The Consequence of Defiance and the Grace Therein

Remember this is an outline form because it was taught in Sunday School...so it will be a little less sermonic:

The Consequences of Defiance and the Grace Therein
Jonah 1:4-2:10

Introduction:

A time whenever I was defiant like Jonah…and what did God do about it?

Charlie @ FBC Perry
Our Neighborhood Bible Study

What about you?

What happens when we are defiant? What happens whenever our heart continues to say no to God?

First of all, was Jonah a Christian? If Jonah were living in the New Testament would he be labeled a Christian?


This lesson is going to be a little more interactive, Split into _____ groups and you will have 5 minutes to come up with the answers.


1:4-6
Chastisement/Distress—“The Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea”
God will chase you…think Hebrews 12

Others suffer the consequences of our defiance—“The mariners were afraid, lost cargo”

NOTE—v.5…Why do you think it mentions Jonah sleeping?

Sometimes in our defiance we are able to get comfortable. Sometimes we can deceive ourselves into thinking everything is okay. Sometimes in our defiance we can fool ourselves into thinking that God is now pleased with us. Look at all the open doors…

NOTE—v.6…Does the command, “Arise” sound familiar? What feeling do you think this would have evoked in Jonah?

Prayerlessness—“call out to your god”—Jonah had to be told by pagans to pray, note that there is no evidence that Jonah actually did pray. Why do you think that is? Whenever we are defiant to God we have nothing left to pray…we know God’s answer…but we hate it.


1:7-10

Note that even the lots are obedient to the sovereign Lord. Only the prophet is bold enough to defy God in this story.

Lack of witness—note that the sailors had to ask Jonah who he is. He does not want to be a witness for God…this is the very thing he is running from, the conversion of Gentiles. v.9 is not a triumphant declaration of who God is, it is a prophet that is ashamed in his confession of the God that he serves. They should not have had to ask, he should have boldly declared and said that this God demands their repentance. But he is silent.

Fleeing from the presence of the LORD—We flee from our responsibility to God, as well as from His presence. We run from Him. Our fellowship with Him is broken. Rather than repent and run to Him often our defiance becomes hardened and we desire to flee from Him. Think of Adam and Eve in the Garden.

1:11-2:1

Rather die than be obedient—Notice the depth to which Jonah’s defiance had fallen. He would now rather die and be thrown into the sea than to repent. Repentance was an option. He could have told them to turn around and take him back to Joppa so he could go to Nineveh. He could have repented and even been a bold witness there…but Jonah’s solution—I’d rather die.

Guilt—Jonah knows that it is his sin that is causing this. What a horrible sense of guilt he must have felt, yet he still refused to repent.

NOTE—v13—the sovereign plan and discipline of God is not going to be thwarted, he is going to get his man. He does not give up in His pursuit of Jonah.

NOTE—v14—the pagan sailors that Jonah should have been a witness to now call upon the LORD. They realize that this is God’s good pleasure.

NOTE—v16—feared the LORD greatly and offered sacrifices to the Lord and made vows. These men will more than likely be in heaven with us. Here they are repenting and turning to the living God. Offering sacrifice and making vows.

Was the great fish for protection or judgment? Is this God’s grace or His judgment?

NOTE—2:1--Jonah finally prays from the belly of the fish


We are now going to look at the grace of God in this passage

Look at the grace of God in spite of ourselves

1) In spite of our guilt—Jonah was a guilty man and should have been left for dead. But from his distress he cried out to God, and God answered, He heard Jonah’s voice and delivered him.

2) In spite of His judgment—Jonah was cast into the deep by God Himself, yet even in the midst of His own judgment God rescues Jonah. God’s purpose of judgment upon his saints is for their repentance and restoration. Do not despair when God’s hand of judgment is upon you, but in this one time be like Jonah and cry out to God in repentance.

And look at what Jonah’s hope is, and how God restores:

v.4 Jonah was driven away from God’s sight, his desire was to be in fellowship with God, 4b is more than likely a question not a statement of truth. More than likely Jonah is saying, “How am I going to worship you again God, how will I worship you outside your temple?” Restore me so I can worship! Notice how Jonah desires fellowship with God above all.

v.6,7 Jonah’s life was fainting away and he was on the brink of death but God in His goodness rescued Jonah.

v.8—notice that Jonah has not yet been spit out of the belly of the fish. Jonah is speaking to himself, He is prophesying to His own people. Jonah’s radical defiance shows his own idolatry, his idol was his own stubborn heart. You be a whore and go after other idols, then you forsake God’s covenant love.

v.9—I will do it, what I have vowed I will pay. Jonah now has a fresh resolve to obey.

NOTE:--What is meant by “Salvation belongs to the LORD!”?

1) Sovereignty—It does not belong to only us Jews, it belongs to those whom God has decided and chosen to save. He only makes the decision. He only decides salvation, not Jonah, not man, not anyone. This is God’s domain, He is the one who determines the outcome. He alone deserves the praise. Now it is Jonah (the undeserving) to proclaim salvation to the Ninevites (the undeserving)

2) Exclusivity—there is not other savior but the LORD. He is the source of salvation and the sole Savior. John 14:6

The fish vomits a restored Jonah onto dry land…Jonah will now be obedient, and we will look at that next week.


But I want to close now with briefly looking at Jesus Christ and how he is just the opposite of our defiance and the very answer and the grace for us to cling to. I will show you how he Himself was never defiant to God, but He himself suffered the chastisement of God for us.

1) Chastisement/Distress---“My God my God why have you forsaken me”, yet before Christ became our sin he never was chastised by the father, because he was never disobedient. Yet he took chastisement, not just from Roman whips or nails or a bloody cross, but the chastisement and punishment of a holy God for the sins of His sheep.

2) In that others suffer the consequences of our disobedience, we rejoice in the consequences of Christ’s obedience, and He himself suffered due to our disobedience.

3) Jesus Christ who had unbroken fellowship with the Father was cast from the presence of God. He who had perfect fellowship took upon our broken fellowship so that we too might have unbroken fellowship with God someday. So that we who are defiant will some day be no longer.

4) We often would rather die than be obedient, Jesus Christ was just the opposite. He would rather die than be disobedient. And in fact He did die out of obedience, and He died for those of us who are disobedient.

5) We suffer guilt because of our wrong. Christ never had guilt on earth, but he took our guilt upon Himself to free us from ours.
Salvation is truly found in no one else. Just as the LORD caused the great fish to spew Jonah out of His mouth so He set His seal upon Jesus Christ when He caused the grave to give Him up on the third day in the resurrection. Christ is Lord and salvation is found in no one else, for He alone is able to rescue us from our defian