>> Pastor Eric
00:00:33.180 Good morning and welcome, everyone.
00:00:36.360 Let's give God a great big hand. He is good.
00:00:38.880 So glad you joined us today for in this
00:00:42.740 series, our next installment of the "Timeless" series, where we've been looking
00:00:46.360 at Old Testament characters, Old Testament stories, and how they
00:00:50.380 apply to our lives today. These stories are not just fables or
00:00:54.300 fairy tales, but they're real people, real events that took place that we can
00:00:58.360 learn from, learn these principles, lessons, and timeless
00:01:02.380 truths that we can apply to ourselves today.
00:01:04.590 And today, you probably have all heard of this guy.
00:01:07.640 His name is Jonah. You may have heard of him — Jonah and the whale.
00:01:11.300 But reality is, the word whale wasn't even created until the
00:01:14.800 1100s. So in the Bible, almost every translation says
00:01:18.660 Jonah and a great fish. It's the Hebrew word dag.
00:01:22.020 It's the giant fish, a big fish. That's what we're talking about is Jonah
00:01:26.300 and the great fish. But I'm also reminded one of my favorite stories
00:01:30.240 about Jonah is actually a story about a boy named Timmy.
00:01:33.340 Timmy was a bright student. He was really good in school.
00:01:37.420 He was a Christian. He believed in Jesus. He went to church.
00:01:40.540 His parents taught him the Bible. And the teacher that he had at the time,
00:01:44.480 she didn't really like Timmy. I feel like she had it out for him where he would
00:01:48.180 finish his studies early. He'd finish a test, he'd turn it in, he's
00:01:51.980 done, and he would draw. He was a doodler. How many of you are doodlers?
00:01:55.200 Some of you are drawers, right? You like to just doodle when you don't have
00:01:57.760 something to do. Well, Timmy, he'd finish a test, he'd flip over his paper, and
00:02:01.260 he'd begin to doodle. And one time, the teacher's like, "Timmy, what are you doing?
00:02:04.740 What are you drawing?" He said, "I'm drawing Jonah and the whale." And the teacher
00:02:08.700 was like, "That's a made-up story.
00:02:10.820 You don't actually believe that, do you?" He was like, "Well, of course I believe
00:02:13.940 it. It's in the Bible, and I believe what the Bible says." She goes, "Oh, really?
00:02:17.820 Well, how could he live in the belly of a fish for three days and three nights?
00:02:21.460 There's no way that's possible." Timmy said, "Well, I don't really know how it
00:02:24.880 happened, but when I get to heaven someday, I'll ask him." And she goes,
00:02:28.680 "Well, what if he's not in heaven? What if he went to hell?" Timmy said, "Well,
00:02:32.100 then you can ask him."
00:02:35.840 Don't maybe recommend that to all you kids out there, but
00:02:39.840 the teacher had it out for Timmy, and the point of it is Timmy believed this story
00:02:43.460 was true. He believed that Jonah actually lived in the belly
00:02:47.480 of a fish for three days and three nights.
00:02:49.060 And the story is not just a made-up story. It's not a fairy tale.
00:02:52.420 It's a real-life event that took place, and there's so much that we can
00:02:56.260 learn from this story. Now, Jonah is, again, Old
00:02:59.880 Testament. There's four chapters, and I'm going to tell you now, there's a lot of
00:03:03.240 verses, a lot of points, things I'm going to share with you, kind of reading
00:03:06.920 through the story, because Jonah's actually written as a narrative.
00:03:10.760 Jonah's telling the story. In many of the Old Testament
00:03:14.460 prophets, it's not as storytelling as Jonah is.
00:03:18.280 But so I decided instead of me trying to summarize and give some clever points,
00:03:22.260 what if I just read you the text? What if I just read?
00:03:24.980 So I'm going to be reading some large portions of the Book of Jonah with some other
00:03:28.980 points spread in there. So let's start with Jonah 1.
00:03:32.800 We're going to read the first two verses.
00:03:35.020 This is how the story begins. It says, "The Lord gave this message to Jonah
00:03:39.020 son of Amittai: 'Get up and go to the great city of
00:03:42.940 Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it, because I have seen how
00:03:46.820 wicked its people are.'" So I'm going to pause. Now,
00:03:51.580 God tells Jonah to go to the great city of Nineveh. Where is Nineveh?
00:03:54.780 Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrian Empire, the
00:03:58.580 Assyrian people. Its ruins are actually right near Mosul,
00:04:02.340 Iraq, in current day. So these are Iraqi people.
00:04:05.160 At the time, it was the Assyrian Empire, but these people
00:04:09.460 were historically known, and the people in the area knew them as a brutal and
00:04:13.460 evil people. They were ruthless. Their war
00:04:17.620 tactics specifically were to torture people, skin people.
00:04:21.200 They actually would take prisoners of war and put large fish hooks in them and
00:04:25.000 string them together as they moved them from one place to another.
00:04:28.130 So horrible, evil, ruthless, brutal people
00:04:32.050 that it doesn't say explicitly, but Jonah could've been living nearby
00:04:36.040 them, could have had friends or family or people he knew that had been
00:04:39.960 on the receiving end of the Ninevites' brutality, and yet
00:04:44.140 these are the people God tells Jonah to go and preach to.
00:04:48.240 Talk about a hard crowd, right? A hard audience to reach.
00:04:50.860 And Jonah, God says, "Go to Nineveh and tell these people, these are
00:04:54.840 wicked people, but tell them about my judgment.
00:04:57.280 Tell them ultimately about God's grace and mercy as well."
00:05:02.380 But why would God want to reach these people?
00:05:05.480 These are evil, ruthless people. There's no questioning that based on their
00:05:09.500 actions, their hearts, their violence.
