Jonah 3:1-10 - The Glory of 2nd Opportunities

Introduction

Edison in developing the incandescent lightbulb had hundreds of “failures”. He chose to look at each failed experiment as 1 more learned way that would not bring about the desired result, but he kept looking.

He didn’t do the same thing again, He tried a different direction.

TRANSITION: In the text read we find that God gives a 2nd Call, with 3 different responses.

The LORD’s 2nd Call (3:1-3)

1st call – “go because I’ve noticed their evil”.

It was a pretty simple (yet not easy) and direct instruction to Jonah, but it wasn’t a call that Jonah wanted to answer.

2nd call – go and say exactly what I tell you (no adjustments or diversions this time!)

This time Jonah went and complied, but we will find out next week (Lord willing) that He still wasn’t excited about the assignment.

Challenge to the contrarian in each of us (cf. 1:3; 3:3)

My friend Steve Dighton is known to frequently have said, “delayed obedience is disobedience.” Unfortunately, too many of us are guilty of this very type of disobedience. However, initial disobedience does not preclude future obedience.

If God’s Spirit is calling you to do something, there will never be a better time than right now to kill the contrarian spirit inside and surrender to the Spirit’s prompting.

TRANSITION: God’s 2nd call shows God’s insistence that Jonah will go with…

Jonah’s 2nd Oracle (3:4)

First to his own countrymen (2 Kings 14:25)

2 Kings 14:25 ESV:2016

25 He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher.

Lebo-hamath is mentioned in (Numbers 34:8) as the Northern end of 12 spies mission.

Syria to Dead Sea (including parts of current Syria, Lebanon & Jordan)

The borders of the Promised Land have extended at different times beyond what was promised to Abraham, but NEVER will you find a place in Scripture where God’s people are instructed to give away control of land from the River to the Sea as Hamas, Hezbollah and their allies are demanding.

The 2nd Oracle is Just 5 word

od arbaim yom vaninevah nehpacketh

We don’t know if Jonah spoke Assyrian, or if Ninevites understood Hebrew, but the very sounds of the words sound ominous. Ann and I enjoy eating in ethnic restaurants. In some places it sounds like the staff is mumbling to each other, in some places it sounds like the staff is sweet talking each other, but in some places the staff sounds like they are angry at each other.

2. This is what the Assyrians may have heard. He begins in v.4 then pauses just before the quote. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3hEfW1A6R8

3. Npk - Overthrown, demolished, destroyed, or overturned.

4. “Nineveh as you have come to know it will be unrecognizable”.

5. Since God specifically told Jonah EXACTLY what to say, and God chose a word with double entendre, Jonah thought he was predicting another “Sodom and Gomorrah” type event, but God was actually predicting a cultural reversal

TRANSITION: Sometimes change looks like a whipping, sometimes it looks like an apology.

Nineveh’s 2nd Opportunity (3:5-9)

Notice: This is not a 2nd “chance”

A “chance” can communicate “luck”; this is by God’s design! God wants them to be warned so that they can turn.

This is God’s mercy in action. Back in v.2 of chapter 1 the Ninevites had offended God—that was their first opportunity. God’s reaction to their rebellion was to send a prophet to clarify their understanding of the consequences of their actions.

God’s preferred reaction to the evil done by the Ninevites was that they would turn away from where they were headed. Turning ideally involves motives AND behaviors.

Compliance vs. Obedience (v.9)

“Turn” vs. “relent”

Everything in 6-8 is an outward action that may or may not have had a connection to the heart.

Compliance is not obedience.

The king was hoping their compliance would be enough to move God’s heart.

You may have heard about those who miss Heaven by 18 inches—the distance from your brain to your heart. Even Demons know the truth, but only disciples have a change of heart. A preacher of a past era once wrote: A sinner is converted 3 times. First his head accepts the truth, second his heart responds to grace, and finally his wallet is changed.n

2. The Prophet Jeremiah spoke of a coming agreement between God and humanity in…

Jeremiah 31:33 ESV:2016

33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

This new commandment becomes necessary because Israel turned the Mosaic covenant into something God never intended.

