Jonah 3 Second Chances

Second Chances

Intro: What do you all think of Instant Replay? In sports? At home? It was first introduced by Hockey night in Canada in 1955, but technology had not caught up just yet so it wouldn’t Benito 1963 at the Army navy Game when the instant replay would be used again. The 1200 pound replay machine malfunctioned and so it did not work as planned. Eventually technology caught up and we have it in use in all major sports today for variety of reasons. From replaying a great play to making a call that affects the game.

But instant replay allows you to rewind to see the play again to see what you did right or wrong. And you can adjust for the next time you are in a similar situation.

It allows the referees to look at a play and make sure they made the right call. They can back up the play and have the team replay the down.

This is something that may be played out everyday in courtrooms, but several years ago A teenaged Brandon Chrostowski stood before a judge. He was facing a 10-year sentence on a drug-related felony charge.

He couldn't believe what happened next: the judge let him off with probation.

Sometimes God will throw a flag on the play you make and make you have to move backwards and repeat the down. The good news with that is, just like football, you probably are not going to run the same play you get to rethink what you did and pick a different play.

This is where we see Jonah today, God has called a penalty and reset Jonah back to where he was so he can start over.

Read Chapter 3

MP: Our God is a God of Second Chances

I. God Gives you a Second Chance to Listen (1-5)

At the intro, I mentioned that the book is divided into two parts. Chapters 1 and 2 are the first section and here in chapter three, the second section starts and in a sense, restarts the whole book because Chapter 2 ends with the fish depositing or vomiting Jonah back on the shore, possibly near Joppa where Jonah left in chapter 1.

The writer tells us the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. God speaks to Jonah and says Go to Nineveh and proclaim the message I give to you.

Jonah had to travel another 500 miles or so to get to Nineveh, which would take about a month by a camel caravan. Or Longer if he walked.

A month is a long time to think about the message he is supposed to. Preach, perhaps that is what God tells him you will tell the message I give to you or speak to you.

But Jonah it seems, has turned over a new leaf. He is committed to going and telling the people of Nineveh to repent or be destroyed.

When Jonah prophecies, he says Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown demolished or destroyed. This coincides and gets the message in chapter 1 verse 2 where God tells him to “proclaim to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it because of their evil.“

Jonah traveled 500 miles to this city that is described as very large or an extremely great city. It was the capital of th eAssyrian empire and it grew very large, Sennacherib grew the city circumference from three miles to seven miles although circumference but he more than doubled the size.

Other research that comes from the 1st century BC, has that Nineveh and the surrounding area, like suburbs, was about 55 miles around circumference, which would take about three days to go around if you walked all the way around that has a circumference of 55 miles has an area of 240 miles.

For our modern day perspective a city that size is San Francisco.

But the writer is not just talking about the city’s size, but in the original Hebrew, “the phrase “a very important city” is literally “a city great to God.”’” Or a city important to God. Even though it was not a Jewish city.

God is sovereign over all and this phrase “expresses “God’s dominion over the staunchest of Israel’s foes.” While a literal rendering “great to God” may be unnecessary, clearly God cared deeply about the Ninevites, whom he had created in his image.

Remember the Assyrians were not nice.They were ruthless, and they would eventually take over the Northern Kingdom of Israel and threaten the southern Kingdom of Judah but here we see God giving a message to this other people and they may end up experiencing God’s wrath

Jonah is a prophet and he is the one who speaks God’s word. But he is not giving a prophecy of the destruction will come to pass, instead Jonah is giving them a warning Change your ways or be destroyed.

God is very clear about sin and how it separates us, as unholy, unclean people, and how we stand in direct contrast to the Holy and pure God

says Exalt the LORD our God And worship at His footstool; Holy is He.

The term holy or holiness to describe God occurs in the Bible 900 times

So you hear that message and there are two probable reactions;

The first reaction is usually unbelief or they don’t need a book of rules that supports an invisible old man that lives somewhere in the sky to tell me how to live.

They hear the warning that Jonah gives as a thing to fight against or disregard.

But if you are under the convicting power of God then you realize, you are not holy and there is a huge chasm keeping you from God.

In verse 5 we are told the people of Nineveh believed God. They believed God would make good on his warning.

But you see there is good news in the warning: If I change, and more importantly start to listen to God then I will be spared. You can be saved.

In , God tells Moses to "Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, 'You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy

Application: There is a Second chance that exists if you listen to God.

One commentator says “In the Old Testament, Israel was intended to be a light to the nations (cf. ). In the New Testament one reads of the believers’ responsibility to be ambassadors in this world and carriers of the good news.”

Jonah is taking the light to the dark place of the world it’s the message of judgement and Salvation.

From Chapter two we read Jonah’s prayer and he recognizes that he had just been saved by God and given a do over. Jonah and his actions were integral to Bringing God’s message to the Assyrians. And Assyria is important to bringing judgement to the nation of Israel later.

And we are called to go into the world and preach the same message.

John the Baptist, who was essentially the last Old Testament prophet came through the wilderness with a similar message to repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. ()

In Jesus himself said Repent and Believe.

We are to remind ourselves of the gift we have been given by the Father. The Son was the one who makes us Holy before God and extends the covenant to all nations. God’s command to send Jonah to Nineveh can be seen as a foreshadowing of what is to come when Christ came to earth. It is not the same, but it is similar. God chose those people for salvation for whatever reason. God Chose the Israelites but for no other reason than they were deemed important to him.For Israel they were not important. They were the smallest nation. But God used them to bring about the Messiah from the tribe of Judah.

Belief is the key to accepting the new covenant. Sometimes that's all you have time for.

