Jonah 1:3-16

God only lets us continue in our sin for so long.  He eventually stops us either by death or by discipline.  And our boy, Jonah, was about to get disciplined in a big way.

In God’s legal system, there’s a difference between discipline and punishment.  Punishment is the pouring out of God’s wrath and retribution against sin.  People who are genuinely converted Christians never have to experience punishment because Jesus took our punishment for us at Calvary.  (Can I get a “hallelujah!” and “to God be the glory!”?)  People who choose to reject that substitutionary atonement choose to take their own punishment in an eternity in hell. 

Discipline is the mercy of God putting up a brick wall for us to run into so we’ll turn around and get out of our sin.  Once you run into that brick wall enough times, you start noticing that our…