It's good to be with you all.
Invite your attention to the book of Jonah chapter 3. Jonah chapter 3. Brother Gabe and the brethren
extend their greetings to you. He wanted me to make sure I told
you that. Jonah chapter 3. I've had a chance to study this
book lately, and I love this book. It's a blessed book full
of the gospel, full of Christ. And for our first message today,
I'd like to consider chapter 3. And look with me here at verse
1. And the word of the Lord came
unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that
great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. Now, if you're familiar with
the book of Jonah, then you'll find That introduction to the
chapter, to be pretty familiar, if you recall what happened in
chapter one, I'd like to quickly go through this. If you look
back at chapter one, verse one, it says, now the word of the
Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, arise, go
to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their
wickedness is come up before me. We see the command twice. Why did God give this command
twice? Well, we see what happened here, what Jonah did in response
to the command in verse three. It says, Jonah rose up to flee
unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord and went down to
Joppa and he found a ship going to Tarshish. And I'll just point
out, Tarshish, this was total opposite direction of where God
taught him to go. Total opposite direction, and
I read it's about twice as far as Nineveh would have been in
the other direction, okay? Look what it says here. He found
a ship going to Tarshish, so he paid the fare thereof and
went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence
of the Lord. This is God's prophet. This is
his child. This is his prophet, his preacher.
God's word had come to him. And he says, Jonah, go to Nineveh. You cry out against them. Preach
to them. Jonah said no. And he said it strongly with
his actions. And it amazes me every time I
read this. This is God's prophet. And look
what he did. Amazing. Amazing. But I rejoice
to know, as God always does, He would overrule Jonah's evil
for good. He always does. You know, we
think about that, we say that when we see the evil in this
world, but I hope we see it in the evil in ourself. that God
overrules my evil for good, and He's been pleased to do it for
my good. Rejoice to know that. I won't read it all, but in verse
four it says that Jonah, he fled, but then God sent a great wind
and a mighty tempest into the sea, so that the ship that Jonah
had boarded was like to be broken. And we go on to read that there
are some men on this ship, some mariners, some sailors, and these
men were scared to death. They start chucking things off
the boat, left and right, trying to lighten it so it don't sink.
They start crying out foolishly, every one of them, to their own
God, God of their imaginations. What's Jonah doing all the while?
He's down in the sides of the ship, fast asleep. Took him a
nice snooze, and he was in deep sleep. And perhaps, I've heard
it said, maybe that was a picture of Christ sleeping in the midst
of the storm. But I know this, if you read this account, it
was a sinful sleep. But by God's grace, He woke him
up. He sent the captain of that ship down there, woke him up,
said, what in the world are you doing, you sleeper? Get up, cry
unto your God. He might be able to do something
about this storm we're in. And they, I don't know much about
this, but they cast lots. One way or another, God showed
these men, Jonah's the man you're looking for. He's the reason
for this trouble that you're in. And in that, he surely represents
our father Adam, doesn't he? By one man. Sin entered into
the world, death by sin. Death passed upon all men for
all have sinned. And Jonah, I believe, by the grace of God, God used
him in the midst of his rebellion. God used him, overruled him,
to tell these men, these lost religious men, who God was. They
said, who are you? What's your name? Where'd you
come from? What you doing here? Time to fess up, Jonah. He told him
who he was, he told him what he'd done, told him who God is.
He said, you see that dry land over there you're trying to get
to? Let me tell you about the God of the dry land and of the
sea. He's God over all. And God, in
His mercy, sent His Spirit and blessed those words to their
hearts because they weren't crying out unto their gods anymore.
After Jonah got done talking to him and he told him what had
to happen, he said, you're going to have to throw me off of here.
Imagine how scared Jonah must have been. Terrified, I'm sure. But it said
that they cried unto the Lord. They threw him out. They did
so fearfully. They prayed to the Lord about
this. They sought the Lord. We don't want innocent blood
to be on our hands, but at the same time, we need deliverance
from this. We don't want to die because
of what he's done. Well, nonetheless, God used Jonah. He used his prophet as the physical
means to save them from the storm. Jonah said, take me up and you
cast me forth into the sea, so shall the sea be calm unto you.
