Ep. 19 – Preaching Influences w/ Ed Romine | Jonah’s Compliance is Legendary
In this episode of the Line Upon Line Podcast, Mark Williams is joined by Bro. Ed Romine for part two of an interview about his friendship with Bro. David Miller. Ed also shares how both Charles Spurgeon and David have influenced his own preaching and ministry. The episode concludes with Bro. David’s sermon, “Jonah’s Compliance in Legendary,” from Jonah 3:1-10. Enjoy!
Bro. David Miller’s sermon: 🎥 👉 “Jonah’s Compliance in Legendary,” from Jonah 3:1-10 https://youtu.be/qJVAZjGlb1E
Recommended Resources:
- The Booming Barritone Bell of England by Ed Romine- https://amzn.to/4eDnHL0
- Handling Conflict God’s Way – https://amzn.to/4uMYpz5
- Doctrines of Grace by David Miller – https://amzn.to/4dDKMwF
Line Upon Line: www.lineuponlineministries.com
Email: lineuponlineministries@gmail.com
Social Media: @lineuponlineministries
Mark W. Williams: X @markwwill FB @markwilliamslive
Ep. 19 – Preaching Influences w/ Ed Romine | Jonah’s Compliance is Legendary
FULL PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:
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Welcome to another episode of the Line Upon Line Ministries Podcast. My name is Mark Williams. Line Upon Line, we are committed to the expository ministry of the Word for the life of the local church. Coming up on this episode, we have the second part of our interview with Brother Ed Romine, along with another classic sermon by Brother David Miller from Jonah chapter three. Before we jump into the main content of the podcast today,
I want to encourage you to check out our website, www.lineuponline ministries.com for new sermons updated, new resources added to the store, things like that. also want to mention thank you once again for those who have supported the Doctrines of Grace book. It’s been overwhelming to see the response, and so we just want to say thank you again. And and once again, if you’ve had the opportunity to read it and you’ve would like to leave a review on Amazon, that goes a long way.
To spread the word. Also, as I mentioned last time on the podcast, my new booklet, Handling Conflict God’s Way, has also been released. And so you can go to Amazon and pick that up. Also would appreciate reviews on that booklet as well. You can find the links to both of these books in the description below or wherever you’re watching this podcast. One other resource that I want to recommend to you is.
Is Brother Ed Romine’s book. He wrote his dissertation on Charles Spurgeon, as I mentioned last podcast, and his open air preaching. but he turned that dissertation into a book called The Booming Baritone Bell of England. Wonderful title. On the pedagogy and practice of Charles Spurgeon’s open air preaching. I’ll have a link to that in the description as well. you
Would it be wonderful if you picked that up? Brother Ed is a is a wonderful brother in Christ, preacher, writer, and I know you’ll be encouraged by that if if that’s a topic that is interesting to you. Periodically throughout these podcasts I request from you help to find content from Brother David Miller through over the over the weeks, over the months.
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There’s been people that have reached out and said, hey, we have this video, this picture. Hey, did you know that Brother David wrote a chapter in this book that we had published and things like that. Those are all very helpful. We want to try to capture as much of that content and make it available, or at least point people to content through the online archive on our website. So if you have any more of that, please contact me, line upon line ministries.
At gmail dot com is the email address. Love to hear from you about anything you might have from Brother David.
And now let’s go to the second part of the interview. Once again, Brother Ed has his PhD from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is currently on staff as a pastor in First Baptist Church of Provo, Utah. Does a lot of open-air preaching on the part of the interview today, we’ll talk more about that, his work with Spurgeon, some of the influence of Brother David on his preaching. And so I know you will enjoy the rest of this interview with Brother Ed.
And I’m glad to hear glad to hear that the the Lord used Brother David in your life in such a such a a wonderful and encouraging way, especially in some of those more difficult times. to have somebody like that that can that can know exactly, you know, what you’re going through and and and let you know, man, what what you’re facing right now, this d this moment of of
getting depressed and getting down on yourself. You know, I’ve been there. That man, that that speaks volumes, I’m sure. I obviously I’m not in your your situation, so that means a whole lot more the more to you than than it it would necessarily to me, just ’cause of that connection that you had there. Right, right. And and I’ll tell you, Justin Peters at the risk of embarrassing him is a is another brother that I I feel very much the same about.
