The Prodigal Prophet | Jonah's Unexpected Role in the Parable

Greg, Lori, and Harvest Ministries would like to send you the movie Unsung Hero, the back story of the music group for King and Country. It's a story of a mom and a dad and their seven kids putting their faith into action. You're going to be deeply moved by this story of the amazing small-bone family that have gone on to impact so many through their music, and we are offering this film to you for your gift of any size.

Get the DVD and digital download of Unsung Hero at harvest.org. The Bible tells us that heaven rejoices when one sinner comes to repent. It's just one. If we don't get excited when a lost person comes to Jesus, we need to ask God to change our heart. Spurgeon said winners of souls must first be weepers of souls. Pastor Greg Lori says we need to be brokenhearted over the lost. Sometimes we're thinking too much about ourselves, and we're not thinking about those people that don't know the Lord.

Listen, God cares about lost people, and so should we. How many prodigals does the Bible tell us about? Well, most Bible students would say one. Pastor Greg Lori has pointed out before that the prodigal son had an older brother who could also be considered a prodigal.

So two? Would you believe there may be three prodigals in the Bible? Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Lori points out that Jonah could be considered the prodigal prophet. But when he turned his life around, he helped an entire city turn around and come to God. How many of you believe that the Bible is inspired by God?

Raise your hand up. I believe it too. I believe the Scripture is inspired by God for many reasons. I believe that the Bible is given to us from God because it is the one book that dares to predict the future. Not once. Not twice.

But hundreds of times with 100 percent accuracy. I believe the Bible is the Word of God because everything it has promised to me I have found to be true. And I believe the Bible is the Word of God because there is a Jonah chapter 4. Because if I was Jonah and I was writing my own story, and most scholars believe Jonah wrote the book of Jonah, I would definitely not have put it in chapter 4. The book would have ended on chapter 3. Epic ending.

Thousands of people believe probably upwards of a million in a great revival. Thank you very much. Good night. God bless. Drop the mic. Exit stage.

But no. We have Jonah chapter 4. And to Jonah's credit he wrote it.

He literally throws himself under the bus in chapter 4 and shows how ridiculous he was after this revival happened. So I know this is an inspired book because why else would a story like this be in it. Jonah 4 verse 1.

Now remember the backdrop. All these people have believed. It is a spiritual awakening.

It is amazing. And this is what Jonah does. This change of plans upset Jonah and he became very angry. And he complained to the Lord about it saying, didn't I say before I left home that you would do this Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish. Because I knew that you were a gracious and compassionate God.

Slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. I knew how easily you could cancel your plans for destroying these people. So just kill me now Lord.

I would rather be dead than alive because nothing I predicted is going to happen. Here is a guy who survived three days and three nights in a fish's stomach. A man who repents and prays and preaches the truth. And the people of Nineveh come to believe. And now look at the condition he is in at this point. He was in a state of spiritual failure. And he was hoping to be entertained. You know he predicted Nineveh would be judged. Fill up a ringside seat.

Cut out some milk duds and popcorn. I am going to just sit here and watch the judgment of God fall in the city. But things did not go as planned. Look at Jonah 4 verse 5. Jonah went to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see if anything would happen to the city. And the Lord arranged for a leafy plant to grow there. And soon it spread its broad leaves over Jonah's head shading him from the sun. And Eve summoned the discomfort. And Jonah was very grateful for the plant. Ok here comes the worm.

Ready for it. But God also prepared a worm the next morning at dawn and the worm ate the stem of the plant so that it soon died and withered away. Jonah and the worm. So here is Jonah waiting for the judgment to fall.

And it doesn't fall. Instead mercy falls. And this reminds us of people that are more concerned with their comfort than the souls of lost people. You know you can be in church but the Bible is not alive to you anymore. When you come to church you expect everyone to cater to you.

To wait on you. It is all about you. You can't remember the last time you have shared your faith with someone.

You are more interested in being comfortable than you are in being available to God. And you are sort of like the older brother in the prodigal son story. You know a lot of times they say the parable of the prodigal son. And by the way the Bible never calls it that. That is just what we call it. But really if you wanted to be real technical you could call it the parable of the prodigal sons.

Plural. There are two sons in the story. A younger brother and an older brother.

The younger brother goes to a far country. King James puts it that way. And lives a wicked life.

And then comes to a census and returns home. But he ruined everything. Lost his fortune. Was drinking. Corousing with prostitutes and all the rest. And so he was a prodigal.

