WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:08.240 I don't know how many of you have heard yet, but Ted Lasso, season four, is starting in less than a month. 00:00:09.039 --> 00:00:10.960 It sounds like there's some enthusiasm there. 00:00:11.119 --> 00:00:15.039 Our own household is divided on whether or not this is a worthwhile endeavor. 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:22.399 We were promised a s a season, a series with a three-season arc, and yet here we are, season four, coming to get us. 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:25.199 So a cash grab at its finest. 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:32.560 But if you remember the original plot line of Ted Lasso, what was it? 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:39.600 It's that this nobody, he has no business coaching football, British football, soccer, right? 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:55.359 His only qualifications are that this American Division II football coach of the Wichita State Shockers has won a Division II championship and he gets hired to coach a soccer club in England, AFC Richmond. 00:00:56.159 --> 00:01:02.799 And we know that, you know, if you've watched the show, that the whole ploy of hiring him was they wanted him to fail. 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:08.640 He was the most unlikely candidate to coach a team like this. 00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:16.480 We're about to start a series on Jonah, and we're going to spend five weeks in this Old Testament book of Jonah. 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:21.280 It's going to lead us up to the first week of school in the fall. 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:30.159 And what we're going to find is that Jonah is the least likely candidate to carry the good news to Nineveh. 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:35.439 Now, there's a problem with going through a book like Jonah. 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:37.519 We all know it so well. 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:38.879 Or we think we do. 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:40.239 I mean, yes, we know it. 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:42.000 You've heard the story. 00:01:42.319 --> 00:01:48.879 But I would submit to you, there's so much more to this story than perhaps what we have heard before. 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:54.560 I mean, in fact, why is it so unlikely that Jonah would be sent to Nineveh? 00:01:55.040 --> 00:02:02.640 And if the answer to that isn't immediately apparent, maybe there's more to this story than we've gotten used to hearing. 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:06.159 So we're going to see this miraculous book. 00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:07.680 Yes, there's a fish. 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:09.280 Yes, Jonah gets spit up. 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:16.319 Yes, there's an element of miracles that happen, which are true, and yet that's not the heart of this story. 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:24.879 The heart of Jonah is that God has a heart of compassion for those who are far from him. 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:28.400 We get to see that in Jonah. 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:36.000 So this morning, we've actually going to read the shortest passage I think we've read as a young church plant, Jonah 1, verses 1 through 3. 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:38.639 Let me read this and ask God to help us. 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:54.639 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amitai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me. 00:02:55.199 --> 00:02:59.439 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:11.759 He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish, so he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:13.759 The word of the Lord. 00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:31.360 And we ask that you would speak to us through it as you have spoken to your people as long as it's been around. 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:44.240 We ask that you would dig out for us ears to hear, and that you would give us eyes to see the risen Christ, that we might see his heart for the wayward, and that we might rejoice in that. 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:45.919 We pray this in his name. 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:46.879 Amen. 00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:53.919 Well, we've only got three verses here, and so we've got a threefold outline which follows each verse. 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:57.599 And the first thing I want to do is ask, who is Jonah? 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:06.319 And sort of look at his context, and then look at the command that God lays on him, and then we'll see how Jonah responds. 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:09.599 So who is Jonah and what is the world in which he lives? 00:04:09.759 --> 00:04:15.039 What is the command that God has for him, and how does Jonah respond? 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:16.160 Okay. 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:23.040 Well, firstly, who is Jonah and what do we know of his world? 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:29.360 Jonah is a prophet in the northern kingdom, that is, in Israel. 00:04:29.519 --> 00:04:37.600 And just by way of reminder, whenever you hear the northern kingdom in the Old Testament, that is distinct from the southern kingdom. 00:04:37.759 --> 00:04:40.399 So you have Israel and you have Judah. 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:42.800 And you might think, isn't this all one country? 00:04:42.959 --> 00:04:44.399 Well, it was one country. 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:46.959 David and Solomon were monarchs. 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:49.360 They were kings over a united kingdom. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:53.120 And then Solomon's first son caused a civil war. 