Flight JON01 - Part B

Once Jonah got on their boat, it's now their problem too. Once you get around other people and attach yourself to other people when you're disobedient, you will affect other people. Your disobedience has ramifications, not just for you, but for others as well.

And today on Connect with Skip Hyten, Skip shows you how Jonah's failure to obey God affected the lives of those around him. Now here's a resource that will help you understand and articulate the path to real lasting freedom in Jesus. Freedom is precious and in human history not common in governance. America was built on the cornerstone that man is endowed by his creator with rights that cannot be taken away. Our government was formed to secure existing rights, not provide them, but there is a higher permanent liberty, the freedom from sin. If you want to fix a society, they need truth.

If you want to fix a broken political system, you need to infuse it with truth and expose ourselves to the truth of the word of God. True freedom is ours, but we need to understand the terms. That's what you'll find in our freedom package of resources by Skip Heitzig. The package features Skip's 10 full length message set of your path to freedom messages, including securing the foundations and Jesus in the age of confusion. The freedom packages are thanks for your gift of $50 or more to support Connect with Skip Heitzig.

So request your freedom package today when you give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. Now let's turn to the book of Jonah as Skip begins today's lesson. To me, it's mind-boggling that any prophet, let alone just any follower of God, but especially a prophet, could imagine that you could escape the presence of the Lord.

Like, is that possible? Can you go anywhere? When Jonah was doing his thing, there was already the book of Psalms.

We know that because in chapter 2 he quotes from them. One of the great Psalms is Psalm 139 where the psalmist says, where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, you're there.

If I make my bed in hell, behold you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea. You know, I've always wondered what the name of the boat was called that Jonah got on. I don't know what it was called and say, but wouldn't it be fun if the name of the boat was wings of the morning?

Just a fun thought. If I take wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall lay hold of me. And that is exactly what happens to Jonah in this story. When it says he left the presence of the Lord, it means he's resigning. He's fleeing, pleasing the Lord. He's leaving, standing in God's presence as a servant of the Lord.

That's the idea behind it. He's handing in his resignation saying, I quit the ministry. I don't want to be a prophet.

I want to be a nonprofit organization. I quit. I'm turning it in. Now this is markedly different from other people that we know about in the Bible who tried to quit, but they eventually did it. Moses tried to quit. Moses said, I can't speak.

I'm not going to stand before Pharaoh. I quit, but he went anyway eventually. Jeremiah, was so fed up. He said, I'm not going to preach anymore.

I'm not going to make mention of the name of the Lord. I quit, but he ended up speaking. He said the word of the Lord was in me like a fire. I couldn't contain it. It was so powerful within me. I couldn't hold it back any longer, but Jonah actually got on a boat and left.

Why? Why would a prophet whose whole job description is to A, hear from God, B, do what God says, C, follow through. If you're a prophet, you're waiting for a mission. When God gives you a mission, you're going, wow, finally, get it.

It's like this. You're an astronaut. You train for outer space, but very few people get sent on the astronaut teams to go into outer space, let alone to go like to the moon. So you've trained, you've worked hard, you've been conditioned for outer space. Then your supervisor comes to you one day and says, you have been selected for the next manned mission to the moon.

What would your response be? Yeah. You say, oh yeah. Oh yeah.

I'm good. You wouldn't say, nah. Ah, you know, if I went, I'd miss the next episode of Dancing with the Stars.

I'm really into that show. Are you kidding? But Jonah does that. He says, I don't want to go. Verse four, but the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea and there was a mighty tempest on the sea so that the ship was about to be broken up. Now notice a contrast. Verse three, but Jonah, it begins, verse four begins, but the Lord, but Jonah, but the Lord, but Jonah, but the Lord. So it's like God saying, I see your, but Jonah and I raise you one, but the Lord, which is higher stakes. You know, there are some people that simply hear God's voice and comply.

They're the best kind. They read the scripture and they go, I'm going to do that. They hear God giving them a commission and they go, yes, sir.

