What Jonah Would
Say if He Were Alive Today!
Jonah
June 30, 2013 AM
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
I.
Introduction (Matthew
12:38-41)
A.
There was a GREAT prophet named
Jonah
B.
He lived and preached about 750
years before the birth of Jesus
C.
He preached through all of the
area around Galilee in
D.
750 years later, when people
asked Jesus for a miraculous sign to prove that He was the Messiah
(Jesus had already done many miracles, and proved it countless times already),
Jesus instantly reminded them of Jonah (Mt 12:38-41)…
1.
A real prophet – not a made up
story for children
2.
Literally and really survived 3
days and 3 nights in a whale
3.
A great preacher
4.
And I believe, that Jesus was
recognising Jonah as the 2nd greatest missionary of all time!
5.
Yet, he preached the greatest
revival meeting of all time – in the capital city of Nineveh, 600,000 pagan,
Gentile sinners were converted, and saved from God’s coming judgment!
E.
He not only was well known for
being a great preacher, but also…
1.
For being very stubborn, and
refusing to do what God had commanded
2.
For having a bad attitude about
lost people
F.
And his Book that bears his name
is his advice to us today!
G.
What would Jonah say if he were
alive today?
H.
I hope that you already know the
Biblical story of Jonah…
I.
I am going to just sample a few
verses
J.
Let’s see if we can pick up and
hear what his advice is about Missions, and world evangelism!
II.
Message
A.
Do Care About the Lost
(Jonah 1:1-3a) – care about the wicked, the pagans, those bound in darkness of
sin!
Jonah did not care
about many things!
1.
He hated the Ninevites – why?
a.
The Ninevites were PAGAN People!
1)
Built massive, pagan temples, Ziggurats – huge pyramids for human and
animal sacrifices
2)
Multitude of gods and goddesses – Marduk was the highest ‘god’ – he was
cruel
3)
There was no good afterlife in their religion
b.
The Ninevites
were Wicked People
1)
When the Ninevites captured a city they
slaughtered all the
leading citizens. When I say slaughtered, They stretched men out flat on the
ground and tied their hands and feet to stakes and literally, with a knife,
skinned them alive. They made pyramids out of human skulls to mark the route the
conquerors had taken.
2)
They lived as wickedly as
3)
They hated God, and they hated God’s people! Constantly attacking and
destroying entire cities and villages throughout
c.
The Ninevites
were a Condemned People
1)
Every nation has a period of time that where they seem to grow and
expand, but at some point will have to give account to God, and be judged for
how they lived
2)
Assyria (
3)
But they were rapidly decaying, and would soon be judged by God
4)
It was at this time, that God wanted to warn them through Jonah of the
impending judgment
5)
But Jonah did not care for them at all! WANTED them destroyed by God!
6)
He had no interest in seeing them saved from the wrath to come!
d.
Hey! It doesn’t matter how wicked someone is, care about their SOUL! GOD
CARES (John 3:16; 2Peter 3:9 “not willing
that any should perish”)
2.
Jonah couldn’t care less about the lives of the sailors that he put at
risk by being on their boat, running away from God (1:3-5)!
3.
Jonah didn’t care anymore about the will of God
a.
He used to, when it went along with what HE wanted to do – preaching to
his own people – on the job, at church, amongst friends
b.
But not anymore!
4.
Jonah didn’t care even about his own life (1:11,12) He had a death wish –
wanted to die!
5.
Why has Christianity become like
Jonah?
a.
Where did we lose our compassion
for people who are blind to the goodness of God?
b.
What happened to our burden for
people headed to a devil’s hell?
c.
According to Psalm 142:4, somebody somewhere is crying out right now “I
looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me:
refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.”
6.
Shouldn’t WE care?
7.
I think Jonah would beg us all to
CARE! To be concerned about OTHERS! Especially those “who know not God.”
1Cor 15:34 “Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the
knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.”
Do Care About the Lost
B.
Stay Soft (Jonah
1:17, 2:1)
1.
Jonah USED to be soft
towards the will of God – when it suited him (2Kings 14)
a.
Jonah was a very well known
prophet
b.
Stood up to evil king Jereboam II
c.
And had his prophecies fulfilled
all the time
d.
He enjoyed being used of God
e.
But not anymore!
2.
Jonah had learned to fiercely
fight God’s will – resisted God’s clear words to him!
a.
He let his own feelings, pride,
frustrations, anger, bitterness, and bad attitudes make him hard, and cold
towards God’s word, and towards preaching, and towards souls!
b.
He ended up resisting all the
pressures from God to do His will
c.
The storm was GOD coming against
him (1:5,6) – that sinking ship was GOD taking him down
d.
But Jonah would rather have DIED
than do what God told him to do!
e.
He was “fast asleep” just waiting
to die – not worried at all
3.
But, do you know what Jonah would
say if HE was preaching right now?
a.
“Don’t
get hard towards God!”
b.
Job said it well; Job 9:4 “who
hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?” You can’t win,
fighting the Lord of heaven and earth!
4.
