Book of Jonah chapter number three this evening. We'll read the entire chapter. Jonah chapter number 3, verse 1. Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that He had said He would do to them, and He did not do it. Father, we come to You and ask that You would speak now by the power of Your Holy Spirit into our hearts, that we might not only comprehend what is the truth of Your word, but that we might be touched by its power, and that we might obey and submit ourselves to the authority of Your word. So we ask that You would speak to us and minister to us now, in Jesus' name. Amen. We return now to the narrative of the life of Jonah, who is now alive on the seashore somewhere between Tarshish and Nineveh. His eyes open, he takes a breath. He hasn't seen the light of day for three days and three nights. The darkness of the belly of Sheol to which his eyes had are now adjusted, are now being unbearably pierced by the sunlight. His skin is bleached, his body is trembling. He stands to his feet, looking around, trying to figure out the exact location and direction he should take. Disoriented, he begins to walk in a certain direction, when all of a sudden, he hears a thunderous rumble from the sky. He thinks to himself, it can't be thunder. It's a sunny day. But then he hears it again. What could it be? He listens carefully. The sound is all too familiar to him. It is the voice of God. The word has come again to Jonah. This recommission, if you would like to call it that, is an utterly gracious second chance given to him by God, displaying the fact that God is not yet done with Jonah, and God is not yet done with the city of Nineveh. How does Jonah respond to the voice of God? The passage that opens this chapter in verse 1 and verse number 2, particularly verse number 2, is essentially identical to chapter number 1, verse 1 and 2. Only a real couple of words difference. In chapter number 3, it says, “the word of the Lord came again to Jonah, or came the second time to Jonah saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.’” Yet instead of us reading what we read in chapter number one, where it says, “But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord,” we instead have these words: “So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord.” The author develops this identical passage from chapter 1 and chapter 3 to show us the fact that Jonah is now a compliant prophet. The very same man, the very same word coming to that very same man, and in this place, he arises and goes according to the word of the Lord, where in the first place he arose and fled to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Jonah now is a compliant prophet, a man subdued. He's a man, as you could say, who has been made willing. Psalm 110 verse 3 puts it this way, “Your people shall be willing in the day of Your power.” And so the day of God's power in one way or another came to Jonah through the chastening hand of God, and Jonah now is a man subdued. He is as subdued as the wind that was appointed by God to fulfill its purpose, as the sea and as the fish, so now is the man, the prophet, subdued by God's mighty power, yielded to the word of the Lord, and he will now arise and go to Nineveh, that great city, and tell the message that God has appointed for him to tell. It has happened to Jonah, as the psalmist describes in Psalm 119 verse 67, “Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I have kept Your word.” Before Jonah was afflicted, he went astray, but after the hand of God was upon him in chastening, Jonah now is a man subdued that is submitting himself to the word of God. It's an amazing thing to see, isn't it? How God can subdue such a rebellious prophet as Jonah by His power. A testament to God's grace in our own lives, isn't it? We who fled from Nineveh to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, now submitted under the mighty hand of God because of the grace of God in our lives, His saving grace. But what message would Jonah proclaim to the Ninevites? Here is God's prophet, subdued by God, and God tells him, “You are to proclaim the message that I tell you.” What message is Jonah going to proclaim to the Ninevites? Firstly, we must understand that the message that Jonah will proclaim to the Ninevites is none other but God's message. In chapter number three, verse number two, he says, “You proclaim, you call out against it the message that I tell you.” You proclaim what I tell you to proclaim, Jonah. That means Jonah is about to step out to the city of Nineveh and declare none other but the message of God. He's not going to go to Nineveh and proclaim his own word, crafted by his own imagination. Nor is Jonah going to give the word of the scribes and of the rabbis that he may have been familiar with back at Israel and at Jerusalem. No, Jonah will not go there and give nice anecdotes and storytelling so as to tickle the ears of the Ninevites and hope he doesn't get a spear in his back. No. Jonah, as a man subdued under God, as a prophet of God, will go and proclaim the word that God has appointed him to proclaim. As a prophet, he stands in the place of God to the Ninevites. He is a prophet. He is not a mere orator or some entertainer or some organizer. Jonah is a prophet who is now subdued by God, whom God declares to him to go and tell the message that God wants him to tell. It was Jacques Ellul who said these words, “Jonah did not become free to select for himself what he would say to men. He did not go to them to tell them about his experiences. He did not decide the content of his preaching.” And he makes the application, thus our witness is fast bound to the word of God. The greatest saint or mystic can say nothing of value unless it is based solely on the word of God. And so it is true of the case with Jonah. This