YouTube Transcript:
Jonah - Jonah 1 - The Missing Missionary | Warren Wiersbe Sermons
Skip watching entire videos - get the full transcript, search for keywords, and copy with one click.
Share:
Video Transcript
1 now the word of the Lord came unto
Jonah the son of amiti
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 on tares
from the presence of the Lord and went
down to
japa and he found a ship going to tares how
how
convenient and so he paid the fair and
went down into it to go with them unto
tares from the presence of the
Lord now if you have a butt Jonah in
verse three you've got to have a butt
the Lord in verse four you start butting
against the Lord he let you know about
it 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
in danger of being
broken then the Mariners and
interestingly enough the Hebrew word
there for Mariners is the word
salts most Sailors don't like to be
called salts 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 Oh
Sleeper arise call upon thy God if so be
that God will think upon us that we perish
perish
person wake up oh believer and get
perishing and they said everyone to his
fellow come let us cast lots that we may
know for whose cause this evil is upon
us they knew the storm was something
great so they cast lots and the lot fell upon
upon
Jonah then said they unto him tell us we
pray thee for whose cause this evil is
upon us what is thine occupation from
whence comest thou what is thy country
of what people art thou it's a strange
place for a press conference isn't
it and he said unto them I am a Hebrew
and I fear the lord you'd never believe
that the god God Of Heaven who hath made
the sea in the dry land then were the
men exceedingly afraid and said unto him
why hast thou done
this yeah there's no answer to that
question J Hudson Taylor witnessed to a
mandarin scholar in China and led the
man to the Lord and the man said how
long have your people had this
message he said hundreds and hundreds of years
years
he said my father and my father's father
and my father's father's father died in
darkness why were you so late in
coming there's no answer to that
question for the men knew that he fled
from the presence of the Lord because he told
told
them then said they unto him what shall
we do for thee that the sea may be Cal
unto us for the sea raged and was
tempestuous he said unto them take me up
and cast cast me forth into the sea so
shall the sea be calm for you for I know
that for my sake this great Tempest is upon
upon
you that next word is an amazing word
nevertheless the men rode hard to bring
her to the land but they could not for
the sea raged and was tempestuous
against them wherefore they cried out
unto the Lord the thing Jonah wasn't
willing to do and said we beseech thee
Oh Lord we beseech the let us not perish
for this man 's life and lay not Upon Us
innocent blood for thou oh Lord Hast
done as it pleased thee isn't it amazing
Calvinists they believed in the
sovereignty of God so they took up Jonah
and cast him forth into the sea and the
Sea ceased from its raging then the men
feared the Lord
exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto
the Lord and made
vows now the Lord had prepared prepared
a great fish to swallow up Jonah and
Jonah was in the belly of the fish three
days and three nights and then Jonah
prayed now we don't have to wonder why
Jonah disobeyed God I have read many
scholarly treatises on why did Jonah
disobey God when it tells us in verse
three that Jonah was fleeing from the
presence of the Lord that doesn't mean
he was trying to run away from God he
knew you couldn't run away from God why
if you descend the deepest hell he's
there you go to the highest Heaven he's
there Jonah knew his theology this
phrase from the presence of the Lord
means he was resigning his job as a
prophet the prophet stood in the
presence of the Lord and God said Jonah
go to the Heathen and tell them my
message and Jonah said I'm
resigning now why did he do it well he
tells us why he did it back in chapter 4
in verse
2 and he prayed unto the Lord and said I
pray thee Oh Lord was not this my saying
when I was yet in my country Oho he
tells us now what he'd been thinking
about therefore I fled before un tares
for I knew that thou art a gracious God
and merciful slow to anger and of great
kindness and repent us thee of the evil
Jonah fled because he did not want God
to save the ninevites he tells
us you see the Assyrians and Nineveh was
the great capital of the Assyrian Empire
the Assyrians were on the
rise they were a growing power and they
were a threat to Israel and Jonah said I
would rather the Assyrians be destroyed
than Israel be
destroyed and so he fled and would not
carry God's message but the interesting
thing is this now don't miss
this this
Nineveh the story of Nineveh ends in chapter
3:1 if this book were about Nineveh 3:1
would be the
end the book is not about Nineveh
Nineveh is mentioned nine times in this
book books about
Jonah he's mentioned 18 times in this book
book
and God is mentioned over and over again
this is not a story about Jonah and
Nineveh it's a story about Jonah and
God did you know that the
worker is more important in the
