Jonah: Part 2

And we're going to be thinking about Jonah's prayer and Jonah's situation in a few minutes.

And in Matthew chapter 12, we find Jesus referring to the sign of Jonah.

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

But before we get to that section, we're going to begin reading at verse 22.

So Matthew 12, reading at verse 22.

This is God's word.

Then they brought Jesus, a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute.

And Jesus healed him so that he could both talk and see.

All the people were astonished and said, could this be the son of David?

The Savior, the Messiah.

But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, it's only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, every kingdom divided against itself.

Will be ruined.

And every city or household divided against itself will not stand.

If Satan drives out Satan, he's divided against himself.

How then can his kingdom stand?

And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out?

So then, they will be your judges.

But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man?

Then he can rob his house.

He who is not with me is against me.

And he who does not gather with me scatters.

And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven.

But anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

Either in this age or in the age to come.

Make a tree good, and its fruit will be good.

Or make a tree bad, and its fruit will be bad.

For a tree is recognized by its fruit.

You brood of vipers!

How can you who are evil say anything good?

For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him.

And the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.

For by your words you will be acquitted.

By your words you will be condemned.

Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him,

Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.

He answered,

A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign.

But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish,

so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it.

For they repented at the preaching of Jonah,

and now one greater than Jonah is here.

The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it.

For she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom,

and now one greater than Solomon is here.

Now, can you turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Jonah,

which you'll find on page 927, if you're using the church Bible.

Last week we saw Jonah running from the call of God to go and preach.

Jonah's in Nineveh didn't want his enemies to have any chance of God's mercy,

so he runs in the opposite direction.

God sent a storm.

Jonah recognizes it's from God.

And he tells the sailors,

Well, the only way you're going to be saved is if you throw me overboard,

which they do.

And we'll pick up our reading, Jonah chapter 1 at verse 17.

Jonah 1 · chapter mention

But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah,

and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

From inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.

He said,

In my distress, I called to the Lord, and he answered me.

From the depths of the grave, I called for help,

and you listened to my cry.

You hurled me into the deep,

into the very heart of the seas,

and the currents swirled about me.

All your waves and breakers swept over me.

I said,

I've been banished from your sight,

yet I will look again towards your holy temple.

The engulfing waters threatened me.

The deep surrounded me.

Seaweed was wrapped around my head.

To the roots of the mountains I sank down.

The earth beneath barred me in forever.

But you brought my life up from the pit,

O Lord my God.

When my life was ebbing away,

I remembered you, Lord,

and my prayer rose to you,

to your holy temple.

Those who cling to worthless idols

forfeit the grace that could be theirs.

But I, with a song of thanksgiving,

will sacrifice to you.

What I have vowed,

I will make good.

Salvation comes from the Lord.

And the Lord commanded the fish,

and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Now we'll leave our reading there.

Now some of you will have noticed

that our MPs this week

have been discussing fake news.

Describing fake news as a threat

to our democracy.

That there is so much disinformation,

it's hard to know what's true.

Now, when we come to the Bible,

when we come to stories like Jonah,

how do we handle those stories?

Fact or fiction?

How we read and receive any information

is always going to be influenced

by our view of the world.

And that's certainly true

when we think about the Bible

and when we think in particular

about this story of Jonah.

So you read some books

and the commentators will say,

this is history.

And you read other books

and say, well, this is a kind of myth.

Or it's like the parables

that Jesus told.

A nice story teaching us a point.

Which is it?

And I guess our worldview

in large part will influence

how we think about it.

Do we believe, for example,

in a God who creates

and controls everything?

Is that God able to intervene

in miraculous ways?

Now, that won't just influence

how we think about Jonah.

That will influence

how we think about Jesus

and the life of Jesus

because he worked so many miracles.

Is the word of God reliable

when it teaches history?

So there are times

when the Bible is written

in a poetic style

and Jesus does tell parables,

but here is a story

presented as history.

So what do we do with it?

It forces us to think,

do I trust God

and do I trust God's word?

Significant when we read

in Matthew 12

to think about how Jesus

thought and understood

the Jonah story.

So when people came to him

asking for a miraculous sign,

he said,

I won't give you a sign

other than the sign of Jonah.

