Three pastors were having lunch together at a restaurant.
One of them said he wanted to let them know that he had found the most effective way to pray.
He said, what you do is you sit, you fold your hands together, your fingers pointing toward heaven.
That, he said, is just the best way for me to pray.
The second pastor said, well, it's not for me.
The most effective way that I have found to pray is to get on your knees.
That's what most people do in the Bible, he said.
It's just the most, best sign of humility.
Well, the third pastor said, you're both wrong.
The real way to pray for God to hear your prayer is to stretch out, lay flat on the floor with your face down.
Well, there was a telephone repairman sitting at the table next to them and he had overheard what they said.
And so he came up to them and said, excuse me, but I couldn't help but hearing your discussion.
I discovered the most effective way to pray when I was hanging upside down by my feet from a power pole 50 feet in the air.
He said, that's when I prayed desperately.
Now, the telephone repairman was right, wasn't he?
The most effective way to pray has nothing to do with your posture.
Now, I know most people don't worry about it, but there's been some people who've been hung up on that.
Should I kneel?
Should I stand?
Should I really just lie flat on my face?
Whatever works for you.
Whatever way you can be still before the Lord, you do it.
He's not really concerned about your posture.
He's concerned more about your heart.
It's all about our attitude.
It's all about what's going on in our mind, in our heart, in our conscience.
What's really important when we approach God in prayer, or what's really important when we approach God, period,
is to know that we are on a daily basis.
We're desperate for Him.
We're in desperate need of His grace.
We're in desperate need of His help every day, every day of our lives.
The most desperate prayer Jonah ever prayed was from the belly of the great fish,
as we've been looking at in Jonah chapter 2.
I want you to think with me.
Why is it that God has to put us in a difficult situation to remind us how much we need Him?
You know, when things are going well, I mean, when life's good, everybody's treating us well.
You know, there's just peace at home, work's going well, school's not stressful, or school's not in session.
When all's going well, we think we don't need God, at least in the sense of,
maybe we don't talk to Him as much.
Maybe we're not as conscious or conscious of His, you know, aware of His presence.
But when something happens,
one of the first things that we as Christians do
is to look to God.
Why is it we have to have such issues, crises, problems
to cause us to be more focused on Him
and our need for Him,
to be close to Him?
This morning,
we're going to look at good news.
We're going to focus on how God
is always ready
and able to meet our needs
when we call on Him
with sincere faith,
with a wholehearted commitment
from a realization that we desperately need Him.
We're going to look at it in the life of Jonah.
Look with me, if you would.
Jonah 2,
and I want us to look at verse 5 today.
We're going to sort of
be reminded of Jonah
sinking into the ocean,
about to drown
when the great fish
picked Him up and saved Him.
That was God's way
of rescuing Him.
Let's read in verse 5.
The waters closed in over me
to take my life.
The deep surrounded me.
That's when He's sinking into the ocean.
Weeds 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,
O Lord my God.
When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord
and 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 when Jonah
came to the Lord
like he did,
cried out to God
for help,
verse 10,
and the Lord spoke to the fish
and it vomited Jonah out
upon the dry land.
I want us to look first
at how God rescues us
from a motivation of grace.
I want us to understand
we're talking about
being desperate for God.
We're talking about looking to Him,
crying out for Him.
But I want you to understand,
when God comes to us
in our times of need,
He's coming
because within Him
there is love for us,
there is His undeserved favor,
His grace
that motivates Him
to come to us.
God answers our desperate prayers
even while we are still suffering
the consequences
of our disobedience.
Why did Jonah pray
from the belly of the fish?
Because he'd been thrown overboard
from the ship.
The ship that he was on
to deliberately try
to get away from God
and get away from doing God's will.
God sent the fish
to graciously intervene
in Jonah's life,
to swallow Jonah,
to keep him from drowning.
The way God
graciously rescued Jonah
was not something
out of the ordinary for God.
This is just how God works.
We see it over and over again
in the Bible.
If you're familiar
with the people of Israel,
they were constantly
as God's chosen people,
seeing God work in their life
in miraculous ways,
work in their country
for hundreds of years.
