Spencer Plumlee, Senior Pastor at Christ Fellowship Church, Mansfield, preached from Jonah in SWBTS Chapel on October 14, 2025.
The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
Well, it’s an honor and a joy to be with you this morning to open God’s Word together. Thank you, Dr Dockery, for the gracious invitation. Southwestern holds a very special place in my heart and my wife’s heart. We met here at this institution, and love being back on campus with you, one of the greatest dangers in your life as a follower of Jesus is a small view of God. To see God as small, ineffectual, weak, disconnected or aloof is dangerous for your soul. It’s an inevitable part of living in this world with our sin and brokenness around us, it’s easy for God to feel distance or to seem small to us. This is reinforced by culture that tells us our greatest need is to believe in ourselves, to trust ourselves, to follow our hearts. But what I want to submit to you this morning is that your greatest need in your life is that a bigger view of you.
Your greatest need in your life is a bigger view of God, the book of Jonah gives us that view, that vision, as it confronts idolatry, counterfeit notions about who God is, and any small view of God we would hold up to the truth Jonah is unique in the Minor Prophets as it’s filled with one ironic Turn after another, an ironic assignment is God tells Jonah to go to his enemies and preach the truth. An ironic response is Jonah tries to flee and disobey God. And finally, an ironic result, as the people of Nineveh repent and Jonah remains angry, the reason I want you to listen this morning is simply this, I believe there’s a connection between your vision of God and your longevity in ministry.
Show me the size of your God, and I’ll show you the distance you’re going to persevere in service of that God, Mr. President, I’m 43, years old, and if by God’s grace, He allows me to serve his church into my 70s, I’m almost halfway there. What I’ve found in decades of serving the Lord is what gets me through day in and day out as a pastor is not the skills that I learned here, though they have been invaluable. What gets me through day to day as a pastor is not the friendships I’ve made here, though, they are a treasure to me. The most important thing that gets me through ministry day in and day out, is the trust in the God of the Bible, the true God, not a counterfeit God, not a small God, but the God of the scriptures.
And so what I want to challenge you to this morning is simply this, and if you’re taking notes or typing notes, I’d like you to follow along with me here and write this down. I want to challenge you this morning to rely on a big vision of God, to empower perseverance for God. I want to challenge you this morning Southwestern to rely on a big vision of God to empower perseverance and longevity. For God, I believe there are two keys Jonah. The Book of Jonah is going to show us that are critical to you and I trusting and relying on this big God and persevering for decades and decades to come in ministry number one, I want to show you in this passage, in chapters one and two, the greatness of God. First thing I want to draw your attention to in the book of Jonah is the greatness of God. Look at with me there in your Bibles, in verses one through three, the word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amati, get up, go to that great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because their evil has come up before me. Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the Lord’s presence.
He went down to Joppa and find a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the Lord’s presence, the holiness of God moves the mission of God here in this text, Nineveh sinned like Sodom and Gomorrah before it arise to the Lord. And rather than destroying it, he sends Jonah to preach against it, Jonah is to go and tell them of the wrath and the justice of God that is coming if they do not repent. But instead of Jonah going in response to the holiness of God, he disobeys, he attempts to go in the exact opposite direction. And what we see in Jonah’s sinful disobedience is not just a rejection of God, but a replacement of God. Jonah does not want to trust God’s wisdom, God’s power, God’s sovereignty.
He wants to trust his wisdom, His power. Every time you sin, brothers and sisters, you are. Not just rejecting God’s authority in your life, you are replacing it. We replace God’s authority in our lives because at its core, we don’t believe God knows what’s best for us. The reason you sin, the reason I sin, is because in those moments, we’re not really sure we can trust God with our obedience. So we see happening in Jonah’s life. That phrase Jonah went down. I emphasize it as I read because it’s a rhetorical device, emphasizing that Jonah’s sin is taking him further and further down into a hardening and an unrepentance in his life. We see that kind of hardening in Jonah’s life as we see a contrast between Jonah and the sailors as we see God’s great holiness move Jonah, though he disobeys.
