June 29, 2025 • 34 mins
Pastor Taylor Guerin examines the first three verses of Jonah, revealing how a previously faithful prophet fled in the opposite direction when called to preach to Israel's enemies. The story challenges us to confront our tendency to desire grace for ourselves while withholding it from those we deem unworthy.
• Introduces Christopher, a man who found Christ while serving five life sentences, raising questions about who deserves God's grace
• Contrasts Jonah's earlier faithfulness in 2 Kings 14 with his rebellion when called to warn Nineveh
• Explains how Jonah fled 2,500 miles in the opposite direction from where God called him
• Reveals Jonah's true fear: not that his mission would fail, but that it might succeed
• Explores three key lessons: our dependence is necessary, our disobedience is costly, but our God is faithful
• Challenges listeners with a crucial question: Do you want God to work in and through you, or in spite of you?
If you're in the El Dorado area and don't have a church home, we would love to see you any Sunday morning at First Baptist.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello and welcome to the FBC Eldorado Sermon Podcast.
My name is Taylor Guerin.
I have the privilege of beingthe pastor here at First Baptist
and I want to thank you forlistening in to our sermon this
week.
And I want to tell you this ifyou're in our area and you don't
have a church home, we wouldlove to see you any Sunday
morning at First Baptist, elDorado.
(00:25):
Will you join me now inlistening to our sermon from
this week?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
You can open your Bibles with me to the book of
Jonah.
Starting will read the firstthree verses, which is where we
(00:56):
will be today.
Jonah, chapter 1, verses 1through 3 are as follows Now the
word of the Lord came to Jonah,the son of Amittai, saying
arise, go to Nineveh, that greatcity, and call out against it,
for their evil has come upbefore me.
But Jonah rose to flee toTarshish from the presence of
(01:18):
the Lord.
He went down to Joppa and founda ship going to Tarshish, so he
paid the fare and went downinto it to go with them to
Tarshish, away from the presenceof the Lord.
Let's pray together.
Lord Jesus, I thank you foryour word and ask that, by your
spirit, you would speak to usthis morning.
(01:39):
We are dependent on you inChrist's name, amen.
We are dependent on you inChrist's name, amen.
One commentator, eric Tully,reminded me of a story that I
had actually heard, at least thefirst part of a few years back,
but of a man named Christopher.
Up until 2018, this man,christopher, you would have said
(02:00):
, was living the American dream.
He had a wife and two beautifulgirls.
They lived in a great location,he had a good job, he had a
great house.
Everything seemed to be goingfor him and going his way.
All seemed to be well, and yetin 2019, he realized that very
(02:20):
much.
There was still somethingmissing in his life, something
that he needed deeply, and hewas finally able to put his
finger on what that was, and itwas a relationship with the Lord
, jesus Christ.
And in 2019, christopher cameto know Jesus Christ as his Lord
and Savior.
But this wasn't just aconversion to a new idea.
(02:42):
This was a conversion to a newlife.
Christopher was sold out forJesus.
He would read his Bible daily,his parents talk about, he would
message them with differentscripture passages he was
learning from.
So Christopher was very muchall in.
One interesting thing I didn'tmention about Christopher's
conversion is that it took placein a prison cell as he was
(03:05):
serving five consecutive lifesentences, with no possibility
for parole, for a crime hecommitted in 2018, the details
of which are far too tragic tomention from this pulpit.
Now my question is this what dowe do with Christopher's
conversion?
What do we do with anindividual that has come to know
(03:31):
Jesus Christ, but maybe theworld would certainly say can he
really be forgiven?
What do we do with someone likethis that certainly has a
devastating past.
Do they just get to, in amoment, have all that sin washed
(03:55):
away?
Do they get to come to JesusChrist and just get a new blank
slate?
Is that how this thing works?
What do we do with those thatwe're tempted to say, at least
in the world's standards, areunworthy of mercy and grace?
These are really the questionsJonah was asking many years ago.
(04:17):
What do we do with the peoplethat we might be tempted to say
don't deserve the grace of God,don't deserve the mercy of God?
Jonah was asking these kind ofquestions and in this new series
, as we walk through for aboutfive weeks, the book of Jonah,
we're going to figure that out.
What do we do with this?
(04:39):
We're going to let Jonah teachus Now there will be a
temptation to maybe not read asdeeply, simply because we'll say
this that we know the story ofJonah.
We grew up hearing about it inSunday school.
Maybe we've watched aVeggieTales episode about it and
we know the story.
We know he runs from the Lord.
We know he finds himself in abig fish.
(05:01):
We know he ends up in Ninevehand Nineveh repents.
The story's closed, but Ibelieve there's much more to see
over these next five weeks.
The first question I ask is thiswho is Jonah?
Well, first of all is thisJonah is a prophet.
Now, what does it meanspecifically in scripture to be
a prophet?
One who announces we could sayprophecy.
Well, one who announces, wecould say prophecy.
(05:24):
Well, here's what we're firsttempted to think that a prophet
who gives prophecy is someonewho tells the future.
Isn't that what we think?
That a prophet is the humanembodiment of a fortune cookie
that tells you what the futurewill hold.
Now, that's not exactlyaccurate.
(05:44):
The reality is this we see manytimes in Scripture where a
prophet, through the word of theLord not the prophet's word,
but God's word does tell thepeople of God what will take
place one day.
That is very much part of it,but more than that, when you
think of the word prophet, oryou think of the word of
prophecy, that word prophet,think of this just a truth
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teller, one who proclaims thetruth of God.
God gives the word, the prophetproclaims that word and,
because of the faithfulness ofGod to his word, that word comes
to pass.
So Jonah is a prophet, but thereality is this we really don't
(06:26):
know a ton past that about Jonah.
We get four chapters in thebook of Jonah where we learn a
little bit about Jonah and weget one small reference in 2
Kings, chapter 14.
Other than that, that's all weget in scripture about Jonah.
And it's also interesting thatthroughout the book of Jonah the
four chapters we do get he'snot really put in the best light
(06:50):
.
And if Jonah, I believe, is theauthor of Jonah, it's actually
a great matter of humility onhis part that he told the truth.
That'd be a temptation if youwere writing an autobiographical
account of your life.
You might make yourself look alittle better.
But Jonah tells the truth and Iappreciate that.
