All right, the youth can be dismissed for Sunday school. The rest of us, go ahead and grab your Bible and turn to the book of Jonah. Jonah. Our regulars, your Bible probably falls naturally open to Romans. But we're beginning a new series in the book of Jonah. Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, and the minor prophets. And welcome to all of you. Great to see you all. Thank you for joining us, especially if you're newer or if you're not a regular, it's a blessing for us to have you with us as we worship the Lord together and continue and really ascend in worship through the hearing and the study of the Word of God. As mentioned, we finished our series in Romans last week by the grace of God. And now we're moving on to Jonah. Jonah chapter 1. We'll take this book one verse at a time, by the grace of God, and see what happens therein. Jonah chapter 1. Well it was Friday morning in June of 2021. And veteran and commercial lobster diver Michael Packard was off the coast of Herring Cove in Cape Cod. And this wasn't his first dive, but it would be his first and greatest rodeo. He was diving in about 45 feet of water when it happened. He felt a strong shove on his body from behind. And the next thing he knew, everything went totally black. He said as he recounted the incident, quote, I could sense I was moving and I could feel the whale that had just swallowed me squeezing with the muscles of its mouth. He was swallowed by a whale. At first he thought he was in the mouth of a great white shark. But after he couldn't feel teeth grinding on him, as great whites tend to do, he realized, this is a whale. Packer said, quote, I thought to myself, there's no way I'm getting out of here. I'm done. I'm dead. And he said, I immediately started thinking about my family. But with full scuba gear on, he struggled He wrestled in the tight confines of the whale's mouth, and the whale started to shake its head violently back and forth. Packard then saw some light, and as the whale continued throwing its head side to side, the next thing he knew, the whale had spit him back out into the sea. Mr. Packard survived to tell the story, Interestingly, Mr. Packard also survived a catastrophic plane crash in Costa Rica years earlier. I don't know what that means for him, but he should be saved if he's not. Last year, early in 2024, a father and a son were kayaking in the Strait of Magellan, way down south. Right up north there of Tierra del Fuego and southern Chile. And the father was filming his dear 24-year-old son kayaking in the Strait of Magellan on a chilly morning. And all of a sudden, another whale came and swallowed his son. Gulped him up, he disappeared. There's footage of this, by the way. And the whale went down with his son in his mouth, kayak too, but the whale didn't like what he tasted, so he quickly spit him back out, and again, the son lived to tell about it. In the Book of Jonah, we read of a historical, factual, inerrant account of this rebellious prophet who was swallowed by a massive fish. To those who doubt the historicity of Jonah, Perhaps Jonah would point to these two recent events that we just mentioned and say, see, I told you it could happen. Or perhaps Jonah would say, you know, those times where other guys were gulped up by a fish, it's certainly interesting, and it's certainly entertaining and helpful, but you guys should believe my account simply because it's in the word of God. And he would be right. To be sure, the fish event in Jonah is factual and without error, as every verse is from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. But that fish event in Jonah only gets three verses in the entire book. Maybe this is the first time you're hearing about this. You don't know what I'm talking about in Jonah. You will soon. But the main character in Jonah is not the fish that swallows Jonah and then vomits him out. The main character is not the Ninevites, the main character is God, a merciful God. The true and the only God, who, whatever you understand about God, you must understand, and I hope you do more after the book of Jonah, that God is a God of mercy. To think rightly about God, you must think, God is a God of mercy. And this is largely what Jonah is about. Though the word never appears, the word mercy never appears in the book of Jonah. Not once. But that largely is the point of Jonah. Radical mercy from a sovereign God. Radical grace. And I know you'll be encouraged, if you have ears to hear, as you hear about this sovereign, merciful God. With that, follow along as I read Jonah. I'm going to read the entire chapter, chapter 1. God's inspired in Aaron reads Jonah chapter one one. Now the word of Yahweh came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me. Yet Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, and paid its fare, and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. Verse 4, but Yahweh hurled a great wind on the sea. And there was a great storm on the sea, so that the ship gave thought to breaking apart. Then the sailors became fearful, and every man cried to his God. And they hurled the cargo, which was in the ship, into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down