And what he meant by that

was that his life,

particularly his dying

and rising,

was a parallel

to what happened earlier

in the story of Jonah.

That just as Jonah

went into the belly of the fish

for three days and three nights

as if dead and then came out again

as if he'd come back to life,

Jesus said,

I'm going to fulfill

what was pointed forward to

in the history of Jonah.

So Jesus certainly read it

as history that taught

and really taught about

the mercy and the grace of God.

So that's how we're going

to think about it this morning.

We're going to think about it

as an event that Jonah experienced

that helps us to understand

more of the mercy

of our God.

Specifically here,

thinking about how God's mercy

comes to the prophet Jonah.

So remember,

Jonah was at best

a reluctant prophet

and at worst he was disobedient,

running from God.

But here he finds himself

being saved by God.

So we're going to think

about Jonah's situation

and Jonah's prayer

in order to discover

some truths about God's mercy

and about ourselves

as those who need to know

this God of mercy.

So the first thing

I want us to notice

both in the events

and in Jonah's prayer

is the providence of God.

It really stands out

the extent to which God

is in control in this story.

So the last time

in chapter one,

we see God sending a storm

as a sign of judgment

against Jonah's disobedience.

We see further evidence

of his control

in verse 17 of chapter one.

It's the Lord

who provides the fish

to swallow Jonah,

to save him,

to rescue him from drowning.

And then in chapter two

in verse 10,

God again commands the fish,

this time to deposit Jonah

on dry land.

And then we find

in Jonah's prayer

that he too sees

that God has been at work.

I find the words

of verse three

particularly interesting.

Look at verse three with me.

It says,

you hurled me into the deep,

into the very heart

of the seas.

Now, if you were to look back

at Jonah chapter one again,

you would discover

it was the sailors

that threw Jonah overboard.

But Jonah can see

beyond the sailors

and he can see

God's bigger plan.

He can see God's hand

behind everything.

And then in verse nine,

as he concludes his prayer,

says,

I with a song of thanksgiving

will sacrifice to you

what I have vowed

I will make good.

Salvation comes from the Lord.

He is in the belly of a fish

able to say salvation

comes from the Lord.

He knows the sailors.

He knows the storm.

He knows the fish.

All of these things

are organized by God

in order for Jonah

to be saved,

in order that he would know

and appreciate

the mercy of God

in his life.

The presentation

that we have

in the book of Jonah

that Jonah writes himself

delivers to us

is that Jonah

has been unfaithful.

But by contrast,

his God,

the personal promise-making God,

has been utterly faithful

at every point.

So God is in control.

His providence

is working all things out.

And what they're showing us

in the life of Jonah

is both God's justice

and God's mercy.

Jonah knew this.

He knew this in the storm.

He knew the storm

was a sign of God's judgment.

And he knew that he,

the only way the storm

was going to stop

is if he was thrown

into the storm.

And he understands

that his near death

by drowning,

that's God's judgment

on his sin.

But he also knows

the mercy of God.

He knows that God

has responded

in kindness and compassion

by rescuing him.

Not because Jonah

has deserved it.

It's clearly undeserved kindness

from a loving God.

And so the events

of Jonah's life

show us the justice

and the mercy of God

and the interplay

between them.

Now there are lessons for us

in Jonah's story

and in Jonah's prayer.

First of all,

there's an encouragement

to us to remember

that whatever

our circumstances

and we understand

with Jonah

that they are planned

by God.

And so they become

for us a chance

to pray to him,

to cry out to him,

to invite him

into that situation

that he's already

aware of,

confident that he knows

us and that he cares

about us.

That was hugely

hopeful for Jonah

and it can be hopeful

for us.

To learn from Jonah

in moments of crisis.

Sometimes when we know

we've done the wrong thing

we can just turn inward

and we can just feel

bad about ourselves

and we never go to God.

Or we can turn our back

on God thinking,

well this has turned out

really badly

so I want nothing

to do with God.

Rather like Jonah,

we've got this invitation

to turn upwards

upwards to God

to seek him,

to turn from our sin

and to turn to him

for mercy.

Now just as Jesus

would have us understand

in Matthew 12,

Jonah's story

helps us to reflect

on the story

of Jesus.

And we need to understand

that our hope

of being heard

in a crisis,

our hope

for receiving mercy

rests entirely

on the providence

of God

in sending Jesus.

