Repentance is of the Lord

All right, there we go. Well, good morning again. So this morning we will be picking back up in Jonah chapter 3. The title of my sermon this morning is Repentance is of the Lord. It's been a couple of months since we've been in Jonah.

So let's recap what we've seen so far. God called Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach judgment against them because of their wickedness. Jonah and disobedience runs from God's command in the opposite direction.

His attempt to escape results not just in personal crisis, but in danger to those around him and is a reminder that our choices impact others. God uses a storm and pagan sailors to show Jonah that he is sovereign over all creation and all people and that he works even through unexpected means.

The sailors ultimately come to fear and worship God, highlighting that God's purposes are often bigger than our own understanding. Running from God brings consequences, but God's pursuit is a sign of love, not punishment.

When God leaves us to ourselves, that is the greatest judgment. When Jonah was in the belly of the fish, he finally prays from a place of utter darkness and helplessness. His prayer is both a cry for help and acknowledgement of God's faithfulness.

Jonah realizes that God is the only source of salvation, not just for him, but for all people. Salvation is of the Lord. This chapter shows that God meets us in our lowest places, not to destroy us, but to sanctify us.

Jonah's deliverance is a picture of grace after repentance, that even when we've hit rock bottom, God is ready to restore us when we turn back to him. We left Jonah back on land, having been released from the fish's belly, likely in need of a shower, but no worse for the wear.

He has been humbled and at the very least sees how futile it is to resist God's will. Let's go to our text. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.

So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days journey in extent, and Jonah began to enter the city on the first day's walk.

Then he cried out and said, yet forty days in Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed to fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Do not let them eat or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily to God.

Yes, let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent and turn away from his fierce anger so that we may not perish? Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God relented from the disaster that he had said he would bring upon them.

And he did not do it. Jonah 3 begins with a remarkable line. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time. A powerful reminder that failure does not disqualify us from God's plans when we return to him in repentance and faith.

Right, we see this theme all over the Bible. Peter denied Christ before becoming the leader of the Apostles. Moses was a murderer and then spent 40 years in the wilderness before he was called to lead Israel out.

Jacob was a deceiver and became Israel after striving with God. Paul persecuted the early church, but then became the Apostle to the Gentiles. One of my favorite modern examples of this is the story of Adoniram Judson.

Besides his excellent name, Judson was raised in a devout Christian home. But during college he abandoned his faith under the influence of a skeptical friend named Jacob Imes. He became a deist and lived a self-focused rebellious life rejecting Christianity entirely.

But the turning point for him was one night he stopped in at an inn. And while he was in his room, he heard a man dying in the room next door to him, crying out, even cursing God. And the next morning he asked the innkeeper who that man was.

He found out that it was his friend Jacob Imes. He had died in the night. This experience shattered him and he returned to Christ in deep repentance. He and his wife were among the first American missionaries sent overseas in 1812.

They originally sailed for India, but were redirected to Burma. For six years, they saw no conversions. He lost several children to illness, was imprisoned and tortured for two years, and eventually lost his wife Anne, who he dearly loved, and their third child.

In deep grief, Judson wrote, God is to me the great unknown. I believe in him, but I find him not. However, after years of perseverance, conversions began and the first Burmese church was established.

Judson translated the entire Bible into Burmese and compiled the first Burmese English Dictionary, both of which are still in use today. By the time of his death, he left a hundred plus churches and 8 ,000 believers in Burma.

And a legacy that shaped modern missions. The point of all this, God gives second chances and our failures are used to prepare us for God's purposes. So let's look at Jonah's obedience now. We've spent time looking at his disobedience.

In the third verse of chapter 3, we see, so Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. No hesitations, no excuses, no, please Lord, let me go home. I need to get some things in order first.

This is a gold star on Jonah's report card and we should take a moment to consider the type of obedience we should all have towards God's Word. Samuel says to Saul, behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.

Abraham was praised for his faith, but also for his obedience. God himself confessing, in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. Children are called to obey their parents, which is well-pleasing in the Lord.

Peter says wives are to obey their husbands, Paul says bond servants who obey their masters, and Paul also says that damnation and salvation revolve around obedience. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous.

How important is obedience? It is of the highest importance. Now we are a bunch of good Christians here. We would never so brashly disobey God as Jonah did. If you're anything like me, you struggle with obedience in more subtle ways.

For example, during my job search, I have struggled with the temptation to make more of my experience than it is to say that I've been involved in projects I was only aware of. That is disobedience to God's ways and Word.

How about obeying God when it comes to redeeming our time? How many of us waste time doom-scrolling social media or just spend too much time on social media, period? How many of us neglect family worship or hospitality or private devotions or evangelism?

