The Failure of Success – Failing at Success (Part 1)

Introduction/Background:

In 1836, a war was waged for the independence of Texas. The leader of Mexico, Santa Anna, was not about to give in to the "Texicans" who were ready to die for their freedom. In March of that year, Santa Annas soldiers pressed their siege of San Antonio de Bejar for 1 3 crucial days. Although they eventually succeeded in storming the Alamo and overwhelming the badly outnumbered Texans, Santa Anna paid a huge price for his victory. While Mexican forces were tied up in the battle for the Alamo, General Sam Houston used the time to organize an army that would defeat Mexico at San Jacinto and allow Texas to become a republic. Santa Anna won the battle-but he lost the war.

As we come to the third chapter of Jonah, the Lord of Israel has won the battle. But as we will see, the war is not yet over.

Back on land, Jonah begins to make his way to Nineveh. He had taken a detour through the belly of a fish, but now hes back on track. In the last two chapters, God will use him to bring about one of the greatest rescues in history. But how will Jonah respond?

The miracles, no matter how remarkable, which we have already seen in the story of Jonah do not compare to the greatest miracles which are a result of God's changing hearts through Jonah's preaching.

Key idea: God is the God of second chances, even when we mess up royally.

Application:

1. A Second Chance (3:1-2)

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.”

Against the backdrop of Jonah's resistance and subsequent remorse, God, in grace and mercy, gave Jonah a second chance to carry out his mission.

One of the saddest facts I know is that there are millions of people out there who think that God has given up on them. They’ve blown it, they’ve fallen and they think that God doesn’t want them anymore. Nothing could be farther from the truth!

Notice that Jonah's second call was much more personal and intense than the first. The first call was general (“cry out against it” 1:2), but the second call was more specific (“preach to it the message that I tell you” 3:2).

God now was a much more cooperative prophet. A second chance for service is not unheard of. It was given to Abraham: In spite of the fact that God promised him he would have a child with his wife Sarah, he still took bad advice and fathered a child through his wife’s servant. But God didn’t give up on him. After Abraham came back to God, He still became the “Father of many nations.” David: In spite of the fact that David committed murder and adultery, after coming back to God, He still became known as
“a man after God’s own heart;” and also to Peter: In spite of the fact that Peter denied that he even knew Jesus in the presence of many people, when he came back to God, he was used to be one of the Early Church’s greatest leaders (John 21). If only people would understand that if God didn’t give up on these people, he certainly would never give up on them. God won’t give up on you! What a marvelous and surprising truth we learn from Jonah life.

A "second call" is never guaranteed. It is much safer to respond favorably to God the first time. In Jonah's case, God could have called a second man, but for His own purposes He chose to call the same man a second time.

1. A Simple Message (3:3-4)

So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first days walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

Nineveh was great in size, significance, and wealth. But it was also great in its sin (1:2). That is why Jonah was there, and he began the 3-day journey through town to declare God's warning to the people. Our mission to our own cities, towns, and villages should be motivated by the same thing. They too are great in sin.

How did he get a crowd? Bible commentator Harry Rimmer suggests that the fish's gastric juices may have had a dramatic effect on Jonah's appearance by removing his hair and bleaching his skin. The sight of him (and possibly the smell) certainly would have caused people to notice.

1. God's Mercy

Yet forty days. . . This is the key, for it speaks of God's mercy. If there had been no opportunity for repentance, no deadline would have been needed. But God gave Nineveh a specific amount of time to repent. And what would bring about their repentance? As always, it was the word of God given to people who needed His mercy and forgiveness more than anything else in life.

Any warning of judgment suggests the possibility of mercy. Why preach to Nineveh if they’re not going to be given a chance to repent? And why give them 40 days to decide? Why did Jonah dread preaching to Nineveh? Because he knew God all too well! The king of Nineveh also understood the implication; he dares to hope in verse 9: “Who knows? God may yet relent, and with compassion turn from His burning anger so that we shall not perish.”

1. God's Judgment

"Nineveh shall be overthrown!" The word overthrown means "to overturn," and the tense of the verb describes it being done with thoroughness­—a complete destruction of the city to its foundation. This same word is used in Genesis 19:25 to describe the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Undoubtedly, Jonah preached more than these specific words, but this was his main theme. As warnings go, his message was short and to the point. Messages of judgment are often marked by such directness:

• Nathan said to David, 'You are the man!" (2 Sam. 12:7).
• A message of judgment on King Belshazzar supernaturally appeared on a wall with the following message: “Mene, mene, tekel. Upharsin” literally, “He has numbered, he has weighed, and they divide.”; that is, God hath certainly, perfectly, and exactly numbered the days until the next empire will take over, weighed your actions and found them wanting, and thus your kingdom will be divided by the Medes and Persians. (Dan. 5:25).
• The Lord said to the Ephesian church, "Repent and do the first works" (Rev. 2:5).

