Jonah: A Reluctant Evangelist — A Repentant City

Text: Jonah 2:17-3:10

Theme: Jonah preaches and Nineveh repents.

God arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. It’s an act of grace to keep the prophet from drowning. God will arrange for several things to happen before the narrative is complete. God was in pursuit of the fleeing prophet. The depths of the sea could not stop the hunt. So Jonah remained in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. How this could happen, the story does not say. Scientific details and explanations are not the author’s concern. The fact is that God used a fish to preserve Jonah’s life, and God made it possible for a man to live inside a great fish three days. The Bible boldly confesses God’s power to do what he wants to do.

In a nutshell here’s what the next two chapters tell us. Jonah had to go to Nineveh, and this time when God called Jonah went, but as we shall see, Jonah did not go with his whole heart. Once there Jonah started into the city, preached five Hebrew words, and then went back outside the city to see what would happen. Jonah’s greatest fear was realized — revival broke out in the city. The king called everyone, even the animals, into fasting and mourning. He called on everyone to repent and give up his evil, violent ways. God had sympathy for such people, and did not destroy the city. This infuriated Jonah. Knowing God’s character, he had expected something like this might happen.

When the prophet got hot waiting for God to act, God provided a vine for shade. On the next day God provides a worm to destroy the vine. Jonah exploded, asking to die. God contrasted Jonah’s attitude with his own. Jonah was worried about vines, shade, and comfort. God worried about a huge, ignorant city that needed His salvation.

Jonah’s Commission

Nineveh’s Confession

God’s Compassion

I. JONAH’S COMMISSION (3:1–4)

“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.”” (Jonah 3:1–2, ESV)

ILLUS. Most of you are familiar with the term “cancel culture.” Cancel culture is a modern form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles – whether it be online, on social media, or in person. Those who are subject to this ostracism are said to have been "cancelled". In today’s “cancel culture” people do not get a second chance!

1. God could have easily “canceled” Jonah, and simply given this prophetic assignment to someone else

a. but God chooses to use Jonah and gives him a second chance

1) from a human perspective, God’s choice doesn’t make sense

ILLUS. Do you take a military officer who has just been court martialed for dereliction of duty and immediately give him command of a division poised to fight a crucial battle? I mean, you want the bravest, smartest, most committed soldier you can find for such a task. You don’t give it to a guy like Jonah.

2) but that’s exactly what God does

b. God has a funny habit of using broken, flawed, and even disobedient people to accomplish His will

1) think about it ... outside of Judas Iscariot, who had the worst track record during the passion and the death of Jesus?

2) it’s Peter, isn’t it?

a) Peter has made grand claims of not deserting Jesus even if everyone else does ... Peter will die for Jesus

b) but when push-comes-to-shove, Peter runs away like the rest, and ultimately denies even knowing Jesus

c. and yet, it’s Peter who Jesus leaves in charge when he goes away

2. Peter is experiencing the Jonah Principle — failure makes you useful, when your failure leads you to repentance and faith and obedience

A. JONAH’S SECOND CHANCE REVEALS GOD’S PERSISTENT GRACE

1. in both Peter and Jonah’s walk with God, they failed miserably, experienced the consequences of that failure, repented of their sin and disobedience, where restored by God’s grace and went on to be used by God

a. that’s God’s persistent grace in action

2. in the 12th chapter of Matthew the Pharisees come to Jesus demanding to see a “sign” from Jesus that would convince them that he is God’s true Messiah

a. Jesus tells them the only “sign” they will see is the “sign of the prophet Jonah”

b. Jesus certainly could have performed a “sign” — he’d already been performing them

c. Jesus is essentially telling the Pharisees, “You will know who I am by my weakness, not by my strength”

1) it is out of Christ’s weakness that the sufficiency of his saving power will be born

2) it is out of Christ’s death that men will receive life

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24, ESV)

3. that’s just not true of Jesus; it’s true of us, too

a. it is frequently failure, trouble and suffering that makes us useful to God

1) those things humble us, they make us approachable, they give us empathy, they make us compassionate

2) you’re not going to change lives until you’ve been humbled

4. the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time to Jonah

B. JONAH’S SECOND CHANCE REVEALS GOD’S PERSISTENT PLAN

1. God’s message to Jonah in chapter 1, vs. 1 is the same as chapter 3, vs. 1, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it ... “

a. Assyria is the super-power of its day, and Nineveh is the capitol of the empire

