“And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah,” Jonah 1:7.

Back with you once again girls and boys after my wee ‘holiday’ in hospital!! Thank you for the recording sent me of a hymn you sang.

Jonah’s answer to the shipmaster or captain is not given though there was no response that he could give to the challenge of the captain in verse 6. 

Jonah’s lack of prayer is all the more reprehensible in the light of the response of the heathen seamen, verses 5, 7.

I. CONSIDER MAN’S AWARENESS OF  HOW INESCAPABLE JUDGMENT IS

It is strange to see sailors praying! The sailors recognised that sin will be visited with judgment. This was the thinking of the heathen on Malta, Acts 28:1-4. Mankind, especially believers, has this awareness, Gen 42:21. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap,” Gals. 6:7.

II. THEIR READINESS TO UNDERGO THE LOT SHOWS THEIR IGNORANCE OF THEIR SIN

They were going to ‘draw straws’ to see who was the guilty person!

1. Their knowledge was very imperfect. Man has only vague notions of what sin is and unaware that much he does is sin in God’s eyes. 

2. The enlightening power of God brings the sinner to see his sin. David-Ps. 51:4; Prodigal-Luke 15:18-19; Thief-23:41; Paul-1 Tim 1:15, 

This is the purpose of the gospel, Acts 26:18. Some never learn until the judgment, Matt 25:41.

3. This is why sinners reject the gospel. Man can live with his own view of their sin. He feels himself undeserving of damnation, Mark 10:17-20. How wrong he was, verse 22.

4. A right sense of our sins will fill us with gratitude. 2 Sam. 12:7-13, (David); 1 John 1:9, 4:10; Eph. 2:4-10; Rev. 1:5-6.