Sermon in Minneapolis 23.10.2005

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Let us unite our hearts in opening thanksgiving and prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this new morning of grace, wherein we, thy children, are able to gather around thy holy and undying word. As we gather here this day, Father, we pray that you would open your word, that you would give us hearts to receive that word. And we pray especially that that word, that seed which lands therein, the bosom of our heart, that it would spring forth and bear abundant fruit, not to our honor and glory, Father, but that all honor and glory would belong to you, that we could do thy word with willing hearts and willing minds to preach that gospel, the forgiveness of sins, one to another, from faith to faith. We thank thee, Father, for thy dear Son, who has died for our sins, who has washed away those sins. They have been drowned in the sea of grace, that bottomless sea. And through the merits of thy dear Son, we have been given those robes of righteousness to wear.

We pray that those in this world that are seeking and searching for thy kingdom, that are longing for that peace and joy that is found therein, that you would awaken their heart, lead them to that living word, which is found here in the midst of thy kingdom here on earth, and that those seeking and searching for their sins would also receive that grace, that they too could believe all their sins were forgiven in Jesus' name and blood.

And we join in that prayer which thy dear Son has so preciously taught us for this journey of faith. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

For our study this morning, I will read the word of God, which is found in the book of Jonah. That word set aside for this day is in both chapters 3 and 4: the first five verses of chapter 3, the 10th verse, and then all of chapter 4. I will read that portion in Jesus' name as follows:

And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go into Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose and went into Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey. And he cried and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

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. And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. And God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not.

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. 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 into Tarshish, for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and repentest 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.

Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry?

So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord prepared a gourd and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.

But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.

And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry even unto death.

Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle? Amen.

This is certainly an interesting portion of Scripture, as we could say is the case with the entire Scriptures, all of God's Word. I'm sure many of you who have studied this Word would agree with that, that it seems when you begin reading from one portion that you cannot stop reading but want to read more and more portions and find that oftentimes it is so interesting what God's Word really teaches us and how complete is that Word in its teaching, that we can find answers to life's questions and most preciously we can find that light of God's Word that leads us to eternal life.

This portion here concerning Jonah has some interesting elements to it, we could say. There is first of all the matters concerning Jonah and of his life of faith and of his struggles and his trials and even speaks of his nature and how that in itself was a difficult stumbling block even for Jonah as he endeavored to do God's will here in his life.

Also, it speaks to us of those that are traveling on the outside of God's kingdom, how God yet is a loving and merciful God who desires that those living in sin and unbelief would yet be brought into this kingdom of life unto this way of salvation unto that eternal life in heaven. It also speaks to us of God's grace, patience, and long-suffering for sin-fallen mankind, whether they be one who is yet traveling on the outside of God's kingdom or one traveling as a child of God; that patience and love that the heavenly Father has for his creation to call sinners unto repentance, to remind those who have received this grace of repentance of the importance of caring for the undying portion, putting away our sins and forgiving one another, and how important it is that we would do that will of the heavenly Father in our life.

Jonah was a prophet; he had been given duties and responsibilities, we could say, in God's kingdom to preach that word, to make it known. And we know we can say that in that calling there are those difficulties that one struggles against which arise from our own portion, our own flesh.

Last weekend we were able to attend the speakers and wives camp there at Stoney Lake. There were many brothers and their wives gathered there that last weekend for precious services together, studying God's word and speaking of the way and the journey. We can say there that there was certainly unity of the spirit there and God was in our midst. How precious it was to be there and to hear that instruction, even concerning the sermon of the word and also that word of comfort and care for the wives who share in that work in the office of preaching, to support their husbands and to carry the household many times, and to be also as a sealed vessel when there are matters of soul care and so forth.

At the conclusion of that camp, in that final discussion, there was a very, very clear message that came forth to each and everyone gathered there, and it was that message that is found in so many portions and places in scriptures that says that he who hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Certainly reminds, I'm sure many of you, of that instruction to those seven churches there in the book of Revelation, but even in that parable of the sower which Jesus spoke unto the people of that day, at the end of that parable he cried out that he who hath an ear, let him hear.

And is that not so also in our day, the times and conditions that we live in, that there is that loving reminder to each and every one of us to hear and to listen to that word of God, that we can be strengthened in our journey of faith, that we can battle against the principalities, the wrong spirits, the temptations of the world, and the battle with our own flesh that we carry so close to us.

