The Hand of Our God In The Life of Jonah

Q: What does the Bible say about God's providence in our lives?

The Bible teaches that everything that comes to pass is under God's sovereign control and serves His purpose for His elect. The Scriptures affirm that all events in our lives are orchestrated by God's providence, displaying His grace towards His people. Acts 17:26 says that God determines our appointed times and the boundaries of our dwellings. For believers, this means that even trials and tribulations serve a purpose in our spiritual growth and ultimate good, as illustrated by Jonah's journey, where everything he faced was orchestrated by God for the sake of His elect.

Q: How do we know that God's grace is for us?

We see God's grace in our lives through His continuous guidance and the experiences He orchestrates for our spiritual growth. God's grace is profoundly illustrated in the life of Jonah, who, despite his rebellion, found himself pursued by God's love and purpose. Through various trials, such as being swallowed by a great fish, Jonah experienced God's relentless grace. The experiences we go through, even the painful ones, are all part of God’s sovereign plan to draw us closer to Him. Romans 8:28 reaffirms that for those who love God, all things work together for good, demonstrating that God's grace is at work even when we cannot see it.

Q: Why is understanding God's sovereignty important for Christians?

Understanding God's sovereignty assures us that He is in control and works all things for our good. The sovereignty of God is fundamental to Christian faith, as it reassures believers of His ultimate control over all aspects of life, including suffering and joy. For Jonah, recognizing God's hand behind the storm and the great fish was crucial to understanding his situation. Believers are called to trust in God’s sovereign will, which means acknowledging that nothing happens by chance. This belief fosters hope and resilience, knowing that God is always at work for our benefit and has a plan for our lives as outlined in Ephesians 1:11.

Q: What can we learn from Jonah's rebellion against God?

Jonah's rebellion teaches us about the futility of resisting God's call and the importance of repentance. Jonah's attempt to flee from God's command showcases the futility of rebellion against divine authority. His journey to Tarshish represents the human tendency to resist God’s will out of fear or prejudice. Yet even in rebellion, God's purposes did not fail; He intervened to correct Jonah's course. This serves as a powerful reminder that no matter how far we run, God's grace is persistent. It encourages believers to confess their sin and turn back to God, who is always ready to forgive, as seen in Jonah 2:2, where Jonah cried out to the Lord from the depths of despair.

Q: Why is the story of Jonah significant for understanding God's mercy?

Jonah's story illustrates God's mercy, showing that He desires to extend grace to all, even those we may deem undeserving. The narrative of Jonah profoundly illustrates God's mercy, particularly in His willingness to forgive Nineveh despite their wickedness. God sent Jonah not to condemn but to offer them a chance to repent and receive mercy. This highlights the broader theological truth that God's grace is not limited to Israel but extends to all nations. The Ninevites' repentance and subsequent salvation underscore that God's mercy is available to those who turn to Him genuinely. It calls Christians to reflect on the extent of God's grace in their own lives, showing that none are beyond the reach of His love.

Q: How does God's hand in our lives relate to our responsibilities as believers?

God's hand in our lives guides and equips us, reminding us of our responsibilities to serve Him faithfully. As believers, recognizing God's hand at work in our lives is crucial for understanding our responsibilities. Just as Jonah was called to proclaim God's message, we too have been entrusted with the gospel. Despite our imperfections, God uses our experiences, including trials and moments of grace, to prepare us for His purpose. He works within us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure, as stated in Philippians 2:13. This insight encourages us to respond to God's calling, serving Him with confidence, knowing that He orchestrates our paths for His glory.

