Jonah 3

[0:01] Let's pray. Father God, we're very aware of the silence in our city right now, the silence of worship and praise of your name.

[0:30] You have people in this city that are singing your praises right now, that love you, that are seeking to lift your name higher and higher and higher.

[0:44] But God, we believe you've placed us here as a church so that more and more and more people will sing your name higher, higher and higher. God, we believe that there are people in our city that are perishing who await to hear the Gospel message.

[1:02] And when they hear, Lord, we believe that they will repent. And they will repent unto you and that they will believe in you and that, God, you will relent of them.

[1:15] You will turn your fierce wrath away from them and turn your wrath onto Christ for them. God, I pray that you would impress upon us, your people, this morning that we are here sent by you with a message you've given us to speak to a people that are perishing.

[1:38] We used to be numbered among them. God, would you make us your ambassadors to the city of Kenosha?

[1:51] And God, our prayer is something big and it's something beyond us. We can't conjure up what we're about to ask. We know that only you can. God, if you are able to bring about the repentance of 120,000 people in the 8th century B.C.

[2:13] through just five words of a Hebrew prophet, God, you certainly can bring about a revival in the city of Kenosha in the 21st century A.D.

[2:25] when we proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So God, would you by your Spirit, would you please make your appeal through us to those who are perishing.

[2:39] God, help us to say with all boldness and love, you're going the wrong way. God, would you do a work in our city? God, we want you to add to our number.

[2:52] Not for number's sake, but so that more people would be saved. And more people would be able to say salvation belongs to the Lord.

[3:05] That more people would know the sweetness of sins forgiven. Of righteousness imputed. Of a confidence that you're for us forever.

[3:18] Forever. God, would you do a work in us? Would you move the needle in us? Would you move us from being unwilling and silent to being willing and vocal?

[3:36] We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, before I start preaching, I want to introduce to you all a couple.

[3:49] Josh and Christy Anderson. They're sitting right here. Josh and Christy, will you please stand up? Josh and Christy are missionaries and they will be going in just a little bit to a big country in East Asia.

[4:02] And we have the privilege of a church as joining them, as ministry partners, and sending them. And so they'll be joining us for the next few weeks before they leave. And in July, they're going to share a little bit more about what God is calling them to.

[4:16] But I want you to see them and meet them. They're going to be in our midst for a little bit this summer. Josh and Christy, thank you for being here. You are so welcome here. Now, if you would open up your Bibles, if you haven't already, to Jonah chapter 3.

[4:29] I'll get there myself. Do you know, outside this building and around Library Square is a one-way street.

[4:46] And it's like clockwork. Every week, at least one person is going the wrong way on this street. And there's not unusual, I'm running out of the building, you're going the wrong way.

[5:00] Yesterday, I'm on my way to the building. This is early Saturday morning and I'd stop to get my chocolate milk at South Court Pantry, coming in on 7th Avenue.

[5:13] And I'm taking the corner around there by M&I Bank, BMI, excuse me. And there's a dark SUV going the wrong way. So I slow down, roll down my window and I see this couple in the front seat and I can tell they're already kind of like, oh no.

[5:34] I'm like, you do know that you're going the wrong way on a one-way street, don't you? And they were like, oh yeah, we figured it out. And so as I drove away, I looked in my rearview mirror and you know what I saw?

[5:49] I saw that SUV turning around. It started going the right way. Salvation is a one-way street called Jesus.

[6:09] And for those yet to be saved, those who are perishing, they're going the wrong way. They're on a path of destruction. And so this morning, what we're going to see from Jonah 3 is, God has put us here to tell people that they're going the wrong way so that they would turn around, that they would trust in Jesus, and that they would experience what we've experienced, deliverance, and welcome into the family of God.

[6:50] This morning in Jonah 3, we'll see how God used this reluctant prophet to speak His message to these Ninevite sinners who repent.

