"The Mercy of God"

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Yeah, man. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Ebu Card, the love of my life, Rachel. It's right there on the second roll. Um, we live a very busy life with three highly active children. So, yeah. Let's begin. I'm always in awe of God, God Almighty, when I look at the ocean or a big body of water. I have a healthy fear of God when I look at a big body of water. Yeah. Do you guys know that 27% of the global seal floor, only 27% of the global seal floor has been mapped, and less than 5% has been directly observed or explored. The ocean makes me think of the few words in the Bible, the few beginning words in the Bible. It says darkness hovered over the face of the deep, and the spirit of the living God was hovering over the waters, hovering as if protecting it, guarding it, showing lordship from right from the beginning of time. Even with a life jacket, it still feels like I'm sinking. So a few years back, Rachel and I were in Jamaica, and um we were on a tour on a boat, and with other tourists in the boat as well. And um, my wife is very adventurous, if you know her, and she said, Hey babe, let's jump in. And I was like, Cool, all right, I threw on the life jacket, okay, let's go. As soon as I hit the water, I knew something was wrong. I was in trouble. It felt like the life jacket was coming up, and I was in panic, I was in distress. And here I am holding on to my wife's hand, and she's a quarter of my size, so yes. We both left at the situation now, but I thank God for his mercy, and um, we laugh now, but it wasn't funny back then. So when I was thinking about this message, the words on the tip of my tongue was oh merciful God. The book of Jonah is where we see the mercy of God in full display. If you've ever doubted the mercy of God, just read the book of Jonah. Let me give you a quick reminder of where we are as regards to chapter two. So the word of God comes to Jonah. Go to Nineveh and preach against the wrongdoings of the people there. Jonah refuses and he runs the opposite direction. Storm starts and he's thrown over the ocean, over the boat. Now he is in the belly of the big fish. I will read um Jonah chapter 2. Jonah chapter 2 is a prayer of a man who is in trouble and in need of God's mercy. All who are able and willing will stand for the reading of the word. So before I start reading, think about your own situation when you were in need and when you were in need of the mercy of God. It could be when you were in distress or the distress of someone else. And then think about how you got into that situation in the first place. In my distress, I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead, I called for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the depths, into the very heart of the sea, and the currents swirled around me. All your waves and breakers swept over me. I said, I've been banished from your sight, yet I will look again towards your holy temple. The engulfing water strengthened me, the deep surrounded me, seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down, the earth beneath barred over me. But you, Lord my God, brought me, brought my life from the pit. When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God's love for them. But I, with shouts of grateful praise, with sacrifice, what I have vowed, I will make good. I will say, salvation comes to the Lord. And the Lord commended the big fish and it vomited Jonah from dry land. And all God's people said, Amen. You never know the value of water until you get up here and you start talking. So, context. I asked my kids on a drive, so girls, what do you know about Jonah? And oh, they responded, Oh, that's the guy who thought he could run away from God, and God had to set him straight. This is what my kids are saying. Then my youngest says, Dad, how did he think he could run away from God? Doesn't Jonah know the song, He's Got the Whole World in His Hands? She then said, Yeah, God holds the whole world like he holds an ornament. Jonah is an Old Testament prophet. Prophets in the Old Testament hear from God and they tell people what God is saying. He was a prophet in the 2nd Kings that prophesied over the restoration of Israel's borders. So this man knew God, he works with God, he's a prophet. We can see that it's not even his first time dealing with God. A little bit of side note. I've heard most people say and talk about three-point sermons. I have five points today, so and we'll be done before 1 p.m. So I'm just kidding. Anyways, in spite of our Christian identity, Jonah is like any one of us in this room. We have so much in common with Jonah. Yes, he's a prophet. Yes, we are Christians, but this does not mean we always want to do what the Lord wants. We think our way is better. This is the carnal mind speaking. We see not, we say, not your way, Lord, but my way. That's being in the