T-Rex leather goods will be available for us to buy, God willing, by the end of this year. Yes, that is leather goods made from T-Rex leather are being developed at this time. Handbags, shoes, jackets, and maybe even Bibles made from dinosaur leather are going into production. Scientists have taken something from thousands of years ago and are making it relevant, interesting and useful for us in our time. And in this series of sermons on Jonah, you will find that this book of Jonah from thousands of years ago is relevant and useful and interesting. for our lives. Not just the storyline of Jonah is interesting for us, but also the structure of the book of Jonah has a wonderful encouragement for us as we embark on studying this short minor prophet. And the message of the structure of Jonah is that God is the God of second opportunities. that we might have messed up in our Christian life, that we might today be far away from God, but he comes to us in his word through the book of Jonah and he says to us, come my sister, my daughter, my brother, my son, come again to me. And you can begin all over again. Have you drifted from God? Has sinful habits gripped you? Are you cool in your devotions and in your desire for worship and prayer and fellowship in your life? The book of Jonah is reaching out to you and saying, you come to the God of Jonah because he is a God who gives second opportunities to serve and live for him. He doesn't cast us off at the first time of failure. but he grants us another time to live and to serve and to honor him. The book of Jonah is divided into two equal parts, chapters one and two, and then three and four, and both parts have the same four stages in them, indicating a new beginning in Jonah's life. God's word comes to him in both places. Jonah responds to God's word in both places. God provides salvation in both places. Jonah reacts to God's act of salvation in both sections of the book. In the first half, Jonah is disobedient. In the second half, Jonah is allowed an opportunity to begin again and is obedient. What a God. And it's not just true of Jonah, is it? This is what our God is like. He called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees, and what a start, what an act of faith. He traveled those hundreds of miles to the land of Israel, and then he failed by lying when he was down in Egypt. But God gave him another opportunity. to live the life of faith. Moses began at the age of 40 with great bluster and enthusiasm, wrongly directed and failed. But God came again 40 years later and gave him the opportunity to serve again. John Mark went out with Paul into missionary work with enthusiasm and gift and commendation from his congregation and failed. but John Mark was given the opportunity to serve God's church again. Peter, the disciple for three years, was at the foremost of the band of the apostles, always answering the questions, always involved in the miracles and in the teaching, but he failed. But God, through his son Jesus, gave him the opportunity to serve again. What a message this is for us on the very surface and structure of this book. He's reaching out to us, whatever failings we've got into, whatever bypass we've entered, whatever coolness has stolen over our hearts. He's saying to us today, come again to me, my son, my daughter, and like Jonah, I'll give you work to do, so let us come. Let us come. The first paragraph in verses 1 to 3a is about God's word, and we're thinking of three aspects of God's word and our response to that word of the Lord. Firstly, let us respond to the mediated word of God. The word of the Lord came in verse 1 to Jonah, the son of Amittai. This phrase, the word of the Lord, occurs a hundred times plus in the Old Testament. It's the usual way of the message of God being brought to the prophets, and it's usually followed by a long section of prose, the message which God brought to his servant. But here, the message is rather short, and the focus is more on the action of the prophet than the message which the prophet brought. And so the emphasis of Jonah, and perhaps why we're drawn to it, is more on the behavior of the prophet than on the preaching that he delivered. But God's word comes, not directly to the city of Nineveh, but through his servant Jonah. At other times, God sends an angel. At some times, God appears himself in glorious power and majesty. But here, God's word is coming to Jonah, who will bring that word. He will cry out, verse 2, against the city. God's word is mediated through the prophet. Often in the Old Testament, the prophet calls this message of God the burden of the Lord, because often that message was a message of judgment, and it was hard to deliver, and it was weighing down on the prophet's heart and mind. It was a burden to him. But God, rather than speaking from heaven directly to people in other lands or his own land, would mediate his word through the prophet. And it was proof that they were called by God, that their prophecy was fulfilled. And so around 780 BC, Jonah receives this word of the Lord. It came to him, knocked at his door, was delivered to him. It was laid upon his heart and his mind. He's identified here by his father Jonah, the son of Amitiah, and this helps us in some understanding of who this prophet is because he occurs, as we've said, in 2 Kings 14 and verse 25. There, probably a former mission by Jonah, he's in the reign of Jeroboam II, and he prophesies that though there are rebellious people under Jeroboam II, God, in his incredible mercy and long-suffering, is going to prosper them and expand their coasts and their borders. And that prophecy had been fulfilled. He's described there as God's servant Jonah, the son of Amittai. And that term servant is not, as we might think, a term of humiliation, but it's acknowledging that he belonged to an elite group in the Old Testament church, the group of the prophets, the servants of the Lord. who were near to God. Amos 3 verse 7 tells us about this. The Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants, the prophets. And so what God was about to do in the nations of Moab or of Edom or of Nineveh in this case, in Assyria, God tells his prophets beforehand what's going to happen. This was how close these servants of God were that he shared his secrets of the future with his servants, the