Pursuing Grace | Jonah 1:1-17
The English poet, William Henley is remembered for penning a poem called “Invictus”… which is Latin for “unconquered.” Many see the poem as an inspiring testimony to the strength of the human spirit that stubbornly persists through difficulty and hardship…
The closing line defiantly proclaims….
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
Henley was an atheist who did not believe there was any higher purpose in anything that happened…he thought that through the storms of life the onus was on us to take charge and move forward according to our will and desires…not letting anything get in our way…
And this desire to be the captain of the ship…the captain of our soul….to be in control…is something we all can relate to… whether you’re an atheist or not…
But if there is a sovereign God who made the heavens and the sea and the dry land… who holds the world in His hand….if that’s true, then our attempts to be the captain is nothing less than mutiny.
And if we try to push God off to the side, and take control of the helm, the result will always be disaster…we will shipwreck our lives and hurt others in the process…In our passage today, Jonah is making this very mistake…and he’s definitely not an atheist!
Jonah is a prophet… and God gave him a Great Commission to go to Nineveh…. and preach about their great evil and God’s coming judgment…. and Jonah refuses…Why?
Well, it’s bad enough these people are gentiles… Many Israelites looked down on foreigners with prejudice and disdain…but Nineveh was the worst of them…it was the main city of the Assyrian Empire…famous for its idolatrous worship, wicked perversion, and barbaric cruelty….as they pillaged and murdered their way to supremacy in the ANE…
They were feared and dreaded… and a danger to Israel… and Jonah hated them…
And Jonah knows that to tell someone of God’s judgment is not harsh… it’s grace… because if they’re warned about what’s coming they might repent…and if they repent, God will forgive them…
And Jonah just can’t handle the idea of these monstrous barbarians being saved and accepted by God…Jonah doesn’t want grace for them. And so Jonah decides to take over and be the Captain of his own soul… and he runs.
He finds a boat headed in the opposite direction…as far from Nineveh as possible… and in our sermon last week we left Jonah thinking he has escaped God… so now he can relax… be at ease and at peace in his rebellion ….enjoying the sunshine and the seagulls as the boat is sailing off into the west…
And as we pick up the story from there… the first thing I want us to consider is…
The Fearsome Pursuit of the Lord
Jonah is fleeing from God’s call on his life. Heading the opposite way, not just physically but in his heart…thinking that if he can just steer the course of his life in a different direction, God will give up and be done. Now, that might seem odd to you but…
People do this all the time. Everyone knows that God exists and that we’re accountable to Him, but the Bible tells us that man suppresses the truth about God and tries to construct an alternate reality.
And so people throw themselves into worldly pursuits….chasing after money or fulfilling their dreams or distracting themselves with mindless entertainment or sinful, pleasurable pursuits…leaving no margin in their lives for God…. that’s running from God… that’s what sinners instinctively do…
Sometimes you might see someone in church who will hang around for a while, as long as they perceive God as doing things they like and agree with. But when they’re confronted with a word in the scriptures about their lifestyle…or about how they use their money…. or how they should treat others…or something else in this word that challenges what they want….they reject that calling from God and they fall away from church….and you ask “what happened to that person?” Well, they’re running from the Lord.
Maybe someone here is moving in that direction even now. You may be physically present in church, but in your heart you’re running…God has called you to do something, and you don’t want to go there…and in your own way, you’re trying to flee from the presence of the Lord just like Jonah…who thinks,
“If I can just get as far away from Nineveh as possible…I won’t have to deal with this. I can be the captain of my soul…I can chart my own course, and it’ll be just fine.”
Jonah is like a chess player trying to outmaneuver God. God made the first move by calling Jonah to go to Ninevah. And Jonah’s counter move is to run as far from his calling as he could get…but you can’t outmaneuver God… Psalm 139 says,
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
(Psalm 139:7–8)
In other words, there’s no place I can go where God is not… there’s no place I can be that’s outside the sphere of His influence…Now, if you’re walking in step with God…Psalm 139 is a word of comfort, isn’t it? No matter what you’re going through, God is right there with you.
