Romans: Law, Obedience, and Sanctification: Holiness and Obedience

Truths from the Life of Jonah - Jonah Series - Part 1 of 4

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: New Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2024-12-01

Synopsis: In this sermon, Pastor John Weaver introduces a four-part series on the book of Jonah, focusing on chapter 1. He emphasizes the divine inspiration and profitability of the entire Old Testament, using Jonah as a case study. Weaver defends the historicity of Jonah and the whale, citing both Old Testament and Jesus' own testimony. He explores Jonah's disobedience—fleeing to Tarshish instead of preaching to Nineveh—and the consequences: a storm, the endangerment of pagan sailors, and being swallowed by a great fish. Key themes include the impossibility of fleeing God's omnipresence, the cost of disobedience, and the truth that no one lives or dies to himself, as our actions always affect others. The sermon concludes with applications urging believers to remain in God's will and recognize their influence on others.

[John Weaver] All right, I want you to open your Bibles if you would please today to the book of Jonah chapter 1 and you're going to find the little book of Jonah right after Obadiah and right before Micah Lord willing I'm going to be preaching four messages on this book And so if you want to get a little head start, just read Jonah for the next several weeks, and you will pretty well come up with a lot of truth, I am sure. So look, if we would please, in Jonah chapter one, and the title of the message today is Truths from the Life of Jonah, Truths from the Life of Jonah. So Jonah chapter one, beginning there with verse one, the word of God says this. 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 is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Jabbah, and he found a ship going to Tarshish.

[John Weaver] So he paid the fare thereof and went down into it to go with the men into 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 ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid and cried every man into his God, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them. But Jonah was going down into the sides of the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep. So the ship master came to him and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon my God. If so be that God will think upon us that we perish not.

[John Weaver] And they said 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 thine occupation? And whence comest thou? What is thy country and of what people art thou?

[John Weaver] And he said unto them, I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which made the sea and 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 tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea. So shall the sea be calm unto you.

[John Weaver] For I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. Nevertheless the men rode hard to bring it to 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 it as it please Thee. So they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice, and the Lord had 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.

[John Weaver] A few years back, I brought two messages which I entitled Old Testament Principles and New Testament Truths. My aim on those two messages was simply to demonstrate that we have one Bible and not two Bibles. I've repeatedly said that the Old Testament It's just as much the Word of God as is the New Testament. In fact, the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17, for all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for correction, for instruction or reproof, and also that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished under all good works. We may deduce several wonderful truths from these verses. First of all, the scripture tells us that all scripture is God breathed. The Greek word there is a very important word. It is the word Theopneuktos. It literally means exhaled from the mouth of God or God breathed or God exhaled. So the truth of the matter is all of the scripture came from the breath of God. That is why it's called the Word of God.

[John Weaver] That's why it's referred to as the truth of God. You say, well, I understand that the Bible was inspired. And that is true. Men wrote the Bible, but they were men who were inspired. So what is inspiration? Inspiration is a strong, conscious, in-breathing of God into men, qualifying them to give utterance to the truth so that the words which they wrote were and are indeed the very words of God.

[John Weaver] So let me put this another way. What inspiration actually means is the Bible is just as much the word of God as if God spoke every single word of it with his own lips. That's what it means when he said it was God breathed. Now you say, but men wrote the Bible. I've already covered that, but you know, the Bible says in second Peter chapter one, For the word of God, or prophecy, came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." So it was the Holy Ghost then who inspired the words. It was the Holy Ghost who moved upon the men to pen these words, and they are indeed the very words of God Himself. The second thing that we may deduce is this. When Paul wrote these verses, 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17, he had primarily the Old Testament in mind. because the New Testament had not been completed at that time. And of course, these words, these verses would apply to any of the New Testament passages or books that have been completed by that particular time.

[John Weaver] So primarily, when he wrote that, he had in mind the Old Testament. Thirdly, and clearly, the Bible teaches us that all of God's Word is profitable. When he said all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable, That means the Old Testament is just as profitable as is the New Testament. So those then who ignore the Old Testament, who denigrate the Old Testament, who deny the Old Testament, are denying and depriving themselves of great truths, great promises, and great warnings. Because the Old Testament is just as profitable as is the New Testament. Fourth, let me point out, based upon 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17, it is impossible for the man of God to be complete and thoroughly furnished unto all good works without the Old Testament. Now, the Scripture said, all Scripture is inspired of God. Didn't you get to verse 17, that the man of God may be perfect? The Greek word for the word perfect is the word artevas, which literally means one that is fit, one that is complete, one that is perfect, one that is equipped for just about any and every possible use.

[John Weaver] So without the Old Testament, then it is impossible for a man to be equipped the way he should be. And then when you look at these words, from Scripture that the man of God might be thoroughly furnished unto every good work. The Greek word happens to be exartizo, and it means that which is complete and that which is perfectly furnished. So the individual who ignores the Old Testament is not complete. He is not furnished. So any preacher then who would ignore the Old Testament is an incomplete preacher, and he's not furnished into everything that he possibly needs.

[John Weaver] Now, the interesting thing is this. You cannot understand the New Testament apart from the Old Testament. There's an adage that has been repeated, I guess, for years, and it is very true. It goes like this. The new, that is the New Testament, is in the old concealed and the old is in the new revealed and that is certainly true because you cannot understand the old without the new and the new is hidden in the old as well now let me begin by saying this before i go any

[John Weaver] further yes i believe that jonah was a real living historical person and yes i do believe that jonah was swallowed by Well, because the Bible does indeed teach that. If you would look in your Bibles, holding Jonah chapter 1, but turn back to 2 Kings chapter 14, 2 Kings chapter 14, you will find that Jonah is spoken of not only as a real, live prophet, but he is one who prophesied and one whose prophecy came to pass. So if you look in 2 Kings 14, verse 25, 2 Kings 14, verse 25, and here's what the Bible says, He restored, that is the king now, He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which He spake by the hand of His servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gath-Heper." So notice if you would, Jonah is specifically named, his father is named, he's designated as a prophet, and even the city from which he originated, Gath-Heper.

[John Weaver] So Jonah then indeed was a real living person. So if you deny the historical personhood of Jonah, You're not only denying the truth of the Old Testament, but hang on, you would also be denying the Lord Jesus Christ, because the Lord Jesus Christ himself testified to the person of Jonah and to that which happened to Jonah. So if you will turn in your Bibles to the book of Matthew, chapter 12, you're going to find where our Lord recognized Jonah as a real live individual, and also the very fact that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. So if you look at Matthew chapter 12 and verses 40 and 41, our Lord said, for as Jonas or 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.

[John Weaver] The men of Nineveh shall rise up 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. So our Lord then is testifying not only to the personhood of Jonah, but to the preaching of Jonah, the fact that he went to Nineveh, and the fact that he was swallowed by a whale and stayed in the belly of the whale for three days and for three nights.

[John Weaver] Now, let me point out the fact that whales were known to the ancients. If you would go back, before we go back to Jonah chapter 1. But if you would go back to the book of Job and look in Job chapter 7 and verse 12, you'll find the book of Job right before the book of Psalms. But look in Job 7 and verse 12 at the question that Job asked. Here it is, Job 7 verse 12.

[John Weaver] Am I a sea or a whale that thou settest watch over me? Note that question. Am I a sea or a whale that thou sittest watch over me? Job 7 and verse 12. Job 7 verse 12.

[John Weaver] Now, if you want some really interesting stories, you need to go to the Internet and just type in the men who were swallowed by whales. And you're going to find some astounding stories. One of these that I'm going to give you right now happened in 1891 to a young man by the name of James Bartley who was 21 years of age. He was a whaler and somehow he fell overboard and the whale actually swallowed him and he spent 16 hours in the whale's belly before his mates were able to get the whale, kill the whale, cut the whale open, and rescue James Bartley.

[John Weaver] So here's what was said. Listen carefully. He was a whaler and ended up swallowed by the whale before his mates could get him out. When he was cut out of the whale's belly, remember he'd been in there 16 hours, when he was cut out of the whale's belly, his digestive juices, that is those of the whale, had permanently bleached his skin a deathly white. He lost his hair and was nearly blind. For two weeks he was delirious, and it was a month before he could tell how he'd fallen into the whale's mouth, felt the huge teeth grate over him as he slid down the throat and into his stomach." Wow. I'm not sure that I would want to be swallowed by a whale. I don't want to be swallowed by any sea creature. If you look back in your Bibles at the book of Jonah chapter 1, I'm going to tell you that this fish or this whale that God prepared was a special fish or a special whale. The Bible says in Jonah 1 in verse 17, 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.

[John Weaver] So, God had prepared this fish specifically to swallow Jonah. Now, Jonah, of course, did not have his skin bleached. He did not lose his hair. And certainly, while Jonah was in the whale's belly, he had his senses all about him because he knew where he was. And when we get to Jonah chapter 2, he was praying. He was crying out, he said, out of the belly of hell. So he knew exactly where he was. He knew exactly what had happened. So this fish was a special one that was prepared by God. Now, look, look, if you would, please, Jonah chapter two and verse one.

[John Weaver] I'll cover this more next week. Then Jonah prayed into the Lord God out of the fish's belly. And he said, I cried by reason of my infliction into the Lord. And he heard me out of the belly of hell. I cried and thou heardest my voice. So clearly then, Jonah knew exactly what was going on when he was swallowed by the whale. Now, I want you to understand that Jonah basically was a runaway prophet. He did not want to preach what God had sent him to preach. So if you look in Jonah 1, verses 1 and 2, Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, Cry against it for their wickedness is come up before me so instead of obeying God Jonah ran instead of obeying God Jonah decided he was just going to leave the country. So if you look in verse 3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. I went down to Joppa and And he found a ship going to Tarshish.

[John Weaver] So he paid the fare thereof and went down into it to go with them into Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Now, the first question that we have to ask ourselves today is this. Why did Jonah flee? God said, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it. Their wickedness has come up before me. Jonah, all you've got to do is go to Nineveh and preach. But instead of going to Nineveh and preaching, Jonah goes down to Joppa and he gets on a ship to head to Tarshish. Well, I hope you remember that Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire.

[John Weaver] The Assyrians were mortal enemies of the Israelites. I hope you also remember that it was the Assyrians who captured the ten northern tribes. The Assyrians were cruel, wicked, horrible people. It was the Assyrians who actually began crucifixion. They did not crucify people the way the Romans crucified people. In fact, there are inscriptions on steles where the kings of Assyria are bragging about how many people they have crucified and how many piles of heads they've made in front of cities. The way the Assyrians did crucifixion was they would sharpen a stake and plant it firmly into the ground.

[John Weaver] And the sharp end is pointed up. They would take the man to be crucified, strip him naked, Two men would spread his legs, hold him over the stake, pull him down. The stake would go through the anus up through the intestines and stop right before they got to the heart. Which means then the man would writhe in pain for hours before he died.

[John Weaver] Now, when the Romans came along, they were not making crucifixion easier. It was actually crueler because now you'd be hanging on the cross for several days in excruciating pain and anger. So these Assyrians were mortal enemies of Israel. And of course, Jonah considered them his enemy as well. So Jonah actually wanted and desired the wholesale destruction of Nineveh and everybody that was in Nineveh. He wanted them dead. In fact, when we get to the end of the book of Jonah, you'll find in chapter four that even though he preached, he went out and got himself on a little hill under a shade, made himself a booth so he could sit and watch.

[John Weaver] And hopefully that God would destroy all of them. And God, of course, knew that he was angry. If you look very quickly to Jonah, chapter four, verses one and two, Jonah did not want Nineveh to repent. Jonah 4 verse 1, But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. That is, when the people repented, it displeased him. And he was exceedingly angry, and he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before thee unto Tarshish. For I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentant of evil. He said, God, I know you'd give them repentance. And I didn't want them to repent. And I'm angry, I'm upset. And certainly Jonah knew that if the Assyrians lived, then Israel would suffer. So in one sense of the word, Jonah was a patriot of sorts in the fact that he was willing for another nation to perish and not the covenant people.

[John Weaver] So why did he flee? Because he did not want the Assyrians to repent. He wanted them killed is what it amount to. The second question would be this. Did Jonah actually believe that he could flee from the presence of the Lord? So if you look in verse two, God says, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it for their wickedness to come up before me. Look at this in verse three. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Hmm. Then if you look down in verse 10, you'll see this again.

[John Weaver] Then were the men exceedingly afraid, that is the mariners, and they 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. Now, is it possible to flee from the presence of the Lord? And the answer is no. And yet, on the other hand, The answer could be yes, in the sense that Jonah was trying to do it.

[John Weaver] But no, it's impossible because of God's omnipresence. The omnipresence of God means that God is everywhere at one time in the totality of his being. So let me say this again. The omnipresence of God means that God is everywhere at one time in the totality of his being. The reason I repeated that is because I want to make sure that you do not fall into error or heresy, because there are some people that say, here, here's how you explain the omnipresence of God. Part of God is in Russia. Part of God's in England. Part of God's in China. Part of God's in America. Part of God's in Canada. Part of God's in South America. You put all these parts together and you've got God. No, that is heresy.

