When God calls his children to make disciples of all nations, it comes with a condition. His ambassadors must rid themselves of pride, elitism, and prejudice. Makes sense, right?
Well, today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl pulls back the curtain on Jonah's heart. to expose the sin that derailed his ministry. Jonah was called to announce God's judgment on the Ninevites for their wickedness. Instead, he ran away. And what appeared at first to be an act of rebellion was actually far more serious.
Chuck titled his message, The Resistance of a Racist Rebel. Yeah. Lord our God, who made the sea and the land, and all things pertaining to it. We need your help this day. Protect those, Father, who are in a vulnerable place.
on hospital beds. The infirmed. The aged Those who are defenseless. cannot take care of themselves. Give extra strength and courage to those who bring rescue.
both on land and at sea. Provide, we pray. In ways that only you can. can meet these needs. We trust you for this.
Surely, goodness and mercy will follow those. who walk with you.
So bring those relief. Oops. to these Today. We commit them to you. Just as we commit our offerings, which we bring to you now.
trusting you to use them for your greater glory. And in your own Divine purposes. In the name of Christ, we pray. And we give. And all God's people said, Amen.
You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into the story of Jonah on your own, be sure to purchase our Searching the Scriptures Bible Study workbook by going to insight.org slash offer. Chuck titled today's message, Resistance of a Racist Rebel. The Lord's commission to Jonah was clear. We see it in the first two verses.
of the first chapter. It wasn't uncommon for the Lord to speak to prophets. He does it here. Before the Bible was complete. God spoke to prophets audibly.
And sometimes through circumstances. How he reached Jonah's ears, we're not told. We're only told that the Lord. gave this message to Jonah.
Son of Amittai. Get up. That's not a new message for Jonah. He's a prophet. But he wanted nothing to do with this calling because when God finished the sentence, Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh.
Everything in Jode in Jonah's mind A screech to a halt. He got up all right. And he went all right. But he did not go toward Nineveh. which was five hundred miles to the east.
From where Jonah lived. He first went to the port city. A jopper. And he finds a ship. Buys a ticket.
Gets on board the ship. that is leaving for Tarshish. That is 2,500 miles to the west. That's the full length of the Mediterranean Sea. Just west of The Rock of Gibraltar is the ancient city of Tarshish.
It's as far as you could go in the civilized world. He wanted to go there. Why? He tells us. Verse 3.
to get away From the Lord. Did he understand the call? Absolutely. Did he realize he was going in the opposite direction? Of course, he did.
He bought the ticket, took the ship. Got on board. And soon found his way to the hold of the ship where he curled up. in his prophet's mantle, and went fast asleep. He hoped to escape.
From the Lord. I underscore that because it is mentioned twice in verse 3. He got on board to get away from the Lord. And he hoped to escape. from the Lord.
I never know those who hear what I have to say when I stand to speak. But I am convinced that some who are listening right now or running away from the Lord. which is an impossibility. Not just for profits. It's an impossibility for anyone.
The Lord our God is everywhere at once. The Lord who made each one of us knows everything about us. From the moment we rise up until we go to bed at night, He knows every movement of the day, He knows our every thought. even before we have it. Every word, even before we speak it.
God is ever aware of each one of our lives at all times. Jonah knew better. But when you are in this state of affairs mentally You block out what you know to be the better judgment. and you go with your gut. In this case, He was going away from Nineveh.
God told him, by the way, to announce his judgment against it. No one knew his God. Once that judgment was announced, no one knew it would be enough for them to hear it. to be terrified with the message and to repent. And then God would move in with compassion and bring his gracious forgiveness.
He knew his God's heart. which was a heart of compassion. Nevertheless, He's on board the ship. bound for Tarshish. And here's this storm, by the way.
Get it straight, it wasn't the result of Mother Nature. No. The one who is the God of the sea set the hounds of heaven in the form of a storm. Do we have a biblical basis for that? Check out another minor prophet named Nahum, N-A-H-U-M, chapter one, verse three.
Listen. The Lord has his way in the whirlwind. and the storm. And the billowing clouds Or but the dust of his feet. Check it out.
Nahum 13. The Lord has his way. In the storm that struck the ship, On the Mediterranean, the Lord was going after Jonah, who is in this ship. that is on the sea. And the Lord's Hounds of heaven.
or after him. No one knew it better. The Jonah. He may have been a racist, but he was no atheist. He knew it was his God.
coming after him. He's no novice. He's a mature Adult prophet. He knows what he's doing. But even though he's adult, even though he is old enough to know better.
He has the audacity to test his God.
Now watch what happened. Verse 5, fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship. We're sitting in this calm place. There's no water around. There's no storm going on here, anyway.
And so it's easy for us to sort of yawn our way through verses like this. This is one frightening place. When our troop ship left San Diego bound for Yokohama and ultimately Southeast Asia, in my particular case, it was the island of Okinawa. There were 3,500 Marines on board that were being taken overseas and would be. Spending months, in my case, 16 months, on foreign soil, we would call it back then.
