God Restores the Rebels
Jonah 1:17-2:1 ·September 10, 2023· Joel Passmore
Part of: Jonah
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Good morning again. If I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Joel, and I serve here as pastor. Whenever I visit somebody in the hospital, a thought usually crosses my mind. I think to myself, I'm really grieved that they're here, but I'm glad that they're getting the help that they need.
Nobody goes to a hospital unless they need to go to the hospital. Nobody goes to the hospital and checks in for the food. Nobody checks into the hospital for the room service, the fact that you can push a button and somebody comes and helps you. Nobody checks into a hospital for the view outside the window. They don't go because of the fancy beds that shift 20 different directions. They don't go because there's 89 channels of satellite TV. People are in hospitals because they have to be, because they need to be, because they need immediate help.
And either they've realized it or someone else has realized it and they have taken them there. And they're getting the help that they need. Last week we saw Jonah's clear, emphatic rejection of God's call on his life. God said, go here, and he said, no. What followed was Jonah's clear and emphatic movement away from the presence of God. He was on a ship sailing the opposite direction of where he was called to go. God pursued him, and Jonah ended up in the last chapter, the last sermon that I preached last week.
He ended up thrown overboard, sinking down into the Mediterranean. This week Jonah is inside the belly of the great fish. It's his hospital. God checks him in to give him the help that he needs. In this passage, we're going to see, we're going to read about and witness God's restorative work in Jonah. Changing his heart and bringing him to his senses.
That's what's happening today. It's instructive for us. It's been instructive for me as I've been reading it over and over this week. So let's together as a church give our attention now to God's holy and reliable word. Let's see what God has for us in today's passage. Turn with me to Jonah, starting at chapter 1, verse 17. It's in your bulletin, and it's also up on the screen behind me. This is God's word. Let's receive it for what it is.
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 floods surrounded me. All your waves and your billows passed over me.
Then I said, I am driven away from your sight. Yet I shall look again upon your holy temple. The waters closed in over me to take my life. The deep surrounded me. Weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever. Yet you brought my life up from the pit. Oh, Lord, my God. When I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord. And my prayer came to you into 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. Today, salvation belongs to the Lord. And the Lord spoke to the fish. And it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. Pray with me.
Lord, help us learn today from Jonah's prayer. From his testimony of his encounter with you and how you changed him. And Lord, help us not just to learn with our minds, but to learn with our hearts. Jesus, be at work in us so that this word sinks down in us. And that we apply the same things that Jonah learned to our own lives. As we follow you, no matter what situation we're in. And Jesus, we pray this in your name.
Okay. God restores the rebels. A changed heart is a gracious work of God that only he can do. That's what we're talking about today. A changed heart is a gracious work of God that only he can do. I got to tell you, today's sermon, it might be one of the most practical sermons, practical passages in all of Jonah. It's incredibly practical. Let's start with this. Let's start with the treatment center, which is where Jonah is. I know you want to, so let's talk about the beginning of this passage.
The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Okay, now naturally everyone is curious about this. We've got to talk about this. What kind of fish was it? We wonder. How is it possible for a man to live inside a fish for three days and three nights? Could this actually have happened? Or is it just a parable? A story?
Now, I'm a math science guy. Those were my favorite subjects in high school, and that's what I studied in college. I kept lab notebooks and took measurements and plotted graphs, all on the presumption that nature is repeatable and explainable. So there's a big part of me that wants to find accounts of people going through a similar ordeal. Right? To research aquatic life forms, anything that could swallow an adult. To look into their digestive systems and the biology of that and figure out, was there some kind of protective slime that, like, put them in suspended animation?
In short, I want to offer you some type of scientific explanation of what happened here. I want kids to particularly listen to me. High school all the way down to the explorer's age that are in here today. I really want to offer you some type of scientific explanation of what happened here, but it is far more important to state this fact. Nothing is impossible for God.