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:58.879 And ever since then, there is a northern kingdom, Israel, and a southern kingdom, Judah. 00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:04.800 And David's descendants sit on the throne in the southern kingdom, and it's sort of a grabback. 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:07.920 Anybody can sit on the throne in the northern kingdom. 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:17.120 And so the northern kingdom had a run of about 200 years, and then they ultimately fell to the Assyrians, Nineveh. 00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:38.639 This passage that we read, this book takes place about 30, 40 years before they fall to Assyria, before they fall to Nineveh, which means that almost any time anyone has ever read this story, maybe every time anyone's read this story, they're reading about Jonah being sent to those who conquered them. 00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:39.199 Okay? 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:42.240 So that's some of the immediate context. 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:50.639 The other thing you should know is that this northern kingdom had exactly zero good kings in their 200 years. 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:59.839 That is not one faithful king, not one king who actually trusted in the Lord, not one king who tried to teach his people to follow the Lord. 00:06:00.160 --> 00:06:00.480 Okay. 00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:02.079 That's important. 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:06.800 Jonah is one of the twelve minor prophets in the Old Testament. 00:06:07.040 --> 00:06:11.519 And every other story about the minor prophets, you hear a message. 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:14.879 We have a five-word message from Jonah. 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:17.600 The rest of this book is just about him. 00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:22.480 So the book is more about the messenger than the message. 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:24.319 This is why we like it so much. 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:25.680 It's narrative. 00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:33.920 In verse 1, we read, Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amitai. 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:36.800 Alright, so we know a little bit about his context. 00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:41.040 What do we know about Jonah, the son of Amitai? 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:48.160 We read about him exactly one other place in the Old Testament, and it's in 2 Kings. 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:50.000 What do we know? 00:06:50.240 --> 00:06:51.519 He's already a prophet. 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:53.439 I'm going to read a little short passage. 00:06:53.519 --> 00:07:01.199 He's already a prophet, and he's a prophet to his own king, and listen to how he's described evil. 00:07:02.399 --> 00:07:07.519 And Jeroboam the second did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:14.319 He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the first, in which he made Israel to sin. 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:28.800 He restored Israel's border according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah, the son of Amitai, the prophet. 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:36.319 This is the only time in the Old Testament that we read of Jonah, the son of Amitai, and what is he doing? 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:40.959 He's speaking to his evil king, but what is he speaking? 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:43.920 He's speaking words of expansion. 00:07:44.399 --> 00:07:47.279 Israel is beginning to crumble. 00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:52.720 They're feeling pressure on all sides, and this is in large part due to their faithlessness. 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:57.519 God has been warning, trust me, trust me, stop trusting in anyone else. 00:07:57.680 --> 00:07:59.600 Stop trusting in everything else. 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:03.759 And if you don't trust me, this kingdom will fall. 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:12.959 And for a brief sort of splash in the pan, Jonah comes on the scene, and for reasons we'll see in weeks to come, they have a brief resurgence. 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:14.800 Oh, maybe there's a turnaround. 00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:16.560 Prosperity is coming again. 00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:18.240 The borders are expanding. 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:22.319 And this happened under Jonah's prophecy. 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:29.759 And he prophesies to his own king who is described as evil. 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:33.759 The very same word that is described of Nineveh. 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:35.200 This is important. 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:40.639 So when we read that Jonah doesn't want to go, he's not recoiling against evil. 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:46.000 He's really no problem with evil when it's in his own family, when it's in his own country. 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:46.480 Okay? 00:08:47.759 --> 00:09:01.519 He's already been a mouthpiece who has spoken to an evil king, and yet he had the privilege for a hot minute of prophesying prosperity is back at our the sail, the wind is back in our sails. 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:03.200 Now here's a problem. 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:09.519 Jonah gets to prophesy prosperity, but there is a dark underbelly to this. 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:14.320 I mentioned there are other minor prophets, and we get their message. 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:19.440 We know at least two of the other minor prophets spoke to the same king. 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:22.240 I know this is a lot of context, but it's important. 