Jonah

[0:00] Jonah, the book of Jonah.

[0:18] ! We're going to read the whole book and I'm just going to comment as we walk through Jonah. Nineveh was first mentioned in Genesis 10. It was a wicked city.

[0:41] One of the cities established by Nimrod, the largest city in the world of its time. And God told Jonah exactly what to do. God told Jonah to go inland about 800 kilometers to this notorious city.

[0:57] It was evil. It was dangerous. It was violent. It was the capital of paganism of its time. God told Jonah, go! Go and cry against this wicked city.

[1:09] Go east to Nineveh. But what did Jonah do? Jonah did the exact opposite of what God told him to do. Verse 3, but Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord and went down to Joppa and he found a ship going to Tarshish.

[1:31] Jonah was told to go east, but he went west. The ship that he boarded was headed to Spain, about 3,500 kilometers the wrong way.

[1:42] Jonah rose up to flee. He got up and he went, but in the wrong direction. How often do we do that? When God tells us to do something, how often do we disobey?

[1:54] So he paid the fare thereof, it says, and went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Jonah flat out rejected God's direction.

[2:06] But that wasn't to be the end of the story. It's amazing to see a man who hears from God and yet he ran away from God. He disobeyed the word of God. How often do we do that?

[2:18] When God puts something on our hearts, when God stirs us and convicts us and prompts us, how often do we disobey? When God's word says do something and we do it not, we do the contrary.

[2:31] Are you running from God? You cannot escape. You cannot escape today. He'll hunt you down. He knows where you live. He's got your number and he'll hunt you down.

[2:43] Jonah found a ship and he paid the fare. Jonah would discover there's a cost to disobeying God. A cost. It would cost him dearly.

[2:54] It would cost him the fare, but it would cost him much more. He disobeyed God's word. He fled from God's presence. He paid the fare. Sin will cost you.

[3:05] Sin will cost you. It will cost you dearly. You will pay a price for your sin. Sin will cost you. What you sow, you will reap.

[3:17] There will be a cost to pay for sin. Jonah went down, down to Joppa, down to the ship, down to the lower part of the ship. He fled from the presence of the Lord.

[3:29] But God did not leave Jonah alone. God is relentless. We see some things, some great things through the book of Jonah. Firstly, we see a great storm.

[3:41] God will get our attention. A great storm. Verse 4 of 1. The Lord sent out a great wind into the sea. And there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.

[3:54] When we disobey God, he has a plan, a way of disrupting our own sinful plans. Our own selfish, self-centered, willful plans.

[4:04] God will disrupt our selfish plans. Notice that it was God who sent the great wind into the sea. The mighty tempest. God sent that, such that the ship was about to break up, was in great danger of running the ground, of crashing and breaking up.

[4:23] Verse 5. By then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his God, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it off them. These were desperate times indeed, as they threw the very cargo, the very livelihood, overboard.

[4:40] They cried unto their own God. Their lives were in real danger. It was better to lose the cargo, though, than to lose their lives. So these tough, brawny sailors, what did they do?

[4:50] They prayed. They prayed. They prayed earnestly. People can get all kinds of spiritual when they are afraid. It's true for us as well.

[5:01] When we get in a spot, when we get fearful, we can get spiritual. Like it says, there's no atheists in foxholes. So when we're in a crisis, sometimes when we get spiritual, maybe that's not a bad thing.

[5:17] Then. So where was this great prophet of the Lord in this time of crisis? Surely he should have been in the prayer meeting. Where was he?

[5:28] Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep. The mariners were acting more spiritual than Jonah, God's prophet. Where was Jonah?

[5:39] Jonah was fast asleep. Fast asleep. Laying down in his rebellion, peacefully. But more than that, he was spiritually asleep.

[5:53] Spiritually asleep. And that can be true for us as well. We can get spiritually asleep. We can slumber and get sloppy and slothful. This can be true of you and me as well.

[6:04] We can get spiritually sleepy. We can get spiritually sleepy. Carefree about our soul. Careless about our soul. About spiritual things. About the things that matter. And the devil likes to lull people into a slumber.

[6:18] A stupor. He will rock your cradle and sing you alibis. How many are asleep spiritually today? Asleep spiritually.

