Jonah 3:1-5, 10 WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU MEET THE REAL GOD?
1) He is holier than you think
2) He is more merciful than you think
Until you meet someone in person, you really don’t know what that person is like. What is Tom Brokaw, or Matt Lauer, or John Madden like, in person? You see these people on TV. You probably have some sort of a mental picture of what you think they’re like. But until you meet them in person, you really don’t know.
NBC has a commercial that talks about their Thursday night TV shows. The commercial shows the characters on these shows, and then talks about how you, the viewer, can’t help but fall in love with these people. These people are your friends, you are told. You love these people! You need to spend your entire Thursday night watching these people, because you’re so close to them and you love them and they are your friends.
But wait. You really don’t know what these people are like. The characters on the shows are pretend, obviously. And the actors and actresses, well, you have no clue what they’re like in real life. Sometimes people think they do, but really, you have no idea. What are these people like in person, in real life? Are they good and upright, or are they immoral? Are they nice to talk to, or are they stuck up, vulgar? What are these people like in real life, these people you are supposed to fall in love with? You will never really know. Millions of Americans think they know, but really people have no idea.
Isn’t this how it is with God? Millions of people have no idea what the true God is really like, but they think they do. Yes, you can catch glimpses of God by looking at nature. And so people look at nature, ignore his Word, and put together a mental picture of what they think God is like. He must be powerful, people say! He must be wise! He must be loving, people say. I love God, people say. I pray to him all the time.
But do they really know what God is like, without looking at his Word? Do you really know what God is like? Millions of Americans, billions of people all over the world, think they know the true God. But without really studying his Word, no one can know. What happens when you meet the true God? What happens when you find him in his Word? Today we will think on these things as we study a small portion of the book of Jonah. We will meet the true God here. And we will see two things – he is holier than people think. And he is much more merciful than people think.
We meet the city of Nineveh. Our text describes it as “great,” a “very important city.” During that time in history, Nineveh as extremely important. It was a commercial center, a business center. The city was very large. People from all over the world came there to make money, to do what important people do.
But the city had spiritual problems. No one knew the true God. They thought they did. But the god they had created in their minds wasn’t even close to the true God. The god in their minds wasn’t very holy. He was was laid back about sin. As long as you don’t do anything real bad, God doesn’t care. You can be greedy. You can be immoral. You can lead any lifestyle you want. The more alternative, the better. It’s alright to sin. Just don’t hurt anybody. Don’t do anything extremely bad, and you’ll be fine. God is laid back about sin.
Am I talking about Nineveh? Or am I talking about our society today? Sound similar, doesn’t it? Our society today doesn’t know the true God. And so most people have concocted a god in their minds, a god who is not very holy. It’s OK for me to be greedy. It’s OK for me to be immoral. It’s OK for me to live any lifestyle I want, because God is laid back about sin.
That is the world in which we live, isn’t it? And it does affect the way we think about God. When the rest of the world around talks about God this way, it affects us. Maybe God doesn’t really care if I’m greedy. Maybe God doesn’t really care about morality. Millions of babies get aborted every year – maybe that’s OK. Homosexuality – maybe that’s OK. Living together outside of marriage – maybe that’s OK. God is laid back. Do whatever makes you feel good, as long as you don’t hurt anybody.
But then you come face to face with the true God in his Word. And you find out that he is much much holier than the way he is pictured in our world. The great, important city of Nineveh thought everything was alright. But then Jonah told them, “40 more days and Nineveh will be destroyed.” God had had enough. He was going to wipe these people off the face of the earth, just as he had done to Sodom and Gomorrah.
You see, the true God is absolutely, positively holy. He is not laid back about sin. He hates sin. And God is very black and white in his Word on what he considers to be sin. The things that our society applauds, things like abortion or homosexuality or living together outside of marriage – these things, God in his Word calls sin. And what is even more frightening, is that when the holy God looks at us, he sees our sin too. “You are not pure enough,” God says. “You have been tainted by the world.” The all-seeing eye that we talked about in our children’s sermon for today – the all-seeing eye of God sees us. He sees how our morals have been eroded by the world. He listens to our excuses for our sins. And because he is perfectly holy - not laid back about sin – God says to you, “I have had enough of you. I will destroy you.”
