Jonah’s Repentance

If you're just coming back from the break, you may recall that we have been working through the book of Ecclesiastes and we found ourselves in Ecclesiastes chapter 2 and there was not a time warp while you were gone.

Ecclesiastes 2 · chapter mention

We did not manage to get all the way through the 12th chapter and now into another book, but decided instead to wrap up the book of Ecclesiastes for the time being by coming to the book of Jonah.

And we're doing this because the summation of the book of Ecclesiastes, although it has so much of great value to say to us, is found in chapter 12, verse 13 of Ecclesiastes, where the pastor says,

the preacher, the end of the matter, all has been heard, fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man.

So we're stepping away from it and we're coming to the book of Jonah to look at an example of this and the way that it works out in the life of Jonah,

as well as the manors, though those that he sails with the sailors and the Ninevites as well.

I said this last week, but for those of you who weren't here, if it makes you very sad that we're not still preaching in Ecclesiastes, my apologies to you.

But if you will get married and build a house and have children in the area someday, maybe we'll revisit it and quench that thirst for you.

So, we looked last week thematically from Jonah chapter 1, verses 1 through 16 at rebellion.

Jonah 1:1–16

We looked at the rebellion of the mariners.

First part of verse 5 of chapter 1 says,

Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his God.

These were not followers of the one true God.

They had many gods, and they all cried out asking that their God might stay the storm.

They were rebellious against the one true God.

We looked at Nineveh's rebellion.

In chapter 1, verse 2, we see the command to Jonah,

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.

And Jonah's cry, which we find in chapter 3, verse 4, is,

Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

So, the promised destruction of Nineveh because of their evil, their rebellion before the Lord.

And I read to everyone last week the prophecy of Nahum, which was for these people.

Chapter 3, verses 1 through 4, Nahum.

Woe to the bloody city, all full of lies and plunder, no end to the prey.

The crack of the whip and rumble of wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot.

Horsemen charging, flashing sword and glittering spear.

Hosts of slain, heaps of corpses, dead bodies without end.

They stumble over the bodies.

And all for the countless whorings of the prostitute, graceful and of deadly charms,

who betrays nations with her whorings and peoples with her charms.

So, get there, they were a warring people.

They were a destructive people, a violent people because of sex and evil before God.

And we looked at Jonah's rebellion.

Jonah knew of God's purpose in the world that His glory might be known amongst the nations.

We see a rapid expansion of this as we read the New Testament account,

as the Gospel turns from primarily the Jews and outward to the Gentile populations.

But this is not a new thing.

This is not a brand new revelation of God's purpose,

because we see all throughout the Old Testament God's intention to make Himself known amongst the peoples of the world.

And here we find an example of that.

Jonah's rebellion was because he knew of God's purpose.

Because Jonah saw the Assyrians who lived in Nineveh as enemies, as dreaded enemies.

Jonah 4, verse 1 and 2.

Jonah 4:1

After we see the Ninevites repent and turn to God, it says,

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.

And he prayed to the Lord and said,

O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country?

That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish.

For I knew that You were a gracious God and merciful,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster.

Because he knew that God intended to save the Ninevites.

He didn't want to be the one to bring him this message.

And so he flees.

Jonah tried to flee from God's presence.

We see that twice in verse 3 and again in verse 10 of chapter 1.

He tried to flee the presence of the Lord.

And certainly we know this is not a possible thing.

And I believe that Jonah knew that it wasn't a possible thing.

The Psalms predate Jonah's day.

And he would have likely been familiar with Psalm 139, 7-10.

Where shall I go from your spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there.

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me.

So we talked about how it's not possible to flee from the presence of the God in a physical sense.

But that what he was doing is he was fleeing from the will of God.

He was running away from the very thing that God intended to accomplish.

So knowing God's purpose, he tried to flee from God's presence.

And he therefore experiences God's power.

I'm just going to alliterate this thing like crazy.

God sovereignly works to accomplish his purpose.

So he brings about this great storm.

Jonah's throne overboard.

And we'll pick up in the story today that he's swallowed by a great fish.

And his heart is turned back toward the thing that God has asked him to do.

