Pastor Martin expounds Jonah 1:4-3:3, detailing God's sovereign initiative and diverse means in restoring the disobedient prophet Jonah. He outlines the process of restoration, moving from spiritual slumber to indictment, confession, submission to divine justice, prayer for deliverance, and finally, renewed obedience to God's commission. Martin applies these principles to backslidden Christians, urging them to awaken from spiritual apathy, acknowledge their sin, and return to the path of obedience and fellowship with God.
6 illustrations in this sermon
Driving home: We are dealing in the book of Jonah with real bona fide history.
Martin uses the common saying 'truth is stranger than fiction' to introduce the book of Jonah, emphasizing its historical reality and unusual events.
I'm sure that there are many of you who have heard the little saying that truth is often stranger than fiction.
0:01 - 0:11 Read in full sermon
Driving home: Jonah, you may through the weakness of the flesh, you may through the unhinging of your normal spiritual faculties have become so filled with confusion and your spirit so sour and bitter as to render you utterly insensit…
An analogy of children never asking for spankings, but receiving them out of parental love, illustrates God's initiative in chastising His beloved children like Jonah.
And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. You see, it is the parent who takes the initiative to chastise the child whom he loves. You children here tonight, let me ask you a question. When did you ever walk up to mommy and daddy and say, hey mom, hey dad, I did something that deserves a spanking, let me have it.
13:26 - 13:50 Read in full sermon
Driving home: It's the weariness that comes to the disobedient Christian who finds sleep and escape from the terrors of his conscience.
Martin recounts his personal experience of trying to sleep on a sailboat during a hurricane, highlighting the unnaturalness of Jonah's deep sleep amidst a furious storm, suggesting it was a spiritual stupor.
When I was in my mid-teens, a business associate of my father's owned a 37-foot, sailboat. It was a beautiful boat. It was a catch. That's a two-masted boat.
28:25 - 28:37 Read in full sermon
The point: Expect God to indict you for your sins of disobedience, using His Word, Spirit, or even loving counsel from others.
Martin quotes Hugh Martin at length, pressing the question 'Why hast thou done this?' upon the conscience of the backslider, emphasizing the need for deep self-examination and conviction of sin for true restoration.
Is the God who indicts. There are some very powerful words from the pen of Hugh Martin speaking to this very issue. He says, ah, it is well in your sins and backslidings to have this question pressed upon you. Why hast thou done this when your heart that once found its sweet and chosen pleasure in the scriptures, in meditation and prayer, now, now follows so keenly the things that perish with the using and allows itself to be molded by the fashion of the world that passes away?
43:12 - 43:55 Read in full sermon
The point: Stop complaining about the fruit of your sin and acquiesce to the just deserts of your sin, recognizing it is 'much less than I deserve'.
The examples of David worshipping after his child's death and Eli accepting God's judgment illustrate true acquiescence to the just deserts of sin, contrasting with complaining backsliders.
One of the surest marks that a backslider is really being restored is that he stops complaining about the fruit of his sin. That's one of the surest marks. When you find people who say in one breath, oh yes, I've sinned. You remember what happened to David? When God took the child that was the fruit of that illicit relationship, he went into the house of God and he worshipped. Remember what happened to Eli when the prophet comes and says, look, the young prophet Samuel, Eli, because of your failures, all your sons will be killed and you'll have no successors.
55:33 - 56:32 Read in full sermon
The point: Return to the exact point where you disobeyed God's word and say 'yes' where you once said 'no', completing your restoration.
The analogy of a child learning from a spanking that 'daddy meant business' illustrates how God's discipline teaches Jonah the reality and efficacy of divine commands, leading to renewed obedience.
He now says yes. Originally, the word of the Lord came. Chapter one, verse one, the word of the Lord came saying, arise, go to Nineveh. Jonah says no. God doesn't change his mind. We read chapter three, verse one, the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time saying, arise, go to Nineveh. This time, Jonah says yes, Lord. The heaving sea, the weeds of the deep, the belly of the fish, stand too vividly upon my memory. Lord, you love me too much to let me get away with that kind of foolishness again. So I better do what you tell me. Isn't that how a loving father and mother deals with a chil...
59:18 - 60:25 Read in full sermon