prophets. And so a successor to Elijah Jonah was, probably a contemporary of Elisha. He had possibly been one of the sons of the prophets brought up in the schools of the prophets in the Old Testament. And here he is, being sent on his second mission to the city of Nineveh around 780 BC. So let us respond to the mediated word of God. Go and tell everyone it's dinnertime. Dad or mom might say to their child. And the child runs outside and runs from room to room in the house shouting and calling out, it's dinnertime. Now they didn't initiate the message, but the message was true, and the message is authoritative. Go and tell everyone it is dinner time, dad or mom might say. The mediated word of the parent. God speaks to us not directly from heaven, God speaks to us not by an angel, but he speaks to us through his mediated word, the prophets, the apostles, and the Bible. We're to respond to his word. We're to obey his word, submit to his word. He also speaks to us through godly parents. who teach us the ways of Christ, who warn us about the dangers of gambling, and of drugs, and of bad company, and of laziness, and of anger, and of greed. God's word comes to us in a mediated way by godly grandparents and parents. Comes to us each week in our morning and evening services as God's word is explained and applied in our church services. It comes to us through our Sabbath school teachers as you meet in classes with people your own age, different from your home people, your own age. The teachers answer and respond to your questions, the mediated word of God. Like Jonah, the messenger is imperfect. Our grandparents, our parents, our minister, our Sabbath school teachers, they are imperfect, but the Ninevites didn't judge Jonah's message by the messenger, who was a failure. They recognized the authority of that message that was brought to them. And you and I, as we hear the mediated word of God through the Old and New Testament, through our godly grandparents and godly Christians and Sabbath school Bible class teachers, we're to respond in faith and repentance. In obedience, the word of God came, and it's coming to us. It's coming to our life. It's coming to our family. It's coming to our heart, to our mind, to our wills. It's challenging us. It's demanding that we obey, that we respond in love. Secondly, let us rejoice in the merciful word of God. The message is in verse number two, to go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me. Let us rejoice in the merciful word of God. Jonah was being sent to Nineveh, hundreds of miles from Galilee. Gath Heifer, if 2 Kings chapter 14 indicates, was his home village. a town in Galilee, and he's been sent from there to Assyria, to the city of Nineveh. This was unusual. Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, all have sections in their prophecies about the destruction of other nations, but they are never sent to those other nations. They pronounce the judgments from the comfort of their own homes and cities. So this is unusual. God is telling Jonah to go in person to the streets, to this inner city mission and engage in inner city urban evangelism in this great royal city of Nineveh, which in 615 BC, when the empire of Assyria crumbled, was the capital city of that empire. It was wicked. The terminology used here is that used of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis chapter 18. It was coming up before God, emphasizing the grossness, the size, the magnitude of the evil within this city. God is sending Jonah to cry out against it. This phrase is used in 1 Kings chapter 13, verse 4. of a prophet crying out against the altar. And when the prophet cried out against the altar, the altar dissolved and crumbled and fell apart. And this is the idea here. He's crying out the message of judgment, as we'll later learn, that unless they repent, God in heaven, the Lord of all the nations, will bring them low. The Assyrians had spread widely across the east. The Assyrians were known for their brutal treatment of their captives. Later on, Nahum will speak about Nineveh as being a bloody city because of the way that they mishandled and mistreated captives, brought back from the ends of the earth to their capital city. There was cruelty and torture and bloodshed. Their evil was great. And Jonah has been sent in person to that foreign city which was the archenemy of Israel. Israel in an alliance had fought against that city in 853 BC. Israel in 841 and in 796 BC had paid taxes to the Assyrians. Here was a city, here was an empire which had subjected and was drawing on the coffers of Israel. Jonah has been sent to warn the city of the coming judgment of God. One reason why God sent Jonah to warn Nineveh was to make Israel jealous. God intends to show mercy to a foreign nation to make his people jealous of his blessing. Under Jeroboam II, the people of Israel were worshipping other gods. God wants to remind them of how good he is of how gracious and great he is by showing mercy to this foreign nation. He announced this in Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 21. I will make them jealous with those who are no people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. God wants Blessing to come not only to the foreign nation of Nineveh or Assyria, but also to his own people. Let us rejoice in God's merciful word. The killing of the Russian general in Moscow last week was sudden. There was no warning, no time to prepare, no opportunity for protection or aversion. Walking along the street, car bomb in the stationary car exploding, suddenly taking the general's life. But this is different. Here is God, who has authority over all the earth, the Lord of all the nations, The one who determines the destiny and ways of all peoples. But how does he use that all power? How does he conduct that authority? How does he manage all that strength? What does he do with that omnipotence? He shows mercy. He gives warning. He exercises long-suffering towards rebellious peoples. He sends Jonah, not just gives them a prophecy, which they might have heard eventually through the grapevine, but he sends his servant all the way to the very city of Nineveh. Let us rejoice in the merciful word of God. In 1794, John Newton preached on an appointed day of fasting and prayer for the nation. And he preached on from the book of Jonah about