Jonah WED

Introduction

Hello everybody, welcome back

We had a great time at DNOW, I hope that those of you who went were encouraged. The next big thing that we have coming up is Falls Creek, so go ahead and put that in your plans. First week of June!

Tonight we are continuing our journey through the Bible

we are really having to go quickly, but that is okay

tonight we are going to talk about one of the most famous stories in the Bible

It features a man and an animal, what do you think it is?

Jonah and the Whale

(Bible actually says fish, but that’s not a point that we need to get stuck on)

Who can tell me the story of Jonah?

We are going to run through it for the sake of time

As we are going through this story, the question I want you to be asking is “what does this story say about how God sees His people?”

Jonah story Recap

Called to preach to Nineveh

big deal, Israel had just been captured by the Assyrians in a brutal way, and Nineveh was the capital of Assyria.

So these people are as bad as it gets, this would be like if one of us got called to go preach to ISIS or North Korea or something

Jonah doesn’t want to go preach, but why?

we will answer that later

Jonah goes and gets on a boat going to Tarshish, which was not Nineveh

While he is on the boat, God sends a great storm. It is about to destroy the boat, and the people on the boat figure out that Jonah is a prophet who is running from God

Jonah says to just throw him overboard, and they eventually agree

they throw him, and the storm stops. They are then amazed, and the offer sacrifices and worship God

So Jonah is in the water, thinking that he is going to die because of his rebellion against God

but God sends a great fish to swallow Jonah. Jonah was in the fish for 3 days.

while in the fish, Jonah repents of his sin. He prays to God and acknowledges his sin, and promises to do what he was called to do.

Then the fish spits Jonah out, and Jonah gets a second chance.

Jonah is once again commanded to go, and he walks for 3 days

he goes and preaches to Nineveh, the bad guys

notice that Jonah was spoken to by God and he responded by running, lets see how the evil people of Nineveh respond

Jonah 3:5–10 “And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 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, 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. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” 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.”

These people heard the call to repent, meaning turn from their sins and live life God’s way, and they repented.

Jonah repented, but he had to be swallowed by a fish before he did

What was Jonah’s reaction to the people repenting

Jonah has done what he was called to do, and they listened to him. He should be happy right?

wrong

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 4

Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious. 2 He prayed to the LORD, “Please, LORD, isn’t this what I said while I was still in my own country? That’s why I fled toward Tarshish in the first place. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster. 3 And now, LORD, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

Jonah didn’t want the people to listen. He wanted God to judge them.

Even though Jonah had run from God, he still thought that God should be on his side and against the Ninevites

God and Jonah have a back and forth in the last verses of chapter 4.

Jonah 4:5–11 ESV

Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

There is some weird stuff that we can get into later, but the point here is this: God cares about people, and he sees their potential.

God wanted to give Nineveh a chance to repent because He saw what they could be

Jonah just wanted to see them as what they had been

For us, I think it is very easy for us to miss this point, which I think is really the main point of this prophet.

God sees potential in His people

the people repented, and that was what God wanted

Jonah repented in the whale, and that was what God wanted

God can do great things through messed up people who are willing to repent of their sin

For us tonight, I want you to think about yourself and think about the people in your life

For you

Know that God sees potential in you. No matter how much you know right now, no matter how much sin is in your life, you can repent of your sin and trust in Christ, and God has great plans for who you can be.

it takes us trusting in what God has done, and following Him because of it

For Jonah, God saved him through the fish and gave him a second chance

for us, God saves us through Jesus Christ

Each of us is guilty of sin, each of us is broken and messed up

but if we will accept the forgiveness offered by Jesus, and turn from our old life and follow Jesus to the new one, we can be saved and be made new

But we have to see the problems in our life, and also believe that God has a better plan

you are saved from your sin, but you are also saved to new life in Christ. You are saved from hell, but you are also saved to heaven.

Jonah struggled with the thought of God bringing the people of Nineveh to new life

some of you may struggle to believe that God can brig you to new life. Trust Him, and see for yourself what He does.

Now for the people in your life

do you see those around you by what they have been, or what they can be.

there is undoubtedly somebody in your life that has done something bad, and you see them as that decision

see them how God sees them. Don’t give up on them. Nobody is beyond repentance.

The overall message of Jonah is one of potential. So choose to see the potential in yourself, and in those around you. God can do great things, and we believe He will.