TS: We see that people listened to God but it takes more than just listening, but that hearing must turn into obeying which manifests itself in the form of action.

II. God Gives you a Second Chance to Act (6-10)

Here is this Hebrew who has traveled hundreds of miles across the desert to walk into the enemy’s city and give a five word sermon. For a little bit of foreshadowing, Jonah was hoping the people would not listen to God and then He would destroy the whole city and people. So it is unclear how enthusiastic Jonah was while giving his message. Jonah has no ability to carry out destruction on the city if they do not repent. He could have been beaten or arrested because he was a foreigner talking about destroying the city.

But you see it is not about the messenger, it’s about the message and the author and authority who the message comes from. That's who people listen to. If you grew up with siblings and one of them comes in the room because of som rukus, if they say stop, do you stop? Probably not, but if the sibling comes ins and says, Mom or dad says stop it. What do you do. You probably listen to them because your four year old sister can’t do anything to make you stop, but because Mom said stop, you know that mom will come in there and get you to stop.

The King of Assyria hears the message and issues a decree in Nineveh to fast, refraining from food and drink and mourn in sackcloth in ashes.

Sackcloth is a coarse, black cloth made from goat’s hair that was worn together with the burnt ashes of wood as a sign of mourning for personal and national disaster, as a sign of repentance and at times of prayer for deliverance.

But the king went so far as to say it was not just for the people, but for the animals as well. They wanted to put people in a uniform. Much like the military, everyone wears the same basic clothing so you are all the same playing field. Here, he wanted everyone to spend time reflecting the evil they had committed. The sins they committed.

The Assyrians have seen the light, and they are on fire for God. They want to get out of the way of the bad news and get away from the destruction.

But if you read verse 8 there is a third instruction that the king makes: “everyone must call out earnestly to God. Each must turn from his evil ways and from his wrongdoing.”

The King james version and the English Standard version say cry out mightily to God. Put some gusto into it. But some meaning behind it. If you listen to music there is some music that has no might or power to it. But other music, especially the blues it has feeling, it has power. You can feel the singer telling you a sad story and not only hear it, but you feel it.

So incase you think that the assyrians are just faking it so they don’t get destroyed,the New Testament gives us some insight to how true the conversion was.

Jesus’ words in , however, sometimes are used to argue that a genuine conversion must have taken place. Jesus’ own testimony is that “they repented at the preaching of Jonah” with the result that they will be present at the judgment condemning those who rejected Jesus’ preaching. It is hard, then, to deny that at least some of the Ninevites were genuinely converted

It is unclear how long they fasted and repented. But we cannot live our lives as Christians if we are constantly in mourning. We need to Repent because we were once sinners but we should as Jesus told the adulterous woman Go and sin no more. Because

Application: Our actions should match and reflect our repentance and joy and the seriousness with which we use our second chance.

In John says to the crowd, Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance. The whole scene that takes place in verses 8-18,When John was baptising people they were coming to him and repenting but then they asked what should we do now? He told the crowd, if you have extra food or clothing share it. He tells the tax collector to only take what you are authorized, Soldiers asked John what should we do? And John says be happy with your pay and don't take bribes that extort money.

Stop the sinful things you were doing today and start doing the things that God expects and commands you to do.

When people get out of jail, they track what is called a recidivism rate. How many people go back to jail after they serve their time. According to a 2012 report by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, more than 65 percent of those released from California’s prison system return within three years.

That sounds very horrible and there are many factors that go into this number. But I wonder how many chirstians go back to prison in our sin jails the difference is, with the criminal system, there is a system they usually have to catch you and try you to put you back in jail, but for us as humans, we willingly walk into the jail and sit down and close the door. All of us, do this with the sin of our choice.

We can stop the cycle of sinning and guilt and repentance because we are set free from the crimes.

says Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, 2 because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you[b] free from the law of sin and death. 3 What the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, 4 in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on the things of the Spirit. 6 Now the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God’s law. Indeed, it is unable to do so. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. 10 Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you.

The good news is that our God has expunged Our records, he has thrown our sins into the ocean.

He dwells in us to help us and so we can listen to His counsel.

We do not have to go dirty them up, but we will. We cant constantly fast and wear sackcloth

But we can continually turn our back on Sin and face God and walk toward Him.

Conclusion:

The instant replay allows us to rewind events so we can see them. So we can at least dfo thing differently the next time we are in a similar situation. Sometimes it results in a play that gets called back and the team gets a redo.

God has given both Jonah and the Ninevites a Second chance. He is discipling both of them to moe their lives closer to Him.

Remember the teenager Brandon, who was given probation for a drug charge?

Today, Brandon is the owner and founder of EDWINS Leadership & Restaurant Institute. EDWINS is a fine-dining restaurant in the French tradition that has received recognition from The New York Times and has been called one of the best new restaurants in Cleveland by Scene magazine and Eater.com.

Since 2004, Brandon has been going into Ohio prisons and teaching incarcerated men and women culinary and hospitality skills. These men and women needed somewhere to go after they were released, but few businesses will hire people with a criminal record.

Hundreds of men and women are discovering what Brandon means. More than 250 formerly incarcerated people have graduated from EDWINS Leadership Institute since the program was launched in 2007. That means there are 260 success stories to inspire and motivate prospective and current students. With a recidivism rate of less than 1.5 percent—meaning only two or three people who started the program have returned to prison—there's plenty for future students to look forward to.

If you are here today, then you may on your second chance with God or you may be headed toward it with

Jonah was stubborn and at first unwilling to obey God and do what God wanted him to do. But he listened to God and went to Ninveh to proclaim the message of the King.

It was repent or be destroyed.

Application:

What do you do with your second chances?

Do you give second chances?