Series on the Book of Jonah #3
"RUNNING
WITH GOD!"
TEXTS: Jonah
3:1-10; Luke
11:29-30
INTRO: Have you
ever been in a situation when you really needed a second chance? If you were dealing with someone who
shows compassion they might have given you that second chance. How about the reverse situation ... have
you ever been in the position where someone needed a second chance from
you? It is much easier to grant it
to someone else when you yourself have been the
recipient.
God is a God of second chances, when Adam and Eve
blew it in the garden which affected all humanity God had a backup plan that
would give us the second chance to enjoy Him for eternity ... His name was
Jesus!
Paul discovered what it was like getting a second
chance and giving someone named John Mark a second chance! Paul has previously been a murderer; and
John Mark had been a quitter! Both
got second chances!
Don't we appreciate it when the police pull you over
and then say, "well, I'll let you go this
time, just don't let it happen again" ...oh the marvelous feeling of second
chances!
A judge in court will often let a person off easy if it is their first offense, recognizing that everyone should have a second chance if it was just a mistake!
However, second chances have to accepted to be
good!
ILLUS: During the
presidency of Andrew Jackson, George Wilson, a postal clerk, robbed a federal
payroll from a train and in the process killed a guard. The court convicted him and sentenced
him to hang. Because of public
sentiment against capital punishment, however, a movement began to secure a
presidential pardon for
Since this had never happened
before, the Supreme Court was asked to rule on whether someone could indeed
refuse a presidential pardon. Chief Justice John Marshall handed down the
court's decision: "A pardon is a parchment whose only value must be determined
by the receiver of the pardon. It
has no value apart from that which the receiver gives to it. George Wilson has refused to accept the
pardon. We cannot conceive why he
would do so, but he has. Therefore, George Wilson must die." George Wilson, as punishment for his
crime, was hanged. Pardon, declared
the Supreme Court, must not only be granted, it must be accepted. -- George Maronge, Jr.,
PROP. SENT: God is a great God of great
mercy and forgiveness, He delights in forgiving the sincere heart that is
seeking for a chance at God's grace ... He even delights in giving us second
chances! He is longsuffering and
patient toward those who have repentant
hearts!
I. SIGN OF
RESTORATION! Jonah 3:1-4;
Luke 11:29-30
A.
Second Chances! Jonah
3:1-2
1.
God wasn't trying to destroy Jonah ... He was actually giving him a
second chance at obeying!
a.
Although honestly, Jonah might have thought differently about God trying
to destroy him when the storm at sea came
up!
b.
Or, when the sailors threw him overboard - I'm sure his last thought was
being eaten by a large fish as God's way of showing him
love!
c.
And this is a good point here:
Often it appears that God is indifferent or might even hate us by
circumstances at the effort He makes to give us a second chance! It is therefore critical that you don't
"lose it" at this point!
2.
There
is great irony in that Jonah spent time in the belly of a great fish ... the
city of NINEVEH's name originally was symbolized by the Ninevites as a FISH
INSIDE THE WOMB of a HUMAN FEMALE ... a fertility goddess that was worshipped in
Ninevah -- and the reversal of what happens to Jonah by God putting him as a
human inside the belly of a great
fish!
a.
From one fish to another!
b.
If Jonah deserved a second chance from his fish experience, perhaps God
was willing to give a city named after a fish in a human womb deity a second
chance too!
c.
Jonah would go from ONE FISHY experience to
another!
3.
The call and the message here are identical to the first calling of Jonah
with one exception, God said to Jonah in Jonah
1:2 "preach against" ... whereas in Jonah 3:1 He said, "proclaim to
it."
a. Already an indication that
God might be willing to give
b. God considered
c.
God loved this crowded city of lost souls ... so should we love those
crowded cities of lost souls today!
ILLUS: Contemporary
Christian musician Kathy Troccoli was a rebellious teen who drank, partied, and
was caught in a vicious cycle of bulimia.
But at a summer job, she couldn't escape the Christian witness of
co-worker Cindy:
"She was the epitome of a girl I could not hang out with. When she started telling me about Jesus,
I made fun of her. And yet, deep
down inside, I admired her. I liked
that she didn't seem to care what people thought about her. I even suspected she was right, and I
was on the wrong path.
