All right, our text this evening
is Jonah chapter 3. The book of Jonah chapter 3. Now the title of this message
tonight is Preaching Unto Repentance. Preaching Unto Repentance. And obviously what I'm going
to be talking about from Jonah chapter 3 is the fact that all
true gospel preaching, all true preaching of Christ in the power
and the wisdom of God is aimed at the goal of bringing sinners
to repentance. And we'll look at that in just
a moment. Let's begin in chapter 3 here, verse 1. Now, this is
after Jonah had experienced what the Lord had accomplished through
the great fish, Jonah and the belly of the great fish. And
we looked at that in chapter 2, we viewed it in three ways
concerning Jonah as a sinner saved by the grace of God, kept
and preserved by the grace of God in Christ. That's the only
way any sinner is saved and preserved, by grace. looked at Jonah mainly
as a type of Christ. Jonah being in the belly of the
great fish was a type of Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection
to satisfy God's law and justice on behalf of his people to bring
sinners to salvation. And then thirdly, Jonah as a
spiritual illustration of our spiritual resurrection from the
dead, the new birth, you must be born again. And so that sets
the whole atmosphere, the whole background for what's happening
here. It says in verse 1 of chapter
3, And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time. Remember
how the book of Jonah opens up, the word of the Lord coming unto
Jonah and commanding him to go preach in the city of Nineveh,
that great city. It says in verse 2, Arise, go
unto Nineveh, that great city. and preach unto it the preaching
that I bid thee." Nineveh, the great city, the capital of one
of the greatest enemies of Israel, Assyria. And the first mention
of this city is in Genesis chapter 10, the chapter of nations. And it was a great city of renown.
When he calls it a great city, it was not great in the sense
of the glory of God and the truth or anything like that, but in
the annals of human history it would have been known as a great
city of renown. Some of the old historians believe
that it was populated by over a million people, this city of
Nineveh, and it may have been. It was about 60 to 75 miles in
circumference. It would take you three days
to walk across it, they would say. Some claim there were 1,500
towers in Nineveh, some of them 200 feet high, walls 100 feet
high, and wide enough for three chariots to pass one another.
This gives you something of the magnitude of this place, this
place of idolatry. This place of great immorality
that Jonah, the prophet of God, was commanded to go to to preach.
Not only an enemy of Israel, but Gentiles. That's what Jonah
was commanded to do. And obviously, as you've read
in the first two chapters, Jonah didn't want to go. This was not
his idea. This was not his appointed, as
he saw it now, in his own way, in his own thinking, according
to the flesh. This was not his appointed mission
field, even though God clearly said, Jonah, you go preach at
Nineveh. And notice the difference. There's
a little difference here I want you to think about. Now, here's
Nineveh. It's a great city, but it's also
great in idolatry, great in evil. great in their cruelty against
Israel, a great enemy. Notice over in verse 2 of chapter
1, there's a little difference here that I think is significant.
Where God first commanded Jonah, he said, Arise, go to Nineveh,
that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has
come up before me. Cry against it. And then here
in chapter 3, he says in verse 2, Go unto Nineveh, that great
city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee." Now
the indication here, and I believe it's significant, is that we
see that Jonah's message, even though we don't have his whole
message recorded here, this is a history book, but it's to be
preached and understood and studied in light of the whole scripture,
preached and studied in light of the gospel, and God's purpose
in sending Jonah to these people to preach and what God brought
about by His sovereign grace in the lives of these people
of Nineveh, that we're understanding here that Jonah's message was
not just a message of wrath. Now, that was included. God's
judgment of wrath against their sin. But there was more to it. You know, he says, cry against
it in one place, and here he says, preach unto it the preaching
that I bid thee. What Jonah had gone through in
his experience in the belly of that great fish, what he had
learned all prepared him to preach to these wicked people. And you
know, somebody said one time that preaching, preaching can
be simplified this way in description. It's just one sinner telling
other sinners how to be saved from sin by the grace of God
in Christ. It's like one hungry beggar telling
another hungry beggars where they can find bread, that kind
of thing. So, understand that there's more
to it than just a message of wrath. This is not Jonah simply
preaching what people call today hell, fire, and brimstone. Now
there is, again, there is the justice of God and the wrath
of God against sin, but that's not all there is to it. Now look
at verse 3 of chapter 3. He says here, so Jonah arose
and went unto Nineveh. Now you notice what happened
the first time the command was made, he fled to Tarshish. But
now he arose and he went unto Nineveh according to the word
of the Lord. He obeyed the commandment of the Lord. And that's the obedience
of faith and grace that Jonah was given in his heart. Now Nineveh
was an exceeding great city of three days' journey. Take three
days to get there. And it says in verse 4, look
at this, it says, Jonah began to enter into the city a day's
journey. Took him one day to make a three-day
journey. So I suppose he did learn a little
bit in the belly of that great fish, didn't he? And it says,
And he cried and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Now, you know, remember back
in chapter 2, verse 10, it says, The Lord spoke unto the fish,
and it vomited Jonah out on dry land. Once God spoke to the fish,
and had Jonah vomited out on dry land, Jonah obeyed the Lord
There's another example of how God makes His people willing
in the day of His power. And I want to tell you something,
that's the only way sinners are going to be willing to obey God. It's not of our own free will.