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I I love, I I cherish him, you know. If I’m having disability specific problems, he he’s yeah. Another brother in my life that I go to. But hey, I’m I’m struggling right now. e even if if it’s a something as trivial as you know getting anxiety because I’ve gotta go through T S A again. The y you know.
Yeah. Because I can imagine that’s that’s a much more difficult process for you. Yes, yes. And it seems unnecessarily so at the risk of complaining, but but I don’t want to go down that route necessarily. No, no, no, no. I got ya. I understand. Well it’s wonderful to have those kind of men in your life that you can that you can identify with and
And and are Calvinists that can help you point you to the the sovereign God who’s actually in control. that that’s the thing too. I’m glad you brought that up because
God is incapable of ever saying oops. he That’s right. He never makes mistakes. And that’s right. And even in passages where it seems like God changes his mind, like like in Jonah or Genesis,
Though that language i is for our benefit and doesn’t actually show a a change within the mind or eternal decree of God. And to know that God is in absolute complete control and nothing takes him by surprise, I I’ll never understand personally while while
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why there are those out there who despise the doctrines of God’s sovereignty, not only in salvation, but also in his eternal decree. Like the plan of God is perfect. w whether somebody drowned in in the worldwide flood or or whether they lived a life of
As God glorifying as David Miller, nobody will ever be able to say, God, you did wrong and your decree. And so so now I’m preaching at you, so I’ll shut up. No, I like it. I like it. This is good this is good. this is this is what our soul needs, needs to be reminded of daily. Yeah. you know, because we can we can very, very easily, very quickly
get into the mindset that woe was me or this this thing that’s happening today is is out of hand or you know, this, that and the other. But when we recognize that God is sovereign and He is working out his his plan i it it gives us a sense of of hope and peace, security, just in the midst of of like we were talking about, the all the effects of the fall. the
the stuff we have to go through. So no, that’s a good word, brother. I appreciate that. It’s a good reminder for us. well man, I appreciate you sharing some about about David. I if if you got a little time, I’d I’d love to talk to you a little bit more about you know preaching and maybe Spurgeon. yeah I know you you did your PhD you your your PhD is historical theology, is that right? I I think
Well, back when I was there everybody got a biblical studies PhD with certain emphases. Right. but y I So I I don’t tell people that, in all honesty, because then they think I can teach Aramaic and I can’t. Right. So Yeah, I I get it. I get it. I just tell people it’s an historical thing. But
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So you wrote you wrote on Spurgeon though, right? What w what was your what was your emphasis there? Was it on his preaching? Was it what was the Specifically his open air preaching? So I already mentioned it earlier in the podcast with bringing brother David out to do it. it’s something that yeah I got involved with back in twenty fourteen through the influence of now Pastor Taylor Cowan.
who is currently at the time of this podcast recording pastoring Horrican Baptist Church in Brant Lake in New York. a wonderful little congregation and just a wonderful pastor as well Taylor is and back when he was an eighteen year old young man, he he invited me to go out with him to do evangelism. You know what I told him?
No, I don’t wanna do that ’cause then you’d have to push me around everywhere. Then I I wouldn’t want you to do that. So it’s that attitude thinking like I’m gonna be a burden. And Taylor said, Don’t worry about that. I’ll push you around wherever. And so I said, Okay. I thought he’s not gonna do this after the first time. I I was
bigger, more rotund than the b Belly back then than I am now. So but you know what? He he kept doing it. and the first time I opened Air Preach was at a Dallas Cowboys game. And Really? Just right outside the front? Yep. And I had a drunk fan imbibed too much beer.
get in my face and yell and that was quite something for first ever. That was your first time. Yeah. And Wow. Yeah. But the games after that were much more docile. Didn’t have any drunk people get up in my face. So that was a that was quite the first experience I was back and would have been September, maybe October twenty thirteen. So so we’re talking about I’ve been
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doing this for a little while now and and at some point during that time i I’d gotten introduced through the life and ministry of Spurgeon through Stephen Lawson’s little book The Gospel Focus of Charles Haddon Spurgeon that book
got me in the screen. I I read that book in just a couple like three hours. I couldn’t put it down. I was fascinated by the man in his ministry. So after that little book I got to read more stuff. I managed to also acquire a copy of his lectures to my students. And then as I read through that, well
I came across in volume two of the lectures ’cause it’s four volumes and one big book. And in volume two. He has two lectures devoted to open air preaching. the first one is
open air preaching a sketch of his history of its history and what he does in that lecture to his students is he goes from the time of Noah all the way through to the present day nineteenth century for him showing how open air preaching has always been a part of the Bible story and open air preaching has always been a part of the history of the church.
