WEBVTT 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:02.345 Now the book of Jonah. 00:00:02.345 --> 00:00:05.753 God is concerned about the Assyrian city of Nineveh. 00:00:05.753 --> 00:00:11.612 It is today actually Mosul in Iraq. 00:00:11.612 --> 00:00:23.431 Nineveh was at the time one of the greatest cities the world had yet seen and, as we heard from the passage, it took three days to just walk through it. 00:00:23.431 --> 00:00:34.671 Nineveh was an economic and cultural giant at the time and the city of Nineveh was also an impregnable military fortress. 00:00:34.671 --> 00:00:38.771 No one in their right mind would think of attacking the city. 00:00:38.771 --> 00:00:42.790 They couldn't get an army big enough to get around it to lay siege. 00:00:42.790 --> 00:00:46.067 But God decided to lay siege to it. 00:00:46.067 --> 00:00:47.811 How did he do it? 00:00:47.811 --> 00:00:53.813 By taking one person and turning him into an obedient servant. 00:00:53.813 --> 00:01:06.608 First, you see, god besieged Jonah, and then he used Jonah to help besiege the greatest city in the world, not militarily, but spiritually. 00:01:07.981 --> 00:01:15.653 If you're following along, today we're going to read in Jonah, chapter 3, verse 1. 00:01:15.653 --> 00:01:25.412 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah second time, saying Rise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim to it the proclamation which I'm going to tell you. 00:01:25.412 --> 00:01:31.927 So Jonah rose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord, and now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city. 00:01:31.927 --> 00:01:37.000 A three days walk, and then Jonah began to go through the city one day's walk. 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:40.930 And he cried out and said Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown. 00:01:40.930 --> 00:01:50.000 Then the people of Nineveh believed in God and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of the least of them. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:59.469 And when the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him and covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. 00:01:59.469 --> 00:02:17.000 He proclaimed, he issued a proclamation and said In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles, do not let man beast herd or flock taste a thing, do not let them eat or drink water, but both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth. 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:25.000 And let men call on Yahweh earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:26.626 Who knows? 00:02:26.626 --> 00:02:32.852 Yahweh may turn and relent and withdraw his burning anger so that we will not perish. 00:02:32.852 --> 00:02:47.293 And when Yahweh saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then Yahweh relented concerning the calamity which he had declared he would bring upon them and he did not do so. 00:02:47.293 --> 00:02:55.308 Wow, god brought a spiritual revival to Nineveh through Jonah's preaching. 00:02:55.308 --> 00:03:02.000 We don't have the full content of what Jonah actually said, but it must have been something else. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:12.890 Today we're going to look at how God conquered Nineveh with an army of one, through the power of God, the prayer God hears and the promise of repentance. 00:03:14.241 --> 00:03:29.000 The apostle Paul tells us that God really delights in using things that the world considers weak and of no repute in order to magnify his power, especially when it comes to salvation. 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:33.979 That's what Paul gets at in 1 Corinthians 1, 26-31. 00:03:33.979 --> 00:03:39.000 He says brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:42.430 Not many of you were wise by human standards. 00:03:42.430 --> 00:03:46.550 Not many were influential, not many were of noble birth. 00:03:46.550 --> 00:03:50.979 You know what God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. 