A Word Of Warning Against A Wicked City

Praise the Lord, we're going to turn in our Bibles now to the

book of Jonah. We're going to read God's Word

together, Jonah chapter 1. And if anybody's thinking, where

Jonah 1 · chapter mention

is Jonah? Well, if you can open your Bible

and find maybe Ezekiel and find Daniel, then you'll come to

Hosea. Then after that you'll have Joel

and Amos and Obadiah and Jonah tempted to give you a page

number, but your page number would be different from mine.

So come to Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, and Obadiah, and then

you'll come to the little prophecy of Jonah.

We're going to read in chapter 1, and we're just going to read

the first 11 verses together. Let's hear the word of God,

Jonah chapter one, verse one. Now the word of the Lord came on

to Jonah the son of a Metei, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh

that great sepi, and cry against it, for their wickedness has

come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee on the

Tarsus from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa.

And he found a ship going to Tarsus.

So he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it to go with

them on the Tarsus from the presence of the Lord.

But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was

a mighty Tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be

broken. Then the Mariners were afraid,

and cried every man unto his God, and cast forth the wares

that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it off them.

But Jonah was gone down into the side of the ship, and he lay and

was fast asleep. So the shipmaster came to him,

and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper, arise called

upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us that we

perish not. And they said Everyone to his

fellow, Come and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose

'cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot

fell upon Jonah. Then said they unto him, Tell

us, we pray thee, for whose 'cause this evil is upon us?

What is thine occupation, and whence came as thy?

And what is thy country? And of what people art thou?

And he said unto them, I am in Hebrew, and I fear the Lord the

God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.

Then were the man exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why

hast thou done this? For the men knew that he'd fled

from the presence of the Lord because he had told them, Amen.

We'll end the reading there at verse 10, and we pray God will

stamp with his own approval and blessing this reading of His own

precious and infallible Word. Amen.

Now my text tonight is taken from the book of Jonah, Jonah

Jonah 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1 and verses 1 and 2. Now the word of the Lord came

unto Jonah the son of Amitai, saying arise go to Nineveh that

great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up

before me. And of entitled message tonight

a word of warning for a wicked city.

I want you to notice that the book of Jonah doesn't open with

a word of comfort, but with a command to confrontation.

The true and living God speaks and calls, and when He opens His

mouth, His word carries great authority, urgency, and purpose.

His word to Jonah was direct, clear, and unsettling because he

was indeed calling and commissioning his servant, the

prophet Jonah, to go to that great city of Nineveh and cry

against it. Now that great city of Nineveh

was no mean city. It wasn't a tiny, obscure little

village. It wasn't even a little town.

It was the ancient city capital of a Syria.

The walls of the city were 100 feet high.

The walls were so wide you could raise 3 Chariots around it

abreast. The population of Nineveh was

literally millions. We're not told.

But what we do know was this, that there was 120,000 infants

living in it who didn't know their right hand or their left

hand. It was a great, powerful city,

influential in the ancient world.

And yet this city was deeply corrupt, a place notorious for

wickedness. It it lacked the fear of God.

It was a place known for its cruelty, idolatry, immoral

practises. Notice something God is not

indifferent to their sin, nor is God silent in the face of such

wickedness. But before his holy judgement

falls on ancient Nineveh, he sends a warning.

And the warning comes via the mouth of one man, a servant of

Jehovah, a prophet called of God.

And God commands this prophet to arise and go to Nineveh, that

great city, and cry against it. You see, God here is acting in

sovereign grace and mercy. Here is his pattern of work.

Listen to me carefully. God warns before he wins.

God calls. Before he condemns, God speaks

before he strikes, here is this missionary call, and we're

learning something about God's holy character.

God is holy. God is just.

God must judge sin. God can't overlook sin and evil.

God is merciful. And not only does he see sin for

what it is, not only does he respond to it, but he warns

sinners about coming judgement, and he issues in that judgement

a call to repent and receive the word of God.

Now, as we consider tonight this warning to Nineveh, I want you

to notice that we're not merely looking at an ancient city.