[7:02] It's amazing. They repent. And God turns from His great anger. He relents. When sinners repent, God relents.

[7:15] When sinners repent, when they hear the message of God and they believe, they repent, God relents. So this morning in Jonah 3, we're going to see three moves.

[7:29] Jonah is resent. That's chapter 3, 1-3. We're going to see Nineveh repent. That's verses 4-9. And then we'll see God relent in verse 10. God relents when a sinner repents after believing the Gospel from lips of those God has sent.

[7:51] So let's look at this first little snapshot when Jonah is resent.

[8:04] In chapter 3, verse 1, we read, Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah. That's the identical words of chapter 1, verse 1, with the exception of one thing.

[8:17] So he says, The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. Instead of saying, The word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amittai, he says, The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.

[8:29] You see, the first time, Jonah wasn't ready. God knew it. Jonah hit the bricks. He went to the farthest city possible away from Nineveh.

[8:41] That's where he's heading. And then God caught him on that boat called the prophet catcher. Got him into the drink, and while he's in the belly of that big fish, God changed Jonah.

[8:53] Jonah repented. He realized that he was resisting God. And so his last great exclamation of chapter 2 is, Salvation belongs to the Lord.

[9:05] It's his. It's his. And so he gets spit up on a beach, presumably somewhere close to Israel, and now he's ready to be recommissioned.

[9:18] Jonah's been changed and sent. We have been changed and sent. We say that salvation belongs to our Lord God.

[9:31] And He has given us a message to proclaim. He has sent us. You know, in 2 Corinthians 5, we have this great passage about Christians being commissioned with the ministry of reconciliation.

[9:49] Did you know that God has entrusted us, Christ the King Church, with a ministry? It's the ministry of reconciliation. To call sinners back to God.

[10:01] Well, in chapter 3, verse 1 and 2, God says, Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.

[10:16] Nineveh's a great city. It's big. 120,000 people. We see that in chapter 4, verse 11, which means in that day, it was huge. It was expansive.

[10:29] It was a three-day journey from one side to the next. The best way to think about that is this. You know, when we talk about Chicago, we talk about Chicagoland. And when we talk about Chicagoland, not only are we talking about, we're talking about the downtown area as well as the surrounding towns and suburbs.

[10:46] You know, the whole Chicago metroplex. And so when the author of Jonah is talking about Nineveh, he's talking about the Nineveh metroplex.

[10:56] It's a big area. And so not only did it cover downtown Nineveh, it covered some towns in close proximity to Nineveh. So it was an expansive area.

[11:09] That's why it takes so long to cross it. It was also prominent. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria. It was the heartbeat of that nation. A nation that I told you last week or the week before was a brutal nation.

[11:27] Devastating. There were killers. Early terrorists. They wreaked havoc wherever they went. They wanted people to be afraid of them.

[11:39] This was an important city. It was an important city. But what I want you to see in verse 3 is that it's important to God.

[11:54] The city of Nineveh is important to God. And I've got to explain, I've got to get a little technical with you to help you see it. Because you can't see it in English. If you're reading out of the NIV in verse 3, it says, Now Nineveh was a very important city.

[12:11] You see that if you're reading the NIV? And if you're reading the ESV, it says Nineveh was an exceedingly great city. Exceedingly great. Very important. And so you have these pile-ups of adjectives.

[12:25] Very, exceedingly. This is a big city. It's very important. Now if you're reading out of the ESV and you look down at the footnote, you're going to read the literal English translation of the Hebrew.

[12:39] It says this, Now Nineveh was a great city to God. You don't see that in English. But it's there in Hebrew. When you were listening to Lou Reed, did you hear the words that he was using to describe God?

[12:57] Yahweh, the personal name of God, the deliverer of God. And then he said four times that word Elohim. Do you remember him say that when he read that? Elohim is another word for God.

[13:08] And I learned from Samir Masu this week that at its core it means great. And so what happens here, what the English translators decided on was that this word Elohim was actually describing the city.