[John Weaver] That is, that is blasphemy. No, The omnipresence of God means that God is everywhere at one time in the totality of His being. So let me ask you to turn in your Bibles, holding Jonah 1 to Psalm 139. Psalm 139 is a very important psalm. It's a very beautiful psalm. It's a psalm that you should read and I would even say memorize. Because this Psalm not only speaks of God's omnipresence, it also speaks of God's omniscience. So if you look in Psalm 139, beginning there with verse one, the scripture says, David wrote, Oh Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting and mine up rising. Thou understandest my thought afar off. So David is saying, Lord, you know, when I sit down, you know, when I rise up, You understand my thought afar off. In fact, in the book of Ezekiel, God says, I know thy thoughts, every one of them, even before they come into thy mind. So obviously God does indeed know our thoughts. And then he says in verse three, thou compasses my path and my lying down and aren't acquainted with all my ways.

[John Weaver] For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid Thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain unto it."

[John Weaver] Now, that refers to God's omniscience. Now we get to God's omnipresence. He asks, whether shall I go from Thy spirit, or whether shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as day, and the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

[John Weaver] So the truth of the matter is, God is not only omniscient, God is omnipresent. There is not a thought in your mind that God does not know, and there's no place that you can go to hide from Him. It's impossible to do things in the dark where God cannot see you or where God is not. I think I may have told you this one time, but it's still funny to me. Mel Trotter was an old drunk that God saved. In fact, the interesting story about his conversion, well, he was such a horrible drunk.

[John Weaver] He stole the shoes off of his baby and was going to trade those shoes for a drink of whiskey. And on the way to the saloon, he passed a gospel meeting. They were singing psalms and hymns. And he went in just to get out of the cold and to rest and get warm for a few minutes. And he listened to a man preach and God saved him and so converted him gloriously.

[John Weaver] And Mel Trotter, of course, became a preacher. And he got concerned about a lover's lane in that area. where young people go and park and fornicate and all this kind of stuff. And he would go down there and preach to them and some of them would leave. Some of them laugh at him, wouldn't pay him any attention. And so finally he got a, uh, a neon sign and all it was was an eyeball that flashed And every time it flashed, it said, now, my God, see it's me. Now, my God, see it's me. And within a week, no one else would come back to lover's lane. Well, this is this is what I'm talking about in the sense that you cannot hide from God.

[John Weaver] And since God is omniscient, since he knows everything, I tell everybody, you know, if you've got something on your mind, if there's some question, if there's some doubt, if there's some sin, You might as well go ahead and confess it because God already knows it anyhow. You can't hide anything from Him, neither can you hide your presence from Him. Well, how is it then that the Bible tells us that Jonah was fleeing from the presence of God if it's impossible to flee from the presence of God? Well, if you will turn to two places in your Bible, the first one is 1 Kings chapter 8, and then the second one is 2 Chronicles. So 1st Kings chapter 8 verse 11 and then we're going to go to 2nd Chronicles chapter 5. I will go ahead and tell you this, that from which Jonah was fleeing was what you and I would call the manifest presence of God. So here's a good question, where was God, where was God's manifest presence in the Old Testament. Where did God particularly and peculiarly manifest Himself?

[John Weaver] And here's the answer. He did so in the tabernacle, and He did so in the temple. So, when the temple is dedicated, Solomon has been praying, and has prayed, and in II Kings chapter 8 and verse 11, I'm sorry, it's 1 Kings 8 and verse 11. The Scripture says this, So that the priests could not stand to minister, because the cloud of the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God. And then if you would turn right over to 2 Chronicles 5 and verse 14, you'll basically see the same truth. 2 Chronicles 5 and verse 14. Here the Word of God says, So that the priests could not stand a minister by reason of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God. So anytime in the Old Testament that you really wanted to worship God, you had to go either to the tabernacle or temple. Why? Because that is where God particularly and peculiarly manifested himself. So what Jonah was doing was fleeing from the temple. He was fleeing from the manifest presence of God.

[John Weaver] Wow. Well, let me ask you a question. Where does God particularly and peculiarly manifest Himself today? Or where does God particularly and peculiarly manifest Himself in the New Testament? Well, in our lives, that is true, but in our corporate meeting would be the church. What did He say? Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them. Maybe that's why a lot of people don't want to come to church. Because they're running from God. They don't want to hear the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. They don't want to see or sense the manifest presence of God.

[John Weaver] And so they just simply ignore it. So that's exactly what Jonah was doing. Jonah was getting out of Dodge. He was fleeing from the manifest presence of God. Another thought is this. Jonah could also have been fleeing from the commission that God had given him. That is, he was actually fleeing from his duty, his obligation, his responsibility to go to Nineveh and to preach the preaching that God had told him to do. So he was just getting out of dodge.

[John Weaver] Evidently, he believed that old saying, out of sight, out of mind. So he thought if he could get away from the manifest presence of God, then God would forget about sending him over to Nineveh. Wow. Well, it might work with us because we're so forgetful, but it does not work with the sovereign God of heaven and earth, who is the omniscient and omnipresent God of heaven and earth. So Jonah might have been thinking if he left, then God would get someone else to go to Nineveh because he certainly did not want to go now. I want you to look at verse 3 again, Jonah 1, verse 3, because here's something else. In fact, several truths, but notice if you would, Jonah 1 in verse 3, But Jonah rose up to flee into Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa, and he found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

[John Weaver] Now, as best as I can tell, from most of the sources, Tarshish would have been Spain. There were some scholars that said, no, he was not fleeing to Spain. He was actually fleeing to Tarsus, which was a city of Cilicia. And that is the city from which the apostle Paul came, Saul of Tarsus. And Tarsus was a city of Cilicia. To be absolutely honest, I think he was going to Spain. I think he was trying to get as far away from God as he possibly could get. He wanted to get away from God's manifest presence. He wanted to get away from his commission. Now, whether or not Tarshish is Spain or whether or not it is Tarsus, the city of Cilicia, that is not the point of verse three. Here's the point I want to bring out. Look at this. But Jonah rose up to flee into Tarshish. from the presence of the Lord. And he went down to Joppa and he found a ship going to Tarshish. Look at this next phrase.

[John Weaver] So he paid the fare thereof. And went down into it, the ship. He paid the fare thereof. So here's the point. Jonah paid the fare. Whenever you're running from God is going to cost you. Listen carefully. It is true that what God orders, He pays for. But when you try to run from God in God's will, and you begin to kick against the pricks, and you're disobedient, then you pay.

[John Weaver] Jonas Fair was probably small in the beginning. I don't know how much it cost him to get on that ship. But before God got through with him, he found out that running from God was going to cost him more than he was willing to pay and more than he was able to pay. So anytime you run from God, your own, your own is what it amounts to. It does not pay to run from the will of God. The safest place for any child of God is right smack dab in the middle of God's will.

[John Weaver] Now, in this book, in this chapter of Jonah, chapter one, there are two things that God prepared for Jonah. God prepared a great wind and God also prepared a great fish. The great wind brought terror to the mariners. But he did not bring terror to Jonah. He was fast asleep. Look in verse 4. 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."

[John Weaver] Watch this,"...so the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon my God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not." So Jonah is sleeping through the storm. Now Jonah may have been asleep, before the storm began. That's a possibility. But the very fact if he was asleep before the storm began, you've got to remember that ship would have been rolling with the waves and people would have been streaming and crying and all kinds of things going on. And he would have been sleeping all through it.

[John Weaver] Evidently he was absolutely totally unconcerned. All the wares of the ship had been dumped. They were streaming for their lives. Jonah had to be rebuked by heathen He said awake thou sleeper. What are you doing? Are you insane? We're about to die all of us and here you are down here asleep Wow Notice what he said and arise and call upon by God You know Nowhere in this chapter. And nowhere in the book of Jonah. Does it say that Jonah prayed?

[John Weaver] During this experience with these mariners. He's called upon to pray. But nothing is recorded that he did pray. And in other words, they said, look. All of our lives are in danger.

[John Weaver] Now, since Jonah was a believer, and the one true and the living God, and since Jonah was a prophet, since he was a preacher, would you not think that Jonah would be concerned about the lives of these mariners? It's true, they were heathen, but still, they were beings. Wow! I want you to learn this lesson right now. If you're not concerned about the many, you're not going to be concerned about the few.

[John Weaver] Hmm, what do I mean by that? Well, I have no idea how many people were on this ship. I don't even know how big the ship was. I'm sure probably in 15 or 20 at a minimum. When you get to the New Testament, the apostle Paul was on a ship and there's nearly 300 on that ship, 270 something, I think. It could have been that many on this one. I don't know. Don't know the size of the ship. But what do I mean? If you're not concerned about the many, you're not concerned about the few. Well, if you look in Jonah chapter four and verse 11, and I'll come back to this on the fourth message, but look at it. God is rebuking Jonah and he said, and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city where there are more than six score thousand That's 120,000 persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle. He said, Jonah, I got 120,000 little babies that do not know the difference between their right hand and their left hand.

[John Weaver] That does not count the older children. That does not count the teenagers. That does not count the adults. That does not even include all the cattle or all the animals that were there. Many have said that probably Nineveh had about a million people in it. 120,000 children. Oh, yeah. They can't discern the left hand there. Listen, if you're not concerned about a million people, you're not going to be concerned about 15 or 20.

[John Weaver] It's kind of like Joseph Stalin reportedly said. One or two murders. Is a tragedy. A million. Is a statistic. Nobody cares about that. That's what he's saying. So Jonah is totally asleep. So I find it interesting that Jonah was encouraged to pray, and yet we never read anything that he did pray. He evidently was at the point of not wanting to live, and he thought that somehow his death would cause God not to have mercy upon the Assyrians.

[John Weaver] Now, I think this is a valid point based upon what follows. So look in verse 7. And they said everyone 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.

[John Weaver] What is that occupation and which comest thou? What is thy 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 made the sea and the dry land. Remember now they're having problems with the sea right now. Then were the men exceedingly afraid and said to him, why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told them.

[John Weaver] 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 tempestuous. 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 unto land, but they could not, for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them."

[John Weaver] Now, there are two very important truths right here. The first one is this, that oftentimes, heathen folks, are more concerned with life than those who profess to be the worshippers of the one true and the living God. I find this absolutely astounding, because here is Jonah, who is supposed to be a preacher, and supposed to be a prophet, and supposed to be interested in the will of God, in glorifying God, and in the lives of the people. And he's not even interested in helping save the lives of these mariners. Wow.

[John Weaver] Uh, how are we going to, uh, stop this tempest? Well, Jonah kind of smiles and says, no, this is easy. Just pick me up, throw me in sea and everything will be calm unto you. Do you get the idea that Jonah was only willing to die that he wanted to die? I want to show you this. Look at this. Look in verse 13. When he said, if you want this tempest to go away, just pick me up, throw me into the sea. Verse 13.

[John Weaver] Nevertheless, the men rode hard to bring it to the land, but they could not. For the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them. Did you see that? These men who were heathen, for whom Jonah had absolutely no compassion and no concern were concerned about him instead of just picking them up and throwing over, which would be the easy way out. They rode hard to bring that ship to land. They did everything they could to keep from throwing Jonah into the deep. Wow. It's strange to me that sometimes a heathen have more concern for life than the righteous. The easy thing would have been to have just picked him up and pitched him in.

[John Weaver] Yeah, he encouraged them to do it. Throw me in and it'll cease. Here's the second truth. The second truth, I think, is very, very profound. Jonah, in this instance, is an excellent illustration. And in an example, of a New Testament truth. I want you to look in your Bibles if you would to Romans chapter 14 in verse 7. Romans 14 in verse 7. I want you to think as we read this verse. Jonah is an excellent illustration and example of this New Testament truth. Romans 14 verse 7 says, For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself."

[John Weaver] If you cannot see this clearly, then you need to have your sight, your hearing, and your heart checked. Whatever you do, whether it is good or bad, right or wrong, righteous or unrighteous, whatever you do always affects other people. Oftentimes, it affects people that you do not even know. When Jonah fled from the presence of the Lord, he didn't know these mariners. And yet he was the cause of the loss of all their wares, all their goods, all the money they'd invested in that, and almost became the cause of the loss of their lives. So mark this down, whatever we do, whether it's good or bad, always affects someone else. You must remember this. Here it is.

[John Weaver] When you and I sin, we're only interested in ourselves. We're only interested in our lusts, our desires, what pleases and satisfies us. We're not concerned with others or the effects of what we do upon the lives of others. Just this month, a week or so ago, I forget exactly how many, but there was a July the 4th celebration and someone ran a car into this crowd and if I remember correctly, it was either a dozen killed or four or five killed and a dozen hurt.

