Let us turn in our Bibles this
evening to the book of Jonah, chapter 3. Jonah, chapter 3. Been studying
for several Wednesday evenings from this small book, this minor
prophet. Maybe one of the better known
of the minor prophets simply because of the fact that he was
swallowed by the fish. Jonah chapter 3. 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. 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. And Jonah began
to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried and said,
Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people
of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on
sackcloth. And from the greatest of them,
even 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,
covered him with sackcloth, and set in ashes. And he caused it
to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree
of the king and his noble saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd
nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed nor drink water.
But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily
unto God, yea, let them turn every one from his evil way and
from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if
God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger
that we perish not? And 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. Last Wednesday evening I ended
the message with Jonah being recommissioned and sent and on
his way to Nineveh. The first few words in verse
3, So Jonah arose and went, unto Nineveh according to the word
of the Lord. Sometimes when men have heard
that we believe that God works all things after the counsel
of his own will, that they will question us about Jonah. What
about Jonah? Well, the answer's always the
same. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh,
and Jonah went to Nineveh. His steps were ordered as the
steps of all good men are ordered of the Lord. And so we ended
the message with him on his way to Nineveh as God had commanded
him according to the word of the Lord. Nineveh was the capital
of the nation of Assyria. It was located on the Tigris
River. There's a town that we've heard
quite a bit mentioned on the news, Mosul. Mosul, Iraq. It is also on the
Tigris River and from what I've read, Nineveh was located on
the opposite side of the river but almost parallel to it. And
the people in this city, the Assyrians, they were known for
their barbarity, their cruelty. Some of their sculptures, which
have been excavated in the 19th century, depict themselves as
skinning people alive. How cruel is that, to skin a
person alive? Cruelty. The Assyrians, they
were known for their cruelty. What we now read, what we've
just finished reading, is most amazing. And my first message
from this book, we saw that from the number of those in this city
that God said did not discern between their right hand and
their left hands, 120,000. And men say that infants are
those who would be in that condition. would make up about a fifth of
a city's population, so we figured out that the city would have
had about 600,000 people living in it, the city of Nineveh. Yet,
the city as a whole, think of how great this is, the city as
a whole, from the king to the meanest person in the city, all
of them put on sackcloth, set in ashes, and fasted. That's amazing. That's amazing,
isn't it? When you think about this many
people, this many people, and all of them, not just one or
two or just a few, but all of them, the scripture says, they
were all in sackcloth, that is, that rough clothing they would
put on as a sign of affliction, put ashes on their head, set
in ashes, and fasting. Even the animals, the king gave
commandment that even the animals would have no food or water.
And I don't know if you've ever been in a place, I think especially
of cattle, but when cattle are deprived of water, it might take
longer than a few days, I'm not sure, but to bellow, to cry. That's what the king said, let
them cry. Cry mightily, even the animals
would be crying. from hunger and thirst. 600,000 people. That's amazing. That's amazing. Now three things
in my message tonight I want to point out. First, Jonah's
message. Jonah's message. Forty days and
Nineveh shall be overthrown. Forty days and Nineveh shall
be overthrown. Jonah, as we read here, he immediately
began to preach, just as soon as he came to Nineveh. go around
the city or go through the city and take a survey of the city
and see what might appeal to the people, what kind of message
might be palatable to these people. As soon as he entered into the
city, he began to preach the message as God told him, you
preach the message that I give unto you. And this was the message
that God gave unto him, and it was, as we read here, a message
of judgment. Forty days, and Nineveh shall
be overthrown. He was to preach the preaching
that God bade him. Notice that again in verse 2. Arise, go unto Nineveh, that
great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. His message was a message of
destruction, of judgment coming upon their city. I thought about
the fact that in the New Testament we have John the Baptist. He
was a voice crying in the wilderness. But Jonah, he's a voice crying
in a city. John the Baptist's message was
repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jonah's message was
Forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Preachers, and
I remind us again, preachers are not to invent their message. We are not to invent our message,
we are to proclaim God's message. Preach the preaching that I bid
thee. This is what God told Jonah.
