Jonah-the Man, the Message, the Movement — Keith Daniel

Father, we thank Thee for the Holy Bible, for the Holy Spirit, the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. In mercy and grace stand beside me in this pulpit. Have mercy on me. Wash me in the blood of Jesus, that I may have the right to speak from the word of God, anointed by God, as the mouthpiece of God, through which Thy voice can be heard.

Come, protect us, visit us through Thy word, for Thy glory in mercy on us. In Jesus Christ's name. In Jesus Christ's name. We all ask these things of Thee. Amen. I'm so grateful for the privilege of being here tonight.

Jonah's Call and Flight from God's Presence

Thank you for giving me that joy. Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness is come up before me.

But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa, and he found a ship going to Tarshish, so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it to go with him unto Tarshish in the presence of the Lord.

But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his God, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them.

But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay, and was fast asleep. So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.

And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil has come upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us.

What is thine occupation, and whence comest thou? What is thy country, and of what people art thou? And he said unto them, I am in Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.

Then went a man exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may become unto us?

For the sea wrought and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea, so shall the sea become unto you. For I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.

Nevertheless the men rode hard to bring it to the land, but they could not, for the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them. Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood.

For thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee, thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee. So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea. And the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows.

Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly. And after that agonizing prayer in chapter 2, after that agonizing prayer in chapter 2, we read in verse 10,.

And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

So Jonah rose and went unto Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey, and Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey. And he cried and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth and satin ashes.

And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed nor drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God.

Yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from this fierce anger that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way.

The Preacher as God's Instrument

And God, God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them. And he did it not. He did it not. We read in Romans 10 verse 12,. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek.

For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?

And how shall they hear without a preacher? Without a preacher. And how shall they preach? How shall they preach except they be sent? How shall they preach except they be sent? I would like for us, I would like for us tonight to carefully consider three things in the book of Jonah.

Jonah's Preparation Through Brokenness

The man, the message and the movement. The man, the message and the movement. Firstly, firstly the man. The man, the preparation. The preparation of a man whom God would use as an instrument of revival.

The preparation of a man whom God would use as an instrument of revival. How does God prepare a man to preach? How does God prepare a man to preach in such a way that a whole nation repents? How does God prepare a man to preach in such a way that a whole nation repents?

Oh, I'd like to suggest something here tonight that I don't think has ever been suggested before. But something I believe with my whole heart. I'd like to suggest that God, God knew how Jonah would react.

God knew how Jonah would react when he commissioned him to go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, cry against it for the wickedness has come up before me. God knew how Jonah would react. Nineveh of Assyria.

Oh, these Ninevites of Assyria were a wicked people, an evil people, a cruel people. They were hated. They were feared by the nations of the world. And the Israelites, the Israelites had suffered terribly, sorely, through these wicked, evil people, the Ninevites, the capital of Assyria, this wicked nation.

They feared them. They hated them for what they were and what they did to the other nations of the world and to Israel. It's no wonder, it's no wonder Jonah rose up to flee, to flee and to torch this from the presence of the Lord.

Oh, beloved, don't doubt it. Don't doubt it. God knew, God knew how Jonah would react. God knew how Jonah would react. But God knew something else also. God knew something else also. God knew of the torment and the anguish and the fear and the suffering this man would endure before he finally reached Nineveh.

God knew, God knew of the torment and the anguish and the fear and the suffering this man would endure before he finally stood at Nineveh to preach. How do I know, how do I know Jonah suffered so? Oh, chapter 2, chapter 2, the prayer of Jonah, a prayer of a man who wanted to die.

He was in such torment. Have you ever prayed like that, preacher? The prayer of a man who wanted to die. He was in such torment, such torment. Oh, beloved, a very different Jonah, a very different Jonah finally walked onto the streets of Nineveh to preach than the man who rose up to flee and to torch this from the presence of the Lord.

Don't doubt this. This man stood and preached. He stood and preached in brokenness and great humility. This man stood and preached in brokenness and great humility in spite of his presence against the Ninevites.

C .H. Spurgeon, you're poor if you haven't read his sermons. C .H. Spurgeon was the only man they ever called the prince of all preachers. I fear these labels they give men, you know. I fear for what I've seen God do in moments to a man who touched the glory.

I fear these labels. But you know, when I read Spurgeon's sermons, my heart sank when I realized it's true. This, this was the prince of preachers. But why, why was this man's preaching so revered? Why was this man's preaching so honored and revered above all other preachers of the history of the church?

Why, what did God do to Spurgeon to make him preach in such a way that the world remembers him as the greatest preacher that ever lived? What did God do to Spurgeon to make him preach in such a way the world remembered him as the greatest preacher that ever lived?