1) the cruelty of its military campaigns is well documented

2) their military tactics were brutal and barbaric

ILLUS. When they conquered a city, their army resembled ants smothering the carcass of their dead prey, methodically dismembering the city, taking anything of value and burning the rest. Soldiers were rewarded for every severed head they brought in from the field, so that the aftermath of a victory generally witnessed the wholesale decapitation of fallen foes.

a) the Assyrians were feared and hated

b. God is aware of their character, and the evil they have inflicted upon His people

1) in chapter one God says, its wickedness has come up before me

2) that’s God-speak for I know who these people are, I know have they’ve made Israel suffer, and I’m going to do something about it

a) Jonah would, just as soon, see a Sodom and Gomorrah kind of judgment — just rain fire and brimstone on them and be done with it

3) that God might have something else in mind is revealed in Jonah’s confession in Jonah 4:2

“And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” (Jonah 4:2, ESV)

2. God’s plan is for Jonah to go to a lost people with God’s message

a. that is still God’s plan — the Great Commission tells us so

C. JONAH'S SECOND CHANCE REVEALS GOD'S PERSISTENT MESSAGE

1. God wants a message delivered to the citizens of Nineveh

a. in Jonah 3:1 God tells the prophet to go and preach to Nineveh, the message that I tell you

b. commentators and preachers throughout the centuries have often criticized Jonah for being a reluctant prophet — which, I think, is accurate —he was

c. those same commentators and preachers have also criticized Jonah for a threadbare message

1) I’m going to defend Jonah here and say that he’s preaching the message God gave him ... “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown”

2. God’s message does not always need to be lengthy

a. as Jesus entered his public ministry, his message was equally brief

“From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”” (Matthew 4:17, ESV)

3. Jonah’s commission is to preach a word of condemnation to the citizens of Nineveh

a. in the language of the fire-and-brimstone-evangelist it’s turn or burn

b. sometimes it’s the love of God that turns a hear toward Him, but sometimes it’s the immanent wrath of God that turns a heart toward Him

ILLUS. In American history God’s preachers have delivered some memorable sermons. “A City on a Hill,” by John Winthrop, George Whitefield’s “Ye must be born again,” J. Gresham Machen’s “Constraining Love,” Pay Day Someday, by R. G. Lee, and “How to Make the Devil Run,” by E.V. Hill.

But of all the great sermons preached by great preachers the one that is head-and-shoulder above them all is Jonathan Edwards’ sermon “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God.” Although a brilliant scholar and a prodigious writer and thinker, Jonathan Edwards was hardly a “dynamic” speaker. He normally read his sermons word-for-word from a manuscript, hardly ever looking up, and rarely using voice inflection. In a communications class today, Edwards might have received a failing grade on delivery.

On July 8, 1741 he preached “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God.” Halfway through the sermon, witness say people began to moan, then weeping was heard. Listen to just one quote from the sermon; “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire ... you are ten thousand times so abominable in his eyes, as the most hateful and venomous serpent is in ours.”

Some people began to visibly quake. Edwards momentarily stopped his sermon and requested that they be quiet to hear the rest of the sermon, and refrain from weeping and crying out. Soon some in the congregation were heard to literally shriek and cry out for mercy. When their ordeal ended, they had just one thought: What must I do to be saved? Over the next several weeks over 300 members of Edwards congregation got saved.

II. NINEVEH’S CONFESSION (3:3–9)

“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. 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.”” (Jonah 3:3–9, ESV)

1. Jonah goes to Nineveh

a. assuming that the great fish spit Jonah out somewhere on the coast of Israel, it’s a 500-mile journey to Nineveh

1) it takes approximately 40 days

2. it’s a huge city and a magnificent city ... Jonah 3:3 says that “ ... Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days journey in breadth ...”

a. the ancient city had disappeared from history until it was excavated by archeologists beginning in 1845

1) they discovered that it was, indeed, a huge city but not as big as the Book of Jonah seems to indicate

2) what archeologists have since discovered was that the area that was known as Nineveh was comprised of four walled cities and the suburbs that surrounded each that grew to meet each other

ILLUS. It’s not unlike many modern cities. As St. Louis grew north, west and south the city began to meet what were — one-hundred years ago — the outlying cites of Pine Lawn, Wellston, Dutchtown, Shrewsburry and a dozen other municipalities. I was technically born in Spanish Lake, and grew up in Black Jack, but when people ask me where I’m from I always answer “St. Louis.”

