The Obstacles to Personal Revival

Terry Turner

Jonah • Sermon • Submitted 6 months ago • Presented 6 months ago

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With that all being said let’s jump into todays message.

If you are new to our church today, it would be helpful for you to know that we practice a form of preaching called “Expository Preaching”.

What that means, is we believe the Bible is best taught by taking books of the Bible and then breaking them down from beginning to end, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. Our goal, to better understand not only what God’s Word says, but what it means in our lives today.

That being said, if you’re new to our church, we are currently walking through the OT book of Jonah.

And so if you haven’t been with us, I would encourage you to go online to Youtube or any Podcast service where you can watch or listen to messages leading up to today.

Last week we learned that the Ninevites have repented and a revival has swept through the city. We learned the 5 pillars for revival.

I want to explain what I mean when I say revival. I believe revival is when a person or group of people are awakening to their need for God, their need for repentance, and turn from their sin.

Often times revival is considered a set of services where people get excited.......

This is not what I am praying for in our church. I am praying for an awakening to our need for God, our need for repentance, and a turning from our sin.

We learned last week, when people are willing to do that, it can become a catalyst for revival, not only for a person, but for a city, and even a nation. Which is exactly what we need in our nation today.

Unfortunately, not everybody sees revival as something positive. Which is what I want to talk with you about today.

Because as wonderful as revival is, it’s not always well recieved and it doesn’t always happen in everybody.

The question then is, why?

Well for some, it doesn’t happen because they refuse to listen to God’s warning and repent.

Jesus talks about people like this in a teaching called the “Parable of the Sower”.

Matthew 13:1–9 ESV

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”

It shouldn’t surprise us when some people reject a move of God.

What’s concerning though is when the people who should be rejoicing when revival comes are complaining.

People who know the truth, and claim to have recieved the truth. People who have put their faith in Jesus, and claim to be Christians.

But people who when revival starts to take place become disgruntled and critical in their hearts.

And for me, that’s concerning.

That said, what I want to talk with you about today isn’t what keeps revival from taking place in a non-Christian, but what could keep revival from taking place in a Christian.

Because the fact is, as Christians it’s easy to grow complacent in our faith, lose sight of what our mission and purpose is, and become ineffective. And as a result, sometimes we need revival as well.

Once again Jonah is going to teach us a valuable lesson when it comes to protecting ourselves from missing God.

What we will see today is that although revival has spread throughout Nineveh and the hearts of the Ninevites it has failed to spread into Jonah’s heart.

Let’s get to today’s passage

Jonah 3:10 ESV

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Jonah 4:1 ESV

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.

The writer says as the people of Nineveh repented, Jonah became exceedingly angry. The idea being, that he is wreathing at what is happening in Nineveh. He is beyond ticked off. He is fuming with anger. He has steam coming out of his ears.

I don’t know about you, but that seems like the opposite reaction you would expect from a prophet of God.

I mean think about it. Imagine if you brought somebody to church today that didn’t know Jesus. Somebody whose life was a wreck. A life full of abuse, divorce, sexual immorality, you name it. They’re a mess.

But then through the preaching of the Word, they decide to put their faith in Jesus and God does a miraculous work in their life.

And so after church you excitedly come running up to me and say, “Pastor, pastor, you’re not going to believe it. But I brought my friend to church today, and as you preached, the Holy Spirit moved on them, and they decided to turn their life over to Jesus and make Him Lord of their life! Pastor, it’s a miracle! Isn’t that awesome?!”

But instead of getting excited about it, I get angry.

But not just angry, exceedingly angry. I mean I chuck my iPad across the room. I grab a chair and chuck it up on the stage. I start shouting and screaming, “Are you kidding me! They put their faith in Jesus. Seriously!”

Let me ask you something, “Would that seem odd to you?”

Yeah, I would hope it would. Because that’s not normal. That’s not the normal response a pastor, let alone any Christian should have when somebody that’s been lost puts their faith in Jesus.

So, what’s going on with Jonah? Why is he so angry?

Well, the writer actually tells us what Jonah’s problem is. And it is actually quite disturbing. Check this out:

Jonah 4:2–3 ESV

And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

He’s upset because the people of Nineveh repented and God forgave them.

In fact, he basically says, “See, I told you so God. I knew this is what would happen. I knew it. I knew if those no good Ninevites repented that you would forgive them. So, you know what God, just kill me now. Because I would rather die than watch this fiasco take place.”

That doesn’t sound like a heart of a Christian, does it? Because it’s not.

And as a result, while revival is happening in the hearts of the Ninevites, resentment is building in the heart of Jonah.

So, what’s going? What’s wrong with Jonah?