is the way of God's servants, this is the way of God's prophets, this is the way of God's preachers. Paul says it himself, “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.” He says we're not like those who peddle the word of God and and corrupt the word of God, but in sincerity, we stand before you and we proclaim Christ. In fact, Paul goes so far as to say that necessity is laid upon him, and woe is unto him if he preaches not the gospel. And so it was true of Jeremiah, God's prophet of old, who said, “If I if I say that I'm not going to make mention of God and mention of His word or speak in His name,” he goes, “there is in my heart as it were a burning fire, and I cannot endure.” God's prophet stand in the place of God, proclaiming God's message to the people. They do not proclaim their own word, and God's commission to Jonah includes the very particular commandment that when you go and stand before the Ninevites, you proclaim to mess the message to them that I tell you to proclaim. But what was the nature of this message? There are two verses here that give us an indication of what the message was like. In verse number two, the message is described as a “calling out against it.” So when Jonah goes to the Ninevites, he is calling out against the city. It's not exactly the most friendly message. It's a message that would confront. It's a message that is a message that is against them, meaning that there's something wrong with the Ninevites, something bad is about to happen to them, and Jonah's duty is to make clear the message from God that judgment is coming. Verse number four describes a message in a bit more detail. “And Jonah began to go into the city, yet going a day's journey, and he called out, ‘Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.’” Now, we are not to assume that Jonah merely spoke seven words and did not answer any questions or did not elaborate any further. I don't think that is the case. This, perhaps, may have formed the beginning of his message, and at the very least was the emphasis of his message. But it is common to narrative to leave out certain parts to make sure that there is a certain emphasis given so that we do not lose what is trying to be strongly communicated and emphasized. But when you have the preaching of Christ in the Gospels, when you have the preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost, as it says in Acts chapter 2 verse 40, after Peter preached that sermon, it says, “And with many other words he exhorted these people saying, ‘Flee from this untoward generation. Save yourselves from this untoward generation.’” With many other words, words not recorded, but words nonetheless spoken of that are described by the words, “Save yourself from this untoward and perverted generation.” And so we assume the same with Jonah, that this message was not just those seven words, as it were. And the response of the Ninevites demonstrates this to us also, because we see that the Ninevites’ response to the preaching of Jonah includes that they knew what to do. They repented, and they knew that they had to repent from their evil ways. And they knew that they needed to turn to God. And they knew something of God's mercy because they were depending on God's mercy to save them from their sin and from their soon destruction. And therefore, we see that their repentance was an informed repentance. They knew whom they should believe on, and they knew what they had to do to be saved. And in “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” doesn't encapsulate all that, but it does tell us what is certain about Jonah's message, and it tells us the certain mood of Jonah's message and the certain emphasis of Jonah's message, and that is that Nineveh shall be overthrown. Now, where on earth did Jonah get the courage to proclaim such a difficult message to these people? I mean, the Ninevites was not a safe place. Nineveh was not a safe place to be, especially as a Jewish prophet. They were ruthless pagans, enemies of the Lord and enemies of the Lord's people. It's like going to Northern Nigeria and proclaiming, “In 40 days, and Nigeria shall be overthrown!” And all the imams and, you know, stir up in the mosque and you're gone. Imagine standing on the street corner in Beijing, China and saying, “In 40 days and Beijing shall be overthrown. Repent and turn to God.” I don't think you’d last five seconds with the high surveillance security there. As soon as you open the mouth, the AI bot will somehow know what you're about to say and there'll be some robot coming to tie up your hands or something. Who knows? The point is Nineveh is not a safe place for a Jewish prophet. Street preaching in that place would be a dangerous endeavor. Where on earth does Jonah get the courage to do this? Why does he appear unmoved? Sure, he would have been fearful, there's no question about that. I don't think any person unless non-human wouldn't have some measure of fear walking into Nineveh as a Jewish prophet proclaiming repentance, but why does he appear unmoved? Well, I believe it is safe to conclude that Jonah has now been gripped by a greater fear than the fear of the pagan Ninevites and the threat of losing his life. Edmund Burke said these words, “He that fears God fears nothing else.” And God's chastening hand upon Jonah restored to Jonah the fear of the Lord. This is why Jonah washed up on the seashore. As soon as he hears the voice of the Lord, he responds, submitting himself according to the word of the Lord. Sure, he is not perfect. Sure, we're going to find that he has questions about God's you know mercy and pity and complains against the goodness of God against the Ninevites, but one thing is certain about Jonah at this point, is that he's not going to go his own way anymore. When God tells him to go, he's going