I want you to look on the screen with me at three events that the Bible records and think
about what they have in common.
God parted the waters of the Red Sea so the children of Israel, His people, could walk
through on dry land.
After they were across, He closed the waters on the pursuing Egyptians and they drowned.
Daniel was unjustly sentenced to death by being thrown into a den of lions.
But God sent an angel to close the mouths of the lions and they didn't touch Daniel.
They didn't harm him at all.
Jesus fed over 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish.
They all ate until they were full.
And there were 12 basketfuls of pieces left over.
All four Gospels record that.
I'm sure everyone has figured out that all of those incidents are miracles that are described
as miracles in the Bible.
The Bible records hundreds of miracles.
The most important event in the Bible is the resurrection of Jesus and it is a miracle.
The person who refuses to believe that God can intervene in this world that He created, suspend the laws of nature that He put into place,
and do supernatural things that we call miracles, that person cannot have a relationship with God.
The fact is that anyone who denies the reality of miracles must also deny the reality of the God who has revealed Himself in Scripture and in the person of Jesus Christ.
Now I am stressing the importance, the necessity of believing in miracles to prepare us for what we're going to look at this morning in the book of Jonah.
Turn with me if you would to Jonah chapter 1 verse 17 and we're going to read through the end of chapter 2.
In the Hebrew Bible chapter 2 begins with the English Bibles verse 17 of chapter 1.
It's all one story.
The story of the great fish swallowing Jonah and Jonah living to tell about it is one of the most well-known stories in the Bible.
However, it is also one of the most unbelievable things you'll ever read and it is unbelieved by many people.
I'm going to guess that 98% of people in this room are familiar with the story.
But there's some you've never read it.
Some you haven't read it in a long time.
So before we go any further, let's read the story.
A lot of times we refer to it as a children's Bible story of Jonah and the big fish.
Or as some people call it, Jonah and the big whale.
1.17
And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah.
And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish saying,
I called out to the Lord out of my distress and he answered me.
Out of the belly of Sheol I cried and you heard my voice.
For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas and the flood surrounded me.
All your waves and your billows passed over me.
Then I said, I am driven away from your sight.
Yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.
The waters closed in over me to take my life.
The deep surrounded me.
Weeds were trapped or were wrapped around my head at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever.
Yet you brought up my life from the pit.
Oh Lord, my God.
When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord.
My prayer came to you and to your holy temple.
Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.
But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the Lord.
And the Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.
Now, did you notice that this story is not really a story about a great fish?
The fish is an important part of the story because God used it to rescue Jonah.
God used the fish as an instrument of His grace to save Jonah.
But the fish is really a minor character in this chapter and in this book.
Now, there are some commentators, if you do a study of this,
there are some commentators who will go to the trouble of describing
why we should take this as a factual story.
For example, they describe the kind of fish or the kind of a whale
that is big enough to have swallowed Jonah
and would have had enough air inside to sustain his life.
You can read about that.
There are some who will write about a few recorded stories
of someone surviving inside a large fish for several days.
And when the fish was caught and cut open, they were alive.
But I agree with what most commentators say about this.
We don't need to prove this story really happened.
It is presented in the Word of God as a miraculous work of God
that happened at some point in time in the life of this man named Jonah.
That's how it reads.
Look again, verse 117.
The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah.
Chapter 2, verse 10.
The Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.
Our God is a miracle-working God.
And because He is God, He doesn't explain how His miracles could have really happened.
He is not concerned to try to make us skeptics in the 21st century
believe that He did what He did, that He still does what He does.
This passage, this story of Jonah and the big fish,
it is presented in the Bible as something that God did.
It happened.
And if we understand the Bible to be God's Word,
we need to understand whether we can explain it or not
and accept this is a miracle of God.
But there's an even better reason, more powerful reason
for us to believe what happened to Jonah really happened.
Jesus believed it.
And Jesus even used this story to teach about His own death and resurrection.
It's recorded in Matthew 12 and other Gospels.
But look at this one.
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered Him saying,
Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.
But He answered them,
An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign.
But no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish,
so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
You see, Jesus understood this to be a real story.