"Finally, Cindy said to me, 'You
know, Kath, Jesus is Lord whether you accept him or not.' I went home thinking
about that. If Jesus was real, I
had to check him out. I plowed through the Gospel of John and when I got to the
end, I knew I had to make a decision.
Everything would have to change.
And sixteen years ago, it did." -- Kathy Troccoli with Jim Long in Campus Life. Christian Reader, Vol. 33, no.
5.
B.
Symbolic Connection! Luke
11:29-30
1.
What real chance did Jonah hope to have in enemy territory
anyways?
a.
According to Jesus' words here in Luke, Jonah's experience for 3 days and
3 nights in the fish's belly would be a sign to the
Ninevites!
b.
Therefore, to have credibility with the Ninevites God would actually use
Jonah's personal failure and salvation to witness to them that God just might
consider them for a second chance!
c. They must have therefore
known early on about Jonah and the great fish ... this is what perhaps allowed
his presence in
2.
The Assyrians were not a compassionate people ... in fact they didn't
offer second chances to anyone!
a.
It was their custom to remove an entire nation they have conquered to
another land making slaves out of the
people.
b.
The leaders of the conquered lands were often chained like a dog and kept
in actual kennels to humiliate them ... or
c.
At times the leaders and the people were killed and their bodies stacked
up like firewood outside the conquered city's gates ...
or
d. At times the King of
e.
They were vicious warriors, sometimes skinning alive their captives and
hanging the skin off the walls of the city, at other times they would mutilate
the victim without killing them for a great length of time until the victim
finally died from the torture!
f. They impaled people
alive on pointed sticks, sometimes lit them as human torches ... they were
downright barbaric and cruel ... they were NOT KNOWN FOR COMPASSION on their
victims!
3.
And to these folks God was going to give a second chance for real life
... or they can choose death!
a.
God still makes this offer to people
today!
b.
"CHOOSE
YOU THIS DAY..."
Choose life ... not death!
ILLUS: Repentance was
an involved process in the early church. Sin was seen not as a personal matter
but as something that destroyed the unity of the church. Penitents fasted and
prayed for the forgiveness of their sins, appeared before the church to make
public confession, and were barred from the Lord's Supper until they gave
evidence of a change of heart and were absolved. (The only exception was for
people facing persecution. They were readmitted to the Lord's Supper so they
could receive strength.)
In the first century, the Lord's
Supper included not only the bread and the cup but an entire meal. As part of
the meal, neighbors who had quarreled made peace again. --
"Worship in the Early Church," Christian History, Issue 37.
4.
Just as Jonah's experience in a great fish for 3 days and 3 nights were a
sign to the Ninevites, so would Christ's burial for 3 days and 3 nights be a
sign unto all generations of his resurrection power ... and the offer of life
for those who repent and accept Christ as
savior!
C.
Serious Convictions Jonah
3:3-4
1.
Jonah's message was simple ... like the Gospel! Surrender your sinful life and live ...
or in 40 days you are all dead!
a.
Christ says it like this: surrender you heart to me and you will be saved
for eternity! Don't and you'll lose
out for all eternity ... Jesus is greater than Jonah, so are the consequences
AND THE BLESSINGS!
b. The word used in verse 4: "OVERTURNED" is the same word used to describe
c.
God wasn't kidding around ... Jonah didn't water the message down; it was
straight, honest and convincing!
ILLUS: In his book Why
Prayers Are Unanswered, John Lavender retells a story about Norman Vincent
Peale.
When Peale was a boy, he found a big, black cigar, slipped into an alley,
and lit up. It didn't taste good, but it made him feel very grown up ... until
he saw his father coming. Quickly he put the cigar behind his back and tried to
be casual.
Desperate to divert his father's
attention,
2.
God's timing was just right too...
a.
The Ninevites had just gone through a couple of
plagues.
b.
They had a solar eclipse for which "pending" doom was the usual
interpretation for a culture that embraced
mysticism!
c.
They were clearly worried BEFORE Jonah came ... God knows what He's doing
and when He's doing it!
3.
Since they were not a people to give second chances to anyone, they were
quick to embrace this message seriously at the first of it ... and follow it
with immediate and serious results, they didn't give others second chances, so
perhaps they thought they had better act quickly in case God doesn't
either!