Right away, sir. Little young Samuel, the prophet. Speak Lord, your servant hears. They're the best kind.

But then there are people that have harder heads. Saul of Tarsus was one. Saul of Tarsus persecuted the church. Saul of Tarsus tried to stamp out Christianity. So what got his attention is getting knocked off his high horse, literally hitting the ground, seeing a light from heaven, being blinded until he finally goes, uncle, I give up.

I'll do it your way. Some people need greater means for God to get their attention. So Proverbs 15, 10 says, harsh correction is for him who forsakes the way. Mark that verse, my friend, if you're hardening your heart against God, harsh correction is for him who forsakes the way. If God's still small voice is not enough for you, if God's word in the scripture is not enough for you, you may want to buy storm insurance because something might be coming. God, just like in the song, will pursue you because he loves you and he knows what's best for you and you running to Tarshish is not best for you, Jonah. Verse five, then the mariners were afraid and every man cried out to his God through the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship and laid down and was fast asleep.

What a contrast. You've got praying pagans versus a pouting prophet who's sleeping it off. So the captain came to him and said, what do you mean sleeper? I love it when unbelievers rebuke believers.

What do you mean sleeper? Arise, call on your God. Perhaps your God will consider us so that we may not perish. And they said to one another, come let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us. So they cast lots. Now that's just superstition, but God was behind the lot.

Like the proverb says, the lot is cast into the lap, but every decision is from the Lord. They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. The issue here was between two persons and two persons only, God and Jonah. Those were the two individuals at odds, just between God and Jonah. But once Jonah got on their boat, it's now their problem too. Once you get around other people and attach yourself to other people, when you're disobedient, you will affect other people just between God and Jonah until they got on their boat.

Once he got on their boat, it became part their problem. Your disobedience affects other people. Remember Joshua chapter seven, a guy named Achan who saw a Babylonian garment, 200 shekels of silver, a wedge of gold, stole it, hid it in his tent, buried it in the ground. The children of Israel were defeated at the town of Ai, A-i it's called, some pronounce it A-i, it's really Ai, doesn't matter what it's pronounced, I don't know why I'm going on about this.

They were defeated because he did that. His disobedience caused the death of several people in the camp of Israel. Or David, who at the end of one of the New Testament books, first Samuel, second Samuel, second Samuel, the last chapter, second Samuel, last couple chapters, decided to count the people in the army to see how many fighting men were a part of his nation. He numbered the people. It caused the life of 70,000 people from the top of Israel down to the bottom of Israel, Beersheba. 70 died because of one man's disobedience. When you drag others into your disobedience, it's problematic. Then they said, verse eight, please tell us for whose causes this trouble upon us, what is your occupation?

He's getting nailed. It reminds me of a true story when I was pulled over for speeding in my youth. I was in my 20s, maybe 30s. It was in another state. I pulled over and the policeman was so angry. I was on a motorcycle. The wind was beautiful, but I get pulled over for speeding.

The police officer was very, very insistent. He said to me, what do you do for a living? I said, I'm a teacher, which is true, sort of. He said, oh really, where do you teach? Now I had to say, at a church, I'm a pastor of a church.

You are? Sleeping prophet, what is your occupation? Where do you come from?

What is your country and of what people are you? He said to them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord. Yeah, right. I fear Yahweh. That's the covenant name. It's capitalized.

See it? That's the covenant name, Yahweh. I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. So he started witnessing to them very poorly. Verse 10, then the men were exceedingly afraid, and they said to him, why have you done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of Yahweh, because he had told them. Notice something in verse five.

He said to him, why have you done something? In verse five, it says the mariners were afraid. In verse five, they're afraid of the circumstances. In verse 10, the men were exceedingly afraid.

Now they're afraid not of the circumstances, but they're afraid of the consequences. They're saying, in effect, you ticked off that God? Yahweh? We've heard about Yahweh. We've heard about the Red Sea. We've heard about Jericho. We heard about Canaan.

He has a reputation. That's why they became exceedingly afraid. In other words, you bummed him out, and now you're on our boat.