below into the innermost part of the vessel, lain down, and fallen deep asleep." So the captain came near to him and said to him, How is it that you are deeply sleeping? Arise, call on your God. Perhaps your God will be concerned about us so that we will not perish. And each man said to the other, come, let us have the lots fall, so we may know on whose account this calamitous evil has struck us. So they had the lots fall, and the lot fell to Jonah. Then they said to him, tell us now, on whose account has this calamitous evil struck us? What's your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you? And he said to them, I'm a Hebrew, but I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven. He made the sea and the dry land, And the men became greatly fearful. And they said to him, What is this you've done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of Yahweh, because he told them. So they said to him, What should we do to you that the sea may become quiet for us? For the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. So he said to them, Lift me up and hurl me into the sea. Then the sea will become quiet for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you. However, the men rowed desperately to return to dry land, but they could not, for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy against them. Then they called on Yahweh and said, O Yahweh, we earnestly pray, do not let us perish on account of this man's life and don't put innocent blood on us. For you, O Yahweh, as you have pleased, you've done. So they lifted Jonah up and hurled him into the sea, and the sea stood still from its raging. Then the men greatly feared Yahweh, and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh and made vows. And Yahweh appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights." This is the reading of the Word of God. By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Jonah probably writes this. after he had been humbled by his sin, convicted by his hardness of heart, and he wants probably to give glory to God for his mercy on him and those who had been saved in spite of him. Jonah was from the region of Galilee, like the Sea of Galilee. during the reign of Jeroboam II, king of Israel. And we're here about, this is about 750-ish BC. Jesus affirmed the historicity of the book of Jonah. Jesus believed Jonah was swallowed by the fish and in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. He refers to this particular event in Matthew chapter 12, verse 39 to 41 and Luke 11, 29 and 30 and 32. Now, as mentioned, however, Jonah is not so much the story about a fish Nor is it so much the story about a man running from God as it is about God sovereignly pursuing sinners with his mercy. It's not so much about sinners running away from God as it is about God going after sinners in his sovereign grace. And the greatest miracle is not when Jonah survives being in the belly of a fish. There's a far greater one, several of them, which we'll see. and what mercy affects, the sovereign grace of mercy. Mercy, one way to define it is when God withholds earned divine punishment, and he doesn't just withhold it, he diverts it to an acceptable sacrifice on the one on whose behalf he exercises mercy. punishment withheld and transferred to a substitute. Everyone wants mercy. Everyone. Even your hardened, atheistic, agnostic friend who says, I don't need that, they desperately want mercy. There will come a time when they will be flattened and they'll realize, I desperately need mercy. Everyone needs it, thankfully. The only God, the true God, the God of the Bible, is rich in mercy, as Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4 says. God being rich in mercy. Do you know him this morning? So, our big idea in Jonah, if you were to sort of capture it with a sentence, God exercises his sovereign mercy to sinners, who are not looking or searching for it, but greatly need it." God exercises His sovereign mercy to sinners who are not looking or searching for it, but greatly need it. Now, you see God's sovereignty all over this. That's another theme in Jonah, the sovereign grace of God. You have a great city to which God will send Jonah. You have a great storm which God sends to Jonah. You have a great fear and worship which the pagan sailors will send to God, consequent of the storm sent to Jonah. And you have sort of a reformed fish, if you would allow me to say, which God sends to Jonah. As we see from our outline here in Jonah 1, four features of God's mercy. Four features of God's mercy. Number one. Number one, we'll see first the uncomfortable, unmerited mercy of God. Number one, the uncomfortable, unmerited mercy of God. This is found in verse 1 and 2. The uncomfortable, unmerited, or unearnable, undeserved mercy of God. Look at verse 1. The word of Yahweh came to Jonah, the son of Amittai. So again, 8th century BC, prophet around Galilee, Jonah is sitting there thinking, I'd like to go evangelize the most wicked empire in the world right now. The word of Yahweh comes to him, the covenant name of God, because God has a missionary heart. He's the missionary. And so, verse 2, Yahweh says this to Jonah, arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me. Three commands, arise, go, cry against it. Now, a little history of Nineveh. It's needed, if you're unfamiliar, to give us some perspective and understanding of why Jonah says, no, thank you. Nineveh in 8th century BC was the capital city of what historians say was one of the most powerful empires in existence, the Assyrian Empire, the great city. Four times it's referred to in Jonah as the great city. Great not as in wonderful and aspiring and moral virtue, but great as in terrifying. A citadel of intimidation. Seemingly unconquerable. 