Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20031102.htm

JONAH: GOD'S RELENTLESS OUTREACH TO ALL MEN
Part II: God's Relentless World Outreach To People Others REJECT
(Jonah 1:11-15, 17-3:10)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

We learned in our last message that God had initially sent Jonah to preach to the people of Nineveh! Jonah failed to travel there as he despised the people of Nineveh, so God led Jonah to reach Gentile sailors on the ship he took in flight from his Nineveh calling.

Yet, what about the people of NINEVEH? Since Jonah hated them and wanted them to experience God's wrath, was God's new interest in the Gentile sailors on Nineveh's ship a replacement for the people of Nineveh? Did God then love the people of Nineveh with a fickle, limited love since His messenger, Jonah hated them?

This question has great application to CERTAIN people groups in TODAY'S world:

(1) Last Monday Evening, Meredith Viera from the ABC daytime television show, "The View" hosted a documentary entitled, "Fat Like Me." In it, an attractive, teen girl was dressed up to look like she was 75 pounds heavier and sent to Stratford High School just east of Bridgeport here in Connecticut to pose for a day as a new student.

The documentary revealed how we in our culture discriminate against overweight people! The disguised girl later reported she experienced such suffocating rejection that she lost most of her self esteem on that single day she impersonated an overweight girl! She claimed she could not imagine living with such rejection all the time!

Someone might then ask, "Does GOD have a LIMITED desire to evangelize OVERWEIGHT people because we in our society often REJECT them? WHAT does that mean for ME if I MYSELF am OVERWEIGHT -- WILL God even WANT ME?"

(2) I have heard Christians talk about the descendants of Ham in the Bible, how they were under a divine curse given to his son, Canaan in contrast to the blessing given to Shem and Japheth in Genesis 9:22-27. The thought I repeatedly heard, a thought still held by some, is that African peoples are the alleged (falsely, I might add!) Canaanites, so it is assumed BLACK people are LESS loved by GOD than WHITES, SEMITIC or ORIENTAL peoples!

Well, does GOD have a LIMITED LOVE for SOME people groups so as to LIMIT His outreach to THEM simply because SOME groups of humans DISCRIMINATE against them?

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "I enjoyed last week's sermon that the OLD Testament God loved some Gentile sailors. Yet, as God's prophet, Jonah failed to reach NINEVEH'S Gentiles out of discriminat ion against them, was GOD'S love for NINEVEH CURBED by His PROPHET'S hatred!"
  1. We previously learned Jonah FLED in a boat in a direction AWAY FROM Nineveh in DISCRIMINATION against its people and in disobedience to God's call to preach to it, Jonah 1:1-3:
    1. Jonah fled from God's calling to preach to Nineveh because its Assyrian people who used "extreme cruelty to prisoners of war" also stood to threaten the welfare of his own people in Israel, Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, ftn. to Jonah 1:2; Bible Knowledge Com., O. T., p. 1461.
    2. Besides, other Hebrew prophets, Amos and Hosea predicted Israel's fall to Assyria, Ibid., p. 1462; Jonah may not have wanted the people of Nineveh to repent so God could destroy it for Israel's good!
    3. Thus, due to his discrimination against the people of Nineveh, Jonah fled from God's call to minister to the city, cf. Jonah 4:1-3.
  2. Well, God stirred up the sea beneath Jonah's ship, so its Gentile sailors heeded Jonah's word to throw him into the raging sea to appease God's anger and calm the water, Jonah 1:11-12, 15a.
  3. HOWEVER, so UNCONDITIONALLY did God LOVE the people His prophet, JONAH SHUNNED, GOD went to GREAT lengths to get JONAH from the SEA to PREACH in NINEVEH:
    1. So concerned was God that Jonah fulfill His inital calling to reach the people of Nineveh, He arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah:
      1. God did not want Jonah to drown lest he not preach at Nineveh.
      2. However, God did not want to rescue Jonah by means of a raft, etc. lest Jonah fail to repent and still not go to Nineveh.
      3. Accordingly, God arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah so as to keep him alive, but in a terrifying way that would also motivate Jonah to repent so he would go to Nineveh, 1:17a! [Critics have denied the credibility of the book of Jonah since they have denied a fish could swallow a man whole without killing him. Yet, scholars have shown the viability of such an event by historical records, cf. A. J. Wilson, "Sign of the Prophet Jonah and Its Modern Confirmations," Princeton Theological Review 25. Oct., 1927, pp. 630-42 and G. F. Howe, "Jonah and the Great Fish," Biblical Research Monthly, Jan. 1973, pp. 6-8 as cited in Bible Knowledge Com., O.T., p. 1462-1463. Indeed, "Others have written that whale sharks (the Rhineodon Typicus) have swallowed men who later were found alive in the sharks' stomachs," Ibid., p. 1463.
    2. Being traumatized by being swallowed and deposited in belly of the fish, Jonah called out unto God for deliverance, Jonah 1:17b; 2:1-9!
    3. After three days and nights of transporting him back to land, God had the fish regurgitate Jonah onto dry land so he could fulfill his original assignment to travel by land and preach in Nineveh, Jonah 2:10-3:2.
    4. Moved by his dreadful experience in the fish, Jonah this time obeyed God's calling to go to the Nineveh he hated and preach to it, 3:2-3a.
  4. As Jonah BEGAN to PREACH at Nineveh, GOD made his effort so EFFECTIVE, ALL Nineveh QUICKLY repented, Jonah 3:3b-9:
    1. Nineveh's city and suburbs comprised an area nearly 60 miles in circumference, making it a 3 days' trip for one to walk through its environs, Ibid., p. 1468; Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, ftn. to Jonah 3:3b.
    2. When Jonah reached Nineveh, he began to preach in its outlying suburbs, having walked about a day's journey into this realm, 3:4.
    3. His proclamation that Nineveh would fall in forty days due to God's wrath was the message GOD had given him, cf. Jonah 3:2b, 4; well, by God's power , that message from GOD through Jonah hit a nerve: people of all classes repented in true contrition toward the Lord, 3:5.
    4. When news of Jonah's words reached Nineveh's king, he arose from his throne and humbled himself, laying aside his royal robe, putting on sackcloth and sitting in ashes, Jonah 3:6. The king also proclaimed a fast of food and water for man and beast, calling for all people and animals to be clothed in sackcloth in repentance toward God, 3:7-9!
  5. For their repentance, God changed His plan to destroy Nineveh in accord with His UNCONDITIONAL LOVE for its PEOPLE, 3:10.
Application: If we might think or feel that GOD may not love us because some HUMAN party who may even claim to fellowship with God DISCRIMINATES against us, be sure GOD has an UNCONDITIONAL LOVE for us, and (1) TRUST in His Son, Jesus Christ as Savior from sin to be UNCONDITIONALLY SAVED, John 3:16! (2) Then, we share can this Gospel of God's UNCONDITIONAL love and salvation with ALL people!