And when they did that, it says the sea ceased from her raging. God used him to physically deliver
them, but he used them as his prophet to save their souls. Bless my heart to know that.
Well, and he gave us a good picture of Christ in the process, didn't
he? You notice the last verse here of chapter 1 says, Now the
Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah
was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Our Lord said, in the New Testament, these men were asking for a sign,
and our Lord said, there's one sign that's going to be given
to you. That's what we just read. That's the sign of the prophet
Jonah. He said, as Jonah was three days and three nights in
the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and
three nights in the heart of the earth. What he's saying is,
what happened here is a picture of Christ. You know, I remember
hearing about this story as a kid. It's maybe the most popular Bible
story. But if we don't see Christ in
it, we've missed it. It'll do us no good. And that's
the case with all the scriptures. If we don't see Christ, we can
learn how to be a good husband, learn how to be a good son, a
good brother, a good friend, but if we don't see Christ. We've
missed it. We've missed it. Now, some things
that this means for us. As Jonah disobeyed the Lord his
God, first of all, so do I. So do we constantly. But as it
was with Jonah, so it is with all God's people. God will correct
us. We're his children. As a father
loves his children, so the Lord corrects and pities those that
fear him, his children. And he did so here by putting
Jonah in a whale's belly. I don't reckon I'll ever be corrected
quite like that. But we read in chapter two that
Jonah, now Jonah's crying out unto the Lord. He said, by reason
of mine affliction, he said, I did this to myself. I brought
this on myself. And I think the Lord taught him,
I know the Lord taught him. The Lord in mercy put me here
in this fish. He could have killed me in that storm. That's what
I deserve. He used Jonah to save those sailors and he used that
fish to save Jonah. Amazing. God truly moves in mysterious
ways, doesn't he? Oh my. You read through chapter 2, Jonah,
he was miserable. He said, I sank to the bottoms
of the mountains. He said, Lord, I know you cast me into the midst
of this sea. This was your will, Lord. You
did this. And it's a beautiful picture
of Christ, Christ on the cross, Christ in the grave. Towards
the end of chapter 2, Jonah, he came to this point. He said,
my soul fainted within me. God reduced that man to nothing.
He made him feel absolutely miserable. And when he did, it said, he
remembered the Lord. You know, we can see the purpose
in the trials when it brings us to Christ, can't we? So you
know what? Yeah, I was miserable, but it
was for a reason. The Lord had a good purpose in
it. And he used Jonah to pin perhaps one of the most beautiful,
glorious phrases in all the scripture, Jonah 2, verse 10, salvation
of the Lord. That's our hope, isn't it? Salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And now, after that, in spite
of Jonah, in spite of his sin, in spite of his rebellion, thinking
he knows better than God, God is going to use his prophet to
go to Nineveh, where he was supposed to go in the first place, and
God's gonna use him to preach to these men, preach God's word
to them, preach Christ to them, and God's gonna save them. Chapter
three, verse one again. And the word of the Lord came
unto Jonah the second time, praise God for that, saying, Arise,
go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching
that I bid thee. What he bid him, he said, cry
out against them. Verse three, so Jonah arose and went unto
Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was
an exceeding great city of three days journey. Nineveh was a mighty
city. The biggest city I've been to
is New York City. It's big. I don't know exactly
how big Nineveh was. In chapter 4 we're told there
was more than 120,000 babies, so it's believed there was upwards
of a million people, maybe more. They compare this city to Babylon.
Babylon was a great city, great in the eyes of men. It's believed
that Nineveh was basically a mighty fortress, that it had walls around
the city 100 feet tall. Can you imagine that? And I think
it said 1,500 towers, another 100 feet taller than that. Amazing,
huh? I'd have loved seeing it. It
truly was great in the eyes of men, but what'd God have to say
about it? He said, they're wicked. Wickedness
has come up before me. And our Lord said the same thing.