00:05:12.460 Do they really deserve God's mercy?
00:05:15.440 Do they really deserve God's kindness and his compassion, his
00:05:19.280 unfailing love?
00:05:21.160 The reality is they don't,
00:05:23.160 but neither do we.
00:05:25.680 None of us deserve God's mercy. We don't deserve God's
00:05:29.300 forgiveness because all of us have fallen short of the glory of
00:05:33.300 God. But in his great mercy, God extends his forgiveness,
00:05:37.520 that we are all in need of God's mercy.
00:05:40.200 So before we look at the Ninevites and go, "Oh, those people shouldn't get saved,"
00:05:44.140 those people, that's what Jonah did. We do the same thing in our lives today.
00:05:48.680 We see people who vote differently than us.
00:05:50.860 We see people with different ideologies than us, and we think, "God, you
00:05:54.580 should judge them. God, give them your wrath.
00:05:56.520 Strike them down." Instead, God has a heart of mercy and
00:06:00.300 compassion and love for those people, whoever those
00:06:03.860 are to you. So in verse three
00:06:07.072 Jonah gets this word from God. He tells him to go to Nineveh. What's he do?
00:06:10.672 He gets up and he goes in the opposite direction.
00:06:14.492 He goes in the opposite direction to get away from not just the Ninevites,
00:06:18.412 but to get away from the Lord. Any of you ever tried— Don't show your hands.
00:06:21.712 Any of you try running from God?
00:06:23.792 How did it work out for you? Hopefully, you're back now.
00:06:26.112 You're running towards God. You're pursuing God.
00:06:28.652 But he tries to get away from the Lord.
00:06:30.622 It says, "He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship
00:06:34.312 leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board,
00:06:38.252 hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to
00:06:41.272 Tarshish." I love when Bibles have maps or when you can see
00:06:45.312 things, because some of these names of towns and villages and places, you don't
00:06:48.752 really get a good grasp of what does this mean.
00:06:51.272 Oh, he just went the opposite direction. Instead of Export, he went to Monroeville.
00:06:54.592 But here's a map of showing you what it really looked like.
00:06:57.332 So Jonah lived between Joppa and Nineveh, about
00:07:01.292 50 to 60 miles from Joppa, about 500 miles from Nineveh.
00:07:05.292 So God tells him to go northeast to Nineveh.
00:07:09.152 He goes southwest to Joppa to get on a boat
00:07:13.092 that's actually going to go the opposite direction, as far west as he could
00:07:17.002 possibly get. Tarshish was the furthest port, the furthest
00:07:20.772 place west in the known world at that time,
00:07:24.672 2,500 miles away from where God was telling him to
00:07:28.172 go. He went down to Joppa. He went down to the
00:07:32.172 ship to go away from God, away from His calling.
00:07:36.912 But here's something to know about God. He doesn't just let us go on our own.
00:07:40.152 He pursues us. God pursues His people,
00:07:43.532 especially those of us who are trying to run away.
00:07:46.312 God is a pursuing God. In verse four, it says, "The Lord hurled," and I'm going to
00:07:50.212 read through several verses here.
00:07:51.752 It says, "The Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea,
00:07:55.652 causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart.
00:07:59.532 Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for
00:08:03.312 help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship." These are
00:08:06.972 pagan sailors. They don't believe in God.
00:08:09.052 They believe in many gods, many different things.
00:08:11.432 They're fearful, and they're praying to their gods.
00:08:13.732 It's like when things get bad, people find religion, right?
00:08:16.651 They cry out to whatever it is they seek in desperation.
00:08:20.592 But it says, "All this time, Jonah was sound asleep
00:08:24.492 down in the hold. So the captain went down after him.
00:08:27.712 'How can you sleep at a time like this?' he shouted.
00:08:30.692 'Get up and pray to your God. Maybe he will pay attention to
00:08:34.312 us and spare our lives.' Then the crew cast lots to
00:08:38.172 see which of them had offended the gods and caused the terrible storm.
00:08:42.352 When they did this, the lots identified Jonah as the culprit."
00:08:46.352 Now, lots would've been like throwing dice or pulling straws and say,
00:08:50.232 who gets the short straw. To these sailors, in the culture, it was usually a
00:08:54.232 game of chance. It was who's going to be the one that's responsible. Who's the one?
00:08:58.572 But in God's sovereignty, He identifies Jonah as the culprit.
00:09:02.152 It was Jonah who was the reason God was causing this major storm.
00:09:06.652 So the people, the sailors, they say, " 'Why has this awful storm come down
00:09:10.672 on us?' they demanded. 'Who are you? What is your line of work?
00:09:14.452 What country are you from? What is your nationality?' " They're interrogating
00:09:18.052 Jonah, saying, "What's going on? Why is this happening?
00:09:20.632 Who are you?" And "Jonah answered, 'I am a Hebrew, and I
00:09:24.472 worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the
00:09:28.212 sea and the land.' " He's not just one of the gods.
00:09:31.632 He says, "I am the one who worships the God, the one who created
00:09:35.552 the sea and the land." And that response caused the sailors to be
00:09:39.392 terrified when they heard this, for he had already told them he
00:09:43.352 was running away from the Lord. " 'Oh, why did you do it?' they groaned.
00:09:47.312 And since the storm was getting worse all the time, they asked him,
00:09:51.512 'What should we do to you to stop the storm?' " Now,
00:09:55.532 let's be honest, if you're Jonah, you're probably going to say, like, "You guys
00:09:58.422 need to pray. We need to do something else."
00:10:02.812 But Jonah, in his honesty, in this moment, he says in verse 12,
00:10:07.032 'Throw me into the sea,' Jonah said, 'and it will become
00:10:10.772 calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault.'
