Jonah

[0:00] We're looking at the book of Jonah.

[0:23] There's only 48 verses in Jonah. And we see the message that came to Jonah. I'm breaking it into three points here.

[0:38] Three points. And the first one is get up and preach. That was the message to Jonah from the start of the book. And then we'll see another couple of things that God tells Jonah to do.

[0:53] The first one in these 48 verses of Jonah is get up and preach. We see that there in Jonah chapter 1 verse 1. So we're going to go right through these 48 verses together.

[1:04] Jonah chapter 1 verse 1 it says this. Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it.

[1:17] For their wickedness has come up before me. So here we meet Jonah. Jonah the prophet. His name means dove. And it says here of Nineveh it was a great, but it was a godless city.

[1:32] It was a great city. Yeah, a godless city. God says to Jonah, Arise, go. Get up and preach. Verse 3.

[1:45] But Jonah, what did he do? Jonah rose up. Yes, he rose up to flee. He should have gone that way, and he went that way. It says Jonah rose up to flee from Tarshish, from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa, and he found a ship going to Tarshish.

[2:04] So he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish, from the presence of the Lord. God said to Jonah, get up and preach.

[2:17] Get up and go. Get up and preach to the city. Preach against Nineveh. God gave him a message to deliver. Go to Nineveh, that great city. God wanted Jonah to get a message in his hand, to get a message in his heart, and to go and to deliver it.

[2:32] But Jonah got up, and he exited stage left. He went to Joppa, which is now modern-day Jaffa, the port of Jerusalem. Jonah should have been headed for Iraq, if you like, 700 miles east.

[2:46] But he set sail for Spain, 2,200 miles west. He should have gone 700 miles east to Iraq. He went 2,200 miles west to Spain.

[2:59] He did the opposite of what God wanted him to do. Isn't that like us at times? Jonah wanted Nineveh, the enemy of his people, to be destroyed.

[3:11] Jonah rebelled. He ran away from the presence of the Lord. He wanted to escape. He was determined to go the wrong way. Now, you can disobey God, but you will suffer for it.

[3:24] Jonah paid for it. He paid the fare. But he would pay even more dearly. The most expensive thing, let's face it, everyone, the most expensive thing in the world is sin.

[3:40] Sin is costly. It costs the Lord Jesus his precious blood. Jonah was the backslider. God has got a way of getting our attention when we're backsliding.

[3:52] He's got a way of getting our attention when we get off track. Jonah paid for it. There's a cost to sink, to backsliding. God had to get this man's attention.

[4:06] So we read on verse 4. Now God sent a great wind, a storm. Verse 4. But the Lord sent out a great wind, as Jonah was in the vessel here.

[4:19] The Lord sent a great wind into the sea. And there was a mighty tempest in the sea. So that the ship was like to be broken. Here was the ship.

[4:30] It was like it was about to be wrecked, about to break up. This was truly a dangerous, desperate time. And then we see the mariners, the sailors on board. What they did, it says of them, that the mariners were afraid.

[4:43] Notice that, they were afraid. These are seasoned sailors. The word mariners, apparently it means salt. You know, they're the old salts, as it were. These were salty sailors. These mariners, it says of them, they were afraid.

[4:55] And it reads on and it says, They cried, every man unto his own God. And cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten them of them.

[5:06] But, where was Jonah? Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship. And he lay and was fast asleep. These mariners, these sailors were afraid.

[5:19] The seasoned sailors, they knew this was extreme. This was dangerous now, the situation. They started to throw things overboard, to lighten the ship so it would be easier to carry on these stormy seas.

[5:35] Meanwhile, where was the man of God? Jonah. At this time of crisis, where was he? Fast asleep.

[5:48] Fast asleep. He was in a deep sleep. This was a deep sleep. He was soundover. He was sleeping deeply. The Hebrew word apparently refers to snoring.

[6:02] I'm told that I'm guilty of that. When you get sound asleep, that snoring happens. That was Jonah. A snoring prophet. And here he is, fast asleep.

[6:14] Despite the noise of the storm, despite the rocking boat, despite the inward guilt, he should have felt, he was fast asleep. Sin brings a lethargy, a stupor, a seared conscience.

[6:34] Sin, it brings a carnal security. The devil can give you a false peace. As Matthew Ham, he says, sin brings storms and tempests into the soul, into the family, into churches and nations.