One of those turns to speak, one of the brothers spoke concerning this calling of the servant of God's word, how that one whom God chooses to preach this word is the poorest one in the kingdom. We remembered how it is that we have been lowered even from that place of the poorest one to serve in God's kingdom. The servant is below the congregation, not above God's.

God's word goes forth that as God wills, he gives words to speak, that it would not be the word of man but it would be God's word, even as it was for the people in the day of Jonah's time, they're living in that city of Nineveh. So also today in our time, for the people living in the city of Minneapolis even this day, goes forth that word of God, not only from the speaker brothers but from each and every child of God, whether it is there in your school life, you dear little children when you confess your faith, or in that work life for those of you who have jobs to go to every day, or whether it is in that home life where you interact with your neighbors in the community around you.

Through all the children of God, God has given a special duty, and that is to preach the word, to preach that forgiveness of sins one to another and to those who are seeking and searching for that peace and joy in their life.

And now when we think of it from that perspective, perhaps now we can relate to our brother Jonah here in this portion that we read. It began in that third chapter with the word, and the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time. Here it says that God's word came to Jonah a second time, and so we might ask, well, what was the first time and what happened that first time? Why did it have to come a second time?

I'm sure the Sunday school children when they think of Jonah would be able to relate of that first time when God called Jonah to go to Nineveh. I would almost guess that some of the preschool children who have listened to the stories from the Bible that mother and father have read at evening time have also touched on what happened to Jonah that first time. The first chapter of this book of Jonah says, "Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me."

Jonah was a believing man, a child of God, a prophet in his day and his time, given that special calling to preach God's word to the people and to warn them of their sinfulness and to preach the gospel of repentance. God here gave Jonah this instruction; he chose him as that vessel to go to those people and to preach the gospel of repentance unto them that they might be saved.

But Jonah, he carried flesh and blood, the same as you and I. And when we have been given that kind of a responsibility, a calling, perhaps it hasn't been directly, we could say, from God to us, but perhaps through the other brothers and sisters God has used their mouths to give us a special duty when it comes to caring for matters of eternal life and sin.

Perhaps you have been in such a position when someone has asked you, would you go and speak to such and such to help them in their struggle to perhaps find God's kingdom or perhaps concerning difficulties on the way and the journey. And how has it been? Has your flesh said, "Here am I, send me, I will go and I will do that duty which God has given," or has it happened for Jonah that our flesh is fearful, that we doubt, that how could we, such a sinner, such a poor one, go to speak to somebody about matters of faith?

You dear youth who are on that battlefront so often in your daily life, perhaps you have experienced that situation where you have seen one of your brothers or sisters stumble and fall into some sin and you have wanted to go and to speak to them, but your flesh arises and it says, "Who am I? How could I go?" Or perhaps the enemy puts those kinds of thoughts, that what if they would become angry with me and they would stop our friendship and we would no longer be close friends, and then what would I do?

And so we find many reasons and excuses why we wouldn't want to go and to speak about sin and the need to put away those sins and to believe them forgiven in Jesus' name and blood.

Jonah had that kind of fearful heart and perhaps in this case even somewhat rebellious. He not only feared to go and do that work but he decided he wouldn't go and do that work. In fact, he went the other way. He went away from the area where God had told him to go. He went the opposite way. He went down to the coast there and he got on a ship and he proceeded to go the other direction to get away as far as he could from this duty and calling that God had given him to do.

And you young travelers, you know what happened there: that there on that ship there came a great storm and the sailors were afraid and Jonah was sleeping there in that ship in a deep, deep sleep, even unaware of that great storm. He was awakened by the sailors who said, "We will perish in this storm," and they began to wonder what was the cause for God's wrath that he had caused this great storm to come and that the waters were beating on the boat.

Jonah had to confess; he said, "I think it's me." The Holy Spirit even in this way revealed unto Jonah that he was the cause, he was the one whom God was calling to. He told these sailors that God had given me a responsibility and I am fleeing from that duty.

The sailors said, "Well, what shall we do? How can we save ourselves from this great storm?" Jonah instructed this way as God revealed to him of that instruction: "Throw me into the sea and when I'm off this boat then the storms will be calm."