In planning

from all eternity

to send Jesus

to be our Savior.

And in the story

of Jesus

we see both

the justice

and the mercy

of God

being worked out

on the cross.

In the providence,

in the plan of God,

Jesus went to the cross

in order to satisfy

God's justice

against sin.

Not the sin of Jesus,

but our sin.

And Jesus didn't just

face a near-death experience,

he actually died.

The wages of sin

the Bible says

is death.

The cross reminds us

of the judgment of God

and the seriousness

of sin.

But the cross of Jesus

also reminds us

of the mercy of God

because Jesus dies there

to secure

our hope of forgiveness

and mercy

if we put our trust in him.

that we look to the cross

and we see

there is Jesus

paying the debt,

cancelling the debt

for my sin.

That he faces death

in order to gift us

new life

as an act

of great grace.

So we see in the story

of Jonah,

the God who is

in total control,

the God who

can use the events

of our lives

in a sense

to wake us up

to our needs,

our need to find

mercy

from

the Lord Jesus.

And there's an invitation

for us to pray

like Jonah did.

So that's the providence

of God that we see

in this chapter.

We also

are reminded

of the presence

of God.

Read with me again

from verse 2

as Jonah's prayer begins.

He said,

In my distress,

I called to the Lord

and he answered me

from the depths

of the grave.

I called

for help

and you listened

to my cry.

You hurled me

into the deep,

into the very heart

of the seas

and the current

swirled about me.

And then in verse 4,

I said,

I've been banished

from your sight,

yet I'll look again

towards your holy temple.

Now,

I'm going to guess

many of us,

basically,

we're British,

we've been through

school,

secondary school,

we'll have studied

at some point

Shakespeare's Romeo

and Juliet.

Or at least

you'll maybe

remember it

from the movies

or maybe you've

seen it in the theater.

Well,

the part

that I want us

to think about

is the part

where Romeo

kills Tybalt

accidentally.

You know the story

about rival families.

And the sentence

that is delivered

on Romeo

because of that

is that he is

banished

from Verona,

the place

where he lives.

And as Friar Lawrence

delivers that message

to Romeo,

he gets all poetic

and all angsty

and he talks about it

as a fate worse

than death

because

he's banished

from the presence

of his Juliet.

To be far

from the one

that he loves

is a sorrow

worse than death.

The presence

of God

is something

precious

to his people

to know

that we are

close to God.

And that's

crucial actually

to understanding

the whole storyline

of the Bible.

I'm going to look

at it very shortly.

The grand story

of the Bible

is about God

acting

so that his people

might be with him

forever

to enjoy

his presence.

But as we think

about Jonah's

experience here

in the storm,

we get a feeling

that he's feeling

the absence.

So in verse 2

he talks about

distress,

he talks about

in the depths

of the grave,

the loss of God's

presence is like

a death.

In verse 3

there's the idea

of darkness.

In verse 4

this idea

of banishment.

There's despair

at the sense

that he can't feel

that God is present

with him because

of his disobedience.

But then he cries

out to God

and he knows

God is with him.

This has happened

because Jonah

has run from God.

He doesn't want

to obey God

and so he decides

to go running

and he's found

that life

has turned out

badly

as he's trying

to move away

from the presence

of God.

So as I was saying

this is a really

important theme

in the Bible.

So just to give us

a quick sketch

of that,

in the book

of Genesis

when Adam

and Eve

are created

we see that

they're very much

created in order

to enjoy life

with God

in the garden

of God.

Made for the

presence of God

to enjoy

knowing God.

Sin

turning their

back on God

means they are

banished from the

garden,

they're banished

from God's

place.

It's like a death

has occurred

but they're

banished with

the promise

of restoration.

A saviour will

come who will

fix this mess,

who will restore

relationship.

Then you get

to the book

of Exodus

and you find

God's chosen

people and

they're slaves

in Egypt

and God

sends Moses

and he comes

and he's present

and he acts

in miraculous ways

in order to

rescue them

not just as an

end in itself

but so that they

might become

the people of God.

And you get

these wonderful

pictures,

you get them

following God,

the pillar of

cloud by day,

the pillar of

fire by night.

They've got the

ark of God,

God's throne

with them.

They have the

tabernacle,

God's address

on the earth

in the middle

of their community.

