1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:06,660 Well, please open your Bibles at the book of Jonah and chapter three. And I guess the 2 00:00:06,660 –> 00:00:11,340 first thing I have to do today is to explain why it is that we’re in Jonah 3 and not 3 00:00:11,340 –> 00:00:17,840 in Jonah chapter 2. You may remember that we suggested earlier in the series that the 4 00:00:17,840 –> 00:00:25,680 book that we’re looking at here was written late in Jonah’s life. The reason for suggesting 5 00:00:25,799 –> 00:00:32,779 that is that the end of Jonah, the end of the book, it ends with Jonah arguing with 6 00:00:32,779 –> 00:00:37,820 God. And I don’t think that you can write holy scripture under the direct influence 7 00:00:37,820 –> 00:00:42,139 of the Holy Spirit while you’re in the middle of an argument with God. So it would not seem 8 00:00:42,139 –> 00:00:47,959 that the book was written at that time but written later in his life, giving a reflection 9 00:00:47,959 –> 00:00:53,500 on the extraordinary events that had happened through Jonah’s days. And that surely includes 10 00:00:53,500 –> 00:00:58,040 chapter 2, which also would have been written later in his life, giving his recollection 11 00:00:58,040 –> 00:01:03,720 off the prayers that he prayed at that most desperate moment in his life when he thought 12 00:01:03,720 –> 00:01:09,099 that he was going to drown and then prayed from inside the belly of the great fish. But 13 00:01:09,099 –> 00:01:12,900 again, I mean, I don’t think for one minute that Jonah was reaching for a pen and paper 14 00:01:12,900 –> 00:01:17,500 in the belly of the fish to write down his prayers, nor do I think that he was writing 15 00:01:17,500 –> 00:01:23,720 immediately after the fish vomited him up on the dry ground, and he then made his way 16 00:01:23,720 –> 00:01:28,639 to Nineveh. What I’m suggesting is that the book was written late in his life, that it 17 00:01:28,639 –> 00:01:34,379 reflects the mature reflections of Jonah on the extraordinary events that God had worked 18 00:01:34,379 –> 00:01:39,419 in his life, and therefore the chapter 2, along with all of the book, was written after 19 00:01:39,419 –> 00:01:45,339 the events that are recorded in chapter 3 and chapter 4. And so it’s for that reason 20 00:01:45,339 –> 00:01:49,660 that I want us to come to chapter 2, which in many ways is the climax of the book, at 21 00:01:49,660 –> 00:01:55,300 the end of our series, so that we can see Jonah’s mature reflections on all that happened 22 00:01:55,300 –> 00:02:00,919 in his life, as he looks back and says to us, in effect, in this book, make very sure 23 00:02:00,919 –> 00:02:08,919 that you do not avoid a God-centered life. So we come today to Jonah in chapter 3 which 24 00:02:08,940 –> 00:02:18,479 describes for us the amazing story of how a large city was transformed through the proclamation 25 00:02:18,479 –> 00:02:23,679 of God’s word. I want to jump straight into it today in verse one of chapter 3, where 26 00:02:23,679 –> 00:02:30,360 we’re told that the Word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, go to the great city 27 00:02:30,360 –> 00:02:36,919 of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message that I gave you. Now isn’t it a wonderful 28 00:02:36,919 –> 00:02:42,279 thing that the Word of God comes a second time? 29 00:02:42,279 –> 00:02:48,539 How many of us were ever converted the first time we heard the Gospel? How many of us can 30 00:02:48,539 –> 00:02:53,460 say that we have consistently obeyed the Lord the first time that His Word has come to our 31 00:02:53,460 –> 00:03:02,520 hearts? And how wonderful it is that God very graciously does not sign off His servants 32 00:03:02,720 –> 00:03:08,559 when we fail and we disobey, but in His great mercy He perseveres with us and in His great 33 00:03:08,559 –> 00:03:14,039 patience He will often bring us full circle back to where we were once before and give 34 00:03:14,039 –> 00:03:18,600 us another opportunity to move forward in His grace. 35 00:03:18,600 –> 00:03:22,520 It’s very interesting that when God brings Jonah full circle, He brings him back to the 36 00:03:22,520 –> 00:03:26,919 same place he was before. It’s not a different commission, it’s the same commission. 37 00:03:26,960 –> 00:03:33,279 Jonah, here’s what I want you to do. I want you to go to Nineveh and to proclaim there 38 00:03:33,279 –> 00:03:36,300 the Word that I gave to you. 39 00:03:36,300 –> 00:03:41,080 Now, it was not a foregone conclusion that Jonah would go to Nineveh when God called 40 00:03:41,080 –> 00:03:42,639 him the second time. 41 00:03:42,639 –> 00:03:49,520 After all, nothing had changed in Nineveh since Jonah was first called by God. 42 00:03:49,520 –> 00:03:54,740 That meant that he had to overcome all the old barriers that had come up in his mind 43 00:03:54,940 –> 00:03:59,619 against going and fulfilling God’s call in the first place, and he even had to overcome 44 00:03:59,619 –> 00:04:01,419 some new barriers as well. 45 00:04:01,419 –> 00:04:05,000 For example, he still had to overcome his fear. 46 00:04:05,000 –> 00:04:10,500 The Assyrians, you remember, were known for their terror and for their torture and that 47 00:04:10,500 –> 00:04:13,979 hadn’t changed since God first called Jonah. 