And God has given us his word. And we will never exhaust God's
Word as we preach the Word of God. That's what Paul wrote to
Timothy, wasn't it? Preach the Word. Be instant in
season and out of season. The problem is men start having
itching ears, desires of hearing something new, something strange,
something different, something novel, something that appeals
or tickles the ears, and so they heap to themselves, Paul said,
teachers having itching ears. The reason preachers have itching
ears, always wanting to preach something no one else has ever
preached, something different, something startling, is because
they are preaching to people who have itching ears. I thank
God for our congregation here. By the grace of God, we want
to hear Christ and Him crucified. That's the message of the Word
of God, and that's the message that God gives us to preach.
Jonah, he was given a message of judgment. Forty days, and
Nineveh shall be destroyed. He obeyed. He didn't try to explain
it. That wasn't his job. It wasn't
his job to try to explain how this was going to take place.
No, his message was 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So first we see Jonah's message. Very simple, wasn't it? Very
simple. Second, The people of Nineveh
believed God. Notice that in verse 5. So the
people of Nineveh believed God. When the Lord destroyed the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah, He gave them no warning. The angel of
the Lord and the angels went there and they delivered Lot.
And you remember, the angel asked Lot this question. The angel
of the Lord delivered Lot, his wife, and two daughters from
Sodom and Gomorrah. His wife was delivered out of
the city, but you remember she turned and looked back, and she
was turned into a pillar of salt. But when God destroyed those
cities, He gave them no warning, but He asked Lot this question.
He said, Hast thou any here besides? Do you have any other kinfolk
in this place? That's basically what he was
asking. Do you have any other kinsmen
in this place? And we are told that Lot went
to two sons-in-law. And he told them, this city's
going to be destroyed. And you know what the scripture
says? They looked at Lot as one who mocked. One who mocked. He's joking. He's joking with
us. This is April Fool. No. When the people there in Sodom
and Gomorrah, these kinfolk of Lot, when they looked at the
sky, he says that God's going to rain fire and brimstone down
from heaven. They looked up into the sky.
It looked like it always had looked. There may have been some
clouds, it may have been overcast, I don't know. But it was nothing
different. Everything looked the same. Nothing
in the weather to foretell what was going to come upon those
cities of the plains. They looked a lot as one who
mocked, as one who was joking with them.
But now, in the city of Nineveh, when
Jonah preached, 40 days and Nineveh will be destroyed. I don't know
how he preached this message. I don't know if he went up one
street and down another street and one street and down another
street. If this was the message, his complete message and all
he preached or what. But I do know this, that the
citizens of Nineveh, When they heard this message, 40 days and
this place is going to be overthrown. Now from what I've read, this
city had walls around it, a circumference of 60 miles around this city,
a large city. And walls were built up 100 feet. And they were broad enough that
at the top, three chariots could go abreast. And on the walls
they had tires, many tires built upon the walls of this city.
And here comes this man and his appearance was somewhat strange
after having been in the belly of that fish for three days and
three nights. And he's telling us, 40 days
and this place is going to be overthrown. Don't you know some
of them went up on the wall, went up in the tires and they
looked. Maybe there has to be some invading army out there
somewhere he's talking about. But no, nothing, nothing, nothing
to the mind or to the eyes that could convince them that this
message this man was preaching was a message from God. The only explanation, the only
explanation, when we read here in verse 5, So the people of
Nineveh believed God. The only, the only explanation
is God had to have been working in them. They believed God. I mean, think about it. A city
so secure, Nothing to alarm them. This place is going to be overthrown. Yet they believed God. Remember
when Joshua took the children of Israel, or led the children
of Israel into the land of Canaan, the first place they came to
was Jericho, wasn't it? And it was a city that had high
walls, and it was a well-fortified city. And what does God tell
Joshua to do? March around the city one time.