Had I called and asked you to
sing that hymn, I couldn't have picked a better hymn to introduce
the message this morning. Turn with me, if you will, to
the book of Jonah. I hope you have learned, maybe I should say are learning,
I think we really never learn anything. Maybe learn. Along the way, pick up a few
things. I hope you are learning. To observe
the hand of God in your life. And to see the hand of God in
everything. The title of my message this
morning is The Hand of God in the Life of Jonah. But as I talk
about Jonah's life, Ron, I'm talking about the hand of God
in your life. and in my life. Though the Book of Jonah is found
here among the minor prophets, it's not really a prophecy at
all, but rather it is an inspired autobiography written by Jonah
under the influence, inspiration, direction of God the Holy Spirit. And the purpose of the book is
to show us the method of God's grace toward his servant Jonah
and thus the method of God's grace toward each of his elect. Jonah was an insignificant man,
the insignificant son of an insignificant man from nowhere of significance. We find in 2 Kings 14 that this
man Jonah was the son of Amittai of Gathipher. And Gathipher in
Galilee was a city that belonged to the tribe of Zebulun, tucked
away in a remote corner of Israel. I don't think that except for
studying Jonah, I've ever heard the word Gathipher used anywhere. Don't know anything about it,
except this is where Jonah and his daddy were from. But God
had chosen Jonah. as the object of his grace and
had ordained that Jonah, this man who was the object of his
grace, should also be a prophet to proclaim his grace. And I
am bringing this message this morning because I want you to
see that the life of Jonah, as it is recorded in this book,
is a marvelous, instructive picture of God's providence and grace
in the lives of chosen sinners. As the book of Jonah opens here
in chapter one, Jonah is already a prophet. He's already a man
of faith. He's already a servant of God,
a preacher of righteousness. But though he was already a believer
and already a prophet, though he was already preaching to others,
this man Jonah had a whole lot to learn. Look at verse one.
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai,
saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against
it, for their wickedness is come up before me. Now, we don't really
find out why Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh until we get
to chapter four. But it appears from chapter four
that this man of God, and he was a man of God, yet he was
a man, a man of sinful flesh. And it appears from chapter four
that this man of God did not want to go to Nineveh because
of his racial prejudice against the Assyrians who lived there.
The fact is he didn't want God to have mercy on the Assyrians.
Imagine that. Imagine that. He didn't want
God to spare that city. He knew the Ninevites were sworn
enemies to Israel and being an Israelite, he didn't want Ninevah
spared to do any more harm to Israel. So we read in verse three, Jonah
rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
Now this is where our story begins, and this is where Jonah's trouble
began. When Jonah made up his mind to
rebel against the revealed will of God, God said, rise up, go
to Nineveh. Jonah said, I won't. He said,
I'll go somewhere else. I'm going to get away from God.
I'm not going to Nineveh. I'm not going to preach to Nineveh.
I'll go in some place where God won't see me. God won't speak
to me and God won't deal with me. I'm tired of hearing his
voice and I will not submit to this. Could that happen to a
believer? Did to Jonah. Did to Jonah. When he rose up to rebel against
the revealed will of God, he went down to Joppa. And very
conveniently, we see that he found a ship going to Tarsus. I can just picture the old boy.
Well, now this is providential. The Lord has arranged this for
me. I must have misunderstood after all. This is the Lord's
will for me to go to Tarsus. So he got on the ship. but read
the next line. It's not written for convenience
sake. It's written to teach you something.
So he paid the fare thereof. There's a sermon in that and
I may come back to it again. Now you listen to this preacher. You listen to this rebel who's
had a good bit of experience as a rebel. If you choose the
rebel's path, you're going to pay the fare they're on. And
what a fare it is. Some of you here are just like
Jonah. God has spoken to you. He's revealed
to you what you must do. Perhaps he's spoken to you by
the gospel, calling you to bow to Christ, to follow Christ,
to confess Christ, to become one of his disciples. Perhaps
he's called you to some specific area of service in his kingdom. Perhaps. Perhaps he's called
you to some specific task, some specific responsibility for the
glory of his name and the good of his people. But you've thus
far refused to hear his voice. You said no. I'm not going to
give this up. I'm not going to go there. I'm
not going to do this. No, I'm not willing to pay the price.
And you are fleeing from the Lord. And I'll tell you what, God may
just let you flee for a little while. He does it often. But as I said, you'll have to
pay the fare. And the fare will be a painful
cost. And yet, even that God will use
for your benefit, if indeed you're His. Now keep your Bibles open
here to the book of Jonah and follow me as I go through these
four chapters. And I want to show you five things
in these four chapters that we're told specifically God did, five
things that we're told that God did specifically for Jonah. Now these five things affected
the lives of everybody around Jonah. These five things affected
the lives of the believer and the unbeliever. They affected
the lives of the just and the unjust. They affected the lives
of this man who was God's servant and those who were the objects
