Jonah 1-4 (The Steadfast Love of God)

Thank you for subscribing to the Shepherds Church podcast. This is our Lord's Day Sermon. We pray that as we declare the Word of God that you would be encouraged Strengthened in your faith and that you would catch a greater vision of who Christ is.

May you be blessed in the hearing of God's Word and may the Lord be with you. So I almost feel ashamed because.

The Meaning of Hesed and the Steadfast Love of God

What you and I have heard so far is my message and And I Think it's better than what I'm going to speak to you. Because God is good. But the some these the psalm 136 26 times you said the loving-kindness of God endures forever.

That is a Jewish word one word For loving-kindness, and it's chesed. Has it. It's got that kind of little throaty thing going on and our scriptures struggle to bring that into English.

It's.

Translated as loving-kindness in some places in merciful kindness other places steadfast love. In the version I use which is the ESV version It's it's almost always translated steadfast love. And so that's the title of my message Steadfast love and it has been pouring out to you since the moment service started today and That's almost not true because it's been pouring out to you Over and over and over again all through your life and you are oblivious to it.

So.

I'm gonna ask two questions and if you know the answer just yell it out. Okay, and. The questions are easy. No one can fail this, right? How many hours are there in a day? 24 good. Come on. You could yell louder, you know.

What is 24? This is a math question now. What's 24 times 10? 240 good. You did you look at a hundred percent. So why are you even ask these stupid questions? Well, this word hesed is in our scriptures over 250 times.

Now when God says something that many times We really need to take notice.

And.

If you take the number of hours in a day Which we already did we know it's 24 and you multiply that by 10. That means 10 times an hour. God is dumping Steadfast love into your life every six minutes. God is yelling out to you Steadfast love it mine it doors forever.

My steadfast love indoors forever. This is when you're driving in your car. His steadfast love is being pumped into you When you're at work, and you're not even thinking about him. His steadfast love is being poured into you When you're asleep at night.

Every six minutes his steadfast love is being poured into you and we are oblivious. And that's okay. You know why? Because his steadfast love endures forever. Do you know why it endures forever? Because we are forever people.

We need it now on this planet and we are gonna need it after we go to the next place. He's gonna love us for the next hundred billion trillion gazillion years and past that. Because his steadfast love endures forever.

If those words are not burned into your mind by the end of the sermon I've not done my job pastor should fire me.

So.

Because we are 21st century Americans we struggle with language. Every word that we speak is being diluted the important ones. And so we don't really know what love means. We think we do. For instance, I heard your pastor give a sermon a few weeks ago.

We said he loves hamburgers. I Love a good steak. But you know what? That's a poor use of the word love. If you read books or you watch movies or videos or TV, you will be convinced that at its best Love is a heartfelt desire and at its worst. It's an animalistic lust.

Neither one of those is love. So we need to dig down when God says love. I love you forever. We need to find out what that means from his perspective. We also have another big problem and that is love is not earthly.

It's divine. Love did not come from you and I love came from God. So we've got to get a hold of what is this word love mean? And I'm gonna try to do that.

Through.

I'm gonna take you through the book of Jonah four chapters. If you go home today and you want to read the book of Jonah, it will take you about ten minutes. It's very short. But God's steadfast love is All throughout this book and I'm gonna try to tell you what that is.

And I'm gonna try to show you see it's not just a feeling it's an action. Right. It's wonderful. When someone says is if you need anything, you just come to me. And then when I go to him and say I need five grand.

He's well. Maybe you should go somewhere else, right? I Want the guy who can give me the money? I want the angle show me his love. Well, we're gonna see that in the book of Jonah and we're gonna see it in the life of Jonah.

Let me just say this before I jump in this book is not about Jonah. It's not about seaman on a ship. It's not about Ninevites and the people of Nineveh. This is about God. And we are gonna try to see God.

And his love his steadfast love in these words, so I'm gonna read and I'm gonna read from the ESV. That's the version I've been using for the last 12 or 15 years. So I know you use other ones, but forgive me.

Jonah's Flight, the Storm, and God's Rescue

So chapter 1 verse 1 of Jonah. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying arise go to Nineveh that great city. Call out against it for the its evil has come up before me. But Jonah rose to flee to Tarsus from the presence of the Lord he went down to Joppa.

