All righty, if y'all would go ahead and remain standing for
our scripture reading. Just to let you know, I was
assigned Jonah three six through 10 and was told on Wednesday
that Mark was just going to focus on one through 4.
But he told me to go ahead and do what I was planning on doing.
So I'm going to preach the whole chapter.
I cut off limbs last night to shorten it as best as I could.
So give your attention to the reading of God's Word.
I will be reading all of chapter 3, one through 10.
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time,
saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out
against it the message that I tell you.
So Jonah arose and he went to Nineveh according to the word of
the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly
great city. Three days journey in breath.
Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey, and he
called out. Yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall
be overthrown. And the people of Nineveh
believe God. They called for a fast.
They put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of
them. The word reached the king of
Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe,
covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
And he issued A proclamation and published through Nineveh by the
decree of the king and his nobles.
Let neither man nor beast heard, nor flock taste anything.
Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be
covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God.
Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that
is in his hands. Who knows, God may turn and
relent and turn from His fierce anger so that we may not perish.
When God saw what they did, how they turn from their evil way,
God relented of the disaster that He had said He would do to
them, and He did not do it. This is the word of the Lord.
All right, you may take your seats.
Let me quickly pray. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we
do need your Spirit to open our eyes and to illumine the reality
of this incredible text and what it means for us.
So I pray now that by your Spirit you would unveil to us
the reality and the glory of your grace in this passage.
And I ask that you would be pleased to do this for your
glory and for our good in Jesus name, Amen.
All right, Jonah is a story of two passions, Jonah's passion to
run away from the presence of God and God's passion to pursue
sinners who run away from him. And one of the themes of this
incredible book is found in the word great.
What happens in this book? It's greater than expected.
We have a great storm. We have the sailors who have
exceedingly great fear. There's a great fish, there's a
great city, and there's a wicked people's great repentance.
But chapter 3, it opens with great grace.
You see, after Jonah's disobedience in chapter 1, he's
rescued and he's restored in chapter 2.
And now in chapter 3, he's recommissioned.
And don't let the significance of verse one pass you by.
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time.
The first time it came, Jonah disobey, disobeys, and flees
from the presence of God. So the fact that there is even a
second time is absolutely amazing.
What prophet has ever disobeyed God in the Old Testament?
None of them. He's the only one.
And we have plenty of examples of people not getting second
chances in the Old Testament, right?
Lot's wife didn't get a second chance.
King Saul did not get a second chance.
Ozza, when he reached out to grab the ark, he did not get a
second chance. So what could be more startling
and more humbling to Jonah than to get a second chance?
It's as if nothing has changed since God first called Him to go
to Nineveh. You see in chapter 3, what do we
see? God responds to Jonah's great
sin with great grace and mercy. And this blew me away and it
cost me a lot of hours of thought over this.
In Luke 11 verse 30, Jesus says that Jonah became a sign to the
people of Nineveh. And I don't know what this means
in this context because there's so many questions that I have,
like when Jonah was spit up, vomited from the fish, I mean
how long did it take him to get to Nineveh?
Did he go home 1st and take a shower?
I mean, was he bleached white? We don't know.
But did the Ninevites know about the Fish Tale?
Did they know the story of a disobedient prophet who was
rescued, restored, and recommissioned?
So in what way was Jonah assigned to the Ninevites?
Well, I think that Jonah's rescue, that his restoration and
his recommission is a sign that points to the fact that God is
both merciful and just. I don't know if the Ninevites
knew Jonah's story before he preached, but I do know this,
that God's message to Jonah is the same message that Jonah
preached to Nineveh. And some of y'all like Pete.
What are you talking about? Jonah's eight word sermon does
not communicate great grace. It communicates great judgment.
Yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
Let's evaluate this for a moment.
Remember the theme word. Great things in this book are
greater than expected. In chapter 1 verse 2, we're told
how great the city of Nineveh is.
In chapter 3, verses 2 and three, Nineveh's greatness.
It's emphasized again, but this time it's greatness is doubled.
It's an exceedingly great city. Three days journey in breath.
Now this could mean it's so big that it takes three days to
cross all of it. Or the city, it takes three days
to take it all in. There's one day journey from the
suburbs, one day for business, and then one day for the return.
So I think Jonah's in verse four, one day journey means it
takes three days to take it all in.
But the importance and greatness of this city, it's emphasizing 1
little Hebrew word in verse 3. The word Now normally in Hebrew
narrative when the continuation of a story goes, they put in the
letter Bob, which means and it's a connective, but it's not here,
which means this is signaling something different.
It's telling us, look, pay attention, this is important.
What's so big about the size of Nineveh and its importance?
Answer. It's remarkable repentance after
Jonah preaches. In verse 4, Jonah begins to make
the journey into the city and then in verse 5 we are told that
all of Nineveh believes God and repents.