I found that fascinating. And then his second lecture is called Open Air Preaching Remarks Their Own. And it sounds exactly like what it is. Exactly like what it sounds. And he’s just giving practical hints to his students on open air preaching. like such things as like don’t yell your lungs out. You don’t want people to think you’re crazy. Yeah.
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basically says that. make sure you preach with the wind, not against the wind. there’s a little spurt in there where he says he hates preaching under tens. Like really. And he tells you how he really feels. you know you know he’ll he’ll he’ll say such things as make make sure that that
when when you preach that you are actually showing love to the people. Don’t don’t be an angry preacher. And the Pelagians need to hear things like that. as well as fix their doctrine by God’s grace. A lot of angry open air preachers I don’t think they see in anymore currently. Yeah.
And so I found out asking around, people didn’t realize Spurgeon had did those elections and a lot of people were not aware. And I wasn’t and I even found out at the time Tom Nettles was not that familiar with them and so
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I realized that there were there was three sermons in the New Park Street pulpit. The first six and a half volumes of the big sixty-three volume set. There were three open air sermons that were given. So my dissertation is looking at the context of Spurgeon’s life being an evangelical and nineteenth century one. And then showing how he
He was put in a time and space in history that was primed for evangelism. And then showing through analyzing those two lectures and looking at the three open air sermons that open air preaching is the driving impetus for what made Spurgeon so good in the pulpit. So in sure, he never got out of open air preaching mode. He always
wanted to see people come to the cross. much like our dear brother David Miller. You know, he both of those men preached with eternity in mind and lost souls in mind and the edification of God’s people. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, that’s a little bit of on my dissertation. It’s
Actually in book form, if you want to link it in the show notes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. So I yeah. What what was the title of that? It’s called The Booming Baritone Bell of England. the I see you smiling. The pedagog the pedagogy and practice of Charles Hayden Spurgeon’s open air preaching. Yeah. So Okay. I knew I knew it was something
Something good like that. There was there was a title that I I I I saw it at one point and I was like, Man, that is that’s creative. Good job. Well that’s just one of those things you know, I couldn’t have th thought that up on my own. I had s some sort of help from on high. But yeah but you know, cause yeah. You need to think of of a title.
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I’m not good at the slings. You know, my titles for my sermon half the time is whatever the text is. first Corinthians one, one through five. You know, that’s my Yeah. But Yeah, I’ve been forced myself to get better at sermon titles, so but yeah. Yeah. that’s fascinating. I d I I didn’t realize that Spurgeon did that much open air preaching that he
again, like you said, did that he wrote those other volumes or that was that was so much a part of his ministry. so clearly that that influenced you and and not just so that you could have something to write a dissertation about, but that you you personally practice in ministry as well, the right the open air preaching and evangelism that that you do there. Do you do you do a lot of open air preaching there in Provo?
Usually you have opportunities for that. Usually one to two times a week. so Wow Right now in the summer months just with schedule, it’s it’s been at least once a week. But during certain times I can get in two times a week. But you know it’s funny ’cause I’m not the main preacher at our church. I preach about
once a month unless Pastor Brendan ends up being sick then I get a surprise sermon. Yeah, next one. Yeah. But be ready in season and out of season. Yeah, yeah, that’s right. That’s right. So so I generally about once a month and then I’ll go and, you know, preach at churches. I’m traveling not traveling much during the summer months just ’cause I’m gonna
be here and we have mission teams coming in and whatnot. But during during the fall I’ll be I’ll be doing quite quite a bit of traveling and I try to keep it yearly, no more than ten. But like David I do a lot of traveling around the country and preaching. but what’s funny is that
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Pastor Brennan told me it’s like technically if you count how much you open air preach, you know, you preach a lot more than I do. So so yeah. But you know, it’s just one of those things where where it’s like I can’t believe I get to do what I do. I get to you know, evangelize and proclaim the gospel in the open air. I I get to teach right now I’m teaching a class for for a university.