God's mercy towards the city of Nineveh. And he identified this as being the sole hope of the United Kingdom in 1794. Humble yourself before God and trust in the abounding mercy of God. And it's the sole hope, not just for any nation, not just for Nineveh, but for each one of us here in this building. For each one of us are sinners before God, deserving his just judgment and wrath. The only hope we have is in the mercy of God and Jesus Christ, his son. But there's abundant mercy there. There's enough mercy there for every single one of us as we repent before God and trust in his son, Jesus Christ. Thirdly, let us repent by the meddling word of God. God's word was not only to reach into the hearts of the Ninevites, but it also reaches into the heart of Jonah and disturbs him in his life and mind. God's word does that for us, doesn't it? It comes to us with power. It humbles us and changes us. Targish, as we were saying to the young people, means smelt or refining, probably referred to a place where this happened. And traders from Israel and Syria would head there to Targish. It's believed to have been in Spain. And the point being made by the repetition three times of Targish in verse number three is that Jonah went in the very opposite direction. Nineveh was out there to the east and Tarshish was a way far away to the west. Rather than obeying God, rather than submitting to God's word, he goes in the very opposite direction. Tarshish was considered in the Old Testament to be a place that was very far away. So in Psalm 72, verse 10, we read, May the kings of Targis render him tribute. And the idea is that people from right across the earth, from the very periphery of the world will come and honor our glorious King and Savior, Jesus Christ. May the kings of Targis, even in the ends of Targis, come. In Isaiah 66, verse 19, we read, I will send survivors to Tarshish that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. Tarshish was considered an unevangelized place, a darkened place, a place that had never heard the gospel, but God, in his abounding missionary vision, will send missionaries to Tarshish, Isaiah 66, verse 19. And it's this backwater of a place, this Timbuktu of a place, that Jonah wants to get to. Get away from it all. To hide from God's call in his life. The term used in this chapter is from the presence of the Lord. Found three times in these opening verses. Verse 10, chapter 2, verse 4. Obviously doesn't mean the omnipresence of God because God is everywhere and Jonah recognizes this in verse number nine. God is Lord of heaven and of the earth. He's familiar with the Psalms as chapter two indicates and he would know Psalm 139, verse seven and eight. Can I flee from your presence? They're sent to heaven, you're there. So when it says he's fleeing from the presence of the Lord, I think the term refers to the land of Israel, the place where God in a special way had his presence among all the nations. He wants to get away from God's presence, from this call on his life. He wants God to see that he's no longer near to, in a way that he'll move on to someone else and ask someone else to do this. Like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, he was seeking to hide himself from the presence of the Lord. Greg Wallace just wants to get away from it all. This storm that he has brought into his life at this time, he wants to get away from it all. He wants to go away to a place where the media won't be on to him, where he can get himself back together again, where he can try to recover. from this maelstrom in his life. This is Jonah's emotion. He wants to get away from it. He's wrestled with God's call in his life, with this sudden directive to go to Nineveh, to bring this message of judgment. He's been in torment in his life. He just wants to get away to Tarshish, away to the periphery of the known world, to be left alone to recover. Some people think he was afraid of death, and that's why he wouldn't go to Nineveh. It was a brutal city, not favorable to strangers, and someone turning up from Israel, that subjugated nation, would not be looked on favorably. But he wasn't afraid of death, was he? As the ensuing story indicates, he tells the sailors, lift me up, throw me over the side. That wasn't the reason he wouldn't go to Nineveh. It was, as we know, that he didn't want that city spared. A city that had fought against his nation, a city that was drawing taxes from his land, a city that was godless. He did not want that city spared. But why didn't he? There's a personal dimension to his disobedience here because Jonah's reputation was big. He was a hero in the land of Israel. He had predicted the spreading out of the coasts of Israel to Jeroboam II, the prospering of the nation. The development of his country. The people loved him. When he went to the shop to buy his goods, they clapped him on the back. They praised him. What a prophet you are, Jonah. You prospered our nation. What a message you have brought to us. And he knew that if he was the instrument in sparing Nineveh, His reputation was gone. He would be spat on and gaff heifer. He would be ridiculed. He would be despised. And Jonah, sometimes like us, are unwilling to pay the price of serving God. We like our comforts. We like the applause of men and women. We like riding the wave of popularity. And Jonah, not just for theological reasons, but for personal reasons, wouldn't go. But you and I, like Jonah, are to repent by the meddling Word of God. So let us respond to the mediated Word of the Lord. Let us rejoice in the merciful Word of the Lord and let us repent before the meddling Word of the Lord. What's God's Word meddling about in your life? Is it for husbands to love their wives? Is it for children to obey their parents? Is it for employees to reverence their employers? Is it for all of us to love one another? Every time we resist God's word, we do a Jonah. We go to Tarshish instead of Nineveh. We go west instead of east. We turn our back on God. Is it meddling with your life? in a habit that's sinful, that's mastered you? Is it meddling with your life that you're in a circumstance that you're struggling to behave in a Christian way in? Is it meddling with your life about love, about forgiveness, about humility, about encouraging others? Let us repent before the meddling word of God.