00:10:16.362 " Now these sailors, as much as they don't believe in God, they don't believe in
00:10:19.892 Yahweh, the Hebrew God, the God that we serve, the one we know, they
00:10:23.791 aren't terrible people. How do we know they're not terrible people?
00:10:26.932 One, they're asking him, they're inquiring, they're seeking things,
00:10:30.732 and I think they represent some really good religious
00:10:34.352 people in this time that we know, and probably can relate to some people in our
00:10:38.172 lives. And we see that they're probably good people because in verse 13, it
00:10:42.092 says, "Instead of throwing him overboard and killing Jonah,
00:10:46.292 the sailors rowed even harder to get the ship to
00:10:50.272 the land. But the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they
00:10:54.172 couldn't make it. So they cried out to the Lord, Jonah's God,
00:10:58.282 'Oh, Lord,' they pleaded, 'don't make us die for this man's sins and
00:11:02.312 don't hold us responsible for his death.
00:11:05.612 Oh, Lord, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons.'
00:11:11.482 They could've just said, "Oh, kill this guy?
00:11:13.332 Okay, let's kill him." Instead, they tried harder to row towards land.
00:11:17.122 They tried to save Jonah's life, but eventually, they knew they couldn't make it.
00:11:21.152 The ship's going to break apart. The storm's going to overtake them.
00:11:24.372 So they finally concede, but even that, they concede and they call out to
00:11:28.712 Jonah's God, saying, "God, don't hold this against us.
00:11:31.472 We're going to throw him overboard.
00:11:33.412 Whatever this reason is, we know you have a good reason." They logically
00:11:37.492 reason with God to understand God is good, something we were just singing about a
00:11:41.372 little bit ago, God's goodness, that He has His own good reasons for doing the
00:11:45.092 things that He does.
00:11:48.152 They call God Lord. Now,
00:11:51.852 when they go to throw him over, it says, "The sailors picked Jonah up and they
00:11:55.352 threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped at once."
00:12:00.604 Now, in my human mind, I think, okay, they throw him off, the storm
00:12:04.224 stops, so everything's calm. Maybe we should throw a life raft out and pull him
00:12:07.804 back in. Everything's safe now. They could've rescued Jonah, but
00:12:11.624 before they could, it says, "The sailors were awestruck by the Lord's great power.
00:12:15.524 They offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him." You know what really
00:12:19.564 happens? They're converted. They're turning from their pagan gods to
00:12:23.304 worship the one true God. They see God's power.
00:12:26.724 They offer him sacrifice. They vow to serve Him. They call Him Lord.
00:12:31.064 But before they could rescue Jonah, it says in verse 17, "Now the
00:12:34.644 Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah.
00:12:40.764 And Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights."
00:12:45.784 Here's something, though, about God.
00:12:47.884 Even in Jonah's disobedience, he's
00:12:51.624 rebelling against God. He's trying to get away from God.
00:12:54.324 He's rebelling and being disobedient in all the things God has told him to do.
00:12:57.564 A prophet of God, of all the people who should be obeying God, he turns, and
00:13:01.564 he's disobeying. Even his disobedience, God is merciful.
00:13:05.984 God shows compassion. God rescues Jonah.
00:13:09.264 Instead of letting him die in the sea, he sends a fish to swallow him, which
00:13:13.184 is actually a sign of His mercy, of His rescue.
00:13:17.284 In fact, in Psalm 145:8, it says that "The Lord is
00:13:20.924 gracious and full of compassion, slow to
00:13:25.124 anger and great in mercy." In God's
00:13:28.944 great mercy, in His grace, He sends a storm
00:13:32.884 to redirect Jonah. He sends a fish to swallow him, to
00:13:36.744 save him, that both the storm and the fish are
00:13:40.764 not punishment to Jonah. They're actually redemptive to
00:13:44.524 Jonah.
00:13:45.824 And I believe in many times in our lives, God sends a storm.
00:13:49.664 God sends some circumstances. God may send something that seems
00:13:53.604 like it's surrounding us, not to punish us, but to
00:13:57.424 redirect us and get us back on track.
00:14:00.264 And it's not always that we're blatantly or obviously
00:14:03.634 disobedient to God, but even a little disobedient is
00:14:07.344 disobedient. If God says, "Go here," and we go, "Oh, I'm just going to go here,"
00:14:11.284 that's still disobedience. And God will send in His mercy,
00:14:15.364 in His grace, He will send storms, He will send fish, He will
00:14:19.324 send people into our lives to redirect us and get us
00:14:22.744 back on track. So chapter one ends with a great
00:14:26.784 fish coming and swallowing Jonah, and we get to chapter two,
00:14:31.044 where Jonah then prays to the Lord his God from inside the
00:14:34.844 fish. Now, have you ever done one of those immersive experiences, like you go to
00:14:38.714 a theater or a show, and they're giving you puffs of air in the face, or they make
00:14:42.504 the smells and the bumps on the seats at times?
00:14:45.324 I thought about how do I make this more immersive for you guys?
00:14:48.724 And the only thing I could come up with, having a bunch of fish, like a smelly
00:14:53.164 fish in this room. It'd really be like, oh, what would this be like to be inside
00:14:56.724 the fish? You're welcome. I didn't do that.
00:14:59.784 It doesn't smell like fish in here, thank God.
00:15:01.764 But
00:15:02.684 imagine what it would be like to be Jonah inside the belly of a fish.
00:15:07.564 Not to mention how terrible the smell is, or the feeling.
00:15:11.124 He was probably feeling like, he's going to die this way?
00:15:15.524 I would've been like, "Man, just let me drown." I don't know.