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:29.200 Two other prophets, Amos and Hosea, spoke to the exact same king. 00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:33.840 And Amos in particular says, you know this sort of comeback that Jonah talked about? 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:35.759 It's going to crumble real fast. 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:41.600 He talks about the same exact border, and he says, it's not, yes, it started to happen, but you know what? 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:41.919 What? 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:42.879 It's going to crumble. 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:44.799 And here's what he says. 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:51.679 In Amos two, he's talking about the prosperity and the underbelly of it. 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:57.519 For the many crimes of Israel I will punish, says the Lord. 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:02.240 For silver they sell people who have done nothing wrong. 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:06.080 They sell the poor to buy a pair of sandals. 00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:13.440 They walk on poor people as if they were dirt, and they refuse to be fair to those who were suffering. 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:19.679 Fathers and sons have the same woman, and so they ruin my holy name. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:26.159 As they worship at their altars, they lie down on clothes taken from the poor. 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:32.879 They find people, and with that money they buy wine to drink in the house of their God. 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:35.600 Here's the point. 00:10:36.559 --> 00:10:46.159 Many prophets have called out Israel, and Jeroboam the second in particular, for saying, and they're saying, Yes, we're experiencing some prosperity. 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:54.879 There is an underbelly to it, and we have forgotten who God is, and because we have forgotten who God is, we have forgotten how to treat people. 00:10:55.600 --> 00:10:55.919 Okay? 00:10:56.720 --> 00:11:10.159 This is the kind of the context in which Jonah comes on the scene, and this is what makes him the least likely candidate to go and proclaim God's message to Nineveh. 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:11.360 Why? 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:13.759 He's a hometown prophet. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:23.039 And we don't have any mention of Jeroboam saying this, but it's not that much of a stretch to imagine him saying, Amos and Hosea keep coming in hot. 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:24.559 I sure miss Jonah. 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:28.559 I sure miss Jonah telling me things are going to be good again. 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:36.639 And God chooses the prophet, who is his hometown prophet, to go and speak to another evil king. 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:39.519 And that leads to Jonah's command. 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:57.759 Go and do to Nineveh what Amos and Hosea have done at home. 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:02.559 We've seen some of the evil of Jonah's own king. 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:05.200 What is some of the evil of Nineveh? 00:12:05.519 --> 00:12:09.919 What are some of the evils of Assyria, this great empire? 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:22.799 Back in October, Melissa and I had the privilege of walking around the British Museum for a little bit, and the gates that were in Assyria, the Balawat gates, were there. 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:24.480 It's amazing to see. 00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:32.559 And they're made of bronze, and so there's inscriptions and you know all these impressions and carvings in there, and they've survived. 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:43.039 And you can look on these gates and see Assyria sort of bragging about their military conquests and their own brutality. 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:51.440 That on these gates you can see depictions of them cutting off people's heads and putting people on stakes. 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:55.759 You can see people being marched naked into slavery. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:07.120 There's a particularly brutal image that you see where they have cut off both legs and the left arm of somebody so that they could shake his right hand as he bleeds out. 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:09.600 This is a brutal people. 00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:24.240 It's no surprise that Jonah thinks I might not get the warmest of welcome when I go there. 00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:34.480 But it's not particularly their rebellion that Jonah recoils at because we've seen he's sort of fine with that at home. 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:47.360 I think it's fair to conclude, as many commentators have, Jonah wants grace for his own people, and he wants judgment for his enemies. 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:53.440 And God has called him to go and preach grace to his enemies. 00:13:54.480 --> 00:14:03.360 He knows that if he goes and he loves and he loves them with this message, it's not doing his own country any benefits. 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:05.759 He's terrified of that. 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:09.600 Forget borders for a second. 00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:16.159 You and I know what it is to want justice for others and grace for ourselves. 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:20.720 You and I know what it is to care about the borders, even if it's just within our own car. 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:23.679 And I can't be the only one who's had this experience. 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:27.360 A number of us have taken road trips that just recently. 