work God spent 13 years getting Joseph
ready to do his
work God spent 40 years really 80 years
work would you believe that Jonah needed
Nineveh as much as Nineveh needed
Jonah did you know that when God calls
you to do something he's not calling you
be only because of what they need from
ninev because God could not make out of
Jonah all that Jonah could become if
Jonah was not obedient to go to
Nineveh I'm talking to somebody right
now who's gotten a calling of some kind
God spoken to you and said here what I
want you to do you say Lord I'm not
going to do
it does it doesn't make sense it's not
rational it's not reasonable I'm not
going to do it if you don't do it you
won't stand to the the same place you'll go
go
backwards God called Jonah to Nineveh
Nineveh if he was going to be fulfilled
in his life as he should by the way
that's why God gives us his will God
doesn't give us his will just to get things
done God called Hudson Taylor to China
Taylor God called grenal up to Labrador
not just for the nation's sake but for
the doctor's
sake God called DL Moody to minister in
Great Britain when he landed in Great
Britain he was so seasick he said I'll
never come back he went
back because Great Britain did something
for DL Moody that Chicago didn't
do I say it again now Jonah needed
Nineveh as much as Nineveh needed Jonah
and you need the will of God and I need
the will of God because only then can we be
be
fulfilled now I want to show you how
Jonah missed his
fulfillment on four levels of his
life you take you take Jonah the person
and you can look at him on four
different levels you can see him as a
creature in God's creation just one of
God's creatures that's the lowest
level then you can see him on the next
level a man man in God's image not just
a creature but a man then the next level
a Hebrew in God's covenant and in the
highest level of all a prophet in God's
service now you take those four
levels a creature in God's
world a man in God's image a Hebrew in God's
God's
covenant a prophet in God's service you
take those four levels and you
see how Jonah did not fulfill himself
because he rebelled against the will of
God we Christians have the foolish idea
we can play with the will of God we can
turn it on and off like the TV set or
the radio you can't you know who is hurt
the most if we don't obey the will of
God we
are and God looked at Jonah and said
Jonah you are a creature I want you to
be fulfilled you are a man I want you to
be fulfilled you are a Hebrew I want you
to be fulfilled you are a prophet I want
you to be
fulfilled Jonah said no and he lost on
every level of his life he was a
creature in God's world now in the Book
of Jonah there are many evidences of
creation Jonah said I worship God who
made the heavens he made the Earth he
made the dry land and the sea I worship
the god of creation oh
let's start with the mineral Kingdom
that's the lowest Kingdom the sea
sea obeyed
obeyed
God that ship could not have been
sailing on that sea if the sea had not obeyed
obeyed
god let's take the vegetable Kingdom
that's the next one get to chapter four
there's a gourd that obeys
god let's move into the animal kingdom
there's a great fish that obeyed God
chapter 1
chapter 4 this little
worm that obeyed God everything in
Jonah did you ever stop to think that
all of creation obeys God now even the
disasters that we look upon somehow fit
into God's plan I don't understand
earthquakes and plagues and fires and
Bloods and neither do
you but I have a suspicion that these
Heathen Sailors were in the right when
they said Lord thou Hast done as it is pleased
pleased
thee when the weather gets bad I
sometimes turn to Psalm 148 I recommend
this to you it's better than the weather
report Psalm
148 praise ye the
Lord praise the Lord from the heavens
praise him in the Heights praise ye him
all his angels praise ye him all his
armies praise ye him sun and moon praise
him all ye stars of light Oho the sun is
obeying God and praising him so is the
moon Praise Him ye heavens of heavens
and ye Waters that are above the heavens
let them praise the name of the Lord for
he commanded and they were created he
hath also established them forever and
ever he hath made a decree which shall not
not
pass praise the Lord from the earth ye
serpents and all deeps fire and hail
snow and Vapor stormy wind fulfilling
his word mountains and all Hills
fruitful trees and all Cedars beasts and
all cattle creeping things and flying
fowl interesting thing all of creation
is obeying God even those little dice
that they were throwing on board ship
imagine throwing dice on the deck of a
ship tossed in the
stor that those dice obeyed
God I say it again everything in
creation was obeying God except
Jonah now do you know why all of
creation obeys God because the only way
they can fulfill themselves is to be
obedient if a shrimp tries to act like a
whale he disobeys God and doesn't
fulfill his
purpose if a tree tries to act like an
animal it doesn't fulfill its purpose
and doesn't glorify God do you know that
sharing I remember hearing um a preacher in
in
seminary who had just finished going
through a cancer
operation and I can never forget the
