Mercy for the City (Jonah 3)

Discovering together – God’s intention and desire for the people of KL. And we’re praying, leading up to Easter, that God would be merciful to our great city. – Bible. Turn.

Text: Jonah 3 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Contrast with chapter 1. – Last time when God called Jonah to go to Nineveh – Jonah ran in the complete opposite direction. We don’t fully know what’s going on in Jonah’s heart right now. But there’s a level of obedience to God. I’m sure being thrown overboard into the sea and being in the belly of a big fish must’ve been a terrible experience. – It’s not something Jonah wanted to experience again.

Note: Pattern – The word of the Lord came…according to the word of the Lord. Pattern for blessing and joy in life – Fulfilled, Meaningful, Rich. Disobedience to God, his word and his ways, always leads to disaster.

Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 

4 Questions Jonah 3 presents and answers for us…

1. How does God view sin?

Lots of people have an incomplete understanding of God and his character. They think – God is love. So he loves and accepts everyone just as they are. And we need to just love people unconditionally, no matter what, like God does. – But God, as he’s very clearly revealed himself to us in his word, is also a God of justice, righteousness, and holiness – Which means God does not and cannot just overlook sin. Why – God to Jonah – Call out against Nineveh – Not – It’s ok that you’re doing lots of evil things – I will look past all that because I love you. No. God must punish all sin, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem to us, because God is holy. – Set apart. Holy, holy, holy. (Not love 3x. Not grace 3x.)

God never makes light of sin. – It’s not that bad. You weren’t that bad. You’re mostly good. You just need a little help. – No. There is nothing good about you. Wicked. All have sinned against me. You deserve to die because of your sin. Hard but true statement: God does not accept you as you are on your own. And the bad news gets even worse…

There is no saving yourself. You are dead in your sin. All the other major religions of the world and in this city – If you’re good enough – You can save yourself. If you give enough, if you pray enough, if you fast, if you do enough good works, then God will weigh out your life and if the good is more than the bad, you’ll get to be reincarnated to a better life or get into paradise.

Christianity and the gospel – You can never be good enough, you can never do enough good works to save yourself. Because even your good/best works are tainted by sin. – Filthy/Unacceptable to God. So…

Jonah’s message – Forty days and you’re all going to die. Forty days and you’re all going to hell. That’s basically what Jonah preaches. Now – Was the message Jonah preached the exact message God told him to preach? Or was it Jonah’s version? We’re not too sure. But we do know from the text – God tells Jonah to call out against the city.

Imagine someone preaching like this at KLCC. How do you think it’d go? How do you think people would respond? When we did our evangelism and disciple making training last fall – is this how we trained you? Not exactly. Jonah might be missing love and kindness…

But Jonah’s boldness and clarity are there. Message – Urgency. He’s letting the people know – This message is more important than anything else going on in life right now. Makes people – whatever they’re doing – stop and listen. And look what happens…

5 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. 6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 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, 8 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. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

2. What hope is there for man?

If we are dead in our sin and we can’t save ourselves, how then does God save us? What hope is there for us? Because God is holy and just, he’d be completely justified to just let us die for our sin. He could have just left Nineveh/us to perish. But not only is God not ok with sin. He’s also not ok with leaving people in sin. His love for us compelled him to do something about it. God’s love for his enemies, for the people of Nineveh, compelled him to send Jonah with the only message of hope for mercy. 

And the people respond in faith. Hebrew – “Believe” – First word of the sentence in v.5. What made the Ninevites believe and respond to what seems like such a harsh message? To the point where not only did every person respond – from the king to the lowliest servant. They even made their animals fast and covered them with sackcloth. Getting ready – Don’t forget the cows, dogs, cats, bunnies, hamsters – That’s pretty funny – Too much? Ridiculous? – but it shows how serious they were in responding to God’s word.

How did God save and change the people of Nineveh? How does he do it with us? – His mercy/salvation comes through the preaching of his word/gospel.