And He used it to teach the reality that He was going to die, be buried,
be buried, and then rise again three days later.
The focal point of chapter 2 of Jonah is not a great fish who swallowed Jonah,
but the gracious God who rescued Jonah.
And He just chose to use a fish to do it.
There's something else about chapter 2 that we need to observe, take note of.
And I hope if you're a regular reader of the Bible, you've already figured it out.
Beginning in verse 2, chapter 2, verse 2 through verse 9,
this reads like a psalm.
If you're familiar with the psalms and you read this,
in fact, if you just took out verse 2 through 9 of this chapter
and just gave it to the average Bible reader,
they'd think, well, this is one of the psalms.
Well, it is a psalm.
It's a psalm of Jonah.
Now, I want you to look at the big picture of this passage.
It is a prayer.
The prayer of Jonah written in the form of a psalm.
Jonah is actually, or it appears he's quoting from the psalms
seven or eight times.
If you've got a Bible that has cross-references,
you will see that in the text, verses 2 through 9.
Jonah wrote this sometime after it happened,
and he's looking back describing his experience in the ocean
when he thought he was going to drown
and inside this fish when he prayed to God.
This is a long introduction, I know.
And so what we're going to look at next
is just the first point of chapter 2's study,
and we'll come back next week and finish it up.
Let's look now at what we can learn
from Jonah's experience of running to God in prayer.
Point number one, God can put us in a position
where all we can do is pray.
We need to understand this.
God can, and sometimes does,
put us, his people we're talking about,
in a position where all we can do is pray.
From the beginning of chapter 1,
Jonah has been running from God.
That's what the whole story has been up to this point.
He is a prophet of God.
He's a believer.
He is one who knows God,
has a relationship with God,
but he's rebelling at this point in time,
chapter 1.
He's rebelling and running from
what he knows God wants him to do.
He does his best to ignore God
while he's on board this ship,
even during a life-threatening storm.
No one else on this ship
believed in the one true God.
Everyone else on that ship,
they were pagans
who worshipped all kinds of false gods.
But here's what we read in chapter 1.
Everyone prayed except Jonah.
It appears that Jonah was so determined
to not do God's will
that he was willing to die
rather than repent and do it.
That's the impression that he gives
when he tells those sailors,
if you want this storm to stop,
throw me overboard.
Knowing full well,
you get thrown overboard
in the Mediterranean Sea
in the midst of the storm,
you're going to die.
You're going to drown.
But God was determined
to change Jonah's mind
by putting him in a position
where he would stop running from God
and start running to God
in prayer.
God did two things
to bring this about.
God used the sailors
to throw Jonah overboard,
sink to the bottom
of the Mediterranean Sea,
and come close to drowning.
But Jonah, I want you to look,
he described all this
as God's work.
Verse 3,
For you cast me into the deep.
God just used the sailors.
But Jonah understood.
He had been running from God
and God was tired of it.
And God stopped his running
by throwing him into the sea
using the hands of those sailors.
God sent a great fish
to rescue Jonah,
save his life,
by swallowing him
and keeping him alive,
trapped inside its body
for three days and nights.
Jonah didn't say
this just happened.
He attributed it
to the work of God.
Look again at verse 17.
And the Lord
appointed a great fish
to swallow Jonah.
And Jonah was in the belly
of the fish
three days and three nights.
I want you to imagine
what it would have been like
for Jonah
to go through all this.
Anytime we read the Bible,
we need to understand
this is describing
real events
that happened
in history,
in time
to people just like us.
Whenever you read
something in the Bible,
think,
this really happened.
If I had been there,
I could have seen it.
Think about those people.
They're just human beings
like us.
And so we can get more
out of some studies
by just putting ourselves
in situations
and thinking about
what it would have been like.
Jonah was probably
wedged inside the fish
and unable to move
during this time.
You've probably seen cartoons
where Jonah is swallowed
by a whale
and he wakes up
in the belly of the whale
and it's just a large area
like this
or a cave
or something.
And he just sits around,
you know,
taking it easy,
talking to God,
whatever.
Jonah was swallowed
by a fish
and most likely
whatever position
he was in,
when he got in there,
that's how he...