(07:11):
But I want to quickly turn tosee what we can learn about
Jonah in 2 Kings, chapter 14.
I'll read it to us, starting inverse 23.
In the 15th year of Amaziah, theson of Joash, king of Judah,
jeroboam, the son of Joash, kingof Israel, began to reign in
Samaria and he reigned 41 years.
(07:32):
Translation there's a new king.
Jeroboam II, is on the thronein the northern kingdom of
Israel.
He'll reign for 41 years.
Verse 24, he did what was evilin the sight of the Lord.
He did not depart from all thesins of Jeroboam, the son of
Nabat, which he made Israel tosin.
So Jeroboam II is the new kingand guess what?
(07:54):
He does a terrible job.
In the world's eyes he might bea halfway decent king.
In the Lord's eyes he missesthe mark time and time again.
Throughout the book of 1 and 2Kings 2 Kings really you will
see all this line of kings comeforward and most every time
it'll say that the new king didwhat was evil in the Lord's eyes
(08:14):
.
There's a few occasions you'llsee that a king did what was
right in the Lord's eyes, butmore often than not you see the
evil side of things.
Jeroboam II did what was evil inthe Lord's eyes, but the Lord
is faithful and the Lord canwork in spite of an evil king.
And we read verse 25, herestored the border of Israel
(08:36):
from Lebo Hamath as far as theSea of Ereba, according to the
word of the Lord, the God ofIsrael.
Look at this which he spoke byhis servant, jonah, the son of
Amittai, the prophet, who wasfrom Gath-Hephur.
And so we have this evil kingand yet, in spite of his evil
(08:59):
ways, the Lord can still work.
The Lord expands the area ofIsrael, as the Lord promised
through his word.
And who did he give that word?
Through?
The prophet Jonah, son ofAmittai, the same Jonah that we
read about in the book of Jonah.
And so the close reader ofscripture turns to the book of
(09:24):
Jonah, and what he or she says,that close reader of scripture,
is this that I've seen Jonahbefore.
He was faithful back then.
I'm sure we'll have no issuesin the book of Jonah that the
last time we saw Jonah in 2Kings 14, he received the word
of the Lord.
He spoke the word of the Lordand God was faithful to his word
(09:45):
, as he always is.
What he said came to pass, andso we would expect the same
would follow.
And then we arrive in Jonah,chapter one, verse one.
Now the word of the Lord cameto Jonah, the son of Amittai,
saying and we'll get to what hesaid in just a second but again
the close reader of scripture,who knows of Jonah from second
(10:06):
Kings, says this is great news.
And, lord, you've come to theright man.
He's done it before he can doit again.
You're going to give Jonah theword and he's going to go.
And what is the word?
Verse two arise go to Nineveh,that great city you can read
that as that important city andlook at this and call out
(10:31):
against it, for their evil hascome up before me.
So the first word of the Lordto this prophet arise, get up,
arise and go.
Go where?
Go to Nineveh.
Now that's interesting.
(10:53):
Prophets usually speak the truthto the people of God and yet in
this moment God is callingJonah to go speak the truth, and
what is a very hard truth, tothe enemies of the people of God
.
Assyria.
Nineveh, which is in Assyria,is not the place you want to be
(11:17):
during this time.
It is a dangerous people.
It is a sinful, evil people.
The stories of what Assyriawould do, they're not even at
the height of this power.
They would be in 50 or 60 yearsfrom now, but at this point,
(11:38):
even not at the height of theirpower.
The stories of Assyria, like astory I said earlier, aren't
appropriate to even speak fromthis pulpit.
They're an evil, evil people.
And yet God has given his wordfor Jonah to go to this people.
But, as we know from 2 Kings,jonah has been faithful in the
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past and I've got no reason,through the first two verses, to
believe that Jonah will doanything other than be
absolutely obedient.
And here's the good news theobedience continues.
Because verse three, the firstthree words, it says this but
Jonah rose.
That's great news, because inverse two God said Jonah arise.
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And here is a man of God, aprophet of God, as he should.
The first thing he does in thefollowing verse is Jonah rose.
And that's where everythingends, that's where all the
obedience ends, because Jonahrose to flee to Tarshish.
Look at this from the presenceof the Lord.
(12:46):
And so now, in this moment, wehave a prophet of God running
from the presence of God, of Godrunning from the presence of
God, a prophet of God runningfrom the presence of God.
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Now, we've certainly seenstories in Scripture of people
called to be the humanmouthpiece of God that, at their
calling, originally had somedoubts.
We talked a few weeks ago aboutMoses, unsure about his public
speaking about Jeremiah, his age.
We see Gideon when he gets acall.
Aren't I from the least of allthe tribes of your people?
We've had individuals that havedoubts.
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But here's the good news inthose situations they bring
those doubts to the Lord.
Jonah has doubts and it leadshim to get as far away at least
he thinks from the presence ofthe Lord as humanly possible,
and just how far away does hewant to get?
Can you put the first map up ofthe Mediterranean Sea I've got
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a map for us and what you seecloser on the right here, you
see Joppa, there towards thebottom right on the coast of
Israel.
There you see 550 miles to thenortheast.
You see Nineveh, 550 miles.
Now where is Tarshish?
(14:15):
We don't know for sure, but wethink it's in southern Spain,
2,500 miles in the otherdirection from where Jonah was
called to go.
And if you say this, you knowmy scale.
I don't know what's going on.
Can we go to the next map?
Think about this If you'resitting in El Dorado this
(14:36):
morning and you want to go toAtlanta Now, atlanta is not next
door, but if you left right now, you could have a 7 o'clock
dinner in Atlanta, 550 or somiles away.
Where is Tarshish?
Instead, go up to Vancouver.
Jonah didn't just want to getaway from God's call on his life
(15:00):
, he wanted to get away fromGod's call on his life.
He wanted to run as far as hecould from the presence of God.
But let me ask you and you knowthe answer what's the problem
with trying to run from thepresence of God.
It.
Let me ask you and you know theanswer what's the problem with
trying to run from the presenceof God?
It's an impossibility.
Think about David in the PsalmsGod, where can I go from your
(15:23):
presence?
If I go up to heaven, you'rethere.
If I go to Sheol, you're there.
We can't get away from thepresence of God.