But the sailors struggled against that kind of instruction. They thought that if they threw him in that sea surely he will drown because they were far from land. They did not want his blood on their hands. They did not want to arrive back at the shore if they would be spared from that storm to say that they had thrown Jonah overboard and he had drowned.

Nevertheless, Jonah instructed them to be obedient and to do that also, and they did. It says in this end of this first verse here in that 13th chapter it spoke how first the men tried to resist even also that instruction. Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to bring it to the land but they could not, for the sea wrought and was tempest against them.

So men struggled with all their might against God's word and instruction as so often is the case, but they got nowhere and they saw the futility of that struggle and they cried unto the Lord and said, "We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let not perish for this man's life and lay not upon us innocent blood, for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee."

So they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea and the sea ceased from her raging. These sailors witnessed a miracle that when Jonah hit the water that storm ceased, the waters became calm.

What was the effect then on those sailors? It said in that 16th verse, "Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows." They were affected in their heart; they praised God the Creator for his great might and for being able to control the seas and the winds and to be able to also reveal his kingdom to them. They made a sacrifice unto the Lord and we can say here that they made those new promises to be obedient to God's word, to fear God, to travel as a child of God.

Then it says here that the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. So God also took care of Jonah that he didn't drown there in that sea, but the fish ate Jonah alive and he was there in that belly of the fish for three days and three nights.

Then there in that struggle there Jonah was humbled and realized that he needed to be obedient to God and that God would care for him, and the whale then spit Jonah back out onto dry land so that he could now go forth to do that work that God had given him to do.

So again in that third chapter we read that the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee."

So he said then to go to that place and to give the words; he would give the words to Jonah and those would be the words he should preach unto the people of Nineveh.

So many times we lament that we are empty vessels, that we have no words to bring, whether it is in that visit in the home or visit as we spoke of concerning matters of faith. It is true and it's probably a good matter that we do not have words to bring, for our words would not save the fallen man, but God gives his word.

This is now what Jonah believed, that he went to Nineveh, God would give him the words to preach to the people, and he went there according to the word of the Lord. God brought him there hastily there to do that work and Jonah entered into the city a day's journey instead of a three days journey and he cried and said, "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown."

How would it be, brothers and sisters, if you were to go now to your place in the world where you go to school or where you work or perhaps to the neighborhood store and there at the door of that school or that workplace or that store you would begin to say, "That forty days yet the word of God is here in Minneapolis and then it shall be destroyed."

Jonah spoke that way there to the people of Nineveh because God had revealed that matter to him that they needed to stop in the busyness of their life; they needed to think that where were they. How would it be if in forty days that city was overthrown and they were killed, their life was taken? What would matter? What would be most important in their life?

I remember at a couple's camp a few years ago we were there in Phoenix and one of the questions that came up in that discussion was that for example in your own possessions they spoke of it this way: if you were in your home and all of a sudden it caught fire and you realized that the fire was great and you had no time to put it out or take care of it, something with you and flee from your home, knowing everything else would be completely destroyed and wiped out of your possessions.

And the question was, what would you take? It pauses us to stop and think what is our priority? What is important in our life?

And so also was this calling of Jonah to the city of Nineveh, the people there. When they heard that, they stopped and they thought about it. Their hearts were pricked by the word of God and they realized that they were unacceptable travelers. They realized that their life had become very sinful and that God was calling to them here to put away their sins.

It doesn't say specifically what the city of Nineveh, what the believers' matters were that were traveling there, but perhaps we could think that in many ways they were the same and are the same as matters here in our day and time. For the Bible says concerning sin that there is nothing new under the sun. Things that are happening in our day and time, those kinds of sins and those matters have taken place in the past and they will take place in the future.

So we could think that perhaps there was that kind of a worldly lifestyle, that perhaps there were even those two camps there in that city of Nineveh where there were those who were living in the sins of the flesh, that they were perhaps living in adultery, living together unmarried. Perhaps there were those matters where there were the people of the same sex living together, men with men and women with women. There may have been those situations of inappropriate music, inappropriate music, and drinking, alcoholism. All of these kinds of things quite possibly were there in that city of Nineveh.

