Jonah 1-4 (The Steadfast Love of God)

The Shepherd's Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:09

Thank you for subscribing to the Shepherds Church podcast. This is our Lord's Day Sermon We pray that as we declare the

00:16

Word of God that you would be encouraged Strengthened in your faith and that you would catch a greater vision of who

00:22

Christ is May you be blessed in the hearing of God's Word and may the Lord be with you so I almost feel ashamed because What you and I have heard so far is my message and I Think it's better than what

00:48

I'm going to speak to you Because God is good but the some these the psalm 136 26 times you said the loving -kindness of God endures forever

01:03

That is a Jewish word one word For loving -kindness, and it's chesed

01:10

Has it it's got that kind of little throaty thing going on and our scriptures Struggle to bring that into English It's translated as loving -kindness in some places in merciful kindness other places steadfast love

01:27

In the version I use which is the ESV version It's it's almost always translated steadfast love.

01:34

And so that's the title of my message Steadfast love and it has been pouring out to you since the moment service started today and That's almost not true because it's been pouring out to you

01:51

Over and over and over again all through your life and you are oblivious to it So I'm gonna ask two questions and if you know the answer just yell it out.

02:05

Okay, and The questions are easy. No one can fail this, right? How many hours are there in a day?

02:14

24 good. Come on. You could yell louder, you know What is 24? This is a math question now

02:21

What's 24 times 10? 240 good you did you look at 100 %

02:28

So why are you even ask these stupid questions? Well, this word hesed is in our scriptures over 250 times

02:39

Now when God says something that many times We really need to take notice and If you take the number of hours in a day

02:50

Which we already did we know it's 24 and you multiply that by 10 That means 10 times an hour

02:58

God is dumping steadfast love into your life every six minutes

03:05

God is yelling out to you Steadfast love it mine it doors forever.

03:11

My steadfast love indoors forever. This is when you're driving in your car His steadfast love is being pumped into you

03:19

When you're at work, and you're not even thinking about him. His steadfast love is being poured into you

03:26

When you're asleep at night every six minutes his steadfast love is being poured into you and we are oblivious and That's okay

03:40

You know why? Because his steadfast love endures forever Do you know why it endures forever?

03:48

Because we are forever people We need it now on this planet and we are gonna need it after we go to the next place

03:57

He's gonna love us for the next hundred billion trillion gazillion years and past that Because his steadfast love endures forever

04:06

If those words are not burned into your mind by the end of the sermon I've not done my job pastor should fire me

04:16

So Because we are 21st century

04:21

Americans we struggle with language Every word that we speak is being diluted the important ones

04:30

And so we don't really know what love means we think we do For instance,

04:35

I heard your pastor give a sermon a few weeks ago. We said he loves hamburgers. I Love a good steak

04:43

But you know what? That's a poor use of the word love If you read books or you watch movies or videos or TV, you will be convinced that at its best

04:54

Love is a heartfelt desire and at its worst. It's an animalistic lust

05:01

Neither one of those is love. So we need to dig down when God says love. I love you forever

05:07

We need to find out what that means from his perspective We also have another big problem and that is love is not earthly It's divine

05:19

Love did not come from you and I love came from God So we've got to get a hold of what is this word love mean?

05:27

And I'm gonna try to do that through I'm gonna take you through the book of Jonah four chapters

05:35

If you go home today and you want to read the book of Jonah, it will take you about ten minutes. It's very short

05:41

But God's steadfast love is All throughout this book and I'm gonna try to tell you what that is

05:49

And I'm gonna try to show you see it's not just a feeling it's an action Right.

05:55

It's wonderful. When someone says this if you need anything, you just come to me And then when

06:01

I go to him and say I need five grand. He's well Maybe you should go somewhere else, right?