This is why I almost entitled the sermon Every Preacher's
Dream. I mean, what preacher would not
want to see such great repentance and belief in God
after he preaches This is the greatest revival in the history
of the world Here, the whole city from the least to the
greatest repents. So chapter 3, it's not just
about God's great grace to Jonah, it's about God's great
grace to Nineveh, and it's about Nineveh's great repentance.
So how is Jonah's message yet 40 days and Nineveh will be
overthrown. How is this a message of grace?
This sounds like a message that threatens God's judgment,
doesn't it? Well, if God had intended to
destroy Nineveh, then why send Jonah to warn them?
If God wanted to wipe them out, then why did he not just wipe
them out? Why does he give them 40 days to
repent? Answer.
Because God is both merciful and just.
See the first word in Jonas sermon that communicates this.
Yet yet this pronouncement of judgment, it carries the hope of
being saved from it. Yet 40 days, which means this
can be reversed. And so does this word
overthrown. See this Hebrew verb, it means
to overturn. It's used to describe the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, but it's also a word
that means to turn a ground, to transform.
So although Nineveh was not overturned, it did experience a
turn around. See, Jonah's sermon is about
God's justice, but it holds out the hope that God is merciful.
God is both merciful and just. And because He is, I have to ask
this question. Why do we not repent and return
to God quicker when we run away from him and sin?
If our hearts passion, which Jonah shows us, is to run away
from the presence of God, then what do we need to do?
Repent, turn back around and return to the God that we're
running away from, whether it's for the first time or whether
it's for the thousandth time. But here's something we need to
understand. Repentance.
It's not a one time thing. Martin Luther when he pinned his
95 thesis to the door, his first thesis was this.
Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when he said repent,
here's what it means. He will that the whole life of a
believer be 1 of repentance, which means he's arguing that
the Christian life, it's a life of ongoing repentance.
Why? Because what does he understand?
He understands that we still have sin that indwells us.
We still have a disposition within us to run away from God,
and it will be with us until glory.
Which means sin never takes a break.
Sin never goes on vacation. It's always active, especially
when it seems least active. So because sin it's always
active, we need to be what I call regular repenters.
See, some of you you may be so deceived by sin that you are not
regularly repenting because you think you had nothing to
confess. You just equate sin with bad
behavior. And oh, what I did was not
really that bad. But if sin is a condition, if
it's a power that we're all under, it goes deeper.
It goes to the motivational aspects in our heart.
Why do we do what we do? So I can act good outwardly but
yet inwardly be full of sin. So some of you think I haven't
really done anything that needs to be confessed.
And then there are some of you whose heart has become so hard
that you know you sinned and yet you stubbornly refuse to
acknowledge it. You don't want to return to God
because you're enjoying your sin and I don't want to give it up
yet. And then there's others of you
who are believing the lie that you cannot return to God.
God has had enough of you. You're believing the lie that
your sin is so bad that God can't forgive it, or the lie
that you send so much that God's grace, it's reached its limit
with you. It's run out.
See chapter 3. It's actually meant to make it
easier for us to understand repentance and then lead us to
repent. See, as we look more closely at
Nineveh's remarkable repentance, what's actually even more
remarkable than their repentance is the character of the God who
relents from destroying them. See, look at verse 5, which is
not in your bulletin, actually. So they'll grab a Bible and look
at verse 5. The whole city believed God,
we're told. It doesn't say that they
believed Jonah, they believed God in chapter 3.
As I said, it leaves us with so many unanswered questions
because I'm always like, OK, did Jonah just preach this eight
word sermon at once and then walk away?
Or did he continually preach it the further and further he went
into the city? We don't know, but we're given
three concrete bits of information about Nineveh's
repentance, which is going to help us to better understand
repentance. First, look at how quickly they
respond. Here there is no hesitation.
They immediately believe God. They call for a fast and they
put on sackcloth. They immediately believe and
then repent. And the order is significant.
They believe God first and then act in repentance.
So what does this show us? Repentance is easy.
It's not complicated, and it should happen quickly.
God does not require you to run a marathon in order to return to
Him. Just trust Him and Sprint to Him
as fast as you can. When you've run away, you don't
need to clean yourself up first in order to return to Him.
Come as you are in your unclean condition and run to Him as fast
as you can. And the second, look at how far
reaching their response is. And verse 5, from the greatest
to the least is reached, which means nobody's left out.
This covers all types of people without distinction, from the
most wicked to the least wicked. There's nobody unique here.
There's nobody whose sin is beyond reach.
There's nobody whose problem it's too great or too small.
So this goes for the rich, this goes for the poor, this goes for
the influential and the non influential.
This goes to man, woman, parent, child, king, peasant, great,
small. All are reached.
Which means what? The grace of God can reach
anybody from the greatest to the least.
Trust God and run to him more quickly to repent.
