Our Response to God’s Correction

Join us as Pastor Tyler continues in the sermon series, Jonah - God's Grace For the Undeserving - Our Response to God's Correction - Jonah 2

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:24

This morning's scripture reading is in Jonah, starting in Jonah chapter one, verse seventeen, right through to the end of chapter two. The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish. I called to the Lord in my distress, and he answered me. I cried out for help from deep inside Sheol. You heard my voice. When you threw me into the depths, into the heart of the seas, the current overcame me. All your breakers and your billows they swept over me. And I said, I have been banished from your sight, yet I will look once again toward your holy temple. The water engulfed me up to the neck. The watery depths overcame me. Seaweed was wrapped around my head. I sank to the foundations of the mountains. The earth's gates shut behind me forever. Then you raised my life from the pit, Lord my God. As my life was fading away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, to your holy temple. Those who cherish worthless idols abandon their faithful love. But as for me, I will sacrifice to you with a voice of thanksgiving. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation belongs to the Lord. And then the Lord commanded the fish and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. Oh gracious Father, we thank you for the story of Jonah. Lord, we ask that you would give us a deeper repentance. That you would give us a deep hatred for our sin. That we would dread the approach of sin. Help us, Lord, to flee what is wicked and to draw near to Christ. Help us, Lord, to remain in your presence and not to run from you. Purge us, Father, of our anger. Pull the weeds of jealousy from our hearts. Destroy our pride. Crush our arrogance. Father, we ask for your help to guard our lips, to tear the roots of lust out from inside of us. That we would look to your holy mountain, Jesus Christ. That we would live each day by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us. Father, we pray. Lord, we thank you that the Son has conquered death and sin and has declared us new creations. Father, we ask for your mercy on us, that you would fill us with the everlasting waters of Christ's goodness and grace. That by the power of the Holy Spirit, you would help us to walk in Christ's righteousness. Lord, help us who are suffering to walk in Christ's righteousness. Help us who are battling deceptive sin to believe and live according to your words of life. So, Lord, we humbly ask you by the power of your Holy Spirit to use your word to minister to us here this morning. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. By show of hands, uh who here loves being corrected? I'm just kidding. You know, correction doesn't come easy. We avoid it, we uh run from it. And in preparing this week, um I remembered a story that a friend of mine told me, who happens he's also a pastor, uh he pastors in the in the Calgary area. Um, but he told me that when he was a kid, uh little kid, he was at home. Now remember, okay? This was the 90s, alright? Uh he was a little kid at home and he had gotten in trouble with his mom, and he heard those famous words you just wait until your father gets home. Some of us have heard those words before. Um, and so he does in his little kid mind and his diligence, he uh proceeds to put on all of his pairs of underwear that he owns to hopefully soften the blow of dad coming home. And when his dad arrived, he his dad laughed and thought his son's resourcefulness and was resourceful, and so he was so impressed that he gave him a pass. I'm not so sure the next time that worked, but you know, like for us as Christians, the gospel is really this perfect example of correction being unpleasant but necessary. If you just think about it, our sin required correction. Jesus then steps down in to take the blow on our behalf. And we also know that as Christians, our correction is an important part of the maturing and the sanctification process as Yahweh God graciously corrects us as a loving father, like in Hebrews 12, 10 to 11 tells us. And by examining Jonah's experience here a little bit, I think that we can learn so much about the character of God as he corrects us as well as Jonah, and as he shows us through Jonah's example, Jonah's response to the correction. There's things we learn about God. I think the big thing we do learn is that the discipline of Yahweh is flawless, it's loving, and it's faithfully purposeful. Now, here's what's interesting about Jonah's story, and you can kind of read it a little bit in the text as uh we're gonna look at the text, but we know that Jonah's heart isn't actually changed towards the Ninevites. Even in his prayer, in the psalm that we're gonna read, there's a he puts a little bit of slight there. Do you notice in verse 8 he says, Those who cherish worthless idols abandon their faithful love. But as for me, I will sacrifice to you with a voice of thanksgiving. The Ninevites were known for worshiping idols. And so even in this prayer, Jonah's a little bit like, I'm better than that. And so, but we really see this come out in chapter 4, and of course in chapter 3, but we never really see a complete change of heart here from the prophet. In fact, the Ninevehes are the ones that give us the example of a change of heart taking place. But I think that by examining these things, we can learn so much about God's gracious character and how he corrects us and how we are to respond to his correction. So here is my question for all of us this morning. Is God trying to get your attention? Is he trying to get your attention? And