The NXR Podcast - October 01, 2023


SUNDAY SERMON - Jonah & The American Evangelical Church

Topics
bitterness
Hosted by
Joel Webbon Harrison Smith Antonio Griffith Dale Partridge Wewsley Todd Calvin Robinson
Mentioned
Jonah Nineveh Charles Spurgeon Matthew Henry Sigmund Freud Joshua Isaiah Ezra Paul David French Arise Jordan Peterson Russell Moore Billy Graham Jeroboam II Labo Hamath Gath Heffer John Piper Benny Hinn Karl Marx and 9 more
DAILY TRUTH - A “Nice” Tyrant Can Do More Damage Than A “Mean” Tyrant DAILY TRUTH - Christ Did NOT Die For Good People

Episode Stats


Length

1 hour and 8 minutes

Words per minute

155.52

Word count

10,695

Sentence count

604

Harmful content

Toxicity

10

sentences flagged

Hate speech

72

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Jonah 1:1- Jonah was a prophet who served as a prophet of the land of Israel during the time of King Jeroboam II. He was a man of many talents, but his greatest skill was his ability to prophesy.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00 Amen. So for those of you who are joining us for the first time right now, we're in between
00:00:06 books of the Bible. The plan is, Lord willing, to begin a series through the book of Ezra. We
00:00:12 have completed a series through the book of Joshua. And during this interim period of time,
00:00:17 we're taking an assortment of various texts, each Lord's Day having a primary text of Scripture,
00:00:23 but focusing on the grace of God and focusing on the gospel, that we're saved by grace
00:00:28 through faith in Christ alone. We finished our series through Joshua focusing on what it looks
00:00:36 like to conquer the land as the people of God. Ezra will focus on what it looks like to rebuild
00:00:42 the ruins of a land that had been conquered previously by God's people, but because of
00:00:48 faithlessness to the covenant, a land that God's people had eventually been rejected from because
00:00:55 of their failure and so those are the focuses with Joshua and Ezra but in the meantime in between
00:01:01 we're focusing again primarily on the gospel of grace our text for today is going to be Jonah
00:01:06 chapter one if you would please join me now in standing for the reading of God's word I'll read
00:01:13 the text for us in its entirety when I finish reading the text I'm going to say this is the
00:01:18 word of the Lord at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying thanks
00:01:24 be to God. One final time, our text for this morning is Jonah chapter 1. The Bible says this,
00:01:32 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great
00:01:38 city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me. But Jonah rose to flee to 0.80
00:01:45 Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish.
00:01:51 so he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence of
00:01:58 the Lord but the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea and there was a mighty tempest on the sea
00:02:05 so the ship threatened to break up then the mariners were afraid and each cried out to his
00:02:11 God and they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them but Jonah had
00:02:18 gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came
00:02:24 and said to him, what do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your God. Perhaps the God will
00:02:31 give a thought to us that we may not perish. And they said to one another, come, let us cast lots
00:02:38 that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us. So they cast lots and the lot fell
00:02:46 on Jonah. Then they said to him, Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your
00:02:53 occupation, and where do you come from? What is your country, and of what people are you? And he
00:03:00 said to them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry
00:03:06 land. Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, What is this that you have done? For
00:03:13 the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then they
00:03:19 said to him, What shall we do to you that the sea might quiet down for us? For the sea grew more and
00:03:26 more tempestuous. He said to them, Pick me up and hurl me into the sea, then the sea will quiet down
00:03:33 for you. For I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you. Nevertheless,
00:03:39 the men rode hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more
00:03:45 tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the Lord, O Lord, let us not perish for
00:03:51 this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you. So
00:03:59 they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men
00:04:05 feared the Lord exceedingly and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows and the Lord
00:04:12 appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days
00:04:18 and three nights this is the word of the Lord all right please be seated let's go ahead and dive in
00:04:25 by way of introduction just for those of you who probably everyone is familiar with the story of
00:04:30 Jonah at least in a general sense but for those of you who don't know some of the context and
00:04:35 background hopefully you'll find this helpful in your notes I've written the following scripture
00:04:39 informs us that Jonah served as God's prophet during the days of King Jeroboam II. King Jeroboam
00:04:47 II was an idolatrous and immoral king however God in his mercy told Jonah to prophesy to the nation
00:04:55 that the territorial boundaries of Israel were going to be expanded. God was going to give
00:05:01 territory back that had been taken generations earlier by the syrians so jonah prophesied an 0.85
00:05:09 expansion and it came to pass in light of this jonah experienced great public success in the
00:05:16 economic and military glory days of the northern kingdom he was one of the very few popular
00:05:23 prophets how do we know this second kings chapter 14 verse 25 tells us he restored that is god
00:05:30 restored the border of Israel from Labo Hamath as far as the sea of the Erebon according to the
00:05:37 word of the Lord the God of Israel which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai the prophet
00:05:44 who was from Gath Hefer so Jonah was one of the few popular prophets ever in the history of Israel
00:05:52 why was he popular it's very likely that Israel actually liked this particular prophet why because
00:06:00 he prophesied success. He prophesied increase. He prophesied wealth and prosperity, that the
00:06:12 borders of Israel would be expanded. Most of the prophets, Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, Ezekiel,
00:06:20 Isaiah, many of these prophets, most of the prophetic message that the Lord gave them to
00:06:26 delivered to Israel was a message of conviction. It was a message of calling out the sin in Israel. 0.68
00:06:35 Correction. But in the case of Jonah, at least the first half of his prophetic tenure, the Lord was
00:06:43 speaking through Jonah to the nation of Israel, and the message was a message of blessing. It was
00:06:49 a message of increase. And so Jonah was likely one of the very few prophets that Israel actually
00:06:55 liked. And Jonah probably enjoyed being appreciated. I'm sure any prophet would like
00:07:04 that. You know, the people that the Lord sends him to to carry out and speak to them a particular
00:07:09 message that the people actually appreciate the prophet giving that message. And this was Jonah's
00:07:16 experience as prophet for a time. But the problem is that eventually things began to change. So in
00:07:24 the early years of Jonah, he's prophesying expansion. Now notice, there's a few things,
00:07:28 a few parallels that you could think of with our culture and our, you know, political climate today.
00:07:35 Jonah is prophesying blessing from the Lord. But during a time where there's actually a wicked and
00:07:40 idolatrous king in Israel, right? So the king in Israel at this time is not a good king. This is
00:07:46 not blessing that is coming directly as a one-to-one ratio for the immediate current
00:07:52 righteousness and faithfulness of Israel. That's not happening. This is a blessing that God