So often our obedience or lack of obedience is in things we know we should be doing but neglect. Spurgeon said, alas, there are some here present, some to whom we have preached now for years, who have not obeyed.

Oh sirs, some of you do not require more knowledge. You need far more to put in practice what you know. Now let's look at Jonah's journey. The journey that Jonah went on was a long one. Often in God's words, often in God's words, he says things so concisely that you miss details, right?

It reads like Jonah was told to go to Nineveh and the next day he entered Nineveh. Assuming that the fish deposited Jonah somewhere in the vicinity of Joppa where he had originally departed from, the journey to Nineveh would have been approximately 685 miles from modern-day Tel Aviv to Mosul in northern Iraq.

Now the text doesn't say how he traveled, but it's very likely that he walked. Just to give you a sense of that distance, that would be like the next time Ben and Rachel go to visit Rachel's parents, they decide to walk.

From this building in Barry, Mass to Youngsville, North Carolina is 678 miles. At the average walking pace, this journey likely took Jonah 30 to 40 days. Hi mom, Ben and I are leaving now. See you in September.

I'm not going to speculate on what that journey was like for Jonah, but he had plenty of time to think of his experience so far. This is a long journey where at the end of it, he must face what could be, as far as he knows at this point, a very hostile reception.

But the Lord has brought him to a place where he obeys without question. At this point in our story, Jonah is starting to look pretty good. Now we get to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days journey in extent.

Nineveh was at one time believed to be the largest city in the world. It occupied approximately three to four square miles within the city walls, but most believe it was much larger outside them. The walls were in some places a hundred feet high and wide enough for three chariots to ride side by side.

They went all the way around the city and were seven miles long. And I can't remember the number of towers that it had, but there was a lot of them. Now by today's standards, these measurements are not super impressive, right?

The largest city today by population is Tokyo, Japan with 37 million people. America doesn't even have a city that makes the top 50 anymore, with New York having a measly 8 million people in it. In Nineveh's day, the world population was between 50 to 100 million.

So when you start to adjust the population figures, you find that yes, it was an exceedingly great city for its time. Many commentators talk about the three day journey and what that means for the size of the city.

Some believe it refers to the region and a connection with three other major Assyrian cities, and it was three days to connect between those cities. Some say that just means that to see the whole city with all its streets and roads would have taken three days to walk through them.

Ultimately, we know Nineveh was big and Jonah walked a day's journey into it and began to preach. Now let's look at Jonah's message. And he began to enter the city on the first day's walk, and then he cried out and said, yet 40 days in Nineveh shall be overthrown.

Imagine that message today. What if God called one of us to head into Boston and to stand on a box beneath the statue of Samuel Adams at Faneuil Hall and cry out, yet 40 days in Boston shall be overthrown.

Would that be our whole message? Once again, scripture tells stories succinctly, but sometimes we need to think about what is behind the statement. God said, go to Nineveh and preach to it the message that I tell you.

Was the whole message yet 40 days? I think it is much more than that. Jonah was preaching judgment. In chapter one, God said, for their wickedness has come up before me. Preaching that brings repentance must first begin with judgment.

If we don't know that we have done wrong, what need is there to turn from it? I would imagine that Jonah spoke of the wickedness of the Ninevites and named it before them. He probably also spoke about who God is and that he is a judge who will not tolerate wickedness forever.

Let's look at a few different sermons that touch on different aspects of what Jonah likely preached to the Ninevites. We look at Peter's preaching at Pentecost, right? We all remember this. The Holy Spirit comes upon the apostles and those gathered.

It's a great and mighty wind, almost like a hurricane or a tornado that causes the whole city to come running over and find out what's going on. And they find all these men and women prophesying and they're hearing them in their own language and some are amazed and some mock.

And then Peter stands up and he says, men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nathareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did through him in your midst. As you yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands and have crucified and put to death.

Whom God's raised up, having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be held by them. Then Peter goes on and he quotes David from the Old Testament to show that Jesus's resurrection was a fulfillment of prophecy.

And then he finishes with, therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Peter's message is not Jesus loves you, but you murdered the Messiah.

The result, now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what should we do? Then Peter said to them, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.

And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. So we see that Peter did not pull any punches with his audience and yet the Lord blessed it. If we look at Paul preaching in Athens, it was a little bit of a different situation.

He's preaching to Gentiles as Jonah is. And so he spends time describing to them who this God is he's preaching about, right? Again, setting the stage, he goes to Athens and he's walking around the city and his spirit is provoked within him because the spirit of the city is wholly given over to idols.

