[00:00:00] Speaker A: I now can sing Since I've been redeemed I'm on the everlasting, everlasting rock I faith in Christ my redeemer King I'm on the everlasting, everlasting rock we are ambassadors for Christ the Savior we tell the story give God the glory Our home is far away on heaven's shore we're here on business is for the King we are upon a happy golden strength Here is our Lord's command To every nation Turn from your sorrow Seek God's to tomorrow look to a better day it's early dawning we're here on business for the King we are ambassadors for Jesus Our home is waiting over yonder upon our happy golden stroke we're here to tell about heaven's bright city Led by the Savior seeking his favor Eternal joy awaits for all the saved ones we're here on business for the King we are embarrassing us for Jesus, Lord Jesus we're pillars in our cupboards In a barren land Our home is worthless Waiting over yonder birth.
[00:02:14] Speaker B: Have you ever been called out for doing something wrong?
It doesn't feel good. Especially when those who are calling you out don't share your faith.
And when you realize that even though they don't share your beliefs, they can still tell that something is off.
I'm Anthony High, Executive director of Heralds of Hope.
In today's Message with Arlen, Jonah gets called out by the pagan sailors who knew he shouldn't be running from his God and told him so.
Sometimes God uses those we wouldn't expect to lead us back to him.
So let's get into today's message from the Book of Jonah.
[00:02:59] Speaker C: We've been journeying through the incredible Book of Jonah, and today is our third episode. Our focus today is a deeply personal and somewhat uncomfortable question.
Who really are you?
This is a question for each of us. The prophet Jonah, as we will see, was a bit confusing. He was a man who said one thing and but completely lived another.
He presented one identity, yet his actions told a different story, causing us to ask, who really is this guy?
This isn't foreign to us. It's a challenge that Christians and the church as a whole wrestle with regularly. Christians often get accused of saying one thing and living another, sometimes correctly. Think about the headlines. We sometimes see a pastor accused of lying or abuse of some kind. We say, that's a problem, and it absolutely is a problem. But have you ever wondered why it's such a big deal when a pastor or someone from the church acts contrary to what they preach versus someone else.
Society, in a way, holds us to a higher standard. They know and expect that a pastor is supposed to be trustworthy and and real.
Sure, the world is full of hypocrites. We see it every day. People who tell you not to eat fast food while they're grabbing a burger or urge you to exercise more while they're on the couch. Hypocrisy shows up in many places, not just the church, but when it's someone from the church, someone who's supposed to know better, it just feels so much bigger. It adds another layer of disappointment, another level of betrayal. You have probably already heard someone say, I don't go to church because it's just a bunch of hypocrites there. And this may seem to be true because some people live one way on Sunday, but look out on Monday. You would never know it's the same person.
This disconnect is real and is unsettling to those looking on. It is very true. Hypocrites have damaged the cause of Christ.
But if that is what is holding you back, don't allow it. It is not a good reason to reject Christianity in the church, and it is not worth missing out on so much because of a few hypocrites.
The challenge for the Christian is be real, be authentic. Don't pull a Jonah. Yes, we know we have our faults, but how do we demonstrate a genuine faith? God gives us one answer in Micah. It's a great summary that says, act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.
This is a great place to start. Then we can model authenticity and be real to everyone who is watching. So how does this challenge to authenticity fit with Jonah? Well, in this passage we're going to explore Jonah 1, 5, 16, and Jonah gives us a prime example of of a hypocrite. He says one thing, but is totally living the opposite.
The astonishing part of the story is that the people who call him out on it are the sailors. These were the pagans, the lowercase G, God worshipers, people far away from God.
Yet they were sensitive to God and saw him at work while Jonah continued his stubborn downward path away from God. It is almost unbelievable.
You remember Jonah was on the run, basically going as far away from Nineveh as he could, literally going to the opposite side of the world. And when you look at the sequence of events mentioned in chapter one, what he doesn't do, what he does do, it makes you wonder, what kind of guy is this Jonah? Who really are you?
As we step into Jonah chapter one.
Lets understand the hearts of these sailors. Our ongoing theme through the book of Jonah is looking at hearts. First it was God's heart. And now we have the sailors. We'll examine their interactions with Jonah. And you would expect the godly man, a prophet of God, to come to his senses in this terrible storm. He was staring death in the face. Surely now he will make his wrongs right, repent and get right with God.
