Beautiful Repentance

Jonah 2 (vs 17 of ch.1 and on)

We have followed Jonah’s journey thus far and have seen his attempt to run away from the calling and presence of God. he has been unsuccessful. His rebellion led him into a storm at sea and God’s merciful pursuit of him led him into the belly of a great fish.

As we turn our attention to Jonah chapter 2, we find the marriage of two genres: historical narrative, and poetry. What we’ve been seeing up to this point has been historical fact but now through poetry we’re taken into the very experience and emotion of Jonah. Have you ever read the lyrics of a song or a poem?

We see Jonah the prophet praying a prayer of repentance and we don’t see what we normally can think of when we see hear the word “repent.” A word that, in our culture, is normally dismissed as cruel actually brings restoration and new life.

Jonah was written during a time when Israel was experiencing unparalleled prosperity under the reign of King Jereboam II. Even though this is prior to Assyria taking the northern kingdom captive and Babylon taking the southern kingdom captive, If you read 2 Kings, we are already seeing the cycle of Israel’s evil kings and constant Idolatry. This historical narrative can also be representative of Israel’s character as a whole And is teaching the Jews something about themselves and their own disobedience as a nation.

I point all this out to show that God consistently displays His faithfulness by working repentance into the hearts of sinners. It’s His very means of restoration and the path to fellowship with Himself. He did that with Jonah and with Israel as a whole- he never gave up restoring them.

Theme: We should recognize that, although painful, repentance is a gift of God’s mercy that reverses our sinful wanderings and orients our entire life toward our savior.

Main Points:

Let’s examine Jonah’s prayer of repentance today. In it we find a progression that will lead us afresh into the heart of Christ. In Jonah’s prayer we find...

Attention given to the Lord amid his pain Vs 1-3

(Read vs 1-2a) This is how the prayer begins- With the object of of Jonah’s faith.

the assertion has been brought forth by some that this Prayer was hypocritical or disingenuous.

I believe this was offered in true faith. Here’s some evidence for that- Look what He writes- He prayed to Yahweh, HIS God. He turns His attention to the one true God and uses His covenant name. Yahweh. That is more specifically the name that the people of Israel, who are in covenant with God, use. I don’t believe this is just a bare identification made by Jonah but the later part “His God” indicates that He belongs to God and rests on Him with true faith.

Picture this with me. He is in a fish. It’s pitch dark. He cannot see a thing. The smell is unbearable. Due to the incredibly low PH level in the fish’s belly, his skin is no doubt burning and peeling. He probably is anticipating death soon. But yet, He turns to the Lord. He gives attention to Him.

He doesn’t look within himself. There’s no hope there. He doesn’t look to the sailors and hope they will hunt him down. No, he turns to the only source of hope.

Something we cannot gloss over is the fact that Jonah is quoting from and alluding to the book of Psalms in his prayer. He’s actually praying scripture. Particularly Psalm chapter 3. It’s as if he knows in his desperation pain that he cannot even utter his own words so he calls to mind what was hidden in his heart— God’s very Word.

(Read Vs 2b)- He acknowledges deep pain. No doubt physical pain, but I believe there was deep inward pain and distress.

So much so that he compares the belly to the grave— Sheol

He uses language like “I cried”. this is a cry of desperation.

He goes on in Vs 3 to acknowledge that it’s the very hand of God that is disciplining Him by sending the waves and the great fish.

This is, he’s saying, the very reason He calls out to the Lord. The Lord is sobering him.

For us, when we sin, this should always take place if repentance is real.

The word Repentance in the Old and New Testaments have these elements of recognizing sin for what it is, remembering who it is against, and sorrow over it.

This is what we see in Jonah. He had sorrow in His heart. The word “distress” in the Hebrew can literally mean anguish. Throughout the new testament the common greek word for Repent is a word that means to change your mind. To have a change of attitude toward your sin and toward God. But it’s the kind of change of mind that is sorrowful and leads to a change of lifestyle.

