And so we're going to dive right into it. We've been continuing a series, it's what we call our summer sermon series or our summer teaching series. And we're going to continue that through the remainder of the summer. It is entitled Summer Classics. Timeless truths from scripture.
And so we've been in this at the beginning of the summer all the way till now. And we're looking at familiar Bible stories that you might have learned about in children's church and Sunday school as kids, and how those truths of scripture still apply and are timeless for us today. And so I'm going to give you a little bit of a hint of where we're going to be. We're going to be in the Old Testament. That's one of your hints today.
But if I was to say and see if you can figure out what we're going to talk about today, that today is a whale of a summer classic story. Does anybody know where we're going? Or if I told you this, that we're going to look at a guy in the Old Testament that found himself in a very fishy Situation, would that help you out? Say it out loud. Who are we talking about today?
Very good. You guys are on top of it. And so awesome. Even though it doesn't mention the word whale, we all associate it with that, right? Or that's what the flannel graph taught us as children, at least at some point in our life.
And, but we're going to look at Jonah.
So if you have your Bible, you can join me in Jonah chapter number one here today. And We'll slowly kind of work through it.
Now, Jonah, to give you a little bit of a runway, is one of the Old Testament, what we would refer to. As the minor prophets. The minor prophets were books of the Old Testament that a lot of times we don't look at a whole lot. We don't study a whole lot just because of the nature of some of the content in them. We feel that they're directed towards a certain group of people a lot of times, and it doesn't necessarily things we look at.
If you were a part of our midweek Bible study here, Union Grove, we actually went through a series of the minor prophets a little over a year ago, and so we looked at this. But here's what I'll tell you: the minor prophets were raised up in the Old Testament by God to go and deliver a message of judgment most of the time to God's people, whether that be Israel or whether that be Judah. There were two of the Old Testament minor prophets. That were actually commanded and called to go to the enemies of Israel. The first one was a man by the name of Obadiah, And then the second one is what we're going to look at here today, and that's Jonah.
Of the minor prophets, these were the only two in the Old Testament that were called by God to go deliver a message to God's enemies. The rest of them were called to give a message to God's people, whether that be Israel or Judah. And so here, Jonah, in four chapters, he gives really the story of his life and how God used him. And he kind of writes this as a story for you and I to really learn a lot of principles from.
So here's what we're going to do. Don't let this scare you, but we're going to look at all four chapters here today, okay? We're going to do quite a bit of reading. I'll summarize some of it and that kind of thing, but we're going to look at his entire life. And I'm going to give you some thoughts and just themes that you see from each chapter of Jonah's life that I think will help you.
So if you're a note taker, this will be an opportunity. There'll be quite a bit of things that you'll look at.
So let's dive right into it together. Jonah chapter number one. Verse 1, here's what the scripture says.
Now, the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amatiah, saying, Arise. Go to Nineveh, that great city. And cry against it. For their wickedness. is come up before me.
No. When you look at Jonah, here's what I want you to understand. We all kind of know his story, at least most of us probably in here understand where we're going with this story. But I want you to kind of put yourself for just a moment in Jonah's shoes, okay? God tells him, hey, go.
to Nineveh. Couple things about Nineveh that you need to understand so that you can understand what God is asking him to do. Nineveh was, first of all, we see it right here in verse 2, it was a great city. It was huge. It was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, which Assyria, around 700 BC, which is around when Jonah was on earth, it was one of the largest empires in the world at that time.
Nineveh was the most populous city of the ancient Assyrian Empire. A couple of things about how big it is. In Jonah chapter 3, he describes it as it would take a three-day journey to get around the city. Um, he also described the walls around the city as so big and thick and wide that you could race three chariots across on the walls.
So you're kind of thinking in this culture, this was this was a huge place, but not only was it big and there was a lot of people. But it was also extremely wicked. It's hard for us to even understand how wicked it really was. I'll try to kind of paint a picture without being too gruesome for you today of what the Denovites were kind of known for. They were cruel to people.
