A Proper Response to God and His Word
Jonah • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:
2 “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I give you.”
3 This time Jonah got up and went to Nineveh, in accordance with the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, requiring a three-day journey.
4 On the first day of his journey, Jonah set out into the city and proclaimed, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned!”
5 And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.
6 When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
7 Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let no man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink.
8 Furthermore, let both man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and have everyone call out earnestly to God. Let each one turn from his evil ways and from the violence in his hands.
9 Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.”
10 When God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them.
PRAY
Introduction:
The last two weeks we have focused on the character of God as it is revealed in the book of Jonah. Today we will consider our responsibility in light of the revelation of God’s character. God reveals Himself; how should we respond?
God Reveals Himself
God reveals Himself to us in a variety of ways, and we see that in the book of Jonah.
God reveals Himself in Creation (Nature). Psalm 19 tells us that the heavens declare the glory of God. Psalm 104 exalts the way God displays His glory in His creation. Jonah shows us God’s power and goodness in the storm, the fish, the plant, the worm, and the wind. God reveals something of His character through the things He has made. The creation puts on display God’s majesty, power, beauty, love, goodness, and other attributes.
God reveals Himself through other people. People are also a part of God’s creation, of course, but God seems to like to make Himself known to people especially through other people. In the book of Jonah, the prophet Jonah is the one through whom God’s word comes to the sailors and to Nineveh, and it is through Him that they came to know something of the character of God (even though Jonah was a terrible prophet). Whether through another person’s words or through the way they live, we may come know more of the character of God.
God reveals Himself directly through His Word. Twice in the book of Jonah, in 1:1 and 3:1, we see the phrase, “The word of the LORD came to Jonah.” This same expression, “The word of the LORD came to ___,” occurs over 100 times in the Old Testament. Men such as Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Nathan, Solomon, Elijah and Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Haggai, and Zechariah were recipients of this direct revelation of “the word of the LORD.” With the exception of Solomon, they were all prophets.
We don’t know for sure what this was like. Did God appear in some visible form to these men when He revealed Himself? Possibly. Did they just hear a voice? Maybe. The truth is, we don’t know exactly how God revealed Himself directly to these prophets, but we know that He did reveal Himself in some special way.
How many of you have thought that you would like to hear God’s voice and have Him reveal Himself directly to you? Probably all of us wish we could experience that.
But, believe it or not, we have something better than what all these men had. We have the entire written revelation of God. We have the word of the LORD written down and preserved for us, translated into our own language so we can read and understand the word of the LORD. And many Bible translation ministries are working to get God’s Word into every language in the world.
Do you realize what a blessing that is? You have “the word of the LORD” right in front of you, on a physical copy or on a screen - this is God’s direct and special revelation of Himself to us. What an amazing privilege we have! God has spoken to us. He has revealed Himself to us - in His creation, through other people, and especially through His Word.
And this demands a response from us. How will we respond as God reveals Himself to us?
Let’s consider the various characters in Jonah and how they responded, then we’ll consider how this applies to us.
First we’ll consider the sailors, then the Ninevites, then finally Jonah. How did God reveal Himself to them, and how did they respond?
God revealed Himself to the Sailors. How did the Sailors respond?
God Revealed Himself to the Sailors.
God Revealed Himself to the Sailors.
Through the storm (v. 4) - God’s attributes of power, wrath, and justice are revealed in the storm He sends.
4 Then the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship was in danger of breaking apart.
Through Jonah (v. 7-15) - they learned that Jonah’s God, Yahweh (the LORD), is the God above all gods, the Creator of heaven and earth and sea.
8 “Tell us now,” they demanded, “who is to blame for this calamity that is upon us? What is your occupation, and where have you come from? What is your country, and who are your people?”
9 “I am a Hebrew,” replied Jonah. “I worship the LORD, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land.”
They recognize their guilt and plead for God’s mercy, which He shows them by stopping the storm.
14 So they cried out to the LORD: “Please, O LORD, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life! Do not charge us with innocent blood! For You, O LORD, have done as You pleased.”
