered, what we covered last Lord's Day evening, again, covering an introduction of the book. We've already learned a little bit about Jonah and about the city or the nation of Assyria in which Nineveh is located. And we saw ultimately that the book of Jonah is all about Jesus. In fact, I even referred to the book of Jonah at the end of my sermon last Lord's Day as the Gospel of Jonah. And that was intentional because According to our Lord's interpretation of the book of Jonah in Matthew chapter 12, that's what this book is all about. It's all about Jesus. It is primarily about the Messiah. It points us to him. And yet there are many divine truths for us. There are many lessons that we need to learn from the book of Jonah. And so again, tonight we begin to make our way into this book under the title of God's Runaway Prophet. And so let's consider Jonah chapter one. I'll read the entire chapter. And then we'll begin to get into the text. And so here now the word of God. The word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea, and there was a great storm on the sea, so that the ship was about to break up. Then the sailors became afraid, and every man cried to his God, and they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, laying down and fallen sound asleep. So the captain approached him and said, How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your God. Perhaps your God will be concerned about us, so that we will not perish. Each man said to his mate, Come, let us cast lots, so we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell to Jonah. Then they said to him, Tell us now, on whose account has this calamity struck us? What is your occupation, and where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you? He said to him, he said to them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. Then the men became extremely frightened. And they said to him, How could you do this? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he had told them. So they said to him, What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us? For the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. He said to them, pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you. However, the men rode desperately to return to land, but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them. Then they called on the Lord and said, we earnestly pray, O Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man's life, and do not put innocent blood on us, for you, O Lord, have done as you pleased. So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights. Amen, this is God's word. In Jonah chapter one, we have three distinct parties that are present for us in this narrative. We have God, We have Jonah and we have the sailors and we learn about we learn about and from each in this text. And what we learn about about each of these and what we learn from these is vitally important for living the Christian life, for living the Christian life to the glory of God. And so tonight we want to consider just a few lessons from God, from Jonah and from the sailors. Primarily tonight we will consider what this text has to say to us about God. Who is our God? This text reveals a few things to us about who our God is. We serve a God who has all authority, all knowledge, and all power. You can easily discern that just from a very cursory reading of Jonah chapter one. He gives Jonah a command. He knows of Nineveh's sin, and indeed he has power over creation. We also learn in this text that our God is the God of all mercy. He is the God of all mercy. He shows mercy to the wicked sailors and even to the Ninevites in sending Jonah there to preach a message of repentance to them. And so we see that our God is a God of mercy. God grants salvation through judgment. We also learn this about our God. This is the way that God oftentimes works with his creatures. He grants salvation through the means of judgment. And again, we will see that in the text tonight. God grants salvation through judgment. Again, we see this in Jonah being swallowed and Nineveh being promised destruction. And yet through both of these circumstances, God grants salvation. By his mercy, we also see that God is able to make evil hearts fear and worship him. We see a change in the sailors as we progress through chapter one. We see that their fear is an evolving fear. It is a changing fear. And so God does this. He does this work in the hearts of these men who he makes to fear him. And so we learn all of these lessons about God in Jonah chapter one to nine. In order to understand and believe these truths, we will be looking at Jonah chapter one in three episodes, in three episodes tonight, and the first is this, found in verses one and two. It is the Lord's command. The Lord comes to Jonah and he gives him a command. He gives him very clear instructions, and so this will be our first point tonight. Secondly, we will consider the prophet's escape, which is found in verses three through 10, and this will serve, again, as our second point. And then finally, in the third place, we will see a man overboard, verses 11 through 17. And so let's look together at episode one in our narrative, The Lord's Command, verses 