of God's wrath. But everything done was done for Jonah. Look
at it in verse four of chapter one. We read first, the Lord
sent a great wind into the sea. And then in chapter one, verse
17, the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And
then in chapter four, verse six, the Lord prepared a gourd. And
then in verse seven, God prepared a worm. And then we read that
God prepared a vehement east wind. Now let's look at these
five things together. First in chapter one, verse four,
the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea. Jonah had gotten
on the ship, he paid the fare to get on the ship, and he's
gone down into the belly of the ship, and he's fast asleep. He's
just, he's so happy. He's found his way now to Galilee,
going to Nineveh. He's convinced himself that this
is God's hand and God's providence, and he's going to Tarshish. And
while he's fast asleep in the ship, the Lord sent a great,
great wind into the sea. No sooner had the ship set sail
for Tarsus than a storm arose and nearly destroyed the ship.
And if you read the chapter carefully, you'll see that everybody on
the ship got religious. Everybody, the scripture says
here that the captain and all the sailors began everyone to
cry unto his God. They all had different gods,
but they all began to cry to their God because they were about
to face death. They were about to be tossed into the depths
of the sea and they began to cry unto his God, each sailor
there, the captain and all. But there was one man and only
one man in the ship who knew God. And consequently, Lindsay,
there's only one man who knew what was going on. Everybody
knew they were in a storm, but only one man knew why. Everybody
knew they were in a mess, but only one man knew the cause of
the mess. Everybody knew that they were facing certain destruction
from the appearance of things, but only one man knew who sent
the wind and who caused the great havoc to come. This man Jonah
knew that this great storm had arisen for his sake. Look at
verse 12. They came to Jonah and said,
what's happening? How can you be asleep in the midst of all
this? Do you understand what's going on? And Jonah said, take
me up and cast me forth into the sea. So shall the sea be
calm unto you. For I know, look at this, I know
that for my sake, this great tempest has come upon you. This thing came for my sake. Because of what I've done, because
I'm God's servant, because of what I've done, fleeing from
the face of the Lord, because God has got his hand on me, this
thing has come to pass, throw me overboard. Now, be sure you
get this first lesson. God, write it on my heart. Everything that comes to pass
in this world, I'm not pausing to look for something
to say, I'm pausing because I want you to hear it. Everything that
comes to pass in this world comes to pass for the sake of God's
elect and is brought to pass by the hand of God. There are
no such things as accidents here. There are no such things as luck.
There are no such things as chance happenings. I recall one time,
well, I won't call his name, I'll avoid embarrassing, one
of the young preachers at 13th Street was preaching, and the
fellow knew better, but you know, we have such a tendency to think
about things as being lucky. He said, you can thank your lucky
stars, you're born in a place where you can hear the gospel.
No, no such thing as lucky stars. No, no such thing as luck going
on at all, not at all. No, these things are brought
to pass by God's hand. The reason you're sitting here,
the reason you have experienced everything in your life that
has caused you to be sitting here, is that God has done it.
God has done it. We read in 1 Corinthians 3, verse
21, all things are yours. Everything. Everything. The Lord says, all things are
for your sakes, that the abundant grace might, through the thanksgiving
of many, redound to the glory of God. What does that mean?
Exactly what it says. To you who believe, all things
are for your sakes. All things are for your sakes,
and all things are of God. Now that's the language of scripture.
That's not the language of some doctrinal system or some theologian
or a preacher. That's the language of scripture.
All things are yours. All things are for your sake
and all things are of God. Everything. Though Jonah was
determined to forsake the Lord, God was determined that he would. The foundation of God standeth
sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. And
though many times it is true of us, as it was of Jonah, that
we turn from our God in unbelief, yet it is a faithful saying,
if we believe not, he abideth not. Prone to wonder, Lord, I fear. to leave the God I love, here's
my heart. Oh, take and seal it, seal it
for thy courts above. Now, though Jonah sought to flee
from his responsibilities as a believer, the Lord graciously
forced him to confess his faith before an unbelieving mom. Look
in verse 8, chapter 1. Then they said to him, tell us,
we pray thee, for whose cause has this evil come upon us? What
is your occupation? Where did you come from? What
is your country? And of what people are you? And
he said unto them, I'm a Hebrew. I fear the Lord, the God of heaven,
which hath made the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceeding
afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the
men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because
he told them. Then they said unto him, What
shall we do unto thee? That the sea may be calm unto us, for
the sea wrought and was tempestuous. And he said to them, Take me
up, and cast me forth into the sea. So shall the seed be common
to you, for I know that for my sake this great tempest is come
upon you. Now notice the confession God
forced him to make. Here he is in the midst of this
ship, in the midst of a bunch of infidels and pagans who were
crying everyone to his own God. And Jonah is compelled by God
