So let us pray. Oh God, our Heavenly Father, how we rejoice to be able to come to you in prayer. Knowing it is never a vain and empty thing to wait upon you. Because they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. And our Heavenly Father, we come here this morning not only to worship you and to adore you, but to renew spiritual strength. We thank you, God, that you both hear and answer prayer. And we thank you that you are able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think or imagine. We rejoice, oh God, that you're the one who never slumbers nor sleeps. You never grow tired or weary. And we thank you, therefore, that we can come to you in prayer at any time, needing no special appointment. We rejoice that your ear is ever attentive to our voices. And we rejoice for the return of the Lord's Day, this day that you have given us as a market day for the soul. We thank you that in wisdom you created it for us. Our Lord Jesus Christ said the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. And we thank you for this time when we can be together, enjoy the friendship and fellowship of one another, singing your praises, hearing the reading of scripture and hearing your word. But as always, we're conscious that you're a holy God and we are sinners and we're often so careless and wayward and foolish. Forgive us our sins. Forgive us all those things that are unworthy of you. Lord, we grieve over them and they grieve you. But we comfort ourselves that forgiveness is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for our dear Savior. We thank you for the fact that he went to the cross and bore all the penalty that was our due. We thank you that he, though he knew no sin, was made sin for us. We thank you too, of course, for his triumphant resurrection and his ascension to glory. And as always, Lord, we are very conscious of our need of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. We thank you that when our Savior was leaving his disciples, he said he would not leave them comfortless, but would send another. And we thank you that we have the Holy Spirit with us. And may his presence be known here amongst us this morning to revive us and to refresh us, to challenge us and to bless us. And if only we came into our brothers and sisters here this morning, you know, all the things that are on their minds and in their hearts, perhaps the things that have happened in the past week, or the anticipation of a new week. May they know your blessing upon them, and if need be, that your comfort in all things. We thank you for all here this morning. We commend you those here away, some on holiday, Lord, some of other responsibilities. We commend them all to you. We commend you all the work of the church and think of the clubs starting up again and commend that to you, Lord, and pray that our brothers and sisters here may be greatly encouraged by seeing many children and young people coming in to hear the Word of God. We pray for our brother Mike as he comes to us this evening. We thank you for his work in the Christian Witness to Israel and pray you will grant him great help this evening, liberty of spirit as he talks to the young people. And then, our Heavenly Father, we do ask you to remember our fellowship of churches. We think of so many of us without pastoral oversight, and it is a burden and a concern to us. We commend them all to you. We ask that you may raise up new, under Shepherd's Lord, men who love you and who love your word and have a true pastor's heart. Oh God, may you be pleased to do this for the sake of your name and the advancement of the church. And Lord, we commend you too as always. Our many brothers and sisters who today suffer for the cause of Christ, we remember those who have suffered pain and many, Lord, have paid with their lives Oh God, we commend all such to you and we remember those who feel it their duty to take a stand and we think of the one in the United States of America in prison because of her unwillingness to issue a license for same-sex marriage. We believe this woman is your child and is concerned for your law. We commend her to you, Lord. We commend you All these situations that we're faced with Lord, situations we have not faced before, challenging situations and we just pray that you will help us as we seek to serve you Lord. in this country where you've placed us. We pray for our country, how we long to see and know your blessing upon it. We're grieved by what has happened in the past years, Lord, and we long that you will indeed be pleased to revive us to do it for your glory. And so, Heavenly Father, we pray that you will continue with us. For Christ's sake, amen. Now we read from Jonah chapter 3. So it's a book of Jonah and chapter 3 found on page 817. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time saying, Arise good in that great city and preach to it the message that I tell you. So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three day journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day's walk. Then he cried out and said, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believe God proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his noble saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Do not let them eat or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily to God. Yes, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent and turn away from his fierce anger so that we may not perish? And God saw their works, and they turned from their evil way. And God relented from the disaster that he had said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So, he prayed to the lord and said, ah lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore, I fled previously to Tashish for I know that you are a gracious and merciful god, slow to anger, and abundant and loving kindness. One who relents from doing harm. Therefore, now, oh