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:42.159 We just drove up to Pennsylvania, we drove back down very quickly, and one of the themes on that is you pull up behind somebody who's going slow in the fast lane, and you say, get out of the way, you joker, you clown, get out of the way. 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:43.519 Let me go. 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:49.600 But what happens when someone's driving faster than me and they come in hot and they get behind me? 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:53.279 Get out of here, you're gonna cause a wreck, you maniac. 00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:55.120 What happens? 00:14:55.440 --> 00:14:57.600 You and I do this all the time. 00:14:57.919 --> 00:15:11.039 When we become the standard of what is fair and right, when we become the bearer of justice, those who we don't like, we can ridicule, and those who come in totter, we can say you're wrong. 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:13.120 Everyone's wrong but us. 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:15.600 We become the standard. 00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:17.440 And it's not just in our cars. 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:27.519 We feel this in their interactions and at the grocery store in the line and in our office spaces, when people don't seem to do things the way that we want them to. 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:37.360 We want grace for ourselves and we want justice for our enemies, even lowercase J justice. 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:41.360 This is where Jonah is. 00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:52.799 And even though God's word has been clearly spoken in his day, he's assuming Israel good, Assyria bad. 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:56.399 The scriptural witness says everyone bad. 00:15:57.039 --> 00:16:00.240 Everyone is a sinner, and everyone needs grace. 00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:05.120 And Jonah, you want grace, but you don't want it for your enemies. 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:09.440 This is where Jonah is, and he should know better. 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:11.360 And we should know better. 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:17.279 We see in this passage, or this it's not Jonah's perspective that is sacred. 00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:20.080 It's not our perspective that is sacred. 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:22.480 It's God's perspective. 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:31.840 God is the one who holds the perfect view of things as they really are, and he's the only one who is not finite and is not sinful. 00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:38.399 He can determine things right and wrong, though we want that for ourselves. 00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:46.000 Both empires are wicked, God says, and I desire to show both empires grace. 00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:50.240 Think of examples in your family. 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:59.600 Maybe it's not your falling out, but maybe you have someone in your family, a mother, a father, a sibling that's fallen out with somebody. 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:04.880 And how do you talk about that person that they fell out with around the Thanksgiving table? 00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:07.839 Or maybe your siblings had a messy divorce. 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:11.519 And you know that your sibling was no saint in that. 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:12.960 No saint at all. 00:17:13.039 --> 00:17:18.640 And yet when we talk about them at the Thanksgiving table, the enemy was that other person. 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:21.680 And my friend, my sibling had good reason. 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:23.119 Do you know what they did to this? 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:25.440 We do this all the time. 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:31.920 We broad stroke good and bad, and it's so often it's those people and my people. 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:34.319 My family and their family. 00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:42.559 And so we're not to look at the scriptures as so often we've been taught and say, have the faith of Abraham, right? 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:57.359 Be like Abraham, and be a man after God's own heart like David, and lead like Moses, when so often, when we look closely and scrutinize the main characters of the Bible, what we find is that they're not the main characters at all. 00:17:57.519 --> 00:18:05.680 They're deeply flawed people that God relentlessly pursues to show them his grace. 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:09.599 We're not to aspire to be Saint Jonah. 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.720 We're supposed to see in sinful Jonah ourselves. 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:20.880 And to see that behind all of that is a God who has a heart for the wayward. 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:25.279 Which leads to our third point. 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:28.079 How does Jonah respond? 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:34.480 God tells him, He says, Arise and go to Nineveh. 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:39.599 And Jonah rose and he went the exact opposite direction. 00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:41.279 That's what's happening here. 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:44.079 There's a clear command, rise and do this. 00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:47.279 And he says, I will rise to do the opposite. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:50.640 And this is an experience that all of us know. 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:52.799 This is obvious. 00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:54.319 I'm going to say it anyway. 