Introduction

Just an introduction of myself. This is my family. And if you're wondering why you're seeing two of Luzerne there, no, you're not. I'm just his brother. But we do sound alike sometimes, and it confuses even our significant others. And on your right is my fiancée. We are getting married in a short six weeks’ time. So, we're really excited for that. Good news must share, right? Yeah. Thanks. Thanks. And I grew up in Gospel Light from young. So really me here, I'm actually standing on the shoulders of countless leaders, countless Sunday school teachers, and most of all my family who has taught me to love God and the Word.

Background of Jonah

So anyway, today, we embark on a four-week series through the book of Jonah. And Jonah deals with a disobedient prophet of God. The story of Jonah is set in the time when the evil empire of Assyria was growing in power. Nineveh, where Jonah was sent to, was Assyria’s capital. In the book of Nahum, he describes Nineveh this way: Nineveh was a “bloody city, all full of lies and plunder” (Nahum 3:1). Look further down, there were “hosts of slain, heaps of corpses, dead bodies without end” (Nahum 3:3). And that was Nineveh. You see, unlike many other prophets, Jonah wasn't sent to Israel, but outside of Israel. And as we look through these four weeks, the book asks us this question. How can God be both merciful and just towards wicked people? How can God be both merciful and just to wicked people? And you'll see that in these four weeks.

You see, the book of Jonah is simple on one level, it is a story that many of us who grew up in church are familiar with. We've heard it through Sunday school, many, many times and we can probably recite it from memory. But on another level, it's actually a beautiful piece of Hebrew literature. The author uses images, irony, many literary devices to point us to the main theme of the book. So, you got to pay attention to not lose out what it is. For example, today's passage in Jonah 1, it seems very straightforward, right? Jonah runs away from God. But the author inserts a certain structure to point us to the main point of the passage.

Imagine with me a mountain, the author leaves markers along the way up the mountain, to point us, direct us to the summit of the mountain, where the main view is where you take all your photos, post on Instagram. The main focus of the text is in the summit of the mountain. And on the way down, he leaves mirrored markers to lead us back to base. What does that look like? Here in Jonah 1, for example, at the base we see, verse 4, “the Lord God hurled a great rain upon the sea”. Reflected in verse 15, on the other side, “they pick Jonah up and hurled him into the sea”. The next level, verse 6, the captain tells Jonah, “call out to your God that we may not perish”, mirrored in verse 14, where the sailors, “called out to the Lord, that they might not perish”. Next level, verse 7, “tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us”, and Jonah says in verse 12, “because of me, this evil has come upon you”. All this is leading us to the center of the passage, where the main focus of the text is, which is this. Verses 9 and 10, Jonah tells the sailors, “I fear the Lord, who created the heavens and the earth” and verse 10, when the men heard that, “they were exceedingly afraid”. See the author points us, he zooms in the camera lens on the topic of fear in Jonah 1. He's saying, look, don't miss this out, the main thing about Jonah 1 is fear. You see, the fear of God is not just terror at His infinite power, fear of God speaks about reverence and considering Him first in our lives. When we fear God, we consider Him first when we choose our schools and careers. When we fear God, we consider Him first when we handle our money and our time. When we fear God, we listen and obey Him, not just because He's powerful, but because He rescues us from death.

Growing up in Gospel Light, I wasn't always the good kid in children's ministry. I remember many times being very disruptive in my Sunday school class. If my Sunday School teachers are here, I'm sorry for what I've done. And I will just straight up, sometimes just straight up, ignore their warnings, up to the point, they look at me and say, Raynor, if you don't sit down, I will call your parents. Okay, my parents are not that scary, but to me as a young kid, they probably were. You see, the way I acted showed who I really feared. The way I acted, showed who I really feared. The Christian life is much like that, isn't it? On one hand, we say that we love God and we fear God, but how we act is really what proves it. Do we fear God? Or do we fear the future? Do we fear God? Or do we fear other people's impressions of us? 