Nothing is impossible for God. He designed this world with order, with precision, with consistency. The quote-unquote laws of nature, those came from Him. It was His idea. The speed of light, the chemical properties of water, the process of DNA replication. We can study these things because they're repeatable, because He made them so. He made them that way. And if God is powerful enough to make a world this way, He's powerful enough to work around it.
Whenever He wants to. That's exactly what a miracle is. God doing something that the order of nature on its own will not do. Listen, the Bible is full of miracles. The earth rotating backwards. A donkey talking. And maybe you've heard of this one. Somebody named Jesus walking out of a grave with a new body that will never perish.
Those are all events that science cannot explain. But God's power can explain. I don't know about you, but I worship the Almighty God. And so I am not ashamed to stand on this. Jonah's survival in the fish was a miracle.
Kids, I would encourage you to make your stand for your whole life on that same principle, that same truth. God can do it. He can do the impossible. He can work miracles. If God wants 500 people to survive inside something even worse than a fish, He can do it. But we're going to keep moving ahead in this text because here's the thing. Not only is this not the biggest miracle in the Bible, this isn't even the biggest miracle in this passage.
Don't get stuck on the fish. It's not the biggest miracle in this passage. The greatest supernatural work that God does here is not keeping Jonah alive. It's changing his heart.
That's why God has him here. This fish is his treatment center. It's his hospital. One biblical commentator says this, The belly of a fish is not a happy place to live, but it is a good place to learn.
He was in an environment that anyone would dread. It's cold. It's dark. It's damp. But that's where he met the Lord. The grace of God was close and he could feel it inside of him. And so, look at verse 1 of chapter 2. 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. This beautiful Hebrew poem of Jonah 2 summarizes his experience of meeting God and being changed.
He prayed it from inside the fish. While he was still there. Even if you're not going through something as extreme as Jonah in this fish, you can learn something from this passage. You can look at how God changes his heart. And you can see, this is what I need to be aiming for in my life. This is what I want God to do in me. To make me soft, moldable clay in his hands.
And what we see, as I said earlier, it's very, very practical for us. So let's look at that. The changed heart. There's two big ways. I'm going to summarize it into two ways that God changes Jonah here. The first is this. Acceptance of God's control.
Acceptance of God's control. Remember, in chapter 1, Jonah believed that he was his own master and he acted like it. God said, arise and go here. And he got up and went the other way. He found a ship going where he wanted to go. He paid the fare. He bought his way onto that ship. He called the shots. It was even him, remember, who told the sailors to throw him overboard.
Or so he thought. Now he sees things differently. Look at verse 3. You cast me into the deep. Into the heart of the seas. Not the sailors. Not him. You, God. You cast me into the deep. And where does he find himself? What does he find all around him? Not just waves. Not just billows. He sees now. No, no. Your waves. Your billows.
Even his goal. His whole goal in this was to be away from the presence of the Lord. And he sees now that he didn't achieve this. He says, I am driven from your sight. He did not escape God through some skillful maneuvering. He was enduring God's discipline. Whatever distance lay between him and God, God had done it, not him.
He is completely disowning himself of any false thought that he commands where he is going. You cast me into the deep. These are your waves. Your billows. I am driven away by you from your sight.
Let me ask you. Do you think you're the captain of your own ship? When something good happens to you, do you easily and quickly make the connection to your own planning, your own effort? Aha. I see why this thing came. Because I had some foresight. I had some resources. I had some gifts. And I applied myself. We love that phrase. I applied myself. But then when things go wrong and hard things happen, do you say things like, this is just my luck. I never catch a break.
Why do I always get behind the slow person on this road? It always happens to me. You throw up your hands. The belief that we are in ultimate control is foolish. It's overestimating ourselves. But thinking that life is just a random sequence of events that you are victim to is giving up.
Both of these are denying reality. And therefore, they're not firm places to plant your feet. It is an essential step in spiritual clarity to acknowledge that God is at work in your life.