But here's the weird thing about Jonah. He doesn't. He stubbornly stays on his path away from God.
To sum it up, these pagan sailors showed Jonah who he should be, challenging each of us to be authentic.
What we'll do today is use the sailors fears as an outline for our lesson. Each time their fear is mentioned, it highlights how Jonah should have been living, yet he wasn't.
It seems like each time the sailors are afraid, God is hitting Jonah, trying to get his attention.
With this in mind, let's read the passage together if you can open to Jonah chapter one and we'll begin reading in verse five.
Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his God. And they threw the cargo which was in the ship and into the sea to lighten it for them.
But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep. So the captain approached him and said, how is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your God. Perhaps your God will be concerned about us, so that we will not perish.
Each man said to his mate, come, let us cast lots, so we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us.
So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, tell us now, on whose account has this calamity struck us? What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you? He said to them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of Heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.
Then the men became extremely frightened. And they said to him, how could you do this? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them so. They said to him, what should we do to you? That the sea may become calm for us. For the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. He said to them, pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.
However, the men rowed desperately to return to land, but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them.
Then they called on the Lord and said, we earnestly pray, O Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man's life and do not put innocent blood on us. For you, O Lord, have done as you pleased.
So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging.
Then the men feared the Lord greatly and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows right away. In verse five, we see the sailors first fear. And this is our first point. Their other fears are our next two points. Each of them, I believe, are God's way of trying to get through to the hard headed prophet.
It tells us they were afraid of the storm.
Apparently this wasn't just any storm. These were experienced mariners, men familiar with the sea.
Yet this storm had them really scared. And where is Jonah in all of this? He's sound asleep. He's down in the lower part of the ship, completely oblivious, fast asleep.
What does this really say about Jonah? What kind of person is he?
He seems to be a bit out of touch, detached, spiritually oblivious to the power and presence of God that is causing the storm.
The sailor's fear shows they were paying attention. This is not a normal storm.
The ship's captain, seeing the dire situation and Jonah sleeping, wakes him up and tells him, cry out to your God.
Apparently all the other sailors were already crying out to their gods. Yet the prophet of the one true God had to be told to pray.
Actually, first they had to wake him up to tell him to cry out.
After all of this, we don't actually have record of him doing that.
It never mentioned that he followed through and cried out to his God.
And you would think, wouldn't you, that he, the one whose God controls the storm, would be the first person praying. But he's not. And we're left wondering if he ever did.
This gives us a little pause, a check. In our spirit, we ask ourselves, does he actually believe God? Apparently not, if he doesn't even ask him for help.
If we truly believe in God's power and sovereignty, wouldn't our first instinct in crisis be to call upon him?
The sailors, desperate to understand what's happening, try to figure out what's causing this trouble.
So they cast lots to see whose fault this is. We don't know exactly how they did this, and that's okay, but they had their way of discerning what their gods were saying.
Think about it. People everywhere have methods to hear fear from deity. The sailors were no different. They had faith in their gods and trusted them to Answer their question through casting lots. It is awesome that our God can intervene in any religious system. He is big enough. He is the capital G, God. Here they cast lots and God uses it. He makes the lot fall on Jonah. This isn't the only example we have of God in intervening and using a pagan system.
In the Old Testament, when Saul seeks to hear from God, he goes to the witch of Endor, a forbidden practice.
But what happens? God intervenes in that situation, even bringing back someone from the dead to speak to Saul.
Another one is Elijah on Mount Carmel. God shuts down BAAL and allows no response to his prophets. But the moment Elijah prays, God responds quickly and powerfully. Praise God. He is big enough to intervene in any situation, in any religious system where people are calling on their gods. He can interrupt and make his will known.
So the lot falls on Jonah. Naturally, they have tons of questions for him. Verse 8 is filled with the questions.
A true grilling, and rightfully so. They want to know everything. What is going on? Whose fault is all this trouble? What is your occupation? Where do you come from? Who are you? You can imagine how this was. And what does Jonah say? He tells them, I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord God of Heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.
And this right here is where the hypocrisy becomes obvious. This gives us a second pause.
Wait, what is he actually saying? He fears God?
Does he realize where he is and what he's doing?
What kind of fear of God is this?
He's in the middle of running away from God, doing the exact opposite of what he was commanded to do.