00:07:57 prophesies and God brings it to pass through Jonah at a time when Israel is being faithless,
00:08:04 not faithful. So Israel is actually in disobedience to the Lord underneath the leadership of their 0.53
00:08:10 disobedient and idolatrous king. And yet because of God's mercy, not as a reward for Israel's 0.76
00:08:17 faithfulness, but God's mercy, despite Israel's faithlessness, God still prophesies instead of
00:08:25 judgment, increase and blessing. And it does, in fact, come to pass. I think of, you know, just in
00:08:33 my lifetime, seasons in our nation, such as the 80s and the 90s, right? That, hey, the Lord's
00:08:41 blessing us, right? The economy is doing pretty well. Things are ramping up. The borders seem to
00:08:49 be increasing. We've got free trade across the globe. We can make gidgets and gadgets
00:08:56 for pennies on the dollar. Now, granted, nobody's going to have jobs 20 years later, but we can do
00:09:04 but now the Lord's blessing us.
00:09:08 And the blessings that we experienced in the 80s and 90s
00:09:11 in these United States of America,
00:09:14 certainly like the blessings of Israel in the time of Jonah,
00:09:16 were not coming because of our faithfulness.
00:09:20 The 80s and 90s, the decisions that were being made,
00:09:24 the things that we were doing is exactly what brought us here.
00:09:28 But God was merciful.
00:09:30 And temporally, God continued to bless us in some tangible ways,
00:09:34 even as we were choosing to be rebellious and disobedient against the Lord and now we're all
00:09:40 having to pay the piper our children will have to pay the piper and we'll see if God would be
00:09:46 merciful enough for our grandchildren to even have a country you've heard me say it before and I'll
00:09:50 say it again when it comes to certain investments I'm not qualified or willing or courageous enough
00:09:58 to give you any kind of opinion as a pastor.
00:10:01 You can go seek some financial professional,
00:10:04 you know, consulting in that regard.
00:10:07 But I will give you this little piece of advice.
00:10:09 When it comes to the grandkids,
00:10:11 it might be worth, you know,
00:10:12 beginning to save up for the Zambia Fund
00:10:15 or the Uganda Fund.
00:10:17 That's not where I would want to live today.
00:10:19 Don't misunderstand.
00:10:20 The heritage of a Christian foundation
00:10:23 currently, as it rests today, 0.85
00:10:25 is much more potent than the beginning little seedlings or sproutlings of a future Christian
00:10:32 nation. But if we continue in our rebellion and continue to erode that foundation, that Christian 0.78
00:10:39 heritage, and there continues to be faithfulness in other parts of the world, and those little
00:10:46 seedlings and sprouts are watered and tended, then eventually there will be orchards somewhere else,
00:10:52 and here we will only have a desolate wasteland. We are not promised indefinite blessing. Blessing
00:11:01 comes ultimately through obedience. Temporal blessing in this life is the fruit of obedience.
00:11:08 Eternal blessing, speaking of salvation, also comes through obedience, but in that case it
00:11:14 comes through the perfect finished obedience of Christ, which is received by grace through faith
00:11:18 in him alone. But when it comes to earthly temporal blessing, that does come about as obedience.
00:11:26 God is clear that he will not be mocked. A man will reap what he sows. If we sow good things,
00:11:32 faithful things, obedient things, then our children will experience and reap a temporal blessing
00:11:38 in this life. We see that even in the case of children and their own actions. The fifth
00:11:44 commandment is the first commandment that comes with a promise. Children, honor your father and
00:11:49 mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. And we see this
00:11:55 not just in Exodus chapter 20 as some kind of Old Testament, no longer relevant commandment and
00:12:02 promise. That's not how we read the Bible. The Old Testament is just as real today as it was in the
00:12:08 days it was written. But if there was any question regarding that, well, we can look at Ephesians
00:12:12 chapter 6, where the apostle Paul cites the commandment, and without equivocation, he also
00:12:18 cites the promise, as though the commandment is still in full effect, and as though the promise
00:12:23 is just as good in this New Testament time as it was under the old covenant with Israel.
00:12:29 The apostle Paul doesn't say, hey, children, obey your parents, for it is right, and at the end of
00:12:34 the day, it really doesn't matter what you do, because everything is eternal, and temporal things
00:12:38 don't matter at all, and you know, if I said that you would be blessed in this life because of your
00:12:42 obedience, that would be the prosperity gospel, and John Piper would get on to me. Says the Bible
00:12:47 never. That's not what the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 6. Instead, he says, hey, this is the
00:12:54 first commandment with the promise. Commandment's still in effect. The promise is still good.
00:12:58 You want to be blessed temporally in this life? Well, be faithful. Be obedient. Now, again, we
00:13:04 have to be able to speak in theological categories as Christians. That's part of the problem is that
00:13:09 everything has been conflated. And this is due to theological, what I would call theological
00:13:13 minimalism. Most of the problems that we're dealing with today, as they stem from the church,
00:13:19 and they do, it's due to the church's laziness, theological laziness. What we determined was this,
00:13:28 we determined that doctrine divides. That became the mantra. And we didn't want to be divided.
00:13:34 And so what we thought was, well, what if we could just somehow limit and narrow the doctrines that
00:13:39 actually matter enough to hold. And we'll do all this in the name of the Great Commission,
00:13:45 right? Because dispensationalism and premillennialism have done a great number on
00:13:49 the church over these past 150 years. And so in light of that, we began thinking, well,
00:13:55 we're really just working towards the imminent and relatively soon return of Christ. And if
00:14:01 there's anything that we can do as it pertains to us as Christ's people to speed up the clock,
00:14:07 as it were, it would be to evangelize the nations, that we would go to the four corners of the earth,
00:14:13 that all would hear the preaching of the gospel, and that that would usher in the return
00:14:17 of Christ. And one of the great inhibitors to evangelizing the nations, fulfilling this
00:14:22 mandate to global missions, is the fact that the church is so divided. And one of the main reasons
00:14:28 that we're so divided is because we can't agree on doctrine. You got some guys wanting to dunk
00:14:34 babies. You got other guys who don't want to dunk babies. They do the same thing in their baby
00:14:39 dedications. They just remove the water. It's really kind of semantics, but still it's a big
00:14:45 deal, you know, and then you've got some people that are holding to the sign gifts of the Holy
00:14:48 Spirit being active today and others who are cessationists and they don't believe in the Holy
00:14:54 Spirit at all, right? That would be the way to straw man it. You know, they believe in God,
00:14:58 the father, God, the son, and God, the Holy Bible. They've replaced the spirit, you know, 0.92
00:15:03 That would be kind of the rhetoric that's used.
00:15:05 And so you're divided on all these different issues,
00:15:08 and we could list doctrine after doctrine after doctrine after doctrine
00:15:12 where Christians fall in different places.
00:15:14 So how do we speed up the return of Christ if you're a dispensational,
00:15:18 and hear me, I'm not speaking of the historic premillennial position,
00:15:21 but a relatively novel dispensational premillennialism,
00:15:26 then you typically believe that Christ's return will be relatively soon
00:15:29 and that it is destined by God and his sovereignty
00:15:32 that things will get progressively worse
00:15:34 until Christ returns.
00:15:35 And there's really nothing that you can do about that.