[John Weaver] And the man was drunk. When he was drinking, he wasn't concerned about other people. He was only concerned about himself. I'm just pointing out the fact, whenever we sin, we're absolutely, totally selfish. Think about the homes. Think about the families that are destroyed because of pornography, fornication, adultery. We forget the impact that our actions have upon other people. If I ran out on Alice, let me ask you a question. Is that not only going to affect my relationship with God? It's not going to only reflect and affect my relationship with her. What about our children? What about our grandchildren? What about our great-grandchildren? What about our friends? What about our family? What about the ministry? You follow what I'm saying?

[John Weaver] It's impossible for you and I to act independently in the sense that we never have any influence upon anyone else. We do. And usually whatever we do is bad and it always affects someone else. The positive side of that is yes, We also have the privilege and the blessing of living a holy, godly, obedient life, and affecting the lives of others through righteousness. But we cannot do one thing without affecting the lives of everyone else. It's just that simple.

[John Weaver] Now, so God sent that wind. And God, if you'll look in verse 17, prepared a fish especially for Jonah. 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. Do you realize? Probably Jonah thought that once they throw me into the sea, I'm going to drown. It's going to all be over.

[John Weaver] Well, it didn't work out like that. You know, a lot of people who commit suicide thought that once they kill themselves, it'd all be over. It's not. And they found that out after they died. But I'm just simply saying, folks, We cannot do one thing without affecting the lives of others. Alice and I were going down a dirt road this past week to avoid a train that had stopped.

[John Weaver] And we went by an old home place, and I pointed out to her where a neighbor shot and killed himself many, many years ago. I went to school with, I guess, I don't remember if it was his daughter or his niece. But after all these years, I remembered only that he had done it and how he did it. And you always consider what in the world was the effect it had on that young girl because it happened in her house. I'm just simply saying, no man liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself. It's not all over.

[John Weaver] Now, let me make some applications. The first one is this. Listen carefully to this question. Are you a Jonah? Are you running from the will of God for your life? Are you paying your own way to get away from God and His will and His Word? If you are a Jonah, and if you're running away from the will of God, then don't be surprised if God doesn't prepare something just for you, just like He did Jonah. God has a way of stopping us, of arresting us, and bringing us back to our senses. I've often said when God got through with Jonah, he might have smelled a lot like fish, but he felt a whole lot more like preaching.

[John Weaver] When that whale spit him out, I believe he went running straight to Nineveh. I'm just saying, folks, the safest place to be is always right smack dab in the middle of the will of God for you and for your life. I'm thankful that I don't have to doubt for the will of God for my life in that one sense of the word, because he called me to preach, and that's what I've been doing for 60 years. I always laugh and smile when I say this, but when I was a boy, I wanted to be a preacher. Well, the only reason, Gary, I wanted to be a preacher was because they only worked on Wednesday and Sunday, and you could play the rest of the week. How wrong was I on that one? How wrong?

[John Weaver] And Alice, somehow when she was a little girl, she thought she'd end up marrying a preacher. And then when she married me, she said, well, I guess that was all down the road. But then God saved us both and called me to preach and, hey, That's where I am right now. I'm just simply saying, I don't want to do anything else. That's all I ever want to do is to preach and teach the word of God. So we've got to find out God's will for our lives and stay right smack dab in the middle of it. Here's the second application. I'm just going to re emphasize it.

[John Weaver] Whatever you do always affects others. Whether it's good or bad, right or wrong, righteous or unrighteous, you cannot escape the influence that you have on others. Whether it's your wife, your husband, your children, your grandchildren, your neighbors, your friends, you cannot escape it. You're either going to be a blessing to them or you're going to be a curse to them. Jonah teaches us that no man liveth to himself. And no man died to himself. Lord willing, next week, I'm going to be bringing a message on chapter two. Run, Jonah, run.

[John Weaver] And so we'll see how God works in his life. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee this day. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. We pray, Lord, that you would teach us and help us to make application to our lives. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

[John Weaver] so

Truths from the Life of Jonah - Jonah Series - Part 1 of 4

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	BiVB6REAcRM
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Romans: Law, Obedience, and Sanctification: Holiness and Obedience
Genre	Sermon
Date	2024-12-01
Dictation Name
Book	Book 135: Romans: Law, Obedience, and Sanctification - Volume 2 — Chapter 23
Source Timed Segments	70

Formatted Transcript

Introduction to the Jonah Series

Weaver announces a four-part series on Jonah, encouraging the congregation to read the book ahead of time.

All right, I want you to open your Bibles if you would please today to the book of Jonah chapter 1, and you're going to find the little book of Jonah right after Obadiah and right before Micah. Lord willing, I'm going to be preaching four messages on this book. And so if you want to get a little head start, just read Jonah for the next several weeks, and you will pretty well come up with a lot of truth, I am sure. So look, if we would please, in Jonah chapter one, and the title of the message today is Truths from the Life of Jonah, Truths from the Life of Jonah. So Jonah chapter one, beginning there with verse one, the word of God says this: 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 is 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.

The Profitability of the Old Testament

Using 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Weaver argues that all Scripture, including the Old Testament, is God-breathed and profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.

A few years back, I brought two messages which I entitled Old Testament Principles and New Testament Truths. My aim on those two messages was simply to demonstrate that we have one Bible and not two Bibles. I've repeatedly said that the Old Testament is just as much the Word of God as is the New Testament. In fact, the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." We may deduce several wonderful truths from these verses. First of all, the scripture tells us that all scripture is God-breathed. The Greek word there is a very important word. It is the word Theopneustos. It literally means exhaled from the mouth of God, or God-breathed, or God-exhaled. So the truth of the matter is all of the scripture came from the breath of God. That is why it's called the Word of God.

That's why it's referred to as the truth of God. You say, well, I understand that the Bible was inspired. And that is true. Men wrote the Bible, but they were men who were inspired. So what is inspiration? Inspiration is a strong, conscious in-breathing of God into men, qualifying them to give utterance to the truth so that the words which they wrote were and are indeed the very words of God.

So let me put this another way. What inspiration actually means is the Bible is just as much the word of God as if God spoke every single word of it with His own lips. That's what it means when he said it was God-breathed. Now you say, but men wrote the Bible. I've already covered that, but you know, the Bible says in 2 Peter chapter 1,

Scripture Reading — 2 Peter 1:21

"For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

So it was the Holy Ghost then who inspired the words. It was the Holy Ghost who moved upon the men to pen these words, and they are indeed the very words of God Himself. The second thing that we may deduce is this. When Paul wrote these verses, 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17, he had primarily the Old Testament in mind, because the New Testament had not been completed at that time. And of course, these words, these verses would apply to any of the New Testament passages or books that had been completed by that particular time.

So primarily, when he wrote that, he had in mind the Old Testament. Thirdly, and clearly, the Bible teaches us that all of God's Word is profitable. When he said all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable, that means the Old Testament is just as profitable as is the New Testament. So those then who ignore the Old Testament, who denigrate the Old Testament, who deny the Old Testament, are denying and depriving themselves of great truths, great promises, and great warnings. Because the Old Testament is just as profitable as is the New Testament. Fourth, let me point out, based upon 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17, it is impossible for the man of God to be complete and thoroughly furnished unto all good works without the Old Testament. Now, the Scripture said, all Scripture is inspired of God. Didn't you get to verse 17, that the man of God may be perfect? The Greek word for the word perfect is the word artios, which literally means one that is fit, one that is complete, one that is perfect, one that is equipped for just about any and every possible use.

So without the Old Testament, then it is impossible for a man to be equipped the way he should be. And then when you look at these words, from Scripture that the man of God might be thoroughly furnished unto every good work. The Greek word happens to be exartizo, and it means that which is complete and that which is perfectly furnished. So the individual who ignores the Old Testament is not complete. He is not furnished. So any preacher then who would ignore the Old Testament is an incomplete preacher, and he's not furnished into everything that he possibly needs.

The Historicity of Jonah and the Whale

Weaver defends Jonah as a real historical prophet, citing 2 Kings 14:25 and Jesus' words in Matthew 12:40-41, and provides a modern example of a man swallowed by a whale.

further: Yes, I believe that Jonah was a real, living, historical person, and yes, I do believe that Jonah was swallowed by a whale, because the Bible does indeed teach that. If you would look in your Bibles, holding Jonah chapter 1, but turn back to 2 Kings chapter 14, 2 Kings chapter 14, you will find that Jonah is spoken of not only as a real, live prophet, but he is one who prophesied and one whose prophecy came to pass. So if you look in 2 Kings 14, verse 25, 2 Kings 14, verse 25, and here's what the Bible says: "He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gath-Hepher." So notice if you would, Jonah is specifically named, his father is named, he's designated as a prophet, and even the city from which he originated, Gath-Hepher.

So Jonah then indeed was a real living person. So if you deny the historical personhood of Jonah, you're not only denying the truth of the Old Testament, but hang on, you would also be denying the Lord Jesus Christ, because the Lord Jesus Christ himself testified to the person of Jonah and to that which happened to Jonah. So if you will turn in your Bibles to the book of Matthew, chapter 12, you're going to find where our Lord recognized Jonah as a real live individual, and also the very fact that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. So if you look at Matthew chapter 12 and verses 40 and 41, our Lord said, "For as Jonas 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." So our Lord then is testifying not only to the personhood of Jonah, but to the preaching of Jonah, the fact that he went to Nineveh, and the fact that he was swallowed by a whale and stayed in the belly of the whale for three days and for three nights. Now, let me point out the fact that whales were known to the ancients. If you would go back, before we go back to Jonah chapter 1, but if you would go back to the book of Job and look in Job chapter 7 and verse 12, you'll find the book of Job right before the book of Psalms. But look in Job 7 and verse 12 at the question that Job asked. Here it is, Job 7 verse 12.

"Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?" Note that question. "Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?" Job 7 and verse 12. Job 7 verse 12. Now, if you want some really interesting stories, you need to go to the Internet and just type in "the men who were swallowed by whales." And you're going to find some astounding stories. One of these that I'm going to give you right now happened in 1891 to a young man by the name of James Bartley who was 21 years of age. He was a whaler and somehow he fell overboard and the whale actually swallowed him and he spent 16 hours in the whale's belly before his mates were able to get the whale, kill the whale, cut the whale open, and rescue James Bartley.

So here's what was said. Listen carefully. He was a whaler and ended up swallowed by the whale before his mates could get him out. When he was cut out of the whale's belly, remember he'd been in there 16 hours, when he was cut out of the whale's belly, the digestive juices, that is those of the whale, had permanently bleached his skin a deathly white. He lost his hair and was nearly blind. For two weeks he was delirious, and it was a month before he could tell how he'd fallen into the whale's mouth, felt the huge teeth grate over him as he slid down the throat and into his stomach. Wow. I'm not sure that I would want to be swallowed by a whale. I don't want to be swallowed by any sea creature. If you look back in your Bibles at the book of Jonah chapter 1, I'm going to tell you that this fish or this whale that God prepared was a special fish or a special whale. The Bible says in Jonah 1 in verse 17, "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."

So, God had prepared this fish specifically to swallow Jonah. Now, Jonah, of course, did not have his skin bleached. He did not lose his hair. And certainly, while Jonah was in the whale's belly, he had his senses all about him because he knew where he was. And when we get to Jonah chapter 2, he was praying. He was crying out, he said, "out of the belly of hell." So he knew exactly where he was. He knew exactly what had happened. So this fish was a special one that was prepared by God. Now, look, look, if you would, please, Jonah chapter two and verse one.

I'll cover this more next week.

Scripture Reading — Jonah 2:1-2

"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 the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice."

So clearly then, Jonah knew exactly what was going on when he was swallowed by the whale. Now, I want you to understand that Jonah basically was a runaway prophet. He did not want to preach what God had sent him to preach. So if you look in Jonah 1, verses 1 and 2, "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 is come up before me." So instead of obeying God, Jonah ran. Instead of obeying God, Jonah decided he was just going to leave the country. So if you look in verse 3, "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.

Jonah's Disobedience and Flight

Jonah flees to Tarshish instead of preaching to Nineveh because he hates the Assyrians and does not want them to repent.

I'll cover this more next week.

Scripture Reading — Jonah 2:1-2

"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 the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice."

So he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord." Now, the first question that we have to ask ourselves today is this: Why did Jonah flee? God said, "Go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it. Their wickedness has come up before me." Jonah, all you've got to do is go to Nineveh and preach. But instead of going to Nineveh and preaching, Jonah goes down to Joppa and he gets on a ship to head to Tarshish. Well, I hope you remember that Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians were mortal enemies of the Israelites. I hope you also remember that it was the Assyrians who captured the ten northern tribes. The Assyrians were cruel, wicked, horrible people. It was the Assyrians who actually began crucifixion. They did not crucify people the way the Romans crucified people. In fact, there are inscriptions on steles where the kings of Assyria are bragging about how many people they have crucified and how many piles of heads they've made in front of cities. The way the Assyrians did crucifixion was they would sharpen a stake and plant it firmly into the ground.

