Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: Jonah said, you're going down in 40 days. You're going to be annihilated. And God doesn't do this. The whole city repents. He should be leaping for joy. He should be activating himself into discipleship mode. Like he had work to do here.

Guest (Male): On Today's Word, Pastor Brett Meador cautioned Jonah, God's preference is mercy over justice.

Brett Meador: I wonder if you and I have this where we're more concerned about people getting what they deserve than we care about love and grace and mercy and kindness.

Guest (Male): It would seem that Jonah is finally on the right track as he arrived in Nineveh proclaiming God's message, causing the whole city to repent. However, Jonah continued to have some major attitude issues in Jonah chapters 3 and 4 that God is still patiently dealing with.

With more to learn, Pastor Brett Meador continues our verse by verse study series of Jonah in Today's Word.

Brett Meador: The book of Jonah, we've got basically the call that God gave to Jonah and he rebelled against God. God said, go. Jonah said, no.

He was told to go to Nineveh, that scary city. We can't lose sight of the fact that Nineveh was known to be extremely violent and godless and wicked. And God says, I see the wickedness of Nineveh. So I need to send you there, Jonah. And Jonah says, I'm not going to Nineveh.

So he went the opposite direction, 2,500 miles in the opposite direction was his goal. But as it turns out, the Lord prepared a big fish to swallow him up and took him back the direction he was supposed to be going. And we ended where Jonah was barfed back up on the beach.

Now, we don't really know exactly what happened between chapters 2 and 3. Like, was it right after the barfing that we come to chapter, you know, 3 or was there a little bit of time? And it seems almost like we get a total reset about everything.

One of the things I'm really thankful for God in his nature is the heart to let us have a reset. And he forgives us for our stubbornness and our sinfulness. This is where we pick it up here in chapter 3 of Jonah. It says in verse 1, chapter 3.

And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah rose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord.

We see here, Jonah is called by the Lord a second time. Don't you sense the patience of the Lord in this? Okay, now Jonah, listen, I want you to go to Nineveh. He could have said, okay, go do what you already knew you were supposed to do, the last time I told you what to do.

He didn't do that. He just kind of goes through almost like the same of verse 2 of chapter 1. Now we have the same verse, chapter 3, verse 2. Arise, go to Nineveh, go to that city. So Jonah rose and went to Nineveh. Now that's maturity. We're seeing growth in Jonah's life. Last time he said no and he ran. This time he goes to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord.

I love that. So Jonah obeys God, he goes to this great, beautiful city that's full of a bunch of wicked, violent, horrible people. That's the situation. Well, verse 4, it says in Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey. So he walked a whole day's journey into the center of the city.

And he cried and said, now here's his whole message, his whole sermon. Yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. It's sort of a fire and brimstone sermon. You know, you got 40 days and you're all toast, is basically what he's saying.

And one thing I want to point out is I believe God cares just as much about Jonah as he does care about the Ninevites. Don't forget that. God's using Jonah to be the voice to speak the word of God to the Ninevites, but he also cares about Jonah, and we'll see that as we get further into this.

And man, it's better to obey the Lord than to whine and whimper or like God forbid, you run like Jonah ran. But the Lord, he's merciful and gracious, and he knows what's good for you. Now, by the way, this chapter 3 sort of reminds me of two things, God's sovereignty, but also human responsibility.

You know, we see this in this chapter, I guess, with both. God sovereignly is working everything out, but also notice with me there in chapter 3, it says, so Jonah arose and went to Nineveh. That was his human responsibility. The first time he didn't do it in chapter 1. This time he finally does it. So it's his human responsibility, but we also see God's sovereignty.

He's getting the people ready for Nineveh. He's going to make Jonah end up going there whether he likes it or not. You'll see what I mean as we get going. We see both here, human responsibility, but also God's sovereignty in this single chapter. But anyway, I digress. His message was, as he cried out there, he'd say, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Man, I think that's a powerful message.

