Verses 1-2
In the beginning of chapter 3, we have almost the exact same command from God that was given in chapter 1. Jonah has been given a second chance with the same opportunity. Once again we see God’s grace upon Jonah. He is experiencing God’s unmerited favor.
There is great hope for every one of us in verse 1. As believers in Jesus Christ, even though we may go through a time of disobedience before God, God doesn’t reject us. But in his grace, He continues to pursue us, In His grace, he still desires to be in a relationship with us. In His grace he still desire to work work through us to accomplish his purposes.
If you are sitting here right now and you believe you have blown your opportunity for God use you. You need to know God has not given up on you, discarded you or turned His back on you. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, He is at work in you right now.
Verse 3
Not only does verse 3 tell us that Jonah went to Nineveh but it tells us he did it “according to the word of the Lord.” His actions were consisted with what God had told him to do. I love that phrase, “according to the word of the Lord.” My desire for my own life, for my family, for your life, for your family, for this church corporately is that we would live our lives “according to the word of the Lord.”
When we walk according to the word of the Lord it leads us to obedience, it leads us to having a right relationship with God, it leads us to knowing and experiencing the joy and freedom of God. When we live outside of the word of God, Jonah would be the first to tell you it leads to disobedience, it leads to despair, it leads to destruction
Verses 4-5
I find it interesting that verse 5 says, “and the people of Nineveh believed God.” It doesn’t say they believed Jonah. And the reason I think this is significant is because this was not about Jonah. This was about God drawing Nineveh to Him. Bringing Nineveh to a place of repentance so that they would turn to Him. Jonah was simply an instrument in the relationship between God and the people of Nineveh.
I think one of the things that too often times hinders us from proclaiming the truth of God is that we feel like we are not good communicators, we feel like we don’t articulate well, we don’t think that we are convincing or compelling in the way we are presenting our words. And our own insecurities hinders us from speaking—but the reality is it is not you, or your skills, or your abilities, or your gifting–it is about your obedience. God is the one that will draw people to Him. We simply have the privilege of being obedient as God works through us.
That doesn’t mean that we don’t study the word of God and understand what it says. It doesn’t mean that we don’t learn how to present a gospel message. 1 Peter 3:15 tells us to “be prepared” to give an answer for why you have hope in Jesus Christ. (and by the way, Peter says when we give an answer we do it with gentleness and respect.”
When we are instruments of God it means we are obedient to speak the word of God but it is not our responsibility to cause a heart to repent or to lead a heart to salvation. That is God’s responsibility.
One of the great joys of my life is being able to do what I am doing right now—publicly proclaiming the word of God. But my desire is that you do not leave here hearing the words of Jeff because the words of Jeff will not bring you salvation, freedom, joy, forgiveness, peace. But the word of God will. The word of God will stand forever. The word of God leads to salvation. The word of God brings life. The word of God can bring you from despair to hope.
Let us not put our confidence in our own words or our own ability but let us walk according to the word of the Lord and let God’s word do what God’s Word does. In Isaiah 55:11 God says, my word “goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
God’s word will accomplish what God’s word desire to accomplish. And he gives us the privilege of being an instrument of proclaiming God’s Word.
Verses 6-9
The people of Nineveh give us a picture of repentance. When we repent of our sins before God, it should be a very clear act of turning away from our sins and turning to God. You cannot repent of your sins and not change your current direction. You cannot repent of your sins and remain in your sins. Repenting of your sins is not simply stopping what you were doing. But it is the act of moving away from your disobedience and moving toward God in obedience.
In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God tells Israel to “seek my face and turn from [your] wicked ways.” In Proverbs 3:7, it says, “fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”
Here we have two aspects of repentance: move away from evil and move toward God. Because the reality is we can only be living in one of those two areas. We are either pursuing our own evil desires or we are pursuing God. There is not a neutral ground of indifference that you can stand in. And if you are truly repentant you are pursuing God. If we are truly repentant, our lives should be bearing the fruit of repentance.
I want make four observations about what true repentance looks like. And before I do that I want us to understand that there are two types of repentance.
