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Yep. Yeah, so the title of today's sermon is The Downward Spiral Of Disobedience And God's Mercy. We'll read these passages together. In the all English translations, we have, you know, it's, or let me say this, like, in the original language, verse 17 of chapter 1 is verse 1 of chapter 2.
So there are 11 verses in chapter 2. But in our English translations, for whatever reasons, there are 10 verses. Let's read it together. “Now Yahweh appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. And Jonah prayed to Yahweh his God from the belly of the fish, and he said, ‘I called out from my distress to Yahweh, and he answered me. From the depths of Sheol I cried out; you heard my voice. And you cast me in the depths, in the heart of the sea, and the currents. All your breakers and waves swept over me.
‘And I said, I was cast out from your sight, but I shall look again to your holy temple. The waters engulfed me unto my neck. The abyss was enveloping me, and seaweed was wrapped around my head. I descended to the bottom of the mountains, and the underworld and its pillars were upon me forever. But you brought my life up from the pit of death, O Yahweh my God. When my life was slipping away from me, I remembered Yahweh, and my prayer came to you, to your holy temple. Those who devote themselves to worthless idols, forsake the loving kindness shown to them.
‘But as for me, I shall offer a sacrifice to you with a shout of thanksgiving, which I have vowed I will do. Salvation belongs to Yahweh.’ spoke to the fish and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.” Now if you have observed the life of Jonah so far, in the — in chapter 1, we encounter a profound inconsistency between profession and practice. If you remember Jonah chapter 1 verse 9, the prophet declared there, “I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.” He says there that he fears the Lord.
But yet his actions tell a different story. He confesses God's sovereignty while attempting to flee from his presence. He professes fear of the Lord while persisting in flagrant disobedience. This is contradiction in the life of Jonah, and this is not unique to Jonah. How often do we find ourselves in the same position? We affirm that God is omnipotent, yet we harbor anxiety as though he — we confess
that his word is authoritative, yet we live as though it were merely advisory. We declare that Christ is Lord, and we make decisions as though we are independent of him. We believe in God's sovereignty, but do our lives reflect genuine submission to God's sovereignty?
The book of Jonah confronts us with this uncomfortable reality. Orthodoxy without obedience is hypocrisy. Right belief must result in right behavior or our confession is empty. Firstly, we see here that God's mercy in divine discipline. What is remarkable about Jonah is not merely that he disobeyed initially, but that he persisted in his disobedience.
He persisted in his disobedience through multiple divine warnings. God sent a violent storm. We see there, Jonah did not pray. The pagan sailors cried out to their gods. Thoughts, Jonah remained silent. The captain awakened him and urged him to call upon his God. Still Jonah refused to pray. Why?
Because Jonah understood that the genuine prayer requires submission to God's will. To pray was to surrender to his will. And Jonah was determined to maintain his rebellion because he preferred to die than obey God's commission to preach to the Ninevites. Look at this statement or the quotation by Carson. He said, “Present fidelity, the terrible fruit of faithlessness may take a long time in coming. Be
careful what and whom you love. Good beginnings do not guarantee good endings. Heed the warnings of God while there is time. If you don't, you will eventually become so hardened that his most dire threats will leave you unmoved.” Jonah had become so hardened at his heart, in his heart, that he was, he was unmoved by all the circumstances that he was facing.
God allows Jonah to rebel. He could have stopped him at Joppa, but he didn't. Probably he knew that Jonah needed discipline before he could change. His rebellion shows God's permissive disobedience, but he does not ignore it. He grants us freedom to disobey and uses our mess, the consequences of sin, for our good through discipline. And we must also remember that ignoring the truths of the Scriptures, neglecting warnings, the scriptural warnings from God's people, and continuing in sinful patterns under the false assumption that God will overlook them over time.
