(1) First we think of Jonah, who was swallowed by a large fish because he refused to obey the Lord’s command to go preach to them.
(2) Secondly we think of their ranking with the most wicked people who ever lived on earth.
Illus: Once the Ninevites would capture a town they committed horrendous acts:
-Once they had captured all the men in a town, they would sexually violate all the women.
-When they were through torturing the women and sexually abusing them, they would take the men one by one, and with great pleasure cut off their noses, ears, hands, and then they would puncture their eyes.
When we consider how cruel the Ninevites were, we can understand why Jonah did not want to preach to them.
Jonah, along with everyone else, would have been simply delighted if God would have wiped the Ninevites from the face of the earth. They were a menace to society!
As cruel and violent as the Ninevites were, The Bible mentions them when it comes to TRUE REPENTANCE.
Why? Perhaps it is because it takes wicked people getting saved to show us what TRUE REPENTANCE is!
For example, a morally good person can be saved and one can not observe a tremendous change in his life because he had not committed the visible sins, but when the violent, wicked person is saved the change is easy to observe.
This was one of the things that impressed the apostle Paul about the Thessalonians.
Look at I Thess. 1:9. He said, “...and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;”
That is, once they had come to God for salvation, it was obvious that they had been saved because they forsook the idols they had been serving.
Also, when we think of being gloriously saved, we can not help thinking about the man in Mark, chapter 5.
Illus: Before that man was converted, he had been a wild man. He had to be chained like an animal. He lived in a cemetery. The Bible says, Mark 5:5, “And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.”
What a pitiful man! Sin had wrecked his life, but once he came to know the Lord, what a change we see in his life! When the towns people, who had known that mad man, came to see him after his conversion, look at the change they saw. In verse 15, we read, “And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind:...”
Now the Bible says he was-
• Sitting. He was no longer stomping around like a mad man.
• Clothed. He no longer tore his clothes off, but he was fully clothed.
• In his right mind. He was no longer out of his mind.
Listen, when a person truly repents of his sins and comes to know Christ, the Bible says of him, II Cor. 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
The Ninevites were the most wicked people of that time, yet when those wicked Ninevites turned to God, we see evidence of TRUE REPENTANCE.
This is why God’s Word has a great deal to say about the Ninevites’ repentance.
We know they truly repented of their sins because the Bible declares they did.
Look at Luke 11:32. We read, “The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they REPENTED at the preaching of Jonas...”
Once they repented of their sins they no longer were a cruel and wicked people. They changed the way they did things. It was no longer business as usual!
They convinced God, Who can not be fooled, that they were truly sorry for the sins they had committed. God forgave them of their sins and spared them from the destruction He was going to send their way.
Let me show you THREE things about their repentance that we can see in the scriptures. It is clear as A, B, C.
I. “A” IS FOR THEIR AWARENESS.
Look at Jonah 3:3-4. “So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey. 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.”
Ninevah was such a big city that it took three days to walk across it. Notice, it was when Jonah was one day into his journey through that wicked town that he began to proclaim the message of REPENTANCE.
Jonah’s preaching has to go down as some of the most effective preaching in the history of mankind! As a result of the preaching of this one man a large, wicked town repented.
WHY WAS IT SO EFFECTIVE?
Probably because of what Jonah had just gone through.
Illus: Someone said, “If God took all the preachers in the world and hung them over hell and let them hear the anguish and the torment of those in hell for thirty seconds, they never again would preach as they once did.”
We can not forget what happened to Jonah. He had just spent three days and three nights in the belly of that big fish.
We have all heard of “fox hole” praying, but I believe Jonah prayed as no man has ever prayed. He probably told the Lord, “God, if You get me out of this mess, I will preach as I have never preached before! I do not care if those Ninevites are cruel and wicked people, if you will give me one more chance, I will go and I will tell them they had better repent!”
That is exactly what he did and when he started preaching everyone who heard him preach was convinced He believed in what he was talking about and soon they believed the same thing.
The whole town was convinced and repented of their sins.
Illus: It must have been something on the day of Pentecost when Peter preached and three thousand got saved. But, when Jonah preached it was with such power that a whole city came to know the Lord. Everyone that heard him knew that God had given the message and it was not long before they repented.
There is something seriously wrong in our churches today and much of the problem is not with the lay people in the churches, but with the ministers of God who preach sermons that are void of the powerful Word of God.
Illus: J. I. Packer said, “Certainty about the great issues of the Christian faith and conduct is lacking all along the line. The outside observer sees us staggering on from gimmick to gimmick and stunt to stunt like so many drunks in a fog, not knowing at all where we are or which way we should be going. Preaching is hazy; heads are muddled; hearts fret; doubts drain strength; uncertainty paralyzes action... Unlike the first Christians who in three centuries won the Roman world, and those later Christians who pioneered the Reformation, and the Puritan awakening and the Evangelical revival, and the great missionary movement of the last century, we lack certainty. Why is this? We blame the external pressures of modern secularism, but this is like Eve blaming the serpent. The real truth is that we have grieved the Spirit... We stand under divine judgment. For two generations our churches have suffered from a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.” That’s a tragic truth.
If the apostle Paul was here today, he would be screaming PREACH THE WORD!
When people come to church they should come expecting to hear something from the Word of God, and when they leave, they should not leave disappointed!
Illus: A man and his wife were visiting in North Carolina and saw signs along the roadside telling them of a place where they could ride a chair lift to the top of a mountain and see a live gun fight in the street, and a saloon show with singing etc. There was a sign at the bottom of the hill, where they bought their tickets, that indicated the live gun fight would begin in about fifteen minutes. The man and his wife paid their fare and caught the chair lift to the top of the mountain.