God has saved

them to be

present with them

to bring them

joy,

to bring them

ultimately to

the promised

land where

God promised

once again

to live

with his

people.

And if they

would be

obedient to

God,

they would

know blessing

but they're

disobedient

and that

leads so

often to

exile

and to

absence.

And so

there's this

longing in

the Old

Testament for

God and his

people to be

together and

then there's

the promise

of Jesus

coming.

Jesus who's

announced as

Emmanuel,

the God

who is

with us.

And here we

see the

grace of

God as

God comes

down to

dwell,

to live

among his

people.

And salvation

is a restoring

of that

relationship,

bringing us

back into

the presence

of God.

We see that

really clearly

when Jesus

is on the

cross and

there's a

thief beside

him,

saying to

Lord when

you remember

me when you

come into

your kingdom.

And Jesus

turns to him

and says

today you

will be

with me

in paradise.

With

Jesus is

what makes

paradise,

paradise.

And that's

the picture

as we get

to the end

of the Bible.

Revelation

21, you

get this

new creation

picture and

God dwelling

with his

people forever

is the end

of the story.

That's the

great hope

of the Bible.

God's great

gift is

himself.

And so

Jonah's

hope for

mercy rests

in God

being present

with him

and for him.

So we see

the language

in verse 4

said despite

being banished

yet I look

again towards

your holy

temple.

Verse 7

When my life

was ebbing

away I

remembered you

Lord and my

prayer rose to

you to your

holy temple.

Why the

temple?

Because that's

where God

is.

That's where

God is present,

where God

accepts sacrifices,

where God

hears prayer.

And so the

mercy of God

in Jonah's

life is that

God comes to

be present

to save

him.

And what we

discover as we

look at the

Bible is it's

God being

present.

That's how we

are saved.

God coming

down to us

is how we

are saved.

And that's

also why we

are saved.

The goal of

our salvation

is that we

would be

present with

God.

The goal of

Christianity

isn't simply

that our lives

would change

and get a

little bit

better.

Though they

will, it's

not simply

moral improvement,

though as the

spirit comes to

reside in us,

change will

come.

The goal of

Christianity is

that we would

know and enjoy

God forever

with him.

Nothing less.

That's what we're

being offered.

And the story of

Jesus reminds us

of that.

Jesus, who

eternally enjoyed

fellowship with

his father,

experiences that

sense of

absence on

the cross.

My God, my

God, why have

you forsaken

me?

So that we

might never

have that

experience.

So we might

know and

enjoy God's

presence forever.

God is the

gospel.

He's our

great hope.

And we're

reminded of

that in the

story of

Jonah.

Further,

Jonah reminds

us in his

prayer of

the grace

of God.

Verse 8,

those who

cling to

worthless idols

forfeit the

grace that

could be

theirs.

Now, we're

in the middle

of the sea

here as

Jonah prays.

So picture

a ship

battered by

a storm that

begins to

break up,

begins to

sink.

Crew,

sailors begin

to go

overboard.

What's their

hope of

salvation?

Where does

that salvation

rest?

Primarily on

clinging initially

to something

that's going to

keep them

afloat.

And here is

Jonah in

his prayer

reflecting on

the importance

of choosing

the right God

to cling

on to

for salvation,

for hell.

And this is

something that

runs a kind

of counter to

our culture

because we

are taught,

the messages

that we hear

so often are

taught to be

self-sufficient,

to be all

that we can

be, to rely

on our own

natural resources.

And so that

can often be

our tendency.

I'll place my

hope in my

own gifts and

abilities, my

financial reserves,

even the family

or the friends

that God has

put around me.

And we need

to recognize

that those are

all a gift

from God and

absolutely can

give us strength

and help when

we face a crisis.

But ultimately,

as Jonah

presents us

here, God

himself is

the only one

to cling to

who can give

us help both

in life and

in death

and beyond

death.

Jonah says

to cling to

an idol

is to

miss

grace.

If we make

something or

someone else

rather than

the true God,

the center of

our life,

the thing that

we place our

hopes and

dreams on,

we'll miss

the salvation

of God.

We'll miss

this free

offer of his

love and his

mercy extended

to us in

Jesus.

And Jonah

appreciates that

as he looks

around.

