Arise, three commands here, can you find them? Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, call out against it, arise, go preach, for their evil has come up before me, it's gotten so bad now up in Nineveh, I've got to step in, it's like, God, as I've finally had enough, there's an urgency, there's an authority, and now it's time to deal with it, Jonah, go to Nineveh, if you traveled 15 miles a day, it'd take you about a month, and if this is Israel right here, you'd have to go up there to Iraq, cross the Euphrates, up towards the Tigris, and there's a city there called Nineveh, go that way, it'll take you about a month, and I want you to go up, and I want you to preach to that great city, these people there are wicked, they're superstitious, they worship false gods, they are prideful, you can read Isaiah 10, we'll do it another day, they are so arrogant, so full of idolatry, it's time to call them to repent, so here's what I want you to do, I want you to go up there and tell them, God loves you, and has a wonderful plan for your life, it's a message of love, now here, it's interesting, what's the message, it's of repentance, do you see where the message is, look at chapter 3, verse 1, then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, call it against it, the message I tell you, it's just almost exactly the same as our verse, so Jonah arose, went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord, Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, and he called out in verse 4, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown, that's the message, you've got 40 days before this house of card crumbles spiritually, 40 days, that's your message, 40 days or you'll perish, and you'll perish, I've got a question, very practical question, when you preach the gospel to people, when you have a desire for them to have their sins forgiven and be in a right relationship with their creator and judge, and you want them to have Christ as savior, is it uncouth, is it boorish, is it wrong to talk about judgment, is it wrong to talk about hell, is it wrong to talk about repentance, should we talk about love, I'm not saying we shouldn't, God shows his love in a conspicuous manner, Romans 5, and for God so loved the world, we're gonna look at that verse in a second, but is it ever okay to preach about sin and judgment and consider your soul, would you ever say to anyone, have you ever said to anyone, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God, or is that just kind of the way we don't want to evangelize, did you know that the first lie in all the Bible, the first lie in all history, was a lie about judgment, you're not going to die, you will surely not die, you're not going to be judged, friends, when we preach the gospel, there should be everything in us that wants to tell us about the good news of God's reconciliation, but friends, you've got to talk about the bad news, don't you, why do you need a savior, if there's no bad news, divine judgment, give them the message of divine judgment, now I did some research about the four spiritual laws, because I often refer to them, and I'll say this at the very beginning, there are a lot of Bible verses that go along with those four spiritual laws, and guess what, aren't you glad God blesses his word, people get saved through the scriptures, and God has used these four spiritual laws, because there's a lot of Bible in them, and so Bill Bright, Campus Crusade, said, you know, there are laws in the universe, gravity, and there are spiritual laws as well, let's go for some of these spiritual laws, and these are the four spiritual laws, God loves you, and offers a wonderful plan for your life, two, man is sinful and separated from God, three, Jesus Christ is God's only provision for man's sin, four, you must individually receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, but the most fascinating thing about all this, is did you know, when Bill Bright first wrote the four spiritual laws, he put number two as number one, that is, he put man's sinfulness in a separation from God, as number one, Bill Bright's book says, so in account, originally our first law emphasized man's sin, but the Lord impressed me to emphasize God's love, this change was made just before we went to press, I had done my final editing, and I left my wife Vanette, and the girls, my daughters, to finish the typing, as I had been traveling a great deal, it was quite late, I went upstairs to bed, in fact, I was just at the point of going to sleep, when suddenly there came to me, as clear as a bell to my conscience, that in fact, there was something wrong about starting the four spiritual laws on a negative note of man's sinfulness, I felt that few people would say no to Christ, if they truly understood how much he loves them, and how great is in his concern for them, Bill said, so I got out of bed, went to the head of the stairs, and called down to Vanette, and the girls, to revise the presentation, so the first law would be, God loves you, instead of, you're a sinner, thus the four spiritual laws started on a positive note, sometime later though, one of his daughters said to him, quote, I was so distressed over your change in the presentation, that I wept last night, I was afraid that you were beginning to dilute the gospel, and that you were no longer faithful to the Lord, because you placed such strong emphasis on the love of God, rather than on man's sin, and she went on to say, in retrospect, I don't think I was right, but friends, what's my point, I hear a lot of bad press from the world, and some evangelical churches, and liberal churches, no hellfire, no brimstone, keep it positive, don't preach like that, but I have really yet to come across, outside of some Westboro crazy Baptist people, where are the hellfire preachers today, where are the judgment preachers today, I think we've listened to that cacophony for so long, down with judgment, just affirm the love of God, friends, we're going to look at it in just a second, I want to affirm the love of God, matter of fact, that's one of the stories of Jonah, that God does love Ninevites, that God is patient, that God is