Based on the text, we are going to learn four obstacles for revival that are keeping Jonah from experiencing revival, two of which we are going to look at today, and the final two next week.

The first reason Jonah is struggling to celebrate this revival.

1. Jonah’s Faith is a Selfish Faith

We see this in Jonah’s prayer to God as he prays following the revival in Nineveh. Look at it again:

Jonah 4:2–3 ESV

Notice how many times Jonah uses the words I, my, me in this passage.

This isn’t Jonah asking for his needs to be met this is Jonah getting angry because he didn’t get what he wanted from God.

So, what did he want? He wanted God to act according to his desires.

His desires were for the Ninevites to be judged and killed. He wanted God to take them out?

Why did he want that?

Well, as we learned in the beginning of this series, the Ninevites were part of the Assyrian Empire, a nation that had been exceptionally cruel to the Israelites.

And so based on Jonah’s experience with this nation and the atrocities they had committed against his people, he wanted them to get what was coming to them.

It’s not different than how we act towards people we think deserve judgment.

• People who have come against us.

• People who have hurt us.

• People who we now consider less then us and deserving of judgment.

• People we even consider more sinful than us.

• People who if we were God, we would smite them.

Why would we do that? How about this. Because it’s easier to assume God is with “us” more than he is with our foes.

Let me say that again. “It’s easier to assume God is with “us” more than He is with our “foes”.

You see the natural tendency is to presume God could never be on the side of those we consider enemies.

Those who are Ninevites.

• That God wouldn’t want the person you despise to be saved. • That God wouldn’t want the person you consider to be a terrible person to be shown grace.

Which why it’s so easy for Christians to say things like: • “I’m praying that God will judge those abortionist.” •“I’m praying God will smite the LGTBQ community.” • I’m praying that God will take Hollywood out” • “I’m praying God will eliminate those liberal fanatics”

That’s where Jonah is at. That’s what he wanted. He doesn’t want grace, he wants judgment. And he wants it bad.

Attached to that is what I would call a:

Jealous Resentment.

This is based on the fact that while the Ninevites were a wicked people, the Israelites hadn’t been much better in their faithlessness towards God. And as a prophet of God, Jonah wanted the people of Israel to be faithful to God. And so what a lot of theologians believe, is that as Jonah watches the Ninevites repent and get on their faces before God, deep down this is what he wants to see in Israel as well. But it’s not happening in Israel. And so instead of creating joy in his heart, it creates resentment and bitterness. It’s like when you’ve been hoping something happens in your life, but instead it happens for someone else.

• You were praying for the promotion, but somebody else got it.

• You were praying for the new car, but somebody else is driving it.

• You were praying your kids to got the award, but somebody else’s kid got it.

• You were praying for the opportunity, but somebody else got it.

You wanted your prayer answered, but somebody else’s was answered instead.

And so instead of being happy for them, you’ve become resentful towards them. You’ve become envious and jealous of the favor that’s been shown to them and not you.

Again, this is where Jonah is at. Why? Because his faith is a selfish faith. It’s all about him and his people.

And because it’s happening now for somebody else instead of him, somebody he considers an enemy and undeserving, he’s now jealous, angry, and resentful.

And all that combined is not the heart of a Christian. Because Jesus didn’t die just for the people we think deserve to be saved. And He didn’t die so we could always get what we wanted.

He died so that all could be saved. The Apostle Paul writes:

Romans 5:6–8 ESV

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Hear me this morning. If you’re mentality is that salvation is for somebody like you and not for somebody like them, then I’m not sure you truly understand who God is and what His desire is.

Which is why you may be struggling for revival to take place in you. Why instead of being full of joy, you’re full of criticism. Full of resentment.

That like Jonah you are lost in selfish desire and hatred.

Bobby Culwell and Muslims.................

And that is not who God is. Which leads us to the second reason Jonah is not experiencing revival in his heart. Because not only is his faith selfish:

2. Jonah’s faith is a shortsighted faith.

We see this as cognitively Jonah knows who God is, but obviously it’s not playing out in his actions towards others. Which means while it’s in his head, it’s not in his heart.

Jonah 4:2 ESV

In this passage Jonah gives us an amazing description of who God is. And what we need to understand is that this isn’t a description that Jonah made up or just pulled out of the air.

Because the description of God that Jonah gives us is recorded as well in Exodus 34 and is given by God Himself about Himself.

And it’s given by God to Moses as Moses finishes up the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 34:4–7 ESV

So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

First, Jonah says He is a “gracious” God.

The Hebrew word translated gracious here is “hannun” and communicates the attitude of the Lord toward those who are undeserving, thereby expressing benevolence in the ultimate sense.

Second, Jonah says He is a “Merciful” God.

