Jonah 3

I don't know if you ever play those kind of word association games. So you say a word and

! you have to say what comes into your mind. So if I said to you Scotland, I wonder what

! come into your mind. Rain? Possibly. Cold weather? Possibly. A rugby team who fought valiantly

on Saturday but still lost. Try another word. God. What comes into your mind when you hear

the word God? Many people have different reactions. I was chatting to my neighbour a couple of

weeks, or last week. In fact it was this day last week. And for him, religion is just unnecessary.

Why do I want to have religion? God is irrelevant. And he then said, well doesn't God say things

like, if you obey me, then you can have eternal life? Well that just sounds selfish and petty.

So words like selfish and petty come into Paul's mind when he thinks of God. Others of course

go further. Richard Dawkins and the New Atheists, they describe God as fictional for a start, but

as a capricious, mean, malevolent bully. Some people do have that idea, don't they? Or for

others, maybe people think of God as a kind of cuddly grandfather, giving you little sweets

every now and again to keep you happy and generally being nice. Mum and Dad do the tough discipline,

Grandad, he's the softie you can look to. Or others perhaps have a view of God as a kind

of stern headmaster. All right if you're on the right side of him, but if you step out

of line you could be in trouble. I think that's perhaps the idea I had growing up. I don't

know where I got it from, because it's certainly not what my parents taught me, but something

about life seemed to give me that impression. But as we look at this story in Jonah chapter

three, this real story, something that happened, I want us to think, what does it tell me about

God? What is this God of the Bible like? As we walk through the story, we're going to see

four things about this God in all. The first one of them is there in verse one. The word

of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second

time. He is a God who gives second chances. He's a God who gives second chances. When you

think about this, what had Jonah done to possibly deserve a second chance? God had said, go to

Nineveh, he'd gone in the opposite direction to Tarshish. All through chapter one, he'd been

completely hopeless and useless. The pagan sailors were calling out to God. Jonah had hidden

himself down below the depths. The pagan sailors had been concerned about Jonah's life. Jonah

hadn't been concerned about himself. He didn't even seem terribly worried about the sailors'

lives. Yet despite Jonah's defiance and disobedience, God gives him a second chance. Yeah, when my

children do things that deliberately defy mummy and daddy, they know they're in trouble. It's

a firm boundary there. If you do exactly the opposite of what I've just told you, there

will be big consequences. Now, we love them, so they do get more chances as well. But notice,

what does God say to Jonah? All he says is, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call

out to it, it should be, the message that I tell you. No recriminations. No, Jonah, don't

want you to do what you did last time. No, Jonah, if you do that again, I'm not going to send

away all next time. No, Jonah, I want to make sure you're really sorry before I use you again.

He says, the God who gives second chances. He forgets Jonah's rebellion. How good are we

at forgiving and forgetting? Sometimes we can forgive, can't we, but we're often not

very good at forgetting. Somewhere in our minds, we always remember what he did to me, what

she said to me. Here is this God who gives second chances. He doesn't bring anything back

again. And this is not just the way he treats Jonah. It's the way he acts consistently through

the Bible. Some of you may know the story of Samson, a man who God has supremely gifted,

and yet a man who had thrown it all back in God's face, just as Jonah did. And yet as

Samson is imprisoned, ready to die, he prays. And God hears his prayer. He gives Samson's

second chance. And Samson does more to fulfill the mission God gave him in his dying act, pushing

down a temple that he did in the rest of his life. Or think about Peter. And Peter had

denied knowing Jesus. Denied knowing Jesus three times. Yet what does Jesus do after the

resurrection? Goes for a walk with Peter, especially reinstates him and recommissions him. The God

of the Bible, the one true God, is a God who gives second chances. I don't know about you,

but I know I need those second chances. Not just second or third or fourth, but thousands

and thousands of chances. But he's a God who gives them. There's also a second chance

for Jonah. There's a second chance for Nineveh as well. God wants this message to get to Nineveh.