06:07

I Want the guy who can give me the money I want the angle show me his love Well, we're gonna see that in the book of Jonah and we're gonna see it in the life of Jonah Let me just say this before I jump in this book is not about Jonah It's not about seaman on a ship

06:26

It's not about Ninevites and the people of Nineveh This is about God And we are gonna try to see

06:35

God And his love his steadfast love in these words, so I'm gonna read and I'm gonna read from the

06:41

ESV That's the version I've been using for the last 12 or 15 years. So I know you use other ones, but forgive me

06:48

So chapter 1 verse 1 of Jonah Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying arise go to Nineveh that great city

06:57

Call out against it for the its evil has come up before me But Jonah rose to flee to Tarsus from the presence of the

07:07

Lord. He went down to Joppa He found a ship going to Tarsus. So he paid the fare

07:12

He went on board to go with them to Tarsus away from the presence of the Lord. So We've learned a couple things in these first three verses

07:22

There's a prophet. His name is Jonah He's saved

07:28

He's one of God's people He hears God when he speaks and God has told him to go to the

07:36

Ninevites I'm gonna give you a message when you get there you give it to them So we've learned who

07:41

Jonah is who were the Ninevites? The Nineveh is the capital city of Assyria at this time

07:50

Assyria are violent wicked Despicable people So bad

07:57

That God has noticed Listen when you're that bad that God says

08:02

I gotta do something about this. You've come to my attention. You're pretty bad So what's what's their evil?

08:10

Well, they like to take their army and they will send it into a town or a city They will murder every male

08:16

They will steal and rape every woman and they will take whatever else of wealth is there food flocks gold and they will raise that city to the ground and then when

08:32

They need it again. They go find another city This is what they do Murdering raping thieves, that's who they are and They've come to God's notice.

08:44

Oh and by the way, they've come to Israel Notice too because they like to go to Israel and do this and these poor little towns and cities in Israel They never know when the

08:53

Ninevites or the Assyrians are going to show up So they're always on the brunt of the

08:59

Assyrians And then we find out that Jonah has decided

09:05

I'm not going to Nineveh. I'm going to Tarshish. So where's

09:11

Nineveh? in our present day The port city of Joppa is

09:17

Tel Aviv So if you're in Tel Aviv and you want to go to Nineveh You would go west and north about 500 miles to the city of Mosul Right outside the city of Mosul.

09:30

You'll find the the ruins of Nineveh, right? That's 500 miles away

09:38

If you want to go to Tarshish Tarshish is in Spain Directly west of Tel Aviv about 2 ,500 miles and it's as far as Jonah could go

09:50

Because they didn't have ships that could cross the Atlantic. So he's going to the Atlantic coast of Spain and It's beautiful there in the southern

09:58

Spain. Let me tell you he's going on vacation. He's running from God Interesting why why is he running from God I Don't we're gonna have to find that out

10:14

But whenever I hear about these things, I have questions. So Why did

10:20

God choose Jonah? Was Jonah the only prophet in Israel?

10:26

Oh, I don't think so Was he the most obedient prophet?

10:31

Oh, obviously not So why did God choose Jonah? You think it has anything to do with steadfast love

10:39

I bet it does Let's continue but the

10:45

Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a mighty tempest on the sea and the ship threatened to break up and The mariners were afraid and each cried out to his

10:55

God They hurled the cargo that was in the ship in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them

11:02

Where's Jonah? Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship. He had lain down.

11:08

He's fast asleep. He's very happy with his decision Then it was there

11:13

Tarsus is there and that's where I'm going. And oh, I think I'll take a nap

11:19

So the captain came and said to him, what do you mean you sleeper arise? Call out to your

11:26

God. Perhaps your God will give a thought to us that we may not perish So these seamen all have their own gods and And they're rough and tumble guys,

11:39

I don't know if you met Seaman sailors, they're usually not, you know soft and cuddly and they've been scared out of their minds by this storm and they've been praying to their own gods and They've been saying save us and their gods have been deaf dumb and blind to them

11:59

So they go wake up this guy sleeper in the bottom of the boat. They say maybe your God will listen to you, right?

