WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:05.200 Well, we're reading this morning from the book of Jonah, chapters one and two. 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:08.000 So if you'll read with me and then we'll pray and be seated. 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:12.880 The word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amitai. 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:19.440 Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me. 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:24.160 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:28.320 He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. 00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:33.200 After paying the fare he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. 00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:40.399 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:48.079 All the sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his own God, and they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. 00:00:48.399 --> 00:00:53.119 But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:56.799 The captain went down to him and said, How can you sleep? 00:00:57.039 --> 00:00:58.880 Get up and call on your God. 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:02.719 Maybe he will take notice of us, so that we will not perish. 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:09.680 Then the sailors said to each other, Come, let us cast lots to find out who's responsible for this calamity. 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:12.879 They cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:19.040 So they asked him, Tell us who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:20.400 What kind of work do you do? 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:21.280 Where do you come from? 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:22.159 What is your country? 00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:23.840 From what people are you? 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:31.439 He answered, I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. 00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:36.400 This terrified them, and they asked, What have you done? 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:40.719 They knew he was running away from the Lord because he had already told them so. 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:45.840 The sea was getting rougher and rougher, so they asked him, What should we do? 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:49.359 What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us? 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:54.319 Pick me up and throw me into the sea, he replied, and it will become calm. 00:01:54.560 --> 00:01:58.239 I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you. 00:01:58.959 --> 00:02:05.519 Instead the men did their best to row back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:12.319 Then they cried out to the Lord, Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man's life. 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:18.080 Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased. 00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:23.360 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:29.840 At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him. 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:38.080 Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:46.639 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God, he said, In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:51.520 From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry. 00:02:52.080 --> 00:03:00.719 You hurled into me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me, all your waves and breakers swept over me. 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:06.000 I said, I have been banished from your sight, yet I will look again toward your holy temple. 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:17.520 The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me, seaweed was wrapped around my head, to the roots of the mountains I sank down, the earth beneath barred me in forever. 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:21.680 But you, Lord, my God, brought my life up from the pit. 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:27.840 When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you to your holy temple. 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:32.639 Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God's love for them. 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:36.800 But I with shouts of grateful praise will sacrifice to you. 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:38.960 What I have vowed, I will make good. 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:41.840 I will say, salvation comes from the Lord. 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:47.360 And then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto the dry land. 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:49.520 This is God's word to us this morning. 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:51.280 Please be seated. 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:52.560 Let's pray. 00:03:56.800 --> 00:04:10.719 God our Father, we would come to this slightly strange and perplexing story, and we pray that in coming to it we would not just learn about Jonah, but we would learn about ourselves and that we would meet you. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:16.079 And in asking that, we're really asking, Lord, would you meet with us this morning? 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:20.079 So bless the meditations of our hearts as we look at the scripture together. 00:04:20.319 --> 00:04:21.839 In Jesus' name we pray it. 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:22.720 Amen. 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:35.680 So about 2008, an acquaintance of mine, it'd be a little too much to call her a friend, she was a friend of a friend who is a documentary filmmaker. 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:43.199 Name was Laura Walters Henson, released what to me is one of the most powerful documentaries I've ever seen. 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:53.120 It's titled As We Forgive, and it chronicles some of the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:58.000 Now, some of you remember this, others of you, I may need to give you the backstory. 