Jonah (Part 1)

Good morning. Are you ready to worship this morning? I'm ready.

I'm always ready to get them together. We've got something special this morning. First thing before we jump into our call to worship is we have two new families a part of our church.

And I wanted them to come up here. So the Hennicks and the Johnsons, if y 'all could come up here for a moment.

We don't have room on the stage. This stage is getting cramped with all the stuff on it, isn't it? Well, come on up here.

So most of you know that we just had just a couple months ago, actually just a few weeks ago, we had our first membership meeting, our membership class.

And as we went through the class, we had a number of people involved in that. And I remember you guys told me, you said, hey, we're not ready to pull the trigger yet, but we want to come to the class and praise

God over the past couple of weeks. Both of these families have come to us and said, hey, what do we do?

We want to go ahead and be obedient to what God has called us to be. And we feel led to tie ourselves to this body of believers.

And we're overwhelmingly grateful to God that he has brought two families like y 'all.

We're so excited to serve alongside you. And so we've got something for you this morning.

I've got to make sure I get which one because we've signed the inside here. We got it. So don't think of this as a gift.

This isn't really a gift for joining. That's not what we're doing. We're not trying to bribe people to join. Hey, you get a new ESV study

Bible if you join. That's not the purpose in it. The purpose in it was to set the mindset.

It's almost like a commissioning. You're joining us in partnership here in this covenant body of believers.

And in the midst of that, we want to set forward in front of everybody and for each of you as families that this is what we're surrounded around.

This is our weapon. This is our tool. This is of the utmost here. This is how we know

God. This is how we know the God that we worship. This is how we know what a church is supposed to be. And so just to make sure that everyone's on the same page, that we have this brand new

ESV study Bible, one for each family. And so I want to introduce

Matthew and Lindley Johnson. They have just joined. What was the date? The 30th.

You guys joined a couple weeks ago, but we haven't been able to do this until now. And then we have here

Keith and Karen Hinnick. I think most everybody in here knows everybody at this point. But here is an

ESV study Bible for your family. I hope you can utilize it. And I just want you to welcome them.

This is part of the family now. So this is what it means to be a part of a church, and we're so grateful to have you all here.

So let me pray over and with you guys, and let's pray together as a body. Lord, thank you.

Thank you for the work that you are doing. God, we thank you for brothers and sisters.

We thank you for prescribing the local church to us to live out this

Christian life. And I thank you so much for bringing families like the Hinnicks and the Johnsons here to be a part of this.

They have special giftings and a special calling from you that now come and they're able to be a part of this body and be utilized.

I pray that you bless them. I pray that you would use them mightily in this church.

And I pray that you would continue to drive unity and growth and maturity through sanctification in all of our lives.

So grateful for what you are doing here at 12 Five Church, and we are thankful for how you are doing it and who you're bringing.

In Christ's name, amen. Amen. Thank you all. We do it every week with a call to worship, so let's stand.

We have it listed up on the screen. Our call to worship this morning comes from 1 Chronicles 29, starting in verse 11.

It says, Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours.

Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.

Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might.

And in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. Now all of us together, and now we thank you, our

God, and praise your glorious name. Amen. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, we once again come to you.

We want to stop in this moment. We want to set our attention towards your majesty,

Lord. It is your greatness and your power and your glory. Lord, you are a victorious God.

You are a great God. You are a good God, and all the earth belongs to you. And Lord, we belong to you.

Lord, because you are above all things. You are holy, and you are just, and everything that we have, everything that we are, everything that we see belongs to you, for you created all of it.

And you give strength to us this morning. You give us the ability to come before you and worship you in spirit and in truth.

So God, we are so grateful for who you are. And God, we pray that as we sing, as we pray, as we open your word, as we speak of you, that you would be honored in our worship of you.

We thank you in Christ's name. Amen. ♪

Creatures of our God and King Lift up your voice and with us sing

Oh, praise Him Alleluia Praise Him Oh, praise

Him Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia Rushing wind that arcs so strong Ye clouds that sail in heaven alone

Praise Him Alleluia Rising moon and free lights of evening

Find a home Praise Him All things their

Creator bless And worship

Him in humbleness Oh, praise

Him Alleluia Praise, praise the

Father, praise the Son And praise the

Spirit, free and one Oh, praise

Him Oh, praise Him Alleluia Alleluia Praise, praise the

Father, praise the Son And praise the

Spirit, free and one Oh, praise

Him Oh, praise Him Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia Who else commands all the host of heaven?