As the saying goes, talk's cheap. You can say anything. This leads to an important question for us. Do we do this today? Is there ever a time we say one thing and live another?
Or do we just know how to act and what to say? In certain situations, perhaps in church, we act one way because it's normal. It's what's expected.
But then, outside of church, we are a completely different person.
That's the feeling we get from Jonah. He wasn't authentic. He says, I fear God, but he's running away from him. And it's not just any God. It's the God who made the sea and the dry land.
How do you get away from a God who made everything he can? And I'm sure Jonah knew this.
Here he seems to have forgotten, and his actions don't line up with what he knows.
Sometimes we find ourselves in that same predicament. Let's not be overly critical of Jonah. Because there are moments when we too find our actions diverging from our convictions.
Perhaps you're in a circle where truth isn't allowed, where expressing your doubts feels forbidden. It feels impossible to be real.
If you find yourself in such a place, I urge you, go somewhere where you can be real, where authenticity is embraced. Because when truth is stifled, when it's stuffed, you can know other wrongs are going on. And if you're not careful, you will soon be endorsing it.
Unfortunately, those who speak the truth, those who point out uncomfortable realities, often get themselves in trouble. In a way, this is what the sailors are doing for Jonah. His statement leads to our second point. And their fear shows they understand what he said. And his lack of fear shows his hypocrisy. He is missing it.
Jonah had tried to give the sailors the quick, normal answers to their questions. But their response reveals the second fear. In verse 10, they respond with a greater fear when he tells them who he is and what he's doing.
Think about that. These sailors had their own gods they worshiped. And maybe they weren't fully convinced. They may have had their doubts. But when Jonah expresses this truth about his God, it terrifies them. From their perspective, they don't know this God. They hear a man talk about him and they begin to wonder, what if he's right? What if Jonah's God is real and there truly is this all powerful God who controls the sea?
Then they're in serious trouble.
Now, just imagine this. Imagine if Jonah, at that point in the conversation, would have realized their fear was correct and he was wrong. And then, right there in front of them, he had repented and gotten right with God. Imagine if he had shown them how a godly man really acts. I believe it would have been a powerful moment for those sailors. Do you think God could have calmed the storm right then and there?
And imagine the incredible opportunity Jonah would have had to disciple these sailors, to teach them about the true God.
But no, he remains stubborn, continuing his downward path. He's going the wrong direction. He could have asked the ship to turn around. He could have gone back. But none of that happened.
It seems his mind was made up.
The storm, meanwhile, is getting worse by the minute. So the sailors, at their wit's end, ask Jonah, what should we do? How can we fix this?
And he tells them, pick me up and throw me into the sea.
Earlier, the lot had simply confirmed what Jonah already knew in his heart. Inside, Jonah knew this was his fault. But as the storm intensifies, his response isn't repentance, it's just get rid of me. One might ask, is Jonah committing suicide at this point? Think about the sheer stubbornness, the mindset he had to have to even entertain that thought. He doesn't change. He doesn't admit, hey, I'm wrong.
Instead he says, throw me overboard before we all die in this storm. Throw me overboard. Then there will be just one of us who dies.
He doesn't know a fish is nearby. It shows again how set he is on not going to Nineveh.
It's also a nasty display of pride for Jonah in this situation. It's all about him and what he wants. I don't want to go, and God is not going to change my mind.
And what do the sailors do? They don't immediately obey.
No, they try even harder to save him.
This is so ironic. Don't miss it. You have these pagan sailors trying harder to save the godly man, the prophet of God.
It should have been the other way around, shouldn't it? They had already thrown their cargo overboard at the beginning of the storm to lighten the load. Their trip now was basically worthless, ruined by Jonah. On top of that, it was because of Jonah. These guys were about to lose their lives.
And yet here they are, putting up an immense fight, trying to save his life.
It is useless. The storm gets worse. Imagine how bad it must have been. By this time they are left with nothing else to do.
And in verse 14, something truly remarkable happens.
The sailors do what Jonah wouldn't do. They cry out to the Lord. And I can't help but imagine Jonah being right there, hearing and seeing them cry out to his God, Jonah, what are you thinking?
Here are these pagans doing exactly what the prophet of God should have been doing this entire time. Yet he still doesn't change. He hears their powerful prayer and still allows them to throw him overboard.