II. SACKCLOTH OF REPENTANCE! Jonah
3:5-9
A.
Swift Capitulation! Jonah
3:5
1.
They quickly surrender! If
only people would do this today when they are offered forgiveness by
God!
a.
Sometimes people do this today ... perhaps they too have had their hearts
already prepared by other circumstances and they are just waiting for the
message, why are we so afraid to tell them the GOOD
NEWS!
b.
Ironically these cold blooded, hard hearted people quickly believe
God! Perhaps they knew they
deserved death being clearly so wicked ... but that is always the first step,
honesty about our sins!
2.
They knew that this offer would soon expire ... in their case 40 days
from Jonah's preaching!
3.
Someday Christ's offer for salvation is going to end too! We just don't know exactly when ... it
could be tomorrow or the next century, but why put off today asking Him in since
we don't know how long the offer is.
ILLUS: On a cold
winter evening a man suffered a heart attack and after being admitted to the
hospital, asked the nurse to call his daughter. He explained, "You see, I live alone and
she is the only family I have." The
nurse went to phone the daughter.
The daughter was quite upset and shouted, "You must not let him die! You
see, Dad and I had a terrible argument almost a year ago. I haven't seen him since. All these months I've wanted to go to
him for forgiveness. The last thing
I said to him was 'I hate you."'
The daughter cried and then said, "I'm coming now. I'll be there in thirty
minutes."
The patient went into cardiac
arrest, and code 99 was alerted.
The nurse prayed, "O God, his daughter is coming. Don't let it end this way." The efforts of the medical team to
revive the patient were fruitless.
The nurse observed one of the doctors talking to the daughter outside the
room. She could see the pathetic
hurt in her face. The nurse took
the daughter aside and said, "I'm sorry."
The daughter responded, "I never hated him, you know. I loved him, And now I want to go see
him." The nurse took her to the
room, and the daughter went to the bed and buried her face in the sheets as she
said good-bye to her deceased father.
The nurse, as she tried not to look at this sad good-bye, noticed a scrap
of paper on the bed table. She
picked it up and read: "My dearest Janie, I forgive you. I pray you will also forgive me. I know that you love me. I love you, too Daddy." -- James S.
Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988)
p. 201.
B.
Sweeping Changes! Jonah
3:6-8
1.
Everything had to change!
First their passions would be disciplined, a fast was called for ... and
sackcloth and ashes ... for EVERYONE!
a.
Since they all did this, the least to the greatest it showed that they
were really all equal in need!
b.
This is true today ... a sinner is a sinner is a sinner is a sinner! True repentance is required by all of us
equally!
2.
This was a demonstration of their honest humility before almighty God ...
one must humble himself to come to Christ, "just as I am,
without one plea!"
3.
Even the King must show sincere sorrow for his sins ... and he
does!
4.
These would require SWEEPING CHANGES from a people known for their
cruelty and lack of grace or mercy to
others!
5.
Notice the king's proclamation: "LET EVERYONE
CALL URGENTLY UPON GOD!"
a.
This was no light consideration, and an important part of the
process!
b.
First they had to accept the fact that they were sinners, and then humble
themselves publically to admit their need, and then call upon God for
mercy!
c.
The king wasn't fooling around ... "URGENTLY
CALL" he said to the people!
ILLUS: When I was a
telephone operator, a customer talked overtime on a long-distance call from a
pay telephone booth. Even with my friendly reminders, he refused to deposit his
overtime coins. Instead he slammed down the phone, irate and verbally
abusive.
A
few seconds later, he was back on my line--somewhat
calmer.
"Operator, please let me out of the phone booth--I'll pay, I'll pay, just
let me out!"
The
customer mistakenly thought I had control of the phone booth's doors and had
locked him in!
He gladly paid the overtime charge
and with my advice gave the booth door a hefty kick to free himself. --
6. Notice too in verse 8b the king of
C.
Second Chance! Jonah
3:9
1.
"Who
knows? God may yet relent and with
compassion turn from His fierce anger so that we will not
perish!" This is the
hope of the believer!
a.
Indeed, they had Jonah as a sign that God does give a second chance even
when we run away from God initially!
b.