22. In verse one, we see that the word of the Lord comes to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise and go to Nineveh. The Lord's command as it comes to Jonah the prophet is clear, and it is direct. It appears from this narrative that Jonah had already been called as a prophet. This doesn't appear to be Jonah's initial vocational calling to the prophetic office. It appears to be a continuation of his current work, of his current And so God comes to his already prophet, and he gives him a new command. He gives him new instruction. Jonah had likely already been ministering in the northern tribe of Israel for some time. And again, this is indicated to us in 2 Kings 14, 23 through 25, as we looked at it last week. But now, as we begin here in Jonah 1, verses 1 and 2, the prophet is given a new command. He is given a new command, a sudden command, and indeed a direct command by God. Jonah is given a word of special revelation. A word of special revelation, and because this word comes from God, it carries the weight of God's authority. This is an authoritative word, and this is a threefold command. We have it, arise, go, and cry. Arise, go, and cry. Arise, meaning get up now and go. There is an urgency to the Lord's command as he gives it to his prophet. Secondly, God says, go, go, meaning travel in the direction of Nineveh, because the city will soon be destroyed. And again, we get a sense of the urgency of this command, even as we move on to the second. And then thirdly, he says, cry out. He says, cry out, meaning condemn the people of Nineveh for their sin. You must go to them and preach a message of condemnation of their imminent destruction so that they might turn, repent of their sins and believe in me. So this is the threefold commandment God gives. Now, imagine for just a second being Jonah. Imagine being in Jonah's position and having Assyria, having the Ninevites as your enemy. They were enemies of the nation of Israel, both of the northern tribe and the southern tribe. And so this must have been a surprising commission to German. This must have caught him off guard, even as God gave him this command, especially in light of what many of the other prophets tell us about the nation of Assyria. Most of the prophets delivered oracles of judgment. If you just survey the major and minor prophets, you will find this to be a theme throughout each of them. They are delivering oracles of judgment against Egypt and against the Moabites and against the Assyrians and against the Babylonians. And so this was a common way that the Lord communicated to his own people. This was a common way that the Lord communicated even to the nations. But oftentimes in the writings of the prophets, these messages of judgment were delivered in rhetorical fashion. The prophets were never commanded to go and to deliver this message of judgment in person. So Jonah has a unique calling here. God doesn't just call him to record this message in Holy Scripture. He calls him to go and to take this message to the people. You must go to Nineveh personally so that you might declare this message that I have given to you. And again, this was not just any nation, but this was a Gentile nation. And because of this church, we can see the beginning seeds, even as we trace them Back farther in Holy Scripture, we can see the beginning seeds of the Gentile inclusion that relates to the great commission that our Lord would give to us in Matthew 28. What does he say? But go to all the nations. Preach my word to all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And so we see the shadow of that future Gentile inclusion in which all the nations would be blessed through the seed of Abraham, who is Jesus Christ. And so, again, we have the beginning, hence, the beginning stages of this inclusion confirmed for us even in the command that God gives to Jonah. And the Lord gave this command to Jonah because the wickedness of Nineveh came up before God. That's what the text tells us. Came up before God. Now, we are not given many specifics about the evils of Nineveh. The text just doesn't tell us much, but we can read about Assyria, we can read about Nineveh that the Ninevites were, we do know that they were an idolatrous people, a people that often committed great violence, likely in war or pillaging, as Jonah 3, 8 would seem to indicate to us. And so they were a violent people because this is what they turn away from in Jonah 3. They turn away from the wickedness of their violent acts. Now this statement here, that their sin arose before God. It came up before God. It teaches us something important about God and about sin. About God and sin. The omniscient God has knowledge of all men's sins. God knows every single one of our sins. You've heard me say before from this very pulpit, there is no such thing as a secret sin. God knows all that we do because he knows all that we are because he is the one indeed who has created us. He has made us. And all sin is first and foremost sin against God. It is sin against God. And we see that in the case of the Ninevites. We see that in the case of Jonah, don't we? His running away from God, his fleeing the presence of God, is not just a sin against the