Biblical Compassion,Part 3

Welcome to Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Yousaf, author of more than 50 books, including his most recent, A Heart for God. Okay, when looking at Jonah's adventures, did you ever think, I wonder if it really took being swallowed by a big fish and getting tossed around the ocean for several days for Jonah to finally pray?

Seriously, didn't he think about that before it got so bad? Join me today in listening as Dr. Michael Yousaf helps us understand the depth of Jonah's prayer and the depths of the ocean inside a fish on today's Leading the Way. I don't think there's anyone who's a child of God who would not testify to the fact that when they got into a deep distress and called upon the Lord, not only that he heard their cries, but he answered. Many people right here and right around the world would testify to this fact that no matter where you are, what you have done, when you turn to the Lord in repentance, he will answer your prayer. But I know there are some people who in their zeal to get out of their desperate situation, they make all kinds of promises to God, something you need to be very careful about before you do. They make promise to the Lord, they promise the Lord they will change certain things in their life and they will do this and they will do that.

Only God will get them out of this jam. The thing is that God often answers prayer and in some cases, not all cases thank God, but in some cases as soon as the prayer is answered, those particular individuals get hit with a severe case of amnesia. I mean they have forgotten everything they said.

Here's what I want to tell you. What they really forget is that God cannot be mocked. What they really forget is that God never forgets.

Oh yes, God is patient and he waits, but his patience was designed from the very beginning in order to propel you to fulfill your vow unto the Lord, in order to fulfill the promise that you made to God, not that he is indifferent or he has forgotten about your promise. Jonah in fact is a case in point. In the belly of the whale, Jonah cried to the Lord. In the belly of the great fish, he repented. From the abyss, Jonah confessed to the Lord his disobedience. From the dark watery tomb, he promised to obey the Lord and yes, he did obey, sure reluctantly as we're going to see later on, sure begrudgingly, but he obeyed nonetheless. Jonah's prayer is an example of how God always answers the prayer of a repentant Christian. God always will. The Lord did not only hear Jonah's cry of despair, but the Lord answered it. I'll tell you what this says to me about God.

That regardless of my motive, that regardless of my past unfaithfulness, that regardless of my intentions, God never wants you or me to give up hope in prayer. God never wants us to despair, only pray. Jonah was never abandoned by the Lord. Although in verse 4 of chapter 2 he said so, he was never abandoned by the Lord. So what he's saying, he felt that he was abandoned by the Lord.

Some of us, when we are in our depths of despair, we feel that we've been abandoned by the Lord, but the Lord never, never, never abandons us. I want to tell you at the outset, there are many people who become so obsessed with what was going on inside the belly of the whale or the great fish that God sent, that they really miss out on knowing and understanding and learning from what was going on inside of Jonah. Don't make that mistake. Now mind you, I know there's a temptation even for me to try to kind of imagine what really happened inside that thing. You know what I mean? So inside that creature, I know and you know there couldn't be much of a, you know, a luxury suite at the Ritz. I mean they were rough three days.

I mean he could not get a lot of air every now and again. He'll catch a breath, you know, as this thing goes up and down and up and down and the temperature I'm told inside would have been between 104 and 108. I mean that beats any hot tub you've ever been in. Gets close to gastric juices. That does wonder for your skin tone.

It bleaches it. And if he was able to eat anything, it was all sushi. To say nothing of this acrobatic exercise that he was going through, you know.

I mean talk about three days of great diet. But again I just don't want to concentrate on that. Satisfy the temptation just for a little bit. I want you to think with me about what's going on inside of Jonah because that's really what matters. Let's look carefully at the prayer that he prayed in chapter two of the book of Jonah. I want to tell you this is truly a model prayer. Mark it in your Bibles. It is a model prayer for every repentant Christian who have become repentant and really turns to the Lord in a genuine way.

Who cease to be disobedient, who cease to be rebellious, who cease to be seeking after his own life and his own self and his own desires. Here we're going to see that in spite of the fact that Jonah forsook the Lord, the Lord never forsaken him. We're going to see in this prayer how Jonah experienced the presence of God even in the depth of the watery grave. And I want you to look at that prayer very carefully. I had those of you who are taking notes. I'm going to give you four characteristics of this prayer.

And they all start with the letter P just to help you out so you can remember them. First it was a probing prayer. Secondly it was a penitent prayer. Thirdly it was a praising prayer. And fourthly it was a prayer of promise. Probing, penitent, praising and promise.

Look at verses two to six of chapter two. Jonah begins with an honest probing. That's the first step.

You cannot go to second base until you touch first base. And that first base is to be honest in probing of your life. That's why the scripture says examine yourself, examine yourself, examine yourself.

You've got to be honest in probing the reasons why where you are. But there's something very important about the Hebrew language. I'm not going to give you a lesson in linguistics. Don't worry, some of you already glazed over. But it's very important for you to understand what I'm going to tell you because it's not only going to help you understand this passage, it's going to help you understand the whole language of the Bible.

