SMSS - Mercy Greater than All My Sins (Date: June 23rd 2017)

are revealed to me other things that I need to work on. And I have failed over and over and over again, but God's plan for my life is not changed by my failures.

In fact, it's also part of God's plan. God's plan takes into account the many times that I'm going to fail.

My sin of the past is not just forgiven. My sin of the future is forgiven. And He will come to me as many times as it needs to fulfill that plan.

Look at Moses, Abraham, Peter. How many times did they fail, yet God still used them over and over again.

But here's the most powerful part for me. And I'm just gonna share from my heart for a second.

The most powerful part of mercy is this. It says this, verse two, get up.

I remember, I can't remember which one of the boys it was that was fighting. Josiah, Jeremiah.

Well, Joshua didn't go down, but it was Jeremiah or Josiah, I remember it. And they got clocked.

And I remember them going down on the mat and I was in the corner and in my brain,

I wasn't thinking about anything other than get up. Yeah, I don't care how bad it hurt, get up.

No, I'm not worried about embarrassment, get up. I want you to get off that mat.

I look at my failures in life and I don't know about you, but when

I'm come face to face from the conviction of the Holy Spirit on how much I fail, it's not that I just don't wanna get up,

I wanna give up. I do. It's like I get to a point where it's like an exercise in futility to walk with the

Lord because I know I'm gonna fail so many times, why bother doing it, you know? I mean,

I can't be like Richard McGee or Pastor Gerald. I wish

I could be that perfect, I really do. No, I really do.

I wanna grow up and be just like Pastor Gerald. I wish I could be that good.

And when I fail and it comes face to face before me and I look at myself in the mirror, have you ever been brushing your teeth or something and the conviction of the

Holy Spirit comes over you and you look at yourself and you do something like, have you ever tried to pray at night and you're like, dear

Lord, forget it, you ain't even gonna hear my voice because you know what the

Lord says to us? Get up, try again, get up.

You're gonna fail again. And here's the beautiful part about this and we'll see this next week. Jonah is gonna fail again and God already knows that yet God's command to Jonah is, get up.

Son, I know you're gonna falter and fall but my name is gonna be glorified. You're gonna be strengthened and matured by one way.

Oh, get up and try again. Well, God, I'm gonna fail. I know, that's why I gave you grace and mercy.

It wasn't one time when you walked down the aisle, it was for eternity. Ladies and gentlemen, when

I'm in heaven 10 ,000 years from now, the grace and mercy of God will still be in effect because I'll still be there.

And it's not gonna be any more powerful than it is right now. If you failed in your spiritual life, guys, get up.

God's word is coming to you again and again and again. Oh, Brother Jeff, you don't know what

I've done. No, church, you're not focused on what God has done. Get up.

You see, our sin does not limit God's power. Look also at this.

Look who he gets. God's power is going to happen and it's not based upon our, how many of you guys have graduated from a theological institute of advanced study?

Dana, put your hand down. I didn't say an overachiever with no life.

I said, just kidding, just kidding. Huh? You stayed there all day at Express.

No, Dana is awesome. No, God chooses, notice who he chose.

He chose Jonah. Now, not only did Jonah run away, Jonah is going to be a big, fat, stupid loser again in the future.

But don't even notice that. Notice this. God's power is so much that he took

Jonah and Jonah went and then look at what this, now look at verse, I'm sorry, look at the rest of verse three.

Now, Nineveh was an extremely large city, a three -day walk. Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city and proclaimed.

Now, you ready for this sermon? You ready for this for revival? Here we go. In 40 days, then it will be demolished.

That's it. That's the sermon. No illustration. And you can tell

Jonah's attitude, you know? Have you ever told a kid to do something and they do it in moat mode and it almost makes you as angry as if they hadn't have done it in the first place?

Clean your room. You just want, just, ugh. Jonah's doing this.

I mean, seriously. Okay, I'll go. So he goes and he walks into the city and he loathes these people, loathes them.

And he says, hey, in 40 days, y 'all are gonna die. Have a good day. I'm out.

He does the bare minimum just to do the will of God. But you see, our failures doesn't limit

God's power not only to redeem us, but to use us to redeem others.

God said, go do it. I'll take care of the rest. What did

Nineveh do? Well, just read. Now watch this. Now remember, this is the Assyrian empire.

The Assyrian empire. Now watch this. In 40 days, it will be destroyed. The men, verse five, the men of Nineveh believed in God.

They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth from the greatest to the least.