He found a ship going to Tarsus. So he paid the fare. He went on board to go with them to Tarsus away from the presence of the Lord. So We've learned a couple things in these first three verses. There's a prophet.

His name is Jonah.

He's saved.

He's one of God's people. He hears God when he speaks and God has told him to go to the Ninevites. I'm gonna give you a message when you get there you give it to them. So we've learned who Jonah is who were the Ninevites?

The Nineveh is the capital city of Assyria at this time. Assyria are violent wicked despicable people. So bad that God has noticed. Listen when you're that bad that God says I gotta do something about this.

You've come to my attention. You're pretty bad. So what's what's their evil? Well, they like to take their army and they will send it into a town or a city. They will murder every male. They will steal and rape every woman and they will take whatever else of wealth is their food flocks gold and They will raise that city to the ground and then when They need it again.

They go find another city. This is what they do. Murdering raping thieves, that's who they are and They've come to God's notice. Oh. And by the way, they've come to Israel's notice too because they like to go to Israel and do this.

And these poor little towns and cities in Israel. They never know when the Ninevites or the Assyrians are going to show up so they're always on the brunt of the Assyrians and Then we find out that Jonah has decided I'm not going to Nineveh.

I'm going to Tarshish. So where's Nineveh? In our present day. The port city of Joppa is Tel Aviv. So if you're in Tel Aviv and you want to go to Nineveh You would go west and north about 500 miles to the city of Mosul.

Right outside the city of Mosul. You'll find the the ruins of Nineveh, right? That's 500 miles away. If you want to go to Tarshish Tarshish is in Spain directly west of Tel Aviv about 2 ,500 miles and it's as far as Jonah could go.

Because they didn't have ships that could cross the Atlantic so he's going to the Atlantic coast of Spain and It's beautiful there in the southern Spain. Let me tell you he's going on vacation. He's running from God.

Interesting. Why? Why is he running from God? I don't we're gonna have to find that out but whenever I hear about these things I have questions, so Why did God choose Jonah? Was Jonah the only prophet in Israel?

Oh, I don't think so. Was he the most obedient prophet? Oh, obviously not. So why did God choose Jonah? You think it has anything to do with steadfast love? I bet it does. Let's continue. But the Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a mighty tempest on the sea and the ship threatened to break up and The mariners were afraid and each cried out to his God.

They hurled the cargo that was in the ship in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. Where's Jonah? Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship. He had lain down. He's fast asleep. He's very happy with his decision.

Nineveh is there. Tarshish is there and that's where I'm going and oh, I think I'll take a nap. So the captain came and said to him, what do you mean you sleeper arise? Call out to your God. Perhaps your God will give a thought to us that we may not perish.

So these seamen all have their own gods and They're rough and tumble guys. I don't you met Seamen sailors, they're usually not, you know soft and cuddly. And they've been scared out of their minds by this storm and they've been praying to their own gods.

And they've been saying save us and their gods have been deaf dumb and blind to them. So they go wake up this guy sleeper in the bottom of the boat. They say maybe your God will listen to you, right? And then the captain's and then they came to one another and said let us cast lots and see on whose account This evil has come up against us.

So they cast lots and the lot fell to Jonah. Then they said to him tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What's your occupation? Where do you come from? What's your country and who are your people.

And Jonah replies I'm a Hebrew. I fear the Lord the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land. What kind of message is that? Well, this is who I am. Oh, you know my God made everything. And the semen were exceedingly afraid and said to him.

What is this? You've done they believe them. Listen do you know that when you speak the words of God? People believe you they either love it or they hate it, but they hear it. And you know that sometimes you speak the words of God.

You don't even know you're doing it. Sometimes God speaks through you in spite of you. Because you know what just so you know in the story you're Jonah you're this messed-up. Stubborn stiff-necked no good.

Hard-hearted hater, that's who you are. And God sometimes speaks through you and people hear it. Because his steadfast love endures forever. Where were we? So Then the men were exceedingly afraid and they said what is this you've done for the men knew he was fleeing from the Lord for he had told them.

