sermon notes on Jonah

Jonah 1:1-2 NKJV

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

This is not what Jonah wanted to hear. Nineveh was 550 miles from Samaria where Jonah was. That means if he hiked 20 miles a day it would still take about a month to get there. These people would skin people alive and then display them to show their enemies what would be done to them if they messed with em. This is like God coming to you today and saying he wants you to take a message to Al Quida about Gods coming judgement.

So many of us followers of Christ pray for God’s will until His will is something we don't want. It’s rather sad and selfish. We pray for protection from and try to hide from the enemies instead of boldly sharing the Lord’s word with them. Christians are too often automatically more judgmental of a Muslim or Islamic follower. We should understand more the enemy we wish to reach. Not every Christian goes out and kills abortion doctors or burns the Koran in the name of God. Likewise not all Muslims are jihadist. Jihad is actually a very small percentage of Muslims. Muslims however take up 25% of the worlds population and so if we take them out of the great commission, we might as well call it the great omition. It is our duty as Christians to have compassion on all including our enemies and to outreach to all especially our enemies. Jonah is struggling with these concepts at this moment.

Jonah 1:3 NKJV

But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

Do u remember any moments in your life when God said, "do this", and you chose to run the other way? Never turns out well that way does it?

Jonah 1:4 NKJV

But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.

This is grace. It is grace that God didn't leave him in his disobedient ways but rather corrected him. So it is with us that when we face opposition upon turning our face from God, it his way of loving us far to much to let us run away.

Jonah 1:5 NKJV

Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.

Now you know it’s gotta be bad if the mariners are scared. I mean what group of sailors is going to admit fear unless it’s pretty severe? We see Jonah here fleeing from responsibility. He is simply blocking everyone out, isolating himself... checking out. Have you ever been there?

Jonah 1:6-9 NKJV

So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.” And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. ”

So now God turns up the heat a bit on Jonah. They question him and Jonah hasn't forgoyen who he is or who his God is. He knows that Gods hand is behind all of this. Even though he remembers, he isn't walking in obedience to that. This is far too often true of lukewarm Christians as well. GOD says what your ought to do and how you ought to live but you are rebellious and chosing not to live in his will. And we can see here that when one chooses sin and rebellion it doesn't just effect them... it effects those around them as well.

Jonah 1:10-12 NKJV

Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous. And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.”

How sad that Jonah would rather die then repent. How defiant. Have u been there? If u are living in direct disobedience to the Lord then one could say you are there right now. You would rather die in willful disobedience to God allowing your heart to harden, than to repent and turn back to the Lord.

Jonah 1: 13-14 NKJV

Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, “We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.”

They didn't want to kill Jonah. They didn't want the blood of an innocent man on their hands but at last they do give in.

Jonah 1:15-16 NKJV

So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows.

By every indication, these sailors come to a radical relationship With God through Jonah’s disobedience. Don't be confussed by this. Because God uses you doesn’t mean he approves of your rebellious life... That’s not what it means. It means (glory to God) he will use you wether you are obedient or not. He still very much desires for you to be obedient.

God knew how stubborn Jonah was. God knows Jonah somehow thought he'd get away with not being obedient by throwing in the towel and just dying in the ocean. God had a different plan for this rebellious man.

Jonah 1:17 NKJV

Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

In Matt 12:40 Jesus quotes this event. So when your friends hear the story and say they don't believe it because it’s just impossible for a fish to swallow a man and that man to remain alive and for 3 days, you can in awe advise them they must be smarter than Jesus. If we can fit all that God has done into our puney brains than that’s not a God big enough to serve. The fact is he performs miracles and does big things. Thays our God. Our God is a “swallow the disobedient with a huge fish” God. Accept it. Yes our God is a “rain until the whole world floods” type of God. He is BIG.

Jonah 2:1-10 NKJV

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly. And he said:

“I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction,

And He answered me.

“Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,

And You heard my voice. For You cast me into the deep,

Into the heart of the seas,

And the floods surrounded me;

All Your billows and Your waves passed over me. Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight;

Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ The waters surrounded me, even to my soul;

The deep closed around me;

Weeds were wrapped around my head. I went down to the moorings of the mountains;

The earth with its bars closed behind me forever;

Yet You have brought up my life from the pit,

O Lord, my God. “When my soul fainted within me,

I remembered the Lord;

And my prayer went up to You,

Into Your holy temple. “Those who regard worthless idols

Forsake their own Mercy. But I will sacrifice to You

With the voice of thanksgiving;

I will pay what I have vowed.

Salvation is of the Lord.” So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

When we are in disobedience to the Lord, how long do we let it last before we bow down in prayer and repent?

Psalm 119:67 NKJV

Before I was afflicted I went astray,

But now I keep Your word.

Why wait for our afflictions to draw us back to God? Let’s start there and stay there in obedience and the second we realize we are being disobedient, let it cease and seek forgiveness. Don't wait for God to correct you. Do what he ask of you and trust him.

Jonah 3:1-2 NKJV

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you"

Notice how God used Jonah anyway? It just took two very uncomfortable chapters longer in his life before he got back to where he was supposed to be. Now within a short walking distance to Nineveh, God didn’t just swallow him by a sea serpent but actually spent those 3 days getting him closer to his destination.

Proverbs 26:11 NKJV

As a dog returns to his own vomit,

So a fool repeats his folly.

Notice Jonah didn't run twice. He didn't want to return to that storm or the belly of a whale. He was brought to within walking distance of his calling and he gave in and did as God willed this time. Smart move.

Jonah 3:3-5 NKJV

So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.

I wonder what Jonah looked like after three days in a whale. We don't looks so great after a bout of disobedience with God. Perhaps people are more likely to listen to us at that point because we look horrible and they don't want what happened to us to happen to them. Lol.

Jonah 3:6-10 NKJV

Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying,

Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish? Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.

So God used a man that had not a heart for the people he brought the message to and they took themessage seriously and God forgave them. And now Jonah gets upset because he doesnt want to see this evil country get mercy and grace. He’s gone through a lot just to tell them they are going to pay for their sins and then instead see them repent. .

Jonah 4:1-3 NKJV

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!”

Now God will confront him. One of the things we notice about Jonah is that he is really honest with God. God says " go here" Jonah says "i really don't wanna". And here God communicates, "I'm going to forgive them" and Jonah says " no!! That sucks man! Like didn’t i tell you that at the start and you were all like naw they need wrath?" "I'm going to end myself!"

Jonah 4:4-9 NKJV

Then the Lord said, “ Is it right for you to be angry?” So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, “ It is better for me to die than to live.” Then God said to Jonah, “ Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

And he said, “ It is right for me to be angry, even to death!”

Honest yes- but incredible stubborn and childlike is this man.

Jonah 4:10-11 NKJV

But the Lord said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?

The idea here is that "I was the enemy of God when he forgave me... Gods grace is good for me.. but not for my enemies." God is saying if you have the right to be concerned about the plant that i grew up for you, then don't i have the right to be concerned with a people that they should not perish? U know? Jonah had a long walk home.. 550 miles to think about what God has said to him and taught him. I hope his heart changed more on that journey home.

If you are living in disobedience or if you are living in a stubborn mind-set against God's will, if you are living against God's grace .... then i hope your heart is changed on your journey.

What does your road to Nineveh look like? easy route or the hard way?