God was displeased with that kind of a lifestyle and he was sending Jonah there now to preach unto them. But there may have also been those who were very righteous. There may have been the churches of the world, the churches of works and of false religions there in that city of Nineveh, those who perhaps lived what they thought were perfect lives, that they went to church and that they looked down on the people who were living in sin and said how bad that was and how poor those sinners were.

But in their own righteousness they did not see themselves as sinners. They did not see that they were unacceptable to God. But God did. And God sent Jonah to preach that word. And Jonah went.

Jonah perhaps even in himself did not know what kind of listeners there were at those services, but God knew the hearts of men, knew the hearts of the women, knew their matters, knew their hearts, and through that mouth of Jonah spoke to them personally and called to them personally, "Where art thou? How are your matters? Where would you be now in 40 days if your life was taken? Would you be acceptable to the Heavenly Father?"

In that opening Psalm 24:1-3, perhaps it speaks of that message that went forth to the people of Nineveh, still so tenderly:

"Sinner, I am pleading for you. My loving voice gently does call you. As a shepherd, I call you and beg you to come. I'll carry you home. If I find you. As a mother who weeps for the death of her child, I grieve for your soul in great anguish and pain. Reject not my calling, O sinner."

Isn't that so often the call that goes forth from the kingdom of God, the kingdom of life? It goes forth so tenderly, so personally, so lovingly, calling us to put away our sins and to believe them forgiven in Jesus' name and blood.

And it speaks of the grief when it talks there of the sorrow of a mother who weeps for the death of her child. A mother we could say is God's congregation, and even when there is one child of God who has denied their faith, that there is that sorrow in the congregation, that sadness, that prayer to the heavenly Father, "Father, what can we do? How can we bring that word to that fallen one that they could again receive the grace of repentance?"

This is so often the lamentations that are heard there in that congregation, how one is such a poor one, how one is such an unsuccessful traveler. Even sometimes we can say that, and I'm sure we would always, we could say always is the case with the parents when one of their children has fallen away from faith, that the parents would begin to blame themselves, even say that the reason this is unhappiness because of my own sinfulness.

Supportive, oh, that accuser is so close to us and uses these opportunities, does he not, brothers and sisters, to try our faith, to tell us how unsuccessful we are, that you also should give up your faith, that that's why your child has denied faith, that you also should deny your faith because you are such an acceptable traveler in the kingdom.

But yet those brothers and sisters in faith, when we are able to speak to, they are our precious escorts on this journey. They are able to comfort us with God's word to assure us that we can believe our sins forgiven, be traveling as a child of God with that assurance that we can continue to travel.

But oh, how close that sorrow is to our heart. Many have related in this way that when they woke out in the morning, the first thought that came to their mind was their unbelieving children. And I know even of my own dear precious aunt who had Alzheimer's in the end of her life, and yet even in that condition there she was able to know and to recognize her unbelieving children and even in that way especially remind to them how her heart was yet prayed that they would receive the grace of repentance.

And we know even of these matters that as it was for that aunt who has left this life and her children whom she remembered so often in her life are yet watching in unbelief, but yet perhaps the days are still there for them to repent. And there are, yes, in those brothers and sisters in God's kingdom who remember those fallen ones in prayer to the heavenly Father that what a wonderful matter it would be if God could awaken their heart and conscience and preach unto them that they would seek that kingdom, that they would yearn and long for that forgiveness in their life.

And we know that it has happened in that way, that there have been those who have been able to, after living many years in the world and unbelief and many grievous sins, have been able to believe that gospel and have those sins forgiven.

And we can say even of this that even if the matters were not so, what we might think with our external portion so grievous but yet living in unbelief and self-righteousness, sin is sin before God.

God, even if, even as it was there for those travelers in Nineveh who were outside of God's kingdom, and the only way that sin goes away is through that preaching of the gospel.

And we see here in Nineveh that power of God's word, for what happened there when Jonah preached that word. It said here that the people hearkened to that word, that they believed that word. It says, "So the people in Nineveh believed God," not Jonah, but they believed God, God's word, and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, and from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

They received an awakened conscience and as was the custom of that day, they put on this sackcloth, they took off their everyday garments and they put on this sackcloth as an outward picture, we might say, of their grieving, and they also put on ashes or sat in ashes, and their hearts yearned for that forgiveness, forgiveness of their sins.

