WEBVTT 00:00:00.140 --> 00:00:04.480 on are you going to Wales or to the Wales, right? 00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:07.919 Two responses to God's call in honor of our missions 00:00:07.919 --> 00:00:11.259 trip team to Wales. And today the response we're 00:00:11.259 --> 00:00:13.960 gonna look at is following God's call. So last 00:00:13.960 --> 00:00:17.559 week we looked at Jonah's initial response to 00:00:17.559 --> 00:00:21.420 God's call. Jonah, his initial response wasn't 00:00:21.420 --> 00:00:25.699 great, right? God called Jonah to preach to Nineveh 00:00:25.699 --> 00:00:29.660 and Jonah ran. He rejected God's call. He thought 00:00:29.660 --> 00:00:32.859 he bought a one -way ticket away from God's call, 00:00:32.920 --> 00:00:35.280 but it ended up being a round -trip ticket, right? 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:38.840 And he ended up getting called right back to 00:00:38.840 --> 00:00:41.320 his calling. God brought him right back to his 00:00:41.320 --> 00:00:45.140 calling, saved him from his foolish decisions 00:00:45.140 --> 00:00:47.179 and brought him right where he needed him to 00:00:47.179 --> 00:00:51.439 be and gave him a second chance. Who's thankful 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:56.500 for second chances? Some of us are thankful for 00:00:56.500 --> 00:01:02.140 third, fourth, Yeah, fifth, sixth, seventh chances. 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:08.400 And I know that's the case with me. I'm sure 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:12.040 some of you guys know this. Maybe I told you 00:01:12.040 --> 00:01:17.420 this. Maybe you just inferred this. But in my 00:01:17.420 --> 00:01:20.739 youth, I was a delinquent. Growing up, I was 00:01:20.739 --> 00:01:23.239 not a good kid. I got into a lot of trouble. 00:01:24.200 --> 00:01:28.560 And in the eyes of many, I was hopeless. And 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:32.620 for some time, I proved those people right. But 00:01:32.620 --> 00:01:36.760 then, God got a hold of my heart, gave me a second 00:01:36.760 --> 00:01:41.879 chance at life. And honestly, I failed again. 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:48.099 And again, and again. But God gave me chance 00:01:48.099 --> 00:01:51.180 after chance. Simultaneously, He's calling me 00:01:51.180 --> 00:01:55.079 back, He's drawing me to Himself, helping me 00:01:55.079 --> 00:01:58.250 to live out my calling. his calling on my life 00:01:58.250 --> 00:02:01.730 more and more each day. And I didn't deserve 00:02:01.730 --> 00:02:03.530 any one of those chances. And as I look around 00:02:03.530 --> 00:02:07.189 the room, I see you guys and I can't help but 00:02:07.189 --> 00:02:11.789 think I'm not alone in that boat, right? We're 00:02:11.789 --> 00:02:13.990 just a bunch of sinners saved by grace, right? 00:02:13.990 --> 00:02:15.949 If you know the Lord, you're just a sinner saved 00:02:15.949 --> 00:02:19.490 by grace. We're all hopeless outside of God's 00:02:19.490 --> 00:02:25.349 grace. Lamentations 22 and 23 says, It is of 00:02:25.349 --> 00:02:28.949 the Lord's mercy that we're not consumed. In 00:02:28.949 --> 00:02:31.969 simple terms, that means we should all be dead, 00:02:32.050 --> 00:02:34.849 right? There's no reason that we're here right 00:02:34.849 --> 00:02:37.550 now. None of us deserve to be here. None of us 00:02:37.550 --> 00:02:41.189 deserve the privilege of gathering with one another 00:02:41.189 --> 00:02:46.030 tonight to worship God. None of us deserve to 00:02:46.030 --> 00:02:48.870 be enlisted in God's mission and his calling 00:02:48.870 --> 00:02:51.189 to reach the world, right? None of us deserve 00:02:51.189 --> 00:02:55.139 that. But we're here because our God is merciful. 00:02:55.900 --> 00:02:59.620 That verse continues to say, because his compassions 00:02:59.620 --> 00:03:04.539 fail not, they're new every morning, great is 00:03:04.539 --> 00:03:07.259 thy faithfulness, right? And so we just sang 00:03:07.259 --> 00:03:10.539 about it. God is so faithful and so merciful. 00:03:10.580 --> 00:03:15.080 And I am so thankful for second chances. Listen 00:03:15.080 --> 00:03:19.060 church, our God is a God of second chances. Jonah. 00:03:19.479 --> 00:03:21.699 we're gonna see he needed a second chance. We 00:03:21.699 --> 00:03:24.699 read about that last week, right? Nineveh, they 00:03:24.699 --> 00:03:28.500 needed a second chance. And every person in here 00:03:28.500 --> 00:03:32.159 has needed a second chance at least once today, 00:03:32.259 --> 00:03:37.379 right? We all need God's grace, His mercy. And 00:03:37.379 --> 00:03:40.120 that leads us to what we're gonna talk about 00:03:40.120 --> 00:03:42.800 today. Jonah was a prophet of God and he rejected 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:46.250 God's call, but he got a second chance. Tonight 00:03:46.250 --> 00:03:48.770 we're gonna study what he did with his second 00:03:48.770 --> 00:03:51.610 chance and hopefully we can leave here knowing 00:03:51.610 --> 00:03:53.729 what we should do with ours. So let's pray and 00:03:53.729 --> 00:03:56.349 we'll get into the lesson. Lord, thank you for 00:03:56.349 --> 00:03:59.669 allowing us to come together, for being so faithful, 00:03:59.750 --> 00:04:02.430 for being so merciful to us. And I just pray 00:04:02.430 --> 00:04:04.870 that as we go through tonight's lesson, that 00:04:04.870 --> 00:04:06.909 we could apply it to our lives, that we could 00:04:06.909 --> 00:04:10.490 use every breath that we have to honor you, to 00:04:10.490 --> 00:04:12.610 glorify you and to do your mission in the world, 00:04:12.750 --> 00:04:18.180 Lord. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. So last 00:04:18.180 --> 00:04:21.439 week, we looked at the part of Jonah's story 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:25.480 where Jonah teaches us what not to do, right? 00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:29.600 Jonah rejected God's call and the kind of the 00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:31.959 point of that sermon was, man, when God calls, 00:04:32.500 --> 00:04:36.480 the right response is always to obey his call. 00:04:37.779 --> 00:04:39.899 Jonah ran the other way though because he hated 00:04:39.899 --> 00:04:43.600 the people of Assyria and he went against God 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:47.750 just so that they didn't get to be rescued by 00:04:47.750 --> 00:04:49.829 God so that they didn't get to experience that 00:04:49.829 --> 00:04:51.810 same faithfulness, that same mercy, that same 00:04:51.810 --> 00:04:55.250 grace. He rejected God until he was at the bottom 00:04:55.250 --> 00:04:59.170 of the sea. And then when the water filled his 00:04:59.170 --> 00:05:02.689 lungs, he called out to God and God was faithful. 00:05:02.730 --> 00:05:05.189 He showed him that mercy, that grace, pulled 00:05:05.189 --> 00:05:09.029 him out from the water and brought him right 00:05:09.029 --> 00:05:11.550 back to his calling, spit him out on the sea 00:05:11.550 --> 00:05:13.649 or on the shore rather. He brought him right 00:05:13.649 --> 00:05:15.430 back to his calling. And so tonight we're gonna 00:05:15.430 --> 00:05:19.050 talk about the less popular part of Jonah's story, 00:05:19.209 --> 00:05:21.509 right? The part where we get to see what happens 00:05:21.509 --> 00:05:23.550 when Jonah actually does what God called him 00:05:23.550 --> 00:05:26.129 to do. Even though Jonah was still wrestling 00:05:26.129 --> 00:05:30.449 with God's heart on this and wrestling with his 00:05:30.449 --> 00:05:32.810 own heart and his own obedience, Jonah did what 00:05:32.810 --> 00:05:36.329 God called him to do, technically, and God used 00:05:36.329 --> 00:05:39.990 him in a massive way. He also grew Jonah as a 00:05:39.990 --> 00:05:42.889 result of that obedience. And so the story, of 00:05:42.889 --> 00:05:44.709 Jonah's second chance isn't perfect, but it's 00:05:44.709 --> 00:05:49.269 powerful because we learn both what God accomplishes 00:05:49.269 --> 00:05:51.730 when we follow God's call and the heart that 00:05:51.730 --> 00:05:54.990 God wants us to have when we have, or in our 00:05:54.990 --> 00:05:58.509 obedience to him. And so you might not be perfect. 