And who else could make every king bow down? And who else can whisper and darkness tremble?

Only a holy God And what other beauty demands such praises?

And what other splendor outshines the sun? And what other majesty rules with justice?

Only a holy God Sing holy, forever a holy

God Come and worship the holy

God And what other glory consumes like fire?

And what other power can raise the dead? And what other name remains undefeated?

Behold, now sing holy, forever a holy

God Come and worship the holy God Who else could rescue me from my failing?

And who else would offer His only Son? And who else invites me to call

Him Father? Only a holy

God Let's sing that out, church. Come and behold Him. Come and behold

Him The one and the only

Christ Sing holy, forever a holy

God Come and worship the holy God Worship the holy

Holy Our song shall rise to Thee Merciful and mighty

Persons Blessed Trinity Holy The darkness hides

Thee Though of sinful anxiety

Church shall praise

Thy name In earth, merciful persons

Blessed Trinity God in persons

Blessed Trinity Let's go to the

Lord in prayer for our time of offering right now. Lord, we come to You again and we thank

You for Your holiness. We thank You that we get to be a part of worshiping

You. And part of worship this morning involves us giving back what

You have so graciously given to us, God. That we get the privilege to give to what is going to further the gospel.

To what is going to establish and support Your church,

Your bride. God, we are so grateful that we get to be a part of that. Just a small part as we give back what

You have so graciously given to us. And we pray that these monies and these offerings would be used for Your glory.

Lord, I thank You in Christ's name. Amen. Alrighty.

Alright, good morning. Well, the day begins our new series through the book of Jonah.

And I hope you're as excited about it as I am. I've been itching to get to this book. I've been ready. I'm excited about this.

This has been a couple months in the works and preparation towards this day. So, if you have your copy of God's Word, which

I hope you do, you can go ahead and turn to that Old Testament book in Jonah and get your place there.

It's going to be a few moments before we get to it and read it. But we're going to be kind of doing an overview of the entire book.

We're going to read some selected verses as we get there. But as you're turning there, I wanted to ask you a question. What do you think of when

I say the word awful? When I say the word awful.

You know, I asked my daughter that this week. She looked at me very perplexed, stopped for a moment, and after a moment of silence, she then said, like worms coming out of the ground?

I was like, oh, I guess that's awful, unless you're JD and you want to go fishing. But we all think of something negative, right?

When you hear the word awful, you think of something negative, and rightfully so. The definition of this word, if you look it up, the primary definition is extremely bad, unpleasant, ugly, inspiring fear and dread and terror.

So it's understandable that we would think of something, and when we hear a word, our mind goes somewhere and we think of something negative.

But here's the thing, is this word in particular, that's not always been its meaning.

You know, I read a lot of old dead guys, like Puritans and some of the Reformers, old works, and I remember reading through, and the first time

I came across a phrase that was something like this. It said, the awful majesty of God.

I was perplexed. I was like, wait, wait a second, what does that mean? God's majesty isn't awful.

God's majesty is majestic. It's great. It's good. So what in the world are they talking about? And I didn't understand that until I finally came to the understanding that this word awful actually meant something very different up until the 1800s.

And so if you read some old writings, if you read old English and you come across the word awful, it's very different than the way we perceive it.

As a matter of fact, it's quite opposite. Its meaning back then was something more along the lines of worthy of all.

So that's a correct statement. The awful majesty of God. The worthy of all majesty of God.

And oftentimes the meanings of words change, don't they? And I draw our attention,

I want to point this out because I want to draw our attention to the fact that words have meaning. And they do change.

They change with culture. They change with misunderstandings of the word until that becomes the new understanding of the word.

So you can see how dangerous that it can be using phrases and terms unless you're able to define your terms.

Unless you're able to define your terms, it's quite dangerous. If we're not all on the same page, this is very different.

There's a massive difference between me saying the awful majesty of God and the awful majesty of God, right?

But if we don't have the same understanding, that can be confusing. And in the

Christian world today, we have a plethora of these types of misunderstandings within our dialect.

We call it Christianese. We have phrases that the rest of the world just doesn't use. And we have all types of words.

And a lot of times there's this ambiguity in the midst of a word.

We're not quite sure what that word means. We're not quite sure how it's used. And the world definitely doesn't know how it's used.

But I would say there are none quite so devastatingly misunderstood as the word

God. All these other words address doctrine, address other things within our

Christian subculture. But the word God being misunderstood.

Not understanding who God is. And I think we take it for granted that people know.

