If something happens to this building, I'm not taking the blame for it. I think I just got implicated. Good evening, everybody. If you will, open to the book of Jonah. You got Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah. Recently, Kimberly and I saw a movie, and as many movies are books, there's a Sometimes there's a religious zealot that's in there, and they're mocked or made fun of. But in this movie, the guy said, they were commenting on him, and he said, he always spoke about the scriptures as if he was there when they wrote them.

And that stuck with me, and I thought, am I a witness? Is this something I've experienced, something I've seen? Is this to be true? Not just have I memorized the words, but this is real. This really happened. Jonah really had, people was asking me, do you think he was really in a well? Yeah, Lord said so, yes I do. I've been in some wells too, haven't you? Wells of problems.

I pray it's the same message you've already heard twice today. All flesh is grass, behold your God. Man's way, singular. is wrong, and behold the glorious work of our Lord and Savior who finds his people." That's what Paul told us there in Acts 20. He said, I've kept nothing that was profitable unto you, but I've showed you and have taught you publicly from house to house, testifying to the Jews and the Greeks, didn't matter who it was, repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.

And we'll look at chapter three here in Jonah, Bounce just a little bit. It's a small book. We can get it in. It'll be easy. I have four divisions for this, for what happens in chapter three of Jonah. The message that's preached, the response to that message, and the response that's there. Why is that the response? How is that the response? And then the outcome of it all. What's the end state? What's the final thing? So what was the message preached?

Jonah, as many people know, was in that well, and some may know that he went through Nineveh, sang 40 days, and Nineveh's going to be overthrown. But who was the one preaching? I want to notice something here. Jonah was preaching. Jonah was God's prophet. He was telling the words of the Lord and what would come to pass. That's what a prophet is. Do we still have prophets in our day? Well, the Lord don't speak directly to men and then give them something to say, but we have his word here.

And as he gives us a message, this is what's going to happen. His will will be done. All of his sheep will be saved. He will lose none of them. He's coming again. That's so. It's so. But Jonah was this prophet that the Lord chose to send to Nineveh. And he was from Galilee. I always thought that was an interesting thing.

Those Pharisees were all gathered together, what they were going to do, and Nicodemus, who had went to him by night, and he said, hey, doesn't our law say let's hear somebody before we charge them? And they got on to Nicodemus. They said, they answered to him, art thou also of Galilee? They said, search and look.

He said, go home and read your Bible, Nicodemus, for out of Galilee arise no prophet. Well, they were wrong. Jonah's from Galilee. That's where his family's from. Second Kings tell him that. But Jonah was the Lord's prophet, and many of the writers call him the peevish prophet.

He was easily irritated. He was just to the point, he was curt, he had a bad attitude. He's not who I would have picked. My way, my idea of picking this man, for a better word, the largest revival in the scriptures, more people were saved during this than Pentecost exponentially. Half a million people, a million people, two million people. It was a lot of people. It was. And this is the man that the Lord was pleased, this was the tool he was pleased to use. And he had a rough around the edges. Look here in chapter four. Jonah chapter four, verse one. After the Lord had saved the city of Nineveh, It says, but it displeased Jonah exceedingly. Jonah 4 verse 1. And he was very angry.

Can you imagine that? The Lord just saved a million people. Don't we pray that? The Lord saved your sheep. And then the Lord did it, and he was mad. The Syrians were enemies of Israel. And they'd made fun of him and picked on him and everything else and made war with him. And then now he's preached 40 days and you're going to be overthrown. And they're not going to be physically overthrown. And so he looks like a false prophet. His reputation's at stake, and he's angry. Lord overthrew their hearts. He conquered them in the spirit, didn't he? And he prayed unto the Lord, said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? I told you so, to the Lord.

It'd be easy to say, pick that apart, wouldn't it? John, what are you doing? How many times have I done that? What are you doing, Lord? I knew it was going to do that. Oh, poor fella. Therefore I fled unto Tarsus, for I knew that thou art gracious, God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore now, Lord, take I beseech thee my life for me, for it is better for me to die than to live. Kill me, Lord. This is God's prophet, used mightily.

Would the Lord do that? He did, didn't he? Then said the Lord, doest thou well to be angry? Is that working out good for you, Jonah? He's dealing with his child here, isn't he? Why was Jonah mad? So many things to be thankful for. And this wasn't the first time his attitude was bad. Look back to chapter one.

Jonah 1.1. 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." This was real easy. This is a different wording than we're gonna see in chapter three.

He said, go cry against it. Go tell them what they're doing is wrong. Could you do that? Could you find fault in a city? Just go around and say, you shouldn't be doing that. Stop doing that. That's pretty easy. I could do that. I do it all the time. He said, go cry against it. Tell them what they're doing is wrong.