That is the one we think about the most. But then there was an older brother who never left home at all but he had become hardened and jealous and angry. And so the part of the story we know is while the prodigal was still a great distance off the father saw him.

Right? Rose up. Ran to the son. Threw his arms around him. Hugged him and kissed him. And said, this my son who was dead is alive again.

He who was lost is found. And he put a ring in his finger. And he said, let's have a party. Kill the fatted calf.

Update. Let's have barbecue. Let's have a great time.

Let's celebrate. Ok that is the prodigal coming home. Prodigal number one. Here is prodigal number two.

Luke chapter 15 verse 28. The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him but he wouldn't listen. The son said, look how many years I have stayed here serving you. Never giving you one moment of grief. You have never thrown a party for me and my friends. Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on prostitutes shows up and you go all out with a feast.

His father said, son you don't understand. You are with me all the time. Everything that is mine is yours. But this is a wonderful time. We had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead and he is alive. He was lost and he is found. Why did Jesus tell this story? Because Jesus was reaching out to sinful people. And He was changing their lives. And meanwhile the Pharisees were saying, you shouldn't hang around with people like that. You know that is wrong to even talk to people like that. Jesus says, let me tell you a story.

See if you can find yourself in the story. These sinners are like the prodigal number one. The older brother that is you guys. That is you guys sitting around splitting hairs. You guys being so hypercritical. You guys that can't even remember the last time you reached out to help anyone but yourself. You are like the older brother and you are as much of a prodigal than the other boy is.

In fact I would take it a step further. Maybe you are in a worse state than he was in. Because at least prodigal son number one knew he blew it and he came to his senses and he repented. The problem with prodigal son number two, the older brother, was he thought he had it all together when in reality he was far from his father's heart. And so that is Jonah. He is just thinking man it is just horrible that these people weren't judged.

And so he is upset. God spared thousands of lives and Jonah is crying because his tree is gone. Now what is the deal with this worm? How does a worm eat through the root of a tree? That must have been a gnarly worm. Maybe the biggest worm you have ever seen.

Like super worm or something. Right? So what is he upset about? He is upset about the fact that he has lost his temporary comfort. He has lost his eternal perspective.

And this is a very sad thing. And you know if we don't get excited when a lost person comes to Jesus we need to ask God to change our heart. Because the Bible tells us that heaven rejoices when one sinner comes to repentance.

Just one. And I think sometimes we are thinking too much about ourselves and we are not thinking about those people that don't know the Lord. Listen. God cares about lost people and so should we. Want to hear an amazing statistic? Between 80 to 90 percent of the people who have had the gospel shared with them heard it from people who had known the Lord for two years or less.

Do you hear that? 80 to 90 percent of people who have had the gospel shared with them heard it from a person who had been a believer for two years or less. So kudos to new believers. Credit goes to them for getting out there and sharing their faith.

But what about the others that have known the Lord much longer? Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Whenever you send us an email, letter, or post a comment on social media, we read every word. Pastor Greg, I listen to your sermons every day on my way into work. I can't thank you enough for your words, your humor, and your immense love for Jesus. It's so inspiring and eye-opening.

I look forward to listening to you daily, as you are such a bright spot in what has become a very dark world. If you have a story to share, why not call us and give us all the details? Here's the number 1-866-871-1144.

It's a special number 866-871-1144. As we rejoin Jonah's story in chapter 4, he's sitting there upset that God took mercy on those He despised in Nineveh. And he gets more upset when God sent a worm to damage the tree that had been providing him shade.

Here's Pastor Greg. Now we've got to give Jonah credit, because I feel like we're kind of beating up on him a little bit. But let's remember, he wrote Jonah chapter 4. And he even gives God the last word.

And I love this. Jonah 4.10, Then the Lord said, You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. And the plant is only a best short-lived. But Nineveh is more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention animals.

Shouldn't I feel sorry for such a city? So he says, And the Lord said this to me. Wow, thank you, Jonah. He showed us how great God is. And he shows us also how weak he was.

But he was honest about his shortcomings. You know, we all may have a Nineveh we're called to. As I mentioned before, our Nineveh is a place we don't want to go. And it's filled with people we don't want to talk to. And it's a message we don't want to share. And you can probably think of a Nineveh.

And by Nineveh, I just mean a person you don't ever want to have this conversation with. And sometimes the hardest people to reach are your own family, aren't they? Because you know how awkward it is to talk with your mom or your dad about this because they think they know everything, don't they?

