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Second Opportunities - Jonah Series - Part 3 of 4

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• All right. Today we're going to be dealing with Jonah chapter 3. So if you'll open Jonah chapter 3, we'll read there and we'll get started on this. Title of the message is "Second Opportunities." Second Opportunities. So in Jonah chapter 3, beginning there with 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. 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, 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, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes."

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• "And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: 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."

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• Second opportunities. Jonah chapter 3. There's an old saying that opportunity only knocks once. That old saying may be true in relationship to man, but it's not true in relationship to God. Jonah, the runaway prophet, is given a second opportunity to obey God. He's given a second opportunity to obey and accomplish the will of God after his repentance. We are all sinners by nature. And I might also add that we are also selfish by nature.

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• And oftentimes, we idolize our own thoughts and our own desires. In fact, we idolize them to the extent that we place our thinking and we place our desires above God, His Word, and His will. That is exactly what Jonah did, and that's exactly what we do oftentimes, because Jonah thought that he knew more than God, and he certainly did not want to see the Assyrians spared. So if you look in verse 1, the Bible says that the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying... And John Trapp, the old Puritan, said this on Jonah 3 and verse 1: "Jonah is a sinner and not a castaway. God does not lay him aside, as a broken vessel, or tread him under the dunghill as unsavory salt, but receives him upon his return by repentance, and restores him to his former employment, gives him yet a name and a nail in his house, yet sends him a second time on his message to

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• Nineveh, and counting him faithful, puts him again into the ministry, who was before a runaway and a rebel." Now, the thing that caught my attention on this quote from John Trapp was this last little bit that he said concerning Jonah. He said, yes, he sends him a second time on his message to Nineveh, and counting him faithful puts him into the ministry. So the question automatically arises, how in the world can Jonah, by any stretch of the imagination, be counted faithful when he ran away from God, ran away from his commission, did not want to preach that which God ordained him to preach?

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• Well, let me answer that by asking you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 1. And I want us to look at verses 12 and 13. 1 Timothy chapter 1. Notice if you would, beginning there with verse 12 and what the word of God says. 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12. The Apostle Paul says, "And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious."

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• "But I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief." Now the interesting thing about verse 12 is, the Apostle Paul said that Jesus Christ counted him faithful. How in the world could the Apostle Paul be counted faithful in the sense that he himself confesses before he was a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious? And yes, this was before he was saved. But then after he was saved, too, you cannot say that the Apostle Paul was absolutely perfect. Neither can you say the Apostle Paul was faithful in all things.

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• He was a sinner just like Jonah. He's a sinner just like you and I are sinners. But the interesting thing about verse 12 is the word "counted." The Greek word happens to be the word hegeomai, and it means to consider, to deem, to account, and to think. So the apostle Paul is just simply saying that God counted him as faithful.

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• Now I want to very quickly give you two other passages where this same exact Greek word occurs, so you can grasp the understanding of it. So if you'll look in your Bibles to the book of Philippians chapter 3, Philippians chapter 3, and notice if you would please verse 7, and I'm sure that you will remember the context of this, because in this passage the Apostle Paul is giving his pedigree, and he's telling you everything that he was before the Lord converted him. And then he adds this in verse seven.

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• "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ." So what Paul does in this passage, he talks about his ancestry. He talks about his education, his stature in life. And he may also have had money because the Bible tells us that he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, which I'm sure cost money as well. The Apostle Paul said that all of these things that he valued before his conversion, after his conversion, after he saw the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ, he counted them but dung. Now the question you'd have to ask is this, is ancestry dung? No. Is education dung? No. But what the Apostle Paul is saying, everything that he had, everything that he was, everything that he possessed before Jesus Christ, in comparison to Jesus Christ and his grace and mercy, everything by him was counted as dung. It was deemed worthless. It was thought to be worthless. Now, the apostle said that God counted him faithful.

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• Let me give you another one. If you look in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews, chapter 10 and verse 29, Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 29, because here, we're reading about the Lord Jesus Christ. And you're going to see the word "counted," the same Greek word, hegeomai. Look at it in verse 29. "Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" So here's the question. Is the Lord Jesus Christ in his person and work something to be despised as unholy and unneeded?