In the minds of the people it was simply “because I said so!” compliance. Isaiah was a contemporary of Jeremiah and he describes the condition of his own countrymen:

Isaiah 29:13 ESV:2016

13 And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,

c. In Jesus’ day the same situation existed

Matthew 15:8 ESV:2016

8 “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;

Do you follow the speed limit because you are convinced it is safer for you and those around you, or do you just follow enough to avoid a ticket? Last week my wife called out one of my “stops” on a right turn. At my next stop I ceased all movement until she said it was long enough. Compliance to rules (without a heart of obedience) begins to look like fasting that simply means “no red (aka “real”) meat.

Biblical Repentance involved Head, Heart, THEN Hands (Mark 12:30)

Whenever the Bible includes “strength” or “might” in our obedience, it always follows “heart” and “soul”. (just as whenever believe and be baptized appear in the same verse, belief always comes first)

The king was hoping their compliance would be enough to move God’s heart because Assyrian gods were fickle. – sackcloth, ashes, fasting & animals. These are NOT the ceremonial requirements of the Mosaic Covenant, nor are they the sacrifices that godly people offered before Moses went up Mount Sinai.

He wanted to do the bare minimum (actions without affection) and hope that it would be enough for God’s affection to move Him to action – turn and relent. Today do we have friends and neighbors who want to appease God on their own terms?

God noticed their turning in (v.10) and relented of the disaster, but justice was still in play, God never turned.

TRANSITION: We hope the jury will acquit (and ignore the law) based upon feeling sorry for us. The whole book of Jonah is but one scene in the storyline of humanity. Just because God’s compassion delays disaster, it doesn’t erase guilt

The Lord’s delayed Wrath. [2nd Adam] (3:10)

Unlike a jury of our peers, God’s justice is based in realities, not just feelings.

God’s Mercy delays wrath (Hebrews 9:22)

God’s compassion prompts a delay, but it never changes justice.

The Ninevites did actions of contrition, but they never atoned with blood as required by God.

Hebrews 9:22 ESV:2016

22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

God’s Justice demands wrath (Gen 2:17)

Genesis 2:17 ESV:2016

17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Man’s disobedience introduced death into the human experience. That death must be completed or replaced by another death.

Anything short of complete death, is not death. So for Adam’s and our sins, the justice of God demands a human to die.

God’s grace diverts wrath (Galatians 3:13)

Guilt was introduced into our bloodline by the first Adam. 1 Cor 15 refers to Christ as the “last (or second) Adam” to whom God’s wrath is diverted!

Christ’s identity as 2nd Adam

1 Corinthians 15:45 ESV:2016

45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

3. Christ action of taking our curse.

Galatians 3:13 ESV:2016

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—

Conclusion

I know you’ve heard the definition of insanity: “doing the same thing and expecting different results”. Today’s text has given an example of Jonah responding differently, the Ninevites responding to a warning by turning from their evil ways, and God who responds compassionately by delaying wrath and diverting it to Jesus.

Today is our opportunity to “stop the insanity!” To respond first by accepting Christ as the only sufficient sacrifice for our sins; and secondly to proclaim the good news to those facing judgment so that they too may accept Christ.

You have seen the communion elements on the stage. For the next few minutes we would like to use the meal that Jesus commanded to help us remember our sin and His sacrifice that truly diverts God’s wrath away from us eternally.

Too many of us are living in the Pretense of Sanctification. By that I mean we pretend that things are better than they really are. We lie to each other when we fail to admit (Like Jonah in the great fish), I need to do different.

Transition to the Lord’s Table (v.8)

Dietrick Bonhoeffer, a German theologian imprisoned for resisting the Nazis, wrote in Life Together:

“Sin …withdraws [a man] from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him. And the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous is his isolation. Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light … This can happen even in the midst of a pious community. In confession, the light of the gospel breaks into the darkness and seclusion of the heart. The sin is brought into the light. The unexpressed is openly spoken and acknowledged. All that is secret and hidden is made manifest. It is a hard struggle until the sin is openly admitted, but God breaks gates of brass and bars of iron” (Psalm 107:16). The last stronghold of self-justification is abandoned. The sinner surrenders. He gives up all his evil. He gives his heart to God. He finds the forgiveness of all his sin and the fellowship of Jesus Christ and his brother. He is no longer alone with his evil for he has cast off his sin in confession and handed it over to God. It has been taken away from him. Now he stands in the fellowship of sinners who live by the grace of God and the cross of Jesus Christ. The sin concealed separated him from the fellowship. It made all his apparent fellowship a sham. The sin confessed has helped him to find true fellowship with the brethren in Jesus Christ.”