They were constantly, though,
rebelling against him,
ignoring him,
disobeying him,
turning to idols,
false gods.
And when they did these things,
God intervened
to convict them,
break them,
discipline them.
And sooner or later,
they got the message
and they came back to him
in confession and repentance
over and over and over again.
I want you to look at an example
of God,
just His graciousness.
It's in Psalm 106,
beginning in verse 43.
Again and again,
He rescued them,
but they chose
to rebel against Him,
and they were finally destroyed
by their sin.
Even so,
He pitied them
in their distress
and listened
to their cries.
He remembered His covenant
with them
and relented
because of His
unfailing love.
God puts up
the light,
doesn't He?
He sure is gracious.
I want you to understand,
if you're in trouble
right now
because of your disobedience,
understand that you can turn
to God
in desperate prayer
and He will hear you.
It may be
that what's going on
in your,
it may be
that your way
of disobeying God
has affected
your family life.
It may be
it's affected
what's going on
where you work.
Your sin
has gotten you
into trouble.
Your sin
has caused
a rift,
actually a severance
of a relationship.
It may be
that your sin
is,
in terms of other people,
is secret.
Nobody knows.
The trouble
you are experiencing,
maybe it's depression,
maybe it's anger.
You're doing this.
You're being disciplined
by God.
I want you
to understand
that if you'll
just wake up,
own up,
confess that sin,
God will hear.
He doesn't have to,
but God will.
Even if it's the
10th
or the 100th
time
you've come
to Him
this way,
if you are
truly
serious,
sincere,
wholehearted,
repentant,
wanting to be
forgiven
and made right
with God,
He will
graciously
receive you,
forgive you.
And what I want
you to understand
is,
you don't have
to clean up
your own act
before you do that.
Some people
have the idea,
before I can
ever come to God,
I've got to
clean up the mess
I've made
in my family.
I've got to
work on,
make myself
presentable to God.
No,
you don't.
In order for you
to clean up
the mess,
in order for you
to become
presentable,
you need God's
intervention.
You need His
spiritual,
moral
cleansing.
You do need
to admit
your sin.
You need to
turn from your sin.
You need to
repent.
But our
gracious Heavenly
Father wants you
to come back to Him
now as you are,
where you are,
just like
rebellious and
disobedient Jonah
desperately called
out to God
when he was stuck
in the belly
of the great fish.
Some of you,
and nobody's
told me anything,
but some of you
are stuck
in some kind
of morally
wrong situation.
some of you
are stuck
right now
in the consequence
of your
stubborn
rebellion
against God,
against the
teaching of His
Word.
Some of you
are stuck
and people
around you
are paying
the price,
just like people
around Jonah
suffered from
his sin.
That can end.
You don't have
to live
in frustration.
You don't have
to live
with that guilt.
You don't have
to be angry
at everyone
and everything
around you.
But you do
have to stop,
admit it,
change your mind,
look to God,
admit you are
desperate for Him.
And I want
to encourage
you,
do it now.
This moment.
Tune me out
and you just
go to the Lord
in prayer.
Do what needs
to be done.
Jonah helps
us to see
that God
rescues us
because He's
a gracious
God.
He's merciful.
He didn't
want to give
us what we
deserve.
He wants
to show us
grace.
But also,
Jonah lets
us see
that there
are no
hopeless
situations
for God's
people.
Number two,
God rescues
us from
situations
that seem
hopeless.
That's what
Jonah's
situation was.
Jonah was
sinking to
the bottom
of the ocean
and he
describes it
in this
psalm.
Look at it.
The waters
closed in
over me
to take
my life.
The deep
surrounded
me.
Weeds
were wrapped
around my
head at
the roots
of the
mountains.
I went
down to
the land
whose bars
closed upon
me forever.
Jonah was
going to
die.
There was
no way to
escape if
God had not
intervened.
Sometimes
we find
ourselves in
some situations
where we
can't really
see how
we can't
see any
light at
the end
of a
tunnel.
All of
us are
capable of
doing or
saying things
that can
cause a
lot of
pain.
The people
that we
love and
really don't
want to
hurt.
Sometimes we
can cause
problems,
pain for
people we
don't even
know.