They hated. The one true God, what kind of made their empire famous? In this culture, was what they would do is that if they captured somebody that maybe wasn't wouldn't surrender to them, but they captured them as a prisoner, a lot of times it was not uncommon for the Ninevites to skin that person alive. And they would gather people around a lot of times to watch things like that. Not only that, if you do some history study on this, you would find that the Ninevites and the Assyrians were terrible to women, cruel to women, and did some just unthinkable things to women as well.
And so I say all that to get you to understand the people that God was sending them to. By the way, don't miss this, and we'll get into this a little bit more later. But really, in verse two, you see the heartbeat and the theme about the entire book. When I was growing up in church, I used to think that The book of Jonah. Or the story of Jonah was all about a big fish.
It was all about a rebellious prophet. And here's what I want you to know: that is part of the story. But don't let that be the only part that you think of when you think of Jonah, because the book of Jonah is all about something far greater than that. It is actually all about a merciful God. And what you see right here is God's mercy on display.
He's telling Jonah to go prophesy to the most wicked people on earth during that time. And so in verse number three, we see Jonah's response. But Jonah rose up to flee. Unto Tarshis from the presence of the Lord. In other words, here's Jonah's response: I ain't doing that, right?
I ain't going. And so so he goes to goes to flee, and he found a ship going to Tarshas, so he paid the fare thereof, and he went down into it to go with him unto Tarshas from the presence of Of the Lord.
Now, I want to show you a graph so that you can kind of understand what he was doing. You'll see a picture up on the screen here in a second.
So, if you look here, he goes down to Joppa. He's wanting to travel all the way to Tarsus. Tarsus is over 2,000 miles. It it wasn't like He was going just to the next town or going just a, you know, a few blocks. Over.
We're talking what Jonah was doing: he was getting on a boat. And he was going in this culture, what they considered the other side of the world. He was getting as far away as he possibly could from the calling of God on his life. I want to show you one thing. And like I said, I'm going to preach through all four chapters and give you just some thoughts and themes of what you see.
The interesting thing, and for you as a follower of Christ, this is important. What you see here is that he goes down to Joppa. And he finds a ship. That is ready for him. A ship that is ready for him.
Here's what I want you to understand: is like for Jonah, he's fleeing, and it seems like everything's coming into place, right? Light. The boat happened to be there. The boat happens to be going a long ways away. It seems like to Jonah that things are coming together and that maybe God is okay with him wanting to run.
And here's what I want you to understand, and this is important as you follow Jesus. If you decide to run from God. And you decide to kind of, hey, God, I'm not going to do whatever you want. I don't want to live with you or live for you.
So I'm going to run. Here's what I'll tell you: the enemy will always have a boat ready for you to leave. The enemy, just because the boat's there doesn't mean that this is God's will, because what we learn is that God's will will never contradict God's word. And so you got to use spiritual discernment because for Jonah, the boat's ready. It looks like it's going well.
I've talked to people like this: that it's like, hey, my marriage was falling apart, things were bad, but then I met this girl, and it seemed like, you know, divorce was my option. It was the right move, and everything. And things just kind of came into place and things like that. Listen, be careful that you're not mistaking God's will for the boat of the enemy.
So don't miss that. And so Jonah finds this boat, and then he goes, We'll continue in the story. Verse 4, here's what it says: But the Lord sent out a great wind. We know the story into the sea. There was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.
Then the mariners were afraid. They cried every man unto his God and cast forth the wares that were in the ship. Into the sea to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship. And he lay and was fast asleep here.
So a storm comes up, and we find that Jonah. was down Uh in the In the ship.
Now, the word down is important because it's almost like Joan is telling this story of his life, and he almost uses it like a play on words. You see it in three different instances already in the first five. Verses. You see in verse three, he went down to Joppa, and then he went down later in verse three, he went down into the boat and to the ship. And then here as well, you see that he went down.
Here's what I'll tell you: is that it's almost like a play on words. And the word down is describing, if you would, the progression that running from God looks like. Like, have you ever seen somebody that maybe made a complete mess of their life? Maybe they've You know, they lost their marriage. They lost, you know, their family, their friends.