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:28.079 In 1994, the nation of Rwanda just exploded into a just spasm of intratribal violence, racial violence, in which in just days, hundreds of thousands of Rwandan citizens were murdered, now, often with things like machetes, by their neighbors just because of what race they were and what tribe they came from. 00:05:29.839 --> 00:05:34.079 And in the aftermath of this, the government was just completely overwhelmed. 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:40.160 You see, you don't set up a justice system to simultaneously investigate about 400,000 murders. 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:54.879 And years later, having this unbelievable backlog of cases and no clear way to deal with it, the Rwandan government released 50,000 perpetrators back into the very communities that they had tried to destroy. 00:05:56.639 --> 00:06:00.079 In such a situation, justice just isn't going to happen. 00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:02.879 It didn't and it wouldn't. 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:16.000 And so the Rwandan people were faced with the challenge of a much more difficult road to try to understand what forgiveness and reconciliation would look like in a situation like this. 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:22.879 And this documentary that she created follows the story of two ladies. 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:39.120 Two ladies who are trying to follow forgiveness as they, in fact, meet the two men who slaughtered their families years before. 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:48.319 And this is no happy clappy kumbaya trait forgiveness. 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:52.800 It is bracing, it is gut-wrenching on everyone involved. 00:06:54.800 --> 00:07:00.480 And I can't watch that documentary without just wondering, could I do it? 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:03.759 I'm not sure I could. 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:06.160 I mean, I know I should. 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:15.600 And it's really easy to say things like, every sin can be forgiven in the gospel until there are sins against you. 00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:21.920 And then suddenly forgiveness isn't trite or easy or anything else. 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:24.399 Could I do it? 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:25.920 I don't know if I could. 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:30.399 And this gets to something about the human condition. 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:33.600 We find it incredibly difficult to forgive. 00:07:34.639 --> 00:07:40.480 Now, I mean, if you don't return my email or you don't call me back or you blow me off, you know, I can get over that. 00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:42.560 You know, I've probably done it to half of you. 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:52.160 But when it's a deep gash in your soul, or sometimes even when it's not that deep, but it's, do you believe he did that? 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:54.480 Do you believe what my boyfriend said? 00:07:55.120 --> 00:07:56.560 Do you believe what she did to me? 00:07:56.720 --> 00:08:00.720 Do you believe what my mom, what my dad, what my cousin, what my kid. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:05.040 And even when we say we forgive, let's be honest. 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:07.600 Most of the times we don't. 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:17.360 We say the words, but we know and we make it clear that they've got to earn their way back into our good grace. 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:25.759 You know, we get cold, we get quiet, we get loud, we make them come back to us, we cut off contact. 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:32.240 We have a million ways of taking it out on the other person, even while we're saying, oh, I forgive you. 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:35.360 Something about forgiveness just doesn't come easy. 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:37.600 And this morning we want to ask the question, why? 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:39.120 Why are we that way? 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:41.919 Why is forgiveness so hard? 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:45.360 And being so hard, why is it almost always untried? 00:08:47.039 --> 00:08:51.679 And as we trace the narrative of Jonah that God's given us here, we learn why. 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:56.559 Because we're going to see that this is a story of a prophet who just doesn't get it. 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:05.759 Even more than that, it's actually the story of us, why we just don't get it when it comes to forgiveness. 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:09.440 Because ultimately, God doesn't tell us about Jonah so that we'll know about Jonah. 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:12.000 God tells us about Jonah so we'll know about us. 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:24.240 And Jonah 1 and 2 tell us that the reason we find it so difficult to forgive is because we haven't really understood what God's done for us in Jesus Christ. 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:32.720 The reason we find it's so difficult to forgive is because we haven't really understood what God's done for us in Jesus Christ. 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:34.960 And we'll look at that in three things. 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:36.799 First, the fact that we sin. 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:40.559 Second, the fact that God forgives us. 00:09:40.879 --> 00:09:43.440 But third, the fact that we just don't get it. 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:46.559 So let's think about the first of these, that we sin. 00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:58.480 This passage makes a lot more sense if you can hold in mind what you might call the distinction between a surface level sin, a behavioral sin, and a deep sin, what you might call an identity level sin. 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:03.679 Jonathan Edwards, who is the great Puritan preacher, used to talk about this. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:08.240 And he would say there are all sorts of sins we commit that are behavioral sins. 