And the sharp end is pointed up. They would take the man to be crucified, strip him naked. Two men would spread his legs, hold him over the stake, pull him down. The stake would go through the anus up through the intestines and stop right before they got to the heart. Which means then the man would writhe in pain for hours before he died.

Now, when the Romans came along, they were not making crucifixion easier. It was actually crueler because now you'd be hanging on the cross for several days in excruciating pain and anger. So these Assyrians were mortal enemies of Israel. And of course, Jonah considered them his enemy as well. So Jonah actually wanted and desired the wholesale destruction of Nineveh and everybody that was in Nineveh. He wanted them dead. In fact, when we get to the end of the book of Jonah, you'll find in chapter four that even though he preached, he went out and got himself on a little hill under a shade, made himself a booth so he could sit and watch.

And hopefully that God would destroy all of them. And God, of course, knew that he was angry. If you look very quickly to Jonah, chapter four, verses one and two, Jonah did not want Nineveh to repent. Jonah 4 verse 1,

Scripture Reading — Jonah 4:1-2

"But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry."

That is, when the people repented, it displeased him. And he was exceedingly angry, and he prayed unto the Lord, and said,

Scripture Reading — Jonah 4:1-2

"I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil."

He said, "God, I know you'd give them repentance. And I didn't want them to repent. And I'm angry, I'm upset." And certainly Jonah knew that if the Assyrians lived, then Israel would suffer. So in one sense of the word, Jonah was a patriot of sorts in the fact that he was willing for another nation to perish and not the covenant people.

So why did he flee? Because he did not want the Assyrians to repent. He wanted them killed is what it amounts to. The second question would be this: Did Jonah actually believe that he could flee from the presence of the Lord? So if you look in verse two, God says, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me." Look at this in verse three. "But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord." Hmm. Then if you look down in verse 10, you'll see this again.

The Impossibility of Fleeing God's Presence

Weaver explains God's omnipresence from Psalm 139, clarifying that Jonah was fleeing the manifest presence of God in the temple, not God's essential presence.

"Then were the men exceedingly afraid," that is the mariners, "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." Now, is it possible to flee from the presence of the Lord? And the answer is no. And yet, on the other hand, the answer could be yes, in the sense that Jonah was trying to do it.

But no, it's impossible because of God's omnipresence. The omnipresence of God means that God is everywhere at one time in the totality of His being. So let me say this again. The omnipresence of God means that God is everywhere at one time in the totality of His being. The reason I repeated that is because I want to make sure that you do not fall into error or heresy, because there are some people that say, "Here, here's how you explain the omnipresence of God. Part of God is in Russia. Part of God's in England. Part of God's in China. Part of God's in America. Part of God's in Canada. Part of God's in South America. You put all these parts together and you've got God." No, that is heresy.

That is, that is blasphemy. No, the omnipresence of God means that God is everywhere at one time in the totality of His being. So let me ask you to turn in your Bibles, holding Jonah 1 to Psalm 139. Psalm 139 is a very important psalm. It's a very beautiful psalm. It's a psalm that you should read and I would even say memorize. Because this Psalm not only speaks of God's omnipresence, it also speaks of God's omniscience. So if you look in Psalm 139, beginning there with verse one, the scripture says, David wrote,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 139:1-12

"O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off."

So David is saying,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 139:1-12

"Lord, you know when I sit down, you know when I rise up. You understand my thought afar off."

In fact, in the book of Ezekiel, God says, "I know thy thoughts, every one of them, even before they come into thy mind." So obviously God does indeed know our thoughts. And then he says in verse three,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 139:1-12

"Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it." Now, that refers to God's omniscience. Now we get to God's omnipresence. He asks, "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee."

So the truth of the matter is, God is not only omniscient, God is omnipresent. There is not a thought in your mind that God does not know, and there's no place that you can go to hide from Him. It's impossible to do things in the dark where God cannot see you or where God is not. I think I may have told you this one time, but it's still funny to me. Mel Trotter was an old drunk that God saved. In fact, the interesting story about his conversion, well, he was such a horrible drunk. He stole the shoes off of his baby and was going to trade those shoes for a drink of whiskey. And on the way to the saloon, he passed a gospel meeting. They were singing psalms and hymns. And he went in just to get out of the cold and to rest and get warm for a few minutes. And he listened to a man preach and God saved him and so converted him gloriously.

And Mel Trotter, of course, became a preacher. And he got concerned about a lover's lane in that area, where young people go and park and fornicate and all this kind of stuff. And he would go down there and preach to them and some of them would leave. Some of them laugh at him, wouldn't pay him any attention. And so finally he got a neon sign and all it was was an eyeball that flashed. And every time it flashed, it said, "Now, my God, see it's me. Now, my God, see it's me." And within a week, no one else would come back to lover's lane. Well, this is this is what I'm talking about in the sense that you cannot hide from God.

And since God is omniscient, since He knows everything, I tell everybody, you know, if you've got something on your mind, if there's some question, if there's some doubt, if there's some sin, you might as well go ahead and confess it because God already knows it anyhow. You can't hide anything from Him, neither can you hide your presence from Him. Well, how is it then that the Bible tells us that Jonah was fleeing from the presence of God if it's impossible to flee from the presence of God? Well, if you will turn to two places in your Bible, the first one is 1 Kings chapter 8, and then the second one is 2 Chronicles. So 1st Kings chapter 8 verse 11 and then we're going to go to 2nd Chronicles chapter 5. I will go ahead and tell you this, that from which Jonah was fleeing was what you and I would call the manifest presence of God. So here's a good question: Where was God, where was God's manifest presence in the Old Testament? Where did God particularly and peculiarly manifest Himself?

And here's the answer. He did so in the tabernacle, and He did so in the temple. So, when the temple is dedicated, Solomon has been praying, and has prayed, and in 1 Kings chapter 8 and verse 11, the Scripture says this:

Scripture Reading — 1 Kings 8:11

"So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord."

And then if you would turn right over to 2 Chronicles 5 and verse 14, you'll basically see the same truth. 2 Chronicles 5 and verse 14. Here the Word of God says,

Scripture Reading — 1 Kings 8:11

"So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God."

So anytime in the Old Testament that you really wanted to worship God, you had to go either to the tabernacle or temple. Why? Because that is where God particularly and peculiarly manifested Himself. So what Jonah was doing was fleeing from the temple. He was fleeing from the manifest presence of God.

Wow. Well, let me ask you a question. Where does God particularly and peculiarly manifest Himself today? Or where does God particularly and peculiarly manifest Himself in the New Testament? Well, in our lives, that is true, but in our corporate meeting would be the church. What did He say? "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Maybe that's why a lot of people don't want to come to church. Because they're running from God. They don't want to hear the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. They don't want to see or sense the manifest presence of God.

And so they just simply ignore it. So that's exactly what Jonah was doing. Jonah was getting out of Dodge. He was fleeing from the manifest presence of God. Another thought is this. Jonah could also have been fleeing from the commission that God had given him. That is, he was actually fleeing from his duty, his obligation, his responsibility to go to Nineveh and to preach the preaching that God had told him to do. So he was just getting out of Dodge.

The Cost of Running from God

Jonah paid his own fare to Tarshish, illustrating that disobedience always comes at a personal cost.

Now, as best as I can tell, from most of the sources, Tarshish would have been Spain. There were some scholars that said, no, he was not fleeing to Spain. He was actually fleeing to Tarsus, which was a city of Cilicia. And that is the city from which the apostle Paul came, Saul of Tarsus. And Tarsus was a city of Cilicia. To be absolutely honest, I think he was going to Spain. I think he was trying to get as far away from God as he possibly could get. He wanted to get away from God's manifest presence. He wanted to get away from his commission. Now, whether or not Tarshish is Spain or whether or not it is Tarsus, the city of Cilicia, that is not the point of verse three. Here's the point I want to bring out. Look at this. "But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. And he went down to Joppa and he found a ship going to Tarshish." Look at this next phrase.

"So he paid the fare thereof." And went down into it, the ship. He paid the fare thereof. So here's the point. Jonah paid the fare. Whenever you're running from God it's going to cost you. Listen carefully. It is true that what God orders, He pays for. But when you try to run from God in God's will, and you begin to kick against the pricks, and you're disobedient, then you pay.

Jonah's fare was probably small in the beginning. I don't know how much it cost him to get on that ship. But before God got through with him, he found out that running from God was going to cost him more than he was willing to pay and more than he was able to pay. So anytime you run from God, you own, you own is what it amounts to. It does not pay to run from the will of God. The safest place for any child of God is right smack dab in the middle of God's will.

Jonah's Indifference and the Sailors' Concern

While the pagan sailors fear for their lives and try to save Jonah, he sleeps and later suggests they throw him overboard, showing his lack of concern for others.

Watch this, "...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." So Jonah is sleeping through the storm. Now Jonah may have been asleep before the storm began. That's a possibility. But the very fact if he was asleep before the storm began, you've got to remember that ship would have been rolling with the waves and people would have been screaming and crying and all kinds of things going on. And he would have been sleeping all through it. Evidently he was absolutely totally unconcerned. All the wares of the ship had been dumped. They were screaming for their lives. Jonah had to be rebuked by heathen. He said, "Awake thou sleeper. What are you doing? Are you insane? We're about to die all of us and here you are down here asleep." Wow. Notice what he said: "and arise and call upon thy God." You know, nowhere in this chapter, and nowhere in the book of Jonah, does it say that Jonah prayed.

During this experience with these mariners. He's called upon to pray. But nothing is recorded that he did pray. And in other words, they said, "Look. All of our lives are in danger."

Now, since Jonah was a believer, and the one true and the living God, and since Jonah was a prophet, since he was a preacher, would you not think that Jonah would be concerned about the lives of these mariners? It's true, they were heathen, but still, they were beings. Wow! I want you to learn this lesson right now. If you're not concerned about the many, you're not going to be concerned about the few. Hmm, what do I mean by that? Well, I have no idea how many people were on this ship. I don't even know how big the ship was. I'm sure probably in 15 or 20 at a minimum. When you get to the New Testament, the apostle Paul was on a ship and there's nearly 300 on that ship, 270 something, I think. It could have been that many on this one. I don't know. Don't know the size of the ship. But what do I mean? If you're not concerned about the many, you're not concerned about the few. Well, if you look in Jonah chapter four and verse 11, and I'll come back to this on the fourth message, but look at it. God is rebuking Jonah and he said,

Scripture Reading — Jonah 4:11

"And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?"

He said,

Scripture Reading — Jonah 4:11

"Jonah, I got 120,000 little babies that do not know the difference between their right hand and their left hand."

That does not count the older children. That does not count the teenagers. That does not count the adults. That does not even include all the cattle or all the animals that were there. Many have said that probably Nineveh had about a million people in it. 120,000 children. Oh, yeah. They can't discern the left hand there. Listen, if you're not concerned about a million people, you're not going to be concerned about 15 or 20.

It's kind of like Joseph Stalin reportedly said. One or two murders is a tragedy. A million is a statistic. Nobody cares about that. That's what he's saying. So Jonah is totally asleep. So I find it interesting that Jonah was encouraged to pray, and yet we never read anything that he did pray. He evidently was at the point of not wanting to live, and he thought that somehow his death would cause God not to have mercy upon the Assyrians.

Now, I think this is a valid point based upon what follows. So look in verse 7. "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 thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou? And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land." Remember now they're having problems with the sea right now. "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 tempestuous. 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 rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them." Now, there are two very important truths right here. The first one is this, that oftentimes, heathen folks are more concerned with life than those who profess to be the worshippers of the one true and the living God. I find this absolutely astounding, because here is Jonah, who is supposed to be a preacher, and supposed to be a prophet, and supposed to be interested in the will of God, in glorifying God, and in the lives of the people. And he's not even interested in helping save the lives of these mariners. Wow.

Uh, how are we going to stop this tempest? Well, Jonah kind of smiles and says, "No, this is easy. Just pick me up, throw me in sea and everything will be calm unto you." Do you get the idea that Jonah was only willing to die, that he wanted to die? I want to show you this. Look at this. Look in verse 13. When he said, "If you want this tempest to go away, just pick me up, throw me into the sea." Verse 13.

"Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them." Did you see that? These men who were heathen, for whom Jonah had absolutely no compassion and no concern, were concerned about him instead of just picking him up and throwing over, which would be the easy way out. They rowed hard to bring that ship to land. They did everything they could to keep from throwing Jonah into the deep. Wow. It's strange to me that sometimes the heathen have more concern for life than the righteous. The easy thing would have been to have just picked him up and pitched him in.

No Man Lives or Dies to Himself

Weaver uses Romans 14:7 to show that Jonah's sin affected the sailors, and our actions always impact others, for good or ill.

Yeah, he encouraged them to do it. "Throw me in and it'll cease." Here's the second truth. The second truth, I think, is very, very profound. Jonah, in this instance, is an excellent illustration and an example of a New Testament truth. I want you to look in your Bibles if you would to Romans chapter 14 in verse 7. Romans 14 in verse 7. I want you to think as we read this verse. Jonah is an excellent illustration and example of this New Testament truth. Romans 14 verse 7 says, "For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself."