And maybe if you ever get an opportunity to say, man, how did you end up? Here. It's not one gigantic step that gets them there. What it is, is this slow progression. It is the many hundreds of bad decisions that eventually leads them to this place.
And what you see here is Jonah made bad decision after bad decision after bad decision that gets him into this situation here.
So, verse 6 says: So the shipmaster came to him, said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be, that God will think upon us and that we perish not.
So, what you got to understand about this culture. Is that in this culture, they felt that if bad things came into their life or problems came into their life, they usually just chalked that up to somebody in our group. must not be walking with the Lord. Or somebody has wronged their God. And so they just assumed that anytime something bad comes into their life, it's because somebody has wronged their God.
And so, what the leader of the ship does is he tells everybody on boat, and we don't know, but clearly they worshiped a bunch of false gods. He basically says, Hey, everybody, call out to your own God. I imagine it being like all these guys on the ship just grabbing the magic eight ball and just starting, you know, and just like because they're all false gods and not sure what to do. And then they find this one guy, Jonah. Who's on the ship?
He's down in the bottom of the ship and he's asleep. And so they clearly, the storm's not stopping. We've called out to all of our gods: it must be the guy that's sleeping. It must be his fault that we're in this mess and we're going to die. Verse 7, and they said everyone to his fellow, Come and let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us.
They cast lots. And the lot fell upon Jonah. Surprise, surprise. There's no coincidences with the Lord. And here clearly God's been in every bit of this.
Verse 8, Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for his cause this evil is upon us. What is thine occupation? Whence comest thou? Where is thy country? And of what people do you belong to?
And he said unto them, Verse 9, I am a Hebrew. And I fear the Lord. I would add in parentheses just not enough to obey him. The God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land, Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and they said unto him, What hast thou done? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he told them.
Verse 11. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee? that the sea may be calm unto us. for the sea roared and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea.
So shall the sea be calm unto you. For I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to bring it to the land. But they could not, for the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them.
So, in other words, so Jonah, they go to him and they clearly know that Jonah, it's your fault that we're in this predicament because you're not following your God.
So he says, what are we going to do? Jonah says, cast me overboard. That's the only thing to get this to end. Just cast me into the midst of the sea, sacrifice me, and all will be well.
Well, you have to admire. The men here in verse 13, because the men on the ship didn't want to do that.
So, what it says that they did was they literally started rowing harder and trying to go faster to try to get to the sea quicker. And the storm was too crazy, so it wasn't working out and that kind of thing. But they were trying their best to get to sea because they said they even cried out to God saying, Hey, we don't want to be a part of sentencing this guy to death by throwing him overboard. We don't want that on us. And so they're praying and all that.
Verse 15.
So they took up Jonah. And cast him forth into the sea. and the sea ceased from her raging, And then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord. and made vows.
Now the Lord hath prepared Remember, God's in it, right? God's been a part of this story. And the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish. Three days.
And three. Nights.
So, before we get on to the rest of the story, what do we learn here so far about Jonah's? Running away from the Lord, trying to get away from God's calling. We learned a couple of things that I want to show you. Thursday Our disobedience. Effects Those around us.
Our disobedience affects those around us. Listen. If you think That your sin And your bad decisions. And you're doing what you want to do. And you running from God.
If you think that those things only affect you. You're wrong. What we learn from this thing is Jonah, he said no to God. He said, God, I ain't going to the Ninevites. I'm going to get out of town.
I'm going to leave. And so he kind of goes. And what we learn from this story, and the application is this: that when we make bad decisions, it affects all those around us, right? Like when mom and dad, we'll start with you. When you make a bad decision, it's going to affect your children.
When you're not walking with God, it's going to affect your family. It's going to affect your spouse. It's going to affect, I mean, I've talked with people that made some poor decisions that weren't pleasing to God, and it affected their entire career. It affected their friendships. It affected all the people around them.
And you say, why is that? It's because what we learn from scripture is that our disobedience to God affects those around us. That's why, listen, if you take notes, this is something to write down that you don't need to miss this. And especially if you have children in your home, this is the most important thing. And if you're a grandparent, this also applies to you.
