A Second Chance Jonah 2:10-3:6, NIV And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you." Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city?a visit required three days. On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned." The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. Hallelujah! I would like to share the grace of God under the title, “A Second Chance,” based on Jonah 2:10-3:6. Please repeat after me, “A Second Chance.” Everyone has experienced failure, whether small or big. When I grew up, we had to take many entrance examinations to go to school: middle school entrance exams, high school entrance exams, and college entrance exams. When one failed an entrance exam, it brought much shame and pain. The student’s parents were disappointed and neighbors gossiped. When the student had to go to a private institution to study for another year, the student must have been filled with hopelessness and inferiority, especially when meeting friends who passed the exams and went on to a higher level of schooling. These days, conflict among parents is passed down to their children. Our children are being hurt. Sometimes they cannot overcome such hurt and cause serious problems, unable to conform to the community. People?without exception?encounter failure from time to time. According to the Bible, however, failure is not the end. Failure is only a process toward success. Never forget that failure is only a step for another opportunity. We must remember that we will sometimes encounter an obstacle called failure, as we march forward with faith toward a brighter future. Do not be afraid of failure. When we go through failure, it will break our stubborn ego and make us into humbler children of God. I want you to understand God’s will through your failure and to trust in the Lord more than ever before. 1. Jonah disobeyed God’s will (Jonah 1:2-3). First, I want to speak about Jonah who was disobedient to God. Please repeat after me, “Jonah disobeyed God's will.” Jonah 1:2-3 says, “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.” God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach against sin. Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria, a hostile country to Israel. Jonah did not like this idea at all, thinking, “Why should I go to my enemies and preach?” That was why he boarded a ship and sailed for Tarshish. All problems begin from this point. When we live according to our own will instead of God’s, when we live egocentrically, problems arise. I pray that you will try to seek God’s will for you. I also pray that you, as His children, will obey His will. God will bless us and lead us to prosperity when we seek His will and obey it. Do not try to be the master of your life, but put God at the center of your life, obeying His will. What made Adam and Eve fall and sin? They forgot where they were standing. Since they were created by God, they were supposed to live in accordance with God’s will. However, when Satan tempted them, they fell. In Genesis 3:5, the serpent tempted the woman by saying, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman heard that they would be like God, she took some fruit and ate it. She also gave some fruit to her husband, and he ate it. This is how sin entered into the lives of humankind. Who is the master of your life? Is it you yourself? Or is it God? We must make a clear decision. If you have been the master of your life, you must have suffered a series of pain and suffering. When God becomes the master and owner of our life, however, a highway to Zion will open before us. He will lead us to green pastures and beside quiet waters. We can be more than conquerors over any trouble or problem because the Lord is with us. After meeting with Jesus Christ, Paul the apostle declared the Lord’s mastership over his life. Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Hallelujah! We have been crucified with Christ. We are nothing now. The Lord Jesus is everything. Hallelujah! He is the solution to all problems. The Lord Jesus is everything. We are nothing. Let us leave all our cares to Him. Ask the Lord to lead our lives. Ask Him to help us to live in accordance with His will, giving our lives for His glory. The problem is that we put our will before God’s, even though we know we should not do this. Jonah knew that he had to obey God, but he put his will before God’s and headed for Tarshish instead of Nineveh. We also do something that grieves our Lord although we know we should not do it. We think or say something that is not pleasing to Him. We have done that so many times, degrading the Lord. We have been very disobedient. When we look back on ourselves in retrospect, we feel ashamed. Therefore, we must approach God with repentance. Let us repent of our sins before God. Let us seek His will and examine ourselves to see if we have pleased the Lord in our lives. After that we must come to the Lord, and then God will bless us. Benjamin Franklin was a famous American politician. In his latter days, he looked back on his life and summarized it, “First, although it was my life, it did not go the way I had planned.” The second and the third ones are important. “Second, it was the Almighty God who completely controlled my life.” Amen. “Third, I have been happy and successful in proportion to the amount of my obedience to Him.” He was saying that he was happy and successful in proportion to how much he obeyed the Lord. Hallelujah! I pray that your life will be like Benjamin Franklin’s. I pray that you will be happy and successful according to how much you obey God. When we obey the Lord, He will lead our lives. 