48 00:04:13,979 –> 00:04:19,119 Nineveh was still the city of blood, still full of lies, still full of plunder, and still 49 00:04:19,119 –> 00:04:20,619 never without victims. 50 00:04:20,619 –> 00:04:23,420 That’s the way Nahum describes it in chapter three. 51 00:04:23,480 –> 00:04:28,420 Everything had changed in Nineveh, so Jonah had to overcome the same fears that would 52 00:04:28,420 –> 00:04:31,859 have been there when God called him the first time. 53 00:04:31,859 –> 00:04:36,880 In addition to the barriers he faced before, there was now the issue of his own shame, 54 00:04:36,880 –> 00:04:39,700 Jonah had failed the Lord big time. 55 00:04:39,700 –> 00:04:44,100 As many of us will see places in our lives where we have failed the Lord and when his 56 00:04:44,100 –> 00:04:49,640 sin had been exposed, he must have said, can God really use me? 57 00:04:50,399 –> 00:04:56,380 to overcome his shame in order to move forward in obedience to the Lord. 58 00:04:56,380 –> 00:04:59,500 Then there was the whole issue of self-interest. 59 00:04:59,500 –> 00:05:04,500 Remember the Assyrian army were the greatest single threat to God’s people in the time 60 00:05:04,500 –> 00:05:10,140 of Jonah and that is why many of God’s people would have been very pleased if God had destroyed 61 00:05:10,140 –> 00:05:17,179 the city of Nineveh and the rest of the Assyrian kingdom as well and Jonah tells us in chapter 62 00:05:18,140 –> 00:05:21,500 that that was one of the reasons he didn’t want to go to Nineveh. 63 00:05:21,500 –> 00:05:24,040 He was afraid that God might have compassion on them. 64 00:05:24,040 –> 00:05:27,640 He would far rather they had been destroyed. 65 00:05:27,640 –> 00:05:33,320 So he still has to overcome this self-interest which is in the view of the people of God 66 00:05:33,320 –> 00:05:39,260 the world would have been better without Assyria and now God is calling Jonah to go to one 67 00:05:39,260 –> 00:05:46,739 of the main Assyrian cities and to proclaim God’s Word and that will lead to God’s compassion 68 00:05:47,480 –> 00:05:50,100 and I don’t know that that’s what we want. 69 00:05:50,100 –> 00:05:56,179 So he has to overcome self-interest and, of course, he has to overcome unbelief. 70 00:05:56,179 –> 00:06:00,040 How easy is it to believe that God can change the city through the ministry of the Word 71 00:06:00,040 –> 00:06:03,359 of God, one man and a Bible? 72 00:06:03,359 –> 00:06:06,079 Boy that takes some believing. 73 00:06:06,079 –> 00:06:13,600 And so all these barriers to obedience have to be overcome when God calls Jonah a second 74 00:06:13,600 –> 00:06:14,600 time. 75 00:06:15,399 –> 00:06:20,880 Jonah had not changed but by the grace and the mercy of God, Jonah had changed. 76 00:06:20,880 –> 00:06:27,200 So verse 3, we read, Jonah obeyed the word of the Word and he went to Nineveh. 77 00:06:27,200 –> 00:06:34,260 Now, by any standards, what happened through Jonah’s ministry in Nineveh was an extraordinary 78 00:06:34,260 –> 00:06:35,799 work of God’s grace. 79 00:06:35,799 –> 00:06:43,200 I want us to see from the Bible what happened here in the unusual response of these people. 80 00:06:43,619 –> 00:06:49,380 First, in verse 5, when Jonah preached the Word of God, the Ninevites believed God. 81 00:06:49,380 –> 00:06:50,899 They believed. 82 00:06:50,899 –> 00:06:56,920 Second, verse 5, they declared a fast, all of them, and they put on sackcloth. 83 00:06:56,920 –> 00:07:00,940 Third, verse 6, the king rose from his throne. 84 00:07:00,959 –> 00:07:02,019 Can you picture this? 85 00:07:02,019 –> 00:07:08,160 The king rising from his throne, he takes off his robes and the king puts on the sackcloth 86 00:07:08,160 –> 00:07:13,179 and the king sits down in the dust as an expression of his repentance. 87 00:07:13,179 –> 00:07:20,339 The sackloth business was a way of expressing humility, repentance, penitence, sorrow before 88 00:07:20,339 –> 00:07:21,339 God. 89 00:07:21,339 –> 00:07:26,660 And the king said, even the animals in Nineveh are to be covered with sackcloth. 90 00:07:26,660 –> 00:07:32,279 We want God to know that this whole community is really sorry for what we have done that 91 00:07:32,279 –> 00:07:37,619 has brought offense to him and that we really are turning from our evil ways. 92 00:07:37,619 –> 00:07:40,320 The king issues a proclamation, verse 8. 93 00:07:40,500 –> 00:07:45,059 Let everyone call urgently on God. 94 00:07:45,059 –> 00:07:50,959 So there is prayer, a national call to prayer. 95 00:07:50,959 –> 00:07:51,959 Verse 8. 96 00:07:51,959 –> 00:07:54,559 Verse 8, there’s a call to repentance. 97 00:07:54,559 –> 00:07:59,239 Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 98 00:07:59,239 –> 00:08:04,880 Verse 9, who knows, God may even yet relent and with compassion turn from the fierce 99 00:08:04,880 –> 00:08:07,600 anger, so that we will not perish. 100 00:08:07,619 –> 00:08:14,579 So there is faith in the response, the Ninevites believed God, there is prayer in the response. 101 00:08:14,579 –> 00:08:18,559 They called urgently on the Lord, there is repentance. 102 00:08:18,559 –> 00:08:25,079 They give up their evil ways and turn from their violence, and there is hope in the mercy 103 00:08:25,079 –> 00:08:32,500 of God, perhaps he will have compassion on us and not bring the destruction he has threatened. 