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• And the answer is no. And yet there are some who count his person and his work as worthless and useless. But yet Jesus Christ is still salvation. Jesus Christ is still the Son of God incarnate. Jesus Christ is still the only way to be saved, regardless of people who count him as worthless and useless. So the Apostle Paul is saying that God counted him faithful whether he was or not is immaterial. And this is what Trapp was saying about Jonah. God counted him as faithful.

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• And the truth of the matter is this. Each one that is counted faithful is counted that way only because we are in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, who is faithful in every area, who was the obedient Son of God. And so we are counted faithful only because of Christ.

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• Now, Calvin said it like this. Listen carefully. He says, "There is here set before us a remarkable proof of God's grace that he was pleased to bestow on Jonah his former dignity and honor. He was indeed unworthy of the common light, but God not only restored him to life, but favored him again with the office and honor of a prophet. This, as I've said, Jonah obtained through the wonderful and singular favor of God. As he had previously fled and by disobedience deprived himself in a manner of all God's... The recovery of his prophetic office was certainly not obtained through his own merit." So what God did was God just simply restored Jonah. God gave him back the honor as well as the office of that prophetic office as well.

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• Now here's the point that I want to make that I think is exceedingly applicable to us today. God does something that's very unlike most Christians. God takes the man who has sinned, grants him repentance, and restores him and uses him again. In other words, just because someone sins, God does not necessarily toss them into the garbage can. He does not necessarily just put them on the shelf. He does not necessarily just press them down into the dunghill. No, what he does is he chastises them. He gives them repentance. He gives them forgiveness, and then he sends them again in obedience to his command.

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• In fact, the truth of the matter is you and I are commanded basically to do the same. Let me show you what I'm talking about. Look in your Bibles. If you will turn back to the book of Galatians chapter 6 and look at verses 1 and 2. Galatians chapter 6 verses 1 and 2. The word of God says, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." And then he tells you in verse 2, "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ."

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• We must consider the fact and reality that each of us happens to be weak, sinful, and prone to the flesh. The only reason that you and I have not fallen is only because of the grace and mercy of God to us. I've often said this concerning Christians. Christians are usually the only group that I know that try to slay the walking wounded. When a man gets down, it appears as if most Christians are ready to stomp him further into the ground. We gossip. We tattle. We do anything and everything other than try to restore the individual.

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• We're kind of like chickens when they start pecking. When they start pecking on one, they'll peck, and finally they'll get blood coming. And then they continue to peck once they get a taste of blood. And pretty soon, they'll just kill the hen there back and on. So that's the way usually Christians work. The truth is the only reason that any of us are left standing is because of the grace and mercy and patience of God. If God took each one of us and placed us on the shelf and counted us absolutely unworthy, there'd be no one left because each of us sins and each of us happens to be sinners. You may not have committed the same sins that I've committed. I may not have committed the same sins that you've committed. But the truth is, we've all committed sin. And if God just set us aside, none of us would ever be blessed or used of God.

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• We certainly do not deserve it. Now, if you look back in Galatians 6 and verse 1, he said, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one."

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• Now, God commands us here to restore a fallen brother. In fact, the word "restore" is a present active imperative. It's an imperative, which means it's a command. It's a present active, which means it's something that is to be done constantly and continually.

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• Now, the Greek word for "restore" is the word katartizo, and it literally means to make sound, to make complete, to mend that which is broken, thus it means to strengthen and to perfect, and to make one into what he ought to be. Now John Trapp again, the old Puritan, said this concerning the Greek word "restore." He said, "It is a metaphor from surgeons and bonesetters who handle their patients tenderly, or from such as take a mote out of one's eyes gently and warily." John Gill goes a little bit farther and he says this, "The allusion is to the setting of bones that are broken or out of joint which is done with great care and tenderness. Professors fallen into sin are like broken and dislocated bones.

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• They are out of their place and lose both their comfort and usefulness and are to be restored by gently telling them their faults and mildly reproving them for them, and when sensible of them, and troubled by them, by speaking comfortably to them, and by bringing them again, and resettling them in their former place in the church, and restoring them to their former usefulness and good conduct, and which is to be done." So this is what the word "restore" means.

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• Now, I must point out also that in Matthew chapter 4 and verse 21, this same Greek word katartizo is used for the mending of nets. In other words, it's putting everything together the way it should be.

