Jonah Goes to Nineveh (Sovereign to Save): When he finally arrived in Nineveh, the people (led by the king) responded unexpectedly with humble repentance to Jonah’s message. In fact, the pagan Assyrian king is one of the best examples of repentance in the Bible! But this was God’s plan all along. Why? The Lord doesn’t want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. Recorded on Apr 26, 2026, on Jonah 3:1-10 by Pastor David Parks.
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This sermon is part of our Jonah: Sovereign to Save series. Lost in the deep—disobedient and struggling with anger against God—the prophet Jonah was an utter mess. But God is as great as he is good. And God had as much compassion for Jonah as for his enemies, the people of Nineveh. Jonah is well known as a story of a runaway prophet and a great fish. However, Jonah is really about God’s sovereignty, the offense of grace, the fear of the Lord, what true repentance looks like, and more. Salvation still comes from the Lord, and his name is Jesus.
Sermon Transcript
I’d like to tell you a story about Nick Bostic, a 25-year-old pizza delivery guy from Lafayette, IN, who became a hero. On July 11, 2022, a house caught fire with five young women in it, from ages 18 down to 20 months old, four sisters and a friend. The parents were out on a date night. The girls had been asleep, while Nick was driving nearby, when he noticed the house in flames. He entered the home through the back door and found four of the girls outside an upstairs bedroom. He led them downstairs and out to safety. Once outside, Bostic learned a 6-year-old girl was still inside, her location unknown. He went back in and frantically searched the bedrooms as the fire spread rapidly. Bostic considered jumping through a second-floor window before he heard the girl’s cries and followed them back downstairs into thick, black smoke and blistering heat. He located her near the living room, picked her up, and ran back up the stairs. He entered another bedroom, filled with smoke and flames, and punched out a window with his bare fist. With the girl in his arms, Bostic jumped outside to the ground. The 6-year-old suffered a minor injury to her leg from the glass, but was otherwise fine. By then, the police were on the scene and started treating him, but he said, ”Is the baby OK? Please tell me the baby’s OK.” She was just fine; he had saved her life. Bostic was flown to the hospital in critical condition for smoke inhalation, first- and second-degree burns, and a bad cut on his arm, but he recovered as well. There’s Nick, mom and dad, and the five kids he saved. Later, Nick won the Carnegie Medal (one of the highest U.S. civilian honors for heroism). Also, someone started a GoFundMe, and they raised almost $700,000 to cover his medical bills, and rightly so. He was a hero. Now, we’ve been working through the book of Jonah in a series called Sovereign to Save. And do you remember what God called Jonah to do? To be a hero. To run toward the danger, and possibly put his own life on the line, to save, not just five girls, but a whole city of people, the great city of Nineveh. Nick was a hero, for sure. But how much more would Jonah have been a hero if he finally did what God called him to do? Would the people of Nineveh listen? Let’s find out, starting with Jonah 3:1.
Jonah 3:1–4 (NIV), “1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” 3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” Ok! So chapter 3 starts with the exact same calling, word-for-word, as Jonah received at the start of chapter 1. God hadn’t changed his mind. “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” This was his second chance. Because of the mercy of God, Jonah’s disobedience didn’t kill his calling. But this time, instead of running from God, “Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.” Ok! So Jonah made the long journey to the home of his enemy, in the heart of the evil Assyrian empire—he ran into the burning home, as it were—and he preached the word of God. But let’s not overlook the cost of his obedience. If Jonah somehow secured an animal, such as a camel, to ride, it still would’ve taken him a month to travel almost 800 miles to get to Nineveh, even longer if he had to walk. He likely had to rely on the kindness of strangers for food and shelter. Have you ever had to sacrifice for someone you didn’t like? How fun is that? Every day, for a month or more, Jonah woke up, hot or cold, sore from travel, and had to make the same right decision to be obedient to God. Of course, that’s always how it is to follow God’s way. It’s not a one-and-done thing. It’s an everyday decision to keep following. You have to keep loving your neighbor, keep being honest, keep being faithful to your wife, keep forgiving, and so on. But eventually, Jonah made it to the great city of Nineveh. In their day, Nineveh was like New York or Tokyo. It was a wealthy and influential city with many, many people living, working, raising families there, and that sort of thing. I’m sure there was corruption, crime, and other injustices, just like in any city. But most people were just trying to live their lives as best they could. Now, you might wonder whether the message of Jonah, the sentence recorded here, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown,” was the whole message. If it were, that would’ve been a pretty short sermon! (We’ll get to lunch early!) Now, maybe this was just a summary of his preaching, but it’s hard to say. But if this was it, only six words in Hebrew, then I’d say Jonah did the absolute bare minimum in his obedience to God. I mean, technically, he preached the word, but frankly, not very well at all. Maybe he hoped that by giving no introduction/illustrations/applications of his message, no context whatsoever, and no good news about the God who sent him, that his enemies would ignore him. But regardless of Jonah’s performance, how would these foreign, pagan people in the opulent capital of a superpower empire respond to this random Hebrew prophet from one of the tiny, struggling kingdoms next door? Especially one who brought a message of judgment! They had forty days. Would they listen? Would you have listened?
