JONAH THE TROUBLED PREACHER
Jonah 1:1-7
Morning Meditation 4/26/2013
Jonah 1:1-7, "Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not. And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah."
Many do not believe that the prophet Jonah lived and that he was a prophet. Jesus said in Matthew 12:39, "But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:"
Jesus called Jonah a prophet. That should be enough to convince any Bible believer. If you are not willing to take Christ's word for it, you are not a Christian. There are many professing Christians who do not believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. If one does not believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, he will change words to fit his fancy. He will also to take the liberty to reject the books of the Bible as uninspired. There has never been a time in Church history that there were not leaders who rejected the Word of God. They were usually scholars with credentials that allowed them to teach their heresy and ideas to young preachers as they teach in the schools. They knew the way to change the church was to sow the seeds of heresy in the minds of the preachers and that way they would enter the churches through these young men. That has always been Satan's plan. It would surprise you to know how many Baptist preachers have stolen into the churches they pastor under false pretense. They profess to believe the Bible but once they are settled and have gained a following they come out of the liar's closet and split the church. It happened in our area May God help these apostates and may God give the churches wisdom in calling a pastor to question him thoroughly.
There is much to learn in the Book of Jonah. Let's begin by pointing out that,
JONAH WAS A RUNAWAY PROPHET
"Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD."
This is a call of the LORD to Jonah to ministry in a Gentile city. One that was a terrible enemy of the Jews. History tell us that when they captured a Jew they would skin him alive. They were very wicked and deserved to die under the judgment of God. Jonah knew that if they responded positively to the message of the true God that He would forgive them.
So Jonah caught a ship going in the opposite direction from Nineveh. Jonah was a runaway prophet. He had no plans in obeying God to preach to that city. He is a lesson on men who are called to preach but they do not surrender unconditionally. They have in their minds where they will go and where they won't go. When God calls a man to preach he should be ready to go where ever the Lord calls.
We also learn that God is watching wicked cities and knows what is going on. He is willing to make an offer of salvation to them in spite of their wickedness. This is what happened in Nineveh. Nineveh is located in Iraq and has always been an aggressive people who hate the Jews.
Our text says that Jonah went with them "from the presence of the LORD."He was running from God. Many do that today. They are being called and they don't recognize God at work in their lives. If you want God's presence, you must not run from Him.
A DISOBEDIENT SERVANT
"But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD."
What would you call Jonah? He was a true prophet. He was called of God to go to Nineveh. He was simply a disobedient servant. Are you a servant of the Lord? Are you obedient to His call upon your life? I'm not just writing to preachers. This applies to all of us. If you are saved, you are His servant. There are many disobedient servants. I don't know if these statistics still hold true, but I was told at least 45 years ago that 90 percent of the preachers are preaching to ten percent of the world population and ten percent of the preachers are preaching to 90 percent of the world's population.
Does God have favorites? I don't think so. What does God do to get the gospel out to the world? He calls men. This being true, there has to be some who are called but are as guilty as Jonah was. They are truly called of God but they do not respond to His call to the nation and people groups in this world. I'm not anyone's judge. This is something between the Caller and the called. But it doesn't make sense that the need is so great and so few are going to those needy fields.
A SLEEPING SAINT
"Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not."
I am afraid a lot of God's people are doing the same thing today concerning their responsibility to God to tell the lost about Jesus. This has the ring of the unbelievable when the heathen says to God's man, "What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not."
There is a good analogy between then and now. Jonah's dilemma was physical, ours is spiritual. We are living in a storm of uncertainty. Divorce rates are on the rise at a rapid pace. Drive by shootings are common in almost all the big cities of America. Mothers killing their babies in the abortion clinics. We have seen more than one incident in the U.S. where mothers have taken their own babies lives. Just recently a mother killed five of her children. The TV is the meeting center of the home. Paul prophesied in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away."
Christians need to recognize that this can happen to your family. Don't think that your child will never get involved in drugs, sex, and the use of alcohol just because they are born into a Christian home. Better to spend time with them and know what they do than to bail them out of jail. We need to wake up to the dangers and do some preventative maintenance.
A REBUKED BELIEVER
"So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not." I don't know how much sleep Jonah needed but I'll guarantee you that I would not have been asleep with this kind of storm. I know what I would do. I would be on my knees praying.
I had an experience several years back. I had a meeting in Shawnee, OK. I had driven from my home in Louisiana and had checked in the motel. I was tired from the drive so I was taking a hot shower to relax me and settle down to study my message and pray for the meeting beginning that evening. Everything got dark. I heard hail stones hitting the roof. Everything was eerie. So I got out of the shower and knelt by my bed and asked the Lord, if this was a tornado, to lift it up and cause it to miss the motel. Well, it was a tornado, a bad one. When it was over and the electricity was back on, they showed the path of the tornado. The motel was directly in its path. It destroyed every thing in front of it. But about a block before it got to the motel, it rose back up into the clouds and then came back down four or five blocks on the other side of the motel. When I saw that I had another prayer meeting. This time to thank God for answered prayer.
It is a sad day when the heathen have to rebuke a prophet of God for sleeping when he should be concerned about the storm and the crew members.
May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.
In Christ
Bro. White
