Let’s recap the last couple of weeks…
Jonah was a prophet of God, a very religious man. God comes to Jonah and tells him to go minister to a group of people that he really doesn’t like. In fact, these people, the Ninevites were the nastiest people of Jonah’s time so God asking him to send them a message was completely irrational to Jonah. Jonah was rather self-righteous. He felt that he was God’s chosen. Well he was, but he let that become his identity and he held himself higher thinking that he was better than those outside the nation of Israel so when God told him to speak a message of God’s grace and mercy Jonah said “no way” and literally ran away from God. Like to the opposite end of the known earth at that time. Then we found out in chapter 2 that through God’s mercy, He chases down Jonah, sends a storm, Jonah ends up thrown over the side of a boat, God sends a fish to swallow Jonah, and then God keeps Jonah alive in the belly of the whale for 3 days. Last week we learned Jonah realized some pretty significant things while in the fish’s belly. Most importantly we were taught how Jonah went from having a religious heart to a Gospel-transformed heart.
So that’s where we’ll pick up, where Prater left off, with Jonah having been barfed onto the shore as one of the greatest acts of God’s unwavering and unshakeable love towards him. And now we’ll get to see the action that comes from Jonah’s changed heart.
Let’s read chapter 3 -
Jonah 3:1-10 (ESV)
1Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2"Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you." 3So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. 4Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. 6The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish." 10When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
Let’s unpack what we just read
In verse 1 it says “Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time.” There’s two words that stand out to me in that verse. The word “then” which is occurs right after Jonah is barfed up on the shore. Jonah died to his old self while in the fish’s belly and THEN was resurrected on the shore.
So first he surrendered and THEN God saved him. Such a small word but it tells so much. It’s clear that God pursued Jonah. God initiates and THEN we respond through surrender.
The second word that stands out to me is literally the word “second.” “Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time.”
Our God is a God of second chances. The Bible is full of stories… Obviously there’s Jonah who after all his rebelling was given another opportunity to be used to fulfill God’s plans. There’s also Abraham. God makes a promise to Abraham, Abraham gets impatient, tries to do thing his own way, makes a mess of things, but God still creates a great nation from Abraham’s descendants which leads directly to Christ. There’s Moses… he kills a guy, goes into hiding, argues with God about his abilities, and is ultimately used to free God’s chosen people from captivity and slavery under Egypt. Look at Peter… he denied Jesus 3 times but in Acts chapter 2 we see him lead thousands to salvation on the day of Pentecost. Even my life is a testament to God’s second chances.
God will definitely use you if you’ll turn back around. But you know what else Jonah’s story tells me? I can’t get in the way of God’s plans. Some of you may be struggling right now thinking you’re too far gone or you’ve messed up too much for God to save you, to use you now. That’s a lie. You are not too messed up for God to lovingly pursue and discipline you back into a saving intimate relationship with Him. Romans 3:23 tells us that ALL have sinned and fallen short. There’s no little bit of nasty to uber nasty scale that determines your usability or save-ability by God. We’re all nasty! But God has a heart of salvation for ALL.
I love that God came to Jonah a second time. You’ve got to figure that Jonah was pretty broken by that point. Jonah is not a story of “Do it right the first time and avoid life’s nasty whales” it’s a story of God using broken, rebellious, undeserving people for His plans and His purposes. As a result, it’s GOD that receives all the glory. Jonah did NOTHING to earn God’s mercy or grace just as we have done nothing to earn the saving relationship we’re offered through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
When you grasp just how holy and perfect and loving God is and you see how truly little you have to offer Him yet he loves and pursues and wants to save you… When the gospel get’s out of your head and into your heart it changes everything. Isaiah 64:6 tells us that “our self-righteousness acts are like filthy rags.” We are saved by grace and grace alone. When you get that, your actions change. In Jonah’s case it took a pretty big wakeup call to cause a head to heart change but he definitely woke up. In verse 3 we read that Jonah’s response to God the second time around was that he “arose and went.” “Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD."
Obviously he obeyed this time around but something that isn’t so obvious in our English terms is the urgency in which he obeyed. The Hebrew transliteration of the words arose and went is quwm yalak which can also be translated “go now!” There’s a sense of urgency to it…
Have you ever felt that God was telling you to do something and if you didn’t do it right then there was a high probability that you could talk yourself out of it?
In verse 4 it says “Jonah began to go into the city.” The word began in this verse is pretty important. The Hebrew transliteration is chalalbow which can also mean letting loose or untying.
What do you need to let go or loosen so you can begin? So you can go? Maybe it’s your pride? Your need to control? Your security? What’s holding you back when you receive the urgent call to “go now?” To quwm yalak? Jonah had to release what he was holding onto so he could do what God was calling him to do. What are you holding onto?
Continuing in verse 4 when Jonah got to the city he called out, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” That’s 8 words in our English but it’s only 5 in Hebrew. That’s like the shortest sermon ever. The key word for this verse is overthrown. The Hebrew word for overthrow in this context is haphak (hawpak) which can actually be used in two different ways. That word can mean to either overthrow and destroy or to overthrow and change. So Jonah was telling them they had two choices. = To be destroyed or be changed. These choices came with an expiration date of 40 days. That tells me that God’s mercy is a limited time offer. You don’t have forever to turn to Him. The Ninevites knew when their time started and when it would end but you have no way of knowing when your time will expire. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow.
Last week we asked if you were Jonah, if you are running away from God. This week I’m going to ask has God sent you a Jonah? Are you heeding his warning? The choice is yours. You can either walk the road of destruction or you can walk down the road of life. My prayer is that the very warning is the thing that puts you on the path towards life.
So what was the Ninevite’s response to Jonah? Verse 5 says “And the people of Nineveh believed God.” You’ll clearly notice there is no mention of Jonah in that sentence. The people believed God. Our role is to deliver the message but God does the changing.
Continuing in verse 5 “They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. 6The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish."
Their actions illustrated their true repentance. The king got off of his throne! He removed his royal robes, put on one of the most itchy materials and then sat in ashes! He even withheld food and drink from the animals!
In verse 10 “When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.”
Was God surprised? Was He waiting to see what they would do? Of course not, for God is the same today as He was yesterday, as He will be tomorrow. So what does it mean that God “relented?” It was explained to me that when we're rebelling against God it's like we're trying to walk against the wind but when we turn from our ways and start walking WITH the wind rather than against it, the wind is now with us. When we turn and walk with God, we're no longer fighting against Him.
So far we’ve seen in the book of Jonah a call to change. A call to hear the Gospel. An urgency to take action. I deeply pray for this group. For a stirring to occur. For an urgency to be placed on each one of your hearts to respond to God’s call on your life. As much as we all want Mpact to be a fun place and for you to build close friendships with one another, I can promise you that all these volunteers, myself included, who are in this room, are not here for your entertainment. We’re here to challenge you. To facilitate God’s calling on your life.
So I’m going to ask you, what are you holding onto? What is holding you back? What keeps you from everything God has in store for you? What’s keeping you from the life transforming acceptance of God’s grace?
You don’t have all the time in the world. You have no idea how much time you have. Don’t waste a second more.
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