Jonah 3 illustrates how God’s warning and human repentance work together to avert judgment. After Jonah finally obeys and enters the vast city of Nineveh, he proclaims, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Struck by his urgent message, the king and all the people, from nobles to commoners, put on sackcloth, sit in ashes, fast, and call loudly for God’s mercy, each turning from their evil ways. Even the animals share in the fast. When God sees their genuine repentance, He relents and spares the city, demonstrating that His judgment carries with it an open door for mercy to those who respond in humility and faith.

Automatically Generated Transcript

[00:00:00] As a thank you for that item. What a powerful message to hear the story of Jonah portrayed in the song Nineveh. I thought it’d be a great way to recap what we’ve been looking at in Jonah so far. Give us a chance to just stop and to think about the story of Jonah and how it’s climaxing in Nineveh, which is what we’re looking at today in Jonah chapter 3. So, good morning everyone. A warm welcome to Salisbury Baptist Church. If you just walked in to today, the Sunday, we’ve been looking at the book of Jonah. Jonah has four chapters. We’ve already covered chapters 1 and 2. Today we’re looking at chapter 3, which is the chapter that Jonah arrives at Nineveh and interacts with them, and we’re going to see what happens. And the title for today’s talk is Change of Heart.

[00:00:57] And I’m not going to make explicit the three cases of a change of heart taking place in this chapter, but I’m going to leave it as a bit of a riddle, a puzzle for you that you can figure out along the way, because there are several moments in this chapter where people or someone has a change of heart. And that is going to be our focus for today as we look at Jonah coming to Nineveh. Okay, so we just finished in Jonah chapter 2, verse 10. And the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. I described this as perhaps a projectile vomit, where Jonah is spat onto the shore of Nineveh. And when I first gave these talks at Samad last year, preaching through the book of Jonah, there were some artsy kids who are very talented, and also some artsy kids that are not so talented.

[00:01:52] And one of them made this picture for me, where they were describing Jonah’s story of being swallowed by the fish. I think if you look on the left, it’s a bit like a comic of three stages. Jonah and the fish, stage 2, projectile vomit, and then stage 3, you maybe can’t see, there’s like a puddle of saliva and a stick figure there, and then skyscrapers for Nineveh, and then evil written above it. And that’s essentially where we’ve landed today, is Jonah being spat out on the shore of Nineveh. And it’s kind of funny to think about the idea that Jonah ran away, perhaps travelled a several-day journey on this boat, was thrown into the sea, swallowed by the fish, and then it’s like Uber Eats, taken back to the shore of Nineveh. Maybe Jonah thought his Uber was taking him back to where he began,

[00:02:44] and he’s just going to chill in that city there. But no, it spat him out, and he’s like, oh, Nineveh, the place that I did not want to go to. And who knows, maybe this contributed to his reaction. So chapter 3, verse 1, let’s dive in. Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. Go to the great city of Nineveh, and proclaim to it the message I give you. So I’m picturing Jonah on the shore of this great city that he does not like. He doesn’t not like it, he despises it, he hates it. And he has already received the word from God at the beginning of this story and run away. And now as he stands before this great city, the word of the Lord comes upon him again and says, Go, proclaim the message that I give to you. And this is a prophetic book, Jonah is a prophetic book.

[00:03:37] But it’s the only prophetic book where we don’t get to see the prophecy that God gives to Jonah. Notice that he says, give the message I give you, but we’re not let into what that is. We don’t know what it is God told Jonah to do. And this is actually subverting the prophetic genre, because usually the prophecy is explicitly made known by God. we get to read it as it’s told to the prophet. And the prophet says it back to God and we read it again. And then he goes and tells it to whoever God is instructing them to talk to. We hear the prophecy once again as he delivers it. And then perhaps the person receiving the prophecy repeats it back to them. And by the end of the book you’ve heard it four times. But no, in this prophetic book we don’t even hear the prophecy once.