Our wills are in darkness and in bondage just like the rest
of us, our mind and our affections. But God makes us willing in the
day of His power. And here's Jonah, he comes, he
proclaimed God's message. He said, Now listen to me, here's
the issue that we need to understand. When God intends to be gracious
to sinners, He always sends His gospel, His
message of grace, His message of Christ and Him crucified and
risen again to show them the way of salvation by God's grace
in Christ. Everything in this story of Jonah
points to these facts. Listen to this. First of all,
that God has a people whom He's chosen to save. God has a people. He's sovereign in electing grace. Secondly, God saves them by grace
based upon the finished work of the God-man, the mediator,
the righteousness, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the only ground of salvation. And then as the fruit of the
work of Christ on the cross, thirdly, God saves them by grace
through the power of the Holy Spirit through the means of the
preaching of the gospel. Now that's the way God does things.
I think about our Lord in His earthly ministry, His public
ministry. One time He was with His disciples
and He made this statement to them. It's recorded in John chapter
4 and verse 4. He said, He must needs go through
Samaria. He must need to go through Samaria. Now why would he have to go through
Samaria of all places? Same reason Jonah had to go to
Nineveh, because there's one of his sheep down there in Samaria,
and he means to get the gospel to them. Here in Nineveh we're
going to find there were many of his sheep down there in Nineveh,
and he meant to get the gospel to them. Christ said, All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. He went on to say, This is the
will of him which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given
me I should lose nothing, but raise him up again at the last
day. And it goes on in that same passage in John chapter 6. It
says this, that they shall all be taught of God. They'll all
hear, he said. They hear the gospel. Faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. John chapter 10
verse 14 says this, listen to this, Christ said, I'm the good
shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the
Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down
my life for the sheep. There's the ground of salvation.
There's the full satisfaction of God's law and justice in the
shed blood of Christ. There's righteousness established,
that righteousness imputed which demands life for his people. And then he goes on to say, he
says, and other sheep I have which are not of this fold, this
Jewish fold, them also I must bring. He said, I must bring
them. You know why? Because they're His. God chose
them and He redeemed them. Christ redeemed them. They're
His. They belong to Him. He said,
them I must bring. Listen to what he says after
that. How are you going to bring them? He says, And they shall
hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.
Now, how are you going to hear his voice? I'll tell you exactly
how. Through the preaching of the
gospel. And here's what's being taught
here in Jonah chapter 3. God had a people in Nineveh whom
he determined and chose to save and he determined to send Jonah
to preach to them. Now I want you to look at 1 Corinthians
chapter 1 that Brother Joe just read. I want to show you this.