00:15:38 That is God's design.
00:15:39 It is his will.
00:15:40 Things will get worse.
00:15:42 In fact, at some level,
00:15:44 to work towards things improving
00:15:45 is to work against God himself.
00:15:49 And so if you think things are going to get worse and worse,
00:15:51 then really the best thing you can do for your children
00:15:54 and your children's children
00:15:55 is to make sure that they don't have to be here.
00:15:58 And sadly, many dispensational premillennials,
00:16:01 they did precisely that. They forewent having children. They read things like Matthew 24 and
00:16:07 the Olivet Discourse and thought that that wasn't something that Jesus was speaking that would be
00:16:12 actually fulfilled in AD 70. This generation will not pass away. But instead of taking Jesus in a
00:16:19 literal sense, this actual generation within 40 years, these things will come to pass. They took
00:16:24 it as more of an analytical and metaphorical sense that this type of generation, there will always be
00:16:30 these kinds of people. And so what Jesus is saying will take place within a span of 40 years
00:16:35 actually might take place within a span of 2000 years. And what is one of the things that Jesus
00:16:40 warns of? Woe to those women who are with child in those days, right? Things will be terrible. 0.75
00:16:49 And they were, they were in 80, 70, quite terrible. But if your perspective is that this is still the
00:16:55 times that we live in, then it's just a small hip jump and a skip over to, hey, it might be best for
00:17:03 us not to have children at all. And especially if you begin to shift your hermeneutics even more
00:17:08 and think that the Great Commission has somehow not come alongside the cultural mandate, but rather
00:17:13 replaced the cultural mandate. Well, we're not going to have children. We'll have spiritual
00:17:18 children by doing the work of an evangelist. And I could go on and on and on and on and on to talk
00:17:26 about how we arrived in our current cultural moment. But this is, make no mistake, how we
00:17:31 arrived. The theology of the church does actually impact culture and politics. This is undeniable.
00:17:42 but in all of this the point the main point that i want to make is theological minimalism
00:17:48 if you have a great goal and you think things are going to get worse the best thing that we
00:17:52 can do is either forego having children or make sure the children we do have don't have to live
00:17:57 through this great tribulation that's coming and well the only thing that we can do towards that
00:18:02 end is speed up the clock as much as it depends on us ensure that jesus returns more quickly that
00:18:09 he doesn't tarry any longer and as far as we can tell from the scripture the best way the only way
00:18:14 that we can speed up the clock is making sure the gospel gets out and it'd be a lot easier for us to
00:18:20 finance and resource the global mission mandate preaching the gospel around the world if we didn't
00:18:27 disagree so much and how can we stop disagreeing well instead of having 200 different doctrines
00:18:33 what if we narrowed it down to four or five?
00:18:37 This is Billy Graham.
00:18:40 This is his entire ministry, summed up in a nutshell.
00:18:45 And then what happens because of theological minimalism
00:18:48 is we begin to believe that the Bible is inerrant.
00:18:51 We don't begin, we continue to believe.
00:18:53 And the inerrancy, that is the authority of Scripture.
00:18:56 And to be fair, we also believe
00:18:58 not only the authority of Scripture,
00:19:00 but the sufficiency of Scripture.
00:19:01 but it begins to beg this implicit question, what precisely is the scripture sufficient for?
00:19:07 And the answer becomes salvation and salvation only. So the Bible is still authoritative. The
00:19:15 Bible is also still sufficient, but the Bible is no longer sufficient for life and godliness,
00:19:20 but it is only sufficient for those things which are eternal. The Bible is not sufficient. It's not
00:19:27 that is not authoritative. It just doesn't address. It's not relevant. It's not sufficient
00:19:32 for economics or for politics or for culture or for science or for medicine or any of these things.
00:19:38 These are things that God has left as a blank canvas. And there is an implicit neutrality when
00:19:44 it comes to these things. They're not inherently righteous or inherently wicked. And we just use
00:19:49 the reason of man and common sense. And the best that we can do, preach the scripture for salvation,
00:19:54 pastor, but stay out of everything else. Don't let these other things come into the pulpit.
00:20:00 Don't address these things in your preaching because the Bible doesn't speak to them.
00:20:04 These are things that people need to make those decisions on their own.
00:20:09 And so then we begin making those decisions on their own. And now we don't know the difference
00:20:14 between a boy and a girl. That's how it works. Theological minimalism. Now, none of that is to 0.96
00:20:23 negate another concept, which is entirely true, that is theological triage. There are priorities
00:20:30 when it comes to doctrines. Justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone
00:20:36 is a doctrine of more importance than, for instance,
00:20:42 mode of baptism, head coverings, sign gifts of the Holy Spirit, whether or not they're still
00:20:54 in operation today. Those doctrines matter, but not at the degree, not the level of justification
00:21:00 by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. So you don't have to be a theological
00:21:07 minimalist to still do theological triage. So I'm not saying that all doctrines matter equally,
00:21:16 but I am saying that all doctrines matter. And so I believe that in many ways, you could make
00:21:23 this argument not just with our country, but with other countries and not just the time period of
00:21:27 the 80s and 90s. That's how I began this particular rant in the sermon. But not just that time period
00:21:33 and not just this place, this particular country,
00:21:35 but you can make this argument of Jonah-type prophets
00:21:39 in multiple different places
00:21:41 in multiple different periods of time.
00:21:44 What's the headline of the story?
00:21:46 What's the big idea?
00:21:48 You have a prophet who's saying blessing instead of curses,
00:21:52 increase instead of judgment,
00:21:55 and he's preaching these things,
00:21:57 and not as a prosperity gospel preacher would,
00:22:00 not in a heretical sense.
00:22:01 He's not preaching these things as lies.
00:22:04 He's preaching these things, and they are, in fact, for that particular place and time, true.
00:22:11 They're true.
00:22:12 Notice, Jonah is not a false prophet.
00:22:16 Jonah is not liked by his contemporaries and accepted by them
00:22:20 because he's preaching positive things in a deceitful manner.
00:22:26 The positive predictions that he's making, notice, they come to pass.
00:22:30 He is not a false prophet.
00:22:32 He is a true prophet.
00:22:33 He's just an unusual rare prophet.
00:22:35 And the fact that he actually gets to make predictions 0.97
00:22:38 that are positive for Israel 0.78
00:22:39 when pretty much every other prophet
00:22:41 makes predictions that are negative.
00:22:43 And both prophets are true prophets.
00:22:46 They're simply saying what the Lord is saying.
00:22:48 And they're saying these things, speaking for God faithfully.
00:22:52 But Jonah lived at a very unique time
00:22:54 where God actually had blessing
00:22:56 that he intended to do to Israel.
00:22:58 and he intended to do this blessing to expand their borders to to enrich Israel in many temporal
00:23:04 ways despite again not because of any goodness in Israel but actually precisely despite the fact
00:23:11 that Israel's king at the time was wicked and the people of Israel were following in the likeness
00:23:17 of their king rebelling against the Lord so this is the setting the backdrop for the story of Jonah
00:23:25 that many people don't know. Let's continue now. In your notes, I've written the following.
00:23:31 Jonah's death wish. Isaiah had previously prophesied that one day the Assyrians would 0.89
