Grace Community Church, Winchester VA
www.gracecommunity.com
Watch this message at: https://youtu.be/pXQsyXd0fAw
God’s grace can come in ways we least expect and take on forms that appear imposing, like a whale swallowing you up. Grace is often comforting but bringing you to a place of comfort may first involve a depth of difficulty in order to calm your soul. Jonah sought to flee from God, but God would not let him go. God loved Jonah, and God had a purpose for Jonah. A Divine purpose.
When Jonah tried to flee, God sent a storm. Have you ever thought of storms as instruments of mercy? We see them as tempests in life that seek to unseat our security and contentment. During the storm, Jonah came to grips with his folly, but rather than returning to the Father like the prodigal who came to his senses; Jonah abdicates his hope; he squanders the mustard seed for the sea. At his own bidding, the sailors toss Jonah overboard. It is his final escape. Life without God lacks depth, and the horizon is very short. Life with God transcends our today’s and looks to the eternal. Jonah, once a man who spoke for God, cannot see life outside of the storm.
But God’s mercy will not let Jonah go, and he will not let you go. You have a purpose. Your life has meaning. God placed you here for your today and eternity. If you are in the storm, it may be hard to see God’s mercies, but they are there. Occasionally, God’s places in the belly of a whale and that’s where we find Jonah today.
I.When We Understand Why We Need a Savior We Will See the Real Savior
Jonah was indeed in certain peril and God shows up in a peculiar way. He sends a “great fish” to swallow Jonah. Just as God commissioned Jonah to go to Nineveh, commissioned the wind and the waves to pursue him, commissioned the lots to reveal his guilt to the sailors, now he commissions a fish to swallow Jonah from the depths of the sea.
The plausibility of the fish swallowing Jonah is a non-issue. Our scientific world
The most famous answer to the liberal objections is the episode of the whaling ship Star of the East, which spotted a large sperm whale in February 1891. Harpoon boats were launched, one of which capsized with two men overboard. In time the whale was killed and drawn to the ship where it was secured, and its blubber removed. The next day its stomach was hoisted onto the deck and inside the sailor James Barley, who was unconscious but alive. After being revived, he resumed his duties aboard the ship.
The depths of God’s mercy reach us in the deepest parts of our reckless hopelessness. Jonah would not see his situation as an act of God’s mercy as he remained in the fish’s belly; just addition to his misery. But mercy was there. Our own ‘out of the frying pan and into the fire’ moments may be seen, at the time, as something that just adds to our misery. We must remember that Jonah in where he is because he went in the opposite direction. Now, through God’s mercy, he will be spared from the depths of the sea.
Did you notice that it says that God appointed the fish? The sea that Jonah saw as his salvation, was actually his destruction. We often miss the point that we need saved! Not saved from being the victim of circumstances, but saved from our own rebelliousness. Saved from running away from our Heavenly Father.
Jesus did perfectly and willingly what Jonah did unwillingly. There are times when God’s grace shows up in ways, we don’t see grace
II.God's Grace Shows Up in Ways We Do Not See or Understand
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. (Matthew 12:40).
With Jonah in the belly of a great fish, the question is, “What now?” What is God’s plan, and how will Jonah respond? It is a bit short-sighted to think that this is God’s strategy to force Jonah into submission. God’s mercy in action is hard to see when you are sitting in the belly of a fish, but ultimately, mercy is at work. The same mercy God desires to show to the Assyrians in Nineveh. The same mercy that God wants the people of Winchester to see. God doesn’t need self-righteous prophets; he needs willing and submissive hearts!
For the first time in this book, Jonah speaks to God and prays a prayer of repentance. Likely, Jonah does not even know what is going on. Instead, he is in complete darkness and discomfort. He is removed from all others and is left to reflect on his situation, his future, and his relationship with God. It is here he realizes God is with him. Though he tried to flee from God, God has not abandoned him. Sometimes we here best from God when all other distractions disappear. Listen to his words:
1Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2saying, "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. 3 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. 4 Then I said, 'I am driven away from your sight,? yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.' 5 The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head.
I have this little book at home called “250 Best Cycling Tips.” In the section that deals with training for races, “The biggest problem that many cyclists face is finding enough time for training amidst life’s many responsibilities. Here are ten ways to do it
1.Train before work.