It's of vital importance. I see some of those folks who really have no idea and they just read their English Bible and they come up into error because they do not understand what the scripture means. In the Hebrew language when they say God did it, it is not the way we mean in modern English as we use the language of blaming God.

Not the same. They believe that God is so sovereign that he is in total control that even the consequences of our rebellion, even the consequences of our disobedience is his doing. And that's the language they use. This is how they refer to it. Do you remember when the Bible said that there was an evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, King Saul.

How many of you remember that incident? And you got stumbled over that and you said well how in the world God is sitting up in heaven sending down evil spirits. Well you got to understand the language. Unless you understand the language and the way Hebrews think and the way they're writing it, you'll miss the whole point. And I can tell you the heresies out there have sprung out because of the lack of understanding of the meaning of the word of God.

Here's exactly what they mean. Every one of us have a spirit inside of us. If you do not have the Holy Spirit inside of you, you have an evil spirit inside of you.

One of the two. And the people of God understood that whenever you grieve the Holy Spirit, whenever you quench the Holy Spirit, it is automatic an evil spirit comes in and takes its place. Jesus talks about this when he said a spirit leaves and if the house is not filled, he's going to come back with seven others stronger than the other one.

That's what they mean by this. So the spirit, God did not sit up in heaven and say I'm sending an evil spirit but because it's under the overall control of God, they said God sent it. In reality it was the consequences of Saul's rejection of the spirit of God, it is a consequence of Saul quenching the spirit of God, it is a consequence of Saul saying I'm going to do it my way. And because they believed so strongly that everything that happens is in accordance to the will of God and the plan of God, therefore they speak with such strong language that you must discern, you must understand in order to understand the scripture.

Some people have a problem with this kind of language, they really do because they do not understand what I just told you. And they say well how can God do this, how can God do that, how can God do the other thing? God can do anything he wants to.

But that's not the issue. That is the language of the Bible and you must be able to discern it and understand it. So when Jonah said God did this, he was not blaming God, he was not fixing blame, he was blaming himself. He was not accusing God of unfairness like we do. He was not maligning God like we do, that is not it. He was honestly praying God I know I got here all by myself, I got here and I just got what was coming to me. Lord I know that my sins brought me here, it is my disobedience that brought me here. Lord I know that you are dealing with my disobedience.

But notice something else that is of vital importance right there in this passage. Jonah did not try to explain his misery. Jonah did not say well you know the circumstances got me here. Jonah did not say all these rascals, these sailors if they just didn't listen to me and did not throw me in here I wouldn't be in this mess.

Now do you know why? Because Jonah was done with techniques, he was done with rationalization, he was done with explanation, he is in desperate condition. And yet his prayer began with honest probing. Secondly he was penitent in his prayer, it was a penitent prayer.

Now penitence is an old English word means showing genuine repentance, showing genuine repentance from sin. This is a much higher level than just acknowledging your sin. This is a much higher level than just admitting it once you probe and you discover it. Why is this so important? The first step is okay but it's useless without the second step, listen carefully. The reason this second step is vitally important because it is possible to be honest about your situation. It is possible for you to acknowledge your rebellion and your disobedience especially if you get caught and yet being unrepentant and stay unrepentant.

Let's take an example. A Christian woman who knows what the Word of God said about being unequally oaked with an unbeliever, she marries anyway. Later on things really go sour. She may acknowledge that it was her disobedience to the Word of God that got her where she is now but it's not really repentance. In fact, she may resent God for her situation. God, why did you do this?

Have you ever heard people say that? Several years ago, it's been a number of years now, one man who is exactly in the same predicament, he married an unbeliever, he knew what he was doing and then things were really going rough and then he was blaming God. I said, well, explain to me, I'm a poor country immigrant boy, I don't understand English too well. Just explain to me how did God do this? How did God do it? Well, he said, he made me meet her. He didn't stop me from marrying her. I won't get into that.

Sometimes I wonder, so what planet did I come from? Jonah not only acknowledged but he repented. How? In two ways. Listen carefully please.

In two ways. Verse 8. It's one of the greatest verses in this whole book of Jonah. It really is. It was a magnificent verse.

Listen to it. Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. Let me ask you something. Do you know, and only in heaven probably will know, how many graces that God had for you but you have forfeit them because you're stuck on an idol in your life? What is an idol? An idol is anything or anyone who takes the rightful place of God in your life. And Jonah is saying that whenever a believer focuses on something or someone or themselves, anything other than the Lord, he or she plays themselves out of the mercy of God. So wait a minute.

What are you talking about? How can anyone place themselves out of the mercy of God? A believer can choose to put himself outside of the mercy of God. Does it make God less merciful? No.

Does it make God cease to be merciful? Absolutely not. If any of my children would come to me and say, look, I want nothing to do with you. I want to be on my own. I don't want ever you to call me.

I'm just going to live my way. What is it going to do to a father? Is it going to break my heart? Is it going to stop me from loving him? No. Is it going to stop me from trying to do everything I can within my power to be there for them if they need?

No. Just imagine a sinful human being like me in comparison to the holy, mighty God. He never ceases to be merciful. But we choose to place ourselves out of his mercy when we choose to live in disobedience. Secondly, Jonah's prayer was a penitent prayer because he did not ask for anything.