00:23:38 successfully invade Israel. Jonah would have been familiar with this prophecy. As a prophet himself,
00:23:45 he knew the prophecies that had come before. He had seen the scrolls. He had read them,
00:23:50 committed these things to his heart and his memory. In Jonah's day, the Assyrians were just 1.00
00:23:56 beginning to make their pre-invasion attacks into the northern kingdom of Israel. And as God's 0.91
00:24:03 sovereignty would have it, Jonah lived in a northern town. So it is entirely possible that he
00:24:10 had personally witnessed some of these attacks. He may have even seen the Assyrians brutally kill
00:24:16 members of his own family. And of course, here's the hook, the capital city of Assyria was Nineveh.
00:24:24 Jonah was not afraid of Nineveh's potential rejection of his message if he obeyed the Lord
00:24:31 and went to Nineveh and preached as he was called to. But rather, on the contrary, precisely opposite,
00:24:38 Jonah was afraid of Nineveh's potential repentance to his message. Let me say that once more.
00:24:46 Jonah's reluctance, or we might call it downright refusal,
00:24:51 to obey the Lord and go to Nineveh and preach the message that God had assigned to him.
00:24:56 Jonah's refusal to go to Nineveh was not out of a fear that his message would be rejected by the Assyrians, 0.81
00:25:04 but a fear that his message would actually result in the repentance of these Ninevites. 0.95
00:25:13 What I'm saying is this. 0.73
00:25:15 Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh because he wanted them to perish under the judgment of God.
00:25:23 Because he hated them.
00:25:26 And he hated them because in his lifetime.
00:25:30 So you have two big periods of Jonah's prophetic tenure.
00:25:35 His career as a prophet in Israel.
00:25:39 The first half is going really well.
00:25:42 You could argue it's going better than any prophet in Israel has ever experienced.
00:25:47 I mean, all the prophets in Israel ultimately are put to death.
00:25:52 And most of their prophecies are going around saying, hey, all these other guys are false prophets.
00:25:56 They're saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace.
00:25:58 I've got a true sermon. I've got a real message from the Lord.
00:26:01 He's going to destroy all of you, right?
00:26:03 I mean, that's a hard sermon to preach. 0.97
00:26:05 especially in israel a place that was known as a rich lineage a rich heritage of killing prophets
00:26:15 but jonah the first half of his ministry is saying hey guys i've got a prophetic word
00:26:21 it's peace peace and i'm actually a true prophet and he was right he wasn't lying
00:26:28 god's going to actually increase our borders israel's going to expand we're actually going
00:26:34 to benefit we're going to be blessed by God right hip hip hooray three cheers for Jonah
00:26:40 I have no doubt Israel probably appreciated him but then as we get into the second half of his
00:26:46 ministry the pre-invasion attacks from Assyria directly to the north begin to ramp up and Jonah
00:26:53 lives in the northern tribes in the northern kingdom of Israel and so he begins to experience
00:27:00 firsthand. Some of the first pre-invasion attacks of the Assyrians, a barbaric people who are known 0.96
00:27:08 even by archaeologists. They've confirmed this, as well as, of course, biblical scholars and 0.60
00:27:14 theologians, that the Assyrians, one of their habits, traditions, if you will, was to fillet 0.89
00:27:20 the victims, their war victims, with other tribes that they went to war against, fillet them alive
00:27:26 and take their skin and hang it on the outside of the walls surrounding their cities. 0.99
00:27:31 The Assyrians were a barbaric people. 0.98
00:27:34 And what you find later on in the book of Jonah, 1.00
00:27:37 a short book that if you haven't read it recently,
00:27:39 I strongly commend it to you, only four chapters in length.
00:27:42 But one of the things that you'll find is that
00:27:44 the king of Nineveh calls his whole city,
00:27:48 all his countrymen to repentance. 0.99
00:27:50 They do, in fact, listen to the message
00:27:53 that Jonah eventually preaches to them
00:27:55 once he eventually arrives in the providence of God.
00:27:58 and when the king of Nineveh calls his men his nation to repentance the specific sin that he
00:28:06 mentions by name he says let everyone turn from their wicked deeds and the violence which is in
00:28:13 his hand the only sin mentioned specifically is the sin of physical violence and that is to say
00:28:23 again that the Assyrians, Nineveh being one of the capital cities of the Assyrians, they were 0.71
00:28:29 specifically known for all kinds of treacherous evil and wickedness, but especially the evil of
00:28:37 physical violence. Not merely because they made war on other nations. There are conditions that
00:28:45 would set the stage for something such as just war theory. But these guys aren't fighting necessary
00:28:52 wars and wars that must be fought because all diplomatic attempts have failed. But these guys
00:28:59 are torturing the people that they conquer just for the fun of it. They are violent.
00:29:08 And so Jonah knows this. And if we're not careful, it's easy for us to enter into
00:29:12 the story of Jonah thinking Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh because Nineveh might kill the prophet.
00:29:19 it. Here's the irony. If Jonah was afraid of being killed as a prophet, going to Nineveh is actually
00:29:27 a pretty good gig. Because if you're a prophet trying to avoid death, the one place you don't
00:29:32 want to go to, it's not Nineveh, it's Israel. The best bet you have of getting killed as a prophet 0.91
00:29:38 is going to the people of God. They'll kill you. Killed Jesus and killed all the prophets before 1.00
00:29:47 him. So Jonah actually has a better chance if that's his only concern. If his concern is just 0.70
00:29:55 saving his own physical life, if it's merely physical self-preservation, 0.88
00:30:02 well then go to Nineveh. I mean, even guys who hang the skins of their victims on their walls,
00:30:08 statistically, have a less chance of turning on a prophet of God and killing him than the people
00:30:14 of Israel. I mean, the people of Israel have made a profession out of killing prophets. 0.74
00:30:20 No one does it more often or better, more consistently than them.
00:30:28 Now, Jonah was not hesitant or refusing, rebelling against God to go to Nineveh to preach this
00:30:34 message of repentance because he was afraid that his message would be rejected by the Ninevites, 0.64
00:30:40 and therefore they would reject his message and turn on him and kill him.
00:30:45 No, he was afraid that they would actually accept his message,
00:30:49 that they would, in fact, repent.
00:30:52 And then Jonah knew this about the character of God. 0.95
00:30:55 He knew that God is a sucker for repentance.
00:31:02 That God, who is thrice holy,
00:31:05 and as the scripture testifies, by no means will pardon the wicked,
00:31:08 is quick, not slow, slow to his anger, but quick in his mercy, in his kindness, in his forgiveness,
00:31:20 relenting and sending disaster quickly for those who repent. Jonah knows this about the Lord.
00:31:30 How do we know that Jonah knows? Well, because he tells us, he tells specifically God himself
00:31:38 in his prayer. He says this, and he prayed to the Lord and said, oh Lord, is this not what I said
00:31:46 when I was yet in my country? This is why. Jonah's going to tell us exactly why he chose to go to
00:31:53 Tarshish, the opposite direction from Nineveh. This is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish,
00:31:59 for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love
00:32:06 and relenting, here's the key, from sending disaster.
00:32:13 Therefore, he follows it up,
00:32:14 and he says this at least three times throughout the narrative.
00:32:17 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me,
00:32:20 for it is better for me to die than to live.
00:32:25 What Jonah is essentially saying, and I'm smiling because I just...
00:32:29 I can identify with Jonah.
00:32:35 Jonah is petty.
