Jonah: Part 3

continuing to look at this story of Jonah,

the runaway prophet and the merciful God.

Here we find ourselves in Jonah chapter 3.

Jonah 3 · chapter mention

We'll read the whole chapter

and then we'll think about it together.

Jonah chapter 3, verse 1.

Jonah 3:1

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.

Go to the great city of Nineveh

and proclaim to it the message I give you.

Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.

Now Nineveh was a very important city.

A visit required three days.

On the first day, Jonah started into the city.

He proclaimed,

40 more days and Nineveh will be overturned.

The Ninevites believed God.

They declared a fast and all of them

from the greatest to the least put on sackcloth.

When the news reached the king of Nineveh,

he rose from his throne,

took off his royal robes,

covered himself with sackcloth

and sat down in the dust.

Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh.

By the decree of the king and his nobles,

do not let any man or beast,

herd or flock, taste anything.

Do not let them eat or drink,

but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth.

Let everyone call urgently on God.

Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.

Who knows?

God may yet relent and with compassion

turn from his fierce anger

so that we will not perish.

When God saw what they did

and how they turned from their evil ways,

he had compassion

and did not bring upon them

the destruction he had threatened.

Amen.

Been at the garage a few times

in the last couple of weeks,

so we're going to begin thinking about cars.

I don't know what your car history is like,

but ours was pretty much a series

of clapped out old bangers.

There's one that stands out in particular

in my head,

described affectionately by an American friend of ours

as a shoebox on wheels,

a really nice machine.

Well, this shoebox on wheels

developed some gearbox trouble

when we lived up in Dingwall.

So we took it to our local mechanic.

We used him quite a lot.

He was a nice guy.

We took him to the garage.

He took a quick look,

came back and I realized,

he's fine.

You'll be fine to run for weeks

and months with that.

Now, I don't know whether the mechanic

was just particularly optimistic that day.

20 miles later,

coming out of Inverness,

our car gets stuck in third gear.

Will not shift out of third gear.

So we're hitting the,

this is about five o'clock,

we're hitting the roundabouts.

Third gear,

we're coming up to traffic lights in third gear.

It's like,

please,

we made it all the way back to Dingwall

and we eventually had to stop

on the high street

and had to push our car

to the local car park.

Now,

when I heard the mechanic's message

that morning,

I was delighted

because nobody wants to

have to lose their car

for a few days

and face a mechanic's heavy bill.

The message was nice.

Problem was,

as it turned out,

it was neither true nor accurate.

So when we reflect on that,

which one would we prefer?

Think about those kind of situations

in your own life.

I guess all of us

would probably choose

to know that there is a serious problem

needing dealt with

so that you can avoid

a potentially difficult,

potentially even dangerous situation.

Now,

this takes us right to the heart

of our story today

and to Jonah's message

as he preaches to Nineveh

in chapter three

and verse four.

Look at his message.

Very simple sermon.

Very short sermon,

so it seems

you're not getting one of those.

He proclaimed,

40 more days

and Nineveh

will be overturned.

So here is Jonah

walking into enemy territory

saying to them,

you are about to face

the judgment of God.

That's a hard thing to do,

isn't it?

But what we'll see

is that God's truth,

God's hard truth

does its work

and a city is saved

because Jonah brings

the word of God

to the people,

a word that they may well

not have wanted

to hear.

So this morning,

we're going to concentrate

on Jonah's message

and then the response

that we find

in that,

from that message.

Look with me though

at verse one

before we even get

to Jonah delivering

the message.

We see again

hints of

the dominant theme

of the mercy of God

coming through.

The word of the Lord

came to Jonah

a second time.

So if you've not been here,

in chapter one

what we discover

is Jonah being told

by God,

go to Nineveh.

And what he does instead

is he runs away.

So he's a disobedient prophet

who gets

a second chance.

Now there's mercy,

there's patience,

there's grace and kindness

from God

there.

And in verse two,

he's given

his mission

once again.

And it's almost

the same

as we find

in chapter one,

but there's a really

important difference.

So if you flick

back over,

let's see the difference.

In chapter one

in verse two,

Jonah is told,

go to the great city

of Nineveh

and preach

against it.

Chapter three,

verse two,

go to the great city

of Nineveh

and proclaim

to it.

So there is a difference

there.

Chapter one,

preach against it.

Chapter three,

proclaim to it.

So here's

what I want us

to see

this morning.

That Jonah's words,

words of judgment,

and Jonah's story,

his story of receiving

grace and mercy

from the Lord God

are a message

of hope

proclaimed

to the city

of Nineveh.

