God Forgives the Repentant, 10 August 2025
God Forgives the Repentant
Kirk Schneemann
College First Church of God
Jonah: God's Grace for All Nations
August 10, 2025
Jonah 3:1-10
Series Big Idea: Jonah is a remarkable story about life and death(s).
Big Idea: God demonstrates His love for sinners like Jonah, the people of Nineveh, and us.
Scripture Reading: Jonah 3:1-5
The most famous verse of the Bible says,
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Who does that exclude?
From the opening pages of the Bible, humans have had a remarkable habit of identifying differences, identifying enemies, and creating “us versus them” scenarios. We’ll see it in a few weeks at football stadiums across the country. We tragically see it on more deadly battlefields.
The Kingdom of God is the result of God so loving the world, and that includes…everyone. We can choose whether to accept or reject God’s love, but Jesus died for USAmericans and Russians, blacks and whites, gays and straights, legal and illegals, rich and poor, elephants and donkeys.
But what happens when “those people” are offered God’s love? Do they deserve it? Do we?
We’re in the third week of our series on Jonah and while the big fish grabs all the headlines, the real story is God’s love…for sailors, for Ninevites, and for Jonah. We like to think of ourselves as the good guys in every story, but the truth is we have more in common with Jonah than we’d like to admit.
Have you ever run from God? Have you ever procrastinated a spiritual assignment? Have you ever failed to share God’s good news with someone out of fear or embarrassment? Have you ever failed to love “those people?”
Jonah chapter 3 begins…
Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” (Jonah 3:1-2)
If you missed it, the first time Jonah ran away from God and Nineveh. God said, “Go” and Jonah said, “No.” We don’t know when or where God came to Jonah this second time. Hopefully it was after Jonah bathed! It’s amazing that God gives Jonah a second chance. That gives me hope when I fail. I love—and need—God’s amazing grace and mercy and forgiveness.
God called Nineveh a great city, and by that He did not mean good, but rather large. It was the capital of the Assyrian Empire in what we know as Mosul, Iraq today. Assyrians were not only enemies of Israel, but they were also known for brutality against their foes. They were not nice people, and Jonah wanted nothing to do with them.
But now he wanted nothing to do with living in the sea again, so, this time, he does the right thing.
Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. (Jonah 3:3a)
God said, “Go” and Jonah said, “O…k”
Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” (Jonah 3:3b-4)
This is not good news for the Ninevites. Then again, prophets rarely delivered good news. Their most common message was, “Repent! Turn! Stop what you’re doing and do the opposite!” Often their message was ignored, and people suffered the consequences. But in this case
The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. (Jonah 3:5)
The people responded to Jonah’s proclamation and repented. Amazing!
When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. (Jonah 3:3-6)
This is remarkable. It’s one thing for commoners to cry out to God, but quite another for the king to humble himself before the LORD. Oh that we would have leaders in our government today who would humble themselves and pray and turn from the wicked ways. It reminds me of God’s promise to His people in the book of 2 Chronicles:
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
This is our God. He does not hold grudges. He does not become bitter. He is slow to anger and abounding in love as noted at least eight times in the Bible. And that love is available to all. For God so loved…the world. That includes North Korea, Iran, Russia, and even us Wolverine fans! Back to the king…
This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:
“By the decree of the king and his nobles:
Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. (Jonah 3:7)
He’s calling for a season of fasting.
Have you ever fasted from food? Fasting is one of the classic spiritual disciples or practices or habits. I’m hardly an expert, but I engage in fasting. Like jogging on the treadmill, I don’t always like the experience but appreciate the results.
Fasting can draw us to God. It can recalibrate not only our digestive system but also our souls. Fasting reminds us of our dependency on God for daily bread, helps us identify with those unable to obtain food, humbles us before God, serves as obedience to Jesus, helps us overcome temptation, strengthens our prayers, expresses our love and worship to God, and helps us in decision-making, among other things. It’s also a sign of repentance, which is clearly the case here. These people don’t just pay lip service to God. They enter a season of mourning and repentance. The king continued,
But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. (Jonah 3:8)
Sackcloth is a rough material made from goat or camel’s hair. It’s like burlap and was worn as a sign of sorrow, repentance, humility, or mourning. It’s a visual expression of brokenness. I’m not aware of anything similar in our culture. It was often done with fasting. I’m fascinated by the king’s decree to cover the animals with sackcloth, too. Clearly he is serious about his remorse and repentance. Notice his four commands: fast, wear sackcloth, pray, and give up their evil ways.
Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” (Jonah 3:9)
As long as we have breath, it’s never too late to repent, to turn and run to God. This king understood this.
When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. (Jonah 3:10)
Mission accomplished! Missions accomplished!
Jonah proclaimed God’s message.
The king and the people repented.
God was able to spare Nineveh of destruction.
It’s amazing that God gives the Ninevites a second chance.
And everyone lived happily ever after! Well, not quite, as we’ll see next week.
So What?
To summarize this chapter, after God forgives Jonah for his disobedience, God forgives Israel’s enemies because they repent.
Who are you in the story? Are you Jonah, eager to proclaim God’s truth to a broken world, courageously sharing the reason for your hope? Are you a Ninevite, living in sin, yet eager to repent and receive forgiveness? Are you in a position to forgive like God, eager to see a broken relationship restored?
I know we can all relate to the Ninevites. We’ve all sinned…against God and others. We all need forgiveness. God demonstrates His love for sinners like Jonah, the people of Nineveh, and us.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
Although a different context, the prophet Ezekiel was told,
Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways!” (Ezekiel 33:11a)
This is the heart of God. When we turn from our sins, God is always ready to start again with us. God demonstrates His love for sinners like Jonah, the people of Nineveh, and us. Hallelujah!