They said to him. What shall we do to you that the sea will quiet down for us because it grew more Tempestuous now that's gonna come up over and over and over again. You see it was in a tropical storm at one at first.

Then they went to a category one. Now it's working up to a cat too. These guys are going down with the boat unless something happens something needs to change or they're dead men and Jonah says Pick me up hurl me into the sea and the sea will quiet down for you.

For I know it is because of me that this tempest has come upon you. I have to ask again. What the heck is wrong with Jonah? Right. Why doesn't he just repent? Why doesn't he say listen father? I'm sorry.

Obviously the storm is here because of me. Forgive me. I'll do what you want. No. He would rather die. Then go to Nineveh. Because he hates these people see they're not Jews. They're Gentiles. They're wicked and they're evil as we already know that he hates him.

He's an anti Gentile, right? You know, sometimes we have hatred in our hearts. We don't even know it. Sin likes to cling to us. And we like to hold on to it. Unaware and here's Jonah so unaware of his own depravity.

Now he saved he hears God.

But he's broken.

He's really broken and he would rather die than go to Nineveh. What are these hard-hearted semen do? Nevertheless the men rode hard to get back to dry land. But they could not for the sea grew more tempestuous against them.

We're up to category three storm now. We're going down. Therefore they called out to.

The Lord.

They're now praying to Jonah's God. Right. Oh Lord. Let us not perish from this man's life. Let not innocent blood be upon us for you. Oh Lord have done as it's pleased you. And they picked up Jonah and they hurled him into the sea and the sea ceased.

It's raging. Listen to this. Then the men feared the Lord. Exceedingly they offered sacrifices to the Lord and they made vows. You think God can't use you because you're broken. Let me tell you if he can use Jonah he could use you and these guys are now they have come face to face with the God and They can never unsee him again.

When they get home. For the rest of their lives these semen are gonna be telling this story. Listen, you think you've been in a storm? I've been in a storm. We threw one guy overboard. Everything was gone.

We were good. Listen, there is this Hebrew God. Maybe we should be praying to him. They could never unsee him again. Now, where's Jonah? Jonah is in the sea. Sinking like a rock. Right, so Jonah doesn't repent.

He's on this boat he's in a big there's a big sea. It's going down. He's asleep in the bottom of the boat. Does this story remind you of? Another story in the Bible of another boat. Where Jesus was on the boat?

And he told his disciples we have to go to the land of the Gadarenes. The Gentiles over there. I need to go save and rescue one guy. So let's go he goes into the boat goes down and falls asleep. Miller nice storm comes up.

He's confident these semen these sailors. They've been fishing the exceed Galilee forever. They'll be able to get him across. Nope big storm comes up. They are scared to death just like the semen on the other boat and Jonah's day.

They go and they wake up. Jesus Save us. Jesus speaks to the storm and it is gone like that. You see Jonah is an old broken prophet, but Jesus. Jesus is the real deal and Nothing is gonna stop him from fulfilling what his father asked him to do.

See the only reason he's on the boat is because his father told him Jesus said of himself. I don't do anything unless the father tells me and whatever he tells me to do. I'm gonna do so no storm is gonna stop.

Me.

Do you know if you're in Jesus? You're good. He's fulfilled everything that you're gonna fail to fulfill in this life. All the times that you live out of your brokenness and your sinfulness rather than out of his spirit.

All that's been paid for. Every time you screw up. And believe me. I'm 68 years old. You're gonna screw up a lot. I have. And yet I know. I know who my father is. I know who has saved me. I know where I live.

I live in him. And wherever he is, that's what we heard today wherever he is. That's where you are. Cuz you can't get out.

Try you're gonna fail. So.

Jonah's sinking like a rock. Verse 17. And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah's in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, so If you're thrown into the sea and you're sinking like a rock and a fish shows up with his mouth open you're in trouble.

You are not gonna make it right. You're either gonna drown or you gonna be fish food. But no God sends this organic submarine To go and rescue. Oh you it's true, right? It's an organic stuff. Listen, if you get swallowed by a fish you're dying inside.

I don't care. You know live in three days, right? But he's in there for three days and three nights. Do you know who the fish is? Fish is God.

