Expository Sermon on the book of Jonah
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue Seventh-day Adventist Church 7/2/2025
©2025 by Maylan Schurch
To watch this entire worship service, click the link just below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fdvNBP57qE&t=4618s
Please open your Bibles to Jonah, chapter 1.
Two or three weeks ago, when our “grads and dads” celebration happened, we were having so much fun that I decided on the spur of the moment to hold that Sabbath’s sermon over until later. So today, you’ll hear that sermon.
It’s about the Bible prophet Jonah and some adventures that happened to him. As I studied this little book, I noticed that it had four “takeaways” for me, and I’m going to offer them to you this morning, to see what you think.
The takeaways I’m going to give you are not items that I can hand to you, like the flowers or cookies we gave to the grads and dads. Instead, these takeaways are breathtaking truths about God. And I think that these four truths can encourage any of us — dad, grad or otherwise — in the days and weeks ahead.
So let’s jump right into the book of Jonah and find the first takeaway.
Jonah 1:1 – 2 [NKJV]: Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”
Want to know what I think Jonah’s first takeaway is? If you’d like to take down sermon points, here comes Sermon Point One. Here is Jonah’s first takeaway, which tells us a truth about God:
God super-cares.
I know God cares, but how do I know that He super-cares? It’s the fact that He urges Jonah to go and warn Nineveh. The book of Nahum has more information about how appallingly cruel and wicked Nineveh was. If you Google “atrocities of Nineveh’s army,” you will be horrified.
And evidently, Jonah was horrified too.
Verse 3: But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
When I would read through the book of Jonah as a kid, I used to think that Jonah took off in the opposite direction because he was scared.
But he seems not to have been a coward. Instead, if you read the whole book, especially the last chapter, you see that, instead, Jonah fully understands how merciful God is, and Jonah evidently didn’t want Nineveh to have any of God’s mercy.
But God cares. And He doesn’t care in a mild, benign way. God super-cares. He cares above and beyond any way a mere human being could care.
So, as you pocket this takeaway this morning, what can you do with it? Well, is there a person who is like Nineveh to you? Is there an unlovable person or group you need to super-care about? It’s not that you must change your mind so that you agree with everything they do, and everything they are. Just be prepared to super-care in ways God leads you. Jonah was not called to excuse Nineveh’s atrocities, but to reflect God’s super-caring to an un-caring population.
And right along with the first takeaway, that God super-cares, comes a second takeaway.
Verses 4 – 5: But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up. Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.
The Jonah story’s first takeway is that God super-cares. The second takeaway is that God super-persists.
One of the garden tools I own used to be a hoe. It has a long wooden hoe-handle, and attached to the bottom end of it is a metal sleeve, and out of that sleeve comes a curved iron rod which if you straightened it out would probably be three inches long. On the end of that curved iron rod there used to be hoe-blade before the blade broke off. What’s left is this little hook, and it turns out that this hook is perfect for scraping sidewalk-crack weeds.
Even though I dislike sidewalk-crack weeds, and even though I have to use some of my normally-unused muscles to claw away at them with that former hoe, these weeds are a perfect example of persistence. The workers who poured the sidewalk cement had to leave the cracks in, in case the ground heaved in cold weather.
But these workers did not plant weed-seeds in those cracks. The weeds themselves somehow spread their weed-seeds there, and pretty soon there are lots of them. They are super-persistent.
And so, of course, is God. The very fact that there are 735,000 words in the Bible, the very fact that those words were written by right around forty different authors over a period of 1,600 years, proves God’s persistence.
And the Mediterranean cyclone which howls around this little Tarshish-bound freighter is another proof of God’s super-persistence. When Jonah boarded it, God could have sighed wearily and said, “Oh well, I guess Jonah’s not the man for this prophecy job. And maybe Nineveh, with all their cruel military atrocities, doesn’t deserve saving after all. Let’s just forget about it.”
But God is super-persistent. If God wants Nineveh warned, Nineveh’s going to be warned. God could have had Jonah kidnapped, as Joseph was kidnapped, and God could have had the kidnappers march Jonah over to Nineveh’s gates. But instead, God decides to persuade Jonah in a way which would reveal God’s power and character to an entire freighter crew.
Verses 4 – 12: But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up. Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep. So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.” And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them. Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous. And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.”
