A "U" Turn

- Ramp unto interstate has signs that

warn wrong way

- If you do not stop you find yourself in

a heap of trouble

- Only escape is to go back

Examples this month

- 3:00 am Arkansas I-30

- Sleepy man traveling wrong way

crashes into grove of trees

- 12:00 am Idaho I-84 17 yr. Girl

- 2 crashes - one swerved to miss and

rolled his vehicle

- She continued on and ended up

crashing in the construction area on the Interstate

- 11:45 pm Louisiana I-12 69 yr,.

Women

- Killed crashing into 18 wheeler going

wrong way

- They say that recognizing your

problem is the first step in solving it.

- Jeremiah 6:16 Thus says the LORD:

Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it..."

Ezekiel 18:30-32 KJV

30 Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. 31 Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.

Bible Definition On Repentance

Psalm 119:59KJV

I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.

Psalm 119:59The Living Bible

I thought about the wrong direction in which I was headed, and turned around and came running back to you.

Malachi 3:7 KJV

Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. ....

Repentance involves

— Returning to the Lord

— Forsaking sin

— Obedience to the Lord

— John preached it

Matthew 3:2KJV

And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

- Jesus preached it

Matthew 4:17KJV

From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Jim Elliff of Christian Communicators Worldwide

The believer in Christ is a life long repenter. He begins with repentance and ends with repentance

Jonah

- Instructed by the Lord

- Disobeyed the Lord

- Conviction from the Lord - Regret from within

Nineveh

- Capital of Assyria

- The queen city of the earth

- Mighty & brutal beyond imagination

- Limitless wealth from the ends of the earth

- Larger than Babylon

20 miles long — 12 miles wide

60 miles in compass

Walls 100 ft. high

3 chariots could drive abrest

Defended by 1500 towers 200’ high

- Jonah 4:11 Nineveh had 120,000

children under 3 or 4

- If 1/5 of PoP that would be over 600,000- 1 million

- Nineveh’s name is connected to Nina

- A river goddess whose image was a fish

Opportunity for Repentance

Nahum 1:3KJV

The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

Exodus 34:7NIV

Maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

- Jonah & Nahum both spoke to Nineveh 150 yr. apart

- Slow to anger

- Nineveh lost forever - Finally location found in 1845

THE “U” TURN WITH NINEVEH

❶ Warned - 3:4

- Joshua lost at Ai

- Joshua 7:12KJV

Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.

Ecclesiastes 9:18KJV

Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.

❷ Believed - 3:5a

- Jonah conquered their fish God

❸ Remorse

— (Sackcloth & ashes)- 3:5b-7

Esther 4:3KJV

And in every province, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

Joel 2:13KJV

And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

❹ Repented - 8a

❺ Converted - 8b

- Will you now listen to Jesus as he speaks to the women caught in adultary