104 00:08:33,159 –> 00:08:41,619 By any standards, for a city that is known for terror and violence, for a city full of 105 00:08:41,619 –> 00:08:47,099 lies, for a city full of plunder, for a city full of blood, to see that kind of response 106 00:08:47,099 –> 00:08:54,880 on a city-wide level, to the ministry of the Word of God, is absolutely extraordinary. 107 00:08:54,880 –> 00:09:03,260 It is an amazing transformation of a whole mega city, at least in terms of the world 108 00:09:03,260 –> 00:09:04,659 in those days. 109 00:09:04,659 –> 00:09:10,979 Now, I want us to focus in on this most important thing for us. 110 00:09:10,979 –> 00:09:18,659 How was it that this transformation of a great city came about? 111 00:09:18,659 –> 00:09:21,440 That’s a great question for us to ask. 112 00:09:21,460 –> 00:09:29,020 We also live in a great city with much good but also much evil, with many who love and 113 00:09:29,020 –> 00:09:35,840 worship the Lord and many who have no idea of Him or of His ways. 114 00:09:35,840 –> 00:09:47,080 And we’re asking the question from the Bible, how in history did God bring about a transformation 115 00:09:47,219 –> 00:09:54,960 of one of the world’s great cities in the time of Jonah? 116 00:09:54,960 –> 00:09:57,320 And I want us to notice three things. 117 00:09:57,320 –> 00:10:03,679 The message, the man, and the moment. 118 00:10:03,679 –> 00:10:06,719 These three things. 119 00:10:06,880 –> 00:10:14,159 Here’s the first then, the message, God sent his Word to change the city. 120 00:10:14,500 –> 00:10:17,960 That’s the first thing that we learned from Jonah and Chapter 3. 121 00:10:17,960 –> 00:10:24,239 On the first day, verse 4, Jonah started into the city. 122 00:10:24,239 –> 00:10:26,159 What did he do? 123 00:10:26,159 –> 00:10:33,919 He proclaimed, 40 more days and Nineveh will be overturned. 124 00:10:33,919 –> 00:10:38,200 I want you to try and imagine the impact of this ministry. 125 00:10:38,200 –> 00:10:41,159 Nineveh’s a large city. 126 00:10:41,159 –> 00:10:45,140 So the folks there are doing what folks in every large city do. 127 00:10:45,140 –> 00:10:49,260 They’re concerned with the relentlessness of their own lives. 128 00:10:49,260 –> 00:10:54,479 Running businesses, raising families, enjoying sports. 129 00:10:54,479 –> 00:11:02,000 And Jonah comes into this city where people are consumed with the now, and he says, let 130 00:11:02,000 –> 00:11:04,919 me tell you about the future. 131 00:11:04,919 –> 00:11:08,739 Let me point you to what is coming. 132 00:11:09,580 –> 00:11:15,159 many more days, and Nineveh will be destroyed. 133 00:11:15,159 –> 00:11:22,599 I want to draw this principle from that, that authentic gospel preaching always engages 134 00:11:22,599 –> 00:11:25,900 people with internal issues. 135 00:11:25,900 –> 00:11:33,380 It intercepts the lives of ordinary city dwellers, suburban people like ourselves, who are consumed 136 00:11:33,380 –> 00:11:38,179 with the here and the now and everything that is happening in our lives, and authentic gospel 137 00:11:38,219 –> 00:11:45,179 preaching intercepts that preoccupation with the now, and engages us with internal issues. 138 00:11:45,179 –> 00:11:48,739 40 more days and Nineveh will be destroyed. 139 00:11:48,739 –> 00:11:53,460 Now, this is not just Jonah, there’s a biblical pattern here. 140 00:11:53,460 –> 00:11:58,419 Where did the teaching and preaching of our Lord Jesus began? 141 00:11:58,419 –> 00:12:01,580 The kingdom of God is at hand. 142 00:12:01,580 –> 00:12:04,239 Repent and believe the good news. 143 00:12:04,239 –> 00:12:06,340 Something is imminent. 144 00:12:06,419 –> 00:12:09,080 God’s coming near. 145 00:12:09,080 –> 00:12:14,000 Where does Paul begin his presentation of the gospel when he sets it out so clearly 146 00:12:14,000 –> 00:12:15,640 in the Book of Romans? 147 00:12:15,640 –> 00:12:23,059 Well, he begins chapter 1 in Verse 18 with this, the wrath of God is being revealed against 148 00:12:23,059 –> 00:12:25,419 all the godlessness and wickedness of man. 149 00:12:25,419 –> 00:12:28,739 There’s a judgment that’s coming. 150 00:12:28,739 –> 00:12:33,719 You cannot simply live in the preoccupation of life in your world. 151 00:12:33,919 –> 00:12:40,880 Whereas, if there is a reality that is ahead, God and eternity are nearer than you think. 152 00:12:40,880 –> 00:12:46,340 And an authentic ministry of the gospel engages people with eternal issues. 153 00:12:46,340 –> 00:12:47,979 That’s what Jonah does here. 154 00:12:47,979 –> 00:12:52,460 Forty more days and Nineveh will be destroyed. 155 00:12:52,460 –> 00:12:55,960 Now, I don’t think that’s the only thing he’s said. 156 00:12:55,960 –> 00:12:59,859 He wasn’t just going around like an automaton repeating a sentence. 157 00:13:00,119 –> 00:13:05,059 But seriously if you just think about our own country in the last year as we have gone 158 00:13:05,059 –> 00:13:08,219 through the presidential election. 159 00:13:08,219 –> 00:13:16,739 Our new president ran an entire campaign that communicated essentially to everyone in the 160 00:13:16,739 –> 00:13:20,520 nation with great effect one word which was? 161 00:13:20,520 –> 00:13:22,020 Everyone knows that. 162 00:13:22,020 –> 00:13:25,859 Everyone knows that the message was one word. 163 00:13:25,859 –> 00:13:28,900 Now everyone in Nineveh knew that the message of Jonah was one sentence. 