It's Jesus Christ.

It's a one-off this one organic fish showed up one time in history to save this one broken Desperate despicable prophet. Do you know why? His steadfast love endures forever. Amen. So chapter 2. Jonah's in the fish and this is what he says.

Then Jonah prayed that the Lord is God from the belly of the fish saying. I called out to the Lord in my distress. He answered me out of the belly of Sheol. I cried and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep into the heart of the seas and the flood.

Wait a minute who cast them? I think Jonah did this to himself kinda, right. Jonah can't do anything without God. So I guess he's kind of right, but let me tell you He has to take some blame here. I think the seas and the flood surrounded me.

All your waves and billows passed over me. That's true. They're all his waves and billows. Then I said I'm driven away from your sight. Yet I shall again look upon your holy temple. The waters closed in over to take my life.

The deep. Surrounded me. Weeds were wrapped around my head at the roots of the mountain. I went down to those whose bars closed over me forever. Let you brought. Yet you brought my life up from the pit.

Oh Lord my God when my life was fading away. When I was dying in the sea, I Remembered the Lord and my prayer came into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope.

Instead fast love.

Jonah's Prayer, Second Commission, and the Repentance of Nineveh

All of a sudden the stiff-necked stubborn Prophet has gotten some of his wits about him and he's crying out to his God clinging to steadfast love.

Right.

Verse 9. But with the voice of Thanksgiving I will sacrifice to you What I have vowed I will pay now all of a sudden. I'm ready to go to Nineveh and Then he yells this out salvation belongs to the Lord.

That's Jonah's. All of a sudden Jonah's got a maybe a little better picture of what's happening. And the Lord spoke to the fish and the fish spit him out on dry land.

Now.

I'm reading Jonah. I'm reading Jonah. I'm listening to Jonah. I'm studying it to come here and I realized four times. It says that Jonah went down. In verse 1 he went down to Joppa. In verse 5 of chapter 1 he went down into the inner part of the ship and then he had lain down and Then his own prayer in chapter 2.

He's at the bottom of the roots of the mountain where he's gone down. Sin and disobedience will take you down down down down. But steadfast love of the Lord endures forever.

See.

You can try and drag yourself down as far as you want to go. You can't get away from God, but God appointed a fish and the spit. The fish spit him out on dry ground. Listen to this chapter 3. We're halfway done then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.

Now I'm reading and I got to tell you this went into my heart like a knife. A Second time God tells him. Do you know how many times God has had to tell me things. Not twice. Not ten times not twenty times not even a hundred times.

Because I am just like Jonah. Stiff-necked stubborn. I love my sin. I want to hold tight to my own brokenness. Sometimes I don't even know what clings to me. And do you know what? Christ has looked into me.

And he has seen the darkness in my heart and the blackness. And he's looked at you and he has seen your dark black heart. And you know what he said. That one's mine. My steadfast love endures forever to them.

I'll give them a new heart. I'll give them a white heart and you know what week on week when they come in on Sundays and that heart looks a little.

Gray.

I'll make it white again. Because my steadfast love endures forever. I Will not let you go. So I know what happens when you look in the mirror at home. I know you know who you are. But so does God and he doesn't care you're his and his steadfast.

Love will not let you go. So the Word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. What does he say? Arise go to Nineveh call out to that sitting against it the message. I give you the exact same words as He spoke in chapter 1 verse 1.

Now.

God has not spoken to Jonah Since verse 1 of chapter 1, but God has never been absent from him ever. Do you know that there are times in your life where the heavens are brass and Your prayers feel like they are bouncing back at you and God is not listening to you.

But his steadfast love endures forever and he is not apart from you. He's there with you just like he was in Jonah's life. Who was the one who sent the the storm? Well, that was God. Who's the one that sent the fish?

Oh, that's God. God's doing everything. Jonah's running. Trying to not do what God wants him to do and God's like nope, I'm gonna keep pulling. I'm gonna keep grasping. I'm gonna keep going after you.

Jonah has no hope of getting away because the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. So he gets his he gets his marching orders a second time and Now Jonah rose and went to Nineveh according to the Word of the Lord.

Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city three days journey in breath. Jonah began to go into the city and he called out yet 40 days and Nineveh is gonna be destroyed. What kind of message is this? Right.

This is not a good message. This is not. Oh repent and Christ will save you. Just turn from your sin. Everything be okay. No 40 days and then it was gonna be destroyed. Listen to the next verse and the people of Nineveh believed God.

I Told you before when you speak the words of God out of your lips people hear it. They either love it or they hate it, but they hear it and these people heard it and what happened. God has brought faith in their hearts.

God is doing this. They're not turning from their evil wicked ways because they're doing it all on their own. No, the Holy Spirit's at work. Aren't you glad that Christ spoke into your heart and caused faith to rise up in your heart?

Because we were deaf to him deaf dumb and blind just like the gods of these those semen. We couldn't hear we couldn't see we didn't know up from down left from right and Christ came in and Said you are mine and my steadfast love is gonna endure forever for you.

We heard it all service long. 26 verses in Psalm 36. How about every six minutes? Every six minutes my steadfast love endures forever. So these these Ninevites. They called out a fast they put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them.

The word reached the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne removed his robe covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes and he issued a proclamation and Published it through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles let man nor beast Herd nor flock taste anything.

Let him not feed or drink water. But let them be let the man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let them call out mightily to God let everyone turn from his evil way. Turn from what? Murder rape and theft.

That's what you have to turn from and these people are doing it. Because God is doing a work and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish.

Now I.

Told my wife If some prophet from another country Came to my town and said Oh 40 days and your town's gonna be wiped out. I might say We have friends in Chelmsford. Why don't we go there? And we can just wait for 40 days and see what God does.

And then I don't have to repent I don't have to do anything. I can remain.

A wicked.

Sinner heading to hell. But that's not what happens. No, God does this work this amazing work? He's been working from verse 1. And he's still working. This is what happens now when God saw what they did how they turn from their evil way.

God relented from the disaster. He said he was gonna do to them and he did not do it now. Just so you know Jonah doesn't know this. Jonah has delivered his message. He's not happy with the fact that these people are repenting, but he's not Positive that God is going to relent.

Now we come to chapter 4 our last chapter and this is the most interesting chapter because this is a conversation of God with Jonah. God and Jonah are gonna have this back-and-forth. And here's what we here's what?

Here's how the conversation starts. So they're all repenting in Nineveh. They're all coming to faith. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry. Why is he angry because he hates these people?

They're horrible people in his mind and he wants to see them destroyed. He wants to see them killed and sent to hell. That's what he wants and what he wants isn't happening. So he's angry. Who's he angry with?

He's angry with God. Why are you doing this? And he prays to the Lord and he said isn't this what I told you when I was home. This is why I made haste to flee to Tarsus for I knew you to be a gracious God merciful slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and Relenting from disaster and I didn't want you to do it to these people.

But I knew that about you. So he's not all bad because because God has saved him. He's now that mixture that you and I are sinner saint. Right. We're this good and bad all mushed together. But God's not gonna let you go.

Do you know why. Because what God wants to make you better. Do you realize in the garden your humanity was broken and God wants to make you more human. He wants to restore your humanity and dare. I even use this word.

God wants to make you divine. He wants to make you like the Jesus on the other boat that will not turn his face even from a storm. Wherever my father says I'm gonna go that's where I'm gonna go. That's who he wants to make you.

He wants to make you better than you were and Better than you are. That's who he is. And he's the God of steadfast love that will every six minutes dump that into you so that he can change who you are.

And he does it. Without you even knowing he's doing it. Let me tell you I'm 68 as I already said old getting older. And I look back in my life and I am better than I was. Not much. The change happens slow and incrementally.

But God has been at work. And he's been making me into something that I was not. He's making me to look like his son Jesus.

Now.

He's got a lot of more work to do.

Let's face it.

Ah.

So he's mad at God tells him I knew you were gonna do this therefore now Oh Lord. Please take my life. It's better for me to die than live just like the Israelites in Egypt. Why'd you bring us out here?

Why are you doing all it was better in there, right? We like jail. It was good, right?

Really.

