SERMON: THE HOUND OF HEAVEN

 

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Jonah 1:1-3

 

Jonah 1:1The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

 

3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

 

            -- I borrowed the title of today’s message from the famous poem by Francis Thompson of the same name -- Although Thompson was a follower of Christ, he struggled in his life with poverty and poor health, eventually becoming addicted to opium -- leading to a familiar spiral into depression and despair and a turning away from life and friends and family

            -- but God kept reaching out to Thompson -- He wouldn’t let him go, even as Thompson tried to flee from Him -- in his poem, Thompson described his flight from God: "I fled him, down the nights and down the days. I hid from him, and under running laughter. I sped … from those strong feet that followed, followed after [me]."

            -- but no matter how hard he tried to flee -- no matter where he tried to hide -- the unrelenting love of Jesus pursued him with "unhurrying chase, and unperturbed pace, deliberate speed, and majestic instancy [or urgency]." -- describing Jesus as the hound of heaven who would not leave the scent of the one He was tracking, Thompson wrote that he heard the feet of Jesus beating after him as Jesus calls, "All things betray those who betray me."

            -- reflecting on the metaphor of Jesus as the Hound of Heaven, Jon Stott wrote: “if it were not for the gracious pursuit of the hound of heaven I would today be on the scrap-heap of wasted and discarded lives”¹ -- many of us could say the same, including Jonah -- who is the poster child of a person hounded by God until he eventually surrenders to God’s will and returns to follow God’s path

 

            -- the Book of Jonah is an interesting book -- a very familiar book -- one we have all known from childhood, whether we went to church or not -- when I told you to turn in your Bibles to the Book of Jonah, I bet that every one of you thought the same thing to yourself -- “this is the story of Jonah and the whale”

            -- but that’s where we get it all wrong -- the Book of Jonah is not the story of Jonah and the whale -- in fact, the fish is only mentioned four times in the entire book and Jonah is only mentioned 18 times -- but God is mentioned more than twice that

            -- that tells us that this book is about God and how He deals with people who want their own way and who refuse to obey His will -- specifically, in this story, Jonah and the Ninevites

            -- so, this morning, we’re going to look at the familiar story of Jonah and see how God pursues His reluctant and wayward prophet to compel him to preach a message of warning to the wicked Ninevites

           

II.  The Reluctant Preacher (Jonah 1:1-17)

            -- Jonah was a prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel from 780 to 750 BC during the time of King Jeroboam II -- we read of his ministry and his earlier prophecies in Israel in 2 Kings 14:24-25, where he prophesied peace and prosperity to the kingdom after a long period of war

            -- but we mostly know Jonah from this book that was written about a missionary journey he undertook to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria

 

            -- look back at verse 1

 

Jonah 1:1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

 

3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

 

4 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.

 

But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”

 

7 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”

 

9 He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

 

10 This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)

 

11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”

 

12 “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”

 

13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.

 

Jonah’s Prayer

17 Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

 

            – as Jonah is ministering in Israel, we read that the word of the Lord came to him and told him to go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because God had found the city wicked

            -- you’d think Jonah would have leapt at the opportunity to proclaim God’s wrath and judgment on this evil nation that would ultimately conquer Israel – but, instead, we read that Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish, a city on the Iberian Peninsula, in what is now modern-day Spain

            -- he went down to Joppa and got on a ship headed for Tarshish to flee the Lord

            -- in other words, when God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach, Jonah said, “I don’t want to prophet today” and so he booked a cruise to leave his life behind

 

            -- why did Jonah do this? – some people say it was fear of the danger – that he was scared of the people in Nineveh or he was scared of the journey – but that wasn’t it – in terms of danger, it was far more dangerous to take a water passage across the Mediterranean Sea in the boats they used then than it would have been to join one of the camel caravans that routinely made the route to Nineveh to trade

            -- and even if he delivered an unpopular message, it was unlikely the people of Nineveh would react by trying to kill him – even as the prophet of a God they did not follow, they still would have recognized his calling and would have respected his position – so, his physical life was probably not in danger

            -- no, Jonah ran because he knew God and he knew God’s mercy and grace -- he knew what God intended in sending him to preach a message of warning to the people of Nineveh, the capital of the nation of Assyria -- he knew they might repent and be saved from God’s judgment and wrath -- and he didn’t want this to happen

            -- he hated the Ninevites, with good reason, because they were Israel’s worst enemy