We naturally dismiss the sorrow we should feel because we’ve tended to trivialize or normalize certain sins. We use different language toward what the bible calls sin and therefore we don’t think we’re in need of repentance.

When there’s bitterness, what do we say? “Yeah, I’m just wrestling with bitterness. I just gotta give that bitterness over to God.” No, we dont merely “give it over to God” we should call it what it is— sin, and we need to feel the weight of a holy God that we’ve sinned against and repent.

Or If we’ve been neglecting the gathering of believers and we’re neglecting fellowship, what’s our solution? “Yeah, It’s alright it’s just been busy I gotta get back at some point.” No, according to Hebrews 10, this is disobedience, it’s a sin of not loving your brother or sister. There’s a need for repentance.

Or Lying. What do we sometimes say “Ah it’s just a little white lie!” Or “Everyone lies on these documents” or “Hey it’s not a big deal it doesnt affect any one!” How about we call it what it is? It’s lying, it’s sin, there’s a need for repentance.

It starts here. Acknowledging the Lord. If you’re in unrepentant sin and you’re hesitant to go to Him, perhaps you need to be reminded of who He is.

Acknowledgement of separation and God’s faithfulness Vs 4-6

(Read vs 4)- The pivotal moment in the whole chapter is “Yet I shall again look...”

We’re gonna see He acknowledges God’s character here.

But first he feels as though he’s been driven away from God’s sight.

Even in vs 5 and 6 he expounds on his outward circumstances and even indicates that he may die- using prison language to describe perhaps the great fish.

This feeling of being cast away from God’s presence is a very real feeling.

When we sin as believers in Christ, we’re not cast away from God’s presence. Besides God being omnipresent, we are also united to Christ and we are made sons of God. Sins forgiven- past, present, future. This is an unchangeable reality.

So the question can be posed, why do we still repent and confess our sins?

there are a few good reasons but here’s one: even though our sonship, our status before God as forgiven and justified, will never change, our fellowship with God, the enjoyment of His presence will ebb and flow based on our obedience or whether or not we’re grieving His Holy Spirit. Like when my son disobeys, He’ll always be my son and my love for him remains, but something needs to take place on his part to ensure we enjoy a vibrant relationship again.

Repentance and confession restores our fellowship with God, it doesn’t maintain or change our sonship.

This distressing feeling can really feel like God has cast us off when he hasn’t. It’s a natural consequence of our sin.

But then He transitions to looking away from himself

He begins to acknowledge the faithfulness of God by thinking about the temple. This is where God dwelt with His people. A holy God dwelling in the midst of sinners. This displays God’s faithfulness. This is incredible for so many reasons but we’ll save some more details for the next point.

.he’s recounting God’s character as the deliverer in vs 6. he’s preaching God’s promises to himself.

This is teaching us where to look. Do we look to ourselves for hope? “Its okay I’ll just change.” Or do we look away from ourselves. As that Hymn so beautifully says “When satan tempts me to despair… UPWARD I look!.” Not inward, not outward, upward.

Do you see the parallel to the prodigal son story a little bit? Look at the progression, he left his Father, he’s out in a far country, and now he’s sees where it took him so he’s coming to His senses. This is the change of mind the New testament is talking about where the kindness of God is leading Him to repentance. But remember the repentance only happens when the prodigal son remembers the provisions and privileges of being with His father and that’s where we go next...

Remembrance of God’s provisions and a reversal of pursuing what is empty Vs 7-8

Read Vs 7- He begins to remember the Lord. He again turns His attention away from himself to the object of His faith. What exactly does He remember that results in true repentance?

He remembers the costly grace of God

He directs his attention again to the temple of God in Jerusalem.

Did you catch a subtle shift from verse 4 to vs 7? When he first mentions temple in vs 4 he says that He looks upon His holy Temple, now he’s saying His prayer is IN God’s holy temple.

This is the language of approaching God.

Perhaps He has exodus 25 in mind that indicates that it was over the mercy seat in the holy of holies that God would speak to His people.

