WE must still continue with our meditation on verse 1 of Jonah chapter three, and link it with the next verse. We have seen that embedded in this record that God speaks to Jonah a second time, commanding him to take his word to Nineveh, that God's sovereign purpose never fails, and that apparent disruption to his purpose is all included in his purpose. We have seen that in this purpose of God even the sins of God's people are included, and these are part of the purpose because they prepare and train God's servants more perfectly to fulfill God's purpose. There remains in this first verse the further revelation that God communicates his purpose and will to people in this world, and makes his purpose known. We see also that God communicates in order to accomplish his sovereign purpose.

It is this communication of God with Jonah and what it reveals to us that is the subject of this sermon.

THE REVELATION IN THESE VERSES.

The opening words of verse one give us this amazing information that God spoke to Jonah. The word of the Lord came to Jonah. How this communication was achieved we are not told. In the Old Testament sometimes such communication was through a dream or a vision, but we are not told that this was how it happened here. All we know is that God communicated with Jonah so that he heard and understood the word of the Lord.

It is so easy to read such a statement as this without it capturing our attention. Why should God communicate with this world. The world in its wisdom does not know God. The world goes forward, as Nineveh did, with total disregard of God and his will. Human beings, ever since Adam's disobedience, have constantly rebelled against God. So why should God communicate with this world. It is even more amazing that God should communicate in order to show mercy and grace, for although the message Jonah was to carry to Nineveh was one of judgement, its purpose was a purpose of grace. No one repents or responds to God's message unless God makes it so, so the message of judgement had the purpose to produce repentance, so that God could be gracious and forgiving.

All down history we have revealed to us that God in grace and mercy communicates with this world. God communicated his grace to Adam, and told him of the one who would crush Satan. From the opening of Genesis we have a record of God communicating his word to this world, and causing his word to be remembered in written form in the Bible. The Old Testament is a testimony to this action of God throughout the history of the Jews before the coming of Christ. Then God continues this communication in the New Testament so that there may be a full revelation of his saving grace for all to hear and believe and so be saved.

Jonah was left in no doubt that God was speaking to him, and left in no doubt as to what God was saying. The wonderful thing in the case of Jonah was that at this second time, he not only heard but obeyed.

God has spoken to our world through his word the Bible, and he has left no doubt as to the authenticity of his word. The fact that people neglect the revelation of God in the Bible, or question and criticize it and question it, resulting in unbelief and refusing its message, is not the fault of the declaration of God. The fault is in us. God has spoken. The Bible is available for us to hear his word. If we do not hear his word it is our fault and ours alone. No one who comes to the Bible with a humble and contrite spirit; and comes with an ardent desire to hear the truth of God; who will not be granted, as Jonah was so granted, an understanding of what God is saying so that they can believe it from their hearts. Here is the crunch; for we must receive the word of God from our hearts which is not only to receive with our minds, but that our deepest desire is to submit to it and receive it with obedient faith.

God has given his word in the Bible. The Bible is not there to be changed, or altered, or revised, or criticized, or judged. It is God speaking to us and the only right response is obedient faith. We have no excuse if we neglect the Bible, or pick and choose as to what to believe or what to reject. We must receive the whole Bible as it is and receive completely the message that it gives. God's word must be received, believed and obeyed, and if we don't we sin. Sinning against such light as is in the Bible increases our guilt a hundredfold.

The Bible may be hard to understand sometimes, but Christ has promised, and given his Holy Spirit, to illuminate his word, and those who earnestly seek to hear God speaking will find that the Holy Spirit opens up his word with the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

GOD SPEAKING TO HIS SERVANT.

There is wonderful instruction here to all God's servants called to the ministry of preaching and teaching.

Jonah was called by God to be a prophet. Having been called he became God's spokesman to communicate God's word to others. This is what every minister of the Gospel is called to do. However we are not sent out under our own devices and under our own strength. God comes with his message and commands to go and proclaim it. In the case of Jonah it was a very specific command, and it was meant to be obeyed.