And we're going to kind of narrow in on verses 14 of chapter 1 through the end of chapter 3.

It's rather a chunk of a text.

But thematically, we're going to look at the repentance of the characters of our stories.

And it's important for us to pay attention to this.

Not as some abstract thing.

Their repentance.

But how is it that we are meant to repent?

How is it that we find ourselves in the same condition as these characters?

We've got the mariners and the Ninevites who did not know God, repenting for the very first time.

And we have Jonah who does know God, but who's disobedient to God, repenting and turning back to his ways.

Because, beloved, all of us have been cast into the depths of the sea in Adam.

Sin is an issue for all of us.

Whether redeemed or not, sin is an issue in our day.

This is the human condition apart from saving faith in Christ.

Christ is the safety of the shore.

Repentance is the big fish that carries us there.

It is the act that stays the storm.

It is the flag of truth that spares the destruction of our city.

It's not a light matter to consider repentance and our need of it.

It is my prayer for all of us this morning that we will be penitent.

Now, penitent is a very old word, but it's a very good word.

As an adjective, it means to feel and to show remorse for an action.

As a noun, it means a person who is repentant.

A person who is repentant.

It is a state of being.

And we ought to be, as God's people, penitent.

The Christian life is a life of repentance.

Of turning from sin and turning to God.

So let's read together.

Remember, the focus this morning is chapter 1, verse 14 through the end of chapter 3.

Isaiah 1:14

But I am going to start at the beginning.

It will take about six minutes.

We're going to be okay.

But stick with me.

Beginning in chapter 1, verse 1.

This is the Word of God.

Now the Word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying,

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it.

For their evil has come up before me.

But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish.

He paid the fare and went on board to go with them to Tarshish,

away from the presence of the Lord.

But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea,

and there was a mighty tempest on the sea,

so that the ship threatened to break up.

Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his God.

And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them.

But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and laid down and was fast asleep.

So the captain came and said to him,

What do you mean, you sleeper?

Arise, call out to your God.

Perhaps the God will give a thought to us that we may not perish.

And they said to one another,

Come, let us cast lots that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.

So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

Then they said to him,

Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us.

What is your occupation, and where do you come from?

What is your country, and of what people are you?

And he said to them,

I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven,

who made the sea and the dry land.

Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him,

What is this that you have done?

For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord,

because he had told them.

Then they said to him,

What shall we do to you that the sea may quiet down for us?

For the sea grew more and more tempestuous.

He said to them,

Pick me up and hurl me into the sea,

then the sea will quiet down for you,

for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.

Nevertheless, the men rode hard to get back to dry land,

but they could not,

for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.

Therefore they called out to the Lord,

O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life,

and lay not on us innocent blood,

for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.

So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea,

and the sea ceased from its raging.

Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly,

and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah,

and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish,

saying,

I called out to the Lord out of my distress,

and he answered me.

Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,

and you heard my voice.

For you cast me into the deep,

into the heart of the seas,

and the floods surrounded me.

All your waves and your billows passed over me.

Then I said,

I am driven away from your sight,

yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.

The waters closed in over me to take my life.

The deep surrounded me.

Weeds were wrapped around my head

at the roots of the mountains.

I went down to the land

whose bars closed upon me forever,

yet you brought up my life from the pit,

O Lord my God.

When my life was fainting away,

I remembered the Lord,

and my prayer came to you into your holy temple.

Those who pay regard to vain idols

forsake their hope of steadfast love.

But I, with the voice of thanksgiving,

will sacrifice to you

what I have vowed I will pay.

Salvation belongs to the Lord.

And the Lord spoke to the fish,

and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

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 went to Nineveh

according to the word of the Lord.

Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city,

three days' journey in breadth.

Jonah began to go into the city,

going a day's journey,

and he called out,

Yet forty days,

and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

And the people of Nineveh believed God.

They called for a fast

and 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,

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 ways

and from the violence that is in his hands.

Who knows?

God may turn and relent from his fierce anger

so that we may not perish.

When God saw what they did,

how they turned from their evil way,

God relented of the disaster

that he had said he would do to them,

and he did not do it.

