The Whale's Tale
Great Stories of the Bible • Sermon • Submitted
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· 5 viewsSwallowed by a giant fish??? We still can't fathom it. This and many other jaw dropping details keep us coming back to Jonah's story for inpsiration and exhortation. Let's take a deep look.
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The City of Nineveh
The City of Nineveh
Very Large:
Jonah 3:3 (ESV)
… Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth.
Very Wicked:
Nahum 3:1 (ESV)
Woe to the bloody city,
all full of lies and plunder—
no end to the prey!
Call of Jonah
Call of Jonah
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”
The Human Viewpoint
The Human Viewpoint
Jonah wondered...
hopeless
dangerous
don’t want to go...
Prophets and Kings (Section 2—Prophets of the Northern Kingdom)
As the prophet thought of the difficulties and seeming impossibilities of this commission, he was tempted to question the wisdom of the call. From a human viewpoint it seemed as if nothing could be gained by proclaiming such a message in that proud city. He forgot for the moment that the God whom he served was all-wise and all-powerful. While he hesitated, still doubting, Satan overwhelmed him with discouragement. The prophet was seized with a great dread, and he “rose up to flee unto Tarshish.” Going to Joppa, and finding there a ship ready to sail, “he paid the fare thereof and went down into it, to go with them.” —PK 266
He believed Satan
not God...
They can’t be saved...
Jonah 1:3 (ESV)
But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.
Notice
why bottom of boat?
“away from the presence of the Lord...”
Can you get
away from Lord
bottom of boat?
Foolish?
small God...
God’s mission
change heart of Ninevites
change heart of Prophet!
Often,
greatest part ministry
save the missionary!
But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. 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.
Contemplate irony
Those innocent
not peace
Those guilty
sleeping peacefully.
Jonah’s choices
endangering whole ship.
Case of Church Discipline
Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
1 Corinthians 5:13 (ESV)
“Purge the evil person from among you.”
Pathfinder Teammates
Our personal choices effect each other!
In the home.
In the church.
In the community.
God try
wake Jonah up...
show his power...
#2 - Successful
But # 1 fails
Jonah still sleeping...
Notice
everyone praying
except the prophet...
God knows how to choose them…!
So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”
Check this out.
People ready to seek
God of Jonah for help.
While Jonah
running from God
not praying...
losing opportunities
God will fix that.
God’s name must
be glorified!
held on high!
power honored!
Continue Story:
And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
Mariners
life at sea
They know
not typical storm
deadly
wrath of God!
Pagans know
God is angry.
Jonah
playing ignorant.
God allows lot
fall on Jonah.
Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
Interesting Opportunity
mission work…???
Why would you???
endangered us all!!!
4th Generation SDA?
worthless...
Jewish
24th Generation
Called by God
Prophet
Worst example of faith...
Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous.
Storm gets worse
Men are terrified...
what should we do?
They believe
more faith than Jonah’s
How do you worship?
How do you appease?
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.” Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.
What should we do?
Appease Your God’s Wrath?
Throw me into ocean???
No
Try not.
Storm more violent
Thunder yesterday
house shaking
while making sermon.
Storm gets stronger
Storm gets stronger
They try to save Jonah...
Did you catch that?
Who saving who?
Pagan’s Saving Jonah...
Brothers and sisters...
remember this...
God doesn’t need you.
Are you a Missionary or a Mission Field?
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.” So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
They give up
realize they can’t save Jonah.
without losing their life...
Prayer of Faith
Confession
Supplication
They are converted!!!
Jonah...
not yet...
no confession
no repentance
no sorrow for sin
He could have stopped the storm!!!
He didn’t have to be thrown in!
Satan’s second lie
You didn’t obey
You must die....
Sailors go message
Jonah’s gospel
Beyond hope
must die...
You Sure Know How to Pick Them!
You Sure Know How to Pick Them!
Woman with bad boyfriends.
Paul -
Christian killer
Sampson -
the weakest strong man.
David -
the most smallest/insignificant.
Jonah -
Run-away missionary
You Sure Know How to Pick Them....
God is love
Saving some missionaries...
For us...
4th generation
Remnant church...
“I know truth”
So did Jonah!
worst missionary...
But God still:
loved him
used him
changed him.
Story Continues
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.
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish,
Jonah finally
begins to repent
God leads him.
Jonah 2:10–3:3 (ESV)
And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.
This time Jonah obeyed.
willing to give prophecy
bad prophecy
Jonah 3:4 (ESV)
… And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
Jonah didn’t seem to mind
was okay with them dying
though they were wicked
irreconcilably evil
unregenerate.
But miracle happened
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.
Whole city repented
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.
Amazing conversion
They saw
full gospel
God is powerful.
God is merciful.
Jesus was impressed
by repentance of
city of Nineveh
Compared them with
Israelites of His day.
The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
More righteous than Jews
they repented
More righteous than
world we live in.
Continue Story
everyone is happy
except Jonah.
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
Why was Jonah mad?
He looks like
false prophet.
He is okay with them dying
but does want to look bad!!!
And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”
No answer yet.
Continues...
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.”
Wow,
so bitter...
Why are you angry?
God answers:
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?”
you feel pity for plant?
no pity for
120k people?
We are similar.
surrounded by people.
in our way.
How do you see them?
sheep without shepherd?
obstacles?
mission field?
Story ends abruptly...
what happens.?
We don’t know...
maybe God,
left unwritten
so we could
finish story...
Have we been
like Jonah...
Not caring for lost?
What will we do?
Proclaim gospel of love?
Keep to ourselves?
Teacher
wanted kids to understand
Strong Kid
Mike
Only A
300 push-ups
Doughnuts
Push-ups