The minister of the Gospel is in the same condition today. Sometimes we may wish that we may hear a voice from the sky, or in our ears, as it seems Jonah did, and we may feel we do not know how to hear God's commands, yet this is not true. God has given us his word, the Bible, and if a minister is to be faithful as an ambassador of Christ, he or she must be earnest in the study of the Bible, and conduct that study with humility and much prayer that understanding may be given by the Holy Spirit. There must also be the submission to that word. The only right use of our minds is to understand what God is saying in the Bible. We have not right to question God.

But this is not the whole story. The minister does not and should not come to the Bible and decide what should be preached. The fact is that God's power and blessing is linked closely and entirely to his purpose, and only when his purpose is being fulfilled will there be any results. Jonah would have had no success or blessing in preaching in Nineveh, if God had not sent him, and if God had not determined to bring salvation to that city.

From this the minister takes his message from the Bible for this is essential, but also, and this is also essential, the minister must inquire of the Lord that he or she may hear God speaking to them in the Bible and indicating by sure and certain impression of the Holy Spirit what it is from the Bible that God wants to be declared at any one time. On top of this the minister must have no confidence in the flesh and human ability, but be dependent on Christ alone, not only for the message, but also for the grace and ability to speak that word in the way God purposes it and wants it to be proclaimed.

Nineveh was only one of many cities that existed in those days. Jonah could have gone to any one of the others. He could only go and preach with blessing if he went to the city God had chosen for his message to be spoken. So in ministry we go to where God wants us to go, and this means earnest waiting on God for guidance. Then in ministry we go with the word God has given us from his word, and not what we think is best to declare from the Bible.

THE MINISTER'S ASSURANCE.

Jonah went to preach to Nineveh a most unpopular message, but he also went with this assurance that God had commanded it and so God had a purpose in it that he would fulfill. This gave Jonah courage and assurance and purpose. So it is with all who minister in the name of Christ. Christ sends us forth, and he sends us forth because he has a purpose which he purposes to fulfill through us. If like Jonah on the first time God's word came to him, we do not carry out exactly what God has told us to do, then we have no assurance, except the assurance that God will not bless our efforts. On the other hand, if we have humbled ourselves under the mighty hand of God, and have submitted our wills to his, and seek to be totally committed to obediently carrying out the instructions of the Lord, then we have the assurance that God will accomplish his will through us.

The secret of blessing in ministry is to be in the will of God at all times, not only in the plans and actions we take, but also in the words we speak. God did not bless Jonah when he ran contrary to his will, but he blessed Jonah mightily when he fulfilled his will. The minister must always be seeking to live in the will of God, and be seeking to know that will, and to have the courage to be totally obedient to that will.

Living in the will of God is not as simple as it may seem. The devil is active to turn us from the will of God. It is easy to be daunted by the largeness and the difficulty of doing God's will. But the most difficult thing is to discern the will of God. We pray, and we search the Scriptures. We seek that God will direct our thinking, and make his way clear, but it is not easy to discern what seems to be a God's will and what is really God's will. Paul sought Gods will where he should go. He used his wisdom prayerfully under submission to God to discern God's will, but his first efforts at obedience were not right, and it was only when he had a vision of a man from Macedonia calling for help that he knew clearly the will of God. Sometimes we have to test the way forward, but always with the proviso that we are ready for God to halt us if the way is wrong. We must also have the obedient spirit to give up our cherished plans when we are shown that they are not God's plans.

Then we have the case of Samuel sent to the family of Jesse to anoint a king to replace Saul. Human wisdom failed him all the way. All the sons of Jesse seemed to be the one in the mind of Samuel. How difficult it must have been for Samuel to reject them all at God's indication, and in puzzlement ask whether there was any other son. How surprising that the youngest and the least likely was God's choice, but only in anointing David did the blessing of God result.

CONCLUSION.

How great is the grace of God which speaks in our sinful world and speaks in order to bless with salvation.