Maybe thinking

about some

people in

Israel who

turned away

from the true

God to

worship idols.

Certainly

thinking about

the pagan

nations all

around Israel

who are

worshiping

idols.

and he

understands

that in

the end

their hope

is futile

because it's

not in

the true

God.

This God

who reveals

his character

to his

people.

For example

in Exodus

34 is a

God who

is compassionate

and gracious,

slow to

anger,

abounding in

love and

faithfulness.

God who

shows his

grace in

sending his

own son

Jesus to

be our

substitute.

He

can be

helpful for

us to

reflect on

the question

that Jonah's

prayer poses

to us.

Who is it

or what is

it that we

cling to

in a storm,

in a crisis

in our lives?

Where do we

automatically go?

Is it the

God of grace

and mercy

or is it

to someone

or something

else?

God?

Now we

saw this

last week

in Jonah's

story.

We see it

again here.

There's a

point of

tension in

his story.

There's a

disconnect

between what

he knows

and how

he lives.

So he

just said

here that

the only

place to

find hope

is in

the God

of the

Bible.

That he

appreciates

grace and

mercy for

himself.

He

recognizes

that that's

life-giving.

But what we

see in his

story is how

slow he

is to

extend that

grace and

mercy to

others,

particularly to

the people

in Nineveh.

Even, and

when we get

there a couple

of weeks,

he delivers

the message,

the people

turn to

God in

repentance,

and their

city is

saved.

Jonah is

miserable

because he

doesn't want

his enemies

to enjoy the

same mercy

and grace

that he

has found.

There's a

gap between

what he

believes and

how he

lives.

I think

that's a

challenge for

us as

Christians.

So something

for us to

think about

as a

church,

are we,

as those

who have

received

grace from

God and

the Lord

Jesus the

Savior,

are we

extending

grace and

forgiveness and

mercy and

kindness to

others?

Do we pray

and speak and

act so that

others might

know that

grace in

Jesus for

themselves?

Would

people come

into our

church gatherings

or where we

meet together

and think,

here are the

people who

are full of

grace and

love?

The last

thing that I

want us to

note is that

in Jonah's

experience having

reflected on the

providence of

God and the

presence of

God in his

life and the

grace of

God, we

see his

thankfulness in

verse 9 to

God.

God, we

have a song of

thanksgiving

will sacrifice

to you.

What I have

vowed I will

make good.

Salvation

comes from

the Lord.

Think of

Jonah's

shoes for a

moment.

You find

yourself, you've

just been thrown

overboard, having

faced a terrible

storm.

You're sinking into

the depths, you've

got seaweed wrapped

around your head,

you're near to

drowning, and then

you get swallowed

by a fish.

And you find

yourself in the

darkness and the

sting for three

days.

How would you be

feeling at that

moment?

It's wonderful to

see that Jonah is

full of

thanksgiving.

He sees in this

experience God's

rescue despite his

own disobedience.

He appreciates that

God has shown

mercy to him while

he was on the run

from God.

And so we've got

this language of

offering sacrifices

and vows.

This is not a

one-time thing.

He's saying to

God, in view of

what you have done

for me, I want my

life to be patterned

on thankfulness.

Because you have

saved me, I want my

life to be full of

thanksgiving.

Because in God's

providence, he'd

receive mercy and

not just judgment.

He has discovered

the presence of God

is this hope and

salvation.

He's received the

grace of God as a

gift he didn't

deserve but

gratefully receives.

The point is this,

God's mercy in

giving us Jesus to

be our Savior should

lead us to live

lives marked by

thankfulness.

As Paul says in

Romans 12, I urge

you in view of

God's mercy to

offer your bodies as

living sacrifices.

Holy and pleasing to

God.

This is your spiritual

act of worship.

As we reflect on what

God has done for us in

Jesus, we recognize he's

done everything to save

us from ourselves and

from our sin and from

eternal judgment that we

deserve.

that he invites us to

come to him to receive

forgiveness and mercy and

love and salvation for

now and forever and

in light of that, in

light of all that Jesus

has done for us.

Let's pray that our lives

will be marked by this

kind of thanksgiving.

That we'd reflect on the

cross and the

resurrection and think how

that should transform our

lives and our attitudes.

That with God's help,

Jonah's response in verse

9 would be ours too.