[6:51] It is a disquieting, disturbing thing. Jonah should have been disturbed. But he was sound asleep, fast asleep. Despite the storm, Jonah slept on.

[7:04] God said, get up and preach. He directly disobeyed the word of God. Another thing God says to Jonah, really, I put to you, is get up and pray.

[7:20] Get up and pray. When there's a storm, shouldn't we pray? Shouldn't we ask for prayer? Shouldn't we pray? That's what we should do, friends. When the situation is grim, when the situation is not grim, get up and pray.

[7:34] Keep on praying. And we see, we read on, verse 6, as the storm struck the vessel and the shipmaster came, it says, verse 6, to him, to Jonah, and said unto him, what meanest thou, O sleeper?

[7:50] Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not. Here's the shipmaster, the captain.

[8:02] He saw the indifference of Jonah, soundly, get up and call on your God. He urges Jonah, arise, get up, wake up, call upon thy God, get up and pray.

[8:17] This heathen, captain, gave sound advice to Jonah here. Verse 7, it reads on, And they said, every one to his fellow, the sailors amongst themselves, they said, come, let us cast lots that we may know.

[8:33] For whose cause this evil is upon us? So they cast lots and the lot fell upon Jonah. Then said they unto him, tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us?

[8:47] Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause is this evil upon us? What is thine occupation? And whence comest thou?

[8:58] Where is thy country? And of what people art thou? So the sailors tested for a cause, they used this casting of lots. And of course, we know that the lot is in the Lord's hand.

[9:09] Everything pointed to Jonah. He was obviously the one, the culprit, the cause of all this calamity. And so they inquired of him, who are you?

[9:20] Where did you come from? What are you doing? And here we see his response. Verse 9. Jonah 1, verse 9. And he said unto them, I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord that God of heaven which made the sea and the dry land.

[9:38] Here he is, this pathetic excuse for a prophet. This disobedient preacher. This stubborn backslider. And here he is, mouthing these words, paying lip service.

[9:50] Oh, I fear God. Sure. Sure, Jonah. He claimed that he feared God but here he was not obeying God. Here he was claiming, I worship, I reverence Jehovah.

[10:05] And he's even kind of bragging, you know, he's not like, you're false gods. He's the creator of the earth and the dry land of heaven and earth, the sea, the maker, the ruler of it.

[10:18] He says, I fear the Lord. He was about to get a lot more fear, a lot more fear of the Lord in him. As the story unfolds further, you see verse 10, then were the men exceedingly afraid and said unto him, why hast thou done this?

[10:36] For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told them. It's a question, really, we should all consider.

[10:47] For the unfaithful Christian, that question should strike us, why hast thou done this? Why have you done it? The situations I know, and I think, professing Christians and us wonder, why have you done that?

[11:05] Why did you do that? Bullishness. How could you do this? This great sin. How could you disobey your Lord?

[11:17] It's a like to be question of God to Eve in the garden, Genesis 3.13. And the Lord God said unto the woman, what is this that thou hast done? The woman said, the serpent begot me and I did eat.

[11:34] What is this that thou hast done? As the sailors asked Jonah, why hast thou done this? Sin. It wreaks a bitter harvest.

[11:44] We read on verse 11, and then they said unto him, what shall we do unto thee that the sea may be calm unto us? For the sea wrought and was tempestuous.

[11:55] It was getting choppy and worsening. Verse 12, we read, and he said unto them, take me up and cast me forth into the sea. So shall the sea be calm unto you.

[12:10] For I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. Jonah chose to die rather than obey God.

[12:20] He was still rebellious, really, in a sense that he didn't say, take me to where I'm supposed to be going, so throw me overboard. He still really was disobeying God in effect.

[12:36] In his words. Verse 13, nevertheless the men rode hard to bring it to the land, but they could not. But they could not. For the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them.

[12:47] So it was getting more and more choppy and violent. And they tried in vain. It says they were really straining at the oars here. They were rowing hard, exerting themselves to escape the storm, but it was all in vain.

[13:04] All in vain. They could not reach the shore. It was hopeless. They tried. Verse 14, wherefore they cried unto the Lord.

