How Do You Receive God’s Word?

If you aren't familiar with the book of Jonah, you can find on our church website the other two sermons on Jonah chapter 1, Jonah chapter 2.

Jonah 1 · chapter mention Jonah 2 · chapter mention

And that brings us up to speed where we are today.

I'm going to read the entire chapter for us.

You can follow along in your Bible.

I'll be reading from the King James.

Then I'll be expositing a little bit from both, including the ESV.

I think it's helpful for us to hear God's word from a variety of different English versions.

And as I read this, remember that this is God's inspired, inerrant, infallible, clear, and sufficient word.

It's God's very own word for you.

If you believe that about the Bible and you receive it that way, after I'm done reading Jonah 3, I'll say,

This is the word of the Lord, and you respond, Thanks be to God.

Jonah chapter 3, verses 1 through 10.

Jonah 3 · chapter mention

Verse 4.

Verse 6.

Verse 6.

Verse 9.

Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not?

And God saw their works, that they were turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil that he had said he would do unto them, and he did it not.

This is the word of the Lord for the people of God.

Thanks be to God. You may be seated.

The Bible says that the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord endures forever.

Would you pray with me?

From Isaiah 55, 6.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth.

It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

May this be so today, Lord, through the ministry of your word, for the glory of King Jesus in this congregation, we pray. Amen.

Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, how do you receive the word of the Lord?

The word of the Lord goes out.

How do you receive it?

A freed slave is expected to cherish his freedom.

A pardoned criminal is expected to live a reformed life.

There is a term in criminal justice used to describe this human tendency to relapse into a previous mode of behavior.

Do you know what it is?

Recidivism.

I learned this week that Colorado has consistently been ranked as having one of the highest recidivism rates in the USA.

Almost half of those criminals released within about six months commit the same crime for which they were arrested.

Kids, what that means is for every two prisoners that maybe paid their time five years, they get released.

One of them has to end up right back in the slammer for another five years for committing the same crime.

See, Israel had been enslaved in Egypt.

The Lord delivered them out of there.

He said, I will be your people.

I will be your God and you will be my people.

And I give you my law and you will walk with me in a way that pleases me.

And Israel falls back into their bondage and their captivity.

Not to Israel, not to Egypt as a nation, but to sin.

And they turned to all the idols of the surrounding nations instead.

If Israel had cherished their freedom, then they would love God who set them free.

But Israel loved the idols of their own hearts and all the other nations more than they loved their Savior.

So at this time of the book of Jonah, God had sent two other prophets that were contemporaries of Jonah.

These were Amos and Hosea.

And Amos and Hosea are going throughout the cities of Israel declaring the word of the Lord

and calling the Israelites to repent to their God.

Amos chapter 3 verse 6, he says,

Amos 3:6

Is a trumpet blown into a city and the people are not afraid?

You hear the horn go off.

You should do something.

You should receive it and respond.

The trumpet is sounded.

And Amos and Hosea are preaching to God's people.

But it falls on deaf ears and hard hearts.

Amos wrote,

Does disaster come to a city unless the Lord has done it?

Israel, God will bring his disaster on you.

It will come from the hand of God.

Hear his word now and repent.

Repent.

And Israel is paralyzed, cold.

So the word of the Lord was proclaimed to Israel.

And they did not repent.

And I see the theme of chapter 3 of Jonah being the word of the Lord.

And it goes out.

And it causes a response.

How is it received?

The word of the Lord, that phrase is used in the Bible 446 times.

And four times right here in this chapter.

The word of the message of God.

So my prayer this week has been that we not be blind and hard hearted like Israel.

If the Lord has in fact delivered you from sin, Satan, worldliness.

He set you free.

Then we receive his word.

We don't fall back into the idols of our hearts.

We receive his word the way he wants us to receive it.

So I'm going to show you seven ways I believe this chapter teaches us to receive God's word.

Before we get going with that, let me just ask you to reflect.

How much has God forgiven you?

The one who's been forgiven much loves much.

The only fitting response to God's gracious word is gratitude.

I hope that comes through as a clear theme from this chapter.

Number one.

Jonah chapter 3 teaches us to receive the word of the Lord as God's gracious word to you.

Jonah 3 · chapter mention

So receive the word of the Lord, number one, as gracious to you.