550 miles northeast of Israel was Nineveh, this capital. It was an absolute legacy of a fortress, established by the ancient Babylonian king Nimrod about roughly 4000-ish BC, recorded in Genesis chapter 10. Its ruins today are just on the edge of Mosul, Mosul, Iraq, just on the east side of the Tigris River. Eventually, it was destroyed, as predicted by God, 612 BC. A ton of archaeological work has been done on this. I mean, a ton. From outside the city, let's picture this. You walk towards the city, and you see not one, but two walls. I mean, you got a neckache looking up. One of the walls was 50 feet wide and 100 feet tall. And furthermore, this wall was eight miles around in circumference. Two walls, though, an inner and an outer. There was ramparts on the wall. Also, coming from the mountains, you would see a 50-mile long aqueduct coming into the city, bringing water therein. And then when you went inside the city, there is elaborate reliefs on the stone, incredible decorations, hanging gardens, water dams. a palace, a massive... King Sennacherib, one of the Assyrian emperors, his palace was two square miles just covered with stone. In 1849, archaeologists discovered this palace, 71 rooms, massive reliefs, and in the famous Assyrian library, they found 22,000 clay tablets. It is an unspeakable citadel of wealth and glory. However, the great city. The Lord is not saying it's great because of that. History records the Assyrians were some of the most brutal warriors ever known. I'll give you some of a sampling of what they would do. Archaeological evidence uncovered writings from the king who reigned about 50 years before Jonah, and so all this would come and they would all know about it. Describing one of his conquests, this is Ashurnasirpal II, that's a mouthful. He said, quote, speaking of one of his wars, I stormed the mountain peaks and took them. In the midst of the mighty mountain, I slaughtered them. With their blood, I dyed the mountain red. The heads of their warriors I cut off and formed them into a pillar over against their city. Their young men and their maidens I burned in the fire, end quote. Regarding one captured leader, he said, quote, I flayed him and his skin I spread upon the wall of the city. Shalmaneser II, another Assyrian ruler, 30 years before Jonah, bragged of his cruelties in his military campaigns. He said, quote, a pyramid of heads I reared in front of the city, their youths and their maidens I burned in the flames. Arise, Jonah. Go to Nineveh. Go to Nineveh, the great city. that, as anyone knows of, this is the only time an Old Testament prophet has been commissioned and sent to a foreign nation by God to preach missions, to do missions work. How could this be? Anywhere but Nineveh. God, don't you know what they are like? Send me to the Egyptians or the Libyans or anywhere but them. God sending Jonah to the Ninevites would be like Israeli Christians today going to evangelize the Gaza Strip or sending a Jewish person to go evangelize Hitler and the Nazis in the 40s. Arise. Go cry against it. For, he says, verse 2, their wickedness has come up before me. Notice God does not say, well, their wickedness has come before me, therefore stay away from them. Go to a nicer, go to your nice moral neighbor who tolerates with a smile your faith. Go to them instead." Now he says, since they're so wicked, arise and go. I wonder if that's your heart. This is the uncomfortable, unmerited mercy of God. Perhaps like me at times, you've been tempted to think certain people, they're too godless, too evil, you just can never picture them being saved. That's what people would think of the Ninevites. Have you ever thought that some people are more savable than others? They're more likely to come to Christ than others. If so, then you're leaning towards a form of salvation by works. You're leaning towards works-based righteousness. which is contrary to the true gospel. Are you tempted to think certain people would never surrender their life to Christ? Luke 5.32, Jesus said, I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. God is the ultimate missionary and missionary movement. He's the only true seeker because he's merciful. God could save the worst Muslim terrorist if he wanted to. And would we be okay with that? Or do you think that you deserve to go to heaven more than they would? If so, you're not understanding the gospel very well. Salvation has never been and never will be by works or by merit, by altruism, Because what good works did Nineveh do to solicit