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Jonah 1:4-17 3-21-02
“The Sleeper & the Sailors!”
1. Intro:
1.1. Story - Hurrying my 11-year-old daughter to school, I turned right on red
where it was prohibited. "Uh, oh," I said, realizing my mistake. "I just made
an illegal turn." - "It's all right," my daughter said. "The police car behind us
did the same thing."
1.1.1. Numb.32:23 “…be sure your sin will find you out.”
1.2. Title: The Sleeper, the Sailors, & the Sovereign One!
1.2.1. Lessons from each.
2. THE SLEEPER!
2.1. (5) Q: How did the Sleeper respond to the storm?
2.1.1. He slept!...a “deep sleep”(fast asleep)!
2.2. Note…because of his sleep, Jonah misses the prayer meeting!
2.2.1. “While the pagans were entreating, the prophet was sleeping!”
2.2.2. Prov.24:33 “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the
hands to rest--and (spiritual)poverty will come on you like a bandit.”
2.3. (6) Q: How do you think Jonah felt when the captain urged him to call
upon God for help?
2.3.1. This would have pricked his conscience!
2.3.2. The captains command was full of irony.
2.3.3. This was the exact thing he was running from…He didn’t want to
pray, didn’t want to seek God, he had heard from God already…
…THIS WAS THE PROBLEM!
2.3.4. Jonah would have 1st had to of confessed his sin & determined to
obey God. - Ps.66:18 “If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will
not hear.”
2.3.4.1. If Jonah did pray, it wasn’t answered.
2.3.4.2. Kenneth Blanchard co-author of The One-Minute Manager…
Defines ego as “Edging God Out”.
2.3.4.2.1.Jonah’s ego was in full swing!
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2.4. (8) Come on…“Name, rank, & serial number!”
2.4.1. Occupation? Prophet; Where from? Galilee;
Your country? Israel; What people? Jews.
2.4.2. He wasn’t living up to “prophet”, for prophets said what God told
them to say.
He wasn’t living up to being a “Jew” for he was not being a blessing
to the Gentiles.
2.4.2.1. God called His people to be a blessing to the Gentiles. “…in
you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Gen.12:3.
2.4.3. Unfortunately, the man that was to be “saving the lost” was “being
saved by the lost”!
2.5. (10) Q: Why have you done this? (ouch)
2.5.1. How embarrassing to get rebuked by the unbeliever!
2.5.2. “As Achan was in the camp…so Jonah was on the boat!”
2.5.2.1. Joshua 6,7 – "And you, by all means abstain from the accursed things,
lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and
make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. "But all the silver and
gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the LORD; they
shall come into the treasury of the LORD.”
2.5.2.2. Achan took of the Babylonian garments, silver, & gold.
2.5.2.3. Achan disobeyed, Jonah disobeyed.
2.6. (12) Q: Was this Resignation or Repentance?
2.6.1. Resignation! – I believe his arms were folded until 2:1.
2.6.2. Jonah wasn’t a martyr; he was “playing” a martyr!
2.6.3. Martyr’s die for the glory of God, but Jonah offered to die because
selfishly he would rather die than obey the will of God!1
2.6.4. Jonah’s commended for telling the truth, but not for taking his
own life in his hands. Had he prayed & asked the Lord, He might
have said… “have them turn around the ship.”
2.7. Lastly, look at the trouble we put those around us in…when we are in
sin!
2.7.1. Q: Would God hurl a storm into your home saints because of your
disobedience?
2.7.2. Q: Would God send a storm into your workplace because of your
spiritual mutiny?
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Warren Wiersbe; OT Outlines.
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2.7.3. Q: Would God send a storm into your surroundings because of
your relocation rebellion?
2.7.4. Q: Does he send then blessings for your “obedience”?
2.7.5. “Disobedience is not an option!”
2.7.5.1. Lk.6:46 “But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do
the things which I say?”
2.8. Jonah could say as the psalmist, “The LORD has chastened me
severely, But He has not given me over to death.” Ps.118:18
3. THE SAILORS!
3.1. (5) Q: How did the Sailors respond to the storm?
3.1.1. 1st, these polytheists cried out to their gods. Each cried out to their
own deity(they weren’t sure which one was offended!).
3.1.2. Yet it is very interesting that these pagan sailors seem far more
concerned about obedience…than Gods Prophet.
3.1.3. Q: Ever been better treated by an unbeliever then by a believer?
3.1.3.1. “Sometimes unsaved people put believers to shame by their
honesty, sympathy, & sacrifice.”
