The Second Time
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The Second Time
The Second Time
The Second Time
Series on Jonah
Introduction
The City God wanted to Save … Nineveh
A great and wicked city
Modern Day Iraq - Mosul -
Capital of Assyrian Empire
Prior to the Assyrian defeat of Israel
A city that was in the countdown to judgment
A city that was in the countdown to judgment
The countdown of wickedness, of life, of prophetic fulfillment
Six weeks until destruction
Jonah … The Reluctant Prophet
Called, chosen, but flees
SO many Christians could fit this profile: Called, but...
Many, like Jonah, just don’t want to go
There is hope for them: Consider Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah..
Others get distracted by the things of the world,
Others are offended, and so, won’t go
Many Christians who God purposes to do great things through, but are on their way to Tarshish, sleeping through the storms....
Swallowed by the great fish: A type of death, burial, resurrection
Jesus referred to this as a sign
The Word of the Lord came the second time
1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to 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, a three-day journey in extent. 4 And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 6 Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. 7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying,
Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?
10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
Jonah
The second call came after Failure and Chastening (chaps. 1, 2)
So many things about Jonah’s response to God’s call were wrong
His attitude was wrong. He knew better than that
It is amazing how many Christians have terrible attitudes, even while they know better than that...
So many Christians are easily offended, often angry, divisive, and making excuses instead of repenting: They know better
His running away. He knew better than that
are you running from God instead of running to God?
Choosing self will. He knew better than that
Is your life based on God’s will? Or your self will?
Just showing up does not prove that you are in God’s will
Consider Moses at the rock...
Just being in the church, or calling yourself a Christian does not fulfill God’s will:
Are you submitted to HIM?
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
rom12:
Jonah had it wrong in so many of these points:
Chastening comes to the wayward child of God
Chastening comes to the wayward child of God
Christians can never get away with sin ()
4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
6 For whom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”
7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
That storm was no accident
The great fish was no accident
Examples of those under God’s chastening
Israel wandering in the wilderness for forty years
Samson grinding in the prison house: blind and powerless
But God’s grace reaches those who have failed
But God’s grace reaches those who have failed
Samson would return and regain his strength
Peter, even though he wept because of his denials, became a main spokesman of the Church
And God will meet you where you are
The second call came with Jonah’s old Commission (3:2)
This second call is evidence of God’s wonderful grace
Jonah must have thought it was all over for him
He had surely blown it
even after the fish spit him out, he must have thought it was over as far as being used of God
like the prodigal son who thought he would go back just to be a servant of his father
Rising there on the beach: exhausted and done in
Probably Thought deliverance was the best that could happen
Probably doubted that God would ever use him again
But God called Jonah the second time with the same message
The God of the second chance: not for salvation, but service
The blessed message of
1 Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.
4 Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight—
That You may be found just when You speak,
And blameless when You judge.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David When Nathan the Prophet Went to Him, After He Had Gone in to Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.
4 Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight—
That You may be found just when You speak,
And blameless when You judge.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
9 Hide Your face from my sins,
And blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.
18 Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.
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The second call came in spite of the Fact that Jonah would fail again (chap. 4)
Jonah was displeased with Nineveh’s repentance
Here is a man who is disappointed with his own success
Here is a preacher who regrets that God has used him
Here is an evangelist who is pouting over a whole city of penitents
What hard hearts we have! Still God loves us
Perhaps you have missed some opportunities in the past
Maybe you should have responded to God’s call long ago...
Whatever your past, God will meet you today!
Regardless of past (and present) failures: God will meet you today
Even if you are not sure if you will be weak and fail Tomorrow, He will meet you today