00:05:58.850 --> 00:06:00.850 Actually, I'm sure you're not perfect. I'm not 00:06:00.850 --> 00:06:06.149 perfect. Jonah was not perfect, but Jonah said 00:06:06.149 --> 00:06:08.850 yes to God. And so I wanna ask you guys tonight, 00:06:08.889 --> 00:06:11.519 what could happen? if we were all to say yes 00:06:11.519 --> 00:06:13.500 to God, if you were to say yes to God, what if 00:06:13.500 --> 00:06:16.720 you left behind your bitterness, your fear, your 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:20.060 pride, whatever's holding you back from faithfully 00:06:20.060 --> 00:06:22.920 responding to God's call, and you actually followed 00:06:22.920 --> 00:06:26.459 God's call in your life to be stewards of the 00:06:26.459 --> 00:06:28.480 gospel? That's what I wanna talk about tonight. 00:06:29.959 --> 00:06:33.759 So, I know that following God's call, it can 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:36.879 be intimidating, right? It can be uncomfortable, 00:06:36.920 --> 00:06:39.560 it can be uncertain, even scary at times. Has 00:06:39.560 --> 00:06:42.639 anybody ever felt that? I had a friend tell me 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:46.000 two weeks ago, I think, that following God's 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:49.939 call is like being a kid at the pool and you're 00:06:49.939 --> 00:06:52.360 standing on the edge and your father's in the 00:06:52.360 --> 00:06:54.620 pool and he's calling for you, hey, jump in the 00:06:54.620 --> 00:06:56.019 pool, jump in the pool, I got you, it's gonna 00:06:56.019 --> 00:06:59.139 be a great time, right? Jump in the pool. But 00:06:59.139 --> 00:07:04.939 you can't swim, right? The water's deep. You 00:07:04.939 --> 00:07:07.100 don't know what's gonna happen. There's uncertainty 00:07:07.100 --> 00:07:09.649 there, it's scary. Even though you trust your 00:07:09.649 --> 00:07:13.189 dad, you have to overcome that fear and take 00:07:13.189 --> 00:07:15.870 that leap of faith to discover that he really 00:07:15.870 --> 00:07:18.730 is there to catch you, that he really is gonna 00:07:18.730 --> 00:07:21.029 be with you as you go through it. And it's actually 00:07:21.029 --> 00:07:24.050 gonna be amazing. Similarly, when we follow God, 00:07:24.769 --> 00:07:28.930 the result of our faithfulness and his faithfulness 00:07:28.930 --> 00:07:31.389 in our lives and the lives around us is amazing. 00:07:31.430 --> 00:07:33.649 When we actually obey God and we follow his calling 00:07:33.649 --> 00:07:38.399 in that sense. And so when we follow God's When 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:40.540 we faithfully respond to God's call, God's with 00:07:40.540 --> 00:07:42.480 us. When we faithfully respond to God's call, 00:07:42.579 --> 00:07:45.180 God works in us and around us. That brings us 00:07:45.180 --> 00:07:49.060 to our objective. Every believer can faithfully 00:07:49.060 --> 00:07:51.500 respond to God's calling by understanding this 00:07:51.500 --> 00:07:54.339 three stage process seen in Jonah's second response 00:07:54.339 --> 00:07:59.699 to God's call. You can learn to faithfully answer 00:07:59.699 --> 00:08:02.180 God's call by understanding Jonah's second response. 00:08:02.920 --> 00:08:05.610 And so, The first stage that we're gonna look 00:08:05.610 --> 00:08:08.129 at is receive God's call. This might sound familiar. 00:08:08.930 --> 00:08:12.569 This was the same kind of idea as last week. 00:08:12.810 --> 00:08:15.329 Okay, so we're gonna pick up in chapter three, 00:08:15.889 --> 00:08:20.990 verse one and two. Verse one says, and the word 00:08:20.990 --> 00:08:24.569 of the Lord came unto Jonah a second time, saying, 00:08:25.850 --> 00:08:29.250 arise and go to Nineveh, that great city, and 00:08:29.250 --> 00:08:31.910 preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. 00:08:33.210 --> 00:08:36.409 God has a calling on every believer's life. For 00:08:36.409 --> 00:08:40.669 Jonah, it was specifically to preach to Nineveh. 00:08:41.490 --> 00:08:43.929 And even though Jonah rejected God's call initially, 00:08:44.190 --> 00:08:46.809 God didn't change his call. He brought him right 00:08:46.809 --> 00:08:50.470 back to it. I love how God here, he doesn't rehash 00:08:50.470 --> 00:08:52.889 the whole conversation. He doesn't go back and 00:08:52.889 --> 00:08:54.649 rehash everything that happened in the last two 00:08:54.649 --> 00:08:58.149 chapters. He doesn't scold Jonah. He doesn't 00:08:58.149 --> 00:09:01.169 say, Jonah, you blew it. Here's what I want you 00:09:01.169 --> 00:09:04.090 to do and give him more instructions. And obviously 00:09:04.090 --> 00:09:07.789 Jonah blew it, but when he rejected God's call, 00:09:08.269 --> 00:09:10.850 right? But God comes back to Jonah and says, 00:09:11.090 --> 00:09:13.610 okay, now that we've been through all of this, 00:09:14.909 --> 00:09:18.850 go do what I bid thee, right? Go do what I already 00:09:18.850 --> 00:09:21.009 told you to do. That's grace, that's mercy. God 00:09:21.009 --> 00:09:25.090 had every right to just delete, to get rid of 00:09:25.090 --> 00:09:28.090 Jonah, right? But he didn't. Jonah got a second 00:09:28.090 --> 00:09:31.269 chance to tell the people of Nineveh. What God 00:09:31.269 --> 00:09:33.970 had to say if they repent or if they don't repent 00:09:33.970 --> 00:09:36.049 if they didn't turn from their witness that God 00:09:36.049 --> 00:09:38.049 of Israel was gonna wipe them from the from the 00:09:38.049 --> 00:09:41.389 face of the planet even though Jonah messed up. 00:09:41.389 --> 00:09:44.870 He still was used by God to give him that message 00:09:44.870 --> 00:09:51.309 in in Romans 11 29 Paul's is writing about the 00:09:51.309 --> 00:09:54.210 Jews Who were definitely definitely messed up 00:09:54.210 --> 00:09:56.129 you guys read the Old Testament you'd see they 00:09:56.129 --> 00:09:58.250 messed up a lot right and the Gentiles who were 00:09:58.250 --> 00:10:02.009 were rejected by the Jews because of their wickedness. 00:10:02.889 --> 00:10:07.169 And he says in Romans 11, 29, for the gifts and 00:10:07.169 --> 00:10:10.309 the calling of God are without repentance. In 00:10:10.309 --> 00:10:12.470 context, Paul's speaking about God's covenant 00:10:12.470 --> 00:10:15.789 faithfulness to Israel and his promises to them. 00:10:15.809 --> 00:10:18.370 He's not gonna revoke his promises. God is faithful. 00:10:18.450 --> 00:10:23.049 He's gonna keep those promises. And he's not 00:10:23.049 --> 00:10:25.909 gonna revoke, in context, he's saying just as 00:10:25.909 --> 00:10:28.360 he didn't revoke those promises, those gifts, 00:10:28.460 --> 00:10:30.820 those callings. He's not gonna revoke the promises 00:10:30.820 --> 00:10:32.919 to the New Testament believer as well. God is 00:10:32.919 --> 00:10:37.799 faithful to us. And the same truth that you can 00:10:37.799 --> 00:10:41.000 draw right there extends to God's calling. God 00:10:41.000 --> 00:10:44.379 doesn't cancel our salvation when we mess up, 00:10:44.580 --> 00:10:48.940 and God doesn't cancel our calling when we mess 00:10:48.940 --> 00:10:56.240 up. He's merciful. In the New Testament, we see 00:10:56.279 --> 00:10:58.539 God calls in two main forms, okay? So the first, 00:10:58.919 --> 00:11:01.940 we talked about this pretty extensively last 00:11:01.940 --> 00:11:04.440 week, but the first two, or the two forms that 00:11:04.440 --> 00:11:07.879 he calls in, the first one is the call to salvation. 