They have shrines to every God you can imagine. They even have a shrine to the unknown God. And so in the course of him beginning to preach, he comes to some philosophers who take him because they want to hear what he has to say.

And so we read, and they took him and brought him to the Areopagus saying, may we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak for you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore, we want to know what these things mean for all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.

So Paul talks to them about God. He uses their own altars. He uses, he quotes their poets, but ultimately he tells them who this God is that they don't know. And then he says, truly these times of ignorance, God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained.

He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. So once again, Paul talks about God. He's not quite as cutting as Peter is, but at the same time, he talks about this God who is all powerful and is a judge of the world and that they must repent if they're going to be right with him.

The result, some mocked, some said, meh, we'll hear you again on this. Some men joined him and believed. But let's look at Jonathan Edwards and that sermon that he preached that was one of the things that sparked the great awakening, sinners in the hands of an angry God.

The whole sermon centers around God's wrath and what it will be like. He makes four points of application in the sermon. Whose wrath it is, is point number one. And he quotes Luke 12. And I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body.

And after that have no more they can do. But I will tell you whom you should fear. Fear him whom after he was killed has power to cast into hell. Yes, I say to you, fear him. His second point is he talks about the fierceness of his wrath.

And again, quotes Revelations 19. He himself treads the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. So this isn't just run of the mill God's wrath. This is the fierceness of his wrath. Then in his third point, I'm going to read what Jonathan Edwards says.

And then I'll paraphrase it because his wording is a little weird. The misery you are exposed to is that which God will inflict to that end that he might show what that wrath of Jehovah is. In other words, we know that God's desire in creation and redemption is to show his creatures the full measure of his glory and how he will most fully show the fullness and glory of his wrath will be upon those who reside in hell.

So how terrible will that wrath be? It will be a perfect wrath. It will be a glorious wrath. It's a wrath I don't want to experience. And then finally, the fourth and to me the most terrifying point, it is an everlasting wrath.

It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of almighty God for one moment, but you must suffer it for all eternity. The result of this sermon, it was said that even though Jonathan Edwards was not a dynamic preacher, many in the congregation felt as though the floor of the church was going to open up and they were going to fall into hell that very instant.

The first great awakening, they say nearly 50 ,000 people came to Christ in just a handful of years. And this was back when the population of the colonies was less than a million people. It also laid the foundation for the American Revolution.

So we know that its effects lasted for many years afterwards. So Jonah's whole message is not recorded, but we can assume that he likely spoke very plainly about the sins of the Ninevites. He likely spoke about who this God was who they've offended.

He likely spoke about God's ability to bring their destruction. And he also spoke about how terrible it would be and the completeness of it. Calvin says of this, we hence gather that the preaching of Jonah was not so concise, but that he introduced his discourse by declaring that he was God's prophet and that he did not proclaim these commands without authority.

And we also gather that Jonah is denounced ruin, that at the same time he showed God to be the avenger of sins, that he reproved the Ninevites and as it were, summoned them to God's tribunal, making known to them their guilt.

For had he spoken only of punishment, it could not certainly have been otherwise than that the Ninevites must have rebelled furiously against God. But by showing to them their guilt, he led them to acknowledge that the threatened punishment was just, and thus he prepared them for humility and penance.

So now let's look at Nineveh's repentance. Here now we have a great surprise in the book of Jonah. Most Israelites would have been reading this story, expecting to hear, knowing who the Ninevites were, and Jonah was stoned to death before the people and then the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the great city.

But that's not what happened. What we read is the city repented in dramatic style. So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed to fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.

Then word came to the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne, laid aside his road, covered himself with sackcloth and satin ashes, and he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock taste anything.

Do not let them eat or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily to God. Yes, let everyone who turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands, who can tell if God will turn and relent and turn away his fierce anger so that we may not perish.

I want to look at this in four parts. The people believed God, verse five. The people humbled themselves, verse six and seven. The people turned from their evil ways, verse eight. And the people accepted God's will, verse nine.

What we have in the third chapter of Jonah is a great example of true repentance. And as we will see, it is initiated by God. It involves believing God,.

Humility,.

A real turning and going in another direction, and a submission to God's will. These things are true of original repentance unto salvation, as well as the repentance we are to exhibit as Christians throughout our walk in this life.

In verse five, so the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. R .C. Sproul says of repentance, the word repentance comes from a Greek word, metanoia.

The prefix meta can mean with, besides, or after. The root noia is the verb form of the noun that we find frequently in the Bible as nos. This is simply the Greek word for mind. It is in its simplest form, the term metanoia has to do with the mind afterwards, or as we might say, an afterthought.