When we think about like the gifts, what can we give people around us? The most important gift. That you can ever give those around you. It's for you to be close to God. The number one gift.
It's not. It's not a PlayStation. It's not a fun trip. It's not, you know, whatever you think a good gift. Anito is that kind of the thing kids want, right?
And it's like, it's none of those things, right? Those things are good. And as parents, I know we love to give fun, good gifts to our children, but here's what I want you to know: the number one most important gift you, as a dad, can ever give your kids is for you to be close to the Lord. Mom, same thing. For you to be close to the Lord.
Grandparents, what do you you're the best gift givers in the world, right? Grandparents, what can you give your kids or your grandkids? Because you forget your kids when you have grandkids. And so what's the most important thing that you can give them? It's this.
Walk close to the Lord. It's like this. How many of you have ever flown on an airplane? Raise your hand.
Okay. Several of us, and we've flown on an airplane. If you've never flown on an airplane, I'm sure you've seen maybe the movie, the old movie Airplane, or some movie where you kind of see what an airplane's like. But here's what I'll tell you: before you take off on an airplane, what always happens. Is um you know somebody's gonna get in the center aisle.
And they are going to talk to you about worst-case scenario on this plane.
So, in other words, if we have turbulence or if the plane's going down and there's something where we're going to lose air or whatever, here's what you need to do. And one of the things that they instruct you on an airplane is they say that, you know, an oxygen mask is going to drop down right in front of you. And they give you instructions on how to put that thing on that will keep you safe and stuff like this. But one little tidbit of their spi is this: always remember, make sure your oxygen mask is on first before you help those around you. And we know why that is, right?
Because, I mean, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure this out. If I'm going to help my family. Stay alive. I have to first be breathing. Does that make sense?
Right, we understand that. I have to be breathing before I can help everybody around me. And so that's why they specifically tell you: make sure that you put yours on first before you help everybody else. It's just like that in your spiritual life. If you are spiritually dead to the things of God.
And you're numb? to the Holy Spirits moving in your life. You're not going to be able to help anybody around you. You're not going to be able to lead your family. You're not going to be able to lead your spouse.
You're not going to be able to do any of those things if. You are not walking with God.
So, what we learn from Jonah's story here in chapter one is that our disobedience doesn't just affect you. Your bad decisions affect everybody around you. But, number two, here's also what we learn: sometimes God sends storms into our lives to get our attention, doesn't he? We don't like that, but he does. Listen, I wish.
that my theology And what I believe from God's word. About who my God is. I wish that that was enough to always keep me on the straight and narrow path. But if you're like me, you're a little stubborn. How many of you would agree you're a little stubborn?
Okay, we all are.
Okay, don't get nervous. You are, all of us are. Don't nudge the person next to you because you're just as stubborn as they are.
Okay. But here's what's true of our relationship with Christ. We're all a little stubborn. And so as much as I wish what I knew You know, affected and led me to stay on the straight and error all the time. What I need sometimes is a little bit of.
a storm sometimes to come into my life to get me on the straight and narrow path.
Sometimes God has to send a storm in my life to get me to surrender.
So what he wants me to do. And so that's what Jonah is experiencing here. Chapter two. And we're going to kind of summarize chapter two. But in chapter two, what you're gonna find, so he finds himself, because he's not surrendering to God, he finds himself in the belly.
of a big fish.
Okay. So he's there. He's in the. This fish And he finally prayed. He's been in there three days.
You get the sense that he was mad the first couple of days, and finally, he's like, man. Day three, this is getting old. I better pray, so he calls upon God. Here's the good news. In the midst of your storm.
When you call upon God, you know what's great about our Lord? He hears us. Doesn't matter how far you're running. He hears you. And he hears Jonah.
And Jonah cries out and Jonah repents. And Jonah, you know, asks for forgiveness. He does the whole things. He does it in such eloquent language, talking about the weeds of this fish's mouth and how they encompassed his head and all this kind of stuff is like the sin of his life that he feels and all this kind of stuff. And we know that in verse number 10 of Jonah chapter 2, here's what it says: And the Lord spake unto the fish.