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• Now, if you look back in verse 1 of Galatians chapter 6, he says, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness." Look at this. "Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." In other words, when we seek to restore a fallen brother, it's not with a haughty attitude. It's not with an arrogant attitude. It's not with "I've never done that" or "I will never do that." No, no, no, no. We have to understand the only reason we are not that fallen brother is because of the grace of God to us and in us. God has just enabled us to stand and God has not allowed that to happen to us. We are just as weak. We are just as sinful. God is just simply preserved us. So he said we need to consider ourself lest we also be tempted. Matthew Henry goes a little farther and he says this talking about Jonah's restoration. He says, "By this it appears that God was perfectly reconciled to Jonah, that he employed him again in his service; and the commission anew given him was an evidence of the remission of his former

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• disobedience. Among men it has been justly pleaded that the giving of a commission to a criminal convicted is equivalent to a pardon. So it was to Jonah. The word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time." So if you look back in your Bibles to Jonah chapter 3, I want you to look at verses 1 and 2 together. "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 God gives Jonah this second opportunity. He gives him the exact same commission. He sends him to the exact same spot. But I want you to note, according to verse 2, God said, "and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee." Jonah was not just simply to preach any message. He was not simply to preach that which he desired to preach. He was not simply to preach that which the Assyrians wanted to hear. He was to preach only that which God ordained him to preach, only that which God commanded.

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• He was to preach the word of God. Now, I want you to turn back in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 23, if you would, please, because in this passage, Jeremiah 23, God is dealing with preachers and prophets who want to preach anything and everything other than the Word of God. And I will submit to you that one of the biggest problems that we're facing in this country is we have preachers who are not preaching and teaching the Word of God.

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• I'll show you how important that is. So if you look in Jeremiah chapter 23, notice if you would please, beginning there with verse 21. Let's read verse 21 and verse 22. So Jeremiah 23 verse 21. God says, "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings." God said, these men are preaching, I didn't send them.

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• I did not even give them the message. But had they stood in my counsel, had they listened to me and preached my words, they would have caused this people to turn from their evil way. So let me show you what people are doing, preachers, prophets, that is so contrary to God. So if you'll skip down in your Bibles to verse 26, look what God says. "How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully.

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• What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord. Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?"

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• Now I want you to watch what these preachers, these prophets were doing. He says in verse 30, "Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness."

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• "Yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord." Note, if you would, the preachers who refuse to preach the Word of God are absolutely worthless. And God accuses them of stealing the Word of God by talking about their dreams, by substituting for the Word of God, by taking from the Word of God. I'm just simply pointing out the fact that God says they're not doing the people any good whatsoever. And you look around today at most pulpits, and most pulpits are doing absolutely nothing.

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• I laugh many times, and I've thought about this for the longest. I try to study every week. I study every day, practically, unless something unusual happens. And a lot of these messages, they're very time consuming, especially when you look at the context, when you look at the linguistics, and you take time to look up all the words and make sure you get the interpretation that is intended in the scripture. And it does take time.

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• There's no two ways about that. But I've often laughed, and I've often thought, "Well, Lord, look how long it takes me to bring a message from the Word of God. But Lord, how awful it must be and how long it must take some preachers to make sure that they have a sermon in which they really don't preach anything or teach anything and to make sure that they don't offend anybody." It must be a hard line and a hard row to hoe to come up with a sermon like that. That's what God is saying is happening in Jeremiah 23.

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• They profit the people absolutely nothing. Now, if you will skip down in your Bibles to Jonah chapter 3 and verse 3, you're going to find when God has commissioned Jonah and sent him again to the same city to preach the same message, Jonah now finds himself quite willing and ready to go. The Bible says, "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." Now interestingly in verse 3, the Word of God says, "Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey." Matthew Poole says this in his commentary, and I want to just read this so you can see the magnitude of the city of Nineveh. He writes, "An exceeding great city, the greatest city of the known world at that day. It was then in its flourishing state greater than Babylon, whose compass was 365 or 385 furlongs, but Nineveh was encompassed 480 furlongs.

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• Listen to this. Her walls 100 feet high and broad enough for three coaches or three chariots to meet and to safely pass by each other. The wall had 1,500 towers on it, and these towers were 200 feet high. And 1,400,000 men were employed continually for eight years to build a wall." Wow. Evidently, it was some city. But this great city, of course, was full of sinners. And Jonah was to go to this city and warn them, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." He was to warn them of the impending judgment of God unless they repented. Now, I want you to notice, if you would please, verse 4. It is no longer that Jonah is to cry out against the sins of Nineveh, which were great and multitudinous. He is to cry out against the ultimate destruction of Nineveh. In other words, if nothing happens, if there is no repentance within 40 days, Nineveh shall be overthrown. Of course, 40 in the Bible is assimilated into our thinking because we understand it to be a figure of judgment.

