Read Jonah 3:1-10, 4:1

1. We serve a God of Second Chances

• The word of the Lord came to Jonah a SECOND time
  • What happened the first time?
    • We saw in Chapter 1 the word of the Lord came to Jonah and he refused to go
    • In fact he ran in the opposite direction of the direction he was supposed to go
• So what do we know about Jonah so far?
  • He is a prophet of God
  • He hears God’s voice
  • He is not full of love for all of God’s people
• God immediately calls Jonah again.
• Wouldn’t this be a serious surprise if you’re hearing this for the first time?
• We don’t see a lot of disgraced people like this really get a second chance in our culture.
• God is RELENTLESS in his pursuit of our hearts when he is using us to accomplish his will and purpose. It doesn’t matter where you’ve failed in the past, God can still use you. He can still use me.
  • God gives grace to Jonah by choosing to use a failed prophet to accomplish his purposes.
  • Grace—Unconditional acceptance given to an undeserving person by an unobligated giver. 
  • We know that God doesn’t just give second chances.

2. God Uses Our Brokenness to Accomplish His Purposes

• We see in v. 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
• Lies:
  • Not good enough to serve
  • Good enough to step up in your families and lead
  • Not well suited for ministry
  • Something in your past? Not Jonah’s past.
  • Pastors/Elders/Thom example.
• Truth: If Jonah didn't have his frolic and detour, men on the boat wouldn’t have been saved.
  • God had a wonderful purpose for Jonah’s story
  • God knew Jonah would defy him.
  • He knew Jonah would sin
  • Used that to accomplish his purpose. To minister to the men on that boat.
  • Romans 8: 28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
    • What that DOESN’T mean
      • Better car, prettier girlfriend
    • What it DOES mean
      • Our sin, our brokenness, ALL THINGS
        • Will work together to accomplish His purposes
        • Far better than getting your every want
        • That GOOD is far better than anything you can dream or imagine.
• Truth: God will use your brokenness to accomplish his purposes
• It was God’s grace that he kept going back to Jonah to accomplish his purposes.
  • Describe Nineveh.
  • Fish Town
  • Fish Story
  • And why did Jonah have a fish story? Because he was broken and sinful. God turned around Jonah’s own brokenness to save a city of 600,000.

3. Disaster Results from Placing Your Ultimate Faith in Yourself, instead of in God 

• The end of Jonah 3 looks pretty great, right? I couldn’t leave today with a false sense that Jonah did all this with the right heart and that he is right with God.  So I am including just one verse of chapter 4. 
• Jonah: 
  • Prophet of God 
  • He knew God’s voice
  • He was a practicing orthodox religious person
  • He would have been very familiar with the Torah, the Scripture
  • Yet he was blinded to some very important truths about God and about himself.
    • Chapter the end of chapter 3 and the beginning of 4 reads, “When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, [a] and he was angry.”
  • WAIT, WHAT?!
    • Example of this morning, as I’m preaching.
    • Jesus rejoices when 1 in 99 comes back
    • WE rejoice when we have baptisms or see someone saved through the work God allows us to do
  • Jonah’s response?
    • Jonah was mad that God SAVED an entire City THROUGH HIS WORK!
    • This response is wrong. It’s sinful. There’s no doubt about it.
    • Jonah is saying to God that his way of navigating that particular situation is better than God’s.
    • Jonah determined:
      • These are not a people who deserve saving. That’s not a people who should be recipients of God’s grace.
  • Hidden assumption: They don’t deserve God’s grace, but I do.
    • There’s no anger after God saves Jonah from the belly of the fish, is there?
    • That’s why Jonah can be mad at God for not behaving in the way I think he should. That’s why Jonah can be upset when God saves these people.
      • Example: Mr. Yo’s Donut Shop
      • You don’t want what you deserve
  • Jonah’s anger at God was based in his self-righteousness. Somewhere deep down, Jonah believed he deserved God’s grace, God’s compassion, God’s love, while the Ninevites did not.
  • This reminded me of another place in Scripture where someone was upset when someone was angry because someone got what they didn’t deserve. 
  • Luke 15:28-32
  • Parallels
  • Both of these men represent the religious, “the good” ones
  • And they both are ANGRY when they should be pleased. They should be rejoicing.
  • They’re jealous of a father decides to pour out his love on those he pleases to pour his love on
    • Jeremiah 17:7-8 Root before fruit
  • With Jonah and the older son, their trust ultimately in something other than the Lord
    • We’re placing trust in ourselves and not in God. He is saying his way of navigating this is better than God’s. His ROOTS were planted in himself, rather in God. 
    • That was the same as the sin in the garden.

Call to Action 

• If you have placed your trust, your hope in yourself, rather than in God, he’s calling you to repentance. 
• We saw how got relentlessly pursued Jonah, the men in the boat, and the entire city of Nineveh. 
• God is relentlessly pursuing you
• Look at the fruit in your life. What is the root of that fruit?
• His purpose is not only to save you, but also to save others through you
• God provides grace to believers in him, and he gives it to you. That unconditional acceptance given to an undeserving person by an unobligated giver. 
• We know what we deserve.

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