[6:29] How awake are you spiritually today? Ask yourself. Challenge yourself today. Verse 6. So the shipmaster came to him and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper?

[6:42] Arise and call upon thy God. If so be that God will think upon us that we perish not. This shipmaster, this captain, was more spiritually attuned than Jonah.

[6:54] Sleeper, wake up, pray. The captain commanded Jonah to pray. But did he pray? We can't see a record here that he did pray.

[7:06] He was urged by this heathen captain, Pray Jonah, pray. But does it say that he prayed? It does not say that he prayed. Verse 7. And they said, everyone, to his fellow, Come, let us cast locks that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us.

[7:23] So they cast locks and the lock fell upon Jonah. So they saw that Jonah was the cause of it all. All this trouble that they were going through. And verse 8. Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us?

[7:38] What is thine occupation? Whence comest thou? What is thy country? And of what people art thou? Verse 9. And he said unto them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.

[7:53] Jonah, even in his rebellion, identified himself as one of God's own people. He claimed to fear God. Verse 10. Then were the men exceedingly afraid and said unto him, Why hast thou done this?

[8:06] They were saying, Why, Jonah? Why? Why? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Jonah had told them of his faith, despite his disobedience to God.

[8:21] Some Christians are like Jonah. They tell of their faith, but they don't live up to it. Their works show their disobedience. Verse 11. The sailors then said unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us?

[8:36] For the sea wrought and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me up and cast me forth into the sea, so shall the sea be calm unto you, for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.

[8:50] Jonah knew where the problem was. It was right inside him. Jonah was the problem. Nevertheless, the men rode hard to bring it to the land, but they could not, for the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them.

[9:03] The sea was a rolling sea. It was choppy and dangerous. And Jonah was the problem. But notice what these heathen sailors did.

[9:16] They showed mercy towards Jonah. They did everything that they could do, everything in their power, to row that ship to safety. They rode with all their might. They rode hard. They did everything they could.

[9:28] But it was all in vain. Then they prayed. Verse 14. Wherefore they cried unto the Lord and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee.

[9:40] Let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood. For thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee.

[9:50] The first people who prayed in the book of Jonah were these mariners. They cried out heartily and reverently to God.

[10:01] They sought his mercy. They recognised God's overruling power, and it's all that God was in control. For thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee.

[10:12] Verse 15. So they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging. God showed mercy to the mariners.

[10:25] He showed them his power and salvation as the sea was calmed. And verse 16. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows.

[10:39] So God worked exceedingly in these heathen. Mariners. He answered their prayer. He displayed his power to them, and he saved them. Friends, when people get serious about the Lord and the things of God, they will fear the Lord.

[10:55] So there was a great storm, number one. There was a great storm. God's got a way of getting our attention. Secondly, there was a great fish. A great fish.

[11:06] God's got a way of giving us redirection. Verse 17. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. God can work in amazing ways to get our attention and to give us redirection.

[11:23] You know, some poo-poo the story of the great fish, but history tells us of examples where men have been swallowed by great fish, great sea creatures, whales, and such like horses have been swallowed, and men have been swallowed, and men have come out alive after having been swallowed.

[11:43] So amazing things can happen when God is in charge and when God wants to get our attention and to give us redirection. Jonah was to continue his journey in the belly of a great fish.

[11:56] His direction would change. He was no longer headed to Spain. Don't know whether it's a business trip or a holiday he was planning in Spain, but he never got there.

[12:07] God had different plans for Jonah. God's got a way of turning things around in your life and mine. When we want to go our way, sometimes it's not Jonah's way, but it's God's way.

[12:17] It's God's way. God took over. God intervened right there in the book of Jonah. Some have reckoned in the book of Jonah there's some 12 miracles in just 48 verses that counted up all the interventions of God, divine interventions through the book of Jonah, 12 miracles in just 48 verses.

[12:37] That's an average of one in every four verses. Jonah. It's a miraculous book. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish, it says, three days and three nights.

[12:48] Now, God gave Jonah some time to think things over. He does that for us sometimes too, doesn't he? Like we said, he makes us rest and stop in our tracks and stop our busyness and our distraction and give God time to work in us, time to think things over.

