Detours & Delays
Jonah • Sermon • Submitted
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Pain Can Make Us Willing
In an old Christian song titled "Hornets", the verses recount the stories of Jonah, Moses, and Balaam, and how God got them to say or do what he wanted them to, even though they were unwilling at first. The song gets its title from a verse that explains how hornets can make a person leave a room, not against their will, but willingly.
The chorus goes:
He does not compel us to go (no, no)
He does not compel us to go
He does not compel us to go 'gainst our will
But he just makes us willing to go.
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,
2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.”
3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent.
4 And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.
6 Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.
7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water.
8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
9 Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?
10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
Review Jonah 1-2
Wicked Nineveh
Sinful City
Jonah fleeing
Jonah in the storm
Jonah in the sea
Jonah on the beach
What did Jonah gain from all of his efforts to evade what God wanted him to do. Absolutely nothing. Notice how chapter 3 begins, in the same manner of chapter 1. When we rebel against God, refusing to do what He asks of us… we will only cause ourselves much needless pain and sorrow, and we may find ourselves ending up in the same place that we started, but with many needles scars and wounds. All this suffering was for what? And Jonah finds himself in the same position that he was in receiving the identical command!
Jonah 1:2 (NKJV)
2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; […].”
2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.”
Detours & Delays will only cause us Pain
Detours & Delays will only cause us Pain
There is another lesson that we can grasp that dovetail’s off of this last point. Let’s re-read Jonah 3:1-4
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying,
2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.”
3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent.
4 And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
I doubt that this was the complete message. Perhaps we only have a summary of the message in verse 4. However, notice that there is no warning. There is no presentation of a condition… “Nineveh shall be overthrown… if you do not repent!” But all we have is a blunt message, “In forty days your goose is cooked!” “In forty days you are all done for!” What was the response of these wicked people.
5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.
6 Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.
When Jonah witnessed the quickest and greatest display of repentance ever recorded in Scripture… an entire city… and an exceedinly large city at that… from the greatest to least… everyone repents… Jonah should have been jumping up for joy! But, for those of us who know that rest of the story, Jonah didn’t rejoice, no he was livid, angry with God!
But Jonah missed it. He totally missed it. If he had contrasted his people’s behaviour and reaction to the preaching of the prophets… prophet after prophet, year after year, generation after generation, ignoring the prophets, slandering the prophets, imprisoning the prophets, stoning the prophets, killing the prophets sent to save them! Jonah totally missed it because of the hardness of his heart, the bitterness, the anger...
Even though Jonah did everything he could to sabatoge God’s efforts to save the Ninevites… God still used this unwilling, rebellious prophet!
Look what Paul says in Phil 1.15-16 “15 Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: 16 The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains;”
15 Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill:
16 The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains;
[expound]
18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.
God will use us to fullfil His purposes inspite of our failings and unwillingness! Despite impure motives! And if we resist continue to rebel, God’s message will be preached!
Detours & Delays will not Deter God’s Will
Detours & Delays will not Deter God’s Will
Jonah lost sight of the preaching of Isreal’s prophets to their own people.
23 Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?
32 For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!”
Let’s read the rest of Jonah 3 together.
7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water.
8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.
9 Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?
10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
How did the king know about the mercy of God? He certainly didn’t hear about it from Jonah. It is suggested that the ministry of another rebellious prophets planted the seeds of repentance in Nineveh. God was at work in the hearts of these people, and God’s own people, Israel were clueless about what God was doing.
God is working in the hearts of the most unsuspecting people. People that we may have resigned to a firey death when Jesus returns to this earth… God is working in their hearts, and just like with Nineveh, the harvest that is going to be reaped is going to be astounding… phenomenal! Sadly, just like Jonah, many of us will miss out on the joy of the lost turning from darkness to light. What’s the final lesson?
Detours and Delays will not deter God from Saving the Lost
Detours and Delays will not deter God from Saving the Lost