00:03:50.979 --> 00:03:54.550 God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 00:03:54.550 --> 00:04:06.229 God chose the lovely things of this world and despised things and things that are not to nullify even the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. 00:04:06.229 --> 00:04:14.633 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God. 00:04:14.633 --> 00:04:17.000 That is our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:21.771 Therefore, as it is written, let him who boasts boast in the Lord. 00:04:21.771 --> 00:04:24.242 And so I don't need to tell you this. 00:04:24.242 --> 00:04:31.540 But any power we possess for any kind of work God wants us to do is ultimately from God himself, from the Lord Also. 00:04:31.540 --> 00:04:32.723 Paul realized this. 00:04:32.723 --> 00:04:43.095 In fact, the Lord, like I said, delights to use this when we're the weakest, as he said to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9,. 00:04:43.095 --> 00:04:50.353 Jesus said to him my grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. 00:04:50.353 --> 00:04:57.874 Then Paul says most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weakness so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 00:04:57.874 --> 00:05:10.250 You know, if Jonah came to Nineveh and said I'm pretty hot stuff, I'm a pretty good preacher, we're going to turn this baby around, oh no, oh no, no, no, god had humbled him. 00:05:10.250 --> 00:05:15.795 You know what it might say. 00:05:15.814 --> 00:05:17.000 The scripture is interesting. 00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:25.000 God's power is especially present when we're around somebody to share the gospel with them. 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:35.444 Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 118, for the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it's the power of God. 00:05:35.444 --> 00:05:46.033 In fact, paul goes as far as to say in 1 Corinthians 2, I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 00:05:46.033 --> 00:05:59.473 I was with you in weakness, in fear, in a much trembling, in my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. 00:06:03.019 --> 00:06:11.613 When Jonah started preaching in Nineveh, the power of God was not found in Jonah's efforts or his persuasive speech. 00:06:11.613 --> 00:06:13.682 You could argue just the opposite. 00:06:13.682 --> 00:06:18.732 What a fire and brimstone sermon he was giving them. 00:06:18.732 --> 00:06:29.213 His power was found in God's spirit working in people's hearts and lives and minds through the word of God that God gave Jonah to share. 00:06:29.213 --> 00:06:34.565 It's the same principle, really, we see in the scripture. 00:06:34.565 --> 00:06:38.014 This is what God told Zerubbabel. 00:06:38.033 --> 00:06:51.992 In Zechariah, chapter 4, verse 6, said to me this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying Not by might or by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. 00:06:51.992 --> 00:06:58.930 And Jesus told this preparation for the apostles to go out and be his witnesses. 00:06:58.930 --> 00:07:06.110 He said you will receive power when the Holy Spirit's come upon you, in Acts 1.8. 00:07:06.110 --> 00:07:13.370 And you shall be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, even to the remotest part of the earth. 00:07:13.370 --> 00:07:30.625 Now it's important to remember, as we kind of relate ourselves to Jonah, that God has given us a message to people who don't know God and, like Jonah, god has told us what the message is. 00:07:30.625 --> 00:07:32.327 It's the gospel. 00:07:32.327 --> 00:07:34.492 1 Corinthians 15,. 00:07:34.492 --> 00:07:45.399 Paul says I delivered to you, as of first importance what I received that Christ here's the gospel died for our sins, according to the scripture. 00:07:45.399 --> 00:07:51.362 That he was buried and that he was raised on the third day, according to the scriptures. 00:07:51.362 --> 00:07:59.262 And as the apostle Paul says and he says this quite a lot these kind of ideas. 00:07:59.262 --> 00:08:05.620 The message of the gospel is the power of God, through his spirit, to change people's lives forever. 