Spurgeon, Spurgeon gave us the answer only once. He spoke of it, it was so terrible a thing to this man. But he spoke once before he died in his old age. He stood in the pulpit of God and the tears, the tears flowed down his face as he looked out and hesitated.

And then said, why, Spurgeon said, if it wasn't, if it wasn't for the sufferings, if it wasn't for the storm, if it wasn't for the fires, for the trials of my faith, for the tragedies that God allowed to come upon my life, if it wasn't for these things, I would be poverty stricken in the pulpit of God.

I would be poor as a preacher in the hand of God. You cannot weep with them that weep unless you've wept yourself. What it will cost for a man to become the instrument of revival. Oh, what it will cost a man to become the instrument of revival.

Don't listen to anyone who tells you otherwise. Spurgeon, Spurgeon said, if God, if God could just find one man so broken of self, so broken of self that he will not touch the glory, no matter what God does through him.

If God could just find one man so broken of self that he will not touch the glory, no matter what God does through him. A man so broken by God that he will be incapable of even a sideward glance at the glory, let alone touch it.

But if God could find such a man, Spurgeon said, the world would know of him. The world would know of him. The world would know. But I would like for us tonight to carefully consider three things in the book of Jonah.

Judgment as Jonah's Message

Firstly, the man, the man. Secondly, the message, the message, the message. What was the message that Jonah preached that brought about such an amazing movement of God, beloved? What was the message that Jonah preached that brought about such an amazing movement of God?

Oh, it's a message, it's a message we can hardly whisper today. People are so fearful of it. Jonah, Jonah preached judgment. Jonah preached judgment. Beloved, America will never see revival. Don't doubt it.

Don't doubt it until judgment is preached once again in her pulpits. Don't doubt it. Pray for revival. But will you be the first to fight God's way? America will never see revival. Don't doubt it until judgment is preached once again loud and clear in her pulpits.

Listen to these staggering words in Ezekiel chapter 33 verse 7. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore thou shalt hear the word of my mouth and warn them from me.

When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die. O wicked man, thou shalt surely die. If thou does not speak, if thou does not speak, if thou does not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity.

But his blood, his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity. But thou hast delivered thy soul.

Preacher, thou hast delivered thy soul. When I was a young preacher, I remember being staggered by God in one quiet time. On my knees I was so staggered by God as I read a daily devotional. I was so staggered I came to a stop in life for a good while as a young preacher.

And what I read in that devotional, I was so staggered I wrote these words in the front pages of my Bible. I wrote them in the front pages of my Bible. Art thou ready, O preacher, to take the consequences of letting the Lord speak through thee as he will?

Art thou ready, O preacher, to take the consequences of letting the Lord speak through thee as he will? He wrote in Galatians 1 .10, Do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

Do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Do you seek to please men, sir? You're not the servant of Christ. 1 Thessalonians 2 .4. But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.

Art thou ready, O preacher, to take the consequences of letting the Lord speak through thee as he will? As he will? Jonah preached judgment, beloved. Jonah preached judgment. Now, beloved, your harshest word from the pulpit of God must throb with love, or God will rebuke you.

We look at this message now. Your cruelest word from your lips in the pulpit of God must so throb with love, with God's love, that every single person you're preaching to will become conscious utterly, no man has ever loved my soul like this preacher.

That's how we preach judgment, or God will judge us. Jonah preached judgment. But here comes the shocking thing of this message. Jonah cried out that judgment would come upon them as a nation because of their sin.

Now that's a terrible thing. That's a terrible thing. Listen to Jeremiah 18, verse 1, the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.

Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he wrought a work on the wheels, he wrought a work on the wheels, and the vessel that he made of clay, the vessel that he made of clay was marred, ruined, in the hand of the potter.

So he made it again. He made it again. Another vessel has been good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, can that I do with you as this potter, saith the Lord?

Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.

And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it do evil in my sight, let it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them.

Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord. Behold, I frame evil against you. I frame evil against you and devise a device against you.

Return ye now every one from his evil way and make your ways and your doings good. Make your ways and your doings good. And they said, and they said, There is no hope. Oh, oh, there is no hope. But we will walk after our own devices and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.

Nothing will stop us. We want to be free from any constraint concerning sin. Nothing's going to stop us. We want to be free from any constraint concerning sin. Oh, how many nations in the world today are saying that, beloved?

Is America saying it in the heart of her people? Is that what your nation is crying back to God? In Psalm 2, verse 1, the psalmist cries out in confusion and great fear, And so do I, so do I. Why, why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing?

The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands of thunder and cast away their cords from us. Why, why do the heathen rage?

Why do the ungodly, the godless, the irreligious, why do they unitedly assemble and with one voice cry out for one thing? Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The people of the populace contemplate and meditate a tragic thing.

It means the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord. Oh, they would be shocked if you told them that. Against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands of thunder and cast away their cords from us.