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• I mean, just stop and think about this. During Noah's flood, it rained 40 days and 40 nights. And you'll find in the Bible, it's also associated with humiliation because Elijah and Moses and Christ fasted 40 days. And then, of course, 40 years elapsed from the beginning of Christ's ministry to the destruction of Jerusalem.

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• Now, the interesting thing about the word "overthrown" in verse 4, where Jonah says, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." The word in the Hebrew is actually haphak, and it means to overturn and overthrow. And John Trapp says it like this, that the word properly notes a sudden, inevitable, and perpetual destruction such as that which was upon Sodom and her sisters. Wow. So Jonah's saying, "Yet forty days, and an extreme catastrophic judgment is going to fall upon the city of Nineveh." Now, I want to show you a couple of passages because in Jonah chapter 3, you're going to see the absolute sovereignty of God. But I want you to see the sovereignty of God in relationship to God's mercy and God's compassion. So I want you to turn in your Bibles to two passages while holding Jonah chapter 3. I want you to turn first of all to Romans chapter 9 and then secondly to Matthew chapter 11. So let's go to Romans chapter 9 first and let me show you what the scripture says concerning the sovereignty of God. So watch this if you would. Romans chapter 9, and let's begin reading there with verse 14.

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• Romans 9, verse 14. Here's the question. "What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God?" And then notice these two words, "God forbid." Now, when you see these two words in the New Testament, "God forbid," they actually mean "perish the thought." Don't even think that thought. Don't even let it enter into your mind. Is there unrighteousness with God? Don't even say that. Don't think that. God forbid. No, there's no unrighteousness with God. And now he explains.

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• "For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." So mercy is God's to dispose as he chooses. Compassion belongs to God. And he displays it and gives it as he chooses. "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." By the way, we do the same thing. We don't help everyone. We are not sympathetic with everyone. I mean, we pick and choose whom we're going to be compassionate with, and we pick and choose to whom we're going to show mercy upon. And God does the same thing. Look at it verse 15 again: "For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore

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• hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." Now, it is true. The scripture says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. It is equally true that the scripture says Pharaoh hardened his own heart. Man hardens his heart based upon the fact that he rejects the Word of God and the commands of God. But notice if you would, "For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee," and God did. He showed his power against Pharaoh, against Egypt. He did not have mercy or compassion upon Pharaoh or upon the Egyptians. Now, why he says in verse 18, "Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." Now look at verse 19.

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• "Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?" Here's his answer. "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved." So the Bible is teaching us here that God has mercy on whom he will have mercy.

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• He'll have compassion on whom he'll have compassion. And if he doesn't choose to have mercy, doesn't choose to have compassion, then there's not going to be any mercy or compassion given. It's that simple.

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• Now, look in your Bibles to the book of Matthew, chapter 11. And let's begin reading there with verse 20. And I've got several questions to ask you after I read you this passage. So Matthew, chapter 11. I want you to look at verse 20. Matthew 11, verse 20. Our Lord Jesus Christ is speaking. Look at this. "Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not." Wow. So he's rebuking the cities where his mighty works were done because they did not repent. So verse 21, he says, "Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.

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• And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight."

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• Now, here's some questions I want to ask you. I want you to look at verse 20 and 21. "Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." Now wait a minute. Our Lord said, "If the mighty works which had been done in Chorazin and Bethsaida had been done in Tyre and Sidon, Tyre and Sidon would have repented." So here's my question. Since God knew that they would have repented, why were not those mighty works done in Tyre and Sidon? Wow. Well, skip down, if you would please, to verse 23.

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• "And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day." Whoa. So here's my question. Since he knew the folks in Sodom would have repented if those works had been done there that had been done in Capernaum, why were those works not done there?