Now here's the points of this. First of all, in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, beginning there at verse 17, We see the commandment
and the commission to go preach the gospel. Now we believe in
the sovereignty of God, the absolute sovereignty of God. that God
works all things after the counsel of his own will. And men and
women in their darkness and unbelief and in their natural understanding
would always ask this question in light of God's sovereignty,
well then why go preach? Why pray? Why obey? Why do any
of that? Well, the pat answer to that,
the scriptural answer is number one, because God says to. God
commands it. And this is what he says, look
at verse 17 of 1 Corinthians 1, "...for Christ sent me not
to baptize, but to preach the gospel." I'm sent to preach the
gospel. Sent of God. God commanded this
now. So you see, the reasoning of
natural men is not an argument against the preacher, it's an
argument against God. He said, I'm sent to preach,
and not with the wisdom of words, that's man's words, that's man's
reasonings. He says, "...lest the cross of
Christ should be made of none effect." the cross of Christ,
the preaching of Christ and Him crucified. Well, hold on to that
thought. He says in verse 18, for the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it
is the power of God. So we see the commission, the
commandment to go preach. And then look at verse 21. We
see the necessity Preaching look at verse 21 for after that in
the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God now listen
this it pleased God Now whatever follows there ought to be no
argument if it pleases God then it ought to please us It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe that's
the way God saves sinners This is the reason, this is God's
means, this is God's instrument to bring the lost sheep into
the fold. The preaching, and it pleased
God. God who is sovereign, God who works all things after the
counsel of His own will. Alright, the next thing we see
here is the subject matter of our preaching. What are we to
preach? We're commissioned and commanded to go preach. This
is the way God saves His people, brings them into the fold, brings
His lost sheep. Now, what are we to tell them?
What is the message? Well, look at verse 23. He says,
"...but we preach Christ crucified." Now, what does that mean? That's
the finished work of Christ. That's the blood of Christ. That's
the righteousness of Christ. That's the gospel wherein the
righteousness of God is revealed. that by the power of the Holy
Spirit is used sovereignly to bring sinners to faith in Christ
and what the Bible describes as repentance of dead works and
idolatry. That's the aim. And here's the
faith and repentance. Go down to verse 29. Here's the
aim. Now, that's what we're talking
about in Jonah's preaching here. It's what I'm talking about in
my preaching. It's what it's aimed at. preaching unto repentance,
that no flesh should glory in his presence. Paul said it this
way, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the blood and righteousness of Christ.
But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom? All the wisdom God requires of
me I find in Christ. Righteousness, all the righteousness
God requires of me, I find complete in Christ. Don't find it anywhere
else. He says sanctification, all the sanctification, holiness,
I find that God requires of me, I find complete in Christ, and
redemption, the full price paid in Christ, that according as
it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. So
there's the command. There's the means, there's the
subject, and there's the aim. Faith in Christ and repentance
of dead works. Now Jonah, back here, he preached
God's wrath against sin. He preached also that no one
could be justified before God by their works, but also God's
way of salvation in the promised Messiah. Now I have two reasons
I believe that's what he preached to these people. Number one is
what's recorded in the rest of this chapter. about their repentance. And secondly, what's recorded
over in verse 2 of chapter 4, which really is an indictment
against Jonah himself, but a great testimony to the sovereign power
and goodness and grace of God in saving sinners from their
sins. Look at verse 2 of chapter 4.
We'll read the rest of the chapter here in chapter 3, but that's
where Jonah said, he prayed unto the Lord and said, I pray thee,
O Lord, Was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country?
Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish, for I know that thou
art a gracious God." You think the Ninevites ever learned anything
about the graciousness of God? Yes, they did. That's why Jonah's
upset. That's why he's mad. What an indictment against the
flesh. What an indictment against this man. He was mad because
God had shown grace. under the Ninevites. You say,
well, would a believer do that? Hold on to your hats. What will
a believer do and won't do? I'll tell you, we're so full
of ourselves, it's pitiful now. That's why I say, if God didn't
keep us, we wouldn't be kept, you know. He says, and merciful. You think Jonah said anything
about the mercy of God? Well, I know God was merciful
to him. That's why Jonah was upset. slow to anger, and of
great kindness and repentance thee of the evil." God didn't
rain His wrath down upon the Ninevites at this time. So that's
why I believe... You know, the Bible teaches us
very plainly that it's the goodness of God that leads sinners to
repentance. So I'm just sure that Jonah's
message was more than just wrath, wrath, wrath. It was the message
of the gospel. And I know that Jonah being swallowed
by the great fish was certainly a great miracle, and it's astounding
to read about it and think about it, but Jonah chapter 3, I think,
records an even greater miracle, and that's the conversion of
sinners. That's bringing sinners to faith
in Christ and repentance. Well, let's go through these.