to go, in the fear of God was brought into his life. As John Calvin says, he says, “He is not now moved in any degree by the greatness of the city, but resolutely follows where the Lord leads. We hence see that faith, when it once has gained ascendancy in our hearts, surmounts all obstacles and despises all the greatness of the world.” And this is what's happened to Jonah. He's been touched by God's power, His saving grace, He's been chastened of the Lord, and now he fears God more than the Ninevites, and with courage, he goes and proclaims, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Now, the effect of Jonah's preaching is surprising. Because there's at least 120,000 people in the city of Nineveh. And the Bible teaches us that the king down to all its inhabitants, including the animals, if animals can repent. I think the people did the repenting for them. Dressed up their animals to reflect their own condition. The point being, the idea is the whole city comes to the place of repentance. The whole city turns to God. The whole city is confronted with this sense of the awesome fear of God. And so the effect of Jonah's preaching in the city of Nineveh is that we see the wonderful, gracious work of God in the salvation of the entire city of the Ninevites. Now, this is a spectacular display of God's power to save. Pagan kings, maybe regarded as the most hardest people to reach, to the pagan people. There is nothing too hard for the mighty hand of God when the Spirit of God is poured out from on high, when his servant stand in His will and proclaim the word of God without fear, and preach the message of God as God tells them to preach it, trusting in the authority of Scripture and the power of God to save sinners. This is what we see in the case of Jonah. The kingdom of God breaks forth in power into this city, and the entrance of God's word brings light in one of the darkest cities in all of the world. There's a great awakening, absolutely impossible to describe in human terms. 120,000 people broken before God, repentant, turning to God, pleading with God for mercy, trusting in God to save them. What does all this demonstrate? Well, it demonstrates the theme of the book, doesn't it? Salvation belongs to the Lord. Here we have a willing God making a willing prophet by His chastening hand and making a willing people by His mighty power and saving them by grace through faith. This is God's saving power at its best. He, the author, the architect, the agent of salvation, accomplishing His saving purposes through the preached word in a pagan city, in a way that would talk to us and tell us of something that is impossible by human invention and power. It is an amazing thing. I wish I was a fly on the wall to see that day. The the great awakenings would have paled in significance to what we saw this day in this pagan city here in the life of Jonah. God is a God who saves. And when God chooses to save in mighty power, there is nothing that can thwart it, nothing that can stop it. The king to all its inhabitants will be saved if God by His willing grace makes a willing servant and makes a people willing and subdued under His mighty power. Salvation belongs to the Lord. And what we see here in obedient Jonah is what we see in obedient Jesus. Jonah is not a good a good picture of an obedient example of Jesus Christ, but in this case, we have the glimmer of hope because of the grace of God in Jonah's life. Isn't that just like us? We do a bad job of reflecting Christ, but when God chastens us and rebukes us and brings us under the subdued to His will, we reflect Christ all the more beautifully. And here we have God's prophet Jonah reflecting Jesus Christ in a wonderful way. We see Jesus as like Jonah and Jonah as like Jesus as God's obedient prophet bearing God's word to the Gentiles so that they might be saved. And as Jesus proclaimed the message of repentance, so people repented, and people turned to God. When Jesus proclaimed repentance, people were pricked to the heart and struck to their heart. Their consciences were challenged, and they bowed down like the Ninevites and obeyed the word of the Lord. Brothers and sisters, Jesus preached repentance. He said, “Except you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Jesus’s ministry began by saying that he went from town to town preaching the kingdom of God saying, “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.” Jesus's message is very much like Jonah's message, repent or be overthrown. But the difference is that Jesus shared in the pity of His Father. Perhaps no tears streamed from the eyes of Jonah as he preached repentance. But we know Jesus wept over the city, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee.” I would, but you would not. We see in the heart of Jesus what we don't necessarily see in the heart of Jonah. We see the mercy of God upon the Ninevites like you and I. And more than that, we see Jesus as the one overthrown in judgment for our salvation. Not only did Jesus say repent or perish, but Jesus stood and was hung on that cross, bearing the wrath of God, bearing our sin in His own body upon the tree, so that He was overthrown in one sense for us that we might be saved and delivered. 