Restoration of the Prophet

Introduction and Review of Jonah's Disobedience

0:01 I'm sure that there are many of you who have heard the little saying that truth is often stranger than fiction.

0:13 And what people mean when they say that is that the realities of life in the raw are often more bizarre, are often more unusual than even the fancies of the novelist or of the person who would write fiction. And surely this fascinating story in the book of Jonah is a classic example of that proverbial statement that truth is stranger than fiction. We come this evening to the fourth in a series of expositions in this little book of the prophet Jonah. And since it has been several weeks since we have studied together, I would very briefly simply remind you, first of all, of what we have established. We have established concerning the nature of this book. When we pick up the book of Jonah, we are picking up not a saga, a myth, an allegory, but we are picking up real history concerning a real man who was sent to a real city, who was guilty of real disobedience, who was swallowed by a real fish and vomited out upon a real hunk of real estate. We are dealing in the book of Jonah with real bona fide history.

1:32 The purpose of the book is basically twofold. It is didactic, that is, the book was given, it is placed within the lids of the Word of God for its moral and practical instruction. In its own day it was intended of God to expose through the very life of the prophet the great sin of the nation of Israel, the sin of its indifference and narrowness of vision, its own sin. It was intended to show the sin of hardness of heart to the preaching of its own prophets.

2:07 It was intended to show the largeness of God's heart to the nations. It was given to provoke Israel to jealousy that seeing the quick response of this pagan city to the preaching of a man on one occasion, Israel might be shamed and thereby seek mercy from the God who had come again and again speaking through the prophets. And then, of course, according to the book of Jonah, we have the book of Jonah, which is the book of the New Testament. The historical events of this little prophecy are intended to be prophetic.

2:40 They are to set forth a marvelous truth concerning the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ. For as Jonah was three days and nights in the belly of the whale, so the Son of Man should be three days and nights in the heart of the earth. Then we began our study of the book itself. We noted in verse 1.

3:01 1. The introduction of this strange man, Jonah, of whom we know nothing apart from what is written here except that wonderful little tidbit in the book of Kings, which indicates that he was a standing prophet in Israel, the northern kingdom, and that it was his great privilege to make an announcement concerning the mercy of God to Israel in a time when she did not deserve such mercy from God. 2. And therefore in a singular way God had prepared this man for the mission to which he called him.

3:38 3. And then his commission was very clearly given, that he was to go to Nineveh, chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, and to cry out because the wickedness of that city had come up into the presence of God. 4. And then in our last study we noted the details of his disobedience as recorded in verse 3.

3:59 5. He rises up to flee from the presence of the Lord, that is, from everything that would remind him of God and His claims over him. 6. And where God calls him to go to Nineveh, he goes in the opposite direction, and there to his satisfaction is a kind providence, a ship is waiting at Joppa two or three days' journey north.

4:21 7. He goes to that seaport and finds a Phoenician ship, and we left him in that ship with the sails fully filled with wind and with the prophet perhaps feeling that God was tolerant to him in his disobedience. 8. Well, so much for that very brief review.

The Major and Minor Plots of Jonah's Restoration

4:42 9. Now this evening what we wish to do is to begin an exposition of verses 4 and following in the prophecy of Jonah. 10. And like a well-written story which has often not only a major plot but a minor or many minor or sub-plot.

4:59 So the account given to us here in chapter 1 beginning with verse 4 through to the end of the chapter has both its major and its minor plot or story. And of course the major plot is the mighty work of God in restoring to a path of obedience this disobedient and backslidden prophet. So you have as the major emphasis of chapter 1 verse 4. Through to the end of chapter 2 and really right on into the first three verses of chapter 3, the work of God in the restoration of the prophet Jonah.

5:40 But then there is this fascinating sub-plot. And the sub-plot of course is the conversion of these pagan mariners. And in a marvelous way this sub-plot you see is not put in here by accident. 11.

5:56 If the didactic purpose of the book is to demonstrate the work of God in the restoration of the prophet Jonah. 12. If the didactic purpose of the book is to demonstrate God's concern for the Gentiles. 13.

6:03 If God's concern in the book of Jonah is to rebuke Israel and to show the nation of Israel that raw pagans are indeed redeemable, are indeed the recipients or can be the recipients of saving mercy, then surely by a stroke of genius the Spirit of God had prompted the mind and heart of Jonah. 14. To record this incident in some detail, this incident of the conversion of these pagan sailors who are drawn to embrace the true and the living God, the passage begins with their idolatry, their crying out to their many gods, and the passage ends with them calling upon the one true God in a context of sacrifice and religious vows. 15. Now you see, you have these two plots. You have God's dealings with Jonah as a man, and in a sense this is God's dealings with Israel whom that man represents, and then the subplot of the conversion of the pagan sailors which is part of the overall purpose of the prophecy of Jonah.

