I. INTRODUCTION
Today we’re going to study one of the most amazing revivals in history. The revival that took place at Ninevah under the preaching of the prophet Jonah.
I heard the story of a lady that went to church one day and got into a discussion with a very cynical man. He spoke in kind of a mocking tone about the miracle stories in the Bible. She took all of it she could and finally began to defend the inspiration of the Scriptures. He thought her no intellectual match for himself and smirked and said, “Don’t tell me you believe all of those ridiculous miracle stories in the Bible.” She said, “If they are in there I believe them.” He said, “Even the story of Jonah and the whale. You honestly believe that really happened?” She said, “If it’s the Bible I believe it.” He smirked and said, “Now how can that be? Since we know the stomach of a whale is no larger than a man’s head?” She said, “I don’t know. I guess when I get to heaven I’ll have to ask Jonah about that.” Again he smirked and said, “So you believe in heaven also? And just what if Jonah’s not in heaven?” She said, “In that case you’ll have to ask him.”
I suppose if I asked you to fill in the blank: “Jonah and _____” Almost all of us would say the whale. That’s what we think of when we think of the book of Jonah. But in reality the story of the great fish is not even the greatest miracle in the book of Jonah. The greatest miracle in the book of Jonah is that a large and notoriously wicked city called Ninevah repented and experienced revival. And a city was saved.
II. A MOST UNIQUE REVIVAL
And it was a very unique revival. And let me share with you several things about that revival that makes it very unique:
1. It Was “OUTSIDE” the Hebrew Nation. It’s the only revival recorded in the Old Testament that happened outside the Hebrew nation. It happened in Ninevah among pagans; among heathens. Among Gentiles.
2. It Was Not Started by “PRAYER”. You’ve heard me say before in this series that all revivals begin because a few people pray for it to come. Well, we have no record anywhere in Scripture that anybody in Ninevah was praying for revival. Maybe they were, but it looks like this time revival came because of the unsolicited grace and mercy of God.
3. The “PREACHER” Didn’t Want It To Happen. Most amazing thing is that the revivalist never wanted it to happen. One of the most amazing revivals in history was preached by a preacher that didn’t want to see it happen.
Jonah wanted Nahum’s job. Now Nahum is another prophet of God in the O.T. and in his short little book he got to preach against Ninevah and you can read in the book of Nahum and realize it truly was a wicked city and filled with all manner of violence. And Nahum preached against Ninevah and that judgment came, and that’s the job Jonah wanted.
You see Jonah was content with the status quo. Israel was God’s people and Ninevah was going to end up in hell. He was fine with it just staying just like that. So you can imagine how disturbed he was when, let’s read Jonah 1:1-3. READ
You see, he would rather resign his office as prophet than resign himself to the will of the God. Now when it says he was running away from the Lord, Jonah knew as a prophet of God that he could not run away from the presence of God. The Psalmist says, “From the highest hill to the depth of the sea there’s no place you a go and escape the notice of God.”
That’s not what he was trying to do. He was not trying to run away from the presence of God, but he was trying to run away from service of God. He reasoned, “I can get somewhere where God can’t use me to do this thing that I don’t want to do.” So you know story, he went down to Joppa. It so happened a ship was there going to Tarshish. There’s always a ship when you don’t want to do God’s will. There’s always ship ready to take you somewhere else.
So he got on that boat and it says the Lord created a storm. It must have been quite a storm. Jonah 1:4-8 READ. Now Jonah was asleep downstairs and the captain woke him up to have him pray to his God. Listen to Jonah’s response: Jonah 1:9 2:1; 10.
Now the word of the Lord comes to Jonah a second time. Jonah 3:1-5. It says “they believed God.” And I don’t know, maybe, you know if your on the bank of an ocean and a fish comes up and spits a man out, and he’s covered with enzymes and he’s bleached white, and there’s seaweed all over his face, and he says, “Repent!” maybe you would too.
III. TWO QUESTIONS FOR JONAH TO CONSIDER
Why did God want to use this prophet who had already run away once before and had such a bad attitude towards the city of Ninevah? I think God wanted Jonah to face three questions; three questions that we need to face if we want revival to come our church and our city.
