POUTING PROPHET  Click here to HEAR audio

Jonah: The Pouting Prophet
Howard Hendricks

I. The connection between chapters three and four.

A. In chapter three, God is ministering through Jonah to a city.  In chapter four, God is ministering to Jonah as an individual.

B. We see God’s power to redeem in chapter three and God’s power to refine in chapter three.

C. God teaches Jonah three courses in chapter four:

1. A course in attitude. (Jonah 4:1-4)

2. A course in consistency. (Jonah 4:5-8)

3. A course in perspective. (Jonah 4:9-11)

II. Jonah’s course in attitude. (Jonah 4:1-4)

A. The chapter begins with the connective “but.”  Chapter three ends with Nineveh repenting and Jonah remonstrating.  He was greatly displeased with the repenting Ninevites and was angry at God for not destroying the city.

B. We find God in the hands of an angry sinner.  Have you ever been ticked off at God?

C. Jonah prays to God and says that he fled to Tarshish to avoid this precise outcome.

D. Jonah refers to being in “my own country.” Jonah thought he had a corner on the grace of God, but nobody does.

E. Jonah believes five things:

1. God is gracious.

2. God is compassionate.

3. God is slow to anger.

4. God is abundant in loving-kindness.

5. God is one who relents concerning calamity.

F. The truths that Jonah believed did not control his life.  He did not want to be the channel of a loving, compassionate, and gracious God.

G. Jonah did the right things with the wrong attitude.  God never had Jonah’s heart.

H. The emphasis of the Word of God is never on what you are doing but on why you are doing it.

I. We often think that when we do the will of God we are finished.  But the issue is why we have done the will of God.

J. This sin comes up a number of times in the minor prophets and God asks the Israelites to stop bringing their offerings because the gifts given without one’s heart make Him sick.

K. Jonah is upset and embarrassed because his prophecy will not be fulfilled.

L. God asks Jonah if he has good reason to be angry?  Do we have good reason to be angry?

M. The evangelical community is covered with bitter, hostile, resentful people.

N. Believers are called to get rid of anger, bitterness, wrangling, slander, and malice. (Ephesians 4:31)

O. Our attitudes hurt others.

P. Believers are called to be kind to one another, tenderhearted, and forgiving to one another (Ephesians 4:32).

Q. God’s attitude toward you should be the pattern of our attitude towards other people.

III. Jonah’s course in consistency. (Jonah 4:5-8)

A. Jonah answers God’s question by leaving the city and making a shelter in the shade.  He’s waiting to see what will happen to the city.

B. God appoints three things:

1. A plant. (Jonah 4:6)

a. Jonah was extremely happy about the plant.

b. Jonah was angry about the conversion of the Ninevites and happy about the
creation of a plant.

c. What we are angry and happy about say a lot about our spiritual condition.

d. Jonah is more attached to things than people. He is turned on by things and
turned off by the lost.

2. A worm. (Jonah 4:7)

a. A worm or perhaps a group of worms attack the plant and it withers.

3. A wind. (Jonah 4:8)

a. Another disaster comes to get Jonah’s attention.

b. This is a blistering wind that is very powerful and destructive.

c. The wind and sun bear down on Jonah and he becomes faint.  Jonah feels physically what God feels spiritually.

d. Jonah responds by asking to die.  This is the only unanswered prayer in the book and there are prayers in each chapter.

1. The sailors pray in chapter one – its prayer and fear.

2. Jonah prays in chapter two – its prayer and faith.

3. The Ninevites pray in chapter three – its prayer and fasting.

4. Jonah prays again in chapter four – its prayer and foolishness.

C. Why didn’t God answer Jonah’s prayer?  God is far more concerned in developing a man than in having someone to deliver His message. God is still interesting in the life of Jonah.

D. God is dealing with Jonah with grace but Jonah is not responding in kind.

E. God’s acceptance of you becomes the basis of your acceptance of others. We are to love others not matter what, not based on performance.

F. If we are on a performance basis with God, then we are on a performance basis with everyone else.  Where would we be if God dealt with us on the basis of our performance?

IV. Jonah’s course in perspective. (Jonah 4:9-11)

A. This is the climax of the book because God takes off His mask and reveals His heart.  Jonah’s heart is also revealed.

B. God asks Jonah if he has reason to be angry with the plant.  Jonah says that he does have
reason to be angry enough to die.

C. God responds to Jonah by saying that “you” had compassion on the perishing plant, which he did not cause to grow and came up overnight.

D. Then God asks if He should not have compassion about Nineveh, a city with 120,000 children (people who have not matured enough to know the difference between right and left/right and wrong.)

