God Can… So You Can Series

“God Can… So You Can”

Jonah 3:1-10

Pastor John Bright

Jonah 3 “1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. 4 And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 6 Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. 7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, “Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?”

10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.”

I doubt anyone here can tell me how many times they have sung these words – “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” You have sung it over, but do you understand the depths of wretchedness?

The man who wrote those words was John Newton. Before he was a priest in the Church of England – just like John Wesley – he was the captain of a slave ship. God still used him… after a storm and a U-turn. Does that remind you of Jonah?

There were plenty of folks in Bible, used by God, who were less than perfect: Noah was a drunk, Jacob was a liar, Gideon was afraid, Samson had long hair and was a womanizer, Rahab was a prostitute, David was an adulterer (not to mention a murderer), Naomi was a widow, John the Baptist ate bugs, Peter denied Christ, all the disciples fell asleep while praying (and ran away when Jesus really needed them), Martha worried about everything, the Samaritan woman was divorced (more than once), Mary Magdalene was demon-possessed, Zacchaeus was too small, Paul was a Christian-killer, and Lazarus was dead!

If God can use those folks – and Jonah – He can and will use you and me!

We probably don’t want Jonah’s job. God sends him to a city of blood-thirsty, idol worshipers. God tells Jonah to share a message of coming destruction – complete and utter destruction coming in 40 days (v.5). How do they respond – the king calls everyone to fast and change. Even the animals! God sees their response and does not destroy Nineveh. Why?

Today, I want to share three great truths of our Christian Faith.

Here’s the first truth (and it’s “flip-side”):

We have a God who loves us and an enemy that hates us!

We start with a God who loves us. God loves you in spite of what you have done, not because of what you have done. Do you realize the power in that statement to set us free from trying to earn the love of our Heavenly Father? Let me put it another way – there is nothing you can ever do to make God love you more and there is nothing you can ever do to make God love you less. (Let that sink in for a minute.) Is this God of powerful love news to you? This is the same God that sent a big fish to rescue and save Jonah. This is the same God that threatens to destroy Nineveh.

We live in a day when some claim that if God really loves us, there would be no hell. They seem to forget that we live a “cause & effect” world/universe. For example, consider the parenting style of the last few decades that did away with consequences for the children’s actions. How has that worked out? Not sure, ask any teacher in a public school.

We did the same thing in the Church and I call it “The Great Experiment.” It changes 2000 years of Christianity. Here it is – “I can claim to be a Believer while I say, and do, and think and believe anything I want.” So, how has that worked out?