7:20 16. Now what we shall do tonight, and God willing for several Lord's Day evenings, we will study the major plot. 17. It will be difficult not to slip in occasionally some thoughts from the minor plot, but we will try to rivet our attention upon the major issue, namely the restoration of the backslidden prophet Jonah, or, we might say, how God heals a backslider, for indeed God's dealings with Jonah, though including elements that were peculiar to Jonah and never repeated and unrepeatable.

7:57 18. There are principles which reflect the dealings of God with all of his children who enter that tragic posture spiritually that could be called the posture of a backslider. 19. So tonight then we begin a study of the restoration of the disobedient prophet.

The Divine Initiative in Restoration

8:17 20. And the first thing that we must notice in the restoration of the disobedient prophet is what I am calling the divine initiative in the work of God. 21. The divine initiative in the work of restoration.

8:30 The divine initiative in the work of restoration. 22. Verse 3 is very much full of the activity of Jonah as a sinner. But Jonah rose up to flee from the presence of the Lord.

8:49 And Jonah went down to Joppa and found a ship. 23. Jonah paid the fare thereof, and Jonah went down into it to go with them. Verse 3, the record of the disobedience of the prophet is full.

9:10 We may say it oozes with descriptive words concerning the activity of the prophet in blatant disobedience to the living God. But verse 4 begins with the activity of God himself. But Jehovah sent out a great wind upon the sea. And so we are given to understand at the very outset that though Jonah as a conscious, willful act of disobedience flees from God, he has not placed himself outside the orbit of the divine concern or the divine initiative to keep him, in the way of God. And so we have these four key statements with respect to the restoration of Jonah, which underscore this element of the divine initiative. Chapter 1, verse 4, as I have already suggested, But the Lord sent or hurled out a great wind, verse 17, and the Lord prepared a great fish, and then chapter 2 and verse 10,

10:30 and the Lord spake unto the fish, and then again verse 1 of chapter 3, and the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Four times then, in the process of the restoration of the backslidden prophet, the divine initiative is underscored. The fact that it is God, God Himself who has taken this man in hand and has said in essence, 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 insensitive to my will and to my purpose, but you have not made yourself insensitive to my will and to my purpose. self-insensitive to my love, nor my determination that you will be found again in the way of obedience. And so in the restoration of the prophet, the first thing that strikes us is the divine initiative. And in so doing, we have a beautiful commentary upon two passages in the Word of God, one

11:51 in the Old Testament and one in the New. The Old Testament passage, which is wonderfully illustrated in this incident, is Psalm 37, verses 23 and 24. A man's goings are established of the Lord, and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him.

12:24 With his hand. And here we see the living God upholding with his hand a man who has had tremendous privilege, who has had direct revelation, who is in a path of blatant, open, unabashed disobedience. But yet we see the Lord upholding him with his hand. And then, of course, the New Testament truth that it illustrates, and no doubt some of you have already thought of it, is Hebrews chapter 20.

12:56 Hebrews chapter 12, that wonderful section concerning the divine chastisement. And we read in Hebrews chapter 12, and beginning with verse 5, And ye have forgotten the exhortation which reasoneth with you as with sons. My son, regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art reproved of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth.

13:26 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.

13:51 Is that the way you get your spankings? That's not the way I got mine. I did everything under the sun to get out. When I was caught doing something I shouldn't have, and a spanking was in order, I'd plead mercy.

14:05 I won't do it again, dad, on his dad, on his mom, I'll never do it again. And I'd make all kinds of promises.

14:13 Things don't change much, do they? I see a lot of the kids getting awfully red now and looking up at mommy and daddy. Sure, you don't ask for your spankings, but it's because mommy and daddy love you that they take the initiative to give them to you. You need them.

14:30 And they make the judgment when you need them. Well, isn't that what God is doing with Jonah? Here the prophet has disobeyed his heavenly father. And he has exposed himself to the righteous anger of his heavenly father.

14:48 And so without any consultation with Jonah, the element of the divine initiative stands boldly on the face of the passage. Jonah rises. He rises up to flee. But as it were, God rises up to spank him and to say, my child, I'm going to get your feet back in the way of disobedience, way of obedience, no matter what it costs me and no matter what it costs you.

15:12 And God goes after him. And I remind you, he goes after him, not with the anger of a judge, but with the love of a father. For all of God's dealings with Jonah are the dealings of a loving father. Who takes the initiative to bring his erring child back into the way of obedience.

The Diversity of Means in Restoration

15:39 And how much we as the children of God should be filled with praise that our God is the same in his fatherly disposition to this very day. How many times have we, in the folly of our sin, blatantly refused to obey some principle of the word of God? And God, in mercy, has taken the initiative to lay upon us the rod of correction because he loved us enough to keep us in the way of holiness. Well then, having drawn your attention, first of all, to the divine initiative in the restoration of the prophet, let me then, in the second place, draw your attention to the diversity of the means used in the restoration. Not only does God take the initiative. But God uses a diversity of means in the restoration of his backslidden child and disobedient servant. But God uses a diversity of means in the restoration of his back-slitten child and disobedient servant.