Fearless Disobedience to the powerful God brings Death

Well, today's passage in Jonah addresses that. Jonah 1 asks us these two questions, one, do we truly fear God? And number two, how can we truly fear God? So today, the main point for today is this, in Jonah 1 we see, Fearless Disobedience to the powerful God brings Death. Fearless Disobedience to the powerful God brings Death. Well, in typical Gospel Light style, I will walk through this story, all starting with the letter D, three Ds, alright. So, let's open.

1.     v1 to v6 Downward Disobedience

So we open with Jonah’s, first, he's downward disobedience, verses 1 to 6. The book opens with the mission of God to Jonah. God says to Jonah, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me” (Jonah 1:1-2). God calls Jonah to go up, to arise to Nineveh, the capital of that cruel, evil city. In that time, Assyria had brought many nations to their knees with their sheer military might and cruelty. They were the country to be feared in the region. But their time was coming, God's judgment was coming towards them, and Jonah was to bring it to them. But instead of going up, instead of arising, as God says here, arise, Jonah rises to go down, down, down, down, away from God.

You see, “But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish, from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1:3). Instead of going up, where God calls him, Jonah attempts to go down, away from God's presence. You see the author intentionally writes it this way, using up and down image, to show how Jonah is going in the opposite way of God, not only that, we don't actually know today where Tarshish is. But what we do know is that it is west of where Jonah was, compared to East when Nineveh was, where he was supposed to go. You see, despite Jonah's later claim that he fears God, who is Lord over the sea and the dry land, he disobeys God's mission. Why? Why does Jonah a prophet of God, who claims to fear God, disobey God's call? And the answer will be addressed in Jonah 4. I'm not just trying to tease you here, I just want to say that the author in Jonah 1 intentionally leaves out the main reason why, the surface reason why. Here in Jonah 1, the author zooms in on Jonah's disobedience because he doesn't fear God. After all, we can have 1001 reasons why we disobey God. But at the root of it, at the heart of it, is because we do not fear Him enough. See, Jonah tries to flee from God's presence as far as possible. But hey, can any of us ever really flee from God?

In Psalm 139, it says this, “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”, where Jonah tries to flee from God, “even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” (Psalm 139:7-10) You see for those who fear God, this is a wonderful truth, no matter where we are on earth, no matter the hardship, no matter the place, God is with us always. But for Jonah, the disobedient Prophet, it is a terrifying truth. No one can run from God. And we see that God comes after Jonah. 

“But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners or sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his own god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them” (Jonah 1:4). But where was Jonah when this was happening? “But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship, and had lain down and was fast asleep” (Jonah 1:5). As the mariners or the sailors, as they were busy crying out to their gods, as they were running all around the ship, trying to keep the boat afloat, and keeping them alive, we see Jonah down in disobedience, asleep in the ship, not caring that he has caused this, that he has brought death to their doorstep.

So what happens next? “So the captain comes to him and says to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us that we may not perish”” (Jonah 1:6). And the irony in this verse is this, the captain's words are intentionally similar to that of God's. Recall with me back to Jonah 1, verse 1 and 2, when the word of the Lord came to Jonah, God told him what? “Arise, go to Nineveh and call out against it”. And here the captain wakes this guy from his disobedient sleep, and says, “Arise and call out to your god”. The point is this, the unbelieving captain is shown to have the better heart posture than the disobedient Prophet. The unbelieving captain looks at the storm knows that this is supernatural, this cannot be a chance of nature, and he fears for his life. Not like Jonah, who sleeps disobediently the ship, the Sabo King, who sleeps while everyone is working hard. I'm sure many of us can relate to that right? Disobedience, disobedience results in facing death and disaster. Let me be clear, while not all disasters in life, are because of our disobedience, sometimes as Christians, God does send wind and waves, to turn us back to him, to turn back to Him in repentance. 