He was stuck.
He was wedged.
At best,
he would have had
just a little room
to wiggle around.
Inside that fish,
he was in total darkness.
The air was thin.
There was a constant,
sickening stink
and almost unbearable heat
inside this big fish.
Now think about it.
He would be in shock
at first.
Then he would have had
a full-blown
panic attack.
He'd have taken
a whole bottle
of lorazepam
if he'd have had it
or something like that.
He would have drifted
in and out
of consciousness.
But at some point,
over the course
of those three days,
he came to himself.
He realized
where he was
and what his condition was.
He didn't know
if he'd live and die
to start with,
live or die
to start with.
At some point,
he spiritually
and emotionally
ran to God
in prayer.
and looking back,
he describes it
in the form of a psalm.
R.T. Kendall
describes Jonah's
situation like this.
The belly of the fish
is not a happy place
to live,
but it is a good place
to learn
and Jonah
had a lot to learn.
Now I want you
to understand.
I am not implying
in this message
that God's going
to do something
like this to you.
God rarely
ever
goes to such
extreme measures
to turn around
his wayward people.
But God has
many ways
of putting us
in positions
where we are
willing to stop
running
and start running
to him
in prayer.
If we could just
go around this room
this morning
and everybody
explain a time
when God
got your
attention,
we would find
a lot of
common ways
that God works
in our life
to get our
attention.
Some of us
in here,
we've been
maybe spiritually
asleep
or indifferent
or even rebellious,
but a family
crisis
got our
attention,
woke us up,
caused us
to turn to God
in prayer.
Some people,
a health
scare
is what it
took to
bring you
back to where
you would
talk to God.
Some people,
it's a financial
problem.
You're going to
lose something.
Some people,
it's something
that goes on
with your job,
your school.
For some people,
it's relational
outside of family.
God just has
his ways.
knowing us,
knowing what
will get our
attention
in the situations
of life
that we have,
God has ways
when he's ready
to cause us
to pay attention
to him,
listen to him,
talk to him
in prayer.
I think Abraham
Lincoln describes
the way all of us
have felt at times.
He said,
I have been
driven many
times to my
knees by the
overwhelming
conviction that
I have nowhere
else to turn.
If you're in a
situation like
that now,
or you know
someone close
to you who
is,
I want you to
understand that
God takes no
pleasure in
putting such
pressure on
his children.
You may need
to assure
somebody of
that.
But at the
same time,
God loves us
enough to
discipline us
severely if
necessary to
put us in a
position where
we can and
want to come
back to him in
confession, in
repentance, and
renewed
commitment.
He is a
great father.
father.
As we
studied a few
weeks ago,
great parents
discipline their
children.
You don't just
let anything go.
And a loving,
gracious parent
will sometimes
go to
tremendous lengths
to inflict
pain for the
ultimate outcome
of turning a
child's life
around if
possible.
Well, God
can and does
that when
necessary.
But we learn
from Jonah that
we can never run
too far for God
to hear our
prayer of
desperation.
Look at verse
two.
I called out
to the Lord
out of my
distress.
He answered
me.
Out of the
belly of Sheol
I cried,
and you heard
my voice.
God, or
Jonah called
out to God
from what he
considered to be
the place of
death, Sheol.
You see it
several times in
the book of
Psalms.
The place of
death.
A place of
no return.
That's what
Jonah felt
like at first
when he cried
out to God.
But God
heard his
prayer.
And God
graciously
answered it.
If you are
away from God
right now,
I want to
encourage you
as strongly
as I can.
Call out
to God
right now
where you
are just
as you
are.
God
you may
have drifted
from God
years ago.
You may
think to
yourself, if
you'll stop
and think,
I've been
sort of
spiritually
indifferent
for quite some
time.
You may be
here right now
in body,
but this
entire service,
your mind and
your heart,
it's not been
here.
If that's
true, you
know it.
Because you
haven't
worshipped God
and hadn't
really wanted
to.
You haven't
been listening
to Him.
Because truth
be known,
you're not
interested in
Him.