Look at verse 5. Now, he says, Jonah preached the message, preached
it all over Nineveh, and there are four things that I believe
that are true of every person that finds grace in the sight
of the Lord. Four things that are true of
every person that finds mercy from God. Four things that are
true of every sinner that is brought by God's power to faith
in Christ and repentance. Number one, look at verse five.
It says, so the people of Nineveh believed God. That's number one. They believed God. They believed
God. That's faith. They believe God's
Word. When God speaks and He shows
us Himself, we believe Him from His Word. When He tells us about
His sovereignty, His holiness, His justice, and His mercy and
His grace, He says, look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends
of the earth, for I am the Lord. Who is he? He says, I'm a just
God and a Savior. How can God be just and justify?
How can a sinner be justified before God? Whenever God speaks
that and tells us that, we believe God by the power of God, by the
grace of God. Faith is the gift of God. We
see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Look over Romans
chapter 4. Talk about Abraham. The Bible
says here, Abraham believed God. Now, that's not just words. Anybody can say they believe
God. In fact, I guarantee most everybody here along the Bible
Belt will say, I believe God. Well, what does God say? Well,
God says, somebody might come up to you and say, well, God
says that He'll save me if I let Him. Well, you don't believe
God because God never said that, not in this book. What does God say? Look at verse
1 of Romans chapter 4. What shall we say, then, that
Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?" What
did Abraham find in way of acceptance and blessedness and salvation
according to the flesh? The fact that he's Abraham. Abraham,
you know, that name, you mentioned Abraham, that's a name that has
some clout to it, you know, to people. You know, John the Baptist,
when he came preaching the baptism of repentance, which is what
we're talking about. One of the first things he said
to the Sadducees and the Pharisees that came out to hear him, he
said, thank not to say Abraham is our father. He said, that's
not going to get you anywhere. But see, just invoking that name,
we're physical children of Abraham. We believe the same thing Abraham
believed, do you? We've been circumcised, we keep
the law of Moses. Well, what did Abraham actually,
what did Abraham in himself, As a sinner, born dead in trespasses
and sins, fallen, ruined in Adam, just like all of us, what did
he deserve and what had he earned from God according to the flesh?
And the answer is absolutely nothing but wrath. Look at verse
2. For if Abraham were justified
by works... What is it to be justified before
God? It means to be declared righteous.
It means to be declared not guilty. That's what it means. To be judged
by God, to be not guilty. Now, if Abraham were judged by
God to be not guilty and righteous by works, here's the situation. He has whereof to glory. Now,
what we read in 1 Corinthians 1 about the aim of the preaching
of the gospel, that no flesh should glory in his presence.
That what it said? It didn't say there that no flesh
except Abraham could glory in his presence. Didn't say there
that no flesh except me or you. It says that no flesh should
glory in his presence. But he says, but not before God.
Now this is God's word. You believe God. Well, no flesh,
no sinner, no one born of Adam, no one born in sin, as we all
are, can find any reason in and of ourselves or that comes from
ourselves to have any confidence before God of being declared
not guilty or being declared righteous. You say, well, I've
been religious all my life. That won't get it. You say, well,
I've tried to do my best. Your best isn't good enough.
You see, God's standard of judgment is Christ. He hath declared that
there's a day. He's appointed a day in which
He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath appointed,
in that He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath
raised Him from the dead. That's Christ. You say, well,
you know, I know I'm not perfect, but I'm not as bad as some other
people. Well, that's okay, but they're not the standard. They're
not the measure. Christ is. So not before God. Abraham had nothing to glory
in before God based upon anything in, of, or from Abraham. That's
what he's saying. Well, verse 3, look here in Romans
4. For what saith the scripture? What does God's word say? Now,
what do the Ninevites do? They believe God. Now, if you're
going to believe God, you've got to know what God says. Well,
what does God say? What says the scriptures? Abraham
believed God, and it was counted, imputed, charged to him for righteousness. Now, what was counted to Abraham
for righteousness? Well, I'll tell you exactly what
was counted to Abraham for righteousness. the very thing that God promised
Abraham. Now, what was that? Now, let's
look. Verse 4. He says, Now, if you're working
for it, and you earn it or deserve it, then it's not grace. You
see what he's saying? It's not grace. Now, this is what God
says. You believe God. Well, this is what God said.
