Sunday Sermon | Jonah: Nineveh Repents

What if the people you believe are furthest from God are the very ones He’s preparing to save? Jonah 3 confronts our assumptions about judgment, mercy, and who can truly repent.

In this message from Jonah chapter 3, we see one of the most unexpected revivals in history as the brutal city of Nineveh turns from evil and cries out for mercy—and God relents.

Key Takeaways:

• God is a God of second chances
• No one is beyond the reach of repentance
• Warnings from God are acts of mercy
• True repentance begins with believing God’s Word
• God delights to show mercy to the repentant
• The Lord’s Supper calls believers to ongoing repentance and celebration

Scripture:
Jonah 3; Matthew 16; Micah 7:18; Ezekiel 33:11

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Transcript

Praying For Iran And The Underground Church

Turning To Jonah 3 And A Story Of Radical Conversion

Why Jonah Ran And How God Pursues

Called Again: God’s Mercy For Unworthy People

Enter Nineveh: A Reluctant Sermon

Warnings As Mercy And Ancient Context

The Hard Message: Repentance Before Grace

Citywide Repentance And The King’s Decree

God Relents And Delights In Mercy

Modern Testimony: From ISIS To Christ

Invitation To Salvation And Hope

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Well, good morning, church family. Alright, so you got to witness uh believers' baptism. Uh church family, aren't you grateful that we come to King Jesus with childlike faith? That is all that's required is a dependence upon him. Praise God for that. So this morning we also have the privilege of taking the Lord's Supper together, okay? And so if on your way in you did not get elements, if you would lift up your hand right now, there are some deacons who are nearby. They're gonna pop up and make sure you get these elements. Uh believer, begin to process in your mind even now, right? The scripture says we should never take the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner. So the entirety of the sermon, we're gonna be asking for the Spirit of God to convict our hearts and our minds, right? Uh so that we would repent before our King, lay everything at the foot of the cross, okay? Uh if you are a guest with us, if you are a born-again believer, you are able to participate in the Lord's Supper with us, okay? Church family, before we jump into Jonah chapter three, into the sermon, um, I want us to just spend a few moments praying for the people of Iran. Okay? Obviously, you know the events of uh of the world and yesterday, and so uh you should also know that uh our church has has partnerships. Uh the church, the underground church in Iran is one of the fastest growing in the world, and so the gospel is spreading, and this is for such a time as this that the gospel will go forward and that uh people would be saved, that they would hear the good news of Jesus. Okay? And so we're gonna pray to that end. Heavenly Father, we lift up the people of Iran and we lift up the church. Father, we pray against this evil regime. We pray against the enemy and the evil one who has caused so much destruction over the course of the last 40 plus years. And Father, we cry out according to your word that teaches us to pray that your people would be able to live a peaceful and a quiet life and for the gospel, the good news of Jesus, to be able to be spread freely with freedom, without the hand of the enemy and the evil one over them. And so, Father, we pray to that end. Father, if we are honest before you, we don't know the future, we don't know what's taking place, but but your word teaches us, King Jesus, that we would pray that your kingdom would come here and now. And so we pray for Iran. We pray that there would be a government that rises up in freedom of the people and that allows the gospel to flourish. And we, your people, pray all of this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. All right, church family, turn with me in your Bibles to Jonah chapter three, Jonah chapter three, as we continue our walk through the book of Jonah. Friend, if you do not have a Bible, there's a Bible in the pew rack in front of you. You can take that as a gift from us to you, and uh, so that you have a copy of God's word. Most people know Mitsu uh sorry uh Fujita, said his name right. All right, Mitsu Fujita as the Japanese commander who launched the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor. This was the man whose signal, Tora, Tora, Torah, ignited one of the darkest days in American history. But what almost no one knows is what happened to Fujita after the war. You see, after the Japanese surrender, he returned home and he was broken, angry, and he was spiritually empty. But everything changed whenever he met a former American POW, Jacob DeShazer. DeShazer was a person who found Christ while he was in a Japanese prison cell being tortured by the enemy. He found Christ, but after the war, Jacob returned to Japan to preach the gospel to his enemies. And there Fujita met Dechazer and was shattered by the message of mercy. So he bought a Bible, he read the Gospel of Luke, and the commander who led thousands into battle fell to his knees confessing Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Fujita would spend the rest of his life preaching the gospel across Japan and America, telling crowds that I am the man who bombed Pearl Harbor and Jesus Christ has forgiven me. You see, a war hero became a warrior for Christ. A symbol of destruction became a messenger of redemption. And his life proves that no one is beyond the hope of salvation in Jesus Christ. Church family, today in Jonah chapter 3, we are going to see a city and a nation that is on the brink of destruction. Right? They are fully deserving judgment that is awaiting them from God. And yet we're