Ninevites. It is sin first and foremost against God. It is rebellion against the divine creator and the divine lawgiver. So we learn about God and we learn about sin and how easily we deceive ourselves and dismiss our own sin, thinking that God doesn't know about it. Aren't we naturally given to doing that at times, even in the Christian life? We easily dismiss our sin and say, well, it's not that big of a deal. It's really not that major of a sin. Or God really doesn't know about this sin. So church, this is a warning for us. This is a lesson that we need to learn that all sin is transgression. All sin is iniquity. All sin is rebellion against God. And we should not count even what we deem to be the smallest of sins. We should not count them lightly. We must mortify the flesh. We must kill the old man that still remains within us. So even the smallest and most insignificant sins are rebellion against the divine This is a lesson that we must learn from Jonah. Consider with me in the second place tonight, the prophet's escape, the prophet's escape. And we see this in verses three through 10. As we come to verse three, we see Jonah's response to the command that God gives. The prophet responds silently. He does not respond verbally, but he responds silently by simply fleeing from the presence of the Lord, just like Cain did in Genesis four and verse 16. So what does Jonah do when God gives his command? He jumped on a ship and attempted to flee in the opposite direction. He doesn't go to Nineveh, but he goes in the direct opposite position, excuse me, direction. Instead of going east to Nineveh, Jonah goes to Joppa, a port on Israel's Mediterranean seaboard. He travels westward towards Tarshish, which is a very hard word to say, which is likely modern day Spain. And so, instead of going east, he goes west. Instead of going up, he goes down. And so here, we learn something about the prophet. Jonah is a runaway prophet. He's a runaway prophet. He's a fleeing prophet. He's a reluctant prophet. He doesn't want to serve the Lord as God commands. Maybe Jonah thinks he's wiser than God. I wonder, are you fleeing from the Lord's commands? Are you fleeing from the commands of our God, which are so clear to us in Holy Scripture? Are you running away from what God has instructed you to do in his word? Again, this is a question that we must ask of ourselves, that we must learn from the life of Jonah. God says, go up again, and Jonah goes down. God says, go to Nineveh, and he goes in the opposite direction. And what is Jonah trying to do but this? Jonah is attempting to escape submission to the word of God by his flight. He's trying to get out from under God's authority. And he thinks that traveling in the opposite direction of Nineveh will accomplish that. I think Jonah probably knows that he can't literally flee from the presence of the Lord. Jonah probably has enough theology in his system to know better than that. But indeed, I believe he is attempting to escape the authority of God's word. He is attempting to escape submission to God by his flight. Now, it's not unusual for prophets to object to their calling. We have examples of this in the Bible and other places. We think of Moses. At first, Moses objected to God calling him to go to Egypt so that God's people might be released or free from their captivity. We think of Gideon, who is one of the judges that we find in the Book of Judges. He was a man that at first objected to his calling to be used by God as a judge and in some ways a prophet in Israel. But Jonah's response is uniquely sinful. It's uniquely sinful in that he attempted to run away. Did Jonah really think that he could run away from God? Jonah should be understood in stark contrast with men like Abraham and Elijah. We think about these two men, we think about their lives, and both were sinners, both made mistakes, both had failures, and we have examples of those failures and those sins in the Word of God. But think about Abraham for a moment. Abraham was commanded to kill his own son, and he was ready to obey. He was ready to kill his own son for obedience to God. Elijah's ministry was in many ways characterized by his obedience to the word of the Lord. We see that phrase repeated over and over again. And he obeyed the Lord. He did what the Lord commanded. Unlike these men, Jonah sought escape rather than obedience. So we have to learn that lesson again for ourselves, that we must not seek to escape the authority of God's commands, but we must submit ourselves to him. Even when it seems like fulfilling those commands are difficult, even when it seems like fulfilling those commands is hard for us, we must submit. We must give ourselves to obedience. And again, we ask the question, why? Why did Jonas seek to escape the authority of God? Well, in some ways, we've already answered this question. We tackled this question last week. I think the answer is fairly straightforward, as we see it in the narrative. I think because he hated the Assyrians. He hated the Assyrians. Again, they were the enemies of Israel and Judah. And maybe even he didn't want God's blessing to pass from Israel, who had been idolatrous for so long. So maybe There is that sense in Jonah as well. And