3.2. (7) Wow! It came up “right”?
3.2.1. Prov.16:33 “The lot is cast into the lap, But its every decision is
from the LORD.”
3.2.2. I bet Bob Larson could have captured this scene on a far side
comic...
3.2.2.1. Jonah just got up, coming up on deck, stretching, yawning,
wiping sleep from his eyes, & asking, “hey guys, watcha
playin?”…Then realizing they are all looking at him!!!
3.3. (12,13) It is significant that the heathen sailors at 1st rejected Jonah’s
offer & began to work harder to save the ship.
3.4. Q: What new tensions & struggles did they face after hearing Jonah’s
suggestion?
3.4.1. Interesting, they had more compassion for 1 life then Jonah did
w/hundreds of thousands!
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3.5. (14) They have some basic theology: The existence of Jonah’s God;
their own guilt before Him; & His sovereignty over creation{for You, O
LORD, have done as it pleased You}.
3.6. (16) Note their progression of fear(5,10,16)and why.
3.6.1. Feared the Storm itself(5) –
3.6.2. Feared the Creator of the Storm(10) –
3.6.2.1. Wow! His God actually made the sea! This terrified them. He
was more powerful then they imagined.
3.6.3. Feared the God of the Storm(16) –
3.6.3.1. Some say they just placed another god on their “god shelf”!
3.6.3.2. Others say this was true repentance.
4. THE SOVEREIGN ONE!
4.1. Now let’s take a look from the crows nest down!
4.2. (4) Q: How did the Sovereign One respond to the storm?
4.2.1. He didn’t respond to the storm…He was the reason for the storm!
4.2.1.1. He sent(hurled) it out!
4.2.2. God loves His children too much than to let them run!
4.2.2.1. Like a bee on a child’s string.
4.2.3. Surgeon said, “God never allows his children to sin successfully!”
4.2.3.1. Heb.12:6(NIV) “because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he
punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
4.2.4. When you won’t listen to His whisper from His word, often he will
get our attention from the shouting of a storm!
4.2.4.1. Ps.107:23-32
4.2.5. The Lord who can calm the troubled waters in your life is the same
Lord who can stir them up to great frenzy!
4.3. Q: How does this chapter teach us the futility of running from God?
4.3.1. Ps.107:28 “Then they cry out to the LORD in their trouble, And He brings them
out of their distresses.”
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4.4. Q: How does this chapter teach us the Grace of God to both Jonah &
the Sailors?
4.4.1. Jonah – God prepared a Great Fish, rather then Jonah becoming a
a great dish…for the fish!
4.4.2. The Sailors – God did quiet the storm(which was more terrifying then the
storm). He did not hold them accountable to throwing a man
overboard.
4.4.3. When our child-size plans fail, surely the Lord Jehovah is quick to
prevail! Help
4.5. I summed up chapter 1 like this:
4.5.1. Jehovah Pleas, Jonah Flees; Ship sought, Ticket bought;
Down deep, Fast asleep; Captain awoke, Prayer invoked;
Lots cast, Jonah last; Questions pop-ed, Jonah cop-ed;
Stormy sea, All about me; To calm the tide??? Over the side!
Row & row, Still too slow; 1,2,3, Into the sea;
Storm cleared, Sailors feared; Jonah despaired, Fish prepared;
Sumptuous dish, Belly of a fish.
4.6. Spurgeon - While I was walking in the garden one bright morning, a breeze came
through and set all the flowers and leaves a fluttering. Now that is the way flowers talk, so I
pricked up my ears and listened. Presently an old elder tree said, "Flowers, shake off your
caterpillars!" "Why?" said a dozen all together--for they were like some children, who
always say "Why?" when they are told to do anything. The elder said, "If you don't, they'll
eat you up alive." So the flowers set themselves a shaking until the caterpillars were
shaken off. In one of the middle beds there was a beautiful rose, who shook off all but one,
and she said to herself, "Oh, that's a beauty! I'll keep that one." The elder overheard her,
and called out, "One caterpillar is enough to spoil you." "But," said the rose, "look at his
brown and crimson fur, and his beautiful black eyes, and scores of little feet. I want to keep
him. Surely one won't hurt me." A few mornings after, I passed the rose again. There was
not a whole leaf on her. Her beauty was gone; she was all but killed, and had only life
enough to weep over her folly, while the tears stood like dew-drops on her tattered leaves.
"Alas! I didn't think one caterpillar would ruin me." (Disobedience!)
