WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.680 So when I was in the sixth grade, my class were in the lunchroom. 00:00:03.759 --> 00:00:04.719 We had just finished lunch. 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:07.200 We went by and bought our ice cream for the day. 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:12.960 We lined up on the sidewall to exit the side doors that went out to this little parking lot where we ate our ice cream. 00:00:13.039 --> 00:00:14.400 So I'm standing there on the sidewall. 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:16.800 I have my little push-pop, Sherbert Pushpop. 00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:18.160 That's what I always got in that one. 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:22.320 And so I was standing there, and there was an eighth grade class at the table right there. 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:24.559 And I knew an eighth grader at that table. 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:26.320 His name was Brandon, his real name. 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:30.000 That was his, I won't tell his last name, but his name was Brandon, who's sitting there. 00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:33.200 I knew him through a friend, and I was a lowly sixth grader. 00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:35.280 He was a big eighth grader, and I was lined up. 00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:43.200 I remember thinking to myself, man, if he would say hi to me, an eighth grader or sixth grader, can you imagine that status? 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:45.679 What could happen for me in that moment? 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:53.200 So I lined up with my Sherbert, and I'm standing there, and I'm not looking at him, but I'm sort of thinking like he could, he could say hi, it's possible. 00:00:53.840 --> 00:01:02.880 He called my name out, and then he called me a name that I will not repeat verbally in this setting that was the opposite of the thing I was hoping for. 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:07.680 And everybody laughed, and then I returned a comment or two. 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:13.519 I was creative as well with my words, and so we were both creative individuals at those ages. 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:23.439 And what happened in that moment was Brandon moved for me on my ledger, my inner ledger of accounting. 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:25.920 He was in debt from then on. 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:28.159 This guy was in debt. 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:31.040 He was gonna have to earn his way back out. 00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:32.719 And so I held that against Brandon. 00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:38.719 Apparently, I still hold that against Brandon right now because I clearly remember his name and the event. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:50.000 And so any sort of smile from me toward Brandon was always going to have to come after he worked his way to the positive side of the ledger. 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:55.519 And I'd like to say I don't do this anymore, but I do. 00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:57.200 I'm just better at it. 00:01:57.280 --> 00:01:58.319 I'm better at hiding it. 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:03.359 I say, you know, I have the polite, well, you know, bless you, God bless you, bless his soul, bless her. 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:12.159 But it's so it's a polite, there's a polite religious sort of persona, but still inside, there's still a ledger, just like you probably have a ledger as well. 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:17.360 Now, maybe you also, maybe you grew up with a parent that that did things by ledger. 00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:21.439 Meaning, uh, when you were making the grades, things were good. 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:23.439 When you kept the peace, things were good. 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:27.759 You were you were loved, you were welcomed, you were accepted. 00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:34.879 And then if you weren't making the grades or you didn't make the team or you weren't keeping the peace, things weren't good. 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:38.000 You were on the negative side of the ledger. 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:41.919 Much less if you failed big time. 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:45.840 So acceptance, perhaps, for some of us, maybe. 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:52.240 We all know that in some relationship, acceptance that was never based in love, but on performance. 00:02:52.479 --> 00:02:54.479 And then we have this Jonah story. 00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:58.800 Now, here is a guy who has not performed. 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:02.960 I mean, this is not our moral example, let's say that. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:05.680 And yet we are him. 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:11.439 I mean, he's called to go to Nineveh, and a tough calling. 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:16.400 That was an enemy place, a place of the enemy, people have hurt him and his family and his friends. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:17.919 That would have been a tough thing to do. 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:21.039 Still, it was God's call on him, and still he said, I don't want to do that. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:22.719 And he runs the other way. 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:25.840 You've been traveling with us the last four or five weeks. 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:29.439 You've learned and we've seen how he was then thrown into the sea. 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:31.439 Most likely he wanted to be thrown in the sea. 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:33.680 Probably he was just hoping to die. 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:42.159 He experienced a different sort of death because the story talks about how miraculously a fish swallows him, and then he begins to call this the belly of shield. 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:44.080 He's in the belly of death. 