2. Jonah encountered a storm (Jonah 1:4). When we disobey the will of God, however, we will encounter a storm. Second, I want to speak about Jonah’s encounter with a storm. Please repeat after me, “Jonah encountered a storm.” Jonah 1:4 says, “Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.” When we disobey God’s will and follow our own will, a storm will arise in our lives. Problems will take place. Suffering will come. The Scripture says that such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up because Jonah boarded a ship to Tarshish. When problems arise, when we encounter huge suffering and pain, it is time for us to repent of our sins and turn back to God. We must repent, come back to the Lord, restore our first love, and strengthen our faith. The suffering will turn out to bring us blessing and the grace of God in the end. Therefore, we must repent of our sins, breaking our ego and humbling ourselves. Then God will turn suffering into blessing. Romans 5:3-4 says, “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” What is suffering? It is God’s microphone through which we hear God’s voice loud enough when we have had a hard time hearing spiritually. He says, “Awake!” through this microphone. Sometimes we become spiritually deaf, unable to listen to the voice of the Lord. Then He speaks to us loudly through the microphone of suffering. According to the Bible, since Jonah disobeyed God, the ship he boarded was in trouble. Jonah 1:5 says, “All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.” We should not forget that it is not just you but also your family, your business, or your company that suffer from your disobedience. All the sailors on the ship suffered because of Jonah. They had to throw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. The ship was about to sink. Such suffering, however, does not come to us only when we sin or disobey. Sometimes suffering also comes when God wants to make us greater servants by disciplining us. God wants to make us into bigger servants and sends us to the school of suffering. What school is it? It is the school of suffering. There is no tuition or entrance exam to enter this school. Everybody is admitted unconditionally. Although we are freely admitted, it is very hard to graduate from this school. God called Abraham when he was 75 and begot Isaac when he was 100. He was trained in the school of suffering for 25 years, obeying God. He graduated from the school, but God reenrolled him in the school a second time. God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac to Him on a mountain in the region of Moriah. Isaac was almost grown up by then. God was telling Abraham to kill Isaac. Abraham obeyed God and took Isaac to the mountain. He was about to sacrifice him as a burnt offering. It was then that God raised Abraham as the father of faith saying, “Now I know that you fear God.” Abraham passed this second graduation exam. God always makes us go through suffering when He trains us. Joseph went to the school of suffering for 13 years. He finished all the courses of the school and became the prime minister of Egypt. All the great fathers of faith in the Bible were severely trained. Do not be afraid of suffering. Break your ego and humble yourself as you go through suffering so that you may be completely obedient and devoted to God. Jonah understood the storm had arisen because of him. Jonah 1:10 says, “This terrified them and they asked, ‘What have you done?’ (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.)” In verse 12, Jonah said, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea, and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.” Jonah acknowledged it was his fault that the storm had arisen. He told them to throw him into the sea. In repentance before God, he made up his mind to sacrifice himself in order to save other people. “Since it is my fault, throw me into the sea.” Jonah was broken after he encountered the storm. (Jonah is a homonym of ‘this me’ in Korean.) Jonah (this me) is always a problem. When Jonah (this me) is broken, all the problems will be resolved. The storms will be calmed. It is always Jonah (this me) which troubles us. While I was pastoring a church in the United States, I received a letter from a lady in Japan. The letter was stained with tears. She must have been crying bitterly when she was writing the letter. She had two sons. The older one was a model student and a student representative at his school. The second son, however, did not get along with his classmates, was always ignored, and was left out by them. One day he left home. The parents reported to the police station that he was missing and tried everything to find him but could not find him. They did not know whether he was alive or not. She was totally heartbroken. Her husband was a high executive officer at an airline company. Although he was a Christian, he was too busy to serve the Lord faithfully. Sometimes he had to have business meetings on Sundays and even skipped worship service. When his son left home, however, the father came to repentance. The family was holding revival meetings every day. The father, the mother, and the big brother were holding hands, praying, “Heavenly Father, bring the son back home. Bring him home.” Trusting the grace of the Spirit, they prayed in tears every day. God answered their prayers, and the second son came back home a few months later. The father’s faith grew as he passed through this suffering. Later, he became an elder in his church. A few weeks ago, I met them in a restaurant. They introduced a young man to me, saying, “This is my second son.” He was a tall, great young man, and I could not help giving thanks to God. When we cry out to the Lord in prayer in times of suffering, God will turn the suffering into blessing. A few days ago a lady came to me and told me her story in tears. She said, “I was so depressed because of my daughter. I thought, How can she be my child? She had given up going to college and told me not to bother her. She stayed home, not doing