to acknowledge that he is God's servant and declare to them who
God really is. He says, I'm in Hebrew, a child
of God's election. I fear God, the one true and
living God, and I have rebelled against my Lord. That's the reason
all this has come to pass. And not only that, but Jonah
obviously told them something about the character of God in
his absolute total sovereignty, in his holiness and justice,
and in the certainty that he will punish sin. For the Lord
God is here described by these folks in verse 14. Wherefore
they cried unto the Lord, these unbelieving infidels, who had
just a few minutes before been every one, praying to his God.
They began to cry to Jehovah, the Lord God, and said, We beseech
thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's
life, and lay not upon us innocent blood, for thou, O Lord, hast
done as it pleased thee. They learned in a hurry. And when the day was over, God was glorified before everybody
in that ship. Jonah had fled. Jonah rebelled. Jonah was going
to have his own way. Jonah had committed terrible
transgression. But before the day was over,
Jonah confessed God and every man on the ship acknowledged
God and bowed to God and worshiped God. But why are you stressing
this? So great and so good is our God
that even the wrath of man pleases him. So gracious, so good. so kind,
so merciful, so infinitely indescribably gracious is our God, that he
sovereignly rules all things and overrules all things, even
our shameful deeds of disobedience, and ultimately shall cause men
to praise his holy name, both for his faithfulness and for
his I look back over my life, the
days of my rebellion and unbelief, and I look back over my life
these last 30 years that I have endeavored to follow the Lamb
with or soever He goeth, and I see my rebellion and unbelief
still. And if you think I look at that
lightly, you don't have any idea. You don't have any idea what
I'm talking about. Oh no. I loathe the sin. I loathe the rebellion. I loathe
the unbelief. Would to God, oh, would to God,
there were not one spark of unbelief. Not one dark corner of unbelief,
not one act of rebellion, not one thought or deed of rebellion
before him. But to suggest there isn't would
be the lie to you and to him. But I tell you what I see. I see the hand of God everywhere. Truly, God moves in a mysterious
way. his wonders to perform. He plants
his footsteps in the sea and rides majestically, rides in
sovereign control upon the storm. This is our God. He has his way
everywhere and everything he does, Rex Bartlett, he does for
your sake. Everything. Everything. You mean The tempest, the storm, being cast into the depths of
the sea, everything. It's easy. Oh, it's easy to look
at the good and say, there, God did that. And say, now we bless
the Lord because he did this good thing for us. It is faith
that understands. God does his will everywhere,
with everybody, in everything, and bows, understanding the loving
kindness of the Lord. Secondly, in verse 17, we read
that the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. Now this fish is kind of like
the fruit of the tree that Adam ate of. We always call that fruit
an apple. Whether an apple or a pear or
a peach or something, we don't even know anything about. And
we about always call this fish, this great fish the Lord prepared
for Jonah, a whale. And, you know, sometimes fellas
get all caught up. They gotta prove that a whale
could swallow a man. And I've read articles and read
pamphlets written by infidels who said, why, this is silly.
A whale could never swallow a man. A man couldn't live in the gastric
juices of a whale's stomach for three days and then be spit out
again. That's silly to believe such a thing. And then I read,
just the other day I read a pamphlet trying to defend this. There
was a specific kind of shark quail who lived, got to be as
big as a hundred tons in that part of the world and tried to
defend this, you know, from scientific evidence. Shoot, that don't matter.
The book says here the Lord prepared a great fish. Whatever kind it
was, it may have been a crappie. I don't know. But he prepared
a great fish big enough specifically to swallow up Jodah. And big
enough specifically for Jodah to live in his belly for three
days. And at God's appointed time to
spit him out on the dry ground again. Do you believe that? Yeah, I believe God. That's simple
enough. He created the world. No trouble
to prepare a great fish to do one thing. Folks get all caught up in trying
to debate and prove stuff and miss the message. Now, the fact
is Jonah's experience in this passage is typical of the resurrection
of our Lord and the accomplishment of redemption by Him. In Matthew
12 and verse 40, our Lord Jesus said to the Pharisees, for as
Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly,
so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the
heart of the earth. in the belly of this great fish,
as our Lord speaks of it here, and it's translated a whale,
but still a great fish. Jonah was there three days and
three nights. And the Lord says, so shall the
son of man for three days and three nights be in the heart
of the earth. Our Lord Jesus, when he was made
to be seen for us, was swallowed up in the sea of God's wrath,
just as Jonah was swallowed up in the sea and in the belly of
this whale. When he was slain as our substitute,
the Lord Jesus as a dead man lay with his body cast into the
heart of the earth in the tomb of death for three days and three
nights. But three days after he was put
into the heart of the earth, the Son of God came forth. from
the grave, victor over death, hell in the grave, and his resurrection,
his literal bodily resurrection. Do you really believe he physically
came out of the grave? Well, of course I do. Of course
I do. He rose from the dead. This is