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:13.840 They're up at sort of floating on the surface of our life, and they're wrong, and we should stop them. 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:20.240 But it's really hard to stop them if you don't get underneath them and ask the deeper question, why am I doing that? 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:23.600 What deeper sin is driving the behavior? 00:10:23.759 --> 00:10:25.120 So here's one from my life. 00:10:25.279 --> 00:10:27.600 Um, and maybe this will illustrate it. 00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:36.000 I have spent about the past ten years consistently overwhelmed from the combination of being a student, working full-time, and trying to be a husband and a dad. 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:38.639 So my inbox is a disaster. 00:10:38.879 --> 00:10:44.399 My voice inbox isn't much better, and I've lived life on the tyranny of the urgent. 00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:47.759 And so oftentimes I get sent an email that's not a problem. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:51.440 But of course, because it's not urgent, I don't deal with it for five weeks. 00:10:51.519 --> 00:10:53.600 And five weeks later, now it's become a problem, right? 00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:55.759 And so the person picks up the phone and calls me. 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:59.120 And I'm getting better about this, but it still happens. 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:03.679 I find myself saying, Yeah, I was just picking up the phone to call you. 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:07.279 Now, for starters, it's not even a smart sin, right? 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:08.240 I know I wasn't. 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:09.519 They know I wasn't. 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:11.200 It's just dumb. 00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:15.039 And it's a lie and it's wrong. 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:20.480 And I could say, you know, I've just gotta quit doing that. 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:22.799 And I might for a while. 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:24.879 But it still comes back, right? 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:28.879 Because ultimately the question isn't why did I commit this surface-level sin? 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:36.879 The question is, what do I believe about myself and about God underneath that that drives me to behave that way? 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:44.960 You know, at the moment I commit that sin, it's more important to me to look good in one of your eyes than it is to be truthful before the Lord. 00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:57.519 And if you can start to work on that sin, if I can get over my silly fear of everybody else, maybe the stuff on the surface will start to change. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:03.360 You know, if you're dealing with anger, this is the kind of thing you could say, I've just got to stop blowing up at people. 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:09.519 But it's not really gonna happen unless you get underneath it and say, what is it that's driving this? 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:13.600 What is the sin about myself that feels like I deserve better than this? 00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:19.120 You know, if you're looking at stuff on the internet that you shouldn't, you can say, I just gotta stop it. 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:22.480 And maybe if you get disgusted with yourself, you'll stop it for a little while. 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:25.360 But it's gonna come back. 00:12:25.679 --> 00:12:30.240 Unless you get to the deeper question and ask the question, what's the sin underneath the sin? 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:37.679 What is the hole in my heart that I feel like is somehow going to get filled up by this stuff I find online? 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:43.200 Life change happens when you get down a level. 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:45.759 And this is a concept Edwards talked about. 00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:46.960 Look at our text with me. 00:12:47.039 --> 00:12:48.799 Look at Jonah chapter 1. 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:52.559 At one level, it's really simple what Jonah's sin is, right? 00:12:52.960 --> 00:12:56.639 His job, verse one, is to be a prophet of God. 00:12:56.879 --> 00:13:00.960 A prophet's job is to say what God tells him to say. 00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:03.679 So, what does God tell him to say? 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:11.759 Verse 2 go to Nineveh, preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me. 00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:14.320 But what does Jonah do? 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:17.279 Well, knowing a little geography will help. 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:22.879 Nineveh is to the north and east of Israel. 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:24.799 You go there by land. 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:28.000 There's no water involved in the trip. 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:35.840 So when Jonah goes down to a port and gets on a ship bound for Tarshish, which would have been one of several Phoenician ports, we don't know which one. 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:41.679 Any of the options are south and west of Israel. 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:44.559 So Jonah isn't just taking a roundabout way. 00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:45.919 He's not doing slow obedience. 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:50.399 Jonah is going the exact opposite way from where God has told him to go. 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:54.000 And verses 3 and verses 10 tell us why. 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:56.480 Because he's running away from the Lord. 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:04.799 That's the surface level sin, but that doesn't really help us too much until we ask the question, why? 