3. Jonah goes into the city of Nineveh proper and begins to proclaim the Lord’s message ... “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown”

a. was it just a one-time proclamation? or did Jonah repeat it throughout the city?

1) we’re not expressly told

b. but after Jonah was finished he exited the city, found a place to sit down and waited to see what would happen

“Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city.” (Jonah 4:5, ESV)

1) is Jonah secretly hoping that they will reject his message?

2) I think so, and if so, Jonah is perhaps the only evangelist who has ever lived who hoped his audience would ignore his preaching!

4. vs. 5 gives us the general account of what took place

“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.” (Jonah 3:5, ESV)

a. the Ninevites believed God’s message

1) the word believed in this verse means they considered God’s message trustworthy — God will do what He says He will do unless they repent

b. Nineveh turned its back on all their national gods, and turned to the God of Israel — maker of heaven and earth

5. their repentance is characterized by a number of responses — fasting, and wearing sackcloth (thick coarse cloth, often made from goats’ hair), urgently calling on God, giving up their evil ways

a. together they are outward expression reflecting a genuine and heartfelt turning away from sin

b. not only do they turn away from their violence and evil, but they turn to the God who is threatening to overthrow them

6. real revival always brings about real changes

ILLUS. In 1904, revival began to sweep through the small county of Wales. Within a year 150,000 people had come to Christ. The London Time reported on the Revival saying: "The whole population had been suddenly stirred by a common impulse. Religion had become the absorbing interest of their lives." The revival spread through England, Ireland and Scotland, and by the time it had run its course 1,000,000 people had come to faith in Christ and countless Christians experienced a deeper walk with Christ.

One of the hallmarks of this revival was the visible reform that took place in people's lives. Work at the coal mines came to a near standstill because the ponies that pulled the coal carts were so accustomed to hearing foul language from the Teamsters that after the revival they no longer recognized their handler's voices or commands. So much stolen equipment was brought back by the miners that the coal companies ran out of room to store it all.

A. THE KING REPENTS (3:6–9)

1. in vs. 6-9 we get some detail and discover that the city’s repentance actually began with the king of Nineveh himself

a. the king took of his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth which is the traditional mid-east clothing for mourning, and sat down in the dust

1) this is a sign of deep repentance before God and they are asking God for mercy

2. the king then commanded that everyone in the city should follow his example — even the animals are to mourn

“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,” (Jonah 3:7, ESV)

B. THE PEOPLE REPENT (3:5)

1. the strangest thing happened — the whole city turned to God!

2. we cannot say with absolute assurance who the King of Nineveh was at this time

a. if is is Ashshur-dann III as some scholars think, his reign saw an agonizing confluence of omens and natural disasters

1) internal political strife, a complete solar eclipse of the sun (major bad omen), and a major earthquake that rocked the Middle East

b. these things may have spiritually predisposed both King and people to be receptive to Jonah’s message — as brief as it was

ILLUS In last week’s issue of The Pathway there was a story about the Old Bethel Church near Jackson, MO. Bethel Church is important because it was the first permanent non-Catholic Church west of the Mississippi River. In early 1811 the congregation’s membership was 73 souls. Within a year, it had doubled to 142 members. That did not include the dozens who attended who were not members. Any Missouri historians here this evening know what happened between December 1811 and February 1812? It was the New Madrid earthquake. It was a string of earthquakes, and are the greatest quakes ever recorded in the lower 48 states. People thought it was the end of the world.

3. when people think the end of the world is coming, many tend to become sensitive to spiritual truth

III. GOD’S COMPASSION (3:10)

1. Nineveh’s repentance saves the city from divine destruction

a. God is free in His love for the world and can turn back from His decision to destroy a people when they repent and obey Him

2. Nineveh’s condemnation can only be reprieved through repentance

a. they must understand their personal depravity and corporate evil

b. only then will God relent of the wrath he intends to pour out on the city

3. God is long-suffering and tenderly deals with us to bring us to Himself

a. this is the great story of Jonah