Series: Having a Heart for Nineveh
Jonah 3:4-10
INTRO
It was 1847, Jeremiah Lanphier, a simple man of faith and prayer
gathered a few businessmen for a noontime prayer meeting at the Old Dutch Church on Fulton Street-New York up until this point, he had attempted ministry with little success
-he sought to organize Sunday Schools around the city—but it went nowhere
-so he focused upon businessmen-and he began to invite them to meet regularly for prayer
-in a city of over a million people, six came
-but within weeks, it grew into a vast number of people—such that nearby churches overflowed with people praying
-within 5 months, a single prayer meeting turned into a nationwide prayer wave
-and two million people came to Christ
How did this happen?
-it appears to have had little to do with men or methods
-but much to do with an extraordinary moving of God—producing extraordinary results
A similar thing happened in the ancient city of Nineveh—some 2,600 years
ago
-Jonah 3 is the account of God moving in an unexpected place at an unexpected time with unexpected grace
-using a deeply flawed and reluctant prophet
-who did his best to avoid Nineveh—because he was convinced bloodthirsty people should be paid back for wrong doing
-sent to hell—rather than offered the opportunity of entering heaven
-but God was determined to speak His message through Jonah
-and in chap 3—Jonah made his way to Nineveh-(read vss 1-3)
-geography suggests it was a trek some 500 miles across a forbidden desert
-to a city that was lit “a great city to God”
1. An idiom to describe size—for Nineveh was an immense city by ancient standards
-nearly 7 miles in circumference according to 8th century excavations
2. a phrase to describe importance-for Nineveh was a city that was the diplomatic, trade, military center
3. a phrase to say that it was city that captured the heart of God
-and through His prophet—God spoke (read verse 4)
-Jonah warned of imminent disaster
-in 40 days—Nineveh will be “turned over”—as earth is turned over by a shovel—the same word was used in connection with Sodom and
Gomorrah -cities that were so annihilated for their sin archeologists are at a loss to find them
Jonah’s language was a warning to Nineveh that it was destined to be empty, void, and waste—all of its power and glory vanished in a moment
-future armies will pass by without knowing you were ever there
-for God is a holy God—and the stench of your sin has reached His nostrils
-what is amazing was the response
-Jonah became the accidental evangelist (read vss 5-9)
-the verses reveal a tremendous breaking
-a city turned upside down—inside out
-an overwhelming conviction of sin took hold
-before Jonah could go any further—preach any more than the first day
-it’s as if in this opening message the whole earth heard
-from the least to the greatest, from street people to city commissioners-rich/poor-famous/obscure
-put on sackcloth, daubing themselves with ashes, ripping their clothes, pulling out their hair—expressing repentance at the deepest level
-what’s really amazing is that even the horses and cattle were called to fast and get right with God
-we’re so bad our animals are even bad (like my dog Skip—who needs his own repentance)
-everyone was called to cease lit the “violence in their hands”
-somewhere in Jonah’s message—people sensed the wrath of God was near
-and humbled themselves in hopes God would relent
-and in the end, grace replaced wrath—God’s judgment was pulled
back, averted—at least for now (read vs 10)
What explains their actions?
-what would compel such ruthless people, such merciless and arrogant
leaders, to fall to their knees?
-Jonah had barely gotten a third of the way into the city—and hell was literally breaking apart at his feet—grace, going ahead of Jonah, was dismantling the gates of evil
-what explains this moving of God?
1. WAS IT THE MESSENGER?
-Jonah’s powerful preaching skills, commanding personality?
-all we know about Jonah is that he was a whiner—half hearted— dullness of spirit
-their response confirmed his worst fears
2. WAS IT THE MESSAGE?
-hard to figure—considering it was so brief (5 Hebrew words), so in your face, so vague, so lacking of rhetorical creativity
-there was no compelling introduction, so humorous illustrations, no 3 points outline
-not even a conclusion
-like the sticker—Turn or Burn
-only there was no turn—just burn baby burn
-whose going to respond to these words?
-Jonah’s message qualified him to be hung by his toes
3. WAS IT THEIR SUPERSTITIONS?
-maybe—pagan nations worked hard to have all the gods on their sides
-maybe Jonah tapped into their superstitious codes
4. WAS IT COINCIDING TRAGEDIES?
-maybe—Nineveh may have just faced a plague, famine, a horrific earthquake, huge setbacks on the battlefield
-getting right with God is often prefaced by some disaster
5. WAS IT GOD?
-reading and re-reading the story—it is hard to come to any other conclusion
-for there is nothing to point us in any other direction
-in fact—everything in this story leads us to conclude—IT COULD
ONLY BE GOD!!