not some phantom that rose from the dead. He said, here, touch
me. Touch me. A ghost doesn't feel like this.
A ghost doesn't look like this. Touch me. He rose from the dead. And his resurrection is a declaration
by God Almighty as the proof and evidence that by his one
sacrifice for sin, he had put away the sins of God's elect
which had been impeded to him and put them away once and for
all, forever. Jonah's deliverance from the
belly of this great fish is also a picture of the believer's experience
of grace in this world. There's a lot of debate these
days about when is a person saved. Now, I don't think I know it.
You'd be wise, you'd be wise to even forget, try your best
to forget about time and place. If you have to look back to yesterday
to prove you're saved, you ain't saved. That's just fact. You
gotta look to an experience, that's what happened to me, I
remember, that's my salvation. You don't know God yet. But the
fact is, it's utterly insignificant when you experience God's grace. The issue is, do you now know
the Lord? Have you experienced God's grace
indeed? Are you indeed born of God? But
I know this much. Whenever a sinner is saved by
the grace of God, he's taught of God. God doesn't save folks
in darkness. He saves them out of darkness.
God doesn't bring people into the knowledge of truth and leave
them believing lies. No, no. When man's saved by God's
grace, he is taught of God. And when a person is taught of
God, there's some things he knows and experiences. And they're
pictured for us here in Jonah chapter two. With the awareness that God's
just wrath is upon him. A man is saved when he cries
out to God for mercy. Look at this, verse 1, then,
then. You remember what was read in
Psalm 107? They're brought down to the depths of the sea. They're
brought to their wits end, hungry and thirsty, helpless, ignorant. They call on the Lord. Then,
when Jonah was brought down into the belly of the whale, the scripture
says, then Jonah prayed unto the Lord, his God, out of the
fish's belly. And he said, I cried by reason
of mine affliction unto the Lord. And he heard me out of the belly
of hell, cried I, and thou heardest my voice. I'll tell you why most folks
sitting in church pews know nothing about the kingdom
of heaven. I'll tell you why. Because they've
never been in the belly of hell. Don't know what it is. Don't
know what it is. You will never call upon God
for mercy until you need mercy. And there are not many folks
who do. You will never seek grace until you need grace. And there
are not many folks who do. You will never seek the righteousness
of a substitute until you see that you've got none. You will
never seek forgiveness until you see that you need forgiveness.
You will never seek Christ until you're made to need Christ. Oh,
but if ever you're made to be put in the belly of hell under
the wrath of God in your own soul's understanding of things,
you'll cry out like the publican, God be merciful to me. I'm the sinner. A person is saved when from the
depths of corruption he looks to Christ in faith. You see that
in verse 3? For thou hast cast me into the
deep, in the midst of the seas, and the floods come past me about.
All thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then said I,
I'm cast out from thy sight, yet I will look again toward
thy holy temple. That temple is the house of the
Ark of the Covenant. That Ark of the Covenant, that
temple, all the furnishings at that temple portray our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the place of mercy. I will look
again toward the Son of God, the substitute, the sacrifice.
The waters compassed me about, even to the soul the depth closed
me round about. The weeds were wrapped about
my head. I went down to the bottoms of
the mountain. The earth with her bars was about me forever.
Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption. Oh Lord, my
God, when my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord. And my
prayer came in unto thee, into thy holy temple. A person saved when he comes
to know the one true and living God. Now you listen to me. The woods
are full of gods. They're just about as many. They
got an idea of what kind of character God ought to be in. And this
is the idea he has of God. And this is the God he calls
upon. But look at verse 8. They that observe lying vanities,
that's your idea who God is. You know what an image is? An image is that which you look
at, which comes from your imagination. An image of God is an image of
what you think God is. And so folks, you know, they
think God's some kind of a monster. They have monstrous looking gods. Read Greek mythology. And folks
have an idea of what God is. They've imagined in their minds
this weak, kind of helpless God that wants to do what he can't
do, tries to do what he fails to do. And they've got this thing
conjured up in their minds, but it's just an image of God. a
lying vanity. Look at it. They that observe
lying vanities forsake their own mercy. Our Lord Jesus said,
this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true
God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. People have the idea
these days that, you know, we, We all worship the same God.
Doesn't matter whether you're Baptist or Buddhist or free will
or grace. Doesn't matter whether you're
Hindu or Pentecostal or Catholic or Presbyterian. It doesn't matter.
We all worship the same God. No. More accurately, we all by
nature worship differing lying vanities. But another one God. And he's God revealed in this
book. And it doesn't matter that you call him by the right name.
His name represents who He is, what He is, His character. You
must understand who God is. He's the sovereign of the universe,
whom alone saves whom He will, who alone has His will, where
He will, who is holy, righteous, and just, must punish sin, will