So the fact that Jonah had gone in the wrong direction last time does not stop God's determination

to get his message to Nineveh. They have a second chance to hear it as well. And we can see

a little echo of God's compassion for Nineveh. Compare chapter 1 verse 2 to chapter 3

verse 2. These are the two commands Jonah's given. So chapter 1 verse 2, he's told,

Call out against Nineveh, for their evil has come before me. Whereas in chapter 3 verse

2, it says, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out, it says against it in our

versions, in the original it actually says to it, rather than against it. Subtly different.

Call out to it the message that I tell you. The emphasis now is on Jonah to just obey what

he's heard. There isn't mention at this point of Nineveh's evil. So this is a God who gives

second chances. A second chance to Jonah, a second chance to Nineveh. He's also a God

who gives severe warnings though. Look at the message he gives Jonah in verse 3.

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. See, God

who gives severe warnings. There is judgment coming, Nineveh. There is judgment coming.

Now of course that's exactly why many people today hate the idea of God. It's why my neighbour

Paul didn't like the idea. It's why Richard Dawkins calls God a malevolent bully. But think

for a moment, who do we give severe warnings to? Is it to people we don't really know and

don't care about? Or is it to those we really love? When we get out of our car in a car park,

I say to my three-year-old son, Joel, hold my hand. This is a car park and it's dangerous.

Is that because I'm restricting him? Is that because I'm a bully? No, of course not. It's a

loving warning. Because it's dangerous. And so here God gives the people of Nineveh a

severe warning, but it comes out of love. That judgment is coming. Judgment is coming.

And you can sense that love if you look at verse three again. Jonah arose and went to

Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city.

Now if you look down at the footnotes in your Bibles, I'll mention this as I read it.

It says the Hebrew, the original language, literally says a great city to God. And scholars

debate whether that means, just a way of saying it's a really big city, or whether it means

it was a great city to God. Whether it means what it says, that to God this was an important

place. And I think it's probably the latter for a whole host of reasons. Not least that's

the way God speaks about Nineveh when we get to chapter four, as we'll notice next week.

It is also quite a big city. It takes Jonah three days journey to go in and out of the

city. Now that may mean the whole surrounding area, sort of 30 miles wide, including all

the villages. Or it may mean going through all the neighbourhoods and speaking clearly there

the message God has given him. Or it could mean going like an ambassador through a sort of

formal protocol of greeting people on the first day, delivering his message on the second

day and saying goodbye on the third day. It doesn't really matter. The point is it was

a sizable place. And Jonah goes giving the severe warning that God had said. But think

about what Jonah had just experienced. What would he have discovered about the messages

God gives? Jonah after all had run away from God and God had brought him back, sent a big

fish to swallow him up and rescue him and bring him back on course. Jonah was someone who had

discovered in his own life that yes, God brings judgment. That's what the storm of chapter

one was about. Yet God also brings rescue and gives grace. Doesn't treat us as we deserve.

So Jonah must have known that this message announcing judgment was actually an invitation to change,

an invitation to repent.

But there is a need for judgment, isn't there? I mean some people will say, I don't believe

in a God who judges. I believe in a God of love. But actually surely if God is loving, he

must judge. We want judgment to fall at least on some people, don't we? I'm sure you remember

last week in the news, a doctor, Michael Salmon, who worked at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital

for many years and was found guilty of terrible charges of child abuse and molestation. He's

awaiting his sentence this week to find out what he'll get. But doesn't everything in us

call out for justice in a situation like that, where lives have been scarred and marred by

evil deeds by one man? Well think of the villages in Nigeria being destroyed by Boko Haram.

Don't we cry out for justice for those people slaughtered by this evil group?

If God loves those children, if God loves those Nigerian villagers, there must be judgment.