At this point, they had a very real fear of God. They understood that this God who was controlling the storm was a greater force than anything they had ever dealt with. These sailors had enough spiritual sense to know something is going on. We don't know how much they knew or heard about God before this storm. Maybe all they knew was what they learned from Jonah. Whatever the case, they absolutely nail it in verse 14 with their prayer. They get it right. They express their repentance and apologize to God.
We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man's life and do not charge us with innocent blood. For you, O Lord, have done as you pleased.
This is the kind of prayer Jonah should have been praying.
Then in verse 15, we reach the climax of the story. And I see this verse as a moment of simultaneous action.
They throw him overboard and the sea is calm. Immediately, bam. Both actions happen at once. The raging sea simply ceases from its raging and becomes calm.
And this brings us to the third fear. When the sailors witness this undeniable miracle, this instant calm, they become exceedingly afraid. This fear is greater than the other fears. They already had a fear of God, but now it's magnified.
This reminds us of Peter when he saw the miracle Jesus performed.
He said, get away from me. I'm a sinful man.
It's that deep, overwhelming reaction we have in the presence of holiness in the face of the divine.
The sailors knew this wasn't normal and there was no human explanation.
What did they do in response?
They worshiped. The Bible says they offer a sacrifice to the Lord and make vows. Now think about that for a moment. If they had just thrown everything overboard to lighten a ship, what did they have left to offer as a sacrifice?
I'm inclined to believe they kept the things that meant the most to them. If you're throwing things overboard in a desperate attempt to save your life, you're surely going to keep your most valuable possessions.
And now I picture them sacrificing what mattered most.
And that is what true sacrifice is. Giving up something of great value, something that truly matters to us.
If you sacrifice something you don't care about, we don't call that a sacrifice. It has to be something valuable. And that's exactly what these sailors were doing.
And they made vows again. Think about this. When do you make vows?
You make vows when you want to make a significant decision.
One example is wedding vows. This is a huge commitment to, not something you enter into casually. Because with those vows, you are pledging your life to your spouse. And here these pagan sailors are making a huge commitment. It's not a light decision, and them making vows shows they understand the gravity of what they're doing.
I see this entire experience as a life changing event for these sailors. I would like to think they never went back to their old ways, although they are human and we know how humans can be. But the story ends with this beautiful, touching scene of worship on a calm sea. It's truly amazing.
God, in his incredible wisdom and power, spoke the language of the sailors and got right to their hearts. And it leaves us with this powerful scene of worship contrasting sharply with Jonah's hardened heart.
After all, Jonah's not there. He misses this worship service.
This brings us to our conclusion. We have these three examples of godless pagan men who by their actions show the prophet of God exactly how he should have been acting. Their hearts were soft toward God, whereas Jonah's wasn't from our side. We can't help but think, jonah, what is your problem?
How can you miss this?
You had time and God gave you several chances.
Yet Jonah doesn't change. He keeps walking away from God.
The pagan sailors showed Jonah who he should be. And in doing so, they challenge us. Are we authentic? Are we real?
And that's the question we want to end on.
What about me? Am I real?
If you recognize yourself as Jonah here, if you realize that in this narrative, the stubbornness, the hypocrisy, is exactly who you are and you're not living right, the very first step is to be honest with God. That's the starting point. In Christian terms, we call that confession. It's when you agree with God, you look at your life, you look at his truth and you say, yes, God, you are right. This is who I am. I'm a hypocrite. I've sinned, I've been running away. My actions don't line up with what I say.
It's seeing ourselves for who we truly are, understanding how terrible our sin is.
And that, believe it or not, is a great place to start.
Be honest. Be real.
That means we repent where repentance is needed. It means we apologize if we need to apologize.
If you need to get a dumb phone to reduce temptation, then do it.
If you need to start a fire like they did in Acts to burn the things that are hindering your walk with God, then do that. But above all, be real.
The life of Jonah isn't so far fetched. It is so much like we can be. This is hard to absorb when we see ourselves in Jonah, but it highlights the huge need of repentance for all of us.
So unlike Jonah, may we allow God to get our attention and help us to be real and authentic.
[00:27:23] Speaker B: Thank you, Arlan. I pray that we may never let our hearts be hardened against the truth that God fights to show us through the storms of life.
Thank you for tuning in to today's message on the Voice of Hope.
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