For what we're seeing in Nineveh is a reflection of every city in

the world, every community, every Society of people,

including our own, we province that we call Northern Ireland,

including our United Kingdom. You see, I want you to

understand tonight the United Kingdom is not only ripe and

ready for God's judgement, but there are signs already that

God's judgement has fallen and it's going to fall further

unless from the King on the throne to the pauper in the

street, the people repent of their sin and turn back to God.

So that's my introduction, 3 points tonight.

One, notice the divine declaration.

It says, now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of

Amitai, saying this is where everything really begins.

Doesn't begin with Nineveh, doesn't begin just with Jonah,

but begins with God's sovereign revelation.

See, this is not Jonah's opinion, it's not his mindset,

it's not his desire or his intention.

It is God's divine revelation. Now how do we know that Jonah

was a servant and a prophet of God?

When we compare scripture with scripture we read in Second

2 Kings 14 · chapter mention

Kings chapter 14 and in the verse 25 it says he restored the

coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea

of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel,

which he speaks by the hand of his servant Jonah the son of

Mittai the prophet, which was of Gath heifer.

Now notice the 2 words, A servant, His servant, that's

God's servant, and the son of Amitai the prophet, which is of

Gath Hefer. Gath Hefer, by the way, was

about four miles from Nazareth in northern Galilee.

And of course he restored the coast of Israel from the

entering of Hamath onto the sea of the Plain was the days of

Jeroboam. Jeroboam was the king.

He was king of the Northern Kingdom at this time of Jonah in

Jonah's day. But Jonah was known as His

servant, God's servant, and he was known as the prophet.

Don't we read over there in the book of Hebrews Godhood sundry

times and in divers manners, speaking time passed unto the

fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us

by His Son. You see, the authority of God's

message in the past and in the present rests entirely in God.

Remember, we read all scriptures given by inspiration of God and

is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for

instruction and righteousness. What we have in this book is a

God breathed book. God has spoken and what the

Bible says, God says and what God says, the Bible says.

And Scripture is the voice of God.

It's a God breathe book and and scripture divinely inspired and

revealed is binding on all people everywhere.

See, God is not silent. He's certainly not silent

towards wickedness. And God speaks and when he

speaks, he speaks clearly, decisively, truthfully and

authority. And when the Word of God came to

Jonah, it demanded a response. See, when the Word of God comes

to us, you cannot be indifferent.

Indifference is not neutrality. Indifference is sinful

rebellion. Jonah didn't invent the message.

I don't believe Jonah invaded the message.

I don't believe Jonah was interested in the message.

It was God who initiated the revelation.

The revelation always begins with Him.

Jonah received this message, and surely there's a reminder here

that God's truth is always divinely revealed.

It's not something that's culturally constructed.

Let me ask tonight this question How do you view the word of God?

Do you treat it as authentic? Do you treat it as

authoritative? Are you gripped with the

assurance that it's a God breathed word?

Listen again to Second Timothy 316.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is

profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for

instruction and righteousness, that the man of God may be

perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every good work.

The word inspiration means God breathed Theo, Neustos.

Theo is God, breath is Neustos. Put the two together.

All scripture is given by the breath of God.

Do you accept that tonight? Have you got an assurance?

Do you accept that this is authoritative and authentic?

You see, we live in a world where there's many voices in the

world, full of voices with different shades of opinion.

You've got the agnostic. You've got the atheist, you've

got those who are antagonistic. And what does carried off FPC

stand for? In light of those voices, we

must stand for solar Scripture, the Bible alone.

And I want to announce, as Doctor Brown announced in his

little video, the Free Presbyterian Church hasn't

abandoned solar scriptura. That's a lie to say that the

Free Presbyterian Church exists to proclaim that God has spoken

and God is speaking and it may not be what people want to hear.

Of course, a silent church in a sinful city is really a

disobedient church. And of course the book of Jonah

is not a book of legends or fairy tales.

It's not the stuff that's of make believe.

