Jonah 3 Radical Message, Radical Faith

This week our pastor Don Filsack brings us a message out of a series entitled Embracing the

Mission of God a study through the book of Jonah. I'm gonna give a just a brief introduction here to To the topic of the subject this morning.

We're going through the book of Jonah as has been mentioned a couple of times We have two more messages in the book of Jonah this morning and then next week and we're done.

It's a pretty short book But it packs a lot in just four short chapters a lot for us to consider and contemplate and think about and again

Well, we need to remember that when we come into this we come in and encounter the Old Testament We're we're encountering documents that are ancient that are old and have been around for a long time and yet they reveal something about our hearts

They show something about who we are as people and people have not changed dramatically over the thousands of years of history

It's it's pretty crazy when we look at some of these things. I We've been going through this have you been growing through the book of Jonah that been good three of you good

Okay, I appreciate that for those three of you. This is for you this morning. So Okay Jonah's been we go back kind of where we've been just catch us up to speed

Jonah's been through a storm He's been through the depths of the sea. He's been through digestion

Okay All because he responded poorly to God's initial call on his life to go to Nineveh to a people he didn't even want to go to a people that his heart didn't

Love and he wasn't really compassionate towards and he didn't even he didn't even care about them as a matter of fact

He he kind of hated them. They were his enemies and he was called to go to that people group

Can you put yourself in his shoes and think about how you'd be feeling if you were called to go to your enemies? and That was what

God wanted and not only that but to preach with hopes of their repentance that they might turn to God That's a that's a difficult thing that he's been called to do

But in our text this morning, we're gonna see him make good on the vows that we saw him make yesterday

I mean yesterday last week in the from the from the belly of that big fish So he was praying to God and he said I will complete my vows to you

I will I will turn back into your service and I will do what you've called me to do if You get me out of this fish, so the fish vomits him up and all that grossness and He is going to Nineveh we're gonna see that this week he will proclaim a message and yet it's going to be a message of destruction

But the people of Nineveh we're gonna see this morning are going to throw themselves on the mercy of God and God is going to Show ultimately how merciful he really is

Now all of us need to have our thoughts about God tweaked a bit. Would you admit that? You probably don't have

God completely figured out How do you raise your hand and say I maybe I maybe I got maybe

I've got a couple things about God wrong in my mind Okay, again, maybe seven of you on that one.

So we're getting we're getting more participation I appreciate that on the rest of you probably have them all figured out and I'd like to talk with you about that Some of us really a couple of errors that I think come into mind and an opposite extremes really for us is

Some of us think of God is the Big Daddy in the sky Right, you know what? I'm talking about He exists for our joy to make us as comfortable as possible

I find that a lot of the atheists that are out there speaking vehemently are opposing this God They're like well

God doesn't do good things for you. Look at all the evil that's in the world Look at all the bad things So there must not be a God because this is the

God that they oppose Do you get what I'm saying? They're this Big Daddy in the sky who is just gonna make everybody comfortable all the time and that's his job, right?

He's God so he's supposed to make us comfortable Others think of God is like the cosmic killjoy who desires to make human existence as miserable as possible

We're sinners and we're under his thumb and he's just gonna make it miserable as much as possible some of us try to ride the fence and think of God one way when things are going well for us and Then we think of God as a different way when things are going bad for us, right?

Do you know what I'm saying? So our God then becomes driven by our circumstances So then we see

God only in view of what's going on at the time and sometimes he's a good God and sometimes he's not A good

God just as we swing the pendulum he kind of goes back and forth and That is where the

Word of God is central That is where we must turn back here for a steadfast anchor for our souls to rest in who

God is How has he shown himself to us to? To embrace what

God has shown us of himself from the Word From here and to go as far as God's Word tells us of himself, but not to go further than that.

Does that make sense? So to embrace all of it and that's why we need to be students of the Word and that's what we're gonna see as we

Get here in the book of Jonah. You see Jonah exists the book of Jonah the the the writing of Jonah pen on paper

Exists to show us something about God He is

Genuinely truly a God of mercy. How merciful is your

God? towards sinners Maybe we need to be tweaked a little bit in our thinking about how merciful is our

God Toward those people and whoever every one of you in here has a those people

Right. So just just go ahead and fill in the blank with your issue Because we all have issues so who are those people to you

God is merciful towards them He sent his son to die for those

People does your

God lavish? I love the word lavish because it's an extravagant word It's a crazy word.