world. It's operating from a carnal mindset. It's always the principle of an eye for an eye. We don't always want to do the will of the Father. Apostle Paul said, the flesh, your carnal mind is always at war with the things of God. Galatians 5.17 says, For the flesh craves what is contrary to the spirit of God. Have you ever had that feeling that when you are when you are at a crossroads between, do I seek revenge or do I render mercy? Jonah for sure was, he had that option. I've been in situations where I could either do what is right or what is wrong. I can just picture Jonah saying, mercy for Nineveh? For real? You know, someone has wronged you so bad, and you just want to pray the wrath of God upon them. One of the characteristics that we are to have as followers of Jesus is the ability to be merciful. Forgive 77 times, the Lord said. If they strike you on the right cheek, turn to the left one. I'm still working on this one, so pray for me on that. And this brings me to my second point. God wants us to be merciful. God demands mercy. After all, he's a merciful God, right? If we bear his image, we have to be merciful. Be merciful as your father is merciful. Luke 6, verse 36 says. From a carnal human perspective, Nineveh did not deserve mercy. But Jonah seemed to have forgotten that God is not human and his ways are not human ways. God's mercy knows no boundaries. At times I even struggle to understand the mercy of God, the type of mercy he wants us to have towards others. I'll give you an example. So every so often, my family and I, my mom and dad and my sister, we all get together to discuss the scripture. And the scripture we were looking at, or the topic, was about mercy and forgiveness. So during our discussion, um, Boku Haram came up. So someone asked, should we pray for mercy towards Boko Haram? There was awkward silence in the room. For those you don't know, Boko Haram is a terrorist organization that has killed millions of innocent poor Nigerians in the northern side of the country. They've kidnapped hundreds of girls and marrying them into sexual slavery. From the world's standpoint, I understand why Jonah took off. I know why. This is because I did not understand the sovereign mercy of God. See, Exodus 33, 19 says, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. So I'm asking this morning, who is God calling you to forgive or to show mercy towards? Perhaps it's a particular person that God is calling you to forgive. Maybe a particular group of people. So do we have Jesus in us to show them? Who is he leading you towards? Will you obey or will you run? I have is disobedience to God is spiritual death. Just ask Adam and Eve. See, we can grow callous from continually disobeying God. You sin so much that it just becomes the norm of every day. You grow callous around your heart, and callous is dead skin. It feels nothing at all. You get so used to living in disobedience that the things of God all of a sudden become foolishness. 1 Corinthians 2 14 says, But the natural man, carnal man, does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. See, to the carnal man, it makes no sense. Why would God forgive a nation of murderers? Well, Jesus looked down from the cross and said, Forgive them, for they do not know what they do. How do you pray for those who persecute you? See, for someone who can't discern the ways of God, this makes no sense. It's almost spiritual blindness. Next point I have is that the disobedience leads to the separation from God. Jonah experienced disconnection, a big chasm from the Almighty. Right in verse 4, he says, I've been banished from your sight, yet I will look again toward your holy temple. Back on top of verse 2, he says, From the deep of the realm of the dead I called, from your I called for your help, and you listened to my cry. Verse 6, he says, To the roots of the mountains I sank down, the earth beneath barred in forever. But you, Lord, brought me back to life. Next point I have is the sign of Jonah. You know, there's a man we know who suffered similar fate to that of Jonah's. This man died for Jonah's disobedience. He would also die for the disobedience of humanity as well. You know, atheists and secularists will say, How can a man survive in the belly of a fish? I don't know. Do you guys know? But I believe it. I choose to believe it because of Genesis 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. If you don't believe this, then don't even worry about Jonah as well. I believe because the Lord Jesus said the sign of Jonah is the only sign that will be given to this evil and adulterous generation. Let's break down Matthew 12, 38 to 41. I'll start with verse 38. Then some of the scribes and the Pharisees told Jesus, Teacher, we want to see a sign from you. Even today we still doubt the Lord, which indicates no faith. Keep in mind he had been healing and casting out demons and feeding thousands. So why did