first statement of his message he stood
in the it was Earl V Pierce he stood in
the Pulpit at the Seminary and he said
do you know what a cancer cell
is we all sat and waited he said a
cancer cell according to my doctor is a
cooperate you know what Jonah was Jonah
was a cancer cell in God's Universe he
wouldn't cooperate the wind was
cooperating the waves were cooperating
the vegetable Kingdom the animal kingdom
but not
Jonah now if this universe did not work
together you and I would die if the sun
decided I'm not going to give light to
those people down there look what they
do they put smog up in the air I can't
even get through anymore no more light
no more light we
die if the moon were to
say I don't like this business of of
traveling around the earth I'd sooner be
on my
own we'd be in
trouble if some star out there decided
to go it on his own and not contribute
to the total giving of the universe we'd
be in
trouble I say it again all of the
universe is sharing and giving and
cooperating and obeying God except Jonah
he was a creature in God's world but he
was selfish and he wasn't fulfilling his
purpose purpose as a creature which is to
give if nature stopped
living now let's move to the second
level by disobeying God Not only was he
not fulfilling himself as a creature in
God's world he wasn't fulfilling himself
as a man in God's image Jonah was a
member of the Human family and so are
you and I I'm glad I don't belong to the
stone I'm glad I don't belong to the
vegetable Kingdom I I would want to be a
head of lettuce or
spinach I'm glad I don't belong to the
Animal Kingdom I don't know what animals
Cows as they've stood
there chewing their cup
go I thought to myself what an awful
thing not to be able to think a noble
thought not to be able to have a mind
that can grasp things I'm glad God made
me a human being with all of its
limitations we belong to the Human
family God created us in him we live and
move and have our being God provides for
us he gives us food to eat and he lets
the seasons come Faithfully they arrive
a little later a little earlier
sometimes but they always Faithfully
come do you know that as a human being
you share the same common burdens of
human beings all over the
world that's why Paul writes to the
churches of galaa and he says
now I want you to do good to all
men especially those who are the
household of
faith last year we received a special
offering for the um earthquake victims
in Central
America and uh somebody said well is all
this going to go to Christians I said
who cares we're helping
people when I was in the hospital and
they had to pump three pints of blood
into my system I didn't ask if that
Christians I didn't ask the man who was
saved there are human things we do for
human beings just because they're
human the story of the Good Samaritan
reminds us that the man lying on the
roadside dying is a human being and if
I'm a human being I have an obligation
be Cain killed his brother and then he
had the audacity to lie about it
God said where is your brother he saidh
how do I know where my brother is am I
My Brother's Keeper and the answer to
that question is
yes you are your brother's
keeper and if Jonah couldn't go to
Nineveh because they were lost Sinners
who needed salvation he at least could
go as a human being to help human
beings did you know the greatest thing
you can do for a person is to share the
him Jonah Not only was unconcerned about
Nineveh he was unconcerned about these
Heathen Sailors he got them into
trouble now you may not like this
statement that's all
right you go through your Bible and you
find that whenever a Believer gets out
of the will of God he gets unbelievers into
trouble Abraham got out of God's Will
David got out of God's
will people were in
trouble Jonah got out of God's Will and
the Very Heathen he should have been
witnessing to he almost
killed now the most one of the most
convicting things in this book is in
verse 13 nevertheless would you notice
that here were Idol worshiping
unbelieving he Heathen Sailors get this
Jonah they said here is a human being
who needs our help and they did
everything they could to save Jonah and
Jonah was doing nothing to save the
people he was sent
to I have seen unsaved
surgeons hover over the bodies of
Christian people and spend hours working
on them unsaved doctors and nurses and
anesthesist and all kinds of
technicians human beings helping human
beings I wonder how many Christians
would go out of their way to talk to
some of them about how to be
Sav what I'm saying is the unsaved put
us to
shame yeah if God if God suddenly
removed all the unsaved people from the
administration of the city of Chicago
you'd be in trouble and so would I
who's going to make the electricity I
just wonder if all this electricity is
made by saved people I doubt
it who's going to put out the fires
who's going to protect the
city you see we Christians get so Elite
we become so
separatist we think that unsafe people
can't do anything unsaved people put us
to shame in doing their job
when you look at the way we do our job
Jonah why aren't you in Nineveh trying
to win those people I'm running away