00:15:17.404 But that he was going to die inside this fish.
00:15:19.824 Verses two through nine are really Jonah's prayer to God.
00:15:24.004 And unfortunately, as I read the prayer, it's kind of like it doesn't feel like
00:15:27.244 Jonah's really sorry. He's like, "Okay, God, you put me in the ocean.
00:15:30.984 You caused the storm. You caused all this..."
00:15:33.464 It feels like he's blaming God still for his situation.
00:15:37.084 And it hit me, of like we do this very same thing.
00:15:40.224 We get ourselves in situations. We get ourselves in problems.
00:15:43.084 We get ourselves sometimes in the belly of a fish, in a place that looks like
00:15:46.144 there's no way out, and many times, our first response is to blame God.
00:15:50.554 "God, why are you doing this? God, why is this happening to me?
00:15:53.364 God, where are you?" Instead, where he's in the fish, he doesn't know what God
00:15:57.384 is doing. God is actually directing that fish to do what He
00:16:01.264 wants it to do, and ultimately have Jonah obey what He's
00:16:05.124 called him to do. So Jonah prays this prayer for verses two through nine.
00:16:08.904 We get to verse 10. It says, "The Lord ordered the fish to
00:16:12.804 spit Jonah out onto the beach." Now, all we know is it says
00:16:16.764 Jonah got spit out on the beach. Some translations say that he was vomited out.
00:16:20.464 Now, I'm trying not to get too graphic, but I wonder how did he actually get out of
00:16:23.824 the fish? Did he walk out? It says he spit him out, like spit him out
00:16:27.844 in the water, on the beach. Did he like projectile vomit him?
00:16:31.404 But it doesn't say in the text, and we just have to wonder.
00:16:34.364 He came out of the fish's mouth somehow onto the beach.
00:16:38.804 Again, people question this, and they say, "How can this be real?
00:16:41.284 There's no way that's real. No way a fish would do that." And
00:16:45.424 I believe this story, not just because it's in the Bible, but also because
00:16:49.404 Jesus himself mentioned Jonah two different times.
00:16:52.484 He references him as it's recorded in Matthew 12 and
00:16:56.444 in Matthew 16. In Matthew 12:40, Jesus is
00:17:00.164 actually sharing a reason to the Pharisees.
00:17:02.564 So the religious leaders at the time, they're questioning Jesus.
00:17:05.785 They're like, "Are you really the Messiah? Are you really the Son of God?
00:17:08.204 Show us a sign. Give us a miracle. Prove to us that you
00:17:12.184 really are the Son of Man." And Jesus, he's
00:17:16.104 already been doing all these miracles.
00:17:17.664 He's already been doing miraculous things and healings, and he gets
00:17:21.604 to this point where they're questioning him, and he says, "For as Jonah was in the
00:17:24.964 belly of the great fish for three days and three nights,
00:17:28.884 so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three
00:17:32.224 days and three nights." Jesus said, "You know the ultimate
00:17:36.004 sign of him being the Messiah? It's going to be the
00:17:39.844 same sign that Jonah did." Jonah being in the great fish for three days and three
00:17:43.864 nights is actually a messianic prophecy highlighting
00:17:47.544 Jesus. It points to Jesus. Jonah didn't know at the time, for
00:17:51.324 sure, but we read this in Jesus referencing him, says, "That's going to
00:17:55.284 be the sign, that I'm going to be crucified, I'm going to be buried, and three days
00:17:59.244 later, I'm going to come out alive and well." That's the
00:18:03.164 sign that Jesus himself gives referencing Jonah.
00:18:07.168 But then, yeah, that settles it for me spiritually — and what Jesus said.
00:18:10.828 Whatever Jesus says, we believe.
00:18:13.348 But also just thinking naturally, there's fish large
00:18:17.038 enough to swallow people. In fact, the largest one that
00:18:20.928 could swallow people is a sperm whale.
00:18:22.888 There's a picture of how large a sperm whale is compared to a human.
00:18:27.198 There's larger whales, but they don't have the anatomy like a sperm whale does.
00:18:31.188 That actually, sperm whales swallow squids and animals
00:18:34.948 whole, and then they break them down and digest them internally.
00:18:38.528 And actually, in 1955,
00:18:43.748 they found inside its stomach a
00:18:46.508 450-pound squid, fully intact. So
00:18:50.408 the sperm whale swallowed a 450-pound squid that was found
00:18:54.508 inside its belly. Certainly, a sperm whale could swallow a
00:18:58.508 human, less than 450 pounds, and find it.
00:19:01.908 And also in 1891, there was a story of a man by the name of James Bartley.
00:19:06.308 James Bartley was a fisherman. He fell overboard.
00:19:09.297 The crew tried to rescue him. They couldn't rescue him.
00:19:11.588 They gave up searching for him. But two days later, a whale was caught, a sperm
00:19:15.408 whale, and as they opened it up, flaying it open, they found inside
00:19:19.308 James Bartley's body. But not only was he inside the body,
00:19:23.268 fully intact, he was actually alive.
00:19:25.808 His body was bleached white from gastric juices.
00:19:28.688 He was shriveled up and they found him alive.
00:19:31.908 He actually lived for 18 more years afterwards and he was reported as
00:19:35.868 called the modern-day Jonah. Now, a lot of people
00:19:39.628 question that, speculate. I'm like, "The guy lived for 18 more years." You can
00:19:43.248 believe the story. But I wonder,
00:19:46.008 to really help you picture, what did James Bartley look like?
00:19:48.928 Maybe what did Jonah look like? Shriveled up, bleached white from
00:19:52.728 gastric juices, and my first thing I thought of was Smeagol from "The Lord of the
00:19:56.768 Rings."