164 00:13:29,460 –> 00:13:33,299 But all the times he spoke, for all the things that he said, everyone knew that what this 165 00:13:33,299 –> 00:13:43,440 man’s message was was simply, 40 more days and Nineveh will be destroyed. 166 00:13:43,440 –> 00:13:49,919 God took that one sentence and he burned it into the hearts and into the minds of the 167 00:13:49,919 –> 00:13:51,380 people. 168 00:13:51,380 –> 00:13:54,099 He brought conviction through it. 169 00:13:54,099 –> 00:13:57,760 He brought repentance through the ministry of his word. 170 00:13:57,960 –> 00:14:05,479 Cities change when people hear the word of God. 171 00:14:05,479 –> 00:14:07,840 You know the city of Glasgow in Scotland. 172 00:14:07,840 –> 00:14:10,119 You ever get a chance to visit Glasgow? 173 00:14:10,119 –> 00:14:13,320 Go and have a visit there. 174 00:14:13,320 –> 00:14:19,400 You know, in the center of this city there is a large bell and it has the city motto 175 00:14:19,400 –> 00:14:21,760 engraved on it. 176 00:14:21,760 –> 00:14:31,039 The city motto for Glasgow is, let Glasgow flourish by the preaching of God’s word. 177 00:14:31,039 –> 00:14:37,000 Isn’t that a great motto for an international city? 178 00:14:37,000 –> 00:14:43,659 Of course they’ve shortened it now and it is no longer let Glasgow flourish by the preaching 179 00:14:43,659 –> 00:14:45,359 of God’s word, you can guess what it is. 180 00:14:45,359 –> 00:14:48,440 It’s just let Glasgow flourish. 181 00:14:49,200 –> 00:14:58,200 Now a large number of people in Glasgow haven’t a clue as to how Glasgow will flourish. 182 00:14:58,200 –> 00:15:06,880 City founders had it right that a city at every level will flourish through the advance 183 00:15:06,880 –> 00:15:13,179 of the word of the living God. 184 00:15:13,179 –> 00:15:14,739 Now let’s think about our city. 185 00:15:14,739 –> 00:15:18,440 I want you to think about this. 186 00:15:18,440 –> 00:15:26,859 If the number of people hearing the word of God in Chicago doubled, just the number of 187 00:15:26,859 –> 00:15:33,340 people hearing the word of God in Chicago doubled, would that make a difference to our 188 00:15:33,340 –> 00:15:35,599 city? 189 00:15:35,599 –> 00:15:41,380 Answer absolutely, absolutely. 190 00:15:41,380 –> 00:15:49,000 Even if people were not converted, hearing the word of God brings an awareness of God 191 00:15:49,000 –> 00:15:54,320 into the culture, and that’s something we’re desperately losing. 192 00:15:54,320 –> 00:15:59,640 And even if folks are not converted, the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom, Romans 193 00:15:59,640 –> 00:16:03,320 chapter 1 and verse 7. 194 00:16:03,320 –> 00:16:10,080 More than that, if people are to be converted, faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes 195 00:16:10,159 –> 00:16:16,919 by the word of God, Romans chapter 10 verse 17. 196 00:16:16,919 –> 00:16:21,880 There are thousands of people in our city who are comfortably absorbed in their daily 197 00:16:21,880 –> 00:16:28,700 lives and think little or nothing of their eternal destiny. 198 00:16:28,700 –> 00:16:35,700 Would it not be a good thing in our city if more of the people heard more of God’s word 199 00:16:36,020 –> 00:16:37,580 in more of the churches? 200 00:16:37,580 –> 00:16:44,580 That’s something to pray for because God uses his word to change a city. 201 00:16:48,159 –> 00:16:55,159 Let Chicago flourish by the preaching of God’s word. 202 00:16:56,700 –> 00:17:03,700 Second, God uses his man to change the city. 203 00:17:04,079 –> 00:17:10,680 I want to notice that this great principle, not only does God work through his word, but 204 00:17:10,680 –> 00:17:17,680 God’s word comes through his people. God used Jonah and I want you to see how wonderfully 205 00:17:19,459 –> 00:17:26,060 God used everything that he had been doing in Jonah’s life for the eternal good of 206 00:17:26,060 –> 00:17:28,900 these people in the city of Nineveh. 207 00:17:29,699 –> 00:17:33,180 Now here’s an interesting question that some of the folks who’ve written on Jonah 208 00:17:33,180 –> 00:17:40,180 debate and it’s an intriguing question. Did Jonah tell the people in Nineveh about 209 00:17:42,839 –> 00:17:49,479 his own experience as to the route by which he had go there? Interesting question. Well, 210 00:17:49,479 –> 00:17:55,420 I’m persuaded that the answer to that question is yes and I believe that for two reasons 211 00:17:55,520 –> 00:18:01,400 that I want to offer to you. The first is the words of the King in verse 9. When the 212 00:18:01,400 –> 00:18:07,099 King says, who knows God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger 213 00:18:07,099 –> 00:18:14,099 so that we will not perish. Where did the King get the idea that God has compassion? 