lord, please take my life from me. And then the Lord said, is it right for you to be angry? So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah that it might be a shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. But as morning dawned the next day, God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant it withered. And it happened when the sun arose that God prepared a vehement east wind, and the sun beaten Jonah's head so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and he said, it is better for me to die than to live. Then God said, is it right for you to be angry about the plant And he said, it is right for me to be angry even to death. But the Lord said, you've had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in the night and perished in the night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city in which are more than 120,000 persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left, and much livestock. Amen. This is the Word of the Lord. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege of having Holy Scripture before us. We thank you for your Word. Your Word is true. We thank you that your Word is forever settled in heaven, and we rejoice that it is our privilege to be able to read it, and to meditate upon it, and by your grace, to live by it. And we ask you to give us wisdom to know how to live in the light of Holy Scripture. And we pray that as we share together your hope in our hearts and our understanding, and help us indeed that we may be blessed by it, for Christ's sake. Amen. Is there any honest person here this morning? who would put up their hand and say, when you mentioned Jonah, I never thought about the whale. That incident with the whale, of course, is an incredibly important one. But there's so much more in the book of Jonah than that. Not very often do we dwell on chapter four, which is such a wonderful chapter. The way God deals with Jonah, and the way Jonah reacts, is quite incredible, isn't it? They say to God, yes, I am very angry. I knew that's what you would do, and I'm angry about it. And I'm angry because the plant that grew up, it has died. And I'm angry about that. Seems quite incredible that anyone would speak to the Almighty like that. But of course the Bible is always absolutely honest about what the people say. Even when they say things like that that shock us, it nevertheless records those facts. We're going to be thinking especially of Chapter 3 this morning because it is a very important chapter within the book of Jonah. And it's sad that sometimes Chapter 3 and 4 are lost, but sometimes because of what is said in Chapters 1 and 2. And if you're teaching Sunday school, of course, you tell the children about Jonah and the great fish and the whale. But it's good to go on to remember what happened after that, because that's so crucial. Chapter 3 is where we are at this morning. Four things are recorded for us in this chapter, four things of crucial importance. First of all, we have the preaching of Jonah. And then we have the response of the people, and thirdly, the decree of the king, and fourthly, the reaction of God. So first of all, the preaching of Jonah. First one of chapter three tells us that Jonah is once again ordered to Nineveh to proclaim the message that God had given him. All that Jonah was required to do was to declare to the people of Nineveh the message that God had given him. He wasn't really supposed to be working in his mind what might the outcome be. His responsibility was to declare God's Word. And that's a crucial thing to remember. Jonah had only one message to preach. The message God had given him. And for all of us who would declare God's word, or who would teach in Sunday school or whatever, we carry this great responsibility to make known the word that God has given us. It was that fact that God had spoken to Jonah, given him a message, plain message, that of course made Jonah's refusal to go to Nineveh in the first place such a very serious thing. He had been specifically called by God. He was in no doubt. He couldn't say, did he really call me? Or maybe I've imagined it. No, God definitely called him. He gave him a message. And he told him where to go to proclaim that message. So Jonah had no excuses. But the problem was, of course, his own character. his own twisted character, you have to say that, really. He didn't want to go to Nineveh, not because he was afraid of the people of Nineveh, but he believed, I'll go and then they will repent. That's what he was persuaded of and he didn't want that to happen. It was that refusal, of course, That was the reason why Jonah ended up in the wheel. Now, however, that's behind him. Jonah is given a second chance to go to Nineveh again with the message of God, and that's with a stressed ear. God says, go and tell them what I told you. But what is it that Jonah has to preach? What is the message of God? It is this that we read in verse 4. He proclaimed 40 more days and Nineveh will be overturned, overthrown, destroyed. That is his message. It's a message of judgment. God threatens to overturn Nineveh. But why should God do this? He did it. He was threatening to do this because of the people of Nineveh who were violent and cruel. They were notorious for their violence and their cruelty. That comes out even here in this chapter when the king talks. They were cruel for cruelty's sake. It might remind you of some other people today from that similar part of the world. cruel, for cruelty's sake, even to innocent people. What a burden ISIS carries. To take any person's life is a most serious thing in the eyes of God. These acts of violence It's good to remember, don't go unnoticed by God. Nothing escapes God's attention, his eye. So God sends Jonah with a message. And then we notice the response of the people. And the people responded in two ways. These are significant things to