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True Repentance

Jonah: God’s Matchless Grace
Sunday, April 7, 2024
Pastor Alex Chen

 

6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, 'By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish.' 10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that He had said He would do to them, and He did not do it.

I.          True repentance has an outward effect [vv6-8]
II.        True repentance has an inward effect [v8]
III.       True repentance has an upward effect [vv9-10]

I.         True repentance has an outward effect [vv6-8]
6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, ‘By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God.’

6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

J.I. Packer: “Repentance is a change of mind issuing in a change of life.”

Thomas Watson, The Doctrine of Repentance: “Repentance is a grace of God’s Spirit whereby a sinner is inwardly humbled and visibly reformed…[Repentance] is a spiritual medicine made up of six special ingredients: 1. Sight of sin 2. Sorrow for sin 3. Confession of sin 4. Shame for sin 5. Hatred for sin 6. Turning from sin.”

7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, ‘By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. 

Repentance is hard because it's humbling. It takes humility to confess to wrong, but it's essential to godly growth. And there should be some outward signs of your repentance.

II.        True repentance has an inward effect [v8]
8...Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.

Inward repentance is one that is deeply grieved for transgressing God's law, not just sorry for getting caught.

Ps 51:16-17 For You will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

III.      True repentance has an upward effect [vv9-10]
9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish. 10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that He had said He would do to them, and He did not do it.

Biblical Christianity affirms that God has all-knowledge (omniscience) and that God does not change (immutability).

Num 23:19 God is not man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it?

Is 46:9-10 for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all My purpose.’

Mal 3:6 For I the LORD do not change...

Jam 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Jer 18:5-10 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 6 'O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. 7 If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. 9 And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 10 and if it does evil in My sight, not listening to My voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.'

When we compare Scripture with Scripture, and especially as we learn passages like Jeremiah 18, we see that a lot of prophetic preaching in Scripture are really warnings with conditions attached.

Jer 18:1-4 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 'Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear My words.' 3 So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.

Eph 1:11 In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.

This purpose ordains change, including the divine "relentings" in the Bible. God has decreed from eternity past that many of His purposes will be accomplished through created means, things like intercessory prayer and the responses of people to conditional prophecies.

He ordains from all eternity what will come to pass (in the words of the Westminster Confession of Faith), and part of what He ordains are the "relentings" and "change of plans" we read about in the narratives of Scripture. God’s "relenting" is His sovereign decision and part of His eternal decree and plan and purpose. His right to withdraw announced doom is part of His sovereignty.

Jonah is really saying, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be destroyed…unless you repent of your sins and turn to the Lord!” It's a conditional proclamation, not a straight-forward prediction.

Jon 4:2 For I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.

Jon 3:9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish.

Why do we spend time on this theological issue? Because God's character and His integrity and His trustworthiness are at stake.

If you don’t know Jesus personally as Lord and Savior, we'd love to introduce you to him. And the key is to repent of your sins, turn to Christ in faith, and believe that he alone saves. Put all your hope in him and in him alone.