In 1929 Georgia Tech played UCLA in the Rose Bowl. In that game a young man named Roy Riegals recovered a fumble for UCLA. He picked up the ball and began running 65 yards toward the goal line. The problem was he was headed for the wrong goal. He was about to score a touchdown for Georgia Tech. Luckily, a speedy teammate saw what was happening and ran and tackled him before he got into the end zone. Jonah was about to score a touchdown for the opposite team…the devil. He was headed in the opposite direction. What about you today, are you headed where God desires you to be or are you going in the opposite direction?

I am beginning a short series of messages on the Old Testament book of Jonah. This book contains valuable information on the subject of revival. If we are to experience revival we must not procrastinate to do God’s will? What does it mean to procrastinate – to put off, delay, postpone, adjourn, drag your feet, defer. There is no positive definition of this word. We often put things off until tomorrow what we ought to do today. Jonah was not any different than we are at times.

I. Jonah is Given his Assignment. Vv.1-2

1. The word was spoken to Jonah and God send him on a Great Mission but he decided to ignore God’s call. Some believe he did so because of fear. The good Lord knows that peoples’ fear often leads them to procrastinate. In John 4:35 the Lord Jesus said, Say not ye, There are yet four months, and [then] cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.

2. Jonah was a real historical character… Jonah prophesied during the reign of King Jeroboam II between 786 & 746 BC, he worked as God’s spokesman to restore the borders of Israel. Jesus authenticated the story about Jonah during His ministry and treated him as a true historical character in Matthew 12:39-41. This should silence the critic and skeptics.

3. In his book Jonah recounts his struggle against God’s love for the Assyrians in Nineveh, a pagan city that had no allegiance to God and was a sworn enemy of the Jewish people. So, he decided he would not go. Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the LORD. He went “down” to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish.

4. God couldn’t have been any clearer in His commission. I know there are times when we just aren’t sure of God’s will. This is not one of those times. How Jonah heard this message, we aren’t told. What we do know is he is sure what he is called to do. The word of Jehovah came to Him!

He was to go to Nineveh. Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrian Empire. God’s timing was perfect for Jonah to go but he delay and ran to Joppa. Assyria was experiencing a period of marked weakness. She was suffering from internal dissention due to a series of weak and corrupt leaders. The kingdom was hampered by attacks from the Northern Errata people. To make matters worse this nation suffered a series of epidemics killing thousands during 765-759 BC. On June 15, 763 a total eclipse of the sun caused widespread fear and panic. God was at work preparing the people and leaders for Jonah’s message but he fled.

He had good news and bad news to tell them. They were going to be destroyed if they didn’t turn around. But the good news was that God was giving them the opportunity to repent of their sins.

II. Jonah Flees form the Lord’s Commission vv .3

1. However, the messenger doesn’t want to deliver the message. He wants to run away or put it off for another day. Jonah disagrees with God’s calling to go to this city to preach judgment against its wickedness.

The people are in imminent danger of destruction because of God’s judgment, but Jonah refuses to take God’s message of repentance to them, even though he has seen God’s grace and mercy poured out on his own nation. We know the rest of the story.

Application:
If God spoke to your heart in a message or while in meditation, He has something for you to do or something he wants you to follow up on. Don’t put it off; don’t say well I’ll get around to it some time.

2. Solomon once said, – ECC 3:1 – To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: The right time is God’s time, not our timing. When he speaks to us we need to response. A wise person will resolve to stop putting things off. Often we will response by saying I’ll get to it tomorrow. Dawson Trotman, the founder and first president of The Navigators, once said, “The greatest time wasted is the time getting started.”
— I Peter 4:17

2. Why did Jonah flee? Was it fear? Well, Anthropologists tell us that the Assyrian’s were one of the cruelest people ever to live on the face of the earth. The Aztecs, Assyrian’s and the Vikings were top three. When they went to war, they were brutally vicious. Every man they captured they tortured to death. Every child killed. Every woman prisoner was taken as a slave.

There are records of whole towns who committed mass suicide rather than fall into the hands of the Assyrian’s. They practiced child sacrifice, burning babies as an act of worship to their demon gods. Sexual immorality was the way of life with widespread worship of fertility goddess and temples of lewd worship. Jonah may believe he’ll be dead before he can get the job done or Jonah doesn’t believe they deserve saving,

3. So, Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the LORD. He went “down” to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. It was a Phoenician outpost in southwest Spain, at the very edge of the Mediterranean world. Tarshish was probably a fishing village on Atlantic coast of Spain; the farthest western harbor known. He not only ran, he tried to get as far away from Nineveh – and God – as he could!

He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the LORD by sailing to Tarshish. You’ll note he paid the fair for a ride he will never forget. And he probably figures that when he stepped on that ship he was finished with God. Not by a long shot! You can run from God, but you can’t hide!
Jonah flees from the presence of the Lord. He should have read Psalm 139:7-10.

Procrastination is the enemy of Evangelism and unless we get started reaching the lost we will fail and impede the salvation of others and the growth of our church. Earth’s history is strewn with the wrecks of half-finished plans and unexecuted resolutions. “Tomorrow’ is the excuse of the lazy and the refuge of the incompetent.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.

III. Jonah Cause turmoil for the sailors vv. 4-11

1. God send a mighty wind to wake him up and get him back on course. But this storm was so violent that we learn in verse five that “All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god.” Jonah could note hide from God not even in the hold of a ship – verse #5.
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Two things I want you to notice. Jonah is supposed to be a holy and caring prophet of God. But he doesn’t give a rat’s tooth about the people around him. In fact, verse 6, the unsaved captain of the ship cares more about the people than Jonah does! Do we care about the people around us?

2. So they cast lots to see who the fault of all this trouble is and in verse 8, all of the sailors gathered around Jonah and they said, “All right. Who are you? Where did you come from? What did you do wrong? What race are you from?” And in verse ten, when Jonah gives his hypocritical confession, the sailors get scared. And they ask him again, “what did you do?’

And before Jonah could answer, the weather started getting rough. The tiny ship was tossed, if were not for the courage of the frighten crew
the ship would be lost. (I got that from somewhere??) They rowed hard…

So, the sea was getting rougher and rougher. And the sailors asked Jonah, “What can we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?” And Jonah said, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea, and it will become calm. It is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.” I guess he came to the logical conclusion the needs of the many out weight the needs of the few or the one. Jonah is tossed over. The ship is out of trouble, but at what cost? They lost all the wares…they cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea,

When we disobey the Lord or delay it has consequences that affect others. I’ll start tomorrow you say or, I’ve been planning to begin tithing my income, but we’ve been so busy that we just haven’t gotten to it yet. Maybe we can get started tomorrow. We put off serving the Lord and growing in grace.

Conclusion:
There is a fable which tells of three apprentice devils that were coming to this earth to finish their apprenticeship. They were talking to Satan, the chief of the devils about their plans to tempt and ruin men. The first said, “I will tell them there is no God.” Satan said, “That will not delude many, for they know that there is a God.” The second said, “I will tell men there is no hell.” Satan answered, “You will not deceive anyone that way; men know even now that there is a hell for sin.” The third said, “I will tell men there is no hurry.” “Go,” said Satan, “and you will ruin them by the thousand.”

The most dangerous of all delusions is that there is plenty of time. James 4:17
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Are you evading duties God makes clear He wants you to tackle?