Jonah 2:8-9
Big Idea: The bad news of the gospel is that we cannot help but sin and God cannot help but judge our sin. The good news of the gospel is that God is able to save and that God alone can save. If we seek salvation in any other means, we will be eternally devastated.
The Double Good News:
God is Able to save
God is able to save us from ourselves.
God is able to save us from Himself.
God _________________ can save.
Idols are ________________ of God’s _____________ ______________.
Jonah 2:8 (ESV) — 8 Those who pay regard to vain idols…
What is idolatry? Idolatry is trusting in created things rather than the Creator for our hope and happiness, significance and security.
God and God alone is worthy of our ultimate allegiance and fealty.
Exodus 20:3–5 (ESV) — 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God…
‘zealous’ might be a better translation in modern English, since ‘jealousy’ has acquired an exclusively bad meaning. Like ‘love’ and ‘hate’ in the Old Testament (Mal. 1:2, 3), ‘jealousy’ does not refer to an emotion so much as to an activity, in this case an activity of violence and vehemence, that springs from the rupture of a personal bond as exclusive as that of the marriage bond.
God demands exclusivity because of the reality that there is no one else like God.
Isaiah 45:22 (ESV) — 22 “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
God is so strict on idolatry not because he is a vindictive lover, but because of the damage it does both to God’s reputation and to our own spiritual health.
Jeremiah 2:12–13 (ESV) — 12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, 13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
Idols are ________________ to _______ us from our _______________.
Jonah 2:8–9 (ESV) — 8 Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. 9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
NASB95 “Those who regard vain idols Forsake their faithfulness,
NRSV Those who worship vain idols forsake their true loyalty.
ESV Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.
NIV “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.
The ot frequently uses the term ḥesed to denote an aspect of God’s character as it relates to his covenant with his people. Perhaps the most well-known use of ḥesed is found in Psalm 136, where the term is used 26 times as part of the refrain, “for his loyal love (ḥesed) endures forever.” In this passage the psalmist applies the term ḥesed to God’s work in creation (Psa 136:4–9), his reign in heaven (Psa 136:26), and his military victories (Psa 136:17–22). Elsewhere in the ot, God’s ḥesed is manifested by his acts of redemption (e.g., Exod 15:13), his mercy and forgiveness (e.g., Num 14:19), and his faithfulness to the covenant with this people (e.g., Deut 7:9).