And if anybody should know itand I believe in his heart of
hearts he does know it Jonahshould know this.
But my next question is thiswhy is he running?
Why is he running from thepresence of God?
(15:43):
I think we can think of a fewreasons that are all related.
One it's a strange request.
It really is a strange requestfrom God that God would ask
Jonah to go warn the enemies ofGod.
I mean, they're evil Assyria.
I don't want them to have awarning.
(16:05):
God, let's go surprise attack,let's go and ambush, but a
warning.
It's a strange request, but thereality is we've seen strange
requests to prophets before.
If you look at the book ofHosea, what a strange request
that is.
God comes to Hosea and torepresent just how much Israel
(16:29):
has run after other gods andbeen unfaithful to the true God.
God calls Hosea to go out andmarry a lady whose name is Gomer
, who is a prostitute, and thatwill be a living example of the
disobedience of the people ofGod.
And they're running after othergods.
(16:50):
Now that's a strange request,and what do you do?
You see the call to do that inverse 2.
And then verse 3, hosea doesn't.
And so, yes, it's a strangerequest to go preach to the
enemies, but strange requestshave happened before.
Why else might he be running?
Well, we already talked aboutprophets usually preach to God's
(17:17):
people and not their enemies.
I'll tell you that Jonah givesthe answer to this question in
chapter 4, verse 2.
We'll look at it more in depthin about five weeks, but in
verse 2, after Jonah preaches,after the people of Nineveh
repent and God relents fromdisaster, verse 2 says this of
chapter 4, and he prayed to theLord and said O Lord, is not
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this what I said when I was yetin my country?
That is why I made haste toflee to Tarshish, for I knew
that you are a gracious God andmerciful, slow to anger,
abounding in steadfast love andrelenting from disaster.
Let me tell you in very simpleterms what 4.2 is saying, and
why Jonah is fleeing from thepresence of the Lord and will
(18:03):
not go to Nineveh to preach.
The very simple answer is thishe's terrified that it might
work, might work.
He's terrified that if hepreaches this message that the
enemies of God might actuallyhear the word of the Lord and
repent, change their ways and bespared from destruction.
(18:26):
And Jonah can't imagine a worldwhere these evil people could
possibly receive the same graceand mercy that Jonah would say I
and the Lord's people receive.
He's terrified that thismission might actually work, as
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we'll see over the next fiveweeks.
Jonah is a perfect picture Iguess I could say an imperfect
picture of loving grace forourselves but unwilling to
extend it to others.
Loving the character of Godwhen it benefits me but
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withholding that goodness tothose we might deem unworthy of
God's grace.
That's really what the fourchapters of Jonah teach us about
Jonah.
Jonah's the only propheticalbook in which the villain of the
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story if we could call him thatis the prophet himself, the one
that we've got to learn not tobe like, except for maybe a
little in chapter 2, the onewe've got to learn not to be
like is the prophet himself, andso I want to learn three things
this morning, three quickpoints on these three verses
before I take my seat.
And they're this In your walkwith the Lord.
Number one, our dependence isnecessary.
In your walk with the Lord, ourdependence is necessary.
(20:05):
I want you to think aboutsomething this morning.
In 2 Kings, chapter 14, it'svery brief, it's very short, but
we see a picture of a prophetdoing what prophets do.
Jonah receives the word fromthe Lord.
He faithfully preaches the wordof the Lord and that word comes
to pass because of thefaithfulness of the Lord.
(20:27):
We see Jonah as an obedientprophet, but church let this be
a reminder to all of us as anobedient prophet, but church let
this be a reminder to all of usOur past obedience does not
guarantee our present and futureobedience.
We don't get to live a Christianlife in which we get to sit
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back and just rest on ourlaurels and say, god, didn't I
do good way back when?
I guess my work is done, Iguess I can retire from the
Christian life and just wait foryou to receive me in glory,
because didn't I do good backthen?
(21:10):
It requires dependence on Goddaily.
I think about Jesus in Matthew,chapter 6, in the Lord's Prayer
.
What did he say?
Give us this day our dailybread.
That tells us something,doesn't it about the Christian
life that we can't live a lifesimply based on last week's
bread, yesterday's bread or thebread from a few years back?
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God, daily I've got to dependon you so that when you call me
to new places of obedience in mylife, I am ready and willing.
And, lord, just because I wasobedient back then, I need a
fresh wind from your spirit sothat in this day, in this time
where you call me right now, allthe more, I will be obedient
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once again.
I just want to ask are we evertempted to just coast off of,
maybe, yesterday's walk with theLord, coast off of yesterday's
obedience?
Are there any adults in theroom that are tempted to coast
off of yesterday's obedience?
Are there any adults in theroom that are tempted to coast
off of yesterday's faith thatway?
(22:21):
Back when, when I was in youthgroup, that's when I was on fire
for the Lord, when we'd go tosummer camp, that's when revival
happened in my life, that'swhen I had the close walk.
But now I'm doing other things.
I've got a career, I'm raisingchildren.
I've got this, that and theother and let me say praise God
for careers and children and allthat, everything you've got.
(22:44):
But is there a temptation tosay the younger years are when
you're on fire and now I'm justgonna kind of coast?
I'm doing my best, taylor, I'min the room, okay, I'm in the
room.
Is there a temptation to letyesterday's obedience not lead
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to today's fire for Christ?
Is there a temptation to doeverything we can to maybe serve
and maybe make sure our kidsare here in the room and our
kids are a part of the programsand growing in their faith?
(23:28):
And yet in our own hearts it'sbeen a while since we've had a
true encounter with the personof Jesus, in relationship with
him and daily coming before him.
Is there a temptation in thebusyness of life and everything
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we're trying to do andaccomplish, and maybe even all
the unbelievable things we doaround us, in our jobs, in our
work, in our family?
And I just got back from a weekof trying my best to give my
children unbelievable memories,because I want them to have
unbelievable memories and I knowyou do too.
(24:09):
But let me tell you this asunbelievable as any vacation can
be, and keep taking them andgiving them those memories.
Let me tell you what will stickwith a kid even longer when they
wake up early on a Tuesdaymorning, a random day in the
school year, and they're upearly.
(24:31):
They don't know why they're up,but they walk into the living
room or the dining room and theysee a lamp on and they see a
cup of coffee and they see momand or dad with an open Bible.
They won't forget that whenthey sit in a room like this and
look to their left or right andthey don't even understand
(24:55):
every word up on the screenduring a certain song.
But they see mom with her eyesclosed and something's hitting
her in worship and they see dadwho's not afraid to sing out.
There's things that ourchildren and grandchildren need
to see in our lives and we can'tjust live off of yesterday's
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obedience.
We can't say I did a good jobin 2 Kings so I can coast
through the book of Jonah.
We've got to have our dailybread every day and a daily
dependence on the Lord to walkin faith day by day.
So number one is this in ourwalk with the Lord, our
dependence is necessary.
But this too, our disobedience,is costly.
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Our disobedience is costly.
Think about the cost of Jonah'sdisobedience.
There's quite literally a cost.
It says Jonah went down toJoppa and he paid a fare.
He quite literally had to comeout of pocket to pay for a ride
over to Tarshish.
In fact some even speculate itcould be quite a significant sum
(26:05):
.
The pronoun is really he paidher fare, that her being the
boat itself.
It could be some speculate thathe quite literally paid for the
boat.
He chartered the whole boat, sohe wasn't flying Spirit
Airlines, this was a charteredflight all on his own.
I don't know, but either waythere was a cost to this.
(26:27):
But I'm talking more thanfinancial and you know that the
cost of our disobedience, thinkabout it in Jonah's life, the
spiritual cost as he got on thatboat.
Certainly it cost him some timein the belly of a fish.
Certainly it cost him thedanger to himself and everyone
on that boat with him.
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Certainly it cost the city ofNineveh who had to wait longer
and longer for the word of theLord to come to them.
In your own life you know thisthat there is a cost to our
disobedience.
There's a cost.
In your own life you've seenthe cost of your disobedience,
the cost of your sin.
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You've seen the consequencesthat have come, and you've tried
two things in your life.
You've tried doing it theLord's way, you've tried doing
it in your way and you know whenyou do it in your way there is
a cost.
It's interesting to me, andwe'll see it, that Jonah gets to
Nineveh.
Do you know that in this, god'swill is accomplished, god's
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will is done?
God said Jonah, arise and go toNineveh.
And do you know?
By the end of this thing, jonahgets to Nineveh and preaches
exactly what God said.
And so I just want you to knowthat in my life, in your life,
in all of our lives, god's willwill be done.
But I just want to ask you thisDo you want God to work in and
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through you, or do you want Godto work in spite of you?
Because God's will will be done, but you will have a very
different experience, and onewill lead you to more joy in the
presence of the Lord than youcan imagine, and one will lead
you to a greater cost than youever thought possible.
(28:17):
Our disobedience is costly.
So three things.
Number one in our walk with theLord, our dependence is
necessary.
Our disobedience is costly.
But look at this Our God isfaithful.
The book of Jonah is about aprophet on the run.
(28:39):
The book of Jonah is about aprophet who seemingly at every
turn gets it wrong.
Even when he finally gets itright, he turns around and then
finds a way to get it wrongafter.
That's what this book is about,but even deeper than that.
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But even deeper than that, it'sa book about how, in the midst
of our unfaithfulness, god isfaithful.
That in the midst of our walksin life, when we get it wrong,
when we are just like Jonah,we're just like the people of
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Nineveh, when we get it wrongtime and time again, that God is
faithful.
We'll get to each one of these.
But I just want to show usquickly Verse 117, and the Lord
appointed a great fish toswallow up Jonah, and Jonah was
in the belly of the fish threedays and three nights.
We'll talk about through theseries how even that is a great
(29:42):
grace on the part of God.
2.10, and the Lord spoke to thefish and it vomited Jonah out
upon the dry land.
That's the ESV's word.
It vomited him out onto dryland.
We'll talk about how even thatis such a grace by a faithful
God.
Chapter 3, verse 1,.
Then the word of the Lord cameto Jonah a second time.
(30:03):
God gives Jonah another chanceto preach.
We'll talk about verse 310,.
When God saw what they did, howthey turned from their evil way
, god relented of the disasterthat he had said he would do to
them and he did not do it.
Time and time again, in Jonah'sunfaithfulness, in Nineveh's
years, decades, centuries ofunfaithfulness, even in these
(30:27):
moments, god will show himselffaithful, and you will leave
this series saying this Jonahmesses it up at every turn, and
yet God seems to show himselffaithful every step of the way.
Have you seen it in your ownlife that in those moments where
you look back and say didn't Idrop the ball?
(30:49):
Didn't I know exactly what Godwas calling me to do and didn't
I do the opposite?
Didn't I know I needed to getin a car to Atlanta and I found
myself in Vancouver?
Didn't all these things happen?
And yet God didn't leave me?
(31:10):
Wasn't always comfortable,there was a storm, there was a
fish, but God didn't leave me.
And really, what the story ofJonah is is, in one sense, a
story of the gospel itself thatin our unfaithfulness, in our
disobedience, in our running asfar as we can run, as rebels
(31:35):
from the presence of God.
God does not wait for us to getto Tarshish and then realize we
need to come home.
No, no, no.
God finds us in the midst ofour faithfulness While we are on
the run.
As Romans says, while we wereyet in sin, christ died for us.
(31:56):
That's what the story of Jonahis about that God would come for
us, that God would come for us.
And so I'm excited about whatis ahead.
I'm excited for us to more andmore understand that our
dependence is necessary, ourdisobedience is costly, but what
we'll see time and time againin the five weeks ahead our God
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is faithful.
This morning, if you need torespond to God's word in any way
, I hope you will.
Whether it's you just comingand letting me pray with you,
and maybe it's you wanting tojoin our church family.
Maybe it's you saying I'm readyto stop running from the
presence of the Lord and I wantto know Jesus, and I want to
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know that he died for me, thathe came for me.
I'd love to introduce you tohim.
However you'd like to respondthis morning, I'm love to
introduce you to him.
However, you'd like to respond.
This morning I'm going to prayand then I ask that you would.
Lord Jesus, I thank you so muchfor your word.
I thank you for this day andjust the gift of getting to see
your word, even when it isconvicting, even when it
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describes us in a way that wedon't necessarily love, because
it's a way that's justaccurately talks about how God,
we missed the mark.
And, lord, every one of us canthink of times in our lives
where we've looked in the mirrorand we've seen Jonah.
We have been Jonah, we havebeen Jonah, we have been on the
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run, but for everyone in thisroom that knows Jesus Christ
personally, we can also recall atime where, christ Jesus, you
found us.
By your grace, you found us,and so, lord, if there's one
that needs to be found by youthis morning, would they Lord?
However, anyone needs torespond, would they do it now?
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And, lord, let us live onmission for you, following you,
committed to your word and yourwill and your way, that you
could work in and through us.
God, not in spite of us, butLord, would we faithfully serve
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you.
We ask this in Christ's name,amen.
Would you stand now as wecontinue in worship?
Hello and welcome to the FBC Eldorado Sermon Podcast.
My name is Taylor Guerin.
I have the privilege of beingthe pastor here at First Baptist
and I want to thank you forlistening in to our sermon this
week.
And I want to tell you this ifyou're in our area and you don't
have a church home, we wouldlove to see you any Sunday
morning at First Baptist, elDorado.
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Will you join me now inlistening to our sermon from
this week?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
You can open your Bibles with me to the book of
Jonah.
Starting will read the firstthree verses, which is where we
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will be today.
Jonah, chapter 1, verses 1through 3 are as follows Now the
word of the Lord came to Jonah,the son of Amittai, saying
arise, go to Nineveh, that greatcity, and call out against it,
for their evil has come upbefore me.
But Jonah rose to flee toTarshish from the presence of
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the Lord.
He went down to Joppa and founda ship going to Tarshish, so he
paid the fare and went downinto it to go with them to
Tarshish, away from the presenceof the Lord.
Let's pray together.
Lord Jesus, I thank you foryour word and ask that, by your
spirit, you would speak to usthis morning.
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We are dependent on you inChrist's name, amen.
We are dependent on you inChrist's name, amen.
One commentator, eric Tully,reminded me of a story that I
had actually heard, at least thefirst part of a few years back,
but of a man named Christopher.
Up until 2018, this man,christopher, you would have said
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, was living the American dream.
He had a wife and two beautifulgirls.
They lived in a great location,he had a good job, he had a
great house.
Everything seemed to be goingfor him and going his way.
All seemed to be well, and yetin 2019, he realized that very
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much.
There was still somethingmissing in his life, something
that he needed deeply, and hewas finally able to put his
finger on what that was, and itwas a relationship with the Lord
, jesus Christ.
And in 2019, christopher cameto know Jesus Christ as his Lord
and Savior.
But this wasn't just aconversion to a new idea.
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This was a conversion to a newlife.
Christopher was sold out forJesus.
He would read his Bible daily,his parents talk about, he would
message them with differentscripture passages he was
learning from.
So Christopher was very muchall in.
One interesting thing I didn'tmention about Christopher's
conversion is that it took placein a prison cell as he was
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serving five consecutive lifesentences, with no possibility
for parole, for a crime hecommitted in 2018, the details
of which are far too tragic tomention from this pulpit.
Now my question is this what dowe do with Christopher's
conversion?
What do we do with anindividual that has come to know
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Jesus Christ, but maybe theworld would certainly say can he
really be forgiven?
What do we do with someone likethis that certainly has a
devastating past.
Do they just get to, in amoment, have all that sin washed
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away?
Do they get to come to JesusChrist and just get a new blank
slate?
Is that how this thing works?
What do we do with those thatwe're tempted to say, at least
in the world's standards, areunworthy of mercy and grace?
These are really the questionsJonah was asking many years ago.
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What do we do with the peoplethat we might be tempted to say
don't deserve the grace of God,don't deserve the mercy of God?
Jonah was asking these kind ofquestions and in this new series
, as we walk through for aboutfive weeks, the book of Jonah,
we're going to figure that out.
What do we do with this?
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We're going to let Jonah teachus Now there will be a
temptation to maybe not read asdeeply, simply because we'll say
this that we know the story ofJonah.
We grew up hearing about it inSunday school.
Maybe we've watched aVeggieTales episode about it and
we know the story.
We know he runs from the Lord.
We know he finds himself in abig fish.
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We know he ends up in Ninevehand Nineveh repents.
The story's closed, but Ibelieve there's much more to see
over these next five weeks.
The first question I ask is thiswho is Jonah?
Well, first of all is thisJonah is a prophet.
Now, what does it meanspecifically in scripture to be
a prophet?
One who announces we could sayprophecy.
Well, one who announces, wecould say prophecy.
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Well, here's what we're firsttempted to think that a prophet
who gives prophecy is someonewho tells the future.
Isn't that what we think?
That a prophet is the humanembodiment of a fortune cookie
that tells you what the futurewill hold.
Now, that's not exactlyaccurate.
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The reality is this we see manytimes in Scripture where a
prophet, through the word of theLord not the prophet's word,
but God's word does tell thepeople of God what will take
place one day.
That is very much part of it,but more than that, when you
think of the word prophet, oryou think of the word of
prophecy, that word prophet,think of this just a truth
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teller, one who proclaims thetruth of God.
God gives the word, the prophetproclaims that word and,
because of the faithfulness ofGod to his word, that word comes
to pass.
So Jonah is a prophet, but thereality is this we really don't
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know a ton past that about Jonah.
We get four chapters in thebook of Jonah where we learn a
little bit about Jonah and weget one small reference in 2
Kings, chapter 14.
Other than that, that's all weget in scripture about Jonah.
And it's also interesting thatthroughout the book of Jonah the
four chapters we do get he'snot really put in the best light
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.
And if Jonah, I believe, is theauthor of Jonah, it's actually
a great matter of humility onhis part that he told the truth.
That'd be a temptation if youwere writing an autobiographical
account of your life.
You might make yourself look alittle better.
But Jonah tells the truth and Iappreciate that.
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But I want to quickly turn tosee what we can learn about
Jonah in 2 Kings, chapter 14.
I'll read it to us, starting inverse 23.
In the 15th year of Amaziah, theson of Joash, king of Judah,
jeroboam, the son of Joash, kingof Israel, began to reign in
Samaria and he reigned 41 years.
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Translation there's a new king.
Jeroboam II, is on the thronein the northern kingdom of
Israel.
He'll reign for 41 years.
Verse 24, he did what was evilin the sight of the Lord.
He did not depart from all thesins of Jeroboam, the son of
Nabat, which he made Israel tosin.
So Jeroboam II is the new kingand guess what?
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He does a terrible job.
In the world's eyes he might bea halfway decent king.
In the Lord's eyes he missesthe mark time and time again.
Throughout the book of 1 and 2Kings 2 Kings really you will
see all this line of kings comeforward and most every time
it'll say that the new king didwhat was evil in the Lord's eyes
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.
There's a few occasions you'llsee that a king did what was
right in the Lord's eyes, butmore often than not you see the
evil side of things.
Jeroboam II did what was evil inthe Lord's eyes, but the Lord
is faithful and the Lord canwork in spite of an evil king.
And we read verse 25, herestored the border of Israel
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from Lebo Hamath as far as theSea of Ereba, according to the
word of the Lord, the God ofIsrael.
Look at this which he spoke byhis servant, jonah, the son of
Amittai, the prophet, who wasfrom Gath-Hephur.
And so we have this evil kingand yet, in spite of his evil
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ways, the Lord can still work.
The Lord expands the area ofIsrael, as the Lord promised
through his word.
And who did he give that word?
Through?
The prophet Jonah, son ofAmittai, the same Jonah that we
read about in the book of Jonah.
And so the close reader ofscripture turns to the book of
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Jonah, and what he or she says,that close reader of scripture,
is this that I've seen Jonahbefore.
He was faithful back then.
I'm sure we'll have no issuesin the book of Jonah that the
last time we saw Jonah in 2Kings 14, he received the word
of the Lord.
He spoke the word of the Lordand God was faithful to his word
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, as he always is.
What he said came to pass, andso we would expect the same
would follow.
And then we arrive in Jonah,chapter one, verse one.
Now the word of the Lord cameto Jonah, the son of Amittai,
saying and we'll get to what hesaid in just a second but again
the close reader of scripture,who knows of Jonah from second
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Kings, says this is great news.
And, lord, you've come to theright man.
He's done it before he can doit again.
You're going to give Jonah theword and he's going to go.
And what is the word?
Verse two arise go to Nineveh,that great city you can read
that as that important city andlook at this and call out
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against it, for their evil hascome up before me.
So the first word of the Lordto this prophet arise, get up,
arise and go.
Go where?
Go to Nineveh.
Now that's interesting.
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Prophets usually speak the truthto the people of God and yet in
this moment God is callingJonah to go speak the truth, and
what is a very hard truth, tothe enemies of the people of God
.
Assyria.
Nineveh, which is in Assyria,is not the place you want to be
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during this time.
It is a dangerous people.
It is a sinful, evil people.
The stories of what Assyriawould do, they're not even at
the height of this power.
They would be in 50 or 60 yearsfrom now, but at this point,
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even not at the height of theirpower.
The stories of Assyria, like astory I said earlier, aren't
appropriate to even speak fromthis pulpit.
They're an evil, evil people.
And yet God has given his wordfor Jonah to go to this people.
But, as we know from 2 Kings,jonah has been faithful in the
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past and I've got no reason,through the first two verses, to
believe that Jonah will doanything other than be
absolutely obedient.
And here's the good news theobedience continues.
Because verse three, the firstthree words, it says this but
Jonah rose.
That's great news, because inverse two God said Jonah arise.
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And here is a man of God, aprophet of God, as he should.
The first thing he does in thefollowing verse is Jonah rose.
And that's where everythingends, that's where all the
obedience ends, because Jonahrose to flee to Tarshish.
Look at this from the presenceof the Lord.
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And so now, in this moment, wehave a prophet of God running
from the presence of God, of Godrunning from the presence of
God, a prophet of God runningfrom the presence of God.
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Now, we've certainly seenstories in Scripture of people
called to be the humanmouthpiece of God that, at their
calling, originally had somedoubts.
We talked a few weeks ago aboutMoses, unsure about his public
speaking about Jeremiah, his age.
We see Gideon when he gets acall.
Aren't I from the least of allthe tribes of your people?
We've had individuals that havedoubts.
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But here's the good news inthose situations they bring
those doubts to the Lord.
Jonah has doubts and it leadshim to get as far away at least
he thinks from the presence ofthe Lord as humanly possible,
and just how far away does hewant to get?
Can you put the first map up ofthe Mediterranean Sea I've got
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a map for us and what you seecloser on the right here, you
see Joppa, there towards thebottom right on the coast of
Israel.
There you see 550 miles to thenortheast.
You see Nineveh, 550 miles.
Now where is Tarshish?
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We don't know for sure, but wethink it's in southern Spain,
2,500 miles in the otherdirection from where Jonah was
called to go.
And if you say this, you knowmy scale.
I don't know what's going on.
Can we go to the next map?
Think about this If you'resitting in El Dorado this
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morning and you want to go toAtlanta Now, atlanta is not next
door, but if you left right now, you could have a 7 o'clock
dinner in Atlanta, 550 or somiles away.
Where is Tarshish?
Instead, go up to Vancouver.
Jonah didn't just want to getaway from God's call on his life
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, he wanted to get away fromGod's call on his life.
He wanted to run as far as hecould from the presence of God.
But let me ask you and you knowthe answer what's the problem
with trying to run from thepresence of God.
It.
Let me ask you and you know theanswer what's the problem with
trying to run from the presenceof God?
It's an impossibility.
Think about David in the PsalmsGod, where can I go from your
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presence?
If I go up to heaven, you'rethere.
If I go to Sheol, you're there.
We can't get away from thepresence of God.
And if anybody should know itand I believe in his heart of
hearts he does know it Jonahshould know this.
But my next question is thiswhy is he running?
Why is he running from thepresence of God?
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I think we can think of a fewreasons that are all related.
One it's a strange request.
It really is a strange requestfrom God that God would ask
Jonah to go warn the enemies ofGod.
I mean, they're evil Assyria.
I don't want them to have awarning.
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God, let's go surprise attack,let's go and ambush, but a
warning.
It's a strange request, but thereality is we've seen strange
requests to prophets before.
If you look at the book ofHosea, what a strange request
that is.
God comes to Hosea and torepresent just how much Israel
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has run after other gods andbeen unfaithful to the true God.
