We do turn to God's Word now, and we continue
in our sermon series through the book of Jonah.
And so would you turn to chapter two of this
book. Again, this is found within the minor prophets.
If you start running into Micah, you've gone
a little bit too far. It's in the middle of the
minor prophets, so there we go. Can you hear
me now? But before we read I'm gonna turn that
off before Can you hear me Okay, before we read
I wanted to just make some brief remarks about
what we have already seen because we were not
in Jonah last Sunday and so just a recap what
we saw was Jonah running from the very presence
of God running from what God asked him told him
to do to go to Nineveh and preach repentance
he doesn't want to do that and so he goes to
Joppa and he's trying to flee to Tarshish and
he gets on this boat right and he sleeps the
crew is terrified because a horrific storm comes
about and they wake him and say pray Jonah but
the thing about Jonah that we've seen so far
in chapter 1 is that Jonah doesn't pray does
he we also remark that this in chapter 2 this
this belly of the fish saga this is the thing
that we all know from Sunday school right but
sometimes we get so fixated upon the fish we
want to know what kind of fish was it was it
a whale how big was it could it really swallow
a human being we asked all of these questions
I want to give you a quote from another pastor,
Thomas John Carlyle said, I was so obsessed with
what was going on inside the whale that I missed
seeing the drama inside Jonah. Today we're going
to see the drama inside of Jonah. And we're going
to see the thing that he should have been doing
all along. Let's read Jonah chapter 2 Then Jonah
prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of
the fish saying I called out to the Lord out
of my distress and he answered me out of the
belly of Sheol I cried and you heard my voice
for you cast me into the deep into the heart
of the seas, and the floods surrounded me. All
your waves and your billows passed over me. And
then I said, I am driven away from your sight,
yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.
And the waters closed in over me to take my life.
The deep surrounded me. Weeds were wrapped around
my head at the root of the mountains. I went
down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever.
Yet you brought me up up my life from the pit
Oh Lord my God when my life was fainting away
I remembered the Lord and my prayer came to you
into your holy temple those who pay regard to
vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love
But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice
to you what I have vowed I will pay salvation
belongs to the Lord And the Lord spoke to the
fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.
This is God's word. Let's pray. Father, we do
thank you for this word. And we thank you for
all of your words. We thank you that all of scripture
is breathed out by your Holy Spirit. But Lord,
as we come to this, we have questions. We don't
always understand, and so we ask that you would
grant us understanding now and a right application
of the text. This we ask in Christ's name. Amen.
Have you ever had a season in your life of fervent,
desperate, zealous prayer? Can you remember a
time when you knew there was nothing else you
could do but pray. Have you had a situation like
that? A time when you were constantly approaching
the throne of grace in prayer? Jesus shows us
time and time again that Christians are to be
praying people. Christians are to pray at all
times. But what we see from Jonah and what we
see from Jesus is desperate prayer. Do you remember
in Luke 22, it's in the other gospels as well,
but specifically in Luke 22, Jesus took his disciples
to pray before his arrest. And he tells them
to pray that they would not fall into temptation.
What do they do? They fall asleep. But Jesus
does not fall asleep instead Jesus does what
he told them to do Jesus in the garden before
his arrest he prays He prays he says father if
you're willing remove this cup from me Nevertheless,
not my will but yours be done Jesus prays To
the extent there in the garden that he begins
to sweat And not just normal perspiration, but
Luke 22 says that Jesus sweats drops of blood.