So it says there in verse 5, So the people of Nineveh believed God. Let's just stop right there. What? I would take those words right there for the sermons I'm preaching about God. Wouldn't that be great if everybody, every Sunday just, oh, we believe God.

It doesn't even say, I'm thankful, they believed in God, because even Satan believes in God, isn't that correct? Does Satan believe in God? Yes, but does Satan believe God? No. There's a difference and this whole city repents.

This is the greatest evangelistic thing that ever happened. Maybe in the whole world, even the day of Pentecost when the church was first formed, you know, it says 3,000 people were saved on that day. That was a glorious moment in Bible history.

But here, the whole city. Now, there's debate, by the way, of how many people were in Nineveh. Some people say 120,000. I'll show you why in a little bit. Some people say up to 600,000 in the greater Nineveh area, which would be a lot of people. But whatever group we're talking about here, it says, the people believed.

That's pretty cool. I wonder, you know, we can wonder about Jonah. And there's some things I want you to remember about Jonah as as God's offering his life. And before we get to the salvation of all these Ninevites, don't forget these three things you should know about what God.

Especially if you're going through hard times right now. Remember, number one, God loves you. John 3:16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Don't forget that that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. And then that brings us to the second thing.

Don't forget, God doesn't want anyone to perish. Remember 1 Peter 3:9 talks about the Lord, oh, I would that none should perish, but that everyone would come to repentance. And then thirdly, that he knows that the promise of salvation is for everyone.

It says, whoever calls on the name of the Lord. Acts chapter 2, verse 21. I love the whosoever in the Bible. You know, whosoever believeth on me will not perish but have everlasting life. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. The Bible teaches.

So these are the things we need to know about Jonah, but also about these people. God is merciful and God loves people and he doesn't want anyone to perish, including these Ninevites. These are the things you should remember about humanity.

Especially when you and I as Christians are thinking about or talking to the world today. We're going to see a guy here, Jonah, who could care less about Ninevites. That's going to be the sad part of this story.

And I worry that there's a lot of Jonah-esque people who could care less about people today. And we're seeing the love of many grow cold as the Bible says the last days would bring with it. There's people that even Christians that are running around saying, well, I'm glad I'm saved.

They wouldn't say it like this, but I'm going to say it crudely. I'm glad I'm saved and I could care less about those people that are the other side. We hate them and we don't care about them. Like that's actually happening because you're on the wrong side of the politics of the whole thing.

I'm so thankful that the Lord loves us. God doesn't want anyone to perish and he knows that he's made that promise. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. So the simplicity of Jonah's message, man, 40 days and you're going down.

By the way, 40 days, 40 in the Bible. Remember, numbers have great meaning. What's the number 40 a symbol of in the Bible? Judgment. There's several things, by the way, about that that we see. Remember the number of judgment. Israel wandered for 40 years.

That was the before that generation would die off, and that was a judgment upon the people of Israel. It rained 40 days and 40 nights during the flood of the earth. And Noah was on the ark for over a year. But it rained for 40 days and 40 nights to cause the flood.

Remember Jesus would take it out and then was tested for 40 days. It's a number that's always associated in the Bible with judgment. And that's what Jonah declares on the people of Nineveh, 40 days and this city will be overthrown. And that's all he had to say.

And so it says, they believed God, which basically tells us, this is a genuine conversion. And we're going to see evidence of genuine conversion, but I love the simplicity. Jonah preached eight words and they believed God, the end. It's like an amazing simple plan that God carries out here.

But let's read on 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. For the word came unto the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him and he covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes.

Interesting, you know, the idea of fasting and sackcloth and ashes, that's historically in the Middle East, mourning and grieving. These guys were repenting, yes, but there was a mourning and a grieving saying, man, why have we done these things?

There's true repentance here. I think that's kind of an important thing to see here. Notice number one, the simplicity of Jonah's sermon. I think that's so cool, just a simple, simple sermon. But also notice the reality of Jonah's message.

The reality, what gave Jonah the authority? Well, I think first of all, God told him to do it, so he's obedient. And I believe the Lord just by the spirit gave Jonah authority. But I almost wonder if maybe his experience gave him a little authority, too.