We also see great power from God as he’s going to hurl this storm. But the storm really serves as a backdrop to see how different Jonah’s response is to the sailors. Notice three types of ironic contrast between the sailors and Jonah. Look at verse four for the first one. But the Lord threw a great wind onto the sea, and such a great storm arose on that sea that the ship threatened to break apart. The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his God. They threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the load? Meanwhile, here’s the contrast. Jonah had gone down, you see that word again, down to the lowest parts of the vessel, and it stretched out and had fallen into a deep sleep. Contrast number one, the sailors are afraid. Jonah is asleep.
They’re terrified at the power of God that they see being unleashed in this storm. But Jonah, hardened by his sin, goes down further into just an escape almost from what he sees right before him. Second contrast happens next. The captain’s coming to Jonah, appealing to him to help. They cast lots, and God doesn’t just guide the storm to Jonah. God guides the lot to fall on Jonah as well. And Jonah has to explain. In verse nine, he answered them, I’m a Hebrew. I worship the Lord, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land. Then the men were seized with great fear and said to him, What have you done? The men knew he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because He had told them. Contrast.
Number two, the sailors are crying out to false gods. Jonah’s talking about the true God. Please notice in this passage, we see no record of Jonah actually repenting, talking to the Lord about what he’s called him to do. We see him hardened in his sin, speaking of God as a theory or an idea, but not talking to him as the living, true God. They ask him, What do we need to do to rescue us? And he says, You need to throw me into the sea. Verse 12, look up with me in the text, pick me up and throw me into the sea so that it will calm down for you, for I know that I am to blame for this great storm that is against you. Contrast, number three is beginning here. Jonah would rather die than go to Nineveh. He is asking them to essentially end his life. He would rather die than obey what the Lord has commanded him to do. Notice the incredible contrast between Jonah’s unrepentance and the repentance of the sailors, starting in verse 14 after trying to get back to land. Look at what they say. You heard it right a moment ago. I’ll read it again.
They called out to the Lord, please, Lord, don’t let us perish because of this man’s life, and don’t charge us with innocent blood, for you, Lord, have done just as you pleased. Then they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. The men were seized with great fear, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Did you see the contrast? Jonah, unrepentant, hardened. Would rather die than obey the sailors repent. They trust the Lord. The very types of people Jonah had been called to go to these pagan Gentile sailors are the very ones he ends up being a witness to God, gloriously and graciously saves these sailors despite Jonah’s disobedience. Here’s the question, How in the world does the prophet of Israel end up living in such stark contrast to these pagan Gentile sailors, here’s the answer.
There’s a great disconnect in Jonah’s life between what he says he believes and what he actually believes. There is a gap in Jonah’s life that hardens him. Makes him go down, down, down into his sin. There’s a gap between what he says he believes about God and what he actually believes on the ground. If I tell you I believe that Skydiving is safe, how do you know if I actually trust it? I have to what get in a plane, put on a parachute and do what jump out. I can tell you all day long, I trust skydiving, but the way you know if I really believe in it is if I actually get in that plane and jump. Jonah can tell us verse nine, I worship the Lord, the God of Heavens, who made the sea and the dry land, but his actual belief is disconnected from that reality. Is it possible for people in ministry to say they believe one thing about God and functionally believe something else, absolutely?
Part of the dangers and perils of ministry is over familiarity with the beautiful, glorious things of God. Part of the perils of ministry is developing a Messiah Complex you can only have sweet little old ladies tell you how wonderful your sermon is before you start to believe them. Carl, the truth is, it is easy to live with this gap between our state of beliefs and our actual beliefs as followers of Jesus, even in ministry, chapter one serves as a call to Jonah and to believers who read this text to repent, not just of sinful actions, but of sinful beliefs underneath those actions, the first key to relying on A big vision of God that leads to you being one who perseveres for decades of ministry as to repent, not just of sinful actions, but sinful beliefs underneath those actions, brothers and sisters, remember, behind every sinful action in your life is a sinful belief, a deception, that gap that we see in Jonah’s life.