Jonah did
that.
and we
can hurt
ourselves.
We know
that.
It may
be that in
your situation
you have
so hurt
some people,
so wounded
some people
that you
don't know
that you
can ever be
reconciled,
that they
can ever
forgive you.
I'm not
going to
promise what
someone else
is going to
do.
But we'll
tell you
this,
even though
there's times
when we
think we
have gone
too far,
sunk too
low for
God to
do anything,
we haven't.
Jonah shows
us that it's
never too
late for
us to
wake up
and call
out to
him.
Look what
he says,
yet you
brought up
my life
from the
pit,
O Lord
my God.
Whenever our
sinful actions
put us in
what appears
to be a
hopeless
situation,
we can
never give
up.
We can
never give
up.
As long
as you
have breath,
you do
have hope.
You know,
we need to
encourage people
around about
us that
same idea,
that same
thought.
You may
know some
people right
now,
they're as low
as low can
be.
they feel,
and maybe
they've expressed
to you why
they are
hopeless.
I want to
encourage you,
don't let
someone give
up on life
if you can
help it.
Don't let
anyone think
that they are
beyond the
reach of
God's grace,
of His
help,
of His
forgiveness,
of what He
can do in
their life.
Reach out to
that person,
encourage that
person,
listen to
that person,
and let
that person
know that
it may be
that their
only hope
is to be
found in
God,
and His
grace,
His mercy,
His
involvement in
their life,
in the people's
life they've
affected,
in the whole
situation.
we need to
learn from
Jonah,
we saw
last time in
verse 2,
to never
hesitate to
call out to
God in our
desperate
situations.
Look at what
He did.
He says,
I called out
to the Lord
out of my
distress,
and He
answered me.
Out of the
belly of Sheol,
I cried,
the place of
death,
and you
heard my
voice.
I want to
be clear.
If there are
situations that
seem hopeless
because of what
someone else
is or is not
doing or
saying,
you have no
control over
that.
And I don't
want for any
moment to
promise you
what God's
going to do
in somebody
else's life.
But God
will work in
your life
if you come
to Him as
Jonah did.
He may not
make everything
the way you
want it,
but if you're
His child,
He will be
with you.
And let's
look on
next at how
God does
intervene in
our lives,
but not always
the way that
we might
choose.
Number three,
God rescues
us in less
than desirable
ways at
times.
John Piper
makes a
helpful point
about the
way God
sometimes
rescues us.
Look at
what He
says.
God answers
our cries
of distress
in stages,
not all
of which
are comfortable.
We can be
fairly sure
that when
Jonah cried
out to
God,
he did
not say,
O God,
put me in
the belly
of a fish
for three
days.
I want you
to think
about it.
God
graciously
saved
Jonah
by having
a fish
to swallow
him.
That's not
what he
prayed for.
When he
cried out
to God
to save
him,
that's not
what he
had in
mind.
He probably
said,
God save
me,
have mercy,
or something
like that.
Piper goes
on,
God's
answer
came in
stages.
The belly
of a fish
hardly
seems like
salvation,
but it
was.
Jonah
is granted
enough
consciousness
to realize
he's been
spared from
drowning
and that
there is
hope.
He does
not complain
about his
surroundings.
He accepts
God's first
stage of
salvation
as a guarantee
of dry
land and
concludes
his prayer
in the
fish's belly
with the
great
affirmation
deliverance
belongs to
the Lord.
I want us
to understand
and see in
this.
God
graciously
invites us
to call
out to him
in prayer
during our
times of
need.
And when
he answers
our prayer,
however he
answers our
prayer,
we need to
be thankful
and we need
to accept
that answer
that partial
answer,
even that
no answer
and not
complain.
I'm sure
some of you
read this
past week
the story
about the
young man
in India
who received
a new
BMW from
his parents
for his
22nd birthday.
You know
what he did?
He pushed
it into a
river because
it wasn't
the Jaguar
he wanted.
You talk
about a
moron
to be
given
a BMW
brand new.
And you can
look it up
when you go
home, look
it up online.
There's a
YouTube video
of the
moron
who puts
his BMW
in the
water
because he's
mad that
didn't get
a Jaguar.