in Missouri, Hannibal LaGrange University. It’s a hybrid systematic theology hermeneutics class. I I’m lecturing right now I’m about halfway done with the class, every Tuesday night and then and then I lead a men’s Bible study on Saturday mornings and then I regularly
get to teach and preach and other churches and and at my home church and it’s just one of the things that I can’t believe I get to do this, you know. So Yeah. So Yeah, yeah. That’s awesome, man. I I feel the same way. Yeah. I can’t believe the Lord would call somebody like me to do something like this. Yeah. Well that’s good man.
Hey, cup I got a couple more questions I I want to make sure we we we cover before we we shut this thing down today. since we talked about David Miller, we talked about Charles Spurgeon, their influences on you, especially in the areas of preaching. what what is one or two things that you think that our generation of pastors or or the next generation of pastors
needs to recover, needs to learn that you’ve that you’ve gleaned from these two men. What is what is something that pastoral ministry that preaching needs that these two men helped you to to learn and to practice? Don’t be married to your manuscript. So so what what I mean I need that one. Wha w what I mean by that is you know it it’s not ETS. you’re you’re not reading the term pick
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paper. It shouldn’t sound like you’re reading a turnpaper for ETS. And if you if you’ve always been a manuscript preacher and you find that your head is down reading, may maybe slowly take it away. I hesitate to use this as an illustration. You can edit it if you so choose.
that’s the beauty of not being live on a podcast, right? That’s right. You know, it’s that’s right. It’s like if somebody’s a d addicted to the nicotine and they they wanna quit, well they can ease their way off through certain means. I’m not saying ma manuscripting is a one to one the nicotine addiction, but but you could perhaps ease your way off
of being totally glued to your manuscript. And there’s a certain school of thought where that seems to be be prevalent where like I appreciate the precision that that is wanted in preaching through manuscripting but at the same time
The danger of manuscripting is that you don’t you don’t let your passion for the text show through. And when I say passion, I’m not talking about screaming at the top of your lungs. Of course David David didn’t do that. He he he was very even killed in a lot of ways.
David would oftentimes show his passion in other ways like his choice of rhetoric. But you know what’s one of the best things he did? One of the best ways he communicated was through his face. Right. And if you’re always buried down in your manuscript, guess what you can’t do?
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Can’t ex express yourself. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So so you know, and I know a lot of preachers out there are gifted by God with better faces than what I got. So I know I know you can do it. So so just go for it, you know. Yeah. Good word. Yep. Good word. So all right. And then may may I add may I add one more? Sure. Yeah. I I would say
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Good preaching doesn’t mean you need an hour long sermon. One of the things that I I appreciate so much about David is a lot of his sermons were thirty five, forty minutes, maybe a few forty five or here and there. But you know, he was such a good communicator.
in the in like the natural sense of the term. You know, he didn’t have to, you know, do an hour and thirty minute sermon to be a good expositor. And if a sermon is long, you don’t want it to be long because but you’re struggling to communicate your points. y you w you want a longer sermon.
because you and your congregation are feasting on the word of God. But that’s something I see a more Calvinistic and Reform circles perhaps. Sure. is that people think longer is better. Not not necessarily well yeah, because that’s what that’s what the Puritans did, right? They would do two hour lectures and three hour lectures, right? So that makes it more spiritual. Well
You’re not them and they aren’t you. So Okay. Yeah. Good, good, good. No, good word. No, I appreciate that. and then the last question, I I tend to ask this to all of our all the people that come on as guests on the podcast. if there is one thing ’cause there there’s a lot of people that that have learned about David Miller after he passed away through this
You know, through all the stuff we’ve been doing with the website and Facebook and all that kind of stuff. And so there’s still people that that don’t know a whole lot about him. So if there’s just one thing that you would want people to know about David to remember about him, what would it be? I think I’ve you’ve already said it, but it’s worth reiterating. He he was an encourager.