Does your God lavish forgiveness upon his people take that too far?

Maybe your God is a pushover then right? It's got a pushover. Well, we could go, you know Maybe if you feel that way

The word lavish the word grace. Those are intense words

But we will see in our text that God will lavish Unmerited favor on the people of Nineveh.

They don't earn it. They don't deserve it He gives it and he gives them grace. They don't deserve and he is patient with them

Is there anybody here who maybe maybe we'll get a little bit more participation on this question anybody here

Glad that God is patient with you Okay, all right, there we go,

I Know I am if he ceased to be patient with me right at this very moment I would justly be a pile of smoldering ashes up here and you'd have to have somebody else get up to speak

It is scandalous that a holy and righteous God would listen and take pleasure in the praises of us

We're sin -filled and we're broken people. So as we read our text and then we come to worship Let's sing out of gratitude out of gratitude that we serve a

God who is patient and merciful and gracious And we're going to see that in this text this morning that I want you to turn to right now

Jonah chapter 3 And that's page 659 in the

Bible that's in the seat back in front of you six five nine You can find that there and if you don't own a Bible We want you to take that Bible with you that was purchased with you in mind

And we've got a box to fill those gaps this next week. So go ahead and take one of those Just please don't sell it on eBay.

We don't want anybody running a racket out of the church selling our our Bibles. Okay? but uh

Follow along as I read the entirety of Jonah chapter 3 659

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time saying

Arise go to Nineveh that great city and call out against it the message that I tell you so Jonah arose and went to Nineveh Not Tarshish this time

Nineveh According to the word of the Lord now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city three days journey in breadth

Jonah began to go into the city going a day's journey and he called out yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown and the people of Nineveh believed

God They called for a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them the word reached the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne removed his robe covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes and He issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles

Let neither man nor beast herd nor flock taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water

But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and let them call out mightily to God Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands

Who knows God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger so that we may not perish

When God when God saw what they did how they turned from their evil way God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do and he did not do it

Let's pray This morning.

We're gonna see Jonah get a second chance you guys like second chances. I Love second chances and it's as if a rewind button has been hit in the book of Jonah when we come into chapter 3 it's like they hit rewind and everything went back in time and all of a sudden we're back where we started again and it's just Jonah and God and God is going to Basically state almost identical wording the call to Jonah Again, right at the beginning of our text and the word of the

Lord came to Jonah the second time saying though the text began Jonah chapter 1 verse 1 said now the word of the

Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying it's the same starting of it's like we've started over again a fresh start and verses 1 through 3 of chapter 3 have the same feel and even some of the same vocabulary in the same

Terminology and phrases as we see in the first at the beginning of chapter 3 here

God calls Jonah a second time is the point and I think it's worth noting that God doesn't renegotiate with Jonah It's this is not a renegotiation

This is not some middle ground type of compromise where Jonah has run The whole whale incident the ship the sailors all that stuff and now

God's coming back saying well, okay, I get your point Let's meet somewhere in the middle Don't see that.

Do you see God's gonna call him to do what he originally called him to do And there's not going to be a compromise in that Jonah hasn't talked to God into a different calling

The calling is the same but also God doesn't in this text remind

Jonah about the storm He doesn't point a finger at him and say remember the storm remember the storm now

I'm about to call you to do something. So remember all the bad things He went through remember the whale remember the ocean remember how big those waves were

Okay, now listen to what I have to say. He doesn't even no mention of those things and I think that's significant

I think that's important. I just can say okay, we're gonna move forward here from this point He doesn't even remind

Jonah of the vows now remember you promised me you were in that whale You were in that big fish in its stomach and and you promised

So now here we go God just calls him to go and speak to Nineveh a second time

Jonah's told that he's going to be given a message He's going to be told and in what's implied by the order of events here is that Jonah isn't told right this event right now