00:19:58.748 This may be what James Bartley looked like after a few days in the belly of
00:20:02.708 a whale. But really,
00:20:05.348 to settle the story, it's not fairy tale, it's not fable.
00:20:08.808 If you can believe Genesis 1:1, God created the heavens and
00:20:12.748 the Earth, nothing is impossible for God.
00:20:15.928 When Colossians 1:17 says God holds the universe in his hands.
00:20:19.848 If God can do all these things, he could certainly direct a fish to
00:20:23.668 swallow a man and spit him out on the beach to fulfill and accomplish
00:20:27.608 his plan and his will. So chapter two ends, the fish
00:20:31.508 spits Jonah out on the beach. We get to chapter three.
00:20:35.108 Now, chapter three says, "The Lord spoke to Jonah a second time."
00:20:40.728 How many of you are thankful that God is a God of second chances,
00:20:45.028 and third chances, and fourth chances, and fifth chances?
00:20:48.108 That God does not look to strike us down the first time we disobey.
00:20:51.488 However, it's best when we do, right?
00:20:53.428 But he speaks to Jonah a second time. He gives him another chance.
00:20:57.168 God's sovereign hand was on this the entire time.
00:20:59.688 In verse two, he says, "Get up, go to the great city of Nineveh, and deliver
00:21:03.628 the message I have given you." Verse three, "This time, Jonah
00:21:07.448 obeyed the Lord's command and went to Nineveh, a city
00:21:11.308 so large that it took three days to see it all." Verse four, "On the day Jonah
00:21:15.428 entered the city, he shouted to the crowds,
00:21:19.077 '40 days from now, Nineveh will be destroyed.'
00:21:23.068 The people of Nineveh believed God's message, and from the greatest to the least,
00:21:27.148 they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow."
00:21:32.488 Jonah comes out of the fish, goes to Nineveh, and he preaches this
00:21:37.848 message that God gave him. Eight words, "40 days from now, you'll be destroyed."
00:21:41.028 There's no other recording of what else he may have said if he did say
00:21:44.828 anything at all, but he declares this message.
00:21:47.568 And actually, in verse six, it says, "The king of Nineveh himself
00:21:51.508 heard what Jonah was saying. He stepped down from his throne, took off
00:21:55.448 his royal robes." He puts on burlap, "And sat in a heap of ashes."
00:22:02.288 The king himself. Now, remember, the Ninevites were evil, ruthless, brutal
00:22:06.228 people. The king was the worst of them all.
00:22:08.348 He ordered and declared these things to take place.
00:22:11.368 So the king himself, this evil king, steps down, puts on
00:22:15.128 burlap, which is just a way they showed of mourning and sorrow,
00:22:19.268 and sat on a heap of ashes, which was the Hebrew way to
00:22:23.148 show repentance and sorrow to God.
00:22:25.607 So then the next couple verses, "The king and his nobles decreed that
00:22:29.188 everyone must earnestly pray to the Hebrew God, to Yahweh."
00:22:32.808 He says, "You must stop all your evil, turn from
00:22:36.728 your violence, turn from your evil ways." These godless, ruthless,
00:22:40.788 evil people, is God really going to show them mercy?
00:22:44.308 Is God really going to accept their change in their heart and their
00:22:48.008 behavior with compassion and grace?
00:22:51.348 We see verse 10,
00:22:53.688 "When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways,
00:22:57.868 he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened."
00:23:05.608 Here comes Jonah, this disobedient prophet,
00:23:08.668 rebellion towards God. He comes, God spits him out,
00:23:12.168 he walks into this great city. He really preaches a pretty boring eight-word sermon, right?
00:23:19.308 There wasn't anything eloquent to it.
00:23:21.028 He just says, "Hey, this is God's message for you guys." And we see this whole
00:23:25.008 entire city turn to God.
00:23:28.468 How could this be? This guy is not the guy that I would think that would
00:23:33.508 win people to Christ or point people to God,
00:23:37.348 but there's a backstory. See, the Ninevites were Assyrians, and
00:23:41.288 Assyrians, they worshiped many different gods.
00:23:43.848 They had the sun god, the moon god, the river god, the fish god.
00:23:46.888 There's a god for everything.
00:23:49.328 One of the gods that they worship is called Oannes.
00:23:52.708 It's a river god. It's a god that is depicted as a man coming
00:23:56.588 out of the mouth of a fish.
00:24:00.208 This is one of the gods that they worship and how he's depicted.
00:24:03.168 So here comes a man out of the mouth of a fish—
00:24:07.440 Walking to Nineveh, imagine the Ninevites who are fishing and they see this
00:24:11.420 fish spit this guy out, and then here comes this guy preaching and talking
00:24:15.440 about the God named Yahweh, the Lord who created the
00:24:19.040 sea and the land. Certainly, if this is one of their gods and
00:24:22.860 he's talking about a greater god, they're going to want to know more about him.
00:24:26.480 They're going to want to listen and receive, and not only does he preach something,
00:24:30.720 he lives his life. He demonstrates by what God did through the fish
00:24:34.620 and Jonah. They turned to God. They turned and gave
00:24:38.640 their lives to Him because it wasn't the eloquence of speech that
00:24:42.560 won the people, it was when people saw what God did,
00:24:46.900 then they believed.
00:24:48.600 In many of our lives, it's not about preaching to people, it's not about how
00:24:52.500 good you speak, it's not about what you say to convince people to
00:24:56.440 turn to God. It's living your life, demonstrating what
00:25:00.140 God has done in your life, that's going to point people to God.
00:25:04.540 The way you live your life is going to be a louder testimony, I believe, than using
00:25:08.520 your words. Now, you should use your words. You should tell people the good news.