00:08:05.620 --> 00:08:07.646 Romans 1.16,. 00:08:07.646 --> 00:08:09.512 He said I'm not ashamed of the gospel. 00:08:09.512 --> 00:08:15.884 It's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, also to the Greek. 00:08:19.971 --> 00:08:33.076 Jonah came to Nineveh stripped of his own power, surrendered to the Lord, and he came in the power of God with the message of God. 00:08:33.076 --> 00:08:37.628 How else can you explain such a dramatic response from the Ninevites? 00:08:37.628 --> 00:08:52.924 Jonah thought, I think, he came with three things that accompany the power of God to those who go as his ambassadors Our witness, god's spirit and God's word. 00:08:52.924 --> 00:08:59.322 Those three things are part of every witness God sent forth, including us. 00:08:59.322 --> 00:09:00.924 1. 00:09:00.924 --> 00:09:14.418 Jonah came as Yahweh's witness telling them he could tell them about God's grace, how God saved him from drowning and how God spared him with this great fish. 00:09:14.418 --> 00:09:24.681 He spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish while God was waiting for him to surrender and think about what was going on. 00:09:24.721 --> 00:09:40.303 The fascinating thing to me about Ninevos one of the gods they worshipped was a fish god called Nina. 00:09:40.303 --> 00:09:46.120 Probably that's where they got the name of the city, nineveh. 00:09:46.120 --> 00:09:53.537 I don't know why that wasn't the only god they worshipped, but they did worship the fish god. 00:09:53.537 --> 00:09:59.667 How ironic, how wonderfully sovereign of God. 00:09:59.667 --> 00:10:06.558 It's used Jonah's testimony from the mouth of a great fish. 00:10:06.558 --> 00:10:15.097 Archaeologists, by the way, found the name Nineveh in the ancient city in Cuneiform script. 00:10:15.097 --> 00:10:29.960 Here it is For those of you who don't read Cuneiform what it is this is a fish inside a house, nineveh. 00:10:29.960 --> 00:10:52.375 Could it be that Jonah's personal testimony of what God did his grace in rescuing him by this great fish was really persuasive to the gods they thought very highly of? 00:10:52.375 --> 00:11:06.033 Especially if Jonah did come presented himself as he came out of this environment. 00:11:06.033 --> 00:11:14.365 From the gastric juices and the fish's belly he would have been scarred Probably not a pleasant sight. 00:11:14.365 --> 00:11:25.168 To this day there's a memorial to Jonah in Mosul in Iraq. 00:11:25.168 --> 00:11:28.413 It's the site of ancient Nineveh. 00:11:28.413 --> 00:11:29.075 There it is. 00:11:36.163 --> 00:11:42.410 So first, jonah came with a very powerful, persuasive witness. 00:11:42.410 --> 00:11:44.092 Here's what God did for me. 00:11:44.092 --> 00:11:48.460 He's powerful, he can save you. 00:11:48.460 --> 00:11:51.365 He had mercy on me. 00:11:51.365 --> 00:12:02.696 Second, he not only came with his personal testimony and witness of God's deliverance, he also came in the power of God's word, the message God gave him. 00:12:02.696 --> 00:12:07.924 So we already talked about that's where God said that's my power. 00:12:07.924 --> 00:12:14.359 Join with my spirit to change people's lives. 00:12:14.359 --> 00:12:19.076 Only the power of God can explain the miracle in Nineveh, through Jonah, his servant. 00:12:20.019 --> 00:12:26.235 The power of Jonah's witness, the power of God's word, led to this dramatic response of the Ninevites. 00:12:26.235 --> 00:12:28.321 You know what they did? 00:12:28.321 --> 00:12:29.943 They began to pray. 00:12:29.943 --> 00:12:36.236 That leads us to the next point the prayer God hears. 00:12:36.236 --> 00:12:42.168 The scriptures are very clear that the prayer God hears is the prayer of faith. 00:12:42.168 --> 00:12:49.650 We see one place for this in James, chapter 1 in the New Testament, verses 5 to 8. 