Faith Rising

Last week we looked at how a man named Jonah was called to go up to Nineveh. His sole purpose was to bring the news that God was going to rain His wrath down upon the people of Nineveh unless they repented.

Jonah, being a stubborn and prideful man decides to flee. In his act of fleeing, he continues to try and avoid not only God’s presence, which cannot be avoided in the first place, but he also refuses to even speak with God.

The Gospel must be at the center

We ended our time with Jonah being thrown overboard into the sea which would ultimately result in his death.

Let’s pick up in and continue in our story.

Slide Scripture

Jonah 1:17–2:10 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. 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. 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!” 10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

The Gospel Must Be The Center

The Gospel can heal

What we will learn today is that the gospel can heal. Jonah, although he has been thrown overboard, although it seems like his fate is sealed, the gospel is still available for him.

Think about it.

If the gospel is still available for Jonah, would you say that it is available for you as well no matter your past or even your circumstances right now?

I want to hit home today that the gospel is powerful enough, God is gracious and merciful enough to extend grace even to the worst of sinners.

Jonah, even though his sin seems small and insignificant to let’s say King David, Jonah was still trying to flee from the Lord. Fleeing from the salvation of God.

The Gospel must be at the center

The gospel has to be at the center of your life. For Jonah, he thought that he was righteous.

He quickly learned that he was not. Hence being thrown overboard and swallowed by a big fish.

Let me put it this way.

My Identity

Something that I struggle with is approval from those around me.

This stems from something greater.

Growing up, my dad wasn’t the best dad. He did the best he could. I know that. But in the end, he was not the best possible dad that I could have had.

I was always trying to please him and time after time there was always something I would do, or more like did not do that would let him down.

So growing up, my identity slowly started to revolve around this idea of I have to please everyone.

This is still something that creeps in today. I struggle with this.

If Jesus is not at the center and if I do not remind myself that Jesus blood was enough, I can easily backslide and start building my identity around the fact that I need to measure up to peoples standards.

It is not that I let people down but rather I let myself down and this in turn eats away at me.

For Jonah, the gospel was not at the center. He saw himself as righteous.

God is quick to teach Jonah that he in fact is not righteous. Only Christ can be righteous to measure up to God’s holiness.

Let’s unpack these verses starting in .

Slide Scripture

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.

The Big Fish

This is not about the fish

This is probably one of the most well known verses in the bible when it comes to Jonah or even some of the craziest of miracles that happen.

So many people try to dig into what this means by a great fish. Some think it was a fish, some think it was a whale, some think that God made a special fish just for this point in time.

This fish is the most talked about and scrutinized fish in all of the Mediterranean Sea.

A lot of people can even say that they do not believe or can not believe in God because of the fact that a man was said to have been swallowed by a fish. There is this story and the story of Noah and the flood.

For some reason, these two stories trip people up.

What does Jesus say about it?

Just so we can all stay on track and not allow this story of Jonah to cause us to stumble, I want to see what Jesus had to say about this matter.

If anything, I want Jesus to be the one that cause you to stumble versus just the story of Noah or the story of Jonah being swallowed by a fish.

Look at .

Slide Scripture

Matthew 12:39–40 ESV

39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

3. We must believe

Jesus knows the story of Jonah. He may have even had the whole book memorized.

He quotes a lot of Jonah.

Now Jesus quotes this story like it legitementally happened.

Jesus does not go, “For just as the legend of Jonah goes, he was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish.”

No, that is not what Jesus does.

He quotes the story and then relates it or uses it to show that He Himself will be gone for three days and three nights.

If Jesus believes this story, it is good enough for me and I to believe in this story.

4. Why the fish?

Now why use a fish?

What is God’s end goal there?

Slide Quote

The belly of the fish is not a happy place to live but it is a good place to learn.

God, through the fish, could sustain this pouting prophet during “unbelievable” circumstances and return him to the place where he could review his commission to serve.

That’s why God used this fish and this is also why I believe in the fact that God used the fish.

Now that we got that out of the way, lets move on and keep digging into the scriptures.

Slide Scripture

Jonah 2:1

Jonah 2:1 ESV

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish,

Jonah Pray’s

This is a turning point

Jonah having just gone through this near drowning experience finds himself in a fish, alive.

It is only fitting that he prays. This is a major turning point for Jonah.

The prophet of few words finally prayed.

Remember last week, the captain had told Jonah to pray but from what we read, Jonah did not pray.

Jonah not only prays but he prays to “the Lord his God”.

