Arise, and Go to Ninevah
Jonah 1:1–3
Jonah is a great missionary book, maybe the greatest in the Old Testament. It is a story with a missionary message that we need to hear today. So, I want you to notice three things with me this Mission’s Sunday:
I. The Call
a. (Jonah 1:1–3) Nineveh was a sinful city yet God was showing that He is the God of missions. Jonah hated Ninevah because of it’s wickedness and He didn’t want them to experience God’s grace and mercy. God said, “Jonah, go,” but Jonah did not want to go. That’s when Jonah got into trouble – when he rejected the will of God. The safest place is always in the center of the will of God. That doesn’t mean there won’t be difficulty. It doesn’t mean smooth sailing, but if you’re with Jesus, you’re in the best possible place! (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Mark 16:15)
II. The Gospel
a. In the book of Jonah, we see the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. What is the gospel? ( I Corinthians 15:1-4; Matthew 12:40-41) Jesus said that Jonah was a foreshadowing of Himself. As Jonah, so Jesus. How could anybody as disobedient as Jonah was be a picture the Lord Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ became sin for us. “God hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Jesus was not a sinner, but He took our sin upon Himself. And so here is Jonah picturing the Lord Jesus Christ. (Jonah 1:10-16, 2:1-10)
III. The Miracle
a. The greatest miracle was not Jonah three days and three nights in the belly of that fish, but the salvation of Nineveh. It was God’s saving grace. (Jonah 3:1-4) And to people as vile and wicked as Nineveh, God says, “Your sin is forgiven. Your iniquity is taken away.” If those people repented at the preaching of Jonah, how much more will this generation repent at the preaching of Jesus? Jesus said, “Therefore, the men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment and condemn this generation if they don’t believe, because a greater than Jonah is here.” What are you going to do when you hear the word of God and you’ve got so much light, and you don’t repent? Jesus said the men of Nineveh are going to rise up in the judgment and condemn you. If you are saved, have you answered the call? Are you willing to share this gospel message with a lost and dying world? Will you, “Arise, and go to Ninevah?”