Lesson: Though God's human herald, Jonah FAILED God's initial call to disciple Nineveh out of his DISCRIMINATION against its people, so GREAT was GOD'S LOVE for this city that HE went to GREAT lengths to MAKE Jonah SUCCEED in eventually DISCIPLING them!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 To show God's unconditional love for ALL peoples, even the least loved by other people, here is an account of God's love reaching the pagan, Third World, African Wallamo people of Ethiopia. The account is from Ray Davis' book, The Winds of God, p. 3, 54, 59-61:

"(p. 3) The . . . witch doctor, Cheleke, appeared . . . in Gamu Gofa province. In addition to prophesying that men would fly in the heavens and the mountains would shake (a prophecy fulfilled years later when Italian [World War II] . . . planes dropped their bombs), he foretold that one day someone would bring a golden book. The messenger would stand under the wanza tree near Cheleke's house. He also prophesied that men with crooked walking sticks would bring a message by way of the river, and that a big house would be built in every village. Whoever entered the house would save his soul . . . (p. 54) One day in 1951 a stranger arrived in the village of Gboyo. He carried a walking stick with a crook, and was accompanied by a youth. He had come from beyond the place where the sun shines . . . He was a (national) Evangelist . . . (p. 59) (Evangelist) Laliso was invited to sit with the witch doctor (Cheleke) under the wanza tree beside the fence . . . My message comes from the true God who created heaven and earth,' Laliso replied, taking out his Bible. It is written in this book.' I cannot read,' Cheleke answered. Then let me show you from this small book,' Laliso continued, taking from his pocket a [Wordless] booklet that contained four colored pages, but no words . . . (when Laliso) turned to the last page, a gold one and began to speak of heaven . . . Cheleke stopped him. This is a thing of wonder!' he exclaimed. My spirit god told me years ago that a golden book would come to me under this very tree! . . . Later, materials from Cheleke's own house were used "to build a prayer house -- one of several of the big houses where men entered and found salvation."

In spite of the ruthless air attacks of World War II axis powers on his despised African people, in spite of Cheleke's involvement in pagan witchcraft and his inability to read, GOD in UNCONDITIONAL LOVE reached Cheleke with the Gospel of His own Beloved Son, and in a WAY Cheleke could comprehend it as coming from a caring God! May we realize GOD'S love is UNCONDITIONALLY directed to ALL men, and BELIEVE in Christ and evangelize ALL peoples!