Street preacher – Marks of Spiritual Awakening – Jonah 3:1 – 10.
Have you ever seen a street preacher? I have. In fact I started my ministry in the early 1960’s as a street preacher.
The Salvation Army also started its ministry by going to the streets and I can recall as a young boy attending many Salvation Army street meetings.
Jonah the prophet went from being a settled preacher in the town of Gath Hepher in Northern Palestine to a street preacher in the great city of Nineveh.
The city of Nineveh awoke one morning to find a Jewish preacher walking up and down its streets declaring, “In forty days Nineveh will be destroyed.” And the amazing thing was this that no one questioned the truth of his message. They accepted it immediately. Why?
Some have suggested that some Ninevites may have seen Jonah as he was vomited up on the shores by the great fish that had swallowed him, and had reported it to the people in the city, so they knew this was a miracle from God. Other suggests that the digestive acids in the belly of the fish had bleached Jonah’s skin to an albino white and this sight may have turned their hearts toward Jonah. Ultimately it was God who was at work behind the scenes carrying out His work of grace towards these needy people in that city. The people of the city gave a radical response to the message of Jonah such as was never again experienced in any place. How did this come about? We are going to look at two things this morning.
1. What happened to Jonah – 3:1 – 3a?
In chapter1we learned about the disobedience of Jonah. In chapter 2 we see the repentance and renewal of Jonah. Jonah had come to a place where he stopped running away from God and totally cast himself upon the mercy of God. As a result of this God brought him three things.
A. God brought him life out of death – 2:10.
By all accounts, living in the belly of a fish for three days was death. Everything happening there was like death itself – the darkness, the suffering both physical and mental, and the hopelessness all looked like death. And as far as Jonah was concerned God had banished him from His presence which is the worst aspect of death.
But then the fish vomited Jonah unto the beach and it was like resurrection. He could see the light again. The turbulence of his under water experience was over. He could again walk and talk and eat like a normal man. He was resurrected.
Jesus talked about it in Luke 11:30, “For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation.” And again in Matthew 12:40, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
The sign of Jonah was distinctly his resurrection from his watery grave to which God had consigned him. It told the people of Nineveh that God was very much alive and that what he had done for Jonah He would do for them.
To the Jews of Jesus’ day and to all of us today, the ‘sign of Jonah’ was reissued in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
But the story has an even greater application for us as believers in Jesus Christ today. If the world of people among whom we live is going to see Jesus Christ alive in us today, it will only happen as we too learn this principle of dying to self and living in the power of the risen Christ. You find this principle explained by Jesus Himself in John 12:24, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” Jesus says that if we are going bear fruit for Him, that is, if we are going to influence people to come to Christ and live for Christ, we have first got to learn to die to ourselves and put Christ first in everything. But this old self doesn’t want to die; it wants to please itself, get its own needs met, and do its own thing.
How do we die to ourselves? We have to come by faith to God’s throne of Grace, and place ourselves totally before the Lord and ask Him to take this old flesh, this thing that is always saying “Me first,” and crucify it, that is, put it to death and reckon it dead – Galatians 2:20. And when that happens the world will see and know men and women, young people and children, who are living in the power of the risen Christ.
God brought Jonah life out of death and:
B. God brought Jonah renewed Conviction of his Call – 3:1 – 2.
It appears that God was pleased with Jonah’s confession in chapter 2 and there was reconciliation. But there was more than that. The real proof that Jonah had come to the end of himself was not the words he spoke or even what he felt in his heart. The real proof was his willingness to follow his God in obedience.
And the real proof that you and I have died to ourselves is not what we say in our testimonies, or whether or not we speak in tongues and prophesy, but whether or not we are willing to obey God in everything.
But please notice, the word of the Lord came to Jonah ‘a second time.’ This call was not to test Jonah but was given as a token of the love and grace of God upon His life. God says, as it were, to Jonah, “Jonah, I am still willing to trust you again, even though you have rebelled and ran away from me; I want you to know that I forgive you and I will restore you and use you if you are completed submitted to me.”
As I said last Sunday, Nineveh had not changed but Jonah had. He was not just willing to obey God. He was willing to die for God.
I don’t think there is any greater joy in the Christian life than to have God bring us back from the edge of defeat and failure and renew us and use us again in His service.
So much then for what happened to Jonah. Let us now look at:
2. What Happened to Nineveh – 3:3 – 10?
Here we see an entire city turning to faith in God. But how did it all happen? What were the underlying principles that brought about this response?
A. There was the spoken word – 3:4 – 5.
Jonah spoke the word and ‘they believed God.’ Even though they worshipped many idols which they called gods, yet they believed this to be the word of the one true and living God.
But did you notice the principle in verses 4 & 5. In verse 4 they heard Jonah and in verse 5 they believed God. You know it doesn’t really mater whether or not you believe me; what matters is do you believe the word of God? And if the word that I speak in this gathering is truly the word of the living God, then this is all that matters, that you believe it to be God’s word to you.
Here are some words from God – Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9 – 10. Do you believe them to be the word of God? Then act upon them.
B. There was Inward Conviction – 3:5b.
They were deeply convicted about their past life of wickedness; they felt sorrow for what they had done and they were desperate to turn from it. So they called a fast to pray and demonstrate their feelings to God.
We see very little of this kind of reaction to the Word of God today and yet, this is really what we need most. Christians and non-Christians alike need to experience the convicting power of the Word of God borne to us by the Spirit of God and we need to feel deep conviction.
C. There was Outward Repentance – 3:6ff.
The repentance was led by the king himself.
(1) He heard the word – Romans 10:14 – 17.
(2) He arose from his throne – he did not use his position as king to excuse himself from responding.
(3) He laid aside his robe – the outward symbol of his glory. We cannot flaunt our glory before the living God.
(4) He covered himself with sackcloth and ashes – this was admitting his bankruptcy.
(5) He fasted – he was desperate for help.
(6) He called upon God – this was expressing faith.
Closing:
In the sovereign purposes of God there was a revival in Nineveh, and the instrument of that revival was the man Jonah. He was very much a man like you and me – he was not perfect in his obedience to God. Like you and me he had elements of remaining sin in his life, sin that clung tightly to him.
But something happened to Jonah. Jonah died to himself and out of that self-death God raised up a new man, a man short of compassion but full of power, and used him to turn Nineveh upside down for God.
We, that is, you and I, stand in need of such a revival today. All of these little towns and villages along the Talbot River need a revival such as we saw in Nineveh. And I can see very little hope for these places if God doesn’t move in a very special way among them.
But before God will move among them He has to move among us bringing us to the end of ourselves, renewing our first love within us and giving us a heart for people. He has to move among us and make us a people of prayer and a people of compassion.
Revival comes when the church is awakened to the needs of men and women who do not know the Lord. Would you take a moment to reflect upon your own heart? Do you have any passion at all for the lost? Do you have any concern for the lost position of men and women? Are you praying for unbelievers? And do you pray for the Jonah’s who travel the world sharing the faith of Jesus Christ with others?