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:45.759 He's knowing a death before death. 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:47.840 And yet that's where the freedom is for him. 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:49.120 That's where our freedom is. 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:51.520 We always have to have a death before death. 00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:54.400 And it's there finally, we talked about the last two weeks. 00:03:54.560 --> 00:04:03.439 Finally, he relents and he prays and he says, all of life is either worthless idols or steadfast love. 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:10.240 It's either worthless idols or the steadfast love of God, and salvation belongs to God. 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:13.439 Steadfast love of God for us. 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:20.959 Now, steadfast love would do away with a ledger, because steadfast implies that it's always there. 00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:24.399 And then we get this Jonah 3, verses 1 through 3. 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:33.360 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you. 00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:36.480 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:40.800 Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey and breadth. 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:42.079 So here's point number one. 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:42.959 I have two points. 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:44.480 We have two points for this morning. 00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:45.839 Point number one is this. 00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:57.759 Now I didn't make that term up. 00:04:57.839 --> 00:05:00.319 I stole that from seminary professor Steve Brown. 00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:05.040 He talks about how we need a stable meta-narrative for our life. 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:13.920 And if we have a stable meta-narrative for our life and for God, we will have a stable God and a stable, secure self. 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:17.519 Christine, I bought a house in Grant Park years ago. 00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:21.120 So this would have been 14, 13 years ago or so. 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:23.759 And we bought this house down in Grant Park by the zoo. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:26.480 It was a dump of a house. 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:28.720 Let's just be very honest about it. 00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:30.879 It was, it needed everything. 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:38.079 The porch was falling off, there was critters in the house, the one shower did not work when we moved in. 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:39.920 I mean, it needed a lot of work. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:43.199 The worst thing about it was the foundation actually had a problem. 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:46.399 And so fortunately, Christie's dad works in that line of business. 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:54.160 So one of his guys came down and looks at our foundation, and he immediately looks at it and says, Yeah, we're gonna have to stabilize this whole thing. 00:05:54.480 --> 00:06:03.439 He says, the entire house, here's what he said, the this entire house is at risk because this foundation wall is not stable. 00:06:05.519 --> 00:06:06.959 Now that's my parable. 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:10.800 Jesus tells a parable about building a house on the rock or on the sand. 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:13.759 But the point's the same. 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:16.959 We can get something wrong from the beginning. 00:06:17.279 --> 00:06:20.240 And from there, everything else can be off. 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:22.560 And it's easy to do. 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:24.480 Like it's really easy. 00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:33.120 It's easy to create a God with a ledger that comes and goes based on how you're doing or even how you're feeling. 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:35.920 Loves you when you perform. 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:40.319 Not quite sure how he feels about you if you're not performing. 00:06:41.279 --> 00:06:47.279 Forgives you only if you obey afterward, but then if you don't obey afterward and you mess up again, then you aren't quite sure. 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:50.079 Did he really forgive me or could he forgive me again? 00:06:50.879 --> 00:07:04.160 It's easy to create a faith where obedience is because you are able, and it's all sort of like an upward trajectory of success upon success of your Christian life and sanctification. 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:09.839 But then what happens when you fail? 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:14.720 Or like what happens when you get hurt? 00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:19.920 What happens when you get sick? 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:25.680 All of a sudden that meta-narrative doesn't work anymore. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:28.240 You'll be condemned by it. 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:30.319 You'll be exhausted by it. 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:32.959 It's a failing false meta-narrative. 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:47.040 But what we see in Jonah, just in these three verses, and looking, kind of backing up out of this story a little bit and seeing it as a whole, is amidst failure and difficulty, God doesn't go anywhere. 00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:48.959 He's still there. 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:54.319 What we see is as we see we're never without God. 00:07:55.360 --> 00:08:04.639 And because of his grace toward us, which we know now in Christ, we're never without the acceptance from God. 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:07.439 That's our meta-narrative. 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:13.920 We could word it a different way and say our meta-narrative is creation, fall, redemption, restoration. 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:20.160 Creation, we are created beautiful by the triune God from the beginning. 