And then third, I want you to notice how deeply this reaches
them. What do they do?
They call for a fast, so they're restraining from eating.
And then they put on uncomfortable clothes.
Sackcloth, OK, it's very rough material.
Why are they doing this? To show their humility.
And then in verse 8, they cry out mightily to God.
See, the depths of their repentance is illustrated by the
king in verses 6 through 8. I want you to notice what he
does when word reaches him. He leaves his throne, He removes
his robe, and he covers himself in sackcloth and sits in ashes.
To leave his throne is saying what?
There's only one king, and it's not me.
I am under the authority of a greater king.
I will bow to him. I will seek his forgiveness.
He is greater than me. And then to put on sackcloth and
to sit in ashes. It signifies grief.
It signifies mourning. It's a sign of humility.
My life is over. I'm as good as dead.
So all I can do now is depend on the mercy of God and then notice
the decree in verses 7 through 8 that is issued.
The fast and humility. It's extended to the animals as
well. Could you imagine trying to get
an animal to wear sackcloth? Can you imagine the effort it
would take to not feed them or let them drink?
How uncomfortable this is. It's almost as if they know that
their sin has affected all of creation and then notice the
deep change in their behaviour. Everyone doesn't just cry out
mightily to God, they turn from their evil ways, they
acknowledge their violence, and they stop abusing people.
See, this isn't just confessing general sins.
Oh, I'm a Sinner. They're confessing specific
sins. Each turning from their evil
ways, whatever that evil is, they each acknowledge the
specific evil that their hands have done.
So Nineveh isn't just confessing their sin, they're changing
their ways. They're turning away from their
evil and they're turning towards God for mercy.
Jonas sermon caused the greatest revival in the history of the
world. The most wicked and brutal
people in the known world at this time turn away from their
evil and turn towards God, begging for mercy.
Nineveh's repentance is absolutely remarkable here, but
to me what is more remarkable is that they repent after being
given such little grace. See Jonah's message yet?
40 days and Nineveh will be overthrown.
It holds out the hope that this warning could be overturned.
But the people of Nineveh don't know for sure.
They repent hoping that God will relent.
And the words of the king show us that they don't know for
sure. Who knows, maybe he will.
God may relent and not destroy Nineveh, or he may not relent.
They don't know the heart of God for sure here.
There's no good news in Jonah's message.
There's no explicit message about God's character, about
God's goodness, about God's love.
Jonah isn't wooing them with God's compassion and grace.
He's warning them of God's anger and judgement, and there's no
call for them to respond at all. In other words, there's nothing
in Jonah's message that tells Nineveh what to do, only what
God is going to do. So Jonah only preaches justice
and judgement. So if Nineveh can repent in such
a remarkable way, if the most wicked people in the known world
can turn away from their evil and turn to God for mercy when
they are given such little grace, then what is keeping you
from repenting and returning to God when in Jesus we have
greater grace? The Ninevites did not know that
God is both merciful and just. But you do.
The Ninevites didn't know that God is gracious.
He's slow to anger. He abounds in loyal, steadfast
love. But you do.
In Matthew 1241, Jesus says the men of Nineveh will rise up at
the judgment with this generation and condemn it.
For they repented at the preaching of Jonah.
And behold, someone greater than Jonah is here, which means what
is God saying? Look, I only showed Nineveh 1%
of my grace. But in my son, I'm showing you
all of my grace, all of my goodness.
In my son, I prove to you that I hold nothing back, but I give
you all of my goodness. I'm for you.
My first step towards you is always grace.
Brothers and sisters, Nineveh's remarkable repentance does not
compare to the gracious character of God.
If God can relent from destroying the most wicked
people in the world, then won't He relent from destroying you?
If the Ninevites can repent with such little grace being shown to
them, how much more should we repent now that someone greater
than Jonah is here? Someone whose grace is so much
greater? Someone who doesn't run away
from his enemies but pursues his enemies with love and
forgiveness. Someone who doesn't preach God's
judgment, but who preaches God's salvation and peace because
Jesus came to receive God's judgment for you.
Because Jesus pays for all of your sins.
Penalty. He's pleading with you.
Trust me. Return to me.
Run to me as fast as you can. Whether it be for the first time
or whether it be for the millionth time.
I will always take you back. You can come back.
See repentance. It's easy when you see the
greater grace of Jesus. Repentance goes deep when you
see how on the cross, God's mercy and justice meet.
Amen. Let me pray, Father, help us to
be regular repenters. Help us to know that no matter
what we've done, we can return to you.
And when we return to you, you forgive us, You renew us, You
restore us. So help us to be like Nineveh,
who was shown little grace and yet they repented.
And because of Jesus, we've been shown great grace.
So we should always repent, but help us to do so.
And I pray that you would for our good and for your glory, in
Jesus name, Amen.