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:08.000 Why is Jonah running away from the Lord? 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:10.480 What's he after here? 00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:20.240 Now, as we try to get to the sin under the sin in this passage, right off the bat, recognize that it's probably not an issue of knowledge. 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:24.080 Jonah knows a lot about God. 00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:25.440 He's a prophet. 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:30.559 He talks to God, he prays, he hears from God in a way you and I never have. 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:35.600 Even in verse 9, when the sailors say, Who is this God you're running away from? 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:40.879 He says, Oh, it's the God who made everything heaven and earth, the sea and the land and everything else. 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:42.399 And they get real quiet. 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:46.080 Jonah knows, that's an orthodox confession. 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:49.360 Jonah knows all the stuff he's supposed to know. 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:54.399 Yet he's alien to God. 00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:56.559 He's in rebellion to God, he's running from God. 00:14:56.639 --> 00:14:59.360 And this raises a very disturbing point. 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:02.399 We can know all the right stuff. 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:10.720 We can say all the right things, we can pray, and yet still have a heart that is completely apart from the Lord's heart. 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:15.600 It's not knowledge that's, at least not much, the problem for Jonah. 00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:16.159 What is it? 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:17.840 What's the sin under the sin? 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:20.480 Well, you know, it might be fear. 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:22.559 Let me tell you a little bit about Nineveh. 00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:32.559 It's the capital of the nation of Assyria, which in the ancient world of that time was the biggest, baddest, most expansionist, most powerful nation the world had ever known. 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:34.639 These were bad dudes. 00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:37.039 And they were ruthless on the battlefield. 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:39.200 They had taken over everything around them. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:43.120 They in fact were busy taking over Israel at various points. 00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:47.039 The worst dudes the world had ever known, with the biggest spears the world had ever known. 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:53.840 How do you think they're going to take it if this punk Israelite stroll into their capital city and says, You're wicked? 00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:57.440 You can understand why Jonah might be a little afraid, right? 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:00.080 There's more going on than that. 00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:06.159 Let me tell you a little more about the Ninevehites, the Assyrians. 00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:09.200 They weren't just good at taking over countries militarily. 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.879 They were incredibly adept at terrorizing the countries they took over. 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:22.960 They had figured out how to impale men on stakes in such a way that they would last three days in the ancient sun before they finally died. 00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:27.200 They abused women of all ages. 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:32.159 They would tear babies out of their mother's arms and throw them into the ground. 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:37.360 These were horrible people by any of the world's standards. 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:45.840 And we don't know exactly when the book of Jonah was written, but at any time when it might have been written, they were attacking Israel. 00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:51.279 So these are Israel's sworn enemies, and they're vile. 00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:54.159 Why doesn't Jonah want to go? 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:56.000 Because he hates these people. 00:16:56.720 --> 00:17:00.639 They're the sworn enemies of him and everything he stands for. 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:03.200 But even that doesn't explain it. 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:04.240 Because look at verse 2. 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:06.960 What's the message God asks him to take? 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:10.960 Preach against it, for its wickedness to come up before me. 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:13.680 What prophet who's an Israelite wouldn't want to do that? 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:15.599 Guess what, suckers? 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:19.599 God has had it with you, and he's going to judge your sin. 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:23.039 But Jonah runs the other way. 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:23.680 Why? 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:32.079 Well, chapter 4, verse 3, that we'll look at next week will confirm this is why. 00:17:32.799 --> 00:17:45.440 Because Jonah knows that if he goes and preaches the message God sends, it's possible that these people will actually repent and ask for forgiveness from God, and if they do, God's going to forgive them. 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:49.359 Jeremiah 18, you've got to understand this. 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:53.920 When a prophet comes and declares judgment, Jeremiah 18 says this is true in general. 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:57.359 Jonah 4 confirms this is what's going on in Jonah's case. 00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:01.119 It's always because God wants people to come back to him. 