God's call and sending of this missionary? What good things, what moral resume was impressive to God where God said, Jolly, look at that, you've caught my gaze, that's amazing. They're nothing. And it is the same with you. And with me, if you're saved prior to your salvation, there was nothing about you that was morally, spiritually impressive to God, such that he said, oh, I'll save you. God saves in spite of us, not because of us. It has never happened to no one. has ever aroused the moral impressiveness of God to say, oh wow, I want to save them because they're so amazing. It's never happened, whether you're an 8th century Ninevite, 21st century American, 1st century Jew, anything else. Romans 3, verse 10, there is none righteous, not even one. Romans 3.23, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. If a single person besides Jesus is going to go to heaven, it's going to be on the basis of God's mercy, not on the basis of our merit. Now, we may have not committed all the same sins as the Ninevites. Perhaps you haven't flayed people and piled their heads in a stack in front of their fortress. But when it comes to sin, God's standard of measure isn't measuring ourselves to the worst in history like the Ninevites, but God's standard. In Matthew 5.48, you must be perfect, Jesus says, as your heavenly Father is perfect. So God is not asking, are you better than an 8th century Assyrian warrior who decapitated people? He's not asking that, is he? He's saying, how do you measure up to my law? How do you measure up to perfection, Matthew 5, 48, in your thoughts, in your motivations, in your word, in your deed, and that for the entirety of your life? How do you measure up? Again, it's like, I think these kind of illustrations are helpful. It's like if there's a high jump contest, if God had a high jump contest, and three people come up, and one guy does, you know, he's able to get over the five-feet bar, another guy the six-feet bar, another guy the seven-foot bar. The guy over the seven-foot bar looks at the guy at the five-foot bar and says, wow, I cleared you by two feet. And then if God comes and says, well, actually, the bar, just to qualify, is 100,000 feet. So the seven foot guy who was able to, you know, do the flop over the seven foot, he can look down on the guy. I'm much better than him. I'm much better than an Assyrian warrior or a Muslim terrorist. But how do I compare to God's standard? You know, five to six to seven is nothing in view of 100,000. So it is with us compared to others before the law of God. And the emphasis, the big point here is that God saves based on mercy, not your merit. And you can't be saved until you, by the grace of God, agree with God on this. You have to agree with God about our moral, spiritual stature, or the lack thereof, mercy. The way salvation happens is God withholds punishment for sin and transfers it to a substitute, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how it happens. God isn't saying, okay, try harder. Let's see how moral you can be. Ooh, keep going. Oh yeah, that's enough to get into heaven. Nobody. Romans three, every mouth is closed. You can only be saved by unmerited mercy. And God sending Jonah to the Ninevites is uncomfortable. And we'll see that later in Jonah. Number two feature of mercy, the disciplining, pursuing mercy of God. Number two, The disciplining, we'll see in verse 3 to 13, number 2, the disciplining, pursuing mercy of God. This is another type of mercy, the kind that disciplines and pursues God's people. Disciplining, pursuing mercy of God. Look at verse 3. So, or yet, I should say, excuse me, verse 3, yet Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. So in Jonah's eyes, the Ninevites are loathsome scum, and many of them were. So he says, no, thank you. I'm not going there to preach, to be a missionary. Nope. I'm going to Tarshish instead. Where was Tarshish? It was an ancient city, right? Picture the Mediterranean. It was an ancient city, probably southern Spain or Gibraltar. It was as far away in the known world as you could go. 2,500 miles from the other direction where Jonah was supposed to go. To get away as far as possible. This wasn't a little trip for Jonah. He intended to leave his homeland. I mean, look at all the trouble he goes to just to run from God. Might you be running from God in some way this morning? All this effort, I'm gonna leave my family, my friends, my customs, I'm gone. One-way ticket. Verse three, so he went down to Joppa, found a ship. Wow, there's a ship there that just happens to be going to Tarshish. Praise the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship which was going to Tarshish and paid his fare and went down and go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. So Jonah travels to Joppa from Galilee. That's a couple days journey, a lot of effort. And amazing, there happens to be a ship. Jonah's plan seems to be working, wouldn't you know it? A ship happens to be in port, that happens to be going where Jonah wants to be going, and there happens to be an empty seat on the ship to Tarshish, and he happens to have enough money to pay the fare to go to