That's the implication. I remember when I was on an airplane. I was finding my seat. I sat down, and a couple of ladies walked by me.

This was years ago as well. They said, oh, Pastor Skip, so glad to see you aboard this plane. This one lady said, she demurred. She goes, I'm just so afraid of flying.

I don't like it. I get unnerved by it, but then I saw you on the plane, and now I know everything's going to be okay. I didn't tell her what I was thinking. I said, oh, thank you, but I was thinking, boy, if I was rebelling against God, this is the last plane you want to be on.

Think of this scenario. Think of somebody saying, oh, Jonah, I'm afraid of sailing, but when I saw you on this boat, I knew everything was going to be okay. No, get off the boat. Then, verse 11, they said to him, what shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us? For now the sea was growing more tempestuous, and he said to them, pick me up and throw me into the sea, and then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that this great tempest is because of me.

Nevertheless, the men rode hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. Therefore, they cried out to Yahweh and said, we pray, oh, Yahweh. Now they're praying to God. Jonah should have been doing that. Please do not let us perish for this man's life, and do not charge us with his innocent blood for you, oh, Yahweh.

You, oh Lord, have done as it pleased you. So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice to Yahweh and took vows. It's the third time it mentions they're afraid, but this is for a very different reason. This is a fear of the Lord. This is a healthy, reverential awe and respect for the Lord to whom they now offer a sacrifice, and you could even say were maybe converted because of the circumstances and knowing what Jonah had done.

So again, notice the contrast. They're praying. He's sleeping. They rebuke him. He maintains his disobedience. They soften their hearts. He hardens his heart. You know, they say, dude, what should we do to you? He should have said, you don't need to do anything. I need to repent right now.

God, Yahweh, forgive me. He goes, throw me overboard. Really? Really? You don't want to do what God wants you to do so badly. You'd rather drown.

Exactly. I'd rather die than go preach. You're going to find out why, because that's really, that's the heart of the story.

That's the heart of the story. Why is the prophet doing this? Why doesn't he want to preach a message of judgment to Nineveh? Verse 17, now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights like Jesus affirmed. When it says prepared a great fish, the Hebrew word could be translated appointed a great fish, and what's amazing is that the sailors are compliant. The great fish is compliant. Jonah is the one guy not compliant. So the reason God prepared a fish is to save Jonah from drowning. It's to preserve his life.

That's one of the sub things I want you to notice. He throws him overboard, not for a freak show. He would die in the sea. Throw me overboard. He's thinking, this is it.

I'm going to die. God prepared or appointed a fish to keep Jonah alive because God wants to use that knucklehead. Now, when a man catches a fish, not a big deal, but when a fish catches a man, that's newsworthy, and you say this is outlandish. This is preposterous.

This sounds fishy. I can't swallow this whole story on a scale of one to ten. This is off the charts. Sorry, sorry, sorry. No, I'm not. Not.

I'm really not. Now, let me wax quickly, scientific. Some have sought explanations for what kind of species this could be that could pull this off.

Several suggestions have made. Your guess is as good as mine. One of the suggestions is this is a white shark, a species known as a white shark, the scientific name rhinodon tipicus. It is up to 70 feet long. It has been shown and noted to have swallowed a man who have lived through the ordeal.

That's one. The other guess is called the phinoclon shark that has swallowed those giant sea cows that can weigh a thousand pounds without breaking a single bone. Others have said it could be a whale that is following. They follow the ships often for garbage, and it says back in verse five they were throwing cargo over the ship.

That would include food stuffs, so that could be a possibility. To me, the only candidate that fits the story is what is called a mysticete, and that category, the mysticete whale or the sperm whale, called the catadon macrocephalus. Their teeth are not for chewing but for securing prey, and they have swallowed creatures alive, like seals alive, penguins alive. They swallow them whole.

They don't chew them up, and they've been known to swallow unusually large objects, like even 15-foot sharks. But putting that aside, I'll get back to that in a second. Chapter 2 verse 1, then Jonah prayed. It's a whole sermon right there. They're praying to Yahweh. He's not praying. Throw me overboard.