What the message is it's implied go to Nineveh. I'll give you the words to say You ever been in a situation like that where you don't quite know what you're gonna say and you're kind of going into a meeting or whatever and it's like gonna be one of those have any of you had that tough meeting before or you're kind of just Praying for the words as you're walking in because I didn't know what

I'm gonna say I think that's where Jonah's at in this you're gonna get the words Trust me on this, but we don't find out what the message actually was until we get down to verse 4 but in verse 3

Jonah arose and He went to and I think a narrator reading this in Hebrew Around the time that it was written would have just paused after every word with with a pregnant pause kind of just like What's Jonah gonna do next if you don't have the text written in front of you and we haven't already read it

I think there would be anticipation. Is he gonna bolt again? Is he going to run a second time?

What's gonna happen here? But instead the text tells us in verse 3 he arose and went to Nineveh And he didn't just arise and go to Nineveh He did it according to the

Word of the Lord the text tells us so that that Hebrew phrase According to the Word of the Lord it exists to show that he does so out of obedience

That's what's motivating him Jonah is back on track. He is following God and he's willing to serve him the end of verse 3

Explains that Nineveh was an exceedingly great city huge city words of God about that city and It we also know that it's not just a huge city, but but it's also an exceptionally wicked city

Jonah 1 chapter 2 told us that and It's implied also in verse 8 of our text that they lived a lifestyle of evil that was characterized by violence

Violence is the primary sin of this nation of this city. It's a violent place

Nineveh was a bad place full of violent people a huge place full of violent people and So much so that their evil was said to rise before God in a way that grabbed his attention

Now how many of you know that wherever God casts his gaze on humanity he finds sin So what do you have to do to get

God's special attention that he might send you a prophet to declare your sinfulness? Like you get what

I'm saying here, that's a question that's left unanswered in the text How evil do you have to get before he would send a prophet to you to say you're gonna be destroyed now

I don't know. I can't tell you how wicked that city was but I can tell you this Nineveh was was good at it

They were good at violence good at wickedness. They're perfecting it. They're doing a good job enough that they got they got

God's attention Now scholars get caught up on this whole three -day journey bit at the end of verse 3.

Do you see that there? It says so Jonah rose and went to Nineveh according to the Word of the Lord now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city

Three days journey in breath is the way that the ESV translates that It's a little bit tricky because Nineveh has been excavated and it's only about eight miles in circumference

Meaning that at its widest point it would be around two and a half miles wide two and a half in diameter if my math was correct

So scholars come up with all kinds of possible solutions So I figured as long as you can just kind of throw out whatever possible solutions that you want because people begin to speculate

Do you know that you ever read like your study notes or whatever and it just kind of turns into speculation people's thoughts opinions

I figured I'd just go ahead and give it a shot and speculate myself as to what this is so I think

Jonah was really out of shape and So it was going to take him three full days to get across Nineveh because it's two and a half miles

But he's a little bit lazy and he's out of shape and he's having a hard time So he's going the whole time. He just can't get that far.

I I'm not sure if that's the truth, but I made it up because other people other scholars Just got a chance to make something up to What I really think is happening here is that Jonah is the author, right?

So Jonah's writing this about his past experiences. So at some later date He's gonna sit down with a pen in hand and write about these experiences

He's the author and he hasn't just giving out random factoids about cities and their size and things like that Everything in the writing that he's putting down with a pen in hand

You know that parchment was expensive in those days not like he's gonna write down just something chintzy or trivial everything mattered to him and I think he's

What he has to say about Nineveh is really More about how long he's gonna have to be there

He's measuring Nineveh in time because he's a Jew Now, what do you know about Jews and foreigners?

Do they mix? Well, does he want to be in Nineveh? Does he want to spend time with these unclean of unclean people?

Absolutely not. So why would it be important for him to say how many days he's going to have to spend in Nineveh to reach them?

Because it's very very important in his mind because he is ready to be done with the job as soon as possible

So he's actually saying it's gonna take me three days to get this accomplished because he's not just he's not interested in walking across the center

Of the city is he what's his task? What's he been told he has to do? Go and proclaim a message to them.

So it's gonna take him three days He's saying it's gonna take me three days to get across this city Sharing with the people talking with them.