[13:19] Notice the men got up and prayed. Jonah hasn't prayed yet. It's not said that he's prayed. But the men, these sailors, these heathen sailors, these idol-worshipping sailors, they got up and they prayed to the Lord.

[13:35] Notice they no longer prayed to their false gods. They no longer prayed to their idols. They prayed unto the Lord. Amen. The true God. And it reads on, and they said this, we beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee.

[13:52] This is an earnest prayer. We beseech thee, we beseech thee, O Lord. Let us not perish for this man's life and lay not upon us innocent blood, for thou, O Lord, has done us it pleased thee.

[14:05] There was a reverence there. These heathen sailors feared the Lord. They prayed unto the Lord. They did what Jonah should have done. Verse 15, it says, so they took up Jonah and they cast him forth into the sea and the sea ceased its raging.

[14:24] Verse 16, then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows. So not only did these men fear the Lord, not only did they pray, but they offered sacrifice.

[14:36] It's as if they were really genuinely trusting the saving grace of God and giving a sacrifice in acknowledging his power and deliverance.

[14:49] They feared the Lord with a great fear. So now what of our valiant preacher boy? Verse 17, now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.

[15:02] Here he was in the deep and then deeper still in the belly of the whale now. The Lord had prepared a great fish. Now it's interesting, the book of Jonah is filled with many great things.

[15:21] We could recollect Nineveh was a what? Great city. God sent a storm, it was a great storm. Verse 16, it says, they feared the Lord exceedingly.

[15:35] It's the same word here, there's a great fear. They feared the Lord exceedingly. It's the same word for great city, great storm, great fear in verse 16.

[15:47] Now we see great fish, verse 17. At the end of the book, chapter 4, verse 1, Jonah was greatly displeased. He had great displeasure at God's intervention, the saving of the Ninevites.

[16:04] Friends, the book of Jonah is filled with great things, great things. So the great fish, and it says, Jonah praying. Finally, God had got all of Jonah's attention.

[16:19] Jonah finally started to get hold of God and to pray. Verse 1, as it says, Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

[16:32] Then, then, Jonah prayed unto the Lord. Then, Jonah prayed unto the Lord, his God, out of the fish's belly.

[16:47] Some have reflected how the throwing of him overboard was the saving of the vessel. And then we see Jonah three days and three nights in the fish's belly. You could see that as a type of Christ dying for the saving of the world and of his being buried three days, three nights.

[17:06] And then we see ultimately his resurrection. But for Jonah, Jonah was in the fish's belly and notice Jonah, then Jonah, prayed unto the Lord.

[17:20] First time he prayed, but it says he prayed, the fish's belly was as the belly of hell. As he tells us there, verse 2, Jonah 2, verse 2, it says, Jonah said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me.

[17:43] Out of the belly of hell, cried I, and they heard us from my voice. So the fish's belly was even as the belly of hell. Jonah cried out his prayer. He cried out, it says.

[17:54] This was not some whispering prayer, some quiet prayer. He cried out, that sense of it.

[18:05] He cried out his prayer, and he had the assurance that his prayer was heard. Notice that. Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

[18:16] Friends, when you cry out, he hears your voice. He hears your voice. Get right with God, cry out, and he'll hear your voice. He had the assurance that his prayer was heard, and he gave thanks and praise for God's deliverance.

[18:31] It continues verse 3. Verse 3, it says, thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed me about, all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.

[18:44] It was God's hand, more so than the sailors, that had cast him there. It says that they cast him into the sea, but as Jonah acknowledges here, verse 3, thou hast cast me into the deep.

[19:01] The sailors cast him, but he acknowledged it was God's hand, really, that God's hand had cast him into the deep, more so than the hand of the sailors. He acknowledged that God superintends the events of our lives, really, doesn't he?

[19:16] For thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed me about, all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Verse 4, then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.

[19:33] He felt estranged, cast out from God's presence, but he says, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.

[19:47] In faith, he cried out, he turned to God. Verse 5, the waters around me about, and the weeds were wrapped about my head.

[20:00] Friends, this situation was hopeless to the human eye. This was a hopeless, helpless situation, and Jonah, it would seem, had been cut off from all hope. Here he was in this prison, this dungeon, this dark dungeon of the fish's belly, and he knew God's displeasure, yet God is with Jonah.