This statement of the king was probably based on the knowledge of Jonah's
experience, and in fact this was the SIGN OF JONAH TO the NINEVITES that Jesus
was referring to back in Jonah's time ... A SECOND CHANCE indeed would be given
to the sincere seeker!
ILLUS: Repentance is
not basically a religious word. It comes from a culture where people were
essentially nomadic and lived in a world with no maps or street signs. It's easy
to get lost walking through the desert. You become aware that the countryside is
strange. You finally say to yourself, I'm going in the wrong direction. That's
the first act of repentance.
The second act of repentance is to
go in an alternate direction. It implies that you not only do this but you admit
it to your companions. We all do this whether or not we realize it. -- Gordon MacDonald, "Repentance," Preaching Today, Tape
No. 121.
2.
Their turning was based on the hope of life, this would be taken by faith
assuming God would do with them as he did with Jonah ... another
chance!
III.
SALVATION OF REBELS!
Jonah 3:10
A.
Serious Commitment! Jonah
3:lOa
1.
Notice God's reaction: "When God saw
what they did AND how they turned from their evil ways ... He had compassion on
them!"
2.
This is still true, becoming a Christian has got to be more than a fad
... it must indeed become fact!
3.
With confession of sins should also come a dedication to change, of
course with the help of the Holy Spirit!
4.
God's
grace is cheapened by those who confess they are believers and still live like
unbelievers!
ILLUS: Garrison
Keillor spins another tale:
"Larry the Sad Boy ... was saved 12 times in the Lutheran church, an
all-time record. Between 1953 and 1961 he threw himself weeping and contrite on
God's throne of grace on 12 separate occasions--and this in a Lutheran church
that wasn't evangelical, had no altar call, no organist playing "Just as I Am
Without One Plea" while a choir hummed and a guy with shiny hair took hold of
your heartstrings and played you like a cheap guitar. This is the Lutheran
church, not a bunch of hillbillies. These are Scandinavians, and they repent in
the same way that they sin: discreetly, tastefully, at the proper time.
...
Twelve times! Even we
fundamentalists got tired of him. ... God did not mean for us to feel guilt all
our lives. There comes a point when you should dry your tears and join the
building committee and start grappling with the problems of the church furnace
and ... make church coffee and be of use, but Larry kept on repenting and
repenting."
-- Quoted in "What IBM Taught Me About Repentance,"
by John Ortberg, in Christianity Today,
a.
We are to be a separated people, values unlike those of this
world.
b.
Practices that clearly shout:
"WE ARE
THE REDEEMED OF THE LORD!"
c.
We "bear His name falsely" when we claim salvation
while we live in sin!
5.
If these Ninevites could alter their lifestyle anyone today can,
especially since now we have the help of the Holy
Spirit!
a.
But the Holy Spirit has to have a cooperative Human
spirit!
b.
We are proclaiming to a world that Jesus is coming soon, find Him before
it's too late ... the message is simple and can be backed up by our own lives
... we too have been given by God the second chance for life eternal ... by
partaking of Christ!
6.
They took this salvation stuff seriously, so should
we!
a.
This was no light commitment!
b.
It would require massive changes of attitudes and
lifestyle!
c.
They were willing, just so they could live beyond the next 40 days! How about you and I who are looking at
eternity?
B.
Saving Compassion! Jonah
3:10b
1.
God was willing and able to avoid destroying them ... in fact He went to
great lengths in sending Jonah just so this could save so many
lives!
a.
God takes no delight in the lostness of
anyone!
b.
It is not His intention that any should perish, but that all would
come!
c.
Yet it is left up to us to come or not to come, He will not force the
issue, but He will plead ... He will go sometimes to great lengths to get our
attention, all we need to do is turn!
ILLUS: A few years
ago, two men held up a bank in
That doesn't make it with a judge
in
2.
"God is
slow to anger" -- quick to grant mercy and forgiveness! Why not take advantage of a wonderful
God's love ... COME!
CONCLUSION: A rebellious Jonah found
God's grace and a second chance ... so did a wicked generation of
Ninevites! When the call came the
second time, Jonah obeyed, when the Ninevites heard the message that God was
going to give them a second chance to be saved they quickly responded, how about
you, are you responding to the wonderful Lord who offers you another
chance? Take the offer while there
is still time, the difference will be your destination in
eternity!