00:12:49.650 --> 00:12:56.235 It says but if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach. 00:12:56.235 --> 00:13:03.682 It'll be given to him, but he must ask in faith, without doubt it. 00:13:03.682 --> 00:13:16.533 For the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind, that man ought not to expect the deal receive anything from the Lord, being a double minded man, unstable in all its ways. 00:13:16.533 --> 00:13:28.535 In response to Jonah's testimony and message, the first thing the text says is they believed God, they believed Yahweh. 00:13:31.803 --> 00:13:39.235 And we see that when faith cries out to God, we see from the Ninevites it was accompanied by three things. 00:13:39.235 --> 00:13:45.325 First, faith cries out by humbling ourselves before God. 00:13:45.325 --> 00:13:48.269 Verses 3-7,. 00:13:48.269 --> 00:13:57.764 They fasted, they put on sackcloth, the king laid aside his robes, got off his throne. 00:13:57.764 --> 00:13:58.525 What does that mean? 00:13:58.525 --> 00:14:04.835 He's surrendering, he's relinquishing his power to Yahweh. 00:14:04.835 --> 00:14:10.807 Humbling yourself before the Lord. 00:14:10.807 --> 00:14:11.467 You want to. 00:14:11.467 --> 00:14:13.332 Faith cries out that way. 00:14:17.506 --> 00:14:23.937 The second thing faith cries out by praying and turning from our wickedness and sin. 00:14:23.937 --> 00:14:25.600 That's repentance. 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:47.035 This is verse 8, the king says let each one call, pray earnestly, call on God, on Yahweh, earnestly, and then turn from your wicked way and violence in your hands, wicked ways, and the deeds of your hands, evil deeds of your hands. 00:14:47.035 --> 00:14:55.264 Basically, that's repentance, he says. 00:14:55.264 --> 00:15:04.355 Next, finally, not only humbling ourselves for God, praying and turning away from our sin. 00:15:04.355 --> 00:15:15.312 Third, faith cries out by appealing, not demanding, appealing to God's mercy and grace. 00:15:15.312 --> 00:15:32.975 I love what the king says here In verse 9, he said look, after we do these things, after we humble ourselves, put on sackcloth, pray, turn from our wicked way. 00:15:33.941 --> 00:15:46.875 Maybe, just maybe, who knows, yahweh may turn and relent and withdraw his burning anger so we shall not perish. 00:15:46.875 --> 00:15:51.583 It's an appeal to God's mercy. 00:15:51.583 --> 00:15:54.888 They were saying, basically, we don't deserve it. 00:15:54.888 --> 00:16:04.961 We know we don't deserve it, but maybe, just maybe, he's merciful, that's what they're accountable on. 00:16:04.961 --> 00:16:10.989 That was their last hope, god's merciful. 00:16:10.989 --> 00:16:13.250 And that leads us. 00:16:13.672 --> 00:16:17.996 This whole idea of repentance leads us to the last point, the promise of repentance. 00:16:17.996 --> 00:16:31.222 Like Jonah found in his prayer of faith in the belly of the fish, repentance does hold the promise of receiving God's grace, not just for Jonah, not just for the Ninevice, but for anyone. 00:16:31.222 --> 00:16:38.331 But we need to talk about, perhaps, what is repentance in the Bible. 00:16:38.331 --> 00:16:43.698 A lot of ink has been spilled over that question. 00:16:43.698 --> 00:16:44.740 I don't have all the answers. 00:16:44.740 --> 00:16:46.864 I just give you what I've got here. 00:16:47.504 --> 00:16:56.220 The Hebrew word for repentance here is the word Naham and the Greek word in the New Testament for repentance is metanoia. 00:16:56.220 --> 00:17:11.156 Both mean to change your mind about something and then your behavior translates to your behavior in response to a compelling word or action. 00:17:11.156 --> 00:17:17.487 Say that again to change your mind. 00:17:17.487 --> 00:17:23.200 That leads to a change in your behavior in response to a compelling word or action. 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:34.270 The Hebrew word Naham we see in Jonah, chapter three and four, is mentioned four times. 00:17:34.270 --> 00:17:44.845 The English translators translated in chapter three, verse eight, and four, verse ten as turn from. 00:17:44.845 --> 00:17:45.945 That's the word. 00:17:45.945 --> 00:17:58.078 Repent, naham, turn from, turn from your sin in wicked ways, and it's translated. 