Jesus, before he went to the cross, he was in
anguish, but he shows us what the Christian is
to do when our backs are against the wall, when
we've hit rock bottom. We are to pray. Jesus
shows us this. Jonah finally does too. Chapter
two of Jonah should have been chapter one and
what I mean by that is that Jonah in chapter
two is doing what he should have been doing in
chapter one. He is praying. Think about all the
times in the first chapter that Jonah should
have prayed and he did not. When the Lord told
him to go to Nineveh to preach repentance there,
Jonah doesn't pray about his response. He just
high -tails it the other way. And then when Jonah
is on the ship and he's sleeping and the captain
comes to him and wakes him up and says, call
out to your God, we don't see Jonah doing that,
do we? And when Jonah lets those sailors in on
who he is and more importantly, who he serves,
and they say, well, what? What are we to do about
this terrible storm that's threatening to break
the boat in half? We do not see Jonah pray. Instead,
we see him say, throw me overboard. But in chapter
two, we see what is prescriptive for us, his
response when he couldn't get any lower. And
this is what we need to consider too. What do
we do when we cannot get any lower? What do we
do when the situation couldn't be worse? What
do we do when we're drowning under the weight
of sorrow, when we're overwhelmed by the miseries
of this life? What do you do when you face that
horrific diagnosis? What do you do when nothing
is going right? What do you do? That's... where
Chapter 2 comes in. It's so incredibly helpful
for us. What do you do? You pray. But Jonah's
prayer here, this song in Chapter 2, it also
sounds like some other places in Scripture. I
want to take you to a psalm that this reminds
me of. If you will, turn to Psalm 88. Psalm 88,
as some of you know, is brutally honest. It's
bleak. It's dark. It's probably the darkest Psalm
in the Psalter. It's nearly hopeless, and yet
it's also instructive for us. So as I read the
first seven verses of Psalm 88, I want you to
listen for two things. One, In what ways does
Psalm 88 sound like Jonah 2? And then secondly,
think what does the psalmist do right? Listen
to this from Psalm 88 1 through 7. Oh Lord, God
of my salvation, I cry out day and night before
you. Let my prayer come before you. Incline your
ear to my cry for my soul. is full of troubles,
and my life draws near to Sheol. I am counted
among those who go down to the pit. I am a man
who has no strength, like one set loose among
the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more, for they
are cut off from your hand. You have put me in
the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and
deep. Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you
overwhelm me with all of your waves. Christian,
what is it that the psalmist gets right in Psalm
88? He prays. When we are at the bottom, when
we are weak, when we are anxious, when we are
depressed, when we feel like all hope is lost,
we must pray. This is what the psalmist does,
and this is what Jonah finally does. Perhaps
you remember the words of James 5 .13. Is anyone
among you suffering? He should pray. Christian,
do not put off prayer. Don't put it off. Prayer
is the medicine you need. Prayer is the remedy
for a downcast soul. In prayer, you commune with
the only one who can truly help you. And so here
is Jonah. He's in the fish and there's only one
thing he can do. There's actually only one thing
recorded that he does. He prays, finally. In
chapter one, we see Jonah talking about the Lord,
but it's not until chapter two that he actually
talks to the Lord. Look in verse two. I called
out to the Lord. out of my distress and he answered
me. Jonah finally now prays and the Lord answers
him. This is remarkable. Jonah is in the deep,
he's in the water, and then he's in the fish,
but those things cannot prevent his prayer from
getting to the ears of God. Those things cannot
stifle prayer. I like to think of it like a cell
phone signal. Sometimes if you go back into our
woods back here, if you try and talk on the phone
back there, or even sometimes in the Family Life
Center, you'll find that you don't have a very
strong cell phone signal. But Christian, when
you pray in the name of Jesus, the signal is
always strong. Your God loves to hear from you.
and He knows your voice. He does. He knows your
voice when you're in good cheer, and He knows
your voice when you're upset. He knows your voice
in your finest moments, and He knows your voice
in your moments of regret. Think about all those
times that Jonah should have prayed, but when
he does, it's like the Lord hears him immediately.
And so why would we ever neglect prayer? Jonah
could not be lower. He says that he's in the
belly of sheol. And there's a couple of, there's
a few different ways of understanding that word
sheol. It could refer to just death. Sometimes
the word sheol refers to the grave. Sometimes
it refers to the place of torment. And so I like
how Rick Phillips at Second Pres says this, Jonah,
is in a hellish grave. Look at the description
of where he is in verse three. He's in the deep.
He's in the heart of the seas. The flood surrounds
him. And that word for flood is actually the
word for river. It's almost as though Jonah is
in the water, but in a river that's pushing him
down. The flood surrounds him, the waves, the
billows, they pass over him. Things cannot really
get much worse. You see at one point he's got
seaweed wrapped around his head. Verse seven,
he shares that he feels like he's in prison,
that he's behind bars. It is like Jonah is buried
alive. But even as he is, verse four shows hope.
Verse 6 shows hope. Verse 6 might be the turning
point of this prayer, this song, the moment when
Jonah realizes the fish is not his prison, but
the fish is his life preserver. And so he says
that he's brought up from the pit. You can see
Jonah is being brutally honest within his prayer,
and that's how you should be too, Christian.
