Catched by a Fish II

MI: God is in the business to restore people

MI:

We are in our series “ Catch of the Day.” The first catch of the Day was Abundance. We saw Jesus choosing his disciples, and we learn from Peter that to follow Jesus means to leave everything. Las week’s catch of the Day was Abundance. . He used the availability and generosity of a boy to feed more than 10k people. We also saw last week’s Catch of the Day is “Restoration.” And we saw how God is able to restore even in our disobedience.

Last thing we know about Jonah from last week is that he asked the crew to throw him in the sea, he said,

Jonah 1:12 ESV

12 He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”

Jonah’s concise finally kicked in. Even though the sailors tried to row back to land, it was inevitable that their only option was to throw Jonah in the sea.

God is at work even when we do not see it

Restoration did not happened to Jonah, instead it happened to the sailors.

V.14. Look the difference of the sailor’s prayer between V.5 and V. 14

Jonah 1:5 ESV

5 Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.

Jonah 1:14 (ESV)

14 Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.”

God restored the beliefs of the sailors from ungodly to the true God

Part of our restoration means that

Step is to remove extra cargo

We need to throw away the extra cargo

In the parable of the young rich man found in Matthew 19:16-30. Jesus asked him, have you obeyed all the commandments. He said, yes Teacher. Then Jesus asked him to sell all his belongings and follow Him. He turned the other way.

What was the extra cargo of this young man?

The love of money.

Do you have extra cargo today? Do you have something that is stopping God from restoring your life. What is it that we need to throw away in the sea ?

But in their desperation they threw their extra cargo into the sea and eventually turned to the Living God

2. Step is to Fear of the Lord. V. 16.

Jonah 1:16 ESV

16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

Fear of the Lord is essential to follow Jesus Christ

Fear: cautions, reverent, terrified, frightened. It is not simply to be in aw of God, but to be cautious of what we do before God.

ILLUST: When you got 85 on a highway and the speed limit is 70mph, you see a FHP, what do you immediately do?

You press the brakes or reduced your speed?

WHY?

3. Step They worship God

Worship comes natural to those who follow Jesus

_ Sacrifice took place not in the ship but once they got to land

It shows it was not an emotional decision, but something they followed after

TRANS:

God is the business to restore people.

God could of said, I commanded you directly, I sent the storm, I sent the captain, I sent the sailors, now you are on your own.

Thank God , our God is full of mercies and glory.

God is in the business to restore those who disobeyed Him

Now God appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah.

Jonah 1:17 ESV

17 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

We do not know what type of fish (aquatic creature). We know God “appointed” the fish to swallow Jonah.

Many skeptics believe that this could not be possible: But in the same book of Jonah we see many extraordinary acts of God:

Amos, Obadiah, Jonah (3) Didactic Fiction

1. the sudden providential storm (1:4)

2. the falling of the Lot upon Jonah (1:7)

3. the immediate calming of the storm (1:15)

4. the divinely appointed fish (1:17)

5. the divinely appointed vine (4:6)

6. the divinely appointed worm (4:7)

7. the scorching wind (4:8)

Jonah was swallowed by a big fish was a miracle from God.

And then he prayed. Jonah did not prayed when the captain told him to do so. We do not know if he immediately prayed after he got swallowed by the fish. All we know is that he prayed.

Jonah 2:1-2 (ESV)

Jonah 2:1–2 ESV

1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.

Jonah’s changed of heart (v.1)

Jonah’s thankfulness for God’s rescue

Jonah knew that this was a learning process from God

Jonah 2:2–9 ESV

2 saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. 3 For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ 5 The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head 6 at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. 7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. 8 Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. 9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

The SECOND Restoration is not to Jonah, but to Nineveh

So we read in Chapter 3 that

What was Jonah’s message?

Jonah 3:4 ESV

4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

Because of Jonas’s message Nineveh repented

Jonah 3:6–9 ESV

6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

God relented of the disaster against Nineveh

Jonah 3:10 ESV

10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

But Why Jonah disobeyed God?

Jonah was a prophet. What was the job of the prophet. To proclaim God’s voice to the people of Israel.

Now, God called Jonah to preach to Nineveh. Who were the Ninevites? They were the Assyrians.

In the year 722 BC the Assyrians captured the Israelites.

2 Kings 17:6 ESV

6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

The Assyrians were enemies of Israel. Jonah did not want mercy for Nineveh. He wanted God to punish the Ninevites.

God is in the business to restore people

But He may need to remove items in our lives. He is expecting we have fear from the Lord, and to worship HIM.

He expects for us to have a turning point. For Jonah was to ask the sailors to throw him into the sea in the middle of the tempest.

What is our turning point?

What do we need to throw away into the sea to lighten up our ship?

God is requesting from us a changed of heart, a thankful heart, and to recognized that whatever storm we are going through at this time, is part of His perfect restoration plan for our lives.