E. Jonah has to learn the difference between what is perishable and what is permanent.  This is the mark of spiritual maturity.

1. “I’d rather have leprosy and know God than be a stranger to His grace.”

F. Where are you investing your time?

Everything you are involved in on the planet earth is in the process of perishing except for investing in the spiritual life of people.
G. When we look into the heart of Jonah, we look into our own hearts.

H. The contrast is between the grace of God and the greed of Jonah.

I. This has been called the Old Testament John 3:16 – it teaches that God loves both lost people
and out of touch believers.

J. Just as God chased Jonah, He is chasing you with His love.

K. Everything in this book obeys except for Jonah – the wind, the waves, the plant, and the sun.

L. Though the book ends with a question, we know that Jonah wrote the book.  Through the grace
of God, Jonah seems to have learned the lesson and then share his story as the runaway prophet.

V. Three questions.

A. How’s your attitude?

B. Are you consistent – do I really relate to other people the way God relates to me?

C. How’s your perspective – are you working on things that are permanent or perishing?

PREACHING PROPHET Click here to hear audio

Jonah: The Preaching Prophet
Howard Hendricks

I. Salvation’s urgency.

A. There is no second chance for salvation.

B. For this reason, the Gospel carries great urgency.

C. But there is a second chance as far as service is concerned.

D. Second chances in the Bible:

1. David – Wrote Psalms 23, 32, and 51 after his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah.

2. Peter – Peter preached to thousands on Pentecost and wrote I and II Peter after he denied Christ three times.

3. John Mark – Left the ministry during the first missionary journey with Paul.  He may have been a mother’s boy.  At the end of Paul’s life, he asks for John Mark because he is profitable to Paul’s ministry.

E. The Word of God is transparent – God will forgive any sin.  But that is no guarantee that one will escape the consequences of sin.

F. God told Moses to strike the rock once but Moses struck it twice in anger.  God forgave Him but did not allow Moses to enter the Promised Land.

G. Abraham chose to be with Hagar in order to have a descendent.  God forgave Him but the life of Ishmael had consequences for Abraham and for us today in the Middle East conflict.

H. We are free to make choices but not free to choose our consequences.

I. What a man sows, he will reap. (Galatians 6:7)

J. God always starts with you precisely where you are.

K. When you teach God’s word, make it as simple as possible.

II. Summary and context of Jonah 3.

A. Now – the re-commission. (Jonah 3:1-2)

B. So – the response. (Jonah 3:3-4)

C. Then – the results. (Jonah 3:5-10)

D. First commission is based in disobedience that leads to obedience and the re-commission is based on obedience that leads to disobedience.

IV. Jonah’s re-commission. (Jonah 3:1-2)

A. God’s second commission to Jonah is almost identical to the first.

B. God tells Jonah to proclaim the message He will tell Jonah.

C. Today, the church is failing to tell what God has spoken.

D. Instead, we need to return to Paul’s call to “preach the Word.” (II Timothy 4:2)

E. We are living in a generation where there is a famine of the Word of God.

F. Jonah learned that he did not have to develop the message, only proclaim it.

G. God gives the word to the prophet, who must only proclaim it and not rebel against it. (Ezekiel 2:8-9, 3:1-3)

H. God wants to minister to you before He can minister through you.

I. Does the Word taste sweet to you?  Or is it stale?  Have you discovered how alive God’s Word is?

J. Beware giving answers without having experience of the Word.

V. Jonah’s response (Jonah 3:5-10)

A. Jonah’s disobedience in chapter one is transformed into obedience.

B. Nineveh’s was the capital of the Assyrian empire.  It was both a city and a complex of four other cities.  The total area of greater Nineveh was over 60 square miles with over 1,000,000 people.

C. There were 175,000 people inside the gates of Nineveh.

D. Jonah proclaims a message about Nineveh’s destruction in forty days.  He was brief and terrifying in his message.

E. The response is that the Ninevites believed God – not Jonah – and started fasting and wearing sackcloth.  Fasting and sackcloth were signs of penitence.

F. This response is the greatest miracle of the book.  Salvation always is the greatest miracle.

G. The only explanation for the Ninevites’ response was that it was supernatural in nature.

H. In the story of the rich young ruler, the issue is not that the young man has lots of property. The issue that is that the property has a lot of him.  (Matthew 19:21-22)

I. Jesus then tells His disciples that it is hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 19:23-24)

J. The disciples then ask Jesus who can be saved.  He answers that it is impossible with mortals, “but for God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:24-26)

K. It takes no less of the grace of God to save a four year old than it does to save a murderer.  The difference is that the four year old has their whole life to live for Christ.