how are you responding to God trying to get your attention? Well, the first thing we're gonna see is this is that God's correction is painful, but it's purposeful. And this is in verse 17. And the reason why we include verse 17 is because in the Hebrew, verse 17 of chapter 1 is included in chapter 2. The chapter and verse breaks came centuries later, and this is an example of it maybe not being such a great place, but chapter 1, verse 17 is really part of the story of chapter 2. And so we have Yahweh appointing the fish, chapter 1, 17, and then the end of chapter 2, he also commands the fish. And so bookended by the grace and the work of God through this whole story. But here in this passage, as we get into it, I just I just want to be clear about something. That just because you may be going through suffering in your life, it does not mean that God is punishing you or correcting you, or he's disciplining you. If you're here this morning, you're going through suffering, you know somebody is going through suffering, that does not mean God is correcting, punishing, or disciplining you. And we know that, because in the Bible, we have examples like Job, of course, Jesus being the ultimate example, but you just think about Job. This was not a punishment against Job. And God had to work in Job's heart to help him see that. Job's friends thought it was. What did you do wrong? And that's how, again, this whole culture thinks. If something bad is happening to you, then you must have broken a mirror or something. That's how they operated. But that's not the message of the gospel. In fact, Christians are said you should expect suffering, that God does an incredible work through our suffering, Romans 5 and in other places. And so just because you're going through suffering, it doesn't mean God is punishing you or correcting you. What we're talking about today when it comes to correction is we're talking about the consequences of sin, of your sin and my sin. The consequences that we face for our sin. We do something, there's a consequence. That's what's happening here in this passage. Jonah is in the belly of the fish because of his sin. Because of the consequence of his sin. And so it's important for us to understand that God works mightily through the consequences of our sin to get a hold of our hearts through the circumstances of those consequences. Um, and this is what's happening with Jonah. I mean, Jonah's sin, it came to light. He was running from the presence of Yahweh, he declared it himself. Even the pagan sailors agreed, yeah. I mean, you've done something to Yahweh, and this is what's happening. I mean, Jonah knew what he did. The pagan sailors knew what he did, and Yahweh knew what Jonah did. So Yahweh orchestrates the events of Jonah in such a way to get a hold of this disgruntled prophet's attention. That's why I come back to my earlier question. Is God trying to get your attention? Are you dealing with the consequences of your sin here this morning? And God's trying to get your attention. Jonah 117. The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Yahweh appointed. Yahweh appointed, it says. You know, historically, this term was used for Yahweh appointing national destruction for Israel as a punishment for their sins. And so when, as a Hebrew, you're reading these words, Via Min Yahweh, in the Hebrew, you see the Lord appointed. You start seeing and realizing, oh, this is about this is about consequences and destruction. This is this is God bringing about an a national disaster in Jonah's life. And so God is bringing about this to get Jonah's attention. He allotted it. Very literally, that's how the Hebrew word uh min um it's and allotted, and allotted Yahweh. That's how the verse starts uh literally in the in the text. So he allotted, or Yahweh appointed or assigned the judgment. And in this case, he assigned the fish. And this was the first time we see Yahweh act since Jonah 1.4. Jonah 1.4, what did he do? He hurled the storm onto the sea. And here in the Hebrew, we see that the narrator is signaling another grand event that is taking place. So again, if you're a Hebrew reader and speaker, you're reading through the text, this automatically draws your attention to what's happening. There's a sequence of events taking place. In fact, structurally, there's a sequence taking place within the original text. We see Jonah 117 is part of Jonah 2. Here 117 and in 2.1, and in 2.10, so 117, 2.1, and 2.10, we see the same type of sentence structure in all three verses. We see Yahweh's mentioned, Jonah's mentioned, and the fish is mentioned in all three verses. But here in 117, Yahweh appoints the fish, and Jonah 2, Jonah responds to the fish in Jonah 2.1, and he responds, sorry, he responds to Yahweh in the belly of the fish, and then Jonah 10 or 2.10, it closes with Yahweh responding to Jonah by commanding the fish to upchuck Jonah onto dry land. You see, this is the point. God is on the move in this passage, and it's with precision, it's with purpose, it's with control. There is a significant point to all of this, and it's that God is not flying off the handle, but his grace is at work. Jonah was running, but Yahweh God was running faster. So reading Jonah's response, as we're going to do again in just a moment, we know that he understands why all of this is happening, but we know again he doesn't fully, fully understand deep within his heart, there's no heart change by the end of the book. It leaves us with that cliffhanger. You know, it can be so hard to see the purposeful outcome of God's correction in our lives when we're in the midst of the consequences of our sin. And that's okay. Because remember, and as we're gonna see, this Psalm of Jonah that it's recorded here