Can you
imagine someone
being so
arrogant,
so ungrateful,
so spoiled?
Now think,
how do you
respond to
the gracious
gifts that
God's given
you?
How have
you responded,
how do you
respond to
the gift
of your
spouse?
Now there's
some smart
aleck women
in here.
You're saying
he's God's
gag gift
to me.
I read
that
somewhere.
Men are
God's
gag gifts
to women.
And some
of you guys
may be,
I don't
know,
but all
of us
are not,
are we?
Lisa's in the
other service,
thankfully.
I didn't do
this in the
first service.
I don't want
to know the
answer to
that.
But I want
you to think,
how do you
respond to
God when he
doesn't answer
your prayers
the way that
you wanted
him to?
Do you
thank him?
Do you
accept that
he's God,
he knows
best,
and to
make the
best of
it with
the right
attitude?
You know,
Jonah is
not a good
example in
most of
this book.
In chapter
one, he's a
terrible example.
In chapter
four, he's an
even worse
example.
We'll see
that later.
But here in
chapter two,
Jonah is a
great example,
a model of
gratitude to
God as he
thanked God
for rescuing
him by having
a fish swallow
him.
Jonah had a
good perspective.
love.
So he
understood that
being alive in
a fish's belly
was far better
than being dead
on the bottom
of the ocean.
We need to
learn to
never be
ungrateful for
what God gives
us, for what
God does in
our lives, for
the way he
answers our
prayers.
Like Piper
said,
sometimes God
answers us in
stages.
And sometimes
those stages are
uncomfortable.
Sometimes they're
God's discipline
still, but
remember, when
God disciplines
us, it's
because he's
our father and
he loves us.
And he always
has a redemptive
purpose.
Let's look at one
more thing.
Number four,
God rescues us
for the purpose of
renewing us and
using us.
verses eight and
nine, some
people refer to
that as sort of
like a post
script to
Jonah's prayer.
It's a
concluding expression
of thanks, of
praise, and
commitment.
I want you to
look at verse
eight again.
Those who pay
regard to vain
idols forsake
their hope of
steadfast love.
We don't know
why Jonah brings
up idols here.
Maybe he has
the sailors in
mind because they
worshiped false
gods back in
chapter one, back
when he was on
the ship.
Maybe he brings
it up because he
knows many
people are going
to hear this being
read in written
form or they're
going to read it.
And Israel always
had a problem with
idolatry.
So, maybe Jonah
writes this because
he knows that even
God's people back
then and today have
problems with
idols.
Peter Williams
explains this.
I want you to look
at what he says.
He says, the
essence of
idolatry is
anything that
commands the
central place in
our lives and
to which we
give the loyalty
and devotion which
rightly belongs to
God alone.
That's what
idolatry is.
Given to anyone
or anything that
which should
belong to God.
He goes on to
say, for some
people money is
their God and the
pursuit of
materialistic goals
dominates their
lives.
But we can make
an idol of
anything, sports,
sex, drugs,
politics, career,
even home and
family.
Now just think,
anything that is
at the center of
your life,
except God,
that is your
idol.
God should be the
center, the focus,
the hub of our
lives.
And if he's not,
whatever else is
there, that is our
idol.
Williams goes on to
conclude, to warn
us that idols will
always let us down.
They will always fail
to deliver in the
long run on what
they promise.
Whatever you put
your real emphasis
on and make your
idol, sooner or
later, it's going to
disappoint you.
It's not going to
meet the need that
you want it to meet.
You know, many of the
things that we make
idols are actually
gifts of God's
grace.
God gives us things
like a family, a
home, a career,
sports, music,
sex, money, and
material things.
God gives us all
these things to meet
legitimate God-given
needs.
God wants us to use
these things, to enjoy
these things.
But he wants us to
never lose sight of the
fact that these are
gifts that come from
him, the giver.
And our ultimate source
of joy is the giver
who's given us
these things.
Jonah ends his
prayer with an
expression of
thanksgiving and
commitment in verse
9.
He promises to offer
sacrifices to God.
We don't do that kind
of thing today.
We don't offer animal
sacrifices for an
example.
Because Jesus was the
ultimate and the
final sacrifice for
our sins.