15 At this, they picked up Jonah and cast him into the sea, and the raging sea grew calm.
Through this experience, the sailors learned that Yahweh, the LORD, is the only true God. Those gods they had worshiped earlier could do nothing for them. Yahweh, the Creator of all things, had revealed to them His power, His wrath, His justice, and also His mercy.
How Did the Sailors Respond?
How Did the Sailors Respond?
They prayed to the LORD
14 So they cried out to the LORD: “Please, O LORD, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life! Do not charge us with innocent blood! For You, O LORD, have done as You pleased.”
These sailors pray to the LORD before He has done anything for them, and they acknowledge God’s sovereignty and justice without any assurance that He will rescue them. This shows us that “they revere Yahweh for who he is, not for what he can give them.”
No longer is each man praying to his own gods, now they are all together calling out to the LORD, the true God. They appear to have embraced Yahweh as the true God. If that wasn’t clear enough, v. 16 shows us that they have wholeheartedly embraced Yahweh as their God.
They turned to the LORD - they embraced Him as the true God, as their God.
16 Then the men feared the LORD greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to Him.
They feared the LORD greatly - literally, they feared Yahweh with a great fear
This is an Old Testament expression that almost always indicates that a person is in a genuine relationship with Yahweh, the LORD. “I fear Yahweh” is the OT equivalent of “I’m a follower of Jesus” today. Proverbs tells us that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. To fear the LORD isn’t so much about being afraid of Him but having the proper awe and respect toward Him that He deserves. If you fear the LORD, you take His word seriously, and you trust and obey what He says. That’s what it means to fear the LORD. That’s what these sailors do here.
They offered a sacrifice to the LORD
It is most likely that they offered their sacrifice after they returned safely to shore. Back in v. 5 it told us that they had thrown the ship’s cargo overboard to lighten the ship’s load, so they probably no longer had the resources to offer a sacrifice on the boat. Once they arrived to their destination or else back to the port, they offered a sacrifice to the LORD as a way of honoring Him and thanking Him for His mercy.
They made vows to the LORD
The vows they made to the LORD combined with the sacrifice they offered to Him indicate their ongoing commitment to worship Yahweh, the LORD, as their God. Some people make vows when they’re in trouble and then forget about them after they are rescued. Here these sailors are first rescued from their trouble and then they make their vows in response to God’s mercy.
Every indication is that these sailors, who were once pagans, truly converted to the one true God - they came to know the LORD and worship Him as their God.
God revealed Himself to them; they responded with trust, worship, and obedience.
This is a proper response to God’s revelation of Himself.
Second, let’s consider how
God Revealed Himself to the Ninevites.
God Revealed Himself to the Ninevites.
God revealed Himself through Jonah.
4 On the first day of his journey, Jonah set out into the city and proclaimed, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned!”
Jonah’s message, only 5 words in Hebrew, is short and to the point. Though this probably wasn’t the only thing he said, its content is telling.
What’s missing? No mention of God. Just, “40 days and you’re toast.” No mention of God, no reason given for why judgment is coming, no mention of how they should respond, no mention of the possibility of mercy. It doesn’t mean necessarily that Jonah didn’t mention these other things, but it seems like maybe even though he’s preaching to them he’s still trying to stand in the way of God showing mercy to them. He’s only telling them the bad news.
It would be like today standing on a street corner and telling everyone who passes by, “you’re going to burn in hell” without offering any reason why or any hope of rescue. It’s an incomplete message.
There is a coming judgment for sin. And from the text, this is all that we know for sure Jonah told them. This was how God revealed Himself to them.
Despite having so little revelation of God, the response of the people of Nineveh is shocking.
How Did the Ninevites Respond?
How Did the Ninevites Respond?
5 And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least.
6 When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
They believed God’s word spoken by God’s prophet.
They fasted and dressed in sackcloth, outward practices that often accompanied mourning or repentance.
Consider for example how King Ahab responded to God’s word through Elijah in 1 Kings 21 after he had killed Naboth and stolen his vineyard. Elijah pronounced the message of God’s coming judgment on Ahab and his family, and this is how Ahab responded.
27 When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. He lay down in sackcloth and walked around meekly.
28 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying:
29 “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the calamity during his days, but I will bring it upon his house in the days of his son.”
