The Inescapable God | Jonah 1:4-17

Scripture

• Jonah 1:4–17

About this sermon

Introduction: How does God respond when one of His own disobeys His clear commands? How does God respond when one of His own is fleeing from the presence of God? Running away from God. Running away from truth. Running away from spiritual obligations. Running away from the responsibility that is imparted when we meet with His commands. Running away from himself or herself as they run from God. What are the repercussions of such disobedience, and how does God respond to it? Last week we learned that this book is about God. It is not about a fish. It is not about a prophet. It is not about Ninevites. GOD PUTS HIMSELF ON DISPLAY IN THE BOOK OF JONAH. We saw what happened when the prophet Jonah received a ministry assignment that he had no appetite for. God came to Jonah. God commanded Jonah. God patiently pursued Jonah. Jonah ran and God allowed Jonah to run. Jonah was commanded to go immediately to Nineveh. Commanded to arise and go. Jonah arose, and he made haste, but he headed in the opposite direction. He could not have been more defiant, and his defiance could not have been more definitive. AND WHY DID HE RUN? He tells us. ESV Jonah 4:2 And he prayed to the LORD and said, "O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. He ran because he viewed the possibility of God showing mercy to the Assyrians as something scandalous. One recent commentary I have been introduced to summarizes the message of Jonah in that way — the message of scandalous mercy. Note: The gospel has never stopped being scandalous to the natural reasoning processes of the human mind. The idea that salvation is a gift, not given based on merit. The idea that it must be free because no one born from Adam CAN merit it. The idea that salvation is not a commentary on the loveliness of the person who receives it but the love of the one who gives it. Those ideas are offensive to human beings who are wired by the fall to think that they deserve good things from God. THE IDEA THAT SOMEONE SO VILE AS A MASS MURDERER (FOR EXAMPLE), COULD BE FORGIVEN BY THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND ENTER HEAVEN, IS BEYOND SCANDALOUS TO THE NATURAL MIND. BUT THE GOSPEL IS SOMETIMES SCANDALOUS TO US. What the gospel REQUIRES OF BELIEVERS is sometimes scandalous — even in the eyes of SAVED humanity — when saved men or women are not thinking as God would have them to think? The kind of forgiveness the gospel requires of us. The kind of patient love the gospel requires of us. The kind of restorative mercy the gospel requires of us. Seems to any person unwilling to be submitted to Scripture, as unreasonable, illogical, something that goes too far. THE GOSPEL IS A SHOCKING MESSAGE. It is shocking with respect to how God mercifully deals with men. It is shocking with respect to how forgiven people are to deal with other people — even their enemies. It is comparable to the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son. The younger son wastes his half of the inheritance. He dishonors his father. He acts in a way that is shameful, and unthinkable, but then when he repents, he meets with a father ready to receive him. He meets with a father who rejoices over his return, who extends scandalous mercy. How did the FAITHFUL son respond? Not with the joy of his father, but with the anger of a wayward brother. ESV Luke 15:25 "Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.' 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!' 31 And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'" Jonah is like that angry brother. But in this case, he is not angry over the possibility of a BROTHER repenting. He is angry over the possibility of HIS ENEMIES repenting — NO MERCY FOR THEM. SO, JONAH RAN, GOD WILL PATIENTLY PURSUE, AND NOW, in the rest of chapter one, WE SEE THE PURSUIT.