[20:23] You might feel, maybe you've had times where you felt like Job, upon the dunghill, not a pleasant place, I'd imagine not a pleasant place to set up your home.

[20:36] Job was upon the dunghill, Joseph was in the pit, David was in the cave, Jonah in the fish's belly. Friends, it doesn't matter where you are, God can hear your prayer, even in the deepest, darkest place.

[20:56] Here he prays and he restores his fellowship with God. What a wonderful joy that came to Jonah. Even as it says here, the waters compassed me about, even to the soul, the depths closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.

[21:11] Here he is with seaweed all over his face, smelling like who knows what, in this foul place, this dark place, this dungeon of a place, the fish's belly.

[21:24] And it says, verse 6, I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. He went right down, deep, deep down, in the depth of the ocean. The earth with her bars was about me forever.

[21:41] Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption. O Lord, my God. Now notice here, friends, notice here, Jonah here in this bishop's belly, Jonah yet prayed, Jonah yet prayed in faith here, thou hast brought up my life.

[21:57] He saw God have preserved his life. He still had faith, had hope of God's delivering power. And he believed it. He believed in the deliverance of God.

[22:08] And notice here he says, my God, my God. The end of verse 6 there, O Lord, my God. Mine, mine, my God.

[22:23] You can say that by faith if you're a believer tonight. My God. My God, by faith, my hope. My God, whom I serve and should not have disobeyed.

[22:35] My God, to whom I pray, the one who's pardoned me. My God, whom I love, I adore, I love and obey. My God, Jonah, could say that truly.

[22:49] There was an encounter with God here in the fish's belly. And we read on verse 7, when my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord. Friends, remember him.

[23:02] Forget not all his benefits. How easily we can, can we? We take for granted to recollect his mercies. Remember the Lord.

[23:14] Forget not all his benefits to you. Jonah says, I remembered the Lord. I recalled the Lord. I remembered his mercies. I remembered his loving kindness, his grace, his forgiveness, his goodness, his love.

[23:27] I remembered the Lord. The Lord, my God. I remembered the Lord. And it goes on, and my prayer came in unto thee, into thy unholy temple.

[23:38] Friends, that Jonah says here, by faith, my God, here's my prayer. It goes into his holy temple. Your prayer is heard. Saint of God, sister, brother, your prayer is heard.

[23:53] The prayer that you pray, yes, even that prayer that you wonder, does God hear it?

[24:03] Yes, he does. Yes, he does. He absolutely does. Your prayer that you pray, even though it seems weak, your prayer is heard, even in his holy temple.

[24:14] Even from the lowest deeps that you pray, even if you're on the downhill like Job, in the cave like David, in the fish's belly like Jonah, even in the lowest deeps of your life, it's heard in the highest heaven.

[24:29] And when your soul is faint, there is comfort in prayer. Friends, absolute comfort. we read on verse 8, Jonah says of the false gods, of the false worshippers, he says, they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

[24:45] that I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that I have found.

[24:56] Salvation is of the Lord. So Jonah's saying here when he talks about those who've lying vanities, he's talking about those who trust him in falsehoods, in false gods.

[25:08] False gods will forsake. They have no power, no mercy. They are powerless. They cannot say. And Jonah praised.

[25:20] God gave him a song. He could worship. God got Jonah to get up and pray. Friends, sometimes we've got to get to that place where he presses us to pray.

[25:31] Jonah got up and prayed. He'd taken some convincing now. He's got seaweed wrapped around his head. He's in this belly of a great fish.

[25:42] God showed him mercy, sustaining mercy. Even here, in this dark prison, this dungeon of the belly of the fish. Jonah made even this odd place a place of prayer.

[25:56] You might think of your humble home, of your circumstance, maybe even your car while you're driving along, but that can be a place of prayer. Amen. You don't have to come to some stained glass cathedral.

[26:09] You can pray in your closet. You can pray in the humble place, even in the oddest of places like Jonah, a place of prayer.

[26:20] God wants us to pray. Paul says, I will that men pray everywhere. Don't wait to pray to come to some holy place as such, but men should pray everywhere.

[26:31] That's 1 Timothy 2 verse 8. And here it was that Jonah recognized that salvation is of the Lord. That's where the salvation comes from. He is my deliverer.

[26:43] He alone has the power to save. Jonah couldn't do anything to save himself from that fish, could he? He could have tried to cut his way out.