A. Can Ninevah Change Their “Views”?
Is there any hope for the wicked people of the world. And the first thing the book tells us is, “Yes.” Outsiders can change their views. You see the question is answered even before Jonah gets to Ninevah. Because those sailors in that boat were a miniature version of Ninevah, each with their own god and his own false religion. But these pagans, although they didn’t know who Yahweh was, they were ready to do whatever He wants. Look at the spirit of these sailors in Jonah 1:14-16 READ.
Now, if a bunch of crusty old sailors can change their views about God, what do you think is going to happen in Nineveh. Well the Bible is going to tell us in four words in Jonah 3:5, “The Ninevites believed God.” Notice it does not say they believed Jonah, they believed God. Even though they were notoriously wicked. Even though they’re history is full of terrible deeds. These are hard-hearted people. But there is something harder than hardest heart of man, and that is the strong, piercing, powerful Word of God. And it can break even the hardest heart. And that’s why we pray for revival. That’s why we believe that even in the most amazing places if the word of God is preached we can find faith. Jesus one time was approached by a Roman soldier. Look at Luke 7:1-10. READ.
B. Can Ninevah Change Their “Ways”?
Jonah teaches us that outsiders can also change their ways. Jonah 3:6-9 READ. By the way, did you notice that all three of the requirements of 2 Chronicles 7:14 are met in Nineveh. (1) Humble, (2) pray and seek face, (3) Turn from your wicked ways. Because let me tell you something about repentance. Repentance is a specific altering of some actions in your life that displeases God. That’s what Paul aid in Acts 26:20, READ.
You know repentance is real when people change their ways. That’s what God looks for. The Bible says in Jonah 3:10 READ. Folks it’s important to notice that God is moved by repentance. Repentance changes God. That’s what the 40 days were about. Why did God say to Jonah, “Tell them they have 40 days before I destroy Nineveh.” Was it just to make the misery worse. NO! Implied in 40 days was the thought, “If you turn from that which angers me, I will save this city.” That’s why God gave them 40 days. God knows even the worst people can change. That’s why we pray for revival. That’s why theirs hope for America.
I think the most powerful testimony to the authenticity of the Christian faith is the lives that are changed by it. That’s an argument Satan cannot counter. Theres a great story about an avowed atheist named Charles Bradlaw. And there was a minister there in London in the inner city named H.R. Hughes. He had a ministry to the homeless and the poor. Bradlaw challenged him to a debate on the existence of God and the legitimacy of religious faith. Hughes accepted on these terms. He said, “I’ll come to debate you. But I must bring 100 people who say their lives have been profoundly changed by Christ to give their testimony. And you can cross-examine them to see if their conversion is sincere. You must also bring 100 people who will stand up and say their lives have been made profoundly stronger and nobler and more decent by their lack of faith.” The day for the debate came and Bradlaw did not show up. But Hughes did with his 100 people who gave their testimonies and that night many unbelievers who came to hear the debate gave their lives to Christ.
Nineveh can change, praise God. And so can Eagleville. I think the real change was in Nineveh and the perceived change was in God. In verse 9 the king of Nineveh said, “Let’s repent; maybe God will turn.” Nut in verse 10 it says, “God saw they had turned.” They’re the ones who turned. They’re the ones who changed.
Have you ever tried to walk into a real strong wind. Struggling to walk forward. And then you turn around and suddenly it’s easy. What changed? The wind did not change. Although it seemed so different. But what changed was your direction. And that’s what happened to Nineveh. Instead of walking against God she started walking with God.
IV. HOPE FOR A REBELLIOUS WORLD
The only hope for a rebellious world is a gracious God. That’s the only hope. There would not be any revival without people willing to repent, and their would be no repentance without grace. Because forgiveness of sins comes because the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Nothing we could do could pay the debt. SING “HE PAID A DEBT”.
God’s grace is almost beyond our ability to understand. I mean the elder brother just could not figure out a dad that would receive a prodigal back home. And the workers in the field couldn’t figure out a master that would give people that worked one hour the same money as people that worked twelve. That’s what makes God so hard to understand because He is so determined to save His children, he is so full of grace that we cannot fathom, sometimes we just can’t figure him out today.
That’s why you find so many people trying to work their way to heaven and be in a right position with God instead of relying of His mercy and grace and saying, “God, I can’t do it! Here’s my life. I come to you in repentance and bow down on my knees and ask for your forgiveness.” SING “ON BENDED KNEE”.
The Bible says in 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow keeping His promise about the coming of Jesus. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish. But everyone to come to repentance.”
