The people of Nineveh's repentance is presented as a model for genuine sorrow and change. When Jonah's prophecy of destruction was announced, the entire city, from the greatest to the least, believed God and responded with outward signs of mourning like sackcloth and fasting. This was accompanied by a fervent cry to God for mercy and a practical turning from their evil ways and violence, demonstrating that true repentance means being sorry enough to quit sinning. The sermon concludes by emphasizing that this sincere, action-oriented repentance is the only hope for deliverance from God's judgment, urging listeners to embrace this same transformative change.
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Beloved radio friends, we greet you in the precious name of the Lord Jesus. We heartily welcome you to the study of God's precious and holy word as we continue our study in the third chapter of the book of Jonah. Today we would read for our scripture beginning at verse five and through verse nine. So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and 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. Ye 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.
We have already observed, and very carefully so, that when Jonah proclaimed his divine message through the city of Nineveh, it was received so spontaneously that the divine record states, the people believe God. Not one of them seemed to have doubted the authenticity of the proclamation. What Jonas said, they believed to be true. For God had said, through his servant, forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Every person evidently accepted the message as being absolutely true, and they were very correct.
My beloved, did you ever consider the words which the beloved Apostle Paul wrote in First Timothy chapter one and verse fifteen in relation to the gospel message? Within that verse Paul said concerning the gospel, This is a faithful and true saying and worthy of all acceptation, meaning everyone should believe it. that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Now, beloved, let's pause for just a minute and consider that statement. Paul, by the Holy Spirit, writes, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
And he declares everyone should believe it. Now, my beloved radio friend, if you believed it, Everyone should believe it. And yet strange to say, there are so many today that do not believe it, and many who do not even wish to hear it. My beloved, you'll never hear a greater message. Christ Jesus, the Son of God, came into the world to save sinners. My beloved, that means you and that means me. And what a message to be believed. Paul's saying it's a faithful one.
It's a true saying. And it's worth every person accepting its message. I raise the question again to my listener. Have you believed the message? But in Jonah's case, all the people believe this proclamation. They recognize we have only forty days to live. and then God will destroy us according to the message. One thing is evident that when right home to their consciences, it pierced their hearts. Every man and woman, boy and girl, not one of them waited for any comment or any orders from the king himself.
They waited for nobody else's opinion either. It was a matter between their own souls and God. For it was God who had pronounced his judgment upon them all for their wickedness. And the people themselves, apart from the king and apart from the rulers, they proclaimed a fast. They put on the garment of sackcloth, which was the indication of their sorrow and their repentance for their evil ways. Not just a few of them, But as we may read in verse five, from the greatest of them, even to the least of them.
Every class of society participated in their display of sorrow for their sins. What an evidence of a citywide and a universal expression of repentance for the wicked city of Nineveh. The message ultimately reaches the years of the king himself. And even the king reacted, exactly as the people did. There was no delay. There was no doubting of Jonah's message. There was no seeking to minimize the danger. There was no effort made to calm the fears of his people and say it could never happen.
But the king himself, with the princes and with the nobles, They understood the message and the warning that it contained. They too readily complied with all that the people had been doing. And they gave command that even man and beast should be covered with sackcloth. Now I want you to note how it was carried out. First there was an outward acknowledgement by all of them being covered with sackcloth. This was the outward expression of their sorrow, their mourning, and confession of their wickedness and their sins. Then there was a Godward acknowledgement and a plea for mercy.
For the king commanded that they were to cry mightily unto God. There's no question of doubt that the king said, It's got to be real. Mightily cry unto God. And God was given heartfelt acknowledgement and earnest supplication to seek from him some manifestation of his mercy and to plead for deliverance from their deserving judgment. They were all out in their meaning of repentance and cried in sincerity to God. Then third, there was the practical evidence of their repentance.
And that is indicated by the words of verse eight. For in that verse we read, Ye said the king, Let them turn everyone from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Surely this practical evidence was the strongest indication of their repentance before God. Let me repeat. There was the outward acknowledgement as they covered themselves with sackcloth. There was the upward and downward acknowledgement as they cried mightily to God for His mercy. And there was the practical evidence of their repentance.
They quit their sinning. Every one of them were commanded to turn from their evil and from the violence that they were doing. quite appropriately and completely once did a young Sunday schoolboy answer the question that his teacher put before the class. The teacher asked his class, What does it mean to repent? What does repentance mean? The boy who replied gave one of the clearest answers ever given by any person. The lad said, Repentance means being sorry enough for your sins to quit.
That was what the King of Nineveh commanded. Let us cease everyone from his evil doings. Every one of us. Let us stop all evil wickedness. They were sorry enough to quit. And quit they did. And God says, even today to sinners, cease your evil doings. Would to God that people would stop sinning. But it is not improbable today that we find people saying they are sorry for their sins. The drunkard says that he is sorry that he has this evil habit. The fornicator may say he may be sorry for his sins.
The thief and the robber may be somewhat sorry for his and so on. But the strange thing is this. How many are sorry enough to quit? True repentance for sin will not only be outward, outward remorse, nor mightily calling upon God for His mercy, but also the willingness to stop the evil practices of sin, whatever form it may be. The heathen king of Nineveh said, Who can tell if God will turn and repent? and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not.
I believe the King of Nineveh, with all complete confidence I say the words, I believe the King of Nineveh was definitely sure God would carry out his threat and that they would perish. And there was only one hope for the condemned king and for his condemned people. And that hope was a merciful God. Did you never read the prayer of the contrite and repentant publican in Luke eighteen, when in the temple in the presence of God he came with all the burden of his sin and guilt upon his conscience and heart, and said, God be merciful to me a sinner.
And God in mercy answered his sincere petition. For God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, according to Second Peter three in verse nine. Now my sinner friend, may I raise the question, how much longer time do you have to repent? May I suggest to you that right now is the proper time? My beloved radio listener, I'm saying, you need to repent. and put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and his redeeming work of Calvary's cross to be forgiven your sins and to be saved from going down to an eternal hell.
May God awaken some dear sinner to come to the Savior today for his name's sake. Our God and our Father sanctify your news, thy truth to the salvation of some precious soul. In Jesus' name and for his glory. Amen.