AVBC - Sunday - 04/19/26 - Sermon Title: “The Diagnosis (Admitting Failure)” – “The Anatomy of a Second Chance” Sermon Series (Part 1 of 4) - Book of Jonah 1-2

 Sunday 04/19/26 – Adams Village Baptist Church

Sermon Title: “The Diagnosis (Admitting Failure)” – “The Anatomy of a Second Chance” Sermon Series (Part 1 of 4) - Book of Jonah 1-2                            

(Cover Picture)

           I have a question for us all to consider this morning. The question is this, have we ever failed at something? I could have been a test or a quiz in school that you failed. It could be something new that you tried, like a sport or a hobby. It could be a variety of things that you tried, and you failed at. Who here has ever failed at something before?

          Some people might think that failure under any circumstances is bad, but sometimes when we fail, we grow stronger, wiser, and more prepared than ever before. For example, who here knows who invented the light bulb? The answer is, Thomas Edison. Do you know though that Thomas Edison failed over and over to make his light bulb invention work. Here is what Thomas Edison said about creating the light bulb:

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work” (https://www.thomasedison.org/edison-quotes).

(Thomas Edison - Picture)

          When Thomas Edison was creating the “Light Bulb” he failed over and over again. How many times? Well according to him, 10,000 times. Thomas Edison was also quoted as saying this:

“Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up” (https://www.thomasedison.org/edison-quotes).

 

          In recent years, more and more churches in the United States are shrinking and closing, but the question is do they have too? If we try something and it does not work, then we keep trying over and over. Churches can grow because we are one of them. Amen!

(Cover Picture)

          All of us have failed. It is simply a matter of how many times we have failed, and in how many ways we have failed. With all of this said, I am starting a new four-week sermon series this morning called “The Anatomy of a Second Chance.” This is a sermon series that I found the framework of, and I recreated it for us, it has a medical and surgery sort of theme. Today’s message is called “The Diagnosis (Admitting Failure)” and then the next three weeks will be called “The Operation (Repentance and Forgiveness),” “The Recovery (Living in Grace),” and finally “The Rehabilitation (Extending Grace to Others).” So, this four-week sermon series, “The Anatomy of a Second Chance” is about how we all fail, are called to repent and forgive, to live in grace, and to extend grace to others.

          This morning in this first sermon in this “The Anatomoy of a Second Chance” sermon series, in our first message, called, once again, “The Diagnosis (Admitting Failure),” reminds us that when we get a diagnosis from a doctor, and if it is true, we must do something about it. Given this, this morning, I want to talk about Jonah. Many of have heard the story about “Jonah and the Whale,” or more biblically accurate, “Jonah and the Fish.” The Book of Jonah only has four chapters, and this morning we read two of them. The good news is that Jonah will be forgiven after failing.  

(Jonah 1:2 Scripture - Picture)

          In looking at our scripture reading for this morning from the Book of Jonah or the Prophet Jonah 1-2, God speaks to Jonah and asks Jonah to serve Him in a specific way. Jonah 1:1-2, says, once again:

Jonah Tries to Run Away from God

 

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, ² ‘Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me’ (Jonah 1:1-2, NRSV).

 

          So, the Old Testament Prophet Jonah, is spoken to by God. God has selected and called Jonah for a mission. How does Jonah respond to God telling him to go to the great city of Nineveh and cry out against there wickedness? Well, Jonah of course, runs away. Picking up in Jonah 1:3 it says:

(Jonah Fleeing God - Picture)

³ But Jonah set out 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 his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord (Jonah 1:3, NRSV).

 

When Jonah flees or runs away from God, he is believed to been in his hometown of “Gath-Hepher,” which is near present day Nazareth or Galilee. This is the area where Jesus grew up and started His Earthly ministry. From “Gath-Hepher,” which is around present-day Nazareth of Galilee, Jonah flees Joppa, which in modern day Jaffa/Tel Aviv area in what is today the country of Israel. This journey where Jonah flees God is about 60-miles.

          Jonah pays for passage on a ship going to “Tarshish,” which is present day Southern Spain, although there is some academic dispute over this.

(Jonah Map - Picture)

So, God tells Jonah to go to the city in Ninevah, which is in the modern-day country of Iraq, specifically the city of Mosul on Tigris River. God tells Jonah to preach and lead them all to repent of their wicked ways and turn back to God. In response to this call from God, Jonah, once again, flees from what is today Nazareth or Galilee in modern day Israel, about sixty miles away in what is today Jaffa/Tel Aviv in modern day Israel. Jonah then found a ship in Joppa, which, once again, is today Jaffa/Tel Aviv in modern day Israel. He then heads with all these men to Tarshish or Southern Spain.