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown, but Jesus stands in the place of Ninevites to redeem them and was overthrown by the wrath of God so that we might go free and might be saved. So that all who believe on Him will not be overthrown in judgment. The challenges for us this evening come to us in a confronting way. The first of which is, where are the Jesus-like Jonases? Who, hearing the word of God, who hear the commission and call of God, are willing vessels through whom God can show or will show to His gracious, mighty power in the salvation of sinners by His wonderful work. There are Ninevites everywhere. And how shall they hear without a preacher? And we as Christians are like Jonah. We hear the word of God, but we have one of two choices. We flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, having the word of the Lord but hiding it in our hearts and not communicating it to the people that need it, or we stand in the place of God as a prophet of God to the people of a dark city and tell them repent or perish. There is mercy in God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. We either flee from the presence of God as a fearful prophet seeking to do our own will, or we stand as it were in the place of God and have the blessed privilege of proclaiming the word of God to a lost people and rejoicing in the salvation of sinners because God is gracious and merciful to save. Where are the Jonases? Who will take the word of God and proclaim it to the lost? This might look like going into your neighborhood and telling others about Jesus. This might look like talking to people in your workplace and might look like evangelizing your family and friends. It might look like going on a street corner and proclaiming the gospel. It might look like letterboxing or going to a nursing home and telling someone about the Lord Jesus Christ. It might look like whatever it might look like, but what it looks like is an obedient servant taking the gospel of God to people in need of it. And God has spoken to His church with the voice from heaven as He spoke unto Jonah, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” And we have the choice this evening to make a decision of what we will do with the command of Christ. But as Christians, we are also like Jonah in that we must take our message from God. That we have no right in any way, shape, or form to adjust, to manipulate, or to change the gospel to suit the masses. We are not in the place of removing sin and judgment from the message of the gospel. A gospel that does not address sin and a gospel that does not address judgment is no gospel at all. This is the error with prosperity preaching. Prosperity gospel is a gospel that makes the person's need that they see physical. It's about wealth and it's about health, and the appeals are to the physical comfort of a person. And the emphasis is not upon sin, the emphasis is not upon judgment, the emphasis is not upon the grace of God in Christ that salvation by grace through faith looks like sinners turning to Jesus. It looks like turning from your evil way like the Ninevites and coming to God. Instead, the message that is proclaimed by health-wealth preachers is a message that is not biblical. It is a message that appeals to physical needs and doesn't really address the soul's concern and really bring people to faith in Jesus Christ. Who wouldn't want to be healthier and wealthier? Not much of an appeal, is it? To save sinners from the wrath of God. And so we're not in the position to pick the message, to adjust the message. What we have is what Jonah had. We have a message that God has told us, and it is our duty to make that message known. And that message includes confronting sinners with God's law and preaching repentance. Now this doesn't necessarily mean you need to walk around like Ray Comfort, as good as an evangelist as that man is, and go through the Ten Commandments. It is a great method to use, but it is not the only method. You might take up the method of Jesus when He dealt with the Samaritan woman and said to her, “Go call your husband.” She said, “I have no husband.” “Yes, you've had five husbands and the one that you're with is not your husband.” He didn't have to say the seventh commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” He pricked her conscience right there with the authority of God's word, made an appeal to the fact that she was empty because she followed a life of sin, has been drinking from the water of this life, and she must find her satisfaction in Christ. You might take up the method of Christ when He met, He didn't go through the Ten Commandments necessarily with the Pharisees, but He said, “Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees,” and exposed their hypocrisy, pricking them to the heart, showing them that they were hypocrites, yes, law breakers indeed. You may take the approach of Jesus with the rich young ruler who, when he went through the Ten Commandments with him, didn't scale back to the Ten Commandments but said, “Go and sell everything you have and come follow me.” Whatever it may be, whatever the method that we take is not necessarily the issue at this point. The issue at this point is our message must contain this mood, and it must have this theme, and it have must have this truth that in 40 days, Nineveh shall be overthrown. The message must come through in such a way that people understand that Christ is not only Lord, not only King, but that He is Judge. And if you don't repent and turn to Him, you will stand before Him on the day of judgment with your sin, and you will have no savior. You will have Christ as your judge. Why is this important? Well, the grace of God shines ever so brightly against the darkest backdrop of sin. And the moment we minimize sin so people don't see the glories of the salvation that is offered to them in Jesus Christ. The glory of the SES is not the stickers on their car when they're driving down the street. The glory of the SES, the state emergency services, is when you see on the news a man trapped in a flood and the guy in there rescuing him from the flood. It's the presence of the flood that reveals the glory of the savior. Take it to the fireman, the same thing. It's the it's the fireman that jumps into a burning and blazing house, not saving a cat from the tree that is so glorious. Sorry if you like cats. The point