And it kind of grows here, but it vomited out. Jonah. Upon dry land.
So here's Jonah. He now. Lands on the beach. Gross. He spent the last three days in the belly of.
Of a of a fish. And here's what in chapter number three. In verse number one, here's the good thing about our Lord. After Jonah gets uh you know vomited out. In chapter 3, we find that God's word came to him a Second time.
A second time, aren't you thankful for that we serve a God of second chances? And a God of third chances. When you stray from God, when you run from God, that He constantly pursues you and He He's wanting to bring you back and He's giving you chance after chance after chance. And what we see here is he gives him a second chance, and he tells him again, same message as before. Jonah, go to Nineveh.
I want you to go to Nineveh. Those people that, yeah, they skin people alive. I know they're known for that, and they hate me, but I want you to go prophesy to them. About me.
So Jonah goes. And Jonah goes, and here's what God was teaching Jonah in that moment: is this because Jonah was having a hard time recognizing that the Ninevites needed the mercy of God as much as he did. He was a Hebrew. And so he felt, man, God's mercy's for us. It's not for these really, really bad people.
They don't deserve it. And so, what he learns in chapter number three is this, and perhaps this is what you need to know as well: the mercy of God is not just for him, Jonah. He learned that it's also for them, the Ninevites. That's why the message of Jonah is much more than a message about a rebellious prophet. What it is, is it's a message about a merciful God.
A merciful God that has demonstrated his mercy to the Hebrews, but also to. Bananavides. Listen, sometimes if we're not careful. We think that the mercy of God's for For us. Those who look just like us.
Those who believe just like us. Those who behave just like us. Those who see the world. Just like us. Those were that were raised.
Just like us. And we think, if we're not careful, a lot of church people, we start to think that the mercy of God, it is there just for us, that God's grace and his mercy, it's for us. And what we got to be reminded and what we learn from this story is this: that the mercy and grace of our God, it's not just for us. It's also for them, everybody around us, the ones that you think are the worst of the worst, it's for them as much as it is for you.
So he goes, and what's amazing is he preaches, I think it's verse number four of chapter three. He preached an eight word sermon to the Ninevites. Said this yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Shuts the scroll? And that is it.
Now, for some of you, you're kind of waiting for your pastor to only preach an eight-word sermon, all right? Keep praying and keep hoping. All right, it ain't coming anytime soon. But Jonah preaches this eight-word sermon. He's done.
And here's the amazing thing. The Ninevites They turn to God. Even the leader of the Assyrian army. Like he comes to God and they're repenting. It says in chapter three that as the nation started repenting, they all put on sackcloth.
What sackcloth is, it's like a, almost like a burlap bag, if you would. It's really itchy and that kind of thing. You ever done one of those sack races, you know, and you kind of got that? It's just nasty feeling and it just feels bad. And the reason why they would do it, it was always a sign of repentance when you saw sackcloth in the Old Testament because sackcloth, it was so uncomfortable and it would make them itch and they would put it all over them to show how uncomfortable this is and repent of how uncomfortable the sin that they were indulging in made them feel.
So, in chapter three, the whole nation or the whole city of Nineveh. Starts repenting and turning to the Lord, and revival is sweeping across the worst city in the entire world. And all the Ninevites are turning their hearts. Toward the Lord. Don't you think this would make Jonah really happy, right?
But then you find in verse chapter four, verse one, here's Jonah's response to. Ninevites to the Ninevites turning to the Lord. It displeased Jonah. He was very angry.
Now, Jonah, his emotions were all out of sorts, right? Because he's like up and down, up and down, and that kind of thing. He's a bit all over the place. And so, here, the entire nation, this is exactly what God called him to do, and it happens. And here, in this moment, in this moment, like the Ninevites have all turned to the Lord.
This is what Jonah should have wanted. Why is he upset? And this is what God was trying to peel back all the layers of Jonah all the time. You say, why was Jonah upset? It's very simply this.