Witnessing Turning Points

Being in ministry for 8 years now, I have had the privilege to witness many turning points throughout that time.

It is amazing to get to see when all of a sudden something clicks and that changes someones walk with Christ.

This is what we have here. Jonah’s heart becomes softened and he now calls upon the Lord.

Pick up in .

Slide Scripture

Jonah 2:2–9 ESV

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. 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. Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head 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. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

Jonah 2:

Answered Prayers, Praise, and Promise

Jonah Prays Biblically

Jonah prays very biblically here.

Out of his distress, when he saw his life running out, Jonah calls out to the Lord and the Lord answers him.

He says, “out of the belly of sheol”.

This translate the grave or the underworld.

Jonah thought his time was up. He thought that his stubbornness had lead him to his own death.

Jonah continues his prayer and says that God cast him into the deep. He is brining recognition to God’s soverity or power over everyhting.

The waves, the sea, everything.

Jonah had felt as if he was banished from God’s sight.

Conjecture, I wonder if it was almost like what Jesus felt.

But in that moment, Jonah realized that his prayer would reach the heart of God.

This is why he mentions “yet again i shall look upon your holy temple.”

Jonah keeps describing what he felt.

The deep surrounded me. The seaweed was wrapped about my head.

He was at the roots of the mountains. They believed that the mountains extended all the way to the depths of the ocean so that why he mentions roots.

Heart is transformed by the Gospel

Verse 7, “When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord.”

This is the very moment that Jonah’s heart is transformed. This is when he realizes that he is not righteous enough but instead he needs something bigger than himself.

That would be God or the gospel. Jonah recognizes this.

Power of the Cross

The power of Christ and the cross is so much bigger than we give it credit for.

God steps in not only to allow Jonah to repent and reorient his heart but remember, God has a love for a city.

The city of Nineveh.

So God not only saves Jonah and fixes Jonah’s heart issue but he restores Jonah for the bigger mission.

The cross, even though it seems like it was our fix, and it was, it has a ripple affect. Because we are saved, others are saved as well.

Because we allow the gospel to transform our lives, it allows others to have their lives transformed as well.

Jonah ends with a great statement.

Verse 8, “Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.”

Jonah get’s it. If he is to continue to have his hope placed in the idol of self righteousness, he will loose the steadfast love of Christ.

He says at the end of verse 9, “Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

Another words, if your identity is not in the lord, then your salvation is also not in the lord.

You are putting your hope into something that can not save you. But Jesus christ can.

Jonah’s heart has now been transformed and he has a new understanding of who God is.

Pick up in .

Slide Scripture

Jonah 2:10 ESV

And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

Delivered from the Fish

God’s plan is accomplished

The fish is no longer needed.

God appointed that fish for a time and season, only a 3 day season, and now his prophet Jonah has reoriented his heart around the gospel.

Around the grace and mercy of God.

Now Jonah is ready and prepared to go to Nineveh to proclaim God’s judgement upon them which in turn will lead to more grace and mercy being shed out.

The fish literally vomits Jonah out. Most likely in the area around Joppa.

Now remember, this book is about Nineveh, the city that God deeply loves.

This book is about Nineveh, the city that God deeply loves.

We can easily become wrapped up in it being about Jonah because to be honest, Jonah had some things that the Lord had to work out before he went to Nineveh.

Application

Jonah’s Heart

Reflect on where Jonah’s heart was when God called him. It was hardened. It was in his idol of self righteousness.

God continues to pursue after him until Jonah realizes that he can no longer operate on in his own strength.

Jonah then gets some reflection time and his heart is changed.

Our Heart

I ask you today to check your heart.

What is robbing your affections from the Lord.

What is your idol?

What keeps creeping in and derailling you.

Some of us might not be in a state of trouble right now. It could be that you are in a season where you are just harvesting so much because of your faithfulness to God.

But what about a couple seasons from now when your mind maybe gets worn down by the enemy and then in turn starts to seep into your heart.

This could cause you to fall back on idols that used to be issues.

What will you do to ensure that you stay looked in with God and his mission for you?

Trust God

When times like these hit, and trust me, they will hit, you have to stay faithful. You have to pray. You have to stay rooted in the word.

Here is a new one, you have to seek council from godly men and women.

i have been trying to make myself available or at least let you know that I am available. All you have to do is ask.

A quick text or phone call and I will meet with you. love coffee and Starbucks.

When we struggle to trust God, take it to a friend or fellow believer.

Story of Past Week

When we struggle to trust God, take it to a friend or fellow believer.

Let’s Pray.

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