12:07

And Then the captains and then they came to one another and said let us cast lots and see on whose account

12:13

This evil has come up against us So they cast lots and the lot fell to Jonah Then they said to him tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us.

12:24

What's your occupation? Where do you come from? what's your country and who are your people and Jonah replies

12:33

I'm a Hebrew. I fear the Lord the God of heaven Who made the sea and the dry land?

12:40

What kind of message is that Well, this is who I am. Oh, you know my

12:45

God made everything and the seamen Were exceedingly afraid and said to him.

12:52

What is this you've done? They believe him Listen do you know that when you speak the words of God?

12:59

People believe you They either love it or they hate it, but they hear it

13:05

And you know that sometimes you speak the words of God You don't even know you're doing it

13:12

Sometimes God speaks through you in spite of you Because you know what just so you know in this story

13:18

You're Jonah You're this messed up Stubborn stiff -necked no good hard -hearted hater, that's who you are

13:32

And God sometimes speaks through you and people hear it because his steadfast love endures forever

13:41

Where were we so Then the men were exceedingly afraid and they said what is this you've done

13:47

For the men knew he was fleeing from the Lord for he had told them They said to him.

13:53

What shall we do to you that the sea will quiet down for us because it grew more Tempestuous now that's gonna come up over and over and over again.

14:01

You see it was in a tropical storm at one at first Then they went to a category one

14:07

Now it's working up to a cat too These guys are going down with the boat unless something happens something needs to change or they're dead men

14:17

And Jonah says Pick me up hurl me into the sea and the sea will quiet down for you

14:23

For I know it is because of me that this tempest has come upon you I'll have to ask again.

14:31

What the heck is wrong with Jonah? right Why doesn't he just repent?

14:37

Why doesn't he say listen father? I'm sorry Obviously the storm is here because of me

14:43

Forgive me. I'll do what you want. No He would rather die Then go to Nineveh Because he hates these people see they're not

14:54

Jews. They're Gentiles They're wicked and they're evil as we already know and he hates him

15:01

He's an anti Gentile, right? You know, sometimes we have hatred in our hearts we don't even know it

15:10

Sin likes to cling to us And we like to hold on to it

15:17

Unaware and here's Jonah so unaware of his own depravity

15:23

Now he saved he hears God But he's broken He's really broken and he would rather die than go to Nineveh What are these hard -hearted seamen do?

15:36

Nevertheless, the men rode hard to get back to dry land, but they could not for the sea grew more tempestuous against them

15:44

We're up to category three storm now We're going down Therefore they called out to the

15:52

Lord They're now praying to Jonah's God Right. Oh Lord.

15:57

Let us not perish from this man's life Let not innocent blood be upon us for you

16:03

Oh Lord have done as it's pleased you and they picked up Jonah and they hurled him into the sea and the sea ceased it's raging

16:14

Listen to this Then the men feared the Lord Exceedingly they offered sacrifices to the

16:21

Lord and they made vows You think God can't use you

16:27

Because you're broken Let me tell you if he can use Jonah he could use you and these guys are now they have come face -to -face with the

16:37

God and They can never unsee him again When they get home

16:44

For the rest of their lives these seamen are gonna be telling this story Listen, you think you've been in a storm?

16:50

I've been in a storm We threw one guy overboard Everything was gone. We were good

16:56

Listen, there is this Hebrew God Maybe we should be praying to him They could never unsee him again

17:05

Now, where's Jonah? Jonah is in the sea sinking like a rock

17:12

Right So Jonah doesn't repent He's on this boat he's in a big there's a big sea

17:22

It's going down. He's asleep in the bottom of the boat Does this story remind you of another story in the

17:31

Bible of another boat Where Jesus was on the boat? And he told his disciples we have to go to the land of the

17:40

Gadarenes The Gentiles over there. I need to go save and rescue one guy

17:48

So let's go he goes into the boat goes down and falls asleep. No a nice storm comes up He's confident these seamen these sailors.