Uh in uh Southeast Asia. Four days at sea, we hit a storm. This is a troop ship that is massive. Yeah, his Thirty five hundred People are birthed on this ship, not born, but sleep on this ship. And these sleep seven deep.
How do I know it? My birth was the top Servant cot or hammock. The good thing about it is, when everybody got sick, nobody vomited on you. You could vomit on everybody else, but. And we hit this storm at sea, and it was so rugged, so rough, that our skipper said.
Later, after some calm, returned, except for the North Atlantic, I've never been on a sea that rough. The bow of our ship drove into the wave and the I understand fifty, sixty foot waves crashed across the the ship. It creaked, it groaned, even though it was mainly steel. This ship is a wooden ship. It's a small sailing vessel.
And it's breaking apart, and they're throwing the cargo over to make it lighter so that it could perhaps stay on top of the water rather than go into it. They're scared, spitless. And so they scream out to their God, and nothing happens. And so they run down below. Uh uh why would they do that?
Why would they go talk to an unknown passenger on board the ship? Let me jump ahead and show you verse 10, and you'll understand why. The sailors were terrified when they heard this, for he had already told them he was running away from the Lord. Maybe you never saw that before in reading through the story of Jonah. But when he got on board ship, he told somebody.
Maybe several of them standing along there. Maybe somebody who took his ticket. Hey, I'm running from the Lord. Give me a place to hide, give me a place to sleep. And they remembered that.
And when all hell breaks loose on the sea, they remember somebody running from somebody's God. And since their God doesn't answer, they thought they would try his.
So they come to him and they said to him, verse 6. How can you sleep at a time like this, get up and pray to your God? Maybe He will pay attention to us and spare our lives. Come on, man, give us a hand here. If you know anything about prayer, then pray.
And so they pelt him with questions. Look at the questions. Why is this awful storm come down on us? And again in verse 8, who are you? What is your line of work?
Uh oh. What country are you from? What is your nationality? Jonah answered, listen to the honesty. I'm a Hebrew, was he?
Absolutely. I worship the Lord. He does. He did. Except for this interlude of madness.
He's a Lord worshiper. He's a God worshiper. I worship the Lord, the God of heaven. Notice the next line. Who made the sea and the land?
Oh, the sailors are terrified. If he made the sea, for goodness sake, get on your knees and pray to the God who made the sea. Isn't this interesting? Pagan sailors are telling a Jewish prophet. What do you ought to do?
Pray.
So Jonah hears them. and realizes And I mean this sincerely, it isn't time for prayer. It's time for action. You don't see Jonah praying here. You see him praying later.
But here the sailors terrified, since he had told him he was running away. And since the storm is getting worse all the time, they ask him, what do we do with you to stop the storm? What on earth do we do with someone like you running away from a God who made the sea? And you got to give him high marks for his answer. He doesn't hesitate.
Throw me into the sea. Throw me into the sea, Jonah said. It will become calm again. I know this is. This terrible storm is all my Fault.
Is it ever? When you run from the Lord, others are hurt as a result of your running. They suffer the consequences along with you. You're a family person, your family will suffer. Your friends will suffer.
Others who have relied on you for whatever will suffer. When they see your faith failing.
So he says, let's just make it simple. I need to get out of this ship. And I don't see any other way of being rescued, and so I'm going to. tell you what to do. And of course, we're going to see next time.
This to them was anathema. That's murder. They've never read the book of Jonah. They don't know what's going to happen. And in fact, I don't believe they ever knew he was swallowed by this great fish.
All of that happened in the sea. Jonah didn't know that would happen either. He simply says, throw me overboard. I don't take care of the storm. And I'm going to trust God some way to have mercy on me and His grace.
to take care of me. I'm the reason the storm is all My fault. If you want calm, Toss me over. You know, the message so far, it's not complicated. You can run, but you cannot hide.
We say that glibly, but here's a perfect example. There's not a place on the planet you can hide. From the one who made you. Jonah's wide awake. Jonas not insane.
He is probably now Closer than he has been before to his God when he says, It's all my fault. Blame me. Throw me into the sea. It's as far as I want to go this time, but I don't want to leave it without a couple or three. lingering lessons that Go along with what we have just been seeing in the passage.
Here's the first one. Grace allows us complete freedom to disobey. That may make you uncomfortable to hear that because you have always linked grace. With only good things. Grace provides you with all the room.
You can imagine. To obey. or disobey. I mean You think there wasn't grace at work in his disobeying? Why, think about it.
He wasn't stopped in his tracks when he made his way to Joppa. He wasn't suddenly paralyzed. and unable to walk. He wasn't struck down or struck dead. God didn't Stop all the ships from coming into port.
God didn't stop the ships from leaving the port. God didn't even keep him from going to sleep. He's sound asleep in the hold of the ship. Why? The grace of God.