00:11:08.820 --> 00:11:11.960 To repent, to believe in Jesus Christ, that's 00:11:11.960 --> 00:11:15.159 eternal, that's about your soul. God knows everything 00:11:15.159 --> 00:11:17.100 about you, every single one of us. He knows how 00:11:17.100 --> 00:11:18.700 many hair you have on your head and he knows 00:11:18.700 --> 00:11:20.259 the worst thing that you've ever done, right? 00:11:20.259 --> 00:11:23.919 He knows everything about us. Still, he offers 00:11:23.919 --> 00:11:29.659 life in his son. Jesus Christ is Lord, He came 00:11:29.659 --> 00:11:31.740 down from heaven, He died on the cross, lived 00:11:31.740 --> 00:11:33.440 a perfect life, died on the cross for the sins 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:35.200 of the world so that people like you and me, 00:11:35.700 --> 00:11:37.960 people who need a lot of chances, who need a 00:11:37.960 --> 00:11:41.120 lot of grace, a lot of mercy, could have a chance 00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:44.299 and not just a chance, but have this irrevocable 00:11:44.299 --> 00:11:47.899 opportunity to know God personally, to be forgiven 00:11:47.899 --> 00:11:49.940 for our sins and to spend eternity in heaven. 00:11:50.860 --> 00:11:53.820 And you can reject that call. That's your choice. 00:11:53.960 --> 00:11:56.100 Or you can put your faith in Jesus and receive 00:11:56.100 --> 00:11:58.759 salvation. That's the first call. The second 00:11:58.759 --> 00:12:03.700 call is the call to purpose, to walk in obedience 00:12:03.700 --> 00:12:07.419 to what God is doing in and through your life, 00:12:07.539 --> 00:12:10.480 which is our focus in Jonah, in this series in 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:13.820 Jonah. This means participating in the ministry 00:12:13.820 --> 00:12:15.539 of the gospel through the local church, through 00:12:15.539 --> 00:12:18.980 your family, through your community. For some, 00:12:19.159 --> 00:12:21.879 it means full -time vocational ministry, right? 00:12:22.860 --> 00:12:26.879 But you can't walk in your purpose that God has 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:28.899 for you. You can't walk in that calling without 00:12:28.899 --> 00:12:31.899 first receiving salvation, without first responding 00:12:31.899 --> 00:12:35.279 to that call to salvation. But like Jonah, some 00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:37.480 of us who have been called, who do know Jesus 00:12:37.480 --> 00:12:40.860 says Lord and Savior, have been running from 00:12:40.860 --> 00:12:45.159 God's call. Some of us have flat out rejected 00:12:45.159 --> 00:12:48.080 God's call. We don't wanna do what God has for 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:53.389 us. We don't want any part of it. Jonah gave, 00:12:53.570 --> 00:12:55.929 or God gave Jonah a second chance. God is giving 00:12:55.929 --> 00:12:57.769 us a second chance. Every breath that we have 00:12:57.769 --> 00:13:00.190 is an opportunity to live out God's call in our 00:13:00.190 --> 00:13:04.250 life. While our sin, our sin has real consequences, 00:13:04.429 --> 00:13:06.769 right? Even as believers, our sin still has consequences. 00:13:07.269 --> 00:13:10.049 No believer can be disqualified from being used 00:13:10.049 --> 00:13:14.750 by God. Some sins can disqualify us from certain 00:13:14.750 --> 00:13:18.590 roles, certain opportunities, right? Who's ever 00:13:18.590 --> 00:13:21.470 heard of a pastor stepping down or a missionary? 00:13:22.019 --> 00:13:25.960 resigning. You can mess up so bad that there's 00:13:25.960 --> 00:13:28.919 certain things that you can't do. There might 00:13:28.919 --> 00:13:31.419 be places you can't serve in the church. You 00:13:31.419 --> 00:13:34.340 may never legally be able to go to Wales, right? 00:13:34.620 --> 00:13:38.320 There's that. But no matter who you are, where 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:41.600 you've been, what you've done, if you know Christ 00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:44.100 as your Lord and Savior, you can't lose your 00:13:44.100 --> 00:13:47.559 salvation and you can't lose your calling to 00:13:47.559 --> 00:13:52.059 follow Christ. in the work of the ministry, in 00:13:52.059 --> 00:13:53.759 reaching the world with the gospel. God wants 00:13:53.759 --> 00:13:57.679 to use you, and he's calling you. And the right 00:13:57.679 --> 00:14:00.059 response to God's call is always to follow God's 00:14:00.059 --> 00:14:02.799 call. It's always to obey God's call. And you 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:04.559 can do that today. You can put your trust in 00:14:04.559 --> 00:14:07.500 Christ. You can walk in obedience. And maybe 00:14:07.500 --> 00:14:09.399 this isn't the first time you've heard this, 00:14:09.500 --> 00:14:12.039 right? Maybe you've heard this before. You've 00:14:12.039 --> 00:14:13.639 heard what I'm saying, but you're not doing it. 00:14:14.100 --> 00:14:16.740 You can learn from Jonah's second chance. Learn 00:14:16.740 --> 00:14:18.980 from God's word. God used all kinds of messed 00:14:18.980 --> 00:14:24.610 up people in the Bible. He used Samson. Samson, 00:14:24.789 --> 00:14:27.049 he used him after he followed his lust instead 00:14:27.049 --> 00:14:30.370 of the Lord, right? He used David. David messed 00:14:30.370 --> 00:14:32.710 up a few times, right? He used him even after 00:14:32.710 --> 00:14:36.129 he killed a man. He used Peter who denied him 00:14:36.129 --> 00:14:39.169 three times, right? And tonight through Jonah's 00:14:39.169 --> 00:14:41.330 story, through Jonah's second chance, I hope 00:14:41.330 --> 00:14:44.309 that you can see God wants to know people like 00:14:44.309 --> 00:14:47.669 you and me and to use us to accomplish his purpose 00:14:47.669 --> 00:14:50.860 in the world. God is calling. and we can receive 00:14:50.860 --> 00:14:53.600 that calling tonight, but I want you to know 00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:57.039 that this calling isn't like when your best friend 00:14:57.039 --> 00:14:59.779 calls you, you know, at like 10 o 'clock at night 00:14:59.779 --> 00:15:02.559 and you talk for two hours and then you hang 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:04.759 up the phone and it's like it never happened, 00:15:04.919 --> 00:15:06.980 right? You just chit -chatted, you just had a 00:15:06.980 --> 00:15:09.139 good time. That's not necessarily what's happening 00:15:09.139 --> 00:15:11.179 here. When God calls, he has a mission, he has 00:15:11.179 --> 00:15:15.120 a purpose, and he wants us to accomplish it. 00:15:15.159 --> 00:15:16.720 He's giving us something to do and we should 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:19.879 do it. We should obey that calling. which brings 00:15:19.879 --> 00:15:22.519 us to the next stage in Jonah's response to God's 00:15:22.519 --> 00:15:25.600 call, which is stage two, and that's obey God's 00:15:25.600 --> 00:15:30.779 call. This part isn't in your notes, but if you 00:15:30.779 --> 00:15:33.240 know the story, you can kinda, or you can put 00:15:33.240 --> 00:15:36.500 in the, right next to obey God's call, in the 00:15:36.500 --> 00:15:39.620 little four parentheses, you can put kinda, because 00:15:39.620 --> 00:15:43.279 Jonah obeyed God's call, kinda, right? Like he 00:15:43.279 --> 00:15:45.519 did, but we're gonna see what I'm talking about 00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:49.720 in just a second. Jonah. 3 verse 3 says, so Jonah 00:15:49.720 --> 00:15:51.960 arose and went unto Nineveh according to the 00:15:51.960 --> 00:15:55.659 word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding 00:15:55.659 --> 00:15:58.720 great city of three days journey. And Jonah began 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:02.080 to enter the city a day's journey. And he cried 00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:05.659 and said, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. 