If you cannot see this clearly, then you need to have your sight, your hearing, and your heart checked. Whatever you do, whether it is good or bad, right or wrong, righteous or unrighteous, whatever you do always affects other people. Oftentimes, it affects people that you do not even know. When Jonah fled from the presence of the Lord, he didn't know these mariners. And yet he was the cause of the loss of all their wares, all their goods, all the money they'd invested in that, and almost became the cause of the loss of their lives. So mark this down, whatever we do, whether it's good or bad, always affects someone else. You must remember this. Here it is.

When you and I sin, we're only interested in ourselves. We're only interested in our lusts, our desires, what pleases and satisfies us. We're not concerned with others or the effects of what we do upon the lives of others. Just this month, a week or so ago, I forget exactly how many, but there was a July the 4th celebration and someone ran a car into this crowd and if I remember correctly, it was either a dozen killed or four or five killed and a dozen hurt. And the man was drunk. When he was drinking, he wasn't concerned about other people. He was only concerned about himself. I'm just pointing out the fact, whenever we sin, we're absolutely, totally selfish. Think about the homes. Think about the families that are destroyed because of pornography, fornication, adultery. We forget the impact that our actions have upon other people. If I ran out on Alice, let me ask you a question. Is that not only going to affect my relationship with God? It's not going to only reflect and affect my relationship with her. What about our children? What about our grandchildren? What about our great-grandchildren? What about our friends? What about our family? What about the ministry? You follow what I'm saying?

It's impossible for you and I to act independently in the sense that we never have any influence upon anyone else. We do. And usually whatever we do is bad and it always affects someone else. The positive side of that is yes, we also have the privilege and the blessing of living a holy, godly, obedient life, and affecting the lives of others through righteousness. But we cannot do one thing without affecting the lives of everyone else. It's just that simple.

Now, so God sent that wind. And God, if you'll look in verse 17, prepared a fish especially for Jonah. "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." Do you realize? Probably Jonah thought that once they throw me into the sea, I'm going to drown. It's going to all be over.

Applications: Stay in God's Will and Recognize Your Influence

Weaver challenges listeners to examine if they are running from God's will and reminds them that their actions always affect others.

Now, let me make some applications. The first one is this. Listen carefully to this question. Are you a Jonah? Are you running from the will of God for your life? Are you paying your own way to get away from God and His will and His Word? If you are a Jonah, and if you're running away from the will of God, then don't be surprised if God doesn't prepare something just for you, just like He did Jonah. God has a way of stopping us, of arresting us, and bringing us back to our senses. I've often said when God got through with Jonah, he might have smelled a lot like fish, but he felt a whole lot more like preaching.

When that whale spit him out, I believe he went running straight to Nineveh. I'm just saying, folks, the safest place to be is always right smack dab in the middle of the will of God for you and for your life. I'm thankful that I don't have to doubt for the will of God for my life in that one sense of the word, because he called me to preach, and that's what I've been doing for 60 years. I always laugh and smile when I say this, but when I was a boy, I wanted to be a preacher. Well, the only reason, Gary, I wanted to be a preacher was because they only worked on Wednesday and Sunday, and you could play the rest of the week. How wrong was I on that one? How wrong?

And Alice, somehow when she was a little girl, she thought she'd end up marrying a preacher. And then when she married me, she said, "Well, I guess that was all down the road." But then God saved us both and called me to preach and, hey, that's where I am right now. I'm just simply saying, I don't want to do anything else. That's all I ever want to do is to preach and teach the word of God. So we've got to find out God's will for our lives and stay right smack dab in the middle of it. Here's the second application. I'm just going to re-emphasize it.

Whatever you do always affects others. Whether it's good or bad, right or wrong, righteous or unrighteous, you cannot escape the influence that you have on others. Whether it's your wife, your husband, your children, your grandchildren, your neighbors, your friends, you cannot escape it. You're either going to be a blessing to them or you're going to be a curse to them. Jonah teaches us that no man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. Lord willing, next week, I'm going to be bringing a message on chapter two: Run, Jonah, run.

Study Guide

Major Themes

The Inspiration and Profitability of All Scripture

Summary: The entire Bible, including the Old Testament, is God-breathed and essential for spiritual maturity.

Evidence: Weaver cites 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and explains the Greek word Theopneustos, emphasizing that the Old Testament is just as profitable as the New.

The Historicity of Biblical Events

Summary: Jonah was a real person, and the miracle of the great fish is affirmed by both Old Testament history and Jesus' testimony.

Evidence: Weaver references 2 Kings 14:25 and Matthew 12:40-41, and shares the story of James Bartley to support the plausibility of the account.

The Consequences of Disobedience

Summary: Running from God's will leads to personal cost and divine intervention.

Evidence: Jonah paid his fare to Tarshish, and God sent a storm and a great fish to arrest his flight.

God's Omnipresence and Manifest Presence

Summary: While God is everywhere, His manifest presence in the Old Testament was in the temple; Jonah fled from that special presence.

Evidence: Weaver explains Psalm 139 and contrasts God's essential omnipresence with the glory cloud in the temple (1 Kings 8:11; 2 Chronicles 5:14).

The Interconnectedness of Human Actions

Summary: No one lives or dies to himself; our sins and obedience always affect others.

Evidence: Weaver applies Romans 14:7 to Jonah's story, noting how the sailors suffered because of Jonah's disobedience.

The Danger of Selfish Indifference

Summary: Jonah's lack of concern for the Ninevites extended to the sailors, showing that indifference to the many leads to indifference to the few.

Evidence: Weaver contrasts Jonah's sleep during the storm with the sailors' fear and notes Jonah's later anger at Nineveh's repentance (Jonah 4:1-2).

Key Arguments

The Old Testament is essential for Christian maturity

Summary: Without the Old Testament, a believer cannot be complete or thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Evidence: Weaver argues from 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that 'all Scripture' primarily referred to the Old Testament, and the Greek words artios and exartizo indicate completeness.

Denying Jonah's historicity denies Christ's testimony

Summary: Jesus referred to Jonah as a historical figure and to his experience in the whale as a sign of His own resurrection.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Matthew 12:40-41, where Jesus says, 'For as Jonas 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.'

Jonah fled from the manifest presence of God, not His essential presence

Summary: Jonah's flight was from the temple, where God's glory dwelt, not from God's omnipresence, which is inescapable.

Evidence: Weaver cites 1 Kings 8:11 and 2 Chronicles 5:14 about the glory filling the temple, and Psalm 139:7-12 on God's omnipresence.

Disobedience always carries a personal cost

Summary: Jonah paid his own fare to Tarshish, symbolizing that when we run from God, we bear the expense ourselves.

Evidence: Weaver points to Jonah 1:3: 'so he paid the fare thereof,' and comments, 'Whenever you're running from God it's going to cost you.'

Our actions inevitably affect others

Summary: Jonah's sin endangered the sailors, illustrating the New Testament principle that no one lives or dies to himself.

Evidence: Weaver cites Romans 14:7 and describes how the sailors lost their cargo and nearly their lives because of Jonah's flight.

Scripture References

Jonah 1:1-3

Context: God commands Jonah to go to Nineveh, but Jonah flees to Tarshish.

Jonah 1:4-6

Context: God sends a storm, and the sailors cry to their gods while Jonah sleeps.

Jonah 1:7-10

Context: The sailors cast lots, the lot falls on Jonah, and he confesses he is fleeing from the Lord.

Jonah 1:11-16

Context: Jonah tells the sailors to throw him into the sea; they try to row to land but fail, then throw him overboard and the sea calms.

Jonah 1:17

Context: The Lord prepares a great fish to swallow Jonah, and he is in its belly three days and three nights.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

Context: All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.

2 Peter 1:21

Context: Prophecy came not by the will of man, but holy men spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

2 Kings 14:25

Context: Jonah, son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath-Hepher, is mentioned as a real historical figure.

Matthew 12:40-41

Context: Jesus affirms Jonah's three days in the whale and the repentance of Nineveh at his preaching.

Job 7:12

Context: Job asks, 'Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?' showing whales were known to the ancients.

Jonah 2:1-2

Context: Jonah prays from the fish's belly, crying out of his affliction.

Jonah 4:1-2

Context: Jonah is angry that God spared Nineveh, revealing he fled because he knew God is gracious and merciful.

Psalm 139:1-12

Context: David extols God's omniscience and omnipresence, asking where he can flee from God's presence.

1 Kings 8:11

Context: The glory of the Lord filled the temple so that priests could not stand to minister.

2 Chronicles 5:14

Context: The glory of the Lord filled the house of God, preventing priests from ministering.

Jonah 4:11

Context: God rebukes Jonah, noting Nineveh has 120,000 persons who cannot discern their right hand from their left, plus cattle.

Romans 14:7

Context: For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

Historical References

James Bartley (1891 whaling incident)

Context: Weaver recounts the story of a whaler swallowed by a whale in 1891, who survived 16 hours inside before being rescued, as a modern parallel to Jonah.

Assyrian Empire and its cruelty

Context: Weaver describes the Assyrians as mortal enemies of Israel, known for inventing a brutal form of crucifixion involving impalement on a stake.

Mel Trotter (evangelist)

Context: Weaver tells the story of Mel Trotter, a converted drunk who used a flashing neon eyeball sign to deter sin at a lover's lane, illustrating God's omnipresence.

Joseph Stalin (quote)

Context: Weaver attributes the saying 'One or two murders is a tragedy. A million is a statistic.' to Stalin, to illustrate Jonah's indifference to the many.

Important Quotes

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Significance: Weaver quotes this foundational verse to establish the divine origin and comprehensive usefulness of the entire Bible, including the Old Testament.

The New, that is the New Testament, is in the Old concealed, and the Old is in the New revealed.

Significance: This adage summarizes the hermeneutical principle that the two testaments are interdependent and mutually illuminating.

For as Jonas 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.

Significance: Jesus' own words affirm the historicity of Jonah and the whale, making it a type of His death and resurrection.

The omnipresence of God means that God is everywhere at one time in the totality of His being.

Significance: Weaver provides a precise theological definition to correct misconceptions about God's presence.

Whenever you're running from God it's going to cost you.

Significance: A pithy summary of the principle that disobedience carries personal consequences, drawn from Jonah paying his own fare.

If you're not concerned about the many, you're not going to be concerned about the few.

Significance: Weaver draws a moral lesson from Jonah's indifference to Nineveh and the sailors, linking large-scale apathy to personal callousness.

For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

Significance: This New Testament verse encapsulates the sermon's key application: our actions always affect others.

When God got through with Jonah, he might have smelled a lot like fish, but he felt a whole lot more like preaching.

Significance: A humorous yet pointed observation that God's discipline restores a willing heart for service.

Discussion Questions

Why do you think many Christians neglect the Old Testament, and how can we cultivate a greater appreciation for its profitability?

Context: Weaver argues that the Old Testament is essential for spiritual completeness, based on 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

How does Jesus' reference to Jonah in Matthew 12 strengthen your faith in the reliability of the Old Testament?

Context: Weaver uses Jesus' words to affirm the historicity of Jonah and the whale.

In what ways might Christians today 'flee from the manifest presence of God' similarly to Jonah?

Context: Weaver explains that Jonah fled from the temple, and today God's manifest presence is often in the gathered church.

Can you share a time when running from God's will cost you something? What did you learn?

Context: Weaver emphasizes that Jonah paid his own fare, illustrating the personal cost of disobedience.

Why do you think the pagan sailors showed more concern for Jonah's life than Jonah showed for theirs?

Context: Weaver contrasts the sailors' efforts to save Jonah with Jonah's indifference and sleep.

How does the principle 'no man liveth to himself' challenge the way you make decisions in your daily life?

Context: Weaver applies Romans 14:7 to Jonah's story, showing that sin always impacts others.

What are some practical steps to ensure you remain 'smack dab in the middle of God's will'?

Context: Weaver concludes with an application to stay in God's will, citing his own calling to preach.

Applications

Stay in the center of God's will

Summary: Believers should examine if they are running from God's will and remember that the safest place is in obedience to Him.

Evidence: Weaver asks, 'Are you a Jonah? Are you running from the will of God for your life?' and states, 'The safest place for any child of God is right smack dab in the middle of God's will.'

Recognize your influence on others

Summary: Every action, whether good or bad, affects those around us; we must live with awareness of our impact.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Whatever you do always affects others. Whether it's good or bad, right or wrong, righteous or unrighteous, you cannot escape the influence that you have on others.'

Do not neglect the Old Testament

Summary: The Old Testament is profitable and necessary for spiritual maturity; ignoring it leaves a believer incomplete.

Evidence: Weaver argues from 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that without the Old Testament, a man of God cannot be perfect or thoroughly furnished.