[00:04:20] And that’s because the book of Jonah is about Jonah. It’s not about the prophecy. It’s about Jonah’s reaction to that prophecy and what he chooses to do with it. Now, you might be reading this text and your plagiarism bells are going, ding, ding, ding, I’ve seen this before. And you’d be correct because Jonah chapter 1, Jonah chapter 3, there’s a very strong parallel throughout the entire chapters. And it begins in the same way, the word of the Lord came to Jonah. This time it says a second time, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you. And the first point that I want to take notice of right now is actually the fact that God is giving Jonah a second opportunity to obey him. Jonah has already chosen to run away in chapter 1.

[00:05:13] A lot has happened between 1 and 3, mainly Jonah running away, choosing to disengage with God and not obey him. And after all of that, God comes to him again and says, go, speak out to the city of Nineveh, give them the message that I tell you. So my first point is that we serve a God of second chances. We serve a God of second chances. I wonder if that resonates with you the same way that it resonates with me. And I’m personally grateful to serve a God of second chances. I’ve messed up many times in my life. And I’m glad that God is not someone who throws us out when we mess up. He offers us mercy and the opportunity to work with him once again. And this is exactly what is happening to Jonah in this chapter. He’s already run away, and now God is speaking to him.

[00:06:08] Go, and I want you to do the right thing this time, and I want to use you. And this God of second chances, this is foreshadowing how chapter 3 is going to unfold. So I’ve got a couple of examples of God being a God of second chances. And I won’t go into at length all of these examples, but perhaps these are ones that are familiar with you. For example, God, he welcomes the prodigal son home after he has spent all of the money of the father. This is an analogy of how the father treats the son and gives him a second chance. Another example is when Jesus is interacting with a woman who is caught in adultery. He doesn’t say to everyone there, stone her, she deserves it. He steps in and intervenes, and then at the end of that intervention says, Go and sin no more.

[00:07:09] He’s offering up the second chance to her. Another example, Peter, one of the apostles, is explicitly denying his relationship with Jesus and knowing him. And Jesus doesn’t like that. It’s not a good thing. But after all of that is done, Jesus still works through Peter and chooses to restore him in spite of his denial. That’s another second chance. Think of an extreme example that we read in the book of Acts with Saul, who’s someone that is in the business of murdering Christians. And God steps in and speaks to Saul and starts to use Saul himself, despite his whole history of killing Christians and persecuting the church. That itself is an act of grace that is insane.

[00:08:05] And then, of course, the one that we’re looking at today, giving Jonah a second chance to deliver this prophecy and to obey God and instruct and go to Nineveh and speak out against them. And then in little writing, perhaps Nineveh as well. Okay, so let’s continue in Jonah chapter 3, verse 3. Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. There’s a lot of weight in that word, obeyed. He is giving in to the instruction set by God before him. And the way that he is doing that is by going. Now, Nineveh was a very large city. It took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, 40 more days and Nineveh will be overthrown. 40 more days and Nineveh will be overthrown. So this is the extent to which we, as the reader of the book of Jonah, are let into

[00:09:11] what Jonah says to Nineveh. The only sermon recorded in this book, the interaction that Jonah has with these people, is this, this eight-word message. Perhaps he said more, but the author of Jonah is not letting us be privy to that if he said more and wants us to dwell on the fact that this was Jonah’s message. And I want to take a moment to talk about this eight-word sermon. It’s eight words in English, but actually in the original Hebrew, which is what Jonah would have been speaking to these Ninevites. It was only five words in Hebrew. And I think that there’s something going on here that perhaps you might miss if you don’t take a moment to pause and look at it in detail. But let’s just ask this question. What’s missing from this eight-word sermon? What’s missing from this eight-word sermon?