            -- the Ninevites were renowned for their sins of violence, cruelty, pride, and gross idolatry -- if you went to the British Museum, there are spectacular wall reliefs depicting Assyrian battles -- one of these, a relief showing the famous siege of Lachish, shows multiple images of Judeans being impaled on stakes and stacks of disembodied heads that the Assyrian soldiers turned in for bounty

            -- and now Assyria had started harassing the nation of Israel -- in fact, after Jonah’s day, Assyria would conquer Israel and take the people into captivity

            -- so, I understand Jonah’s reluctance in following God’s command to go to Nineveh and preach to them -- he hated them -- and he didn’t want anything good to happen to them

            -- he knew that if he preached the truth of God’s word to them, they would hear and God would change their lives and turn them from their wicked ways – over in Jonah 4:3, after this happens -- just as he feared -- he laments to God, “O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? – That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish – I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending a calamity”

            -- so, Jonah tried to run away from God so that God could not use him to bring revival to the Assyrian nation -- he fled because he was worried and depressed and didn’t like where things were headed and he wanted to see the nation of Assyria suffer and feel God’s wrath

 

            -- there’s an old cliché that says, “No matter where you go, there you are” -- what that means is that you can’t run away from your life -- and, as this passage shows, you can’t run away from God, either

            -- when Jonah got on that boat and started out towards Tarshish, he thought he was leaving his problems behind -- he probably thought that if he wasn’t there, then God’s word wouldn’t go to Nineveh and they would be condemned for their sins -- and, he probably thought, if I just go and hide in the Gentile lands, I won’t have to hear from God anymore -- I won’t have to carry His message to people I don’t like -- I won’t have to prophet anymore -- I can just be who I want to be and live how I want to live -- no more responsibilities -- no more worries -- no more cares

            -- but, God didn’t let Jonah off that easy -- we read that God sent a storm of such magnitude against Jonah’s ship that the seasoned sailors onboard were in fear for their lives -- they cried out to their gods -- they threw the cargo overboard to lighten the load -- but nothing worked -- the storm continued to rage, and the men realized it was a supernatural event

            -- eventually, they realize that God had sent the storm against them because of Jonah -- and they end up throwing him overboard into the heart of the storm -- immediately, the raging sea grew calm -- leading the sailors to fear the Lord and worship Him with sacrifices and vows

            -- but God wasn’t done with Jonah -- He provided a great fish to swallow him, and Jonah stayed there for three days and three nights

 

            -- many times, we try to follow Jonah’s path and flee to Tarshish in our heart when the word of God comes to us -- we do this when we come up with excuses for reading the Bible and following God’s commands -- we do this when we hold grudges and refuse to forgive others, including our family and our friends and even ourselves

            -- we do this when we hate other people for what they believe or for their differences -- when we are so prejudiced against them that we won’t speak God’s word to them and disobey God by hating them in our hearts

            -- we do this when we pick and choose what commands of God we will follow -- doing just the things that are easy and that we agree with and not the things we don’t want to do -- to refuse to obey God is to run away from Him

            -- we may not board a boat like Jonah did, but we constantly flee to Tarshish in our hearts

 

            -- but the Hound of Heaven is persistent -- when God is calling you to respond to His word -- whether that’s salvation or repentance or a ministry mission like Jonah’s -- He will continue to call you and use storms and trials and troubles and even great fish to get your attention and to lead you back to Him

            -- Jonah’s time in the fish was enlightening -- he had a change of heart -- and after a lengthy discussion with God, Jonah surrendered to the call and agreed to go to Nineveh -- in Jonah 2:10, we read that God commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land

 

            -- turn over to Chapter 3

 

Jonah 3:1Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” 3a Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh

 

            -- this is why we call it amazing grace -- our God is the God of the second chance -- and the third chance -- and the fourth chance -- and so on

            -- our God is gracious with us -- He shows us His mercies every day -- and when we turn back to Him, we experience His grace and love in our life as never before

            -- despite his disobedience -- despite his flagrant rebellion in running the opposite direction of Nineveh, God forgave Jonah his sins and spoke to Him a second time, telling him again to go to Nineveh and preach the message that he would be given

            -- verse three shows the result of a repentant heart -- “Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh”

 

            -- when Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night He was betrayed, He asked the Father three times if there was another way -- if there might be another path by which we could be saved other than His death on the cross -- but in the end, Jesus spoke these words to the Father, “not My will, but Thine be done”

            -- this is where God wants us -- this is where God wants our hearts -- He wants us to follow the path of Jonah -- not in fleeing from Him, but in returning to Him -- in confession and repentance for our sins and transgressions and saying, “Not our will, but Thine be done”

            -- that is what Jonah has done as he enters the gates of Nineveh

 

            -- look back at the second part of verse 3

 

Jonah 3:3b Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

 

6 When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:

 

“By the decree of the king and his nobles:

 

Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”

 

10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.