00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:59.519 Jonah doesn't run because poor Jonah misunderstood the real mission. 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:04.880 Jonah runs because he understands with crystal clarity the mission. 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:06.640 He understands. 00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:12.000 And so instead of doing what God wants him to do, Jonah does what Jonah wants him to do. 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:13.680 Have you ever been there? 00:19:13.920 --> 00:19:16.559 I've been there more times than I can count. 00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:19.200 I know this is not what I should do. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:22.960 I know what God's will for my life in this area is. 00:19:23.599 --> 00:19:25.359 I will do it anyway. 00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:33.759 We all rise when God calls, and so often we run in the opposite direction. 00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:42.480 And so there's a question for all of us in this passage, and it's a heavy question. 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:53.680 Are you and I willing to submit to God's will for our lives when He makes it clear to us what it is? 00:19:55.279 --> 00:20:01.759 Are we willing to say, thy will be done, and not my will be done? 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:03.440 Now I say it's a heavy question. 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:04.720 That's not the only question. 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:11.119 And thankfully, there's good news in this passage for all of us who say, uh, at best sometimes. 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:16.480 We're not talking about perfection. 00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:26.640 In Matthew 18, just as a way of example, Jesus teaches about the work of restoring broken relationships. 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:32.000 And Peter says, Lord, how many times do I have to forgive somebody that sins against me? 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:32.880 Seven times? 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:34.160 Would that be gracious enough? 00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:39.119 And Jesus says, you have to forgive them as often as they apologize. 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:48.400 I was at a conference once, RUF Summer Conference, and a speaker was talking about Jeffrey Dahmer. 00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:55.359 And if you don't remember who Jeffrey Dahmer is, if you're too young, he's a famous serial killer. 00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:57.359 He was arrested in Milwaukee. 00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:01.759 He had murdered 17 men at least. 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:07.839 And he had assaulted them in nefarious ways before he murdered them, and then he ate them. 00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:15.279 And it was a great scandal when Jeffrey Dahmer becomes a Christian in prison. 00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:28.160 In fact, his pastor would regularly meet with him, and he was like, not only has he confessed faith, not only has he been baptized, he continues to meet with me so that I can disciple him. 00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:32.880 And you can imagine the outcry, this is not fair, this is not right. 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:39.920 Do we really think it's possible that someone like Jeffrey Dahmer could welcome us to heaven when we get there? 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:49.119 The gospel of Jesus tells us that no one is beyond the reach of God. 00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:54.720 And that nobody, nobody gets into his presence because they're better than somebody else. 00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:59.519 The only reason that anybody makes it into God's presence is because they have. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:03.359 Been reconciled in Jesus' name. 00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:13.039 While the speaker is talking, I have a student who's sitting about 10 seats down from me, and she starts peppering me with questions. 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:18.480 And you should know about this student, she had been a victim of date rape. 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:24.640 And she's just coming undone in real real time right here. 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:32.960 Is it possible that if my, you know, my per the person who assaulted me, if he repents and believes, can he go to heaven? 00:22:33.119 --> 00:22:36.160 You know, and I was like, we maybe we can talk about this in per in person. 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:38.079 And she's like, this is this is an easy question. 00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:42.000 And if you say yes, I can't believe that, and I won't believe that. 00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:44.799 And she kind of held to her guns. 00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:50.160 Because less than six months later, she says, I'm done with Christianity entirely. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:53.200 Why do I say all of this? 00:22:54.000 --> 00:23:00.960 I say this because it's easy for us to look down on Jonah as foolish and faithless. 00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:18.319 But loving our enemies is the most unnatural thing for the sinful human heart because while we can be the victims of real injustice, every single human heart is also guilty of injustice. 00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:20.559 Every single one of us. 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:28.000 And every single one of us is guilty before God and needs to be reconciled to our Maker. 