Tabor Baptist Church

Introduction

• We sang about a Missionary crossing the seas
• Jonah's message is one of judgement, to bring the Ninevites to repentance
• God does a wonderful work
• When we last looked at Jonah he was entombed in the belly of a fish
• He cried out to God and was heard
• The fish vomited Jonah onto dry land
• This was a divine miracle
• It pictures the Lord Jesus who was entombed for 3 days and 3 nights before the glorious resurection
• Jonah is a picture of this
• You can imagine Jonah's utter relief when he was on the beach
• The story doesn't end there - God spoke to him a second time
• The story is really about the deliverance of the Ninevite
  people in the darkness of sin
• God's purpose is that they would be saved - "The word of the
  Lord came a second time"
• There was a wonderful work of God in saving them - widespread repentance
• This morning looking at the first 4 verses
• Next week we will consider their response to the message
• Overview:
• The Lord
• Jonah & Nineveh

The Lord

The Lord's Mercy to Nineveh

• He is a tremendously gracious God
• He is not willing that any should perish
• He takes no pleasure in the death of wicked people
• He is full of mercy and tender kindness
• He is a God of inflexible justice
• He must punish all sin because He is utterly holy
• Roman 1 - when people live wicked lives God gives them over to their lusts and to wallow in their sins
• A terrible state to be given over to - a hard heart
• Nineveh was a very wicked city
• 1:2 - their wickedness had come up before God
• Read about the Assyrians
• 3:8 - the King knows it
• There are certain places in the world where there is a lot of wickedness and violence
• God in His mercy and love had purposes to transform this society
• Example of Guatemala
• Nineveh was a great city (3:2)
• It was the main capital city of the day - e.g. Moscow or Beijing
• Why did God show mercy to Nineveh and not Sodom or another big city of the day?
• The people of Sodom rejected the word of God
• The people of Nineveh believed the word of God
• God in His mercy chose Nineveh
• God's sovereignty
• Rom 9
• No nation, city or individual deserves the mercy of God
• We are all be nature opposed to God
• We don't have any natural inclination to serve, love or trust God
• Instead we are selfish and live for sin
• God has no obligation to save anyone
• God in His mercy has chosen to save sinners
• We are not to misuse the doctrine of Election
• E.g. of William Carey
• Thankfully, Jonah was not like this - although not perfect, yet he obeyed the word of the Lord (3:3)

The Lord's Mercy to Jonah

• Jonah had run away from God and totally ignored Him
• He didn't want to be in God's revelation
• He wanted to be at the furthest point away from God
• But God had turned him around through a remarkable set of events
• God had to do all this to bring him to his senses
• God wanted him to continue the work
• When you are back-slidden it is very hard
• God disciplines and chastens the individual
• When restored - we must continue with what God had originally called us to do
• Our disobedience can disqualify us from God's work
• Jonah was thankfully restored
• Example of Abraham: Abimelech, Hagar; David: Bathsheba; Peter: denying Jesus - all repented and were restored
• Why was there such a revival in Nineveh?
• Not to Jonah's glory but God's glory
• God is a gracious God
• When you feel you have blown it - return to God
• God will give you strength
• It must have been [physically] difficult for Jonah

The Lord's Unchanging Message

• The message was the same
• Some people argue that there was a difference in the message (cf 1:2, 3:2)
• Preaching against vs preaching to people
• We have to be careful about interpreting the bible in this way
• Jonah still cried out judgement against the city (3:4)
• God's message is unchanging
• Humans are fickle
• God is not unlike us - He is an unchanging God with an unchanging message
• God would judge them unless they repented
• Fire and brimstone - would put off people if there was no tenderness or love or if people were hypocrites
• The apostles preached 'repent and believe'
• Jesus said 'repent or perish'
• John 3:16 - if you do not believe, you will perish
• God hates and condemns all sin because He is a Holy God
• We should never water down this message
• We must unite with every bible believing church but we cannot unite with error

Jonah & Nineveh

• Matt 16:4 - the sign of Jonah
• Not Jonah himself - though perhaps he would of have told them his story
• The bible does not say, but Jonah preached the judgement of God
• It does matter what happened to Jonah
• This had such a dramatic effect upon him that when his preaching had great power
• If the Ninevites needed to repent, God's servant needed to know deep repentance
• If the Ninevites needed to be saved, God's servant needed to be saved
• When revival happens God's people are broken and then there is a great awakening among the uncoverted
• His obedience
• Going to a difficult people who were opposed to the Israelites
• Going to an atrocious people
• He seemed to know their language
• He preached on the first day and the common people heard him
• His words spread like wildfire
• There was a tremendous work of repentance amongst them
• Then it reaches the King
• Jonah was called
• What would happen today?
• People need to be sure when they are called to preach in the open air
• Examples of George Whitfield and John Wesley
• God can works in remarkable ways in the open air
• He still had prejudice in his heart, yet God used him
• God can use little you and little me
• Wherever we go God can use us
• We have a greater message than Jonah
• Turn to God