by no means clear the guilty, but has provided His Son a ransom,
in whom His justice is satisfied, by whom sin is put away, in whom
He can be just and the justifier of the ungodly. This is life
eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. I'll tell you what a man
said when God lifts him up from the miry pit of corruption by
His almighty grace. Jonah said in verse 6, I went
down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth with her bars compassed
me about forever. Yet hast thou brought up my life
from corruption. Oh Lord, my God. He reached out his hand for me
and pulled me from the miry pit of corruption and misery and
set my feet upon a rock. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. Has he done so for you? A sinner is saved when from the
depths of his inmost soul he acknowledges and confesses what
Jonah here acknowledged and confessed in verse nine. Salvation is of
the Lord. Saved sinners know it. You don't have to convince a
man who's experienced his sin, his depravity and his corruption,
who's experienced the wrath of God. You don't have to convince
a man who's experienced grace that salvation's of the Lord.
Salvation is according to the Lord's purpose. He planned it.
If he hadn't planned it, it'd never come to pass. I sure wouldn't
have invented it. Salvation is by his purchase. He has obtained
eternal redemption for us. and salvation by his power. He
did it. I recall when I was just a young
man hearing my pastor by the time the day was preaching from
this text. And he had a way of putting things. He said Jonah was down in that
whale's belly and he's all wrapped up in seaweed. Seaweed just choking
him to death. This Armenian preacher came up
and tapped on the wheel of a bed and he said, Brother Jonah, you're
going to have to make a decision and get out of there. And Jonah
spit the seaweed out. He said, Oh, no, isn't my decision
got me in here? And that's just our decision
gets us in the mess, never gets us out of it. Our will gets us
in hell. It'll never get us out. Our will
brings us into bondage. It'll never bring us out. Jonah
said, Salvation's of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Once
the Lord caused the great fish to spit Jonah out, the word of
the Lord came to him again and said, Jonah, go to Nineveh. And buddy, he hit the ground
running. You read about it in chapter 2 verses 10 through chapter
3 in verse 10. Jonah went to Nineveh preaching
that God had sent him to preach the message of judgment. He said
that the appointed day, judgment's coming. Will you listen to me? At the appointed day, judgment's
coming. It's coming. And it's coming
for you. And this may be your appointed
day. Judgment's coming. You're going to meet God. You're
going to meet God face to face. And the wrath of God's going
to consume you in hell forever if he finds one spot of sin on
you. Jonah proclaimed God's message.
What mercy? You know, these Ninevites deserve
God's wrath, just like you do. And they deserve God's wrath
without warning, just like you do. And lots of folks had already
experienced God's wrath without warning. Just as it's happened
in this day. A lot of folks. There are multitudes
who go to hell who never had the privilege of hearing God
speak by the voice of a man. There are multitudes who go to
hell who've never had the privilege of opening a word that is the
word of God and hearing God speak by His word. There are multitudes
in hell today who never heard the voice of the Son of God.
These folks deserve to go to hell without warning. But God
sent him a preacher to warn them of judgment. And
that in itself ought to give you hope. For when God intends
to have mercy on a sinner, he always sends his word to heal
his chosen. You remember what we read in
Psalm 107? He sent his word and healed them. And when the city heard this,
the king sitting on his throne sent out a decree, and he said,
now fellas, God is right. We've seen it. And the whole
city repented. I mean everybody. The whole city
put on sackcloth and ashes and repented before God. This is
some kind of a city. You read in the very last verse
of the fourth chapter that there were 60,000 twice. There were three score infants
in that city. 120,000 infants who could not
discern their left hand from their right. 120,000, just the
babies. That's a pretty good-sized city.
And at word of God, the city repented. The Ninevites reasoned like I
wish I could get every sinner who hears my voice to reason.
Look in chapter 3 verse 9. Oh, what good reasoning this
is. The king said, let's repent now. Let's put on sackcloth and
ashes. Let's repent with everything
we've got. Turn again to God. Turn from our wickedness. Call
on the Lord. Who can tell? If God will turn
and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish
not. Oh, who can tell? Maybe God will
have mercy. Who can tell? We deserve his
wrath. We've earned his wrath. He's
sworn that he will destroy the wicked. But who can tell? Maybe
this great God of whom Jonah speaks will yet have mercy. And I will tell you this. When
sinners hear God's word and turn to him in repentance, they always
obtain mercy. Look at verse 11. And God saw
their works, not their sackcloth and ashes, not their outward
works produced by their flesh. No, no, no. But he saw their
inward works, their repentance and faith toward him. Those inward
works of repentance and faith which He wrought in them, and
yet they were their works. They truly did repent and they
truly did believe. And I'm telling you, you must
repent and you must believe. But if you do, that's not your
doing. Oh no, these things are gifts of God. These folks turn
with sincerity, turn with earnestness, turn with fear in their hearts,
turn in repentance and cry, who can turn? Maybe God will yet
be merciful. And when God saw their works,
that they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the
