Jonah 2
RUNNING BACK TO GOD
Introduction:
A. This fish tastes fishy.
B. You know the smell of fish and of ocean meat. Imagine that but 10 X worse.
C. Imagine the situation that Jonah finds himself. He is engulfed by the mouth of a huge fish, or whale or whatever. How terrifying.
D. He goes through the esophagus of that animal. Swallowed whole and traveling from the mouth to the stomach.
E. By the time he went kerplunk into the fish’s tummy, this man Jonah had already started praying. I think he prayed a great deal more than is recorded here. This prayer contains references to the Psalms and it is more like a poem. I think that when Jonah finally got back to his home in Israel and penned this story, he gave us the abridged edition of his prayers. He prayed as long as he could in that fish’s stomach. He didn’t wait three and three nights before he prayed.
F. How did Jonah breathe? If this was a whale there is some air in the stomach and the sinuses.
G. Some larger whales have 4 to 6 compartments in their stomachs, in any one of which a colony of men could have enough room.
H. Imagine the smell and conditions in that stomach. The stomach acids would have eaten Jonah’s clothes away. It would have easily dissolved all of his body hair in the matter of hours. These acids would have stung his flesh and slowly eaten the layers of skin.
I. Vs. 3 mentions that he was swamped by water. He went with that fish upwards, downwards, he was flown to and fro in that stomach. Seasickness!!!
J. Vs. 5 Jonah talks about the weeds. This animal was eating seaweed and it wrapped all around his body. Not to mention all of the other carcasses and trash that this fish may have swallowed and Jonah was fling to and fro with this stuff on him and over him.
K. Vs. 7- When my soul fainted. Jonah would have fainted in a matter of hours in this condition. He would have been unconscious for most of those three days and three nights.
L. There are some pictures of Jonah in that whale and it shows a man at a table sitting on a chair with a concerned look on his face. This is not the picture that is painted about Jonah in that great fish.
M. Vs. 2 Jonah calls that place the belly of death. VS. 6 The earth and its bars closed behind me forever; you have brought up my life from the pit.
N. These words seem to indicate that Jonah may have died in that belly. If he didn’t die, I am sure that he wished he would.
O. The Lord kept Jonah alert and alive enough so that he could repent and run back to Him.
P. However, did Jonah die in the belly of this great fish? If not, it serves as a horrible picture of hell. It serves as a warning to those who run away from God.
Q. There is a good chance that Jonah died in that whale and then when he was spit out, the Lord resurrected him.
R. (Mat 12:39 NIV) He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.(Mat 12:40 NIV) For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
S. This book teaches the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Resurrection is the basis for our faith and it is alluded to here in the Old Testament. Jesus makes direct mention of it in the New Testament.
WBTU:
A. Now that you have no appetite and I have your attention.
B. In chapter 1 of this book, Jonah tried to run from God.
C. After being swallowed by a great fish, Jonah runs back to God. He repents.
D. This passage shows us how we should repent, that is, return to God after we have run away from His directions and will for our lives.
Thesis: Repentance is
RUNNING BACK TO PRAYER Vs 1-3, 7
A. Jonah’s prayer life had been in trouble (Psa 66:18 NIV) “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;
B. Because he ran from God, Jonah cries out in prayer, returning to his God.
C. Either we will keep on sinning and quit praying, or we will keep on praying and quit sinning.
D. My 10 minute rule. It helped to break that bad habit.
E. Make a habit of prayer and repentance. Get specific.
F. God will not hear my prayers.
G. (Luke 18:10 NIV) "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. (Luke 18:11 NIV) The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ’God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector.(Luke 18:12 NIV) I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’(Luke 18:13 NIV) "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ’God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’(Luke 18:14 NIV) "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.
H. (Isa 66:2 NIV) the LORD. "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.
I. The Lord listens and answers the prayers of the repentant. James 4:8- Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
J. Jonah says that the Lord answered him, he heard his voice, and his prayer went up before God.
K. Before I was baptized, I prayed to the Lord that if he would give me the strength and courage, I would be baptized and give my life over to Him.