There must be judgment. If God loves you, he must want judgment for those people who have

hurt you. But of course the sting in the tail is, if God wants judgment for the people who

have hurt me, he also needs to judge me for the people I've hurt. Well here we have a God

who gives second chances, but also God who gives severe warnings. Because he's compassionate,

because he is loving, judgment will come. But as we go on, we also see he's a God who gives

spiritual encounters, spiritual experiences. Many people today talk about spirituality, don't they?

Sometimes he's psychic affairs at times. People talk about, you know, I'm not religious but I am

spiritual. I want to be in touch with God. I've watched a couple of television programs in the last

few months. One was Sue Perkins going up the Mekong River, if you saw it. Very interesting, she's very

entertaining, had lots of interesting things to say. But there were a number of points where she'd be

meeting with Buddhists or Hindus or out in a beautiful countryside. And she described it as being really

spiritual. At one point in Tibet with a man with his sheep, she turned around and said, oh no wonder you

believe in God, this is your office, looking at the mountains around. It was beautiful.

But is that what a spiritual experience is? A beautiful view of mountains? Meditating?

Saying a chant? As we look at what happens to the people of Nineveh, we see what a true

spiritual experience is. And look how it begins. Verse 5. The people of Nineveh believed

God. The people of Nineveh believed God. Do you hear that? They heard Jonah and they believed

God. A spiritual experience begins with an encounter with God's word. It begins with illumination.

The old-fashioned word for it. It's like the light bulb comes on. We hear God's message and go,

that is God speaking. That is God's truth. And suddenly that is where a spiritual experience

begins. And you see what a radical experience it was for them. If you look at verse 4, it was

immediate. So in verse 3 we hear Nineveh of the Greatest to see three days journey in breadth.

How far had Jonah gone in his preaching mission? Jonah began to go into the city going a day's

journey. And he called out. So this is the immediate response from some people. Day one,

as they hear it, it's like, whoa! God switches the light bulbs on. So it's immediate. It's

also extensive. Verse 5. The people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast to put on

sackcloth. From the greatest of them to the least of them. All of them. It wasn't one particular

target group. They all had the light bulbs switched on. This is God giving them a spiritual

experience. And you can see it's really of God because it led them to action. Verse 5.

They put on, they called for a fast. They put on sackcloth. They were deeply troubled.

They were deeply sorry. They were deeply humbled by the message they heard. It's a sign of a

true encounter with God. So that's the first stage, illumination. As God opens their eyes

to the truth. The second stage, we started to touch on it there, was conviction. If you

look at verse 6, you can see how this worked out in the life of one particular person, the

king.

The word reached the king of Nineveh. And he arose from his throne, removed his robe,

covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes. Jonah's whole journey for a whole

day through Nineveh has reported in just a few words. Now the camera zooms in on the throne

room of the king. And it's like it goes in slow motion to make the point for us. He hears it.

He arises. He tears his robe. He covers himself in sackcloth. He sits down. This is deeply personal,

his response to God's word. The sackcloth and ashes, the fasting, they're all signs of self-denial,

of helplessness, of humiliation. And you can see how deep the conviction was, how deep the

sense of needing to do business with the living God was. If you look on at verse 8. So the

king gives this proclamation, the king and the navels. Let man and beast be covered with

sackcloth and let them call out mightily to God. Just as the sailors in chapter 1 urged

each other to call out to their God. So the king does now. It's deep conviction. They know

they need to do business with this God who is doing business with them. So there's illumination,

conviction. And that conviction, do you notice, it's specific. Look at the end of verse 8.

Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. They knew

they were doing bad things. There were violence that almost certainly included oppression of

the weak and the poor in the city. But here they're specific about it. They're convicted

that these are things that need to change. These are things in their lives that they need

to turn away from. So illumination, conviction. And the third part of this spiritual encounter

that God gives is faith and repentance. We see that there in verses 8 and 9. Let everyone

turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. And who knows, God may

turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish. You see, they don't

have great faith because they don't know much about this God. But they know they need to

change. They know life needs to be different. And so they turn from their sin to look to