But Jonah, easy job, right? But Jonah rose up to flee into Tarshish, about 2,000 miles away, from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, down to the port, and he found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare thereof and went down into it to go with them into Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He intentionally left the presence of the Lord. It cost him. He paid for it. And he went down, and he was going to go to Tarsus. And he was a fatalist. Well, if the Lord didn't want me going, there wouldn't have been a ticket. There'd have been a full boat.

This must be, he must change his mind. This must be what he really wanted. I don't know if that's what Jonah said. I could see myself talking myself through problems that way. But this was the man that the Lord was pleased to save the most amount of people recorded in history. His ways are not our ways, we learned this morning. But why would the Lord use this one? This could be controversial. It's true, according to these scriptures.

The man does not matter. The message does. And the Lord being pleased to bless it. That's it. His past doesn't matter. His present doesn't matter. His attitude, Jawline, his height, nothing, absolutely nothing matters. The Lord's message, the word from the Lord, and him being pleased to bless it is what matters. So what's that message?

You can turn over to chapter three. One man read this morning, Isaiah 55. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, the Lord said. It'd be his mouth, we're just the mouthpiece. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please. And it shall prosper in a thing where to I send it. I send it.

A religious zealot one time asked me, he said, do you have a message of reconciliation or condemnation? I said, it's the same message. You're either happy about it or you're not. You're either reconciled to God or you're still at war with them. The message doesn't change. His second time's different with Jonah, though.

Remember, he had the experience with the whale. The Lord kept him in there three days, as should the Son of Man be. And he spit him out on the drive. He was lifted up high and cast in the sea so the men in that vessel would live. What a picture we have of Christ crucified.

But here in Jonah 3, verse 1, And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time. You think he was thankful for that? Are you thankful for the second time? 200th time, the 2,000th time the Lord's pleased to speak to you, I'm thankful. I'm thankful he's the faithful one. The word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, it was big, but it was greatly wicked, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

First time, all I had to do was go pick it apart. Go point out its flaws. The job's changed. The Lord said, you're going to go preach. And what's that? I'm going to give you a message from my heart to your heart, and you're going to deliver it to their hearts. I can't do that. You can't. Mankind can't. This is something that the Lord has to do.

And he said, you're going to preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. What was the message? Verse three. So Jonah arose and went into Nineveh. according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey. There's a whole lot of math that goes into this in the commentators. It's 60 miles across in the end, chapter four, about 120,000 infants. They say that's a fifth of the population, a million people. It's big. There's a whole lot of people there. Verse four, and Jonah began to enter into this city a day's journey. Now remember the Syrians are at war. They hate the Israelites.

And here comes, how did he make it, that's 20 miles into this city, just blaring out the message? God kept him. A dog couldn't wag its tongue against him. Lord sent him. We entered the city a day's journey and he cried and said, yet 40 days and none of us shall be overthrown. Eight words. Eight words. There's finality to this. 40 days and none of us shall be overthrown. Judgment's coming. Judgment's coming. If I've done nothing wrong, why would I fear judgment?

There's some implied things there, isn't there? All flesh is grass. Behold your God. A question throughout the ages has been, it's been asked to you, been asked to me, was that all that Jonah said? Was it just these eight words? That's what we had recorded. It could have been.

The father preached two messages from heaven. There was a message of that general call at our king's baptism. And he said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Do you want to satisfy God? It's going to be in his son. That's the only way he's satisfied. And there was an effectual call that the Lord preached. Same message. He said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And there was a command with it. Hear ye him. hear him. It was short, it was effectual, wasn't it? So if that's all that Jonah said, the Lord could use it however he sees fit. It's his words, the preaching that he's bidding. But look back in chapter one again, there in verse seven.

Remember that storm came when Jonah was on that ship to Tarshish and these full-time sailors, These mariners, they were scared to death. And the captain woke everybody up, said, you pray to whatever God you have. We need all the help we can get. Something's gotta be better than nothing. Get that, Jonah's sleeping. Wake him up, get him praying, too.

But they wanted to know why this evil came on them. Verse seven says, and they said, everyone to his fellow, come, let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. Then he said unto them, tell us We pray thee for whose cause is this evil upon us?

What's thine occupation? And whence comest thou? What is thy country? And what people art thou? That's rapid fire questions, isn't it? You know, he answers all of them in reverse. The last thing they mention is where he says, what people are you from? Where are you from? He says unto them, I'm in Hebrew. That's my nation. That's my people. What's your occupation? I fear God. That's his job.

Well, whose cause is this evil upon us? The God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry. Who's making these waves, Chris? The one who controls the waves. A man asked me one time, it was a bad situation, and he said, who brought this evil upon us?