00:25:12.160 You should talk about God, but ultimately, if our lives are not
00:25:15.500 demonstrating and pointing to God and what He has done,
00:25:19.680 very few people are probably going to turn to God.
00:25:22.340 That our lives are a testimony, are a story that points people to Him.
00:25:27.200 So this story would be great if it just ended here, and it is a great story.
00:25:31.680 It's an amazing story, the greatest revival, the most number of people that we
00:25:35.600 see turn to God in one case, over 120,000 people.
00:25:39.400 Amazing story of God saving the sailors, God saving
00:25:43.340 this entire city, even an evil, ruthless king, but the
00:25:47.180 story doesn't end there. In fact, we look at the
00:25:50.940 response of Jonah in chapter four.
00:25:54.160 Now, God said He was going to destroy the Ninevites if they did not turn, if they
00:25:57.880 did not repent.
00:25:59.560 When they repented, God showed them compassion.
00:26:01.780 He showed them mercy, and this change of plans
00:26:05.280 greatly upset Jonah. He became very angry and began to
00:26:09.180 complain to the Lord about it. He goes, "Didn't I say before I left
00:26:12.620 home that you would do this?"
00:26:15.340 He's arguing with God, "This is why I ran away to Tarshish."
00:26:19.800 He says, "I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God,
00:26:23.620 slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
00:26:27.300 You are eager to turn back from destroying people.
00:26:30.120 Just kill me now, Lord. I'd rather be dead than alive if what I
00:26:33.980 predicted will not happen."
00:26:37.300 Jonah wants to die before he would care
00:26:41.260 to see people turn to God.
00:26:44.240 What a horrible place to be as a person, especially a prophet of God who clearly
00:26:48.280 doesn't know. He knows God's heart, he doesn't have God's heart.
00:26:52.240 That he sees these people, and he says, "They deserve your wrath.
00:26:55.480 They deserve your punishment." That's true, but God's heart and His mercy
00:26:59.720 is for these people, the wicked people of Nineveh, and he actually says,
00:27:03.650 "I'd rather die than see you forgive them.
00:27:06.580 I'd rather die than to see these Ninevites turn to you."
00:27:10.580 And it's easy to read this story and think, "That's Jonah, and that's
00:27:14.000 not us."
00:27:16.640 We can have that same heart towards people.
00:27:19.260 When good things happen to people who've hurt us, to people who we don't think
00:27:22.720 should deserve good things, or when God blesses people, especially when people
00:27:26.580 turn to Christ. You know some of the worst people on the planet we should be
00:27:30.360 praying for all the more? Praying that God would get ahold of their hearts.
00:27:33.860 I pray for our president and people in politics and government who have
00:27:37.740 influence even more because I know if God gets ahold of them, like this
00:27:41.620 evil king, great things would happen.
00:27:43.640 More and more people would turn to God if God would get ahold of their
00:27:47.400 hearts.
00:27:49.540 But Jonah's angry at God, and God and him have this dialogue back and forth, and
00:27:53.420 actually, in God's mercy with Jonah, He grows a plant supernaturally to provide
00:27:57.340 shade for Jonah. He comforts him, but then He sends a worm to
00:28:01.240 eat through the plant. The plant dies quickly, and Jonah's arguing with God again,
00:28:05.800 and God actually says in verse
00:28:07.900 nine, he goes, "Are you really angry about this plant that died?" And Jonah,
00:28:11.840 again, third time, Jonah says, "Yes, I'm angry enough even
00:28:15.840 to die." But the Lord said in verse 10, "You feel
00:28:19.460 sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there.
00:28:23.700 It came quickly and died quickly. But Nineveh has more than
00:28:28.120 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness."
00:28:33.760 Jonah had more concern for his comfort than something
00:28:37.480 that's temporary, like a plant, than he does for
00:28:40.460 120-plus thousand people who are living in spiritual
00:28:44.320 darkness, people who don't know God, people who are going the wrong path, who are
00:28:48.120 going to be separated from God. Jonah doesn't care about what God
00:28:51.860 cares about.
00:28:54.100 Again, if we're really honest and introspective for ourselves, that's a
00:28:58.120 question for each of us.
00:29:00.000 Do we really care about what God cares about?
00:29:03.560 Do we really have the same heart that God has for people?
00:29:08.580 For people who are far from God, for people who are living lives that are
00:29:12.520 against or anti what God would have them live.
00:29:17.180 To be really transparent with you, most of my life,
00:29:20.720 I hated people.
00:29:22.720 I would say that. I used to say, "I'm not racist.
00:29:25.420 I hate all people." I was selfish. I was self-centered.
00:29:29.440 I was all self-motivated for me, myself, and I.
00:29:33.420 But when I began a relationship with God, when I began to know Him, when I found
00:29:36.960 freedom in Christ and began to live a life of freedom in Christ,
00:29:41.240 it all started to change, and I remember one of the very first times, right after I
00:29:44.680 got saved, I started crying for somebody else who had a family member die.
00:29:48.780 I saw somebody else hurting, I started weeping.
00:29:50.480 I'm like, "What is this?"
00:29:52.360 It's called compassion. It's called mercy.
00:29:54.900 It's called having a heart like God has for His people.
00:29:59.400 His people who are living lives in bondage, and in slavery, and
00:30:03.140 addiction, and fear, and anxiety, and if we don't have a heart that
00:30:07.040 says, "God, I want to do something about it," we miss out on having a heart like
00:30:10.860 God. We miss out on the opportunity to be used by God to reach
00:30:14.792 people, to impact people for His kingdom.