1. God sends Jonah to preach his message.

2. And Nineveh believes in faith. Response:

–Grieve and Repent – Sackcloth and ashes. See the seriousness of their sin. Turn from evil and violence – from their old way of life back to God. Life change happens in real time.

–Fast and Pray – Calling out mightily to God – Not – let’s try to appeal to our gods first. Let’s try our way first. But as if it’s our only hope. Desperation.

Their response is great because they understood their sin was great and God’s judgment on their sin was great.

Who knows – Not – We’ve done enough to save ourselves. – They throw themselves at the mercy of God. Hoping in the mercy of God.

What’s your response to sin look like? When you’re confronted by your sin? Do you ever grieve over your sin? Does it ever make you feel sick to your stomach? That it’s evil, offensive to God. You deserve to die and eternally be separated from God. That your sin is what made it necessary for Jesus to come and die? That it was your sin that put Jesus on the cross? Your sin. You. If you did, you’d take sin a lot more seriously. – Response like the Ninevehites.

The gospel helps us see our sin for what it is. Helps us to see ourselves for who we really are. – Sinners deserving of death. Sinners in desperate need of God’s mercy. In need of new hearts that instead of loving sin, grieve over and hate sin, and love God. – And this only happens in response to God’s word…

Get this: God’s mercy comes through his word. And the preaching of God’s word doesn’t happen apart from God’s people sharing his message faithfully. Jonah’s obedience to God in preaching the message led to an entire city being saved. And just as he called Jonah to preach to Nineveh, he has called every single person who has received his mercy to go and share the gospel to their city, to the world. And when God’s people obey in preaching the gospel – God saves the city and the nations.

Important – God’s salvation/mercy isn’t dependent on the quality of the delivery or the deliverer. Jonah was a disobedient, reluctant prophet. And God used him to reach an entire city. He preached a message of destruction – not salvation/ repentance/love – but the people responded. 

If it were dependent on the messenger, he wouldn’t be able to use any of us. – We’re all Jonahs. But because it isn’t dependent on us, he can use any/all of us.

The gospel is very simple and very clear. – You don’t have to present it with wisdom or clever words or eloquence for it to have power. The power is in the gospel itself. And we simply have to put it in front of people and watch God work. So you can share what may be the most unclear, confusing, messed up presentation of the gospel – And God can still use it.

God can use any message. Regardless of motivation, quality, even heretical. Some of you – Grew up in a different religion – Saw the pointlessness, hopelessness. And God used that to lead you to the gospel. SA trip. AR – Muslim. Imam. Traveling evangelist. Quran memorized. JWs – X Christians. Bible. Believer. Pastor. 

God is the one who saves from start to finish. – Author and Perfector of our faith. God is the one who softens hearts. He’s the one who sends people with the gospel. He makes the way for us to be forgiven of our sin. He saves us. And he brings it to completion. All stages of salvation – justification, sanctification, glorification – all God.

How foolish would it have been for Jonah to be like – I’m awesome. I preached a great sermon. That’s why all these people in Nineveh responded. – NO. It is in our weakness/inability that God’s power is made known. If we are going to boast – We should boast in our weaknesses! – So if you feel like you’re not that gifted, you’re not that good of a communicator, you’re awkward, you get nervous, you’re unqualified to share the gospel – You’re exactly the kind of person God desires to use!

10 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.

God will always respond to repentance with mercy/forgiveness. Always. It’s a natural reflex for him. He loves to be merciful. He doesn’t want anyone to perish but for all to come to faith in him. – Why he sent Jonah to Nineveh. – Only happens through the preaching of God’s word, through the preaching of the gospel, by his people. 

Repentance is not something just for nonbelievers to do for salvation one time to receive God’s mercy. Repentance is not just for salvation but also for your spiritual formation. All unrepentant sin leads to disaster. Cancer that takes up residence and numbs your senses to the things of God and your love for him. Martin Luther – All of the Christian life is repentance. – God’s mercies are new every morning. And God’s word is what teaches, corrects, rebukes, and trains us in righteousness.