I mean, here comes this guy. Remember we talked about Jonah and the results of being in the gastric juices of a fish for three days and three nights? With seaweed wrapped around his head? Did he have time to take a shower? Did he just walk into Nineveh and be like, oh, we're going to repent.

You stink, but whatever you say, just as long as you leave us, we'll repent. I don't know, but there was a reality in Jonah's message somehow, and maybe his own experience of being in the fish, in the storm, and being barfed, maybe that there was a reality to what, hey, I know about judgment.

I know about what I'm saying. And he just said it maybe with some kind of authority. Listen, the reason I say that is the reality of Jonah's message was that God was going to do what he was going to do, and Jonah was simply the one speaking it.

If you are declaring truth, make sure you're speaking what the Bible actually says. So many people are so quick to give advice. And, you know, we all think we have wonderful advice for everyone. So wonderful is our advice that maybe you don't even really listen to what the person's talking about.

You just kind of listen to and you're like, oh, I can't wait to give my advice. Because I have amazing, fantastic advice. But, you know, it's like it really doesn't matter. There's no authority except the Lord, really. And Jonah speaking the word of the Lord.

If you want to be on good ground, speak the word of God. That's always a good thing. But here, you know, I see the simplicity of the message, but the reality of Jonah's message. Those two things were here. And then the one of the greatest evangelistic crusades that ever happened, happened.

All of this town believes. I love that. Now, it says in verse 7, you know, the king, verse 7, he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything.

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. Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not.

So this is their prayer. Oh, who can say if if what Jonah's because Jonah didn't, do you notice he didn't leave any wiggle room? Jonah says, 40 days, you guys are toast. That's all he said. So there was no hope really of salvation from Jonah.

Jonah didn't say, 40 days you're going down, unless you all repent, wear sackcloth and ashes, then then the Lord will relent. No. He just says, you're going down. And so the king and all the people are very seriously repenting and sorrowful for their sins.

That's a sign of repentance, I suppose, right here. Now, notice the word repent. I've got to say it again, because some people get really hung up on this word. The King James Old English, they always use the word repent. Most of your newer translations say relent, because there's a difference.

God doesn't repent or change his direction or mind just accidentally. God is intentionally going one way and then he turns and goes another. And that's what they're hoping for, is that the Lord will turn his fierce anger away from them, that they die not.

Verse 10, And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way, and God repented or relented of the evil that he had said he would do unto them, and he did it not. What an amazing, amazing thing. They deserved death, these Ninevites.

But because they were one prayer away of fasting and prayer, just saying, Lord, we're sorry and ask us for forgiveness. What a large scale repentance. Minimally 120,000 people, could be closer to 600,000, depending on how you do the math on this ancient city of Nineveh.

But it's an amazing thing. By the way, I think it's so funny. Who's the most successful prophet in the Old Testament? You have to give it to Jonah. It's amazing when you give out awards for the prophets, if we had an award ceremony tonight.

I'd have to say, okay, but wait until you see the rest of the story. I think Jonah's kind of the biggest loser prophet in the Old Testament. Even though he gets the most successful prophet award. By the way, who would get the most unsuccessful award? Jeremiah. 42 years of just heartfelt preaching and not one person listened to him in 42 years.

Brett Meador: Jonah says, whatever, you're all going to die. And then the whole city turns like, I wonder if Jeremiah's just up in heaven going, stupid Jonah. So Jonah gets most successful, Jeremiah gets least successful, but what I love about this is Jeremiah the prophet is the most quoted prophet of the Old Testament by Jesus himself.

Don't you love that? It's like Jesus said, I like my bro, that Jeremiah, he was, he's my man. And he quotes him over and over and over again as Jeremiah the prophet said. You know, Jesus would say that. Because Jeremiah was giving the word of the Lord, just nobody listened.

But we have to be careful how we measure our success. The world has a way of measuring and oftentimes quantity is often the measurement. But let's see how God shows Jonah going down in this story. How does the story end? Well, this is where we get to chapter 4. Let's read, verse 1.