When we say the word God, when we mention God here in our service, we take it for granted that they know what we're saying.

And we oftentimes never seek to define our terms. I mean, think about it.

Every religious organization, every entity in this town that's meeting today.

I guess at least the religious organizations that meet on Sundays. Every single one of them today is going to make reference to God in some way, right?

They're going to mention God. But what God? They're going to use the same terminology as us.

They're going to say the same name. But a very different God, unfortunately. And I think many of the leadership of some of these organizations, they don't understand it.

Their people definitely don't understand. And so everyone in the midst of that is conjuring up in their minds their definition of who

God is. They're coming up with this idea of who God is. I heard it said once that most of our understanding of who

God is stems from our earthly father. We all have daddy issues, don't we?

If your dad was distant and disconnected, then you have a tendency to see

God as distant and disconnected. If your dad was an angry, overreacting, condescending individual, then you see

God as an angry, overreacting, condescending individual. If your dad was weak, you see

God as weak. Now this isn't everyone, but you can see how we get these preconceived ideas of God.

We bring our culture, we bring everything around us into our understanding, and so we have to define our terms.

You know it's true. Go ask your neighbors. Go ask a friend of yours. Go ask a family member.

Just ask them a simple question. Who is God? You're probably going to get a very different answer every single time.

You may have some semblance and similarities based upon the region that we live in, the culture that we live in, but overall they're going to have a very different perspective as to who

God is. And I would say it's because even though God has made himself evident, right?

He's made himself evident both through creation. We look at creation, we look at everything around us, and we see that God has made himself evident.

We know that from scripture. But more specifically, God has made himself evident through his word, but man desires to suppress the truth.

And we don't know the word. Even though God has told us precisely who he is, we oftentimes don't try and define him because we don't want to, because we don't know his word.

And our misunderstanding of who God is is because we don't go to his word. Charles Haddon Spurgeon actually said,

If you wish to know God, you must know his word. And he goes on, he says,

If you wish to perceive his power, which all of us, everyone in the world wants to perceive the power of God. We want to see miracles.

We want to see everything. We want to see these things present. And he says, If you wish to perceive his power, you must see how he works by his word.

And if you wish to know his purpose before it comes to pass, you can only discover it by his word.

Yet modern Christianity desires to have a feeling about God. To come with their preconceived ideas and assume who

God is based upon their life and their culture and their perspective. That's how most people perceive it, right?

That's how most people see God. Even people within the church.

Even good meaning churches. We have the religious organizations out there that we would look at and say, Well, of course Mormons say

God and they're not worshiping the same God. I get that. Jehovah's Witness say God and they're not worshiping the same God. I get that. Church of Christ, I get that.

We're not worshiping the same God. I understand. But what about the other Baptist churches in the area? What about our Presbyterian brothers? Well, I think even good meaning gospel centered churches.

Churches that we would align ourselves with. I think even sometimes they don't seek to define their terms and many of their people are left just having to assume who

God is. And so the Old Testament book of Jonah gives us a concise, only four chapters here, but clear picture of who

God is. And that's why I want us to spend the next few weeks here in this book so that we can define our terms.

So being today is the introduction of this sermon. It's quite different than a normal Sunday here.

Those of you that are here regularly, you know that by this point we've already read the passage, we've already prayed, and we've jumped right in line by line.

And today's a little bit different. We will be doing that next week. Next week we go back to chapter one, verse one, and we're going to go verse by verse.

But today I want to do something. I want to lay some groundwork because this is what we're trying to do. We're trying to define our terms, right?

So let's lay some groundwork. The first thing I want to do is I want to give us a bit of a background on the book. We're basically going to jump in and do our preface to our commentary here to give us a little bit of background on the book of Jonah.

And then we're going to do a 10 ,000 -foot flyover view of this book. We're going to cover the high points as we go through it.

And the reason I want us to do that this morning is because I think this book is one of the most misunderstood books in all of Scripture.

And so we need to set the boundaries. We need to set our understanding of what this book is about.

Even though this book is probably one of the most well -known stories in all of Scripture. I mean, all of us that grew up in Sunday school, you heard about Jonah and the well, right?

That was the whole thing. That was everything. That's the only thing I knew about Jonah as a child is that he was swallowed by a well because he disobeyed

God. We even sang the song, what was it? Who did, who did, who did, who did? Am I the only one that remembers that song?

Who did swallow Jonah? Everybody's looking. Okay, well, I sang that song, so I knew Jonah and the well quite well.

