Deliverance From Hell
Jonah the Evangelist • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 9 viewsThis sermon on Jonah 2 focuses on Jonah’s time in the belly of the fish as a powerful lesson in repentance, trust, and redemption. It begins by challenging us to consider what happens when we reach the end of the road running from God and are confronted with a crisis of belief. Like Jonah, we all have areas of life—relationships, money, work—where we resist surrendering to God, but we cannot represent Him while holding onto those idols. Jonah’s despair in the belly of the fish led him to call on God, realizing that even in his lowest moments, God had not abandoned him. His prayer of repentance and dedication reminds us that salvation belongs to the Lord, and deliverance marks not the end but a new beginning of God’s mission for our lives. The message encourages us to invite God into our struggles, trust Him, and prepare to get back on mission once we are restored, with communion symbolizing Christ’s ultimate deliverance.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Relational Evangelism
You can’t be an effective evangelist and be running from God at the same time.
In the Experiencing God glass this week you learned about having a crisis of belief. You can’t go with God and stay the same.
Jonah hit his crisis of belief and he ran from God instead of leaning into God.
We all have that moment when God is requiring a fundamental change in your character and make up. It’s that place in your heart that you won’t trust God or give over to him. But there is no way to represent God and stay the way your are. That why we say, “You can come as you are, but you can’t stay as you is.”
For some it’s romantic relationship. You won’t trust God and do it his way.
For some it’s money. You want God to bless your finances but you don’t trust Him or honor him with your firstfruits. Why would God bless you when you won’t trust him?
For others it’s work. You give yourself to the world until there’s nothing left for your family or ministry, but you want God to bless it.
What is holding you back from representing God to those he has called you too?
It took 3 days of a living hell for Jonah to pray to the Lord out of the belly of the fish.
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. 1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish,
It was the Lord that appointed the fish to save Jonah’s life.
It was the Lord that saved him for the ministry he had called Jonah to do.
J. D. Greear Sermon Archive (The Moment of Crisis: Jonah 2:1–10)
“This was not God paying Jonah back for his sin; this was God bringing Jonah back from his sin.”
Exposition
Jonah’s Dispair (2:1-6)
Jonah’s Dispair (2:1-6)
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.
When you are at your end God still answers.
When you are at your end God still answers.
Even when Jonah had run as far away from God as he could, God was still there.
Those who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Even when God chastens he never leaves you or forsakes you.
Even when God chastens he never leaves you or forsakes you.
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.’
King David knew this all to well
King David knew this all to well
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
Could it be that Jonah was thinking of this psalm of David.
Could it be that Jonah was thinking of this psalm of David.
9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.
God’s chastening in your life is salvation to your soul.
God’s chastening in your life is salvation to your soul.
5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
God answers the humble when they call on Him.
God answers the humble when they call on Him.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
The first step of redemption is to call upon the Lord.
The first step of redemption is to call upon the Lord.
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.
There is no entanglement that God can’t untangle.
There is no entanglement that God can’t untangle.
Jonah’s Dedication (2:7-9)
Jonah’s Dedication (2:7-9)
7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.
Remember the Lord who has not forgotten you.
Remember the Lord who has not forgotten you.
Repent from vain idols and restore the hope within you.
Repent from vain idols and restore the hope within you.
8 Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.
Whatever idol you were trusting in that got you in this mess you need to repent and turn back to God.
Whatever idol you were trusting in that got you in this mess you need to repent and turn back to God.
God is your only hope and steadfast love.
God is your only hope and steadfast love.
Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon 2617 חֶסֶד, חֶסֶד
2617 חֶסֶד, חֶסֶד [checed /kheh·sed/] n m. From 2616; TWOT 698a, 699a; GK 2875 and 2876; 248 occurrences; AV translates as “mercy” 149 times, “kindness” 40 times, “lovingkindness” 30 times, “goodness” 12 times, “kindly” five times, “merciful” four times, “favour” three times, “good” once, “goodliness” once, “pity” once, “reproach” once, and “wicked thing” once. 1 goodness, kindness, faithfulness. 2 a reproach, shame.
Return with thanksgiving to the Lord.
Return with thanksgiving to the Lord.
9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
Remember who bought you!
Remember who bought you!
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Salvation belongs to the Lord.
Salvation belongs to the Lord.
Jonah’s Deliverance (2:10)
Jonah’s Deliverance (2:10)
10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.
Jonah was ready to do the will of the Lord.
Jonah was ready to do the will of the Lord.
God can cause things to happen to get you back on track.
God can cause things to happen to get you back on track.
Jonah deliverance from his hell was the beginning of his journey and not the end.
Jonah deliverance from his hell was the beginning of his journey and not the end.
He had a mission to accomplish that wasn’t going to be easy.
He had a mission to accomplish that wasn’t going to be easy.
He had some heart issues that God was just beginning to teach him.
He had some heart issues that God was just beginning to teach him.
Next Steps
Invite God into the hell that you find yourself in. (even if you made it.)
Put your faith and trust back in the Lord instead of the lie that got you there.
Get ready to get back on mission once you are delivered.
Communion