214 00:18:15,099 –> 00:18:20,800 If all that Jonah had said was 40 more days and Nineveh will be destroyed, how would the 215 00:18:20,880 –> 00:18:27,020 King have had reason to hope in the mercy and compassion of God? But if the King knew 216 00:18:27,020 –> 00:18:34,020 Jonah’s story, he would have had reason to say ah, but if God saved his rebel servant 217 00:18:34,599 –> 00:18:41,599 Jonah, then maybe he will have mercy also on this rebellious city. Now that’s an argument 218 00:18:42,260 –> 00:18:46,859 from inference, here’s an even stronger one I think because it comes directly from 219 00:18:46,859 –> 00:18:53,219 the words of Jesus. Our Lord Jesus Christ referred several times to the story of Jonah 220 00:18:53,219 –> 00:18:57,839 and to the ministry of Jonah in the New Testament, of course any time the New Testament speaks 221 00:18:57,839 –> 00:19:03,079 about an Old Testament story it is very important for understanding it. And I wan to put together 222 00:19:03,079 –> 00:19:08,579 two references that the lord Jesus made to Jonah, the first is in Luke chapter 11 and 223 00:19:08,579 –> 00:19:14,979 verso 29 and 30. You know this verse perhaps Jesus said that this is a wicked generation, 224 00:19:15,000 –> 00:19:19,660 it asks for a miraculous sign but none will be given to it except the sign of Jonah, for 225 00:19:19,660 –> 00:19:25,859 as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, Jesus said, so also the Son of Man will be a sign 226 00:19:25,859 –> 00:19:30,900 to this generation. I want you to hear these words of Journal Jesus. Jesus said Jonah was 227 00:19:30,900 –> 00:19:40,339 a sign, the man was a sign to the Ninevites. Okay well in what sense was the man a sign 228 00:19:41,160 –> 00:19:45,199 to the Ninevites? Some people say simply the fact that he went there and that he preached 229 00:19:45,199 –> 00:19:50,219 the word was a sign. Well, no I think from the words of Jesus that there’s something 230 00:19:50,219 –> 00:19:57,060 more because if you look at Matthew chapter 12, verses 39 and 40, again Jesus is speaking 231 00:19:57,060 –> 00:20:03,979 about Jonah and he says a wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign but 232 00:20:03,979 –> 00:20:10,099 none will be given to it except the sign of the Prophet Jonah, so he’s now talking about 233 00:20:10,099 –> 00:20:15,060 what the sign of the Prophet Jonah is and here’s how he continues, our Lord says for 234 00:20:15,060 –> 00:20:22,020 as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the huge fish, so the Son of 235 00:20:22,020 –> 00:20:27,180 man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. So you put Luke 11 236 00:20:27,180 –> 00:20:34,099 and Matthew 12 together, Jesus says Jonah the man himself was a sign. Matthew, he says 237 00:20:34,099 –> 00:20:37,819 here’s what the sign was, the sign was that Jonah was three days and three nights in the 238 00:20:37,859 –> 00:20:43,300 belly of the great fish. So if the man was a sign and if the sign was that he was 239 00:20:43,300 –> 00:20:46,900 three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, I conclude from that, that he must 240 00:20:46,900 –> 00:20:51,300 have told them, that he was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, and 241 00:20:51,300 –> 00:20:57,400 therefore that they knew his story. If that is indeed the case, I think there are some 242 00:20:57,400 –> 00:21:03,739 wonderful applications for us. I mean, for a start, Jonah must have preached with great 243 00:21:03,739 –> 00:21:12,140 expectation—must he not? Forty more days, and Nineveh will be destroyed. And I know 244 00:21:12,140 –> 00:21:19,619 what I’m talking about. Let me tell you what happened to me. I’ve 245 00:21:19,619 –> 00:21:25,300 loved and served this God of the Bible I’m telling you about all my life, but when He 246 00:21:25,300 –> 00:21:29,219 called me to come here to this city, I did not want to come. I thought I could disobey 247 00:21:29,219 –> 00:21:37,619 Him and get away with it. I got on a boat, and I went to Tarshish, and God sent a storm. 248 00:21:37,619 –> 00:21:41,060 The crew knew what they were doing — they tried to row me to safety, but they couldn’t 249 00:21:41,060 –> 00:21:47,060 hold their ship against God’s wind. God’s judgment came on me, and I felt sure that 250 00:21:47,060 –> 00:21:53,359 I was finished. Gone! I told the crew, you gotta throw me overboard. They didn’t want 251 00:21:53,359 –> 00:21:58,239 to do it, but it soon became clear that they had no choice. So I cried out to God in repentance 252 00:21:58,300 –> 00:22:03,119 I hit the water. I felt sure that moments later I would be drowned and facing the eternal 253 00:22:03,119 –> 00:22:14,119 judgment of God. But the God whose judgment I deserved, saved me. 254 00:22:14,119 –> 00:22:18,160 That’s why I’m here today and I now have to tell you that your wickedness has come 255 00:22:18,160 –> 00:22:22,819 up before Him as My wickedness came up before Him, and 40 more days and Nineveh will be 256 00:22:23,819 –> 00:22:34,380 destroyed. And the King says, ah, but if God had mercy on Jonah, maybe he’ll have compassion 257 00:22:34,380 –> 00:22:35,880 on me. 258 00:22:35,880 –> 00:22:42,300 Here’s what I want to draw from that for by way of application for us, and it’s a 259 00:22:42,300 –> 00:22:51,000 wonderful principle, God will use whatever he has been doing in your life as a means 260 00:22:51,060 –> 00:22:59,819 of reaching others, of advancing the gospel. This is an amazing truth. But in his grace 261 00:22:59,819 –> 00:23:09,300 and in his mercy, he will find ways to use even your past failures, your traumas, your 262 00:23:09,300 –> 00:23:15,060 shame, the desperate moments of your life, the pain of your experience, and in some way 263 00:23:16,020 –> 00:23:23,619 a way God will take that, and he will find a way to use it for reaching others and for 264 00:23:23,619 –> 00:23:28,420 the advance of the gospel. Sinclair Ferguson who wrote a wonderful book 265 00:23:28,420 –> 00:23:34,540 on Jonah says this, and it has been a quotation that has helped me so much over the years. 