Oh, they feel the pulse of the nation, you know, of the generation coming up that they've got to get the votes from. You can always tell what's going on by the leaders in the heart of a nation. Let us break their bands of thunder, they say, and cast away their cords from us.

Think of these words. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, speaking of Christ. Christianity, its influence, the gospel's influence upon a nation.

Let us break their bands of thunder and cast away their cords from us. Come, let us break ourselves and free ourselves from all this slavery and bondage to God's law. We want to be free from any restraint of sin.

We want to take away censorship and call it art. We want to take away decent speech and call it free speech. We want children to hear the language of the gutter and present it as the language of the home.

Restrictions and films and media and books, stage. Come, let us break their bands of thunder and cast away their cords from us. The next verse says, He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision.

Do you want to know what I see written across America and the West and my country? One word, derision, fear, confusion. You think you can do without God? What you sow, America, you reap. It's not only individual, it applies nationally too.

You sow perversion, you reap perverts. And then you want to jail them? You made them. They're ten years old with guns. Why? Because you made Hollywood able to put crime and slaughter as something heroic.

So gangs are there and gangsters are there when they're ten years old. Oh, beloved. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and trouble them in his sore displeasure.

You want to know what all your troubles are going on right now? Being a greatest nation in the world, but look at your fearful hearts as you see crime and you see children destroyed morally before they pass the age of ten.

They have no honor. Look at their eyes. There's no innocence. What have we done? Why have we done it? Why? He's troubling us in his sore displeasure, derision, fear, confusion, hopelessness, as to what are we going to do to stop what we've done.

Now that we've pushed God, how do we get back to decency without God? You know, the verses that follow fill me with hope that God can revive nations like ours, that God longs to, in spite of generations arising that would reject God and all the influence of Christianity that their forefathers set as a foundation in the land, in spite of a generation arising that would reject all the influence of Christianity that their forefathers embraced, fighting to free themselves from it, in spite of this apostasy rising up a whole generation, and in spite of it, God says these amazing words, Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

I will declare the decree. The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance in the uttermost parts of the earth to thy possession.

Do you know when the high priest who standeth at the right hand of God will ask of the Father such a petition? It is when we cry out, Give us America! Give us America. Plead with the Father, O Jesus, thou Son of God, who he promised.

Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance in the uttermost parts of the earth. Oh, for such a revival that would start and spread through the world. For thy possession thou shalt break them with a rod of iron.

Now comes the judgment. If you don't turn with a rod of iron, thou shalt bash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the sun, lest it be angry, and ye perish from the way when it wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Oh, be wise now, therefore, O ye kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Rejoice in fear and trembling that there is still grace and mercy that he hasn't destroyed you yet. Rejoice in trembling. Kiss the sun. Pay homage to the Son of God.

Acknowledge him the gospel of Christ. Embrace him as a nation. Kiss the Son of God as a nation, ye rulers. You who are in charge, be the first like the Ninevites. Rulers who are seeking God. Kiss the sun, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.

I wonder how much his wrath is kindled right now of your nation that influences the whole world, America. You were so blessed once. Now they want to follow you into anything. And they will. Blessed are all.

Blessed are they. Oh, blessed indeed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Blessed indeed is the nation whose God is the Lord. America, America, the wicked shall be cast into hell. And all the nations that forget God.

Don't forget God, America. Don't forget God, America. Don't forget God, America. That the rulers were the first to seek God and Nineveh. And call upon their people to turn. And they call with such desperation that their people did turn.

Somehow the rulers took the message of Jonah and cried it out by what they did. You will notice that Psalm 2 cries out to the rulers, now don't make any mistake of this, God is not making a mistake when he cries out, the rulers, you judges of the earth.

God's making no mistake. Can I read something that will shock you all? George Washington cried out, It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible. Can I repeat what George Washington said?

It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and without the Bible. Oh God, give you another George Washington. Please God, no wonder you became the greatest nation on earth. Daniel Webster long ago warned the striving people, If we abide, if we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper.

Revival Through Judgment Preaching

But if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury our glory in profound obscurity. Firstly, the man, the man. Secondly, the message, the message.

And thirdly, the movement, the movement, the movement. If God could only find a man, if God could only find a man who would without compromise preach the message with such love, he'd break our hearts.

If God could only find a man, prepare us a man who would preach without compromise the message. We would see the movement, we would see the movement. Turn to God, we will turn to God. Jonathan Edwards, you have to tremble to talk of this man, you know.

Oh, what a heritage you've got. Jonathan Edwards, broken by the state of early America, New England, the irreverence in the church, the lack of the fear of God, the hopelessness as wickedness just prevailed and no one was under conviction of sin.

There was nothing, just the deadness in the churches. This man became so broken of the state of New England, early America. And I'm sure you've heard the story over again, but I want to tell you something perhaps you haven't heard.