The story of Jonah is a fantastic story,

and I believe that we're all familiar with it.

I think at least in some cursory telling of it,

we're aware of the man

that was thrown overboard

and swallowed up by a great fish.

Jonah, the story of Jonah,

becomes one of the proof points

for those who want to declare

the Word of God inerrant.

They say this is not a thing

that could have possibly happened.

This whole story seems to be figurative,

and we can learn some life lesson from it,

but we can't believe that it's actually true

that God sent a great fish

to swallow Jonah

and keep him alive inside for three days.

Let me say to you,

by faith, we believe that the Bible is true

whether or not we can prove so empirically.

However, I just want to tell you a few things

that I learned in the study of Jonah

about the historical veracity of this text.

This is not the proof that the Scripture is true.

However, it is nice to know these things,

that there's these apologetics in the world for this.

I told you last week that Nineveh,

ancient Nineveh,

is now underneath, for the most part,

the modern-day city in Iraq

called Mosul, or Mosul.

You've heard it called.

And there, in this city,

there is a mount called,

I hope I pronounced this correctly,

Nebi Yunus.

It's at least my best try at it.

Which translated means,

and they found underneath this mound of dirt,

they did some excavation,

they found some of the ancient city of Nineveh

underneath this mound.

And the mound, historically,

is called Nebi Yunus,

which translated means,

the prophet Jonah.

So this ancient burial mound

that's been named after the prophet Jonah.

Our text tells us that a great fish

came and swallowed Jonah up,

despite our common telling of it,

that it was a whale,

although it could have likely been a whale.

I don't believe in this day

they would have differentiated between the two.

My wife and I had a little bit of a debate this week

on whether or not they would have,

and I said,

it's not like they had Jack Casto

swimming in the sea

and taking photos of these things.

She said,

but their tail fins are so much different.

And I said,

this way versus this way?

I don't know that that's all that different.

All the same,

I don't think they would have differentiated

between the mammal whale

and the fish shark

or whatever it may have been.

So a great fish was an apt name

for this beast that swallowed up Jonah.

Most whales,

as well as sharks,

have throats that are far too small

to swallow a human whole.

But there are two species

that could pull this off.

The sperm whale is one.

And the other is the whale shark.

You guys all been to the Georgia Aquarium?

The whale sharks in the Georgia Aquarium

are minuscule

compared to the size

that those fish can become.

And of course,

we know that the,

or at least I think we know,

I know,

that the sperm whale primarily feeds

on giant squid,

which are much, much bigger than humans.

So they have the ability

to swallow something

the size of a human.

I looked a little bit,

just for fun this week,

at the range

and the places

that these ocean dwellers tend to go.

And I tend towards this great fish

being a sperm whale,

although it doesn't really matter

because they do range

into the Mediterranean,

which is where we presume

he's sailing

as he's headed to

the city of Tarshish,

which was likely in modern-day Spain.

And so,

just doing a bit more research,

I found an account in 1891,

a whaling ship,

whaling four sperm whales,

harpooned one out of a single boat,

and the second boat coming along

to harpoon again was capsized.

And after capturing this whale,

a man was missing.

It just had totally lost a sailor,

and they couldn't find his body anyplace.

And so,

as they took this whale,

now dead,

and cut all the blubber off of it

in one day,

the next day,

they began to process the innards,

and they pulled the stomach on board,

cut it open,

and the man was inside.

He was unconscious,

but he was alive.

They revived him,

and he went back to work.

So,

so phenomenally,

here's a man able to live

inside the belly of a whale for a day,

right?

And I would posit to you

that we have an account

of a man who lived inside the belly

of a whale for three.

Both sperm whale and the whale shark

keep air inside of their bellies

in order to stay afloat.

It's the way they regulate

staying afloat that way.

So he would have had air to breathe.

It would have been a rather miserable place to be,

rather warm inside the belly of anything.

104 to 108 degrees inside

would have been quite the place to be

for three days.

But it's possible.

We see a man living for a day

inside the belly of a sperm whale.

Further,

and I find this so incredibly fascinating,

the Assyrians,

which are the people living in Nineveh,

and the Phoenicians,

which would have lived to the coast,

both worshipped a god called Dagon,

which was kind of a merman

in their depictions of him.