2.Ride at lunch.
3.Commute by bike
4.Train at night.
5.Schedule your ride like any other daily appointment.
6.Train intensely to maximize the limited time
7.Adjust your goals to reflect the limited time.
8.Enlist your family’s support so you can ride without guilt
9.Combine your cycling with family activities.
10.Ride indoors when bad weather or interruptions occur.”
If you want to hear from God and stop running from God, time alone with your Heavenly Father is vital. So here are the tips reworked:
1.Pray before work
2.Pray at lunch.
3.Pray on your commute.
4.Pray at night.
5.Schedule your quiet time like any other daily appointment.
6.Pray intensely to maximize the limited time
7.Adjust your goals to reflect the limited time.
8.Enlist your family’s support so you can pray without guilt.
9.Have family worship times.
10.Be flexible when interruptions occur.
This is a dramatic prayer with Jonah reflecting on his sin and aware of his separation from God. How often do we feel the need to go our own way only to find that what we needed all along was to remain close to the ways of God? The Lord appointed the fish, and the fish is the savior. God uses these fish moments to bring us back closer to him.
Sometimes we need a swift kick in the pants to come to our senses; like the prodigal who was eating with the swine. With 20/20 hindsight, we can see that the most important lessons we have learned in life are a result of God’s severest mercies. Severe mercy has a purpose. It is not to beat us up or tear us down. God is not in the business of tearing people down. He is always in the business of building people up closer to him. The word we are looking for is Repentance.
III.God Shows Us Mercy to Bring Us and Others Back to Him
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. 7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. 8 Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. 9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!"
10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. (Jonah 2:6-10)
God has a purpose in everything He does for His people. God had a purpose in sending Jonah to the heart of the sea in the belly of a whale. God’s purpose for Jonah was to bring revival Jonah’s heart and spirit. From his grave, Jonah began to see his need for God and fall in love with God again. The gates of hell were prevailing against him and a morbid sense of finality overwhelmed him in his reality.
It is here that Jonah’s heart begins to change. Verse 6 is the turning point of Jonah’s prayer as he places his life back into God’s hands. Like a prodigal son, Jonah sees his folly and realizes the blessings of being called a son of God.
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.
You may feel like you have traveled too far from God. The addiction is too strong, your heart is too hard, your mistakes are too great. There is nothing that can separate you from God's love. There is no pit too deep that God can't pull you out from. There is no prison too dark, that God will not run in and rescue you if you will only cry out to him.
It is here true revival can take place in the heart of a prophet, and even in a place like Nineveh. If you want to see Revival here at this church or in Winchester, start with your own heart.
An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart, “This gives my life significance and value. If I have this, then I’ll have fulfillment, security and purpose.”
Some years ago, a murderer was sentenced to death. The murderer’s brother, to whom the State was deeply indebted for former services, asked the governor of the State for his brother’s pardon. The pardon was granted, and the man visited his brother with the pardon in his pocket. “What would you do,” he said to him, “if you received a pardon?” “The first thing I would do,” he answered, “is to track down the judge who sentenced me, and murder him, and the next thing I would do is to track down the chief witness and murder him.” The brother rose and left the prison with the pardon in his pocket.
Because of what this man had done, the death penalty was waiting on him. The opportunity was granted to him, but it called for repentance. Since there could be no repentance, there also could be no pardon.
Jonah is imprisoned in the whale by his own doing. He is not a victim of anything than the fruit of his own sin. We sometimes forget that many of our hurts and failings in our lives are the result of our own doing. AND YET... While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. If you will call out to him and repent, the pardon is in his hand.
No one is beyond God’s severe mercy. God hears the cries for mercy and says, “I hear that prayer for mercy, and I will go down there and save you.” No one is beyond the grasp of God’s love and salvation. It is never too late to put your trust in him.
Jonah repented and God called the whale to spew him out onto the Land. The Belly of a Whale is not a happy place to be, but it is a good place to learn. Jesus did perfectly what Jonah did unwillingly. The very thing that was viewed as a curse or the result of an "angry god" was actually the deepest part of our Heavenly Father's love.
How is your heart? Does it need to be revived today? Are you in a dark place and don't know the way out. Cry out to Him today and receive his love.
Take it to the Cross