Or probably he will eventually have mercy on me, after all Christ died for me in my place. That reflects a misunderstanding of who God actually is. We see consistently throughout the Scriptures that God disciplines lovingly. He lovingly disciplines his people who persist in disobedience. And from the story of Jonah, we learn that God prepares our discipline and he prepares also his duration. He determines his duration as well. The second point that we see here is that God prepares the discipline.
Look at verse 17. It says that, “Now Yahweh appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.” Do you know what God's merciful act here is? Or in general when his people are disobeying, he disciplines his people. That is his merciful act. He pursues us even when we rebel against him. His act of discipline is to show us that he cannot tolerate our sin and, like a loving father, he corrects us through discipline.
His discipline is meant to restore us. And this particular narrative shows us that God can go to any length to bring his people back. You remember the confession again of Jonah to the sailors on board? He said, “I am a Hebrew. I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” He made the seas. He hurled a storm. He hurled a violent storm.
And he can prepare a fish that can swallow Jonah and still keep him alive. There are many speculations about this fish. Many people think that this is probably a myth, um, yeah, but what kind of a fish is this, we might ask? The text simply says it is a great fish, it is a big fish. We need, we need not speculate whether it is a giant whale or giant grouper or some now extinct sea creature, what matters, not the biological classification, but the theological reality.
And that reality is that God who spoke the universe into existence can certainly prepare a fish to preserve his disobedient prophet. Luke 1:37 says, Luke 1:37 says, “For nothing will be impossible with God.” In what context are these words uttered in the book of Luke? These words are spoken by an angel to Mary, was told that the Son of the Most High would be conceived, you know, in her womb, and she was really utterly startled at this, and she asked the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” And to that the angel of the Lord said, “For nothing will be impossible with God.” With God everything is possible. Not only that, but even Jesus
believed that Jonah was in the belly of the fish in, we read that in Matthew chapter 12 verse 40. Jesus uses Jonah's three days and three nights in the fish as a typological sign of his own death and resurrection. Now some stumble at the miraculous nature of this account, but we understand that the same God who upholds the universe by the power of his word can easily accomplish what seems impossible to a finite human mind. God appointed a fish specifically for Jonah to save him from imminent death, but the, but the picture of swallowing in the Hebrew was
used for judgment, for example in the book of Numbers, in the book of Lamentations. In the book of Numbers where the Korah, you know, disobeyed God or did things against God, and the earth was opened up and he was swallowed. Now that's a picture of judgment. God used the fish to demonstrate a few things to Jonah. He is indeed the Lord of the sea.
His acts are beyond our comprehension. And the word swallow shows us that though God saved Jonah from imminent and death, he was still judging him, he was still disciplining him. We can say that God prepared Jonah's discipline, and also the duration of the discipline was specific in the belly of the fish. The writer of the Hebrew says that in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 6, “For whom the Lord loves he disciplines, and he punishes every son whom he accepts.” So God prepares a discipline, and and when God disciplines his people, that is his mercy towards his people. And
number two, there is always distress that follows when God disciplines us. And in his distress, Jonah makes a desperate prayer in chapter 2, verse 1. “And Jonah prayed to Yahweh his God from the belly of a fish.” And in verse 2 he said, “I called out from my distress to Yahweh, and he answered me. From the depths of Sheol I cried out, you heard my voice.” Now verse 1 here is a summary of the entire prayer in chapter 2. This is like a psalm and it is very, and if you read, you go through this prayer of Jonah, it's very poetic in nature.
And the words in Jonah’s psalm are kind of, they are reminiscent of Psalms 18 and Psalm 42. Perhaps Jonah, in his desperate situation, recalled scripture he had memorized. Christ. How vital, how vital that we hide God’s word in our hearts. We never know when we will need to draw upon it in our darkest moments.