[13:26] It's like a really strong adjective. It's very exceedingly great. But there's another way to understand it. Because in chapter 3, and this is where we get a little technical, Elohim shows up four other times.

[13:44] The same word. And each time it's used, not as an adjective, but as a noun. About God. God himself.

[13:57] See that in verse 5, 8, 9, and 10. God, God, God, God, God. So why am I making a big deal about this? Here's why.

[14:07] Nineveh was important to God. Nineveh was important to God.

[14:23] He was concerned about Nineveh. Not the city. Not its botanical gardens, which it had. Not its impressive architecture, which I'm sure it had. God wasn't like, ooh, nice city.

[14:35] Well, God was interested as 120,000 people of the city. They were very important to him. You know, Nineveh, the Assyrians, were not God's covenant people.

[14:54] They were the Jews of the time. God had bound himself to the Jews, saying, I am your people, and you are mine. And so what we see happening here is that God is actually concerned about people who are outside of the covenant.

[15:11] And so the question is, why would God be concerned about Ninevites if they're not his covenant people? And the answer is, because he's their creator. He made them in his image.

[15:26] They are of intrinsic value to God. They bear his image. They are designed to worship. And they are worshiping things that are not him.

[15:37] It's a very important city to God. Because it is a concentrated place of worshipers who are not worshiping him. And he wants to warn them and change them.

[15:51] So the city of Nineveh is important to God. It is a big city.

[16:04] It is great. It's a great city of great importance to God. These are people that should be worshiping him, but are not. You know, the whole book of Jonah is about God's heart for all people.

[16:23] And so that alone helps us understand this little phrase that this city was important to God. How do we bring that home?

[16:44] God loves his covenant people. We are his covenant people in Christ, the new covenant people. But you know, God is more concerned about more people than just us.

[16:57] Did you know right now we're surrounded by 100,000 people in the city of Kenosha? And each person is important to God. Do you know why? They're an image bearer of God.

[17:07] That's why God is insistent upon sending Jonah to Nineveh. Nineveh is important to him.

[17:23] All people everywhere must someday give an account to the God of creation who's made himself known as Yahweh and Jesus Christ.

[17:37] All people are important to God. Every resident of Kenosha is important to God. So let me try to bring this home a little bit more in your everyday life. Do you have a neighbor?

[17:51] Maybe they live next door to you. Maybe this neighbor is someone you work with. Maybe this is a family member. They just rub you the wrong way. You see them and you're like, oh man.

[18:05] I'm going to go the other way. Did you know this neighbor is an image bearer of God and that God sees this person as important to Him? You know, there are people that have different political positions that we do.

[18:25] Different positions on important social issues. But you know what? Those people are image bearers of God. They're important to God. They have intrinsic worth.

[18:36] As God sent Jonah 2,800 years ago to the city of Nineveh, God is sending us today to the city of Kenosha because we're surrounded by image bearers important to God.

[19:03] What will happen? What will happen if we start to see people as God starts to see people? What will happen? We're going to start talking more.

[19:15] We're going to start opening our mouths. We're going to start saying things. And that's what God does in Jonah. He needed to get something done in Jonah in chapter 2 so that He could send him back in Jonah 3 so that He's just even willing to open up His mouth.

[19:37] It says nowhere He was excited to go back. But He was willing. God resends Jonah in chapter 3 1-3 and in verses 4-9 we see something amazing.

[19:53] Nineveh repents. And so what I want to help you see in this passage is the message that was proclaimed and the response of the Ninevites.

[20:09] And in so doing I'm going to seek to address two obstacles that we all deal with when talking to others about Jesus. Okay? So let's look at this message.

[20:21] It's really interesting because the author of Jonah he doesn't mess around. And so like verses 1-3 presumably Jonah's in Israel being recommissioned and then in verse 4 all of a sudden he's like on the outskirts of the metroplex of Nineveh.