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• I'll give you the answer. I'll give you the answer that our Lord gave. And here it is. Skip down to verse 26. "Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight." That's why those mighty works were not done there, because it was good in the Father's sight to leave them undone. So the purpose of God and the glory of God reveal the will of God. And when we're talking about Nineveh, God certainly knew that the Ninevites would repent. Because God is the giver of repentance. And if God does not give or grant repentance, then no one is going to turn from their sins. You remember in Acts chapter 11 and verse 18, Peter had been relating how God had converted Cornelius and his house. And when he came back, the believers in Jerusalem were upbraiding him for going into the house of someone who was not an Israelite. And he related to them how God had saved Cornelius and his house. And then in verse 18, the Bible said, "When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life."

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• God granted, God gave repentance unto life. And the word "granted" is the Greek word didomi, which means a gift. It is something that you give someone. God gave the gift of repentance. That's what he says in 2 Timothy chapter 2, that no man is going to recover himself out of the snare of the devil until what? Until he confesses the truth. And he's not going to confess the truth unless God grants him repentance.

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• And here's the whole thing. So many people think, "Well, I can repent any time I want to." That's not true. Sin is a tyrant. Sin enslaves. Sin captivates. You think you can stop, but you can't. And you think you can repent, but you can't unless God grants you repentance. And so anyone who says, "Well, I'm going to do this and it's not going to ensnare me and I can stop anytime I want to." The one who says that's a fool certainly doesn't know the word of God. No one is going to repent unless God gives them repentance. Put this down. Man is accountable to repent. Man is responsible to repent. Man is commanded to repent, but man does not have the ability to repent in and of himself. And if God does not give his gift of repentance, no one actually repents.

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• Now, I want you to go back to the book of Jonah, chapter 3, because I want you to see what happens when Jonah runs through the city preaching, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." Note, if you would, let's read 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. 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. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God.

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• Yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands." And then he says this, "Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?" So the interesting thing is we're told that the people believed God. Look at in verse 5. "So the people of Nineveh believed God." They certainly believed Jonah, because Jonah was the one doing the preaching. But they understood that the message that Jonah was proclaiming was from God Himself.

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• And thus they actually repented. And the evidence of their repentance is the fact that they fasted, they humiliated themselves, they sat in sackcloth and ashes, and yes, they even made the animals fast by refusing to feed them. So the end result was, for their repentance, was that everyone was deterred from their evil way and from the violence in their hands. So let me point out the fact that repentance does involve godly sorrow, godly regret, and godly shamefulness.

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• I don't know about you, but I'm ashamed of my sins. I certainly don't want to brag about them, not by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I wish I'd never sinned. There are a lot of things I wish I'd never done. In fact, I regret the fact that I'm a sinner, that my flesh is wicked and foul. I'm just simply saying each of us have a sinful nature, and by nature we are selfish and sinful.

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• And the truth of the matter is, each of us need repentance on a continual basis. Now, when you look at the word "repent" in the New Testament, it is from the Greek word metanoeo. That is actually made up of two Greek words. First of all, the word meta means "with." Noeo refers to the understanding and also refers to a change of mind. The noun for mind is the word nous, and noeo is the verb. So actually repentance then is a change of mind that results in a change of direction and also a change in our thinking. So if I am walking to the north and I repent, I've not only changed my mind about going to the north, I actually turn around and start heading back south. So the truth of the matter is this, when you have repentance, there are several things involved. There's normally a change in your thinking, there's a change in your direction, there's a change in how you view things that you used to do. When you used to enjoy them, now you're ashamed of them.

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• When you used to do them happily, now you regret having even done them. You have in repentance, not only a change of mind and a change of direction, but you have a godly sorrow as well.

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• Now, I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would, to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, because I want you to see in repentance, you have a positive and a negative and you have to have both if there's going to be real, genuine repentance. So 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. And look, if you would please, at verses 9 and 10. Look at this. 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 9.

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• "For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." Now, I want you to note the positive. They turned to God, to serve the living and true God, to wait for his Son.

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• And notice, here's the negative. They turned to God from idols. In other words, there's a positive. We're turned toward God and his truth. And we turn negatively away from sin and evil and that which is contrary to God altogether. In other words, the Ninevites believed God and they turned from their sins and God spared the city. They at least turned to God in a formal manner. It was the later generations that God destroyed.

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• Now, I pointed out earlier that both Nahum and Zephaniah speak about the destruction of Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire. Nahum chapter 3 verse 7 says this, "And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?" And then of course in Zephaniah 2 in verse 13, "And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness." So yes, it was going to be destroyed. But not right away. Now the book of Jonah is written probably from 780 to 750 BC. Nahum from 615 to 612 BC and Zephaniah prophesied during the reign of King Josiah and was probably from 640 to 609 BC. Thus, Nineveh probably was spared at least for 150 years. So, they at least repented and there was sparing of the city and the people.