You'll notice the way that this chapter begins in verse 1.

It's that the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time.

Chapter 3 is really just a mirror of chapter 1.

The description of what happens is almost word for word.

How the book began in Jonah chapter 1 with where we're at now happening a second time in Jonah chapter 3.

Jonah 1 · chapter mention Jonah 3 · chapter mention

Someone said it's like we got to that point in the story where Jonah got swallowed and then spit back up.

Now the tape got reversed, got rewound all the way back and we're starting a second time.

That's God's grace to Jonah.

Notice how God did not stay silent toward Jonah.

Despite Jonah's rebellion and disobedience, Jonah had disqualified himself.

He should not be considered a prophet.

He has no humanly right to be considered one who would receive the word of the Lord to go declare it with authority.

Jonah disobeyed God's command to go to Nineveh and preach the word I give you.

And yet the word comes to Jonah a second time.

See how gracious God is?

We read in chapter 1 verse 3 that Jonah fled.

What did he flee?

He fled the presence of the Lord.

That's why he's trying to get out of town.

And he ran not toward Nineveh, the exact polar opposite direction.

He ran to Tarshish.

And the city port there is Joppa.

And in chapter 1 we see this literary theme of going down deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper.

It's a downward spiral of sin and rebellion in Jonah's life.

Jonah chapter 2 verse 10.

Jonah 2:10

We're toward that the word of the Lord then came to the depths of the ocean.

And it was the word of the Lord that made that fish spit Jonah out.

You see the word of the Lord is what carries power here.

In Jonah chapter 1 we read how Jonah went down to Joppa.

Jonah 1 · chapter mention

Then he went down onto the ship.

And he went down into the inner part of the ship.

Then they threw him down off the ship into the water.

Then the fish swallowed him and took him down to the depths of Sheol.

He calls it hell on earth.

And he's down in the deepest part of the fish now.

That's how deep his rebellion was toward the Lord.

But it was from the depths of that fish's stomach.

With the smell of rotting fish and the acid of the stomach working on his hair, on his body and covering him.

And the Lord even provided oxygen inside the stomach of the big fish for him to breathe in

and cry out a prayer of repentance himself.

And then the word of the Lord caused Jonah to be vomited up on the beach.

Jonah's going to march from Joppa all the way across Israel.

And then beyond Israel all the way to Assyria.

To the capital of Assyria.

And this second time now in chapter 3 he receives the gracious word of the Lord.

Jonah was a reluctant prophet.

Jonah was a rebellious soul.

Jonah was a disqualified minister of the word of God.

And yet the word of the Lord came to him and the word of the Lord was gracious to Jonah.

And the gracious word of the Lord made Jonah a gracious soul.

Thomas Brooks pointed out that a gracious soul may look through the darkest cloud

and see God smiling on him.

Has God made you a gracious soul?

Is God teaching you that?

Maybe right now.

Despite your previous sin and mine,

the Lord graciously keeps giving you and me his word, doesn't he?

He keeps speaking to us.

His word keeps coming to us.

Time and again.

It's considered child abuse when a parent gives one of their children the silent treatment.

When a parent stops talking to their child for extended periods of time,

it's considered emotional abuse.

Isn't it comforting that the Lord Jesus Christ,

the living word of God,

he never is silent.

The word of the Lord is gracious.

It keeps coming to his children.

It comes a second time,

a third time.

It comes day after day,

week after week.

The word of the Lord comes to you graciously.

Notice how Jesus is described in Luke chapter 4, verse 23.

Luke 4:23

God the Son took on flesh,

walking the earth,

revealing who the Father is.

And here's the description.

Quote,

all spoke well of him

and marveled,

listen to this,

at the gracious words

that were coming from his mouth.

The word of the Lord

from the lips of Jesus

is a gracious word to you.

How much has God forgiven you?

The only fitting response

to God's gracious word

is your gratitude.

Receive the word of the Lord

as gracious.

toward you today.

Number two,

receive the word of the Lord

as unbending.

Receive the word of the Lord

as unbending.

Notice in verse two,

the word of the Lord

told Jonah,

arise,

go to Nineveh,

that great city,

and call out against it.

Not a compromise message,

not a softer version,

but call out against it

the message.