You notice? He did not ask for anything. I think had Jonah started bargaining with God like a good Middle Eastern dizer, I mean if he started saying, well God get me out and I do this and God do this, I think we would have questioned his motive.

But he never asked for anything. Jonah was genuinely sorry for his disobedience and he was repentant. This prayer is not only a probing prayer. It's not only a penitent prayer. It's also a praising prayer. Jonah's prayer was a prayer of thanksgiving. Why praise and thanksgiving in the midst of this mess? Why praise and thanksgiving in the midst of this misery?

I mean you have to ask yourself what prompted him to praise God in the midst of his desperate situation? Well, if you're looking for some physical reason, you're going to have a hard time finding one. But if you are looking for a spiritual reason, oh you're going to find plenty.

You're going to find plenty. Look at verse 9. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to the Lord. What's Jonah doing? Jonah was thankful for his salvation through the grace of God. Jonah was thankful for being able to call upon the name of the Lord again. Jonah was thankful that God turned him from being a rebellious, disobedient servant to a grateful person for the grace and the mercy of God.

Jonah had no idea that he was going to be physically delivered. I want you to listen very carefully to this one. I want you to listen very carefully. Listen with your eyes, listen with your ears, listen with your minds please.

This is very important. He had no idea that he was going to be physically delivered from the misery that he was in. But when he began to thank God for God, that was the beginning of his physical deliverance. It's when you begin to thank God for God, when you begin by praising God for who he is, when you begin to focus on God and bless his name for who he is, you have turned on the switch for the mechanism of faith to be delivered physically and whatever you're in.

Please hear me right. It is only when you focus on the praising of God and his salvation, it's only when you focus on the thanksgiving to the Lord for his grace, it's only when you focus on the gift of eternal life, it's when you focus with thanksgiving to God for being who he is. At that point is the point of beginning of physical deliverance. Not only that this prayer was an honest probing prayer, not only that this prayer was a genuinely penitent prayer, not only this prayer was praising and thanksgiving prayer, but fourthly this prayer was a prayer with promise.

Look at the second half of verse 9. I will sacrifice to you and what I have vowed I will pay. Years ago a prominent preacher in this country preached a sermon entitled Pay Day Someday.

Pay Day Someday as we'll pay ahead of time. Save yourself a whole lot of trouble. Listen to what he says. Jonah says, deliverance belongs to the Lord.

How is he going to offer sacrifice from the belly of the fish, the great fish, the whale or whatever it was? Here's what he's saying. Listen carefully. Here's what he's saying. Lord, never again will I approach you as I did before.

Here's what he's saying. Lord, I will not approach you as a Jew who feels that he has a special privilege, but I will approach you as a sinner who needs your forgiveness. My very precious friends, I don't know where you are, but I know the burden that I'm carrying on my heart and I had to deliver it.

Please be forewarned. This could be the Lord's final warning to you wherever you may be. And I want to tell you something is of uttermost importance. If you come to the Lord in your desperate situation and say, Lord, I have done this and this and this and this for you. Lord, I have given this and I've given this up and I've done this and the other thing for you. Lord, you really owe me an answer to this prayer because of what I've done for you. Now I've got to tell you something. Listen carefully please.

This is important. If you do this, you will never make it to first base with God. You won't really. If you approach God on your merits, you are a lost cause. For the apostle Paul tells us it is by grace that you have been saved through faith and this is not from yourselves.

It is the gift of God not by works so that no one can boast. But if you come to Him acknowledging that you deserve nothing and you place your faith in the one who willingly became your sacrifice. If you promise to serve Him faithfully until your life's end, then He will save you. He will bring you into experiences of His grace that you have never understood or experienced before. Dr. Michael Youssef with ingredients for prayer as seen in the life of Jonah. This is Leading the Way audio. If you have spiritual questions or if you feel like you're trapped inside the belly of a fish and need help, we invite you to begin a conversation with one of the Leading the Way pastors or counselors.

And it's so easy. Just go to ltw.org slash jesus. Now earlier we mentioned that Dr. Youssef is the author of more than 50 books, including one that came out just recently. It's called A Heart for God. And since we mentioned it, we might as well tell you how you can get a copy for your reading list. Yes, you can get A Heart for God at any bookstore or any online retailer, but we encourage you to get yours directly from Leading the Way. Our team loves connecting with you, knowing that as you read Dr. Youssef's books, you'll be challenged to walk closer to God, relying more fully on Him in your daily living. Currently, Dr. Youssef is offering to send you a copy when you give a gift of any amount to Leading the Way.

Again, the title of the book, A Heart for God. Get all of the details when you call us here at 866-626-4356. That's 866-626-4356. Or online, ltw.org. Ltw.org. And you can write to us. We're at Leading the Way, Post Office Box 201100, Atlanta, Georgia, 30325. That's Post Office Box 201100, Atlanta, Georgia, 30325. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Connect with Leading the Way through audio, video, YouTube, Facebook, X, and other social media networks you engage with.