But if you’re running from God, Psalm 139 is terrifying… because it means you can run, but you can’t hide…
So God made the first move…Jonah makes a counter move… but now God makes a counter-counter move! God sends a storm.
Verse 4 says God hurled a great wind upon the sea…
That word “hurled” is a violent word. It’s used elsewhere in the Bible to describe the hurling of a spear… and here the Lord takes aim at the fleeing prophet, and His aim is true. God never misses.
Now, an ongoing theme in the bible is God’s control over nature and the ocean. Very often, people refer to the weather as “Mother Nature,” but nature doesn’t operate under its own independent will and power…
For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea.
(Psalm 107:25)
Now, when the bible shows God as ruler of the sea, it’s telling us more than simply that God controls the meteorological patterns and tides. God’s lordship over the sea is communicating an important spiritual message.
In the ANE, in pagan thought, the sea was associated with dark, uncontrollable forces of chaos and powers that rivaled the gods. And in the psyche of the Israelites, the sea was often associated with evil…
In light of that, the Bible’s repeated message about God’s sovereign rule over the oceans is striking…
He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; he puts the deeps in storehouses.
(Psalm 33:7)
So this emphasis of God’s power over the sea is really sending a message about God’s complete and total sovereignty over all things…even the things that seem uncontrollable, dreadful, and chaotic… In reality, there is no chaos, because God controls it all…
Often, we resist the idea of God’s control because WE want to be the captain of our souls… we don’t like the idea of someone who is captain over everything, including us. We want to be in charge and in control..
Now Jonah doesn’t realize this…but it’s a wonderful thing that Jonah is not in control. That God doesn’t leave Jonah to his own devices, adrift and untethered from God…
Because while yes, God has taken aim and yes, the Lord hurls the storm and yes, Jonah is in the bullseye… the purpose of the storm is not to destroy Jonah…but to save him. God’s drastic intervention in Jonah’s life is grace.
Sometimes God works that way in our own lives. As we move down a sinful, self-destructive path, intent on being the captain, sometimes, to save us from ourselves, God may send a storm into our lives. Not a storm of wind and rain but a season of difficulty…maybe the loss of a job…or physical weakness… or relational turmoil…
I’m not saying that’s always the case when storms burst into your life… BUT..when we’re walking in disobedience to God, resisting His revealed will…He may for a time be patient…but God loves His children too much to let them go indefinitely.
And if it takes a storm to interrupt your life and interfere with your plans and change your course, then out of love, He will let that storm come.
Someone once said, “Sometimes cancer requires radical surgery….and sometimes sin requires hard providences to wake us up and bring us back to God.”
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.
(Hebrews 12:6)
So we have the fearsome pursuit of the Lord, but we also have …
The Futile Efforts of the Pagans
While the Jews were not known to be a seafaring folk, the Phoenicians were famous for their maritime abilities. This boat is likely a Phoenician trade ship with a multi-ethnic crew who would have been recruited from various ports of call.
And at some point in their journey, things begin to go wrong. This storm is hurled at them, and v. 4 says that this tempest is getting so bad, the ship threatens to break up. This is a deadly storm.
Anyone here have a fear of flying? If a flight is smooth, I’m fine. But admittedly, I’ll get nervous on a plane during violent air turbulence…and everything starts shaking in the cabin…and my drink is shaking and the little peanuts are spilling everywhere…and when I start getting nervous about it…. the first thing I do to try to calm myself down is I will look at the crew and see how they’re doing.
And if the flight attendants are walking around, smiling, and joking with the passengers…then I immediately begin to feel better. These folks are experienced fliers; they know what’s going on, and that releases the tension… But if I look and see panic in their eyes…if the captain gets on the radio and his voice is shaking….. that’s going to be a bad day for Demer…
These sailors were experienced crewmen…hardy sea people, and yet v. 5 says they’re afraid… they’ve never seen a tempest like this before.
And they begin to hurl the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the load… this tells you how desperate things are. These men make a living by their cargo…they’re literally throwing money into the ocean. But at this point, it’s their money or their lives.
This scene is a powerful illustration of the futility of trusting and hoping in anything outside of God. These desperate men are trying to save themselves through their seamanship… they’re tossing their cargo into the ocean… they’re doing everything they know to do….it’s not working.