Notice in chapter two, as Jonah is there in the belly of this fish, how we see his repentance in verse seven, chapter two, as my life was fading away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you to your holy temple. Those who cherish worthless idols abandon their faithful love. But as for me, I will sacrifice to you with the voice of Thanksgiving. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation belongs to the Lord Jonah, to be sure, does repent of his actions. He says, I’m going to do what you told me to do, Lord, I’m going to go to Nineveh and I’m going to preach. But more than that, there is this repentance of his false beliefs. He talks about the holiness of God as he looks to the temple. If you read the entirety of the prayer in chapter two, you know that he has confidence that God is going to deliver him, even in the belly of that fish.
The question for you and me, then is very simple, where are we in our lives? Tempted to believe deception. Where are you prone to believe false truths about God in your heart? Some of us in this room may be prone to pleasing. I think if I can just get everyone to like me, then I’ll be happy. Others of you in this room may be prone to be the lie of achievement, man, if I can just succeed, if I can just accomplish great things for God, then I’m gonna matter. I’m gonna be somebody. Others of you might be prone to the lie of accumulation. I can just get that next thing, get enough resources. I can be secure and safe, and I’ll be all right, still others, and I see this in a tremendous way in our cultural moment. It’s self sufficiency. You don’t know it, but the reason many of us in this room live with a lot of fear and anxiety in our lives is because we’re far too prone to trust ourselves.
Those of you that are in college, young adults in this room, I want you to know that one of the greatest gifts you can take advantage of in this season is to grow in spiritual self-awareness about the lies you’re prone to believe. Do you know in your life as a follower of Jesus, the lies that you’re prone to drift to Jonah one and two call us to see the greatness of God in light of Jonah’s sinful disobedience, and it’s a call to you and I to repent not just of sinful actions, but of sinful beliefs. How do we rely on a big vision of God, such that we persevere for that God, we repent not just of what we do, but the deception underneath our hearts. Second thing I want you to notice in this text is not just the greatness of God. I want you to notice in chapters three and four, the goodness of God. There’s a break in how Jonah is organized, between the greatness of God and the power of God.
We see in one and two, and a shift to emphasizing more and more the goodness of God, His grace, mercy and. Compassion. Jonah is indeed given a second chance. God gives him a word again, and he goes to the people of Nineveh and does preach. The people of Nineveh, in an ironic turn of events, do repent, even to the king. They make a pronouncement encouraging everyone to repent. And in verse 10 of chapter three, we see God’s response. Look at the text verse 10 of chapter three, God saw their actions, that they had turned from their evil ways, so God relented from the disaster He had threatened them with, and he did not do it. God shows mercy to the brutal, barbaric people of Nineveh. He does not give them what they deserve. He withholds. He holds back his wrath and justice. Jonah three is a beautiful.in the trajectory from Genesis to Revelation of God’s heart for the nations. Genesis 12. We’re told that through Abraham, all the families of the earth will be blessed. Wonder that that greater son of Abraham is Jesus, who wins a people for every tribe and tongue and nation.
You see development of that in the Old Testament as Joseph and Solomon and Daniel are Jews that bless the Gentiles around them. It picks up speed in the New Testament in Acts chapter 10, where Cornelius and his gentile friends repent and trust Christ and are filled with the Spirit. It continues on in Acts 13, where they send Paul and his companions out to go to the nations with the gospel, and it culminates in the book of Revelation, when a people from a tribe and tongue and nation are gathered around the throne, praising the name of King Jesus. Jonah, three fits in that beautiful trajectory. Jonah, this disobedient Prophet, has been invited to participate in this incredible work. And before I move to Chapter Four, I just want to tell you, I hope that there are moments in your life in ministry that you just step back and go, I can’t believe I get to be a part of this. I can’t believe that God would include someone like me in this amazing arc of his grace and mercy that goes to the nations.
One of the ways you continue to remain anchored to a big vision of God is by living with incredible gratitude that he would include broken sinners like Jonah and like you and me and his plans and purposes. Now we would assume that, given this incredible arc of redemption, that Jonah will be thankful that he’s going to celebrate that God’s mercy has been extended to these people. But we see exactly the opposite in chapter four, verse one. Look at the text. With me, Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious. He prayed to the Lord, please, Lord, isn’t this what I said while I was still in my own country, that’s why I fled to Tarshish in the first place. I knew that you’re a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster. And now, Lord, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. Notice the Lord’s response in verse four, the Lord asked, Is it right for you to be angry? It’s hard not to see Jonah in this moment, not along the sight line of the parable of the unforgiving servant.