But we sang the song, so we have this understanding of the book, but we don't quite understand what it is about.

Because this book, despite popular belief, is not primarily about Jonah being swallowed by the well.

Or the great fish, as we might say, as Scripture says. But neither is it about a rebellious prophet.

It's not primarily about a rebellious prophet. That's the way most people preach it today.

And I can tell you for certain, it's not about how man can thwart God's will. Which, believe it or not, some of you in here might be surprised, but many people preach it that way.

All of these, well not that one, but the other two, the whale, the great fish, and the rebellious prophet, they're in here.

And there's principles that we'll see over the next few weeks. But they are not the primary thrust of this book. They are not the purpose of this book.

They are not the theme of this book. The theme of this book and Jonah is God. It's God.

That's the theme of Jonah. So what better way to define our terms than to go through it this morning? So a little bit of background.

This book is part of what we refer to as the Minor Prophets. And many over the years have been perplexed as to why this is placed where it is in scripture.

If you know the Minor Prophets, these are a lot of those smaller little books you see near the Old Testament. And it's placed in the midst of those.

And people have tried to figure out why it's placed there. Because it's written quite differently than the other

Minor Prophets. As a matter of fact, if you just take a surface glance read of it, it's more akin to Joshua and Judges, Ruth.

Some of these narratives that we see earlier on in scripture. So why is it here? Well, it's not a mistake that it's here.

It's not a mistake that it is here. It's supposed to be here, obviously, because the Holy Spirit has inspired it to be there.

But one of the reasons is the fact that Jonah was one of the Minor Prophets. Jonah was a prophet there in Israel under King Jeroboam II in the 8th century.

And so he lands within these Minor Prophets. And so some historians and theologians, they want to say, well, the book of Jonah, either he wasn't real, he's not a real character, and so obviously these stories aren't real, they're just allegory.

They belong in scripture, but they're just allegory. They're principles. Or they want to say, well, yes, of course he was real, because they have a difficult time denying the fact that he was real, because we actually see him referenced earlier, actually going and addressing something with King Jeroboam II.

So we know he's real. But they want to think that maybe this is just allegory. But that doesn't hold any water.

And the reason is because Jesus himself squashed that theory. Actually, in Matthew 12, Jesus addresses

Jonah. He actually mentions Jonah being in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights and actually tying it to him and his death.

That imagery there. Jesus obviously believed in Jonah, so Jonah was a real prophet in this time.

And I believe that this book is a real, true account of what happened to Jonah. And I believe

Jonah is the author of this book. So that gives you a little bit of background here. But you need to know, too, that there is a great correlation between the people of Israel this time and us.

So over the next few weeks, we're going to be able to see some of that correlation and maybe tie it to some principles for us today.

But Israel was prospering greatly under King Jeroboam II. They were expanding their borders.

They were under a relative peace and prosperity. However, they were spiritually bankrupt.

The people of Israel in this time, that's often how it happens, isn't it? The more comfortable we get, the less spiritual we become, the less holy we become.

That's typically the way it works. And the people of Israel oftentimes were that. When things were easy, that's when they felt like, oh, we don't really need

God. So they were spiritually bankrupt. And there was rampant idolatry. And there was horrendous injustice amongst their community.

You see the correlations there between us and them? So, again, that's another reason I wanted to go to this book, these parallels here.

So now that we've covered a little bit of a background, we've gotten through all of the commentary type of stuff, let's actually go to the book.

Let's go to the book of Jonah. Hopefully most of you look like you're already turned there. And we're going to look at some select verses.

But we're going to start right in verse 1 of chapter 1. It says, Now the word of the

Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise. So here we have a command.

God is commanding Jonah something. It says, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it.

For their evil has come up before me. 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. Here God has given him a command, and what does he want to do? He doesn't want to obey the command, so he runs, right?

Look at verse 4. It says, 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.

So now it kind of goes into, it talks about the sailors that are on the ship.

They're panicking. They're throwing things overboard. They're trying to lighten the ship. This storm is something that they're probably quite worried about.

It probably came out of nowhere. They weren't expecting it. This is throwing them off, but yet Jonah is down at the bottom of the ship sleeping.

Now look down at verse 7. It says, And they, the sailors, 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. Imagine that.

What are the chances? Now look down at verse 9. And he said to them, I am a

Hebrew, and I fear the Lord. Which, by the way, I find that statement quite interesting that Jonah would say this.

This feels like a lie to me. He says, I fear the Lord. He says, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.