He said, that which is highly esteemed in the eyes of men is
abomination in the sight of God. When we look at Nineveh here,
I want us to see this world Crow, Kingsport, Princeton, wherever
you are. But more than anything, let's see ourself. Let's bring
this home, all right? Now, I love this. If you have
a Bible like mine, or if you have a center margin, mine says
by the word exceeding there in verse three, it says of God. Nineveh was an exceeding great
city of God. And what that means is God had
a people here. God had a people. Think of this
wicked world. God has a people. Doesn't that
encourage you to know God has a people here? You just turn
the news on and you get so upset. I do. Every day it seems like. And yet sometimes the Lord reminds
me I have a people here and I'm saving them. Gives me great hope
in this world. God had a people here. That's
why God sent Jonah here. Because they need to hear the
gospel and call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. That's
why he sent Jonah here. Verse four says, and Jonah began
to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried and said,
yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Said it took three
days to walk through this city. Back in that day, they didn't
just hop in the car and go for a spin, they had to walk. And
it's believed Nineveh was about 60 miles long. 60 miles, huge
city, and took the average person three days to walk through it.
Says Jonah was walking for one day, and I imagine after God
commanded that fish to vomit out Jonah and it spat him out
on dry land, I imagine he hopped right up and got with it. And
so he's walking a little quicker than average, and I can see him
marching to the heart of that city, and buddy, did he start
crying out against them. Yet 40 days, and God's gonna
overthrow this place. You're wicked in God's sight.
And that's what we declare, isn't it? God is holy. And we've sinned against him.
And he must, his justice demands it. He must overthrow us. He
must destroy us. God's too holy to behold sin
and iniquity. His eyes are too pure. Now, I mentioned that Jonah was
a sign unto Nineveh. All we read that Jonah said here
was, yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. But we know
that's not all he said, because when the gospel comes to us,
it's good news, isn't it? Now, we hear God's holy and he
will punish sin, but we also hear Christ put our sin away.
You think Jonah told them what happened to him? If he was a
sign unto them, you think he told them about how the Lord
put him in a whale's belly? I'm certain of it. As certain
as I am standing here before you, I'm certain of it. He told
them about God's judgment, but he told them about God's mercy.
That's the good news. That's the saving message when
we hear of mercy and grace in Christ. It's the good news that
sinners need. He declared unto them what he
told us in Jonah 2, verse 10, salvation is of the Lord. I can just see Him saying, do
you need a Savior? I do, let me tell you about Him. What good news it is. The TV
message yesterday was it's appointed unto men once to die, but after
this, the judgment, we've sinned against God, the wages of sin
is death, that's why we die, but there's a second death that
many face in the judgment. We need someone to bear our sins.
And it says, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many,
of all His people chosen in Christ. Now, when God sends His prophet
with this glorious message, here's what happens every time. Look
at verse five. So the people of Nineveh believed
God. They had just heard the judgment
of God proclaimed against them. They had just heard what sinners
they are and what judgment and condemnation they deserve. And
they believed God. It doesn't say they believed
Jonah, but they sure did. He was the instrument God used
to tell them. They believed Jonah and they believed God. What that
means is God saved them. For by grace are we saved through
faith. What God used to say, when faith
comes by hearing, they heard. Heard the word of God. If you
just read this, you read verse four and five together pretty
quickly, it just seems so casual. Jonah said 40 days and they believed
God. But I hope we understand how miraculous that is. I hope
we understand how amazing this is. You know, we can stand here,
Walter, and preach message after message after message after message
after message from God's Word, preach Christ crucified over
and over and over and over for years, and it won't have any
effect on a person until God the Holy Spirit makes it effectual. He must make it. He must quicken
us. We can do nothing. We can stand
here and repeat God's Word day and night, but until God speaks
to a sinner, God must speak for any change
to take place. And it shouldn't surprise us
here that these men believe God. Some people believe the whole
city believe God. I don't know. It says the people of Nineveh.