2.     v7 to v12 Defective Declaration

Next, we see Jonah's defective declaration, his defective declaration. For the sailors, nothing is working out. Despite their prayers, despite their efforts to keep the ship afloat, it’s still going down. In a last-ditch effort, they all come together, they think, surely this must be someone's fault. We are experienced sailors, this is a storm that we have never seen before, who is to blame for this? Who angered their God? In a sheer desperate attempt in superstition, they cast lots to find who is the one responsible? But little did they know, their superstition aligned with what really happened? “And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”” (Jonah 1:7-8) Why do they ask these questions? See, in the ancient world in that area back then, gods were seen as regional gods. You have the God of the Philistines, you have the God of the Babylonians, the God of the Assyrians and all that. And the question that they're really asking is, Jonah, who is your God, that we can appease you? Who are you? What have you done? What are you working as? How have you angered your God? And how can we appease Him that we may live? 

Remember the mountain that I mentioned, at the start, we come now to the core of the text, back to the main focus where the camera lens zooms in for us. This is the part where Jonah says this. “He said to them, “I am a Hebrew. And I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land”” (Jonah 1:9). He says, I fear the God who is not just a regional God, I fear the God who created everything, all of the world, you and everyone else on the ship. “Then, the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, What is this that you have done?” (Jonah 1:10a). You see, the sailors cannot believe Jonah. They're probably thinking, you say that you fear the God who created everything. You say that the God you fear rules over all creation greater than any other god, and you still run away and defy him? They become even more afraid at Jonah’s declaration of the truth of the God of the Hebrews. They realized more than the storm, they need to fear this God. Literally in the original language, it reads this, the men they feared a great fear. What is the author trying to point out? He's trying to say that more than the storm, more than what they're going through, when they heard the declaration of Jonah, they fear God even more than the storm. They realized Jonah's God is the one to fear, the true God, the One who has the power to throw such a terrible storm at them, to threaten their lives.

As the storm continues to grow worse, they ask, What can we do? How can we appease your God? And Jonah tells them this, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea. And the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it's because of me that this great tempest has come upon you” (Jonah 1:12). Well, what is Jonah doing here? What does he mean by this? Some, some people say that, hey, Jonah is so noble, right? He's almost Christ-like, he's saying, Let me die, so they will live. But that's not the point of this. If that were the case, if he really just wanted to save their lives, he could have just repented, he could just say, let's turn the ship around back to the port, I will go to the Nineveh, and the storm will cease and they will all escaped with their lives. What was he doing here? Jonah was still trying to escape God's mission for him. He would rather be thrown into the stormy seas and die than to face the mission that God has called him to. He rather die than to obey God. You see the declaration of Jonah, the part where the camera zooms into Jonah's declaration is a defective one. On one hand, he claims with his mouth that he fears God. But on the other hand, his actions clearly show otherwise.

We can look at Jonah and sometimes ridicule him, right? Oftentimes, we treat this like a Sunday School story, and we laugh how can this guy be so rebellious? How can he really turn away from God like that? But hey, isn't that kind of the natural inclination of our hearts? Claiming to fear God on one hand, but we are prone to wonder here and there. We can sing songs on Sunday, my soul is satisfied in him alone, but is it really? Well, imagine with me, on a Sunday morning, you book a grab, to come to church, and on the way on the highway. Okay, maybe not all of you take the highway, but I stay far from church, so we take the highway. On the highway, you start a conversation with the grab driver. And as you're talking, you're having a nice time, and you start talking about driving license. And the grab driver turns around at you and says, Oh, I remember my driving test. I didn't pass my practical, but I got full marks for my theory. So don't worry. What would you do, then? This guy is driving 90 km per hour, without a driver's license. You probably fear a great fear. Because you see, to be fully certified to drive, first, you must pass your theory tests, and then go for your practical exam to show that you can drive. Likewise, knowing much about God, claiming much about God alone doesn't make us Christians. The real test, the real proof of a Christian is the genuine faith in God, both through our words, and through our actions. Let me be clear, we do not obey God in order that we can get salvation. But when we are truly saved, when we truly believe, it will prove itself in obedience.

