“You Can Run But You Can’t Hide”
Jonah 1:4-17
Sermon Series: “Jonah”
Introduction: Jonah tried to run far away from God, but He ran into Him. We often try to run from God, but the same thing happens to us that happened to Jonah. It is impossible to run away from the Lord. He is everywhere and knows everything. Charles Spurgeon said, “God will not let His children sin successfully.” God disciplines His children in order to bring them back to Himself. God loves us too much to let us get away with sin. He wants to have a close relationship with us and for our lives to glorify Him. We think that God was punishing Jonah through the great fish, and it is true that He was using it to discipline Jonah, but ultimately, the fish was a vehicle to break Jonah and bring him back into fellowship with God. It was also God’s vehicle to enable him to do the will of the Lord. With that said in the way of introduction, let’s look at some results of running from God.
When we run from God:
1. It always costs us. Jonah paid the fare. Someone has said, “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.” Satan’s lie to Adam and Eve that he still tells to people today is that “you will not surely die” when you sin, but God says “the wages of sin is death,” and we always “reap what we sow.”
2. It always hurts others. Once again, one of Satan’s great lies is that what we do does not affect other people. However, Romans 14:7 says, “For none of us lives to himself and no one dies to himself.” Everything we do affects others, and our sin hurts other people. Jonah almost cost the sailors their lives, and he did cost them their cargo. He wanted the Ninevites to be punished by God instead of being forgiven so he wanted their eternal destruction.
3. It dulls our spiritual lives and hardens our hearts. Jonah was asleep while the pagans were having a prayer meeting. It is pretty embarrassing for a prophet to have to be asked to pray by an idol worshipper. He was asleep while they were trying to save everybody from his judgment. He was so hard hearted that he was willing to die (v. 12) rather than repent. Sin always lulls us to sleep and then hardens our hearts.
4. We always go progressively downhill, and our attempts at sin management do not ultimately work. Jonah kept going down, down, down. This is still what happens to people who are running away from God. Satan’s lie is that things will be better, but they ultimately get worse. We try to manage the consequences of our sin like the people in this story, but that does not work either. The only solution is repentance.
5. We always run into a God of mercy and grace. This is the good news. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. He said, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17). God is not trying to find us so He can zap us, but He wants to bring us home to Himself. He is kind, patient, merciful, and gracious. He loves us completely and unconditionally. He knows and wants what is best for us. Why should we run from a God like that?
Conclusion: Will you stop running from the God who is relentlessly pursuing you? Instead, will you come home to the One who is waiting to embrace you with open arms? Jesus has already stretched out His arms to you when He died on the cross. Trust Him as your Lord and Savior and be forgiven of your sins like the sailors did. If you are a Christian, repent and turn back to Him like Jonah did.
