Grace through Repentance

Introduction: As we continue with our worship of the Lord this morning, I want to invite you to turn with me to Jonah 3:1-10. As we have stated throughout this series, Jonah can be kind of hard to find, so if you need to, feel free to use the table of contents at the beginning of your Bibles to find the text.

It is good to be with the people of God to open the Word of God so that we may worship Him together. That is the aim of our services. Our goal as Pastors is that everything that we do, would be done in worship.... and when we leave this place.... we go in Worship of how Great and Awesome God is. And what we are going to see in this text this morning is something that magnifies how AWESOME God is.

We have been saying it all along throughout this study. If you take one thing away from this study is that Jonah is about God’s Mercy and Grace.

Like years from now, when you are reading through your Bible, and you remember nothing else that Phil or I have said about this amazing little book, we want you to remember this...... it is about God’s Grace and Mercy. Everything about it! Everything points to that reality for us this morning. The God that we worship and serve is a God who is abounding in Grace and Mercy toward sinners.... that is good news for us! That is cause for us to sing and rejoice.

So, let’s hear the Word of the Lord together this morning. Jonah 3:1-10 ‌3 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 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. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 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.6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 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, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” 10 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. (Jonah 3:1-10)

Before we walk through this text, let’s take a moment to pray together.

Let’s pray together.

Main Point of Jonah: God is the God of Grace and Mercy. Jonah certainly has been through a lot up to this point in his walk with the Lord. God has used Jonah to bring about the expansion of the northern Kingdom, even under the rule of a wicked King. That is what we learn about him from 2 Kings 14. Then in chapter 1, we see God call Jonah to go and preach to the people of Nineveh, not because of their good works or because they were a people who deserved it.... but because their wickedness has come up before God.

But, what does Jonah do instead? Jonah runs! He tries to run away from the task that God is calling him to do, and in God’s grace and His mercy, God chases him down and will not let him go. God hurls a storm on the sea. The sailors find out what is going on. They are freaking out. Jonah tells them to throw him overboard. They don’t like that idea, so they keep fighting the storm to see if they can make headway. They get nowhere. So, they throw him into the raging sea, to what I am sure they thought was his certain death, but then the sea stops. The sailors worship, and chapter 1 ends with Jonah being eaten by a whale, in what is really only a summary statement of what happens. We see God’s grace on display here.

Then in chapter 2, which Phil did a fantastic job covering for us last week, goes into a little bit of a description of Jonah sinking into the sea. He was nearing death. Jonah had gone down to Joppa. He had gone down into the boat. He had gone down into the sea.... and he was close to death, and then God sent a giant fish to save Him. It was from this fish that Jonah got a perspective on life. Chapter 2 is all about God’s grace and Mercy. Jonah wants God to be gracious and merciful to Him.

I don’t want to rehash what Phil preached last week but let me read the last few verses of chapter 2 so that we can understand our text in context.

7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. 8 Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. 9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!” 10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. (Jon 2:7–10).

Chapter 2 ends the opposite of Chapter 1. The whale vomits Jonah back on dry land. It would not surprise me at all to think that God dropped him back off at Joppa where he had started his journey to run away. Let me show you why. Let me show you a map… (Show Map)

I hope you all can see it well enough. As you can see, Nineveh was nowhere near water. That is why I say it is likely he got dropped off right back where he was.

This is where our text picks up this morning. I want us to see what is going on here in the text, and really think about it. Let’s move past it just being a story about an event that happened in the past, and let's ask, how is this to change me today?

But before we can truly understand what it means for us, we need to understand the text rightly. You see, it is a double-edged sword so to speak. You cannot have proper application of the text without having proper understanding, and you cannot have proper understanding if you start with what it means to you first, which is what we typically like to do.  We need to start in the passage, and then move to our lives.

Let me show what this looks like, just so that you can have an idea on how we are going to approach this text this morning. Really this is how we should approach the text all of the time, but let's see how this applies to this text today. (Show pic of hermeneutical bridge)

We start in THEIR TOWN. What did this text mean to the original audience when they read this text? This is where observation comes in. This is where you are going to look at the words and the phrases that are used here to determine the meaning in the text. This is where your basic English skills should come in. You are going to ask the W’s and a H. Who, What, When, Where, why, and How. You are just trying to get a basic understanding of what is going on there in the text. Next, you move to understand the gap that exists between you and the original audience. You are going to study the culture of the text. The genre of writing. All of those things that you see in the river. Those are the things that separate us from the original meaning of a text.

Then, and only then, are we able to take the underlying Biblical principles and apply them to our modern context.

That is what we are going to do this morning. We are going to move from how the original audience would have understood the text to talking about how this can apply to our lives.

Body: ‌Their Town

Look at verses 1-3 with me as we study this text together. Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 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 (Jon 3:1–3).