-an extraordinary sense of divine presence was at work—the Spirit of
God breathed through the city--and things were not the same again
-God’s mercy just exploded—for nothing of Nineveh deserved this
A. Nineveh was an UNGODLY place
-if there was ever a den of iniquity, a place where sin flourished—where God was defied--it was Nineveh
-their wickedness was so pervasive-had so touched the world community--that Nahum ends with the question—
“On whom has not your evil passed continually?”
B. Nineveh was a TERRIFYING place
-within these walls lived the most feared, despised people of earth-whose history was a layer upon layer of brutal deeds
-people you wouldn’t want to have as your neighbors
-the Assyrians were the “dread” of Western Asia
-torture and slaughter awaited any who dared to challenge them
-if there ever was a place you would expect God to avoid—it was this place
AND YET—GOD’S GRACE BROKE OUT!!
-as it does in impossible places
-Jonah is the powerful reminder that there are no limits to divine love
-that God in all times and all places desires that creation come back to Him
-as Scripture declares-“But God is patient, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance”-2 Pet 3:9
-as Paul puts it-“God wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (I Tim 2:4)
-God was simply commissioning Jonah to be part of something eternity had been long at work preparing
-and the thing is—Nineveh is not unique-there have been other moments
-Pentecost-the Spirit was unleashed—and thousands responded to the message of a simple Peter
-Paul caught a glimpse in Corinth—where he was ready to pack it in, dust off his feet—which was another way of saying—to hell with you— and God replied—stay here, for I have many people in this city-Acts18:10
-there are moments God has moved in extraordinary ways—in ways that can only suggest it was a God thing
-Jonathan Edwards was a pastor with no real variety in his voice—he was rather monotone
-scarcely gestured—even move
-made no attempt to gratify the taste, fascinate the imagination with elegance of style or beauty of pictures
-yet became a spark for the divine voltage that stirred an awakening in New England in the 1700’s
-and 50,000 were awakened to Christ
-in 1789, James McGready, a man so ugly he attracted attention, preached on sin—and it so alienated people in Carolina they sent a letter written in their blood—leave or else!
-and he went to Kentucky—with the same passion for lost people—in a county where lawlessness ruled the day
-and he called people to sign and act upon a covenant to pray for an outpouring of God’s Spirit
-and what has been described as “a mighty effusion of God’s Spirit came upon the people—and their screams for mercy pierced the heavens”
-and it set in motion a second awakening and thousands were reached
for God—all the way to the east coast of America
-in an exceedingly gloom and repellent section of London, 80 people gathered to hear their pastor’s first sermon
-he was 19—lacking confidence
-but within 7 years, God broke out—and thousands came to Christ at Metropolitan Tabernacle
-and when its pastor, Charles Spurgeon, was asked to explain it—all he could say was—there people prayed
-what lots of people do not realize is that in 1905 in Portland, there was
a similar moving of God
-hundreds of businessmen closed their doors from 11-2 each day for prayer
-it was a movement that spun off the Welsh Revival, in which the Spirit
moved through Ireland like a tidal wave and brought 100,000 to Christ
-the impact was so powerful police were put on unemployment and tavern owners went bankrupt
All one can say is something of the mysterious ways of God just steps into the stream of history
-and those who have studied such movements can only conclude they were deep and vital transformations of culture initiated by the Spirit of
God—where repentance becomes the order of the day—just as in Nineveh
-I experienced something of this movement of God first hand when Billy
Graham came to Aberdeen in 91
-and though his message was rather simple—all I know and witnessed was this-God’s grace did something powerful
-people unexplainably began to weep and leave their seats before they were even asked to do so
How can any of us read Jonah 3 without asking—God, is there anything you
can’t do?
-but more—God, what would it take to do the same thing in our
Nineveh today?
-if God did this amazing work through a reluctant prophet
-what might he do through a willing church?
-if God did this through a prayerless Israel—what might God do through a people devoted to prayer—willing to unite to be a prophetic voice?
CONCLUSION
In a mural on a wall in Mainz, Germany is the story of Jonah
-one sees the great fish, the ship, Jonah looking over the city
-what stands out is that the skyline of Nineveh is the skyline of Mainz
-the mural is making a statement—Nineveh is the city nearby that needs to hear the prophetic word
-will we seek God for a fresh movement of the Spirit?
-will we devote ourselves to prayer?
Will we expect, God is there anything you cannot do?
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