[13:07] So here he was in the belly of a great fish. Now, it wasn't exactly a first class cabin on this crew. On this Mediterranean cruise of Jonah's.

[13:20] And he wasn't going to have that holiday in Spain after all. But he was having a whale of a time. A whale of a time. Jonah was encased in the walls of a fish's stomach.

[13:33] Can you imagine that? Stop and imagine that for a minute. Encased in the walls of a fish's stomach. Can you imagine what that was like? I guess it would have been pitch black.

[13:45] It would have been confined. A dark, smelly, damp place. It was a lonely place. And a rough ride. Imagine Jonah's surroundings.

[13:56] It would have been the rotting smell of food digesting. You know, you can imagine, rough digested food, if you've ever seen it or smelt it. You know, the stinky slime of his place.

[14:09] Of the seaweed that was all wrapping around him. Of where Jonah was. God's got a way of stopping us in our tracks when we're going in the wrong direction. Of turning our attention on him and of giving us redirection.

[14:22] So finally, finally, finally, Jonah prayed. Jonah prayed. At last he prayed. It's the first time he read of Jonah, the prophet of the Lord, praying.

[14:33] We find him praying. Maybe he had a whole lot less trouble if he'd have prayed way back in chapter 1. When God told him to do something. Maybe if he'd have prayed instead of fled, he wouldn't have got in so much trouble.

[14:49] So chapter 2, verse 1. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God. Out of the fish's belly. Sometimes God's got to take us away from all the distraction and just give us that time to stop and pray.

[15:08] That's what Jonah had here. Verse 2, when he said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord and he heard me. Out of the belly of hell, cried I. And thou heardest my voice.

[15:19] It was like a hell that he was in, in this time. And it says he cried to the Lord because of his affliction. You know, sometimes God takes us through the valley of affliction.

[15:30] The valley of affliction. Some of you are there. You're there even now. You're still in that valley. Even now you're in that valley of affliction. The Word of God says, Psalm 119, David says, Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept thy word.

[15:48] That's verse 67 of Psalm 119. Psalm 119 verse 71, it says, It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes.

[15:58] It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. Sometimes it's good for us to have affliction so that we can learn something. He takes us through the fairness of affliction sometimes.

[16:11] As it says in Isaiah 48 verse 10, Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver. I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. God chooses his own in the furnace of affliction.

[16:23] He's going to have those glowing, those bright, those shiny ones as they are refined in the furnace of affliction. So really we see God's long-suffering with Jonah, God's loving discipline, God's chastening hand.

[16:36] It makes you wonder as Jonah was there in that great fish, in that ugly, smelly place, did he have any idea that the devourer would become his deliverer?

[16:49] The devourer, that great fish, would become his deliverer. That can be true for us too as God's people. When we're going through that time of affliction, that time of trial and testing and difficulty, it could be just the exact place God wants us to be.

[17:06] To do a work in us. So God gave Jonah just what he needed. It wasn't necessarily what Jonah prayed for, what Jonah wanted, but God gave him what he needed.

[17:22] And God was behind the tempest and the billows and the waves and the affliction. God was behind it all. Behind it all. Brother, sister, when you're going through business troubles, employment troubles, health worries, family crises, God is doing a work, even in that furnace of affliction.

[17:45] God is behind it all. He's working his way through that time. So Jonah went on with his prayer. Verse 3, chapter 2. For thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed me about.

[18:00] And notice this. All thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Again, it was God's billows, it was God's storm, it was God's waves.

[18:11] Jonah recognised that the hand of God was there even in the negative circumstances. Even in Jonah's affliction, in the midst of the seas, he could see they were sent from God.

[18:26] Romans 8, 28. What does it say? But know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

[18:39] Verse 4. Then I said, I'm cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again towards thy holy temple. Jonah here in the fish's belly, he says, I'm going to look to God. I'm going to look to God.

[18:53] I will look again. His faith is restored, renewed, refreshed, reinvigorated, strengthened. Wherever we are, we can look to God.

[19:04] Maybe you feel like you're in the fish's belly. Maybe you feel like you're in a dark, smelly, difficult place. You can look to God wherever you are. You can look again towards God today.