is a reflection back on what happened. And I'm sure that the while in the difficulty of his situation, Jonah wasn't like, you know, this is good, and I trust God's purpose. But later he's certainly going to see this more clearly. But we can't always see these things that are taking place, but we can be assured Yahweh God is on the move. Correction is painful, but it is purposeful. We know why Jonah's been swallowed by the fish as we look back at this story. Number two, we find in the text, is that God's correction should get our attention and direct our affection. It should get our attention and direct our affection. Really, we see this through verses two to seven, but the passage opens, of course, in uh giving us that introduction in verse 1. We see 2 to uh through to verse 9, it covers three stanzas of this Hebrew poem that is written. And in these verses, we see the irony of Jonah, where he gets exactly what he originally desires. He runs from the presence of God only for God to respond with, well, if that's what you want, you're not gonna like it, but I'm gonna give you your space. It's almost like a Romans 1 moment, if you're familiar with Romans 1. God gives people over to their sin, to their depraved minds. So this is really what Jonah wanted. God is saying, okay, if that's what you want, then I'm gonna give you your space. And verse 1, it picks up Jonah prayed to Yahweh, his God, from the belly of the fish. And he said, This I called to the Lord in my distress, and he answered me. I cried out for help from deep inside Sheol. You heard my voice. You notice that? He goes, From I called to the Lord, he answered me. So talking about God in third person, and then I cried out for him from the deep, from deep inside Sheol, you heard my voice. So now he's talking directly to God here. And verse 3 when you threw me into the depths, into the heart of the seas, the current overcame me, all your breakers and billows swept over me. I called to the Lord in my distress. I cried for help. He answered me, you heard my voice. God listens to Jonah's cries of distress. Did you get that? Isn't that amazing? You know, you may feel like God isn't listening to you if you're in a situation like this, dealing with the consequences of your sin. That he doesn't care, that he's enjoying the plight that you find yourself in, and this simply isn't true of who he truly is. Yet in these moments of discipline and correction, God is working to get our attention. He doesn't ignore us. It may feel like he is, but he doesn't. And Jonah is saying, You heard my voice. You heard my voice. The passage goes on in verse four. And I said, I have been banished from your sight, yet I will come once more toward your holy temple. The water engulfed me up to the neck, the watery depths overcame me. Seaweed was wrapped around my head. Doesn't sound too pleasant, does it? I sank to the foundations of the mountains, the earth's gate shut behind me forever. Then you raised my life from the pit, Lord my God. So again, he acknowledges Yahweh's presence in him listening, in him raising him, and verse 7, as my life was fading away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came, and my prayer came to you, to your holy temple. You see, this psalm not only shows us this pleading of Jonah with Yahweh, but we also see and get more of a picture of this unpleasant experience that he truly would have been him. Bin bin. You know, there is nothing about this that was pleasant. The most Pleasant thing that happens in this whole uh experience for Jonah is the amazing work of God in the situation that points to Yahweh's character that Jonah appeals to. In Jonah's poem here, it's meant to really emphasize the mercy of Yahweh at work to deliver him, even though he didn't deserve it. And even though we get hints in the poem that his heart still maybe isn't completely changed, God mercifully got Jonah's attention enough, listened to his cry for deliverance, and he answered him. And he heard Jonah's voice. You know, Jonah's been mentioned by many scholars to have significant parallels to the New Testament story, the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. And just as the dire physical circumstance forced the prodigal son in Luke 15 to turn back to his father, this circumstance certainly gets Jonah's undivided attention on God's good and gracious character. Jonah repeats this phrase a few times. I will look once more, or again in the text, I will look again to your holy temple. And this is what he's saying. I will focus on you, Yahweh. Focus on where you dwell. I will embrace your presence and come to the place where you dwell. You see, correction should set our affection and focus on God. The only one who can truly deliver us by his grace and who enjoys doing so. And just remember the words of Hebrews 4:16. Love this passage. Hebrews 4, 16, because of the work of Christ, this is what is true for us as believers. Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. And here is my encouragement for you. If God is trying to get your attention here this morning, or you're in a circumstance that you are dealing with the consequences of your sin, I plead with you, I encourage you, come to the throne of grace. Come to the throne of grace. The throne is surrounded by grace. Rivers of waters of grace flow from the throne. The throne is grace, and God is pleased to freely give it to you. Turn to him in your time of need. Because God's correction should get our attention and it should direct our affection. And the last thing we see that takes place in this passage, in verses 8 to 10, is that God's correction leads us to worship. And so here's Jonah. Waters engulfed him in his neck, the depths have overcome him. He feels like he's at the foundation of the mountains. This is a very unpleasant experience. But then Yahweh raises him up from the pit, verse 6. His life was fading away, but then he remembered Yahweh, and his prayer came to Yahweh, into his holy temple, into his presence. And verse 8 through 10, it says this those who cherish worthless idols abandon their faithful love. So all of a sudden, you come to verse 7. You're like, oh, Jonah's getting it. And then verse 8 and 9, it's interesting. Those who cherish worthless idols abandon their faithful love. But as for me, I will sacrifice to you with a voice of thanksgiving. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Then the Lord commanded the fish and had vomited Jonah onto dry land. You know, the proper response to experiencing such grace and mercy is that of praise and thanksgiving. And Jonah, he was experiencing grace and mercy, and it was bringing him, even though his heart wasn't completely changed, the Lord was doing a work, things were changing for him. He was starting to see things a little differently. And so he's on this journey of understanding all of this, and God saves him, and Jonah recognizes that, and it brings him to the point of thanksgiving and giving glory and worship to God. Leslie Allen in his commentary says this about these verses is that this is the climax of this psalm that Jonah has written. Jonah is now supremely a saved man who has tasted the grace of Yahweh and who's been delivered from the just reward of his disobedience. That's the point. Yahweh in his grace delivers Jonah as he delivers us from what we deserve. That's what the grace of God does. He delivers us from what we deserve. And in verse 8, you know, although we get a sense that Jonah's heart has changed enough for him to listen to God and go to Nineveh, we know it hasn't completely changed. And again, this in verse in chapter 3, this comes out, and I mentioned this last week. But Jonah's message to the Nineveh, and I want to correct, last week I said there's five words. It's five words in Hebrew, it's seven in English. So that's what it is. It's five words in Hebrew. And so Jonah quite literally says this to the Ninevehes as he arrives in Nineveh, he says this, these five words, 40 days and Nineveh destroyed. That's it. That's his message. And then you see in verse 10, here chapter 2 ends with this word from Yahweh. After all this takes place, God delivers him. It tells us how he did that. In verse 10, it says that he spoke. Yahweh spoke and said, He commanded to the fish and it vomited Jonah to dry land. Commanded the fish and it vomited Jonah to dry land. The text says he spoke a word. He said a word to the fish. I just wonder what that conversation sounded like between God and the fish. Hey, fish, give them up. I don't know. But it's amazing. He spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah up on dry land. I mean, we saw Jesus too have control over nature and speak to the storm. Of course, Yahweh would speak to a fish. The storm is hurled or thrown out onto the sea, but now Jonah is vomited. This passage being bookend by God's sovereign command over the fish to swallow Jonah. Then he gets his attention, and then the vomit Jonah to deliver him. You know, this story has special significance for us as Christians as well. As Jesus uses Jonah's time in the fish as an illustration of his time in the grave and the resurrection. And we see this in Matthew chapter 12. There's a whole section on it there. But most notably in verse 40, Jesus says, For as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. Jonah's story helps us see the glory of Jesus Christ. Jesus being the one to take on the punishment and correction that we ultimately deserved. The one to go into the depths of the fish on our behalf, to take the discipline that was ours, going through the fiery trial in order to bring us to the place of salvation where we with Jonah praise the Lord as he does in verse 9. For salvation belongs to who? The Lord. See, God's correction working through the circumstances of sin always has the purpose of leading us to a deeper, more meaningful, more intimate, more affectionate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, resulting in us giving praise of his grace and of his salvation of what we don't deserve. This was nothing but the love and grace of God at work. Does God have your attention? You may be in a time of your life this morning where you are dealing with the devastating consequences of your sin. Come boldly to his throne of grace. His grace is poured out to you in our time of need. He has forgiven you. He loves you. He's running after you. Does he have your attention? You know, although difficult, the correction and discipline of Yahweh is necessary as it leads us to the fountain of his grace at the foot of his throne of grace. So let's boldly approach. Let's pray, Father. This morning, Lord, we approach your throne of grace through celebrating the Lord's Supper. Because of the blood spilled, the body broken. We approach your throne of grace this morning through the Lord's Supper, knowing that we have been covered in the blood of Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord, for your mercy. We thank you for running after us, for running faster than we do. And so, Lord, I pray for us here this morning, for any of us that are going through a season of dealing with consequences of our sin, I pray we would come to your throne of grace, enjoying your salvation, your goodness to us, accepting your forgiveness as Christ took our consequence, the consequence we deserved. So, Lord, we thank you that we get to celebrate this here in just a few moments. We pray that you would do a mighty work in our hearts in Jesus' name. Amen.