“YET forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown,” was indeed the voice of mercy. It had its effect. And what do I read? “So the people of Nineveh believed Jonah?” No.” So the people of Nineveh believed God.” Our Lord Jesus Christ says,” They repented at the preaching of Jonas.” Look at the people who heard this warning, this solemn word of God, what is the effect on their souls? Does it go in at the one ear and out at the other. By no means. I read this: “So the people of Nineveh believed God.” The word was mixed with faith in them that heard it.
There are two unspeakably important effects of Jonah’s short sermon in Nineveh. Faith and repentance. They believed God. Faith is the soul’s reception of a divine testimony, and repentance is the result in the soul of the reception of that testimony. Jonah’s was a very solemn testimony. I am not here today to tell you that you have yet forty days in which to turn to God. No man can be cure of forty days, or forty hours, or even forty minutes. I can tell you what you are, a sinner in your sins, and I bring you the blessed tidings that where you are there is mercy, grace, and pardon for you through faith in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you believed the Word of God there would also be repentance, for repentance is the result of faith. Repentance is the tear drop in the eye of faith.
Were these Ninevites told to repent? They were not. Manifestly, however, they repented. Though the word may not have been used by Jonah with regard to them, their whole course was altered when they got hold of the solemn fact that God was going to deal with them because of their sins. What was Jonah? Typically and personally a risen man. What is Jesus now? A risen Man. And what do we therefore read now? God commands all men everywhere to repent. Why? Because the day of judgment is appointed, and the Judge ordained, even the One who died and rose again. Nineveh had forty days in which to repent. It seems to have repented the very first day. Faith sprang up at once in their hearts, and they did repent. Our Lord says, “The men of Nineveh shall rice in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas.” Tell me this, Have you repented yet?
That they repented was manifest. We read, “So the believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them” (vs. 5). Sackcloth is the Old Testament expression of repentance. Where did it begin? The remarkable thing in Nineveh was this, it began at the top and came down. The word somehow reached the King of Nineveh, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”
The Ninevites listened, believed, and repented. Imitate them. Even their king repented. I think I see that proud man bowed down before God. The King of Assyria was the ruling power on earth at that moment. The mightiest monarch on the earth bows down before God. Wise man! Look at him. “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” (vs. 6). He seems to say, “What avails my kingly robe if the judgment of God is upon me, and if in forty days I am a corpse? “Wise man, sensible man, humbled man, repentant man. Why? Because believing man.
Now note the next thing he did. “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: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands”(verses 7, 8). The life was to be changed. Mind that. When a man gets converted his life is always altered afterward. What he has been in he comes out of. He shuns sin, and loves holiness.
The king further says very pathetically, “Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not” (vs. 9). What he felt was this―We are bound to perish if we go on as we are doing, but, if we repent, perhaps God will turn and repent, and we may be spared and perish not. He saw one doorway. And what was that?Repentance. So he covered himself with sackcloth, sat in ashes, and cried mightily to God.
Had you gone into Nineveh at that moment, what would you have heard? The lowing of the cattle, saying, “Oh, lead us to water.” But no man led them. And the sheep bleating to be led out to grass.
But no man led them. There was an awful quiet over the men of that city, broken only by the voice of prayer. They were under the sense of the impending judgment of God. Oh that sinners might be seen now in a similar state, bowed down and repentant before God. It was an amazing sight. Nothing like it was ever known before, or since, that I know of. And yet what we see in Nineveh is just what goes on in the history of every soul of man, when that man is first awakened, and is about to be blessed of God. He gets the knowledge and the sense of sin. He is brought to repentance, even though he perhaps does not understand fully what the meaning of the word is. What does it mean? It means getting right with God. The apostle Paul says, “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:2121Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 20:21)). These are the two vital things which always go together. “So the people of Nineveh believed God.” There was faith. How was it evinced? They “proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them” (vs. 5). There was repentance. Friend, do you believe God? If you do you will bow down in repentance before Him, and you will get blessing. “Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ,” are the sure precursors of deep soul-blessing.
But you may ask this question, What is faith? It is believing God. It is taking God at His word. That is what an old woman said in the early hours of the morning when she was dying. She had been a professing Christian, and her friends sent for her minister. When he came in he said, “Well, my good friend, I see you are very ill. What are you resting on for eternity?” With gasping utterance she feebly replied, “Sir, I have taken God at His word.” That was faith. Have you taken God at His word? To do so is to show that you are the possessor of divinely produced faith. I repeat — Faith is the soul’s reception of a divine testimony. “He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true” (John 3:3333He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. (John 3:33)). That verse is a divine definition of faith. I think the little girl at the Canongate Sunday school had got hold of it very clearly. The question was asked, “What is faith?” Her answer was this, “It is believing what God says in the Bible about Jesus, and asking no questions.”
Now then, my friend, if you also believe God, you will get saved where you sit tonight. Believe Him where you are just now. Believe His love. Believe His grace. Believe in the mercy of His heart. Do not forget this, it is not your repentance that leads God to goodness, but “the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance” (Rom. 2:44Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? (Romans 2:4)).