Does that make sense? Do you get that? It's a difference between just measuring how long would it take for me to walk from this side to that side?

versus the intention of the author actually saying I didn't want to be there but I had to be there and it was it was Gonna take me three days in this nasty city

So he measures Nineveh according to the time rather than the actual mileage So Jonah takes a deep breath, you know, and then enters the corrupt air of Nineveh on the first day

He spends that day proclaiming the message. God has now given him a Simple message only five words in Hebrew.

I think he might have delighted in the message that God gave He didn't necessarily know what it was going to be, but I think he kind of enjoyed it

Simple yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown Yippee, whoo.

All right. Here we go. This is more my speed God. I was hoping you were gonna let me judge someone and Now I get to do that Yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown

Notice how simple and straightforward that message is a lot of detailed theology in it No, not much really

I'm just basically him walking around telling people they're wicked and they're going to be destroyed There's apparently no language barrier and the message conveyed enough to the people of Nineveh that they were able to get it

Even in the opening words of his message We see the patience of God. So look at look at the phrase that he's given yet 40 days

So even at that beginning part, we see the patience of God. Does he need to give them a grace period?

Could he not at the word of Jonah say you're smoked you're done. I'm out of town. It's done

Right, wouldn't he be justified in saying that but he gives them 40 days Implied in that notion of giving them 40 days is that there's a potential for him to do something, right?

The potential for them to repent or to change their behavior or do something He could have given them a day or just a week, but he gives them 40 days.

I Guess here I was thinking about the biblical precedent maybe in this for the whole don't make me count to three routine with your children

Like I don't know if this is really biblical precedent for that or not, but any of you ever do that, you know Don't make me count to three. Sometimes we demand immediate obedience or something

Like I mean God's not even demanding immediate obedience with nobody's like 40 days. You're gonna be destroyed. Okay, there's gonna be punishment here

By the way, don't really take that to heart about your parenting you you do what you need to do with advising your children

It's interesting to note that the word translated overthrown is A Hebrew word that can be either positive or negative in its context

At face value. It's obvious that it's not a good thing The people who heard it in Nineveh knew that overthrow meant destroyed meant that they were going to be overturned plowed under It's not going to be good for them

So they heard it that way But in a very real sense at the end of 40 days, we will see that Nineveh is going to be overturned

Jonah's prophecy is going to come true just that that word overturned can literally mean changed radically transformed moved from one place to another and Is Nineveh going to be changed?

at the end of 40 days Very rat radically changed right? It's a different nuance of that same

Hebrew word that can be translated for good or for bad They understood it to be bad that they were in trouble with God And now comes the most amazing statement in the entire book of Jonah So many times we get hung up and thinking maybe the most amazing

Statement is that God appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah that we miss what has really been going on here in the entire text

We get caught up in Jonah's shenanigans. So we miss how central Nineveh is

To the text from chapter one. We're supposed to be wondering what's going to happen in Nineveh That's supposed to be in the back of our mind.

That was the nature of the first call that we saw here Will Jonah go a second time? Yes How will they respond the text tells us in amazing words the people of Nineveh believed?

God they believed him and Although some scholars refuse to make a big deal out of this

I agree with the many who actually do make a big deal out of the Hebrew words used for believe

God They're unique different kinds of words The phrase that's often translated believe in It's a word that bears trust

You know, you can believe something and then you can believe in something You know the difference like think about this

Somebody maybe you've had this conversation with your doctor You're gonna have a heart attack if you don't change your diet and begin to exercise, you know

Can you imagine getting that kind of information from your doctor? You could believe it Or you could believe in it.

There's gonna be two different responses Likely. Yeah, you can believe it up here and not let it change your life

You know, and then you just go about, you know, three Big Macs, please or whatever You know what

I'm saying Are you getting the difference between believing something and believing in it? This is the word that's used here is that Nineveh believed in God It's that phrase

Hebrew allows you to say both and they are believing in God They believe that he's real

They believe that he is worthy that they are worthy of his judgment So the people call for a fast the people call for fast

We're gonna see the king here of the city in a moment but the people call for a fast put on sackcloth, which is a cultural public way of mourning and humbling themselves and It was all of them from the greatest to the least all of them humble themselves before God Verse 6 the king who is not to be confused with the ruler over all of Assyria He is the ruler over this particular city

He catches word of this and his actions are spelled out in almost a poetic symmetry in the text

He starts on his throne. He stands up. He removes his royal robe He replaces that robe with itchy scratchy burlap.

