Turning the Hearts of the Lost

How does a revival start?

We pray for it all the time, “God bring revival to our nation.”

“We gotta pray for it.” We should…

“We need to have a week of special services.” Nothing wrong with that either…

BUT YOU CAN’T FORCE A REVIVAL. YOU CAN’T SCHEDULE THEM.

Most of what we would call “Revivals” are a refresher of the Gospel. People in the church get refreshed, sins are convicted and confessed and repented.

They don’t always lead to a wide sweeping revival.

What God wants to see is a revival that sweeps out of the church and into the hearts of the lost and the wicked. God wants to see the lost brought home where they belong. God wants to see the lost saved from the destruction that their sin is carrying them to.

We’re looking this morning at how God turns the hearts of nations, specifically the individuals of that nation, and what our role is in reaching those nations.

Jonah 3:1–5 ESV

1 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.

God prepares the heart.

Verse 5 makes absolutely no sense to me. They didn’t laugh at him, they didn’t kill him, “the people of Nineveh believed God.”

How? Why?

Historical accounts mention famines, plagues, revolts, and eclipses during the same time period that Jonah lived.

Obviously, we can’t say for certainty what happened, but it may be that these events were interpreted as signs and the people of Nineveh were praying to their gods and receiving no answer whatsoever.

Enter Jonah with a message from the true and living God—and they believe it.

I believe they were already seeking answers and trying to understand that they needed to do to appease the wrath of whatever god they offended.

Their hearts were ready.

Why is the heart so important?

Romans 10:10 “10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Now it’s not just a natural disaster getting their attention. God was calling them on top of all of that.

John 6:44 “44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”

God speaks to our spirit as the Holy Spirit.

We cannot depend on crises and disaster to reach the lost.

There are many who have gone through disaster and heartache and come out on the other side still refusing to surrender their life to God.

God prepares the heart to receive and believe the Word, but we have to decide if we will receive it.

God’s people deliver His Word.

Jonah doesn’t argue with God this time. He goes to Nineveh.

The people there didn’t know what they needed to do until the Word of God came to them.

Jonah’s message wasn’t a happy sappy one. “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”

You can’t lead people to Christ and His salvation without talking about His judgment against sin.

We have to proclaim the Kingdom of God to this world and our sin in choosing to live by our own kingdom instead of His.

God’s Kingdom is the effective rule and reign of Christ where God’s will is done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

As ambassadors of God’s Kingdom, we have to call out sin. And then we get to offer God’s good news of the Gospel. We get to offer the hope of being freed from the kingdom of sin and destruction, and then being brought into God’s Kingdom of peace and joy and life.

Jonah gave people a way to repent. He told them what they needed to do. They were know for wickedness and violence in battle, but that same violence was spreading into their own city among their people.

They were destroying each other—this is sin’s natural consequence.

God got their attention and brought someone to tell them His Word of Judgment, and His Word of grace.

Are you delivering God’s Word?

We have the same call and have to make the same choice of Jonah every time we leave this place. Church is a kind of safe haven.

But when the services are over, we are walking out into a world that desperately needs to know God.

We can either tell them about God, or sin by keeping our mouths shut and disobeying Him.

God wants His Word spread throughout the whole world. He doesn’t need us, but He chooses to use us. He gives us the opportunity to serve Him.

We are supposed to be seeking to advance the Kingdom of God.

God forgives those who repent.

Jonah 3:6–10 ESV

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.

They turned to the Lord. They called out to Him, and they turned from their evil ways.

Obviously the whole city went through the motions, but not everyone truly repented.

God saw their repentant hearts and it was enough to stall His judgment. God forgave them.

God wants to forgive. He’s not looking to condemn. He want to save.

John 3:17 “17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Conclusion: Are you willing to go? God’s already preparing hearts.

We know Jonah didn’t like this. Jonah didn’t want them to repent. He wanted them to be condemned not forgiven. Jonah didn’t have God’s heart beating in his chest.

We’ll look at chapter 4 next week to see God’s heart for the lost.

Let me leave you with this. Everyone on this earth has been brought to life by God. They are His creation. Peter says that God is not willing that even one should perish.

You need to understand that God’s love and desire to save His creation is what led Him to the cross.

THAT WILL GET GOD’S HEART BEATING IN YOUR CHEST.

Instead of running or grumbling, we will go and proclaim the Gospel to as many as we can.

We serve a great King who has called us to go, will you?

Repent and be saved.

Repent for withholding salvation.