[00:10:05] He describes to you a timeline, 40 days. He says, Nineveh, i.e. this city that I’m speaking to. And then he says, overthrown, referring to this idea of being destroyed and demolished. What he doesn’t say is why. What he doesn’t say is how. What he doesn’t say is who. God is the one who’s going to cause this. And he doesn’t even give to them information about how they can prevent this and give them an opportunity to actually repent and to be different. He just says, in 40 days, you’re toast. And that is the extent to which we see Jonah’s sermon to the city of Nineveh. And if we look at the Hebrew, now, just disclaimer, I’m not an expert in Hebrew. I couldn’t even read that to you if I tried. But in my study of this Hebrew and what it means,

[00:10:59] the five words in Hebrew that Jonah says and written in the original text is, yet 40 days in Nineveh will be overturned slash overthrown. And the word that I want to dwell on is this bottom word, which means to be overturned and overthrown. And I want to talk a little bit about that. Just a little drink break. Okay, so have you heard of the concept of a contronym? I hadn’t until studying this book. The concept of a contronym is a word that can have two meanings, and those two meanings are opposite to each other. So let me give you some examples. The word rent is a contronym. You can rent a room as the buyer or as the seller. So if I’m renting a room as a buyer, I’m the one who’s paying money to have that room. But at the same time, if the seller is renting the room,

[00:11:56] they’re the one who’s selling and giving out that room to someone. Another example is the word oversight. You could have an oversight where you failed to notice something that you should have. But you can also provide oversight by watching over things. And these are words that in itself mean two things. It can mean two things that are opposite to each other. And the word that Jonah uses at the bottom of this list and the fifth word, it is a contronym, and it means to be overturned that could go in one of two ways. One way is destruction, demolished, kaput, toast, cooked, whatever word you want to describe, no more. But the other one is actually to be transformed and to be made new and to be refreshed. And it’s interesting that this is the word that Jonah uses to speak out against Nineveh

[00:12:52] because it’s actually unclear what it is that he means and what it is that he’s intending. Perhaps his intention is to tell them, in 40 days you’re toast and you’re going to be destroyed. Or perhaps what he’s telling them is that in 40 days you’re going to be made new and you’re going to be transformed. And in the Bible, Jeremiah 31, 13, it says, I will turn their mourning into joy. I will turn their mourning into joy. And the word turn that’s written in the Hebrew is the same word overturned, to be transformed. And so perhaps Jonah is actually prophesying a curse on Nineveh. You’re going to be destroyed. Or perhaps he’s actually prophesying a blessing to them that you’re going to be transformed and to be made new. And I think Jonah is being cheeky. Maybe he likes the fact that it’s ambiguous

[00:13:43] and is being a little bit willful. And it’s unclear, is this a message of destruction or is this a message of revival? So how do the Ninevites respond to this message? And I would say in the whole book of Jonah, verse 5 is the biggest miracle that there is. Notice, verse 5 is not saying the Ninevites believed Jonah. Verse 5 is saying the Ninevites believed God and the message that has clearly come from him. And I really struggle to see how the Ninevites could come to this conclusion and believe God just from the sermon that we are told Jonah says to them. In 40 days, you’re toast. He didn’t even mention God in his sermon. And it’s true, perhaps he said more than this that we don’t know about. But what we are focusing on and the author has intended us to focus on is that for whatever reason,

[00:14:52] the Ninevites have believed God. It’s not Jonah who has changed their mind. It’s God who has changed their mind. And in these next few verses, what we’re going to look at is how they respond to this change of heart. Okay, but our second point for today is that God’s message is more important than the messenger. The one that has the power isn’t the person bringing you the message. It’s the power that is contained inside that message that is given by God. That is actually why I’m willing to stand up here today and preach to you guys. It’s because I know this is not about me. And the power does not come from how I communicate to you. The power comes from what’s written in the Bible and what it has to say about God. And I think as Jonah goes into the city of Nineveh and is preaching to them whatever he’s saying,

