Sermon Central
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3. Appeasing God's Anger Series
Contributed by Grant Adams on Nov 29, 2020 (message contributor)
Summary: Even God's storms are acts of love. His fierce winds are meant to drive us to Him for shelter. We see this in the case of Jonah (the saved), and the sailors (the lost).
1. God’s righteous anger drives the saved to confession. 1:9
2. The lost to conversion. 1:16
3. Both are the fruits of God’s storms.
I. The Storm verse 11; God
1. The sea wrought and the wind was tempestuous.
2. The storm represented the anger of God at sin.
a. Jonah’s sin was the problem
b. What was his sin? Rebellion
3. Human efforts could not help in the storm. Verse 13
4. The storm was an act of chastening for Jonah. Hebrews 12
5. The storm was a means of conversion for the sailors.
a. Sympathy: they did not want to throw Jonah overboard. Verse 12-13
b. Supplication: they begged God for mercy. Verse 14
c. Submission: they obeyed God and threw Jonah overboard. Verse 15
d. Sacrifice: they feared God and offered sacrifices. Verse 16a
e. Sanctification: their vows pointed to the future. Verse 16b
II. The Swallowing verse 17; Great Fish
1. It was a miracle.
a. It is possible.
1) History; Sidlow Baxter
2) Encyclopedia Britannica
b. Theology: we believe in miracles because we believe in God. Matthew 12:39-41
2. It was a message.
a. The power of God to preserve.
3. See it as a sign.
a. Nineveh will rise to condemn that first century generation because Nineveh repented when Jonah preached
4. God’s power, verse 17, prepared or assigned.
a. God gave this fish a job to do!
b. In the midst of human despair, God intervenes. Hebrews 4: 16
1) Who fed Elijah? Ravens
2) What happened when Peter obeyed the Lord with the fishnet? He caught fish
3) Who obeyed Jesus when he told Peter he would deny him? The cock crowed
III. Jonah’s Prayer 2:1-9
1. An unusual place for a prayer meeting. But there is no wrong place to pray.
a. One reason to pray is need. Vs. 2, affliction, trouble, to bind, restrict, or cramp.
b. He was pressed down
c. Great danger
d. Psalm 120:1; 130:1-2
2. Never too late to pray.
a. Never too late to invite God into your circumstances
b. Psalm 32:3-9; 38:5-15
3. Prayer doesn’t change God’s mind
a. True prayer is not getting our will done in Heaven.
b. It is God getting His will done on earth.
4. The cause of his prayer. Verse 2-3
a. God had troubled him.
b. God can afflict
5. The character of His prayer; verse 7-10
a. Jonah thanked God for deliverance before his deliverance.
b. Conditions were bad. When I had lost all hope.
1) Absolute exhaustion
2) Things could get no worse.
3) He was totally and completely at the end of his rope
4) In this condition, he cried out to God.
5) We too must get to the end before God will help.
6. Jonah’s commitment (vow) verse 9, from defeat and failure to a voice of thanksgiving and praising God.
a. Before God will ever be real to us, we must keep, honor our vows we made to Him.
7. In closing: Lessons we need to learn.
a. #1, God does have a plan: Ephesians 2:10
1) Phillip and the Ethiopian, Acts 8:26
2) Paul and the Macedonia call, Acts 16:6
b. #2, Not to Respond (obey) is disobedience. James 4:17
1) Sin of quenching the Holy Spirit, 1 Thessalonians 5:19
c. #3, God will send a storm
1) God must punish disobedience
2) Israel, wilderness, Achan, David
