Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

3b- We see some recurring themes now coming into view.

Tarshish would be a large city as well.

Nineveh is extremely large- great (1:2;,4,12,17) | 3 days walk = 3 days in a fish.

If we were to give a poll on who everyone thought was the best preacher in the Bible, we would probably come up with names like Peter who on the Day of Pentecost saved 3,000 souls.

Or Paul, who in is described as having preached to all the residents of Asia in 2 years.

Or possibly going to the Old Testament, we would think about Abraham or Moses or Elisha.

But if we are looking at just the sheer number and the rate of conversion, the answer I think surprises us.

4-5- And we begin to see the effectiveness of the gospel proclamation.

It We have another man when we think of a boat and much water, Noah.

And yet Noah preaches for 100 years and no one repents.

Jonah preaches 1 day and the men of Nineveh believe....God, not Jonah.

We see further a contrasting made between Jonah and everyone else around him.

They immediately fast and dress themselves in sack cloth.

Yet not once do we even see this being the case with Jonah.

He is forced to fast in the fish.

6- Even the king, who has authority and power, repents.

What irony!

And we are made clear in our minds that this story is not just a happy one, nor a sad one.

It is one full of irony.

Prophets would preach, accepting God’s call, and no one repented.

They were stubborn and resisted (, , ) But here is almost a universal repentance… and done immediately.

Throughout this story, we have seen only two characters.

Jonah and God.

And we see that Jonah is pretty much failing everywhere and in every occasion.

But God’s work is getting done So, who is ultimately to credit for this mass revival?

God!

<And this would be a good place to end the story.

This is where we would want it to conclude.

We had the intro, a plot, a fairly good conclusion.

But there is more to the story.

We know that because there still remains a fourth chapter for us.

And we are left wondering again where is Jonah.

As we forget Jonah in the revival on the boat of the seamen, we need to go check up on him.

And where is he?

Is he praising.

Still, it is a no.

But that is for next time >

Intro:

If we were to give a poll on who everyone thought was the best preacher in the Bible, we would probably come up with names like Peter who on the Day of Pentecost saved 3,000 souls.

Or Paul, who in is described as having preached to all the residents of Asia in 2 years.

Or possibly going to the Old Testament, we would think about Abraham or Moses or Elisha.

But if we are looking at just the sheer number and the rate of conversion, the answer I think surprises us.

Especially since we have been walking through Jonah and looking at his disobedience, we would be shocked to find out that Jonah is in fact one of the greatest preachers.

In one day, his preaching is spread throughout an entire nation and they all immediately repent.

Just to get an idea of the number of people, “Should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot distinguish between their right and their left.”

Now some have estimated that the actual population would be around 300,000 since many of the people did not live in the city, but most lived outside of the city walls.

Another estimate I read was of this was referring to children who cannot distinguish between their right and left.

So the number would be much much greater.

And Jonah, the constant disappoint that makes us SOH at him…shake OUR heads, he is the one that God uses.

When you think about that I think a lot of our excuses for not witnessing sort of melt away.

And the truth is that, since God is our Lord, we ought to obey his command which does include evangelism.

God can use anyone.

We just need to be obedient and preach the Gospel.

And as we will look at Jonah’s effectiveness this morning, you will want to note his message.

He does not water it down.

He doesn’t try and form friendships.

He preaches a very tough word. he calls them to repentance and faith.

Theme: Evangelism.

God can use anyone.

We just need to be obedient and preach the Gospel.

It will be tough for people to hear though as we call them to repentance and faith.

Body:

Although we are not sure how much time passes, we can almost imagine that with how quickly things in this story are moving, it had to have been fairly soon after him being vomited from the mouth of the great fish, Jonah is recommissioned.

And the words echo what God had commanded Jonah to do.

To get up and go to Nineveh.

To preach the message that God tells him.

And we may be at the edge of our seats, thinking will Jonah respond now.

Or will he go back to his running from God.

Maybe he could be thinking, well that was foolish for me to try to run from God by sea, I should’ve chosen by land.

But Jonah, is a quick read.

So we are not left holding our breath, we read of Jonah “getting up and going to Nineveh according to the Lord’s command.”

He goes and we have to be excited.

Jonah is doing the right thing.

This reluctant, disobedient, stubborn, unfaithful missionary is finally doing the right thing.

3:1-3a- Jonah recommissioned.

Not sure how much time passes, if any, but Jonah is reminded of what he is to do.

And in this verse is almost the complete opposite of 1:1-3a.

We are all commissioned by God to go and to declare His word.

That ought to bring us comfort.

One reason I hear often from people who want to go out and do outreach is that they are unsure what to say.

The beauty is that we are not to proclaim a message that is from ourselves, but we are to deliver His message.

And that message is found in His Word.

3:1-3a- Jonah recommissioned.

Not sure how much time passes, if any, but Jonah is reminded of what he is to do.

And in this verse is almost the complete opposite of 1:1-3a.

We are but jars of clay.

Paul wrote in

We proclaim the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation ()

And so, that should encourage us.

We have but one message to deliver.

The Gospel.

Christ.

If you do not know what to say, don’t worry.

God has told us…

This is the message of faith that we proclaim: 9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

10 One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.

11 Now the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on Him will not be put to shame, n 12 for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord of all is rich to all who call on Him. 13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

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But we also should be encouraged that despite all of our failings and failures.