They pray to their gods… maybe if they evoke the names of enough deities, they might stumble on one that’s listening that can give them some help… but it’s not working…these gods have no power. They don’t exist. Whatever these men do, they are totally helpless and at the mercy of the one true God.
They’re not only not the captains of their own souls…they can’t even keep their own ship afloat if God is determined to sink it. And to trust in anything else to save you from the storm other than the Lord of the storm is futile….
But I want you to consider for a moment why these sailors are in this predicament in the first place. Are they suffering and going through this terrible storm because of something specific they’ve done wrong? No… the mess they’re in is not due to their sins…but Jonah’s.
Friends…you never, ever…. EVER…. Sin in a vacuum. Your personal sin is never personal. It always affects others, and the closer people are to you, the more it will affect them. Sometimes we try to comfort ourselves in our rebellion by telling ourselves, “Well, this sin is only hurting me.”
I remember my father giving me that excuse as he drank himself into oblivion with his family collapsing around him.
Others justify their sin by saying that good will come from evil…
Well, it’s better if I lie to this person to protect their feelings… or it’s better for my wife and kids if I break my marriage vows to be with another woman because in the end we’ll all be happier if I move on…
And if you try to push back on whatever they are doing…. Bringing the truth of God’s Word to bear on their lives… don’t be surprised if they get mad. “Don’t tell me what to do! It’s MY life! I’M the captain of my own soul!” and as they shout at you, they are falling off a cliff, taking other people with them…and there is massive collateral damage.
Sin is never content to take you alone…but seeks to devour and wreck those closest to you…
So if you’re running from God, I want you to think about who might be affected by your sin. Your actions run deeper than you think. And Jonah’s actions are affecting these pagan gentile sailors. Sailors that Jonah should have been reaching out to… telling them about the only source of life and hope….about the one true God. And Jonah instead is hurting them because of his own selfishness and resistance to God.
In fact, while these guys are screaming in fear and terror, what’s Jonah doing? Verse 5…
…Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.
Which brings us to
The Futile Flight of the Prophet
Now it’s pretty amazing that this guy is fast asleep during this raging storm. Maybe some of you are like this… some of you teenagers can just sleep no matter what is going on. Jonah is out cold!
One commentator notes,
However, we account for it, Jonah’s sleep is remarkable in what it says about his spiritual state. Thinking he had escaped God’s presence, Jonah was unaware of approaching danger. - Richard Phillips
This is true for anyone who is tangled up in sin…. In our sin, we are often oblivious to how serious our problem is… and how deep a pit we have dug for ourselves…
Now, for Christians, when we take those first steps down the path of rebellion, our consciences, informed by the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit, bother us… and alarm bells go off, right?
But if we ignore those alarms…if we keep hitting the snooze button….if we keep going down the path of sinning…what happens? Eventually, we will forcibly silence and damage our conscience to the point where it’s not a reliable guide.
Jonah’s conscience had become hardened by his willful rejection of his Lord’s commands, and therefore, he could sleep when he ought to have been aroused and alarmed. - Spurgeon.
Jonah is anything but aroused and alarmed as he snores below deck…as he thinks he’s done with God and has gotten away with his rebellion.
But the scriptures teach us that sooner or later, your sin will find you out….
So the captain came and said 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)
The captain is incredulous that Jonah is sleeping. And at this point, Jonah has a choice. Jonah can pray, call out to God, and put an end to this terrifying situation… but he doesn’t….
Friends' sins will kill your prayer life. How can you pray to someone that you’re in active disobedience against? Jonah doesn’t pray! He can’t pray! Because he will not repent. He is stubbornly digging in his heels because he will be the captain of his soul! Even if it means going down with the ship.
Notice that Jonah is absolutely of no use to these lost, pagan sailors. Jonah is immobilized. If you want to be a faithful witness for Jesus….the first step is not to learn great evangelism techniques and find the best gospel tracts to pass out or learn apologetics as good as those things are…. The best place to start is with a commitment to kill sin in your own life.
You don’t have to be perfect to tell people about God, but how can you effectively tell people to turn towards God when you are actively, with no concern, turning away from him?