You can be honest within your prayers. For Jonah,
within this prayer, he understands something
about God. That God is sovereign over everything
that happens. He says that it's the Lord is the
one who throws him into the deep. Jonah knows
who threw him into the deep. He knows it was
the sailors, but who is behind every action.
It's the Lord God. And so Jonah acknowledges
this, the sovereignty of God, and yet it's the
Lord also who brings him up to safety. And so
what the Lord does here is he brings Jonah to
his senses. Within the belly of the fish, the
Lord is doing something. It's very similar, I
think, to the prodigal son. You remember that
story, right? You remember how the son takes
his inheritance? And he flees. He goes away to
a faraway land. He leaves his father. And what
does he do with that inheritance? He squanders
it all, right? And pretty soon the prodigal son
is eating pig food. He's at the bottom, rock
bottom. But then in Luke 15 it says that he came
to himself. The prodigal son said, no more of
this. I will go back to my father. I will confess
my sin. I will be a hired hand for him. This
is Jonah. Jonah comes to himself. Verse seven,
he remembers the Lord. Jonah remembers the Lord.
And so what does he do when he remembers the
Lord? We'll go to verse one. Then Jonah prayed
to the Lord his God from the belly. Did you see
how it says the Lord his God? Jonah remembers
God. Jonah still belongs to God. Jonah hasn't
really forgotten God. He just forgot what God
was like, what he is like, that God is merciful.
This whole story is one of Jonah trying to forget
God, but God doesn't forget Jonah. And friends,
this is remarkable. because if you have you ever
sinned to the extent where you thought God doesn't
want to know me anymore God doesn't want to hear
from me anymore God doesn't doesn't love me anymore
have you ever felt like that we might have thought
that Jonah being a prophet who's running away
from God being expelled into the bottom of the
sea might think you know what there's no point
There is no point in praying to God. He doesn't
want to hear from me. But that's not what he
does. That's not what he does. Because the Lord
is still his God. Jonah is a believer. And he
might think that he has lost everything in his
life. He might think, I am losing my life right
now. But he doesn't lose his sonship. The adoption
papers for Jonah are not lost. He still belongs
to God and so he cries out to him. He doesn't
turn to another God, does he? He mentions those
who are worshiping vain idols. He doesn't turn
to them either. He finally stops turning inward
and Jonah looks upward. We remarked two weeks
ago about what God was doing with Jonah in the
belly of the fish. That this was a time of correction.
And sometimes as Christians, we need that time
of correction, don't we? We might be going through
the most painful thing, but the Lord is refining
us. The Lord is sanctifying us, right? In the
belly of the fish, Jonah realizes that God has
saved him. God was really doing something there
in the fish, and he was really doing something
in Jonah. We remember what Jonah did We remember
how Jonah fled and we said two weeks ago that
Jonah got what he wanted He tried to flee from
the presence of God and said so God said okay
You can have it He fled from his mission He neglected
prayer on the boat He was thrown into the sea
and so he gets what he wants, but when he gets
it suddenly he realizes This is not what I want
This is not what I need. This is the worst thing
I could possibly experience. Christian, separation
from the blessed presence of God is the worst
thing you can experience. It's not what you want.
We said that Jonah seems to realize that God
is sovereign over everything, and so it's not
so much that Jonah has been trying to escape
God, who is omnipresent. Trying to get away from
God and his blessed presence his favor, but when
he gets that he realizes nope This is not what
I want He cannot stand it for a second and friends.
This is how sin works Sin can be enticing Sin
can be exciting sin can be scintillating But
you know this sin does not satisfy It doesn't
sin destroys us and so we must be destroying
sin before it destroys us All that sin is is
just simply rebellion Against God where we act
like God doesn't know like God doesn't see us
but friends Your sin will find you out Your sin
will find you out. And so when we are in rebellion
against God, what should we do? Should we keep
running? Should we keep trying to hide? Should
we trying to escape the everywhereness of God?