(Jonah Flees - Picture)

          Picking up in Jonah 1:4, we hear this, once again:

 

⁴ But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a mighty storm came upon the sea that the ship threatened to break up. ⁵ Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold of the ship and had lain down, and was fast asleep. ⁶ The captain came and said to him, ‘What are you doing sound asleep? Get up, call on your god! Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we do not perish.’ ⁷ The sailors said to one another, ‘Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know on whose account this calamity has come upon us.’ So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. ⁸ Then they said to him, ‘Tell us why this calamity has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?’ ⁹ ‘I am a Hebrew,’ he replied. ‘I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.’ ¹⁰ Then the men were even more afraid, and said to him, ‘What is this that you have done!’ For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them so. ¹¹ Then they said to him, ‘What shall we do to you, that the sea may quieten down for us?’ For the sea was growing more and more tempestuous. ¹² He said to them, ‘Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quieten down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you.’ ¹³ Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to bring the ship back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them. ¹⁴ Then they cried out to the Lord, ‘Please, O Lord, we pray, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life. Do not make us guilty of innocent blood; for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.’ ¹⁵ So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging. ¹⁶ Then the men feared the Lord even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

(Jonah Storm - Picture)

          So, this violent storm comes, and the men on the ship are scared and doing all they can to keep the ship from sinking. They threw cargo overboard to try to lighten the ship, as Jonah was asleep in the hold of the ship. Jonah is awoken and asked to call upon his God to save them. The sailors then cast lots to figure out which of them has caused this great storm, and they settle on Jonah. Jonah told them that he is a Hebrew and that worships the Lord, the God heaven. This made the sailors even more scared, and they said to Jonah ‘What is this that you have done!’ These sailors now know that Jonah has offended God, and that Jonah was fleeing from God.

They then asked Jonah what they should do, and Jonah told them to throw him overboard off the ship. The sailors tried to row to shore, but storm was just too strong. They cried out to the Lord that Jonah would die and or be punished on account of them throwing him overboard. Then we hear in Jonah 1:15-17, once again, this:  

¹⁵ So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging. ¹⁶ Then the men feared the Lord even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. ¹⁷But the Lord provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights (Jonah 1:15-17, NRSV).

Our cover picture for this morning then is when the sailors overboard throw Jonah, and a large fish swallows him for three days.

(Jonah 2:2 - Picture)

          Picking up starting in Jonah 2:1, it says, once again:

A Psalm of Thanksgiving

 

2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, ² saying,

‘I called to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. ³ You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows passed over me. ⁴ Then I said, “I am driven away from your sight; how shall I look again upon your holy temple?”
⁵ The waters closed in over me; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped around my head ⁶ at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land
    whose bars closed upon me for ever; yet you brought up my life from the Pit, O Lord my God. ⁷ As my life was ebbing away, I remembered the Lord;
and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. ⁸ Those who worship vain idols forsake their true loyalty. ⁹ But I with the voice of thanksgiving
    will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the Lord!’ ¹⁰ Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land. 

(Fish Spewing Jonah - Picture)

          In the story, Jonah, in the belly of the fish calls out to God. Jonah realizes that he failed. In praying and crying out to God, he admitted his failure. “The Diagnosis” of running from God, and “Admitting Failure” to God. God hears Jonah, forgives him, and after three days later the large fish spewed Jonah out on the dry land.

          Jonah, after failing, heeds God second call from him to go to the city of Ninevah to call them turn from wickedness and repent. Everyone from the King down to lowest servant and slave put on sackcloth and ashes, and repented. This is the biggest and more prominent city in the Bible that ever repented.

(Cover Picture) 

          So, Thomas Edison, according to him, failed to make a successful lightbulb in his first ten thousand tries. To him, once again, he did not fail, instead he just found ten-thousand ways that will not work. Jonah fails God and flees from God, and yet when Jonah repents and calls upon God, God forgives him and restores him. This morning in this first week of this four-week sermon series called “The Anatomy of a Second Chance,” we are talking about “The Diagnosis (Admitting Failure)” How many of us have failed? How many of us eventually succeeded? How many of realize that there is nothing that we can do that Jesus will not forgive us for? You see, as we have been talking about, we all have failed in different ways, and in different times. Are we all that different from Jonah? Do we also realize that God will always forgive us but that we need to come to God repent and ask for forgiveness. When we do, we will have it, and we probably will not have to spend three days in a large fish either!

          In trying to make this sermon “The Diagnosis (Admitting Failure)” be a sermon that can walk out the door with us this morning, let us go over some application points to what we are discussing this morning. Here they are:

In Jonah 1-2, the prophet Jonah flees from God’s command to preach against Nineveh, causing a storm. Sailors throw him overboard, and he is swallowed by a great fish. After three days, Jonah prays, repents, and is vomited onto dry land by the fish, ultimately declaring, "Salvation is of the Lord". 

Key Events in Jonah 1-2

·       The Call and Flight (1:1-3): God commands Jonah to go to Nineveh, but Jonah flees toward Tarshish to escape the presence of the Lord.

·       The Storm and Consequence (1:4-16): A great storm leads to Jonah confessing his disobedience to the sailors. He is thrown into the sea, which immediately causes the storm to calm.

·       The Fish and Repentance (1:17, 2:1-10): A great fish swallows Jonah. From the fish's belly, Jonah prays to God, acknowledging God’s mercy, repenting, and promising to fulfill his vows.

·       Release (2:10): God speaks to the fish, which then vomits Jonah onto dry land. 

Key Themes

·       God's Sovereignty: God controls the storm and the fish to achieve His purposes.

·       Disobedience and Repentance: Jonah's attempt to flee results in intense spiritual reflection and eventual submission in the fish's belly.

·       Mercy: Even in judgment, God provides a way to save Jonah from death. 

Brothers and sisters, we have all failed before, but the God of the universe will never fail us. Jesus will never give up on us and will never stop loving us. Let us turn to Christ, and live! Amen.