00:32:36 let the listener understand i can identify with jonah like there were i mean there's just moments
00:32:43 where i i look back and i'm like man i was kind of being a drama queen like i was pretty petty
00:32:52 right i should have just let that one go like is there any hope for me and i okay there is jonah
00:33:00 he was a prophet he was a preacher okay all right well i'll look at charles spurgeon right
00:33:05 Charles Spurgeon, I mean, he struggled with just
00:33:08 de-habilitating anxiety and especially depression
00:33:12 for large swaths of his ministry, large seasons.
00:33:18 There was a moment in Charles Spurgeon,
00:33:20 the Prince of Preachers is what he was known as.
00:33:22 A moment in his ministry where, I mean,
00:33:24 he was one of the only guys who was a pastor
00:33:26 of a mega church in his time.
00:33:29 I mean, most churches were smaller,
00:33:31 even just at a physical level.
00:33:32 This is before you have audio and microphones and amplification and these kinds of things.
00:33:39 And so churches tended to be smaller, maybe a couple hundred people.
00:33:42 Many churches may have been even smaller than that, 50 people or so.
00:33:46 But Charles Spurgeon, he was the pastor, senior pastor of the London Metropolitan Tabernacle, his church.
00:33:55 And it was a little bit over a thousand people is what most of historians say.
00:34:01 And he personally, he had it as his habit that for anyone to enter into membership at his church, he had other elders and ministers that would serve alongside him, but he would meet personally when it came to membership for anyone in the church.
00:34:15 So he sat down personally, each family, as new people would come to the church and would interview them and preach to them the gospel, make sure they had an understanding of justification by grace alone, through faith alone and Christ alone.
00:34:27 asked them about their marriage, all these things, catechizing the children, and then welcomed them
00:34:31 into membership. And he did this with a congregation of over a thousand people. But there was one
00:34:36 particular Lord's Day where as he was preaching in a stadium-style facility, one of the
00:34:47 seatings, the balconies collapsed, and dozens of people died. And it haunted him the rest of his
00:34:55 life. And there were many other things that happened in his life as well, but that was a big
00:35:00 one where he could hardly preach anymore. He was so devastated by that. And then also contemplating
00:35:06 warring within his own soul. Am I in sin? Is this a judgment from the Lord? What's going on?
00:35:13 Should I stop preaching? I mean, if you preach and as you're preaching, you know,
00:35:18 15% of the congregation dies, you know, you start to think maybe, maybe this isn't the career for me.
00:35:24 You know, I mean, I want to save people's souls and here I am killing people, you know, and so
00:35:29 Charles Spurgeon was struggling and Charles, you know, Charles Spurgeon was a bit of a drama queen.
00:35:37 Most guys who've written, you know, biographies on him, he was deeply and profoundly emotional.
00:35:43 Some of the best preachers throughout history were deeply emotional, deeply. Jonah was probably
00:35:50 a great preacher is what i'm saying but he was also a bit of a pill great preacher
00:35:57 but really testing the lord's patience i'm by god's grace i am not trying to brag i think
00:36:05 i'm a great preacher and if you want someone who's sanctified
00:36:10 to disciple you and patience and you're a woman talk to my wife
00:36:16 great preacher great saint yes we have you know we both bring things to the table we both have our
00:36:24 gifts jonah was a bit of a drama queen three times kill me better for me to die than to live
00:36:33 now let's hone in a little bit more here though what is he actually saying he's saying this is
00:36:40 why I refuse to obey you. You told me to go to Nineveh to preach repentance. I did not. I went
00:36:46 the opposite direction. And what I'm quoting here is Jonah chapter four, verses two and three. So
00:36:50 this is toward the very end of the story after Jonah witnesses the repentance of Nineveh. And
00:36:56 Jonah is now saying to God, right, this is bold. This is where Jonah is like, okay, I, by God's
00:37:02 grace, it's not nothing in Joel, you know, but by God's grace and sanctification, I think I might
00:37:05 be a little bit better than Jonah. Jonah's saying this to God in a prayer. He's saying, this is why
00:37:11 I didn't want to obey you and go to Nineveh and preach a message of repentance because I knew
00:37:15 they'd repent and I knew you would fall for it. I knew that you would save them. I wanted to see
00:37:23 the fire and brimstone. I wanted to see Nineveh destroyed. I mean, Jonah literally pitches a tent 0.96
00:37:31 up on a hillside, sticking around after his mission is already completed. He's already
00:37:36 obeyed the Lord. He's free at this point to go back to Israel, his home country. But he sticks 0.96
00:37:41 around just in case he might get to watch this city get wiped off the face of the map. And he's
00:37:49 rooting for it. He's rooting for it. And when God doesn't do it, when God chooses to relent
00:37:58 in sending disaster and show mercy instead, because of Nineveh's repentance, Jonah literally
00:38:04 says, this is what I told you. I told you this all the way back in my own country. This is why
00:38:11 I made haste to flee for Tarshish instead of obeying you and going to Nineveh, because I know 1.00
00:38:16 your character. Imagine this dialogue with the Lord. This is what I knew was wrong with you, God. 0.92
00:38:22 You've got a lot of great qualities, but let me list a few of your weaknesses. Merciful, slow to
00:38:27 anger, abounding in steadfast love. Not a good look, Jonah. That's just not a great prayer.
00:38:36 But that's where he's at. That's how petty he is. And as Connor was leading us through
00:38:42 the liturgy just a moment ago, that's how bitter he is. That's how bitter he is. Now
00:38:49 notice one thing that's important for us to recognize when it comes to that particular
00:38:53 the sin of bitterness? A few things, I might say. One, bitterness has the potential, as the author
00:38:59 to the Hebrews instructs us, to defile many. So bitterness is not a sin that will simply
00:39:06 affect yourself, but it will affect others. It is an infectious sin. It is a sin that will quickly
00:39:15 spread and disease a whole crop. A whole congregation can ultimately be destroyed
00:39:22 by one root of bitterness. That's one aspect of the sin of bitterness. But another is this,
00:39:30 often we attempt to assuage our own consciences by justifying our bitterness, saying the reason
00:39:39 I'm bitter is because of the great atrocities that have been committed against me by others.
00:39:45 and there's a partial truth in that most people who are bitter it is in part due because of the
00:39:56 sins of others committed against them but others sinning against you in and of itself alone if
00:40:04 that's all that takes place it is not enough to produce bitterness bitterness does not come
00:40:12 merely by being sinned against by others. It is always a mixture of being sinned against by others
00:40:20 coupled with pride. Hot spirits, I believe it was Matthew Henry who once said this,
00:40:29 hot spirits come by high spirits. And what he's saying is that to be angry, right? And that's
00:40:37 the question that the Lord asked Jonah. Do you do well to be angry? Pro tip, almost always the
00:40:44 answer is no. Do you do well to be angry? And what Matthew Henry in his commentary on the book of
00:40:52 Jonah is getting at is that high spirits are what lead towards hot spirits. Hot spirits speaking to
00:40:59 anger. To be hot in your anger, the opposite of the character of God. Not slow to anger, but quick
00:41:05 in your retaliation, quick in your indignation. And what Matthew Henry is saying is that in the
00:41:12 case of Jonah, hot spirits are not merely produced by others harming you, but others harming you
00:41:19 coupled with your own high spirits, that is lofty pride, arrogance. There are people who can be
00:41:27 sinned against in terrible ways and yet not grow bitter because although they were wronged terribly
00:41:37 they are people who do not think highly of themselves not more highly than they are
00:41:44 they are people who do not possess these hot spirits because they possess by the grace of God
00:41:51 low spirits. It's not just being sinned against. It's being sinned against with pride. It is the
00:41:59 prideful man who, when sinned against, will quickly ignite in anger towards those who sinned against
00:42:07 him. This is Jonah. And Jonah had, make no mistake, he had, in fact, been sinned against.
00:42:14 And not just that someone didn't invite his kid to their birthday party. 0.96
00:42:18 no he had been sent against by the assyrians ramping up their pre-invasion attacks into the
00:42:26 northern tribes of israel and likely if not family members at least acquaintances or friends that he
00:42:33 knew had been taken captive or even harmed or brutally murdered by the assyrians not to mention
00:42:40 the Assyrians, they also ruined Jonah's perfect prophetic record. His whole profession, his whole 1.00
00:42:49 career had been flawless. God's going to expand this border, right? God's going to give you a
00:42:54 house. He's going to give you a car. And it's actually true, right? This is a prosperity
00:43:00 preacher's dream, right? Benny Hinn would kill for this. You know what I mean? This is like,
00:43:04 I'm going to tell people that if they do this, they'll be rich. And for the first time, I won't
00:43:09 be lying. Right? This is a nice gig. And then all of a sudden, oh, but that other prophet that came
00:43:18 before me, he prophesied some bad things, like Assyria taking over us things, and that's now 0.95
00:43:26 coming to pass. Oh, man. The Assyrians are hurting people that I love. This golden age of the 80s 0.97
00:43:37 and the 90s, right?
00:43:39 We're all making just tons of money
00:43:41 selling our kids and grandchildren,
00:43:44 you know, their future, you know,
00:43:45 on a raft down a river.
00:43:46 But, and now we're going to have to pay the piper.
00:43:49 Isaiah's prophecies are now coming to pass. 1.00
00:43:53 Ah, those Assyrians. 1.00
00:43:56 Can't stand them. 1.00
00:43:57 I had a good thing going.
00:43:58 They ruined it.
00:44:00 Jonah was sinned against,
00:44:02 but he wasn't only sinned against.
00:44:04 he was arrogant he was prideful he was petty he probably like many of us had an idol of comfort
00:44:15 and personal pleasure all these things are going on behind the scenes continuing your notes now 0.87
00:44:24 I've written this the sailors on this Tarshish bound ship were most likely Phoenicians a people
00:44:32 who are notorious for their sailing experience and capabilities. These men were well acquainted
00:44:38 with storms at sea and recognized that this was no ordinary storm. Verse 5 of our text says that
00:44:46 the men were afraid and each cried out to his own God. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship
00:44:55 into the sea to lighten it for them. However, the ship was not lightened. The whole weight
00:45:01 still remained. The body of the prophet continued to weigh down the ship, not from the physical
00:45:08 weight, but from the burden of sin, for nothing is so heavy as sin.
00:45:17 These Phoenician sailors are crying out to their gods. Now, it's not like they've never sailed
00:45:23 rough waters before. And we always read, you know, biblical literature and think that everyone who's
00:45:30 come before us was some Neanderthal primitive person that doesn't know anything. And that's 0.92
00:45:36 simply not true. They understood storms. They understood the seas. They understood navigation
00:45:43 and all these different things. And they knew that something here was going on that was
00:45:48 above their pay grade. This was no mere storm. This was supernatural. That's why they began
00:45:54 crying out to their deities, but none of their deities answered, for they are all false gods.
00:46:04 And so they turned to one extra guy who's on the ship that they have yet to consult because
00:46:10 he's sleeping, they turn to Jonah. Continue in your notes. I've written this in verses 7 through
00:46:18 10 of our text. The sailors cry out, come let us cast lots that we may know on whose account this
00:46:25 evil has come upon us. So they cast lots and it did no good because it's random. No, it helped.
00:46:33 it worked because God's sovereign even over the dice. They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
00:46:41 Then they said to him, tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation
00:46:47 and where do you come from? What is your country and of what people are you? And he said to them,
00:46:53 I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven who made the sea, right? It's a little
00:46:59 bit relevant, who made the sea and the dry land. Then the men were exceedingly afraid. Now notice
00:47:08 verse 5, what we saw earlier with the storm itself, before this encounter with Jonah and finding out 0.56
00:47:15 that he's a Hebrew, a servant of Yahweh on the run in disobedience and rebellion, before all that
00:47:22 context with just the storm itself, the men were afraid. Verse 5 said, we were afraid and each 0.67
00:47:28 cried out to his God. But now in verses seven through 10, the text says, then the men were
00:47:35 exceedingly afraid. The fear has increased. At first, the sailors had feared the storm and the
00:47:43 potential loss of their lives. Now they feared the judgment of God. They feared no longer the
00:47:49 power of creation, but the wrath of the creator himself. These men felt how fearful a thing it is
00:47:55 to fall into the hands of the living god a brief word about sigmund freud
00:48:03 who is in hell to the praise of god's glorious justice a wicked man a terrible man
00:48:14 and a man along with darwin and others who sought to disprove god these individuals carl marx would
00:48:22 be another. They recognized that the greatest strength and fabric of society was Christianity.
00:48:31 That had to be taken out if they were going to be able to control society. Sigmund Freud, one of his 1.00
00:48:38 arguments for atheism, one of his arguments against Christianity, and against any religion for that
00:48:44 matter, was this. He said that believing in a deity, a God, was just a result of primitive people
00:48:53 that couldn't understand, but not just that they couldn't understand. It's not just in regards to
00:48:58 their knowledge, but primitive people who were powerless. And so what do you do if there's a 0.86
00:49:04 threat, right? Pestilence, a disease, a plague, or a storm, and you're powerless, and you don't have
00:49:14 the technology that we have today, right? You're living in the kind of house that can just be blown
00:49:19 over, right? These kinds of natural disasters, when they occur, you don't have modern medicine. You
00:49:25 don't have, you know, all this different technology that would work as a bulwark to protect you from
00:49:31 the disaster. And whenever a disaster does take place, your life is threatened. You've seen
00:49:38 disasters in the past, and many people that you love have been casualties. Well, what do you do
00:49:43 in a time period like that, where you have few defenses against nature, natural disasters.
00:49:51 Well, if the threat that you're experiencing is a person, a person can be appeased. Not always.
00:50:00 The person can be cruel. They could be someone who refuses to engage in dialogue and diplomatic,
00:50:06 you know, attempts. But an army has a general. You can speak to him. There can be conditions
00:50:12 for surrender right even an individual person you know who's trying to mug you in a back alley
00:50:18 god forbid you can still say please don't hurt me i'll give you what whatever you want
00:50:23 you can you can appeal to some kind of as wicked as they might be some kind of human nature
00:50:31 underneath you can reach for some level of compassion but how do you plead with a storm
00:50:39 how do you plead with the bubonic plague 0.93
00:50:43 well you don't you can't and so what people did in manufacturing religion 0.94
00:50:54 out of nothing according to Sigmund Freud was they tried to take nature's greatest disasters
00:51:02 and personify them by placing within them a deity, right?
00:51:08 Especially when it comes to Norse mythology or Roman Greco mythology,
00:51:14 these kinds of things.
00:51:14 You have different gods for different, you know, the ocean, Poseidon, you know,
00:51:21 or a god of this storm over here, Thor, with lightning.
00:51:27 And now we have a god.
00:51:28 now the storm, just like an army or a mugger, we can cry out to someone. We're not stronger than
00:51:35 the storm, but maybe we can satiate the personified storm, the deity within the storm. We can make
00:51:42 some kind of sacrifice, some kind of plea bargain, so that the storm would relent and not destroy
00:51:49 us. Now, the reason why Sigmund Freud fails in this argumentation is because it does not account
00:51:57 for the triune God. And the reason it doesn't account for the one God who truly exists is
00:52:04 because what we see throughout scripture time and time again, is that when people encounter
00:52:10 some kind of judgment of the Lord, like a storm, and then realize that Yahweh is the God behind it,
00:52:17 they don't go from being afraid to being calmed, but from being afraid to being even more afraid.
00:52:24 see if that was the psychology if that was the goal was put a god within the storm so that we
00:52:33 don't have to be as afraid of the storm well then what you would want to do is put a god within the
00:52:38 storm that's not scary but the christian god is the lord is to be feared and even jesus says do
00:52:49 Do not fear those who can harm the body, kill, destroy the body, but after doing so can do nothing more.
00:52:55 But rather, fear God in heaven, who after destroying the body also has the power to condemn your soul to hell.
00:53:04 He is a fearful God.
00:53:06 He is the living God.
00:53:08 Terrible in his judgments.
00:53:12 And this is precisely what the Phoenician sailors experience.
00:53:16 it's indicative it relates to what the disciples with jesus experienced jonah is sleeping on the
00:53:21 bottom of the ship jesus likewise is asleep on the boat the disciples wake him up and say do you not
00:53:27 care that we are perishing they are afraid but in that gospel narrative when jesus speaks and
00:53:33 stills the storm even with the disciples the same concept is there it says that the disciples go
00:53:39 from being afraid of the storm to being exceedingly afraid of the one who has authority over the
00:53:46 wind and waves. Jesus scares them more than the storm does. So too Yahweh scares these Phoenician
00:53:53 sailors more than the storm does. So it's a common or classic L for Sigmund Freud, right? That just 0.93
00:54:02 shouldn't come as a surprise. He's always wrong. Continuing in verses 15 through 16 of our text,
00:54:09 we see that the sailors picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea and the sea ceased from
00:54:15 it's raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and they offered a sacrifice to the
00:54:21 Lord and made vows. This is significant. The last thing we'll focus on. The men actually feared the
00:54:29 calming of the sea the most. So they fear the storm. Then they fear the God in the storm or
00:54:37 over the storm with authority, Jonah's God, the triune God. And then the storm ceases. And this 0.88
00:54:44 would be the moment for the fear to cease along with it. Typically, once the threat has been
00:54:49 neutralized, then the terror would go away along with it. But here in Jonah chapter 1 is where we
00:54:58 find these sailors most afraid, not least afraid. The men actually fear the calming of the sea and
00:55:05 the ceasing of the tempest most of all because it proved that Jonah's words were true. There is a
00:55:13 God who created all things and will hold each man accountable for his sin. Now, since the ship was a
00:55:21 large vessel and bound on a long voyage, the men had livestock on board, which they offered as a
00:55:27 sacrifice. And in order to further display their gratitude, the sailors made vows before the Lord.
00:55:34 Now notice this. They're afraid of the storm. They're extra afraid when they realize that the
00:55:41 storm actually has a deity behind it controlling the storm. And then they're even more afraid when
00:55:46 that is confirmed by the storm ceasing. Because now they no longer have the storm as an immediate
00:55:53 threat to their physical bodies, but they know that everything Jonah's just said about this God
00:55:58 is true. And although this immediate storm in the physical sense has ceased, there is another storm
00:56:05 a brewing. There's a storm of judgment. And that one day they're going to have to stand before this
00:56:11 God who causes storms and has authority to cease and still the storms. And they've been pagans
00:56:18 their whole life, worshiping false gods instead of the true God. So the fear doesn't go away when
00:56:25 the storm ceases. If anything, it increases. And so what do they do? They make vows and sacrifices
00:56:34 to the Lord after the threat has been neutralized.
00:56:37 Now think about this in terms of genuine repentance.
00:56:41 It's one thing when you're sick
00:56:43 to cry out to the Lord for healing and mercy.
00:56:47 And let's say, as a specific example,
00:56:50 let's say you're sick in a particular kind of way.
00:56:52 It's the kind of sickness you brought upon yourself.
00:56:56 Right, maybe in a past life,
00:56:58 in rebellion, in sin,
00:57:01 and you are kneeling, calling upon the gods,
00:57:05 kneeling before the porcelain throne.
00:57:08 I'll never do it again, making vows.
00:57:12 Right?
00:57:13 But it's one thing to cry out and make vows
00:57:15 and ask for mercy in the midst of a storm,
00:57:19 in the midst of pain, in the midst of fear.
00:57:22 It's another though, when everything's all done,
00:57:26 when your pleas for help have actually been granted
00:57:28 and answered to then turn to God and say, I make a vow. Not I'm making a vow in this moment. If you
00:57:36 help me, I'll never do this again. But no, you have helped me and I'm going to live another life.
00:57:42 You have helped me and I'm going to be faithful to you. That's what's happening with these sailors.
00:57:50 These pagan sailors, they get it. They're making vows. And I think there's no other way to read 0.96
00:57:57 this, but bona fide, genuine salvation. They fear the Lord. They now make vows to the Lord, not just
00:58:04 to get out of the immediate threat. They've already gotten out of that. They're making vows for the
00:58:09 future, for the rest of their lives to live in fidelity to the Lord. They make sacrifice to the
00:58:15 Lord, knowing that's an implicit acknowledgement that they know they're sinners, that they've
00:58:20 sinned against the Lord in a host of ways, but if nothing else, in their idolatry. The fact that,
00:58:25 you know, five minutes ago, they were calling out to pagan gods. So they're making sacrifices,
00:58:31 seeking atonement, making vows, renewing commitments. Meanwhile, the Hebrew prophet 0.95
00:58:39 is still in rebellion. Still. Jonah chapter two is the only portion in all four chapters
00:58:48 where he appears to repent. And I would argue that even then he doesn't. Jonah chapter two is
00:58:54 Jonah's prayer. He cries out to the Lord, but I don't believe it's actually the prayer from the
00:58:58 belly of the fish. He talks about the waters going over his head. I think that it's actually the
00:59:04 prayer that Jonah prays in the ocean or the sea as he's sinking in the waters. And even that is a
00:59:12 kind of prayer that's precisely the opposite of what the pagan Phoenicians pray. See, Jonah prays 1.00
00:59:18 as he's drowning, that God would save him.
00:59:21 And once God does, we pick back up with Jonah 3 and 4,
00:59:25 and he's got the same bad attitude again.
00:59:29 Doesn't want to obey, wants Nineveh to be destroyed.
00:59:32 He's complaining about a plant.
00:59:35 God's like, you care about the plant?
00:59:37 Really, Jonah, the plant?
00:59:39 If you care about the plant, what about 120,000 souls
00:59:42 that don't know the difference between the right and left hand?
