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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
We used to be numbered among them.
God, would you make us your ambassadors to the city of Kenosha?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
That more people would know the sweetness
of sins forgiven.
Of righteousness imputed.
Of a confidence that
you're for us forever.
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?
We ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, before I start preaching,
I want to introduce to you all a couple.
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.
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.
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.
I'll get there myself.
Do you know,
outside this building
and around Library Square
is a one-way street.
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.
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.
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.
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?
I saw that SUV turning around.
It started going the right way.
Salvation is a one-way street
called Jesus.
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.
This morning in Jonah 3,
we'll see how God used
this reluctant prophet
to speak His message
to these Ninevite sinners
who repent.
It's amazing.
They repent.
And God turns from His great anger.
He relents.
When sinners repent,
God relents.
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.
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.
So let's look at
this first little snapshot
when Jonah is resent.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Jonah repented.
He realized that he was resisting God.
And so his last great exclamation
of chapter 2 is,
Salvation belongs to the Lord.
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.
Jonah's been changed and sent.
We have been changed and sent.
We say that salvation belongs
to our Lord God.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
You know, the whole Chicago metroplex.
And so when the author of Jonah
is talking about Nineveh,
he's talking about the Nineveh metroplex.
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.
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.
Devastating.
There were killers.
Early terrorists.
They wreaked havoc wherever they went.
They wanted people to be afraid of them.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
The same word.
And each time it's used,
not as an adjective,
but as a noun.
About God.
God himself.
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.
Nineveh was important to God.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
So the city of Nineveh
is important to God.
It is a big city.
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.
And so that alone
helps us understand this little phrase
that this city was important to God.
How do we bring that home?
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.
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.
That's why God
is insistent
upon sending Jonah to Nineveh.
Nineveh is important to him.
All people everywhere
must someday give an account
to the God of creation
who's made himself known
as Yahweh
and Jesus Christ.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
And as Christians,
God has given us
a message to proclaim.
His message,
not ours.
We proclaim the gospel.
The message
of reconciliation.
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.
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.
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.
God wants to get
a message
to the Ninevites
and He calls
and sends Jonah
to do it.
That's God's M.O.
And that's one
of the biggest reasons
God has us here.
Now,
this message itself
is just five words
in Hebrew.
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.
120,000 evildoers.
It's terrorist-like folks.
They repent.
I mean, seriously.
It's like Jonah
shows up and say,
hey, Nineveh,
40 days
and you're done.
And they respond.
God
has been preparing
Nineveh.
40 days
and you'll be overturned.
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?
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.
You know,
next Sunday
is the civic parade.
I really love
the Shriners
flying carpets.
You know what I'm talking about?
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.
No fanfare.
no fancy float.
But on
the back
of that
pickup truck
is Jonah.
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.
Kenosha,
40 days
and you're done.
Kenosha,
40 days.
It's over.
40 days
and you'll be
overturned,
overthrown.
Disaster
is pending.
You've got
40 days,
Kenosha.
If we're
in the crowd,
what are we
thinking?
Who is this guy?
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?
I'd like to
see them back
right now.
Quite a
message,
isn't it?
Simple,
clear,
and
confrontational.
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.
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.
If we
try to
de-
confrontationalize
the gospel,
we de-
gospel
the gospel.
If we
try to
remove sin
from the
gospel,
we no
longer have
a message
for sinners
who are
perishing
to be
saved.
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.
The
gospel
message
confronts
those who
are perishing
in their
sins.
It
confronts
them with
their
sinfulness
to expose
their need
for a
savior.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Why would
we risk
something like
that?
Why would
we risk
offense,
strain,
rejection
by confronting
people with
the gospel
of Jesus?
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?
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?
That we
have a
temporal
peace now,
or that
they
experience
an eternal
peace forever?
What's more
significant?
Our fear
of rejection
will keep
us from
lovingly
confronting
those who
are perishing.
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.
and God
would not
have us
do that.
So the
question is,
how do we
get over
our fear
of rejection?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Our
relationships
serve
God's
gospel
purposes.
So can
we just
agree to
something?
It's
going to
cost us
something.
It's not
if there's
going to be
cost.
It's
is the
cost
worth it?
That's the
question.
We will be
rejected.
we will
experience
strain.
Things will
get awkward.
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?
If we
asked the
apostle Paul
that, he
would say
yes.
If we
asked Jesus
that, he
would say
yes.
Jonah 3
has a
way of
exposing
us
because we
tend to be
more concerned
about our
own reputation
than God's
reputation.
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.
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.
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.
faith.
And here's
how it
works.
We see
people around
us and
we wonder,
I wonder if
they're saved.
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.
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
from church
after church
after church.
She's a
Muslim.
She would
never,
ever repent.
That's what
we think.
These are
examples of
excuses
born of
unbelief.
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.
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.
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.
They
believed God.
They heard
the message
and they
believed God.
Notice the
wording.
They believed
God,
not
Jonah.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
And literally,
that word means
touched the
king of
Nineveh.
He was cut
quick.
Those five
words,
God packed
a punch.
And the
king arose,
removed his
robe,
put on
sackcloth,
and sat
in ashes.
A clear
demonstration
of repentance.
The greatest
of all
Ninevites
was humbling
himself.
And he
makes a
decree that
every,
all Ninevites
stop eating.
Call out
mightily to
God.
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.
They
realized
that they
were about
to be
destroyed.
They
destroyed.
You know
what it all
points to?
their response
was God
word.
Theirs
was a
repentance
born of
God.
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.
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.
Godly
grief
and worldly
grief.
A
godly
sorrow
and a
worldly
sorrow.
The
difference
is
orientation.
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.
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.
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.
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.
You don't
care.
Worldly
grief is a
godless
remorse.
And what
we see
Nineveh
doing
is a
godly
grief.
Godly
sorrow
which leads
them to
a true
repentance.
Here's why
I'm telling
you this.
This
godly
sorrow
that results
in a true
repentance
this
god
word
repentance
is a
god
wrought
repentance.
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.
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
able to
turn
people.
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.
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.
And in
310,
God
relents.
When God
sees how
they turned
away from
their evil
way, how
they repented,
God relents
of the
disaster.
He turns
his just
anger, his
wrath, from
the Ninevites.
It raises
a question.
Did God
just change?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Is God
still a
God of
fierce anger?
Yes,
He is.
Yes,
He is.
Is God
storing up
wrath over
people of
Kenosha?
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.
He relents.
God relents
when a
sinner repents
after hearing
the gospel
and believing
the gospel
from the
lips of
those who
are sent.
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.
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.
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.
Let that
build your
faith.
And the
fourth thing
is who
our God
is.
When people
repent with
a godly
grief,
God relents.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Let's pray.
God in
heaven,
we are a
people that
need your
strength and
empowerment to
proclaim the
message you've
given us.
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.
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.
Amen.