In the Greek language, it came to mean a significant changing of one's mind. Now, what prompts a change of mind in someone, but that they first believe something different? Jonah preached judgment to the Ninevites, and they believed God.

It doesn't say they believe Jonah, but at the preaching of Jonah, he preached to them of the God whom they had offended, and who was going to judge them, and they believe what God said through their prophet, through his prophet.

In Mark, it says, John came baptizing in the wilderness, and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem went out to him, and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.

Why did the people go to be baptized? It was because they believed what he prophesied. If they did not trust what John was saying, and just thought he was a crazy guy, and camel's hair who ate bugs, they would have either have ignored him, or walked him up.

Belief always precedes any change we make, and conversely, unbelief is what causes us to do nothing. One of my favorite examples of this, is if I were to stand up here, I could spend the whole day trying to convince you that McDonald's food was good for you.

I could quote studies, and I could tell you I have professionals who will back me up, but will any of you believe me? Probably not. I don't think anyone will go up and get a Whopper after this. Well, a Big Mac, not a Whopper.

But you just wouldn't believe me,.

And if you don't believe me, there will be no change in behavior. The people believed God, our text says, and that leads to action. Before I was a Christian, I would occasionally pass a person on the streets of Boston, holding one of those sandwich boards with something to the effect of, the end is coming.

And I would pass them by, and not give them another thought. I didn't believe them, and so I would just think, it's just another nut, and pay no more mind to it.

Conversely,.

Immediately after Melanie and I were saved, we would get to the end of our day, and say things to each other like, hey, I read something in the Bible today, can you believe it says that? Or, I had no idea that God cares about that.

We used to say to each other, we need to redo every conversation we have ever had. The reason was because our fundamental belief about reality had changed. Melanie, from one of God exists, but doesn't care about me, and me, from one that God didn't exist, to the fact that he did.

To a belief that God exists,.

Cares,.

Is involved,.

Is all powerful, has declared himself to mankind, will hold us accountable for what we do in this life, and has declared what right and wrong is. We had to change everything because of these changes in beliefs.

I mean,.

Melanie and I used to be liberals, and I mean bright blue liberals. Some of you here prior to being saved were at least conservative in some of your ways.

Not us.

I have told some of you, I remember taking a picture of my voting ballot from 2008 when I voted for President Obama. I thought the country was finally moving in a good direction. When my beliefs changed about the fundamental foundation of reality, everything it was based on had to change as well.

Another example is, many of you know that Melanie and I had an abortion early in our relationship, but it wasn't until I came to know the Lord that I repented of that horrible thing we did. You see, I felt guilty before I was saved only because of how it affected Melanie.

I had no guilt whatsoever over the fact that I had murdered my child. It wasn't until I came to know my creator and what he said about these things that my beliefs changed, and so I felt the guilt and had to repent of what I had done.

Now the people humbled themselves, verses six and seven. So they believed God and his message started to be talked about throughout the city. And the word came to the king of Israel and he arose from his throne.

The people from the king down to the lowest servant, even the animals repented in sackcloth and ashes. Now, since I'm bringing up the king of Nineveh, even though Ryan is not here, as a quick aside, he pointed out to me that this king of Nineveh is likely not the king of the Assyrian empire.

Because at this time, Nineveh was not the capital city of Assyria. It was actually Cala to the south. Nineveh did not become the capital of the Assyrian empire until 705 BC. But as he corrected me on that after my first sermon, I wanted to make sure that I corrected that mistake.

But still, this was probably more think of a governor of a city, but he had the title of a king. The people believed and it must have spread like wildfire. These are days before media and social media.

So no one could snap a picture of Jonah with hashtag God's judgment and expect it to get around. People must have heard and then started to talk to others. And we read at some point, it got to the king.

It says then word came to the king. So it wasn't that he was walking by while Jonah was preaching. He was simply told about this and was also convicted. So much so that he repented in sackcloth and ashes and sent out a proclamation to all of his citizens.

Again, going to R .C. Sproul's for help. Generally speaking, metanoia has to do with the changing of one's mind with respect to one's behavior. It contains the idea of ruing. To rue something means to regret a particular action.

It carries with it not only an intellectual assessment, but also an emotional and visceral response. The feeling most often associated with repentance in scripture is that of remorse, regret, and excuse me, a sense of sorrow for having acted in a particular way.

Thus repentance involves sorrow for a previous form of behavior. He goes on to say that in ancient cultures, fasting, sackcloth, and sitting in ashes were physical ways to show sorrow and regret over one's actions.