He sits back down But when he sits back down, he does not sit back down on his throne He sits in a heap of ashes in utter abject humility

Can you imagine that kind of humility on the part of one of our politicians today?

Would that be shocking? Would that be stunning? We're we elect our officials and we'll be shocked and stunned to see that kind of humility in any one of them

And we need to remember in our text. We're observing not a senator Not a president.

We're observing a monarch a king Who has absolute don't question me off with your head kind of authority

He's used to people jumping before he even asks them to And how many of you know that so this is would you call this a successful mission?

You call this success on Jonas part. Yeah. Yes three thinks so and I mean about 60 of you aren't quite sure if it's successful.

I think it's successful I think that God's Word is going forward and people are being changed by it. That's I think that's successful That's really awesome to see them taking it in Owning it and doing something about it applying it

But how many of you know that Jonah success doesn't stem from his creativity or his ability to craft a great message

That's not where the success is coming from God is doing his thing and Jonah is barely even a willing tool.

I just called Jonah a tool Sorry Distract myself here and a whole nation is being radically

I Mean not a whole nation. I'm sorry a city is being radically transformed before his eyes

The people that he's been sent to are being changed the king proclaims a royal edict. It really has four basic commands in it

He says fast a fast for both people and animals And he says don't just fast not taste not taste anything and not just from food

But from water which how many of you would acknowledge that fasting from water would be a pretty serious thing Like I mean, that's health risk, right?

That's getting dangerous. This king is taking this very seriously He genuinely believes that his his his city is going to be destroyed if something radical doesn't transform

Doesn't change and so he says don't even drink water. The second thing that he says is there's a dress code

For both people and animals you have a kind of a struggle with dress code for the animals in this context

But what you need to understand is that in that in these agricultural societies Animals were so tight with the culture that that that's just the way that things went

So when they talk about, you know Put dressing the animals up in burlap and the people and everybody's repenting and all of that stuff.

They just include their animals in that They're told to pray and This is not the first time we've seen pagans crying out to God for mercy for deliverance in the book of Jonah Can you remember who else we saw crying out for deliverance in the book of Jonah?

the sailors sailors and we're seeing a mirror image of the sailors and all that they went through and Nineveh and what they are going through And the last thing

The king requests a fast from evil and violence Just fast from food dress yourself scratchy pray

You know what I'm saying and lastly fast from evil and violence You scratch your head on this one.

Were he a good king? Wouldn't he have already asked them to refrain from violence to begin with Right and yet here he has to make a special Well, we'll make a special rule just for this time go ahead and stop being evil and stop stop killing each other

Okay, just for just for a time here. We'll see how it goes The violence that they're being told to abstain from is that which is in their hands the phrase there implies a premeditated

Commonality to it. It's just they're just eager and ready. They're looking for opportunities to be violent towards one another. This is a pretty

Messed up jacked up society that we're looking at here I'm wondering if the culture of Nineveh was not like that of the

Alka Indians have any of you ever heard of the Alka Indians from Ecuador a group of missionaries went down there and this was a like a

Stone Age kind of tribe in the mountains of in the river basins of Ecuador Back in the 50s and a missionary team went in there and they discovered this culture

There's a movie that just came out. I'm trying to remember the name of it. Does anybody remember the name of that movie? End of the

Spear so there was an actual full motion You know two -hour movie based on this but um that culture actually the culture that they found among those

Stone Age that Stone Age tribe was literally a value of treachery and betrayal

Like they valued that like that was held in high esteem Like if you were gonna invite somebody over for dinner

Feed them really good and halfway through the milk meal kill them and that was valued that was like You really got him that time that was really that was amazing

But you roped him in and they thought you were a friend and boom Don't you think that you're kind of trying to like find another tribe? Some ways you got like maybe

I'm gonna go over the mountain see what's over there Like you're just gonna head out and go in one direction into I don't know

But I get a picture that maybe that's what this was like. I don't know what Nineveh was like and but it's it's violent

They value that then verse 9 the king says So that King the king of a city who is violent like that kind of violence says perhaps maybe

Who knows God may relent and not destroy us I Think it's important to note that he he knows that he is not forcing

God's hand by issuing this edict He's not forcing God's hand.