16:44 First of all, notice that he uses the elements of the physical creation. 1. And the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea – the first thing God uses to restore His disobedient servant. child is the natural element of the wind and he hurls this great wind upon the sea. That great wind becomes even a greater wind. Verse 11b, the sea grew more and more tempestuous. Verse 13b, sea and more tempestuous against them. God is committed to restore his prophet and it's as though the Lord says, now what shall I use? Well, first of all, at my disposal is the entire created world,

17:45 the entire material universe. And so God takes a little bit of his wind and he hurls it upon the sea with one design in end, one design in view at this point, the restoration of the prophet. He has a second design. He has a second design. He has a second design. He has a second design. He has a second design. He has a second design. He has a second design. He has a second design. He has a second design. The conversion of the sailors, but we said we'd try to keep that to one side. At this point, God brings into the orbit of the restorative process, this natural element of the wind. Then the second element of the physical creation he uses in verse seven. And they said, everyone to his fellow, come, let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. They cast lots and the lot fell upon Jonah. Now, whether they cast the lots by taking a broken piece of a vessel and wrote the different names on it and threw them up in the air, or whether they put pieces of papyrus in a hat and drew it out. When you're casting lots, what physical factors are in operation? Well, you'd say the law of gravity and chance. Well, that's what God uses as part of the

19:02 wind upon the sea. But the mighty God who controls the wind was there controlling the force of gravity upon the little pieces of a broken vessel that were tossed up to determine who the culprit was. Do you see the diversity of his means? All the while he's stirring up this massive wind to create a tumultuous sea. He's the same God who's guiding the force of gravity upon a couple of little pieces of clay. And he's doing it all to the end that he shall restore his disobedient child. But not only does he use what we would call the elements of the physical creation, he also uses, in addition to these two things, the great fish, part of his physical creation as well. Now, let's get away from the whale terminology. The word itself should not be

20:04 translated whale. The word itself should not be translated whale. The word itself should not be translated whale, neither in the Old or the New Testament. But verse 17 says, the Lord prepared a great fish. It doesn't mean that he created one especially for Jonah, but he prepared a great fish.

20:20 And all this discussion and debate is ridiculous. With all that we supposedly know, hardly a year passes, but what they don't discover, there's some creature down in the depths of the sea that no one has ever seen before, and that shouldn't trouble any person of the world. And that's what we're of any measure of biblical mentality, that God could either have taken an ordinary fish and stretched its gullet in its stomach or whatever else was needed, or that there was indeed some kind of a fish that had the natural capacity both to swallow this man and a belly big enough to hold him. And God prepared him. That is, God made him hungry. God brought him to the right place at the right time. He wasn't spooked away by Jonah's thrashing as he was eating the fish. He wasn't spooked away by the sinking down in the sea. All God says is he prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and the fish swallowed him. Now, this tells us again that in the process of restoration, God has at his

21:18 disposal all of the elements of the natural creation. But in the second place, he uses the elements of the moral creation. He uses these pagan sailors, and then he uses Jonah's own conscience. Notice how much emphasis falls upon the activity of these pagan sailors in the restoration of Jonah. Once this sea begins to become more than an ordinarily disrupted sea, every sailor has seen a squall. Every sailor, every seaman who's worth that name, knows what it is to ride through a squall, but they soon notice that this is no ordinary squall. They begin to

22:07 be filled with fear. Verse 5, the mariners were afraid, and they cried every man to his God, and then they cast forth their wares. But Jonah was gone down into the hold of the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep. And then the shipmaster comes, and he shakes him and says, What are you doing sleeping? He says, The rest of us are calling on our gods. You better call on your god as well. Something is happening around us for which there is no hope.

22:36 There is no natural explanation. The gods are angry with us, and we see in these pagan sailors that terrible and pitiable mixture of the remains of the image of God present in every man, no matter how pagan he may be, and then the darkness that has come upon the human heart because of sin. In this passage, we find them guilty of the grossest form of polytheism. Every man crying upon his own God, and yet they acknowledge when they speak to Jonah that there is one true and living God. Call upon thy God. Call upon this one. They acknowledge that the unusual disturbance of the natural elements is a reflection of the one who controls those elements, and that the one who controls them is one who can be approached by prayer, and that the one who controls them is one who can be approached by prayer, and that the one who controls them is one who can be approached by prayer, and that the one who controls them is one who can be approached by prayer, and that the one who controls them is one who can be approached by prayer, and that the one who controls them is one who can be approached by prayer, and that the one who controls them is one who can be approached by prayer, and that the one who controls them is one who can be approached by prayer, and that the one who controls them is one who can be approached by prayer, and that the one who controls them is one who can be approached by prayer, and that the one Prayer does have an influence upon the mind and heart of the one who has both made and controls the elements.