 

            -- I’m sure Jonah was a striking figure that caught everybody’s attention when he showed up at the gate and began to preach -- after three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish, I’m sure he was noticeable

            -- and God used Jonah and Jonah’s personal witness of God’s grace and mercy to reach the hearts of the wicked people of Nineveh -- Jonah proclaimed that Nineveh would be overturned in forty days at the word of the Lord

            -- the people heard the message and were shaken to their core -- from the least to the greatest -- from the cattle in the field to the king on his throne -- the people repented of their sins in sackcloth with great mourning -- they gave up their evil ways and their violence -- they cried out for mercy and grace

            -- and God heard their prayers and saw how they had turned from their evil ways and had compassion on them -- he did not bring upon them the destruction He had threatened

 

III.  Closing

            -- so, what is the take-home message from the Book of Jonah? -- it’s easy to go with the crowd and sum up this story with the following points:

 

            -- first, when God calls us to do something, we need to respond immediately -- when the word of the Lord came to him and told him to go to Nineveh, Jonah disobeyed God and tried to flee to Tarshish -- resulting in the storm and his time inside a great fish -- God will use circumstances and situations -- trials and storms and tribulation -- to get us to respond to His word

 

            -- second, we need to have compassion on all people, not just the people we like -- Jonah was prejudiced -- he hated the Ninevites -- he wanted to see them suffer -- but God loves the people we hate just as much as He loves us -- the Bible tells us that God’s word is for all creation -- for all people -- and that we are one in Christ -- so, we need to get over our prejudices and our differences and our hatred and share the word of God with everyone, including those we don’t like

 

            -- but, as valid as those points are, they are superficial to the true meaning of this book -- like I said at the beginning, this not a book about Jonah -- this is a book about God

            -- and the message of this book is the same message that Jesus spoke when He began His ministry -- when Jesus was walking along the shore of Galilee and saw Peter and John at their nets, He said to them, “Come and follow Me”

            -- that’s the message of this book -- it is a call to come and follow Christ -- it is a call to leave all behind and to step into the kingdom of God -- to do so requires a change on our part

 

            -- I heard a story about a lady who was teaching a children's Sunday School class -- she was trying to explain to them in a way they would understand that the only way to get to Heaven was by following Jesus -- she would ask questions, and then all the kids would answer

            -- she asked the children in her Sunday School class, "If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the church, would I get into Heaven?" "NO"! the children all answered.

            -- "If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would I get into Heaven"? Again, the answer was "NO"!

            -- "Well," she continued, "then how can I get to Heaven?" -- In the back of the room, a 5 yr. old boy shouted out, "You gotta be dead"!!!

           

            -- how do you get to heaven? -- how do you follow Jesus when He calls? -- we do it the same way as Jonah and the Ninevites -- we repent -- we make a change -- we turn around and stop going our way and start going God’s way -- literally, the word repent means a change in mind -- a change in will

            -- the Book of Jonah shows the path of God and how He leads us to the point of repentance in our lives so that we will follow Him and enter His kingdom

            -- Jonah had a hard heart, and it took a storm and great fish to turn his prejudice and hard heart back to God

            -- the Ninevites were wicked and cruel, even by the standards of their day -- but they knew their sins -- they knew they were wrong -- and when God’s word came to them through Jonah, they immediately repented and changed their lives and God did not send destruction upon them

 

            -- all of us are Jonah in some way -- all of us here today have something in our lives that we need to turn from -- it might be a hard heart -- it might be prejudice -- it might be hatred towards another race or political persuasion or something else -- it might be a sin that has become a habit -- it might be unforgiveness or a grudge -- it might be a holding back from God in your heart

            -- whatever it is, the Book of Jonah points us to the place of forgiveness and mercy and grace -- to walk the path of God, we must first turn around -- as the saying goes, “God always allows U-turns” -- and He’s calling us to make a u-turn in our life today

            -- so, whatever it is you need to change in your life, I want to encourage you to let it go today -- to follow the path of Jonah and the Ninevites -- repent of it -- turn away from it -- let it go and cry out to God, “Not my will, but Thine be done”

            -- don’t leave here this morning with something holding you back -- because you never know when a storm or a great fish will come your way

            -- let’s pray

 

1 Roger Steer, Basic Christian: The Inside Story of John Stott (IVP Books, 2009), pp. 262-263; submitted by Van Morris, Mt. Washington, Kentucky