It says, but it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry. Now, is this what Billy Graham would have done if, you know, all of Portland would have repented? I'm really mad that the Lord saved Portland. What's going on with Jonah? Well, check it out.

It says, 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? 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 relented or repented thee of the evil.

Therefore, now, O Lord, take I beseech thee my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. Wow. Jonah. He's mad that this whole city gets saved. So much, this is why I think Jonah, he was kind of suicidal, the whole, this whole story.

He wants to die in the ship. throw me overboard, you know, not turn the boat around, let's go back. Just throw me overboard. That was his word. He was, he was ready to die because he was so not into what God was wanting to do through him.

And here he's like, Lord, just kill me now. It seems to me like Jonah's a little bit bummed that his words didn't come to pass. Jonah said, you're going down in 40 days, you're going to be annihilated. And God doesn't do this.

And it sort of makes Jonah look like, maybe he, Jonah's worried about how he looks in the whole thing. They're going to think I didn't know what I was talking about. But as it turns out, the whole city repents. He should be leaping for joy.

He should be activating himself into discipleship mode. He should be walking around the city saying, now, here's what it means to be a believer in God. And if you want to follow God, here's the word of God. Like he had work to do here, but he's saying, I'd rather die. Lord, kill me now.

It's almost like he said, I knew that the Lord was going to be merciful. I wonder if you and I have this, where we're more concerned about our reputation than actually truth. Or we're more concerned about people getting what they deserve than we care about love and grace and mercy and kindness.

What are you angry about, you know, when God is merciful and gracious to people? Well, but they're sinners, they deserve to be judged. Yeah. You know, when when you find yourself saying, I can't wait till God returns and justice will be brought out in this world.

Some of us have this sanctimonious idea that God and his justice is going to come and people are going to get what they deserve. You know what I always kind of have to remind myself is, boy, I sure hope that doesn't happen. Because justice would mean me burning in hell for all eternity.

That's what is just. I don't want justice. I want God's grace and mercy. Not just on me, but on the whole world. That's my heart. And as it turns out, that's what God says he wants to do. I want everyone to repent and be saved. That's not going to happen.

But man, the Lord is patient, long-suffering. And it's amazing. Sometimes I wonder, you know, if there's going to be a bunch of people in heaven that you're going to see there and you're going, what? How did you get here? You know, I smell smoke. But you're here. Yep. That's God's grace.

Does it do us well to be angry? Well, let's keep reading. It says there in verse 4, the Lord, then said the Lord, do us thou well to be angry? I love the Lord's patience. If I were the Lord, I'd I'd I think I'd just might Jonah dead. That's what he asked for.

You want to be dead? Okay. Just a little bug on a windshield. That's all God would have had to do. But the Lord is just so patient and to say this, it's almost, if I were Jonah, I'd probably be screaming after this. The Lord's saying, do us thou well to be angry?

Like like this just would this just make you more angry? I don't know. I I'd probably get more angry. Maybe not if it was the Lord. But, I don't know. I think we should bring this phrase back. Even the King James version. Do us thou well to be angry?

There you are driving into the 10 o'clock service, your family, and there's people piled everywhere, cars parking in the planter boxes and Have you seen that? People are like planting anywhere they can. And you're driving in and and you're getting irritated. I can't believe and and wouldn't it be great, wife, if you just said to your husband, do us thou well to be angry?

Maybe I wouldn't recommend that. Maybe that's not the best plan. But that's kind of what the Lord's doing here to Jonah. Is it really a good plan for you? Are you doing a good thing here by being angry? Jonah, he wants to see these people destroyed.

And it's almost like he wants to hope that it's still coming. Check it out, verse 5. So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. And there made him a booth or a like a lean-to sort of shelter. And he sat under it in the shadow till he might see what would become of the city.

So he's just sitting there going, well, let's see what happens. It's almost like he's hoping, come on, Lord, just send a little fire and brimstone. Come on, just a little. And it's sad because he's wanting to watch destruction. He was hoping for a blasting rather than a blessing on these people.

