Judgment, repentance, and the mercy of God - June 4, 2023

NewLife Christian Fellowship's Podcast

This morning, I am continuing in my sermon series through the Old Testament book of Jonah, which is a masterfully told story with a great deal of relevance to our lives today. Over the last three weeks, we looked at the chapters 1 & 2 of Jonah and talked about how God called Jonah and calls us to find our identity and purpose in Him and to share His message with others. But Jonah, like many of us, rejected that call. Instead of submitting to that call and finding true purpose and freedom, he decided to run as far as he could from God’s call. We saw that although he boarded a ship and tried to sail as far as he could in the opposite direction from where God wanted him to go, he could not escape from God’s omnipresent sovereignty. As others on the ship experience a storm of suffering because of Jonah’s disobedience, it becomes evident that the only way to survive will be for Jonah to be thrown overboard, to submit himself to God’s saving discipline. And so, the sailors reluctantly throw Jonah overboard, where God provides a great fish to swallow him up. And in the belly of the great fish, Jonah prays to God and acknowledges that those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs, and that salvation comes from the Lord. He is willing, finally, to go to Ninevah. Let’s pick up the story in chapter 3:

Jonah 3:1-10 - Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you." 3 Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city-- a visit required three days. 4 On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned." 5 The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. 6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish." 10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.