00:30:18.132 To see how Jonah, God even used Jonah, a disobedient, complaining
00:30:22.172 prophet, He could certainly use us if we say, "God use me.
00:30:26.232 God, I want to obey you. God, I want to follow you.
00:30:28.352 God, I want to do whatever it is you're asking me to do."
00:30:32.332 If you want to make a greater impact, you want to discover your purpose, say yes to
00:30:36.352 God. In fact, what if every person at
00:30:40.132 Freedom Church simply said yes to God,
00:30:44.452 whatever that is for you?
00:30:46.952 Maybe God's asking you to give up something.
00:30:49.012 Maybe God's asking you to do something that seems radical,
00:30:53.012 it doesn't make sense, to be generous, to serve, to go on a mission trip, to
00:30:56.932 do something. Just say yes to God. What if we
00:30:59.672 all always had the response that whatever God says,
00:31:03.972 we simply say, "Yes, Lord."
00:31:07.252 What if every person at Freedom Church cared about people,
00:31:11.072 not just with lip service, not just in word, but really cared about people?
00:31:15.672 What if we really cared about people like the Ninevites?
00:31:18.792 Again, those people who have very different ideas and perspectives than us.
00:31:22.812 What if we cared about those people?
00:31:26.652 What if we all invited one person or one family to come
00:31:30.432 know God and find freedom here at Freedom Church?
00:31:33.212 What if from now to the end of the year, every one of us invited one
00:31:36.912 person or one family? We'd have to add a service.
00:31:39.572 We'd have to make room for more people.
00:31:40.972 We'd have to make more room in the kids ministry because more people are really
00:31:44.912 what's at the heart of God. He wants to reach more of the lost people.
00:31:48.532 He wants to see more people come into His kingdom.
00:31:50.982 Those 120,000-plus people in Nineveh, there's 80 to
00:31:54.352 90,000-plus people right here in this surrounding area that
00:31:58.132 don't know Jesus, that aren't connected to a church.
00:32:00.872 Those are the people that we have the ability to impact when we simply
00:32:05.452 pray for them, we invite them, we care about them, and we
00:32:09.452 do anything in our ability to reach them for Jesus.
00:32:15.592 Maybe your next yes to God is to surrender your life to Him.
00:32:20.392 Remember the sailors on the boat?
00:32:23.342 The sailors were good people. They had religion.
00:32:27.572 They had good works. They tried to row harder and harder to get to shore to save
00:32:31.301 themselves, but in the end, all of that falls short.
00:32:36.732 I know all of you are good people.
00:32:39.632 Maybe you have some religion. Maybe you're trying really hard to get
00:32:43.492 ahead, to earn some forgiveness, to earn your way to heaven.
00:32:46.712 The reality is you can't earn your way.
00:32:49.152 You cannot save yourself. It's all going to fall short.
00:32:53.612 Ultimately, the sailors needed God to save them, and every
00:32:57.632 single one of us needs God's mercy. We need His
00:33:01.152 forgiveness. We need His grace. It's only by grace that we can be
00:33:04.872 saved.
00:33:06.932 So I'm going to invite you to pray with me.
00:33:08.152 Just close your eyes,
00:33:09.832 bow your head. It just eliminates the distractions.
00:33:12.572 If you're watching online, I invite you just to take this minute
00:33:16.152 to really lock in, to really come together in prayer.
00:33:23.192 God, we thank you for this day. God, we thank you for the timeless truths
00:33:27.652 from Jonah that we can learn and apply to ourselves.
00:33:30.672 God, I pray we would see ourselves in the story.
00:33:35.492 God, maybe some of us are running away from you.
00:33:38.112 Maybe some of us are disobedient in what you've called us to do.
00:33:42.172 God, whatever it is that we see ourselves in the story, God, I pray you'd
00:33:46.072 illuminate it to us, you'd show us
00:33:49.052 where we've fallen short, where we've been rebellious or disobedient.
00:33:52.882 Or, God, maybe we've been seeing people as Jonah saw the Ninevites,
00:33:57.512 as those people. They don't deserve your good, they don't deserve your
00:34:01.452 mercy, and that's true, but none of us do.
00:34:05.252 God, I pray we would all take the step
00:34:08.493 of surrendering ourselves to you, God, to say yes to you,
00:34:12.272 whether that's forgiving somebody we need to forgive, whether that's letting
00:34:16.192 go of some addiction or bad habit that's unhealthy or not good for us.
00:34:20.932 God, maybe it's saying yes to something we've been putting off for months or years.
00:34:27.772 God, I pray we would surrender all to you as you
00:34:31.852 are our King, our High King, our mighty King, the King of
00:34:35.852 Kings and Lord of Lords. God, may we lay our lives
00:34:39.252 down for whatever it is you have for us.
00:34:42.692 May we say yes to you.
00:34:44.872 God, may we care for people. May we have your heart for people,
00:34:48.812 to love people, to want to help people.
00:34:51.872 God, may our hearts break for the state of people right here in
00:34:55.852 our community.
00:34:57.752 God, may we do whatever possible to sign up for Serve Day, to be a part
00:35:01.632 of Freedom Church, to be a part of what you are doing to reach the
00:35:04.912 people all around us, those 80 to 90,000-plus people
00:35:09.012 right here that we know you want to reach, you want to save.
00:35:13.702 You want to show your mercy and compassion for.
00:35:16.652 God, may we continue to invite more and more people to come and know you,
00:35:20.792 find freedom, discover their purpose, and make an impact in their lives as
00:35:24.752 well.