It's the same message.

The message will not change,

Jonah.

You can be rebellious,

you can try to flee.

My word will not return void.

Go declare my message

like I told you.

See,

nothing changed about Assyria.

Assyria still had the same number

of inhabitants.

It was still the same metropolis

of the Assyrian Empire.

Nineveh was the great seat

of the greatest monarch on earth.

But now Jonah

has been a changed man.

His fear of this great city,

Nineveh,

has been displaced

by a greater,

more reverent,

more holy fear.

The Lord taught him

the fear of God.

And the fear of God

replaced in his heart

and his soul

that fear of man.

Now Jonah went knowing

the mighty God,

the true king.

And the king himself

really is the message

for Nineveh.

Jerry Bridges pointed out,

the object of our faith

is not the mere content

of the message,

but the one

whom the message

is about.

Jonah's going to declare

God

to the Ninevites.

Jeremiah 10.10 says,

the Lord is the true God.

He is the living God

and he is the everlasting king.

Why would you fear

the king of Assyria

who lives in Nineveh?

Now,

what we know of Assyria,

you can visit

the British Museum

and you will be

blown away

by two empires,

the Babylonian

and the Assyrian Empire.

And historians,

secular historians,

tell us that

everything about Nineveh

was set up

to put terror

in all of the visitors.

You've probably watched

some R-rated movies

for violence

and you can see

like these,

you know,

brave heart images

of torture

and just cruel treatment

of the human body.

And so,

as you would enter Nineveh,

there would be spikes

of decapitated victims

of kings and generals

that had been defeated.

So,

welcome into Nineveh.

This is the fear

they're trying to strike

in the heart of man.

So,

here comes Jonah

straight out of

the belly

of the big fish

marching into

this big city

commanded by

the true king,

the God,

the creator of heaven

and earth.

I know that the fear

of man is real

in my heart,

but I look around

our cities today,

it's pretty soft.

It's pretty soft.

We're afraid

of this man?

I mean,

look at Nineveh,

look at these great

empires of the ancient

world,

of the Middle Ages.

Think of the physical,

literal torture

God's people have been

called to march through

over the centuries.

We better not be soft.

We better be called

out of this culture.

We better have

at least the same

reverence for God

that displaces

that fear of man

in our hearts.

I'm preaching

to myself here.

God says,

arise and go.

Call out

God's message.

God is against

the great violence,

the wickedness,

against the evil,

against the sin.

God is ultimately

against Satan

who is behind

all of this

that attacks

the image bearers

of God

in this awful city.

You know,

God forgives

these Ninevites,

these wicked,

violent men.

God forgives them.

How much

has God forgiven you?

The only fitting response

to God's gracious

word in our life

is gratitude.

gratitude.

Receive the word

of the Lord.

It is an unbending word.

God won't bend His word.

We're the ones

who better bend ourselves,

submit to Him.

Number three here

is receive the word

of the Lord

as that which you will

immediately obey.

Receive the word

of the Lord,

number three,

as that which you will

immediately obey.

Notice in verse three,

this time around,

the second time,

Jonah arose

and went to Nineveh

according to what?

Look in your Bible,

verse three,

according to

the word

of the Lord.

Now Nineveh,

we're told,

was an exceeding

great city,

three days journey

in breadth.

Well,

God had used

Jonah's affliction

to sanctify Jonah.

God had disciplined

Jonah

and He had done it

as a loving father

to restore

Jonah's

wandering soul.

Jonah was

straying from his father

and the father

used that discipline.

He took him

to the pit

of death itself

and then brought him

out of that

to correct Jonah

until Jonah learned

to obey

the word

of the Lord.

And this time,

Jonah does not delay.

As John Gill put it,

under the influence

of God's power

and grace,

this word of the Lord

that sends him,

Jonah stands

not consulting

with his flesh,

but immediately

arises

as God commanded him.

Verse four says,

Jonah began to go

into the city.

So we can picture Jonah

approaching the outskirts,

seeing it,

smells hit his nostrils,

the sounds.

One thing the Ninevites

repent of

is their violence.

It was in your face.

It was everywhere

you looked.

And God had given him

a message.

And as he walked

through the city,

he would call out,

yet 40 days

in Nineveh

shall be overthrown.

