God sent the Prophet Jonah to warn the wicked city of Nineveh about God's

coming wrath. Jonah, however, blatantly defied God's call because he didn't

think the Ninevites deserved to be warned. Today on Truth for Life weekend we'll

see how God's reluctance was even greater than Jonah's, but his motivation for

concern was completely different. Alistair Begg is teaching from the opening

verses in the Old Testament book of Jonah.

Nineveh was a fairly attractive place. It was in northern Mesopotamia. It was on

the east bank of the Tigris River. It had developed to a substantial city and

indeed if you take a contemporary map and you find the city of Mosul, MOSUL, then

it was opposite that that this city of Nineveh had been built. So that is the

place that's involved the great city of Nineveh. That's the place here's the

proclamation. What are you supposed to say? Well I want you to go to the great city

of Nineveh, he says, and preach against it. The reason being that its wickedness

has come up before me. God is enraged about the circumstances in Nineveh. So he

goes to his man and he says, Jonah, you're my man for the moment. This is the

place and here's the proclamation. Go in there and denounce it for its

wickedness. Now the interesting thing is this that when you read the denunciations

of God, you discover that it is always in the heart of God. Too long that is a

result of his declaration of judgment and condemnation, it may stir within those

who hear it a heart of repentance and of faith so that what he says he will do

in judgment, he will end up not doing on account of his mercy. So he says, I want

you to go to Nineveh and I want you to denounce it. Both God and his servant know

...