The Hebrew word here is “rahum” and expresses the understanding and loving compassion of a mother to her child.

So, I want you to think about that for a second. What kind of loving compassion and mercy does a mother show to her child?

Third, Jonah says that God is “Slow to Anger”

This phrase is translated from the Hebrew phrase “erek appayim”.

He is a God with a Long Nose.......

Which means, He’s not a God who smites people on the first offense. Instead, He’s a God who gives people time to discover the truth.

A God who desires all to be saved. The Apostle Paul writes:

1 Timothy 2:3–4 ESV

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Fourth, Jonah says God is “abounding in love”

This phrase is translated from the Hebrew word “rab hesed”.

This word refers to the covenant love of God and expresses itself in redemption of sin.

In other words, it’s the love that God demonstrated to us by sending His Son to die for us.

It’s a love that encompasses all the qualities of kindness, loyalty, and unfailing love.

To be honest, there is no term in the English langauge that adequately and accurately expresses the meaning of hesed. It’s a love that goes beyond our ability to love.

This then leads to one final word. Because along with being gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in love,

Finally, Jonah tells us “God is a God who relents from disaster.”

The Hebrew word here is “niham”.

The idea is that He is a God who will pull back judgment when repentance takes place. Which is clearly what we see Him doing with the city of Nineveh. Remember, we read last week:

Jonah 3:10 ESV

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

He is a God who relents from disaster.

And what’s interesting about this, is that Jonah knows this about God, and yet he’s still angry. Why?

Because he’s shortsighted. Shortsighted in two significant ways:

First, shortsighted because he thinks he’s better than the Ninevites........

Second, shortsighted in that he’s forgotten the same God that forgave the Ninevites is the same God that forgave him.........

The same God that pulled him out of the belly of a whale when what he really deserved was to rot and die in that belly.

But all of a sudden, Jonah has forgotten that. Why has he forgotten it?

Reason #1 - He’s a self righteous religious person that’s oblivious to his own hypocritical nature.

In other words, Jonah is blind to his own shortcomings.

I hate to say it, but there are a lot of Christians like this in the church today.

Christians who love God and desire to lift Jesus up, but they’ve become shortsighted in their faith.

Shortsighted in that they forget they are still a work in progress. Shortsighted in forgetting hat they don’t have it all together.

Shortsighted in forgetting they used to be just like the people they hate, and yet, God saved them.

In Ephesians 5 the Apostle Paul writes:

Ephesians 5:8 (ESV)

for at one time you were darkness.......

1 Corinthians 6:11 ESV

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

In other words, when you were at your worst and far from God, God extended his gracious, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in love and relenting from disaster grace to you.

But you’ve forgotten that. You’ve forgotten that the God who saved you and continues to forgive and save you is the same God that wants to save the person you now look down on.

So, maybe that’s Jonah’s problem. Or, it could be:

Reason #2 - Jonah knows about who God is, but Jonah has never known God.

This is actually the scariest version of what Jonah’s problem might be.

The idea that maybe Jonah is just a prophet in name only. In other words, he’s not really saved.

Matthew 7:15–20 ESV

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

In other words, people who talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.

Unfortunately, I know some Christians like that. Christians who claim to be Christians, but nothing about their nature, attitude, or behavior would say they are.

People who proclaim the love of God, but don’t extend love to others.

• People who proclaim forgiveness, but don’t extend forgiveness to others.

• People who proclaim grace, but never extend grace to others.

• People who proclaim generosity, but never extend generosity to others.

People like Jonah who can tell you a lot about who Jesus is, but don’t look anything like Him.

Which makes me wonder, are they really Christians, or is it just a name they have attached to themselves.

Jesus actually tells us what He thinks about and what will happen to people like this. Check this out:

Matthew 7:21–23 ESV

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

I sure hope that’s not the case for Jonah, but it makes you wonder how somebody could know how amazing God is but they act like they’ve never experienced it themselves.

The bottom line is this, Jonah is shortsighted. He’s lost sight of who God is and what He truly offers.

Now, some might say, “Ok, Pastor, let me get this straight. Are you saying that when it comes to the ungodly, that we need to just be willing to love them, accept them, and overlook their sin?”

Yes and No. Yes, love them and accept them. But no, don’t excuse or condone the sin.

Because while God is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in love, and one who will relent from destruction, He is also a God who will not ultimately put up with sin.

Because while Jonah doesn’t finish the full quote from Exodus 34, there is more to the verse. Let’s take a look:

Exodus 34:6–7 ESV

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Notice the last part of verse 7. That while God is this amazing God of love, He is not a God who will show mercy to the guilty.

In other words, if people are unwilling to repent, unwilling to turn from sin, then there will be judgment and there will be disaster in their lives.

