Sackcloth And Ashes

Terry Siverd
03/13/16 - Sun AM

Series: Man Overboard: Jonah In Jeopardy

SACKCLOTH AND ASHES

Pt#8 / Man Overboard: Jonah In Jeopardy

Sermon Outline By Terry Siverd

Cortland Church of Christ / March 13, 2016

Let us sing to our new sisters in Christ, Shirley Salerno & Lindsay Green, and to Tony & Amy Rossi & sons.

Present a gift of flowers to Helen Rossi (today is her 99^th birthday) and sing to her.

Helen is the “salt of the earth”.  She is one of the finest Christian ladies God has ever re-created.

If all us had within us the love of the Lord, as she does, our assemblies would be overflowing every Sunday.

I hope that you will join with us again this evening for a closer look at Paul’s important allegory in Gal.4:21ff.

This text is one of the most helpful passages at helping us to get a better grasp of the subject of eschatology.

It provides a very important temporal framework for the arrival of the new Jerusalem.

Bring your Bible and notepad and plan to study with us tonight at 6:30.

Last Sunday, in our Jonah series, we read from Jonah 3:5-9, of a widespread conversion taking place in Nineveh.

As we saw last week, this was not just the product of Jonah’s preaching but also of God’s “field work”.

During the decade before Jonah’s arrival God had been working on softening the hearts and minds of the Ninevites.

Two plagues, a solar eclipse and a major earthquake help get their attention.

I want to read a brief chapter from Anthony Barbera’s book, Jonah In The Time Of The Kings, pgs.257-265.

Coincidentally, I think, this is chapter FORTY in the book.

At Ridgeview Elementary School, I had a fifth grade teacher, who read to us every day, for a half-hour after lunch.

I won’t tell you her name because I use it as an answer for some security questions on line.

“Who was your favorite teacher in school?”

She, along with my dear mother, influenced my love for books and reading.

Sit back and listen as I read and then we will conclude with some important words of exhortation.

If a conversion or a revival is to take place in our own lives, what must happen?

(1) We must be willing to HEAR the Word of God.

The apostle Paul reminds us that, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Rom.10:17).

In Lk.11:32 Jesus noted that the Ninevites repented at the preaching of Jonah.

The plagues, the eclipse and the earthquake got their attention, but it was Jonah’s preaching that gave direction.

(2) We must be willing to BELIEVE.

Jonah’s words would not have spared the Ninevites from God’s judgment had they not been acted upon.

Had the common people of Nineveh went about their daily business just talking about the message delivered in their streets by that bizarre looking bald and bleached prophet from Israel, it would not have brought them salvation.

Had the King and Queen of Nineveh only pondered his words of warning, Nineveh would still have been destroyed.  

James wrote to Jews who were deeply impacted by the teachings of Jesus, but he urged them to

prove yourselves DOERS of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves (Js.1:22).

James was very likely reflecting on some of the words of Jesus from the sermon on the mount (Mt.7:24),

Everyone who hears these words of mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock.

Jonah 3:5 states rather emphatically, the people of Nineveh believed in God.

(3) True hearing and believing always results in REPENTANCE.

Let’s read the rest of Jonah 3:5, the people of Nineveh believed in God;

And they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.

Likewise for the King (and Queen).  Jonah 3:6f, when the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose

from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the ashes.

And furthermore, he issued a decree (Jonah 3:7-8) that all (greatest to the least) were to engage in repentance.

There was to be no eating or drinking.  All must be covered with sackcloth (even the animals).

A sackcloth was a rough cloth of camel’s hair, goat hair, hemp, cotton or flax.  Think of a burlap or gunny sack.

It seems to have been a universal sign of mourning and penitence.  It spoke of a humbleness of mind.

In addition, they were to pray - - all were to earnestly call upon God (Jonah 3:8b).

Even here, however, there is great specificity - - it wasn’t a generic prayer

(God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food).

Evidently the King and his nobles got the message.  This leads us to conclude that Jonah’s message

included more than just those eight words - - yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown (Jonah 3:4).

The king’s proclamation delineated that the people were to

call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands.

There is little doubt that Jonah not only told them WHAT God was going to do, but WHY He was angry with them.

Repentance and prayer means nothing to God unless it is accompanied by a change of heart and behavior.

Genuine hearing and belief is not just mental assent.  It work’s a radical change in the way we live.

Let me close with one final word of exhortation.  This last point has eight sub-points, but I’ll be brief.