Could be all of them. I don't know. But it was a great
number, I'm sure. And it shouldn't surprise us. You know, you preach and you... I feel like so, you know, so
much time can go by before someone says, I believe that. Someone
knew I believed that. And then for one message for
so many to fall flat on their face like at the day of Pentecost
when Peter preached and thousands hearts were pricked and they
believed on Christ. It doesn't matter if one person
believes or if thousands are believing. God said his word
shall not return unto him void. He said it's going to accomplish
that which I please, which He pleases. It's going to prosper
in the thing where to He sends it. You see, this had nothing
to do with Jonah. I hope we understand as we look
at this, this had nothing to do with Jonah. He didn't want
to go in the first place. It was in spite of him. And if
God's going to save a sinner through the preaching of the
gospel, it's going to be in spite of us every time. Every time. And verse five again, so the
people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast and put
on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them.
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. I love reading that from the
greatest of them even unto the least of them. The king. Reminds
you of Nebuchadnezzar, don't it? What God did for that wicked
king. There's no one too sinful, no one too deep in the gutter
for God to save, and there's none too self-righteous. There's none too steeped in religion.
The Apostle Paul was as steeped as they come. God saved him.
God saved me. God can save anybody. He's able
to save to the uttermost those that come to God by him. And
when God saves us, It's an effectual salvation. It's a powerful salvation
that we know nothing about until we experience it. You read what
happened here. These people, they proclaim to
fast. When you fast, you're denying
yourself. What'd our Lord say? Deny yourself. They put on sackcloth. That's
humility. That's what Job did when God
took everything from him. He covered himself in sackcloth
and he sat there in dust and ashes. And we read that's what
this king did. Amazing. Amazing. You know, religion loves to,
in this flesh by nature, loves to put on a show. Our Lord sees
right through that. And we can't look to the outward
acts as evidence, but I know this, when God saves us, we truly
do repent. We don't think about God the
same way we did before. Those sailors crying out into
their gods acting all pitiful, they didn't do that after God
saved them. They feared the Lord exceedingly. They said, we're
going to vow to worship the Lord. And Jonah vowed the same thing.
We're going to praise Him and Him alone. God's grace is effectual. Verse 7 says, and the king, he
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. You don't let them
eat or drink a thing. Let them not feed nor drink water,
but let man and beast You know, I wonder when I read this, why
does it talk about the beasts? It's literally talking about
animals. But that's a good spiritual picture, because that's what
we are. People get scared to death talking about 666, the
mark of the beast, the number of the beast. That's the number
of man. That's us. We're beasts by nature. We're
this flesh, nothing but a beast before God. And it's a beast
he must suppress, like the camel must go through the eye of the
needle. This beast has got to be reduced to nothing. And that's
what happened here. And I pray that's what will happen
for us. Verse eight says, let man and beast be covered with
sackcloth and cry mightily unto God. This beast must cry mightily
unto God. Yea, let them turn everyone from
his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands. This
king sent out a decree. He ordered this entire great
city to be destroyed. to fall down flat on their face
before God, to cry mightily unto God, to turn from their wicked
way, turn to God. And we must. Our Lord said, except
you repent, you shall all likewise perish. We must repent. Everything that this flesh, this
carnal mind that's enmity against God, everything that this wicked
flesh even thinks about God is an evil thought. We see it so
clearly with false religion, putting man on the same level
as God. But I'm telling you, it's the same with me and my
flesh today. The sinful thoughts I have about God that bring reproach
and dishonor to His name, oh, may God forgive us. I need to
repent constantly. Constantly. And this is our only
hope, brethren, that we might cry mightily unto God. that God
might put that cry in us. A cry that needs Him. Like Jonah
in chapter 2 to do something for us. Jonah, he may have thought
he's going to perish in that whale's belly. But God brought
him back. He brought him to the point of
faith in Christ, to believing on Christ, to trusting in Christ,
and not looking to himself and his desires. And God spat him
out. He said, enough. Enough. Now you go to Nineveh. Now, this
matter of repentance, we know this. But if we repent, it's not because of us. I can
tell you things, we can talk about doctrines and different
things, but the fact of the matter is
our mind is not truly gonna change about God until God gives us
a new heart. God doesn't save us because we
repent, it's backwards. We repent because God saves us.
