MPC, 20th July 2003.Jonah 3 - "Mission Impossible?"
Dan Bigg MPC, 20th July 2003.
You know saying sorry just isn't good enough for some people. They want more than just an apology even if it's a sincere one. A while back I ran into someone just like that on my way home from work. I was on my motorbike and I went home a different way because I wanted to buy a bunch of flowers for Christine. So I got the flowers, I shoved them into the Gearsack and headed for home. It was about twenty-to-six in the afternoon and I turned left into one of those streets with the little red and white sign that reads, "No left turn between 4&6 in the afternoon". That's what you do when you're in a hurry, isn't it? Anyway, sure enough around the corner was a friendly police officer who pulled me over and asked me if I had good reason for doing what I did. I knew I was in the wrong and the officer did his job well. What could I say? I told him I was in a hurry and that I was very sorry. And I meant it, too. But sorry wasn't good enough. He didn't say that's OK mate, on your way; He gave me this. An infringement notice. An unwanted bill. Man, those flowers cost me a lot!
Being sorry wasn't good enough for him and it isn't good enough for God. God requires true repentance. But the good news is that all who do repent and believe in Jesus are saved. We're looking at Jonah ch 3 today and it's about a city full of pagans who respond to God's word by repenting and about the mercy that God shows to them.
Now just to recap on what's happened so far. Jonah's the prophet you remember who tried to run away. He didn't want to talk to the Ninevites. It seems to me that he just didn't like them. And fair enough to. They weren't exactly the most loveable sort of people. These guys were pretty nasty sorts. They were up there with Hitler's Gestapo and Sadam Hussein's Militia. To give you an idea, the Ninevites didn't just kill their enemies they cut there heads off so that the official war scribes could do an accurate head count. They were really cruel and fearsome people. And you can't blame Jonah from wanting to run away. I'm sure I'd be running to. It's what you'd expect any normal person to do.
But Jonah's not running away from them. He's running away from God. Because he knows what preaching against the Ninevites meant. It seems that Jonah so disliked the Ninevites that he didn't want to give them even a single chance. God, he reckoned should just destroy them and be done with it. And to help God see the light he ran away. No prophet, no message, no hope, just the way it should be. Destroy them all, they're awful people anyway.
But God had other plans, a big storm, a big fish, and three days later Jonah was back to square one. He's spewed up on the beach by the whale. Probably all bleached from the whale's stomach acids and feeling sad and sorry for himself. We pick up the story in verse 1, where it says, "Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: "Go to the great city Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you"." Jonah obeyed. That's a change isn't it? Jonah realised he couldn't run away from God. And you know we can't either. You can't run forever. If you're one of God's people then let me tell you God will work out his purposes in your life in spite of your best efforts to stop it. It's worth thinking about. God won't allow us to run away from doing his will. He won't allow us to leave. He wouldn't let Jonah escape. This unwilling Prophet is forced to give the word of God to the Ninevites, he didn't want to. He didn't like them. But he did it, he obeyed God.
So he gets himself up and goes to the great big city and shares God's word with them. And what a message it is. It's a one sentence bomb. The message wasn't, "change your ways and things will be OK". It wasn't, "sacrifice some bulls and goats to save yourselves." It wasn't even "turn or burn". The message contains nothing but utter destruction. There's no hope in it, No way out. Take a look at it in V4: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be destroyed." Where's the hope in a message like that? You've got to wonder why Jonah was so reluctant to share this message. You'd think it was the ideal message for him to give. A great fire and brimstone message, I can just picture him wandering through Ninevah wanting to shout at the people, you're gonna burn in hell and good riddance to you all. It's just what you deserve anyway. But then something happens. Something that's not expected. And it's something that we need to take note of.
The Ninevites repent
Strange isn't it? When we're confronted with the reality of death we often sit up and take notice. These Ninevites are given 40 days. 40 days until their city would be destroyed. It really made them sit up and take notice. But if you think about it, they actually had a 40-day guarantee of security. That's something that they'd never had before. At any moment previously they could have been wiped out by an invading army or an earthquake or whatever. But that's not how we think, is it? We don't live our lives by facing the reality of how vulnerable we actually are. But, when your given a death date, well, then it's time to get serious. Death is the biggest wake up call there is. And the Ninevites are a fine example of how effective it is.
These cruel pagans are convinced that they only have 40 days to go before they're finished. They're sure of it. So what do they do, they immediately turn from their wickedness. The whole lot of them turn from their evil ways. They're convicted and they repent.
You're never beyond God's reach. Mercy is available to all who repent. But I think that, like Jonah, we sometimes write off certain people as being beyond hope. I know I've been guilty of doing that. When I was working as a butcher I remember bracketing certain butchers as no hopers. People too bad to be saved. You know, I had to change my attitude because I came to see that the people who were most hostile to the Gospel were often also the most insecure people and often respond far more readily to Christian love and friendship. Never write off anyone because God's grace can save the worst of sinners. Just take a look at these Ninevites.
What a lot of terrible people. A city full of "no hopers". And yet they're spared. The coming destruction of their city is prevented. Because their repentance is genuine.
Jonah goes to the city, preaches a one-sentence message, and the entire city repents. Ch 4 says that there's 120,000 people in Ninevah and all of them repent. It's incredible. A 100% strike rate.
One man, with a one-sentence message, saves 120,000 people.
It blows your regular tele-evangelist into the weeds doesn't it?
Verses 5 to 9 tell us a lot about what real repentance is supposed to look like.
Repentance is based on conviction from God's word. Take a look at V.5. Jonah's blasted them with his one sentence message, and we read " The Ninevites believed God". They believed that the message they were hearing from this bleached prophet was God's authentic word. And that conviction stirred them into action.