[20:38] He's not wasting any time. So there he is. And the first thing I want you to see is that this message that Jonah is to preach and that he calls out yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

[20:56] That's in verse 4. In Hebrew it's just five words. It's just five words. But what you need to see from the get-go here is that this message was not Jonah's message.

[21:07] Jonah didn't think this up. This was a message that God gave Jonah. Look back in verse 2. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.

[21:22] God told Jonah to speak these five words. We don't know if there's any more. We know that there were these five words. This is God's message.

[21:33] And as Christians, God has given us a message to proclaim. His message, not ours. We proclaim the gospel. The message of reconciliation.

[21:45] That there is a God and He is holy and just. He created us in His image, but we have rebelled against Him. And there's a just consequence for that. But God, even knowing that, sent Christ to die in the place of sinners so that those who believe and turn will be saved.

[22:05] And so the call is respond in repentance and faith. Turn from your sin and turn to Christ. We've been given a message just like Jonah was given a message.

[22:19] And our message focuses on Jesus. The good news for those who are perishing. And what I just want to see here is that it started with God.

[22:31] God wants to get a message to the Ninevites and He calls and sends Jonah to do it. That's God's M.O.

[22:42] And that's one of the biggest reasons God has us here. Now, this message itself is just five words in Hebrew.

[22:54] And it's like one of the shortest messages on record and it has one of the biggest effects. Five words and 120,000 people repent. 120,000 idolaters.

[23:09] 120,000 evildoers. It's terrorist-like folks. They repent. I mean, seriously.

[23:21] It's like Jonah shows up and say, hey, Nineveh, 40 days and you're done. And they respond. God has been preparing Nineveh.

[23:34] 40 days and you'll be overturned.

[23:46] The same word overturned used of Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, for Jonah to show up and say, hey, 40 days and it's over, it's not the most tactful way, is it?

[23:58] not the most sensitive message. It doesn't seem like Jonah cared all that much of what it meant to be relevant to Assyrian culture.

[24:15] You know, next Sunday is the civic parade. I really love the Shriners flying carpets. You know what I'm talking about?

[24:26] Those little go-carts that are retrofitted with kind of that red carpet look and they weave in and out of each other. Well, let's just say that next Sunday we're all sitting on the side of 60th watching the Shriners come down and they pass on by us and right behind them is just this very kind of no big deal pickup truck.

[24:53] No fanfare. no fancy float. But on the back of that pickup truck is Jonah.

[25:06] And Jonah is decked out with some very simple things. He's got a generator, a microphone, and a speaker. And as he's coming down 60th, do you know what he's saying? Over and over and over again.

[25:19] Kenosha, 40 days and you're done. Kenosha, 40 days. It's over. 40 days and you'll be overturned, overthrown.

[25:34] Disaster is pending. You've got 40 days, Kenosha. If we're in the crowd, what are we thinking? Who is this guy?

[25:47] Is he serious? I'd be asking questions something like this. Do they let anybody into the parade? How can I get in the parade? Where are those shriners?

[25:59] I'd like to see them back right now. Quite a message, isn't it? Simple, clear, and confrontational.

[26:15] The message that Jonah proclaimed confronted the Ninevites. It confronted them. When we hear the word confrontation, if you're like me, you're kind of like, I don't like being confronted with the word confrontation.

[26:33] I don't like that. I don't like confrontation. The gospel message that God has entrusted to us is confrontational in its nature, in its essence.

[26:51] If we try to de- confrontationalize the gospel, we de- gospel the gospel.

[27:02] If we try to remove sin from the gospel, we no longer have a message for sinners who are perishing to be saved.

[27:13] we cannot de- confrontationalize this message entrusted to us. So the faithful proclamation of the gospel will confront sinners with their real sinfulness against their real holy God in order to expose their real need for a real savior.

