0:05 [Music]
0:07 welcome to back to the Bible radio in
0:09 just a moment we'll join pastor and
0:11 best-selling author Warren Weir's be for
0:13 an encouraging message from God's Word
0:16 but first let me remind you to visit
0:18 back to the Bible org where you can
0:20 listen to our programs or choose from a
0:21 variety of free Bible studies and
0:24 devotions find it all at back to the
0:27 Bible org back to the Bible org
0:29 let's join dr. Weir's be and see what
0:32 God's Word has for us today
0:35 then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God
0:38 out of the fish's belly then Jonah
0:41 prayed after three days and three nights
0:45 within the great fish Jonah prayed he
0:47 discovered he had not died he was
0:49 certain he was going to die he was
0:52 certain that that was the end of Jonah
0:54 and yet he discovered that he did not
0:57 die God in His grace and mercy had kept
1:01 him alive and in Jonah chapter 2 we have
1:03 Jonah's prayer of repentance you'll
1:06 recall the chapter one we labeled
1:09 resignation because in Chapter one Jonah
1:12 rejected the will of God and he tried to
1:15 run away from the will of God he learned
1:17 the lesson of God's providence God is in
1:21 control repentance is the title of
1:25 chapter two then Jonah prayed and he
1:27 learned that God is a God who forgives
1:30 God does give us another chance would
1:32 you want your prayers to be written down
1:35 I don't mean your routine prayers that
1:37 you perhaps pray in the morning or the
1:38 evening or at the table I mean those
1:42 deep down prayers that come out of your
1:44 heart when everything seems to be going
1:48 wrong the sad thing about Jonah is this
1:52 in Chapter one he did not want the will
1:54 of God he was afraid of the will of God
1:57 God said I want you to go to Nineveh and
1:59 he arose to go in the opposite direction
2:03 he went down to Joppa and there he found
2:05 a ship that was a remarkable thing to
2:07 have a ship already waiting for you
2:10 because you couldn't get reservations in
2:12 those days it's rather interesting he
2:14 found that ship at Joppa when he was
2:16 running away from God it was at Joppa
2:18 that Peter had his
2:21 vision to go to the Gentiles and a Joppa
2:25 Jonah decided not to go to the Gentiles
2:29 you see Jonah was a patriotic Jew he did
2:33 not want Nineveh to succeed he did not
2:36 want Nineveh to rise in power he would
2:38 rather that God destroy Nineveh because
2:42 Jonah being a dedicated Jew did not want
2:45 the Gentiles to rise in power well God
2:48 caught up with Jonah Jonah learned the
2:50 lesson of God's providence you can't run
2:52 away from God and now he's going to
2:55 learn the lesson of God's pardon you see
2:58 in Chapter 1 Jonah was afraid of God's
3:00 will but now in chapter 2 he wants God's
3:05 will only in an emergency oh I have seen
3:07 that so often in my pastoral ministry
3:09 people don't want the will of God when
3:11 he speaks to them God says now don't do
3:14 that and they do it or God says now do
3:16 this and they don't do it and they run
3:18 away from God and try to run their own
3:20 lives their own way then they get into
3:22 trouble and what what do they do they
3:25 come to the preacher they say oh I want
3:27 the will of God why do you want the will
3:29 of God well I'm in trouble
3:31 there are many people who want God's
3:36 will only in an emergency we're going to
3:39 find out that in chapter 3 Jonah did the
3:41 will of God because he had to and in
3:44 chapter 4 God tries to teach him to love
3:47 his will not to be afraid of the will of
3:50 God or want the will of God only in an
3:52 emergency or not to do the will of God
3:55 because we're afraid not to in chapter 4
3:57 God's going to try to teach Jonah and us
4:01 to love his will to do the will of God
4:05 from the heart well Jonah prayed and God
4:08 answered Jonah's prayer a great miracle
4:11 took place that fish regurgitated Jonah
4:14 out upon the dry land now let's consider
4:17 the characteristics of this prayer
4:20 because we can learn from it I notice
4:22 first of all that this prayer was born
4:26 out of affliction verse 2 of Jonah
4:30 chapter 2 and said I cried by reason of
4:31 mine Affleck
4:33 chin unto the Lord and he heard me out
4:35 of the belly of Sheol
4:39 or hell the grave cried I and thou hurt
4:43 us my voice for thou has cast me into
4:45 the deep in the midst of the Seas and
4:48 the floods come past me about all thy
4:52 billows and thy waves passed over me now
4:55 he admitted that God was the one who did
4:58 all of this you noticed that it wasn't
5:00 the sailors who threw him into the deep
5:03 verse 3 God cast him into the deep
5:06 it wasn't the billows and waves of the
5:09 water that went over him these were
5:11 God's billows and God's waves that
5:15 passed over him our Lord Jesus could
5:18 have quoted verse 3 the end of verse 3
5:20 when he was on the cross being baptised
5:23 with our sufferings all thy billows and
5:26 thy waves passed over me he said I have
5:29 a baptism to be baptized with and how I
5:32 am constrained until it be accomplished
5:37 Jonah had this prayer born out of
5:41 affliction God was chastening him now
5:42 the great chapter in the Bible about
5:45 chastening is Hebrews chapter 12 and
5:47 this word chasing doesn't simply mean
5:51 punishment it means child training God
5:53 does not chasin us because he hates us
5:55 he chastens us because He loves us
5:58 Hebrews 12:6 for whom the Lord loveth he
6:01 chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom
6:04 he receiveth if a person disobeys God
6:07 and God does not spank him it's evidence
6:09 that person is not born again God always
6:10 chases his children
6:13 now there are several attitudes you and
6:15 I can take toward the chastening of God
6:19 verse 5 of Hebrews 12 my son despise not
6:21 thou the chastening of the Lord there's
6:23 the first attitude we can despise it
6:26 fight against it and say all right God I
6:29 can hold out as long as you can or we
6:31 can go the other extreme and faint under
6:34 it my son despise not thou the
6:36 chastening of the Lord nor faint when
6:38 thou art rebuked of him that's the other
6:40 extreme now God doesn't want us to faint
6:44 to give up he wants us to learn verse 7 if
6:45 if
6:48 endure chastening God dealeth with you
6:51 as with sons so we should endure the
6:53 chastening and we should submit to the
6:56 Lord verse 9 of Hebrews 12 furthermore
6:59 we have had fathers of our flesh which
7:01 corrected us and we gave them reverence
7:03 shall we not much rather be in
7:05 subjection under the father of spirits
7:09 and live the suggestion there in Hebrews
7:11 12 9 is that if we don't subject
7:14 ourselves to God we may not live there
7:18 is a sin unto death and so Jonas prayer
7:21 was born out of affliction he was going
7:24 through suffering there are 18 different
7:27 words in the Hebrew language that you
7:30 can translate to cry to cry out the
7:32 first one in verse 2 means to call out
7:36 and Jonas said I called out by reason of
7:39 my affliction the second word in Jonah 2
7:42 2 where he says I cried means to cry for
7:45 help out of the belly of Sheol the grave
7:49 down in the depths I cried out for help
7:51 and it says that God heard him twice it
7:54 tells us that God heard him now the word
7:57 says that if we regard iniquity in our
7:58 hearts the Lord will not hear us but
8:01 Jonah was now dealing with his sin he
8:03 was about to confess his sin to the Lord
8:06 his prayer was born out of affliction
8:08 you know why God put Jonah in the
8:11 darkness and the depths and the dampness
8:15 and the death of that experience here he
8:19 was inside of a great fish darkness and
8:22 death he could feel the waves and the
8:23 bills you know why God put him down in
8:26 the bottom like that to remind him of
8:30 what it was like to be lost Jonah he was
8:32 saying to him Jonah the people in
8:36 Nineveh live in darkness and death they
8:38 live a life apart from God they are
8:41 helpless and hopeless now I want you to
8:44 go help them I want you to take the
8:47 message of salvation to them the trouble
8:49 with those of us who are born again is
8:51 this we forget what it's like to be lost
8:53 we forget what it's like to be in
8:55 darkness and death and prison and despair
8:56 despair
8:58 we forget what it's like to be at the end
8:59 end
9:01 of our rope and God says to us you go
9:04 share the word with those who are in
9:07 need his prayer was born out of
9:10 affliction I notice in verse 4 that his
9:14 prayer was based on God's Word in fact
9:17 he quotes here in this prayer he quotes
9:20 seven times from six different Psalms
9:23 but the key references in verse four
9:26 then I said I am cast out of thy sight
9:30 yet I will look again toward dine holy
9:33 temple now what does it mean to look
9:35 toward the temple he had only one way to
9:36 look that was up
9:39 well when Solomon dedicated the temple
9:42 you'll find the record back in second
9:45 chronicles chapter 6 he prayed a long
9:47 prayer of dedication and he made this
9:51 statement in verse 36 if they sin
9:53 against thee talking about his people
9:56 the Jewish people for there is no man
9:58 who sinneth not and thou be angry with
10:01 them and deliver them over before their
10:02 enemies and they carry them away
10:05 captives into a land far off and there
10:08 yet if they take it to their hearts in
10:10 the land where they are carried captive
10:13 and turn and pray unto thee in the land
10:16 of their captivity saying we have sinned
10:18 we have done amiss and I've dealt with
10:20 idli if they return to thee with all
10:22 their heart and with all their soul in
10:26 the land of their captivity and where
10:29 they have been carried captives and pray
10:31 toward their land which thou gave us
10:33 under their fathers and toward the city
10:36 which thou has chosen and toward the
10:38 house which I have built for thy name
10:41 then hear thou from the heavens and
10:43 forgive thy people who have sinned
10:45 against thee now Jonah knew this Old
10:48 Testament promise he said I will look
10:50 again toward the holy temple I will
10:52 confess my sin God has promised that if
10:54 I look toward the temple and confess my
10:57 sin he will forgive me that's the Old
10:59 Testament version of first John 1:9 if
11:02 we confess our sins he is faithful and
11:04 just to forgive us our sins and to
11:06 cleanse us from all unrighteousness [Music]
11:09 [Music]
11:12 it was a prayer born out of affliction
11:13 it was a prayer that was based on God's
11:16 Word it was a prayer that gave glory to
11:18 God verses five and six the waters
11:22 compass to me about even to the soul he
11:24 was afraid he was going to die the depth
11:27 closed me round about the weeds were
11:29 wrapped about my head my what a graphic
11:32 picture I went down to the bottoms of
11:35 the mountains the earth with its bars
11:38 was about me forever he was in prison
11:42 yet hast thou brought up my life from
11:45 corruption Oh Lord my God he gives God
11:48 the glory for raising him as it were
11:52 from the dead you see the reason he was
11:53 in trouble was because he wouldn't give
11:55 glory to God it was God who sent him
11:58 down you notice how he keeps going down
12:00 chapter one verse three went down to
12:03 Joppa he went down into the ship chapter
12:06 one verse five he went down into the
12:08 sides of the ship and now in chapter two
12:11 verse five he goes down into the depths
12:13 chapter two verse six he goes down to
12:16 the bottom of the mountains to the very
12:19 foundations of the earth and he's in
12:21 prison as it were with the bars around
12:24 him down down down when you run away
12:26 from the will of God but now he's giving
12:28 glory to God thou hast brought me up
12:31 thou has saved my life Here I am Lord
12:34 you're the one who gets the glory I
12:36 notice something else about his prayer
12:40 his prayer involved confession of sin
12:42 verses 7 & 8
12:46 when my soul fainted within me my Bible
12:47 says men not always to pray and not to
12:50 faint had he prayed and been obedient to
12:52 God he wouldn't have fainted when my
12:56 soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord
12:57 Lord
12:59 it sounds like Peter doesn't it Peter
13:00 remembered the word of the Lord went out
13:02 and wept bitterly
13:04 and my prayer came in unto thee into
13:08 thine holy temple they that observe
13:13 lieing vanities forsake their own mercy
13:16 another way to read that those who cling
13:19 to worthless idols forfeit the grace
13:21 that could be theirs he's saying here
13:23 I'm gonna confess my sin
13:26 I forgot God I remembered the Lord I'd
13:27 forgotten the Lord I've been living for
13:30 myself I neglected prayer and
13:32 furthermore I've been believing lies
13:35 I've been holding on to lying vanities
13:36 he really thought he was going to get
13:38 away with it but he didn't you know