Do you remember the mercy seat? The ark of the covenant was essentially this large box that contained the 10 commandments. and on the day of atonement the priest would go in beyond the veil and sprinkle the blood of an animal over the golden slab on the top. That golden slab on the top of the ark was the mercy seat.

Don’t you see? The temple represented God’s holy presence that no one can stand in because of their sin. The 10 commandments inside remind man of his hopelessness and that he cannot approach God and cannot save Himself. One theologian put it this way,

“How shall we approach God? Won't the law of God condemn us? Yes it would, except for the blood of the atoning sacrifice on the mercy seat, over the Ten Commandments, shielding us from its condemnation. It is only when the death of another secures our forgiveness that we can speak with God.” Keller

He knew that the only way to be forgiven, the only way to be absolved of guilt, is the blood of another. in Vs 8 he mentions God’s steadfast love. This is God’s kindness, grace, and mercy.

He then talks about the way that people forsake all hope and steadfast love is by Paying regard to vain idols (vs 8)

“Vain” here in the Hebrew language means “empty” or “deceitful”.

Jonah could have in mind here physical idols that the pagan nations worshiped.

Some commentators noted that here Jonah can be showing a sign of superiority still by thinking about the Nenevites who worship these idols.

Some also believe he may be gaining compassion for those who are pursuing idols.

Whichever it is, for this discussion on repentance, there’s no doubt that Jonah had His own subtle idols in his own heart whether he realized it or not. They gripped him.

This is important to know that when we pursue sin, we are engaging in idolatry. At the heart of every sin, the very root of it, is a worship of self and other things.

Idols make huge promises and we believe them. That’s why we sin. We think that they will provide us security, satisfaction, and salvation. But they always under deliver. They are empty and lead us to destruction. So repentance at its core is turning from the evil of idolatry.

It’s so important to remember these things when it comes to repentance.

We ought to remember God’s provisions in Jesus Christ for us sinners.

Jonah and the Israelites did not know the weight of the implications of the temple and the blood of the sacrifices but we see the gospel pictured Here in our text and it is the remedy for our idolatry.

The gospel of Jesus is pictured by this temple. It shows us that man has never been able to save Himself or stand under the weight of the law of God. that’s why Christ came and sacrificed himself, spilled his blood, on behalf of guilty sinners on the cross. The blood of Christ shields us from the condemnation of the law and gives us new life.

When speaking of repentance we must always remember that we must not only focus on the turning from sin. I said earlier repentance is a gift of God’s mercy that reverses our sinful wanderings and orients our entire life toward our savior. We are turning not just from sin, but turning TO Jesus. We repent of our sin, but we repent TO The Lord.

Repentance is only true repentance when after turning from sin I then rest on by faith the provisions made for me in Jesus by His grace.

You see, Jesus saves us and justifies us before the father. We’re not justified on the grounds of the sincerity repentance, the bible says we’re justified by faith. Of course, There is no true faith where there is no true repentance that follows. One cannot exist without the other. But I dont want us to leave here thinking that it’s the level of sincerity in your repentance and the right words and formula you use that saves you.

so when we repent TO the Lord, we come through our advocate: Jesus Christ.

1 John 2:1 (ESV)

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Jesus pleads our case and justifies us.

But you know what us as humans naturally do? We become our own self-defenders. We become our own self-advocates. We try to justify our sin and shift blame, make excuses. We seek justification because we so desperately want to be absolved. We want to have the feeling that we’re not guilty and that we’re okay.

Repent of that, and turn to Christ who made provision for you and can be a better advocate than you can ever be. To try and justify ourselves before God or even repent before God without an advocate is hopeless.

Repentance is only possible because we have the promise of forgiveness and an advocate that won’t ever fail us.