evil that he said that he would do
unto them, and he did it. What on earth is that talking
about? Do we know that God changes not?
But it sure looks like he does. God's purpose is always fulfilled. He didn't make any alterations
in his plan. But in the appearance of things, it looks like he does.
God said, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Die you must. Pastor, you mean I've got to
suffer the wrath of God? Yes, sir. Do you mean God will
not forgive my sin? No, sir. Do you mean God will
never, never, never look the other way and pretend I didn't
sin? No, sir, it'll never happen. It'll never happen. But I'm telling you right now, if right where you are, you look
to Jesus Christ, the Lord, and repentance and faith. Turn from
your evil way. Turn from yourself to Him. God will never punish you for
sin. And God will forgive your sin. God will forget your sin. God will have mercy on you. He'll
do it. He'll do it. Well, that's not
consistent. consistent with him. That's his
character. Does it for Christ's sake, through
the merit of his son, through the blood of his son. The repentance
of these Ninevites is so highly commended by our Lord Jesus that
he says that he would rise up in the day of judgment to condemn
the men and women of the generation in which he lived upon this earth. Then in chapter four, We read
that Jonah got mad at God. He got mad at God because God
had mercy upon Nineveh, and Jonah went out to pout. Look at verse
one of chapter four. It displeased Jonah exceedingly,
and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the Lord and
said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was
yet in my country? Therefore I fled before and to
Tarshish, for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
Therefore now, O Lord, take I beseech thee my life from me, for it's
better for me to die than to live. Then said the Lord, doest
thou well to be angry? So Jonah went out of the city, sat on the east side of the city
and there made him a booth and sat under a shadow till he might
see what would become of the city. Now, look at chapter four,
verse six. Here's the third thing God did
for Jonah. The Lord God prepared a gourd and made it come up over
Jonah that it might be a shadow over his head to deliver him
from his grief. What a picture. Here's a pouting,
peevish prophet. Mad at God. He's mad at God. He's upset with God. How can
I say that strongly enough so you understand this man's condition? He's sitting out here outside
the city, mad because God's going to spare the city rather than
destroy the city. upset, angry, but he is the servant
of a most merciful, infinitely gracious, indescribably good
God. This gourd had Now I look at
this and every time I read it, I get a picture of a great big
huge gourd like we'd grow around here. That's not a picture at
all. That's a palm crust. It's a huge leaf that spring
up quickly. This gourd or this palm crust
was prepared by God specifically to comfort his servant Jonah
while his servant Jonah sat out there and pouted mad at him. Now, as we see the hand of God
in grace, I want us to see the hand of God in the daily comforts
of our lives. Every good thing which we enjoy
in this world, no matter how great or how small it may be,
comes from the hand of God. One of the hymn writers said,
"'Tis God that lifts our comforts high or sinks them to the graves. He gives, and blessed be his
name. He takes but what he gave. Now
let me show you a few things about this gourd, this pomkist
that God prepared for Jonah. First, God sent this gourd to
comfort his servant when his servant was totally undeserving
of comfort. That ought to teach us something
about kindness, shouldn't it? Ought to teach us something about
mercy. This comfort that God gave was only a gourd. It was just, it was just a palm-kissed
leaf that grew up quickly over Joel. Just a leaf. That's all. But it was exactly
what Joel needed. And that's what God gives us. He gives us exactly what we need. Just exactly as much bitterness,
just exactly as much sweetness, just exactly as much delight,
and just exactly as much sorrow, just exactly as much pleasure,
and just exactly as much pain. as we need. That's what it is. Thirdly, the Lord sent this gourd
to Jonah at the right time. And I'm telling you, God's blessings,
oh buddy, they're always just at the right time. Just at the
right time. Folks, I recall reading years
ago this lady, She came to Spurgeon all distressed and upset, and
she said to him, she said, Preacher, I don't think I'm saved. And
he said, why? She said, well, this thing's
been really bothering me. He said, what is it? She said,
I don't have any dying grace. He said, are you dying? She said,
well, no. He said, well, when you need
it, God will give it. God gives what you need at the time you
need it. Never before. Well, I don't know
whether I'd have, I don't know whether I'd have what the martyrs
had or not. I don't need what the martyrs had. I need something
else. I don't, I don't know whether
I could, I could burn at the stake for my Lord or not. I'm
not burning at the stake. I'm living in Danville, Kentucky.
I got some other needs. God gives what we need at exactly
the right time. Fourthly, God's purpose in sending
the gourd was to comfort protect his beloved servants and God's
purpose and Everything he does is to come and protect markings Even when it looks like he's
going to destroy you got that And God's purpose was exactly
fulfilled with the going The next line of the text says, Jonah,
he looked up for that baking sun scorching his head. He looked
up, he was glad, exceeding glad for the gold. Couldn't have been
any happier if he had had him a palatial palace in the top
of a cool mountain somewhere. The gold was what he needed.
He was exceeding glad. But all earthly comforts are
just temporary. and we must not get too attached
