Divine Compassion and Human Resistance

even though Jonah knew that he was guilty even though Jonah deserved death and even though he had surrendered himself to the just punishment of being cast into the sea yet in the moment of dying he remembered that God is slow to anger abounding instead fast love showing Mercy to thousands and he cries to the Lord how does God's compassion overcome our human resistance that's the question John Piper answers from the Book of Jonah in this episode of light and Truth this sermon was originally preached at Bethlehem Baptist Church on November 21st 1982 Jonah did not go east when God told him to go to Nineveh where Nineveh was he went to japa on the coast and took a ship which was headed for tarses which probably was in Spain God hurls a storm against this ship threatening to sink it the prayers of the crew Avail nothing and so they wake up Jonah and ask him who he is and Jonah says in verse 9 of chap 1 I'm a Hebrew and I fear the Lord of Heaven who made the sea in the dry land and they're terrified and they ask well what can we do to make the storm stop and Jonah says in verse 12 pick me up and throw me into the sea and then the storm will be calm for you it's a puzzle to me why Jonah was willing to lay down his life for these pagan Sailors when a few weeks later he gets very angry at God for having Mercy on Pagan Nineveh but I think that probably the reason he was willing to let himself be thrown overboard in this chapter is because of Shame and remorse mainly he had tried to get away from the presence of the Lord it says in verse three but how can you flee from the presence of a God who made the land and the Sea he sees how stupid he's been how utterly foolish he's been God has tracked him down he has exposed his folly his guilt is obvious he surrenders himself to the punishment there's no hope so you might as well be thrown overboard to sink with the ship or so it seems his life is at an end the crew throw him overboard he sinks in the water and what's the next thing that happens not the fish that's second the first thing that happens is the Cry of distress even though Jonah knew that he was guilty even though Jonah deserved death and even though he had surrendered himself to the just punishment of being cast into the sea yet in the moment of dying he remembered that God is slow to anger abounding in steadfast love showing Mercy to thousands and he cries to the Lord and then the Lord appointed a great fish for Jonah's rescue and he had mercy on him in the belly of the fish chapter 2 is the prayer that Jonah prayed in the belly of the fish while he was still conscious and what he does in that prayer and this is why I know that he cried in distress in the water is he recounts for us his Cry of distress in the water and his Thanksgiving in the fish Jonah cried for help and God saved him by swallowing up Jonah with a Big Fish now at least briefly in that fish Jonah was conscious probably not the whole time but at least briefly he was long enough to realize he'd been saved from drowning in the sea and during that period or possibly periods of Consciousness Jonah prays and chapter 2 tells us what he prayed in the fish in those moments when he was was conscious so when you read chapter 2 keep in mind that when he refers to past periods of distress from which God delivered him he means when he was in the water not when he was in the fish the fish is salvation the water was the threat of Destruction The Cry of distress is past tense the voice of Thanksgiving is present to in the fish now let's look at the prayer chap 2: 1 and 2 then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish saying I called to the Lord out of my distress now that's referring to the water when he was floundering in the sea I called to the Lord out of my distress and he answered me that is he sent the fish now there's a simple statement of the whole experience of Jonah in the water he was sinking he cried out to God God answered him and sent his salvation in the form of the fish now there is a tremendous amount of encouragement here um and I want to make this as uh encouraging to your own prayer life as I can it has been to mine here's the main point I want to make God answers his children when they cry to him in distress that's the main point here in Chapter 2 but there are some details about that which make it so much more precious a promise first God answers our Cry of distress even when we're guilty Jonah was not on the way to Nineveh when he fell out of the boat he was on the way to tarses he was disobeying the Lord he was in the water because he was guilty and there are some of you in this room today who are in trouble and in distress because of your own sin and Disobedience and the question that has to rise in your heart is is there any point in crying to the Lord when my problems are owing to my own guilt and Disobedience and the answer from Jonah is yes pray to the Lord and He will answer you that's not an isolated lesson in scripture listen to this scenario in Psalm 10710 following some sat in darkness and in Gloom prisoners in Affliction and in irons for they had rebelled against the words of the Lord and spurn the counsel of the most high just like Jonah their heart Hearts were burdened down and they were in hard labor they fell down with none to help then they cried to the Lord in their trouble just like Jonah and he delivered them from their distress he brought them out of darkness and Gloom and broke their bonds asunder let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love and for his wonderful Works to the sons of men if dis obedience is the cause of your present distress there is still hope cry to the Lord for mercy and he will answer you in spite of your guilt second God answers Us in spite of his own judgment look at verse three in Chapter 2 it says for thou did cast me into the deep thou did cast me into the deep it it says back in chapter 1:1 15 that the crew the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea and Jonah says here God threw me into the sea why because he knows it's a judgment from God it's chastisement it's punishment God's hand is against Jonah he's angry at him because of his Disobedience and I suppose there's nothing that makes us despair more than to think that the stress we're in is the hand of an Angry God against us and I suppose most of us would conclude if God has brought me into this rotten situation there's no point in crying to God for help right wrong because Jonah cried to the Lord in spite of the Lord's judgment upon him and the Lord who threw him into the water rescued him from from the water with a big fish that means that even when God is displeased with you the circumstances into which he brings you are never merely punitive or punishment they're always summoning you back they're always Redemptive job 36:15 says God delivers the afflicted by their Affliction and opens their ears by adversity in other words adversity is Redemptive not merely punitive even if you have felt in this week like the hand of God's against you that is no reason not to call on him call on him in your your distress and he will answer you in spite of his own judgment against you third God answers and delivers us from impossible circumstances verses five and six listen to this unbelievable plight Jonah is in the waters closed in over me this is before he got swallowed by the fish the waters closed in over me the Deep was round about me weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever so it seemed now it would be a terrible thing to fall overboard in the ocean when the sea is Placid and have the boat disappear in the Horizon add to that a storm with waves as high as these balcon IES and being sucked down under the water so deep evidently they hit bottom or came close to it hit the land and as if that's not enough imagine yourself in your last gasp towards the surface hitting a mass of seaweed this is a terrifying picture and Jonah means it to be terrified I remember swimming up at Rollins place last summer and you go out about certain ways and there's this Bank of seaweed and then beyond that there's nothing I used I used swim through that I had awful wheelies and my foot hit those seaweeds someone's going to grab me and I try to imagine you know what it m what it is if you're way down at the bottom you're struggling for the air and all of a sudden seaweed everywhere now the point is that the situation is impossible I mean it's over he's done for right I don't know why it is but but I think it is a mark of the Christian Life that troubles come in batches they never seem to get spaced out according to our powers to cope you know one a month or once a year just as soon as you have a problem you can be sure on your way to solve it you'll have a flat TI I don't know why it is but they cluster in our lives and we come to the point again and again where we say is impossible I can't take any more of these rotten circumstances that's the point Jonah was in and we ought to remember at that time is it any worse than Jonah 30 feet under the water with seaweeds Tangled around his neck and God answered him and saved him in an impossible circumstance and so will he for us fourth God Saves us when we call on him in distress in the nick of time verse seven when my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord and my prayer came to thee in the Holy Temple we could translate that first phrase a little more vividly and starkly like this as I was losing Consciousness I prayed I remembered the Lord I don't think that means Jonah just started to pray at his last breath I think that means he was still praying with no answer just before he blacked out and I think he probably blacked out with no answer and in the nick of time God swallowed him up in a fish and sometime in the next three days he awakens a little bit and realizes he didn't drown and then he prays because he sees that God is for him and not against him God often answers our prayers at the 11th Hour many a saint has grown with the prophet habach oh Lord how long how long oh Lord will I cry for help and thou Wilt not hear me but whenever that's your attitude and it will be in evitably someday remember Jonah and take courage and be unrelenting in your prayer right up to and into unconsciousness because God will answer you in the nick of time fifth God answers our cries of distress in stages some of which are uncomfortable we must get out of our heads the all All or Nothing notion of prayer when Jonah prayed in the water we can be I think 99% sure he did not say oh God send a fish so that it'll swallow me and I'll be in his belly for three days then put me on dry land he didn't ask for salvation in stages probably he just said God save me I'm cast out from your presence have mercy on me and God chose to save Jonah in stages it's not a very likely place to be saved in the belly of a fish and Jonah is granted enough Consciousness to know that he's there to whisper a prayer of Thanksgiving and he doesn't complain he doesn't complain that God has taken step one in the Salvation process the Deliverance process he simply believes that this fish is a guarantee that dry land is on the way however God pleases to do it and he closes his prayer with these great words Deliverance Belongs to the Lord and he said it while he was in the fish so the lesson for us is don't disregard the partial works of God don't get angry at him because he has only taken one step towards your deliverance