Jonah 3:5-9 (NIV), “5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. 6 When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” Again, ironically, unexpectedly, against all the odds, the Ninevites believed God. They listened! They proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, which were both signs of grief or mourning. And they weren’t just mourning the consequence of their actions; they weren’t just sad because they got in trouble; they mourned the sin that had caused this judgment. In other words, they owned their sin. Remember, Jonah ran in response to the word of the Lord. But the Assyrians, the dreaded enemy of God’s people, humbled themselves before the word of the Lord. But what about the rich and powerful? Look at v. 6. The king didn’t respond with a puffed-up ego or foolish pride. When he heard the message, he joined the people in the dust. The king responded in humble repentance. In fact, this is one of the best examples of repentance in the whole Bible. Let’s break it down. First, the king stepped down from his throne, this elevated symbol of his own glory, status, and power. Why? Because he understood that he was dealing with one who was sovereign over every nation, kingdom, tribe, and king. He recognized that God was God and he was not. So he gave up whatever power and control he had. Why? This was the fear of the Lord! The sailors had experienced this. Now it was the king of Nineveh. It’s the only proper response to the sovereignty of God. Second, he replaced his royal robes, again, symbolizing his own glory, honor, and praise, with itchy sackcloth, a mark of mourning for his sin. He exhibited godly sorrow for his sin. Third, he moved from an inner realization that he was wrong to external action. He didn’t just feel bad about his sin; he did something about it. He proclaimed an official decree for the city, an official call of fasting and prayer. But, more importantly, he called every person to give up their evil ways and their violence. The king made no excuses for his actions or his people’s. He didn’t try to shift the blame or make false apologies. He simply and powerfully cast himself and his people before the mercy of God. For “Who knows?” he said. “God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” This is what repentance is all about. Repentance is the process of recognizing you were wrong, taking ownership of your sin with godly sorrow, but then actually turning to go in a new direction in life. Simply, it’s to turn from your way to God’s way. And friends, not if, but when you become aware of your sin (great or small), don’t make excuses or try to shift the blame to anyone else. Stop trying to manage your sin. It’s not cute, it’s destroying you. Humble yourself before the Lord, turn from your sin and go in a new direction, and cast yourself before the mercy of God. That’s how it’s done. If you sin against your wife or someone at work or against the Lord God Almighty, repent like this. If you’re in a conflict with someone and you both said things you shouldn’t have said, don’t wait for them to apologize first; be like the king and lead the way in repentance. But how would God respond? Would he listen to the Assyrians’ prayers as he listened to Jonah? Don’t forget, these people weren’t simply misguided or uneducated about their actions. They had done real evil. They had a violent and idolatrous culture. Historians sometimes point out that the Assyrians were the first empire to use psychological warfare to terrify and subjugate the peoples they conquered. They invented crucifixion. How could God forgive people like that?