Finally here we see that Jonah fell, well, finally, Jonah was fleeing from God. And there were many warnings. He was ignoring. Finally, Jonah, here in the belly of the fish, he felt the weight of God’s hand. He was in deep distress. He says, “From the depths of Sheol, I cried out.” And in the Old Testament Sheol is considered the place of the dead, and it is not literally used here. In this passage uses Sheol as a parallel to the distress that is mentioning in this, in this verse. He is referring to his near-death experience, and the, and the first line
here, “I called out from my distress to Yahweh and he answered me,” is parallel to the second line, “from the depths of Sheol I cried out, you heard my voice.” These are, you know, there is parallelism in the Hebrew literature, and this is, and these sentences are parallel to each other, which means that they are saying the same thing. These statements convey the same idea, which is a common feature in the Hebrew literature. And then verses 3, 4 and 5, we see there that Jonah says that “you cast me in the depths, the heart of the sea,” and verse 4 he says that I
was cast out from your sight. The Hebrew word translated here for cast or driven away can also mean to abandon or to discard. The same word was used when Hagar left her son under a bush. She kind of abandoned her son or left her, left him under the bush. Jonah also felt abandoned by God. He felt expelled from his presence. Jonah felt abandoned as he struggled in the waters. And this idea of abandonment fits well with verse 4. No, you can’t, you know, it doesn’t fit
well to say that to cast out from the presence of the Lord, because poetically it may fit, but the essence is being expelled, or the essence is abandonment. Did God abandon Jonah? In one sense, yes. God him, God gave him over the consequences of his rebellion. But in a deeper sense, no. God was pursuing Jonah through discipline to keep him, to lead him to repentance. He is kind of, he’s also preserving him. If you do not live according to the Word of God, if we do not live according to the revealed will in the scriptures, we are in a way abandoning God. If we are
unrepentant and we persist in unrepentance, we can be sure that God will abandon us to discipline, which is actually this merciful act towards us. And we will feel the weight of that abandonment. We’ll feel the distress of being abandoned. And in that distress, we will cry out to God. We’ll begin to cry out to God.
And look at verses 5 onwards. “The waters engulf me unto my neck,” verse 6, and verse 5, “seaweed was wrapped around my head, I descended to the bottom of the mountains and the, and the underworld, and its pillars were upon me forever.” Now Jonah’s description is vivid and terrifying. It felt as though he descended to the bottom of the underworld. And there was the, that was the trajectory of Jonah’s journey. This language of descent is deliberately used by the narrator here, and it is theologically significant throughout this narrative. Look at chapter 1 verse 3. Yeah, chapter 1 verse 3. It says that when Jonah rose
up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, this fleeing from the presence of the Lord is going in the, in the opposite direction of God’s will. And this is further emphasized by the terms such as in verse 3 here, chapter 1 verse 3. He went down to Joppa, then again found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and again you see there, went down into go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. And you look at verse 5 of chapter 1. Where Jonah had gone below, gone down into the hold of the ship.
In chapter 2 verse 6, Jonah finally acknowledges that he descended to the bottom. This word picture is deliberate here. He admits that he fled from the presence of the Lord. He did not fear God as he has confessed to the sailors in chapter 1 verse 9. He experiences the consequences of abandoning God’s presence. Dear brothers and sisters, every act of disobedience is a descent. It is going down. It is fleeing from God’s presence. It is a movement away from the presence of the Almighty. It is a movement down into darkness and death. Sin always takes us lower than we intended to go.
It keeps us longer than we intended to stay. And it costs us more than we intended to pay. Thirdly, there is, there is remembrance, repentance and restoration. Firstly, remembrance, verse 7, “When my life was slipping away from me, I remembered Yahweh and my prayer came to you, to your holy temple,” he says.
Jonah says here, “I remembered Yahweh.” It is not merely a cognitive remembrance, but acknowledging from the depths of his heart who God actually is. Chapter 1 verse 9 again, “I'm a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” In chapter 1 it was his head knowledge. He knew his theology, right? It was a — it was a contradiction. Here he truly acknowledges who God is. He, in his distress, at his lowest point in his life, from the depths of his heart, he truly acknowledges God, who God is. He truly remembers. His prayer in that situation, from that situation, was according to the knowledge of who God truly is. He has truly, at this — at least at this point, he
bowed before God. Maybe he remembered God's covenant with the nation of Israel, and Jonah's response is consistent with God's revelation of who he is and his covenant with his people. He may have remembered God's commission to Jonah. He had this moment, he bows before God. Firstly, he remembers who God is, and his to God according to that knowledge. Secondly, secondly, secondly, there is repentance.