Do that seven days. And on the seventh day, go around
it seven times and blow the horns. Don't you know those people inside
that place? They had a laugh. I mean, that's the funniest thing. Those people are crazy out there
going around the city. But I tell you, when They blew
those horns. The walls came down, didn't they? But not all the walls. Remember,
there was one place on the wall that did not come down. And that
was that place out of that window was that scarlet thread where
Rahab and her family were saved. That scarlet thread is a picture
of the blood of Jesus Christ, isn't it? There's only one saving
thing that God has given us, and that's the blood of Jesus
Christ. But these men, these people here
in Nineveh, truly to me this is amazing. They believe God,
and the only explanation is God was working among them. Now, here's the third thing.
Their believing God brought repentance. Faith. Paul said that faith worketh
by love. Faith worketh by love. And one
of the writers points out that faith works according to the
nature of that believed. Faith works according to the
nature of that believed. And he goes on to say that faith
will work either by love, by fear, or by grief. But faith will always work. It will always work. If that
which is believed is dreadful and alarming, then faith will
work by fear. And a good example of this is
in Hebrews chapter 11 where all of those persons are mentioned
there who by faith, when it comes to Noah, remember what it says. Let me read this to us. By faith
Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved
with fear. Or by fear. Moved with fear. Prepared an ark to the saving
of his house. You see, his faith worked just
like the faith of Abel worked. Abel's faith worked when he offered
that sacrifice unto God, that lamb. Enoch's faith worked when he
walked with God. Abraham's faith worked when he
left his homeland. Faith always works. And as that
writer said, according to the message believed and heard, whether
it's a message of love For God so loved the world." If that's
the message we hear and God gives us faith because we're overwhelmed
with the love of God in sending His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins, then faith will work by love. But if we've heard
the message and Christ spoke these words, fear not the one
who is able to kill your body. and can do nothing to your soul.
But fear Him who hath power to destroy both body and soul in
hell." Faith that believes that message is going to work too.
It's going to work by fear. And that's what we see here in
the case of these Ninevites. The message they heard was a
message of fear. It was a message of God's fierce
anger. It was a message that they were
going to perish. Notice that in verse 9. Who can
tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from His fierce
anger? That's the message they had heard
of God's fierce anger. And His anger means we are going
to perish. Their faith worked. Faith always
works. Their faith worked by fear. But
it could not have been fear. Now listen. It cannot be fear
without some element of hope. Yeah, there was fear. God's fierce
anger. We're going to perish. There
was fear. But for faith to work by fear, there always has to
be some element of hope. In the book of Revelation, here's
an example. In the book of Revelation, when
God's judgment falls upon those ungodly people, what do they
do? They blaspheme God. Why? Because there's no hope. There's no hope mixed with that
judgment. And so it doesn't help those
people in the least sense as far as repentance is concerned.
They blaspheme God. There has to be some element
of hope. Now here's the question. How
could these Ninevites have possibly found hope in this message that
Jonah preached? Forty days and Nineveh will be
overthrown. Well, I believe that they did. And I want to give you two ways.
Could they find hope, number one, could they find hope in
the fact that God's threat, 40 days and Nineveh will be overthrown,
could be a warning. It could be a warning. If it was God's fixed purpose
to overthrow our city in 40 days, why send us this warning? See
what I'm saying? There was an element of hope.
Why send us this warning that he's going to destroy our city
in 40 days? Could they not have looked at
the warning itself as a mercy from God? When God destroyed
Sodom and Gomorrah, He gave them no warning. He gave them no warning. There
was no Jonah to go into Sodom and Gomorrah and preach. Tomorrow,
this city's going to be overthrown. God gave this any warning. He threatened them with destruction. Could that in itself be mercy
on God's part? And was the 40 days, He's given
us 40 days, 40 days. Is God giving us space to repent,
to turn? Is that a door of hope? That
God is giving us by telling us 40 days and Nineveh will be overthrown. Number two, could they find hope
in Jonah himself? You know in Luke chapter 11 and
verse 30, let me turn here and read this. But our Lord mentioned
Jonah several times during his ministry here in this world.