And I said, well, the Lord's the first cause of everything, but it's your fault. If I'm in trouble, it's my fault. The Lord brought this to pass. It's for his glory. It honors the son for his namesake. But I'm to blame, I'm to blame. You with wicked hands have slew the Lord's purpose throughout time. His foreknowledge was to do that, but it was man's doing, wasn't it? Verse 10.

Then were the men exceedingly afraid and said to him, why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he had fled from the present to the Lord. How did they know that? Because he had told them. He gave them just a short reply to their questions, but apparently there was some more expounding to do. He explained to them, he said, well, the Lord called me and I didn't do it, and that's how I got on this boat. And they said, why didn't you just do what he said?

He controls this weather. He controls everything. This God that you're telling us about, he's worthy to be heeded to. He told him, he told on himself. When he preached substitution to him, he said, you lift me up. That's what we're going to do. Lift me up, cast me in the sea, and you'll live. That's what has to happen. What was the message to Nineveh? Judgment's coming. It's right. It's just.

All flesh is grass. We read there in Acts 2, Peter at Pentecost was preaching. He said, therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now, when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts. That's all it took. You killed him. He's Christ. That's the God. He's on his throne right now. The Father's done this.

And they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what must we do? What shall we do? And Peter said, repent. and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. Believe Him. Turn from you, your way, to His. Look to Him, honor Him, love Him. Love Him. He's worthy to be loved. He's worthy to be heeded.

Did Jonah elaborate during this 20-mile-a-day journey of preaching and traveling? I don't know other than what we read. But I know he was sent of God And I know God's word didn't return to him void. That was the message the Lord gave him for the Lord's using.

So what's the response to it? Jonah 3 verse 5. So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them. What do you see happening here? They heard the message. Faith come by hearing. Hearing by the word of God. They heard the message. They believed Jonah. No, that's not what it says. They believed God. They believed God. If Jonah's name was Jimmy, would they still believe God? Yes, they would. But Jonah just happened to be who the Lord pleased to use.

And they put on sackcloth and they fasted. As we just learned from our pastors recently, what's this fasting? Denying yourself. denying yourself, sackcloth, removing your garments, all my robes of righteousness, filthy rags, filthy rags. They're repenting.

There's five meanings of repentance in the scriptures, but this one is turning, turning. I heard a quote years ago, repentance is the pilgrimage. That means it has its start, it has its continuance, and it has a culmination. Repentance is the pilgrimage from the mind of the flesh to the mind of Christ.

That's a long life. I want to have his mind. Scripture said, let this mind be in you. 2 Peter, I stir up your pure minds. Mind means the whole of me in the New Testament. They knew themselves to be worthy of judgment in Nineveh. And they cried out to God for mercy. And they turned from themselves and turned to him, the only one who could show mercy. Psalm 85 says, mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed. How could this be? How could he? Is he sweeping it under the rug? What's he doing? We just acting like the slate's clean and I gotta do well from now on?

Where did that take place? Where did mercy and truth come together? Where did righteousness and peace kiss? The cross of Calvary is where it happened. Am I getting too much from a short verse? Am I reading what happened to Nineveh and I'm reaching? Let's see what Jonah was made of the Lord right next, verse six. Four, I have this highlighted in my Bible. Why did those certain people in Nineveh here, why did they believe God? Why did they repent? Four, because, four.

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 satin ashes. That's what our king, made like unto us, God's only son, that's what he did for his people. He arose from his throne and he descended at the word of the Lord, of his father, and he laid his garments aside. And he took up a body that was prepared for him, and he humbled himself.

We read in Philippians 2, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Why? He's God. But made of himself no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant. He was in sackcloth and ashes, it was like arresting him. He's teaching them how to do it. He's making us weak. He's putting us in sackcloth and ashes, being our example, leading us by the hand.

Made himself no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, was made in likeness of men, and being found fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in the earth and things under the earth. and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. This king of Nineveh, just like our king, isn't it? Because of him, for, because he did what he did, we hear, we repent, we cry out to God for mercy. It's a command too, this isn't just a suggestion. This wasn't just a series of acts and this king did this. Well, I hope it works out. This is the best thing we've got going. Look at verse seven.

And 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. Let them not feed nor drink water. Everything's going to fast. Everything's going to stop drinking water. All the things you've been eating on, all the things you have been drinking, it stops now. That's over. That's over.

You can fast, like I'm just not going to eat for a day or two, but there's a fast that the Lord gives. Have you ever had one of those? When something just weighs on you and it consumes your thoughts and your soul, and you eat something, I can't. You can chew food, you can't swallow it. The Lord gives a fast. He commands it for his people. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God. Yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way.

Your way is evil. That's not winning the hearts of minds and being popular, is it? Stop doing what you're doing. It's wrong. Christ is the way. Whatever else you're thinking is wrong. It's evil. Quit it. He commanded it. Throughout scripture, I was telling Michael that, throughout scripture, Laban, he went his way. Judas, Satan entered him, and he went his way.