You come to
church for
various reasons,
out of habit,
out of to
please someone,
or maybe
with a
thought,
God will
love me
more,
He won't
do something
to me if
I put in
the time
on Sundays.
Crazy thought,
heretical
thought,
but a lot of
people have
those kinds
of thoughts.
It could be
that you've
rebelled against
God,
and you're
living in
willful sin
right now.
You've
turned away
from Him,
but you've
not been able
to escape
Him,
His conviction,
or the guilt
that goes along
with your sin,
because as a
child of God,
you just know
it's wrong,
and you can't
get that out
of your mind.
It may be
that what's
going on in
your life right
now,
somebody sitting
next to you
could elbow
you because
they know it.
They know
that you're
living in
rebellion right
now.
But it could
be the people
you're sitting
with,
that you live
with,
it could be
they don't
know,
because what's
going on in
your life is
mainly in your
mind,
in your heart,
it's in your
thoughts,
it's in your
desires,
it's things
you do in
secret.
But nonetheless,
you know it,
and God knows
it.
And so the
conviction is
there,
the guilt is
there,
but no one
else in the
world may know
what you're
going through.
If you're
away from
God for
any reason,
learn from
Jonah's
painful
experience.
Don't put
God in
position to
so work in
your life
that he has
to get you
like Jonah
where all
you can do
is pray.
God's
God.
This is the
whole point of
today's message
because we as
Christians,
we disappoint
God.
We ignore
God.
We run
from God.
We rebel
against God.
We do.
If you think
and say,
if I don't,
you've got some
deep problems.
You don't
understand yourself
or you don't
understand sin
or you don't
understand God.
if you don't
think of
yourself as
having a sin
problem,
an obedience
problem,
a holiness
problem,
a love
problem,
talk to
your spouse.
They can
help you.
Talk to
your children.
Talk to
your parents.
Talk to
anyone who
knows you
well and
will tell
you the
truth.
We,
you and
me,
we can be
just like
Jonah or
worse as
God's
children at
times.
Here's how I
want us to
end this with
a thought today.
Are you
closer to God
right now than
you have ever
been in your
life?
If you are,
that's
something to
just be
thankful for,
to praise
God for,
that's a
sign that
God's working
in your
life and
you need
to just
be thankful
and ask
God to
help you
just to
stay close
to Him.
If you
are not
close to
God right
now,
closer than
you've ever
been,
why is
that?
I want
you to
try to
identify
why.
We as
God's
children
shouldn't
be content
to not
be as
close as
possible to
Him.
Is there
something you
have done
or refused
to do
that is
the source
of your
separation?
Is there
something that
the Bible
clearly teaches
but you're
just not
willing to
obey it?
and it
may be
something
related to
who you
are as
a member
of a
family.
It may
be about
attitudes.
It may
be the way
you treat
certain people
or certain
kinds of
people.
It may be
your mouth,
your tongue.
There's
something about
something that the
Bible clearly
teaches but you
just won't
obey it.
Or is
there an
internal voice
of the
Holy Spirit
that is
leading you
to do
something but
you're trying
to ignore
that?
You're not
obeying
that.
It could be
something along
the line of
the Lord's
prompting you
to serve
Him a
certain way
or He's
prompting you
to get
involved in
a certain
person's life
as a
Christian witness
or influence
to meet
a need.
Either way,
if we're not
being faithful
to what we
know the
Bible says
about something
or we're
not acting
on what the
Lord is
leading us
to do from
His Spirit
within us,
our refusal
is sinful
disobedience.
And if that
describes why
you are
separated from
God right now,
there's only
one solution,
that is you've
got to confess
it to Him
and turn from
it.
Here's what I
want you to
understand.
It may be
something that's
going on for
a long time,
but God is
never so far
away that He
can't hear our
prayer of sincere
confession and
repentance.
There are no
exceptions to
God's promise in
1 John 1, 9.
If we confess
our sins, He is
faithful and just
to forgive us
our sins and to
cleanse us from
all unrighteousness.
Here's what I
want you to hear.
God will forgive
you and restore
you to fellowship
with Him no
matter what
you've done,
no matter how
many times you've
done it,
no matter how
long ago,
if you will come
to Him,
the way the
Scripture says.