23:45 Now here you see, and we'll open it up more in detail when we come to study the subplot, are some of the elements of what we would call natural religion. Romans 2, 14 and 15 is the New Testament commentary upon this. But the point for our study tonight is that God was using unconverted pagan polytheists to restore a disobedient prophet. Think of it.

24:14 An unconverted captain, a pagan captain has to awaken him from his slumber. Pagan sailors have to cast lots. But it's God using the activities of these pagan creatures made in His own...

24:30 His own image, though besotten by their ignorance and their sin, all to the end that He might restore His erring prophet. So you see the diversity of elements that God uses. The elements of the physical creation, but then the elements of the moral creation. These pagan sailors, and then of course Jonah himself, the actings of his own conscience.

24:57 Verse 12, And he said unto them, Take me up. Cast me forth into the sea, and the sea shall be calm unto you. For I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. There is no evidence at this point that Jonah is penitent.

25:15 There is no evidence that his heart is broken. But he is speaking out of the light that he had as a child of God. And he knew that this tempest was upon them because of his own disobedience. And God therefore...

25:30 He therefore used in his own restoration truths that had previously been stored up in his mind and heart as a child of God. And though some of those truths were not yet as it were living and burning like fire within his bones, they were still instrumental in his restoration. So then we underscore that when God sets Himself to restore one of His backslidden children, He has...

26:01 He has at His disposal not only all of the elements of the physical world, all germs and viruses, and He can use sickness and circumstances and calamity and shower upon His erring children goodness and mercy until their hearts are broken. But the entire created universe is at the disposal of the Almighty when He is committed to the restoration of one of His backslidden children. But also all the elements of the moral creation. God can use the chance comment of an unconverted relative or friend or child or mother or father to smite the conscience of a disobedient Christian. God can use truths stored up in the mind and heart in better days. Well, we hurry on to point out in the third place the process and the efficacy of the work of restoration. Having mentioned briefly the divine initiative in the restoration, the diversity of the means used in the restoration, now I want to direct your attention for the remainder of our time upon the process and the efficacy of the work of restoration.

The Process and Efficacy of Restoration: From Slumber to Obedience

27:21 The section begins with Jonah fleeing and then it reaches its point of greatest tragedy in verse 5. It says, I'm sorry. Yes, the latter part of verse 5. When the sea is full of tumult, so much so that the ship is about to be broken, the mariners are so disturbed that the very rationale for their trip, namely the deliverance of this cargo, that they might gain a profit, their sense of values is all changed now, and they're throwing the cargo overboard.

27:59 There's Jonah. Down in the innermost part of the ship, and there he lay, fast asleep. Now, we read that and say, oh, well, so he was fast asleep. But if you've had any experience of trying to sleep in a boat in the midst of a squall, you'll know that this was no natural sleep, as it were, that lay upon the man Jonah.

28:25 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.

28:37 And the difference between a catch and a yawl, if you'd like to know that, why, you go speak to Mr. Pagden after the service tonight, and he'll tell you that there is a difference. Well, this was a beautiful 37-foot catch, and we took it out of Stamford, Connecticut, across to the northern shore of Long Island, and sailing over, everything was fine. And then we put up in a harbor there that night.

28:59 But during the night, a small hurricane, came up. And I was sleeping in what's called the pipe berth, which is right up at the bow of the ship. And I tell you, I didn't sleep much that night, as that night the waves, it seemed, with a fury lashed against the bow of that ship and smacked it and punched it and thrashed at it. And I tried to sleep, but I doubt there was much more than 20 minutes to a half an hour of sleep that night.

29:27 Now, the squall was nothing in terms of what we read about here, we had out a couple of special anchors, and we held our own. We weren't thrown up on the shore, as some of the boats in that harbor were. But this storm was so furious that the ship was almost to be broken to pieces. And yet, here's Jonah, sound asleep.

29:51 Now, granted, there was some physical weariness. He'd made a two- or three-day journey from the place of God's call up to Joppa, and no doubt was weary from the journey. But I'm kind of tired of that. I'm tired of that.

30:02 I'm convinced that the weariness there is a different kind of weariness. It's the weariness that comes to the disobedient Christian who finds sleep and escape from the terrors of his conscience.

30:17 For the disobedient child of God in his waking moments cannot help but feel the pressure of his disobedience. And in a sense, sleep becomes to him what a state of drunkenness does to the man who's trying to escape the realities of life. Well, that's where God found his child and had to begin to deal with him. Well, when he's done with him, where is he?

30:42 Well, chapter 3 tells us in verse 3, So Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. When God started to restore his servant, his work was efficacious. Now, what was the process he used? From the state of slumber, where we find him in chapter 1 and verse 5, to the posture of military obedience, marching to Nineveh to preach the Word of God, what was the process used by the living God?

Arousal from Slumber and Indictment of Sin

31:19 Well, very quickly, let's look at the process. Verse 6, first of all, he had to arouse him from his state of slumber. So he sends this shipmaster, this captain to come down, and he says unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise and call upon thy God.