God doesn't have to be merciful because oh we did this we fasted We did all these things now God has to come through for us

So often we assume that because we've changed or we've done something nice for somebody that God now owes us something

It's not the case Even this pagan King knew that there was hope that God might relent

But this was a last last -ditch. Hope Is all up to God's mercy

The people of Nineveh make some dramatic changes in their life, do you agree you see what they did

They made some dramatic changes, but I want to want us to consider that these changes came after they believed in God They heard his message and something inside of them changed

You would not be following the story correctly if you walked out of here Thinking that fasting or following a dress code or cutting evil and violence out of your life makes you right with God We don't need to act different.

We need to be made different and That only comes from an inside -out kind of train transformation

Jesus referred to this concept as being born again a phrase that's really misunderstood in our culture

But I think one of the one of the best pictures of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ to be remade starting over that whole idea of a second chance at life and That is really an awesome thing

Jonah gets a second chance in our text the sailors earlier got a second chance They thought they were goners and they were saved and now we see

Nineveh get a second chance. This is a book about second chances And when

God saw how they turned that is they repented from their evil way He relented and did not destroy the city and the disaster was averted some of you might struggle with that and and I think um,

I Think I don't want to spend a lot of time on this and it's not even really in my notes But you might be confused like God changed his mind like can

God change his mind Didn't he say he was gonna destroy him and then he didn't and how dishonest is it? Well, I mean, there's a simple answer and I don't think it's a cop -out answer

I just really think it's the real answer and so I'm giving it to you and you might go all it's a cop -out and You can talk with me about it later But I'm gonna stick by this is it

God knew all of these events unfolding and he never intended to destroy the city in the First place he declared this to them that they might change and he could use that as a tool to transform this place

But he knew the outcome. Does that make sense? Can you can you get your mind around that? So he knew where everything was going to go and I think the same thing applies to our prayers sometimes and things like that Does God know where history is going?

Yes. Does he use us as a part of that? Yes, and so the whole process is in God's hands

So it's not like he was like, oh, I really wanted to smoke him around day 40 but you know, I'm not going to now because they did this and I changed my mind

You get what you get the picture of what I'm saying He knew they would repent and that was all part of the process that he used in this

If you're not satisfied with that answer, we can talk more about it later I think that's the genuine way that it actually goes is that he uses us as tools and as We we get the benefit the blessing of being included in part of the process that Nineveh actually gets to repent in this

It's kind of cool thing There's a fundamental question that needs to be asked from the text

Is your God eager? Is your God and I say your God not that because each one of us has our own

God I hope we're all here gathered together serving the same God the God of Scripture that has revealed himself in Jesus Christ in the pages of this text

But I say your God in your mind What do you think of him and I and then in that notion?

I think we everybody is a little bit different, right our experiences with him and our understanding of him Is it varying degrees and things like that?

Is your God eager or? Reluctant to show mercy to the world.

I Think if you do you might answer that differently or eat more easily Because we all long for the mercy of God Another way to state this question is how compassionate is

God towards a wicked world? What do you think?

I think your answer to this question will define a lot about how you live your life as a follower of Jesus Christ God is extreme in his mercy

He loves us so much that He lavished His grace on us by sending His Son to take the punishment that we all deserve.

But I think in the course of life we can slide into questioning just how gracious God really is. He really does hate sin, doesn't

He? Does God hate sin? So we begin to toy with thoughts that if He hates sin, then maybe

He's not so friendly towards sinners. And then that can slide into maybe

He hates sinners. And like Jonah, we can begin to consider us, us, you know what

I mean, us, the forgiven. And then all of them, you know what

I mean by them, we talked about that earlier, you've got a them. All of those sinners.