Jonah says, “Those who devote themselves to worthless idols forsake the loving kindness shown to them.” He has learned that to rebel against God is to embrace worthlessness. In fact, replacing God's will with our own desires, replacing God's glory with our own preferences and with our own conveniences, is a form of idolatry. And Jonah makes a wealth before God. In verse 9, “Salvation belongs to Yahweh.”
One cannot simply bask in the salvation that God provides. One cannot simply praise God for all His blessings. One must respond to his grace. As James declares, “Faith apart from works is dead.” True saving faith, it produces the fruit of obedience. And the last phrase in verse 9 is the key declaration in the entire book. That is the last phrase, says that it is — it is — it is a key verse in the Bible. “Salvation belongs to the Lord.” Yeah, salvation belongs to Yahweh. It does not belong to any other. It does not come from any other source. And Jonah had not wanted the Ninevites to be saved. Now
he acknowledged that it is not his decision to make. God will save whom he will save. Both Jonah and the Ninevites, both are undeserving sinners. Every person that God has ever saved or will ever saved is utterly undeserving. And finally here Jonah acknowledges that salvation belongs to Yahweh. It is not for him to decide who should be saved and who should not be saved. And finally Jonah bows his knee before the Lord. And there is also a typological connection here. The typological connection is this, that the Lord Jesus Christ made in Matthew chapter 12 verse 40. Jonah's deliverance from the fish, it
prefigures Christ's resurrection from the tomb. But the parallel goes much deeper. Jonah was in the fish because of his own sin, while Christ was in the tomb bearing the sins of his people. Jonah was delivered to continue his own life, while Christ was raised to give eternal life to all those who believe in him. Salvation belongs to the Lord, so we must proclaim this salvation to the ends of the world. Finally, there is restoration to service. Verse 10, “And Yahweh spoke to this fish and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.”
God granted Jonah relief, but notice where he was vomited out — onto the dry land. Probably where — presumably near where he had started, so that he can start his ministry, or again he can — he can go back to his people, and from there he couldn't go to the Ninevites. So probably from there he could directly go to the Ninevites. Sinclair Ferguson said — sorry, I didn't — yeah, Sinclair Ferguson said, “What is of primary importance is that he was restored, not how he was restored. God is able to use means to bring us back to himself which are undramatic as these means were dramatic.” The dramatic nature of Jonah's discipline should not distract us from the central point: a
loving sovereign God will go to any lengths to bring his people back to himself and restore them to fellowship and service. Finally, application. There are three points here. There are three aspects of repentance. Our repentance should be according to God's word. We must return to God's word. Like Jonah remembers the Psalms of maybe Psalm 18 or 42. He remembered those Psalms.
Number one, awakening. True repentance begins with awakening. Being roused from spiritual slumber to see our sin clearly and to see God rightly is awakening. Awakening, owning our failures is awakening. Not justifying our sins, not justifying our mistakes, not blaming on others, but owning, seeing as God sees our sins. Jonah's sleeping on the boat was a symptom of the lethargy that had crept over his inner life. Spiritual decline often occurs subtly, making it hard to notice. Worship feels distant.
Prayer becomes mechanical. Lord's table turns into a routine. Hearing the word becomes just another habit. Your Christian life seems to run on autopilot. And you feel disengaged. Over time, a sense of unreality creeps in. Cynicism creeps in. Resentment creeps in. Unbelief will begin to grow like weeds in a beautiful garden.