[26:54] I don't know. He was hopeless. He was vain. There's no way he could have got out alive. But salvation is of the Lord. And Jonah saw his deliverance was of God, by God.

[27:06] So God acted in response to Jonah's prayer. We read on verse 10. And the Lord spoke unto the fish, and it vomited Mount Jonah upon the dry land. So he was finally freed.

[27:19] And then we read chapter 3, we start now verse 1. God's word came to Jonah again. The word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, verse 10, arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it, the preaching that I bid thee.

[27:37] So God says, God takes Jonah back to sermon point number one, get up and preach. Go and preach, Jonah. Here's Jonah, back to square one.

[27:49] It's the same message. It's interesting, as an aside, the second call, that he is to cry unto it.

[28:00] The first time was he was to cry against it. Just an interesting thought there, isn't it? He was called to cry against it, as a doomed city. Now he's to cry unto it.

[28:14] Awaken them to judgment, that they can be saved. You could reflect that in 10, to cry unto it, deliver it unto it, that city.

[28:29] So here is Jonah, he's forgiven, he's restored, and now Jonah's commission is renewed. Jonah hears the bit while shaken up, and convinced. So what does he do? He promptly obeys.

[28:40] No mucking around this time, no pussy footing around, no backtracking, no finding some alternative, I'm going to do what God says to do. And he got beached, and he was probably bleached.

[28:52] After three days in the valley, he would have looked like the insides of a fish's stomach. He would look white and bleached, and here he was probably quite a sight.

[29:02] The prince of man was something to look at right here. This would have been a dazzling sight. He would have had a bright suit on, imagine. He would be glowing. But here he was coming out of the fish's belly, and there was something that he had a great fish.

[29:24] Now go to the great city. Verse 3. It reads, So Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey.

[29:39] It was a huge city, expansive city, so large it would take three days to walk around it, or through it. So verse 4 it says that Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, out.

[29:54] He said, yeah, 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. He cried out. Nineveh had been founded by Nimrod.

[30:05] It was an evil godless city, full of all kinds of evils and cruelty. Jonah was unwilling, but he wasn't about to argue with God this time around. And this was his sermon.

[30:16] Five words in the Hebrew language, apparently. Five words. It was very short. Five words. His message was one sentence, one sentence. Yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

[30:33] Time's up, Nineveh. God's going to judge you big time. Give you what you deserve. Jonah would have relished that. This message of doom, of destruction, of damnation, no hope.

[30:44] It's judgment time, Nineveh. You're going to burn. You're going down. God's going to wipe you out. I can imagine Jonah getting into the spirit of it. He was looking forward to it.

[30:56] Yet, along with God's threatenings, there's always God's promises. God's grace, God's wrath. We see there's threatenings, but there's implied promises.

[31:08] God's warnings should move us to repentance. God's wrath should move us to find shelter. them. And so it was, verse 5, so the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast.

[31:27] Notice it says the people of Nineveh believed God. Notice faith here. It's very, very evident, a very telling point that that changed everything was they believed God.

[31:40] Friends, they believed. They had faith. They trusted in Him. They recognized the true God. They believed God. And they proclaimed a fast, it says, and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

[31:54] For word came unto the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne and he laid his robe from him. That old evil king of Nineveh, there's accounts of how evil Nineveh was, the king being evil.

[32:10] That king got up and prayed. He got up and prayed. He got up off of his royal throne. He took off his royal robe, that rich, gorgeous garment, that luxurious apparel, and he covered himself with sackcloth and ashes.

[32:24] Imagine that, the king. He would have the very best of garments. He laid it aside and he stepped down and he response.