And so it's quite possible,

and I'm postulating at this point,

but that Jonah was spit ashore

in Phoenician land and was found.

It's not like,

I think in our minds,

we picture him getting vomited

out of a great fish onto the shore

and wiping the muck off of his robe

and then walking to Nineveh.

He probably needed some recovery.

He likely had some help in that.

We see in the beginning of chapter 3,

the word of the Lord coming to Jonah

a second time.

So he's waiting.

God says to him again,

go to this people,

like I told you before,

be obedient.

Now,

and so it's very likely

that the Phoenicians knew

that this man came out of the belly

of a great fish

and that that word had traveled

before Jonah

to the city of Nineveh.

So he walks into this city

as a rather peculiar man,

quite possibly seen

as a messenger from Dagon, right?

And it gets people's attention.

So as he's speaking destruction upon them,

and whether or not this is the case,

if it is,

how amazing that God

would sovereignly work

this whole circumstance

that a man be vomited onto a beach

by a great fish

so that people would hear

the word of the Lord

as he entered into such a great,

great city.

Rather fascinating, right?

So there's this veracity,

this historical veracity to the story,

and we should view it as such.

And therefore,

as we look at the nature of repentance,

in this passage,

it helps us,

and it speaks to us

as it is God's Word.

And so,

as the theme is repentance this morning,

I want to break that down to you

with three marks

of true repentance.

There's certainly

plenty of false repentance

in our day,

but three marks

of true repentance,

and I told you I would alliterate it for you,

and they are,

number one,

conviction,

number two,

confession,

and to keep the seas going,

number three,

conformity,

or obedience if you prefer.

The first mark

of true repentance

is conviction.

And conviction consists of two things.

It consists of the sight of sin

and sorrow for sin.

It consists of knowing what is sin

and seeing it as such,

seeing it as disobedience against the command of God.

In Hosea 5.15,

we see a prescription for repentance

written by the Lord.

He says,

I will return again to my place

until they acknowledge their guilt

and seek my face,

and in their distress

earnestly seek me.

So we acknowledge our guilt.

So many of us have grown up

in what we would call good homes.

So many of our stories begin,

I was born into

a Christian home.

I was taught morality

at a very early age,

and we should praise God for this.

Right?

We are spared from so much

because of the work of our parents

in our lives.

But as such,

we often see ourselves as so good.

How many of you have heard

the testimony told

where somebody says,

I have a kind of boring testimony.

Because there's nothing extravagant about it.

I didn't demand my inheritance

from my father

and go off and squander it

in a foreign land.

I can't speak of prostitution and drugs.

These are not part of my story.

But my offense all the same

against a holy God

is just as extravagant.

In every way in my living before Christ,

I said to God,

I am my own God.

I seek my own direction.

I want nothing to do with you.

And beloved,

so many of us get this wrong

because we see our sin

as a light thing.

This is why the Gospel message

begins with the law.

To bring the conviction of sin.

We must be knocked down first

by the law

in order to be picked up by Christ.

Spurgeon says it in this way,

when men talk a little of hell,

the destruction that's coming for sin,

it is because they think

they have only a little sin

and believe in a little Savior.

It is all little together.

But when you get a great sense of sin,

you want a great Savior

and feel that if you do not have Him,

you will fall into a great destruction

and suffer a great punishment

at the hands of the great God.

This is true of every one of us

apart from Christ,

that even the smallest offense

against the ways of God

is of eternal,

I'm trying to not say weight again,

of value before Him, right?

This eternal holy God,

when we offend Him,

we offend Him eternally.

And therefore,

the proper payment for that

is eternal destruction.

This is what's due us.

And we must understand this

and we must see it

if we are to repent properly.

Thomas Watson,

in a little book I commend to you,

I'll just hold it up for you

because I've got it here,

a book called

The Doctrine of Repentance,

a Puritan writer,

says,

Till sin be bitter,

Christ will not be sweet.

We must have a sight of sin.

And we must have sorrow for that sin.

You can see it

and you can recognize your offense

against that God,

but if you're not broken over it,

of what good is it to you?