Its possible that Jonah might have enjoyed his message of judgment a bit too much. He had already shown his hatred for the Ninevites, and now he was pronouncing their coming destruction. He could have easily felt a sense of satisfaction as he preached those words. But if he did find such pleasure, he missed the mercy of God in the message and urgent warning he proclaimed.

Jonathan Edwards preached in his Northampton Congregational church his most famous fire-and-brimstone sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. Edwards warned that divine justice calls for an infinite punishment. Unbelievers are walking over the pit of hell on rotted boards that are liable to give way at any moment. And while God is under no obligation to keep sinners from the flames of His wrath, the threat of hell is to persuade people to repent. Charles Spurgeon wrote, “If Hell must be filled, let it not possess one soul which was unprayed for, unimplored, or unwarned.” To flee God’s wrath, we must cling to His mercy! Nineveh only needed to hear this once, which is why Jesus said that those who have repeatedly rejected Him will be rebuked by the citizens of Nineveh (Mt 12).

The irony of Jonah's story, however; is that the people of Nineveh were about to honor God with a surrender that Jonah was still not ready to give. Behind and underneath his external obedience, his internal rebellion remained. He had actively rebelled when he fled to Tarshish, but now he was passively rebelling against the heart of God. As we are about to see, even though he was speaking the words of God, he remained out of step with the heart of the merciful God who is "not willing that any should perish but that all (even Nineveh) should come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3:9).

1. A Serious Response (3:5-9)

What would it have been like to be in Nineveh when Jonah delivered his message? Pastor and author James Montgomery Boice described it like this: "We can almost see Jonah as he entered a days journey and began to cry out his message. What would be his reception? Would the Ninevites laugh? Would they turn against Jonah and persecute him? As he cried out people stopped to listen. The hum of commerce died down and a holy hush stole over the collecting multitudes. Soon there were weeping and other signs of genuine repentance of sin. At last the message of Jonah entered even the palace, and the king, divesting himself of his magnificent robes, took the place of a mourner alongside his repenting subjects." (Can You Run Away From God? Victor, 1977, pp.71-72).

What an amazing scene! Notice how an entire culture responded to the grace and mercy of God:

1. Their Belief (v. 5a)

So the people of Nineveh believed God. . . .

The word “believed” here is identical to the word in Genesis 15:6 “[Abraham] believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” This isn't just believing what is said; it is trusting the God who has spoken. The people believed that Jonah's message was from God, and they too it seriously. Hebrews 11:6 says that "without faith it is impossible to please God. They believed God-and responded!

1. Their Repentance And Prayer (vv. 5-9)

So the people of Nineveh. . . proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, “Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?”

Two Old Testament expressions of a sincere change of heart are fasting and wearing sackcloth. Notice that their faith produced action spontaneous, immediate, and unanimous.

Putting on sackcloth (coarse cloth) was a symbol of humiliation, distress, and mourning. It was a declaration of personal unworthiness, and it was done by all the people, from the greatest to the least. Even the animals were involved.

The peoples repentant faith caused a change in their behavior. No vague or superficial confession would do. A true change of minds and hearts evidenced by changed lives was desperately needed.

In response to Jonah's warning from God, a pagan king led his people in national repentance, acknowledging that God is sovereign and could "turn away from His fierce anger" (v.9) if He chose to. But he still called on the citizens of Nineveh to pray for God's mercy. His requ st expressed faith and hope on the part of the king. It is important to notice that neither the king nor the people of Nineveh had any evidence on which to base their hope except that God had given them a warning instead of immediately destroying them. So, by faith, they went to prayer with hope that mercy would overtake judgment.

1. A Saving God (3: 10)

Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them and He did not do it.

1. What God Saw

He saw their works and that they genuinely 'turned from their sin. The genuineness of their repentance was seen in the evidence of their changed lives (see Luke 3:8; Acts 26:20).

1. What God Did

"God relented. . . and He did not do it." God reversed His declaration of judgment and rescued them from their sin and guilt. This doesn't mean, however, that God repented or changed His mind. Instead, He remained true to His eternal principles of justice and mercy. Consider the following:

• The Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man, that He should change His mind (I Sam. 15:29 NIV).
• God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? (Num. 23: 19).

The point is that the character of God does not change. Instead, as people change in their relationship to Him, different laws come into operation. When verse 10 says that "God relented," its not referring to His remorse over an error in judgment, but a removal of judgment as an act of mercy to one who has repented.

God's laws about judgment of sin are clear, but escape is available when we appeal to Him on His terms seeking mercy and forgiveness. That is how the battle for the hearts of Nineveh had been won.

Conclusion: