Last week we saw that Jonah held the most successful one-day crusade in history. 120,000 repent and turn to God, 100% of the city.
2 underlying issues that form part of the Jonah Complex:
1. Jonah wanted a Human sized God.
- Jonah is Angry. He is angry that God Isn’t Like him.
- Inspite of what the Scriptures reveal about God,
Jonah could still only picture a god Like Himself.
- God shows Jonah, He is Not like Jonah Thinks He is.
There is a God, your not Him, so Get Over It.
2. Jonah had a Callused Heart.
- Jonah had a spiritual Heart Condition.
- Jonah tries to Ignore God.
- Jonah was Happy when he Received an undeserved benefit.
- He was Unhappy that Others also Received grace.
- Jonah cared more about Himself, than he did about an Entire City.
He forgot that the people of Nineveh were Created in the Image of God Too.
God dealt Patiently and Gracefully with Jonah:
- Because He Loved Jonah.
- God’s Chastening of Jonah was not just to make him feel bad.
- God’s Desire was for him to Change.
God deals Patiently and Gracefully with us too:
- God wants to Change us today.
- God wants to Revive us.
- Thank God he sends His Spirit to Indwell us and Enable us to be Overcomers, to be Transformed, to be enabled to Serve.
What are the necessary things for a Spiritual Awakening?
1. The Supremacy of God’s Word.
There can only be Personal, Cultural and Spiritual renewal, when God’s Word is Supreme in 2 principle ways:
a. In Our Lifestyles.
God’s word Remained the same, Jonah’s Attitude Changed.
That will effect our Choices, Attitudes, and Actions.
b. In Our Message.
Our generation desperately needs to Hear the word of God even if it makes them feel Uncomfortable.
2. Simple Obedience.
The dangers of Legalism are Rules, Rituals, Regulations.
Those can be very Dangerous in our Lives and in the Church.
We need to Distinguish between Legalism and Simple Obedience.
3. Genuine Repentance.
Repentance means that we were going in one Direction doing our Own thing, Ignoring truth, getting by on Feelings and Ignoring God, and we Decide to Turn from that and go in God’s Direction and Follow Him.
Where did the Repentance Start in the account of Jonah? With Jonah.
Revival starts with You and I Repenting.
The world goes on as it does because that is its Nature,
most people are made By the Times.
We must become Salt and Light again
because God’s people are made For the Times.
Jonah Ran Away from God and tried to Escape God’s will.
God sends a Storm into his life to get his Attention.
But God is Not Finished with him yet.
The Great Fish teaches us 2 Great Truths:
1. How Serious God is about Sin.
This was a Miracle. The story of Jonah, is a Type of Jesus Christ.
a. Sin has Consequences.
God cannot be Mocked. What we Sow, we Reap.
b. God wants to Fumigate our Sin.
The storm helped Jonah to stop Running from God
The great fish helped Jonah to start Thinking about God
2. How Great God’s Grace is.
God’s chastening does Not mean that God is Trying to get Even.
Rather it shows us that God Loves us.
After we have worked all our lives, when we come to the end of life all that is left is God.
Jonah exercised a Decision to change Direction, to Consciously and Willing follow the Lord.
Jonah’s Experience is very Contemporary.
In Jonah’s experience we see the Concern of God for the World.
1. The Situation from Jonah’s Perspective?
· Jonah has been a Successful prophet. He was able to Hear the Voice of God.
· Jonah’s problem was Not that he did Not Hear God’s voice,
Jonah’s problem was What he Heard he did Not Like.
Jonah’s Perspective:
a. Those people were Not his Kind of People.
b. This was Inconvenient.
c. This was Risky.
2. The Situation from God’s Perspective?
· God had a Totally Different perspective.
· Instead God looks at Nineveh and sees their Real Need.
· What we need to do is See God’s Perspective and
· Have Our perspectives Subservient to God’s perspectives.
Men have been looking so hard at the great fish,
that they have failed to see the great God.
(G.Campbell Morgan)