It's amazing what happens spiritually in us when we begin to name Him as the author of our story. When good things happen and we say, thank you, God. Instead of, I deserve this or I earned this, it makes us more grateful, more generous. When we experience hardship, big or small, instead of saying, I can't believe this is happening to me. If we begin to say, God, these are your waves. These are your billows.
We've just taken an important step. A step of openness to Him. Once we take that step, the thought that comes next comes a little easier, which is this. God, will you be my refuge? Is I receive whatever you have for me right now. We are never going to think that thought as long as we're stuck with, I can't believe this is happening to me. The step we have to take is the step that Jonah took.
These are your waves. These are your billows. Because that step helps us to turn towards God again and say, God, will you help me? Be my refuge. I know you're trying to do something in me.
Accepting God's sovereign work in our lives, it turns us towards Him and it leads us to hope. And that's what happens to Jonah. Look at what he says. Yet, I shall look again upon your holy temple. He's in the belly of a fish. And he says, yet I will look again to your holy temple. He is already looking again to the temple in his mind's eye. The temple is where God said He would dwell on earth in a special and significant way. Jonah is picturing that now.
The temple is where atonement was made. Where mercy was found. Where forgiveness was received by people. Jonah is saying, this affliction that I'm experiencing, it's from God's hands. But rather than scorn Him because of it, I'm turning to Him in hope.
Now, the other way that we see Jonah changed is this. It's recognition of God's rescue. Jonah had apparently thought it was no big deal to say no to the living God. He thought it was not so big to hear directly from God and to say, nah.
He was so fine with running away that he fell asleep in the boat. A storm wasn't a concern, didn't worry him. Many times when someone is in an accident, like a car accident or something, the state of shock, it keeps them from comprehending how bad the situation is. There's stories of paramedics being told by people with gruesome injuries I'll be fine, just call me a cab.
But Jonah sees now how dire his situation is. He describes it this way, the waters closed in over me to take my life. The deep surrounded me. Jonah understands he's in it and he's in it deep. He feels he's at the roots of the mountains, meaning the seabed, the bottom of the ocean. I don't know whether he actually got there or whether he just feels like he is. But he sees himself going down to the land whose bars closed on me forever. He is fully aware of how great the problem is, but he is also fully aware of something else, that he is already turning back to God.
God is already at work in him. And so he says something remarkable, something that I wish that I would say if I were in a situation like Jonah's, or even half as bad. Yet, you brought up my life from the pit. Now let that sink into your heads. I'll say it again. He is still inside the fish.
Yet, you brought up my life from the pit. Jonah, any one of us would say, Hey, Jonah, whoa, whoa, hold on. You're still in some pretty big trouble here. Don't you want to wait to say that until you've taken some steps on land? Jonah says, no, no. Even though I am still in the fish, even though I don't know what's next, I know the Lord is working in me.
And I will praise him right now. His feet haven't hit the beach. He hasn't yet taken the first breath of fresh air. But he still declares that God has brought him up. Because God is at work in him. He says, because of my sin, I was further away than I'd ever been. But God has already intervened with his gracious rescue.
We are too driven and too dictated by our circumstances, myself included. I'll be the first to admit it. So driven by our circumstances. Like me, do you want the kind of faith that can rejoice in God's deliverance even in the midst of hardship? Do you want that? It sounds too lofty, too idealistic, but it's possible. Follow Jonah's lead. Don't discount the work of God in you just because you haven't seen the full picture yet.
Listen, when a physical therapist is helping a stroke victim take those first faltering steps with crutches and the help of other people, the physical therapist doesn't say, well, you're not running the 5K yet.
No, the physical therapist is like, that's awesome. There it is. Your muscles are working again. You're learning it. You're taking those steps. And if the patient is like, yeah, but I can't do this yet and I can't do that yet, the physical therapist says, don't give up hope. Look at yourself. You're taking steps. It's happening right now. When a child is struggling with math and is really having a hard time with the concepts, even addition, and then finally that moment comes where they say, oh, I see it now.