L. God saw them repent for their personal and national sin and then God relented.

M. However, God is not fickle and does not change His mind.  Instead, He uses language humans understand to describe His response to the Ninevites.

N. God is not changing. Instead, a group of sinners have turned from their wicked ways.

O. The only thing a person needs to do to go to Hell is “nothing”.

P. The revelation in Jonah 3 is not about the prophet Jonah but about the prophet’s God, who gives grace both to Jonah and to Nineveh.

Q. God sent Jesus Christ – the just for the unjust – so that we would be able to experience eternal life.

R. Good news: for those who think they have blown it with God, God wants to start with you right where you are and give you a life of fulfillment.

Jonah: The Praying Prophet

Howard Hendricks

B500.mp3

I. Prayer.

A. Is it any coincidence that the area of your spiritual life that gets shot down in flames the most is your prayer life?

B. Satan does not want you to pray, but he does not mind if you study God’s word without prayer

or get overly involved with the church without prayer.

C. Learn to pray by studying the prayers in the Bible.

II. Overview of Jonah 2.

A. Jonah 2:1 – the setting.

B. Jonah 2:2-9 – the substance.

1. Confession

2. Praise

3. Repentance

C. Jonah 2:10 – the sequel.

III. The setting. (Jonah 2:1)

A. Jonah prays to the Lord from the stomach of the fish.

B. Three questions about the setting:

1. Could this really happen? Is there a fish large enough to swallow a man? The issue is not the size of the fish, but the size of its throat. In the Mediterranean, the sperm whale has an expandable throat that can swallow items as long as sixteen feet.

2. Could a man survive in a fish for three days? The Encyclopedia Britannica issued a paper that chronicled a number of people who were swallowed by fish and survive.

3. The major question is whether there is a big enough God. The size of your God determines the size of your faith. When God says it, the believing heart accepts it.

C. Jonah was desperate after three days in the fish. There was no one else he could turn to except for God.

D. God brings us to the bottom so that we will be completely dependent on Him.

E. Count it all joy when you are tested because your faith is being made complete. (James 1:2-4)

IV. The substance of Jonah’s prayer. (Jonah 2:2-9)

A. Jonah confesses his sins – not the sins of someone else.

B. He is very honest, very realistic, and very specific.

C. Jonah’s confession has been called the I John 1:9 of the Old Testament. Jonah is agreeing with God that he has sinned.

D. It is our responsibility to take the initiative whether we have been wronged or we have wronged someone else.

E. Jonah recognizes that God cast him into the deep and that the sailors were simply instruments to get His message across to Jonah.

F. Our sovereign God uses a number of means to accomplish His will.

G. Jonah praises God for saving his life from the pit.

H. Try to pray for five minutes without asking God for anything. Most of us simply come to God with requests.

I. When you are feeling down, begin praising God.

J. Jonah repents in 2:9. Repentance means to change your mind and behavior. Repentance requires a 180-degree turn in direction.

V. The sequel. (Jonah 2:10)

A. The chapter closes with the sequel in which the fish spews Jonah back onto the land.

VI. The power of prayer.

A. Where prayer focuses, power falls thereon.

B. The early church prays for Peter’s release from prison and is then shocked when Peter is at the door. We don’t understand the full power of prayer. (Acts 12:2-5, 12-16)

C. We have not because we ask not. (James 4:2-3)

Jonah: Prodigal Prophet

Howard Hendricks

PRODIGAL PROPHET Click here to HEAR audio

I. Jonah’s relationships in Jonah 1.

A. Jonah’s relationship to Jehovah.

B. Jonah’s relationship with the pagan sailors.

C. Jonah’s relationship with the fish.

II. Breakdown of Chapter 1.

A. 1:1-3 – Jonah is disobedient.

B. 1:4-14 – Jonah is discovered.

C. 1:15-17 – Jonah is discarded. He is discarded by men, not by God.

III. Jonah’s relationship to God and his disobedience to God’s call. (Jonah 1:1-3)

A. God speaks three imperative verbs/commands to Jonah: arise, go, and cry.

B. The verbs summarize the will of God.

ARISE! GO! DO SOMETHING!

WHAT IS GOD CALLING YOU TO?

C. God calls Jonah to Nineveh, a great city. God is interested in cities. Are you?

D. Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrians, was located in the Mesopotamian valley and Jonah was

in Israel. Jonah had a problem with Nineveh and its people.

E. Nineveh is singled out because of their wickedness. Evidence of Nineveh’s wickedness:

1. Nineveh was the center of a fertility cult and committed wicked physical acts.

2. The Assyrians were known for their child sacrifice.

3. They were known for the cruelty and inhumane acts in warfare.

F. Though the Ninevites were not interested in God, God was interested in them.

DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE THAT IS NOT INTERESTED IN GOD?