Can you picture

that scene

in this ancient city,

this prophet

of weak little Israel

walking

wherever the people

are gathered,

wherever there's

a big intersection,

repeating this message,

over and over.

And the language

here tells us

he had barely

gotten into the city,

this great city,

declaring this message.

And God's word

caused an effect

on the Ninevites.

They realized

this is not a,

this is clearly

not the threat

of a military conqueror.

This is not

a mighty general

trying to threaten

some political thing.

Here's a man

who died,

essentially died,

and is living now,

telling them

of a coming judgment

unless they turn.

And the word

overthrown,

yet 40 days

Nineveh

shall be overthrown.

It's the same word

that is used

to describe

the judgment

God brought

on Sodom and Gomorrah.

Nineveh

will be overthrown.

It can also be

translated

overturned.

The people of Nineveh

will turn

in 40 days.

This whole city

will turn.

That's what he's declaring.

Just as Amos

had trumpeted

that message

to the Israelites,

no response.

Now this

reluctant prophet,

Jonah,

the loser,

the one who's

disqualified himself,

he's going

and doing the exact

same thing

to the Gentiles.

Not just any Gentiles,

the most wicked

of all the Gentiles

on the earth

right now,

and the most

to be feared.

He's trumpeting,

you will be turned

over

in 40 days.

The fact that

there's a 40-day delay

is also interesting

because it's

eliciting a response.

It's saying,

there are 40 days here.

This is not today.

It's not tonight.

You have 40 days,

Ninevites.

How will you receive

this word of the Lord?

You see,

that's the message.

How do you receive

the word of the Lord?

You will be overturned.

We don't know

what the overturning

will look like

in our lives,

but most of us

can look back

just a few years

or a decade

and you can see times

where God has

overturned you.

He's overturned

parts of your life.

Amen?

When he overturns us,

he's turning us

back to himself

to make a connection

with where we're at

in the Gospel of John.

If God is pruning you,

it's so that you

will bear more fruit.

If God is disciplining you

as a loving Father,

it's so that

the fruit of Christ

will be multiplied

in your life.

If God is humbling you

like he humbled Jonah,

it's to make you ready

like Jonah

to obey him immediately.

Obedience can be

as simple

as moral law.

It's the moral law

of God in my life.

I need to take

that step of obedience

right now

with what he's shown me.

He's made his will

to us very clear.

The will of God

in your life

is your sanctification.

Don't put off

obeying him

as the Spirit

convicts you.

Jerry Bridges said,

it's love

that provides

the motive

for obeying

God's moral law

and it's his law

that provides

the specific direction

on how to exercise

that love.

how much

has God

forgiven you?

Has he put

his love

in your heart?

Is he putting

more and more

and more

of his love

inside of you?

Love for God

and love for others?

Then the only

fitting response

to God's gracious

word

is gratitude.

Receive the word

of the Lord

as that which will

bring

immediate

obedience

in your life.

Don't negotiate

with your flesh.

You receive it

to obey it

right now.

Number four,

the word

of the Lord

we see in this passage.

We're to receive it

trusting that it

will accomplish

God's purpose.

Receive the word

of the Lord,

number four,

trusting that God's

word will accomplish

his purpose.

In verse five,

we read that the people

of Nineveh

believed God.

they believed

this word

that Jonah preached

to them.

They called

for a fast.

They put on

sackcloth,

not just a few,

all of them

from the greatest

to the least.

Verse six says,

the word

reached the king

of Nineveh.

You see the word

of God going forth

all the way

to the top

and he arose

from his throne.

He removed

his robe.

He covered himself

with sackcloth

and he sat

in ashes.

What happened

in Nineveh

is an illustration

for us

of that promise

of Isaiah 55,

six.

The word of the Lord

goes out

from the mouth

of God

and it shall not

return empty.

It shall accomplish

that which I purpose.

It shall succeed

in the thing

for which I sent it.

Here's an illustration

of that happening

right before their eyes.

I was trying to picture

what this would be like

right here

in Colorado.

Would you like to see

a reform of Colorado?

This is Reformation Sunday.

You want to see

Colorado be reformed,

turning and repenting

to the Lord?

It's okay to respond

with a little bit

of volume in your mouth.