God for help. That's faith and repentance. They come together as a package in true spiritual

encounters as God gives them to us. Think for a moment. If I told you to turn away from

these windows, well I get upset and you're looking at me then, but where would you turn

to? You'd turn to that wall there, wouldn't you? It's the same action. You turn from one

thing to the other. So turning from their sin, from their rebellion, from their evil ways,

they look to God. Maybe he'll hear us. Maybe he'll forgive us. So this is a sign of a true

spiritual encounter. Doesn't begin with meditation. Doesn't begin with beautiful views. Doesn't

begin with thinking fluffy thoughts. It begins with the word of God. Illumination. As God

opens our eyes to his truth. It goes to conviction. As we realise this is real, this is true, something

needs to change. And it results in faith and repentance. God grants us faith and helps us

to turn away. Enables us to turn away from our rebellion against him. You know, she always

has that sense of helplessness. Verse 9. Who knows if God will forgive? I'm in his hands

now. That's what faith is. So that's the mark of a true spiritual experience. Have you had

one of those experiences? Is that the story of your life? The word of God striking you profoundly,

turning you around. My prayer is that would be something that is true for all of us. So

he's a God who gives second chances. He's a God who gives severe warnings because he's

loving. He's a God who gives spiritual encounters. But also he's a God of saving compassion.

Far from being a capricious malevolent bully. He is the Lord God Almighty, the God of the

Bible who has orchestrated this whole series of events that Jonah's preaching in order to

rescue the city. We can see that there in verse 10. When the Lord saw what they did, how

they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he said he would do to

them. And he did not do it. See the warning is given so that people will change, will turn,

will trust in God and avoid the judgment. In fact later on in the Bible through the prophet

Jeremiah, that's exactly what God said his prophecies were about. So Jeremiah chapter 18

Jeremiah 18:7

verse 7. The Lord says this, if at any time I declare concerning a nation or kingdom that

I will plug it up and break down and destroy it. And if that nation concerning which I've

spoken, transphobic evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do. Of course

Jonah had experienced that in his own life. He experienced God's saving compassion. Bringing

him up out of the water through the whale. Putting him back on firm ground. Giving him a mission

to declare. And Jonah's experience, three days and nights in the belly of a big fish, was

just a little sketch, a little illustration. A little foretaste of what would happen one

day to another messenger, greater messenger that God would send. When a whole bunch of

religious leaders came to the Lord Jesus and said, give us a sign, let us see that you really

are from God. Jesus said this to them, Matthew 12. Jesus answered them, an evil and adulterous

generation looks for a sign. But no sign will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so the Son

of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 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, something greater than Jonah is here. Jonah, after his three days of experiencing

death, as it were, in that fish, was sent out to preach a message of forgiveness. The Lord

Jesus, after he rose from the dead, sent his apostles out into all the world, and all believers

now into all the world, to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins. Yes, there is a severe

warning. This same Jesus will come back. But there is also the opportunity to receive God's

forgiveness, because he is a God of saving compassion. So I guess in this room today there are three

types of people. Some of us have heard this message about Jesus before, and we've believed

it, we've had a spiritual encounter. The question for us is, are we telling other people that good

needs? Are we telling other people this is the way to have a spiritual encounter? It's through

the living God, through the Lord Jesus Christ. I guess some of us here have heard this message,

but don't yet know what to make of it. Can I urge you not to sit on the fence, not to put

it off, but to look into this, to take it seriously. Think, could this be a severe warning that I need

to look out for? Please don't delay. The people of Nineveh didn't, did they? They responded straight

away. Now some others have perhaps heard this message and believe it intellectually in our

heads, but it hasn't yet impacted our hearts the way it did the people of Nineveh. If that's

you, then why not pray that this great God of compassion, this God who gives second chances

as well as severe warnings, this God who gives spiritual encounters as well as showing great

compassion. We are working your heart to give you that encounter that will lead you to faith

and repentance and turn you from the judgment that is coming to the grace and forgiveness

that can be ours in Jesus. Let me pray.