gonna see them repent and turn to God in one of the most unexpected revivals in all of history that those who are the furthest, darkest in sin, turning to the Lord. Now it's been a couple weeks since we've been in the book of Jonah, and so let me remind you where we are in our story. As Greg Laurie says, God said go, and Jonah said no, and so God said, Oh. Now why does now why does Jonah run away from God's presence, as the scripture says? It was because he hated the Assyrians, and for good reason. The Assyrians, a rising superpower, had a reputation for being merciless in battle. In fact, they prided themselves on their brutality, falaying their enemies alive, impaling captives, stacking up piles of heads. They created architecture and sculpture to celebrate these atrocities because they saw that their brutality in war was an affirmation of their demented gods. Nineveh housed the temple of the goddess of war Ishtar. Assyrius king was said to be the representative of their god Uher. And the king was commanded by Uher to uh command, uh to expand the Assyrian border and to slaughter any and all who stood in their way. Just imagine, put yourself in the context that Canada is controlled by ISIS and happened to be three times more powerful than us. So rather than preach to Nineveh, Jonah runs the other way. But as you know, he can't outrun God. And he's plunged into the sea. He is getting the judgment he deserves for his disobedience. He is on the brink of death, at the bottom of the sea, and right there, at the very last moment, Jonah cries out for mercy. And God saves him. Of all things, with a giant fish. And after three days, Jonah is spit up on dry land. So let's jump back into chapter three. Jonah three, verses one and two. And now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim it to uh and proclaim it to the proclamation which I am going to tell you. See, there he is, probably on the shore of Joppa, where he first ran from the Lord. In the worst condition imaginable. As Pastor Chad said, right? Uh theologians debate whether his skin is bleached at this point. Just imagine how smelly and disgusting he is. He spent three days and a giant fish, but he's alive. And as Jonah sits there, and as Jonah really narrates the story for us, then comes words that are just like fresh wind and grace that flow upon him. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. He shouldn't be alive. It's only by God's mercy he's alive. But now you mean to tell me that God calls him again? Sure, God was gracious enough to spare his life, but to still participate in kingdom work? Is he still worthy of being used by God? A prophet of God? Is he worthy of a second chance? No, he's not worthy. But neither was Peter after he denied Jesus three times, but Jesus restored him. Neither was David fit to be king after he had Uriah killed, and yet the Messiah still came from his lineage. Neither was Paul who persecuted the church, and yet he wrote so much of the New Testament. Friend, aren't you glad that God is in the business of using unworthy people? To include repeating himself to someone like Jonah and to you and to me. Because after we mess up and disobey and run from his presence and try as long and as hard, okay, to do our own thing, and yet even still he calls us back to his kingdom work. Now don't hear me say that there are no consequences or that you can't be disqualified. Sometimes the path or the calling changes. But astonishingly, with Jonah, it doesn't. In fact, given the examples in Scripture, I find that God's mercy far exceeds my own. And then one day it was exposed in his life that he had such a grievous sin that it completely derailed his life. He quit Bible school, moved back home in utter shame. Years passed. And he tried to put his life back together. He got a job just putting one foot in front of the other. He tried to be faithful. But he lived with a cloud of regret over his life. And then one day, the Spirit of God like Jonah said to him, I'm calling you back into ministry. And now to this day, he gives full disclosure to any church that he talks to, but he's thriving in ministry. Praise God for that. Praise God that our God gives second and third and fourth an infinite chances. So God calls Jonah a second time, and this time he goes. I'm sure in the back of my the back of his mind, he's wondering, well, what's gonna happen if I say no? So look at verse 3. So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days' walk. Pause right there. This probably means that Nineveh is so dense. In order for Jonah to walk up and down the streets and give this message, it will take him three days. And then Jonah began to go through the city, one day's walk, and he cried out and he said, Yet 40 days and Nineveh will be overthrown. Now let's be honest, this is a reluctant, half-hearted effort. Okay? Probably about the worst sermon you could possibly give. There's no mention of mercy, there's no mention of repentance, simply a warning that judgment is coming, right? Jonah is doing the absolute minimum that God has required. Now there's a point that I need to clarify before we move forward, but it's probably not a question that you have. Okay? And frankly, that's because you are naturally smarter than most of the critical scholars that like to poke holes in the Bible. So some scholars read this and they say, aha, this doesn't come true. Okay? God doesn't overthrow the city in 40 days. So he's not sovereign, he doesn't know the future, and he changes his mind. All right? But you have more common sense than that. Because in your mind you say, hey, dummies, okay, not overthrowing the city was the entire point of the warning. Warnings are in and of themselves mercy, because they give time to respond. And in fact, Jonah knew that. That's exactly what Jonah says in 