yeah but look at these unsaved Mariners
life Jonah was a creature in God's world
but he wasn't fulfilling his purpose as
a creature he was a man made in God's
image and he wasn't fulfilling his
man now let's move to the third level he
was a Hebrew in God's
covenant but he wasn't living like it
you know why God called the
Jews God called the Jews to bless the
Gentiles you knew
that Genesis CH 12 when God gave his
Covenant to Abraham he said now Abraham
I'm calling you I'm calling you out from
among the Gentiles you're going to be
the first
Jew and I'm going to bless you and I'm
going to multiply you that through you
all of the nations of the earth might be
blessed God separated the Jews that they
might be a blessing to the
Gentiles and you know what they didn't do
it when you read the history of Israel
you find that instead of staying
separated so they could be a blessing
they got involved they became like the
Gentiles seven times in the Book of
Judges God brings in a nation to spank
is Israel then when Israel would not
learn her lesson God picked her up and
took her out to a gentile Nation
Babylon know the church has made the
same mistake election in the Bible is to
responsibility God chooses us that he
may use
us and here was a Jew and that Jew
should have looked at those Gentiles and
said God this is why you called me you
separated me that I might minister to them
the Jews not only made the mistake of
getting infected by the Gentiles but
they made the mistake of getting
isolated from the Gentiles they went the
other extreme when Jesus came to the
Earth he found the Pharisees wrapping
their robes around themselves and
calling the Gentiles dogs uncircumcised
dogs he found a wall in the temple that
said if any Jew if any Gentile goes past this
this
wall he'll be killed
and so when Jesus died he ripped the
veil and said come on in to God and he
knocked down the wall and said there's no
difference Jonah was a Hebrew in God's
covenant God had separated him and God
had called him that he might be a
blessing of the
Gentiles but he wasn't doing it instead
he was
asleep instead he was causing
trouble he wasn't praying he wasn't awake
awake
the one man on board that ship who had
the answer to the problem was Jonah and
job it's not hard to see Christians in
chapter one of
Jonah did you notice the
adverb he went down to japa he went down
into the ship he went down into the
sides of the ship over in Chapter 2 he
went down to the bottom of the mountains
what is the direction when you turn away
from God's will down down down and what
were the Heathen saying we're perishing
sleeping I tell you when that trumpet
blows to wake up the dead some of the
and more than one sleeping Saint is
going to sayl not now it's going to be
yeah he was sleeping when he should have been
been
praying he was disobeying when he should
have been
obeying he was an ambassador of Peace
who caused a storm and his name means
Dove what a
dove well like a
vulture the dove is a symbol of Purity
and he was a sinner the dove is a symbol
of peace he was a
troublemaker he was a Hebrew in God's
covenant but he wasn't fulfilling his
purpose you know why God's called The
Church you know why we're separated from
the world not to be isolated from the
world but that we might be able to
minister to the world if we're like the
world we can't help the world if we're
unlike the world we can win people to Christ
close he did not fulfill his purpose as
a creature he did not fulfill his
purpose as a man he did not fulfill his
purpose as a
Hebrew he did not fulfill his purpose as
a prophet in God's service Jonah you
aren't just a a creature you're a man
you aren't just any man you're a Jewish
man and you aren't just any Jew you're a prophet
prophet
you see as a creature he just declared
the glory of God all of creation does
that as a man he was made in the image
of God as a Hebrew he' had the special
blessing of God as a prophet he could
share the message of God and he wasn't
sleeping Jonah was given a very very
prophet you say well I'm not called to
be a prophet you're called to be a
Witness I was in traffic court a couple
of weeks ago now don't be criticizing
me it was a very slippery day and I had
to make the choice of either going
through a red light or hitting my brakes
and skidding and so I went through the red
red
light and the policeman hadn't gotten
his quota that
day so he pulled me
over and uh gave me a ticket so I went
to traffic court now I didn't enjoy
spending 3 hours sitting there but I
certainly learned a lot my it's great to
lives they had a fell up before the
judge by the way lest you worry about me
I went up and he said why did you do it
and I told him what I told you he said
go home so I went home that was the end
of that but they had a man up before the
judge who had been guilty been been
accused of a number of things and he was
supposed to have a witness there to help
him and so the judge said where is and
he called witness for so and so nobody
showed up tried it again where is so and
so w I thought to myself isn't that
witness God said to me how many times
have people been in trouble because you haven't
haven't
witnessed you see God called Jonah to be