No. No. For it doesn't work. And even if it did,
you would absolutely hate it. Do not try and
escape from God. God... coming after you he sent
his son for this very purpose to reclaim sinners
and so do not run from God but instead pray to
him as he says as this text says that God is
still his God we might ask this question for
those who don't know Jesus how can Jonah's God
be my God how can he be your God Only through
Jesus Christ. Friends, you don't have to face
the hellish grave. You can have eternal life
with all of God's blessings. This story here
of Jonah shows us that it's not too late, is
it? It's not too late. As Jonah's life was fainting
away, he remembers the Lord and he exclaims,
salvation belongs to the Lord. Friends, the story
of Jonah. It's our story The story of Jonah is
our story for we were in rebellion against God
But because of God's mercy we are saved and that
mercy has a name And his name is Jesus And what
is so Remarkable about Jesus amongst a thousand
things Is that Jonah As Jonas says that he's
driven away from God, Jesus knows what that's
like. Jesus knows what it's like for the Father
to turn his face away. Jesus, who on the cross
exclaimed, my God, my God, why have you forsaken
me? Jesus knows what it's like, for he received
the fullness of the punishment for our sin. Second
Corinthians chapter 5 says that he became a sin
Jesus endured the fullness the shame of it all
So that you don't have to face the wrath of God
So that you don't have to face separation from
the benevolence of God know today that Christ
went through it for you He did it for you. I
Really like How Isaiah 43 puts this, just verse
two. The prophet says here as God speaks through
him, when you pass through the waters, I will
be with you. And through the rivers, they shall
not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire,
you shall not be burned and the flame shall not
consume you. Christian. Jesus has gone through
the flood. He's gone through the flame. And anything
you go through right now, if you are united to
Christ in faith, He is always with you by His
Spirit. Jesus did this for us. And so today,
if you are running from God, if you are in rebellion
against God, if you are denying the Gospel, do
not wait another instant before doing the very
thing. that Jonah should have been doing all
along. Pray. Pray and say salvation belongs to
the Lord. Now today you might say, well, I'm
not in rebellion against God. I'm not running
from God. I've been a member of this church for
years, decades, maybe my whole life. What's the
application for me? What's the application for
the Christian who is walking closely with Jesus?
Well remember, Jonah was a believer, too. Jonah
was a prophet of God. And so prayer is not just
to be done from the belly of Sheol. Prayer is
not just a Hail Mary. The Christian life is a
life of prayer. Even Jonah shows this, this,
because yes, there is lamentation within his
song, within his prayer. There's also thanksgiving,
isn't there? There's also Thanksgiving, but I
with the voice of Thanksgiving He says in verse
9 will sacrifice to you what I have vowed I will
pay and so the Christian life is a life of thankful
prayer And so cultivate Christian cultivate your
prayer life Praying in adoration Praying in confession
Praying in Thanksgiving and praying in supplication
pray daily and pray throughout the day. But you
might say, well, I don't really know how. How
do I pray like Jonah does here? Do Jonah's words
sound familiar at all? When I read Psalm 88,
did that sound familiar at all to you? It should.
Jonah's prayer sounds like it was lifted straight
from the Psalter. And here's why. because Jonah,
even as a runaway prophet, he knew the word.
He knew some of the word. That's the reason why
this chapter 2 sounds so much like Psalm 9, or
Psalm 42, or Psalm 69, or Psalm 88. It's because
Jonah is praying scripture back to God. And so
when you are in desperation, when you have hit
rock bottom, oh friends, I hope that you have
stored up a whole wealth of God's word within
your heart. I like how one other pastor put it.
That Jonah in the belly of the fish, I bet it
was pretty dark in there. Probably pretty hard
to get his Bible out, right? And so how can we
be ready for the storms of life? We must hide
God's Word in our hearts. That's what I believe
that Jonah did. That's why he's able to pray
this way. And so, when you are in crisis mode,
when something happens, and you don't know what
to do, what scripture would you go to? What psalm
or any part of scripture would you cry out back
to God? Maybe you would just go to Jonah 2 -9
and say, Lord, salvation belongs to you. We must
hide God's Word in our hearts. Because salvation
does belong to the Lord. There is salvation in
no other name. God is in control of your life
and mine. God is sovereign over every square
inch of creation. This is evidenced by verse
10. Look there as I begin to conclude. And the
Lord spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah out
upon the dry land. Here we see yet another example
how everything in the book of Jonah responds
to God. Everything in the book of Jonah responds
to God except for the prophet until now. Until
now. And so you see this fish spit Jonah out
onto dry land. Why does the fish do that? Why
does God command the fish to do this? Because
God is merciful. Because God is not finished
with Jonah yet. Because God's not yet through
with the prophet announcing repentance in Nineveh.
Because even though we may be stubborn, even
though we may be rebellious, even though we may
be prodigals, even though we may be runaways,
God is not finished with us yet. And God will
accomplish His purposes. showing mercy. Let's
pray.