[00:15:53] at the end of the day, it’s God that they believed, not Jonah. And I think that’s a relief for us because sometimes we can get concerned that when we carry this message of good news and the gospel of Jesus Christ, oh, what if we share it with our co-worker and they think that we’re stupid? It’s not you that they need to believe. It’s God. You are just simply a vessel that can carry that and proclaim that for them. Okay. So Jonah has not given them a roadmap of what to do if they decide to be different. And we’re going to now unravel their response to believing God and trying to change their mind and the chaos that ensues in the city as they recognize that they need to change their ways but perhaps don’t actually know how to do that. So verse 6, when Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne,

[00:17:00] took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. Then this is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh. So why is he doing this? Why is he getting off his throne and sitting in the dust? Why is he wearing sackcloth instead of royal robes? Well, the reason that I infer from this is because he is trying to demonstrate outwardly something that’s actually happening inwardly. inwardly he is realizing that he’s been evil. You can equivocate this to Hitler and someone walking into Nazi Germany and proclaiming in that city a message of 40 days and you’re toast. You’re going to be destroyed. And then Hitler getting off the throne and sitting in the dust and trying to somehow outwardly demonstrate that he has been in the wrong. This is the level of severity that we’re dealing with

[00:18:09] in this chapter. And his dissension from the throne, his wearing of sackcloth, his sitting in the dust, this is him outwardly demonstrating to his people that something needs to change and that he is wanting to move away from where he has been in the past. In fact, he’s about to instruct to them a proclamation to get them in on this. So here’s the proclamation that he issues. By the decree of the king and his nobles, do not let people or animals, herds or flocks taste anything. Do not let them eat or drink, but let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. So he is instructing the people of Nineveh to join him in his repentance and he’s giving them instructions on how they can do this. So do not eat. I want you to fast.

[00:19:21] Do not drink. I want you to wear sackcloth and not just you. I also want our livestock, the animals, to wear sackcloth as well. If you’re trying to picture sackcloth, it’s… Think of Dobby from Harry Potter, who’s like a servant in that series and essentially wears sackcloth as a demonstration of his lowliness. It’s very uncomfortable. It’s itchy. It looks bad. And everyone in Nineveh is now going to be walking around and wearing the sackcloth. And not just the people of Nineveh, but the animals as well. The animals as well. And he says, call urgently on God. And in verse 9, he says, who knows, God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish. So when he says God here, he didn’t say Yahweh. He isn’t talking about the covenant God, Yahweh. He doesn’t necessarily know who that is

[00:20:26] because Jonah hasn’t told him. Instead, he’s using Elohim, which is just the more general word for God. And he literally says, who knows? I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I don’t know if this is enough. But perhaps if we do all of this and demonstrate outwardly our change of heart and our repentance, who knows, maybe God will relent and with compassion spare us. So a sub-point that I want to dwell on is that true repentance comes from the heart. And it’s not the fact that they have got A-grade sackcloth. It’s not the fact that their animals are also joining in in this act of repentance. It’s the fact that somewhere deep inside of them, they have realized that they have been living wickedly and that God is about to step in and give them what they deserve and they want to repent and be spared

[00:21:32] from that. So chapter 3 finishes with God choosing to spare the city of Nineveh. And if we think about what happened, Jonah’s prophecy was accurate. The city was overturned, but not because a giant meteor came down and crushed it. Because the people inside of it had a significant change of heart. They’re walking around in sackcloth, even the animals are in sackcloth as well. And that transformation that has happened has been one that has come from their repentance and come from their willingness to recognize that they had been wicked and need to change their ways. So the final point that I have in the sermon is that it is repentance that leads to salvation. Salvation was granted to them from God, and it was fully up to Him to do that.

[00:22:44] But it was their repentance that made God willing to give it to them. Now the thing about salvation is, as Christians, sometimes we get a little bit caught up on, you know, are you going to go to heaven or are you going to go to hell? And salvation is you going to heaven. But salvation is actually a lot more than that. Salvation is a freedom from the consequences of sin. and while the consequences of sin can land you in hell and in separation from God, as we live our lives on earth, we still suffer the consequences of sin, the burdens, the guilt, and the shame. And I want to tell you that salvation offers you more than just a ticket to heaven. Salvation offers you the freedom to live a life, not that it’s sinless and perfect, but that is free from the guilt and the shame that comes from your sin.