Do you know that the Lord Jesus gave His stamp of authority to

the book of Jonah? Listen to this in Matthew

Matthew 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12. But he answered and said unto

them, An evil, an adulterous generation seeketh after a sign,

and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the

prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was 3 days and

three nights in the wheels belly, so shall the Son of man

be 3 days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgement with this generation

and shall condemn it. Listen to this because they

repented at the preaching of Jonas, and they hold a greater

than Jonas is. Here.

He repeated something similar in Luke Chapter 11 verses 29 and

Luke 11:29

30. And there's the Lord Jesus

giving his authenticity to the book of Jonah.

And it's not a book about Jonah and the whale.

It's about Jonah and the work of God that God had called, called

him to, and God just prepared a great whale because Jonah was

running away from God and God wanted to bring him back and

give him a ride in a whale's belly for a few days.

So that's really our first point, the divine declaration.

Notice secondly, very quickly, the depravity described.

If you go back to our text, it says, Arise, go to Nineveh, that

great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up

before me. Think of the words that great

city, for their wickedness has come up before me.

Notice he calls Nineveh that great city, as I said, not an

obscure village, not a wee backward town, but the capital

of Assyria. And it was infamous for extreme

violence and cruelty. It was a place of idolatry, a

place of false worship, a place of pride, a place of persecution

and oppression towards its neighbours.

And they are, of course, historical records that bear

testimony to their terrible brutality, to their torture, to

their conquest and their arrogance.

You know what they used to do when they murdered people in

their streets? They spliced their head on a

pole three ways. They burnt people alive, even

little children. You see Mayhem 3 and one talks

about that bloody city. It was a place of murder and

mayhem. Murder was rife in the city of

Nineveh, according to the book of Zephaniah.

In Zephaniah chapter 2 and verse 15, it says this is the

Zephaniah 2 · chapter mention

rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly.

That said, in her heart I am, and there's none beside me.

How has she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down,

and everyone that passes by her shall hiss and wag his hand.

And of course that's a reference to Nineveh and will make Nineveh

a desolation and dry like a wilderness.

See, Nineveh was full of pride. She was boasting of

self-confidence and self security.

She thought she was untouchable. But of course it was a city

given over to immorality, iniquity and idolatry.

People had turned from the true God to idols.

Is there any wonder that Jeremiah or Genesis 6 and five

says that the wickedness in the earth is great?

And how great is the wickedness in the earth?

You think of today? You think of what Paul described

there in the book of Romans. In Romans chapter 3, he says

Romans 3 · chapter mention

this in verse 10. Listen to the Word of God as it

is written. There's none righteous, No, not

one. There's none that understand

that. There's none that seeketh after

God. They're all gone out of the way.

They are together, become unprofitable.

There's none that doeth good. No, not one.

Do you know that tonight God is angry with the wicked every day.

Notice in our text and think of that God is angry with the

wicked every day. Think of our text for their

wickedness has come up before me.

Now what does that mean? This is judicial language, is it

not? Is this not the language of the

courtroom and the prosecutor? It means that sin is mounting

up, one sin on top of another, guilt upon guilt, transgression

upon transgression. It's it's accumulating evidence

for when the judgement of God falls.

It's come up before the Lord. You see, your sin tonight is not

hidden from the Lord. I know that sin is a heinous

thing. I know that sin is the

transgression of the law. I know that sin is accumulative

and it reaches a point of divine reckoning.

You think tonight of people in our towns and cities, you're

dead. And trespasses and sins.

They're darkened in their mind. They're diseased in their

affections. They've no love for fear of God.

They're in a state of total depravity.

And I want to say this tonight, listen to me carefully.

No town, no city, no country, no nation escapes God's gears.

God sees and knows, and what rises from the earth is seen and

known in heaven. You think of our modern world,

None of us bought a reflection of the modern world.

It's like a mirror. Violence is normalised,

immorality is celebrated. Cinnabons.

The major cities of our United Kingdom London, Glasgow,

Edinburgh Liverpool, Manchester, Belfast, Londonderry.

Do you know that in the past five years, 30 women have been

murdered due to domestic violence in their homes?

We could add into the mix the murder and mayhem of what was

called the killing times during the times of Trouble in our

land. Inspired by the ARA.