If you work for it, if you earn it, if you deserve it, if you
meet any condition in order to attain it or maintain it, it's
not grace, it's debt, something God owes you. But verse 5, he
says, "...but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly." Here's an ungodly person. And God justifies
that ungodly person. How is that possible? Wouldn't
God be unjust to do that? I mean, if you're guilty, you're
guilty. God can't pretend. He can't just wipe the books
clean for no reason at all. He's a God of justice. The soul
that sinneth must die. The wages of sin is death without
the shedding of blood. Death, which is the wages of
sin. There's no remission of sins.
There's no forgiveness. So how can God do that? How can
God justify the ungodly? Well, the only way we're going
to find that out is to hear what God says and believe Him. What man says in this issue doesn't
mean anything. What he comes up with, man will
say, well, join the church and get right with God. Well, here's
the problem with that. Joining the church will not get
you right with God. God makes His people right with
Him by His grace through the blood of Christ. And then He
brings them into the church. Isn't that right? What is the church? They are
those who are chosen of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ,
justified before God based on His righteousness alone, and
called by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the gospel.
So you can join a million churches, and that's not going to get you
right with God. You can walk a million aisles, you can get
baptized in 20,000 leagues under the sea, and it's not going to
get you right with God. It won't do it. You say, well,
I was baptized as an infant. Well, that doesn't wash away
original sin. That's anti-Christ. That's right. You say, well,
I've been working hard, like that country song, where I come
from, we're working hard to get to heaven. Working hard won't
get you to heaven. It won't do it. What does he
say? What does God say? Do you believe
God? The Ninevites believe God. That's a gift of God's grace,
isn't it? By grace are you saved. Through
faith. That not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. So he says
in verse 5, "...but to him that worketh not, but believeth on
him that justifieth the ungodly." His faith is counted for righteousness. Now what was Abraham's faith?
What did Abraham believe? He believed that God would justify
him, accept him, bless him, save him, entitle him to all of salvation
based upon the work of the promised Messiah who was to come. How do you know that? Well, I
don't have time to go over all these scriptures, but read John
chapter 8. What did the Lord say at the end of John chapter
8? He said, Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it,
and he was glad. He looked forward to the Messiah
to come, to establish righteousness for him. Look at verse 6, even
as David also described it, the blessedness of the man unto whom
God imputeth righteousness without works, that is, without my works,
or your works. saying, Blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Think about it.
These Ninevites back here in Jonah 3, look back at it. It
was a great city. And one way it was great, it
was full of great sinners. That's right. And that's the
way it is with this world, isn't it? That's the way it is with
Ashland, Kentucky. Whether you consider it a great
sin or not, I don't know. I'm not going to argue with you
about that, but I know this. It's full of great sinners. And there's one of them standing
right here behind this pulpit. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. That's the only way. That's the
only way of salvation. And so they believed God. They
believed the God who justifies the ungodly. They believed God
when He spoke of their sin and their depravity and the fact
that they deserved nothing but God's wrath, even based upon
their best efforts. They believed God when He spoke
of His sovereignty and His holiness and His righteousness. They believed
God when He spoke of His Son and salvation by God's grace.
But now look at the second thing. They also, not only did they
believe God, but they repented of their sin. Look at verse 5
again. It says in Jonah 3, 5, so the
people of Nineveh believed God, and listen to what they did.
They proclaimed a fast, put on sackcloth, from the greatest
of them even to the least of them. Now those are outward acts,
but if they're in salvation and conversion unto repentance, they're
the evidences of a broken and contrite heart. And let me show
you, he says in verse 6, For word came unto the king of Nineveh,
and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him,
and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes. When I read
that, I thought, you know, that's kind of an illustration there
of how when God shows us our sinfulness, we see that we have
no righteousness whatsoever to recommend us unto God. We lay
aside our robes and put on sackcloth and ashes. That's what we ought
to wear. The sackcloth and ashes, those
are emblems of repentance, of sin, of dead works and idolatry. That's kind of like if you're
wearing sackcloth and ashes, if that was a reflection of your
heart, showing that I'm nothing, I'm less than nothing. I don't
deserve anything of the goodness of God and the grace of God.