So Jonah is pathetically silent while these lost pagan sailors are searching for answers.
“Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.”
(Jonah 1:7)
This would have been an ancient form of divination…similar to tossing dice… and the different results could mean “yes” or “no”
Now remember, God is sovereign over everything. Even over superstitious attempts at divination…
The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.
(Proverbs 16:33)
Every flip of the coin. Every dice roll in Las Vegas. And every lot cast in the middle of a storm on the raging sea. Ultimately, God is sovereign over all of those things. Back to verse 7…
So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
Friend, if you’re running from God, your sin will find you out.
I remember early in my Christian walk, there was a part of my life that desperately needed change, and I did not take it as seriously as I should have… and my family was being compromised… my soul was being eroded…
I was running from what the Lord was calling me to do in respect to personal holiness and the fight against sin… As if I could manage my life well enough without total surrender to what God would have me do. But I could not outrun the sovereign God….
And through a series of circumstances beyond my control, the lot fell on me…and He exposed my hypocrisy… And it was hard, and painful, and humiliating…. And the very best thing He could have done.
Because when the lot falls on you…exposing your sinful heart…. It’s not cruelty…it’s love. Because He wants to rescue you from the thing that’s destroying you and hurting those around you… which leads to my final point, which is
The Fantastic Grace of God
Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD
(Jonah 1:8-9)
Really Jonah? If you feared God you’d obey him! Look at the next thing he says…he talks about
the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” (V9)
Unlike the false gods of the pagans, Yahweh isn’t just a God of the sky…he isn’t just a God of the sea….or the dry land. He’s not just some tribal, local deity with limited boundaries like the fake gods of the ancient world. His dominion and authority extend everywhere!
Now one of the ironies here is that Jonah….even in his rebellion against God…in his refusal to preach about God to pagan gentiles…finds himself telling pagan gentiles about the one true God! Love that! And the sailors are incredulous…
Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.
(Jonah 1:10)
This is a rebuke to Jonah. Pagan sailors are scandalized by the prophet’s wickedness….
And here they are in the middle of this tempest of death. Absolutely helpless in the raging storm of God’s anger.
Then they said to him, “What shall we do…that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous.
(Jonah 1:11)
Now…. these sailors are on the edge of asking the most important question in the universe…and they don’t realize it. When threatened by the storm of God’s judgment, what must we do to be saved? They realize that if God is against us, we have no hope!
He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”
(Jonah 1:12)
Now, don’t think this is some wonderful, noble gesture on the part of Jonah.
“I’ll just…because I’m such a great guy…I’m just going to sacrifice myself to save you all…”. This is not altruism on the part of Jonah. It’s more selfish disobedience.
Why has the storm come? Because Jonah disobeyed God. So what needs to be done for the storm to stop? That’s easy. Just repent, Jonah! Admit you were wrong! Confess your sin…then go to Nineveh!
But Jonah doesn’t repent. He’s got another move up his sleeve in this game of cosmic chess with the Lord. He makes his final move. I’m going to do my little checkmate on God now…cause if I’m thrown into the ocean…..I’m going to drown. And if I drown, I can’t go to Nineveh… I win!
Friends, Jonah hates the Assyrians so much that he would rather die than be an instrument of God’s love and grace to them…that’s hatred! Big time!
The sailors don’t like this option.
Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.
(Jonah 1:13)
Again these pagan, Gentile sailors come off looking much better than God’s prophet. They want to save his life. What a rebuke to God’s people…. When people who are not followers of God come off as more kind, moral, and merciful than the people of God. Shame on us when that happens.
But Jonah is still not repenting. He’s just standing there letting them try to get back to safety. He’s putting everyone’s lives at risk because of his foolishness…because of his drive to be the captain of his soul…..
In v. 15 these men finally surrender and throw Jonah into the sea, praying for God’s mercy.
While, in the Hebrew worldview, the sea is often a symbol of evil and chaos…. water is also evocative of God’s judgment. Consider the Flood…w/Noah… or the waters of the Red Sea crashing back upon the Egyptians…drowning them in judgment.
And as Jonah is thrown into the ocean and his head disappears under the waves, it is as if the waters of God’s judgment are closing over him…and it says that immediately the sea ceased from its raging. And look at the remarkable thing that happens next…
Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.