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:03.839 It's not because God's bloodthirsty. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:09.759 It's meant, you might say, to scare them straight, to make them realize how their behavior has an impact. 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:16.960 And so when Jonah goes, he knows that God intends to use this to cause them to repent and then forgive all their sins. 00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:19.519 And Jonah doesn't want it. 00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:28.480 Jonah can't fathom that someone like that might receive God's mercy. 00:18:30.960 --> 00:18:34.160 Not with all the stuff they've done. 00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:40.720 Jonah would rather run the other way from God before that happens. 00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:43.039 That's the sin under the sin. 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:46.400 The prophet doesn't have God's heart. 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:50.480 He doesn't want mercy for the worst. 00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:54.960 Now, this is important for us to get because we sin. 00:18:56.160 --> 00:19:00.640 You know, if there's any empirical fact in the entire world I can establish, it's that we sin. 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:02.559 We do things wrong. 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:04.559 We do stuff we shouldn't do. 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:06.720 We don't do things we should do. 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:13.039 And if we want life change, we can't stay up at this surface level of just saying, oh, what is it? 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:14.240 I need to stop it. 00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:19.279 We've got to ask, how is the gospel going to get to my heart at this deeper level? 00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:24.799 And this matters so much because the scriptures say the wages of sin is death. 00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:26.720 It's true for Jonah, it's true for us. 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:27.599 Look in Jonah. 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:30.000 Look at chapter 2 on the back side of your handout. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:34.400 Jonah is thrown in the ocean in the middle of a hurricane. 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:37.920 Tell me what kind of chances he got? 00:19:39.119 --> 00:19:44.240 If you look at chapter 2, he says he was dying. 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:51.519 Verse 3, you hurled me into the depths in the heart of the sea, the current swirled about me, the waves and breakers swept over me. 00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:56.960 Verse 6, to the roots of the mountains I sank down, the earth barred me in forever. 00:19:57.039 --> 00:19:58.880 This is the language of drowning. 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:02.240 Jonah has sunk to the bottom of the ocean. 00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:07.440 When my life was ebbing away, verse 7. 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:13.440 Verse 5, the engulfing waters surrounded me, the deep surrounded me, seaweed was wrapped around my head. 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:16.079 He's at the bottom of the ocean about to die. 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:20.480 Jonah is going to die because of this sin. 00:20:22.400 --> 00:20:25.599 Romans 6, verse 23 says, this is true for us. 00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:28.400 The wages of sin is death, Paul writes. 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:33.839 They are due to you. 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:36.799 In fact, legally, you have to be paid them. 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:41.680 If your boss doesn't pay you, you can go to court to say that is owed me, it's mine now. 00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:45.119 Well, the scriptures say the wages of sin is death. 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:48.319 We all, the wages are ready to be paid. 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:52.880 Here's the second point. 00:20:53.039 --> 00:20:55.759 The great news is God has forgiven your sin. 00:20:56.079 --> 00:20:57.279 God has saved you. 00:20:57.440 --> 00:20:58.240 He has saved me. 00:20:58.319 --> 00:21:01.119 He has saved us from certain death. 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:03.519 It's again true of Jonah. 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:04.240 It's true of us. 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:05.599 Look at Jonah. 00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:09.440 Let's correct one of the biggest misconceptions about this book. 00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:13.440 Most people think about the book this way: Jonah was supposed to go to Nineveh. 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:17.599 He rebelled and didn't, so God said, I'm going to punish you with the fish. 00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:23.519 Take three days in the belly of a stinking fish and sit there and think about it, Jonah. 00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:26.240 And decide if you don't want to shape up. 00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:31.440 But recognize that the fish is not, in fact, the means of God's judgment on Jonah. 00:21:31.599 --> 00:21:35.279 The fish is the means of God's salvation for Jonah. 00:21:35.440 --> 00:21:38.160 Look at verse 17 of chapter 1. 00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:43.839 Jonah is in the ocean, in a hurricane, drowning. 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:47.119 He's already dying. 00:21:47.279 --> 00:21:51.279 The fish is what saves him from death, not what curses him. 00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:55.119 Look at chapter 2, verse 1 and 2. 00:21:55.519 --> 00:22:06.559 From inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the Lord his God, and he said, Past tense, in my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. 