Jonah knew that God might show mercy. Jonah knew that God might show mercy if he'd go, if he would go and fulfill the Lord's command and preach a message of condemnation to these people. He knew that they might repent. And so he doesn't want to go. He disobeys God's command. Now where did we learn this? We learned this in Jonah chapter four and verse two. Look there with me for a moment. Jonah four and verse two. What he says here in his dialogue with God is very revealing to us about his character. Jonah 4 and verse 2. He prayed to the Lord, and again, this is after Nineveh's repentance. This is after these sinful people have turned away from their sin and turned to the Lord. He prayed to the Lord and said, please, Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore, in order to forestall this, I fled to Tarshish. For I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity." You see, Jonah reveals his hand, doesn't he? He tips his hat to us. He tells us in the text, and just as he tells God why he didn't want to go, because he knew that God might save these people, and he didn't want to see it happen. So here is the runaway prophet. Here is the reluctant prophet. Here is a prophet who didn't even want to preach a message of judgment to these people because he knew that God might save them. What does this tell us? What is Jonah doing here in Jonah 4 and verse 2? Well, he's quoting an earlier portion of the Old Testament. He's quoting to us from the book. How does he know the history of redemption? Because he knows what God has done in the past. He knows God's great works. He knows God's great deeds. He knows, based on how God has worked in history, in past ages and generations, that God might actually save these people. Therefore, he didn't want to go. The prophet knows of divine mercy. He knows the history of redemption. But unlike Jonah, We must not object to divine mercy being poured out on sinners. We must not object to this, but we must pray for this. We must pray that God would save our enemies and not run away from God, not run away from his command when he gives it. And it would appear that Jonah's hatred for the Assyrians made him forget about his own sin. It seemed to make him forget about his own sin. And dear Christian, you must view yourself here as undeserving of divine mercy. You must view yourself as a Ninevite. You must understand that you do not deserve God's mercy if he dealt with you as you truly deserve. Unlike Jonah, you must view yourself as a weak, needy, and hopeless sinner. Our self-perception must be an accurate one. It must be a correct one. And we think about what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy 1 and verse 15. He says this, it is a trustworthy statement, deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am the foremost of all. You see what the Apostle Paul is teaching us there. Paul is teaching us what it means to have an accurate self-perception as a Christian. We are to understand who we are. because it's only in understanding who we are that we truly understand the grace and the mercy of God. Paul says, I am a sinner. I am foremost of all. It is Christ Jesus who came into the world to save men such as me, to save men and women such as you. I think Jonah forgot this. I think Jonah forgot that he was a sinner in as need of grace just as the Ninevites were. He had forgotten about this. He had forgotten about the mercy of God. Paul says elsewhere in 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 11, he says, such were some of you, such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God. We must not forget what God has done for us. We must not forget the extension of divine mercy that has been shown to so many of us. We must not fall into Jonah's way of thinking. and so not fulfill the Lord's command, that he would pour out mercy upon needy sinners, because we are those needy sinners. We are those people. Sinful men need divine mercy. And so, church, let us not object to the salvation of our enemies, but let us pray for them, that through the salvation of the wicked, God would get glory for himself. As a result of Jonah's disobedience, the Lord hurled a great storm upon the sea. And indeed, this was an attention getting storm. This got the attention of the sailors. It did not get the attention of Jonah, but it indeed got the attention of the sailors so that all who were on the boat, except for Jonah, were affected by this storm. And you have to recall, Church, that these sailors were professional sailors. These were men who had sailed through storms before. This was not their first go around. These were experienced men. seamen, mariners, and yet they are frightened. They are frightened by the power of this great storm that has come upon them. They are frightened for their lives, fearing that they might die. Notice what verse five says, John one and verse five. Then these sailors, these professional men became afraid and every man's pride to his God, and they threw the cargo, which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, laying down and fallen sound asleep. What a contrast we have between the sailors and between Jonah. The sailors are rightly frightened. They are rightly afraid