That Jonah

can speak to them

and say,

yes,

you are facing

God's just judgment,

but still

there is hope

of forgiveness

and rescue

and restoration.

And I know this

because this is my story,

because this is my experience.

And so Jonah,

as we found

in the end of chapter one

into chapter two,

had been thrown

into a storm

of God's judgment,

facing certain death,

but was saved

by God's grace

as God sent the fish

to swallow Jonah.

Now Jonah,

it is restored

to relationship

with God.

Now he is in service

of God

and this is

his message.

This is the message

of his life.

There is grace

after judgment.

There is a God

who delights

to show mercy.

And in God's providence,

God has been controlling

this whole story.

The city of Nineveh

are going to hear

from a prophet of God

who's just recently

had this first-hand reminder

of the grace

and mercy

of God.

And so we need

to bear that in mind

and we'll see it

come out actually.

But in verse three,

we see Jonah this time

doesn't go running.

This time he obeys

the word of the Lord

and goes to Nineveh,

travels right through it

over the three days

and he proclaims

that message.

Takes him three days,

whether that's because

he has to meet

the officials

and there's all kinds

of ceremony

or whether it's just

it's a fairly large city.

But you get the idea

of Jonah going

through each part

of the city,

whether it's to the rich area

or the poor area,

whether it's the centers

of business

or education

or government

and the message

is the same.

The message is

that because

of your wickedness,

the judgment

of God

is upon you.

It's an easy message

in a sense

to read

sort of divided

as we are

by time and history.

But imagine

being Jonah.

He knows

what the people

of Nineveh are like.

He knows

their wickedness.

He's probably

heard the stories,

maybe seen it firsthand

and now he has to go

into enemy territory

announcing

this message

to them.

That's not

easy.

Let's just stop

for a moment.

Let me

encourage

one another

to be praying

for

the people

that we know

who preach

and teach the Bible,

to pray for

Christians

who are

public figures,

for those

who seek

to live

consistently

faced with

a barrage

of attacks.

We see it

in our media

how difficult

it can be

to live

consistently

for the Lord

Jesus.

There is that

temptation

to give people

what they

want,

to bend

to culture,

perhaps to

present a God

who is love

and love

only,

to miss

the judgment

of God

that Jonah

was called

to speak of.

But if we are

to be faithful

to the Bible

and to be faithful

to the character

of God

and to actually

present Jesus

as good news,

we need to bring

these hard realities

to people.

To use some

of the pictures

that we find

in the Bible,

God is

our king.

Whether we

accept that

or whether we

don't accept that

as people

makes no odds,

God is the

king who is

over us

and our

rebellion

against his

rule and his

law is like

an act of

treason

against our

king.

Or to use

another picture

from the Bible,

God is

our

father.

We read a

couple of weeks

ago the story

of the prodigal

son.

That son who

said,

Father,

I don't want

anything to do

with you.

I want your

money,

I want your

stuff,

but I don't

want you,

I want freedom

away from you.

When we treat

God in that

way,

when we live

in his world

without any

thought of

God,

the Bible

says that's

deserving of

judgment.

The Bible

often presents

God as

a judge

and our

sin,

our failure

to love God

and to love

others is

presented as

lawlessness.

forgiveness.

And the

sentence that

we deserve

is eternal

death.

Now,

that's a

hard message,

but it's a

necessary

message.

Imagine for

a moment

that we're

sitting,

and some

of you have

been here

sitting in a

surgeon's

office.

You've gone,

there's been

something bothering

you, you've

gone and you've

had some tests

and now you're

waiting to hear

the outcome.

Of course,

the message

that we would

all want to

hear at that

moment is,

the tests are

all clear,

you're fine.

But if in

reality you

have an

aggressive

illness at

work in

your body,

then that's

not the

message that

you need.

The message

you need is

your condition

is serious,

but there is

hope, there

is a

cure.

And so

we must

always speak

of the

judgment of

God, otherwise

the cross of

Jesus makes

no sense.

Unless we

understand that

he is there

in our place

taking that

judgment for

us, there is

no point in

the Son of

God going to

the cross unless

the judgment of

God is real

and sin is

serious.

And what we

see even in

the story of

Nineveh is

that had

Jonah refused

to speak of

the judgment

of God, those

people would

not have

changed and

their city

would certainly

have been

destroyed.

They needed

to hear of

the judgment

of God.

But you

know that's

not all that

Jonah brought

to them.

Look with me

at verse

number nine.

There's this

wonderful hint

at what Jonah

has been speaking

to them

about.