You remember that parable Jesus tells of a servant who the master forgives of a great burden, a great debt, only to see him turn around and what does he do? He harasses and throws into prison people that owe him less. Jonah has been very happy to be on the receiving end of God’s grace. He’s been very happy to be on the receiving end of God’s patient mercy and kindness. He does not want to see that extended to others. So God asks him a question that’s meant to draw him out, draw him into this misunderstanding of His grace and goodness. Jonah does go outside the city to continue to pout and to remain angry in hopes that maybe God will change his mind and destroy the people of Nineveh notice in verses six, and following this word, appointed God is not going to leave Jonah alone, and he appoints three things to get his attention verse six, the Lord God appointed a plant that grew over Jonah To provide shade for his head, to rescue him from his trouble.
Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant. When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant and it withered as the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so. Much that he almost fainted and wanted to die. He said, It is better for me to die than to live. Then God asked Jonah again, is it right for you to be angry about the plant? There are five things that God appoints in the book of Jonah. He appoints a storm, he appoints a fish, he appoints, a plant, a worm and a wind, all five are appointed by God to correct Jonah by getting his attention. It is often the case that the storms we face in life as believers are God’s attempt to get our attention, God disciplines those he loves. The promise that we need to claim as we read a book like Jonah, as followers of Jesus today is no matter what suffering or difficulty we go through, no matter what we’ve endured in terms of persecution and challenges in our lives.
God is always working in the midst of those things. Let me tell you what I see on the ground. As a pastor mentioned self sufficiency a moment ago, I believe we are more so. We are so self sufficient today that often storms are the only thing we’re really going to you know from your bed this morning you can order food, order clothes, and have a doctor come to your house with just click of a few buttons. Do you understand that in the history of the universe, no one’s been able to do that. No one’s had the ability to have that kind of self sufficiency and self reliance in our lives. Is it any wonder that so often we’re shocked at suffering we can’t imagine why we’re going through what we’re going through, but the truth is, the times in which we’re living want you to see this. Require God to appoint storms in our lives to get our attention. Is there a storm you’re going through right now that you need to humble yourself and believe God is using to get your attention.
This is what’s happening in Jonah. Every single one of these things are there to call him back to God. He sits there with this east wind blowing on his face. You ever opened an oven and felt that heat hit your face. That’s what’s happening to Jonah. As Jonah sits there, he’s continuing to be angry. This is the third time he’s asked to die. First is on the ship, throw me overboard. Second was when he first came out. I’m angry enough to die. And now again, he would rather die than see God be merciful and kind. Look at the question in verse 10 that God closes the book with. For Jonah, he said, You cared about the plant which you did not labor over and did not grow. It appeared in a night and perished in a night. So may I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot distinguish between their right and they’re left as well as many animals.
This is the third question God asks Jonah in chapter four, again, designed to draw him out. God is trying to show Jonah how he’s misunderstood, the grace of God, His mercy of God. But the book of Jonah ends rhetorically, with a question for you and for me, it ends with a question because it’s also trying to draw you and I out to consider, have we misunderstood the grace of God? Are we the type of people that are happy to receive grace but are unwilling to extend grace to others? The Book of Jonah ends by appealing to that question in our lives. But I think as we zoom out canonically and look at Jonah in light of all of Christian scripture, there’s a deeper question we need to wrestle with. The reason Jonah’s having such a hard time with what he sees happening is not just because his enemies are being forgiven.
The real issue Jonah is having a hard time with is he’s having a hard time reconciling the mercy of God with the justice of God. God. I know that you’re merciful and loving, but I know that you’re just and holy. How do these things come together? Jonah, chapter four, verse 10, asks a question that yes, you see shadows and signs of the answer in the Old Testament, but the question in chapter four, verse 10, ultimately has its answer brothers and sisters in the cross of Jesus Christ, how is God merciful and kind and loving and still holy and just? The cross of Jesus shows us how these attributes of God come together in the cross of Christ. Jesus bears the wrath for our sin. He absorbs in his life the punishment that we should have been given. He satisfies God’s wrath, righteous wrath, just wrath for our sin. But on the cross, He who knew.