And you're their kid. You know how hard it is to have that conversation with your husband or your wife or sometimes your children who maybe are teenagers and they're pushing back now and they don't want to hear it. They're not, you know, wanting to hear another Bible story like when they were little kids.

They're like, Please, not another Bible story. Don't preach to me. You know how hard it is to share it with a sibling, a brother or a sister that does not embrace your faith. You know how difficult it is to talk with certain people.

And so it's a Nineveh. And the Lord might just say, Go. Have that conversation. And your reaction is, No. But I'm just saying to you when the Lord prompts you, Go for it, man.

Go for it. Because Jonah did and a revival broke out and thousands of lives were changed. Would you be that person that would take that little step of faith? Because if you will be, God will use you beyond your wildest dreams.

Let me close with this. Maybe you're like Jonah sort of running from God. I talked about two prodigals in the story Jesus told. Prodigal number one just said, I don't need my father. I don't need his rules. I don't need this life.

I'm going to go live life the way I want to live. And he chased after all the stuff that people still chase after today. And he saw how empty it was and miserable it was.

And he came back to his father and he was forgiven. Maybe that's you. Maybe you were raised in a Christian home and you've heard these things ever since you've been a little kid. And you're saying, I don't want that.

I'm going to go live my own life and do what I want to do. And now you've sort of faced the consequences of that. You've seen the emptiness of that. And maybe you need to come back to the Lord. Or come to the Lord perhaps for the first time.

But then you might be like the older brother. Oh yes. Well I know all this stuff. And I'm at church all the time. And I'm so awesome. And I'm so wonderful. And everyone's wrong.

And I'm right. And you have this Pharasitical attitude. And your heart's kind of hard against God. Maybe you need to repent and come to the Lord. Or come back to the Lord.

I don't know. But I know whatever your need is. The theme of the book of Jonah is God gives second chances.

Isn't that great to know? God gives second chances. Is there someone here tonight that needs a second chance? You can make this commitment or recommitment to follow Jesus Christ. Wherever you are.

Whoever you are. God will give you a second chance. You see I mentioned earlier God chastened Jonah.

Gave him a swat if you will because he was his son. He wasn't getting back at Jonah. You know sometimes we think oh God wants to get back at us. No actually God took all of his wrath and fury. And if you want to use that phrase he got back at you by putting it on Jesus.

Let me say it another way. The consequences of sin that you should have faced were put on Jesus who never did anything to deserve it. And that's what we mean when we say Christ died for you.

You say so what Christ died. He died for you. He bled and died on the cross for you. He was crucified for you.

It was for a purpose. He wasn't crucified for his sins because he didn't have any. He was crucified for your sins and for my sin because we have a lot.

So because of that if I'll believe in Jesus I can be forgiven instantaneously of any sin I've ever committed. I mean think about that. Think about all the crazy stuff you've done.

Think about all the evil things you've thought. And I don't mean you. I'm pointing a finger at you.

I've got three pointed back at me. See. Think of all the things we've done to deserve the judgment of God. But yet he poured it on Jesus so we don't have to face the consequences of our sin. And Jesus died there in our place and he rose again from the dead three days later. And now he's ready to come into our life. If you will ask him in. He stands at the door of your life and knocks.

And he says if you hear his voice and open the door he will come in. This is a relationship with God. And if you don't have this relationship with God it can start right here right now. In a moment I'm going to pray and I'm going to extend an invitation for you to believe in Jesus. If you've not asked him into your life yet do it right now as we pray.

Let's all bow our heads. Everybody praying. Father I pray that you will speak to the heart of any person here who does not yet know you. Help them Lord to see their need for you. Help them to turn from their sin and put their faith in Jesus Christ so they can have the hope that they'll go to heaven when they die.

And they can find the meaning and purpose in life that you have for them. We ask this in your name. Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie praying an important prayer with those who want to make a change today in their relationship with the Lord.

And if you'd like to do that you'd like to make a change today. Pastor Greg will return in a moment to help you before today's edition of A New Beginning concludes. And at the very end of the program Pastor Greg has something special planned so stay tuned. And then let us say a word of thanks to those who support us financially.

Those who make it possible for us to bring you these studies each day. We're definitely a listener supported ministry. It's the generosity of listeners that help us be here with these programs. So if you've partnered with us thank you. And if you have yet to partner with us well I hope you'll get in touch today and let us know that you're standing with us. Even a small investment would help. It's actually an investment in changing lives. Thank you for partnering with us. You can donate securely online at harvest.org or write A New Beginning Box 4000 Riverside California 92514 or call us at 1-800-821-3300.