But because it happens gradually, you hardly realize you are sleepwalking through your spiritual journey. God sent a storm and a fish to awaken his prophet from slumber. Are you slumbering in sin? Do you see the symptoms in your heart, in your life? Symptoms of disengagement from the life and the fellowship of saints? Do you see cynicism? You’re quick to find mistakes. You’re quick to judge people’s motives.
These are all the fruit, fruit of something that is deeper. Are you slumbering in sin? Are you harboring sin in your heart? In your private life. But in a public life, you’re putting on a show. Probably you’re using good theological jargon. Singing good songs. Always theological talk or spiritual talk. But in your private life, you’re living a defeated life. You’re defeated by sin. You’re falling again and again.
Have the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, the desires of other things choked your love for Christ? If so, repent and turn to him afresh. Cast, cast yourself upon him. For he alone will give you life. Part of awakening, as I mentioned, is owning our sin.
Acknowledging that we deserve God’s judgment. Romans chapter 6 verse 23 says that the wages of our sin is death. We must confess that we deserve nothing but God’s wrath. Jonah recognized the waves as God’s rightful punishment. We must do the same with the discipline that we face.
Secondly, it’s believing. Once awakened to the reality of our sin, we face a crucial danger. The temptation to despair. Feeling the crushing weight of our sin and its consequences can lead us into darkness and hopelessness. We may feel so condemned that prayer may feel so impossible. And God appears distant, even hostile. Once awakened, Jonah had a desire to pray. He felt, he still felt that God was so far from him that prayer would be close to impossible. Jonah’s heart condemned him. The flesh, the flesh will tell you that God is against you, that you have gone too far. Maybe people around
you may also condemn you, that he’s no that, and you may feel that God is no longer interested in you. That is why we must look to the word and understand how we must respond when we sin. The word says in 1 John chapter 1, “our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” That’s the word. If you have sinned and if you are convicted of your sin, repent, look to Christ. We must believe what God says about himself. We must believe what God says about repentance and forgiveness, not what our guilt
-ridden emotions tell us. Faith triumphs over despair when we fix our eyes on the person and the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. He can restore us from any depth to which we have fallen. He purchased our souls from all sin. He removes our transgressions from us as far as the East is from the West. He will remember our sins no more. Thirdly, continual repentance.
Martin Luther said in his 95 Theses, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said repent, he called us to a life of repentance.” A Christian never grows, outgrows the need to repent. The Christian life is about progressive sanctification becoming increasingly conformed to the image of Christ.
Since that progress will only be complete in heaven, repentance will characterize our entire earthly life. Biblical repentance involves turning from all our sinful ways and seeking the forgiveness God offers when we look away from our sin and look to Christ for mercy. And it is turning to God’s word to live by that word, by the strength he gives us through the indwelling Spirit of God.
As we yield to him, to his word, the Spirit of God empowers us to live, to walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh. So dear brothers and sisters, we cannot compartmentalize our lives if we are truly repentant. We cannot say that this part of life, this part of my life belongs to myself. True repentance involves submitting our entire lives to God’s authority. We can’t live according to our desires. We must, we must personally love the Lord with all and strength. Our family life must align with God’s Word. Husbands must lovingly lead as their families as Christ loved the church and laid down his life for the church. Wives must lovingly respect and submit to their husbands as the church submits to Christ.
Children must obey their parents in the Lord. Husbands must show servant leadership at home. They are not bosses at home, but they are servants who lead with Christ’s heart. Husbands must spend time with their families, with their wives, with their kids. And children must obey their parents, respect their parents, honor their parents. Families should be built on God’s instructions, not on personal preferences.
And our church life must be shaped by scripture. Not convenience. Not convenience. It’s not like I’ll be part of the church whenever I like. No. Faithful attendance of a Bible believing gospel centered church is essential. Is essential. And that includes mutual edification, service, participation in the life of the church, participation in the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, growing together.
