James O. Davis is the founder and president of Second Billion (TM). You are invited to learn more about Second Billion by visiting www.billion.tv.
TEXT: Jonah 1:1-6, 17; 4:11
TOPIC: Revival
THEME: Principles of preparation for revival
REVIVAL: MORE THAN A WHALE OF A STORY
By Dr. James O. Davis
INTRODUCTION:
Will we choose to make a difference or choose to just ignore the moral free fall all around us? What will have to happen for there to be unprecedented spiritual awakening? Just as God grew a whale to wake up Jonah, God is growing a global circumstance, bigger than all of us combined. It will eventually wake up those who are asleep to the imminent dangers of God’s judgment. In the Book of Jonah, revival is more than a whale of story. It is about the greatest spiritual awakening in history. On the opening day, nearly one million people dedicated their lives to God. It is a picture of what God can accomplish through his servants who have chosen to prepare themselves to become agents of revival.
In this message we are going to review a most famous story and apply several practical but profound principles to prepare us for the greatest revival in history. The first principle of preparation is that we must:
I. CHECK OUR COMPASS (1:1-2)
God calls particular people to particular places for particular purposes. In Jonah’s case, we find God calling him to Nineveh to preach against its sin. But when God called Jonah, he replied, "Here am I . . . send someone else. I’m on my way to Tarshish!” God said, "Go!” and Jonah said, "No!" Have you ever said “no” to the will of God? It is important to be going in the right direction. What is more important, a clock or a compass? What does it profit a person to be on time when he/she is going the wrong way? If we desire to be headed in the right direction, we need:
A. A Personal Compass (vv. 1-2a)
God had raised up other prophetic ministries, but had not called them to Nineveh. Even though Amos, Habakkuk, and Obadiah were capable contemporaries, God did not commission them to go to Nineveh. God’s will was for Jonah to go there. God calls each of us to our Nineveh. God has placed each of us in our own church and community to be agents of spiritual awakening. God is saying, "Go to Nineveh." Where are you headed? There are only two roads in this life: one road leads to Tarshish while the other road heads to Nineveh. One heads toward revival while the other heads to ruin. If we are determined to move forward in the right direction, we not only need a personal compass but:
B. A Pointed Compass (v. 2b)
It was as though God took out his map and circled Nineveh and gave it to Jonah. God was specific with Jonah. Nineveh was a city of antiquity. Nimrod founded it shortly after the confusion of tongues at the tower of Babel. It was one of the oldest cities in the ancient world. Do you know the customs and traditions of your Nineveh and its people?
Nineveh was also a city of enormity in what today is modern Iraq. Its streets were 20 miles long. Its walls were one hundred feet high. It was the capital city of Assyria. Nearly one million people lived in and around this megaopolis.
Nineveh was a city of great iniquity. Jonah knew about their cruelty and brutality. Its people were known for their savagery. They burned children alive and tortured adults by skinning them and leaving them to die in the scorching sun.
We, too, live in a cruel and brutal world. The things that use to make us laugh now make us weep. The awful effects of sin have seared the conscience of our culture. We no longer govern according to what is right and wrong but according to what works and what makes money. Our creed is greed and our god is gold. The things that use to amaze us now amuse us. The things that use to embarrass us now entertain us. Our culture has sold its soul to materialism, filled nearly every sector with liberalism, and has as its theme “If it feels good, then do it.” If we are going to go in the right direction, we must also have:
C. A Purposeful Compass (v. 2c)
God called Jonah to cry out against Nineveh because of their sins. Surely God is calling more people to cry out against the sins of our culture today. The twenty-first century cruise business to Tarshish is filled with those who wish to live in a good nation without being good themselves! We have substituted Hollywood and glitz for holiness and godliness. God has a personal, pointed, and purposeful compass for each of us.
Years ago, William Edward Perry, a famous English explorer, mapped out most of the Souther Polar Cap. Many of his maps are still being used today by those who travel to that desolate, sub-zero continent. On one particular expedition, he and his crew having completed mapping an uncharted region, were preparing to hike to another unfamiliar location. On the eve of their departure, they studied the stars and determined their exact coordinates. As the sun rose, they began a hard, lengthy journey north to this unmapped region. They marched through the ice and snow all day long with the freezing air burning their lungs. As the sunset, they made camp, totally exhausted from their trip. After their evening meal, Mr. Perry studied the stars again to determine their exact coordinates. He was stunned to learn that even though he and his crew had journeyed north all day, that they were now further south than when they begun in the morning. After struggling to solve this problem, they discovered that even though they had traveled north, they were on a giant ice flow that was moving faster south than they were moving north. While they thought they were going in the right direction, they were slip sliding away and did not even know it.