God, he said a new spirit will I put in them, a new heart will
I give them. And that's what he does. I love
this verse, it says, before they call, I will answer. You know,
it's like a baby crying. That's the evidence that life
has been given, isn't it? It's the evidence. Faith is the evidence.
I love how our Lord said, I will be their God. And they shall
be my people. Not if, period, period. I will and they shall. I love
thinking about, I mentioned the Apostle Paul. When he described
his conversion, you can read about it, Galatians 1. I'll just
read it to you. He said, when it pleased God,
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace
to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the
heathen. He said, when God did that, immediately
I conferred not with flesh and blood. I didn't have to sit down
and think about it. It's like our Lord, he told Peter,
you know, asked him who he was. He said, thou art the Christ.
He said, flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you. You're blessed because
I revealed it to you. I love this too. God hath saved
us. He hath, it's already done. Hath saved us and called us with
a holy calling, not according to our works. Our works had nothing
to do with it. He saved us in spite of our works.
Because our works were wicked and not gonna please God, that's
why he sent Christ to save us from our works. His wonderful
works, that's the only wonderful works there are. It's that He
saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace. And that was
given us in Christ Jesus when? Before the world began. This
thing was done and settled before you and I were ever a thought
in our parents' minds. What I see when I read Jonah
chapter three, and really the whole book, I see God was pleased
to save a people, and He saves each and every one of them on
purpose. Oh Barnard, he taught Henry the
purpose of God, didn't he? Oh, if we ever learn about that,
we'll learn everything there is to learn. Everything we need
to know. Now look here what this king said in verse 9. He said,
who can tell? Oh my, that's the question, isn't
it? Who can tell if God will turn
and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish
not." What they're saying is, we're at the mercy of God. Who
can tell if God might have mercy on us? Who can tell if God might
be gracious to us and do for us what we can't do for ourselves?
See, the fact of the matter is, and it's so for us, God must
destroy us. We've sinned against Him. He
hates sin more than anything. God is jealous. The Lord revengeth.
The Lord revengeth and is furious. He's reserved wrath unimaginable
for His enemies, His adversaries. The foolish aren't gonna stand
in His sight. He hates all workers of iniquity, and that's what
we are. Well, what's our hope? Well, it's like He's saying,
will God turn and repent? And I'll tell you this, God changes
not. The repenting that He's talking about, God, He sighs,
He comforts. Like again, I'm a father now,
so you see your child do something they shouldn't do, I'm starting
to see it. And initially you get angry. You're my child. You've been
my child. I love you. And I'm gonna correct
you as my, that's God's repentance. It's not, well, I guess I won't
punish him. He corrects us lovingly. We were his children from eternity,
we are his children, and he's gonna preserve us as his children,
and we're gonna be in his kingdom as his children. God's repentance don't mean he
changes mind. Not at all. Nonetheless, that's a question.
Will he turn and repent? Will he turn from his fierce
anger that we perish not? Let me ask you this. Can he do
this? Can God turn from his anger? Let me ask you this. Is God able
to make us perish not? I can tell you there ain't nothing
I can do to keep myself from perishing. Nothing I can do. Here's the fact of the matter.
Here's the truth of the matter. In order for me to be saved,
in order for me to stand accepted in God's sight, my sin has got
to be dealt with. It's got to be. And I can't deal with it. God cannot... Now, please, I hope your ears
perk up the fact that I'm saying God can't. Always pay attention
when we say God can't. But here's a fact, God cannot
not be angry at sin. He cannot not be angry at sin. He hates it with every fiber
of His being. It is contrary to who He is and what He loves. What that means is God's not
gonna save us by overlooking our sin. He's not gonna wink
at our sin. He's not gonna sweep it under
the rug like I do when I sweep. God's not like us. He's not like
us. God can't do that. Can't do it.