However, when they arrived at the top, they discovered they were the only two tourists there. The only other people were the actors who put on the show. Since there were only two tourists, the young actors were going to take it upon themselves to cancel the shows. However, when it came show time for the wild west stage coach shoot out on Main Street, the man and his wife found a good spot on the side of the street in the middle of town. They called to the actors, “When is the show going to begin?” They looked at each other like, “Oh man, there are only two people here. Do they expect us to put on a show for just two people!” Very reluctantly they moved into position. In a few minutes a stage coach came barreling down Main Street and sure enough, they began shooting each other off the roofs and on the streets.
The two tourists acknowledged they enjoyed the live gun fight. The young actors were dusting their clothes off when the tourist asked, “What time does the saloon show begin?” Again, they gave each other a disgusted look at having to put on a show for only two people.
The couple walked into the saloon. They had their choice of any seat in the house because they were the only two there. However, in a few minutes the singing and dancing began.
After the show was over, the two tourists went away satisfied because they saw what they came EXPECTING TO SEE.
Listen, people should come to church expecting to hear the preacher preach the Word of God. They should be disappointed if they do not hear a sermon from the Word of God.
Jonah preached with great power and authority to those ungodly Ninevites. They heard the man of God who was convinced that if they did not repent, they would perish. They saw he was thoroughly convinced, and they soon became convinced.
Illus: Listen, some of the most ungodly people on this earth have been to church and once they heard God’s man preach, they discovered the MESSAGE WAS MORE POWERFUL THAN THE SINNER. They fell on their faces and cried out to God for forgiveness of their sins.
When God’s message of REPENTANCE was declared, the Ninevites became AWARE of God’s wrath. This is their AWARENESS.
II. “B” IS FOR THEIR BELIEF.
Jonah 3:5 says, “So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.”
They were so convinced of the message of destruction that God told Jonah to preach that the Bible tells us the people, from the GREATEST to the LEAST proclaimed a FAST, AND PUT ON SACKCLOTH!
Notice, the king even came down from his throne, took off his royal robe and put on sackcloth.
Look at verse 6. We read, “For the word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.”
In fact, the king was so convinced God was going to destroy them for their wickedness, he might have gone to the extreme. He even decreed a fast for the livestock. I guess he thought it would be better to over do than to under do!
Listen, the one hope that America has today is in taking drastic action as the king of Nineveh took. The PROUD people of this nation must fall on their faces before God, and humble themselves before Him!
Do you know what is sad? Preachers have been preaching the judgment of God that will come against the gross sin of America, yet we do not repent. We can’t help wondering how much longer God will allow this nation to sink deeper and deeper into sin before He extends His hand against us. AMERICANS BELIEVE THEY CAN SIN AND KEEP ON SINNING AND NO PUNISHMENT IS GOING TO COME! Why do we believe this. Because Americans believe they are exempt from the wrath of God.
Illus: The American people are a strange breed. Why do we say that? Because, they have been so blessed of God that they feel they are so special that God will never judge them. He may judge others, but not America.
Americans think this because they do not know the God of this Bible!
Illus: We should learn a lesson from Israel, God’s chosen people. Every time they have rebelled God has extended His hand of chastisement upon them. Look at the history of the Jews and see how the hand of God has fallen upon those people.
If God judges His own people, we are kidding ourselves when we think that we, as a nation, can continue in sin and not have God severely chastise us.
WHAT WE BELIEVE IS THAT WE CAN SIN AND GET AWAY WITH IT!
WHAT WE SHOULD BELIEVE is that GOD WILL ONLY PUT UP WITH REBELLION FOR SO LONG! Then He will send His judgment!
While there is still a chance, we should ask God to have mercy on us and spare us as He spared the Ninevites when they repented of their sins. The Bible says that from the greatest to the least they cried out to God to forgive them.
We have seen their AWARENESS and their BELIEF. Now let us look at one more thing.
III. “C” IS FOR THEIR CHANGE.
Look at Jonah 3:8. We read, “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.”
Notice, the king decreed, “...let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.”
Violence is one of the most common crimes in America.
Illus: We used to be concerned about the danger on some streets in America, but listen, things have gotten so bad that now we hear about people being shot in their own yards. Never in the history of America has violence been such a problem!
Some foreigners are afraid to come to America because they hear about so many being shot as they just drive along down interstate highways.
We have politicians who think the answer to all of this violence is MORE MONEY and MORE EDUCATION! However, it seems to be that the more MONEY we spend, and the MORE WE EDUCATE, the worse things get. Why? Because money and education will not solve the sin problem.
You have to hand it to the king of Nineveh. He might have been a wicked king once, but as soon as he heard the man of God speak of the judgment that was about to come on Nineveh, the Bible says he told his people to:
• Fast.
• Cry “mightily” to God.
• Turn from their wicked ways.
God was so pleased that they truly repented of their sins that He did not destroy them.
Conclusion:
I “A” IS FOR THEIR AWARENESS
II. “B” IS FOR THEIR BELIEF
III. “C” IS FOR THEIR CHANGE
Isn’t it strange that America was once known as a godly nation, but not any more! How we have changed as a nation. For example-
Illus: Someone has observed, “There was a day when dad wore the pants, mom wore the jewelry, and the children wore the stripes.”
There was, even in ungodly homes, a right order of authority. Dad set the direction and mom did her best to raise obedient children, with the father’s help, and children grew up secure because they knew their parents loved them.
But now, even in the homes of God-fearing people, we are known for our rebellion, greed, lust, perversion, divorces, adultery, cursing, gambling, nudity, etc.
May God help us see our need to repent and to change--to turn from our wicked ways to doing that which is right.