But it could be
this morning that
you would say,
I'm not as close
to God as I once
was,
and I don't know
why.
You're just sort
depressed,
discouraged.
It's just sort
of maybe empty.
You're not
conscious of any
real willful
sin.
It's not that
you're not willing
to confess
something.
It's not that you
hate God or even
are indifferent to
Him.
You just,
there's just
something wrong.
Could it be
that you're not
spending any
meaningful time
with Him
in His Word,
in prayer?
I'm talking about
just being still
and quiet before
the Lord,
spending time with
Him on a regular
basis,
talking to Him
about what's
going on in your
life,
listening to Him
as He speaks
from His Word,
helping you to
understand Him
better,
how to relate to
Him better,
helping you understand
yourself better,
you know,
prayer and Bible
reading or Bible
study are the
two most important
means of grace
that God has
given us to
cultivate a
relationship with
Him.
We cannot,
you can't,
I can't,
no one can
spend,
no one can
develop a
relationship with
Jesus,
with the Lord,
apart from
spending time
with Him
in real,
honest prayer
and open,
receptive,
Bible reading.
Spending time
with the Lord
is the best
way to draw
close to Him
as James
encourages us
to do in his
letter.
Look at it.
He says,
draw near to
God and He
will draw near
to you.
Are you not
as close to
God as you
used to be,
as you want
to be?
You don't know
why?
Well, here's a
step.
Draw close to
God.
Even if you
don't feel like
it, talk to
Him.
Talk to Him
about why you
don't feel like
it.
Talk to Him
and say, I
don't know
what's wrong.
Help me to
see.
Help me to
understand.
Read His
Word.
Read the
Psalms.
The
Psalmist,
the Psalmist
has all kinds
of problems,
just like Jonah.
The Psalmist
has problems
with people
sometimes.
Sometimes he
just hates
people.
Sometimes he
feels like
God's far
away.
He's honest
about this.
God knows
if you hate
someone or
can't stand
someone.
God knows
if you feel
like you are
a million miles
from Him.
It's no
surprise.
So just talk
to Him about
it.
Be honest
with Him
about it.
Ask Him
to help
you.
Ask Him
to help
you to
change.
Ask Him
to help
you have a
better attitude.
Ask Him
to draw
close to
you as
you are
seeking to
draw close
to Him.
God
graciously
pursues His
rebellious,
disobedient
children.
As our
loving Heavenly
Father,
He wants
to forgive
us.
He wants
to restore
us to
fellowship
with Him
if we're
away.
And God
really wants
to do it
the easy
way.
Through our
willing,
sincere,
wholehearted
repentance
and commitment
to Him.
God doesn't
want to
wear us
out.
But He
will if He
has to.
God would
much rather
us come
to Him
the easy
way.
But like
we see in
Jonah,
God loves
us so much
He'll do
whatever it
takes,
no matter how
painful it
is to
cause us
to stop
running from
Him and
start running
to Him in
desperate
prayer.
Let's pray
together.
Dear God,
help us to
see ourselves
in this
story
where
applicable.
God
help us
all.
But Father,
help us
all,
whether it
be for
now or
for some
point in
the future,
help us
all to
see that
You are
able and
You are
willing to
so work in
our lives,
if we're
Your children,
to stop our
running and
disobedience
and put us
in a position
where all
we can do
and want to
do is seek
You in
prayer.
Lord,
show us how
we should
respond so
that we
might leave
here today
walking with
You in
real,
loving
fellowship
and
obedience.
And Father,
if there's
anyone in
this room
who is not
a Christian,
help them
to understand
that the only
way they can
begin a
relationship
with You
is to
confess their
sin,
truly turn
from it,
and trust
Jesus as
their personal
Savior and
Lord.
Help that
person to do
it now.
Let's just
all stay
in an
attitude of
prayer and
listen to the
Lord and
respond to
Him.
That's what
this time
is for
us to
listen to
and obey
our Lord.
And if you
would like me
to pray for
you during
this time,
I'd be
happy to
do that.
Let's just
listen to the
Lord and
obey Him.