Throw me overboard. I'm not going to talk to God at all. Then Jonah prayed. Finally. Thank you, Jonah. When?

In a fish gut. I ain't praying. Okay, I'll pray. Okay, I'll pray. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God, from the fish's belly.

You know, after three days of whale time, now he's ready. The prayer is noteworthy. I've done studies on it before in depth, but there are nuances in this prayer of nine different Psalms, one quote from the book of Lamentations and one quote from the book of Job, all which were extant or readily available at the time of Jonah. These are not exact quotations.

They are free renderings. But of course, he's not pulling out something and reading it. He's just freewheeling it, right? He's in a fish gut. Verse 2, and he said, he said, here's this prayer, I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, and he answered me out of the belly of Sheol. I cried, and you heard my voice.

There's a nuance here of Psalm 120 and Lamentations chapter 3, out of the belly of Sheol. And I'm in hell here, you know, down in this fish belly. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas. The floods surrounded me. All your billows and waves passed over me. If you're familiar with Psalm 42, it rings a bell.

It's almost a direct quote. What he's saying in this poetic prayer language is, I messed up, and now I'm paying for it. Verse 4, then I said, I have been cast out of your sight, yet I will look again toward your holy temple. Now, some people in hearing this, they get very suspicious, and they say, oh, come on, this sounds like a prepared prayer. This is almost too good of a prayer. You know, when you're in a crisis, and you pray spontaneously, you know, you don't pray like that.

Yes and no. Only if you know, if you have this as your background, if you have this in your heart, you know how they say your life flashes before you. The recall that you have in a crisis is what you really do know. This is what makes the prayer all that noteworthy. It shows that Jonah the prophet's mind was saturated with truth, saturated with the word of God, filled with scripture, which is why Jonah's life is a warning. Here's the warning. Exposure to scriptural truth doesn't guarantee a godly life.

Bible students, those of us who are exposed to the word of God a lot, exposure to biblical truth doesn't guarantee a godly life. He continues, the water surrounded me, even to my soul, the deep closed around me. Weeds were wrapped around my head. That's seaweed. Now, I don't know what a whale or a fish is like, or a mysticete is like, or a catadon macrocephalus. I've never been in one, but I have been caught in seaweed beds where you're on your surfboard and you're kind of stuck and, you know, you can't move and you feel wrapped up by it and it's a daunting kind of a feeling.

You can only cry, kelp, kelp. I walked you right into that. It's an old surf joke, but I couldn't resist. I went down, verse six, into the moorings of the mountains, but you're having fun, right? Okay, very funny. Thank you.

Thank you. I went down into the moorings of the mountains, the earth with its bars closed behind me forever, yet you have brought me my life up from the pit, oh Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Yahweh.

My prayer went up to you in your holy temple. Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy. You need to underline that verse if you're so inclined to doing so or mark it in your Bible. This becomes the lesson of the book. This is what Jonah learned. Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy. Loosely translated, those who run from God tie their own noose. That's Skip Heitig with a message from the series, The Bible from 30,000 Feet.

Find the full message as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskipp.com. Right now, here's Skip and Lenya to share some exciting news about a trip to the Holy Land. Well, if you've ever dreamed about visiting Israel, let's make that happen. Lenya and I are leading a tour group to Israel next summer in 2024. We'll start up north visiting Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, and the Jordan River. We'll spend several days in Jerusalem, see the Temple Mount, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Upper Room, and more. Now, visiting the places where the scriptures unfolded, where Jesus lived out his earthly ministry, it never gets old.

That's why I keep going back. Join Skip and I and our friend Jeremy Camp next summer in Israel. See the itinerary and book this Israel tour with Skip Heitig and Jeremy Camp today at inspirationcruises.com slash c-a-b-q. That's inspirationcruises.com slash c-a-b-q. Join us tomorrow as Skip concludes his message from the Book of Jonah and shares how Jonah responded in light of God's mercy toward Nineveh. Connect with Skip Heitig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.