[19:17] Verse 5. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul. The depth closed me round about. The weeds were wrapped around my head. Everything was going against Jonah. The waters, the weeds, the depths.

[19:30] He sensed his doom. It was like a foretaste of hell for him. Yet his faith held on. Verse 6. Notice that Jonah had gone down.

[19:53] Down again. Down into the fish. Down into the deep. Down to the bottoms of the mountains. Disobeying God has its consequences. Brother, sister, don't disobey God.

[20:03] Do not disobey God. Jonah recognised that his deliverance was up to God. And even in this place he found occasion to praise. Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.

[20:16] Verse 7. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. Here he was down, down, down, down in the depths of the sea.

[20:28] Yet he could see that his prayer reached into the highest heaven. Into the very holy place. Jonah's soul fainted within him, yet Jonah learnt to trust in God.

[20:39] Jonah prayed. He didn't have a whole lot of good works to do right there, did he? He couldn't do a whole lot of good works there in the fish's belly. But there's one thing he could do. What was that?

[20:49] He could pray. He could pray. He could pray there in the fish's belly. He remembered the Lord. Jonah had faith that his prayer would be heard, even in this desperate place.

[21:02] So whatever's going on for you, when you're in a desperate place, at least you can pray. Even if you're on your sick bed. Even if you're on your death bed. You can pray. You can pray.

[21:14] Pray and pray through. Verse 8. They did observe lying vanities, forsake their own mercy. He was talking about the heathen. Verse 9. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving.

[21:26] I will pay that, that I have vowed. He could only give his prayer. He could only give his thanksgiving. And he says, salvation is of the Lord.

[21:40] Jonah proclaimed, salvation is of the Lord. And then verse 10. The Lord spoke unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. God spoke to the fish, and the fish did what it was told.

[21:53] If only Jonah had done the same. Too bad Jonah hadn't been as responsive as the fish was to God's word. So God intervened and brought a deliverance.

[22:05] So there was a great storm. God's got a way of getting our attention. There was a great fish. God's got a way of giving us redirection. And thirdly, in chapter 10, we see God recommissioned Jonah.

[22:17] He gave him a second chance, a new beginning. We see scene three, if you like, in the book. It is a great city. A great city. God's word has life-changing power, and we are to be messengers of it to our city.

[22:31] And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid them.

[22:43] Jonah wasn't about to flee this time, or argue with God this time around. So verse 3, Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now the word of the Lord is mentioned a few times through the book of Jonah.

[22:57] When the word of the Lord is mentioned, we ought to take it seriously. This time Jonah heard the word, and he got up and went. This time in the right direction. God's got a way of giving us a redirection.

[23:08] Maybe our lives are getting off track spiritually. God wants to bring a redirection. So he sent Jonah down the right track to that great city. It was a city, some have said, with 1,500 towers, some 200 foot tall.

[23:22] Its walls were 100 foot wide. It was a city with walls wide enough, so historians say, that three chariots could ride side by side over the top of these walls, of this great city.

[23:37] And it says, now Nineveh was an exceeding great city, of three days journey. He would need three days just to get through it. It was so large. And verse 4, Jonah began to enter into the city, a day's journey.

[23:51] And he cried and said, yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. I can imagine he said that with enthusiasm, with power, with zeal.

[24:04] It took courage and faith on Jonah's part. Yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. The countdown would begin. This was day 40, so it was 40, 39, he couldn't wait till he got down to one, and then zero, and the place of peace smashed to pieces.

[24:20] Jonah was really enjoying the moment. You can imagine, bringing God's message of judgment, on this wicked city, on this wicked people, seeing that cringing fear, at God's impending judgment upon them.

[24:33] And the word of the Lord had a dramatic effect. He only got 14, 39, he only got one day, it says. So verse 5, 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.

[24:49] So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. There was a hearing of the word, and faith came. It says the people believed. God's word has power.

[25:02] A simple message. It wasn't some lengthy sermon. It wasn't some 10 point sermon. It was yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. It says the people of Nineveh believed God.

[25:14] What an amazing situation here. This city wide revival, and repentance. The whole population was transformed. Some have reckoned, there could be, even over half a million people.