Here’s what we need to understand, there are two sides to the coin of who God is.

One side is His amazing love, and the other is His righteous requirements.

But what happens is that not everybody wants to acknowledge both sides.

For the world, they only want to acknowledge the love side of God.

And that’s exactly what you here them talking about. How God is a God of love and he wants us to be happy.

But they ignore the other side of the coin. They ignore that he is a righteous God who will not tolerate sin.

For the the religious person, they only want to acknowledge the righteous requirements side of the coin, which then keeps them from loving people the way God has called us to love them. Because all they want to do is judge and condemn that person.

That’s the side Jonah is focused on. He wants the righteous judgment of God to come down on the Ninevites. He doesn’t care or even want to acknowledge the other side of the coin.

Which is why we need to be aware of both sides and do everything we can to operate in both as we display the love of God to others while at the same time pointing them to God’s righteous requirements.

And to be honest, that’s hard to do. That’s why we need the Holy Spirit to help us. Because the world wants to focus on the love and the religious person wants to focus on the law.

And as a result, you will find yourself hated at times by both. Hated by the world because you won’t embrace and accept their sin, and hated by some in the church because you want to show love to people they hate.

And Jesus said that’s exactly what would happen, because it happened to Him.

He was hated by the religious Jews because He loved the unlovable, and He was hated by the world as the Roman pagans nailed Him to a cross.

But what’s amazing is in the middle of that dichotomy is where revival is found. Where salvation is found.

Jonah should have been ecstatic about the revival in Nineveh. But instead, he was angry and resentful. And as result, while revival was alive in the heart of others, it was as he now declares to God:

Jonah 4:3 ESV

Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

Jonah isn’t just angry, he’s discouraged, and depressed by the salvation of the Ninevites, to the point he just wants to die.

Wow.

This is a disturbing verse because while it indicates Jonah had become obedient, he still lacked a spirit of submission as he stands in direct opposition to God’s revealed will hoping the Ninevites would die.

No wonder revival is dead in him.

But the story isn’t over, because there’s more going on in Jonah’s heart for us to discuss, which we will to next time, but for now, I think we have enough to consider.

That said, as we close, I’d like you to consider three questions concerning when it comes to revival taking place in your heart.

Question #1 - What is keeping you from experiencing personal revival?

Maybe you’re here today, and the truth is, you are struggling to find any excitement for God.

In fact, maybe your even a little ticked off.

Ticked off that God has blessed others, but not you.

Ticked off that people you consider less deserving seem to be in a better place than you.

Ticked off because God hasn’t fulfilled your personal desires over the needs of others.

Maybe like Jonah you have anger, bitterness, and resentment in your heart as you look at the world around you and scowl.

If that’s you, can I challenge you to consider, that maybe the problem isn’t God or others, but maybe the problem is you.

And that the reason you feel this way is because what you need is some revival in your heart.

Revival that can only come by embracing who God really is, instead of trying to make Him into what you want him to be.

And what He is is a God who loves you and wants to have a relationship with you.

But that’s only going to happen if you stop looking at your life and the world in anger, and start looking at a God who loves you.

And in looking at Him, do exactly what the Ninevites did. Repent. Repent for not trusting. Repent for not believing. Repent for getting angry. Repent for blaming. Repent, and allow the God who is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in love, and who relents from disaster to pour His love out upon you.

The Apostle Paul writes:

Ephesians 4:31–32 ESV

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Question #2 - When it comes to God, what side of the coin do you tend to favor?

This is an important question, because if you favor one side over the other, you may miss out on entirely who God is. And in missing out on who He is, you’ll miss out on what He wants to do in you and what He wants to do through you.

Jonah was missing out. Missing out on what God wanted to do in Him, and missing out on the miracle that had taken place in front of Him.

And instead of being joyous, he’s miserable. Instead of revival filling his heart, his heart is full of resentment.

And the same can so easily happen to us.

Listen, I know it’s hard to love people who you consider to be the enemy. But the fact is, God loves them and He wants them to be saved. And like it or not, He may want to use you to do that.

Which means, you have a choice. You can either allow the love of God to flow through you, or you can watch as it flows through others.

Because that’s what’s going to happen if you keep hating people God wants to save. Because if God wants them to be saved, they’re going to be saved despite you.

So, you can either be a part and rejoice with heaven when they are saved, or you can sit on the sideline and pout like Jonah.

I don’t know about you, but as hard as it is, I want to be a part of what God is doing. I want to show people both sides of the coin. I want to love people where they are at, but not leave them where they are at. I want to lead them to a savior. A savior that can transform their life.

That’s where joy is found. That’s where revival takes place, not only in them, but in you as well.