Jonah in Luke, rather, Luke chapter 11, in verse 30, we read. Now these are the words of the
Lord. For as Jonah was a sign unto
the Ninevites, See what our Lord said? Jonah
was assigned. He was assigned to the Ninevites. For Jonah to be assigned to them,
then they must have been familiar with his experience. He himself,
Jonah, was assigned to the Ninevites. They must have been familiar
with his experience. And when they looked at Jonah,
Think about this. When they put their eyes on Jonah,
he was living proof of God's mercy after he had disobeyed
God. He disobeyed God, didn't he,
when he got on that ship going in the opposite direction from
Nineveh? And yet, he found mercy in the
eyes of the Lord. He was living proof of God's
power to deliver. Because he was in that fish for
three days and three nights. God's power is not limited to
deliver. And he was living proof of God
answering prayer. Jonah cried unto the Lord. He
cried mightily unto the Lord. And he was delivered. Let us,
so the king said, let us cry mightily unto the Lord. The point
I'm making is that there has to be some hope. There has to
be some hope. Because without hope, with just
judgment, men are only hardened, that's all, and blaspheme God. Thank God He's given us hope,
hasn't He? A good hope. What was this repentance? This repentance of the Ninevites? Most people believe it was somewhat
akin to this repentance of Ahab. If you look back over into 1
Kings, and we say this because judgment
was averted. God did not overthrow the city
in 40 days, but the city was destroyed. You read about this
in the prophet Nahum, and I believe it was about a hundred years
later when, yes, God did destroy the city and the Ninevites. Judgment came upon them, but
because of their repentance, It was delayed. Not that God
changed His plan. You know when it speaks of God
repenting, God never changes His mind. His providence changed. The message that He had proclaimed
was true and they repented and averted the judgment that was
coming upon them. Just like this man Ahab. He was
a wicked king. If you turn here to 1 Kings chapter
21. God sent him word by the prophet
Elijah that he was going to be destroyed. Ahab was. And not
only Ahab but all of his sons. Look at that in verse 21. Behold,
this is God speaking through His prophet to this king, a wicked
king, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy
posterity, and will cut off from Ahab all the young men, and him
that is shut up and left in Israel. That's God's word to Ahab. But
now notice down to verse 27. And it came to pass, when Ahab
heard these words, that he ran his clothes, and put sackcloth
upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. And the word of the Lord came
to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth
himself before me? Because he humbleth himself before
me. Now notice, I will not bring
the evil in his days, but in his son's days will I bring the
evil upon his house. And the repentance of the Ninevites
at this time, it did avert the judgment of God, but it did come. It did come upon them about a
hundred years later. Now let me close by saying this. Turn with me to the New Testament,
Luke chapter 24. The last chapter in Luke. Luke chapter 24. And I just want to close the
message by saying this. I'm thankful. I'm thankful for
the message that God has given me. It is primarily a message
of glad tidings and not of judgment. In Luke chapter 24 and verse
47, our Lord raised from the dead. Notice in verse 46, it
said, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoove
Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day.
Just as Jonah came out of that fish's belly the third day. And
that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in
his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Our message is
a message of glad tidings, that is, forgiveness of sins. That's
what the gospel means, really, glad tidings of great joy, remission
of sins. Our message is, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. It is a message. The gospel is a message of judgment
to those who refuse to believe. Whosoever believeth not shall
be damned. That's part of the message. But
primarily our message is one of forgiveness of sins, remission
of sins. And I'm thankful tonight that
that I can stand before you and stand before the world and before
any group of people and say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Your sin shall be forgiven. Amen. Let's sing a hymn before we're
dismissed.