[32:47] He got down on his knees. It continues. He covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes. so here he comes from his royal throne and he comes to prayer to contrition to repentance, to humble himself he got down and he prayed verse 5 it shows how that when the word of God gets preached people start believing Jonah didn't really want that you could reflect in his reaction that he didn't really want them to get saved he just wanted the judgment to fall on the enemies of God's people God did a work in the hearts even of these rebellious people, God did a work friends, God's word has got the power to save, it's amazing really that the word of God has got power to save the word the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth it's still got power as it had in

[33:50] Nineveh's day, verse 7 and the king says he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles saying let neither man nor beast herd nor flock taste anything let them not feed nor drink water but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God the old king decrees here it's time to get right with God verse 8 he says so let everyone earnestly call mightily let everyone urgently call upon God let them cry mightily unto God this is again an earnest prayer seek his mercy let everyone call upon him mightily call upon him and it reads there further yea let them turn everyone from his evil way from the violence that is in their hands who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not there was conviction and there was conversion the king had faith to acknowledge

[35:10] God in grace can show mercy and it says verse 10 God saw their works that they turned from their evil way God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not people got saved a great sin he saw a great salvation God sees when we mean it when we get convicted as even these near them people when we get serious about sin when we turn our lives over to him it says they believe God they believe God they repented at the preaching of the prophet and then God repented of the evil that he had threatened to bring upon them God's mind was shifted to mercy from around there was a turning from the evil he had threatened to show mercy and salvation what victory what blessing came friends get up and pray that's what we should do as ultimately after some time

[36:24] Jonah did pray he did get up and pray and as the people of Nineveh they got up and prayed as the king of Nineveh prayed God spares those who will call upon him the pagan sailors they were spared Jonah and Nineveh get up and preach he did finally get up and pray he did finally and thirdly I put to you another point to consider in the book of Jonah is get up and praise get up and praise we should praise God when there's a deliverance we should praise God when he should ground salvation to a seeking soul to praise him for his mercy and love in chapter 4 we see that Jonah gets another lesson from God he should have had joy and praise at the salvation at the revival of this saving of a city God wants us to praise him but Jonah he did the opposite again God told him to preach he went the other way God told him to pray he finally did got around to it

[37:27] God told him we should be praising me for saving the city Jonah did the opposite of praising God he complained he got angry we read verse 1 of chapter 4 but it displeased Jonah exceedingly that's a great displeasure again that word great he was greatly displeased he was exceedingly displeased he was very angry he was burning with anger as the sense of it he was so angry that God would show deliverance to the Medivites and verse 2 it says and he prayed unto the Lord and said I pray thee O Lord was not this my saying when I yet was in my country therefore I fled before unto Tarshish for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repent to steal the evil Jonah prayed again saw Jonah prayed in the fish's belly now Jonah prayed again but his prayer was an angry prayer it wasn't a humble prayer this time as it was in the fish's belly now he's praying with an angry spirit he had received the mercy of God back there in the fish's belly and in the salvation from the fish but this prayer of

[38:39] Jonah now was more of a complaint that God had showed mercy to Nineveh he even justifies how he fled from God's presence he's almost like he's revisiting that and kind of excusing his wrong actions and he even justifies how he fled from God's presence he calls God a gracious God he shows compassion and mercy but Jonah just didn't want that for Nineveh we read on verse three it reads therefore now O Lord take I receive thee my life from me for it is better for me to die than to live and said the Lord do us thou well to be angry here's Jonah even threatening to take my life and I'm just so angry about this and God says what right do you have to be angry!

[39:31] So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city and they made him a booth and sat under it in the shadow so they might see what would become of the city so here's Jonah Nineveh is repensing Jonah now takes a vantage point on the side there to see what God would do Jonah maybe had hopes still that the threats of Jovement would so it says he made a booth so kind of like a tent of branches a little shelter of branches called a booth he wanted to see what would become of the city verse 6 and the Lord prepared a good and made it come up over Jonah that it might be a shadow over his hair to deliver him from his grief so Jonah was exceeding glad of the good now Jonah provided the blessing of a girt which we can understand to be some kind of ivy or a vine this spreading plant so here he is in this bush shelter of branches this little shelter of branches called the booth and the spreading plant now grows over the booth with these broad leaves and gets shade and comfort and

[40:50] God gave it speedy growth and came up really quick and Jonah was really glad about it he didn't actually give any thanks to God for it as an aside but he was glad about the girt this plant verse 7 but God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day and it smote the girt that it withered so some kind of bug some kind of grub came and possibly ate the plant at the root and the whole thing withered and died suddenly notice just to reflect again God had prepared a fish God prepared a girt now then it says God prepared a worm this grub this worm it could have been a swarm of caterpillars of locusts whatever it was God prepared it and the plant suddenly withered and died now