00:59:45 And I don't think that's moral ignorance.
00:59:47 I think God is literally speaking that in Nineveh, there's 120,000 children so young
00:59:52 that even if you're mad at their moms and dads for the violence in their hands,
00:59:56 their children haven't committed any violence towards Israel.
00:59:59 And there's also much cattle.
01:00:01 The cows didn't do anything wrong.
01:00:02 This is how the story of Jonah ends, right?
01:00:04 If you care about the plant that I sent a worm to destroy,
01:00:08 and it's not really just your own comfort, your own idolatry.
01:00:11 You just care for innocent living things.
01:00:13 well, you should probably care for the innocent living 120,000 kids in Nineveh or care about the
01:00:20 cattle in Nineveh, but you don't. Because at the end of the day, you're not concerned about justice.
01:00:27 You're not mad because I'm not being just and punishing Nineveh because of their crimes. 0.98
01:00:32 You're just, you're angry for yourself. This has all been about your comfort, whether it's the 1.00
01:00:37 plant causing shade, whether it's you getting to make positive prophecies and them actually coming
01:00:42 to pass and being liked by your contemporaries, whether it's you having to travel to Nineveh,
01:00:47 whether it's you in the belly of the fish, at every level, Jonah, the only thing you care about
01:00:52 is not my glory, it's not my justice, and it's not about innocent living creatures like plants
01:00:57 or cattles or kids. What you care about is you. Do you do well to be angry, Jonah?
01:01:03 and the rhetorical implicit answer is no now i do believe that jonah is in heaven and that he did
01:01:15 in fact repent because somebody had to write the book and it's not contained in the book his
01:01:20 repentance but what is contained is remarkable everyone in the story of jonah repents except
01:01:28 Jonah. The Phoenician sailors repent. And I think it's real repentance. Nineveh repents. We know
01:01:38 that's real repentance because Jesus even says the men of Nineveh on that day will rise up and judge 0.59
01:01:43 you, speaking to Israel. Ninevites will be your judges, Israel. Everyone repents in the story of 0.93
01:01:50 Jonah except for Jonah. And Jonah, in many ways, we could say as a prophet, an Israelite prophet,
01:01:58 he represents the church and more particularly not just the church that would be like Israel
01:02:03 but Jonah being a prophet of Israel pastors and that's the last relevant overlap that I see in
01:02:12 our day and age that right now by the grace of God because of judgment being poured out
01:02:20 there are a lot of people and a lot of them unsuspected some surprise conversion stories
01:02:27 you might say there are a lot of people repenting
01:02:30 there are a lot of people i believe by the grace of god who are being converted and born again
01:02:36 they're seeing god's judgment they're seeing the error of our ways they're seeing the wickedness
01:02:43 behind the veil is being revealed and there are people who are waking up and coming to christ
01:02:50 recognizing we just said we've got to repent we've got to call upon the lord
01:02:54 But there's one character in our current story, like the story of Jonah, who still doesn't seem to get it.
01:03:03 Evangelical pastors.
01:03:06 Just like the prophet of Israel.
01:03:10 Still just doesn't know what time it is.
01:03:16 I mean, you've got bona fide racist repenting and coming into the kingdom of heaven before evangelical pastors.
01:03:24 and then you've got a bunch of other people who were called racist but actually aren't
01:03:31 aka pretty much everyone in america
01:03:34 but the one group of people who seem to be so stubborn and will not relent
01:03:40 sadly are the prophets the people who should know exactly what time it is
01:03:47 they've been given a message namely this book to preach and to preach faithfully
01:03:52 you don't get to ad-lib and yet continually and consistently there's a refusal
01:03:58 god says go to Nineveh they'll go to Tarshish
01:04:02 god says hey i'm doing a work of revival repentance among people on the right
01:04:09 go to Nineveh go to the right we'll be friends with the left we want the high seats
01:04:15 right go go over there there's a bunch of people in flyover country you know the country bumpkins
01:04:24 you've made fun of for the last 30 years they're getting saved go over there but why do that when
01:04:30 Russell Moore and David French go hang out with the Atlantic in the New York Times
01:04:34 now that's the moment that we're in
01:04:38 jonah's the one guy who doesn't get it and notice the biggest way to miss the story
01:04:48 is that jonah doesn't get it not because he's afraid for his life jonah refuses deliberately
01:04:56 will not allow himself to get it because he's afraid of god's mercy saving the kinds of people
01:05:03 he spent his whole career despising.
01:05:07 When you're a minister, a prophet of the Lord,
01:05:10 who spent your whole life, your whole preaching career, 1.00
01:05:13 hating on the Assyrians as those bad, dirty people. 1.00
01:05:19 Right? Fly over country, blue collar, country bumpkins, white people. 1.00
01:05:27 Rural people, uneducated people. 0.84
01:05:30 You spent your whole career talking down, punching down on that type of person. 1.00
01:05:37 And then God says, I want you to go and preach to that city, to that people.
01:05:43 I actually plan to save them.
01:05:45 And yeah, there are sins that they've committed.
01:05:47 But I'm going to relent in sending disaster and send mercy instead. 1.00
01:05:51 And you're like, the Phoenicians, though, I think that's a better crop right there. 1.00
01:05:56 I think there's more potential for revival among the Phoenicians. 0.69
01:05:58 and God just laughs, I'll save them too. 0.98
01:06:03 But the one person you should probably be worried about,
01:06:06 evangelical pastor, Jonah of our generation,
01:06:09 the one person you should be concerned about God saving is you.
01:06:14 You.
01:06:16 As Nathan said to David, you are the man.
01:06:21 And judgment is here.
01:06:23 And it begins with the house of God.
01:06:26 And it begins, first and foremost, within the house of God with ministers of God.
01:06:33 There are people we've despised, we've looked down on.
01:06:36 Like the priest who would walk by somebody who's laying in the street,
01:06:41 who's been mugged by robbers, but it's the Samaritan that actually stops and helps.
01:06:46 The fact that God's been using Jordan Peterson is an indictment to the church.
01:06:55 no more jonah pastors no more jonah prophets we need men who will preach god's word faithfully
01:07:05 and that will know the times like the sons of issachar and be willing to go to whatever people 0.54
01:07:11 the lord sends them to whether they're the assyrians or the racist nazis aka
01:07:18 people were probably not racist or nazis
01:07:21 that's what God is doing in our moment the borders have been increased peace peace was a genuine
01:07:31 message but now it is no longer that message won't work anymore not because it's positive
01:07:38 but because it's no longer true the hens have come home to roost it's time to pay the piper
01:07:45 and God is raising up an army but he's raising it up with a bunch of people
01:07:49 that some of us have despised
01:07:52 and thought that we were superior to for decades.
01:07:57 So will we repent?
01:07:59 Will we do what Jonah doesn't do?
01:08:01 Will we join Nineveh? 0.90
01:08:04 And will we call Israel to follow suit? 0.71
01:08:09 Or will we remain bitter? 0.84
01:08:12 But know that as much as you may try
01:08:15 to justify your bitterness,
01:08:16 and I know because I have myself,
01:08:18 Your bitterness is not the mere result
01:08:20 of being wronged by others.
01:08:21 Your bitterness is being hurt,
01:08:23 but coupled with pride.
01:08:26 If you were humble, you wouldn't be bitter.
01:08:29 Nobody sinned against anybody
01:08:31 as much as they did against Jesus.
01:08:35 But Jesus was never bitter.
01:08:38 All right, let's pray.
01:08:40 Father God, we thank you for your word.
01:08:41 Bless it to your people
01:08:42 and bring great glory to yourself.
01:08:45 In Jesus' name, amen.