Look at verse 7. It says, And the king caused it to be proclaimed
and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and
his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock
taste anything that's fasting. Let them not feed nor drink water.
This king, he understood this serious business, and he understood
this. I'm not the only one in this
mess. He's like Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 6, he said,
I'm a man of unclean lips, but I dwell amidst a people of unclean
lips. Yes, I'm a sinner, but you are
too. The problem with man by nature
is that he may see himself as less than perfect, but he really
doesn't see himself as the sinner he is until God shows him. That's
why Christ told the Pharisees when he gave them the example
of Gentile sinners who they would judge to be sinners and deserving
of God's wrath, and he said, except you repent, you shall
likewise perish. Oh yes, the world is full of
sinners who need salvation by God's grace. But so do I. That's right. And that's what
he's talking about. Look at verse 8, he says, "...but
let man and beast be covered with sackcloth." He recognized
that the whole creation was fallen. Even the beast, they couldn't
repent, they don't have the mind, the affections and will of a
human being, but he recognized the whole creation is fallen.
The whole creation is... this is a fallen world. And he
says, "...and cry mightily unto God." Cry mightily unto God.
You see, this is emblematic of repentance. He took sides with
God against himself, and he realized that nothing of his own works,
of his own goodness could recommend him unto God or get him out of
this mess. Repentance, the aim and goal of preaching is not
outward reformation. It's not just religious profession. Again, it's not just joining
a church. It's a sinner coming to God and
taking sides with God against himself, saying, Lord, if thou,
Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, none of us would stand. None
of us would stand. We'd all be damned and doomed
forever. This is the issue of repentance. And then look here, look over
at Romans chapter 9 with me. This is where, this issue, you
know, people today in religion, and I want you to understand
what I'm saying now. This issue of repentance in the
New Testament, the word repentance has a lot, it means a change
of mind. That's what it means. You change
your mind about who God is. Change your mind about who we
are. Change your mind about how God saves sinners. Now, when
I say it's a change of mind, though, it's not just an intellectual
thing that doesn't reach the heart. In the Bible, the heart
is the mind, the affections, and the will. It's the whole
man. It's the inner person. But it's recognized in the term
of the original language, it's a change of mind. But again,
it's not just an intellectual thing. In the Old Testament,
it was a term that meant a change of direction. You're going one
way and then you turn around and go the complete opposite.
But you see, when people talk about repentance today, what
do they normally talk about? They normally talk about what
the world would describe as a moral reformation. They would talk
about the drunks who stopped drinking, the drug addicts who
stopped taking drugs, and all kinds of perversions that you've
got to quit doing this. All right, now listen to me.
Those are all sins that need to be repented of. There's no
question or argument there. All right? But that's not what
this scripture is talking about when it talks about repentance
of dead works. And here's the essence. Now,
look at Romans chapter 9, look at verse 31. He's talking about Israel here.
Now, who was Israel? They were a religious nation.
They were the physical seed of Abraham, the circumcised, the
ones who boasted in their law keeping. All right? And it says,
"...Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath
not attained to the law of righteousness." They were trying to be righteous.
They were trying to be accepted with God. They were trying to
be cleansed from their sin and their guilt. They were trying
to be accepted, but they didn't make it. They missed the mark.
for all sin to come short of the glory of God. Verse 32, why?
Why did they miss the mark? Wherefore? Why did Israel miss
righteousness? Why does any sinner miss righteousness? All right, look at it. Because
they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of
the law. They missed it because they were seeking it by their
works in the law. What does the God, what do you
believe God? What does God say? God says, Romans 3, chapter 3
and verse 20, by deeds of law shall no flesh be justified before
God. Now, do you think you can be
justified before God by your works, by your efforts, by your
will? You think that? You need to repent. of that. Look on. It says they
sought it not by faith. Now what is it to seek righteousness
by faith? Look at verse 32. Why? Because they sought it not by
faith but as it were by the works of the law for they stumbled
at that stumbling stone. Now that is a direct connection
with the Old Testament prophecies of Christ in the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah chapter 8 and Isaiah chapter 28. The stumbling stone there
is Christ. The God-man, the only salvation
from sin. His name shall be called Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. His name shall
be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted as God with us, the
one mediator, the one righteousness, by his obedience unto death.