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And and and
Being an encourager I think is is is one of the best gifts you could be given by the old student. And so even if you don’t have the gift and people aren’t saying that about you, you can seek to cultivate a life of being an encourager. And I think that David by having the gift of encouragement, modeled that for herself.
I I I I love I love and miss my brother. also he had a great sense of humor. Yeah, he did. You know, and that goes along with being an encourager. You know, you and I have laughed over this podcast. And if David were with us he’d he’d be laughing too. So Yeah, he would. Yeah, he would.
Well man, I I really appreciate you you taking the time and and just sitting down and talking with you. It’s good to just see your face. We’ve we’ve we’ve talked over over the last couple of years just on the phone now and again, but it’s good to good to see your face again. You know, seeing how healthy you’re looking, you know, keep that up, man. Thank you. I’m going the opposite direction. I’m I’ve gotta start working on that myself. But Yeah. Well, brother, I I I would encourage you ’cause
I can’t remember are you older or younger than me? How old are you? I I just turned forty one six days ago. Okay, so you’re older than me. So I would say a few years ago. All right. Here’s hoping. Yeah, that’s right. That’s right. You know no matter what you do, Generation Z is gonna think we’re both older than the dirt Moses walked on.
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yeah. Yeah. I’m Unk or or Boomer or whatever the the those kids say nowadays. to my own kids. My own kids call me call me old, so and that’s what it is. But
Up next is another classic sermon by Brother David Miller, this time from Jonah chapter three called Jonah’s Compliance is Legendary and Joy.
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Turn please to the Old Testament book of Jonah, chapter three.
Jonah chapter three. The purpose of the book of Jonah
is not to provide fodder for theological debate.
It is not to provide subject matter for scientific wrangling regarding the various sizes of whale bells.
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The purpose in the book of Jonah is to show us the heart of God.
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He has set his affection.
upon the Ninevites. And this book is simply a historical narrative telling us what God did to give expression of his heart.
It is easily divided into four sections. In chapter one we find that Jonah’s concept of God is limited.
In chapter two, we find that God’s condemnation of Jonah is lethal.
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In chapter three, we find that Jonah’s compliance to God is legendary.
And in chapter four we see that Jonah’s consternation toward God is loaths.
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Mythed that God, because he saved the Nineveh.
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We’re going to focus our attention primarily on chapter three.
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And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.
And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried and said, Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
For the word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne and laid his robe from him and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles saying.
Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them neither eat bread nor drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God. Yea, let them turn every one from the evil of his way.
And from the violence that is in their hands.
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Who knows whether God will turn and repent and turn from his fierce anger that we perish not?
And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not.
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Let’s review the first two chapters. In chapter one, verses one and two, we have Jehovah’s tremendous declaration of his mercy. Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it. What mercy!
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There had been 3,200 years of human civilization. And yet Jonah is the first missionary of record that God had ever sent beyond the borders of Palestine.
The warning was neither necessary nor deserved.
It was a tremendous declaration of the mercy of God. In the next verses we discover that Jonas
Theological deficiencies were manifested.
He failed to discern the omnipresence of God.
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Else he would not have gone down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshus, paid the fare thereof, gone down into it to go with them to Tarshus from the presence of the Lord.
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What you believe affects the way you behave.
Theology matters.
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He manifested a deficiency regarding the providence.
Providence hurled a great storm across the Mediterranean. Providence prepared a great fish, had the fish in the right place at the right time and in the right frame of mind to swallow up a disobedient prophet.
We see also in chapter one Jonah’s terrible defense before the mariners. We see also his tremendous declaration regarding his master, for he was three days and three nights in the bottom of the sea.
In chapter two, Jonah experienced what we’ve been talking about in this con.
He repented of his sin.
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Now we don’t want to make much of great spectacular experiences, but this was one, and Jonah repented in the middle of this experience.
But I want to remind you now.
That the main point in the book of Jonah is not the fact that he was swallowed by the whale. That is not it. In fact, if this book had said that Jonah swallowed the whale, that still wouldn’t be the main point.
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The main point is that God is going to grant repentance to the Ninevehites, and that’s great.
Other motives for the book are clearly seen. God is going to broaden the theological horizons of his prophet and help him to overcome his personal prejudices.