So these actions (fasting and wearing sackcloth) often accompany repentance from sin and a plea for God’s mercy.
They turned from their sin and violence (they repented) - the king commands the people,
8 Furthermore, let both man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and have everyone call out earnestly to God. Let each one turn from his evil ways and from the violence in his hands.
They hoped for - and received - God’s mercy.
9 Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.”
10 When God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them.
How genuine or long-lasting was their repentance? In other words, did they become true believers in the LORD?
Some things in the text seem to indicate that yes, they became genuine worshipers of the LORD.
But interestingly, God’s personal name, Yahweh, is never used in Jonah’s message or Nineveh’s response.
So did they truly come to know and worship Yahweh as the only true God, like the sailors did? The text doesn’t tell us.
We know that only 50-60 years after this, the Assyrian empire (of which Nineveh was a major city) attacked and destroyed Israel and carried away captive the northern kingdom. A century or so later the book of Nahum pronounced God’s final message of destruction on Nineveh, and it appears that at that point there is no more opportunity for repentance on their part.
While a few generations received mercy and escaped the judgment of God, whatever genuine fruit there was didn’t last long.
Whatever we conclude about their spiritual state before God, there are good things we can learn from and imitate in their response to God.
They believed God’s word - and we should too. Whether we’re reading it, listening to it, hearing it preached or taught, we must believe what God says.
They turned from their sin and hoped for God’s mercy - and we should too. We know now that it is on the basis of Christ’s death and resurrection for us that we can turn from our sin and have God’s mercy and forgiveness. And we know that genuine faith and repentance is not a one-time experience but an ongoing habit of true believers. Those who are true believers will persevere in their faith.
Third, let’s consider how
God Revealed Himself to Jonah.
God Revealed Himself to Jonah.
Directly, by His Word - in some way God communicated directly to Jonah and commanded him what to do and say.
1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying,
2 “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before Me.”
1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:
2 “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I give you.”
Through His creation - the storm, the fish, the vine, worm, and scorching east wind
The storm - Jonah recognized that the storm revealed God’s anger and justice
12 “Pick me up,” he answered, “and cast me into the sea, so it may quiet down for you. For I know that I am to blame for this violent storm that has come upon you.”
The fish - God revealed His sovereignty over His creation and His mercy in preserving Jonah’s life
17 Now the LORD had appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish.
10 And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
The vine - God again showed His sovereignty and kindness
6 So the LORD God appointed a vine, and it grew up to provide shade over Jonah’s head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant.
The worm - God showed His sovereignty and judgment
7 When dawn came the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered.
The scorching east wind - God showed His judgment
8 As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint and wished to die, saying, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
Through the Scriptures - Jonah had access to or at least knowledge of God’s own description of His character from Exodus.
2 So he prayed to the LORD, saying, “O LORD, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion—One who relents from sending disaster.
Through another personal interaction with God - chapter 4 - prayer and response; God ultimately reveals His sovereignty and compassion
11 So should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well?”
From this we can conclude that Jonah had the greatest experience of God and His Word, and we’ll see that he had the worst response to God and His Word.
How Did Jonah Respond?
How Did Jonah Respond?
Jonah’s responses:
Rebellion and disobedience - disobeying God’s clear command, running away from Him
3 Jonah, however, got up to flee to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship bound for Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went aboard to sail for Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.
Indifference toward the lost and perishing around him
5 The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down to the lowest part of the vessel, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.
Anger at God’s mercy - Jonah wants mercy for himself but not for Nineveh; He wants the blessings of God without submitting himself to God. And he even goes so far as to indicate that he believes that life with God is not worth living.
1 Jonah, however, was greatly displeased, and he became angry.
2 So he prayed to the LORD, saying, “O LORD, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion—One who relents from sending disaster.
3 And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
Selfish pride: “I”, “me”, “my” 26 times in Jonah’s prayer in chapter 2 - shows his selfish focus; whenever we find him talking in all the book, he’s focused on himself.