Well, so far, what have you seen in the story? We've seen Jonah's downward disobedience, this prophet who goes down, down, down even though God calls him to go up. And next, we've also seen his defective declaration. On one hand, he is claiming to fear God but doing otherwise.

3.     v13 to v16 Desperate Deliverance

And lastly, we see the desperate deliverance. Despite Jonah’s instruction to them, the sailors are hesitant. We can't possibly take a man's life. So, they do the best they can, they try to row to shore, but it's of no use. They try to row to dry land but recall with me Jonah's declaration earlier. He says, I fear God, who created the seas and the dry lands, there is no escaping from God. And God is not done dealing with his defiant prophet. So they decide to throw him overboard, “therefore they called out to the Lord. They said, Oh, Lord, let us not perish for this man's life and lay not on us innocent blood. For you, O LORD, have done as it pleased you” (Jonah 1:14). You know, when Jonah is hurled overboard, the storm instantly ceases into a perfect calm. How would you expect the sailors to react then, if he were one of us? We probably go, wow, heng ah, finally escaped the storm, we've been finally saved from drowning. Right? That's how most of us would react. But instead, we see this. “Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offer a sacrifice to the Lord, and made vows” (Jonah 1:16). This fear God, even more. And remember, just now, they feared a great fear now. Now, not only do they fear a great fear, they also offer offerings to God and they vowed vows, their fear has reached its peak in view of the perfect calm that God gave them. The sailors now recognize that Jonah's God is the true God, that Jonah’s God not only has the power to throw this massive supernatural storm, but He has the power to stop it instantly. Only the one true God can do this. And now the previously unbelieving sailors, they look to God and fear Him.

Well, what about Jonah? This section of the text ends with him facing seeming death. And what about the big fish which maybe some of you are excited to learn about Well, we know that God in His mercy kept Jonah alive with the fish. But you know what, I'll let my older brother deal with that next week. So please come back for next week's Jonah 2. But let's come back to Jonah 1. The passage shows us that fearless disobedience causes death to come for us. More than a storm on the sea for sailors, death comes for every single sinful human, in the form of judgment from God. For those still found in fearless disobedience to God, when He judges the world, all that is left waiting for them is the second death, in hell, worse than a supernatural storm on the sea. Once again, we see fearless disobedience to the powerful God brings death. What then is our hope to escape this. How then can we get away from this death because we have all been fearlessly disobedient?

Well, the hope is this. A few 100 years later after Jonah, came this man, this man like Jonah, He entered a ship, and going into the innermost part of the ship, He slept. And as a storm hit the ship, everyone else on the ship were busy running about, fearing for their lives because they were about to sink, and they woke him up saying, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? But unlike Jonah, this man was not an ordinary man, the man stood up, rebuked the wind and waves, and instantly, everything stopped into a perfect calm. Mark 4:39 to 40, “And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Peace be still. And the wind seized, and there was a great calm. And he said to them, Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” “And they were filled with a great fear, and said to one another, who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” (Mark 4:41). And I think you know where I'm going with this, they were filled with a great fear, original language is this, they were fearing, a great fear.

You see, Mark picked up language from Jonah to write about this man, this man, Jesus. Unlike Jonah, Jesus obeyed God's mission perfectly. He came to die on the cross for our sins, that we may be freed from our fearless disobedience, that the debt we owe God in our sin is paid for on the cross and He rose three days later, fulfilling God's mission, earning us salvation from death. But like God, Jesus has power over nature. Jesus just stood up, rebuked the wind and the waves and it came to a perfect calm, just like in the book of Jonah. This man, is no ordinary man, this man is God. See, for those who do not yet believe in Jesus, there is rescue from death found in Him. Just as there was rescue for the sailors from the stormy seas, the death by the storm that is rescue from the biggest threat, the judgment of God, because God is merciful to save us.

