Jonah 3

Intro:

Last week, we walked through Jonah’s prayer!

It showed us how God does hear our prayers...

It showed us how God answers prayers, sometimes in ways you don’t like.

We also saw that God is all-powerful and sovereign...

He told the fish to vomit Jonah on shore, and it did..

God is sovereign and controls all things!

Now, we are going to see Jonah go into Nineveh..

Pray

V.1-3

Here, we see God speaking to Jonah a second time!

Instead of running from God, He did what God told Him to do..

We see the sovereignty of God again.. He changed Jonah’s heart.. He used a certain fish and circumstances to change it, but overall, He did...

God can do the same thing to us… Don’t get it twisted.. He can allow whatever He desires to get your attention.

Jonah has a message to preach from God…

Jonah got up and went as He was commanded...

Life would have been so much easier for Jonah, if he would’ve just listened in the first place!

If he would’ve just done what God called him to do, he would have been fine!

So many times we do the exact same thing...

We know what God has commanded, but we choose to do what we want.

We need to do what God has commanded… If you read the Word of God, you will see what God has commanded of us!

V.4

40 Days = Period of God’s judgment or testing

God was going to destroy that city because of their sin, their sin was great!

If America was to be destroyed, it would be rightly so, because of the horrendous sins that this nation does...

Killing Babies

Homosexuality

Transgenderism

Greed

Jealousy

Murder

Drugs

Drunkenness

you name it...

However, God is giving Nineveh 40 days!!

This is a picture of God’s grace! He is giving them time to repent from their sins, turn from their evil ways, and follow Him.

God could destroy everything and everyone, and He would be just in doing so, because of the sin that is committed. However, He is being patient, he is waiting for more to repent and turn away from evil.

2 Peter 3:9 NKJV

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Demolished in Hebrew has 2 meanings.. Destroy.. and Changed..

hmm..

V.5 -6

The word of God has the power to demolish… or change people.

This message brought forth belief in the people..

This message brought fear.. and repentance.

Who knows what could happen if we would just share the Gospel with people?

How many of your friends would start to wonder about Jesus, if you would just share the gospel?

Fast? Sackcloth?

Fasting is when you don’t eat or drink for a period of time… It’s like putting your flesh to death, and leaning on God..

You’re denying your flesh its desires and using this time to draw closer to God.

Sackcloth represents mourning, people would wear sackcloth and cover themselves with dust or ashes.. So these people were mourning over their sin and repenting from it.

Even the king of Nineveh did this… This king recognized what was going on and repented!

V.7-8

Everyone and creatures fasted...

Maybe Christians should fast more… I know I need to!

These pagans turned from evil and wrong and turned to Jesus!

Christians need to get this!

We can’t keep living in habitual sin.. WE have to turn from our evil and wicked ways.. and look to Jesus ..

2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV

if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

If Christians would do this.. Our nation would look differently..

V.9 - 10

We see that Jonah never implied that God would relent if they repented… He just said God was going to bring destruction...

The king took a shot in the dark!

We see that God did relent from the destruction..

When we see prophecies of doom, they are often conditional warning that can be averted through repentance…

Jeremiah 18:8–10 NKJV

if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.