a prophet a prophet is one who speaks
forth he is a fourth teller not just a for
for
teller and God has given to us the
Glorious privilege of opening our mouths
and saying something worth listening to
to ever listen to conversation on a bus
or an elevator it's
crazy everybody in Chicago talks about the
the
weather I can't think of a better way to
waste your time because you can't do
anything about it anyway and just by the
changes baseball season is starting
before long I'll be talking about
baseball there's so much innan insipid
conversation we have the privilege of
opening our mouths and sharing Jesus
Christ he was a prophet in God's service
and he failed in his high
calling and I think the church has done
the same thing God has called us to
speak out ye shall be Witnesses unto me
to the uttermost parts of the Earth but
we don't do it so on these three on
these four levels Jonah failed God said
Jonah if you'll just go to Nineveh
you'll fulfill your purpose as a
creature in my universe all of the
universe will be cooperating with you if
you obey me but you know what he
disobeyed and everything in the universe fought
fought
him the wind was against him the waves
were against him the Mariners were
against him after they couldn't get the
ship to land the dice were against him
the great fish was against him
everything was against Jonah when as a
creature he was not obeying the Creator
this is why people out of the will of
God have such a tough time time all of
the universe is fighting against him but
you know when we're obeying the will of
God everything in the universe works for
us the stars in their courses will fight
for you when you're walking in the will of
of
God if you haven't read lately or never
have read Dr Olsen's magnificent book
doctar read
it I cannot get over when I first read
that I said to myself this is the
closest thing to Jay Hudson tlor in
modern times I've ever read how God did amazing
amazing
things in answer to prayer because
people were in the will of God the
weather worked for them everything just
went right
together Jonah did not fulfill his
purpose as a human
being he did not have compassion for
fellow human
beings and therefore he ended up in
ocean Jonah did not fulfill his purpose
as a
Believer as a member of God's covenant
family so God had to chasen him Jonah
did not fulfill his purpose as a servant
of God a prophet and therefore God
couldn't talk to him anymore God wanted
to talk to him face to face but he
couldn't do it had to talk to him
through the wind had to talk to him
through a storm had to talk to him
through a fish
I tell you friend when you get to the
place in your life where God can't talk
out well fortunately Jonah didn't stay
that way but we have to pick that up
next time then Jonah
Jonah
prayed what is the message of Jonah
missionary all the angels are looking
down watching Nineveh any minute now any
there a missing missionary but you know
who was missing the most the missionary
was missing the
most he was missing the privilege of
fulfilling everything that God had made
him because he was rebelling against the
will of
God that's why the scripture says the
way of the trans transgressor is
hard that doesn't mean a bum on skid row
that means anybody the way of a
transgressor is hard if you're missing
missing if you obey God's will and I
obey God's will it means fulfillment
becoming all that we can
become and the result is people get
saved and God is glorified and all the
universe works with with
us and there's
missing because if you're missing the
will of
God you're missing the blessing of
God gracious father someone right now
may be out of your
will and knows
it perhaps it's some unbeliever who's
never been saved and God is not willing
that any should perish we know it's your
will for them to come and Trust Christ
help them to
come perhaps it's some
student perhaps it's some member of The
Moody Church Father I don't know but I
pray that your spirit will so apply the
word that we'll realize tonight what a
privilege it is not just an obligation
but an opportunity to do the will of God
and to find that blessed fulfillment in
every area of Our
Lives to your glory to that end I pray
pray that as we sing this time of song of
of
dedication that um we might do it from our
our
hearts and that we might not go
away running in the opposite direction
Click on any text or timestamp to jump to that moment in the video
Share:
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
One-Click Copy125+ LanguagesSearch ContentJump to Timestamps
Paste YouTube URL
Enter any YouTube video link to get the full transcript
Transcript Extraction Form
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
Get Our Chrome Extension
Get transcripts instantly without leaving YouTube. Install our Chrome extension for one-click access to any video's transcript directly on the watch page.
Works with YouTube, Coursera, Udemy and more educational platforms
Get Instant Transcripts: Just Edit the Domain in Your Address Bar!
YouTube
←
→
↻
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc
YoutubeToText
←
→
↻
https://youtubetotext.net/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc