A Fugitive from Grace

I want us this evening, friends, to look at the book of Jonah. You may turn in your Bibles there now. We'll be in the first two chapters of Jonah, rather than the last two chapters.

The last two chapters of Jonah deal with the repentance of the city of Nineveh and God's mercy toward them. The first two chapters of Jonah deal primarily with the prophet Jonah, and that is our concern this evening. If you know anything about this familiar book of the Bible, you know that Jonah attempts to flee from the Lord's presence.

This, of course, is impossible for we are never out from under the holy eye of the Almighty. The book of Jonah has come under criticism as to its reliability and authenticity. But if you have any doubts about the authority of Jonah, just listen to the words of Jesus as he stated, given his endorsement of the book of Jonah, as seen in Matthew's gospel chapter 12 and verses 40 through 41.

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonas, and behold, a greater than Jonas is here. And indeed he was.

I believe everything in my Bible to be true, friends. I believe in God's inherent word. I don't doubt one word of God's holy word.

I want us to focus this evening on the life of Jonah rather than the inhabitants of the city of Nineveh and their repentance. I believe there are some lessons in Jonah's life we can benefit from this evening in a practical way. I don't use alliteration much in my messages, but tonight I feel that alliteration is the best way to handle this outline of the first two chapters of Jonah.

The title of my message this evening, friends, is A Fugitive from Grace. Here now is that outline, if you want to jot it down. I know some of you preachers just love free outlines, so here we go.

He feared, he fled, he fell, he failed, he fainted, he found. Let me repeat that for you again. He feared, he fled, he fell, he failed, he fainted, he found.

Now allow me to read our passage of scripture of the first two chapters of Jonah, and I will elaborate on each head as we proceed. Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa, and he found a ship going to Tarshish, and he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his God, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep.

So the shipmaster came to him and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God. If so, be that God will think upon us that we perish not. And they said every one to his fellow, Come and let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us.

So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us. What is that occupation, and whence comest thou? What is that country, and of what people art thou? And he said unto them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.

Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? For the sea wrought and was temptuous. And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea.

So shall the sea be calm unto you, for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to bring it to the land, but they could not, for the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them. Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood, for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee.

So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord, his God, out of the fish's belly, and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me out of his belly of hell, cried I, and thou hearest my voice, for thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed me about, all my billows, and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul, the depth closed round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head, I went down to the bottoms of the mountains, the earth with her bars was about me forever, yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.

When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving, I will pay that I have vowed a salvation is of the Lord, and the Lord spake unto the fish, and vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. I will pause there.

Well that's a summation of chapters one and two, and I call this message a fugitive from grace because it best describes this runaway prophet. Perhaps there is someone here tonight within the sound of my voice who is running away from God. You are traveling in the opposite direction of God and running as fast as you can.

You have your reasons, you have your fears, you are in flight, everything in your life is out of whack, in disorder, and things look pretty grim. You feel helpless and hopeless, and that your life is quickly spinning out of control, and you are on the lam so to speak. You are a fugitive from grace yourself.

It is my prayer, dear friend, that this message will be used to God to bring you back into a right relationship with him. Just remember, God's not running away from you. You are the one running away from him in sin and rebellion.

And do you know what, friend? Soon you're gonna run out of gas. There's nowhere to hide. God will find you.

As God walked through the garden looking for Adam, he called out, oh, where art thou? Adam thought he could hide from God in a bush. That's how foolish man is. And anyone who's trying to flee from the presence of God is nothing but a fool because God will find you anyhow.

If you were his sheep, he will go after you, pick you up out of your ditch, even if he has to climb every mountain to find you. I've known some pastors in my life who tried to outrun God. They got in a mess, and they got scared, and they went out like Jonah running as fast as they could, but they didn't get too far before God caught up with them.

And God will catch up with you, friend, even if he has to use a whale to catch you. Well, let's look at this first aspect of our outline. He feared.

You see, when the word of the Lord came to Jonah to arise and go to Nineveh, Jonah feared because he knew God, and he feared that God would save the wicked Ninevites. And Jonah didn't want God to save them. He hated them more than any other nation.

Assyria was responsible for the harassment and exploitation Israel and Judah suffered more than over a century. Assyria took much of Israel's population into exile in order to bring other peoples to colonize its territories. So most Jews who knew that history would have felt that Assyria deserved to be seen as God's prime enemy as well.

And this is Jonah's mindset of these Assyrians in the city of Nineveh. He feared that if he went to Nineveh and preached that message of repentance to God's enemies, they would repent and be saved. So Jonah feared the result of his preaching success, and he feared God's mercy towards sinners.

Jonah was a very odd preacher indeed. So fear gripped Jonah. And what happens next? He fled.

He becomes a fugitive from grace. He's running away from God Almighty, and he's running as fast as he can. Verse 3 relates, but Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord and went down to Joppa.

Verse 10 states about the sailors, for the man knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told them. Jonah admitted to them that he was a fugitive from grace, a runaway on the lamb, on the run. But do you know what, dear friend? Try as you may, with all your might, you can't outrun God.

There is a point where you have to stop and turn yourself in. So he fled. Now look at what he did next.

He fell. Look at verse 15. So they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea.

Here is a picture of a prophet of God who fell. He fell into the ocean. Yes, he was thrown, but nevertheless he fell.

The Christian life is often like a tempest in the ocean up and down. One day we're walking by faith, and oddly the next day we stumble and we fall. Our sin nature wars against us.

The world wars against us. The enemy of our soul, the devil, wars against us. And at times we become overwhelmed and we fall.

Jonah fell. He was a runaway from God, a fugitive from grace, and he ran so fast that he stumbled and fell. His sin and rebellion got the best of him and placed him in a dire predicament, this case a raging ocean.

And he sinks. He fell. Now let us proceed to our next point.

He failed. Jonah failed in his mission from God. God gave him a commission to go and preach the gospel of repentance to the wicked Ninevites so they could be saved.

But Jonah fails in his mission to accomplish that. He disobeys God's call. Let me ask you, friend, are you fighting God's call on your life? Are you failing to stand by a call to ministry? Are you disobeying God's call? Has God called you to the mission field? Has God called you to be a preacher? Has he called you to teach, to serve in some capacity? Are you failing to do what God has called you to do? Jonah failed.

Now look at what happens next. He fainted. Verse 7 states, when my soul fainted within me, he is a man.

Here is a man, a man of God who is on the run from God, who foolishly thinks he can outrun God. But it's too much for him. He's overwhelmed by his rebellion, his sin, his disobedience to God.

And he faints under it. He faints because his eyes off his God and on himself and his troubles. But God has mercy on this fugitive from grace.

God preserves his life with a whale. God gives him the grace of repentance and the spirit of prayer. And God reveals himself to Jonah in a fresh way.

And this is where we come to our last aspect of our outline, friends. He found, he found favor with God. Yes.

But more importantly, he found God. The text reads, when my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord. Here Jonah gets a glimpse of his God and he reflects on God's favor toward him.

And he receives a new impulse to serve his God. Jonah's having a personal revival in the belly of that whale. And do you know what friend, you can have a personal revival in the belly of your problem as well.

God can meet you there. God can stir your heart and tell you a vow with the prophet, the great declaration of truth found in verse seven. Salvation is of the Lord.

God saves. You don't save yourself, friend. If you are saved individual, it's because God did it.

God takes the heart of stone and makes it a heart of flesh. He can track you down. You cannot outrun the blood hound of heaven.

He will track you down. God will conquer your heart, stiff neck self. You will eventually tire your sins and turn yourself in to the God of your salvation.

Here was a man who had a human nature and who gave in to his human nature more than any other prophet I can find in my Bible. In just four chapters we see this man's rebellion, his out and out rebellion against the most high God, his bitterness of soul and seeing an entire city saved. What kind of evangelist preaches a God ordained message of salvation and gets results and then he is mad about it.

This man Jonah, but God still used him for the good of his people and his glory. And do you know what, dear fugitive friend? God can still use you. Go turn yourself in.

Return to your God and let him work through you for the good of others and his glory. You can't outrun God. Let us now go to the Lord in prayer.