The sailors are horrified at this suggestion. They’re not barbarians. They’re not atheists. They all worship various gods, and they all have a basic idea of what would be cruelly unfair and what wouldn’t.
So they row harder, and do their best to save the ship themselves. And finally, they pray to Jonah’s God, and they ask His forgiveness for what they are about to do. And they toss Jonah overboard.
Okay. The second Jonah takeaway is that God super-persists. What do we do with that?
One thing we do with it is to never assume that God has given up on us. If you feel a hunger to come back to the Lord, that’s an evidence that the Holy Spirit is calling you back.
And when He calls, do exactly what those Nineveh people will do later in the story: repent. Remember First John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, He [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Now let’s find another Jonah takeaway.
Verse 17: Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Here comes Jonah’s third takeaway.
First of all, God super-cares. Second, God super-persists. Third, God super-supplies.
As far as I know, there is currently no such fish – whale or otherwise – that could gulp a human being down and contain enough room for him to stay alive three days.
That doesn’t mean the story is false. But it means is that God is a super-supplier. Verse 17 says that God “prepared”(some versions say “provided”) a great fish to swallow Jonah. It was perfectly possible for God to have created – right there and then – a made-to-order fish. It doesn’t say that God called the fish over from somewhere else – it says God prepared that fish. He can do that, instantly, with His Genesis One creative voice: “Let there be . . . .”
Anyway, however that fish came to be, it gulps Jonah down and saves him from drowning.
God super-supplies. And this fish wasn’t the only thing that God super-supplied in this story. Did you notice something else God supplied in an incredibly strong way? Here’s this desperate group of sailors doing their best to save the ship, calling out to their own gods – as it says in verse 5.
But when Jonah tells them that he is a Hebrew, and worships the Creator God, those sailors don’t ridicule him. Instead, they believe him. In their hour of need they suddenly transfer their allegiance to Jonah’s God.
You see, God super-supplied the Holy Spirit to begin to turn these sailors’ minds and hearts toward the true God. And later, when God finally convinces Jonah to go and preach in the streets of Nineveh, all 120,000 people in that great city, including their king, believe Jonah’s preaching, and repent.
In fact, let’s read about this super-supplied Holy Spirit.
Jonah 3:1 – 9: Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?
I mean, this is a miraculous super-supply of the Holy Spirit. This was even more dramatic, in a way, than the Day of Pentecost. At Pentecost, 3000 people were converted and baptized in a day. But here in Nineveh, 120,000 people immediately repented.
God super-supplies. How can we put this takeaway to work?
Well, I think we need to remember that God is a super-supplier because He is a powerful Creator. Is there a “supply” you and I need to trust God to provide for us? Do we need a greater supply of trust, patience, faith? Don’t ever be afraid to ask God for seemingly impossible results. Ask Him, leave the decision up to Him, and He will do what He thinks is best.
Let’s take a look at one more takeaway from this intriguing little book. And maybe it’s the most important takeaway of all.
Jonah 3:10: Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
The people repented, and God relented.
Here’s the fourth takeaway.
First of all, God super-cares. Second, God super-persists. Third, God super-supplies. Fourth, God super-forgives.
Jonah doesn’t seem as able to forgive the people of Nineveh. Jonah knows about the atrocities. And Jonah maybe even firmly believes that Nineveh doesn’t deserve the mercy of God.
But God is a super-forgiver. God doesn’t excuse sin, but because God’s Son came to earth to become sin for us, and die our death so that we can live His life, if we are willing to accept God’s super-forgiveness, God will forgive.
In fact, Jesus Himself – who had personally watched this miraculous mass-repentance in person – commented on it in Matthew 12. He was speaking to the scribes and Pharisees, some of the nation’s religious leaders who refused to recognize that He had come from God. He said —
Matthew 12:41 : The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.
And this same Jesus, who tells us about the forgiveness given to Nineveh at that point, was the One who paid for that forgiveness with His very life.
Our closing song tells that wonderful story, and we will be singing it with our voices. It’s the song “Jesus Paid It All,” and it’s page 184 in your hymnal, but it will also be projected behind me. Let’s stand and sing it together.
“JESUS PAID IT ALL”
I hear the Savior say,
“Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.”
Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
Lord, now indeed I find
Thy power and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots
And melt the heart of stone.
Since nothing good have I
Whereby Thy grace to claim,
I’ll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.
And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete,
I’ll lay my trophies down
All down at Jesus’ feet.