There's a way that seems right in a man, but the end's what? Death. Death. Aren't you glad that the king commands his way? And from the violence that's in their hands, repentance towards God. Repent towards him. Right now, turn to him. Turn to Him. Turn from what you think. Turn from what your traditions are. Bow to a holy God. You'll find rest for your soul. I heard Brother Henry say that years ago. God is love. We know nothing of love apart from Him.

We say, well, you know, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I loved a little less. The scriptures itself proves that wrong. Jacob said, he said, he loved Leah less. The very next verse is when God saw that Leah was hated. It's on or off. We don't understand those things. God is love. The only thing we know from love is from him. But what'd them seraphims cry? They have cover their face and cover their feet and fly around saying, love, love, love. Holy, holy, holy. That's what he is. Holy. Verse 9, I love this language.

The Lord speaks to us where we are. He goes to farmers and He talks about seeds and things growing. He goes to fishermen and He explains fish to them. He meets us where they are and He speaks in a language we can understand. When the Lord said, come, let us reason together, are you going to change His mind? Are you reasoning? No! He's tenderly speaking to His child, saying, sit down, let's talk for a minute, okay? Look at this, verse 9.

Who can tell? if God will turn and repent. Here's another meaning of repentance, that sigh. That word literally means, like how a parent looks at a child. Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not. As kings commanded, commandments are to win, and he said, who knows, maybe the Lord won't kill us in 40 days.

Teaching his child The Lord Jesus Christ speaks to the hearts in a language we can understand, at knowing the outcome. I said, don't you think this will be good? Isn't the Lord gracious? Isn't he merciful? You think he might be long suffering? Boy, he has been up till now, hasn't he? He's not slack concerning his promise.

In 40 days, within that 40 days, every one of his children was saved in there. They were living with Christ. hung with Christ on a cross, they were buried with him, and they were rose again. They were conquered. It was overturned. Things were upside down.

But that's how we count things. This is how the Lord does it. This is the work, and it's the command of the king of Nineveh. Four. Because all of them heard, all of them repented, because the king said so. You get that? He did these things. He commanded these things. As Aaron was preaching this morning, Lord must make us weak. Who gets a glory for that? For being weak, he does. He gets glory in everything.

The Lord said in 2 Corinthians 6 verse 16, he said, and I'm gonna be their God, and he said, I'll walk in them. I'm gonna walk in them. Everything that we do. Is there anything we can brag on? Well, I, uh. No, I was a useless clay vessel and the Lord was pleased to do something. I'm just a lump of clay. There in Matthew 5, I like that too. So plain. It's simple. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. Who gets the glory? The king does. The king does. It's his doing. It's his doing. What's the message, whether it's said or implied?

Repentance towards God and faith towards Jesus Christ. What's the outcome? Well, they heard Nineveh. They believed on God, everything he said about himself, everything he said about them, everything he says about me, about you, what's going to come to pass. It's true. I may not understand it, but if he said it, it's right. It's so. They abhorred themselves and they loved the Savior. They did. Why?

A man told me one time, he knew a lot of the preachers we know, and he always said, you're in that grace camp, which I thought was just weird language. I don't want to be with Christ. I don't want to be in some camp. He said, you're in that grace camp. He said, all you grace preachers always say, why? He's making fun of my accent, that's okay. Why, why? And I said, maybe they're trying to teach you something. Maybe they're asking questions you ought to be asking.

Why did all that happen? For, because the king came down, he laid aside his robe. He bore the guilt and the shame, honor and the father the entire time for his people. That's why. That's why they heard. Now, what's the outcome of that? What's the eternal outcome? All these Assyrians are just bad at Israel, and all of a sudden, some prophet came through, preached to them one day, and the king made them believe. Verse 10, and God saw their works. What was their works?

Believe in Christ, look into him only. What's the king doing? Do what the king says. He's on the throne, we're fine. Calm down, everybody. God saw their works that they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil that he said that he would do unto them, and he did it not.

All that condemnation is put away. It's put away. It's gone. There is therefore now, right now, no condemnation. That gets more important to me, I don't know, every year, however you want to word it, I can stand before God and He ain't mad. He ain't offended. He ain't upset. And it's not my doing. It's His good pleasure and will, and it's for His Son's namesake, for His glory. Boy, I'm thankful for that. I don't look for the method of death. Like I don't, a lot of ways I don't want to die. I'm not really, I don't like pain. I don't really go to a dentist.

But being before a holy God because of what He's done, because of what He's promised, because I believe Him. He said it, I believe Him. I have no fear of that. It's joy. I look forward to it. Now, like I said, His ways aren't my ways, and the ways of getting there, I can have some preferences, but because of the King, for the King, I pray we all hear and that we repent and that we believe him. I hope that was a blessing to you. It was. Thank you.