Sin became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus, Christ also absorbs our sin on the cross, so that by faith, we are cleansed from all unrighteousness and justified as sons and daughters of the King. If you want to have a big vision of God, root your vision of God in the cross of Jesus Christ. Root how you see God in the cross of Christ the beauty of Jesus. It’s so easy for our North Star to drift as we think about who God is, but Jesus Christ and His Cross and Resurrection keep us centered on the truth of who God really is. For us, some of you today may be tempted to allow your experience to shape how you view God. Maybe you’ve come from a broken family, or didn’t have a loving father, and it’s difficult for you to think about God as Father. Let the cross of Christ call you back to the love and the mercy of Jesus. Others of you may struggle with God and your understanding of him because of church hurt, places of refuge, of the grace of God are turned into dysfunction and attack, and it’s left you harm. Let the cross of Christ call you back to see who God truly is. Others of you may struggle because you’re in sin. You’re in some secret sin nobody knows about.
You’re living with darkness in your life that’s twisted and warped to your vision of God. The cross of Christ calls you to repentance to see Jesus for who He truly is. But there may be others of you today who are worshiping a god of your own creation. You know, all of us enter this world believing in God, or in a general sense, it’s just not the true God. We believe in a God that we’ve created in our image. Maybe some of you here today who are not worshiping the true God because you don’t know God. You’re not a follower of Jesus. The cross of Christ calls you today to repent of your sin and trust Christ, Jesus as Savior and Lord. If you’re here today and you’re not a follower of Christ, pray that you wouldn’t leave today without talking to your professor. I will be here after we’re done. Love an opportunity to share with you and encourage you any way that I can.
One of the beautiful connections when we think about Jonah through the lens of the gospel that commentators and theologians have made is to see Jonah across the sight line of the prodigal son. You know the story of the prodigal son, the younger brother goes away, leaves, the older brother ends. The story outside Jonah is, I think, very helpfully sought seen through that sight line chapters one and two. Who is Jonah? He’s the younger brother. He’s rebelliously running away from the love of the Father. Some of you in here today that are more younger brother types just don’t like being told what to do. Little more rebellious. The cross of Christ calls you back to see the weight of your sin. Do not entertain things. Jesus died for brothers and sisters. If you are living in sin, unrepentance, disobedience, and you claim Christ, the cross of Christ roots us in the gospel so that we come back in repentance and faith.
But I have a feeling I’m probably talking to a lot of older brothers in the room. Chapters three and four. Where does John end up? He ends up like the older brother with his arms crossed outside of the grace and mercy of God being poured out on sinners. You know, for a lot of us that are older brother types, it’s very easy to see the fault and the sin in others, but we’re very slow to see it in ourselves. Let the cross of Christ call you back to realize that every single moment of every single day you need the grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t just be somebody who receives forgiveness and grace. Be quick to extend it to others. Rely on a big vision of God to persevere for decades to come in ministry. And I believe the key to doing that in your life is rooting your vision of who God is in the cross of Jesus Christ. Would you pray with me?
Please, God of grace. We thank you for the mercy that you so beautifully display in the book of Jonah, showing us who you are. And I’m thankful Lord that you do not leave the question in chapter four, verse 10, unanswered for us. Thank you that in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have the answer. You are merciful and compassionate and kind, and you are holy and just. God, I pray that we would be a people that rely on a big, grand, growing vision of who you are, and I pray that that vision that trust would spur us on. Of perseverance and ministry for decades to come. I pray for faculty and staff in this room God, that they would not just teach about the grace of God, but through their actions and their interactions, they would demonstrate it. Pray that this community, this culture, would be immersed in the truth of the gospel, filled with grace and truth. God. I want to see students formed in this place with a deep love for you and for each other. Finally, Lord, I pray for anyone here today who doesn’t know you, who’s ever placed their faith and their trust in you. Oh, God, I pray that the book of Jonah, the beautiful repentance of the sailors, the people of Nineveh, God would draw them to you. They would turn from their sin. They would trust you and you alone. Jesus, thank You for this word. This morning, we pray that as we respond now, Lord, we would not just be hearers of your word, but doers as well in Jesus name, I pray all these things. Amen.