Now good old Jonah, he's just he just wants to die and the Lord said to him Do you do well to be angry? You realize God is continuing this conversation. He's not stopping. He's always pulling he's always reaching he's striving to get Jonah's eyes to open up.

To see.

That his steadfast love is not just for him and not just for Israel but for the world. And just like Jonah, we're stiff-necked and stubborn sometimes. So do you do well to be angry he says. And Jonah went out from the city.

He sat at the east of the city. He made himself a booth there a little lean to right. He sits under in the shade so that he could see what will become of the city. He's still hoping. He's waiting for fire to fall from heaven, right?

That's his wish. He knows God. He knows his steadfast love endures forever. He knows he's just poured it out on these people and he's still hoping. Listen, are you sometimes stubborn?

No.

Boy are we ever. Sometimes we do not want to see. And God has to just pry our eyes open. So, what does God do. So God appointed a plant he made it to grow up over Jonah that it might be a shade over his head to save him from his discomfort and Jonah was exceedingly glad for the plan, right?

He's not sitting out there in the desert is a little lean to is not quite doing it. It's plant grows up. He's at home.

This is good.

But when dawn came up the next day God appointed a worm and it attacked the plant and it withered. So God's planting stuff he's making it grow he's killing it. He's doing everything. What's Jonah doing?

Nothing. Do you know that's about all you can do sometimes is nothing. And you have to rely on God that he will do it for you. Listen, do you want to sanctify yourselves? Go ahead and try you will fail.

You cannot sanctify yourself. You will remain broken until God does the work and he's committed to doing it. Because this is what love looks like. Love will not let you go. Love takes a stubborn stiff-necked Unrepenting unrelenting wicked people and he says those are mine and I'm gonna make them better.

So the plant now withers and when the Sun rose God appointed a scorching east wind and he made the Sun to be down on the head of Jonah. So he was faint. What does Jonah do? He asked that he might die.

It is better for me to die than live this poor depressed guy. He is just so broken. Just like us. Just so broken, but God's not willing to give up. He's just not Verse 9 but God said to Jonah, do you will do you do well to be angry for the plant?

What does Jonah say? Yes. That's exactly what he said. Yes, I do well to be angry angry enough to die. It's all he wants to do. God is not doing what he wanted him to do. Listen, I wish I had a ministry like Jonah.

He gets on a ship. He gives him some Garbage message and they all get saved. Then he goes to Nineveh and he says Oh 40 days your city's gonna be destroyed and they all get saved. Everybody he talks to get saved.

I would love to be able to just everyone I talk to get saved. Most of them go. That's Italian. Then the Lord said to Jonah you pity the plant which you didn't labor for. You didn't make it grow. It came into being in a night and it perished in a night.

Shouldn't I pity Nineveh that great city in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons. Who don't know their right hand from their left? Oh. And just for good measure a lot of cattle to remember Jesus on the other boat.

One guy went to the land of the Gadarenes to rescue one demon-possessed man. Jonah sent to a whole city of a hundred and twenty thousand and this is where the conversation ends. This is it. We've had this four to six week window into Jonah's life and That's it.

It's over. What's the point? The point is God never stopped working ever never. He just continued and continued and continued. I'll tell you when I get to heaven. I want to sit down with Jonah and a cup of coffee and I want to say Jonah I need to hear the rest of the story.

I Want to know how God took you from this and made you this. I? Want to know how he brought righteousness into your life. I want to know how it was that he changed you from a lump of coal into gold and diamonds.

That's what I want to know because that's what God's about doing and you know, sometimes. As a lump of coal he takes you in he presses you down. And you feel like he's not there, but he is there. He is making you into something.

He is changing you. Don't worry if you're not aware. It's his work and he's gonna do it and you're better. You will be better than you are and better than you were. But I told you that languages. We don't know language and we struggle with it.

So I'm hoping that you have a bitter a better Understanding of what love means to God and how it's always working. How he will always be reaching how he will always be doing stuff in your life. He gives you the job that you have and then he takes it away.

You know why. So he can give you another. Right, you're gonna be working forever down here. Right, even if you retire like I am believe me you'll be working right it never ends. So love is this this never-ending thing, but.