31:42 Now, how many times he had to shout in his ear? How many times he had to shake him? One thing is clear. When that shipmaster went down into the hold to get Jonah awake, he didn't stop till he had him wide awake.

31:55 So the first thing we see in the process is this arousal from the state of slumber. Secondly, there was the indictment concerning his sin of disobedience. Verses 7 and 8, the whole process of the casting of lots, and the lots point to Jonah as the guilty one. And Jonah, like Achan, is indicted for his sin.

32:18 He cannot escape now. His sin is laid bare. Then we have in verses 9 and 10, the confession of his sin. And he said unto them, I am a Hebrew.

32:30 I fear the Lord. He acknowledges what he's done. Now, I'm not saying, this is confession in the sense of true brokenness. But it was at least in terms of the acknowledgement of what he had done.

32:44 Then verses 11 and 12 give us the record of his submission to the just desert of his sin. He says, Take me up, throw me into the sea. It's for my sake that the sea is tumultuous. If you'll get rid of the culprit, the cause is dealt with, calm will come again.

33:04 Here is a man, who is submitting to the just deserts of his sin. Then in chapter 2 verses 1 to 9, we find his prayer to God for deliverance. And there's no record that Jonah prayed until we come to chapter 2. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord.

33:27 And when he began to pray, the restoration was not far off. And then finally, we see the work is complete. The restoration was not far off. The work is completed when he is returned to the place where his disobedience began.

33:41 That is the commission of God. And at the point where he disobeyed, he now embraces the commission, arise golden Nineveh, and he makes his journey to that great city. Now as with Jonah, so with his children. God has a process which is efficacious in the work of their restoration.

34:06 And we may say in general terms, that process often follows the pattern that we see in the life of Jonah. I would be greatly surprised if there are not sitting in this auditorium tonight, men and women, boys and girls, who in a very real sense are Jonas. A word has come from God to you, not audibly upon your ear, nor directly to your conscience. as it did to a prophet, but a word has come to you from this book, impinging upon you at some point of duty, with respect to the forsaking of some specific sin, with respect to the taking up of some specific duty, with respect to some area of practical biblical obedience, and at the point that the word of God has come to you, you are a Jonah, for you have done exactly the opposite of that which God has commanded you. God has said, rise, go to your Nineveh, and you have risen up to flee from the presence of the Lord. God has said, deal with that sin, perform that duty, take up that responsibility, and

35:30 you have deliberately, willfully, consciously turned aside from the path of obedience. You know what's happened? Like Jonah, you have found a ship in which you too are fast asleep. You see, a sleeping man is out of touch with the world of reality around him.

35:52 We talk about people living in a dream world, you dream and you sleep.

35:58 When Jonah was fast asleep, that terrible tempest that was hurled upon the sea on his account, he's utterly oblivious to it, the danger to which he's exposing that whole world. He's utterly cruel, he's utterly oblivious to it, the danger to his own life, utterly oblivious to it. He's in a path of deliberate, non-disobedience, but he's fast asleep, and the first thing God does to restore him is to arouse him from his slumber, and to get him to face that world of reality that is the result of his sin. As long as Jonah is asleep. As far as he's concerned, the sea is as calm as glass. But once he awakes, he will hear the dashing of the waves trying to beat that ship to pieces. He can go up top with the other mariners and see the billows and the waves and the clouded heavens, and Jonah's conscience comes alive when Jonah is aroused from sleep.

37:11 And my dear Jonah, sitting here tonight, man, woman, boy, or girl, he's in a state of disarray. He's in a state of disarray. He's in a state of disarray. He's in a state of disarray.

37:17 He's in a state of disarray. He's in a state of disarray. He's in a state of disarray. He's in a state of disarray.

37:21 He's in a state of disarray. He's in a state of disarray. He's in a state of disarray. Who's this dear girl who this very night is in a path of known and willful disobedience to a clear word from God.

37:26 You know what God's first work in your heart will be in your restoration. It will be to arouse you from your slumber and to get you to face realistically the circumstances into which your sin has brought you. And it's at this point that I would long for the full use of my voice to hurl into your your ears the question that the captain hurled into the ears of Jonah. What meanest thou, O sleeper?

37:58 Meanest thou, O sleeping father, whose family has been cast into a tumultuous sea? Why? Because of your sin. What meanest thou, O sleeping mother, whose family is in a sad state? Why? Because of your sin. What meanest thou, O sleeping son, O sleeping daughter, who has brought upon your household a tumultuous sea of the absence of confidence, of the presence of the boiling, heaving attitudes of suspicion?

38:46 Why? Because of your sin. If you're ever to be restored, my dear child of God, it will begin when God arouses you from your slumber. And there is a New Testament doctrine of sleeping saints. It's taught very clearly in Romans chapter 13, verses 11 and 12. Romans chapter 13, verses 11 and 12, so that you may know that I'm not preaching.