We could even get to the point where we convey the notion that Jesus loves me, but I'm not so sure

He loves you. Maybe if you were to take some time to become more like me, dress like me, act like me, then maybe

God could love you too. Do you see how we could get there? Do you see what a slippery slope this can be about thinking about God's mercy and grace and hoarding it for ourselves and not recognizing how lavish

God is? Here's one that we should all participate in.

Raise your hand if you're a sinner. Okay, alright, most of us. Maybe there were only three that didn't raise your hand on that one.

Wow, I'm pleased to be in your presence. We are all sinners.

We all stand before God only in any righteous standing because of a gift from Him.

Right? So how dare we stand in any lofty position and look at others and be like, us and them.

You see what I'm saying? We are dependent upon God's grace as they need to be as well.

Nineveh didn't deserve grace, right? Did they deserve it? No. Jonah knew that all too well.

God knew it very well. But he relented of his anger as they humbled themselves, believed in Him, and acted on that belief.

God is gracious and merciful. Rejoice that no one, let me repeat, no one is outside of the reach of our merciful

God. No one. I also rejoice in the amazing grace

He lavished on us at the cross. We have a time of communion every week. At Recast, I recognize that it could easily become routine for us.

Kind of like, well, this is the way we end our service as we take communion. I hope that it's not that way for you in particular this morning, that it's so much more than that.

We come to communion as a chance to remember. Remember that we were slated for destruction.

Our days were numbered. Oh no, maybe not just 40 days and then destruction. Maybe 80 years and then destruction.

Or 60 years or 40 years or however much God has allotted. Do you know that He knows? And we all have a date and a time that we're going.

So many days and then our destruction. And He came in and entered that situation.

We were on the way to being overthrown. But God paid the price for our sins.

Jesus stood in the gap and took the punishment we deserved. He was overthrown on our behalf.

If you believe that, if you accept that He rose again and you've asked Him to save you, then

I encourage you to come and remember the awesome price He paid to save us.

To set us free from the destruction we deserved. He has overthrown us with His grace and mercy.

If you've not yet decided to believe God, I'd encourage you to repent and turn from your futile way of life.

In Matthew 12, verse 41, Jesus holds up Nineveh as a model of what God -honoring repentance looks like.

Jesus talks about Nineveh. He talks about this city that we're talking about here. About this situation and this scenario.

And Jesus Himself, our Lord and Savior, said these words, The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation.

He's talking about His generation, the people that were alive during His time. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it.

For they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

Jonah was able to lead Nineveh to repentance. But Jesus is saying,

I'm so much better than Jonah. And He is here. He is present.

Consider the example of the people of Nineveh who believed God, turned from their sins, and averted the judgment that we all deserve.

Something greater than Jonah is here. Jesus Christ, crucified for the sins of the world.

The tables are going to be opened during the song as Dave comes and plays. For anyone who is following Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, if you desire to repent and avert the destruction that is ahead,

I would love to talk to you at the end of the service. I encourage you to sit back in your seat and take in the song and contemplate and consider.

Let's pray. Father, I thank

You for Your immense mercy. You are a God of grace who cares for us and has lavished grace upon us in Your Son, Jesus Christ.

That we who were to be overthrown, we who had a numbering to our days like Nineveh, that You have been gracious towards us.

And that that extending of grace goes to all. Father, I ask that You would move in our hearts to share that mercy and grace with others.

We can't absolve people from their sins. And so I ask that You would help us to not be weak in our declaration of the glory of Jesus Christ, as if we can just brush aside the sin that we see in our neighbors and our co -workers and things like that.

But we can turn them to Christ, point to You and say, there is the solution, there is the answer.

Father, I ask that if there's any here who have not put their trust in You, that You would work in their hearts to recognize the awesome love, grace and mercy

You have for them. And then Father, for those of us who have acknowledged that and recognized that, I ask that You protect us from arrogance and pride and a looking down at others.

But Father, as we're all in a sinking boat together, that we would work to extend a hand to others around us and say, there is an answer, there is a solution.

I pray that You would be with us as we remember the death of Your Son, Jesus Christ, on our behalf. We remember the blood that was shed for us and the juice.

We remember His body that was crushed for us through the bread. And allow this to be a time of remembrance and gratitude for what