00:16:06.340 --> 00:16:09.480 So with Jonah's second chance, he obeyed God's 00:16:09.480 --> 00:16:12.919 call, but his heart was not in it. He did the 00:16:12.919 --> 00:16:16.000 right thing. but only because he felt that he 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:18.679 had to, and God knew that. How many of you guys 00:16:18.679 --> 00:16:20.559 have been there before? You were supposed to 00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:23.440 do something, but your heart wasn't in it, right? 00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:25.519 Kids, have you ever been told by your parents, 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:28.779 hey, go apologize to your sibling? You guys ever 00:16:28.779 --> 00:16:34.639 been there? And you do it, but did you really 00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:37.700 do it? Did you mean it? Have you guys ever been 00:16:37.700 --> 00:16:39.539 there? This happens to believers all the time. 00:16:40.120 --> 00:16:42.919 You apologize to somebody, even though you're 00:16:42.919 --> 00:16:44.899 still angry with them? You didn't really forgive 00:16:44.899 --> 00:16:48.139 them, but you said you did, that kind of thing. 00:16:48.740 --> 00:16:52.039 You serve wherever, in nursery, but you'd rather 00:16:52.039 --> 00:16:55.519 be in service. You share the gospel with a coworker, 00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:58.620 even though you didn't really want to talk to 00:16:58.620 --> 00:17:03.000 them in the first place. Maybe you pay your tithe, 00:17:03.240 --> 00:17:05.839 because that's just what you were raised to do. 00:17:05.880 --> 00:17:07.720 You're doing the right thing, but your heart's 00:17:07.720 --> 00:17:11.329 not in it. Sometimes... Faithful obedience means 00:17:11.329 --> 00:17:13.109 doing the right thing while God's still working 00:17:13.109 --> 00:17:15.109 on us. We're not perfect. None of us are perfect. 00:17:15.210 --> 00:17:17.650 And so sometimes that's the case for us. That 00:17:17.650 --> 00:17:19.990 happens to us. The Bible teaches that faith comes 00:17:19.990 --> 00:17:22.750 by hearing and hearing by the word of God, right? 00:17:22.789 --> 00:17:27.190 So sometimes our heart has to catch up with our 00:17:27.190 --> 00:17:30.349 actions. The Bible says, draw near to God and 00:17:30.349 --> 00:17:33.170 he'll draw near to you. So we see that obedience 00:17:33.170 --> 00:17:36.670 steps help our heart to actually change, to develop 00:17:36.670 --> 00:17:40.859 into what God wants it to be. And when our hearts 00:17:40.859 --> 00:17:43.339 aren't aligned with God's will, with God's purpose 00:17:43.339 --> 00:17:46.519 and his calling, our efforts and our understanding 00:17:46.519 --> 00:17:52.480 of that mission then are subpar. And we're gonna 00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:56.880 see that Jonah's obedience here is subpar. But 00:17:56.880 --> 00:17:58.559 here's the thing, and this is a great thing. 00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:03.099 If God didn't use subpar people, who would he 00:18:03.099 --> 00:18:08.059 use? Right? God. doesn't wait for our hearts 00:18:08.059 --> 00:18:10.259 to be completely perfect, for our hands to be 00:18:10.259 --> 00:18:12.819 completely clean, for him to put us to work. 00:18:12.900 --> 00:18:16.279 The first time God called Jonah, he ran away, 00:18:17.180 --> 00:18:19.880 and he obeys this time. He does what God calls 00:18:19.880 --> 00:18:22.700 him to do, despite his hate. He still was harboring 00:18:22.700 --> 00:18:26.500 hate for Nineveh, but he did what God wanted 00:18:26.500 --> 00:18:32.839 him to do. And the thing is that God not only 00:18:32.839 --> 00:18:35.920 wants, our outward obedience. God wants us to 00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:38.940 have obedient hearts. God wants us to not only 00:18:38.940 --> 00:18:42.859 do what he says is right, but to agree with him 00:18:42.859 --> 00:18:45.579 that it's right. And Jonah, he obeyed half -heartedly. 00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:47.279 He did what God said was right, but he didn't 00:18:47.279 --> 00:18:50.579 necessarily like it. He didn't really care for 00:18:50.579 --> 00:18:52.940 Nineveh that much at this point still. And it 00:18:52.940 --> 00:18:57.799 says in chapter three, verse three and four that 00:18:57.799 --> 00:19:00.000 when he went there, Nineveh was an exceeding 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:03.509 great city. It tells us in chapter four that 00:19:03.509 --> 00:19:07.009 there were 120 ,000 children in that city, meaning 00:19:07.009 --> 00:19:09.230 a lot of scholars say that the population could 00:19:09.230 --> 00:19:13.789 have been well over 600 ,000 people. That's the 00:19:13.789 --> 00:19:18.150 population of Toledo Metro, okay? So Toledo Metro 00:19:18.150 --> 00:19:23.769 is not like the city of Toledo. That is Lucas 00:19:23.769 --> 00:19:26.730 County, Fulton County, Wood County, and Ottawa 00:19:26.730 --> 00:19:30.039 counties combined. That's how many people. Scholars 00:19:30.039 --> 00:19:34.319 believe we're in Nineveh, right? But Jonah, the 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:36.740 Bible says that it was three days journey to 00:19:36.740 --> 00:19:39.640 get from one side of Nineveh to the other. And 00:19:39.640 --> 00:19:43.720 Jonah, it says went one day's journey in. Pastor, 00:19:43.779 --> 00:19:47.680 just for some perspective, that's like, you were 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:50.500 called to Toledo, but you went to North Baltimore, 00:19:50.700 --> 00:19:54.279 right? Like that's technically it's Toledo Metro, 00:19:54.380 --> 00:19:58.240 it's in there, right? He didn't really go to 00:19:58.240 --> 00:20:02.220 the heart. of the city, he went kind of to the 00:20:02.220 --> 00:20:05.140 outskirts. But still when he went there, he gave 00:20:05.140 --> 00:20:08.619 them God's message. He said, Nineveh will be 00:20:08.619 --> 00:20:12.799 overthrown in 40 days, right? Repent. And that's 00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:15.900 a really simple message. The Bible, he only says 00:20:15.900 --> 00:20:21.619 eight words in his message to Nineveh. So simple. 00:20:22.839 --> 00:20:24.819 And Jesus, when he came, he came with a similar 00:20:24.819 --> 00:20:27.240 message, a simple message. And he said, repent 00:20:27.240 --> 00:20:29.690 for the kingdom of heaven. is at hand when he 00:20:29.690 --> 00:20:33.230 first came on the scene. The thing is that most 00:20:33.230 --> 00:20:37.430 people that spoke with Jesus in his day rejected 00:20:37.430 --> 00:20:41.769 his message. In Matthew 12 41, it says, Jesus 00:20:41.769 --> 00:20:45.029 declared the men of Nineveh will rise up in judgment 00:20:45.029 --> 00:20:49.109 with the generation and condemn it for they repented 00:20:49.109 --> 00:20:52.069 at the preaching of Jonah. And indeed a greater 00:20:52.069 --> 00:20:55.269 than Jonah is here. And so he came with a similar 00:20:55.269 --> 00:20:59.140 message, repent God's judgment. is gonna be coming. 