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:21.600 That's the beginning of the story. 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:23.120 The beginning of the story is not our sin. 00:08:23.199 --> 00:08:26.319 The beginning of the story is we are created beautiful. 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:27.759 Fall. 00:08:29.040 --> 00:08:33.360 We sinned, we sin, you're not perfect, I'm not perfect. 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:37.279 Redemption in Christ. 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:42.320 God forever pursues us, forever forgives us, and forever deems us righteous. 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:49.840 And then restoration, that there will be a day, one day, there will be a day when all the sad things become untrue. 00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:53.279 That's a meta-narrative. 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:58.159 Verse 3 says, Jonah arose and went. 00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:02.240 Finally, he obeys. 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:03.840 Finally. 00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:09.759 But he is only obedient after being rescued in his inability to be obedient. 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:12.320 And that's really important to realize and see. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:17.440 He's not obedient out of his own ability to pull up his bootstraps and make it happen. 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:19.919 He's obedient after his death. 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:30.799 Jonah shows us that obedience and life change, and you can use the term spiritual growth, you could say sanctification, you could say transformation, use whatever word you want. 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:40.159 His ability to be obedient to the Lord is not him getting his act together and pulling up his bootstraps by self-effort. 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:41.919 It's actually a death. 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:46.399 A death to the self-effort-fueled faith. 00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:52.879 But being fully found by God, being changed by that in the heart. 00:09:55.039 --> 00:10:00.960 This means you should absolutely care about transformation and obedience to the Lord. 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:03.360 You should absolutely care about that. 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:08.080 Just don't navelgaze about it too much. 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:10.159 It's not helpful. 00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:12.320 That's actually narcissism. 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:15.759 It's actually a religious idolatry in and of itself. 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:20.320 Because it's not faith in Christ, ultimately, then you've shifted it back to faith in yourself. 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:22.879 There's a story in Luke chapter 15, right? 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:24.639 You know the story, the prodigal son. 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:26.080 We talk about it a lot here. 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:28.879 Just to kind of remember it just a little bit. 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:33.360 The younger son asks for his inheritance early, he runs off, he wastes it all. 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:35.519 He thinks, ah, maybe I can go back to God. 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:39.279 Maybe I go back to the father, his father, representative of God. 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:41.600 So he goes back. 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:51.360 And when he returns, what he discovers is this great part of the story, he was never without the acceptance of his dad. 00:10:52.320 --> 00:11:00.000 The father doesn't lecture him, doesn't shame him, just welcomes him back, starts to throw a party. 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:07.840 The father was waiting on the child to accept his own acceptance. 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:16.480 A few questions can usually help us as we start to think about is that where I live and rest day to day? 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:26.960 Do I live and rest in this meta-narrative of how sufficient Christ is for me, or do I have some sort of other life of worthless idols or perhaps a religious idolatry of some sort? 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:29.120 What's my meta-narrative? 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:31.200 A few questions can often help. 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:34.000 Do you live out of self-dependency? 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:37.120 Do you worry a lot? 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:38.720 Are you afraid a lot? 00:11:39.519 --> 00:11:42.080 Are you unable to love others? 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:44.879 Unable to love those different than you? 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:50.240 Do you feel anxious day to day in regard to your standing with God? 00:11:51.840 --> 00:11:54.080 Do you have apathy toward God? 00:11:55.679 --> 00:12:03.679 Is your daily security with God based in your morality or your purity or your performance? 00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:08.879 Or is it based in his steadfast love for you in Christ? 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:18.480 A few weeks ago, a billionaire, technology investor Robert Smith, maybe you saw this in the news, he was giving a commencement address at Morehouse College. 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:19.600 Maybe you saw this. 00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:42.879 He stands up in front of 400 graduates, he's sitting there, he gives kind of an inspiring commencement address, or everything's flowing like normal at a graduation from a college, and then there in the speech, he stops and he says, On behalf of eight generations of my family, my family commits to pay off all of your school debt. 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:46.480 400 graduates. 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:20.559 Even if you understand forgiveness to be perpetually forgiven, but if that's all it is, you're still poor. 00:13:21.120 --> 00:13:23.600 You still have zero the next day. 