You cannot be to yourself in the church life. And if you’re doing that, that is disobedience to God’s scriptures. Read the New Testament. It’s quite evident that we must be part of the life of the church. We must engage ourselves with one another. That is the commandment from the Lord. We cannot neglect the fellowship of God’s saints. Because it’s not convenient that day. We must make efforts as a church. Not only that. As a church we must be part of the mission that God has given us. As a church we must fulfill the mission, the Great Commission. We must be thinking of the Great Commission. We must be praying for the Great Commission. We must be preparing ourselves for that Great Commission. And all that flows
out from the life of the church, as you are, as you become part, integral part of the church, with the church, as you hurt each other, forgive each other. No, you—we are sanctified and we are, we grow strong in the life of the church and together. It’s not a, it’s not an individual act to think of the mission of God. It is a together act. It is a together act. We should together think of the mission that God has given us. We should together pray. It is not an individual desire. It is a together desire. We should do life together. That’s the reason
the Lord has placed us here and God’s Word must it must shape every aspect of our existence, not just the parts we find convenient or comfortable. In conclusion, the story of Jonah reveals both the severity and kindness of God. His unity in disciplining sin and his kindness in pursuing wayward covenant members.
It confronts us with uncomfortable truths about our own hearts and graciously points us to the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you have never truly repented and believed in Christ, hear this. You are a sinner. You have sinned against God. You are born with a nature of sin, which is against God’s holy nature. And you as a sinner are standing under God’s righteous judgment. God’s wrath rightfully abides on you.
You face eternal condemnation. But God being rich in mercy has provided salvation through his Son. Jesus came into this world, born of a virgin, lived a righteous life. He lived the life you should have lived, I should have lived. And but we fail. But Jesus never failed. He perfectly pleased the Father. And as that perfect Lamb of God he went to the cross. On that cross the Lord laid, our Father laid our sins on Jesus Christ. And he crushed Jesus under a severe wrath which was burning hot against our sins. And Jesus died in our place. And he not only died, he rose again
victorious. Defeating sin and death and the grave and the enemy. Now seated at the right hand of the majesty as the eternal God and the eternal high priest. He offers forgiveness to all who acknowledges their sin and looks to him with repentance. He offers forgiveness. He offers reconciliation. Reconciliation, your first eternal life as a free gift received through faith alone.
Dear people of God, dear friends, if you’re hearing this for the first time, or if you have been hearing this again and again, and if you haven’t turned to God yet, turn from your sinful, self-centered way of life. Acknowledge that Jesus is the Lord. Trust in his finished work on the cross. Confess him before other, confess your sins before him and also confess your faith in Christ Jesus before others. Be baptized in obedience to his commandment. Join yourself to a gospel preaching Bible believing church and commit to walking in newness of life. Dear brother and sister, if you are a believer, already believer, examine yourself. Are you harboring unrepentant sin, thinking that nobody is watching me, my wife isn’t watching me, my husband isn’t watching me, my parents are not watching me, my sin won’t know, no one can find out my sin.
My friends cannot find out. My church cannot find out. Remember the words of Carson. God is long suffering to you, towards you. But suddenly he will bring our sin to light. Jonah thought he could run away. He could escape. But God pursued after him. If you are a true child of God who you cannot run away from God. He will pursue you because he loves you. Because he laid down his life for you. He saved you with a great price.
He will save you. He will catch hold of you. He will lead you to repentance. He will put you on the pathway of repentance. Are you harboring in your unrepentant sin? Have you grown comfortable with patterns of disobedience? Has your love for Christ grown cold? Are you like Jonah running away from God's revealed will for your life?
Do not presume God's patience upon you. his grace for granted. Repent while there is time. Return to your first love. Yield your life fully to the authority of the scriptures. Consistently continue to examine your hearts, your lives, your motives, your aspirations, your ambitions in the light of God's word.
Let the word of Christ richly dwell in you. Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. And remember always the glorious truth: salvation belongs to the Lord. In closing, let's read this scripture together. It's from Isaiah chapter 55, verses 6 and 7. Let's read it together. Let's pray.