What are we to do? We meet the true God in all his holiness. We see his righteous anger. What are we to do? The people of Nineveh repented. They realized that they were on the wrong track. They declared a fast. They stopped their pattern of sinning. They looked to God for forgiveness. And that is what we can do as well. To repent means to stop being fake. To stop pretending that sin is OK. To repent means to put all your cards on the table, to admit to God every failure, every shortcoming. To stop making excuses.
And then God surprises you with his compassion. Look what he did for Nineveh: “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.” Surprised the people of Nineveh with his compassion. He freely forgave them. He cancelled the punishment he had planned for them
Here we see a beautiful picture of the grace of God. He’s much more merciful than people picture. Most people believe that God forgives, but only if you’re nice. You have to earn God’s forgiveness by being good. But look at what God does here. These people didn’t earn God’s forgiveness by groveling. All the groveling in the world could never make up for all the sins they had committed. God forgave them freely. He showed them undeserved love. Unearned love. Grace is what God showed the people of Nineveh.
Why would God do this? God forgave these people because of his Son, Jesus Christ. You see, God knew that his Son, Jesus, would come. And Jesus would do what these people of Nineveh could never do – he would live the perfect life. And then, Jesus would let himself be punished for the sins of Nineveh. That happened on the cross. When Jesus died on the cross, he was being punished for the sins of Nineveh. He was letting himself be destroyed, so that these people wouldn’t be destroyed. Jesus let himself feel God’s righteous anger, so that these people wouldn’t have to feel God’s righteous anger. Because of Jesus, God declared the entire city of Nineveh “not guilty.’ They were completely forgiven. What amazing grace, amazing compassion, God shows Nineveh in these verses.
This is the same compassion, same forgiveness, that God shows to you. You see, instead of destroying you for your sin, God forgives you. And this isn’t the kind of forgiveness the world pictures –the world says that God forgives you only if you’re nice. No! God forgives you freely! He doesn’t make you earn it. He doesn’t make you perform a list of good works to earn his forgiveness. God forgives you freely.
He does this because of what Jesus Christ has done for you. Jesus took upon himself all the sins you have committed in your life. Jesus even takes on that sinful heart that you have, that selfish, immoral heart that you’re born with - Jesus takes that on himself. And he goes to the cross. And he lets God punish him, so that God doesn’t have to punish you. Jesus lets God destroy him on the cross, so that God doesn’t have to destroy you. Instead, God forgives you. He freely forgives you, declares you “not guilty” in his court of law.
What an amazing God we have – the one true God! He is much more holy, much more perfect, than the world says. And he is much more forgiving, much more merciful and compassionate, than the world says. What an amazing God we have! Why would anyone want to follow the gods of this world, gods that doesn’t even exist, gods that lead you nowhere but to emptiness and guilt and spiritual exhaustion? Why would anyone want to follow these gods of the world?
The true God - he is so compelling, so amazing, that we will want to follow him. That’s what happened in our Gospel lesson. When those first disciples met Jesus, they realized, this is the true God! This is the true Messiah! We are told in verse 18 of our Gospel lesson, “At once,” (the Greek = immediately, right away) “they left their nets and followed him.” They followed him because they wanted to learn more about him. They were tired of all the fake versions of God, all the fake versions of the Messiah. They wanted to know the true God, and so they followed Jesus.
And so it is with you. Once you meet the true God, and this morning you have, through his Word, you will want to learn more. You will want to learn more about his holiness, more about his mercy, more about his forgiveness. And so, like those first disciples, we follow Jesus. We can’t walk next to him in person, on a road in the Middle East, like those first disciples. But we can walk next to him in his Word. Here, the Word, here is the path. Here is the road, where you can walk next to Jesus, where you can learn more about the true God. Here you can see him very clearly. Here your faith, your love, your hope, your joy – here they increase as you walk next to Jesus, as you follow him, and learn more about who he is, the one True God. How wonderful and holy and merciful and forgiving the true God is! May God bless you as you walk with him. Amen.