00:17:58.078 --> 00:17:58.759 It's the same word. 00:17:58.759 --> 00:18:04.690 It's translated to relent in chapter three, verse eight and four ten, to describe what God did. 00:18:07.515 --> 00:18:11.542 What did the Ninevites repent of and what would we need to repent of? 00:18:11.542 --> 00:18:13.548 Well, they're very clear about that. 00:18:13.548 --> 00:18:17.039 We repent of our evil deeds in our wicked ways. 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:24.788 Chapter three, verse ten deeds, you see, refer to the actions themselves. 00:18:24.788 --> 00:18:30.193 We lied or we stole or we did this or that Ways. 00:18:30.193 --> 00:18:39.049 Repenting of way, a lot harder Ways, refers to our proclivities, our habits, our patterns in life. 00:18:39.049 --> 00:18:43.101 We just get into, slide into, we just keep doing the same over and over again. 00:18:43.101 --> 00:18:50.309 Repent of that just leads us to the deed. 00:18:51.471 --> 00:18:59.106 Repentance always begins with a change of your mind based on something you heard or something you saw. 00:18:59.106 --> 00:19:01.770 It's leading you to repent. 00:19:01.770 --> 00:19:04.214 I changed my mind about Yahweh. 00:19:04.214 --> 00:19:12.326 Now let's go back and talk about something. 00:19:12.326 --> 00:19:17.570 Talk about something. 00:19:17.570 --> 00:19:27.442 No preacher in his right mind would talk about God's words. 00:19:27.442 --> 00:19:28.904 What did God repent of? 00:19:28.904 --> 00:19:35.294 Same word, same word for repent. 00:19:35.294 --> 00:19:36.755 Chapter three, verse eight. 00:19:36.755 --> 00:19:37.576 Four, verse ten. 00:19:37.576 --> 00:19:39.407 God changed his mind. 00:19:39.407 --> 00:19:42.203 That's what the word means. 00:19:42.203 --> 00:19:45.852 He changed his mind about giving them the judgment. 00:19:45.852 --> 00:19:47.060 He promised for their witness. 00:19:47.060 --> 00:19:48.163 He did not do it. 00:19:49.885 --> 00:19:52.550 How can God change his mind and repent of something? 00:19:52.550 --> 00:19:55.846 Good question, I ask myself. 00:19:55.846 --> 00:20:03.328 First, god's repentance is not the same as our repentance. 00:20:03.328 --> 00:20:06.515 That's why they translate it. 00:20:06.515 --> 00:20:14.329 It's not about the same thing. 00:20:14.329 --> 00:20:19.537 We repent of our sin and wickedness. 00:20:19.537 --> 00:20:22.902 God isn't repenting of any sin or wickedness. 00:20:22.902 --> 00:20:27.029 He's righteous and just, thoroughly pure. 00:20:27.029 --> 00:20:29.453 Holy in all that he is and does. 00:20:32.484 --> 00:20:42.123 But for you theologians out there, it does seem a little contradictory that the Scripture says God changed his mind. 00:20:42.123 --> 00:20:50.060 Elsewhere it says God does not change Like Malachi 3, verse 6, for I, the Lord, do not change. 00:20:50.060 --> 00:20:53.846 Therefore you, o sons of Jacob, are not consumed. 00:20:53.846 --> 00:21:05.127 Oh, the inscrutable wisdom of God, help us, lord, to understand you Well. 00:21:05.127 --> 00:21:13.663 One way to understand that what I've come to what's happening in Jonah 3, listen carefully. 00:21:15.346 --> 00:21:20.232 God's repentance works in consort with God's promises. 00:21:20.232 --> 00:21:23.517 Let me explain. 00:21:23.517 --> 00:21:32.911 In Isaiah, chapter 30, verse 18, isaiah says therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you. 00:21:32.911 --> 00:21:38.106 Therefore he waits on high to have compassion on you. 00:21:38.106 --> 00:21:40.773 For the Lord has a God of justice. 00:21:40.773 --> 00:21:44.682 But how blessed are those who long for him. 00:21:44.682 --> 00:21:46.987 Then I want to skip. 00:21:46.987 --> 00:21:48.569 Keep these two together. 00:21:48.730 --> 00:21:51.294 Jeremiah 18, verses 5 to 8. 00:21:51.294 --> 00:22:04.983 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying Can I not, o house of Israel, deal with you as a potter does, declares the Lord. 00:22:04.983 --> 00:22:11.381 Behold, like the clay in a potter's hand, so are you in my hand, o house of Israel. 