00:35:26.732 God, I pray right now if there's anybody in this room, anybody watching online, if
00:35:30.752 you're here and you don't know for absolute certainty who God is, how you
00:35:34.712 can have a personal relationship with Him, that you can find freedom
00:35:38.912 in Him for all eternity,
00:35:41.532 I'm inviting you to say yes to God, to surrender your life to Him,
00:35:46.492 to give yourself to Him fully. Not your will,
00:35:50.192 but His will would be done in your life.
00:35:53.372 If you want to surrender your life to Him, you can fill out a connection card.
00:35:57.092 You can let us know. You can click online and fill out the form to make sure we can
00:36:00.452 help you take your next step to say yes to God. So let's pray.
00:36:04.072 Heavenly Father, I pray if there's anybody here, God, they would surrender their
00:36:07.232 lives to you. God, maybe they'd rededicate or recommit their life to you in this
00:36:11.272 moment God, that you would be glorified.
00:36:14.484 God, that your kingdom would expand, your church would grow by
00:36:18.204 every single person who says yes to you.
00:36:21.004 God, that you'd receive all the praise, all the honor, and all the glory.
00:36:24.504 In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Can we give God a great big
00:36:28.224 hand? Jared's going to come up, share a few announcements, and then we'll be dismissed.
>> Jared
00:36:32.964 Amen. Thank you so much, Pastor Eric.
00:36:34.344 It's been some time since I've gone through the Book of Jonah, so I'm just really
00:36:38.224 grateful for the opportunity and definitely took away quite a bit.
00:36:41.104 So thank you so much for your faithful service to us.
00:36:44.684 There are some newer faces, people I don't really think I've had the pleasure of
00:36:48.144 meeting here this morning, and just want to say, if you're new here in general, I
00:36:51.644 want to welcome you and thank you so much for choosing to spend a part of your
00:36:55.024 Sunday with us. We would love to hear your story, more about you, your life,
00:36:58.984 what God is doing in and through your life, and really just connect.
00:37:02.604 I would invite you to take out your cellphone.
00:37:04.544 If you want to just scan the tap card on the seat back in front of you or the
00:37:08.364 QR code on the screen, fill out some general information, we'll be able to keep in
00:37:12.104 touch with you with things going on here at Freedom Church.
00:37:14.724 And also, on the way out the door today, we do want to put a gift in your hand as
00:37:18.684 well, just as our way of saying thank you.
00:37:22.084 Speaking of things, opportunities coming up, I'm very excited this week we are
00:37:25.364 hosting our very first VBS here at Freedom Church.
00:37:29.364 So kids from the community,
00:37:32.184 preschool to fifth grade, are invited to come out.
00:37:34.984 It'll be Wednesday evening, Thursday evening, and Friday evening.
00:37:38.144 It'll be 6:30 to 8:00, and this is a great opportunity to serve.
00:37:42.484 If you are available any of the evenings or all of the evenings this upcoming week,
00:37:46.624 we encourage you to scan the QR code, get signed up.
00:37:49.404 There'll be an opportunity for you to serve and make an impact on kids' lives
00:37:53.404 who may not have ever heard the stories of the Bible, may not have ever heard
00:37:57.364 about Jesus, and you could be a part of them hearing about who God is and
00:38:01.284 how He loves them for the very first time.
00:38:03.804 So I would encourage you to get signed up.
00:38:05.664 Invite family, friends, neighbors, coworkers who have kids in the preschool to
00:38:09.594 fifth grade range to bring them on out.
00:38:11.444 It's going to be a fantastic time, a great week ahead.
00:38:15.204 We're actually going to cap off this week with VBS week by
00:38:18.904 Sunday service will be a family service. 9:00 a.m.
00:38:21.764 we will have service as usual, so worship and the word, and then 11:00
00:38:25.744 a.m. is going to be a family service.
00:38:27.504 We're inviting all the kids, kids from VBS, families from the community to come
00:38:31.424 on out. The kids will have an opportunity to show and demonstrate what they learned
00:38:35.104 at VBS throughout the week, and we'll cap it off with a cookout.
00:38:38.284 Free hot dogs and hamburgers, just a time for us to get to know one another,
00:38:42.624 enjoy one another's company. That'll be this upcoming Sunday.
00:38:46.804 Last but certainly not least, as Pastor Eric mentioned, another opportunity to
00:38:50.264 serve will be August 8th, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
00:38:53.324 with a free car wash. I took a look at my car just yesterday.
00:38:56.504 I think I might be first in line for the car wash coming up here.
00:38:59.824 But I encourage you to spread the word, let people know.
00:39:02.644 This is a great way for us to show and demonstrate the love and the
00:39:06.524 kindness of Jesus, for us to also get to know one another, enjoy
00:39:10.464 the joy of serving together as well.
00:39:13.404 If you guys could please stand to your feet, I'm going to pray.
00:39:15.904 Whenever I'm finished, you're dismissed this morning. Father, I thank you so much.
00:39:19.404 What a privilege it is, Lord, that you are the God of second chances, God,
00:39:23.184 that in our hearts, whenever we
00:39:25.744 may be trying to go our own way or not fully obeying, Lord, that you do
00:39:29.633 offer an extension of the second chance, of third chances.
00:39:33.444 Lord, your mercy and your mercies are new every day. We thank you for that.
00:39:37.264 Lord, help us not to keep that within.
00:39:39.244 Help us, Lord, to share that and demonstrate that with our friends,
00:39:43.144 family, neighbors, coworkers, with as many people as possible.
00:39:47.084 That we would also lock arms in the opportunities we have to serve, to
00:39:50.984 demonstrate your love and your truth, whether it be the kids ministry this week,
00:39:55.344 the free car wash, and just moving forward, God, that we would have the heart of
00:39:58.884 service and to see as many people as possible come to know you.
00:40:02.504 It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You're dismissed.
00:40:05.504 Have a great and awesome week, everybody.