take note. First we're told in verse 5, the Ninevites believe God. They believe God. A simple but crucial statement. They believe God. In other words, they believe that what Jonah proclaimed was from God, and because it was from God, then they were convinced it is true. They believe God. And we have here before us this morning the Word of God, the Bible. This is God's Word. It is inspired. It's inerrant. It's infallible. And when we read it, we have to ask ourselves, do I believe this is the Word of God? And we have to guard against all the time the temptation of the evil one to come to us at certain times. And at certain things when we read in the scripture to be tempted to say, but did that really happen? Is that true? It's always the concern of Satan to try and undermine God's word. That's what happened in the garden of Eden. The devil comes to you and says, now, you know, did God really say, you know, about the tree, the knowledge of good and evil? He sure, that's what he said. This is the word of God. And we've got to believe it. So we have to ask ourselves, well, do I really believe God's word? We need to challenge ourselves from time to time about it. So easy to go along, we read it, come to church, we're so familiar with it. Do we believe it? You may think, what a question to ask us. Well, knowing my heart and mine's not much different to yours, we have to remind ourselves this is indeed the word of the Lord. And they were told in a certain place that they declared a fast. And all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. This tells us these people, they were touched in their hearts. They were deadly serious in their response. They not only believed God, they did something as a result of their belief. So their belief produced action. They declared a fast and they put on sackcloth. What's the significance of these strange things? Certainly, putting on sackcloth. You can understand perhaps fasting, but what about sackcloth? Well, in the Middle East of that day, the calling of a fast and wearing of sackcloth was a sign of great sorrow, a distress of heart that was deep. And because those people were so demonstrative in their feelings, They showed it by fasting and putting on sackcloth. That is to say, the people of Nineveh doing these things are showing that having heard the word of God, having believed that it touched them in the core of their being, it disturbed them so deeply that they They say to call a fast, they cover themselves in sackcloth and perhaps cover even with ashes. And it was a public demonstration of how they were feeling. It was a sign. The word has affected us deeply. It has touched our hearts. It has touched our inmost being. It has disturbed us to the core. And that's something we need to keep in mind when we think of the Book of Jonah. that God's message was quick and powerful to this group of people. And if you thought of them and their reputation, the hardness of their hearts, you may think, who could ever change these people? But God's word did. Does that have anything to say to us today, in the light of the situation with ISIS? We don't know what God's purposes and plans are regarding it, we don't know. But God's Word is almighty and powerful, and it can change, in turn, people's hearts. Of course, humanly, looking at the situation, how could it happen? And it did with the people of Nineveh. So the people were affected, but not only were they affected, the king was as well. So we have then the decree of the king, his own response to this message that he had heard. So not only were the ordinary, everyday folk of Nineveh affected by the preaching of Jonah, verses six to nine were told The message reached the king and he reacts and he issues a decree. And we're told then that when the news of what Jonah was preaching reached the king, he took off his robe. That's the first thing he does. Immediately takes his robe off. What's the significance of that? Well, the robe is a symbol of his office. He's the king. These things, robes and that sort of thing, were not insignificant things in the land of those days. The king wore his robe, the symbol, I'm the king. And as soon as he hears the message, he takes off his robe and he changes that, exchanges that robe for a sackcloth. And then we're told that not only did he do that, he sat in the dust. That is to say that when the king, like the people, heard the message of Jonah, they displayed in an outward way their sorrow, their distress at the message they had heard. Not only did he show that he was sorry, the king, but he issues a proclamation. So you see, it's conviction, a message he hears, and then there is action. So it's not just somebody hears it. but it produces action on part of the king, so he issues a proclamation. And when the king proclaims something, everybody sits up and takes notice. He's a king with absolute authority, he's an absolute sovereign, so when he declares something, everybody sits up and takes notice, so he issues a proclamation. And the contents of the proclamation are found in verses 7 to 9. In this proclamation he does two things. Notice again, it's action coming about from conviction. And so he, first of all, tells the people to fast and wear sackcloth. The very thing, of course, they were doing, but he was making sure it would happen because he, the king, says, this is what you must do. The king has become convinced, no doubt by the working and the power of the Holy Spirit, that he's in great danger, that his country's in great danger, and he's got to do something about it. So he tells him to wear sackcloth. And then, most significantly of all these things, he says, now then, call urgently on God And let's notice his words, it's significant. Maybe, maybe, perhaps, God may relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger. All these words are tremendously significant. Yes, the king says he'd agree to greet