Tarshish. Praise the Lord, every good gift comes from the Father above. Jonah might have thought, God's providing me passage to Tarshish. It's a God thing. This is a God thing. However, Satan can provide passage to Tarshish, can't he? And the devil can smooth the way for our sin, can't he? This is the mistake of interpreting circumstances you prefer as God's green light. Pragmatism, self-worshiping pragmatism. Not all open doors should be entered, beloved. Oh, God's opened this door for me. Surely he wants me to go through it with zeal and swiftness. A wide open door to go in unwise direction does not mean God wants you to go. And if you have a compromised conscience or a hardness of heart, you can misinterpret God's providence severely. Sometimes we can make a decision that we know isn't quite biblical, and then, hey, look, circumstances are working out. There's a ship to Tarshish, so perhaps I am in God's will after all. Instead of God's Word guiding my decision-making, I look for circumstances to rationalize my self-worshiping pragmatism. For example, a person leaves a church where they're nourishingly fed and shepherded for a church that hopscotches the truth and blurs God's word, and they, from their compromised conscience, they feel better sitting underneath watered-down teaching, so they interpret that good feeling as God's green light. Pragmatism. Or like a person I once spoke to who told me they were sinning sexually in a relationship with someone, and they talked about how they and the other individuals, both parties, they felt good about it. They had a peace about it. They felt finally fulfilled, happy. I finally have my joy in the Lord back. It must be God's green light. This is the error of interpreting circumstances that I want as a sign of God's green light, but it is not circumstances that communicates if we're pleasing to God, but God's commands from his word. Matthew Henry said, quote, the ready way is not always the right way, end quote. And so verse four, but Yahweh hurled a great wind on the sea, and there was a great storm, so that the ship gave thought to be breaking apart. That Hebrew word hurl, to throw with aggression, to throw with perhaps impolite force. So much so that the ship is splintering. Some of you have been in storms on the sea. You feel small. Leslie and I were once on a ship in the Mediterranean with about 10 to 15 foot swells, and I just thought of Jonah. We were on an enormous modern ship, and even then I was getting a little woozy. I thought of Jonah out there and these guys. Terrifying. But here in verse 4, you have God throwing things. How impolite of him. He's hurling things. And if you suppose you can outsmart God by running from him, he may impolitely hurl a storm at you. In his disciplining, pursuing mercy. Verse five. And the sailors became fearful. And that's saying something. Probably these are Phoenicians. They were seafaring people in the ancient world. It took a lot to scare them. All they did was go back and forth on the sea. And they're gripped. They're white-knuckling the edge here. Crying out. Notice verse 5. Every man cried to his God. So they're crying out probably to Baal, who was the ancient storm god. To Melquart, he was the Phoenician god of the sea. But there's no answer. There's no answer. Because our idols are exposed as utterly worthless in times of affliction, aren't they? So, verse 5, there's more hurling going on here. They hurled the cargo, same Hebrew word, which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them, but Jonah had gone down into the innermost part of the vessel, lain down, fallen deep asleep. Verse 6, so the captain came near to him and said, how is it that you're deeply sleeping? Like Jonah, sin can callous you. A compromised conscience can begin to harden and barnacle over. Where you just sleep through storms. You don't care. You start just checking out. I don't really care anymore. I'm just writing people off, writing God off, writing church off. But notice Jonah was sleeping in his rebellion. He's in a peaceful slumber. Perhaps you've heard people say to rationalize their compromise, well, I have a piece about it. I have a piece about this. And that becomes like the card they play down, and you can't say anything about that, because obviously, if I have a piece about it, then God's submitting to me, and he has a piece about it, too, right? No. No. Though their belief or behavior may conflict scripture, they play that card. I have a piece about this, but notice Jonah. Jonah had a piece about his rebellion. I mean, he's like melatonin overlord here, overload. He's sleeping deeply in the hull of a ship in hurricane and like 30, 40 foot swells. At times, when you're submitting to the Lordship of Christ and the Word of God, you might have a war about it. And that's better. It's not easy to obey in many areas. Take up your cross, deny yourself, Jesus says. That's having a war about it. Having a peace about it is utterly zero indicator of whether we're in obedience to God. And yet, verse six, arise, call on your God. Perhaps your God will be concerned about us so we won't perish. Notice this big irony here. These unbelieving