gracious, notice that, do you see it in verse 2 of chapter 4, he prayed to the Lord and said, Jonah 4 -2, and he's displeased exceedingly, Lord, I said this, I told you this when I was in my own country, that's why I made haste to flee to Tarshish, for I knew God, I knew that you're a gracious God, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster, God, you send me over here to preach, and I knew you were going to save them, how could you, because you're so gracious and merciful, friends, I'm not saying, don't ever talk about grace, and don't ever talk about love, because you've got to talk about them, but is there a way you can preach the gospel without talking about sin, and death, and hell, and consider your soul, does God save through a negative message, what's the answer, I hope you say, yes, if that's part of the message, because Nineveh repented, Nineveh repented, would you ever say this, if you had an evangelistic crusade, and everybody drove a long way to get to the place, and you said to the people, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come, would you ever say that, they all went out to John the Baptist, that was the message, how does James talk to unbelievers, cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double -minded, be wretched, and mourn, and weep, let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom, how does James talk to rich people, who aren't saved, and they're trusting in their riches, come now, you rich, weep, and howl for the menace, miseries that are coming upon you, your riches have rotted, and your garments are moth -eaten, you've lived on the earth in luxury, and self -indulgence, you have fattened your hearts, in the day of slaughter, what I want, as we see the book of Jonah, stemming from a compassionate, gracious God, who loves sinners, from the same God, who sends his son, to seek, and save those, that are lost, the message from the loving God, must include, if in fact, it doesn't start off with, the bad news, of sin, because otherwise, you don't know, you need a savior, may it never be, when we evangelize BBC, how'd you like to have your marriage fixed, let me tell you about Jesus, how'd you like to have make more money, let me tell you about Jesus, how'd you like to have family relationships, that are better, let me tell you about Jesus, friends, what do you do, when you meet somebody, who's an unbeliever, and they have a good marriage, and they have good health, and they have good relationships, and their kids are nice, and they are involved in social activities, and civil activities, and they're not crooks, crooks, according to law, what do you tell them, for Jonah, what did he have to tell Nineveh, chapter 1, verse 2, go preach to them, God saves through preaching, did you know Jonah, is called the John 3 16 of the Old Testament, why, why would Jonah be called the John 3 16 of the Testament, so far, all this kind of judgment, and sin, and hell stuffs, kind of made me not think about it like that, so much, well, let's turn our Bibles to John chapter 3, for a second, find out, and the answer is going to be, that God loves to save people, and he loves to save people, who aren't Israelites, God loves Gentiles, anybody here a Gentile, anybody here have a background, somebody raise their hand, yeah, anybody here ungodly, sinful, vile, not part of the, of the, of the people of God, and the answer is, yes, and so what Jonah does, is he goes, I know I'm going to go preach this message to them, God saves through preaching, but they're a bunch of pagan Gentiles, by the way, if I go, when God uses Nineveh, and the Assyrians to chasten Israel, I'd rather have them be not strong, through repentance, I'd rather have them be weak, through punishment, if I go there, I know God is just like you, Lord, to save these kind of people, and I don't want them saved, I, I don't like that, they're, they're not like me, they're not like us, and they're, they're these other people, and look at what John 3 .16 says, it is often taken, John 3 .16, as some kind of verse for God loving each and every person, it's often used for Earth Day people, God loving the world, Earth Day, not, you know, Santa Cruz crunchy, nutty people, Santa Cruz slugs, by the way, if you ever name your university, the slugs, something's wrong, University of California at Santa Cruz, what's your nickname, I mean, we think redskins has some bad connotations, how about slugs, that's not just politically incorrect, that's just incorrect, that's really bad, slugs, remember, here comes Jesus, and way back in Abraham's day, in chapter 12 of Genesis, 15, 17, 21, 22, the plan to save wasn't just for Israelites, matter of fact, Abraham wasn't even a Jew, when he got saved, he was a moon worshipping pagan, and he gets saved, and the plan has always been a wide plan, a plan not just for the Israelites, a plan where Jesus would come, and he'd save centurions, he'd save people that weren't part of the Jewish culture or race, it's like Psalm 117, let the nations praise God, and here, John 3, 16, let's go back up to verse 14, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the world, verse 15, that everyone believing, it's the Greek, that everyone believing in him may have eternal life, verse 16, I'll read it to you in the original, for God loved in this manner, for God loved the world in this manner, that he gave his only begotten son, that everyone believing in him should not perish, but have life eternal, how does God love the world, what is the world, is it the globe, is it the evil world system, it's God loves people that aren't just Jews, aren't you glad, that's why it's called the John 3, 16 of the Bible, that is Jonah, because let's go save sinners like the Assyrian Ninevites, let's go rescue them, isn't that so unlike me, if there was a bunch of people who were my enemies, nationally, and they were all after me, I'd say, God, judge them, God, get them, God, smash them, I might even pray in a precatory song, Psalm, smash their teeth, the next generation of children, don't let them come to bear, because we want them weak, and here God does not leave the fallen human race to perish alone without a remedy, he