[27:38] The gospel message confronts those who are perishing in their sins. It confronts them with their sinfulness to expose their need for a savior.

[28:00] So here's what I want to get you to this morning. To proclaim the gospel faithfully in the city of Kenosho, will run risk.

[28:12] And here's what the risks are. When we confront someone with the gospel of Jesus Christ, when we tell them God says you're going the wrong way. God's word says you're going the wrong way.

[28:26] When we confront somebody with the gospel of Jesus Christ, we run the risk of offense. Don't we? Because we say things like Jesus is the only way to heaven.

[28:41] He's the only one who can forgive your sins. That kind of exclusive language is offensive to people in our culture. So for us to even proclaim it, when we confront people with that, people will take offense.

[28:59] we run the risk of introducing strain into relationships, with relationships with people we love. I know in our family, we've had conversations with people we love, and it's been awkward.

[29:15] It's resulted in strain. And I think our biggest fear, the biggest obstacle we face to speaking the gospel is all out rejection, isn't it?

[29:34] We tell people about Jesus, we say, hey, God's word says you're going the wrong way, you need to turn to Jesus, and we get rejected for it. Like, I don't want to talk to you anymore. You're not going to hear from me, befriended, off my phone, not going to talk to you again, turn the other way.

[29:51] Isn't that our greatest fear? It's one of the biggest things that keeps us from telling other people about Jesus. So let's ask this question this way.

[30:06] Why would we risk something like that? Why would we risk offense, strain, rejection by confronting people with the gospel of Jesus?

[30:24] Why would we risk that? Let me put it to you another way. What's more important for our non-Christians, friends, and family, and coworkers?

[30:41] What's more important? To be at peace with you, or to be at peace with God? What's more important? What's more eternally significant? significant? That we have a temporal peace now, or that they experience an eternal peace forever?

[30:58] What's more significant? Our fear of rejection will keep us from lovingly confronting those who are perishing.

[31:11] It keeps us from speaking words that can result in people turning around to Jesus. If we're more concerned with what people think about us than what God thinks about people, we will remain silent in this city.

[31:38] and God would not have us do that. So the question is, how do we get over our fear of rejection?

[31:52] Because if you're not ashamed of the gospel, you're going to find a way to communicate it. How do we get over the fear? Here's how.

[32:03] Here's one way at least. We begin to purposefully concern ourselves more and more with a person standing before God. More and more we see people as God sees them.

[32:16] More and more we're like asking the question when we meet somebody, I wonder if they're saved. I wonder if they're at peace with God. I wonder if they know the sweetness of deliverance and forgiveness of sin.

[32:32] The Apostle Paul helps us out in 2 Corinthians 5. He says this. He talks about the love of Christ controlling us, that Christ died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him or for their sake died and was raised.

[32:47] And then he says this. Therefore we regard no one according to the flesh. We don't regard people the same way we used to.

[32:59] We don't see them the same way. God is calling us and helping us to see people as he sees them. It's image bearers who are perishing apart from Christ.

[33:14] So when it comes to those who are perishing our foremost in controlling concern must be their standing with God, not our standing with them.

[33:27] Our relationships serve God's gospel purposes. So can we just agree to something?

[33:39] It's going to cost us something. It's not if there's going to be cost. It's is the cost worth it?

[33:51] That's the question. We will be rejected. we will experience strain. Things will get awkward.

[34:04] But is sharing the gospel with people who are going the wrong way with the hope that they'll turn to Jesus and experience eternal life, is that worth the awkwardness?

[34:20] If we asked the apostle Paul that, he would say yes. If we asked Jesus that, he would say yes.

[34:39] Jonah 3 has a way of exposing us because we tend to be more concerned about our own reputation than God's reputation.

[34:53] We tend to be more concerned about what people think about us than what God really thinks about them. And so if we concern ourselves more and more with what God thinks of the perishing, our hearts are going to follow his heart.