Psalm 38, 7 and 18,

David writes,

For I am ready to fall

and my pain is ever before me.

I confess my iniquity.

I am sorry for my sin.

A brokenness over it.

That you're wrecked by it.

That you actually get the offense

that it is before a holy God.

Thomas Watson again,

in his book,

The Doctrine of Repentance,

either sin must drown

in the tears of repentance

or the soul must burn in hell.

For us to rightly repent,

we must have sorrow for our sin.

And in the midst of all of this

and the characters in our story,

God graciously intervenes

in their rebellion

in really great ways.

Just note the ways.

Chapter 1, verse 4,

God hurls a great wind.

For the sake of the mariners,

the storm that strikes fear in them.

God promises a great destruction.

Chapter 1, verse 2,

He calls the city of Nineveh

a great city.

And therefore,

its overthrow,

chapter 3, verse 4,

would be a great destruction.

God appoints for Jonah,

Jonah 1:17

chapter 1, verse 17,

a great fish.

And so when did you encounter

God's gracious

and great intervention?

Have you had the experience of that,

of really recognizing

the weight of your sin

and really treasuring Christ

as a great Savior?

Have you been wrecked

by your offense

against such a great God?

And do you need to be destroyed

by it all over again?

And has it grown numb to you?

Have you forgotten

the great offense

that you've been delivered

from in Christ?

Psalm 86, 11 and 12,

David prays again,

Teach me your way, O Lord,

that I may walk in your truth.

Unite my heart.

He's saying,

my heart is pulled apart.

I'm a double-minded man.

Unite my heart

to fear your name.

I give thanks to you, O Lord,

my God,

with my whole heart

and I will glorify

your name forever.

We must have a sight of sin.

We must have a sorrow for sin.

And look at that

in the lives of the characters

in our story.

First, the Mariners,

chapter 1, verse 14,

through the beginning of 16.

Therefore, they called out

to the Lord.

This is Jonah's God

they're calling out to.

O Lord,

let us not perish

for this man's life

and lay not on us

innocent blood for you.

O Lord,

have done as it pleased you.

So they picked up Jonah

and hurled him into the sea

and the sea ceased

from its raging.

And in the first part of 16,

then the men feared

the Lord exceedingly.

They saw that their gods

were no gods at all.

They turned from their rebellion

and they feared the Lord

exceedingly.

The Ninevites,

chapter 3, verse 4,

in the beginning of 5,

Jonah began to go into the city

going a day's journey

and he called out,

yet forty days

and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

And the people of Nineveh

believed God.

They saw that their way

deserved the destruction.

It made sense to them.

Yes, God will come and destroy

in forty days.

We have been rebellious.

The people believed God.

And then we see for Jonah,

Jonah 2:2–6

chapter 2, verses 2 through 6,

this lengthy expression,

which I won't reread

for the sake of time,

of the trouble that he finds himself in

due to his rebellion.

He's convicted by the fact

that he's found himself

in such a troubled place

because of his activity.

And so we must experience conviction.

What is your great wind?

Your promised destruction?

Your great fish?

We all have to come to that low point

in our lives.

And it doesn't necessarily mean

that we do that inactivity,

which is the case for so many people.

But in realization,

in deep felt conviction

over what we've done against God.

We must experience conviction.

And our conviction

necessarily leads to, secondly,

confession.

Necessarily leads to confession.

Proper conviction leads to confession.

You can't say that you're convicted over sin

and then say,

but that's alright.

No need to confess it to a holy God.

It necessarily turns us to confession.

If we see our sin

and are sorrowful as a result of it,

we will confess it.

And we'll confess it to God.

Psalm 51, verse 4.

Psalms 51:4

This is David.

After he's taken Bathsheba

and he's sent her husband

to the front lines to be killed,

he has essentially murdered her husband,

he says,

against you,

you only have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight.

So get that he had sinned against Bathsheba

and he had sinned against Bathsheba's husband,

but he sees rightly

the primary offense

being an offense against God.

On the front of your bulletin,

you see another Spurgeon quote.

He writes,

the true penitent repents of sin against God

and he would do so

even if there were no punishment.