00:20:59.380 --> 00:21:02.339 Turn away from your sins, turn to God. Everyone 00:21:02.339 --> 00:21:05.200 in Nineveh, we're gonna see heeded Jonah's message, 00:21:06.819 --> 00:21:10.039 but few in Jesus' day listened to what he had 00:21:10.039 --> 00:21:13.940 to say. And I think we can all agree that Jesus 00:21:13.940 --> 00:21:18.160 is greater than Jonah, right? Jesus, as a believer, 00:21:19.339 --> 00:21:22.299 we know that Jesus is greater than Jonah and... 00:21:22.029 --> 00:21:24.690 And as a believer, we have a similar message 00:21:24.690 --> 00:21:27.089 to what Jesus did. He came and He gave us that 00:21:27.089 --> 00:21:29.029 message and He calls us to spread that message 00:21:29.029 --> 00:21:34.250 to the world. In Romans 13, 11 and 12, Paul says, 00:21:35.230 --> 00:21:38.750 the night is far gone and the day is at hand. 00:21:38.769 --> 00:21:41.809 Meaning that God's judgment is nearer than ever. 00:21:43.190 --> 00:21:46.769 If it was near when Jesus was here, it's a lot 00:21:46.769 --> 00:21:49.890 closer now, right? And so we've been called, 00:21:50.089 --> 00:21:53.869 by Jesus to warn people of that judgment and 00:21:53.869 --> 00:21:57.529 to call them to put their faith in Christ. Jude 00:21:57.529 --> 00:21:59.910 describes it in a really awesome way. He describes 00:21:59.910 --> 00:22:03.549 it as pulling some out of the fire. That's what 00:22:03.549 --> 00:22:06.109 we're called to do, to pull people out of the 00:22:06.109 --> 00:22:09.609 fire. And our obedience to God's call then is 00:22:09.609 --> 00:22:15.089 more needful than it's ever been. God doesn't 00:22:15.089 --> 00:22:17.869 need us to be perfect. He just needs us to be 00:22:17.869 --> 00:22:20.440 faithful to that call, to be. faithfully obedient 00:22:20.440 --> 00:22:24.380 to that call. Even in this story, God knew Jonah's 00:22:24.380 --> 00:22:28.279 heart, right? God knew Jonah wasn't obeying full 00:22:28.279 --> 00:22:30.579 -heartedly. He was doing it just because he felt 00:22:30.579 --> 00:22:35.440 like he had to, and God still used him. God did 00:22:35.440 --> 00:22:39.880 an amazing work in Nineveh, and through the process, 00:22:40.299 --> 00:22:43.140 I believe that God reshaped Jonah's heart, that 00:22:43.140 --> 00:22:46.420 God even changed his mind and even changed his 00:22:46.420 --> 00:22:48.240 theology on what God really wanted from him. 00:22:49.160 --> 00:22:51.500 That's how God works, isn't it? God wants to 00:22:51.500 --> 00:22:55.000 develop us. He wants us to grow in Christ's likeness. 00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:58.259 He wants our will to start to align with his 00:22:58.259 --> 00:23:01.400 will in our heart for things to be like his heart. 00:23:02.779 --> 00:23:05.140 And most of all, he wants us to love people like 00:23:05.140 --> 00:23:09.619 he loves people. He wants us to obey out of our 00:23:09.619 --> 00:23:11.720 love for God and our love for people, not just 00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:15.700 out of obligation. And that's what Jonah needs 00:23:15.700 --> 00:23:19.460 to learn. But through this process, he's patiently 00:23:19.460 --> 00:23:22.140 developing Jonah and he's patiently developing 00:23:22.140 --> 00:23:26.380 us as he as he convicts us as he chastens us 00:23:26.380 --> 00:23:32.819 like he did Jonah and in Jonah 4 to Jonah tells 00:23:32.819 --> 00:23:35.740 us exactly why Jonah behaved the way he did exactly 00:23:35.740 --> 00:23:38.220 why it was hard for him to have this true heartfelt 00:23:38.220 --> 00:23:43.039 obedience and Jonah 4 to We see that Jonah only 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:45.839 had a heart for himself and his people In verse 00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:49.599 two, it says, oh Lord, was not this my saying 00:23:49.599 --> 00:23:53.400 when I was yet in my country, therefore I fled 00:23:53.400 --> 00:23:57.660 before unto Tarshish for I knew that thou art 00:23:57.660 --> 00:24:00.740 a gracious God and merciful and slow to anger 00:24:00.740 --> 00:24:04.359 and of great kindness and repentously of evil. 00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:08.940 So Jonah's basically saying, I knew that you 00:24:08.940 --> 00:24:10.480 were a good God. I knew that you would forgive 00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:12.700 these guys and I didn't want you to, right? And 00:24:12.700 --> 00:24:15.279 I don't wanna be too hard on Jonah, because I 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:19.920 do believe Jonah's growing, but we see it even 00:24:19.920 --> 00:24:24.400 here. He went from pure hate for Nineveh, blatant 00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:28.079 disobedience to God, right, to hate and obedience. 00:24:28.599 --> 00:24:30.960 He's growing a little bit, he's moving along, 00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:34.299 but here's what made it so hard for Jonah to 00:24:34.299 --> 00:24:38.460 obey God. It's that Jonah knew God's loving character, 00:24:38.579 --> 00:24:40.940 and that knowledge made that obedience harder 00:24:40.940 --> 00:24:43.579 for him. rather than easier. Sometimes we struggle 00:24:43.579 --> 00:24:46.779 with that same thing. We know that we should 00:24:46.779 --> 00:24:48.880 love difficult people, that we should share the 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:51.200 gospel with people we don't like, that we should 00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:55.819 serve those who even hurt us, right? But obedience 00:24:55.819 --> 00:24:58.940 to this is hard when we're holding bad feelings 00:24:58.940 --> 00:25:01.920 like Jonah was holding. Jonah hated Nineveh. 00:25:02.099 --> 00:25:04.099 So that's why we're called to lay down those 00:25:04.099 --> 00:25:07.259 feelings and to pick up love, to love our neighbor 00:25:07.259 --> 00:25:12.640 like Christ loved us. And this love, it has to 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:17.339 stem from our love for God. Wearsby said, we 00:25:17.339 --> 00:25:19.839 obey even when we do not feel like it because 00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:22.359 obedience is an expression of love and trust 00:25:22.359 --> 00:25:25.980 and feelings often follow faithfulness. And that's 00:25:25.980 --> 00:25:29.119 exactly what Jonah is learning in this process. 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:34.200 Our obedience often comes before our feeling 00:25:34.200 --> 00:25:37.579 and sometimes we just have to move. our feet 00:25:37.579 --> 00:25:39.359 and our heart catch up, right? And so Jonah's 00:25:39.359 --> 00:25:41.119 kind of going through this process right in front 00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:44.380 of our eyes. Jonah took these reluctant steps 00:25:44.380 --> 00:25:48.259 into Nineveh, right? He took this eight word 00:25:48.259 --> 00:25:52.559 message, this kind of bad attitude, right, into 00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:57.480 Nineveh, preached God's word and God moved as 00:25:57.480 --> 00:26:01.420 a result. And sometimes that's what we have to 00:26:01.420 --> 00:26:03.259 do. We have to take a faithful response, meaning 00:26:03.259 --> 00:26:05.180 that we just have to take the steps that we know 00:26:05.180 --> 00:26:09.799 are right. wherever our heart is, we have to 00:26:09.799 --> 00:26:12.420 trust God and trust that he's working on us as 00:26:12.420 --> 00:26:17.059 he's working through us. Which brings us to stage 00:26:17.059 --> 00:26:19.460 three where we see Jonah experience God's work 00:26:19.460 --> 00:26:21.759 in the city of Nineveh and in his own heart. 