00:22:11.381 --> 00:22:21.642 At one moment I might speak concerning a nation, concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down or destroy it. 00:22:21.642 --> 00:22:39.886 But if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil way, I will repent, concerning the calamity I plan to bring on it. 00:22:39.886 --> 00:22:42.128 There you got it. 00:22:47.295 --> 00:22:50.123 God's repentance works in concert with His promise. 00:22:50.123 --> 00:22:57.854 If they didn't repent, the judgment would have come. 00:22:57.854 --> 00:23:10.326 But since they did repent, God says you know what I'm going to repent of, what I had decided I was going to do to them, because he promised to do that. 00:23:10.326 --> 00:23:15.957 God longs to be gracious to us. 00:23:15.957 --> 00:23:22.009 He's promised that if people repent of their sin, he's going to withhold His judgment. 00:23:22.009 --> 00:23:26.097 I mean, I don't know about you. 00:23:26.097 --> 00:23:28.882 It motivates me to do some serious repenting. 00:23:28.882 --> 00:23:32.826 I'd like some mercy. 00:23:39.554 --> 00:23:47.736 God's promises, I like to think of it this way God's promises concerning judgment and repentance work like physical laws. 00:23:47.736 --> 00:23:53.989 They do, I think, the way God's designed the universe to work physically. 00:23:53.989 --> 00:24:06.252 And then their spiritual laws, his promises of judgment and repentance work like the laws of gravity and aerodynamics. 00:24:06.252 --> 00:24:10.160 One supersedes the other. 00:24:10.160 --> 00:24:18.511 The law of God's judgment for sin, by the way, is universal across the board. 00:24:18.511 --> 00:24:23.366 Sin is going to be met with His judgment Period. 00:24:23.366 --> 00:24:25.512 It's a universal spiritual law. 00:24:25.512 --> 00:24:27.720 Nothing you can do about that. 00:24:27.720 --> 00:24:29.221 It's set just like gravity. 00:24:29.221 --> 00:24:37.855 Just like gravity, see, gravity is a pretty powerful force. 00:24:37.855 --> 00:25:00.257 What goes up will always come down, unless unless the higher law of aerodynamics is applied. 00:25:00.257 --> 00:25:18.336 Like a plane, gravity is still operating, but the law of aerodynamics supersedes it for a while. 00:25:18.336 --> 00:25:22.780 Okay, do you get it? 00:25:22.780 --> 00:25:25.288 Spiritual laws are the same kind of thing. 00:25:25.288 --> 00:25:34.230 God's promise to spare people of His judgment if they repent is the spiritual law of aerodynamics. 00:25:34.230 --> 00:25:42.003 God's judgment is universal and active all the time. 00:25:42.003 --> 00:25:56.201 But God says in James 2.13, mercy always triumphs over judgment. 00:25:56.201 --> 00:26:01.846 That's the spiritual law of aerodynamics. 00:26:01.846 --> 00:26:10.738 The result of our repentance, you see, from our point of view, is that God changed His mind. 00:26:10.738 --> 00:26:15.402 But from God's perspective, he's just keeping His promise. 00:26:20.589 --> 00:26:39.247 A lesson we learned from Jonah 3 is that God's wrath is a present and universal reality in the world in judgment for sin and wickedness, just like the physical law of gravity is for everybody across the world. 00:26:39.247 --> 00:26:44.053 This is what Paul was getting at in Romans 1, 18 and 19,. 00:26:44.053 --> 00:27:04.852 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them, universal, across the board in the world. 00:27:04.852 --> 00:27:18.265 Just like the law of gravity, god's law of judgment for sin is active unless there's repentance. 00:27:18.265 --> 00:27:25.433 You see, god has a plan, just like he had with Jonah a plan of salvation. 00:27:25.433 --> 00:27:40.023 Actually, you could say he has a plane of salvation that overcomes the law of sin and judgment and ready for us to get on board. 00:27:40.023 --> 00:27:47.953 When we believe in Jesus, god longs to be gracious to us. 00:27:47.953 --> 00:27:49.997 He relents of his wrath. 00:27:49.997 --> 00:27:54.743 When we believe in Jesus, repent of our sin, because he's promised to do that. 00:27:54.743 --> 00:28:21.827 Of course, jonah did not have the blessing we've received and the knowledge we've received when Jesus and Messiah came and gave us the understanding that when he came he took the full brunt of God's wrath on himself for our sin. 00:28:21.827 --> 00:28:25.853 That universal wrath fell on him. 00:28:25.853 --> 00:28:49.170 For every single person who believes in him, jesus said truly, truly, I say to you in John 5.24, here's my word believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. 