[35:13] The want to see them turn and experience salvation. We've looked at one obstacle and that's our fear of what people think about us, fear of rejection.

[35:29] There's another obstacle to our evangelism, to our communicating the gospel to people. And it's something different than the fear of what other people think. It's called unbelief.

[35:40] faith. And here's how it works. We see people around us and we wonder, I wonder if they're saved.

[35:51] And then what follows that is something like this. God can't save him. God can't save her. They're unsavable. We think things like, he's too entrenched in a homosexual lifestyle to ever repent.

[36:09] We think things like, she's just too liberal to respond. He's too absorbed with himself. She loves money too much. He's too into his career. She's too scientific. He's burned after burn after burn from church after church after church.

[36:24] She's a Muslim. She would never, ever repent. That's what we think. These are examples of excuses born of unbelief.

[36:43] An unbelief in the power of God unleashed through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is God's power unto salvation for all who believe.

[37:01] So I want to encourage you. I want Jonah 3 to encourage you along these lines. If God could turn Nineveh bring about repentance, he can do the same in Kenosha.

[37:21] Look at how the Ninevites respond to Jonah's preaching in verse 5. Jonah proclaims these five words, and Nineveh, we read, the people of Nineveh believed God.

[37:36] They believed God. They heard the message and they believed God. Notice the wording. They believed God, not Jonah.

[37:51] They believed that it was God speaking to them, that it was God making his appeal through Jonah to them. God. They believed and they repented.

[38:02] And they believed that they were on the road of destruction, that they were in sin, and that they needed to turn around. So look at how they responded in verse 5.

[38:15] It was an immediate response. Verse 4, he proclaims, 40 days, you'll be overthrown. Verse 5, and the people of Nineveh responded. They believed in God.

[38:25] It was immediate. It was a real response. They called a fast. They put on sackcloth. Eventually, the king of Nineveh would sit in ashes. Do you know what all that's about? Repentance.

[38:38] Humbling oneself under God's mighty hand. It's all demonstrations of humility. It's not a time to eat. It's not a time to be comfortable. It's a time to cry out because God has addressed us and has warned us that we're in the path of destruction.

[38:54] We must turn. It's a broad response. From the greatest, verse 5, from the greatest to the least. And then in verse 6, we're brought into the very throne room of Nineveh.

[39:05] To the king of Nineveh. The greatest Ninevite. He represents his people. And we read in verse 6, the word reached the king of Nineveh.

[39:17] And literally, that word means touched the king of Nineveh. He was cut quick. Those five words, God packed a punch.

[39:32] And the king arose, removed his robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes. A clear demonstration of repentance.

[39:45] The greatest of all Ninevites was humbling himself. And he makes a decree that every, all Ninevites stop eating. Call out mightily to God.

[39:58] It's a desperate response. It's urgent. It's sobering. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish.

[40:08] They realized that they were about to be destroyed. They destroyed. You know what it all points to?

[40:20] their response was God word. Theirs was a repentance born of God.

[40:34] Their immediate response was belief in God. It was a real response. They put on sackcloth and fasted unto the Lord. It was a broad response from greatest to least to God.

[40:48] It was desperate. They're crying out to God. Elohim. In 2 Corinthians 7, Paul makes a very important distinction between two types of grief.

[41:02] Godly grief and worldly grief. A godly sorrow and a worldly sorrow. The difference is orientation.

[41:13] What it is oriented to. Godly grief is God word in its orientation. It's the recognition that first and foremost I have sinned against a holy God.

[41:26] Psalm 51 4 Against you and you alone have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. Godly grief recognizes and takes responsibility full responsibility for all of one's sins.

[41:43] It's me. I have sinned against you. Godly grief leads to true repentance. Worldly grief can be described as a sorrow a real sorrow a real sorrow for getting caught.

[42:00] A real sorrow for seeing the consequences coming and know that you're going to get hurt for it. But what godly grief is missing or what worldly grief is missing is God.