saves sinners, and by the way, if you go to John chapter 4, who does this woman, what does she think the word world means, who is the world, if God so loves the world, he gives a son, what does it mean, what do you mean world, our default is to each and every person who was ever born, that has nothing to do with it, verse 16 of John 4, I'm going to call John 3 and 4, the equivalent to Jonah, verse 16 of John 4, Jesus said to her, go call your husband and come here, the woman answered and said, I have no husband, Jesus said, you're right in saying, I have no husband, for you've had five husbands, and the one you're with now isn't your husband, what you said is true, maybe the most understated line in all the Bible, the woman said to him, sir, I perceive you are a prophet, verse 25, the woman said to him, I know the Messiah is coming back, who is called Christ, when he comes, he will tell us all these things, and Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am, verse 39, many Samaritans, oh yeah, Samaritans, they're worse than the Assyrians, Samaritans half -breed, not just a non -Jew Assyrian Ninevite, these people are like mingled with their blood, these people are just, you know, many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, he told me all that I ever did, so when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days, and many more believed his word, or because of his word, they said to the woman, it's no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard ourselves, and we know this is indeed the Savior of the, what, world, the Savior of the globe, the Savior of each and every person, no, not just Jews, but Gentiles, the message back in Jonah is God's love for his people that he's created includes Israelites and Gentiles, I could put it to you this way, if you want a preaching application, when was the last time you obeyed Ephesians chapter 2 verse 11, the first command in all of Ephesians, in light of who Jesus is, in light of the Father's election, the Son's redemption, the Spirit's sealing, in light of the praise that goes to this great God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in light of who you are in Christ, here's the first thing that you want to do, that you must do in light of all that, and what's the first thing, and when was the last time you did it, here's the imperative, Ephesians 2 .11, I'll use the Abendroth Amplified Translation, Steve, you don't have to write this down, it's not inerrant, never ever forget that you used to be a Gentile, but God saved you anyway because of who he is, that's Ephesians 2 .11, the first imperative, remember that you were a Gentile, that you used to be a pagan, if it wasn't for God, I would be in England worshipping a tree, you'd be in India worshipping a stone, or you would worship something else, some kind of, you know, money, music, sex, it doesn't matter, it's just worship, I'll never forget the time I came home from India, and I was over in India for a while, and I remember getting off the plane, I get off the plane and I just felt weird, I felt like this, like I'm oppressed, there's like so many false gods everywhere, I just, I couldn't tell you any other way except the subjective feel, it was just like, this is weird, and by the way, I'm not talking about being in Bombay, I'm talking about when I stepped off the plane at Logan, because what we do with our idols here is a little more sophisticated than what they do there, but here we're idol worshipping people, we used to be Gentiles, and God said, you're my child anyway, that's the book of Jonah, well let's turn back to Jonah, I guess we got to finish, I don't really want to finish, so I'm not, Sunday first service, you have to finish when you're done, I have to go through a little bit more, Jonah, maybe one of my all -time favorite things is when I'm hearing preaching, and it's from the text and out of the text, and I think, man, that time went by so fast, just went by fast, because you're engaged, and you see what's going on, and it just flows, it says in chapter 1, go preach to these Ninevites in verse 2, I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that the Assyrian people were some of the most wicked people you could ever come up with, and you should think of Nazis on steroids, you should think this way, when you go into a city, just like the Nazis did in Poland, kill all the clergy, kill all the educators, kill all the people at the top, and then they would bring in the Nazi troops, here's what the Assyrians did, kill all the clergy, kill all the educators, kill all the people at the top, and by the way, we can't leave our forces there in this city that we've taken over, so what we can do is leave our mark, so let's fillet the people, fillet them alive, let's take their skin off while they're still alive, let's pull out all the leader's tongues that we didn't kill, let's put people up on sticks, impale them, one man said pyramids of human heads mark the path of the conqueror, children burnt alive and reserved for a worse fate, men impaled, flayed alive, blinded, deprived of hands and feet, ears and noses, women and children carried into slavery, the city plundered, those kind of people, God says to Jonah, I want you to go preach a message to them, go preach a message to them, and they're going to get saved, it's amazing that God justifies the ungodly, verse 3, we've got to finish here, verse 3, okay, before I read verse 3, is there anybody in your life who you think is past saving, who's too wicked, is there anybody in your family that seems to be too much of a black sheep and they could never be saved, they're too far gone, they're too far long gone, I think you should think of the Assyrians, here Jonah 1 .3, Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish, there's a lot of verbs in the original Hebrew that make you just feel like it's going fast, it says in chapter 4, I made haste to flee and it just got, he's got this feeling of running downhill, running downhill, pell -mell, from the presence of the Lord, he went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish, so he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord, what?