we ought to be grateful for every step in our improved condition a fish's belly is better than seaweeds at the bottom of the ocean even if it's not Palestine finally God answers us in our guilty distress in order to make us merciful like he is merciful now to show you where I get this from Jonah I need to finish the story with you in chapter three here's what happens he's on the land he receives another commission from the Lord go to Nineveh do what I told you preach to them and he goes and in chapter 3: 5 it says the people of Nineveh believed God oh my conversion repentance and in verse 10 of chapter 3 when God saw what they did how they turned from their evil way God repented of the evil which he said he would do to them and he didn't do it now get the picture of what's happened in the first three chapters of Jonah Jonah disobeyed God God brings him under the threat of Destruction Jonah cries out of his distress to the Lord God in Mercy saves Jonah with a big fish gives him a new lease on life and a second chance and exactly the same thing happened with the ninevites they disobeyed God says in chapter 1 ver2 they were a wicked City God brings them under the threat of Destruction Jonah preached judgment's going to fall on you people they cry out to the Lord in their distress God In His Infinite Mercy has Mercy on this 120,000 people gives them a new lease on life second chance can we escape the point that the reason God had mercy on Jonah in his distress was to prepare him to be a wholehearted instrument of Mercy to Nineveh the Book of Jonah has a beautiful message about God and the message is this God's Mercy is not confined to Israel it spills over the banks of any nationality and reaches to any people or any individual who will believe God and repent of their sins that's the great gospel message from the Old Testament Book of Jonah not nationality but faith is what saves a city or a person the point is not God or my sense now we going go a step higher in this my sense is that even though this is a powerful point is not the main point of the book the main point of the book is not God is merciful but be merciful Jonah as God is merciful the ultimate lesson about prayer in the Book of Jonah is that God answers prayer mercifully to make us merciful as our father has been merciful to us and I think this is confirmed by what happens in chapter 4 in conclusion notice this in verses 1 and two of chapter 4 Jonah shows himself to have utterly failed to learn the lesson of the fish he failed because it says he gets angry that God showed Mercy to the ninevites he is still a rebellious instrument of mercy so he goes out of the city sits down to wait to see what's going to happen and notice what God does in verse 6 just as in verse 17 of chapter 1 God appointed a big fish to save Jonah from his distress so he appoints here a plant to save Jonah from the discomfort of the son God's pedagogy his method of teaching is so gentle to this stubborn Prophet God is going to try one more time to get the lesson across but notice that the lesson plan is reversed he doesn't move this time from distress to Deliverance like he did in the water and the fish this time he moves from Deliverance to distress verse six says that Jonah was exceedingly glad and happy that he had this nice plant giving him shade from God just like he was real happy that he had been saved by the fish but the next day God appoints a worm I almost entitled this sermon the whale and the worm this this just sounds like a first grade teacher going to work on Jonah there's a whale Jonah and there's a worm and if you don't get it I'll make a plant and uh poor Jonah he appoints this worm to kill a plant and then he sends the Sun up clears the clouds away and beats down on Jonah's head makes him miserable and Jonah gets angry at God for ruining his plant and making him miserable and then God comes and he speaks in the last two verses of the book and the word of God lays Jonah be and what he says in essence is this you pity the plant and you get angry when I destroy it but when I have pity on 120,000 people who don't know their right hand from their left you get angry at me and that's the end of the book and we're not told whether Jonah learned the lesson probably not because it's our lesson we're the reader and we're just left there what will our answer be I think that if God had written one more paragraph or said one more thing to Jonah it would have gone like this and with this I close Jonah don't you see what I was trying to teach you when I answered your cry of distress in the water with the fish don't you see that I had mercy on you in spite of your guilt I had mercy on you in spite of my judgment against you I saved you when your sit situation was impossible I delivered you in the nick of time I did it by the miracle of a big fish I filled your heart with Thanksgiving I won your vows of loyalty to me Jonah Jonah be merciful as I have been merciful to you this is light and Truth god- centered preaching to help you see Christ clearly and TR treasure him truly I'm your host Dan kru thank you for listening on our next episode John Piper continues our 11p part series God's voice in the Minor Prophets with a sermon titled God's promise of Glory I hope you'll join us for more resources visit desiringgod.org

Channel: Desiring God

Views: 4,527

Keywords: Desiring God, John Piper, God, Jesus Christ, Christianity, Christian Hedonism, Divine Compassion and Human Resistance, Jonah 2, Light and Truth, Light + Truth, L+T, Sermon, Preaching, Podcast, God’s Voice in the Minor Prophets, Old Testament, Jonah, Minor Prophet, Resistance, Compassion

Id: lGnVLjAxubU

Length: 25min 26sec (1526 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 19 2024