[42:16] You don't care. Worldly grief is a godless remorse. And what we see Nineveh doing is a godly grief.

[42:29] Godly sorrow sorrow which leads them to a true repentance. Here's why I'm telling you this.

[42:41] This godly sorrow that results in a true repentance this god word repentance is a god wrought repentance.

[42:59] God's behind this. God's bringing this about. And here's why I'm telling you this. When we make excuses under our from our unbelief they'll never turn.

[43:15] They won't respond. It's no point telling them they won't respond anyway. Let me decide for them. They're not going to respond. God's God's God's able to turn people.

[43:28] God's able to bring about repentance. He's just calling us to speak the message. We can't make someone experience a godly grief. God does that.

[43:39] What we can do is tell people that they're going the wrong way and that they need to turn to Jesus. While the people of Nineveh recognize that God is making his appeal to them through Jonah.

[43:56] And in 310, God relents. When God sees how they turned away from their evil way, how they repented, God relents of the disaster.

[44:08] He turns his just anger, his wrath, from the Ninevites. It raises a question. Did God just change?

[44:20] Did God just change his mind? And is it okay that God changes his mind? Well, let me just say it this way. What we see happening in Jonah 310 is not so much God changing his mind as the Ninevites changing their mind.

[44:41] God's the same. I'm the Lord, I do not change. Malachi 3. There's no shifting shadow in God. He's the same. today, tomorrow, forever. And so what we see happening though is God who is who he is responds in his purpose to respond to unrepentance one way and his purpose to respond to repentance another way.

[45:08] And so when the Ninevites repent, God relents just like he said he would. Jeremiah 18, 7-8, I don't have time to go into it.

[45:22] Just encourage you to look at it. But what I want to point out in Jonah 310 is that God's nature hasn't changed. What has changed in Jonah 3 are the Ninevites.

[45:35] They've turned away from evil and God relents. He's a God who's gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, relenting from disaster when there's repentance.

[45:51] Is God still a God of fierce anger? Yes, He is. Yes, He is. Is God storing up wrath over people of Kenosha?

[46:04] Yes, He is. Yes, He is. Will God relent today if people repent? Yes, He will. Yes, He will. He will turn His wrath from a sinner and pour out His wrath for them on Christ and deliver them.

[46:20] He relents. God relents when a sinner repents after hearing the gospel and believing the gospel from the lips of those who are sent.

[46:37] So, in quick fashion, let me just say four things. all people everywhere are important to God. That's why He sent Jonah to Nineveh.

[46:49] That's why He sent us here. God has entrusted us with His message, the gospel. He wants to make His appeal through us to the people of Kenosha, just like He appealed through Jonah to Nineveh.

[47:02] God. Third, just as pagans repented in the 8th century when they heard God, they will repent in the 21st century when they hear God speaking to them.

[47:19] Let that build your faith. And the fourth thing is who our God is. When people repent with a godly grief, God relents.

[47:30] He's gracious, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love. He relents from disaster. He's poured it on Christ and made it available to anyone who will call on the name of the Lord.

[47:47] You're going to leave this building. And when you're leaving the front door over the door, you are now entering your mission field. I hope you've seen that. You walk out, you're going to spend the rest of your day.

[48:01] You're going to see a lot of people. The question that I want you to ask is, not what does this people think of me. The question I want you to be asking is this.

[48:13] What does God think about that person? Is that person in right standing with God? If God brought about repentance in Nineveh, he can bring it about in Kenosha.

[48:29] Let's pray. God in heaven, we are a people that need your strength and empowerment to proclaim the message you've given us.

[48:43] We're fearful, we make excuses, God we can distract ourselves very easily, but God would you help us to see the people of Kenosha the way that you see the people of Kenosha.

[48:55] God would you use us to appeal to them with the gospel of Jesus Christ. God would you save because we know that anyone who calls upon your name will be saved.

[49:07] Amen.