As we all know, the Bible is very brief on its account,
considering all the centuries that it covers. It was not
designed to tell us everything and to give an exhaustive and
detailed record of God's working. It was designed to give us
basic truths, principles, and examples of their operation and
application in specific lives. Even with 4 accounts of the life
of Christ, the vast majority of their content deals with the
last week of His life, and the record is blank for many of His
early years. The whole of creation is summed up in 2
chapters, and the most famous Psalm in the world, which is
the 23rd, is only 6 verses long. A great, profound, and
powerful message can be communicated in few words. In
contrast, some of the most minor and mundane messages
can run into endless wordiness.
A comparison was made of the number of words used in
the great biblical passages, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address,
and a typical government publication. It was discovered
that the number of words used to announce a change in the
price of cabbage seed far exceeded all of the words of
Lincoln and the Scripture put together. Man is not known
for his brevity of speech, and this is especially true of
preachers. One morning a pastor entered his pulpit with his
finger all bandaged. One in the congregation leaned over to
a neighbor and asked, "What happened?" The reply was
that he heard the pastor was shaving and had his mind on
his sermon, and he cut his finger. The inquirer said, "I hope
next Sunday he keeps his mind on his finger and cuts his
sermon."
A man visiting a different church from his own was
surprised when the sermon was only 10 minutes long. The
pastor explained that his dog was very fond of paper and he
ate the remaining part of his message that he had written
out. The visitor met the pastor at the door and said, "I'd
appreciate it if you would let me know is your dog has pups.
I'd like to get one for my pastor."
Sometimes we think that length of a message makes it
more powerful, but this is not the case. When Franklin
Roosevelt was a young lawyer just getting started in New
York he was hired to handle a civil case. The opposing
lawyer was very superior as a speaker. He went on and on in
his oratory for several hours. Roosevelt noted that the jury
was not paying attention after awhile. He had a hunch that
he played out when it was his turn. He rose and said,
"Gentlemen you have heard the evidence. You have also
listened to my distinguished colleague, a brilliant orator. If
you believe him, and disbelieve the evidence you will have to
decide in his favor. That's all I have to say." The jury was
out for just 5 minutes, and brought in a verdict in favor of
Roosevelt's client. Brevity had won the day.
The great Spurgeon once went into a church where he
was invited to speak to check out the acoustics. He decided
to quote a Scripture from the platform and said in a loud
voice, "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of
the world." Unknown to him a workman in the church
heard this as the voice of God to him. He responded by
looking to Jesus and trusting him as his savior. Many years
later the man was able to share with Spurgeon that it was
his brief word that day that led him to trust in Jesus. God
has proven many times that he can make a big difference
with a small message.
The old Puritans used to preach sermons that lasted
three hours. Today most sermons are under an hour long,
and the majority probably a half an hour or less. We are
going to look now at what is probably the shortest sermon
ever preached in history. It was also one of the most
successful ever preached. No one could ever accuse Jonah of
being long winded or complicated on the basis of this
message. We want to examine this shortest sermon in terms
of its source, delivery, and effect. First-
I. ITS SOURCE.
The brevity of this sermon has its origin in God's will
and not Jonah's wisdom. We see in verse 1 that the word of
the Lord came to Jonah the second time. Here is a
marvelous example of God's grace and persistence. He is
going to get a message to Nineveh, and no amount of
disobedience is going to block that goal. Unfaithfulness can
hinder and postpone God's schedule, but it will not be
allowed to stop the fulfillment of His plan. So it is with the
church. It will fail time and time again, but God's standing
orders to every generation are still, "Go into all the world
and preach the Gospel." God will persist until that plan is
accomplished, for only then will the end come.
God's long suffering is amazing. He is the God of the
second chance. Some of the greatest men of God would have
gone down in shame and disgrace if God had not given them
a second chance. Jonah would have died a deserted, and he
would have been known forever as a traitor to God's cause.
God gave him a second chance just like He did Samson,
David, Peter, Mark and Paul. They were all, like the
Prodigal Son, given the second chance. Israel was given
even more than a second chance. She failed God over and
over again, but God continued to work through a faithful
remnant to bring His Son into the world. God took Jonah
right back to where he was in the first place before he
disobeyed. He was given a chance to start all over again just
as if nothing had happened. It is as if the book of Jonah
began with chapter 3. What an illustration of the truly
forgiving nature of God. By God's grace you can get to
where you ought to be, even if you have gone far astray.
What L. F. Tarkington wished in her poem is found only in
the grace of God. She wrote,
"I wish that there were some wonderful place
In the land of beginning again;
Where all our mistakes and all our heart aches
And all of our poor selfish grief
Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door
And never put on again."
Jonah's mistake was passed, and God even used it for
good. Now he is back in the land of beginning again. He
was restored, not only to life, but to his office as a prophet,
and he is sent again to that great city Nineveh where it is
estimated there were half a million people.
Verse 2 makes it clear that the shortness of Jonah's
message was God's idea, for he was to say only what God
commanded. The value and power of any message is
dependent upon its source. In order to have authority a
message must be backed up by an adequate power to carry
out what is prophesied. This is why God alone is the original
source of all great sermons. He alone can make them great,
for He alone can make them true. Jeremiah felt like a poor
speaker, but God said He would put His own words in his
mouth, and he would have great power. So it was with
Moses and all the prophets.
Even Jesus made it clear that the source of His message
was the Father. In John 12:49 He said, "For I have not
spoken on my own authority; the Father who has sent me
has Himself given me commandment what to say, and what
to speak, "The source of every authoritative message dealing
with eternal truths is God the Father, and so it was with this
shortest of sermons.
II. ITS DELIVERY.
Jonah had learned the value of obedience and the folly
of disobedience. He arose immediately and went directly to
Nineveh as he was told. It seemed like a big assignment for
one man. It was a huge city. It is thought by many that the
3 days journey refers to the length of time needed to walk
around the city, and if so it would make it about 60 miles
around.
Jonah headed right into the task and began to deliver
the message that God had given him. He was no longer as
sensitive, for it would take considerable courage, conviction
and confidence. It is hard to go to the point where nothing
but obedience to God counts, but there is tremendous power
when one reaches that point. His sermon was apparently
delivered on the move as he walked through the streets of
Nineveh. This explains the necessity for it being a very short
sermon. It had to be heard as he passed by, and so it had to
be right to the point. An extended message would be
meaningless, for he would be out of hearing range before the
message was completed. It had to be a quick 3 points.
When? 40 days.
Where? Nineveh.
What? Destruction.
People could disagree and call him a fanatic, but no one could miss the
point of the message. Simplicity is a must when it comes to
warnings. In the Hebrew this sermon is composed of only 5
words.
The nature of a message determines its length. Jesus
could not set forth the pattern of life for the kingdom of God
in 5 words, or even in 50. The Sermon On The Mount is
condensed, but it still occupies 3 chapters. It is a message of
instruction, and must by its very nature be longer than a
message of warning. Warning messages demand brevity.
The Gospel can be preached in minutes, but the whole
counsel of God takes years to proclaim. If you see a person
in danger of being hit by a car you shout, "Watch out!"
Eloquence and reasoning are totally irrelevant and
inappropriate. Imagine saying in such a situation, "In the
light of the inevitable encounter which you will, from all
appearance have with the approaching vehicle if you remain
in your present location, I propose that you avoid the
unnecessary suffering, which in all likelihood will follow the
aforementioned encounter, by transporting yourself to a
place of greater security."
Such a warning would probably make you guilty of
involuntary manslaughter since it is not likely that it would
save the victim even if your speech was finished before the
car hit. A warning must be sharp, pointed and brief, and
that is why Jonah's message of judgment was only 5 words
in length. There was no introduction, conclusion, or
illustrations. It was just the plain horrible facts. He would
have gotten an F in any class on sermon writing.
Jonah didn't even have a hint of good news to offer. He
did not say repent and be saved, for there was no Gospel in
this sermon at all. This is evident by the attitude of the king,
which we see in 3:19. If Jonah had given them any hope that
God might repent, they would have known, but there was
none. No way of escape was pointed out. It was just a
warning of judgment to come. It was the shortest sermon
ever preached, and probably also the most repeated, for the
news of it spread across the whole city. Jonah had done a
great job on the delivery.
III. ITS EFFECT.
The success of Jonah is hard to believe. Skeptical
scholars just flatly deny it. The facts are amazing. Jonah
was preaching a message he didn't want to, and so his heart
really was not in it. He really hoped it would be a flop even
though he obeyed the letter of God's command. We have
here a poor instrument to start with, and he is preaching a
message with no hope. Jonah was a Jew in a Gentile city.
The Assyrians were not noted for their sensitive conscience,
or their fear of tragedy. They were cruel and blood thirsty.
They were so hard-hearted they were called the Nazi's of
antiquity. With all of these factors against the success of his
mission, it is no wonder that Jonah figured nothing would
come of it all. He likely thought that they would mock and
laugh at him for sport, and then go on their merry wicked
way to destruction. But it didn't work out that way.
The people of Nineveh believed God and repented. It
was contrary to logic and commonsense, and nobody could
have guessed the response that came. God certainly must
have known of the unique state of these people's hearts.
They were ripe for repentance. Only God knows what
factors were operating to make these people ready to
respond as they did, but knowing that we see why he was so
persistent in getting the message to them. We need to pray
that God would lead us to people He knows are ready to
respond to His message.
Here were heathen people who believed God on the
basis of a single 5 word sermon. The question arises, were
these people saved? Were they not just spared from
destruction, but were they saved for eternity?
A comparison of other cases were the same Hebrew word for
believe is used would indicate that they were truly saved.
Gen. 15:6 speaks of Abraham, "And he believed the Lord,
and he reckoned it to Him as righteousness." It is the same
word used in many places to describe true faith. They
greatest proof of their salvation is not based on a word
study, however, but on the testimony of Jesus in Luke 11:32
where he says, "The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the
judgment with this generation and shall condemn it, for they
repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, a greater
than Jonah is here." If they will rise at judgment justified,
and then judge the generation of Christ's day because of
their unbelief, it is as strong evidence as you could ask for in
proof of the reality of their saving faith.
Later on Nineveh was destroyed in judgment, but that
was a totally different generation of people. We can
conclude then that this message of Jonah resulted in many
Gentiles being brought into the kingdom of God. A
sermon's strength is not its length, and that is abundantly
proven by Jonah who had unparalleled success by preaching
the shortest of sermons.