Do you want to see that

or not?

Oh, amen.

Well, I mean,

picture like

the wickedest day

that Denver

has come up with.

Everybody's out

on the streets

celebrating sin

and wickedness.

And picture

the prophet of the Lord

marching in

and saying,

in 40 days,

this city will be overturned.

16th Street Mall,

people take off

whatever they were wearing

and instead

they cover themselves

with ashes

and sackcloth.

And they're saying,

Lord, forgive us.

Have mercy, Lord.

What a scene.

The word of the Lord.

It goes forth

with power.

Can't think of

a better sermon text

for Reformation Sunday

for those of us

where God has planted

right here in Colorado.

Now, we don't need to guess

at what was going on

in Nineveh

because the New Testament

interprets it for us.

In Matthew 12,

39 through 41,

we read that

Jesus,

he explained

why this happened

ultimately.

He said,

evil and adulterous

generation,

you seek for a sign

but no sign

will be given to it

except the sign

of Jonah.

What do you mean,

Lord Jesus?

Just as Jonah

was three days

and three nights

in the belly

of the great fish,

so will the Son

of Man

be three days

and three nights

in the heart

of the earth.

Now, listen to this.

Jesus said,

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,

one greater

than Jonah

is here.

our Lord Jesus.

He took on

the sin

of his people

and he nailed it

to the cross.

The Lord Jesus

was taken down,

dead,

and he was buried.

The Lord Jesus

transformed the grave.

He transformed

that grave

into a womb

and Jesus rose

from that grave.

He was born again,

the first man.

Just as Jonah

essentially died

inside the belly

of the fish

and was vomited out,

a new man,

newness of life.

Jesus Christ

appeared to over

500 witnesses.

He says,

one greater than Jonah

is here

and he's giving you

the word of the Lord.

How do you receive it?

Repent and believe.

We saw in chapter 1

the name Jonah

means dove

and a dove

is an emblem

for Israel

of peace.

Jesus is the prince

of peace.

He comes to inaugurate

the new creation.

Jonah was cast

into the waters

of God's judgment

and the Lord

settled the waters.

He brought peace

by dying

on behalf

of those Gentiles

in the boat.

Jesus Christ

passed through

the waters

of judgment

and he rose up

alive

to bring peace

on earth,

the peace

from heaven.

See,

Jonah was a shadow.

Jesus Christ

is the substance.

When Jonah

comes a second time

now,

this is an image

for us

of the resurrected

Lord Jesus Christ.

And when the Gentiles

repent and believe,

this is foreshadowing

the ingathering

of all the Gentiles.

That's us.

Believing now.

Jesus Christ,

one greater than Jonah,

he is here.

How do you receive

his word?

When you receive Christ

as the living word

of God,

the greater Jonah,

you want to eat up

all of the Bible.

Show me,

Lord,

this is who you are.

Show me more.

Spurgeon said,

eat into the very soul

of the Bible

until at last

you come to talk

in scriptural language

and your spirit

is flavored

with the words

of the Lord.

Don't you want

to receive God's word

that way?

Well,

the Ninevites did,

at least temporarily.

How much more

should we

with the spirit

regenerating us,

causing us

to love God,

giving us a hunger

for his word?

If you've been

forgiven much,

the only fitting response

is to receive

God's gracious word

with gratitude

and eat it up.

Receive the word

of the Lord,

trusting that it

shall accomplish

his purpose

in your life.

number five,

receive the word

of the Lord

as his powerful

means for changing

your heart.

Receive the word

of the Lord,

number five,

as his powerful

means for changing

your heart.

we need our hearts

to be changed.

We need to be overturned

time and time again.

A second time,

the word of the Lord

graciously comes to us

to turn our hearts

back to him.

A third time,

a hundred and fourth time,

the word of the Lord

keeps graciously

coming to us.

Notice how the word

of the Lord

makes its way

all the way

to the king

of this great empire

of Assyria.

In verse seven,

he issued a proclamation

and published

through Nineveh

by the decree

of the king

and his nobles,

let neither man

nor beast,

herd 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.

Do you see how

they received

the word of the Lord?

They didn't take this

as a military threat.

They took this

as God himself

is not pleased

with our sin.