We start off in verse 1 with Jonah’s second chance, right? Thank God for those! But if you look at the wording in Chapter 3 and compare it to Chapter 1 it is almost exactly the same. God is still sending Jonah out on mission to Nineveh. He is not getting away from that. God calls him up and tells him to “Get Up and Go” This is like when parents have told their kids a few hundred times to pick up their toys or throw their trash away…and they haven’t moved a muscle…. you guys know what I am talking about? That happens in your guy's houses too, right? Yeah, happens all over the place. But then you have had enough, and now when you tell them to move….it makes them jump up out of their seats because they know you mean business. This is what God is telling Jonah to do….it is time to get up and GO…and unlike the first time when Jonah ran away…. this time he does go. And we know from the text that Jonah is being sent to Nineveh not to do a welcome home party, but to bring a message from the living God.

There is an urgency in the text that we must feel…this is not an option for Jonah to consider, but this is a command that he must obey. This is his second chance…God has already made him painfully aware that he is not getting out of this mission…no matter what. I liked how one commentator put it, he said, “Why does he go this time? God has pursued him to the gates of death and brought him back. Jonah cannot escape the assignment.”

He goes, and the text says that Nineveh, which is described as a great city…a city that would take three days to go through…to proclaim the message that has been given to him. What is so interesting about the phrase “a great city”, some say a “very great city” actually can read, “Nineveh was a great city to God” That was how God saw the city. He cared about the city…even if Jonah didn’t…. God did. Jonah goes there because God sent him…not because he wanted to. And the text says, look down at verses 4-5 with me, that when Jonah had made about 1 day's journey into the city, he began to proclaim his message….and listen to this message “In forty Days Nineveh will be demolished.” Six words in English…. five in Hebrew….and I know what everyone is thinking…. Why can’t we have messages like that? That would be awesome!!!! Man, boil it all down in one good sentence, and let's call it a day.

But in all honesty, this has caused some debate…. Was this all that Jonah preached to them? Was that the message that God wanted him to proclaim? Or is there more to the story and we just don’t see that part? There are guys who are way smarter than I am on both sides of the issue, but here is what I think we see in the passage. I don’t see another reason for there to be more…and here is why… The word that is used for “destroyed” can also be understood as meaning “turned around” or “turned over” in the heart….by turning to God….it can be understood as a declaration of turn away or be overthrown…. the word has both meanings in the text.

Here is how one commentary put it, which I think is helpful: “It is important for the reader to see both perspectives in “Nineveh will be overturned.” The conflict between the two possibilities (“destroyed” or “changed through turning to God”) is the primary subject of the book of Jonah and of the argument between the prophet and God. God sends Jonah to Nineveh in hope that the Ninevites will be “overturned” through their repentance. Jonah faithfully proclaims this two-edged message but hopes (as we see in Ch. 4) that “overturned” means the annihilation of the Ninevites. He understands both aspects of the word. The Ninevites, by contrast, do not fully understand it but believe it to mean “destruction.” They repent in the hope that it may mean something other (and better) than their annihilation”

This is exactly what we see happen in the text, is it not?! Look at verse 5. “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.” Jonah preaches…and all of a sudden…. Revival breaks out in the town. People, both small and great people…. meaning the poor and the rich…everyone starts fasting….and they believe in GOD. What I find so interesting…and ironic…is that the people start doing this…the King makes a decree that the people should do this…. they ARE!!! All of the city is doing this…. the King even humbles himself by taking off his robe and putting on sackcloth….it is clear that the city is broken. That is what you see happening in verse 6.

Look at the decree with me in v. 7-9. 7 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, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” (Jon 3:7–9).

The fast that they are going through is to be by people and the animals…. they even put sackcloth on them…. When I read that I was like…. what? I was trying to imagine myself chasing my dog around the house trying to put sackcloth…or like a potato sack.... on her to make her mourn and fast with us…. but this is how seriously they took their sins.

But it was more than just fasting and praying…. the King tells them to turn from their evil ways and their wrongdoings…. they cannot keep living as they have been…action must take place if they are going to see change. And I love this in v.9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

He gets it…. he knows that everything they are doing is not necessarily going to make them right with God. It is still up to God. What is he going to do? It is not as if God cannot still punish them for their sins because they are fasting and praying…. God cannot be bought off…. they are dependent upon the grace and mercy of God, because He alone has the right to do whatever He wants….

What happens though? What does God do?

Look down at verse 10 with me. 10 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 (Jon 3:10).

God sees their actions, but it is more than just their actions. It wasn’t their works that God saw... He sees “that they turned from their evil ways-” It was not the works themselves that God took notice of it was what the works pointed to, a changed heart. This is what caught God’s eye so to speak. The Bible tells us that a “broken and contrite heart” God will not despise…and that is what is going on here in Nineveh. They become broken over their sin, and they turn to God…that is what repentance is.

And what is His response? He turns His wrath away. God displays grace and mercy on these people because, as the Bible says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

As we think about this text, this text seems like a pretty wild story…and, as we said earlier, if we read it too quickly, we leave it just as an interesting passage. But we cannot stop there. We need to see what the text says and what it would have meant to the original heart of Jonah. What Did It Mean in Their Town? God’s Grace and Mercy Are on Full Display Here. God is the God of Second Chances God is the God Who Turns Away His Wrath God is the God Who Sees

God is the God Who Cares About All People.