Confess sin promptly because God already knows

Summary: Since God is omniscient, believers should confess their sins immediately rather than trying to hide them.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'If you've got something on your mind, if there's some question, if there's some doubt, if there's some sin, you might as well go ahead and confess it because God already knows it anyhow.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T17:38:12Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T08:47:49Z

Clean Transcript

Truths from the Life of Jonah - Jonah Series - Part 1 of 4

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

All right, I want you to open your Bibles if you would please today to the book of Jonah chapter 1, and you're going to find the little book of Jonah right after Obadiah and right before Micah. Lord willing, I'm going to be preaching four messages on this book. And so if you want to get a little head start, just read Jonah for the next several weeks, and you will pretty well come up with a lot of truth, I am sure. So look, if we would please, in Jonah chapter one, and the title of the message today is Truths from the Life of Jonah, Truths from the Life of Jonah. So Jonah chapter one, beginning there with verse one, the word of God says this: 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 is 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.
#1 | 0:12 to 1:21 | cleaned
So he paid the fare thereof and went down into it to go with the men into 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.
#2 | 1:22 to 2:01 | cleaned
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 thine occupation? And whence comest thou? What is thy country? And of what people art thou?
#3 | 2:02 to 2:23 | cleaned
And he said unto them, I am an 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 tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you.
#4 | 2:24 to 2:54 | cleaned
For I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. Nevertheless the men rowed 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.
#5 | 2:54 to 3:36 | cleaned
A few years back, I brought two messages which I entitled Old Testament Principles and New Testament Truths. My aim on those two messages was simply to demonstrate that we have one Bible and not two Bibles. I've repeatedly said that the Old Testament is just as much the Word of God as is the New Testament. In fact, the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." We may deduce several wonderful truths from these verses. First of all, the scripture tells us that all scripture is God-breathed. The Greek word there is a very important word. It is the word Theopneustos. It literally means exhaled from the mouth of God, or God-breathed, or God-exhaled. So the truth of the matter is all of the scripture came from the breath of God. That is why it's called the Word of God.
#6 | 3:37 to 4:55 | cleaned
That's why it's referred to as the truth of God. You say, well, I understand that the Bible was inspired. And that is true. Men wrote the Bible, but they were men who were inspired. So what is inspiration? Inspiration is a strong, conscious in-breathing of God into men, qualifying them to give utterance to the truth so that the words which they wrote were and are indeed the very words of God.
#7 | 4:56 to 5:24 | cleaned
So let me put this another way. What inspiration actually means is the Bible is just as much the word of God as if God spoke every single word of it with His own lips. That's what it means when he said it was God-breathed. Now you say, but men wrote the Bible. I've already covered that, but you know, the Bible says in 2 Peter chapter 1, "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." So it was the Holy Ghost then who inspired the words. It was the Holy Ghost who moved upon the men to pen these words, and they are indeed the very words of God Himself. The second thing that we may deduce is this. When Paul wrote these verses, 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17, he had primarily the Old Testament in mind, because the New Testament had not been completed at that time. And of course, these words, these verses would apply to any of the New Testament passages or books that had been completed by that particular time.
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So primarily, when he wrote that, he had in mind the Old Testament. Thirdly, and clearly, the Bible teaches us that all of God's Word is profitable. When he said all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable, that means the Old Testament is just as profitable as is the New Testament. So those then who ignore the Old Testament, who denigrate the Old Testament, who deny the Old Testament, are denying and depriving themselves of great truths, great promises, and great warnings. Because the Old Testament is just as profitable as is the New Testament. Fourth, let me point out, based upon 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17, it is impossible for the man of God to be complete and thoroughly furnished unto all good works without the Old Testament. Now, the Scripture said, all Scripture is inspired of God. Didn't you get to verse 17, that the man of God may be perfect? The Greek word for the word perfect is the word artios, which literally means one that is fit, one that is complete, one that is perfect, one that is equipped for just about any and every possible use.
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So without the Old Testament, then it is impossible for a man to be equipped the way he should be. And then when you look at these words, from Scripture that the man of God might be thoroughly furnished unto every good work. The Greek word happens to be exartizo, and it means that which is complete and that which is perfectly furnished. So the individual who ignores the Old Testament is not complete. He is not furnished. So any preacher then who would ignore the Old Testament is an incomplete preacher, and he's not furnished into everything that he possibly needs.
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Now, the interesting thing is this. You cannot understand the New Testament apart from the Old Testament. There's an adage that has been repeated, I guess, for years, and it is very true. It goes like this: The New, that is the New Testament, is in the Old concealed, and the Old is in the New revealed. And that is certainly true because you cannot understand the Old without the New, and the New is hidden in the Old as well. Now let me begin by saying this before I go any
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further: Yes, I believe that Jonah was a real, living, historical person, and yes, I do believe that Jonah was swallowed by a whale, because the Bible does indeed teach that. If you would look in your Bibles, holding Jonah chapter 1, but turn back to 2 Kings chapter 14, 2 Kings chapter 14, you will find that Jonah is spoken of not only as a real, live prophet, but he is one who prophesied and one whose prophecy came to pass. So if you look in 2 Kings 14, verse 25, 2 Kings 14, verse 25, and here's what the Bible says: "He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gath-Hepher." So notice if you would, Jonah is specifically named, his father is named, he's designated as a prophet, and even the city from which he originated, Gath-Hepher.
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So Jonah then indeed was a real living person. So if you deny the historical personhood of Jonah, you're not only denying the truth of the Old Testament, but hang on, you would also be denying the Lord Jesus Christ, because the Lord Jesus Christ himself testified to the person of Jonah and to that which happened to Jonah. So if you will turn in your Bibles to the book of Matthew, chapter 12, you're going to find where our Lord recognized Jonah as a real live individual, and also the very fact that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. So if you look at Matthew chapter 12 and verses 40 and 41, our Lord said, "For as Jonas 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.
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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." So our Lord then is testifying not only to the personhood of Jonah, but to the preaching of Jonah, the fact that he went to Nineveh, and the fact that he was swallowed by a whale and stayed in the belly of the whale for three days and for three nights.
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Now, let me point out the fact that whales were known to the ancients. If you would go back, before we go back to Jonah chapter 1, but if you would go back to the book of Job and look in Job chapter 7 and verse 12, you'll find the book of Job right before the book of Psalms. But look in Job 7 and verse 12 at the question that Job asked. Here it is, Job 7 verse 12.
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"Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?" Note that question. "Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?" Job 7 and verse 12. Job 7 verse 12.
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Now, if you want some really interesting stories, you need to go to the Internet and just type in "the men who were swallowed by whales." And you're going to find some astounding stories. One of these that I'm going to give you right now happened in 1891 to a young man by the name of James Bartley who was 21 years of age. He was a whaler and somehow he fell overboard and the whale actually swallowed him and he spent 16 hours in the whale's belly before his mates were able to get the whale, kill the whale, cut the whale open, and rescue James Bartley.
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So here's what was said. Listen carefully. He was a whaler and ended up swallowed by the whale before his mates could get him out. When he was cut out of the whale's belly, remember he'd been in there 16 hours, when he was cut out of the whale's belly, the digestive juices, that is those of the whale, had permanently bleached his skin a deathly white. He lost his hair and was nearly blind. For two weeks he was delirious, and it was a month before he could tell how he'd fallen into the whale's mouth, felt the huge teeth grate over him as he slid down the throat and into his stomach. Wow. I'm not sure that I would want to be swallowed by a whale. I don't want to be swallowed by any sea creature. If you look back in your Bibles at the book of Jonah chapter 1, I'm going to tell you that this fish or this whale that God prepared was a special fish or a special whale. The Bible says in Jonah 1 in verse 17, "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."
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So, God had prepared this fish specifically to swallow Jonah. Now, Jonah, of course, did not have his skin bleached. He did not lose his hair. And certainly, while Jonah was in the whale's belly, he had his senses all about him because he knew where he was. And when we get to Jonah chapter 2, he was praying. He was crying out, he said, "out of the belly of hell." So he knew exactly where he was. He knew exactly what had happened. So this fish was a special one that was prepared by God. Now, look, look, if you would, please, Jonah chapter two and verse one.
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I'll cover this more next week. "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 the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice." So clearly then, Jonah knew exactly what was going on when he was swallowed by the whale. Now, I want you to understand that Jonah basically was a runaway prophet. He did not want to preach what God had sent him to preach. So if you look in Jonah 1, verses 1 and 2, "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 is come up before me." So instead of obeying God, Jonah ran. Instead of obeying God, Jonah decided he was just going to leave the country. So if you look in verse 3, "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.
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So he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord." Now, the first question that we have to ask ourselves today is this: Why did Jonah flee? God said, "Go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it. Their wickedness has come up before me." Jonah, all you've got to do is go to Nineveh and preach. But instead of going to Nineveh and preaching, Jonah goes down to Joppa and he gets on a ship to head to Tarshish. Well, I hope you remember that Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire.
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The Assyrians were mortal enemies of the Israelites. I hope you also remember that it was the Assyrians who captured the ten northern tribes. The Assyrians were cruel, wicked, horrible people. It was the Assyrians who actually began crucifixion. They did not crucify people the way the Romans crucified people. In fact, there are inscriptions on steles where the kings of Assyria are bragging about how many people they have crucified and how many piles of heads they've made in front of cities. The way the Assyrians did crucifixion was they would sharpen a stake and plant it firmly into the ground.
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And the sharp end is pointed up. They would take the man to be crucified, strip him naked. Two men would spread his legs, hold him over the stake, pull him down. The stake would go through the anus up through the intestines and stop right before they got to the heart. Which means then the man would writhe in pain for hours before he died.
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Now, when the Romans came along, they were not making crucifixion easier. It was actually crueler because now you'd be hanging on the cross for several days in excruciating pain and anger. So these Assyrians were mortal enemies of Israel. And of course, Jonah considered them his enemy as well. So Jonah actually wanted and desired the wholesale destruction of Nineveh and everybody that was in Nineveh. He wanted them dead. In fact, when we get to the end of the book of Jonah, you'll find in chapter four that even though he preached, he went out and got himself on a little hill under a shade, made himself a booth so he could sit and watch.
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And hopefully that God would destroy all of them. And God, of course, knew that he was angry. If you look very quickly to Jonah, chapter four, verses one and two, Jonah did not want Nineveh to repent. Jonah 4 verse 1, "But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry." That is, when the people repented, it displeased him. And he was exceedingly angry, and he prayed unto the Lord, and said, "I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil." He said, "God, I know you'd give them repentance. And I didn't want them to repent. And I'm angry, I'm upset." And certainly Jonah knew that if the Assyrians lived, then Israel would suffer. So in one sense of the word, Jonah was a patriot of sorts in the fact that he was willing for another nation to perish and not the covenant people.
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So why did he flee? Because he did not want the Assyrians to repent. He wanted them killed is what it amounts to. The second question would be this: Did Jonah actually believe that he could flee from the presence of the Lord? So if you look in verse two, God says, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me." Look at this in verse three. "But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord." Hmm. Then if you look down in verse 10, you'll see this again.
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"Then were the men exceedingly afraid," that is the mariners, "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." Now, is it possible to flee from the presence of the Lord? And the answer is no. And yet, on the other hand, the answer could be yes, in the sense that Jonah was trying to do it.
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But no, it's impossible because of God's omnipresence. The omnipresence of God means that God is everywhere at one time in the totality of His being. So let me say this again. The omnipresence of God means that God is everywhere at one time in the totality of His being. The reason I repeated that is because I want to make sure that you do not fall into error or heresy, because there are some people that say, "Here, here's how you explain the omnipresence of God. Part of God is in Russia. Part of God's in England. Part of God's in China. Part of God's in America. Part of God's in Canada. Part of God's in South America. You put all these parts together and you've got God." No, that is heresy.
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That is, that is blasphemy. No, the omnipresence of God means that God is everywhere at one time in the totality of His being. So let me ask you to turn in your Bibles, holding Jonah 1 to Psalm 139. Psalm 139 is a very important psalm. It's a very beautiful psalm. It's a psalm that you should read and I would even say memorize. Because this Psalm not only speaks of God's omnipresence, it also speaks of God's omniscience. So if you look in Psalm 139, beginning there with verse one, the scripture says, David wrote, "O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off." So David is saying, "Lord, you know when I sit down, you know when I rise up. You understand my thought afar off." In fact, in the book of Ezekiel, God says, "I know thy thoughts, every one of them, even before they come into thy mind." So obviously God does indeed know our thoughts. And then he says in verse three, "Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
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For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it."
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Now, that refers to God's omniscience. Now we get to God's omnipresence. He asks, "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee."
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So the truth of the matter is, God is not only omniscient, God is omnipresent. There is not a thought in your mind that God does not know, and there's no place that you can go to hide from Him. It's impossible to do things in the dark where God cannot see you or where God is not. I think I may have told you this one time, but it's still funny to me. Mel Trotter was an old drunk that God saved. In fact, the interesting story about his conversion, well, he was such a horrible drunk.
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He stole the shoes off of his baby and was going to trade those shoes for a drink of whiskey. And on the way to the saloon, he passed a gospel meeting. They were singing psalms and hymns. And he went in just to get out of the cold and to rest and get warm for a few minutes. And he listened to a man preach and God saved him and so converted him gloriously.
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And Mel Trotter, of course, became a preacher. And he got concerned about a lover's lane in that area, where young people go and park and fornicate and all this kind of stuff. And he would go down there and preach to them and some of them would leave. Some of them laugh at him, wouldn't pay him any attention. And so finally he got a neon sign and all it was was an eyeball that flashed. And every time it flashed, it said, "Now, my God, see it's me. Now, my God, see it's me." And within a week, no one else would come back to lover's lane. Well, this is this is what I'm talking about in the sense that you cannot hide from God.