anything for several years. I even wished I could die with her. I could not bear to see her anymore.” I prayed for her, and while I was praying, God blessed me with His grace. I came to understand the heart of God. He is really patient. He bears with us. We cannot bear with our children and get upset, even wishing to die with them. However, God is patient with us. Even though we have hurt Him, sinning, living unrighteously, and going astray, God forgives us again and again. He bears with us again and again.” She learned the heart of our God. How wonderful it is! Suffering turns into blessing. After learning the heart of God, she left all things to Him. Then her daughter changed. She said she would study again. She took SAT exams and did well on the test. What a blessing it is! Let us give glory to God. Hallelujah! Let us leave all our cares to God. We cannot resolve any problems. When we leave all our cares to the Lord, He will bring the best solution to our problems. He will open doors. He will destroy the wall of Jericho. He will calm storms. I pray that you will trust the Lord in times of suffering. 3. Jonah was confined inside the fish (Jonah 1:17). Third, I would like to think about what happened when a fish swallowed Jonah. Please repeat after me, “Jonah was confined inside the fish.” When Jonah was thrown into the sea, a great fish swallowed him. Jonah 1:17 says, “But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.” Jonah was confined inside the fish three days and three nights. A great change occurred in Jonah during these three days. Abraham walked three days to the region of Moriah to sacrifice Isaac. It must have been hard for him to walk there knowing that he had to sacrifice his beloved son whom he got when he was 100. It would have been hard to sacrifice him instantly, but it must have been much harder for him to walk with Isaac for three days before sacrificing him. Let us think what an ordinary person would do. He would think, “How can God change his mind? How can he take my son away from me, especially when He gave me the son when I was 100? I cannot obey Him this time.” He would say to his wife, “Honey, God has told me to sacrifice Isaac.” Then his wife would say, “You must have dementia. You cannot take him, not even over my dead body.” They could not sacrifice their son. Then he would make excuses and say to God, “God, I was going to sacrifice my son, but Sarah would never let me. She was extremely hysterical, saying, ‘Over my dead body.’” Or he would cry throughout his entire journey to walk with Isaac. He could not take his eyes off his son who was handsome and healthy. Maybe he would say to his son, “My son, run away. You are going to be killed in two days.” Is there a son who would not run away in such a situation? Then he would say to God later, “God, my son was so fast that I could not catch him.” Abraham was different. He was a man of faith. Abraham was totally broken during the three days. He was totally crushed. After passing through this suffering, God acknowledged him and said, “Now I know you fear God.” Jesus was buried and resurrected on the third day. His death may have looked like the end. Despair may look like the end in our eyes. In God’s eyes, however, it is not the end. We should never forget that despair is the beginning of hope. Death is the beginning of a new life. Jonah cried before God inside the fish. Although it was his fault that he was swallowed by the fish, he had faith that God would deliver him and that God would receive glory from him. It is written in Jonah 2:2, "In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and You listened to my cry.” You listened to my cry! You listened to my cry! In times of suffering, let us cry out to the Lord. Let us stick to Him, saying, “Lord, have mercy on me and deliver me from this suffering.” Jeremiah 33:3 says, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Jonah was broken at the scene of suffering and restored his first love to God. Jonah 2:4 says, “I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’” I will look again toward Your holy temple! I will trust in You again! I will give glory, thanks, and praise to you again! I will have a new start again. I will dedicate my life to you. I pray that you will also have a new start of God’s grace and blessing. We must return to the point when we first believed. We must return to the time when we were deeply touched by God’s grace. Back then, we cried out to the Lord in worship services. We were so blessed by His grace that we cried when we sang hymns and listened to sermons. Touched by the messages, we kept saying “Amen,” as we received the Word. Sermons were never too long. We were filled with fervent love for the Lord. We prayed ardently at church. We were inspired by the Spirit and eager to preach the Gospel of the Lord to nonbelievers. We must return to this point. Let us not be onlookers who come to church out of habit. Let us become true worshippers who give thanks, praise, and worship to the Lord. I pray that you will serve the Lord with great joy, being filled with the Holy Spirit. 4. Jonah was given a second chance (Jonah 2:9). Fourth, I want to speak about Jonah’s second chance. Please repeat after me, “Jonah was given a second chance.” Jonah 2:9 says, “But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD.” He confessed that he wanted to sacrifice with thanksgiving, that he would fulfill his vows, and that salvation comes from the Lord. He was giving glory to God. When Jonah left all his cares to the Lord, giving glory to Him, God commanded the fish to vomit Jonah. The fish had swallowed something but it was hurting inside. Since Jonah was hitting the inner lining of its stomach with loud cries, the fish felt very uncomfortable. The fish swam around and vomited what had troubled its stomach. It was near Nineveh! When Jonah repented of his sin, God changed his destination from Tarshish to Nineveh. Jonah 2:10 says, “And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.” Then God spoke to Jonah a second time. The Scripture says in Jonah 3:1-2, “Then the Word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.’ Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city?a visit required three days.” The Word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time. God gave Jonah a second chance. This time, Jonah obeyed God’s Word and went to Nineveh. He disobeyed God before, was swallowed by a fish, and spent three days in despair. Since he repented of his sins and humbled himself, God gave him a second chance and led him to Nineveh. Jonah 3:3 says, “Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city?a visit required three days.” When Jonah obeyed God’s Word, went to Nineveh, and proclaimed God’s message, a wonderful work of revival took place. Jonah 3:4-5 says, “On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: ‘Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.’ The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.” According to the Scripture, every living thing, from the king, including all livestock fasted. Jonah 3:6-7 says, “When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: ‘By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink.’” Cry out to God, fasting, when a problem or suffering takes place. Pray, “Lord, help me! I am in trouble. I am in the middle of problems that I cannot resolve myself. Lord, help me!” God will perform a miracle when we cry out to the Lord in prayer. He will do a wonderful thing for us. In order to experience God’s miracle, we must obey Him. We must obey His word unconditionally, no matter what He says to us. If He tells us to go to the east, we should do it. God will not be pleased if we say, “I do not want to go there.” If God tells us to go, we must obey and go, even though it is hard. Then God will pour out His wonderful grace upon us. Susanna Wesley was the mother of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. Her husband was the pastor of a church in a poor coal mine village. She gave birth to nineteen children and raised thirteen. Since they were poor, they could not send their children to school. She herself provided homeschooling and taught her children. At 6:00 P.M. every evening, they had Bible study and prayer meeting. When her children began to walk, she took them to hospitals, nursing homes, and penitentiaries and showed them how to help their neighbors. She fasted a meal a week and taught her children how to pray out loud. After the hour of devotion, at 9:00 P.M. she asked the children to stand up and asked, “Children, who are you?” Then the children said, “We are great children.” “Who called you great?” “God called us great. God has made us great.” “Then what are you doing?” “We are creating new history.” “Who is telling you to do this?” “It is God who wants to use us greatly.” After this question and answer time, they said, “Amen,” and went to bed. Mrs. Suzanna Wesley spoke about her children’s education, saying, “We need to break their stubbornness. The sooner their stubbornness is broken, the better it is. Parents would be cruel if they are too kind to their children and let them do whatever they want. Such parents will cause their children to grow with bad habits. Such parents are doing the work of the devil, repealing their children’s Christian faith, making their salvation impossible, leading their souls and bodies into destruction.” People are apt to put their thoughts before their obedience to God’s will. However, as children of God, we must learn to obey God’s will first. That is why Mrs. Susanna Wesley taught her children to obey God completely. It is said that Korea is going through a crisis. However, from God’s point of view, it is a new opportunity. After the successful completion of the Summer Olympic Games in 1988, we have lost our zeal. We have settled down in comfort. We do not dedicate ourselves to prayer or preaching the Gospel as ardently as before. We do not care about our neighbors who are in need and pain. We do not love our families. We fail to imitate Jesus, hating one another. Now we have encountered a storm. This storm is a second chance that God is providing for us. It is time for us to rise up. We need to rise with prayer and thanksgiving. We need to be restored with our first love for God. When we pray to God with all our hearts, God will start a great revival in this land. He will calm the storm. He will bless us with unprecedented blessings by renewing our country through our prayers. Never forget that you are the core character for this great revival. Even if we may have disobeyed God and gone away from Him like Jonah did, when we repent and come back to the Lord, He will perform great wonders through us. Heavy storms will be calmed. God’s miracles will be performed. Great revival will come! Lord, please use us. Give us a second chance so that Korea will enjoy another revival through us. Make all economic problems and insecurity disappear. Convert many people to You through our dedication to You. Bring another revival to all Korean churches. The storm we are going through is our second chance. Let us repent of our sins, trust in the Lord, and obey His will. I pray that we, as God’s servants, will be greatly used by God like Jonah. Let us pray. Our Father of infinite love and grace, we give thanks to You for giving us a second chance. Just as Jonah repented of his sin and was used to bring a great revival after having encountered a storm and being swallowed by a fish, help us to repent of our sins. Use us greatly to bring a great revival to Korea, giving glory to You. Take our lives. Take our dedication. Giving thanks to You, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.