God is determined to save His children. I heard about a conversation between an atheist and a believer. The atheist mocked heaven, “God, if you’re up their stroke me dead right now. Send lightening down from heaven and strike me dead!” Nothing happened. So he turned to the believer and said, “See. I have proven there is no God.” The believer said, “No. You’ve only proven that God is gracious.”
Here’s the challenge for us today: Look at chapter 4. Jonah is quick to be angry because God is slow to anger. But God says to Jonah, God says to me, “Do you have any right to hope that anyone, no matter how terrible, vile, do you have any right to hope that they don’t have the same chance to escape judgment that I gave you.” WOW!
The book of Jonah says that Nineveh can change. And the book of Jonah says, “Yes, God can change too, when he sees repentance.” The real question of the book of Jonah is “Will Jonah change?” Will people like you and me change? The issue isn’t can a man live inside a fish. The issue is does the spirit of Jonah live within you and me.
Two thoughts as we close:
A. We Need To Change If We’re Not “Burdened” for the lost of the world.
We must change. If we have the Jonah spirit there are two tragedies:
1. We Will “Delay” Revival. That’s what happened to Nineveh. Nineveh could have had revival much earlier but Jonah wouldn’t get there. Because he had no burden for lost people.
2. We Will “Miss” the Joy. This book of Jonah doesn’t just teach me that God cares for everybody, I already knew that. The book teaches me that I know God cares for everybody and I still don’t. And I’ll tell you, right now in your life there are some Ninevites. In your life right now there are some people that God wants you to love that are hard to love. Some people that may even deserve hell. And God wants you to bring revival to them. And I tell you something, if you don’t want to, Satan will always makes sure there’s a boat available. Satan will always make sure there’s a way to get away from what God wants you to do. Always. And so I don’t believe we’re going to pray for revival until we see Eagleville like God saw Nineveh.
A man came to the great preacher Spurgeon one time and said, and you may have heard this question before, “Do you really believe that those who have never heard the Gospel are lost?” You know what Spurgeon said back? “A more important question is do you really believe that those that say they believe the gospel and never share it are saved?” The next time you drive downtown in Eagleville I want you to pay that God will help you to see this city like he sees this city. So you’ll want what he wants for it.
William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, took his young son, Bramwell, on a walk one time, he was about 12 years old. Suddenly he jerked him by the arm and took him inside a saloon. Inside where the scares born by men whose lives had been filled with vice and crime, many of them were drunk. The whole place smelled. The noxious fumes of alcohol and smoke. And William looked at his son and said, “Bramwell, these are our people. These are the people I want you to love and bring to Jesus Christ.”
The mission and the passion of the church must be bringing people to believe in Christ as their Savior. And we need to change if we don’t have a burden for lost people.
B. We Need To Change If We’re Not “Gladdened” by the Love of God.
And second, we need to change if we’re not gladdened by the love of God. Ole’ Jonah, now he was glad when that fish spit him out. He was glad when God grew a vine to cover his head. I notice something about Jonah. He’s only glad about grace when he gets it. He never learned to rejoice in the truth that God’s love is limitless.
They tell the story of a woman in London who lived in the slums and never went out on a holiday so some friends put some money together to take her on a trip to he ocean. They say she went out to the beach and looked at the ocean and began to cry. And somebody asked her, “Why are you crying?” And she pointed to the water and said, “It’s the only thing in my life I have ever seen that there’s enough of.” Folks that’s the mercy of God. There’s enough mercy of God to save all the Ninevites in the world, and especially here in Eagleville.
I want to give you a revival prayer to pray from Ephesians 3: “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide, and long, and high and deep is the love of Christ.” And if God answers that prayer, and if you begin to get a gleamse of how awesome if the love of God, you’ll beg for the city of Eagleville.
So the final question is, “Are you going to change?” It’s amazing Jonah witnessed the greatest revival in history and he missed it. Revival came to Nineveh but it never came to Jonah. Don’t make that mistake.
I believe God is going to make sure that tens and perhaps even hundreds of people in our community are going to get saved in the near future. I believe he’s going to find a church and he’s going to send them there.
Are we going to be that church? It begins with each of us individually. Why? Because we are the church! Let’s ask God to come into our hearts today and begin to change us in the areas of our lie that need changing.
Sing “Come Into My Heart, Lord Jesus”
(Fashioned for my audience from a series by Rich Atchley)