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And since God is omniscient, since He knows everything, I tell everybody, you know, if you've got something on your mind, if there's some question, if there's some doubt, if there's some sin, you might as well go ahead and confess it because God already knows it anyhow. You can't hide anything from Him, neither can you hide your presence from Him. Well, how is it then that the Bible tells us that Jonah was fleeing from the presence of God if it's impossible to flee from the presence of God? Well, if you will turn to two places in your Bible, the first one is 1 Kings chapter 8, and then the second one is 2 Chronicles. So 1st Kings chapter 8 verse 11 and then we're going to go to 2nd Chronicles chapter 5. I will go ahead and tell you this, that from which Jonah was fleeing was what you and I would call the manifest presence of God. So here's a good question: Where was God, where was God's manifest presence in the Old Testament? Where did God particularly and peculiarly manifest Himself?
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And here's the answer. He did so in the tabernacle, and He did so in the temple. So, when the temple is dedicated, Solomon has been praying, and has prayed, and in 1 Kings chapter 8 and verse 11, the Scripture says this: "So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord." And then if you would turn right over to 2 Chronicles 5 and verse 14, you'll basically see the same truth. 2 Chronicles 5 and verse 14. Here the Word of God says, "So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God." So anytime in the Old Testament that you really wanted to worship God, you had to go either to the tabernacle or temple. Why? Because that is where God particularly and peculiarly manifested Himself. So what Jonah was doing was fleeing from the temple. He was fleeing from the manifest presence of God.
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Wow. Well, let me ask you a question. Where does God particularly and peculiarly manifest Himself today? Or where does God particularly and peculiarly manifest Himself in the New Testament? Well, in our lives, that is true, but in our corporate meeting would be the church. What did He say? "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Maybe that's why a lot of people don't want to come to church. Because they're running from God. They don't want to hear the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. They don't want to see or sense the manifest presence of God.
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And so they just simply ignore it. So that's exactly what Jonah was doing. Jonah was getting out of Dodge. He was fleeing from the manifest presence of God. Another thought is this. Jonah could also have been fleeing from the commission that God had given him. That is, he was actually fleeing from his duty, his obligation, his responsibility to go to Nineveh and to preach the preaching that God had told him to do. So he was just getting out of Dodge.
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Evidently, he believed that old saying, "out of sight, out of mind." So he thought if he could get away from the manifest presence of God, then God would forget about sending him over to Nineveh. Wow. Well, it might work with us because we're so forgetful, but it does not work with the sovereign God of heaven and earth, who is the omniscient and omnipresent God of heaven and earth. So Jonah might have been thinking if he left, then God would get someone else to go to Nineveh because he certainly did not want to go. Now, I want you to look at verse 3 again, Jonah 1, verse 3, because here's something else. In fact, several truths, but notice if you would, Jonah 1 in verse 3, "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: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord."
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Now, as best as I can tell, from most of the sources, Tarshish would have been Spain. There were some scholars that said, no, he was not fleeing to Spain. He was actually fleeing to Tarsus, which was a city of Cilicia. And that is the city from which the apostle Paul came, Saul of Tarsus. And Tarsus was a city of Cilicia. To be absolutely honest, I think he was going to Spain. I think he was trying to get as far away from God as he possibly could get. He wanted to get away from God's manifest presence. He wanted to get away from his commission. Now, whether or not Tarshish is Spain or whether or not it is Tarsus, the city of Cilicia, that is not the point of verse three. Here's the point I want to bring out. Look at this. "But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. And he went down to Joppa and he found a ship going to Tarshish." Look at this next phrase.
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"So he paid the fare thereof." And went down into it, the ship. He paid the fare thereof. So here's the point. Jonah paid the fare. Whenever you're running from God it's going to cost you. Listen carefully. It is true that what God orders, He pays for. But when you try to run from God in God's will, and you begin to kick against the pricks, and you're disobedient, then you pay.
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Jonah's fare was probably small in the beginning. I don't know how much it cost him to get on that ship. But before God got through with him, he found out that running from God was going to cost him more than he was willing to pay and more than he was able to pay. So anytime you run from God, you own, you own is what it amounts to. It does not pay to run from the will of God. The safest place for any child of God is right smack dab in the middle of God's will.
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Now, in this book, in this chapter of Jonah, chapter one, there are two things that God prepared for Jonah. God prepared a great wind and God also prepared a great fish. The great wind brought terror to the mariners. But he did not bring terror to Jonah. He was fast asleep. Look in verse 4. "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."
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Watch this, "...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." So Jonah is sleeping through the storm. Now Jonah may have been asleep before the storm began. That's a possibility. But the very fact if he was asleep before the storm began, you've got to remember that ship would have been rolling with the waves and people would have been screaming and crying and all kinds of things going on. And he would have been sleeping all through it.
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Evidently he was absolutely totally unconcerned. All the wares of the ship had been dumped. They were screaming for their lives. Jonah had to be rebuked by heathen. He said, "Awake thou sleeper. What are you doing? Are you insane? We're about to die all of us and here you are down here asleep." Wow. Notice what he said: "and arise and call upon thy God." You know, nowhere in this chapter, and nowhere in the book of Jonah, does it say that Jonah prayed.
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During this experience with these mariners. He's called upon to pray. But nothing is recorded that he did pray. And in other words, they said, "Look. All of our lives are in danger."
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Now, since Jonah was a believer, and the one true and the living God, and since Jonah was a prophet, since he was a preacher, would you not think that Jonah would be concerned about the lives of these mariners? It's true, they were heathen, but still, they were beings. Wow! I want you to learn this lesson right now. If you're not concerned about the many, you're not going to be concerned about the few.
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Hmm, what do I mean by that? Well, I have no idea how many people were on this ship. I don't even know how big the ship was. I'm sure probably in 15 or 20 at a minimum. When you get to the New Testament, the apostle Paul was on a ship and there's nearly 300 on that ship, 270 something, I think. It could have been that many on this one. I don't know. Don't know the size of the ship. But what do I mean? If you're not concerned about the many, you're not concerned about the few. Well, if you look in Jonah chapter four and verse 11, and I'll come back to this on the fourth message, but look at it. God is rebuking Jonah and he said, "And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?" He said, "Jonah, I got 120,000 little babies that do not know the difference between their right hand and their left hand."
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That does not count the older children. That does not count the teenagers. That does not count the adults. That does not even include all the cattle or all the animals that were there. Many have said that probably Nineveh had about a million people in it. 120,000 children. Oh, yeah. They can't discern the left hand there. Listen, if you're not concerned about a million people, you're not going to be concerned about 15 or 20.
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It's kind of like Joseph Stalin reportedly said. One or two murders is a tragedy. A million is a statistic. Nobody cares about that. That's what he's saying. So Jonah is totally asleep. So I find it interesting that Jonah was encouraged to pray, and yet we never read anything that he did pray. He evidently was at the point of not wanting to live, and he thought that somehow his death would cause God not to have mercy upon the Assyrians.
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Now, I think this is a valid point based upon what follows. So look in verse 7. "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?"
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"What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou? And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land." Remember now they're having problems with the sea right now. "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."
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"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 tempestuous. 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 rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them."
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Now, there are two very important truths right here. The first one is this, that oftentimes, heathen folks are more concerned with life than those who profess to be the worshippers of the one true and the living God. I find this absolutely astounding, because here is Jonah, who is supposed to be a preacher, and supposed to be a prophet, and supposed to be interested in the will of God, in glorifying God, and in the lives of the people. And he's not even interested in helping save the lives of these mariners. Wow.
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Uh, how are we going to stop this tempest? Well, Jonah kind of smiles and says, "No, this is easy. Just pick me up, throw me in sea and everything will be calm unto you." Do you get the idea that Jonah was only willing to die, that he wanted to die? I want to show you this. Look at this. Look in verse 13. When he said, "If you want this tempest to go away, just pick me up, throw me into the sea." Verse 13.
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"Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them." Did you see that? These men who were heathen, for whom Jonah had absolutely no compassion and no concern, were concerned about him instead of just picking him up and throwing over, which would be the easy way out. They rowed hard to bring that ship to land. They did everything they could to keep from throwing Jonah into the deep. Wow. It's strange to me that sometimes the heathen have more concern for life than the righteous. The easy thing would have been to have just picked him up and pitched him in.
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Yeah, he encouraged them to do it. "Throw me in and it'll cease." Here's the second truth. The second truth, I think, is very, very profound. Jonah, in this instance, is an excellent illustration and an example of a New Testament truth. I want you to look in your Bibles if you would to Romans chapter 14 in verse 7. Romans 14 in verse 7. I want you to think as we read this verse. Jonah is an excellent illustration and example of this New Testament truth. Romans 14 verse 7 says, "For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself."
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If you cannot see this clearly, then you need to have your sight, your hearing, and your heart checked. Whatever you do, whether it is good or bad, right or wrong, righteous or unrighteous, whatever you do always affects other people. Oftentimes, it affects people that you do not even know. When Jonah fled from the presence of the Lord, he didn't know these mariners. And yet he was the cause of the loss of all their wares, all their goods, all the money they'd invested in that, and almost became the cause of the loss of their lives. So mark this down, whatever we do, whether it's good or bad, always affects someone else. You must remember this. Here it is.
#58 | 45:20 to 46:25 | cleaned
When you and I sin, we're only interested in ourselves. We're only interested in our lusts, our desires, what pleases and satisfies us. We're not concerned with others or the effects of what we do upon the lives of others. Just this month, a week or so ago, I forget exactly how many, but there was a July the 4th celebration and someone ran a car into this crowd and if I remember correctly, it was either a dozen killed or four or five killed and a dozen hurt.
#59 | 46:26 to 47:08 | cleaned
And the man was drunk. When he was drinking, he wasn't concerned about other people. He was only concerned about himself. I'm just pointing out the fact, whenever we sin, we're absolutely, totally selfish. Think about the homes. Think about the families that are destroyed because of pornography, fornication, adultery. We forget the impact that our actions have upon other people. If I ran out on Alice, let me ask you a question. Is that not only going to affect my relationship with God? It's not going to only reflect and affect my relationship with her. What about our children? What about our grandchildren? What about our great-grandchildren? What about our friends? What about our family? What about the ministry? You follow what I'm saying?
#60 | 47:10 to 48:15 | cleaned
It's impossible for you and I to act independently in the sense that we never have any influence upon anyone else. We do. And usually whatever we do is bad and it always affects someone else. The positive side of that is yes, we also have the privilege and the blessing of living a holy, godly, obedient life, and affecting the lives of others through righteousness. But we cannot do one thing without affecting the lives of everyone else. It's just that simple.
#61 | 48:18 to 48:54 | cleaned
Now, so God sent that wind. And God, if you'll look in verse 17, prepared a fish especially for Jonah. "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." Do you realize? Probably Jonah thought that once they throw me into the sea, I'm going to drown. It's going to all be over.
#62 | 48:55 to 49:35 | cleaned
Well, it didn't work out like that. You know, a lot of people who commit suicide thought that once they kill themselves, it'd all be over. It's not. And they found that out after they died. But I'm just simply saying, folks, we cannot do one thing without affecting the lives of others. Alice and I were going down a dirt road this past week to avoid a train that had stopped.
#63 | 49:38 to 50:11 | cleaned
And we went by an old home place, and I pointed out to her where a neighbor shot and killed himself many, many years ago. I went to school with, I guess, I don't remember if it was his daughter or his niece. But after all these years, I remembered only that he had done it and how he did it. And you always consider what in the world was the effect it had on that young girl because it happened in her house. I'm just simply saying, no man liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself. It's not all over.
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Now, let me make some applications. The first one is this. Listen carefully to this question. Are you a Jonah? Are you running from the will of God for your life? Are you paying your own way to get away from God and His will and His Word? If you are a Jonah, and if you're running away from the will of God, then don't be surprised if God doesn't prepare something just for you, just like He did Jonah. God has a way of stopping us, of arresting us, and bringing us back to our senses. I've often said when God got through with Jonah, he might have smelled a lot like fish, but he felt a whole lot more like preaching.
#65 | 51:00 to 51:56 | cleaned
When that whale spit him out, I believe he went running straight to Nineveh. I'm just saying, folks, the safest place to be is always right smack dab in the middle of the will of God for you and for your life. I'm thankful that I don't have to doubt for the will of God for my life in that one sense of the word, because he called me to preach, and that's what I've been doing for 60 years. I always laugh and smile when I say this, but when I was a boy, I wanted to be a preacher. Well, the only reason, Gary, I wanted to be a preacher was because they only worked on Wednesday and Sunday, and you could play the rest of the week. How wrong was I on that one? How wrong?
#66 | 52:00 to 52:48 | cleaned
And Alice, somehow when she was a little girl, she thought she'd end up marrying a preacher. And then when she married me, she said, "Well, I guess that was all down the road." But then God saved us both and called me to preach and, hey, that's where I am right now. I'm just simply saying, I don't want to do anything else. That's all I ever want to do is to preach and teach the word of God. So we've got to find out God's will for our lives and stay right smack dab in the middle of it. Here's the second application. I'm just going to re-emphasize it.
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Whatever you do always affects others. Whether it's good or bad, right or wrong, righteous or unrighteous, you cannot escape the influence that you have on others. Whether it's your wife, your husband, your children, your grandchildren, your neighbors, your friends, you cannot escape it. You're either going to be a blessing to them or you're going to be a curse to them. Jonah teaches us that no man liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. Lord willing, next week, I'm going to be bringing a message on chapter two: Run, Jonah, run.
#68 | 53:24 to 54:11 | cleaned
And so we'll see how God works in his life. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee this day. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. We pray, Lord, that you would teach us and help us to make application to our lives. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.
#69 | 54:11 to 54:31 | cleaned
so
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T17:38:12Z