Do you know that 11,000 little babies have been murdered in the

womb because of the changes to abortion legislation in our

land? What are we doing?

We're murdering our own. And you think of the House of

Lords vote just the other day allowing woman expecting a baby

right up to two or three hours before she's due to deliver that

baby to decide to take the life of that baby and she's no longer

being criminalised. What wickedness?

It's a violation of the command that says thy shall not kill.

And you add into the mix the false cults and the false

religion. Do you know that there's now 14

places of false religion of Islam operating in Northern

Ireland? The Bible says Psalm 711.

God is angry with the wicked every day.

God sees, God knows, and what rises from the earth enters into

the nostrils and the sight of Almighty God in heaven.

God's eye is upon those that know they need to be saved and

are not saved. God's eye is upon those who

don't rebey the gospel call to repent of their sin and put

their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

Remember what we read in John chapter 3 and in the verse 36,

John 3 · chapter mention

John chapter 3 and in the verse 36.

John 3 · chapter mention

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he

that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of

God abideth on him. Everyone outside of Christ who

hasn't repented of their sin, young or old, boy or girl,

irrespective of where they live, in a little village, a town or a

big city like Belfast or some other major city who's outside

of Christ, they're walking about and the wrath of God abides in

their head. Bible says the fool have said in

his heart there is no God. You see, sin is not just out

there by way of actions. Sin is in their heart.

Jeremiah said the heart is deceitful and desperately

wicked. Who can do what?

The Bible teaches that we're sinners by nature and practise.

Individuals are not just basically good, they're badly,

totally fallen sinners. I saw a picture of you tonight

out of Christ. Have you recognised your sin?

Are you willing to repudiate that sin?

Are you willing to repent and turn from it unto God, whatever

that chief sin is? See, that's the depravity that's

displayed. And notice also as we finish the

deliverance displayed, if you look at our text that says in

verse 2, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against

it. Arise.

It's not a simple word. Arise.

What is it unfair? What does it suggest?

What do you think about it? If I said to you Arise, what

would be your posture? The posture would be that you're

sitting. Was Jonah sitting at ease in his

home in Gath Heifer? Is it not a picture of being

settled, sitting and comfortable like like being at ease and

Zion? See, here's a question.

Does this mirror our condition? Does this mirror you and me?

Are we settled in a in a routine?

Are we happy and content with our lot in life?

Settled by the theology of comfort, sitting still?

Are we content with the way things are?

How many are happy to sit, but have you heard the call to arise

and the call to go? See How many don't recognise the

value of 1 soul? How many don't know that they

need to arise and go to souls with the great message of the

Gospel? Many agree that there's a great

need, but differently respond. See, the bottom line is Jonah

didn't want to go to Nineveh. And Jonah the prophet reflects

and mirrors our lives because how many have heard the call to

arise and go and they've got excuses.

They they've become evasive. And for Jonah, it wasn't just a

pattern about geography, it was a pattern about spirituality.

He was comfortable, he was happily with his routine.

He was happily with the regularity of his life.

I'll go to the prayer meeting on a Wednesday.

I'll come to the services on a Sunday.

I'll go to the old missionary meeting, but don't really upset

my routine. You see, there was a challenge

here in this command. There was a cost here in this

command. There was a commitment and a

courage that was required in response to this command.

The deliverance displayed was this arise, a command to arise

very quickly, a command to accept, notice this arise and go

to Nineveh. Nineveh was a distant city, far

away from Gareth Hever. It was a depraved city.

As I've said, the modern day equivalent is Mosul, which is in

Iraq. It was a city of violence,

cruelty, iniquity, idolatry and ungodliness.

Ancient Nineveh was a brutal oppressor.

It was a city given over to military conquest against its

neighbour. It was a great city popular with

many. A great city with influence, a

great city with power. Go here.

Not a chance, Lord. There was a command to announce.

Notice this as we finish. Not only a command to arise and

a command to accept, but a command to announce and cry

against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.

He was a Great Commission. He was told what to say.

Cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before

me. You see, the gospel is not a

social gospel. The gospel is not about social

development. The gospel is not about food

aid. The gospel is not about

improving living standards and conditions, but education.

And and I'm not saying that's not a part, but there has to be

a saving gospel. And this Great Commission was

involving great cost and compassion because he was to go,

that is Jonah, and say judgement is coming.

Destruction is certain unless you repent and get right with

the Lord. And let me say this, this

warning implies the possibility of great mercy and grace.

God didn't need to warn Nineveh. God could just have destroyed it

without a word. But he didn't.

He sent his servant. He sent the prophet Jonah.

Jonah was to go and preach. Yet 40 days and none of us

should be destroyed. A fourth teller of truth.

Why? And I tell you this was

refinished. Even in wrath, God remembers

mercy. And that was no easy task for

Jonah. It took commitment.

It involved cost. It involved a courage.

And God's warning always exposes sin and reveals guilt.

God's warning calls for true repentance.

God's warning prepares and opens the way for a display of great

grace and mercy. It wasn't easy for Jonah to be

faithful just as a way. It's not easy for you to be

faithful to your family, to tell them to repent and believe the

gospel, to your friends, to your work colleagues, to your

neighbours. You're not saved.

Think of it, if they die in their sins, they'll be lost and

go to hell. And it was Robert Murray

Mcsheehan that said, never mention, hail or preach about it

unless you do it with tears. Do you know tonight that God

takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked?

Ezekiel 33 and 11 according to Jeremiah 18-7 and eight.

If a person, a house or a community or a country or a city

repents, God relents of His judgement.

Do you know that the people of Nineveh, we've already read it.

Matthew chapter 20, Matthew chapter 12, verse 40, the people

Matthew 20 · chapter mention Matthew 12:40

of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah.

God's warning was a sign of great mercy, a Great Commission,

a great compassion that involved cost and commitment.

And just as Jonah was sent to the Gentiles, so was the gospel.

Just as Nineveh was warned, so is the cities in our United

Kingdom. Just as Jonah began with a

warning, that warning was full of grace and mercy.

That warning brought a redemptive truth.

God wasn't issuing empty threats, but the warning was a

merciful opportunity. The judgement hasn't fallen yet.

There's grace and mercy with the Lord.

See, Jonah's held up as a sign, the sign of Jonah.

Jonah is a sign of Christ's death and resurrection, and no

other sign was given. The world has been given a

warning today. Flee from the wrath to come.

God hates sin. God issues a warning.

Flee from the wrath to come. The gospel is not just an

invitation to a life of submission and salvation.

It's a warning. Faithful preaching must include

sin, repentance, the blood atonement, judgement, grace and

mercy. There's a time to repent and

turn to the Lord. I I'm finished, but let me give

you a wee illustration. Here's a man that his 30s, he's

into finance, he's a good salary, he's respected, he's got

a comfortable life, he's a wife, he's a family.

In addition, he's addicted to pornography, he's addicted to

gambling. He's been quietly manipulating

the numbers to steal money from the firm.

At the start, it was small. At the start, he intended to pay

it back, it was just temporary. But when they did an audit, he

was found out. He was exposed, he couldn't

sleep. He shifted to blame.

He thought he would resign quietly escape the consequences.

But you know what happened? He went to church and in an

evangelical church he heard that God is holy and God is hates sin

and God is just and God is merciful and God calls to

repentance and God calls to faith and God is not harsh and

God is not angry, but God sees and knows and sin must be

answered and accounted for. That man stopped defending

himself. He realised that he'd done

wrong. And that week he confessed to

sin to God and got saved. That week, the same day he

confessed to sin to his boss. He lost everything, his

reputation, his job, police were involved.

He lost the respect of his wife and family.

But you know what he said after the end of all that he could go

home and go to bed and sleep because he got right with God.

How could you sleep if the wrath of God was hanging over your

head? You couldn't do it.

You can't do it. That's why many people are

riddled with guilt. And here's this deliverance

displayed in these commands. Arise, go to Nineveh and cry

against it. It's a sign of God being

merciful. May God be merciful to our

cities and our towns and villages at this time.