Genuine conviction from God's word stirs people into action. V5 goes on, "The Ninevites declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth." Have a look at what the King does, he gets off his throne, he takes off his fine clothes, he puts on a hessian bag and he sits in the dirt. Then he orders everyone else to do the same, and to make sure that they and their animals have no food or water. What a change. They're really convicted. And you know, Christianity's a bit like that. When individuals hear God's word and are convicted of its truth they respond with both an internal change and external actions.
Genuine repentance is always an internal conviction that results in external actions. Not only did they humble themselves by not eating and wearing prickly clothes and so on… v8 mentions the significant fact that all the people were to give up their evil ways and their violence. Any genuine change of heart is accompanied by a change of actions. They were convicted by God's word and they repented with both an inward change of heart and noticeable outward signs. Their only hope was mercy. Have a look at the despair in the King's words in v9. His clutching at the only straw of real hope that there is. He says " Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish." They're after God's mercy. That's their only hope. And mercy is what they were given. V10 "When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened."
God's mercy is so powerful. All who repent and turn from sin to Christ are saved. God is a gracious God. No matter how bad you think you've been if you repent and ask for mercy God responds by offering you forgiveness in Jesus.
A lot of you have probably heard the story of how John Newton was changed from being a hardened sailer, a notorious slave trader, to becoming an effective Christian preacher. Newton, throughout his life, was amazed at the grace of God. He's the one who wrote the hymn, "Amazing Grace", and at the age of 82 shortly before his death, he shouted out during a message, "my memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Saviour". God's mercy and grace is amazing.
But God in showing mercy to these repentant Ninevites was sending a powerful message to Israel. Israel needed to hear about the repentance of the Ninevites. You see, the book of Jonah was for the Israelite people. Jonah's message was for the Ninevites but the book's message was for the Israelites. Hebrews 1:1 says that in the past God spoke to the Israelites through the prophets. That means that the message of the book of Jonah was designed for the Israelites. Designed to contrast the difference between their attitude towards God with the Ninevites attitude towards God. A contrast between God's people and the Ninevites, worst living examples of pagan cruelty in the ancient world. These Ninevites reckoned they could take a person's skin off and leave them alive. It's shocking. But just the fact that such stuff is recorded in the history books gives us an idea of what sort of people they really were. On the scale of evil the Ninevites score the highest every time. In the eyes of the Israelites they were the worst kind of people.
But the Israelites needed to have a hard look at themselves. They needed to check out how were they going with God. Because the shocking fact was that the Israelites were actually religious frauds. They were fakes. Israel was going OK on the surface. It was a prosperous time. And they thought that God was with them. Jonah himself had prophesied that the nation was going to expand its borders under their king Jeroboam II. He was an evil king. Israelite kings were supposed to lead the people in righteousness. They were supposed to establish God's rule over the land and uphold God's laws and truth and justice. But Jeroboam II… Well, 2Kings 14;22 says this about him, "Jeroboam did evil in the eyes of the Lord and he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit." Doesn't sound like a godly king does it?
But now, God, using the book of Jonah, provides Israel with a powerful contrast. It's pretty clear-cut. The evil king of Ninevah responds in the right way. He's convicted by just one message from one prophet of God. And he leads his people by his example and urges them to change their ways. On the other hand the supposedly "good" king of Israel was leading the Israelites by his example into evil and idolatry.
But it wasn't only the kings that needed to be contrasted. The message of Jonah is a wake up call for all the people of Israel. The prophet Amos lived at the same time as Jonah and he gives us some idea of how wicked and corrupt Israel had become. Amos says that the Israelites were caught up in sexual immorality, they were abusing the poor and the widows, they denied justice to the oppressed. They were even selling their fellow Israelites for pairs of old shoes. Greed and self-centredness could be seen everywhere, they had summer and winter houses, ivory lounge suites, financial security and their showy religious system which they thought would keep God happy so He would keep on blessing them.
God contrasts the heart response of the Ninevites to a one-sentence message, with the Israelites attitude in the light of the countless messages they had been given. And He leaves them to draw their own conclusions. God wants faithfulness, not formulas. God wants repentant hearts, not burnt animals. He hated their religious feasts and assemblies, he wouldn't accept their sacrifices or listen to their religious music or songs.
Israel needed to repent. They had to repent of the arrogance and compliancy that had set in. Repent of their false religious system. Because they reckoned that they had figured out how to live as they pleased and still enjoy all of God's blessings. They were breaking God's laws but enjoying peace and success. living in rebellion and enjoying security. They needed to repent. And God, because he is a gracious God gives his rebellious people yet another chance. How many chances do they need? How many messages do we need? How many opportunities do you want?
Have you confused the difference between religion and true repentance? Religion gets you to church on Sundays or to the mosque or the Kingdom hall, or some other Temple. Ultimately religion gets you nowhere. True repentance and faith in Jesus on the other hand gets you into Heaven. It's the reason behind everything we do. It affects the way we cook and clean and mow the yard. The way we work and relate to others. Christianity shapes our life now and forever.
As you leave this place today I want you to reflect on your position. Have you repented? If not, do so, don't wait. Discover for yourself what Ninevah experienced, the amazing mercy of God. Repent and be saved, for God is a great God and all who come to him will not be turned away. Jesus has done the hard yards for you. God sent Jesus, his only Son, to die for our sins 2000 years ago. Jesus died to repair the broken link that exists between God and us. The hard yards are done for all who depend on Jesus. Put your confidence in Him. The safest and best place to be is with Jesus.
And we who do know Jesus as our only Saviour need to continue to live in the safety he has given us. Lets not take God's favour for granted. As one of our Mitchie core values states… and it's written there on the inside of your handout sheet… "Let's value each other, and seek to encourage one another to grow in Christian maturity in everything we do!"