So it says in verse 6, Now this is where it gets a little strange. Check it out, verse 6, and the Lord God prepared a gourd and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceedingly glad for the gourd, huh?

What's going on with this, you know, this gourd that grows up over his head? Well, first time we we see Jonah glad in the story. The first time we see him glad is with his gourd. He's glad about his gourd. So we got to kind of say, well, what is the Lord preparing?

The Lord prepared a fish, you know, in chapter 1 at the end and chapter 2. But now he prepares a gourd. The Hebrew word is Kikon. It's a Hebrew word for a cast, it's like a fast growing castor bean plant. And they grow really fast. You know how sunflower seeds grow really fast?

In the same way, you know, this castor bean plant in the Middle East can grow like 12 feet in a very short amount of time with huge leaves, you know, these big leaves. And it says here, God sends a gourd to come up over Jonah, that it might somehow deliver him from his grief.

He's just really bummed out that the Ninevites are going to not be destroyed. So the Lord says, I'm going to I'm going to give you something to give you a little peace or So maybe he's into plants or something. Some people say it was providing shade over his head.

Maybe, but he built a lean-to already and he was sitting in the shade of the lean-to. But, you know, it's funny how the Lord, you know, shows compassion on Jonah, and this little gourd grows up to be a big gourd and he's like, oh, I like my little gourd.

I wonder how many of us have things the Lord's blessed us with, and the Lord's like, well, you're just such an angry little person. I wanted to give you something to sort of take your mind off of it for 10 seconds. What is it that the Lord has given you that's a little blessing just to give you a little relief?

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador highlighting a demonstration of God's grace to Jonah, similar to his extended show of mercy to the people of Nineveh, Jonah was to minister to. And we hope you'll be along for the conclusion of our study series of the book of Jonah in Today's Word next time. And I also invite you to stay right there as Pastor Brett will join me here in a moment.

But first, Today's Word is the radio ministry of Athey Creek Church in the Portland, Oregon area, where Pastor Brett Meador is the senior pastor. We invite you to find out more about Pastor Brett and Athey Creek by going to todayswordradio.com. If you've missed any portion of this message, you'll find all of Pastor Brett's messages online at todayswordradio.com.

All right, Pastor Brett has joined me now. Brett, when the subject of sharing your faith with others is brought up, it can sometimes make a lot of Christians nervous, especially if they're called to do it themselves. But not sharing our testimony, not sharing the good news of the gospel, that can actually be a sin, can't it?

Brett Meador: Yes, Kurt, I think it can be. You know, I think sin is just missing the mark according to the Bible. We think of big sins as, you know, murder, adultery, but you know, there's this thing called the sin of omission. That's failing to do what we know is right. James 4:17 says, therefore, to him that knoweth to do good, but doeth it not, to him it is sin.

So when God gives us opportunities to share the gospel and we sort of hold back out of fear or apathy, we're actually withholding the very message that brings life, eternal life. You know, we worry about saying the wrong thing or being rejected by our friends or or not knowing enough.

But when we step back and think about it, evangelism, it's simply sharing what Jesus has done for us. It starts to feel less like a burden when you really do it, and it becomes this giant privilege for us to be able to share the good news that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, that he rose on the third day, and if you accept and confess your faith in Christ and repent of your sin, it says, you'll be saved. Romans 10:9 and 10. So, that command, go into all the world, Mark 16:15, go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature. That's not just for pastors or missionaries, that's for all of us.

Guest (Male): That's such great advice, Pastor Brett. Thank you for reminding us about our own personal testimony and what Christ has done in our own life can be such a powerful thing.

Well, one last time, I want to mention that if you'd like to connect with us, just go to our website at todayswordradio.com. Well, that's all the time we have. Next time, Pastor Brett Meador will challenge us to examine whether we celebrate God's compassion or resist it like Jonah, where grace is given even to those we don't think deserve it.

Guest (Male): Today's Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.