13:40 whenever a Christian gets out of the
13:41 will of God it's because he believes
13:43 some lie the devil says you can get away
13:47 with this his prayer involved confession
13:50 of sin I confess says Jonah I confess
13:51 that I forgot the Lord now I'm gonna
13:54 remember him I confess I did not pray I
13:57 neglected prayer the Mariners were
14:00 praying the pilot of the ship the
14:02 captain came down and woke Jonah up and
14:06 said come on wake up and pray I confess
14:07 I've been neglecting prayer and I
14:11 confess I've been believing lies finally
14:13 in verses 9 and 10 we discover that this
14:17 prayer resulted in a new dedication to
14:21 God but I will sacrifice unto thee with
14:24 the voice of Thanksgiving I will pay
14:28 that I have vowed salvation is of the
14:32 Lord now here he is dedicating himself
14:35 afresh to God you see in Chapter 1 the
14:38 Lord got a hold of Jonah's mind and told
14:39 him what to do but he couldn't get a
14:42 hold of Jonah's will Jonah said I will
14:45 not now he gets a hold of Jonah's will
14:48 Jonah says I will sacrifice in other
14:50 words I'm going to be thankful for your
14:53 will up till now his lips have not been
14:55 used to praise God his lips have been
14:59 used in ways that no prophet should ever
15:02 have practiced but now he says I will
15:04 sacrifice unto thee with the voice of
15:07 Thanksgiving I will pay that I have
15:10 vowed he'd made promises and he said I'm
15:13 going to keep those promises I will
15:16 glorify God salvation is of the Lord and
15:19 the Lord spoke unto the fish and it
15:23 vomited out Jonah upon the dry land then
15:27 Jonah prayed and when Jonah prayed and
15:31 confessed his sin God forgave his sin
15:34 and Jonah had a new step of dedication
15:37 to the Lord it's interesting that
15:40 in this prayer we have seven quotations
15:42 from at least six different Psalms you
15:45 see Jonah had the Word of God hidden in
15:48 his heart the Word of God says thy word
15:49 have I hid in my heart that I might not
15:52 sin against thee Jonah had the word of
15:54 God in his heart he had hidden it there
15:57 but he wasn't heeding the word of God oh
15:59 he was hiding the word but not heeding
16:02 the word and he was unwilling to herald
16:05 the word of God to a lost city that
16:08 needed salvation you know it's so easy
16:10 for us to study the Bible even memorize
16:12 the Bible but we get the blessing only
16:15 obey the Bible James chapter one tells
16:18 us that we are blessed in the doing of
16:20 the word of God not just the hearing of it
16:20 it
16:23 the fact that we hide God's Word in our
16:26 heart will not of itself keep us from
16:29 sin we have to heed that word and let
16:32 that word control our will Jonah
16:36 finally gives his will to God Jonah
16:39 chapter 3 verse 1 and the word of the
16:41 Lord came unto Jonah the second time
16:45 saying arise go unto Nineveh that great
16:48 city and preach unto it the preaching
16:52 that I bid thee so Jonah arose and went
16:56 unto Nineveh according to the word of
16:59 the Lord God is giving Jonah another
17:01 chance the word of the Lord came unto
17:05 Jonah the second time the will of God is
17:07 not a machine that breaks down when we
17:10 disobey the will of God is a living
17:13 relationship it's something like my body
17:15 the different parts of my body related
17:18 one to another if one part of my body
17:20 doesn't function properly the other
17:22 parts of the body begin to compensate
17:25 for it until we can make some repairs
17:28 now if you have disobeyed the will of
17:29 God don't think that the machine has
17:32 broken down and you are now on the junk
17:35 heap of life our God is a God of the
17:36 second chance
17:39 Abraham went down to Egypt and disobeyed
17:41 God but God gave him another chance
17:45 David disobeyed God God restored him and
17:50 used him the Apostle Peter denied the
17:51 Lord three times
17:53 and yet the Lord restored him here is
17:56 Jonah now being restored and obeying the
17:58 Lord you see in chapter 1
18:00 Jonah learned the lesson of God's
18:02 providence you can't run away from God
18:04 in chapter 2 he learned the lesson of
18:07 God's pardon how you can run to God and
18:10 He will forgive if you will ask him to
18:13 if you will ask him for his cleansing
18:16 and now in chapter 3 he learns the