13 plus 5 is 18. The teacher doesn't say, yeah, but you're not doing calculus yet. So, no, the teacher says, yes, that's it. And the student should feel a sense of pride, a sense of, yes, it's happening in me. I'm not doing calculus yet. I'm not ready to build a bridge. But look at what is happening in me right now. That is what's happening in Jonah. Yes, I'm still in the fish. But God brought up my life from the pit because he is at work in my heart.
Even now. He recognizes the rescue of God. He sees it. He doesn't scorn it. Friends, listen. Do you believe the promises of God today? Are they good news to you? Do you rest in them and look forward to them and hope? Then God is at work in you.
Are you putting your faith in Jesus today? Is he your savior? Are you holding on to him with even a little bit of faith? Then God is at work in you and he has brought up your life from the pit. Do you want to follow him to obey his commandments? And do you want to repent when you don't? Then that is God's work in you. He has brought up your life from the pit. People who are spiritually dead don't do those things. Those are signs of spiritual life in us.
Life that God will continue to nourish and strengthen. Recognizing God's work it nurtures a faith that treasures and delights in him in all circumstances.
And we're going to close with this. Let's look at the restored man because that's what Jonah is at the end of this prayer. All of this thinking, all of this prayer, it's led Jonah to a conclusion. It's given in verses 8 and 9 and it starts this way. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. This is Jonah's confession. He's talking about himself. He paid regard to a vain idol, his own will, his own choices over and above God's.
When he did that, he turned away from his hope of steadfast love. In Hebrew, this four-word phrase, hope of steadfast love, it's one word. It's hesed.
And that is a very weighty Hebrew word. It's the word used for God's faithful and secure love. His true, his eternal, his never-stopping love. Jonah says, how foolish of me. I wanted my own way and I ran away from God's hesed.
And then in verse 9, Jonah seeks a new way. Look, he says he wants to sacrifice to the Lord again. He wants to offer himself as he obeys the Lord and fulfills his vow. He is rededicating his life to God. And then he ends with one of the most important sentences in the entire Bible.
Salvation belongs to the Lord. This is Jonah's worship. His declaration of praise. Few sentences so neatly summarized so much biblical truth. Listen, salvation is something that everyone on the earth wants. Everyone.
If you don't believe me, ask someone sometime. Do you think everything is right in the world? Everything? They'll say no. Even someone who thinks that they are fine the way that they are, they look around and they see a world that's broken with injustice, with imperfection, with threats. Everyone wants some kind of salvation. And according to this sentence, you cannot find salvation through technology. You can't find it through education. You can't find it through legislation.
You can't find it through meditation. If you seek salvation, you must go to God. Through him, we learned that the root of all of this brokenness that we want deliverance from, it's because of our rebellion against him. And what Jonah learned is that God doesn't just tell us what's wrong, but he fixes it. That's why salvation belongs to him. He's not the one that says salvation is over there. Thanks for asking. He says it belongs to me. I own it. And I give it.
And he gives it to us through Christ. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given by which we can be saved. If you've come to Jesus in repentance and faith, if you've cried out to him, like Jonah cried out to God in this passage, then salvation has come to you. Your life has already been lifted up from the pit. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Jonah found that to be true. And he's a changed man.
Pray with me. Lord, I want for myself and for everyone here to begin to accept more and more your control over all things so that we can take the next step of turning to you and asking for help. Asking you to be our refuge. Lord, we also want to recognize recognize the work that you have already done in our hearts through Christ.
Lord, we all want more of it. But Lord, help us to not forget the miracle that's already happened. If we have put our faith in Christ, our hearts have been changed. Would you please, God, continue the good work that you've started in us. We praise you for going after Jonah and putting him in the hospital so that he could be healed and be changed. Lord, no matter what we're going through, each one of us, whether it's something really, really hard or whether it's something just smaller but still gives us concern and tends to dash our hope, would you please lift up our eyes to you.
Jesus, we love you and we pray this in your name.