PREACHING WITH RESULTS
November 10, 2002 PM
Sermon Outline
Jonah 3:4,5
INTRO: I think it is safe to say that Jonah went to Nineveh believing it was foolish to go. I believe that Jonah knew the people of Nineveh had such a terrible reputation for evil and violence that in his mind he could not imagine their changing course. But he went, and he preached. He apparently was tireless in his determination to see that all in Nineveh had an opportunity to hear his preaching of the message of God the message God had entrusted to him. Then came the first of two great shocks for Jonah ... the preaching accomplished positive results!
I. JONAH HAD A HOPELESS AUDIENCE
A. Look at the kings admonition in 3:8
1. Nineveh was not a pretty place!
2. sin, violence, cruelty were the trademarks
3. God, why preach to people like that?
B. There is a vital lesson here for us
1. for whom is the gospel intended?
2. Mt 9:11-13 Jesus spent so much time seeking to influence the unlovely people whose lives were wracked and twisted by sin ... they needed the gospel
3. it is too easy for us to make judgments to exclude, to decide people are no hopers (Jno 1:45,456a)
II. THE MESSAGE TO THIS PEOPLE SO ENGROSSED IN SIN?
A. It was a message of judgment 3:4
1. Nineveh was rife with sin Prov 14:34
2. people were out of control ... such things as truth, honor, justice, morality simply meant nothing
3. Ps 5:4-6 Gods judgment upon sin and the sinful is to always be expected totally consistent with his nature
4. in the New Testament? Acts 17:30,31 and 24:25
5. perhaps it is not the highest motivation - fear - but God certainly uses all the methods to effect change in the sinful
B. It was certainly a plain message
1. one needed help to misunderstand Jonahs message
2. it seems to me this is characteristic of all of Gods word to mankind He speaks to be understood!
3. man, though, seems able to wrest the word effectively!
C. Implicitly, it was a message of grace
1. forty days if there was no hope, why this period?
2. but forty days was also a message which said there was a limit to even Gods patience
3. Gods grace gleams in beautiful rays through the Bible
III. UNEXPECTED (UNWANTED?) RESULTS
A. The people believed the message - 3:5a
1. by contrast Gen 19:12-14; Mt 12:41
2. people may do with Gods message as they please
3. it is designed, though, to reach the minds and understandings of sensitive, sensible, thinking people and because we cannot know peoples hearts, needs, we must simply plant the seed! and let the design of the seed accomplish
B. And the people repented when the message came 3:5b
1. fast and sackcloth symbols of contrition (Acts 9:8,9)
2. the belief led to positive action - this is the design of the word ... belief issuing in sound action, behavior
3. seems to be, too, sense of urgency in the response!
C. Historically, Nineveh ultimately was overthrown
1. Nahum 1:1,2; 2:13; 3:5 about 100 years later
2. but generation of Jonahs time certainly repented
3. perhaps there is a lesson in this, too that the fervency of one generation can quickly give way to sin, hardened impenitence in the next
D. Yet, our concern is for now not to worry about future
1. there are people now who will believe and repent
2. but Gods message must be taken to them by you and me
3. maybe it looks like a hopeless world but we must leave that concern to God ... and just plant the seed
CLOSE:A key thought here is this. We must take the message of God to the people who need it. Jonah in Israel did the people of Nineveh no good. Neither does it do any good for the Katy area for us to confine the gospel to these four walls!
Cecil A. Hutson
10 November 2002