So this is a

godless king

known for

leading the

way in

violence but

yet he can

reflect and

say, who

knows, God

may yet

relent and

with compassion

turn from his

fierce anger

so that we

will not

perish.

Now where

does that

idea come

from?

It certainly

doesn't come

from any

of the pagan

gods that

were around

in Nineveh

at the time.

This king,

this godless

king has

hope of

finding

compassion and

mercy because

of Jonah's

life story,

because of

the message

of Jonah,

because of

the experiences

of Jonah.

He is the

prophet who

could reflect

on the fact

that he was

deserving of

God's judgment

but instead

he knew God

relenting and

showing mercy

and compassion.

Here is a

prophet who

could speak of

both the

justice of

God and

mercy beyond

justice to

Nineveh.

And you know

that's what

we all need.

We all need

someone sent

by God to

speak the

hard truth to

us of our

wickedness and

the judgment

that we should

receive but

can also offer

us the hope of

rescue.

He can also

offer us the

hope of finding

peace with

God from this

desperate situation

that we find

ourselves in.

And isn't this

the heart of

our Christian

testimony?

That our

stories are not

about ourselves.

They're about the

grace of God in

rescuing us.

That's the God

that we share

with others.

We have a story

to share like

Jonah of God's

grace to us.

And ultimately

this prophet Jonah

points us forward

to Jesus the

true prophet,

the ultimate

prophet.

Because the

gospel of Jesus

Christ says that

God's judgment

against sin is

real and God in

his love sent

Jesus to bear

that sin and

that judgment for

us on our

behalf.

So that we

might know

God's compassion.

That God's mercy

towards sinners

is real and the

cross shows us

that.

Because God

didn't leave us

in our helpless

condition.

He sent Jesus to

be our substitute,

to be our

rescuer.

So that on the

cross Jesus takes

our sin on

himself and he

gifts us his

perfect record of

righteous obedience

so we can be

accepted by God

so that God can

delight over us

with singing.

He becomes the

abandoned son so

that we by faith

in him might be

adopted children

of God.

And so Jesus,

the true prophet,

his life and his

death and his

resurrection speak a

message of hope

to us.

He is the one who

has lived for us

the life that we

could never live.

He has died for us

the death that we

deserve to die and

he's risen again to

guarantee new life

to all who will

trust in him.

And that by faith in

him we can know

forgiveness and

mercy and grace

after judgment.

And there is power

in that story,

in the gospel story.

We see it in

Nineveh here because

look at their

response in verses

five to nine.

Having heard of

the judgment of

God, having seen

in Jonah's life

the mercy of God,

how do they

respond?

It's really

helpful for us to

reflect on their

response because

perhaps we find

ourselves thinking,

well if this is

God's message to me,

if this is God's

message to the world,

how should I

respond to this?

What am I supposed

to do about this

message of a God

who is just and a

God who shows mercy

and a God who sent

Jesus?

Well let's look

together at the

city of Nineveh

and see what we can

learn from them.

first of all,

in verse five,

they are those who

believed God.

So Jonah came

bringing a message

from God and they

believed it.

What could they have

done in that

situation?

What might people

have expected them

to do given their

history of wickedness

and cruelty?

Well they could have

heard this message

and they could

simply have killed

Jonah as a hostile

enemy.

They had a history

of hatred towards

the people of God,

the people of Israel,

so he could just

have been another

casualty of that

hatred.

Or they could have

laughed his message

off as crazy talk.

Who is this guy

walking in here

saying 40 days and

the place is going

to be destroyed?

That's nonsense.

Or they could have

heard the message

and despaired at it

but concluded there

was no hope,

so there was no point

in them changing.

But the wonderful

thing is they don't do

any of those,

rather they

believed God.

And you know,

that's not down to

them,

that's entirely

a God thing.

God is opening

their hearts

and their consciences

to respond

positively to this

message.

For hundreds of years,

the nation and the

city,

hostile to God

and his people

and his word,

but now in God's

grace,

they respond

with belief.

And that belief

leads them to action.

We read it in

verses 5 to 8,

there's all these

signs of repentance.

So as we continue

in verse 5,

they declare a fast,

they put on sackcloth,

we see the king

taking off his robes,

he's covered with

sackcloth and he

sits down in the dust.

All of these are

signs of sorrow

for their wickedness,

a sense of humility

before God

and a desire

to change.

In verse 8,

the king calls

the whole society,

even the animals,

to a fast,

to not eating,

to show sorrow

over their wickedness

and sin.

We see them

wearing sackcloth,

those scratchy

pieces of clothing

as a sign of them

humbling themselves

before God.