17:56

They've been fishing the Galilee forever They'll be able to get him across. Nope big storm comes up They are scared to death just like the seaman on the other boat on Jonah's day.

18:06

They go and they wake up Jesus Save us But Jesus speaks to the storm and it is gone like that You see

18:18

Jonah is an old broken prophet but Jesus Jesus is the real deal and Nothing is gonna stop him from fulfilling what his father asked him to do

18:32

See the whole reason he's on the boat is because his father told him Jesus said himself I don't do anything unless the father tells me and whatever he tells me to do.

18:39

I'm gonna do so no storm is gonna stop me Do you know if you're in Jesus?

18:46

You're good He's fulfilled everything that you're gonna fail to fulfill in this life

18:53

All the times that you live out of your brokenness and your sinfulness rather than out of his spirit

18:59

All that's been paid for Every time you screw up and believe me, I'm 68 years old.

19:06

You're gonna screw up a lot. I have And yet I know I know who my father is.

19:13

I know who has saved me. I know where I live. I live in him And wherever he is, that's what we heard today wherever he is.

19:21

That's where you are because you can't get out Try you're gonna fail

19:27

So Jonah's sinking like a rock verse 17 and the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah's in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, so If you're thrown into the sea and you're sinking like a rock and a fish shows up with his mouth open you're in trouble

19:47

You are not gonna make it right you're either gonna drown you and be fish food But no

19:53

God sends this organic submarine To go and rescue.

19:58

Oh you it's true, right? It's an organic stuff. Listen, if you get swallowed by a fish you're dying inside.

20:05

I don't care You can not live in three days, right? But he's in there for three days and three nights

20:11

Do you know who the fish is? Fish is God It's Jesus Christ It's a one -off this one organic fish showed up one time in history to save this one broken

20:25

Desperate despicable prophet. Do you know why? His steadfast love endures forever amen

20:34

So chapter 2 Jonah's in the fish and this is what he says Then Jonah prayed that the

20:40

Lord is God from the belly of the fish saying I called out to the Lord in my distress He answered me out of the belly of Sheol I cried and you heard my voice

20:50

For you cast me into the deep into the heart of the seas and the flood. Wait a minute who cast them?

20:56

I think Jonah did this to himself kind of right Jonah can't do anything without God.

21:02

So I guess he's kind of right, but let me tell you He has to take some blame here

21:09

I think The Seas and the flood surrounded me all your waves and billows passed over me.

21:16

That's true They're all his waves and billows. Then I said I'm driven away from your sight Yet I shall again look upon your holy temple the waters closed in over to take my life the deep surrounded me

21:29

Weeds were wrapped around my head at the roots of the mountain I went down to those whose bars closed over me forever

21:37

Let you brought Yet you brought my life up from the pit. Oh Lord my

21:43

God when my life was fading away when I was dying in the sea,

21:49

I Remembered the Lord and my prayer came into your holy temple

21:56

Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope instead fast love

22:05

All of a sudden the stiff -necked stubborn prophet Has gotten some of his wits about him and he's crying out to his

22:14

God clinging to steadfast love right

22:21

Verse 9 but with the voice of Thanksgiving I will sacrifice to you What I have vowed

22:28

I will pay now all of a sudden. I'm ready to go to Nineveh and Then he yells this out

22:35

Salvation belongs to the Lord That's Jonah's all of a sudden

22:41

Jonah's got a maybe a little better picture of what's happening And the

22:48

Lord spoke to the fish and the fish beat him out on dry land now I'm reading

22:55

Jonah and reading Jonah. I'm listening to Jonah. I'm studying it for to come here and I realized four times.