The reason Jonah fled, the reason Jonah's mad here. Is because of this. What he had battled in his heart was this. When God called him, he had scenario one: I go preach judgment to the Ninevites. And they're going to skin me alive and kill me.
That sounds like a bad scenario, right?
So I'm fully in. The second scenario is this, and don't miss this because this is where his heart was. He said, But what if I go? And what if These really, really bad people. These bad people that have killed Many of my family, friends.
And has been a problem to our nation that defame God and do these evil things. What if They actually Repent. You see what Jonah was struggling with. is this. He didn't want to go to Nineveh.
Sure, because he didn't want to get killed, but he also, the real reason he didn't want to go to Nineveh is because he didn't think that they deserved the mercy. He didn't think that they deserved a chance. or an opportunity. to give their life. To the Lord.
And so it displeased them. He's angry. He goes on in verse 2.
So he prays unto the Lord. And he said, This, I pray thee. O Lord, was this not my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore, I fled before, and this is what I'm telling you. He says, For I knew, I knew you were gracious, I knew you were merciful, I knew you were slow to anger and of great kindness, and they don't deserve that.
God, you know what they've done. They don't deserve your kindness. They don't deserve your mercy. And I knew that if I went there, that to be sure, they're going to give their life and they're going to turn to you. And I don't want that because they don't deserve.
That Verse 3: Therefore, now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me, for it is better for me to die. than to live. Here's what he's literally saying. I would rather die than the Ninevites experience forgiveness. Verse four.
The Lord asked him a question. Have you any right? To be angry Verse 5.
So Jonah went out of the city. He didn't even answer the Lord here. And what he does, this will show just how terrible he is. Jonah went out of the city, sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth or a shelter. And he sat under it till he might see what would become of the city.
In other words, he kind of pitched his tent and he said, you know what? I'm going to sit here right outside of the city of Nineveh, and I'm going to watch how long their repentance lasts. Right? You ever been there? You ever been a part of church?
Somebody that was far from God gives their life to the Lord. And next thing you know, all the real religious church people, here's what they do: keep an eye on them. Right, we don't know how long this is going to last. He's just doing it to get something from the church, or he's just doing it to get something from us. And the religious crowd's all skeptical about this.
That's exactly what Jonah was doing. Jonah's like pitching a tent out there. And here's what we learn because this is just true in life. Jonah knew everything. He was a Hebrew.
He knew all about God. He knew who God was. He known the stories and everything like that. But he was missing the heart of God. Here's what I'll tell you, and this is true for church people today as well, and this might be where you are today.
It is possible. It is possible. To know the word of God. And not have the heart of God. You ever met somebody like that?
They know this book. Like the back of their hand. They know what they believe. They know doctrine. They know theology.
They've memorized scripture. But they lack application of it. They lack The heart, that's exactly what Jonah. Jonah was a Hebrew. He knew everything about God, but listen, he did not have the heart posture towards.
people the way God did. Listen, that's what our world needs. You say, what can the church do? Here's what it needs. We need to get from our head to our heart.
What we believe. Because there's a lot of people filling our churches every single Sunday. And not just here, but there's probably some of us in here that feel this way as well. We know everything about the Bible and we can quote verses and we know what God's will is and we know about God and all this kind of stuff. But when we leave there, it's like something's missing that we don't have the heart posture towards the world the way God does.
That's what Jonah was struggling with.
So, what did God do? God's trying, remember, God's constantly pursuing him. And so, in the next verse, verse 6, the Lord prepared a gourd or a vine and made it to come upon Jonah over him that it might be a shadow over his head. to deliver him from his grief.
So now Jonah was exceedingly glad. For the gourd.
So his emotions are all over the place. Verse 7: But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the ground that it withered. And it came to pass when the sun did rise that God prepared a vehement east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah. He must have been bald, I don't know. That he fainted and he wished in himself to die.
And he said, It is better for me to die than to live. He's depressed. Because here he is, he doesn't want these people to repent. He didn't think that they had needed an opportunity to repent. And now he's sitting on the outside of the city.