When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth and sat in ashes.

Then he issued a decree in Nineveh. By order of the king and his nobles, no man or beast, herd or flock is to taste anything at all.

They must not eat or drink water. Furthermore, both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth and everyone must call out earnestly to God.

Each must turn from his evil ways and from the violence he is doing. Who knows,

God may turn and relent. He may turn from his burning anger so that we will not perish.

Now watch this. I've heard Bible preachers sit there and go, well, that's all you got to do is have a seven word sermon.

Everybody going to get saved. What we don't know is what is leading up to this.

Jonah's message or the message of God through Jonah was the final straw that brought a group of people to repentance.

But don't be so naive as to think God wasn't already at work in Nineveh to get the job done.

Obviously, there were things in Nineveh already going on. God was already moving. God's conviction,

God's call to repentance was already there. Jonah was just the final straw. Now how great of a preacher was

Jonah? He was obstinate, arrogant, prideful, racist.

He was everything. But God's power is greater so much than our sins and failures that God will use something like that.

And you never know when you're going to be the Jonah in someone's life. You never know.

Well, I can't witness that person. Well, because they probably heard it all before. Really?

That's not your call. Your call is to get up and go and do it anyways.

I remember taking a group of youth from a church here in Memphis. And I took them street witnessing.

And I was trying to show them how to do street witnessing. It was funny. It was hilarious.

We went to the Mall of Memphis. Hickory Ridge Mall, whatever. Went to the

Hickory Ridge Mall. And we were walking around in there and I was saying, OK, now this is how you... Well, I don't know how to go up and just say hi.

Hi. It's not that hard, you know. And I sent these kids out.

Now, it's hilarious. The only people they would go and witness to are people that look like Brandon.

Seriously. I mean, these were yuppie kind of kids or preppy kind of kids.

And so they're like, huh? Yeah, yuppie, OK. So in their mind, if you have tattoos all over yourself, then you obviously need

Jesus. So they would all... Well, he does, but that's the only people... So I brought them all back together and I was like, hey man, no, no, no.

Go to everyone, right? Just the first person you see, go.

Now, it's hilarious. The next thing I noticed is that they were all going to younger or shorter people.

They weren't coming up to like people like my size. You know, they were going up to...

And so I was like, no, guys, don't be afraid. Go get them. Just go get them. In other words, if they have a beating heart and they're homo sapien, witness to them.

Well, brother, I don't know. Man, that's nervous. That's nerve wracking. And that guy looks scary.

You know why he might look scary? Because he might be under the conviction of the Holy Spirit and is miserable.

And you are God's tool to break him free out of that bondage that's ruining his life. Well, that's what it was in Jonah.

Jonah was the last straw. And the whole city of God repented.

No fancy illustrations, no suggestions of hope. And notice in his sermon, there was no call to repentance.

But now let me show you God's power for a second. And some of y 'all really need to listen to me. And I'm sharing this with you with my heart, begging you.

Listen to me. The call of God to righteousness isn't God's call for you to be forgiven.

Let me say that again. God's call to a lost and dying world is not come and be forgiven.

That's kind of how preachers have kind of termed it. Because it sounds more palatable. God's call to a lost and dying world is one word and one word only.

Repent. You need to repent. In other words, stop doing what you are doing and by default, start doing what

God wants you to do. But see, preachers today just come and say, come and seek God's forgiveness.

You will never see God's forgiveness without your humility in repentance.

It will never happen. Brother Jeff, I keep asking God to forgive me. Me and him are this far apart though.

Have you repented? Well, I don't even know what that means. There's your problem.

God's power is so much over our sin, but the release of our guilt from the conviction of the

Holy Spirit will be found in our repentance. Second thing, God's, our sin doesn't change

God's plan. God's sin doesn't change God's power. But look at this. Verse, yeah, verse 10.

I love this one. It says this. It says, then God saw their actions that they had turned from their evil ways, so God relented from the disaster he had threatened to do to them and he did not do it.

That's the end of chapter three. Now, some of your King Jimmy Bibles and maybe some of your other translations will say

God repented, okay? That's a really bad word.

Not that in the English language it doesn't make sense. Our repentance is literally a turning away from sin, turning to God.

With your Bible says God repented, what it really means is that God stopped doing what he said he was gonna do.

Now, here's a whole theological explanation for our question for you. Did God really change his mind?

God didn't really change his mind. Just like when Abraham said, hey, God, if there's 10 righteous men, will you not destroy us?