Truths from the Life of Jonah - Jonah Series - Part 1 of 4

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

In this sermon, Pastor John Weaver introduces a four-part series on the book of Jonah, focusing on chapter 1. He emphasizes the divine inspiration and profitability of the entire Old Testament, using Jonah as a case study. Weaver defends the historicity of Jonah and the whale, citing both Old Testament and Jesus' own testimony. He explores Jonah's disobedience—fleeing to Tarshish instead of preaching to Nineveh—and the consequences: a storm, the endangerment of pagan sailors, and being swallowed by a great fish. Key themes include the impossibility of fleeing God's omnipresence, the cost of disobedience, and the truth that no one lives or dies to himself, as our actions always affect others. The sermon concludes with applications urging believers to remain in God's will and recognize their influence on others.

Introduction to the Jonah Series

Weaver announces a four-part series on Jonah, encouraging the congregation to read the book ahead of time.

The Profitability of the Old Testament

Using 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Weaver argues that all Scripture, including the Old Testament, is God-breathed and profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.

Scripture Reading — 2 Peter 1:21

"For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

The Historicity of Jonah and the Whale

Weaver defends Jonah as a real historical prophet, citing 2 Kings 14:25 and Jesus' words in Matthew 12:40-41, and provides a modern example of a man swallowed by a whale.

I'll cover this more next week.

Scripture Reading — Jonah 2:1-2

"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 the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice."

Jonah's Disobedience and Flight

Jonah flees to Tarshish instead of preaching to Nineveh because he hates the Assyrians and does not want them to repent.

I'll cover this more next week.

Scripture Reading — Jonah 2:1-2

"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 the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice."

Scripture Reading — Jonah 4:1-2

"But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry."

That is, when the people repented, it displeased him. And he was exceedingly angry, and he prayed unto the Lord, and said,

Scripture Reading — Jonah 4:1-2

"I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil."

The Impossibility of Fleeing God's Presence

Weaver explains God's omnipresence from Psalm 139, clarifying that Jonah was fleeing the manifest presence of God in the temple, not God's essential presence.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 139:1-12

"O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off."

So David is saying,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 139:1-12

"Lord, you know when I sit down, you know when I rise up. You understand my thought afar off."

Scripture Reading — Psalm 139:1-12

"Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

Scripture Reading — 1 Kings 8:11

"So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord."

And then if you would turn right over to 2 Chronicles 5 and verse 14, you'll basically see the same truth. 2 Chronicles 5 and verse 14. Here the Word of God says,

Scripture Reading — 1 Kings 8:11

"So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God."

The Cost of Running from God

Jonah paid his own fare to Tarshish, illustrating that disobedience always comes at a personal cost.

Jonah's Indifference and the Sailors' Concern

While the pagan sailors fear for their lives and try to save Jonah, he sleeps and later suggests they throw him overboard, showing his lack of concern for others.

During this experience with these mariners. He's called upon to pray. But nothing is recorded that he did pray. And in other words, they said, "Look. All of our lives are in danger."

Scripture Reading — Jonah 4:11

"And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?"

He said,

Scripture Reading — Jonah 4:11

"Jonah, I got 120,000 little babies that do not know the difference between their right hand and their left hand."

No Man Lives or Dies to Himself

Weaver uses Romans 14:7 to show that Jonah's sin affected the sailors, and our actions always impact others, for good or ill.

Applications: Stay in God's Will and Recognize Your Influence

Weaver challenges listeners to examine if they are running from God's will and reminds them that their actions always affect others.

Truths from the Life of Jonah - Jonah Series - Part 1 of 4

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	BiVB6REAcRM
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Romans: Law, Obedience, and Sanctification: Holiness and Obedience
Genre	Sermon
Date	2024-12-01
Dictation Name
Book	Book 135: Romans: Law, Obedience, and Sanctification - Volume 2 — Chapter 23
Source Timed Segments	70

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction to the Jonah Series: Weaver announces a four-part series on Jonah, encouraging the congregation to read the book ahead of time.
The Profitability of the Old Testament: Using 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Weaver argues that all Scripture, including the Old Testament, is God-breathed and profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.
The Historicity of Jonah and the Whale: Weaver defends Jonah as a real historical prophet, citing 2 Kings 14:25 and Jesus' words in Matthew 12:40-41, and provides a modern example of a man swallowed by a whale.
Jonah's Disobedience and Flight: Jonah flees to Tarshish instead of preaching to Nineveh because he hates the Assyrians and does not want them to repent.
The Impossibility of Fleeing God's Presence: Weaver explains God's omnipresence from Psalm 139, clarifying that Jonah was fleeing the manifest presence of God in the temple, not God's essential presence.
The Cost of Running from God: Jonah paid his own fare to Tarshish, illustrating that disobedience always comes at a personal cost.
Jonah's Indifference and the Sailors' Concern: While the pagan sailors fear for their lives and try to save Jonah, he sleeps and later suggests they throw him overboard, showing his lack of concern for others.
No Man Lives or Dies to Himself: Weaver uses Romans 14:7 to show that Jonah's sin affected the sailors, and our actions always impact others, for good or ill.
Applications: Stay in God's Will and Recognize Your Influence: Weaver challenges listeners to examine if they are running from God's will and reminds them that their actions always affect others.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

The Old Testament is essential for Christian maturity

Without the Old Testament, a believer cannot be complete or thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Weaver argues from 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that 'all Scripture' primarily referred to the Old Testament, and the Greek words artios and exartizo indicate completeness.

Denying Jonah's historicity denies Christ's testimony

Jesus referred to Jonah as a historical figure and to his experience in the whale as a sign of His own resurrection.

Weaver quotes Matthew 12:40-41, where Jesus says, 'For as Jonas 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.'

Jonah fled from the manifest presence of God, not His essential presence

Jonah's flight was from the temple, where God's glory dwelt, not from God's omnipresence, which is inescapable.

Weaver cites 1 Kings 8:11 and 2 Chronicles 5:14 about the glory filling the temple, and Psalm 139:7-12 on God's omnipresence.

Disobedience always carries a personal cost

Jonah paid his own fare to Tarshish, symbolizing that when we run from God, we bear the expense ourselves.

Weaver points to Jonah 1:3: 'so he paid the fare thereof,' and comments, 'Whenever you're running from God it's going to cost you.'

Our actions inevitably affect others

Jonah's sin endangered the sailors, illustrating the New Testament principle that no one lives or dies to himself.

Weaver cites Romans 14:7 and describes how the sailors lost their cargo and nearly their lives because of Jonah's flight.

Scripture References

Jonah 1:1-3: God commands Jonah to go to Nineveh, but Jonah flees to Tarshish.
Jonah 1:4-6: God sends a storm, and the sailors cry to their gods while Jonah sleeps.
Jonah 1:7-10: The sailors cast lots, the lot falls on Jonah, and he confesses he is fleeing from the Lord.
Jonah 1:11-16: Jonah tells the sailors to throw him into the sea; they try to row to land but fail, then throw him overboard and the sea calms.
Jonah 1:17: The Lord prepares a great fish to swallow Jonah, and he is in its belly three days and three nights.
2 Timothy 3:16-17: All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.
2 Peter 1:21: Prophecy came not by the will of man, but holy men spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
2 Kings 14:25: Jonah, son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath-Hepher, is mentioned as a real historical figure.
Matthew 12:40-41: Jesus affirms Jonah's three days in the whale and the repentance of Nineveh at his preaching.
Job 7:12: Job asks, 'Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?' showing whales were known to the ancients.
Jonah 2:1-2: Jonah prays from the fish's belly, crying out of his affliction.
Jonah 4:1-2: Jonah is angry that God spared Nineveh, revealing he fled because he knew God is gracious and merciful.
Psalm 139:1-12: David extols God's omniscience and omnipresence, asking where he can flee from God's presence.
1 Kings 8:11: The glory of the Lord filled the temple so that priests could not stand to minister.
2 Chronicles 5:14: The glory of the Lord filled the house of God, preventing priests from ministering.
Jonah 4:11: God rebukes Jonah, noting Nineveh has 120,000 persons who cannot discern their right hand from their left, plus cattle.
Romans 14:7: For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

Historical References

James Bartley (1891 whaling incident): Weaver recounts the story of a whaler swallowed by a whale in 1891, who survived 16 hours inside before being rescued, as a modern parallel to Jonah.
Assyrian Empire and its cruelty: Weaver describes the Assyrians as mortal enemies of Israel, known for inventing a brutal form of crucifixion involving impalement on a stake.
Mel Trotter (evangelist): Weaver tells the story of Mel Trotter, a converted drunk who used a flashing neon eyeball sign to deter sin at a lover's lane, illustrating God's omnipresence.
Joseph Stalin (quote): Weaver attributes the saying 'One or two murders is a tragedy. A million is a statistic.' to Stalin, to illustrate Jonah's indifference to the many.

Important Quotes

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Weaver quotes this foundational verse to establish the divine origin and comprehensive usefulness of the entire Bible, including the Old Testament.

The New, that is the New Testament, is in the Old concealed, and the Old is in the New revealed.

This adage summarizes the hermeneutical principle that the two testaments are interdependent and mutually illuminating.

For as Jonas 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.

Jesus' own words affirm the historicity of Jonah and the whale, making it a type of His death and resurrection.

The omnipresence of God means that God is everywhere at one time in the totality of His being.

Weaver provides a precise theological definition to correct misconceptions about God's presence.

Whenever you're running from God it's going to cost you.

A pithy summary of the principle that disobedience carries personal consequences, drawn from Jonah paying his own fare.

If you're not concerned about the many, you're not going to be concerned about the few.

Weaver draws a moral lesson from Jonah's indifference to Nineveh and the sailors, linking large-scale apathy to personal callousness.

For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

This New Testament verse encapsulates the sermon's key application: our actions always affect others.

When God got through with Jonah, he might have smelled a lot like fish, but he felt a whole lot more like preaching.

A humorous yet pointed observation that God's discipline restores a willing heart for service.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

Why do you think many Christians neglect the Old Testament, and how can we cultivate a greater appreciation for its profitability?

[Context]

Weaver argues that the Old Testament is essential for spiritual completeness, based on 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

[Question]

How does Jesus' reference to Jonah in Matthew 12 strengthen your faith in the reliability of the Old Testament?

[Context]

Weaver uses Jesus' words to affirm the historicity of Jonah and the whale.

[Question]

In what ways might Christians today 'flee from the manifest presence of God' similarly to Jonah?

[Context]

Weaver explains that Jonah fled from the temple, and today God's manifest presence is often in the gathered church.

[Question]

Can you share a time when running from God's will cost you something? What did you learn?

[Context]

Weaver emphasizes that Jonah paid his own fare, illustrating the personal cost of disobedience.

[Question]

Why do you think the pagan sailors showed more concern for Jonah's life than Jonah showed for theirs?

[Context]

Weaver contrasts the sailors' efforts to save Jonah with Jonah's indifference and sleep.

[Question]

How does the principle 'no man liveth to himself' challenge the way you make decisions in your daily life?

[Context]

Weaver applies Romans 14:7 to Jonah's story, showing that sin always impacts others.

[Question]

What are some practical steps to ensure you remain 'smack dab in the middle of God's will'?

[Context]

Weaver concludes with an application to stay in God's will, citing his own calling to preach.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T08:47:49Z