00:28:49.170 --> 00:28:52.093 It's interesting to me. 00:28:52.153 --> 00:29:03.545 When people first heard the message of the gospel from the preaching of the Apostle Peter and Acts 2, they had one question. 00:29:03.545 --> 00:29:16.681 Peter said, therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both the Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. 00:29:16.681 --> 00:29:27.073 When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles Brother, what shall we do? 00:29:27.073 --> 00:29:46.767 Answer repent, each of you, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promises for you, for your children, for all who are far off. 00:29:46.767 --> 00:29:48.852 As many as the Lord will call to himself. 00:29:48.852 --> 00:29:49.551 It's for everybody. 00:29:49.551 --> 00:30:04.006 The law of sin and death no longer apply because of the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, spiritually aerodynamic. 00:30:10.054 --> 00:30:13.856 I keep coming back to this in the study of Jonah. 00:30:13.856 --> 00:30:18.780 It's just like a final punch. 00:30:18.780 --> 00:30:22.064 Jesus left this for us. 00:30:22.064 --> 00:30:28.613 You see, this is what he said to the religious leaders Matthew 12, 40, 41. 00:30:28.613 --> 00:30:38.085 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 00:30:38.085 --> 00:30:40.431 And you know what? 00:30:40.431 --> 00:30:46.375 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it. 00:30:46.375 --> 00:30:47.778 You know why? 00:30:47.778 --> 00:30:55.805 Because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and something greater than Jonah is here. 00:30:55.805 --> 00:31:00.392 That's heavy duty. 00:31:02.713 --> 00:31:04.916 They repented at the preaching of Jonah. 00:31:04.916 --> 00:31:06.637 Here's the Messiah. 00:31:06.637 --> 00:31:08.519 What are we going to do with that? 00:31:08.519 --> 00:31:18.230 When we believe in Jesus, we change our mind about him, recognize he paid the penalty for our sin. 00:31:18.230 --> 00:31:19.451 We confess that. 00:31:19.451 --> 00:31:22.315 Turn from it, belong to God. 00:31:22.315 --> 00:31:25.278 We're no longer under God's wrath or condemnation for our sin. 00:31:25.278 --> 00:31:30.484 His promise is we will receive eternal life when we believe in him. 00:31:32.391 --> 00:31:38.758 Apostle Paul was one of the biblical New Testament writers that just couldn't get over this. 00:31:38.758 --> 00:32:00.423 1st Thessalonians 590 says For God has not destined us for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, and I trust if you've never done so, believe in the Lord Jesus, turn from whatever else it is in your life that's holding you back and believe in him. 00:32:00.423 --> 00:32:08.602 Humble yourself before him, open your heart and say Dear Jesus, I want you to save me, and he will. 00:32:08.602 --> 00:32:10.750 Let's pray, father. 00:32:10.750 --> 00:32:18.599 So much here to learn, but I thank you that you told us in your word. 00:32:18.599 --> 00:32:30.763 You told us this you don't want anybody to perish, but you've given us Jesus in the gospel so that all who believe in him would live eternally with you. 00:32:31.971 --> 00:32:45.882 I pray, lord, open our hearts and open the heart of anyone who has not yet believed in Jesus to receive him by faith and experience what many of us have your amazing grace, your amazing grace. 00:32:45.882 --> 00:32:54.163 We become whole new people with a whole new future and hope for eternity. 00:32:54.163 --> 00:33:01.230 And for us, lord, who have believed in Jesus, help us to confess and repent of the sins he died for on our behalf. 00:33:01.230 --> 00:33:13.464 We have to continue to keep our heart clean before you, because his blood was shed so that when we confess our sins, god's faithful and just to forgive us. 00:33:13.464 --> 00:33:17.512 We pray this in Jesus' name Amen. 00:33:17.512 --> 00:33:36.288 It's time where we will.