00:26:22.400 --> 00:26:28.240 So stage three is experience God's work. And 00:26:28.240 --> 00:26:29.960 that's verse five through 10 and we're gonna 00:26:29.960 --> 00:26:33.779 get into chapter four as well. Verse five says, 00:26:34.019 --> 00:26:36.660 so the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed 00:26:36.660 --> 00:26:41.059 fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of 00:26:41.059 --> 00:26:43.859 them, even to the least of them. For the word 00:26:43.859 --> 00:26:46.380 came unto the king of Nineveh and he arose from 00:26:46.380 --> 00:26:49.700 his throne and he laid his robe from him and 00:26:49.700 --> 00:26:53.079 covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes. 00:26:53.799 --> 00:26:56.400 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published 00:26:56.400 --> 00:27:00.250 through Nineveh. by decree of the king and his 00:27:00.250 --> 00:27:04.250 noble, saying, let neither man nor beast, herd 00:27:04.250 --> 00:27:09.650 nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed 00:27:09.650 --> 00:27:14.210 nor drink water, but let man and beast be covered 00:27:14.210 --> 00:27:18.869 with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God. Yea, 00:27:18.950 --> 00:27:21.809 let them turn everyone from his evil way and 00:27:21.809 --> 00:27:25.029 from the violence that is in their hands. Who 00:27:25.029 --> 00:27:28.720 can tell if God will turn and repent? and turn 00:27:28.720 --> 00:27:31.759 away from the fierce anger that we perish not. 00:27:32.299 --> 00:27:35.720 And God saw their works and they turned from 00:27:35.720 --> 00:27:37.900 their evil way, that they turned from their evil 00:27:37.900 --> 00:27:41.579 way and God repented from the evil that he had 00:27:41.579 --> 00:27:44.200 said he would do unto them and he did it not. 00:27:46.259 --> 00:27:49.480 So here we see that the people of Nineveh heard 00:27:49.480 --> 00:27:52.700 Jonah's eight word sermon and repented and they 00:27:52.700 --> 00:27:56.220 didn't just like kind of repent, they repented 00:27:56.220 --> 00:27:59.529 in. dramatic fashion, right? It says that God 00:27:59.529 --> 00:28:01.589 convicted their hearts to turn from wickedness 00:28:01.589 --> 00:28:05.849 and that really transformed the trajectory of 00:28:05.849 --> 00:28:09.470 the city. They were gonna be destroyed, right? 00:28:09.970 --> 00:28:13.509 But God decided not to do that because they repented. 00:28:14.269 --> 00:28:17.950 And as a result in chapter four, God changes 00:28:17.950 --> 00:28:20.630 Jonah's heart as well. But I wanna look at two 00:28:20.630 --> 00:28:24.700 areas that God worked in. God worked in Nineveh, 00:28:24.700 --> 00:28:28.640 first of all. So through Jonah's obedience, Jonah 00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:31.599 got to experience God's work in Nineveh, right? 00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:34.920 Jonah, he simply went, he planted the seeds, 00:28:35.299 --> 00:28:38.720 right? Half -hearted obedience, but God gave 00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:40.680 the increase. The Ninevites heard the word of 00:28:40.680 --> 00:28:43.119 God, they were convicted and they responded in 00:28:43.119 --> 00:28:47.259 faith. It says from the cows to the king, they 00:28:47.259 --> 00:28:50.640 repented, right? in sackcloths and ashes with 00:28:50.640 --> 00:28:54.220 fasting. They were hoping that God would show 00:28:54.220 --> 00:29:00.720 them mercy and He did. And He did show them mercy, 00:29:00.720 --> 00:29:03.519 right? God loves people. We talked about this 00:29:03.519 --> 00:29:05.480 last week. God called Jonah to Nineveh because 00:29:05.480 --> 00:29:08.259 He loved the people of Nineveh. God loves people 00:29:08.259 --> 00:29:10.940 and He wants to know people. He wants to be known 00:29:10.940 --> 00:29:15.799 by people. And He uses people to make those introductions. 00:29:15.819 --> 00:29:19.200 We see multiple times. in Jonah's story, how 00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:23.839 God used him and people came to know the Lord. 00:29:24.440 --> 00:29:27.579 But in this instance, look at what God did with 00:29:27.579 --> 00:29:30.420 specifically Jonah's obedience. Even when his 00:29:30.420 --> 00:29:33.319 obedience was half -hearted, God changed the 00:29:33.319 --> 00:29:38.400 landscape of Nineveh. When you obey God's call 00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:41.920 in your life, what could God do through you? 00:29:42.440 --> 00:29:46.230 Could he show you how to apply God's word? and 00:29:46.230 --> 00:29:48.869 not only live a better life, but show you how 00:29:48.869 --> 00:29:52.529 to lead other people to do that. Could he, through 00:29:52.529 --> 00:29:55.029 your obedience, lead people to salvation? Could 00:29:55.029 --> 00:29:58.609 he pull people out of sinful lifestyles? I believe 00:29:58.609 --> 00:30:01.730 that God can do that in and through us, right? 00:30:01.730 --> 00:30:04.430 Through the work of the Holy Spirit, God can 00:30:04.430 --> 00:30:07.430 do all of those things. And we don't have to 00:30:07.430 --> 00:30:11.829 be perfect for that to happen. We see that with 00:30:11.829 --> 00:30:15.059 Jonah. Jonah was not perfect. When God works 00:30:15.059 --> 00:30:17.380 through you, He also works on you, right? He 00:30:17.380 --> 00:30:20.259 works in you, through you, and He's changing 00:30:20.259 --> 00:30:23.160 Jonah's life here. While the people of Nineveh 00:30:23.160 --> 00:30:26.000 turned from their evil ways, Jonah was still 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:28.160 wrestling with God and with his heart for what 00:30:28.160 --> 00:30:32.359 God wanted him to do with God's mercy. And that 00:30:32.359 --> 00:30:35.839 brings us to the second area that Jonah gets 00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:41.940 to experience God work. God works in Jonah. As 00:30:41.940 --> 00:30:44.890 Jonah worked in Nineveh, God... also worked on 00:30:44.890 --> 00:30:49.950 Jonah. So in verse one of chapter four, it says, 00:30:51.029 --> 00:30:54.549 regarding God's work in Nineveh, but it displeased 00:30:54.549 --> 00:30:58.829 Jonah exceedingly and he was angry. So Jonah 00:30:58.829 --> 00:31:02.289 became angry. We already read it, but saying, 00:31:02.329 --> 00:31:04.089 man, this is why I didn't wanna come here in 00:31:04.089 --> 00:31:06.430 the first place. I knew that you would show them 00:31:06.430 --> 00:31:09.210 mercy. How did Jonah know that he would show 00:31:09.210 --> 00:31:12.230 mercy? He'd seen it before, right? He saw that 00:31:12.230 --> 00:31:15.309 with Israel. He saw that with David, with Abraham, 00:31:15.410 --> 00:31:19.009 even with Adam and Eve, and in his own life. 00:31:19.589 --> 00:31:22.549 He saw, man, God has this track record for being 00:31:22.549 --> 00:31:28.029 a merciful God. And he did not want Nineveh to 00:31:28.029 --> 00:31:30.710 receive that mercy. And so when they did, he 00:31:30.710 --> 00:31:33.690 resented it. And it's easy to look at Jonah and 00:31:33.690 --> 00:31:35.410 think, man, this guy's a knucklehead. How could 00:31:35.410 --> 00:31:42.190 he be so stubborn? This is how he was raised. 00:31:42.210 --> 00:31:46.049 He was raised with this Israel versus the world 00:31:46.049 --> 00:31:49.450 mindset. But I think what God is teaching him 00:31:49.450 --> 00:31:52.730 is that God is for the world, right? God is for 00:31:52.730 --> 00:31:54.890 his creation, for his people. That's exactly 00:31:54.890 --> 00:31:57.309 what Christ showed us on the cross, right? He 00:31:57.309 --> 00:32:00.430 didn't come to condemn the world. He came to 00:32:00.430 --> 00:32:03.210 give his life. He gave to give himself rather 00:32:03.210 --> 00:32:07.670 for the world. All of us were enemies of God 00:32:07.670 --> 00:32:10.900 at one point, but Romans 5, 10 says, we were 00:32:10.900 --> 00:32:13.279 reconciled to God by the death of his son and 00:32:13.279 --> 00:32:16.579 saved by his life. And so in light of that reconciliation, 00:32:17.500 --> 00:32:20.359 God's calling us to love the world as well. Jesus 00:32:20.359 --> 00:32:23.680 calls believers to love our enemies, right? Jonah 00:32:23.680 --> 00:32:26.240 needed to learn that lesson. And he calls us 00:32:26.240 --> 00:32:30.220 to pray for those who persecute us. Matthew says 00:32:30.220 --> 00:32:34.259 in Matthew five, be perfect as your father in 00:32:34.259 --> 00:32:37.519 heaven is perfect. Right after Jesus says that, 00:32:37.519 --> 00:32:40.880 right after he. calls believers to love their 00:32:40.880 --> 00:32:42.660 enemies and pray for those who persecute it. 00:32:42.859 --> 00:32:45.740 He says, be perfect as your father in heaven 00:32:45.740 --> 00:32:49.640 is perfect. And he's speaking of that love that 00:32:49.640 --> 00:32:51.460 pastor was telling us about, man, how should 00:32:51.460 --> 00:32:55.819 we love people, right? And Matthew's calling 00:32:55.819 --> 00:32:57.920 us to have this perfect love like our father 00:32:57.920 --> 00:33:01.839 in heaven is perfect. Jonah's love was not perfect. 