Sure, buddy, go find 10 righteous men. You know, and Abraham kept going down and down and down. God, if there's like two, will you hook me up?

Sure, son, not a problem. But the wrath of God was already coming. Listen, when we get to a place in our life where we feel like not our repentance, but our good works will somehow stop the wrath of Almighty God, you're wrong.

Let me take that even closer to home. If you're struggling with a particular sin and you stop doing that sin, and then somehow you're saved because of your stop doing that sin, you're wrong.

It's not, that's not how it works. God doesn't want your sin. He wants your life.

That's why so many people get confused on salvation, because they want to give God their sin, but they want to give

God their life. Repentance is turning away, not just of your sin, it's turning towards God.

It's an act of moving from sin, but it's an act of obedience towards God. Jesus said in John 14, those who love me will, what?

Keep my commandments. And what was the commandment of Christ? That's it.

That's it. Ladies and gentlemen, God's powers not changed,

God's plans not changed, God's powers not changed, but understand this this morning, God's promises are not changed.

And this is what he promises us. All you that are heavy laden, come unto me and you will find rest.

Go back for me in a second, in your little brains. Do you remember the day you were converted?

Someone asked me this, let me try to explain it real quick. Side note, you ready? You were saved before the foundation of the world, okay?

But before the world even happened, your name was called and you were saved.

In other words, God decreed it and it's going to happen. It's all under the sovereignty and immutability of Almighty God.

What we have sometimes said, when did you get saved? Well, on August 4th. That's not when you were saved, that's when you were converted.

It was your comprehension of what God had already done, okay? Sometimes that conversion process is dramatic.

Sometimes it's not. Like Gwen, what day were you saved? What day were you converted? You don't know the date?

Oh, you're going to hell. You're still going to hell. Guys, I've had people say,

I don't remember the day, it's okay. But you will remember the moment. I promise you that.

That conversion is a moment. Now, do you remember that conversion process?

Conviction, thinking about it, thinking about it, thinking about it, thinking about it, wrestling with it, it happens, okay?

I'm just going to tell you about mine. And I'm not going into a long story, but I remember going,

God. And for the first time in 20 -something years, however old

I was, I felt peace. My words don't do it justice.

I've heard so many people say this, and it's so true. I felt like a weight was lifted off me, or lifted off my shoulders, or I felt

I could breathe deep for the first time. Remember that? Now, some of you didn't come as far.

Here's A, here's B. Some of you only had to go that far. Some of you had to go this far, right? And some of you stifle your emotions to the degree that you don't feel it as much.

But anyways, no, man, no, no. You remember that feeling?

Here's what's wrong with that feeling. It's beautiful, it's a gift, it's a realization. But about three months after that,

I didn't have that feeling anymore. I just, I didn't. It's kind of like the new cocaine for me.

Actually, we actually had a ministry called High on Jesus. And, I mean, that's what it felt like.

I felt like I was high. But that highness, is that the word?

That's not what I'm, that euphoria, how about I use that word? That feeling of euphoria slowly started to ebb away.

And I didn't go back to doing those things anymore. I didn't go back to snorting coke or smoking crack.

But it just slowly walked away. You remember when you got glasses for the first time?

Huh? Oh my gosh, y 'all are a blob. I remember, I was like in first grade.

And we were living in Atlanta. And I'll never forget them doing this right here.

And I remember going, whoa! I mean,

I was, I didn't even have words. It was just like, dude! I mean, I didn't know the word dude back then, but it was something like that.

Wow, this is great! This is awesome! Now I just do like this in the morning.

I'm like, oh gosh, you know? In other words, the familiarity with the blessing,

I don't even want to say contempt, but it becomes such a normalcy that I take it for granted.

Complacency, very good. Complacency, good job. Watch this.

Listen to me, please. Does that make you feel like you're a bad Christian? Don't shake your head no, because I know it has.

In other words, you feel like you've lost something. Guys, you haven't lost anything. What it is, is you're not a year old anymore.

That's it. What it is, is as you grow in your Christian faith, you can't rely on those feelings for motivation.

You have to mature to a place where it's not you get a piece of candy when you do something good.

You do it, and you've matured to that place where you do it because God has told you to do it.

Jonah wasn't in that place. Jonah had to be spanked. Jonah had to be taken to the woodshed.

But as you're sanctified, as God has moving you forward, listen to me, as God moves you forward, you should mature to a place where you don't need that anymore.