Again that's 1-800-821-3300. Well Pastor Greg if somebody listening right now knows they need to ask the Lord to forgive them of their sins could you help them with that right now? You know what Dave I'd love to do that. It's an amazing thing to me that over the years I've heard so many stories of people who have come to know Christ listening to this broadcast and they'll say things like I prayed their prayer with you at the end of the program. One guy wrote me and said I pulled my car over to the side of the road and prayed that prayer and Christ came into my life.

Just incredible. And I'd like to lead you in that same prayer. Look I don't have some super special prayer. It's just a basic prayer based on scriptural principles of what it means to believe in Jesus Christ. I mean if we want to get real technical the only sinner's prayer if you will and we often call this prayer a sinner's prayer.

The only real sinner's prayer in the Bible is a guy who just prayed God be merciful to me a sinner. So I'm going to lead you on a prayer similar to that but this is a prayer where you will be acknowledging your need for Jesus and putting your faith in him. So listen if you want to go to heaven when you die if you want to know that you are a child of God if you want the Lord to forgive you of your sins just pray these words if you would. Lord Jesus I know that I'm a sinner and I'm sorry for my sin and I turn from that sin but I know that you died on the cross of Calvary for my sin and rose again from the dead so forgive me Lord. I choose to follow you from this moment forward. I want you to be my Savior. I want you to be my friend. I want you to be my God. Thank you for hearing my prayer and answering my prayer in Jesus name I ask this.

Amen. Now I want to help you start growing spiritually so I have something to send you at no charge. It's my gift to you. It's called the New Believers Bible. So the New Believers Bible is the New Testament in the New Living Translation with hundreds of notes that I wrote that will encourage you in this commitment you are making to follow Christ. There's some other materials included as well in what we call the New Believers Growth Pack but let me get this New Believers Bible into your hands as quickly as possible.

Here's Dave to tell you more. Yeah you can get that New Believers Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300. We're here 24 7 to take your call. That's 1-800-821-3300 or just go online to harvest.org and click know God. Well next time join us for some powerful insight as Pastor Greg helps us focus our perspective on eternity. But before we go having looked at the life of Jonah the prodigal prophet Pastor Greg asked his son Jonathan to share a few words about his experience living as a prodigal before coming back to the Lord and now serving as a pastor at Pastor Greg's home church.

Here's Pastor Jonathan Laurie. If you're like me and you're born and raised in the church and you know Bible stories you know that there's a God in heaven that loves you and if you're like me where you even believe that Jesus Christ is who he said he is but not enough to stop living the way that you're living but not enough to stop living for yourself living selfishly then you know just like I did that that is a miserable place to be. You see I had too much of the church to be happy in the world and too much of the world to be happy in the church. I'd be out at church on Sunday night and I'd be driving home smoking a bowl in my car on the way home. My heart was so calloused and so hardened that I was able to just shut it out but then the Lord would still have those moments where he'd speak to me with that still small voice. I'd be sitting in the front row watching people come to Christ thinking in my head I need to do that I need to do that but because of my pride I wouldn't do that.

Oh what I'm going to stand up and everyone's going to know that you know I'm living this double life. I was so afraid of what people thought and so I found myself just becoming more and more isolated more and more depressed. I didn't want to tell my Christian friends about what I was doing the night before.

I didn't want to tell my non-Christian friends what I was doing that next morning and I found myself just becoming more and more isolated more and more depressed. I talked with Christopher about that. Christopher my older brother he had lived a pretty crazy life and he shared a little bit with me as I grew up but one day we really had a heart to heart and it was after I was arrested for possession of marijuana and he shared with me how he had gone through a similar lifestyle of addiction and drug abuse and partying and how it was just empty. At this point in Christopher's life he was married he had a little girl another little girl on the way and he was he was living it out. He was really walking with the Lord and he was able to speak to me with first-hand experience telling me what you're looking for you're not going to find and he was right and I knew that but I didn't know how to get there and I was trying to do it on my own and I just wasn't willing to take those practical steps and ultimately it was about a week later that Christopher was killed in that car accident and when I heard he had gone to be with the Lord I knew that I wanted to have that hope of seeing Christopher again in heaven. Christopher had asked me what's it going to take for you to give your life to Christ and when I heard that he had gone to be with the Lord that question popped back in my head and that's when I committed my life to Christ and that was July 24th 2008 and I'll tell you right now and I know that many others would if you can do it for me you can do it for you.