See,

the law of the creator

was written

on their hearts.

They knew

their acts of violence

deserve judgment.

They knew that.

This most wicked,

most pagan,

most sin-enslaved people

repents.

And God captures

this whole story

in his word.

I looked this up.

I'm going to read it

from my phone for you

because I believe

this is true.

Why?

Here's the question.

Why now?

Why do we have this?

One commentator

believes that

this repentance

of the Ninevites

is a foil.

A foil

is when a character

or one people

is set up

in contrast

to another.

It's typically

a contrast

against the protagonist

in order to better

highlight

and differentiate

certain qualities

of the protagonist.

So contrast

means differences.

And let me give you

an example

from literature

that might be

more familiar.

In Romeo and Juliet,

Shakespeare has

Benvolio

and he has Tybalt.

Benvolio is passive.

Tybalt fights.

Benvolio is even-keeled.

Tybalt is quick-tempered.

Benvolio is very loyal

to his friends.

Tybalt is more loyal

to his family.

So you see the contrast

set up.

One is a foil

to the other.

Ninevites were a foil

to the protagonist,

which was the people

of God.

It was Israel.

We need a contrast here.

We need to see

what are the traits

of the Ninevites

that need to expose

the sins

of God's own people.

Expose their hypocrisy.

That's why

the word of the Lord

does this.

And it foreshadows

what God's going to do

to the ends

of the earth.

Brian Estelle commented,

Ninevites are a foil

to God's people.

God is rebuking

Israel's lack

of repentance

from the prophetic

preaching of God's word

to them.

You ignored Amos.

You ignored Hosea.

Fine.

I'll take the reject.

I'll take Jonah.

And I'll show you

what, not him,

but what my word

will do.

You give me

the hardest city

in the world

to turn over Nineveh?

Fine.

I'm going to send

Jonah to Nineveh

to show you

the power

of the word

of God.

Augustine said,

God's promised

forgiveness

to your repentance.

God has promised

if you repent,

he will forgive.

And that's what

the king of Nineveh

was counting on.

Lord, if we turn,

maybe you'll withhold

your wrath.

But Augustine said,

God has not promised

tomorrow

to your

procrastination.

Israel,

learn this example.

The way I made

my word,

made Nineveh respond,

you need to respond

that way.

We're no different.

We're no better

than the Ninevites.

We're no better

than Israel.

If you have been

forgiven much,

the only fitting

response is to

receive God's word,

his gracious word

to you again today

with gratitude.

receive the word

of the Lord

as his powerful

means for changing

your heart.

He did it to Nineveh.

He can change

that hard heart

in your family,

of that co-worker,

maybe your own

heart right now.

His word works

powerfully

to change hearts.

The reason for this

is number six.

We receive the word

of the Lord,

trusting that he

is glorified

when he proves

himself true to it.

God is glorified

when he proves

to you,

I was true

to my word.

That's why we receive

it, trusting he

will bring glory

to himself

through his word.

Look at verse 10.

When God saw

what they did,

how they turned

from their evil way,

God relented.

The King James,

God repented

of the disaster

that he had said

he would do to them

and he did not

do it.

Well, this brings up

a big question

about God.

Recently,

there's been

wrong teaching

on this topic

that God doesn't

even know the future.

He created possibilities

and the future

will unfold

based on human choices.

So, this is tricky.

Did God repent here?

What does this mean?

Did God change his mind?

Or did God decree

everything that will

come to pass

in the future?

What's at stake here

is sovereignty.

Who is truly sovereign

over what comes

to pass on earth?

Is it God

or is it man?

This is a tricky passage.

We have a hermeneutical

principle.

In Sunday school,

we've been going through

different tools

we need to use

to correctly understand

all of God's word.

The hermeneutical principle

in this case

that's helpful is this.

What the Bible reveals

about God's essence,

his nature,

his attributes,

who God is,

that clarifies for us

other language

that describes

God's actions

or feelings

because we know

from the Bible

that God is not

a creature

with human passions.

He's not.

What does the Bible

say about God's essence,

God's nature?

That comes first.

Psalm 33, 11 says,

the counsel of the Lord

stands forever.

The plans of his heart

to all generations.

Romans.