If he really feared the Lord, why would he run to the sea to try and get away from him? He's the God of the sea and the dry land. This is

Jonah just spouting off information that he knows about God, right? Look at verse 10. 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. He seems quite nonchalant about this. He's been sleeping during the storm, and then he tells them,

I'm running from God. He's the God over the sea, he's the God over the land. I fear him.

He's worthy to be feared. Yeah. So, look down at verse 12.

It says, 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. And so now these men are in this predicament.

These sailors, they're trying to figure out how they can get away without doing this. They don't want someone's blood on their hands, so they don't want to throw him overboard.

And so they do everything they can, but ultimately they come to a breaking point. They come to this point where they realize this storm is too powerful for us, and we must throw this man overboard.

And so they do. They throw him over, and what happens? The sea calms. Look down at verse 16.

It says, then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered sacrifice to the

Lord and made vows. So, I think it's interesting that we have this correlation, and we'll talk about it as we go verse for verse, but I want you to see it.

Here's Jonah, running from God, nonchalant about it, saying, I fear the Lord, but his actions prove different, don't they?

And now here's these men saying that they throw him overboard, and they see the power of God because now all of a sudden they've thrown this disobedient servant to God over to the sea, and the sea is calmed.

It's miraculous, and now they fear the Lord exceedingly, and they sacrifice and make vows to the

Lord. And then 17. And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

That's the big story. Everybody knows that one. Look at verse 1 of chapter 2. Then Jonah prayed to the

Lord, his God, from the belly of the fish. So now we see this prayer from Jonah.

He's praying from inside the belly of this great fish, and at the end of his prayer, look at verse 9.

He says, But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you what

I have vowed I will pay. And then here's the big statement.

Here's probably the greatest statement, in my opinion, in all of Scripture. Salvation belongs to the

Lord. And then what does God do? And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited

Jonah out onto dry land. Now look at verse 1 of chapter 3.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. What a patient God here, saying,

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you. So God's message hasn't changed.

He's given him the same command he gave him up front. And look down at verse 4. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey, and he called out this really intricate, super in -depth, super loving sermon.

Probably the most loving sermon that anyone's ever preached, right? He says, Yet forty days, and none of us shall be overthrown.

Mic drop. Walks out. And what happens?

Look at verse 5. And the people of Nineveh believed

God. They believed God. This great city of nearly 600 ,000 people.

This great city that was founded by an unbelievably, probably one of the most wicked men that's ever lived,

Nimrod. And Jonah goes in. Mind you, this great city's so large, it takes about four days to walk through it.

And Jonah, notice, he only goes one day in. It's almost like he just barely gets into the city. He gets far enough to be obedient to God.

Just far enough. Preaches a sermon, and makes his way out. Look down at verse 10 of chapter 4.

It says, When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way,

God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them. And he did not do it.

Now, if you're like me, this is exactly where this book should have ended.

That's what it seems like. This seems like chapter 3 should have been the very end of this book. Let's just call it quits. This is a happy ending.

If they ever made a movie about Jonah, this is where they would end it. Right? Because this is the happy ending.

The whole city was saved. And now Jonah can be friends with this city that he dislikes so much. But that's not where it ends.

Look at chapter 4, verse 1. But it displeased

Jonah exceedingly. And he was angry. 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.

So why did he flee? Was it because he was afraid of the people? No. It says, For I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster.

This is why Jonah is angry. This is why he didn't want to go in the first place.

He didn't want to go because he knew who God was, didn't he? He knew the

God that he served and worshipped. And he did not want that God to show mercy to these people in Nineveh.

So why is that? You've got to understand the people of Nineveh have been horrendous to the people of Israel.

They have been wicked. They have pillaged. They have destroyed. They have been at war with them.

They have done evil things to the people of Israel. And the people of Israel hated the

Ninevites. Hated them. And so Jonah hated these people, but he knew the nature of God.

And when God told him to go preach, he knew good and well what was going to happen. He knew the nature of God. And he knew that he was going to be merciful and that he was slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

So he didn't want them. He didn't want them to be saved. That was his reason. So what does

Jonah do at this point? Jonah, he pouts. He goes up. He gets himself a nice little spot where he can see the city.

And he sits. And I think probably what Jonah's doing is he's kind of hoping that God changes his mind on changing his mind.

Which, by the way, we'll talk about that. God doesn't change his mind. But I think that's what Jonah's kind of hoping he does right here, isn't it?