This text is not about Jonah at all. This text is about God. Think about it. When this text was written, the nation of Israel was living in complete and total rebellion against God itself. They were not doing what they needed to be doing. They were out worshiping other gods and living in all kinds of wicked ways. God kept sending them prophets to warn them of the coming destruction.... but they actually refused to listen. Jonah is given as an example. It is like God is saying to his people through this text… LOOK, if you would only look and see. Listen to my prophets. Destruction is coming your way. Turn away from your sins and turn to me. I honestly believe that one of the things the book of Jonah was to do for the people of Israel was to give them an example of what they needed to do. Even the pagans got it, why can’t you?

Secondly, though, I think that Jonah was also to teach the people of Israel that God’s grace was not limited to them only. They did not own God… He owned them… and everyone else. All people and nations are accountable to Him… and He has a desire for Salvation to come to all NATIONS.

Once we have rightly understood the text in their town, we then can move to understanding this text in Our Town, because, as we have said, this text is not about telling us some nice story, but this is text is meant to change our lives.

How Does This Text Apply to Our Town? ‌Here is what I want us to see from this text…

God is a God of Grace in Giving Second Chances. We have said this time and time again. We see His grace all over the place in this book and in this text. God gives Jonah a second chance to take part in the work that He is doing in the world. God’s grace is not a one and done kind of thing…. that should makes us hopeful. Just because we messed up once with obeying Him does not mean that God is done with us yet. No, what that means, is that you get to go through whatever it is again and again until God teaches you what he is trying to teach you….in His grace He does this. God’s goal in your life is that you would bear fruit and look more like Him…. God is restoring His image in our broken lives. That is what God does to His people, those who have placed their hope and faith in Christ. Please hear me, never think that you have messed up so badly in your walk with the Lord that He has given up on you. That is not true at all. God in His Love for you will pursue you and bring you back to Himself.

The second thing that we see in this text is that God Forgives Those Who Repent of Their Sin and Turn to Him. This is the driving point of the text in Chapter 3. You see, in this chapter we get a really clear picture of what repentance and faith looks like. It is more than just saying that you are sorry and going about your day. What did these people do? They fasted, showing that they were broken and felt remorseful about their sins. They believed in God, and lastly…. They turned away from their wicked ways.

That is what repentance is. Often, what can happen when we repent is that we, like kids sometimes….we run to God to tell him that we are sorry for our sins….but we really are not sorry for what we have done….we are sorry that we got caught….or we got in trouble…but we don’t have any attentions to do anything better next time except try harder not to get caught….that is not repentance….that is what the Bible calls worldly sorrow….it leads to death….it will KILL YOU….however, when we really repent and turn to God…it leads to LIFE….that is what we want…LIFE… Repentance is about confession of sin, turning away from it, and turning towards God. That is Biblical repentance.

God is the God Who Cares About All People Not only did God care about the people of Israel or the people of Nineveh, we have to see that the God that we worship and love actually cares about ALL people. There is not one person who is alive that God does not care about. We have to have that same attitude towards those in our community that God does. We must learn to love and care for all people.

Conclusion: What is so crazy, is that what we are reading in Jonah really is no different than the message Christ came proclaiming 2000 years ago to another rebellious people. You see, all of us are like the people of Nineveh. We naturally run towards wickedness and run away from godliness. The Bible warns us that there is coming a day when God is going to judge the world in sin and righteousness. There is coming a day of great wrath upon those who are living in rebellion against God. Jesus described it as a time when people will be cast to a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, and the flame does not die. Destruction is coming. Wrath is coming. And all of humanity will have to face that wrath.

That is expected if we heed the words of Jesus. Jesus came “Preaching and teaching, Repent and believe the Gospel.” Just like Nineveh, there was hope given.... not just doom and gloom. Because of Jesus Christ, we are able to repent of our sins and turn to God the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ made a way for us to be forgiven by taking the Wrath of God for us. He took the destruction that we deserved upon Him on the Cross and then 3 days later He rose again defeating sin and death. Because of what Jesus did, we can be forgiven! That is the good news! That is the Gospel.

If you have not done that… if you have not placed your faith in Christ, I plead with you to do that today. You do not have to face the wrath of God for your sins. You can be forgiven this morning by repenting and placing your faith in Jesus.

And for those of you who have struggled this past week. For those who feel like they are far from God, or who just need a reminder of God’s grace, I let me say this to you this morning… God sees you, God loves you, God cares about you. You are not forgotten. Everything that He has allowed to happen in your life has been for a reason. He is using all of those things to shape and mold you into the image of Christ.... even the times we have rebelled against Him. Maybe there is something that you are struggling with this morning. Maybe there is some sin that is holding you down or you keep falling into. Or maybe, for whatever reason, you just feel distant from God. There is no better time to turn back to the Lord and receive the Grace that is offered through the cross.

Let’s Set Our Minds on What He Wants. Let’s Set Our Minds on His Grace and Love Let’s Set Our Minds on the Forgiveness that is Offered to Us Through Christ.

Let’s Seek to Get This Good News to Our Community So That We Can See Revival.

God is the God of Grace and Mercy. Let’s Run TO Him This Morning, and Let’s Run to Tell the World about Him.

Let’s pray together.