[41:51] God prepared something else still but something else God prepared as we read the next time verse 8 and it came to pass when the sun did arise that God prepared a vehement east wind and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah that he fainted he got this sun stroke this sun effect of the sun upon him and he got this sun stroke this sense of fainting and he whisked himself to die and he said it was better for me to die than to live so God prepared a fish God prepared a plant God prepared a worm God prepared a wind friends sometimes God prepares things we don't always acknowledge that God wants Jonah to praise Jonah should have been praising he should have been rejoicing in the providence of God for all the things God had prepared for him for all the things God had done for him for what God had provided for him but he just complained Jonah loved the plant more than the people of

[42:53] Nineveh now he got angry and fretting about the plant he had this little pity party tantrum my plant died now there's another thing to complain about I just want to die this is just too much for me to handle it's like he loved that plant more than the people of Nineveh!

[43:16] let us not take for granted the providence of God when we look at our lives maybe God's prepared some things as you look back God's prepared this God's prepared that thank God for the providence praise him don't miss that Jonah did miss that verse 9 God said to Jonah dost thou well to be angry for the good and he said I do well to be angry even unto death verse 10 God showed Jonah a lesson through the shelter through the shade that plant reduced this discomfort a worm made it with it Jonah was angry at the goodness of God God had to teach him another lesson really we should as

[44:17] Jonah should be praising God for his goodness to acknowledge the provision of God the providence of God really Jonah should have been praising God think of the compassion God showed to this city this great city the compassion and the conversion of the city there's a sparing year of six score thousand which is 120 thousand and these are the 120 thousand people are the people who could not discern it may have been speaking of just the children in which case the city's population was possibly 600 thousand God showed great mercy to this great city and God spared these ones these Gentiles at that surely Jonah should have gone up and praised God amen Jonah should have seen clearly the great providence of God for that city but he missed it again he missed the boat

[45:20] Jonah was more concerned about the plant than the people of Nineveh he felt sorry about the vine but he didn't consider the mercy of God not to mention the very mercy of God to himself!

[45:36] to faithless Jonah to save him to restore him to recommission him this faithless Jonah was restored and used of God surely Jonah should have praised God for that Jonah should have actually felt glad for the soul save for this great city of the great mercy God showed instead he had this little pity party when he should have been praising friends don't we at times act like that don't we when we should have been praising we find something to complain about we've got so many reasons to praise God don't we God's mercy and salvation that is granted to the Jews and the Gentiles to such as we we've got no claim from our bloodline for it as much as some might manufacture something about Britain and America which is garbage there's no bloodline that makes us worthy that makes us

[46:40] Hebrews it's only by faith that's the only hope we've got so get up and praise him think of his power to save and get up and praise him for it can we learn from the mistakes of Jonah think of it destruction is coming serve God willingly salvation is a God that's really the pivotal verse there isn't it Jonah 2 verse 9 salvation is of the Lord we can thank him for that friends so just to recap real quick Jonah was told get up and preach he went the wrong way God God put something on your heart to do do it eventually who knows God will force his hand get up and preach and get up and pray even if you're in the fish's valley even when it's desperate times even though all hope seems gone pray

[47:50] I will that men pray everywhere even in the darkest deepest dungeon pray and thirdly get up and praise in the sense that we think of even for his mercy to you even for his providence of his gift of salvation that he is dying to give that to you the value of that is beyond our comprehension and we have much to praise him for so let's do that now Lord we thank you for your word for Jonah we see much to learn from his mistakes and those things that he did do Lord that we ought to learn from his example Lord we pray that we'll have the heart that you gave Jonah as he submitted in humility Lord as you saved that city that heathen king that you granted mercy and Lord you do that still for every soul that would call upon you and trust simply believe and know your saving power

[49:05] Lord for the grace as we see reflected in the symbology of Jonah that it reflects how you our Lord was the sacrifice for our sin that your dying saves us Lord that as Jonah was in the fish's belly three days and nights Lord you were in that tomb and then rose triumphant victorious all conquering over sin death and hell and Lord we know that by faith we can each one that trusts in that mercy that act of love of Calvary's cross that knows your saving love shown there for us we can know it personally and we can say you are my God you are mine pray that each one might have that personal reception of that gift that we will make it personal that we will personally know your saving power and so we can truly say salvation is of the

[50:14] Lord salvation is of the Lord Amen