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by GLENN PEASE
03/12/18
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Based on Jonah 3:1-5

      As we all know, the Bible is very brief on its account, considering all the centuries that it covers. It was not designed to tell us everything and to give an exhaustive and detailed record of God's working. It was designed to give us basic truths, principles, and examples of their operation and application in specific lives. Even with 4 accounts of the life of Christ, the vast majority of their content deals with the last week of His life, and the record is blank for many of His early years. The whole of creation is summed up in 2 chapters, and the most famous Psalm in the world, which is the 23rd, is only 6 verses long. A great, profound, and powerful message can be communicated in few words.   In contrast, some of the most minor and mundane messages can run into endless wordiness.

       A comparison was made of the number of words used in the great biblical passages, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, and a typical government publication. It was discovered that the number of words used to announce a change in the price of cabbage seed far exceeded all of the words of Lincoln and the Scripture put together. Man is not known for his brevity of speech, and this is especially true of preachers. One morning a pastor entered his pulpit with his finger all bandaged. One in the congregation leaned over to a neighbor and asked, "What happened?" The reply was that he heard the pastor was shaving and had his mind on his sermon, and he cut his finger. The inquirer said, "I hope next Sunday he keeps his mind on his finger and cuts his sermon."

     A man visiting a different church from his own was surprised when the sermon was only 10 minutes long. The pastor explained that his dog was very fond of paper and he ate the remaining part of his message that he had written out. The visitor met the pastor at the door and said, "I'd appreciate it if you would let me know is your dog has pups. I'd like to get one for my pastor."

     Sometimes we think that length of a message makes it more powerful, but this is not the case. When Franklin Roosevelt was a young lawyer just getting started in New York he was hired to handle a civil case. The opposing lawyer was very superior as a speaker. He went on and on in his oratory for several hours. Roosevelt noted that the jury was not paying attention after awhile. He had a hunch that he played out when it was his turn. He rose and said, "Gentlemen you have heard the evidence. You have also listened to my distinguished colleague, a brilliant orator. If you believe him, and disbelieve the evidence you will have to decide in his favor. That's all I have to say." The jury was out for just 5 minutes, and brought in a verdict in favor of Roosevelt's client. Brevity had won the day.

     The great Spurgeon once went into a church where he was invited to speak to check out the acoustics. He decided to quote a Scripture from the platform and said in a loud voice, "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." Unknown to him a workman in the church heard this as the voice of God to him. He responded by looking to Jesus and trusting him as his savior. Many years later the man was able to share with Spurgeon that it was his brief word that day that led him to trust in Jesus. God has proven many times that he can make a big difference with a small message.

       The old Puritans used to preach sermons that lasted three hours. Today most sermons are under an hour long, and the majority probably a half an hour or less. We are going to look now at what is probably the shortest sermon ever preached in history. It was also one of the most successful ever preached. No one could ever accuse Jonah of being long winded or complicated on the basis of this message. We want to examine this shortest sermon in terms of its source, delivery, and effect. First-

I. ITS SOURCE.

       The brevity of this sermon has its origin in God's will and not Jonah's wisdom. We see in verse 1 that the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. Here is a marvelous example of God's grace and persistence. He is going to get a message to Nineveh, and no amount of disobedience is going to block that goal. Unfaithfulness can hinder and postpone God's schedule, but it will not be allowed to stop the fulfillment of His plan. So it is with the church. It will fail time and time again, but God's standing orders to every generation are still, "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel." God will persist until that plan is accomplished, for only then will the end come.

       God's long suffering is amazing. He is the God of the second chance. Some of the greatest men of God would have gone down in shame and disgrace if God had not given them a second chance. Jonah would have died a deserted, and he would have been known forever as a traitor to God's cause. God gave him a second chance just like He did Samson, David, Peter, Mark and Paul. They were all, like the Prodigal Son, given the second chance. Israel was given even more than a second chance. She failed God over and over again, but God continued to work through a faithful remnant to bring His Son into the world. God took Jonah right back to where he was in the first place before he disobeyed. He was given a chance to start all over again just as if nothing had happened. It is as if the book of Jonah began with chapter 3. What an illustration of the truly forgiving nature of God. By God's grace you can get to where you ought to be, even if you have gone far astray. What L. F. Tarkington wished in her poem is found only in the grace of God. She wrote,

"I wish that there were some wonderful place
In the land of beginning again;
Where all our mistakes and all our heart aches
And all of our poor selfish grief
Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door
And never put on again."

       Jonah's mistake was passed, and God even used it for good. Now he is back in the land of beginning again. He was restored, not only to life, but to his office as a prophet, and he is sent again to that great city Nineveh where it is estimated there were half a million people.

        Verse 2 makes it clear that the shortness of Jonah's message was God's idea, for he was to say only what God commanded. The value and power of any message is dependant upon its source. In order to have authority a message must be backed up by an adequate power to carry out what is prophesied. This is why God alone is the original source of all great sermons. He alone can make them great, for He alone can make them true. Jeremiah felt like a poor speaker, but God said He would put His own words in his mouth, and he would have great power. So it was with Moses and all the prophets.