Brian Estella,

again,

helped clarify,

Scripture speaks to us

in terms of

analogical discourse.

To say one thing

is like another thing.

It's a way of communicating

to help us understand

and make sense

based on what we can relate to.

John Calvin said,

God talks to us

in baby talk.

He accommodates

his truth

to work

in us

that which we are capable

of making sense

and receiving.

So,

this language

is not describing

God as he is

in himself,

but it's describing

God as he seems

to us.

We know from the Bible

that there is no shadow

of turning in God.

To say that God

repented in this case,

it means that

God revealed

that his action

would be changed

toward them.

He had warned them

40 days.

God knew

that this was

his decree

all along.

he knew

they would repent.

His word

would cause them

to repent.

And he knew

that he would not

destroy them now

in this moment.

So,

the word of the Lord

going to the Ninevites

is what made

their repentance happen.

It's actually

reinforcing

the divine decree.

Because Israel

refused to obey God,

see,

God,

he would bring

unrepentant Israel

into exile

for his glory.

Because he would also

bring them back

out of exile

into their land

with Ezra and Nehemiah

and rebuilding

and setting the stage

for the coming of Christ.

All of this

for his glory.

He's teaching his people

who he is.

He is just.

He has wrath

towards sin.

But God is long-suffering.

He is patient,

desiring that none

should perish.

All of this is true

of who God is.

And he reveals this

to us

in this story.

In Genesis 1 and 2

we have a pattern

established

for the word of God

going out

and creating

that which he intends.

This is one more example

of how God does that

in time.

The word of the Lord

goes forth

and he brings

into creation

that which he decrees.

He creates order

out of disorder.

He creates life

out of chaos

and death.

And here with the Ninevites

his word goes forth

and it brings about

that which God decreed

all along

foreshadowing

the work of his son.

And the purpose

for all of this

is the glory

of God alone.

Does Jonah get any glory

in this story?

Jonah gets pushed

lower and lower.

Do the Ninevites

get glory for repenting?

No.

They're so wicked.

God was gracious

to them.

It's the word of the Lord

that brings glory

to God alone.

How much has God

forgiven you?

The only fitting response

to his gracious word

to you yet again today

is gratitude

for his glory alone.

You receive it.

The Lord receives you

and you receive his word

trusting that he is glorified

when he proves himself

true to his word

in your life as well.

I've got one last point here

and this is not even

from Jonah

but it's what this

all points to

which is the fulfillment

the final word

of the Lord.

How do you receive

the Lord Jesus himself?

That's number seven.

Receive the final

and full word of God.

Our Lord Jesus Christ himself.

When you receive

the word of the Lord

when you receive Jesus

he changes you.

You receive Christ

with life changing gratitude.

The Lord had promised Israel

in Exodus 34

that the Lord is a God

merciful and gracious

slow to anger

abounding in steadfast love

and faithfulness.

That's who God is.

That's who God has proved himself

to be once again

with the Ninevites repenting.

We're told in John 1 14

that the word became flesh

and dwelt among us

and we have seen his glory.

God's only son

full of grace

and truth.

Have you received

the final

full word of God

Jesus Christ himself?

Hebrews 5 8 says

although Jesus was a son

he learned obedience

through what he suffered

and being made perfect

he became

the source

of eternal salvation

to all

who obey him.

A freed slave

is expected

to cherish his freedom.

A pardoned criminal

is expected

to live

a reformed life.

In Christ

you have been

forgiven much.

Receive him.

Receive God's

gracious word today

with life changing

gratitude

for the glory

of God

alone.

Would you pray with me?

Oh Lord

your word

is gracious

like you say

in Proverbs 16 24

your word

is like a honeycomb.

It is sweetness

to the soul

and health

to the body.

Lord we see

through your word

that even our suffering

like Jonah

if it leads to repentance

it's gracious.

As hard as it is

for us to accept

that and understand it

we thank you

that you have

revealed

your steadfast love

your mercy

your grace

to us.

Lord we testify

like Jonah

you are

so slow

to anger

like the Ninevites

Lord

you do abound

in steadfast love

and faithfulness.

Please teach us

Father

to receive

your word

to receive

Jesus Christ

and to obey you

now

to abide in you

every day

and forever

for your glory

in our midst

we ask

Amen.