It involves humbling oneself before God. Job said, I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. Daniel repented and confessed the national sins of Israel.

Then I set my face towards the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplication with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession. Daniel 9. In Esther, when Mordecai learns of the plot of Haman to exterminate the Jews,.

We read,.

When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and cried out with a loud and bitter cry. And finally, Jesus said, then he rebuked, he began to rebuke the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.

Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. This is how a nation would humble themselves in biblical times.

Humbling ourselves is part of repentance. No prideful person has ever repented of anything.

If we don't believe.

We have done wrong, why would we repent? In Matthew 18, we have Jesus' instructions on dealing with a sinning brother. First, we go to our brother, and if he doesn't hear us, we bring witnesses. And if he doesn't hear, we tell it to the church.

And if he refuses even to hear the church, we treat them as an unbeliever. What is the cause of one refusing to hear all of these people? They are refusing to hear because they don't believe.

They are wrong.

And if we go through all of these layers and they still don't hear, it is because in addition to whatever they've done, they're full of pride. In 2 Chronicles 7, 14, God says, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways.

Humility and repentance.

Are closely linked.

Consider David's repentance in Psalm 51. David owns his sin.

Wash me thoroughly.

From my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. David sees he is a born sinner. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me. David sees he cannot cleanse himself and begs God to do it.

Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. And finally, David confesses.

The humility.

That God is looking for. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. These, oh God, you will not despise.

This is the humility.

That leads to true repentance and true repentance leads to works. The people turn from their evil ways. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily to God. Yes, let everyone turn from his evil ways and from the violence that is in his hands.

Repentance always leads to works. And let me put out my quick disclaimer. Repentance is not a work, but it does lead to works. I don't want anyone saying that salvation is in any way dependent.

On our works.

Here, the king's decree is a command for people to turn from their evil ways and from the violence in their hands. But those who do that are those who fear God and recognize they will face judgment.

If they don't.

That change of mind and repentance then leads us to live according to it. For a Christian, this is most clear in salvation.

Because we go through.

Such a huge change of mind. But this is true in anything that leads us to change course. If you don't worry about wearing a seatbelt, but then you get in a minor car accident and get badly injured, you'll likely change your mind about seatbelts and become a faithful wearer of them going forward.

Just as faith without works is dead, so repentance without works is dead. According to James, our faith leads us to do certain things. And so when we have faith, we will also have works. It is the same with true repentance.

When we have true changing of our minds about something, it will produce works in accordance with that. Let me ask you, have you ever asked God for forgiveness for something you knew you were going to do again?

Do you have repentance over that sin? It is a tough question, isn't it? I would ask you, what works did your repentance produce? Let's say, for example, you struggle with sinful anger and you repent and ask God for forgiveness for blowing up at your family or at your wife.

You may do that knowing that likely it will happen again. So how do you know you've repented? Let me ask you some questions. Did your repentance produce a greater hatred of that sin? Did it produce a desire to make a change?

And did you make the change? Did it produce a desire to expose it more.

Through accountability?

Did it produce a fervency in prayer against that sin? Did it produce a searching of God's word for wisdom on how to mortify it? These are all works of repentance in the life of a Christian. And then in verse 9, we have the acceptance of God's will.

The end of the king's decree was, who can tell if God will turn and relent and turn away from his fierce anger so that we may not perish? True repentance produces an acceptance of God's will. These pagan Ninevites don't know of this God that Jonah is proclaiming is a God who delights in mercy.

They don't have the hope that a Christian does in Christ that God will complete the work he has begun in us. Their reasoning is, well, it's worth a shot. After all, he did send his prophet to us. So perhaps if we change our ways,.

God will relent.

Matthew Henry says about this, Jonah had not told them they had not among them any other prophets to tell them so that they could not be so confident of finding mercy upon their repentance as we may be who have the promise and oath of God to depend upon.

And especially the merit and mediation of Christ to trust to for pardon upon repentance. Yet they had a general notion of the goodness of God's nature, his mercy to man and his being pleased with the repentance and conversion of sinners.

And from this, they raise some hopes that he would spare them. They dare not presume, but they will not despair. One fruit of repentance is a great acceptance of God's will in our lives. When we have that changing of our mind, we see God's ways are better.

His judgments are pure. And when we belong to him, we know that even his discipline is for our good. The Ninevites did not know what God would do, but they were willing to change their ways in the hope he might turn, which is exactly what he did.

Then God saw their works. It says they saw their works. He didn't say they saw his repentance. They saw the works that testify to that repentance. And they turned from their evil way. And God relented from the disaster that he had said he would bring upon them.