        Even Jesus made it clear that the source of His message was the Father. In John 12:49 He said, "For I have not spoken on my own authority; the Father who has sent me has Himself given me commandment what to say, and what to speak."The source of every authoritative message dealing with eternal truths is God the Father, and so it was with this shortest of sermons.

II. ITS DELIVERY.

       Jonah had learned the value of obedience and the folly of disobedience. He arose immediately and went directly to Nineveh as he was told. It seemed like a big assignment for one man. It was a huge city. It is thought by many that the 3 days journey refers to the length of time needed to walk around the city, and if so it would make it about 60 miles around.

       Jonah headed right into the task and began to deliver the message that God had given him. He was no longer as sensitive, for it would take considerable courage, conviction and confidence. It is hard to go to the point where nothing but obedience to God counts, but there is tremendous power when one reaches that point. His sermon was apparently delivered on the move as he walked through the streets of Nineveh. This explains the necessity for it being a very short sermon. It had to be heard as he passed by, and so it had to be right to the point. An extended message would be meaningless, for he would be out of hearing range before the message was completed. It had to be a quick 3 points. When? 40 days. Where? Nineveh. What? Destruction. People could disagree and call him a fanatic, but no one could miss the point of the message. Simplicity is a must when it comes to warnings. In the Hebrew this sermon is composed of only 5 words.

       The nature of a message determines its length. Jesus could not set forth the pattern of life for the kingdom of God in 5 words, or even in 50. The Sermon On The Mount is condensed, but it still occupies 3 chapters. It is a message of instruction, and must by its very nature be longer than a message of warning. Warning messages demand brevity. The Gospel can be preached in minutes, but the whole counsel of God takes years to proclaim. If you see a person in danger of being hit by a car you shout, "Watch out!" Eloquence and reasoning are totally irrelevant and inappropriate. Imagine saying in such a situation, "In the light of the inevitable encounter which you will, from all appearance have with the approaching vehicle if you remain in your present location, I propose that you avoid the unnecessary suffering, which in all likelihood will follow the aforementioned encounter, by transporting yourself to a place of greater security."

        Such a warning would probably make you guilty of involuntary manslaughter since it is not likely that it would save the victim even if your speech was finished before the car hit. A warning must be sharp, pointed and brief, and that is why Jonah's message of judgment was only 5 words in length. There was no introduction, conclusion, or illustrations. It was just the plain horrible facts. He would have gotten an F in any class on sermon writing.

        Jonah didn't even have a hint of good news to offer. He did not say repent and be saved, for there was no Gospel in this sermon at all. This is evident by the attitude of the king, which we see in 3:19. If Jonah had given them any hope that God might repent, they would have known, but there was none. No way of escape was pointed out. It was just a warning of judgment to come. It was the shortest sermon ever preached, and probably also the most repeated, for the news of it spread across the whole city. Jonah had done a great job on the delivery.

III. ITS EFFECT.

       The success of Jonah is hard to believe. Skeptical scholars just flatly deny it. The facts are amazing. Jonah was preaching a message he didn't want to, and so his heart really was not in it. He really hoped it would be a flop even though he obeyed the letter of God's command. We have here a poor instrument to start with, and he is preaching a message with no hope. Jonah was a Jew in a Gentile city. The Assyrians were not noted for their sensitive conscience, or their fear of tragedy. They were cruel and blood thirsty. They were so hard-hearted they were called the Nazi's of
antiquity. With all of these factors against the success of his mission, it is no wonder that Jonah figured nothing would come of it all. He likely thought that they would mock and laugh at him for sport, and then go on their merry wicked way to destruction. But it didn't work out that way.

      The people of Nineveh believed God and repented. It was contrary to logic and commonsense, and nobody could have guessed the response that came. God certainly must have known of the unique state of these people's hearts. They were ripe for repentance.   Only God knows what factors were operating to make these people ready to respond as they did, but knowing that we see why he was so persistent in getting the message to them. We need to pray that God would lead us to people He knows are ready to respond to His message.

       Here were heathen people who believed God on the basis of a single 5 word sermon. The question arises, were these people saved?   Were they not just spared from destruction, but were they saved for eternity?   A comparison of other cases were the same Hebrew word for believe is used would indicate that they were truly saved. Gen. 15:6 speaks of Abraham, "And he believed the Lord, and he reckoned it to Him as righteousness." It is the same word used in many places to describe true faith. They greatest proof of their salvation is not based on a word study, however, but on the testimony of Jesus in Luke 11:32 where he says, "The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, a greater than Jonah is here." If they will rise at judgment justified, and then judge the generation of Christ's day because of their unbelief, it is as strong evidence as you could ask for in proof of the reality of their saving faith.

       Later on Nineveh was destroyed in judgment, but that was a totally different generation of people. We can conclude then that this message of Jonah resulted in many Gentiles being brought into the kingdom of God. A sermon's strength is not its length, and that is abundantly proven by Jonah who had unparalleled success by preaching the shortest of sermons.

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