And we could say it is not enough to put on outward grief, but it was truly from their heart they wanted to believe their sins forgiven and they were able to believe in that way and there was a great awakening there in Nineveh.

Later we read that God spoke to Jonah and he spoke of that city wherein there were six score thousand persons. And if we think of a score as being twenty, that would say some hundred and twenty thousand people received the grace of repentance from the, from the, we might say, from the measure of man, I suppose, from the top to the lowest of the king himself received the grace of repentance.

The word came unto the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne, he laid his robe from him and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes, and 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 own hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not?"

And God heard that cry from their hearts and God saw their works that they turned from their evil way. There was a change in life and he said that he would not do unto them and he did it not.

So God was pleased that they received the grace of repentance, that they heard his word and put away their sin and believed it forgiven in the name and blood of Jesus, and they endeavored to travel as a child of God. There was that change in their heart, change in their life.

And God then told Jonah that he would not destroy that city.

When one receives the grace of repentance, we can say that truly God's kingdom rejoices and there is often joy over this matter when we hear that one has been converted from the ways of unbelief and is traveling now as a child of God.

But we see a remarkable thing here in this portion that we read: Jonah was not pleased. Jonah was angry then when God did not destroy that city.

Here also we see an important reminder to us that we would not put ourselves above God's word.

And Jonah went to the other extreme that he thought then that he was a great prophet and that he was foretelling of this destruction of the city and that perhaps even history would record in that way now that Jonah was the one who foretold of the destruction of Nineveh.

Jonah went outside the city to watch what would happen and when it was not destroyed by God, Jonah became angry.

We can see here also how our flesh battles again God's word so many times that when matters do not go our way then we begin to become angry.

Jonah's pride was affected and now he was embarrassed because the city was not destroyed and he felt like his respect from the people was now taken away, that nobody would believe anything else that he ever said because God had told him to say this, he had said it, and then it didn't happen.

Here God took care of Jonah, gave him an example of this gourd, how he caused it to come for it in one day and to bring shade to him there in that hot sun, but then he brought the worm to take away that gourd and he showed Jonah in this way that God is doing this work and with God all things were possible.

We should be pleased with God's work and accepting of God's work and his direction and not to grumble against it but to rejoice that God's work goes forward.

So God then again had to humble Jonah. He sent that great hot wind to blow on him and to remind Jonah again that he was about to perish himself just as he did with that example that we're so familiar with when Jonah was thrown into the sea and swallowed by the whale.

Here also again God had to remind how he was taking God's word and God's work and taking it unto himself, but that rather what should we do? That is that we sow God's word. We are sowers in the kingdom and we do not begin to try to wreath that word or we do not begin to try to discern the outcome of that word, should it bring forth fruit or not, but rather simply do that work and to accept the way that it goes because that is according to God's will.

He saw the condition of the people in Nineveh. He impatiently worked with that dear brother Jonah and sent him there to preach that word. Had the people not heard that word, had they rejected that calling, we can probably trust that that city would have been destroyed on that fortieth day as God has said.

But when the people heard that word, God rejoiced in his heart and he did not do that which he said he would do.

God is a patient God. He is a loving God and he continues to call unto sin-fallen man.

So it is even this day that if there would be one who is in the hearing of God's word that has wondered, that there is such a one listening here, I would assure you as a servant in God's kingdom that you can uplift your heart to believe your unbelief and all your sins forgiven in Jesus' name and blood.

But God's word is not only for those in the outside of God's kingdom but it is also for his children and it is for you also, dear brothers and sisters this morning.

Perhaps as you have been sitting here and found yourself that, "How are my matters?" that you also this morning can uplift your heart and believe all of your sins forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

Be of good comfort and of good cheer and continue to travel in God's kingdom yet for a day. Do not worry about tomorrow. God will provide that word and care for you each day of your life and all he asks is that you believe for this day sufficient is that grace, sufficient is that forgiveness of your sins that you can believe today and journey as a child of God.

And from that place then go forth and do that work which God has given you to do.

And yet I would say in coming here, have come with many doubts and fears that, "Can you forgive me all of my sins and my doubts?" And I truly want to believe with you, your brothers and sisters in faith.

And in closing, I would ask that you would remember me and my family in your prayers to the heavenly Father that we would be preserved in living.

Let us unite our hearts in the closing benediction.

The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face shine upon us and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us peace.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.