God is going to upbraid the Israelites in Christ’s day by reminding them that the Ninevites repented at the preaching of Jonah while they themselves remained obstinate and recalcitrant, though one greater than Jonah was among them.
God is going to provide this practical and prophetic illustration and example of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
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Three days and three nights, not part.
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Three days and three nights.
While these are worthy motives in and of themselves they are subservient to the main reason for this book.
The God of the Bible is a missionary type God.
He is an evangel.
Grace always takes the initiative.
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And we are about to explore the greatest one day, one man, evangelistic crusade ever recorded in human history.
From six hundred thousand up to perhaps a million people in Nineveh repent at the preaching of Jonah.
And yet in our day, you don’t have this crusade held up as a model for evangelism at church growth seminar.
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But let’s look into it for ourselves. I want to do three things in chapter three. One, I want to give a review of the preaching at Nineveh. And two, I want you to see the response of the people in Nineveh. And three, I want you to see the repenting.
of the potentate. Are you interested? Now, what about the preaching at Nineveh? I want to say something about the preacher himself, his historical circumstances. Jonah was from Gath Hephar, near Nazareth in Galilee.
The scribes in Christ’s day were in era when they said No prophet ariseth out of Galilee. They would have done well to have read Second Kings chapter fourteen verse twenty five. It helps to read the Bible.
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Jonah preached in the first half of the eighth century BC. He served during the administration of Jeroboam II.
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Tradition says he was the son of the widow of Zarapath. Do you remember her? Elijah raised her son from the dead, and tradition says that was Jonah. Now I’ll have to wait till I get home to heaven to let you know for sure.
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I want you to consider not only his historical circumstances, but his hallowed commission. Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid.
Mandate and the message that was his. The mandate. This is tantamount to God sending a Jewish evangelist to preach to Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany.
This is tantamount to God sending Martin Luther King Jr. to preach to the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama in 1960.
There weren’t going to be any seekers in Nineveh to whom Jonah could be friendly.
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Go to Nineveh and preach unto him.
Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. It was located in a fertile valley on the Tigris River.
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It had a wall around the city a hundred feet high, wide enough at the top for three chariots to ride side by side.
Towers two hundred feet high upon the wall.
Scientists have estimated that the wall encircling the city was as much as 60 miles long. 600,000, up to a million people there. And according to the last verse in chapter 4, there were 120,000 Armenians.
For they could not discern their right hand from their left hand.
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Now if you run on to some of the weaker brethren and they’ve heard that I said that, please tell them I was smiling and said that with tongue in cheek.
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At best they were theological liberals.
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Nineveh had been the natural nemesis of the Israelite people. Their city was gorgeous, but it was godless. It was splendid, but it was sinful. Their city was wealthy, but it was wicked. Their decor was attractive.
But their deeds were atrocious. They were known for their cruelty, especially to prisoners of war.
They would fillet the skin off prisoners while the prisoners were still alive, cast them out to the desert, and leave them stranded to die in excruciating pain in the sun. Small villages.
Would commit mass suicide rather than to fall into the hands of the marauding Assyrians.
They were wicked.
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Adolf Hitler’s human lampshades was nothing more than a modern-day version of what the Ninevehes had done 2,800 years before. And God said to Jonah, Go to Nineveh.
And preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
Now God didn’t say I want you to lead vesper services on a Caribbean cruise.
For a bunch of fat bad.
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God didn’t say I want you to go down to Nineveh and give a book review or get a group of the leaders together and view the latest movie from Hollywood and then gather a few principles from that to preach from.
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He didn’t say I want you to go to Nineveh and do a prayer walk.
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God said, go unto Nineveh and preach unto it the preaching. Preaching.
Not sharing.
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In fact, God didn’t say go to Nineveh and give your testimony.
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If John had lived in our day, he’d have been the hottest thing on the conference circuit.
He would not have been able to fulfill the demands for speaking engagements. He’d have made a video.
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Depicting and dramatizing his experience.
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Would have had a picture of him in the whale’s belly with seaweed wrapped about his neck.
And the smell of whale all over.
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He would have cast aside Bible and Baptist distinct.
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And would have yielded to the lure of the bright lights and the big bug.
And he’d have gone on the John Hage show.
Or the Paul and Jan Commodore.