[00:23:46] And if you are someone who is struggling with sin habitually and feeling stuck and separated from God, this says that it is repentance that leads to salvation. So I can say to you, I know what you haven’t done. If you are struggling with this idea of salvation with some sort of issue specifically, then that shows me that you haven’t properly repented from it And through repentance, that is how you can find freedom from some of these consequences of sin, long-lasting sin. People make the mistake of trying to fix the problems themselves and then be good enough to come before God. That is not the correct order. The correct order is to repent and then let God work through us and in us and lead us to salvation. Okay, so I’ve got a few more things to say before we finish the sermon.

[00:24:42] But at this moment, I’m actually going to soon give you guys a chance to either reflect on your own or talk to the person next to you. And I’ve got a question that I have designed to be a little bit divisive. And I want you to wrestle with it for maybe two, three minutes. Talk about it with the person next to you. Give ideas on either side and discuss. And then I’m going to go through my thoughts on this as well. And this is the question. Is it fair that the Ninevites are saved? Perhaps you don’t like the word fair. And that’s part of what I want you to wrestle with is why do you not like it? Why do you think it’s fair? Why do you think it’s not fair? So, yeah, I’m going to give you two, three minutes. Talk to the person next to you. And then, yeah, let’s chat about it.

[00:25:34] You either had a lot of fun answering that question or just had a nice break. Either is fine. But, yeah, let’s take a moment to talk about this. I also want to recognize I’m not an expert in theology, but I’m going to attempt to answer this as best as I can. And the idea of it being fair is a loaded question. So if you answered yes or no, there’s possible ways you can approach either side of that coin. But here’s my two cents, and I’ve taken time to write it down, so I’m going to read some of it to you. So the Ninevites are extreme examples of sinners that deserve judgment, correct? They are murderers, torturers, rapists, idolaters, et cetera. And to see them say, oh, whoopsies, I shouldn’t have done this. I’m going to wear sackcloth and change my ways.

[00:26:25] There feels to me, at least at first thought, this idea of injustice. How can they get away so easily from this because they’re deserving of death? And, indeed, that’s what we’re going to talk a lot more about in Chapter 4 because that’s Jonah’s reaction to them. But when you take a step back and think about the situation that we as people are in, you start to realize that we’re actually all in the same boat because it says, Romans Chapter 3, 23, no one deserves to be saved, for all have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God. And Romans 6, 23, the wages of sin is death. So, actually, the default is that it’s not fair that they’re being saved, but not because they’re extremely bad sinners, because all of us in the same boat are sinful and none of us deserve to be saved.

[00:27:21] And I think it’s easy to look at the story of Nineveh and think, wow, they’re such bad people. How can they be saved in that way? And realize that it’s not a sin competition that we’re ahead of and then now we deserve it. And that is why it’s God’s mercy here intervening because He is not giving them what they deserve. What would be fair is their destruction, but that is what God chooses out of grace and out of mercy not to give them. So, to this extent, I would say, not fair. But on the other hand of this discussion is that God has also dealt with sin on the cross. And in that moment on the cross, in Jesus’ death, He has paid the penalty of all sin, past, present, and future in that moment. And when He declared it is finished, He was referring to all of it. So when God chooses to extend grace to us

[00:28:27] and for us to be saved, there is still a sense of fairness that comes from God actually paying the penalty of sin through Jesus and then allowing us to be saved by repenting. And so this weird tension that we have of fairness and the fact that actually none of us being saved, that is the default and it’s not fair for any of us. Yet God is the one who provides a way and can choose to save us and provides us an opportunity to save us as well. But yes, if you have more questions, don’t come to me after the sermon. You can talk to my dad. He’s still around. All right. So I’m just going to go through some of these Romans verses that I brought up and then we’re heading towards the end of the sermon. So I mentioned Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