266 00:23:34,540 –> 00:23:38,099 I hope it will be a special one for you. He said this, 267 00:23:38,099 –> 00:23:45,920 the jewels of spiritual service are always quarried in the depths of spiritual experience. 268 00:23:45,920 –> 00:23:56,180 The jewels of spiritual service, those who are most useful to Jesus Christ, those shining 269 00:23:56,180 –> 00:24:03,800 jewels are quarried by God in the depths of spiritual experience. 270 00:24:03,859 –> 00:24:08,540 Whatever God takes you through, it will not be meaningless. 271 00:24:08,540 –> 00:24:11,280 It will not be without purpose. 272 00:24:11,280 –> 00:24:20,239 In His redeeming love, He will find some way to use the jewel that is quarried in the depths 273 00:24:20,239 –> 00:24:29,959 of your experience for the reaching of others, and for the advance of His great and eternal 274 00:24:29,959 –> 00:24:33,619 work in the lives of people. 275 00:24:33,619 –> 00:24:35,819 So how does this great change come to a city? 276 00:24:35,819 –> 00:24:36,819 There’s God’s Word. 277 00:24:36,819 –> 00:24:39,260 He sent His Word to change the city. 278 00:24:39,260 –> 00:24:41,680 Secondly, He used His man. 279 00:24:41,680 –> 00:24:43,219 He can use His man. 280 00:24:43,219 –> 00:24:45,180 He can use His woman. 281 00:24:45,180 –> 00:24:46,619 But He works through people. 282 00:24:46,619 –> 00:24:52,680 And He works through what He is doing in our lives as a means of communicating His marvelous 283 00:24:52,680 –> 00:24:55,439 truth into the lives of other people. 284 00:24:55,439 –> 00:24:59,079 And here’s the third thing and it’s very important. 285 00:24:59,359 –> 00:25:05,319 God chose His moment to change the city. 286 00:25:05,319 –> 00:25:14,280 Now, I think we have to say that what happened in Nineveh was unusual, and it was remarkable. 287 00:25:14,280 –> 00:25:18,800 That the kind of transformation with a whole wicked violent city turning to God in faith 288 00:25:18,800 –> 00:25:22,479 and repentance and in prayer and in hope. 289 00:25:22,479 –> 00:25:25,800 This is a remarkable and an unusual thing. 290 00:25:25,800 –> 00:25:28,800 But it really did happen. 291 00:25:29,000 –> 00:25:34,760 It was God’s time for the great city of Nineveh. 292 00:25:34,760 –> 00:25:40,599 Now, here is a very practical application for us in thinking about God’s time. 293 00:25:40,599 –> 00:25:45,699 A lady came up to me after the service just a couple of weeks ago, and she was somewhat 294 00:25:45,699 –> 00:25:46,079 distressed. 295 00:25:46,079 –> 00:25:47,359 She was a new Christian. 296 00:25:47,359 –> 00:25:53,079 She is a new Christian, and she has been praying for her husband. 297 00:25:53,160 –> 00:26:00,160 And she says, I’ve- I’ve shared the Gospel with him, and he doesn’t believe yet, and 298 00:26:01,339 –> 00:26:04,459 she said am I doing something wrong? 299 00:26:04,459 –> 00:26:07,819 I wanted to encourage her. 300 00:26:07,819 –> 00:26:12,300 I want to encourage anyone who thinks, you know, I’ve been sharing the Gospel and someone 301 00:26:12,300 –> 00:26:13,939 I love has not yet come to Christ. 302 00:26:13,939 –> 00:26:15,619 I must be doing something wrong. 303 00:26:15,619 –> 00:26:16,680 No! 304 00:26:16,680 –> 00:26:19,560 We are responsible for sharing God’s truth. 305 00:26:20,140 –> 00:26:26,319 And God wonderfully uses his people but God determines his time. 306 00:26:26,319 –> 00:26:33,339 We can pray for that, but we do not control God’s time. 307 00:26:34,400 –> 00:26:38,939 There are pastors and there are missionaries who labor for years among people who are highly 308 00:26:38,939 –> 00:26:41,219 resistant to the Gospel. 309 00:26:41,219 –> 00:26:47,119 They bring the message, they extend themselves, they are quarried in the depths of spiritual 310 00:26:47,119 –> 00:26:53,359 experience, but sometimes they may see very few people converted. 311 00:26:53,359 –> 00:27:00,319 The marvelous thing about God’s moment is that you never know what God is going to do 312 00:27:00,319 –> 00:27:01,400 next. 313 00:27:02,760 –> 00:27:09,339 I have no idea whose life God may touch in a special way in this congregation, this Weekend. 314 00:27:09,339 –> 00:27:13,219 Not one of us knows which person that we’ve been praying for for years will be touched, 315 00:27:13,439 –> 00:27:17,760 changed and transformed this week, this month, this year. 316 00:27:17,760 –> 00:27:19,819 God’s moment. 317 00:27:19,819 –> 00:27:23,900 You never know what God is going to do next. 318 00:27:23,900 –> 00:27:28,540 You never know when he’s going to step in and change a person’s life. 319 00:27:28,540 –> 00:27:35,339 Who in all the world could have predicted this kind of response from, of all places, 320 00:27:35,339 –> 00:27:41,839 the city of Nineveh, whose particular wickedness had come up before God? 321 00:27:42,239 –> 00:27:45,260 Now, of course, some folks hearing that may say, 322 00:27:45,260 –> 00:27:47,219 Oh well this is marvelous. 323 00:27:47,219 –> 00:27:50,540 All we need to do then is just sit back and wait for God 324 00:27:50,540 –> 00:27:53,119 to do things in his moment and in his own time. 325 00:27:53,119 –> 00:27:56,939 No. Remember this distinction, 326 00:27:56,939 –> 00:27:59,839 revival is God’s gift. 327 00:27:59,839 –> 00:28:03,880 Evangelism is God’s command. 