They stumbled at the stumbling stone. As it is written, behold,
I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. To seek righteousness
by faith is to seek it in Christ. So, look at verse 1 of chapter
10. Now, here's where the heart of repentance comes in now for
every sinner, even for the immoral, because I'll tell you what, even
immoral people who disregard any of the laws of society and
laws of God, by nature, we all think we can be saved and accepted
before God based on our works in some way, in some stage, to
some degree. Even the drunk will tell you,
well, if I just quit drinking, God would accept me. Isn't that
right? They'll tell you that, that I'm going to clean up and
then get right with God. Well, they ought to clean up,
shouldn't they? Sure. I think it's awful. They ought to clean up. But if
they think that's what makes them righteous, that's where
repentance needs to come in. Look at it. Verse 1, brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God." They're religious. "'But not according
to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness,
God's standard of righteousness, going about to establish their
own righteousness.'" That's the deeds that God hates right there.
A sinner trying to establish a righteousness of his own. They've
not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. Now
here's where faith in Christ and repentance of dead works
comes in. For Christ is the end, the fulfillment of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believeth. You see that? That's
repentance, when we're submitted to Christ as our only righteousness
before God. Paul describes it in Philippians
chapter 3. In Philippians chapter 3, when
he speaks of his own conversion, and he says in verse 7, he says
in Philippians 3, 7, "...what things were gained to me, those
I counted lost for Christ." You know what he's just describing
there? Faith in Christ and repentance of dead works. He says, "...yea,
doubtless I count all things but lost for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I've suffered
the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may
win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." Now return
to Jonah chapter 3, that's what he's talking about. That's the
repentance. They believed God, they repented
of their sin, And then look at verse 8 again. They cried mightily
unto God. It says, but let man and beast
be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How do you
call upon the name of the Lord? Well, that precedent was set
down back in the book of Genesis. It's illustrated in a man named
Abel. And you know how he came and
called upon the name of the Lord? as a sinner seeking mercy in
the sacrifice, in the blood, in justice satisfied, righteousness
through a substitute. That's how you call upon the
name of the Lord. Cry mightily unto God, God be
merciful to me, the sinner. Yea, let them turn everyone from
his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands. Turn
from your evil ways. Whether it's a religious way
or an immoral way, turn to Christ. That's what he's saying. And
then lastly, in verse 9, they knew and confessed that their
hope of salvation did not rest upon their repentance, their
praying, their begging, but totally upon the will of God. Look at
verse 9. Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn
away from His fierce anger that we perish not? They're not contradicting
assurance of salvation or believing God. They're simply expressing
this, Like the old blind man said, Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean. If you will. Well, the gospel
tells us God's willing to save any sinner who wants it his way. It says in verse 10, and God
saw their works and they turned from their evil way. God brought
them to faith and repentance. God repented of the evil that
He had said that He would do unto them and He did it not.
Now, we've talked about that before in the minor prophets. That repentance there of God
doesn't mean God changed His mind or fell back on His contingency
plan or anything like that. You know, when God operates in
providence, God never changes his mind, the Bible says that.
The Bible says God's not a man that he should repent. We've
said it a lot of times when we quote Malachi chapter 3 and verse
6, I'm the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. God doesn't have to change his
mind, he's God. But when we see God operate in
Providence, See things happen here and happen there. It looks
to us like God does change His mind, doesn't it? That's how
it looks to us. And that's how it looked to them. You know,
God said He's going to bring His wrath down on us and He didn't
do it. He repented of the evil. Repented
of that evil that He said He'd do. Well, God didn't change His
mind. God's plan and God's purpose was fulfilled all along in this
unwilling prophet who was made willing in the day of God's power
to bring him down to Nineveh to preach the gospel and all
those people turned to God by the power of God's grace. Isn't
that amazing? That's a miracle, isn't it? But
they were brought to faith in Christ as whom they saw as the
promised Messiah and repentance of their own dead works and idolatry.