00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:13.119 From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry. 00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:24.480 The story of Jonah two is not Jonah in the fish suffering and then being saved when the fish spits him out at the end of chapter two. 00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:33.920 The story of Jonah chapter two is Jonah praising God for the salvation he's already gotten as he sits there in the fish. 00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:43.119 And then, end of the chapter, verse 10, it's as if figuratively he comes back from the dead. 00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:45.200 He was good as dead. 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:48.480 And God saved him and brought him back to life. 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:51.039 Now that's again the story of us. 00:22:51.200 --> 00:22:52.559 We are forgiven. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:58.079 We are, the wages of sin is death, dead man walking. 00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:05.200 Yet, in Jesus Christ, God has saved us from our sin. 00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:17.680 In Jesus, God came in the flesh, real, stubbornly physical human, died for sin so that we didn't have to receive our wages. 00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:24.319 And the amazing thing about it is that it transfers to us. 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:31.359 That we, by God's grace, though we deserve the worst, get none of it, because he took it all in himself. 00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:34.240 It is an amazing message of grace. 00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:42.319 You know, Christianity, the Christian message at its essence is still not about morality, it is still not about ethics, it is still not about behavior. 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:43.440 It involves all that. 00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:56.640 But it is stubbornly and forever and only about the message of grace received, grace that was bought at a deep price by God Himself for you and for me. 00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:06.799 Jesus is talking. 00:24:09.599 --> 00:24:15.119 It says, Some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you. 00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:26.079 And Jesus answered, A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:36.079 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. 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:45.359 In other words, Jonah, three days in the fish, is there meditating on the fact that he's already been saved. 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:48.400 And then figuratively, he comes back from the dead. 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:56.960 Jesus, three days in the grave, literally dead, literally comes back from the dead. 00:24:57.200 --> 00:25:05.839 It's the sign of Jonah, Jesus says, that you meditate on the grave, you meditate on the cross on salvation already received. 00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:12.160 That God has himself paid for your sin, God has himself paid for my sin. 00:25:12.319 --> 00:25:15.200 If that is true, nothing is the same. 00:25:16.559 --> 00:25:20.480 If that is true, absolutely nothing is the same. 00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:24.000 But here's the thing, we just don't get it. 00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:27.599 Again, Jonah didn't, neither do we. 00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:41.920 Jonah the prophet, prophet of Israel, knows this true God, doesn't want to tell other people, at least not those people, about that grace. 00:25:42.079 --> 00:25:42.480 Why? 00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:48.160 Well, we said in the first point, because he doesn't want people like that to be forgiven. 00:25:49.519 --> 00:26:02.000 The prophet's heart is somehow all about wanting other people to get smoked and smitten for their sins, not receive God's love and be forgiven and transformed. 00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:12.640 Somehow, though, he knows all this true stuff about God, somehow, though he hears from God, somehow, though he prays to God, the prophet's heart is absolutely the reverse of his Lord's. 00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:20.720 In fact, look in the book about who keeps showing spiritual initiative. 00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:22.480 The book actually lampoons Jonah. 00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:23.200 Think about it. 00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:25.519 Hey, Jonah, which is this God you follow? 00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:30.079 Oh, it's the God who made heaven and earth and the sea and the dry land and everything else. 00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:31.519 So I'll run away from him. 00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:33.279 Where is he going to go? 00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:34.880 Right? 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:37.279 And look through the passage. 00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:41.200 Who is it that keeps showing the spiritual initiative throughout the passage? 00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:43.920 It's not Jonah, it's the pagans. 00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:47.039 The sailors are the ones who pray. 00:26:47.279 --> 00:26:50.160 The sailors are the ones who try to figure out what's going on. 00:26:50.400 --> 00:26:52.960 The captain is the one who's desperately trying to fix things. 00:26:53.119 --> 00:26:54.640 Jonah goes to sleep. 00:26:56.400 --> 00:26:58.640 And then they wake him up and say, Who is this God? 00:26:58.799 --> 00:27:01.119 Remember, they're operating out of an entirely pagan worldview. 00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:02.240 Who is this God you follow? 00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:08.720 And he says, This is the true God, and they go, And then they pray to that God. 00:27:08.880 --> 00:27:19.680 Now you don't need to think they suddenly became full Christians or something, but they're willing to say, Lord, they even try not to throw him in the ocean, but to row back to land to save the guy's life. 00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:25.519 Even verse 12 is not Jonah's heroic self-sacrifice. 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:28.079 He says, okay, you want to know how to fix this storm? 