God Helps Us to Face Our Ninevehs based on Jonah 3:1-5, 10

I. The account of reluctant Jonah is a famous one.

II. What is your Nineveh?

III. The account of Jonah sleeping in a ship during a storm brings to my mind the account: of Jesus sleeping in a boat on the Sea of Galilee during a storm.

IV. Read Matthew 12:39-41 and comment. Matthew 12:39-41 tells us how Jesus made use of the account of Jonah and the big fish by stating: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 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.” Jesus used the account of Jonah to point to the fact that Jesus would be raised from the dead on the third day after He had been put to death and buried for our salvation.

V. Read Jonah 2:1-10 and comment. Jonah had a lot of time to think about things in the belly of the great fish. He thought about the command of God and how he disobeyed that command. Jonah 2:1-10 tells us, [“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 flood 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 about 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.]

VI. Are you afraid of a Nineveh in your life?

VII. Jonah’s short message and God’s great mercy. Jonah had a short message for the people of Nineveh. Jonah 3:4 tells us the words of Jonah, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” Over 120,000 people and many animals were saved in Nineveh, because they believed that Jonah was telling them the truth from God.

VIII. God is gracious and compassionate still today. God still abounds in love today. Instead of trying to run away from God fearing our Nineveh, we can obey God and tell those around us that God is gracious and compassionate. He does not want anyone to perish. He wants all of us to repent and trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Jesus showed the world God’s compassion by living the perfect life, dying for the sins of the world, and rising in victory over sin, death, and the devil. Jesus, unlike Jonah, always obeyed His Heavenly Father. Jesus is the Son of God and Son of Man who brought God’s grace, compassion, and forgiving love to us and He wants us to share that Good News with the whole world. Amen.