Only hope for God’s mercy – The gospel. – Preached to the city/world. Through us.

3. Who is your Nineveh? Not – Has God sent you? – But where has God sent you to proclaim the gospel message – of belief in Jesus – for repentance and mercy? KL – Workplace. Neighborhood. Gym. School.

BRP – Lk. 10 – Jesus – The harvest is plentiful – People who are ready to receive and believe the gospel are everywhere – But the laborers are few. Pray for laborers. God’s already preparing the hearts of people. IDKAY – But I want to be part of a church that loves and reaches its city, is generous in meeting the needs of the city.- Everyone. Means – WE, you and I, need to be people who love and reach our city. We all need to be praying. …sharing. We all need to be giving generously towards the mission. We all need to be doing whatever it takes. We can’t just be a church full of people who desire for God to do amazing work in our city but don’t do anything in joining God ourselves. That’s not how it works.

We are God’s chosen vehicle for the only message that saves. And for a lot of people in our city – You are the only Christian they know. Just you. And God is calling you, just like he called Jonah, to go and share in your workplace, your neighborhood, your school – because that’s the primary reason why he has you there. 

First got to KL – There are so many lost people. The city is too big. We need more laborers for the city. Prayed for God to send more from the US and all over the world. And I still pray that. But one of the things God spoke very clearly to me – Every member at Garden City is already here. And every new person they reach is a new missionary to the city. And they don’t need to move from the other side of the world with all the logistics/challenges. They’re already here. They’re already in the city to reach the city. The call on Jonah’s life is the call on every believer’s life. – The nations. Our city. Every member – Missionary.

WY1 – The one person you are praying for this year. For God to save. For you to faithfully pursue and share with. – Where has God already sent you? Who is it that is close to you but far from God? They are your Nineveh – the people that God desires to show mercy to through your sharing the gospel with them.

Easter – Invite. Come and see. We gather once a week and we want people in our city to come and see our love for God and one another on display. And when they come here, they will clearly hear the gospel whether it’s Easter or not. But that’s only one small part of our strategy to reach our city…because I know most of our city may not ever step foot into our church. So…

The other big part of our strategy is YOU – Go and tell. Faithfully praying and sharing Jesus the other 6 days of the week in all the different places to all the different people all across our city from all around the world. – The mission doesn’t happen without you.

4. Are you moved with compassion for the lost? Are you compelled by the power and glory of the gospel?

If you’re not moved with compassion for the lost – for those who don’t know Jesus. And even more so – If you’re not compelled by the power and beauty of the gospel to share it – Then do you really understand the gospel? Do you understand just how merciful God has been to you? How wonderful the gospel message is?

Conclusion/Gospel: Because – On what basis would God forgive all the evil of the great city of Nineveh or of the world – of you and me? Because he didn’t forgive and forget. There had to be some kind of punishment for all our sin. The just wrath of God had to go somewhere. – I’m sorry – alone not going to cut it. Mercy – Not getting what you deserve because God put it all on Jesus. That’s why/how, the only reason, God relents of his wrath against us. 

World – Hate those who hate you. Show no mercy to your enemies. But God loves and is merciful even to his enemies – Nineveh/Us. He stored up the wrath our sin deserved and put it on Jesus on the cross. Jesus got the Father’s wrath so we could have his mercy.

Kindness of God to us in his Son, Jesus Christ, that leads us to repentance back to God. Jesus is proof that we should hope in the mercy of God – not just for ourselves but for our great city. Yes, our city – KL – is great. Even greater than Nineveh. And the sin in our city is great. But God’s mercy is greater.

Lk. 11 – The one greater than Jonah is here. – Jesus. God is ready to be merciful to you because he punished Jesus for your sin, in your place. Repent. Believe. Free gift.