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:30.879 You still have to get to work, you still got to show up to earn your righteousness before God. 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:34.879 Now, what if Mr. 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:41.759 Smith had said, I will forgive all the debt, I pay for all the debt. 00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:52.799 And tomorrow morning when you check your bank account, I am transferring all of my wealth divided up into your account. 00:13:53.279 --> 00:13:57.440 I did the math, Forbes told me he's worth$5 billion or$400 students. 00:13:57.519 --> 00:13:59.919 That'd be$12.5 million each. 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:01.360 That would be enough. 00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:02.879 Should be. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:14.000 So not only would they be forgiven of their debt, they would be wealthy forever. 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:17.679 Now we have a meta-narrative. 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:24.960 That is a stable meta-narrative of who God is, of our condition of need. 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:34.240 That the first half of the gospel is that you are fully forever forgiven, and the second half of the gospel is that you are fully forever righteous. 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:38.080 And both of these are gifts of God known in Christ on the cross. 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:42.960 Our debt, our sin is put upon him on the cross, and his righteousness is given to us. 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:44.960 Author Jerry Bridges breaks it down this way. 00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:47.759 He wrote a great book called The Discipline of Grace. 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:54.559 He said, for many Christians, faith is uh attend church a certain amount, maybe give some money, maybe we'll give a little money. 00:14:54.879 --> 00:14:57.519 Maybe take some brownies to your neighbor. 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:02.159 And then maybe you maybe you're a more committed Christian, maybe some more committed Christians. 00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:05.600 And it means uh you practice some spiritual disciplines. 00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:14.559 Maybe you have an area of ministry, maybe you volunteer, post Bible verses on Instagram as your great witness to the world. 00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:25.039 Now, if that's all it means to be a Christian, if that's all it means, you'll inevitably hold judgment to those who don't practice the things you practice. 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:28.399 Because you've deemed those are the ways that you're righteous. 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:32.960 They're not serious enough, those people, not serious enough. 00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:38.559 Now, maybe you're very spiritual, and you see you have to go inward. 00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:46.080 So you're all about sort of a constant evaluation of your inner self, but there's no freedom. 00:15:46.559 --> 00:16:02.320 Because you're constantly evaluating, sort of in this cycle of evaluation of seeing your sin, and you get that, and you see that, but it's creating a deeper and deeper guilt, no freedom, because you don't have the gift of the imputation of Christ on you. 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:09.679 There's no stable narrative of a fully sufficient, fully forgiving, fully righteousness giving God. 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:14.240 Paul writes this in Galatians 2.20. 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:26.240 The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. 00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:30.240 The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God. 00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:32.399 I live by faith in Christ. 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:36.159 So the life I live now is by faith. 00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:39.440 So effort's not over. 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:44.960 Effort's inside of faith and inside the grace of God, but earning is over. 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:46.080 Earnings gone. 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:47.200 It's over. 00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:54.960 And what Paul was writing about, Paul was writing about connection back to his justification he already had in Christ. 00:16:55.120 --> 00:17:02.240 So what he's writing about is a very stable meta-narrative where he can write stuff like, I'm the worst of human beings. 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:07.680 And yet he's not sent into some depression or some shame. 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:12.960 Because what he knows is that he knows he's already accepted and right with God based on Christ. 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:19.759 There's no ledger, no shame, no guilt, no performance left for him or you or me to perform. 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:23.200 Point number two is this. 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:31.279 The Christian life, faith, the Christian life is lived in the accepting of the acceptance from a gracious God. 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:32.559 That's the big challenge. 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:35.440 The big challenge is accepting the acceptance. 00:17:36.559 --> 00:17:39.359 So can we go back to the Brandon story, right? 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:40.400 In the lunchroom. 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:41.920 Remember the beginning? 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:44.240 Now, why did I react back? 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:50.480 Because I was hoping for acceptance and I received condemnation. 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:53.680 So of course I reacted with hatred and words. 00:17:54.559 --> 00:18:08.319 But imagine, imagine I was just like a little monk of a Christian, you know, sixth grader, and I'm there and I'm one with God, and I have a stable meta-narrative of a sixth grader, and it's active in my heart, and it's holding my heart. 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:12.720 What would be true is that I would know I was always accepted by God. 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:18.240 My justification as a human being and worth and belovedness was already solved. 