328 00:28:03,880 –> 00:28:07,400 So we do not sit back and wait for God’s moment. 329 00:28:07,400 –> 00:28:11,040 What we do is we follow Jonah’s example. 330 00:28:11,079 –> 00:28:14,000 We face up to our fears, our shame, 331 00:28:14,000 –> 00:28:16,439 our self interest and our unbelief 332 00:28:16,439 –> 00:28:19,560 and we bring the word of God to the best of our ability 333 00:28:19,560 –> 00:28:22,040 and we pray that in his mercy 334 00:28:22,040 –> 00:28:25,060 he will move in the hearts of some who right now 335 00:28:25,060 –> 00:28:27,339 are very resistant to his word. 336 00:28:29,599 –> 00:28:32,319 Now, one more thing on the moment 337 00:28:32,319 –> 00:28:34,540 and I think it’s very important for us. 338 00:28:35,040 –> 00:28:39,500 Some people question 339 00:28:39,500 –> 00:28:44,500 whether there ever was a true revival in Nineveh 340 00:28:46,500 –> 00:28:50,079 and the reason that they question it 341 00:28:50,079 –> 00:28:55,079 is that later generations returned to evil ways 342 00:28:55,099 –> 00:28:57,140 and that’s a matter of historical record. 343 00:28:58,079 –> 00:29:01,339 So if later generations returned to evil ways, 344 00:29:01,339 –> 00:29:03,619 could this great turning to God 345 00:29:03,660 –> 00:29:06,680 that is spoken of here in Jonah 346 00:29:06,680 –> 00:29:07,819 actually really have happened? 347 00:29:07,819 –> 00:29:12,180 That’s the question that is raised and sometime debated. 348 00:29:12,180 –> 00:29:15,040 So I want us to think about this matter of the moment. 349 00:29:16,579 –> 00:29:21,579 We know that Jonah lived in the time of Jeroboam II, 350 00:29:21,800 –> 00:29:23,319 we know that from 2 Kings 351 00:29:23,319 –> 00:29:25,839 that we looked at a couple of weeks ago. 352 00:29:25,839 –> 00:29:29,060 And so Jonah’s visit to Nineveh would have happened 353 00:29:29,180 –> 00:29:33,839 somewhere between around 780 years before the Lord Jesus 354 00:29:33,839 –> 00:29:37,380 and 755 years before the birth of Christ, 355 00:29:37,380 –> 00:29:40,660 somewhere between 780 and 755. 356 00:29:42,079 –> 00:29:44,680 What the book of Jonah tells us, 357 00:29:44,680 –> 00:29:47,900 we’re glad to accept it from the book of Jonah, 358 00:29:47,900 –> 00:29:50,439 is that God moved at that time 359 00:29:51,439 –> 00:29:56,319 to gather thousands of Assyrian people 360 00:29:56,339 –> 00:30:00,520 into saving faith in himself. 361 00:30:00,520 –> 00:30:02,619 Jonah chapter four verse 11 speaks 362 00:30:02,619 –> 00:30:06,680 about 120,000 people who could not tell 363 00:30:06,680 –> 00:30:08,359 their right hand from their left. 364 00:30:08,359 –> 00:30:09,680 Hard to know what that means. 365 00:30:09,680 –> 00:30:12,199 It could mean that 120,000 was the population 366 00:30:12,199 –> 00:30:14,560 of the city and that they were morally confused, 367 00:30:14,560 –> 00:30:17,000 didn’t know their right hand from their left. 368 00:30:17,000 –> 00:30:19,520 It could mean, and I think this is more likely, 369 00:30:19,520 –> 00:30:22,760 that the city had 120,000 young children 370 00:30:22,760 –> 00:30:24,640 who didn’t know their right from their left, 371 00:30:24,680 –> 00:30:26,239 young children. 372 00:30:26,239 –> 00:30:28,520 And that therefore the population of the city 373 00:30:28,520 –> 00:30:32,180 was very, very much larger at that time. 374 00:30:32,180 –> 00:30:34,619 Either way, we are talking about a major, 375 00:30:34,619 –> 00:30:38,300 significant city in the time and a movement 376 00:30:38,300 –> 00:30:41,260 of God in a revival that brought thousands 377 00:30:41,260 –> 00:30:44,880 of people in that generation from that city 378 00:30:44,880 –> 00:30:47,280 known previously and subsequently for its 379 00:30:47,280 –> 00:30:51,640 great wickedness into saving faith in himself. 380 00:30:51,959 –> 00:30:56,959 By the way, if God had compassion on a city 381 00:30:57,199 –> 00:31:02,020 of 120,000 people or perhaps more, 382 00:31:02,020 –> 00:31:06,619 what must be the compassion of God on our city 383 00:31:06,619 –> 00:31:11,619 of 9.5 million people in the Greater Chicago area, 384 00:31:12,219 –> 00:31:17,239 9.5 million people in the Greater Chicago area, 385 00:31:17,239 –> 00:31:21,900 9.5 million people? 386 00:31:24,380 –> 00:31:26,920 Now, what happened after the time of Jonah? 387 00:31:26,920 –> 00:31:28,239 Well, here’s the story. 388 00:31:29,660 –> 00:31:32,420 One generation later or perhaps two, 389 00:31:32,420 –> 00:31:34,180 depending on where the date falls 390 00:31:34,180 –> 00:31:36,140 and how you regard a generation, 391 00:31:36,939 –> 00:31:40,280 in the year 722 BC, 392 00:31:40,280 –> 00:31:43,760 the northern kingdom of Israel was invaded, 393 00:31:43,760 –> 00:31:45,739 overrun and the 10 tribes in 394 00:31:45,739 –> 00:31:47,640 the Northern Kingdom were scattered 395 00:31:47,640 –> 00:31:50,640 to the four corners of the earth. 396 00:31:50,640 –> 00:31:52,500 Who invaded the Northern Kingdom in 397 00:31:52,500 –> 00:31:54,339 the year 722 BC? 398 00:31:54,339 –> 00:31:57,819 It was the Assyrians. 399 00:31:57,819 –> 00:32:00,040 So that tells you what was 400 00:32:00,040 –> 00:32:01,619 happening in subsequent generations 401 00:32:01,619 –> 00:32:04,479 in Nineveh, one of their major cities. 