Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

20
Studies in Jonah Jonah 02

Transcript of Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

Page 1: Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

Studies in Jonah

Jonah 02

Page 2: Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

THE GRACE OF GOD

Jonah Chap 1 v4-17

Jonah 02

Page 3: Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria and to the enemy of his people, in order to preach to them.Jonah didn’t want to be a missionary to the Assyrians and bought a package cruise to Spain instead.

INTRODUCTION

Page 4: Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

HOW DOES GOD REACT ? 1. Is he indifferent to rebellion? 2. Does God act in judgement blotting Jonah out?4. Does he make Jonah redundant or give him a menial job?3. Does he turn his back on Jonah and send someone else instead?

No! God responds in none of these ways. He meets Jonah's rebellion with his grace. Grace is God's favour at work where it is most needed and least deserved. Grace is God reaching out to people who are so stubborn that they will not turn to him and so deaf that they will not hear him. Grace is God’s initiative and determination to bless us despite our constant rebellion and failure.

Page 5: Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

PERSEVERING GRACEBecause God is a God of persevering grace, we find him pursuing Jonah up and down the shipping-lanes of the Mediterranean. What an amazing picture this is! Instead of washing his hands of his disobedient prophet, God surrounds his life v4, with a violent storm to shake the man to his senses. God pursues us when we least deserve to be pursued.

Page 6: Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

PERSEVERING GRACEIn Lk. 15v1ff Jesus illustrates this quality of persevering grace in the story he told of the shepherd who discovered that although he had 99 sheep safely in his fold one was missing. Did the shepherd think, "Why should I bother going out in a dark wild night to recover one stupid sheep, 99 are safely home and that enough”? No! He trekked over hills and valleys until he found it and brought it safely home. He didn't give up!

Page 7: Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

PERSEVERING GRACEAs a child on his mother’s knee God began to speak to John Newton’s heart. But Newton had no interest in God. He went to sea and eventually became the captain of a ship engaged in slave trading. He became a drunkard and blasphemer. Then his ship was broken up in a storm. As he clung on to a piece of driftwood he cried to God for help and sought the forgiveness of his sin. His life was saved and years after his conversion he looked back upon God's perseverance with him and wrote the famous hymn, "Amazing Grace".

Page 8: Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

PERSEVERING GRACEHow did Jonah respond to God’s persevering grace which clearly should have shaken him to his senses? While heathen sailors prayed v5 Jonah slept the drugged sleep of the indifferent. God was pursuing Jonah through a violent storm and all he could do was yawn and turn over. He would quickly stifle any thought that God was behind the storm.

Do we not also quickly rationalise the storms of life and find perfectly logical explanations for them rather than ask, 'What is God tryingto say to me through this?'

Page 9: Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

PERSEVERING GRACE

Jonah refused to face up to the danger he was in. It took a pagan captain not only to confront him with the realities of the storm but also to call him to his spiritual duties v6. How often the children of God are exposed to the shame and indignity of having unbelieving heathens instruct them, cf. Gen 12.17ff, 20.8ff.

In their backsliddenness the people of God can easily lose ALL spiritual perception.

Page 10: Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

CHASTISING GRACEThe methods God uses to pursue us in our rebellion cause many to gasp. Was a frightening, storm of this intensity really necessary and does it reflect the gracious heart of God? God's grace is a disciplining grace. Grace and discipline are not mutually exclusive.

We must never confuse grace with indulgence! If a father permitted his children to break all the house rules and terrorise the neighbourhood , greeting them only with an indulgent smile would we think that he loved this children? Of course not!

Page 11: Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

CHASTISING GRACEGod loves us too fiercely to allow us to shipwreck of our lives unchallenged, cf. Heb. 12.7-11. The storm was God's discipline for Jonah. It was the operating table upon which he intended to perform corrective soul surgery on his wayward prophet.