00:33:03.180 --> 00:33:06.200 God sent Jonah to Nineveh because God loved the 00:33:06.200 --> 00:33:09.109 people of Nineveh. And when they experienced 00:33:09.109 --> 00:33:13.630 this amazing revival, 600 ,000 people repented, 00:33:13.890 --> 00:33:16.529 you would think, man, Jonah should be ecstatic, 00:33:17.410 --> 00:33:20.849 right? Instead Jonah's mad about their repentance 00:33:20.849 --> 00:33:25.009 and he asked God to kill him. Jonah blew his 00:33:25.009 --> 00:33:29.410 second chance. Good thing God is a God of second 00:33:29.410 --> 00:33:34.440 chances, right? He did the... He did the thing. 00:33:34.500 --> 00:33:36.960 He did what God called him to do, but he missed 00:33:36.960 --> 00:33:40.759 God's heart for the matter. Thankfully, God is 00:33:40.759 --> 00:33:43.960 so patient, so faithful with his people. In his 00:33:43.960 --> 00:33:46.839 sovereignty, God allows us to make choices, even 00:33:46.839 --> 00:33:50.819 bad choices. And he lovingly uses the consequences 00:33:50.819 --> 00:33:53.279 of them to shape us into Christ's likeness. And 00:33:53.279 --> 00:33:55.180 that's what we see happen in Jonah's life. As 00:33:55.180 --> 00:33:58.799 he's having this pity party, God rebukes him 00:33:58.799 --> 00:34:02.319 in the form of a question. He says, Do a style 00:34:02.319 --> 00:34:05.920 well to be angry, Jonah. Jonah, do you think 00:34:05.920 --> 00:34:08.900 that you have the right attitude toward my mercy? 00:34:10.500 --> 00:34:12.280 And here's how you know that Jonah was convicted 00:34:12.280 --> 00:34:15.039 by that question, because Jonah didn't even respond. 00:34:15.500 --> 00:34:19.739 Jonah just walked away, right? But God wasn't 00:34:19.739 --> 00:34:21.639 done teaching Jonah. Jonah goes and he finds 00:34:21.639 --> 00:34:25.860 a seat in the sand to see what happens with Nineveh. 00:34:26.159 --> 00:34:29.780 And it's here that God gives Jonah this object 00:34:29.780 --> 00:34:34.380 lesson. On day one, God provided this big plant, 00:34:34.880 --> 00:34:37.519 right? And the plant gave Jonah shade and Jonah 00:34:37.519 --> 00:34:41.039 was like, oh, this is amazing. I get shade, they're 00:34:41.039 --> 00:34:44.179 in Assyria, it's hot, right? And he gets this 00:34:44.179 --> 00:34:47.239 shade. The next day, God sends a worm and the 00:34:47.239 --> 00:34:51.159 worm destroys the plant. And then God sends a 00:34:51.159 --> 00:34:55.119 vehement east wind. And this isn't the kind of 00:34:55.119 --> 00:34:56.800 wind that you like when it's hot out, this is 00:34:56.800 --> 00:34:59.570 the kind of wind that you like hide from. when 00:34:59.570 --> 00:35:01.829 it's hot out, like the kind that you cover your 00:35:01.829 --> 00:35:04.429 face, you block your eyes, you don't want any 00:35:04.429 --> 00:35:08.409 part of this wind. And this made Jonah even more 00:35:08.409 --> 00:35:11.150 angry, right? First God sends me to Nineveh, 00:35:11.289 --> 00:35:14.949 he saves Nineveh, now he's torturing me. He got 00:35:14.949 --> 00:35:21.250 rid of my gourd, right? And Jonah tells God that 00:35:21.250 --> 00:35:25.710 he wants to die again. He says that he wants 00:35:25.710 --> 00:35:29.239 to die again and God asks him, A second time, 00:35:29.900 --> 00:35:33.800 doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? Jonah, 00:35:34.300 --> 00:35:36.119 do you think it's right for you to be mad about 00:35:36.119 --> 00:35:39.239 the plant? And Jonah's response is so crazy to 00:35:39.239 --> 00:35:43.460 me. He goes, I do well to be angry, even unto 00:35:43.460 --> 00:35:49.960 death. That's a bold response to God. Listen 00:35:49.960 --> 00:35:53.679 to God's response. Then said the Lord, thou hast 00:35:53.679 --> 00:35:57.769 had pity on the gourd for, the witch thou hast 00:35:57.769 --> 00:36:01.530 not labored, neither madest it grow, which came 00:36:01.530 --> 00:36:06.489 up in a night, and perished in a night. And should 00:36:06.489 --> 00:36:11.070 I not spare Nineveh, that great city wherein 00:36:11.070 --> 00:36:13.989 are more than six -square thousand persons that 00:36:13.989 --> 00:36:16.929 cannot discern between their right hand and their 00:36:16.929 --> 00:36:20.590 left hand, and also much cattle? And so the book 00:36:20.590 --> 00:36:22.989 ends with this seemingly rhetorical question, 00:36:23.070 --> 00:36:25.429 God asking Jonah the seemingly rhetorical question. 00:36:25.769 --> 00:36:28.829 And I feel like it ends there because when that 00:36:28.829 --> 00:36:30.869 question was asked, it was like a bomb dropped 00:36:30.869 --> 00:36:35.650 on Jonah, right? Suddenly all of his anger, his 00:36:35.650 --> 00:36:37.690 self -righteousness, it crumbled in the face 00:36:37.690 --> 00:36:40.909 of God's question. And this one question changed 00:36:40.909 --> 00:36:44.710 everything. God cares for his creation, especially 00:36:44.710 --> 00:36:49.210 people. And Jonah needed to learn to do the same. 00:36:50.250 --> 00:36:53.250 Like Jonah, a lot of us, sometimes we're more 00:36:53.250 --> 00:36:55.250 concerned with temporary things. We're more concerned 00:36:55.250 --> 00:36:59.909 with self -serving things than we are about souls. 00:37:00.090 --> 00:37:03.670 But God's number one priority is always souls. 00:37:03.789 --> 00:37:08.510 Souls trump plants. Souls trump cattle, right? 00:37:09.650 --> 00:37:13.829 God is teaching Jonah that he loves his creation. 00:37:14.530 --> 00:37:18.769 God loves people and he wants his people to love 00:37:18.769 --> 00:37:21.579 people. even their enemies. And it took a lot 00:37:21.579 --> 00:37:24.280 of preparation to get Jonah to this point so 00:37:24.280 --> 00:37:26.739 he could give him this one question that changes 00:37:26.739 --> 00:37:30.019 the way that he sees things. This lesson took, 00:37:30.519 --> 00:37:32.760 God prepared a great fish, right? God prepared 00:37:32.760 --> 00:37:35.900 a plant, God prepared a worm, God prepared a 00:37:35.900 --> 00:37:38.099 wind. But I think most importantly, what God 00:37:38.099 --> 00:37:40.500 was doing throughout this whole story was preparing 00:37:40.500 --> 00:37:43.679 a prophet. He was preparing Jonah to faithfully 00:37:43.679 --> 00:37:48.639 fulfill his calling. Spurgeon says, some of us, 00:37:48.699 --> 00:37:51.539 Some believers bear double trouble that they 00:37:51.539 --> 00:37:56.380 may be or that God rather may be preparing you 00:37:56.380 --> 00:38:00.059 for double usefulness. God works in mysterious 00:38:00.059 --> 00:38:03.840 ways to prepare us for the work he has for us, 00:38:04.639 --> 00:38:06.619 for the calling that he has on our life, but 00:38:06.619 --> 00:38:09.519 he is calling us and Jonah was called by God 00:38:09.519 --> 00:38:11.559 and he went through a lot to get to this point. 