because they know that they are about to die unless something changes, unless someone saves them. But what is Jonah doing? Jonah is asleep in the bottom of the ship. He's taking a nap. And again, this tells us something about Jonah. And it tells us something about the sailors. It tells us something about their spiritual condition. And so it would seem that Jonah was not just physically asleep. He was also spiritually asleep. He was spiritually asleep. Maybe he was sleeping to try and ignore God, or maybe his heart was so hardened against God that he was insensible to the danger, that he didn't even recognize how close he was to death. Matthew Henry once wrote this sin is of a stupefying nature. It's a great phrase. Sin is of a stupefying nature, and we are concerned to take heed lest at any time our hearts be hardened by the deceitfulness of it. It is the policy of Satan, when by his temptations he has drawn men from God and their duty to rock them asleep in their carnal security, that they may not be sensible to their misery and danger. It concerns us all to watch. Therefore, you see what Matthew Henry is saying here. He's drawing out an application for us from this text. He's helping us to understand the application from Jonah's spiritual sleepiness. See, sin appeared to stupefy Jonah. It appeared to make him stupid. I'm using Pastor Dave's old words, which he would oftentimes remind us is a biblical word. It's a word that we can find in Holy Scripture. And indeed, we are concerned, we should be concerned to take heed of our sin, lest we become stupid, lest we become ignorant of our own sin, lest our hearts be hardened by the deceitfulness of our own sin. Again, what does he say? But it is the policy of Satan, by his own temptations, to draw us away from God and our duty to him. We have to be careful about the danger of sin, because what happens is it rocks us asleep. It puts us asleep. It causes us to go down to the bottom of the boat and to sleep while danger is above us, while we are on the edge of death. And this is what Jonah was doing. He was not sensible to the danger that was so near to him. And so we must be watchful. We must be vigilant in the Christian life. Again, to put sin to death, to be under the means of grace, to be with God's people, to do what God has commanded for our sanctification, for our growth in grace, and ultimately his great glory. So after this, what happens? But the captain of the boat, he goes down to get Jonah, and he gives him the same command that God gave to the prophet earlier. Notice the command that is given. He says, get up and cry out. Get up and cry out. This is the same command that God had already given to Jonah, and now he is being given this command by the ship's captain. Maybe your God will save us. Maybe your God will save us. And so what happens after this is that the sailors proceeded to cast lots to determine who was the cause of their trouble. Maybe fate or chance or luck will determine this for us. And of course, the lot. Providentially, not by fate or luck or chance, the lot fell to Jonah. And the Proverbs tell us this, Proverbs 16, 33, the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord. And so we see that played out here in clear fashion, don't we? The lot fell to Jonah. This was obviously God's decision. This was God's sovereign determination that the lot would fall to Jonah so that the sailors would know he was the cause of their trouble. After learning that Jonah was the cause of their trouble, the sailors inquire with the prophet. They search out the prophet. They talk to him. Again, we see verse eight. What does verse eight say? Then they said to him, tell us now, on whose account has this calamity struck us? What is your occupation and where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you? And notice his reply in verse nine. He says, I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and dry land. Now it would seem that Jonah's fear needs some refining, doesn't it? He says, I am Hebrew. He says, I serve the Lord God, the God of creation, who is over the sea and the dry land. And yet, what is he doing while he utters that phrase, but running away from God, but disobeying God's command? It's contradictory for the prophet to say, I fear the Lord, and yet I'm, at the same time, disobeying God, disobeying God. And so his fear needs some refining. In verse 10, Jonah admits to the saviors, he admits to them, He is the reason for their trouble. He admits to them and he says to them, I am the reason that this danger, that this storm has come upon you because I am fleeing from the Lord. And so what do the sailors do? They ask him, how could you do this to us? How could you put us in this kind of danger? How could you put us in this position? How could you put our lives in jeopardy for your disobedience? And here is another important lesson for us to learn. Hidden iniquity is often revealed publicly. Hidden iniquity is often revealed publicly. Jonah's sin was made known to these men. Maybe Jonah thought it was hidden from other men. Certainly, Jonah knew that it wasn't hidden from God. But here, his sin is made known to these sailors. And another lesson for us is this, that your sin will