The King of Nineveh said, “Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?” (vs. 9). You and I cannot say, “Who can tell?” God’s Son has come and told us. His Son has come down and told us all the truth―that He loves mercy and not sacrifice. “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:1414And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. (1 John 4:14)). “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:1717For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:17)). God has told out His heart, He has given from His bosom His best Beloved—the best thing in heaven for the worst thing on earth. And what is that? It is a sinner in his sins. Yes, Jesus has given Himself for us. The love of God is declared, and now, as much for us as for Jonah or Nineveh in days gone by, we have to learn the blessed fact that “salvation is of the Lord.”
There are two reasons why you can only get salvation as a gift. God is too rich to sell it, and you are far too poor to buy it. How then can you get it? Receive it as God’s free gift. Do you want salvation? God will give it to you. Can you buy it? Never. Do you deserve it? Oh, no. How can I get it? By simply taking it. If you are bowed down and repentant before God, you will get it. Repentance is the result in my soul of the reception of God’s testimony. I am crushed by the sense of my sin and His goodness. It is not, however, a pair of steps by which I can go up to the platform of salvation. Repentance is the divine movement in the soul that follows in the footsteps of faith. If your soul were moved and bowed with the sense of your sin on the one hand, and on the other your heart were melted by the love of the Son of God who died on Calvary for your sins, and there bore the judgment of God due to you, and your tears fell fast, would all this wash away your sins? No. But once see that Jesus’ precious blood washes away all your sins, and then your tears of gratitude may flow freely, because you can say, like the apostle, “The Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
I press this question of repentance, for it has a big place in Scripture. John the Baptist cried through the land, “Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:22And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 3:2)). Men were mightily moved, and the devil quickly got Herod to put him in prison, and then cut his head off. Depend upon it, Satan rejoiced to get rid of that man. Just then John’s Master appeared on the scene, and immediately His voice is heard. Hear what the Master has to say. The murdered man cannot say more, but his divine Master reiterates his cry. Almost His first word is, “Repent: for time kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:1717From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:17)). God is about to assert His rights.
What is the next thing? Time Lord Jesus selected twelve men, “And they went out, and preached that men should repent” (Mark 6:1212And they went out, and preached that men should repent. (Mark 6:12)). I find the Lord Jesus Himself saying presently, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:1717When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Mark 2:17)). By-and-bye they come and tell Him of certain people on whom a wall fell, and He says, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:55I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. (Luke 13:5)). Later, He Cakes us down to the very depths of heil to hear the prayer of a formerly rich man, and what does he say? “I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, test they also come into this place of torment.” Abraham says, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent” (Luke 16:27-3027Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: 28For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 29Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. (Luke 16:27‑30)). Even the damned in hell know that there must be repentance.
Further, when Christ rose from the dead, do you know what He said? “Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46, 4746And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:46‑47)). Repentance and remission of sins always go together. If a man hears the Word of God and believes it, he is brought to repentance. And what is the next thing? There is faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ, and immediately there is remission of sins? When Peter preached in the second of Acts, what said he? To those men thoroughly aroused, wakened up, and pricked to the heart, he exclaimed, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (vs. 38). When you come to the next chapter, he says, “Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:1919Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; (Acts 3:19)). Further on we find him saying, “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:3131Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. (Acts 5:31)).
Repentance is the fruit of God’s goodness, with the view that you may know your sins forgiven, and your soul saved, just where you are. If we pass along in the Acts we find the same thing. I have already quoted tonight, “God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Acts 17:3030And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: (Acts 17:30) and 31). What do I learn there? The judgment day is fixed, and the judge appointed. Solemn consideration for every unsaved hearer. When will it be? I do not know. It may be tomorrow. Tonight may find the Church rapt to glory, and tomorrow you will find the great Assize has come. And what about the man that is judged? He can only be damned. My friend you repent tonight and get blessing.
“Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ,” were largely preached by the apostle Paul. When telling the story of his conversion to King Agrippa, he says “Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: but showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance” (Acts 26:19, 2019Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: 20But showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. (Acts 26:19‑20)). This thought goes all through Scripture. It is very simple. I get the light of the testimony of God, I believe it, and then judge myself and my ways, and lead a new life. I hear of a testimony with regard to judgment. I bow to it. It may be, on the other hand, testimony as to the work of Christ. I bow to it. And as I bow I see my need: I believe the love that seeks my blessing, and I judge myself. The prodigal son was brought to repentance. He says, “I am perishing, and there is goodness in the heart of my Father. How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee,” that is confession,” and am no more worthy to be called thy son,” that is repentance. He judges himself. That causes joy in heaven, for when man repents heaven rejoices.
Now the Ninevites very wisely repented at the preaching of Jonah. And what was the result? They were blessed; they were spared. “God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not” (Jonah 3:1010And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. (Jonah 3:10)). Our blessed Lord says, “They repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold a greater than Jonas is here.” If these men repented at the preaching of this risen man who brought the word of God to them, my friend, what shall be the effect on you that hear of Jesus, God’s only Son, who has died for sinners such as you? He went into death that He might redeem us to God. And now He is risen from the dead the triumphant Victor. Tell me, will you not believe in Him who is greater than Jonas? Will you not turn to the Lord now? Say in your heart now, “Christ for me, I see that I am a lost, ruined sinner, but ‘salvation is of the Lord,’ and if it is for the sinner, I will have it.”
Simply take Him as your Saviour now, and then go on your way and witness for Christ.
W. T. P. W.