they need more signs? Well, Jesus responded while he was fed up with their unbelief because he knew what their motive was. And then in verse 39 to 41, he replied to them, an evil, an adulterous generation craves sign. Yet no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. Because Jonah, because just as Jonah was in the stomach of the sea creature for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. The men of Nineveh will stand up at judgment and condemn the people of today, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. But look, something greater than Jonah is here. You know, my friend Landon pointed out last Sunday. Isn't it interesting that these two men were sleeping when the storm came? Yup, but only one had the authority to speak to the storm. Indeed, something greater than Jonah is here. Nineveh, one nation, received mercy through Jonah. The Gentile nations and every human being in the world has salvation through Jesus, and we can rejoice in that. Rejoice because now we have mercy. Rejoice because someone greater than Jonah is indeed here. So since someone greater than Jonah is here, we need repentance and the mercy of God. Which brings me to my fifth point. We need repentance and restoration. Repentance to turn us away, to turn us again towards the Father, and mercy to restore our true identity and purpose to the will of the Father. See, inside the belly of the fish, Jonah was repenting. Look at verse 7. When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. He repents from stepping away from God's will. Repentance is a course correction. We live in a world where so many factors can take us away from the purposes of God. Lamar Jackson, our youth director, a couple of centers ago, said something about seeing the bigger picture. See, we can get so caught up in the everyday that we forget the one who has the power of life over death. This life is so finite, and Jesus is forever. Jesus is indeed the bigger picture that we have. Have you repented? Will you repent of that one thing that is keeping you away from him? We also need mercy. I need mercy. Mercy to restore our true identity in Christ. We were at my in-laws for spring break, and my mother-in-law keeps a shelf of devotionals, and one of the books caught my eye. It was uh Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. I had seen this devotional for a while, but at that time I had one foot in Christ and the other foot I was running away. Oswald Chambers says, Your utmost should glorify him. In Ephesians, the apostle Paul says, he talks all about the identity of Christ, the identity that we have in Christ. Ephesians 2 verse 10 says, We are tools of his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, identified in Christ Jesus, and rooted in Christ Jesus for good works. Jonah's identity was to be a prophet, to preach God's mercy to the Assyrian nation of Nineveh. See, Jonah's utmost was to glorify God by being obedient. So today, South Hill, what is your utmost for his highest? The purpose of what you are is to glorify him and him alone. If that purpose is gone, it's pretty much useless. Any time spent outside the identity of Christ can be wasteful. I remember when I had one foot in Christ and the other foot I was running away. Is anyone running away from Christ today? He holds the whole world in his hands. You can't run too far. You won't make it. Why? Why do I pray for this? Because we live in a broken world and our attention is constantly getting stimulated. It's so easy to step away from what God has ordained for us. The misguided media outlet will have you thinking wrongly about that brother or sister that God wants you to reach out to. So I constantly pray for mercy so I can walk and tandle with his plan that he has for me. I don't want to be too early, but be in perfect timing with his commands. Because if God can restore Jonah, he can restore all of us for sure. See, John the beloved called him the one with eyes like fire. I love that so much about the Lord. One with eyes like fire. He can see all, he can see right through your heart during prayer. Psalm 51 says, A broken heart he will not despise. See, when Jonah was in the belly of the fish, the Lord Jesus could see his heart. God could see his heart. And then he caused the will to spit him out. For anyone feeling constrained and running away, and you have no identity in Christ, it's my prayer that the Lord will break every chain, break the walls that is stopping you from manifesting his will. May the restraint that is holding you speed you out so that you can do the things of God. I pray that we will be free and rot towards his identity in Christ Jesus. Let's pray. Father, we pray for repentance. And Lord, we pray for your restoration. Restoration to identify who we are in you. Bring us back to the altar, Lord, that we may stop running and run straight into your arms. In your loving and most holy name, Lord. Amen.