Jonah's hoping that maybe God will just kind of know that they're wicked by heart and they didn't really truly repent. And he goes ahead and destroys them anyways, and I get a front row seat to it.

And he sits there. And so what does God do? God, in his grace, sees his servant, his disobedient, angry, pouting servant.

And he brings him shade. He brings a tree up to grow over him miraculously and give him shade from the sun.

And so that Jonah can be comfortable as he sits there and pouts and rebels against God. But he only gives it to him for a day.

And then what does he do? He sends a worm to destroy the tree. And then he sends great wind and the sun beating down on Jonah's head.

And he says, all right, your pouting's over now. And look at verse 9. Because he's mad now, by the way.

Jonah's angry that the tree is dead. He's mad about the tree. He's gone from being mad about the

Ninevites and now he's identifying his anger with the tree. In verse 9 he says, but God said to Jonah, do you do well to be angry for the plant?

This plant that I gave you is a good gift even in your rebellion and your anger and in your pouting.

Do you do well to be angry for the plant? And he said, yes, I do well to be angry.

Angry enough to die. I want to die. I just want to sit here and let you kill me.

Just take my life. I don't want to live anymore. Verse 10. And the Lord said, you pity the plant for which you did not labor?

Nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night?

And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city in which there are more than 120 ,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?

Now you heard me say a minute ago there were nearly 600 ,000 inhabitants. So I believe this is not a misprint in scripture.

120 ,000. I believe God is speaking of children. Infants. Young ones who do not know their right hand from their left.

And God in his grace is showing mercy. And not only is he showing mercy to them, but because he's showing mercy to them, he's showing mercy to the people as a whole.

So this, again, we just fly over the book.

We're not delving too deep into it at this moment. But this just gives us an idea that this narrative is not just about the miraculous.

It's not just about principles that teach us good things about how we're to react and respond to God.

This book is a doctrine. It's doctrinal, isn't it? This book about Jonah is doctrinal.

He is telling us who he is in narrative form. He's given us a picture of himself.

So we can get a more well -rounded view of the God that we worship and know. And so I have four things that I want us to see about God in this book today.

And I'm sure some of you are looking at your clocks. That was quite an intro. But trust me, we're going to move quickly through these things.

I just want these four points and the understanding of Jonah to sit on your hearts and minds this week as we prepare to jump line by line, verse by verse.

I want us to see four things. The first one that I want us to see is I want us to see the demeanor of God.

The demeanor of God. This word demeanor just means behavior. It's conduct. Notice that God is not reactive in this story in any way.

Jonah is being reactive. Jonah is reacting to everything God throws his way.

But not God. God's demeanor is calm and collected.

God's demeanor is calculated and intentional. It's perfect. God is not your angry, overreacting father, is he?

He is perfect. Everything he does is perfect. His demeanor, his behavior is in line with his character.

And we see it through the whole story. God is in complete and total control of the situation.

And his character shows it. His demeanor shows that. And why is his demeanor as such?

Well, because he's God. But our second point, second thing

I want us to see is because of the dominance of God. The dominance of God.

Man believes that he is in control, don't we? I mean, after all, we're at the top of the food chain.

At least we think we are. We think we have a lot more control than we actually do.

We do as we please. We do what we want. At least we think we do. After all, we're in control of everything around us, aren't we?

Look around. Man thinks he's in control of global warming, doesn't he? Man thinks he has control over a pandemic.

We're so arrogant. We think we have control. We think that we have dominance, that we are the dominant ones.

Just like Jonah thought that he could run from the presence of God. He thought he could get away from God.

But he quickly learned that there's no escape from the presence of God, right? It's because God is dominant in his creation.

He does whatever he pleases. Now, this may seem like an obvious thing to many of you in here.

Some of you are looking at me saying, Come on, Nathan, we already know all this about God. These are truths we know about God.

I understand that. But we must remember we have a tendency to forget.

We have a tendency to forget who God is, don't we? Because we become so inwardly focused.

That's why we have God's word to remind us. But we also have to be intentional as a church to define our terms.

Because I can promise you there are some in here that do not fully understand some of these fundamental truths about God that we see here in this book of Jonah.

So we can't assume that everyone understands it. So we have to lay it out. And that's why when we look at a book like Jonah, we see the dominance of God throughout.

Can you see it? Can you see the process as we just kind of flew over that book? You see

God. He's everywhere in there. I didn't actually add it up. I've heard it before.

But you can go through and check this out. In the book of Jonah, I think there's 48 verses in total.