And then in verse 8,

we see there is

prayer,

let everyone call

urgently on God

and there is a desire

to change their ways,

let them give up

their evil ways

and their violence.

There's going to be

a new direction

for the life

of this city

because they have

heard the message,

they've been convicted

by it,

and there's a desire

to repent and change.

For God to change

any one of us,

it begins with that

sense of conviction

that all is not well

between me and God.

That because of our sin,

our walking away

from God,

our failure,

even to match up

to our own standards,

never mind God's,

there is a problem there.

And there needs to be

that conviction

that leads us

to repentance.

So instead of,

I feel really bad

about that,

but there's nothing

I can do about it,

and we decide,

I'm not going to walk

my own way,

I'm not going to walk

just pleasing myself,

I'm going to turn

and I'm going to live

for the glory of God.

That I'm going to get rid

of those other things

that I've made

more important than God,

that He's going to be

my first priority.

And we see

in the language

of verse 9

that there is a sense

of trust in God.

They don't presume

on the mercy of God.

God may yet relent

and with compassion

turn from His fierce anger

so that we will not perish,

but they certainly see

that God is their only hope

of salvation.

Our city is going

to be destroyed

unless we turn to God,

unless we place our hope

in His mercy.

And that all leads them

to this point of trust,

and then we see

how God wonderfully

responds to that.

So I wonder,

as we consider the gospel,

as we consider

what God has done

for us in Jesus,

how are we responding

to that message?

Is there a sense

of conviction

in our hearts

about the ways

that we have chosen

to ignore God

or walk away from God?

Is there a desire

in us

to repent

from that

and to turn to God

or to return

to God?

Because a Christian life,

Martin Luther said,

should be one

of daily repentance.

Are we coming

to Him in our need,

trusting in Him

as our only hope,

as our only Savior?

Are we responding

to the gospel

in ways

that would be

similar to that

of Nineveh?

And then we see

God's response.

We see God's mercy.

We see this incredible

turnaround.

When God saw

what they did

and how they turned

from their evil ways,

He had compassion

and did not bring

upon them

the destruction

He had threatened.

So remember,

the book of Nahum

tells us this,

that this is a city

that's famous

for lying,

for stealing,

for killing.

This is a city

and nation

with a history

of hatred

towards God

and God's people.

But here is a city

that is saved

by God's

incredible mercy

because of the heart

of God,

because of God's desire

to rescue people.

As Peter says it

in his second letter,

chapter 3,

the Lord is patient

with you,

not wanting anyone

to perish,

but everyone

to come to repentance.

It was a story

of Paul,

that here I was,

a violent man

persecuting the church,

wanting rid of the church

and God in His grace

sent Jesus

and His mercy

changed me.

So Nineveh's change

of heart towards God

results in this

wonderful new verdict

that once they turn

towards Him

as they are prompted

to do that

by God Himself,

He shows them

mercy and compassion.

And you know,

it's stories like this,

it's stories of God's grace

that can encourage us

towards prayerfulness.

You know,

if God can change Paul,

He can change anyone.

If God can change this city,

He can change any city.

It's stories like this

that can fuel

our desire to pray

and to keep praying

for those missionaries

that we know

around the globe

and gives us courage

to witness

instead of to despair

and think,

God will never use me

or things will never change.

God's mercy

is great.

And this brings us back

once again

to Jesus,

the true prophet

and to the good news

that Jesus brings.

Think about it.

If Jonah's life

encouraged the people

of Nineveh

that there is hope

for them

in the mercy of God,

how much more

should the life of Jesus

encourage us

to recognize

that there is mercy

for us?

So the king of Nineveh

wasn't sure

would God relent

and show compassion,

but we can know

with certainty

that if we trust

in Jesus

that He will relent,

that He will show us

compassion

because the justice

that we deserve

has been served

on the Lord Jesus.

Jesus experienced

the Father's fierce anger

on our behalf

so that we need not

and we will not

if our hope

is in Him,

that we can know

salvation from Jesus,

that we can know

that we will not

be destroyed

because He gave up

His body

to be destroyed

so that we

could be welcomed

and loved

by our Father

in Heaven,

that we could know

new life.

So just as Jonah

is the prophet

who speaks of justice

and mercy,

Jesus is the true prophet

we look to,

who speaks to us,

the cross speaks to us

absolutely of the justice

of God,

the seriousness of sin

and the holiness of God,

but it speaks to us

also of mercy

beyond judgment

in His resurrection life.

And so He is the one

that we need to look to

and trust in.

His is the story

that we need to share.

He is the true prophet

whose words we all need

to respond to

in faith

and obedience.