4-2. He knew that if they repented, God would relent, which is why he ran the other way. Alright, back to the narrative. Let me give a little context for Assyria. So, although Assyria was an empire that is rising to world superpower status, not all was good at that time. Historically, we can actually read that a number of famines, revolts, plagues, and even an eclipse occurred right before Jonah's message. Now, all of these events would have been seen as bad omens from the gods. Now, I tell you this because even though Jonah gave a half-hearted message, God had been preparing their hearts, getting their attention. Now, most often a prophet would pop up and give a very positive message, okay? Truthfully, listen to me, people that stand up here, they want to be liked, okay? No one wants to stand up and give an awful message. So, most common, a very positive message, sound like this Fear not, Ninevehes, our goddess Ishtar, has sent me to tell you that she is protecting you and giving you strength to continue to devour your enemies. She is a great goddess to be served. So when Jonah comes along, a prophet of Yahweh from Israel, telling them that the one true God is about to judge them for their wicked ways. This is a very harsh message. Repentance is uncharacteristic in any other religion of this day. You sacrifice to appease a God. But a broken and contrite heart to Nineveh, that was unheard of. That was to be weak. So here is what Jonah's message sounded like to them. Nineveh, you are evil. Your goddess of war is evil. The way you slaughter and terrorize people is evil. And you will stand before Yahweh one day very soon, and you will give account. Now we need to pause here. Because you and I must understand that repentance is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In order to accept the good news of Jesus, friend, you have to understand the bad news of your sin. Now I know this makes people feel uncomfortable, and we always like to keep it friendly. But your sin separates you from a holy God. How can someone be saved if they do not know that they are lost? Saved from what? Your sins. Friend, you can't be saved because you want Jesus to be your best friend, to guide you, or to unfold good plans for you. In fact, in Matthew chapter 16, that's exactly what Peter tries to do. After confessing that Jesus is the Christ, Jesus began to tell them that he had to go to the cross. But Peter's like, hold on, Jesus. I'm already on your team. I'm on team, Jesus. We don't need any of that cross stuff, we don't need any of that sin suffering stuff. And Jesus replies, get behind me, Satan. Salvation is the acknowledgement that I was an enemy of God. But Jesus died in my place, taking my punishment for sin. There is salvation in no other name. Back to our text, verse 5. Then the people of Nineveh believed in God, called a fast, put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on ashes. He issued a proclamation and said, In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and of his nobles, do not let man, beast, uh, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloths, and let men call upon God earnestly, that each may turn from his wicked ways and from the violence which is in his hand. And who knows? God may turn and relent and withdraw his burning anger so that we will not perish. With the most startling response, with Jonah's message, the people are cut to the heart. Look at verse 5. It says, They believed in God, meaning that they believed Jonah's message, that the one true God, their creator, had a right to judge them, and that they had to give an account. And they were cut to the heart with the conviction of their sin, and they feared God. Look at what the text says in verse five. The people themselves call for a fast and put on sackcloth. You see, they were so convicted spiritually that their external, that discomfort had to match. It had to match what God was doing internally. They had to be uncomfortable. Now listen, rarely, if ever, did we ever see Israel repent like this. And they did not during Jonah's day. And when the word reaches the king, recall that he is considered a demigod. He is the God's representative on earth, that he humbled himself, laying aside his robe and covered himself with sackcloths and sat on ashes, acknowledging that Yahweh is God, turning from their evil demented gods. And then the king's remarkable statement: who knows? God may turn in relent. They are not presuming on mercy. They know that they do not deserve it, but they hope for it. Friend, this is a perfect model for repentance. They believed God's word, they humbled themselves, they turn from evil, and they cry out for God's mercy. And look at verse 10. When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which he had declared that he would bring upon them, and he did not do it. You see, God could have destroyed them. In fact, he had every right to. In his justice, in his holiness, he has every right to rain down fire and brimstone like he did on Sodom and Gomorrah. And he would be declared holy and just in his wrath. But friend, God delights to show mercy to those who are repentant. God delights to show mercy to those who are repentant. Micah 7, 18. Who is a God like you who pardons iniquity? He doesn't retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness. Ezekiel 33, 11, say to them, as I live, declares the Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked would turn from his way and live. God delights to show mercy to the repentant, even to the very worst sinner. You're about to see a video of a former ISIS leader, who is in prison as he was awaiting the outcome of his atrocious crimes. He is haunted by guilt, and he has an emptiness that has become his life. Now watch this.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