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And would have become an instant success and a millionaire overnight.
But this wasn’t in God’s plan for Jonah. Go unto Nineveh and preach unto it the preaching that I bid.
You want know what the substance of the preaching was? Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Short but not sweet.
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Forty days and nine of us shall be overthrown. It is a great mercy from God when he sends a warrant.
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Could it be that in this room today?
God has given some of you a warning.
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its mercy and its grace. God would have been just and righteous to have wiped the Assyrians off the face of the map and cast them down to hell without a warning. But God sends Jonah to warn.
That’s the preaching of Jonah. Now I want you to consider the response of the people. Verse five says so the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth unilaterally, from the greatest of them to the least of them, and the king provided.
leadership in this area. He arose from his throne, laid his robes from him, covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes, as though to say, What Jonah has said we deserve. And I myself am culpable, perhaps more than others. And so I
Prostrate myself. I humble myself. And I send out this decree that man and beast humble themselves. Let us do what we can.
If we cannot come to God with repentance.
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Let us go to God for repentance.
Seems like I heard that earlier.
They did two things. One, they confessed their sin.
And two they confessed the sovereignty of God.
Let every one turn from the evil of his way and from the violence that’s in their hands. The king said it like this. Let them be covered in sackcloth and cry mightily unto God.
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He violated every principle of the modern church growth move.
He did not eliminate the negative. He just laid it out. Cry mightily to God.
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When I read this passage
Did you yearn in your heart for a revival like that in our own?
Does this not give us hope?
In the midst of our despair, is it not encouraging?
that a sovereign God can turn the hearts of depraved sinners.
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That leads me now to this last item, the repenting of the potentate. And God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not. Now, on the surface this presents a great theological difficulty.
But let me tell you up front that God does change his mind.
God’s essential nature is never changed. He is immutable. And furthermore, God does not repent in the same sense that you and I, or the Ninevites, repented. To say so would be suggesting that God Himself had been guilty of sin. God has no need to repent.
Of sin he is pure and holy.
But God does change his mind in this sense. When there is a change, when there is repentance, when there is faith, God changes his outward dealings with his subjects. But let me caution you by telling you that.
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God was immutable in his resolve to overthrow the Ninevites unless they repented. He was also immutable in his resolve to show mercy when they repent.
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I’ll tell you further that God Himself initiated the repentance and the mercy began before the repentance commenced.
And was not that the case with you?
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Long before you believed, you were justly condemned.
By an immutable God.
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You were condemned.
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And yet when God brought repentance in your heart
He delivered you from the power of darkness and translated you into the kingdom of his dear son.
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I was shown this kind of mercy. I grew up in a home situated in the middle of an equilateral triangle of Baptist churches.
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Every time I looked up, someone was coming by to pick me up to go to Sunday school or to go to a revival meeting or a vacation Bible school.
Our family was poor. My mom and dad divorced when I was five years old.
I’ve reflected on it this very day, how fortunate I was to have been born there, to have grown up there, where Mr. Ray Milner in Copeland Hill
And James Blackley.
always came to take me to church.
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And though I was depraved with the poison of ass under my lips,
And though God was immutable in his resolve to send me to hell unless I repented.
He was just as immutable to show me grace, clear me of guilt, and declare me to be innocent when he wrought repentance and faith in my heart. I’m glad God changed his mind toward me. Let’s bow and pray. Father, I thank you for your word.
Would you write it indelibly upon our hearts and before our eyes for Christ’s sake? Amen.
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Thank you so much for listening to this month’s podcast. I hope you will check out the information and the links down in the description or wherever you’re listening or watching this podcast, you can find the books that we recommended, the different links to sermons for Brother David and and more down there. Once again, if you have any questions or
Comments or information that you have from Brother David, love to hear from you. You can email me lineuponline ministries at gmail dot com. Also, if you are not yet following us on Facebook or Instagram or X, Twitter, love for you to connect with us over there. We have especially on our Facebook page, we have a lot of reels and different things that are that are put out. Hopefully they are helpful to you.
in your ministry and and in your walk with the Lord. So go and check those out and follow along, connect with us, comment, do all those things. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Line Upon Line Ministries podcast. God bless you as you continue to study and to minister God’s word.