Sermon Tone Analysis

/Tonight I want to talk to you about the importance of making right turns.

/

            In 1938, a pilot by the name of Douglas Corrigan left Floyd Bennet Field in New York City to fly to Los Angeles, CA.

A dense fog had settled in at the runway, but he decided to take off anyway.

As he lifted off, he ended up taking a left turn instead of a right,  veering east instead of west.

He flew for 28 hours before he landed not in California, but in Dublin, Ireland.

Forever afterward he was known in aeronautical history as Wrong Way Corrigan.

[i]

            /I can sympathize with Mr. Corrigan, can’t you?

I’ve made a few wrong turns in my time.

I made one just the other day, missing the turn-off to my own home.

One of these days when the price comes down, I’ll probably get me one of those GPS devices to keep on the right road./

/            But sometimes a wrong turn can be a little more serious, especially if it’s not on a highway, but at a crossroads in your life.

Many a person comes to a fork of decision, and makes a wrong turn instead of a right turn.

They take the wrong road out of ignorance, or they turn the wrong way deliberately.

But either way, one thing is for certain: the consequences of one wrong turn can change your life forever.

/

/            The Bible is God’s roadmap for how to make right turns.

In His Word, God gives us directions so we can travel the straight and narrow road leading to life, instead of the broad way leading to death.

He promises us not only a map, but a Guide.

/

*Is 30:21* /Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left./

*Jn 16:13* /…when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth…/

/            At all of life’s intersections, we have God’s Word and God’s spirit to help us make the right turns.

I want us to travel down to an intersection tonight found in *Jonah 3*, where the Bible explains 3 right turns you and I can’t afford to miss.

Let’s begin with the first turn *in vs. 1-4*.

/

*PRAYER*

*            *Let’s call this *the right turn of obedience* (*v.

1-3a*)

            In the first 2 chapters of this book, Jonah takes some wrong turns and ends up in some serious trouble.

When God calls him to preach revival in Nineveh, he runs in the opposite direction.

When God sends a storm to chase him, he makes another wrong turn of stubbornness.

Finally, in the belly of the great fish, Jonah has a change of heart and decides to go God’s way.

But a change of heart is no good unless there is a change of behavior that goes with it.

As Jonah picks himself up off the sandy shore he reaches another fork in the road.

/…the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and preach to it the message that I tell you…/

/            /God gives Jonah a 2nd chance to make a right turn.

Can Jonah say /no /to God/ again/?

I’ve known people—you probably have to-- who promise God all kinds of things when they’re in a pinch, but when the storm passes, they go their own merry way.

God brings Jonah right back to the crossroad where he made his first wrong turn.

Now Jonah must decide to either obey or disobey.

Going to Nineveh isn’t going to be any easier this time than it was the first time.

Jonah still feels the same fear, worries over the same danger.

He still doesn’t want to go, but in spite of all his misgivings, he makes the right turn and obeys.

/What about us? /

/            No matter how long you’ve walked with the Lord, you still come to the same crossroad Jonah faced: obey or disobey.

Sometimes it’s not easy to make the right turn.

Like Jonah, obedience will cost us, maybe put us in some hard, dangerous spots.

God doesn’t always ask us to do what is easy, or pleasant, or even safe.

What He does call us to do is to make a right turn and choose the path of obedience.

In the end, that’s the only really safe choice.

/

/            /Ron Hutchcraft writes about a parenting technique he calls /the squeeze.

/

     It's also known as the “lousy choice” approach.

See, you give your child two choices, but one is so bad…he or she will choose the other one.

In our family it might have sounded something like this: “OK, look, you can do the yard work with my help before noon or [else you do it all] by yourself sometime before Friday.”…Or,

“Either you set your own study hours, or I'll set them.

You choose.”

It's amazing how the “squeeze” [can lead] a child to…where he really ought to be.

            /God uses this method with His kids.

When we come to a fork in the road between obedience and disobedience, He encourages us to make the right turn of obedience.

Moses expresses God’s heart for all of His people when he said/

*Dt 30:19* /…I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;/

/            You can always choose which way you want to go---you can take the right road of obedience, or the wrong road of disobedience.

However, you cannot choose where the road takes you.

Obedience leads to life; disobedience leads to death.

Like Jonah, God will get your attention, warn you of the danger, urge you to take the right road.

But in the end, you must choose to make a right turn of obedience.

Which road do you take?

/

/            /Let’s call the 2nd turn  *the right turn of repentance (v.

3b-9)*

/            /The people God calls Jonah to preach revival to are some rough customers.

One scholar describes Assyria as an “…the symbol of terror and tyranny in the Near East for more than three centuries.

“[ii] Assyria is known for its depravity and violence, both toward their enemies and even toward each other.

They are fierce, merciless warriors who wipe out whole towns and villages of innocent people—including many Israelite cities.

They are pagan idolaters whose worship is full of superstition, blood, and immorality.

It is into this cesspool of sin Jonah comes preaching God’s message: /Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown!

/Jonah walks through the market places and squares, through the alleys and thoroughfares, preaching and proclaiming God’s judgment.

What kind of response do you suppose he expects from such people?

Probably not the response he actually gets.

A revival breaks out.

*Vs.

5* tells us it begins with the common folks, who /believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the least to the greatest of them…/Wearing sackcloth and going without food were signs of grief, in this case sorrow that produces repentance.

*V.

6* says the revival spreads to the king, who calls his entire nation to fasting and humility.

For 40 days everybody from the king on the throne to the animals in the stall goes hungry, as they hold to the hope expressed in *vs.

9*.

Where does this king and these people get the idea that God might spare them?

Jonah certainly doesn’t offer them much hope.

The key to understanding God’s message to Nineveh is in the Hebrew word /hapak /translated into English as /overthrown /in *vs.

4*.

This is one of those words that can be used in more than one way.

(In English you can use the word /hide /to talk about putting something out of sight, or you can use /hide /to talk about an animal skin.)

/Hapak /can mean /turn over=destroy /or it can mean /turn around= bring to repentance.

*[iii]*/ / /God’s message to them can be understood 2 ways:

            /In forty days, this city will be overthrown= this city will be destroyed.

/

/            In forty days this city will overthrow itself= this city will repent.

*[iv]*/

*            *That clears up a lot, doesn’t it?

When the Ninevites hear Jonah’s message, they don’t just hear bad news (in 40 days you’re toast) but the good news (you have 40 days to get right with God).

God’s Word prompts these folks to make a right turn and truly repent.

/What about us? /

/            Repentance is one of the most important aspects of your relationship with God.

He will never change His mind, but He will often call you to change your mind.

/

/            You begin your life in Christ with repentance from sin---turning from sin and self to Christ as Savior and Lord.

Repentance is absolutely essential before a person can be born again.