God calls Hosea to go out andmarry a lady whose name is Gomer
, who is a prostitute, and thatwill be a living example of the
disobedience of the people ofGod.
And they're running after othergods.
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Now that's a strange request,and what do you do?
You see the call to do that inverse 2.
And then verse 3, hosea doesn't.
And so, yes, it's a strangerequest to go preach to the
enemies, but strange requestshave happened before.
Why else might he be running?
Well, we already talked aboutprophets usually preach to God's
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people and not their enemies.
I'll tell you that Jonah givesthe answer to this question in
chapter 4, verse 2.
We'll look at it more in depthin about five weeks, but in
verse 2, after Jonah preaches,after the people of Nineveh
repent and God relents fromdisaster, verse 2 says this of
chapter 4, and he prayed to theLord and said O Lord, is not
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this what I said when I was yetin my country?
That is why I made haste toflee to Tarshish, for I knew
that you are a gracious God andmerciful, slow to anger,
abounding in steadfast love andrelenting from disaster.
Let me tell you in very simpleterms what 4.2 is saying, and
why Jonah is fleeing from thepresence of the Lord and will
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not go to Nineveh to preach.
The very simple answer is thishe's terrified that it might
work, might work.
He's terrified that if hepreaches this message that the
enemies of God might actuallyhear the word of the Lord and
repent, change their ways and bespared from destruction.
(18:26):
And Jonah can't imagine a worldwhere these evil people could
possibly receive the same graceand mercy that Jonah would say I
and the Lord's people receive.
He's terrified that thismission might actually work, as
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we'll see over the next fiveweeks.
Jonah is a perfect picture Iguess I could say an imperfect
picture of loving grace forourselves but unwilling to
extend it to others.
Loving the character of Godwhen it benefits me but
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withholding that goodness tothose we might deem unworthy of
God's grace.
That's really what the fourchapters of Jonah teach us about
Jonah.
Jonah's the only propheticalbook in which the villain of the
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story if we could call him thatis the prophet himself, the one
that we've got to learn not tobe like, except for maybe a
little in chapter 2, the onewe've got to learn not to be
like is the prophet himself, andso I want to learn three things
this morning, three quickpoints on these three verses
before I take my seat.
And they're this In your walkwith the Lord.
Number one, our dependence isnecessary.
In your walk with the Lord, ourdependence is necessary.
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I want you to think aboutsomething this morning.
In 2 Kings, chapter 14, it'svery brief, it's very short, but
we see a picture of a prophetdoing what prophets do.
Jonah receives the word fromthe Lord.
He faithfully preaches the wordof the Lord and that word comes
to pass because of thefaithfulness of the Lord.
(20:27):
We see Jonah as an obedientprophet, but church let this be
a reminder to all of us as anobedient prophet, but church let
this be a reminder to all of usOur past obedience does not
guarantee our present and futureobedience.
We don't get to live a Christianlife in which we get to sit
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back and just rest on ourlaurels and say, god, didn't I
do good way back when?
I guess my work is done, Iguess I can retire from the
Christian life and just wait foryou to receive me in glory,
because didn't I do good backthen?
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It requires dependence on Goddaily.
I think about Jesus in Matthew,chapter 6, in the Lord's Prayer
.
What did he say?
Give us this day our dailybread.
That tells us something,doesn't it about the Christian
life that we can't live a lifesimply based on last week's
bread, yesterday's bread or thebread from a few years back?
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God, daily I've got to dependon you so that when you call me
to new places of obedience in mylife, I am ready and willing.
And, lord, just because I wasobedient back then, I need a
fresh wind from your spirit sothat in this day, in this time
where you call me right now, allthe more, I will be obedient
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once again.
I just want to ask are we evertempted to just coast off of,
maybe, yesterday's walk with theLord, coast off of yesterday's
obedience?
Are there any adults in theroom that are tempted to coast
off of yesterday's obedience?
Are there any adults in theroom that are tempted to coast
off of yesterday's faith thatway?
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Back when, when I was in youthgroup, that's when I was on fire
for the Lord, when we'd go tosummer camp, that's when revival
happened in my life, that'swhen I had the close walk.
But now I'm doing other things.
I've got a career, I'm raisingchildren.
I've got this, that and theother and let me say praise God
for careers and children and allthat, everything you've got.
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But is there a temptation tosay the younger years are when
you're on fire and now I'm justgonna kind of coast?
I'm doing my best, taylor, I'min the room, okay, I'm in the
room.
Is there a temptation to letyesterday's obedience not lead
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to today's fire for Christ?
Is there a temptation to doeverything we can to maybe serve
and maybe make sure our kidsare here in the room and our
kids are a part of the programsand growing in their faith?
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And yet in our own hearts it'sbeen a while since we've had a
true encounter with the personof Jesus, in relationship with
him and daily coming before him.
Is there a temptation in thebusyness of life and everything
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we're trying to do andaccomplish, and maybe even all
the unbelievable things we doaround us, in our jobs, in our
work, in our family?
And I just got back from a weekof trying my best to give my
children unbelievable memories,because I want them to have
unbelievable memories and I knowyou do too.
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But let me tell you this asunbelievable as any vacation can
be, and keep taking them andgiving them those memories.
Let me tell you what will stickwith a kid even longer when they
wake up early on a Tuesdaymorning, a random day in the
school year, and they're upearly.
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They don't know why they're up,but they walk into the living
room or the dining room and theysee a lamp on and they see a
cup of coffee and they see momand or dad with an open Bible.
They won't forget that whenthey sit in a room like this and
look to their left or right andthey don't even understand
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every word up on the screenduring a certain song.
But they see mom with her eyesclosed and something's hitting
her in worship and they see dadwho's not afraid to sing out.
There's things that ourchildren and grandchildren need
to see in our lives and we can'tjust live off of yesterday's
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obedience.
We can't say I did a good jobin 2 Kings so I can coast
through the book of Jonah.
We've got to have our dailybread every day and a daily
dependence on the Lord to walkin faith day by day.
So number one is this in ourwalk with the Lord, our
dependence is necessary.
But this too, our disobedience,is costly.
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Our disobedience is costly.
Think about the cost of Jonah'sdisobedience.
There's quite literally a cost.