Where God says go, and you just go. Look at this. Watch this.

God's promises is this, is I'm not going to quit working on you. I'm not going to quit. Your repentance will bring a further level of sanctification.

It doesn't matter how many times you failed. I am still going to be at work in your life.

Can I get an amen? Are you out there? Hello! That should bring great relief to you.

I just sounded like Bill Cosby, didn't I? To you! All right, stop.

He's not a good man. All right. Stop. I want to read one last verse to you.

Matthew chapter 12, verse 41. Matthew chapter 12, verse 41. And I really will close with this.

Do you ever look at certain folks and go, oh my gosh, those losers are never going to get it.

They're never going to get it. They don't act right. They don't do right. They don't smell right. They don't do anything right.

Because they're basically not like me. Watch this. Now remember who Nineveh was.

The Assyrian people prided themselves on being the scariest people on the face of the earth.

I told you this last week. They would walk in and they would skin people alive just to make you more afraid so that the next city they go to, you're going to just,

I'm done, I give up, I quit, you win. And they were literally ruthless people.

Jonah shows up and he's like, hey, in 40 days y 'all are going to be wiped out. Out. Leaves the whole city from the king to the lowest people, repent and turn towards God.

But what do you hear of them after that? Nothing. In fact, we know from history, both scripturally and pretend historians, that Nineveh went back at some point, back to their old ways.

We know this. All right, because Babylon came in and whooped them. What year was that church?

Six? Come on. Wednesday night, people? All right, so, listen.

Battle of Carchemish. All right, listen. So here's Nineveh. They fail again and again and again.

But now notice, fast forward 600 years to the time of Jesus. Jesus is preaching and look what

He says in verse 41. He says this. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it because they repented at Jonah's proclamation and look, something greater than Jonah is here.

Jesus is preaching to the church folks. He's preaching to the Jews. And He looks at them and He says this.

I don't understand you guys. You know, there's gonna come a day at judgment.

A day is coming in the future when you are gonna stand before Almighty God and I'm gonna be standing there.

And the very people of which you hated are gonna be standing at judgment with me against you.

Because at one moment, that individual decided, that nation decided, that capital decided to repent at the worst sermon in history.

And they are doing better than you because all they had is Jonah. And look, the

King of Kings is standing before you right now and you're rejecting Him. Guys, I have preached here for 14 years.

There are certain folks in here that you know you are not a

Christian. You know you're a good church member, but you're not a Christian. You have never truly repented.

There is no way you can still be filled with that much hate and animosity and pride and arrogance and be a child of Almighty God.

Your life of growth, your sanctification has been like this for 14 years.

You've never grown. I've never seen you repent of a sin or say you're sorry for anything at any time.

If a little baby is two years old and it is 16 years old and it physically looks like it's two years old, there's a problem, right?

Some of your spiritual lives have not changed at all.

And I'm not saying this to be mean. I'm not, I'm warning you.

I'm warning you right now. You need to repent and stop looking back at some religious thing that happened to you 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago.

Is God at work in your life? Have you humbled yourself? You're gonna fail.

Man, I fail every week, every day. But the difference is I've never heard you or seen you do anything different.

Guys, we all fail. But where are you in the ministry of the

Lord? Where are you in the act of repentance? I don't want your blood on my hands.

I know some people say that and they're being kind of like showy.

I'm being dead serious. I don't want to carry the guilt of your rejecting

Christ on my hands. I don't want to be Jeremiah. I don't want to be Malachi. I don't want to have to worry that I failed to preach to you the gospel of Christ and the truth of what it is.

And then you die and go to hell and it's on my hands. I want to be free.

Is that selfish? Yeah. Yeah, I'm totally good with that. Are you a born again believer?

Have you truly been converted? Next thing.

If you are, what are you doing with it? What are you doing with it?

How are you ministering and loving God with all of your heart and loving your fellow believers as yourself?

If you can't answer that question, this sermon is for you.

You need to repent. I'm going to ask the music people and pastors to come up.

If you're in this room and those two things applied to you, do something about it today.

Know the peace of repentance, but also know the power of God's plan for your life.

Quit waiting for something else to happen. Don't be that one year old spiritual baby.

Repent now because it's the right thing to do. Don't wait till the hand of God comes. Don't wait till you are trapped in a place where then you have no alternative but to cry out.

Repent to God now. I'm going to ask you to stand. And if God has spoken to you today at any place, there are people here to pray with you, people here to hold you accountable, and people here to love you.