pagan sailors call Jonah to obedience and to pray. Verse seven, when each man said to the other, come, let us have the lots fall so we may know on whose account this calamitous evil has struck us. So they had the lots fall and the lot fell on Jonah like ancient dice. The sovereign, merciful hand of God is even in the small details here. Proverbs 16.33, the lot is cast, but every decision is from the Lord. This is God's disappointing pursuing mercy. So verse 8, and then they said to him, tell us now. He's firing off questions. On whose account is this calamitous evil struck us? What's your occupation? Which Jonah doesn't answer. He answers the other questions. Where do you come from? What's your country? From what people are you? And he said, I'm a Hebrew. I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land." Right? We can be in compromise and callous, but still, on paper, have Orthodox doctrine, can't we? Cures, but not doers of the word. Jonah isn't exactly answering the question out of evangelistic love for the lost. He knows they're lost. He's just saying, my God's actually the one who's sovereign over everything. Yours aren't. Verse 10, then the men became greatly fearful. And they said to him, what is this you've done? For the men knew he was fleeing for the presence of Yahweh because he told them. So notice Jonah has put these unsaved sailors in harm's way because he's running from God. His sin could bring death to these men. Families would be without dads, without a brother, without a husband. without sons, because Jonah's rebellion, in my way, was more important than God's. He'd rather run 2,500 miles to indulge in his self-centeredness than obey God. It's a reminder that our individual sin can have a corporate fallout, can't it? In our sin, we can have tunnel vision and think, well, it's just me, but no, our sin can put others in harm's way. as Jonas did these sailors. Our self-centered plan can bring a storm upon everybody. Husbands, our pride, if in our less noble moments, our pride or self-centered decisions can make things unnecessarily difficult for our wives or our family. Wives, a contentious spirit that lacks gentleness, can bring unnecessary storms in the family and in the marriage. Teens, kids, a stubbornness, a grumbling, disobeying, lying to your parents can cause unnecessary heartache for your family. All of us, our sin can harm the body of Christ and bring reproach. Verse 11, so they said to him, what should we do that the sea may become quiet for us? For the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. Praying to their gods isn't calming the sea down. The sailors understand Yahweh is sovereign. He's disappointing Jonah. And notice how sin hardens our heart. Watch this. It just hardens our heart like Jonah where he's just in despair. He doesn't care anymore. Verse 12. Lift me up and hurl me into the sea. Then the sea will become quiet for you. For I know that on account of me, this great storm has come upon you. Jonah's just totally calloused. I don't care anymore. Just kill me. Good theology fails to apply it. You'd rather die than repent and fall into the merciful hands of God. Interestingly, the sailors could say, you know what? We're about to die because of you. We're throwing you in the sea. But look what the sailors do instead. This is very interesting. Look at verse 13. However, the men rode desperately to return to dry land. But they couldn't, for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy against them. Even the sailors are giving Jonah a lesson in mercy. We're not going to throw you over right away, but instead we're going to start rowing. Of course, it's futile. God is sovereign. His rebellion isn't going to overcome God's plan to mercifully but firmly discipline Jonah. Jonah was running. But he's running around inside the palm of God's hand, as all people who are running from God are. Might you be running from God in some area of life right now? Wherever we try to run, as we read in Psalm 139 earlier, God's already there. You run up to the top of the sky, Psalm 139 verse 7, God's there. You run to the bottom of the sea, verse 9, God's already there. You're only running from God to God in the midst of God, underneath God. It's God's earth. Running from God is like a toddler saying to his parents, I'm running away, Mom and Dad. I'm done. You can never find me again. And he goes and hides behind the jungle gym that his dad built him. To run from God is to run from blessing. Because the safest place in the universe is in submission to God. In our fleeing, God's right there watching our silliness. If you were to run 2,500 miles away or 25 billion miles away, you'd find God waiting for you there. Maybe you're running from God in some area of life where you know in your conscience, God wants me to deal with this right now. Maybe there's this thing in your life, you know what it is, God knows, maybe nobody else knows. You can trust God, you know. It's goofy to run from him. We've all done it in one way or another. You can lay it at the cross. He's merciful. Don't run from God anymore. You might not see how it'll work out. Okay, if I stop running, how is