never just affect you. You may think that. You may fall into that erroneous way of thinking that your sin is just isolated to you. But your sin will never just affect you. Your sin will always have a ripple effect. It will touch others. It will affect others. It is never isolated to self. And we must understand the seriousness and the danger of sin. See, the danger of sin is like dropping a rock into a pond. It has a ripple effect. And it goes far beyond what we often imagine or what we can even think about. Sometimes it goes even beyond our own generation. Think about that for a second. We must be careful. We must be vigilant in our mortification of sin. We must understand these lessons from the book of Jonah. Consider it with me now in the third place, a man overboard. We see this in verses 11 through 17. A man overboard. The sailors find out that Jonah was the reason that God brought the storm upon the sea. And so they ask him, they ask him in verse 11, what should we do that the storm would become calm for us? Jonah tells the sailors to throw him overboard in order to alleviate the wrath of God. It's interesting that this is Jonah's first solution. His first solution is not to repent of his sin and pray that God might forgive him, that God might calm the sea. His first instinct, his first response to the sailors is, just throw me overboard so that I might die. Again, that tells us something, I think, about Jonah's character. Jonah would rather die than go and preach to the Assyrians. He would rather die than go and do this. And this is Jonah's first death wish, death wish after which there will be two more as we work our way through this book. This is the first of three times that Jonah asks God that he wishes to die. In spite of Jonah's actions, the sailors still try and row to shore. They still want to save Jonah. Even though he has put them in great danger, they still try to save or preserve his life by rowing to shore, and yet, to no avail. They're not able to do so because the storm has become so great. The sea is raging at this point. And so, really, they are left with no choice but to pick up Jonah and to throw him into the sea, as verse 15 tells us. And it's only at that point, it's only after Jonah is thrown overboard that the sea becomes calm and the storm stops raging. Verse 16 tells us that the sailors feared the Lord. Sailors feared the Lord. And this, in chapter one, is the fourth reference in Jonah 1 to the fear of the sailors. So we need to consider these sailors here. We need to consider their evolving fear in the text that is before us. We need to trace the progression of their fear through chapter one. The first reference to their fear, to the fear of the sailors, is in verse five. It's in verse five. It's when they are initially frightened of the storm that has come upon them. As one author writes, it is the fear of the unknown while in the midst of the storm. They don't know what's going to happen to them, and so they are frightened, they are fearful. And so each man turns to his own god for help. They turn to their pagan deities, the pagan deities of the nations, and they seek out their help, each man obviously having his own god, or maybe each man having many gods for himself. Even the practice of their false religion shows us that they had enough light of nature to acknowledge a deity. Isn't that interesting? This is the light of nature in man. Man knows that he has a creator. Man knows that there is one who is greater than himself. And so these men acknowledge that by their seeking out after their pagan deities. And then in verse 10, the sailors were again struck with fear in learning about Jonah's God. They became frightened because what does Jonah tell them? My God, the God that I serve, the God of the Hebrews, the God that I fear supposedly the earth and the sea. And this fear elicits a response from the men who say to Jonah, how could you do this? How could you do this to us? How could you put us in this dangerous position? And then in verse 14, we begin to see things change with the sailors. We begin to see the evolution of their fear. We begin to see something, I think, of a spiritual change in these men as they realize who Jonah's God really is. Verse 14. Then they called on the Lord and said, we earnestly pray, O Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man's life and do not put innocent blood on us. For you, O Lord, have done as you please. What interesting theology these men put forward to Jonah. What did they tell us? They acknowledged Jonah's sin and they would seem to acknowledge the sovereignty of God. They would seem to acknowledge God's great power. Again, they have already been struck by fear. They have already been frightened by God's great power. And now notice verse 16. Notice again the further progression of their fear. Then the men feared God, the Lord, greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. So now they are not just acknowledging Judah's sin and acknowledging the sovereignty of God, but now they are bowing their hearts before Yahweh in a different sense. They are offering sacrifices and apparently making a vow to the Lord that they will serve and worship him only. So here we see the