[25:29] We see the number of infants listed, but you could reckon, the city population, could have been half a million people. What a blessing truly it was, when the word of the Lord came.

[25:39] Verse 6, Word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe aside, and he covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes, and he caused it to be proclaimed, to publish throughout Nineveh, by the decree of the king, and his noble saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything.

[25:59] Let them not feed, nor drink water, but let man and beast, be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily, unto God. Yea, let them turn everyone, from his evil way, and from the violence, that is in their hands.

[26:13] Who can tell, if God will turn, and repent, and turn away, from his fierce anger, that we perish not. He was a king, who believed the word, he heard the word, and he himself proclaimed it, he acted upon it.

[26:27] Oh, for a government like that. Oh, for a government like that, in our nation, where the king, where the authority, will hear the word of God, and believe it, and proclaim it, and make it a decree.

[26:40] Thank God, there was a total, nationwide transformation, a citywide revival here. Oh, for a government like that. Here was a government, that turned the nation around.

[26:51] They turned to God. God saw their repentance, and he showed mercy. Verse 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.

[27:04] And he did it not. But, our story goes on. Jonah was human, exceedingly human. And that's one of the things, with the Bible, it shows human characters, honestly, with all their human defects.

[27:21] Now, we could paint Jonah, some great prophet, a great revivalist, a great reformer, a great messenger, when he did turn around. But verse 4, shows our human, Jonah was again.

[27:34] Chapter 4, it says, verse 1, But it displeased Jonah, exceedingly. And he was very angry. He was very angry, seeing these, hordes of people, repenting, and believing God.

[27:47] You know, it's like a saint, someone was telling me lately, they were describing someone, and they said, he's got his grumpy pants on. He's got his grumpy pants on. That's what you can say about Jonah right here.

[27:59] He had his grumpy pants on. He was very angry. He was displeased, exceedingly. He was very angry. He was annoyed with God. And he prayed again.

[28:10] Verse 2, And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? He knew all along. He thought all along, that God would show mercy. But he didn't want that.

[28:21] He didn't want the people to get saved. He didn't want them to be delivered. He didn't want them to repent, and trust the Lord. He wanted God's judgment, to be vented on them.

[28:34] So Jonah still, had some lessons to learn. Jonah suffered, a great storm. God got his intention, in chastening him. There was a great fish. God gave him redirection, and deliverance, in saving him.

[28:49] Through the devourer, became his deliverer, the great fish. We see, the third scene, the great city. Jonah entered, this great city. God gave forth his word, through Jonah his messenger, and revealed his power.

[29:02] Now, lastly, we see, great kindness. Great kindness. God's compassion, is extended to the unworthy. We learn from the account of Jonah, that God revealed his compassion.

[29:15] Jonah knew God was gracious. Jonah knew of God's great kindness. But he wanted God to send his judgment. He hated the Ninevites. Yet, we could, understand that.

[29:28] You know, some have reflected, that's what we could understand, by his anger. It doesn't spell it out. But, it is something you could, understand, was the case. He didn't want them to, believe.

[29:40] One could imagine, that he actually wanted them, to suffer God's judgment. He wanted God, to send his judgment. So, it says, therefore I fled before unto Tarshish, for I knew, that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

[30:00] God, has great kindness, and he still has great kindness today. Still has great kindness now. Today, this very hour, he still has great kindness.

[30:10] Jonah prayed, therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me, for it is better for me, to die, than to live. Jonah recognized God's character, his grace, his mercy, his kindness.

[30:26] Then, the Lord challenged him. Verse 4, doest thou well to be angry? Verse 5, so Jonah went out of the city. Here's the last scene, if you like. He goes out to the city, to the east side of the city.

[30:38] He makes him a booth. He sits under its shadow, till he might see, what would become of the city. Now, I wonder that he waited there. Phew. 39, 38, 37, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, nothing.

[30:59] Yeah, imagine he waited those 40 days. Jonah wanted to see that hidden city destroyed. He wanted to wait there, and sit there and see God smash and destroy the city to smithereens.

[31:11] But what did he see? He saw the people repenting in sackcloth and ashes. He saw there was a genuine repenting going on. And then God would, Jonah knew that God would spare the city.

