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