Dane Ortlund put it well,

"What if we never needed to advocate for ourselves because another had undertaken to do so? What if that advocate knew exhaustively just how fallen we are, and yet at the same time was able to make a better defense for us than we ever could?… We would be free. Free of the need to defend ourselves, to bolster our sense of worth through self-contribution, to quietly parade before others our virtues in painful subconscious awareness of our inferiorities and weaknesses. We can leave our case to be made by Christ, the only righteous one.”

You can look today to your advocate Jesus Christ and not look upon an earthly temple like Jonah did, but look upon Christ the true temple of God who came to us.

Results: new beginning and renewed obedience Vs 9-10

Jonah now responds in praise and the hope of renewed obedience. Don’t you see? He has sunken down deep in to the water… but his faith is rising up.

He says he will pay His vow by lifting up His voice in thanksgiving to the Lord.

He confirms and grounds all that he says by rejoicing in God’s salvation: Salvation belongs to the Lord!

All the deliverance and healing God brings from our sin is attributed to the grace of God. Yes, even our repentance is not worked in us by our own strength and sincerity, it’s a gift of God’s mercy.

Jonah’s repentance results in renewal and a new beginning.

The Lord speaks to the fish in vs 10 and he is vomited on dry land.

God restored Jonah through repentance. And here we get a glimpse of the fact that not only do we experience death to sin & self when we repent, but we also are given the resurrection power we need from Christ to walk in newness of life.

This verse of course is alluded to by Jesus. He says that the sign of Jonah is that just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for 3 days and 3 nights, so Jesus Himself would be in the belly of the earth, buried, dead, for 3 days and 3 nights and He will rise again. Jesus is the greater Jonah who actually died for 3 days and was resurrected. Now the same power that raised Christ from the dead is at work in His people. He truly is our salvation.

When God works for us a new beginning, He gives us the power to live as new creations.

Repentance is a gift he holds out to His people continually. He works it into us that we would be renewed daily.

Sinclair Ferguson in his book on repentance talks about how repentance is not just a regret that we feel that leaves us exactly where we have been. No, it’s a complete reversal of our sinful wanderings resulting in life change. We’ll always struggle and never be perfect, but its a life change nonetheless.

In 1517 When the German monk, Martin Luther, had righteous anger toward the Roman Catholic church for essentially preaching a salvation by works and deceiving many with a doctrine of indulgences, he nailed his 95 thesis to the door of the church in Wittenburg Germany. The very first of the 95 theses said this “"When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, Repent' (Matt. 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”

The entirety of the Christian life is a posture of turning from self and to Christ.

Have you wrongly thought that repentance is a one-time act?

The gospel of Christ gives us the gift of continually returning to the Lord.

I’m from NY we don’t have Tole roads we have actual toles you can identify. But More than I would like to admit, my wife and I went on a undesired tole road. Usually traveling to Irvine. You are so relieved when the off ramp is provided for you and you can stop paying money. just like with sin, we willfully travel the dreadful tole road. It’s costing us. But you can take the off ramp of repentance that God has available constantly.

Conclusion

As we have seen, although repentance is painful, Repentance is a gift of God’s mercy that reverses our sinful wanderings and orients our entire life toward our savior.

Do you see how beautiful repentance really is?

Repentance is a turning from what kills, to the one who gives life.

It’s turning from what leaves us empty to the one who satisfies.

It’s turning from what deceives us to one whose promises never fail.

We all probably want change in our country and we want to see the wickedness of this land overturned, but guess what, the only answer is going to be true repentance in light of gospel grace. And it begins with us.

Why do you think we publically confess our sins and seek to repent as a congregation every week? We don’t want to gather without the opportunity to experience that pardon and cleansing from our savior so that we would be strengthened to walk in holiness.

To quote Sinclair Ferguson again, he talks about the true change brought about in Jonah: “that happened only when he realized the grip the idols of his own heart had on him, and how tightly he had gripped them. Only then did it dawn on him with fresh power that "Salvation comes from the Lord" Jonah 2:9). When that dawn comes, true evangelical repentance becomes the sweetest pain in the whole world. Would that we had a baptism of it!” Sinclair Ferguson, The Grace of Repentance