23:02

It says that Jonah went down In verse 1 he went down to Joppa In verse 5 of chapter 1 he went down into the inner part of the ship

23:12

And then he had lain down and then his own prayer in chapter 2 He's at the bottom of the roots of the mountain where he's gone down Sin and disobedience

23:24

Will take you down down down down But steadfast love of the

23:31

Lord endures forever See, you can try and drag yourself down as far as you want to go.

23:38

You can't get away from God But God appointed a fish and the spit the fish spit him out on dry ground

23:48

Listen to this chapter 3. We're halfway done then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time

23:56

Now I'm reading And I gotta tell you this went into my heart like a knife a second time

24:03

God tells him You know how many times God has had to tell me things Not twice

24:09

Not ten times not twenty times not even a hundred times because I am just like Jonah Stiff -necked stubborn.

24:19

I love my sin. I want to hold tight to my own brokenness Sometimes I don't even know what clings to me

24:27

And do you know what? Christ has looked into me And he has seen the darkness in my heart and the blackness

24:36

And he's looked at you and he has seen your dark black heart. And you know what he said

24:42

That one's mine My steadfast love endures forever to them. I'll give them a new heart

24:48

I'll give them a white heart and you know what week on week when they come in on Sundays and that heart looks a little gray

24:57

I'll make it white again because my steadfast love endures forever.

25:02

I will not let you go So I know what happens when you look in the mirror at home

25:09

I know you know who you are But so does

25:15

God and he doesn't care you're his and his steadfast love will not let you go

25:21

So the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. What does he say? Arise go to Nineveh call out to that city against it the message.

25:32

I give you the exact same words as He spoke in chapter 1 verse 1

25:39

Now God has not spoken to Jonah since verse 1 of chapter 1

25:47

But God has never been absent from him ever Do you know that there are times in your life where the heavens are brass

25:58

And your prayers feel like they are bouncing back at you and God is not listening to you

26:05

But his steadfast love endures forever and he is not apart from you

26:10

He's there with you just like he was in Jonah's life Who was the one who sent the storm?

26:17

Well, that was God who's the one that sent the fish? Oh, that's God God's doing everything

26:23

Jonah's running Trying to not do what God wants him to do and God's like nope, I'm gonna keep pulling

26:29

I'm gonna keep grasping I'm gonna keep going after you Jonah has no hope of getting away because the steadfast love of the

26:38

Lord endures forever So he gets his he gets his marching orders a second time and Now Jonah rose and went to Nineveh according to the

26:48

Word of the Lord Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city three days journey in breath

26:53

Jonah began to go into the city and he called out yet 40 days and Nineveh is gonna be destroyed

27:04

What kind of message is this? Right. This is not a good message This is not

27:11

Oh repent and Christ will save you Just turn from your sin. Everything be okay.

27:16

No 40 days and then it was gonna be destroyed Listen to the next verse and the people of Nineveh believed

27:25

God I Told you before when you speak the words of God out of your lips people hear it

27:34

They either love it or they hate it, but they hear it and these people heard it and what happened

27:40

God has brought faith in their hearts. God is doing this They're not turning from their evil wicked ways because they're doing it all on their own

27:49

No, the Holy Spirit's at work Aren't you glad that Christ spoke into your heart and caused faith to rise up in your heart

28:09

Because we were deaf to him deaf dumb and blind just like the gods of these those semen

28:17

We couldn't hear we couldn't see we didn't know up from down left from right and Christ came in and Said you are mine and my steadfast love is gonna endure forever for you

28:34

We heard it all service long 26 verses in Psalm 36

28:42

How about every six minutes Every six minutes my steadfast love endures forever

28:50

So these these Ninevites They called out a fast they put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them

28:57

The word reached the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne removed his robe

29:02

Covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes and he issued a proclamation and published it through Nineveh By the decree of the king and his nobles let man nor beast

29:15

Heard nor flock taste anything let him not feed or drink water

29:21

But let them be let the man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let them call out mightily to God Let everyone turn from his evil way

29:32

Turn from what murder rape and theft. That's what you have to turn from And these people are doing it

29:40

Because God is doing a work And from the violence that is in his hands

29:47

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

29:57

I told my wife If some prophet from another country

30:03

Brooke came to my town and said Oh 40 days and your towns gonna be wiped out.