1) There is the repentance of the non-believer that leads to salvation
2) There is the repentance of the believer that leads us back into right relationship with God.
Here are four aspects of true repentance:
1) True repentance recognizes the seriousness of sinning against God
The people of Nineveh took immediate action and repented before God. They wore sack cloths and fasted. Jonah had said that in 40 days the city would be overthrown so they probably intended to fast 40 day. Verse 7 says they weren’t going to taste any food or even drink water. This included their livestock. They immediately stopped their wickedness and called “mightily” out to God. They were taking God’s view of sin and the consequences of sin seriously. That is what repentance does. That is why true repentance is not just acknowledging your sin. It is not just throwing up a quick, “I’m sorry about that God—I won’t do it again.” But recognizing that your sin deserves death. It deserves judgment. Recognizing that your sin is an offense before a holy God.
One of the great passage of Scripture that gives us an example of true repentance is King David’s Words in Psalm 51. David writes in Psalm 51:
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:1-4)
David is a man who understood the seriousness of sin. That is sin is evil before a holy God. He is not taking his transgressions before God casually or lightly. The very fact that Jesus had to die on a cross for our sins tells us that God takes sin very seriously. If you have never repented of your sins and placed your faith in Jesus Christ as the only one who can forgive your sins, you need to know that because of the sin in your life, your life is heading toward eternal death—eternal separation from God.
True repentance recognizes the seriousness of sin.
2) True repentance takes personal responsibility for their sin
Jonah 3:6 says, “The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.”
It is interesting that the King personally responded in repentance. He immediately took responsibility for his own wickedness. He did not call in his officials to find out who was being so wicked. He owned his own actions. So often it is easy for us to look at everyone else’s sin and wonder why they won’t repent. We can get so consumed with other people’s sin that we become blinded to our own unconfessed sins.
As believers in Jesus Christ, when we sin, our sins are not being held against us when it comes to our eternal salvation. They were paid for on the cross. (our past, present and future sins). As Christians, our lives are now in Christ and we have been given the righteousness of Christ. When we sin, that does not change our in position with Christ. But we when sin it does hinder our relationship with God. And so that relationship must be restored by us coming before God and confessing that sin.
3) True repentance leads us to humility
True repentance tears away the selfishness and the pride in our lives. In verse 6, it says the King rose from his throne, his place of authority, and strength and might and power and he humbled himself by putting on a sackcloth. And when he did that he was putting himself in the position of a slave, a person in poverty—he was putting himself in the position of humility. He was no longer declaring himself all-sufficient. He was declaring himself a man in need. This King of great wealth and power was declaring himself as one who needed God to act in his life. He needed God to save him.
The first step in receiving God’s gift of salvation is recognizing our need for God to save us. The prideful heart says, “I don’t need God” but the humble heart says, “I’m broken and I need you God.” James 4:6 says, ““God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
A prideful heart does not think it needs God’s grace therefore it will not receive God’s grace.
There are some people who have walked in seasons of disobedience longer than they should have because they were unwilling to admit they were being disobedient. Their pride prevented themselves from humbling themselves before God. Their pride prevented themselves from going to someone and asking for their forgiveness.
True repentance requires a heart of humility.
And finally 4) True repentance leads to full dependence on God
The people of Nineveh recognized that they were people who were now fully dependent on God. They recognized that no one could get them out of this situation. They were a great city—they were huge. They had wealth, they had military power, strength in numbers. And they recognized that was all useless to them now. They were now people fully dependent on God’s mercy. Sometimes God allows us to lose the things in our life that we were depending on in order to bring us to a place of full dependence on Him.
True repentance brings us to a place where God and God alone is our hope, our security, our joy and our deliverer.
Verse 10
Here we see God’s mercy. When they repented, they were not earning God’s grace or mercy. Their repentance did not take away their previous sins that deserved judgment. But God delights in seeing people turn from their wickedness and turn to him. And in his mercy, he did not do what he was going to do. One of the great tragedies in life is the unrepentant heart. But one of the great joys is a heart fully surrounded to God.