[00:29:22] This is the Roman road, by the way. I’m sure many of you are familiar with it. Romans 5 verse 8 But God shows his love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. I think one of my favorite parts of that verse is it was while we were still sinners, that is when Christ died for us. Not because we deserve it or because it’s fair, but because it’s in God’s character to be merciful towards us. Romans 6 23 for the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord so the consequences of our sin is this this death but actually God is offering us a gift something that we didn’t earn and don’t deserve and that gift leads us into salvation and then lastly Romans 10 9 if you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe

[00:30:19] in your heart that God raised him from the dead then you will be saved and in this verse when it says declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord it’s actually talking about a form of repentance it’s not talking about declaring it as just some fact that’s true but doesn’t mean anything to you the demons believed in in Jesus as the the son of God they just didn’t repent and choose to follow him. It’s talking about declaring with your mouth in a way that is actually coming from a repentant heart and choosing to align yourself with God. So I’ve just got this map here. We all start at the same baseline of being in the sin category as people and then we are offered out of grace and out of mercy the opportunity to repent or not. And when we repent that leads to salvation

[00:31:12] and when we don’t repent that leads to what we deserve which is the consequences of our sin. And sometimes people get this next sub-point wrong. They think God’s mercy is sparing everyone. I’ve heard people say oh Jesus died on the cross for the penalty of our sin. You don’t have to do anything. Like every single person in the whole world is going to go to heaven because Jesus paid it all. And they’ve mistaken the fact that God’s mercy isn’t just sparing everyone by default. It’s actually providing a way for people to be saved through repentance and through putting their trust in Jesus. And what is merciful for him is giving us this opportunity. All right. So I want to wrap up by just giving three reflection points for you to think about.

[00:32:09] So here’s reflection point one. Do you realize that we serve a God of second chances or are you living like we serve a God who only offers one? Sometimes what that looks like is you’ve messed up and you feel defeated and you feel like you’re not usable by God. But Jonah has made it clear for us in this chapter that that’s not the case. That even though he did mess up, God’s word came upon him a second time. And he used Jonah then to actually save the city of Nineveh. And I think sometimes Christians we carry with us the heaviness of sin and shame, not realizing that God wants to carry that for us. Two, in what ways can you share God’s message of the gospel in your own life? In some senses we’re like Jonah, given an instruction to share the good news. And perhaps we might feel

[00:33:23] like we’re not qualified to do that. We don’t have the words to say. We’re not trained. But God has made it clear in this example that they don’t need to believe Jonah. They need to believe God. And we can be used by him if we share the good news with others. And we’re not putting ourselves out there, we’re putting God out there as his ambassador. And then lastly, reflection question three, is there an area in your life that you know that God is calling you to repent? Is there an area in your life that you know that God is calling you to repent in? God asks that from us not because he’s seeking condemnation but because salvation is right around the corner and he wants to step into our lives and to work in it and to carry the burdens of our shame and guilt so that is what I have for you today

[00:34:22] in a moment I’ll pray and then we’re going to sing the song Mighty to Save which I think is a fitting song that summarizes the fact that everyone needs compassion the people of Nineveh you, me, all of us so if you’d like to bow your heads I’m just going to close in prayer Heavenly Father we’re grateful for your mercy and that you’re a God of second chances you’ve shown us through the story of Jonah that even when we mess up and we don’t listen to you you still continue to work with us I thank you that you give all of us today the message of a gospel and a conviction to share it with others I thank you that the message that we’re sharing isn’t a message of condemnation but a message of salvation where the God of this universe sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for our sin and to deal with the penalty of our sin and the destruction that we all deserve. I pray that you would help all of us to have a genuine change of heart and be willing to follow you as our Lord or Savior. I pray this thing in your name. Amen.