A, B, and C? That's going to be really, really hard. But that's kind of the point that you don't see how it's going to work out, because God wants us to walk by faith, not feelings. Or maybe there's an area of belief or doctrine. Maybe an area where you've kind of been bucking God a little bit, and you know from the Word of God You know you need to adjust your thinking. You know you need to line up a little bit more with God's Word and the sufficiency thereof. But it's difficult and you've wrestled with God. But God loves you. You don't need to run from Him and belief in doctrine anymore. Surrender to His pursuing mercy. You can trust Him. You did not spare His only Son, but delivered Him over for us all. How will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Do you think a God who lays down His Son for you, you can trust? You can't. You can't. Repent instead of running. God disciplines us as an act of mercy. And sometimes He expresses His sovereign mercy by impolitely sending storms. We'd run back to His safety. Number three. Number three. So that was the pursuing, disciplining mercy of God. Number three, notice the unexpected, surprising mercy of God. The unexpected, surprising mercy of God. This is found in verse 14 to 16. The unexpected, surprising mercy of God that seems incidental, but there's no incidental with God because he's sovereign over all of it. Psalm 103, 19. So in his running Jonah doesn't care about the unsaved around him, but God often sheds his unexpected surprising mercy in those moments. Look at verse 14. Then they, these are the pagan sailors, called on Yahweh and said, O Yahweh, we earnestly pray don't let us perish on account of this man's life. Don't put innocent blood on us. In other words, we don't want to kill him and throw him into the sea. For you, O Yahweh, as you please, you've done. So in His unexpected mercy, God is drawing these pagan sailors. It's kind of like, well, while I'm disciplining Jonah, I'm going to save these Phoenicians who have worshipped Baal their whole lives, who haven't done anything but use my stuff and sin. And they've lost all hope. The futility of their spiritual situation is shown in the futility of trying to row back to land. And whoever calls in the name of the Lord, Romans 10, 13, will be saved. The Phoenicians have simply tripped over their proverbial untied shoelaces and fallen into God's merciful providence. And that's the situation for all of us. There is none, Romans 3, who seeks for God. No, not even one. God is the only seeker. The Phoenicians, they would return home after this little episode to their families, and their families would ask, hey, how was that voyage, you know, after a couple months? It was wonderful. We almost died, and we got born again. We got saved. Saved by who? The God down there in Israel, Yahweh. Let me tell you about him. What a great God. God's the hero. He's the hero of this episode, of the Phoenicians' lives, and of your life and my life, too. Always so. Think of all the merciful providences that have befallen you in your life. So many good things, things that you never planned, you just tripped and fell into God's goodness. Think of how many. If I gave you all a piece of paper, you could start writing them down right now. Things that I wasn't planning, wasn't looking for, God caused me to land in them because he's good. Because there's a surprising mercy about God. Don't run from him anymore. Fall into his mercy. Stop fighting, if you are. Verse 15. So they lifted Jonah up and hurled him into the sea. Why did they do that? It was an act of faith in Yahweh. They did it after they got saved. They're connecting the dots. Oh, this is like obedience to Yahweh now, and he's our new God, so we need to Just like obey him, up he hears the word, doers. There he goes. That was their first act of faith besides getting saved by God's grace. What a scene. And, end of verse 15, the sea stood still from its raging. Wow. Just like in Mark 4.39. When the disciples are on the Sea of Galilee, seasoned sailors, dying, at least they thought, and Christ hushes the sea, because Christ is the one who hushed the sea for Jonah here also. The hurricane is hushed, and so verse 16. Then the men greatly feared Yahweh, and they offered sacrifice to Yahweh and made vows. This is the unexpected, surprising mercy of God. where seemingly incidental people get drawn in, incidental good happens. Again, no incidentals, all sovereign mercy from the only God. Number four. Number four. Fourth and finally. I want to see number four, the miraculous rescuing mercy of God. Number four, the miraculous rescuing mercy of God, verse 17. the miraculous rescuing mercy of God. The greatest miracle isn't the fish. It's what's going to happen in chapter 3. But there's a miracle here too. The sailors, verse 17, Yahweh appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights. This is Yahweh who sent the fish. Jonah didn't decide. God did. Jonah wasn't thinking, oh, maybe I'll be rescued by the French Coast Guard or the Sardinian Coast Guard here. Maybe they'll pick me up. Now, we know what's going on in Jonah. Kill me. You don't get thrown into a hurricane and