39:21 On the basis of imagination, we read in Romans 13 and verse 12 or verse 11, and this knowing the season that already it is time for you to awake out of sleep. For now is salvation nearer than when we first believed. He's speaking to believers and he says, believers, it's time to awake out of sleep. The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Let us therefore sleep.

39:55 We are cast off the works of darkness. And the same truth is emphasized. The language is a bit different, but it's the same truth. In Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 14, the same great apostle calls upon Ephesian believers, wherefore he saith, awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead. You see, it's not absolute spiritual death. He mingles his metaphors as it were.

40:26 Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee. It is possible for Christians to come into a state, even as did Jonah, where they are fast asleep, insensitive to the tumultuous results of their sins of disobedience. And the tragedy is, such a person often congratulates himself that he's been able to sleep in the midst of a storm.

40:59 Oh, if I could. I'm speaking to a man, a woman, a boy or girl here tonight who has known something of what it is to be wide awake in Christ, to be alert and sensitive to that real world of the word of God, impinging upon your conscience, making it smart at the slightest disobedience, making your heart leap at the slightest approaches of your Savior in secret prayer, in meditation, in public worship. Where are you tonight? You're like a Jonah, sound asleep in the hold of the ship of your life. Though anyone else can see the tumultuous waves all around you, you're asleep. Oh, may God's voice find you tonight. May you hear not the voice of a pagan seaman, but the voice of your Savior saying, why sleepest thou?

42:08 But then the second thing, as we've noted in the process of restoration, was the indictment with regard to his sin. And if you're to be restored, my friend, God will not only arouse you from your slumber to bring you into contact with the real world in which your sin and you are found, but God will indict you for your sins of disobedience. He will not use lots. He will not send a Nathan to you.

42:41 But he will use his word and his spirit. He may possibly use even this meeting tonight. He may use the word of a loving father, a tender mother. He may use the exhortation of a brother or sister.

42:57 He uses ordinary means in these gospel days in which we live. But surely if God is to restore you, once he's aroused you, he will indict you. Always. The God who arouses.

43:12 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?

43:55 Why is this? When you have forsaken your first love, abated the zeal and contracted the extent of your first works. Why is this? Let it not content you to regard the question is a mere vague rebuke as a mere remembrance, sir, of what you have.

44:15 That what you have done is indefensible. Press the question upon your conscience. Accept it as a question under which you may not only well be expected to wince and to feel sore, but as a question to be deliberately faced and kept before you till thorough restoration and confirmed revival and zealous return to first love and first works are again secured. Why hast thou done this?

44:44 Why hast thou done this? Why have you disobeyed the word of God? Why have you turned a deaf ear to his clear commandments? Produce your strong reasons.

44:57 Has God been a wilderness to you? Have you found a better friend than he? Have you found a worthier portion? Have you found a sweeter employment than meditation in his word and calling on his name?

45:10 Why hast thou done this? Have you found him? Have you found him unfaithful to his promise? Have you discovered that he discourages his people?

45:20 Will you say that the more you've known him, the less you've thought of him? It looks like it, O backslider. It looks as though you can remember days when you loved him more and served him better than you do now. Why have you done this?

45:37 The question is pressed again. Has the world been better to you than God? Has the world been more full? Has it been more steadfast, more satisfying, more true than God?

45:49 Urge this matter, O backslider, to an issue, to an answer. Let the case go fairly and fully to trial. You see the point that Hugh Martin is pressing. My friend, until you've felt the indictment in your own breast of the tragedy of your sin, there will never be restoration.

46:12 And so God indicts Jonah. not to bash him down and to bruise him and to leave him in a mass of brokenness. But God's heart is moved with one great concern to get his child back in the way of obedience because that's the way of blessedness. Back in the way of obedience because that's the way of communion.

46:34 Back in the way of obedience for that's the way in which the heart of the man of God alone can truly find delight. Have you felt any indictment sitting here tonight when I said what was that point where God pressed an issue from his word called upon you to perform a duty called upon you to break a relationship called upon you to take up a responsibility and you said no Lord if that's my Nineveh I will go to my Tarshish. My friend you'll never be restored as long as you gloss over your sin until you feel the indictment of the Almighty in the depths of your bosom. There is no restoration. And then in the third place God will do with you as he did with Jonah. He will bring you to true confession.

Confession and Acquiescence to Just Deserts

47:32 No rationalization. No equivocation. True confession. As I suggested I don't know how much heart there was in it at this point but we do know that the judgment that the prophet makes upon himself is accurate.

47:46 Look at his language. When they ask him, these questions in sort of a pagan frenzy. Chapter 1 verse 8 after the lots have fallen upon him tell us we pray thee for whose cause this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation?

48:03 Where do you come from? What's your country? What people are you? And he said unto them notice his confession I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.