Kirk Schneemann
College First Church of God
Jonah: God's Grace for All Nations
August 10, 2025
Jonah 3:1-10
Series Big Idea: Jonah is a remarkable story about life and death(s).
Big Idea: God demonstrates His love for sinners like Jonah, the people of Nineveh, and us.
Scripture Reading: Jonah 3:1-5
The most famous verse of the Bible says,
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Who does that exclude?
From the opening pages of the Bible, humans have had a remarkable habit of identifying differences, identifying enemies, and creating “us versus them” scenarios. We’ll see it in a few weeks at football stadiums across the country. We tragically see it on more deadly battlefields.
The Kingdom of God is the result of God so loving the world, and that includes…everyone. We can choose whether to accept or reject God’s love, but Jesus died for USAmericans and Russians, blacks and whites, gays and straights, legal and illegals, rich and poor, elephants and donkeys.
But what happens when “those people” are offered God’s love? Do they deserve it? Do we?
We’re in the third week of our series on Jonah and while the big fish grabs all the headlines, the real story is God’s love…for sailors, for Ninevites, and for Jonah. We like to think of ourselves as the good guys in every story, but the truth is we have more in common with Jonah than we’d like to admit.
Have you ever run from God? Have you ever procrastinated a spiritual assignment? Have you ever failed to share God’s good news with someone out of fear or embarrassment? Have you ever failed to love “those people?”
Jonah chapter 3 begins…
Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” (Jonah 3:1-2)
If you missed it, the first time Jonah ran away from God and Nineveh. God said, “Go” and Jonah said, “No.” We don’t know when or where God came to Jonah this second time. Hopefully it was after Jonah bathed! It’s amazing that God gives Jonah a second chance. That gives me hope when I fail. I love—and need—God’s amazing grace and mercy and forgiveness.
God called Nineveh a great city, and by that He did not mean good, but rather large. It was the capital of the Assyrian Empire in what we know as Mosul, Iraq today. Assyrians were not only enemies of Israel, but they were also known for brutality against their foes. They were not nice people, and Jonah wanted nothing to do with them.
But now he wanted nothing to do with living in the sea again, so, this time, he does the right thing.
Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. (Jonah 3:3a)
God said, “Go” and Jonah said, “O…k”
Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” (Jonah 3:3b-4)
This is not good news for the Ninevites. Then again, prophets rarely delivered good news. Their most common message was, “Repent! Turn! Stop what you’re doing and do the opposite!” Often their message was ignored, and people suffered the consequences. But in this case
The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. (Jonah 3:5)
The people responded to Jonah’s proclamation and repented. Amazing!
When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. (Jonah 3:3-6)
This is remarkable. It’s one thing for commoners to cry out to God, but quite another for the king to humble himself before the LORD. Oh that we would have leaders in our government today who would humble themselves and pray and turn from the wicked ways. It reminds me of God’s promise to His people in the book of 2 Chronicles:
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
This is our God. He does not hold grudges. He does not become bitter. He is slow to anger and abounding in love as noted at least eight times in the Bible. And that love is available to all. For God so loved…the world. That includes North Korea, Iran, Russia, and even us Wolverine fans! Back to the king…
This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:
“By the decree of the king and his nobles:
Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. (Jonah 3:7)
He’s calling for a season of fasting.
Have you ever fasted from food? Fasting is one of the classic spiritual disciples or practices or habits. I’m hardly an expert, but I engage in fasting. Like jogging on the treadmill, I don’t always like the experience but appreciate the results.
Fasting can draw us to God. It can recalibrate not only our digestive system but also our souls. Fasting reminds us of our dependency on God for daily bread, helps us identify with those unable to obtain food, humbles us before God, serves as obedience to Jesus, helps us overcome temptation, strengthens our prayers, expresses our love and worship to God, and helps us in decision-making, among other things. It’s also a sign of repentance, which is clearly the case here. These people don’t just pay lip service to God. They enter a season of mourning and repentance. The king continued,
But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. (Jonah 3:8)
Sackcloth is a rough material made from goat or camel’s hair. It’s like burlap and was worn as a sign of sorrow, repentance, humility, or mourning. It’s a visual expression of brokenness. I’m not aware of anything similar in our culture. It was often done with fasting. I’m fascinated by the king’s decree to cover the animals with sackcloth, too. Clearly he is serious about his remorse and repentance. Notice his four commands: fast, wear sackcloth, pray, and give up their evil ways.
Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” (Jonah 3:9)
As long as we have breath, it’s never too late to repent, to turn and run to God. This king understood this.
When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. (Jonah 3:10)
Mission accomplished! Missions accomplished!
Jonah proclaimed God’s message.
The king and the people repented.
God was able to spare Nineveh of destruction.
It’s amazing that God gives the Ninevites a second chance.
And everyone lived happily ever after! Well, not quite, as we’ll see next week.
So What?
To summarize this chapter, after God forgives Jonah for his disobedience, God forgives Israel’s enemies because they repent.
Who are you in the story? Are you Jonah, eager to proclaim God’s truth to a broken world, courageously sharing the reason for your hope? Are you a Ninevite, living in sin, yet eager to repent and receive forgiveness? Are you in a position to forgive like God, eager to see a broken relationship restored?
I know we can all relate to the Ninevites. We’ve all sinned…against God and others. We all need forgiveness. God demonstrates His love for sinners like Jonah, the people of Nineveh, and us.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
Although a different context, the prophet Ezekiel was told,
Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways!” (Ezekiel 33:11a)
This is the heart of God. When we turn from our sins, God is always ready to start again with us. God demonstrates His love for sinners like Jonah, the people of Nineveh, and us. Hallelujah!