Jonah 3:10 (NIV), “10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.” This is God’s word. But this is crazy, right? The God of the Bible is so unexpected. We’ve seen that the Lord has sovereign power over creation, over the wind and the waves, over the casting of lots, over the great fish of the deep, and over all the nations. But to what end? What does God do with his infinite sovereign power? We’ve seen again and again; he is sovereign to save. And not just the so-called good guys, but very problematic people. But our God is a God of second chances. God gave both Jonah and the people of Nineveh a second chance (or maybe a third, fourth, or fiftieth chance). If we’re honest, most of us have lost count of how many chances God has given us. God relents when we repent. But do you know why? The Lord doesn’t want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. This is 2Pe 3:9, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise [of judgment], as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone [even Assyrians] to come to repentance.” This is John 3:16. “For God so loved [who?] the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him [even Assyrians] shall not perish but have eternal life.” God has a huge heart for the nations, even for his enemies. He’s a God of second changes. And we live in an age when God gives grace in the place of deserved judgment. He gives mercy in the place of fairness. Now, I think it’s clear from this story, but God’s willingness to give Jonah a second chance doesn’t mean that Jonah was actually the good guy in this story. He wasn’t pure evil, but he certainly wasn’t the hero of this story. In the same way, God’s willingness to give the Assyrians a second chance doesn’t mean they were really good people deep down. They were all lost, in need of a savior. So why did God save them? This is the offense of the grace of God. This is the shocking nature of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That God would save the bad guy. That God would forgive the wrong kind of people, the tax collectors and prostitutes. That God would love Israel and the Assyrians, Jew and Gentile. Now, even though many of us have been given many chances by God, the number of chances that God gives is ultimately God’s prerogative. And we dare not think we’re entitled to endless chances. So we’d best not put off or delay our repentance. But this isn’t just for the non-believer. In the first of his 95 theses, Martin Luther said, Is there anything in your life or relationships that needs to be addressed? Any sin you need to stop trying to justify or manage? Whatever it is, just feel the weight of that for a minute. But then, don’t forget the gospel; run to the cross! Whatever it is that you’ve said or done, even if it was only in your heart, and even if God is the only other one who knows about it, the grace of God is enough. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 Jn 1:9). But how is God just in forgiving our sins? Merciful, I’d understand, but how could he be just? Isn’t forgiveness not holding people accountable for their actions? The Christian answer is that someone has already paid the price for our sins. On the cross, Jesus Christ died the death we deserve; he bore the wrath of God against Jonah’s sin, the sailors’, the Assyrians’, and ours as well. In the gospel, we see how God is faithful and in forgiveness. God doesn’t ignore evil or injustice; he doesn’t sweep it under the rug or minimize it in any way. That would be unjust. Instead, the good news is that Jesus has already accomplished everything we need to be forgiven and given eternal life in a relationship with God! So repent and believe the good news, humble yourself and own your sin, then turn and cast yourself on the mercy of God. This is what the Assyrians did. But was this incredible turnaround the result of Jonah’s obedient, faithful ministry? Had Jonah run into the burning building to save people he didn’t know or have any obligation to save? Was Jonah the Nick Bostic of this story? Just the opposite. Repentance and faith came despite Jonah’s disobedience, first among the pagan sailors and now here in Nineveh. But saving sinners has been God’s plan as long as there were sinners to save. Today, on our anniversary, I can say that I’ve had the incredible privilege of seeing this so many times over the last fifteen years. And we will continue “sharing good news,” so long as the Lord gives us breath in our lungs and hearts beating in our chests. Do you want to hear something I said in my very first sermon here at AGC? On April 24, 2011, I said, “The Gospel of God’s grace is the only thing that has the power, the leverage, to transform, to redeem, and to heal the stuff of this world.” From day one, this church was founded on the idea that if the gospel is true, then everybody needs to hear it! It’s all about Jesus. He is the God of second chances. He’s the one who ran into the burning building of this broken world on a rescue mission for us. But the offer stands today. The Lord still doesn’t want anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance, faith, and life everlasting. Would you then turn to him? It really would change everything. Let us pray.
