Jonah 3- What will it take you?

Introduction

Recap:

In chapter 1 we talked about how Jonah ran from the Lord after being commanded to go and preach repentance to the Assyrian country of Nineveh. But he hates the city so much that he ignores God and runs in the opposite direction by jumping aboard a ship and sailing to Tarshish. The Lord brings a great storm on the boat, and Jonah lets it out to the sailors on the boat that he is the reason the big storm threatens their ship. So they toss him overboard to his death, but the Lord sends a great fish to save him. Remember we talked about how Jonah’s sin affected other people just as our sin does as well. We also talked about how we need to lay our sin before the Lord.

Last week in Chapter 2 Ethan walked through the Lord’s mercy with you guys and how it was shown through Jonah’s suffering.

This week we are going to go through chapter 3 if you guys want to go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Jonah 3.

*read passage and pray*

Jonah 3 ESV

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 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. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 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. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 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, 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. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” 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.

It took Jonah being swallowed by a fish to obey the Lord. What will it take you?

Just before chapter 3, Jonah is spat our by the fish onto dry land. The chapter then picks up with the Lord giving His command to go and preach repentance to Nineveh a second time.

In chapter 1, when God calls Jonah to go preach repentance the first time, he doesn’t answer and runs. This time he still doesn’t answer but he goes.

Then we see in the verse 3 that the city is huge. In my study for this sermon, I found that Nineveh wasn’t actually large enough for someone to walk three days to get from one side to another, but rather it is a reference to how long it could have taken Jonah to preach repentance. But as we see in verse 4 that Jonah only spent a day walking through the city.

Then when Jonah is ready to preach repentance he just yells out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

The guys says 8 words to the city in order to preach repentance. The apostles in Acts would spend hours sometimes days preaching the gospel and repentance to people, but Jonah just walks into this city and yells you have forty days to get it together!

God also commanded Jonah to go and preach REPENTANCE, not judgment.

Jonah tells them that they will be destroyed for their sin rather than giving them an ultimatum. He never mentions the mercy the Lord intends for him to preach.

As you can tell, Jonah’s actions as a “man of God” are not good. They are not loving or gentle. Jonah is not the protagonist of this story like we are used to seeing in scripture.

I mean this guy, this prophet of the Lord, just witnessed an incredible miracle FIRST HAND, and he still has the gaul to fulfill the Lord’s will half-heartedly.

Application:

When I was studying for this sermon and writing down my notes, I couldn’t help but think, “Lord, why didn’t you just use someone else?”

But as I meditated on that thought it began to sound familiar.

It is a blessing and a wonderful thing to be able to be used by the Lord to fulfill His will, and we tend to miss these opportunities to be used because we get too caught up in what’s going on in our hearts.

We’re too caught up in doom-scrolling on Instagram and playing video games, and whatever else we do to make ourselves the center of our lives that we miss opportunities to have good conversations with people that might need to hear the gospel.

Jonah allowed for his sinful hatred for the Ninevites to blind him from sharing the Lord’s mercy with a group of people that needed it most.

My fellow Christians what in your life distracts you from sharing Christ with people that need it most?!

Don’t be like Jonah and let the desires of your heart rule how you respond to the Lord’s call.

It took Nineveh 8 words to obey the Lord. What will it take you?

I ask you a similar question but this one focuses on what was required of Nineveh whereas the last one focused more on what was required of Jonah.

Let’s look at the Ninevites actions and call to repentance.

Unlike Jonah who had the Lord speak directly to him, the Ninevites had a man deliver their message.

And their response was incredible and immediate.

In verse 5 it says, “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.

Everyone regardless of their social standard, wealth, and race immediately humbled themselves before the Lord and they put on sackcloth and fasted from food.

fasting and wearing sackcloth was an outward symbol of what was going on in their hearts. They were greatly grieved at their sin and they realized the extent of their wickedness.

Word got back to the city’s king who then made it a city mandate that everyone would repent and turn from their wickedness and perform these outward symbols of grievance regarding their wickedness as a city.

The king, himself, took off his royal clothing which shows his reverence for God and His righteous authority, and he put on sackcloth and ashes. Again, another sign of grief.

All this because of 8 words of judgment spoken out towards them

Application:

If it only took 8 words for Nineveh to realize the extent of their sin and believe in the Lord, how much will it take you to do the same?

Sin, regardless of how small it is, separates you entirely from the God. Whether you murdered someone like Nineveh or you cheated on a Math test. It doesn’t matter.

But just as the Lord sent Jonah to preach repentance to a nation in need of the God who forgives, I am standing in front of you now preaching to you the very same thing.

Are you going to believe in the Lord and show an outward expression of repentance and turn entirely from your sin?

The Ninevites did it immediately.

Conclusion

Some of you may be skeptical about the Lord thinking you know more than you really do about what is real and what is not.

This passage was referanced by Christ in Matthew 12. The Pharisees were trying to test Jesus to get Him to prove the fact He is who He says He is.

Matthew 12:38–41 ESV

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “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.

The Lord sent Jonah to preach God’s mercy, but many years later He sent His only begotten Son to preach His mercy and love just before laying Himself down as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.