Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Have you ever met an odd couple?

For instance there is a married couple in France who some consider quite odd.

The husband is 6’ 1” and his wife is 3’ 1”.

He is three feet taller than his wife!

Maybe you’ve heard about the husband and wife who had the same first AND last name BEFORE they got married: Kelly Hildebrandt.

Or maybe you’ve heard about the couple with the greatest age difference.

A man from Somalia who was 112 married a 17 year old girl…it was his 6th marriage.

Or maybe you heard about the Russian couple who were married for only 3 days before they were separated because of war and found each other 60 years later!

Or maybe you heard about Herbert and Zelmyra Fisher who had been married for 86 years at the time of Herbert’s death in 2013.

Those are definitely some odd couples, but I find an interesting match God decided to make thousands of years ago between the prophet Jonah and the wicked city of Nineveh.

Although it was a match made in Heaven, Jonah wanted to have absolutely NOTHING to do with meeting or preaching to the Ninivites!

Sermon Introduction

Keep in mind Jonah was already a prophet of God when God speaks to him in Jonah 1.

We know from 2 Kings 14 that Jonah had already preached the Word of the Lord to wicked King Jeroboam.

It was through Jonah’s preaching that Jeroboam II fixed Israel’s border that had been weakened during earlier conflicts with Assyria.

So Jonah had already answered the call to be a prophet, He just wanted to do it on his own terms.

We don’t get to pick and choose how, where and when we are going to do God’s will.

We must do God’s will, God’s way.

As explore this introductory message to Jonah this morning I find three interesting things I want to call your attention to.

Notice Jonah 1:1-3:

The first thing I notice from this passage is that:

Nineveh Needed Jonah

Explanation

God’s Word came to Jonah and revealed to Jonah that Nineveh needed a prophet of God to go and tell them the TRUTH in hopes they would repent and the truth would set them free.

Nineveh needed Jonah for a couple of reasons:

Nineveh was located in one of the most powerful nations in the world at the time (Christ Centered Exposition, Jonah, p. 6).

It has been called the “greatest capital of the ancient Assyrian empire, located on the left bank of the Tigris River in what is known today as Iraq.

(Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary).

Imagine what might happen if the people of this city would repent at Jonah’s preaching!

Imagine the influence they could have upon the rest of the nation and the world for that matter.

Not only was Nineveh located in a powerful nation, but it was a powerful city.

One historian tells us that the walls of Nineveh were so wide three chariots could be driven, side by side, over them.

They city had streets that were 20 miles long and walls, that were in some places, 100 feet high!

It was a massive, impressive city with a population of about 120,000 souls!

(A Fresh Look at the Book of Jonah, Laurie, p. 13).

Cities need the truth!

Nineveh needed Jonah because it was a VERY SINFUL place!

Notice again what God says in Jonah 1:2:

Like an overflowing septic tank their wickedness stunk to high heaven (Laurie, p. 13)!

God was aware of their wickedness!

Nahum the prophet talks about piles of bodies laying in their streets (Nahum 3:3-4).

He also tells us the city was full of whoredom and witchcraft!

It was a SINFUL city!

Historians also tell us about Nineveh's atrocities.

They were known for their brutality.

For instance, to torture their enemies they would literally skin them alive and leave them out in the sun to die a torturous death.

Their wickedness had confronted God and now God was going to confront their wickedness!

They were also the sworn enemies of the Israelites.

The sworn enemy of Jonah and his people.

They were a wicked, depraved people.

They were like the Nazis or the Isis of their generation.

However, wicked, depraved people need the TRUTH that can set them free!

Illustration

I think this is the very reason Jesus spent so much time with wicked and depraved people.

Jesus was often criticized for sitting down with “tax collectors and sinners.”

He was known as a “friend to sinners.”

One day when He was asked about being a friend to sinners and He told three parables that illustrated why He chose to minister to these people.

You may remember them as: (1) The parable of the lost sheep, (2) The parable of the lost coin, and (3) the parable of the prodigal (lost) son.

Each of these things were lost and they needed to be found!

The shepherd left the 99 sheep in the fold and went searching for the little lost lamb and brought it home and rejoiced with his friends.

The lady lit the lamp and swept the house until she found the lost coin and when she found it she celebrated with her friends.

The day the father was looking down the road and saw a lone, familiar figure headed toward home, was a day of great rejoicing and reconciliation!

Yes, Jesus is a friend to sinners because sinners need Jesus!

Application

Thousands of years later nothing has changed!

Sinners still need Jesus and sinners still need the TRUTH that can set them free.

As believers, God, in His sovereignty has chosen to use us to GO to cities like Nineveh and people like the Ninevites and proclaim the TRUTH that can set them free!

That may mean there are people right here in Erie that God is wanting you and calling you to minister to that you are uncomfortable with!

Maybe God knows that YOU are exactly what they need!

The Nineveh's of our world need us to take the GOSPEL to them!

They need us to share the TRUTH!

They need us to live the TRUTH we share.

Nineveh needed Jonah and your community, your family, your workplace, your school needs YOU, regardless of how wicked, vile and detestable their rebellion against God is! Jesus has called YOU to be SALT and LIGHT and He doesn’t want YOU to stay in the salt shaker and spend your time lighting empty rooms…He wants us to GO and make disciples!

YOU ARE NEEDED in the Kingdom of God!

I believe the most practical place for this to start is in our HOMES!

Our children, our brothers and sisters, our parents, our relatives need to SEE us living out our LOVE for God by seeing us living lives of holiness, observing us LOVING our neighbor as ourselves, and hearing us share the TRUTH of the Word of God spoken from a heart FULL of love.

Not only do I find that Nineveh needed Jonah, but I also find...

Jonah Needed Nineveh

Explanation

As you read through the book of Jonah you find that not only did Nineveh need Jonah and the truth that he would bring, but Jonah needed Nineveh too.

Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh and God knew this.

God could have chosen many people to go to this wicked city, but He chose an unwilling prophet.

God in His foreknowledge knew how Jonah would respond, but He chose him anyway.

He knew that Jonah would run.

He knew that Jonah would try to hide from His presence.

I believe the very reason God chose Jonah to go to Nineveh was because He knew Jonah needed Nineveh and the lessons He would teach him through this experience, almost as much as Nineveh needed Jonah...

Jim Berg said in his book, Changed Into His Image:

God is commanding the prophet to demonstrate love for Him by obeying His command.

God is also commanding the prophet to demonstrate love for his neighbor by doing what his neighbor needs most.

Jonah refuses, exposing his rebel heart.

Rather than face his assignment and his rebel heart, Jonah runs.

While chapter one doesn’t reveal everything that’s going on in Jonah’s mind, we find some more insight into what Jonah was thinking in chapter 4. For instance we see:

Jonah’s heart was not in tune with God’s heart.

Jonah knew God was gracious and merciful and patient and full of love and kindness (see Jonah 4:2).

He knew that the very reason God was sending him there was because God cared for the Ninevites and desired for them to repent.

Jonah would prefer to die early (see Jonah 4:3) than to live and see God’s mercy on the Ninevites.

Jonah was so enraged at the Ninevites that He was OK with them all being eliminated, regardless of whether or not they would repent of their wickedness!

Jonah could see their sinfulness, but not his own.

There is no doubt the Assyrians were living in outright rebellion against God and His Word.