30:09

I might say We have friends in Chelmsford Why don't we go there?

30:16

And we can just wait for 40 days and see what God does and then I don't have to repent I don't have to do anything.

30:22

I can remain a wicked sinner heading to hell

30:28

But that's not what happens No, God does this work this amazing work?

30:34

He's been working from verse 1 And he's still working This is what happens now when

30:44

God saw what they did how they turn from their evil way God relented from the disaster.

30:50

He said he was gonna do to them and he did not do it now Just so you know

30:57

Jonah doesn't know this Jonah has delivered his message

31:03

He's not happy with the fact that these people are repenting, but he's not

31:09

Positive that God is going to relent now we come to chapter 4 our last chapter and this is the most interesting chapter because this is a conversation of God with Jonah God and Jonah are gonna have this back -and -forth

31:27

And here's what we here's what Here's how the conversation starts So they're all repenting in Nineveh They're all coming to faith

31:39

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry Why is he angry because he hates these people?

31:46

They're horrible people in his mind and he wants to see them destroyed. He wants to see them killed and sent to hell

31:53

That's what he wants and what he wants isn't happening So he's angry.

32:00

Who's he angry with he's angry with God Why are you doing this and he prays to the

32:07

Lord he said isn't this what I told you when I was home This is why

32:13

I made haste to flee to Tarshish for I knew you to be a gracious God merciful slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and Relenting from disaster and I didn't want you to do it to these people

32:29

But I knew that about you He's not all bad because Cuz God has saved him

32:37

He's now that mixture that you and I are sinner Saint Right. We're this good and bad all mushed together

32:46

But God's not gonna let you go Do you know why Because what

32:53

God wants to make you better Do you realize in the garden your humanity was broken and God wants to make you more human he wants to restore your humanity and Dare I even use this word

33:11

God wants to make you divine He wants to make you like the Jesus on the other boat that will not turn his face even from a storm

33:21

Wherever my father says I'm gonna go that's where I'm gonna go That's who he wants to make you he wants to make you better than you were and better than you are

33:33

That's who he is and he's the God of steadfast love that will every six minutes dump that into you so that he can change

33:40

Who you are and he does it Without you even knowing he's doing it

33:46

Let me tell you I'm 68 as I already said old getting older and I look back in my life and I am better than I was

33:59

Not my much The change happens slow and incrementally But God has been at work and he's been making me into something that I was not

34:11

He's making me to look like his son Jesus now He's got a lot of more work to do.

34:20

Let's face it So he's mad at God tells him

34:26

I knew you were gonna do this Therefore now Oh Lord Please take my life.

34:32

It's better for me to die than live just like the Israelites in Egypt Why'd you bring us out here?

34:40

Why are you doing all it was better in there, right? We like jail. It was good, right?

34:47

really Now good old Jonah. He's just he just wants to die and The Lord said to him

34:56

Do you do well to be angry You realize God is continuing this conversation.

35:02

He's not stopping He's always pulling. He's always reaching he's striving to get

35:09

Jonah's eyes to open up to see That his steadfast love is not just for him and not just for Israel, but for the world

35:21

And just like Jonah we're stiff -necked and stubborn sometimes So do you do well to be angry?

35:28

He says and Jonah went out from the city He sat at the east of the city He made himself a booth there a little lean to right he sits under it in the shade

35:36

So that he could see what will become of the city. He's still hoping He's waiting for fire to fall from heaven, right?

35:45

That's his wish He knows God he knows his steadfast love endures forever

35:52

He knows he's just poured it out on these people and he's still hoping listen, are you sometimes stubborn?