Lack of genuine repentance - What’s missing in his prayer? Jonah’s prayer is missing a confession of sin. Never does he acknowledge wrongdoing anywhere in the book. He makes vows while he’s in trouble, but does he keep them? We don’t know. But his unwillingness to admit his sin and ask forgiveness demonstrates an arrogant heart full of pride.
Throughout the entire book, Jonah’s response to God is to oppose himself to God and His Word. Even when he obeys, he doesn’t do so willingly or happily, but simply to avoid further judgment.
Do you think Jonah was a genuine believer?
He professed faith in Yahweh (1:9)
But everything in his life screams the opposite. His head was full of knowledge about God, but his heart had no love for this God he knew about. Can such faith save a person? The Bible’s answer is no.
I’m not sure that Jonah was a genuine believer. I’m not convinced he was even a true prophet, since his message given in 2 Kings 14:25 contradicted the message given by Amos in Amos 6:13-14.
Everything is backwards in this story, isn’t it?
The pagans with the least knowledge of God have the best response to God and His Word, and the Israelite prophet with the greatest opportunity hated the God whom He claimed to serve.
This book was probably written to call the northern kingdom of Israel to repentance before it was too late. By showing the soft hearts of pagans toward God’s Word, the book of Jonah condemned the hard-heartedness of Israel and called them to repent lest they perish. Sadly, they did not heed the warning.
Finally, how about us?
God Has Revealed Himself to Us.
God Has Revealed Himself to Us.
Directly, through His (written) Word - we have the full revelation of God - what an amazing privilege - and responsibility. In God’s Word we behold His glory - we come to know what He is like, and we also receive His commands for us.
Through His creation - in everything that God has made we see evidence of the reality of God and we come to know something of what He is like - the creation tells us of His glory and majesty.
Through other people - many times God also specifically reveals Himself and His will to us through other people, whether through a pastor or teacher in the church, online or on the radio, through friends and family members who know and love the Lord.
God reveals Himself to us. He makes known to us who He is and what He wants us to do.
How are you responding?
How are you responding?
Could we rephrase the first verses of Jonah and see how they apply to us?
The word of the LORD came to Antioch Bible Church, saying, Get up, and go to the great town of Mesick, and proclaim the message I give you.
You might think, God hasn’t told me that.
Hasn’t he?
Is there not a command that Christ has given to every one of us who names His name? To preach the gospel to every creature, to make disciples of all nations.
The town of Mesick is under the judgment of God just like Nineveh was, and we have the message of God’s mercy. What’s keeping us from telling people? Are you being disobedient to God’s will like Jonah was?
Wherever we go there are lost people around us like the sailors around Jonah. Are you indifferent to them like Jonah was? Do you not care that they are perishing and will spend eternity away from God?
Make disciples of all nations - what does that mean practically?
Making disciples means teaching the word of God and especially the commands of Jesus to people, modeling obedience to the commands of Christ, and baptizing those who trust and follow Him.
Show God’s love and mercy to everyone - not just people we like; just as God is merciful and loving toward His enemies, we are to be kind toward those who mistreat us.
Use your spiritual gifts for the growth of the body - don’t be a consumer but a giver - not just money, but give your time, use your abilities to serve one another, find ways to get involved. No matter your age, there is something you can and should be doing for the growth of the body.
I’m convinced that this church would be thriving and flourishing and overflowing if God’s people here would respond to Him in trust, love, and obedience to His word. Worldliness and indifference have crept in and are keeping us from experiencing the fullness of God’s blessing.
So what are you going to do? You’ve heard God’s Word today. How will you respond?
Will you trust Him? Will you love Him? Will you obey Him? Will you join God on His mission of mercy? Will you work together to make His name known in our community and around the world?
For Further Study and Application
In what ways did God reveal Himself to the sailors? How did they respond?
Do you think the sailors were truly converted to the LORD? Why or why not?
In what way did God reveal Himself to the people of Nineveh? How did they respond?
Do you think the Ninevites were truly converted to the LORD? Why or why not?
In what ways did God reveal Himself to Jonah? How did he respond?
Do you think Jonah was a genuine believer? Why or why not?
In what ways has God revealed Himself to you? How are you responding?
What is the proper response to God and His Word?