00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:24.559 Ready to go eat my little push-pop, Sherbert, Brandon lets loose with his words to me. 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:26.559 I would have been embarrassed. 00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:27.359 Right? 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:29.279 You would have been embarrassed. 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:36.079 But, but, but, but I would have known. 00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:46.960 I would have known that I had a value and a worth and a wealth of identity and forgiveness and righteousness and worth. 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:58.240 That Brandon or any person or approval or disapproval or job or no job or romance or no romance or net worth or no net worth can't touch. 00:18:59.920 --> 00:19:01.759 My justification was already solved. 00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:07.440 See, the life I now live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God. 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:20.319 See how you live now, and this idea of verse 3 of Jonah of like, oh, now he obeys is connected to you understanding how fully justified you are. 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:29.839 That's why Jonah writes about he prays, he prays, it's either worthless idols or steadfast love. 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:32.960 Salvation belongs to the Lord, and then he obeys. 00:19:33.279 --> 00:19:34.559 And he goes. 00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:39.039 The thing that enables obedience is the steadfast love. 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:44.720 The absurdity of grace is very difficult to grasp. 00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:45.680 I do think that. 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:51.839 I think I still have a hard time accepting how absolutely full and sufficient it is. 00:19:52.079 --> 00:19:58.640 It is not cheap, it is free, it is much bigger and better than cheap. 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:00.559 It is fully free. 00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:09.759 And what it does inside of us is it heals us and it revolutionizes us and it begins to do in our hearts some healing and then outward transformation. 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:14.640 But we'll never accept it until we're at the end of our rope. 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:17.200 We just don't need it until then. 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:24.400 We'll always sort of have some sort of hybrid of a little bit of performance and effort tied with God being a little bit gracious. 00:20:24.960 --> 00:20:26.480 And eventually there'll be a day. 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:27.759 And here's just the encouragement. 00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:30.559 And I don't say this to say shame on you, I say it to say grace on you. 00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:34.720 There'll just be a day when you're exhausted and condemned and you can't do anything else. 00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:36.559 And God's still there. 00:20:39.599 --> 00:20:44.559 Finally, then we're the prodigal, where we can come back and say, Oh, I don't have anything to offer here. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:46.960 And God's going, like, I want to throw a party for you. 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:49.920 Like, will you accept, will you accept the party? 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:52.720 Because that would change everything. 00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:56.960 And then we can begin to know a little bit of verse 3, obedience to the Lord. 00:20:57.200 --> 00:20:59.680 I close with this quote I read this week by Dr. 00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:00.799 Stephen Tyne. 00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:02.160 He was a rector at St. 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:05.920 George's Episcopal Church in New York City in the 1800s. 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:07.200 And here's what he said. 00:21:07.440 --> 00:21:10.880 Wherever you are, tell your precious tidings to someone. 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:14.400 And I think that's poetic 19th century for meta-narrative, I'm not sure. 00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:17.119 Your precious tidings to someone. 00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:41.759 The message of that which God has done is the offer of that which man may have, complete forgiveness in a Savior's death, everlasting cleansing and the power of a Savior's precious blood, unchangeable acceptance with God and a Savior's perfect obedience for man, eternal life, the gracious gift of God in him. 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:44.640 My brothers and sisters, grace and peace to you. 00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:46.240 Let's pray together. 00:21:46.799 --> 00:22:08.799 God, thank you for this good word of Jonah, that we can both associate with Jonah and see that wow, we are not perfect people, and that we resist you, we run from your call, we're not perfect, we are sinners in need of your perfect grace, and yet we see in this story what is always true that you are love and you are here and you're with us. 00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:13.920 And in Christ we have all we need. 00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:21.359 Forgive us for all the ways we try to add to it, complicate things, cause problems. 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:35.119 Forgive us for turning our eyes away from the work of Jesus alone, your love for us, and onto all that which we produce, as if that is going to have standing before you or form our righteousness. 00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:47.759 God, I pray that you help all of us get to the end of our rope that we might know how great and deep and wide and beautiful, wonderful, and transformative your grace is. 00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:54.559 Help us to see Christ in bigger and bigger and greater and greater ways in our hearts. 00:22:55.839 --> 00:22:59.119 That we might live lives that honor you and obey you. 00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:03.359 That we might be light to the world. 00:23:03.599 --> 00:23:04.880 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:05.680 Amen.