And I'm pretty sure there's 42 mentions of Lord or God, both talking about God. God is mentioned in almost every single verse in this book.

God is dominant in this book. This book is about God. So if this book is about God and God is dominant, what gives

God the right to dominate his creation? I mean, that's kind of what he did with Jonah, isn't he?

He dominated Jonah. Jonah thought he could do what he wanted to do, and God wasn't about to give him enough rope to hang himself, right?

But not to let him get away. God was dominant in that. He didn't say,

I'm going to override Jonah's will here. I'm not going to do that.

That's not the God that we serve. He's not looking and saying, well, I have to let Jonah kind of do what he wants.

I guess I'm going to have to go find another prophet that will be obedient. That's not what God did, is it?

No, he said, Jonah, arise, go to Nineveh. And Jonah, under his free moral agency, decides not to do so.

And what does God do? You're not getting away that easy, Jonah. He overrides

Jonah's will, doesn't he? Because he's dominant. He does as he pleases. He didn't say,

I'm going to leave these poor sailors alone. I know Jonah got on that ship, but those poor sailors, they're just trying to make a living.

I'm not going to destroy their livelihood. Think about it. They threw all of their goods and services overboard just to be able to survive.

They have fear. He didn't say, I'm not going to override their wills and their livelihoods.

No, he's dominant. He says, everything in that ship belongs to me anyways. And everything in the ocean belongs to me.

And everything on the earth and the universe belongs to me because I'm dominant.

And I do what I want. Right? That's the God we serve.

That's the God we see in Jonah. He didn't say to the fish, hey, if it's not too much trouble, if you're not super hungry, could you spit the guy out for me?

That's not what he said. He said to spit it out. And what did the fish do? He obeyed him.

Because he had no choice but to obey the command of God because God is dominant. So I ask again, what gives him the right to dominate in this way?

What gives God the right to dominate his creation? And our third point, the dominion of God.

The dominion of God. Many of you are familiar with this passage. Romans chapter 9.

And Paul says, starting in verse 19, he's speaking, he's responding to people that would ask the question about God's sovereignty and God's right over salvation,

God's right over everything. And he says, you will say to me then, why does he still find fault?

If God's sovereign, if God's in control of everything, why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?

His will. He says, but who are you, oh man, to answer back to God?

Well, what is molded, say to its molder, why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

So we ask the question, what gives God the right to dominate over his creation? It's because he's the potter.

And we're merely the clay. Not only are we the clay, but everything in the universe that he has created is his clay.

He can do with it as he pleases. He can dominate it all he wants. And he's right to do so. That's the character of God.

This is why he can tell the sea to wreak havoc at his word.

Destroy that ship. Bring them to the point of breaking to where they have to throw Jonah overboard.

And the sea has no ability to do anything but obey.

Just as Jesus later on would tell that same sea to calm. And it has no choice but to obey.

Because he is dominant over his dominion. It's his.

Fourthly, and lastly, I want us to see the disposition of God. This is where I hope you walk away with some hope today.

I want you to see God for who he is. That he's dominant. And that everything is his dominion and he does what he pleases.

But I also want you to see the disposition of God. Because if God is just dominant over his dominion, we better hope that he's a good

God. Right? We better hope he's a good God or we're in trouble. Otherwise we're left without hope.

But think about God's disposition, his very character in this book alone. This wicked, rebellious city,

Nineveh. Wicked city. He's done nothing but harm his chosen people.

And disobey him through idolatry and godlessness. They have no regard for God.

Yet God was gracious to send one of his own prophets. Painstakingly to share the truth with them.

And Jonah, notice, didn't have to go into Nineveh and try and emotionally draw them.

He didn't even try and use persuasive speech, kind of like Paul does. No, Jonah went in with his hatred chip on his shoulder.

Said, hey, 40 days and you people are toast. And even in God's love and kindness and his disposition, he brought those people to repentance, didn't he?

And he guarded them from destruction. God was gracious and intentional there.

But God was also gracious and intentional with his disobedient servant, Jonah, wasn't he? That's God's disposition, is one of grace, one of love, one of kindness.

Not only that, but the people in that ship.

We see here that all the men on that ship were saved. He didn't have to save those men.

He could have allowed that ship to just drown and then Jonah be swallowed up by a great fish. But he didn't because of his loving kindness.

He brought them to the point of repentance. What a good and gracious God. And for those of us that are in here that are believers today,

God's loving, patient, kind, tender disposition towards us, his tender, kind disposition that he showed towards Jonah, this should cause us to worship him.