He's frustrated. God brings this vine. He's happy because of it. You know, it keeps the sun away. And now God takes it away and he's mad and he just wishes he could diverse him.
Then said the Lord, Thou hast pity on the gourd. For the which thou hast not labored, neither madest grow, which came up in the night and perished in the night. And the book of Jonah, his story, ends with like a cliffhanger here in verse eleven. God asked him a question Jonah, should I not spare Nineveh? That great city.
Wherein are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people. They cannot discern. Between their right hand. And their left hand. In other words, what he's saying is this: Jonah, you missed it.
You've missed it. And I'm afraid a lot of church people miss it as well. Jonah, you think it's all about you. You think the mercy and grace is all about you? And what you forget is that.
There's 120,000 people in Nineveh. that are far from me. They need God's mercy as much as you do. They need God's grace. As much as you do.
And so, Jonah, don't you care about the 120,000 as much as you do? Yourself?
So, Jonah learned that the mercy of God's for them, not just for us. I want to give you just a few thoughts. If you take notes, this will be helpful for you. But what can we learn? I know we looked at a lot, and it's a long story, four chapters.
What can we learn about this? I'm going to give these a little fast to you. is this. is I want you to know that you can run from God. But you cannot outrun God.
Listen, you can run from him, and perhaps when you're listening to the story, that's where you are today. You know right from wrong. You know how you're supposed to live. You know that God's pursuing a relationship with you and that kind of thing. And here's what I'll tell you: you know, all of those things.
But you're just choosing to run away. You might not be running all the way to Tarshis, thousands of miles away, but you just refuse and you say, God ain't doing that. God, I know you want me to go to my coworker. I ain't doing that. I know you want me to go to my neighbor.
In my community, I'm not doing that. God, I know that you're calling me to lead this. I don't want to do that. God, I know that you want me to go here, maybe as a missionary. No, I ain't doing that.
And you just constantly tell God: no, that's our version of doing what Jonah did. I'm going to get out of town. I'm going to dodge what he's doing. And here's what we learned about this story: you can run from God. And some of you are probably running right now from God, and you know who you are.
And here's what I want you to know: you can't outrun him. He can catch up to you. And he's pursuing you, and he wants you, and he wants a relationship with you, and he wants you to live in total surrender and obedience to him. Stop running from him. Number two.
The storms are life. Don't miss this. The storms of life are not to pay you back. They're to bring you back. It's important that you understand because, listen, when you go through a storm.
If you're like me. You almost have this idea like God's out to get me. Like Like, God's out to make me a public example in front of people. He's out to get me because I said no to him or whatever. Listen, I can tell you because I've followed, you know, the Lord in this story, he's not out to get you.
He's out just to bring you back into a relationship with them. Into fellowship with him. That's what God wants. And so, if you're going through a storm and he's brought a storm into your life because you're running or because you're far from God, listen, don't look at it like, man, I don't want nothing to do with God because he's just out to get me. No, no, no.
All he's doing is he's doing whatever he's doing in your life, the storms of life, to bring you back into a relationship with him. That's what he wants. It's like the prodigal son from last week. If you were here, he wants to throw a party because what was once lost is now found. That's how our God works.
And so the storms of life are not to pay you back, they're to bring you back. Number three. We already said this, but listen, it's good to remind ourselves: God is a God of second chances. If you're thankful for that, can you say amen today? How many of you have used a lot of chances with the Lord?
It's just beyond. Every single one of us, we run from them. We tell them no. We disobey. We start running our life.
Making our own decisions without consulting. And next thing you know, we got people, we need chance after chance. Listen, there's no telling how many chances I've used. And here's what's amazing. God continues to give me another one after another one after another one.
We serve a God of many chances. And then lastly, don't miss this, deliverance. only comes. From God. Salvation What Jonah Learned in the Belly of a Fish He learned this.
is that if I'm going to be delivered If I'm going to be saved. It's only going to come from God. I can't save myself. I can't fix my scenario. I can't fix my circumstances.
I can't quiet the storm around me. All I can do. is trust in the one who can.
