Jonah 3 Revival In Nineveh 1. The Great Purpose 1. And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, A. God’s Calling Is The Same. Jonah is still God’s prophet. B. God’s Compassion Is the Same (2; 1:2) - "That great city." C. God’s Commission Is Still The Same (2) - "Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee." Romans 11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Num 23:19 God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent Malachi 3:6 For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed 2 Tim 2:13 - "If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself." James 1:17 - "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." Hebrews 13:8 — “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Num 14:21 But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD. Ezekiel 33:11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? Romans 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. Now the Lord gave Simon Peter a second chance. God gave John Mark a second chance. 2. The Great People 2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, (a) They were a great people in Size. between 600,000 and 1,000,000 people. (b) They were a great people in Sin ch 4 v 11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle? Nineveh was a very wicked city. a very violent people. (c) They were a great people in Salvation Matt 12 v 41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
3. The Great Proclamation 2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. 4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. There is always a deadline to grace. (a) The Flood. But Noah preached for 120 years then the flood came. God said, "My Spirit will not always strive with man." . (b) Sodom Gen 19 v 1 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;
(c) Someday there will come a judgment Acts 17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
There is a time I know not when. a place I know not where, that seals the destiny of man for glory or despair. There is a line by us unseen that crosses every path, a hidden boundary between God's mercy and God's wrath.
4. The Great Power. 5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, The people of Nineveh believed God Gen 15 Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Paul said in Romans 4 "To him that worketh not, but believeth, to him his faith is counted for righteousness." How were the Ninevites saved? They were saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, (a) the great power of Conviction 5 and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
(b) the great power of Confession 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (c) the great power of Conversion 10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. The greatest miracle is not the great storm. The greatest miracle is not that the great fish swallowed Jonah and he survived. The greatest miracle is that a whole city of people who spiritually knew not their right hand from their left hand turned to God in forty days.
5. The Great Pardon 10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. what does it mean when it says God repented? Well it's the Hebrew word nahom that means to sigh, to breathe deeply. It means like a sigh of relief. It means God relented. It means when they repented, God relented. Ezekiel 33:14 Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; 15 If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. 16 None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.