Many of life’s painful experiences, are God’s way of gaining our attention, in order to change the direction of our life and shape our character.

Page 12: Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

CHASTISING GRACE

In Jonah's case God was seeking to deal with the prophet's pride and prejudice and produce compassion in his heart for the people of Nineveh. In v7 we read that the sailors cast lots to find out who had been responsible for the storm the lot fell on Jonah, who then became the focus of their attention and questioning.

Page 13: Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

CHASTISING GRACENotice, that Jonah does not tell them, why he was running away from God or confess his rebellion of heart. Why? Because he is not yet ready to return to a place of obedience. He knew he was responsible for the storm but at this stage there is no evidence of repentance or genuine sorrow.

Page 14: Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

CHASTISING GRACEHad Jonah said, "Turn the boat around I must preach at Nineveh", surely the sea would have immediately calmed! But Jonah refused to allow the discipline of the storm to work submissive obedience in his heart. And, by asking to be thrown into the sea v 12, he revealed a perversity of heart that said, "I would rather die than be obedient". Many backsliders say to God, "I’d rather be a castaway than obedient".

Page 15: Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

TRIUMPHANT GRACEOne might expect God's grace to give up on Jonah and let him drown in the sea of his rebellion. But God’s grace has an irresistible quality about it. For without violating man's freewill God is able to create circumstances that cause him to capitulate to God. The provision of the great fish in v17 provides the circumstance for Jonah's capitulation.

This great fish, possibly a sperm whale, is certainly the most criticised fish to swim in the Mediterranean.

Page 16: Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

TRIUMPHANT GRACEIn Encyclopaedia Britannica we read that in 1891 while a group of harpooners were pursuing a whale, one of them was thrown overboard and disappeared. Some days later the whale was caught and when it was cut open, James Bartley, the lost seaman was found alive inside.

We must not be distracted by the great fish, lest we fail to see the hand of God. For the true miracle took place not in the stomach of the fish but in the heart of the prophet. Not in the realm of nature but in the realm of grace. God's fish simply provided the background against which the prophet was brought to repentance.

Page 17: Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

TRIUMPHANT GRACEThere is a remarkable irony in this passage, which records the conversion of the heathen. God's grace triumphs in the pagans’ hearts before it does so in the prophet’s heart.

Perhaps Jonah had despised the heathen seamen earlier when they called upon their false gods for help? But the seamen are the first to respond to the living God and his chastening storm cf v16… Jonah had unwittingly been instrumental in their conversion! As they submit their hearts in worship, Jonah continues to rebel.

Page 18: Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

The sailors did not commit themselves to God in the panic of the storm but at a time of calm when they were conscious of their safety. At the point of Jonah’s greatest stubbornness God works in the hearts of the heathen sailors. Jonah knew nothing of their conversion. It is sobering to think that God often finds a readier response in the hearts of theheathen than in the hearts of those who profess his name.

TRIUMPHANT GRACE

Page 19: Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

Ponder the richness of the grace of God. The storm may not have brought about an immediate change in Jonah, though it served its purpose in God’s ultimate triumph. It touched the lives of others and led to their salvation.

Might the same be true of the storms that touch our lives? Do unbelieving men and women recognise the hand of God more quickly and respond more positively to it than we do?

TRIUMPHANT GRACE

Page 20: Studies in Jonah Jonah 02. THE GRACE OF GOD Jonah Chap 1 v4-17 Jonah 02.

CONCLUSIONHow many of us can look back with gratitude in our hearts to a God of grace who has pursue us in our waywardness? But we must not allow the irresistible character of God's grace to lull us into a false sense of security in our disobedience causing us to say, ‘God's grace will find a way to draw me back to himself’

For this very reason the N.T. warns against, receiving the grace of God in vain (1 Cor. 6. 1), and of frustrating the grace of God (Gal 1.2), and of missing the grace of God (Heb, 12.15). God's grace is there to be engaged and responded to.