Our God’s mercy is beyond measure!
Sermon Opening Prayer
God, we are so grateful for the King of Kings, your Son who came, took on flesh, becoming one of us, to live a life of perfection and to die in our place, only to be raised again and now seated at your right hand, interceding for us, and in doing this you have completely changed our nature. Because of all of this, because of who you are, because of who Jesus is, we praise you out of gratitude, out of a desire to see you glorified and receive all the glory and honor that you are due. Thank you, God. We pray together as your people who have been changed forever and who are longing for the day in which you will return to fulfill your redemption of all creation, where we will spend the rest of eternity with you. We together praise you, and we need you. We still need you. We need to hear from you, and so we thank you for your word. We thank you for the way in which you have revealed yourself and your will to us through your word, so we ask, Spirit, as we turn to your word, that you would strengthen us, that you would empower us to see it, to understand it, and to apply it so that the people of God would be more able to glorify God in the way that we live, in the way that we speak. Be glorified in this time. Bless Pastor Jason as he brings forth the message from your word. Help us to receive it. We love you. It is in the name of the Son, Jesus, that we pray. Amen..
Jonah is ultimately about God’s character, not the fish, Nineveh, or Jonah.
“This story is first and foremost, primarily about God and what we learn about his character.”
Last week: sovereignty; this week: mercy.
Pastor’s Key Points in the Sermon
We Learn God’s mercy is:
1. Undeserved by me … Jonah 1:17
Grace: God giving us what we don’t deserve.
Mercy: God withholding from us what we do deserve.
Jonah deserved death for his rebellion, but God appointed a fish as an act of mercy, preserving rather than destroying him.
“No one on this earth and no one in this room deserves the mercy of God… If God were to give us exactly what we deserve, we would face justice, not deliverance.”
2. Unrelenting towards me … Jonah 1:1-10
Jonah’s downward spiral (down to Joppa, down into the boat, down into the sea, down to the roots of the mountains) is interrupted by “Yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.”
God’s mercy reaches Jonah at his lowest; Jonah could not sink so low that God’s mercy could not reach him.
“You are never too far gone for God’s mercy… You cannot rebel too much.”
Key Bible Verses Used
Jonah 1:17 – “And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”
Jonah 2:1–10 – Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the fish and his deliverance.
Explicit or clearly quoted/cited references:
Exodus 34:6 – “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious…” (paraphrased: “The Lord, the Lord. A God merciful and gracious.”)
Matthew 12:40 – “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Ephesians 2:1–3 – Spiritually dead in trespasses and sins, following the prince of the power of the air, children of wrath.
Ephesians 2:4–5 – “But God, being rich in mercy… even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.”
Romans 10:13 (implied in thought): “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (reflected in the call to cry out to Him.)
Key Takeaways
“Our God is merciful beyond measure.”
“God is mercy… He doesn’t just practice mercy, He is the perfection of mercy.”
“Mercy is Him keeping something from us that we do deserve.”
“Jonah deserved death and yet in His mercy God appointed a fish.”
“This was mercy because God did not give Jonah what he deserved—death.”
“No one on this earth and no one in this room deserves the mercy of God.”
“If God were to give us exactly what we deserve, we would face justice, not deliverance.”
“Yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.”
“Christianity… is not about what man can do to get to God. It’s about what God has done to get to man.”
“Though our sins are many, His mercy is more.”
“When we cry out to God, He not only hears us, but He answers us.”
“He’s not telling you to get it all together before He acts.”
“This is the God that we serve. He is rich in mercy. A God who extends undeserved mercy to us. Our God is merciful beyond measure.”
Ending Prayer
Father, we are so undeserving of your mercy. We see that in Jonah and we see it in our own life, but I am so thankful that it is not the end of the story. Amen. Even though we're undeserving, your mercy is unrelenting toward us. It reaches down and pulls us out of the pit. You've done that for many of us in salvation. You've rescued us from our own sin. You've redeemed us. And God, I pray now if there's someone here that has never experienced that mercy, may they cry out to you. May they turn from their sin and trust fully on the finished work of Christ, his death on the cross, his resurrection from the dead, his transformation in their life. And then for us as your people, may we recognize the tendency to be like Jonah. And God, even in our running, may we recognize that your mercy knows no limit. It knows no bounds. It's like nothing else. Thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.