Which direction are you headed? Are you headed to Nineveh or to Tarshish? If we desire to continue to move in the right direction toward our Nineveh, then we must check our compass found in the Word of God. The second principle of preparation for the greatest spiritual awakening in history is that we must:
II. CONSIDER OUR CONSEQUENCES (1:3-6, 15, 17)
Jonah did not consider the consequences of disobeying the will of God. Disobedience is always downward, never upward. No one ever falls up. They always fall down. Notice the downward digression from God. When someone slip slides away from God, he/she goes:
A. Downward In Decision (v. 3a)
Some of saddest words in Bible are, "But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish . . ." You would have thought that Jonah would have been the most humbled and challenged man of his day. He had the God-given opportunity to preach to an entire city and experience a spiritual awakening.
Jonah was at a crossroad in his pilgrimage with God; then he made a downward choice. Perhaps some of us are standing at the corner of "Temptation" and "Desire” about to make the wrong turn down the road to death. Others may have been contemplating leaving the will of God for the family, marriage, business, church, or future. Once a downward decision has been made, then one goes:
B. Downward in Direction (v. 3b-f)
Decisions determine direction and destiny. The Scriptures state that Jonah went down to Joppa, looked for a ship headed for Tarshish, bought a ticket, and got on the boat. When someone falls away from the Lord, it is premeditated.
It is a dangerous thing to justify disobedience just because things seem to fall into place. Jonah found a ship that no doubt was operating on time. The weather, winds, and waves were most likely favorable. Jonah counted his money after the ticket clerk quoted the price of the fare for Tarshish and discovered that he had enough for the trip.
Some people think just because they find a ship and it’s running on time, then it must be the permissive will of God. If God calls you to Nineveh and you go to Tarshish, there is a storm brewing and sooner or later you are going overboard. It is amazing how people justify their sin in their own eyes.
The truth is anytime we want to disobey the will of God, there will be a ship to take us in the opposite direction and it will be running on time. Satan makes sure that there is transportation provided to take one from the loving presence of God. The Scripture states twice that Jonah was “running from the presence of the Lord” (vv. 3a, 3f) . Did you know that you cannot run from the presence of God? If you try to run from God, then you will eventually run into God. God does not have to go somewhere to get to some place. He is already there. He is everywhere at the same time. When a person goes down in his/her decisions and direction, he/she will go:
C. Downward In Discernment (vv. 4-6)
When the storm came, the crew was frantic and prayed to their false gods. Yet, Jonah was sound asleep in the storm. This usually happens to men and women who leave God. While the others were fighting for their lives, Jonah was sleeping through the storm. Jonah should have been leading the prayer meeting. Prayerlessness is a main characteristic of people who have gone to sleep spiritually and have lost their discernment of impending judgement of God.
Why do we need a Spiritual Awakening today? Because people are sleeping and have lost their awareness of the awesome presence of God. There are a lot of Christians sleeping through the storm today. So many of us seem to be at ease while the ship is sinking. Our society is sailing into an awful storm while the average person does not even realize the severity of the approaching storm.
It is interesting that we really don’t know when we are asleep. When we are asleep we think and dream of things that we could not do or would never do while we are awake. When we are asleep we can actually think we are awake until we truly do wake up.
When we are in a deep sleep, we do not like the sound of the alarm clock. We want to remain comfortable. Have you ever used the snooze button on your alarm clock? The snooze button permits us to sleep a little longer. So many people live their lives with the snooze button engaged. They would rather sleep longer than discern the problems of their personal lives, families, business, and nation. For many years God has been sounding the alarm and people have been pushing the snooze button and going back to sleep. If we do not wake up and stay up we are going to loose our culture permanently.
In the midst of the raging storm God was saying, "Wake up Jonah! Wake up Jonah!" Yet, Jonah did not even hear the storm or the voice of God. He was sound asleep, unaware of the dangers around him. These unorthodox sailors were more aware of their impending doom than Jonah. As the story continues, Jonah’s decisions, direction, and discernment caused him to go:
D. Downward Into Darkness (v. 17)
Have you ever imagined the smelly, dark, and desperate conditions of living three days inside the belly of a fish? There is constant motion. A fish goes up and down and back and forth. Jonah had to be miserable. The fish took him down to the bottom of the ocean. When Jonah was thrown into the ocean, the fish was there on schedule. God put Jonah on a “foam blubber mattress” and shook all of the sleep out of him! God grew the fish just for Jonah.