everyone covered in sackcloth, ashes, animals, everyone. But that's not enough, he thinks. Let's cry out to God. Let's ask God to have mercy upon us. The king believed there's only one hope for the people of Nineveh, and that was that their obvious sorrow for their sins would call forth the compassion of God so that he would not act in judgment. So here's a king. He's convicted by the word of God. It has gone to his heart like an arrow. It's pierced him. And he orders people to be covered in sacral lashes. And then he says, and let's pray. Let's call urgently to God and ask Him to have mercy upon us. And of course, that's exactly what happens. And so we have the reaction of God. And we're told in verse 10. Look at the words. Then God saw their works. In other words, he saw their sackcloth and ashes. He saw their fasting. He saw that they were disturbed in their hearts. And then we're told that they turned from their evil way. In other words, they repented. They were saying we have done wrong. They may not have put this in actual words, but all their actions are indicating that. And they turn from their evil's way. God relented from the disaster that he said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it. And you know, in chapter 4, is Jonah is mad with anger. Anger against God. You know how God deals with him. He said, Jonah, you're mad with me, yes, and do we know you're angry with me? Because a plant has died and you have nothing to do with it. And you have no compassion. on the people of Nineveh. I have compassion on this great city where there are all those people who cannot tell their right hand from their left. Who would that be? Children. And God says, ought I not then to have compassion on them? who have turned from their evil ways. That's a profoundly challenging message, isn't it, to Jonah? Well, that's all very well, isn't it? OK. But what is the relevance for us here? What's the purpose of thinking about these things now in the 21st century? Well, the answer is a simple one, isn't it? Because it is a reminder to us of the power of God's Word. That when he gives us a message to declare, we've got to do it, we've got to be faithful in declaring God's Word. And it is a reminder to all of us that it is through the preaching of the Word of God that the Holy Spirit works to bring individuals to repentance. And we have got to guard against constantly any attempt there is for us to play down the importance of preaching and declaring the Word of God. Notice there was a message of God. None of it is to be destroyed. And then we're told that in response to the people who are sorry, God turns from an act of judgment to an act of compassion and mercy. The people show they've been cut to the heart by the word of God. It has disturbed them. But not only has it disturbed them, they've done something about it. They repent in sackcloth and ashes. And all these things that the king and the people of Nineveh did are the very things that are required in repentance They were sorry for their sins. And they were sorry not in words only, but in terms of the fact that they fasted and put on sackcloth. That meant that everyone saw what they were doing. It's a public demonstration. It's in your faces, we say. We are sorry. We have done wrong. And we are sorry. And the king shows it the same often. comes his robe down from the throne into the ashes, because he was truly, deeply repentant. What is the clearest indication? When any individual has come to that place, of true repentance. What is the key that proves that an individual has truly come to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? It is this, that what happens to them in their mind and hearts by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit is always demonstrated in outward actions. Always. That which happens within our mind and heart is secret. None of us see it. But the proof of it will always be in the change that happens. Leaving aside of the old way of doing things and turning to God. That is the clearest evidence. People of Nineveh and Arun said, we believe God. They believed it and they did something about it. There's no true repentance for anyone unless there's a turning from sin and a calling on God for salvation. But if we do that and our repentance is genuine and it is obviously genuine, it's real, then we can be sure that God will grant us salvation. But not without those things. Repentance is not An optional extra. You know, you may do it or you may not. It's really just one of those options. No, it's not. An absolute necessity. And it's good for all of us here, all of us, me and you, to reflect on these things and these great truths of scripture, because they're very familiar to us. And we need to always be reminding ourselves of these great truths. Now, what then? Of us here this morning, there's someone here who's yet to call upon the Lord for salvation. Why should you do so? Well, for this. If you die in your sins, there's no hope for you. Only judgment to come. That's why the Bible says, flee from the wrath great and terrible day of the Lord. Pray you're having a moment to lose. You have to call on the Lord for salvation. Without that, then you're in great danger of the absolute judgment of God. who is the absolute sovereign over all things, who's judge of all things, whose eye sees everything in the very depths of our hearts before him. Everything's clear and open to him. But if you repent and call on the name of the Lord, then you shall be saved. Let's pray. Oh, Father in heaven, we thank you that you're full of mercy and compassion. And when we, by your grace, repent and flee from our sins, you grant us the joy of salvation. So bless your word to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen. Now may the blessing of the Father the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Rest with all, and all God's people everywhere. Amen.