36:01

No Boy are we ever sometimes we do not want to see and God has to just pry our eyes open

36:14

So, what does God do So God appointed a plant He made it to grow up over Jonah that it might be a shade over his head to save him from his discomfort

36:25

And Jonah was exceedingly glad for the plan, right? He's not sitting out there in the desert is a little lean to is not quite doing it.

36:31

It's plant grows up. He's at home This is good But when dawn came up the next day

36:39

God appointed a worm and it attacked the plant and it withered So God's planting stuff.

36:47

He's making it grow. He's killing it He's doing everything What's Jonah doing?

36:54

nothing Do you know that's about all you can do sometimes is nothing and you have to rely on God that he will do it for you

37:05

Listen, do you want to sanctify yourselves? Go ahead and try you will fail You cannot sanctify yourself

37:14

You will remain broken until God does the work and he's committed to doing it

37:20

Because this is what love looks like Love will not let you go Love takes a stubborn stiff -necked

37:29

Unrepenting unrelenting wicked people and he says those are mine and I'm gonna make them better so the plant now withers and when the

37:41

Sun rose God appointed a scorching east wind and he made the Sun to be down on the head of Jonah.

37:48

So he was faint What does Jonah do he asked that he might die it is better for me to die than live this poor depressed guy

37:58

He is just so broken Just like us Just so broken, but God's not willing to give up.

38:07

He's just not Verse 9 but God said to Jonah, do you will do you do well to be angry for the plant?

38:16

What does Jonah say? Yes That's exactly what he said. Yes. I do well to be angry angry enough to die

38:26

It's all he wants to do God is not doing what he wanted him to do Listen, I wish

38:33

I had a ministry like Jonah. He gets on a ship. He gives him some Garbage message and they all get saved

38:41

Then he goes to Nineveh and he says Oh 40 days your city's gonna be destroyed and they all get saved

38:46

Everybody he talks to get saved. I Would love to be able to just everyone I talk to get saved most of them go

38:56

That's Italian Then the

39:03

Lord said to Jonah you pity the plant which you didn't labor for You didn't make it grow.

39:09

It came into being in a night and it perished in a night Shouldn't I pity Nineveh that great city in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons

39:21

Who don't know their right hand from their left? Oh And just for good measure a lot of cattle, too

39:28

I Remember Jesus on the other boat One guy went to the land of the

39:35

Gadarenes to rescue one demon -possessed man Jonah sent to a whole city of a hundred and twenty thousand

39:43

And this is where the conversation ends this is it we've had this four to six week window into Jonah's life and That's it.

39:52

It's over What's the point? The point is God never stopped working ever never he just continued and continued and continued

40:03

I'll tell you when I get to heaven I want to sit down with Jonah in a cup of coffee and I want to say Jonah. I Need to hear the rest of the story.

40:11

I Want to know how God took you from this and made you this I Want to know how he brought righteousness into your life

40:20

I want to know how it was that he changed you from a lump of coal into gold and diamonds

40:26

That's what I want to know Because that's what God's about doing and you know sometimes as a lump of coal

40:36

He takes you and he presses you down And you feel like he's not there, but he is there

40:45

He is making you into something He is changing you Don't worry if you're not aware

40:53

It's his work and he's gonna do it and you're better you will be better than you are and better than you were but I told you that language is

41:03

We don't know language and we struggle with it So I'm hoping that you have a bitter a better Understanding of what love means to God and how it's always working how he will always be reaching how he will always be doing stuff in your life

41:19

He gives you the job that you have and then he takes it away. You know why so he can give you another

41:25

Right, you're gonna be working forever down here Right, even if you retire like I am believe me you'll be working right it never ends so love is this this never -ending thing, but Because this word hesed in my scriptures was translated as steadfast love

41:47

I thought I need to find out what steadfast means because it's actually one word in Hebrew It's steadfast and love are connected.