DO YOU BELIEVE THAT GOD IS INTERESTED IN THEM?

ARISE! GO! DO SOMETHING!

G. Knowledge of the will of God does not mean that someone will do it.

H. God said, “Go,” and Jonah said “no.”

WHAT IS GOD SAYING TO YOU?
WHAT ARE YOU SAYING NO TO?

I. Jonah responds to God’s calling by going to Tarshish, which is 2,000 miles west of Nineveh. In

that day, you could not get much further away from Nineveh.

J. Jonah voluntarily forfeits his prophetic responsibility by fleeing to Tarshish.

WHAT ARE YOU VOLUNTARILY FORFEITING YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO?

K. You can be completely out of the will of God and the circumstances may still work out just

perfectly.

IV. Jonah’s relationship with the pagan sailors. (Jonah 1:4-14)

A. “But Jonah” fleeing in verse 3 is contrasted with “But the Lord” sending a storm in verse 4.

B. The sailors became afraid because of the storm. People get religious in a crisis.

It’s one thing to have the boat in the water, it’s another thing to have water in the boat.

C. Jonah goes “down” into the hold of the ship during the storm. You go down when you get out

of the will of God.

D. The pagan captain asks Jonah to pray that God will spare them. When the storm continues,

they cast lots to find out who is responsible for the storm. The lot falls on Jonah.

E. God decides which lot is chosen. (Proverbs 16:33)

F. The sailors ask Jonah a number of questions in rapid succession.

G. Jonah answers that he fears the Lord who created the sea and dry land.

H. The pagans ask Jonah how he could flee from the presence of the Lord. Often, unbelievers

hold believers to a higher standard than believers hold themselves or other believers to.

I. As the storm intensifies, he asks the sailors to throw him overboard. He does not consider

suicide.

J. What grief do we cause pagans because we are outside of the will of God?

K. The pagans try to return to land and save Jonah’s life. The pagans were more concerned for

Jonah than Jonah was for Nineveh.

L. The pagans ask God not to count Jonah’s death against them.

V. Jonah is discarded. (Jonah 1:15-17)

A. Jonah is dumped into the water and the sea stops raging. This is another supernatural

component – the sea stops but not the storm.

B. The pagans feared the Lord, offered a sacrifice, and made vows. They were converted to the

true God based on what they witnessed.

C. Jonah, in spite of himself, was used to carry the message of Jehovah to pagans.

D. The message is more important that the messenger. Even though Jonah is admittedly out of

the will of God, he becomes an instrument as a messenger of God.

E. One of the greatest sins of the laity today is the worshipping of church leaders.

F. God provides a fish to swallow Jonah and he remains in the fish for three days and nights.

G. Why did this happen?

1. God was disciplining His prophet.

a. God disciplines those He loves and discipline is a proof of sonship.

(Hebrews 12:3-11)

b. Sometimes God has to strike us with weakness and illness when we are out of

the will of God. (I Corinthians 11:30)

c. “God whispers to us in our pleasures, He speaks to us in our conscience, but

He shouts to us in our pain. It is God’s megaphone to arouse a deaf world.” C.S.

Lewis

d. Quit asking why this is happening and begin asking what God is trying to

teach you.

2. God is preserving His prophet.

a. Psalms says that God redeems my life from destruction.

b. Jonah is discarded by the sailors but not by God.

c. Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. (I Kings 18 & 19)

d. You may be out of the will of God but you are not out of the concern of God.

3. God is preparing His prophet.

a. One of the gods worshipped in Nineveh was the fish god, who sent messengers

from the sea. Jonah’s ministry will have greater impact in Nineveh because of

his encounter with the fish.

VI. Two abiding truths from Jonah 1.

A. When the Lord calls you to do something, leave the consequences with the Lord. The

outcome is not your problem, obedience is. If God calls you to do something, He has all the

resources you will need.

B. If you disobey God and try to run away, He will come after you. He will pursue you

relentlessly because He loves you with an everlasting love.

LISTEN TO HOWARD HENDRICKS AT: http://turret2.discipleshiplibrary.com/C003.mp3

JONAH is being taught on Wednesday Nights in the Library for a MMF Group [Men's Minstry & Fellowship]

Week # 3 is a review of Week # 1 and finishing up on Chapter One of Jonah.

Week # 4 will be titled: PRAYING PROPHET – look forward to sharing it with you next week.

Jonah: An Introduction

Howard Hendricks

Find Audio for these notes at: B496.mp3

HINT: then under “File” click on “New Tab” enter kingsburgcommunitychurch.org ‘again’ and then you will have the notes and the audio and the same time.