It says Jonah went down toJoppa and he paid a fare.
He quite literally had to comeout of pocket to pay for a ride
over to Tarshish.
In fact some even speculate itcould be quite a significant sum
(26:05):
.
The pronoun is really he paidher fare, that her being the
boat itself.
It could be some speculate thathe quite literally paid for the
boat.
He chartered the whole boat, sohe wasn't flying Spirit
Airlines, this was a charteredflight all on his own.
I don't know, but either waythere was a cost to this.
(26:27):
But I'm talking more thanfinancial and you know that the
cost of our disobedience, thinkabout it in Jonah's life, the
spiritual cost as he got on thatboat.
Certainly it cost him some timein the belly of a fish.
Certainly it cost him thedanger to himself and everyone
on that boat with him.
(26:47):
Certainly it cost the city ofNineveh who had to wait longer
and longer for the word of theLord to come to them.
In your own life you know thisthat there is a cost to our
disobedience.
There's a cost.
In your own life you've seenthe cost of your disobedience,
the cost of your sin.
(27:07):
You've seen the consequencesthat have come, and you've tried
two things in your life.
You've tried doing it theLord's way, you've tried doing
it in your way and you know whenyou do it in your way there is
a cost.
It's interesting to me, andwe'll see it, that Jonah gets to
Nineveh.
Do you know that in this, god'swill is accomplished, god's
(27:31):
will is done?
God said Jonah, arise and go toNineveh.
And do you know?
By the end of this thing, jonahgets to Nineveh and preaches
exactly what God said.
And so I just want you to knowthat in my life, in your life,
in all of our lives, god's willwill be done.
But I just want to ask you thisDo you want God to work in and
(27:55):
through you, or do you want Godto work in spite of you?
Because God's will will be done, but you will have a very
different experience, and onewill lead you to more joy in the
presence of the Lord than youcan imagine, and one will lead
you to a greater cost than youever thought possible.
(28:17):
Our disobedience is costly.
So three things.
Number one in our walk with theLord, our dependence is
necessary.
Our disobedience is costly.
But look at this Our God isfaithful.
The book of Jonah is about aprophet on the run.
(28:39):
The book of Jonah is about aprophet who seemingly at every
turn gets it wrong.
Even when he finally gets itright, he turns around and then
finds a way to get it wrongafter.
That's what this book is about,but even deeper than that.
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But even deeper than that, it'sa book about how, in the midst
of our unfaithfulness, god isfaithful.
That in the midst of our walksin life, when we get it wrong,
when we are just like Jonah,we're just like the people of
(29:21):
Nineveh, when we get it wrongtime and time again, that God is
faithful.
We'll get to each one of these.
But I just want to show usquickly Verse 117, and the Lord
appointed a great fish toswallow up Jonah, and Jonah was
in the belly of the fish threedays and three nights.
We'll talk about through theseries how even that is a great
(29:42):
grace on the part of God.
2.10, and the Lord spoke to thefish and it vomited Jonah out
upon the dry land.
That's the ESV's word.
It vomited him out onto dryland.
We'll talk about how even thatis such a grace by a faithful
God.
Chapter 3, verse 1,.
Then the word of the Lord cameto Jonah a second time.
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God gives Jonah another chanceto preach.
We'll talk about verse 310,.
When God saw what they did, howthey turned from their evil way
, god relented of the disasterthat he had said he would do to
them and he did not do it.
Time and time again, in Jonah'sunfaithfulness, in Nineveh's
years, decades, centuries ofunfaithfulness, even in these
(30:27):
moments, god will show himselffaithful, and you will leave
this series saying this Jonahmesses it up at every turn, and
yet God seems to show himselffaithful every step of the way.
Have you seen it in your ownlife that in those moments where
you look back and say didn't Idrop the ball?
(30:49):
Didn't I know exactly what Godwas calling me to do and didn't
I do the opposite?
Didn't I know I needed to getin a car to Atlanta and I found
myself in Vancouver?
Didn't all these things happen?
And yet God didn't leave me?
(31:10):
Wasn't always comfortable,there was a storm, there was a
fish, but God didn't leave me.
And really, what the story ofJonah is is, in one sense, a
story of the gospel itself thatin our unfaithfulness, in our
disobedience, in our running asfar as we can run, as rebels
(31:35):
from the presence of God.
God does not wait for us to getto Tarshish and then realize we
need to come home.
No, no, no.
God finds us in the midst ofour faithfulness While we are on
the run.
As Romans says, while we wereyet in sin, christ died for us.
(31:56):
That's what the story of Jonahis about that God would come for
us, that God would come for us.
And so I'm excited about whatis ahead.
I'm excited for us to more andmore understand that our
dependence is necessary, ourdisobedience is costly, but what
we'll see time and time againin the five weeks ahead our God
(32:17):
is faithful.
This morning, if you need torespond to God's word in any way
, I hope you will.
Whether it's you just comingand letting me pray with you,
and maybe it's you wanting tojoin our church family.
Maybe it's you saying I'm readyto stop running from the
presence of the Lord and I wantto know Jesus, and I want to
(32:38):
know that he died for me, thathe came for me.
I'd love to introduce you tohim.
However you'd like to respondthis morning, I'm love to
introduce you to him.
However, you'd like to respond.
This morning I'm going to prayand then I ask that you would.
Lord Jesus, I thank you so muchfor your word.
I thank you for this day andjust the gift of getting to see
your word, even when it isconvicting, even when it
(33:00):
describes us in a way that wedon't necessarily love, because
it's a way that's justaccurately talks about how God,
we missed the mark.
And, lord, every one of us canthink of times in our lives
where we've looked in the mirrorand we've seen Jonah.
We have been Jonah, we havebeen Jonah, we have been on the
(33:23):
run, but for everyone in thisroom that knows Jesus Christ
personally, we can also recall atime where, christ Jesus, you
found us.
By your grace, you found us,and so, lord, if there's one
that needs to be found by youthis morning, would they Lord?
However, anyone needs torespond, would they do it now?
(33:47):
And, lord, let us live onmission for you, following you,
committed to your word and yourwill and your way, that you
could work in and through us.
God, not in spite of us, butLord, would we faithfully serve
(34:07):
you.
We ask this in Christ's name,amen.
Would you stand now as wecontinue in worship?
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