41:56

So what do they mean? So like a good 21st century American male? I googled it

42:01

And I said give me the synonyms for steadfast and this is what

42:07

Google pumped out The love of God is abiding

42:13

It's adamant it's ardent it's avid. Oh, it's bound isn't his love is bound to you

42:20

It's changeless He doesn't love you today and not tomorrow Right. He didn't call you into salvation on Thursday so that he could wait five years and kick you out later

42:32

No, it's changeless. It's confirmed. It's constant. It's dedicated

42:39

It's dependable. Oh, man. I'm glad for that one It's determined Listen, you're not that lovable I'm not that lovable He's determined to love us

42:53

Have you ever tried to love somebody who's not lovable Man, it's difficult We only want to be around the people we want to be around with we're like Jonah We don't want to go to Nineveh.

43:05

We'll stay in Israel and we'll talk to our Hebrew friends, right? His love is

43:11

It's devoted. It's devout. It's dutiful. It's enduring. We already know that listen to this one.

43:18

It's enthusiastic God's happy to love you as we heard it's his joy to love you

43:26

Broken and black hearted and despicable and stubborn and stiff -necked as you are.

43:33

He's happy to love you It's Established it's faithful.

43:39

It's fervent. It's firm It's fixed. It's good.

43:45

Isn't this one? It's immovable You know the rock you stand on is the love of Christ That's the rock you stand on and let me tell you we haven't come up with a bomb yet that can move that rock

43:58

We can't do it It's impassioned So, yeah, it's not like that goofy

44:05

Oh Heartfelt desire nor is it that stupid animalistic love? No, it's real passion.

44:12

It's a passion that will not let you go You want to know how much he loves you you take a look at this table

44:19

This is how much He would die for you. And you know, he doesn't just use the words.

44:25

He does it He dies for you Because his love is impassioned it's inexorable its intent it's inveterate it's loyal It's never failing it's obdurate, you know this word obdurate hard -headed

44:42

God is hard -headed in the way. He loves you boy. Am I glad because you know what?

44:47

I am hard -headed in the other direction and I need the hard -headedness of a God to overcome my stupid hard -headedness

44:55

It's a passionate persevering relentless relentless will not let you go reliable resolute responsible serious single -minded

45:08

He loves you Nothing's gonna get in the way of that. Love. He's not gonna find something else tomorrow

45:16

It's solid. It's stable. It's staunch. It's steady. Here's another good one for you.

45:23

It's stubborn God loves you with a stubborn love in the days where you like I'm turning away

45:33

He's like no, you're not I'm gonna stay right with you every six minutes

45:39

Pumping steadfast love into your heart and into your life because I love you. I Love you right

45:47

The little baby when he's got the little poop needs to be cleaned out of his diaper. What's mom do? I don't love you.

45:54

No mom goes over and does what she needs to do. Why because she loves that baby She loves it and he loves us and when we get in a pile of poos.

46:03

Oh, man You know, sometimes we collect quite a bit He says not ain't gonna do it for you.

46:11

I'm stubborn. I'm gonna love you It's sure it's sworn tried and true trustworthy

46:20

It's unbending Unfaltering unhesitating Unmovable Unflinching Listen the day you do that horrible despicable thing that you never thought you were gonna go do you think

46:37

God goes? Oh That's shocking. Oh, no Listen he knew you before you were even existing and he had already decided.

46:47

I'm a love that one And when they come in on the scene, oh man, I can't wait because I'm gonna love them

46:56

It's unmovable unquestioning unswerving unwavering unyielding

47:04

Wholehearted he loves you with all his heart. Not just a corner of it. You know how big his heart is

47:12

The universe can't hold it all of the universes can't hold it everything exists in him

47:20

And it's zealous Zealous This is the love of God for us

47:27

And it's the love of God for you Because his steadfast love endures forever

47:35

Father we thank you for your goodness and your kindness and your grace because your steadfast love endures forever to us and We thank you for it in the name of the