[31:24] So he got angry. Verse 6, the story goes how the Lord prepared a plant to deliver him from his grave. And he was exceeding glad. Verse 6, But then God prepared a worm.

[31:37] And this worm came and caused that plant to wither and die. And as the sun came, verse 8, God prepared a vehement east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted and wished himself to die.

[31:51] And said, It is better for me to die than to live. Jonah was burning up on the inside of him with anger, and on the outside of him with the he. He was still hoping that God would yet destroy Nineveh.

[32:04] Friends, God prepares things for us. God prepared some things for Jonah. In verse 17 of chapter 1, God prepared a great fish.

[32:17] Then we see, as we read this last chapter, God prepared a gourd, a plant, a vine. He prepared a worm to eat that and wither that.

[32:28] And God prepared a vehement east wind. It was scotching hot, blowing right off the desert. Scotching hot. Beating down upon his hair. God wanted to take Jonah out of his comfort zone again.

[32:43] Now, we don't always like it, do we? When God puts us in such circumstances, God was very patient with Jonah. And he explained to Jonah, verse 9, And he said, So God tried to point out to Jonah, Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow, which came up in the night, and perished in the night.

[33:12] So God tried to point out to Jonah that Jonah had pity, he had compassion, on the gourd, that lived and died. But he had no pity on the people of Nineveh.

[33:23] You know, we can likewise have all of our concerns about material things, and not value souls.

[33:36] You could see a kind of comparison here. Jonah was all heads up and worried about this plant that was there to satisfy him, and shave him, and comfort him, and satisfy him.

[33:49] But he wasn't showing pity, and kindness, and compassion, on the people of Nineveh. He valued those material things more than the lost souls of Nineveh.

[34:02] So God goes on, verse 11, Should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein there are more than six score thousand, in other words, 120,000 people, that cannot discern between their right hand and their left.

[34:16] So these were people of such an age that they couldn't tell which was their left and their right. So what age were they? You can imagine they were quite young. So there was 120,000 infants.

[34:28] So we could estimate potentially well over half a million people in all. God showed compassion to them. And in Lamentations 3, it says, It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

[34:42] They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. God showed compassion on Nineveh. What about us? Do we show compassion on lost souls that are in our sphere of influence?

[34:55] Do we show compassion and kindness for them? Or are we more worried about material things? God will have mercy on people as he will.

[35:07] What can we learn from Jonah? Let's just take a quick recap. What can we learn from Jonah? That God gives people a second chance. Brother, sister, you might have blown it in your spiritual life.

[35:19] Totally messed up and gone right off track. God gives people a second chance. He gives you and me a second chance. God shows people great kindness and patience.

[35:32] Even though Nineveh was the worst city of its day, we should carry the message with us to those who are lost. God's word came to Jonah. And God's word comes to us still today.

[35:45] God's word still comes to us today. Take it. Heed it. Live it. Do it. We can disobey like Jonah did. Or we can learn the lessons from Jonah.

[35:55] Learn the lessons from Jonah without repeating them yourself. Salvation is of the Lord. It's one of the most key verses of the book. Salvation is of the Lord.

[36:07] There was a great storm. It was sent by God. God's got a way of getting our attention. Of chastening us as his children. Of pruning us. Of prompting us.

[36:20] Of straightening us out. A great storm might come to you. But God will send a great fish to bring us redirection. To get us right on track again.

[36:31] To prompt us to pray. If you're in crisis, pray. Don't neglect to pray.

[36:43] We see a great city. God's calling us to a great city. Not great because of its godliness. But a great opportunity. A great potential.

[36:54] A great harvest field. Friends, there's a great city. And we're called to be his messengers. To take his word to the lost. And lastly, we see a great kindness. A great kindness.

[37:06] God's had long suffering. And great compassion on us. None of us are worthy. We're just as wicked as Nineveh. But God shows his long suffering.

[37:17] As he did to Jonah right through. Until he was spat out on the dry land again. God was with him every step of the way. Even when he was going the wrong way. God shows long suffering.

[37:29] And compassion. And he still does that today. And so should we. Let's have compassion on our Nineveh. Let's have kindness on our Nineveh today. Let us pray.

[37:41] Let us pray. Let us pray.