(Jonah 1:16)
This is beautiful. They’re no longer worshipping false, useless idols. They have come to know the one true God. They feared the Lord…they offer a sacrifice… they make vows.
Probably a commitment to worship and follow Yahweh, the God of Israel. How remarkable this is…and how shocking this would have been to Jonah’s Jewish audience, where the Jewish prophet…the man of God…. runs away from God and in his disobedient defiance is cast into the sea of God’s judgment…
While the pagan sailors are saved, and they honor and worship God!
And just as shocking… that God would use a prophet like Jonah as an instrument of their salvation. That’s grace too. And it should encourage us. Because if God can use a foolish, disobedient prophet…he can use you and me.
Even more shocking is that through all of this, Jonah is given the great honor of giving us a glimpse of how God will save the world.
How are these sailors saved? Not through their own futile efforts. Not by turning to idols. Instead, they’re saved when God’s prophet is hurled into the raging storm of God’s fearful judgment. They are saved through the substitution of one…so that the many won’t die.
This is exactly what God is going to do later on through a prophet greater than Jonah.
While Jonah was cast into the sea because of his disobedience…
Jesus obediently embraces the mission of God and so is hurled into the storm of God’s wrath….He had no sin…. but on the cross He is plunged under the flood of God’s judgment for our disobedience. For our sins… paying the death penalty we deserve.
And through belief in Jesus…., sinners….rebels…and runaways like us will find the storm of God’s wrath stilled and calmed. Because Christ appeased that wrath by taking it on Himself.
So turn away from anything you’re putting your hope in for life and peace and satisfaction outside of Christ…Believe in Jesus…and be saved from the storm of God’s eternal judgment… receive God’s forgiveness and eternal life now… and a home in heaven later… never again needing to fear the judgment….because Christ paid it all.
Maybe you’re already a believer, but there’s an area of your life where you’re Jonah-like….running from the Lord.
Could be a sin you’re unwilling to give up…or something He’s calling you to do but you won’t. Whatever it is, stop running and surrender that area of your life to Christ. Because if you are truly His…. God will never stop pursuing you…
You know when God caught me those many years ago in that season of foolish disobedience…. As hard as that moment was for me…it was a major turning point for good in my life as He rescued me from horrible disasters that would have come had He not intervened…
And maybe today could be a major turning point for YOU….right now… as you stop running…. It’s a futile flight anyway, because you can’t outrun God’s grace.
Jonah tried to outmaneuver God time and again. And Jonah thought surely this final move would free him from God once and for all!
And as sinks down into the depths…God would have been right to let this hateful, selfish man drown in the waters of judgment.
But God shows even more grace. And God counters Jonah’s counter move again! God has appointed a great fish to preserve Jonah from death.
God caught Jonah…grace caught Jonah. And Christian brother…Christian sister…he will catch you…for your good…even if he has to send a storm to do it.
But it’s a storm of love, aimed to return you to the only true place of safety… which is Himself…That’s grace.
In response to Henley’s poem Invictus. Dorothy Day wrote a poem entitled, “Conquered.”
Out of the light that dazzles me, Bright as the sun from pole to pole,
I thank the God I know to be, For Christ – the Conqueror of my soul.
Since His the sway of circumstance, I would not wince nor cry aloud.
Under the rule which men call chance, My head, with joy, is humbly bowed.
Beyond this place of sin and tears, That Life with Him and His the Aid,
That, spite the menace of the years, Keeps, and will keep me unafraid.
I have no fear though straight the gate: He cleared from punishment the scroll. Christ is the Master of my fate! Christ is the Captain of my soul!
Let that poem reflect the hearts of everyone in this room.
I want to invite the band to come forward and play instrumentally and give us a moment to respond and reflect on what we have just heard… things to consider:
How am I trying to be the Captain of my own soul?
What am I tempted to put my hope in for life and satisfaction that isn’t God?
Ask God to help you to run to Him instead of from Him.
Praise God for His amazing grace, saving runaways like us.
Let’s enter into a time of prayerful personal response… and then we’ll corporately sing and celebrate God’s mercy and grace….