00:38:12.159 --> 00:38:15.739 But I believe Jonah learned his lesson. Some 00:38:15.739 --> 00:38:18.360 scholars say that Jonah was written in a chiastic 00:38:18.510 --> 00:38:21.769 structure, meaning that the center verses carry 00:38:21.769 --> 00:38:24.530 the main emphasis of the text. And right at the 00:38:24.530 --> 00:38:27.789 heart of Jonah, we find Jonah 2, eight, nine, 00:38:27.789 --> 00:38:33.230 and it says, salvation is of the Lord. I think 00:38:33.230 --> 00:38:36.710 the whole book drives home this lesson. God is 00:38:36.710 --> 00:38:40.869 the one who saves. God is relentlessly pursuing 00:38:40.869 --> 00:38:44.130 people, even when they run from him. And throughout 00:38:44.130 --> 00:38:46.909 this story, Jonah is experiencing the God of 00:38:46.909 --> 00:38:50.400 salvation work. in the world around him and in 00:38:50.400 --> 00:38:53.860 his own heart. And if he can do that in Jonah's 00:38:53.860 --> 00:38:57.940 life, even with his bad attitude, what could 00:38:57.940 --> 00:39:00.880 he do with your faithful obedience? What if you 00:39:00.880 --> 00:39:03.840 actually love people and pursued them for the 00:39:03.840 --> 00:39:05.980 Lord, right? Could he not do those things in 00:39:05.980 --> 00:39:08.320 our lives? You don't have to be perfect, you 00:39:08.320 --> 00:39:11.280 just have to be willing and God can use you to 00:39:11.280 --> 00:39:13.559 make a difference in the lives of others, to 00:39:13.559 --> 00:39:17.840 save souls, because salvation is the Lord's. 00:39:19.210 --> 00:39:22.150 As God worked in Nineveh, God also worked on 00:39:22.150 --> 00:39:26.969 Jonah. And when God works through you, I believe 00:39:26.969 --> 00:39:29.309 that he's also working in you, or working on 00:39:29.309 --> 00:39:31.989 you rather. God saves others while he shapes 00:39:31.989 --> 00:39:36.269 us so we don't resist his work, or so we ought 00:39:36.269 --> 00:39:39.869 not to resist his work because as we obey God's 00:39:39.869 --> 00:39:41.889 call, we're gonna see him do that even more, 00:39:42.030 --> 00:39:43.550 right? As we obey God's call, we're gonna see 00:39:43.550 --> 00:39:45.650 him grow us more. We're gonna see the fruits. 00:39:45.960 --> 00:39:48.619 that he can produce in the lives of other people, 00:39:48.619 --> 00:39:52.079 right, more. So every believer can faithfully 00:39:52.079 --> 00:39:54.820 respond to God's calling by understanding this 00:39:54.820 --> 00:39:58.460 three -stage process seen in Jonah's second response 00:39:58.460 --> 00:40:01.519 to God's call. Jonah's response was receive God's 00:40:01.519 --> 00:40:05.699 call, obey God's call, kinda, and experience 00:40:05.699 --> 00:40:08.940 God's call, right? And I said this last week 00:40:08.940 --> 00:40:12.420 and I'll say it again, clearly this is not a 00:40:12.420 --> 00:40:16.510 step -by -step process to follow Jonah. If Jonah 00:40:16.510 --> 00:40:19.429 was preaching this message, I think this would 00:40:19.429 --> 00:40:22.630 be like one of those do as I say and not as I 00:40:22.630 --> 00:40:25.489 do kind of sermons, right? Jonah made a bonehead 00:40:25.489 --> 00:40:28.230 of himself a bunch. But that's why the application 00:40:28.230 --> 00:40:32.110 here is understanding, right? It's not following 00:40:32.110 --> 00:40:36.250 Jonah's footsteps. It's understanding his story. 00:40:37.630 --> 00:40:39.170 By the end of the story, we learned a couple 00:40:39.170 --> 00:40:42.469 of things that God is calling people. The faithful 00:40:42.469 --> 00:40:44.730 response to God's calling is always to follow 00:40:44.730 --> 00:40:47.940 it. is to obey God's call, not just in taking 00:40:47.940 --> 00:40:50.820 the right actions, but agreeing with God that 00:40:50.820 --> 00:40:54.539 they're right. For Jonah, that would have meant 00:40:54.539 --> 00:40:57.480 things like rejoicing when his enemies receive 00:40:57.480 --> 00:40:59.199 grace, right? Or serving people that he didn't 00:40:59.199 --> 00:41:02.840 naturally love, prioritizing souls over his own 00:41:02.840 --> 00:41:06.239 comfort. That's what God's showing Jonah. And 00:41:06.239 --> 00:41:09.500 as you faithfully respond to God and God's call, 00:41:09.659 --> 00:41:12.820 however imperfectly it may be, you're gonna see 00:41:12.820 --> 00:41:16.300 God. work in your life, you're gonna see him 00:41:16.300 --> 00:41:19.119 moving, growing you and in the lives of those 00:41:19.119 --> 00:41:21.639 around us, as he draws you and others closer 00:41:21.639 --> 00:41:27.440 to him. And so Jonah's story is not just a Sunday 00:41:27.440 --> 00:41:30.139 school tale, it's a mirror for us to look into 00:41:30.139 --> 00:41:33.980 and to adjust. He ran from God, he resisted God, 00:41:34.579 --> 00:41:37.800 he obeyed God half -heartedly, and if we're honest, 00:41:38.199 --> 00:41:41.969 we're not very different. Here's the good news 00:41:41.969 --> 00:41:44.449 if he could use Jonah he can absolutely use people 00:41:44.449 --> 00:41:46.250 like you and me We don't need to be perfect. 00:41:46.250 --> 00:41:50.769 We just need to be willing and so You guys remember 00:41:50.769 --> 00:41:53.949 the analogy about following God in the pool in 00:41:53.949 --> 00:41:56.929 the beginning of the sermon some of us are Standing 00:41:56.929 --> 00:42:00.250 there on that diving board tonight, and we've 00:42:00.250 --> 00:42:04.510 been there for months Been there for years God's 00:42:04.510 --> 00:42:07.829 calling us to follow him right till to jump to 00:42:07.829 --> 00:42:12.199 trust in him And we're scared, we're scared to 00:42:12.199 --> 00:42:15.719 take steps of faithfulness. When we finally do 00:42:15.719 --> 00:42:20.159 take that leap of faith, when we finally do obey 00:42:20.159 --> 00:42:23.239 that call and jump, we'll discover, like Jonah 00:42:23.239 --> 00:42:26.019 discovered, that God is really there with us 00:42:26.019 --> 00:42:29.920 all along and that, and we'll see God's work 00:42:29.920 --> 00:42:34.039 in amazing ways, just like Jonah did. And so, 00:42:35.099 --> 00:42:38.599 in application, man, if you're here and you haven't, 00:42:40.130 --> 00:42:43.190 receive God's call, you're unsaved. It's possible 00:42:43.190 --> 00:42:47.429 you're hearing this for the first time. God is 00:42:47.429 --> 00:42:49.510 calling you to salvation. Don't ignore that tug 00:42:49.510 --> 00:42:52.429 in your heart. Tonight, admit you're a sinner, 00:42:52.630 --> 00:42:56.010 put your faith in Jesus, ask him to save you, 00:42:56.030 --> 00:43:01.130 don't put it off. Maybe you're here and you've 00:43:01.130 --> 00:43:03.170 received God's call, you know Jesus is Lord, 00:43:03.989 --> 00:43:06.650 but you're running from his calling in your life, 00:43:06.809 --> 00:43:09.610 from obeying him, from doing what that work. 00:43:09.630 --> 00:43:11.670 that ministry of the gospel. You're saved, but 00:43:11.670 --> 00:43:18.610 you're avoiding it. Tonight, name it, face it, 00:43:18.710 --> 00:43:22.769 and ask a mentor to help you follow through with 00:43:22.769 --> 00:43:24.530 God's calling, with doing what God has called 00:43:24.530 --> 00:43:26.849 you to do. I think godly counsel could have went 00:43:26.849 --> 00:43:31.929 a long way in Jonah's walk, right? Follow God's 00:43:31.929 --> 00:43:35.489 call, commit to one step of obedience, and do 00:43:35.489 --> 00:43:37.909 it. God is calling you to participate in the 00:43:37.909 --> 00:43:41.820 ministry of the gospel. And obedience is how 00:43:41.820 --> 00:43:44.980 we respond faithfully to that, both in our actions 00:43:44.980 --> 00:43:48.900 and our heart. And if you're obeying, maybe you 00:43:48.900 --> 00:43:52.940 are doing what God called you to do, right? You're 00:43:52.940 --> 00:43:54.800 doing it, but your heart's not aligned. You're 00:43:54.800 --> 00:43:57.820 serving, you're witnessing, you're ministering, 00:43:58.000 --> 00:44:00.739 but you're not really invested in it. You're 00:44:00.739 --> 00:44:02.940 just taking those actions, your heart's not there. 00:44:03.760 --> 00:44:06.539 Maybe you're bitter, you're tired, or you're 00:44:06.539 --> 00:44:09.710 resentful deep down inside. Tonight. Don't stop 00:44:09.710 --> 00:44:12.269 obeying God, but get honest with God. Ask him 00:44:12.269 --> 00:44:15.409 to realign your heart, pray for compassion, pray 00:44:15.409 --> 00:44:19.389 for love to people. And I believe that God will 00:44:19.389 --> 00:44:22.909 grow you in that area if you follow him obediently. 00:44:23.449 --> 00:44:25.389 So pastor's gonna come and I'm gonna ask everybody 00:44:25.389 --> 00:44:28.309 to stand. Heads bowed, eyes closed.