Application

And if you're new if this is the first time you've heard about Jesus, please ask someone around you and maybe the friend who brought you, maybe one of our friendly befrienders, we would love to help you to get to know more about this Jesus that you may be saved from this certain death. Find out about our God of mercy.

Well for Christians, how does this come to play? Well, we no longer fear, death and judgment, right? Because in Christ, we are assured eternal life in Heaven. But the fear in the New Testament does talk about this. It talks about recognizing Jesus's authority over our lives. Jesus when He ascended when he resurrected and ascended on high, He sat down as king over all. And as Christians, as His people, we live under Jesus's kingly reign. So do we live out our claims? Is Jesus really lord over our life and not just savior? Is Jesus someone we submit our will to, not just someone we claim on Sunday morning to love? Well, what are some things God has called us to? Well, today, we are not all called to Nineveh, that place doesn't exist anymore. But we are called to the Great Commission in missional living. Matthew 28:19 to 20, Jesus says this, “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” You see not everyone is called to cross borders to do bring the Gospel to far nations. But if that is you, please do explore that as well. But we are also called to bring the Gospel to right where we are, as PJ always says, right where we live, work and play. We have to take the gospel to a world in our immediate circles and wider, because they are headed to certain death in hell. Will we hear this call, to bring the gospel of Jesus, our God and King who can save them from certain death to a world who needs it.

Well, not just in missional living, but in holy living. Christians, our lives need to be different from the rest of the world. Holy living talks about being set apart a different in a way that shows Jesus rules over our lives. We need to be showing Christ rule in our lives, not just with our words, but with our choices. Consider how this might apply to you. Maybe it's in the way we spend our money. Maybe it's in the way we organize and prioritize our time. Maybe it's in the way we make career or family choices. Well, we have many reasons to disobey God, don't we? But Jonah 1 teaches us that no matter what underlying reasons we can have, the root of it, the core of it, is that we do not fear God. Maybe not just try harder, I'm not trying to come here and say, Hey, why don't you try to fear God more? No, the answer is still grace in Christ. Maybe not just, try harder, but we look to Christ for help to realize His power to save us from this state that we are in and find the strength to follow and obey Him.

And lastly, to the last group, maybe you've been in church for a long time. Well, Jonah 1 challenges us to check our lives. Do we really fear God? Do we really see Jesus as our Lord, not just as our Savior, Jesus as our God and King, who has authority over our lives? You see, merely claiming to believe in that you follow Jesus. But on the other hand, consistently disobeying Him, shows that our belief is false. If this is you, will you turn to Jesus, and ask Him for forgiveness, ask Him for rescue from certain death, and follow after Him. Well, what is the solution to fearless disobedience? What is the solution from salvation from death? We cannot do this on our own selves. It is never about trying harder alone on our own strength. It is to look to Jesus, to call upon God for help. trusting that He will give us the strength to follow, trusting that he will forgive us that as long as we repent and believe in Christ, He will graciously help us and for Christians, yes, at times, it's hard to obey. Yes, at times, we do not want to. But in those times when you cling to God, pray to him for help. And find strength in a time of need.

Prayer

Shall we bow with a word of prayer? God, we thank You for Your word in Jonah 1. Even though fearless disobedience that we are all found in leads to death, may we not be found sleeping at the bottom of a boat, fearless towards God's coming judgment. We pray for our friends and family who are here for the first time, we ask you for help that they might come to Christ, for salvation from death. And for my brothers and sisters here, would you help us to behold Jesus as our Lord and God who is full of mercy and power and to rely on you day by day to live out our confession that we believe and follow Him. God, we love you. May everything be done to stir our affections for Christ and to be more and more like him. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.