When he is forgiven,

he repents of sin more than ever,

for he sees more clearly than ever

the wickedness of offending

so gracious a God.

So we confess to God

in a continuing manner, right?

Penitent people,

God's followers should be.

That we're always

turning from sin

and turning to Him.

That we're always confessing to Him

when we fail to follow Him

in the way that we should.

We'll confess to God

and we'll also confess

to each other

and I'll add the caveat

when necessary and appropriate,

which is far more often

than we think.

James 5.16 says,

Therefore, confess your sins

to one another

and pray for one another

that you may be healed.

This should be,

by and large,

the activity of the church.

Not coming together

and posturing

our false perfection,

but rather coming together

and admitting our failure.

We need to be propping

one another up.

You have heard in criticism

of Christianity

or religion in general

that it's a crutch.

It's not a crutch.

It's not a crutch.

It's my wheelchair.

I need you guys.

You're a grace to me.

I need to confess to you.

I try to lead

as an example in that.

Also on your bulletin,

Paul David Tripp wrote,

The church is not

a theological classroom.

It is a conversion,

confession,

repentance,

reconciliation,

forgiveness,

and sanctification center

where flawed people

place their faith in Christ,

gather to know

and love Him better,

and learn to love others

as He designed.

We ought to confess

to each other

when it's warranted

and it's appropriate.

Notice the confession

of our characters

in the story.

We see the mariners

expanding on

verse 16 of chapter 1.

Then the men feared

the Lord exceedingly

and they offered

a sacrifice

to the Lord.

They made sacrifice

for the confession

of their sin.

The Ninevites,

picking up in verse 5

of chapter 3,

and the people of Nineveh

believed God.

They called for a fast

and put on sackcloth

from the greatest of them

to the least of them.

The war reached

the kingdom of Nineveh

and he rose from his throne,

removed his robe,

covered himself with sackcloth

and sat in ashes.

And he issued a proclamation

and ploverished 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.

Let man and beast

be covered with sackcloth

and let them call out

mightily to God.

All of these things,

fasting,

the covering in sackcloth,

which you can think of burlap,

like itchy cloth,

and sitting in ashes

were all signs of repentance.

These were all outward signs

of sorrow over sin.

So the Ninevites confessed

in this way.

And then Jonah,

to bring you to a particular text,

chapter 2, verse 9,

But I, with the voice of thanksgiving,

will sacrifice to you

what I have vowed I will pay.

Salvation belongs to the Lord.

This admission,

as we've come to this point

in this prayer,

that he found himself in this place

because of his rebellion,

and now he turns

to offer sacrifice to God

with the voice of thanksgiving.

So to repent properly,

we must experience conviction.

Our conviction necessarily leads

to confession,

and repentance ends

with conformity.

Obedience, if you prefer,

brings up the rear

of repentance.

It is the final evidence

of the penitent heart.

You cannot have true repentance

apart from obedience.

And so many of us do this.

So many of us repent so poorly

because we recognize the sin,

we see it as wrong and evil,

and we ask for forgiveness

from the sin,

and then we stay there.

And so often turn back

to the same sin

rather than turning away from it

and toward God.

I have two sons.

You don't know me well.

I have a five-year-old

and a three-year-old.

My oldest, his name's Cade.

And if Cade is disobedient

and I correct him

and he tells me that he's sorry

for being disobedient

and he doesn't turn to do

the thing I asked him to do,

is he really sorry

for not being obedient?

Or is he just sorry

that I caught him

in his disobedience?

There must be a proper response

to a fleeing away

from the evil

that we've committed.

Ezekiel 14.6

Therefore, say to the house of Israel,

Thus says the Lord God,

Repent and turn away

from your idols

and turn away your faces

from all your abominations.

Turn away from it.

Put it off and put on.

In Ephesians 4,

after Paul's talked about

the Gentiles

and the way they fulfill

the desires of their flesh,

he says in verse 20,

But that is not the way

you learned Christ.

Assuming that you have

heard about him

and were taught him in him

as the truth is in Jesus.

So he's saying,

if you were found in Christ,

this is what you've learned.