402 00:32:04,760 –> 00:32:07,099 And a century later, 403 00:32:07,099 –> 00:32:09,660 a century after the time of Jonah, 404 00:32:09,660 –> 00:32:13,260 in the year 612 BC, 405 00:32:13,260 –> 00:32:16,420 Nineveh itself was destroyed. 406 00:32:16,420 –> 00:32:19,040 That is what the prophecy in Nahum, 407 00:32:19,040 –> 00:32:20,459 Chapter 3, that we looked at 408 00:32:20,459 –> 00:32:22,040 the other week is all about. 409 00:32:22,040 –> 00:32:24,699 God’s judgment came on the city that 410 00:32:24,699 –> 00:32:26,420 returned to its wickedness 411 00:32:26,420 –> 00:32:29,140 in a subsequent generation. 412 00:32:29,140 –> 00:32:31,660 Now here’s what I can conclude from that. 413 00:32:32,479 –> 00:32:37,479 In heaven, you can expect to see 414 00:32:37,719 –> 00:32:41,680 thousands of Assyrian people 415 00:32:41,680 –> 00:32:43,479 brought by God’s redeeming love 416 00:32:43,479 –> 00:32:45,260 to saving faith in himself 417 00:32:45,260 –> 00:32:47,140 through the ministry of Jonah. 418 00:32:47,140 –> 00:32:49,640 It was God’s moment for an ingathering 419 00:32:51,020 –> 00:32:53,979 of a vast number of people of that city 420 00:32:55,099 –> 00:32:55,939 at that time. 421 00:32:56,780 –> 00:33:01,280 I suspect that you will meet relatively few 422 00:33:02,219 –> 00:33:04,780 Assyrian people who were alive 100 years later. 423 00:33:07,420 –> 00:33:08,579 It was God’s moment, 424 00:33:10,500 –> 00:33:12,900 an extraordinary moment in history 425 00:33:14,579 –> 00:33:18,060for a particular gracious ingathering 426 00:33:18,060 –> 00:33:22,380 of many people in that great city. 427 00:33:22,400 –> 00:33:25,560 Here’s my last application this morning. 428 00:33:28,060 –> 00:33:32,660 What will the future hold for this great city of Chicago? 429 00:33:34,400 –> 00:33:36,040 I have no idea. 430 00:33:37,079 –> 00:33:38,280 I do not know. 431 00:33:38,280 –> 00:33:39,119 None of us does. 432 00:33:41,160 –> 00:33:44,540 What is the future of the Church of Jesus Christ 433 00:33:44,540 –> 00:33:48,020 in this great country of America? 434 00:33:48,020 –> 00:33:51,380 50 years from now, what will be the state of the Church? 435 00:33:51,880 –> 00:33:54,560 What will be the state of the Church in this country 436 00:33:54,560 –> 00:33:56,180 if Christ has not come? 437 00:33:56,180 –> 00:33:58,800 I do not know. 438 00:33:58,800 –> 00:33:59,959 Nobody does. 439 00:34:03,319 –> 00:34:06,160 All we can do, folks, 440 00:34:06,160 –> 00:34:08,879 is offer all that we are and all that we have 441 00:34:08,879 –> 00:34:10,159 and all that we can 442 00:34:10,159 –> 00:34:13,500 for the advance of the gospel in this generation. 443 00:34:14,719 –> 00:34:16,840 We cannot live on the legacy 444 00:34:16,840 –> 00:34:19,760 of what past generations have done for Christ. 445 00:34:19,780 –> 00:34:21,459 We cannot live in the hope 446 00:34:21,459 –> 00:34:24,899 of what future generations might do for Christ. 447 00:34:24,899 –> 00:34:27,560 Our calling is to do all that we can do 448 00:34:27,560 –> 00:34:29,840 for Christ in our time. 449 00:34:30,719 –> 00:34:32,300 And remember this, 450 00:34:32,300 –> 00:34:34,679 that the whole world needs to be evangelized 451 00:34:34,679 –> 00:34:36,080 in every generation. 452 00:34:37,159 –> 00:34:40,860 There is no one born into the world knowing the gospel. 453 00:34:42,300 –> 00:34:44,919 The whole world, therefore, needs to be evangelized. 454 00:34:44,919 –> 00:34:48,459 Every generation needs to be done afresh all over again. 455 00:34:50,760 –> 00:34:54,439 This is the only generation that we are able to reach 456 00:34:54,439 –> 00:34:57,040 and serve with the gospel of Jesus Christ, 457 00:34:57,040 –> 00:34:59,959 the generation that is living today, our time. 458 00:35:01,080 –> 00:35:02,620 So we dare not live in the future, 459 00:35:02,620 –> 00:35:04,040 we dare not live in the past, 460 00:35:04,040 –> 00:35:06,000 our stewardship of the gospel is now. 461 00:35:08,919 –> 00:35:11,939 And every generation will stand responsible 462 00:35:11,939 –> 00:35:15,679 and accountable before God for what we have done 463 00:35:15,679 –> 00:35:19,060 with the sacred trust of the gospel in our time, 464 00:35:19,060 –> 00:35:23,159 not what was before us and not what may come after us. 465 00:35:25,379 –> 00:35:30,020 So how did God change a city in this extraordinary way 466 00:35:30,020 –> 00:35:31,860 that happened in Nineveh? 467 00:35:31,860 –> 00:35:35,600 Here’s what we learn, he sent his word, 468 00:35:35,600 –> 00:35:40,600 he used his servant and he chose his moment. 469 00:35:41,540 –> 00:35:43,340 And so I framed this simple prayer 470 00:35:43,340 –> 00:35:45,020 that I invite you to share with me, 471 00:35:45,020 –> 00:35:47,620 it just says Lord send your Word, 472 00:35:47,659 –> 00:35:49,260 we would pray that for our city. 473 00:35:49,260 –> 00:35:52,139 Use your people, we would long for that 474 00:35:52,139 –> 00:35:55,520 and make this your moment for this city. 475 00:35:56,479 –> 00:35:58,699 Why should we not ask that of God? 476 00:35:58,699 –> 00:36:00,260 Will you join with me in that prayer. 477 00:36:00,260 –> 00:36:05,260 Lord send your Word, use your people, 478 00:36:06,739 –> 00:36:11,739 make this your moment for this city for Christ’s sake.