HARD QUESTIONS of JONAH

Text: Jonah 1:4-12.
Purpose: To encourage all of us to examine ourselves by asking five questions.

 Introduction

1. All of us are familiar with the story of Jonah.
2. However, Jonah's story is much more than a story about a man being swallowed by a great fish.
3. When the storm hits the boat that Jonah is on, the sailors ask some important questions of Jonah.
4. While these questions were directed to Jonah, I believe that they are important questions that we should ask ourselves even today.

Body

I. "What meanest thou, O sleeper?"

A. The sailors on the ship could not believe that Jonah was sleeping.
B. You can almost hear the astonishment in their voices. How could one be sleeping when his life was in danger?
C. Sadly, many in our world don't see that their very souls are in danger and they are asleep.

1. Some don't even realize that there is a problem that should cause them to awake.

a. They don't realize that there is a very powerful being out there who wants to destroy them (1 Peter 5:8).
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:"
b. If you knew that there was a man waiting outside the church building today and his sole purpose was to kill you, would you walk outside without a care in the world or would you be sober and vigilant?

2. God has commanded us to awake to our work.

a. 1 Corinthians 15:34.
"Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame."
b. Romans 13:11-14.
"(11) And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. (12) The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. (13) Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. (14) But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."

3. Sometimes we are guilty of being asleep to our opportunities.

a. John 4:34-35.
"(34) Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. (35) Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest."
b. Sometimes, we pray and pray for opportunities and then don't see them when they are set before us.

4. Some will be found sleeping when the Lord returns (Matthew 25:13).
"Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh."

II. "For whose cause is this evil upon us?"

A. The sailors wanted to know who was to blame for their misfortune.
B. Jonah had no choice but to admit that the fault was his and his alone.
C. Personal accountability and responsibility are the first steps toward reconciliation with God.

1. Let us look at this by way of comparison.

a. Saul was one who sinned against God and his kingdom was taken away (1 Samuel 15:23).
"For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king."
b. David was also a king and he also sinned against God. Yet his kingdom was not taken away from him.
c. What was the difference between these two men? Did God play favorites?
d. The difference is that Saul never repented and David did.
e. Saul tried to blame others (1 Samuel 15:20-21).
"(20) And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. (21) But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal."
f. David acknowledged his responsibility.

(1) 2 Samuel 12:13.
"And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die."
(2) Psalms 51:1-4.
"(1) Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. (2) Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. (3) For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. (4) Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou Judgest."

2. We must be like David.

a. No one can force us to sin.
b. When we do sin, we must acknowledge it, learn from it, and try not to do it again (repentance).

III. "What is thine occupation?"

A. This had to be an embarrassing question for Jonah.
B. He was a prophet who wasn't doing his job.
C. As Christians, we must make sure that we realize that we are always on the job.

1. Paul exhorts us to walk worthy of our vocation, or calling (Ephesians 4:1).
"I Therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,"
2. It takes constant diligence to make that calling an election sure (2 Peter 1:5-10).
"(5) And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; (6) And to knowledge emperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; (7) And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. (8) For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (9) But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. (10) Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:"

D. Are we doing our jobs as:

1. Preachers (2 Timothy 4:1-4).
"(1) I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his ppearing and his kingdom; (2) Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. (3) For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; (4) And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."
2. Elders (1 Peter 5:1-2).
"(1) The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: (2) Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;"
3. Parents (Ephesians 6:1-4).
"(1) Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. (2) Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first ommandment with promise;) (3) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. (4) And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

IV. "Why hast thou done this?"

A. There are two points that need to be made here.
B. First, Jonah's sin not only affected himself but also those around him.

1. There is so much suffering in this world that all comes as a result of other's sins.
2. It is a fact that others often have to bear the consequences of a person's sin.
3. As Christians, even if our sin does not affect a person physically, we are still setting the wrong example.

C. Second, why does anyone sin?

1. Is it because we have a sinful nature?

a. Man does not have a sinful nature, contrary to what the NIV teaches.
b. God gave us our spirits (Ecclesiastes 12:7).
"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."

2. As has already been mentioned, no one can make us sin.
3. Sometimes we can sin out of ignorance.
4. Usually, sin is a conscious choice on our part.

D. Whatever reason one may have to sin, it is not worth the cost.

V. "What shall we do unto thee?"

A. There was a reckoning for Jonah.
B. Likewise, there will be a day of reckoning for us as well.

1. Acts 17:30-31.
"(30) And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: (31) Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; hereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."
2. 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10.
"(7) And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, (8) In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: (9) Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; (10) When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day."
3. John 5:28-29.
"(28) Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, (29) And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."

Conclusion

1. How did you fare with these questions?
2. What will the Lord do with you on the day of Judgment?
3. Why not come to the Lord today through obedience to His Word.