L. Three ministers were talking about prayer in general and the appropriate and effective positions for prayer. As they were talking, a telephone repairman was working on the phone system in the background. One minister shared that he felt the key was in the hands. He always held his hands together and pointed them upward as a form of symbolic worship. The second suggested that real prayer was conducted on your knees. The third suggested that they both had it wrong--the only position worth its salt was to pray while stretched out flat on your face.
By this time the phone man couldn’t stay out of the conversation any longer. He interjected, "I found that the most powerful prayer I ever made was while I was dangling upside down by my heels from a power pole, suspended forty feet above the ground."
M. Vs. 7- When my soul fainted within me, I remember the Lord.
RUNNING BACK TO FAITH Vs. 4-6, 9
A. Jonah reaffirmed his faith in God, and was confident that God would deliver Him.
1. Vs. 4- I will look again toward your holy temple.
2. VS. 6- Yet You have brought up my life from the pit
B. How can we have more faith? Feed your faith on His Word!
B. In Vs. 9 he says, "Salvation is of the Lord."
1. Salvation is God’s work for us. We cannot save ourselves.
2. Salvation is never man’s work for God.
3. The plan of salvation is entirely of God.
4. The three tenses of salvation:
a. We have been saved.
b. We are being saved
c. We will be saved.
5. Nothing we can do will earn our salvation. It is a great blow to men’s pride.
6. Salvation is of God; damnation is of man.
C. Jonah was doing things of his own. He was forced to acknowledge God in his salvation from the fish and his salvation from His wrath.
RUNNING BACK TO CONFESSION Vs. 8
A. Although the text does not specifically say so, I believe we can assume that Jonah confessed his sin to God
1. (1 John 1:9 NIV) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
2. I am sure that Jonah acknowledges his wrongdoing and the reasons for it. He confesses.
3. We need to confess our faith and our failings as long as we live.
B. He acknowledges that those who do wrong have forsaken their own mercy (which is from God.) Vs. 8
The worthless idols in our day are #1, the self. Those who regard their own selves look out only for themselves, forsake their own mercy.
Without God we always fail and fall short. To confess that goes against the idea of our society.
RUNNING BACK TO PRAISE Vs. 9
"But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving;"
Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Those who are thankful spend time telling others about God, those who are thankful spend time in prayer; those who are thankful spend time with the church.
Praise takes our eyes off of ourselves and on God who can deliver.
A preacher longed for new awakening in his church. At first the people did not understand and kept asking and begging God for things. But the preacher kept explaining that he wanted nothing but praise. By Wednesday the service began to change. Thursday saw much praise, and even more was evident on Friday. By Sunday “a new day dawned. It was genuine revival. Believers returned to their first love. Hearts were melted. It was wonderful. Praise had done it.
Feel like you are dead, praise God.
RUNNING BACK TO COMMITMENT Vs. 9
"I will pay that I have vowed."
We don’t know what the vow was, but we do know that Jonah was now committed to obeying God, and going to Nineveh to preach.
“Will you please tell me in a few words,” said a Christian woman to a minister, “what you think ‘consecration’ means?” Holding out a blank sheet of paper, the minister replied, “It is to sign your name at the bottom of this blank sheet and let God fill it in as He wills.”
A retired missionary from China recounted his experiences to a group of young people. He told story after story of seeing Christ do great things in the lives of people. After his lecture, a young woman came up to him and said, “I’d give my life to have your experience!” The old missionary smiled and said, “Well, young lady, that is exactly what it cost me.”
The end result - God set Jonah free from his prison. Vs. 10
Conclusion:
A. Backslider. Maybe you have reached rock bottom.
1. The Lord has allowed you to suffer for your running from Him.
2. Summarize the five points.
B. Never a Christian.
1. Horror at your presence condition. Soon you will descend into the belly of Sheol.
2. Dread of horrors yet to come. Think of Jonah’s condition in the belly.
3. Your weakness.