00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:32.960 And God saw this as true for Nineveh and sends Jonah to go. 00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:36.880 And Jonah says, I can't and I won't. 00:23:37.119 --> 00:23:41.599 And we read that he flees away from the presence of the Lord. 00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:47.440 And if you were here last week, you know that we talked about being invited into the presence of the Lord. 00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:52.559 And the language, both in Psalm 95 and here, is before the face of God. 00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:54.559 And Jonah flees. 00:23:54.960 --> 00:23:57.039 I cannot go in in thanksgiving. 00:23:57.119 --> 00:23:59.359 I will flee in horror. 00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:03.680 He's fleeing the voice of the Lord. 00:24:03.920 --> 00:24:06.559 He's fleeing good news for Nineveh. 00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:18.880 And the good news for Jonah, and the good news for Nineveh, and the good news for us is that God pursues his wayward people. 00:24:20.559 --> 00:24:26.559 At the heart of Jonah is God's relentless love for his enemies. 00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:30.240 And that might offend our sensibility. 00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:33.440 Like the part of us that kind of hates grace, that will offend us. 00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:38.880 But the part of us that sees our need for us will sing for joy. 00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:44.319 Yes, God commands difficult things from Jonah. 00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:48.000 He's not only called to love his enemies in theory, right? 00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:48.640 We can do that. 00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:50.480 We ought to love our enemies. 00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:54.799 He's not called to just sort of say that out loud around sort of a Bible study. 00:24:54.960 --> 00:24:59.440 He's called to go to them at great cost to himself. 00:25:01.039 --> 00:25:07.359 And here's what's fundamentally different with the God of the Bible and every other conception of God. 00:25:07.599 --> 00:25:11.680 Here's what's fundamentally unique about the gospel of Jesus. 00:25:12.319 --> 00:25:20.480 In Christianity, we not only have a God who commands people like Jonah, like us, to love our enemies, to go to them. 00:25:21.039 --> 00:25:24.000 We have a God who's willing to do it himself. 00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:26.640 You think about this. 00:25:28.079 --> 00:25:31.119 God doesn't just send Jonah to his enemies. 00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:36.640 In Jesus, God sends himself to his enemies, us. 00:25:37.359 --> 00:25:38.000 Why? 00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:42.240 Because we were wayward and he still loves us. 00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:45.839 Most famous passage in all of Scripture probably. 00:25:57.440 --> 00:26:05.440 John also tells us that when Jesus came to the world, that he created, his own people did not receive him. 00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:15.119 So like Jonah, the Son is sent at great personal risk, but unlike Jonah, the Son is not spared. 00:26:15.839 --> 00:26:21.920 Because we, humanity, we crucified the gracious one. 00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:28.799 That when he came, it was people just like you and me, same flesh and bone, same sinful nature. 00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:32.720 We crucified the Lord and the giver of life. 00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:37.839 But we could not kill his gracious heart for sinners. 00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:59.759 And so now any sinner who sees the ugliness of their sin, revealed to them in Scripture, any sinner who sees some semblance of themselves in Jonah, who would run from the Lord's command, can cry out for mercy in Jesus' name and not only find it, but relish in it. 00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:05.440 And do you know what happens when we experience this kind of grace? 00:27:07.599 --> 00:27:10.240 You become gracious yourselves. 00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:31.920 And part of what that means, the way that's able to happen is that you actually begin in some way, and it's not like every day is better than the day before, but on the whole, if God is at work in us, we are learning to say, yes, thy will be done, even when it flies in the face of what I want to be done. 00:27:32.960 --> 00:27:36.000 I will not choose to harbor bitterness. 00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:43.039 I will not say, I will do whatever I want with my body and my resources or fill in the blank. 00:27:43.680 --> 00:27:46.000 Thy will be done. 00:27:46.240 --> 00:27:56.640 And I'm not thinking that way so that you will be gracious with me, but I've already received the grace of God and it changes me from the inside out. 00:27:57.920 --> 00:28:12.240 Can you imagine trusting God and saying, I don't know how this is going to turn out, but I know that your plan and your will for my life is better than what I can see and plan for myself. 00:28:12.319 --> 00:28:14.480 And so I will obey. 00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:19.440 And I will also ask for forgiveness when I fail to do that. 00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:29.599 It is only possible when we start to become convinced that grace has the final and finished word in our life that we can lean into this. 00:28:29.759 --> 00:28:32.160 Because we won't lean into it perfectly. 00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:44.079 But if the work is finished in Jesus, then we will be able to lean into God's will for us, knowing that there's nothing we can do to thwart his love for us. 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:48.880 Let's pray and ask for God's help in believing that. 00:29:01.759 --> 00:29:06.079 And we confess that we see so much of ourselves in him. 00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:12.640 And we're thankful for the glimpse of your grace not only for him, but for Nineveh. 00:29:13.039 --> 00:29:23.119 And we ask that you would do a work in us that not only is our life marked by the grace we receive, that we would begin to extend the very same grace. 00:29:23.359 --> 00:29:27.039 And we pray these things in Jesus' name. 00:29:27.359 --> 00:29:28.000 Amen.