48:18 Then were the men exceedingly afraid. And said unto him what is this that thou hast done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he had told them. Now when did he tell them?

48:36 We don't know. Either in this context or when he sought to enter the ship. He may have said men I need a place in this ship. I want to get away from Israel.

48:48 I want to get away from everything that reminds me of the true and living God. At that stage they were so besotten in their pagan ignorance that they figured eh, so what? He's running from his God. We run from our gods.

49:04 They can't catch us. We're bigger than they are. We make them. So big deal.

49:11 Maybe that's when he told them. And it ran off their pagan backs like water off the ducks back until God got them in the corner. Now you see how the subplot always keeps pushing itself to the surface and we got to keep pushing it down so we don't digress. But I only bring this out to show you the true confession that he makes in the presence of these pagans.

49:33 He first of all confesses what God is in himself. He said, I am one who acknowledges the God who made the sea and the dry land. He is the true and the living God. And Jonah acknowledges in this confession of who God is that he, if he is the God of heaven, maker of heaven and earth, then I am his creature. And I owe him obedience. And I owe to him the homage of my heart. Furthermore, he says, I am an Israelite. So he confesses not only what God is in himself, but what God is to him. I am a man of great privilege. I'm part of that nation which was singled out among all the nations of the earth upon which God set his love, to which he gave the law, to which he gave the prophets, to which he gave the only true way of approach in sacrifice, to which he gave the priesthood and all the privileges. He confesses, I'm an Israelite. I'm a man who's in this present state, who has had to climb, as it were, over mountains of divine privilege to put myself in this present position of disobedience. And then he confesses what he is to God.

50:51 Notice, he says, I fear the Lord. I fear the Lord. I am a servant of the living God. Now, what a mass of contradiction is a backslidden Christian. Look at the contradiction of Jonah. Here he is in a ship that is representative of his blatant disobedience, but he says, I fear the Lord.

51:22 And a little bit later, it says he had told them that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord. Well, if you fear the Lord and love him, for that's part of the fear of God, why are you running from him? Well, you see, a backslidden Christian is nothing but a mass of contradictions. He is a mass of contradictions. Here is Jonah in the midst of all these pagans saying, in essence, all this praying you've been doing to all your gods is a lot of hogwash. There's only one God of heaven, one maker of the heaven and earth, one controller. Why, what a bold thing to do.

52:00 They could have ganged up on him and said, buddy, don't you touch our gods. So he's bold. He's fearless. And yet here he is running from God. What a mass of contradictions is a backslidden Christian. Am I speaking to someone sitting here tonight who is a mass of contradictions? On the one hand, as a true Christian, you do fear the Lord. And it's because the fear of God has been implanted in your heart in the terms of the new covenant. You cannot abandon yourself to fear the Lord. You cannot abandon yourself to fear the Lord. You cannot abandon yourself to fear the sin. You've tried to, but you can't do it. You have tried to give yourself to iniquity. You can't do it. And yet on the other hand, your feet are found in paths of disobedience. There are duties that ought to be performed that are not. What a mass of contradictions you are. You see, just as

52:56 an obedient, humble disciple is a beautiful thing to behold because there is symmetry to the life. You know what symmetry? Things all fit together beautifully. You see, the life of the most humble believer who is walking in obedience to Christ is beautiful because it is symmetrical. There is nothing greatly out of proportion. The center of that life is Christ. And the person can say, for to me to live is Christ. So in whatever he does, whatever activity he's engaged in, Christ is central. And there's something beautiful about the most humble believer who is walking in obedience to Christ. He's being consistent with what he is as a new man in Christ. But what a mass of contradictions is a backslidden Christian. Here his feet are going in a path of disobedience, but his spirit is yet pulling him in the path of obedience. His passions are drawing him away from God, but the principles of

54:01 his new life in Christ are ever drawing him towards God. Haven't you proven that to be true, Christian? That when you're in a backslidden state, you are, one mass of contradictions. And if you're ever to be restored, God's going to bring you to confess that. To own it from the heart and to say in essence, this is what I truly am. And though my present posture would not demonstrate it, this is what I am. This is what I believe. And you begin with what you know to be true of God and of yourself. And you begin to claw your way back into the path of obedience.

54:44 Well, then we see in the fourth place, God not only aroused him from his slumber, indicted him for his sin, brought him to true confession. He brought him to acquiesce to the just desert of his sin. Look at the language of verses 11 and 12. What shall we do to you, they say, that the sea may be calm to us? They say, Jonah, give your own sentence. And Jonah very calmly says, take me up in Calvary, and I will take you up in Calvary, and I will take you up in Calvary, and I will take you up in Calvary, and I will take you up in Calvary, and I will take you up in Calvary, and I will take you up in Calvary. He says, cast me into the sea, so shall the sea be calm unto you, for I know that for my sake this great tempest has come upon you. You see what he's saying? He's saying, I deserve to die because of the nature of my disobedience.