It is amazing how far some people choose to fall before they will wake up to the presence and plan of God. In chapter two, Jonah finally woke up and prayed from inside the fish’s belly. He had now become spiritually awakened to the presence of God. He pleaded for a second chance to do the will of God. If it was not for the second, third, fourth, or hundredth chance to do the will of God, many would never make it to Nineveh.
Have you ever noticed that everything in the Book of Jonah obeyed God except for Jonah? Think about it. The waves, lots, storm, fish, vine, and the worm all obeyed God. It took Jonah longer to repent before God than it did the entire city of Nineveh. It is interesting to note that in chapter three when Jonah changed his mind, the people of Nineveh changed their mind, and God changed his mind and did not send his judgement.
How much longer will it be before we obey the will of God? The third principle of preparation for the greatest spiritual awakening in history is that we must:
III . COUNT OUR COSTS (1:3e, 4:11)
Jonah paid the fare before he boarded the ship to Tarshish. Everyone pays their own fare when they run from the Lord. The rest of the story shows us that the trip was more expensive than Jonah ever dreamed. Have you considered the cost of not pursuing revival in your church and city?
We will either pay the low price now for a spiritual awakening or the inflationary price for a spiritual awakening later. Many Christians believe that a more convenient time will come for us to seek God’s face in behalf of our families, church, neighborhood, and city. However, the longer we procrastinate to become agents of revival, the higher the price tag will be for us. It will never be easier to go to Nineveh than today.
God keeps feeding the fish until his people obey him. How large will God have to grow the circumstances before we go to our Nineveh and believe him for the greatest spiritual awakening in history? Truly, revival is more than a whale of story. It is about God loving the saved and the unsaved too much to allow our culture to go its own way without a spiritual awakening.
Who will pay the highest price if there is not a spiritual awakening in our generation? It will be our children. God asked Jonah, “And should not I have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?” Jonah had lost his perspective relating to the importance of revival. He was complaining about the wrong things. When the spiritual awakening came to Nineveh, he was outside the city. He should have been inside the city leading people in their prayer and repentance before God.
In the 1990’s, my wife, Sheri, and I spent a lot of time in the Green Lawn North Cemetery in Springfield, Missouri. Green Lawn North is a beautiful cemetery with Maple tree showing their vibrant colors in the fall. In the fall of 1982, our first pictures together during our dating were taken there. We never imagined that our two precious children, Jennifer and James, would be born, live such a short time, and then die in Sheri’s arms in the Cox South Medical Center. Jennifer and James were born at 24 ½ and 29 weeks of gestation in 1991 and 1998 respectively. Our daughter lived for six weeks and our son was born on Valentines and died the following day. Even though we know that our children are with Christ, the pain of helplessly watching our children die and burying them side by side was most overwhelming at times.
On one occasion, I stood by our children’s graves pondering the most important priorities in life. As I read both the birth and passing dates on Jennifer’s and James’ tombstones, I began to reflect about the millions of children who are born each year. They are born in a Christless culture with very little hope of eternal life. If we do not have a world-wide spiritual awakening, our children will suffer the most in the years ahead. They will mature in a culture that has long forgotten the ways of the Lord. If we are not willing to go to Nineveh for ourselves, then we must go for the sake of our children.
CONCLUSION:
It seems that most people in the twenty-first century listen to WIFM (What’s In It For ME) instead of WIFG (What’s In It For God). Instead of having their hearts in tune with the Holy Spirit, they have the frequencies of the flesh, the world, and devil penetrating their hearts, minds, and souls. The sounds of WIFM lull them into a deep spiritual slumber and sleep until they are unaware of the impending danger and doom all around them. What will have to happen in order for the generation of the twenty-first century to change the channel from WIFM to WIFG? I believe that God is growing circumstances large enough to eventually wake up millions of people to the presence of God.
Ultimately, spiritual awakening is not up to someone else, but it is an individual matter. All of our world, our country, city, church, and family can say “No” to revival, but indivdually, we can say “yes” to the reviving presence of God. If you plan to become an agent of the greatest spiritual awakening in history, then you must check your compass, consider your consequences, and count your cost. Does God have to grow a fish for you?