evolution of their fear. The Gentile sailors seem to develop a religious fear, a reverential fear, a filial fear of Yahweh, while Jonah, while Jonah, God's prophet, his supposed servant, would rather die than serve God. So we see a great contrast between Jonah and between These sailors, Jonah says, I fear the Lord, but this appears to be just lip service. The sailors come to really fear the Lord in a filial, in a reverential sense, and what do they do? But they make sacrifices to God. They make a vow to God that they will serve him and worship him only. And this teaches us another important lesson, as we have it here in our text tonight. A true fear of God should drive us to obedience and worship. A true fear of God should drive us to obedience and worship, and to give God the kind of sacrifice that He requires. It's not the sacrifice of lip service. It's not the sacrifice even of burnt offerings. This is what David tells us in Psalm 51, where he is confessing his sins to the Lord after his fall with Bathsheba, after he has murdered Uriah. He reflects upon his circumstances and he confesses his sins. And he says, oh, Lord, for you do not delight in sacrifice. Otherwise, I would give it. You are not pleased with burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrived heart. Oh, God, you will not despise. These are the kind of sacrifices that God is pleased with. These are the kind of sacrifices that God requires from us, humility and contrition. We come before God, acknowledging our sin, serving him, depending upon his power and his grace and his mercy. We think further about what the Bible teaches us on becoming a living sacrifice. We see this language used in Romans 12, one and two, where the apostle Paul writes this. Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world. be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. And so, what kind of sacrifice does God require from us? He requires the sacrifice of our hearts, the sacrifice of our service, the sacrifice of a broken and humble spirit, one that seeks to serve him and submit ourselves to him. We present our bodies to God as a kind of living sacrifice. in this narrative. Maybe he did afterwards, but we are to learn the lesson from Jonah that we are to submit ourselves to the authority of God's word and give ourselves to his service. We are to give the sacrifice of a holy life, of a holy life, a pleasing life to God, not acting as the world, but doing what God commands. This is a lesson that we must learn in contrast with Jonah's life. And finally, in verse 17, we see that after Jonah was thrown into the sea, God appointed a fish to swallow Jonah for three days and three nights. And again, in this we see God's great power. He is the creator and the commander of all things. We see evidence of God's power. Now, many like to speculate about the nature of this great fish. Maybe some of you have been waiting for me to get to this point to talk about the fish. The fact is, the reality is, we don't know very much about this fish. The Bible just doesn't tell us. It's possible that this fish was a very large whale. It may have been the leviathan that's referred to in Job chapter two, which the Septuagint calls a sea monster. I will leave that research to someone else. What's more important in this text for us, church, is identifying the purpose of the fish. We must understand the purpose of the fish. By his sovereign power, God determined that this fish would be, as one author says, a living sepulcher for Jonah. This fish is a living tomb. A temporary living tomb, but indeed a living sepulcher for Jonah. And even in this prison, even in this prison, in the belly of the fish, we see God's mercy going. Jonah wanted to die, but God preserves his life. God doesn't let him get out of his calling. He doesn't let him get away from his prophetic vocation that easily. He will fulfill his calling by God's decree. Jonah didn't suffocate. He didn't die in that smelly belly of the fish. He was miraculously preserved for three days and three nights. It was a temporary prison, a chastisement for Jonah. God was judging him in a sense, but through that judgment, God brought salvation. He brought salvation to Jonah. He used that instrument of judgment in the fish, that living sepulcher, to house Jonah for three days and three nights, that he might be carried to his destination, that he might fulfill his prophetic calling. And by Jonah's example, we learn this, that disobedience to God is a losing venture. Disobedience to God is a losing venture. Jonah had to learn that lesson the hard way. And it just resulted in the loss of spiritual benefits. It resulted in the loss of God's blessing upon the life of the prophet. He had to endure great hardships. And again, we learn that disobedience to the Lord is always more costly than we think. It's always more costly than we think. It always affects us more deeply and more profoundly than we think. Again, we have to count our sins as they are before God. All sin is transgression. It is iniquity. It is rebellion against God. and it will negatively affect our lives. We have to give ourselves to the service of God. Matthew Henry again writes this, that sin brings storms and tempests, not