think, I'm going to live. God's angry at me. I just want to die. I should just die for my disobedience. And God appoints a fish. If God has his hand on you, you're not escaping his mercy. He'll use whatever he wants. Psalm 135, verse 6, whatever Yahweh pleases, he does, in heaven, on earth, and in the sea, and all deeps. That became one of Jonah's favorite verses, as he would have read the Psalms. This is God's miraculous mercy. So, question, can Jonah's decision to rebel thwart God's desire to save sinners in Nineveh and send him there? Can Jonah's callousness of heart frustrate God's plan to save his elect in Nineveh? Is God sitting there in heaven thinking, oh no, I gotta find a different missionary? I want to save some in Nineveh, but I can't. No, in God's mercy, Jonah's going to Nineveh. And sinners will be saved. I love what Old Testament scholar Dr. Dale Ralph Davis says here, quote, man's free will is a house of cards before the Lord. Amen. And because God is a God of sovereign love and mercy and kindness, Jonah's free will to kill himself is conquered by God's sovereign will to mercifully save him. Praise God for that. Jonah's overboard, sinking, begins to fade into death, and the fish picks him up. This is the ultimate expression of God's mercy, not punishment. At no point can we save ourselves. Salvation, Jonah will say in 2-9, is of the Lord. that you and I can't contribute to our salvation in any way. This Jonah's rescuing here physically by the fish reminds us of that spiritually. We do not contribute anything to salvation except our sin. Christ comes down, has to incarnate, live the perfect life, which he does motivated by his love. And he obeys the law where we have failed. And he goes to the cross and obeying, he earns a righteousness. so that He is sufficient funds, that when He goes to the cross, God the Father can lay all of our sin, not just kind of help us a little, do all the work of salvation, lay all our sin upon Christ, and our sin is imputed to Christ, and Christ is punished and suffers. He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Jonah needed the grace and mercy of God just as much as the Assyrians, just as much as you and me. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and so God is the hero here. Mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy. Uncomfortable, unmerited mercy. Pursuing, disciplining mercy. Surprising, unexpected mercy. Miraculous, saving mercy. That's your story if you're a believer in Jesus Christ this morning. God is the hero. No one in the story was looking for God. God sovereignly, mercifully sought out and did exactly what he planned to do. He is the rescuer of souls. He is the one who sustains in the storm. He runs after the runners. He flees after the pursuer. He is the pursuer of those who flee. He's merciful on rebels. He's sacrificial for the selfish. If you've repented and put faith in Christ, God is your Father. And when He pursues you, and if and when things get hard in your life, it's not because God has wrath and condemnation upon you that you need to still pay for. God doesn't come after you to scold you, but to sanctify you. It's an expression of His mercy. once you've been saved. He pursues you to transform you. You cannot jeopardize his love. You can't fall out of God's loving salvation, because you weren't the one that earned his salvation, and he didn't do anything to contribute to your salvation. Your salvation is as secure as Christ is risen and righteous and reigning. Christ is condemned in your place. But I wonder, though, if there's any of you who have yet to surrender your life and come all the way to Christ. Have you surrendered your life in faith to Christ? Have you bowed the knee in faith to Jesus? Have you've gone from mere intellectual belief of the head to the saving knowledge and surrendered heart by faith in Jesus Christ? Don't run from God anymore. because his mercy won't forever pursue you. God is also just, right? Eventually, God will let you have your way if you continue running from him. And you might say, hey, I'm running from God and nothing bad is happening. That's far worse than something bad happening. God letting you have your way and fleeing him will turn out infinitely worse than him impolitely chucking a storm at you to net you back into his mercy. So choose wisely. All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Father, thank you for your infinite mercy, your sufficient mercy that we see from the book of Jonah. Thank you. that for those of us who, by your grace only, not our works, you are saved, you saved us, we weren't looking for you, we weren't doing anything that deserved your favor, quite the opposite. Thank you for Christ, who died on the cross for our sins and rose from the grave. Father, I pray for anyone in here, what may be believer or not yet believer, if anyone's running from you, in doctrine or in duty, I pray, Father, that your mercy would rope them back and net them back into your grace and they would repent. Thank you for your mercy, Father. Give us all grace and motivation from your mercy as we go out this week. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.