is this passage, they need to do some repenting too. But the police do the same. The glory of the police force is in the midst of a criminal activity. They come to the rescue, and in the darkness of that scene, there's this light shining of a savior. And it is no different with the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we don't preach the law of God and if we don't preach the judgment of God and if we don't call sinners to repentance, they will see Jesus as a nice idea. I couldn't help myself but notice it, went through a house inspection this week, and there was a shrine of Buddha and Hindu big one in one bedroom, and right next to that shrine was this big picture of Jesus and all these other pictures of Jesus. That's what you have when you preach a repentance-less gospel. Jesus becomes another idol to add to your shelf, and we'll say our prayers to Jesus, and hopefully rub that genie lamp well and get some blessing from Him, and we'll go to Shiva tomorrow and pray for him. But those who are prophets of God that stand in the will of God and preach the word of God say, repent from idols and turn to the living and true God. That you cannot serve God and Mammon, you cannot serve God and idols. And when sinners are confronted with the darkness of sin and the exclusivity of the grace of God and the call to repentance, it is then in that position that they see the beauty and wonder of a Savior Jesus Christ who is unlike any other. So that when you know Him, you can't put Him on the shelf next to any other idol. He is way too glorious to do that. People will have little concern for their souls until they hear the words, “In 40 days, Nineveh shall be overthrown.” This is the preaching that was taken on by the apostles themselves who said, “In the times of ignorance, God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent.” Listen to this, “because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world by the man that He has appointed, Christ Jesus the Lord.” Listen very carefully. 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. There is a day appointed by God which no one knows the day or the hour when this entire world will be overthrown. And every one of us will stand in judgment before a holy God, and the law of God will be brought out, and the books will be opened, and everything that we have done and thought and said will be held out before us on the day of judgment. And in that day, it will be too late to repent like the Ninevites. That day of mercy will have passed, and you will stand there and give an account for yourself before God. And the fiery, blazing eyes of Jesus will look upon you, and you will have no covering for your sin because you did not choose to repent. Jesus said that the people of Nineveh will rise up in judgment against this city. Why? Because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and greater than Jonah is here. Do not be mistaken that the day of mercy that we have today is great. And how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? And that day of judgment that is fixed is more sure than any judgment ever proclaimed by God throughout the world, because there is no repentance that will avert God from bringing that judgment in that day unless you repent today and turn to Him. And as God's people, we need to return and ask God again for a touch of the prophetic in our preaching. Preaching like this has lost its way in evangelicalism, and it is not good for the church of God, and it is not good for the world. And without this kind of preaching, we must never expect to see the wonderful work of God in the salvation of Ninevites. If we are overly concerned about what the people will think about what we're proclaiming so that we're tempted to minimize the message, then do not expect to see people converted gloriously and saved. But when we proclaim God's words, standing as God's prophet, and going to God's places, preaching God's word to God's people as He has declared it, we can be sure that God will save by His mighty power. We can expect it. We can look for it because salvation belongs to the Lord. The offense of the cross has not ceased. The Spirit is still convincing people of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. And it is an offense to the Holy Spirit to preach any other message as does not accord with His ministry. If He is seeking to convince people of sin, righteousness and judgment, and to do that through the word of God, then it is our duty to preach sin, righteousness and judgment to come, and to call people to the mercy of God that is found in Jesus Christ. Therefore, let us be like Jonah. And when we hear the word of God to arise and go to Nineveh, that great city, and to tell it the message that God has told us. To go to Nineveh and preach the old, old story. To go to Nineveh and tell others about the cross of Jesus Christ that saves. I'll finish with a quote here by A.W. Tozer, he says this, “The cross of popular evangelicalism is not the cross of the New Testament. The old cross slew men, the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemned, the new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh, the new cross encourages it. The old cross brought tears and blood, the new cross brings laughter. The flesh, smiling and confident, preaches and sings about the cross, but upon that cross it will not die. And the reproach of that cross, it stubbornly refuses to bear.” It is possible to be like rebellious Jonah and still go to Ninevites but not tell them the message that God wants you to tell them. We have to be careful of that. Going to the world to proclaim Jesus must be done God's way. So let us as the church be confident in God's message and tell it in a way that were unashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. Let us pray.