And God has accepted
his sacrifice.
So we don't do
that.
We shouldn't do
that.
It would be wrong
to do that.
But Paul says in
Romans chapter 12 that
we are to be living
sacrifices.
We're supposed to
produce good works, he
tells us in other
places, out of
gratitude for God's
gift of salvation.
Our sacrifices, our
good works may take
the form of giving
our time in serving
the Lord.
As we give our time,
we give our talents.
We give our money.
We give what God has
given us.
We give it back to
him.
To serve him, to serve
his people, to serve
his purposes.
How do you express your
gratitude and love to
God for the way that he
has rescued you from sin
and death?
How do you show your
gratitude to God for the
way that he has blessed
you with the good gifts?
What kind of sacrifices
or efforts do you offer
back to him motivated by
love, motivated by
gratitude?
How do you show him?
You know, Jonah's vow,
he talks about next, is
most likely his promise to
obey God's call to go back
to Nineveh, which we're
going to start looking at
next week in chapter 3.
The final word of this
prayer may be the most
important one.
Salvation belongs to the
Lord.
And we're going to look at
a lot of implications of
that in chapter 3 and 4 as
we move on through Jonah.
But Jonah now realizes that
God put him in the ocean and
the fish not to destroy him,
but to save him, to rescue
him, not just physically but
spiritually, to rescue him in
order to use him again.
If you are away from the Lord
due to your disobedience, due to
your sinful actions, I want you
to know that you can come back
to him right now.
And I want to encourage you to
come back now because you want
to, you're ready to, and don't
wait for God to discipline you
like he did Jonah.
I've tried to emphasize
throughout this.
I emphasize it in a big way in
another message.
If you are God's person, if God
has chosen you, saved you, and
is working in you for a specific
purpose, sometimes he is so
determined that you will do it
that he'll do whatever it takes
to put you in a position where
you'll say, I'm ready to do it.
And that's what he did for
Jonah.
Sometimes God lets us miss out on
blessings, but sometimes he is so
determined that he's going to use
us that he'll put us flat on our
back.
He put Jonah in the belly of a
whale, but he will use us.
Wouldn't it be so much easier, so
much easier for us to do it at
God's call?
Think about how you get
disciplined.
Some of you in this room maybe.
There probably have been times in
this room where you sitting with
your parents or grandparents, you've
cut up some.
Maybe your parent or
grandparent, at first they put
their hand on your leg.
But you don't get it.
And so they pinch you on the
flabby part of your arm.
But you're hard-headed.
So they get this place in your
neck where you just go to your
knees.
And then you get it.
Or they just wait till you get
home and just wear your rear end
out.
In some ways, God's discipline is
like that.
I think a lot of times God starts
out just putting his hand on our
leg just to let us know,
straighten up.
Obey me.
Do what's right.
Sometimes he has to pinch us.
Sometimes he has to grab us and put
us on our knees.
But sometimes we can be very, very
bull-headed and hard-headed.
And sometimes God will just whip us.
And that's what he did to Jonah.
It's taken me most of my life.
I still don't always.
But it's better to do things the easy
way.
And I want you,
if there's something going on,
you're just not close to God the way
you know you should be.
You have been maybe.
And God's trying to call you back.
Do it the easy way.
Call out to him right now and let him
know that you are confessing your sin.
You're turning from that disobedient
attitude.
And you're going to do things his way.
Because you love him.
You trust him.
And you know his way is the best way.
Let's pray together.
Father, show us now how we should
respond to you.
To your pursuit.
To your conviction.
To your encouragement maybe.
And help us to do it.
Help us to respond to you,
our gracious Father.
And Lord, if there are people in this room
who are not Christians,
help them to see that
right now they need
to understand
they are far from you,
separated from you by their sin.
And their only hope
is to admit it.
Turn from that
way of life,
that attitude.
Trust Jesus as their Savior.
Help them to call upon him
right now.
Let's just all listen to the Lord
and obey him during this time.
And if I could pray with you,
I'd be honored
to do that right here at the front
in these next few minutes.
knowledge of the someday.
My family of mine is
a POWER
and a EVER
master.
вер
A
He
начинает be