To put off your old self,

which belongs to your

former manner of life

and is corrupt

through deceitful desires.

And to be renewed

in the spirit of your minds

and to put on

the new self,

created after the likeness of God

in true righteousness

and holiness.

So many of us

so often put off things

and then we stand around naked.

And we don't know

what to do with ourselves

and so we put back on

the old thing.

And we cycle through sin

in that way.

Put off the old thing

and then put on

the new thing.

If you're a believer,

you are clothed

in the righteousness

of Christ.

Turn away from your

old manner of living

and walk in that new reality.

Away from the sin

and to God.

There's going to be

a counterpoint

and an obedience

required of you

in response to the disobedience.

That's going to vary

across so many sins

in so many ways.

Let's look briefly

at the examples

in our text.

First, the mariners.

The end of verse 16.

So the men feared

the Lord exceedingly

and they offered

a sacrifice to the Lord

and they did what?

They made vows.

They made promises

for the way they will live.

Now, we don't see

that they actually

kept the vows.

And I hope they did.

It's probably not the best

example of this.

Just to show you

that they took

at least a step

in that direction.

They said to the Lord,

the one true God,

we will do something

different from what

we have done.

And I hope that they

proceeded in that.

The Ninevites.

Second half of verse 8

of chapter 3 through 10.

The decree of the king

that everyone turn

from his evil way

and from the violence

that is in his hands.

Who knows?

God may turn,

relent,

and turn from

his spirit's anger

so that we may not perish.

So he says,

he sends out a decree,

turn away from evil.

And then verse 10 says,

when God saw what they did,

how they turned

from their evil way,

God relented

of the disaster

that he had said

he would do to them

and he did not do it.

So you see that the obedience,

the conforming,

brings up the end

of their repentance.

God sees this was true

and proper repentance

and he relents

of the disaster.

And then in Jonah,

and this is the most

classic way

that we see this

in the text

at the beginning

of chapter 3.

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.

Now,

before we read

the first part

of verse 3,

I just want to bring you

back to the first part

of chapter 1.

So verse 2,

Arise,

go to Nineveh,

that great city,

and call out against it,

for their evil

has come up before me.

And then the beginning

of verse 3 says,

But Jonah

made a different decision

altogether.

He flees

in the opposite direction,

tries to get away

from the presence

of the Lord.

But then in chapter 3,

beginning of verse 3,

it says,

So Jonah

arose and went to Nineveh

according to the word

of the Lord.

Now we're going to find out

later that he does so

begrudgingly,

and he's not too pleased

with the result.

We'll look at that next week

and his regret.

But he goes,

disobedient,

brought to repentance,

and now obedient

to the thing that God

has commanded him

to do.

And so true repentance

consists of conviction,

confession,

and conformity.

And so in closing,

I have a few questions

for you.

Have you ever

confessed your sin?

Have you ever been brought

to the realization

that you need to?

That you've had a sight

far out

and you're sorrowful

over it?

That you recognize

that there is a holy God

who has a holy standard

that you have failed

to keep?

No one in this room

is impervious to this.

We all are under

the curse of sin

apart from Christ.

Have you ever

confessed your sin

to the Lord?

Do you identify

with the mariners

or the Ninevites?

They were worshippers

of false gods.

They were ultimately

worshippers

of themselves.

And do you need

to do that today?

And I hope that you will

if you do.

And if you have confessed

your sin

for that first time,

God has changed

your heart.

He's made you aware

of this.

You are a follower

of Jesus Christ.

You've had your sins

fully and finally

forgiven for all eternity

because they were punished

in Him.

We're still meant

to be a people

that confess.

We're still meant

to be a people

that go to our God,

our gracious God,

who loves us

in spite of what we do.

There's no thing

we've done

as followers of God

that casts us

out of His sight

because He sees Christ

when He sees us.

We're still meant

to confess.

So do you have

unconfessed sin?

You harbor some sin

in your heart.

There's that thing

you just don't want

to let go of.

You find too much

temporal joy in it.

You fail to realize

that it is so offensive

to our holy God.

You treasure it up

in a way that you shouldn't.

Do you have

any unconfessed sin?

Let's pray together.