into our lives physically, but it brings them into the soul. It brings them into the soul, into the family, into churches and nations, and it is a disquieting, disturbing thing. Sin has a great impact, and we must guard against it. Let us then be watchful and take heed so as to not bring about the Lord's pleasure, as we see in the life of Jonah. Now, as we conclude tonight, let me give you three final lessons to wrap up for us. The first is this, running away from the omnipresent God is impossible. Running away from the omnipresent God is impossible. You cannot flee the presence and the authority of God. We heard Caleb read Psalm 139 earlier, it says this, In verses seven through ten, where can I go from your spirit or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I met my bedding shield, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there, your hand will lead me and your right hand will lay hold of me. Jonah knew this portion of God's word. God laid hold of Jonah in the depth of the sea. There was nowhere that Jonah could flee from the presence of God. There is nowhere to hide from God. His word will always stand in authority over you. No matter how far you run, God's word and his authority will remain. All men, all cities, all peoples, and all nations are under the sovereign authority of God's government. His administration is forever. His rule and reign is a reign and a rule of righteousness that has no match. Therefore, prophets and pagans and all peoples are accountable to the God who knows all and the God who sees all. This is a lesson for us to learn. Running away from the omnipresent God and His authority is impossible. Secondly, disobedience to the omnipotent God, to the all-powerful God, is vanity. It is vanity. Jonah shows forth God's great power. We see that throughout chapter one. We see it in the storm, don't we? We see God's omnipotence. We see his immeasurable power in the storm. For who can command the sea but the one who made the sea? No one can do what God does. Our God is the God of creation. He is the God of the sea and the dry land. He has made all things that exist, all things have come into being through him and for him. We see God's providential power, or we see God's power in the providential lot that was cast in Judah chapter 1. Who determines the outcome of all things but God? That is a display of God's power. And finally, we see God's power displayed in the fish. Only God can direct sea monsters and cause men to live in silence. This is God's great power. Psalm 24, one says this. The earth is the Lord's and all it contains, the world and all those who dwell in it. God is the God of creation. He is the God who has all power. And by God's power, our plans will always conform to his sovereign will. And Jonah, he knew that experientially. By his great power, God humbles men that they might worship him. Jonah had to learn this the hard way. Thanks be to God that we see the salvation of these sailors who learned it through the fear of God. Thirdly, and finally, we see this, that God uses the disobedience of his creatures to accomplish his glorious purpose in Christ Jesus. God uses the disobedience of his creatures to accomplish his most glorious purpose in Christ Jesus. To say it another way, God used the wickedness of his runaway prophet for his glory. This is God's power. This is his omnipotence. And we see this in two ways. God used Jonah to change the hearts of the sailors who, by the end of chapter one, they're sacrificing to God and making a vow to the Lord. God used Jonah. He used Jonah as an instrument to bring these men to salvation, that they might encounter Jonah and be struck with terror at the Lord's power. God used Jonah in this way to bring these men to salvation. God used Jonah as his instrument. We might say it this way, in the light of Genesis chapter 50, what Jonah intended for evil, God intended for good. Jonah was swallowed up by a fish for his sin. And as we will see in the coming weeks, Christ swallows up death in the victory of his resurrection. And so even as we think about who Jonah is. Even as we think about the story, as we think about his life, we must go to the Savior. We must understand who Jonah points us to. Even in his sin, even in his wickedness, God uses his runaway prophet to show us Jesus Christ. And so these are the lessons that we've seen tonight from Jonah chapter one. May God use these truths for our good and his glory. Amen. Our great and glorious God, how we thank you for your holy word. We thank you for all that is contained within it. And we pray, O God, that you would use your word to penetrate our hearts, to change our lives, to make us more like your son, Jesus Christ. And would you use this word deeply implanted to convict those that are here of sin, whether they be Christians or whether they be unbelievers? Lord, would you use the preaching of your law? Would you use the lessons that we learned from this portion of your word? to make men more understanding of who they are and more understanding of who you are, that we all might come to a greater sense of fear and awe as we worship you and give you the glory that is due to you and you alone, as we pray in Jesus' name, amen.