This should cause us to run to him, to love him. God is love.

God is eager to forgive, tender and loving kindness. And the Bible says that it is his kindness that leads us to repentance, isn't it?

Because God's disposition is one of love and kindness and grace. He does not want to see the destruction of the wicked, even though his holiness requires it at times.

But his disposition is one of love. That's worthy of worship, isn't it?

Thank goodness, thank the Lord that he is not just dominant over his dominion and not loving and gracious and kind, but his disposition is one of graciousness.

So with that, I want to lead us to the Lord's table under that understanding of who

God is, his kindness and his grace, because ultimately he's shown his kindness and grace through his

Son, hasn't he? And we get to come together every single Sunday and we get to gaze upon that cross.

We get to look to our Savior and what he did. And we get to follow through with the ordinance of the

Lord's Supper, partake of it together as a remembrance of what he's done, that graciousness that God has bestowed upon us because of his disposition, because of his great loving kindness.

And as we partake, I will remind you again, this is an ordinance that Christ prescribed, and it's all about him.

So look back to him, look to what he has done, what he has accomplished when he said it is finished. Look around as we partake and be reminded that this is something we do unified as a church body, as a group of believers, that we are one together just as we are one in him, just as he is one in the

Godhead. And we also look ahead to the day to where we will feast with the

Lord. This is but a taste, right? Well, let's go to the Lord in prayer and we pray. And just as we do every week, we'll have elements on both sides.

You can come up, take the elements back to your chair. You can pray alone. You can pray as a family, however you want to do it, and then take those elements.

And then we will come back together. We will sing the doxology and a benediction.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for who you are. God, we thank you for what you've done.

We thank you that you are sovereign. Lord, we pray at this time as we come to the table that you have prescribed for us that we would do so with grateful hearts.

Lord, there is always sin in all of our lives, so we don't come to this table with any perfection of our own.

But if we are in your Son, we come to this table made holy, made righteous, and that we can partake of these elements in remembrance of you.

So, God, I pray that you would guard us as we go, that if we have any open, unrepentant sin that we know of and refuse to repent of, if we have anything against our brother or sister, that you would work that out in our hearts before we partake.

But, God, I pray that you would be honored in our worship through this ordinance this morning. Help us,

God, as we do this, that we would grow even deeper in our knowledge of you. In Christ's name, amen.

As you're finishing up here, Pastor Jeremiah is coming around with a basket. He'll get the cups from you.

And as he does that, why don't we go ahead and stand, and let's do as we do every week.

Let's end with singing together. We're going to sing the doxology. Like I said,

Pastor Jeremiah is coming around with the basket if you've got your cups there. Let's sing. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Praise Him, all creatures here below.

Praise Him above the heavenly host.

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Before we close with the benediction, I want you to see the order of service this morning.

I set one at every seat. On the back is a little different today. Some of you have already looked at this.

I want us to go into this week as a week of prayer and fasting.

As a church. And I want you to take this home with you. I want you to put it up on your refrigerator.

I want you to hang on to it. Keep it beside your table where you spend time with the Lord. And I want us as a church to pray for some very specific things.

We want the people in this community to know the character of God and know who

God is. And we're going to pray that God would use our time through Jonah, through the next few weeks, to mold our view and deepen our understanding of Him.

And then we'll pray that God would use this knowledge and this deepened understanding of Him to drive us to this awe and worship of the

Lord. And that that awe and worship would reflect His character to those around us.

That we would begin to emulate the character and attributes and greatness of God. And that that would affect our friends, our neighbors, those around us.

That it would spark in them a deeper understanding and a desire to know the

God of heaven and His character and His goodness. And that God would use that to bring about revival and awakening in this community.

Because it desperately needs it, doesn't it? I've talked to so many believers in this area who have no concept of the character and greatness of God.

So let's pray that God would use us. Pray that God would deepen our understanding. That we're not arrogant.

We're not coming in here trying to say we know something that no one else knows on our own merit.

But that we would grow in our knowledge. And that would impact this community. So please commit to praying and fasting however that looks for you personally.

This week as we pray through these things daily, consistently. That God would use us mightily for His work.

That He would be seen in His majesty and glory and greatness in this community.

Amen? Our benediction comes from, I can't remember which one it was.

It was Psalm what? What was it before bud? There you go. Psalm 115 .3 Our God is in the heavens.

He does all that He pleases. Amen. You are dismissed. Remember we have lunch.