Of this man, Jonathan Edwards, Edwards was so fearful, so broken that he got alone with God. He was so desperate, for three days he did not eat. For three nights he did not sleep. Every moment of the whole day and the whole night and the whole day and the whole night and the whole day and the whole night.

He was on his knees, weeping, groaning in agony, crying out, God, give me New England. Give me New England, God. Do you know what that prayer was about? Because he had a pen in his hand as he prayed, I hope you know, and paper and a Bible open and the tears were falling onto the paper and the tears were falling onto the pages of the Bible, day and night.

But in his hand, this man was crying, give me a message that would turn this people back to God. In case you didn't know, this man was crying to God for a message that God had to give him, the only message that would turn the people back to God, a message Edwards knew nothing of, heard nothing of.

And there was Jonathan Edwards as God gave revelation, as God made his hand turn the pages, as God brought his eyes to the verses all through the Holy Book. And this man stood up from the presence of God in brokenness and he walked into the pulpit of God and something happened before he opened his mouth, God had come.

They looked and they shut up and they sat up as they never ever sat up. When they looked at this man, he was not charismatic in his personality, he didn't have a great ability, he didn't raise his hands.

God, please, we don't need charismatic personality. They're more of a hindrance than anything else because we rely on their personalities to get us through a meeting. God, give us a man who doesn't know how to raise his hand, he doesn't even know how to raise his face, they didn't even see his face, can you believe that?

From beginning to end, all they saw was the paper in the dim light that he held there without raising his hand, without screaming, there he was, all just reading. That's all God needs, a holy man of God, whose expectation is in God and God only, who will not touch the glory because there's nothing in him to touch the glory.

Oh, this man stood and he read the sermon God gave him and do you know what message God gave him when he cried, Give me new England? Oh, it became the most famous sermon, one of the most famous, if not the most famous sermon, apart from the sermon on the mount that Christ preached.

Sinners in the hands of an angry God. God gave him the message of Jonah, judgment, judgment, judgment. Men as he preached began to slip onto their faces, began to hang onto the pews, began to cling to the pillars, began to cry out, men who not once in their entire life had ever been stirred under any message they'd ever heard, suddenly were clinging.

Why? Because judgment was being preached to a people. Oh, it'll happen again, you know. I hope you know it, Domenica. Do you know what started there and spread through New England like a flame? That flame that started through Jonathan Edwards became a fire that swept across early America through young Whitefield.

And what did Whitefield preach? Be honest now. Judgment. Every time he stood in the pulpit, judgment. And he was reformed in his theology, a great reformed theologian, preaching judgment. But men, before an appeal were made, men were crawling and weeping.

Because he was obeying God, you see. He was obeying God. And that fire that started, that little flame that Jonathan Edwards started that was taken by Whitefield and spread like a fire through America came to the men like Charles Finney.

Criticized by the world, of course he will be. Especially the man who thinks he knows everything, they'll criticize Finney, you know. Has anyone won so many soldiers, Finney? Well, what did Finney preach?

Judgment. On a very different level to the way Whitefield preached it, but oh, it was just throbbing with the judgment of God coming upon sin unless you repent. The awful judgment of God upon sinners was cried out from this man.

And America rose and began to turn to God under such men through Finney, the prayer revival, and the stepping stones to men like Moody. Now Moody preached judgment, but God had to remind him very, very carefully that your cruelest, harshest words throb with love, Moody.

Even if you preach the judgments of God, let everyone know that God's love, and there behind the judgment is love wanting to embrace. Oh, and so these revivals were the stepping stones to the revivals that spread to the world, to Ireland, the only revival South Africa ever had in its history, when Finney's writings were read in the Dutch Reformed Church, and a young Andrew Murray fell on his face weeping.

Two weeks later, the only revival we've ever truly known swept through the land and turned the nation's history through your country. Do the revivals started here? Oh, somehow the world wants to follow America, but let me guarantee you something.

You follow, you turn back to God. The world will follow you. It did before. Why won't you, America? Why won't you? You owe it to the world. You've so corrupted her through Hollywood and just your greatness.

They want to be like you in every way. Beloved, have you ever, could you ever, with all your praying for revival, is it possible you would be the greatest hindrance to revival? Because that's not the message I feel we should preach in dignity in 1998, you know, this enlightened age.

Oh, no, no, the way this man carries on. Forgive me for the way I am. I don't know if there's a man alive so desperate for revival as this poor man. I hope there is. Forgive me, because that's the only reason I preach.

Personal Consecration for Revival

I wonder if you'd ever be able to pray, preacher. You who pray desperately for revival. Oh, God, no matter what it costs me. Imagine praying this. Think about it.

Me, an instrument.

I've prayed for revival, God. I've prayed for others. I've prayed for my nation. I want to pray differently tonight, my Lord. I pray a different prayer tonight.