to them. In verse seven, you see the fourth thing God did
for Jonah. God prepared a worm and it smoked the gourd that
it withered. And Merle, somehow we've got
to learn to see the hand of God in our sorrows, bereavements
and losses, just as we see the hand of God in our comforts and
riches and delights. This too is God's doing. You remember, Oscar, when the
Lord came to Eli and said, Eli, I'm going to kill your two boys
and it's your fault. He said, if you'd been a better
daddy, things wouldn't have turned out this way. But Eli was still God's
servant. And this is Eli's response to
God's prophet, the young boy Samuel. He said, it is the Lord. Let him do a single thing. God said, David, I'm going to
kill your boys. And don't you cry for him. And
Aaron held his peace. God came and took Job's family,
took his wealth, took his children, Took his whole, took his riches,
took his health. Finally, his wife looked at him
and said, why don't you cuss God and die? You know what Job
did? He bowed his head, fell on the ground, worshiped God. Now in verse eight, here's the
fifth thing God did. And it came to pass when the
sun did rise that God prepared a vehement east wind and the
sun beat upon the head of Jonah. Now here is God's heavy hand
on his servant. Our greatest trials sometimes
come in connection with the most insignificant things. The sun
beat on Jonah's head because God just took away a leaf. That's
all. Sometimes greater trials are
insignificant things and demonstrate what we are more than the things
that we'd look at and say, boy, if a man can stand that, he can
stand anything. Trials often come one on the heels of another,
and they sometimes appear to be downright brutal. The trials that are hardest to
bear are the ones you look at and
you say, now preacher, you tell me what
good is going to come of this. Those are hardest to bear. You
can look at a dying companion and say, well, he's soon going
to be with the Lord and find comfort even in the midst of
sorrow. You can look at a difficulty and say, well, this difficulty
has caused this thing to come to pass and it's good. And you
can see where good has come out of evil. But when all you see
is a scorching sun beating down on your head and you're about
to die, And you say, no good. How is any good coming of this? Now that's a difficult trial
to bear. And they usually come, those
heaviest trials, when we're sitting down most
comfortable and secure. Here's Jonah sitting under his
gourd, he was exceeding happy. Oh boy, everything going my way
now. The Lord's finally seen things
my way. Hang on. Woe unto them that are
at ease in Zion. And I'll tell you what our trials
will do. Trials will never, never, never make you. And they'll never
break you. Trials, Lindsay, will reveal
exactly what you are. This trial just revealed Jonah's
anger at God. That's all. Now let me show you
one more thing. Look at verses 10 and 11 of chapter
4. This is what I want you to see.
God did all of these things for his servant Jonah so that he
might prepare Jonah to be an instrument of usefulness in his
kingdom for the delivering of his people. Then the Lord said, Thou hast
had pity on the gourd for which thou hast not labored. Neither
madest thou it to grow, which came up in a night and perished
in a night. Jonah, you've had pity on something you had nothing
to do with and something that really is nothing but an insignificant
gourd, rises up one day and gone the next. And you're angry with
me because I spared Nineveh? Should not I spare Nineveh? That
great city wherein are more than six score thousand, a hundred
and twenty thousand persons that cannot discern between their
right hand and their left? And also much cattle? Now what
God did for Jonah, or what God did for Nineveh rather, He was
also purposed, He had also purposed to do for Israel an even more
undeserving people. And the person, the prophet, the man who would
carry the message of deliverance to Israel was old Jonah. Back in 2 Kings chapter 14 and
verse 25, God talks about the restoration of Israel under the
hand of Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah. and Jeroboam,
the son of Joash, the king of Israel. He restored the coast
of Israel from the entering of Hamath under the sea of the plain,
according to the word of the Lord, God of Israel, which he
spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the
prophet, which was of Japheth. You see, God taught Jonah his
mercy. And God taught Jonah to be merciful. When all was said and done, Jonah
goes back to Israel in a time of their terrible rebellion,
and he proclaimed mercy. And this man, knowing God's mercy
and being merciful, was used of God as an instrument of mercy
for the deliverance of many. When I was finishing this up
late last night, one more thought came to me. If ever we learn to be merciful, if ever we learn to be merciful,
Maybe God will use us too. Maybe he will. Now, if you choose to run from
God, you're fighting a losing battle. You're running a race
you'll never win. If God's got you, if God has
chosen you for himself, his grace is irresistible. His will is
irresistible. His teaching is irresistible.
He's gonna bring you exactly where He wants you. I bid you
now surrender to Him, for Christ's sake. Amen. Lindsay, you lead
us in a hymn, please.

The Hand of Our God In The Life of Jonah

What does the Bible say about God's providence in our lives?

How do we know that God's grace is for us?

Why is understanding God's sovereignty important for Christians?

What can we learn from Jonah's rebellion against God?

Why is the story of Jonah significant for understanding God's mercy?

How does God's hand in our lives relate to our responsibilities as believers?

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The Hand of Our God In The Life of Jonah

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