18:18 lesson of God's power when the servant
18:21 of God obeys the will of God he
18:24 experiences the power of God this
18:26 chapter describes one of the greatest
18:29 missionary miracles in history here's a
18:32 wicked city of perhaps a million people
18:36 and from the King on down to the lowest
18:39 slave even the animals in the field the
18:42 entire city repents and is rescued from
18:45 certain judgment the amazing thing is
18:47 this that the preaching came from a
18:50 reluctant prophet who did not want to be
18:52 there someone has well said that this
18:54 great missionary miracle was brought
18:57 about by a man who hated the people he
19:00 was preaching to Jonah we're going to
19:02 find out in chapter 4 had one more
19:06 lesson to learn the lesson of God's pity
19:08 let's consider now the factors that were
19:11 involved in this marvelous miracle and
19:14 from these factors let us take courage
19:16 for our own ministries if you're having
19:18 a rough time today
19:21 then you need Jonah chapter 3 Thank You
19:25 number one a great challenge arise go to
19:28 Nineveh that great city and preach unto
19:31 it the preaching that I bid thee I can't
19:32 think of a greater challenge than the
19:35 city of Nineveh it was a great city
19:37 great in history you'll find Nineveh
19:40 mentioned back in Genesis chapter 10
19:43 some archeologists have put Nineveh back
19:48 3,000 BC great in size and splendor
19:52 really it was for cities connected by an
19:55 irrigation system 60 miles in
19:57 circumference if you want to go around
20:01 the cities there was one wall 8 miles in
20:04 circumference we're told it had 1500
20:07 on it and there were possibly a million
20:09 or more people in this great city
20:11 certainly it was great in history and
20:15 great in splendor and size and great in
20:19 power it was a rising power in the world
20:22 at that time and it was great in sin it
20:24 was known for its violence in verse
20:28 eight of Jonah 3 but let man and beast
20:30 be covered with sackcloth and cry
20:32 mightily unto God yay let them turn
20:35 everyone from his evil way and from the
20:37 violence that is in their hands
20:40 you cannot believe how violent and how
20:43 cruel were the people of Nineveh they
20:46 used to skin their captors alive they
20:50 would impale children on sharp spikes
20:53 buried into the ground and let them just
20:56 hang there and die they were known to
20:57 take their captives pull out their
21:00 tongue and cut the tongue right off they
21:03 burn children in the fire they were a
21:07 wicked godless people they would capture
21:10 kings and Nobles and princes and put
21:12 hooks in their noses or in their lips
21:15 and lead them along like fish that had
21:19 been caught somewhere in a lake a great
21:23 challenge here how can anything ever
21:27 reach the city of Nineveh well there's a
21:29 great concern that's the second factor
21:33 God had a concern for these people God
21:35 is not willing that any should perish
21:37 but that all should come to repentance
21:40 God who will have all men to be saved
21:44 for God so loved the world I've often
21:45 said there are three beautiful love
21:49 stories in the Old Testament Ruth tells
21:52 us about God's love for his church and
21:55 Hosea tells us about God's love for
21:58 Israel and Jonah tells us about God's
22:01 love for the lost world the interesting
22:03 thing is this God used Jonah even though
22:06 Jonah's heart was not right with God you
22:09 see in Chapter one Jonah ran away from
22:11 God because he was afraid of God's will
22:15 in Chapter two he ran to God because he
22:17 was in a bad spot it was in a more
22:20 agency he one of the will of God now he
22:22 was in trouble in Chapter three he
22:26 obeyed God simply because he hadn't - he
22:29 was afraid not to the important part of
22:31 this book no is going to come in Chapter four
22:32 four
22:34 where Jonah has one more lesson to learn
22:38 the lesson of God's pity now what are
22:41 you doing today to help to reach the
22:44 multitudes in this world who need to
22:48 hear the message thanks for being a part
22:49 of our back to the Bible listening
22:52 family so be sure to come back again for
22:54 more wisdom from God's Word join us
22:56 again on back to the Bible radio [Music]
Chrome Extension