God didn't even disturb his sleep for a while. You can be lulled into believing that all is well. In your running from the hounds of heaven. Because of the grace of God that doesn't strike you down. Grace allows us complete freedom to disobey, but let me add quickly.
The second lesson that goes with the first. When we disobey, Grace does not cancel the consequences. God doesn't pat Jonah on the head and say, sleep well, my son, it's okay. You'll learn someday the importance. No, he doesn't do that.
He brings the storm. He causes that storm to break that ship down. He terrifies the sailors. He gets our attention. He shows where the fault lies.
This terrible storm is my fault. The hounds have caught him. He cannot hide. Neither can you. Neither can I.
When we disobey, grace does not Cancel the consequences. Here's the third lesson. Not until we face and accept reality Will grace bring the calm? Not until we face and accept reality will grace. Bring back the calm.
Jonah actually makes a prophecy here. He says, You throw me into the sea. And it will become column. That's a prophecy. That's a promise.
And it's true. As a matter of fact, the very first thing we read after. throwing him in is that the the the sea became instantly slick. And calm. Jonah reassured them.
After he had admitted his own guilt. He didn't know what the future held, but he knew for them there would be a calm sea. And he'd be out of the picture. off the ship. In the drink.
At the mercy of his God. Can you hear the barking of heavenly hounds in your life? They all sound different to different ones. Depending on you and your circumstance. Don't be so foolish as to think that He doesn't know where you are.
That's laughable. You can run, but you cannot hide. How great is the grace of our God? Giving us room. to make a decision Freedom to choose.
And when we choose what is right, How blessed we are for it. How great is that calm? I'd like us to bow our heads for the next few moments, and I'd like you to. Set your notes aside. Close your Bible.
and examine your life. Our Lord invites us to come to His table, but He never wants us to come. with dirty hearts. He wants us to. to clean up.
Before we eat his meal, And that's done by Searching our souls to make sure we are walking in the light. I can't. do that for you, nor can you do that for me. As you look back over your days, Can you track your journey? to where you are right now.
Can you see the decisions you made? that led to the consequences you're enduring. It's the grace of God that's kept you alive. The grace of God that's brought you to this moment. And as we hold in our hands a piece of bread, That represents our Savior's body.
Before we eat the bread, We need to make sure that we are walking in the light. Just as Christ is in the light. Before you put that cup to your lips to drink that juice. That represents the Savior's blood. Make certain that you're Your heart is clean.
And you're walking with the Lord. You may have to admit you've never met the Lord. He's a stranger to you. What a perfect moment. For you to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
is your own Savior and Master and Lord. Right now. Right there. Dear Father, make this time especially meaningful. As we continue to search our hearts.
Find us. willing to acknowledge just as Jonah was. Whatever is my fault. to say so. To admit it.
To bring it before you and to claim the forgiveness. that you provide by your grace. And then as we together participate in this meal. make it meaningful. For we bring before you our lives.
And we are to be refreshed from this time. around the table.
So quiet us. As we prepare ourselves to eat the bread. and drink the cup. In remembrance of your Son, Jesus. I ask in his name.
Amen. From the pages of the Old Testament, Jonah's story, recorded thousands of years ago, offers timeless wisdom for our times. You're listening to Insight for Living and a message from Chuck Swindahl titled Resistance of a Racist Rebel. It's the second sermon in a nine part series on Jonah. To purchase the audio C D's or the MP three s for these messages, just give us a call at eight hundred seven seven two eighty eight eighty eight, or go directly to insight dot org slash offer.
By the way, you have full access to more than 1,000 messages from Chuck when you download the convenient InSight mobile app. There's no cost. It's our gift to you and to anyone who wants to benefit from the wisdom of the Bible. Today, we're especially eager to send you a brand new booklet from Insight for Living. It's called Look Beyond.
It features the final sermon that Chuck delivered to the church that he founded. His message was delivered on the weekend of his 90th birthday. Chuck cited the powerful counsel that Paul offered to his young protégé, Timothy. Paul charged Timothy to see beyond his circumstances and to walk boldly into the future with eternity in mind. We'd like to share this stirring message with you.
The booklet is called Look Beyond, Will You Focus on Eternity? And we'd be pleased to send you a copy when you give a gift to support the Ministry of Insight for Living. We know you support your local church and other nonprofit ministries. But if Insight for Living continues to serve as your daily oasis, and if you've deepened your walk with God as a result of listening to this program, well, we'd invite your voluntary support as well. Your financial gift will bless someone you may never meet who needs to learn more about God's amazing grace.
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I'm Bill Meyer. Chuck Swindahl tells the story of Jonah's near-drowning experience and explains the implications for you and me. Tomorrow on Insight for Living. The preceding message. Resistance of a Racist Rebel was copyrighted in 2018, 2019, and 2025, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R.
Swindahl Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