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• Now, I'll show you the principle. If you'll look in your Bibles, back to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 33, at verses 14 and 15. Ezekiel chapter 33, at verses 14 and 15. Here's what God says concerning the wicked. Ezekiel chapter 33, verse 14.

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• "Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die." So God says if there's real repentance, if there is restoration, there's restitution, if there's obedience, he shall surely live.

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• So Nineveh was spared probably at least 150 years. I hope that you will remember Genesis chapter 15 when God entered in that covenant with Abraham. And he told Abram that his people were going to be enslaved in a strange country for 400 years. And then he told him why that's going to happen. And Genesis 15 in verse 16, he said, "But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." So God gave the Amorites 400 years to turn from their sins. And they did not. And so when God brought Israel out of Egypt, he put a sword in their hand and said, "Slay every one of them." So God did indeed grant to these people in Nineveh at this particular time, repentance. And he spared the city for a while.

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• Now, I want you to go back to Jonah, chapter 3, verses 9 and 10, because I've dealt with about everything except one little sticky detail. Here it is. We can explain the verse 9 because this is what the king is saying. The king said, "Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?" And then verse 10 says this, "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."

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• Now, how in the world do we explain the statement that God repented? In fact, you're going to find that expression used several times in the Bible. First of all, let me say this. We have to understand that God does not repent, although the Bible says that He repented. I'm going to show you, I'll explain. Secondly, certainly when the Bible says that God repented, it does not mean that God repented in the sense that He demands that we repent. We are commanded to repent because we're sinners and we've sinned against Him. God is infinitely holy. He has not sinned. And He does not need to repent. Okay? Certainly, this does not include a change in God's purpose. God has no need to change His purpose because He knows the end from the beginning and everything that comes to pass, He ordained. And the Bible says in Acts 15 and verse 18, "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." So God knew that these Assyrians would repent before the world was ever created.

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• And he knew that he would give them repentance. So how do we explain this phrase?

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• Now I want you to listen. Here's what Calvin said, and I certainly agree with him, and I think this is the correct answer. John Calvin explained it like this. "The repentance which is here ascribed to God does not properly belong to him." How can he say that? Well, let me give you a scripture. I want you to turn back in your Bibles to the book of Numbers chapter 23 and look at verse 19. Now I'm gonna go back to this quote. Numbers chapter 23 and look at verse 19. Numbers 23 verse 19. Here's what the scripture says: "God is

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• not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" In other words, God is not going to change his purpose. God is not going to change his mind. There's no such thing. God is not a man that he should lie; neither the son of man that he should repent.

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• So let me go back to this quote by Calvin. He said, "The repentance, which is here ascribed to God does not properly belong to him. Listen to this, but has reference to our understanding of him for since we cannot comprehend him as he is, it is necessary that for our sake he should, in a certain sense, transform himself. That repentance cannot take place in God easily appears from this single consideration that nothing happens which is by him unexpected or unforeseen. The same reasoning and remark applies to what follows that God was affected with grief. Certainly God is not sorrowful or sad, but remains forever like himself in his celestial and happy repose.

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• Yet because it could not otherwise be known how great is God's hatred and detestation of sin, therefore the Spirit accommodates himself to our capacity." So here is what Calvin is saying. Calvin is saying, that when you read this term that God repented or that God was grieved, it is an anthropomorphism. Anthropomorphism is made up of two Greek words, anthropos, which is man, and morphe, which is form. So an anthropomorphism is nothing more than man-form speaking. Now, Calvin said this correctly, since we cannot conceive of God as he is, can anybody in this room explain God? No. You cannot conceive God as He is. We know what the scripture says about God, and that's all we know. And had God not revealed that, we would know absolutely nothing about Him. But since we cannot conceive Him as He is, He then speaks in language that we understand. So, here's an illustration.

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• My child has done something that's wrong, and I'm going to punish that child. I'm going to whip that child. And I have the rod in my hand and the hand is raised, ready to strike the child. And the child shudders and cries and says, "Daddy, please forgive me. Please, please. I'll never do it again. Please, Daddy, I just promise you this will never happen again." What am I going to do? Am I going to continue to whip the child or no? Because I've already gotten from the child that which I want, submission and obedience.