00:27:28.240 --> 00:27:30.079 Throw me in the ocean and it'll stop. 00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:34.960 That sounds really good until you remember, did God call Jonah to die? 00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:37.039 What did God want Jonah to do? 00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:39.519 Go to Nineveh. 00:27:40.160 --> 00:27:42.960 The right answer is not throw me in this ocean so it'll stop. 00:27:43.039 --> 00:27:44.400 The right answer is turn the boat around. 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:45.839 I've got somewhere to be. 00:27:47.119 --> 00:27:53.759 But Jonah would rather die than give in and show God's mercy to people like that. 00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:56.079 Wow. 00:27:57.200 --> 00:27:59.279 He just doesn't get it, does it? 00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:06.000 But then you say, we don't get it. 00:28:06.319 --> 00:28:07.359 You know, think about it. 00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:12.160 Mercy has been received by the prophet, yet it can't be given. 00:28:12.319 --> 00:28:13.599 What does that show? 00:28:13.839 --> 00:28:17.279 It shows the mercy hasn't really been understood. 00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:22.480 And tell me that's not a picture of us when we can't forgive. 00:28:23.680 --> 00:28:25.839 Mercy has been received. 00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:29.440 Christ has died for your sins, past tense. 00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:32.160 He has risen from the dead, past tense. 00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:35.119 He does live at the right hand of God. 00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:40.960 But when somebody sins against us, here's our usual response. 00:28:42.319 --> 00:28:44.240 Dang it, you did it again. 00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:48.000 I don't believe you would do that again. 00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:52.000 And then we make them pay for their sin. 00:28:52.960 --> 00:29:00.319 Whether the shoulders cold, whether the rumors spread, whether the contacts cut off, whether we just make them come back to us to grovel. 00:29:01.920 --> 00:29:03.359 We know it and they know it. 00:29:03.519 --> 00:29:07.119 We aren't ready for them to be forgiven until they pay for their sin. 00:29:08.160 --> 00:29:10.400 Here's Jesus when you and I sin. 00:29:11.279 --> 00:29:20.319 Yes, you did it again, but I want you to know I love you and I died for you, and I will never, ever give up on you. 00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:25.279 Why don't we have God's heart? 00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:26.880 Why can't we get it? 00:29:28.160 --> 00:29:33.839 Because at some level we still want to give ourselves a pass and make everybody else pay for what they did to us. 00:29:35.519 --> 00:29:37.519 But that's not the Lord's way. 00:29:38.160 --> 00:29:40.400 You've got to understand we're Jonah. 00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:49.680 Again, Matthew 12, chapter 40, Jesus is talking to the people who are the religious people of his day. 00:29:50.079 --> 00:29:53.440 Those are the people he calls the wicked and adulterous generation. 00:29:55.440 --> 00:29:55.920 Why? 00:29:56.160 --> 00:29:59.359 Well, the Bible is, the gospels are full of telling you why. 00:29:59.680 --> 00:30:08.160 Because they loved to keep the rules, they loved to look right, and they love to scorn all those other people who've done all those awful things. 00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:14.400 But our Lord went and hung around with all those other people who've done all those awful things. 00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:16.559 And our Lord loved them. 00:30:17.200 --> 00:30:20.319 Just like he loved you and just like he loves me. 00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:28.640 There are some things just deep down that every one of us says, that one's not forgivable. 00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:32.720 For Jonah, it was the Ninevehes. 00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:35.119 And they did some pretty bad stuff. 00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:37.920 For you, for me, it's something else. 00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:42.079 But there's something in there that every one of us says, that one is a bridge too far. 00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:44.480 It can't be forgiven. 00:30:45.279 --> 00:30:48.160 But God says, no, you've missed my heart. 00:30:49.599 --> 00:30:50.880 How do you know you've got it? 00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:53.359 How do you know when you've got God's heart? 00:30:54.240 --> 00:31:03.200 When the grace you've received really does open you to let it go, to get rid of it, to forgive it. 00:31:05.039 --> 00:31:11.359 Now look, in the world we live in, it is very complex how to work that out. 00:31:11.759 --> 00:31:22.079 There are some abuse situations, there are some other situations where it is terribly unwise, wrong, even dangerous for you to go back and be in touch with that person. 00:31:25.359 --> 00:31:29.279 But you do have to forgive or it will eat you apart from the inside out. 00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:34.880 So here's the action point. 00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:38.319 Who do you need to forgive? 00:31:40.799 --> 00:31:41.440 Why? 00:31:43.920 --> 00:31:52.400 If we really get the grace we've received, then it is possible for anything to be forgiven. 00:31:54.079 --> 00:32:09.279 So as we come to the Lord's table, as we meditate on, as we touch and taste reminders He gave us that He died for us, who do you need to forgive? 00:32:09.839 --> 00:32:12.720 What would it look like for that to happen this week? 00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:14.240 Let's pray. 00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:23.200 Father, there is um much more we could say, probably much more we should say. 00:32:26.640 --> 00:32:31.119 But we have prayed that you would be active in the preaching of your word. 00:32:31.359 --> 00:32:35.039 We pray that that would be the case. 00:32:35.279 --> 00:32:42.400 That your glory would go forth and that you'd change us and change our lives to our good and to your glory. 00:32:42.559 --> 00:32:43.279 Would you do that? 00:32:43.440 --> 00:32:45.200 We will give you all the praise for it, we pray. 00:32:45.279 --> 00:32:46.880 In Jesus' wonderful name. 00:32:47.200 --> 00:32:47.680 Amen.