55:33 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.

56:32 He says, it is of the Lord. And he bows. He acquiesces. As a pastor, I tell you, I am suspicious every time someone comes into my study. We get dealing with heart issues and they say, well, yes, pastor, I know I sinned, but why didn't someone point out my sin sooner? But why didn't the church do, why didn't the, why didn't the elders, why, why, why? No, no, my Jonah.

57:04 Listen to me. If you've owned your sin, you'll acquiesce to the just deserved of your sin and you will not question God or any of his children. You'll say it's much less than I deserve. Until you've done that, my friend, you've not really owned it. That's how God dealt with his child. Why then the next thing he does is he draws him out to pray for deliverance. And when a backslider begins to pray, watch out.

Prayer for Deliverance and Return to Obedience

57:41 Deliverance is near. Chapter two in verse one. Then Jonah prayed. One of the surest marks that you are a backslider is you gave up prayer a long time ago. I didn't say you gave up saying prayers, but you gave up prayer. Remember why Jonah got in that ship? He wanted to flee from everything that would remind him of God. And nowhere is a man more reminded of the claims of God over him than when he kneels truly to pray.

58:14 And he calls upon his father and owns the claims of the Almighty upon him. That's one of the surest marks you're a backslider tonight. It's been a long time since you truly prayed, really prayed, engaged God in prayer. But my friend, if as a result of the ministry tonight, you find it in your heart to begin to cry to God, deliverance is near. It won't be long.

58:48 Before Jonah will be back in the way to Nineveh, God drew his servant out in prayer. And hopefully in our next study, we'll examine that prayer. What are the elements of a backslider's prayer that become the very instrument under God of his deliverance? And then last of all, we see the restoration is complete when Jonah returns to the point of disobedience and at the very point where he said no.

59:18 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 child? Don't do that or daddy will have to spank. And the little child reasons, well, daddy doesn't mean it. And then when he feels the sting on the nerve endings of his little bottom, and he's tempted the next time, he says, uh-uh, uh-uh, daddy meant business. It better not do it.

60:27 Jonah learned. He said God's discipline was for real. And it was efficacious. And he goes back to the point of disobedience. And there where he got off the tracks, he is now back in the way. And that's when your restoration is complete. You know, it doesn't need to be what the world calls a big issue to make you a terrible backslider. Whatever point God pressed his word upon your contents, and you said no, Lord.

60:59 From that point on, there'll be degrees of backsliding until you go back to that point and say yes. At the point where you say no, you now say yes. Now, where has God been pressing an issue? What is it with you? Well, only you know. Only God knows. And you know. But with judgment day honesty, I would press upon your conscience, dear child of God.

61:27 Why go on in the misery of this massive world? You have contradictions. Fearing the Lord, yet running from Him. On the one hand, you would love to say, but you can't. You'd love to say, I find no delight in preaching and prayer. You do find delight in it, because the root of the matter is in you. But on the other hand, because of areas of disobedience, there is not the delight in prayer that there once was. There is not the delight in the presence of God there once was. You sit here tonight, a mass of contradiction.

62:01 Oh, my friend, cry to God that He would indeed indict you if you are not certain of where it is that you've turned aside, and if you're not certain of what it is that has brought you to this miserable posture. Cry to God that the indictments of the Word and the Spirit would be clear. Own your sin. Acquiesce to whatever discipline God would bring upon you as a result.

62:32 And then begin to pray. Begin to cry to God as did Jonah, and plead for mercy. Return to the point of disobedience, and there render obedience. And you then will find with Jonah that God is a gracious God to His backsliding children. Oh, the mercy and patience of God to His Jonas.

Pastoral Exhortation to Backslidden Christians

62:58 If it were not for that mercy and patience, there is none of us. If it were not for that mercy and patience, there is none of us who could stand this night. But, oh, my dear friend, don't tempt God. Don't trifle with His mercy.

63:13 Has He found you this night? Has His voice penetrated into the inner recesses of your heart, saying, Arise, O sleeper? Wake up! Then may God grant that you will not fall fast asleep in the reverie of Memorial Day activities.

63:35 Far better to cancel your appointment at the picnic and spend the day in prayer and fasting than to allow your soul to go on in this miserable state. Oh, my Jonah friend, where are you tonight? May God grant that you give yourself no rest until you're back in the way of obedience and fellowship, magnifying the God of grace who shows mercy to the backsliding child. Let us pray.

Closing Prayer

64:19 Oh, our Father, we cannot begin to thank you for the infinitude of your patience toward your children.

64:30 When we think of all that you've borne from us, what can we say but blessed be your holy name for such richness of mercy. We thank you that you are committed to the preservation of your children. And we pray that the word preached this night. And weakness may be owned by your Holy Spirit.

65:00 Oh, mighty God, find your Jonas this night. Arouse them from their slumber. Bring them back into the way of obedience.

65:15 And for these mercies, we will praise you through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.