Old testament prophets are men for all seasons.

Their message is timely and timeless.

I. Introduction

A. The prophets were Israel’s conscience, even though Israel did not always listen to them.

B. The prophets then as now had two responsibilities, the task of:

1. Comforting the afflicted.

2. Afflicting the comfortable.

C. Jonah lived approximately 800 years before the body of Christ.

D. Though the story is old and Jonah is a minor prophet, his story is relevant because it is

revealed.

E. All twelve Minor Prophets only comprise 67 chapters of Scripture, while the other prophets

have larger books of prophecy. Size does not determine significance.

F. All Scripture is breathed from God and is valuable for teaching. (II Timothy 3:16-17)

G. Some of the greatest challenges in today’s church are because of the lack of knowledge about

the Minor Prophets and their teachings.

H. Critics never waste their time on secondary targets.

II. Four basic approaches to the book of Jonah.

A. Legendary fiction – Jonah is a story but it is not historical. [Goldilocks, 3 bears]

B. Parable – Story of God’s mercy to the world. It is a legend with a message.

C. Allegory – Jonah represents Israel cast into the sea of the nations. Not a historical approach.

D. Historical – The book provides a record of what happened to the prophet Jonah.

III. Reasons for accepting the historical approach:

A. Jonah the prophet is mentioned in the historical narrative of the Old Testament.

(II Kings 14:23-25)

a. We are told his name.

b. We are told the nature of his ministry as a prophet.

c. We are told his genealogy.

d. We are told the city from which he came.

e. We are told the specific prophecy he made regarding the king.

B. Jonah bears the stamp of history.

a. Jonah always included in the Old Testament canon, unlike many other books.

1. has the fingerprints of facts all over it.

b. From the earliest time, the Christian church also accepted the book as historical fact.

c. Criticism of Jonah only began 100 years ago.

d. When confronted with the supernatural, you must either submit or rationally explain it. Jesus faced the same issue from the Pharisees and chief priests about His authority to

cleanse the temple. (Mark 11)

C. Jesus regarded the book of Jonah as history. (Matthew 12:38-42)

a. Christ hinges His resurrection on the historicity of Jonah’s experience.

b. To question the historicity of Jonah is to malign Jesus Christ.

IV. Overview of the book of Jonah: The Diary of Disobedience.

A. Jonah was an AWOL prophet. At the beginning, he is absent without leave. At the end, he is angry without love.

B. The first two chapters provide the first commission. The last two chapters provide the second commission.

C. The first commission begins in disobedience and ends in obedience. The second commission

begins in obedience and ends in disobedience.

LABELS FOR THE CHAPTERS

D. Chapter 1: Jonah runs away from God.

E. Chapter 2: Jonah runs back to God.

F. Chapter 3: Jonah runs with God.

G. Chapter 4: Jonah runs ahead of God.

H. The plot is based on the interweaving of Yahweh and Jonah.

I. God reveals His will and Jonah responds. The moment God says something you are obligated

to do something.

J. Jonah is the:

1. Prodigal prophet. (Jonah 1)

2. Praying prophet. (Jonah 2)

3. Preaching prophet. (Jonah 3)

4. Pouting prophet. (Jonah 4)

V.  Application: 5 statements regarding the will of God from Jonah:

1. God will always reveal His will to the believing heart.

a. God never asks us to give anything to Him until He gives the greatest gift to us.

(Romans 12:1-2)

b. Do not lean on your understanding but trust God and He will direct your path.

(Proverbs 3:5-6)

c. God is far more interested in revealing His will than we are in doing it.

d. The will of God is not what I want, but asking God what He wants.

Favorite indoor sport: Writing God script!

We think the will of God is like a wheel barrow that we push in front of us, where we want it to go.

2. The will of God is found in the Word of God.

TASK: Read it, Study it, Memorize it, Meditate it, Teach it –

a. Saturate your mind with Scriptures. (Romans 12:1-2) – the renewing of Your mind.

3. Ultimately, the issue is not His will but my will.

a. It is not the revelation but the response that matters.

b. If any man wills to do God’s will, he will know the teaching. (John 7:17)

4. The will of God is always an expression of the love of God.

5. Disobedience to the will of God is always costly.

a. It is a waste of time, as the Israelites found at Kadesh Barnea when they decided not to invade the land. (Numbers 13)

b. The greatest regret in Christian experience is not doing the will of God.

AUDIO LINK:

B496.mp3

JONAH is being taught on Wednesday Nights in the Library for a MMF Group [Men's Minstry & Fellowship]