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• And this is exactly what God did. God threatened and we put it in language that we understood. They repented and God says, "All right, I'm not going to chastise you. I'm not going to correct you because you have given me that which I want."

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• Now, an anthropomorphism is just man-form speaking. Now I want to show you something. Turn in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 11. Here's the one thing that we cannot understand. This is why everything is broken down in anthropomorphisms for each of us. Look at Ephesians 3 and verse 11. The Bible says, "According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." Did you hear that? "According to his eternal purpose," singular, "which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord."

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• You and I think in succession. We think one thought and then a second thought and then a third thought. God is not like that. God is not like us. God only had to have one thought or one purpose, and it included anything and everything that ever came to pass in time and history. God does not think in succession the way we do. God is omniscient. He's all-knowing instantaneously. So we cannot conceive God as He is. We cannot comprehend Him as He is. And so therefore, He has to speak to us in human language that we can comprehend.

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• So let me make a couple of quick applications. The first one is this. Are we as interested in restoring fallen saints as God is? Are we ready and willing to restore and to heal that which was broken? Every Christian sins. Every preacher sins. There are none that are without sin. And the truth is, if God laid aside every Christian that sinned there would not be any left standing. There'd be no one to do his will. There'd be no one to carry out his commission.

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• When you stop and think about David, David committed adultery and murder. God did not remove David from being king. It is true David deserved to die. And the only reason he did not die, according to 2 Samuel 12, Nathan said, "God has pardoned thy sin, thou shalt not die." But he deserved the death penalty on two accounts. But God gave David repentance. God kept David king. David even kept writing scripture. He kept writing psalms. How many Psalms he wrote after he was restored, I do not know. But one thing I do know, that he wrote seven penitential Psalms after his restoration that we have in the book of Psalms. Seven Psalms saying, "Lord, I'm sorry, I was wicked, I was wrong." And David was confessing and condemning those things which he did. The only thing I'm pointing out is if God just set us aside because of our sins,

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• there would not be any one for him to use. Because we all have sinned and none of us deserve to be used or blessed by God. You have to remember this as well. David was called a man after God's own heart. The sins that he committed were the exceptions, not the rules. Because the general tenor of his heart was that of obedience. And the general tenor of our heart should be obedience.

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• That does not mean that we're not going to slip up. That does not mean that we're not going to make mistakes. That does not mean that we're not going to sin. We are sinners. We are going to sin. But it does mean it has to be the exception and not the rule. Because David was a man after God's own heart.

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• Now, here's a second application. And here's a quote from Augustine. Augustine says, "The city was saved. What shall we say? Was this the anger of God or rather his mercy? Who doubts that the most merciful Father willed by terrifying to convert and not to punish by destroying? As the hand is lifted up to strike and is recalled in pity, when he who was to be struck is terrified, so it was done to this city." So here's my question.

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• Will any of God's warnings now move our great Babylon and our great Nineveh to repentance that it be not ruined? Stop and think about this. We as a nation are in just as bad of shape as Nineveh and as Babylon. We may even be worse. The question is, will we heed God's warnings? Will we heed his word? Will we repent? And may I remind you that repentance has to begin on an individual basis. God requires and God demands that each of us repent individually. We cannot repent as a family unless we repent individually. We cannot repent as a church unless we repent individually and as a family. We cannot repent individually and familiarly and ecclesiastically and hope to repent nationally unless we begin at the very bottom with each of our lives. So the question is, are we willing to repent individually?

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• "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." What if I said, "Yet forty days or 120 days, America shall be overthrown"? God still demands repentance. And we must hear and heed God's warnings. Thankfully, God is the God of second opportunities. I didn't say second chances, but second opportunities. Because God does not put us on the shelf the first time we sin. He grants us repentance and forgiveness and continues to use us just like he did Jonah.

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• And I'm thankful for that truth. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee. We thank you for your word. We thank you for the fact, Lord, that you are a gracious, merciful, forgiving God, and that you do use us in spite of ourselves. And we have to confess and admit, Lord, we do not deserve any of thy blessings, neither do we deserve to be used by thee. But Lord, thou hast been so gracious and so kind, and we praise thy holy name. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray and ask these things. Amen.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T00:54:02Z