Now, God doesn’t want WIMPS! What
He is looking for is someone who is strong in conviction, and strong in
commitment, but who immediately softens at the name of Jesus, obeys the
commandments, and who passionately cares about what God cares
about!
5.
Oh, the best life, the best heart
is a soft heart towards the things of God
a.
We all need a broken, contrite,
easy to be entreated attitude – easy to be persuaded
b.
Not having to be FORCED (like
Jonah had to be)!
c.
Keep your heart soft towards the
spiritual needs of this world
1)
Yes the economy is in the toilet
2)
Yes people are starving, and
drinking disease filled water all over the world
3)
Yes, wars are raging all over the
world in
4)
But worst than all of that is the
hopelessness of billions of souls without a Saviour
d.
Oh that we were soft enough to
hear just the whisper of God saying “Who will go for me, and whom shall I
send?”
Do care about the Lost
Stay Soft Towards God
C.
Don’t Miss the Blessings
of Obedience – of just doing what God says to do!
1.
Jonah experienced, without even
trying…
a.
The conversion of all those pagan
sailors on that ship (1:14-16) – that’s cool!
b.
The miraculous safety of God – in
a whale – for 72 hours in stomach digestive juices!
c.
And he experienced THE greatest
revival in the entire Bible! (600,000 people) from the king down (Jonah 3:5-10)
d.
Pentecost in Acts 2 doesn’t even
compare – ONLY 3,000 were saved that day!
2.
And yet, through it all, Jonah
missed it, didn’t enjoy any of it (Jonah 4:1-3)!
3.
Hey! When you do what God says to
do, there is a blessing for you!
a.
Even when you don’t WANT to do
it, but go ahead and do it anyway, God still will bless, because it is HE doing
the work
b.
Start enjoying the miracle of …
1)
Just reading your Bible (Rev 1:3)
“Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy,
and keep those things which are written therein”
2)
Just going Soul-winning (Psalm
126:5) “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.”
3)
Just being faithful inviting
people to church – some will come and get saved!
4)
Just tithing, and giving so that
Missionaries can go where you and I cannot go!
5)
Visiting missionaries yourself
and helping them start churches
6)
Keeping your family in church,
and in their devotions!
4.
It is a shame that too many
Christians MISS the blessings of obedience – just doing what God says to
do!
5.
I think Jonah would seriously
urge us to not miss any of those blessings!
D.
Lastly, Look for the Life of
Christ in Everything We Do (1Peter 1:8-11)
1.
Jonah should have been the
greatest prophet in the Old Testament. Greater than Elijah, Daniel
a.
But because he only saw the
Ninevites as his enemy
b.
Because he only saw troubles as a
reason to quit and die
c.
Because the mercy of God on lost
sinners was not as important as a small shelter against the sun
2.
Jonah never saw the Son of God at
work in his life
a.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
got to see the Son of God in their fiery furnace
b.
Daniel got to see the Son of God
as the stone cut out without hands, slamming against all the world’s empires
c.
Moses saw the Lamb of God in the
Passover
d.
Abraham saw Jesus on that altar
when he was about to slay his own son, Isaac
e.
But Jonah saw nothing of Jesus!
Even though He was at work the whole time
3.
Today, if Jonah were right here
before you, he would hang his head in shame and say, “I should have been
looking! I should have seen Jesus in everything that was happening in my
life!”
a.
The sacrifice of one man, to save
the life of those sailors – just like Jesus
b.
The burial for 3 days and 3
nights in the belly of the whale – like Jesus
c.
The resurrection of Christ was
seen, as Jonah was vomited out of that whale back onto dry ground – alive and
kicking
d.
The results of preaching
including the conversion of multitudes of pagan Gentiles , like you and me!
4.
Jonah’s life philosophy used to
be “Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is
better for me to die than to live.” (Jonah 4:3)
5.
What it should have been is (Php
1:20) “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I
shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now
also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.”
III.
Conclusion
A.
Today, Jonah is well known as the
Rebellious Prophet, the Bad Attitude Baptist, the Runaway Prophet, the Bad Luck
Preacher, and the Disobedient Prophet…
B.
Jonah could have gone down in
history as the greatest prophet of all time!
C.
He would have been known as the
second greatest Missionary of all time, next to Jesus Christ!
D.
But he let his own feelings, his
pride, frustrations, anger, bitterness, and bad attitudes stop him from earning
such honour!
E.
What is stopping YOU from being a
great soul-winner?
1.
If only WE cared – had a burden /
passionate compassion for the lost world around us that is under the soon coming
wrath of God!
2.
If only WE just obeyed God’s
command to go, give, and pray for souls!
3.
And, if only we saw our Lord
Jesus in what we are called to do!
a.
Not looking anymore at the
obstacles, or the problems, or the costs, or the failures
b.
But always looking unto Jesus!
c.
Following His lead
F.
I wonder, what Jonah’s are in the
audience today, who need to realise all this and make the right choices about
going, and giving, and praying!
G.
Wouldn’t it be nice to not have
many regrets as a Christian?
H.
I wonder if there are any Jonah’s
in here today who are running from God in other ways too? Just neglecting to get
saved, neglecting their Bible, neglecting getting baptized, neglecting to give…
whatever God is asking