Because Allah is forgiveness. But we can't know his forgiveness till the day I can forgive me. I feel forgiven today. And he said, Jesus Christ, the living God.

Communion: Repentance And Assurance

The Cup As Celebration Of Victory

Prayer Of Thanks And Closing Response

SPEAKER_00 26:35

When he had this encounter in prison, he didn't even really understand. You have to understand he doesn't like you. You hear the gospel all the time. He had he had no understanding or categories for what had just occurred. And so he found some Christians. And he shared with him the hope of the gospel. And he heard the good news and he began to recall what Jesus had said to him. And he could not believe it. But he fell in surrender that Jesus would save even him. Friend, have you given up hope? Because you or someone that you know, you say in your mind, they are too far gone. They are too far gone from the love of Jesus. Take heart. It wasn't too late for Nineveh. It wasn't too late for this ISIS leader. It wasn't too late for the Apostle Paul. And it's not too late for you. Every one of us in this room that calls themselves a Christian, have hearts that sing out amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Today is the day of salvation. Friend, will you repent? Will you acknowledge your sin? That you have no hope to stand before a holy God. And you must humble yourself and cast all your hope on the forgiveness of Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection on your behalf. If you do, friend, you will be saved. Now, those of us that have in this room, we call ourselves believers. And would you now turn towards the Lord's Supper? And go ahead and prepare the bread, take it out, we're gonna take it together. Christian, I'm gonna give you a few moments here in a second, but Christian, we repent of our sins as Christians because of the love of Jesus. When you repented for the first time, you placed all of your faith and hope in Jesus, you became a child of God. That is fixed, it is permanent. But when you sin hereafter, your sin still separates you relationally from your father. And so a Christian is called again and again to run back to the foot of the cross, to allow the Spirit of God to convict and to simply say to your Father, I repent, I turn, I run right back to the cross of Jesus Christ. And when you do, you realize your sins are already forgiven. So I'm gonna give you just a few moments and then we'll take this together. You do business with your father right now. And now I want you to prepare the cup. As you hold the cup, I want you to remember this is a symbol of Jesus' blood and the new covenant. But I also want you to think about the fact that you know that the fruit of the juice from the grape, it it tastes good. You know that? You know it's okay to say it tastes good because it's a symbol of victory, it's a symbol of rejoicing. Because believer, Jesus doesn't leave you in your sin. The moment you come to him with childlike faith and dependence, he has forgiven you. Remember your day of salvation? Remember the good news of the ISIS leader? You mean Jesus forgives me? Yes. So I want you to take just a few moments and I want you to celebrate with your father. I want you to thank him for the good news that he would rather be glorified by his mercy against his wrath. For this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Will you pray with me? Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, for your mercy, for your amazing grace. That you were the God who enters into our sin and our corruption and the mess of our lives. And while we were fighting against you, your spirit came and broke our hearts of stone and gave us a heart of flesh so that we might see and so that we might believe when we heard the good news. Thank you, Jesus, that you have saved, that you are a God who delights in being glorified by your mercy. And we, as your sons and daughters, we celebrate that today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Church family, as the praise team comes and leads us in one final song, this is a chance for you to celebrate. Okay? To celebrate the goodness of God, to cry out to Him how much we need Him, our dependence upon Him, but He is a good, good father. We'll have ministers down here at the front who would love to pray with you. If you came in with a burden, listen, do not carry that on your own. Allow us to be a family, right? We're not here to play church. We're here to press into our Lord and Savior. If you want to use these steps as an altar, just in celebration to pour out your heart before the Lord, you have a freedom to respond however the Spirit of God prompts you. Would you stand to the