Sin must be punished. All of it. And God's holy, righteous
jealousy and anger must be satisfied. It has to be. Absolutely has
to be. So here's the conclusion. In
order for Nineveh to be saved, someone's gonna have to satisfy
God for them. And here's what I rejoice to
tell you. Someone did. Someone did. His name is Jesus
Christ. The Lord Almighty, God Almighty,
the Savior of sinful man. Now, I must acknowledge this
as well. Nineveh, you can read about in detail their destruction
that would come in the book of Nahum. I believe Zephaniah wrote
about it too, and maybe some others, but God would one day
destroy Nineveh. He would. And God will one day destroy
this earth, this world. He said it's all gonna be passed
away. He's gonna burn it up with a ball of fire. Peter wrote about
it. But you know, before He does that, something's gonna happen
first. He's gonna call out every single
one of His chosen people. And they're gonna do exactly
what the Ninevites did and fall on their face believing God,
calling out for mercy, trusting Christ alone for all their hope
of salvation. You see, I must be destroyed because of
my sin, but Christ was destroyed in my place. He said, destroy
this temple, talking about himself. And in three days, I'll raise
it again. And that's exactly what happened. And as he rose
again, we're gonna rise again in him. Perfect with him, conformed
to his image forever and ever. Praise the Lord. Now look here,
the last verse, chapter three, verse 10, it says, and God saw
their works before he saw their wickedness. Now God saw their
works that they turned from their evil way. And God repented of
the evil that he had said that he would do unto them. And He
did it not. He didn't change His mind. He
purposed to save them from eternity. But His Word comes to us and
tells us what we deserve and what Christ suffered for us.
He spared Nineveh for Christ's sake. Not for their sake. I guess
it was for their sake. But ultimately, He saves us for
Christ's sake. Concerning Lazarus, he said,
this is for the glory of the Son of God, that the Son of God
might be glorified thereby. This is for His glory. We're
to the praise of His glory. But it's certainly for our good
too. God saw their works. What did He see? Well, He saw
their faith, didn't He? He saw that it was true, God-given
faith. Faith that looked to Christ alone. Trusted and rested in
Christ alone. He saw it. And I'm glad He saw
it, because I can't see it. I can't see it in myself. I like
to think I can, but I can't see it in us. Only God can see this. Only God truly knows the heart.
He knows the heart He gives. Their repentance, their humility,
their fasting, all of it, all of this was the result of what
God did for them. All of this was the result of Christ being
in them, the hope of glory. All of this was the result of
God working in them. to will and to do of His good
pleasure. That's what He saw, and that's
why He spared them not, because He saw them in Christ. He saw
them under the blood of Jesus Christ. And God's well pleased
with that. He's well pleased with His Son
and all in Him. Now I want to show you one more
thing in closing. Turn over to Luke chapter 11.
We don't just have the book of Jonah, we have the Lord mention
this specific instance to confirm what I'm telling you. Luke 11,
verse 32. Luke 11, 32, He had just told
these religious men that there's going to be the sign of Jonah.
That's the sign, alright? He also mentions Solomon and
the Queen of Sheba, all right? Well, in verse 32, here's what
he said. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with
this generation or against this generation and shall condemn
it. Those wicked sinners God saved
are gonna rise up and condemn the religious world. Here's why. For they repented at the preaching
of Jonah. Now here's the key. And behold,
a greater than Jonah is here. Anytime we stand to preach God's
word, if something happens, if we're blessed by it, if God saves
us through it, a greater than Jonah is here. I pray by God's
grace and by his spirit that today a greater than Jonah is
here, just like there was when Jonah went preaching to Nineveh.
Oh, may God truly do for us what he did for the men of Nineveh.
for Christ's sake and His glory. Amen.